every moment...

Hello friends!!  After a trip to our local zoo today with my boys (they are on spring break), my sister and her girls I got a chance to make a card for this week's PTI Make It Monday challenge.  I combined it with the current Dynamic Duos challenge (Gumball Green and your choice) and came up with this:

 

After finally finding a PTI stamp set that I could use for the MIM challenge (Botantical Silhouettes) I got out my Gelatos and got to work.  I used Gelatos in two different shades of orange unfortunately after spritzing the stamp with water and then stamping you can't really tell I used two.  The stems were stamped using SU!'s Gumball Green.  I rubbed some green Gelato onto on of my acrylic blocks, spritzed it with water and then stamped it at the bottom to ground the flowers.  Some New Leaf double stitched ribbon and the sentiment finished things off.  The card base is SU!'s Smoky Slate.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, SU! Smoky Slate; Stamps:  PTI; Ink:  SU! and Memento; Farber Castell Gelatos (orange, blood orange & green); PTI double stitched ribbon

my sunshine

Hello friends!!!   The sun is shining here in my corner of the world, but unfortunately the rain is due back in the next few days.  After that huge landslide that occurred north of where I live I'm hoping that the rain holds off.   The pictures of the destruction are just stunning.  My heart goes out to everyone touched by this disaster! 

I have a quick card to share.  I found out this morning that my super sweet and very talented bloggy friend, Judy, is going to be one of the guest designers for the Precious Remembrance Shop April release and I couldn't be more excited to be working with Judy, again!!   She has an amzing card that she made for the PRS guest designer call posted on her blog and it inspired me to get out several of my PRS sets and make this little card.  I used the current Dynamic Duos color combo of Rich Razzleberry, Soft Sky and Pale Plum.  I used my favorite PRS set "DIY" along with a sentiment from the PRS set "Thanks".   After stamping all the images I tied on some black baker's twine and added a few clear rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Rustic White; Stamps:  Precious Remembrance Shop; Black Baker's Twine, Clear Rhinestones; Ink:  SU! Rich Razzleberry & Soft Sky, PTI Plum Pudding.

HAPPY... birthday

Hello friends!!  We are getting soaked, again, here in Western Washington!  Unfortunately that is the way it goes around here in the spring, lol!!  Got a bit of time to make a card for this week's Dynamic Duo (black & more mustard).  I even fit in the dessert option of dry embosing.   The layout is based on the current layout from Sketchbook Saturday.  My card was very definitely influenced by the gorgeous card Chupa made.

 

I combined the splatter stamps from SU!'s Gorgeous Grunge with the Hero Arts oldie, but goodie Three Ferns stamp and did one of my favorite things to do:  collage stamping.  A strip of More Mustard cardstock was wrapped with some black twine and the "birthday" was stamped in black.  The "happy" die cut in black and adhered to the strip.  The top corner of the piece was partially embossed using the SU! Decorative Dots embossing folder. Then the piece was mounted on a More Mustard card base.  I think this makes for the perfect masculine birthday card.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI White & black; SU! More Mustard; Stamps:  SU! Gorgeous Grunge, Hero Arts Three Ferns, Many Birthday Messages; Die:  PTI; Twine:  May Arts; Embossing Folder:  Stampin Up!; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! More Mustard

hey, there...

Hello friends!!   Popping in with a little card that I made today with some new Stampin Up! goodies that I got recently.  I combined the current layout from CAS(E) this Sketch with the current Dynamic Duos combo to come up with this:

I used the SU! sets Flower Shop and Just Sayin'.  The flower was stamped using Memento Tangelo and SU! Melon Mambo inks.  The speech bubble was stamped using Wild Wasabi, die cut using the correponding die and adhered over the flower using foam dimensionals.  A Studio Calico wood veneer heart was pressed into the Tangelo ink to color it and then adhered to the speech bubble.  I adhered the piece to a kraft card base for a bit of contrast. Simple, simple, simple!!

Thanks for stopping...

Supplies:  Cardstock: PTI white; SU! Crumb Cake; Stamps:  SU! Flower Shop & Just Sayin'; Inks:  SU! Melon Mambo & Wild Wasabi, Memento Tangelo; Die:  SU! speech bubble; Studio Calico wood veneer heart

some cards to share...

Hello friends!!  Got some crafty time in this morning and was able to make a couple of cards.  The first card is for the current Dynamic Duos color challenge and uses Viva La Verve week 2 sketch. 

