DDD ~ A bit of humor ...

Hi friends!

I'm still here ... just slower than usual!

I think I tried to get back to routine a little too soon

which sounds a lot like something I do.
I need to s.l.o.w. my row, as they say!

And today is the last time the DDD card group will be 9!

By this time next month,

 will we have been crafting together for 10 years ...

*~* 10 YEARS! *~*

And I'll let you in on a little secret!

There will be a month long party in our card group forum 

celebrating the 10 year anniversary.

Shhhhhh!

For this month's card kits, Barb and Tracie sent card kits with a humor theme.

Heaven knows we can all use some funny moments right about now ~

it's absolutely crazy out there!

My card today is made with the kit Barb sent to me 

and it was full of black and white papers with a Crackerbox/So Suzy image.

The moment I saw the image, I got 'old timey feels

from the Sunday comic section and left the image uncolored.

To contrast that, I used hot pink cardstock to give it a pop of color

and carried the theme to the inside as well.

Due to lack of time and energy 

I followed the card sketch on SCS from this week

 and flipped it to the side and made my card super simple.

Here's the sketch from Splitcoaststampers:

To find all the DDD (that's Dueling Darling Diva and Dazzler) cards,

please visit Splitcoaststampers and find the DDD card group in the forum.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings 

Kelly

Hot Mess Success ~ Pop Art!

Hello friends!

Thank you for your sweet words on my last post!

I've been in bed for a week and hope that I'm on the road to wellness.

I haven't had the energy to make cards at all

but today I just needed to pull up my bootstraps and just get. it. done!

I'm behind in creating at least 5 cards so today was crunch time.

I did take a quite a little time pull together this messy card

 for the Hot Mess Success card group.  

This month, I did a technique I call Pop Art!

Although I don't like messes AT ALL, I confess ~

I am LOVING this crazy card group!

Each month on the 12th, we find a technique 
- or in my case, create one -

and make a mess card.

So what's PoP aRt?!

One day, quite by mistake,

 I was playing around with my highly pigmented powders by Vicki Boutin.

Normally, it's meant to add to your mixing mediums

 like molding paste or glaze.

Since I've tried the CreativeFX iridescent glaze and stencils before, 

I thought it would be interesting to see how it would perform

 as a base color(s) when wet.

Low and behold - it stuck to the paper

and as I looked at it to see what to do next, it popped!

Pockets of air are underneath the dry powder
 and created a POP effect on the panel. Hence, Pop Art :)

 I wanted the paper to hold up to water, 

so I used #110 heavy weight cardstock.
It was certainly a cool effect and it gave me this card's idea :)

I normally prefer to dry my panels overnight but time was an issue

so I simply used my heat tool and dried the watery-powdery panel quickly.
The heat also activates the powder faster and more PoPing occured
giving the background panel amazing character :)

I made several A2 size card backgrounds 
and just chose one at random to use for this card ~ stamped in Stazon.

The cute birthday bear is from Penny Black and
 I've added sentiments from a Simon Hurley Creates stamp set.

My friends that also made cards today are:
Barb
Jeanette 
Terry

By using this 'Pop Art' technique, I was able to make quite a few panels.
I varied the colors and started with fresh water each time.
One it was heat dried, it sealed in the powder to the paper
but I did noticed if it's still wet, the dry part of the PoP Powder rubs off.  
Just a tip :)

This card took quite a bit of time and it's definitely not a quick card ~ 
 I kept getting tired through out the process,
but stuck it out and I'm so glad I did!
This card is just adorable and super-mess aside, I'm glad I made it :)
In fact, I am already planning uses for the other colored panels.

Here is another final look of the very messy birthday bear!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ...
~Kelly

TPB: Yello friends!

Yello friends!

That's like hello - only better!

It's a greeting with extra cheer and zest :)

And a great big THANK YOU to Denise,

owner and creator of The Project Bin stamps ~ like the one I'm using today.

I've been so very sick

which really stinks because I have some wonderful news to share soon :(

I had to pull a card from my gallery at Splitcoaststampers from VSN

and in true fashion to her sweetness, 

Denise said 'No worries', exuding to her amazing kindness!

It's probably no secret that I love 

~ LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE ~

citrus!

Grapefruits, oranges, lemon, limes - YUM!

I love the fruit, juices and even use it quite often in cooking.

We are very blessed that many years ago, we planted lemon/lime

and sour orange trees in our backyard so supply is always on hand.

For my card, I did some watercoloring

 with my Altenew watercolor brush markers.

