love you...

 Hello!  Popping in with a quick share for Color Throwdown, Freshly Made Sketches and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

This is another super simple card.  I did jazz it up a bit with the some embossing on the front panel.  I used a Simon Says Stamp 3D embossing folder.  I have to be honest and say that while I do like embossing folders I'm not a huge fan of the 3D embossing folders.  I find that I'm spending too much time trying to figure out the right "sandwich" to put together to get a nice embossed image.  I actually had two 3D embossing folders and I broke one trying to figure out how to get a nice embossed image with it!  Anywhoo... like I said this is a simple card.  I stamped the flower and stem image from the Simon Says Stamp Brushed Flowers stamp set using Pinkfresh Studio inks.  I die cut with the matching dies.  The white panel was embossed and then to break up all the white I die cut the seecond panel from light gray.  I stamped the sentiment in dark red ink and die cut it with the matching die.  I assembled the card and then finished with some yellow Nuvo drops in the center of the flower and the red, green and white Pretty Pink Posh gems. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

sending smiles...

 Hello!  Popping in with a card for a couple of challenges:  Color Throwdown and Fusion.   The inspiration photo at Fusion is so sweet with the butterfly touching the cat's nose.  My card doesn't feature a cat, but it does feature a butterfly and the colors in the inspiration photo are similar to the CTD palette.  

A few months ago I purchased the Birch Press Glimmer Butterfly die set, but because of other things I had to do I wasn't able to make anything with it.  That was really bothering me so I was determined to get something make with this beautiful set.  Creating this neutral butterfly with the CTD colors was the perfect opportunity.  I die cut the bottom layer from gray, the middle layer from kraft and the top from white.  I used pattern paper from the P13 Always and Forever paper pad for the two block elements in the Fusion sketch and adhered them to my card base.   To determine where the sentiment would go I placed the butterfly on the card front and then placed the sentiment from the SSS Friendly Flowers on the card front.  I removed the butterfly and stamped the sentiment with VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink.  The body of the butterfly was die cut from silver glitter cardstock and adhered to the butterfly.  I then attached the butterfly.  To give the card a bit more feminine look I added crystal clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

alcohol ink cards...

 Hey there... hope you are having a great day!  I have been playing around with alcohol inks the last few days and here two cards that I created using the resulting backgrounds.  First up is a card for the Altenew monthly challenge.  Haven't played along with their monthly challenge in awhile, but I really liked the colors so I decided to create a card.    Earlier in the week I received the Paint A Flower Coral Sunset and so I used that set for my card.  I created the background using purple, blue and green alcohol inks.  Once I had the mix and look I was going for I added little bits of silver foiling to the areas where the alcohol inks were a little thick and sticky.  You can sort of see the silver in the card, but it looks really pretty in real life.  I then stamped the image over my background with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink, applied clear embossing powder and heat set.  I die cut the piece down and adhered it to a cardstock base.  The sentiment is from Altenew's Label Love stamp set... and oldie, but goodie!  I brought in a little bit more silver with some silver sequins.  Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to make a birthday card.  My colors are a bit more intense, but I love how the background turned out!

The second card is for the Pinkfresh Studio monthly challenge.  For this background I used a pink alcohol ink and Gilded Alloy.   This month the challenge is to have gold on your project.  There are other colors provided to use, but to keep things simple I decided to go solely with pink and the Gilded Alloy.  I created the background and then spent time deciding what I was going to do with it!  At first I was going to stamp on it, but then decided that I didn't want to do that because I didn't know what ink to use!  So I decided to cut the piece with my PF Fancy Oval Frame die.   The Yupo paper I used is heavy weight and did not cut well so I ended up not using the frame, but simply the interior oval.  I learned that I do not like using the heavy weight Yupo as it is hard to die cut so I won't be buying that in the future.  I die cut the frame again from textured gold cardstock, twice more from thin white cardstock and adhered them together with spray adhesive.   The frame was adhered to an off white cardstock panel and then I popped up the alcohol ink oval with foam dimensionals.  The floral image is from the Choose Hope stamp set and I embossed that in gold on vellum then die cut it with the matching die.  I adhered that to the frame hiding the glue by applying it behind the embossing.  I die cut additional leaves using one of the dies from the Curvy Leaves die set and adhered those at the top of the card.  The sentiment is from the stamp set and boy did that give me problems!  I stamped and embossed the Hoping fine and then trimmed it out.  I adhered it with glue, but wasn't really thrilled with how it looked.   I stamped the "your birthday is wonderful" sentiment on cardstock and was going to heat emboss it, as well.  When I applied the embossing powder it was a mess!  At first I thought the stamp was flawed, then I realized that there was some residual photopolymer attached to it.  I pulled that off and started over.  Didn't like the sentiment on cardstock so I went with vellum and liked that much better.  Finished off the card with some light pink sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.   Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, too, but will do so through Instagram.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

more clean and simple cards...

