Just a Note

I send a lot of cards just to keep in touch with blogging friends, so that's what I made for the Impression Obsession challenge. Cards must have less than 3 layers not counting the card base.

I attached a strip of Heidi Swapp gold glitter tape to the side of an ivory card base.  The watercolor panel was done by repeatedly inking, spritzing & stamping IO Brush Tree (E7690) with Distress Inks using my Mini MISTI.  I added soft colors to the background using DIs & a water brush.  The sentiment is from IO Anytime Sentiments (CL43)--first time to use that great set. Finished off with splatters, 3 gold PPP sequins & some twine. I'm also entering CropStop & Word Art Wednesday.  Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.

On Your Birthday

Watercolor is very popular these days & I love the various looks that can be achieved.  Decided to combine the watercolor challenge at ABNH with the sentiment focus challenge at a2z.  

I black embossed the Hero Arts sentiment from Friends are Treasures on a panel of watercolor paper.  I white embossed the solid images from HA Color Layering For You Flowers.  The Distress Inks I used are abandoned coral, candied apple, pine needles & fossilized amber.  I purposely didn't wipe the ink off the images as I liked them not being totally white.  The panel was die cut with AJVD Polka Dot Rectangle Backdrop & I added black splatters & Nuvo Rosewater Jewell Drops.  The panel was matted with black textured cardstock & attached to the card front.  I'm also entering CAS-ual Fridays (6 leaves), Dies R Us, HLS Watercolor, SSS Monday & the Flickr Love Handmade Cards Group. Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.
 

May Bride

We originally thought about an outdoor May wedding in Oregon, but quickly came to our senses--haha!  You certainly can't count on nice weather here & instead we went to Lake Tahoe in September--blue skies & sunshine!  

Hopefully this bride has a sunny day--isn't she beautiful?  As you may have guessed, our theme at Penny Black Saturday Challenge is Wedding/Anniversary/All Things Love.  This 2013 PB bridal march stamp makes a lovely card with little effort.  I heat embossed with Liquid Platinum on watercolor paper & added a bit of color to the bouquet with Zig Clean Color markers.  There's a bit of Stickles added to the flowers along with some pink & green splatters.  I heat embossed a strip of cardstock with the Liquid Platinum & attached it to the left side of the card front which I covered with textured pink cardstock. A stitched die was used to give the panel additional interest.  Hope you'll check out the projects from my talented teammates & join our challenge.  I'm entering SSS Wednesday. Thanks for taking time to stop by.
Edited to add: Also entering SSS Work it Wednesday.

Wonderful Friend

Wanted to make one more card for the W&W Color Challenge which is about to close.  

The black embossed bloom from In Bloom: Addie's Garden was fussy cut, as I don't have the dies.  I colored with Distress Markers by mixing dried marigold & worn lipstick to make the peach and dusty concord & festive berries to make the reddish purple. Then I painted with a small wet paintbrush.  I used a golden Stickles & black gem in the flower center & heavily brushed with Wink of Stella.  

The leaves were stamped in DI lucky clover, sponged with cracked pistachio & fussy cut.  The WP9 lattice die cut was sponged with the same 2 green inks.  The sentiment is from PTI Take Three Summer & I added 2 tiny black gems.  I'm also entering Dies R Us, Die Cut Divas & SSS Work it Wednesday.

Next is my card for PTI MIM where the theme is Watercolor Wash Backgrounds.  I love emboss resist & knew that's what I wanted to do. Decided to give it a try with my Zig markers, so I used Bristol paper.  

Quilled Elegance is a beautiful set & worked great for the technique.  I used my new Mix & Mat  Flourishes die to cut the rectangle of little holes--such a neat look!  Wonderful Words Love was die cut from self-adhesive fun foam & covered with Elizabeth Craft Cool Highlight glitter.  

The sentiment is from Counting My Blessings & clear Nuvo Drops finish it off.  I'm also entering Allsorts & CCCB.  Love how so many people are staging their cards, so thought I'd try using one of my grandmother's Haviland plates as a backdrop. Need to practice getting the angle right, but kind of fun to do something a little different. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Not Last Minute!

I seem to enter lots of challenges at the last minute, but today I have 2 projects done in plenty of time!  I actually had this idea for last month's Poppystamps challenge & never sat down to make it.  Now I'm glad I didn't since I probably wouldn't have thought to add the flowers--this month's theme.  

The gift card holder is made with a PTI die & a bit of DI tumbled glass watercoloring & splatters of DI victorian velvet. Poppystamps Frieda die was cut from Bristol paper, watercolored with 2 green Zigs, attached & trimmed.  I used Versafine Vintage Sepia for an old Flourishes sentiment.  

I'm really enjoying the Nuvo drops--quick & easy to use, but I do have to remember to put it far away from me to dry!  I'm also entering Dies R Us, HLS Watercolor, SSS Monday, SSS Wednesday & Word Art Wednesday.  

Just found out a blogger lost her mom recently, so wanted to send her a card.  I wanted to try out SSS Birch Tree Window die, but wasn't thinking & trimmed around the die before running it through my Big Shot.  Not how you use a window die, but I was determined not to waste the whole piece cut from Bristol paper.  

Ended up with this small piece which I colored with 3 green Zigs & attached to an ivory panel which had been splattered with the same watercolors.  The sentiment die from Avery Elle was cut a couple times from kraft cardstock which I also used for the card base.  I'm entering SSS Flickr #70 & SSS Monday.

Before I go, wanted to share another picture of my beautiful lilacs.  

Now that they've opened there's also a wonderful fragrance. Wish you were here to enjoy them with me!  Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.

Friends

Very last minute post for this month's challenge at a2z.  We are to use our favorite Hero Arts product & I have a ton of stamps collected over the last 20 years!  I don't have a single go-to stamp, but I do love their background stamps.  Classic Fabric Design is certainly one of my favorites, but I've never used it for a watercolor effect.  

Using my Mini MISTI, I inked the stamp several times with Distress Inks evergreen bough, pine needles & iced spruce.  I spritzed with water each time before stamping on white canvas cardstock.  

The sentiment from HA Friends Are Treasures was stamped on a scrap of the same cardstock multiple times with iced spruce & then evergreen bough.  I used Heidi Swapp glitter paper for the frame & embellished with PPP Sparkling Clear sequins.  I'm also entering CropStop, HLS Watercolor Challenge,  The Playground,  SSS Wednesday & Word Art Wednesday. Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.

Best Wishes

Silhouette images always appeal to me, which is why I have Penny Black's stamp set called silhouettes.  When I saw that was the challenge at Double D, I determined to use that set--maybe for the first time.  

I began by using my new NUVO stencil brushes to add Distress Inks tattered rose & cracked pistachio over the MFT Fishnet stencil.  Then I die cut it with Spellbinders Labels 18 & stamped the image several times in Brilliance Starlite Black--a beautiful shimmery charcoal ink.  Couldn't find anything I liked for the background, so finally just brushed the card front with the same 2 inks.  For a bit more shimmer, I brushed on perfect pearls--works great since Distress Ink doesn't dry immediately.  

I die cut the next size down label from fun foam & attached it to the focal point & then to my card.  Keeping things simple, I just stamped the 2 words from W&W Big, Bold, Seasons in Starlite Black & trimmed them out.  Now I just need to find a Spring bride to give this to--haha!  I'm also entering CropStop, SSS Wednesday, Stamplorations CAS challenge & Word Art Wednesday.   Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.