12 Kits Of Occasions - End Of Summer Soiree

Hello friends.  It's the last day of the month and that means it' time for another 12 Kits Of Occasions post!  Michelle is our hostess this month and doesn't want to say goodbye to SUMMER, so she made up this delightful kit called End Of Summer Soiree in reds and blues to celebrate all the birthdays and holidays that come at the end of August.  

So many BEAUTIFUL papers and die cuts and flowers in lovely shades of reds and blues and gold accents in this months kit...I thought I was running out of time to even get started on this months kit, but these supplies practically produced my cards all by themselves in just a few hours!  For a list of all the supplies Michelle included in her kit, check HERE.

The only thing I added for this card was my sentiment (PTI's Keep It Simple: Thing Of You) and a thin strip of gold mirror cardstock.  Michelle had the 4 layer tag all assembled and I just fussy cut the rose from the background DSP Michelle included in this kit.  

Michelle had all the pieces for this lovely cake already stamped and die cut, so it was just a matter of assembling with the embossed piece and a strip of DSP.  Again, all I added was the strip of gold mirror cardstock and some gold thread across the top.

Another easy peasy card to put together...Michelle did all the work and I just glued it all down!  :0)

This card comes across rather plain jane, but IRL it's all shimmery and sparkly!  I used a Copic marker to color in the stripes on "BOY" and then used my WOS brush over it along with all the windows and details of the plane and helicopter.  I'll be setting this card aside for my grandson's 3rd birthday next year as he LOVES airplanes!

All of the cards came together so easily this month, but this card was probably the easiest!  The flowered panel already had the gold sentiment on it, and I just matted it to a red layer and a white card base, and then added a simple red banner tag with a gold heart and a piece of the blue and white twine Michelle included in the kit.

And last but not least, a sweet little birthday tag where all I added was the die cut tag from PTI's Quilted: Winter set and then fussy cut the images that Michelle had already stamped.  I think this would look so cute on a kraft or white gift bag!!

And here they are all together!  Fun, FUN kit Michelle, and so easy to work with!  It's always fun to see what the other gals came up with using this same kit, so check it all out HERE and enjoy this End Of Summer Soiree! 
 

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

CAS Christmas August 2019 - GLITTER

Hello friends.  This months challenge over at CAS Christmas is to use GLITTER!!

I have LOTS of glitter...no problem!!  :0)  And I loosely followed a technique that Colleen showed with her card and came up with this:

I started by using a Poppystamps ornament die cut and blending Sweet Blush, Autumn Rose, & Scarlett Jewel inks in an ombre pattern and then spread VIVA Glitter Paste over it.  LOTS of sparkle!!  Once it was dry, I added the frame around it and the little cap piece (is there a name for that piece???) that I die cut from silver glitter paper, and then added it to the panel that I had very lightly blended some Sweet Blush ink to before stamping the pine bough from SU!'s Ornamental Pine stamp set in the upper corner of the panel.

To finish I added a piece of silver thread through the ornament cap piece and taped it to the back of the panel and then adhered that to a white card base.  My sentiment comes from Penny Black's Yuletide Wishes stamp set.

If you like playing with GLITTER (and who doesn't?!!) and need to get working on your Christmas card stash, then join in the FUN right HERE.  There's lots of BEAUTIFUL inspiration to get you started and this challenge is open till the 24th.

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

Christmas Kickstart #17 - Dachsund Through The Snow

Hello friends.  Playing along with the current challenge over at Christmas Kickstart where the theme is DACHSUND THROUGH THE SNOW.

I had an ADORABLE die cut Dachsund (Marianne's Designs) left from my sweet friend Birgit that was the start of my card...

Isn't he just the sweetest all dressed up in his Christmas hat and scarf?!  I did a little bit of sponging around my little guy with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then added him to a die cut circle (Lil Inkers) that I sponged some snow drifts onto using Weathered Wood Distress Ink and a torn piece of cardstock.  Here's a closer up where you can see the background of the circle a little bit better...

My card base is a 5" x 5" and I layered it with a piece of Real Red cardstock and a piece of plaid DSP from Echo Park's I Love Winter 6 x 6 pad.  After attaching the circle with my pup, I embossed my sentiment from PTI's In The Meadow in white on a strip of Real Red cardstock and added it to my card with a strip of foam tape.  I finished with a little bit of glitter to the hat and a piece of jute twine.  Very simple but I really think it turned out cute!

There's still a few more days to play along with this challenge, so check out the wonderful inspiration and then play along right HERE.

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

Twofer Challenge #19 - NAUTICAL

Hello friends.  The Twofer Challenge this month is all about...

I always think of NAUTICAL being red, white, & blue, and STRIPES, and I was bound and determined to figure out how to use a new striped stencil I'd gotten from SSS called NAUTICAL STRIPES.  I know, I know, what's so hard about stripes and a stencil??!  Well this particular stencil has all different width stripes and no matter how gentle you are with your blending, the skinny stripes move around like crazy so you don't end up with nice straight stripes...grrrrr!!  Thank goodness I finally heard about a product called Pixie Spray that you spray on the back of your stencil and it gives a light tack to hold everything in place while you do your blending or sponging on the top of the stencil.  Anyway, long story short, I was finally able to use the stencil and came up with these two NAUTICAL cards.

