CAS Watercolour Reminder - Monochromatic

Hello friends.  Just a friendly reminder that there's still time to play with our last challenge of the year at CAS Watercolour and we are looking for MONOCHROMATIC cards.

I used water coloring and a stencil to come up with my background for this card...

I used a technique that Betsy Veldman used HERE (scroll down to the 3rd video) with The Greetery's Frosty Flakes Stencil and distress inks in Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans, & Salty Ocean.  Here's a closer up of the background:

Once my background was dry I added my line of die cut trees using Memory Box's Evergreen Window (I trimmed the window part of the die cut off so I was only left with the trees) along with a strip of white cardstock that I tore to mimic the snow hills.  A simple matting with Blueberry Sky cs and my stamped sentiment (PTI's Christmas Blessings) in Blueberry Sky ink mounted on a white card base finished off my card.

If you need more inspiration, make sure you check out what the rest of the DT has come up with (HERE) this month...you will be blown away by their BEAUTIFUL cards and also from our Special GD Birgit.  This challenge is open till the 24th, so come play along with our MONOCHROMATIC theme...we'd love to see YOU in the gallery!!

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

Twofer Challenge #22 - WITH A TWIST

Hello friends.  This month's Twofer Challenge is all about HOLIDAY GREENERY!

I used a little bit of artistic license this month and instead of using GREEN greenery, I used mostly WHITE greenery on my two cards.  Darnell has also given us permission for this month only, to make our two cards for the same occasion if we'd like, and so I took her up on this one time offer and made two Christmas cards!  

I'll apologize up front for my terrible lighting, but we in Michigan are in the NO SUNSHINE time of the year (November - April), and since I still struggle with using my light box (shadows, shadows, shadows!!!), my pictures are what they are!  

I fell in love with a shadow box card that Kay Miller had made a few weeks ago and wanted to try my hand at one.  My photos don't do this card justice, but in real life there is so much depth and dimension, and I was really pleased with the way it came out!  I started by making my background which uses The Greetery's Frosty Flakes Stencil and blending with Salty Ocean Distress Ink.  It's very soft and subtle, but sets the tone for my wintery landscape.  Next I added 3 pine trees directly to the background (The Greetery's Christmas Eve stamp set).  My third step was creating the branch (The Greetery's Blooming Branch) by stamping and die cutting it, and then scoring the one end of the branch so I could adhere it to the side of the box.  (2 pieces of cardstock cut at 4 1/4 x 6 and then scored at 4 1/4 and 5 1/2.)  Next I added a few stamped and die cut greenery branches (The Greetery's With Love At Christmas) to make it look a bit more wintery, and also added my red bird from The Greetery's Robin & Wren stamp set.  To finish this card off, I added my WHITE greenery to the framing using Tim Holtz's Holiday Greens die set.  Here's a close up for you to see more detail...

My greeting is on the back of the card, and it does fold flat and fits into a regular A2 size envelope.  This card definitely took a bit of time, but was well worth the effort and FUN to make!

My 2nd card was definitely a bit simpler to make, but I love the way this one turned out too!  I used the same Tim Holtz Holiday Greens dies on the top half of my card...I'm loving the simplicity of white on white lately!!  For the bottom I simply added a piece of plaid DSP (Tim Holtz also!) and a strip of gold mirror cardstock (can you see my reflection taking the photo??) to ground all my white greenery, and then finished by adding my die cut sentiment (PTI's Wonderful Words: Holiday Die Collection) in white to balance out my card.  Easy peasy and very striking (IMHO!).

Make sure you check out all the BEAUTIFUL inspiration from Darnell and her talented DT, and then play along right HERE.          

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

The Flower Challenge #38 - Add Dots or Stripes

Hello friends.  I'm playing along with The Flower Challenge today and they are looking for DOTS or STRIPES along with our flower images.

I started with PTI's Bold Borders: Polka Dot Die and Altenew's Handpicked Bouquet and came up with this:

I started by die cutting the Bold Borders: Polka Dot Die in white and then adhered it to a white card base...I love the white on white look this gives!  The flower image was stamped and embossed using Versafine Black Onyx ink and clear embossing powder, and then I stamped with Gina K inks for all the color (Lipstick, Red Hot, Cherry Red, Grass Green, & Fresh Asparagus).

I finished with a sentiment from the Handpicked Bouquet set and a piece of crochet thread across the top.

Make sure you check out all the BEAUTIFUL cards from the DT and already in the gallery using DOTS or STRIPES, and then play along right HERE.

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

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #23 - SNOW

Hello friends.  Playing along with the current Christmas Kickstart challenge where the prompt is SNOW.

Snow can be so beautiful, but as I get older I'm not as much a fan of it anymore...pretty when I'm looking at it from the inside of my nice warm house or creating cards with it, but not so pretty when I have to be out in it!  That being said, I'm happy to create a card with SNOW, and loved using The Greetery's Drifting Die again, and also a new to me stamp set from SugarPea Designs called Hey Winter.

Something about this bear with the hat that just cracks me up...I love him!!  But anyway, I started my card by softly blending some Aqua Mist ink on the card base and then splattering white acrylic paint for some SNOW flurries.  Next I added 3 layers of SNOW banks using the Drifting Die and then added my Polar bear and SNOW covered trees.

