Using up extra backgrounds with Quietfire Design dies

How often do you change your mind on a design as you're making the card?  For me, lots! Only once in a while does it actually turn out how I pictured it.

So my projects today utilizes Quietfire Design dies combined with those perfectly good "leftovers."  There are quite a few dies to pick out of but with back to school still in mind, I went with Be Yourself and Good Luck.  From my stash of backgrounds I found a couple of wreaths I had just painted to make table setting number placards as well as a colored stamp from a recent play date.  (The older the scrap, the longer they stay in the scrap pile unfortunately.)

These first two cards could easily be swapped with any word die (I was really tempted to use the small Happy Birthday in them).  The wreaths were my first attempt at painting tiny roses and greenery - my Koi clean color brush made it very easy to mass produce these.  If you have other tiny artwork that are in your practice piles, consider turning them into cards! 

This cute boy card combines Be Yourself with this tiny superhero from My Favorite Things - just another good fit, I thought.  Hope you like my rather random post.  :)

Be Brave Bold Yourself metal die set

Good Luck metal die

ECD Masculine Summer card

I must admit I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I finish a masculine card.  Those aren't easy so I love it when it all comes together:

I made this card by sponging a small rectangle sheet of white card stock by masking clouds and the water.  Using Distress Inks in varying shades of blue, I made my background for the fishing rod from the Camping Accessories die set.   A bit of white gelly pen and some metallic blue Sakura pen adds just the amount of detail for the water.  My Molotov Chrome pen makes it easy to add silver to the reel and hook.

Using a sheet of Through the Lens Wood series by Elizabeth Craft Designs, I added a wood grain background with just the right contrast so that my Summer die cut pops up.  A bit of twine for added texture and this masculine card is done!

4 Seasons metal die set (Quietfire Design or Elizabeth Craft Designs)

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says Add a Die Cut

Word Art Wednesday

Happy Little Stampers:  August Anything with a Die

Scrapy Land Challenge

Personalized birthday card

My son had a birthday party to go to and it was for a 15 year old boy - my cute cards were not going to be appropriate at all.  So I made a quick one using my old color bursts (haven't used those in a while!) and large alphabet dies by Momenta.  The Happy Birthday is white embossed on black and I'm pretty sure it came from My Favorite Things.  (I had stamped and cut out the strips a while back at a crafty play date so this is not a set I have in my stash.)

I was going to do an eclipse card but found it very hard to read so I stacked four layers of black die cuts and shifted the top layer just a bit so that it popped up and had a shadow.

I heard he liked the card!

Nothing says I miss you like puppy dog eyes

Any dog lovers out there?  Then you are my kind of people!  :)  When I saw that Elizabeth Craft Designs had just come out with this cute Dog die, I had to have it!  (Now if someone wants to come out with a Samoyed die, I would be ever so grateful.)  

I used ECD's Soft Finish cardstock for my dogs and this paper is a beautiful thing.  It takes the Distress Inks really well and has this lovely soft texture to it.  You have to try it.

The Distress Inks and Oxides come in several shades of brown and I think I used all of them for the two different dogs.  The dog dies come with two different set of ears and I think it is a lot of fun to arrange them to give the dogs personality.  (I love watching my Sammy's ears twitch to different sounds.)  I had the two puppies appear to be popping out of two circle openings and I thought that went perfectly with the "Miss you" die.  

The Miss you was die cut on dark blue card stock and I used the same one to mat the card.  Again I used a long and skinny card base (1/3 of the standard 8.5 x 11 paper) so that it would fit inside a business envelope easily.

Miss you Metal die (Quietfire Design | Elizabeth Craft Designs)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!  My own dear father passed away a couple of years ago but there are some men in my life that I truly appreciate and I take this day to tell them that because quite honestly, I don't tell them enough.  Do you send Father's Day to other great role models in your life besides your dad?  Men who are just good men and have been there... Thank you!

