Cheerful Birthday Card

Bold are not my go-to colors, but thought I'd try them for a cheerful birthday card.  

The SSS Cherry Blossom embossing folder comes with 3 individual blossom dies--so fun!  It was actually very easy to emboss them without needing to tape them in place.  I love the font of PFS Perfect Sentiments and thought it worked great for this card.  You can see sparkle from Stickles on the colored blossoms and shine from clear embossing on the sentiment in my IG post.  I'm entering Time Out Challenge: Pick 2 using bold/repeat and The Flower Challenge.

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Thanksgiving in June

I know it's a little weird to make a Thanksgiving card in June, but that's what came to my mind for the Coral and Green challenge at Color Hues.  Definitely a non-traditional look, but I actually like it.

I used Gina K Wreath Builder template with her Autumn Wreath Builder stamp set.  The sentiment is clear embossed, which you can see in my IG post.  The second sentiment is from SSS Full of Thanks.  I used Altenew Rouge and Forest Glades inks.  I inked the Rouge mats and used matching cardstock for the green one.  Stardust Stickles in the flower centers adds some sparkle.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday and WAW.

I've been dealing with a strained muscle for over a week.  It has improved, but I'm still having to spend time doing nothing.  Makes it hard to keep up!  I do appreciate your visits and will return the favor when I can, if I have your blog address.

Memory Box and Poppystamps

What a time to be an American.  RFK in charge of our health?!  I told myself even Trump wouldn't do that.  But turns out sometimes things really are going to be as bad as you think.  

The background of my card for the Memory Box Monthly challenge was an experiment with gesso and Lindy's Magicals using a brayer over a stencil.  Need to try again without a stencil, but I didn't want to waste the panel. 

I used a splatter stamp with Versamark ink and Wow! Sea Turtle embossing powder.  Really like the result.  I used the same powder for Memory Box Verdant Leaves.  The sentiment from PTI's Essential Sentiments was stamped in Versafine Clair Acorn.  Really like PTI Rustic Cream cardstock with the soft green.  Usually my sympathy cards are simpler, but I think this soft, monochromatic look also works.  I'm also entering WAW. 

Simple, elegant cards are my favorite, so this one makes me happy.  It's prettier in person, but this gives you the idea.

Memory Box Blooming embossing folder is definitely one of my favorites!  It's white here, in case you can't tell.  Poppystamps Dream Butterfly was die cut from cardstock covered with a double sided adhesive sheet so I could cover it with WOW! Celebration Sparkles--a bit chunkier, champagne glitter.  The butterfly needed something solid behind it and I ended up using Spellbinders Labels 18.  Instead of leaving them white, I brushed Altenew's Minty Mint ink on the larger one.  I used the next darker shade, Hunter Green, to stamp the PTI Scripted sentiment.  I'm entering Poppystamps and TTTC272 where my friend, Betty, developed the board.  I used Layers/Free/Floral-Foliage.

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

Christmas and Friendship

Hurrah--Indiana Pacers are in the NBA finals!  My folks were both born in Indy and so was I.  My dad played college and semi-pro basketball when he was young and was a radio sportscaster most of his life.  I grew up loving sports and going to lots of games.  Basketball was always my favorite and that's probably in my blood as Hoosiers are absolutely crazy about basketball!  So fun to have something positive to think about right now. 

Time Out: Your Favorite Winged Thing challenge inspired me to make my first card using PTI's Angelic Sentiments Die.  I do love angel ornaments and have a few in my collection.  

I die cut 3 angels so it's like a chipboard element.  I painted her with white metallic watercolor, using a swirling motion on the wings.  You can see the shimmer in my IG post.  Picking the background took awhile as I held the angel over multiple cardstocks and specialty papers.  I kept coming back to the CN9 pack of red and green foil paper which I've barely used.  Love the green which can look blue depending on the light and angle.  The die is my very old Spellbinders Labels 18.  You may know dry embossing is one of my favorite elements for cards and this old Cuttlebug folder gave just the elegant look I wanted without distracting from the focal point.  Found the perfect sentiment in Honey Bee's Rejoice stamp set.  Not sure why the strip looks gray as it's actually the same white cardstock.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday.

Edited to add:  I'm also entering NBUS 75th Challenge with my first card using the PTI angel.

 

It's time for the reveal of cards exchanged in May by those of us participating in The CCC.  I used the colors and friendship theme.

I'm still loving layering stencils, including SSS Layered Flowers.  The inks are Memento Sweet Plum, Lilac Posies and Desert Sand plus Delicata Golden Glitz.  I've been wanting to use the Scrapbook.com Hi Cover Plate and love the fun look.  I inked it and the Birch Press Simple Butterfly Contour Layers with the same inks.  I did add Stardust Stickles to the flower centers after I took the picture.  

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

Birthday and Christmas

I had paint still in my palette from swatching Autumn Leaves set of Lindy's Magicals.  Decided to use it  on a Scrapbook.com Cozy Wreath.  The beautiful shimmer can be seen in my IG post video.  

