March SOTM Blog Hop - Sunshine Birdies

Welcome to our March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop. If you just came from Dana Kessler's blog, you're on the right path.  If you need to see the entire list you an find it on Melinda's blog here.
We used the stamp set, Sunshine Birdies. This stamp is only available in the month of March. It's just perfect for spring!

This was such a fun stamp set to play with. I made all of my cards using the Penelope paper pack. My first card uses a Cricut frame with three windows since the stamp set has three different birds. I embossed the green background with the Vine embossing folder.

The last two cards also have Cricut cuts from Artbooking.  I used fussy cutting on the images of the first and made the second so that the detailed images didn’t need to be cut out.

On the first, the heart banner came from p.61 cut at 5.5 in.   I used the word “happy” from the stamp set by placing scotch tape over the other words while I inked, pulling it off before I stamped the word. Then I added the tiny word “birthday” from C1605, Happy  to be Friends. 

I discovered that the sun in the stamp set matched the number of rays as the Cricut sun on p. 53 when cut at 3 3/8 in. I stamped it on the Penelope yellow striped paper and colored and cut the center out to pop dot over the image I stamped on the die cut sun.

Thanks for visiting!

Now you're ready to go on to Gina's blog. 

SWAA March Blog Hop - Focus on Penelope and/or Boxes

Welcome to our Blog Hop!  I am featuring Close To My Heart's "Penelope" paper pack.   The blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start here and work your way all around. 

You may have just come here from Aggie Peters' blog.  If you get lost along the way, you’ll find the complete list of participating consultants on Melinda’s Blog.

I love the way this paper pack has 10 different patterned papers plus two "Picture My Life" sheets with nine more patterned 4" x 3" or 4" x 6" cards ready to cut out for pocket or regular scrapbook pages or cards.  On one side these cards are oriented vertically and on the other side horizontally.



My cards were inspired by the month of March! Green is coming soon in this brown and gray world around many of us!  The card base was cut out using Cricut Artfully Sent. I loved the curved front! I also wanted to use the Operation Smile stamp set, "Animal Greetings," so I included a small trimmed circle of gold glitter paper to anchor the tiny alligator chosen because he's also green. He's standing on a bow tied from Fern Thick Twine.  I used gold shimmer trim to easily edge the bottom of the inside.

My second card was embellished with a bow and glittery hearts from the Pear Fundamental Assortment.

I added four of the hearts inside the card to highlight the cut-out shamrock. You can see the shine of the gold embossed design on the bow here:

I shared three cards earlier this month using the Penelope paper. You can read the details about how I made them here. Come back throughout this month to see the other Penelope projects I'll continue to share here.

Thank you for visiting!  Now you're ready to move on to  Sheila's blog to see what delightful project she's prepared for you.


I'm sharing my second "green shine" card with the following challenges:

Creative Knockouts #130 - Go Green
D.L.Art Thankful Thursday #175 - Frogs and/or use the color green

Mojo Monday 436 Thinking of You Card

I haven't used any of my hoarded Basic Grey paper lately so when I pulled out a piece for my previous post, I pulled out the Euphoria pack, too. I know so many people who could use a card of encouragement that I really should be using this paper up.

The pale pink and green really make me think of spring!  So this card includes two of the stickers, flower and fern, from that pack along with the butterflies I stamped from the CTMH "Your Beautiful Self" set. I used the Mojo Monday sketch #436 and the colors from Color Throwdown #381.

 

If you're like me and get inspired by pastel colors to think of springtime, be encouraged. It's coming soon! Pass it on!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps and More #182 - Make your mark ( used Copic Markers)
Aloha Friday Challenge #66 - In the garden
Color Throwdown #381 - pink, green, kraft
Crafting for All Seasons #120 - 3 of a Kind (butterflies, pink sparkles)
Crazy 4 Challenges - Spring
Let's Color Saturday Linky Party #4 - (I used Copic Markers)
Mojo Monday #436 - sketch
Sisterhood of Crafters - Think Spring

My 3 Amigos Sombrero Layout

When I saw the Fiesta challenge at Bitten By the Bug2 on Monday I had two old photos from 1963 sitting on my desk. I had no idea what I'd do with them, but they reminded me of my sisters and the time my grandfather encouraged me to learn to speak Spanish. I didn't think I had any Cricut cuts that might go with the theme of Fiesta, but thanks to "Destinations" and "Graphically Speaking" I came up with a couple.