When I started out to make this card I was going to use the Verve set "Shining Star", but when I pulled the Verve banner stamp out of the case I keep it in I saw a little freebie stamp that I had received from Verve and used that instead.   The stars and smaller banner were die cut using the Verve Stars and Flag It dies.   I think I should have created some textured on the white cardstock piece, but too late now, lol!

The second card is for the current ColourQ challenge.  I was going to use the colors to make a card using the Verve sketch, but obviously decided against that, lol, and went with straight out stamping.  I like to go with straight out stamping when I think I'm going to have a hard time making cardstock and patterned paper work.  This was one of those color combos!  Since I didn't have an ink that is comparable to Cool Caribbean I used some washi tape in a similar color.  The stamps are from the Stampin Up! set "Oh, Hello".  

 

 

 Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock: PTI white, lemon tart & true black; Stamps:  Verve and Stampin Up!; Inks:  Stampin Up! and Memento; Patterned Paper:  Stampin Up!; Sequins:  Pretty Pink Posh; Dies:  Spellbinders and Verve



hugs & kisses..

Hello friends!  Quick post with a card for a couple of challenges:  CASology & Dynamic Duos.   The cue word at CASology is "and".  When I thought about that word the first thing that came to mind was to use an ampersand.  So I pulled out the only set I have with an ampersand in it... Hero Art's You & Me and got to work.

Making the card made me wish that I had an ampersand die, but I don't so instead I decided to emboss a heart onto my cardstock and place all my stamping within the heart.  First take on the card stamped the ampersand using Island Indigo ink, but noticed that once I stamped the words in red parts of them didn't show up too well.  So I switched the colors and had much better results.  I added some flat sequins and some washi tape.  The sequins are a good match to the Island Indigo ink, but you can't tell that from the photo.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Jenny Bowlin washi tape; sequins

rain or shine...

Hello friends!!  Have a card to share that I made for the current Dynamic Duos challenge (Melon Mambo & black).  The layout is based on the current Viva La Verve sketch.  I also used the Dynamic Duos dessert option to use umbrellas.

I used a combination of some old and new SU! designer papers and the Verve stamp set Rain or Shine.  I paper pieced the little umbrella and added some light distressing to the edges of the papers and cardstock.   I added some My Mind's Eye enamel dots... but not really sure I like them.

 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, black  & smoky shadow; SU! melon mambo; Stamps:  Verve; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black & SU! Melon Mambo; Enamel dots:  My Mind's Eye; Punch:  EK Success Scalloped border punch

some cards to share...

Hello friends!!  Our nice sunny weather did not stick around... darn!  Oh well... being that it was gloomy out made it the perfect day to stay in and make some cards... so I did!!   Late last week I got the chance to meet my friend, Cindy, at Impress Rubber Stamps for a bit of crafty retail therapy and while there I purchased the stamp that I have used on my first card.  The color combo is based on the new Dynamic Duos colors of pink and aqua.  

 

When I saw the stamp I couldn't take my eyes off of it.  I wandered around the store and picked up a few other items, but I kept coming back to this stamp and talking about it.   Finally Cindy picked one up, handed it to me and said "here... just buy it!"  So I did, lol!!   Since it is a rather large image I kept the design simple.  I paired the stamp up with PTI's Tipped Top die and a sentiment from Taylored Expressions stamped on a little banner.  I added a bit of glitter to the hearts and then added the pink sequins.  

The second card was made using the Viva La Verve week 3 sketch and some patterned papers from the new My Mind's Eye Lost & Found record it! Heirloom 6x6 pad.  I used lots of different Verve stamps on this card (Surely Goodness, Brighter Days and On Occasion).   I thought I would try a little "out of the box" thinking on this one.  What I tried was an interesting idea, but not one I think I will duplicate any time soon, lol! 

Thanks for stopping by... looking forward to Monday.  I'm taking a little trip down south to Vancouver, Wa to meet up with my friend, Greta, for lunch and maybe a little crafty shopping!!

Supplies:  Card #1:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Pink Pirouette; Stamps:  Impress and Taylored Expressions; Dies:  PTI and Verve; Ink:  SU! Pool Party; Memento Tuxedo Black
Card #2:  Cardstock: PTI kraft & cream; SU! Cherry Cobbler; Stamps:  Verve; Dies: Verve & Spellbinders; Ink:  SU! Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake & Close to Cocoa, Ranger Old Paper Distress Ink

warm wishes...

