CAS(E) this Sketch #174 Guest Designer

Happy Thursday everyone!!

I am so excited today because I was asked to be a guest designer for CAS(E) this Sketch blog!!! Here is the sketch I was asked to use for inspiration:

Isn't it cool? When I first saw it, I knew that instead of stars, I wanted to use snowflakes. I actually made a SHAKER CARD too! I do not usually do holiday cards, let alone shaker cards, but this just screamed Christmas to me and I knew I wanted to make a shaker. Here is what I came up with:

I LOVE aqua and white together so I decided to use this as the color scheme. It helped that I just bought the "Caribbean Dream" sequin mix from Lucy's Cards. I was dying to use it!!

The first thing I did was die cut four snowflakes out of a white piece of card stock. I used CAS-ual Fridays Stamps "Flurry" Fri-dies for the large snowflake and Paper Smooches "Snowflakes" Wise Dies for the small one. I set the three small, positive flakes aside because I knew I wanted to use them on the card front. I then used an MFT Blueprints die to cut the panel down to a 4" by 5 1/4" rectangle.

I adhered acetate and a liberal amount of foam adhesive on the back of the card. For the two upper snowflakes I made little "pockets" with the adhesive to fill with the sequins mix.

I then assembled my shaker-adding the sequins and adhering the card to a white card base. I adhered the positive snowflakes and some sequins on the card front as well.

I stamped a sentiment from PaperTrey Ink's "Peaceful Pinecones" set with Hero Arts "Soft Pool" dye ink onto a white strip and adhered it over the large snowflake using foam adhesive. Very simple and believe it or not, fast to put together.

That is it for me today. I thank you so much for stopping by. Be sure to hop over to CAS(E) this Sketch to join in on the fun!!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Paper Players #296 Sketch Challenge and a Graduation!!

Happy Monday everyone!! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine flew by in a flash!!

My niece graduated from Salem State with a BA in Accounting this Saturday. I am so happy for her!! Here are a few photos of the day!!

Poor thing had to walk down the aisle on crutches!! She had knee surgery a week and a half ago!!

They give their diplomas out on the same day they graduate!! You don't have to wait for the mail.

My daughter Charlotte with Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn and I. I cannot tell you how proud I am of this kid. She is smart, hardworking and just a great person!!

Enough about my Saturday!! I was able to spend some time in my craft room yesterday and I actually got to make a card for a challenge!! It has been so long since I have had the time, or the inclination, to do so. My mojo seems to have been playing hide and seek with me lately.

I used the Paper Players #296 Sketch Challenge for my card.

I used Sunny Studio "Backyard Bugs" and Paper Trey Ink's "Building Blocks" stamps for this card. The flowers, leaves and flower pot have been sitting on my desk for ages, calling me every time I sat down. However, I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with such tiny images.

Here is the sketch that I used:

I started out by using Lawn Fawn's "Stitched Rectangle" dies to cut out of a piece of Pebbles paper from the "Spring Fling" collection. I then used my "Nesting Circles" by Umbrella Crafts to cut out a circle in the middle. I layered this over an A2 white card base.

I took the pinked circle that I had blended with Distress Ink's AGES ago and stamped my sentiment. I adhered it in the middle of the die cut circle. Next I used My Favorite Things "Stitched Circle Frames" to die cut a frame out of Kraft paper. I adhered this around the center.

I adhered the little flowers and flower pot over the circle and covered the flowers with Wink of Stella. The card was complete!! It was fast and easy, which is something I NEVER say!!!

I thank you for stopping by tonight. Have a FABULOUS Tuesday!!

Supplies

Reverse Confetti "Candles and Confetti" Wedding Card

Happy Thursday!! I hope your week is going well.

Mine has gone quite slow. There is not much time left in school but the days are going slower and slower. I am itching to be out-as are most of the seniors that I work with. It is getting harder and harder to get them to do their assignments!!

I have a card that I created using Reverse Confetti's "Confetti and Candles" stamp and die set. My friend is getting married on Saturday. I cannot attend the wedding as I have a conflict but I had to make her a card.

I used red and white as the color scheme as these are her wedding colors.

