12 Kits Of Occasions January 2018 - Snow Day

Hello friends.  I was thrilled to be asked by Jeanne Jachna to GD for this months 12 Kits Of Occasions challenge and what a FUN and FABULOUS kit she put together called SNOW DAY!

As you can see from the photo above, this kit was just packed with all kinds of great papers, die cuts, images, & embellishments!  You sure made creating SO easy with this wonderful kit Jeanne!!

Get comfortable as I've got a bit to show you!!  Included in the kit was this wonderful mix of iridescent sequins and a beautiful die cut panel from PTI's Mix & Mat: Snowflakes that just HAD to be made into a shaker card!

I used one of the DSP included in the kit for the background, and then added the rest to make the shaker.  Boy does this one sparkle IRL!!

Of course I had to add some of the embellies that Jeanne included in the kit to make it shine and sparkle even a little bit more!!  :0)

This little guy was just too cute not to color up, and he looked perfect on the MB Alpine Trees die cut.  Because I wanted to use the BRRRRR die cut that was cut from Tropical Teal cs, I made the base of my card Tropical Teal also and embossed the outside frame with an older but favorite Darice snowflake ef.

Jeanne also included this cute little snowflake tag from Poppystamps, and since I still had the Tropical Teal cs out, I traced the tag on it to make a background for the tag.  Colored and added the little fishing bear to the bottom of the tag, and I'm thinking this is going to look mighty cute on a package of goldfish crackers for my 3 year old granddaughter!!  I even added some Glossy Accents to the fish to make it nice and shiny! 

Are you sensing a color theme here??  I figured since I had already used the Tropical Teal on the first three cards/tag, I might as well keep going!!  I created my snow drifts with some torn cs and Smoky Slate ink on the bottom and then lightly blended some Tropical Teal ink on the top half for the sky (along with a bit of water splattering).  I colored up the little brother and sister and igloo with my Copics and then added the sentiment from the ones Jeanne included in the kit.

Totally fell in love with the Snowflake Ring and Classic Ice Skates (MB) and combined the two over a blended and splattered background.  Also added a bunch a Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the Snowflake Ring die cut...boy does it sparkle!!

And one last one using the panel that I water colored and splattered, and then added a strip of DSP with the snowmen.  I also included the die cut Winter at the bottom and a piece of the twine at the top.

I can't wait to see what the DT came up with using this FUN kit, and I'm so glad I have leftovers to use to CASE the gals as I just know I'm going to see ideas that I have to copy!  You can check all the posts from the team right HERE to see what they did with this same kit!

Thank you, thank you Jeanne for such a WONDERFUL kit and for inviting me to play along...I had a FABULOUS time!!  :0)

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

Inspired By All The Little Things #78

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Inspired By All The Little Things challenge where my sweet friend Linda is the GD this month and the inspiration photo is FABULOUS!

Aren't those just the prettiest cookies?!  Too lovely to even eat...I think!  But anyway, I was inspired by the colors, the quatrefoil design, the birds, and the leaves, and came up with this:

 

I went a little darker with my pinks than the inspiration photo using Autumn Rose and Scarlett Jewel inks.  I made a stencil with my Quatrefoil Cover Plate die (PTI) and sponged Scarlett Jewel ink onto the Autumn Rose layer and attached to a white card base.  I added another white layer that I die cut with the Mix & Mat: Postal die and then stamped with Year Of Psalms: January (both PTI).  My bird is also PTI from the new Brushed Birds set (that I can't seem to put down!) and the leaves were die cut with Pear Pizazz cs (SU!) using a Poppystamps Leafy Sprig die.

There are still a couple days left to play with this challenge, so check out all the inspiration from the DT and Linda, and then play along right HERE.

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

Merry Monday #275 - Pastels

Hello friends.  Welcome back to another Merry Monday challenge, where this week our hostess Susan is asking for Christmas cards done in PASTELS!

I kept with the wreath theme and used a new (to me) stamp from Lil' Inker called Vintage Christmas Wreath.

I started by embossing the image in silver on TH water color cs.  I used my Zigs to add the light pinks, greens, and purples.  I love how this stamp has all the shading built right into the stamp, so it really pretty much colors itself!

I die cut the center of the wreath out with a circle die so the pink would show through and then stamped my sentiment which is also part of the stamp set.  A few sequins and some white baker's twine finished off my card.

Make sure to check out all the inspiration from the rest of the DT using PASTELS, and then play along with us...we'd love to help you get your Christmas cards done in time this year!!  You can find all the information you need to play along right HERE.

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

Color Throwdown #477 - Aqua, Orange, & Gray

Hello friends.  Playing along with this week's Color Throwdown Challenge where the colors are Aqua, Orange, & Gray.

Isn't that just the cutest placemat and mug rugs?!  Such a sweet and whimsical inspiration photo, so I stayed with the whimsical and used one of the images from MFT's Polar Bear Pals to come up with my card.

