Happy Birthday - hello spring

With our move this winter to another city and a new yard, I have been enjoying my daily walks with my husband. There is a small private school down the street with a great track to mark our daily miles but the neighborhood with narrow streets and large trees intrigues me more. We're amazed to see huge magnolia and cherry trees covering entire front yards, camellias taller than cottage roofs, and gigantic old growth firs with their rough trunks and sweeping branches. 

This has been a beautiful, yet strange spring with our quarantine. Like many bloggers I come and go with energy to create something but my neighborhood has helped immensely.  The Card Concept's latest challenge with flowers in an array of rainbow shades in a vase with text and a bird, prompted me to create a rainbow colored wreath of leaves with a sparkly birdie singing "happy birthday" to the reader. Luckily, the PTI Songbirds set had all I needed for my birthday card. I would define the card as clean and layered. 

Thanks for the visit. 

Here are a few scenes from the neighborhood.

The Card Concept: Favorite Card of 2019

How do you pick your favorite card? I tease my two sons with you are  "my favorite oldest son" or "my favorite youngest son." 😍 Cards are different. I haven't crafted as much this past year due to travels and moving plans. The past three months we've looked for a smaller home in a city 3 hours away near our oldest son's family and closed on one in December. We've been busy decluttering cupboards, closets, and the basement in our home of 40 years. We plan to move before month's end while also readying the old for sale. This first 2020 post may be all for January!

But back to cards and The Card Concept challenge for favorite 2019 card or a photo of our Christmas tree. No big tree this Christmas due to the move. I chose a card from last January that is packed with colors, texture and a special sentiment for a dear friend. I often use spray adhesive for this intricate set of Birch Press dies but now prefer the ease of maneuvering the layers with liquid glue. This is a Clean and Layered card design.

Thinking of You Today

Now that my friend has received her card, I'm sharing it 

for the soon-to-be-over challenge at The Card Concept.

A couple of my new BotaniCuts Succulents from Betsy Veldman's new company, The Greetery, were cut from light green card stock and tinted with Distress Inks. They adorn a corner on a PTI Scallop Stackers: Medium die cut stamped with Concord & 9th's Marbled Turnabout. The stamp was inked with the same Distress Inks but stamped off once to soften them. A Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You stamp and ink-blended die cut was added in the opposite corner.  The panel was added to a mint green A2 card. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

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Cactus Celebration

In late April I was excited to order several items from a new crafting company, The Greetery. Betsy Veldman's first release with BotaniCuts Succulent dies, the Terrarium Small die plus the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You stamps and coordinating dies caught my eye. Her video instruction on the company's blog for coloring and assembling the sections of the cacti is terrific!  Watercolor paper and Distress Oxide inks were used to make several succulents in both sizes. When it came to making the small terrarium, I used a previously stamped panel of Concord & 9th's Marbled Turnabout for my top layer and backed it with a solid kraft die cut.  The terrarium with one small cacti was adhered to a stitched rectangle stamped with the PTI Cover Up: Grid stamp. A phrase from PTI Stylish Sentiments: Birthday was stamped on a green flag from The Greetery's Sentiment Suite die set. The envelope liner was made with the PTI Envelope Envy kit (retired). 

This clean and layered birthday card inspired by 
The Greetery and the photo on The Card Concept 
was mailed to Roger, an Arizona friend.

Linking to SSSW Challenge: Anything Goes, Seize the Birthday, and The Card Concept

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Rennie Flowers medley

Sunday afternoon I played with a recent Altenew purchase.

Rennie Roses is unlike any other floral set I own and boy, is it versatile! I created three different panels: 1) using embossing resist with DO ink blending, 2) masking with a stenciled chevron strip behind the focal point, and 3) stamping off the edge on opposite corners with a scary (for me) splattering under a die cut sentiment.

Card #1

 Card Supplies:

PTI Shape Stackers: Large and Life Is Beautiful dies

Altenew Rennie Roses

Birch Press Celebrate Sugar Script die

Linked to: Seize the Birthday

Card #2

Card Supplies:

Altenew Rennie Roses, Hero Arts Borders Stencil

PTI Keep It Simple: Thinking of You

PTI Noted: Scalloped A2 die

Copics, PTI Bitty Big: Orange Zest paper, twine

Linked to: The Card Concept #112

I was drawn to the florals and colors in the

photo and used a clean-layered style.

Card #3

Card Supplies:

Altenew Rennie Roses, PTI Penned Elegance II stamps/dies

Altenew alcohol Artist Markers Set D 

I'm thrilled with the different results on this first inking of my

new stamps. It would be difficult to pick my favorite!

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