Skip to content

Happy Birthday!

Today is my daughter’s birthday, and lucky for us, she’s visiting this week. Her brother and his family are coming for dinner, and we’re having some family photos taken as well. 

I’m doing a much better than usual job of creating with recent purchases. One of the products I liked the most from the recent Greetery release was the Checked Out die. I thought it would be very versatile, and I’m convinced that I was right after making just one card! 

I die cut two from a bright blue cardstock and layered them over a cream card base. I pulled out The Greetery’s Best Bouquets Detail die that I enjoyed using for a recentColor Hues Challenge, this time with pretty yellow and blue flowers. I added some ink blending to the flowers as well as the leaves. This is a nother top notch product from The Greetery. The floral elements as well as the whole bouquet are so easy to assemble.

I wasn’t sure where I wanted to put the sentiment, and tried a variety of dies and banners, but once again, the Gold Foiled Black Greeting Tabs were the perfect answer. It’s elegant and doesn’t cover up much of the bouquet. All in all, it’s a quintessential summer bouquet for an August birthday,

This is off to the AAA Birthday Challenge: Flowers and to NBUS since this is the debut of the Checked Out die.

Color Hues #138


It’s my turn to be hostess for the new Color Hues Challenge and I chose:

When I decided on this pairing, I know I had something specific in mind, but when it came time to create with it, I had no idea what my inspiration had been. But, it really didn’t matter once I pulled out a very old favorite, Papertrey Ink’s Lovely Layers stamps and dies. I paired it with a brand new (to me) product, Spellbiner’s Molded Frame 3-D Embossing Folder.

I’d forgotten how much I love this stamp and die set. Once I chose the cardstock (pieces from my scrap boxes) it came together quickly. I die cut each shape and then gold embossed the patterns. There is a stamp for the smallest piece in the design, but I really didn’t care for it this time. I die cut a new one, and added three tiny gold pearls with a piece of dimensional tape instead. 

Once the design was assembled, I added it to the Molded Frame die cut from watercolor paper. The Lovely Layers design fit perfectly. The sentiment is from an old favorite Pink & Main’s Special Day sentiments.

Be sure to check out how the Color Hues Design Team interpreted these colors, as well as our wonderful Guest Designer, Rachel Ball. I’ll be anxious to see your creations and I hope you’ll fill up the gallery! 

The Wishful Snowman

It’s definitely unusual, but this is the second post for today! One of the dies from the Memory Box’s new Christmas Cheer release is a cute snowman, The Wishful Snowman.”  This card went up on the Memory Box blog this morning. I opted to keep it simple, creating a landscape of glittering snow, bare tree branches, and a bright blue sky. 

Although the glittering snowflakes in the sky are hard to detect in the photo, they doe reflect the light when the card is in your hand. I added a gold star to the snowman’s hand. This Wishful Snowman is sending lots of good vibes for a Merry Christmas.

I’m way behind on creating Christmas cards. A couple of years ago I started creating sets of cards each month, so by now, I’d have nearly 70 cards in my stash. Not so much this year, so every single one is a win. I’m sending this off to Addicted to Stamps and More where creating Christmas cards is the current challenge.

Woodblock Wednesday-July 2026

It’s Woodblock Wednesday, and I’m on time this month! When I started this card I thought it would be a second entry into the current Paper Players Sketch challenge. These squares seemed too large for that sketch so I went in a totally different direction. 

The woodblock stamp is one of two sunflower designs by Annette Watkins. The other is a full sunflower, but was definitely too large for the challenge or even this card. After stamping the flower three times, I colored it with Copic markers and die cut each with one of Ellen Hutson’s Essential Squares. I love these dies because each one cuts a frame as well as the square. I thought the framing was especially nice with these flowers.

The striped pattern paper has long been separated from the 6X6 paper pad so I’m not sure of its origins. The sentiment was stamped in dark brown and is an old favorite from Papertrey Ink’s Banner Sentiments. The card base is 6 X 4.5.

