Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Today at

The Sisterhood of Crafters 
I am the hostess and I chose a theme of

'Diamonds'.

Pretty easy is all you have to do is use any kind of

diamond shape in your creation!

A funny thing happened 'on the way' to creating my card...
I did NOTHING at all that I had intended lol!

I first sat down and went through lots and lots of paper pads
to find some with a diamond pattern on them, 
pulled them out and then never used a one lol!

Here is my card without any 'diamond' designer paper.

After rejecting all the designer paper, I pulled out my 'diamond' embossing folders,

I had six that all had some kind of diamond pattern on  them.

The one I chose is an older Cuttlebug one that I have had since forever!

I just loved the pretty pattern of it and thought it would go good with my new

Sue Wilson 'Peony Diamond' die.

Isn't this a pretty die?

One of the things I love about her dies is that you have several options of

just by different layering them you can get lots of different ways to use them.

The other die is a Cottage Cutz Bird Trio,

no trio here though, as I cut it apart to fit lol!

I added a cute birdhouse die cut from Impression Obsession.
For the sentiment I had intended to use a die cut word 'hello'
but after cutting it realized I had cut 'hugs' instead...whoops..lol...
I think hugs works just as well!!

So make sure to head on over to 
The Sisterhood 
and see what my 'sistahs' have created!!

With Sympathy

Back To Basics and Beyond has a fun challenge for you

and it is the 

Salt Technique

you can find out how to do it HERE on YouTube.

I don't make many sympathy cards and decided I needed

a few in my card stash.

I started with a navy blue textured card stock

though you can't see it in the photo...

it is there!

For the background salt technique I used both table salt and a bit of kosher salt.

The watercolors used are just a cheap set I had on hand....

I did do a second base using my Peerless water colors

and it was much more vibrant,

so I decided to use the softer of the two for a sympathy card.

The die is from Cheapo Dies Cattails,

the Heron bird is from Impression Obsession Shore Birds

and the sentiment is SU Warmest Regards.

You can see ALL the beautiful DT salt technique cards by visiting the

Back to Basics and Beyond Challenge blog...thanks for visiting!

Twofer Toucans

I really wanted to enter Darnell's Twofer Card challenge




since last time I did it, I didn't follow the rules of making 2 cards, 
same image/die cut for two different occasions...
I made 2 Christmas cards...whoops...
I had read all the instructions once before,
but my old age mind couldn't remember what I read I guess..LOL!

So here I am with two DIFFERENT occasion  cards...yippee!

I purchased a SU stamp set last year
'Bird Banter'.
OMGoodness this stamp set is so cute and fun
and the birds are a bit bigger then I thought, even better yet.

I used the Toucans from the set and googled them to see the colors
but there are so many different ones that just about any colors would work
I got the fun picture below from the San Diego Zoo.

For my first card I made it a Thank You card.
I die cut a branch and perched his little body on it...
the corners were rounded using my zutter corner chomper,
the toucan paper is from American Crafts.

My second card was made using the 'negative from the die cut of the first card....
this one is a friendship card!

I am actually thinking of giving this card to the 'hubs' for Valentines
as he is my friend as well as my hubby
and I know he would get a kick out of it!

Now can't wait to see what the next theme is...
I love a good challenge, don't you?

Two Rose Heart

This is my post on the Tutti Designs blog today.

Hi, Diane with you today using a favorite Tutti Designs die
Two Rose Heart.

This is a great die not only for Valentines
but weddings, anniversaries or just because!!

The first card was simply die cut on red card stock, 
then placed on a heart embossed background.
Three Roses were added.
The sentiment was stamped on a
Tutti Designs Cross Stitch Rectangle.

The next card has a crimped background, paper lace doily
with the die cut from pink card stock.
A tiny glitter heart was added using the
Tutti Designs Stitched Heart.

The last card I die cut the two rose heart from white card stock,
then die cut a larger heart from Tutti Designs Stitched Hearts,
then embossed it, 
I also added another tiny stitched heart.

Two Rose Heart



Cross Stitch Nesting Rectangles

Stitched Nesting Hearts

Make sure to visit the Tutti Designs Store (link below)

for LOTS more fabulous dies!!

Come back tomorrow for more Tutti Designs inspiration!

and here are some Tutti Designs quick links:

Tutti Designs Store

Tutti Designs Pinterest

Tutti Designs Facebook

Tutti Designs Blog

Thank you for visiting with me today!

Heart Blooms

I am back today with another just for fun card 

and  very CAS sketch challenge at

CAS(E) this Sketch.

I made a very simple card per the sketch design.

I die cut Impression Obsession Heart Stems,

a banner from Spellbinders that

  I stamped my Flourishes sentiment on...EASY!

Clouds

Just for fun today I decided to join in the CASology  challenge

which is Cloudy.

I made a really simple CAS card using card stock pieces from my drawer.

I also embossed a small strip of blue card stock

behind my 'clouds' with a cloud EB folder.

The sentiment is from Stampendpous.

That's it...CAS...and the challenge ends soon

so I had better get going ...lol!!

Rollin' With Friends

There's new challenge up today at the

Alphabet Challenge

using the letter 'V' for vehicle.

I was kind of excited because I got to use my new 

Avery Elle Birthday Bus stamp!

I actually bought this specifically for another

DT challenge but time got away

and I never had a chance to use it...

you all know how that goes!

Nothing like 'rollin' down the road with a group of friends...

gee, I wonder where they are headed....

I guess we will never know!

Aren't these just the cutest little party goers ever??

The paper I used is from Pink & Main Beach Babe...

I just love this pad full of bright and happy colors.....

plus the fact that this one reminded me of a divided street!

So make sure and head on over to

the Alphabet Challenge and let us see YOUR vehicles!!

Entering the following challenges:

I also saw this challenge at Time Out Challenges

and thought my little party bus with friends couldn't be any more perfect!!