thinking of you...

Hello... have another card to share.  This time for Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown, AEI{heart}U:  diecuts and Less is More:  Anything Goes. (Happy belated birthday, Chrissie!!)  This is my last post for awhile... off on a little vacation with my boys.  We are heading to Birch Bay, Washington for some fun in the sun with my in-laws.  The boys are excited to be spending a whole week hanging out with their cousins!  I'm looking forward to some down time and doing some reading!

Anywhoo... on to my card.  This came together pretty quickly.  Some washi tape, a die cut, some hemp twine, a few enamel dots and I was done.  To add some interest I cut the panel to 3 3/4 x 5" and then rounded one corner.  The corresponding corner of the card base was rounded as well.  The Avery Elle set I used is Petal & Stems, as well as the Petals & Stems die.  I can't seem to stop making projects with that set... absolutely love it!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps & Dies:  Avery Elle; Inks:  Stampin Up! Rich Razzleberry & Memento Tuxedo Black; Hemp twine:  Hemptique yellow; Enamel Dots:  My Mind's Eye; Washi Tape:  Stampin Up! & Impress

a cup of tea...

Hello... popping in with a card for a couple of challenges:  AAA - CASing Angela and Colour Me...! 

I used the Clearly Whimsy Stamp set Time for Tea Additions, as well as Whimsy Stamps Time for Tea Additions die set.  I admit that my CASE of Angela's card is a pretty loose one, but I did try to keep to the overall design of her card and even got some of the colors too.  Patterned papers are from Stampin Up! (Sunshine & Sprinkles).  I got my gold in by using some gold mirror paper which you can see peeking out underneath the black cardstock.  I did do some partial embossing of the black cardstock to break up the starkness of all that black. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & black; Patterned Paper:  Stampin Up!; Stamps & Dies:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Embossing folder:  SU! Decorative Dots

PTI July Blog Hop...

Hello!!  Here with my card for this month's PTI blog hop.  Love the sweet inspiration photo that Nichole provided.  Aqua and red is one of my favorite color combos... it is just yummy!

For my card today I used the Beautiful Brushstrokes stamps and dies, along with the smallest die from the Tipped Top die set.  The patterned paper is from Stampin Up!.  I really liked the little posey of red flowers placed atop the heart shaped doily and so used that as my starting point.  All the inks are from Stampin Up! (Ruby Red, Real Red and Cherry Cobbler for the flowers; Pear Pizzazz and Wild Wasabi for the leaves).  I had originally just had the large flower, but realized once I had put the card together that things were "off".  So this morning I die cut two of the smaller flowers and leaves, stamped them and added them to the card... definitely much better!  There is a doily on the card, but you can only see bits of it peeking out here and there.  The sentiment is from the Beautiful Brushstrokes sentiments set and I added a few of the clear dew drop embellishments.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, Stampin Up! Pool Party; PP:  Stampin Up (Coastal Cabana); Stamps & Dies:  PTI; Inks:  Stampin Up! & Memento; Doily:  Wilton; Embellishments:  PTI

watercoloring...

Hello!!   Well... the rain has returned to Western Washington and for once that is a good thing!  And to go along with all the water falling from the sky I decided to do some watercoloring for the current Make It Monday:  No Outline Watercoloring.  Most of the time I don't even get one card made for a MIM challenge, but this week I actually got two done!  Both card use the sunflower image from Botanical Blocks.

The first one I watercolored the previous day and actually threw away after it was done.  I used some Ranger Distress Makers and Ranger Old Paper Distress Ink.  I wasn't super happy with it which is why it got thrown away.  But this morning I decided to give this technique another try using reinkers.  But before I started I decided to get my rejected efforts out of the recycle basket and give them another look.  I decided that my first effort wasn't so bad and made it into a card.   I used the Counting My Blessings mini set and one of the word dies.  The card base was embossed with a piece of burlap.

 

I will admit that the second card is my favorite of the two.  I think I did a better job with the technique and actually got some shading and more depth to the colors.  Kept things simple for this card.  Roughed up the edges, added the sentiment and some hemp twine and then matted it with some yellow cardstock.

ETA:  Since I did emboss the card base I'm going to pop this into the current Simon Say's Stamp Wednesday challenge:  embossing.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Ranger Watercolor paper; Strathmore watercolor paper; PTI white; SU! Crumb Cake; CTMH yellow; Stamps:  PTI Botanical Block, Counting My Blessings; Inks:  Ranger Old Paper Distress Ink:  Memento Rich Cocoa & Tuxedo Black inks; Reinkers:  SU! Old Olive, River Rock, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard & So Saffron; Distress Markers:  Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive, Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, & Tea Dye; white hemp cord; Dies:  PTI Counting My Blessings; burlap

you make me happy...

