more clean and simple mixed media...

 Hello!  I'm back and like the title of my post says I have more cards created in a clean and simple style that feature some mixed media!  Love combining things that don't seem like they belong together, lol.  Let's have a look at what I made.

This card is for Freshly Made Sketches and I just love how it turned out!   I used lots of distress mica sprays and I think the Fossilized Amber distress spritz for the leaves.  The whole thing started when I created the tag I used on this card.  I had alot of the sprays left over in my splatter box and so I decided to grab a piece of watercolor cardstock and soak up all the leftover sprays.  The end result was a brownish color.  Once it was dry I added some additional mica spray in Mulled Cider and Harvest Moon (I think, lol).   I let it dry and then die cut the leaves using a leaf die from A Jillian Vance Design and a set of leaf dies from Simon Says Stamp.   A piece of off white cardstock was die cut with a rectangle die and then I worked on the arrangment of the leaves.   When I had that done to my liking I took a picture so I could get the placement just right.  I glued down the leaves and then added the sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Cozy Autumn Hugs stamp set with strip of foam tape.  I finished with the little bow.  

This next card is for Color Throwdown and I will also be adding it to the Just Us Girls gallery as I added a little bit of stenciling.   Take a look.

The CTD colors this week are orange, cream and kraft.  I thought the newly released Birch Press Design Splendid Cosmos Contour Layers die would look pretty in those colors.  I die cut the main flower from off white cardstock (PTI's Rustic White) and then added orange ink (Pinkfresh Studio Apricot) to the center of the flower extending it out on the petals.  Got a little too much on that one bottom petal, but I think it looks fine.  I die cut the center pieces from kraft cardstock and then added a little bit of the residual orange ink on my brush to the pieces.   Everything was then glued together.  I originally had another ide for the card, but when I tried it I just didn't like it.  That happens sometimes, right?   So, I decided to sleep on it and in the morning pulled out a brick pattern stencil from MFT Stamps and added the partial brick pattern to a kraft cardstock panel using Picket Fence Studios Luxe Paper Glaze in gold.   Once dry I adhered the flower and then added the sentiment that I had hot foiled on cream cardstock in matte gold.   Again, clean and simple, but with a little touch of mixed media.  Try it sometime!

I was sad to learn of the passing of Color Throwdown team member, Barbara Anders.  She never failed to amaze me with her gorgeous cards!   Her talent will be greatly missed.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

hey pumpkin...

 Hello, again!  Here to share a card that I made for the current Paper Players challenge to create a clean and simple card with a tag on it.    I'm also going to post it to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of Halloween.  Let's have a look at what I made.

The elements of this card got started when I was making the card with the big pumpkin on it.  I couldn't decide if I wanted to use the big pumpkin die set or this Simon Says Stamp die set called Stack o' Pumpkins with the CTD colors.    I die cut the Stack o' Pumpkins from the orange cardstock, as well as the aqua cardstock I used for the other card, but as I played around with the die cuts I just didn't like what I was coming up with.  So, I set Stack o' Pumpkins die cuts to the side and made the other card.  Then I saw the challenge at the Paper Players I thought I could use the other pumpkins on a tag.   While this card is pretty clean and simple I went in a mixed media direction with it.  For the tag I sprayed some white cardstock with Fossilized Amber distress spritz, let it dry and then spritzed on some Fallen Acorn distress mica spray.  I die cut the tag and then used what was left over to back the open ares of the jack o' lantern pumpkins.  I added a bit of distress oxide ink in Gathered Twigs to the tops of each pumpkin.  I didn't want to waste the aqua colored die cut pumpkins so I glued them behind the orange ones.  I stacked all the pumpkins on the tag starting with the bottom one.  I used thin foam squares on that one and then glue for the other two.   I recently purchased a package of Penny Black Beautiful Branches stick and shine so I used one of the branches along with bronze Deco Foil in the upper left corner of a white cardstock rectangle.  I added the tag and then finished off the card with the twine bow and the sentiment.   I didn't have twine in the brown color I wanted so I used some cream colored twine and spritzed it with Gathered Twigs distress stain and Fallen Acorn distress mica spray.  I really like how it turned out.

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

halloween greetings

 Hello!  Popping back in with another card for a few challenges:  Color Throwdown, Just Us Girls and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   Let's have a look at what I made.

