Sweet Baby Shower - Nitwit Designs

Greetings to all my blogging buddies! Recently, a friend asked if I would make a baby shower card for her to give to her granddaughter. She is about to become a great-grandma!

Would you believe, as long as I've been stamping, I didn't have any appropriate items in my stash? So I dashed off to Nitwit Designs where they were offering a 50% off site-wide, and found the cutest little "Just Ducky" set. At least 60 separate items were offered in this set, including embellishments, digital stamps, borders, papers, sentiments and more! What a deal LOL

The granddaughter's favorite color is purple. While the papers in the set offered lots of pastel options, we liked this darker version. Using my Mac, each panel was outlined, shadowed, framed, and layered into place. In order to brighten some of the borders, a burgundy shadow was added rather than the purple used elsewhere. (the white lace border is from Creative Market digitals).

The folded (closed) project is 5.5 inches square. 

In my stash from Marcos Papers aeons ago (25 years?) is cardstock that is 7" tall and 25" long - perfect for creating 5x7 accordion cards. So I cut it down to accommodate this card. While the pattern papers were printed at 5.25" size, the card base was cut to score at 5.5" and 11", leaving a little space for flat folding. A Purple Copic Marker chisel tip (the same color as the background papers) was used on all the edges and creases, so white background would not show through. 

When the card is untied, and the first flap is opened, a scalloped sentiment appears, outlined with purple glitter. Even the fine, metal tip glue didn't help my shaky fingers, but it still adds sparkle. I also dotted the background of both these papers, adding the same purple glitter to make the paper a little more festive. 

The white circle is for a private note from Grandma to Granddaughter.

When the 2nd fold is open, the 3-page interior looks like this:

There is also glitter around the baby's name on the right. The font used is called "Blossoms" and can be found on Creative Market.

Flipped, the back of the card (center) is plain. The ribbon is adhered under the front panel (on the right) and goes behind the middle (back) panel. The panel on the left is what became visible when the card was first opened. AND YES, two ribbons were used. The organza ribbon was a good 25 years old, and the 1/8" satin ribbon was from Great Aunt Agnes' notions stash. Interestingly, it was $1.25 in the 50s! Both ribbons were made in the USA and are still made in the USA, but actually cost less these days in comparison to the 1950s and 1990s!

This is what the card interior looks like when it is completely opened.

Thanks for stopping by! 

A personal note to my friends:

We pulled up two gigantic Podocarpus bushes that were becoming extremely cumbersome to maintain. (Don'tcha hate when you have to do that? It's like losing friends who have grown by your side)  My passion is gardening, (including weeding, planting, pruning, caring for) which is no longer feasible health-wise, so that has fallen onto Jack's shoulders. While he enjoys vegetable gardening, hydroponic gardening, and maintaining our acreage, he's not wild about pruning the landscape bushes near the house. We found some fabulous azalea bushes on line, and pulled out the giant podocarpus bushes with the help of a tractor and Jack's brute strength. Jack has planted 13 new azaleas in their place around that corner of the pool cage, and is putting in a custom drip system for them. At age 82, I cannot help but admire how hardworking and strong he is - truly a Jack of All Trades. Now he'll visit the sod farm on the other side of the county and fill grass-sod in where the tractor decimated the grass. 

😆😄😄

Oh! The azaleas arrived in pristine condition via FEDEX, and well worth the money. We purchased them through Lowe's on-line and they arrived from Alabama and Florida (we live in Florida). The actual "nursery" is called ENCORE AZALEAS. Their website shows a zone map, and which azaleas (or rhododendrons) will grow in your area - whether they need shade or can take full sun. AND, the plants arrived guaranteed for several months.

These days, I mostly read an assortment of books, including scientific, anthropologic, philosophical, and fun cozy mysteries - and lots more! Every 2 weeks, a friend keeps our home vacuumed, dusted, and bathrooms clean. I try to do the "deep cleaning" that no one else notices. You know what I mean, right? I love listening to audible books throughout the night. CFS/ME means interrupted sleep, so I only sleep in 20-40 minute increments. I love coming into my crafting room, even when it's not possible to accomplish anything. 

