two cards...

 Hello!  Popping in to share two cards that I made for several challenges.  First up is a card I made for Color Throwdown and the May Pinkfresh Studio challenge of flowers.  Take a look.

I have had the Pinkfresh Studio Charming Floral Border set of products for along time and I think have only used it once.  Shame on me because how sweet is it?  I stamped the image twice and then used the stencils to color the flowers using Pinkfresh Studio inks.  When I initially did the stenciling of the purples the second shade was too close in color to the first one use so I had to re-stencil the image using a darker purple.   Didn't have to do that with the oranges and the aquas.  Once the stenciling was done I die cut the borders with the matching die.  I die cut additional borders from scrap cardstock to adhere behind the stenciled ones to give them more substance.  There were adhered to my favorite PFS Sparkling Diamonds cover plate die.  I decided that I didn't want to cover up any of the pretty stenciling I did so I used a sentiment from the Charming Borders set that I embossed in black on vellum and then trimmed down with a sentiment strip die.  I finished with these little clear droplets that I have.  I don't know where they came from, but I sure do like them!

This next card is for Freshly Made Sketches and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Take a look.

I found the FMS sketch to be a bit of a challenge for me.  I wanted to use patterned paper for the card and used some green and blue plaid paper from a Memory Box 6x6 pad.  I die cut the center rectangle and then flipped the paper over to cut the strips from the other side.  I think I got my strips too close to the center rectangle, but no going back now, lol!  The center rectangle was popped up with foam squares and the strips around the rectangle with thin foam squares.  I had previously inked up some white cardstock with brown and blue distress oxide inks (vintage photos, gathered twigs and blueprint sketch) so I used those to die cut my little Birch Press Design Budding Twigs from those.  Some of the pieces have alot of inking and some only a little.  I liked the variation it provided.  I adhered the twigs together and then attached them to the center rectangle.  I finished with the twine bow and an Open Studio "happy birthday" sentiment tab.  

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design Post

 Hello!  Hope your week is going well.  I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today and here is a little peek.

I went outside my comfort zone with this card.  I hope you will head over to the Birch Press Design blog to check it out.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!.

simply flowers...

 Hello!  Hope your weekend is going well.  I have two cards to share today for several different challenges.  Both cards are pretty clean and simple.  Let's take a look at what I made.

This card is heading off to the Just Us Girls challenge to use lavendar, peach and gray.   Those are definitely not colors that I would put together, but that is what a challenge is all about... challenging yourself to do something outside your comfort zone!  I did direct to paper inking to get the colors that I wanted.  For the lavendar color I used Milled Lavendar distress ink, for the peach I used Pinkfresh Studio Peach Fuzz and for the gray I used Weathered Wood distress ink.  The wreath was created using PaperTrey Ink's Into the Blooms wreath die set.  For the background I used the A plate of the Birch Press Design Grace layering die set to emboss the white cardstock.  I then layered on the wreath and all the elements.  I finished with one the Memory Box/Open Studio sentiment tabs.  I will also be posting this in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to make a feminine card.

This card is for the Color Hues challenge to use lilac and lime green.  Now, I used Shaded Lilac distress ink for this flower, but to my eye the color looks more like lavendar and the Milled Lavendar on the first card looks more like lilac.  What do you think?  Anywho, I used a Simon Says Stamp floral die called Sunrise Stem and the same direct to cardstock inking that I did on the first card.   The layout for the card comes from the current Sunday Stamps challenge and I used one of my favorite die sets the Memory Box Curved Capped Pinpoint layers die set for the panels.  I layered those on a light gray cardstock base along with the white banner.  The sentiment is another Memory Box/Open Studio sentiment tab. 

That's it for me.   Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

i'm smiling...

 Hey there!  A quick post to share a card that I made for the April Pinkfresh Studio challenge.  I will also be posting this to the Paper Players and the Simon Say Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Here is what I made.

