a quick post...

Hello!  Popping in with a quick post of a card that I made for the MFT sketch challenge, as well as the MFT color challenge.  I'm also going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.   The card is pretty simple.  I die cut the image panel using an MFT fishtail flag stax die (cutting off the fishtail end with the straight end of the die) and then stamped it with the MFT Fresh Cut Flowers stamp in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  I die cut the butterfly from the Brilliant Butterflies Die-namics set and then stamped it with the two shades of pink from the color challenge.  To bring in the other two colors I cut strips of yellow and green cardstock and adhered them to a white cardstock base.  I stamped the sentiment from another MFT stamp set on the image panel, adhered the panel and the butterfly to finish off the card. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

cake and balloons!

Hello and happy Friday!  We are having lovely weather here in the Puget Sound region and that makes me happy!  The Mountain is out and that makes me even happier, lol!  Plus my niece and her little are visiting this weekend so now I'm really happy!  Anywho... I do have cards to share and they are both birthday cards.  First up is a card that I made for a dear friend who will be celebrating her birthday early next week.  She loves pink and so when I saw the colors from Color Throwdown I knew I wanted to use them to make her card.  I pulled out the Stampin Up! Sale-A-Bration Happy Birthday to You stamp set as it has that sweet flower covered cake.  I stamped the cake on watercolor paper with VersaFine Clair Morning Mist ink and then colored the image with distress inks in Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn, Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber (flower centers) and Broken China.  When the image was dry I die cut it with the insert die from the Becca Feeken Sentimental Finery Flourished Fretwork set.  I used the largest die from the same set to die cut the rectangle from off white cardstock.   I decided to emboss the sentiment from the set on vellum using white embossing powder, wrapped the strip around the panel and then secured it on the back.  I adhered the outer rectangle with glue to a pink cardstock base and then popped the image panel up with foam tape.  I finished off the card by adding some light yellow Pretty Pink Posh gems to each corner of the outer rectangle.   Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

The second card is for Freshly Made Sketches and this month's Altenew inspiration challenge.  I used the Mini Delight Birthday Love stamp and die set.  I stamped the balloons using Altenew Starlight crisp ink.  The funny thing is two of the balloons are the same color, but the third one turned out a little darker! Anyway after diecutting the balloons I attached some brown string to the back of each one and let them dry.  I have had a hard time with the color combo for the inspiration challenge, but when I saw the beautiful card my friend Greta made using kraft cardstock I decided to give it a try. Glad I did!  I cut a piece of kraft cardstock and then did partial embossing using my craft hammer.  Once I had enough embossing I then swiped some distress oxide ink in vintage photo over the embossing to bring it out more.  I die cut some white cardstock using the largest rectangle die from the AJVD stitched dot rectangles die set and adhered the kraft strip.  To give it some height I added scrap cardstock strips to the back instead of using foam tape.   The balloons were adhered with a combination of glue and one well placed foam dimensional.  I stamped the sentiment from another Altenew stamp set on white cardstock with the same Starlight ink, trimmed it down and then adhered it to the card front.  I also added a dot of glue to the balloon strings to keep them in place.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Happy 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:

I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to check out my card.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

friendship and father's day...

Hello! Popping in with a couple of cards that I have made over the last two days.  First up is a friendship card that I made using the Freshly Made Sketches layout and the colors from Color Throwdown.   After making the Spellbinders card that I shared the other day I was in a gold/white mood and the colors from CTD were just waiting for me to use to make a card.  For my card I used the Stampin Up! stamp set Tropical Chic and the matching dies.  I die cut the leaves from white cardstock and then the insert pieces from gold metallic cardstock.  I adhered the insert pieces to the leaves with glue.  The flowers were stamped in pink ink from Hero Arts.  I die cut the label using a die from A Jillian Vance Design (sorry the set is no longer available) from light aqua cardstock.  The sentiment is from another Stampin Up! set called Climbing Roses.   I adhered the label to a white cardstock panel with foam dimensionals and then adhered the leaves and flowers as you see.   The finished panel was then adhered to a white cardstock base.

