Penny Black Saturday Challenge

Hello friends.  Last week when Michele was here, she brought several of her new Penny Black stamps to share, and I had a great time this week coloring up a couple of them and making them into Christmas cards.

My first card uses the Love & Magic stamp set with the sweet little bear carrying his bouquet of holly and berries.

Isn't he a cutie?!  I did some simple Copic coloring and then fussy cut him out before adding him to a panel that I blended some tea dye ink on (with foam tape on the back).  I also used the Crystal Frames die with a piece of Real Red cs behind.

I used a top folding white card base and then finished with a sentiment from PTI's Christmas Blessings stamp set.  

My 2nd card uses the ADORABLE Sing Joy stamp set from Penny Black and I am absolutely in LOVE with this sweet little caroler!  I colored her with my Copics again, and then added her to a die cut Posted Cut Out.

My background for this 2nd card uses SSS's Hand Lettered Holiday Background stamp on Real Red cs with white pigment ink.  I added a piece a shimmery ribbon around the background piece and then added to a white card base.  I left off a sentiment since there were enough words in the background and I didn't want the card to be too busy!

A BIG thanks to sweet Michele for sharing her stash with me...I had so much fun coloring both of these sweet images and turning them into cards!  I'm adding both of these cards to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where it's a "Anything Goes" with the option of "Anything but Square".  I used rectangles on both cards, so I think it's safe to say I didn't add a square!!  This challenge is open till Friday, Oct. 4th @ 8:00PM.

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

                                               

Double D - Fall Leaves

Hello friends.  Have the leaves started turning color in your neck of the woods yet?  Not much change here in West Michigan yet, but hopefully the next couple weeks will bring some added color to my neck of the woods!  I do know how to add color in my craft room though, and when Michele came over to play last week, I broke out the Lindy's Magicals for her to try and we both have a card to share with you today and are playing along with the Double D Challenge who are looking for colorful Fall Leaves!

This is one of those cards that does not photograph well to show all the shimmer and shine of the mica flakes that are in the Lindy's Magicals, but just trust me that in real life, this card really does SHINE!!

I started by adding Lindy's Magicals from the Autumn Leaves Collection on water color cs and while that was drying, used SSS's Fall Foliage EF on a piece of Vintage Cream cs (PTI) and then lightly blended brown ink from my brown brush all around the edges.  

  I die cut a pumpkin from The Greetery's Plump Pumpkins Dies and inked around the edges with DOX ink and sponge daubers to add a bit more definition.  My branch and leaves were die cut using The Greetery's BotaniCuts: Mighty Oaks dies from Soft Suede cs for the branch and the dried water colored cs for the leaves and acorn tops.  

My sentiment comes from a very old Clearly Besotted stamp set called Autumn Flowers and was added with foam tape on an angle at the bottom of the pumpkin.  A few PFS Sparkling Champagne Pearls finished off my card.  I really wish you could all see this card in person as the colors really do shimmer and shine, just like a sunny Fall day here in West Michigan!

The DT has some absolutely beautiful cards to share with you that you can check out right HERE, and don't forget to check out Michele's blog too to see what she did using the Lindy's Magicals!  This Fall Leaves challenge is open till Sunday, Sept. 29th @ 8:00PM.  

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

Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge #72

Hello friends.  Have another Christmas card to share with you today and playing along with the gals over at the Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge where they have a FABULOUS mood board for inspiration using rainbow colors!

Wouldn't it be fun to decorate your house for the holidays in rainbow colors?!  I'm pretty traditional with all my Christmas decorations, but I wouldn't mind trying a rainbow palette sometime.  We'll see...  Maybe I should just start with a card?!!  I used PFS's Holiday Street Press Plate and coordinating stencils to come up with this colorful card...

I used the Press Plate and foiled the image in gold and then proceeded to stencil in all the colors.  There are 7 stencils in this set, so it's easy to add all the different colors.  

After stenciling, I used some white acrylic paint to add some splatter to look like snow, and then finished with a gold embossed sentiment on vellum from PFS's Holiday Sentiments stamp & die set.

The DT has lots of colorful cards to inspire you and you can find them all right HERE.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Oct. 3rd @ 8:00PM.

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

Color Hues #95 - BLUE & PINK

Hello friends.  Time for a new color pairing here at the Color Hues Challenge, and our sweet hostess Cindy would like to see BLUE & PINK on our cards,

One of my sweet stamping friends Lisa had gifted me some foil plates and dies that she wasn't using anymore, and I had fun using this current color pairing with a background foil plate and butterfly die.  Take a look...

I used Silver Speckled Prism foil (Spellbinders) with the foil plate for my background, and then used the coordinating stencils that Lisa had also sent to color in this Deco Diamond (Poppystamps) design with blue ink.  There were 3 stencils, so it was easy to get the 3 shades of blue into all those tiny spaces!

