flowers...

Hello and happy Monday!  I'm popping in with a couple of cards that I have shared on Instagram.  One card is for the MFT sketch challenge and I was just going to use Instagram to enter the challenge, but decided to post it on my blog since I still have a little bit of time before the challenge closes.  The second card was just something I colored up last week and turned into a card.   With the card for the MFT sketch challenge I used one of the images from the MFT Magnolia Blossom stamp set.  I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored the flowers with two Copic markers (R81 and R83).  The stems were colored with one (YG67) and the center of the main flower with just one color, as well (Y02).  I had originally started coloring the image with different colors, but it was too bright.  I really took my time with the coloring and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.   I fussy cut the image once it was done and then finished up the rest of the card per the sketch.  I have a medallion die from MFT that I used for the background.  I don't know what it is called and I don't think it is available any more, but it is sure is pretty.  This is my first time using it.  I stamped the sentiment (from a retired MFT stamp set called Spring Blossoms) on vellum with watermark ink and heat embossed with Ebony embossing powder from WOW!

With the second image I used my ZIG markers.  I love the Mondo line of stamps from Ellen Hutson and one of my favorites in the Mondo Gerbera Daisy.  I used that one and stamped it on smooth bristol cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink.   This is another one that I spent along time on the coloring.  Once I was done with the ZIG coloring I added a little bit of depth with a brown Polychromos color pencil.  The image was die cut with the matching die.   To make the card I kept it simple and just added a little strip of yellow cardstock that I embossed and a simple sentiment that I stamped with the same Acorn ink.  I think coloring with my ZIGs is my favorite way to color. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

cards to share...

Hello!  Hope you are having a good week.  I have a couple of card to share.  One card is for a challenge that I have played along with called Global Design Project.  When I find a new to me challenge I often bookmark them, but sometimes I don't ever go back to check out what their challenges might be.  The other day I was looking through my list of challenges and when I saw the current challenge at Global Design Project I immediately thought of a card that I had made using lots of Spellbinders products and shared on Instagram.  It was perfect for the challenge because it is a wedding card and that is the challenge at GDP!  I did some foiling with my Glimmer hot foil system, as well as lots and lots of die cutting.  I used the Spellbinders April small die kit to create the flowers.  There aren't any flower dies in the kit, but there are two dies that are used to create a bow.  I realized that if you layered them in a certain way you could create a flower!  The patterned paper used is from the Spellbinders March card kit called Feeling Hoppy.  I also used some pre-printed and die cut pieces from the ephemera pack from the Feeling Hoppy kit.  The April small die kit has some fun dies it is like a die to create a set of wedding rings.  I created them using gold foil cardstock and then some glitter cardstock for the diamond.  The card was finished off with the sentiment forever, also a die from the kit.   I have to be honest I'm not super happy with how this card turned out, sometimes that happens, right?

The second card is for the Color Throwdown challenge.  The colors this week are aqua, teal, gray and gold.  I decided to do some simple Copic color and used the pretty floral image from the Simon Says Stamp Stronger Together stamp set.  I stamped the image in Tuxedo Black and then colored it in the aqua (I went more blue) and teal colors.  I left the cardstock in my stamping tool and the stamp, as well so that once I was done I could ink up the stamp with watermark ink, stamp over the image and heat emboss with gold embossing powder from WOW! Embossing.  This is a little trick I learned from Yana Smakula.   I die cut it with a small rectangle die and then adhered it to the center of medium gray cardstock.  I then stamped one of the sentiments from the Stronger Together set on white cardstock with watermark ink and heat embossed with the same gold embossing powder.  I trimmed out the sentiment and adhered it to my card front.  Super simple, but I really like the gold embossing with the aqua and teal colors.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

just stamping...

Hey there!  Hope you are having a good weekend.  We are experiencing a wet weekend.  The perfect time to stay inside and stamp.   So that's what I did... I stamped!  I haven't just stamped in a long time.  Lately I have been doing a lot of stamping and then coloring because I want to improve my coloring skills, but the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches had me thinking about what I really enjoy the most... simple stamping... a piece of cardstock, inks and stamps.   There is something freeing about just stamping some well loved images in different colors of ink to create a design.  For this card I also used the colors from Color Throwdown.    I went through my stash of Stampin Up! sets and found one of my favorites called Bliss.  This set is very old and I was one you could only get through the Sale-a-bration promotion that SU! does each year.   It has several different images including a lovely damask one.  I used that image, the image of a small flower and a butterfly for my collage of images.  I stamped the damask image using Memento Rose Bud ink, the flower in Catherine Pooler Flirty Fushia and the butterfly in Catherine Pooler Bellini.   The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp set called Hello Darling.  I stamped the sentiment on a thin strip of cardstock that was created when I die cut the A Jillian Vance Design Diagonal Stripes cover plate for another project.  The main panel was die cut with a rectangle die from AJVD, adhered to a card base with foam tape and then I popped up the sentiment strip with additional foam tape.  I finished things off with some sequins from Simon Says Stamp.

