Colour Q Challenge #361

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Colour Q Challenge today, where they have some delicious Fall colors for us to play with.

Don't you just LOVE that pop of turquoise in there?!!  I combined a couple sets and came up with this whimsical little card:

I made a "smooshed" water color background using Tangerine Tango and Tempting Turquoise inks and then heat embossed in white the leaves from PTI's Stylized Autumn.  I also stamped a few of the tiny flowers from this set in the Tangerine Tango and Tempting Turquoise inks randomly.  I matted this layer to a piece of Early Espresso cs and then layered that onto a kraft card base.  My sentiment and Hedgehog are from MFT's Happy Hedgehogs.  Pretty simple card, but I really kind of like how it turned out!  :0)

Still a little bit of time to play along with this challenge, so check it all out right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)

 

Make It Monday #262 - Pumpkin Stamps 3 Ways

Hello friends.  Ashley is up this week for the Make It Monday challenge, and she is showing 3 different ways to use pumpkin stamps...traditional, unique, & trendy.  I thought I was going for trendy, but the more I look at it, I think I went more traditional.  What do you think??

I chose my colors (Orange Zest, Simply Chartreuse, & Lemon Tart) by looking at the color chart on the package of PTI's Perfect Match Color Collection, thinking they looked nice and bright and trendy??  Maybe not, but it is what it is and I like it!  :0)  I used both of Kay Miller's new sets, Spooky Smiles (pumpkins, single leaves & curly cue's) and Stylized Autumn (leaf swag and flowers).  The sentiment is also from Stylized Autumn.  Some splattering, twine, and a few sequins finished up my card.

Finally got a chance to make my Tiny Town: Spookville Manor that I didn't have time to get made for last month (HERE) and thought you might like to see!

I know it looks a little top heavy on the Mason jar, but I still love how it turned out!  Betsy has such a knack for adding all the perfect little additions to add onto these houses, and believe me, I added them all!!  Fun, fun project, and so glad I took the time to make one!  :0)

Make sure you take time to stop over at NICHOLE HEADY'S site and check out Ashley's video and lovely cards, and then play along.  :0)

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

Merry Monday #215 - Dark & Light Pink w/ Gray or Silver

Hello friends.  This week at Merry Monday, the fabulous Kristie is back as a Guest Designer, and she is asking us to do a color challenge and use dark & light pinks, and gray or silver on our Christmas cards. 

Isn't that just the cutest graphic?!!  I decided to make a shaker card and used an older SU! set called We Woosh You.  Take a look:

I stamped the snowman with Versamark and then heat embossed with silver.  Next I masked off the snowman and stamped the trees a few times also in Versamark, and once again heat embossed in silver.  I used black Stazon ink to stamp my sentiment on the clear acetate I used for my window piece and then attached that to a Gina Marie Designs Scalloped and Stitched Border die cut.  I also used the same die to cut out a piece of fun foam to give me the depth I needed for the Pretty Pink Posh sequins to move around freely.  Here's a closer up view for you:

So now it's your turn and we can't wait to see what you come up with using this color combo!  Stop on over to the MERRY MONDAY site for more inspiration and all the info you need to play along! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)

September 2016 Challenge with Birgit & Patti

Hello friends.  It's that time of the month where BIRGIT, PATTI and I challenge ourselves to think outside the box!  Well, it was definitely a challenge for me this month!  And that's good, because sometimes (OK, a LOT of the time!!) I tend to get too comfortable using the same stamp sets and layouts over and over again!!  Patti picked the challenge this month, and wanted us to use ANY of the Inspired sets, the Forget Me Not set, and the Winter or Spring Woods sets.  It took me a little time to get into this challenge, but once I did, I had no problem coming up with 5 cards for this challenge.  My first 4 cards follow the seasons, and my last card was just because I wanted to make another card!  :0)

So let's start with Spring:

I started with the Spring Woods Cover Plate die cut (Thank you Nancy Penir...you sent me a few of these a loooooong time ago and I finally used one!!) that I placed over a white card base.  My little floral clusters from the Forget Me Not set were stamped in Blueberry Sky, Enchanted Evening, Bright Buttercup, and New Leaf inks.  I used the same blues on the bird from the Spring Woods set and for the stacked die cut "Praise" from the Inspired: Praise set.  The rest of the sentiment was embossed with white on black cardstock.

A very simple card for Summer comes next:

I called this one Summer simply because I love purple flowers in the Summer.  I used Amethyst Allure, Royal Velvet, Summer Sunrise, and Simply Chartreuse inks for the flowers.  I die cut a circle using a Lil Inkers stitched circle die and added my sentiment to that using the Inspired: Grace set.  A little strip of striped DSP, some sequins, and bakers twine finished off this simple card.

