"Thank-you, Teacher!"

Yes I know it's late!! Very!! But summer happened over here and I never got to uploading it onto here.
The apple was made using a heart punch and punching out a variety of papers into a heart shape. I just scissored the bottom of the stacked hearts into a rounded "apple bottom"!! This card has been given to the teacher long ago so I don't remember if I sewed down the center or if I just stapled it and then folded it. Either way works.

pedal pushers saleabration

These two cards showcase two new stamp sets. Actually three! Timeless Textures, Pedal Pushers, and Balloon Celebrations. I soooo hope SU keeps Timeless Textures as it's a MUST HAVE set! I used it to give the illusion of ground and sky on both of these cards. It's a little hard to see, but on the floral card, look closely beneath those flowers and you will see another image from those gorgeous textures. And don't even get me STARTED on Pedal Pushers! WOWWWW!!! And you only have till the end of March to get it ABSOLUTELY FREE with the purchase of $60 worth of SU product (before shipping and taxes). Please do grab it! It's soooo fun especially with spring around the corner.

ice cream anyone?

Sprinkles of Life is a fun fun fun stamp set with coordinating punch that I don't use nearly often enough. Here's a really simple and quick card made from Sprinkles. You could dress it up with string or ribbon or buttons or candy dots or ANYTHING!! I left it clean and simple today.

Balloon Celebration

Happy Birthday to you!!! My 5-year-old friend and I sat down with the balloon punch and stamp bundle and made ourselves a cute little birthday card for some lucky person! This card isn't really designed for any particular age or male or female. It's actually quite versatile.

I love the fact that this bundle can be kept simple or you can get elaborate with your designs. It's quite very extremely child friendly!

The Challenge Spark (something tropical)

This week, since I am so loving anything springy and colorful, I challenged Jane and Tara to "think tropical" with me, using coral, yellow and green. My inspiration was triggered by this card by Ann Fitzgerald via Pinterest and I followed her directions, except for adding Butterfly Basics fern image on watercolor paper and then misting it, before adhering the heliconia blossom. I also added the rhinestones as water droplets. See? I was aiming for a rain foresty jungly look! All we need is a parrot and a monkey.

Next week Jane says we will make a card using something currently retired. Make sense? Not really? Newly retired. Is that better??!! The new catalogue is on the brink of bursting into our lives so now's the time to order those retiring products that you still have on your wish list.

Challenge Spark (punch art---tulips) (tutorial)

 

Tara from Country Girl {Creates} challenged Jane from The White Orchid and me to our weekly Challenge Spark. She chose "Punch Art" as the topic of choice. Sometimes I study my punches to see what all they can do for me. Of course, they have their patented use, but like these tulips which were created using the Owl Builder Punch, they often have other very amazing abilities. 

I'm giving you a picture tutorial on these tulips since I can't find the original one anymore. 

I make these every spring. And I'm sooooo longing for spring that these beautiful blooms help un-drab-ify winter for me for a moment!

 

It takes two "owls" for each tulip flower. So punch two out of whatever color you like. I used Pink Pirouette for some of mine and for some I used So Saffron and Wisteria Wonder.

 Cut off the owl's feet! (Poor guy, but he won't mind; he's turning into a flower after all!) You can see that I drew the lines where I cut the second owl. I don't bother to draw those in usually and it's not an exact art; you can't make a mistake! Just fly with whatever way your scissors cuts!

Using a darker ink, sponge the edges of your flower and the extra petals.

Ugh, that's fuzzy! But you can see how I adhered the two petals together. They overlap on the bottom...

...until you snip off those extra points. 

Adhere the petals to the main flower body. And now your tulip is ready to bloom on a beautiful card! 

See how you can make use of them, below, or come up with your own gorgeous creations!

I'm convinced every tulip needs a rhinestone dew-drop. Once when I was teaching school we cut snips from different parts of the tulip, the stem, leaves, and whatever we could use. We placed the pieces under a microscope and WHAT A GORGEOUS whole 'nother world appeared before our eyes. So now when my spring gardens are alive with these flowers, I know that hidden inside them are rainbows and raindrops like you've never seen in your life before. Try it! They're hidden in there! And so, that's why I can't make these without a hint of the water droplets they hide inside their hearts! Hence, the rhinestones!

Love that cloud embossing folder. So sad it's not around anymore!

This is morning! In late April! It rained at night, so the tulip on the right is pouring her blessings out over the fence, which incidentally was made with the Bouquet Bigz L Die. It's the cutting-section designed to make Mum-type flowers, but I always see a picket fence when I look at it! My trusty ol' fringe scissors made those grasses in front of the fence. All stems and leaves were just freehand scissored.

And below is a small bouquet for you, my friend!