Hello friends!!   Wow... just a few more days until Christmas and my little guy just can't stand it that he has to wait that few more days!  He wants Christmas and he wants it now, lol!!  Haven't shared a card in a few days... Mo and Jo left town for a while on a pre-Christmas holiday, but I think they returned this afternoon and I was able to get something made.  Not my best effort... Mo and Jo are a bit tired from their trip!   This little number is for the current Dynamic Duos challenge and uses the new Sketchbook Saturday sketch.

I recently purchased two sets of Avery Elle stamps during Ellen Hutson's Christmas sale.  I inked up stamps from both sets for this card.   I stamped the wreath image from "Winter Wreath" using SU!'s Smoky Slate ink and then added the berries using Cherry Cobbler.  The bow was also stamped in Cherry Cobbler, trimmed out and adhered to the wreath.  I die cut the wreath using a Spellbinders plain circle die and matted it with black cardstock also cut with a plain circle die.  I cut the Cherry Cobbler cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot in my woodgrain embossing folder.  After adhering it to the card base I added some white lace and then layered on the wreath.  The sentiment (from the AE set "Let It Snow") was then added.  

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & black; SU! Cherry Cobbler; Ink:  SU! and Memento; Stamps:  Avery Elle; Lace:  The Funky Junkie; Dies:  Spellbinders dies

CCC #73... seasons greetings

Hello friends!!!   Tuesday has rolled back around and that means time for a brand new CASology challenge!  Lots of fun projects in the gallery for last week's cue word "shop".   I just know this week's cue word will spark just as many wonderful projects.   Say hello to this week's cue word:  ribbon.  We have another wonderful sponsor this week (all the details can be found here) and joining us as guest designer is the very talented Donna! 

So... when I saw this week's cue word I was pretty excited because I LOVE RIBBON!  I haven't used a lot of it lately, but that could change at any moment, lol!!   Over the years I have determined exactly what types of ribbon I love the most and sadly skinny ribbon is not on that list.  Skinny ribbon does not make yummy full bows and I love nicely tied bows.  I have been known to spend upwards of 15 minutes or more to get my bow just right!  So I really wanted to use some nice wide ribbon that I could tie in a big yummy bow, but realizing that this is a CAS challenge I knew that idea might not work.  So I went with using a just a small piece of ribbon for my card.  My color combo is based on this week's Dynamic Duo of dark blue and your choice.  I decided to go with yellow for my second color.   I covered the front of my card base with a piece of designer paper from Stampin Up! that has a subtle pattern on it.  The ornament (from the Hero Arts set Ornaments) was stamped using Midnight Muse ink and then die cut with the corresponding die.  A piece of yellow and cream striped ribbon (from SU!) was cut, tied in a knot and then the ends fishtailed.  That was adhered to the top of the ornament.  A snowflake from another Hero Arts set (Decorate Your Holiday) was stamped in yellow, trimmed out, popped up on the ornament and a yellow sequin added to the center.  The ornament was adhered to a cardstock piece that I stamped with the sentiment using Midnight Muse ink and then that piece was adhered to the card base.  See... you can use wide ribbon on a CAS card, lol!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Rustic White; PP:  Stampin Up!; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Inks:  Memento Dandelion, SU! Midnight Muse; Sequin:  Ellen Hutson; Ribbon:  Stampin Up!

seasons greetings...

Hello friends!!  Wow... our weather has really turned bad... but not nearly as bad as the weather in the Midwest!  I will take my Pacific Northwest rain and fog over a tornado any day!  I have a card that I made for the current Dynamic Duos challenge to use black and grey. 

Since this is "black tie" week at Dynamic Duos there is also a "dessert" option to make your card a Christmas card.  I decided to include the dessert option in my card today.  I pulled out my MFT Jumbo Snowflake Die-namics and die cut my snowflake from SU!'s Smoky Slate cardstock.  A large silver sequin with a rhinestone center was added to the snowflake.  Having an angled piece on your card front seems to be all the rage now and so I gave that a try.  I was able to make pretty even cuts, but I am definitely getting the brand new PTI Tipped Top die set... it will make cutting angled pieces so much easier!!  I stamped the sentiment from MFT's Seasonal Sentiments using black ink.  After adhering the snowflake to the angled piece and then adhering that piece to the card front I added a few grey and black sequins to finish things off.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI True Black & white; SU! Smoky Slate; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Sequins:  Ellen Hutson; Die:  My Favorite Things

every moment...

Hello friends!!  Here with a card that I made for this week's Make It Monday to create your own square frame.  I also used the colors from the new Dynamics Duo challenge:  Crumb Cake and Always Artichoke. 

