Retro Birthday Wishes

Hello!  Good Afternoon!

I am thrilled today to be Guesting at Seize The Birthday this challenge!

I was excited when Nancy Leppek sent me the theme - Retro Birthday.  I had a couple ideas and once I started perusing "retro" color schemes, several more.  LOL.  

Here is what I came up with...

I remember going to skating parties as a kid and young teen back in the 70s. The roller rink was one of the only things around my small town  to do on the weekends. So making this card made me reminisce about the skating rink with the disco ball, retro carpet off the side and concession stand that always smelled like popcorn and soda. I used skate stamps from Catherine Pooler and a rainbow die from Whimsy Stamps inked up in various colors of my Catherine Pooler inks.  You can't see it, but I used some Nuvo Aqua Shimmer on the skate details (stars, rainbows) to make them glimmer a bit.

So, stop by Seize The Birthday and check out the Design Team's awesome retro birthday cards and then come play along!  Remember, you can play with the Toppings challenge (Retro Birthday) or the regular ATG birthday challenge.  Maybe you'll be a Guest Designer soon!

Thank you Seize The Birthday Team! I would like to thank Glenda for choosing my card in Challenge #288 and Nancy for all the help and info for Guesting.  It has been fun!

I'm also entering this card into the Cupcake Inspirations special 600th challenge.

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Roller skates/Sentiment - Let The Good Times Roll (CP Designs).

Paper: Neenah 110# Solar White

Ink: Rockin' Red, Cranberry Fizz, Tiara, Tiki Torch, Fiesta Blue (CP Ink); Copics on the skates.

Extras: Rainbow Die - Array of Rainbows (Whimsy Stamps); Skate Dies (CP Designs; Nuvo Aqua Shimmer.

Thanks for  stopping by my blog. Have a creative day! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

 

Hi Sweetie

Happy Monday!

Mondays sure do come around quickly, don't they?

A quick post this morning before I'm off to craft with Bonnie!

 

I had made part of this card for another challenge and then it came and went and I forgot to finish it.  This past fortnight challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments was perfect for my colors.  I had this background all ready on a card front and I thought it went well with my watermelon slices.  I cut the watermelon from watercolored panels in my stash. So a nice CAS card today.

For Following Challenges:

Hand Stamped Sentiments #444

I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a good day! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Yippee!

Hello Sunday!

Hello to a new week.  

Hoping it's sunnier, brighter and drier for everyone who needs it!

Today my card I made specifically for Color Hues.  I had so many ideas for those colors, it was hard to nail down one specific for a while.  In the end here's what I did ----

The balloon and the outer frame and sentiment frame are a pink shimmer cardstock.  The background is a gold foiled background. I took several different photos in different lighting and such to try and get a good pic of the colors with all that shimmer.   I was having a hard time getting the background not to shimmer with green in it (odd) due to how the light hit it. UGH, the plight of photographing foil and shiny papers!

The bottom photo I took in my dining room to get more of the pink to show up.  It did show a little lighter than it really is.  Again, shimmer papers don't photograph well when you're an amateur.  hahaha

For Following Challenges:

Color Hues Challenge #92

Addicted To Stamps & More #474 - Any Occasion

Seize The Birthday #289 - Cute Critters 

(Entered just the regular ATG.   Didn't consider my balloon dog really a critter)

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Sentiment - Best Birthday Yet (CP Designs).

Paper: Neenah 110# Solar White; Metallic Confections (Tim Holtz); Neenah #80 lb Solar White.

Ink: Veramark 

Extras: Box Die (Neat & Tangled); Balloon Party Animal die (Spellbinders); Hooray for Confetti Foil Plate (CP Designs); Yippee word die (CP Designs); Gold hot foil (Spellbinders). 

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a good day! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

You're Not Old, You're Evolving

Hello there!  