  I am over the moon in love with these!

Since the VSN theme when I made this card back was fruit,

I stamped the lemon and slices in a random fashion to showcase that.

I'm a BIG BIG BIG fan of the loose watercoloring ~

not going all the way to the lines 

and just letting the water and paint do their own thing organically.  

I don't (always) force the color to the lines ...

and probably why I'm a fan of artists like John Marin, 

an American Modernism artist who painted this ↓

John Marin, Brooklyn Bridge, 1912

Back to my card!

I used the stamp set Yello and stamped the images in a random order.

Because the colors were so vivid and bright,

I stamped the coordinating sentiment in black and white for contrast.

The image is stamped and watercolored on #120 white cardstock 

and cut with a Spellbinders die set. 

 The final piece is the designer paper from Stampin' Up!

I did have an OOPS! with this card ...
can you see it?
eeeek!

You can see all what the design team creates all week on the blog,
as well as check out the galleries when you click on each stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by today!
Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

World UFO Day!

Hi friends!

Just wanted to tell you ~

your friendship is out of this world!

There's a new challenge at the CCEE Stampers

with the talented Lois at the controls for July.

Since today is World UFO Day and her first challenge this month is:

Lois here to start my month as hostess for the challenges. 

 Today is World UFO Day.  Make a card with something from space -

- the sun, the moon, a planet, a UFO, a rocket ship.

  Or, create a galaxy background for your card.  

I don't have any stamps with a UFO or alien theme so I went with an

alcohol inks alcohol blending solution background galaxy thingie card!

It turned out super groovy!

I happen to get lucky and found a few sheets of Yupo paper, 

left over from a past project ~ I don't keep a lot on hand 

(because it's 'spensive!)

I also paired it with the adorable astronauts from MFT Stamps: Mission Control

and colored them with my copic markers 

(for The Daily Marker - Day #2!)

The sentiment is a time issue and I found it on my desk - done and done!

And that's it from my today!

Be sure to stop in to the CCEE Stamper blog and see the the DT cards

as well as the linky where you can add your cards, too.

Thanks for stopping by ~

Big hugs, bigger blessings!

Kelly

Birthday Love!

Hi friends!

Can you believe it's July?!

It's hard to believe that half of this crazy year is gone

and my prayers are it will be better than the first half.

Since June just ended,

 I am finally getting my act together making a card …

 made with Altenew stamp club stamp and die.

I'm a BIG fan of Altenew stamps.

 And you know when you love a stamp company

and they say 'we have a stamp club!' 

and you say "where do I sign up?!!!"

Yeah!  

Me, too!

It's like a little surprise in the mailbox each month :)

The July club stamp just arrived ta-day and 

I. just. had. to. peek ….

Super excited!

The adorable stamp of the month for June is:

Birthday Love!

It's an cute mini balloon hearts set and matching die,

super versatile and a delightful set to use all year, over and over.

 For my card, I wanted to go with a whimsical look

and the decided to do some quick watercoloring.

I just did a super easy, tried and true smoosh method

with ranger inks and water and acetate.

The fun thing about the technique is with one pass of the inks,

you can get backgrounds for days!

It's like the ink that just keeps giving :)

Once it was dry, I stamped with Stazon ink and only used

the silhouette stamp to highlight the balloon shape and die cut it.

I added some simple twine and tacked it underneath the balloons
and heat embossed the matching stamp set sentiment
with white embossing powder and ta-da!
Done!

I'm super excited to work on the next card
(since this is actually the card for June!)

Today, the Daily Marker starts up again.
I've been playing along for a few years now
and it's a daily coloring/use-any-medium-just-be-creative idea from Kathy R.
This is my Day #1 card!

Some days I will color, some days I won't be able to,

some days I will make a full card ..

I'll surprise myself, LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings
!~Kelly

I Myth you!

Hi friends!

It's Monday, 

even though I rarely know what day of the week it is anymore :)  

The sun is out, school is out, who's counting?!

I do so love the lazy days of summer

with an empty schedule and lots of time to just be.

I took advantage a few weeks ago of the one-day-only flash sale

at Taylored Expressions for this AH-DOR-A-BLE 

mythical grumplings stamp and die combo set.

Both were offered together for a wonderful sale price - yes, please!

It's so hilarious!

(I actually needed just the Yeti stamp 

so the other stamps are like a bonus!)

For today's card, I'm using the funny unicorn

and adding to a background of multi-colored rubber band stamps.

This is the technique lover's for today at Splitcoaststampers 

and I love Oldies But Goodies!

