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!

hugs...

 Hello!  Popping in with a quick post sharing a card that I made for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  I think I will also add it to the Time Out challenge as I have used a flower on my card.  Take a look at what I made.

This card came about because I was making another card for a Birch Press Design blog post that will go live on Wednesday, June 12th.    I used the Perky Bloom Contour Layering die set and cut all the pieces from a light coral pink and a dark coral pink.  Then I alternated the two colors so I ended up with two flowers.  I was going to save this second flower for a later Birch Press blog post, but then decided to use the FMS sketch to create this card.  I used a strip of Memory Box patterned paper that I had on my workspace that coordinated with the flower.  I trimmed it down to make the two rectangular elements.  The BPD Big Hugs Sugar Script die and shadow were cut from the same two cardstocks and layered.  I adhered the flower using liquid adhesive and thin foam squares.  When I layered the elements of the flower I used the same method so there is lots of dimension in the flower.  I adhered everything to a white cardstock panel and then to a white card base.  I finished with Memory Box fairy jewels in a pale coral color. 

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

Waffle Flower Grip Mats Re-Release!

 Hello everyone!  I popping in today to share my thoughts on the recently re-released Waffle Flower Grip Mats.  Waffle Flower sent me what they call the Stamper Bundle of grip mats to try out.  The Stamper Bundle consists of two grip mats.  One mat fits the Mini MISTI and measures 4.7 x 6 inches.  The other mat fits the original MISTI and measures 6.5 x 8.5 inches.  Just like the original grip mats these mats also come with grid sheets that can be placed on one side of the mat to help with alignment.   Full disclosure I did not use the grid sheets as I did not use my grip mats in the MISTIs that I have, but placed them directly onto my Tim Holtz glass mat.  I most likely will continue to use them this way because I did not have much success in getting the grid sheets to adhere correctly to the old grip mats that I have.  Here is a direct link to the Stamper Bundle.   Let's take a look at what I created using the mats.

Along with the grip mats Waffle Flower generously also sent me a few other products to use with the mats.  Included in my package was the super fun Oversized Daisy Die-n-Stencil set.  I used the products to create this shaped card that I will be sending off to my great niece who is turning 8 at the end of this month!   

In the above photo you can see my grip mat positioned on my glass mat with the die cut pieces placed on to.  I was using the 4.75 x 6 inch grip mat and all the pieces fit nicely with room to spare.   I then used different oxide inks to ink up the flower. 

Here the stencil is placed on the flower and you can see how the stencil is being gripped by the mat below it.  I didn't have to hold anything down with my free hand which was so nice!  I stenciled everything very quickly resulting in the flower that you see in the first photo.  Once I had the stenciling done I created a card base for the flower by using a folded white cardstock base and then using the large daisy die to cut out the base.  I also cut out a second single white flower to add to the back for a clean look.    I finished the card by sandwiching the leaves inbetween the back of the stenciled flower and the front of the card base and then adding the pre-print Waffle Flower sentiment strips.   I'm going to add this to the Time Out challenge to be inspired by a quote.   You can see the quote in the graphic below.

For the second card I used the Postage Collage Blocks stencil that Waffle Flower also sent me.  For this card I made a Christmas card using several different Waffle Flower products that I already have.  I used the Layered Poinsettia die set, the Mistletoe Branch die, Small Ornaments die set and the Merry Christmas stamp set.   I used distress oxide ink in Antique Linen to ink up the openings.  I used a Christmas paper from Echo Park to die cut all the different pieces, adhered them together and then added them to the card front after I stamped the sentiments.  I don't own the Waffle Flower postage collage die so I found a rectangle die to cut the panel to size and adhered it to the kraft cardstock base. 

As you can see even though the stencil is larger than the grip mat, it still adhere nicely to the mat allowing me to stencil the panel fairly quickly.  

I used the new Tim Holtz tiny ink blenders to do precise ink blending of the openings and they worked like a charm!  

Overall, I have to say that I like the new grips mats alot and plan to use them frequently.  In a few weeks I will be sharing how they work with stencil pastes and two cards that I made so stay turned.  I hope that the information I provided was helpful.  Here are graphics showing the grip mats that I used and the full bundle. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Easter Bird...