Fall comes next:

This card may be little (3 3/4" X 3 3/4"), but I love how it turned out!  I used some more Gina Marie Design dies for the rounded and stitched squares and also for the twig wreath.  My flowers and bird were stamped in Summer Sunrise, Canyon Clay, Simply Chartreuse, & black inks.  I used the Inspired: Blessed set and Canyon Clay cardstock to cut the "Blessed" multiple times, and then finished off with a few Rainstones and some twine.

And finally Winter:

 

Of course I had to use the Cardinal for Winter!  I started with watercolor cardstock for this card and used my Aqua Painter on the pine branches I stamped in Simply Chartreuse.  Because I didn't want to take away from the Cardinal or the watercolored branches, and still wanted to use the flowers from Forget Me Not, I used just the very centers from the flowers in Scarlet Jewel ink and then used my Aqua Painter on those too.  I'm hoping they look a little bit like Winter berries!  My sentiment on this one uses the Inspired: Grace set again.  A few clear sequins and some matting finished up this card.

And last, but not least, a card that uses a few of my favorite PTI colors:

 
I absolutely LOVE Autumn Rose and Scarlet Jewel inks together, and I hadn't used my Inspired: Prayer set yet, so those were the inspirations for this last card.  I love using the ombre coloring on these stacked die cut sentiments too...I think it makes for such a pretty focal point!  Most of these cards will be going to my dear friend Nora (who I mentioned before in this post) who is battling with ALS...prayers and cards for this sweet lady would definitely be appreciated!!).

Like I said in the beginning of my post, I was a little leery of trying to use all these stamp sets together, but in the end, I had a blast and think my cards came out pretty good!  Hope you enjoyed them too, and PLEASE make sure you stop by BIRGIT and PATTI'S blogs too as I know they will both inspire you also to get these fabulous Papertrey Ink sets out and play.  Comments are ALWAYS appreciated, and thanks so much for sticking it out through this loooooong post!

 

Papertrey Ink September 2016 Blog Hop Challenge

Hello friends.  It's that happy time of the month again, where Papertrey Ink has their monthly blog hop challenge.  This months inspiration photo is fabulous!!

And here's what I came up with:

I used the colors, greenery, pinecones, clothespin, and twine from the inspiration photo to get started and the rest just all came together...don't you just love it when a card comes together like that?!!  The "grateful" die cuts in the background are from the Counting My Blessings die set, and I sponged them with some Soft Suede ink before gluing them down to my kraft layer.  The black in the photo reminded me of chalkboard for some reason, so I cut out a bookmark tag (Basic Bookmark #3) in black, cut it down, and stamped with white pigment ink using the Alphabet Soup stamp.  I cut the bookmark tag again with white to add to the top of the black bookmark tag (like Dawn McVey did on one of her cards this last release...LOVED that look!!) and stamped my sentiment from Meadow Greens.  And of course I HAD to use my new Holiday Greens stamp and die set for my ferns and pinecones.  And my new Olive Twist ink and cardstock too.  Here's a little bit closer up view:

The fern on the Olive Twist cardstock was stamped and embossed with clear embossing powder to give it a nice little shine, and then I finished with a bit of twine and a clothespin.

This was such a fun challenge to play with and I'm feeling a lot like Heather Nichols today!  Hope you all had fun playing and hopping along too...now I need to go see what everyone else came up with!!  All the info you need to play along can be found right HERE.

Hope you'll all come back again tomorrow to see what BIRGIT,  PATTI and I have come up with for our monthly challenge using the following PTI sets:  Winter/Spring Woods, the Inspired sets, and the Forget Me Not set.  Hopefully between the 3 of us, we'll inspire you to get these sets out and see what you can come up with!  :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)

Double D Challenge - Trees, Trees, Trees

Hello friends.  The Double D Challenge right now is to use trees on your card, and how perfect that I had just made a couple cards using a PB stamp called Woodland Wonder. 

 
I started both cards by inking up the stamp with Memento Black ink and also using my MISTI, so that I could stamp multiple times to make sure I had a nice crisp image.  Next I simply blended in a few different distress inks for each one...Weathered Wood and Stormy Sky for my Winter scene, and Peeled Paint, Stormy Sky, Fired Brick, & Spiced Marmalade for my Summer scene.  On the Winter scene one, I splattered some water and white pigment ink to give the look of a snowy day.  Both were then sprayed with Sparkle Shimmer Spritz (which you can't see in my photos...sorry!) and then layered with black and mounted to a white card base.  I didn't add sentiments yet because I'm not sure what I will use them for yet. 

