Just Us Girls Guest Designer Week 3 - Moodboard

 Hello, hello!  I'm back to share my project for this week's JUGs challenge.  This week is mood board week it is a pretty one!   Let's have a look at what I made.

Of all the cards I had to create for this month's JUGs challenges this one was the easiest by far. Initially I thought it was going to be hard because I don't have much in the way of umbrella themed products.  But as I was thinking about what to do I was also going through my crafty stash and came across these pre-printed cards that I had gotten in a Simon Says Stamp card kit several years ago.  I idly flip through them and saw this one with the cute little chick and her umbrella.  Perfect for the challenge as the mood board features umbrellas!  Problem solved - YAY!   The image is printed on watercolor cardstock so I pulled out my Jane Davenport watercolors and got going painting this cute little image up.  Once I was done with the watercoloring and the image was dry I added a bit of gloss to the little raindrops using glossy accents.   When the glossy accent drops were dry I die cut the panel and adhered it to a yellow cardstock base with foam tape.   I love it when a card comes together like that!

Well, that's it for me today.  I hope you will take up the challenge of this week's mood board and play along at JUGs.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

Valentines and Christmas

 Hello! Back with the final projects that I made with products from the Simon Says Stamp Heart to Heart release, as well as a Christmas card that I made.  The Christmas card will be heading off to Freshly Made Sketches, Just Us Girls (mood board - I went with some of the colors found in the mood board and pine, as in pinecone!) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Let's look at the Christmas card first.

Back in the fall I purchased the Simon Says Stamp Layering Pinecone stencil and die set and had wanted to make something with it, but once, again, never got around to it.  The products were still on my desk and so I was determined to use them.  As you can see the pinecone is quite large and so perfect for the oval element on the FMS sketch.  I used Pinkfresh Studio brown inks to stencil the pinecone.  There are four layers to the stencil.  After stenciling all the layers with the brown inks, I cleaned the stencils and then used the 4th layer to add matte texture paste, removed the stencil and covered the texture paste with Rock Candy glitter.   I love the frosty look it adds to the pinecone.  I used some Simple Stories winter patterned paper for the background that I embossed with the SSS Stars and Snow embossing folder.  That was adhered to a kraft cardstock base.  I trimmed down another piece of Simple Stories patterned paper and adhered that to the card front.  The pinecone was layered on along with the twine bow and sentiment that I hot foiled several years ago.   

For my tag I used the pretty Locket of Love stamp set.  I stamped the locket and bow images on watercolor cardstock and then watercolored them with Daniel Smith watercolors.  The tag was also die cut from watercolor paper and then I added a wash of gray to the tag.  Once the images were dry I fussy cut them out.  I finished the heart with one of the hearts from the Flourish Heart Trio die set that I added a wash of pink to.  The sentiment was stamped and then fussy cut, as well.  Everything was layered on the tag along with a small white paper doily.  The tag is small enough that it could fit on a card front if I decide to do that. 

This card and a second one were made with the Sassy Sally stamp set.  I also used a stencil set that matches the Locket of Love set to create the heart my little kitty sits on.   I stamped the image on watercolor cardstock and then watercolored it with Daniel Smith watercolors.  When dry fussy cut it out.   Stenciled the heart using Spun Sugar distress oxide ink and then die cut the panel.  Figured out where I wanted the image and sentiment to be and then stamped the sentiment.  

Card number two was made in the same way as card number one, just used a different image and sentiment.  These little valentines will be heading off to two of my great nieces.  Just have to figure out a card for my other great niece and my great nephew.  

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

Simon Says Stamp Happy Camper Blog Hop - Day 2!

 Hello everyone!  I'm so excited to be taking part in the Simon Says Stamp day 2 blog hop celebrating the new Happy Camper release!  I have three cards that I will be sharing that I created with the super sweet Cute Campers stamp set.  For the release Simon Says Stamp has a promotion going on.   Purchase any item from the Happy Camper release and receive the brand new, never been release Sunflower Dance stamp set!  This promotion runs through August 3rd at 11:59 pm EST or while supplies last.  Also, one lucky commentor on this blog post will receive a $25 Simon Says Stamp gift certificate!  YAY! (Winners will be contacted via email by Simon Says Stamp.) You should have gotten here from Karin Akesdotter's blog.  Now, let's have a look at what I created. 

