Happy National Lottery Day

Who knew there even was a National Lottery Day? Not me! Did you know lotteries in the U.S. date back to the 1700s? According to this website, "colonies held nearly 400 lotteries in the mid-18th century. A Philadelphia newspaper ad promised a 'new brick house' for one lucky lottery winner. Tickets sold for 20 shillings each." I looked it up and it would be $200 today...that's a pretty good deal for a house!

It is convenient to celebrate National Lottery Day today though, because I'm currently doing a giveaway...not for lottery tickets but for crafty stuff. If you leave a comment on my IG page and follow me, you'll be entered to win this stamp and die set from Catherine Pooler which is perfect for friends and family cards. The giveaway closes on Saturday, July 18 at 11:59 pm EST, so enter ASAP!

I have to admit, I've played a lottery here and there and gotten scratch-offs occasionally but I think the highest amount I've won is $5—I'm guessing I wouldn't have won that brick house back in Philadelphia if I'd have entered it lolol.

Thought I'd share a birthday card I made with all die-cuts and no stamping...I used Distress Oxides to smoosh onto cardstock and then used a Hero Arts Branch Wreath die, an Echo Park floral wreath die and a sentiment die from Memory Box to cut out different portions of the paper. 

The adhesive lace is from a hundred years ago...or it's been in my stash at least 5 years. I've been digging through some of my older papers and supplies and trying to use them before they're completely out-of-date. Just ordered the rolling cart so many people have for scrapping and cardmaking and I think it'll be great for storing current projects. I tend to have at least three things going at once, so this might corral them.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Things With Wings

Over at Stamplorations this month, they're having a Things with Wings sale and their Cutplorations challenge uses this owl graphic for inspiration. I love this graphic look and the colors. The DT at Stamplorations have some wonderful inspiration on the blog.

I didn't have any bird Stamplorations products, but this butterfly is one of my favorites. Instead of cutting it out, I impressed the die into the watercolored cardstock. I mounted it on some floral and striped paper (like the leaves and graphic nature from the inspiration) from Altenew and added a Happy Birthday die in gold glitter paper.

Here's a close-up of the glittery goodness. 

This was a fast card since it didn't take any stamping. Hope you'll join me in the challenge, but it ends soon! Check it out here!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Hedgehogs Are The Cutest

I love the mini Hedgehugs stamp and die from Lawn Fawn because it's adorable. And I would get a hedgehog for a pet for the same reason—they are so stinkin' cute! However, in my house of allergic people, I'm almost certain one of us would find a way to be allergic to hedgehogs. So I'll stick to stamping these little guys.

I created this scene with Lawn Fawn sun, clouds, and stitched tree and hill dies and added a sentiment die from LF too. All the papers are LF as well. The butterfly die is from a girl in a butterfly dress from Gina Marie Designs.

I'm entering this card in the Pet Love Challenge at Lawn Fawnatics and you can join in by Sunday too!

My favorite pet when I was a kid was my cat, Mikhail Baryshnikov...Mickey for short. Can you tell I was a fan? Loved the movie with Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines from the 80s, White Nights, and saw it multiple times at the theater and then got the VHS. Those were the days! Had the soundtrack cassette tape too :)

Happy Saturday!
Chark

Rainbow Treats

Over at the Stamplorations blog, the current Cutplorations (die cut) challenge inspiration is this picture. I love the striped look of these eggs and though I could never pull this off in, say, jello form or egg dyeing form, I used the rainbow stripes in paper form. 

The paper is from Lawn Fawn and the dies are both from Stamplorations that I got recently during their Spring Sale (through April).

I cut the sentiment from mirrored silver cardstock and the flowers from scraps of colored cardstock in my stash. Love how festive these flowers are in multi-colors.

You have until Tuesday to join in the challenge here, using one Stamplorations product and whatever dies you have. 

If you're feeling the rainbow and want some jello treats now, here's a recipe for you.

Or if you're like me and this seems way too time-consuming, you could always color some cookie dough in rainbow colors like this.

Rainbow food is yummy food!

Happy Friday,
Chark

Easy Peasy Cards

One thing you can count on, there's always a birthday to celebrate, so you'll always need a birthday card. And if you're me, you can also count on putting it off until the last minute. So, in order to keep that from happening, I made a couple super quick, super cute cards with Doodlebug Designs. I love their cute line and their So Punny papers, die cuts and stickers are just the best. I have some of their Valentine paper from last year and some newer birthday pun papers.

So I just put together some super fast, easy and simple cards to put in the stash for birthdays I know are coming but procrastinate on making. This one uses a sheet of 12x12 cut-apart paper and uses the candles for the focal point, but the paper is just some I had in my stash that is not from Doodlebug.

