Dragonfly Dreams FMS 332

Good Saturday afternoon!

I had such fun last week entering the Freshly Made Sketches challenge that I really wanted to try again this week! This card I made for my friend who lives in California whom I don't get to see very often. It's truly a hike from my home in Stroudsburg, PA! I love to send her "Happy Mail' now and again, she is truly "happy" when she receives it! I was reminded of her today as the temperature is currently 81°, so I'm pretty sure she is experiencing the same kind of weather! So here is the Freshly Made Sketch for this week:

and here is my card:

The card base is Very Vanilla, the first mat is Bermuda Bay followed by a Very Vanilla mat. I used the stamp set Dragonfly Dreams and the accompanying thinlets. The large dragonfly was stamped using Bermuda Bay and the detailed thinlet was cut from Dazzling Diamonds glitter paper.The DSP is called Falling in Love and sadly is retired from SU, but it just seemed to fit so perfectly with the dragonfly I thought. In the top right I stamped the bubble stamp from You're Inspiring, I've used that on a lot of my cards lately,  I just think it adds that little 'something'! I then placed two of the small dragonflies, which were also die cut from Dazzling Diamonds glitter paper on top. To finish it off I placed three clear epoxy shapes towards the top of the card, but I'm not sure they're showing up too well.

To see all of the wonderful designs linked to this challenge please go to Freshly Made Sketches here. I am always in awe of the gorgeous designs and inspiration each week from this challenge and I'm sure you will be too!

So, enjoy the rest of your weekend and all the products I used for this card (besides the DSP) can be purchased from my online store. If you don't have a demonstrator, I would love to be yours! If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to contact me, my email and online store are on my blog Forget-me-not-Treasures!

Wedding Anniversary

Hello Bloggers!

Today I have a Wedding Anniversary card for my good friends in Minnesota, Julie and Tom! Unfortunately I don't know how many years, I can't ask cause then she'll know why I'm asking! I've known them for many years, she is a Hardanger embroidery designer that I met at a Needlework convention in New Hampshire and we made an instant connection. If any of you have attempted hardanger, then you'll know it's not easy! She has a fantastic DVD called "Taking the 'hard' out of Hardanger", so if you are a stitcher and have a difficult time with hardanger, get this DVD, it's the best! This is Julie's site, just click here 

On to my card! Because it's spring (at long last!), I decided to use the 'You're Inspiring' stamp set that was in the Occasions Catalog, which I'm very happy to report is carrying over to the new 2018-2019 Annual Catalog! I've made so many cards with this set, I absolutely love Daffodils, they remind me of my Mum! Just to see them popping their beautiful trumpeted heads from the cold crusty earth brings joy to my heart! Here is my card:

I used Whisper White for my card base with a tangerine tango mat. On top of that mat I used a piece of the Color Theory DSP and stamped it with the little bubble stamp from the set. I stamped the daffodils using Momento black ink onto a whisper white piece that I had die cut using the large oval from the Stitched Shaped dies. I also stamped the actual blooms again, colored them and fussy cut them. Using dimensionals I placed them on top of the blooms on the oval cutout. Of course I had to add some Wink of Stella to them to give them that 'early in the morning' dewy look! Before placing the oval onto the card base, I placed a doily to go underneath. I finished off by placing 3 glitter enamel dots around the flowers and a piece of organza ribbon tied into a bow. Unfortunately the glitter enamel dots are retiring, I love them so have ordered two more packs! 

I really enjoyed making this card for my friends, I hope they like it and I hope you do too! If you don't have a Demonstrator, I would love to be yours! If you would like to purchase any of the products I have used, please use the link at the top right of my blog, it will take you directly to my store! Similarly, if you have any questions, I would love to help you, my gmail is also at the top right of my blog. See you next time, happy crafting!

Happy Panda!

Hi there!
Today I have a card for my grandson's 11th birthday coming up next week. I'm also entering it into this weeks Freshly Made Sketches. I love seeing what everyone comes up with each week for this challenge. Here is the sketch:

When I saw this weeks sketch I immediately saw two pieces of bamboo and a Panda and thought 'wow, and I didn't even have to think about it!'
Of course, my grandson, Jaden, loves Pandas - well any animal for that matter! Plus the two pieces of bamboo look like the number '11', which will be his age on the 13th! I know, that's stretching it, but what the hoo! Without further ado, here is my card:

The bamboo I cut out using my Cricut as I didn't have a bamboo stamp! I water-colored the background using Pool Party, Soft Sky, Pear Pizzazz and Crumb Cake although the picture isn't too definitive in the colors, but that's the best picture I could get it! The Panda is from Party Panda which was a free set during Sale-a-Bration -he's so cute, but unfortunately this set is no longer available. I put the one piece of bamboo and the Panda on dimensionals to give a little depth to the card and finished off by using two light blue and one light green Glitter Enamel Dots and, of course, some Wink of Stella! 

I hope you like my card, I had such fun creating it. Please go over to Freshly Made Sketches and check out all the awesome cards that everyone have submitted -you won't be disappointed!

Mother's Day Wreath

Hello and Happy Easter to all in blog land! 
     Today I have a Mother's Day card for my grandchildren to give to their Mom! My friend, Dottie, had seen a card on Pinterest that used one of the Swirly Scribble thinlets to create a wreath. The card was beautiful and I wanted to make one but unfortunately I don't have that thinlet set, so I created my own using my Cricut Explore! 