Hope you're having a good Saturday. We are finally drying out after Debby.  We were fortunate to not have any damage or flooding.  All of our trees stayed upright.  We do have a little debris to clean up - a few small branches here and there. We did measure 8 inches of rain in our rain gauge over Wednesday and Thursday.  Enough of that now (until the next one).

I spent some time in my craft room today and finished one card.

My kids both loved Pokemon growing up. I remember everytime we would go to Walmart or Target or basically anywhere, they begged for a pack of cards. And then there were the Pokemon video games, board games, action figures, clothing, books, etc. They both (now adults) still have all of their cards.  My oldest, Arrow, is still a big fan, now more of a collector.  So when I saw MFT Stamps' pokemon set I had to get it.  I did have to have Arrow refresh my memory of who is who and now I have a sheet tucked in with the set of their names and colors. 

I thought they would be great to break out for the Freshly Made Sketch and colors at Color Throwdown this week. I created a Pokeball out of cardstock for front and center.  I had the stenciled background already on my desk and it just fell together.  If you're wondering, Pikachu in on top and Bulbasaur is on the bottom.   

For Following Challenges:

Color Throwdown #805

Freshly Made Sketches #648

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Pokemon and Sentiment -Evolving Friends (My Favorite Things).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110 lb; Red, green, black cardstock -Stash.

Ink: Limoncello, Midnight (CP Inks); Copics.

Extras: Circle die (CP Designs); Twisted Sunburst Stencil (CP Designs).

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a good weekend! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Play in the Puddles

Hello There!

It's Tuesday and it's soggy. 

I don't know if it's outer bands of Debby yet or just the opening act.  All I know is it's pretty much going to rain all the way through Friday. The whole southern Eastcoast is getting inundated with rain and wind.  If you're in Debby's path, please be safe.  Luckily we ourselves are not in a flood plain, as I said before, our main worry is trees falling. My card this evening is a kind of ode to the weather this week. 

I hadn't used my seagull dies yet and so I thought I'd put them in a different setting than the beach and use the color challenge at JUGS.

This cute little gull is saving his fish stash from the torrents of rain in a cheerful umbrella to at least brighten the mood.  The umbrella was cut from a watercolored background I made using the JUGS colors. I did cut a piece from silver cardstock for the umbrella staff. The grey splattered background was perfect as I didn't want anything too busy.  And I cut the seagull a couple times in white and then in a watercolored grey cardstock to give him some depth against the background. I had the enamel heart stickers in my stash of gems and they matched my colors well.  

For Following Challenges:

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Sentiment - Puddle Play (CP Designs).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110 lb; Watercolor paper (Strathmore).

Ink: Orange Twist, Pucker Up, Twilight (CP Inks).

Extras: Umbrella die -Under The Umbrella (CP Designs); Seagull, fish - Happy Seagull Dies (Waffle Flower); Stitched Rectangle dies (Sizzix); heart sticker gems.

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a good day! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Have a Fintastic Day

Hey there! It's Monday again. 

If you're in the path of Debby this week, I hope she passes by you uneventful.  She's headed our way later this week and hopefully it will just be a lot of rain. We have a lot of tall pine trees around our home and they make me nervous during regular storms.  So let's hope Debby makes a hasty retreat away from all of us.

Seize The Birthday Challenge is a tic tac toe board this week. I chose the last column with Stencil-Dots/Circle and Sentiment without the word birthday. I just happened to have the perfect dotted/circle stenciled background to use(fishbowl background).  I don't know if whether all the crafting I've done lately is giving me mojo momentum but this card came together really quickly.  I cut my fishbowl from my circle stenciled background which resembled bubbly water so much.  I actually had stenciled it using my Gelli plate and my stencil to achieve that look. Kind of reverse stenciling.

I did have a little hiccup trying to figure out how to make it a shaker and keep the fish bowl all clear.  That is until I remembered I recently purchased a bunch of shaker covers in various sizes and shapes.  The large circle one 99.9% perfect to go around the whole fish bowl.  