  Hello!  Hope all is well in your part of the world.  I have a card to share today for several challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Time Out, JUGs and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  JUGs and Time Out are doing a collaboration and the theme is "birds of a feather".   I recently received an order from Simon Says Stamp that included the sweet little bird die set called Sitting Sparrow from Memory Box.  Perfect timing, right? Here is what I made.

I used a MFT brickwall stencil and some grit paste that I tinted with Hickory Smoke distress ink re-inker for the background.  The little bird is sitting on the Memory Box Magnolia Leaf Branch that I die cut from watercolor cardstock and then colored with distress ink re-inkers in Brushed Corduroy and Bundled Sage.  I tried to do the same thing with the bird not once, but twice and both times it was an abysmal failure.  So, I went back to my tried and true technique of inkblending with my Waffle Flower 0+ blending brushes and distress oxide inks.  This time success!  Once the grit paste had dried (with a little help from my heat gun!) I assembled the card.   Since I wanted the card to be an Easter card I finished with the Happy Easter sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Bunny Love stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

sweet winter wishes

 Hello!  I'm back with another card.  What???!!  Two cards in two days!  Haven't done that in a long time, lol!  Anyway, I have a card today for several challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches (layout), Time Out (theme of new), Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (something new) and Color Hues.   My in real life friend, Greta, is now a member of the Time Out design team so I just had to play along with their challenge.  Here is what I made.

The Color Hues challenge is to use light blue and dark blue.  Couldn't pass that one up and I really like the sketch at FMS so I decided to put them together.   My new item is the cute little tag that I placed my Birch Press Design Felicity Snowflakes on.  It came in a Simon Says Stamp card kit that I purchased in the fall and had never used.  After die cutting the tags and the snowflakes I adhered everything together and then added the white twine to each tag.  I decided to have the center tag sport a bow instead of the way I did the other two.  Thought it looked cute.  Then I had to find a sentiment that would work with the small tags.   I hunted through my supplies and finally found this cute little sentiment set from My Favorite Things called Snowglobe Sentiments.  The size of the sentiment was perfect for the size of the tag.  I stamped it using a dark blue ink on the same light blue cardstock I used for the tags.  I adhered everything to a white cardstock panel and then added light blue gems to the center of the snowflakes and to the sentiment strip.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

more copic coloring...

Hello!  Popping in with a card for a few challenges and as my post title indicates I did some more coloring with my Copic markers.  I'm going to post this card to the following challenges:  The Flower Challenge (anything goes), Freshly Made Sketches and Time Out (I fussy cut the flower and it is a birthday card).  I have always been scared of coloring with reds.  They can be so unforgiving if they bleed and you try to clean it up.  But I decided to be brave and color with a red combo courtesy of Kelly Latevola.   The flower I used is from the A Jillian Vance Design Dear Daisy stamp set.  I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored it with the following markers:  R32, R35, R29 and R59. The center was colored with Y02 and Y08 and the leaf with YG03, YG05, G17 and G28.  I fussy cut the flower out and then outlined the flower and cleaned up the white edges with a black Mircon pen.   I kept everything regarding the sketch very simple as I really wanted the flower to be the focus.  The sentiment is also from A Jillian Vance Design (Make A Wish) and the dies I used are also AJVD.  I must say that I'm really pleased with my coloring.  I managed to create a consistent highlight area on the petals giving them a slightly rounded look.  Never thought I would be able to do something like that!

Thanks for stopping by today... stay safe and well!

green leaves... and flowers!

