12 Kits of Occasions - April 2017

Hello friends.  I'm delighted to be Guest Designing for the 12 Kits of Occasions this month, and I have to tell you this was one FUN kit!!  Sharron Gregory is the hostess this month and put together a FABULOUS kit! 

I'm a little picture heavy as I just couldn't seem to stop making cards with this kit!  So sit back with your favorite cuppa and let me show you what I've created!

This card is probably my favorite...mostly because I love that cat!  She was already embossed in gold and I just colored her with some of my Zigs.

I was in a polka dot mood here (can ya tell?!!) and colored the little girl and boy and their umbrella with my Copics and then used a white gel pen to add the polka dots.

Used a mini brick stencil for a fun little background for this adorable little pup!

I simply added a bit of stenciling to the rust colored card stock and a few enamel dots, and the rest of the card was all part of the kit.

Couldn't resist adding a couple pompoms for these sweet little bunny tails!

Isn't this the cutest little image?!  Colored with my Copics and Zigs and also added a bit of WOS to the flower and some of the green sequins included in the kit.

Had to show a close up of this one so you could see the really pretty tulle that Sharron included in the kit.  Also added some stenciling to the background using PTI's Modern Background Stencils and the frame dies are from Gina Marie Designs.

A pretty simple card as the DSP did most of the work!  I just added an Ocean Tides card base and then WOS'd the leaves, added the oval cut sentiment, and some thick white baker's twine.

Another really simple card because the DSP is so pretty...love the gradient shades of green!  The hugs die cut was in a rust color, but I wanted it in black, so I just black heat embossed it.  I also added a few Rainstones for a bit of extra interest.

My last card uses the "hello friend!" sentiment that was already stamped on the Simply Chartreuse cs, and I simply added some of the birds that I colored with my Copics, one of the gems included in the kit, and also one of the die cut bird houses that was part of the kit. 
 
Thanks so much for stopping by today, and make sure you stop by the rest of the Design Team's sites to check out what they did with this same kit...you won't be disappointed!!  You can check out the blog HERE.

Make It Monday #282 - Stenciled Watercolor Backgrounds

Hello friends.  Betsy is hosting this week's Make It Monday challenge and she shows us how to make beautiful backgrounds using our stencils and watercolor.  Betsy always offers up great tips too, and one of the simplest (as in "why didn't I think of that?!") was using a sticky mat like you use with a Cricut to hold your cardstock and stencil in place while you're working on it...love it!  Anyway, I had to try out my new Make It Market Mini Kit: Lovely Lace stencils and came up with this:

I used Bright Buttercup, Summer Sunrise, Lovely Lady, & Green Parakeet inks to do my watercoloring and then added a vellum layer with my embossed sentiment from Phrases & Praises.  I did have to use a piece of Lovely Lady cardstock behind my vellum piece (which was die cut using the new Mix & Mat: Scallops) so that my sentiment would show up.  Lastly I added one of the sprigs from Beautiful Berries: Spring (LOVE this set!!), and a few sequins and baker's twine to finish off my card.

Make sure you check out Betsy's GORGEOUS card and video (HERE) and then play along!

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

 

Papertrey Ink's April 2017 Blog Hop

Hello friends.  It's the 25th and that means it's time for Papertrey Ink's monthly blog hop! 

Isn't this a beautiful inspiration photo by Megan Carter?!!  Here's what I came up with:

I absolutely fell in love with Dawn McVey's card HERE using her new stamp set Gran's Garden, so I changed up the colors to match the inspiration photo and came up with this birthday card for our oldest daughter (Addy's mom) who turns 28 next week.  I absolutely love how this came out and the color combination...never would have used all these colors together on my own, but really love the way they look together!  I used Pale Peony, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart, Terracotta Tile, Smokey Shadow, & Soft Stone inks.  I did a little bit of ink splattering with Orange Zest, and then fussy cut around the bottom part of my stamping.  My card base was blended with Lemon Tart ink and then stamped my sentiment using the new Initial Sentiments: Birthday.  I pop dotted the top layer and then added a few Rainstones to finish off my card.

