Pink Poinsettia

 Hello friends.  I'm popping in to share a card for the November Altenew challenge.  I love the pretty color combo that is offered and challenged myself to use them with one of my favorite stamp sets, Altenew's Festive Poinsettia.  

To color the poinsettia I pulled out my Altenew gouache paints.   I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination when it comes to coloring with different mediums, but it is fun to try your hand at something outside your comfort zone.  I wanted to see if I could manage to combine the pink and soft purple colors in my poinsettia and I think I achieved that goal.   It was definitely interesting coloring with the gouache paints as the color seems to be a bit flatter to me than with watercolors.   To create a bit more separation when some of the bracts overlapped each other I used a medium pink Polychromos pencils.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Just a Note release!

 (For a chance to win a Waffle Flower grip mat, please click here.)

Hello!  Popping in to share a couple of cards that I made with a product from the Simon Says Stamp July release called Just a Note.  Simon was so kind and sent me the Ticking background stamp.  I love a good red rubber background stamp and this one is very versatile!   Take a look at what I created.

For the first card I stamped the background using Simon Says Stamp Fog ink and then die cut the panel.  I used the Color Hues combo of berry and olive for the rest of my elements.  The large Fancy Hello sentiment was die cut from olive cardstock three times and adhered together.  I used heavy weight vellum for the show portion so that the background would peek through.  The hearts and sentiment are from the SSS Happy Hello stamp set.   I used Pinkfresh Studio Berrylicious ink for that.   Originally I had stamped the sentiment directly on the background, but when I stamped it a second time the panel shifted slighty.  I decided I didn't want to start over so I simply stamp the sentiment on white cardstock, die cut it and then adhered it over the top of my mistake!  

For this second card I stamped the background in Pinkfresh Studio Lemon Whip ink, then turned the background stamp so the lines were in landscape and stamped in Pinkfresh Studio Apricot ink to create my plaid background.    I stamped the images from the Simon Says Stamp You Shine stamp set with VersaFine Clair ink.  Once they were dry I did simple watercoloring with my Altenew gouache paints, let them dry and then die cut with their matching dies.  I arranged the images on my card so I could stamp the sentiment.  This time there was not shifting of the cardstock!  Yay!  I adhered the lemons and then added these cute little daisy embellishments that I got from Stampin Up!  

I kept both cards simple so you could really see the fun background stamping.  Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the new release!  Have a lovely day!

sending good vibes...

 Hello!  If you want to check out my Altenew July release post, please click here.  I'm popping in to share a card that I made for the Paper Players challenge, as well as Freshly Made Sketches.  The Paper Players challenge is a theme one of beach and I have been wanting to use my Simon Says Stamp Beach Huts stamp set.  I even tried about two weeks ago to make a card using this set but only got as far as stamping, coloring and die cutting the little beach hut and some waves!  So happy for the Paper Players theme so I could finish the card, lol!  Take a look.

I played around some more with my Altenew gouache paints and did simple coloring.   You can't really see the waves as they are stacked behind the little fence, but I stamped three of them, used a dark blue gouache paint to color them and then die cut them with the matching die.  Once dry there were stacked to create a layered looking sea.  I stamped the fence and painted it with a dark reddish brown paint and then used a lighter wash of it for sad.  A green with a teal base to it was used for the grass.  I die cut that with the matching die and layered it on top of the waves.  The beach house was colored with red, blue and white paints and then die cut when dry.  I used white and kraft Memory Box woodgrain paper for the background and then layered on all my die cuts.  Then I did a little "living on the edge" and stamped the sentiment and the birds after all of that had happened!   Thank goodness it turned out fine! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

simple stripes

 Hello!  Look at me posting for the third time this week, lol!  I have been spending more time making cards and a little less time cross-stitching!   I had cards to make for my mom and my niece graduated from high school on June 14th.  So I have been making birthday cards and graduation cards.  My niece is off to the Naval Academy on the 22nd of June.  So very proud of her!  My card today is a simple one that I made for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.  Take a look.

If you are on Instagram you know that there are lots of Instagram hops and opportunities to win prizes.  I don't often participate in most of these hops because they can get a little confusing to me.   A few weeks ago a fellow Instagramer had an opportunity to win $25 gift certificates from Altenew.  I left a comment on her Instagram post and then forgot about it.  Well, I own!  So I used the certificate to pick up the Altenew gouache paints.  I wanted to try them out with something simple.  The Freshly Made Sketches layout was a perfect way for me to give them a try.   Thankfully the set had all the colors from the Color Throwdown combo.  After creating my strips of color I let the panel dry.  I used the Simon Says Stamp Fruitful Berries die set and cut the leaves from vellum and the berries from white cardstock.  I adhered the berries and then added Nuvo drops in Morning Dew.  Once the berries were dry I arranged the stems so I could stamp the sentiment in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink.  I then adhered the stems in place with liquid adhesive.   Very simple, but I really like it.  Looking forward to trying out the paints on something more complex.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!