Last minute challenge entries

I'm back with a couple cards to enter challenges about to end.  First is PTI Impress a die into the background.  I impressed one of the Border Bling: Skinny Diagonals Frames into a panel of Fine Linen cardstock.  

Friendship Jar Flowers stem was die cut from a brown textured scrap & the little flowers from a Fine Linen scrap.  I brushed some brown ink on the ends of the petals & added metallic dots.  

The sentiment from Mat Stack 3 Collection was stamped in brown ink.  I added brown splatters & copper spray mist which has a gorgeous shimmer in real life.  This card went to a male relative recovering from surgery.  I'm also entering SSS Monday & SSS Wednesday.

I missed last month's Altenew challenge, but this month's color combo is beautiful!  I also hadn't used the Climber Flowers Die set yet, so I made a card for the August Inspiration Challenge.  

I die cut the flowers & leaves from watercolor paper & watercolored them with Distress Inks picked raspberry, milled lavender & peacock feathers.  The splatters are a black zig & white gauche.  

For the background I cut down the Watercolor Stripes die cut & stamped the sentiment from Flower Vine.  Finished off with black Pico Embellisher dots.  I'm also entering Die Cut Divas & 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.

Hero Arts & PTI

So honored my card was picked as the winner of the August ABNH challenge, Background Basics.  Their blog is being worked on, so it was held on IG.  

My card was made with Hero Arts Bare Branched Tree, Irregular Checkerboard Background stencil & Messages with Flourish.  The Distress Inks are candied apple, abandoned coral & carved pumpkin.  

The panel was spritzed with copper shimmer mist & I finished off with black sequins.  I've had the tree stamp quite awhile, so glad to finally use it for a card.

Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating it's 500th challenge with a sketch I really like.  There are also a lot of great prizes.  I'm definitely in the mood for Fall, so I pulled out my old PTI Take 3: Fall.  

I used my MISTI so I could ink the stamps with 3 colors (Canyon Clay, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold) over & over until I was happy.  The Canyon Clay frame is made with the matching die.  I stamped the image from Autumn Adornments in Summer Sunrise on a Summer Sunrise panel.  I added a couple cardstock layers to the pumpkin strip for dimension.  The sentiment from Bold Borders: Foliage was die cut multiple times, stacked & covered with Nuvo Glaze.  Finished off with a variety of sequins.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday.

Here's my card for the PTI challenge to add color to Rainstones with Copic Markers.  Still having fun with Into the Blooms II die set.  Found this color combo in the sheets I printed when PTI gave them to us every month.  

The cardstock is Enchanted Evening, Autumn Rose & Sweet Blush with vellum for the leaves & a Soft Stone card.  I blended Scarlet Jewel on the big blooms & Autumn Rose on the small ones.  Hard to see, but I also used Dark Indigo on the Shape Shifters Circle 3 die cut.  Ink was splattered on all the die cuts, but it came out pretty light.  I used the old Linen Impression Plate on the card front.  Copic RV34 was used to color the Rainstones.  I black embossed the sentiment from Mat Stack 3 Collection--a real oldy!  Thanks to a friend, I have Autumn Rose printed paper--just what this card needed.  I made this for one of my college roommates who is recovering from back surgery.  I'm also entering SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday & TTTC using middle horizontal row: Any color ink, free, any shape die cut.

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

Three Cards

I've been doing quite a bit of ink blending lately & here's another one.  My color inspiration came from JUGs challenge where my fellow Schnauzer mom, Carol, wants us to use pink, yellow & green.  

I used Distress Oxides kitsch flamingo, squeezed lemonade & cracked pistachio.  I splattered the inks (looks like water spots) & white gauche.  The Memory Box challenge is to make a white focal point, so I die cut Tall Poppy Left Corner twice from white cardstock, stacked them together & attached the die cut to my mini card.  The sentiment from Poppystamps Grateful Heart was stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne & I finished with Shimmer Pico Embellisher dots.  I'm also entering DRU & SSS Monday.  

AAA Card Challenge is calling for a one inch strip with the optional twist of a colored card base.  To be honest, I did 4 or 5 different strips before being happy with this one.  

I love pink & gray together, so I used PTI Pale Peony to stamp the small bloom from SSS Anna's Flowers. The sentiment from Stamplorations Bloomfully: Thankful was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist. So glad I have a MISTI for the stamping! Really love the look of the gray card & couldn't resist adding 3 little pearls. I'm also entering SSS Flickr & SSS Wednesday.

