Greetings from Florida!

As I write this post it is 80 degrees here today in South Florida! For anyone seeing this who is in a cold place, I hope this beach scene warms you up. 

So, I love EVERYTHING that The Greetery makes. I have a huge wish list of their products going at all times. The Paper Players this week has a Sketch Challenge PP525 and I thought of some of The Greetery products I own that might work: Destination Summer and the postal dies. Here is my card and The Paper Players sketch.

Nothing like fussy cutting the sun and right afterwards finding that there is a die in the set for it! Ha! I like the sun stamp a lot because it says Sun!

I made a stencil with the Destination Summer Waterfront map die by cutting it out of acetate in my Big Shot machine. (I am sure the one they sell is sturdier) Using blender brushes and mostly distress oxide inks, I stenciled the sections in the map by masking off the water from the land parts of the map and vice versa. The cutting and stamping of the palm trees, boats, sun, camera, etc., is a two or three-step stamping process for most objects. (The sailboat, for example, takes two stamps to make a completed sailboat: the boat/mast and then the sails.) It's a fun process because they are so cute as they come to life! I used the postal die to give a postcard look, die cut the postmark die and made the greeting on my computer to fit into it. I popped up almost all the die cuts on foam tape for the look of movement and depth. Last minute, I added a few fun Seaside Holiday sequins from Buttons Galore & More as well as some Wink of Stella shimmer along the edge of the water, on the sun rays and the flowers.

It is fun to challenge yourself to make a card based off of a sketch. Check out all the creativity over at The Paper Players!

See you again soon,

Carol

Collect Moments

Hello again! This is week 4 for me as a guest designer on Just Us Girls, and it has been fun challenging myself to make something on a specific theme. The inspiration photo for this week (posted below my card) shouted "bokeh technique" to me, which I learned quite a few years ago. I thought the picture could be showing falling snow, too, but I liked the bokeh process and wanted to try it again. I also was inspired for the focal point of the card by this floral card by @dearpaperlicious. Here is my card:

This flower stamp is older Stampin' Up and I have used it a lot. The leaf stamp is from my early days of stamping (1990?) from a company called Magenta. The sentiment is from Lora Bailora called Selfie Collection. I embossed the flower in black so that the watercolor wouldn't make the stamped image run. Here is a Link to a bokeh technique video in case you have never seen it done. 

Well, I hope you will be inspired by the Just Us Girls Challenge #568 photo and join us by making a card or project and uploading it this week! Check out all the design team ideas and see what the other girls came up with!

In addition, I am submitting my Collect Moments card to The Flower Challenge #52 that a friend just told me about. Who doesn't like flowers or making floral cards? Click here to check out this challenge! They even have a beautiful, free, 2021 calendar on this post!

Finally, I am also linking up with #thetwofercardchallenge#34 and here are my two cards using the same stamp. The pink card is a birthday card for my daughter (inside it says "Best Day Ever" and her birthdate) and the aqua card is an inspirational card in general. The flower is embossed in white on the birthday card and in black on the Collect Moments card for a different look with the colors used on each card. Both cards use the bokeh technique as well!

I like the idea of making two cards at a time with the same stamp: more cards to have ready to give to someone as well as getting more use out of my supplies! It also challenges me to make cards for different occasions which can help my creativity and mojo!

Sorry for the long post! My card(s) happened to apply to several current challenges!

Hope to see you back here soon,

-Carol

Near The Sea

Hello again! This week the Color Hues Challenge #10 is asking for navy and cream for a card. The cards the others have been posting are so pretty and I wanted to give it a try. Be sure to check out all the pretty and creative ideas there. Here is my card:

I was reorganizing my craft space and came across this sailboat die. I decided to make a double easel fancy fold card with it on some waves dies from My Favorite Things. I don't remember who the boat dies are made by, but the sentiment is an oldie from PSX. Here is a link to this fancy fold card by Patty Bennett. It's a pretty easy card once you see how it is put together!

See you soon,

-Carol

Ahoy Matey!

Hello from surprisingly chilly Florida! I have a new card to share that I have been wanting to make for a while now. There is a video by @laurafadora on You Tube of a cutting technique that really intrigued me. For this week's Just Us Girls #567: three shades of blue, I decided to try the technique that she teaches in her video. Here is a link to it. My card uses three shades of blue (although my photography might look like I used black), and the neutral colors grey and white.

By die cutting with two circle dies, one inside the other, you get a ring. Mount the rings on different colored base squares and then cut the squares into quarters. Mix and match the quarter pieces and this is the result! I want to try a bold colored one like @laurafadora did on her card. I love bright colors! I thought that the circles looked like compasses, so I die cut an anchor and made a little tag for the tiny sentiment. The inside of the card has stamped images from the Avery Elle stamp set Swell. This seemed like a good color scheme and design for a masculine card, so my husband will get it in a few weeks for his birthday. 

Check out this Just Us Girls Challenge #567 this week and try a "blues" card yourself. It was fun!

See you next week!

-Carol

Valentine Flowers

Paper-pieced flowers for my Valentine in reds and greys! This is my second card for the Color Hues The Color Challenge #TCH #9 that ends tomorrow morning. There is still time for you to add your red and grey project to the challenge! The Hibiscus Garden 3D die set I used is from Altenew and the Love You sentiment is Simon Says Stamp CZ Design Love You Like. 

Go check out all the really nice cards at Color Hues! So many great ideas there and lots of talent!

-Carol

Crockpot Chicken, Avocado and Lime Soup

So I thought I would mix it up today (pun intended) and share a new recipe I tried for dinner tonight. We are big southwestern/Mexican food fans in our house. I recently found this recipe on The Defined Dish site and I made it today for the first time. There are crockpot directions as well as for the Instant Pot. We LOVE it! I make chicken tortilla soup sometimes and throw in whatever I have in the pantry, but this was the first time I followed a recipe in a while and I am so glad I did! The recipe is linked above where it says "The Defined Dish." We garnished ours with crushed tortilla chips, fresh cilantro, Mexican cheddar mix cheeses and sour cream. (I also used uncooked, chicken breast cutlets, cut into smaller pieces, instead of whole breasts to make it even easier at the end.) I forgot to put in the fresh lime juice and think I might try it next time. I cooked it for 5 hours on high in the crockpot. What a great meal for a chilly day/evening! Here is how ours looks!

Hope you try it sometime. I was easy and delish!

-Carol

You Warm My Heart

I have had this Waffle Flower die set Go Girl Winter for a while and wanted to use it in December, but didn't. This week's Just Us Girls Challenge #566 is "Use a stencil." So I thought I could use this die set and make a whirling wind background where the photo frame could sit. Be sure to check out all the design team cards here for more inspiration and then join in the fun!

With various scraps of patterned paper I die cut the girl, her outfit and accessories, hair and background and pieced them together. I like the holographic goggle lenses and the "sweater" the best! Then I took a Sizzix Swirly die and cut it from a piece of cardstock to make a stencil. I used Versamagic Cloud White ink to stencil onto the blue card base. I stamped the sentiment from my new Pretty Pink Posh Winter Wonderland Stamp set using markers to ink it up! I also inked and stamped her lipstick with a marker using the Waffle Flower Go Girl stamp set. I popped up the photo frame with foam tape to make it stand out.

Play along with us! If you don't have a commercially made stencil, make one like I did!

See you soon,

-Carol