Inspired By #197 - Color Challenge

Hello friends.  There's a color challenge going on over at the Inspired By Challenge, and I do LOVE playing along with color challenges!!  Take a look at all the BEAUTIFUL colors in this inspiration photo they provided...

I love the deep reds, the greens, the blues on the dishes, and what I'm going to call gold on the table runner and the 2 candles.  And here's what I came up with using those colors in an attempt to finish up the last of my Christmas cards!

Back in the beginning of the Summer I won a gift certificate to Concord & 9th, and bought the Mistletoe Messages Dies and the Mistletoe Messages Stamp Set, and then completely forgot about them until I was looking for something else the other day and came upon them.  This set was so easy to use that I made a couple cards and even a couple tags too!  Better late than never!!  Anyway, I started this card by stenciling some light blue snowflakes (The Greetery - Frosty Flakes Stencils) on my background as a nod to the dishes in the photo.  For the Mistletoe, I used some of SU!'s Shimmer Vellum in Evening Evergreen and also die cut one just from plain white cardstock to give the vellum piece a bit more sturdiness.  Once the 2 were glued together, I ran the edges of the leaves across my Versamark pad and then sprinkled with gold embossing powder and heat set.  Between the shimmer of the vellum and the shine of the gold embossing, this Mistletoe is soooo pretty!!  I added the bow using some matte gold cs (Gina K) and the berries are die cut from Cherry Cobbler cs.  

 The sentiment is part of the stamp set, and I finished by adding a few gold pearls and a few gems (PFS) that have a touch of pink in them when the sun hits them just right.  Pretty easy and I love how festive it came out!  

Only a couple more days to play along with this challenge, but check out all the fabulous inspiration from the DT, and then if you're not finished with your Christmas cards, play along (HERE) to get them finished up!!

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

Inspired By #196 - Neighbor Tag

Hello friends.  The inspiration photos at the Inspired By Challenge lately have been wonderful, and are really helping me to finish those last Christmas cards up!

 Wouldn't you love to have an Advent calendar like this with all the sweet little houses?!  While I didn't make an Advent calendar card, I did use houses, pine trees, and the colors from the inspiration photo to come up with this mini slimline card...

The houses and trees are both from a new Gina K set Winter Whimsy and I also used a new set from one of Gina's designers (Melanie Muenchinger) called Slimline Starters which allowed me to stamp the double frame border before die cutting the stitched rectangle.  After stamping my houses in Evening Evergreen (SU!), I used a glue pen which ended up spreading the coloring around a bit like water coloring, and I love how that turned out!  Before the glue dried, I added some Distress Glitter (Tim Holtz) and tiny star gems.  The red houses I pop dotted for some dimension, and the kraft colored houses were glued directly onto the tree stamped layer.

  To finish my card I added a layer of Evening Evergreen cardstock behind the stamped layer, and also did a sentiment strip with the Evening Evergreen cardstock and white embossed using SSS's Tiny Words Christmas.  Really like how this one turned out!!

You can check out all the FABULOUS cards from the DT right HERE and then play along...especially if you need to get crackin' on those cards!!  Thanks Inspired By for the great inspiration...I loved it!!

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

Inspired By #194 - Welcome Friends

Hello friends.  Had to play along with the gals over at the Inspired By Challenge after seeing the Christmas inspiration photo, as it was right up my alley with it's country charm!

I love the rustic look, the colors, well, everything about this beautiful inspiration photo!  And since I'm trying to finish up the last of my Christmas cards, this seemed like a perfect challenge to participate in this week!  Here's what I came up with...

 I loved the ship lap background in the inspiration photo, so I started there using The Greetery's Ship Lap Builder Dies and after die cutting, added a very light layer of kraft ink to the pieces.  I matted this layer to a piece of kraft cs, and then also die cut my wreath (Reverse Confetti's Wreaths Confetti Cuts) from kraft cs.  I decorated the wreath with a new PTI set called Sprigs & Sprays: Holiday using Ocean Tides (PTI) ink and Poppy ink (C & 9th).

 I die cut the little string wrapped bow from The Greetery's Fit to Be Tied die set and my sentiment from MB's Special Merry Christmas using Poppy cardstock from C & 9th.  A few red gems from Lucy's Little Gems finished off this rustic Christmas card.

