ITP Project Reach Out

I made 2 very different cards for the ITP challenges.  First up is my entry for Sending Hugs & Rainbow Cheer.  I used an old favorite design: stamp a solid image, mask a strip & ink blend.

For this card I brown embossed a blossom & stem from ITP Bold Blooms.  Then I blended a rainbow of Distress Inks candied apple, carved pumpkin, scattered straw, lucky clover & mermaid lagoon.  SSS Painted Hugs was die cut from the panel & put back in place after adding 2 dark brown layers for dimension.

The little sentiment from PTI Simple Stems was also brown embossed.  I tied on the crochet thread & added white sequins with a dot a Stickles.  I like the contrast with the dark brown mat.  I'm also entering JUGs, Stamping Sensations & Time Out.

Here's my entry for ITP Reaching Out: Missing You.  I went for soft & feminine which turned out very difficult to photograph.

I started by white embossing PTI Cover Up Diamonds & then did a watercolor wash of Amethyst Allure, Aqua Mist & Lovely Lady.  I stamped an old script stamp in Aqua Mist on a panel of Soft Stone & added the diamonds panel.  Images from ITP Bold Blooms & a sentiment from PTI Butterfly Hope were stamped on a die cut oval which I matted with one cut from vellum.

I dotted Frosted Lace Stickles on the little blooms, attached crochet thread & added Marshmallow sequins.  Think I'll surprise my first college roommate & send this to her.

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

Happy Easter

Thank you to everyone staying home to save lives.  We can still celebrate Easter & be thankful if the virus hasn't touched us personally.  A family member in another state did have symptoms & had to quarantine at home, even though the test was negative.  As the doctor said, tests are not 100% accurate.  We're grateful no one else got sick & it's probably allergies worse than usual.  It made me even more appreciative of the essential workers who can't stay home.  They're putting themselves at risk, no matter how careful they are.  The least we can do is follow the guidelines.
Here are my last 2 Easter cards.  First is a simple one using my first Spellbinders Cut and Emboss folder.  I loved the first cards Rosemary made with the new designs.  When I saw this older one on sale I had to get it.

I stamped the sentiment in Versafine Morning Mist & added the MFT leaves on each side.  The green glittery leaves were cut from Heidi Swapp glitter tape attached to white cardstock.  I also positioned pieces of the tape behind the cut outs.

The sparkle is really pretty in person & I love the beautiful embossing that makes for an elegant card.  I'm going to have fun using this folder for different occasions & with different color combos.  I'm entering Inkspirational & NBUS.

A friend gave me the Taylored Expressions set of stamps, dies & embossing folder.  It was used once last year & here's what I made this year.

I began by gold embossing the cross & coloring it with Spellbinders Golden Age metallic pen.  Then I dry embossed a cream cardstock panel & lightly brushed on some purple ink.  I attached the cross & matted the panel with deep purple cardstock.  Took me awhile to figure out how to add the sentiment.  I like how the matted circle ties in with the circle behind the cross & doesn't cover up a lot of the design.

Finished off with a purple pearl & gold Pico Embellisher dots.  Now I need to make more cards using some of the other cross designs, so I'll have cards ready for next year.  I'm entering WAW.

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If your blog address is in your profile or comment,
I will visit you.  I'm not keeping up very well on blog reading, but I've not forgotten you.

Birthday & Friendship

Not sure why I don't use my stencils more often.  It's always fun to pull back the stencil & see the design.  I need to mail a birthday card next week & decided to use springy colors on my cream cardstock for a change.

The SSS Bouquet of Roses stencil is 6x6, but I was able to position it so I just had 1 large bloom & parts of a couple others along with leaves.  I've had most of my Brilliance ink pads for many, many years & they still work great.  I picked 3 springy colors: Pearlescent yellow, coral (actually a pink) & jade.  The design was soft & pretty, but I decided to jazz it up.  I put the stencil back in place, inked with Versamark & then embossed with an old powder labeled Peacock.  I might have gasped out loud--haha!

It truly is beautiful in person.  I wanted a sentiment with more than 1 line & decided the one in Stamplorations Layered Vase was just right.  I checked a bunch of my brown inks & decided VersaMagic Gingerbread was really pretty with the color combo.  Needed a little something more, so I masked a narrow strip down the left side & used the same technique with the yellow ink only.  I'm entering SSS Flickr 146, Stamplorations Stencil & WAW.

I've been wracking my brain to come up with something for the Uniko March/April Challenge.  The DT cards have very creative takes on the Spots & Stripes theme, but didn't think it'd be good to copy one of them--haha!  Finally I saw my very first Uniko stamp set--Flower Power #7.  The leaves & one of the blooms have stripes & I don't think I've ever used it.

I pulled out a light pink scrap & stamped in PTI Autumn Rose & Ocean Tides.  Then I stamped the center in Versafine Clair Morning Mist.  The PTI frame, cut from gray cardstock, was inked with a Heidi Swapp stencil using the Morning Mist ink.  Many years ago when I started stamping, you often saw cards with multiple matted layers.  I don't tend to do that now, but I didn't want to add foam for dimension.  I found that layers trick the eye so it doesn't appear as flat as it is.  Glad I still have a little Autumn Rose cardstock.  I actually cut out the center of the panel--can't waste the good stuff--haha!  I also layered the little sentiment flag--stamped with the word from PTI Mat Stack 3.

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

ITP & MB

It's sunny & warm here today, so Fritz & I enjoyed our walk.  A few more people were out, so we just kept changing direction or stopped to be sure they got well ahead of us.  Neighbors behind us again had people over last night.  We've noticed the groups are smaller, so maybe some of the usuals are smarter than the people hosting & don't attend.  I got a little teary listening to Queen Elizabeth speaking to the people of The British Commonwealth & pretended it included me.  Refreshing, to say the least.
I was thrilled to see the challenges at Ink to Paper.  Still really miss all the ones I used to enter at PTI.  First up is Project Reach Out: Just a Little Thank You.  I started with one of the PTI scalloped die cuts a friend sent to me long ago.  She was very generous, so there's no reason to be hoarding them--haha!