Thanks for stopping by today... have a lovely one!

sending you sunshine

Hello!  It is a brand new week and I have a card to share!  I did some more coloring with my Copic markers over the weekend and the end result was the card I'm sharing today and another card that will be on the AJVD blog on Wednesday.   This card is for the Paper Players challenge (a lovely color combo... my yellow is a little brighter than So Saffron) and the MFT sketch challenge.  Haven't played along with the Paper Players in ages.  Not because I haven't wanted to play along, but mostly because life just gets in the way, lol!  Anyway, I recently got the MFT Floral Fantasy stamp and die set and just had to color it up.  It helped that the shape of the floral image was perfect for the sketch.  After I finished doing my coloring I die cut it with an AJVD rectangle die and adhered it to a white cardstock base.  I didn't use any foam tape as I want this to be very flat so I don't have to put extra postage on it when I mail it out!  I stamped the sentiment using an MFT sentiment set, die cut with a slanted sentiment strip die (by MFT, but no longer available) and then die cut a second one from gray.  They were adhered together and then attached to my card with foam tape.  I finished with a few sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

Thanks for stopping by today, stay safe and have a lovely day!

Simon Says Stamp Blog Party!

Hello and welcome to the Simon Says Stamp United We Craft blog party!  I hope that you are enjoying the huge list of crafters that Simon Says Stamp has put together to inspire you to get creative during this difficult time!  Just like you I have lots of wonderful Simon Says Stamp products in my stash and today I decided to use the absolutely lovely Beautiful Day stamp set that was released several years ago in one of Simon's monthly card kits.  I just love flowers and butterflies and since this set includes butterflies I just had to get the kit.  Today's card is pretty simple.  I stamped one of the leaf images on white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored simply with Copic markers in shades of green.  I was going to color the butterfly in blues or purples, but the decided to go with a color that I don't often use:  orange.  I wanted something bright since I will be sending this out to cheer up someone I care about and what is brighter than orange?   I stamped the butterfly in Tuxedo Black on white cardstock and then colored it.  I die cut it with the matching dies and then added Nuvo Crystal Drops in Morning Dew to the butterfly and let it dry.  The sentiment was arranged on the panel, stamped with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne, then I trimmed down the panel and adhered it to a Fog cardstock base.  I finished off the card by adding the butterfly and sequins in orange and yellow.

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe, get creative and have a wonderful day!

just for you...

Hey there!  Hope you are staying busy as we all stay home right now!  I did some more Copic coloring the other day and this time I colored up some tulips using the Simon Says Stamp Sketch Tulip Bouquet stamp set.  I love most flowers, but I love tulips the most.  I even had them in my wedding bouquet!   I don't have any blooming in my yard right now.  I'm too lazy to plant them in the fall, lol!  But I can have them blooming all year round on my cards, right?  This card is for Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.  I had colored the tulips before I knew that two of the colors from the Throwdown combo would be pink and green!  Love it when things turn out that way.  I just had to figure out how to incorporate gray and kraft into my design to complete my card.  I think I managed to do a pretty good job of working it in!

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe!

you've been on my mind...

Well... I think that title says how a lot of us feel right now about our friends and family!   So many people have been on my mind lately as we all adjust to what is our new normal for the next month or so.  But being able to do some crafting is really helping out.  This card is for the Hero Arts Stay Crafty with Hero Arts challenge to using something that had never seen ink.  Sadly I think I have several items from Hero Arts that have never seen ink and this Hero Arts/Gina K Design collaborative stamp set is one of them.  I stamped it in Memento Tuxdeo Black on white cardstock and then colored with Copic markers.  I do not think I have ever colored something this large with Copics and the only reason I gave it a go is that I think I finally know how to color well with Copics (thanks to watching many, many, many videos!).   Once I was done I die cut the piece with the largest plain rectangle die from A Jillian Vance Design.  I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark watermark ink on vellum, applied black embossing powder from WOW! and then heat set.  The strip was then wrapped around my panel and adhered on the back.  The panel was then adhered to a dark pink cardstock base.  Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, as well.

