The Challenge Guest Designer Finale

I've had so much fun designing with the great team at The Challenge this month.  The 4th Monday's theme is always masculine & we have a great photo to inspire you.  

I began by pressing a watercolor panel onto an embossing folder inked & spritzed with water.  Then I randomly swiped on some Distress Stain brushed pewter & dripped some black spray ink which I blotted with a paper towel.  The panel was dry embossed with Tim Holtz stripes.  Winnie & Walter's hello die was cut from self adhesive fun foam & covered with the beautiful pewter foil.  

Hope I've inspired you to play along--always good to have a guy card ready!
I'm also entering CropStop, Dies R Us & The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge. Thanks so much for all your support & sweet comments.
Edited to add: also entering SSS Monday.

Friend for Life

I try not to miss PTI MIM & Amy's technique is beautiful!  Hate not to use all PTI stamps, but couldn't find one that would work in my stash. Finally tried (& tried!) this lovely Penny Black sentiment using PTI Harvest Gold & Summer Sunrise.  Not a great result, but think my friend will appreciate the card anyway.  

Love PTI's Harvest Berries which I stamped in the sparkle VersaMark on a kraft card.  Used my Mini Misti to stamp the die cut (worked great!) also with VersaMark & then added Pearl Ex Sparkle Gold which I've had for ages!  

I stacked it 4 high, tied on twine & attached it with foam tape. The PTI Blog Hop is coming right up & that's even more of a challenge for me--haha! I'm also entering Word Art Wednesday.  

The neighbor's Cherry Blossoms are all on the ground now, but my favorite pink Rhododendron is so beautiful.  I do love Spring in Oregon!  Thanks so much for stopping by.

Merry, Merry Christmas

Some time ago I die cut the PTI hexagon from black self adhesive fun foam & added Elizabeth Craft purple glitter.  I had in mind attaching it to designer paper.  Turns out the current Merry Monday challenge is to use purple, white & silver, so I hunted for a Christmas paper to use.  

Nothing in my stash would work, so instead I stamped one of my favorite Penny Black stamps (poinsettia script) in Delicata Silvery Shimmer.  The Merry die cut is also PB & is stacked 5 high & covered in Diamond Glaze.  

The sentiment is from PB's yuletide greetings & is also stamped in the Silvery Shimmer ink. Finished off with 3 silver sequins.  Feels great to use that die cut & have one more Christmas card ready to mail.  I'm also entering Word Art Wednesday, Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge & Time Out. Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  

Beautiful Friend

The current MFT Color Challenge is perfect for Spring, the one time of year I tend to reach for yellow.  Thanks to Kay Miller's card I won't be able to use MFT Party Pattern's for Darnell's next NBUS challenge!  My card began with white embossing the circles on heavy weight watercolor paper.  

I used the acrylic block technique with Memento Dandelion, but I moved the block back & forth which actually roughed up the paper. Decided to see how it looked when it was dry & I really like the unplanned texture. I did also blend some of the ink so there's a bit of variation in the intensity of the yellow.  Hard to see, but there are also yellow & white splatters.  I used up some scraps for the MFT Prima Donna Petals flower & Royal leaves. I've been making a lot of pretty flat cards for mailing, but sometimes I just want to use my dimensional flower dies.  The white embossed sentiment is from Spring--my very first MFT stamp set which I bought at the LSS, no longer in business.  I mounted it to another black strip with foam adhesive & finished off with lots of PPP Marshmallow sequins.  The current MFT Sketch provided my layout & I'm also entering CropStop, Double D, The Playground, SSS Wednesday, Stamping Sensations & Word Art Wednesday. Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog.

Another Foiled Magnet

By now you know I love using foil with self adhesive fun foam.  Couldn't resist adding another color of foil to my stash--pewter.  When it arrived I thought I made a mistake, but oh my goodness--it's wonderful!  You might think it's silver, but it's darker & very elegant.  It will also be great for masculine cards.

I've been wanting to frame a picture from my meeting with Darnell last year & finally did it. The cute blossoms from Uniko Flower Power #7 are stamped in PTI Spring Rain & Enchanted Evening.  I covered them with Diamond Glaze giving a clear dimension.  They were too light, so I added faded jeans Distress Stickles & pearl centers. The vellum leaves are by 4enScrap & the friends die cut is PTI inked in Enchanted Evening & covered with WOS. It's now in the place of honor on my fridge!  I'm entering these challenges: Uniko, CropStop, Double D & SSS Wednesday. 
 

Thought I'd leave you with pictures of my first roses to bloom--very early this year. Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog.

Thanks

Kirsty's Card

One last card for the CCCB 6th birthday celebration.  This time I cased Kirsty.  Funny how we connect with various card makers. For me, it's often because of our fur babies. Kirsty's adorable Papi immediately caught my eye & then I discovered her incredible talent! We've been blogging friends now for quite some time & I was even honored to design with the CCCB team in October 2014.  I don't make a lot of tags, but I do like them on cards.  Kirsty's layout inspired my thank you card which is going in the mail today.

The fun circled hearts from SSS Hello, Beautiful are white embossed & blended with Distress Inks spun sugar & worn lipstick. The little burst image from the same set was stamped in worn lipstick--hard to see in the photo.  I used PTI dies for my tag, cutting off the bottom.  SSS Village die cuts were glittered & the top one was attached using foam tape. So glad I got this little Elizabeth Craft thanks die in a sale recently. It's stacked 3 high & covered with Diamond Glaze. Love the fun Echo Park embossing folder--another sale purchase.  I'm also entering SSS Flickr Challenge #43 & SSS Wednesday.  Thanks so much for stopping by.

The Challenge Guest Designer--Take 3

Happy Monday!  I can say that now that I'm mostly retired & don't have to go to work--haha! My month of guest designing for The Challenge is going so fast.  I'm really honored they invited me to create with them. 
This week's inspiration has so many options with colors, quilts, hearts, stripes--whatever suits you. After considering lots of possibilities, I opted to pull out my COPIC markers to make blended stripes.  This is a technique I learned from Nicole's PTI MIM 4 years ago.  It's really simple & fun.  
Plus it makes me feel a little less guilty that I have lots of COPICS & have never learned to color--haha!  The design of the sentiments in the Penny Black set from 2009 has always appealed to me & the thank you fit perfectly in my design.  

The card is on it's way to a blogging friend & I hope she likes it.  Can't wait to see this week's gallery & hope you join in the fun.  I'm also entering AAA Cards, Curtain Call & Stamplorations sketch.  Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog.
Edited to add: Also entering Fusion.