Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a blessed and happy Thanksgiving. We were lucky to celebrate Thanksgiving at the Assisted Living with my adopted family on Saturday. Company was awesome as we still have the older relatives and food was good. They even have a teenage boy playing the violin which I thought it was great that he was spending his time with the old folks. Nowadays kids don't like to be with family specially with elderly. Today was another gathering but very small, again my chosen family.

For my card, I loved Altenew's released from last month, I think, because it was all about fall and no flowers. I have nothing against flowers I love flowers but seems like every company is coming out with only flowers and you can only have so many and at some point they're all the same no matter how pretty they are. This release were pumpkins and leaves. The leaves have been on backorder forever but the pumpkins are available and if you took the Cozy Comfort retreat there were more great products again fall theme that match with this release. I picked pumpkin patch bundle which includes embossing folder, simple coloring stencils and stamp set (and three matching word dies which again backorder forever) but not using these, also using also pretty pumpkins layering die set & stylish greeting die set to make cards. For inks decided to play with PinkFresh Studio’s dye inks got them for their last retreat and been trying to play with all colors to get used to their tones as ink wise they're pretty much the same as Altenew's just a bit lighter I think and they have some other colors to complement so you can mix and match.

Started by embossing 6x6 panel then used the stencils to color with berrylicious, coral reef, clementine, marigold, Spanish moss, grassy knoll, citron, lemon whip, sunshine, doe.

at this point decided image it's too full and I can get two cards out of one panel so cut it in half then on another white panel using infinity nested rectangle die set by HA made a frame which glued on top then picked two colors of cardstock that went with the colors I used and die cut it with Cindy Echtinaw Designs Card Creator Perfect Layers A and mounted to an A2 white card base. Then die cut in white the pumpkins and color with same colors but used 3 tones for each pumpkin. For all steams used doe, for the orange card: sunshine, sweet mustard, marigold; mimosa, mango sorbet, fruit punch; peach fuzz, apricot, clementine. 

and for the pink card coral reef, passion fruit, berrylicious; citron, bay leaf, Spanish moss; peach fuzz, apricot, clementine

for the message die cut 3 layers of scraps of brown cardstock. Didn't make give too many cards this year but did gave these cards to the heroes in my city the Algona Police Department.

Feliz Día de los Muertos

Today is Day of the Dead, day to welcome for one day & honor our loved ones that have passed on. Over the last several years there has been lots of things for this holiday so I have been able to do a big Altar to honor my deceased family & friends. 

    

I don't make many cards for this holiday but made these which were so much fun, dies by Spellbinders. One was with the Dancin' girl Day of the Dead and the other Dancin' boy Day of the Dead cutting dies by Spellbinders. Both backgrounds are the same started by masking part of the layer and then with ray of light mix-ables stencil by MFT and distress ink tea dye removed the stencil but kept the mask and without adding ink on brush added more tea dye ink so the background wouldn't be white. With the rosette stencil set & coordinating die cuts by Pinkfresh Studio made bunch with distress inks twisted citron, tumbled glass, wilted violet, milled lavender, carved pumpkin, kitsch flamingo, mustard seed. Glued the rosettes in different layers covering mostly the upper part. Mounted the layer to an A2 black layer and an A2 white card base. Die cut the boy & girl in white and colored with distress inks 

Girl candied apple, fossilized amber, picked raspberry, mermaid lagoon, mowed lawn, spiced marmalade, twisted citron, black soot. Also, added some essential ice clear drops from Pinkfresh Studio

for the mechanism used 5/8" circle punch and MFT spin & slide discs

Boy: black soot, candied apple, tea dye, salvage patina, dusty concord, mustard seed, twisted citron

for the mechanism used 5/8" circle punch and  MFT spin & slide discs 

Happy Halloween

Hope you all have a fun Happy Halloween! This is my second favorite holiday, lots of Snoopy decor so I'm able to decorate almost as big as Christmas.

