Beautiful Friendship

I'm not really much one for making cards and projects with flowers all of the time, and I'm actually surprised that I liked this stamp set - Beautiful Friendship.  I think Stampin Up gets carried away with their flower stamp sets, but I really like how these cards turned out.  

This card features the Stitched Lace die for the background and then I added some flowers from the Beautiful Friendship set.  I also used the gold hoops that are part of the Forever Fern suite.  The hoop really adds to the elegance of the card.  Seriously, I just love this card.  I got the idea for this from Facebook from another demonstrator, Mandy Patzold.

This pretty blue cards also uses the same stamp set, however I got the saying from another flower stamp set, All Things Fabulous. Two flower sets?  What has gotten in to me?   I got the idea from Cindee Wilkinson.  
 

I saw this card online and I thought it was so beautiful that I had to buy the All Things Fabulous set.  Some of the flowers are stamped onto the white cardstock, then embossed with the Tasteful Texture folder.  The flower and a couple of the leaves are added on at the end.  This card is elegant, and has texture and dimension.  Thank you to Mikaela Titheridge for this beautiful card.

I used the Birch background stamp for these two cards.  One has flowers from All Things Fabulous and the second one has flowers from Beautiful Friendship.  I got the idea for this card from Charlet Mallett.  

I had so much fun making these pretty cards.  Stampin Up might even be turning me into a "flower loving" girl after all these years!  

Deer in the Woods Wall Hanging

For my daughter's birthday this year, I wanted to make her something that symbolizes the outdoors.  She lives in the Adirondacks and loves all of the wildlife around her house.  I found an old McKenna Ryan pattern in my stash and changed up the colors to make this deer table runner for her.  It can also be used as a wall hanging, if she would like hang it up.  I wanted to use a lot of greens and some bright colors, so I decided to make it look like it was fall.

Here is a close up photo of the deer.  I cut them out of a brown batik fabric that had a large leaf pattern on it.  I think this gave them a muted animal look.  I like how they turned out.  

When it came to quilting the appliques, I didn't know what I wanted to do.  I stitched around each cut out using the free motion on my machine.  I was surprised at how well they turned out!  Then I did some stippling in the background.

I am happy with how this turned out.  I'd like to make more, next time adding in some moose or bear in the woods, maybe even a bit of all three. 

While I was taking photos outside of the project, my little kitty was watching from the door.  If you look at the reflection, you can see the deer's legs from the wall hanging in the photo.  After the photo session, I let her out on the deck to sit with me for a while.  We both enjoy a nice fall day.  :)

Way To Goat

 I finally got a chance to take out these really cute goat stamps, called Way to Goat.  They are so silly and make up some really nice whimsical cards.  I especially like the saying, "Happy Birthday you old goat!"  I'm not sure if I'd send this card to just anyone, but if you know someone with a good sense of humor, it's sure to be a hit.  I got the idea for this from Angie over at Chic-n-Scratch.

This card is so silly, too!  I love this one.  The saying says, I got you a cake... but I ate it!  The remainder of the saying is on the inside of the card.  I thought that this set really needed a cake, because of the saying.  I looked back in the "archives" for this little cake that I think matches it perfectly!  It's from an old set called Party Animals from 1999.  I got the idea for this from Jane Proffitt.  I changed up the colors and added the cake.

For this next card, I wanted to show my stampers that the goats can be feminine, as well as masculine.  So I added some flower paper and flowers to dress her up a bit.  I love the Bumblebee gingham ribbon on this, too.  I saw this idea from Diana Gibbs.

Which goat card do you like the best?  My stampers voted on the one with the little cake.  :)

Forever Ferns for Fall

 For this week's Fall stamp class, we used the Forever Ferns stamp set mixed with the Guilded Autumn designer papers.  I love how the Ferns can move from season to season.  I think it's the most versatile set in the whole catalog.  :)

For this first card, I used the Greenery embossing folder for the background.  For all of my cards today, I used Vanilla cardstock.  For the focal piece, I stamped some green leaves onto the background and added some speckles using in Crumb Cake ink.  Then I added a leaf stamp in Terra-Cotta Tile. The gold leaves and ribbon add a nice touch.  I also added some twine ribbon that I pulled apart for embellishment.  I got the idea for this card from Yvonne Neefjes.  

For this next card, I made a fancy fold card that folds over to one side.  I used one of the gold hoops that corrdinates with the Forever Ferns.  I love what it adds to the card.  This card also has some "wheat" shafts made from pulled apart ribbon, some gold accent leaves and some of the fern images stamped in Mint Macaron and Terra-Cotta.  I finished it off with a pretty gold-trimmed bow.  This idea is also from Yvonne Neefjes.  Thank you for these beautiful card ideas, Yvonne.

This next card is very sweet.  It uses the Free as a Bird stamp set, which is one of my favorites.  The little birdhouses are die cuts from the Coming Home Bundle in the mini catalog.  Don't they make adorable birdhouses?  I stamped some wheat from the Gather Together stamp set onto the background and then added some leaf die cuts.  The birds are colored in with Crumb Cake and Mint Macaron.  They are a bit washed out in this photo and look better in person. I got this idea from Jana Muller.  Cute, right?  

Last up is a simple fall card using cut out leaves from the Seasonal Layers die cuts.  I wanted to make a Thank You card and this is what I came up with.  

I had a great time making these cards.  The Guilded Autumn papers are so beautiful to work with and the Forever Fern set is amazing.  I can't wait to make more with these.

I love everything about fall.  I just wish that it lasted longer.  :)