It is my absolute favorite time of the month, the day I get to hop along with my sweet Squirrel Sisters and our scurry of fellow crafty squirrels! Why squirrels you ask? Because we all have a crafty stash stored up and tucked away just like a squirrel and it’s acorn stash! We want to pull out those precious supplies and enjoy actually using them instead of feeling guilty because we bought them and squirreled them away!
This month the theme is Summer/Vacation and/or Embossing Folders. You can use either or both as the inspiration for your card! Fun, right? The hop officially started with my sweet Squirrel Sister V this month. You probably arrived here from the talented and beautiful Katy Ingram of Eastwick Paper and Ink. And after me your NEXT STOP is the super sweet and uber amazing Charlotte Ehrukainen, aka Lady Joyful! I’ll be sure to link to her again at the bottom of the post. 😊 First, let’s take a look at my cards for the theme! First up, Vacation!
My family goes camping for our vacations, so imagine my excitement when I found a camping set with SQUIRRELS! I *had* to use it!!! This set is called S’more Friend by LDRS Creative, and the squirrels are beyond cute in and of themselves! The fact that there are 4 squirrels… one for each of us Squirrel Sisters that admin this hop group, is perfection! (In case you are wondering, I figure V is the one playing guitar, Marie and I are dancing and being silly, and Anna is sitting and laughing at us all!!!) I went very dark with this colors on this card hoping to portray a night scene around the campfire. The images were colored with Prismacolor pencils and fussy cut. I used dies from Creek Bank Creations called Land and Grass Edge to make my hills. I didn’t have the shade of green paper I wanted so the bottom hill is inked with Distress Oxide Pine Needles. The 2nd hill and sky are cardstock. The bright yellow stars are from a Momenta die aptly called Star Confetti and I added some translucent yellow star sequins for a little shimmer. The sentiment from the set was die cut with a Simon Says Stamp stitched circle die. No embossing folder (trust me, I *tried*, really… but this is still fun, right? Here’s the closeup:
Next up are my Summer & Tropical cards… yeah, I know… but I couldn’t decide between all of my ideas! (And my Squirrel Sister V would tell you that I am a “Maximizer”… someone who among other things has to consider every option, even if the first idea is the best.) I’m also an overachiever when it comes to crafting, so you get three cards for the cost of one hop stop! Now, where was I? Oh, summer!
For this next card, I used Jane’s Doodles Tropical Fun set. I randomly stamped the foliage and hibiscus flower, then watercolored them with Tombow markers and once dry die cut with a Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangle die. For the embossing folder background, I used a folder called Tropical Border by Park Lane. I applied green ink on the folder on the raised area and ran it through with green paper, which letterpressed a darker green into the recessed areas of the paper. It took me a couple tries to get it right, and I’m a little said that most of it got covered up! I popped the stamped panel on top with foam tape, added a few clear sparkling sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, and called it done! How about a glamour shot?
This last card was so easy to make! This also uses the Jane’s Doodles Tropical Fun set.
The flamingos and sentiment were stamped then die cut with a Simon Says Stamp stitched oval die. I watercolored the images and water with Tombow Markers. I love the bright pink and blue color combo! For the embossing background, I used a 5×7 double sided folder from Spellbinders called Elegance. I thought the flower petals looked like water splashes. I embossed blue paper but the color wasn’t quite right and it looked plain. I decided to hit the raised areas of the design with a Distress Oxide ink and that really brought out the pattern without taking over. Super simple! Time for the obligatory close up!
Dangit, I did it again… I was a hop hog… keeping you here so long when you have people to see, sites to hop to! Your NEXT STOP on the hop is Charlotte, aka Lady Joyful! Thanks for hopping with my squirrel friends and be sure to use those supplies YOU have squirreled away!
Here is the full hop schedule in case you get lost along the way:
- Virginia Fairchild
- Lisa Cmay
- Teresa Russell
- Mary Ellen Driggs
- Katy Ingram
- Karen Page – YOU ARE HERE
- Charlotte Ehrukainen and her YT video HERE
- Marie Bingaman
- Lounon Riviere
- Danielle Brown
- Natasha Davies
- Bory Yankova
- Anna Mahtani
- Valerie Powell
- Yvette Olea
- Sharon Luska
Misplaced Mojo 
These are fabulous!! Overachiever is right!! Hahaha
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It a fine balance of overachiever and procrastinator. I drive my husband crazy!!! LOL Thanks Katy!
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Love your cards, especially the squirrel card. I’m not good at making scenes yet, so I may try to duplicate this one. Thanks!
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Thanks Jeanne!!! Scene cards are fun to make in my opinion and they can be as complex or simple as you want them to be. I appreciate your sweet comment and I’d love to see if you try a scene card!
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How fun finding 4 squirrels camping and even name them 😀 So adorable card, Karen! I love the tropical vibes of the second one and those adorable flamingos on the last! All are so awesome!
