Inspired by...All The Little Things #49

Hello friends.  Getting in under the wire here, but had to play along with the challenge over at Inspired by...All The Little Things featuring the fabulous Nancy Penir!!  This is a new to me challenge and I'm really liking what I see!  Here is the inspiration photo for this challenge:

Isn't that bunny just adorable?!  I would love to have that pillow sitting out for Easter time!  Here's what I came up with:

I started with Altenew's Halftone Stencil and blended in some green, pink, and blue distress inks for my background.  My bunny is a die cut from Gina Marie Designs and I edged the bunny in pink...because well, my granddaughter LOVES pink and Nana gives Addy what Addy likes!  :0)  And of course I had to add a little pom pom for the tail...Addy will love that and most likely pick it off! (she's only 2 1/2!)  My top layer uses MFT's Peek-A-Boo window die that I added foam to the back so it created some dimension around the bunny.  My sentiment comes from the latest Hero Arts monthly kit...perfect for my little bunny!  A few pink enamel dots finished off my CAS card!


Not much time left to play (just a few hours!), but you can check out Nancy's fabulous card and all the other beauties from the DT right HERE.

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

TYIC #68

Hello friends.  Playing along with the challenge over at Tag You're It where Gayatri Murali is the Featured Artist.  Her adorable tag had me wanting in on the fun too!!

I was totally inspired by Gayatri's cute little pooch, her stenciled background, and of course the big "LOVE" sentiment!  Here's what I came up with:

Our middle daughter celebrated her 26th birthday yesterday, and since her and her husband are total miniature Dachshund lovers (they have 2...Beamer and Royce), I figured this die cut from my dear friend Birgit would be perfect for this challenge and her birthday gift!  I wish I could tell you who the die cut is by, but I'm not sure.  I know Birgit loves to use Elizabeth Craft dies, so maybe.....??  Anyway, I sponged him up for some definition and added his spiffy plaid coat and scarf.  My stenciled background is from Altenew called Halftone Stencil and I started at the bottom with some Pickled Raspberry Distress Ink and went lighter as I moved to the top of the tag.  My "Love" die cut and sentiment are from SSS's Love set.  A little bit of hot pink thick bakers twine finished off my tag.

 There is still time to play, so check out all the fun and oh so cute inspiration from Gayatri and the DT, and then play along right HERE.

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

Make It Monday #279 - Curved Sentiments

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday challenge, where Ashley shows us how to get more mileage out of our straight sentiments stamps by curving them on acrylic blocks.  I hadn't had a chance yet to play with the new Beautiful Berries: Spring yet, and ended up and made two cards.

I've gotten really hooked on using grays for leaves, and while I know it's not very realistic, I just really like the look!  I used some Raspberry Fizz for the berries and then lightly used my Aqua Painter to give a bit of a water colored look.  I used the Keep It Simple: Thinking Of You set and curved it on my acrylic block to match the curve of the oval die cut. 

For my second card I stamped the leaves and berries twice for a bit fuller look, and then used the sentiment from the Winter Woods set.  I added a few Rainstones and some hot pink thick bakers twine to finish off both cards.

Two very CAS cards and I really like how both turned out!  There's still time to play along, so check out Ashley's video and BEAUTIFUL card right HERE and then play along!

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

Merry Monday #241 - Use Red, Green, & White

Hello friends.  We have a color challenge for you this week at Merry Monday, and our hostess Deanne would like to see you use Red, Green, & White on your Christmas cards!

Don't those cherries look so festive all decorated up?!  I love this inspiration photo!  I also love traditional Christmas colors, so this was a FUN challenge for me!!

One of my last Simon Says Stamp purchases had to be this Lined Trees die set that I've seen many out there in blogland using lately...I just love the simple lines of the trees!!  I decided to keep my card pretty CAS because of the tree dies, so didn't add a whole lot else to this card!  I used Gumball Green, Certainly Celery, and Real Red cardstock for the trees, the birds (PTI's In The Meadow), the star tag (PTI's Tiny Tags), and the bottom portion of the card that I also stamped using Penny Black's Footnotes stamp.  The scalloped border is die cut using a SSS Wavy Scallop Stitches die.  I finished with a few stars at the tops of the trees and some bakers twine.

