Laurie's Fabulous Favorites

Hello friends.  Wednesday's aren't just hump day anymore...over at Papertrey Ink they are now Win It Wednesday's where they have 3 different challenges for you to play in and today I am playing along with Laurie's Fabulous Favorites!  This week Laurie is asking us to choose a favorite stand alone die to create a card with, and well, I couldn't pick just one!!  So I combined 3 to come up with this CAS Christmas card:

Papertrey has a lot of wonderful snowflake stamp sets and dies, but my FAVORITE has always been Fancy Flakes!  I cut a medium size flake out of plain white and then two smaller ones using a piece of blended (Dusty Concord, Salty Ocean, & Peacock Feathers Distress Inks) cardstock, and also die cut the JOY from Bold Borders: Flurries and the frame from Cover Plate: Pretty Frame Die with the blended piece of cardstock.  These colors blended together really made my die cuts stand out and showcase what wonderful dies they are...is it any wonder that all 3 of these dies are FAVORITES?!!

I was trying so hard to get a photograph that showed all the shimmer and sparkle from the Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Spritz I used on the blended pieces, but I gave up after about 50 photos!  So anyway, try to imagine as it really is beautiful IRL!!  I added a few Rainstones and some white bakers twine to finish off my card.

You have until next Wednesday at 6:00AM (27th) to play along, so check out Laurie's FABULOUS colorful and bright card for inspiration and then play along right HERE.

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

Color Throwdown #531

Hello friends.  Playing along with this week's Color Throwdown challenge to use Rust, Purple, Gray & White.

The picture is absolutely beautiful, but when I look at just the colors I see Halloween...haha!!  I did refrain from making a Halloween card though and used the emboss resist technique with a design I learned from Laura Bassen to create a starburst pattern with masking.

I started by embossing with white, Catherine Pooler's background stamp called Rondi's Window and then using 2 strips of post it paper to mask off triangles using Royal Treatment, Mandarin Spice (CP inks) & Smoky Slate (SU!) inks to create the starburst.  I trimmed this layer down and added to a white card base, and then added my layered circles with the sentiment and the sweet little mouse from MFT's It's A Mice Time To Celebrate! 

A few purple rhinestones and some white baker's twine finished off my fun little card!

Check out all the fabulous cards from the DT and then play along right HERE.

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

Twofer Challenge #13 - STARS

Hello friends.  Playing along with Darnell's Twofer Challenge where this month she would like to see STARS on our two cards.

This was a FUN challenge and I used a sweet little die gifted to me by Loll awhile back to come up with these two cards:

I was asked by a friend to make a couple baby cards and I've always thought stars were appropriate for graduation cards too!

For my graduation card I used a technique by Betsy Veldman (HERE) using colored salt crystals to make a colorful night time sky.  I used the star die with a matt finished silver cs (thanks Darnell!) to put over my background and then added the sweet bunny gazing up (MFT's Snuggle Bunnies) and a sentiment from an OLD Verve stamp set.

For my baby card I used the same star die in Sweet Blush cs and then Copic colored and paper pieced (PTI's Sweet Blush Bitty Big DSP) the sweet little baby image from LOTV.  I also used PTI's Super Star Border Die to bring in some more stars for the bottom of my card.  All the tiny stars that came out of the border die cut I added randomly over the rest of the card and then used a Clear Star Gelly Roll pen to color them all....they really sparkle IRL!!  I finished with a Tiny Tag (PTI) star die cut and a piece of white baker's twine to finish off my card.

Make sure you check out all the FABULOUS inspiration from Darnell and the rest of the DT, and then play along right HERE.  This challenge is open till the 24th.

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites #2

Hello friends.  I am combining two of the new Win It Wednesday challenges over at Papertrey Ink...Laurie's Fabulous Favorites which is to use your FAVORITE color cardstock/ink on a project, and the Instagram Challenge which is to use one of the same stamps/dies that Kelly Lunceford used on her cute little chick baskets.

Picking a favorite color is darn near impossible, but when looking back at all my PTI projects and orders for more cardstock, Aqua Mist is clearly in first place, and all the pinks coming in 2nd!  I also wanted to get ahead of the game on some Easter projects, so decided to use the same set as Kelly Lunceford's adorable little chick boxes/baskets (HERE) Huggables: Bunny & Chick, and used the bunny stamps and dies to come up with these:

Aren't those faces just too cute?!!  I started by die cutting the baskets using the Favor It Box 2 die and then stenciling over each one...Aqua Mist ink and one of the stencils from the Modern Background Stencil Collection and Hibiscus Burst ink and a circle stencil.  After assembling the baskets, I die cut all the bunny pieces using white cs, Aqua Mist Bitty Big DSP, and Hibiscus Burst Patterned Paper Pack.