I had already cut up four pieces of Basic Grey "June Bug" that I hadn't used, but could pass as a Mexican fiesta design, so here's the result:

I used the Graphically speaking hat and words as my title and combined it with cactus from the other cartridge. I'm guessing from my brief introduction to Spanish in 4th, 5th and 6th grades that maybe "amigos" is masculine, but it didn't worry me since I think it was a play on words from a movie or show. I added stickers to make the word "my."

The Destinations cartridge had the cactus and the adobe Spanish mission church with the words New Mexico, but it was easy enough to cut out the word "New" since my grandparents had just brought back the sombreros from Mexico.

Here's my cut file in case you use the Cricut Explore.  I used CTMH papers: New England Ivy, Lagoon, Poppy, and some retired scraps of beach paper and dotted gray.

I'm not sure if my grandfather would have been as proud of me becoming proficient in French instead of Spanish, but I wish I could have told him what an influence he had on me guiding me to higher education and to enjoy people from different cultures all over the world.

I'm also sharing this project with the following challenges:

Bitten By The Bug 2 - Fiesta theme
Crafty Boots Challenge - no stamps allowed
Crafty Girls Creations #15 - anything goes
PDE Linky Party #112 - anything goes

Colorful Butterfly Birthday Card

Each year by the end of winter my eyes are starved for color! Where we live the world is shades of brown and gray, even the sky today. So I was ready for the bright colors at ColourQ Challenge #330:

My daughter is so busy with four kids, a good job, church and sports activities that she rarely looks at my blog, so here's the birthday card she's about to receive on Friday:

I used a bright red and yellow Basic Grey designer paper that I hoarded much too long. The butterflies are from a new CTMH set called "Your Beautiful Self." I colored them with ShinHan Touch Twin Markers (Y222, R11, B262, GY235) because the fine tips are great for the tiny spaces on the small butterflies.  I added three sparkles on the three butterflies and three gold metallic epoxy hearts (Treasured Puffies).  My sets of three were deliberate for the Crafting for All Seasons #120 - Three of a Kind.

Thank you for visiting! If you, too, are tired of winter, be encouraged! Spring in the Northern Hemisphere will soon be here with its lovely colors!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More #182 - Make your mark ( I used alcohol ink markers.)
ColourQ Challenge #330 
Craftin Desert Divas Linky Party - Nature's Wonders
Crafting for All Seasons #120 - Three of a Kind.
Crafting from the Heart #100 - anything goes
Crafty Gals Corner #60 - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes

Animal Greetings Thank You Card

I recently posted a couple of cards highlighting a recent stamp set that's a CTMH February special, Share the Love. I loved the fact that $7.00 of the purchase price was donated to Operation Smile which helps children around the world who have disfiguring facial problems requiring surgery.  So I decided to make a few cards using another Operation Smile special stamp available all year, Animal Greetings.

I decided to use a CAS (Clean and Simple) style to keep the lovely small animal from getting lost in patterned paper. I was inspired to use the beautiful colors at Stamping Royalty.  I used the Cricut Artistry cartridge to make the die cuts. I cut the heart border on each color of cardstock, put double-sided tape on the back of the heart openings and inserted different colors into the holes. I did the same with the tips of the sentiment banner. I colored the cute pig with alcohol ink markers. The white background was embossed with the Chevron embossing folder, but the angle of the light only shows one side of the embossed diagonals.

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:
AAA Cards Game #58 - CAS and sequins
Crafty Catz #312 - CAS
Critters and Creatures February Linky Party - anything goes with a creature
Hiding in my Craft Room #239 - Clean and Simple
Ooh La La Creations #198 - Clean and Simple
Stampin' Royalty #317 - color challenge

 



Happy Birthday with La Vie en Rose

I just had to make a birthday card from this same paper, La Vie en Rose, that I used for Valentines, with an emphasis on HAPPY. It only uses words to complement the flowers on the bottom panel. I wanted to pair the floral paper with this super version of the word, "happy" that I cut using Cricut Artbooking (p. 75)

I white-embossed the word Birthday after I had cut apart the two separate words of one of the phrases in the acrylic stamp set, Joyful Birthday. I added sparkle using a strip of metallic gold foil tape, black and gold ribbon, and gold sequins with a dollop of liquid glass.

Thanks for looking! May you bless someone else with a big dose of HAPPY!

I'm sharing this card with the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More #181 - anything goes

Crafting for All Seasons #120 - three of a kind (3 sequins)

Creative Moments #87 - anything goes/ twist- embossing, wet (or dry) 

Dream Valley #125 - Sparkle, bling, embellish

Moving Along with the Times #14 - words only, no image

Southern Girls Challenge - add a little sparkle