i bee-lieve...

 Hello!  Hope things are good in your part of the world!  I'm popping in with a card for the Paper Players and Freshly Made Sketches.   The Paper Players challenge is a fun one this week.  They are asking us to create a clean and simple card with at least one bee on it.  I pulled out the stamps and dies from the Hero Arts January My Monthly Hero kit and got to work.  I stamped the three bees using black ink and then colored them with Copic markers.  I had some patterned paper from Honey Bee Stamps with a fun bee theme and pulled out a piece with a honeycomb pattern in shades of aqua (or maybe teal?).  I die cut the patterned paper to fit my white cardstock panel and adhered it with foam tape.  I die cut a label and stamped it with the sentiment using black ink.   The sentiment was adhered along with two of the bees and I adhered the panel to a light aqua cardstock base.  I die cut a second panel of white cardstock, adhered the third bee and then stamped the rest of the sentiment.  For a finishing touch I added Stickles to the wings, but you can't see it in the photo.   To make things easier on myself I took a photo of the inside panel before adhering it inside the card! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

you are so sweet...

Hello everyone!  Hope your week is going well.  I'm popping in with a card that I made for a few challenges:  the Paper Players (use plaid or checks), the Card Concept (inspiration and my card is clean and simple) and CAS(E) this Sketch (layout).   When I saw the Card Concept inspiration photo it made me think of the stamp and die set that was part of the July 2017 My Monthly Hero kit.   The set includes images of bunches of lavender and sweet peas as well as images of different containers. I will admit that I have only used this lovely set once (hangs head in shame) and that was along time ago!  I used the sweet peas image and the image of a watering can for my card.  I stamped both images using VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist and then colored the images with Faber Castell Polychromos color pencils.  Once done I die cut with the matching dies.  I die cut some pink check patterned paper with the largest stitched dot rectangle die and then die cut some woodgrain cardstock with the same die.   The woodgrain piece was cut on an angle and adhered it to the patterned paper panel.   I adhered the two images together and then placed it on the panel so that I could determine where to place the sentiment.  I removed the die cuts and then stamped the sentiment using Morning Mist ink.  The image was then popped up on the panel with foam dimensionals and the panel was adhered to a light gray cardstock base.

Thanks for stopping by... hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, SU! Smoky Slate, Tim Holtz distress woodgrain; Patterned paper:  unknown; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Dies:  Hero Arts and A Jillian Vance Design; Ink:  VersaFine CLAIR

flowers and fish!

Hello!  Another two card post today.  Hmmm... I seem to be doing a lot of that lately, lol!  Anyway today I have cards that feature flowers and fish!  First up is my card featuring flowers.  The other day I spent part of my afternoon coloring some images from the Honey Bee Stamps Winter Anemone stamp set with my ZIG markers.  I had been planting daffodils earlier in the day and I guess I had yellow on the brain because I colored my anemones yellow!  Once they were all done I die cut them with the matching dies.  Now I colored all the images prior to knowing that the color combo for Color Throwdown would be yellow, green, red and white.  So I only had to figure out how to work red into my design and I had my card for the challenge!  I went with red enamel dots since I have lots of them and need to use them on projects.   The sentiment from the Honey Bee Stamps Thinking of You stamp set was stamped in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne on the card base, the flowers arranged in the corner and then I finished with the enamel dots.    Also going to post this to the Flower Challenge.  This month it is anything goes.

