Christmas in July plus

As you might guess, Christmas in July is one of my favorite themes!  Couldn't wait to make a card for DCD using my new Taylored Expressions Modern Eucalyptus Wreath kit.  I very seldom buy kits, but immediately fell in love with this one.  Couldn't get it out of my mind & it wasn't sold out days later when I checked.  Luckily, I discovered that I could get a good discount using my reward points.  That did it & I'm not at all sorry--haha!  The stencils line up just using the corner of a MISTI.  

I brushed on PTI Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse, Ocean Tides & Pinefeather.  After using the coordinating dies, I decided to add them to the Tim Holtz Funky Wreaths image cut from shiny, silver cardstock.  The berries die from PFS Layered Wreath was used with leftover pieces of cardstock covered with double sided adhesive.  I removed the release paper & dipped them into WOW Peachy Keen Sparkles using tweezers.  Makes adding glitter so easy. 

This Sparkles looks like a mix of pink & silver to me.  At any rate, it is gorgeous with lots of sparkle & I love how it doesn't rub off.  I'll have to try using it with glue & see if it's just as secure.  The sentiment is PFS Classic Holiday Words & the panel is die cut with PFS Blanket Stitched Rectangle.  

I seldom make baby cards, so don't really have stamps & dies designed for them.  But I wanted to welcome a baby boy, so put on my thinking cap.  Decided PTI Spring Rain makes a nice baby blue, so started by embossing a panel with a Tim Holtz faded stars folder.  

I had FMS challenge in mind, so die cut CAS-ual Fridays stars from PTI Blueberry Sky cardstock.  The edges were brushed with a shimmer pen--pretty in person.  Hard coming up with a sentiment, but finally decided on these 2 words from PTI Tiny Tags.  

Color Hues is calling for Red & Blue, so I made red my accent color using Christmas Red Stickles on the little heart & random dots in the background.

I also seldom make wedding cards, but had fun making this simple one for a family member.  

I got as close as I could to the bride's colors of navy, dusty blue & gold.  The hearts are AJVD, the letters are Flourishes & the die cut rectangle is Gina Marie. 

I'm entering SSS Wednesday & WAW.

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

Guest Designing at Poppystamps

I'm so honored to be Tiffany's Guest Designer for the July Poppystamps Challenge.  The theme is Over the Rainbow & I began by ink smooshing 6 watercolor panels using Distress Inks fired brick/barn door, ripe persimmon/carved pumpkin, lucky clover/twisted citron, faded jeans/blueprint sketch, dusty concord/wilted violet and squeezed lemonade/scattered straw/fossilized amber.

Then I die cut Poppystamps Potpourri Flower Set (a single die that cuts out 7 flowers) from each panel, keeping each color in a separate stack. I decided on which 3 images to layer, pulled them out, attached them in the center & gently lifted each petal. White on white makes a great background for colorful images, so I die cut Poppystamps Lattice Small Curve Border twice from white cardstock & attached them at the top & bottom of the card front. It looked pretty with the flowers, but decided I needed leaves.  Poppystamps Orchard Leaves were die cut from white cardstock scraps & arranged behind the flowers. I love the font of Poppystamps Luscious Script Hello & it includes a shadow.

I used black glossy cardstock for the word & Memory Box silver glitter cardstock from the Holiday Glitter Pad for the shadow.  Tiny black enamel dots in the flower centers tie it all together.  I send lots of cards just to keep in touch, so this one will soon be in the mail.  I hope I've inspired you to check out the July Poppystamps challenge. 

There's lots of great inspiration from the DT & a gift certificate up for grabs.  Thanks so much, Poppystamps, for having me design with the team this month!  

I'm entering SSS Wednesday & WAW.   

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

Color Hues, Altenew, Memory Box

I took my Concord & 9th Turnabout stamp sets to the recent craft retreat.  Finally stamped Deck the Halls using borrowed Catherine Pooler ink pads:  one blue & one green.  I double stamped one turn with the blue & one turn with the green.  The other 2 turns were single stamped, so I got 4 shades with 2 ink pads.  

