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!

cards with flowers...

Hello!  I'm popping in with two cards that both feature flowers.  First up is a card that I made for several challenges:  CAS(E) this Sketch, The Flower Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   I have been wanting to do some coloring ever since I got back from Yellowstone and found the time the other night to color up two images from the Simon Says Stamp Delicate Flowers stamp set.  I stamped the images on smooth Bristol cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink and then colored them with the following ZIG markers:  Carmine Red, Light Carmine Red and Orange.  The little bit of orange gives them that feeling of autumn.  Once they were dry I die cut them with the matching dies.  I adhered them together with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive to give them the feel of the two circular elements in the CTS layout.   A few days ago I purchased the Carta Bella Fall Market 6x6 pad and used a piece of paper from the pad for the strip element.  I placed the strip in my stamping tool, arranged where I wanted the flowers to be and then stamped the sentiment (from a very old, but favorite Simon Says Stamp set) in the same Acorn ink.  I then die cut a piece of kraft cardstock with the largest AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die and then adhered the panel and the strip to an off white cardstock base.  The flowers were adhered with foam dimensionals and I was finished. (Compensated affiliate links used in the body of my blog post where possible.)
 

The second card uses the cute little flowers from the Simon Says Stamp School Days Grow set.  I was going to use the piece for a different card, but in the end it just didn't work.  Then I saw the current Mojo Monday sketch and new it would be perfect once I turned the sketch to be portrait instead of landscape.  The flowers were stamped on smooth Bristol with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne and colored with ZIG markers in pink, yellow and orange.  I used a green ZIG and a blue ZIG to color the grass and sky and then die cut the piece with one of the smallest AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle dies.  I then die cut some super cute patterned papers from the Honey Bee Stamps The Bees Knees 6x6 pad using two other Stitched Dot rectangle dies.   The larger patterned paper rectangle was adhered to a light gray cardstock base and then the sunny yellow/white dotted rectangle was adhered with fun foam to give it height.  I then adhered the stamped panel to that.  Super clean and simple.   Those little flower faces just make me smile! (Compensated affiliate links used in my blog post where possible.)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

you can do it...

Happy Friday everyone!  Popping in with a card for a few challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.    My card today uses the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Day stamp and die set.  I have used this set a lot recently... not hard to do as it is so pretty!  For this card I did some simple watercoloring with my ZIGs and then die cut the images with the matching dies.  To add some interest to my card I used a piece of Tim Holtz distress woodgrain cardstock.  Since it is hard to stamp on woodgrain cardstock I decided to emboss the sentiment on a strip of vellum cardstock.  The images were stamped in VersaFine CLAIR and the sentiment was stamped with VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed with WOW! black embossing powder.    I added some Wink of Stella to the butterfly and then adhered all the pieces finishing with some Pretty Pink Posh white jewels.  This is also going to the SSS Flickr challenge.

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

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SU! Crumb Cake, Tim Holtz woodgrain, PTI vellum, Strathmore smooth Bristol; Stamps and dies:  Simon Says Stamp; Inks:  VersaFine CLAIR and VersaMark; Embossing powder:  WOW!; Watercolor Medium:  ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers; Pretty Pink Posh jewels

more tags...

Hello!!!  Seems like lately my mojo is coming and going as it pleases, lol!! Finally got some back the other day and made a couple more tags for Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist.  First up is a tag for day 9 a color challenge.  The inspiration tags for that day both had cute little yetis on them so I decided to use my yeti stamp set from My Favorite Things to create my little tag.  I'm following the current MFT sketch layout so I will also be posting my tag there.  I die cut the tag and then partially embossed it with a Stampin Up dots embossing folder.  I inked up some white cardstock with Distress Oxide ink in Iced Spruce, stamped them with the matching little tree and then die cut them.  My little yeti was stamped on watercolor cardstock and watercolored with Daniel Smith watercolors (from the palettes that I got from Simon Says Stamp) and then die cut with the matching dies.  Same thing for the little Santa hat.  I adhered everything per the sketch and then added the sentiment (from the MFT Snow Globe Greetings) that had been stamped and heat embossed on vellum.  I finished off the tag by adding some Ice Stickles to the embossed dots and looping some red and white baker's twine through the hole.

