have a delightful day...

Hey there!  Happy weekend!  I have been having lots of fun foiling over the last few days and I have another card to share that features some foiling.   This card is for Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  While I have been doing lots of foiling I have also been doing some organizing.  Because of that organizing I am now looking to use my older stamps and dies more and to that end I used the PTI Brushed Off stamp set for my card.  I stamped the brushstroke image using a combination of Memento Rose Bud and Hero Arts Ultra Pink.  I then die cut my panel with a rectangle die from A Jillian Vance Design.  I foiled a butterfly from the Spellbinders Glimmer Butterfly set using an aqua foil and then die cut it with the matching die.  Some foliage was die cut from kraft cardstock using another Spellbinders die.  I stamped the sentiment (from the AJVD Delightful Sentiments set) in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne and then layered on the foliage and the butterfly.  I seem to be on a more clean and simple kick right now and I'm really enjoying getting back to a style that I really love!  I just wanted to remind you that the Spellbinders pre-Spring Surprise bundles are available.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Spellbinders fun!

Hello everyone!  I'm popping in to share two cards that I made with brand new Spellbinders Cut & Emboss folders.  Spellbinders was kind enough to send me the Kyoto and Sedona folders.  The folders are just like regular embossing folders except that they have tiny dies embedded in them.  Both folders are large enough to emboss a 5x7 piece of cardstock, but you can also emboss a standard A2 size piece of cardstock.  That is what I chose to do with both my cards.  But before I get to my cards I wanted to let you know that Spellbinders is having a fun offer going on right now.  You can get one of their pre-spring surprise bundles for $40.  Each bundle is valued at over $145!  Just click on the banner below to find out all the information. (Affiliate links used within the body of this blog post.  These links allow me to earn a small commission when you uses those links.  There is no cost to you for using the link.  Thank you if you decide to use my links.)

Now for my cards!  First up is the card that I made using the Kyoto folder.  This folder has a beautiful fan design on it and cut out tiny fan shaped pieces.  I used a piece of light pink cardstock that was A2 in size.  After embossing the piece I trimmed it down to 4 x 5 1/4 inches.  I used my Glimmer Hot Foil system to foil the sentiment in pink using a sentiment from the Glimmer Everyday Sentiments set and die cut it with a banner die.  I then layered that with leafy stems that I had die cut from light pink and white cardstock with a die from the Spellbinders May 2019 card kit and a butterfly that I had previously foiled in pink.   The embossed piece was adhered with foam tape and then all the elements were layered on using Nuvo Deluxe adhesive.  Isn't that embossed background gorgeous?!  I'm going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes. 

For the second card I decided that because the name of the embossing folder is Sedona I wanted to create a background that made you think of a sunset (or sunrise) that you might see in Sedona Arizona.  I used a combination of distress oxide inks in Ripe Persimmon, Candied Apple and Fossilized Amber.  (This combo is one created by Kristina Werner and you can find it here.)  After blending the background I placed the piece in the embossing folder and ran it through my machine.  The little cut out for this one are diamonds.   This one was trimmed down only a tiny bit and adhered with foam tape to a kraft cardstock base.  I die cut the Spellbinders word die happy (it is from a small die kit of the month) from black cardstock three times, adhered together with Nuvo Deluxe adhesive and then adhered to card front.  The sentiment is from a Spellbinders stamp set and was stamped in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne on kraft cardstock, trimmed out and popped up with foam tape.   This one is definitely more masculine in feel.  I just love the ink blending with the embossed background on this one!  ETA:  I just found out that this is perfect for the Male Room challenge and so I will be posting it there. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

It's Wednesday...

Hey there... it's Wednesday and that means that I have a post up 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 to see the full project.  Have a wonderful day!

hello, beautiful...

Hello!  Hope you are having a great week!  I'm popping in with a card for my two favorite challenges:  Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.  I will also be posting this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge and the Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash challenge.  The colors from CTD are pretty bold and for the most part I went a bit softer with them.   This happened because I used watercolor pencils to color the Reverse Confetti Butterfly Wreath and they tend to produce a soft color value.  The wreath was stamped in VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist.  After I finished coloring the wreath I die cut it with the matching die.  I used the RC Snow Star cover plate for the front of my card.  I was going to remove the little diamonds in the stars, but decided to keep them in place so I put a bit of washi tape behind each star and then added some additional cardstock to make the panel a little sturdier.   I adhered the panel to a white cardstock base with foam tape.  The wreath was adhered with more foam tape and then I cut thin strips of gray, bright green and white cardstock.  I stamped the sentiment in Morning Mist on the white strip and then adhered all of them per the sketch.   I finished off the card by adding lots of sparkly sequins that depending on the light look purple or fushia.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Happy Wednesday...

Hello and happy Wednesday everyone!  I have a post up on the AJVD blog today and here is a little peek of what I made:

I hope you will take the time to head over to the AJVD blog to see the full project.  Have a wonderful day!

two cards...

Hello!  Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's day.  My boys got me a lovely orchid and a Starbucks gift card... yay!   I spent part of the day finishing up a card that I started yesterday when my Spellbinders February small die kit landed in my mailbox earlier in the day.  The Spellbinders small die kits are absolutely fabulous and I think that this one is my favorite so far.  I can not only die cut with this kit I can use it to foil and that is what I did, lol!   I used the color combo from Color Throwdown for my card and was trying to use the sketch from FMS for my layout, but the circles were too big so I came up with another idea.  I die cut all the different layering pieces from cardstock corresponding to the CTD colors and then layered them together.  I used one of the layering dies to foil the background of my white cardstock panel with silver foil using my Glimmer hot foiling system.  I then foiled the hello word in silver and then die cut it with the matching die.  I layered up all the circles and then adhered the sentiment.   I had so much fun using the dies to foil that I have another potential card waiting in the wings!

