What's Your Favorite Fruit??

Hello friends.  Playing along with a couple challenges today...Freshly Made Sketches and the Double D.  Jen T at Freshly Made Sketches has a wonderful square card layout for us to follow and the Double D wants to know what our favorite fruit is.  

A fun sketch and yummy looking fruit...a perfect match, right?!  Personally, I love all fruits, but have to admit that STRAWBERRIES are probably my all time favorite!  So of course I have a strawberry card to share...

Yummmmmmm!  I love eating them plain, in shortcake, in pies, and especially in Michele's dessert she makes! (Maybe if you ask real nice, she might print the recipe sometime.)  I started with a 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" white card base and then added the largest die from PFS's Dotted Postage Square also in white cs. Next came a layer of PTI's Pure Poppy plaid dsp, and then another postage square so I had a place to add my bunch of strawberries (The Greetery - BotaniCuts Strawberries). 

My die cut strawberries and leaves were die cut and then ink blended using DOX inks.  I finished with a embossed strip sentiment from Gina K's All At Once Greetings and a few Ruby Red Gems from PFS.

You can find lots of wonderful inspiration from both Design Teams...check HERE for the Double D challenge and HERE for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge. 

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

Color Hues #137 - Black & Red

Hello friends.  Time for another challenge here at Color Hues and for the next 2 weeks our hostess Nancy (filling in for Jules who is still in the process of unpacking at her new place) would like us to use BLACK & RED.

Easy peasy, right??  I don't know why, but I struggled with this one!  I persevered though and came up with this...

I used a new to me die set from SB's called Lock & Key Mailbox and black and gray cardstocks and of course red!  I cut the mailbox from black, so it would show up against my embossed background in Smokey Slate cs and SU!'s Timeworn Type...figured it went well with the old fashioned mailbox.  

 After die cutting all the pieces, I used my blending brush and black ink on the medium gray pieces and also used a bit of matte silver cs (Gina K) for the key, lock and HELLO sentiment.  I love the little wax seal on the letter with the heart in the center...makes me smile!  I added some WOS to the roses to make them stand out and then finished with a few lady bugs (WF) for a bit of whimsy!

 Here's a bit of a side view so you can see the dimension of the flap where you drop your mail into.  For not knowing what I was going to do with these colors in the beginning, I thought this card came out pretty cute and I'm sure it will bring a smile to someone's face!

My talented teammates and our Special GD's Julia & Joanne all came up with awesome ideas for using these two colors, so check it out HERE if you need inspiration!  This challenge is open till Wednesday, July 29th @ 9:00AM.

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

CAS Mix Up July 2026 - ECLIPSE

Hello friends.  Playing along with the CAS Mix Up Challenge today where we are being asked to make a card using the ECLIPSE technique! 

Love this technique but haven't used it in quite awhile, so it was FUN to do!  Although I have to admit it wasn't fun in the beginning!  In fact my panel ended up in the trash until I dug it out the next day and decided maybe it wasn't so bad after all!  Haha!!  Take a look at how it ended up...

I started with TCW's Mini Joyful Sunflower stencil and inked it up, spritzed with water and then flipped it over and onto my card panel.  I pressed it with a paper towel and then lifted it off...it was a hot mess and didn't even look like a sunflower!  It was basically just an outline and a messy outline at that!  So I carefully replaced the stencil and ink blended in the openings of the stencil...apparently I didn't line it up close enough so it was off. Grrrrrr!!  Into the trash it went.

I pulled it out of the trash the next morning and thought maybe it wasn't so bad...just a little artsy.  I trimmed it down (started with a 6x6 panel and cut it to a 5 1/4 x 4) and then used an older Catherine Pooler Hello die down toward the bottom.  I die cut the hello 2 more times from white cardstock and then proceeded to fill it all in.  I backed the panel with a piece of PTI's Summer Sunrise cs and then added both to a white card base.  Considering the way this card started out, I'm really kinda pleased with the outcome! 

** Just realized I didn't include any stamping...oops!  Oh well, should have remembered that from before...will try harder next time to not forget!  Sorry!!

Loll and the DT have some FABULOUS inspiration for you using the Eclipse technique, and you can find it all right HERE.  This challenge is open till Friday, July 31st.

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

Freshly Made Sketches #744

Hello friends.  Been on kind of a Christmas (in July) kick lately and when I saw Donna's "Polaroid" sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

And here's what I came up with...

