Happy Birthday LeAnne! (Merry Monday & MIM#174 - Diamond Wallpaper Stamping)

Good morning friends.  I'm combining 2 challenges today, and playing along with Merry Monday's who are having a surprise birthday blog hop for LeAnne (she turned 60 on Monday!!) and also with Papertrey Ink's "Make it Monday" challenge where Ashley shows us how to use our stamps to make diamond wallpaper backgrounds. 

I have to be honest here, and tell you I cheated a bit with my background, as I didn't have any PTI stamps that would really make a diamond pattern. (good reason to buy more, right?!!)  So I started with a retired SU! background stamp called "Print Pattern" and stamped off Smokey Slate ink to make my diamond pattern, and then used the "string" stamp from PTI's "Birthday Style" to stamp my definition lines.  Take a look:

I used one of the flower centers from "Beautiful Blooms" (PTI) and Pretty in Pink and Pool Party inks to stamp the little dots on the background.  I kept with those 2 colors for the rest of the card too, using one of the little Christmas birds from Penny Black's "Winter Wonderland" set (by not coloring the Santa hat red, it looks like a "party" hat, right?!!) and then the sentiment and balloon from the "Birthday Style" (PTI) set.  A little bit of glitter for the hat, and a pop dot for the balloon, and I have a cute little card for the birthday girl!  LeAnne always leaves the nicest comments when you play along with the Merry Monday challenges, and deserves many, many birthday wishes for this special milestone birthday! :0)

And make sure you check out Ashley's great card and video, and all the other entries (and COOL and surprising diamond backgrounds!!) over on Nichole Heady's Blog . 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Wednesday!  It's cool enough here in my "neck of the woods" that I'm going to go try a new recipe for berry scones and if they turn out, I'll take them along to my bible study this morning! :0) 

Tag You're It! Challenge #2

Good morning friends.  Playing along with a brand new challenge today that just started a few weeks ago.  This challenge is all about "tags", and I love making them, so why not play along?!!  The inspiration this week was by Laura Bassen and you can see her beautiful tag and find out all the information to play along right here .  Here is my take on Laura's tag:

Ink:  Melon Mambo, Tangelo Twist, & Daffodil Delight (SU!)
Dies:  Tag Sale #8 (PTI), Prim Poppy (Memory Box), Hello (Serendipity Stamps)
Stencil: Texture Diamond (Memory Box)
Accessories:  Flower Charm (Michael's), Clear Sequins (Pink Posh)

Here's a picture of the small kraft gift bag that I attached my tag to:

What a perfect way to decorate and present a small gift, right?!  This little bag is going to my cousin Sue who is coming to visit today, and since I still had my stencil and inked up sponges out, I decided to add a little something extra to the inside (on top of what I had already planned for the inside).  Excuse my poor lighting as it was nighttime when I took the photo!

Who doesn't love a little chocolate all decorated up, right?!

And here is a picture of Laura's beautiful inspiration tag:

 

Make sure you check out all the other entries too, as there are some really beautiful tags entered into this challenge...LOTS to inspire you!! :0)

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Monday!

 

Papertrey Ink July 2014 Blog Hop

Good morning friends.  Playing along with the monthly blog hop over at Papertrey Ink today, and what an awesome inspiration photo they gave to get us motivated!  There were SO many different elements to the photo that I loved, that I couldn't just pick one!!  So I didn't and used quite a few of them and love how my card(s) came out!  Take a look:

I used the 2 main colors from the inspiration photo (Pure Poppy & Spring Rain) as my starting point, and then because the photo reminded me of Melissa Phillips, I tried to make my card like one of hers! :0)  I started with a size that she always uses (3.5 x 5.5), a kraft cardstock base, and then just started adding elements from the photo.  I used "Wreath for All Seasons", "Bird's & Blooms", and "Blooming Button Bits" stamp sets (all PTI) for my wreath, the bird (which I polka dotted with my white gel pen), and my sentiment.  If you click to enlarge the photo, you can also see that I used my Aqua Painter to the red berries on the wreath to give a bit of a softer effect...really like how that turned out!

I usually make 2 cards so that if I really like something that I've done, I can still send one out, and then have another one to keep for awhile...I know, I'm crazy!!  But anyway, I changed up my 2nd card just a tiny bit. 

I used the "Tag Sale #4" die to stamp my wreath on this time, and also added a few flowers from the "Birds & Blooms" stamp set.  I switched up my ribbon, the sentiment, and also added a piece of washi tape to this one. 

