Thinking of You Ombré Card

To make this "thinking of you" card, I embossed an A2 panel with Altenew's Linen embossing folder after doing some ink blending with shades of pink. I stamped the "thinking of you" and "consider this card a big hug" sentiments (from Altenew's Craft Your Life: Flourishing Garden set) in a dark pink and trimmed the sentiment strips to fit on a diagonal. I also die cut a tiny butterfly and ink blended it to add to the top left of the card.

For the floral focal point, I used Altenew's Watercolor Roses stencil and die set. I adhered the flowers with foam tape and added 3 gems to complete the card.  

Challenges I'm entering:

Crazy is our fame - STENCILS are our game! (stencilfun.blogspot.com): ATG with stencils (I used a stencil for the Watercolor Roses) (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG (ends at the end of the month)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Lots of layers (4/5; ends 7/22/24)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (4/5 for the week; 4/10 for the challenge; ends 7/31/24)

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Add sparkle (I have used sparkly gem embellishments) (2/5; ends 7/25/24)

Double D Challenges (daranddiane.blogspot.com): Basket full of posies (3/3; ends 7/31/24)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (3/6; ends 8/12/24)

Allsorts challenge blog: Flowers (3/3; ends 7/26/24)

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG with twist of floral delight (ends at the end of the month)

Can You Handle The Pressure? (cyhtp.blogspot.com): ATG with an embossing folder (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends 7/26/24)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with option of critter crazy (2/4; ends at the end of the  month)

You Are Tree-Mendous Card

 I wanted to create a special thank you card for the mother of one of my good friends who baked some frosted sugar cookies for me recently. I should have taken a picture of the red, white, and blue popsicle shaped cookies she made because they were so beautiful, but I forgot and ate all the cookies before it occurred to me! 

For the card, I started by choosing some pink, orange, and yellow water color card stock that I had ink smooshed, sprayed, and/or watercolored. I know those aren't traditional colors for trees, but they are the challenge colors this month over on the Altenew blog, and I thought they would be very pretty and feminine for this card. I used Altenew's Chestnut Tree layering die set to die cut the tree. After I die cut all the layers, including some ink smooshed browns for the trunk, I assembled the tree and then embossed a panel using Altenew's Rolling Hills 3D embossing folder and trimmed it for an A2 card. I had an A2 card base in my stash that has just the right colors to match the tree, so I adhered the embossed panel to the card base and then added the tree with foam tape for dimension. For the "You aer tree-mendous" sentiment, I used my Silhouette Design Studio software to create a print and cut of the sentiment and then added it to the tree with Art Glitter glue. 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Easy DIY Greeting Card with Tropical Vibes (altenew.com): 

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com): ATG (3/3; ends 7/22/24) C10

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG (ends at the end of the month)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Lots of layers (3/5; ends 7/22/24)

Can You Handle The Pressure? (cyhtp.blogspot.com): ATG with an embossing folder (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (3/5 for the week; 3/10 for the challenge; ends 7/31/24)

Allsorts challenge blog: Flowers or ATG (2/3; ends 7/26/24)

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG with twist of floral delight (ends at the end of the month)

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (1/3; ends 7/26/24)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with option of critter crazy (1/4; ends at the end of the  month)

No more challenges. 

Craft-A-Flower: Cosmos Slimline Card

I recently purchased Altenew's Craft-A-Flower: Cosmos layering die set, and I've been having fun playing with it! I just love the Craft-A-Flower series, and these Cosmos flowers are so pretty and easy to put together.

For this slimline card, I started by making a slimline card base and then trimming a panel of pink card stock for a base layer and a panel of white card stock to add the flowers to. I splattered the panel with pink, yellow, and orange water colors using my Altenew water color brush markers and let the panel dry. Then I die cut all the layers for three Cosmos flowers and their stems and leaves. I also die cut the word "Hugs" from Altenew's Watercolor Roses set, die cutting 4 layers of the word and glueing them together to add some dimension. For the flowers, I added foam tape between the first and second layer of the flowers and really like how that turned out. The card stocks I used for the flowers and foliage were ones I had made with ink smooshing, sprays, and water coloring, so they have some fun textures. 

When the splattered panel was dry, I arranged the flowers how I wanted them and glued everything down. Then I added the sentiment. I glued all the layers to the card base. 

