Variety of cards

Looking for a bargain?  Check out my sale pages.  Lots of stamps & dies available.

My first card is for the Altenew March Inspiration Challenge.  I'm really having fun doing some cross stitching again.  This time I used the Altenew Pegboard Canvas Cover Die & a tulip pattern from MFT.  I didn't center the pattern on my die cut, but thankfully I was able to make a frame so I could use my completed piece.  Next time I'll be more careful with my counting.

 
The sentiment from Altenew Painted Greetings was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist & trimmed into a tag.  I added a crochet thread bow & a pearl stick pin before attaching it with foam tape.  Think I'll use an Easter sentiment inside.  I'm also entering HA National Craft Month, SSS Wednesday & SSS Work it Wednesday.

Next is my card for PTI LFF.   This week we are to pick a favorite MIM challenge & one of my favorites was Dawn's Painted Brushstroke Backgrounds.  I have lots of acrylic paint that I almost never use.  Several of them are metallics & I chose periwinkle, emerald green, rose & pearl lace.  Hard to capture the sheen, but it's beautiful in real life. 

I used PTI Bold Borders: Foliage Die to frame the stripes.  The rest of the green paint in my palette was brushed onto a white scrap & used for the die cut sentiment.  The center white rectangle was stamped in Soft Stone with the dotted image from Your Beautiful Birthday.  I would never have thought of that without seeing Rebecca do it here. 

Finished off with Crystal Stickles on the leaves.  I don't use that glitter glue very often since it has a pinkish cast--perfect for this card.  Love these colors for Easter, so that will be the sentiment inside.  I'm also entering SSS Monday & SSS Wednesday.

Last is a card using a couple leftover SSS Spring Flowers leafy image die cuts done when I was playing with Distress Markers.  The images are gold embossed & the sentiment from SSS Thoughtful Messages is brown embossed.  I added gold splatters & gold Pico Embellisher dots.

 
Took me forever to figure out the design of this simple card, but at least I'm happy with the final result.  I send lots of friendship cards, but think I'll save this one until Fall.  I'm entering SSS Flickr Challenge 120, SSS Wednesday & The Snippets Playground.

 
Thanks for sticking with me for this long post.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.

JUGs GD Take 5

Hard to believe--March is almost over!  It's time for my last card as the Guest Designer at JUGs.  This week the challenge is embossing folders--something I love.

I resisted getting a die cutting machine when they first became available, as I thought dies were too expensive.  However, I've always loved dry embossing.  My local stamp store showed me how the machines work with embossing folders which cost a lot less than most dies.  That did it--got a machine when I saw one for 1/2 price & said "I'm only using it for embossing."  Famous last words--haha!  That same store had a sample with a stamped panel that was also embossed.  I still love that look, so brought it back for this card.

I stamped images from PTI Meadow Greens & Gathered Garden using PTI inks Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, Limeade Ice & Cocoa Bean.  The embossing folder is from a WRMK set of 2 that I got for $4 at Tuesday Morning long ago.

Green & gold is one of my favorite color combos, so had to use my Distress Stain burnished brass to add splatters & little streaks.  Nice to have a card that works for a guy or a gal.  I'm entering SSS Wednesday & WAW.

I can't thank the JUGs DT enough for choosing my card & inviting me to join them this month.  It's been a great honor & lots of fun!

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

A Few More Cards

Looking for a bargain?  Check out my sale pages.  Lots of stamps & dies available.

I had an idea for Christmas Kickstart Challenge 6 & finally got it done.  I entered via IG to meet the deadline earlier today.

The Frantic Stamper Arched Label was used for a window in a kraft panel which I splattered with white paint.  I stamped HA Tiny Snowflake Grid, embossed it with HA sparkle embossing powder & attached it behind the window.

The sentiment from HA Merriest Christmas Wishes was stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn.  The EH Leaping Deer was die cut from red foil paper & glued on top.  I decided against any embellishments. I'm also entering Rudolph Days, ABNH, HA National Craft Month, ModSquad & SSS Monday.


Next is my entry for the Memory Box Challenge: Flower Power.  I die cut MB Arianna Sprig from a green scrap twice, a white scrap twice & a white panel.  The sentiment from Poppystamps Friends & Flowers was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist & I added green splatters.

I stacked the die cuts with the green ones on top.  The solid die (included in the set) was cut from pink glitter paper & inlaid into the white panel with the stacked die cuts on top.  PTI Pinpoint Rectangle Frame die was cut from the same pink glitter paper.  The pink sparkle is just gorgeous in person.  I'm also entering ModSquad.

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

Guest Designing for JUGs Take 4

I'm back with my 4th card as the March Guest Designer for JUGs.  This week we have a fun photo inspiration with lots of possibilites.