Here's the inspiration photo:

It will be fun to see how everyone else interpreted this photo, so head on over to Nichole Heady's site right here and check it all out!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! :0)

Make it Monday #173 - No Outline Watercolor

Good morning friends.  Heather Nichols over at Papertrey Ink has a great video (and BEAUTIFUL card!!) for this weeks Make it Monday challenge, and let's just say it was definitely a challenge for me!  After reading through the blogs of those who have posted cards to this challenge already, I realize that I am NOT alone in being challenged in the area of water coloring!  Being challenged is a good thing though, as it teaches me new things and how to get out of my comfort zones!  Water coloring is definitely something I'm going to have to practice on, but here are my 2 efforts:

This was my first try using the Simple Sunflower set (PTI), and while I love the colors (Berry Sorbet, Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse, & Harvest Gold), I'm not thrilled with how the flowers actually turned out!  There's not enough definition between the leaves like Heather was able to do with her flower.  I know, I know...practice makes perfect!  Anyway, on to try # 2:

Had to try out my new Botanical Blocks II, and while it's by NO means perfect, it's a bit better than my first try!  (actually, I think it's the rainstones that make me like it better...I'm going to be SO sad when those are gone!!!!!)  I used Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding, Winter Wisteria, & Simply Chartreuse inks for my lilac, and the sentiment is from Think Big Favorites: #24 (PTI).

While I may have struggled with this technique, it was still fun, and you can learn all about it and play along right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Wednesday!  (Psssssst!  Only 7 weeks till my first grandchild arrives!  If he/she arrives on time that is! :0)  Can you tell  I'm a little bit excited??????!!!!!!!!! )  

Fluffy Feather

Good morning friends.  Took a class a few weeks back on making masculine cards (love making all the flowery and bright cards but really struggle with guy cards!!), and one of the cards we made used a Memory Box die called "Fluffy Feather".  I finally had a chance to pull it out this weekend and make a card with it.  Take a look:

Pretty CAS looking, but actually has a few elements to it!  I started by inking my background with Bashful Blue and Marina Mist inks and then used VersaMark ink and white embossing powder over the background with SU!'s "En Francais" stamp.  On my top layer I used the die to cut out the feather, and then also sponged that with the Bashful Blue and Marina Mist inks.  I then stamped the flourish from SU!'s "Priceless" stamp set in Marina Mist ink on top of the feather and then offset it over the feather negative space.  I added the Thinking of You from PTI's new "Keep it Simple: Thinking of You" stamp set.  I then pop dotted this layer and added a few sequins.  Here's a closer up view of the detail:

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Monday! :0)

Beautiful Brushstrokes

Finally got a chance to play yesterday with PTI's Make-It Market "Beautiful Brushstrokes" stamp set.  Betsy and all the design team members made this set look so easy, but I struggled a little and had to practice quite a bit before I dared use any of watercolor paper that came with the kit.  I did come up with a card that I liked though...it just took a bit of perseverance!  Take a look:

The flowers in this set are a 3 step, but I only used 2...the outline stamp and the middle one.  After stamping the 2 steps in Aqua Mist and Real Red inks, I used my Aqua Painter to smooth out the color a bit.  I used Simply Chartreuse for the leaves and again my Aqua Painter to fill them in.  Here's a closer up view:

I finished up my card with a bit of twine and a few of the rainstones that came with the kit.  This is definitely a stamp set that I'll have to practice with some more, but hopefully the extra practice will produce some beautiful cards! 

Thanks you so much for stopping by today, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.



Merry Monday #117 - Use Sequins

Good morning friends.  Merry Monday's is asking us to use sequins on our Christmas cards this week, and for any of you who follow me, you know I use sequins on just about every card I make lately!  This was definitely no hardship for me! :0)  Last week I made a card with the PTI stamp set "Wreath for All Seasons" and the baby wipe stamp pad technique.  I admitted that I really needed to have used a more solid image than the twig wreath for all the colors to show up in the baby wipe technique, so I'm entering another wreath card this week with the same technique, but using the "Rustic Wreath" die.  Take a look:

A very CAS card, but I love how the wreath turned out on this one!  I die cut the wreath first, gently pushed it facedown into my baby wipe stamp pad, and then re-inserted it back into it's negative space.  The re-inker colors I used were Gumball Green, Old Olive, & Certainly Celery.  I added my little clusters of red sequins, stamped my sentiment (from "Rustic Wreath"), matted with a layer of Real Red cs and mounted to a white card base.  Easy peasy and done! :0)

Since I had the Rustic Wreath stamp set out, I made another card with the wreath stamp instead of the die:

I used the baby wipe stamp pad again to stamp the wreath, and then used my Aqua Painter and the stamp pad to fill in the leaves.  I like this one too, but not as much as my first one.