 I used Peacock Feathers distress ink and Orange Zest ink to blend my circle (Lil' Inkers die) background and Copics to color my bear image and the little bucket of fish.  My sentiment was stamped on a piece of Smoky Slate cs and a couple aqua colored enamel dots added on each side.  Pretty CAS but I like the way it turned out!  :0)

You can check out how the DT were inspired and then play along right HERE.

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

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop - Jan. 2018

Hello friends.  It's the 25th and that means it's time for Papertrey Ink's monthly BLOG HOP!!  This month's inspiration photo screamed PARTY and I LOVED it!!

SOOOOOO many things to be inspired by in this photo!  I went with the cake, confetti, balloons, flowers, colors, but no ice cream cones...how is it that with millions of stamps, I do not own any ice cream cone stamps?!!  Oh well, still had FUN playing with my new balloon stencils and an older birthday cake set called Just Desserts.

I started by stenciling my background with the new Balloon Stencil with Aqua Mist, Harvest Gold, and Hibiscus Burst inks.  The cake is from the Just Desserts set and I made my own confetti on the cake layers using markers.

I've had this Just Desserts set for over a year now and had never used it...FUN set to play with and I love the sentiments too!!  Attached all my layers to a Hawaiian Shores card base and added a few colorful enamel dots and some bakers twine to finish my card off!

I LOVE hopping to see what everyone else created using the inspiration photo...happy hopping friends!  You can check it all out right HERE.

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

Make It Monday #310 - Shadowed Sentiments

Hello friends.  Lizzie Jones is up with this week's Make It Monday challenge, and has tips and tricks to create SHADOWED SENTIMENTS on our cards.

Lizzie's card was SO beautiful that I pretty much stuck with her layout and just changed out the stamps and colors for my card.  Take a look:

I am still in LOVE with the Farmer's Market Florals and now the new Brushed Birds stamp sets, so that's where my card started.  And I had reds out from making some Valentines cards, so....

I started with my sentiment strip so in case I messed up, I wouldn't have to start the whole card over again!  I used the sentiment from Keep It Simple: Thinking Of You set and stamped it first in black, and then shadowed it in gray.

I was pretty proud of it only taking one try and how nice it lined up!!  Next I stamped one of the birds from the Brushed Birds set in Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores and then used the die to make a partial die cut like Lizzie showed on her card...love how that looks!  Then I just started adding DSP (Pure Poppy), flowers from the Farmer's Market Florals, a branch die cut from Songbirds, blending and splattering the background, and finishing with some narrow seam binding ribbon and a few iridescent sequins.

Plenty of time to play along with this challenge, so check out Lizzie's lovely, lovely card and great video!  You can find it all right HERE on the Papertrey Ink blog.

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

CAS Mix Up Jan. 2018 - Cling Wrap #2

Hello friends.  Who knew playing with Cling Wrap could be so addicting?!!  Back with another try for this month's challenge over at CAS Mix Up!

This time around I used my Alcohol Inks and Yupo paper with the cling wrap, and in some areas got really deep and intense color that I LOVED, but in other areas it came out very light and I was disappointed!  But it was still fun to play around with and I got one part of a piece that worked out well to go along with a new die I just got from AliExpress.

 I loved the deep colors up towards the top of the heart and wished the whole piece had come out like that, but will have to play around some more I guess!  I also had every intention of using the inlay technique with this die cut, but have to tell you after just die cutting the black layer (several times I might add!!) I knew there was no way that was going to work!  The leaves and the lines cut out just beautifully, but the center of each swirl would not cut loose, even with using a metal shim and going back and forth to cut multiple times.  And because it's so delicate at that point, you can't pull much without ripping the whole thing and it's too tiny to get scissors in there to snip it off...grrrrrr!!  So anyway, I finally got one from the black that didn't look too bad and just glued it over the cling wrap piece.  Before adhering it to my card base I did a little stenciling using a SSS Square Dance Stencil to add just a little bit of background interest.  My sentiment is from PTI's You Have My Heart set...don't you just LOVE the font on "Heart"?!!

This challenge ends in just 2 days (24th), so not much time left to play, but if it's snowing out like it is here today, get out your craft mat, inks, and Cling Wrap and play along...LOTS of FUN!!  FABULOUS cards from the DT and in the gallery to check out too if you need inspiration!!  You can find all the details right HERE. 

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

Merry Monday #274 - SNOW

Hello friends.  This week's challenge at Merry Monday is brought to us by Nina and she would like to see SNOW on your Christmas cards!

Isn't that such a pretty and peaceful inspiration photo?!  Here's what I came up with:

I started by embossing a piece of white cs with an older Darice ef, and then blended it with Salty Ocean, Broken China, and Faded Jeans distress ink.  I added a simple die cut from AliExpress and embossed my sentiment from PTI's Snowfall Style in silver on the bottom of the die cut piece.

I added a little bit of Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (SU!) to the center of the embossed snowflakes...looks really sparkly IRL!!  Added this layer to a white card base to finish off my CAS card.

And because I had a snippet of the background left, and didn't want to throw it away, I have a twofer for you.