This one uses the die cuts and word bubble from the Valentine set. I used washi tape on the bottom and a wood grain vellum for the "countertop" and a scrap of paper to mimic a kitchen wall. I can add a Happy Birthday or Congrats or Hello sentiment inside.

Hope you have a fab weekend! March came in like a lamb here, so I'm guessing it's going out like a lion!

Happy Friday!

Chark

Love You Birthday Card

Today I'm sharing a card I made with a 12x12 coloring page from Adornit. I picked it up at Scrapbook.com, and it's meant for watercoloring. The paper is thick and textured and perfect to paint. I cut down the large image and made a birthday card with it.

Here it is, mid-painting. I used Tombow markers and one Real Waterbrush marker and did both coloring straight onto the page and also applying water to make it paint before putting it on the page.

Here's the final card, with a few Nuvo Silver drops for flower and berry centers and white gel pen and colored pencil additions to the painting.

I like how fast you can make a card with these panels already painted...so, buy some (they have tons of watercolor panels here) and do an afternoon of painting and then on another day, trim them into card-size panels and attach them to card bases.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Hold Your Cards, We Have A Bingo

Ok, we don't have a Bingo, but we do have a winner! I promised a commenter a $15 gift card to Pretty Little Studios during the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and the random generator picked MICHELE HENDERSON! Congrats, Michele! Send me your email (see my profile for my email) and I'll have PLS send that code out to you by the end of the week. Enjoy shopping—I know you'll get a lot of goodies for that $15.

Here's the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop link for all the winners from the hop, just in case you're interested. That was a fun one and I want to say THANKS to all who commented and followed me during the hop...the comments are the real fun and the inspiration is always amazing!

Today's card was one I made at the Fort Wayne Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook Getaway this weekend. We received the dragonfly acetate and could use glitter and stickers to decorate the shaker card. I love the little pearls inside the shaker because they are different colors and sizes in one jar. 

I bought some of the gold line stickers because I think they are so cool looking and really finish the card. Ok, I bought six packets of these stickers, including Merry Christmas in red, copper frames and gold lines. Love! If you're anywhere near Ft. Wayne, I highly recommend the show and maybe an extra class or two. I took this class from Mary at Stamp On It. Here's their online store link. I haven't ordered from them, but they have the beautiful acetates I've not seen elsewhere.

Here's the acetate sheet like the one we used. This one is winter, but there are tons of them. They look best on white or backed with white so you can see the lovely colors.

That's it for me today, and thanks again for your comments!

Happy Monday,
Chark

Celebrating Summer

I'm officially going to celebrate summer as it's my son's first day off school and my daughter has been off for a couple of weeks. No more getting up early, quizzing for Spanish vocab or Algebra, no more calls from school, "mom, I forgot..." and no more "let's go!" in the morning. Whew! As Alice Cooper says, "School's Out For Summer!"

My older sister used to play Alice Cooper and he should've scared me as a kid, but he never really did...even though now I think "ew" when I see him perform. That's why I used the Muppet version of this song. Less blood and more cuteness.

Here's a card I made at a lss, The Paper Cottage, where I get all my new paper lines. This one is Crate Paper called Maggie Holmes Confetti and I love how well it all goes together.  The colors are soft and beautiful.

The second card took a wee bit of time. We hand cut all the banners and they were little! But I do like how it turned out. And the bird is so cute! The wood grain paper was some of the prettiest I've seen. I'm not a huge fan of using wood grain, no idea why, but I love this one. I do like when I see it on other people's projects, I just never buy it. It's behind the banner.

Happy Friday and Happy Summer!
Chark
p.s. if you love Paper Smooches, and who doesn't, you should check out their new release blog hop here! that baby chick, though!

Go, Char, It's Your Birthday

No lie, the husband sang this little ditty to me today. It is, in fact, my birthday and I'm celebrating 47 years (which seems crazy in some ways—wasn't I just in my 20s?). I'm happy to be here, though, so I'll take the 47 years and my goofy husband's song with a smile.

Here's a card from my lovely sister-in-law, Donna, who claims she isn't a cardmaker. This card proves her wrong and she even made a parchment envelope for it!

I love the little 3-d cake inside, isn't it cute?

What I did think was a little disconcerting was the birthday wish from Google today...I saw the cakes and thought, who's having a birthday today (like Isaac Newton or someone?)...and it said Happy Birthday Char...Google knows all and tells all. Creepy or fun, you decide. I've already chosen creepy.

I'm off to celebrate my big day after my birthday nap :)

Hope you have a great day too! Happy Wednesday!
Chark