It's A Man's World at W2SB

Time for another challenge at W2SB & I'd love to see your cards in our gallery this month.  You have until June 26 to enter & I know you can use the prize--check it out!  The quote that came to mind for our manly theme is from Doris Rowland: "The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys."  

My hubby is a certified "car nut" who loves cars old & new. He'd have a collection for sure if he won the lottery--LOL! I bought this Art Gone Wild stamp many years ago & wanted the car to be as close as possible to his favorite car color--champagne beige.  I inked the Spellbinder Reverse Wonky Rectangle die cut with Encore Metallic Champagne & embossed it with a clear, matte ep. Then I stamped the car with StazOn black & used a black Copic to darken some of the areas.  I really wanted to use the champagne ink for my sentiment, so I couldn't just print the quote or a saying.  Finally decided on embossing my very old Hero Arts letters on black cardstock & trimming them out.  Tiny black nailheads are used in the wheel centers & luckily I had this narrow suede trim which worked to add texture & ground the image.  Please check out the wonderful work of my teammates at W2SB.  I'm entering Anything Goes at SSS Wednesday.  Thank you so much for taking time to visit my blog.

Newspaper Poinsettia

I've wanted to make a poinsettia with writing on the petals for a couple years & I've been saving newspaper for crafting, so was determined to make a card for Merry Monday.  I began by gluing torn pieces of newspaper to cardstock. Then I brushed on watered down Gesso since using it full strength hid the writing. Next I dabbed & brushed on Distress Stains Victorian Velvet for the petals & Sage Green for the leaves.  It took a couple coats to get it dark enough.  Then I die cut the MFT poinsettia, sponged the same colors of ink on the edges & added a bit of Distress Stain Brushed Pewter. I molded the leaves & petals with my fingers.  The center die cut was covered with Stickles & embellished with an irridescent gem.

Shimmer cardstock was cut with Lil' Inkers Stitched rectangles & the small one was mounted with foam tape.  Before adding the poinsettia I glued on some metallic floss & clear sequins.  The Penny Black "joy" die was cut 3 times & clear embossed. Last night I was afraid the colors were too light, but seeing it this morning I actually love how it turned out. Now I have to ask my neighbor for some more newspaper!  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday Anything Goes, Pixies Snippets Playground (only the black was a scrap), Addicted to Stamps Anything Goes & The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge, flowers. Also finally getting an entry done in time for Rudolph Days! I'm way behind in reading blogs, but I haven't forgotten you & will be there soon. 

Lucky

Work days coming up, so last night I finished a card for several challenges: SSS Flickr Challenge #19, SSS Wednesday, Addicted to Stamps Challenge Blog. The Flickr challenge is to make your own background & I began by stenciling Distress Inks peacock feathers & picked raspberry. Before removing the stencil I brushed over it with a wet paintbrush.  It was dry embossed with a beautiful Cuttlebug folder & then I sponged on more of the inks. The same inks were splattered on the card front & the sentiment is stamped in Brilliance Starlite Black--an old ink pad that's become one of my favorites for sentiments.  I have a huge collection of store bought flowers from before I had dies.  Decided to use some of them for my bouquet--just added a bit of Stickles to the black ones. Finished off with clear sequins from my friend, Rosemary--a sweetie & a supremely talented designer. This card's message is so true, as I'm very grateful for all my cardmaking friends. 
SSS products:  Moroccan Stencil & Card-Exchanging Friends stamp set.  Edited to add: also entering at City Crafter Challenge Blog: sequins.

Grunge...sort of!

I don't think I've ever made a "grunge" card before & this might not qualify to some people. However, Time Out Challenge gave a nice explanation that included using torn edges, splatters & subtle or earthy colors, so I'm entering their challenge along with Uniko Studio: flowers, A Blog Named Hero: new, SSS Wednesday: stencil it & Pixies Snippets Playground.  
I was one of the lucky Uniko Mystery Prize winners so now I have my first Uniko stamp set, Flower Power #7. The flower & sentiment (a very old Hero Arts stamp I still love) were inked in Distress Inks & lightly spritzed before stamping.  I overstamped the sentiment without spritzing to make it easier to read.  The edges were torn & the panels were sponged.  I used my new Tim Holtz Splatters stencil for the background & added green splatters with a wet paintbrush.  Not sure embellishments go with grunge, so I just used Distress Stickles in the flower center. The ink colors I used are antique linen, frayed burlap, bundled sage, scattered straw & victorian velvet. 

I gave up a lot of my rose bushes last year, but still have some beauties like these Chicago Peace & Welcome Home.  My thoughts & prayers go out to everyone suffering in the horrible flooding.

Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

Happy Memorial Day to my U.S. friends & Happy PTI Blog Hop Day to everyone! I love the Blog Hops & had great fun playing with the new Quilted Summer stamp set & my PTI inks. I need a card for a girl in the family I've never met.  She just graduated from college with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, so thought something graphic might be good.  I would never have thought of using watercoloring with this type of image, but lately I've been seeing it done with everything! Turned out to be a look I really like, as long as I kept the water to a light spritzing. Tried about 100 different ways to line up the triangles & settled on this--LOL!  All the inks were splattered on the card front, the sentiment from PTI Tag-Its #3 was stamped in Memento Gray Flannel & a few PPP clear sequins finish it off. Lots to see, so I'll keep this short.  Enjoy the Hop!
PTI Inks: Berry Sorbet, Plum Pudding, Blueberry Sky, New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart.

OWH Finishing Strong Blog Hop

Words 2 Scrap By is joining in the final Operation Write Home Blog Hop.  They will be closing after Aug. 1, 2015, so if you have cards you've been meaning to send do it before then. The Blog Hop theme is Red, White & Blue and I chose the Birthday Card option using OWH sketch #199 turned 90 degrees. 

It just happens to be based on a card by my teammate, Penny Ward.  I had fun using Penny Black's first paper pad, balloon dies & an old sentiment stamp. Wishing my U.S. friends a happy Memorial Day weekend as we remember all the men & women who gave their lives in the service of our country.

Sparkly Trees for Christmas

This week's Merry Monday challenge is to use a non-Evergreen tree.  I decided to use PTI stamps & combine it with the MIM challenge to use fussy cutting. The tree image from Through the Trees is embossed with Winter Wonderland embossing powder--one I seldom use.  VersaMagic Red Magic is used for the sentiment from Snowflake Flurries. I dry embossed the card front & added a double bow from white with silver twine.  The Freckled Fawn wooden star was painted white & covered with Stickles Frosted Lace. The red cardstock is from an old scrap I'm hoarding as it's one of my favorites & doesn't seem to be available now, so I'll take my card to The Playground. Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog.

Nature

I love watching birds in all seasons, but it's especially fun in summer when I can sit on the deck with my cup of coffee only a few feet away from the feeders. Reminded me of this beautiful Impression Obsession stamp, Nest Collage, so made one more card for the IO challenge, Summer Fun.  I began with a piece of watercolor paper & the smooching technique using pink, green & gold Gelatos--love the soft effect.  I also added some splatters with the gold.  I stamped with Adirondack Meadow Green. The sentiment is also IO, C5171, & is stamped in Versafine Vintage Sepia. Colored some pearls with a Copic, mounted my layers & finished just in time as the challenge is about to close.  

CCCB Inspiration

I'm also entering at City Crafter Challenge Blog where Smooching & Splattering are 2 of the choices. I used scraps for everything but the actual card, so will enter at Pixies Snippets Playground.  I won't be in the prize draw as it's the wonderful Spellbinder I just bought & used for THIS card. Thanks for stopping by.

Simple Pleasures

When I saw "Summer Fun" was the theme for Impression Obsessions's challenge I knew immediately that I wanted to use the IO Solid Tree stamp set.  The tree was stamped in Distress Ink walnut stain & the swing in Memento Peanut Brittle with the seat colored in with a Memento Desert Sand marker. Somewhere I remember seeing leaves done by making dots with a marker. I gave it a try with Faber-Castell big brush May Green & Memento Pear Tart.  Fun & very forgiving!  The sentiment was inked with the May Green.  I sponged on a little Distress Ink antique linen to ground the tree & wanted an impression of sunshine, so very lightly sponged Distress Ink squeezed lemonade with a dauber.  Might be better if I'd sponged an entire background--too late now--LOL!  Hard not to have some bling, so gave in & added the Stickles.  I'm also entering Loves Rubberstamps, Add a Sentiment. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Red, White & Blue and a Visitor

I had to do a return at Michael's which is about 12 miles away & boy did I find a bargain. The Spellbinders they had left were 80% off and I couldn't resist the beautiful A-2 Fancy Ribbon Threader.  It gave me a starting place for my card which I'm entering at Verve Inspiration Challenge: Let It Bloom & Dies R Us Anniversary. MFT Mini Rolled Roses were die cut in MFT felt, embellished with blue pearls & mounted over the MFT Leaf-Filled Flourish.  I glued 2 of my ribbons together & love how they look threaded through the die cut. The sentiment from Lil' Inker Designs Modern Mehndi was stamped in Brilliance Mediterranean Blue.  

Got quite a surprise yesterday when I was walking down our dead end street with Fritz.  At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me! Grabbed my camera & caught the big guy in front of the neighbor's house.  If you look close, you can see one of their little dogs in the window & he was not happy that big thing was in his yard--LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  My weekend to work, but I'll catch up with you soon.  

