Poppystamps and Pinkfresh

Fun to use some favorite older dies to enter Poppystamps August Summer Daze Challenge.  My card was inspired by all the green leaves and butterflies we see in summer.  No, I haven't seen a pink glittery butterfly--artistic license! 😀

I used Freida Curve, Dotted Curve and Scribble Hello along with Memory Box Moonlight Butterfly and Kaleidoscope Butterfly.  The green cardstocks are from Memory Box Greenery Cardstock Pack and the shimmer pink is from Vintage Pastel Mirror Pad.  The detail butterfly was cut from pink glitter tape attached to copy paper.  Scribble Hello is stacked and clear embossed.  I added white paint pen dots in the background, which do add interest and texture in person.  You can see details in my IG post video.

My next card is for the August Pinkfresh Challenge and to remind you there's still time to enter Christmas Kickstart Wreath it Up.  I loved PFS Layered Wreath die the first time I saw it and eventually I added it to my stash.  I use it every year and this time I added it to a panel of the 2015 Christmas Wishes paper pack.  I'll probably cry when I use it up, but that will be awhile.  I definitely admire it a lot more than I use it! 

The bottom wreath is vellum and the top is PTI Ocean Tides--almost a perfect match.  This is my first card using the new SSS Splatter Medium.  It's very liquid and I need to try it some more.  Not sure my results are much different than when I add water to white gouache.  Definitely have to be careful not to spill the little jar.  I used 2 different dies to get 2 sizes of berries.  I had just enough sheer, red ribbon to make the bow.  You can see details in my IG post video.

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

Elf Duties--Reminder Post

I'm back to remind you that there's still time to play along with Jo and me at Christmas Kickstart: Wreath it Up.  The gallery is filling up with such wonderful cards and it's amazing how many have wreaths that are also in my stash!  

My first card was made with stencils, so this time I wanted to use one of my wreath stamps.  I settled on a much loved 2004 Art Impressions woodblock stamp.  Luckily, I still have an old fashioned stamp positioner.  

I started by inking the entire stamp in Altenew Misty Mint.  Then I used a sponge dauber to randomly add Mountain Pine.  I went back and forth until I was happy with the results.  I used an old set of circle dies to cut my wreath, a red cardstock circle and a circle inked in Mountain Pine.  I attached everything to a circle card made with the same die as the green mat.  One of my favorite sentiment stamps is a little 2003 Hero Arts woodblock stamp and it was just the right size for the center of my wreath.  Decided I needed a bow, so die cut 2 old PPP bows from red and white.  They're so thin, I stacked both colors 2 high.  Amazing how much better they looked!  I added Christmas Red Stickles to the berries and the center of the bow.  Be sure to stop by the blog to check out Jo's card and why not join 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.

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.

Christmas in July--Plus!

As most of you know, I love making Christmas cards.  When I was a kid at summer camp one year, the girls in my cabin agreed with my suggestion of Christmas for the cabin decorating contest.  Can't remember if we won, but we sure had fun!  When I saw Tracey's combo of Red and White for Color Hues, Christmas was my first thought.  I die cut Spellbinders Poinsettia Bloom from white cardstock weeks ago.  Amazing I didn't loose any of the little pieces! 

The outline which includes a lot of solid design was brushed with Altenew white metallic watercolor.  It gives such beautiful shimmer and shine.  The little pieces were brushed with fired brick Distress Oxide ink first and then with fired brick Distress Spritz--more beautiful shimmer!  I didn't want the berries to compete with the petals.  Since they were first covered with white watercolor, I was able to add a layer of the Distress Spritz making them match, but with much less saturated color.  You can see the shimmer and shine in my IG post.  I love SSS Holiday Greenery embossing folder which I used with PTI Soft Stone cardstock for the background.  Another favorite is Birch Press Vintage Merry Christmas.  The letters were colored the same way I did the poinsettia petals.  I try to keep my cards pretty flat for mailing, but the white glittery dot was perfect for the center.  I'm also entering SSS Monday and SSS Wednesday.  

Next I just want to show you how I fixed what was bugging me about the card in my last post.  I rushed finishing it to meet the challenge deadline.  It's been laying on my table and I knew it'd never get sent as is.  The gold watercolor splatters are beautiful, but using that watercolor as emboss resist over the sentiment was way too bold.  Decided to add another layer of the sentiment diecut attaching it slightly down and to the right.  Now there's just a bit of the gold showing and I will actually send the card. 😊

I really miss the PTI blog hops and challenges, so was happy to see they're having a Summer Challenge requiring ink blending, die cut layering and stenciling.  Gave me the motivation to make a card using 3 of the products in my recent order:  Into the Blooms: Anemones dies, Delicate Circle die and Script Background stencil.

I blended Sweet Blush and Berry Sorbet on the pieces of the largest bloom and Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores on the smaller one.  Vintage Jadeite was brushed on all the branches.  The card front was stenciled with Soft Stone which I softened with a vellum overlay.  I used to add ribbon to most of my cards and now I seldom use it.  But sometimes it's worth the extra postage needed!  I actually threaded the ribbon through an opening in the beautiful circle diecut.  The sentiment from Scripted (a set I reach for often!) was stacked 2 high with the top layer cut from Soft Stone and clear embossed.  I've been hoarding my Rainstones until now--love them!  

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.