Hello!  Hope your weekend is going well.  Did you watch the launch of the SpaceX/Nasa mission?  We did and it was awesome!   Didn't get to see the Falcon rocket land because the camera cut out, but oh well!  Anyway... I have a couple of clean and simple cards to share today.  First up is a card for the Color Throwdown challenge.  I used the Spellbinders May small die kit and my Glimmer hot foil system with this one.  (Right now Spellbinders is having a sale on lots of Fun Stampers Journey items.  Just click on the banner below to be taken to the sale.)  I used one of the border dies to die cut my white cardstock panel and then adhered the panel to a white cardstock base.  There is a set of dies that cut words thank you and then a frame and panel that can be placed behind the words.  I die cut the words from turquoise cardstock and the back piece and frame from black cardstock.  I then adhered those pieces to the panel.  I foiled a butterfly using a turquoise foil, die cut it with the matching die and then adhered it to my panel.  Super, super simple.  Think I will add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

This next card is for the current Pinkfresh Studio challenge as well as Freshly Made Sketches.   I pulled out an older Pinkfresh Studio stamp set that I have called Abstract Builder and used a brush stroke image and a leaf image from the set.  I stamped the brush stroke in the colors from the Pinkfresh challenge and then embossed the leaf image over the top in white.  I was inspired by a card made by Pinkfresh design team member Natalia that is featured on the Pinkfresh blog.  Her stripes are bolder than mine, but that was my inspiration and her white flower.  I oriented my stripes to work with the FMS layout.   I finished off the card with a sentiment from the set stamped in black ink and lots of Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Sunny Days Ahead Release!

Hey everyone!  I'm popping in to share a couple of cards that I made with a brand new background stamp called Tulip Background that is part of the new Simon Says Stamp Sunny Days Ahead release! You can find all the new products here.   To make my cards I decided to stamp the full background on some smooth Bristol cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then color with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush makers in pink, purple, yellow and green, of course, for the stems and leaves.   Once all the coloring was done (and it took a long time, lol!) I let the piece dry and then trimmed it into two pieces.  Each piece was trimmed further to fit an A2 size card front.  On the first card I decided to die cut the Rainboot Planter die from Simon Says Stamp and color it in with ZIGs using the same colors I used for the background.  I adhered a strip of silver cardstock to the panel and then adhered it to my cardstock base.  The boots were adhered along with a sentiment from the SSS stamp set Hello Darling.   I finished with some Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins.  I'm going to add this one to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of flower power.

My second card is similar to the first just put the panel on the other side of the card, added a strip of black cardstock.  I stamped the sentiment (from the SSS Stronger Together stamp set) on additional black cardstock with VersaMark watermark ink, applied white embossing powder and heat set.  The sentiment was trimmed down and adhered to the card front with foam tape.  Super, super simple.
Thanks for stopping by.  Simon Says Stamp is open for business so you can shop the new release.  Just remember... their ship times are a little bit longer than usual.  Happy shopping!

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!

Merry Christmas

Hello!  Hope your week is off to a good start.  Mine is... I got to make a few cards, lol!  Lately I have been really into buying dies.  In fact my last few purchases have been mainly dies from Simon Says Stamp.  Two of my most recent purchases are the Marie snowflake die and the Eucalyptus Leaves dies.  When I saw them used on several different cards I just had to get them.  They sold out rather quickly when they were first released, but I was finally able to get them during SSS' Black Friday sale.  They were on my mind when I saw that the new Paper Players challenge was a color one and when an idea sprang to mind I had to try it out.  I must say that I love the end result!  I die cut the Marie Snowflake from light blue cardstock and the Eucalyptus Leaves from silver and kraft cardstock.  I then adhered the two larger eucalyptus stems (one silver, one kraft) together, trimmed off part of the stem from one of them and adhered them to a piece of woodgrain cardstock that I had die cut with a rectangle die.  I then adhered the two smaller stems (one silver, one kraft) so that they were layered on top of the snowflake.  I then die cut a second snowflake from the light blue cardstock and adhered it to the back of the first one to get it a little more stability.  The snowflake was then layered on top of the larger stems.   I had the sentiment Merry Christmas that I had foiled in gold using my Glimmer so I decided to cut it apart, trim it down and then adhere it to the panel as you see.  I finished off the card by adding some light blue sequins from Simon Says Stamp and lots of tiny sparkly clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.  Once dry the panel was adhered to a light gray cardstock base.  Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of traditional Christmas, as well as the Paper Players and Simon Says Stamp flickr challenge.  Decided to add this to the current Time Out challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wondeful day!