Tim Holtz Bricked Texture Fade folder was used to emboss a panel of PTI Classic Kraft.  I rubbed over it with Altenew Pink Sand ink cube twice.  It dried very light, but actually does add a bit of shadow to the bricks.  The wreath includes a circle die which I used for the 2 sentiments from a very old PTI set.  I added a couple cardstock layers and inked the edge in Versafine Clair Acorn.  I really like having just a tiny bit of the cream card front show.  I'm entering Inkspirational, SSS Monday and WAW.

Woodblock Wednesday gives me a reason to pull out some of my many woodmounted stamps.  It also means I see if they still stamp well.  If not, I take them off the block and see how they work in my MISTI and toss the ones that are bad.  This time I wanted something that would also work for the Christmas Kickstart Winter Warmers theme.  I was delighted to find that the 2007 Hero Arts Stove-Pipe Snowman stamped perfectly! 

After heat embossing, I used Hero Arts Liquid Metallic watercolors in Red, Green and Blue, Gansai Tambi white metallic watercolor and Distress Oxides vintage photo and spiced marmalade to color the image and make the background light blue.  The shimmer is amazing in the light and you can see it in my IG video.  I used Fairy Hugs Fairy Snowflakes stencil with Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue ink for the background and added Baby Blue Stickles to the snowflake centers.  

Love the mixed font of Hero Arts 2007 Traditional Messages set of 3 stamps and they still stamp perfectly.  Really wasn't needed, but I did heat emboss the sentiment to match the snowman.  This was a fun card to make and hopefully will brighten someone's day in December.  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.

Floral Cards

April Showers Bring May Flowers was in my mind as I looked for floral dies in my stash.  I came across SSS Umbrella Shaker that was gifted to me when a friend destashed.  Thought it'd be fun to fill the umbrella with flowers.  

I die cut Poppystamps Potpourri Flower Set from 3 peachy cardstocks plus white and vellum.  Glad it's a one piece die!  The green was made with May Green Faber Castell Pitt Artist pen, including inking the MFT Paint Splatter Background with it.  The die for the handle was missing, but luckily the j in an old MFT alpha set was a great replacement.  The card front is GKD Whisper cardstock--a soft gray.  Poppystamps Scribble Hello and beautiful iridescent gems finish off my card that is headed to a friend. 

Last year when I was lucky to design for an Altenew release, one of the products I received was Dynamic Duo: Modern Dahlia Bunch.  So versatile to be able to use the stencils with or without the die. 

For this card, I stenciled each flower one at a time, placing them where I wanted on the panel.  The Altenew inks are Fuchsia, Baby Pink, Maple Yellow, Fresh Lemon, Caribbean Sky and Arctic--colors for the Altenew May Inspiration Challenge.  I inked the flower centers in Versamark and embossed in Hero Arts Sparkle powder.  You can see the shine and sparkle in my IG post.  I wrapped white crochet thread under the sentiment from Altenew's Essential Sentiment Strips Die Set.  The darker 3 inks were splattered and 3 black enamel dots finish my card.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday and Just Us Girls stencil challenge.

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

Three Friendship Cards

Marcia's recent card using perforated paper inspired me to make my own with an old Altenew die.  The holes are bigger, but it still works to get a unique look which I really like.  

I used these Altenew products:  Bursting Dahlia stencil, Fuchsia, Baby Pink and Arctic inks and Fancy Hello die.  I blended some white ink over the pink to give a bit more contrast.  I had just enough yellow enamel dots to use for the center.  I wasn't happy with a black mat, so I just added some cardstock behind the panel for dimension and glued it to a white card.  I'm entering Altenew's May Inspiration Challenge.

I love that the monthly Pinkfresh Studio Challenge is now Anything Goes.  However, for this month's entry I did use the Frame it Up theme.  

I began by stamping one of my favorite background stamps, PFS Lush Vines, using Versafine Clair Grass Green on a textured slightly lighter green cardstock.  I colored the berries with a white Posca pen and then glued the frames made with PFS Stitched Scallop Circle.  It's been awhile since I white embossed on vellum and I really love that look, so that's what I did with PFS Small Butterflies.  Pearls were my favorite embellishment when I began making cards over 20 years ago.  At that time they were very hard to find, but eventually there were plenty of choices in many colors.  Love the look of these tiny white ones for the butterfly bodies.  I stamped, heat embossed and matted the sentiment from PFS Sweet Friend Floral to match.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and SSS Wednesday.

I've had Memory Box Backyard Wren die for awhile.  Glad I decided to use it for Color Hues Pink and Plum challenge.  I die cut it from Bristol smooth cardstock which made ink blending a breeze!  

One description of the color Plum is dark reddish purple.  I tried a few of my many purples and decided on VersaMagic Eggplant.  That made it easy to choose VersaMagic Pink Petunia to use with it.  I love all the colors of these chalk inks and need to remember to use them more often.  The bird is easy to assemble.  I absolutely love that the eye and beak are done with a single piece that attaches to the back of the head, so no tiny bits to deal with.  I simply colored the approximate areas on the diecut with markers and glued it in place.  The eye hole is large enough I carefully touched it with a black glaze pen.  I brushed a bit of the pink ink on the small leaves of the SSS Leaf Tumble embossed panel.  Didn't want to use a branch for the bird, so instead I used MB Wayfarer Leaves inked to match.  Love all the Posh Script sentiments and fun to ink this one with both colors using tape to get a definite line.  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.