The Pinkfresh Studio challenge closes soon so I went with a very simple design that uses a sweet little Pinkfresh Studio wreath die for the circle element called for in the challenge.  I also used one of the colors choices:  pink.   The layout is from the Paper Players.   I also used the PFS Curvy Foliage die.  Along with all the white I threw in a bit of gold metallic cardstock.  For the little squares in the back I die cut the PFS Sparkling Diamond cover plate from white cardstock and then die cut individual squares using a small square die.  The sentiment is from a PFS stamp set called Charming Floral Border.  

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Floral Cards

 Hello!  Stopping in to share a couple of cards.  I will be posting one of the cards to the following challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and Just Us Girls.    The other card will be going to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.   Here is the first card.

The challenge at JUGs is anything goes with stencils.  I have quite a few stencils, but don't often use them.  I looked through my stencils, but then decided to use an older Hero Arts stamp and stencil set that came from one of their My Monthly Hero card kits.  I don't remember what year or month.  I did the stenciling using the CTD colors, but accidentally got ink on the image during the process, so I set that one aside and decided to use the Simon Says Stamp Groovy Blooms stencil set with the CTD colors and the FMS layout.  I stenciled flowers and leaves and then die cut the panel down to fit the FMS layout.  I was able to trim out one of the large flowers and adhered that to the main panel.  I then decided to stencil some of the smaller flowers and leaves to add to the panel.  I used a scrap of the original stenciled piece to die cut the word "hello" from.  I die cut a few more of the hello from other scraps of cardstock, adhered them together and added it to the shadow die cut from vellum.  I used some pretty yellow glitter cardstock for the other elements in the sketch, then adhered everything to a white cardstock panel and then to a card front. 

This card was made with the first round of stenciling that I mentioned above.  After I finished the above card I decided to figure out a way to make this image work.  I thought about just trying to cover up where I had gotten ink on the image, but didn't really like that idea.  Then I covered up part of the image with a strip of cardstock and I liked that look.  So I cut the floral image into two pieces.  I cut the strip of black glitter cardstock and adhered it directly to a cardstock base using thin foam squares.  I added glue to the back of the floral piece and tucked it underneath the glitter strip.  I die cut the work thanks from the yellow glitter cardstock I used on the first card and vellum for the shadow and adhered it to the card front.  I think I was able to create a pretty decent save.   

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have lovely day!

Birch Press Design Post

 Hello!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today and here is a little peek.

I hope that you will head over to the Birch Press Design blog to check out my projects.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

a spring flower?

 Hey there!  Popping in to share a card that I made for two challenges:  Paper Players and JUGs.  The JUGs challenge is a mood board challenge and it closes in just a few hours so I'm cutting it close for that one.  The Paper Players challenge is a clean and simple challenge to use spring flowers.   Take a look.

The JUGs mood board features soft muted colors and pictures of a flower, friends, coffee and a scene of the ocean.   I went with the flower and the ocean scene to create my card.  I tried to pull out a color from the color palette, but it turned out to be a little too dark.   I'm trying to use up different products that I have in order to free up space on my desk.  To that end I have been using my Tonic Studios Aqua Flow pens to watercolor things.  I used several for my flower that I die cut from watercolor cardstock, including a color called Cameo Pink.  Had I not used such concentrated color it might have been more muted, but I still like it.   The flower die is from Simon Says Stamp.  For the ocean I used a very old Hero Arts sea scape stencil to create the waves using Salty Ocean distress ink.  I then pulled out my distress grit paste and added some swipes of the paste to create "foam".   I made a boo-boo at the bottom of my panel so I created some "sand" by tearing a strip of kraft card stock and then adhering it to the panel.  I finished with a sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp set called Brushed Flowers.  The set has matching dies for some of the sentiments which comes in handy!

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Celebrate Release!

 Hello!  Simon Says Stamp's Celebrate release is now available on their website!  Simon Says Stamp was so kind and sent me a new stamp set called Simple Wedding Wishes.  I created two cards using this sweet set.  You can find the entire release here.  

