blue snapdragons...

Hey there!  Popping in with a card for the current Color Throwdown and I will also be entering it at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.   Almost a month ago I purchased the Altenew Build a Flower Snapdragon/Ink bundle and I have been wanting to use it.  When I saw the color palette for this week's CTD I wanted to give it a try with the BAF Snapdragon set and I just love how it turned out!  I used the Altenew Blue Seas mini cube set and Rock Collection mini cube set to stamp my snapdragons.    As I was working with the stamp set I discovered that doing the die cutting first and then stamping is the best way to go with this set if you want to have die cut images.  I die cut the smaller snapdragon twice and the larger one once from MFT Smooth White cardstock and then stamped them with three shades of blue for the flowers and two shades of gray and black for the stems.  I die cut some MFT Smooth White cardstock with a rectangle die and then arranged my flowers to my liking.  I then determined where I wanted to stamp the sentiment, stamped it with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and adhered the flowers with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive.   I adhered the panel to a cobalt blue cardstock base and then finished the card off with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins in aqua (two sizes) and black that I adhered with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive.  All die cutting was done with my Crafter's Companion Gemini Jr. (Compensated affiliate links used within the body of my post where possible.)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Happy Wednesday...

Hey everyone!  It is Wednesday and that means I have a post up on the AJVD blog today.   Here is a little peek of my super clean and simple design:

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

harvest blessings...

Hello!  Popping in on this rainy afternoon here in the PNW with a super simple card for a couple of challenges:  Color Throwdown and CAS(E) this Sketch.   I always enjoy playing along with CTD and try not to miss their challenges.    The CTD colors are not ones that I would put together, but that is the fun of playing along with their challenges... working with colors in ways you never thought of!  As I was thinking about how to use the colors I came across a leaf that I had die cut several months ago with a die from a Stampin Up! set.  It wasn't in any of the colors from the challenge, but it gave me the idea to use that die for my card.  I found three shades of cardstock in the CTD colors and die cut a leaf from each and then arranged them on my card base to my liking.  Once I had my layout I adhered them with my favorite glue... Nuvo Deluxe.    Once the leaves were set I placed the card in my stamping tool, arranged the sentiment from the Reverse Confetti Fall Foliage stamp set and then stamped it in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne.  I thought the card looked a bit plain so I added some Pretty Pink Posh clear jewels that I actually adhered upside down.  I have found that when I have adhered the clear jewels to white or off white cardstock the jewels don't sparkle, but look rather cloudy.  I don't like that look, but adhering them upside down did the trick (at least in person, lol!).

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

flowers and hearts...

Hello!  Popping in with a couple of cards for a few challenges.  Currently MFT has their Card Design Superstar contest going on.  I don't consider myself a card design superstar, but it is good to challenge yourself to take on something that can help you improve your skills and to that end my first card is for their coloring virtuoso challenge.  I'm not a coloring virtuoso by any stretch of the imagination, but thanks to videos by the very talented Kristina Werner I have substantially improved by coloring skills to the point where I have more confidence to try things like no line watercoloring.   I inked up the MFT Flowers in Bloom stamp set with Antique Linen distress ink and stamped it on the smoother side of the Ken Oliver watercolor paper.  I then colored all the flowers with the Coral Crush color from the Ken Oliver/MFT Fresh Flowers Color Burst Trio.   I colored the stems with the Jellybean Green.  Once the image was dry I then added in some additional shadows with coral and brown Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils.  The image was then die cut with the matching die.  I decided to use the current MFT sketch for my layout so I will also be posting the card there.  The banners were die cut with a fishtail flag stax die and the sentiment (from the Stacy Yacula Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes set) was stamped in black ink. I did all my die cutting with my Gemini Jr.  I'm pretty pleased with how my coloring turned out and really enjoyed using the Color Burst medium.  Think I may need to get some additional colors!  (Compensated affiliate links used where possible.)

My next card is also for the Card Design Superstar contest.  This one in the clean and simple category.  I used the current FMS layout for my card, as well as the Paper Players challenge to use metallics on a clean and simple design.  I looked through my MFT dies and settled on a birthday theme using the Celebrate die, as well as a cute little heart shaped balloon die and the banner die from the Stacy Yacula Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes die set.  I die cut the balloons from a dark pink and orangy-pink metallic cardstock from Stampin Up!  Boy was it a bear trying to photograph those balloons!  The banner was die cut from silver.  I die cut the word celebrate three times from MFT smooth white cardstock and adhered them together with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive.   The balloons were then arranged on a panel of MFT Smooth white cardstock and adhered with the Deluxe Adhesive.  I then adhered the banner and the word celebrate also with deluxe adhesive.  All my die cutting was done with my Gemini Jr.  I finished by stamping the sentiment (also from Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes) on vellum with VersaMark watermark ink and embossing with silver embossing powder.   In retrospect I should have used black embossing powder as it is hard to see the sentiment, but over all I'm also pleased with how this card turned out.  (Compensated affiliate links used where possible.)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

happy wednesday... ya'll

Hey there!  Hope you are having a great week!  I'm popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the AJVD blog and here is a little peek:

I used a lot of fun new products from AJVD so I hope that you will head over to the blog to see the full project and let me know what you think!  Have a great day!

hello...

