Spring Cards

I love the color combo of pink and green, so definitely had to make a card for the May Altenew Inspiration Challenge.

It's been awhile since I made a card with Altenew's Climber Flowers die set.  It's not one of the newer keyhole designs, but the diecuts are fairly easy to put together by looking at the guide.  

I brushed the white diecut flowers with PTI Raspberry Fizz and the white leaves with Altenew Frayed Leaf and Lime inks.  I dabbed the flower centers with ink left in a brush for yellow inks.  Before gluing the pieces together, I splattered them with Altenew's gold metallic watercolor.  I dry embossed a 4x5 1/4 white panel using Altenew's Playful Leaves 3D folder and attached it to a white card.  Then I tried several layouts and decided on this one.  Using the slightly smaller background panel let me arrange the focal point going over the edge, but still inside the card edges.  I seldom put sentiments near the top of  a card, but really liked the look for this one.  So glad I have Altenew's Essential Sentiment Strips die set.  It gives me a die cut option that's smaller than most of my others and was just what I wanted for this card.  I die cut the birthday sentiment from white and gold cardstocks.  The gold frame competed with the flowers, so I used the white frame and inserted the gold letters.  Finished off with gold sequins.  I'm also entering Just Us Girls, DCD, TTTC (Floral/Free/White) and WAW.

Stamplorations is having a Spring Fling Linky Party and the May ATG Challenge, which can be combined.  Here's the card I made using Stamplorations Blossom Sprays #1 and Bloomfully: Thankful stamp sets. 

I began by ink blending a panel of Bristol paper with Lawn Fawn Ballet Slippers and Peach Fuzz plus PTI Lemon Tart.  I hadn't blended a panel like that for awhile and had forgotten how much I like the look.  After it was dry, I white embossed the floral image using my MISTI.  That let me just turn the panel to get the same stamping in each corner.  I used a shimmer pen to "color" just the blooms--so pretty in the light.  

The sentiment was white embossed on a vellum strip which I wrapped around the panel and attached in the back.  I came across these sweet little floral gem stickers given to me a long time ago.  The colors included the 3 I used and they were just what I wanted for a little embellishment.  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.

Easter Cards

I've made quite a few birthday cards and got behind on making Easter cards.  Here are 2 I finished in the last few days.  First is my entry for Pinkfresh March Challenge using Dainty Blossoms and Elongated Ovals die sets. 

I colored the bouquet with metallic pink and green watercolors.  The light pink cardstock panel was splattered with gold watercolor.  Love the tiny Heidi Swapp gold alpha stickers I've had forever. 

The shimmer and shine is really beautiful in person.  You can see it better in my IG video.  I'm also entering WAW.

A few years ago, my friend Betty gave me a couple cardstock panels covered with a beautiful wide washi--might be from The Ton.  I remember that she used the eclipse technique with a panel and I love the look.  Thought this large Penny Black butterfly die would be perfect and it was, in my opinion.  

I backed it with 2 additional layers and spritzed it with a shimmer spray before gluing it back in place.  The washi's foiling looks rose gold to me, so I pulled out my 2 embossing powders and one was an almost perfect match.  I used it for Poppystamps Proper Happy Easter outline and background diecuts and used white cardstock for the letters.  Finished off with a few pretty pink sequins.  I'm entering Allsorts Challenge. 

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

Week 4 Guest Designing for JUGS

I've loved all the Just Us Girls challenge themes this month and am so grateful the team gave me this opportunity.  In case you missed some of them, here are the first 3 cards I made.

It turned out that all my cards were for Autumn.  Didn't see a reason to change that, so here's my final Autumn themed card as Guest Designer.  This time we have Anything Goes Stencil Week and that might be my favorite!

I got SSS Friendship Leafy Cluster last year after seeing so many great cards made with it.  No idea why I didn't use it before now.  Could be I have a few too many options in my stash!😄  

I positioned the larger branch in my MISTI so I could flip the paper to stamp opposite corners.  After gold embossing, I really had fun using the coloring stencils.  The inks are Altenew Maple Yellow, Sunkissed, Autumn Blaze and Forest Glades.  I splattered gold watercolor and attached the panel to SSS Matte Gold Metallic cardstock.  SSS Happy Autumn shadow was die cut from vellum and the words cut from the same gold cardstock were on my table waiting to be put on a card.  Haven't used my sequins for awhile, so was happy to see that my Satin Gold ones from Altenew were a great match.  I'll have a video showing the shimmer and shine in my IG post.  Head to the blog to see what stencils the DT used and then why not play along?  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.