Close ups:

These are the colors I used for the background splatter:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Easy DIY Greeting Card with Tropical Vibes (altenew.com): 

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (2/6; ends 8/12/24)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends 7/22/24) C10

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG (ends at the end of the month)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Lots of layers (2/5; ends 7/22/24)

 Word Art Wednesday: ATG (2/5 for the week; 2/10 for the challenge; ends 7/31/24)

Double D Challenges (daranddiane.blogspot.com): Basket full of posies (2/3; ends 7/31/24)

Creative Inspiration Challenges: ATG (2/2; ends at the end of the month)

Allsorts challenge blog: Flowers (1/3; ends 7/26/24)

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG with twist of floral delight (ends at the end of the month)

No more challenges. 

Tri-fold Birthday Card for Creative Creases #87

It's time for a new challenge over at the Creative Creases Challenge blog, and I thought I would make a fun fold card with a shaker panel to add a little extra fun to this birthday card! I hope you'll join the fun over at Creative Creases Challenge with a fun fold project of your own! Here's the link to the new challenge: Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #87 (secretstamper.com)

My youngest daughter just left on her first deployment last week, and her birthday is coming up next month, so I wanted to send out a card with plenty of time to get to her. I'm hoping to have her first care package mailed out this week. My oldest son was in the Marines, so I'm familiar with deployments, and something that always lifted my spirits was making up care packages. That helps me feel like I'm doing something tangible to help support and encourage my children.

The idea for this card started with Altenew's monthly color challenge combined with the daily challenges in the Altenew Fan Group FB page. The colors were from the monthly challenge and the use of splatter on some of the panels was from the FB group challenge to use splatter on a background. Then I also wanted to use some shaker pouches I had purchased a year ago. They are made to fit a slimline card, so I created the slimline shaker element for the inside of the card and then decided on a tri-fold card design for the rest of the card. I added some beads to the shaker pouch and then die cut Altenew's Craft-A-Flower: Cosmos and added that to the front of the panel. I die cut several layers of the sentiment die "hugs" from Altenew's Watercolor Roses set and adhered those together and then onto the shaker pouch. I adhered the shaker pouch to pink card stock and then adhered that to the inside of the yellow card base.

For the front panel of the card, I did some tone-on-tone stamping with Altenew's Crafted with Love stamp. Then I stamped and trimmed the "Sending you birthday wishes" sentiment strips using Altenew's Bewitching Rose set. 

For the next panel, I did tone-on-tone stamping using Altenew's Billowing Peonies stamp and adhered that to the yellow card base.

The next panel was also splattered with the same watercolors I used for the shaker panel. Using foam tape, I added Altenew's Watercolor Roses set that I stenciled and die cut. I added a stamped sentiment from Altenew's Proud of You set that I had die cut with a Gina Marie Designs stitched banner die. 

Then the panel with the shaker element is next, and finally the back of the card features Altenew's Bold Bouquet stamped as a background for the die cut "You" (also from Altenew) and the sentiments "are loved, are incredible, are cherished" from the Bold Bouquet stamp set. I adhered the orange panel to a layer of pink cardstock and then adhered that to the yellow card base. 

Close ups with labels of which Altenew products I used:

Craft-A-Flower: Cosmos layering die set with "Hugs" die from Watercolor Roses set

Billowing Peonies stamp set

Watercolor Roses (stencil and die set)

Sentiment from Proud of You stamp set (dies are from Gina Marie Designs)

Billowing Peonies stamped on the background and Wood Flower layering die set

Challenges I'm entering:

Easy DIY Greeting Card with Tropical Vibes (altenew.com): 

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (2/6; ends 8/12/24)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com): ATG (2/3; ends 7/22/24)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG (ends at the end of the month)

simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/: Lots of layers (2/5; ends 7/22/24)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 1/10 for the challenge; ends 7/31/24)

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Add sparkle (I have used sparkly butterflies on the back panel of the card and some sparkle on my die cut flowers from alcohol ink pearls and card stock I've sprayed with shimmer sprays) (1/5; ends 7/25/24)

Double D Challenges (daranddiane.blogspot.com): Basket full of posies (1/3; ends 7/31/24)

Creative Inspiration Challenges: ATG (1/2; ends at the end of the month)

https://stencilfun.blogspot.com/2024/07/july-2024-stencil-fun-challenge.html?m=1: ATG with a stencil (the yellow Watercolor Roses were made with a stencil from Altenew) (1/3; ends at the end of the month)

No more challenges. 