 
The card on the left is a baby card and the one on the right a birthday card for my always low supply of masculine birthday cards!

Let's start with the baby card...

My background was stenciled with Distress Oxide inks (Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean, & Broken China) and then adhered to a white panel and a Pacific Point card base.  Next I die cut 4 of SSS's Anchors and glued them together and then added some white string and a Tiny Tag star shape from PTI with "little one" stamped in Pacific Point ink.

And using the same stencil AND anchor die cut...

For this card I used red and blue (Fired Brick & Blueprint Sketch) Distress Oxide inks for the stenciled part and then cut off a strip of it to use just on the left hand side of the white card base.  The sailboat is from an older SU! set stamped in the Fired Brink ink and then I inked up a white piece of cardstock with the Blueprint Sketch and die cut the anchor and the banner flag for the sentiment (from The Greetery's Sentiment Suite: Birthday stamp set.

So that's my Twofer, Twofer for you this month!  This challenge is open till the 24th and Darnell and her DT have LOTS of FABULOUS inspiration if you need help getting started.  Check it all out right HERE.  

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

CAS Watercolour August 2019 - Reminder Post

Hello friends.  Just a friendly reminder that the CAS Watercolour Challenge is open till the 24th, so you have about a week left to join in the COLORFUL BUTTERFLY fun!

For my 1st card I water colored some rainbow stripes on water color cardstock and then die cut with a SSS Butterfly Drift die to come up with this simple card...

I added PTI's Pierced Feature Frame Dies in white to a white card base, and then added my colorful butterflies over the top of the base and frame.  My sentiment is from Mama Elephant's Butterfly Kisses and I finished with a few clear sequins.

My negative piece from the die cut for the 1st card was just too pretty to throw away, so I added it to a white card base and then die cut the butterflies out again in just plain white cardstock.  I popped up a few of the butterfly wings and added colorful enamel dots to the centers of each butterfly.  A thin strip of black cardstock and a sentiment from The Greetery's Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You.

We can't wait for more of you to play along, so if you need more inspiration, check out all the BEAUTIFUL cards from the DT and our special GD Amy, and then play along right HERE.  Remember to keep your cards CAS and to use some form of  Watercolouring.  This challenge is open till the 24th.

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

Tag You're It Challenge #94

Hello friends.  Honored to be guest designing AGAIN for the Tag You're It Challenge and they have another fun Summer inspiration for you!

Doesn't this just make you SMILE and think of Summer FUN??!!  I was inspired by the Flamingo of course and all the wonderful bright colors and came up with this:

My PTI Some Like It Hot stamp set has been getting a work out this Summer with this Flamingo image...can't seem to get enough of it!!  I used Berry Sorbet and Abandoned Coral inks to stamp the Flamingo on the smaller of the 2 Made With Love Tags 2 die, and then used MFT's Confetti Stencil to make all the colorful dots on the larger back tag.

I used Abandoned Coral ink to sponge around the edges of both tags and then finished with a sentiment from The Greetery's Sentiment Suite: Birthday stamp set and some heavy bakers twine (SU!).

You can check out all the FABULOUS tags from the DT to see how they were inspired, and then play along right HERE.

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

The Flower Challenge #35

Hello friends.  Playing along with The Flower Challenge today where they are asking us to use our favorite flower on our cards.

Choosing a favorite flower for me is like asking me to choose my favorite child...impossible!  I love all flowers...roses, daffodil's, peonies, tulips, hibiscus, lilies, hydrangeas, poppies, sunflowers, etc.!  The list could go on and on!  However, there is one flower that has been a favorite since I was a child (even though my hubby says it's not a flower but a weed because it's so prolific!!) and that is Lily of the Valley!  I just LOVE the look of those deep green leaves and those tiny petite bell shaped white flowers, and of course the smell is divine!  I even remember receiving for Christmas one year when I was young, a tiny little doll that came in a clear plastic perfume bottle (think size like Polly Pockets), and she smelled like Lilly of the Valley and was dressed all in white and green...she was a treasured doll for quite some time!

So I have 2 cards to share with you today because I couldn't decide which one I liked best.  I used PTI's Forrest Floor: Spring stamp and die set on both:

I started by stamping a background on kraft cs using PTI's Text & Texture: Wood Slices and then die cutting it using The Greetery's Crimped Frame Dies, and then adhered that to a white card base.  Next I arranged my two tone leaves and then added three sprays of the Lilly's on top, with the very top one having pop dots behind the tiny bell shaped flowers for dimension.  I also added some jute twine wrapped around the little bouquet, and then added the sentiment frame and sentiment (sentiment is from SSS's Sketched Flowers).  Here's a closer up so you can see that the little bell shaped flowers are white heat embossed...

A few green enamel dots on the sentiment frame finished off my first card.