You can check out all the fabulous cards from the DT and play along right HERE.

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

Inspired By #191 - I'd Fall for You

Hello friends.  I fell in LOVE with the inspiration photo over at the Inspired By Challenge and just had to play along!

I mean how can you NOT fall in love with a photo like that?!  The cute bear and the beautiful Fall colors totally inspired me to come up with this card...

As much as I love how this card turned out, there are parts of it that kinda bum me out!  I started with a plain piece of white cardstock and stamped 4 different leaves ( Gina K - Fall Foliage) using Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, & Mustard Seed Distress Inks that I spritzed with water before pressing onto my cardstock, and it looked so bright and pretty!  Next I used a really old Cuttlebug/Provo Craft embossing folder that has all sorts of words associated with Fall on it, but you could hardly read the words with it being on white cardstock.  So I had the bright idea that if I lightly sponged some Walnut Stain Distress Ink over the raised embossed words, it would help them stand out more where you could actually read them...and it did work!  But.......yep, the beautiful leaves I had stamped weren't very noticeable anymore!  Grrrrr!  I still love the look of the background as the colors do show through, but you just can't really make out the shape of the leaves!!  Oh well, live and learn!

 My sweet little bear comes from the SugarPea Designs stamp set Hey Winter and was Copic colored before being pop dotted on my sentiment strip that is also from a SugarPea Designs set called Hey Fall.  The little leaf is also from the same set.  

The DT has some AWESOME inspiration for you this week, so check it all out right HERE and then play along.  This challenge is open for a few more days (20th).

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

Inspired By #189 - All the Peels/Mistletoe 25 Cents

Hello friends.  Has my title intrigued you??!!  My sweet friend Michele has invited me to play along with her this week for the Inspired By Challenge, and they have 2 FABULOUS inspiration photos for you to choose from!  Will the All the Peels photo or the Mistletoe 25 Cents photo inspire you?

I couldn't help myself and as much as I LOVE Fall and apples, I HAD to choose the Christmas option!  No Mistletoe, but see if you can find what inspired me...

Yep, the different shades of green for the greenery, and the tin containers!  I used a new SU! set called Christmas Season for all the beautiful greenery that I stamped in a array of different green inks, and then fussy cut.  The watering can is from The Greetery's Sprinkled with Kindness stamp & die set.  I used The Greetery's Windowpane Plaid Background stamp to mimic the plaid in the inspiration photo and attached it to a Smokey Slate piece of cardstock that I die cut with The Greetery's Postal Frame Dies.

You can't see it in the photo, but I used some WOS on the berries...it satisfied my need to add some shine to the card!!  My tag is from an older MFT tag die set and the sentiment comes from The Greetery's Budding Beauties Winter stamp set (can you tell I love, LOVE using The Greetery products??!!)  I finished this card with a few SU! enamel dots, and now I have another card to add to my Christmas stash!  

So which option will YOU choose...All the Peels or Mistletoe 25 Cents??  There's also a sketch you can follow if you like...

I love that there are so many options to choose from when playing along with the Inspired By Challenge.  Make sure you check out all the BEAUTIFUL inspiration from the DT and then play along...fun, fun, FUN!!  (And thanks for inviting me to play along Michele...I had a blast!!)

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

Inspired By #188 - COLORFUL FALL

Hello friends.  Playing along with the gals over at the Inspired By Challenge, where they have a beautiful Fall photo to inspire us this week.

All you have to do is look at my header here on my blog (and at the bottom too!) to see that I LOVE leaves, so of course seeing this inspiration photo inspired me!!  The leaves and the colors...I mean, what's NOT to love?!!  Here's what I came up with using an older set of Gina Marie Designs leaf dies and some of my DOX inks...

Aren't the leaves prettyful?!  (Our middle daughter always used to say "prettyful" when she liked something, and the word has just always stuck with me, even though I know it's not an actual word!!)  After die cutting my leaves and using DOX inks on them, I realized the colors were pretty muted compared to the inspiration photo, so I sprayed them quite liberally with Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Mist which has a iridescent gold color to it, and really makes these leaves sparkle & shine.  Here's a closer up photo so you can get a better idea of how they really look IRL!