I only a few PTI sets that would work for the challenge and all of them are from Dawn McVey's Boutique Borders line.  So I pulled all of them out to see which one I might use.  I created a square using Boutique Borders Thanks and stopped right there as I really liked what I saw.  Then I decided to pair that set up with Simply Jane to create my very simple and kinda old school card.  The square was stamped using Crumb Cake ink and the silhouette with Always Artichoke.  After adhering the die cut silhouette I added some pearls in a kraft color for a bit of bling.  The sentiment was stamped in black and the entire piece matted with an artichoke colored cardstock and mounted on a kraft card base.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Rustic White and kraft, Bazzill artichoke green; Ink:  SU! Crumb Cake & Always Artichoke; Memento Tuxedo Black; Stamps:  PTI; Pearls Kaiser Craft; Dies: PTI

love you forever...

Hello friends!!  Getting back into the swing of things and have another card to share.  This one I made for the MIM challenge to used inlaid die cuts as well as for the current Dynamic Duos challenge. 

When I started making my card I thought I would use PTI's Harvest Berries set, but then noticed that the die is made in such a way that it cuts to different images... I only wanted one of the images and so that idea wouldn't work.  Then I moved on to Holiday Button Bits and even got so far as to die cut my cardstock and stamp the image, but I just didn't like what I was seeing at all.  So on to Trendy Tree Tops and finally I had a winning combination!  I die cut the tree top first, stamped it with my chosen image and then put it back into place.  I arranged the tree trunk die on top of the tree top, taped it down (along with the little cloud) and ran the piece through my die cutter.  The tree trunk and cloud die cuts were then stamped.  I trimmed the white cardstock piece to the size I wanted and then adhered it to red cardstock.  The tree and cloud die cuts were then adhered in place, a second die cut cloud adhered and the sentiment stamped.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white and pure poppy; Stamps:  PTI Trendy Tree Tops and Bitty Background Blocks; Ink:  SU! Real Red & Hero Arts Splash, Memento Tuxedo Black; Dies:  Trendy Tree Tops & clouds  

sharing a couple of cards...

Hello friends!!  Hope you are having a wonderful day.  The persistent fog that we have been experiencing here in my little corner of the world seems to have finally lifted, thankfully!  It was getting a bit creepy!!  Anywhoo... as my title indicates I have a couple of cards to share.  Normally I don't post multiple cards for multiple challenges, but since both cards use My Favorite Things stamps and dies I decided to post them together.

The first card is for the current MFT Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge.  A nice, simple layout that you can take in many directions.  I decided to pull out my MFT Snowflake Doily Die-namics die and cut one from some gold glitter paper from Stampin Up! (SU! calls it "champagne", but to me it is definitely not champagne it is gold!).   I embossed the cardstock background with my swiss dot folder and then added the sentiment (from MFT's Seasonal Sentiments set) that I stamped on cream cardstock using burgundy ink and then die cut with a MFT Fishtail Flag Stax die.  It is super easy to fishtail both ends of your banner with these dies since they have a see through plastic back to them which allows you to position the banner in just the right spot so the sentiment is center properly.

The second card uses the current layout from CAS(E) this Sketch and the current Dynamic Duos color combo.  I think my idea for this card was a good one I'm just not sure that I executed it very well.  I combined two different MFT sets, Homespun Hearts and Abstract Art (hey... that rhymes, lol!) with several MFT dies, Hi Rise Alpha lower case, MFT/LLD Lead the Way and MFT/LJD Rustic Hearts.   I think in retrospect I would have cut the arrow portion a little shorter so that it didn't extend to the edge of the card.  I also think I should have added in some other neutral colors besides white.  The whole card just seems a bit too stark (okay... so I can hear my friend Sue laughing right now!  Yes, Sue... I do love my white space, but even I know when things are just a bit too stark, lol!!) But that is card making for you... a live and learn process!!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  1st card:  Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream & Fine Linen; SU! glitter paper; Stamps:  MFT Seasonal Sentiments; Dies:  Snowflake Doily & Fishtail Flag Stax dies; Ink: SU! Bravo Burgundy

2nd card:  Cardstock:  PTI Plum Pudding & white; Stamps:  MFT Homespun Hearts & Abstract Art; Ink:  SU! Wisteria Wonder, PTI Plum Pudding; Dies:  MFT/LLD Lead the Way, MFT/LJD Rustic Hearts

thankful for you...

Hello friends!!  Stopping in with a little card that I made using some fun Reverse Confetti stamps and the current color duo from Dynamic Duos. 

