It's a Purple Kind of Day

I put together some cards from some die cuts and colored pieces I had sitting around and I noticed they all have a purple and blue theme. And they all have wings. Must've just been that kind of day when I sorted through my stuff and put them together. 

This card uses the butterfly die from Stamplorations. I swiped this Mermaid Ombre Hero Arts ink pad on coated paper (slightly shiny paper for laser printers) and die cut the solid butterfly. Then the intricate die is cut from black. If you don't have layered bg dies, Jennifer McGuire has a way to do the layered look anyway here.

This card base is light blue and I've added a Unity Stamp angel that I colored and fussy cut. She takes up the whole card! The background I die cut from a piece of painted and doodled art that I didn't like, but it works just fine here.

That's if for today, but next week I'll have more glittery goodness to share when I guest design for a2z Scrapbooking!

Happy Fridsy!

Chark

First Day of Summer

Happy First Day of Summer, friends! My favorite season, though I can do without droughts or 90 degree days :)

I have this cutie and super fast card to share. This one uses a Doodlebug panel, some Stickles and Lawn Fawn rainbow paper. I popped up the panel and it's all ready to go!

And butterflies mean summer to me, so here's a Stamplorations butterfly die card, with glitter paper behind it.

These are  both super easy cards and glittery, which I'm all about.

Here's a fresh peach cobbler recipe which I love! Fresh peaches, corn on the cob, berries with whipped cream, bbq chicken on the grill...summer is a fab time for food!

Happy Friday and Happy Summer!

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

Die-Cutting All the Livelong Day

When I drag out the Big Shot and the dies and plates and all that goes with it, I like to get a lot out of it, so I spend a few days die-cutting things here and there. I think if I had a permanent set-up, I wouldn't feel the need to pile up the die cuts. I do like having some things to choose from at any given time, though, so who knows?

Here's a card using the Stamplorations Dragonfly cover plate. I love this so much! I cut it from all sorts of colors and papers so I could play around with cards. For this one, I die cut the panel from a piece of coated paper (similar to the properties of Yupo) that I had used Distress Oxides on. They came out very light, but kinda perfect for Spring. I mounted it with liquid glue onto a piece of watered silk from a vintage book flyleaf. The Happy Birthday is die cut from Lawn Fawn plaid paper.

You can see the fabric in the close-up, but not the subtle sheen or pattern. It's lovely irl.

For this card, I used another Stamplorations die, this butterfly, and impressed it into cardstock instead of cutting it. I mounted it on rainbow paper and added some bling and called it a day.

I keep my die cuts in stackable plastic bins that come in different depths. I have one for words, one for circles and rectangles, one for fancy dies, etc. The containers are flat, so it works well for sorting through. Do you die cut a bunch at a time and then just store the die cuts? Just wondering.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Shimmery Butterfly

I purchased the Stamplorations Butterfly die here and use it all the time. It's not too delicate (i.e., it doesn't tear when you cut it) and it's still intricate. I used a shimmery brown paper from my stash and made this lovely butterfly. I used a foiled star paper for the background, then layered a piece of kraft painted with metallic shimmer paint. The hello die is from Paper Smooches.

There's a lot of shimmery fun here and I'm entering this card in the Stamplorations Things with Wings challenge. You can enter too if you're quick!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

Layer It Up or Die

Okay, there's no dying if you don't layer it up, but I did use dies to make this card and it seemed more fun to write than just Layer Up Dies. I could be wrong, I guess, but some of these jokes are just for me! 

I saw some really cool dies for cards over at Jennifer McGuire...she can sell anything! They are from Birch Press and they have a ton of designs.

I used blue for the bottom layer and white for the next two, then used an aqua background to frame it all. The butterfly is from Stamplorations. It didn't cut all the way through the cardstock on the first pass, so I left in intact and just lightly watercolored it as is. I was able to cut others completely when I ran them through the Big Shot a couple times. 

