Sunshine...at last!!

    ...and what a beauty of a day this has turned out to be!    Bright blue skies...lots of sunshine, yet not too hot or humid...lovely!!

        Today, has also been another fun and creative day for me, although I did try to spend a lot of time outside too!  I have few new cards to share, and like most times, they were inspired by challenges, starting with today's new Sketch Challenge over at Operation Write Home's Stars & Stamps blog.  Today, we are working with Sketch #229 and I have copied it over here to share with you!

Sketch #229

My Card

   As you can see, I flipped the sketch for my card and also added a Sentiment in the middle and simple little Hugs & Kisses white heart, both of which came from one of the fabulous Hero Arts Stamp sets, specifially designed for Operation Write Home.  I use this set often because, Hugs is my favorite sentiment and it's done very well in this set.   This set is called "Year Rounds Sentiments CL582", and you still buy it, although it's started to become a bit limited.   If you would like your set, I suggest you buy one now, as these are a limited edition and will not be produced again!  

  My next card was also challenge inspired and it's for a new challenge (well new to me, that I just happened upon this week).  It's called "Addicted to Stamps" and is the sister challenge to "Addicted to CAS", which I already know and love.  I think I'll try to in both every week and have now added ATS to my Challenge Bookmarks.  This week's theme is also perfect, as it's "Clean and Simple" my favorite card technique that I'm still trying to master.

   I started this card, by stamping up this simply Butterfly, which is from another set of Hero Arts Stamps -- called "Butterfly & Flowers" CL750, that also has a matching set of Dies, both of which are in stock now, at a2z Scrapbooking, which is where I bought mine.     I cut my first Butterfly from the purple and white polka dotted paper, I used the same paper to create little strips down the side of my fabulous Viola Paper, my favorite from Memory Box.  I then cut my second butterfly on white cardstock and colored it in various shades of purple/lavender Copics.  I added some highlights with a white Gel pen and 3 little pearls and popped that up off of my card.   I used the same OWH Set, as the card above and chose a different "Hugs" sentiment for this card.  My card base was created with that same Woodgrain Cardstock that I love, which is an SSS Exclusive.   This is my favorite card of the day.  I really love the Viola paper, but also love how the butterfly came out!

   Oh, and speaking of Simon Says, have you seen the latest Card Kit, the June one that was just revealed on Friday -- Well I am in LOVE with it and the wonderful new stamp set that is included.  It's another fabulous design by Kristina Werner and I saw it first introduced over on Simon's Blog and knew I had to have that stamp set, I headed right to the store to order it, and that's when I was happily surprise to learn it'll be in this month's Kit, which I subscribe to every month.  Meaning, I didn't have to order it, because I'll have it in my June Card Kit -- WooHoo!!   I especially love the font that Kristina used on some of the sentiments in the stamp set and love that it's perfect for so many cards.   I think this one is going to be very popular, so if you want the kit or the stamp set  --- I would ORDER quickly!!  

   My last card for today, was one I made for fun, but one that was inspired by the 90 Minute Scramble that I missed out on yesterday, when I had a surprise visit for my wonderful daughter in law.   That was such a fun surprise and even though I knew she was coming "home", I didn't' think I would see her unitl some time this week.   And as much as I love scrambles....Meghan is family and family always comes first!!   Plus, I love her so much and miss her!!    After the visit, I did go over to the Flickr Group and really loved the idea that Linda came up with for the Scramble, so I decided to use her theme "Spots & Dots" to create this fun little card!

   I started this one by first picked out a piece of orange and white "Polka Dotted" cardstock (Amuse) to use for my card base.  Next, I pulled out the Pebble Pattern CG628 Background Stamp, from Hero Arts and using some Luxe Orange "Moraco" Pigment Ink I stamped it directly to some white cardstock and then set it aside to dry.  I decided to use the same "Butterfly &Flowers" Stamp and Die Sets, and started by first stamping the "dotted butterfly" onto some yellow gingham cardstock, using Hero's Lemon Yellow Shadow Inks.  I die cut a second matching butterfly use place under it on my card.    I used a scrap of the wood-grain white cardstock to create a banner area for my butterfly and adhered the bottom one flat, an then popped up the second one with foam tape, after stamping on the antenna in black.  I chose to use the 'Fabulous Day" sentiment from the same stamp set and stamped it in black on plain white cardstock, and punched it out using a circle punch.  I then also popped that up with foam tape on my card.  I finished off my card with 3 matching sequins and also highlighted the Butterfly's antenna with a black Wink of Stella Marker!   It turned out to be a  happy and fun summer time card and I will be sharing it over at the Hero Group!

Wishing you a Fabulous Day and a wonderful evening!   And to all the Dad's out there, I hope you all had a very nice Father's Day, filled with lots of love and smiles with your children!