Here is the picture board provided for inspiration:

Aren't these just beautiful photo's?!!  You have until midnight, October 2nd to play along with this challenge, so what are you waiting for?  It's the perfect season to get out those tree stamps and dies and play along!  Lots more inspiration over at the DOUBLE D CHALLENGE BLOG, so check it out and play!!  :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)

Make It Monday #261 - Using Florals on a Masculine Project

Hello friends.  Betsy is showing us on this weeks Make It Monday challenge how to use our floral stamps to make a masculine card.  Betsy's card is absolutely gorgeous (can you say that about a guy card??) and I would have loved to CASE it completely, but tried to come up with one on my own, and I actually kind of like it!  Take a look:

I had been playing with the marbling technique with shaving cream again (and took Colleen's advice and did it by the kitchen sink this time...much easier to clean up!!), so used a piece of that as my starting point on the side of the card. (re-inker colors used: Canyon Clay, Classic Kraft, & Spring Rain)  I have always thought the Sun from the What the Doodle: Sun stamp set looked like a Sunflower, so I die cut one from Canyon Clay and Summer Sunrise cardstock to use as my floral for this card.  I added a few die cut leaves from the Floral Sketches stamp set inked in Spring Rain and edged with Classic Kraft.  Before gluing anything down I used one of the ferns from Meadow Greens inked with Classic Kraft and spritzed with water on my card base.  The berries die cut is stamped with America ink and is from the Spruce & Sprigs set, and my sentiment is from Keep it Simple: Birthday.  A simple blue button tied with some twine finished off my masculine card.

Although I was quite intimidated at first with this challenge, I'm glad I played along as it was really fun to see what I could do to transform some of my more "girlie" stamps!  Betsy's video is great and has lots of wonderful tips on how to do this too!  So take the plunge and play along...you can find Betsy's fabulous card, video, and all the info you  need to play along right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!!  :0)

 

Merry Monday #214 - WARM Winter Wishes

Hello friends.  Kathy is our hostess this week at Merry Monday, and she is asking you to create a card with something WARM on it. 

Here's what I came up with from the inspiration photo:

Don't know why, but the package on the inspiration photo reminded me of a sled, so that was my starting point for my card.  I used SU!'s Winter Wishes and the Woodland ef to create my card, along with a little Tumbled Glass distress ink (background), and Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, & Old Olive inks to stamp the sled, branches, and sponging around the Birch tree's.  I also added a bit of twine to my sled to give it a bit more of a realistic look and my sentiment was heat embossed in white...and how perfect that it says Warm Wishes!  :0)

Only 14 more weeks till Christmas, so come and play along with us at MERRY MONDAY's and we'll help you beat the mad rush to get those cards done!  So think WARM this week and play along with us!  You can see some absolutely beautiful inspiration to get you started and check out how to play along all right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)

September 2016 CAS MIx Up Challenge

Hello friends.  The challenge this month over at CAS Mix Up is to use marbling on your card.  I haven't used this technique since the first year I started stamping back in 1999, so I took the refresher course and watched the Gina K video.  It was a fun but messy technique, and this is what I came up with:

I've been in Christmas mode lately, so I used Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Old Olive & Certainly Celery re-inkers to come up with my marbleized paper.  I heat embossed in black my sentiment from Penny Black (Yuletide Wishes), die cut my marble layer and cherry cobbler layer with Gina Marie Design square dies, and then dry embossed my white layer with SU!'s Northern Flurry ef.  A few rhinestones and some cherry cobbler bakers twine finished off this card.  Because Gina K had suggested in her video that while you are doing this technique, make more than one sheet, so here's a couple more cards that aren't necessarily CAS, but still turned out pretty:

 

The card on the left uses a sentiment from the same Penny Black Yuletide Wishes stamp set, and the card on the right uses another Penny Black set called Rejoice With Joy...absolutely LOVING their Autumn and Winter new releases this year!! 

As great as Gina K's video was (and all the other ones listed on the CAS Mix Up site), I feel it would be remiss of me not to mention a few things I learned that were not included in the video's:

1.  Your marbled paper will be VERY busy...choose a solid image or bold sentiment that will stand out...or even a solid die cut.  I had this vision in my head of using a very detailed Poinsettia stamp, but it got lost in the busyness of the marbled paper, and hence I lost a really nice piece of marbled paper.