What will you come up with using the red, green, & white color scheme??  We can't wait to see!  If you need more inspiration, check out the FABULOUS cards my teammates created right HERE and then play along with us!

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

Papertrey Ink March 2017 Blog Hop

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink's monthly Blog Hop and Nichole gave us a BEAUTIFUL piece of inspiration by Victoria Johnson.

As much as I love this piece, I have to admit that I struggled to turn it into card form.  Probably because it reminds me of a summer dress I had when I was a young girl, so it reminds me of material.  Anyway, I LOVE the colors, so they were obviously the starting point for my cards!

My 1st card was also inspired by a card and technique Lizzie Jones showed HERE, where she showed how to use your stamps to build backgrounds.  I loved how she used the What The Doodle: Paisley stamp set, and had to try it out using the colors from the inspiration photo.  I used colored pencils to color in the images, and then added a curved bottom to the card by using the In The Meadow snow hill die along with some Blueberry Sky striped DSP.  I used Big Basics: Congratulations and silver mirror cardstock for my sentiment.  I also used my Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen quite liberally on this card, but of course it doesn't show...grrrrr!!

My 2nd card I'm not as thrilled with!  I still loved the colors and of course I had to play with my new Butterfly Hope stamp set, but that's where the love ended!  I think the dark background is too plain, but it's one of those cards I fiddled with for a whole day, and then finally said enough is enough!  I actually like the matching envelope better than I like the card!!

Once again, I used quite a bit of my Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen on all the butterflies, so IRL that does add some pizazz to this card and envelope!  It's not a throw away card, but just not one of my favorites!  I'm sure once I start hopping I'll be saying "Now why didn't I think of that?!!" and have all kinds of ideas on how I could have made different cards using the inspiration photo!  Oh well, I always enjoy my time in my stamp room, so it wasn't wasted time!!  :0)

You can stop by Nichole's site right HERE to check out what every one else did with the inspiration photo and even play along!

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  And if you are looking for my Baby Girl Blog Hop for Lesley Croghan post, you can check all that fun out right HERE. 

It's A Girl Blog Hop for Lesley Croghan

Hello friends.  So thrilled to be a part of this special BLOG HOP celebrating Lesley Croghan (creator of the wonderful Merry Monday challenge!) and her new arrival coming in April...a baby girl!

  We are all so excited for Lesley (and her husband Cory), and wanted to do something a little special to celebrate along with her...and what better way for cardmakers to celebrate than with a blog hop?!!  So let's get started:

Had to use my all time favorite baby stamp to make this special card...LOTV's Baby with Blanket stamp!  I stamped with black and then colored her face, hands, and blanket with Copic markers and then paper pieced her sleeper and hat with MFT's DSP.  And of course I had to add a little pompom for the hat!!  The little tag is from PTI's Tiny Tags set. 

LOTS of talented ladies playing along in this hop (including all my team-mates from the Merry Monday blog!!),  so come celebrate Lesley and her new bundle of joy that arrives sometime in April with us right HERE.

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

Make It Monday #278 - Window Chipboard Sentiments

Hello friends.  This weeks Make It Monday challenge at PTI is newcomer Stephanie Gold's first one, and she does a FABULOUS job showing how to make a fun and very cool looking window in your cards using chipboard sentiments!

I made a fun and bright card using a set I hadn't used in a looooong time: Friendly Flowers.  (I've always LOVED the leaves in this set!!)

I used the Wonderful Words: Birthday die for my sentiment, and the only thing I wished I would have done differently was to have put it up higher on the card so that the card would open easier!  I noticed (after the fact of course!) that Stephanie had placed her sentiment higher toward the top of her card, and she probably did that for the reason that it opened better that way!  Oh well, live and learn!!

I guess I was thinking along the same lines as Nancy Penir as I made a matching envelope out of some of the fabulous DSP I bought when it all was on sale!  Plus the fact that I had been feeling a little guilty about not making matching envelopes for the past few years and then one of the 10th Anniversary challenges was all about making them...time to get back to some of the good old basics!!

Make sure you check out Stephanie's great video and BEAUTIFUL card, and then play along right HERE...it really is a fun challenge this week!!