For this card I did several different techniques:  masking, ink blending and coloring.  I don't often do a lot of masking, but this fun little stamp set is made for masking!  I figured out where I wanted all the images and then created the masks.   Once I had all the images stamped I covered them with their respective masks and did some ink blending for the sky and ground.  I did create additional masks for the horizon line so there was a defined line between sky and ground.  Once the ink blending was done I colored the images with Copic markers.  I did remask the fire so that I could ink blend the glow from the fire.   I die cut the panel, stamped the sentiment and then added the "stars" with a white gel pen.

While I'm super pleased with how the first card turned out, this card is my favorite of the three I made.  The clean and simple scene that I created is more my style.  I started by stamping the main scene image across a panel of kraft cardstock using kraft ink for a tone on tone look.  I die cut the panel down using a Simon Says Stamp A2 frames rectangle die.  I did some selective inking of the large scene stamp so that I only had the two trees, bush and camper.  I stamped that on a white cardstock panel and then die cut it down with a tag die.  The little puppy and fire were stamped on a scrap of white cardstock.  I colored everything with Copic markers.  The puppy and fire were fussy cut and added to the tag along with a twine bow.  I adhered the background panel and tag to a card base and then added the fun sentiment that I die cut with a little banner die.  

My last card was made in a similar manner to the second card.  I inked up the portion of the largest image that featured the tent and stamped it.  I also stamped the little critter.  He looks like a little chipmunk to me.  I then water colored the images with my Jane Davenport watercolors.  Once dry I fussy cut them out.  I used a piece of left over water color cardstock to create the background.  I thought it would be fun to have him sitting beside a little lake or stream.  Once the panel was dry I die cut the panel with a smaller A2 frame die, stamped the sentiment and then adhered it to a kraft cardstock base.  I then added my little scene. 

Well, that's it for me.  I'm the last stop on the hop.  If you started with me, the entire blog hop link list is below.   Make sure you leave a comment for a chance to win the $25 gift certificate.   

Simon Says Stamp Blog 

Nina-Marie Trapani

Suzy Plantamura

Cathy Zielske

Laura Bassen

Debby Hughes

Lisa Addesa

Emily Midgett

Heather Ruwe

Sandi MacIver

Tina Smith

Hanh Nguyen

Barb Engler

Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Karin Åkesdotter

Rosemary Dennis

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Friend Like You Release!

 Hello, hello!  I'm popping in to share two cards that I made with a background stamp from the Simon Says Stamp Friend Like You release.  Simon was so kind and sent me the Dahlia Background stamp to create with.  It is so beautiful!   You can check out the enter release here.  Let's look at what I made.

For the first card I went with a soft look using Copic markers.  I stamped the image multiple times because I my big MISTI stamping tool is wonky and I can never get a good, stamped image the first time around with large images.  Anyway, I finally did get it stamped and then colored the image very simply with a light pink and light green Copic.  I used my colorless blender to blend the colors out a little bit.  I die cut the image, adhered it to a white cardstock base and then added the sentiment that I stamped on vellum with VersaMark watermark ink.  Platinum embossing powder was applied and heat set.  The sentiment was then die cut with the matching die.  Adhered that with rolled up glue dots.

For the second card I went for a bolder look.

I stamped the image on watercolor cardstock and then colored it with my Jane Davenport watercolors.  I did use two different colors for the flowers, but the difference in the colors is pretty subtle.  I do like how it turned out.  I die cut the panel with a SSS A2 frame die.  The thin frame was glued to my cardstock base and then the interior panel was popped up for some dimension.  The A2 Frames die set comes with the hello sentiment and shadow layer so I die cut the word from glossy black cardstock and the shadow from vellum.  Adhered them together and then added it to the card front.   Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

Well, that's it for me.  Make sure you head over to Simon Says Stamp to see the full release.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

June Birch Press Design Post #2

Hello, hello!  I'm popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I'm sharing.

Hope you will head over to the blog to see what I created.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

JUGs challenge #774 - Word Week - Fruit

 Hello, hello!  I'm back for week 2 of my guest designer turn at Just Us Girls!  This week is word week and the word is fruit!   I must admit I wasn't even sure that I had anything in my stash that would work, but thankfully I remember a Simon Says Stamp stamp and die set that I have that features lemons.  Let's have a look at what I made.