After I got home I added the PFS Blanket Stitch Rectangle frame stacked 2 high.  The HoneyBee sentiment from the Rejoice stamp set was stamped in Brilliance Starlite Black & stacked 2 high.  The poinsettia from an old Spellbinders card kit was die cut from Memory Box silver glitter cardstock & then colored lightly with a Copic very close to the color of the blue ink pad.  

White glitter dots in my stash were just right to finish it off.  I'm entering Color Hues challenge.  

I'm so lucky to have lots of generous cardmaking friends.  Recently I was gifted the Altenew Metallic Watercolor set & oh boy are the colors gorgeous!  Decided to use them to enter the Altenew June Inspiration Challenge.  I also used a couple liquid watercolors trying to get close to the photo colors.  I gold embossed the floral outline image & sentiment from Handpicked Bouquet on a watercolor panel. 

I let some color go outside the lines & I added splatters.  It's amazing how the colors change in the light.  The close up really is the same card! 

Always fun to see the difference mats make.  I tried a couple different looks, but really thought the gold on top of the black was best.  Finished with a few gold sequins & this one has already been mailed.

I was still thinking about those Altenew Metallic Watercolors, so I used them to color Memory Box Small Double Peony diecuts that were included free in a recent Poppystamps order.  

Since I used heavier watercolor paper scraps, the individual petals stayed mostly in place. That's a trick I learned from Dave Brethauer. I used the same gold to watercolor the shadow layer of the Hello Friend Posh Script diecut. The peony outlines & top sentiment layer were die cut from scraps of heavy weight white cardstock. The background was made with the 2014 Texture Distressed Grid stencil, which I love, & light molding paste.

Hard to see, but I also added fine white glitter while the paste was wet.  Just love the bit of sparkle which is completely non-shedding.  The panel is backed with 2 cardstock layers & the blooms are attached with glue & foam tape.  Finished off with Fairy Jewels that go perfectly with the gold watercolor.  I used a scrap of cardstock to make a stencil with the die so I could decorate the flap with Delicata Golden Glitz.  I'm entering Memory Box Metallic Mania Challenge, SSS Monday (Stenciled Background) The Snippets Playground & WAW.

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

Last Minute Entry

Wreaths are one of my favorite images.  I don't even know how many wreath stamps & dies I have!  Decided it was silly not to make a card for CAS Christmas Card Challenge, so pulled out the beautiful Pinkfresh die set called Layered Wreath.

I began by smooshing DI evergreen bough & pine needles on a panel of watercolor paper.  I did multiple layers, drying between each one.  Love the variations you get, especially for leaves.  The additional leaf images were die cut from silver shimmery cardstock which I covered with silver Stickles.  The berries in the set were die cut from white cardstock scraps covered with double sided adhesive sheet scraps.  I removed the release paper & covered them in WOW Oh Dorothy! Sparkles.  It's a very sparkly glitter blend of red & silver--love it!  

The silver die cut frame is Mama Elephant Union Square & the sentiment from AJVD Christmas Star is stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  I'm not sure this meets the CAS requirement, but I love how my card turned out.  I'm also entering The Snippets Playground as everything but the card base is from scraps.  

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

I'm still here!

I know my blogging has been pretty intermittent.  I do appreciate those of you who still come by.  Recently I got to spend a few days with cardmaking friends & didn't have to get on an airplane--yay!  It was such a treat!  Here's a few pictures Darnell put together.

It was fun to try out some techniques that were easy to do & turned out great!  I came home with quite a few panels ready to make into cards & will be using my stencils & my alcohol inks a lot more!

While the others were coloring, I smooshed a panel using DO inks stamped & spritzed on my craft mat.  It actually looked terrible!  I didn't even show anyone what I'd done, but it did come home with me.  Thankfully, it looked fine once I trimmed it into a strip.  

