SQUIRRELS GONE NUTZ -- MAY 20, 2021 --BIRTHDAY AND ALPHABET DIES

Hey there my crafty friends!  How ya been?  Things in my neck of the woods are going strong.  Hubby has been busy planting a vegetable garden in the evenings, which has left me a bit more time in my craft room.  Not that I have made much of anything, but I have gotten a *little bit* of organizing done. 😄  

Anyhow, today is my favorite day of the month, where I get to collaborate and hop with Squirrels Gone Nutz, aka the Squirrel Squad.  We are still making that ever-so-valiant attempt to use those crafty things in our stash that we have forgotten about or are hoarding (WHAT?!?  NO WAY!) 😆  Our theme/supply for this month is BIRTHDAY, and ALPHABET DIES.  Here is my card:

I have had these SUPER CUTE little bees (free digi from Clearly Besotted) sitting on my desk for THE LONGEST TIME.  I just adore them!  I colored the images with Copics, and then let them sit around on my desk some more.  When it came time to create the card for this hop, I decided it was time to use them!  This die cut circle (Spellbinders) was stashed in the storage pocket with the dies, so I pulled it out and did some ink blending through a stencil.  I have had this stencil for a really long time, and I think it is from Recollections.  I used Scattered Straw and Wild Honey oxide inks for the blending, and after removing the stencil, I added more Scattered Straw lightly over the entire circle so it wouldn't be stark white.  For more texture, I first spritzed the circle with water, and dabbed it up with a paper towel.  Then I grabbed my Gathered Twigs regular distress mini ink pad, smooshed some onto my glass desktop, and spritzed it with water.  Using a paintbrush, I splattered my circle (and a few other things on my desk!) with the ink.  Then my final addition to the circle was to spritz it with shimmer spray made from Perfect Pearls and water.  I did lots of spritzing today! 😆  The happy die cut is from Tim Holtz (Celebration Words Script), and the alphabet dies are Oliver's Stitched ABC's from Lawn Fawn.  I cut each of these 2 times from 110lb white cardstock scraps, and once from the brown glitter cardstock (Recollections).

Now at first, I thought I was going to pop up the circle on foam tape, so I added lots of it and stuck it down to the card base. Then, as I set about figuring out the positions of the other elements, I realized that popping up the circle was NOT a good idea, as it would make adhering the happy word and letters way too difficult.  Thankfully, I was able to peel the circle up and remove all the foam tape. (whew!)  After I adhered the circle with LIQUID GLUE instead, the word and letters were much easier to adhere with liquid glue as well.  The bee images are popped up on foam tape.  I also added some of the Gathered Twigs ink around the edges of the kraft card base, and some shimmer to the bees wings with clear Wink of Stella.

--CHALLENGES--

Papercraft #70:  ATG

Love to Craft #58:  ATG (4/5)

Mix It Up #49:  ATG (4/5)

613 Avenue Create #5:  ATG (4/8)

Classic Design #5:  ATG 

Paper Funday #29:  ATG (3/4)

A Place to Start #5:  ATG (3/8)

A Perfect Time to Craft #5:  ATG 

Let's Craft and Create #171:  ATG (3/3)

The Corrosive Challenge #5:  ATG (4/4)

Word Art Wednesday #491-#492:  ATG (2/5)

Lemon Shortbread #146:  ATG (1/3)

Creative Fingers #208:  ATG (2/3)

Through the Craft Room Door:  ATG (1/2)

Digi Choosday #20:  ATG (1/3)

Penny's Paper Crafty #496:  ATG (2/3)

The Outlawz Monday Greetings:  Use dies (1/3)

Simon Says Wednesday:  Use dies and/or Punches

Alrighty, your next stop in our hop is the fabulous V, right HERE.  There's only a few of us in this hop, so it won't take you too long to get through it all, I promise!  I sincerely hope that we can inspire you today, that you will leave us some comment love, and subscribe if you haven't already!  We sure do appreciate it!  Until next time,

Stay Healthy, Take Care, and God Bless! 

~Marie~