Happy World Cardmaking Day 2026! 🥳

Hello!

Here is a card that makes me smile. It's an Acorn House for a squirrel who is busy gathering his winter food stores. Isn't he cute? But those teeny tiny pieces though. My weak blurry eyes and shaky hands have the most hard time adhering these together. I end up with glue all over my fingers, alcohol ink from shading the die cuts and then using a paint brush with talcum powder to dry off any sticky areas. Much better after that. And what an adorable die cut scene! I added glossy accents to the glass and his eye. There's shimmer on the leaves, mirror card for the sentiment and a little twine bow for interest. I used SSS stencil set for cloud and hill. 

Spellbinders Acorn Acres Club

Here's to a better day for everyone tomorrow because life is so very hard at times 🙏

Thoughts of You

Aloha, 

This is one of Simon Says Stamp prestamped watercolor images. I believe this one came in a set designed by Suzy Plantamura. I love these because some of the sets come with sentiments already on them. Isn't the font sweet? All you have to do is add watercolor and any little sparkly effects. The paper is a nice, thick watercolor stock, not thin or flimsy. You can also use markers or pencils to color. I watch Simon's website for when they go on sale - that's when I try to pick them up. 

Simon Says Stamp prestamped watercolor sets 

Watercolors, butterfly (Kaisercraft prestamped), gems, card base

For a friend on the mainland ❤️

Prayers for those who are going through loss and hardship 🙏

Lush Peonies

Pinkfresh Studios has some stunning floral images. I heat embossed this in gold, then added light watercolors to the flowers and leaves. If you look closely there are tiny dots of Stickles here and there. That way the card still has sparkles but the envelope won't feel bumpy when it goes through. The sentiment is by SSS and came in the Techniques and Textures kit earlier in 2026. I love the fonts used in this sentiment set "Good Greetings."

I'm sending this card to a dear friend whose husband of 65 years recently passed away. It just hurts. 

Prayers to all those in Nepal, Venezuela and Columbia, anywhere there are disasters 🙏

Tea and Honey, Luhia Trees

Hello, 

I have a dear friend who cleans at a local place whose owners have lots of bees and sell the best honey ever. It isn't amber color but looks more like white thick cream. It's very expensive but our friend shared a jar with us and we only use a tiny bit at a time to make it last and last. The taste is so much better, heavenly than regular honey. The bees visit all the Luhia tree blossoms. The resulting nectar is divine. So when I saw this stamp and die set by Pinkfresh, it helped inspire me to make a special Mahalo card for our friend. 

The lovely luhia tree in Hawai'i 

I colored with Copic alcohol markers and used Glossy Accents and a little Stickles for the honey drips and over the tea. I will add a sentiment after I pick one out. 

Pinkfresh Get Well Soon stamps and dies

Pinkfresh Stippled Plaid press plate

Diagonal Stripe embossing folder

Concord and 9th cardstocks and inks

Praying for those in Nepal who have lost their loved ones and their homes. Continuing to pray for those in Venezuela and Columbia, too 🙏🩵🙏

 

Eclipse Embossed Flower Card

Hi everyone, 

Don't you enjoy eclipse features in cards? I don't use this technique enough but it's beautiful to see. The step I need to remember is to cut the die cut pieces first, then place carefully into embossing folder and run through. This die cut and embossing folder combo is so beautiful and has been very popular. 

The one thing I would change about this particular embossing folder is to add more space along the top border. If you look closely or if you have used this product, you will see how narrow the paper is just above the top leaves of the die cut area. The creates a very delicate, fragile strip of cardstock. When running the die cut pieces through the embossing folder, often this area tears, requiring the use of a very skinny strip of clear tape placed from the back of the paper to repair the rips. That's the only down side of this folder and die because the rest of it is gloriously beautiful and elegant. I hope that with future products like this, companies will take issues like this into consideration.

Simon Says Stamp "Jubilee" embossing folder with matching dies cut, Stamptember 2024 (still in stock as of today, the beginning of Stamptember 2026.

Stampin' Up Flower Cart stamps and die cuts

Sentiments (various but I think I used Pink Fresh with these)

Adhesive Foam Tape from Altenew (my favorite)

Cardstock SSS and GKD

Remember to crafty stretch.

 Try new techniques to keep your mojo pumped 💓

Sunflower Season

Aloha,

I miss autumn. The crisp, cool mornings and the change of leaf colors are so invigorating. We do have a change in the intensity of the heat and a coolness in the mornings between October and February but the afternoons still reach into the 80s.