     The card base is Pink Pirouette and I decorated it with flowers and leaves from the Seasonal Layers and Botanical Garden thinlets. Unfortunately the latter set of thinlets is now retired I'm very sorry to say - what a fantastic set it is! I wanted to add a little something something to the petals, so I drew lines on them mimicking the veins of the flowers. I also added various size pearls, according to the size of the flower, with a couple on the card base itself. I finished off the wreath with a double bow using Linen thread. The DSP is a piece from the Springtime Foils DSP which was free from the Sale-a-Bration catalog. I think this is the most stunning DSP that SU has ever had and they've had some gorgeous DSP in my time! 

     Well I hope you like my card, oh, and I hope my daughter does too! Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I hope you have a wonderful time. Wishing you all the blessings that come with this sacred day, from my family to yours!

Lots of Lavender Sale-a-Bration

Hi Folks!
It's me again with another card! This time I'm using the 'Lots of Lavender' Sale-a-Bration freebie! I love this stamp set, I can't seem to stop finding a reason to use it and it's free, what more I ask! I seem to be always making a card for someone, or something - not usually just because! This time my son Russell, who lives in Santa Clara, California asked me, back in January, if I would make another Mother's Day card for him (actually for Theo, my grandson). I made one last year that apparently went down well and he gave me oodles of time so here we are! Julie, my daughter-in-law loves any shade of the color purple, so what better stamp than Lots of Lavender! I CASED a card by a Stampin Up demonstrator, link here: Melissa from Melissa's Kre8tions. I changed just a couple of things to put my own 'touch', on it! Firstly I embossed the white mat with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder - love this EF, it's one of SU's dynamic folders. These type of embossing folders create deep, dimensional embossed impressions which turn out really cool! After I had diecut the stitched shape frame, I embossed it with the Layered Leaves EF, also one of the dynamic embossing folders. To add a little bit of interest, and to add a little more purple, I sponged just the corner of the frame with Perfect Plum ink. For the ribbon, I used lace trim - when I think of Lavender I think of lace! Makes me think of my own Mum, she loved Lavender too! After stamping the Lavender in Momento black ink I used my Stampin Blends to color the image and then used Wink of Stella on the petals. The lattice at the bottom is a thinlet from the Petals and More thinlet dies. I think this adds a little interest to the sentiment. To finish it off, I put it on a card base of Elegant Eggplant, if I remember correctly, Melissa's card was done in Rich Razzleberry, another favorite of mine! Added a couple or three purple glitter dots and Bob's your Uncle, done!

Well, that's it for me today, as always, if you would like to purchase any of the items I have used, my website is at the top right of this post, I would love to have you as my customer. If you have any questions, my email is also at the top right, don't hesitate to reach out. Also, please feel free to comment on this post, I do so appreciate your feedback. Til next time....happy stamping!

Wreath using my Misti!

Hello! 
Long time no blog eh! I don't know what happened - yes I do, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas - commonly referred to as "the Holidays"! Then in the latter part of January I took a spill and cracked my tailbone and am now still recovering - phew what an ordeal that was! So, onward and upward (we can only hope!) and back to my favorite pastime - paper-crafting! March 9th was my grandson, Bryan and his girlfriend's 6th Anniversary - yes, they have been a couple for 6 years, God Bless them! They are definitely soul mates and as soon as they have both completed college I'm sure that I will be hearing wedding bells! In the meantime I, of course, had to make them a card! Recently I was watching Sacha van der Kerkof who is a Stampin Up Demonstrator from the Netherlands. She was demonstrating how to use a template with the Misti to create a Wreath! She does give all the directions on how to create the template using your Stampin Trimmer - 129722 and a piece of Acetate, although you could probably use cardstock equally as well. Anyway, I came up with another idea, and I used my Cricut Explore! It was easy, I just used square shapes and the slice feature! It's a 5 x 5 square card and I used Colorful Seasons Stamp Set - 143726 (still a fave of mine!) for the flowers and Jar of Love - 141587 for the hearts and leaves. 

I love making wreaths and I thoroughly enjoyed designing and making this card for my two lovebirds! I hope you like it too! As always, if you would like to purchase any of the items I have used, I would love to have you as my customer. My Stampin Up website is at the top right of this post. Similarly, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me by email, my email address is at the top right also, or feel free to comment on this post.  I really appreciate all of your comments. So, til next time.....

Autumn Chrysanthemum

Hello again! I'm thinking I'm on a roll at the moment! Three times in less than a week! The card I have for you today is using a new stamp set in the Holiday catalog that came out Sept 1st. It's called Painted Harvest, it actually has a whole suite, but I just got the stamp set and the Designer Series Paper (DSP). My Mum and Nan used to love to garden and we always had some kind of flowers throughout the year beginning with Snowdrops in January and continuing on to the beautiful Chrysanthemums in the fall. Consequently, I was dying to try my hand in trying to duplicate a chrysanthemum with this set. It's a two-step stamp, and after trying out several inks, I decided to use Crushed Curry and Cajun Craze for the flower and Pear Pizzaz and Old Olive for the leaves. For the center of the flower I used Soft Suede and Crushed Curry for the little dots, so cute! The flowers also were brushed with Wink of Stella, but I'm not sure that you can see it in the picture. The set also has this darling little acorn, I couldn't resist stamping a couple of those too! These were stamped using Crumb Cake and Soft Suede. I used Very Vanilla for my stamping mat, then mounted this, using dimensionals, onto a mat of gold glimmer paper. My card base is Cajun Craze. This is one of the many reasons I love Stampin Up, everything matches, you don't spend valuable time trying to match inks with paper etc. and the finished product looks so good! I was very pleased with the outcome of the 'Chrysanthemums', it brought me back to my childhood, I could almost smell them, that beautiful autumn, deep woodsy smell they have! I hope you like my card as much as I do and if you would like to purchase any of the items I have used, I would love to have you as my customer. My Stampin Up website is at the top right of this post. Similarly, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to shoot me an email, address at top right also, or feel free to comment on this post. Til next time.......