Just a Note and Happy Birthday

Squeaking in with a last minute entry for JUGs Photo/Mood Board Challenge.  The first time I looked at it, I thought of pink tissue paper flowers.  

I die cut Poppystamps Layered Pointy Petals using 3 layers of pink tissue paper at once.  Then I pulled apart the layers and glued 2-3 different size flowers together.  Instead of the diecut centers, I used pink transluscent enamel dots.  Couldn't resist the recent 50% off flash sale at The Greetery and picked up 2 dies.  This is my first card using It's a Wrap: Mini Posy Pocket which I die cut from PTI printed paper.  Decided my flowers needed something, so I added Memory Box Garland Greenery die cut from vellum.  The embossed panel is SSS Dibble Tile and the sentiment stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist is from PFS Perfect Sentiments.  Glad I had enough Sweet Blush cardstock for the mat, which actually is just a frame.  I cut a smaller rectangle from the center to use for another card.  I'm also entering NBUS.  This is the first outing for the flower wrap, flowers and greenery.

Next is my card for Uniko's 14th BD Celebration.  I admire Beverley's designing skills and ability to run her own company.  And I'm happy to count her as one of my friends.  

I used CN9 inks for the floral image and Versafine Clair Nocturne for the sentiment.  The base stems/leaves layer of Beautiful Blooms III was stamped in Artichoke, the fill-in color in Parsley and the veins in Artichoke.  For the flower and berry I used Pink Lemonade and Dragonfruit.  I wasn't happy with the flower outline and didn't want to start over, so I carefully traced it using a Gelly Roll Clear Star pen.  Thankfully, that gave me a look I liked.  Floral Vines is another Uniko stamp set I really like, but this time I just used the birthday sentiment.  I splattered black ink and added 3 pearly white sequins.  The black dry embossed background was made with  Altenew's Angled Mosaic.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday.

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Altenew, Stamplorations and Pinkfresh

The February Altenew Challenge has a beautiful color combo.  I used Altenew's Plants & Vases for my entry, along with their Nesting Oval dies.  

The inks I used are Altenew Blush and VersaMagic Oasis Green.  The cardstock is PTI Soft Stone.  I used a gold metallic pen to highlight the dots on the vase and randomly stamped little splatters using gold metallic watercolor.  You can see the shimmer in my IG video.

Next is my card for Stamplorations February Challenge.  I love the style of the Layered Vase stamp set.  There are solid images to use for adding color.  

I stamped the outline image in Versafine Clair Nocturne and used Altenew Blush Rose, Raspberry Sunset, Sagestone and Caribbean Sky for the color.  I stamped the water 3 times to get a slightly larger area colored.  The sentiment is from the same set.  I splattered black ink and added matching enamel dots.  Now I want to make another card with this fun set!  

My final card was made with the rest of my PFS butterflies that weren't used for the card in my last post.  The gold embossed Small Butterflies were stenciled with MFT Peach Bellini and PTI Tropical Teal. 

I cut off an inch of the card front and attached matching colored strips to the inside of the card.  The splatters were made with an old IO background stamp using the same inks and the butterflies were glued only in the middle. 

The sentiment is from PFS Sweet Friend Floral.  I'm entering PFS February Challenge and Color Hues Peach & Teal.

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Waffle Flower Valentine and PFS Friendship Card

I resisted the postage collage trend, although I love it.  Finally I used a WF gc to get a few of the products and made my first card.  

My sister loves blue and her hubby is a fan of green, so I often use that combo for their cards.  Thought they'd love a Valentine made with the Rose Stencil, as they grow roses, too.  The inks I used are Altenew Arctic, Caribbean Sky, Persian Blue and Just Green.  I used Heidi Swapp screen ink for the little accents on the last stencil.  It's like a paste, so gives texture and shimmer.  You can see it in my IG post video.  The little stamped images are from an old PB stamp set.  Now I'm anxious to make some more postage collage cards!  I'm entering JUGS.  

Love that the Pinkfresh Challenge is Anything Goes using mainly their products.  I pulled out three of my favorites:  Small Butterflies, Lush Vines and Perfect Sentiments.  Decided to use the Color Hues challenge of Peach and Teal with MFT Peach Bellini and PTI Tropical Teal ink cubes.