If you love sequins like me, then check out all the beautiful cards and information to play along right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Wednesday!  :0)

Make it Monday #172 - Rainbow Medallions

Good morning friends.  Playing along with Dawn McVey and Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday challenge today, and Dawn has challenged us to find a stamp that we can use repeatedly in a rainbow circle.   I took a bit of a playful approach to this challenge as anyone who knows me, knows that I've got "baby" on the brain with our first grandchild due in just 8 weeks! :0)  Take a look:



I used the giraffe from PTI's "Sweet Baby" stamp set and basically just inked up the head and neck as I made my way around with the different colored inks.  I did use a pencil and ruler to make a few marks, or I knew I would have giraffe heads going every which direction!  I also laid out all my colors just like Dawn suggested, and then I don't know where  I went wrong, but I didn't stamp my colors in the right "rainbow" order.  Oh well, still think it turned out pretty darn cute (IMHO!!)!  Here's a closer up view of the center:

I have to give a BIG thank you to Colleen who made a rainbow colored sentiment in the middle of her medallion, and I fell in love with the idea and had to CASE her!  I did do mine a little differently and used the edges of my ink pads to create my rainbow and then used the "baby" die (PTI) to cut it out.  I used the following inks to make my rainbow:  Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, Harvest Gold, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, Melon Berry, & Limeade Ice. 

This was a fun technique, and some of the cards already posted have used stamps that I never would have thought of using and made fabulous cards!  You can check out Dawn's video, great card, all the other entries, and info on how to play along all right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Tuesday!  I'm off to go baby shopping with my daughter who has some coupons for Buy Buy Baby that are burning a whole in her pocket! :0)

Feeling Sentimental

Hello friends.  Have 3 cards to share with you today that all feature the old fashioned bicycle from SU!'s "Feeling Sentimental" set.  A friend from my bible study was telling me about her neighbor who is going to be 85 next month, and who still rides her bicycle 3 or 4 miles a couple times a week, and could I make a card with a bicycle.......   Well of course I can make a card...or two or three! :0)  I'll let her decide what one she likes best.  They are all very simple cards, but I really like how they all turned out.  I hadn't played with this set since it came out (few years ago???), and had forgotten what a fun stamp set it was!  Take a look:

For my first card, I used a speckled off white colored cardstock (local stamp shop) and Melon Mambo cardstock and ink.  I stamped the bicycle 3 times without re-inking from right to left to make it look in motion.  I also used SU!'s new large dot embossing folder for my background...absolutely LOVE this ef!!  My sentiment is computer generated.

Next up I used the same stamp with Bermuda Bay cardstock and ink (and the off white speckled cs).  I used the "En Francais" background stamp (SU!) in Smokey Slate ink and the largest of the flourishes from "Flowering Flourishes" (also SU!) in Bermuda Bay ink.  I used my Nestability dies for the circle and scalloped circle.  The sentiment is again computer generated.

My last card uses kraft and cream colored cardstocks with Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, and Pretty in Pink inks.  If you click to enlarge the photo, you can see that I used the baby wipe technique again to stamp the bicycle with Soft Suede and Pretty in Pink inks.  My background is a Tim Holtz stencil that I sponged with Crumb Cake ink.  The sentiment on this card is actually from the "Feeling Sentimental" stamp set.

This was a fun little project for me this weekend (along with cleaning out my stamp room which was and wasn't so much fun!!).  Hope you all had a great weekend too!  Thanks so much for stopping by...I love it when you do! :0)

On the Farm

Just a quick post this morning, but wanted to share a really cute (IMHO!!) card I made with Papertrey Ink's "On the Farm" stamp set. 



