You know it is springtime in Texas when the bluebonnets start blooming.  When we moved to Texas in 1982 we were incredulous at the first field we saw of bluebonnets.  We had never seen huge fields of any flower blooming like that or, at a minimum, large patches of wildflowers here and there.  Usually there are some Indian Paintbrush wildflowers mixed in with the bluebonnets, too.  People stop by the side of the road to take pictures or plunk their babies and children into a patch of bluebonnets for a beautiful portrait.

Last weekend on our way to Austin to visit our boys, we took the route through Brenham, TX which is one of the towns known for bluebonnets.  We have photos from many years ago of our children in the patch of bluebonnets!  Although it was a bit past the peak time, we found a large field of bluebonnets behind a motel and shopping area, but still beautiful.  Thank goodness for digital cameras because you just want to keep taking and keep taking pictures of the flowers.

Here are "just a few"!

Did you know you can do some embossing with the Crop-A-Dile??  Recently I was working on a project with the new Carousel Notes in the Occasions Mini on page 7.  You can use the Pick a Petal Brass Template on page 187 to emboss the scallops of the Carousel Notes, and I had ordered one, but hadn’t received it yet.  Since I really liked the look of those little dots on each scallop I decided to just use my Crop-A-Dile.  I just eyeballed it, but you could precisely put a pencil dot where you wanted the dot at the center of each scallop.  Then just use the CAD (Crop-A-dile) as if you are setting an eyelet, but do not push all the way.  I used the A-1 setting with the little sticking-out-thing on the top of the cardstock.  You can find the Crop-A-Dile on page 189 of the Stampin’ Up! catalog.  Do you have one?  It is really a neat tool, especially for setting eyelets easily and also for punching holes.  If you "need" one, just email me!

I’ve been seeing many "clear cards" made by other Stampin’ Up! demos but hadn’t tried it until the other day.  I had already bought the transparencies to make the acetate boxes so it was finally time to try making an acetate card.  The trick of the card is to attach the layers without any sign of how they are adhered!  There may be other versions out there, but for this one I mostly followed a tuturial on Splitcoaststampers.  On my card, the birthday cake is layered on the Pink Passion card stock…..and from the front looks like it has two additional layers….Green Galore and Yoyo Yellow (it was time to break out the Bold Brights for a change!!).  But only the Whisper White stamped with the cake and the Pink Passion are on the front of the card.  The larger green layer is underneath, adhered to the inside front cover of the card.  On the back of the card the yellow is adhered….and on the inside of the card, the greeting is stamped on Whisper White and placed layered over the yellow (which is on the backside) and it’s all lined up to be under the front layers.  Clear as mud??  Try it, or email me with any questions!  I used Mini Glue Dots on almost everything and made sure they were hidden underneath the layer on top.  I also stamped a few stars with White Stazon ink across the bottom front of the card.  It is on page 183 of the catalog, along with Stazon Cleaner, which works great.  The stamp set I used is called "Eat Cake" on page 41.

I found it easiest, on my second try, to adhere the layers starting from the back.  I attached the yellow with just one glue dot in the center to the back of the card, then turned to the inside to make sure it was straight.  The SU Grid Paper worked great for that!  Then I adhered the greeting layer, on the inside of the card, so that it was lined up with the yellow layer underneath.  After that was attached, I went back to the yellow layer and attached more glue dots at the corners to hold it, making sure they would be beneath the white layer of the greeting.

Next I closed the card but slid in the green layer to make sure it aligned properly with the yellow layer beneath it, using one glue dot in the center again.  Then I could adhere the pink layer and cake on the front, placed properly over the green…and then go back inside to the green to add more glue dots, hidden under the pink layer so they wouldn’t be seen.

The stamping on the acetate can be a little slippery, so be careful!

Make sure on your greeting layer to leave room to sign it or write a little note.  You won’t have any other place to write it on this type of card!

Back of card.

Here it is on a blue background in case it is any easier to see!

Try one and let me know how you do!  I want to make some more!