"Say Cheese" at Words 2 Scrap By

May 1st--how did that happen already?!  Seems like time goes by so fast!  Good reason to capture life in pictures. Our theme at Words 2 Scrap By is "Say Cheese" in honor of National
Photography Month.  Surprise, surprise--I chose to frame a photo of my fur-baby, Fritz!  Several years ago I won a cute Pebbles collection that is all about cats & dogs.  The papers are double-sided & many are really very generic with fun colors, but I've hardly used them.  No stamping here--just die cut the Sizzix frame from thin cardboard & one of the papers.  Then I mounted it with foam tape to the mat made from 3 of the other papers.  The dog bone sticker is my favorite of the pack & the funky alphabet stickers were fun & easy to use.  I'm going to keep this at the office where I work part time.  Now that I don't have my own desk, I've never put out any of my pictures. However, the gal I cover for is a doggy momma, too, & there's an empty shelf above the desk, so I'm sure she won't mind.  Be sure to check out the work of my talented teammates & why not join us?  Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.

School Colors for Christmas

The current Impression Obsession challenge is School Spirit, but you don't have to make a school themed project.  I chose to use my high school colors of blue & gold with two of my favorite IO stamps--Cabin, H1830 & Christmas Magic, B3585.  I stamped the image in PTI Enchanted Evening & sponged with Spring Rain. The sentiment is gold embossed.  The tree limbs were highlighted with a very fine crystal glitter using a glue pen.  The effect is really pretty IRL.

I'm also entering the challenge at One Layer Christmas Card, Anything Goes at SSS Monday & A Blog Named Hero One Layer Challenge.  Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog.

Hello You

Talk about a fun design--white on white die cuts with a pop of color! Couldn't wait to make my version for the PTI MIM challenge.  Trendy Tree Tops is one of my favorite PTI sets & the tree trunk is just the right type of die to use for this.  I white embossed & popped up the center tree.  The tree top die cut was inked in PTI Lemon Tart. Since I used the mostly solid die you might think it's the sun, but I really liked the soft yellow with the bluebird (PTI Blueberry Sky) & it didn't look as good to me done in green.  Stylized & modern--maybe?!  

Might make another one with different colors using one of the other tree tops.  Seeing the variety of CAS by the DT, I'm entering the SSS Wednesday CAS challenge.  Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog.

Papertrey Ink April Blog Hop

Hurrah--it's PTI Blog Hop day!  I love that they announce the theme ahead of time & this month it's one of my favorite color combos--navy & pink.  

Blog Hop Inspiration Photo

Ros's wonderful card to case for City Crafter Challenge Blog provided inspiration.  I used a focal point (moved to off-center), sequins (thank you, Lai-Yoke!) & a bow.  

CCCB Card to Case

The PTI products are The Sweet Life, Mat Stack 3 & inks Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz & Enchanted Evening.  I had fun making a crumpled seam-binding bow for the second time.  I'm also entering at Loves Rubberstamps. 

Always lots of fabulous cards for PTI hops, so I'll keep this short leaving you with a picture of my Spring hanging basket.  Off to work, but I'll catch up with you soon. Thanks for stopping by.

a2z Scrapbooking Birthday Blog Hop Bash

Hello everyone & welcome to a2z Scrapbooking Birthday Blog Hop Bash!  You should be arriving from Elana's Blog.  If this is your first stop you'll want to begin at a2z Scrapbooking Blog so you don't miss out on any of the fun & beautiful creations we are sharing today. 

I chose to use a soft color palette for a feminine card. The background is made by white embossing Hero Arts Tiny Star Background on watercolor paper. Using a paintbrush, I added water where I wanted color & then dabbed on Hero Arts Tide Pool & Pale Tomato inks using the brush. Couldn't resist a few splatters, too!  My inspiration came from THIS gorgeous card. The sentiment from Hero Arts Happy Birthday Scroll was white embossed on vellum, matted with vellum & hand stitched.  Finished off with some fun enamel stars.
Your next stop is Jennifer.  Leave a comment on every blog to be in the random drawing to win a $25 gift certificate to the a2z Store. Good luck & thanks so much for stopping by! 
I'm entering the Layers & Dimension challenge at Virginia's View.

Penny Black Flower

Penny Black has been one of my favorite companies since I began stamping, so I couldn't miss a chance at the gift certificate drawing for the current challenge at Curtain Call.  When I saw the inspiration photo I immediately thought of the PB sunburst stamp.  I heat embossed the flower on watercolor paper & trimmed it out.  Using my waterbrush & Distress Inks festive berries & seedless preserves, I colored the image & then added clear Wink of Stella to the petals & Stardust Stickles to the center.  I had quite of bit of the inks on my acrylic block, so I blotted a panel of watercolor paper, letting the 2 colors blend together.  
Thought I'd use it for another project, but then realized it made a great background for my flower.  I debossed it with an old Cuttlebug folder & lightly inked with festive berries & edged with seedless preserves. The flower was mounted with foam tape only in the center.  I "framed" it with the white card front. I'm thinking it could be a pretty decoration for someone's desk.
I'm also entering Pixies Snippets Playground, The Mixed Media Card Challenge, SSS Wednesday & Loves Rubberstamps. Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog.  Your comments always lift my spirit.

Birthday Butterflies

Today is my last post on the a2z Blog as I'm stepping down from the DT at the end of April.  I want to thank everyone at a2z for giving me this great opportunity.  Today's card started with making a stenciled background using the wonderful Numbers Background stencil--a GREAT deal in the Sales/Retired section.  I inked the stencil with 4 Hero Arts colors, spritzed with water & laid it on a watercolor panel.  The look wasn't what I wanted, so I laid the stencil back in place & used daubers with the same ink colors.  That worked well, but the colors didn't flow from one to the other.  A light coating of Gesso totally changed the look & saved my panel from the trash can! I dry embossed it & sponged on a couple shades of brown adding to the artistic look & bringing out the embossed design.