After gold embossing the one piece stamp containing 9 butterflies, I used the matching stencils to add the color.  I just used the 2 ink cubes varying the amount of ink to get some lighter areas and some darker.  The teal shows more contrast.  I used the one piece die and then picked out 3 butterflies for my card.  Couldn't resist brushing them with a shimmer pen--so beautiful in the light.  You can see it in my IG video.  Glad I remembered seeing cards I liked that had black and white backgrounds with colored focal points.  I stamped Lush Vines in Versafine Nocturne and die cut the old PTI dotted rectangle from the panel.  Gotta say, I love the look!  You may see more black and white backgrounds!  I triple layered the sentiment, glued the butterflies only in the centers and added 3 black enamel dots around the sentiment.  Now to make another card with the leftover butterflies.  There may be too much black and white for Color Hues, but I'll leave that up to them.  

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Valentine and Friendship

I enjoy watching the Olympics and hearing some of the athletes stories.  I'm happy for the winners, but hope all the competitors are proud of being Olympians.  I'm definitely cheering for Freestyle skier Hunter Hess.

Here's another Valentine I sent to a friend.  I came across my old Penny Black Stickeroos including a sheet that looked like Valentine's Day images.  

I just added the sticker to a cream panel already die cut, splattered it with Champagne Gold watercolor and glued it to the card front I had covered with matching red cardstock.  The colors aren't great in this picture--much prettier in person.  The very old MFT sentiment gets used every year.  I'm entering PBSC, SSS Monday and JUGS.

My friendship card is for the monochromatic challenge at Poppystamps.  The card is PTI Soft Stone, my favorite light gray.  Poppystamps Nordic Basket and the smaller MFT rectangle were die cut from Soft Stone.  

I brushed the sides and bottom of the basket with Soft Stone ink.  I die cut a bunch of Poppystamps Lucky Layered Flowers to try out my new Altenew Moonlit Twilight ink cubes.  To me, Glacier Iris and Dreamy Periwinkle go together and Celestial Mist and Twilight Sky go together, rather than mixing and matching all 4 colors.  For this card, I used 3 flowers made with Glacier Iris and Dreamy Periwinkle.  I took a bunch of pictures with a variety of backgrounds, but couldn't capture the true ink colors.  They definitely are purple and not blue.  I cut some of the individual Poppystamps Massa Leaf Frame branches from vellum and arranged everything in the basket which was glued to the smaller rectangle.  I brushed the next size up rectangle with Dreamy Periwinkle to match.  Poppystamps Scribble Hello was brushed with both inks going from light at the bottom to dark at the top.  The sentiment and the flower centers were covered with glaze.  Dreamy Periwinkle enamel dots were the finishing touch.  I'm also entering TTTC286 with Diecutting/Ink Blending/Friendship.

Truth is truth.  We choose what to believe and what not to believe.  Believing something doesn't make it true, just as disbelieving something doesn't make it false--not even if you're in a position of power.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Valentines

I'm still working on Valentines.  Luckily, cardmaking friends appreciate happy mail whenever it arrives.

First is my card inspired by Color Hues Red and Pink Challenge.  Finally pulled out Uniko Layering Flower Fusion stencil set and I love it just as much as Picked Posies.  

My inks are CN9 Honeysuckle and Poppy plus PTI Weathervane.  I used Versamark through the flower centers stencil so I could silver emboss them.  SSS Layered Bird Bunch has just the right size little birds.  I colored one by brushing the pieces alternating with the red and pink inks--red being the head.  I used Stamplorations circles cover plate for added interest.  I flipped the cut down panel so the bird could be popped up on the branch next to the Alex Syberia die cut word.  I used vellum for the shadow and silver cardstock for the word.  The Valentine sentiment is inside.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and DCD, if I didn't use too much gray.

My next card was made with Gina K Wreath Builder Template and Sketched Wreath Builder stamp set.  Hadn't used the template in awhile and it really is such a fun technique.  

The inks are CN9 Sweet Pea, Ballet Slipper, Parsley and Sprout.  Even though I stamped the tiny hearts 3 times, they were barely visible.  So, I stamped over them twice using PTI Sweet Blush and got the look I wanted.  The embossed panel was done with a very old folder that has tiny hearts at each intersection of lines.  Love the difference it made compared to using a plain white panel.  I'm entering Time Out Challenges using the words Pink and Heart.  I have light pink hearts and darker pink flowers, plus the tiny white hearts in the embossed background.  

Last is another Valentine using a paper pad given to me long ago by my sweet friend, Cat.  I love the gold and kraft papers, but I struggle to use printed paper.  So glad I watched Juliana Michaels' Craft Your Stash video recently.  Again I used her basic sketch and this time covered the seam with a strip cut from one of the papers with the reverse side up.  