I simply added black ink splatters & a couple PFS Delicate Blossoms black die cuts.  The white mat looked too plain, so I dry embossed it with my new SSS Refracted folder--love it!  The sentiment strip from Sweet Friend Floral was mounted with foam tape & I added black enamel dots.  I'm entering PFS June Monthly Challenge & TicTacToe 165 using Die Cut, Embellishment, Bright Colors.

Next is my entry for PTI Melissa's Fab Friday Feature stencil challenge.  I only have PTI alpha stencils & I used that for the last stencil challenge.  Decided to make my own stencil this time & used What the Doodle Snowflake outline dies cut from vellum scraps.  

I brushed Spring Rain through the stencils & then stamped the detailed images using Dark Indigo.  I really like the contrast on the white card, even though it's subtle.  I used the same ink to stamp the small snowflakes & the sentiment from Wreath for all Seasons.  

My usual color combo for snowflake cards is blue & silver, but this time I changed it up using Pink Stickles in the centers.  Really love the bit of pink sparkle!  I finished off with Raindots & a Dark Indigo mat.  

My last card is for Poppystamps June challenge to make a masculine card.  Gentle Leaf Collage is one of my favorite Poppystamps dies.  I made my own stencil a few years ago & it still works great.  The Distress Oxides I used are fossilized amber, spiced marmalade & abandoned coral.  

After clear embossing, I used the die to emboss the image.  Next I brushed the panel with DO vintage photo.  It needed something, so I partially embossed with a woodgrain folder using a small hammer.  I brushed on more vintage photo & wiped a bit with a baby wipe getting variations in the color--so fun!

The sentiment is made from Marzipan Greetings & Grateful Heart.  I had forgotten about these wooden dots which were just the right embellishment.  This can be a masculine retirement or birthday card.  I'm also entering The Snippets Playground since I used white scraps for the sentiment.

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

More Cards

Here are some of my recent cards.  I love kraft & red for Christmas, so thought I'd enter ABC Christmas Challenge.  I spread light molding paste through GKD Stellar Snowflake stencil & heat embossed with Zing red glitter ep.  

Such a beautiful sparkle in the light!  The little tags are PTI & the sentiment from GKD Festive Flowers was stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn & embossed with WOW Ultra High Clear ep. 

Probably not needed, but I added a few clear gems.  I'm also entering GKD Monthly Mix challenge & SSS Monday (via IG).

I've always liked black & white with a pop of color.  But this time I used scraps to make a card that's kraft & white with a pop of pink.  It's one of my favorite color combos & great for Spring, I think.  

I rubbed over the panel embossed with SSS Vine Canopy using PTI Classic Kraft ink cube.  I get much better results using direct to paper with a light touch, rather than trying to use blending brushes.  The little white rectangle was a left over PFS Blanket Stitch Rectangle die cut.  I used a kraft scrap behind the Memory Box Hello Friend Posh Script die cut sentiment that has also been laying on my table for awhile.  I die cut SSS Cosmos Stem twice & trimmed off the stem before layering them.  

The top layer was colored with Copics & I added shimmer to the center & the sentiment.  The sentiment rectangle is attached to a couple layers of cardstock scraps to help it stand out & be level on top of the embossing.  I'm entering SSS Flickr, Flickr Love Handmade Cards & SSS Wednesday.

My last card is for the Pinkfresh Studio May challenge. I chose to just use the theme: Spring.

PFS Lush Vines was white embossed on watercolor paper & then heavily spritzed with Tattered Angels Meadow Green & Forest Green Glimmer Mists.  

After air drying, I just wiped the embossing with a paper towel. The shimmer is so beautiful in person! I die cut the panel with a rectangle die to fit on the white panel die cut with the largest Blanket Stitch Rectangle. The vellum was die cut with a smaller rectangle in the set. Dainty Blossoms die cut stems were brushed with shimmer & tied together with crochet thread. 

The sentiment from Sweet Friend Floral was stamped in DO rustic wilderness & mounted with foam tape.  I tried a bunch of different embellishments, but really only liked the softness of PPP Marshmallow sequins.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday via IG.

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