Time Out Challenge #281

Hello friends.  I'm tickled pink to be guest designing with the sweet ladies over at the Time Out Challenge today.  They have a new and FUN idea for this challenge where you need to pick out 2 of the 6 ideas and incorporate them into your card.  You can definitely use more than 2 of the ideas listed if you'd like, but no less than 2.

 Lots of great prompts to get the juices flowing here, and I immediately thought of Valentines Day for my card, but you do you and create any type of card you'd like!  I may have gone a little overboard with the prompts and used 5 of them (all but the food prompt!), but they all seemed to fit with my card.  Take a look and you'll see what I mean...

  A couple of months ago, I bought PTI's Build-A-Hat die set and have not been able to put it down!  Winter lasts forever here in Michigan, so I thought the warm prompt was perfect for this hat and decorating it with hearts (and stitched hearts at that!!) filled the bill even more perfectly!  There is also stitching on the hat brim, the zig zag and straight line on the hat too!  My background is layered with a panel that I embossed using Sunny Studios Quilted Hearts EF and a piece of Real Red cs (SU!) before attaching to a white card base.  And of course if it's a Valentine card, you have to add the word LOVE somewhere on the card and I used a really old PTI set called Wonderful Words: Love and die cut it 3 times for some dimension and then die cut it a 4th time in the pink (PTI's Lovely Lady cs) so I could add the pink heart for the "O" in the LOVE word.

 You can see a bit more of the detail in this close up.  LOTS of hearts, layers, stitching, love, and warmth (from the hat).  I finished by adding some red & white bakers twine at the top and then a few Disco Ball Sequins from Gina K.

A BIG thank you to all the gals over at the Time Out Challenges for choosing my card back in November (you can see the card HERE) as a winner in their COZY challenge!

Make sure you check out all the wonderful inspiration the DT has for you for this current challenge and play along right HERE...there's always a spot for YOU in the gallery!!  As an extra incentive to play along, there's a $25 gift card from Newton's Nook for the winner, and who doesn't LOVE FREE stamps?!!  This challenge is open till Wednesday, Feb. 12th @ 5:00PM. 

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

Color Hues #102 - NAVY & LIME

Hello friends.  It's the middle of the month and that means it's time for another Color Hues Challenge!  Stef is our fabulous hostess this time around and she is looking for cards with the color combination of NAVY & LIME.

I love this color combination and had fun playing with a new Christmas gift from my girlfriend Sue using the NAVY & LIME color combo.  So much fun in fact that I made two cards!  Actually I started with two stenciled backgrounds switching the colors around and decided I liked both, so I ended up with two cards.  Here's the first one...

This was the first one I made where the navy is more prominent in the stenciled background (PFS - Argyle).  I cut it down a bit to fit a layer that I die cut with The Greetery's Postal Frames Dies using a Gina K's Key Lime cs and then attached to a Into the Navy (also Gina K) cs card base.  

I wish my Key Lime inking and cs showed up better as they are a much brighter green in real life!  (Not much sunshine in the Winter months here in Michigan!)  My Christmas gift was Unity's stamp set called Flock Talk that I had to add to my wish list after seeing both Bonnie and Michele use these sweet birdies!  I stamped this cutie with Night of Navy ink (SU!) and then right away used an Aqua Painter to spread the ink around a bit to color the sweet little guy.  I die cut him into a circle from Gina K's Master Layout #15 set which also has the layer behind it to make it look like a postage stamp.  My sentiment came from Concord & 9th's Tweet Life and I finished with a couple silver gems from PFS.

My 2nd card is basically the same as the 1st, just a different birdie and sentiment and the colors switched around.  Take a look...

Once again, my greens are much brighter in real life, but I think this bird is a hoot and totally makes up for the green not being as bright as I'd like!

This sentiment is also from the Concord & 9th set and will be going out as a thank you to my sweet friend Sue who gifted me this stamp set.  

The DT and our Special GD Esther Asbury all have fabulous cards to inspire you with this color combination, and you can check it all out right HERE.  This challenge is open till Wednesday, Jan. 29th @ 9:00AM.  We're looking forward to seeing YOU in the gallery!!

 

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

You Warm My Heart

Hello friends.  Playing along with a couple challenges today using a cute little snowman from Tim Holtz (CHILLY) and an older PTI set called Quilted Winter.  Here's what I came up with...

I die cut all 67 pieces for this small snowman (JK! But Tim does use a lot of die cuts for his images!!) and managed not to get too much glue everywhere (mostly my fingers!!).  My snowflake quilt frame was die cut from PTI's Bitty Big DSP and then again twice from white cs to add some dimension and sturdiness to the frame.  I used the same DSP for one of the background layers to tie it all in to the frame too.

