May Playdate with Michele

Hello friends.  I'm back with another edition of Playdates with Michele where we trade off going to each other's houses and talking, laughing, eating and some card making.  Just to be clear...we don't go home with finished cards.  We die cut, stencil, etc. sharing each other's new (and old) goodies and then bring them home and finish them into cards.  This recent playdate was at Michele's house and as usual we had a wonderful time.  I brought home die cuts, press plate designs & stenciled designs and made 5 cards to share today, with lots of leftovers for another day.  Here's my first card...

  We stamped and stenciled a few of these PFS Magnolia's and I arranged this one done in light purples on a card base where I added The Greetery's Diamond Ribbons die cut. I die cut from black cs 3 times MB's Just A Note Posh Script for my sentiment and added a few PFS purple gems to finish the card.

Another Magnolia done in pinks this time and added to a background made with ASD's Charming Floral Background Press Plate and light gray ink.  It's so hard to see the pressing these press plates give in photos, but IRL the depth & dimension is sooooo pretty!!  The sentiment is from The Greetery's Opposites Attract stamp & die set and a few tiny silver gems from Gina K finished off the center of the Magnolia.

One more Magnolia card using a new PB frame die called Curvature that Michele was kind enough to cut out for me before I even got there!  My sentiment is from PFS's Perfect Sentiments.  Hard to see in the photo but I added glitter to all the veins in the leaves for a little sparkle.

This card uses that same ASD press plate design as card #2 and also the coordinating stencils.  I love the look of the coloring with the stencil, but Michele and I both agreed it takes away from the actual press plate look and looks a lot flatter than when not stenciled.  It's still pretty though and I added a PB frame (ripple) in the center to add my birthday sentiment to (The Greetery's Opposites Attract).   A few silver gems and some white & silver baker's twine finished off this card.

I think this Christmas card with the non traditional colors turned out to be my favorite card!  I used Michele's PFS's Poinsettia Frame stamp, stencil & die set.  I stamped and then stenciled with SU!'s Flirty Flamingo and Lemon Lime Twist inks before using the die to cut out the frame.  I adhered the frame to a card base of Berry Sorbet cs (PTI) and also embossed in gold the sentiment on the Berry Sorbet cs. A few gold sparkle gems finished off this bright card.

Are you still with me?!  That's it for now, but make sure you check out Michele's cards right HERE as I know she will WOW us all with what she's made!  And thank you Michele for sharing all your goodies with me and making the day special as always when we get together...I treasure them!  

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

Color Hues Challenge #110 - PINK & PLUM

Hello friends.  Time for a new challenge here at Color Hues and our sweet hostess Karen has chosen the color pairing of PINK & PLUM to work with for the next two weeks.

I have absolutely fallen in LOVE with this color combo and had so much fun playing with it!  Here's what I came up with...

I used Gina K's Bubblegum Pink and Plum Punch inks and Taylored Expressions Boho Botanicals stencils to come up with this simple but pretty get well card.  When I ordered this stencil set, I also ordered the Foil It Boho Botanicals so that I could step the card up another notch with the sparkling silver foil...this card sparkles like crazy in real life!!  I also used a light gray ink for the leaves and stems so the only color is the pink & plum on the card.

 I layered my stenciled panel with black and then added both to a white card base.  The sentiment strip is embossed using Gina K's All At Once Greetings with foam tape underneath for a bit of dimension.

The DT and our Special GD have some absolutely BEAUTIFUL inspiration to get you started and you can check that all out right HERE...we can't wait to see what you come up with using these 2 colors!  This challenge is open till Thursday, May 29th @ 9:00AM.

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

The Flower Challenge #102 - Add SPOTS or STRIPES

Hello friends.  Just a friendly reminder that there's still time to play at The Flower Challenge where we're looking for SPOTS or STRIPES.

Since I used spots on my first card, I went for stripes this time along with a new stencil set from Taylored Expressions called Boho Botanicals.  Take a look...

Before I started stenciling, I cut off 1" from the right side of my card base and then opened my card flat and stenciled over the 3 1/4" front and 1" of the back side of the card base.  I used Gina K inks in reds, pinks, oranges and greens, and blended darker toward the centers of the flowers.  

I added a piece of black & white striped dsp from PTI on the inside and then also added a thin strip of black cardstock along the right hand side of the card.  I also used my WOS pen to add sparkle to the thin strip.  For my hugs sentiment I used Honey Bee's Bitty Buzzwords die set and die cut it 3 times from black cs and also added WOS so it would match the thin strip on the side.  I really like how the "s" and part of the "g" are hanging over the edge!

This photo shows the back of the card so you can see part of the stenciling that is on the back.  This really helps to make this basically a one layer card and very mail-able!

The DT has lots of beautiful inspiration for you right HERE, so check it out and then play along with us!  This challenge is open till Sunday, May 25th @ 5:00PM.

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

Mother's Day 2025

Hello friends.  Just a quick post today to share the card I made for my mom for Mother's Day.  My mom is 93 and has just recently really started to show her age and is slowing down. She's been talking about selling her home and moving to a senior living facility, but then changes her mind...she loves her house and her independence and just can't make up her mind if she should take the plunge.  But anyway, my mom adores tulips, and since I hadn't put my tulip dies away since the last card I made with them, they came out again for this CAS card...