Thanks for stopping by and please stay safe!

more copic coloring...

Hello!  Popping in with a card for a few challenges and as my post title indicates I did some more coloring with my Copic markers.  I'm going to post this card to the following challenges:  The Flower Challenge (anything goes), Freshly Made Sketches and Time Out (I fussy cut the flower and it is a birthday card).  I have always been scared of coloring with reds.  They can be so unforgiving if they bleed and you try to clean it up.  But I decided to be brave and color with a red combo courtesy of Kelly Latevola.   The flower I used is from the A Jillian Vance Design Dear Daisy stamp set.  I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored it with the following markers:  R32, R35, R29 and R59. The center was colored with Y02 and Y08 and the leaf with YG03, YG05, G17 and G28.  I fussy cut the flower out and then outlined the flower and cleaned up the white edges with a black Mircon pen.   I kept everything regarding the sketch very simple as I really wanted the flower to be the focus.  The sentiment is also from A Jillian Vance Design (Make A Wish) and the dies I used are also AJVD.  I must say that I'm really pleased with my coloring.  I managed to create a consistent highlight area on the petals giving them a slightly rounded look.  Never thought I would be able to do something like that!

Thanks for stopping by today... stay safe and well!

green leaves... and flowers!

Hey there!  I hope everyone is staying safe during this uncertain time!  My kiddos are both officially out of school for the next month.   Thankfully it seems our school district has tried to be proactive about everything and we already have information on ways to keep our kids engaged in learning!  Yay!  Anyway... I have a card to share that I made for several challenges:  CAS(E) this Sketch, Color Throwdown, Time Out and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Time Out is celebrating their 6th birthday!  Time sure does fly when you are having fun, right?  So they want birthday themed projects and they have a "twist" option of fussy cutting.   I was able to get my hands on the Simon Says Stamp March card kit, but not the matching dies so I was able to get that option in on my card.  Like many crafters I have lots of different coloring options.  One of them is Copic markers.  I jumped on that bandwagon and purchased quite a few pens.  I tried working with the pens and even took a Copic coloring class, but eventually I fell off that bandwagon as I just was never comfortable coloring with them.  But recently I have been watching a few videos by the incredibly talented Kelly Latevola and in one of them she mentioned that she had a list of color combos.  That has always been my biggest stumbling block... figuring out color combos.  So, the other day I copied down some of her combos and I used one for today's card.   I stamped the long vine image from the Stronger Together stamp set from the kit in Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored the leaves with the green combo of YG03, G05, G17 and G28.   I then stamped the little single flowers from the set in Tuxedo Black (2 of the larger one, 1 of the smaller) and colored them with the same combo.  Those were fully cut out and the edges colored with a Tuxedo Black marker.  I die cut the panel with the leaves, stamped the sentiment from another SSS set and then popped up the little flowers.   Thanks to watching all those videos and Kelly's color combo I think my coloring turned out pretty well!  This is also going to the Simon Says Stamp flickr challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Happy Stamptember!!

Hello everyone and welcome to the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember 2019 blog celebration!  This isn't a traditional blog hop, but an opportunity for you to find lots and lots of inspiration and ways to use all of the newly released Stamptember products.  The complete list of all participants can be found on the Simon Says Stamp blog.   Each blog will also be offering a special code that you can use to get something fun from Simon Says Stamp!  The code is found in the banner on my blog and only good until August 34rd at 11:59 pm EDT so make sure you place your order by then if you want the free item!  Simon sent me the School Days Grow stamp set to create with and I just fell in love with the sweet little flower images in the set.  They have tiny faces.... so cute!!

My first card uses those sweet little flowers for a clean and simple design based on the sketch from Fab Friday so I will be posting my card there, as well as with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.  I stamped the flowers in a row using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then colored them very simply with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils using the colors from Color Throwdown.  I think there is just enough time for me to add my card to their gallery, as well.   I then trimmed down my panel to fit my cardstock base.  I stamped the sentiment on SSS fog cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then trimmed it down.  The polka dot strip is some patterned paper from Moda Scrap that came in a Simon Says Stamp card kit that I purchased several months ago (apologies, but I don't remember which month!).  I layered those on per the sketch and then added the little twine bow.  The panel was then adhered with foam dimensionals to the cardstock base.   Super clean and simple!