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I think my heart stopped when I recently found this stamp set! It was just so fitting to represent the girls helping me with this hop. I totally had fun with the challenge once I got past my crafter’s block! Thank you so much for the sweet comment Bory! I’ll be around shortly to see your creation!
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Super cute! The squirrel stamp set was in a previous flavor of the month kit. I love that stamp. All of your cards are adorable!
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That set is just serendipity!!! It was like it was made for me and the girls! Thank you Teresa and I promise I’ll be round shortly to hop properly and leave everyone love! 💗
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Oh my goodness!!! I love the camping squirrels! That card came out so pretty!!! And yep, I think you paired each of us with our appropriate squirrel! Haha! I love the tropical cards! You know I’m a sucker for leaves. And you’re right: those flowers do look like water splashes!!! Amazing job as always, my fellow maximizer!!!
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Thank you so much for the kind words, and for adding “maximizer” to my vocabulary!!! And, I am totally finding other locations for those squirrels… next time they may be at the beach or on a picnic or perhaps the mountains. You have not seen the last of the Squirrel Sister cards! LOL
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Oh my gosh your cards are fabulous! I love the cute squirrels partying at the campfire, and the pretty leafy card and of course the flamingos. Really wonderful designs. One of these days I’ll manage to make more than one card for the hop!! You’re such an inspiration ❤
Have I told you about the Critter Loving Cardmakers Group on Facebook? You should definitely come and share your squirrel and flamingo cards there! I'm a bit biased because I admin the group, but I think that the members will like to see your makes 🙂 (Plus I'm trying to increase activity in the group so I seem to grab all the opportunities to let people know about it 😀 )
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Aw, you are too kind! Thank you for the sweet compliment! You have not mentioned this group to me before but I will definitely have to check it out! I am not good about posting in FB yet… it always seems to be my lowest priority, but I will make an effort to help you, my friend! I will also share this with Marie who is forever making critter cards… though mostly Christmas. And V has recently joined me in the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies DT, so she can post those there as well!
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I seem to share quite a lot on Facebook. I think it does help a little bit with driving traffic to my blog and YouTube channel, although probably not very much usually. But still I like to share there. It’s very kind of you to mention the group to them.
If Marie likes to make Christmas cards she might also like to come and play along with the challenge I run. It’s called Christmas Craft Creations, and the current theme is even animals so that sounds like it could be ideal for her!
I don’t think I have 2 Crafty Critter Crazies on my challenge list, I’ll have to take a look. I have a huge list of challenges that I try to play along with, but I’m always happy to find more. I really like playing along with challenges.
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I found 2CCC through a site called PaperPlayful.com which list thousands of regular challenges. Another site like it is ChallengesForDays.blogspot.com Both have coding systems to show how many entries the challenge allows, if there are limits for combining entries with other challenges, etc. You stay VERY busy!!! A FB group, a challenge, HH, DTs, and my little hop group among others. I do not know how you do it but I have a better understanding now on how your wrist got injured!!!
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Oh I’ve heard of those, I never seem to remember to check them though! I have my own list of challenges that I keep track of, but of course it’s not as extensive as those sites. Yes, I do stay busy. I enjoy it though. I’m looking forward to my hand feeling better so I can get back into it properly!
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Your cards are so pretty and cute ! I love the little squirrels and who they represent 😉 I also really like the embossing part on the card with the flamingos ! Awesome projects !
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Thanks so much Lounon! I have even squirrel stamp sets to keep this going more than a year… proof I have squirreled away supplies!!! I couldn’t help but assign a squirrel to each of us. Thank you so much for the sweet words!!!
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Awesome set of cards! Love that Hello Sunshine the most!
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Thanks so much Mary Ellen!!! The irony of that card was that it was made while I was trapped in a camper while it was pouring down rain outside. I would have loved some sunshine!!! LOL
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Fantabulous creations!! Love all your three cards (wow I feel like such an underachiever😂) My absolute fave is the first one with all of us Squirrel Sisters around the campfire! Its so much fun! Hope one day we will be able to recreate that card but in person! 💕
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Thank you so much, my sweet squirrel sister! You are hardly an underachiever with full, stepped out tutorials! I would love nothing more but for us to have a girls trip… ANYWHERE! Doesn’t matter to me if its CHA, the beach, camping, anything. I think we would spend the whole time chatting and giggling! 😄
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Absolutely love your cards!
I especially like the squirrels, very fitting for what you mentioned about squirreling away supplies. =) Thanks for sharing!
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I have an abundance of squirrel stamp sets so one makes an appearance every month! Just proof that I have squirreled away too many supplies!!! Thank you so much for the super sweet words, Lori 🥰
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Sweet cards…
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Thanks so much Dawn!!!
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Love all three cards, Karen, but the idea of camping with squirrels is such a delight!
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I’m in love with those squirrels! Eeeeeeeeee! I love how the card turned out, and your other 2 (!!!), are beautiful! 🙂
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Thank you so much for your advice through the process, my squirrel sister! Those dang stars!!! Aaargh! LOL
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