For Some Bunny Special

I definitely needed a bunny card for Easter given my son's answer when I asked about his very-serious girlfriend's favorite things so I could make cards she loved was bunnies and strawberries.   It also was a great excuse to buy a couple of the Nordic Bunnies by Poppystamps!

I love the entire Nordic series by Poppystamps and I'm not just talking the bunnies. They have leaves and flowers, butterflies and birds, wreaths and trees and snowmen, and even a moose.  I don't have everything but I do have a really good sampling! I wanted the sweet bunnies to be the focus so I simply added a floral embossed background and the sentiment (which is also from Poppystamps.)

I haven't seen my oldest son since he moved to Michigan nor have I met the girlfriend.  We tried last fall but it turns out that living in a big college football town significantly impacts the availability of flights and hotels. My son highly recommended we not come in the winter so are finally going in May.  We have our flights booked and nothing is going to get in the way!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Poppystamps For Some Bunny Special, Nordic Bundled Bunny, Nordic Happy Bunny

Cardstock: MFT Natural, PTI Soft Stone, TE Toffee, Stampin' Up Crisp Cantaloupe, Groovy Guava, Pistachio Pudding, Mint Macaron, Barely Banana, Soft Saffron

Other: Spellbinders Hydrangea Blooms EF

Freshly Made Sketches: Happy Bird-Day

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Amy and here’s what I did with it!

 

I cannot believe that I haven't used this charming birdhouse and bird (there's another bird too!)  When I realized it was the sketch's shape but upside down and that the long pole put the birdhouse right where it needed to be for the sketch, I was ecstatic! With a fabulous cloud die in the background, this card is all about the dies!

The paper was easy too. I am continuing with the downsizing and I'm making progress every single week. Why? My cardmaking started as a church card ministry so I made every possible type of card and used that to justify a massive stash. When I left that church, there is so much I just don't use any more; I can lean into my own style and stay there. So this has all been mainly focused around stamps, but this week I took a hard look at my card stock stash.  I have every single color from Stampin' Up (since that's where I started) and I'll keep that. (What can I say? I like full sets and this is the ultimate complete set!)  I have most of the colors from Taylored Expressions since I designed for them for years and I'm comfortable in their color palette so I'll keep that.  I also had(!) extensive collections from a few other companies.  (I can't tell you how much I want to move into other complete sets - looking at you Concord & 9th and The Stamp Market - but since I already have hundreds of colors, I'm managing to stay away from new sets.)

Anyway, I looked at those that weren't SU or TE and I realized I had a few favorites in each and I hadn't touched the rest of the colors in years. So I donated all those that I couldn't remember using. I didn't keep many but I did keep the corals and blues on this card (listed below). I had kept them all out on my desk to play with and it turns out they work on the first card I tried!

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: A Pocket Full of Happiness Birdhouse, Avery Elle Cloud Mat

Cardstock: My Favorite Things Peace Bellini, Coral Crush, Blue Breeze, Lazy Day, and Blue Yonder, Taylored Expressions Peapod and Granny Smith, Stampin' Up Early Espresso, miscellaneous woodgrain

Freshly Made Sketches: Forgiven

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Narelle and here’s what I did with it! 

The cross is one of my favorites. It's retired, but it will always stay in my collection. Although hard to tell in the picture, I cut the cloth in white and spritzed it with sparkle to make it stand out. Then to follow the sketch, I added some lavender dots behind the cross using Stampin' Up's Gorgeous Grunge. I don't often add "grunge" like that, but I should do it more often - it really makes the cross pop.

And I have another Easter card ready to go!!  

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge

Dies: Impression Obsession Easter Words, Taylored Expressions Old Rugged cross

Paper: Stampin' Up Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape, Taylored Expressions Kraft Woodgrain Cardstock

Ink: Taylored Expressions Lavendar Glaze

Other: Stampin' Up Distressed Tile Embossing Folder, Honey Bee Stamps Prism Gem Stickers

Freshly Made Sketches: Cross in a Circle

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Karren and here’s what I did with it!

The sentiment is from Verve Stamps which is sadly closed. I've been talking about downsizing and having to make hard decisions. But the easiest decision is that I will keep every Verve set that I have! I layered it under the Cross in a Circle by Alexandra Renke. I wanted to keep it very soft so I went with Stampin' Up's Petal Pink and their Country Lace dsp.  The background is their Eyelet 3D embossing folder but note that after I embossed it, I flattened it by running the embossed piece back through between two plates.  The embossing folder creates a fabulous 3D look but I was going for soft and subtle.

