fiesta and a flower...

Hello!   Once, again, it feels like ages since I last posted, but it has only been a few days.  I have been busy doing some coloring lately and the images I have been coloring are rather large so that is taking up a lot of time.  I'm sharing one of those cards today at the end of the post.  First up though is a card for the My Favorite Things sketch challenge and color challenge.   I love that fun little piñata die from the April, 2018 MFT release and decided to use that along with the fiesta word die.  I seem to like layering the word over the little piñata because I came across a card that I had made quite awhile ago where I did the same thing!  Hey... if it works go with it, right?  I die cut all the main body of the piñata from white cardstock and all the pieces from purple, coral and red cardstock.  Then I determined how I was going to layer all the pieces and adhered them to my base.  Finished things up by adhering the teeny tiny eye!  Last weekend my boys and I made a little trip down to Vancouver, WA to meet up with my friend, Greta.  She lives in Oregon so we meet up in a place that is about half way for each of us.  She took me to one of her favorite crafty shopping places Craft Warehouse where I was able to purchase the Glue Sponge.  I used that to help me adhere the teeny tiny eye pieces together.   It works pretty good!   I die cut a rectangle from white cardstock using the largest MFT Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle Stax die.  I attached some white twine to the back of the piñata and then attached that to the back of the rectangle.  The rectangle was adhered to my white cardstock base using foam tape.  I die cut the word from light gray cardstock three times, adhered them together and attached to the piñata using a combination of glue and foam tape.  When I was done I realized that I forgot to give the piñata its tail!  Oh well...  Sending this off to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes, as well.

The second card was created using a stamp set from a newer stamp company called Colorado Craft Company.  They have a line of stamps called Lovely Legs and recently started a new line called Big & Bold.  All the stamps in this line feature big and bold floral images.  When I saw the images I couldn't resist picking up the Get Well Hydrangea and Missing You Peony.  Today I'm sharing a card I made with the Get Well Hydrangea.  I stamped the image with VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist and then colored the image with my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers in shades of blue and green.  When I started the card I knew I was going to send it to a friend for her birthday so I used a sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers stamp set.   VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne was used for the sentiment.  After die cutting the card with the largest die from the Jillian Vance Design basic rectangle backdrop die set I adhered the panel to a blue cardstock base and then added sequins.  I used the Glue Sponge for this task.  I really like how the coloring turned out.  Stay tuned as I will be sharing a card I made with the Missing You Peony stamp set!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  PTI white, Bazzill coral, SU! purple and red, SSS Fog; Dies:  My Favorite Things; SU! white baker's twine

Card #2:  Cardstock:  Reverse Confetti light blue; Strathmore smooth bristol; Stamps:  Colorado Craft Company; Ink:  VersaFine CLAIR; Sequins:  Verve; Coloring medium:  ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers

Hello, Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Wow... June will be over is just a few days!  Time is really flying by!  My youngest is now out of school, but his older brother just started up the summer quarter at the technical college he is attending.   Anyway... I have a post up on the Jillian Vance Design blog today.  Here is a little peek:

Hope you will head over to the Jillian Vance Design blog to see the full project.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

flowers and hexagons...

Hello!  Popping in with a couple of cards that feature flowers and hexagons!  First up is the card featuring the flowers.  This card is for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown (I always seem to combine these two challenges, lol!).   I love the Simon Says Stamp monthly kits and purchased the April kit (and the May kit and the June kit, lol), but unfortunately never got around to really using the stamp set that came with the kit.  Even though the kit has a more spring related theme a lot of the images are actually great to use all year round.  Some of those images are two different sized flower pots and the stems and flowers to create pots full of flowers.  I have been wanting to create a card with those fun little flower pots and finally had a color combo and sketch that worked perfectly!  I stamped the pots using a medium blue ink from Stampin Up! (Marina Mist) and the stems using a minty color (SU! Coastal Cabana).   The little flowers were stamped in pink (a Hero Arts pink) and lavender (PTI Winter Wisteria).   I stamped the sentiment in the center of the piece over the top of the largest flower pot using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  I trimmed down my panel to fit with the sketch.  I used another image from the set that can be used to create a border and stamped that using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  The borders were trimmed down and adhered to the main panel.   Before adhering the panel to a light gray cardstock it wrapped some lavender and white baker's twine around the top of the panel adhering the ends in the back with tape.  The same thing was done on the bottom except that I tied the twine in a bow.  The panel was then adhered with foam tape.   Isn't the photo of the cupcake from the CTD inspiration photo so cute?  Has me thinking of another idea involving a mermaid tail!