harvest blessings...

Hello!  Popping in on this rainy afternoon here in the PNW with a super simple card for a couple of challenges:  Color Throwdown and CAS(E) this Sketch.   I always enjoy playing along with CTD and try not to miss their challenges.    The CTD colors are not ones that I would put together, but that is the fun of playing along with their challenges... working with colors in ways you never thought of!  As I was thinking about how to use the colors I came across a leaf that I had die cut several months ago with a die from a Stampin Up! set.  It wasn't in any of the colors from the challenge, but it gave me the idea to use that die for my card.  I found three shades of cardstock in the CTD colors and die cut a leaf from each and then arranged them on my card base to my liking.  Once I had my layout I adhered them with my favorite glue... Nuvo Deluxe.    Once the leaves were set I placed the card in my stamping tool, arranged the sentiment from the Reverse Confetti Fall Foliage stamp set and then stamped it in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne.  I thought the card looked a bit plain so I added some Pretty Pink Posh clear jewels that I actually adhered upside down.  I have found that when I have adhered the clear jewels to white or off white cardstock the jewels don't sparkle, but look rather cloudy.  I don't like that look, but adhering them upside down did the trick (at least in person, lol!).

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

wishing you love and hugs...

Hello!  Got some time to make a just for fun card today.  Lately I have been making cards for design team commitments and for a fun new release coming from Simon Says Stamp.  When that happens it means my time for making something just for fun kind of disappears.  It is also summer and well... I'd rather spend time doing stuff with my boys to be honest.   After finishing up my SSS projects I decided to make a card for the current Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches challenges.  I fiddled around with another idea, but ultimately settled on making something with my Altenew Fantasy Floral dies.  My first try with the CTD color combo ended up in the garbage due to something I did as I was finishing up the card.  When I had to throw the card away I realized that I actually didn't like how I had combined the colors so I really wasn't that upset afterall, lol!   About two months ago I bought a Gemini Jr. die cutter and got a package of dies with my bundle.  I used a border die to create the pink cardstock strips.  The sentiments are from the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers stamp set.  Once I had everything layered up on my die cut rectangle I adhered the panel to a light gray cardstock base and added some Pretty Pink Posh silver jewels.  So glad I messed up the first card because I like this one so much better!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Stampin Up!, Papertrey Ink, My Favorite Things; Dies:  Altenew, Jillian Vance Design, Crafter's Companion; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Embellishments:  Pretty Pink Posh

floral cards...

Hello!  Hope everyone in the USA had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!  I'm popping in with a couple of cards that I made over the last few days.  First up is a card that I made for the Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches challenges.  Back in May I won a gift certificate from Pinkfresh Studios and purchased the beautiful Hanging Florals stamp set and matching Hanging Florals dies.  I die cut the main image from Canson watercolor paper and then stamped the die cut with images in VersaMark Onyx Black ink and then watercolored with Distress Crayons in Festive Berries, Fired Brick, Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint.   I die cut some white cardstock with the largest Stitched Dot rectangle from Jillian Vance Design and then adhered the image to the panel with foam dots.   The sentiment was embossed on vellum with WOW! Embossing powder in black and then trimmed down to fit the card front.  I used Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive and medium Zots that I rolled up to adhere the vellum to the image.   The panel was adhered to a light gray cardstock base and then I added some tiny Pretty Pink Posh jewels in white, silver and clear to the image for a tiny bit of sparkle. (Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no cost to you.)

