Susan's Garden Azalea with Garden Pot ~ Spellbinders

Good morning crafty friends!  I've been spending as much time outside working in the flower gardens as possible when the sun is shining, but I was quite happy to take a break when these dies from Spellbinders arrived.  I was given the opportunity to work with these beautiful dies from Susan's Tierney-Cockburn, Nature's Botanical Garden Collection.  

I chose the Azalea and Garden Pot with Lady Bugs to work with.  These flowers are truly stunning!  Note:  I did not add the lady bugs to my projects.

The background was made using Nested Postage Labels & Tags and Postage Numbers from the Bayfair by Rosie's Studio collection.  I created a collage style background by stamping images from Cathe Holden's Sign Here and Handle with Care.  

The second card is much more clean and simple but equally pretty!

I love how gorgeous these flowers look when molded on a soft mat using a stylus ball tool from Susan's Ultimate Tool Kit.  The stamen have been fairy dusted with a bit of Yellow Paper Flower Pollen to give them a realistic look.

 

Here's a list of all the products I used that can be found at Spellbinders:

Azalea and Garden Pot with Lady Bugs ~ Nature's Botanical Garden Collection

Nested Postage Labels & Tags ~ Bayfair by Rosie's Studio Collection

Postage Numbers ~ Bayfair by Rosie's Studio Collection.

Cathe Holden's Sign Here

Handle with Care

Susan's Ultimate Tool Kit

Yellow Paper Flower Pollen

While typing up this post, our azalea bush was in full bloom.  It is stunning this year!  

We had the blessing of babysitting our dear little "C" over Memorial weekend.  Here he is standing in front of the azalea bush, donning his red & blue to honor our veteran's and those who serve our country.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day!  Happy 4th of July!  However you commemorate this day, let's not forget the adoption of our Declaration of Independence and the lives that were sacrificed to gain such freedom. 

These darling little gals are starting off the day with a bang!  

I purchased the doll images on Etsy and thought they'd be perfect perched atop a couple of old red and white spice tins that were hiding in my closet of shame for far too long.

The Tim Holtz Idea-ology Baubles were colored using Red Pepper and Stonewashed alcohol inks. LOVE!!

Each young lass got a paper pinwheel, a paper flag and a smattering of glittery garland.

I had this envelope sitting in a pile of mixed media materials and I thought the red stripes on the envelope would make a perfect patriotic altered piece. 

A few book pages and paper scraps later and viola!

  

A good use of a tiny dictionary page.

I filled the envelope with some paper ephemera to give to a friend who also likes to create vintage altered art.

While you're here, do you want a look into the stepback cupboard all decorated for July??
 

Pretty much everything in the cupboard came from thrift stores at one time or another.

The gingham plates are from The Pioneer Woman.  Milk glass is always abundant in thrift stores.

Some of the many jars in my collection have been found during excavation at my dear hubbies different job sites.  A little soaking and elbow grease can clean them up nicely.  I love the look of cobalt glass!

These old parade flags have 48 stars.  They were in my great aunts house when we were cleaning it out.  I think they were from our town's parade in 1976, celebrating our nation's 200th independence anniversary.

I hope you enjoyed your visit today.  I know it was a long post, but thanks for sticking with me if you did.  

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stash Busting

Hello friends!  Who of us does not have a mountain of patterned paper just waiting to be used?  In an effort to bust through my over abundant stash of papers (and stop spending $$), I am determined to use what I have.

I've been sitting on this marvelous pack of patterned paper from Echo Park for far too long.  It was time to put it to use.  I pulled out cardstocks in coordinating colors and star dies to get me started.

Along the card making journey, I added other dies like tags, banners and circle dies, as well as gems from my stash.

This is a picture heavy post, so I'll let the photo's take over from here.

Thanks for sticking with me.  I'm happy to say that most of this paper pack has been used except for a few leftover sheets which I'll be sure to use in future makes.  I hope I've inspired you today to use what you have and bust your stash.

I'll be adding one of these cards to the following challenges:

A Cut Above ~ Let's Start Off With A Bang!

Color Throwdown ~ Kraft, Red & Blue

The Paper Players ~ using the top row, Stars, Bling & Blue

Be safe and happy this 4th of July!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Seas The Day ~ Nautical ~ Double D Challenge

Good morning friends and Happy Independence Day, almost!  As the nation prepares to celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, Double D Challenge is bringing you a new challenge with a Nautical theme.  

I pulled out an old paper pack from Authentique called "Seafarer" for my card.  How appropriate that the colors in this collection are red, white and blue. 

My friend Donna so kindly shared some of her die cuts with me last year, and I cut these wonderful oars along with many other nautical themed dies.  Thanks Donna!

This is a fun challenge you won't want to miss!  So be sure to visit Double D Challenge to see more inspiration from the amazing team and join in on the fun.

Here's the inspiration board to give you a jump start:

And here's what you could win when you play along:

Be safe and enjoy your 4th of July!

Thanks for stopping by!

Good Day Sunshine! ~ Poppystamps

Hello friends!  I sure do love the summer months, but even on the rainy days the sun is always shining in my craft room.  

Poppystamps is starting a new challenge this month titled "Good Day Sunshine".  ~~𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮Good day sunshine, good day sunshine, good day sunshine𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮~~ Is that song stuck in your head now, like it is in mine?  The Whittle Racing Giraffe Kit came out to play for this challenge.

This tall giraffe from Whittle Racing Giraffe Kit is driving his convertible, probably to the beach where he'll catch some sun rays and talk a long walk on the shore. (Get it??)  Sorry, bad joke.  Anyway, the sunshine and sentiment are from the Whittle Tropical Gator Kit.

A piece of Glimmering Gladiola 6x6 paper pack was used for the background, while I used a Double Scalloped Stitched Frame to bring attention to this little speed demon.

Zoom on over to the Poppystamps Challenge to play along with this fun, summer challenge!

Enjoy the sunshine!  Thanks for stopping by!