Next I pulled out my only ITP stamp set--Bold Blooms.  I masked the bottom of the note card along the stitching line & then stamped 2 different leafy branches & a stem in Prairie Grass. The blooms were stamped in Scarlet Jewel & the sentiment in Cocoa Bean.  I used a white gel pen for the dots & tied on a crochet thread bow.  There are lots of people this could go to, so I'll decide & mail or deliver it this week.

For Melissa's Fab Friday Feature, we're to make a Thinking of You project & give it to someone special.  I've had PTI Fancy Foliage stamps & dies a long time, but have only used a couple of the images.  Now I've added the Thinking of You sentiment to that list.

I stamped a die cut in Versafine Vintage Sepia & attached it to a fun foam die cut since it's my focal point.  Fun to have some little matching leafy images in the set.  Here's a close up so you can see that the leaves were colored with a metallic Spellbinders Golden Age pen.

The PTI Pierced Feature Frame was die cut from Dark Chocolate cardstock.  I really had fun making the background.  An image from Bold Blooms was inked in Harvest Gold & edged with Summer Sunrise before stamping randomly on a white panel.  Then I splattered with a dark brown Zig & attached it to a panel of Harvest Gold.  This one goes to a special cardmaking friend.  I used white & gold scraps, so I'm also entering The Snippets Playground.

Finally, another Easter card with my left over Memory Box die cut eggs (Classic Egg & Filagree Egg) after making THIS card.  The grass is made with my new IO Grass Border die.  I wanted the eggs to provide the color, so I die cut the grass from white scraps.

I arranged the eggs in the 3 rows of grass & trimmed the excess from each side of the card.  Hard to see, but the top egg layer is brushed with a sparkle pen.

The sentiment from Stampendous was stamped in Versafine Morning Mist & I rounded the top corners.  I'm entering Memory Box Spring Fling, DRU & ModSquad.

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

No Stamping

Hello to everyone staying isolated & safe.  Honestly, there isn't a huge difference in my daily routine as I'm home most days.  But the unknown & constant frightening news can sure play havoc with your mind. We haven't gone into buildings in over 3 weeks.  Yesterday I was wondering how it will feel when I finally do.  Of course there are good stories in all of this & we were thrilled to see that one 104 year old Oregon veteran survived the virus.  Then I see people allowing neighborhood children to play together & I can only wonder--do you just not get it?! 
My attention span seems to have shortened, so I do spurts of reading blogs & will get to you as soon as I can.  Making cards continues to make me happy & here's my entry for IO Easter Fun.

A friend let me borrow her IO Leafy Background die & I loved it so much I got one!  Here I cut it from light & dark green cardstock.  Then I turned one around before attaching them together & I decided to let that beautiful background be the star.  Previously I had painted a scrap with my grape acrylic paint & die cut IO Easter Joy 3 times.  The top one was covered with Nuvo Glaze, but it just didn't work for the card I was working on then.  Luckily I noticed it still on my table & it was just what I needed once I attached it to a vellum strip. 

The panel was mounted to a white card base & I added Pico Embellisher dots & a crochet thread bow.  Another flat card ready to mail.  I'm also entering DRU, the newly revived NBUS, ModSquad & Time Out.  My leafy background was a pretty recent addition to my unused stash, but that shows what a good purchase it was to make it onto a card already!


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

Fun Making Cards

Hope you're all staying home & staying safe.  We're staying out of buildings & so far I've done 2 grocery pick ups.  Neither order had everything I ordered, but we're not going to starve.  Seriously, we are more grateful than ever to be in a fairly unpopulated area.  Our neighborhood is quiet even with kids out of school.  Guess the parents really are making them study at home during school hours.  We're also grateful our Governor ordered everyone to stay home 3 weeks ago, except for essential services.  Hopefully it will pay off here.  I'm just sorry so many people in this country continue to behave irresponsibly.  OK--off my soapbox & onto cards!
The MFT Cross Stitch tag I showed you here did indeed make it onto a card.  I dry embossed a blue panel & added the cute bunny from Spellbinders March Small Die of the Month.

I was lucky to win a gift certificate last month at Stamplorations.  Usually it takes me forever to spend a gc, but I knew immediately what I wanted.  I loved every card made with the Layered Vase stamp set during the February release.  Here's my first card using VersaMagic Pink Grapefruit & Oasis Green along with Delicata Golden Glitz.

  

The sentiment is from an old TPC Studio set.  I love overstamping in the gold which has a beautiful shimmer in real life.  I added splatters & decided against any embellishments.  As you can see in the close up, the image & sentiment are gold embossed.  Most of the time I use white cardstock, but this time I used cream.  Think it was a good choice with these colors.

I'm entering Stamplorations Theme, Stamplorations Never Ending Anything Goes & SSS Wednesday.

Next is a notecard I'm sending to Darnell's 95 year old friend, Verna.  I made one last entry for the Gina K March Monthly Mix challenge where the theme is rainbow.

The design is one of my favorites--simple & effective, I think.  After masking the strip in the center of the card, I brushed on DI festive berries, dried marigold, squeezed lemonade, mowed lawn & salty ocean.  Then I stamped the Gina K/Hero Arts Friendship Blooms image in Versafine Clair Nocturne.  I decided against a sentiment & just added some black Pico Embellisher dots.  I'll write a note inside & include a picture of Darnell & me.  Thought Verna might get a kick out of that.  I'm also entering WAW.

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