Memory Box, Altenew and Stamps Happen

I just could not make my first idea for the Memory Box August Animal Themed Cards Challenge work.  Luckily, I realized birds are in the animal kingdom!  That let me use the wonderful Backyard Wren die. 

First I ink blended Distress Oxides bundled sage, lucky clover, speckled egg and broken china.  Then I smooshed over the blended areas with lucky clover and broken china to add more texture.  Love the look.  Instead of a tree branch, I decided to put my bird in a bush using MB Tall Frilly Leaf Stems brushed with several green metallic sprays.  Many of my old spray bottles clogged, so I just pour some out and use a paintbrush.  You can see the sparkle in my IG post.  I brushed the bird diecuts with DO vintage photo, fossilized amber and antique linen.  The oval frame was made with Elizabeth Craft dies and I inked it with DO antique linen and a touch of vintage photo--purposely not making it a solid color.  Poppystamps Scribble Hello was stacked and inked with the vintage photo.  Not sure about embellishments, so left them off for now.  I'm also entering Tic Tac Toe 276 using Any Color/Free/Sentiment.  

My next card is for the August Altenew Inspiration Challenge.  I had fun using some of their older products along with a new one. 

The Fresh Flowers diecuts were ink blended with Puffy Heart, Rose Quartz, Citrus Burst, Maple Yellow, Forest Glades and Frayed Leaf Altenew inks.  Watercolor Stripes Cover Die was cut from vellum and attached to a soft yellow textured cardstock panel.  The sentiment letters from Essential Sentiment Strips were ink blended to match and inlaid into the vellum base which was matted with the same yellow cardstock.  I finished off with tiny yellow gems.  I'm also entering JUGS.

I finally made a card with this beautiful woodblock stamp called Rose Parade.  It's by Stamps Happen and I bought it over 20 years ago at a stamp convention.  

The image was embossed in SSS Rose Gold powder before I watercolored with Distress Oxides kitsch flamingo, picked raspberry and pumice stone.  I failed to leave enough lighter areas, so I added a bit of white metallic watercolor.  That helped, I think.  You can see the shimmer and shine in my IG post.  I added a very soft watercolor wash around the image using kitsch flamingo and finished off with pink sequins.  I entered the last Woodblock Wednesday challenge and I'm entering Color Hues Pink and Gray.

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

On Elf Duty!

Yep--I'm so happy to be Jo's Guest Elf for Christmas Kickstart: Wreath it Up!  If you know me, you know I LOVE wreaths.  I honestly can't even count how many wreath stamps, dies and stencils I have!  And I just got another one! 😄  Plus, I love to use small stamps or individual diecuts to make wreaths.  For today's card, I used one of my newer products: CN9 Boughs & Holly Stencil Pack.

The inks I used are CN9 Evergreen, Clover, Cranberry and PTI Cocoa Bean.  It's a fun stencil to use.  You ink it once and then turn it 180 degrees and ink again.  The bow is from Pinkfresh Artistic Bows which I got for $3 from a crafter's destash sale.  The bow was brushed with a shimmer pen and the berries were covered in Christmas Red Stickles.  I tried several sentiments and decided on this one from PTI Joyful Florals.  I hope you'll check out Jo's card with a darling unexpected image and join the challenge.  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.

Altenew

Decided to squeak in with one more entry before the Altenew Inspiration Challenge ends.  I used some of their products I really love.

I've used the Flower Bed embossing folder a lot.  One of my favorite techniques is to add color to white cardstock before embossing.  I put the panel into the folder so I can see approximately where the flowers and leaves will be.  Then I add my colors, but not precisely.  For this card I blended Persian Blue and Fresh Leaf until the entire panel was inked.  After embossing, I experimented with lightly rubbing an off white pad across the raised areas.  Didn't like the result, so just wiped it mostly off with a paper towel.  Then I did the same thing with a gold pad.  It was subtle, but pretty.  Decided to add gold embossing powder--just wanting a bit here and there.  A lot of powder stuck!  So I used a small paintbrush to remove a lot of it.  Still ended up with more gold embossing than I'd planned, but I actually like it.  Sparkled Frame is another favorite product.  I used the same beige cardstock as my first entry, since it's very close to the color in the graphic.  Most of the time I use the Happy Birthday die from Essential Sentiment Strips, so it was nice to make use of a different one for this card.  I inked the card front and sentiment strip in the Persian Blue and used the same SSS Antique Gold embossing powder for the letters.  The medium shade of Deep Sea Sapphire Gem Sparkles finished off the card. You can see the sparkle and shine in my IG post.  I'm also entering SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday 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.

Pinkfresh and SSS

I almost forgot to post the first card I made for the July Pinkfresh Studio Challenge which closes tomorrow.  

I silver embossed PFS Folk Snowflake and then brushed Altenew Arctic, Caribbean Sky and Persian Blue inks through the matching stencils.  You can see the embossing shine in my IG video.  The sentiment is from the same set.  I added low profile clear dots, so still flat for mailing. 

It's Stencil Week at JUGS challenge and I didn't want to miss it this time.  I pulled out an old SSS stencil called Bouquet of Roses.  

The inks are Altenew Blush, Rouge, Crimson, Sweet Leaf, Just Green and Hunter Green.  I purposely let a bit of the green go into the roses, as I like "connecting" the leaves to the flowers.  The panel was splattered with Altenew Black Ink Spray and then covered with Heidi Swapp white Color Shine.  The shimmer is beautiful and you can kind of see it in my IG post video.  I matted the roses panel and the sentiment from PTI Essential Sentiments with silver metallic cardstock.  At the last minute, I decided to add one of the butterflies from SSS Stitching Butterflies die cut from vellum.  It looks much better in person--sorry the photo isn't better.  I'm also entering SSS Flickr 237.