I used scrap paper from Elizabeth Craft Designs (Through the Lens - Wood) and ODBD (Vintage Ephemera Paper Pack) and the verse is from ODBD Good Man.

The inside is from a stamp set my crafty play date friend had (so sorry I don't know who made it!)

Fill 'Er Up DAD with ombre background

Morning!  My second post for this Saturday so I'll keep it short.  I made this card using the Fill 'Er Up DAD.  I used the Memory Box geometric die for the sides and sponged an ombre background so that the colors would peak through.

I colored in the DAD with watercolor pencils and added Crystal Effects after it dried - made it go from plain to wow!  The enamel effect gave it a polished stone feel.

Have a wonderful Father's Day weekend!

Fill 'Er Up DAD

Quick and Easy Masculine Recycled Keepsake Box

I'm on the Elizabeth Craft Design Blog today with this quick and easy keepsake box.  It came together so fast - hop on over to here to read how I did it.  Thanks in advance!

Challenges I am playing in:

Simon Says For the Boys

Looking back ODBD September Release

Good morning!  I hope you are having a wonderful September so far! We're getting into a good routine which is much needed in our household.  That also means I have time set aside to craft - yay!

Here are a couple more with the new ODBD September release this month.  I am really loving the paper pad this month.  I don't use a lot of designer paper because I enjoy making my backgrounds  but this pad has been great.  The cards practically make themselves and having solid coordinating colors is soooo nice.

I made a quilt background for the first card - all with just two sheets of the paper pad!  

For the second card, I die cut out a rectangle to frame my quote.  I popped up the paper and it made it look like an extra large mat - I love those!  I put a quote in mine but I think even a personal picture would be great with such a simple and understated layout.

For more inspiration, be sure and check out the rest of the DT!

Cathy * Sandee * Lisa * Lori * Dawn * Helen

Justice For All	Circles Dies	Stars And Stripes	Pierced Rectangles Dies
Double Stitched Rectangles Dies	ODBD Star Quilt Die	Double Stitched Circles Dies

ODBD August Reminder

Hello!  I've made a couple more sports themed cards with ODBD's August release - just in time for school starting and with it, all the many activities that come with it.  

I made a small and simple scene for my soccer ball.  I added a Bitty Border to tie the scene and sentiment together.  The blue background is paper from the Old Glory Paper Pack.

The Old Glory Paper Pack was also used as the background for the volleyball card below.  I colored my volleyball with colored pencils and brushed with Wink of Stella afterward.

For more inspiration, please visit the ODBD blog and the other DT's creative work.

Cathy * Sandee * Lisa * Diana * Lori * Dawn * Helen

Soccer Stamp/Die Duos	Volleyball Stamp/Die Duos	ODBD Old Glory Paper Pack	ODBD Custom Pierced Squares Dies
Pierced Rectangles Dies	ODBD Bitty Borders Dies	Grass Hill Die

ODBD August Release

Hello!  Are sports season upon you, ending, or just starting? How many sports are your kids involved in?  If they are in any, this month's Sports release probably has something for you!  I'm showcasing the Soccer and Volleyball set today with two very similar cards just to show you how easy you can customize it to fit the team of your choice.  By changing the border and matting, you can emphasize your colors or just use the colors in the background.   

I was playing with my new distress oxide inks so you know I had to use as many of them as I could!  For the Volleyball, I went with the blue and colored in the varsity letters in the same blue.

For the Soccer, I went with black and red (just that nice detailing in the word WINNERS).

My DT sisters have been super creative this month!  And as you may have noticed, there are so many masculine designs to case!  Hop along for a chance to win.

Cathy * Grace * Angie * Sandee * Kathy 

* Diana * Dawn * Lisa * Chris * Lori * Helen

Rectangles Dies	Squares Dies	Soccer Stamp/Die Duos	Volleyball Stamp/Die Duos
ODBD Old Glory Paper Pack