Birthday, Friendship and Thank You

Here's my entry for JUGS Stencil Week. I used SSS Peony Bouquet stencil with Distress Oxides tattered rose, saltwater taffy, bundled sage and fossilized amber.

I laid the stencil over a watercolor panel, pressed the ink pads on the stencil, spritzed with water, laid another panel on top and pressed everything together with a brayer.  I just kept playing with inks and water.  When it was dry, I put the stencil back in place and ran it through my die cut machine with a rubber mat.  Decided to add a pink spray, but it was too much.  I saved the panel by doing a white metallic watercolor wash and now I love it!  SSS Happy Birthday Brush Script and Stitching Butterfly, plus gold splatters were added.  The sentiment, flower centers and butterfly body were colored with a gold glitter pen.  I'll post the card made with the other panel later.  I entered DCD and TTTC via Flickr.

Edited to add:  Entering Seize the Birthday without the topping.

Next is the card I made with my leftover PFS Small Butterflies and it's my last pink and turquoise card. 😊

In case you didn't see the other cards, the inks I used were VersaMagic Pink Petunia and Turquoise Gem.  The embossed panel was made with Memory Box Blooming folder and the sentiment is from TE Scripted Sentiments.  Finished off with a few white sequins.  

I'm so happy Shery has been able to reopen Stamplorations and now it's their 13th birthday!  For someone who doesn't color much, the Stamplorations Card Fronts make it easy to come up with a beautiful card.  

I thought the multi-colored bouquet of this one was perfect to say thank you.  All I did was use ECD scalloped rectangle to die cut the panel, stamp the sentiment from Stamplorations Bloomfully: Thankful, add black splatters and mat and use Stickles for the flower centers.  I'm entering Stamplorations Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge.

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

Coffee and Snowflakes

The cup from Stamp Simply's Cup of Java has been waiting to be put on a card.  I die cut both cups in the set from this beautiful paper a long time ago, but only used the larger one.  This cup was perfect for the thank you going to a friend along with a Starbucks card.  

I added glitter glue to the flower centers and used a shimmer pen on the steam and Elizabeth Craft Designs word.  Surprise, surprise--I had pink cardstock to match the little flower! 😊 So proud of myself for thinking of the coffee beans layer in the Miss Ink Stamps Coffee Time stencil set.  It's actually designed to go around all the little cups, but I easily repositioned it several times to get beans where I wanted them behind my cup.  I used a finger dauber with CN9 Ballet Slipper ink.  I'm entering Just Us Girls, SSS Wednesday and Word Art Wednesday.

Lots of people are dealing with snow and ice, but it's just cold and sunny in the PNW.  So, I made paper snowflakes!  I pulled out blue cardstocks I thought went together well and used SSS Snowflake Block die and SSS Fanciful Flurries 3D folder. 

I sprayed the diecut with Lindy's Stamp Gang Fairy Fluff which is beautiful when a light shines on it.  I used a white paint pen to color the tiny dots.  Didn't like the look of adding a sentiment, so I'll just put one inside.  Not sure if this will be a Christmas or winter BD card.  I love the fresh, clean look and decided against embellishments.  I'm entering Color Hues 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.

Altenew and Pinkfresh

Here's my Winter card for Altenew's Crafting with the Seasons Contest.  I'd been wanting to use Classic Pine Stencils A & B and this was the perfect opportunity.  This set is one of the easiest I've used and I really love the look.  

I used Altenew blending brushes with Shadow Creek, Espresso and Mocha inks.  White gouache was splattered for a bit of snow.  I inked the edges of an A2 card front with Mocha and attached the slightly smaller stenciled panel.  I've sure gotten my money out of the Essential Sentiment Strips Die Set.  I brushed the letters with Mocha and put them back into place in the white diecut.  I'm also entering SSS Monday.

Next is my entry for the February Pinkfresh Studio Challenge.  The challenge now includes the option of anything goes.  I just received PFS Lacy Floral Border die set from a friend and couldn't wait to use it.  

I die cut the solid background and the outline from white cardstock scraps.  After I glued down one outline diecut, I colored the flowers and leaves with Spectrum Noir Tri-Blend pens.  Of course, some ink got on the outline.  Not a problem since I added a couple more outline layers on top.  I decided against filling all the areas with glaze, but I did use a shimmer pen on the flowers.  The sentiment is from Perfect Sentiments and the embossing folder is by Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug.  

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

Valentine and Thank You

If only I could wake up from the nightmare of our country's leadership.  Grateful I can focus on making cards to take my mind off it.  Here's the card I made with the 2 solid hearts that came from diecutting Alex Syberia hearts for my last Valentine. 

So glad I thought to dry emboss them with SSS Lush Vines folder.  I didn't have room to die cut SSS Love again from my watercolored panel, so I made one more little piece with Lindy's Magicals Umbrella Drink Pink and Cheerio Cherry.  The hearts in back and the sentiment shadow were covered in Heidi Swapp white Art Print Ink.  It is so beautiful in person.  Check out my IG video which also shows the shimmer of the splattered Magicals.  I used Gina K Master Layouts 2 for the stitched rectangle and the black mat.  I'm entering Color Hues, Inkspirational and SSS Wednesday. 