Hello everyone!  Popping in with a card for a few challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and the Flower Challenge.    I reached way back into my stamp collection and pulled out the first two stamp sets that I purchased from Altenew:  Label Love and Painted Flowers.   The first time I saw the Painted Flowers stamp set I was immediately fascinated with it and had to have it.   Sadly once I got it I hardly ever used it.   I hope that I'm not the only one who does that!  I stamped two of the flowers in the set using Altenew Crisp inks in Crimson and Velvet and then in MFT Daffodil and Hero Arts Butter Bar so that I ended up with three red flowers and three yellow flowers.  The outlines for each flower was stamped using Altenew Crisp ink in Evergreen (to bring in the green) and then the accents in the leaves with Altenew Crisp inks in Frayed Leaf and Forest Glade.   Once all the stamping was done I die cut all the flowers with the matching Painted Flowers dies.   I determined pretty quickly that the flowers would look best clustered together.  So per the sketch I used two yellow flowers up top and then three red flowers down below.   A piece of white cardstock was die cut with an AJVD stitched dot rectangle die and then cut in to two pieces to create the center strip.  The lower piece of the panel was trimmed down a bit more to create a bigger gap and then both pieces were adhered with foam tape to a kraft cardstock base to bring in the kraft color from the CTD inspiration.  The flowers were then attached and I finished things off with the simple "hello" sentiment from the Label Love that was stamped in Altenew Permanent Black ink.  Thought about adding some gems, but decided not to this time around.  Love the clean and simple look of the card.  (Compensated affiliate links used in my post where possible.)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Hello... Wednesday!

Hello and happy Wednesday everyone!  I have a post up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today and here is a little peek of my card:

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full project.

you lift me up...

Hey there!  Well... my youngest made it through the first two days of school and I'm working on getting back into the school routine of dropping him off and picking him up!   I haven't made a card for the Color Throwdown in quite some time.  I think that last time I did was back in the middle of August.  I always enjoy combining CTD with Freshly Made Sketches and that is what I did today.  I used a new to me Reverse Confetti stamp and die set called Butterfly Blossoms that I was able to purchase thanks to Ellen Hutson's Labor Day sale.  I stamped the butterfly and the blossoms on smooth Bristol cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then colored them with ZIG markers.  When they were dry I die cut with the matching dies.  I then die cut some what cardstock with the largest  AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die and then stamped the butterfly on that with light gray ink.  I used the outline die from the Wheat Confetti Cut die set and cut three outlines from white cardstock and then adhered them behind my butterfly.  The blossoms were layered on top with foam tape.   I stamped the sentiment using the VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink, adhered the butterfly to the stamped panel and then adhered the panel to a light gray cardstock base.  Also going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to just stamp it.   I think this also works for the Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash challenge so I will post it there, too.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  (Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.)

cards with flowers...

Hello!  I'm popping in with two cards that both feature flowers.  First up is a card that I made for several challenges:  CAS(E) this Sketch, The Flower Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   I have been wanting to do some coloring ever since I got back from Yellowstone and found the time the other night to color up two images from the Simon Says Stamp Delicate Flowers stamp set.  I stamped the images on smooth Bristol cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink and then colored them with the following ZIG markers:  Carmine Red, Light Carmine Red and Orange.  The little bit of orange gives them that feeling of autumn.  Once they were dry I die cut them with the matching dies.  I adhered them together with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive to give them the feel of the two circular elements in the CTS layout.   A few days ago I purchased the Carta Bella Fall Market 6x6 pad and used a piece of paper from the pad for the strip element.  I placed the strip in my stamping tool, arranged where I wanted the flowers to be and then stamped the sentiment (from a very old, but favorite Simon Says Stamp set) in the same Acorn ink.  I then die cut a piece of kraft cardstock with the largest AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die and then adhered the panel and the strip to an off white cardstock base.  The flowers were adhered with foam dimensionals and I was finished. (Compensated affiliate links used in the body of my blog post where possible.)
 

The second card uses the cute little flowers from the Simon Says Stamp School Days Grow set.  I was going to use the piece for a different card, but in the end it just didn't work.  Then I saw the current Mojo Monday sketch and new it would be perfect once I turned the sketch to be portrait instead of landscape.  The flowers were stamped on smooth Bristol with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne and colored with ZIG markers in pink, yellow and orange.  I used a green ZIG and a blue ZIG to color the grass and sky and then die cut the piece with one of the smallest AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle dies.  I then die cut some super cute patterned papers from the Honey Bee Stamps The Bees Knees 6x6 pad using two other Stitched Dot rectangle dies.   The larger patterned paper rectangle was adhered to a light gray cardstock base and then the sunny yellow/white dotted rectangle was adhered with fun foam to give it height.  I then adhered the stamped panel to that.  Super clean and simple.   Those little flower faces just make me smile! (Compensated affiliate links used in my blog post where possible.)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Happy September!