It's pumpkin season and I am here for it!  I LOVE PUMPKINS!! And making card with pumpkins on them, lol!  Couldn't resist using the Simon Says Stamp Pumpkin die set along with the CTD colors and inspiration from the JUGs mood board.  I die cut the pumpkin from orange cardstock and then added some light inking with distress oxide ink left on the blending brush I use with orange oxide inks.  I die cut the stem and leaves from aqua and green cardstocks and did the same thing with them.   Black cardstock was die cut with a rectangle die and then embossed with the spider web embossing folder.  I adhered that to a light gray cardstock base, added the pumpkin and leaves and finished with the sentiment that was stamped in black on the same light gray used for the card base and die cut with a tag die.  To tone down the gray I used the residual ink on my black soot oxide blending brush.   Another Halloween card to send to one of the littles in my life!

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

celebrate today...

 Hello friends!  I'm popping in to share a card that was supposed to be posted to the Birch Press Design blog on Wednesday, October 16th.   Unfortunately, the BPD blog was hacked and Dave, the owner of Birch Press Design was forced to remove the entire blog!    I decided to share what I made here so those of you who aren't on Instagram or don't want to go to the BPD Facebook page can see what I made.  So here we go!

I used the recently released Meadow Berry Branch Contour Layers and Evening Moths dies set for my card.  I wanted bit of a fall/rustic feel for the card so I used orange Memory Box cardstock for the berries and two red Memory Box red cardstocks that are more on the coral side of red.  

I used glossy accents on the berries and moth and then sprinkled on Rock Candy glitter for some subtle sparkle.  I used a Poppystamps circle die set for the two circles in the background.  They were die cut from cream Memory Box woodgrain cardstock.   The background rectangle was die cut from Memory Box kraft woodgrain cardstock.  

After adhering all the pieces as you see, I finished the card with the Celebrate Today Noted Script hot foil plate that was foiled using matte gold foil.   A little side note about hot foiling.  I haven't done it in ages so I was a little worried that I had forgotten how.  Thankfully I remembered and my foiling turned out perfect!  

Well, that is it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

merry & bright...

 Hello!  I'm popping in with a card for Freshly Made Sketches that I made using products from Evergreen Season by 49 and Market.   I think this also fits the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to add texture.  I have lots of texture in those layers, lol!  Let's have a look!

I haven't had much time lately to make cards because my son is learning how to drive (finally!) and I the one spending the time in the car with him as he learns.  He is a good driver, but the process is taking longer than I thought it would.   Very different from when I learned to drive.  Anyway, being short on time I turned to the laser cuts and ephemera pieces from Evergreen Season along with pretty patterned papers to get my card made.  Yes, there is a tag underneath all the greenery, lol!   I die cut the two pieces of patterned paper with a rectangle die.  I then used the same rectangle die on the angle to cut the top piece and layered the two together.  I added the red twine to the tag, added thin foam squares to the back and then adhered it to my card front.  I layered on all the laser cut elements and the merry & bright banner.   It doesn't show well in the photo, but I did add glossy accents to the pine cones and then sprinkled on some Rock Candy glitter.  

Well, that's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

sweet wishes release...

 Hello, hello!  Did you see?  Simon Says Stamp has a brand new release called Sweet Wishes.  You can find the complete collection of products right here.  Simon Says Stamp generously sent me the beautiful Sketched Leaves stamp set and I created two projects with the set.   I went full on autumn colors mode for both projects.  Let's have a look at the first one.

For the card I started off by stamping the maple leaf on watercolor paper with VersaMark watermark ink, applying gold embossing powder and then heat setting it.  I then used my Tonic Studio Aqua Flow pens in autumn shades of red, yellow and brown for the background.  Once the piece was dry, I die cut it with a rectangle die and then sprayed it with distress mica sprays in Harvest Moon, Mulled Cider and Fallen Acorn.  I roughed up the edges for a more rustic look.  I embossed the sentiment in gold on vellum, trimmed it down and tore one edge.  I wrapped the other edge around the back of my panel, secured it with glue dots and tied the bow.  The panel was then adhered to an off-white cardstock base.  Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to add texture.  

I really had alot of fun creating my next project.  Let's have a look at it. 

When I first saw the stamp set I knew that I wanted to create a decor type piece with it.  I went with a tag design using a Stampers Anonymous #8 thick board tag with a distress #8 heavy stock tag on top.  For this piece I used distress oxide inks in Carved Pumpkin, Fossilized Amber, Bundled Sage and Gathered Twigs.  I blended on the inks to my liking and then splattered the tag with water.  I let the tag dry for a bit and then stamped on the three leaves using VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink.  I finished the tag with lots of splatters foundry wax in the color Gilded.  I heat set the splatters to give them shine and make them permanent.  The edges of the tag were also roughed up for a more rustic look.   You don't see it in the photo, but I used some Tim Holtz washi tape to cover the sides of the thickboard tag for a more finished look.  Then I adhered the inkblended tag using Multi Matte Medium and let it dry.  

