Three Cards

Challenges are ending soon, so posting three of my recent cards.  First is a thank you made with Uniko's wonderful Gerbera stencil.  

I used blue and green inks and then spread a layer of Nuvo Moonstone Glimmer paste. The look  changes as you tilt it in the light, and oh boy is it beautiful from every angle!   I seem to put off taking the time to use my various pastes.  Gotta change that!

I found just the right sentiment in an old Winnie and Walter stamp set and used Versafine Clair Morning Mist for a slightly softer look than black.  I'm entering Just Us Girls and SSS Wednesday   

I was the lucky winner of Hero Arts May Premium kit and it came just in time for an anniversary card I needed to make.  

I black embossed the balloon background stamp on watercolor paper and then spritzed with the Ocean Blue Metallic Mist from the kit and Tattered Angels Meadow Green Glimmer Mist from my stash.  They blended together beautifully and have a wonderful shimmer in real life.  

I die cut the big sentiment from SSS Matte Gold cardstock and vellum.  The little sentiment from Altenew Floral Vine was stamped in Versafine Clair Green Oasis.  The same gold cardstock for the mat and HA ombre sequins for embellishment.  I'm entering Stay Crafty with Hero (2 spray mists and 2 sentiments) and Word Art Wednesday.

I am on a lucky streak!  My friend, Vikki, tagged me on IG when Poppystamps was giving away their Nordic Majestic Bloom die.  Her win gave me one of the dies, too!  I had such fun making this notecard.

It's very easy to assemble the pieces and I love the unique look.  I inked the bloom diecuts with Pigment Craft Co Blush, Himalayan and Tajine.  For the stem and leaves I used Altenew Firefly and Grass Fields.  Love the soft elegance of MFT Gold Sparkle cardstock.  

I used MFT Rectangle Stax Set 2 and inked the card front edges with Tajine.  Think this design would make a great set of notecards using several different color combos.  If only I had non-cardmaking family or friends who use snail mail--haha!  I'm entering Poppystamps May Challenge.

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 #264

We challenge you to be...Magical for Time Out Challenge #264.  Our wonderful sponsor, Picket Fence, is giving the winner a $25 gift card.  That person also gets a chance to guest design for a future challenge.  

My stash does not include fairies, mermaids or gnomes.  But it dawned on me that I do have a darling old Hero Arts deer stamp.  If you know me, you know I love to make Christmas cards, so here's Rudolph!  Actually, he might be Rudolph's sister with those beautiful antlers and long eyelashes--haha!

Anyway, I had such fun making this card.  I seldom color, but did my best using Copics E53 and E35.  I purposely tried to give some texture to indicate fur, which you can see if you use your imagination!  I added tiny clear gems and Christmas Red Stickles.  

Haven't used Spellbinders Big Scalloped Rectangles Large in years, but I'm moving them to the front of my old dies.  Really love the look.  I found the perfect sentiment in Winnie and Walter's Yetitide Greetings.  Be sure to check out the blog to see all the inspiration from my teammates and our guest designer.  I'm entering 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.

Friendship and Sympathy

I received a lot of beautiful, new products thanks to being a guest designer for Altenew's April release.  One of the 2 layering floral die sets is called Anemone Blue Poppy.  The first time I used it, I cut the flowers from colored cardstock.  For the Altenew May Inspiration Challenge, I wanted to try blending white diecuts with inks matching the challenge colors.  Boy does that give a very different look and really is my favorite.  

I used a variety of Altenew inks for the flowers and the leaves and splattered with white gouache.  Hopefully you can tell that the bottom flower is shades of majenta and the top one is shades of red.  Wasn't sure that would work with just 2 flowers, but I actually like them together.  The Deck Planks folder is one of my favorites.  This time I used a black panel and lightly swiped the debossed side with white pigment ink which really brings out the design.  

The sentiment is from one of the stamp sets in the April release: Morning Glory Outline.  I black embossed it on vellum and used the matching die.  I received 3 sets of Gem Sparkles--all beautiful!  Each set has 3 different colors that go together.  The ones I used here are the lightest in the Smoky Quartz set.  They actually have a pink cast to them, so were just right for this card. 

It's always sad when a sympathy card is needed.  But it's especially heartbreaking when a young wife and mother is lost to cancer.  

I embossed a beautiful Penny Black floral image on a panel blended with Distress Oxides bundled sage and speckled egg.  It was given to me without the packaging, so I don't know the name.  I wanted a soft look, so instead of gold powder, I used Stampendous Moonstone. 

The sentiment from another old PB set called Eloquence was also embossed.  I added a couple cardstock layers before attaching the panel to a white card.  I'm entering Penny Black Saturday Challenge 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.

Memory Box and Pinkfresh

Here's my card for the Memory Box Pretty in Pink May challenge.  I blended Distress Oxides kitsch flamingo and worn lipstick on a pale pink panel which I then embossed with MB Blooming folder.  

I lightly brushed the raised edges with DO picked raspberry to give definition to the design.  I also used Nicki's technique of lightly adding Lunar Paste to the blossoms and panel edges.  The color is Slippery When Wet and I also used it to color Poppystmps Double Stitch Scalloped Rectangle Frame.  

To get the size I wanted, I snipped off some of the MB Backyard Floral Stems which was die cut from vellum.   MB Hello Friend Posh Script shadow was cut from vellum and the words from the pink cardstock blended with DOs like the panel.  To make them stand out a bit more, the words were covered in Shimmer Pico Embellisher.  Beautiful pink gems finish it off.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday via IG and Die Cut Divas.