I stamped all the lemon images in the stamp set in VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink, applied clear embossing powder, heat set and then watercolored them with just two Tonic Studio Aqua Flow pens:  yellow and dark green.  The same was done for the butterfly.   Once dry I die cut all the images.  The stamp set happened to be part of a card kit that I had purchased and so I used some of the patterned paper from the kit.  The paper is from Simple Stories, but unfortunately I don't know which paper line.  I die cut the paper, arranged my lemons and then stamped the sentiment from the kit.   The panel was added to a white cardstock base and then I attached the butterfly.  I'm super happy with how this card turned out. 

I hope to see you playing along with this week's challenge.  All the information can be found on the JUGs blog.   Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Favorite Things Release!

(To see my Birch Press Design post click here. Thanks!)

Hey friends!  I'm popping in to share two projects I made with the most adorable stamp set from the new Simon Says Stamp Favorite Things release.  Simon was so kind and sent me the Bunny Blessings stamp set to work with!  Let's have a look at what I created.

First up is this little decor piece that I made.   How cute is that little bunny and the carrot house?  I stamped the images using VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink on watercolor cardstock, let the images dry and then watercolored them with my Jane Davenport watercolors.   After they were dry I trimmed them out with my scissors.   While the images were drying I worked on the frame.  I painted the frame with some yellow acrylic paint and let it dry.  The yellow was a little too bright for me so I dry brushed on some white acrylic paint to knock the color back a bit.   I then grabbed another piece of watercolor cardstock and did a simple color wash of bright green and bright blue to create the grass and sky.  I placed the piece while it was still wet inside a paper towel and placed something on top so that the piece would dry relatively flat.   When I removed the panel from the paper towel some of the blue in the sky was removed.  I love how it sort of makes it look like there are clouds!  I adhered my background to the backing panel that comes with the frame using collage medium.  Once it was dry I adhered the frame also using collage medium.   I glued the carrot house in place and then added the bunny and eggs using foam square on the eggs and sticky board on the bunny.   I finished with the green bow in the corner.  Still haven't decided if I will put a sentiment on it or just leave it as is.  Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

How cute are these little chicks?  I stamped the image in VersaFine Clair Nocturne and watercolored the chicks with Jane Davenport watercolors.  Once everything was dry, I added the simple wash of the bright green and bright blue.   I used the same drying technique on this panel that I used above to remove some of the blue from the sky.  I stamped the sentiment and then die cut down the panel using a Simon Says Stamp rectangle die.  Some yellow gingham paper was die cut with a large rectangle die from the same SSS set and adhered to a cardstock base.  I did add some hints of glitter to the bellies of the chicks and to the eggs.  I attached the panel to the card base using foam tape.  Simple, but I love how this turned out. 

If you want to see the entire Favorite Things release you can click here.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

birthday flowers

 Hello!  I'm back with a card that I made for Color Throwdown and the Paper Players.  Let's have a look at what I created. 

I'm still in birthday card mode so I made another one, lol!  For this one I used the Pinkfresh Studio Beautiful Blooms stamps and dies.  I stamped the images on watercolor cardstock with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink and then applied clear embossing powder.  The images were heat set and then I did very simple watercoloring using a Tonic Studio Aqua Flow pen in Aqua Splash (teal) and then Jane Davenport watercolors in pink and green.  I die cut the images with the matching dies and arranged them on white cardstock that I die cut with the Pinkfresh Studio Dotted Fancy Frames die.   I went with a patterned paper background that had all the colors from the ColorThrowdown palette in it.  I really like how it looks.  I finished with a sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp EZ Strips Birthday stamp set.  Will be adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.

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

hey, friend...

 Hey there!  Popping in with a very simple card for several challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Just Us Girls and Inkspirational.   Let's have a look at what I made.

When I started making this card I was only going to post it to Freshly Made Sketches, Just Us Girls and the Simon Says Stamp February Instagram challenge.  The SSS IG challenge is to use watercolors this month so I decided to do so simple watercoloring on a die cut.  The die I used is from Simon Says Stamp and I have had it for a long time.  I don't even know what it is called, but I immediately thought of it when I saw the FMS sketch.  I die cut the image from watercolor cardstock and then chose two colors from my Jane Davenport watercolors set to color up the die cut.  I went with blue/green color called Mermaid and a dark blue called Indigo.   

