Last minute challenge entries

I'm back with a couple cards to enter challenges about to end.  First is PTI Impress a die into the background.  I impressed one of the Border Bling: Skinny Diagonals Frames into a panel of Fine Linen cardstock.  

Friendship Jar Flowers stem was die cut from a brown textured scrap & the little flowers from a Fine Linen scrap.  I brushed some brown ink on the ends of the petals & added metallic dots.  

The sentiment from Mat Stack 3 Collection was stamped in brown ink.  I added brown splatters & copper spray mist which has a gorgeous shimmer in real life.  This card went to a male relative recovering from surgery.  I'm also entering SSS Monday & SSS Wednesday.

I missed last month's Altenew challenge, but this month's color combo is beautiful!  I also hadn't used the Climber Flowers Die set yet, so I made a card for the August Inspiration Challenge.  

I die cut the flowers & leaves from watercolor paper & watercolored them with Distress Inks picked raspberry, milled lavender & peacock feathers.  The splatters are a black zig & white gauche.  

For the background I cut down the Watercolor Stripes die cut & stamped the sentiment from Flower Vine.  Finished off with black Pico Embellisher dots.  I'm also entering Die Cut Divas & 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.

Hero Arts & PTI

So honored my card was picked as the winner of the August ABNH challenge, Background Basics.  Their blog is being worked on, so it was held on IG.  

My card was made with Hero Arts Bare Branched Tree, Irregular Checkerboard Background stencil & Messages with Flourish.  The Distress Inks are candied apple, abandoned coral & carved pumpkin.  

The panel was spritzed with copper shimmer mist & I finished off with black sequins.  I've had the tree stamp quite awhile, so glad to finally use it for a card.

Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating it's 500th challenge with a sketch I really like.  There are also a lot of great prizes.  I'm definitely in the mood for Fall, so I pulled out my old PTI Take 3: Fall.  

I used my MISTI so I could ink the stamps with 3 colors (Canyon Clay, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold) over & over until I was happy.  The Canyon Clay frame is made with the matching die.  I stamped the image from Autumn Adornments in Summer Sunrise on a Summer Sunrise panel.  I added a couple cardstock layers to the pumpkin strip for dimension.  The sentiment from Bold Borders: Foliage was die cut multiple times, stacked & covered with Nuvo Glaze.  Finished off with a variety of sequins.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday.

Here's my card for the PTI challenge to add color to Rainstones with Copic Markers.  Still having fun with Into the Blooms II die set.  Found this color combo in the sheets I printed when PTI gave them to us every month.  

The cardstock is Enchanted Evening, Autumn Rose & Sweet Blush with vellum for the leaves & a Soft Stone card.  I blended Scarlet Jewel on the big blooms & Autumn Rose on the small ones.  Hard to see, but I also used Dark Indigo on the Shape Shifters Circle 3 die cut.  Ink was splattered on all the die cuts, but it came out pretty light.  I used the old Linen Impression Plate on the card front.  Copic RV34 was used to color the Rainstones.  I black embossed the sentiment from Mat Stack 3 Collection--a real oldy!  Thanks to a friend, I have Autumn Rose printed paper--just what this card needed.  I made this for one of my college roommates who is recovering from back surgery.  I'm also entering SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday & TTTC using middle horizontal row: Any color ink, free, any shape die cut.

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

Happy June!

We used to say the nice weather started after July 4th, but that's sure not true anymore.  It's felt like summer for weeks & we're concerned about wildfires again being a problem.  So much sun has the roses blooming like crazy!

I'm really enjoying the frequent ITP PTI challenges.  Here are a few more cards I've entered.

3D embossing folders are all the rage & I do love them.  I actually got some of the first ones that came out a few years ago by WRMK.  This one is Geometric & makes a beautiful background.  

I was surprised it wasn't overpowering with these small PTI Friendly Flowers die cuts. The sentiment is Wonderful Words: Hello and the inks are Sweet Blush, Pale Peony & Green Parakeet.  I entered the challenge to create a Hello card.

Next is the card I entered for the challenge to make a celebrate card with a blended background.  I used Distress Oxides kitsch flamingo, shaded lilac & salvaged patina--love this combo!  

Framed in Florals was heat embossed with JudiKins Black Diamond powder which has sparkle. The word from Essential Sentiments was black embossed. Shimmer mist & sparkling clear sequins make it definitely a girly card!