The second card features the fish, obviously!  This one is heading to CAS(E) this Sketch and CASology (the theme there is ocean). In order to make my idea work for the CTS layout I turned it on it's side.  I recently got the March My Monthly Hero kit.  It is jam packed full of stamps and dies.  I purchased this kit because I have two other ocean theme My Monthly Hero kits from previous years and I knew they would work perfectly with the new kit.  I used two of the Hero Arts reactive inks that come in the kit.  One called Sea Glass was used to ink up the white cardstock panel for my bit of ocean.  The second color called Blue Water was just to stamp the kelp.  I then stamped two fish one in an emerald green and the other in a color called Tranquil Tide.  It is a blue/green/gray color.   Die cut them with the matching die.  I splatted on some water and them removed it with a towel to get the look of bubbles.  The sentiment was stamped in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne.  I die cut the panel with a rectangle die, adhered it to a light gray card base and added some of the little droplets that come in the kit.  I think I will post this over at Less is More, too, as I did use the kelp image three times and there are three of the droplets.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  PTI white, Strathmore Smooth Bristol; Stamps and dies:  Honey Bee Stamps; Ink:  VersaFine Onyx Black, VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne; Watercolor medium:  ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers; Enamel dots:  Freckled Fawn

Card #2:  Cardstock:  PTI white, SSS fog; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Dies:  Hero Arts and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Hero Arts, VersaFine CLAIR, Stampin Up! Emerald Envy and Tranquil Tide; Hero Arts droplets

let your dreams...

Hey there!  Hope all is well in your world.   I'm popping in with a card for two challenges:  The Card Concept and Fusion.  Both challenges happen to have a similar feel to them... non-traditional Halloween/Fall and so I thought I would combine them on my card.  I did not use pumpkins (which are featured in both inspiration photos), but feathers.  As a nod toward the Card Concept photo I stamped my feathers (from the February My Monthly Hero kit) in two shades of pink and then inked up portions of each feather with VersaMark watermark ink, applied gold embossing powder and then heat set.  A piece of white cardstock was die cut and then splattered with a light blue/green acrylic paint that I thinned down with water.   When the panel was dry I arranged my feathers per the sketch from the Fusion challenge.  The sentiment was stamped in VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink.  To bring in the crystals found on one of the pumpkins in the Card Concept photo and the color blue from the Fusion photo I added Pretty Pink Posh light blue crystals randomly around the feathers.   I'm going to admit that I often struggle with the categories at the Card Concept, but I think this one would fit into the Clean and Layered category.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT smooth white; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up!, VersaFine CLAIR, VersaMark; Arcylic paint: Plaid FolkArt; Crystals:  Pretty Pink Posh

spread your wings..

Hey there!  Popping in with a card for a few challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (animal antics).   I have several My Monthly Hero kits I have hardly touched since receiving them and I decided that I needed to remedy that situation so I pulled out the stamps and dies from the  February 2018 kit along with an add-on stamp set that I purchased at the same time to create my card.  Originally I was going to use the feather stamps and dies, but decided instead to use the fun birds nest die along with one of the silhouette bird images from the set.  I die cut the bird's nest from kraft cardstock and then popped up the little leaves in the nest.  I stamped the bird using a medium green ink and then the little branch using a darker green ink.  Both were die cut with their respective dies and then all the pieces adhered together.   The bird/nest piece was placed on a die cut piece of white cardstock so I could determine where to place the sentiment and then removed so the sentiment could be stamped in kraft colored ink.  The sentiment is from the add-on stamp set.  The whole piece was then popped up on the panel with foam tape per the layout from Freshly Made Sketches.   A super clean and simple design.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft, MFT white; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Dies:  Hero Arts and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up!

have a beautiful day.. plus a winner!

Happy Monday everyone!!  I'm stopping in to let you know the winner of my giveaway from last week, as well as to share a card that I made for a couple of challenges. First up is the winner of my giveaway and that person is...McStamper!!!  Congrats!!  Please contact me with your information (just click on the "see my complete profile" link and then on email) and I will get it to Dyane who will send you the set.   I will be doing another giveaway on May 22nd, so please stop by then.   Now on to my card I created this with the current CTS layout in mind.  Over the weekend the Hero Arts creative team had been sharing "under the sea themed" projects that showcase the May My Monthly Hero kit and it made me think of a My Monthly Hero kit that I purchased last year that had a similar theme.  So I pulled out the stamp set from the kit along with the matching octopus die and got to work.  I used the Hero Arts Mermaid ombre ink pad and thanks to tips from Yana I was able to ink up my octopus perfectly!  I did the same with the coral that is behind the octopus (sorry you can't really see it) and then watercolored the area using Ranger distress ink in Salty Ocean (of course) and let it dry.  Once the panel was dry I trimmed it down and then adhered the octopus with pop dots.  The sentiment was stamped on vellum and heat embossed with black embossing powder.  I trimmed it down and then adhered it over the octopus with clear dots.  I finished off the card by adding clear dots using Nuvo Crystal Drops in Morning Dew.  I love how they look like little bubbles floating in the water!  Since the theme at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge is anything goes I will be adding my card to that gallery.

