two sketches... two cards...

Hello friends!!  Well we are closing in on the long 4th of July weekend here in the US.  My little guy (who is now 10... when did that happen???) is excited to go pick out some fireworks with dad tomorrow.  They have a budget and they better stick to it, lol!!  Physical therapy for my shoulder has really been kicking my butt and making it hard to do anything, but yesterday I pushed through the discomfort and pain I was experiencing and made two cards.  The cards look very similar, but they are in fact for two different challenges.  First up is the card I made for the current Paper Players (a sketch challenge this week) and MFT color challenge.  Most of the MFT stamps I own are rather old and retired, but I love them still.  I pulled out the now retired Forget Me Not stamp set and the matching dies to create my card.   Since I don't own any of the MFT colors I found close approximations for each color.  The little forget me not flowers and stem were die cut and then stamped with the green and darkest lavender color.  The colored cardstock is from Close to My Heart.  Their cardstock is unusual in that the reverse side is a lighter shade of the main color.  That color was used to die cut my MFT stitched fishtail flag banner.  I then cut the banner down further using the same die so that it would fit my white cardstock panel.  I die cut the circle from some CTMH cardstock that was close to Blu Raspberry.  I arranged the forget me not on the circle and then stamped the sentiment from Delicate Pretty Poppies in black ink.  Layered everything up on a light grey card base and I was done.  Adding this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

This next card is for the current Color Throwdown challenge, as well as the MFT Wednesday sketch challenge.  The MFT layout is so very similar to the one from Paper Players, but I decided to make a separate card instead of using the first card for both challenges.  I used another retired MFT stamp set.  I believe it was called Sunflower, but I'm not entirely sure since I can't find it anywhere.  I die cut the sunflower and then stamped it with yellow and red inks using my mini MISTI... that was quite the trick, lol!   The word "amazing" from the MFT die set by the same name was cut from brown cardstock three times and then all three adhered together.  I stamped the sentiment from the MFT stamp set Amazing on the sunflower using black ink and then adhered the sentiment.  The fishtail banner was die cut from kraft cardstock to fit the white panel.  Layered everything up and adhered it to a light grey cardstock panel. 

Thanks for stopping by today...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  white; SSS fog; SU! chocolate chip; Close to My Heart lavender and blue; Stamps: My Favorite Things; Dies:  MFT and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up! and VersaFine Onyx Black



wednesday with a jillian vance design...

Hello friends!!  Hope you are enjoying your summer!! I popping in to let you know that I have my regular Wednesday post up over on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek of the card:

I hope you will take the time to head over to the AJVD blog, have a look and let me know what you think of my project.  Thanks so much for stopping by today...

shimmer pineapple...

Hello friends!!  Hope your week is off to a good start.  I got to have lunch today (Monday) with a dear friend and it was lovely!   Have a little card to post today for a couple of challenges:  CAS(E) this Sketch and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  A week or so ago I made the pineapple using my Concord & 9th Pop Art Pineapples set, but never ended up using it.  It was just sitting there waiting for me to do something with it.  So I sprayed it with some of the Prima Pearl White Color Bloom and let it dry.  Following the sketch from CTS I added a little nest of silver thread and then layered the pineapple on top.  I die cut the banner (from the Pop Art Pineapples die set) stamped it with the sentiment and layered it on top.  Adhered the panel to a light grey cardstock base.  Once that was done I decided to add a bit more shimmer to the pineapple because the shimmer provided by the color bloom is rather subtle.  I grabbed by Diamond Stickles and added some to the pineapple top.  I was able to get a close up shot of the pineapple so you can see the pretty shimmer.   Super simple card, but that's what I like!! 

Thanks for stopping by today...


Supplies: Cardstock:  white and SSS fog; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th and AJVD; Inks:  Hero Arts and Memento; Silver Thread:  Coates & Clark; Prima Color Bloom:  Pearl White; Ranger Diamond Stickles

June PTI Blog Hop...