The second tag is for day 7 of the 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist to use pink, mint and gold.  Both tags were so beautiful so I was again inspired by both!  I whipped this one up pretty fast using supplies from the beautiful Simon Says Stamp limited edition Mint Wishes card kit and two dies from A Jillian Vance Design.   This tag will be going into the line up at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use stitching on your project (faux or real... mine is faux).  I die cut this fun polka dot paper from the kit using the AJVD Minnie Pearl tag and then die cut a second one from pink cardstock and adhered it to the back of the patterned paper one.  The snowflake (from AJVD) was die cut and adhered to the tag as shown.  I added a little gold star paper clip (from the kit) to the other side of the tag.  The word joy is a die from the kit and was die cut from gold and pink cardstocks, adhered together and the adhered to the tag.  Finished with pink/white and gold baker's twine looped through the top.  Going to add this to the current SSS flickr challenge of anything goes, as well.

Have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:  Tag 1:  MFT white cardstock, Ranger watercolor cardstock; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Dies:  My Favorite Things and ODBD (tag); Inks:  Distress Oxide, VersaFine; Watercolor Medium:  Daniel Smith; Baker's Twine:  Stampin Up!

Tag 2:  Cardstock:  Stampin Up! pink, MFT white, brushed gold (Mint Wishes kit); Patterned paper:  American Crafts;  Gold paper clip:  Crate Paper; Baker's Twine:  Twinery & Stampin Up!

winter birthday wishes...

Hey!!!  Stopping in with a card for a couple of challenges:  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of winter birthday and Time Out challenge of winter.  I also entered this in the SSS flickr challenge of what's new as I used the stamp set Frozen Fractals stamp set from the January card kit.  I stamped the snowflakes with watermark ink, applied white embossing powder and then heat set.  Once that was done I did some simple watercoloring with a dark blue ZIG clean color marker.  I colored the centers of the snowflakes with the marker and then blended the color out with clean water.  Once the panel was dry I trimmed it down just a bit on one side.  The banner was die cut from some of the blue vellum that came in the SSS card kit, stamped with the sentiment (from the SSS set Hand Lettered Winter Wishes) using watermark ink, white embossing powder applied and heat set.  The small birthday sentiment is from the SSS set Happy & Smile.  I stamped it on light gray cardstock, trimmed it out and fishtailed one ended before adhering to the banner.  I adhered the panel to a medium blue cardstock base and then finished things off with a few sequins from the SSS card kit.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  medium blue, white watercolor paper; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Dies:  My Favorite Things; Ink:  VersaMark watercolor ink, VersaFine Onyx Black; Watercolor medium: ZIG clean color marker; sequins from SSS card kit; white embossing powder

you are amazing...

Hello!!   Well the weekend has rolled around once again!  Can't believe that September is half over already... time sure does fly by doesn't it?? While the boys were at school and my hubby was working hard to finish up the boys' bathroom I decided to make a card for a few different challenges.   I love the inspiration photo over at Time Out and when I saw that the new SSS flickr challenge was to use fall colors I knew what I wanted to do.  The layout is based on the current CAS(E) this Sketch so I will be posting it there, as well as at the SSS Wednesday challenge of clean and simple.  Last year I purchased a trio of small leaf dies from Simon Says Stamp and had never used them.  I pulled them out and die cut three from white cardstock.  I then inked them up with some Hero Arts inks in rust, mustard and deep burgundy.  Once I had that done I set out figuring out what kind of background (if any) I was going to use.  An old brick gate/wall figures prominently in the Time Out inspiration photo and so I decided I wanted to create a little brick wall background.   Question was... how would I do that?  I hunted through my stamps and finally found a SSS set that had a small rectangular image that I could use as a brick.  I actually flipped the stamp over and used the backside.  I stamped my "bricks" using a grey Tombow marker on to watercolor paper.  Once I had them stamped I added some additional grey the the "bricks" with the same marker and then blended the ink out with water.  An olive green color was added with another marker and blended out to give it a more aged look.  Once I had it to my liking I let it dry.  The leaves were position approximately where I wanted them and then I placed the sentiment (from the SSS set Sketch Ranunculus) where I wanted it on the panel, picked it up with my MISTI and then stamped it in black ink.  The leaves were then adhered and a little twine bow was added to the top leaf.  I realize that you really can't see my "brick" work, but I think it adds a nice depth to the card and it was fun to do!!  Going to add this to the current City Crafter challenge of turning a new leaf.

Hope you have a wonderful day...


Supplies:  Cardstock:  SSS rust, white, Ranger watercolor paper; Stamps: Simon Says Stamp; Dies:  Simon Says Stamp and AJVD; Inks:  VersaFine Onyx Black, Hero Arts Rust, Mustard and Deep Burgundy; Tombow markers; twine