PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS: More Thank Yous and the Very Best of Pinterest Pins

I needed a fairly quick thank you card and here's one that caught my eye:

Original Pin HERE...and
here's my CASED version:

...and here are a few more favorite
THANK YOU pins:

Original Pin HERE
This would make a nice autumn or Thanksgiving
card by switching the leaves to brown and the berries
to a lovely shade of orange ^_^

Original Pin HERE
So simple with loads of white space...love it!
I have a die set of numbers and could quickly get
the "U" by die cutting a zero and snipping off the top!

Original Pin HERE
The white word on black makes for a stunning card!
The patterned piece of paper reminds me of
adult coloring books!

Original Pin HERE
This card makes my heart so happy!
May you make someone happy with your
handmade creations!

PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS: Thank Yous and the Very Best of Pinterest Pins

I've needed quite a few thank you notes lately for some very thoughtful people that I'm thankful to have in my life. This card pinned on Pinterest struck my fancy plus I had a scrap of watercolor paper that I wanted to use:

Original Pin HERE

I don't have this exact set from SU, but I have a similar retired SU set called Asian Artisty and that led me to create this card:

This card is for my friend Rina who gifted me with a happy birthday die. I used the "happy" from her set of gift dies for Rina's thank you note. After the card was completed, the card seemed off-balance with too much white space above the oval. After trying a few possible fixes, I decided that the placement of two butterflies resulted in the best solution ^_^ (Butterflies from SU Embosslits Beautiful Wings, Oval from SU Stitched Shape Framelets)

Additional thank you notes finished and ready for mailing:

This card needed something to make it pop and

some Stickles came to the rescue:

This pin from my previous blog post got me thinking about cutting words out on my cards:

See Original Post HERE

The following note cards were made on my Cricut using the SU stamp set called Avant-Garden for the flowers and SU Fabulous Phrases for the white embossing words on the black card stock:

...and one without my Cricut:

The inside view for all of the cards above:

PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS: Fall is Here and the Very Best of Pinterest Pins

Creative juices are flowing and I've received a number of cards this month from my card making buddies. I usually don't post the cards I receive, but from now on, I want to share the multi talents of these terrific friends with the readers of this little 'ole blog! It's a wonderful thing to be on the receiving end of so much sunshine and happiness that these lovely cards bring into my life, and I only hope that the cards I send out elicit a similar feeling  ^_^  Here are the most recent cards received:

Rina used the embossing folder set by Anna Griffin seen HERE on Amazon and shown below: 

Then she gifted me the entire set! Oh! happy day! I found this card on Pinterest and CASED it for a thank you card for Rina:

Original Pin HERE

My CASED version:

I've stayed up until 2 AM playing with all of the sayings and embossing folders that comes in this set - Time truly flies when you're having creative fun! (More posts using these folders to follow for sure!)

Then, I received the loveliest of cards from a thoughtful and creative friend:

I love the effect of this multi-layered card! I also loved the label that Juliette places on the back of her cards:

Next, my awesome pen pal and paper crafter extraordinaire in British Columbia, Canada made this card for me:

I LOVE butterfly cards and I love how she used vellum for the layer under the butterfly's wings. Check out my butterfly card board on Pinterest HERE.

Lastly, another oh! so beautiful card from my multi-talented friend, Alice, that made me smile from ear-to-ear:

PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS: Purses and the Very Best of Pinterest Pins

I'm happy to report that I'm back after a three-month break in blogging! I have been on quite the roller coaster ride during that time, but thankfully, my determined husband is successfully making his way back from having a stroke on April 29th. Life is so precious and I hold that thought in my heart and mind even more now. My family is immeasurably grateful for all the love received from friends and family that cheered us on and up during these past months!

My 93-year-old friend's birthday is this month and I wanted to make this purse for her that I saw on Pinterest, of course!

You can find the tutorial by clicking HERE.

The finished size is quite large and makes a stunning box to hold a little gift or some candy. Here's my version:

White leaf die used was:

FLOURISH THINLITS by Stampin' Up

My mind is spinning with all of the possibilities for purses year-round using holiday double-sided paper, and boy oh! boy, do I have stashes of that kind of paper squirreled away!