This card is a TOTAL CASE of Kay Miller's card below:

If you have never been to her blog-RUN. She is fantastic!!

I had to do a little tweaking from her design to make my card. I did not have the cover plate die she used from Reverse Confetti so I used a PTI die and my  new Umbrella Crafts "Nesting Circles" to fake it!!

I have to admit that this new cake die is one of my favorite purchases that I have made in a long time. I can see me using this over and over again for numerous occasions. I did a lot of stamping and die cutting on this card. I did not use foam to pop anything up as it will be going through the mail.

The sentiment is from PaperTrey Ink's "Enjoy the Ride" stamp set.

Well, that is all from me today. I thank you for stopping by!! Have a great day!!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Umbrella Craft Wafer Thin Die Review

I have never done a post like this before and all opinions are my own-and very honest ones at that. (If you knew me in real life, you would be rolling your eyes at that because, well, I am VERY opinionated and you will know what I think-even if you don't want to. I don't even have to say anything either-my face will tell you!!)

I was recently asked to review some new dies by Umbrella Crafts that are being sold at Scrapbook.com. After some thinking, I decided to accept and here are some of my thoughts.

When I got my package, I was pleasantly surprised. Scrapbook.com sent me the whole collection below.

At first glance, they look like any other dye set you can buy. However, their construction is sturdier then most of my other nesting dies that I own. I also liked that the largest sized dies are a little larger then what I already have. For example, the largest size in the rectangle is 4" by 6." Most of my other  rectangle dies, the largest size is either A4 sized or a bit smaller.

I am not going to bore you with a bunch of words but am going to show you some projects that I created using some of the dies.

I was originally going to use them to make some scrapbook pages but since I rarely post my pages on here, I figured I would use them to make something that I would blog about, which are cards. I also combined the dies with other products because that is how most people would use basic shapes.

My first card that I created was a baby card. I used the Nested Circle Die Set and combined it with the Nested Flowers Die Set to create a sun in back of the Lawn Fawn laundry from their "Little Bundle" stamp and die set.

I made this card using a sketch over at Scrapbook.com that was for National Scrapbook Day last week.

You might notice that the blue card stock was not cut with rectangle die. That was a conscious choice by me. First, I wanted a stitching around the edge and the Umbrella Crafts rectangles do not have any stitching. Second, the second to largest size is a 3 1/2" by 5" and a bit too small for what I wanted.

All in all, I was happy with the way this card came out. I will be experimenting with these two dies together in the future.

My second card I created is a birthday card. I used the Nested Square Die Set, combined with Reverse Confetti's "Candles and Confetti" set to make a birthday card.

This birthday card was inspired by the sketch below from TGIF Challenge Blog.

I knew when I saw this sketch that it would be perfect to try out the square dies.

I die cut four squares with the smallest square die (1/5" by 1/5") taped them together and then matted them with the second to largest die, which is a 3.5" by 3/5" die.

I adhered the squares onto a white card base. I then layered the cake from Reverse Confetti's "Candles and Confetti" stamp set over the squares.

The sentiment I used was from PaperTrey Ink's "Baker's Dozen" set. I really liked that I could put the smaller square dies together and then matte them like I did on this card. These were the perfect size for what I wanted to do.

For my last project, I created another birthday card using Reverse Confetti's "Candles and Confetti" stamps and dies. I experimented with making an oval frame with the Umbrella Crafts "Nesting Ovals" die set.

I used the two largest ovals-the 2.5" by 3/5" and the 3" by 4" dies- and a piece of My Favorite Things "Dots and Stripes" paper. I wanted the oval to highlight the birthday cake-which it did beautifully.

In conclusion, I really liked these Umbrella Crafts Dies. They are a great deal for the product that you get. My only con is that I wish they had "stitching" or some sort of decoration around the edges of the dies for a more decorative effect. When I scrapbook, this doesn't matter to me but if I use the dies for card making, I prefer a more decorative edge.

I thank you for stopping by today!! Have a great Wednesday!!

Supplies:
Baby Card-Supplies Here

Square Birthday Card

InLinkz.com

Oval Birthday Card

InLinkz.com