After I had finished up watercoloring the image I left it to dry and decide to check out a few additional challenges to see if there was another one I could enter.  I was delighted to find that I could also add this to the current Inkspirational challenge.  They are sharing a pretty mood board this week.  So, I'm using some of the colors in the mood board, as well as woodgrain.  The challenge at JUGs is to use the word friend, so I went with the sentiment "Hey, Friend Happy Birthday.    I put all the elements together and then finished with some tiny gems in a blue-green color. 

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

The BPD Blog is Back!

 Hello!  The Birch Press Design blog is back!  I have a post on the blog today and here is a little peek:

I hope you will head over there to take a look at the full card.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Old Fashioned Christmas

 Hello everyone!  I had a post ready to go for the new release from Simon Says Stamp and once, again, Blogger flagged it and unpublished it.  When I read the email it said that I was engaging in SPAMMING!  I had about 7 affiliate links in my post and that is all.  I tried removing those links and republishing, but it flagged me, AGAIN!  So... here I am writing a completely new post and hoping that it gets published.   So incredibly tired of Blogger!   Here are the cards I made:

SSS generously sent me a stamp set called Old Fashioned Christmas.  It features four images and several sentiments.  For this card I stamped the image of a decanter on watercolor cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then did very simple watercoloring to make it look like there was some type of alcohol in the decanter.  The bow was also stamped on watercolor cardstock (twice) with the Nocturne ink and then watercolored.  When the image was dry I trimmed out the full bow and then just the top portion of the bow (if that makes sense, lol) and layered them together with thin foam squares for a little dimension.  I die cut some Christmas foliage from watercolor cardstock and added a wash of color to the pieces.  Once everything was dry I adhered the pieces to my decanter and finished with the sentiment from the stamp set.

For the second card I stamped both of the drink images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored very simply with Copic markers.  I die cut the panel with a rectangle die and layered it on glitter cardstock with a light peach hue to it.  I added a bit of more sparkle to each drink by adding glossy accents and Rock Candy glitter to the ice cubes, cherry and orange slice.  

That's it for me.  If you want to check out the release, please click the link to Simon Says Stamp that is over on my side bar.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

hello... you're amazing

 Hello, hello!  Hope all is well in your world.  Autumn is on the way in my corner of the world and with that in mind I decided to take up the Color Hues challenge and create a card with the colors of rust and green.  Let's have a look at what I made.

Back in July, I think, I got a Simon Says Stamp card kit and instead of letting it sit around like I did with one I got last year I decided to use the beautiful floral image in the set for my card.  I used Tonic Studios aqua flow pens and a wet paint brush to do the coloring.  I first stamped the image on watercolor cardstock using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then got to coloring.  I laid down a layer of yellow and then layered red over the top to get the rusty color I was going for.  For the flower centers I used a combination of the yellow and red along with some brown thrown in for a rust that was more brown than orange like the flowers.  

I have only one green in the Aqua Flow pens, but was able to get a bit of shading on the leaves by drawing the color out or removing some of it.  Overall, I pretty pleased with how the coloring turned out.  I die cut the panel with a Simon Says Stamp A2 Nesting Frames die that cuts a thin border.  I used the same die to cut glossy black cardstock to get the frame that I glued to a cardstock base.  I glued the leftover rectangle and two more to the back of my watercolored piece and then inserted that inside the frame after I had stamped the small sentiment from the same stamp set that the floral image came from (Graceful Flowers).  The A2 Nesting Frames set comes with the "hello" word die so I die cut that three times from the glossy black cardstock and adhered them together and then adhered it to my card front.  

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

Birch Press Design

 Hello there!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek at what I made.

I hope you will head over to the Birch Press blog to see what I made.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Sweetheart Release!

 (See my Birch Press Design post here)

Hello everyone!  I'm popping in today to share three cards that I made with the Hello Animals stamp set from the new Simon Says Stamp Sweetheart release that is available right now on the Simon Says Stamp website.   

This stamp set is perfect for the little kiddos in your life or for anyone who likes cute animal images!  When I created this first card I had my great niece in mind.  She will turn two in February and she has several four legged "siblings".  I stamped the puppy dog image on watercolor paper with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink and then watercolored with my Jane Davenport watercolors.  I stamped the large happy birthday sentiment underneath with a fun red ink.  The little party hat was also watercolored and then trimmed out when it was dry.  I die cut the stamped panel, adhered it to a cardbase and then added the little party hat with foam squares.   I'm going to add this to the Paper Players challenge of celebrations. 