In this close up you can see a bit more of the detail and also the white panel that I embossed with SSS's Icy Snowflakes embossing folder.  I have quite a few snowflake ef's, but I honestly think that this one might be my favorite as I reach for it quite often!!  My sentiment also  comes from an older PTI set called Winter Hills and I thought it fit perfectly with the addition of the red heart the snowman is holding. Pretty simple card but I'm happy with the way it turned out and thrilled also to have another Christmas card done for next year (well, really this year!!).  Now if I only can keep it up!!

I'll be sharing this card over at the Peace On Earth Christmas Challenge where they have a wonderful mood board showcasing SNOWMEN and also the Inkspirational Challenge where they are looking for quilts.

LOTS of inspiration at both sites if you'd like to play along.  The Peace On Earth Challenge is open till Thursday, Jan. 16th @ 8:00PM and the Inkspirational Challenge is open till Friday, Jan. 17th @ 11:59PM. 

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

PBSC January - Anything Goes...Optional "Something New"

Hello friends.  I was lucky enough to receive some new Penny Black stamps for Christmas from my sweet friend Sue, and the cuddle up set was the first one to get colored up!  Take a look...

Aren't they just the cutest little couple all snuggled up together against the cold?  They must live in Michigan like me!  I colored the image with my Copics and then fussy cut the image out.

My background consists of PB's stitched square & circles (the largest circle die in the set) and PB's tall trees dies.  Although it's hard to see in the photos, I ink blended the background of the circle die in residual blue ink from one of my blender brushes. My image of the couple was added over the circle with foam tape for a bit of dimension.

 I finished this card with a sentiment from the cuddle up set and embossed it in white on a strip of black.  I thought about adding some bling, but then decided it really didn't need it!

Lots of inspiration from the DT that you can find right HERE, so check it out and then play along.  This challenge is open till Friday, January 31st @ 8:00PM.

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

Group of Seven Cardmakers - OMBRE

Hello friends.  Hope the New Year has been off to a good start for all of you and that the busy, busy, busy of the holiday season has slowed down a bit so you can relax and have fun in the craft room again!  Because it's very COLD and snowy here in the midwest, the new challenge over at the Group of Seven Cardmakers caught my eye and made my first Christmas card of 2025!

The group is featuring the OMBRE technique, and I started my card with a ombre background using Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky & Chipped Saphire distress inks.  Once I finished with my ink blending, I added a bit of water splatter and white acrylic paint splatter to give the impression of a snowy sky.   

I used The Greetery's Twinkle Background Die on my snowy background and then added a piece of silver glitter cs behind it, before attaching to a white card base.  I used PTI's Psalm Reflections: July die for my top layer and stamped it with PTI's Reflections: November stamp in black and embossed with clear to make the sentiment shiny and a little more bold.  I added foam tape behind  this layer before attaching to my card panel for a bit of dimension.

 Here's a closer up shot so you can see a bit more of the water and white splatter and the ombre look to the background.  I'm loving the sparkle that shines through too to give the card a bit more of a celebratory look!  This would have been a quick and easy card except for the fact that I dropped the top layer that I had added the foam tape to and of course it ripped the ombre layer when I tried to remove it...grrrrrrrr!  Had to start all over with the ink blending, but hey, accidents happen and I got to spend a bit more time in my happy place, so it was all good!

The DT has some absolutely BEAUTIFUL cards to share with you using the OMBRE technique, and you can check it all out right HERE.

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

Color Hues Challenge #101 - Red & Kraft

Hello friends and Happy New Year!  We're back with a fun new challenge for you here at the Color Hues Challenge and our hostess Sheri would like to see KRAFT & RED on our cards.

I have a fun and modern floral card for you today using a Spellbinders die set called Towering Blooms that I snagged for a great price back in early December when they were having a warehouse sale.  Take a look:

I started by using a white neutral background that I embossed using Spellbinder's Autumn Chevron embossing folder, before attaching it to a kraft panel and white card base.  Next I die cut the flowers, leaves and vase from kraft and red cardstock and then did a bit of ink blending on the red flowers and the vase (to differentiate between the vase and the leaves and also ran the vase through my Subtle ef for a bit of dimension). 

 Hopefully you can see the ink blending a bit better on this close up?  Next, I started arranging all the pieces on my embossed white layer until I was happy with the arrangement and then added the black centers to the 2 largest flowers and behind the branch with the buds.

Here's an even closer close up so you can see the texture on the vase and the embossed white background.  The die set comes with 3 sentiments, and I chose the "smile" one that I die cut in black so it would stand out from all the kraft and red.  Super easy card to put together and I love the fun and modern look to these blooms!

The DT and our Special GD Stephanie S. have come up with some AWESOME inspiration for you for using these 2 colors, so make sure you check it out and play along with us...we'd love to see YOU in the gallery!  You can find all the info you need to play along right HERE.  This challenge is open till Tuesday, Jan. 14th @ 9:00AM. 

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