Three Friendship Cards

Marcia's recent card using perforated paper inspired me to make my own with an old Altenew die.  The holes are bigger, but it still works to get a unique look which I really like.  

I used these Altenew products:  Bursting Dahlia stencil, Fuchsia, Baby Pink and Arctic inks and Fancy Hello die.  I blended some white ink over the pink to give a bit more contrast.  I had just enough yellow enamel dots to use for the center.  I wasn't happy with a black mat, so I just added some cardstock behind the panel for dimension and glued it to a white card.  I'm entering Altenew's May Inspiration Challenge.

I love that the monthly Pinkfresh Studio Challenge is now Anything Goes.  However, for this month's entry I did use the Frame it Up theme.  

I began by stamping one of my favorite background stamps, PFS Lush Vines, using Versafine Clair Grass Green on a textured slightly lighter green cardstock.  I colored the berries with a white Posca pen and then glued the frames made with PFS Stitched Scallop Circle.  It's been awhile since I white embossed on vellum and I really love that look, so that's what I did with PFS Small Butterflies.  Pearls were my favorite embellishment when I began making cards over 20 years ago.  At that time they were very hard to find, but eventually there were plenty of choices in many colors.  Love the look of these tiny white ones for the butterfly bodies.  I stamped, heat embossed and matted the sentiment from PFS Sweet Friend Floral to match.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and SSS Wednesday.

I've had Memory Box Backyard Wren die for awhile.  Glad I decided to use it for Color Hues Pink and Plum challenge.  I die cut it from Bristol smooth cardstock which made ink blending a breeze!  

One description of the color Plum is dark reddish purple.  I tried a few of my many purples and decided on VersaMagic Eggplant.  That made it easy to choose VersaMagic Pink Petunia to use with it.  I love all the colors of these chalk inks and need to remember to use them more often.  The bird is easy to assemble.  I absolutely love that the eye and beak are done with a single piece that attaches to the back of the head, so no tiny bits to deal with.  I simply colored the approximate areas on the diecut with markers and glued it in place.  The eye hole is large enough I carefully touched it with a black glaze pen.  I brushed a bit of the pink ink on the small leaves of the SSS Leaf Tumble embossed panel.  Didn't want to use a branch for the bird, so instead I used MB Wayfarer Leaves inked to match.  Love all the Posh Script sentiments and fun to ink this one with both colors using tape to get a definite line.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and 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.

Birthday and Friendship

Since I die cut Poppystamps Nordic Majestic Bloom twice for the card in my last post, I had pieces for another flower.  

I thought Poppystamps Pierced Border die (gift from a friend) looked made to go with the Nordic Bloom!  The leaves from Poppystamps Massa Leaf Frame were watercolored and then spritzed with Distress Mica spray.  The pinks are Fireworks! Angel Pink and Rosebud.  The PTI sentiment is from Scripted and the mat is Weathervane cardstock.  You can see the shimmer in my IG post video.  I'm entering Poppystamps Tickled Pink and SSS Wednesday.

I've been using layered stencils a lot lately, but for this card I pulled out the single 2019 SSS Bouquet of Roses.  The Altenew inks are Amethyst, Grape Agate and Pink Sand.  I added some black splatters and sprayed with shimmer mist.  

I used the 3 largest PFS Nested Elongated Oval: Blanket Stitch dies to cut the panel.  The top and middle layers are backed with thick cardstock to slightly raise them.  I inked the card front in Grape Agate.  The smaller Birch Press Simple Butterfly Contour Layers was die cut 3 times and I used the same inks to color them.  I added a touch of Stickles to the top layer butterflies.  Alex Syberia shadow for the Friend die was cut from black and the word from white cardstock.  I stacked the word 2 high and colored it with Amethyst ink.  Really happy with how this turned out.  I'm entering SSS Monday and 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.

Color Hues and Poppystamps Challenges

I had the reverse Memory Box Friend Daily Script diecut left from making my recent blue and purple card.  There was plenty of the blue cardstock left, so I decided to make a second card for Color Hues Blue and Yellow challenge using the beautiful Memory Box Magnolia Blossoms die.  I did some ink blending, but it hardly shows now.  Gotta remember that the ink lightens when it dries, especially on colored cardstock.  A darker blue scrap was used for the little layered pieces.  

I splattered white gouache and added Yellow Stickles to the yellow cardstock centers.  I really love Altenew's Sparkled Frame in any color.  Here I attached a black one to a white panel embossed with Memory Box Blooming 3D folder. 

The PTI Simple Stems vellum sentiment didn't work for the blue and purple card.  Glad I saved it, as it worked great here.  The letters were covered with shimmer and I added yellow gems to the frame.

Poppystamps May challenge is Tickled Pink.  Most of you probably know pink is my favorite color, so there's no way I was going to miss this challenge.  Love the unique look of  Nordic Majestic Bloom die set.  

I found a green spritzed wc panel in my scraps box that was just the right size for the branches.  Decided to use my very neglected Fireworks! sprays for the pink since I have Angel pink and Rosebud.  When I layered the pieces of the bloom, I realized that they need to have a fairly solid color.  Luckily, I have the matching Memento markers and the beautiful sheen still shows through.  I also used a green marker for the little piece at the bottom of the bloom.  

The embossed background was made with a very old Cuttlebug folder.  I found 2 shades of pink gems in my stash for the finishing touch.  I'm also 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.