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

Birthday Cards

Yana's post for SSS reminded me of the one she did in 2020 using SSS Anna's Flowers.  In fact, that's why I bought the set!  Happy to have been inspired to use it for this card.  

I was going to do something closer to Yana's cards, but wasn't happy with my first attempt using a very light pink.  So I turned the panel over and filled it with overlapping flowers using Altenew's Puffy Heart, Purple Wine and Cosmic Berry.  Now it looks like printed paper and I really like it.  Of course, pink being my favorite color may have something to do with it.😀  I did add some white gouache splatters that came out pretty subtle.  This is a sentiment I think works for lots of occasions, including birthdays.  I stacked it and used a shimmer pen which you can see in my IG video.  The subsentiment is from PTI Scripted and I added TE silver sparkly gems.  I'm entering SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday and Seize the Birthday.  

I don't want to miss the Pinkfresh Studio July Challenge, so decided to combine it with Color Hues: Yellow and Green.  Yellow isn't a color I reach for very often, but it is a happy color--perfect for a birthday card. 

I stamped PFS Modern Layered Florals in Altenew Fresh Lemon, Maple Yellow, Grass Green and Shadow Creek.  I added some details with a white gel pen.  PFS Lush Vines was clear embossed on soft green textured cardstock and I glued the bouquet to Fancy Oval Frame.  The sentiment is from the same set and I added yellow gems.  Turned out to be a card I really like, so that's a win! 😊 The colors look more accurate on my phone, unfortunately.  I'm also entering Inkspirational.

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

More Christmas in July

Emboss resist was one of the first techniques I learned and I still love it.  I started by white embossing and diecutting the fun circles tree from SSS Color Me Trees.  

Then I ink blended them with Distress Oxide Pine Needle and Peacock Feathers.  The ink wipes right off the white embossing.  I colored the center circles with Pentel silver Sparkle Pop pen which gives gorgeous sparkle you can see in my IG post video.  The embossed panel was made with SSS Dibble Tile folder and I attached it to a metallic silver mat.  Versafine Clair Morning Mist was used to stamp the sentiment from an old Honey Bee set.  I raised the center tree and the sentiment strip, but should still just need one stamp.  I'm entering Christmas Kickstart Challenge 100 and sending my congratulations to Jo!

Next is my card for the Poppystamps July Challenge: Red White & Bloom.  I began with a red cardstock panel that I covered in Distress Spritz fired brick.  The sparkle is just gorgeous! 

I die cut Poppystamps Poinsettia Background from the red panel and a white one.  I attached the white outline to a panel of GKD Whisper cardstock.  The white petals were glued in place and then the red ones were glued on top for a bit of dimension.  The white leaves were brushed with white metallic watercolor before being glued in place.  Poppystamps Merry Christmas Poe Script was brushed with the same watercolor and glued over the vellum strip.  Check out my IG video to see the beautiful sparkle and shimmer.

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

Uniko, Altenew, Memory Box

Sharing 4 recent cards, so feel free to just scroll down and look at the pictures.  First up is a card that made me sooo happy!  I've struggled to use Uniko's Ink N Flip stencils, but finally made a panel that didn't go in the trash!

The Layering Flower stencil was used with CN9 Aqua Sky, Harbor, Tidepool, Grapefruit and Pink Lemonade.  The sentiment from Simply Said Blocks was stamped in Versafine Morning Mist.  I used 3 clear low profile dots for embellishment.  Please don't buy Ink N Flip stencils from any company but Uniko.  Beverley came up with this concept and designs all her own products.  I'm hoping the American company who plans to offer their version this summer will think better of it.

Next is my entry for Uniko's 12 Days of Christmas Challenge.  I used the branch from Season of Beauty with GKD Wreath Builder Template and tiny berries from Rustic Wreath.  

The inks are Versafine Clair Green Oasis, Grass Green and Strawberry.  The background was made with Heidi Swapp white Art Screen Ink through the Winter Foliage stencil.  Love the beautiful shimmery texture which you can see in my IG video.  

When I saw the colors for Altenew's July Inspiration Challenge are blue, green and beige, I decided to make an anniversary card for my sister and her hubby.  She loves blue and he's fond of green.  

I do love wreaths, including Altenew's Wonderful Wreath stencil.  This time I did 4 layers for the top wreath and 2 for the bottom one.  The Altenew inks are Lime, Limeade and Persian Blue, with Lime also being used for the splatters.  The little flowers from Layered Floral Elements die set were brushed with the blue ink darkest in the centers.  I added Stardust Stickles to the petal tips and the darkest Deep Sea Sapphire Gem Sparkles to the centers.  You can see the sparkle in my IG video.  The sentiments are from Flower Vine.  Really love the look of the beige cardstock panel on the white card.  

My final card is for the July Memory Box Challenge: Summer Vibes.  I used MB Backyard Floral Stems for the focal point along with Friends and Family stamp set for the sentiment.  The vellum butterfly is the smallest one in Birch Press Simple Butterfly Contour Layers. 

I purposely used one of my white cardstocks that give this somewhat textured look when brushed with any inks.  Here I used Distress Oxide Prize Ribbon with the MFT rectangle stencil to represent a summer sky.  Fun to use Altenew Tropical Fiesta Watercolor Brush Markers to color the focal point.  I used 2 greens, red, purple, yellow and orange--summery colors to me.  The sentiment was stamped in Versafine Clair Blue Belle.  I added little blue gems and tiny white pearls.  I'm entering Word Art Wednesday and TTTC274 as my card fits several rows, including Die Cut/Free/Butterfly.

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