Hey friends!!  Stopping in with a card for this month's PTI blog hop.  Nicole provided us with another intriguing inspiration piece.  As I looked at this lovely work of art I originally thought that I would use the Friendly Flowers stamp set, but my order from this month's PTI release came yesterday and I decided to use the Splits:  Thank You mini stamp set and the matching die and do some watercoloring.  I embossed the die on to my watercolor cardstock and then stamped the image with VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink using my mini MISTI.  Then I picked some colors from the inspiration piece, found corresponding colors in my Gansai Tambi watercolor palette and colored up the flowers and leaves.  Once I had the look I wanted I let the piece dry and then stamped the sentiment (from the PTI set Garden Grace) in VersaFine Onyx Black.  I would have used the sentiment from the Splits:  Thank You set, but I'm trying to get a little stash of birthday cards so I used the sentiment from Garden Grace instead.  Die cut the piece, added some Pretty Pink Posh sparkly clear sequins and then adhered the panel to a light grey card base.  Simple, but I really like how it turned out.

 

Thanks for stopping by...


Supplies:  Cardstock:  light grey, Ranger watercolor cardstock; Stamps:  PaperTrey Ink; Dies:  PaperTrey Ink and AJVD; Inks:  VersaFine;  Watercolors:  Kuretake Gansai Tambi; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh 

shimmer butterfly...

Hey friends!!  Well... our sunny weather has turned to "liquid sunshine" weather here in the Pacific Northwest.  Perfect weather to stay inside and make some cards!  I have a card that I made for a few different challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown, SSS Wednesday challenge (shimmer) and Virginia's View all about color.   Love the colors at Color Throwdown so bright and cheerful! And I loved the FMS layout, but I had absolutely no mojo!   A quick turn through the new Stampin Up! catalog soon change that situation... YAY!!  I pulled out several favorite Stampin Up! sets and got to work.  I did some collage stamping using my favorite SU! set Kinda Eclectic and the yellow and lime green colors and then threw in some kraft for the rectangular element in the sketch.  The butterfly (from the SU! set Watercolor Wings) was stamped using the red raspberry and hot pink colors and then die cut with the matching die.  I then took the butterfly outside and sprayed it with Prima Color Bloom Pearl White.  The sentiment is from a third SU! set (Butterfly Basics) and was stamped using VersaFine Onyx Black.  The panel was die cut using an AJVD die, the butterfly attached and the panel adhered to a light grey cardstock base.  Sometimes a little straight up stamping is exactly what I need to help get me in the crafting groove!  I have included a close up of the butterfly so you can see the shimmer.  

Thanks for stopping by today...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SSS fog; white; Stamps:  Stampin Up!; Dies:  Stampin Up! and AJVD; Inks:  Stampin Up! and Memento; Prima Color Bloom Pearl White spray mist

Wednesday with AJVD...

Hey friends!!! Popping in to let you know that I have my project up on the AJVD blog today.  Here is a little peek of my card:

I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog for a look and let me know what you think.  Thanks for stopping by today...

wishing you sunshine...

Hey friends!!  Now that summer vacation is upon us things have slowed down a bit and I have found some time to make a card or two... YAY!   Pretty Pink Posh has a rainbow card challenge going on and I really wanted to play along using the PTI mini Make It Market kit Sunshine and Rainbows.  I pretty much love anything that Yana Smakula makes and so I used her card as my inspiration.  I didn't do layers of die cuts like she did, but I did ink up my watercolor cardstock using the PTI stencils and then sprinkled on some water when I was done to achieve the same look. Creating the rainbow takes two stencils and so I had to make sure that I was careful to get the colors in the correct order as I did the inking.  (You know ROY G BIV - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. No indigo or violet as the rainbow stencils only allow for five colors.) Once that was done I die cut the panel down to a smaller size.  The word "sunshine", the swing and the bird are all pre-printed images that are included in the kit.  I just die cut the ones I wanted and I was done.  I stamped the sentiment "Wishing you" from the set in VersaFine Onyx Black and then adhered the word.  I thought about die cutting a few more and stacking them, but decided to just leave it as is.  The little swing was adhered to the clouds and then the bird popped up with a pop dot.  I added the second half of the sentiment after I had actually finished the card and thankfully it stamped nicely for me!  The finishing touch was to add some Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins in two different sizes.  I will be posting this card to the current Paper Players challenge (CAS celebration - I think this is a pretty clean and simple design), as well as the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  At the suggestion of my bloggy friend, Karren, I'm adding this to the Virginia's View Summer challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today... would love to hear your thoughts!