Hello everyone!  Wow... it is already September!  Where has the time gone?  It is Wednesday and that means that I have a card up on the AJVD blog today.  Here is a little peek of my card:

Hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to check out the full project and let me know what you think.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Happy Stamptember!!

Hello everyone and welcome to the Simon Says Stamp Stamptember 2019 blog celebration!  This isn't a traditional blog hop, but an opportunity for you to find lots and lots of inspiration and ways to use all of the newly released Stamptember products.  The complete list of all participants can be found on the Simon Says Stamp blog.   Each blog will also be offering a special code that you can use to get something fun from Simon Says Stamp!  The code is found in the banner on my blog and only good until August 34rd at 11:59 pm EDT so make sure you place your order by then if you want the free item!  Simon sent me the School Days Grow stamp set to create with and I just fell in love with the sweet little flower images in the set.  They have tiny faces.... so cute!!

My first card uses those sweet little flowers for a clean and simple design based on the sketch from Fab Friday so I will be posting my card there, as well as with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.  I stamped the flowers in a row using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then colored them very simply with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils using the colors from Color Throwdown.  I think there is just enough time for me to add my card to their gallery, as well.   I then trimmed down my panel to fit my cardstock base.  I stamped the sentiment on SSS fog cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then trimmed it down.  The polka dot strip is some patterned paper from Moda Scrap that came in a Simon Says Stamp card kit that I purchased several months ago (apologies, but I don't remember which month!).  I layered those on per the sketch and then added the little twine bow.  The panel was then adhered with foam dimensionals to the cardstock base.   Super clean and simple!

The second card is also pretty clean and simple.  This time I used another piece of Moda Scrap patterned paper (all the papers were just so beautiful and made creating my cards so easy!) that I trimmed down and die cut with the SSS Flower Cluster die. I have had the Flower Cluster die for quite sometime, but this is the first time I have used it!    I adhered the die cut patterned paper to a light pink cardstock base and stamped the sentiment using Memento Bamboo ink.   The flower cluster was die cut two more times from white cardstock, all the little bits removed and then placed back inside the negative space finishing with the patterned paper die cut on top.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Please make sure to check out all the blogs participating in this celebration and pick up some of the newly released products.  You can find all of them here.

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  MFT white, SSS fog; Patterned paper:  Moda Scrap; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Inks:  VersaFine CLAIR; Coloring medium:  Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils

Card #2:  Cardstock:  Reverse Confetti pink; Patterned paper:  Moda Scrap; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Die:  Simon Says Stamp; Ink: Memento Bamboo

thank you for helping me grow...

Hey there!  Happy Stamptember!  If you don't know what Stamptember is then you need to head over to Simon Says Stamp to find out what exactly it is, lol!  Today is the first day of Simon Says Stamp 10 anniversary celebration of Stamptember and there will be lots of fun things happening through out the month.   Tomorrow I will be participating in a blog celebration and sharing two cards that I made with the School Days Grow stamp set that Simon kindly sent me.   As a little lead up to tomorrow I'm sharing two other cards that I made and have shared on my Instagram.   Both cards are super simple designs and were made using patterned papers from Moda Scrap that came in a Simon Says Stamp card kit that I purchased several months ago.  (Sorry, but I don't remember what monthly kit it was!)  The first card was so easy to put together.  I stamped one of the pretty sentiments from the set on vellum with white embossing powder, trimmed it down and then adhered it to a piece of patterned paper.  I adhered that to a SSS fog card base and then added lots and lots of Pretty Pink Posh iridescent white jewels.

The second card is another simple design and was created using the SSS Circle Leaf die, the Moda Scrap patterned paper and a sentiment from the set.  I die cut the Circle Leaf from the patterned paper, trimmed down the opposite side and adhered it to a green cardstock base with foam dimensionals.   I then stamped the sentiment on a strip of white cardstock, trimmed it to fit the card front and adhered it to the card front.  I then added lots and lots of Pretty Pink Posh jewels in green and iridescent white.  The layout for this card is based on the Sunday Stamp sketch so I will be posting the card there, as well as at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge since this week it is anything goes.  Make sure you head over to Simon Says Stamp to check out all the new goodies that Simon released today.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Simon Says Stamp fog; PTI New Leaf, Vellum; Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp; Dies:  Simon Says Stamp; Patterned Paper:  Moda Scrap; Ink:  VersaMark, VersaFine; Embossing powder:  Hero Arts white