Next is my card for Pinkfresh Studios Flower Power challenge.  Once again I pulled out PFS Sweet Friend Floral stamp/die/stencils.  I love the whimsical style which makes lining up the stencils perfectly not required--at least to me!😉 

This time I used many CN9 ink cubes in pink, peach, blue and green shades for a pretty bouquet arranged in the center circle of a gray panel die cut with Slim Braided Circles Panel cut down to fit an A2 card.  I added black splatters to the card front and shimmer to the flowers.  You can see it in a short video in my IG post.  

The sentiment from Perfect Sentiments was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist, clear embossed and popped up.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and SSS Wednesday.  

Did you see the Northern Lights?  We looked from our deck at 10pm and couldn't see anything.  But we heard that a cell phone camera can pick up color you don't see with the naked eye.  So I snapped a picture and was amazed to see purple!  I took another shot aimed to the south, just to be sure my camera didn't make the whole sky look purple.  The sky was just black in that picture.  Pretty amazing!  We went back out at 11pm and could actually see some purple and again, the camera captured a lot of color.  Not the fabulous view some people had, but still a pretty neat experience.  Hoping for even better tonight.

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 #263

We have a fun theme for Time Out Challenge #263:  Alphabet Magnet Day.  To be honest, I had no idea what that was until I googled it.  Here's what I found:  "National Alphabet Magnet Day recognizes the ingenuity and creativity of making words from magnetic letters."

I love using stencils, so pulled out an old favorite: Altenew's Wonderful Wreath.   I inked through the stencil, moved it and inked again using CN9 Sea Glass, Tidepool and Clover.  I like the fresh, springy look of those colors. 

For the berries I used CN9 Blueberry.  Gina K Friend Caps die has a font similar to most magnetic letters, so I die cut it twice for thicker letters and inked with the 3 greens.  Not sure you can buy ombre magnetic letters, but wouldn't that be a good idea?!  I used Nuvo Crystal Glaze on the berries and diecut letters.  

The little word from Altenew's Floral Frame was stamped in Blueberry.  The look was just too plain for me with so much white, but tiny splatters of green and blue took care of that!  Our sponsor is Altenew and the winner also gets a chance to guest design with us for a future challenge.  Check out the great inspiration from my teammates and our guest designer.  Hope to see you in the gallery.

I'm entering SSS Monday and WAW.  

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

Turnabout Card

Surprise!  Yep--back in a day because Just Us Girls Color Week gallery is about to close.  I've been wanting to use one of my CN9 Turnabout stamps and decided Lovely Blossoms would work well using the challenge colors of Peach, Lavender, Gray.  

Pretty sure I've never used that combo before, but I do love pastels.  Decided silver would look good with it, so pulled out CN9 Nectar and Lilac along with Lawn Fawn Manatee.  I silver embossed the 4th turn.  Also hadn't used my Frantic Stamper arch dies in awhile, so used the largest one to die cut the panel.  An old Spellbinders die kit included the sweet flowers & stems that I thought went well with the background.  I used the same inks to color them and arranged them along the side.  The Pinkfresh Perfect Sentiments are such a great font and now that I've cut apart the stamps, I can actually use them!  Hello was stamped in Manatee and covered with Shimmer Pico Embellisher.  

I don't have all that many silver embellishments, but I did find very old Stampendous Diamond Dots in my stash.  The tiny ones fit perfectly in the flower centers and the big ones added a little sparkle to the card.  They're flat, so also mail friendly.  I wanted a bit more silver, but didn't have a larger arch die.  Luckily, I thought of just adding a strip of silver metallic cardstock and that was just what it needed.  Not a typical card for me, but it's fun to do something a little different.  I'm also entering 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.

Couple Cards

I've participated in the monthly CCC for many years, sending and receiving cards from all over the world.  For April my card stayed in the US, which was good, since being sick delayed my getting it in the mail.  I loved the color combo of silver, evergreen, lilac.  You don't have to use the exact colors.  

The bouquet from Alex Syberia Spring Garden was silver embossed and I used the stencils to add the color.  My inks were CN9 Grape Soda & Lilac, Altenew Forest Glades & Frayed Leaf and a light and dark gray.  I added silver splatters and Taylored Expressions glitter dots.  

Someone gave me the diecut sentiment which I brushed lightly with gray.  There's a short video in my IG post.  Nancy suggested I add this card to Color Hues Lilac and Lime challenge.

Ever since I saw the blackout techique with embossing folders, I wanted to try it with blue ink.  A reel on IG inspired me to do it now.  

I colored some of the images on the debossed side of a panel using SSS Vine Canopy folder.  This time I used alcohol markers.  Then I rubbed over the entire panel with Versafine Clair Blue Belle and splattered with white gauche.  Really love how PTI Skinny Diagonals Frame made the perfect border without covering up too much of the design.  I used PTI Dark Indigo for the mat.  SSS Stitching Butterflies were die cut from vellum twice to make 2 layered butterflies.  I attached the pieces only in the center and then added the bodies colored with the same marker as the berries. 

SSS Painted Hugs diecuts were stacked and covered with glaze.  Hard to tell, but there's just a bit of sparkle from the Stickles on the bodies.  Not everyone's cup of tea, but I really like the look.  I'm entering SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday and Word Art Wednesday. 

I'm happy to say I'm doing much better.  I'd feel 100% if only my ears weren't still plugged!  Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment, I will visit you.