Supplies:  Cardstock: white, Ranger watercolor; Stamps:  PTI; Dies:  PTI and A Jillian Vance Design; Ink:  VersaFine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress inks:  Ripe Persimmon, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean and Fired Brick; Pretty Pink Posh sparkling clear sequins

thoughtful...

Hey!!  Stopping in with a simple little card that I made using the Color Throwdown colors (my second go round with them!) and the CAS(E) this Sketch layout.  Still having problems with my mojo, but figured I might be able to get it back if I actually did something, lol!! I pulled out some of my very neglected Concord & 9th stamps to create my card.  I have had the Concord & 9th Being Classy set for ages and never used it.  So I combined it with some of the little images in Painted thank you to create my design.  I recently got Stampin Up!'s Emerald Envy ink (it is one of the new SU! In Colors) and I just love it!!!   I flipped the sketch on its side since I decide to use the word "thoughtful" from Being Classy and it really didn't fit with the original orientation of the sketch.  The flower was created using the Concord & 9th Floral & Flutter die set.  I made the flower about a month ago for something else that I ended up not making so I just kept the flower and it finally found a home on this card!  I finished off the inside of the card as well.  I stamped the sentiment "That's you" from Being Classy and then added some of the leaves, dot and the flower in the same layout as the sketch.    Shoot!!  The Color Throwdown link is closed... oh well... I did make another card that made into the line up!

Thanks for stopping by today... always enjoy reading your comments!


Supplies:  Cardstock:  white, kraft; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th and A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Dandelion, SU! Crumb Cake and Emerald Envy; enamel dot

peace...

Hey friends!!  After all the craziness of the last couple of weeks (physical therapy appointments, car appointments... YAY!! I can finally lock my car door!!) it seems my mojo has flown away.  I made this simple card using this week's Freshly Made Sketch layout and this week's Color Throwdown combo.  When I first saw the Color Throwdown graphic I was tempted to make something using a pineapple, but I recently got a couple of new things from Reverse Confetti's June release and so I wanted to use the die and stamp set for my card.  I taped a piece of watercolor paper to my little wooden cutting board and then watercolored part of it using brown and gold paints from my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor set.  Once it was dry I die cut it with an AJVD rectangle backdrop die.  The starfish was die cut from white and yellow cardstocks and then the yellow "star" was inset into the white portion and then inked the edges with some Ranger Old Paper distress ink.  The sentiment from the RC My Heart Trust stamp set was stamped using VersaFine Onyx Black ink.  I used my MISTI to stamp it multiple times to get a good impression.  Popped up the starfish on the panel and then added that panel to a second panel die cut from green cardstock.  To finish I flicked on some yellow paint.  Not my best effort, but sometimes you gotta start somewhere, right?  I'm going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of animal magic.  I learned something about starfish the other day.  They are a type of sea urchin and thus... an animal!  At the suggestion of my sweet friend, Greta, I'm adding this to the current City Crafter challenge:  let's go to the beach!

 

Thanks for stopping by today... love to read your comments!


Supplies:  Cardstock:  white; PTI new leaf and lemon tart, Ranger watercolor paper; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti; Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design and Reverse Confetti; Ink:  VersaFine; Watercolors:  Kuretake Gansai Tambi

Wednesday with AJVD...

Hey peeps!!  Popping in to let you know that my regular Wednesday post is up over on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek: 

There are some fabulous new products in the AJVD store and I used one of them for my card.  I hope you will take the time to head over to the blog for a look and let me know what you think.   Thanks for stopping by today...

what a day...

