Summer in April!!

...and I am loving this wonderful warm weather!!  Not sure I'll be loving it so much tonight, if it stays this warm, but right now I just love the bright sunshine and this gorgeous summer like day!  Of course, we don't have our AC units in yet, and it's really a bit too early, as we can can get plenty of cold weather, but I have a feeling it could be one of this nights where I wish we had a unit in for sleeping.    I do our have skylights open and the ceiling fan on and hopefully that will be it very comfy.
 
    I took advantage of the weather and spent a good part of the morning outside...tinkering a bit in my gardens and watering the plants I put in yesterday.  This warm burst really has things popping up fast and the buds on the trees are expanding more each day!

   Now I'm back in my craft room enjoying Day 2 in the A Cut Above class!   Today's class, as always, had some great hints and tips and the main focus was on a variety of ways to create Window Cards, something I love.   Even though the first half of this class is focusing mainly on things you can create with a variety of dies, I knew I wanted to use my Cameo too.

   My first card was one I created using my Cameo and the software that comes with the program.  I basically started by drawing a rectangle, the duplicated it and welded it together to make a standard A2 Size card.  I then browsed through some of my flourish images and picked one that I wanted to use to make a cut out in my card.   I cut it all out and then ran it through my Cuttlebug in one of my new embossing folders, to add some texture.  Next, I added some strips of coordinating cardstock and matted the back of my flourish area with a black background.  I cut a scalloped border for the same cardstock and stamped my Sentiment on a matching color in Black Ink.    It was really easy to create and in the end a very CAS style card.

   For my second card, I decided I wanted to cut a background design and use that in my circle shaped window I had cut into my card with a Nestie Die.  I found a new 'branches/leaves' shape that had been added to the Silhouette Store today, which I bought in both the circle shape and also in the square shape.  I think it's a cool background and have lots of ideas on how I can use it on other cards.   I then cut out the shape, in a contrasting color, and sized it to be 1/8" of an inch larger than the window.   I then added that to my card.   I used the same fun Sentiment from the Hero Arts - Truly Appreciated Set and again stamped it in black and cut to to fit the width of my card.   My final touch was to punch out a Butterfly with one of my MS dies, which I added on top of the window area along with a few pearls to complete my card.

   
    I really love how this card came out and it's my favorite so far today!  I am also going to submit it to the Window Card Challenge over at A Blog Named Hero!   I hope I have now inspired you to create some of your very own window cards or to join the class with me and have even more fun!!

   I'm off now to see what fun new card I can try and create for today's new Color Combo Challenge at The Outlawz.  This is a copy of this week's colors, which I think are gorgeous!

  I am back to share my last card of the day which is the one I created for the color combo challenge.  I'm playing only for fun, as I did not have any type of 'crocheted' element to add to my card.  The closest thing I found in my stash was some trim!   I used to have some little crocheted flowers, but I guess I have used them all up.   Even so, I had fun working on the card and will submit it only for FUN!!

 
Wishing you all a wonderful evening!   It sounds like we are in for big changes in our weather as it's now in the 80's and will be in the upper 40's/low 50's by morning....Brrrr!!   Typical New England weather...it can change in a matter of hours and that's exactly what will happen tonight!    See you all tomorrow!