Can't wait to see how everyone else interprets the inspiration photo...LOVE these blog hops!!  :0)

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

   

Merry Monday #245 - Kraft

Hello friends.  Lori is up as hostess this week at Merry Monday, and she would like you to use KRAFT  cardstock on your Christmas cards.

I love this inspiration photo, and if you're going to have gingerbread cookies, you've got to have hot cocoa to go with them!

I used a Impression Obsession image (E8612) for my mug of hot cocoa and colored it with my Copics.  I cut it out with a Lil Inkers Stitched Circle die and then sponged some kraft ink around the edges.  My card base is kraft card stock and then I layered on a sponged with kraft white layer, then another kraft layer stamped with SSS's Holiday Background stamp in kraft ink, and then a stitched banner in kraft polka dot DSP.  A few sequins and a Cherry Cobbler thick bakers twine finished my card.

We'd love to see what you can come up with using kraft cardstock on your Christmas cards this week!  Check out the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, and then play along with us right HERE.

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

Look Who's Turning...

Hello friends.  I had shared a LOTV card awhile back and someone had asked me what LOTV was.  I guess I was a little shocked because I thought everyone knew what that stood for!  For those of you that don't though, LOTV stands for Lily Of The Valley and they are a stamp company from the UK that has the most adorable little girl, boy, animal & fairy images.  You can check them out HERE.  I've never counted how many of their stamps I've bought over the years (probably best I don't...just know it's a LOT!), but if you love to color (and I do!), you're going to love their images!  I just had a commission to do a birthday card for a 1 year old girl, and couldn't resist pulling out one of my older LOTV images.  Take a look:

The sweet faces on all their images are what get me every time!  When my granddaughter had turned 1, my daughter did her birthday party in a pink and gold color theme.  It was so pretty, so I decided that would be the starting point for my card today.  I used my Copics and a gold WOS pen (which really shimmers and sparkles IRL!) to color this sweet little girl holding that yummy looking chocolate cake with the pink frosting.  My sentiment comes from PTI's Big Birthday Wishes. 

Entering this card into the Word Art Wednesday challenge (#278-279) where this week "Anything Goes".  This is a wonderful blog to go to be uplifted, and because SO many people enter their challenges, you can find a TON of inspiration there also.  Check it out right HERE.

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

  

Make It Monday #281 - Patterns Behind Die Cut Windows

Hello friends.  The Make It Monday challenge over at Papertrey Ink this week has Dawn McVey using her beautiful style to show us how something as simple as adding some pattern behind a die cut window can really add depth and dimension, and bring your card to the next level.  I'm almost embarrassed to show you my card as I pretty much CASE'd Dawn's card from top to bottom, but hers was SO pretty that I wanted one of my own!!

I changed up my colors and used Rosie Posie and Rosie Posie Step 2 instead (since I don't have Gran's Garden yet!), but otherwise my card is pretty much the same as Dawn's.  I also used the same stencil as Dawn from the Woodblock Prints Stencil Collection because I had never used that stencil before and couldn't believe how pretty it was after I saw how Dawn used it!  I blended over the stencil with Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, & Amethyst Allure inks.  My flowers are done in Lilac Grace & Amethyst Allure inks and the leaves are done in Green Parakeet & New Leaf inks. 

You can't see it in my photo's, but I added WOS on the darker parts of my flowers, so they really shimmer IRL.  I also added a few sequins and some white bakers twine to finish off my Mother's Day card.  This was so easy and fun to do and really does bring your card up to the next level...loved it!!

There's still time to play, so check out Dawn's gorgeous card and great video, and then play along right HERE.

And also a BIG Thank You for all the nice comments about my big win from Release Week last week!  I have never won a big one like that before and was SO surprised...in fact didn't even realize I had won until Donna informed me (Thanks Donna!).  And I definitely had NO problem spending it...shopping Saturday night was SOOOO much FUN!!  :0)

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

  

Merry Monday #244 - Wreath

Hello friends.  Linda is our hostess this week at Merry Monday, and she would like to see a WREATH on your Christmas cards.