Hey friends!!  I have really had a crazy day.  Had to take my car to the dealership because the automatic lock on the driver's side door stopped locking... ugh!!  Find out that the dealership does not have the part so it can't be fixed until next week when the part gets here... double ugh!!  So... I have to manually lock my door until next Wednesday when it will be fixed.  Upside to all of this it falls under warranty so I don't have to pay for it.  But... I get to the dealership to pick up my car, get inside, turn the key and nothing.... absolutely nothing.... triple ugh!!!  The battery was dead and after they got it running, again, they did a diagnostic and I learned that I needed a new battery.  Unfortunately that wasn't under warranty and batteries for my car are not cheap... sigh...!!  But at least there is light at the end of the tunnel... I have a new battery and the lock will be fixed next week.  And I did get to make a couple of cards for several different challenges.  The first card is for the current ColourQ and uses Viva La Verve sketch #1 for June.  To make my card I searched through my enormous stash of patterned paper and found patterns from four different My Mind's Eye pad that fit all the colors in the ColourQ combo.   I used the Verve stamp set Better Together and some hearts from the Verve Hearts Quartet die.  Very simple and straightforward take on the sketch.  I think this would be a great card to give to a guy.   Since this is a bit more masculine I'm going to enter into the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge: father's day/card for a guy.

 

The second card is for this week's My Favorite Things sketch and the new My Favorite Things color combo.  I do not own any of the MFT colors (ink, cardstock or otherwise) so I had to hunt around for colors that I thought were pretty close to the MFT colors.   Just like with my last card I used the MFT Mini Modern Blooms set, as well as a sentiment set from Amazing.  Instead of using a square for the central piece I used one of the Inside Out Stitched Rectangle dies and cut that from some blush colored cardstock.  For the circular element I used some loops of silver thread.   I used a Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax die to create the center strip element and the rectangle was die cut using an AJVD Polka Dot Rectangle Backdrop die.  For the blue flower and the leaves I did some second generation stamping (inking up the stamp then stamping it off before stamping the flower on the die cut).  The details for the blue flower and the leaves were added with the ink color at full strength.  The coral flower was stamped using two different shades of coral and the small flower was stamped with coral and blue ink.  After layering everything up I stamped the sentiment on a strip of cardstock using my mini MISTI, cut it in two and adhered it as shown.   Adding this to the line up at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge:  flower garden.

Thanks for stopping by today... tomorrow should be a better day, lol!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  white, light grey and blush; Patterned paper:  My Mind's Eye; Stamps:  Verve and My Favorite Things; Dies:  Verve, My Favorite Things, A Jillian Vance Design and Spellbinders; Inks:  Hero Arts Latte, Stampin Up! Cameo Coral, Calypso Coral and Gumball Green; Memento Danube Blue; VersaFine Onyx Black; Coates & Clark silver thread

wednesday with a jillian vance design...

{for my Color Throwdown post please scroll down or click here.}


Hey friends!!  Popping in to let you know that my regular Wednesday post is up over on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek of my card:

I hope you will take the time to head over to the AJVD blog for a look and let me know what you think.  Thanks so much!!

Guesting for Color Throwdown!!

Hey friends!!  So excited because today I'm guesting with the fabulous gals at one of my favorite challenges Color Throwdown!!   You are going to love the yummy color palette that was chosen for you by this week's Color Throwdown hostess, Lisa (and you just might be craving some ice cream, too, lol!)!!!  The generic colors are plum, raspberry, peach and white.  You can add in some neutrals as well.   I combined the color combo with the June Reverse Confetti Sketch for You to Try.  I pulled out my RC Butterfly Dreams stamps and dies to create my card.  I used Altenew Coral Berry ink for the largest butterfly and PTI's Plum Pudding for the smaller ones.  Thanks to the mini MISTI I was able to get nice deep colors for all the butterflies.  The little wreaths were die cut from a peach cardstock (SU!'s Crisp Cantaloupe no long available) using the little wreath from the RC Wreaths Confetti Cuts set.  A strip of white cardstock was cut and all the elements were layered on.  To break up the white I added a mat of kraft cardstock to the strip and then embossed the front of the card base using a piece of burlap.   Finally a liberal brushing of clear Wink of Stella was added to the plum butterflies. I have included a close up shot to show you how much the butterflies sparkle.   Make sure you check out all the projects from the Color Throwdown design team!  Looking forward to seeing what you make with this week's colors!!  