I cut my fish from ink smooshed watercolor paper and white cardstock, glued them together to make him a little more dimensional.  I shimmered it up a bit with some Fairy Dust from Ink On 3. 

I added a water splash cover plate behind the fishbowl for a little more texture and dimension with another watercolored panel behind it. 

For Following Challenges:

Seize The Birthday #288 - Tic Tac Toe

And Happy 600th Challenge to Cupcake Challenges! 🎈

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Sentiment (Pretty Little Stamps).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110 lb; Watercolor paper (Strathmore).

Ink: Fiesta Blue, Orange Twist, All That Jazz (CP Inks).

Extras: Fish bowl and fish die (Hero Arts); Water drop cover plate; Small balloon die (Honey Bee Stamps); Sequins - Topsail (CP Designs).

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a good day! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Soak Up The Sun

 You still here? So am I! 😂

Another card -

This card uses up some backgrounds made with my Gelli plate a while back, maybe during Lockdown.  I told you I had a backlog! LOL I did a stamping technique with the Gelli plate to get the various designs using the Leave Me in Paradise stamp set by Catherine Pooler.  I almost hated to cut up those panels but I like the finished product you see here.  The dark blue panel and strip are also scrap pieces of rolling my brayer off in between colors as is my sentiment square in the middle. Of course, I didn't write the ink colors down when I made these but I used my magnetic ink swatch cubes to pinpoint the most obvious ones.  I thought the dark blue panel needs a little something so I stamped some more of the same leaves to layer on top of it.  

For Following Challenges:

Freshly Made Sketches #647

Krafty Chicks Challenge #727 - Stamps

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Leaves - Leave Me In Paradise (CP Designs); Flamingo - Summer Lovin (CP Designs); Crab and shell - Surf City (CP Designs).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110 lb

Ink: It's A Girl, Cove Blue, Fiesta Blue, Aquatini, Whipped Honey (Catherine Pooler Inks).

Extras: Gelli plate; Flamingo die - Summer Lovin Dies (CP Designs); Crab & shell dies - Summer Loving Dies (CP Designs); Leaf dies - Leave Me In Paradise (CP Designs).

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a good day! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

The Zest

Hello again! It's me! 😉

Another card from this weekend.  One of my recent purchases was these lovely lemon dies from Sunny Studio. I love how real they look. As I've been going through my stash of homemade backgrounds, I realized I need to use some of my patterned paper too.  I love patterned paper but I find I don't use it as much as I want. I don't know why.  I have a cabinet and cart full of it.  I have alot from my scrapbooking days, which I really need to get back into some scrapbooking again.  Presently, I'm concentrating on the card paper.  And there are a couple challenges that require patterned paper so double win. Also, Michele from I Card Everyone shared some recent cards using some of her gorgeous patterned paperand she inspired me to break out my patterned paper and love it more often. I thought the sketch at Hand Made Sentiments would be perfect for patterned paper.  So it begins!

For Following Challenges:

Hand Stamped Sentiments #443

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Sentiment - Zest Bouquet (Catherine Pooler Designs); 

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110 lb; Patterned Paper-Sunshiny Days (Pebbles).

Ink: Tiara, Limoncello, Grass Skirt-(Catherine Pooler).

Extras: Lemon dies (Sunny Studio); Framed Wings (Catherine Pooler); Kitchen Weave EF (Cuttlebug);

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a fun weekend! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Posie Blessings

Happy Sunday!  

Hope you're having a pleasant day.

I had some creative fun in my craft room this weekend so I have a couple posts to make. This one I'm squeaking in to the Double D Challenge before it closes this evening.  

I had played with my glimmer foil several months ago and these heart foiled dies had been sitting in my UFO basket since then.  The set also has coordinating stencils, which I used to color my posies.  The basketweave background is a stencil by MFT Stamps and I die cut it for some added interest.  Then, I decided to cut some leaves and placed them around the flower heart die.  It's a very similar layout to a Christmas card I did earlier last week, but after playing around with the leaves, I liked this layout the best.  