For the leaves I used the same oxide inks on a piece of cream colored heavy stock cardstock.   Once I had the inkblending done I stamped each leaf using the Acorn ink and then trimmed out each leaf.  There are matching dies that you can find right here, but I don't have them (yet!).  Since the leaves are fairly large, trimming them out was pretty quick and easy!   I also splattered the leaves with lots of the Gilded foundry wax.  The edges were roughed up and then I glued each leaf on top of the image stamped on the tag by adding glue down the center of each one.   To finish I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark watermark ink, applied gold embossing powder and heat set.  The sentiment was then die cut with a cute little fancy shaped tag from Simon Says Stamp.  The edges roughed up and it was adhered to the tag.  I also added a little bit of inking to the edges of the leaves before gluing them on.  Some Memory Box fairy drops in autumn shades were added, along with the ribbon bow.  I custom colored the ribbon using the mica sprays in Harvest Moon and Mulled Cider.  I really love how this tag turned out!

The challenge at Just Us Girls is to create a project based on the word leaves.  My tag fits the challenge perfectly so I will be posting it there.   Love it when things work out like that!

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

fall cards...

 Hello, hello!  Popping in with a couple of fall themed cards to share.  I thought our normal wet and dreary fall weather had arrived the other day, but nope!  We are back to sun and relatively warm temperatures.  It's a little annoying as I really want to wear my warm and cozy tops, but some days it is too warm!  Oh well, I'm sure the wet and cold will be here soon enough, lol!   And I should not be complaining anyway, my corner of the world has not faced the devastation that the southeast has!  Absolutely sickened by the response of the current administration, as well!   Anyway, you came here to see cards, so here they are.

This one will be heading off to Freshly Made Sketches.  I generally don't make cards as busy as this one, but felt in the mood, lol!  All the papers, stamps and dies are from a Simon Says Stamp fall themed card kit I got last year.  Finally putting it to good use!  I used distress oxide inks for the leaves.  I inked up the leaves using the tiny distress ink blenders and they worked like a charm.  I pounced on one color and then was able to add the secondary color exactly where I wanted it to go!  To make things easy on myself I die cut all the images first, left them in the cardstock and then lined up the images.  It worked perfectly.   I trimmed down the background paper, added some additional pieces behind it for strength and adhered it to my card base.  The gingham paper was die cut with a tag die from the kit, the leaves adhered along with the sentiment.  I finished everything off with the two little bows.  I really like how it turned out.  Will add this one to the current Time Out challenge, as well.

This card is for Color Throwdown and as you can see I used that pretty tag again!  It was right there at my finger tips so why not?   The mushrooms are from a die set from the Greetery.  I inked them up with distress oxide inks and then adhered them together.  I had the embossed background panel on my desk as well so decided to use it, too.  I went with the debossed side as sometimes I like that look better than the embossed side.  The embossing folder is from Simon Says Stamp and came in the card kit that I used to make the first card.  I die cut the tag from off white cardstock, inked up one corner with distress oxide ink that was left on the blending brush and then added the mushrooms.  The sentiment is from the Greetery Oakwood sentiment set.  I finished off the card with the double bow at the top of the tag.   More my usual clean and simple style!   Adding this card to the Simon Says Stamp World Card Making Day line up.  

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Well, that's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day. 

cozy hugs...

 Hello, hello!  I'm back with another card that I made using one of the laser cuts from the 49 and Market Vintage Orchard set.   When I saw the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this particular laser cut immediately came to mind.   Let's have a look at what I made.

As you can see the card is very simple.  I die cut kraft cardstock with a rectangle die.  I added splatters of  Gilded foundry wax and then heat set the splatters with my heat tool.   Sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Cozy Autumn Hugs stamp set and was stamped using VersaFine CLAIR Acorn in.  I used thin foam squares on the back of the laser cut and placed it on my panel.

I stamped the second sentiment on kraft cardstock with the Acorn ink, as well and then adhered that to the laser cut with tiny foam squares.  The panel was then added to a kraft cardstock base.   Making cards has been a little hard for me to do lately due to not having the time so it is nice having the laser cuts to help me quick and pretty cards!  So this card will be going to Freshly Made Sketches and to the current Time Out challenge to be inspired by a quote about autumn.  My friend, Greta, is on the design team.  The card she made is absolutely amazing.   Also adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design

 Hello!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I created.

