watercoloring...

Hello!!   Well... the rain has returned to Western Washington and for once that is a good thing!  And to go along with all the water falling from the sky I decided to do some watercoloring for the current Make It Monday:  No Outline Watercoloring.  Most of the time I don't even get one card made for a MIM challenge, but this week I actually got two done!  Both card use the sunflower image from Botanical Blocks.

The first one I watercolored the previous day and actually threw away after it was done.  I used some Ranger Distress Makers and Ranger Old Paper Distress Ink.  I wasn't super happy with it which is why it got thrown away.  But this morning I decided to give this technique another try using reinkers.  But before I started I decided to get my rejected efforts out of the recycle basket and give them another look.  I decided that my effort was so bad and made it into a card.   I used the Counting My Blessings mini set and one of the word dies.  The card base was embossed with a piece of burlap.

 

I will admit that the second card is my favorite of the two.  I think I did a better job with the technique and actually got some shading and more depth to the colors.  Kept things simple for this card.  Roughed up the edges, added the sentiment and some hemp twine and then matted it with some yellow cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Ranger Watercolor paper; Strathmore watercolor paper; PTI white; SU! Crumb Cake; CTMH yellow; Stamps:  PTI Botanical Block, Counting My Blessings; Inks:  Ranger Old Paper Distress Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa & Tuxedo Black inks; Reinkers:  SU! Old Olive, River Rock, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard & So Saffron; Distress Markers:  Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, & Tea Dye; white hemp cord; Dies:  PTI Counting My Blessings; burlap

you make me happy...

Hello!!!  Here with a card that I made for a couple of challenges:  Less is More Theme week (inspired by Singing in the Rain) and Viva La Verve (sketch). 

When I saw the new LIM challenge I immediately thought of the Verve set Rain or Shine.  The song "Singing in the Rain" always makes me think of umbrellas!  I paired the set up with some fun Stampin Up! designer paper aptly named "Sunshine & Sprinkles" and Viva la Verve sketch #3.  To CAS-ify the sketch I created the bottom layer by embossing my cardstock with a Spellbinders long plain rectangle die and used only white cardstock to provide as much white space as I could.   The rest of the layers were kept equally simple with no matting in sight.  The only embellishment is the little umbrella cut from some of the patterned paper.   I think this card proves that you can have layers and keep your card clean and simple!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; DP:  Stampin Up!; Stamps:  Verve Rain or Shine; Dies:  Spellbinders plain long rectangle & plain circle dies; My Favorite Things fishtail flag stax die

hello... friend

Hello!!  Our weather has turned gloomy, but not rainy... so very strange.  But with the change in the weather comes the opportunity for me to play along with some challenges.  I originally just had CASE Study and Color Throwdown in mind for this card, but I think it also works for the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  Dots & Spots.

I don't often play along with CASE Study (in fact I think it has been at least two years since I last played), but I really liked the inspiration card and thought I would give it a try.  I CASEd the inspiration card fairly closely up to a point and then tried to put my own spin on it. While I love this style of card (the inspiration card) I have a hard time recreating it to my satisfaction.  I'm not sure why this seems so hard to me.. I love layering stamps, but for whatever reason I always end up feeling like what I have made is too carefully planned out and not so spontaneous as the inspiration card looks.  Something to work on, I guess!  I used two different sets from Clearly Whimsy Stamps:  Happy Everything and Happy Hello.  Both sets are full of fun little images like the starburst that I used, as well as the chevron image.   All the inks are from Stampin Up!.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & kraft; Stamps:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Washi Tape:  Stampin Up!

some bunny...

Hello!!   Finally got bored with the way my blog looked and made a change.  I have thought about having someone create a blog "look" for me, but since Blogger has lots of options for backgrounds and such I don't really need too.  Maybe I will one day...  Anywhoo... have a little card that I made for a several challenges:  CASology (pet), CAS(E) this Sketch and Addicted to CAS:  Celebrate.

Bought my first Lawn Fawn stamp set recently.  It is the super cute Hello, Baby set.  I also got the matching dies.  When I saw the CASology cue word I immediately thought of this set, but wasn't completely sure a baby card would work.  But after seeing Gillian's totally cute card I went ahead with my idea. (We actually had bunnies as pets when I was a kid... they are so cute, but cleaning out their hutch is not a fun job!)  I simply die cut and stamped the two bunnies from the set and then adhered them to the card front in a loose interpretation of the sketch.  Added the sentiment underneath and a little heart.  The inside is finished with the remainder of the sentiment and some additional hearts.  The patterned paper is from the My Mind's Eye Now & Then line. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI vintage cream; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Ink:  Memento; Stamps & Dies:  Lawn Fawn

beautiful brushstrokes...

Hello!!   Hope you had a wonderful week.  Mine was very busy, but that's okay... next week will be a bit slower.  Got the chance last night to make a couple of cards... sharing one today.  This card is for the current Time Out challenge, as well as Freshly Made Sketches.   (ETA:  adding this to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  Spots & Dots)

I recently got the PTI Make It Market Kit Beautiful Brushstrokes and oh my goodness... is it beautiful!! Love, love, love all the stamp sets and couldn't wait to make something with it.  Last night I got my chance.  The kit comes with three stamp sets: one large set full of gorgeous flowers and two smaller sets.  I used the two smaller sets for my card, as well as some patterned paper from the kit.  Happily a lot of the colors in the Time Out inspiration photo are similar to the colors in the Beautiful Brushstroke kit and since the photo includes some feathers I just had to use the feathers from the BB kit.  I used my current favorite technique of partial embossing on the card as well.  Really like how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, Stampin Up! Pool Party; Patterned Paper:  PTI Beautiful Brushstrokes; Stamps:  Beautiful Brushstrokes; Dies:  PTI and My Favorite Things; Twine:  PTI (Beautiful Brushstrokes); Embossing Folder:  Stampin Up!; Inks:  Stampin Up!, Close to My Heart and Memento

congratulations...

Hello there!   Managed to make a card today... yay!  I know many of you have found yourself at various times in a place where you feel like your creativity has fled to places unknown...never to return!   Well, I have found myself in that place several times over these last few months.   I try to make something, anything, but to no avail.  This past week I have found myself, once again, in that place.  In an effort to combat this vague sense of malaise I decided to make a card and bake cookies, at the same time.  Thankfully both the card and the cookies turned out fine!  In fact my little guy pronounced my cookies "amazing"... I didn't ask him about the card, lol.  You can be the judge!
I used items from the Crate Paper Close Knit line, Avery Elle stamps and dies (Petals & Stems) and the current Sketchbook Saturday layout as my blue print.  I will be linking this up to the current AEI {heart} U challenge:  one word.  And since there is a ton of die cutting I think I will link it up to Virginia's View #5.   Given the state of crafting mind I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.  Maybe I should bake cookies and make cards at the same time on a regular basis!  I would love to hear what you do to get yourself out of a creative funk.  Now... here are the cookies.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Close to My Heart yellow; Stamps:  Avery Elle Petals & Stems; Dies:  My Favorite Things Jumbo Fishtail Flag Stax; Spellbinders plain square & rectangle dies; Avery Elle Petals & Stems dies; Ink:  Memento Ladybug, Tuxedo Black, Pistachio & Cantaloupe, Stampin Up! Ink Pirouette; Patterned paper:  Crate Paper