The second card is for CAS(E) this Sketch and I used the Essentials by Ellen Mondo Succulents stamp set.  I have had this stamp for months and finally used it!  I stamped the image on watercolor cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then colored the image with distress inks in Evergreen Bough, Iced Spruce, Mowed Lawn, Bundled Sage, Brushed Corduroy, Crushed Olive.  When the piece was dry I die cut it with the largest die from the AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die and then per the sketch I used another AJVD (from the set I used in the above card) to die cut the label from the panel.  I stamped the sentiment Happy Father's Day on the label with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  The main panel was adhered flush on a kraft cardstock base and the label portion was popped up with foam tape.  I added little dots here and there with a white Jelly Roll pen.  I pretty pleased with my coloring of the succulents.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Spellbinders Timeless Grace Doily Dies

Hello!  I'm popping in with another card I made using a different set of doily dies from Amazing Paper Grace for Spellbinders.  This set is called the Timeless Grace Doily Etched dies.  Just like with my first card I used metallic and plain cardstocks.  The contrast is more noticeable with this card because I used gold metallic cardstock and white cardstock.  I also included some photos of the dies and the resulting die cuts to show you a little better how they go together.    The finished card is also 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 like the first card due to the size of the finished doily.  With this card I decided to use some of the die cut pieces that I have from the Spellbinders March 2020 card kit called Feeling Hoppy.  I placed a small circular piece in the center of my doily to provide a bit of a platform for my die cut pieces.  I then adhered them all in place.  I really love the contrast created by alternating the gold and white cardstocks.  It is a little time consuming to put all the pieces together, but the end result is so worth all the time you spend.  I'm really looking forward to using the dies with different colors of cardstock and other stamps and dies in my collection!  Don't forget about the big Summer Sale going on at Spellbinders.  It ends on June 21st and there are lots of great deals!   Just click here to head to the sale.

Dies and cut pieces

Die cuts with folds

Pieces linked together

I hope my photos are helpful.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Wednesday with AJVD

Hello and happy Wednesday!  Wow... we are already in the middle of June!  Even in lockdown time is flying by!  I have a post up on the AJVD blog today and it features two cards.  Yep... two cards!  Here is a little peek:

The cards are very similar, but one is simple and the other stepped up.  I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see both cards!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Spellbinders Heart Melange Doily Dies

Hello!  Wow... seems like ages since I last posted!  I'm popping in today with a quick post to share a card that I made with some really creative dies from Spellbinders.  The dies were created by Becca Feeken for Spellbinders and they were kind to send me two different sets of dies to work with.  Today I am sharing a card that I made with the Heart Melange Doily set.   The set consists of three dies and an insert that can be removed so you can create solid die cuts as well as the doily look.   To create a complete doily you die cut approximately 10 individual pieces.  Each piece has score lines that you fold to create a little 'dog ear' as Becca called it.  There are also slits in each piece that allow you to link them together to form the doily.  I cut five pieces from pink cardstock and five pieces from a rose gold metallic cardstock from Tonic Studios.   I then alternated each piece to create my doily.  (A video can be found here that shows how to create a doily).   I applied a little glue to each joint to give the doily a little more stability.   The completed doily is quite large (approximately 5") so to finish the card I created a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 card base and then a rose gold mat at 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 and a white cardstock mat at 5 x 5.  I also used a circle Kaleidoscope die set to create the little center piece and then foiled the sentiment in pink foil with my Glimmer hot foil system.  The sentiment was die cut with a banner die and adhered to the center.  I will be giving this card to my niece at her bridal shower in July.  She is supposed to be getting married in September.  Don't forget that Spellbinders is have a huge sale right now.  Just click on the banner to see all the great deals!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Spellbinders Super Summer Sale!

Hey friends!  Popping in to let you know that Spellbinders is have a super sale going on right now.  This sale runs through June 21st and you can find all kinds of great deals!  Just click on the banner below to be taken to the sale.

Thanks for stopping in today and if you use the link to shop that sale please know that I really appreciate it!  Thank you!

Happy Wednesday...

Hello and happy Wednesday everyone!  Hope your week is going well.   Popping in to let you know I have a post up on the AJVD blog today.  You know the drill.... here is a peek!

I hope you will head over to the blog to see the full card.  There is a sale going on right now in honor of Jillian's 21st birthday!  You can save 21% on your order and there is also an opportunity to win a $21 gift certificate!  

wishing you sunshine...