Thanks, as always, to Amy for this monthly event. It’s a great reminder to look more closely at the woodblock stamps I saved. Must admit, I wish I’d saved a few more. 

Paper Players: Sketch Challenge

A sketch challenge is not often where I start for a card design, but as soon as I saw the sketch from The Paper Players, I knew just what I wanted to do.

One of my recent purchases from The Greetery was the Tile Style stamp set. It’s a beautiful set of tiles in two sizes. I used three of the larger ones for this card. The tiles were stamped and then die cut with one of the Shortbread Shapes: Rectangle Labels.

I embossed the blue panel with a Stampin’ Up embossing folder and added it to a white card base. I purchased the embossing folder several years ago from eBay, and never had the packaging so I don’t know what it’s called. The Thinking of You White Gold Foiled Greeting Tab from Memory Box worked perfectly for the sentiment. The gold foiling prompted me to use two gold hearts die cut from Simon Says Holiday Shapes. They were added with tiny pieces of dimensional tape.

It’s always good to have another encouragement card in the stash.

Shortbread Shapes Tiled Birthday Card

Knowing that the end of July through the middle of September is incredibly busy, I’ve spent most of my crafting time making sure my obligations to the Color Hues and Memory Box Design Teams are completed. Now what time I have can be spent on using some wonderful new products I’ve acquired this summer. 

The Greetery’s Shortbread Shapes: Rectangle Tiles was top on that list. I experimented with a few design ideas, but ended up with a monochomatic card that I’m quite happy with.


After die cutting the Shortbread Shapes Rectangle in Vintage Cream cardstock, I ran it through in the Shortbread Shapes: Rectangle Tiles 3D Embossing Folder. The details are so beautiful, the card doesn’t need much embellishment.


For the sentiment I die cut the Shortbread Shapes Rectangle Label and added just one of the embossed tiles narrowly framed with gold cardstock and a sentiment from the new Simple Everyday Mini Sentiments embossed in gold. I didn’t center  the sentiment top to bottom, so I added three Pinkfresh Studio Gold Pearls. That was a mistake that actually improved the card, and when I make another (as I surely will) the three gold pearls will be right there. 


This card is off to a very special event at Darnell’s NBUS site—be sure to click through to read about the amazing number of cards submitted from 2020 until today created with Never Before Used Stuff! I’ve contributed quite a few myself, but this is the first one for July. It’s also off to Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes. 

 Color Hues #137


Jules has chosen one of my all-time favorite color combinations for the new Color Hues Challenge: 


I have to thank teammate, Stef Perry, for the inspiration for this card. For our May 1st Color Hues Challenge, she posted a card with the Spellbinder Block Accent Arches. I immediately fell in love with them. It was part of a Spellbinder’s kit, and the arches were already out of stock. I put myself on the wait list, and when they finally arrived, I knew I would use them for this challenge. For the centerpiece, I’ll pulled out an old favorite from The Greetery, Best Bouquet Detals die. I have to say, I love how it all came together.


I die cut the leaves and guide for arranging the florals in black, adding flowers that I die cut and assembled from several hues of red cardstock found in my scraps bin. Then I die cut four floral pieces in metallic gold. 


The original gold berries were too intense for the arrangement so I die cut one in red and slightly offset the gold. Much better. Not long ago I spent an afternoon with my foiling machine, so the Spellbinder’s Fancy Sentiment Strips banner was all set to go, foiled in gold on black. 


The Color Hues Blog is showcasing some fabulous cards by our Design Team and our Guest Designers, Joanne James and Julia Aston. I hope you’ll find some inspiration there and join us in the gallery. 

Birthday Balloons

The Seize the Birthday Challenge: One or More Numbers came at just the right time. I have a birthday card to share that I made for my great-nephew who turned two recently. 