The second card I'm going to send off to this month's Flower challenge to use pastels.  I colored up the Missing You Peony from Colorado Craft Company's Big & Bold line with my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers after stamping the image with VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist on smooth Bristol cardstock.   After die cutting my panel I adhered it to a cardstock base and then embossed the sentiment from the set on vellum using Hero Arts white embossing powder, trimmed out the sentiment and adhered it with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive.  Added a few sequins and I was done!  I must admit that it took me several days to color this image because of its size, but boy was it worth it!  (Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no cost to you.)

Thanks for stopping by today!

happy friday!

Hello and happy Friday!   I'm popping in with two cards that I made the other day.  First up is a card that I made using the gorgeous So Loved stamp set from the new Simon Says Stamp You Are Loved release.  SSS was so kind to send me a set before the release and I shared a card on Instagram and my flickr that I made using the set.   The card I'm sharing today was made for the current Color Throwdown challenge, as well as the current CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.  I started by stamping the outline images I wanted to use in red and green inks from Stampin Up!.  I then used the solid images to complete the stamping.  Second generation stamping was used for the flowers.  I then filled in with additional images from the set.   The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Diecember release and is called Big For You.  Again, Simon Says Stamp generously sent me this die and I shared a card I made with it on Instagram and flickr.   I die cut the sentiment from kraft cardstock and then twice more from white and adhered them together.  I trimmed the panel per the CTS layout and then adhered it to a kraft cardstock base.  The sentiment was then adhered on top.

The second card is for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  Christmas.   I have had the Concord & 9th Snow Flurries stamp set and matching dies for ages and I have wanted to make something with them, but unfortunately never found the time.   When I went on my second shopping trip to Impress Rubber Stamps I picked up this pad of specialty papers from DCWV.  All the papers are in the Rose Gold family so I used several from the set for the card.   The big snowflake from the set was stamped using Memento Desert Sand ink as it turned out to be a pretty close match to the rose gold... who knew?!    After stamping the panel with the snowflake it was die cut with a rectangle die.  I die cut the small snowflake from glitter and mirror cardstocks from the pad and layered then together.  Another piece was die cut with a larger rectangle as a mat for the sentiment panel.  I turned the sketch on its side because my sentiment looked better that way.  I placed the snowflake on the panel, arranged where I wanted the sentiment, removed the snowflake and then stamped the sentiment in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne.   Everything was adhered to the card base and I finished with some Pretty Pink Posh rose gold sequins.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Card 1:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft, MFT white; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Dies:  Simon Says Stamp; Inks:  Stampin Up!

Card 2:  Cardstock:  PTI rustic white; DCWV rose gold specialty papers; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th; A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Memento, VersaFine CLAIR; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh

April PTI Blog Hop

Hey there!  (If you want to see my AJVD post, please click here.)  Today is the 25th of the month and that means it is time for the PTI blog hop.  The photo boasts a stack of delicate tea cups and the first thing I thought of when I saw it was Pride and Prejudice which then led me to think of PTI's Simply Jane stamp set.  I combined that set with the Sweet Life stamp set to create my card.   I pulled colors from the tea cups (aqua, pink, dark pink, yellow, green) and stamped various die cuts from Simply Jane and Sweet Life using those colors.  I spotted some gold on the rims of the tea cups and so I stamped the frame from Simply Jane using Delicata Golden Glitz ink.   Once I had all my pieces completed it was time to arrange everything on a panel of white cardstock that I had die cut with an AJVD rectangle die and stamped with the sentiment from Simply Jane using VersaFine CLAIR ink in Morning Mist.  After everything was adhered I added some Pretty Pink Posh jewels in Buttercream and Aquamarine for a bit of sparkle.   Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

Hope you have a wonderful day and happy hopping!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Stampin Up white, PTI Aqua Mist; Stamps:  PaperTrey Ink; Dies:  PaperTrey Ink and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up!, VersaFine CLAIR, Catherine Pooler; Jewels:  Pretty Pink Posh

happy bee-day...

Hello there!!  I have a little card to share that I made with a fun stamp set from MFT called Meant to Bee.  I have had my eye on this stamp set ever since it came out a few months ago and finally got the chance to make it mine!   Sadly, the dies were sold out, but it was super easy to just fussy cut the images.   I stamped the images on some PTI rustic white cardstock and then colored them with the Prisma pencils you see in the photo.  I really like how the little bee hive turned out.  I can definitely see some improvement in my coloring skills... practice, practice, practice!!  I  cut down another piece of rustic white cardstock and ink blended some Wild Honey distress oxide ink onto the panel.   Once that was done I placed the panel into a honey comb embossing folder and did some partial embossing in the ink blended area.  The panel was then die cut with an AJVD rectangle die.  The sentiment was stamped on a scrap of rustic white and trimmed out.  I adhered everything as you see and then finished the card off with pale yellow Pretty Pink Posh sequins.  The layout is based on the current MFT sketch so I will be linking up there, as well as over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  It is anything goes this time around.

