Harvest Twofer

Greetings from Stamp Camp 2018.  All the Cardologists were here this weekend - lots of laughter, eating, and best of all, crafting.  More about that later.

Last night one of my dear friends asked if I was going to enter the Twofer Harvest challenge this month.  And when I gave the excuse that I didn’t bring any harvest stamps, all the Cardologists started digging.  Of all the stuff we brought, and I am talking about carloads, we had only one set with a basket of apples.  My friend had been joking, but I took it as a challenge.  Long after everyone else went to bed, I was stamping and coloring....even when I went to bed, I was dreaming about these cards.  I hope you enjoy the effects.

This first card was inspired by text messages one of the Cardologists was receiving from her husband.  He was signing off all his text messages with food endearments....my little artichoke, my asparagus sauce, my seven layer chocolate cake...it was so cute.

No beautiful sunsets this weekend; in fact, it has been cold with snow flurries. Although most of the leaves are down, there is still a grouping of beautiful trees with reddish orange leaves outside our window.  This second card is only partially inspired by our fall weather. At least we have three kinds of farm grown apples on our shelf (not that we eat a lot of healthy snacks here).

I used: Inky Antics Apple Pie (basket of apples, slice of pie, sentiments), Loralie Art Stamps Jake the Baker (Jake).

North Carolina 2018

We were getting really sick of winter and cold when my sister and I took a two week road trip to visit one of the Cardologists who had moved away to North Carolina.

The azaleas and mini rhododendron were blooming even in the mountains and they were already cutting grass in her development. Was it mean of us sending pictures of our picnic back to folks dealing with a late spring snow shower?

On the way home we spent most of one day traveling a leg of the Blue Ridge Highway.  

Yes, even with all there was to do in sunny Asheville, we two squeezed in some time to stamp together.

Just before I went on vacation, I learned how to make a butterfly push-through card at a Stampin' Up party.  I don't know if that is the official name of the card where the butterfly is mounted on the inside of a card and put up through a hole in the top.  We tried coming up with our own design.

Of course we didn't have a die to make the rectangular cut through the three layers of card and our Stampin' Up punch didn't reach.  So we punched one layer and used an X-acto knife for the other layers.  (Please don't look too closely at the rough edges of the opening.)

I hope you enjoy this interpretation. The flower frame is a Purple Daisy Design die, the butterfly is a set of two by Impression Obsession.  The sentiment and papers are from Stampin' Up.

Now as I post this, we are back home enjoying our own sunny day.  A bunny is standing motionless in my driveway, probably because he sees my cat.  Lucky for him the cat already has a mouse to play with.  Now I have a funny story about another mouse - but that is for the next post.

Have an enjoyable weekend.  But please keep in mind our servicemen this Memorial Day.
Thank you for visiting.

CC's 86th birthday

My auntie's favorite pastime is coloring in her coloring books so often when we visit her in the nursing home we are urged to take up the pencils and a book too.  All the staff have nicknamed her "CiCi" after her initials CCC.
 

Tomorrow is her 86th birthday so we took her out to dinner today and she had her favorite fried shrimp and a Switchback beer.   She gets a lot of good-natured teasing about the beer.

She loves pigs, so of course I had to make her birthday card with This Little Piggy from Stampin' Up. 


The windows were cut with a Paper Cut die set that cuts all three holes together.  One of the other Cardologists contributed the "happy birthday" diecut so I apologize for not knowing the company that makes the die.  

Silly me, I signed the inside before I remembered to take a picture.  I guess I should have said "hogs and kisses!"

Happy Birthday CC.

Scribble Hearts

We have been riding the weather roller coaster that is the bridge between winter and spring.  Last Friday it was almost 60 and then we had five inches of snow Saturday night.  Today I woke up to bright sunshine before my alarm went off and tonight the wind is blowing in the rain.  Whew.

Since this is the third week of February, the second Twofer Challenge is drawing to a close.  I love the idea of using the same stamp or die on two cards for different occasions.  Since the challenge prompt  is “hearts” this month, my
cards both feature the Scribbles heart die from Stampin' Up.