I was in an "aqua state of mind" when I made both cards, lol.   It all started with this card when I decided to create a simple watercolor background using a Nuvo Aquaflow pen in the color Aqua!  I stamped the background using the Simon Says Stamp Heart to Heart background stamp on watercolor cardstock using watermark ink and the heat set with white embossing powder.  I got the panel wet, scribbled on some color and then blended it out.   While the panel dried I heat embossed a sentiment from the CZ Designs/Simon Says Stamp You Did stamp set on vellum.  That was die cut with the Simon Says Stamp A2 Nesting Frames die set.   The embossed panel was die cut and then I added a frame that I die cut from the dark aqua cardstock using the second largest A2 Nesting Frames die.  I used liquid adhesive to adhere my vellum panel to the hearts panel.  I finished with two sentiments from the Simple Wedding Wishes embossed in white on the dark aqua cardstock. 

On the first card my aqua had a more green hue to it.  With this card I went with a more blue aqua.  I started by die cutting the light aqua blue panel with a rectangle die and the embossing the panel with the Simon Says Stamp Blossom Field 3d embossing folder.  I used the little vellum frame that was left over after I die cut the vellum panel on the first card for this card to frame up my little bundle of flowers that I made using the Simon Says Stamp Flower Bundle die set.  I used kraft cardstock for the wrapper and vellum for leaf stems.  I used a soft green for the other stems and more blue aqua for the flowers.  I finished with the sentiment from the Simple Wedding Wishes.  

Make sure to check out the release over on the Simon Says Stamp website.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

masculine... feminine...

 Hello and happy Wednesday!  I'm popping in with two cards to share today.  One is masculine and the other is very feminine.   First up is my masculine card for the current Altenew April challenge.  Take a look.

The inspiration photo for the April Altenew challenge is of the ocean/beach at what I believe is sunset.  The colors in the photo range from a fiery orange and yellow to white, gray and black.  There are also several different textures present and I tried to capture all those elements with my card.  Starting with the stamping I used Altenews' Terracotta and Snapdragon Fresh Inks to stamp the two Triangle images from the very old Trigonometry stamp and die set.   For one triangle I used the Terracotta at the top and the Snapdragon at the bottom, making sure to blending the colors in the middle.  I did the reverse for the other triangle.  I stamped both triangles using an acrylic block because I wanted a less than perfect image to sort of mimick the broken up look of sky/clouds in the photo.  I then used Altenew Industrial Diamond and Pure Graphite inks for the other triangles using the same technique done for the first two.  I die cut with the maching die.   To bring in the look of the beach with the snow, as well as the ocean I used the Altenew Dotted Waves cover die to emboss a panel of white cardstock that I then die cut down with a rectangle die.  A larger panel of light gray cardstock was die cut, as well.  I layered the panel on a white cardstock base and then added the triangles.  Originally, I had the triangles arranged so that the terracotta/snapdragon triangles were next to each other with the other triangles as their silhouette below.  But I didn't like how it looked and so I decided to arrange them the way you see.  I liked it much better.  I finished with a Memory Box happy birthday sentiment tab.

 Obviously, my next card is the feminine one.  Let's have a look at it.

At the end of March I was the lucky winner of a Waffle Flower Sneak Peek kit!  The kit contained the pretty Wild Flowers four piece stencil set, Small Sentiments Bloom stamp set and Subsentiments Bloom die cuts.  The stencil set is so easy to use and Waffle Flower even provided a color combo etched into the stencil.  I didn't go with the color combo as I wanted to use the colors from the current Paper Players challenge.  So that is where this card is headed.    The color combo at the Paper Players has four colors in it so I just made sure that I tried to keep the colors I used for the flowers in a pleasing arrangment.  I used Altenew Teal Cave for the Bermuda Bay color and then Pinkfresh Studio inks in Sweet Mustard, Marigold, Grassy Knoll, Sparkling Rose and Bubble Gum for the rest of the colors.  Once the stenciling was done I used a Waffle Flower frame die to cut out the frame and the center rectangle.  I adhered the frame directly to my cardstock base and then popped up the center panel with foam tape.  I made a mistake.  Can you figure it out?    I finished off the card with a sentiment from the Small Sentiments Bloom set and some pretty diecuts my friend Greta sentiment.  The diecuts were originally white and I colored them by simply using the residual ink left on the blending brushes I used for the stenciling.  I love how they look with the stenciled background.   I'm also adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of stencil it.

