shimmer butterfly...

Hey friends!!  Well... our sunny weather has turned to "liquid sunshine" weather here in the Pacific Northwest.  Perfect weather to stay inside and make some cards!  I have a card that I made for a few different challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown, SSS Wednesday challenge (shimmer) and Virginia's View all about color.   Love the colors at Color Throwdown so bright and cheerful! And I loved the FMS layout, but I had absolutely no mojo!   A quick turn through the new Stampin Up! catalog soon change that situation... YAY!!  I pulled out several favorite Stampin Up! sets and got to work.  I did some collage stamping using my favorite SU! set Kinda Eclectic and the yellow and lime green colors and then threw in some kraft for the rectangular element in the sketch.  The butterfly (from the SU! set Watercolor Wings) was stamped using the red raspberry and hot pink colors and then die cut with the matching die.  I then took the butterfly outside and sprayed it with Prima Color Bloom Pearl White.  The sentiment is from a third SU! set (Butterfly Basics) and was stamped using VersaFine Onyx Black.  The panel was die cut using an AJVD die, the butterfly attached and the panel adhered to a light grey cardstock base.  Sometimes a little straight up stamping is exactly what I need to help get me in the crafting groove!  I have included a close up of the butterfly so you can see the shimmer.  

Thanks for stopping by today...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SSS fog; white; Stamps:  Stampin Up!; Dies:  Stampin Up! and AJVD; Inks:  Stampin Up! and Memento; Prima Color Bloom Pearl White spray mist

grateful...

Hey friends!!  Its a really wet and dreary day here in the PNW.  Not complaining, though... rain in the lowlands generally means snow in the mountains and we need that snow!  Have a card to share that I made for a few challenges:  CASology (give), Colour Me, CAS(E) this Sketch (layout) and Virginia's View (texture).   When I saw the cue word and Melissa's reference to gratitude I immediately thought of the word grateful because I'm so very grateful for the ability that I have to give of myself to others.  And this brought to mind the fabulous Concord & 9th stamp set called Grateful.  This set contains to feather images and the word grateful, as well as the sentiment thinking of you.   I wanted to try to do some watercoloring and after several failed attempts I finally came up with a design that I liked.  I stamped the feather using VersaFine Vintage Sepia and then colored the feathers with Stampin Up! Real Red and Old Olive inks.  A little bit of both colors was added along one side, as well.  Once the piece was dry I stamped the word grateful in black ink and then die cut the piece with the largest AJVD Polka Dot Rectangle Backdrop die.  The finished piece was adhered to a light grey cardstock base.   The texture on my card is supplied by the watercolor paper I used, as well as the little sprinkling of clear Pretty Pink Posh sequins. 

Thanks for stopping by today...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Simon Says Stamp fog, Ranger watercolor paper; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Inks: Stampin Up! Real Red and Old Olive, Memento Tuxedo Black;  Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design Polka Dot Rectangle Backdrop dies; Pretty Pink Posh clear sequins
 

it takes...

Hello friends!!  Happy weekend!!  Popping in with a card that I made for a few challenges:  April Reverse Confetti Sketch for You to Try, and Color Throwdown.   I'm trying to get better at looking at my stamps and dies and trying to figure out different ways to use them.  To that end I used two of the stamps from the RC set Fresh 'n Fruity to make my little trees.  I really like how they turned out.  The little tree trunks were die cut using the RC Branch Out Confetti Cuts.   The sentiment is from the RC set Love Blooms.  I thought the sentiment from Love Blooms was perfect to use with my little trees.  The panels were die cut using my Spellbinders plain rectangles and long rectangles dies.  I really like the finished look they provide and need to remember to use them more.  The main panel was die cut using the Avery Elle Dotted Elle-ments die.   The double ended banner was die cut using the banner from the RC Tag Me Confetti Cuts set.  In order to get it as long as I did I partially cut one side of the banner, slide it over to the other side and then finished cutting it.   I layered up all the different panels and the banner.  Then I had to arrange the little trees... which took a bit of time, lol!  Finished things off with a few orange enamel dots.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Recollections white; Bazzill orange, PTI light blue, Stampin Up! green; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti; Dies:  Spellbinder and Reverse Confetti; Inks:  Stampin Up! Pear Pizzazz and VersaFine Onyx Black; My Mind's Eye enamel dots

with sympathy...

