September BPD Post #1

 Hello, hello!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek at what I created.

I hope you will take the time to check out what I created.  I also wanted to let you know that Birch Press Design is sponsoring the Die Cut Divas challenge this month.  You can find out all the details here.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

fall leaves...

 Hello!  Fall is on its way.  I can feel it in the mornings when I walk the dog, but by mid-morning summer has come roaring back, lol!  Weather here in the PNW has been all over the place this year!  However, despite it feeling like summer I am ready for fall and with that in mind created this card for Color Throwdown and Just Us Girls - anything goes with dies.  Let's have a look at what I made.

A few weeks ago I received the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Leaf Fragments die set in the mail.  It has been sitting on my desk waiting for me to make something with it.  I thought the CTD combo was the perfect vehicle.  I started by spraying a panel of ivory heavystock with distress sprays in Festive Berries and Rustic Wilderness.  I was careful to let each layer dry first before adding the other color and I didn't do a lot of overlapping of colors.  Meaning if you saw the panel I created one side was mostly red and the other side mostly green.  Then I spritzed on bits of green on the red side and bits of red on the green side.   If there was excess color on one side I dabbed it up and pounced it on the other side to get the mix I wanted.   I finished with a light spritzing of Harvest Moon distress mica spray.   Once the panel was completely dry (ie the next day) I die cut my leaves.  I die cut the entire panel so that I had enough leaves to determine which ones to use. I tucked the extra leaves into the envelope with the dies to use in the future.   As I was determining the layout I thought about a very old Tim Holtz/Sizzix die set I have called Mixed Media.  I pulled that out and decided to use one that you see in the background.  As I was die cutting the kraft panel the washi tape I used to hold the dies in place pulled off some of the cardstock.  I decided to go with it and roughed up the corners where the cardstock was damaged with a distressing tool.   I determined where the panel would be placed and then spritz more Harvest Moon on to my card base for more yellow.  The sentiment from a Simon Says Stamp stamp set was stamped in the corner using VersaFine Clair Acorn ink.  I then glued the panel to my card base, added the leaves and the yellow twine bow.  Also going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to stamp it since I did stamp the sentiment. 

Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

It's a STAMPtember Blog Party!!

Hello, hello!  Can you believe that it is already September?  And with the arrival of September that means STAMPtember has also arrived!!  Today I'm participating in a BLOG PARTY hosted by Simon Says Stamp to celebrate the start of STAMPtember. And because it is a celebrate there are party favors!  I have a code to share that allow you to get a free word die with ANY PURCHASE!  Check out all the deets in the banner at the end of this post.  Simon Says Stamp was so kind and provided me with the super adorable Best Witches stamp set to create with.   You can kind all the new STAMPtember products right here.  Let's have a look at what I created with the Best Witches stamp set.

When I pulled the stamp set out of the mailer it arrived in, I saw the stack of books and thought how fun it would be to create a little scene with one of the critter witches (that's what I call them, lol) sitting on top of the stack.   I love this card turned out.   A little side note, thanks to Simon Says Stamp I have done more masking and coloring of images in the last two months than I have done in the last FIVE years!   I figured out my scene, created my masks and then stamped all the images.  Once stamped I colored everything with Copic markers and then die cut the panel with a SSS A2 Rectangle frames die. I stamped the little book in the magic spell (or at least that is how I see it, lol!), colored it and then trimmed it out.  To finish the card I placed the masks back on the images and then used some distress mica spray in Harvest Moon in the approximate spot where the little book would be floating.  Once everything was dry I stamped the sentiment and then added the little book.   

As you can see, there is a bit of similarity between the two cards.  This card is the one that I actually made first and it gave me the idea to keep going in the same vein with the card shared above.   I created the tag using the largest Simon Says Stamp Label Tag die.  I stamped the little critter witch on the tag and colored it with Copic makers.  I then made a mask of the little critter witch, covered up my coloring and spritz the tag with distress mica spray in Bubbling Cauldron and Fortune Teller.  I stamped and colored the bubbling cauldron with Copics, trimmed it out and then adhered it to my tag.  To keep the sparkle going I trimmed down strips of purple, bright green and black glitter card stock and adhered them to my rectangle panel.  The tag was added to the card front along with a bright green twine bow.  I stamped the sentiment, die cut it with a sentiment strip die and adhered to the card front. 

That's it for me!  Make sure you check out the full release at Simon Says Stamp.  There is a link in my sidebar that will take you directly to Simon Says Stamp.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

two cards...

 Hello!  Popping in with a couple of cards.  One card is for the Altenew August challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.  The other card will be heading off to the current JUGs challenge and Color Throwdown.  Let's look at what I made.

I often think I would like to participate in the Altenew monthly challenges, but then the month goes by and I don't.  I decided to make sure that I did participate in the August challenge and here I am, barely getting it in on time, lol!   Only took me four days to get the card done!  I used the Japanese Mum Build a Flower stamp set (Does Altenew even still have that line of stamps?  I don't know because all my Altenew products are several years old!).  It is a favorite.  I paired it up with one of their dotted impression plates (don't know the name because it is old, too, lol!) and a sentiment from their Versatile Greetings 2 die set.  That isn't super old having been released in 2023.  All the inks are from Altenew, as well.   Won't win any prizes, but I thought it turned out well.  

It is stencil week at JUGs and lucky for me I got the PaperTrey Ink In the Meadow stencil set this week!  I immediately put it to use with the Color Throwdown colors to create this card.  The sentiment is the January 2023 Psalms Reflection stamp.  This is one of my favorite Bible verses.  Sometimes when I'm having a not so great day, I remember this verse and it makes me feel so much better!   So you could still see all the stenciling I did with Altenew inks in reds and aquas I embossed the sentiment in white on vellum.  It was a bit tricky to get the panel adhered, but I think it turned out okay.  

That's it for me.  Don't forget about the sales at Birch Press Design and Poppystamps.  You just might find something fun to buy.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Labor Day Sales at Birch Press Design and Poppy Stamps!

 Hello!  I'm popping in to let you know that Birch Press Design and Poppystamps are having sales this weekend to celebrate Labor Day!

Both sales feature 25% off your order, free shipping (US only) and a FREE GIFT!  Make sure you check out both sales.  

Birch Press Design August Post #2

 Hello, hello!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I created:

Hope you will head over to the blog to check out the full project.  Does it remind you of anything?

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.