Each HA butterfly was stamped & embossed twice--once on kraft cardstock & once on watercolor paper. After watercoloring with the same inks, I added a very light covering of Gesso & sponged with brown ink. Clear Wink of Stella & Hero Arts gems give them shimmer & shine while hemp cord is wrapped around the bodies with the ends used for antennae.  The HA sentiment was heat embossed on the kraft card front & then the background panel was trimmed to fit.  I attached the colored butterflies to the kraft ones only in the middle & bent the wings slightly up before attaching them.

Hope I've inspired you to join the current challenge to use a stencil on your project.  Links to my supplies are in the a2z Blog Post.  Feel free to use my code, GRETA15, to get 15% off a minimum $25 purchase.  I'm entering the Things with Wings challenge at Uniko, Layers & Dimension at Virginia's View, In the Garden at Die Cut Divas, & Pixies Snippets Playground.  Thanks so much for all your support & taking time to visit my blog.

Happy Flowers

I discovered the on-line world of stamping through the Hero Arts Flickr group only because HA changed their contest from a monthly mail-in to posting on Flickr.  I basically just knew how to do e-mail on the computer, so at first I just quit. Finally in Nov. 2009 I figured out how to get on Flickr so I could enter Christmas cards.  I still remember the shock when I realized people leave comments & I spent hours on the computer leaving comments on nearly every card in the group!  That became way too much as I discovered there were lots of on-line challenges & I began blogging.  My world expanded, but I still have many friends I met through that group & I still love the Hero Arts 90 minute Scrambles.

Yesterday, my friend, Cat, was the hostess & I got to play.  I used Cat's favorites of happy colors & embossing along with my favorite of pearls. The die cut flowers are stamped & embossed with VersaMagic Pink Grapefruit, Purple Hydrangea & Turquoise Gem.  The sentiment from an old HA set had never been inked & was just right for my design.  It's stamped & embossed in Brilliance Starlite Black.  The card front is spritzed with Heidi Swapp white color shine for a bit of texture & shimmer.  I'm also entering these challenges: A Blog Named Hero, Dies R Us, Pixies Snippets Playground & Die Cut Divas.  Hope I added some "happy" to your day.  

Talk about happy--take a look at Puppy Fritz enjoying the sun while "momma" stamped. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Sent with Love

Boy am I sneaking into challenges at the last minute these days, including this card for Lil Inker Designs Monthly Meetup. Can't miss the chance to win their gift certificate!  This idea came to me when I saw the new ColourQ challenge, but a sick day & work kept me from getting it done until last night. Never a doubt of what I'd choose for my "spot" with pink being my favorite color & you can't beat combining it with black & gray. I used Lil Inker Stitched Rectangles & Modern Mehndi stamps & dies. The splatters are Brilliance Pearlescent Coral (has always looked totally pink to me!) & Graphite Black. The sentiment is heat embossed to match the images & works perfectly to go with a RAK package to a blogging friend.  With my focal point in the middle, I'm also playing at SSS Monday. Have a great weekend.  I'll be catching up on my blog reading & enjoying our incredibly beautiful weather.
  

Sending Sunshine

Last night before bed I made another watercolor card for the SSS Flickr challenge & didn't have time to post it on my blog.  I really liked how it turned out, so thought I'd share it now & also enter SSS Monday's In the Middle challenge & SSS Wednesday Make Your Own Background.
I used the watercolor smooshing technique using Distress Inks picked raspberry & ripe persimmon on watercolor paper. The SSS flowers from Warm Wishes were stamped with Brilliance Graphite Black in each corner. 

I added splatters with Tsukineko gold Shimmer Spritz--beautiful shimmer IRL. The sentiment from the same set was heat embossed & splattered with the inks which I dabbed with my finger.  I popped up the matted sentiment & added 3 metal dots for embellishment.  I'm also entering the floral challenge at The Mixed Media Card Challenge since it qualifies with my use of watercoloring & metal dots.  Thanks so much for visiting my blog.  

Enjoy the Journey

Took me until the last minute to decide how to case Kim's beautiful card for Time Out Challenges.  I love the contrast of colors with the black & used it as the basis of my card.  I used Stamplorations Confetti Circles stencil with embossing paste & a very old embossing powder called Fremont Street. The butterfly from Stamplorations Trendy Butteflies is embossed with the same powder, trimmed out & mounted with foam tape. 
I heat embossed the sentiment from the same set & finished off with some black pearls. I'm also entering the Anything Goes challenge at Stamplorations & Virginia's View Layers & Dimension.
 

Graduation Card

The challenge at Impression Obsession is "You Did It!" & it's about to close. I do need a card for hubby's grandson who is graduating from high school this year.  The school colors are purple & gold, so I began my using the Watercolor Smooshing technique with Distress Ink dusty concord on a strip of heavy weight white cardstock.  I purposely allowed for a bit of white to show.  After drying it with my heat gun I gold embossed the IO star (may be discontinued) & mounted the panel to my card front.  The sentiment from IO Follow Your Heart was stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black.  I used a VersaMark pen & the same gold embossing powder to color in the 2 words.  This quote seems so appropriate for someone embarking on the rest of their life where making choices is no longer up to parents.  I know teenagers make choices, but it's different after you finish high school.  I added one additional trimmed out star & the Happy Graduation will go inside.  
Our first Rhododendron has bloomed, so thought I'd share a picture. 
Thanks for stopping by my blog.