Because of the gold shimmer on the leaves, I decided to add some more gold with a little bit of foiling (really getting hooked on this technique!!).  I used Spellbinders Essential Duo Lines Rectangles for the framing around the base of my card, and then added a dry embossed layer using a FSJ Falling Leaves embossing folder to the inside of the foiled frame.  After adding my leaves to the top left hand corner, I decided to try foiling my sentiment using just a regular die from MB's Just A Note Posh Script and I couldn't believe how perfectly it turned out!!  I die cut 2 more of the background piece of the sentiment die (it's a 2 piece set) for a little more dimension, and then glued all 3 layers to the dry embossed layer.  A little piece of gold twine at the top of the leaf stems, and my CAS card was finished!

Only a couple more days till this challenge ends, but if you're looking for some BEAUTIFUL inspiration for Fall cards, check it all out right HERE.

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

Inspired By #180 - Slip into Something more Comfy

Hello friends.  Slipping in at the last minute to play along with the Inspired By Challenge where they want us to celebrate Summer and Slip into Something more Comfy!

Isn't that a yummy looking photo?!  And it totally gave me a reason to use a sweet little die set from Gina Marie Designs that I've had for years and years and NEVER used!!  

I die cut 4 different pairs of the flip flops in PTI's Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist, Harvest Gold, & Parakeet Green cardstock and Bitty Big DSP and glued them together before adding to my sunburst stenciled background (PTI's Sun & Surf Stencil Collection).

I used WOS on the sun rays and it even showed up in my photo this time...YAY!!!  My sentiment comes from MFT's Summer Days Ahead stamp set.  Pretty simple card but it definitely says SUMMER!!

If you need some more SUNSHINE in your life, check out all the AWESOME cards from the DT and if you're really quick, even play along right HERE.

I'll also be adding this card to Darnell's NBUS #28 Challenge since the flip flop dies made their first debut after all those years in the bin and never having been used!!

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

Inspired By #168 - I Carrot About Spring

Hello friends.  There's a beautiful inspiration photo over at the Inspired By Challenge that definitely says Spring to me!!

I was inspired by the colors in this beautiful spray and also the vertical design, and came up with this card using a Gina K stamp set called Wild Blossom.

My colors came out a little more peachy than orange, but I still love the light and Spring-y feeling to this card.  I used a technique Gina showed in one of her video chats to achieve a 2 step look by inking up the stamp in one color and then adding a 2nd layer of coloring using a marker (I used some of my old SU! markers) directly onto the stamp before stamping onto your cardstock.  I did this with both the leaves and the flowers to create the layered look.

Here's a closer up so you can see the stamped layering a bit better.  I finished this card with a birthday die cut from Gina's Lace Flowers stamp set and also added a few Disco Ball sequins also from Gina K.  A pretty simple card but love the soft and delicate look to this one.

Lots of absolutely GORGEOUS inspiration from the DT and you can check it all out right HERE to play along.

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

Inspired BY #167 - SPRING INTO COLOR

Hello friends.  Today I'm playing along with the gals over at the Inspired By Challenge where they want us to SPRING INTO COLOR using this photo as inspiration...

That lovely bunch of color really does make me think SPRING, and I do have lots of Tulip stamps (I mean I am from Michigan and Tulips are a BIG deal around here!), but I went in a different direction...kinda!  Still inspired by color (my favorite color!), and still inspired by Spring flowers, just not Tulips...

As much as I love Tulips, I can't grow them at my house because of those cute bunny rabbits!!  Those sweet little things bite the Tulip heads off and then just leave them laying there!  Grrrrrrrrrr!!  However, they do leave the Daffodils alone and I just LOVE their bright sunny color!  They add such a pop of color to an otherwise pretty gray landscape around here, as we don't really green up here in Michigan till May.  And I just LOVE the color YELLOW!  This image is from Gina K and called Easter Blessings.  I stamped the image in black and then clear heat embossed before coloring with my Poly Chromos pencils and then using Gamsol to spread the color around.  I stamped the sentiment below the flowers and then added a couple score lines to highlight the sentiment.  Finished with a black mat and some black & white gingham ribbon before attaching to a Crushed Curry card base, and then added a few Disco Ball sequins (Gina K) to add a touch of bling.

You can check out all the beautiful inspiration from the DT and play along with this colorful challenge right HERE.  This challenge is open till March 31st.