 Lisa had also sent Poppystamps Large Stained Glass Butterfly dies and I cut the top layer from some glittery silver cs and then the solid piece behind from a pink blended piece of cs that I also splattered with some water and pink ink.  I also brushed a bit of blue around the edges of the solid pink piece of the butterfly for a bit of contrast.  I added 3 clear gems (Trinity Stamps) to the center of the butterfly and popped up on foam tape my pre printed Thank You sentiment from Gina K. A very simple card, but I really like the way it turned out.  It's a lot more sparkly in real life!! :0)

We have some really awesome inspiration for you from our DT and Special GD Ishani that you can find HERE, so check it out and then play along with us!  As always, we'd love to see YOU in the gallery!!  This challenge is open till Sunday, Sept. 29th @ 9:00AM. 

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

The Flower Challenge #95 - Reminder

Hello friends.  Just a friendly reminder that there's still time to play along with us at The Flower Challenge
where we're looking for STAMPED flower images this month.

I used another older Altenew stamp set (Handpicked Bouquet) that hadn't seen any ink in quite some time, and came up with 2 cards to share with you.

I stamped the outline in black onyx ink and then stamped the layers in Sweet 16, Pixie Dust, Royal Treatment, Lime Rickey, & Grass Skirt inks (CP) and then die cut with the coordinating die.

The background was stamped with SSS's Friendship Text Background and then foiled using Prism foil and SB's Geometric Optical Background foil plate.  The Prism foil has a really sparkly look that unfortunately I was unable to capture, but gives a very glitzy look to this card!  I finished with a sentiment from Gina K's All At Once Greetings and a very thin strip of black cardstock to the left edge of the stamped and foiled panel.

My 2nd card uses the same Handpicked Bouquet stamp set and It's A Girl, Party Dress, Lime Rickey, & Grass Skirt inks from CP.  

After die cutting the floral image, I added it to a background panel that I'd embossed with SSS's Feathered Spiral EF with foam tape.  A few silver gems and a strip sentiment from Gina K's All At Once Greetings finished off this card.

We hope you'll join us (if you haven't all ready!) and add your STAMPED floral image to our gallery...we'd love to see you there!  If you need more inspiration, make sure you check out all the lovely, lovely cards from our DT right HERE.  This challenge is open till Wednesday, Sept. 25th @ 5:00PM.

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

Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge #71

Hello friends.  Still trying to get back into the Christmas swing of things here so that I'm prepared come December and have a fun card to share with you today from inspiration from the Peace On Earth Challenge mood board.

The photo on the bottom right is what really inspired my card...the nutcracker!  I had bought Tim Holtz's Harvey set of dies almost a year and a half ago, and like most Tim Holtz die sets, when I opened the package and saw how many pieces there were, I closed it back up and put it away and then forgot about it!  It ended up really not being that bad (I've done worse ones, like the Santa one Michele and I worked on back in July!!), and I came up with a fun card to share with you!

He really is a cutie, isn't he?!  And I love his name...very fitting!!  I used scraps of colored cardstock to cut out all the pieces and then on some of the pieces (mostly the red, and the white feathers on his hat) did a bit of ink blending.  

For my background I used a piece of DSP from SU!'s Peaceful Prints...I love the plaid and snowflake combo!!  Behind Harvey I die cut the letters for the word JOY from The Stamp Market's Festive Foliage Dies.  I cut the letters from Real Red cardstock and again from white to make a shadow so they'd stand out more from the DSP.  I put foam tape behind the J & Y to add some dimension, and left the O and Harvey flat.  Pretty easy card once I got Harvey put together, and I think it turned out pretty CUTE!!

 I'm going to add this card to Darnell's NBUS Challenge also, since I think waiting a year and a half to use a new die qualifies!

The DT at the Peace On Earth Challenge have lots of fabulous cards to inspire you to play along, so check it out and get going on those Christmas cards.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Sept. 19th @ 8:00PM. 

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

Four Seasons Fall 2024

Hello friends.  Playing along with the challenge over at Four Seasons where they are looking for FALL themed cards.  I've had enough heat and humidity and am so ready for some cooler weather and lots of vibrant Fall colors!  How about you??

I have a new die set from PTI that totally says Fall...Into the Blooms: Acorns.  Here's what I came up with...

I die cut the acorns and berry sprigs from colored cardstock and then blended around them with DOX inks, and then the leaves were die cut from white and inked up with DOX inks and then water splattered for a little more interest.  The sentiment is from an older PTI set called SCENT-IMENTALS, and was stamped directly onto the largest acorn.  The background is a piece of kraft cs that I embossed with a really old Cuttlebug ef and then blended Vintage Photo DOX ink over it to make the words POP a bit more.

Hopefully you're enjoying some Fall like weather in your neck of the woods (sounds like Summer will be sticking around for the rest of the month where I live!) and are inspired to play along with this challenge!  You can check out all the lovely cards from the DT right HERE and then play along till Wednesday, Sept. 25th. 

