sending joy...

 Hello, hello!  Popping in with a card for several challenges:  Just Us Girls (word week: Joy), Color Hues (Pink and Aqua), Sunday Stamps (sketch) and Paper Players (clean and simple Christmas).  Lets have a look at what I made.

It is rare that I make a card for four different challenges, but this card is one.   It started out that I was only going to make it for Sunday Stamps and Just Us Girls, then I saw the color combo at Color Hues and had to add it to the mix.   Then I saw the challenge from Paper Players and couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a clean and simple card!   Several years ago I purchased a pretty Stampin Up! set called Joy of Noel.  I had used a few of the dies from the set, but never the stamps.  I pulled it out for this card.  Stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored with Copics in shades of aqua and pink.    The die cut "joy" is a very old Simon Says Stamp die that I cut from white cardstock three times and adhered together.  I then colored the top layer with the light pink Copic marker I used to color the berries.  Embossed a white rectangle with the pretty holly swirl embossing folder.  I trimmed that panel down a little bit and then added the aqua cardstock strip to the one side.  I tried to use a strip of pink cardstock on the card, but neither color I tried worked with the Copic colors I used.  So I used sparkly silver glitter cardstock!  Really like how it looks.  Layered on the colored image and the sentiments that are from an older Simon Says Stamp set that I just love.  One more Christmas card to add to my stash!

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

bunny kisses...

 Hey there!  Popping in with a card for Color Throwdown and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  I used a new Simon Says Stamp and die set called Bunny Kisses to create a little scene.  Take a look.

The CTD colors this week are peach, sage and cream.  I focused more on the peach and sage colors, although I do think my peach is more of a pinky peach than an orangy peach.  I used Pinkfresh Studio Coral Berry to stamp the larger (momma) bunny and then Stampin Up! Flirty Flamingo to stamp the inside of the ear, nose and cheek.  The smaller bunny was stamped using Bundled Sage distress ink and the inside of the ear was stamped with PTI's Ocean Tides.  Originally I had the nose and cheek for the smaller bunny stamped in the Ocean Tides, but I changed it to Coral Berry.  I think it looks better.  I used an MFT cloud stencil to add the background clouds using a warm grey ink and then an MFT grass line stencil to stencil in the grass using Bundled Sage.  I used a very light hand with both colors.  The little hearts were also stamped in Coral Berry.  I added little pom poms to the bunnies' tales for a little bit of fun.  The sentiment was stamped, die cut and adhered with thin foam squares.   Simple, but cute I think.  This will be going to one of my great nieces for Easter.

two cards to share...

 Hello!  I'm popping to share two cards that I made for a few challenges.  First up is a card that I made for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Hues.  Couldn't pass up that pretty combo of green and copper and my in real life friend, Greta, is guest designer this go round.  Just had to participate!

Before Christmas I was able to purchase a couple of die sets from Simon Says Stamp with a winter/Christmas sort of theme to them.  I wanted to use them and thought the Color Hues combo was the perfect opportunity.  I started by inking up some cardstock with Rustic Wilderness distress oxide ink.  I thought I had just the regular distress ink in Rustic Wilderness, but I don't.  Have to remedy that situation, lol!  I die cut the holly branch from that.  I then used Rustic Wilderness distress spray stain and Tree Lot distress mica spray to color some white distress heavy stock.  As that panel was drying I dipped the holly leaves in the little puddles of ink in my spray box to give a mica shine to the leaves.   The pine branches were die cut from the panel I created with the sprays once it was dry.  I used some copper glitter cardstock to die cut the berries and the strip.   I die cut the squares and the main panel from white woodgrain cardstock and layered them on a kraft cardstock base.  I had some fine copper thread that I used to create the messy loop of thread securing it with glue.  Then I layered on the holly branch and pine.  The sentiment was stamped in black ink, die cut with a label die and adhered with foam squares.  

My next card is super simple.  Take a look.

After I made the first card I thought I would make something for Color Throwdown, but struggled to come up with an idea.  I had been trying to think of something to make with recently purchased dies, but it just wasn't happening.  I almost threw in the towel on this one, but then decided to just do some simple stamping.  I used a tried and true favorite (and very old) Stampin Up! set called Kinda Eclectic.  I stamped all the images using the inks from the CTD combo and then finished with the sentiment in gray and three clear sequins.  Clean and simple!