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

Autumn and Christmas

 Hello!  Popping in to share two cards that I made for the Sunday Stamps and Paper Players challenges, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  One card features autumn and the other features Christmas.  Both were made with products from 49 and Market.  First up is the autumn card. 

This card features 49 and Market Vintage Orchard collection.  I have fallen in love with 49 and Market products.  They are absolutely gorgeous!  For this card I used a beautiful piece of floral patterned paper for the background.  The tag was die cut from another piece that features a more mixed media look.  The floral piece, as well as the butterflies and bee are what they call laser cuts.  They are more substantial than regular thin die cut pieces of a similar style and I love them!  I popped the floral piece with thin foam squares and then added the butterflies and bees with glue.  The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp birthday set.  I wrapped the green twine around the background panel, pulled the ends through the hole in the tag and tied the bow.  I then flipped the tag over, added thin foam squares and adhered it to the background.   This is going to Sunday Stamps and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge. 

The next card is for the Paper Players challenge and features the 49 and Market Evergreen Season collection.  Let's have a look.

I started with a white cardstock panel that I embossed with a Spellbinders embossing folder with a Christmas/holiday theme.  I decided to go with the debossed side for this card.   The tag featuring Santa and the floral cluster are from the Evergreen Season Ephemera Bits and just like the laser cuts they are made from a very high quality cardstock that is super substantial.  I pulled out a piece of plaid paper and trimmed it down per the sketch.  That was adhered to the white panel and then I layered on the tag and floral cluster.  The sentiment is also from the Ephemera Bits pack.  I finished the card with the green twine bow and some Rock Candy glitter to the center of the white flower.  One more Christmas card for my stash!  I'm also going to add this to the Peace on Earth challenge.  They have a fun inspiration board, but I just went with anything goes. 

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day. 

just a note...

 Hello!  Popping in with a quick share today of a card that I made for the September Pinkfresh Studio challenge to use a wreath and for the Paper Players challenge of a clean and simple design with either plants or animals.  I went with plants.  Have a look.

I don't know about you, but I like getting a deal and getting something free.  Scrapbook.com has deals and freebies on a weekly basis.  This card was made with several different freebies from Scrapbook.com that are also Pinkfresh Studio products.    With the theme of wreath at Pinkfresh Studio I decided to use a set of PFS circle dies that I had recently purchased.  I think they are the Folk Circle dies set.  Anyway I used several of the dies to cut the circle as the base to layer on the floral vellum pieces that were one of the PFS/Scrapbook.com freebies.   The other freebie is the sentiment.  I layered up all the vellum elements on my wreath base and then added it to a white cardstock panel that I die cut with the PFS Sparkling Diamonds cover die.  I finished with the sentiment.  Clean, simple and super quick to make!

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

Birch Press Design Post

 Hello, hello!  Hope your September is going well.  I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I created.

Hope you will head over to the Birch Press blog to see what I created.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

hello... you're amazing

 Hello, hello!  Hope all is well in your world.  Autumn is on the way in my corner of the world and with that in mind I decided to take up the Color Hues challenge and create a card with the colors of rust and green.  Let's have a look at what I made.

Back in July, I think, I got a Simon Says Stamp card kit and instead of letting it sit around like I did with one I got last year I decided to use the beautiful floral image in the set for my card.  I used Tonic Studios aqua flow pens and a wet paint brush to do the coloring.  I first stamped the image on watercolor cardstock using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then got to coloring.  I laid down a layer of yellow and then layered red over the top to get the rusty color I was going for.  For the flower centers I used a combination of the yellow and red along with some brown thrown in for a rust that was more brown than orange like the flowers.  

I have only one green in the Aqua Flow pens, but was able to get a bit of shading on the leaves by drawing the color out or removing some of it.  Overall, I pretty pleased with how the coloring turned out.  I die cut the panel with a Simon Says Stamp A2 Nesting Frames die that cuts a thin border.  I used the same die to cut glossy black cardstock to get the frame that I glued to a cardstock base.  I glued the leftover rectangle and two more to the back of my watercolored piece and then inserted that inside the frame after I had stamped the small sentiment from the same stamp set that the floral image came from (Graceful Flowers).  The A2 Nesting Frames set comes with the "hello" word die so I die cut that three times from the glossy black cardstock and adhered them together and then adhered it to my card front.  

Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

stenciled cards...

 Hey there!  I'm stopping in to share two cards that feature stenciling.  One card is for the current Color Throwdown challenge and the other is for the current Sunday Stamps and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenges.  First up in the card for Color Throwdown.