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.

Altenew June Challenge

So happy to report that my strained muscle has greatly improved!  It's no longer affecting what I can do.  Here's the second card I made for the Altenew June Inspiration Challenge.  I've been wanting to add color to kraft cardstock by first using white pigment ink.  I used the same stamp with matching stencils as my first entry, Altenew's Sweet Bouquet.  

This time I stamped in Versafine Clair Pinecone in opposite corners and used a sponge dauber to apply the white ink through the stencils.  I heat set it and then began adding these Altenew inks:  Fresh Lemon, Honey Drizzle, Orange Cream, Firebrick, Forest Glades and Hunter Green.  Then I restamped to darken the lines softened by the white ink and splattered Altenew gold metallic watercolor.  Hello Friend from the same set was stamped in Pinecone and clear embossed.  Then I used the gold watercolor for emboss resist.  The sentiment strip, also from the set, was stamped in Pinecone.  I covered the flower centers in scattered straw Distress Stickles and added Altenew Antique Gold sequins.  Think I'll save this for a Fall birthday.  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.

Altenew Friendship Card

My latest Altenew purchase was the Sweet Bouquet bundle of products which was greatly discounted.  Couldn't wait to use it, so made a last minute entry for the Altenew July Inspiration Challenge. 

After gold embossing the bouquet, I used the stencils with Altenew Coral Berry, Ruby Red, Firefly, Grass Field and Fresh Lemon inks along with PTI Summer Sunrise and Terracotta Tile.  For the small details near the flower centers, I used gold embossing paste.  Sparkled Frame, one of my favorite products, was lightly inked with Delicata Golden Glitz.  Love having beautiful fonts and useful sentiments included in a stamp set.  I may wear this one out--haha!  The card front was splattered with gold watercolor and I added gold and white sequins to the frame.  I'm also entering SSS Wednesday and TTTC252 using the center vertical or horizontal row.

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 #265

Hard to believe, but it's already June and school will soon be out in our neck of the woods.  I enjoy seeing all the flowers when I walk Fritz.  Speaking of flowers, Time Out Challenges wants you to be Inspired by Words using the quote by Henri Matisse.  You can use the entire quote or any of the words.  The winner chosen by the DT will get a $15 store credit from our sponsor, Altenew, as well as an invitation to guest design for a future challenge. 

I bought my first die cutting machine so that I could use embossing folders.  Before I began making cards, my favorite stationary was dry embossed.  I finally bought a die cutting machine months after they came out when I learned they were used with embossing folders which cost a lot less than dies.  Of course, my "no buying dies" resolve soon ended! 😀 

I'm hooked on 3D embossing folders and the black out technique that is so popular right now.  I've used black and dark blue for the background previously, but have been wanting to see how dark brown would look.  Here's the result.

I used Altenew's Flower Bed 3D folder and colored the debossed side of the panel with Distress Oxides Worn Lipstick, Fossilized Amber and Cracked Pistachio.  It's not precise coloring, so is fast and stress free.  I dried the ink and then swiped my Versafine Clair Acorn ink pad over the panel.  That's when the detail of the debossed design really shows.  Again, it's not precise, but I really like the look.  You do want to use a light hand with the dark color (especially is you have a juicy pad) and just repeat until you're happy.  Most of the examples I've seen add splatters and I do prefer my panels after they're splattered. 

For this card I used both white and gold.  I decided a bit more gold was needed, as my splatters are tiny.  An old Pentel Sparkle Pop gel pen in my stash still works perfectly.  That's what I used to color the flower centers and the stitching of my Frantic Stamper Arch diecut.  I got the Arched Labels in 2017 before they were so popular, as I loved a card using a "banner" die that a friend sent me.  We both searched for months to find a die similar to the retired one that she used.  Now everyone has caught up to us and lots of companies have Arch dies, which I still love.  This time I decided to make a frame with the 2 largest dies, as well as making a shaped card.  Poppystamps Scribble Hello was die cut from SSS Matte Gold cardstock, stacked and glued in place.  I stamped just the word friend from a PTI Scripted sentiment in Acorn ink and added Altenew Satin Gold sequins.  There's lots more inspiration at Time Out Challenges along with all the details.  Hope to see you in the gallery.

I'm entering Die Cut Divas and Inkspirational.

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