I got this die set on clearance or discount at Spellbinders last year after the holiday and couldn't wait to play with it so of course first Halloween card was with it. The set is Boo-licious fall cupcake large die of the month September 2023 (there is an add on for Christmas/Winter and Valentine's) used distress inks to colored my die cuts villainous potion, carved pumpkin, black soot, lost shadow, milled lavender; for the bats and the top of the eye used glitter cardstock black and for the cupcake purple

On a Hammermill layer used Glimmer rainbow foil and dazzling diamonds hot foil plate then mounted to an A2 card base, then die cut black frame from ornate rectangle essentials frame die set by Pinkfresh Studio in black twice and mounted with foam strips then mounted the cupcake with is very dimensional

made another with the jack-o-lantern which I colored with wild honey then mowed lawn towards the top and carved pumpkin towards the bottom, black soot for hat with a bit of purple glitter cardstock 

Boo

I got this die set on clearance or discount at Spellbinders last year after the holiday and couldn't wait to play with it so of course first Halloween cards was with it. The set is Boo-licious fall cupcake large die of the month September 2023 used distress inks to colored my die cuts villainous potion, carved pumpkin, black soot, milled lavender, wild honey, mowed lawn; used glitter cardstock purple and black for the top of the eye.

Die cut background paper & black layer from stash with HA infinity rectangle dies & Cindy Echtinaw Designs Card Creator Perfect Layers A then punched mice edge punch by Martha Stewart mounted to the bottom with foam to be same level as the cupcake then mounted to an A2 layer from the purple passion paper pack and then to an A2 white card base

Another 4th of July

Wanted to make a card with my new June 2024 large die of the month summertime vacay by Spellbinders. Started by die cutting the wave & sea confetti die by HA on ocean cardstock then cut just below half and blended a bit of distress ink prize ribbon set aside and then die cut the pieces of club’s die set all in white card stock. Colored with distress inks on the clouds and water breaks or whatever is called used the leftover of the brush from lost shadow, on the chair and pole of the umbrella full straight with lost shadow, for the chair and umbrella candied apple, prize ribbon for the inside of the umbrella fired brick, for the sun fossilized amber and spiced marmalade, for the sand brushed corduroy and gathered twigs.

Placed everything on the card on another layer of ocean cardstock then mounted to an A2 white card base

4th of July

It was time to make cards for the Heroes in my city the Algona PD this time around used sketched flag background stamp by Taylored Expressions with classic stampin spot cherry cobbler and distress oxide prize ribbon then die cut with infinity nested rectangle die set by HA then mounted to some cardstock that had given to me by a friend that was already cut so just had to cut a bit more, this card was just over A2

For the center die cut the map from stars & strips stamp & die combo also by Taylored Expressions three layers blended with distress ink vintage photo and stamped message with prize ribbon 

while was making these decide to also make a couple cards for 4th of July so used message from july2stamp set by The Stamp of Life

 

Happy Birthday

Today is Bret's birthday and for his card I wanted a fun fold and using multiple dies that either haven't used or barely used. My original plan was a regular A2 card but very quickly decided that A2 was not going to fit so played with die cuts and figured out the size with that so card it's big but since it's not going to be mail didn't matter. All panels were mainly made the same used distress oxide inks. For the sky masked the sun and horizon and blended with dried marigold, carved pumpkin and tumbled glass then removed the horizon mask and blended the water with tumbled glass, broken china, mermaid lagoon, salty ocean & peacock feathers then removed the sun mask and added scattered straw. 

All dies were cut in white cardstock and colored with distress inks. From wooden rowboat die set by Altenew used hickory smoke, scorched timber, vintage photo, ground espresso, tea dye

For the fishing pole from lovely layers rod & reed by Honey Bee Stamps used hickory smoke, vintage photo, ground espresso, old paper

Caribbean dreams die set also by Altenew used lost shadow, Copic marker, calligraphy pen

Underwater marine life cutting die set by Spellbinders used hickory, candied apple, mustard seed, twisted citron and pearls by Recollections

Mounted the panel into a layer of light blue from ocean pack by Recollections

Caribbean dreams die set also by Altenew used lost shadow, Copic marker, calligraphy pen, vintage photo, candied apple. Crisp dye inks dark night, misty morning, cloudy sky, nimbus

For the background did the same but skipped the salty ocean

I also mounted the layer to the light blue cardstock from ocean pack this layer is smaller than the first.

for this is again same background as second but also added whatever red I had in the blending brush on the sun and the two leftover seagulls from the dies. The 63 and message are from number of years stamp set by SU with VersaFine clair nocturne 

This layer once again is smaller than the other two and was glued straight into the card base

the first layer was glued to the top flap, the second to the second flap so when you open you see one then the other and finally the 3rd