I love to cross-stitch and I like to stitch on cards, too, so when I saw the Waffle Flower Winter Floral stencil and stitching die set I had to get it.   I thought the colors for the current CTD would be perfect for a non-traditional Christmas card and I was right.  I love how this turned out.  I used distress oxide inks in Peacock Feathers, Wilted Violet and Mowed Lawn for the stenciling.  Per instructions from Waffle Flower I used the stitching die first before stenciling.  Once the stenciling was done I went through my extensive collection of "fancy floss" and found three colors that worked well with the inks I used.  Fancy floss is different from regular embroidery floss in that it is dyed so that there the floss color is variegated.  You can see the variegation the most in the purple fancy floss I used.   I love how it looks.  Once the stitching was done I adhered the card to a light gray cardstock base and then added the pre-printed sentiment that is also from Waffle Flower.  One more Christmas card for my stash!

For my next stenciled card I used a stencil set from Altenew called Daisy Craze.  I watched Jennifer McGuire make a card using the stencils and I loved the unique look so I decided to purchase the set.  I thought the colors for the Sunday Stamps challenge would be perfect and they are!  Let's have a look.

I used mainly Altenew inks for the stenciling.  I don't have any brown Altenew inks so I used a brown ink from Pinkfresh Studio for the flower centers.  I love how bright and happy this card is.  The perfect way to show someone a little gratitude!  After stenciling I die cut the panel down and adhered it to a light gray cardstock base.  The sentiments are from a Simon Says Stamp set called Cozy Autumn Hugs that I got in the fall of last year.  Looking forward to using this set this fall to create cards with!  I stamped those in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and die cut them with the matching dies.  The top sentiment has two additional layers behind it and the bottom one a second layer to give them a little bit of dimension.  

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

Happy Monday!

 Hello everyone!  Popping in to share a card and a tag that I made with a stamp set from Simon Says Stamp's Stamptember release.  I was supposed to be part of a blog party today, but for some reason Blogger flagged the post as against community guidelines.  I got it republished, but then they flagged it again.  So, I finally deleted the post.  So very frustrating to say the least as I was never in violation of their community guidelines!  Anyway, I did want to share what I had made so here they are.

The stamp set they sent me is called You Matter and it has two pretty floral images and several individual images.  One of the image is rather long and so I decided to make something other than a A2 sized card with it.  At first I was going to make a slimline card and then I decided not to as I honestly don't like making slimline cards.  So I got out a #8 distress heavy stock tag and created what you see.  I got some of the new distress spritz sprays in a Simon Says Stamp card kit so I used those on the tag.  I laid the image on the tag so I could figure out where to spray each color of spritz, removed the image and sprayed the tag.  I let it dry and then stamped the image and the sentiments with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  I applied clear embossing powder and heat set.  A piece of cream heavy stock was also spritzed with each color, dried and then stamped with the individual images with Nocturne ink, embossing powder applied, heat set and trimmed out.  I layered those images on the tag, added the ribbon and I was done.

For my card I placed the smaller image in my MISTI toward the bottom of the panel and stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I then flipped the panel and stamped the image again leaving a nice opening in the center of the panel. I stamped individual flowers on a piece of cardstock with the Tuxedo Black ink and then colored all the images with Copic markers.  The individual flowers were trimmed out and popped up.  I stamped the sentiments, trimmed out the "you" and then die cut the "matter" with a sentiment strip die.  Those were popped up in the center.  So glossy accents were added to the flower stamens and to the little berry like images.   Going to add this card to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day.

you got this...

 Hello!  Popping in with a quick share of a card that I made for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.   I will also add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Let's have a look at what I made.

I used products from two different Simon Says Stamp card kits.   The sentiment and the die cut flowers are from one kit and the embossing folder is from another.   I believe the kits are the August and June kits, but I'm not entirely sure, lol!  Anyway.  I did some inkblending on the die cut flowers using Pinkfresh Studio Lemon Whip and Sparkling Rose inks.  I used Pinkfresh Studio Grassy Knoll for the stems.  I adhered the flowers together using thin foam squares and liquid adhesive.   The little "string" tied around the flowers is from the Greetery and was die cut from patterned paper, as was the green love and the strip along the side.  All the papers are from P13's the Four Seasons: Summer 6x6 pad.   For a little more interest I embossed the white panel using and embossing folder from the Simon Says Stamp June kit.  I finished with a sentiment from the August kit stamp set and a few little sequins in green, yellow and pink.

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!