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

Double D Challenge - Sunflowers

Hello friends.  I couldn't resist playing along with the latest Double D Challenge where they are focusing on Sunflowers!!

Aren't they just the cheeriest flowers??!!  I have many sunflower stamps and stencils, but I always seem to go back to my favorite...TCW - Mini Joyful Sunflower!  (I've never been sure why they labeled it as "Mini" as it's a BIG 6x6 stencil!!)  Anyway, I stenciled the whole bloom (with Gina K inks), and then ended up using only part of it.  Here's what I came up with...

I used PTI's Reflections: April die to cut out the portion of the Sunflower that I wanted, and then stamped over it with PTI's Year of Psalms: July in black onyx ink.

I made a background panel using an older SU! Honeycomb ef and then lightly blended over it with residual ink from my yellow blending brush to help the honeycomb stand out a bit more.  I attached the panel to a white top folding card base, and then added a piece of yellow & white gingham ribbon (SU!) and then attached my stenciled and stamped image with foam tape over top.  I finished with a little bee from The Greetery's Honey Jar stamp & die set (hard to see in the photo but the wings on this bee are vellum) and also a few Disco Ball Sequins (Gina K).  This will work perfectly for a bright and cheery encouragement card!

You can find all kinds of BEAUTIFUL Sunflower cards for inspiration from the DT at Double D right HERE, so if you LOVE Sunflowers like I do, play along with this fun challenge.  It's open till Sunday, Sept. 15th @ 8:00PM. 

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

The Flower Challenge #95 - Include A Stamped Flower

Hello friends.  Happy September and welcome to a new challenge at The Flower Challenge.  This month we have an easy challenge for you...include a stamped flower!

I went looking through some of my older Altenew stamp sets and found a few that hadn't seen any ink in ages, so it was time to pull them out and have a play!  I had so much fun with this first stamp set that I actually made 3 cards with it!  Here's the 1st one...

I stamped the outline in black onyx ink and then had fun with some CP inks that I hadn't used in quite a while either...Coral Cabana, Bellini, Green Tea, & Eucalyptus.  I didn't have the coordinating die, so decided to fussy cut the image right to the black outline...was a pain, but I really liked the look when I finished! 

 I did a little bit of stenciling on the actual card base with Gina K's Thick Brush Stencil in gray and then added a panel that I die cut an oval from to place over the stenciling.  I added my flowers (Altenew's Positive Vibes) with foam tape for some dimension and then finished with a sentiment from the stamp set and a few iridescent clear drops from PFS.  CAS and really loved the way this one turned out!

My 2nd card uses the same florals from the Positive Vibes set, but in pink inks from CP (It's A Girl, Party Dress, Green Tea, & Eucalyptus).  Added a window frame from Gina K's Master Layouts #9 that I also embossed the outside edges using SSS's Vine Canopy EF.  My sentiment is also from Gina K's All At Once Greetings, and then finished with a few Disco Ball Sequins (also Gina K).

 My last card is a very CAS one that I made into a sympathy card to have one on hand.  I used the same Positive Vibes stamp set and used Tiara, Sauna, Green Tea, & Eucalyptus inks (CP).  I did a little light splattering with the Eucalyptus ink and die cut the panel using The Greetery's Nordic Frame Dies.  Being a sympathy card, I left off any embellishments and called it good!

The DT has some absolutely BEAUTIFUL cards to share with you and you can check them all out right HERE if you're in need of some inspiration to play along.  Just remember to add a STAMPED FLORAL IMAGE as opposed to a stenciled or die cut floral image to your card and join us in the gallery...we'd love to see YOU there!  This challenge is open till Wednesday, Sept. 25th @ 5:00PM.

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

Color Hues #94 - Rust & Green

Hello friends.  Not sure where August went, but happy September!  We have a new challenge for you here at Color Hues, and our sweet hostess Carol would like to see RUST & GREEN on our cards.

Sounds like Fall colors to me and I'm ready to be done with the heat and see some colors in the trees!  Here's what I came up with...

I started by ink blending a panel of white with Terracotta Tile (SU!) and Fresh Asparagus (Gina K) inks and then splattering with water.  When it was dry I hot foiled the panel with Spellbinders Autumn Leaf Border foil plate and Aura Foil.  The foiling is much brighter in real life (grrrr!!) and looks so pretty against the rust and green background.  I tore the edge and then adhered to a card base of Rustic Cream (PTI).  

 The sentiment comes from The Greetery's Autumn Bliss stamp set and was stamped with the Terracotta ink I used  for my ink blending.  I had a hard time not adding any bling to this card, but the foiling is really all it needed.

The DT and our Special GD Colleen have some beautiful cards to inspire you with these 2 colors, so check it all out right HERE and then play along with us!  This challenge is open till Saturday, Sept. 14th @ 9:00AM.

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