I just love the little woodgrain heart from the RC set Forever Fall.  I stamped the heart using SU!'s So Saffron ink and then slightly over-stamped the heart with the sentiment in SU!'s Calypso Coral.  I added a little button/bakers twine embellishment to the card, rounded two corners and I was done.  Another super clean and simple card, but that is my favorite kind, lol!!  Since I used RC stamps on my card I'm also going to pop this into this week's RC 'Fetti Find linky list. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Button:  PTI; Baker's Twine:  The Twinery

CCC #65... a crisp note

Hello friends!!  Hope your week is going well.  Tuesday has rolled around once, again, and that means time for a brand new cue word.   Loved viewing all the beautiful "harvest" inspired cards that appeared in the gallery.   This week our cue word is "crisp"... hmmm now that is a cue word to really make you think outside the box!   This week we have a sponsor, Uniko Studio and our lovely guest designer is Valerie.  All the details can be found here.

Now honestly when I saw the cue word only two thing popped in to my little ol' noggin and those two things were leaves and apples... you know kicking your way through crisp fall leaves or eating a nice crisp apple.  But I had already done leaves and apples and really wanted to something, anything, different.  Thank goodness for a long walk with the dog on Sunday morning to provide me with my idea!!  As the dog and I toiled along I thought about other things that are crisp and hit upon a crisp white sheet of paper.  Bingo!!   Couldn't the card right away as I had several other things to do beforehand (thank goodness we go to church on Saturday night... one less thing!), but once I got everything done I was able to quickly put together my card.  Pretty self-explanatory.  Stamps are from the Verve set Take Note.   Color combo is courtesy of Dynamic Duos.  Die cut the notebook paper using my PTI notebook die.   Once all the stamping was done (and the pencil trimmed out) I adhered the note book page using foam dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by... I cannot wait to see where this week's "crisp" cue word take you!  In the meantime make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team: Melissa, Judy, Meghan, Ardyth, Gillian, Maureen, Kimberly, Jen and Tracey and our guest designer, Valerie!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Verve; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Die:  PTI

somber sunflower...

Hello friends!!  It is a gloomy Sunday here in my part of the world... rain, rain and rain!  Oh well... just makes for a nice day to stay inside and do some crafting, right?   Have a somber little card that I made using this week's Dynamic Duos combo of kraft and black.  The layout is based on the current MFT Wednesday Stamp Club sketch.  

On Friday I received some happy mail in the form of new stamps from MFT.  One of the sets was the MFT/LJD Splendid Sunflowers so I just had to get it inky.  The Dynamic Duos combo presented a bit of a challenge, but I think the card turned out rather nice.  I stamped the sunflower using SU! kraft ink and then added the center using Memento Tuxedo Black.  I trimmed out the flower since I wasn't able to buy the matching dies (yet!) and then attached a kraft button using some black hemp twine.  The black panel was die cut using the MFT Die-namics Dispersed Dots die and adhered to the cream cardstock.  A piece of PTI gingham kraft patterned paper was cut to fit the cream panel and adhered.  I die cut a fishtail banner using a MFT Jumbo Fishtail Flag Die-namics die from cream corrugated paper and adhered that to the gingham paper.  The "hi" was die cut from black cardstock using the MFT Hi-Rise alpha dies and adhered to the fishtail flag.  Finished everything up by attaching the sunflower with foam dimensionals and then the entire piece to the card base.  There you have it... a somber sunflower!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI black, kraft and cream; PP:  PTI kraft patterned paper pack; Stamps & Dies:  My Favorite Things; Hemp twine:  Hempotique; Button:  PTI

soft and simple...

Hello friends!!  Popping in with a card that I made for this week's Dynamic Duos color challenge.  The colors this week are So Saffron and Pistachio Pudding... a soft yellow and a soft green. 

Given that the colors are so soft and pretty I wanted to use pretty feminine stamps for my card.  What did I reach for?  My SU! set Everything Eleanor!  I started by stamping the medallion image from the set using SU!'s Crumb Cake.  Over that I layered the flourish image using VersaMagic Aloe Vera ink.  The sentiment was added using Memento's Rich Cocoa.  The flower was stamped on So Saffron, trimmed out and adhered using foam dimensionals.  Punched the corners of the matt and the stamped piece using my SU! ticket corner punch and then layered them on a Pistachio Pudding card base.  Just a simple little stamped card, nothing fancy, but honestly one of my favorite kinds of card to make!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! So Saffron & Pistachio Pudding; Stamps:  SU! Everything Eleanor & Because I Care; Inks:  SU! So Saffron & Crumb Cake, Memento Rich Cocoa; SU! Ticket Corner punch