This is only my second Easter card of the year and I send quite a few. I had a moment of panic when I realized how far behind I was, but it turns out Easter isn't until April 20th this year so it turns out I have time to make my cards. Then I had another realization. My son and I scheduled vacation over that weekend without even realizing it was Easter. (We're leaving my husband behind to care for the elderly cat.) We'll be gone for the Maundy Thursday service, the Good Friday service and then we won't hear the organ thundering "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" on Easter morning. Not to mention the wonderful brunch we'd come home to. How will spring start without us being part of all of that??!

It's not a big vacation but I'm very excited. We're exploring Idaho. There are a lot of job opportunities for my son there and after he did a quick roadtrip there last year, he came home and said "Not that I want you guys following me, but have you thought about retiring to Idaho? You'd love it." I've never been, so he and I are flying to Boise and then exploring multiple medium and small towns east of there across the state. It looks amazing and might have everything my husband and I are looking for.  He and our son are going back later in the summer so my husband can explore the fly-fishing options which is his only retirement plan. It is surprising how much that plan limits our choices but so far I love the areas on our list. 

I'm clearly feeling chatty - and I'm sure you'd rather be making your card. I hope see you playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Verve Egg-stra Special

Dies: Alexandra Renke Cross in a Circle, Taylored Expressions Banner Stacklets, Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Strips

Paper: Stampin' Up Country Lace, Perennial Essence Vellum, cardstock in Petal Pink and Smoky Slate

Ink: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate

Other: Stampin' Up Pretty Pink & Pretty Peacock Foiled Gems, Eyelet 3D embossing folder

Freshly Made Sketches: Lovely Birthday

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by the fabulously creative Cécile and here’s what I did with it!

It's a very sad statement on my stash that as I am organizing and downsizing, I'm finding things that I don't remember having. The Hello Lovely set by Concord & 9th is one of those. As I was thinking through options for this sketch, it suddenly occurred to me that I have this recently re-found stamp set that gives me that random background with detail in the middle. And this is why I absolutely adore sketch challenges!! They always push me in unexpected directions.

The sentiment is also from Concord & 9th. I wanted to give the stamped image a little more dimension so I cut the birthday into the card front and added the happy on top of it. I found a little butterfly for even more dimension. Then I went looking for some sparkle. I haven't used sequins in a long-time and I think they are going to become a victim of my need to downsize so in case that happened, I used three sequins from a Stampin' Up set that were eactly the colors that I wanted!

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Concord & 9th Hello Lovely

Dies: Concord & 9th Birthday

Ink: Stampin' Up Petal Pink, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Granny Apple Green

Other: Stampin' Up Iridescent Sequin Assortment

Freshly Made Sketches: Easter Greetings

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Jen Brum and here’s what I did with it!

As I'm looking at the calendar, I need to get moving on Easter cards. I saw this sketch and my heart sank a little because those rectangles wouldn't easily be Easter eggs or bunnies or a cross or any typical Easter icon. But then as I was flipping through my stuff hoping for inspiration, the palm dies by The Greetery caught my eye and from there it was a fairly easy leap to create three little scenes.

I really like how this turned out. Maybe I'm ready for fresh spring colors. Or maybe I just adore the these bunnies from Impression Obsessions so it didn't matter at all how the card looked - the bunnies made me smile! 

I did struggle with the sentiment. Turns out I don't have many small sentiment strips for Easter and the newer ones that I have just weren't the right look for the card. The one I eventually found came from the way-back file - it was a wood-mounted stamp and could easily be 20 years old - but I like it. Although I am supposedly in the process of organizing and downsizing, what I've just learned it that I cannot get rid of anything because you never know when a 20-year old stamp might come in handy!

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: A Muse Easter Greetings (very old!)

Dies: The Greetery BotaniCut Palms, Impression Obsession Bunny Buddies and Easter Gnomes (just the egg), Poppystamps Nordic Flower Heads, My Favorite Things Pierced Rectangles

Cardstock: Taylored Expressions Pink Champagne and Peapod, Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight and Peach Pie

Freshly Made Sketches: Floral Hello

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by me and here’s what I did with it!

I put the sketch together specifically to show a cluster of things in and around a frame. I feel like just adding things over and under a frame gives a card visual dimension whether there's any actual dimension or not.  I picked the flowers because they were new-to-me and I was excited to play with them! Then I stuck with the same company and found the hello that I think is a nice style for it.

I hope to see you playing along with us this week at FMS.  I look forward to seeing all of your creative ideas.  I can picture balloons, hearts, flowers, Easter eggs and more - but I bet you surprise me with all of your fun ideas!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Altenew Sweet Sugar Cookies and Fancy Hello, MFT Stitched Rectangle Scalloped Frames

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green