I used MFT's Peek-A-Boo Window die to frame my little snippet, and then added the same sentiment as the card above, and also added a die cut snowflake in silver mirror cardstock from PTI's Silver White Winter's.

Another CAS card for my Christmas stash!!  :0)  I think Loll Thompson is rubbing off on me!!  :0)

Check out all the beautiful inspiration from the DT and then play along with us!  You can find all the info right HERE.

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

Papertrey Ink's Create Along With Us - January 2018

Hello friends.  It's release week at Papertrey Ink, and that means in place of  the Make It Monday challenge, it's the Create Along With Us challenge where we can CASE one of the designers cards.  I was blown away by everything the DT showed us for this release, but thought I would try a Betsy Veldman card.  Here's her card:

Isn't it absolutely GORGEOUS?!!  Betsy has magic in her hands!!  And I can hardly wait to get my hands on that bird set...it was the 1st thing in my cart Monday night!!  Anyway, I tried with what I had on hand and came up with this:

I used the Beautiful Berries: Spring set just like Betsy did and also used my Aqua Painter to move the ink around a tiny bit to give the water color effect.  Next I stamped the sentiment from Year Of Psalms: February because I thought the verse fitting to add a bird to.  I used one of the birds from Winter Woods because of it's size and tried to blend it like Betsy did, and while it's not bad, it's not as pretty as Betsy's birds are!  Maybe I just need the right bird stamp....

My last step was sponging a little color around on the background...love how it softens up the whole card!

There's still time to play along with this challenge, so check out all the BEAUTIFUL cards from the DT and then try your hand at one of them!  You can find all the info to play along right HERE.

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

Altenew January 2018 Inspiration Challenge

Hello friends.  Playing along with Altenew's Inspiration Challenge today because, well, I simply couldn't resist the colors!!

I mean who can resist pink, yellow, and orange in the middle of a cold and snowy Winter like we have in Michigan...not me, that's for sure!!  And I also thought these colors would be perfect for trying out my new (to me!) Layered Dahlia Stencils A & B!!

I used stencil A first (obviously!) with Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade DOX inks because of how wonderfully they blend, and then added stencil B and used Picked Raspberry DOX ink to blend in the rest of the flower.  LOVE how this turned out!!  I sprayed the image quite liberally with Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Spritz so IRL it extremely sparkly!  I added my layer to a Raspberry Fizz card base, and then added my sentiment from Painted Poppy and Beautiful Lady (both Altenew).

You can see some of the sparkle a bit better in this photo and also see a little bit more of the blending...especially the yellow and orange.  This really was a simple card to create and I just love how eye popping it is with the bold and vibrant colors!

This challenge is open till the end of the month and there is lots of beautiful inspiration to challenge you to play along!  You can find all the info you need right HERE.

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

CAS Mix Up Jan. 2018 - Cling Wrap Technique

Hello friends.  This month's challenge over at CAS Mix Up is a technique challenge using CLING WRAP!

This is a FUN and MESSY technique and one that I've learned a few things over the process of many, many tries!  Darker colors leave more pronounced lines, use LOTS of water, and most importantly, let your piece TOTALLY DRY BEFORE REMOVING THE CLING WRAP!!  Can you tell I'm one of those who doesn't have a lot of patience?!  I just get so excited to see the final result that it's hard to wait!!  But anyway, after many trials, I came up with two cards I thought were worthy of sharing!

  

This card used Salty Ocean and Faded Jeans distress inks and just a smidge of Cobalt Blue Brusho's for my background.  The snowflake frame was die cut from an AliExpress die and my sentiment is from PTI's Think Big Favorites #21.

My twofer card uses Cobalt Blue and Sea Green Brusho's for the background, and once again, another AliExpress die for the tree line.  My sentiment is also another PTI from the Botanical Blocks IV set.

For both cards I used Cling Wrap, Die Cutting, and Stamping.

LOTS of absolutely GORGEOUS creations from the DT and in the gallery already this month, so if you need any inspiration, you can check it all out right HERE.  This challenge is open until the 24th.

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

Merry Monday #273 - A Color Challenge

Hello Merry Monday fans.  I'm hosting this week over at the Merry Monday blog and you know I love to do color challenges, so this week let's try using the non-traditional colors of RED and TURQUOISE on our Christmas cards!

Here's what I came up with:

This is one of my favorite images from MFT's Season's Tweetings stamp set (It must be Linda S. favorite too...too funny that we both used the SAME image this week!!)!  I started with a piece of Hawaiian Shores cs that I dry embossed using an older Darice ef and then added a strip of Hawaiian Shores DSP at the bottom.  A strip of red hearts using PTI's Heart Border Die gave me a little platform for my little girl to stand on.  I colored her with Copics except for her hat and coat which I paper pieced using Pure Poppy DSP (PTI).  My little sentiment banner is from the same Season's Tweetings stamp set.

Can't wait to see what YOU come up with using RED and TURQUOISE on your Christmas cards this week!  You can check out all the wonderful inspiration from the DT right HERE and then play along...you'll be so happy you did come next December!!

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