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

Merry Monday #240 - Bells

Hello friends.  Colleen is hosting our challenge at Merry Monday this week, and she would like to see us use Bells on our Christmas cards.

Wish I had a stamp with bells just like these rustic ones in the photo...aren't they fun?!  I went with Jingle Bells as I had a new stamp set from Sunny Studio called Holiday Style that I wanted to play with.  Here's what I came up with:

I love how FUN this one came out!  I used Smoky Slate and Basic Gray inks for the bells and even added some sparkle to the light gray with a Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen.  I also added some little star shaped gems to the bells that make them sparkle even more IRL!  My little evergreen branch was inked up with Old Olive and Mossy Meadow inks and then spritzed with water before actually stamping on my cardstock to give a bit of a watercolored look.  Before I added my fussy cut bells and bows, I embossed the background with a SU! Decorative Dots embossing folder.  The sentiment was also from the Holiday Style stamp set. 

How is YOUR Christmas card stash looking right now?  Play along with us every week and we'll help you be in great shape for card giving in December!  Start by digging out those bell stamps and play along with us right HERE. 

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

CAS Watercolour March Challenge

Hello friends.  Playing along with the CAS Watercolour Challenge again for March, where the theme is Spring.

Had bought a couple of the new Penny Black stamps, and finally had a chance to ink up one of them.  Peony is a great one to use with your MISTI and applying ink directly to your stamp with markers, and then spritzing with water to get your watercoloured look.

 

I used a combination of SU! markers and Tombow markers along with my Aqua Painter and spray bottle, and just kept layering up the color on the stamp a little at a time, and then either moving the color around with the Aqua Painter (for some of the smaller areas) or using my spray bottle to directly mist the color on the stamp.  I used Salty Ocean distress ink for my blended background and then finished with a sentiment from PTI's Delightful Dahlia Additions and a few Rainstones.

You have till the 24th to play along with this challenge, and you can find lots of beautiful inspiration from the DT and players in the gallery right HERE.

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

CAS Mix Up March 2017 - Reminder Post

Hello friends.  Just a friendly little reminder that there's still time to play along with this months CAS Mix Up challenge. 

It's all about SMOOSHING this month, and I have another card to share with you using this technique.

This one I did a little bit differently, by using some SU! markers to put my color down on my craft mat, then spritzing with water, and smooshing my cardstock into it.  I used Island Indigo, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, & Certainly Celery markers.  Once it was dry I embossed in black my image from SU!'s Serene Silhouettes and then die cut it using a Lil Inkers Stitched Circle die.  I used the same circle die to cut another circle in my top white layer so I could inlay the smooshed circle and then simply added my sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Everything Changes.  For this card I stamped, smooshed, embossed, and die cut.  I think this is one of the most CAS cards I've ever made and I have to say I really like how it turned out! 

Don't forget that CAS Mix Up is celebrating their 1st Birthday, so play along for a chance at winning the birthday prize.  You have until March 24 before this challenge closes!  Play along right HERE.

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

  

PTI - 10th Anniversary Challenge - Build A Birdhouse

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink and their 10th Anniversary Challenges...Day 4 challenge is to build a birdhouse.  I tried building one from the download, but struggled with the curved sides of the house, and ended up using the Tiny Town: Basic Building die instead.

After cutting out the house pieces, I used the stencils from the Make It Market: Garden Gate kit to stencil the lattice and small leaves.  The die cut leaves and bird are from the Songbirds set.  I used an old Fiskars punch to punch out the little flowers and then used my stylus to curve them a bit before attaching them to the leaves with Glossy Accents.  I also used the Glossy Accents to make some clear drops on the leaves.  I used an embossing folder to make the circles on my roof.  This was a fun little challenge and again makes me think Spring! 

You can play along and check out all the other birdhouses in the gallery right HERE.

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

Merry Monday #239 - Color Challenge

Hello friends.  It's my turn to host this week at Merry Monday, and I thought it would be fun to do a color challenge after seeing this gorgeous inspiration photo!

Aren't those colors just so pretty together?!  I would absolutely LOVE to have a tree decorated in all those colors!  Hmmmmmmmm...  Anyway, using one of my older and beloved SU! sets Lovely As A Tree, I came up with this card:

  
I embossed the background trees in gold and copper, and then using a blending tool, used Tempting Turquoise ink for the color in my background.  Here's a closer up view so you can see the copper and gold better.