The second card is also pretty clean and simple.  This time I used another piece of Moda Scrap patterned paper (all the papers were just so beautiful and made creating my cards so easy!) that I trimmed down and die cut with the SSS Flower Cluster die. I have had the Flower Cluster die for quite sometime, but this is the first time I have used it!    I adhered the die cut patterned paper to a light pink cardstock base and stamped the sentiment using Memento Bamboo ink.   The flower cluster was die cut two more times from white cardstock, all the little bits removed and then placed back inside the negative space finishing with the patterned paper die cut on top.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Please make sure to check out all the blogs participating in this celebration and pick up some of the newly released products.  You can find all of them here.

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  MFT white, SSS fog; Patterned paper:  Moda Scrap; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Inks:  VersaFine CLAIR; Coloring medium:  Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils

Card #2:  Cardstock:  Reverse Confetti pink; Patterned paper:  Moda Scrap; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Die:  Simon Says Stamp; Ink: Memento Bamboo

cards with just a splash of color...

Hello!  Today I have two cards to share and both have just a splash of color on them.  First up is a card for Color Throwdown, Fusion (I mainly used the Fusion sketch) and Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash challenge.   When I saw the color inspiration photo for CTD I noticed that there was woodgrain in the background behind the string heart so I looked through my patterned paper collection and finally found a piece with a woodgrain design.  I die cut that with the smaller scalloped square from the Reverse Confetti Scalloped Squares Confetti Cuts.   Some white cardstock was die cut with an AJVD rectangle die and then I adhered the scalloped frame to the white panel.  The center cut piece was adhered with foam tape for dimension.  The floral image from the RC Something Wonderful was stamped on white cardstock with Catherine Pooler Flirty Fuchsia ink and die cut with the matching die.  I adhered that to the raised square.  I placed the panel in my stamping tool and stamped the sentiment from the Mod Floral Stack stamp set.    I finished things off with a little black twine bow and then adhered to a light gray cardstock base.

The second card is for Freshly Made Sketches and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (black, white and one color).  I have to admit that when I see a sketch I often can't get past the shapes that are used for the sketch and really have to push myself to use other shapes.  However when I saw the FMS layout I immediately wanted to make a card using triangles!  I have a set of triangle dies from MFT that I have never used so I pulled those out to make my card.  The floral image is from the beautiful Honey Bee Stamps Winter Anenome set.  I decided to use the largest image from the set, but didn't need part of it as it would have gone off the edge of my panel and did not look right.  So I did a little masking on my stamp and then inked up the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  Before I started coloring the image I laid out the larger triangle and then placed the smaller one on top to determine where I would need to die cut the second image that I needed to stamp.  Once everything was stamped I colored the one flower with Marvy Uchida alcohol ink markers.   Then I die cut the large triangle from the main panel.  I die cut the smaller triangle from the second image and then colored it.  Finally I die cut the main panel, stamped the sentiment and assembled everything on a light gray cardstock base.   I'm pretty pleased with how my idea turned out.  I only wish that my triangles were just a little bit taller and thinner.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  PTI white, SU! Smoky Shadow; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti; Dies:  Reverse Confetti and AJVD; Inks:  Catherine Pooler and VersaFine CLAIR; Black twine:  Stampin Up!

Card #2:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SSS Fog; Stamps:  Honey Bee Stamps; Dies:  MFT and AJVD; Inks:  Memento and VersaFine CLAIR; Coloring medium:  Marvy Uchida alcohol ink markers

you are awesome...

Hello!!  Have a little card to share that I made using the new CTS sketch and the inspiration photo for the new Altenew monthly challenge, From the Craft Room: Lime Lemonade.   So happy that Altenew decided to start a monthly challenge.  Popping this into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  Anything Goes.

I didn't put any kind of spin on the sketch... wasn't feeling like I wanted to go out on a limb today, especially since I was using my Altenew Label Love set. I took my inspiration from the ribbon and the woodgrain background.   I flipped over one of the sentiments from the set and used it to stamp the stripes.  Inks used are Memento Bamboo Leaves, Pear Tart and Dandelion.  I stamped the sentiment using Memento Luxe in Tuxedo Black, trimmed it out and adhered it with foam dimensionals.   Before I adhered the sentiment strip I added some subtle embossing to the center of the card using a woodgrain embossing folder and my craft hammer.  Added some sequins in a green that matched Bamboo Leaves.  Super simple because, well... I'm feeling in a super simple mood right now, lol! 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Altenew Label Love; Inks:  Memento; Sequins:  Ellen Hutson