The Flower Challenge #97 - THANKS

Hello friends.  Hard to believe it's November already, isn't it?  I love this season of thankfulness, and how appropriate that here at The Flower Challenge that we're focusing on THANKS and would love to see thank you cards with FLOWERS of course!

I have a pretty simple card using Gina K's Thoughtful Flowers stamp, stencil & die set and vibrant Fall colors.  

I stamped, stenciled & die cut 2 of the floral swags and then set them aside while I worked on the background.  A little hard to see as my florals and sentiment covered up quite a bit of the double circle opening, but I added a piece of Crushed Curry cs that I die cut into a smaller circle to add behind the background panel that had a larger circle opening.  The background panel was also embossed with SU!'s Subtle embossing folder (RETIRED...why I don't know as it's one of my favorite ef's!!).

  I attached my background panel to a white card base and then added the 2 floral swags.  My sentiment was die cut from PTI's Counting My Blessings die collection, once in white and once in Crushed Curry cs, and then off set before attaching with foam tape for a bit of dimension.  I finished with a few of my favorite Disco Ball Sequins from Gina K.

The DT has some awesome inspiration for you that you can find right HERE, so check it out and then play along with us!  This challenge is open till Monday, Nov. 25th @ 5:00PM.  We hope to see YOU in the gallery!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Color Hues Challenge #98 - RED & BLACK

Hello friends.  Happy November (hard to believe isn't it?!) and welcome back to another challenge here at Color Hues where our sweet hostess Karen would like to see RED and BLACK on our cards for the next two weeks.

My first thought when I saw this color combo was Poinsettia's, but my sweet friend Michele had let me stamp a few of Penny Black's sweet carolers from the Sing Joy stamp set, and I just couldn't resist coloring her up one more time!  Adding some sweet red & black dsp from SU!'s Peaceful Prints helped me to come up with this card...

Isn't she just ADORABLE?!  She was stamped in Versafine Black Onyx ink and then Copic colored using mostly R37 & R89 and a few neutrals for the scarf, hat brim and songbook.  I used Gina K's ML#2 to cut her into a rectangle with a black layer behind and then attached her to a tri fold card that I used the dsp on.

Here you can see the tri fold better and where I placed my sentiment (PTI's Just Sentiments: Heaven and Nature Sing).  

The extra snowflakes that I added to the flip side of the dsp that is just the red & black plaid are from Impression Obsession's little set of 5 dies.  (DIE100-F)  I've had these dies forever and they are just the perfect size to add a little something, something!

The DT and our two Special GD's (Izzy Scrap & Colleen Begley) have so much FABULOUS inspiration to share with you, so check it all out right HERE and then play along with us.  We'd love to see YOU in the gallery with your RED and BLACK creations!!  This challenge is open till Thursday, Nov. 14th @ 9:00AM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

3D Christmas Box Cards

Hello friends.  Every month SSS releases a new kit (which I rarely ever buy) where they give you the option to buy the whole kit or just the parts you want.  This month part of the kit was the sweetest little scenes that are pre-printed and then you punch out the different layers and add them with foam tape to create a 3 dimensional scene.  Soooooo cute and easy!  When you have no mojo, these are just the ticket!  I have 4 cards to share with you using these Craft Consortium's Christmas Market 3D Decoupage Collection.  The first two I made into shadow box cards.  Take a look...

You can make these shadow boxes any size you want...I made mine just a bit bigger than the base layer of the pre-printed scene which is 3 5/8".  I started with a piece of 4 1/4" x 11" and scored along the long edge at 1/2", 4 1/2", 5", 9" & 9 1/2" and then cut off the last 1 1/2".  I used a Gina Marie Designs rounded square die to cut out the opening on the top and then also heat embossed in white my sentiment underneath the die cut opening.  After folding against the score lines, I added a piece of adhesive to the side tab (1/2" piece) and attached it to the other 1/2" tab to create the shadow box. (Hope that makes sense??!)  I had already created my scene by adding the layers with foam tape to give the dimension and then just slid it into the shadow box from the top opening.  It might have been easier to add the dimensional scene before putting the shadow box together, but I didn't think that far ahead.  (An engineer I am not!!)

 Here's a close up where you hopefully can see some of the multi layers better.  I finished by adding a lot of sparkle with my WOS pen to the scene and also added some Impression Obsession die cut mini snowflakes to the outside of the shadow box frame.

 Here's another one done with a different scene (you get 2 of each of the 5 scenes for a total of 10 in the pkg.) and Pool Party cs (the first one was done with Real Red cs).

Here they both are together.  They do fold somewhat flat, so I think they are mailable, but I think I'll just hand deliver these to make sure they don't get destroyed in the mail.  These really came together quite quickly and I'm pretty tickled at how cute they turned out!

These next two are just regular A2 cards with a bit of dsp from MFT's Candyland 6 x 6 pad that I've had for years and years and years!!  I also ran a panel of kraft cs with a SU! Snowflake embossing folder and then ran over the top with my brayer and white pigment ink for the upper layer of this card before adding the layered scene.  The snowflake is another from the Impression Obsession die set and the white heat embossed sentiment is from one of Gina K's recent incentive sets.  I also added a piece of red & white bakers twine at the top and finished with a red pearl in the center of the snowflake.

   This last card isn't much different than the last one, just different colored dsp and ribbon, and a different scene.  

The Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge has a mood board featuring different Christmas animals, and I thought even though my deer, birdies, and Dalmation pup are more whimsical, they still kinda fit for this challenge.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Oct. 31st @ 8:00PM and you can find all the details right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Double D - Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Who's Got the Pumpkin?

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Double D - Pumpkin, Pumpkin Challenge where they would like to see a pumpkin on our cards.

The mood board shows LOTS of pumpkins, so I figured it was safe to put more than one pumpkin on my card!  I had fun playing with a new stencil/embossing folder combo from Altenew called Pumpkin Patch and came up with this "Z" fold card...

The stencil and embossing folder make a 6 x 6 panel, which after stenciling and embossing, I cut into thirds.  I trimmed each panel down a little bit less than 2" so I had room to add a green layer behind and still enough room for a white border from the card base (cut at 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 and then scored at 4 1/4 and 2 1/8 beyond that).

My sentiments are from The Greetery's Sentiment Suite: Birthday.

Here's a close up so you can see the embossing a bit better.  There are 6 stencils in the package, so you can really go wild with your coloring of all the pumpkins!  I kept to pretty much traditional pumpkin colors on this card, but have definitely been playing with different color combinations on other panels.  Not sure they'll be made into cards for this season, but we'll see...

The DT at the Double D Challenge have lots of wonderful inspiration to get you to play along, so check it all out and play with them!  This challenge is open till Sunday, Nov. 3rd @ 8:00PM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

PBSC October Anything Goes...Optional...'Cute or Spooky'

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Penny Black Saturday Challenge (PBSC) again as I had another image that I had stamped when Michele came over to play last month.  I finally got around to coloring it up and turned into a card, and I think it definitely qualifies as 'Cute'!  Just a warning though...it's not Halloween as I already have those made for this year and am still trying to finish up my Christmas card stash!  Anyway, take a look...

The image is from the Merry Days stamp set, and I colored up those sweet bears and their sled full of gifts AND a Christmas tree too, with my Copics.  Michele had the die too, so all I really had to do was color the image.  Easy peasy!!  I used foam tape on the back and applied it to a background that I used SB's Hexi Snowflake ef on in Smokey Slate cs.  

A little close up for you...aren't those bears just the sweetest?!!  To finish I added a few sequins and a piece of white crochet thread at the top that also holds my star tag and sentiment (PTI's Tiny Tags).

Lots of inspiration from the DT and those already in the gallery that you can find right HERE if you'd like to play along.  This challenge is open till Friday, Nov. 1st @ 8:00PM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Color Hues Challenge #97 - OLIVE & MUSTARD

Hello friends!  Hard to believe it's the middle of October already, isn't it?!  Our sweet hostess Jules has picked out a fabulous color duo here at the Color Hues Challenge, and she would like to see OLIVE & MUSTARD on our cards.

I just love this color combination that totally says FALL to me, and came up with a card using an older stamp set from The Greetery called Bittersweet Bouquet.  Take a look...

I stamped my Bittersweet Bouquet using Old Olive & Crushed Curry inks (SU!) and double stamped on some of the leaves to get the darker mustard tone.  (I did cheat a little bit and stamped my berries with some Canyon Clay ink from PTI.) I used the coordinating die to cut the bouquet out and also die cut a 2nd bouquet to glue to the stamped one for some added dimension.

For my background I embossed a white panel with SU!'s Dashing Designs ef and attached it to a card base of Old Olive cs.  I added a strip of Old Olive cs across the top half of my card so the bouquet didn't totally get lost against the white embossed background, and also placed some foam tape behind the bouquet to give a bit more dimension.  The Autumn sentiment is part of the Bittersweet Bouquet set and was stamped and die cut and added to the bottom of the card.  I finished by adding a few Iridescent Faceted Gems from SU!.

The DT has outdone themselves with this color combination, and you can find all their inspiration right HERE.  We hope you'll join us and play along with this beautiful color combination!  This challenge is open till Tuesday, Oct. 29th @ 9:00AM. 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

The Flower Challenge #96 Reminder

Hello friends.  Just a friendly reminder that there's still plenty of time to play along in our monthly challenge here at The Flower Challenge where we'd like you to use a STENCIL on your flower card.

I've used another stencil from The Ton called Gentle Peonies for my reminder card today.  Take a look...

This stencil set is a 6 piece one and makes a 6 x 6 piece, and it about killed me to cut it up once I'd finished stenciling it, but I really like the way it turned out, so my heart rate did go back to normal afterwards!  I used 3 shades of yellow inks (Gina K & PFS) and did not stencil the leaves in as I didn't want any green on this card.  I used PFS's Slim Ornate Banner dies to cut my stenciled piece out and also a piece of Crushed Curry cs (SU!).

My background piece uses the new Pierced Plaid Coverplate Die from The Greetery, and I can tell this is going to be a favorite already!!  My sentiment is from a Gina K set called Beautiful Basket Additions and I also used her ML #7 to die cut the 2 circle layers that I stamped the sentiment on.  A few gold butterflies from SU! finished off this card.

We'd love to see what YOU come up using a STENCIL on your FLOWER card, so check out all the wonderful inspiration we have for you HERE and then play along with us.  This challenge is open till Friday, Oct. 25th @ 5:00PM.  

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!