Altenew

My win for the Altenew November 2023 Monthly Challenge gave me the opportunity to participate in their Cards for Parents IG Hop.  Here's my card using Altenew's Rose Bouquet 3D embossing folder and a sentiment from Floral Frames.  There's a close up in my IG post and info on the hop including prizes.  

I love the Altenew March Inspiration Challenge.  My first entry used a stencil and I really wanted to make another card using a layering die set.  Last night I got all the pieces from Altenew Fantasy Floral die set inked and today I put the card together.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute!  

The inks for the flowers are Altenew Pink Wine, Rose Quarts and PTI Lemon Tart.  The leaves are Altenew Forest Glades and Limeade.  Hard to tell, but I did add tiny splatters of pink on the blooms and green on the leaves.  

Altenew Deck Planks 3D embossing folder makes such a great background.  This time I used a kraft panel and rubbed over the edges with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate.  The sentiment from Floral Acanthus was die cut from a scrap of the kraft cardstock and the stacked words were covered with Shimmer Pico Embellisher.  I wanted a soft look for the embellishments and thought Altenew Satin Gold sequins were a beautiful option.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and 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.

Time Out Challenge #260

I learned a lesson--don't try to use your phone with blogger when you're tired!  I accidentally deleted my post before I went to bed, thinking I had changed the publish time!  So, I'm late to tell you that for Time Out Challenges #260 we challenge you to be: Striped.  Once again our generous sponsor is Lawn Fawn.

My card was inspired by ones Carissa Wiley made recently for the Cardmakers Success Summit.  I don't make shakers very often, but wanted to use her idea before I forgot.

I pulled out 5 colored cardstock scraps I liked together and die cut them with PFS Color Block Stripes die.  After glueing the strips in place, I splattered with gold watercolor.  Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Circle Stackables worked great for my shaker window which I filled with sequins and glitter.  

I wasn't happy with the plain white, so colored the stitches with a gold gel pen.  It was so easy to do and made a huge difference.  The old Impression Obsession sentiment was die cut from gold metallic cardstock.  Check out the inspiration from my teammates and our Guest Designer.  Hope you'll join us.

I'm entering Die Cut Divas and 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.

Easter and Friendship

Here's another Easter card made with my Alexandra Renke egg diecut.  This time I painted it with Altenew soft green metallic watercolor.  The AR grass diecuts are painted with the darker green in the set.  

I didn't want Poppystamps Serene Rabbit die cut from the Champagne glitter tag in my last post to go to waste.  Nuvo Mother of Pearl Mousse was spread through just a bit of the old Hero Arts Zig Zag Pattern stencil.  Love that the color ties in with the rabbit, but doesn't overpower my focal point.  

The W&W words were stamped in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  I'm entering Poppystamps Mixed Media Challenge.

Several years ago a sweet friend gave me Taylored Expressions My Redeemer Lives stamps, dies and embossing folder.

This time I dry embossed one of the cross diecuts with an old TH woodgrain folder.  I swiped it with dark brown and black inks before gluing it to an old Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangle ink-blended with Distress Oxides squeezed lemonade, fossilized amber and spiced marmalade.  

The kraft panel was splattered with black ink and the sentiment from the set was stamped in Versafine Clair Pinecone.  Instead of cardstock layers, I just brushed the panel edges to make it stand out from the kraft card.  I'm entering SSS Wednesday and WAW.

My final card is for the Altenew March Inspiration Challenge.  I was going to use a layered floral die set, but the Bursting Dahlia stencil called to me!  

Two of my newest inks, Purple Wine and Rose Quartz, are a close match to the colors of the flowers.  For the leaves I used Forest Glades and Limeade.  The embossing powder for the center is yellow with white particles. 

I did a light splattering of Jet Black ink spray, added some gems and attached the die cut sentiment from Floral Acanthus.  I do gravitate toward simple cards with beautiful elements.  It's good we all like different styles!  I'm also entering SSS Monday

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

Easter and Birthday

The March challenge for Poppystamps is Mixed Media.  I've moved one set of my Lindy's Magicals to their shaker bottles and wanted to try them out. 

I die cut a Poppystamps Tunnel Tag from watercolor paper and used Ponderosa Pines Olive and Tibetan Poppy Teal.  Wish I hadn't blended them together so much, but it did make a beautifully shimmery tag.  A smaller tag in the set was die cut from SSS Champagne glitter cardstock and Poppystamps Serene Rabbit was die cut from the tag.

Before attaching the little tag with foam tape, I stamped the Winnie and Walter words in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  I found a piece of green cardstock that went well with my Magicals mixture of colors and used SSS 3D embossing folder called Leaf Tumble.  I added a touch of gold ink to the small leaves and a "junk bow" a la Melissa Phillips to the tags.  You can see the sparkle and shimmer in a short video in my IG post.   

The Pinkfresh Studio March challenge theme is Frame it Up.  I missed last month's challenge and since I have PFS Fancy Oval Frame, couldn't let that happen again!  PFS Sweet Friend Floral is one of my favorites and the images are a great size to use with the frame.  

Matching stencils are a lifesaver for me, as coloring is at the bottom of my list of skills!  The CN9 inks are Sweet Pea, Dragonfruit, Parsley, Evergreen, Buttercup and Sunflower.  I added yellow Stickles over the yellow inks before arranging the flower stems on the side of the gold metallic frame.  Love the contrast of the pinks with the black background, but it was too stark to suit me until I added gold watercolor splatters.  

