Monday, December 20, 2021

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! 


Wednesday, December 15, 2021

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!



Saturday, December 11, 2021

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!
 
 

Monday, December 6, 2021

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!
 
 

Thursday, November 25, 2021

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!


 

Sunday, November 21, 2021

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!
 

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

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!


Saturday, October 16, 2021

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!


Monday, October 11, 2021

The Flower Challenge #61

I've only recently started following The Flower Challenge and it's their 5th Birthday!
I missed the earlier four. 
 

 This month's challenge is to use a shape so I opted for a shaped circle card. I thought
about using Wonky Rectangles as the card base but I've misplaced the set and "wonky
rectangle" doesn't seem like a familiar shape. And it's been a while since I've made
a shaped card so a circle is what I went with.


For my flower, I chose Altenew's Fantasy Floral die and covered white card stock 
with their Painted Fantasy washi tape before cutting out the pieces. It was a bit 
challenging but I finally assembled a bloom that I was happy with.


Altenew's Dotted Swirls Debossing die gave the background a bit of texture and the
card base was cut with MFT's stitched circle dies. I adhered the bloom and leaves
that were inked with The Stamp Market inks. Since we're celebrating a birthday,
I gold embossed a Pinkfresh Studio sentiment, and finished off the card with sequins.
 
 

 Happy 5th Birthday to The Flower Challenge! Here's to many more years of floral fun!


Thursday, September 30, 2021

Guest Designer for Inspired By Challenge #189

Danni Reid of Inspired By Challenge invited me to guest design for Challenge #189
and I humbly accepted. They now have a new format with a Christmas and non Christmas
prompt in addition to Laurel's sketch.
 
I chose the Christmas prompt, Mistletoe 25 Cents.


And here's my card. I was inspired by the gorgeous wreath, a bit of gingham, and silver.
 
 
 I cut the Grapevine Wreath from Honey Bee Stamps twice from kraft card stock
and inked them with brown inks before layering them, offset, to create a
fuller wreath.

 
The sentiment was silver embossed inside the wreath and I added greenery and
silver circles cut from glitter card stock. The final touch was a bit of black and
white gingham adhered to the bottom of the card.

Visit Inspired By Challenge to see what their design team created and come and
join the challenge. Huge thanks to Danni and to the IB team for for the invite!


Saturday, September 25, 2021

Inspired by Challenge -- Colorful Fall

I found some time to play with the latest Inspired by Challenge 188 because...leaves.
 
 
 
I love leaves and own about a dozen different leaf stamp sets and dies.
I used the maple leaf dies from Concord & 9th and chose to use the IB sketch.
 

I inked 5 leaves in different colors and arranged them per the sketch. Gold ink was
spattered over the card and the sentiment was gold embossed.


Thanks so much for stopping by!


Friday, September 10, 2021

The Flower Challenge 60--Colour Turquoise

Lately I've been playing with stencils and love this coloring medium. Stencils have come 
a long way and layered stencils do all the heavy work for you. Your job is to line them up! 
I used Altenew's Polka Dot Buds Stencil and made several panels in different 
color combos.
 

 When I saw that the latest Flower Challenge was Colour Turquoise, I chose a panel that
fit the challenge. 

 
The blooms and leaves were stenciled with ink from The Stamp Market. Notice the edges 
of the panel? I was inspired by the fabulous Yoonsun and remembered that during my early 
years of crafting, I was distressing the edges of cards like a mad woman. You, too?


Yoonsun uses Tim Holtz Paper Distresser Tool. I owned one before, but used a scissors 
and it did the job. I love the look of distressing. It's very forgiving and you don't have to 
worry about gluing down your panel perfectly or even having the corners curl up. 
It's part of the look!
 
My card was finished off with a sentiment from Waffle Flower Crafts. I thought about
adding some embellishments but didn't want to take away from the busy background.
 
