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!

clean and simple cards...

 Hello!  Popping in with a couple of clean and simple cards.  First up is a card for Color Throwdown and Freshly Made Sketches.   When I saw the CTD colors I immediately thought I would make a more masculine card and this card was scheduled to be sent to my sister-in-law's husband.  Then my mom called and asked me if I would make a card for her for my son who is turning 15 on Monday!  (How did that happen?).  Since I had this card almost completed I told her I would give it to her to give to Gabriel.   I used the Altenew Trigonometry stamp and die set.  I used the dies and the happy birthday sentiment.  I die cut the triangles from aqua, blue and gray cardstock and then figured out the arrangement based on the FMS layout.  The triangles I didn't use I simply stacked behind the ones I did to give them a little more dimension.  I die cut white cardstock with the largest Spellbinders Essential rectangle die and then the center of that panel with a smaller one.  I adhered the frame that was created  flush to the card base with tape adhesive and then popped up the smaller panel with foam tape.  I added the triangles and the sentiment that I stamped in VersaFine Clair Twilight ink and die cut with a banner die.    I hope Gabriel likes it!   I'm going to add this to the As You See It challenge to create a masculine card. 

This next card is for the MFT sketch and color challenges.  I haven't played along with either of those challenges in ages and when I saw the fun sketch I just had to get a card done!   Despite the fact that this card is pretty simple it was not simple to make.  It took me four times to get the butterfly right!  Then I had trouble with the element that I would layer behind the butterfly as well as the to banners.  Finally got things figured out and the card put together!   I generally don't do this, but I actually had all the elements (except the pearls) adhered to the card before I stamped the sentiment.  Thankfully the sentiment stamped well!   I finished with my favorite pearls... Rainbow Fish from Trinity Stamps!   There are pearls in the mix that matched perfectly with the blue and green colors in the MFT color challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

happy wednesday!

 Hello everyone!  Hope you are having a great week!  It is Wednesday and that means I have a post up on the AJVD blog.  Here is a little peek of my card:

I hope you will head over to the blog to check out the card and let me know what you think.   Before you go though I wanted to let you know that Jillian has a new release full of fun new stamps and dies!  Check out the graphic below.   Just click here to shop!  (Affiliate link used.  Purchasing items through my affiliate link allows me to earn a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you!)

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!  

Happy June!

Hey everyone!  Hope your June is off to a great start!  We are having beautiful weather right now so it definitely feels like summer is on its way!  I have a post up on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today and here is a little peek of my card:

I hope you will head over to the AJVD blog to see the full card.  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Spellbinder June Card Kit!

Hey everyone!  Well... here we are in June!  Time is just flying by and since it is the 1st of June that means Spellbinders is revealing all of its new kits for this month.  You can find out information about the Spellbinders club by clicking here.   And don't forget that Spellbinders has value clubs, as well.  Click here to check out the different value club configurations. (Affiliate links used.  Using my links allows me to earn a small commission at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support!)   This month the kit is called Wild Hello has more of a birthday theme to it so I will be sharing 3 birthday cards and one that is more of a "just because" type of card.   

This card might be my favorite of the bunch.  I used lots of the die cut pieces from the kit along with a sentiment from the kit stamp set.   The light blue cardstock is also from the kit and was die cut with a Spellbinders Essential die.  I arranged all my pieces (didn't glue them down) figured out where to stamp the sentiment, stamped it and then adhered all the pieces.  All the pieces except for the cheetah were adhered flush to the cardstock panel.  The cheetah was popped up with foam tape.  I then adhered the panel to one of the pre-made cards from the kit.  Going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes. 

This is the just because card and it uses more of the die cut pieces from the kit along with one of the fun pieces of patterned paper from the 6x6 pad included in the kit.  Simply trimmed the paper to fit the front of the premade card base, adhered it and then arranged all the different pieces.  I finished off the card with a little twine bow.  

This card was so simple to create!  I used one of the journaling cards from the pack included in the kit, tons of fun puffy stickers, a strip of patterned paper and another piece of die cut cardstock.   Each month the card kits include recurring items like a die set, a stamp set, patterned paper, die cut pieces and cardstock.  What varies from month to month are the small embellishments and this month's kit included the puffy stickers.  I just had to create a card using them.  This card is geared toward a girl, but I have enough puffy stickers left over to make a boy version!

The final card uses one of the dies from the super fun die set.  There are four dies and the create those trendy 'on the line' sentiment.  Obviously I used the birthday one for my card.  I die cut it from gold foil cardstock (from the kit) multiple times and adhered them together.  I then used another one of the journal cards combined with the fun birthday cake patterned paper.  I layered the journal card on the patterned paper rectangle, adhered that to a card base I covered with a bright pink cardstock.  I layered on the sentiment strip and then adhered the fun little heart die cuts. 

I hope you enjoyed all the cards I created with the kit.   I hope to be back in a few days with additional cards as I have a few more ideas for items from the kit.  Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!