The Flower Challenge 64 -- Monochrome

I'm entering this card in The Flower Challenge 64 --Monochrome. 

 

 

 

I kept it pretty simple with several shades of orange on The Stamp Market's

Ready to Bloom Die. I inked and die cut it twice, then layered them on a kraft

card base, popping up the second layer. I rounded off a corner and finished off 

with a simple sentiment.

Thanks so much for visiting!

So Thankful

Happy New Year! I am so in love with Papertrey Ink's Feathered Friends series. 

When I think back (way back!) my first pet was an olive green budgie, so birds 

were always a fave.

 

I recently acquired Feathered Friends 13 and I'm not familiar with what type of

bird he is, but I've turned him into a red breasted robin. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

 

I assembled the bird after coloring him with inks and daubers. For the background

I used branches from Penny Black's Nestled set and I was going to color them but

decided to leave them white for an embossed look. 

 

 I finished off the card with a sentiment from a Spellbinders stamp set.

Here's wishing you a Happy 2022. I am so thankful for your visits here and

for your sweet comments too!

Believe in the Magic of Christmas

 I'm sharing my last holiday card for the year and a technique I learned from the

recent Online Card Class. Richard Breaks shared some amazing Aurora borealis skies

and I couldn't resist giving it a try. 

 

I started with a rather dark cardstock from my scrap pile and blended blues and

Distress Oxide inks for the glow. I spattered some stars, then added the glittery

"believe" and silver embossed the second part of the sentiment. 

I finished off the card with a star that came from a Hero Arts retro die set. I don't 

think it was intended to be a star but it worked for my card.

The sky passed the test with my husband when I asked him what the design was

supposed to be. Decades ago, he would travel to Alaska for his sales job and got to see

 the Aurora borealis in person o I was quite pleased with his answer.

I'd like to take this time to with you a very Merry Christmas and I hope Santa

brings you what you wish for! 

Ellen Hutson 12 Tags of Christmas 2021

 

 

 I'm joining Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas 2021 and even made multiples (gasp!)

of a tag for Day 11 with the carol "O Christmas Tree".

I was inspired by Carissa Wiley's tag and colored my tree in ombré colors of peach.

I used an older, discontinued Geo Tree die for the first time and a sentiment from

another discontinued set, Home and Hearth. 

The gold branch? I wanted to ground the tree and found some branches so I colored them

with gold watercolors and adhered them to the base of the tree. A bit of twine finished off

the tags. 

I'm off to enter these. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Inspired by Challenge 199C -- Tweet Winter

I'm linking up another project to Inspired by Challenge because of the chubby guy

in the graphic. And I happen to have a flock of bird stamps and dies.

 

 

I used Laurel's simple sketch, too.

The bird and branches are Nestled from Penny Black. I tried to channel the amazing

Jill Foster to color the bird, but ended up ink blending him because the first two 

attempts were a watercolored mess. 

 

A band of color was blended per the sketch design and I adhered the bird and

branches and finished off with the sentiment from Hero Arts.

 

Hope your weekend is going well. Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 

Inspired by Challenge 198C -- Winter Love

Cutting it close with my entry to Inspired by Challenge 198C -- Winter Love.

 I was inspired by the graphic and Laurel's sketch.

 

 

Here's my card. A pretty literal take on the simple sketch.

 

 The background was debossed with Altenew's Dotted Swirls plate to mimic the

rising steam. I chose an non-caffeinated sentiment from Gina K Designs and adhered 

the panel to some plaid patterned paper from The Stamp Market. I happened to have 

a pack of heart confetti on my desk and chose three white ones to finish off the card.

 

Ok, off to link up this card so I won't be late again! Thanks for stopping by!

 

* * *

Thrilled to have my card given the Honorable Mention honor! 

Thank you to the IB team!

 

 

The Paper Players #568 -- Gnomes or Fairies

I'm entering this card under the wire (again!) with inspiration from Amy and

her cute gnome couple card. I also discovered a new challenge blog--The Paper Players.

 

I remember having a small stash of gnomes from several years ago when gnomes

made their crafty comeback. I put my card together with supplies from FIVE different 

companies! See how well they play together?

A card base was  covered with plaid paper from Photoplay, then topped with a

panel that was debossed with MFT's Snow Swirls Cover Up Die-namics. Two of

Whimsy Stamps Snowy Trees were inked and adhered to the panel and the gnome

was popped up between them. I didn't plan well and stamped the Mama Elephant

sentiment over and thankfully, it's somewhat legible.

Thanks so much for visiting and wishing all those who celebrate a 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

* * *

 

Edited to add: I missed the deadline. I didn't take into account the time difference

and DLS, too. Insert sad face here...Lesson learned--don't enter challenges so late!

 

Altenew November 2021 Inspiration Challenge

I found some time to play along with Altenew's November 2021 Inspiration Challenge. 

The photo caught my eye and I thought it was time to break out Altenew's Tropical Leaf Mix

Die Set.  

 

 

 

After die cutting some leaves from watercolor paper, I used Kuretake Zig markers and

a water brush to color them in pink, yellow, and purple hues. 

I adhered them to a stitched slimline card base and spattered gold ink over them. The

panel was then adhered to a slimline card base. The sentiment was white embossed on 

dark gray card stock, then adhered over the leaves.

 

 I've missed so many challenge deadlines--I'm off to link up this card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Color Hues #28 -- Red and Kraft

I'm a newbie at playing along with Color Hues Challenge. I consider myself color challenged 

and usually take forever to come up with a design after given the color choices.

I can't think fast enough.

 

 

Challenge #28 with RED and KRAFT seemed simple enough and I had an idea in mind

for the design. And how fun is that gif?

Ironically, I used stamps and dies from two companies that are no longer in

business, and I consider myself lucky to own their products.

Neat and Tangled 's Warm Winter Scene Cover Plate has always been a

favorite and those little trees won me over years ago. I cut the plate from 

a scrap of alcohol inked paper. 

The trees were cut from white card stock and I adhered all the pieces to a

mini slimline kraft panel. The perfect Paper Smooches sentiment was white 

embossed and I added some "snow" with Nuvo Drops and a white gel pen.

 

 Thanks for stopping by! I hope you're off to a good week!

Inspired by Challenge #191 -- I'd Fall for You

Once again it's leaves that drew me to Inspired By Challenge #191--I'd Fall for You.

Check out their cute prompt.

 

 I chose to go with Laurel's sketch.

 

I kept it simple and substituted a large maple leaf for the circular element.

A panel was embossed with a woodgrain pattern and I used a scissors to distress

the edges.

The Stamp Market's "fall" was cut from dark brown card stock and the secondary

"happy" was white embossed, trimmed, and adhered to the panel.

Thanks so much for stopping by!