Succulent Cards

Hello! I hope all is well in your corner of the world. I've continued to make and send out cards to friends, and especially the other moms in my MOPS group, during this time of home quarantine. As a card maker it is the perfect way of staying connected and hopefully brightening someone's day! Today's post is photo heavy as I made a TON of cards using Sugar Pea Design's set Stuck on You. I actually did something with these I've never done before. After figuring out which colors of ink I wanted my plants and pots to be, I stamped and die cut a HUGE pile of all the various pieces and then played around mixing and matching different groupings. It was like paper dolls with die cuts!

For this first card, I cut my card base from white card stock with Papertrey Ink's Noted: Scalloped A2 die.  The cacti are stamped in variations of Green Parakeet, New Leaf, Ripe Avocado and Mowed Lawn inks. Some are stamped on their die cuts and others are stamped directly on the card base. On some I used the rock and roll technique for a two-tone effect. The pots are all stamped in Blueprint Distress Oxide ink. After figuring out my placement, but before glueing anything down, I used the Nesting Basics: Pierced Ovals die to add some interest and ground my focal point. The "Hello" sentiment is from Simple Stems.

This next one is the same idea, but with just a single pot and the sentiment is from Sentiment Staples: Just a Note. I also mixed in a different set. See that little spiky plant on the right? That one is from Papertrey Ink's Putting Down Roots set, but it fit in beautifully.

I also dressed up the envelopes with a sentiment from Keep it Simple: Happy Mail. I embossed this in white because of the dark envelope color. I love the way the white pops against the blue!

For this card my pots got the terra cotta treatment! I used Really Rust (Stampin' Up!) and Rusty Hinge (Distress Oxide) inks.

This card was actually unintentional. I thought I was using my pierced ovals die, as I had on my other cards, when I ran my card base through my die cutting machine, only to discover I cut a huge oval hole in my card base! What I had done was accidentally used the oval die from the Noted: Scallop A2 set! As Bob Ross says, though, "There are no mistakes, just happy accidents." So I used the pierced oval I had accidentally cut, and attached it to a new scalloped card base with foam tape so it is popped up. I actually really like how it turned out and that it is different. Happy accident indeed!

More happy mail. :)

These next set of cards I switched things up and cut my base from Green Parakeet card stock using the Noted: Scalloped A2 Vertical die. I used the pierced rectangle that comes in that die collection to also cut the white panel my plants are on. The tall cactus in the middle is also from Putting Down Roots and while the pot has a coordinating die, the cactus does not. So I had to carefully cut it out by hand to try and match the rest of the die cut pieces. The sentiment is from Sentiment Staples: Thinking of You.

This card switches things up with a single pot and very full arrangement. The remaining pictures are the rest of the variations I made. They all use the same elements I've already talked about, but each one is unique.

I love how much variation there was using just the two main plant sets and a combination of various sentiments. Like I said before, I had never really worked in this method before, but I enjoyed it and love how many different but coordinating cards I ended up with in the end. I hope you enjoyed this lengthy post and were able to get some inspiration!

Stay safe and have a wonderful week!


SUPPLIES:

Stamps: Stuck on You (Sugar Pea Designs), Putting Down Roots, Sentiment Staples: Just a Note, Sentiment Staples: Thinking of You, Simple Stems,  Keep it Simple: Happy Mail (PTI)

Paper: Stamper's Select White, Green Parakeet (PTI)

Ink: Green Parakeet, New Leaf, Ripe Avocado, Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy, Smokey Shadow (PTI), Blueprint Sketch, Rusty Hinge, Mowed Lawn (Distress Oxide), Really Rust (SU!)

Dies: Stuck on You (Sugar Pea Designs), Putting Down Roots, Noted: Scalloped A2, Noted: Scallop A2 Vertical, Nesting Basics: Pierced Ovals (PTI)

Other: clover envelopes, royal blue envelopes (Paper Source)

Wishing You a Joyous Easter

Ever the procrastinator. I didn't get my Easter cards finished until today. It was a mad scramble to get them put together, addressed, and in the mail before the mailman came for there to be any hope of them arriving in time. Any other procrastinators out there? Nothing like a deadline to get things done!