Double-Fronted Easel Card for Creative Creases #86

It's time for another fun challenge on the Creative Creases Challenge blog today where it's always anything goes with a fun fold project! I'm thrilled to be back as a Guest Designer again this time! We'd love to have you join the fun! Here's the link to Challenge #86: Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #86 (secretstamper.com)

My father-in-law has a birthday coming up, so I thought I'd make a special card for him using a new-to-me fold called a Double Fronted Easel Card. The instructions came from Di's Den Stamping, and the YouTube video is here: #248 (24) Double Fronted Easel Card (youtube.com)

Once I chose the card design, I then went about deciding on a theme. I recently purchased the Garden Reverie Ensemble at Altenew, and it include a beautiful Chestnut tree layering die set as well as a birdbath set with several layered bird dies. I thought a couple of the birds would look nice sitting in my tree, so I set about die cutting everything and assembling the pieces. I used some water color paper I had done some spraying, splattering, and ink smooshing on with various shades of green for the 3 layers of foliage in the tree die set. For the tree trunk, I used some dark brown metallic card stock scraps I had in my stash. The birds were made of scraps of white card stock that I then colored using my Ohuhu alcohol ink markers. 

I chose some fun card stock with an outdoor theme that has a lot of foliage as well as pinecones and adorable mushrooms on it to decorate the card. My other layers used coordinating colors of cardstock. I adhered all the layers and assembled the card base before deciding I wanted something behind the tree to help it stand out better and not get lost with that pattern paper directly behind it. I die cut a frame and oval from SU!'s retired Framed Florets set and popped the oval up on foam tape. Then I popped the tree up on more foam tape and added in my two little birds. 

For the "Have a Tree-mendous birthday" sentiment, I created a print and cut using my Silhouette Design Studio software. I cut out the sentiment using my Silhouette Cameo 4 and then adhered it to the card using foam tape. 

For the back of the card, I added some woodgrain washi tape to the top part and then trimmed a piece of green card stock and stamped some foliage from SU!'s retired Forever Fern set using tone-on-tone so that my sentiment would stand out. The "No one deserves a happier birthday than you" sentiment is from SU!'s retired Flowering Tulips set. If you are interested in some great deals on retired Stampin' Up products, my friend Debbie Mageed has quite a few for sale here: My 2024 Secret Sale - Google Docs.

To finish the back of the card, I added 2 wooden birds that I colored with my Ohuhu markers and adhered using glue dots. 

Front view of the card: 

Close up of the tree and birds:

Side view:

View of the back:

What the card looks like when fully unfolded:

What the card looks like when folded flat to mail:

 Challenges I'm entering: 

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 1/10 for the challenge; ends 7/17/24)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG (ends at the end of the month)

****Pammie's Inky Pinkies**** **********Challenges********** (pammiesinkypinkieschallenges.blogspot.com): ATG (ends 7/7/24) C10

Inspiration Station (inspirationstationchallenge.blogspot.com): The inspiration photo includes trees, and my card features a tree as the focal point 

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge Blog (cardsgalorechallenges.blogspot.com): ATG 

Bellflower Alcohol Ink Card

For my last entry to the Altenew monthly inspiration challenge, I decided to use some alcohol ink backgrounds I had created in purples, pinks, and greens to die cut the flowers and foliage from Altenew's Craft-A-Flower: Bellflower set. After die cutting all the pieces and layering them together to create the pretty flowers, I then created a panel to put them on. I used a piece of 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 white card stock to start with and embossed it with Altenew's Organic Linen embossing folder. Then I ink blended the colors from Altenew's Warm & Cozy ink set onto the panel with the darkest shades toward the edges of the panel. 

I then arranged the flowers how I wanted them on the card front and adhered the flowers and leaves with foam tape for dimension. I adhered the stem with liquid glue. Then I was brave and took out my gold paint and did some splatters. I love the look of splatters but am sometimes hesitant to add splatters to my cards for fear of ruining them after working so hard on all the details! Anyone else feel that way? 

For the inside of the card, I used Altenew's Bold Thanks die. I die cut the shadow die out of the same green alcohol ink panel I used for the stem and leaves. Then I die cut the individual letters out of gold card stock and adhered them to the shadow layer and then adhered everything to the inside of the card. 

Close up of the flowers:

Inside the card:

Challenges I'm entering:

Easy Thank You Card for June 2024 Inspiration Challenge (altenew.com) 

 Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (2/2; ends 7/12/24)

Allsorts challenge blog: Way to Grow or ATG (2/3; ends 7/5/24)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (2/2; ends 7/12/24)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG 

little red wagon (lilredwagon.blogspot.com):Layer it Up! (ends 7/2/24)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (ends 7/2/24)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG (3/6; ends 7/12/24)

Rhododendron Hugs Card

I recently purchased Altenew's Craft-A-Flower: Rhododendron die set, and last night I was able to find some time to play with the set and make a card for the monthly inspiration challenge over on Altenew's blog. I chose purples and pinks for the flowers and an orange background to follow the colors in the challenge.