Here are a few more versions that I made while everything was pulled out and my craft room already looked like a bomb had gone off!

The scoring is a bit difficult because you can't put your paper on a score board to create the diagonal scoring. I used a straight edge and a ruler on top of some craft foam and that worked beautifully!...but then the light bulb in my head went off and I realized that you can fold up the bottom third of the paper after it's scored and then you can use your Fiskars scoring tool perfectly!

Use the metal wire to line up the score line:

Open the ruler to the right and locate the

score slot at the top of the scorer

to start the score line:

When the Velcro closure of the flap is lifted up, the purse opens like an explosion card and this is what the inside of my purse looks like:

Top Sentiment = My Computer

Lower Sentiment = SU Balloon Adventures

Visit Lizzie's blog HERE to see the step-by-step tutorial pics and view the explosion effect. I hope you make someone happy with your paper creations soon. It sure feels good to be able to do that again!

PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS: My Latest Projects and the Very Best of Pinterest Pins

I needed a WOW! card for the birthday of my son's

GF and decided to do a card in a box:

This is large version that I created using the

following measurements:

DSP Double-Sided:

10 1/2" x 11"

Along the 10 1/2" side score at:

2 1/2", 5", 7 1/2" and 10"

Along the 11" side score at:

5 1/2"

I then trimmed 2" off  three flaps and left the back flap closest to the tab full size to get a nice height for the back flap and a smaller size for the side flaps as shown in my picture above.

 Close Up

For more examples of these types of cards,

Pinterest has a board of them HERE.

I'm so happy to be going to a wedding and shower

for someone who is a landscape architect and

these are the cards I created for her:

Inside the Shower Card

Such a sweet little card that could be

modified for any occasion!

These cards were the source of my

CASED cards:

Original Pin HERE

Original Pin HERE

PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS: WOW! Cards and the Very Best of Pinterest Pins

The inspiration for the card above was

this Pinterest Pin:

Pinterest Pin HERE

I discovered this jar of goodness at Costco

recently and added a tag to give this one as a gift:

Simply mix two heaping teaspoons into

hot water and enjoy!

Next up...through Pinterest, I discovered

a talented blogger named May May.

Visit her blog MayMayMadeIt HERE

This is one WOW! project I can't wait to

try with photos added inside:

Envelope Explosion Mini Album

(Uses the Envelope Punch Board)

Original Pin HERE

Here's another card I want to try:

Mini Envelope Tutorial

and lastly...

MayMay's 2017 Favorite Things Edition!

WARNING: Watch at your own risk - LOL -

because you will have to buy some new

toys after watching it!

PIN IT FRIDAY FAVS: Spring Things and the Very Best of Pinterest Pins

Love this cute St. Patty's Day paper craft that

I made thanks to this Pinterest pin:

Original Pin with Tutorials HERE

Here's a birthday card I made for a friend:

Inside View

SUPPLIES USED

Stamp Sets by SU:

Teeny Tiny Wishes

Balloon Adventures

Flowering Fields

Lace and Butterfly Punches by Martha Stewart

Dies:

Nestibilities Classic Scallop Rectangles

SU Stitched Shapes Framelets

One thing I often do with stamp sets that require extensive coloring is scan my finished panel into the computer so I can print out card fronts/inside panels whenever I need them in a jiffy! This is what I did for the outside and inside flower panels for the card above. Even close up, you can't tell that they were scanned and oh!...the time it saves!

My coworker, Donna, is planning a Leprechaun Hunt for her young granddaughters this month. She bought gold chocolate coins to make a pathway to the shoe box traps that the little ones will decorate ahead of time. Donna will then make it look like the leprechauns have done some mischievous things in her house when they all go on the hunt: tilted lamp shades, St. Patty's socks on the floor, etc. Oh! What fun these kids will have! I gave Donna some ideas for the hunt from the days when Kevin's wonderful kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Brown, did a hunt for her students every year! Such happy memories :-) Check out these clever St. Patty's Day Leprechaun Hunt ideas HERE and crafts HERE.