I need a masculine birthday card in a couple weeks and thought a rainbow of  balloons would be perfect.  The Penny Black Uplifting dies include 5 different shapes & sizes of balloons.  I tend to use a variety to make a balloon bouquet, but this time I wanted to do something different.

I picked out an old 2004 Print Works sentiment stamp I've always loved.  Then I decided on the medium size balloon as it allowed me to use 5 die cuts for my design.  I applied Distress Inks candied apple, carved pumpkin, squeezed lemonade, mermaid lagoon & lucky clover using direct to paper technique on white cardstock scraps.  I added water drops for more interest which really shows up on the blue & green balloons.  Each die cut was backed with another white one for a bit of dimension without needing foam tape.  I also covered them in 2 coats of Nuvo Glaze for a fun, shiny surface & tied on white crochet thread. 

The plain white cardstock was too stark for me, but tiny black splatters using a Zig solved that problem.  Always great to have a card with interest that's flat to mail.  You can get lots more inspiration when you check out the work of the talented DT & I hope to see you in the gallery.  I'm entering ModSquad & The Snippets Playground.


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

Another Challenge with Friends

Hero Arts has 4 National Craft Month Challenges: Use a favorite coloring medium, Build your BD stash, Decorate an envelope (& send it) & Any craft goes.  My friends Betty & Cat & I decided to do our own versions.  For the coloring challenge we are coloring flowers & for the any craft challenge we are doing some kind of real stitching.  We're also decorating the envelopes for our cards & sending them to each other.
For my first card I used Rose Gold embossing powder & a flower in the 2010 HA set called Blossoms.  I used Bristol paper & colored with 2 blue & 2 gray Zigs.

I added blue splatters, die cut with a stitched rectangle, cut it into a triangle & mounted it with fun foam.  The sentiment from an old HA set called Made with Love was triple embossed on the textured blue panel using the Rose Gold powder.
I picked real stitching for the 3 of us because I wanted to do some cross stitching.  I had previously sent some MFT Cross Stitch Tag die cuts to Betty & Cat, so knew they had that option if they wanted.

My main craft activity before I started stamping was Counted Cross-Stitch & I've enjoyed doing some again using the MFT die.  The flower pattern is one provided by MFT here.  I love the flowers done in 3 shades of blue & now I want to try other colors.  The card front needed something that wouldn't detract, so I white embossed a 2005 HA flower from Fashion Flowers.  Maybe you can see it in the close up.

My focus was on the cards, but I did stamp flowers in blue on the envelopes.  It is fun to add a little something to tie the envelopes to the cards.  Tomorrow they're going in the mail to my friends.

I'm entering both cards & envelopes in the HA challenges.  I'm entering both cards at ABNH.


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

This is Fun!

I was intrigued with Stephanie's technique in this week's MFT video.  Made me wonder if a background stamp could be used instead of a stencil & sure enough--it worked!

The beautiful IO floral image called Spring Flowers was black embossed on a white cardstock panel.  I inked up the IO background image called Cover A Card: Screen using a rainbow of Distress Inks.  Then I stamped the background over the flowers.  Pretty cool, huh?!  Now I want to try some other versions of this idea, including using a stencil as in the video.  The sentiment is made with Greetings Top Edgers die cut from black cardstock, trimmed down & covered with Nuvo Glaze.  I added yellow Stickles to the big flower center & the black dots are Pico Embellisher.  I'm entering IO Challenge Sending Hugs & Stamping Sensations.

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

Guest Designing for JUGs Take 3

I'm happy to be back with another card as the March GD for Just Us Girls.  It's Color Week with the beautiful combo of Yellow, Purple & Teal  You're also allowed to use neutrals.

I immediately thought of Easter, but wanted to use my still unopened SSS Sweet Tulip die rather than eggs.  My background has shades of purple & teal that are a bit darker to make the die cut really stand out. 

I used a favorite Copic marker technique I learned years ago from Nicole Heady.  You simply make stripes of each color & go back to blend where they  meet until you're happy with the result.  The colors I used are Amethyst & Blue Green.  I cut the panel down & attached it to a white card.  The tulip die cut was stacked 2 high & white heat embossed.  I removed the top layer inside pieces, covered them in Art Institute Banana glitter & glued them back into place.  

The white heat embossing gives a neat look & the glitter is really beautiful in person.  Hero Arts yellow sequins provide embellisment & the Easter sentiment is on the inside of the card.  Think I'll make more of these in other colors.  Hope you'll check out the wonderful cards made by the DT & play along in the challenge.  I'm entering Virginia's Show & Share challenge.

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