hearts and leaves...

 Hello!  Hope everyone had a nice weekend.  I'm popping in with two more cards to share.  First up is a card for the current Inspired By challenge.    The inspiration photo is all about hearts and so I went with hearts, as well.  I fiddled around with a background for the hearts I die cut from a gingham type patterned paper, a woodgrain patterned paper and some silver metallic cardstock.    I finally decided to try doing to dry brushing with acrylic paint.  It took me a couple of tries to get the look I was going for.  I used some off white textured cardstock so that the background has a sort of woodgrain look to it.  Once I had that piece finished I die cut it with a small rectangle die from Spellbinders.   The hearts were die cut with Stitched Dot hearts from A Jillian Vance Design.  I die cut additional woodgrain patterned paper with the largest Spellbinders rectangle die and layered that on a cardstock base made from the same cardstock that I used for my dry brushed background piece.  The hearts were arranged on the smaller rectangle along with a sentiment from A Jillian Vance Design that I heat embossed in white on vellum die cut with an AJVD banner die.   

The second card is for the last challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch.  I took some license with the sketch, but hopefully you can see the over all idea of the sketch in my card.   I have the Simon Says Stamp Stronger Together stamp set and there is a long image in the set that I have never been able to use because I didn't have a stamp positioning tool big enough to use it.  Now I do... yay!  I stamped the image using Memento Bamboo Leaves ink and then colored the leaves with four shades of green Copic Markers.  The sentiments were also stamped with Bamboo Leaves, trimmed out and adhered to the panel once it was die cut with a Spellbinders rectangle die.   As a finishing touch I stamped the little heart, added some Nuvo Crystal Drops in Morning Dew to the heart and a few sequins in green and gold.   

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

SSS Love You Too release!

 Hello!  I'm popping in with a couple of cards that I made using a fun background stamp called XOXO Background!  You can check out the entire new release here.  (This link is not an affiliate link.)  The first card was inspired by a card that Debby Hughes shared on the Simon Says Stamp blog a few days ago.  I always forget about the tone on tone stamping that watermark ink provides and how you can intensify the color by heat embossing the image in clear ink and then using the resist technique.   Debby's amazing card reminded me of that and so I decided to do my version.  I stamped the background on red cardstock with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder from Tsukinko.  I then used my favorite red ink, Cherry Cobbler from Stampin Up!, to do some ink blending over the red cardstock.  Cherry Cobbler is a very rich, deep ink color and I love the way it deepened the lighter red cardstock.  Once that was done I die cut the panel with the largest Spellbinders Essentials Rectangle die.  I then used the SSS/CZ Designs Chunky Love You die to cut white cardstock several times.  I kept all the pieces together except those few interior pieces and adhered the layers together on the shadow image that I cut from a medium gray cardstock.  The die cut was then adhered to the center of the card on an angle.  To finish I added little hearts that I die cut with a SSS die set that is no longer available to the centers of the O in each word.   The hearts were then covered in Nuvo Crystal Drops in Morning Dew.  Love how this card turned out!  Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of layer it up.

I think the second card is rather fun and playful.  I decided to cut strips of cardstock in blue and green and adhered them to some thin white cardstock at an angle.  I then trimmed off the overhang and stamped the panel with VersaMark watermark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder from Tsukineko.  This panel was also die cut with the Spellbinders Essentials Rectangle die.   I then die cut a heart using the solid heart from the SSS Deco Heart die set from pink cardstock.   The heart was then adhered to the panel.  I die cut the SSS I Adore You die set from white cardstock three times, adhered all the layers and then adhered the sentiment to the heart.  I used the colors from Color Throwdown so I will be posting this there, as well as at CAS(E) this Sketch.  So sad that CTS is shutting down, but I totally understand why Chrissy felt it was the right thing for her to do!  

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

more leaves!

 Hello everyone!  Popping in with a couple of cards that feature... yes... leaves, lol!  I recently got my Spellbinders small die kit for October and I just had to make something with it.  I went with the colors from Color Throwdown and I will be adding it to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of layering.  I did a lot of layering with this one!  I die cut the main layer pieces from black cardstock and all the little leaves from kraft and a cranberry red cardstock.  I then layered on all the little leaves.  That was quite the task!  I then linked up all the pieces on a cream colored cardstock panel.  The sentiment is from a Spellbinders Glimmer plate set and I foiled it in red on to kraft cardstock.  The sentiment has a matching die so I used that to trim it out and popped it up in the center.   I added the panel to a kraft cardstock base to finish things off.  