Since it is February, of course the first card is a Valentine Card. I really like using alcohol inks on yupo paper because there are no mistakes; you just keep going until you get a look you like.  This card called for heart-throbbing vibrant colors with gold highlights.  I used a stitched rectangle die from Our Daily Bread for a red layer backed with more gold.  The two dies by Stampin' Up are both the image and the sentiment, which means I didn’t use any stamping on the front of the card. (Is that even legal?)

 I struggled with the second card which I had in mind to be a sympathy card.  I tried so many combinations but it just wasn’t coming together until I saw last week’s Inspired by the Little Things. From that I picked out my colors, added the butterfly wings and lacy ribbon.  I did go a little off course using a Sizzix brick embossing folder instead of wood grain. The flowers were clear embossed and water colored before fussy cutting. Punches, dies and stamps are from Stampin' Up.

And now, I am off to spend a couple hours putting the stamping room to rights.  <Sigh>  Making the mess is more fun than cleaning up but of course you know that or you wouldn't be here.

Thank you for stopping by.

Dora

Cling Art

I was inspired by the CAS Mix It Up January Challenge and my friend Susanne's blog post to play with cling wrap and inks this weekend.  My card is so not-CAS that it doesn't matter that I was too late use it in the challenge.

There are so many ways to use cling wrap to get a design on paper.  I applied dots of ink from Stampin Up reinkers and gold Liquid Pearls onto a piece of  the cling wrap then smooshed glossy paper down on top of the ink.  I flipped it over and wrinkled the cling wrap.  After it dried and I had carefully pulled off the cling wrap, I had some interesting designs.


The insides of the flower and the bottom layer of the butterfly were die cut from the magenta and orchid dyed paper. Unfortunately, it doesn't show the gold highlights as well as some of the later experiments did.   If I had a do-over on this card, I would have glued all the parts to a light blue cardstock instead of a white layer that I ended up watercoloring because it was too stark.

The flowers are by DieNamites and the butterfly is a set from Impression Obsession. The sentiment is vintage Stampin Up from 1994.

Now I am off to play with my kitty who is very disgusted I have been at my computer so long.  I am getting some long looks and loud sighs from that guy.

As always, thank you for stopping by.

Another twofer

With only three days until the end of the first Twofer Challenge, I am posting a second entry. I know, I am just as surprised that I had two posts in one week.  Both cards are made with the Carmen’s Veranda crane.

The first card was made using a Misti to stamp the different colors; the verse is a Penny Black stamp I have had for years.

The second card has a background made with alcohol inks in Yupo paper.  The crane and harmony symbol were stamped in Stazon ink.  Luckily I used a Misti since it took a couple tries to get it dark enough.

The first card I envisioned as an encouragement card and so the inside is has a computer printed saying I took to heart this last year that I have been in Weight Watchers. 

The second card is stamped with a Technique Junkie verse making this a best wishes card.

Twofer challenge

I took a long break from blogging.  I was not intending to be away so long, but rearranging my stamp room led to finding a roof leak which led to roof and siding repairs. Now that some order is returning to my stamp room my mojo is back.

It just is providential that my friend Susanne had wonderful news to share with the Cardologists this month.  She was asked to be a guest designer for a new card challenge and so of course I had to check it out the Twofer Card Challenge and enter this month.

Twofer was a phrase coined by Darnell which means two cards posted on the same day.  Now she has turned it into a challenge which runs from the 1st of the month until the 24th. I hope that you will check out the challenge as well as both Darnell's and Susanne's blogs.

My first card is the sympathy card on the right. It was inspired by a memorial that was posted in our local paper: A feather, a robin, a butterfly too, are all signs your ANGELS are standing with you - Mary Jac.  The second card, uses the same feather stamps with coordinating dies from Stampin Up as well as the same color scheme in a birthday card.


I hope to be back soon.  Til then, I hope you are safe and warm.

Dora