When I was growing up, my mom had a wreath she put on our front door every year and I hated it!  It had all kinds of fruit on it (along with pinecones and greenery) and I thought it was just about the ugliest thing out there!  And wouldn't you know, now I wish she still had it!  In looking back, I think about the colors of the fruit in dark yellows and golds and mixed with the light and dark greens, it really was pretty!  So anyway, as a tribute to my mom's wreath, I used the wreath from PTI's Birds & Blooms and came up with this:

No fruit, but kind of just went with the colors that I remember.  Hard to believe that I didn't like these colors back then, but I think this wreath is very festive in this color scheme!!  And I think my mom would like it too!  :0)  My main green color is Ocean Tides (PTI) and I stamped my background with Hero Arts Leafy Vines stamp and my gold sentiment is WPlus9's Hand Lettered Holiday.  I also used a Gina Marie Designs rounded square die to build a frame around my wreath.

We're excited to see a gallery of beautiful wreaths this week, so play along with us!  The Design Team has some awesome inspiration to get you started too, so check it out and then show us your creations!  You can find it all right HERE.

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

Tag You're It Challenge #69

Hello friends.  TWO challenges in one day...woohoo!!  (My CAS Watercolour post is below)  I wanted to play along with TYI!'s challenge featuring Joyce Mehrberg, as her tag was just too darn cute not to play!!

I think like everyone else, I was totally inspired by the pompom at the top of Joyce's tag!  SOOOO cute!!  I couldn't help but think of SU!'s Hey Chick stamp set, where one of the images has a chicken with a pretty wild hair-do...and wouldn't that be FUN to put a pompom on the top of his/her head?!!

Is he/she not too funny?!  I love the pose with a little bit of attitude and sass!!  I colored him with some Daffodil Delight and Calypso Coral, masked him off, and then used Smoky Slate ink and one of my Clarity Stencil brushes with a Tim Holtz Honeycomb stencil for my background.  My pompom was made with SU!'s Calypso Coral Thick Bakers Twine, and then I finished with a few sequins. 

This was a FUN challenge to play in, so thank you Joyce for making me smile while I played in my happy space!  There's still time to play, so check it out right HERE.

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

CAS Watercolour April 2017

Hello friends.  Playing along with this months challenge over at CAS Watercolour, where pink and green is the colour theme.

I've been wanting to ink up my Altenew Best Mom set for awhile now, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!

I started by embossing the image in copper, and then using my Aqua Painter brush, I water colored the leaves with Pear Pizzazz and the flowers with Sweet Sugarplum.  Once it was dry I used the inner most die from PTI's Mix & Mat: Flourish set to die cut the dotted rectangle, and then trimmed around it and matted it with a piece of Pear Pizzazz cs.  I layered that to a white card base and added a fishtail banner with PTI's Keep It Simple: Praying For You. 

I watercoloured, embossed, and die cut on this card, and kept it CAS!  There's is still time to play in this challenge, and LOTS of beautiful inspiration to get you started.  Check it all out right HERE.

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

Create Along With Us - April 2017

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink's Create Along With Us challenge, and this month I was really inspired by Nichole's card:

  I love the simplicity and the soft blending, and then the tiny pops of brighter colors on the embossed images...SOOO pretty!  The little flowers and leaves reminded me a bit of the images from Doodlie-Do and I came up with this:

I think I may have gotten a little heavier handed with my blending, but I still really like how this turned out!  My sentiment is from Graceful Greetings II and I also used one of the dies from the Mix & Mat: Flourishes set.  I used a RV09 and YG63 Copic marker to fill in a bit of color on the embossed images.

Had to show a couple pictures of how cute my Carrot Treat Box's turned out:

I used the Orange Zest patterned paper for the boxes, and one of the tag dies that comes with the carrot die.  I didn't think I needed the Easter stamp set that coordinated with the carrot dies, and of course now I wish I had gotten it for the little bunny and sentiments that would have fit perfectly on the tag!  Oh well, live and learn!  I did find a little bunny from my stash (I think it was a Michael's $1 spot stamp quite a few years back!) and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.  I used green tulle to tie the top of the box closed and really like how it looks.  These were definitely a lot of fun to make and I'm looking forward to putting them on my daughter's table for Easter!