My 2nd card uses almost all the same elements and layout, but has just a bit of a different background...

My background on this card uses a piece of PTI's Bitty Big DSP in Simply Chartreuse, and was die cut using PTI's Scallop Stackers: Medium Die, and then adhered to a white card base.  Next I die cut a smaller white stitched rectangle and blended Salty Ocean Distress Ink over it before adding my leaves, flowers, and frame.

My sentiment on this card is from The Greetery's Sentiment Suite: Thinking Of You stamp set, and then I finished with a piece of jute twine and a few of Lucy's Little Things Jewels.

There are LOTS of BEAUTIFUL cards from the DT and in the gallery already to inspire you, so choose your FAVORITE FLOWER (if you can!) and play along right HERE.    

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

CAS Stencil

Hello friends.  Playing along with this month's CAS Stencil Challenge where they are asking us to use SPRAYS with our stencils.

I mixed up some Lindy's Magicals Autumn Maple Crimson with water and created my background with a new Catherine Pooler stencil from her Unsinkable Collection (Shell Parade) to come up with this:

I think I probably added too much water when I was mixing up my spray because the color came out so much lighter than I expected, but I have to admit that I'm really liking this soft pink color!  There is a very subtle sheen to the background too because of the Lindy's Magicals, but I just could not get the camera to pick it up!  IRL the shimmer is so pretty!  I used the PTI Pierced Feature Frame dies to die cut the white frame and the inner stenciled rectangle, and then added my sentiment from CP's Vitamin Sea stamp set.  The sand dollar and sea plant die cuts are both from Gina Marie Design dies.

I finished off my card with a simple piece of white crochet thread and called it good!  :0)

Lots of beautiful examples from the DT and even videos to watch if you've never used sprays with stencils before over at the CAS Stencil site right HERE.  This challenge is open till Aug. 24th.

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

Christmas Kickstart #16 - Christmas Card/Christmas Card: Christmas Tree

Hello friends.  Did you guess from the title of my post that the newest elf from the Christmas Kickstart Challenge is none other than the Queen of the TWOFER CHALLENGES?!

Yep, Darnell is the newest elf and she would like to see us make two cards using the same Christmas Tree stamp or die.  I used one of my favorite Tim Holtz tree dies (Woodlands) and came up with these 2 cards:

Same tree die but two totally different cards.

For my 1st card I started with a piece of kraft cardstock that I embossed with SU!'s Subtle embossing folder (LOVE this EF!!!) and then layered it to a piece of gold mirror cardstock and then adhered to a cream card base.  Next I stamped my sentiment with Soft Suede ink using PB's Yuletide Wishes stamp set, and then added the 2 die cut Woodlands trees using gold mirror cs and Ocean Tides (PTI) cs.

Here you can see the Subtle ef better...adds such nice and simple texture to your background.  I finished off this card with a few gold sequins and some jute twine...little bit of glamour and a little bit of rustic.

My 2nd card began with a piece of cs using the paper towel technique gone bad.  What?!!  I had a piece of paper towel that I had used Color Bursts Pthalo Green on, and after misting with water I had the bright idea to wrap the paper towel around the piece of white cs and then run it through my Big Shot.  Well it transferred the green ink to the white cardstock all right, but the pressure of the Big Shot smoothed out all the texture pattern from the paper towel, so it didn't transfer to the cardstock the way I'd hoped!  Grrrr!  Almost threw it away, but one thing I have learned from hanging around with Loll and Bonnie is, DON'T EVER THROW MISTAKES AWAY!!  So once it dried, it looked kinda cool...almost leather like.  And it made a perfect background for my 2nd card!  I just used a Spellbinders Hemstitched Die to give a little interest to my background, and then added the tree die cut and a gold mirror cs JOY die cut from WPlus 9's Hand Lettered Holidays set.

So there you have it...my Christmas Tree Twofer.  You can check out Dotty Jo and Darnell's BEAUTIFUL Christmas Tree cards for inspiration and then play along right HERE.

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

CAS Mix Up - Paper Towel Technique

Hello friends.  Loll has a fun technique over at the CAS Mix Up Challenge using inky paper towels.

I had paper towel with mostly reds, pinks, and oranges that I misted with my water spray bottle and then pressed into a piece of heavy white cardstock, and the inks left a beautiful impression that I used as a background for my card.

I used MFT's Peek-A-Boo Rectangle Die to die cut the opening in my top card layer, and die cut again on my inked up paper towel piece so I could inlay the small rectangle for my background.  I adhered both to a top folding white card base, and then added a Poppystamps Meadow Flower die cut over the paper towel background.  I curled the petal edges up to give some dimension.  Here's a closer up so you can see the design of the paper towel...

The background really looks textured doesn't it?!  I finished my card with a simple sentiment from SSS's Sketched Flowers and added a piece of crochet thread around the top of the card.  CAS and easy peasy!

Loll has a couple great videos to watch if you've never done the paper towel technique, and there are so many GORGEOUS cards from the DT to inspire you also.  You can check it all out right HERE and play along until the 24th.

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