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Rustic White and kraft; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  VersaFine Onyx Black; Coloring medium:  Prisma pencils; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh

two cards to share...

Hey there crafty peeps!  I have two cards to share today.  I made them for the current Simon Says Stamp flickr challenge, but thought I would go ahead and share them here in the old blog.  Both cards were made with some fantastic Simon Says Stamp products.  The first one uses the Wise Men Still Seek Him die.  When I saw that die I had to have it and I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it as soon as it arrived in my mailbox.  I started by inking up a white cardstock panel with Distress Oxide inks in Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo, Salty Ocean, Broken China and Black Soot. Once that was done I splattered on white acrylic paint that I mixed with some water.  Once the panel was dry I die cut it with an AJVD Stitched Dot Rectangle die and then stamped the Nativity scene (from an older Hero Arts set) in VersaFine Onyx Black.  Then I die cut the sentiment four times from scrap cardstock and then once from my panel.  This was a little scary because I didn't want to have to start all over again.  Thankfully I got it right the first time.  I covered the back of the panel where the die cutting was with washi tape and then inserted all of the words and little bits.  This took a bit of time, but was totally worth it!   I love how this card turned out!!  Going to add this to the current Fab Friday challenge of free for all

.

The second card was made using the Simon Says Stamp Fractile Leave and Stained Glass Greetings stamp sets.  I fell in love with Fractile Leaves stamp set when I debuted in September and finally made it mine during Simon Says Stamps Black Friday sale.   I suppose this is more of a spring, summer, fall type of stamp set, but I wanted to use it to create a wintry design.  I stamped the leaves in watermark ink and then embossed with white embossing powder.  I have two of the Simon Says Stamp Daniel Smith watercolor dot palettes (Holiday and Shari Carroll) and I used a blue from each palette to color the leaves.  I then added the gray/blue color around the leaves.  The word peace was embossed in white on vellum and trimmed down to fit the panel.  I finished with the little word strip sentiment that was embossed in white on dark gray cardstock and some Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins.  Going to add this tone to the current Fusion challenge as this works for the color inspiration portion of the challenge.

Have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Card 1:  Cardstock:  White, kraft; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Dies:  Simon Says Stamp and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Distress Oxide and VersaFine

Card 2:  Cardstock:  SSS fog, Ranger watercolor, dark gray; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Ink:  VersaMark watermark ink; Embossing Powder:  Hero Arts white; Watercolor medium:  Daniel Smith watercolors; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear

one layout... 2 cards...

Hello!!  Easter is almost here!!  On Wednesday I made a trip up to the town of Issaquah to get some Easter treats for my boys at Boehms Chocolates.   While I was there I picked up my most recent order from Ellen Hutson and when I got home I used one of the things I picked up to make the two Easter cards I'm sharing.  Both cards use the current layout for Freshly Made Sketches and the sweet little Pretty Pink Posh stamp set Easter Blessings along with the matching dies.  For the first card I stamped the vine covered cross three times on watercolor paper and then did some simple watercoloring with my ZIGs.  Once they were dry I die cut them with the matching die.  The FMS layout is really simple and so are both cards.  I created to A2 cards from one sheet of light blue cardstock and then cut the white cardstock with a die from the AJVD Slippery Slopes and Stitched Clouds die set.  The sentiment was stamped using VersaFine Vintage Sepia and then adhered everything to the card base as you see.  I will be posting this card to the FMS gallery. 

The second card uses the Easter lily stamp from the Easter Blessings set.  I also stamped that image on watercolor paper and did simple watercoloring with ZIGs.  Once dry I die cut it with the matching die and then used the exact same layout for the card.  Since this one has colors similar to the inspiration photo for this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge I will post this card to that challenge. 

Wishing you a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT Smooth white and light blue; Stamps:  Pretty Pink Posh; Dies:  Pretty Pink Posh and A Jillian Vance Design; Ink:  VersaFine Vintage Sepia; Watercolor medium:  ZIG Clean Color markers