Hey there!  I hope everyone is staying safe during this uncertain time!  My kiddos are both officially out of school for the next month.   Thankfully it seems our school district has tried to be proactive about everything and we already have information on ways to keep our kids engaged in learning!  Yay!  Anyway... I have a card to share that I made for several challenges:  CAS(E) this Sketch, Color Throwdown, Time Out and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Time Out is celebrating their 6th birthday!  Time sure does fly when you are having fun, right?  So they want birthday themed projects and they have a "twist" option of fussy cutting.   I was able to get my hands on the Simon Says Stamp March card kit, but not the matching dies so I was able to get that option in on my card.  Like many crafters I have lots of different coloring options.  One of them is Copic markers.  I jumped on that bandwagon and purchased quite a few pens.  I tried working with the pens and even took a Copic coloring class, but eventually I fell off that bandwagon as I just was never comfortable coloring with them.  But recently I have been watching a few videos by the incredibly talented Kelly Latevola and in one of them she mentioned that she had a list of color combos.  That has always been my biggest stumbling block... figuring out color combos.  So, the other day I copied down some of her combos and I used one for today's card.   I stamped the long vine image from the Stronger Together stamp set from the kit in Memento Tuxedo Black and then colored the leaves with the green combo of YG03, G05, G17 and G28.   I then stamped the little single flowers from the set in Tuxedo Black (2 of the larger one, 1 of the smaller) and colored them with the same combo.  Those were fully cut out and the edges colored with a Tuxedo Black marker.  I die cut the panel with the leaves, stamped the sentiment from another SSS set and then popped up the little flowers.   Thanks to watching all those videos and Kelly's color combo I think my coloring turned out pretty well!  This is also going to the Simon Says Stamp flickr challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

two cards...

Hello!  Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's day.  My boys got me a lovely orchid and a Starbucks gift card... yay!   I spent part of the day finishing up a card that I started yesterday when my Spellbinders February small die kit landed in my mailbox earlier in the day.  The Spellbinders small die kits are absolutely fabulous and I think that this one is my favorite so far.  I can not only die cut with this kit I can use it to foil and that is what I did, lol!   I used the color combo from Color Throwdown for my card and was trying to use the sketch from FMS for my layout, but the circles were too big so I came up with another idea.  I die cut all the different layering pieces from cardstock corresponding to the CTD colors and then layered them together.  I used one of the layering dies to foil the background of my white cardstock panel with silver foil using my Glimmer hot foiling system.  I then foiled the hello word in silver and then die cut it with the matching die.  I layered up all the circles and then adhered the sentiment.   I had so much fun using the dies to foil that I have another potential card waiting in the wings!

My second card is for this month's Altenew inspiration challenge and the Sunday Stamp challenge.  I have wanted the Mega Succulent stamp set for ages.  Finally I took advantage of free shipping and purchased it a few weeks ago.  Since it had been sitting in my crafting area I decided to use it to make my card.  I stamped the image on white watercolor paper with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink, applied clear embossing powder and heat set.  I then watercolored just the center of the image in yellow roughly following the outline of a tag that I was going to use to die cut the center.  Once the image was dry I die cut the panel and then die cut the tag from the center.  I added some green ribbon to the tag that I tied with black twine.  The main panel was adhered with foam tape and then the tag with a double layer of foam tape.  I finished by stamping the sentiment from another Altenew set in green ink, trimming down and adhering to the card front.  Honestly, I'm not super happy with this card because it just doesn't look that well done to me.  But I need to stop being so hard on myself!  Let me know what you think.  ETA:  Just found out this would work for the new Time Out challenge so I will be posting it over there.  Thanks so much for all the lovely comments concerning this card!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Two More Christmas cards!

Well... just when I thought I was done (except for two special cards I will be making for two special little ones!) making Christmas cards I found out that I wasn't, lol!  So I whipped up a couple of quick cards for several challenges.  First up is a card for Color Throwdown and CAS(E) this Sketch.   For this card is used a Simon Says Stamp word die set called Christmas Blessings and a background that was created using an Altenew die (Dotted Swirls Debossing Cover die) that my friend Greta sent me a month or so ago along with one of her pretty cards.  I had been wanting to make something with it since it arrived and the CTS layout was the perfect opportunity.  I used a AJVD Elegant Stitched border die to create my cure and then adhered the piece to a light gray cardstock base.  The words were die cut from bright green and bright pink cardstock four times each, stacked and then adhered to the card front.  The little sentiment (from the SSS Stained Glass Greetings set) was stamped on the light gray cardstock, trimmed out and popped up with foam tape.   Stacking and adhering the words together took the most time with this card!