The tag is from the Tremendous Tags dies and the sentiment from the Huggables: Bunny & Chick set.

So there you have it...2 sweet Easter projects done ahead of time!!  Laurie's challenge (favorite color) and the Instagram challenge are both open till Wednesday at 6:00AM.  You can find all the details to play along and see Laurie's and Kelly's AWESOME projects right HERE.

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

CAS Watercolour Feb. 2019 Reminder Post

Hello friends.  Just a friendly reminder that there is only a week left to play in our February challenge at CAS Watercolour, and we're looking for cards using RED and PINK.

I have a Twofer for you today as I was playing around with Loll's Splash Watercolouring technique (see Loll's video HERE) and ended up with 2 pieces that I liked using Picked Raspberry and Fired Brick DI's.  Here's my 1st card:

I die cut a SSS Mum Flower Frame to cover my piece of red and pink watercoloured background and then added a simple birthday sentiment from Gina K.  Here's a closer up so you can see some of the red as the pink seemed to dominate this panel:

I also added a few light red gemstones to the center of the flower to help pull out some of the red in the background.  Pretty simple card but I like how it turned out!!

For my 2nd card I used the flower image from Altenews Best Mom set and heat embossed it in white.  It did not show up very well competing with the busyness of the splashed panel, so I fussy cut the image out...first with a bit of a border, but it still didn't look right, so I fussy cut again right against the embossed edges and I liked that much better!  Here's a closer up view:

The fussy cutting was the hardest part of this card, and although I really enjoy fussy cutting, cutting this close to the edge of the embossing was a bit time consuming with lots of praying that I wouldn't cut where I shouldn't!!  But anyway, I attached it to a white card base and added another Gina K sentiment and a few iridescent sequins to finish off my card.

We would love to see you in the gallery, so check out all the beautiful inspiration from the DT and our special GD Darnell, and then play along with us right HERE.

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

CAS Stencil Challenge Feb. 2019

Hello friends.  This month's CAS Stencil Challenge is all about using powdered inks through your stencils.

This was a FUN challenge and if you've never used powdered inks through your stencils before, Loll has a couple great video's you can watch HERE.

I used a portion of a very LARGE stencil I had purchased from AliExpress and I liked the monoprint (the 2nd print) better because of the vibrancy of the color.  It took me a bit to realize why my first prints were so light was because all the spaces in the stencil I used were so small...I had more of my Brusho's and Lindy's Magicals on the actual stencil than I did through the openings of the stencil.  Here's a photo of my 2 tries:

Both bottom pieces were from misting and then pulling the stencil off the cardstock.  The top pieces were both from turning my wet stencils over and pressing into another piece of cardstock.  I still like the bottom pieces, but they're just not as vibrant.

I ended up and used one of the top pieces for my card today and came up with this:

I cut my piece down a little to fit behind a Pierced Feature Frame (PTI) die cut in Raspberry Fizz cardstock and adhered both to a white card base.  I stacked 4 of Penny Black's Bashful die cuts together and added them along with a sentiment stamped in black from an old SU! set called Sincere Salutations.

Here's a closer up so you can see a bit more detail of the stenciled layer.  I used orange Brusho's, Raspberry Lemonade Magicals, and a touch of Merlot Brusho's to achieve the colors in the background stenciled layer.

This was a FUN challenge and one I'm definitely going to be playing around with a bit more!!  Check out all the GORGEOUS cards from the DT for inspiration and then play along right HERE.  This challenge is open till the 24th.

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

The Flower Challenge #29

Hello friends.  Playing along with this month's The Flower Challenge where we are being asked to use our latest flower/die purchase on our card.

My latest flower purchase was the Dainty Bouquet set from Altenew.  This set was made with the main image to be done in a neutral, and then the layering steps done in color.  I have 2 cards to share as I wasn't sure I liked my first try with white ink on gray cardstock.  Take a look:

I stamped HA white pigment ink on Smoky Slate cs with the main image, and then let dry overnight.  For my pinks I used Altenew's Pinkalicious and Razzleberry inks and for the greens Volcano Lake and Lagoon inks.  I like the white against the gray, but was not thrilled with my alignment of the colored stamping layers.

For my 2nd attempt, I used Morning Frost ink against the gray cs and came up with the this:

My alignment came out better on this 2nd try (practice makes perfect...almost!) and I used Gina K reds and greens for the layered stamping.  My sentiment on both cards is from SSS's Sketched Flowers set.  A little bit of baker's twine and some iridescent sequins finished off both cards.

Here they are both together...which one do YOU like best?  I'm actually leaning toward my first try with the pinks, but I will definitely be experimenting with more neutrals and colors to find a color combo that really tickles my fancy!!

Check out all the BEAUTIFUL inspiration from the talented DT and all the lovely cards that are already in the gallery too!  You can find it all and how to play along right HERE.

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