2.  The first paper you put down on the shaving cream/re-inker colors will be the brightest, with each successive paper being lighter.  Therefore, practice on your lightest paper first (the last one you did), so in case it doesn't turn out like you thought, you still have your brightest and boldest colored marbled paper left to play with. 

3.  And finally, choose a scent of shaving cream that you really, REALLY like, as the smell will linger in your craft room for days (and days!!).

 
I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment, I used marbled paper, I die cut, and I dry embossed on my first card, so I think I hit all the requirements!  :0)

You still have a week and a half to play along with this challenge, so get out your re-inkers and shaving cream, and play along!  You can find all the info you need right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)

September 2016 Create Along With Us

Hello friends.  On Saturday when Papertrey Ink showed us the first day of reveals, I knew it was kind of early to be picking a card to CASE for the Create Along With Us challenge, but fell totally head over heals in love with Dawn's card:

I not only fell in love with the Aqua Mist card base (I always use white!!), but also how she used her MISTI to do all the color blending on each of the greenery pieces.  I don't know why that had never sunk into me before, but it was like a lightbulb moment for me!  I got out Dawn's set from last year (Spruce & Sprigs) and spent quite a bit of the afternoon experimenting with different colors of ink and blending them together using my MISTI and a TH blending tool.  I probably have enough pieces to make 5 or 6 cards, but by then only had time to make one, and I absolutely love how it turned out!

 
I used a bunch of different colors:  Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado, Ocean Tides, Classic Kraft, Canyon Clay, Pure Poppy & Scarlet Jewel.  My sentiment is from an older PTI set Christmas Blessings, and I also added some Rainstones and a piece of twine to finish it off.  I tried to take a closer up photo so you could see the different colors blended, but it's not real clear:

I have seen so many fabulous cards already with this release, and want to CASE them all!  Hopefully my budget cooperates this month so that I can play with all these beautiful new sets coming out...I really think I NEED them all!!  :0)

I'm guessing there's going to be a full gallery this week, as I can't imagine anyone NOT being inspired by all fabulous cards the DT has come up with for this release.  You can see it all and play along right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)

Merry Monday #213

Hello friends.  It's time for another challenge at Merry Mondays, and this week our hostess is Debbie Henderson.  Debbie has given us a fabulous inspiration photo (see below) and we can't wait to see what you all come up with this week!  I chose to go with the red & white color scheme (obviously!!) and the snowflakes...

I kept my card fairly CAS and used a SSS Holiday Frames die with Real Red cardstock centered on a white card base.  Next I stamped this cute little bird from Penny Black's Winter Wonderland set, and shaded just a bit with a C1 Copic and a little bit of R29 Copic for the hat.  I also added some Dazzling Diamonds (SU!) to the hat.  I finished by adding a few Impression Obsession die cut snowflakes (DIE100-F) inside the frame.  Quick and easy, and any time you use those Penny Black birdies, your card turns out CUTE!!!

Here is Debbie's inspiration photo:



Wouldn't you love to sit down to a Christmas dinner at this table?!  Can't wait to see what you all come up with for your cards using this photo as inspiration!  As always, you have one week to play along, and also don't forget to leave comments on at least 3 of your fellow players blogs...everyone loves receiving a compliment once in awhile!  You can find all the info you need to play along right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)

ColourQ Challenge #358

Hello friends.  Playing along with this week's challenge over at ColourQ.  Loved the seaside feel to the inspiration photo, so I went along with that theme and the colors: So Saffron, Night of Navy, Cool Caribbean, Poppy Parade, & white.

Used my PTI Chevron Cover Plate die to make my background (thinking waves) with Night of Navy, So Saffron, and Pool Party (didn't have Cool Caribbean cardstock).  Next I added a die cut circle that I stenciled with PTI's Sun & Surf stencils using Cool Caribbean ink, and then added my die cut sailboat from PTI's What the Doodle: Waves stamp set with Real Red ink (closest to Poppy Parade that I had!).  My sentiment is from PTI's Petite Pots and stamped in Real Red on a banner die cut from PTI's Quilted tag.  I finished with a few enamel dots and some red & white bakers twine.  This card will be going to my good friend Nora who is battling with ALS, and these past couple weeks have not been good for her.  For all of you prayer warrior's out there, if you could please send some extra prayers her way, I know she would be thrilled.  She has always been such a perfect example of what sharing Jesus's light should look like, and now when she needs some extra encouragement, I would love to be able to offer it to her.  If anyone would be interested in sending a card her way also, please email me (mrhill13@comcast.net) and I will get her address to you...thank you!!

There is still time to play along with this latest challenge, so check out all the inspiration and then play along too.  You can find all the info you need right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)