Hello friends!!  Popping in with a quick post.   Sympathy cards always seem to be the ones that paper crafters have the hardest time making... I know it is hard for me.  Unfortunately one of my dear friends lost her father a little over a week ago and tomorrow is the memorial service for him.  I made this card to give to the family.  I used the Viva La Verve April Week 1 sketch and the Verve set Framed Florals.   The patterned papers are from the Teresa Collins Nine & Co 6x6 pad.  I just love the pretty pastel color palette... so perfect for a sympathy card.   The set comes with a frame that has the sweet bluebells image as part of the frame.  I stamped the frame and then trimmed it out the rectangle portion only.  There is a matching bluebells image that can be die cut so I used that and positioned it over the trimmed off portion.  The banner was die cut with a MFT fishtail flag stax die and the border was created using one of my favorite border punches from Fiskars.   I'm including a detail shot of the bluebells showing the soft colors I used.   ETA:  Adding this to the current Paper Players challenge:  use die cuts.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by...



Supplies:  Cardstock:  Recollections white; Patterned paper:  Teresa Collins; Stamps:  Verve; Dies:  Verve & MFT; Inks:  VersaMagic and VersaFine; Fiskars border punch

congratulations...

Hello there!   Managed to make a card today... yay!  I know many of you have found yourself at various times in a place where you feel like your creativity has fled to places unknown...never to return!   Well, I have found myself in that place several times over these last few months.   I try to make something, anything, but to no avail.  This past week I have found myself, once again, in that place.  In an effort to combat this vague sense of malaise I decided to make a card and bake cookies, at the same time.  Thankfully both the card and the cookies turned out fine!  In fact my little guy pronounced my cookies "amazing"... I didn't ask him about the card, lol.  You can be the judge!
I used items from the Crate Paper Close Knit line, Avery Elle stamps and dies (Petals & Stems) and the current Sketchbook Saturday layout as my blue print.  I will be linking this up to the current AEI {heart} U challenge:  one word.  And since there is a ton of die cutting I think I will link it up to Virginia's View #5.   Given the state of crafting mind I'm rather pleased with how it turned out.  Maybe I should bake cookies and make cards at the same time on a regular basis!  I would love to hear what you do to get yourself out of a creative funk.  Now... here are the cookies.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Close to My Heart yellow; Stamps:  Avery Elle Petals & Stems; Dies:  My Favorite Things Jumbo Fishtail Flag Stax; Spellbinders plain square & rectangle dies; Avery Elle Petals & Stems dies; Ink:  Memento Ladybug, Tuxedo Black, Pistachio & Cantaloupe, Stampin Up! Ink Pirouette; Patterned paper:  Crate Paper

hello...

Hey there... hope everyone in the US had a wonderful 4th of July.  We had a nice one, but it turned a bit windy and chilly toward the evening.  However, my little guy was completely satisfied with all the fireworks he got to light off so that made up for the turn in the weather!  Got sometime today to make a card.  This one is for Less is More (earth tone colors) and CAS(E) this Sketch.  Oh and I think I will pop this into Virginia's View die cuts challenge, too.

For this card I used the newly released Clearly Whimsy Stamps set Happy Everything and the Clearly Whimsy Stamps Hello word die.   I used two shades of green (SU!'s Gumball Green and Pear Pizzazz) and kraft (SU! Crumb Cake) and stamped the two starburst images from the set.  The "hello" was die cut twice from kraft and white cardstock and adhered together slightly offset (although you can't really see it).  After adhering the "hello" I added some sequins in the same shades of green and little wood veneer stars.  I hope this is "earth tone" enough for the LIM challenge... they can be a tough lot!

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & kraft; Stamps:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Die:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Sequins:  Ellen Hutson; Wood veneer stars:  Studio Calico

sweet... on you

Hey there... have a little card to share that I made using the current Color Throwdown combo. (ETA:  Decided to pop this into the current Virginia's View challenge: die cuts)  I pulled out some of my older Clearly Whimsy Stamps and dies and made this:

The CWS stamps I used are Sweet as Candy - Sweet Images and Sweet as Candy - Sweet Sentiments, as well as the Sweet as Candy - Lollipop and Sweet as Candy - Large Word die.  Love those cute little lollipops and they are so easy to make using the lollipop die!.  I die cut the word "sweet" twice (one in turquoise and one in cream) and then adhered them together creating a slight  "shadow" with the cream one.  Finished things off by distressing the edges of the turquoise cardstock and patterned paper and adding the baker's twine bows.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI cream; SU! Tempting Turquoise; Patterned paper:  American Crafts Amy Tangerine Cut & Paste; Stamps and dies:  Clearly Whimsy Stamps; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Tempting Turquoise; Baker's Twine:  The Twinery

rain or shine...