I'm loving the stenciled look for backgrounds, but I'm guessing everyone else is too, as I'm having a hard time finding the stencils at my local craft stores!  I wanted to use a "chicken wire" stencil for my background on this card but could only find the "honeycomb"...oh well, close enough!  I do love the soft and vintage-y look it gives a card!  After stamping the sunrise scene in Harvest Gold and Simply Chartreuse inks, I cut it apart and pop dotted the bottom section and also the rooster to give some dimension.  Here's a closer look:

I stamped the rooster lightly in Baked Brown Sugar ink, and then inked just around the edges in Soft Suede ink (and Cherry Cobbler for the head).  Added some Dazzling Diamonds to some of the sun bursts, but it's kind of hard to see unless you enlarge the photo.  Stamped the cow the same way as the rooster, but also used my Aqua Painter to add the "splotches" to his body to make him look a bit more realistic.  Fun, fun card to make, and can't wait to make some more! :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend.  We're painting this weekend....well, I should say the hubby is painting and I'm directing! :0)  Just re-doing the basement and a bedroom that we just did a couple years ago, but I didn't like the color after we got it up...Chris says this is absolutely the LAST time, so I better have the color right this time!  I do...going with the same color as I have on the main level and I love that!  Just a beige (Behr's "Cup of Cocoa") neutral that I can accent with ANY color! :0) 

Merry Monday #116 - Shades of Green and White

Shades of green called out to me to use the baby wipe technique again for this weeks Merry Monday challenge.  Although I learned you need to use a more solid image to really bring out the beauty of this technique, I do like how my card turned out.  Take a look:

I used the twig wreath from PTI's "Wreath for All Seasons" and my stamp pad (baby wipe) is made up of Gumball Green, Old Olive, & Certainly Celery re-inkers. (clicking to enlarge the photo will help you see all the colors better)  I used the same stamp pad for my background with a Tim Holtz "Bubble" stencil.  The sentiment is from PTI's "Rustic Wreath" stamp set.

 



You can check out all the other cards and get all the info needed to play along right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by and make sure to come back tomorrow...I have a fun card to share using PTI's "On the Farm" stamp set.  Who knew a little old city girl like me would end up lovin a set like this?!!!  :0)

Make it Monday #171: Pop Up Die Cuts

Betsy has a great video this week on how to use your dies and make them "pop up"!

I only have a couple PTI die's that are symmetrical, so I was a little limited this week.  Good thing I love the butterfly dies from "Life is Beautiful"!! :0)

I didn't want to completely copy Betsy's card, so I changed up the colors and also used the baby wipe stamp pad technique  from a few weeks ago.  Little hard to see, but the bottom layer of my butterfly and my sentiment were stamped using Melon Mambo, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, & Pretty in Pink inks.  Fun technique and makes you look at your dies in a whole new way! :0)

Check out Betsy's video, beautiful card, and all the info to play along right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Make it Monday #170 & ColourQ Challenge #248

Good morning friends and Happy 4th!  Playing along with a couple challenges today.  This weeks Make it Monday challenge with Erin Lincoln shows how to use die cuts as masks to make a one layer card, and you can find all the information to play along on Nichole Heady's Blog .  I am also entering my card into a new to me challenge, called the ColourQ Challenge where the colors they've challenged us to use are very patriotic!  Since the dies and stamp set I chose to use for my card reminded me of fireworks, this color challenge worked out perfectly!  Take a look:

I used Papertrey Ink's "Funky Florals" stamp set and dies for my card...don't they look like fireworks just bursting out of the sky?! :0)  Little hard to tell in my photo, but I added glitter to make them sparkle just like fireworks too.  After putting my masks down and before I started sponging the background, I used a canvas background stamp (SU!) in Sahara Sand ink to give a little more dimension to my card.  For my sponging layer, I used Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy, and Real Red (stamped off so it looked more like Ruby Red, which I do not have) inks.  After removing the masks and stamping the flowers/fireworks, I used my Aqua Painter to add some water spots.  I finished with the glitter and a few sequins and my sentiment from PTI's "Wet Paint" stamp set.  I really like how my funky, artsy fartsy card turned out, and I plan on adding it to my stash of cards that I can send to our youngest when she heads back to college in the fall.

There's still time to play along with both of these challenges, and you can find all the information in the links above.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope all of you have a fun and safe 4th of July today! :0)

Merry Monday #115 - White on White

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Merry Monday challenge, and this week we are being asked to make an ALL white Christmas card.  This was a fun challenge, and I ended up using PTI's "Rustic Wreath" die and the "Snowflake Ornament" die from Memory Box.  Take a look:

 

White on white is a bit hard to photograph, but hopefully you can see all the detail.  Here's a closer up shot:

I cut out the Snowflake Ornament 4 times and glued it together, and then covered it in Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  I made it thicker so that the recipient of this card can untie it from the ribbon and use it as an actual Christmas ornament on their tree!  I used a MS punch for the smaller snowflakes to add a little more visual interest.  The sentiment is from the "Rustic Wreath" stamp set from PTI.

You can check out all the other gorgeous white cards and information to play along over at the Merry Monday Blog .

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Tuesday!