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT tropical teal, Ranger watercolor paper, PTI vellum; Stamps and dies:  Hero Arts; Ink:  Hero Arts, Ranger and VersaMark; Nuvo Crystal Drops

pick me...

Hello friends!!  I have one more bunny card to share.  This time my little bunny is hanging out with a squirrel friend and they are trying to decide if they each picked the right snack.  I think this little gray bunny turned out the best of the two that I colored the other day as I think I was able to get the coloration right.  I also really like how my little squirrel turned out.  Along with the bunnies we have a lot of squirrels running around and I tried to capture the colors that I often see in their fur as they streak by!  Kept this very simple and just added a little bit of a background to ground the bunny and the squirrel and then added the little sentiment.  I will add this to the 30 day coloring challenge and to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  The layout is based on the current Freshly Made Sketches layout.

Wishing you a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  gray, Ranger watercolor paper; Stamps:  Hero Art March My Monthly Hero; Dies:  Hero Arts March My Monthly Hero and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  VersaFine Smoky Gray, Onyx Black; Watercolor medium:  Zig Clean Color markers 

how does your garden grow...

Hello!!  I have another bunny card!!  This time I tried to color my bunny up like one of the little black bunnies that come into our yard.  My bunny is more gray than black, but I think close enough.  Since this little bunny has a hoe I have him/her tilling the soil around some nice big heads of lettuce growing in the garden.  Everything was colored with my trusty ZIGs.  I die cut the little fence from some kraft cardstock and then cut it in to two pieces so that I could create a little opening in the fence so that the bunny would have a way to get into the garden.  I created the background by scribbling on a brown ZIG and then blending it out.  A mid-green ZIG was flicked on and blended out to create the grass and then I added in the blue for the sky.  Once the panel was dry I added the fence, bunny and the lettuce.  I almost didn't get a sentiment on this one, but caught myself in time to get it stamped!!  I used more than one die on this card so I'm going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use more than one die or punch.  Since there is coloring I will add this to the 30 day color challenge as well.  I haven't been coloring every day, but have managed to do more coloring this month than I did in the last three!!

Wishing you a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SSS fog, SU! Crumb Cake, Ranger watercolor paper; Stamps and dies:  Hero Arts; Inks:  VersaFine Vintage Sepia and Smoky Gray; Watercolor medium:  ZIG Clean Color markers

another bunny card..

Hello!! Stopping in on this windy, rainy weekend with another bunny card.  Just can't stop myself!! These bunnies are just too darn cute!!!  Like the first one there is no sentiment on it.  But that is because I got the card put together before I realized that I had not stamped a sentiment! The main panel was adhered with pop dots which makes it harder to set a good impression. I'm sure that hasn't happened to anyone else out there, right???!!!  I created my background by scribbling some dark brown and blue ZIGs onto a panel of watercolor cardstock and then blended it out with a little water.   I flicked on some green for the grass and then did a bit of blending.  The side strip was die cut using the fence specialty die from the kit.  The green textured paper that I used can in the kit as well.  After looking at the finished card I realized that the background could either be the sky or a lake!!  Either way I do love how it turned out.  I think I will add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use a bit of green and to the current 30 day coloring challenge.