Hello!!!  Here with a card that I made for a couple of challenges:  Less is More Theme week (inspired by Singing in the Rain) and Viva La Verve (sketch). 

When I saw the new LIM challenge I immediately thought of the Verve set Rain or Shine.  The song "Singing in the Rain" always makes me think of umbrellas!  I paired the set up with some fun Stampin Up! designer paper aptly named "Sunshine & Sprinkles" and Viva la Verve sketch #3.  To CAS-ify the sketch I created the bottom layer by embossing my cardstock with a Spellbinders long plain rectangle die and used only white cardstock to provide as much white space as I could.   The rest of the layers were kept equally simple with no matting in sight.  The only embellishment is the little umbrella cut from some of the patterned paper.   I think this card proves that you can have layers and keep your card clean and simple!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; DP:  Stampin Up!; Stamps:  Verve Rain or Shine; Dies:  Spellbinders plain long rectangle & plain circle dies; My Favorite Things fishtail flag stax die

hello... friend

Hello!!  Our weather has turned gloomy, but not rainy... so very strange.  But with the change in the weather comes the opportunity for me to play along with some challenges.  I originally just had CASE Study and Color Throwdown in mind for this card, but I think it also works for the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  Dots & Spots.

I don't often play along with CASE Study (in fact I think it has been at least two years since I last played), but I really liked the inspiration card and thought I would give it a try.  I CASEd the inspiration card fairly closely up to a point and then tried to put my own spin on it. While I love this style of card (the inspiration card) I have a hard time recreating it to my satisfaction.  I'm not sure why this seems so hard to me.. I love layering stamps, but for whatever reason I always end up feeling like what I have made is too carefully planned out and not so spontaneous as the inspiration card looks.  Something to work on, I guess!  I used two different sets from Clearly Whimsy Stamps:  Happy Everything and Happy Hello.  Both sets are full of fun little images like the starburst that I used, as well as the chevron image.   All the inks are from Stampin Up!.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & kraft; Stamps:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Washi Tape:  Stampin Up!

some bunny...

Hello!!   Finally got bored with the way my blog looked and made a change.  I have thought about having someone create a blog "look" for me, but since Blogger has lots of options for backgrounds and such I don't really need too.  Maybe I will one day...  Anywhoo... have a little card that I made for a several challenges:  CASology (pet), CAS(E) this Sketch and Addicted to CAS:  Celebrate.

Bought my first Lawn Fawn stamp set recently.  It is the super cute Hello, Baby set.  I also got the matching dies.  When I saw the CASology cue word I immediately thought of this set, but wasn't completely sure a baby card would work.  But after seeing Gillian's totally cute card I went ahead with my idea. (We actually had bunnies as pets when I was a kid... they are so cute, but cleaning out their hutch is not a fun job!)  I simply die cut and stamped the two bunnies from the set and then adhered them to the card front in a loose interpretation of the sketch.  Added the sentiment underneath and a little heart.  The inside is finished with the remainder of the sentiment and some additional hearts.  The patterned paper is from the My Mind's Eye Now & Then line. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI vintage cream; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Ink:  Memento; Stamps & Dies:  Lawn Fawn

beautiful brushstrokes...

Hello!!   Hope you had a wonderful week.  Mine was very busy, but that's okay... next week will be a bit slower.  Got the chance last night to make a couple of cards... sharing one today.  This card is for the current Time Out challenge, as well as Freshly Made Sketches.   (ETA:  adding this to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  Spots & Dots)

I recently got the PTI Make It Market Kit Beautiful Brushstrokes and oh my goodness... is it beautiful!! Love, love, love all the stamp sets and couldn't wait to make something with it.  Last night I got my chance.  The kit comes with three stamp sets: one large set full of gorgeous flowers and two smaller sets.  I used the two smaller sets for my card, as well as some patterned paper from the kit.  Happily a lot of the colors in the Time Out inspiration photo are similar to the colors in the Beautiful Brushstroke kit and since the photo includes some feathers I just had to use the feathers from the BB kit.  I used my current favorite technique of partial embossing on the card as well.  Really like how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, Stampin Up! Pool Party; Patterned Paper:  PTI Beautiful Brushstrokes; Stamps:  Beautiful Brushstrokes; Dies:  PTI and My Favorite Things; Twine:  PTI (Beautiful Brushstrokes); Embossing Folder:  Stampin Up!; Inks:  Stampin Up!, Close to My Heart and Memento

congratulations...

