Branching Out

Here's a quickie I put together with three different dies. The leaf die originally had three leaves, so I trimmed one leaf off to give the little birdie a place to stand. I paper-pieced the bird like I did before, to give her some added interest. I say "her" because the brown and red reminds me of a female cardinal. I LOVE seeing these in my yard, and we usually have a pair of cardinals nesting in one of our trees each year. The label die is from a Becky Higgins set and is a great size for many of my scripture and sentiment stamps, though it also proved to work well for this bird and a saying. The sentiment is from the "Be Kind" set by Verve.

Can you see the texture on the leaves? There was a paper insert in a box of soap I'd bought, and rather than throw it away, I knew I'd find a use for it one day -- and that's how it became a branch with leaves. I like re-purposing things like this, but it's a slippery slope between saving things you'll use, and saving things and having them pile up, up, up! The trick is to actually USE it once you've saved it. :)

Have a happy and safe Friday the 13th!

Collage Duo

REMINDER: Now thru July 8, enjoy 40% off ALL Hambo stamps! See our SALE page for details. 

I had this "collage" page in my Pebbles paper pad that I wasn't sure how to use. It's kind of busy to use as a background, as I normally do my designer papers. But then instead of seeing the page as a whole, I started seeing the smaller squares and rectangles and ways I could divide the paper, and I came up with two designs:

Not only did dividing up the squares make them more manageable, but I still have enough squares left over that I could make a third card -- just not today!

The first card uses two rectangular sections that I cut out:

I framed these two sections with another coordinating paper from the same pad. For some added interest, I used a couple of dies to cut out a red heart, which I popped up on the bottom, and a yellow flower, with a little jewel center.

For my second card, I centered a larger portion of the collage on my white card stock base:

I framed it out with a coordinating turquoise solid paper, and then added a Hero Arts sentiment to the bottom. Very CAS (clean and simple)!

This keeps happening to me, where a design that I originally skipped over because I didn't know how to use it, ends up making cute cards that I want to duplicate! Maybe some day the lesson will sink in, and I won't immediately dismiss something that is challenging.

Have a great weekend!

Supplies:

Stamps - sentiments on both cards by Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings"
Paper - "Garden Party" by Pebbles
Ink - Memento "Lady Bug" red (top); Memento "Teal Zeal" (bottom)
Dies - heart & banner (top) by Becky Higgins

Pretty Poppies

It's been forever since I played along with a Splitcoast sketch challenge, so I'm patting myself on the back a little, because I found this one to be kind of tough. I had several images that could take up the longish space on the left, but what would coordinate for the smaller boxes on the right?

I really wanted to use my Stampendous "Poppy Scene" stamp on the left, but adding further to my problem was that the frame around the image was irregular. My solution? Doodling!

That's right - those boxes on the right were doodled with a Micron pen. I stamped poppies from a Technique Tuesday clear set, but they didn't look right. I settled on keeping the stems from that stamp, but then re-stamping the Stampendous one, and cutting out some of the poppies to glue on top of the Techique Tuesday stems. Then I used a sentiment from Hero Arts to complete the layout.

I always like a red/white/black combination (maybe because of my love for the Detroit Red Wings?), and I think this pops. Hah! Appropriate for "Pop"pies! LOL (I crack myself up.)

Enjoy the last few days of June. See you in July! OH - And look for a big Hambo Stamps sale coming up next week! 40% discounts on everything - spread the word!

Have a great weekend!

Supplies:

Stamps - Stampendous "Poppy Scene"; Technique Tuesday "Growing Wild" set (stems); Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings"
Paper - "Garden Party" by Pebbles (DP); Stampin' Up real red cardstock
Ink - colored with Copic markers; sentiment embossed with white powder
Dies - banner from Becky Higgins set

Bird of the Feathers

This card is a simple one. I love this fun feather print (from Love Nicole's "Delicate Floret" pad), but I didn't have any feather stamps or dies to use with it. But I DO have this bird die, which I paper pieced to match the feathers a bit. I quite like how it turned out! Unless you stop to think why the feathers are flying around, and then it seems, well... tragic. LOL Guess this poor birdie is going to need a new mate??

Happy Wednesday!

Sunflowers

I mentioned last week that I found some great deals at Tuesday Morning; this Stampendous "Sunflower & Ladybug" stamp was one of them. The large cling stamp was $2.99, I believe. I love deals like that!
The image was water-colored with distress oxide inks, and then cropped with a Spellbinders oval die. The Hero Arts sentiment finishes it off.

Have a great week!

Rusty Rose

If you're like me, when you flip through a designer paper pad, there's usually one or two patterns that you kind of say "Aaack! What in the world will I do with THAT??" This was one of those patterns for me. While I really love almost all of the prints in Love Nicole's "Aquarelle" pad, this one was quickly skipped past. And, as has happened before, what I originally didn't like ends up being a favorite. Go figure.

The thing that originally stumped me was the color combo, I think. Powder blue, mixed with rust, mixed with purples? Oh, and some olive green for good measure. I was trying the print out with different solids, and when I hit upon this SU rust color, I liked it! Suddenly, it seemed like the color combo made sense. I added this flower from the Penny Black "Enamor" set, which I colored with Copics. This is probably the first time I've used my Copic markers in at least a couple of years, but I'm happy to say they were still mostly juicy.

I added the Hero Arts sentiment, stamped on a banner die from a Becky Higgins (American Crafts) die set found at Tuesday Morning. There are 8 really useful dies in the package, for $4.99. Score!

Since I still have time, I will enter this into Jeannie's "Rose Garden" challenge that ends this weekend. There's time for you to play along too!

Have a great weekend!