I die cut the flowers and leaves out of water color card stocks that I had ink smooshed, ink blended and/or sprayed. I really love to create my own card stock like this! It's fun to play with all my inks and sprays, and then I have pretty card stocks to die cut from or use as backgrounds. 

The background for this card was water colored with orange inks and then stenciled using stencil paste to create the brick wall background. I added my leaves with Art Glitter glue and my flowers with foam tape for dimension. For the die cut sentiment, I die cut the word out of purple foam and then out of the same purple water color card stock I had used for the darkest layer of the purple Rhododendron and adhered them together and then added them to the card. I like to die cut fun foam for sentiments like this because I don't have any foam adhesive thin enough to pop up the sentiment with. 

 Challenges I'm entering: 

Easy Thank You Card for June 2024 Inspiration Challenge (altenew.com): (ends at the end of the month)

Gem of A Craft Challenge (pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com): ATG (1/2; ends 7/12/24)

Allsorts challenge blog: Way to Grow or ATG (1/3; ends 7/5/24)

Polkadoodles Cardmaking, Craft & Scrapbooking Challenge: ATG (1/2; ends 7/12/24)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: ATG 

little red wagon (lilredwagon.blogspot.com):Layer it Up! (ends 7/2/24)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (ends 7/2/24)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG (2/6; ends 7/12/24)

Forked Pillar Card for Creative Creases #85

It's time for another fun challenge over at the Creative Creases Challenge blog where it's always anything goes with a fun fold project! I hope you can join in by sharing your fun fold creations here: Anything Goes with a Fun Fold for Creative Creases #85 (secretstamper.com)

The idea for this card came from this video: 5x7 Forked Pillar Card (youtube.com). If you like unique fun fold cards, Iced Images is a great YouTube channel to subscribe to. I've gotten loads of great card designs from watching Louise's videos.

Using the measurements and instructions from the video linked above, I made the card base and several of the layers. I used some gold glitter card stock for the smaller side panels and colored some white card stock with my Ohuhu alcohol ink markers to match the deep purple in the bottom flower of the floral focal point as the base layer underneath the gold glitter card stock. I decided that instead of using pattern paper for the larger front panels, I would stamp, stencil, and die cut Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Always Sunshine floral focal point and then cut it up to put it on the front panels. I stamped the image with VersaMark ink and then embossed it using Altenew's Rose Gold embossing powder. Then I used the coordinating stencils to color the image following the colors in Altenew's monthly challenge. After die cutting it, I cut it into one-inch segments to fit on the front panels. The top segment was a little too tall, but rather than trim the very top off, I left it as is because I like how it goes off the card base a little. 

I stamped "consider this card a big hug" from the same Always Sunshine set and then added some gold sequins and orange and green gems to embellish the front. 

For the back panels, I made the layers using the measurements in the video and then embossed the white layers with the coordinating 3D embossing folder that comes in the Always Sunshine kit. I colored the embossed areas using the coordinating stencil and 2 shades of green. I wanted this to be a get well card for my uncle who is in the hospital right now, so I used the "feel better soon" sentiment from Altenew's Build-A-Garden: Grand Carnations set using VersaMark ink and Altenew's Rose Gold embossing powder again. Then I die cut the sentiment with the coordinating die from the Grand Carnations set. I just love it when there's a coordinating die for sentiments! I then used the Crafted with Love stamp set Altenew sent me for free this April to add a bit of personalization. To finish the card, I added a few diamond and orange gemstone butterflies. 

Side views:

Top views: 

Back of the card:

The card folds flat for mailing:

Challenges I'm entering: 

Easy Thank You Card for June 2024 Inspiration Challenge (altenew.com): (ends at the end of the month)

613 Avenue Create (avenue613.blogspot.com): ATG or option of For The Guys (ends at the end of the month) Top Rocker 

Triple B (dd-tripleb.blogspot.com): Birds, blooms, and/or butterflies (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 1/10 for the challenge; ends 7/2/24)

Digi Choosday Cardmaking & Crafting Challenge: ATG (1/4; ends 6/25/24)

A Place To Start (hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com): ATG (ends at the end of the month)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus (1/6; ends 7/12/24)

simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/: Emboss it (my card features heat embossing with Rose Gold embossing powder and dry embossing with Altenew's 3D Always Sunshine embossing folder. (1/5; ends 6/26/24)

Crafty Gals Corner (craftygalscornerchallenges.blogspot.com): Fun folds (2/3; ends at the end of the month)