Shout out to Yoonsun for inspiring me to distress again. You may be seeing future projects
with paper distressing on them. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Monday, September 6, 2021

Altenew September 2021 Inspiration Challenge

I found some time to enter Altenew's September 2021 Inspiration Challenge after 
seeing the color palette and photo by Altenew team member Laurie. She shared that
she shot the pic from her patio--what a green thumb she has!


I decided to play with my favorite Altenew stencils--Hill Blossoms Layering Stencil Set
on a slimline card. Here's how I was inspired.


My original plan was to make a one layer card but my inky fingers got in the way 
so I ended up die cutting the images and adhered them to a slimline panel. I added 
the die cut  "hello" and stamped the secondary sentiment beneath it.


The panel was adhered to a slimline card base and finished off with clear sequins.
 I have to add that the "hello" was part of a set that's discontinued. I didn't realize
it until I was trying to link the product. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!


Friday, August 27, 2021

Online Card Classes -- Crushing on Cardstock Day 4

I'm so happy that I squeezed in a little craft time, after signing up for the latest
Online Card Class--Crushing on Cardstock. Their classes are "go at your own pace"
but after seeing Jennifer McGuire share a technique, I had to give it a go.
 

 Check out the texture inside the die cut circle. Reminds me of mulberry paper.
I can't give out details but if you've been crafting for a while, you might be able
to figure out how the technique was done.


After assembling the panel, I added a Berry Branch from The Stamp Market
and finished off with the Altenew sentiment. I thought about adding sequins or
enamel dots, but didn't want to detract from the texture.

And I can finally display the participant badge!


I'm hoping to work on more projects from this class. I love that it was short n' sweet
and that I managed to join in at least one day. Thanks, Jennifer and Kristina, for a
fun class. Looking forward to the next one!
 
 

 

Friday, August 20, 2021

Leaf Fragments

When Tim Holtz shared his latest release, full of Halloween goodness, I grabbed the
 Leaf Fragments Dies as quickly as I could. I'm a sucker for leaves and the leaf fragments 
are such an original design--Tim said they were his favorite!--I just had to have them.


The leaves were die cut from watercolor paper and ink distressed with inks from Concord 
& 9th and The Stamp Market. I chose three leaves and spattered them with gold
 Kuretake watercolors.


To go with the tattered look on the leaves, I tore the edges of an embossed panel and 
adheredit to a white card base and spattered more gold ink over it. I adhered the leaves, 
then added the gold embossed sentiment.

These days, my crafting time has been drastically cut but I know I'll be making more
cards with these fun dies. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Thursday, July 15, 2021

The Flower Challenge #58

 
I'm joining The Flower Challenge #58 because the Coneflower Dies from Honeybee Stamps
arrived and I was anxious to put a flower together. 
 

The theme for the challenge is Add Spots or Stripes and I chose stripes so I could use
some patterned paper from a discontinued MFT pad.


Truthfully, I've never heard of a coneflower but thanks to Google and a few samples 
from the Honeybee DT and others on IG, I colored and assembled a bloom.
 
 
I fashioned a stem, because the die set doesn't come with one, and adhered the bloom
and leaves on a striped panel. I stamped the sentiment, then adhered the panel to a 
mini slimline card base.

I think I'll have to construct a few more coneflowers because mine reminds me 
of a droopy daisy. Thanks for stopping by today!

* * *

Edited to add: Honored that my card was chosen as a Top Pick.
 

Thank you to The Flower Challenge DT!


Monday, June 21, 2021

It's a Good Day

Hello! I hope things are getting back to "normal" where you are.
 
When I saw the new Essentials by Ellen Abstract Sunset Die, I decided to do some
paper piecing using a patterned paper pad with earthy colors. How perfect is that?



It took a while to put together and because they're two sided sheets, keeping them
together was challenging. But I learned a bit of patience and managed to assemble a 
scene with almost all of the colors in the pad.
 
The sun was inlaid in the sky, and the card was finished off with the sentiment from
Good Day, another new product from the EBE release.

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