Sometimes it is just so hard to put a card together.  You have an idea of topic and some papers to use.  Then what?  I really had this problem with these last two Peacock cards.  Here is what I finally came up with:

Lavender background paper embossed Mini Peacock Feathers (the crafters workshop). 2-layered pink Peacock (sizzix) pop dots on basic black paper; Blue, Green & Gold glitter glue on ocelli.  Blue glitter ribbon tape, Flowers (petaloo), pink & purple gemstones (hero arts) and blue, gold & green crystals (elements) complete the card.

I am trying to keep these cards simple, yet attractive.  Sometimes, this is really hard to do, especially with this next one:

Peacock Frame (cheery lyn designs) in metallic dark gray paper, on White Wash matt and Black Tie base paper.  Dark red coral ribbon.  The papers give a little bling, deserving of Peafowl, but the card is still basic and simple.

It has been terribly busy around here lately with medical appointments, gardening and picking berries and produce.  However, I did manage to get some cards completed to sell:

These are all 3-D, four-layer greeting cards.

In one of my gift boxes from our Belgium friends was a box of round greeting cards.  Here is what I finally did with some of them.

 This one I gave to a friend for her birthday card.

A few more 3-D four-layer cards to sell....

As you know, each year I donate a set of 4 Peacock greeting cards to United Peafowl Association.  This is the first one:

Peacock die cut (tattered lace) out of green metallic paper on White Gloves matt paper over basic Lavender base paper embossed Courtship (courture creations).  Arched Elegance die cut/embossed (spellbinders) on Gold Foil (martha stewart essentials).  Paper Flower (deco-time) completes the card.  Simple, unusual (in way paper is cut, but wanted to show off the embossed peacock feathers and this peacock is SO big!), and basic.

Peacock card #2 -- Small Peacock die-cut (tessler crafts) on pop dots on gold matt over Blossom base paper (netherlands). Glitter green ribbon, 2 flowers (petaloo) and 3 studs (made by me). 

I have two more Peacock cards to finish before the convention in September.

This Peacock card is for sell -- Same Peacock as earlier (tattered lace) out of grey-blue paper on White Gloves base.  Glitter blue ribbon tape and 3 Star studs in gold, copper and silver (made by me).

This 3-D, three-layered greeting card is for a friend's birthday.  I'm a little behind in getting cards out, so I gotta get a move on!  This Pot of Flowers is on blue card stock with blue floral glitter base (netherlands).  Brown paper is cut 3½ inches Oval Frame (cricut).  Dual pink washi tape (netherlands), 3-D butterfly (netherlands) and Pearls (medium from queen & co and small from kaiser scrapbook).

This card is going to another friend (July is quite busy with birthdays).  The 3-D Violets are 2 layers on basic blue paper over Floral base (netherlands).  3-D butterfly, green washi floral tape (netherlands) and 3 gold rhinestones (kaiser scrapbook).  (Look carefully -- washi tape is right under the blue paper.)

Lastly, this Mariners card is for another friend's husband.  Seattle Mariners base paper (urban scrapbooker), stock green matt cut in diamond shapes, Mariners jersey & hat (ek success), Happy Birthday dazzle (hotp) on shimmer light green paper on pop dots.  Basic and simple for the perfect Mariners fan!

We are working on our holiday craft show schedule.  Spring shows were booked before we could complete the applications and our summer is way too hot this year to do any summer shows (I simply cannot handle the heat).  Keep an eye on this site for our holiday gift shows.  I will have greeting cards, and my husband will have etched glassware and handmade chocolates for your gift needs.  Since we have an abundance of herbs this year, we are thinking of packaging and selling some packets.  Come on out to the shows and see what we, and other vendors, have for your shopping needs!