For Following Challenges:

Double D Challenge - Basket Full of Posies

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Hearts Aflutter (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110 lb; Gold Foil (Spellbinders).

Ink: Cotton Candy, It's A Girl; Be Mine; Pucker Up, Hot Tub, Deck The Halls (Catherine Pooler Inks).

Extras: Heart Die (Catherine Pooler Designs); Heart stencils (Catherine Pooler Designs); Foiled Sentiment - Joyful Thanks (Catherine Pooler Designs); Leaf Dies (Catherine Pooler Designs). Frame die -Ruffles & Dashes (Catherine Pooler Designs); Basket weave stencil (My Favorite Things).

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a good day! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Fabulous You

Good Morning!

It's Friday finally!  Very early Friday, like 12:01 after midnight.  I was going to bed and realized I forgot to take a pic of my card for Cupcake Inspirations Challenge.  So, yes, I'm up a little late or way early!

I made this card for my niece's birthday next week.  She will be 8 so I figured a shaker card would be fun.  And what 8 year old girl doesn't like unicorns? It doesn't show up well but I embossed the horn with sparkly emboss powder.

For Following Challenges:

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Sentiment-One In A Unicorn (My Favorite Things).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110 lb; Watercolor paper (Strathmore); Patterned Paper (Doodlebug); Acetate.

Ink: Pixie Dust, Cotton Candy -(Catherine Pooler).

Extras: Cloud panel die (Hero Arts); Unicorn Die (My Favorite Things); Maui Sequins (Catherine Pooler); Halo Emboss powder (Wow).

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a fun weekend! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Shell Factor

Good Morning!

Happy Wednesday!

It's a beautiful Carolina blue day here in Cary, NC.  

Hope you have sunshine wherever you are.

I finally got around to putting together a card together with these beautiful shells.  On my crafty play date with Bonnie, she let me stamp and cut several of them. Then I went home and ordered the set!  hahaha. Oh the wonderful enabling of friends! 🤣. The coral is not in the set, that is a die from a set by Catherine Pooler (CP Designs).  My card idea began with the small bright watercolored panel that is framed in pink. A while back I was playing around with stencils and used the Shell Parade stencil (CP Designs) as an embossing plate on watercolored photo paper.  So I inked up a card panel in the teal color and then used the same stencil to create the tone on tone background.  

For Following Challenges:

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Shells - Seaside Wishes (Stampin' Up).

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110 lb;

Ink: Pucker Up, All That Jazz, Midnight (Catherine Pooler).

Extras: Shell dies (Stampin' Up); Coral die (Catherine Pooler); Frame die (MFT Stamps); Stencil - Shell Parade (Catherine Pooler).

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a great day! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Birthday Heart

Good Evening!

One card for tonight.  I'm still plowing through my UFO box of handmade backgrounds.  I even had the Hubs organized them by color for me so I could find them easier.  I used the sketch at Just Add Ink for my inspiration.

For Following Challenges:

Card Supplies:

Stamps: Sentiment - Fluttering Friends (Catherine Pooler);

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110 lb; Vellum.

Ink: Be Mine, Bellini, Mardi Gras, Lime Rickey (Catherine Pooler).

Extras: Kinsley Heart Layered Die (Birch Press Design); Circle die (Catherine Pooler); Leaf Dies (Catherine Pooler); Bear Grass Stencil (Catherine Pooler).

 I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a great day! 

 Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Make A Wish

Hello Monday Evening!

 A quick post tonight with a sweet card...