This card was inspired by a friend who loves orange and white kitties.  She recently lost her sweet kitty, Bonita, and even though I already sent her a card I think I will be sending her this one.  I stamped the kitty four times with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored very simply with Copic markers.  I die cut the panel and adhered it to a card base.  I stamped the sentiment on vellum with a cream colored embossing powder and then die cut it with a smaller rectangle die.  The vellum panel was attached using rolled up glue dot placed behind the letters. 

This last card is just like the first card except that I colored the bunny image using Copic markers.  I stamped the glasses and the bow and colored them with Copics.  I cut out the center of the glasses so you can see her eyes.  I added some Crystal Lacquer to the glasses and bow.  I really love how this card turned out!  The glasses just crack me up!  I'm adding this one to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of cute critters.

Make sure you head over to the Simon Says Stamp store to check out the entire release.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

More Christmas cards...

 Hello!  Popping in with a couple more Christmas cards to share.  The first card is for the Paper Players challenge to create a clean and simple card with a tag on it.  I also used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches so will post it there.  Take a look.

I made the tag several years ago for Ellen Hutson's annual Christmas tag challenge.  I used one of her stamp sets for the images.  I don't know which one because I was too lazy to dig through everything and find it, lol!  Anyway, I stamped a starry background on watercolor paper and then did a galaxy background with watercolors.  I die cut the tag from that and then added a little snowy hill for the deer to stand on.  The deer was stamped, embossed and then watercolored, too.  Die cut with the matching dies.  I stamped and embossed the moon on vellum.  Die cut it and then added some sparkle with glitter glue (I think!)  Finished with the sentiments and some sparkly eyelash twine.   For the sketch I added some strips of patterned paper from La La Land Crafts that went well with my tag.  The back panel was embossed with a Simon Says Stamp snowflake embossing folder.   Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to make it sparkle.

My second card is for the Color Throwdown challenge and I used a Stampin Up! stamp and die set that I recently purchased.  Take a look.

I stamped the sentiment using Memento Pear Tart and then applied the same ink to white cardstock to create matching cardstock.  That was die cut with a Memory Box arched die.  The smaller arched die was cut from dark green cardstock and stamped with an image from the stamp set using a dark green ink.  I adhered the sentiment and then added the little pine branches that I die cut from black metallic cardstock using a die from the coordinating Stampin Up! die set.  The little berries were also die cut from the cardstock that I created with the direct to paper inking.  I added some glossy accents to them for a little shine.

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

It's STAMPTEMBER!

Hi everyone!  September has arrived and that means that STAMPTEMBER has arrived, as well.  If you haven't heart of Stamptember I will fill you in.  Stamptember is Simon Says Stamp's celebration of all things crafting.  The month is filled with special collaboration releases from many of your favorite stamp companies, special edition crafty kits and so much more.  Today Simon Says Stamp is kicking things off with a blog party (not a blog hop)!  You can see the list of all participants on the Simon Says Stamp blog.  Each participant has a special code to share.  Using my code will allow you to get the Fancy Love die set for free with purchase!   See the graphic below for the code:

The code is good until September 3, 2023 at 11:59 pm ET.  

Simon was so kind and sent me the super cute Happy Hauntings stamp set to create with.  I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, but I now have one great nephew and three great nieces and the cute little dragon images are perfect to use to create Halloween cards for all the littles in your life!   Take a look at what I created.

There are four images in the stamp set and lots of fun sentiments.  I stamped all the images using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink on watercolor paper and then watercolored them with my Jane Davenport watercolors.  I was going to color two of the dragons purple, but loved the first two so much in the bright green that I did all four that way.  How cute are these two little witch dragons?  I just love the one with the balloon.  I have never seen the Nightmare Before Christmas, but I'm very aware of the main character Jack Skellington and the balloon face reminds me of him!  

I love pumpkins so I was happy to see two of the dragons carrying pumpkins.   Once all the images were colored and dry I die cut them with a small rectangle die and then moved onto creating the backgrounds.  I used the SSS Ticking background stamp from the July release and stamped it using Spiced Marmalade distress oxide ink.    I distressed the edges of the rectangle using Peeled Paint distress oxide ink and a very light distressing of  Black Soot distress oxide ink.  I layered the backgrounds on lime green cardstock.   For a little more interest I stamped the spider web in the corner of each piece and then added some silver stickles (which you can't really see in the photos).   I love how they turned out!

Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy the Stamptember release blog party!  Don't forget you can see the entire release right here.