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

Inspired By #160 - Krafty Love

Hello friends.  Nothing like joining in at the last minute, but I really did like the inspiration photo for this past weeks Inspired By Challenge!  

Aren't those just the sweetest little hearts?!  I would love to have a drawer full of these as sachet's, or maybe even a few hanging in my craft room!  I was totally inspired by the hearts, the colors (kraft and light pinks), and the lace and ribbons, and came up with this card inspired by the photo:

 I started with a kraft base, then added a light pink panel and an embossed (SU!) white layer, before adding two hearts that I die cut using kraft (embossed with SU!'s Tasteful Textile) and DSP that I've had FOREVER and have no idea who makes it!  I added some cream colored lace to the larger heart and a skinny piece of light pink seam binding ribbon to the smaller heart.  I stamped a strip with the sentiment from The Greetery's Pretty Postmarks stamp set and then finished with a couple clear gems.  One of the ladies in my bible study is a real vintage loving gal, and I think she will love receiving this for Valentine's Day!

This challenge closes shortly, so not much time left to play, but it's still worth the time to check out all the BEAUTIFUL cards from the DT and those in the gallery already, and you can find it all right HERE.

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

Inspired By #141 - Tweet Tea

Hello friends.  After seeing the sweet inspiration photo at the current Inspired By Challenge, I had to play along!

Isn't that just the "tweetest" image??!!  (Sorry, couldn't resist!)  Of course I was inspired by the tea cups, the birdie, the greenery, and the flowers and colors!  Here's what I came up with...

I used one of my all time favorite PTI dies (Fancy Tea Cup) and DSP from an older Spellbinders 6 x 6 pad called You're My Type to make my 3 tea cups, and the greenery is a die cut from Poppystamps called Leafy Sprig.  The little birdie is from a Gina K set called Natural Silhouettes and was stamped with Misty Moonlight ink (SU!).  I also used a SU! embossing folder (Tufted) for my background and then finished off with a Tiny Tag from PTI for my sentiment and a few sequins.

Check out all the BEAUTIFUL cards from the DT HERE and then play along...there's still a few days left before the challenge ends!

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

Inspired By #135 - Fruity Sentiments

Hello friends.  Another FUN inspiration photo over at the Inspired By Challenge where the theme is fruits...

Because I tend to take everything quite literally, I went with the colors, the lemons, and even the optional sketch this week to come up with this birthday card:

When I grow up I want to be just like Michele (DT member), who is always thinking outside the box and always coming up with the perfect puny sentiments!  Until then though, I went with the black, white, yellow, and green color theme using Pinkfresh Studio's Lemon Lush background stamp (doesn't this stamp look SO cool stamped in black & white?!!) and The Greetery's Lemon Blossom stamp set for my fruit. 

I added a offset circle to play along with the sketch and to have a place to set my lemons on where they wouldn't get lost in the busy background.  The sentiment is also from the Lemon Blossom stamp set.  A little bit of black & white baker's twine to tie on the embossed banner, and a few clear gems (Lucy's Little Things) finished off my Summery Birthday card.

You can check out all the FABULOUS inspiration from the DT and play along right HERE.

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

Inspired By #131 - SUMMER PLEASE

Hello friends.  HAD to play along with the new Inspired By Challenge because, well, LOOK at this inspiration photo...

If you've been following me lately either here on my blog or on Instagram, then you know I am head over heels in LOVE with the pinwheel stamps, dies, and stencils from The Greetery!  So after looking at the inspiration photo, the pinwheels and streamers, and all the bright colors said let's make another CELEBRATION card!!

I started by using the Pinwheel Party Stencils and lots of bright colored inks to stencil my background, and also added a little light yellow shading with a blender brush.  Next I die cut some streamers using the Twisted Crepe Dies (also The Greetery) and glued them down over the background.

I stamped and die cut the "celebration" from The Greetery's Birthday Blooms set and added foam tape to the back for some dimension.  The "Summer" stamp comes from The Greetery too...the Lemon Blossom set.  I matted my top layer with a piece of Crushed Curry cs (SU!) and then adhered both layers to a white card base.  Some clear sequins from PPP finished off my Summer celebration card.

Check out all the wonderful Summertime inspired cards from the DT HERE and then play along.  The challenge is still open for a few more days and is the perfect opportunity to get some of those Summertime birthday or other celebration type cards done.

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