so very thankful...

Hey there!  I hope you have been having a good week.  I'm popping in with a card for a couple of challenges:  The Paper Players and Where Creativity Meets C9.  I didn't get around to playing along with WCMC9's challenge last month.  It is funny how I always think I have so much time to play along and then suddenly the 29th of the month is right around the corner!  But this time I got a jump on things because I already had one of the elements on my card already done.    A few weeks ago I had been playing around with alcohol inks and one of the pieces I created I wasn't wild about so I decided to die cut it with the large leaf die from the C9 Thankful Leaves die set.   I liked it much better that way, but didn't make anything with it at the time.    After completing some design team projects and a couple other cards I decided that I wanted to make another card with the Thankful Leaves Turnabout set and that leaf I had die cut.  The WCMC9 challenge to layer was the perfect opportunity.  There is lots of layering going on with this card... layering of die cuts, images, ink, lol! And the theme at the Paper Players is trees and leaves... another perfect opportunity!  So I started by stamping the turnabout image on off white cardstock using two inks... Stampin Up!'s Crumb Cake and River Rock.  I then cut apart the large leaf die and die cut the leaf from some pumpkin color glitter cardstock and adhered the two leaves together.  The leaf was laid on the stamped panel so I could determine placement of the sentiment, removed and the sentiment stamped with VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink.   The panel was die cut with a rectangle die and adhered to a River Rock card base.  I then adhered the leaf and twine bow.  

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI rustic white, SU! River Rock, Lawn Fawn glitter; Stamps: Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th and AJVD; Inks:  Stampin Up! and VersaFine CLAIR; Twine:  Recollections

a couple cards to share...

Hello! As my title indicates I have a couple of cards to share.  The other day I found a new to me art supply store in town.  When I got the chance to be back in the area I went in and asked if they carried Faber-Castell polychromos pencils.   To my delight they do... so picked up some!   As soon as I got home I wanted to try them out and remembered that when I got my Honey Bee Stamps order over a month ago one of the things in the package was a little postcard with a floral image stamped on it.  So I colored it up and I am in love with my new color pencils!  I made the piece into a card that I have shared on Instagram.   Today I colored up some of the flowers from the Honey Bee Stamps set Spring Blossoms using my pencils and turned it into a card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  After everything was colored I die cut them with the matching dies.   The sentiment is from the Honey Bee Stamps set called Donut Worry.  I stamped the words in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne and then die cut them with matching dies from the set.   The I layered everything up.  Threw in a little bit of sparkle with my strip of silver glitter cardstock.

The second card is for Color Throwdown and Where Creativity Meets C9.  This will be my third entry for the WCMC9 challenge.   I used the one C9 turnabout stamp set that I have (Wreath Turnabout) to create my card.   I stamped the wreath using all the colors and then stamped the sentiment in the center with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink (yes... I LOVE that ink, lol!).  I added three little hearts using the eggplant, aqua and lime green inks and then added a little twine bow that I made using white and dark green baker's twine.   Super clean and simple... my favorite kind of card!

 

Have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  White, light blue and silver glitter; Stamps:  Honey Bee Stamps, Concord & 9th; Dies:  Honey Bee Stamps and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up!, VersaFine CLAIR; Coloring medium:  Faber-Castell polychromos color pencils

Hello there... friend

Hello!  Popping in with a card for two challenges:  Where Creativity Meets C9 and Color Throwdown.   I have had the C9 Posies Fill In stamp set for ages but sadly have not used it... until today!  I stamped the background using gray ink and then used two shades of aqua ink (I went for a more green aqua instead of blue aqua) to stamp the solid leaves and the outlines.  I stamped the little flower clusters using a peach ink.   The flowers were inked up with the peach ink, stamped off and then stamped on my white cardstock.  I then added the details to the flowers using the same peach ink without stamping it off.  Once I had all eight flowers stamped I die cut them and then popped them up on the background after I die cut the background with a large rectangle die.   Once all the flowers were adhered I trimmed off the flowers that hung off the edges.  The panel was then adhered to a white cardstock base.   The sentiment was stamped in the same gray ink used for the background, trimmed out and popped up.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT white; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up! - aqua and gray, Catherine Pooler - peach

sparkly birds...