My brother in law is recovering from hip replacement surgery & this is the card I made for him using PFS Dainty Blossoms which includes these leafy dies that work great for a guy or a gal.  Since I wanted the die cuts to stay white, I blended the background so it was the darkest behind them.  

Doesn't lucky clover & cracked pistachio look beautiful together?  I really do love blending Distress Oxides!  I splashed some water for texture & added white Pico Embellisher dots.  The sentiment from Altenew Flower Vine was stamped on a strip I die cut with PFS Color Block Stripes.  I'm entering PFS May Challenge & The Snippets Playground since I used white scraps for the die cuts.

My last card is for Stamplorations Spring Fling, Stamplorations Never-ending Anything Goes & WAW.  I've used this design with ink blended stripes, but wanted to see if I could do it with Altenew Watercolor markers.  This is my 3rd attempt, but it was worth it!  I was even able to use the other side of the watercolor panel that was a mess--yay!  

The Stamplorations stamps designed by Deepti are Blossom Sprays 1 and Frames & Flowers.  Everything was black embossed & the panel was die cut with AJVD dotted rectangle.  I added small black splatters & black Pico Embellisher dots. 

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

Yes, I'm Still Here!

Maybe I'll get back into the swing of things with writing blog posts & keeping up on reading them.  I have made some cards & I'm sharing 2 of them today.
First is the card inspired by the previous MFT Color Challenge.  I've never used green & red with snowflakes, but why not?! 

The MFT Snowflake Window is a really fun die & I totally love the MFT Joy.  I used part of a W&W sentiment stamp for the 2 stamped words. 

Both the light green & the die cut Joy are sparkly.

I happened to come across the Gina K Monthly Mix Challenge.  The theme is to remake a card from last year.  I've actually been wanting to use the beautiful GK/HA collaboration set again, so this was just what I needed.  Here's the first card I made inspired by Colleen's cards at the Indiana retreat I went to in October.

Card Made November 2019

It's always amazing to see what a totally different look you can get with the same image.  This time I embossed in SSS Antique Gold on Bristol paper & watercolored with 2 purple & 2 green Zigs.  

The sentiment from the same set was stamped in Versafine Clair Pinecone.  I added purple, green & gold splatters along with gold Pico Embellisher dots.  A friend of mine just had foot surgery, so this is already in the mail to hopefully give her a smile.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday & WAW. 

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

PTI and W&W

The latest PTI Laurie's Fabulous Favorites challenge is to use your favorite color of cardstock.  I love the PTI neutrals of Soft Stone, Classic Craft & Vintage Cream.  But for my card I wanted to use one of the color colors--haha!  I mostly have variety packs & use it very sparingly.  Autumn Rose is definitely near the top of my list--a gorgeous dusty rose color.  Unfortunately, I really couldn't get an accurate picture, so this will have to do.

I let the Autumn Rose shine by stamping the images from Gathered Garden in Versamark.  The sentiment from the same set was stamped in Weathervane.  The Pierced Feature Frame was die cut from Sweet Blush cardstock.  I added 3 smokey gems for embellishment.

Next is my entry for Winnie & Walter's 5th Birthday Bash Card Set Challenge.  Boy did I have fun making 3 Christmas wreaths with images from In Bloom: Frenchy's Festive Florals & a bunch of different inks.

In A Word: Noel was die cut from adhesive backed fun foam 3 times & each foiled in a different color.  I used cardstock to mat the gray/silver & red versions.  For the green one I foiled the edges of the mat with the same foil using Score Tape.  I'm also entering ABC Christmas Challenge & WAW.


I need a couple cards for men who are about to have surgery.  I like to use leaves for masculine cards, so decided to use 5 leaves from Winnie & Walter In Bloom: Renee's Leaves which works for the W&W 5th Birthday Bash 5 Challenge. 

I stamped one panel on white cardstock & the other on Bristol, cutting both out with W&W Essentials: Tilda Cutaways. 

I could probably count on 1 hand the number of times I've used my Copics to color images, but for some reason I decided to give it a try--maybe because the card isn't for a cardmaking friend--haha!

The Bristol panel was done with my Zigs & a water brush.  The sentiment is from a very old Hero Arts set called Special Note of Thanks & both have black splatters.  I matted the Copics panel with black cardstock & the watercolored panel with green.  They look quite different, but each has it's own appeal, I think.  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.