I love the font and the sentiments in PFS Perfect Sentiments.  It's a one piece stamp with a one piece die.  I tried many times to get the die lined up.  A couple sentiments would be good and the rest were not centered close enough to use.  Plus, I've wished I could stamp directly onto cards.  So...I decided to cut the sentiment stamps apart and I'm so glad I did!  Now I can cut a small piece of paper to cover the part of the die I need or cut them all to have extras for layering.  I do the usual method of lining up the stamped sentiment using the negative, pop in the diecut and stamp.  That's how I did the celebrate for this card.  I'm feeling so smart--haha!  Always so rewarding to be happy with a creation and I do love this card.  I'm also entering Seize the Birthday without the topping, Snippets Playground with white/gold/black snippets, SSS Wednesday and Word Art Wednesday.

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

Time Out Challenge#259

We have a very special challenge for you at Time Out.  It's a collaboration with Just Us Girls and the theme is Birds of a Feather.  When you enter a project in the linky, you will automatically also be joining the challenge at Just Us Girls.  Talk about a great Twofer!  Plus, you'll have double the chances of being chosen as a favorite and of winning the $25 store credit to Waffle Flower.  

I'm still making Easter cards and knew exactly what I wanted to use for my card--Memory Box Serene Bird and Branch. 

I very lightly brushed the edges of the bird and separate wing with Distress Oxide pumice stone.  The beak was colored with DO vintage photo and a tiny black pearl was attached for the eye.  Behind the bird is an Alexandra Renke egg diecut inked with DO bundled sage and the branch from the bird die set inked with DO peeled paint and bundled sage.  

I laid MFT rectangle mask stencil on my panel and blended the edges with DO speckled egg.  This is one of my favorite card designs and it works for almost any style, I think.  The silver embossed sentiment was in my stash from last year, so I just die cut it with a PTI flag die and inked the edges lightly with DO pumice stone.  There's lots of inspiration on both challenge blogs and I hope to see you in the gallery.         

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

Another Easter Card

Don't intend to blog 2 days in a row, but didn't want to miss entering Just Us Girls Challenge where the color combo also works for Color Hues!  Both challenge themes were chosen by blogging friends and I like to support them when I can.  

I compared a marker labeled turquoise with Distress Oxide peacock feathers.  Looked close to me, so that's what I used for turquoise.  It was easy to choose lucky clover and twisted citron oxides for the greens.  SSS Morning Blossom was die cut from white scraps and I used blending brushes to get the colors as I wanted them. 

I have a huge collection of Stickles and found that one of them was Turquoise, so had to use it!  The background is SSS Refracted 3D embossing folder on a panel of GKD Whisper cardstock which is a light gray.  Unfortunately it's not as obvious in the picture as it is in real life.  

I had some Easter sentiments already stamped from last year, so die cut one with a PTI flag die.  I never need to buy more sequins.😊 Turned out to be a good thing to have a great variety of colors as I found turquoise and greens that were a pretty good match.  I'm also entering SSS Monday.  

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

Stencils and Dry Embossing plus Fritz!

Finally had to take time out to begin AGAIN purging craft goodies and making the guest room useable!  Not done, but made enough progress to see a lot of improvement.  Taking a break and rewarding myself with cardmaking and sharing 3 cards.😊

First is the card I sent last month for CCC.  Often I just make a friendship card or send one from my stash.  But for February I used the color combo and the stencil technique.  

I still love my old Brilliance ink pads and I have many, including Pearlescent Sky Blue, Yellow and Lime, so that's what I used with SSS Layered Flowers stencils.  I also used silver for the dots.  Stamplorations circle cover plate is fun to use over stamped or stenciled images.

Memory Box Hello Friend Posh Script shadow die was cut from vellum and the words from MB glossy black cardstock.  The scalloped die is Elizabeth Craft Designs.  Luckily, I found just the right sequins in my stash.

Dry embossed stationary was my favorite before I discovered cardmaking.  So it's no surprise I can't get enough of 3D embossing folders.  For this card I used Memory Box Blooming which is a favorite I've used many times. 

I inked one side with white pigment ink before running it through my die cutting machine.  It didn't show enough on the PTI Lovely Lady panel, although you can see some on the blooms.  I repeated with Altenew Puffy Heart which gave beautiful contrast.  I also added a bit more with the ink cube on the highest edges.

MB Moonlight and Kaleidoscope Butterflies were die cut from vellum.  The body/antennae piece was inked with Puffy Heart.  Impression Obsession Easter Joy was stacked and covered in Shimmer Pico Embellisher.  I'm entering Memory Box Challenge and TTTC242 using Floral/Embossing/Favorite Color of pink.

My next card used my newest Altenew 3D folder called Flower Bed.  I inked it with Brilliance Pearlescent Purple and added a bit more to the raised edges.  Love the sweet SSS Stitching Butterflies which I brushed with the same ink, darker in the centers.

SSS Easter Blessings shadow die was cut from vellum.  The words were stacked, inked with the purple and covered with Shimmer Pico Embellisher.  I added Stardust Stickles to the flower centers and butterfly edges. 

There's a video on my IG post showing the shimmer and sparkle.  I'm entering SSS Wednesday.  Hoping to get a few more Easter cards made, as I have products that need to be used!

It's been a long time since I shared a picture of Fritz who is now 10 years old!  He looks the same as he has for the past 7 or 8 years--so unfair!  We've had a few sunny days and even with his fresh haircut, one day was warm enough for a walk without his fleece jacket.  

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