Hello!  Popping in with a rainbow inspired card for a couple of challenges:  the Paper Players and Fab Friday.  The were no rainbows today in my part of the world even though there was a lot of rain!  But, that didn't stop me from creating this fun rainbow card!  I had made a card the other day and decided to use a stencil on it.  I went through all my stencils and found some rainbow themed stencils from PaperTrey Ink's Make it Market mini kits.  I paired a stencil with a heart in the center and the rays coming out from it with a stamp and die from the mini kit.   I started my card by masking off the rays on the stencil and inking up the heart with Candied Apple distress oxide ink.  I then determined how many rays I wanted to be each color and inked them up in rainbow order starting with orange.  I used the following distress oxide inks:  Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade, Lucky Clover, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire, and Wilted Violet.  When I was finished with the main rays I inked up the smaller rays in the same order.  I then die cut the piece with an AJVD basic rectangle and some dark gray cardstock with the same die so I could layer the two per the Fab Friday sketch.  I then die cut the word sunshine from patterned paper that is part of the mini kit four times and layering them together.  The rest of the sentiment was stamped in VersaMark watermark ink on vellum and embossed with black embossing powder from WOW!   I adhered the vellum strip to the main panel and then adhered the die cut word.   Popped everything up on a white cardstock base. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wondeful day!

a flower and a butterfly...

Hello!  Popping in with a couple of cards today.  First up is a card for the Hero Arts Stay Crafty challenge.  This time it is a sketch by Julee Tillman.  I always think I'm going to get something made for these challenges, but it never seems to happen.  When I saw the sketch I just had to play along.  I started going through my Hero Arts stamps and discovered a stamp and die set that I do not remember even buying!   How funny is that?  And the other thing.... I don't even know what the set is called! (ETA:  I posted my card on Instagram and Hero Arts was kind enough to let me know that it is from the April 2016 My Monthly Hero kit! I still don't remember buying the kit, but obviously I did!) It has a beautiful main floral image and then several smaller images and sentiments.  The large flower can be die cut as a single image, but there are also several other dies that can be used to cut out different parts of the flower so you can layer them.  I checked on the Hero Arts website, but found nothing.  I think I purchased it at the same time I bought a My Monthly Hero kit several years ago, but I'm not sure.   Anyway, I stamped the images on watercolor paper with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then watercolored them with distress inks in Picked Raspberry, Wild Honey, Forest Moss and Crushed Olive.  I die cut the flower and then trimmed out the leaves by hand as there are no dies for those images.  I found a piece of patterned paper that had similar colors in it and die cut it with a rectangle die from A Jillian Vance Design.  Because I wanted to be able to see the pattern on the paper I die cut some of the elements in the sketch from vellum.  They were adhered with glue in strategic places and then I arranged the flower and leaves.  I had a small piece of the patterned paper left that was large enough to die cut and stamp with the sentiment before adhering it to my card.   You can see the stamp and die set in my photo so if any one knows what it is called, please let me know!

The second card is for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.  I have had a beautiful die set from Spellbinders for quite sometime now that I have not used.  It features a four layer butterfly and lots of small flowers and leaves to add as embellishments, as well as a large sentiment.  I used the butterfly dies and a few of the other dies, as well.  I die cut the butterfly from white cardstock for the bottom layer and then green and orange cardstocks for the second and third layers.  The final layer was die cut from red glitter paper.  I also die cut the strip elements in the sketch from the same cardstocks using sentiment strip dies from A Jillian Vance Design.   The orange and green strips were popped up with foam dimensionals and the red glitter strip flat to the card base.  I adhered the butterfly and a small flower/leaves embellishment that I made.   The sentiment was hot foiled using my Glimmer Hot Foil system and silver foil.  I die cut the sentiment with a banner die that comes with the sentiment set I used.    I then slid the sentiment in under the butterfly as you see.   This card is really bright, but I love how it turned out.   Spellbinders is having a special going on right now.  Spend $100 and you will get a card kit for free!  The Spellbinders card kits are jam packed with cards, envelopes, patterned paper, embellishments, adhesive, etc.!   Just click on the banner to be taken to the Spellbinders website.  (Affiliate link used at no cost to you.  Thank you if you make a purchase through my link.)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Hello... It's Wednesday!

Wow... where has the time gone?  It is already June!  It is also the first Wednesday in June and that means that I have a post up on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek:

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