STRAWBERRY THINKING

 I have another project to share with you today that uses something that helps the environment in a small way. I love to find artistic uses for things that normally get thrown away.

Do you ever buy bottles of juice that have those nifty heavy duty caps on the top that a normal person would just chuck in the recycling bin? Well, I suggest you save at least one of them (or possibly more in varying sizes for other projects), wash it well, and put it with your stamping supplies.

These throwaway circles make great backgrounds when they are used as stamps:

Obviously I used the bottle tops to create the background on this card.

I stamped a strawberry and its flower, fussy cut the components, and added them to a strip that tells the recipient I am thinking of them. So easy and effective

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Cherry Cobbler cardstock

Scrap of plaid Designer Series Paper

Sweet Essentials stamp set

Sweet Strawberry stamp set

Cherry Cobbler ink

Granny Apple Green ink

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Cap from Tropicana juice bottle

Stampin' Dimensionals

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of white cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Cherry Cobbler cardstock.

Cut a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of white cardstock.

Using a cap from a bottle of juice, "stamp" circles across this piece, first in Cherry Cobbler ink, then in Granny Apple Green ink.. Overlap the circles and extend them beyond the edges of the cardstock.

Cut a 1" x 3 3/4" strip of coordinating Designer Series Paper. Also cut a strip of white cardstock that measures 3/4" x 3 3/4". On this strip, stamp towards the right end a sentiment in Cherry Cobbler ink.

Adhere the two strips together.

On a scrap of white cardstock, stamp the strawberry components, first the outlines in black ink, followed by the inner parts in Cherry Cobbler and Granny Apple Green. Use a yellow marker to color the center of the flower.

Fussy cut the strawberry components.

Adhere with glue/Stamapin' Dimensionals the strawberry pieces to the far left of the strip as you wish.

Glue the finished strip towards the bottom of the card.

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My heart dances with joy when I think about you.

- Debasish Mridha -

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Strawberry

Smiles.

THISTLE THOUGHTS

I love it when Paper Pumpkin delivers extras in the kits that were completely unexpected. The background of my card was created with one of these surprises. Of course, most normal people would have tossed it in the garbage without giving it a single thought.

But then, whoever said I was normal? I never throw away ANYthing that could maybe be further used in a creative pursuit.

After I punched out the frothy fronds, the leftover negative space begged to be used as a stencil. So, that's just what I did to create this fanciful background.

Because the stenciling was fairly subtle, I was able to use a strong stamp image such as this beautiful thistle right on top of it. I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black ink so I could use Stampin' Blends to color it.

I sincerely wish this stamp set was not retired. Nevertheless, I plan on using it forever.

To color the thistle, I used Stampin' Blends in Light Old Olive and Dark Fresh Freesia.

With the exception of a few purple gems 

and the Stampin' Dimensionals I used to pop up my sentiment, 

the card is fairly flat. 

That's always a plus for mailing.

Just a reminder: Give all your garbage a careful second look before tossing it. Always. You don't want to throw away any potential art supplies! Now, do you? 

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It is easier to prevent thistles and habits than to uproot them.

- Austin O'Malley -

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Stenciled

Smiles.

#365birds JUNE 2023

Well, in looking through my #365birds drawings for June, I came to the realization that June must not have been a good bird month for me. Almost all the birds I drew in June were just meh. Sigh.

Anyway to continue my features of a month's worth of drawings I did for my personal challenge, #365birds, I present to you a handful of June birds. 

As I always do, I will include above each drawing the day of the challenge (of 365 days) it was, the name of the bird, as well as the part of the world where this bird can be found. 

Day 206 - dracula parrot

new guinea

day 210 - mallard

asia, europe, north america

day 213 - banded broadbill

southeast asia

\day 217 - oscillated antbird

central and south america

day 219 - gray-crowned rosy-finch

native to alaska

day 220 - penguin zebra finch

australia and indonesia

day 224 - rosy finch

the arctic and alpine zones

day 227 - tree sparrow

north america

day 238 - collared puffbird

amazon basin

day 231 - golden-chevroned tanager

brazil

day 232 - eastern rosella

eastern australia including tasmania

day 233 - buffy fish owl

bangladesh, myanmar, thailand, malaysia, singapore to cambodia, laos, vietnam and the samoa islands

Please recognize that these are my personal artworks and not to be reproduced or used in any way without my express consent. Be sure to reach out if you are interested in any prints!

