Happy International Day of Friendship

Just saw on the SSS Blog that it's International Day of Friendship.  That's really every day for me as I'm blessed with blogging friends all over the world.  I'm one of those people who mails a lot of cards--just ask my hubby who often takes them to the post office.  Here are a couple cards I've made over the last few days that will be mailed this week.
First up, get your sunglasses--haha!  I went kind of crazy with the background & almost tore the card apart.  Now that I've seen it for a few days, it's grown on me & will hopefully appeal to the recipient.  

I began with a blended scrap (my new favorite combo of fossilized amber, abandoned coral & candied apple) that had some failed stamping on it. There was just enough room to die cut the PTI word which I covered with Wink of Stella & Crystal Laquer.  

Tried a lot of colors & finally decided on kraft cardstock. The Stamplorations flourish image is clear embossed & I added tiny ink dots using my stylist.  The sentiment is from PTI Wonderful Words: Friends. The background is done with the same Distress Inks, but the yellow is mostly covered up.  I see lots of beautiful effects using water drops on DI, so really went for it this time using a lot more water than I usually do. Finished off with Lemon Drop Nuvo Jewel drops.  I'm entering Stamplorations Theme, CropStop, The Playground & SSS Wednesday.

Now you can take off the sunglasses & rest your eyes with my Winnie & Walter July Color Challenge card.  Yep--used all the other pieces from the first card--yah! 

I do love my Brilliance inks, especially the pearlescent colors like the jade & lime used here.  This time I used the W&W The Leaf Effect Cutaway as a background for the SSS Painted Happy Birthday which I'd forgotten I had.  Once again the words are covered in Wink of Stella & Crystal Lacquer.  

I did the same thing to the Penny Black balloon die & luckily found a matching pearl.  I'm also entering SSS Flickr challenge #76 & SSS Wednesday.

We're bracing for 3 days of unprecedented temps--up to 110! Fritz is going to think he's back in Phoenix where he was born! No fires near us (knock on wood!) & no floods or tornadoes, so we really can't complain. Hope things are OK where you are & I truly thank you for your continued friendship!

Last Minute

I have 2 Concord & 9th stamp sets & a huge wishlist!  Luckily I also have super sweet blogging friends who are always willing to send me die cuts & that's how I got these beautiful C&9 blooms.  

The embossing challenge at Where Creativity Meets C9 is closing shortly, so right before dinner I finally sat down & made a note card.  Years ago before I started making cards, my favorite stationary to buy was dry embossed.  Fun to use an old Cuttlebug folder on a piece of textured white cardstock for the background.  The blooms were cut from Bristol, so I colored them with 2 beautiful pink Zigs.  

To add some shimmer, I brushed on the white paint in the Gansai Tambi Starry Colors set.  Pink & gray is one of my favorite color combos, so I attached the blooms to a small gray square.  Another piece of the gray was used to cover the card front.  The big pearl makes it not very mail friendly, but can't make all flat cards--haha!  I'm also entering CAS-ual Fridays, HLS Anything Goes with Dies & SSS Wednesday.  Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.
 

Cool Colors

I have another warm colors card to post, but today I've gone back to cool colors.
First up is my color blocking card for PTI MIM.  Marlena used What the Doodle Snowflakes for her Blog Hop card which reminded me that I haven't opened that stamp set yet.  

I bought it because the images are beautiful, even without coloring. Love how they look clear embossed on colored cardstock: Winter Wisteria, Lavender Moon & Aqua Mist.  The sentiment from the same set is silver embossed on vellum & Nuvo silver glitter dots & a little silver bow add some sparkle.  I'm also entering Rudolph Days, HLS Christmas Challenge & SSS Wednesday.

Next is my entry for the July Winnie & Walter Color Challenge--beautiful & refreshing!  

I decided Brilliance Pearlescent Jade (looks blue to me) & Pearlescent Lime were pretty good matches, so I blended a panel with each of them.

Then I die cut each with W&W The Leaf Effect Cutaway.  The lime leaves were glued into the jade frame & of course, I have the opposite also ready to use.  

My favorite W&W Hello die was stacked 3 high with 2 layers of white cardstock for the shadow of the top glitter layer.  Hugs is done with Tim Holtz stickers & a few PPP clear confetti mix dots for a fun embellishment.  I'm also entering HLS Anything Goes with Dies,  DRU, SSS Wednesday & Word Art Wednesday.  We enjoyed a cloudy morning, so Fritz & I could actually walk more than a few feet down the street--haha! Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.