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

happy birthday...

Hello!  Popping in with a card that I made for Color Throwdown and I will also be posting it to Seize the Birthday even though I don't really think my card fits the extra theme of make it pop.  Anyway, take a look at what I made.

Last year I bought the Artistically Inked stamp and die bundle from Stampin Up.  I used it once and then like most things I purchase it got put away.  When I saw the pretty CTD color combo I thought about the Artistically Inked bundle and how I could make the colors work.  I think things turned out pretty well.  I used one of the dies from the set as a background for the flowers and leaves.  It was cut from Crumb Cake (kraft) cardstock and adhered to a white die cut rectangle.  I stamped several of the floral images from the set using Pinkfresh Studio Ballet Slippers ink and the leaves using Altenew Silverstone ink.  They were die cut and then layered on the background piece.  I stamped the sentiment in Silverstone and die cut it.  I tied a bow from some light brown bakers twine adhered it to the card and then layered the sentiment on top.    I finished with some Rock Candy stickles glitter glue on the flowers.   I will also post this at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge since they are asking for a sentiment to be added.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

hang in there...

 Hello!  Got a clean and simple card to share today.  When I made this card I was only planning to post it to the Color Hues challenge, but then when I checked this morning the new Paper Players challenge is clean and simple spring!  My card fits perfectly.  I love it when that happens!  Take a look. 

It is a little bit of a weird weather day here in my neighborhood.  It is overcast, but the sun is trying to shine.  Makes for not so great photos.   I recently purchased Wisteria Wishes stamps and dies from Stampin Up! and really wanted to use it.  When I saw the colors at Color Hues I thought the combo would be perfect for the layered stamping required for the wisteria images.   There are several shades to the color turquoise.  I went with the brighter more blue version (think Sleeping Beauty turquoise) for my turquoise.  I stamped the main image using Altenew Turquoise ink and then detail layer with Pinkfresh Studio Blue Jay and then die cut with the matching die.  I stamped the leafy branch with Simon Says Stamp Fog ink, the sentiment with VersaFine Clair Nocturne and then die cut the panel.  I popped up the image with low profile foam squares and then added a few gems in a turquoise and dark blue.  Clean and simple as can be!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

a little something

 Hello!  Popping in with a quick share of a card that I made for two challenges that I don't often find myself having the time to participate in:  Paper Players and Just Us Girls.  The Paper Players challenge this week is a color challenge.  The combo is another that just says spring so I was inspired to get a card made before the challenge ended.  I paired the colors up with the JUGs challenge to create a rainbow themed card.  Take a look at what I came up with.

When I saw the JUGs challenge I immediately thought of the fun Stampin Up! Rainbow of Happiness stamp set and coordinating dies.   I was going to make the rainbow out of blue, green and yellow, but since I wanted a sun in the mix I decided to just go with blue and green.  My green is the very old Stampin Up! Gable Green and is a little lighter than Granny Apple Green, but I think goes well with the SU! Tempting Turquoise I used instead of Tahitian Tide.   After diecutting each arch of the rainbow I had several pieces left over so I just adhered them behind the corresponding arch to create a little dimension on the card.  The sun was die cut from my favorite yellow, PTI's Lemon Tart.  I stamped the sentiment from the stamp set in black.  The little clouds were die cut from Simon Says Stamp glitter cardstock.  I adhered all the pieces and I was done.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

a rainbow and flowers...