Some of the people who enlighten my heart when I visit my crafty place are Connie Griffin, Leslie Miller, and Verna Angerhofer. 

QUESTION:

When you craft, do you think of the person for whom you are creating the card? Those thoughts usually guide me through the design process. Or perhaps do you think of several individuals (crafty buddies), feeling inspired by their friendship and influence in your life? I do both, MAKING ME so grateful for you all!

May I play in the following challenges please?

1. CD Sunday Plus #160 Anything Goes (using "Just Ducky" Digital set, and Creative Market lacy border and fonts. My Mac helped with embellishing the digital sets. 6/22
2. Crafty Animals #95 Animal 6/28
3. Critter Crazy Challenges #99 Animal as main Feature 6/25
4. Creative Creases Challenge #104 AG with Fun Fold (ribbon closed-tri fold creation) 7/1

Stamping Love,

Kitties for a Friend

 Hello, dear blogging friends. Wishing you all a Happy Mother's Day - and for those of you who did not raise children of your own, thank you for the nurturing impact you have had in our world - in all our communities - where life would not be the same without your specialness.

A kitty-loving friend's birthday is coming up, and I've made a card for her, in addition to some extras for her personal use later.

Having lost some abilities, I chose to use forgiving techniques by using Versafine Clair ink, Distress inks for coloring, clear EP to make those shiny eyes, and lots of scraps including OLD OLD OLD designer papers.

First is a vellum strip, dry-embossed on the edges and heat embossed with gold EP for the sentiment. Eyes, ears, etc were colored with Prismacolor Pencils.

The black sentiment is from my Brother Label Marker, using black background and white font:

Products: Starving Artistamps Kitty Cat, Warm Breeze Versafine Clair, Scattered Straw & Wild Honey DIs, Versafine Marker for eyes which were clear embossed. Tutti scalloped stitched rectangles, Martha Stewart border punch (black), stash designer & glitter papers. Eyes, ears, etc were colored with Prismacolor Pencils.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE:

Please forgive my inability to visit and leave comments as I once did to your dear blogs. One of my diseases has progressed into the severe stage. Cognitive abilities are crippled as a result. If I "think too hard" it throws me into a severe body-wide flare and can cause me to be "bedridden" for weeks with the strangest of symptoms. Thank you for understanding that it's beyond my abilities, and NOT because I don't care.

Here is a fun puzzle we recently put together. Check out the book titles this snoozing kitty loves! (click on the photo to enlarge LOL)

Sending you my love and best wishes for a beautiful and safe May.

Challenges:

1. Crafty Animals #94 (AG with animals) 5/28
2. Critter Crazy Challenge #98 (AG with animals) 6/1
3. Love Those Pretty Papers (May 3) AG with pretty pattern papers 6/7 sep post

hugs,

Mica WaterColors on Dark Card Stock

Hello, my dear blogging friends! I hope the recent weather upheavals were not too harsh for your areas.  

I was inspired by the mood board over at Beautiful Blossoms this month, showing bright flowers atop a dark background in the photo. To accomplish this in my card, mica watercolors were painted on turquoise card stock, after heat embossing my image. With a VERY finely-sharpened white colored pencil, the image was outlined to make the dark outlines stand out a little more:

The card base was dry embossed with Craft Essentials Basket Weave EF and distressed with Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink. 

A FUN EXPERIMENT:

Using a product we all have in our stash: a stencil was placed atop the image panel, and randomly colored with WINK OF STELLA for a bit of sparkly background. 

Colored With:

Products Used: Mica Watercolors, Wink of Stella, VersaFine Clair Warm Breeze, Mermaid Lagoon DI, Clear Detail EP, Waffle Flower Stamps (310321 Bouquet Builder 5), background stencil, white prismacolor pencil; Craft Essentials Basket Weave EF

Challenges:

1. Beautiful Blossoms #28 mood board (see above) 05-12.

Left Over Pieces + New Pieces = Finally-Finished Cards

Welcome, Blogging friends! I have missed you!