Clicking on the photo will also enlarge it a bit more to see the differences.  I used a stitched circle die to inlay the colored piece and then pop dotted the larger pine tree that I fussy cut after embossing in copper.  My sentiment is from Casual Fridays Snowy Sayings and I embossed that in gold.  A simple turquoise enamel dot finished up my CAS card.

I hope you'll join us this week for this color challenge...I can't wait to see what YOU come up with!  And if you need more inspiration, check out the BEAUTIFUL cards my team mates made using this color combo!!  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!

PTI's 10th Anniversary Challenge - Favorite Florals

Hello friends.  Trying to play catch up with some of the challenges that Papertrey Ink has going on to celebrate their 10th Anniversary, and the challenge for today was to pick one of your FAVORITE FLORALS stamp sets and make a Spring card.  Well I hope you're not tired of seeing Tulips, because I just can't seem to stop playing with Tulip Time!! 

I fell in love with one of Melissa's cards today where she used Lilac gingham on her card, so that was what inspired me and was my starting point.  My Tulips are inked up with Hibiscus Burst, Autumn Rose, Scarlet Jewel, Ripe Avocado, & Simply Chartreuse inks.  The DSP is Autumn Rose and I repeatedly stamped my sentiment with Smoky Slate ink until it was a darker gray and matched the small gray strip I added next to the gingham.  Little hard to tell in the photo, but I used my Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen on the gray strip, and when the light hits it, it's pretty sparkly!! 

I'm also entering this card in the CUPCAKE INSPIRATIONS CHALLENGE #398, which is a color challenge:

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

PTI 10th Anniversary Challenge: Multiply

Hello friends.  The challenge from yesterday's post at Papertrey Ink is all about using one image and multiplying it.  One of my favorite little mini stamp sets from last year is Maile Belles Splits: Just A Note.  I multiplied it by 3 and came up with this card:

I used my MISTI so I could use one of my favorite techniques of ink blending, and used Hibiscus Burst and Orange Zest inks.  I'm a little bummed that it didn't show up with my photography skills, but after inking up the middle image, I stamped over it again with Versamark ink, and then clear embossed it to give it a shiny look.  After using dimensionals to pop up the center die cut image, I added a few iridescent sequins to finish off this QACAS card.  This was a fun little challenge and easily done using just about any of your stamps in multiples of at least 3!

Still a few days left to play along with this challenge, and you can check it all out right HERE.

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

PTI's 10th Anniversary Challenge: Altered Envelope

Hello friends.  Playing along with one of the many challenges going on over at Papertrey Ink's 10th Anniversary celebration.  Day 3 of the celebrations has Lexi Daly asking us to not only make a card, but to decorate our envelope and then actually mail it out!  We are going to a Christening this weekend, so I will be hand delivering my card, but I did decorate the envelope!!

I used Hibiscus Burst ink and the Background Basics: Gingham stamp to stamp the bottom of my card, and then embossed the top half with an older Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I die cut the church from the Tiny Town: Church die in white, added white die cut window and door frames, and die cut the steeple from some silver mirrored cardstock.  The little green leaves are from the Birds and Blooms set, and the flowers are from the Choose Joy set.  The little heart tag is from the Tiny Tags dies and stamp set and my hearts at the bottom of the card are from the Heart Border Die.  For the envelope, I also added the die cut and sentiment from the Inspired: Praise set...thought it was very fitting for a Christening card!  :0)

You can play along right HERE to get in on all the celebrating over at Papertrey Ink!!

Have any "dead" banana's you need to use?  Got a great recipe this week from a weekly newsletter from one of our local craft shops for a Chocolate Chip Banana Snack Cake...it's wonderful!!

 
2 3/4 cups flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 medium ripe bananas
1 t. vanilla
1 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 X 13 pan.  Beat butter and sugar till creamy and then add eggs and bananas and continue mixing until smooth.  Add sour cream and vanilla.  When well mixed, add dry ingredients and mix until blended.  Fold in 3/4 cup chocolate chips and then spread in prepared pan.  Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips over top of batter.  Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool and enjoy!

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