May Flowers

Spring is such a beautiful time of year with trees & flowers in full bloom.  We've had such nice weather we decided to put out the deck furniture--something usually done in late June.  Easy to get in the mood to make a card with flowers!  I was inspired by City Crafter Challenge Blog Focus on Flowers, Verve Inspiration Challenge Let it Bloom & Lil' Inker Designs Monthly Meetup. I used some scraps so will also enter Pixies Snippets Playground & the embossing works for Just Us Girls.

I began by white embossing the bloom & leaf from Lil' Inker Modern Mehndi multiple times on white cardstock.  The sheet of blooms was spritzed with Tattered Angels Timeless Lilac, Rum Raisin & Lemongrass and the leaves with Meadow Green & drops of Kiwi which came out gold, but I like it.  I used the matching dies & also cut some vellum blooms.  Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangles was used to make a frame & for the card front stitching.  The hardest thing about making this card was arranging the bouquet, but I love how it turned out.  Two of the flowers were mounted with foam tape & the sentiment from the same set was stamped in Brilliance Starlite Black & trimmed into a flag.  White dome glitter dots embellish the centers of the blooms.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

CCCB Inspiration Photo

Another One Layer Christmas Card

I'm making an effort to decrease the cost of postage for Christmas cards now that I've made so many card-making friends.  I did keep to one layer, but couldn't resist adding a bow with this beautiful shimmery ribbon.  My inspiration came from the PTI MIM technique using Gelatos over stamped images and the first challenge at Muse: Christmas Visions.  

Muse Inspiration Card

I love poinsettia images & color combos with gold. The stamps are PTI Year of Flowers Collection & Peaceful Poinsettia.  I rubbed a gold Gelato over the flowers, but wasn't happy with the look. That led to rubbing the gold Gelato over much of the card--now I like it!  I added splotches of red & gold along with gold Stickles for sparkle & interest.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday (use a sentiment) & One Layer Christmas Card Challenge. 
Thanks for all the sweet comments on yesterday's post. I'm so blessed to have caring friends--most of whom I'll never get to meet in person.  Enjoy your week.
Edited to Add: Thanks to Ardyth, I'm also entering a new to me challenge called One-Layer Simplicity.

Remembering

Mother's Day is bittersweet with my mom & grandmas gone for so many years.  When we got back from camping the roses were going to town!  I brought in one of the gorgeous Chicago Peace blooms to put on the mantle next to this sweet picture of my mom taken by my Dad about 6 weeks before she died.  
My card would have been perfect to give her.  I was inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch & the mood board at City Crafter Challenge Blog. I used 3 SSS dies: Bella Bloom, A2 Card Curved Edge & Clustered Leaves.  

From the Mood Board I used shades of blue & pink (I know it's really peach in the photos--hopefully close enough) & a doily inspired by the afghan & flowers on the blouse.  So fun to make use of a pad of paper I got long ago for just a couple dollars.  The bloom & leaves are MFT felt. 

Hard to tell, but the doily is spritzed with Tattered Angels Wheatfields & Snow Angel.  The dies let me also enter SSS Flickr Challenge #18 to make a card with flowers.  
Hope you have a lovely Mother's Day & thank you so much for stopping by my blog.

A Happy Hello

We had a fun camping trip which included a new experience: watching pelicans fish in the bay.  I was absolutely mesmerized & took about 100 pictures knowing they probably wouldn't come out very good.  Thought you might enjoy a couple anyway.  I've never taken stamping supplies with me on our trips, but this time I did since it was a pretty simple design.  
It came out OK, (posted here) but once I got home I decided it needed some layers. Here's the final version. I had trouble getting back into cardmaking, so started with my favorite PTI MIM challenge.  I don't use my Gelatos very often & couldn't wait to try out the technique in the video.  I used PTI Friendly Flowers & Wonderful Words: Hello with PTI inks Sweet Blush, Melon Berry, Spring Moss, Limeade Ice & Spring Rain along with Versafine Vintage Sepia. The Gelatos rubbed over the stamped images are Peach, Pistachio & Metallic Blueberry.  I used the linen/canvas impression plate for a bit of texture. 

First time to use these sweet peachy iridescent gems I got in close-out. I'm also entering the monthly challenge at Verve & SSS Wednesday.
Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog. 

Graduation Card

On the way home so quick post using my phone--not easy, but can't get my laptop to work. PTI Happy Hexagons & Studio G sentiment for PTI MIM using vellum to soften bright colors.  Also entering Anything Goes at SSS Wednesday. I'll catch up with you soon.