Fun Floral Birthday Card

I'm finding that some of my old woodblock stamps no longer can give a good image--no matter how many times I stamp.  But this old Penny Black stamp from 2008 is a keeper!  My tastes in cardmaking have certainly changed over the past 20 plus years, but I still love this playful, unique design.  For one thing, you don't have to be a great colorist to use it.  

I clear embossed after stamping in Versafine Clair Blue Belle.  The centers were colored with Altenew's Persian Blue brush marker and the dots with Maple Yellow.  I have the same colors in ink pads, so I used them to get the matching MFT stitched rectangle mats.  Couldn't help but fill the dots with Yellow Stickles and then decided the centers needed Blue Bayou.  It really makes for a happy, sparkly card in person.  See the video in my IG post.  This Hero Arts sentiment from 2003 is timeless and still stamps great.  I'm entering Woodblock Wednesday (via IG), Color Hues and 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.

CCC Reveal and a Floral Friendship Card

One option every month for CCC is to make a friendship card.  The Memory Box Magnolia Leaf Branch diecut had been sitting on my table for weeks.  Decided to use it for the card going to my friend in Greece, Mia.  We've been on-line friends for quite a few years now, so I was very happy to send her this card. 

The cute SSS Layered Bird Branch had also been die cut awhile ago and stored in the envelope with the die.  Thought it'd be fun to use them instead of flowers on the branch.  I used the same inks to get 3 different birds:  Altenew's Pink Sand, Toasted Mauve, Redwood, Caribbean Sky and Persian Blue.  Really love the bit of sparkle from adding green Stickles to the layered leaves and blue Stickles to the bird wings.  The sentiment from Altenew Sweet Bouquet was stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn and I ran a marker along the diecut edges to give it the hint of a shadow.  Amazing how much difference that made.  The card front was sprayed with Distress Spritz Weathered Wood which gives a nice shimmer in person.

My second card is made with Memory Box Floral Bud and Stems and Enchanting Poppy Stems.  I mixed Lindy's Magical Prima Donna Purple and Drop Dead Gorgeous Green in a palette with water so I could paint the white diecuts.  So Beautiful in person and you can get an idea from my IG post video. 

The background is made with Poppystamps Double Diamond Lattice Plate.  Memory Box Friend Daily Script is a die I keep reaching for as I really like the font and it's the perfect size for a card.  The little sub-sentiment is from PTI Simple Stems.  I just added a few black enamel dots for embellishment.  I'm entering Memory Box, JUGS and SSS Wednesday challenges.  

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

Friendship and Anniversary

I was delighted to find PFS Artistic Bows die set at a bargain price from someone purging supplies.  Thought it'd work great with a small bouquet made from SSS Cosmos Stem and Beautiful Buttercup die sets.  

The inks are CN9 Nectar and Grapefruit with Altenew Pink Sand for the stems.  Love the font of PTI Essential Sentiments and the hello word fit perfectly.  So glad I got SSS Dibble Tile embossing folder.  It adds interest and texture, but more subtly than some others I have.  I'll probably cry if I ever run out of Lucy's Iridescent Gems--so beautiful!  I entered SSS Wednesday via Flickr.

Next is my entry for Time Out Challenge #287.  Here's the photo to use for inspiration.

I did have to think about this one for awhile, but I kept coming back to the costume on the right.  I see shiny green fabric with pink flowers that have burgundy centers and green leaves.  The pink card display board made me think of a very old Sizzix embossing folder I have.  

I began by covering white cardstock with Fake Plant Lunar Paste.  When it was completely dry, I used the embossing folder--came out great!  I found some green cardstock just a bit lighter than the background and used it to die cut the branch from Altenew's Fresh Flowers.  PTI Into the Blooms II had the perfect bloom and center to use with textured light pink cardstock and plain burgundy cardstock.  Took a ton of pictures and couldn't get the flowers to look very pink, but they truly are not white!  Memory Box Hello Friend Posh Script was die cut from the same pink and burgundy cardstocks.  I covered the words with a shimmer pen.  You can see the shimmer and sparkle in my IG post.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday.

I wanted to enter the stencil challenge at Just Us Girls and I need an anniversary card next month.  SSS Heart Mandala stencil caught my eye.  It's really beautiful, but I've had trouble coming up with how to use it.  This time I thought it could work to just ink blend a circle, starting in the middle of the stencil.  Really love how it turned out!  

The Distress Oxide inks are aged mahogany, fired brick and candied apple.  Boy does Bristol smooth cardstock make blending so much easier!  I did cut the panel down so it would be framed by the white card front.  I also couldn't help but give it a spray of Distress Spritz fired brick.  The shimmer is really beautiful and you can see it a bit in my IG post.  I used AJVD heart dies and a sentiment from Altenew's Flower Vine stamp set.  A couple cardstock layers raised the panel off the card.  I may end up making something like this for hubby, as I really love the look.

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 for Word Art Wednesday

It's time for another WAW Challenge and here's what I made as the April Guest Designer.  Sometimes using paste with a stencil comes out great and other times it takes me several attempts.  This time it was challenging, but I'm happy I stuck with it.

I used SSS Floral Borders stencil with beautiful gold Lawn Fawn embossing paste.  The verse was printed and cut with an Altenew oval die.  The glossy black mat was cut with an Elizabeth Craft oval die.  I used black cardstock for the mat and added 3 small gold dots.  All the challenge details and inspiration from the DT can be found at WAW.  I'm entering SSS Flickr 234. 

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