A while back Unity Stamps had a nice sale, maybe last spring or summer, I don't remember and I had to jump on getting a couple of their Winnie The Pooh stamps.  The Hubs is a huge Pooh Fan.  In fact, we decorated the nursery for both our kids (one got the handme downs) in Winnie the Pooh. Dave was in school-aged childcare way back then and had painted some large life size posters of Pooh Bear we hung up.  And, I had actually drawn two pictures in oil pastels from a Pooh book for a Children's Lit course I took in college.  We hung those also.  All of those pictures we still have somewhere in our attic. And this past Halloween Dave got a Pooh costume for himself.  So, we are a Pooh family!  hahaha

For Following Challenges:

Tic Tac Toe Challenge #252

Column #2 - Die Cuts - Free- Any Sentiment

Krafty Chicks Challenge #726- All Occasions

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Winnie the Pooh (Unity Stamps); Flower stamp - Clover & Blooms (Catherine Pooler); Sentiment -

Paper: Spectrum Noir Alcohol Ink Smooth cardstock; Neenah 110 lb Solar White cardbase; Summer Pick N Mix patterned paper(Catherine Pooler).

Ink: Be Mine, It's A Girl, Garden Party, all That Jazz (Catherine Pooler Inks); Copics.

Extras: Scallop oval die (Catherine Pooler); Flower die (Catherine Pooler); Banner die (Reversed Confetti). 

Thought I'd share our long time ago artwork of Winnie the Pooh:

Dave's 1989

                                                                               

  

 Mine 1988

Dave in his Pooh costume

I'm so glad you stopped by my blog. 

 Have a great week! Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Bloom With Happiness

Good Evening!

Another post for this winding down Sunday. I told you I've been playing in my craft room and finally get a chance to pull everything into some cards.  Here is another one -

I took advantage of some July 4th stamp sales and this gorgeous flower die and cover plate are some of them.  They are two of just three Alex Syberia products that I now own thanks to a nice sale. For this card I did some ink blending, watercoloring, ink-to-paper/diecutting and a little stamping (sentiment).

For Following Challenges:

Tic Tac Toe Challenge #252

I used Column #1 - Foliage, Layers, Butterfly

NBUS Challenge #64

The flower, leaves, cover plate and sentiment are all new purchases from this month.

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Sentiment - Blessings of Spring (Honey Bee Stamps).

Paper: Watercolor paper (Strathmore); Neenah 110 lb Solar White.

Ink: Something Blue, Be Mine, Lemon Sorbet, Chiffon, Limoncello (Catherine Pooler Inks).

Extras: Elegant Peony die (Alex Syberia); Charming Flora Cover plate (Alex Syberia); Ornate Banner dies (Pinkfresh Studio); Butterfly dies (Catherine Pooler); clear water gems.   

I'm glad you stopped by my blog. 

 Have a great week! Come back soon! 💖

Nance 

Joy & Love

Happy Sunday!

Hope you've had a nice summery weekend. Did you watch any Olympics? I missed the Opening Ceremony but have watched a bit here and there.  Love the dressage and beach volleyball, gymnastics, and of course, in our house, soccer is an absolute must! If I'm honest, I listen more than I watch because it gives me an excuse to craft while watching! 😉 🤣 Presently I'm "watch/listening" women's soccer - France Vs Canada. 

My first post today is a clean and simple card and my first Christmas card for 2024! WooHoo! 

I've been wanting to play with my new heart dies from The Greetery.  My only thing from The Greetery.  They were a gift from Bonnie. Thanks, Bonnie! These are going to be a fave of mine. 

For Following Challenges:

Simply Clean & Simple - July: Optional Twist - Use a Heart

Peace On Earth Challenge #68

Card Supplies: 

Stamps: Sentiment -Joy & Love (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Paper: Neenah 110 lb Natural White; Kraft cardstock; Neenah 80 lb Solar White; 

Ink: Rockin' Red, Uptown, Cargo (Catherine Pooler Inks).

Extras: Heart dies - Wood Slice Hearts (The Greetery); Sprig Die (Catherine Pooler Designs); Berries (My Favorite Things).

I'm glad you stopped by my blog. Have a great day! Come back soon! 💖

Nance