The Stamp Market’s Balloon Essential dies and Birthday Balloon Greetings are proving to be a good purchase. I’ve used them several times for kids’ birthday cards, but know that switching from the bright colors to metallic balloons will make great cards for adults as well. Once again, I pulled out the Lifestyle Crafts tiny stars embossing folder. It’s so old, I don’t know what it was titled when it was released. I chose a bright Kelly green, orange and yellow color combination. The number 2 was die cut three times with Papertrey Ink’s Block Numbers, also a very old product. 


In addition to Seize the Birthday, this is off to the Neglected Stuff Blog since I pulled out two old products for this card.

Christmas Greenery


I’m on the Memory Box Blog today with a festive Christmas basket featuring some wonderful new products from the just released Christmas Cheer collection. The Harvest Basket, Pine and Berry Sprigs and Fresh Poinsettia Bundle work together beautifully.  Die cutting, a bit of ink blending, and some glittery snow on the pine branches & it all came together nicely.

All the details are on the Memory Box Blog.

For the last several years, I’ve made 10 Christmas cards each month. By now I’d have 60! I’ve made a few Christmas cards, but not many, so I’m happy to have another in the stash!

I’m sending this off to The Card Concept where Christmas in July is one of the options. I was inspired by the Christmas theme and colors to create a Clean and Layered card.

Color Hues #136

  • by


The new Color Hues Challenge is live with an elegant color combination, chosen by Julie:


One category of cards I never have on hand when I need them are sympathy cards, and this beautiful combination seemed perfect for one. 


I pulled out two much older, and neglected, products: Papertrey Ink’s beautiful die cut butterfly from the Life is Beautiful set, and Gina K’s wonderful embossing folder, Tapestry. I die cut the shadow for the butterfly and the panel for the embossing folder from Simon Says Cream cardstock. The detailed butterfly was die cut from metallic gold, and then from black. I snipped the body and antenna from the black and added it to the gold butterfly.


After embossing the smaller panel, I added it to a cream card base and attached the butterfly at a slight angle with some dimensional tape. The sentiment, gold foiled on black, is from Spellbinder’s You Are Everything set. A CAS card with lots of elegance thanks to the detailed embossing folder. 

The Color Hues Blog is showcasing some fabulous cards by our Design Team. I hope you’ll find some inspiration there and join us in the gallery. 

This is a perfect card for the Neglected Stuff Challenge, so I’m sending it over for the July challenge.

Fish Friends

  • by


The current Just Us Girls Challenge looking for stencils was perfect timing. I finally had time to make a card just for fun! During a recent Concord & 9th sale, I picked up the Fish Friends bundle. I don’t have anything like it, and I love the whimsical look of the fish. It also has a wonderful layered die set which I hope to get to soon.


I stenciled the fish with three Concord & 9th inks: Watermelon, Creamsicle and Harbor. When using the Watermelon ink I varied the pressure to add some darker areas to the fish bodies. It’s a 6X6 stencil, so I cut it down with Gina K’s Master Layout #1 dies, and layered it on a Stamp Market Sea Glass A2 card base. Interestingly, the C&9th Harbor cardstock wasn’t as good a match as the more aqua Sea Glass. 


The sentiment is from My Favorite Things, Bitty Birthday Wishes. I added quite a few clear drops by Pinkfresh Studio thinking they looked a bit like water bubbles. 

In addition to Just Us Girls, I’m sending this off to the Stencil Fun Challenge, a last entry to June’s NBUS and an entry to Darnell’s I.D.E.A.S. This is a fifth week so the S stands for Stencils.

Happy Anniversary

  • by


When @thegreetery introduced the Pretty Picado suite of products, Betsy made a beautiful wedding card with white and cream. I used the same colors for an anniversary card for my niece and her husband. The main panel is backed with gold metallic cardstock, and the beautiful dies from Pretty Picado and the Capsule Basics suite do all the rest of the work!


This is going to be a “go to” for anniversary cards for awhile. I’ll need to make a list of who I send them to so they don’t get the same card two years in a row!

I’m sending this off To Addicted to Stamps and More: Diecuts or Stencils.