Wishing you a wonderful day and wishing that our rain would go away, lol!!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Stampin Up! Crumb Cake, green texture, Ranger watercolor; Stamps:  Hero Art March My Monthly Hero kit; Dies:  Hero Arts My Monthly Hero and A Jillian Vance Design; Ink:  VersaFine Smoky Gray; Watercolor medium:  ZIG Clean Color markers

butterflies and a bunny...

Hello!!  Stopping in on this very soggy day with a couple of cards I made recently.  The first card uses items from the March My Monthly Hero kit.   I could not resist this kit because... BUNNIES!!! I love bunnies... seriously!!   We have a family of bunnies living in and around our yard and right now the babies have been scampering around.  They are just too cute!!   My kit arrived this past weekend and once I had some time I stamped all three of the bunny images from the set on watercolor paper and colored them up with my ZIGs.  One of the adult bunnies and several of the babies are black so I tried to color one black, but it didn't turn out so well.  I'm not giving up though!  The other two were colored light brown and turned out much better.  One you see on my card.  The kit also includes this fun die that cuts a piece of "ground" that also has slits in it that you can use to "plant" all the little veggies that come in the kit.  I cut a piece from watercolor paper and then colored it with a dark brown ZIG.  The cute little fence that you see in the back is also a die from the kit.  I stamped both sizes of carrots on watercolor paper, colored them with ZIGs and then die cut with the matching dies.  I then "planted" all my carrots and the little bunny.  Everything was adhered to a light blue cardstock base and some brown twine added to the top.  There is no sentiment at this time, but I will come up with something later.  I just love how this turned out!!  Going to add this to the 30 day coloring challenge.

The second card uses the super sweet Reverse Confetti Butterfly Dreams stamp set.  The layout is based on the current Reverse Confetti Sketch for You to Try.  The background is a Reverse Confetti Quick Card and was the basis for where I went color-wise.  The banners were die cut from woodgrain cardstock with a die from the RC Tag Me die set.   I hadn't used a bright pink in a long time so I thought that would be perfect pop of color for my card.  I stamped the butterflies and then die cut them with the matching dies.  Layered everything up against a light gray cardstock panel and then added little heart shaped enamel dots to the centers of the smaller butterflies.  Clean and simple, but I like it!!

Wishing you a wonderful day...
Supplies:  Cardstock:  White, SSS Fog, Sea Glass, RC Quick Card, Ranger woodgrain and watercolor; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti and Hero Arts; Dies:  Reverse Confetti and Hero Arts; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Watercolor medium:  ZIG Clean Color markers; My Mind's Eye black enamel hearts; Hemptique  hemp twine 

sharing a couple of cards...

Hello!!  Hope you are having a lovely weekend.  Sharing a couple of cards I made over the last few days.  These are just for fun cards.  First up is a card I made using the February My Monthly Hero kit and an add-on stamp set that debuted with the February kit.  The March My Monthly Hero kit comes out tomorrow and it has cute bunnies!!! I love bunnies!  Hmmm... I think that kit may just hop in my cart, lol!!  Anyway... as I said this card used the February MMH kit.  I decided to make a shaker card since the window die in the kit makes it super easy for a shaker challenged person like me to create a nice one!  I watercolored a panel of watercolor paper with a couple of ZIG markers and then once it was dry stamped it with some cloud and rain images from the stamp set included in the kit using distress inks.  I die cut the little kitty (another die in the kit) from watercolor paper and then watercolored it with two ZIGs.  The coloration of the cat is similar to that of my sweet kitty Cleo who I said goodbye to a little over two years ago.  The window was die cut from woodgrain cardstock and a piece of acetate adhered to the back.  Once the watercolor panel was fully dry I created my shaker.  The sentiment is from an add-on stamp set and was stamped in watermark ink and embossed with black embossing powder.  I cut it into a little banner.  Some patterned paper was adhered to the card base and then I added the shaker, my kitty and the banner.