(for my Precious Remembrance hop post please scroll down or click here)

Hello, hello!!  Looks like we are going to have a bit less rain and a bit more shine here in the pacific northwest this weekend... YAY!  Quick post with a card I made for a few challenges:  CASology (wet... do admit this isn't super CAS), Sketchbook Saturday, Verve (chevron chic) and Virginia's View #2 (stenciling).

 

Tried to get out of my comfort zone, again... not sure how well it went, but I'm trying people...I'm trying, lol!!   I colored some fibre paste with some SU! Coastal Cabana ink and then using a homemade stencil (created with PTI's chevron cover plate) applied it to my white cardstock piece.  Once it was dry I mixed a little bit more Coastal Cabana ink with water and splattered it (yep... I tried splattering!) on the cardstock.  The sentiment and image are from the Verve set Rain or Shine.   The squares were die cut using Spellbinders plain square dies.  So there it is... my funny little card! 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock: PTI white & Smoky Shadow, SU! Coastal Cabana; Stamps:  Verve; Ink:  Stampin Up! & Memento; Golden Fibre paste; Spellbinders dies

love the here & now...

Hello friends!!  Popping in with a card for the current MFT Wednesday sketch challenge, as well as Virginia's View challenge #2 - stencils.

 

I will be honest and tell you that I'm not real big on stencils.  I own one and don't plan to buy any more.  I have dies that I can use to make my own stencils and given that this isn't a technique that I will be using alot using my dies to make my own works perfectly for me!  I'm also not big on spray mists for several reasons that I won't bore you with!  However, I did buy four Perfect Pearl Mists (for reasons I don't even remember, lol!) a few years ago and thankfully I was able to use one of them for my card.  I created my stencil by cutting a piece of thin chipboard using my MFT Fluttering Hearts die.  I layed it on my white cardstock and sprayed away using Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold mist.  After removing the stencil I realized that you can't really tell that those are hearts, but I forged ahead anyway.  I cut the piece down to the size I wanted and then stamped it with my sentiment (from the MFT set Chalkboard Greetings) using black ink.  I matted the piece with PTI Smoky Shadow cardstock.  Some pink polka dotted paper from Echo Park was cut to fit my card base, the edges distressed a bit and then adhered to the card base.  The stenciled piece was layered on top and then I added the wood veneer arrows that I colored using SU!'s Melon Mambo ink and then daubed them with a Ranger Gold paint dauber.  Not a bad effort... but I think I may try making something using my fibre paste.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & Smoky Shadow; PP:  Echo Park; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Die:  My Favorite Things; Studio Calico wood veneer arrows; Ranger Gold paint dauber; Perfect Pearls Mist; Ink:  SU! Melon Mambo, Memento Tuxedo Black

birds of a feather...

Hello friends!!  Back with a card to share.  Hope you like it... it is really outside my comfort zone!  Way out..., lol!!  

 I combined Cure for the Monday Blues with the new CAS(E) this Sketch layout.  I also could pop it into Virginia's first challenge:  Watercoloring since I watercolored on the tag.  And finally I just discovered that it would work for the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge:  Tag It.   This was definitely a "fiddly" card as I spent a long time trying to make sure that the feather looked okay (not sure I succeeded, lol) and figuring out if I should add something to obscure the hole in tag.  Tried this and that and finally settled on some thin black twine tied in a bow.  I think it works or this could just be a complete "hot mess"!  Anyway... tell me what you think.  Stamps are Avery Elle so I will also be popping it into their new challenge:  embellishments.  

I really took a bit of license with the CTS sketch, but hopefully you can still see the basic idea there. I spritzed a piece of watercolor paper with water and then using my So Saffron reinker brushed on the light yellow.  After the piece was dry I die cut the tag using my Reverse Confetti tag die.  The sentiment was stamped using watermark ink, white embossing powder applied and heat set.  The "together" was stamped, trimmed out and added to the tag using foam dimensionals.  After adhering the feather I added the tag, some green sequins, the bow and I was done.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft & rustic white; Strathmore watercolor paper; Stamps:  Avery Elle Love Notes; Die:  Reverse Confetti; Inks:  So Saffron, black, watermark ink; white embossing powder; green sequins; black twine