Altenew & Spellbinders

Big surprise this morning--got an email to sign up for my vaccine & my appointment is tomorrow!  In case I don't feel great afterwards, here are my latest 2 cards.  Hubby's granddaughter just got engaged, so gave me a good reason to pull out the January Spellbinders Small Die Kit.

The sentiment is Altenew.  I spritzed with shimmer spray & added glaze to the heart.  Hopefully they'll like it.  

I'm entering SSS Wednesday.  

I haven't used my Altenew floral dies in a long time, so I pulled out the Wild Rose 3D dies & used lots of scraps for the Altenew January Inspiration Challenge.  I brushed all the edges with Altenew inks & splattered with white gouache.  

A friend sent me the Altenew Watercolor Stripes vellum die cut which I attached to a soft stone panel.  The sentiment from Altenew Flower Vine was stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne & I added some yellow gems from my stash.  I'm also entering TTTC101, Vellum, Stripes, Hugs.

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

Memory Box, Poppystamps, Pinkfresh Studio

Three cards for February monthly challenges.  First up is Memory Box where the theme is Pretty Purples.  I pulled out some older MB dies to make a square friendship card using 2 shades of purple textured cardstock. 

The dies are Jasmine Frame, Moonlight Butterfly & Kaleidoscope Butterfly.  The top butterfly wings were cut from silver glitter tape & the body from a black scrap.  I added a few clear Pico Embellisher dots to the frame & stamped the sentiment from Poppystamps Grateful Heart.  I'm also entering SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday (die cutting glitter tape) & DRU.

Next is a card for hubby which I can use for our anniversary or as a Valentine, thanks to Poppystamps theme of I Love You.  

I've always liked the color combo red, white & gray.  I had just enough of the gray cardstock to cover the card front & I used one of my million white scraps to die cut Poppystamps Triple Heart Twirl.  

I backed it with a piece of red metallic cardstock I've been hoarding & white embossed the sentiment from Poppystamps Grateful Heart.  Love the little heart embellishments from Gina K & thought the white one was just right for this card.  I'm also entering The Snippets Playground & Double D.

Finally, here's my entry for Pinkfresh Studio's Alphas/Words challenge.  I love PFS Classic Holiday Words dies & Delicate Wreath.  Decided to try coloring directly on the wreath with 2 green Altenew watercolor markers.  

I put the wreath in my Misti, colored random parts of the wreath, spritzed with water & stamped.  I repeated the process multiple times until I was happy.  Gotta say, the markers worked great for the technique!  The panel was dry embossed with Spellbinders Floral embossing folder & spritzed with gold glimmer mist--so beautiful in person!  

I die cut the sentiment from Tim Holtz red glitter cardstock & the shadow from vellum stacked 2 high.  Finished off with gold adhesive dots & a green mat.  This was really fun to make & I love how it turned it!  

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

Snowflakes Plus

I was lucky enough to win the Uniko Stunning Snowflakes stamp set & I've made 2 cards with it.  First is a thank you card using emboss resist with DO faded jeans & wilted violet.  

I stamped the Simply Said Blocks sentiment in black ink multiple times on a strip of white cardstock using my MISTI.  I used black for the mat & added the snowflakes panel.  I'm entering SSS Wednesday (emboss resist) & Uniko Challenge 63.

I used the same Uniko stamp sets to make a birthday card for the Uniko 9th Anniversary Celebration.  This time I stamped snowflakes in DO faded jeans, wilted violet & rustic wilderness.  

The sentiment was stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black & I added splatters.  CAS, 1 layer card ready to mail.

Recently I watched Gina K's video & was inspired to pull out a dark Copic & give it a try.  I gold embossed the image from Gina K A Big Hello & colored all the vanilla cardstock with R59.  

Then I gold embossed again for thick, smooth lines.  The texture was made by dabbing with Alcohol Ink Blending Solution on a piece of felt.  The edge was made with a PPP die & the sentiment from Sketched Wreath Builder was stamped in PTI Scarlet Jewel.  

I colored the little hearts with a gold glitter pen & added gold splatters.  I used several pieces of cardstock behind the focal point before adding it to the card front.  I'm entering the GK February Monthly Mix challenge.

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

Goodby 60s, Hello 70s

Lots of February birthdays in my family, including mine!  On Friday I turned 70 with a nice quiet day at home.  I relocated this first professional family photo.  Yep--I was born with a lot of dark, wavy hair.

I received lots of wonderful cards from friends & family.  I display them on the shelves where I keep my music box collection.  That way I see them when I'm in my recliner.

We missed the worst of the storms, but there was enough ice to bring down a lot of branches.  Lots of people lost power, but ours was only out a few hours.  Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day.  

Here are a couple cards I shared on IG.  I was inspired by the tutorial on SCS.  Instead of drawing, I stamped an ancient, unlabeled wood mounted lined heart image.  