Still plugging along in my "unfinished stuff" boxes, these creations have been in the works for the last 6 weeks. I came across some pink and white Spellbinders decorative squares elements already cut out - probably 15 years ago - they were crying out to put put on a project! So I added some Impression Obsession butterflies and Tattered Lace flowers, enjoying designing The Old dies with The Virginal dies. The designing was fun, too - especially with the addition of sparkle in one of my favorite colors PINK!

Here are some of the pieces I started with before adding the whimsy:

Because the bottom layers overlapped in some places, shims were needed:

With the shims prepared and glued in place, the diagonal square in the middle could be added:

Next... to adhere the fun die cuts:

To shade some of the pink areas (included the pink glitter paper), Worn Lipstick DI was applied. See the difference?

The vellum "butterfly shadow" is pearly, so it picked up the pink tones without coloring. The other butterflies with pink frames around them were "inked" with Worn Lipstick atop pale pink cardstock. The die cut sentiments were cut from pink glitter paper, darkened with Copic Marker RV32, and shadowed with a pale slate blue cardstock:

Two more cards, one using Ana Griffin's sentiment set:

Upon finishing the cards, I decided some pop up elements on the inside would be fun. It sure would have been easier had that been done before adhering all the layers! Front facing:

Top facing - notice the notched element under the butterfly to minimize the popup feature:

Thanks for visiting my little blog! Your encouragement and friendship means so much. I am permanently homebound, leaving only for medical appointments. Each excursion takes tremendous toll on my body, but I'm still able to do "small things with great love".  I'm so grateful to still be living in this wonderful world, surrounded by beautiful people!

Products: Anna Griffin "You Are" sentiment stamps (set of 9), Inks: VersaFine Clair Nocturne, Distress Worn Lipstick, Dies: Tattered Lace Michaelmas Daisy, Imp Obs Butterfly DIE059-N, SB Marvelous Squares, SB Adorning Squares, LifeStyle Nesting Frames 7, MS Floral Crochet PAP, MS lace heart edge punch, Die-Versions Express Banners "Happy Day" and "Make a Wish", Cardstock: pink glitter, pink, white, white glitter, slate blue (shadow on sentiment) Other: Gold Detail EP, Copic RV32, 

May I please play in the following challenges?

1. Seize the Birthday #303 Layer it Up Birthday 4/2 (each card has multiple layers inside and out)
2. Triple B Challenge (April 3) inspiration board for birds butterflies blooms 5-1
3. Crafting A Cut Above (April 7) Spring Time with Dies 5/1 (Dies used: Tattered Lace Michaelmas Daisy, Imp Obs Butterfly DIE059-N, SB Marvelous Squares, SB Adorning Squares, LifeStyle Nesting Frames 7, MS Floral Crochet PAP, MS lace heart edge punch, Die-Versions Express Banners "Happy Day" and "Make a Wish")
4. Colorful Options (April 1) choose color(s) from the inspiration photo. I chose pink. 5/1
5. The Four Seasons Challenge (April 1) Anything Goes Spring 5/1
6. Craft Rocket Challenges #124 "Layer it Up" 4/28 (each card has multiple layers inside and out)
7. As You Like It Challenge (April 17) Fussy & Fancy and Why 4/30 (while CAS are amazing, I have trouble keeping it simple. It's always satisfying to add more layers, more sparkle, unexpected details, and products to cards, and see the faces of the recipients - or to hear their sweet voices - exclaiming "how did you do that?" giggle)

Thanks for stopping by!

Remember Those Cute Bugaboo Characters?

Hello, my friends! Another post from me! (giggle)

Today's cards are doubly sweet - made with fond thoughts of Jodie (former owner of Bugaboo Stamps), and also for a dear friend who loves her little white mischievous puppies! Her birthday is drawing near, so it was the perfect opportunity to showcase Jodie's silly images for a person who will appreciate them. 

Copics, inks, paper-piecing techniques, and recycled ribbon comprise this 5 inch square card. 

Does anyone know the name of this fun fold card? 

I think it might be called the Triple Panel Pop Out Fold?