Anyway, I was very happy to finally play with these super cute Easter products from Sugar Pea Designs. I actually bought them to make cards last Easter, but didn't get to it in time (see above statement on procrastination). 

For the focal point I used the Egg Cut-Away Window die. It is so intricate and detailed! I actually die cut the scallop border and the egg window in one pass through my die cutting machine by using washi tape to hold everything in place. Once that die cutting was done, I positioned the green panel over my white card base and lightly traced the egg outline in pencil. Once I removed the green panel, I could easily see where to blend my ink to create the background behind the bunny. For this card I used Hawaiian Shores ink at the top and blended down into Spun Sugar and a bit of Picked Raspberry at the bottom.

The Easter Word is die cut from Hawaiian Shores card stock. Isn't that a beautiful script font?! I used a glue pen to adhere it to my card.

The sentiment, from Easter Wishes, is stamped in Hawaiian Shores ink and stamped onto a small white strip of card stock, then popped up with foam tape.

 The second card is the same as the first, just with slightly different colors.

In this version I blended Squeezed Lemonade down into Spun Sugar distress oxide ink in the background, and the Easter Word is die cut from Raspberry Fizz card stock.

Easter will be very different for many of us this year as we watch live streamed Easter services from home instead of attending worship in person. But wherever we are, we can rejoice in the knowledge that He is Risen! Happy Easter!

SUPPLIES:
Stamps: Easter Wishes (Sugar Pea Designs)
Paper: Certainly Celery (SU!), Stamper's Select White, True Black (PTI)
Ink: Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores (PTI), Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry (Distress Oxide)
Dies: Egg Cut-Away Window, Easter Word (SPD), Scallop Stackers: Small (PTI)

Let's Party!

My youngest just turned 4 this past weekend. Though we of course couldn't have a big party for him because of the stay-at-home orders, we still put up decorations and tried to make it as special as possible. For his card, I used PTI's Shaker Shapes: Balloon die, because shakers are just so fun!

I die cut the frame of the balloon from Pure Poppy card stock and filled the balloon with blue and yellow sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, some red confetti from a local craft store, and some glass glitter. To try and mimic the confetti inside the balloon on the outside, I used PTI's Corner Adorner: January to add a festive touch to the corners of my panel. 

The sentiment is from Ways to Say: Birthday, and the balloon string is die cut from Soft Stone card stock. 

Thanks for stopping by!

SUPPLIES:
Stamps: Corner Adorner: January, Ways to Say: Birthday (PTI)
Paper: Stamper's Select White, Pure Poppy, Soft Stone (PTI)
Ink: Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise (PTI), Blueprint Sketch (Distress Oxide)
Dies: Shaker Shapes: Balloon (PTI)
Other: Lemon Drop sequins, Cornflower Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), glass glitter, red confetti, acetate, foam adhesive

HELLO

Hello friends! We have now logged three weeks of quarantine in our little corner of the world and, though we are all grateful to be safe and healthy, starting to get a bit stir crazy and missing our social interactions. To bridge that divide, what better way then to send some cards! I've been busy making a stack of happy mail to send out to friends and the moms in my MOPS group to hopefully brighten their day and let them know we're all in this together. My inspiration came from this card by The Stamp Market. I used their Perfect Polka Dot stamp for the background, stamped in Versa Mark and embossed in white. It really does perfectly fill up the front of an A2 card! 

My letters are die cut from MFT's Impact Alphabet die namic. I love the large size! The card stock colors I used are Raspberry Fizz, Limeade Ice, New Leaf, Aqua Mist and Hawaiian shores, all from PTI. They are adhered with foam tape to give them extra dimension.

On the back I stamped a sentiment from Made With Love by Sugar Pea Designs.

The envelope got some love, too! The sentiment is from PTI's Keep it Simple: Happy Mail mini set.

I love how bright and cheerful these turned out. I hope the recipients love them, too!

SUPPLIES
Stamps: Perfect Polka Dot (The Stamp Market), Keep it Simple: Happy Mail (PTI), Made With Love (Sugar Pea Designs)
Paper: Raspberry Fizz, Limeade Ice, New Leaf, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Kraft (PTI)
Ink: Smokey Shadow (PTI), Versa Mark
Dies: Impact Alphabet die namic (MFT)
Other: chartreuse envelope (Paper Source), white embossing powder, foam tape