Then I used the wet to wet watercolor technique with DI salty ocean & mowed lawn.  The word die cut from silver glitter tape & the sentiment are W&W. 

Next is a Valentine for next year made with the Spellbinders January Small Die of the Month kit.  I used a piece of light pink metallic cardstock I recycled from a store bought card.  

Hard to capture the beautiful soft color which I combined with gold & ivory.  

The dies are so pretty I almost didn't add a sentiment, but I do like this one from W&W gold embossed on a strip of heavy vellum.  I'm entering The Snippets Playground.

I don't know why I left the embossing folder that came with my Gemini Jr in the box rather than putting it with my other folders.  It's absolutely gorgeous & here's the first card I made with it. 

I inked one side with DI speckled egg before running it through the machine.  I colored the edges of the card & the PFS Dainty Blossoms die cuts with the same ink.  Love this old Spellbinders label die & need to use it more often.  I stamped the HA sentiment on it with the same ink--a big advantage to using the oxides, I think.

Last is the card I made for the current ITP PTI BD challenge.  I used the PTI Large Scallop Stackers die cut that a friend gave me & stamped Friendship Jar Flowers on it in Prairie Grass & Simply Chartreuse.  

The big blooms were stamped in Winter Wisteria & Versamark to clear emboss.  Then I brushed on Lavender Moon, stacked them 2 high & added clear gems.  The little flowers were stamped in Lavender Moon & the centers were filled with Wedding Dress Pico Embellisher.  I stamped the sentiment from Take 3 Summer in Cocoa Bean & used Winter Wisteria cardstock for the mat--remembering to cut out a rectangle from the center & replace it with white cardstock.  I added 4 additional rectangles to give just a bit of dimension.  Gotta say--love how this turned out!

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

Guest Designing for TTTC100

I'm so happy to be guest designing again for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  This is challenge #100 & I think you'll really like the board!  Lots of options to make an Easter/Spring card, if you want.  

Yellow is not really one of my colors, but I do like to use it for Spring cards.  I chose the diagonal row of Yellow, Free (I used die cuts) & Gingham.  I looked up gingham & learned that it is white & one other color with evenly placed horizontal & vertical lines of equal size.  

I didn't have any printed paper that qualified, which is actually good since it made me finally use my W&W Ticking Stripe stencil.  After using Pixie Spray (really does make a difference, in my opinion) I applied Distress Oxide fossilized amber with a sponge applicator.  The stencil has big stripes, so I just turned it & applied again to make the pattern.  If you know me, you know I love wreaths.  I honestly don't know how many stamps, dies & stencils I have!  However, that didn't stop me from buying Tim Holtz Funky Wreath die set when a local craft store put it on sale over the holidays & shipped it for free!  I started by ink blending Distress Oxides/Inks on strips of Bristol paper.  One had DO rustic wilderness & twisted citron.  The other had DI vintage photo & frayed burlap.  Then I die cut the twig wreath from the brown panel & the leafy wreath from the green one.  

The die set also includes some extra branches, so I die cut a few from the green scraps & added them for a bit more fullness. The W&W hello die was cut multiple times & glued together. I added Golden Rod Stickles to the word & arranged the MFT rolled roses die cut from felt.    

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

Guest Designer at Twofer Card Challenge

I'm delighted to be guest designing for Twofer Card Challenge #35.  It just so happens I'm drawn to balloon images, although I don't seem to use them very often.

Some time ago, a friend passed on to me an old Neat & Tangled set called Just for You.  I had so much fun using the balloons from the set for 2 completely different cards.  In case you haven't played before, here are the card requirements.

Here's a picture of my 2 cards together.  Be sure you enter one photo of both your cards in the linky.  All the rules can be found on the challenge blog.

I began by creating the birthday card using my MISTI.  The outlines & strings were stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist.  The balloons were stamped in Distress Inks candied apple, abandoned coral, fossilized amber, lucky clover & mermaid lagoon.  

For the sentiment I die cut MFT Block Happy Birthday.  I stacked the letters a couple high & colored each letter of "happy" with the ink matching the balloon it was attached to.  I left the word "birthday" white & attached it to a black strip. 

To make it more festive, I added Stardust Stickles to each balloon--so pretty in the light.  The red mat was made by blending candied apple on the edges of a white panel. 

My second card is very CAS.  I stamped the balloon without the outline 3 times in candied apple--allowing just a bit of overlapping.  Recently I saw some cards that had balloons without strings, so thought I'd give it a try.  

The sentiment stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne is in a very old, unlabeled MFT set.  I added 3 tiny Gina K black heart embellishments & rounded the corners.  Decided against splatters or glitter & I do like the fresh, clean look.

I'd love to see you join the gallery for this fun challenge.  Maybe you've got an unused balloon image that needs some love!

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