Ready for those spring flowers

I took a nice long walk and snapped a bunch of pictures of blooming flowers - it felt so good!  And then I got inspired by this card on the Rubbernecker blog.  I had this Arbor die by Rubbernecker Stamps since picking it up at the Scrapbook Expo last year and it never once occurred to me to color it into a wooden arbor.  I just thought white vinyl arbors look so crisp and clean - but I loved it on that card so I tried a similar look.

I tried uploading the video here but it's not working.  You can find it on my instagram @yourstrulybydiana or Facebook page Yours Truly.

I added some Ivy, small flowers, and grass all by Rubberneck Stamps.  The little puppy is the Besties Forever small monthly kit by Spellbinders.

And then I went a little crazy and colored some more. Might as well when you have the right Copic colors out right?  The window is by Lawn Fawn and the wood grain embossing folder is by Tim Holtz.

And then back to the arbor.  Lol!  This time I sponged the background and added a bike by Memory Box.  The sentiment is by My Favorite Things.

Thanks for looking!

Challenges I am playing in: 

Simon Says Spring Mood Board

New Rubbernecker dies getting me out of my slump

We're almost into Week 4 of this new normal of social distancing and staying home.  My craft room has been put back together but I just kind of lost my crafting mojo.  I'm feeling very blah actually.  It was bound to happen - even for an introvert like me.  How are you doing?  How do you get out of the funk?

For me, I took a long walk, took pictures of the evidence of spring around us and tried using some new dies I got from Rubbernecker.  Their shipping was so fast but the dies just sat there for a while - which is strange for me!

I finally got them out and made a couple of really simple cards. The first one I die cut the vases out of white card stock and just sponged them with different colors.

 I also found some paint chips from cleaning my craft room so I used those.  They're quite perfect for the Rubberneck Vases and Shelves dies. I could not think of a sentiment to go with these so they may just stay blank.  They have a rather modern clean look to them.  The branch is a very old die by Memory Box.

By my third card, I'm adding more details and some blooms.  The window by Lawn Fawn was perfect to add behind the vases.  

Which one do you like?  And what tiny sentiment, if any, should I put on any of them?

Trio of cards with a Trinity die set

Layered Dies are pretty popular now but can be quite pricey.  My friend and I discovered Creek Bank Creations at the Scrapbook Convention back in June.  She bought the Trinity Capricious Die set and brought them over to play with. After we die cut *so many layers* we did manage to use them in a few cards.  They paired perfectly with word die cuts.

The green reminded me of a wreath so I added a bow and a red Quietfire Design Cheers across.

For this purple one, I added some little rhinestones to embellish the center.

This last blue one has a simple Lawn Fawn thanks die on the bottom but I first sponged a blue background using washi tape to mask and some Distress Inks.

You mean the world to me

Popping in to share this very simple card that says a lot.  I had picked up this die from my local ACMoore store before it closed.  It's a Love Nicole die and I paired it with a stamp from Lawn Fawn's Wish You were Here set.

It came together very quickly because the die came in a several pieces and colored the land portion with watercolor pencils.  A bit of masking to anchor the globe and then stamping the sentiment.

Sending Smiles

I made a card combining the cute critters from Mama Elephant Up and Away and Lawn Fawn Into the Woods for this card.  The lines are of similar thickness and the eyes are the same so the two sets worked perfectly together!

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Animal Antics

Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes

Creating a winter scene with dies

 It's biting cold today but no snow.  However, there is a forecast of snow on Saturday and Sunday which depresses my kids to no end.  If it's going to snow, it needs to be a weekday so they can miss school.  Haha!

It's not the same but I made a little snow scene myself in the craft room.  I really enjoyed making this and made a little video of it.  Still working on videos so I apologize for bad quality.  

As you can (hopefully) see, the dies work together really well for a sweet little scene.  After I glued everything down, I used a Signo white pen for the snow.

I made a couple of variations of the card - a "thanks" for one and a few with Bible verses for encouragement cards.   

Hope you like it!

Last minute Christmas cards

If you're in need of some last minutes Christmas cards, a little wreath (this one is from Lawn Fawn), patterned paper and word dies (I always reach for my Quietfire Design ones first) makes a quick and easy card.

