A Whole Bunch of Cards

What a crazy week it's been in San Diego--a state of emergency and fires all over the place.  Fortunately, the fire closest to our home was controlled before it got too close.  Schools were closed, the air quality was terrible, and each morning I awoke to a fresh layer of ash on everything outside.  My car was packed with important papers and photos, but luckily we were not called upon to evacuate. Today is the first day that the temperature is a bit cooler and the air smells clean.  Most of the fires are either out or are under control.  My heart goes out to all those who lost their homes this week.

I've been crafting off and on all week, and have a whole bunch of cards to post.  First up are two more cards for this week's Make it Monday #164:  Cluster Stamped Sentiments.   I began with a sentiment from Mama Elephant Make a wish and embossed it in white.  Then, I just stamped circles from Sketched Shapes all around in Aqua Mist, Summer Sunrise, Hibiscus Burst, Hawaiian Shores and Tropical Teal.  I stamped each of the circles twice, inking and rotating the stamp before the second stamp.  That is how I got the cross hatched pattern, and it also helped the embossed sentiment to stand out better.

I am also entering this card at this week's Simon Says Monday:  M challenge.  My 'M' is Make a Wish.


This next card uses another sentiment from that same ME set, and I stamped over it using Watercolor Wonder in a rainbow of colors.  I am entering this card at Make it Monday #164:  Cluster Stamped Sentiments as well as  Simon Says Monday:  M challenge.  My 'M' is Mama Elephant.

I was able to play with my Make it Market Shakers & Sprinkles kit.  Wow, is this kit fun.  The first card I made is a shaker card that is very close to one of the cards Betsy made when she introduced the kit.  It really was quick and easy.  I used a quarter sheet of the paper pad included with the kit, so all the background stamping was done for me, and I could not bear to break into my test tubes of sprinkles yet, so I used confetti made with one of the confetti dies.

I read a tip somewhere by Jacquie about using a Q Tip to put talcum powder on the edges of the foam tape to keep the shaker elements from sticking to the side of the foam.  I did not have talcum powder, so I used corn starch, and it did seem to help.

For my next card, I combined the Shakers & Sprinkles kit with my Shape Up Cupcake die to make a cupcake shaped card.  I have to say that I really love how it turned out, and I will be making more of these.  I coated the die cut 'sprinkles' with a ton of Wink of Stella, and coated the stamped confetti with Glossy Accents.

I recently got the Butterfly Drift die from SSS, and just started playing around with it.  I was inspired by many of the cards on Lisa's blog, I'm in Haven.  I am going to enter 5 of these next cards at Simon Says Wednesday Die Crazy.

I think that these first two are my favorite of the bunch.  For the first card, I die cut in black and also various rainbow colors.  I did not cut the entire die for each color--just put a scrap under the particular butterfly I wanted to cut.  I used the outline in black, and then filled in each butterfly with a different color.  I found that running the die cut through my Xyron machine was the easiest way to get the border to stick.

On this card, I cut the entire die out of the card stock panel, adhered that panel to my card base with foam tape, and then filled in the butterflies with colored card stock, leaving a gap where the border would be.

Just for fun, I am entering these cards at this week's Seize the Birthday (without toppings).

For my next card, I used a Kaleidacolor rainbow ink pad (Caribbean Sea), which I stamped on wet card stock.  Once it dried, I ran it through my Xyron machine and used the butterflies to fill in another black border die cut.

I used the border cut from that same piece of card stock on my next card.  I filled in the butterflies with black card stock butterflies, and used a sentiment from Avery Elle Brushed embossed in white.

Last up are the first cards I made with this die.  I used the same type Kaleidacolor rainbow ink pad, this one called Spectrum, stamped on to wet paper.  These are my least favorite because I think the colors are too bright and garish all together, but I am showing them anyway.  Maybe some one else might like them.

Well, that's it for me today.  Thanks for sticking with me for all these cards and pictures, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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