On days when I don't feel up to making an entire card, I will die cut lots of different pieces and sentiments then save them up for when I can make a card. I will also emboss layers, precut bases, color images - anything to help build a completed card later on. But sometimes the little post it note naming the products loses the stickiness and falls off. Then months later the fun of trying to remember the company who made products begins /s. 🧐 Sometimes I can't remember some of the product names but enjoy the finished cards despite that. 

I had a whole pile of cut sunflowers and put them together. I used Copic markers to add a little shading to them. Then I started combining embossed layers to card bases and this and that to finish these eight sunflower cards. The best part is going to be sending them out since it's nearing autumn.

 

Happy Autumn everyone 🍁 

Whimsical Bird

Aloha,

Simon Says Stamp often sells packs of prestamped images on watercolor paper. This pack is full of fun, whimsical flowers, animals and large sentiments. I don't remember the name of this pkg of watercolor scenes. It doesn't seem to be by Suzy P. but I could be wrong. I'm definitely not a watercolor artist but I can take a deep breath and try. 

I'm sending this to my older sister in Japan. I'm brave because she was an exceptional artist back in the 60s in Philadelphia and a commercial artist through the 90s. She probably chuckles at my attempts to paint and color but that's OK. Younger siblings should make the older ones laugh 🤭

SSS prestamped watercolor images

Inktense Watercolor Pencils

Glossy Accents (on his eye)

Black micron pen and white jelly roll pen for doodling

Praying for Nepal and countries suffering from recent disasters

🙏🩵🙏

Lavender Fields

Sunsets always thrill me. Sunrises do, too, but I am seldom awake to see one. And lavender is one of my favorite fragrances of all time. When I saw Hero Arts release the layered stamp set of a lavender field, I knew I had to have it. 

Using oxide inks, it's fairly easy to blend out a night sky with a moderate sunset. I used many blues and purples, dark and light pink inks over and over again while stamping the layers of flowers. Then I splattered a bit of perfect pearls in water to create a few stars. 

Sending to a friend whose mother recently passed away. 

Hero Arts Color Layering Lavender Field Heroscapes stamp set; Stampin' Up Heartfelt Blooms (sentiment); oxide Inks

My sincere prayers for those suffering from catastrophic disasters around our world. I pray you receive the help you need and that in time your hearts will find comfort now and into the future. 

🙏💜🙏

Keep on Swimming

I love Lawn Fawn. Their images are so stinkin' adorable that I can't help myself. Recently one of our kitty cats, Calvin, had to have dental surgery. It was rough because his immune system attacked his teeth. They only left the canine teeth (the fang ones). And he's had antibiotics and probiotics twice a day for weeks. He's so much better now and he isn't in pain anymore. I won't go into the cost because that part was just as frightening as the surgery. 😅💸💸💸

Here is a simple CAS thank you card for our vet. I put a thank you sentiment on it but didn't get that picture. Using a shimmer pen all over the water and fish gives it some sparkle. Inside there is a clam shell with a pearl in it, a puffer fish and some other sweet die cuts I colored using Copics..Calvin is a gray and white tabby. This scene reminds me that Calvin is better and back on duty watching the fish 🐱🐡🦪

The base is embossed with a beautiful flower design by GKD and an old diagonal stripe folder that I can't recall who made it. 

Masculine Card Designs

Aloha,

What outdoorsy kind of people wouldn't enjoy a tactile feeling fishing card? I used oxide inks for the distress, aged look on most of the die cuts. Metallic foil cardstock is great for hardware on the tackle box and the reel of the fishing pole and fish hook. I added gold metallic paste and gold perfect pearl powder to the fish. There's plain cord that ties the bundle of caught fish. And adding some shimmer pen to fish and other parts adds gentle sheen.

Honey Bee-Lovely Layers Rod.and Reel cutting dies

Simon Says Stamp-Good Greetings sentiments and matching dies (included in the Techniques and Textures class w/JM earlier this year)

Mahalo nui for stopping by 🤙

 

 

Small Post It Note Gifts

Hello, everyone, 

Recently I had the pleasure of making about 75 small appreciation gifts. I wanted something cute but also usable, both for women and men. I ordered the small pencils, Velcro dots, little post it notes in subdued colors and white duct tape from Amazon. I will include a link to the YouTube videos for creating the covers as well as the video of how to make simple, custom sized, stylish pencil or pen holders. This is a fabulous way to use your cardstock and pattern paper scraps. By changing the pattern paper, you can make these gifts for children, too.

Link to video and basic measurements for making note covers: YouTube post it gifts

Link to video for making pen/pencil holders: Pen or pencil holder 

Little pencils: Short pencils

Duct tape (lots of colors, patterns): White glossy duct tape

Earthtone color post it notes: Soft, earthy color post it notes

Mini, clear Velcro dots: Easy Velcro dots

I used Altenew Tape Runner as well as Aileen's Tacky Liquid Glue for putting these cute post it note gifts together. I also used a variety of sticky back gems, gold shimmer border stickers and flowers to decorate the fronts. Both the insides and outside are decorated with pattern paper on top of the cardstock. You can use a corner rounder or other decorative punch on your corners to add interest. The pencils come with a small presharpened tip and carefully packaged in boxes inside ziplock bags. 