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Stamps Christmas

Word Art Wednesday

Advent Gable boxes

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family/friends and that you ate your fill (and perhaps more!)  The day after Thanksgiving is not Black Friday for me (I hate shopping) but the official start of the Christmas season.  Though it seems I decorate earlier and earlier each year, I don't have to justify it any after Thursday.  :)

This year I started very early because the design team at Quietfire inspired me to make Advent boxes with the Gable box die.  25 boxes!  It went together very fast because I did not make them very fancy - I just gathered every little Christmas/Winter die or die cut I had - and I had a lot apparently.  Here they are lined up on the mantel.  The big white numbers are die cuts from Lawn Fawn Louie's 123.

 

A closer look at my arrangement.

So funny story - we had bought a second smaller tree a couple of years ago for my boys to decorate with all their ornaments from school and other craft times.  Of course, these ornaments would not be in gold, red, or silver which is the theme of the "big" tree.  So this second tree would be where those went - but this year I commandeered even that tree and decided it would house the advent boxes better than the mantel would!  Fortunately, they are boys so they did not care much as what is under the tree is much more important to them.  So here are the same boxes on a Christmas tree!

In case you're wondering what are in those boxes, they contain our Christmas to-do list... things to do every day as we count down to the 25th.

The children are about to experience firsthand how grammar and spelling is very important.  The 25th is of course "Open presents" but someone forgot an "s!"  Should I leave it as is or warn them?  Haha!

Oh so many scraps

A LONG LONG time ago, approximately 2 years, I made a quilt card and I did it in the most tedious way possible.  I die cut the same dies over a dozen times to make ONE card.  Considering how now I use both the positive and negative of a die now, it's quite funny.  

But like quilting, with papercrafting comes oh, so many scraps.  So one night I sat down and was determined to use the scraps I had saved... though not very carefully because there was not a complete set of anything.  Haha!  So instead of making a quilt, I glued them in a more graphic and freer pattern and came up with quite a few cards.  I'm showing my favorites here and you can see that I couldn't decide if I wanted to go stark white or a softer gray neutral.

I also went to my collection of word dies and paired them up for my different moods.  (If you knew how much time I waste on finding the perfect font for projects...)

Classy and elegant with Quietfire Design - always my go-to-company for word dies for obvious reasons.

Cute and whimsical with Lawn Fawn.

Sweet and kiddie with Sweet and Sassy Stamps.

Modern and fresh with Altenew.

Negative background

As promised, this is the other negative background from my post yesterday.  I popped it up, added a strip of black and added a word die (by Lawn Fawn).  I always have to add a little strip of something because the die is not a full cover-up of the card base - it's about an inch too short.  Thanks for coming back!

Sending Hedgehugs

Hello!  I made a cute little card using Lawn Fawn's Hedgehug that was fun to practice coloring on.  I need to work on my Copic Marker skills and this was a great experience.  I then die cut out the pair of hedgehogs and sponged a bit around the edges.  I had some Recollection washi tape that had numbers running along the edges - wasn't sure what I would ever used them for until I realized it was perfect for a subtle birthday card.  I circled the 17 because it's for a 17th birthday.  Cute, yes?  I'm adding this to the Simon Says Furry Friends challenge even though I'm not sure that you would call hedgehogs furry!  :)

Special Birthday

I have a niece who is turning 21 this month so I made this special card for her.  The message is made by combining two different Quietfire Design die sets:  Special Moments and happy birthday 2.  The "21" is from Lawn Fawn but the "st" is surgically cut the Christmas die cut!  I didn't want to mix too many "fonts" on the card.  The 21st is anchored on a doily and a cluster of Wild Orchid Flowers complete the card.

Purple is hard to photograph but it's one of my favorite colors to work with.

Special Moments metal cutting die

happy birthday 2 metal cutting die

Merry Christmas 2 metal cutting die

Birthday Fun

First, I will admit that I just love this card because it has a puppy on it!  I've turned into such a dog person that it's a bit insane.

I had a play date (the crafty kind with a friend my own age) and she had the cutest puppy stamp from  Lawn Fawn Happy Howlidays.  I was in need of a birthday card so I just that little puppy inside a paper-pieced box and made him into the best present!  I added some paw prints with the new stencil from Quietfire Design in grey ink - because paw prints and puppies just go hand in hand!

I added the birthday from this Happy Birthday die set and combined it with the new Fun die.  I made a galaxy background out of card stock and then used ultra thick embossing powder on the Fun die cut to make it really pop..

Isn't it just adorable?

Hearts and Paw Prints Stencil

Happy Birthday 2 Metal Dies

Fun Play Metal Die