 Hello!  Hope all is well in your world.  It has been pretty cold here in the PNW (Pacific Northwest), but thankfully little to no snow!  Hoping it stays that way.  I'm popping in with two cards today.  I'm very proud of myself for making two cards because lately I have not felt like making even one card.    Sometimes I think I suffer from "too much stuff syndrome" (I made that up!).   Because I have too much stuff I get a little paralyzed and can't decide what to do.  Do you suffer from this same syndrome?  Let me know!  Here is my first card for Sunday Stamps:

Birch Press Designs has a new release out and it is full of beautiful floral die sets including the Sprouting Crocus Contour Layers die set.  I love seeing Crocus flowers sprouting up during the early spring, don't you?   I die cut the flowers and the stems from white cardstock and then inked them up with distress oxide ink in Mowed Lawn and Prize Ribbon.  I then assembled the flowers per the little assembly sheet that comes with the dies.  I set them aside to dry and worked on my sentiment.  I inked up some white cardstock with Bundled Sage distress oxide and then positioned the Big Thanks Sugar Script die so that the inking was darkest at the bottom and die cut the word.  I die cut two additional words and adhered them to the inked one for more stability.  There is a shadow die for the work, but I decided not to use it for my card.   For the background I placed one of the flowers along with the word on a panel of white cardstock to determine where I was going to blend on some Speckled Egg distress oxide.  Once I had that figured out I inked up the background and then adhered all the elements.  I decided to add a sub-sentiment to the card.  The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti and was stamped in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink.  I finished with a scattering of Memory Box Fairy Drops.  I think I captured several of the colors in the palette fairly well.  

The next card is for Color Throwdown:

The colors for this week's Color Throwdown had me thinking "rainbow" and so I pulled out the fun Stampin Up! Rainbow of Happiness bundle and did a little stamping.  I used Pinkfresh Studio and Simon Says Stamp inks for the rainbow.  The pink and blue inks are from Pinkfresh Studio and the yellow and aqua inks are from Simon Says Stamp.  I die cut the little clouds from Simon Says Stamp velvet luxury cardstock in snow white.  I layered those on with liquid adhesive and foam squares after I stamped the sentiment in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink.  I added the little blue hearts and some crystal clear sequins.   I will add this one to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

hi...

 Hi... it has been awhile!  I have been creating cards, but unfortunately they aren't anything I can share right now.  Stay tuned for next week!  My blogging friend, Lisa, is a member of the Just Us Girls design team and this week she is the hostess.    It is word week and she chose the word "paintbrush".   When I saw that I just had to pull out my Artful Tulip and Butterfly Burst paintbrush dies from Spellbinders and create something!  

I also used a floral die set from Becca Feeken called Petite Floral Potpourri for the flowers.  The patterned paper is from the Stampin Up! pack called Sunshine and Rainbows.  The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio and was hot foiled in back.  I finished the flowers with little white gems from Spellbinders. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day.

two cards to share...

 Hello!  I'm popping in with a quick post sharing two cards that I made for a few challenges.  Both use products that I recently purchased!  Yay for using new products right when you get them!  A list of affiliate links will be at the end of this post.  Using my links allows me to earn a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support.   Lets take a look at my first card.

This first card is for Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.   You know I love to combine those two challenges, right?  Anyway, this week the sketch is brought to us by Cecile.  She always has a fun clean and simple sketch and this one is no exception.  I just had to play along.  As I stated above I had recently gotten some new products and I was determined to use them as soon as I could.  This card uses the new Simon Says Stamp Brushed Flowers stamp set from the May card kit.  I used Pinkfresh Studio inks for the heart and the little leafy image.  The flower was stamped using Scattered Straw distress ink to get the shade of yellow I wanted.   I don't have the dies that match the stamp set so I just fussy cut out the little flower.  That was popped up on the card after I stamped the images and the sentiment.  I finished with some sparkling clear Pretty Pink Posh sequins.  

This next card uses a stamp and die bundle that I purchased from Stampin Up!  Stampin Up! was one of the first companies that I bought stamping products from and I still love their products today!  This set is called Artistically Inked and it is just lovely!

This card will be going to the Sunday Stamps challenge (a sketch) and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of feminine.  I used pretty inks from Pinkfresh Studio for all the stamping.  I'm not sure that I really like the banners on the card, but maybe it will grow on me.  Let me know what you think!

Affiliate linked supplies used:

Platinum 6 die cutting machine

Simon Says Stamp Brushed Flowers 

Pinkfresh Studio Heartbeat ink cube collection

Pinkfresh Studio Indian Summer ink cube collection

Pinkfresh Studio Starry Night ink cube collection

Pinkfresh Studio Garden Stroll ink cube collection

Pinkfresh Studio Over the Hills ink cube collection

Bearly Art Glue

VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne Ink

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

a happy rainbow...