Thank you for stopping by. 🙏

Hello Hollyhocks

 Aloha, 

Two kits arrived from SU today. They've recently had a sale. Since my mojo has hit a pot hole, it feels really good to kick out all 9 cards in the Hollyhocks kit. Don't you love how bright and cheerful the flowers are? I miss growing hollyhocks. 

The cards are simple, pretty and already assigned to recipients. I'll just decorate the insides a bit to finish them. 

The bling, double sided tape, dimensional adhesive foam, the die cuts, 9 card bases and 9 matching envelopes are all included in the kit.

 

Thank you for visiting! 

Purple Bellflowers

 Hi, friends,

I'm still learning how to piece together layered flowers. Boy, these can be tricky. I like that Altenew puts these little keys and arrows in each petal so we know better how to line each one on top of each other. But I still find it difficult, especially if my hands start shaking.

Altenew is having a challenge this month using the colors Purple, Orange and Olive. Here is a LINK to see the samples as well as the entries. I love deep purple and periwinkle (heh heh heh, look at my blog name) but combing it with orange is a hard one so I kept mine more of a golden yellow orange. I hope lots of my old cardmaking buddies are still actively making cards. Take very good care and thank you for stopping by! 

Card Ingredients:

Altenew Craft a Flower Bellflower Die Set

Altenew Bougainvillea Outline Stamp Set & Dies (sentiment)

Altenew Foam Tape

Altenew and Gina K. Designs dye inks

Altenew Tape Runner (my all-time new favoritist ever tape runner - never gets stuck & rolls like butter)

Versafine Black Onyx with Simon Says Stamp clear embossing powder for sentiment

Gina K. Designs Masking Magic 1/2" strips

Neenah White 120# cardstock

Spellbinders Gold Mirror cardstock (layer behind flowers)

My Favorite Things Boysenberry cardstock

Trinity crystal gems "Unicorn Tears"

Tombow Mono Glue

Martha Stewart bright gold glitter

Stash purple butterfly

Bird Houses

Hello, friends,

When I saw this bird house die set by Stampin' Up, I felt the need to have it --- deep down in my bones 🦴😂 

It was not hard to cut all the smaller pieces out and then use a jewel pick tool to put this together. This isn't the usual card technique for me but it still isn't as daunting as die cut inlay. Boy, die cut inlay - that tests my personality flaws. 

Here are just a couple bird house cards I made for local friends that show me much love. Hope you like these, too.

Card Ingredients:

• Country Bird House Die Set by Stampin' Up
• Various small flowers and leaves by Spellbinders & Sizzix 
• All coloring done with Copic markers
• Color Cardstock by GKD
• Silver Metallic cardstock by Spellbinders
• Pattern paper from stash
• Ink Versafine Onyx Black
• Sentiment Thanks a Million by GKD
• Stamps of Life (banner, You are Amazing and banner die)
• Infinity Arch Dies by Hero Arts
• Gems from stash
• Butterfly cut out Couture Creations colored with Copics
• Adhesive Foam under many of the little pieces 

Thank you for stopping by.

Rose Watercolor for Pinkfresh Studios Challenge

 Aloha again!

I don't have much time to type because this needs to be linked asap. But it's also for the Pinkfresh Studios Patterns & Colors August Challenge ending in about 5 minutes :( (Update: I had one whole minute to spare after getting this linked up. 😉

I gold heat embossed, then watercolored the roses. I tried to keep this card simple, just adding a few black pearls and splatter with the watercolor. I want to give this to our daughter to thank her for doing so much yard work to help Bruce and me. 

This and the previous card are entered as my first time for Pinkfresh challenges. I've been getting some of their products over the last 3 months or so. I guess that makes me a newbie to their company. I really do enjoy watching their videos and in particular, Carissa Wiley. Some day I would like to try their blending brushes.

Card Ingredients:

• Fancy Rose Bunch by Pinkfresh Studios (the stamp and the sentiment)
• Ranger Gold Embossing Powder
• Versafine Embossing Ink
• Versafine Black Ink
• Arches watercolor paper
• Cardstock by Gina K. Designs
• Adhesive Foam 
• Double sided tape
• Liquid Glue
• Kuratake Watercolors
• Black adhesive backed pearls from stash

Here is a link to see Pinkfresh August Challenges:

Pinkfresh Challenge for August