 This next cards also features leaves and I will be sending it off to CAS(E) this Sketch (thanks for the Honorable Mention!), the Card Concept and the Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash challenge.  Whenever I can (which isn't often!) I tried to pick up something from Reverse Confetti when they have a new release.  I was able to get the new In All Things stamp and die set so I used that for my card.  I stamped the wreath using VersaFine Acorn ink and then watercolored very simply using the Altenew 12 pan watercolor set.  Once I had enough layers of color and it was dry I die cut it with the matching die. For the vertical element in the CTS layout I used dark green and gold twine.  I created a little bow for the wreath out of the same twine and attached it at the top.  I stamped the sentiment from the RC Fall Foliage set (I only used part of the sentiment) in Acorn ink and then adhered the wreath using foam dimensionals.   I guess my card would fall into a clean and layered category for the Card Concept.  I pulled different colors from the inspiration photo.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

leaves and a unicorn!

 Hey there!  As I write this post it is the weekend and I hope you are having a nice one.  I got some crafting in so that is a win for me, right?!   I have two cards to share.  First up is a card for Color Throwdown and CAS(E) this Sketch.  I posted this card on Instagram and the number of likes it has received has absolutely blown me away!   To create the card I stenciled a brick pattern in one corner the panel using frayed burlap distress oxide ink.  The leaves were die cut from orange, black and kraft cardstocks using a sweet little die set that I got from Simon Says Stamp along time ago.  I love leaves so this is a die set that I will NEVER get rid of, lol!   The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp stamp set that is probably as old as the die set and no longer available.  But I love this stamp set and it is a classic so I will probably never get rid of it, either!   I arranged the leaves over the stenciling without adhering them so I could get the right placement for the sentiment.    I removed the leaves and stamped the sentiment using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  The leaves were then adhered with a small amount of glue.  I finished off the card with some orange twine that I adhered around the card panel.  A small bow was then tied around that.   

The second card is one that I have wanted to make since I shared the two reindeer cards I made with the Season's Greetings Deer etched die set from Spellbinders.   I created a unicorn!   It was very simple to do.  I die cut the piece that has the ears from white cardstock and then trimmed off the ears so I could move them to the position they are in on my unicorn.  The horn was created by die cutting the Santa hat from striped pink cardstock and then trimming it down further to fit on my little unicorn.  I adhered the ears, the horn and the little tan portion of the face, then worked on creating my flowers.  Those were die cut with the smallest flower die from yellow cardstock and adhered together.  I adhered the flowers around the horn and then added little gold pearls to the centers.  I then die cut leaves to adhered around the flowers.   The card layout is based on the layout from Freshly Made Sketches so I will be posting the card there.   I die cut the pieces from the sketch from the striped pink paper, as well as white cardstock and then adhered them to a piece of light gray cardstock.   The pieces of the unicorn were then adhered to the white elongated rectangle.  I fired up my Glimmer hot foiling machine and foiled the sentiment using pink foil.   Die cut it with a sentiment strip die from Spellbinders, adhered it and I was done.  I love how my unicorn turned out!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

a fall card...

 Hello!  The weekend is here.  Hopefully some of you have something fun planned.   Our weather isn't that great right now so maybe we will just stay home!  Anyway,  I have a card to share for a couple of challenges:  Color Throwdown and CAS(E) this Sketch.   Have you ever thought you had a craft supply and it turns out you don't?  That happens to me alot, lol!  But with today's card that didn't happen.  I thought I had distress oxide in Rusty Hinge and I actually did!   I ink blended the Rusty Hinge onto a piece of smooth bristol cardstock fading it out at the bottom.  I cut the piece in two and then embossed the pieces making sure that the raised part of the embossing was on the backside of my inked piece.  I adhered the pieces to an off white cardstock based.  I used the smaller leaf cluster from the Simon Says Stamp Eucalyptus Leaves die set to cut light blue and aqua cardstock twice.  I then adhered an aqua cluster to a blue cluster and adhered to the lower inked panel.  I adhered the remaining clusters and then adhered it but with the colors reversed.  I finished the cluster with a little wooden heart.  The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Thanks & Encouragement Word Mix 1 stamp set.   I stamped all the sentiments on off white cardstock and die cut with the matching die.  I then adhered the sentiment I chose to the card front.   Also going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp flickr challenge of anything goes.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

another three card share...

Hello!  Hope you are having a good weekend.  It is Labor Day weekend here in the US so that means a three day weekend for many people.   We don't have any plans other than to maybe hit a couple of local antique stores.  My youngest loves to go antiquing!   I have three cards to share so I will get right to them.  First up is a card for CAS(E) this Sketch.  When I saw the sketch it made me think of one of the Spellbinders card kits that I have (one from January 2020) and some of the die cut pieces in that kit.  I used some gold glitter leaves, a die cut word and a butterfly from those pieces to create my card.   The die cut pieces usually some in a set of two so I adhered the two together to give the piece a little more heft.  I also adhered the two butterflies together, but that is so I could lift up the top set of wings.   I die cut some white cardstock with a rectangle die and then layered on the gold leaves and the die cut word.  I positioned the butterfly below the word and then adhered the panel to a light gray cardstock base.