 Hello!  Hope everyone is having a great week.  My younger son is on spring break this week so we have been trying to get out and about.  In between those little trips I have managed to create a card.  This one is for... yep... Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches!   Take a look:

I really love the Rainbow of Happiness bundle from Stampin Up!  It is just so fun.  I have been wanting to make another card with it and the above-mentioned challenges were the perfect vehicle.   I found sequins in the CTD colors for my shaker rainbow.  Since there are only three colors in the CTD combo and there are four arches in the rainbow I added in some iridescent sequins in the fourth arch.   After cutting out my rainbow from white cardstock I decided to add some interest by embossing it with the April Spellbinder embossing folder.   I love the fun sunray effect it gives the panel.   I trimmed down an acetate piece and adhered it behind the openings.  Then I added strips of foam adhesive.  I carefully filled each section of the rainbow with the sequins.  Not gonna lie... this took along time!  Because I knew it wouldn't be easy to adhere the shaker element to the card base I opted to add some patterned paper to the back.   I used patterned paper from Stampin Up! that coordinates with the Rainbow of Happiness bundle and I used that.  I finished off the card with some twine tied around the top of my shaker element and the sentiment from the set stamped in black ink and die cut with a banner die. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

you make me happy...

 Hello!  It has been awhile since I last posted.  I have been working on things, but I can't post them just yet.  I finally got sometime the other day to make a quick card for my two favorite challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.

One of the stamp companies that got me going on my stamping journey was Stampin Up! and I still love their products.  I recently purchased their Rainbow of Happiness bundle.   Generally I'm not drawn to rainbow stamp sets, but there was something about this bundle of products that caught my attention.  I started by die cutting the small rainbow die from blue and gold cardstock.  I trimmed down the blue piece into a rectangle, applied washi tape to the back and then inserted the gold rainbow pieces inside.  I used green glitter cardstock to die cut the little rainbow border, as well as a little heart.  White cardstock was die cut with an AJVD Stitched Dot rectangle die and then temporarily adhered it to the card front so I could determine where to place the sentiment.  I stamped the sentiment using VersaFine CLAIR Twilight ink and then adhered the border and the rainbow piece.  I finished with the little green glitter heart and some tiny gold stars that I found in my stash. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

guesting at color throwdown!

 Hello!  I'm so excited to be guesting at Color Throwdown this week!   As many of you might know CTD is one of my favorite challenges to participate in.  Week after week they provide fabulous color combos and inspiration to get your creative juices flowing!   The color combo for this week is no exception!  I went with a clean and simple floral design using stamps and dies from Concord & 9th.   Specifically I used the Painted Peony stamp and die set.  I didn't use the gorgeous large peony bloom in the set, but a smaller floral image.  Inks from multiple companies were used to stamp the images.  Pinks from Hero Arts, reds and greens from Altenew and browns from Stampin Up!   I die cut everything and then got to arranging it on my white cardstock panel.  As I was creating my arrangement I decided that the geometric piece everything was arranged on looked a little plain so I embossed it with an old, but favorite, embossing folder.  That did the trick!  The sentiment is from Painted Peonies and was stamped in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne.   I added a few sequins in red and pink to finish the card.   Here is my card:

And here is the CTD color swatch for this week:

Just realized that the challenge this month over at the Flower Challenge is to create a clean and simple card.  Since my card is pretty clean and simple I'm going to post it there, as well. 

Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely day and I hope to see your card in the CTD gallery!  Thanks to the super talented gals at CTD for having me!

i'm thinking of you...