Thanks for letting me share my avian journey with you!

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The early bird gets the worm 

but the late bird doesn't even get the late worm.

- Charles M. Schulz -

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Winged

Smiles.

OVAL OF FLOWERS

I'm sure everyone has had the experience of needing a card quickly, one that you maybe don't already have in your prepared stash of cards.

At times, Stampin' Up! makes it super easy to whip up a really attractive card with little time and effort. One of the ways they do that is with some of their Designer Series Paper designs. My card today is exactly an example of that.

Incredibly the floral oval on this card is just a small portion of a single sheet of DSP. Yes, just by cutting the sheet into six pieces, you get the perfect sizes to add to a card front.

To fill in the empty oval area, I stamped a single stem of a carnation in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then colored it with Stampin' Blends.

At that point, I added a bow tied from woven braid and quickly stamped "thank you" in Mossy Meadow ink, die cut it, and added it with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Here is a tutorial (which you probably don't actually need) on how to make this quick and lovely card.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Rich Razzleberry cardstock

Inspiring Iris stamp set

Wildflower Path stamp set

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Mossy Meadow ink

Stampin' Blends in: Light Rich Razzleberry and Light Mossy Meadow

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Ornate Frames Dies

Mossy Meadow Braid Trim

Mini Glue Dots

Stampin' Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of white cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Rich Razzleberry cardstock.

From the Colors in Dainty Flowers Designer Series Paper (from Sale-A-Bration), cut one of the oval sections to 3 1/2" x 4 3/4". To the center of this piece, stamp in Memento Tuxedo Black ink the carnation from the Inspiring Iris stamp set. Color it as you wish. I used Stampin' Blends in the aforementioned colors.

On a scrap of white cardstock, in Mossy Meadow ink, stamp your sentiment and use an appropriately sized label die to cut it out. With Stampin' Dimensionals, add the sentiment to the lower portion of the oval of flowers.

From Mossy Meadow Braided Trim, create a bow. Use a glue dot to adhere it above the sentiment label. Trim the ends to an angle and to a length that enables the ends to drape over the sentiment a bit.

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Simplicity is the trademark of genius.

- Robin Sharma -

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Simple 

Smiles.

 

HAPPINESS ABOUNDS

As I'm sure, you probably already know that I love coloring in stamped images. It is such a great way to destress.

This gorgeous flower from the Happiness Abounds set was a delight to work with. I used Stampin' Blends to color mine in.

Paired up with a slice of Designer Series Paper, this makes  a beautiful, simply made, card.

Although I think the card with just the DSP and the flower encircled atop it would have been a beautiful enough card, I decided to make it into a thank you card by adding the strip close to the bottom.

Just a closeup of the colored flower.

Isn't she lovely?

Here you go: a tutorial on how to make a card similar to this one. Just use supplies you have on hand to make it your own if you don't have the same ones I used.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Petal Pink cardstock

Pale Plum cardstock

Coordinating Designer Series Paper

Happiness Abounds stamp set

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Stampin' Blends in: Light and Dark Petal Pink and Light Daffodil Delight

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Layering Circles dies

Stitched Shapes dies

Thanks die

White Mesh Trim

Stampin' Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of Petal Pink cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Cut a piece of pale purple cardstock to 2 1/2" x 5 3/4" and adhere it to the upper portion of the card base, leaving equal margins at the top and sides.

To this, add a 2 1/4" x 5" piece of coordinating Designer Series Paper. 

On a 2 1/2" square piece of white cardstock, stamp in Memento Tuxedo Black ink the outlined flower. Color it in as you wish. I used Stampin' Blends in the aforementioned colors.

With a stitched circle die that measures 2 3/8" in diameter, die cut the flower. Using a circle die that measures 2 3/4" in diameter, cut the pale purple cardstock.

Adhere the flower circle to the purple circle. With Stampin' Dimensionals, add the flower portion to the DSP piece, overlapping onto the solid cardstock.

From the pale purple cardstock, die cut the word "thanks".

You have some options here. As in my sample, you can stretch a piece of woven white trim across the bottom of the card and adhere the word to it to the right. You can eliminate the trim and simply adhere the word alone. Or, you can leave the entire bottom portion blank.

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I must have flowers, always, always.

- Claude Monet -

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Flowery

Smiles.