 The second card is for the current Sunday Stamps challenge.  This challenge is a color challenge that features colors that are perfect for a masculine card.  I used the Spellbinders small die kit for June along with a word die from the October small die kit to make a masculine birthday card.  I used two shades of blue and one red to die cut the hexagon dies from the kit and then created my hexagons by layering the three colors together in different orders.   I die cut some white cardstock and then using my grid mat as a guide adhered the hexagons to the panel.  I die cut the word happy from light gray cardstock three times, adhered them together and then adhered to the card front as you see.  The panel was then placed in my stamping tool, arranged the word birthday (from a Spellbinders stamp set) on the card and then stamped it with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  Finished by adhering the card to a kraft cardstock base.  I think I managed to use all the colors in the photo on my card!  The team over at Sunday Stamps picked my card as one of their top picks for the last challenge.  Thanks so much ladies.  You really made my day!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  PTI white, SSS fog; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Inks:  Stampin Up!, Hero Arts, VersaFine CLAIR and PTI; Baker's Twine:  Stampin Up!

Card #2:  Cardstock:  PTI white, kraft; Reverse Confetti red, blue and medium blue, SSS fog; Stamps:  Spellbinders:  Dies:  Spellbinders and Jillian Vance; Ink:  VersaFine CLAIR

Hello... Wednesday!

Hello and happy Wednesday everyone!  I know my youngest is super happy today because his summer break officially starts at 11:30 am PDT and he is so ready for summer!   Anywhoo… I have a post up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today and here is a little peek of my card:

I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full project.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Hey... buttercup!

Hey there!  I'm popping in to share a card that I made for a couple of challenges:  the Paper Players (colors) and Time Out (nature).   Back in May I purchased the Chin Up Buttercup stamp and die set from Honey Bee Stamps.  I just loved the sweet little flowers in the set and when they had a sale I decided to make it mine.  I have been wanting to use it ever since I arrived in my mailbox and the Paper Players challenge was the perfect opportunity, as is the challenge at Time Out.  I stamped all the images from the set on Arches hot press watercolor paper with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder from Hero Arts.  I then colored everything with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors and clean water.  When everything was dry I die cut them with the matching dies.  Then the hunt was on to find a purple ink that was similar to the Highland Heather color called for in the Paper Players color combo.   I don't generally buy purple inks and so my choices were limited, but I think PTI's Winter Wisteria filled in nicely.  I used that to stamp the words hey and buttercup.   Both words have matching dies to I used the one for the word buttercup and then stamped the word hey on my white cardstock panel.  Then I arranged all the die cut pieces and adhered the panel to a white cardstock base.  Love how this one turned out!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Arches hot press watercolor paper; Stamps: Honey Bee Stamps; Dies:  Honey Bee Stamps and A Jillian Vance Design; Ink:  VersaMark watermark ink, PTI Winter Wisteria; Watercolor medium:  Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors; Embossing powder:  Hero Arts

Hello... Wednesday!

Hello everyone!  It's Wednesday and that means that I have a post up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of today's project:

Hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full project and let me know what you think!  Have a wonderful day!

all kinds...

Hello!  Popping in with a card that I made using my Concord & 9th Everyday Bouquet turnabout stamp set.   I combined the colors from Color Throwdown with the layout from Freshly Made sketches (something that I seem to do on a regular basis, lol!).   After stamping the wreath I ended up die cutting only a portion of the wreath to use on my card.  I used the banner die from the Everyday Bouquet die set to die cut navy cardstock for one of the elements in the sketch and then used teal cardstock to mat the main stamped element.  I stamped the sentiment from the sentiment in VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed it with black embossing powder from WOW! Embossing.  I layered up all the elements and then tied some coral baker's twine around the piece and adhered it to a off white cardstock base.

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

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Rustic White, Indigo, SU! Taken With Teal; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  Concord & 9th, A Jillian Vance Design; Ink: Catherine Pooler, Stampin Up!, VersaMark; Embossing powder:  WOW! Embossing; Baker's Twine:  The Twinery

Hello... Wednesday!

Hey there!  Hope your week is going well.  I'm popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today.  Here is a little peek:

I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full project.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

a little scene...

Hello!  Hope your week is going well.  I did some stamping today and used some very neglected Stampin Up! stamp sets.   I purchased the scene building set called Waterfront last year (yikes!) and never got around to using it (too much stuff!).  But when I saw the new challenge at the Paper Players to create a card with a summer vacation theme.  Does anything say "summer" more then a scene of a cabin on the water?    I did several test layouts before I got one that I liked.  I used the following Stampin Up! inks to create my scene:  River Rock, So Saffron, Marina Mist, Tranquil Tide and Smoky Shadow.  Once I had my scene done I die cut the piece with a AJVD basic rectangle die using my brand new Gemini Jr die cutting machine!  I bought it a month a go and finally got it out of the box the other day and fired it up.    It works like a dream and it is nice to not have to turn a handle to cut something.  I die cut some Crumb Cake cardstock to use for the piece to use to back the scene panel and then die cut some Tranquil Tide cardstock for the largest panel.   The sentiment is from the SU! Colorful Season stamp set and was stamped with VersaFine CLAIR.  Everything was then layered up on a Crumb Cake card base.   The layout is based on the sketch from Sunday Stamps so I will be posting it there and also at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

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

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, SU! Crumb Cake and Tranquil Tide; Stamps:  Stampin Up!; Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up! and VersaFine CLAIR