12 Kits of Occasions ~ Happiness Is Homemade

Hello friends~  My how quickly the month of May flew by!  That means it's time for the 12 Kits of Occasions friends to reveal their cards using this months kit that was put together by me.  My first kit!  Lindsey put together this wonderful collage photo as she does each month.  Thanks so much Lindsey for making my kit look so good.

My theme for May is called "Happiness Is Homemade" in honor of my mom who passed away two years ago this month, 2 days after Mother's Day.  She made a wonderful "homemade" life for me and my two sisters as she loved to cook for her family and was always doing something crafty.  She was an exquisite quilter.  She made dozens of pet quilts that she donated to local shelters.

This is Sofia.  She was a shelter cat that my parents adopted, sitting on one of my mom's warming quilts.
My mom also enjoyed watching her spring flowers pop up after a long, cold Maine winter.  I hope that through the cards you've seen created with this kit, you get a small glimpse of some of the things my mom enjoyed.  Now on to my cards:

 You can see why I had to include this wonderful Newton's Nook image from Newton's Nap in the kit.  Colored with Copics and tied with a piece of twine from the kit.

I added a strip of sparkly black paper to the edge of this card.  Otherwise everything else was included in the kit.  The cake and sentiment is from PTI's Just Desserts.  The cake plate is from Elizabeth Craft Designs Christmas Pudding.  My mom made me a cake just like this for me on my birthday quite a number of years ago.  What I wouldn't give to go back to that special day.

 This lovely image from Clearly Besotted Sunshine & Smiles is colored using Copics with white gel pen accents.  

It's hard to see in the picture but the flowers got a healthy dose of Clear Wink Of Stella.

 PTI's Still Life Summer and a sentiment from MFT's Cheerful Blessings embossed in gold.

ECD Apron and Kitchen Tools.  The sentiment is from My Creative Time Fun Notes and the Poppystamps Kitchen Jars.

 PTI's Tulip Time and sentiment from ECD Love Sentiments.

PTI's  Button Boutique, Hanging By A Thread, SAF 2014 Regency Era and Neat & Tangled Hoop Die.

Sweets canister from Joy Crafts, heart shaped sugar cookies from Quickutz and "Thanks" from Impression Obsession  


I adore this fun image from Stampingbella "Iron Chef Chicks".  It's colored using copics.  I added some printed paper and some ECD Stitched Fishtail Banners.

My Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor Paints arrived in time for me to try them out on these last two cards.  This one is Fresh Freesia from Altenew.  I painted the flower by wetting the image and dropping color in and letting the paint do it's thing.

 I wasn't excited at all by the way this water coloring was coming out but I pressed forward and finally had to walk away in the end.  When I went back to it the next morning, I decided it wasn't so bad that I couldn't use it.  Sometimes things look better after a good nights sleep.  The image is Stampingbella's "Ramona and Her Wagon".  So adorable!!

Be sure to visit the 12 Kits of Occasion Blog and see how all my talented teamies were inspired to use this kit.  We also have two guest designer's this month.  My dear friend Marcia Hill from Marcia's Stampin' Pad and the winner of this month's kit and another dear friend of mine, Linda from Lin's Craft Corner.  Please be sure to stop by their blogs and leave them some love.

I'll be adding one of these cards to the following challenge:
Seize The Birthday ~ Something Sweet
Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Anything Goes

If you're still with me, thanks for stopping by and sticking with me through this rather long post.  I sure hope you'll take the time to leave a comment to let me know you were here.
Blessings~ Birgit

PTI MIM ~ Coordinating Card Pair

Good morning~  I found some time to play along with this week's Make-It Monday challenge with Stephanie Gold.  She has a pair of stunning cards that she shares in her video found HERE.

Here's the cards I made using the Make It Market ~ Garden Gate:

I used Mermaid Lagoon and Peeled Paint distress inks to create two different backgrounds.  One was ink blended and spritzed with bleach and water and the other background I used the ink smooshing method.

  

 I can't decide which one I like better.  I guess I like them both equally.  What do you think?

You can find all the details on the PTI Blog.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings~ Birgit 

Cut Cardstock ~ Only Fish In The Sea

Living on the east coast, we have our fair share of ocean side visits.  I'm inspired by all the little creatures and plant life that I see when looking into tide pools when the tide is out.

Today's project features many colors from the Basis Cardstock line that are currently on sale at Cut Cardstock for the month of May.  They have colors that meet your every creative need and they cut like butter using steel dies.  

Here's a snapshot of products I used in today's post.

Basis Cardstock in the following colors: Aqua, Grey, Coral, White and Red and  Core' Dinations Cardstock.  Dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs Seaweed and Shells Large.

I started by cutting a wavy patterned die out of the Aqua colored Basis Cardstock and adhered it to a piece of patterned paper using Tombow Mono Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue.

I cut many of the sea weed shapes out of white Basis Cardstock and added color using Distress Inks.

Once they were colored I added some shimmer using  Heidi Swapp Color Shine. 

The crab was created using red Basis Cardstock for the top die and red Vintage Collection Core'Dinations for the bottom layer.  I just love the texture on the Core'Dinations cardstock and this crab is adorable!

I played around with design layouts and settled on this one.  I cut one of the wavy lines out of the die cut panel to allow room for a sentiment.  I then stamped the sentiment in Versamark Ink and heat embossed it using silver embossing powder.  

Once the front panel was complete, I adhered it onto an A2 sized, top folding card made white Basis Cardstock.