Couldn't come up with any additional colors I liked with these papers.  I found a yellow vellum that looked like gold and used that for the shadow of  SSS Simple Happy Valentine's Day.  The words were cut from the reverse side of the paper, like the strip.  Clear embossing the words let them stand out and perfectly match the card.  Gotta say, I love how this turned out, although I wasn't so sure in the beginning.  By the way, did you see the SSS tip to cut down a silicone basting brush to use with glue?  Check this out!  Someone recently gave me 2 of the brushes, so I tried it out.  Worked great to attach the words to the shadow.  I'm entering SSS Wednesday.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

Christmas and Valentine's Day

Since pink is my favorite color, I couldn't miss Christmas Kickstart Dreaming of a Pink Christmas!  I've been wanting to use the little PTI angel in place of an O and here's the result. 

My sweet friend Maria gave me Poppystamps Seed Snowflake Joy a long time ago and I love how versatile it is.  The J and the Y can be used with the snowflake or separately.  I die cut the angel from CN9 pink glitter I've hoarded for years.  It's gorgeous when the light hits it!  You can get an idea from my IG video.  I brushed the white letters with Memento Angel Pink and stacked them 2 high.  I glued the angel to a vellum oval and then attached everything to a panel embossed with SSS Holiday Greenery folder.  The thin mat was inked to match.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday.

Years ago another sweet friend, Cat, gave me a wonderful American Crafts Valentine pad.  I love the papers and have used some, but I struggle using printed papers.  A video by Juliana Michaels for the current Craft Your Stash event gave me just the inspiration I needed.

I pulled out 2 papers I liked together and cut them like she did.  The seam was covered with white and pink thin grosgrain ribbon--also in my stash for years.  Love SSS Simple Valentine's Day die and knew it would work for this design.  Tried a few options and decided on a shimmer vellum shadow with light pink letters stacked 2 high.  Then I pulled out various flower dies and thought the smaller one from SSS Dreamy Daisy Layers worked best.  The solid layers were inked light pink and the detail layers were die cut from the same shimmer vellum.  I attached the layers purposely not lined up and added the white centers brushed with a shimmer pen.  Really love how this one turned out!  I'm going to use some of the other papers while I remember what to do with them. 😊 I'm entering SSS Monday and Word Art Wednesday.

Edited:  Something was bothering me about this card.  I pulled it out 2 days later and immediately realized that the flower centers needed to be red to tie in with the text paper.  Easy fix and now I love it!

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Birthday Cards

I like to have some birthday cards made ahead in my stash and most of the ones left I don't really like.  So, I'm working on fixing that.  I seldom make shakers, but really had fun making this one for Poppystamps January Challenge.  Think my sister-in-law will enjoy something different than I've sent her in the past. 

Poppystamps Soaring Tree Frame was die cut from white cardstock and colored with a gold sparkle pen and green and brown Faber-Castell markers.  The leaves were covered in Peeled Paint Distress Stickles.  I ink blended Altenew's Just Green and Persian Blue for the background which was covered with clear packaging and filled with Shaved Ice and a brown bead mix.  You can see the shaker in action in my IG video.  Poppystamps Nordic Bunny Trio was in my last order and think this cute fellow was the perfect addition to my card.  I added a tiny bit of color to his ears and feet.  The sweater was colored with blue ink left in my brush and a dot of Stickles was put on his tail.  The gold foil chipboard sentiment is from Memory Box.  SSS Dibble Tile folder gave me just the texture I wanted.  I'm also entering Word Art Wednesday. 

Recently a friend gifted me PFS Botanical Bunch stamp/die/stencils.  I was in the mood for a monochromatic card--maybe because of my new Altenew Sea Shore ink cubes.  

I first gold heat embossed the image and then used all the inks in the ink set with the stencils.  I added small gold splatters.  The darkest ink was used for the sentiment from PFS Perfect Sentiments.  The panel was die cut with PFS Postage Edge Rectangle and matted with gold metallic cardstock.  I attached the sentiment over a nest of gold thread and added a few Sea Shore enamel dots.  So happy with how this turned out.  I'm entering PFS January Challenge using April Floral Frenzy and September Monochromatic Magic.  Coloring stencils for stamps and embossing folders are lifesavers for me, as coloring is not one of my talents.  Using matching stencils has become one of my favorite techniques, so I'm also entering my card at Time Out Challenge 305.

Edited to add:  Also entering NBUS since this is the first card made with the floral stamp, coloring stencils, ink cubes and enamel dots.  

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.