Hello there!   Managed to make a card today... yay!  I know many of you have found yourself at various times in a place where you feel like your creativity has fled to places unknown...never to return!   Well, I have found myself in that place several times over these last few months.   I try to make something, anything, but to no avail.  This past week I have found myself, once again, in that place.  In an effort to combat this vague sense of malaise I decided to make a card and bake cookies, at the same time.  Thankfully both the card and the cookies turned out fine!  In fact my little guy pronounced my cookies "amazing"... I didn't ask him about the card, lol.  You can be the judge!
I used items from the Crate Paper Close Knit line, Avery Elle stamps and dies (Petals & Stems) and the current Sketchbook Saturday layout as my blue print.  I will be linking this up to the current AEI {heart} U challenge:  one word.  And since there is a ton of die cutting I think I will link it up to Virginia's View #5.   Given the state of crafting mind I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.  Maybe I should bake cookies and make cards at the same time on a regular basis!  I would love to hear what you do to get yourself out of a creative funk.  Now... here are the cookies.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Close to My Heart yellow; Stamps:  Avery Elle Petals & Stems; Dies:  My Favorite Things Jumbo Fishtail Flag Stax; Spellbinders plain square & rectangle dies; Avery Elle Petals & Stems dies; Ink:  Memento Ladybug, Tuxedo Black, Pistachio & Cantaloupe, Stampin Up! Ink Pirouette; Patterned paper:  Crate Paper

my finger prints are all over it!

Hello friends!!  Wow... it is hot, hot, hot here in Western Washington and it is expected to get hotter as the week progresses.   So, with nice weather here to stay for awhile crafting is taking a back seat to having fun with my boys.  After along day yesterday of swim class, birthday parties and church  I managed to put together this one layer card for the current Less is More challenge (to use your finger prints... thus the title of my post!) and ColourQ challenge before I went to bed.

The stamps are from the Clearly Whimsy set Happy Everything.  I stamped the candles using Island Indigo and Coastal Cabana and then added the "flames" using my pinkie finger.  The happy was stamped using Hero Arts Punch chalk ink and the birthday using black ink.  I finished things off partially embossing the upper right corner of the card with a honeycomb embossing folder and my trusty craft mallet and a bit of washi tape.  The partial embossing is hard to see in the photo so I have included a detail shot.   Hmmm... wondering if I need to include a detail shot of my finger prints, too...

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Inks:  Stampin Up!, Hero Arts & Memento; Washi Tape:  My Mind's Eye

you inspire me...

Hello there!!  Wow... seems like I haven't posted anything in ages, but it has only been since Monday, lol!   (I don't really count the post on Wednesday since it was a just a peek.)  I have been enjoying the beautiful weather and wasn't inspired to make anything until I made this card, ha!  I'm linking it up to Colour Me...!, CAS(E) this Sketch and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

Recently got my hands on the wildly popular Altenew sets Painted Flowers and Label Love.  I used both sets for my card.  Making the flowers is a bit of a learning curve, but after making this card and another that I posted on Splitcoaststampers earlier this week I think I have it all figured out, lol!  I used VersaMagic Eggplant and Stampin Up! Soft Sky for the flowers and leaves.  I inked up the main body of the flower with the Eggplant ink, stamped it off on scrap paper and then stamped it on my cardstock.  The "definition" image was stamped using the Eggplant ink at full strength.  The line image was added using black ink.  Once all the flowers were stamped I added the leaves.  Added the sentiment strip and some sparkling clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh (my clear item for the SSS Wed. challenge).

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Altenew; Inks:  Stampin Up! Soft Sky, VersaMagic Eggplant; Memento Tuxedo Black; Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins

a little peek...

Hello friends!!  Just popping in with a little peek of a project that I'm sharing over at the Precious Remembrance Shop blog.  I hope you will hop over there and check it out!  Here is the peek:

Thanks for stopping by...

 

a little thanks...

Hello friends!!  Here with a little project (and yes, it is definitely little, lol!), that I made for a couple of challenges:  Tag You're It #1 and Sketch for You to Try.