Hello!  The weekend is upon us and I have a bright and sparkly card to share today.  It was super hard to take a photo of this card and capture all the sparkle on the birds.  I will be posting this to the Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge of sparkle and shine and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of bright and cheerful.  I have some glitter paper that I got from Stampin Up! and it is super sparkly, but unfortunately it sheds... a lot!  I pulled out a piece of the green and die cut the birds using the C9 By Your Side bird die.  The neat thing about the By Your Side bird die is that if you die cut it from an A2 size panel it gives you the ability to slip a smaller panel of cardstock behind it or you can trim out the die cut and use it that way.  I decided to trim it out.  A piece of white cardstock was stamped with the C9 Barnwood Background stamp using Catherine Pooler's Limoncello ink and then trimmed down.  I placed the panel in my MISTI, positioned the birds where I wanted them, placed my sentiment where I wanted it and then stamped it with Nocturne VersaFine CLAIR ink.  The birds were popped up with foam tape and the panel adhered to a white card base.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Stampin Up! white, green glitter cardstock; Stamps and dies:  Concord & 9th; Inks:  VersaFine CLAIR and Catherine Pooler

two more cards...

Hey there!  Hope everyone here in the US is enjoying the long weekend.  As my blog title says I have a couple more cards to share.  The first one is for the current Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge to use florals, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to use more then one stamp.  I will tell you that I had the card almost completed when I realized that when I placed the large floral image on my card base it was crooked!  When I tried to remove it I ended up ripping said floral image so I had to start over... ugh!   Thankfully it didn't take me that long to put the card together the second time!  I used the C9 Wonderful Florals stamp set along with the matching dies.  I stamped the main floral image using VersaFine CLAIR ink in Morning Mist and then die cut it with the matching die.  The word wonderful was die cut from white cardstock and then all the letters were stamped with the little square striped image from the set using Simon Says Stamp's Melon ink.  The letters were then adhered to the floral image.  I stamped the two flowers on to some plaid paper, die cut with their matching dies and then adhered to the floral image.  That was then adhered to some light purple.  I stamped the sentiment in the Morning Mist ink, trimmed it out and then adhered it to the card front.  Pretty simple, but I really like the little pops of color from the stamped letters and the plaid flowers.

The second card is for the May Viva La Verve challenge and once, again, here I am at the end of the month finally getting my card done for the challenge!  For this one I used lots of fun patterned papers from Pinkfresh Studio and the beautiful Verve stamp set Cake & Candles.  I pulled out papers that I liked together and the die cut all the various pieces of the layout.  The sentiment was stamped using Simon Says Stamp ink in Spring Rain and then die cut with an AJVD Polka Dot Circle die.  I added Buttercup Stickles to the flame for some sparkle.  All the pieces were assembled and then adhered the sentiment circle that I had matted with an AJVD Stitched Scallop Circle die.   To add a little something more I die cut some stars using a Verve die and then adhered a few to the sentiment circle.  Another simple design, but I love all the fresh colors in the Pinkfresh Studio papers.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

watercolor flowers...

Hey there!!  Popping in with a card to share.  This one is for the current Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge, Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.  I have been working on watercoloring, again.  Not sure if I'm improving much, but I'm having fun!!  I absolutely love the Concord & 9th Hello Lovely stamp set and just had to watercolor it for the WCMC9 challenge.  I have a couple of Daniel Smith dot palettes from Simon Says Stamp and I used those to watercolor all the flowers in the CTD colors.  The image was stamped using VersaFine Smoky Gray.  I seem to be using that ink a lot lately... I just love it!  When the image was dry I trimmed it down and then die cut the center flower using an AJVD Polka Dot circle backdrop die.   Because I wanted the watercoloring to show through I used vellum for the strip elements found in the FMS sketch.  I adhered the main panel flat to the cardstock base, added the vellum strips and then adhered the circle with foam dimensionals.  The sentiment was stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black.  I finished will some tiny Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins.   Also adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