Edited to add: Also entering SSS Work it Wednesday.

Papertrey July Blog Hop Challenge

When I first saw the inspiration for the PTI July Blog Hop, my Butterfly Hope cover plate was on the table.  I haven't used it much, so decided to just use the colors & watercoloring for my inspiration. May end up making another card with Turning a New Leaf--one of my all-time favorite stamps & dies.  

Took several days to get something I was happy with, as I was trying to include the green & just didn't like it. 

The butterflies were done with several blue & gray markers & watercolors.  I wanted something else, so pulled out my unused Gansai Tambi Starry Colors watercolors. Oh my goodness--so gorgeous with the gold just brushed over the butterflies!  

I layered the cover plate to a piece of textured white cardstock with pink watercoloring so it would show in the open areas of the butterflies.  I really like how that turned out.  The sentiment from Tiny Tags was stamped in blue on a Soft Stone scrap, trimmed into a flag & attached to the frame.  I used the ultra fine point white Sharpie to add 3 little stitches--held my breath as I'm not a doodler--haha!  The card front was also covered with a panel of the Soft Stone--think I'll get a pack of it as it's a great neutral.  Lots of inspiration, I know--enjoy the hop!  I'm also entering HLS Anything Goes with Dies & Word Art Wednesday. 

Warm Thoughts

I really wanted to use the darling Impression Obsession Spring Chickadee stamp given to me by my sweet friend, Maria.  

With the current IO challenge to use summer/warm colors, I decided to stamp the bird on kraft with brown ink.  I fussy cut the bird & another wing for some dimension.  I used my neglected gel pens to add a bit of color & mounted the bird to a panel blended with Distress Inks & sprayed with gold Perfect Pearls.  The shimmer is really stunning in person.  The sentiment from IO Anytime Sentiments was stamped in brown under the panel & I added gold splatters.  The little wooden embellishment from Freckled Fawn seemed perfect to finish it off.  I'm also entering CCCB & Word Art Wednesday. Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.

More Friendship Cards

I was without my laptop for a few days, so got further behind in visiting blogs.  We're in for a hot weekend, so won't be working outside & I'll catch up with you soon.
I was about to give up on the PTI MIM challenge: Emboss Resist Shadow Sentiments.  I only have a couple big word stamps & they have a design which didn't work at all!  Last night I decided to make a fun foam stamp with the Wonderful Words: Hello die & it worked!  

Obviously, I moved my stamp more than Ashley did, but I think it's still OK.  For the resist I used stencil brushes with Winter Wisteria, Lovely Lady & Tropical Teal.  For just a bit of interest & texture, I partially embossed the dots from an Echo Park folder that's one of my favorites. The butterfly from Butterfly Hope was stamped in the same inks & die cut.  I added clear sticker dots & the sentiment from the same set. Love having matching cardstock for the PTI inks.  I'm also entering ATSM & Word Art Wednesday.

Next is another splash of color card, but with 6 colors!  Yep--used another little bit of my rainbow swiped piece.  

The little flowers are from SSS Hello Friends (2015) & I used an ink applicator tool to color the centers with the same Distress Inks. I added a drop of Nuvo White Blizzard glitter drops & stamped the sentiment from SSS Warm Wishes (2014). Most of my US friends probably don't want me to send them any more sunshine than they have--haha!  I'm entering SSS Flickr #76,  Retro Rubber & Word Art Wednesday.  Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.

Warm Color Combo

The current Impression Obsession challenge is to use summer or warm colors.  My first thought was to use yellow, blue & green. But then I saw some of my newest mini Distress Inks & decided to blend fossilized amber, abandoned coral & candied apple as a background for the IO Solid Tree stamped in Hero Arts Cup O' Joe.  

May be my new favorite color combo, even though I always say I prefer cool colors.  Then again, my favorite metallic is gold which I used to stamp over the sentiment so it wouldn't look exactly the same as the tree.  I also spritzed the panel heavily with gold Perfect Pearls--so gorgeous in person!  The sentiment looks hard to read in the close up photo, but it really isn't.

It would have been a one layer card, except I messed up using a stitched rectangle die.  Fortunately, I could just trim the panel a bit & mat it with brown textured cardstock.  Might actually like it better anyway.  I'm also entering CropStop, Freshly Made Sketches & Stamplorations Theme. Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.