Don't forget to include a fun colored coordinating Basis Envelope.  They come in all the same great colors as the cardstock and you can mix and match them to create your own assortment of envelopes!

I hope you enjoyed today's project for Cut Cardstock.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings~ Birgit

Using Die Cuts to Stencil A Background and a BIG SALE

Good morning ~ I’m often looking for ways to extend the use of my dies and creating a stencil to make a background is the perfect way to start.

Here's two cards I created to inspire you using products from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

Lets get started:

Cut the Flower Lace 1 out of heavy cardstock and use it as a stencil by blending Peacock Feathers Distress Ink over the top of an A2 sized white cardstock panel.  Save the stencil to use on another project.  Cut the stenciled panel using a Stitched Rectangle.

Apply a 2×2″ square of Clear Double Sided Adhesive onto the top of a piece of Spring Green Soft Finish Cardstock and cut a Dragonfly.   Peel the release sheet from the dragonfly and apply Spring Peridot Silk Microfine Glitter to the top of the dragonfly.  Cut a second dragonfly out of the same Spring Green Soft Finish Cardstock and layer the two by gluing  the body of the bottom dragonfly and placing the glittered dragonfly on the top.  Fluff the top set of wings by gently folding them up.

Cut the largest Dotted Scallop Rectangle and gently blend on the same color distress ink around the edges of the panel.

Assemble the card layers as shown and stamp the sentiment from Dream Sentiments onto the front panel.

Apply sequins in complimentary colors.

Here's another card I made using a sentiment from PTI's Bold & Beautiful.

I also wanted to tell you about the BIG  Memorial Day SALE going on over at Elizabeth Craft Designs

The marked down items are some of the newer dies and you can save 15% off your order using code MDW2017.  You won't want to miss out on this!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings~ Birgit

Daisy Pop-Up Birthday Card

Hello~  I've got a pop-up card to share with you today using lots of dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

This was made for my sweet mother-in-law's birthday back in April and I'm just now getting around to sharing it.  Do you ever do that?  Create cards that you don't get around to sharing or sometimes never share?  My card file is full of them!  Anyway, here it is and I hope you enjoy it.

This is the front of the card using a couple of landscape die and the ECD Daisy.  The bee is an old Quickutz die and the sentiment from General Sentiments is stamped on a Stitched Fishtail Banner.

 Moving on to the inside where all the fun is, I started by using the Lots Of Pops die to build the pop-up section.  If you've never created a pop-up card before let me say, do not be intimidated.  The pop-up die makes creating them so easy to build on and the directions are so easy.  The design ideas are limitless so just let your imagination take over and go for it!

 Here, I added a trio of daisies to the background layer and I added a folded banner that I attached to the middle layer using strips of clear acetate to give it some height. ETA: The hills are created using Stitched Hill Dies.

On the front layer I used ECD Barrel Basket and filled it with Garden Notes Ivy and two of the sweet Birds from Joset's designs. I further added strips of grass in graduating sizes on each pop-up layer.  I added color to the daisies, birds, basket, grass and ivy using Distress Inks.

A closer look at all that dimension.

I hope you'll be inspired by today's project to make a pop-up card to brighten someone's day. The look on their faces when they open them is pure delight!

I'll be entering this card into the following challenges:
Simon Says Monday Challenge ~ Little Critters

Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything goes

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings~ Birgit

Two Projects ~ Two Challenges

Good morning~  I'm so happy to have found time this week to play along with two different challenges.

I was inspired by Melissa Phillips stunning card found HERE for PTI's Create Along With Us.

Here's my version:

 I used Mix & Match Flourishes Die to cut the frame using Pale Peony card stock.  The leaves are from Embellished Elegance and the flowers are from Ruby Rose.  The sentiment is from Happiness In Bloom.

My next project is a tag for the Tag You're It challenge.  I haven't played along with their challenge in quite some time but was thankful to find time to play as I loved Lindsey's CAS style on her beautiful tag. 

Here's my take using PTI's Tag Sale #3 and Nostalgic Notions.

For some reason the photo came out really dark and washed out.  I don't know why.  In real life the colors are vivid and the white is bright, but you get the idea.  ;0)

There's still time to play along with both of these challenges so check them out and join in on the fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings~ Birgit

Thinking Of You with Asters

Hello friends~  Today's card features some wonderful dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

I started by blending on Distress Inks in Abandoned Coral, Tattered Rose and Antique Linen and then spritzing it with a solution of water with a drop of bleach.

 I cut the panel using Fishtail Borders and mounted the bottom portion to an A2 sized card and the top portion using foam tape to give it a little lift.

I cut the smallest Entwined Oval out of Kraft card stock and adhered it to the top portion of the card so that it hangs slightly over the bottom.

 I cut the Pair Of Leaves 1 out of olive green card stock and added a bit of color using ColorBox Dark Moss Chalk Ink.

 I then cut several Garden Notes Asters out of pink card stock, adding color with Distress Inks and assembling the flowers.  I added some Prills to the centers of the flowers.  I love the realistic look the prills give.    

Once the card was assembled I added a sentiment banner using a stamp from General Sentiments.

You can find all these dies at Elizabeth Craft Designs.

I'll be adding this card to the following challenges:
Crop Stop! ~ Distress Inks found in store
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge ~ Going Dotty
Word Art Wednesday ~ Anything Goes
The Sisterhood of Crafters ~ Encouragement
Double D Challenges ~ Flowers Galore
Creative With Stamps ~ Flowers

I hope you enjoyed today's card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings~ Birgit