Have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:   Cardstock:  SSS fog, Canson watercolor paper; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Ink:  VersaFine; Watercolor medium:  Daniel Smith; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh

two valentines

Hey friends!!  I have a couple of valentines to share with you.  They both have similar color combos, but that is where the similarity ends, lol!  First up is a card for the current MFT sketch and color challenges.   When I started making this card it wasn't my intention to make things hard for myself, but that is what ended up happening!! Originally I was going to just die cut the rectangles and adhere them to the card, but decided to make a shaker card instead.  So that involved trying to line everything up and die cut each individual rectangle.   In the end I think it turned out okay.  Then there is the heart.  I love the MFT Abstract Heart die, but rarely use it.  So I decided to use it for my card and keep all the little bits inside, but in a different color!  More work and lots of glue stuck everywhere later I finally got everything put together!   Oh well... sometimes that is just what happens when you are creating, right???   Going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, as well.  The shaker mix is a combination of sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and Ellen Hutson.  The sentiment is from a now retired MFT set and unfortunately I don't know the name!

The second card is another entry for the current Color Throwdown, as well as for the current Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge to watercolor.   I just love the pineapple stamp from the C9 Pineapple Perfection stamp set and thought it would be interesting to watercolor it in the CTD combo of red, pink and gray.  After stamping the pineapple using VersaFine Smoky Gray on Canson watercolor paper I used my Faber-Castell (pinks and reds) and Derwent (gray) watercolor pencils to color the pineapple.  Once all the coloring was done I let the pineapple dry and then die cut it with the matching die.  I splattered some white woodgrain cardstock with pink and red watercolors using my Kuretake Gansai Tambi paints.  When that was dry I die cut it with an AJVD stitched dot rectangle die.  The sentiment was created using the C9 Layers of Love stamp set.  I stamped the words on light gray cardstock in VersaFine Onyx Black, trimmed them out adhered them and the pineapple.   I get that a pineapple isn't generally used for Valentine's day, but I thought that since the C9 pineapple is made up of flower it would work!

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  MFT pink, dark pink, white; SSS Fog; Stamps:  My Favorite Things;  Dies:  My Favorite Things and AJVD; Inks:  VersaMark watermark ink; Embossing powder:  Hero Arts white; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh and Ellen Hutson

Card #2:  Cardstock:  SSS fog, Ranger woodgrain, Canson watercolor; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th and AJVD; Inks:  VersaFine Onyx Black, Smoky Gray; Watercolor medium:  Derwent and Faber-Castell watercolor pencils; Kuretake Gansai Tambi 

celebrate!

Hey there!!  Have a card to share for a few challenges:  WCMC9 - use the first set you bought, Stamp Ink Paper - Cake Walk, Less is More - use purples.  Less is More changed their challenge to a twice monthly challenge so I'm hoping that I will get a chance to play along more.  The WCMC9 challenge this month wants us to use the first C9 stamp set we purchased.  The first set I purchased is one that C9 no longer carries... Eat Cake & Celebrate.  I didn't realize that until I had pretty much finished my card, but just because they don't carry it any more doesn't mean I can't use it!!  I stamped the cake in VersaFine Smoky Gray on Bristol cardstock and then colored it with Farber-Castell Art Grip Aquarelle pencils in three shades of purple.  The color on the cake is rather light, but it is definitely purple in real life!  A Derwent gray was used to color the plate.  I used a barely wet paint brush to blend out the color on the cake and the plate.  I did add a touch of yellow for the candles.  The cake was then cut with the matching die.  I stamped the little star cluster and single star on white cardstock, die cut it and matted it with purple cardstock.  Stamped the sentiment in VersaFine Onyx Black and then adhered the card and added it to card base.   Super simple and a little bit retro.

Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT white and purple; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th, AJVD; Inks:  VersaFine Onyx Black, Smoky Gray, SU! Wisteria Wonder, CTMH Purple Pansy; Coloring medium:  Faber-Castell Art Grip Aquarelle color pencils

a copper pineapple...

Hello!!  I have a card to share using the Concord & 9th Pineapple Perfection stamp set.  I had a crazy idea to emboss the pineapple in copper on vellum and so I gave it a try!   I really like how it turned out!!  Originally I had the vellum pineapple backed with a pineapple cut from black cardstock, but I didn't like it as much as when I die cut the pineapple from dark brown.  I will admit that the copper pineapple and the copper Happy Birthday are the third attempts for both.  The first two pineapples got ruined and the first two happy birthdays did not die cut well.  So you know the say... third times a charm!!   The strip behind the pineapple is also copper, but is reading as gold in the photo.   I added some splatters using a dark brown watercolor from my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor set.  The panel was trimmed down, the strip adhered and then I added the pineapple and the sentiment using foam dimensionals.  I think this would make a great masculine card.  I will be adding this to the current Where Creativity Meets C9 anything goes challenge, the Freshly Made Sketches challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.  I have included a close up of the embossing so you can really see that it is copper and not gold.

Have a wonderful day!!  

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI vellum, dark brown and rustic white; Stamps and dies:  Concord & 9th; Ink:  VersaMark watermark ink:  Embossing powder:  Stampin Up! copper; Kuretake Gansai Tambi dark brown

you matter...

Hey there!! Popping in with a somewhat dramatic little number.  This one is for the current Color Throwdown, as well as the current Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge of anything goes.   I recently purchased the gorgeous C9 Blooms Fill In stamp set and matching dies.  To say that I have been dying to make something with it is an understatement, lol!!   With so many things to do and too little time I wasn't able to make anything until today.  Before creating my card I experimented quite a bit with different gray inks and with how I would actually stamp the background.  I discovered that my mini MISTI isn't the best option for stamping the entire image.  It works, but not as well as I would like so I simply used the method I have used for years when stamping a large background... place your background stamp face up on your work surface, ink it up, carefully lay your cardstock on top and then rub all around the cardstock to transfer the ink.  Works like a charm!  Once I was done I then stamped flowers and leaves.  Since the Color Throwdown colors are gray, black and red I did some second generation stamping with the red to create my flowers.  I accented the flowers with little hints of black.  The large sentiment from the set was stamped on vellum and heat embossed in black, then die cut with the label die because I didn't want to completely cover up all that stamping I did!!  To hide the adhesive I used I applied it behind the black embossing and in two spots that are covered up by the flowers that I die cut and stamped in red.  The little black sprigs finished things off.  Looking forward to trying other color combos with this beautiful set!

 

Hope you have a wonderful day! 

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT white, SU! Smoky Slate, PTI vellum and black; Stamps: Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up! Smoky Slate and Real Red, VersaFine Onyx Black, VersaMark watermark; Embossing powder:  Filigree black

two wreaths...

Hey there!!  I have two cards to share today and both have wreaths on them.  First up is a card for the November Where Creativity Meets C9 challenge of Christmas.  I have had the beautiful C9 Magnolia Wreath stamp and die set for about a month and have been dying to make something with it and the new challenge was perfect chance.  Since this was my first time using the set I kept things pretty simple to get a feel for how the images work together.  I used Memento Pistachio and Stampin Up! Always Artichoke inks for the wreath and then added in the berries with SU!'s Real Red.  The banner was also stamped in Real Red and then trimmed out.  The wreath was die cut with the matching die.  I stamped the pine border from the C9 Seasonal Borders stamp set in kraft on the bottom of my kraft cardstock base for a subtle tone on tone look.  The red cardstock panel was partially embossed with SU!'s Decorative Dots embossing folder and then I added the wreath and banner.   Can't wait to use this stamp set again!

