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.

Butterflies and Music

I am in love with a background technique I found on Pinterest called "bokeh" that comes from a photography term. There are many sites that provide details on how to do it and even a few different ways to get the effect. Here is a picture of my first attempt....

Yeah, I missed a few spots...but I have to say this is an easy and fun technique, so I will be doing it again.  If you haven't tried it and can't find it let me know and I will send you a couple links.

This week Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge 28 letter is "M" for music. I don't have any "Music" stamps but I am poised to purchase (have it in my cart already) the Hero Arts stamp the guest designer, Kath, used in her inspiration card. I inked part of a Christmas stamp to get the music for my background.  I used a new Darice die for the vine and a Stampin' Up embosslit for the butterflies.

I love butterflies and can't wait to see some flying around here.  We lost the last of our snow last week and the mud is drying up in the bright sun today.  Last night I heard "peepers" in the pond out back. This week we are supposed to get some rain which will bring some lovely green into our dreary scenery.  Spring arrived so late, that we can hope we won't have another frost that kills the apple and lilac blossums this year.

And because I made my own background, I am also linking this card to the Simon Says Wednesday challenge.  Their sponsor this week is My Favorite Things. 

Thank you for visiting. 

Morning glory

Hello, to my newest follower, Joy, from Morning Glory Card Studio.  In your honor, Joy, I pulled out this old Hero Arts morning glory stamp which I have had for almost eighteen years. The Just for Fun "Dream" stamp that I used on the inside has also been in my stamp drawer for almost that long. I think that qualifies this card as retro rubber!

My friend Susanne is a guest designer for challenge 8 on the  Retro Rubber challenge blog which involves using eyelets.  Yes, eyelets, isn't that a blast from the past!  I dug out my stash and found these little beauties purchased back when we were all using eyelets, and to the best of my memory, I have never used.

Thank you to Retro rubber for the chance to use some of my supplies.  I hope my readers will check out the challenge; you still have time to enter before the deadline, this Friday, February 27. 

I also used several snippets of paper in this card including the white cardstock, left over from my Valentine cards, and just big enough for a 4-1/4 inch square card.  The green backgrounds were in my scrap bin as well as the snippets I used for die cutting the butterflies. So I will be linking to Pixie's Crafty Workshop blog now on challenge week 165.  I hope you will stop by and say hello to Di and Parsnip.

Now to find my white pen in the mess on my desk to write a greeting on the green, hmmm.

Thank you, dear readers, for visiting today.

Butterflies

My sister likes butterflies, and even though we are past the season to see them here, I found myself making a butterfly card this week.

My friend, Susanne, found a technique posted by Therese on  her website Lost In Paper this month using solid dies with embossing folders to create a frame for a matching stamp.  To our dismay, the Cardologists do not have many solid dies.  I have one solid die, but no stamp to match so I tried the technique with a set of dies from Impression Obsession that I fortuitously received in the mail this week.




The effect of the frame is lost unless you peak under the butterfly in the closeup, so it would work better with a matching stamp, and as we found out from our experimenting, if the die is sized to leave a border around the stamp.

The butterfly was cut from a left over scrap of ink applied direct to glossy paper. The word stamp is from a Stamp Camp set; the embossing folder is from Provo Craft/Cuttlebug. 


Thanks for visiting my blog.
Dora

Jules birthday

In my last post I mentioned that we were celebrating a birthday.  Now that she has seen the card, I can post pictures of Jules' birthday card.  I have been wanting to make a rainbow card in DSP for a while after seeing similar designs on pinterest.  I combined Sage greens and Bliss Blues.  Since I didn't have to mail it, I added a flower made with the Stampin Up pansy punch (pinterest again) and spritzed with Tattered Angels. I had a new butterfly die from Memory box to add more dimension to the front.   The inside is a step card - and you guessed it - directions found on pinterest.  (Now you know the reason I don't post much!)



My step card says "Big Wish"; the letters were handcut - so many dies, but none the right font! I used a Rubber Stamps of America fairy stamp I bought ages ago.  I had to use the computer to make it smaller to fit  and also to flip one.  That's the SU pansy stamp in the background.  Note to self - don't use such heavy cardstock next time - the card is way too thick and heavy.  Stands up good though!

Memorial Day

Hello friends,
My, haven't we had a run of good weather.  There is a little guilt when I say that because while the west has huge fires because of the drought, and the south is flooded due to all the rain, el nino brings us great weather.  I have been spending most free time outdoors raking and pruning and getting the yard looking nice.  The hardy spring flowers (the ones that grow in spite of my efforts not because of them) are making their appearance. 

As well the mosquitos that drove me indoors this evening.  Not to worry because I got a chance to finish the cards I started Thursday.  The Cardologists played with sponging inks on glossy paper.   Usually my "pieces" end up in the drawer until inspiration strikes, but today, I was on a roll.

 

On the first card, we had punched the Stampin Up pansy punch and used it as a mask to sponge distress inks.  Mine was a little plain even after stamping a center, so I cut it up, added a vine and a butterfly from Stampin Up Papillon.   The second was a 1-1/8 inch circle.  It is a little small because I kept forgetting to sponge inward and landed off the side of the mask.  Some booboos I could cover up; some had to be cut off.  I borrowed the stamp from Lola so I can't remember the company. Today  some scraps of paper to match; assorted punches and sentiment by Stampin Up,  et voila. 

Tomorrow I will go to the cemetery as it is Memorial Day. However, you spend your day, I hope you get an opportunity to pause and remember.

Thank you for stopping by.