I'm still pretty stuck on this PB handpicked pitcher stamp (and die) and colored it up with my Copics and then filled it with the smallest tulips from The Greetery's BotaniCuts: Tulips dies.  I used colored cs for the tulips and leaves and then added a bit of ink blending to the edges. The background is from a SSS embossing folder called Floral Butterfly Bouquet.  The little tag is from a Gina K set called Beautiful Basket Additions. 

  I finished with a bit of glitter on the leaves to add some sparkle and that's all the card needed.  CAS and I love how it turned out and so did my mom!

I'm going to enter this card into the Triple B Challenge with my tulip blooms and no birds or butterflies.

 

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

Penny Black Saturday Challenge May 2025

Hello friends. Playing along with the Penny Black Saturday Challenge that is an "anything goes" challenge, with the option this month of using a monochromatic theme...I did not use the optional monochromatic theme.

I used a new (to me) little stamp and die set called handpicked and came up with 2 cards.

The water pitcher and flowers were stamped and colored with my Copics before die cutting and then placed over a background I made using a mask and PB's classy frames dies. I ink blended the masked background using residual ink on my turquoise blending brush and then stamped over it using a Heidi Swapp background stamp from 2013 before removing my mask.

I finished with my sentiment, a twine bow and some flat sparkly silver dots that my sweet friend TK gifted me (great for not adding bulk and mailing!!).  After I finished I realized I forgot to add the classy frame die cut around the masked background, so I decided to make a 2nd card.

I changed up the colors a bit on this one, but otherwise it's the same as the first, and does have the frame attached!

 Two pretty simple cards and I'm very happy with the way they turned out!  And YAY for 2 more cards for the birthday stash...I was running seriously low!!

Lots of inspiration from the DT that you can find right HERE, so check it out and play along if you're a Penny Black lover like me!  This challenge is open till Friday, June 6th @ 8:00PM.

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

The Flower Challenge #102 - Add Spots or Stripes

Hello friends.  It's time for a new challenge here at The Flower Challenge and this month we're looking for you to add SPOTS or STRIPES to your FLORAL cards.

I went with DOTS and here's what I came up with...

Have you ever heard of Perforated Paper?  I hadn't until Taylored Expressions showcased it with stenciling and I just had to try it!  It looks a lot like counted cross stitch material except that it's a heavier weight paper.  Amazon offers it in a few different colors, but it's twice the cost than it is at TE.  TE offers it for 2 sheets (8 1/2 x 11) for $6 (Amazon is $12.29 for 2 sheets).  Anyway, I cut my piece down to a quarter sheet (4 1/4 x 5 1/2) and put it on my grip mat and then stenciled just like I normally would with a Gina K stencil called Bold Bouquet.  You do have to use a bit more pressure to get the color to show up, but I tend to be more heavy handed when I stencil anyway, so it wasn't a problem for me.

Here's a closer up so you can see all the dots better.  I also framed out the outer edge and in the center using Kristina Werner's A2 Thin Frames Dies in black cs to add a bit of definition to my card.  The sentiment strip is from Waffle Flower and was adhered with foam tape.

We have lots of wonderful inspiration from the DT to get you started, and you can check it all out right HERE.  We look forward to seeing what you create using DOTS or STRIPES along with your florals!  This challenge is open till Sunday, May 25th @ 5:00PM. 

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

Color Hues Challenge # 109 - BLUE & YELLOW

Hello friends.  Time for a new challenge here at Color Hues and I am the hostess for the next 2 weeks and have chosen the color pairing of BLUE & YELLOW.

Hard to believe there was a time in my life where I wasn't too thrilled with the color blue, but the past couple years have changed my tune and I just love BLUE paired with YELLOW!  I hope you'll all have fun with this color pairing and remember too that any hue of BLUE or YELLOW works for this challenge.  

I used an older PTI set called Prominent Petals and Night of Navy, Boho Blue, Seaside Spray, Mango Melody & Daffodill Delight inks (all SU!) to create this card...

 I stamped the outlines of the flowers and leaves in Night of Navy and then filled in with the lighter blues.  There is also a stamp to add dots to the flowers and I used white pigment ink to do that...I love the playful look the dots give!  I left the leaves white and added the yellow dots that are part of this stamp set (the dots have WOS and then a layer of glossy accents over the top of them and foam tape underneath for added dimension.

For my white on white background I used PTI's Bold Borders: Polka Dots Die, which also comes with the "hugs" die which I die cut 3 times from Night of Navy cardstock and adhered towards the bottom.

Because I still had everything laying out, I decided to do a bit bolder card using Night of Navy for the card base and the polka dots die.

When I was looking for a flower stamp to use on this card, I ran across an Altenew/PFS collaboration set called Celebrate Us that I had never used and who knows how long I've had it?!  Back of the package says 2020...I think I might have too many stamps!  But anyway, I used the same SU! inks that I used on my first card for the flower and added it with foam tape to the card base.  The sentiment was embossed in white from PTI's Choose Joy stamp set.

This was a pretty simple card to make and I like how it turned out, but I still like my first card best!  How about you??

The DT and our Special GD Nance all have wonderful inspiration to share with you right HERE, so check it out and play along with us...we'd love to see all of YOU in our gallery!!  This challenge is open till Wednesday, May 14th @ 9:00AM.
  

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