Thought you might like to see a sympathy card I made a few weeks ago for an in-person blogging friend who lost her dad.  I was ready to try & sell my Altenew Layered Laurels stamp set. 

I've had so much trouble lining up the layers.  However, this time I finally realized to just stamp each one so the leaves are coming off the stem.  Starting with the darkest layer instead of following the guide worked for me.  The exact placement really doesn't matter.  I added splatters & a PTI sentiment.

Fritz has had quite a few bumps--none the vet is concerned about.  However, the other day a large sebaceous cyst on his back ruptured.  Luckily, it doesn't bother him, but the vet said big ones like this usually don't heal.  So, he may have a little surgery coming up.  Thankfully, his tummy problems are now much improved.

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

Poppystamps, Hero Arts, Simon Says Stamp

Happy to say we've had lots of clouds & actually had a rain shower that lasted about 5 minutes.  The air smelled so good!  Hope you didn't faint to see I've done another blog post so soon--haha!  Some challenges can't be entered via IG, so that gave me a nudge.

First is my card for Poppystamps August Challenge which is anything goes.  I've always loved their Gentle Leaf Collage die, but don't think I made a stencil with it until now.  

I used a stencil blank which is a little flimsier than stencils you buy, but should still last a long time with care.  It worked beautifully for my card.  I brushed Distress Oxide vintage photo through the stencil, clear embossed & repeated the process.  Then I brushed the panel with Distress Oxides abandoned coral, spiced marmalade & fossilized amber.  

I added water drops & gold splatters.  The plain brown card front looked too plain, so I dry embossed it with Sizzix Botanical 3D folder--so beautiful!  The little Poppystamps thank you dies were cut from gold cardstock & I added gold sequins.  Yep--I'm ready for Fall!  I'm also entering SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday, Snippets Playground (all cardstock scraps) & WAW.

Next is an entry for ABNH Background Basics challenge on IG & Stay Crafty with Hero Rainbow challenge.  So fun to pull out the beautiful 2012 HA Leafy Vine stamp I HAD to have, but hadn't used in ages.  

Quite awhile ago I saw a video where a rainbow was made with pink, yellow & blue inks.  Thought this was a good time to give it a try, so I pulled out Distress Oxides worn lipstick, squeezed lemonade & salvaged patina.  Made a beautiful pastel rainbow.  When it dried I gold embossed the vines, die cut it & attached it to an ivory card.  

I didn't want to cover up much of the panel, so just added the Spellbinders Bold Type Hello & the 2 small images from HA Paper Layering Dandelion die set--thanks, Betty!  The gold cardstock is pretty inexpensive, especially with a Michael's coupon, & it die cut great!  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday.

I loved every card I saw made with SSS Etched Laurel Leaves die set, so eventually I got it.  Wreaths are one of my favorite images, so I die cut the small branch from blues & greens in the Scrapbook.com Cools Smooth Cardstock pad.  

Thanks to Daria, I was reminded that you can dry emboss with a stencil.  Here I used SSS Square Dance stencil.  The silver glitter sentiment from Mama Elephant was stacked 3 high.  

I added Star Dust Stickles to the ends of the leaves & finished off with very old silver pearls in my stash.

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

Christmas Poinsettias & Snowflakes

Finally having some much needed cooler weather.  Now if only some of the excess rain in other states could be shifted to us!

The Uniko challenge is about to end, so I'm quickly posting my second entry.  I used Altenew watercolor markers directly on the poinsettia images from Season of Beauty & spritzed with water before stamping.  

I used Purple Wine on the bottom layer & Crimson on the next layer.  I gold embossed the outline, details & center.  The powder used on the centers has glitter in it.  

Rosemary's card gave me the idea to stamp on my MFT flag die cut.  It's large, so I made a mini slimline using Avery Elle's Winter Wreath set for the sentiment.  I added gold splatters to the flag which I mounted with fun foam & added 3 matte gold sequins around the sentiment.  I'm also entering DCD & SSS Wednesday.

I also made a second card for the August PFS challenge using the theme of stripes.  I used leftover red strips die cut with PFS Color Block Stripes.  

The sentiment & shadow are PFS Classic Holiday Words & are die cut from silver & white cardstocks. 

PFS Layered Snowflakes are die cut from the same silver glitter paper as the strip under the sentiment.  Finished with red splatters, gems & 2 rounded corners.  I'm also entering 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.