There is still time to play along with the Create Along With Us challenge...check it all out right HERE.

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

Merry Monday #243 - A Christmas Scene

Hello friends.  Kathy has brought us a FUN challenge this week at Merry Monday...to create a Christmas scene.

Last Fall I saw a couple cards made with the Tim Holtz Snowglobe die set and HAD to have it!  I remember opening it and dumping all the die pieces out, staring for a few seconds, and then putting ALL 23 tiny pieces back in the envelope and putting it up on a shelf!  I was totally overwhelmed by the amount of pieces and how tiny they were and just couldn't deal with it at the time.  I took it out a few weeks ago knowing that this challenge was coming up and just left it sitting on my desk.  I finally took it out and am now so glad I did!  It was totally worth the effort and this is what I came up with:

I started by cutting out each piece in white cardstock, and then colored each piece with Distress Inks.  For the houses and base of the snowglobe, I used a SU! Hardwood background stamp first and then blended the Distress Inks on.  I used Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Spritz on my blue background before gluing down all the pieces, so IRL this snowglobe really sparkles just like a real one would.  

Here's a close up view so you can see some of the detail a bit better.  I used a Darice snowflake embossing folder for my background layer and distressed it a bit with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks.  This ended up being a really fun card to create, and although it took some time to make, I think it was well worth it! 

There's a lot more inspiration from my teammates, so check it out and then play along with us!  We can't wait to see what Christmas scenes YOU come up with!  Check it all out right HERE.

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

Double D Challenge - Neon/Brights

Hello friends.  The challenge over at the Double D this week is all about NEON and BRIGHT colors!

Those colors will wake you up, won't they?!!  Great inspiration from the Design Team for this challenge too, but I was especially taken by Donna's card that you can see HERE.  Her use of the bright and bold colors against a black background really wow'd me and I had to see what I could come up with!

I started by blending some of my brightest inks (Raspberry Fizz, Green Parakeet, Bright Buttercup, Orange Zest, & Hawaiian Shores) onto a piece of white cardstock, and then used PTI's Butterfly Cover Plate die to cut it out.  After that it was easy to add it to a layer of black cardstock, emboss my sentiment (PTI's Choose Joy stamp set), and add some hot pink thick baker's twine (SU!).  Quick and easy and packs quite a punch with all those bright colors!  (And they're even brighter IRL...not much sunshine lately here to photograph with!!)  Thank you Donna for the FABULOUS inspiration!!

 

There's still time to play along with this fun challenge and a great prize up for grabs too!  You can check it all out right HERE.

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

Make It Monday #280 - Stamping Outside The Box

Hello friends.  Lexi Daly is up this week for the Make It Monday challenge, and she's showing us a fun and simple technique where you use an image that you place partially outside the box to draw the eye to the image.  Here's what I came up with:

I started by die cutting a rounded rectangle (Gina Marie Designs), and then left the die in place while I blended some Hibiscus Burst and Orange Zest inks over the inside of the rectangle.  Using Polka Dot Basics and Hibiscus Burst ink, I stamped the open circles on my rectangle and then inlaid it back into my 4 x 5 1/4 layer.  My die cut butterfly is from the Life Is Beautiful set, and here's a closer up so you can see the 2 layers of it better:

I used some sparkling embossing powder on the bottom butterfly, along with some light blending of the Hibiscus Burst ink, and then added a vellum layer on top with a few enamel dots.  My sentiment comes from the Choose Joy stamp set...one of my all time FAVORITES!!  Very CAS and I really like the way it turned out!

Edited to add:  Bonnie reminded me that this card would also work for the challenge going on over at the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge for April, where the focus is on inlaid die cutting.  I used inlaid die cutting for my "box", stamping, embossing, and die cutting for my butterfly.

To play along with the CAS Mix Up Challenge, click HERE.

There's still time to play along with this week's Make It Monday Challenge too, so check out Lexi's video and fabulous cards, and then play along right HERE.

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