It's fun to bring back techniques we tried and are now trying again!

The idea to add a stitched cloud came from one of my earlier cards

back in May.

I

I enjoyed making it for spring card camp ~

 and, as they say, if it works!

I paired my unicorn, colored with copics, with ranger distress inks

as I happened to have the colors needed:

Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet and Mermaid Lagoon.

I used an old acrylic block and borrowed some tinier rubber bands from

my granddaughter, Alice  

The center is cut with an MFT Rounded stitched die

and I left the rest of the card without a back panel because it's already busy!

And that's my mess my card for today!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

Card entered for consideration to
Crafty Cardmakers - make your own background
Get Creative - Fantasy characters

3 cards from VSN at Splitcoasttstampers :)

Hi friends!

Splitcoaststampers is having the Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) this weekend

and it's a fast paced, card making bonanza!

For a few hours on Friday and Saturday,

the hostesses have themes for a card and one hour to complete the card

before the next challenge begins.

I was Ms. Friday Night  at 7 pm!

And nope!

I didn't require wearing a bikini ~

that was optional!

hee hee!

Since the theme is centered around a summer playlist,

I chose an older song from 1960 by Brian Hyland:

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini!

This song always brings back happy memories of summer time

when this song would play on the radio!

Here is my card using MFT Stamps Pure Innocence Beach Day.

Completion time:  36 minutes

Next,

Shelly's challenge ~ gradient color.

Completion time:  43 minutes

I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors with watercolor sheet paper,

and then die cut it with a die-namic from MFT Stamps.

And last, 

Annette's challenge: Fishing in the dark!

Completion time:  23 minutes

I used Avery Elle Hello Chum - such a fun stamp set!

My son wants to go deep sea fishing and night boating - mama says no!

This is just a few cards that I've made ~

and hopefully will be able to make a few more!

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ~Kelly

Mini card camp ~ Final Wrap up with Barb!

Hi friends!

Today is the final day of our friends mini card camp

and today's card idea is by:  Barb!

Barb's tutorial today is stencils, waterbrush markers and a word sentiment ~

easy and fun!

We hope in some way our little card camp has given you some inspiration :)

While it was just a fun summer idea while we are all homebound,

we loved sharing these crafty ideas for your cardmaking and papercrafting fun!

I'm thankful for the ladies that joined me each day this week ~

it's nice to have friends that you can craft with far away

AND ones that when you have a crazy idea, they say what time!

For my stencil, I used the Funky Rainbow from Picket Fence Studios

and Karin markers on 120# cardstock.

 I added a bold hello 

with vellum and black cardstock.

The small sentiment stamp is from Simon Says Stamps

and was fitting for this card :)

 This was so fun to make and I love the simplicity of it ~
yet it really makes a bold hello statement!

Thank you for your visits this week!
Here is the line up of camp counselors and the day we had classes:

Monday/June 22 ~ Kelly @ Sandcastlestamper

Tuesday/June 23 ~ Darlene @ Accordingtobijou

Wednesday/June 24 ~ Jeanette @ Creativeplay

Thursday/June 25 ~ Barb @ inkingintoretirement

Here is a final look at my card:

 Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

I'll enter my card to:  Word Art Wednesday for consideration!

CCEE2026 ~ National Bad Eagle Day

 Hiya friends!

Today is self portrait day!

And this is mine ...

before my Starbucks! 

Just kidding, of course :)

(it's my face before any coffee!)

Hee hee!

There's a new challenge at the CCEE Stampers

and this is Vicky's challenge for us:

Today we celebrate the Bald Eagle. 

 Make a card with a bird on it....extra credit if it is a Bald Eagle.  

My daughter-in-law loves Eagles.  She and her son go to our local lake to spot the Eagles high up in the poles.  The size of their nests is unreal and seeing one in real life is one of life's pleasures!

Have a fun, creative day!

 This is my card this week ~ not quite a bald eagle 

but I thought it was such a funny stamp.  

This is a wooden stamp from Art Impressions called The Buzzard.

My dad would have gotten SUCH a kick out of a card like this!

This card will go right into my giveaway stash 

and hopefully someone will get a kick out of it!

Please be sure to stop at the CCEE Stampers blog 

and see the gorgeous line up of eagle and bird cards this week. 

 If you use a gallery like Splitcoaststampers,

use the keyword CCEE2026 

or add your card to the link up at the bottom of this blog post!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings 

~Kelly

Card entered for consideration to:  Art Impressions Challenge - Make me Laugh!