Anne Buckingham taught me the mechanics in making the fun fold last year, but I don't know the name of the fold. It's really simple to make. Cut a piece of cardstock that matches the card base - 4 inches wide by however tall your card is (in this case, it is 6" tall). Score the piece at one, two and three inches. Fold into a "square tube". Apply adhesive to the two ends of the "tube" - first and last segments - and adhere both on either side of the card base fold. Be sure to fold the card while your glue is drying to make sure you have placed it perfectly on either side of the card fold. NOTE: It was easier adhering the sentiments after the tube was in place. Decorate with all sorts of ephemera, images, sentiments, die cuts - so cute ~ !

Thanks for popping by!

Products: Baxter Puppy from Bugaboo, digital sentiments, Dies: Darice Nested Ornate Rectangles, Surprise Creations Large stitched rectangles, Tutti Stitched Rectangles, LaLaLand Flag Banner, Spellbinders Fleur de Lis, Embossing Folder: We R Memory Keepers Next Level Woven 2, Coloring: Copics and Distress inks, Patterned Papers and cardstock from stash, Glitter, Ribbon

ALWAYS THANKFUL FOR THE DESIGN TEAMS AND HOSTS OF ON-LINE CHALLENGES:

1. Critter Crazy Challenges #95 (final challenge SOB!) AG with Featured Critter 2/25
2. Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2508 AG 11/25
3. CD Sunday Plus #152 Anything Goes (3 digital images, several digital sentiments as shown on the fun fold card - I hope it fits the rules of your challenge). 2/25
4. Snippet's Playground Challenge #500 CELEBRATE 500! (in the fun fold card I used snippets for interest in the bottom portion of card front, and lots of snippets from scraps of designer papers in the flags/banners. The yellow glitter border is the "negative" left over portion of a die cut. The interior also uses several snippets of left over lengths of cardstock and pattern paper - thanks for the fun challenge! 2/25 (playing JFF for top 3 spot)
5. Love those Pretty Papers (a D&D challenge) Feb 1 Use pattern papers 3/1
6. Creative Fingers Challenge #295 Anything Goes 3/8 (products I used are listed above - hybrid layering. Thank you!)
7. Heart's Quest Celebrations of Love Challenges Blog #2 (Feb2) BEWAS - using birthday cards, one is pop out. 3/2
8. Halloween & Other Occasions Crafts Year Round (Feb 1) Birthdays and Dogs 2/28

Stamping Hugs,

You OTTER love this set! {Dare 2B Artzy)

Surprise! A post from me! (giggle)

Even though I cannot leave many comments, or post to my own blog, it doesn't mean I'm not thinking fondly of my blogging buddies. I hope you are all well! Today's card share is a Valentine for my Jacky, AND using stuff from my unfinished box. Five or Six years ago, my friend Ana brought her Otterly Awesome set to share. I did manage to color these cuties in with Prismacolor Pencils, but was unable to finish in the allotted time. I like how it came out all these years later, and was the perfect sweetheart card from my Most Favorite Person in the whole wide world.

Using LifeStyle QuicKutz heart dies, a frame was created to complement the Martha Stewart lacy heart punch. Papers and dies are older than 2015.

The interior was customized a bit to match the Valentine theme:

Products: Quickutz Nesting Lacy Hearts and Plain Hearts dies, Martha Stewart Lacy Heart border, Walnut & Spun Sugar distress inks, Prismacolor Pencils,

featuring this cute Otterly Awesome set from Dare 2B Artzy

May I please play in the following fine challenges?

1. Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2506 AG 02-16
2. Crafty Animals #91 AG with animals 3/1
3. Coloring With Pencils Kleuren met Potloden (Feb 10) AG with pencils 3-6
4. Unicorn Challenge #106 Dots and/or Stripes 2/26
5. **NEW** Neglected Stuff Challenge #1 3/1 (stamped images were in my unfinished by from at least 5 years ago, papers, dies, punches from past life - giggle - at least 10 years old. D&D, thank you for establishing another fun challenge! 
6. Christmas or NOT Bingo #11 Used Column "I" with Square, Layers, Free, Stamped Images 3/1
7. Halloween Crafts (and Valentine's Day in February) #23 3/1
8. Critter Crazy Challenges #95 AG with a Critter (SOB! LAST CHALLENGE!) 3/1
9. Sunday Stamps SSC353 Pretty Frames Sketch Challenge 2/15

Stamping Hugs,

de