Freshly Made Sketches #725

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge where DT member Cecile has a FUN sketch for us to play with.

I wasn't too sure what the middle gray piece was in the photo, but after looking at all the DT inspiration, I figured it was "anything goes"...so that's what I did!  I used a PTI stencil called Watercolor Wonderful Stencil Collection and came up with this card...

Looks a little bit like the gray part in the sketch, right?  RIGHT?!! I used the first two stencils in the set with pink and orange inks that were left on my brushes...there is a 3rd stencil that adds splattering but they're too big and I wasn't thrilled about the look of my first card, so this is actually my 2nd attempt and I did my own splattering.  I'll show you the 1st card down below as it isn't a terrible card, I just liked this one better!  The cascade of flowers are from Gina K's Thoughtful Flowers bundle and I embossed them in gold and then stenciled them with the same colors as the water colored background. 

 I die cut the floral spray and added foam tape on the backside for a bit of dimension and then added to the water colored panel, along a with a black matte and white card base.  My sentiment strip is from Gina's All At Once Greetings.

      This was the first card, and you can see that the splatters that are stenciled are quite a bit bigger than the ones that I did with a paint brush.  I added a silhouette stamp (Gina K - Better Together), and while I really like the silhouette against the water colored background, I'm just not thrilled with the larger splatters!  Do you like one better than the other?  Let me know.

The DT has some beautiful cards to inspire you to play along and you can find them all right HERE.  This challenge is open till Monday, March 2nd @ 3:00PM.

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

Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge #106

Hello friends.  Playing along with the gals over at the Peace on Earth Christmas challenge where they're looking for deer and basically "Anything Goes Christmas".

I have LOTS of deer stamps and dies, but for today I chose to use a sweet NBUS moose die from Cottage Cutz.  They have BIG sales a couple times a year and I can't resist filling up my cart when they do...the trouble starts then as my Mount NBUS pile grows and it takes some time to get to them all!  But anyway, Moose-mas Moose is making his debut today, and here he is all ready to play with friends out in the snow.

  Isn't he a cutie?!!  Because Cottage Cutz dies come as one main die, there is a bit of cutting to do, but I just cut twice...once from kraft cs and once from white and then Copic colored the white pieces. I did a bit of ink blending on the actual moose (Walnut Stain - DI) before assembling him with his hat, scarf, eyes, hair, hoofs & birdie friend.  My background was done with Boho Blue (SU!) and embossed with SSS's Snowflake Visions and then rubbed white pigment ink over the raised snowflakes.

 I did die cut a hole in the background before I embossed it, and then placed a die cut circle from PB's stitched square & circles behind the embossed layer.  Added the moose at this point and then added 2 snowflakes (one cut in half) and a Tiny Tag (PTI) for my sentiment hung from one of his antlers.  

Because this moose is making his debut today, I'm going to add him to Darnell's NBUS challenge.

The DT over at the Peace On Earth challenge have some fabulous inspiration for you, so check it out and play along...you'll be glad you did when December rolls around!  This challenge is open till Thursday, Feb. 26th @ 8:00PM.

 

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

Color Hues Challenge #127 - PEACH & TEAL

Hello friends.  Time for a new challenge here at Color Hues and our sweet hostess Jules has a fun color pairing for us to play with...PEACH & TEAL.

I'm still in a bit of Christmas mode and had just received a new postage stencil from The Ton called Postage: Poinsettias Layering Stencil.  Here's what I came up with using the peach & teal colors...

I used light, medium & dark teal inks (Gina K) for the Poinsettias, and shades of peach and coral for the citrus slices.  Definitely NOT your traditional Christmas colors, but I have to say that I really like how this turned out.  I did use a bit of brown ink (neutral) for the pinecones.

 I did add glitter to the citrus slices and then backed the stenciled layer with a piece of Lakefront cs from Concord & 9th before adding both to a top folding white card base.  I finished with a sentiment banner embossed in gold from SSS's Tiny Words: Christmas.

I have a twofer for you today because I still had the stencils laying out and I wanted to see what it would look like with more traditional colors, and came up with this...

I was opting for more of a red Poinsettia, but since you start with a "light" color for the 1st stencil, it came out more pink looking.  The 2nd layer came out more pinkish too, so I just stayed with it and used a darker pink (Rose Red - SU!) for the 3rd stencil.  Added in my greens for the leaves and used the same peach & coral inks for the citrus slices.  I did add a few snowflakes in black from one of the WF postage stamp sets and used the WF Merry Christmas die for my sentiment.  Hard to see in the photo, but I die cut the sentiment twice...once from black and once from gold mirror cs and then offset the black over the gold.  I layered the stenciled layer with a piece of black cs and added to a Rose Red card base.  A few sparkly gold gems (PFS) were added to the centers of the citrus slices along with a bit of glitter.

Make sure you check out all the wonderful inspiration from my teammates and our Special GD Gundi right HERE and then play along with us.  Remember that you can use any hue of PEACH & TEAL and of course neutrals are always welcome too.  And most of all, just have FUN using these 2 colors! This challenge is open till Saturday, Feb. 28th @ 9:00AM.

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

Happy Valentine's Day X 5

Hello friends and a very Happy Valentine's Day!   Do any of you do anything special to celebrate this holiday?  Because my birthday is the day before (the 13th), Valentine's Day was always celebrated along with my birthday, until the kids came along.  Now that our girls have grown up and grandchildren are in the picture, I make a card for each of them along with a treat and also make a card for hubby and a few friends.  This post is about the Valentine cards I made for the 5 grandkids, and I'm starting with the youngest (she's 1) and then working my way up to the oldest who is 11.