Well, that's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

you are loved...

 Hello!  I'm popping in with a card for several challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and the Tic Tac Toe challenge.   I don't think I have ever participated in the Tic Tac Toe challenge, but when I saw Lisa from My Paper Tales' card for the challenge I had to play along!  This is what I created:

The CTD colors this week are so bright and pretty.  I mean who doesn't love pink, yellow and green together?  It just says spring and so does the pretty You Are Loved stamp and die set from PaperTrey Ink.  It was one of my purchases when I won a gift certificate during the February release.   I used Pinkfresh Studio inks to do all of the stamping.   For the tic tac toe portion of the challenge I went with the bottom row of foliage, embossing and critter.  My critter is the tiny dragonfly perched on the wreath.  Hope that is sufficient!  I hadn't originally planned to emboss the background, but like I said I was inspired to do it because of Lisa.  I used a Simon Says Stamp embossing folder Blossom Field for the background.   The FMS layout calls for a square, but I rarely do square cards so I went with my usual A2 size.   

Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design Post

 Hello!  I hope your April is off to a great start.  As generally happens here in the Pacific Northwest our April is off to a cold and rainy start!   I'm popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.   Here is a little peek of what I made.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

oh, happy day...

 Hello!  Popping in to share a card that I made for Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   Also going to add this to the Flower Challenge to use layers. Let's have a look!

The CTD colors are aqua, teal and olive.  I went with light values for my aqua and teal and did some simple Copic coloring.  The aqua flower is the one on the right and the teal is the one on the left.  The stamp set I used was the collaboration set by Memory Box and Simon Says Stamp for Stamptember 2023 called So Kind.    I tried to find cardstocks that were a fairly close match for the colors in the magnolia flowers.  I used the Memory Box Arched Capped Pinpoint dies for the elements from the FMS layout and then added the magnolias and sentiment on top.  Very simple, but I like how it turned out.

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

bird's nest...

 Hello!   Wishing everyone a very happy Easter!  I'm popping in to share a card that I made using the current Freshly Made Sketches layout.  And since the challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is anything goes I will also be posting the card there.  Take a look at what I made.

Lately I have been trying to make a point of using products that I purchase as soon after I receive them as I can instead of getting and then putting them away.   This card uses one of my my recent purchases, PaperTrey Ink's Into the Blooms:  Nest die set.  In February I was the lucky winner of a $100 gift certificate for commenting on their release day blog post!  I had been eyeing the Into the Blooms: Nest die set and so picked it up along with a few other new items.   When I saw the layout for Freshly Made Sketches I thought a bird's nest would be perfect.  I started by using my Crooked Broom distress mica spray and some old Tsukeniko walnut stain spray on distress heavy stock.  I sprayed the heavy stock with water first and then added the other sprays letting them mix.  Because I wanted to get working on the card I used by heat tool to dry the piece of heavy stock.  Then I die cut out the pieces of the nest.  I had lots of pieces of heavy stock that I had sprayed with a combo of other mica sprays and so I used those for the leaves, eggs and flower.  Once I had everything die cut and assembled I dug through my large supply of 6x6 paper pads and came across this very old Basic Grey Serenade pad.  The colors in the pad were perfect for my little nest.  I die cut two different pieces and layered them on my kraft cardstock base.  I layered on the nest and then finished with a Memory Box pre-foiled sentiment tab.  