Well, guess I'm a little behind in posting greeting cards.  It has been a busy spring and summer.  Weather turned warm early this year.  My husband and I worked hard to get the vegetable garden in and clean out the berry beds.  Irises came into full bloom and were gorgeous for several weeks.  Roses are enjoying our warm weather.  We've now been picking Strawberries, Blueberries and Raspberries for weeks.  Yes, everything came on about 6 weeks early.  Blueberries are almost done, a month early.  We picked our first good batch of Marionberries this morning before it got too hot.  We now have blueberries and raspberries in the freezer for the winter.  The weather is so hot, and so prolonged, we will probably lose some strawberry plants; however, my husband's herb garden is not doing too bad.  He has picked and dried a batch of herbs already this year.  The Pacific Northwest rarely has such warm lengthy stretches of weather like this.

With other things going on, mainly with family, I've had little time to work in my craft room.  I did get some birthday and graduation cards done, so here's a look-see....

Most of you are aware that I've been doing a lot of 3-D, layered cards the past year.  Here are the pieces trimmed out for a cousin's birthday card.

And the finished product!

For his twin brother, I did a Cow, 5 layers as well...

For the older brother, I did this 9-layered soccer match.

And, just in case the twins were getting too old for the Fox and Cow birthday cards, I whipped up a couple of Dinosaur cards....

Thankfully, the Fox and Cow cards are good for this year, but next year, I should make a little bit more advanced cards for the twins.

Then, I needed to make a high school Graduation card for another cousin.

Not a bad card for not having any graduation materials in my craft room.  But I still have two other graduation cards to make yet. (And I thought I was done with graduations when the kids grew up!)

I did have a chance to get into my craft room extension to play a little bit with our new Silhouette Cameo that we won at our local scrapbooking shop earlier this spring.  I love the way this design turned out!  Next, to turn it into a card...

Ooops, that college Graduation card.  This was for a family friend who studied history and geography.

Inside of the card...I do not remember where I got this piece of paper, but it was perfect for this!

Lastly, I made a birthday card for a man much into music.

I have cards for sell on my work table, so as soon as I get photos, I will put them up for your viewing.

Have a safe 4th of July!

Ever had a card go wrong?  You know I do cross stitch greeting cards as well as paper greeting cards.  Well, I had my first cross stitch screw-up.  I had decided to stitch a card for a friend's birthday a couple of weeks ago.  It was a kitten.  The body was right, but the face was.....well, I don't know what it was.  It just did not look like a kitten.  And the outline was so small and fine, it would destroy the piece if I plucked it out and tried again.  So, eventually, after looking at it again two weeks later......I tossed it.  Fortunately, stitched designs for greeting cards generally do not take much time (3 to 4 hours), but still....

In it's place, I created this adorable 6½ X 5 inch Duck and Watering Can counted cross stitch greeting card for my friend's birthday.  She loves birds and gardening.  I apologized for getting the card to her late, but no worries.  She was still getting cards from others, so I didn't feel so bad.

Base paper is A Ladies Diary (graphic 45), purple satin ribbon, 3 Spring Pastel Buttons (multi-craft) and 3-D Butterfly (europe).  My friend loved it!

There were some paper, collage pictures and bling left over from the St. Patrick's Day cards I did over the weekend, so I added some of my own paper and bling, and created these cute cards:

(The odd background "grid" lighting and shadows is due to my workshop blinds being open and allowing the sunshine in.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us.  Here are my creations from this past weekend:

And lastly, for my husband....

These cards were all created using materials from St. Patrick's Card Kit by TJ Designs.  I did not follow all their instructions precisely, but added a little bit of my own touch instead.  I picked up the kit several years ago as I just loved their papers and bling. Her items are expensive, but they are so worth it.  I've created some gorgeous cards using her rubber stamps, collage packs and card kits!

I do not mind picking up and using card kits, especially if they contain papers one wouldn't be able to get anywhere else.  Besides, you never know what you will learn in doing these kits.  I always learn something!