The next card uses a die that I recently purchased from Simon Says Stamp called Birch Tree Window.   I was quite intrigued by this die when I first saw it.  There are several different possibilities for creating cards with it.  Some simple like my card today or more elaborate.  I'm looking forward to creating a shaker card using this die!  My oldest brother recently retired and his retirement party was this weekend.  Before heading to the party I made this card using the die.  Since I was crunched for time I kept things simple.  I die cut the image from watercolor paper and then added detailing you would see on birch trees.  I finished it off by adding some light green coloring to the leaves and around the entire die.  A background was watercolored using a couple of blue ZIGs.  Once dry it was trimmed down to fit behind the die cut.  The little banner was die cut from kraft cardstock and stamped with a sentiment from the SSS Sketch Ranunculus stamp set.  Once everything was dry I die cut the main panel and then put together the card.  I hope my brother likes it because I sure do!

Wishing you a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  white, woodgrain, watercolor, kraft; Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye; Stamps:  Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp; Dies:  Hero Arts, Simon Says Stamp and AJVD; Inks:  VersaFine Onyx Black, watermark, Stormy Sky, Weather Wood distress inks; black embossing powder; Blue sequin mix; ZIG clean color markers

you brighten...

Hello!!  Stopping in with a bright little card for several challenges.  I was really intrigued by the whimsical inspiration photo at Time Out and the image that really jumped out at me was the hot air balloon.   But I thought I didn't have a similar image so I was going to use some images from the February My Monthly Hero card kit.  Then I remembered the fun Hero Arts stamp set called Happy Birthday.  The set was made for Operation Write Home and includes the hot air balloon image.  I stamped that image on watercolor paper and then colored it with the ZIG markers you see in the photo.  Once the image was dry I trimmed it out.  I did end up using things from the My Monthly Hero kit to create the background and for the sentiment.  I used Salty Ocean distress ink and some positive image clouds to create the sky.  Once the sky was finished I trimmed down the panel to correspond with the Freshly Made Sketches layout.  The hot air balloon was adhered along with another cloud image that is in the Happy Birthday stamp set.  I colored that with a light grey ZIG and added some of the same color (watered down) to the other clouds.  Made a little mistake in that I adhered the panel to my card base before I stamped the sentiment, but I was able to fit it with my Memento Tuxedo Black ink pen.  I'm also going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

Wishing you a wonderful day...
Supplies:  Cardstock:  white, Ranger watercolor paper; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Ink:  VersaFine Onyx Black, Smoky Gray, Ranger Salty Ocean distress ink; Watercolor medium:  ZIG clean color markers; Hero Arts stencils

sending my love...

Hello!!!  Wow!!! It has literally been like almost two weeks since I made a card!!  I know I have posted a few things, but that was because I managed to work a head and I got some things done before I got "sick like dog"!!   I'm finally feeling better except for the horrible cough that I still have, but I know that won't last forever!  Around the time I got sick my January My Monthly Hero kit arrived in my mailbox.   I unpacked the box and there all the contents sat until this afternoon when I was able to make this simple little card using the stamps and dies and the layout from Freshly Made Sketches.  I stamped the wrapper for the bouquet on some older Valentine paper from Echo Park and then die cut it with the matching die. The floral part of the bouquet was stamped using the floral heart outline image from the set using a dark pink ink from the kit and then the matching solid floral heart image using a lighter pink ink (also from the kit).  I trimmed down some more of the papers from the same pad and adhered them to my card base.  Stamped the sentiment in black ink and then added my bouquet.  I finished things off with some of the dark red waxed twine that came in the kit.  I also added some Nuvo Glitter Drops in White Blizzard to the centers of all the flowers.

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  white; Patterned paper:  Echo Park; Stamps and dies:  Hero Arts; Inks:  Hero Arts and VersaFine; Red Waxed twine; Nuvo Glitter Drops

a couple more tags..