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design Post

 Hello!  Hope all is well in your world.  Can't believe that Easter is just a few days away.  With that in mind I have an Easter themed post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

He is Risen!

 Hello!  Posting agin, lol!  This time I'm sharing a card for the Pinkfresh Studio March challenge to frame it up.  I will also be posting this to the Color Throwdown gallery and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   Let's take a look at what I made.

I recently purchased the new Pinkfresh Studio Cherry Blossom stencil and die set.  The concept of having a stencil to work with a die is pretty neat.  I used Pinkfresh Studio inks for the cherry blossoms, leaves and stem.  The die cut super close so you don't have any white outlines left behind after diecutting.  I really like that!  You can also just die cut all the pieces from colored cardstock to layer.  For the frame it up part of the challenge I used the PFS Fancy Oval frame and the Stitched Scallop Rectangle die set.  I die cut the Fancy Oval frame from yellow cardstock several times and adhered them together for more stability.  I die cut the Stitched Scallop rectangle from a very light pink glitter cardstock and adhered that directly to my card front.  I then adhered the oval frame with thin foam strips.  The drop out ovals from the Fancy Oval frame set were also adhered together with a white one on top and then inserted back inside the frame.  I then added the cherry blossom stem to the frame using a combination of glue and foam squares.  I finished with the sentiment from a very old Simon Says Stamp Easter stamp set.  

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Be Bold Release

 Hi friends!  Popping in to share some cards I made with a product from the Simon Says Stamp Be Bold release.  Simon Says Stamp kindly sent me the fun Groovy Blooms stencil set.   Simon Says Stamp has recently added opportunity to purchase items in a bundle.   There is the "want it all stamp and die" bundle, the "want it all extras" bundle and several others.  Now, let's take a look at what I made.

For the first card I used Altenew Fresh Inks in aqua shades to stencil the flowers.   Fresh inks in shades of green were used for the leaves.  For the final layer I used some Tonic Studio Nuvo paste in a bright sunny yellow.   The Boho Celebrate die is from another release and was die cut from aqua cardstock and then layered on a white shadow layer.  The sub-sentiment is from an older SSS stamp set.

For the second card I used the third layer of the stencil to create an overall polka dot look.  I used Spun Sugar and Bundled Sage distress oxide inks.  The sentiment is another Simon Says Stamp word die Fancy Hello.  I finished with some clear sequins. 

The last card was made using a strip that was left over from the first card.  Didn't want it to go to waste so I made this fun Easter card that I will send to one of my great nieces or nephew.  I used the bunny from the Simon Says Stamp Hello There Animals and stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored it very simply with Copic markers in gray and aqua.  I used a scalloped border die and cut some aqua cardstock to layer below the strip.  I added the strip and then the little bow that I also colored with Copic markers.   The sentiment is from the SSS Bunny Kisses stamp and die set.   Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of Easter/Spring.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Easter Bird...

  Hello!  Hope all is well in your part of the world.  I have a card to share today for several challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Time Out, JUGs and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  JUGs and Time Out are doing a collaboration and the theme is "birds of a feather".   I recently received an order from Simon Says Stamp that included the sweet little bird die set called Sitting Sparrow from Memory Box.  Perfect timing, right? Here is what I made.

I used a MFT brickwall stencil and some grit paste that I tinted with Hickory Smoke distress ink re-inker for the background.  The little bird is sitting on the Memory Box Magnolia Leaf Branch that I die cut from watercolor cardstock and then colored with distress ink re-inkers in Brushed Corduroy and Bundled Sage.  I tried to do the same thing with the bird not once, but twice and both times it was an abysmal failure.  So, I went back to my tried and true technique of inkblending with my Waffle Flower 0+ blending brushes and distress oxide inks.  This time success!  Once the grit paste had dried (with a little help from my heat gun!) I assembled the card.   Since I wanted the card to be an Easter card I finished with the Happy Easter sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Bunny Love stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!