Worked on some more 3-D (layered) Foil Greeting Cards:

3-D Foil Pansies with Purple Border (6 layers)

Base is Glorious Glitter pack handmade papers (memory star). Sheer purple ribbon, 3 Pastel buttons (forever in time) and 1 Ice Green Pearl (kaiser scrapbook) complete the card.  I will put this on my sell website.

3-D Pansies with Blue Border foil greeting card with 6 layers. Base Kraft Paper Stack (tim holtz) with white doily matt.  Blue Lace ribbon and 3 Bliss Pearls (kaiser scrapbook) complete the card.

3-D Lilies & Hydrangeas foil greeting card has 5 layers.  We had received some round cardstock for Christmas from our Belgian friends, so thought this was a great card to try them out.  I think the card stock color brings out the hydrangea!  Cardstock Shimmer Maroon (made by me of The Netherlands), doily brushed with Squeezed Lemonade distressed ink (tim holtz) and 3 Rhinestones (hero arts).

3-D Lily Frame foil greeting card has 5 layers. Base from The Luxury Stack (dcwv), with black matt.  Blue ribbon, and Green and Blue Crystals (mark richards) complete the card.  Sentiment dazzle. This will go into our craft show stock (email me if you want to buy it).

Something a little different:  3-D Art Nouveau Glitter Floral on a 6 X 4¼ inch Green note card; the flower has 5 layers.  Comes with matching envelope.  Happy Birthday dazzle completes this simple design.

3-D Art Nouveau Pink Floral card with 5 layers on The Cafe Mediterranean card stock (dcwv) with blue matt.  Happy Birthday dazzle.

My husband has been sick with the flu since mid-January.  He was starting to recover, then "got stuck."  I dragged him back to the doctor who says he now has pneumonia.  I've canceled two shows thus far; hopefully, he will be ready for our April shows.  I think March is a month off for us, so maybe I can get some stock built up and get other things done (like homemade cookies...).

With our second month into a new year, Birthdays, Wedding, Babies, etc., are all back in full force.  For February, I needed a Birthday card and a Wedding card.  I made both in 3-D, multi-layered:

This 7-layered Elk greeting card is perfect for a cousin.  Base paper is Old World Stack with matt Gauze paper stack (both dcwv). Sheer maroon Ribbon and Duck brad complete this birthday card.

(The materials for this card came from Europe, so it is one-of-a-kind.)

A good friend from our high school days recently got married. This foil 3-D Hydrangea Bouquet (hotp) is made up of 6 layers.  Base paper is White Roses (hotp), matt is bright pink Fibre stack paper (dcwv), cream padded Hearts Ribbon and pink Heart bling (yellow bicycle) make for a perfect Wedding card.

How often do you try new things with your greeting cards?  This past weekend, I decided to play with ATC's -- Artist Trading Cards.  Standard size for these is 2½ X 3½ inches.  Here is what I created:

The Peacock rubber stamp (Stampability) is a newer item. He is colored with Copics and glitter pens. ATC cardstock embossed Courtship (couture creations), edged with Vintage Photo and brushed with Peacock Feathers distressed ink (tim holtz).

This little Bird is from Backyard Basics set (stampin' up) and colored with Copics. Cardstock is embossed with Organic Flouirsh (cuttlebug), edged with Dried Marigold, and brushed with Broken China distress ink (tim holtz).  Paper Leaf (prima) to complete.

The Bee is also from the Backyard Basics set (stampin' up) and colored with Copics and glitter ink. He is 3-D with 2 layers. Cardstock embossed Organic Flourish (cuttlebug), edged with Vintage Photo, and brushed with Mowed Lawn distress ink (tim holtz).

Lastly, this cute Pansies set (sweet garland) is colored with Copics, and hand cut out.  Cardstock is embossed Swirls (stampin' up) and edged with Pickled Raspberry distressed ink (tim holtz).  1 Purple Rhinestone (kaiser scrapbook) completes this ATC.

The main idea I came away from working on these ATC's is:  Keep it Simple!