Doesn't she just make you want to smile?!!  I fell in love with this PB set (sing joy) a couple years ago and it has definitely become a staple in my go to Christmas stash!  There are 3 separate images in the set and believe it or not, this is the first time I've used this image!  (The other two images have seen ink many, many times!!)  I colored her up with my Copics and gave her a bit of a vintage look with the colors and the ink blending around the edges.  I used a polaroid frame die (MFT) to frame her out and stamped my sentiment in the lower portion of the frame (sentiment from the sing joy stamp set).

I added foam tape to the back of the frame before insetting my image and added to an embossed panel using SU!'s Subtle ef and a strip of PTI's Ocean Tides polka dotted dsp.  I added a little twine bow to the strip and called it good.

Lots of wonderful inspiration from Donna and the DT for this sketch that you can find right HERE. This challenge is open till Monday, July 13th @ 3:00PM.

I will also be adding this card to Darnell's NBUS Challenge as I've never used this 3rd image before and she definitely deserves a little bit of recognition!!

 

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

CAS Christmas July 2026 - Snowman

Hello friends.  Playing along with the gals over at CAS Christmas so I can keep up with my Christmas cards!  This month they are looking for a SNOWMAN.  Easy peasy as I do happen to have a few...hundred! Haha!!

I pulled out a little TH set called CHILLY & FREEZY and came up with this CAS card...

I started by using SB's Hemstitch Rectangle Dies to make a border frame around my snowman and also cut another plain rectangle from the center and ink blended a little bit of purple in the bottom right corner before embossing the rectangle with SSS's Snowflake Visions ef.  I sprayed it quite liberally with Sheer Shimmer Spritz Sparkle before inlaying it back into the center of my card front.

Next I die cut my snowman from white cs and only colored his eyes, the charcoal buttons, his nose & twig arms with my Copics. I thought about coloring his hat and scarf, but decided to keep him (or is it a her??) really clean looking.  I used foam tape on the back of him (or her) for some dimension.  I may have to play more than once this month as I really do have an abundance of snowmen stamps and dies...hope you don't mind?!  And these snowmen should help cool us down with this hot, HOT Summer we're having!! Ha!!

This challenge is open till the end of the month and if you need some more inspiration to play along, you can check out all the wonderful snowmen Linda and the rest of the DT have made right HERE.   

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

Color Hues Challenge #136 - CREAM & GOLD

Hello friends.  July 1st already and time for a new challenge here at Color Hues.  Our hostess for the next 2 weeks is Julie and she has chosen CREAM & GOLD for us to work with.

A while back I had purchased Hero Arts Decorative Flora Letterpress + Foil Plate and then it sat there because I didn't know what to do with it!  Luckily inspiration hit when this color challenge hit and I came up with this...

I used cream cs (Gina K) and my SB's Letterpress system with the plate and Delicata Golden Glitz ink and then fussy cut around the image.  Next I used another piece of cream cs and SB's Molded Frame embossing folder and glued the fussy cut piece into the center of the embossed frame.  I attached both to a cream colored card base.

 I added a couple butterflies using SSS's Whirl Butterflies dies and cream and gold cs and a gold foiled sentiment from SB's Everyday Sentiments II set.  I finished with a few clear gems with gold dust from PFS.

Make sure you check out all the beautiful inspiration we have for you using this color combination and then play along with us...we'd love to see YOU in the gallery!!  This challenge is open till Tuesday, July 14th @ 9:00AM.

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

Just Us Girls Challenge #829 - STENCIL WEEK

Hello friends.  Playing along with the gals over at JUGS where the sweet hostess Lisa is bringing us STENCIL WEEK.

I'm still hooked on The Greetery's Pretty Picado stencils and embossing folder, and although I never really send out 4th of July cards, I really wanted to try the Pretty Picado stencils in red, white & blue.  I think they turned out pretty cool, so let's take a look...

 Here's the red version.   I used 2 shades of red and 2 shades of blue (SU! inks) to stencil with the 4 stencils and then used the embossing folder to add dimension.  Much more noticeable in real life!!

I used the Capsule Basics dies and embossing folder for the red card base, and the "happy" is from the Opposites Attract stamp and die set (all from The Greetery).  The #4 is from the Delightful Digits dies, also from The Greetery. I finished with a bit of WOS on the #4 and a few red gems from PFS.

  Here's the blue version with the colors just switched around.

Done almost exactly the same as the red version except that I used more of the Capsule Basic dies to add a bit more dimension to this one.

And here they both are together.  Do you have a favorite?  I like them both equally and am happy with the way they turned out!!

Lots of BEAUTIFUL stenciled cards from the JUGS DT that you can find right HERE and then play along.  This challenge is open till Wednesday, July 1st @ 6:00PM.

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