The next card is for two challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches and Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash - fall/halloween ( I went with fall).  I recently got a set of watercolors from Altenew, the 12 piece set and decided to try them out with stamps and dies from the RC Stained Glass Butterflies and Fall Foliage stamp and die sets.  I also used some of the metallic Altenew watercolors on the leaves.  I stamped everything with VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink and then colored them.  I went more muted on the leaves and tried to go brighter on the butterfly.  I linked up three of the maple leaves together and then adhered them to my off white cardstock panel.  The butterfly was adhered with foam dimensionals.  Hopefully you can see the sketch in my arrangement.  I stamped the sentiment from Fall Foliage on vellum with VersaMark watermark ink, applied gold embossing powder from WOW! and heat set it.  I trimmed the strip down and then wrapped the strip around the panel and secured it in the back. 

Final card is for Color Throwdown.  I used a single flower from the MFT Rose Garden stamp set and did some ink blending with distress oxide inks in Salty Ocean and Peeled Paint using the MFT Rectangle Extraordinaire stencil.   I die cut the flower, put tape on the back of the negative space, inserted the flower back in and then stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I colored the image using Copic markers in the same colors as the last time I colored an MFT floral image... purple!   The ink blended panel was die cut with a rectangle die and then I adhered the flower using foam tape.  I stamped the sentiment from a different MFT stamp set on vellum with VersaMark, applied black embossing powder (from WOW) and heat set it.  I trimmed out a strip and then wrapped it around the panel and secured it in the back with adhesive.  The panel was adhered to a kraft cardstock base.   Going to add this one to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of Stamp It.

I think the first card is my favorite... would love to know what you think.  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

a dragonfly and birthdays...

Hello!  Hope you had a nice weekend!  I actually felt like making some cards this weekend and I'm sharing three that I made.  First up is a card for Fusion card challenge.  I often forget about Fusion so I decided to see if what the current challenge was and just loved the inspiration photo.   So I had to play along.  I tried a couple of ideas that went into the garbage before settling on doing some very simple watercoloring with distress inks on watercolor paper.  I tried to make the area where I the watercoloring have some thing of an arc to it.   Once it was dry I stamped the hydrangea image from the Colorado Craft Company Big & Bold Get Well Hydrangea with VersaFine CLAIR Morning Mist ink.  The sentiment from the same set was stamped using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne and then I die cut the piece with an AJVD rectangle die.   The dragon fly is from a Stampin Up! set called Dragonfly Dreams.  I stamped it using Catherine Pooler Suede Shoes ink, die cut it with the matching die and then die cut a detailed dragonfly from the pretty purple glitter cardstock that I used on another card a few days ago.  I adhered the two dragonflies together and then adhered it to my card front.  I finished with some purply-blue sequins.

The next two cards were created with the layout from CAS(E) this sketch in mind.   I created a card for the last CTS challenge and used the Concord & 9th Thankful Leaves turnabout stamp and die set.  There is a fun little banner die in the set along with dies that you can use to create a happy birthday sentiment.   I knew I wanted to use the dies on my card, but wasn't sure how I would use the dies that cut out birthday.  At first I did die cut them and was going to go with that, but then I decided to use the dies to hot foil the sentiment.  The first go didn't turn out well so I decided to try it again on light gray cardstock instead of the white that I had originally used.   The foiling went much better with that version, but I realized that I could save the first one and end up with two birthday cards!  I used the same purple glitter cardstock for the white version and black glitter cardstock from C9 for the grey version.    With both of them I die cut the word happy from the glitter cardstocks and then a second time from a scrap of white cardstock, layered then and adhered to the panels (after they had been die cut with an AJVD rectangle die).  The banners were die cut and then popped up with foam dimensionals.     Definitely very clean and simple!  That purple glitter paper is almost gone.  I really like it so I think I will have to purchase some more... now to remember where it came from, lol!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

purple leaf...

Hello!  Hope your week is off to a great start.  I'm popping in with a quick post sharing a card that I made for a few challenges:  CAS(E) this Sketch, Sunday Stamps and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   The colors for the current Sunday Stamp challenge were so pretty I just couldn't pass them up and they included blue so it was a great fit for the Simon Says Stamp challenge, as well.  I pulled out one of my favorite Concord & 9th stamp and die sets Thankful Leaves turnabout set.  I used three shades of blue and a light gray for all the stamping.  Once the piece was stamped I die cut it with the sort of diamond shape die from the C9 Blooms Fill In stamp and die set.   I adhered that to a white cardstock panel that I die cut with an AJVD die and trimmed off the excess.  I die cut the leaf from purple glitter cardstock (purple is one of the colors in the SS color combo) and adhered that to the stamped piece.  The sentiment is also from Thankful Leaves.  I stamped it with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne, trimmed it out and adhered it to the center of the leaf.  I finished off with some sequins in shades of blue and a little bow made from a dark blue twine.