Hello!! Stopping in with two more tags for the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.  With these two I'm posting today I have made 6 tags.  I'm working on number 7 and will try to get a few more done before the 17th.  First up is a tag for the day 11 challenge to make a country Christmas inspired tag.  If you have not checked out Kittie's tag you absolutely must... you will be blown away!!  I do not think there is anyone out there who works with die cuts as well as she does... she is amazing!!   As I thought about what I wanted to do I knew I didn't want to do a wreath, but couldn't think of anything else until I made a little trip one of my favorite garden centers, Watsons in Puyallup, Washington.  As I walked into Watsons I saw these beautiful swags hanging up outside and when I saw them I knew just what I would do!  I die cut the branch die from the Hero Arts October My Monthly Hero kit from dark green and light green cardstocks.  I cut each branch apart and then layered the pieces together.  I then grabbed a little gold bell, threaded some twine through it and tied a little bow.   The tag was die cut and then run through my Big Shot in a woodgrain embossing folder.   I then adhered my little swag, added the bell and bow, some additional twine and I was done. 

My second tag is for the day 9 challenge to use white along with silver and gold.  The tags that Sharon and Jean made for the challenge are just gorgeous!!  I was definitely inspired by Sharon's beautiful tag when I created mine!  I went very simple with my design which is based on the current My Favorite Things Wednesday sketch challenge so I will be posting my little tag there.  I have been challenging myself to use sketches and such for my tags.  It is fun and interesting to figure out how to scale things down so you can still see the sketch, but make it work for a tag!  I started by die cutting my main tag using a rectangle die and then added the tiny scallop along the edge.  That was die cut using one of the dies from the MFT Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangles.  A smaller stitched mini scallope rectangle was die cut for another element of the design.   The leaves were die cut from white cardstock using the die from the Flashy Floral set.  I then stamped each die cut with the partial image that matches using VersaMark ink.  Silver embossing powder was applied and heat set.  The sentiment is from the MFT Snowflake Sparkle card kit.  I die cut a stitched fishtail flag stax, stamped it with the sentiment using VersaMark ink, applied gold embossing powder and then heat set it.  Layered everything up, added some sparkly twine and I was done.

 

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  white, gold glitter (MFT), thin chipboard, dark green and light green, red; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Dies:  Hero Arts, My Favorite Things, A Jillian Vance Design; twine, bell, woodgrain embossing folder; Gold and Silver embossing powder

magical holiday...

Hello!!  Wow...we had a ton of rain this weekend!! I have not seen that much rain in a very long time, but I'm glad that we got it because despite Washington state being known as the evergreen state things haven't been so green around here lately!!  All that rain meant an opportunity to stay inside and make a few cards.  Sharing one today that I made for Freshly Made Sketches, as well as the Hero Arts holiday card challenge.  This past Tuesday I was tickled pink to see that my card for the previous FMS layout was picked as the "Queen of Clean"!! That really made my day!!  For my card today I used the same stamp set from the October My Monthly Hero kit and did a little more simple watercoloring.  I started by stamping the tree line coloring my stamp with a Bundled Sage distress marker and then stamping.  Forest Moss was colored on next and then stamped.  I lightly blended the colors out with clean water.  I did second generation stamping for the rest of the trees using the same colors and then blending out.  I added a few of the single trees in the foreground using Forest Moss and Gathered Twig markers and then blending out lightly.  The bench was stamped using the same method and a Barn Door distress marker and blending out.  I stamped the lamp post in VersaFine Onyx Black because I wanted it to have a more distinct look.  The little snowman was lightly colored around the edges with Pumice Stone and Ground Espresso markers and then blended out to give him a little less distinct look.  The snowy sky was stamped using Pumice Stone and Broken China markers and then blended out.  To give a bit of a snowy look I overstamped portions of all the images with Simon Says Stamp white pigment ink.  The panel was die cut and then stamped with the sentiment using Onyx Black ink.  Finished up with the mat and strip of patterned paper.   I really love how this little scene turned out!

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock: white and red, Ranger watercolor paper; Stamps:  October My Monthly Hero stamp set; Inks:  Ranger distress markers and VersaFine Onyx Black; Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design; Patterned paper:  Pink Paislee Yuletide