 This one was stamped with PB's all my love on white cs and then again on DSP from PTI. The LOVE stamped on the DSP was fussy cut and then paper pieced over the stamped image that was colored with Copics.  I used the postage die and more DSP for the background and a sentiment from The Greetery.

   For our 2 year old grandson who loves CHOO CHOO trains, I used PB's love train dies and a sentiment from The Greetery.  He LOVES trains so I think he's going to love this!!

For our 5 year old granddaughter I stamped PB's fur-ever yours and Copic colored the bear.  The heart she's holding was stamped onto the red velvet cs I've been using lately and the sentiment from The Greetery was also stamped onto it.  (I ended up having to stamp and cut a 2nd time as the black ink takes a while to dry enough so that it doesn't smear all over your fingers and everywhere else too...grrrrrr!!)  The framing (also PB) was cut from that same velvet cs and the background was hot foiled with red foil using a PFS foil plate. 

 Our oldest grandson is almost 9 years old, and I didn't think he'd be too excited by a critter card, so I used PB's stitched xoxo dies and added it to a SB's ef (Heart Blooms) background.  I wish I would have remembered to take a picture of the inside and back of the card as I stamped a YETI from MFT's Beast Friends on the inside and big foot paw prints running up the back of the card.  Hopefully he'll get a kick out of it!!

 And last but definitely not last, a card for our oldest granddaughter using Anita Jeram's (CCC) ever thine stamp set.  The mouse holding the heart was once again colored with my Copics, die cut and then added to a background of more of that red velvet paper.  The frame was left over from our 5 year olds card.  The tiny heart tags on both the 4th & 5th cards are from PTI's Tiny Tags set.

I'm sending the first 4 cards to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge which is an "anything goes/optional romance" challenge for this month of February.

However you celebrate this day, I hope it's a good one for all of you!  And may sound kinda corny, but LOVE really is the answer, so be kind to everyone friends! This world really, really NEEDS it!! 

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

Double D Challenge - Vintage/Shabby Chic

Hello friends.  The gals over at the Double D Challenge are playing with Vintage/Shabby Chic this time around and I couldn't resist playing with them.

I don't usually make vintage/shabby chic cards, but with Valentine's Day just a few days away and some new products from The Greetery, it was definitely a match made in heaven!  Here's what I came up with...

 I started with kraft cs and The Greetery's Rosemal Reflections ef and Capsule Basics dies.  For the outside embossed area I used a white pigment ink pad to make the embossing stand out a bit more.  This part looks to me like I embossed on vellum, and while that was not my intention, I really like the look!  The inside area was ink blended with brown to make it stand out, and then I used matte gold cs to die cut the Capsule Filigree Border Die to separate the two embossed areas.  

At this point I added the Coquette Heart ef to red cs and then added the Filigree Heart Die with the same matte gold cs to match with the filigree capsule and tie it all together.  I also used the matte gold cs to die cut my bow from the Regency Bow No. 1 die and then finished with a Ruby Red Gem (PFS) adhered to the center of the bow.  I left a sentiment off the front as I think it's pretty obvious that it's a Valentine card. 

The DT has made some incredibly BEAUTIFUL vintage cards that you can check out HERE for inspiration.  This challenge is open till Sunday, Feb. 15th @ 8:00PM.

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

Freshly Made Sketches #722

Hello friends.  Playing along with the gals over at the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge where Kim has come up with a wonderful sketch...

Whenever I see a card with strips of different widths cardstock, I think of Laura Bassen and her "strippen it up" cards, and this sketch definitely made me think of that!  I came up with a very CAS card using Kim's sketch...

I started with an embossed background using SB's Heart Blooms ef and then added my 3 strips of pink, red, & pink cardstock.

Next I die cut the red heart from The Greetery's Coquette Hearts die and then embossed with the coordinating embossing folder and added the Filigree Heart die cut on top of the heart.  I also embossed the sentiment in white from The Greetery's Simple Valentine Mini Sentiments and then added a bow using The Greetery's Regency Bow No. 1 at the top of the heart.  A pink gem (PFS) was also added to the center of the bow.  VERY CAS and I love the way it turned out.

Check out all the beautiful cards from the talented DT and then play along right HERE.  This challenge is open till Monday, Feb. 8th @ 3:00PM.

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

Peace on Earth Challenge #105

Hello friends.  Trying to keep up with my Christmas stash this year and playing along with the gals over at the Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge.  

Of course I fell in love with the bottom left photo because of the SNOWMAN, and also the red heart balloon as it's almost Valentines Day.  I had a pkg of SU! dsp laying out for a while now, planning to use it for something that I can't remember now (am I the only one who does that??) and decided it would make a great background for my snowman.  Here's what I came up with...

I probably should have left the dsp uncovered so you could see it (SU!'s PEACEFUL PLACE) as it's really pretty snowy pine trees all in black & white, but I had the idea to make it a shaker card with a Gina Marie Birch Tree cover plate die laying over the dsp.  All the silver glitter flat dots from TK were used as shaker bits.

My snowman is a Cottage Cutz die called Winter Snowman and was decorated up in blacks and reds (scarf is a dsp scrap I think from SU!), before being adhered to the front of the birch trees.  The very merry sentiment on the wooden sign comes from PTI's Tiny Tags stamp set.  A little bit of glitter around the edges of the snowman finished up my card.

Lots of beautiful inspiration from the DT over at the challenge and you can find it all right HERE.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Feb. 17th @ 8:00PM.

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