My second card is for this month's Altenew inspiration challenge and the Sunday Stamp challenge.  I have wanted the Mega Succulent stamp set for ages.  Finally I took advantage of free shipping and purchased it a few weeks ago.  Since it had been sitting in my crafting area I decided to use it to make my card.  I stamped the image on white watercolor paper with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink, applied clear embossing powder and heat set.  I then watercolored just the center of the image in yellow roughly following the outline of a tag that I was going to use to die cut the center.  Once the image was dry I die cut the panel and then die cut the tag from the center.  I added some green ribbon to the tag that I tied with black twine.  The main panel was adhered with foam tape and then the tag with a double layer of foam tape.  I finished by stamping the sentiment from another Altenew set in green ink, trimming down and adhering to the card front.  Honestly, I'm not super happy with this card because it just doesn't look that well done to me.  But I need to stop being so hard on myself!  Let me know what you think.  ETA:  Just found out this would work for the new Time Out challenge so I will be posting it over there.  Thanks so much for all the lovely comments concerning this card!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Wednesday with AJVD

Hello and happy Wednesday!  Can't believe that Valentine's day is just a day away and that February is half over!  Where is the time going?  I have a post up on the AJVD blog and here is a little peek of my card:

I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full project and to let me know what you think!  Thanks for stopping by!

foiled butterfly...

Hello from very wet and foggy western Washington!  A little depressing, but I will take rain and fog over snow any day!  I have a card to share that I made using lots of Spellbinders dies and my Spellbinders Glimmer hot foiling system.  The Glimmer systems is currently on sale!   I haven't done this in a couple to weeks, but I combined my two favorite challenges (Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown) to create my card.  I fell in love with the CTD combo the moment I saw it and may have to make another card using those colors!  Anywhoo… I didn't have the shade of pink cardstock I wanted for my flower so I just made my own using white cardstock and distress oxide ink in Spun Sugar.   The flower and leaves dies are from the Spellbinders May 2019 card kit called Stay Wild.  After cutting the two part of the flower I layered them together.  The leaves were cut from white cardstock.  I used a classic square Spellbinders die to cut the navy blue cardstock.   The butterfly was foiled in a pretty light blue foil which is kind of hard to tell.  I was able to get a decent close up photo so hopefully you can see that it is light blue.   After I foiled the butterfly I die cut it with the matching die.  I adhered the square so I could determine where to place the sentiment (from A Jillian Vance Design) and then stamped it in PTI's Spring Rain.  I arranged and adhered all the leaves to the flower and then adhered the flower to the square using foam dimensionals.   The butterfly wings were slightly bent upward and then adhered to the flower with glue.  I finished with a scattering of Pretty Pink Posh pale pink sequins.   I just want to remind you that Spellbinders is have a blow out sale on select dies with up to 40% off.   Just click here to find out more details.  Decided to add this to the current Flower Challenge, as well.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Happy Wednesday!

Hello and happy Wednesday!  I have a card that I'm sharing over on the AJVD blog today and here is a little peek:

Hmmm... what could it be?  A Valentine?  I hope you will head over to the blog to check it out!  Thanks for your visit!  

Spellbinders Cutting Dies Sale!

Hey!  Just popping in to let you know that Spellbinders in having a sale on select cutting dies now through February 9th.  You can click here to got to the sale or just click on the banner below!  Happy shopping!

masculine birthday card

Hello!  A quick post to share a card that I made for the MFT sketch and color challenges.  When I saw the MFT sketch challenge I immediately thought of a set of triangle dies that I had purchased from MFT a few years ago with the intention of using them for masculine cards.  Of course, that didn't happen... until now, lol!  Card is pretty self-explanatory, right?  Lots of diecutting of triangles using the MFT colors and then arranging them to fit the sketch layout.  The sentiment is from the MFT Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes and was stamped using VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist.  Also going to post this over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

love & hugs...

Hello!  Popping in with a super clean and simple card that wasn't so simple to make, lol!  I started working on this a few days ago and if it weren't for the fact that I got sidetracked a few times I would have finished it on Saturday.  But here it is Sunday and I finally got it done.  I'm glad that it took so long to make because it is perfect for the new Paper Players challenge!   I used the layout from CAS(E) this Sketch and the color from Color Throwdown so will be posting it there, as well as the SSS Wednesday challenge.   I love the CTD combo of red, light gray and dark gray as it is perfect for a guy and even though I used a heart for the focal image it still remains pretty masculine I think.  The heart die cut is the Deco Heart from Simon Says Stamp.  I have had this die for a long time and have never used it.   I have been doing to reorganizing and when I went to find the die set it had seemingly disappeared!  Then when I went back for the third look through all the dies I found it hiding behind another die set!  Anyway... die cut it twice from my favorite red cardstock, Stampin Up! Cherry Cobbler, stacked them and there adhered to the solid heart cut from a gray cardstock.    Three strips of light gray cardstock were cut and adhered to a white cardstock base with foam tape.  I adhered the heart, the sentiment strip (from the SSS stamp set Beautiful Flowers) that I stamped in VersaFine Morning Mist and I was done!  Finally... lol!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!