Thinking of You Shaker Card

  • by


Earlier this week I was on the Memory Box Blog with a shaker card inspired by Laura Bassen for a recent Online Card Class. I had perfect products to CASE Laura’s card. I started with the Raindrop Plate diecuttting it with light blue cardstock and backing it with matte silver which gives the raindrops a wonderful shimmer. The Umbrella Trio had just the right size umbrella which I die cut from red and yellow scraps with some matte silver for the handle. 


I chose a circle from Circle Basics that was the perfect size for the umbrella and cut it from the raindrop panel, and backed it with a piece of acetate. The card base was created with white cardstock, and I layered a piece of blue cardstock to back the shaker.


I added a pile of pretty white sequins to the blue background. After lining the raindrop panel with dimensional tape, I carefully layered in onto the card base. The sentiment is one from the Sunshine and Wildflowers stamp set, stamped in black and then trimmed out. It was added to the card front with thin dimensional tape.


I’d been thinking about using these products for a shaker card for a long time. Once I saw Laura’s card it came together very quickly.

Woodblock Wednesday: June 2026 Edition

  • by

Once again I’m late to the Woodblock Wednesday party! But not too late to play along.

When I looked through my wooden stamp collection, I was immediately drawn to an old Hero Arts stamp, Bicycle. It’s finally bike riding weather here after one of the coolest and wettest Junes I can remember.



I went for a CAS design, and there wasn’t a lot of coloring to do. I colored the flowers and the basket with a set of “Click Art Retractable Marker” pens that I picked up the last time I was in Dick Blick. The package says it contains “new ink technology that never dries out.” The tiny nibs are great for small areas like these flowers. I added a dot of white Glaze Pen to the centers of the flowers. It always surprises me that it spreads out a bit when it dries. I did add some shine to the centers of the wheels with a silver Signo pen. It definitely catches the light although not very well in the photo, 



After stamping and coloring the image I die cut it with an Ellen Hutson Essential Squares die. They always cut a thin frame as well. Occasionally I add one of the frames die cut in a contrasting color, but I love the white on white so kept the attached frame. I stamped the sentiment from a Papertrey Ink set, Pedal Pusher. I try to use a wooden stamp for the sentiment as well for Woodblock Wednesday but this one is much more appropriate for the bicycle image than anything I have in my wooden stamp collection. A larger frame was die cut in black for some contrast, and it was added to a 5” square card base.  


Thanks, as always, to Amy for hosting Woodblock Wednesday!

Abstract Mountain

  • by

Father’s Day was Sunday. My cards were done on time, but this is the first time I’ve had time to edit photos and get a blog post written. Some unexpected commitments have kept me busy in the craft room, but it will be awhile before I can share them.

In addition to the Father’s Day cards, I needed a masculine birthday card. I thought the Ellen Hutson Abstract Mountain die would be great for both. I tried a new technique which didn’t work all that well, so went back to ink blending and using cardstock to piece together the scenes. It makes sense to make multiples with this die since you have make die cuts of six different colors of cardstock. I ended up with four inkblended skies that I liked so had two Father’s Day cards (one for Matt and one for Tracy) and two birthday cards. My son-in-law in Wisconsin got a gift certificate with the Father’s Day message.


While I was looking for something else, I came upon this Reverse Confetti Stitched Window Cover Panel. It works really well with the Abstract Mountain die, but only three of the mountains show. All the rest of the cards were die cut with an Ellen Hutson Essential Arches die and in the end I prefer them. (All four of the photos were taken at the same time, in the same place. Why this one has a blue cast to it is anyone’s guess. I thought I’d be able to color correct it, but neither my phone’ editing progam or Photoshop Elements wanted to cooperate tonight.)

The sentiments for both of these cards are from Pink & Main’s Special Day stamp set.


The birthday sentiments are from Memory Box, Black Gold Foiled Happy Birthday Tabs.

The AAA Birthday Challenge: For the Boys is still open so I’ll send a second entry off to them. This is a very old die set so I’m sending one off to The Neglected Stuff Challenge as well.