I embossed my bear (and hat) with WOW Silver Pearl embossing powder to give him more of a glistening SNOW appearance and pop dotted the top of the hat to give a bit of dimension.  I added no coloring to the bear (except for his snout and cheeks...they're rosy because it's COLD out there!!) or his hat to keep with the appearance of the cold and chilly SNOW.  It may seem like a pretty stark card (but hey, Winter is really cold and stark!), but I think the bit of Aqua sky and the bears rosy cheeks add a sweet bit of color to this SNOW-y card!  :0)

There's still time to play along with this SNOW-y challenge, so check out the inspiration and then play along right HERE.

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

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #22 - Jingle All The Way

Hello friends.  Nothing like getting in at the very last minute of a challenge, but that's exactly what I'm doing for the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge which is titled JINGLE ALL THE WAY.

I had such great intentions of getting my card done earlier, but when I saw someone use the same idea I had, I kinda deflated, and there sat the stamp set for a week and a half!  So anyway, I have a much simpler card, but it still fits the bill!  Take a look...

I started by using Lil Inker's Jingle Bell Dies with silver glitter paper, and added them to my card front that uses some PTI Bitty Big DSP in Pure Poppy and a white and Aqua Mist card base.  I also added SSS's Falala die using red glitter paper and Aqua Mist cs for my sentiment.  And since I couldn't use my original idea on the front, I added it to the inside of my card...

Yep, Bonnie had the same idea to use one of the elf's from MFT's Santa's Elves holding the jingle bell instead of the ornament, and since I didn't want to copy her (well, kinda I did!), I just used the elf on the inside of my card, so it's all good!

Lots of CUTE cards in the gallery HERE already, but unless you're speedy quick at card making, you've only got a few hours left to enter this challenge!  I'll try to be more prompt with the next challenge!!  :0)

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

CAS Watercolour Nov. 2019 - Monochromatic Challenge

Hello friends.  It's a new month and time for a new challenge at CAS Watercolour!  Our hostess this month is Karen and she would like to see MONOCHROMATIC cards.

A while ago my sweet friend Michele came over for a play day and brought a beautiful wreath die from Pinkfresh Studios that I had to play with!  I ended up using a piece from my stash box that I had water colored using Lindy's Magicals in Autumn Maple Crimson that has beautiful deep reds all the way to light pinks...and perfect for this monochromatic challenge!!

This wreath die is so full of delicate and fancy cuts that I left my card pretty simple to let all those magical colors shine!  Here's a closer up...

I wish my camera had picked up all the shimmer and shine that is part of Lindy's Magicals, because this card really comes to life with all the sparkle!!  I added a strip of Scarlet Jewel cs that I ran through my SU! Subtle embossing folder to ground the wreath that I added off center on the white card base.  My sentiment is from the Stamptember SSS/Gina K Festive Flower stamp set and I also added just a few iridescent jewels from Lucy's Little Gems.

Check out all the BEAUTIFUL cards from the DT and our special GD Birgit for some awesome inspiration, and then show us what YOU came up with using a MONOCHROMATIC color scheme!  Remember to keep your card CAS, use Watercolouring, and a Monochromatic Color scheme...we can't wait to see you in the gallery!  This challenge is open till the 24th.

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

12 Kits Of Occasions Oct. 2019 - AUTUMN DAYS

Hello friends.  It's the end of the month and time for the 12 Kits Of Occasions post, which Sharron is hosting and calling AUTUMN DAYS.

Look at all the beautiful images, die cuts, and lovely Fall papers Sharron gave us to work with this month!  Fall is definitely a favorite of mine, so this kit was pure joy to work with!  To see a list of all the supplies Sharron included in this kit, click HERE.

I started with this sweet Penny Black image (Hello Autumn) and colored her with my Copics and then fussy cut her out.  I used one of the pieces of DSP Sharron included in the kit as a background and also fussy cut one of the leaves from a leftover scrap and pop dotted it for the little girl to look up at.  Here's a closer up:

Hard to see, but I used WOS on that pop dotted little leaf too!

I just LOVED this die cut acorn that Sharron included in the kit, and just added some more of the beautiful DSP and also added a strip of Honey Nut cs that I ran through my Big Shot with an FSJ embossing folder.

Looks like Sharron and I were thinking along the same lines when it came to using this image and the plaid background DSP!  Such a CUTE image and I can just smell the apples and cinnamon in the air!!

I loved this sentiment Sharron included in her kit too, and wanted it to take center stage.  I used The Greetery's Crimped Frame Die to cut out the sentiment and then ran it through with the same FSJ embossing folder that I used on the acorn card.  To make the leaves pop a bit more I used some Vintage Photo DOX ink and lightly blended over the top, before adding to another Honey Nut piece of cs also embossed with the FSJ embossing folder.  Add a few of the leaves Sharron included in the kit and also the piece of twine Sharron had used on the tag that she wrapped our kits up in.  This card has also been quite liberally sprayed with Sheer Shimmer Mist, so IRL it really sparkles!

Are you getting tired of the Honey Nut cs and the FSJ embossing folder yet??!!  I made a little pillow box (SU!) with a window (so you can see what treat I end up deciding to add!) and used a PTI die (Tag Sale #10) to add the scalloped frame in gold mirror cs.  The little tag is from part of the DSP Sharron included in the kit...it matched so beautifully with the Honey Nut cs!

And here they are all together!  The air has been pretty cool here the last few weeks and colors are at their peak, so this was just perfect timing to be working on this beautiful kit Sharron put together!  You can check out what the rest of the DT did with this same kit right HERE.

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