The second card is for Freshly Made Sketches.  I always love Narelle's simple, but innovative designs that allow you to go in many different directions.   Because I have been in a die cutting mood lately this sketch lent it self perfectly to die cutting.  I used one of my favorite A Jillian Vance Design dies Holly and Swirls along with a die that is also from AJVD.  I decided to go through all of my old Christmas papers (Those are the only ones I have!  I didn't buy any new Christmas patterned paper this year!) and found a few sheets from the a pad called Tinsel & Company by Teresa Collins.  I die cut the holly from a piece that had holiday themed words on it in red and then the strip from a piece that had a small chevron pattern.  I adhered the two pieces together before adhering to an off white cardstock panel I die cut with a large rectangle die.  I then added Stickles to the berries using a color called Tiara.  It is perfect as it has silver and a little bit of red in it as well. The word merry is also an AJVD die, but one that is no longer available.  I like the style so I will continue to use it on my non-AJVD projects in the future.  I originally die cut it just from some additional coordinating paper, but decided to die cut it from red glitter cardstock and I'm so glad I did!  I stacked and adhered all the die cuts and then adhered to the panel.  I finished off the card by adding lots of little silver Pretty Pink Posh sequins.   I love how it turned out and it will be easy to mail!  I decided that I will also add this to the current Time Out challenge of Merry & Cheerful.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!  

poinsettias...

Hello!  I have a couple of cards to share featuring one of my favorite plants... the poinsettia!  I just love them and have been known to keep my poinsettias around way past Christmas.   One time I was able to keep one going for over a year!  Anyway my first card features my most favorite poinsettia stamp ever... Christmas Star from Penny Black.  This stamp is a wood mounted stamp from 2010.  To me it is the perfect blend of a modern stylized poinsettia and what one actually looks like in real life.  Because it is wood mount and I have not decided to remove it from it's wood block you have to make sure you ink it up really well because you only have one chance at getting it right!   It is even harder when you are stamping on watercolor paper!   I stamped the image using Antique Linen distress ink on Canson watercolor paper and then colored the image with Festive Berries, Scattered Straw and Gathered Twigs distress inks.  I added in the veins on all the leaves with a Candied Apple distress maker and the centers of the flowers (they are the little dots in the center!) with a Scattered Straw distress marker.   When the image was fully dry I carefully added a wash of Scattered Straw.  You can't really see it in the photo, but it looks really pretty in real life.   The sentiment (from an Ellen Hutson stamp set) was stamped in VersaMark watermark ink and then heat embossed with Ranger gold embossing powder.  I trimmed it down on each long side and then adhered it to a card base that had strips of red glitter cardstock adhered to it on each side.   I think I will add this one to the current Time Out challenge as it works perfectly with the colors in the inspiration photo as well as the holiday theme.  Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

The second card is for the current Altenew inspiration challenge.  I also watercolored this image using distress ink.  When I saw the inspiration photo and the color palette I knew that I wanted to try coloring a poinsettia with a variegated color of cream and pink.  I stamped the image from the Altenew Festive Poinsettia stamp set with Antique Linen ink on watercolor paper and then covered each of variegated leaves with a wash of Scattered Straw.  As each leaf began to dry somewhat I can in with Worn Lipstick distress ink to get the variation in color.   It was tough when I got to the smaller leaves trying to keep the separation of the leaves, but overall I like how the image turned out.  I colored bottom leaves with Forest Moss distress ink.  Once it was totally dry I splattered on some additional Forest Moss and die cut it with the matching die.  I created a background by wetting some watercolor paper and then adding a wash of Scattered Straw and then dabbing on some Worn Lipstick.  When the piece was fully dry I splattered on some Forest Moss.   The piece was die cut with a Spellbinders classic square die and some patterned paper from a Tim Holtz 8x8 Christmas paper pad with a smaller Spellbinders classic square die.  Off white cardstock was die cut with an AJVD rectangle die and then I adhered the squares and determined where the sentiments would go.  They were stamped with VersaFine Clair Nocturne and then I adhered the poinsettia with foam dimensionals.  Compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.