Love the look of layered dies...little effort and maximum impact!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

Happy Graduation

You can see a graduation card I made for the a2z Scrapbooking Supplies blog today here. Here's a peek!

It's a little nontraditional for a grad card, but still appropriate for a girl...or a guy who likes butterflies :) I used these Hero Arts paper flowers and they are so cute—just $3.99 a pack for 24 flowers in each pack—and they come in greens, earth tones, yellows and pool colors as well. Fab!

You can hop over to the store here if you think you want these flowers for your projects...I'm already planning more and I'm thinking if you check back Friday, you'll see what I'm working on. 

Remember, if you order at a2z
1. you can use CHARK15 to get 15% off your $25+ order
2. you support charities for kids and adults with Behcet's Disease and Gluten Allergies. 
3. And you can request any Hero Arts product that isn't in the store and they will order it for you speedily. 

So...you can get great Hero Arts goodies, help people. and save money—this calls for a celebration! 

Happy Shopping!
Chark

Hello And Feel Better

Thought I'd post a card I made for a DT member, the very talented Lisa (aka The Purple Place) who had some surgery and is on the mend. Here's hoping the time will fly by and you'll feel better than ever very soon, Lisa!

I used my favorite butterfly stamps from Hero Arts, lots of Stickles and my new flower stamps from Hero Arts. I used a hello die cut from Papertrey Ink—it also gets a lot of use! 

If you're looking for these stamps, a2z Scrapbooking Supplies has them in stock and ready to go. The butterfly also comes in a digi stamp that you can download right away if you're interested in inking these lovelies up soon! a2z Scrapbooking has the exclusive rights to Hero Arts digi stamps, so pop over if you want to see what's available. And, since you're such a loyal reader, you can use my name (CHARK15) to get a 15% discount!

And, you can also join me in the Colorful Challenge at A Blog Named Hero this month. You do need Hero Arts products for this challenge too, and you'll find some wonderful inspiration over there! 

Happy Wednesday and I'll see you back here on Friday!
Chark

Up, Up And Away!

No, I'm not Superman or The Fifth Dimension (remember that song?) but I do have a balloon tag to show you. This uses Prima tags, paper, butterfly, crystals and bubblegum wax cord. Love this little girl! I fussy cut her from paper and made balloon strings she could hold. I also rolled some of the cord on a pencil to tie in the tag.

I added Prima flowers trimmed and folded, to make the skirt. Love how she looks with the matching bow in her hair. I'm enering this over at Prima Marketing for one of 12 giveaways. Join me if you can, it's full of inspiration and fun!

Happy Friday,
Chark

It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

It's gorgeous and sunny and will get close to 60 degrees today, so I'm enjoying it all I can. I hear there's cold coming so today might have to be my garden clean-up day. In the meantime, I'm drinking tea and thinking about putting away my crafty stuff I had out over the weekend. 

Here's one of the cards I made this weekend, with this Hero Arts Butterfly Fancy Die. I used a felt applicator and Ranger alcohol inks on photo paper. Then I trimmed it to fit the die-cut butterfly. I attached the body to the inked paper with a glue strip and didn't adhere the wings. I like the bit of movement it gives to the butterfly. I used a white gel pen to add some dots to the wings.

The background is patterned paper with a piece of watercolor paper mounted on top. I used the Hero Arts Border Stencil that you can purchase here at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies. I used white embossing powder that is here in the store too. Then I used scribbled with Tombow markers on an acrylic block and used them as watercolor paints. Once dry, I used the Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle die.

The last addition is the Hello die cut from Papertrey Ink. I used silver foil paper (check Jo Ann Fabric) for the die. And that's it!

Happy Sunny Monday!
Chark
p.s. The blog title comes from Mr. Rogers. I loved Mr. Rogers' show as a kid...he always seemed so calm and trustworthy. I still love him as an adult and parent and admire him and his wisdom.