White Choral Bells . . . Three-fer

While making these cards, I was reminded of a song I sang with the Girl Scouts.  It goes something like this:  "White choral bells upon a slender stalk.  Lilies of the Valley deck my garden walk." So I had to look it up.  Here is one version of it . . . a lot better sounding than the voices of a bunch of 10 year old girls :) 

Did you sing this or other songs as a scout? Bring back some, hopefully, good memories? 

I'm putting all these cards into the Twofer Card Challenge - 

I got the Lily stamp set from PTI many years ago for a friend's new granddaughter, named Lily. I made a card then, but I don't' have a photo of that.  

I stamped the Lily in black archival ink, and another in green archival ink, onto Vellum paper. I used color pencils on the back side to color the leaves and stems.  

I used this sketch from TGIF Challenge for 2 of the cards.  I cut frames from MFT (rectangle) and the oval is from Poppy Stamps. Then I glued the vellum flower panel to the frame.  And added thin cut double-sided foam tape to pop it up a bit. 

And I used this sketch from CAS Colours & Sketches for the blue card

Both sketches are very similar.  And I love the simplicity of both.  The biggest difference is the use of the lilies as a die cut and off-center for the CAS challenge.  I did flip the sketch.

sentiment: Hero Arts; white text: Carabelle; green border: Clearly Besotted stencil

I'm also putting this into The Flower Challenge - which is to use embossing: heat or dry.  I used a stylus to emboss each flower.  It is so cool how the vellum turns white when you emboss it.  No need for color pencils or ink. 

And this Sending Smiles card is going into the NBUS Challenge - the clearly besotted stencil and carabelle text stamp have never been used.

I'm putting the Hello Spring Card into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, which is to use LAYERS.

Pattern Papers: DCWV, sentiment: Lil Inkers

Here is look at the inside of 2 of the cards.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them.  A few days of color and create therapy was much needed!!  
Thanks for stopping by.  Stay safe, and stay well.

W T F !

The "children" in my family are getting older.  My oldest niece will be 40 in January, and a good friend / co-worker will also be 40 this summer.  My son and other niece will be 40 in another year.  So I made multiple of this card. 

I knew I wanted to use the stamp set WTF from CAS-ual Fridays.  

I often start my cards, looking for challenges for inspiration.  The first one that intrigued me was a new challenge for me: 

Kraft + Challenge - Coca-Cola Adverts! This was the the inspiration for my card. I think the colors really drew my attention.  I found the pattern papers from a Stampin Up pack.   

Next challenge was AAA Birthday - I used 2 different stencils for the background.  The confetti is by Fiskars, and the numbers are by The Crafter's Workshop.

Happy Little Stampers

The Paper Players - new to me are the stencils.  

Addicted to Stamps - I found that color pencils over white pigment ink worked best on the kraft paper. 

Here is a look at the inside:

The left side sentiment is from creative vision stamps.  The "Who's turning 40?" is from the same set as the WTF :)

So this will also go into NBUS Challenge .  The "Forty  . . . " is a never before used stamp.

Thanks for taking a look.  I hope you are all having a happy start to a new year. 

No Bones About It!

This is for a friend.  She recently had back surgery that she is still recovering from.  That is why I choose this stamp. I started to create a Get Well card for her. 

But now her son, who lives out-of-state has come down with Covid.  He is really struggling with all kinds of major complications.  He has been hospitalized several times, only to be sent home because the hospital is over-crowded with other Covid patients, and they don't have space for him.  So he is "managing" (if you can call it that) at home, on oxygen, with IV, and visiting nurses. It is a disaster  in action.  

So that explains the inside message.  Here's a peek at the inside, which I hope will raise her spirits just a bit. 

I'm putting this into the TGIF Challenge #297 It's a Color Challenge

Since this is a Never Been Used stamp, I'm putting the card into the NBUS - Never Been Used Schtuff

Products used:

• Stamps: Stamplistic (BonaLisa); Impression Obsession (No Bones sentiment), Indigo Blu (inside sentiment)
• Papers: Authentique and Prima 

That's all for today.  Stay well, my friends and followers. 

Baby's First Christmas

Christmas, like Thanksgiving, will be very different this year.  We won't be with our older son and daughter-in-law who live out of state.  We won't see (in person) my sisters and their families like we usually do. 

But we do have a great gift this year!!  It is Theo's first Christmas.  And our younger son and daughter-in-law, who live nearby,  will be joining my husband and me for Xmas dinner.  We will wear masks like we usually do, around them.  

We'll get some baby snuggles.  And what could be better? 

Challenges:

I used the sketch from Try Stampin on Tuesday Challenge

Since I didn't create nearly enough Xmas cards this year, I think I'll try to play along with Christmas Kickstart Challenge.  Theo's card will be a good beginning. 

At Always Fun Challenges the theme is Christmas

Challenge #194

Our theme for the new challenge is
"Christmas"

Since I used a Gerda Design Stamp, I'm putting it into Share Your Design Challenge

I stamped the image on several pattern papers, and fussy cut them out, and paper-pieced it together.  I did use Copics to color the baby and bear. 

Products used: The stamp is from Gerda Steiner Designs.  The pattern papers are old Me and My Big Ideas, and the wood from Craft Consortium.  The shape die is an oldy but goodie from Spellbinders. 

Here's a peek at the inside:

I think the inside stamps are from a combo of PTI and Penny Black.

Thank you for taking a look.  I hope you are having a safe and Merry Christmas.  And here's to a Healthy New Year!!

Welcome Theo!! Yipee!!

Our first grandchild was born 2 weeks ago.  My son and daughter-in-law chose not to know if it was a boy or girl.  So I didn't make this card until he was born. 

I used the following Challenges:

1) CAS(E) this Sketch - I flipped the sketch upside down

2) Cupcake Inspirations - blue in my card, but other colors too. The pattern paper is from Doodlebugs. 

I'm not sure who makes this stamp -- it is realllllly old.  I've had it for quite a long time.  I colored it with copic markers. 

Here are a few photos of our newest family member:

Mommy & Daddy & Theo

Theo

Grandpa, Grandma, Theo, & our first grand-dog Chester. 

Here is a peek at the inside of the card. I'm not sure who makes this sentiment stamp either. 

I could overload you with baby pictures -- I'm doing such a happy dance inside.  But I'll restrain myself. 

Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look.  I hope you and your families are doing well.

A Bit Corny

My oldest son does not like Candy Corn; and I love it!  It's become a long-standing family joke.  So this is for him and his wife.  

Here's a look at the inside:

I'm putting this into the following challenges:

TGIF Challenge   A theme challenge.

Fab Friday 200 - It's a Color Challenge.

Your Next Stamp Challenge   Challenge #150 – Midnight   

The stamps & dies are from Your Next Stamp.  The rectangle window die is from MY Favorite Things.  The paper is from PaperTrey Ink.

Some people in our area love to decorate for Halloween. Here are some scenes from my neighborhood:

As always, thanks for stopping by to take a look. Have a Happy Halloween!

A Political Plea

 If you know someone with a pre-existing condition, this is for you.

Please take the time to watch, and read the captions.

Vote with your Heart

Thank you for taking the time to watch this. 

Many (perhaps all) of my friends and family have some pre-existing condition -- asthma, crohn's disease, diabetes, life-threatening allergies, cancers, pregnancy, blood disorders, mental illness, drug addiction,