 Hello!  Popping in with a card for Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.   I recently got some new products from Stampin Up! and I couldn't wait to use the new stamp and die set I got called Hand-Penned Petals.    There are solid image stamps that can be used to fill in the outline images or you can color the outline images with your favorite coloring medium.  The solid image stamps don't completely fill in the outline giving your a more artsy look.  I went with stamping one of the outline images using VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and then filled in the flowers with a bright pink ink and the leaves with a medium aqua ink.  I then die cut the image with the matching die.  I used a die from MFT to cut the rounded corner panel behind the floral image.  The sentiment is from another Stampin Up! set and was stamped in the Nocturne ink on a medium aqua cardstock, trimmed down and then one side matted with the scalloped edge die included in the Hand Penned Florals die set.  I die cut a white cardstock panel with an AJVD rectangle die, adhered it to a light gray cardstock base and then layered on the smaller panel, floral image and sentiment.  I finished with some Rainbow Fish pearls from Trinity Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!  

a couple of cards...

 Hey there!  Popping in with a couple of cards that I made over the last few days.  First up is a card for Color Throwdown.  I recently purchased a few things from the Greetery and pulled them out for this card.  I purchased the pretty Bittersweet  Bouquet stamp set which is more of a fall themed stamp set.  I used it to create a more spring like card.   It was really easy to stamp all the different layers in the image and then die cut it with the matching die.  All the inks are from Catherine Pooler.  The sentiment is from another new set I purchased called Simply Wonderful.  The set contains all of these beautiful scripty sentiments and then the large word "wonderful".  I picked the sentiment for the front of the card and stamped it.  I then stamped the word "wonderful" using the two green inks I used for the leaves on the inside of the card.  I finished off the card with the pink die cut bow (also from the Greetery) and some red jewels from Pretty Pink Posh.

Here is the inside:

The second card is for Freshly Made Sketches.  I recently made a purchase from Scrapbook.com.  If you haven't purchased things from Scrapbook.com you should give them a look.  They often have a free with purchase item, good sales and other promotions and carry most of the major stamping brands.  When I made my purchase they were offering a 6x8 pad of paper from a company that I had not heard of called P13.  The pad of paper looked really pretty so I decided to add it to my cart.  I'm so glad that I did!  It is BEAUTIFUL!  So I used it to create my card.  I die cut some butterfly patterned paper with a fishtail flag die from MFT.  On the backside was a woodgrain pattern so I used that for my background and adhered the banner.  The sentiment is from a Stampin Up! set called Floral Gallery.  I almost used the stamp set that coordinates with the dies, but just couldn't pass up using the beautiful papers!  I die cut the sentiment from another piece of patterned paper, additional die cuts from scrap paper, adhered them together for dimension and adhered it to the card front.  I trimmed out three of the butterflies, applied a little bit of Star Dust Stickles (looks very pretty in real life) and adhered them.  There are sentiments in the stamp set to use with the die cut sentiment.  I couldn't decide which to use so I will add something later.  Most likely inside the card.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

a card and a tag...

 Hey there!  As I write this post the weekend is winding down.  I always love playing along with Color Throwdown so I just had to make a card.  Since I wanted to get the card done quickly I pulled out one of my favorite stamp sets from Stampin Up! Kinda Eclectic to get the job done.   This set has lots of fun images that are great for layering and it is one stamp set that I do not think I will ever get rid of.  Once I had everthing stamp I die cut the panel and adhered it to a white cardstock base.  All the inks are from Catherine Pooler.  Because the brown I used seems to be a little dark, almost black, I decided to add some brown sequins that I found in my stash to the card to finish things off. 

Now for my tag.  I think every year around this time I often mention that I don't make many tags.  The only reason I usually make a tag or two is because of Tracey's 25 Days of Christmas Tags.   I haven't been following along closely with all of the festivities, but I did happen to see Tracey's tag from day 3 on Instagram and I couldn't get it out of my head.  I had recently purchased a stamp set from Stampin Up! called Joyful Holly and thought it would be perfect to use for a tag.  I used the color combo from The Paper Players for my little tag so I will be posting it there, as well.  I die cut the tag and then stamped the outline image in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne and then added the layers using Altenew Hunter for the leaves and Velvet for the berries.  The sentiment was stamped in VersaMark watermark ink on vellum and then heat embossed in silver.  I die cut the sentiment with a sentiment strip die from AJVD and adhered it with rolled up glue dots.  I finished off the tag with some red ribbon that I tied with hunter green twine.  Before tying the bow I added red and green bells.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!