Friday, May 28, 2021

A Few More Cards

Happy Memorial Day weekend to my US friends.  Giving thanks for the ultimate sacrifice so many have given to keep our country free.  We'll be staying home & probably inside with the air conditioning to keep us cool--if the forecast is right!
Here's a card made with PTI Friendly Flowers.  I've never used the dies without the matching stamps, but I wanted to enter the challenge to create a card with blended flowers.  
Actually, I love how it turned out!  The background Scalloped Stackers: Large die cut is from my friend, Vikki.  The inks are Sweet Blush, Pale Peony, Melon Berry & Spring Moss.  I did use dot stamps from Harvest Berries for the flower centers.  The PTI sentiment die was cut from vellum & Classic Kraft.  I double clear embossed the letters to make them stand out more.  Love the KaiserCraft Chino pearls I've had forever!
Next is the card I made for the challenge to make a friend card with different patterns.  I used some very old 12x12 sheets of MME Wild Asparagus designer paper--so beautiful!  
Feathered Friends 8 is so sweet & easy to assemble.  I did a bit of ink blending on the head & tail. 
The sentiment is from Wildflower Garden & the tag is also PTI.  I stamped leaves from Bold Blooms on the solid panel using Versamark.
I was lucky to win a gift certificate from the new company called Pigment Craft.  Here's my first card made with Frame Builder: Hello stamps/stencils/dies.  
Love how it's open at one end.  I used these inks: PTI Berry Sorbet & Aqua Mist, MFT Peach Bellini & C9 Clover & Grapefruit.  I added a Gina Marie die cut panel & a woodgrain vellum PTI die cut frame to a panel of Soft Stone.  Then I mounted the frame stacked 3 high & embellished with a sparkle pen.  The sentiment from another Pigment stamp set called Cup of Happy was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist & the tiny black hearts are Gina K.
Recently I learned to heat my laminator at least 20 minutes before using it for foiling.  I did have much better results & here's a card I made for May Rudolph Days.  
I used gold foil on a striped Gina K toner sheet for the background.  The MFT poinsettia was die cut from a plain toner sheet & foiled with beautiful red & green Gina K specialty foils.  Wish you could see it in person as it changes in the light.  
The SSS toner sentiment strip is also gold foiled & I used gold sequins to finish it off.  It's not 100% perfect, but I'll still be sending it this year.  I'm also entering The Snippets Playground (red cardstock scraps) & 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.



Sunday, May 16, 2021

ITP PTI Challenge Cards

We had fun yesterday with family visiting.  So wonderful to have that freedom with all of us vaccinated.  Here's a picture of one of my favorite roses, Chicago Peace.
ITP PTI has frequent challenges which I love to enter.  Thought I'd catch you up on some cards I haven't posted here.  First is a gratitude card made with the Bold Borders: Foliage die cut which I ink blended with a couple shades of green.  
The blooms are from Gathered Garden & the sentiment is from Counting my Blessings.  
Next is my entry for the challenge to leave the negative pieces in a border die. I colored Bold Borders: Yuletide using a Fantastix tool & Distress Oxides for my messy coloring.  
Then I used a waterbrush & Gansai Tambi Starry Colors Yellow Gold to color the negative areas.  The sentiment that comes with the border die was stacked 3 high & brushed with the gold paint--beautiful shimmer in person.  
I dry embossed the center area behind the sentiment & blended it with DO rustic wilderness.
It was challenging for me to make a layered sympathy card, as I generally make them pretty simple & often one layer.  
I kept my card monochromatic using 2 PTI printed papers a friend gave me along with Fine Linen, Vintage Cream & vellum.  The background panel is die cut with Scalloped Stackers: Small & behind the sentiment is Shape Shifters: Circle 3.  The sentiment from Through the Trees was stamped in Cocoa Bean on vellum backed with a strip of  Vintage Cream & embellished with Garden Gild die cuts & a KaiserCraft Chino pearl which goes perfectly with Fine Linen.  Finished by wrapping twine & tying a bow.   
My final card also uses Bold Borders: Yuletide, but looks entirely different than the card above.  This one is for another challenge to use embossing powder accents.  
I saw the white die cut on my table & thought it'd be fun to just add touches of color with embossing powder.  Worked great to use a Quickie Glue pen, which has a fine tip.  The embossing powders are glittery red & glittery gold.  I tried several card colors, but kept coming back to the white.  
The sentiment was cut from white & gold metallic cardstock with the white used for dimension & the shadow.  I kept the embellishments subtle, using PPP Marshmallow sequins.
Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.


Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Fun Day!

Fun time yesterday--met up with my friend, Vikki.  It had been over a year & was just what I needed.  Neither of us thought to get a picture, unfortunately.  Also happy to see one rose bush is in full bloom & there are lots of buds on the others.  
I wasn't sure if I'd have roses this year.  The deer chomped off the tops of the branches before there were many buds.  Luckily, they haven't come back---yet.
At the last minute I got a card made for the April Altenew challenge
I used Fantasy Floral & Wild Rose 3D dies watercolored with Prima Marketing Confections.  I just used one color for each bloom & the leaves, but added more pigment for each layer.  The sentiment from Floral Frame was stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  So happy to use some very old Teresa Collins designer paper!
My friend, Betty, created the current board for TTTC112.  It's been awhile since I played there, but couldn't miss this challenge.  I used Heat Embossing, Die Cuts, Circles/Squares.  
Didn't plan it, but ended up using some very old wood mounted circle stamps from Hero Arts & Memory Box.  The inks are Distress Oxides faded jeans & peeled paint.  Since it's an anniversary card, I added some silver splatters.  I was on a roll, so black heat embossed a very old wood mounted sentiment on a circle die cut.  Emboss resist is such a great technique for backgrounds or, in this case, to make the sentiment match.  Fun to use a strip of silver ribbon.
I really love the new DO kitsch flamingo which I used with the beautiful Gina K Stellar Snowflake stencil to enter the May Monthly Mix Challenge.  
The sentiment from Sketched Wreath Builder was stamped in DO candied apple & heat embossed on the Pigment Craft Company stacked cup die cut.  Again I used emboss resist to make the sentiment match.  The card front was also brushed with kitsch flamingo.  I used a shimmer pen on the cup & added white Pico Embellisher dots.  Not sure I've ever used pink & red for a Christmas card, but I like how this turned out.
Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment,
I will visit you.