I've always loved silhouette images and I have quite a few in my stamp collection.  Thanks to a generous gift certificate through WAW, I now have Unity's Serene Silhouettes.  I needed a thank you card and here's what I made.

I blended CN9 Clover and Harbor through The Greetery's Color Spot Stencils.  Then I stamped the tree in Versafine Clair Acorn.  Looked through my thank you sentiments and decided this one by Altenew looked the best.  It was also stamped in the Acorn ink.  I cut a thin mat from brown cardstock and splattered ink from a dark brown Zig.  I added a cardstock layer for just a bit of dimension and it's already in the mail.  I'm entering We Love Stamping.

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 and Poppystamps

For once I didn't wait until the end of the month to make my cards for Memory Box Happy Birthday and Poppystamps Midas Touch.  

I had such fun using MB Oval Snowman Collage die for a January BD card.  

A sheet of my new Altenew ombre paper pack made the perfect background.  I just added snow with my fine point white Posca paint marker.  A fine point gray pen was used to go over the lines of his face.  I chose not to add the hat and scarf.  There's a bit of Stickles on the tree branches for sparkle, but I forgot to take a close up before it went in the mail.  I already had the Altenew Essential Sentiment Strips diecut in the package and it was the perfect size and look.  I just used a soft blue cardstock in my stash to mat the focal point and the sentiment.  My friend lives where they get snow, but I think she'll like a snowman card much more than the real thing at this point in her life.😊

I've used my old Poppystamps Massa Leaf Frame die several times, but don't think I ever used the matching branch die that came with it.  Months ago I colored a watercolor panel with green and gold shimmer products to use for diecutting leaves.  It was just the right size to cut enough branches to make my wreath.  

I used a Tim Holtz Funky Wreath diecut as the base.  It worked great to insert the stems into the open spaces.  I previously splattered white and black panels with gold watercolor.  I noticed them as I reached for a white card and loved the look of the leaves on the black.  The PPP bows were die cut from SSS Matte Gold Cardstock and the sentiment from Poppystamps Hope and Thanks was gold embossed.  So glad I still have some old gold Dot Sparklers to use for berries.  You can see the shimmer and sparkle in my IG video.   

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

Altenew and Pinkfresh

I have a couple shimmery cards to share.  One uses Lunar Pastes and the other uses Lindy's Magicals.  First is my entry for Altenew's Inspiration Challenge.  Susan inspired me to use my Lunar Pastes for a custom metallic panel to emboss with Altenew's Perfect Poinsettias folder.  The colors are Game Over, Fake Plant and Slippery When Wet.  You can see the shimmer in my IG video.  

I lightly rubbed over the embossing with a black ink pad and thought I'd ruined it.  Luckily, I was able to smooth out the ink with a cloth and saved it.  Of course, I added some black splatters!😊 Altenew's Mini Christmas was gold embossed on black.  I also gold embossed the edges of the panel and the sentiment.  I used Altenew's Layered Floral Elements to make a poinsettia colored with the same Lunar Pastes.  Altenew matt gold sequins and a Pinkfresh gem finish it off.  I'm also entering DCD.

Here's my card using Lindy's Autumn Leaves Magicals.  I tend to over blend the colors, but I still ended up with a beautiful shimmery panel.  You can see the shimmer in my IG video.  I stamped the wreath from PFS Delicate Wreath in Versafine Clair Pinecone and embossed with Hero Arts Sparkle Powder.

The sentiment from PFS Perfect Sentiments was stamped in Pinecone on brown cardstock, which I also used for the front of my card.  Tried out several embellishments and really liked the look of PFS Ombre Sparkle gems.  I'm entering Pinkfresh Studio November Challenge, 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.

Pinkfresh and Hero Arts

Here's my ink blended card for the October Pinkfresh Monthly Challenge.  I used CN9 Peacock, Fig and Sweet Pea inks for my circular blended background. 

PFS Folk Snowflake was stamped in black, but I decided to go for a sparkly snowflake instead.  I stamped again in Versamark and embossed with WOW White Twinkle powder.  The sparkle is just beautiful in person and I like the bit of black showing through.  You can check it out in my IG video.

Love the mixed font sentiments in the set.  I picked this one because it works for any winter occasion.

I love wreaths and the Stay Crafty with A Blog Named Hero challenge gave me a good reason to finally use the old Autumn Wreath set.  I bronze embossed and die cut the wreath.  Then I smooshed with Distress Oxides peeled paint, fossilized amber, crackling campfire and fired brick.  Probably should have done another layer of the colors--next time!  I sprayed Distress Spritz and Distess Mica Stain for some shimmer.

Every Fall I pull out my old Kaleidacolor Autumn Leaves ink pad and brayer the ink for a background.  I added brown splatters which show in my IG video.  

The Greetery diecut bow (from my friend, Rosemary) was embossed with the copper powder, as was the sentiment from another old HA set, Find Joy.  Hero Arts translucent enamel dots are some of my favorite embellishments and I used a green one in the center of the bow.  

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