My "friend I have met... yet" and fellow blogger, Martha, is the master of the tag-card.  In fact tag-cards are her absolute favorite type of project to make and she makes some stunning ones.  If you have not checked out her blog, please do so right now... you won't regret it one bit!  When I saw the new challenge blog "Tag You're It" I immediately thought it would be fun to make a tag-card (Martha's love for tag-cards has seriously rubbed off on me, lol!).  So I used the layout from Sketch for You to Try and kept the "thank you" theme of Virginia's tags and even some of the colors.  I die cut my tags using the Reverse Confetti large tag die from the "Tag Me" die set.  I die cut a total of three tags.  One in kraft, one in white cardstock and one in patterned paper.  The patterned paper was adhered to the white tag and about a quarter of an inch of the tag was cut off to show the kraft tag.  Some additional patterned paper was die cut using the small tag from "Tag Me" and adhered to the large tag.  A fishtail banner was die cut and stamped with only the "thanks" portion of a sentiment from the RC set "Forever Fall".  A bit of kraft ribbon and red twine finished things off.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock: PTI white and kraft; Patterned Paper:  Stampin Up! Fresh Prints; Ink:  Stampin Up! Coastal Cabana; Ribbon:  PTI kraft; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti Forever Fall; Dies:  Reverse Confetti Tag Me, Verve Flag It; Twine:  May Arts

hello...

Hey there... hope everyone in the US had a wonderful 4th of July.  We had a nice one, but it turned a bit windy and chilly toward the evening.  However, my little guy was completely satisfied with all the fireworks he got to light off so that made up for the turn in the weather!  Got sometime today to make a card.  This one is for Less is More (earth tone colors) and CAS(E) this Sketch.  Oh and I think I will pop this into Virginia's View die cuts challenge, too.

For this card I used the newly released Clearly Whimsy Stamps set Happy Everything and the Clearly Whimsy Stamps Hello word die.   I used two shades of green (SU!'s Gumball Green and Pear Pizzazz) and kraft (SU! Crumb Cake) and stamped the two starburst images from the set.  The "hello" was die cut twice from kraft and white cardstock and adhered together slightly offset (although you can't really see it).  After adhering the "hello" I added some sequins in the same shades of green and little wood veneer stars.  I hope this is "earth tone" enough for the LIM challenge... they can be a tough lot!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & kraft; Stamps:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Die:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Sequins:  Ellen Hutson; Wood veneer stars:  Studio Calico

sweet... on you

Hey there... have a little card to share that I made using the current Color Throwdown combo. (ETA:  Decided to pop this into the current Virginia's View challenge: die cuts)  I pulled out some of my older Clearly Whimsy Stamps and dies and made this:

The CWS stamps I used are Sweet as Candy - Sweet Images and Sweet as Candy - Sweet Sentiments, as well as the Sweet as Candy - Lollipop and Sweet as Candy - Large Word die.  Love those cute little lollipops and they are so easy to make using the lollipop die!.  I die cut the word "sweet" twice (one in turquoise and one in cream) and then adhered them together creating a slight  "shadow" with the cream one.  Finished things off by distressing the edges of the turquoise cardstock and patterned paper and adding the baker's twine bows.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI cream; SU! Tempting Turquoise; Patterned paper:  American Crafts Amy Tangerine Cut & Paste; Stamps and dies:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Tempting Turquoise; Baker's Twine:  The Twinery

birds of a feather...

Hey there... wow we are having some absolutely dropdead amazing weather here in Western Washington!!  YAY!!   More often than not our weather is kinda yucky around 4th of July so hoping that this lovely weather lasts until then.  Anywhoo... have a card to share that I made for the current AEI{heart}U challenge to use gold.  I will also be popping this into the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge:  white.

I started with a white cardstock base and adhered two different matte gold washi tapes along one side.  A piece of white cardstock was trimmed to 3 3/4 by 5 1/2 and adhered to the card base.  The piece was then flicked with a mixture of Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink and water.  I die cut the tag using my Reverse Confetti Tag Me die and stamped it with the sentiment (from the AE set Love Notes) using black ink.  The final portion of the sentiment was stamped in the Galaxy Gold, trimmed out and popped up.  Two feather were also stamped in Galaxy Gold, trimmed out and popped up.  I tied some gold/off white baker's twine in a bow, adhered the piece to the card front and then added some flicks of the ink/water mixture to the tag.    Thinking I'm going to also enter this in the CASology challenge as the cue word is "float" and well... my little feathers look like they are floating!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps Avery Elle Love Notes; Ink:  Brilliance and Memento; Washi Tape:  Stampin Up!; Die:  Reverse Confetti; Baker's Twine:  Stampin Up!