Thanks for stopping by today...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  white, kraft, peach; Stamps and dies:  Reverse Confetti; Inks: Altenew and PTI

my friend...

Hey!!  It is a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest... might be a little too hot for me, but beautiful nonetheless!!  Yesterday was gorgeous too and it looks like we have a full week of lovely weather ahead!  Have a card to share today for a couple of challenges:  Less is More (color challenge - purple) and My Favorite Things sketch challenge.  I always want to play along with the MFT sketch challenge, but never seem to find the time.   Finally this past weekend I was able to make a clean and simple card using the MFT layout.  I started by die cutting my panel with the largest MFT Inside Out Stitched Rectangle die.  I then placed a Spellbinders plain oval die inside the panel and ran it through my Big Shot using the sandwich to emboss the oval (not cut it) into the cardstock.  I ended up having to do it twice because I didn't get a deep enough impression the first time.  Once that was done I die cut the flowers from the MFT Mini Modern Blooms die set and then using second generation stamping stamped them with the corresponding images using purple ink.  The centers of the flowers were stamped with the purple ink at full strength.  I used my mini MISTI to stamp the leaves in a pale green ink and then the sentiment.  Adhered the flowers to the panel and then the panel to a pale grey cardstock base.   

Thanks for stopping by today...


Supplies:  Cardstock:  white, Simon Says Stamp fog; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Dies:  My Favorite Things and Spellbinders; Inks:  Close to My Heart Pansy Purple and Memento Tuxedo Black and New Sprout

thanks for a great year..

Hey friends!!  Stopping in with a card for a two challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.  The school year is almost over for my two boys and so I made a thank you card for my little guy's teacher.  I used the Reverse Confetti set All Apples as well as the Reverse Confetti set Class Act.   The mini MISTI helped me get a nice dark green impression on my apple.   I really like that little tool and I'm so glad that I finally broke down and got one!  Stamped all the other images and then die cut everything with the matching dies.  The patterned paper matches the green ink I used (both Stampin Up!) and it had cream in it making it perfect for the Color Throwdown challenge.   Cut a piece, adhered it to my kraft card base and then added the little notebook page, apple and leaves.  Super quick, but that is how I like it, lol!!  

Thanks for stopping...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft and cream; Patterned paper:  Stampin Up!; Stamps and dies:  Reverse Confetti; Inks:  Stampin Up! Gumball Green and Crumb Cake

 

thinking of you...

Hey friends... popping in with a card for a few challenges.  My sweet friend, Greta, is guest designing for City Crafter challenge blog this week and I just had to play along with the challenge... feathers!  I used the color combo from the current ColourQ challenge and the layout for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge... haven't participated in their challenge for ages!   I used the fun Concord & 9th Grateful stamp set and did some layering of the images.  The set comes with two feathers and I used the smaller one stamping it five times, twice with Coastal Cabana ink and three times with Bahama Blue ink.  The sentiment was stamped over that using Calypso Coral.  I brought in the grey by stamping a little image from the Concord & 9th Painted Thank You set.  The piece was die cut and then mounted on a grey cardstock base.  I must admit that I had to fiddle around with the colors for a bit to get the layering right.   My shoulder is slowly getting better, but sometimes I feel like it has been "one step forward, two steps back" kind of process.  I have to keep reminding myself that it has only been 3 weeks since the surgery and that I need to take it easy... so hard to do... sigh!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by...


Supplies:  Cardstock:  white, SU! Smoky Slate; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up! and Memento