cards to share...

Hello!  Popping in with a couple of cards that I made for a few challenges.   That seems to be the way I'm blogging lately... so much easier to get it done in one post!   First up is a card for the Altenew May inspiration challenge, as well as Freshly Made Sketches.   Love this week's FMS layout.  In fact I used it to make a card that I can't share just yet.   When I saw the layout I thought it would be perfect for the Altenew inspiration challenge.  As the main colors in the inspiration photo are light gray, medium gray and green I decided to go with a light gray cardstock card base and then added the medium gray in with the little banner elements and the green with the small leaf cluster from the Altenew Leaf Canopy stamp set.  I stamped it in VersaFine Onyx Black on smooth Bristol cardstock and then colored it with one ZIG marker in medium green.  When it was dry I die cut it with the matching die.  I adhered the banners with repositionable adhesive so I could make sure I got the sentiment stamped relatively straight.  Once that was done I adhered them with permanent adhesive.  Added the leaf cluster with foam dimensionals and then added the enamel dots for a pop of the pinky-purple color found in the flower in the inspiration photo.  Pretty happy with how the card turned out.

The second card is quite a departure for me.  I made this one for the MFT sketch challenge, as well as the MFT color challenge.  I recently purchased the MFT Fresh Cut Flowers stamp set and wanted to have a go at coloring it.   So... I decided to make things a little hard for myself and use the colors from the MFT color challenge!   I decided to color the flowers using a dark blue ZIG combined with a teal ZIG with the teal only appearing on the tips of the flowers.   It is hard to see the teal color on the smaller flowers, but it is there.  I also went very unconventional with the leaves and used a combo of the orange and kraft colors for them (used ZIGs in orange and tan).  The image was stamped on smooth Bristol cardstock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink.  Took me a long time to color the image and while the colors are not what you would see on a flower and I have lots more practicing to do I'm pretty pleased with how everything turned out overall.  I die cut the image using a fishtail flag stax die that is no longer carried by MFT.   The banners were then adhered to a kraft cardstock base using foam dimensionals and the interior piece with regular adhesive.  The sentiment is from the MFT Sweet Forest Friends stamp set that I heat embossed in white on black cardstock.  Kind of dramatic don't you think?   Going to add this one to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  SSS fog, PTI Weathervane, Strathmore smooth bristol; Stamps:  Altenew; Dies:  Altenew, My Favorite Things; Ink:  VersaFine; Watercolor medium:  ZIG Clean Color markers; My Mind's Eye enamel dots

Card #2:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft, Strathmore smooth Bristol; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Dies:  My Favorite Things; Ink:  VersaFine Onyx Black, VersaMark; Hero Arts white embossing powder