Card number two is for the current Inspired by All the Little Things, as well as the November Sketch for You to Try.  I got seriously sparkly with this card, lol!!  I'm also going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of snow white.  Lots of RC die cuts used on this one.  I managed to incorporate the tree portions of the Inspired by All the Little Things inspiration photo by using a piece of patterned paper from the RC Very Merry paper pad.   I die cut the RC wreath from silver glitter cardstock and then used two of the little dies that come with the wreath to die cut the little white pine branches.  Once those were adhered I added "berries" using the Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Confetti mix.  I layered up the glitter cardstock, vellum strip and the white tag then added the wreath.  The sentiment from the RC Tinsel 'n Trim stamp set was embossed in white on a banner that was die cut with the banner from the RC Tag Me die set.  Finished by adding a bit of white twine.

Hope you have a wonderful day!!  We are having some crazy wild weather today... super strong winds... not my favorite!

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft, SU! Real Red; white; Stamps and dies:  Concord & 9th; Inks:  SU! Crumb Cake, Real Red, Always Artichoke, Memento Pistachio; SU! embossing folder

Card #2:  Cardstock: MFT white, MFT silver glitter, PTI vellum; Patterned paper:  Reverse Confetti; Stamps and dies:  Reverse Confetti; Ink:  VersaMark; Embossing powder: Hero Arts; Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Confetti mix

being thoughtful...

Hello from windy and rainy Western Washington!!  Our typical autumn weather has arrived with a vengeance!!   So... what do you do when the weather turns bad??? Why make a card or two, of course, lol!!  I got one card made and have a second one underway!  This card is for the current Where Creativity Meet C9 challenge to use the C9 colors (found in their company banner), the current Stamp Ink Paper challenge (tic-tac-toe - I went with leaves, sequins and die cut) and the current Dies R Us challenge of leaves.  I hunted through my ink collection and found three Hero Arts inks that were a good match for the C9 colors and then used them to ink up the leaf border image from the C9 Seasonal Borders stamp set.  The sentiment is from the C9 set Being Classy stamp set.  I inked up the word thoughtful using the same three inks and then die cut it with the matching die.  I laid the word on my stamped panel and then arranged the words being and is classy around it.  I removed the die cut and using my MISTI stamped the words in black ink.  The die cut was adhered along with some sequins in clear and a color similar to those used for ink up the stamps.

Hope you have a wonderful day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Fresh Snow linen, SU! dark gray; Stamps and dies:  Concord & 9th; Inks:  Hero Arts; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh and Verve

pineapple thank you...

Hey!!   Hope your week is going well!  Popping in with a card for a few challenges:  Where Creativity Meets C9 (just ink), Color Throwdown (color combo) and Simon Says Stamp (clean and simple).   When C9 came out with the Pineapple Perfection stamp set I absolutely had to have it.   I'm mean... seriously... how cool is that pineapple???!!  So when I got it last week I was just itching to make something with it.  Enter the new WCMC9 challenge and the Color Throwdown combo and I had my opportunity!   Can I just say that I absolutely love how my pineapple turned out??? I stamped the full pineapple in black ink and then added the crown and leaves with a nice dark green ink (SU!'s Gumball Green).   I then stamped the three flowers in dark blue (SU!'s Night of Navy).  The berries and all the other flowers were done using second generation stamping with the green (berries) and blue (the rest of flowers) inks.   I couldn't cover up that gorgeous pineapple by using the banner die that comes in the matching die set so I stamped the sentiment from the C9 set Brushed Blossom in black slightly over the pineapple.  Once the stamping was done I trimmed down the panel and added a strip of dark blue cardstock.  To finish things off I added some clear sparkling sequins and white baker's twine tied in a bow at the top.  The panel was then adhered to a dark green cardstock base.  Since I'm talking about pineapples right now I thought I would mention that another card I made using the C9 Pop Art Pineapples stamp set is on the cover of the current Stampers Sampler Take Ten!  I was so excited when I opened up my complimentary copy and saw my card on the cover.  You can see the cover over on my side bar or below.

Have a wonderful day!


Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Night of Navy & Gumball Green; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Inks:  Stampin Up! and VersaFine; Pretty Pink Posh Sparkly Clear sequins; SU! white baker's twine