Must acknowledge that the team at CTS picked the last card I entered as a favorite!  How fun is that?! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

a wedding card...

My niece is supposed to get married on September 5th.  Plans have been changing rapidly so I talked to my mother-in-law (my niece's grandmother) about what was happening.  She told me that they are going to have a small wedding with just immediate family and then another small gathering for those who couldn't attend the wedding.   Since they are moving forward I made their wedding card today.  I wanted to enter the card in the Paper Players challenge to make a wedding or anniversary card so I had to get it done.  I used the layout from CAS(E) this Sketch so I will be posting it there, as well.   I used a Stampin Up! set called Forever Blossoms.  I actually bought this stamp set with this particular niece in mind.   I stamped the large blossom branch on smooth bristol with VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink and then colored very simply with a light pink ZIG marker and a light green ZIG marker.  The sentiment was also stamped with the Acorn ink.  I then die cut the piece with the largest AJVD plain rectangle die and adhered it to a kraft cardstock base with foam tape.  I may add some sequins, but I really like the simplicity of the design.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

difficult time...

Hello!  Popping in with one of those cards that no one really wants to make... a sympathy card.  One of my very dear friends lost her brother-in-law to COVID-19.  He was a 30 year veteran of the Las Vegas police department and was well respected.  I'm just so sad for my friend and her husband who just lost his big brother.  I used the color combo from Color Throwdown as it was more masculine and lent itself to a sympathy type card.  I used the Altenew Mini Delight: Strength stamp set for the feathers and a sentiment from the Altenew Starry Flowers stamp set.  I found an ink that was close to terracotta to stamp the tip of the feathers after stamping them with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  The terracotta ink is from Hero Arts, but I don't know what it is called as it is in cube form and there is no name on it.  The layout is from CAS(E) this Sketch.  I die cut white cardstock using a stitched dot rectangle from A Jillian Vance Design and then stamped the sentiment.   To create the split look from the sketch I embossed lines on either side of the sentiment.  I adhered the panel to a light gray cardstock base with foam tape and then adhered the feathers.  Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great 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!

clean and simple cards...

Hello!  As my blog title indicates I have clean and simple cards to share today.  First up is a card for the May Altenew inspiration challenge as well as CAS(E) this Sketch.  I love super clean and simple designs, but lately haven't been doing a lot of them.  The CTS layout was the perfect way to get me back to my first love, lol!  The colors for the May Altenew inspiration are bold and bright and I wanted to use them in a way that is somewhat out of my comfort zone.  I think I accomplished that!  To start I played around with the layout a bit on some scrap paper, as well as with the stamps that I would use.  I used the Altenew Always There stamp set and inks from Altenew to stamp everything.  Because I wanted a look where there wasn't a lot of stamp inside the outline image I determined that I needed to use the final layering image for the flower I was stamping.  This image mainly stamps in the center of the flower, but also has a tiny outlying edge that stamps, too.  I did not want that so I made sure to mask off those little areas before inking.  The outline images (flower and two leaves) were stamped in Altenew Pure Graphite.  I then stamped the flower using Tide Blue.  I created simple masks for the flower and leaf and then masked off the flower and stamped the first leaf.  I masked that leaf and stamped the second leaf.  The center of the flower was stamped with Chamomile ink and the leaves with Snapdragon.  I love the sort of pop art feel the stamping has.  I finished things off with a sentiment from a different Altenew stamp set that I heat embossed with black WOW! embossing powder on a banner die cut from vellum.  The Altenew color combo is not one I would normally use, but I really like it so I may make another card before the challenge is over!

For my second card I used the colors from Color Throwdown and the clean and graphic layout from Freshly Made Sketches.  This card was really simple to put together because I used two different dies from the A Jillian Vance Design Sentiment Strips die set.  I die cut the largest (in width) strip from yellow cardstock and the blue and pink cardstock using the smallest (in width) die.  I then adhered all the pieces to a white cardstock panel that I die cut with the largest AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die.  I decided that I wanted a super simple sentiment so I die cut my letters (using the AJVD Headline Type Alpha die set) from white cardstock and then I found a tiny friend sentiment in a stamp set (Altenew Folksy Florals) and stamped that on the blue strip using black ink.  I finished off the card with three little butterflies (from the AJVD Spring Birdy die set) cut from the pink, yellow and blue cardstock.   Another super clean and simple design that I really, really like!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!