Laurie's Fabulous Favorites - Framed Sentiments

Hello friends.  This week at Laurie's Fabulous Favorites, Laurie has asked us to show our favorite way to frame our sentiments.  Laurie loves to use FLOWERS to frame her sentiments, and I'm right there with her...FLOWERS ALL THE WAY!!

I pulled out one of my all time favorite stamp sets and in fact, Simple Sunflower stamp set was one of my first purchases at PTI many, many years ago!  I started with a cream colored card base, and then added a piece of Harvest Gold Bitty Big DSP, and then covered it with a cream colored Bold Border: Arabesque die cut frame.  I stamped my sentiment from Penned Elegance in Cocoa Bean ink, and then layered on the leaf branch from the Songbird die collection, also in the matching cream cardstock.

I stamped up 3 of the smaller sunflowers in Lemon Tart, Harvest Gold, and Cocoa Bean inks and then fussy cut them out and arranged around the corner of the sentiment.  It still needed a little color, so I added some leaves from the stamp set using Simply Chartreuse and Ripe Avocado inks.  I also added some WOS to the sunflower leaves, but you can just barely see a hint of it in this photo.  To finish I added a piece of cream baker's twine and a few gold jewels (Lucy's Little Things).

You can check out Laurie's BEAUTIFUL card and play along with this challenge right HERE.

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites - Favorite Summer Colors

Hello friends.  This week at Laurie's Fabulous Favorites, Laurie is asking us to use our FAVORITE SUMMER COLORS.  That was an easy one for me as I'm especially drawn to bright pinks and oranges, and Summer also makes me think of the stamp set Some Like It Hot!

I started by masking off a square in the upper half of my card base and then blended Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks in the square opening.  Next I stamped the Flamingo from the Some Like It Hot set in black for a silhouette look.  I added the smaller Hibiscus flower and also a sentiment from the Words To Live By: Smile stamp and die set.

A few sequins and some bright pink bakers twine finished off this bright and fun card.  Make sure you check out Laurie's beautiful bright card and then play along right HERE.

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites Challenge

Hello friends.  Playing along with the current Laurie's Fabulous Favorites Challenge over at PTI, and Laurie is asking us to make a card using our favorite card layout.  That's an easy one for me since I feel like I use the same one over and over and over again!  A top folding card base with some type of die cut frame and a spray of flowers with the sentiment in the center.  So here's my same old, same old (layout) but pretty card:

I started by doing a little ink blending with Autumn Rose ink on my card base and then added a bit of water splattering.  I love using all the Bold Border Frame dies on my cards, and for this one I used the Bold Border: Polka Dot frame die to give a soft white on white look with the card base.  Last week Kelly Lunceford made a couple cards using Some Like It Hot and I realized I hadn't shown that stamp set any love for quite awhile, so stamped up the large and small flowers using Autumn Rose and Scarlet Jewel inks and tucked them into the corner of the frame along with a few leaves from the set and also a white die cut leaf branch from the Songbirds set.  Little hard to tell here since we haven't had any sunshine in a week, but the die cut "hugs" (from the Bold Border: Polka Dot) is cut from gold mirror cardstock, and the "sending" is from the Big Hugs stamp set.  Here's a closer up:

I'm loving the soft pink background, and for a same old, same old card layout, I think this turned out very pretty!

What's your favorite go-to card layout??  Just like Laurie, I'll be looking for some new ones too!  You can check out Laurie's favorite card layout and all the others in the gallery right HERE and then play along for a chance at a $100 gift certificate to the Papertrey Ink Store!

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites

Hello friends.  Just a quick post today...hubby's been on vacation, so I'm trying not to spend  too much time in my craft room and spend it with him!  I did have a chance this morning to make a quick card for Laurie's Fabulous Favorites which is part of PTI's Win It Wednesday's challenges.  This week Laurie wants us to make a shaped card as opposed to just an A2 standard card.  I hadn't used Cuppa Love stamp and die set in quite awhile and decided it would be perfect for this challenge!!

I used Aqua Mist cardstock for my die cut cup base, and then just had fun stamping away with Aqua Mist and Real Red inks and a bit of white cardstock.  I used one of the To The Point Edger's dies to create my white scalloped border on the top and bottom of the cup.  A quick and easy card to send someone with a tea bag who's under the weather!

You can check out Laurie's card and play along for a chance at a $100 gift certificate right HERE.

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites - Favorite Coloring Technique

Hello friends.  Playing along with Laurie's Fabulous Favorites challenge where this week she is asking us what our favorite coloring medium/technique is.  I love them all but like Laurie, water coloring is a BIG favorite of mine!

I used Beautiful Berries: Spring to come up with this simple birthday card:

I started by using Spring Rain ink and smooshing it into my craft mat, spritzing with water, smooshing a piece of acetate into the diluted ink and then smooshing it onto my cardstock.  Using this technique gives me a little more control over where the ink is going and I just keep repeating until I have the coverage I want.  Because Spring Rain is such a light blue to begin with, and then even lighter when diluted with water, my background is VERY light in color and a little hard to see.  Here's a closer up:

Once my background panel was dry, I layered it to a piece of Spring Rain cs and then adhered to a white card base.  For the berry branches, I used my MISTI, and after inking up the stamps I spritzed with water to give a slight water colored look (I didn't used water for the last stamping layer that shows the dots for the berries (Blueberry Sky) or the veins on the leaves (Ripe Avocado).  For the sentiment, I stamped it on a strip of Spring Rain cs and then popped it up with foam tape.  To finish I added one of the smaller sprigs of berries to the sentiment strip and a few iridescent sequins.

What is YOUR favorite way to color a card?  Check out Laurie's BEAUTIFUL card HERE and then play along for a chance to win!

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites

Hello friends.  This week for Laurie's Fabulous Favorites, Laurie is asking us what our favorite card style is.  Like most things with card making, I have more than one favorite...I just happen to like it all!  Most of the time I opt for CAS, or lots of layers and flowers!  So today I decided to combine the three and make a CAS layered floral card.  Take a look:

I started with a plain white card base and added the Shape Shifter's: Oval ...die cut in white to stick with more of the CAS look.  (plus I just really like the look of white on white!)  Next I embossed in white on water color cs the flower image from Especially You and then water colored it with my Zigs before die cutting it out.  Here's a closer up so you can see my water coloring better:

I layered my flower over the top of the die cut oval and then for my sentiment, I used the dies from Especially You.  After die cutting the "for you" in black, I used some WOS to add some pizazz to the sentiment, and then once dry added that over the top of the flower.  I finished off my card with some baker's twine and a few iridescent sequins.

PTI's Win It Wednesdays challenges are so much FUN and you can play along with Laurie's Fabulous Favorites right HERE to see Laurie's BEAUTIFUL card and for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate!    

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites - Inspiration

Hello friends.  Playing along with Laurie's Fabulous Favorites where this week she's asking us "Where do you find your inspiration?"  I find my inspiration everywhere...outside my window, ads, store fronts, clothing, and of course, Pinterest!

Here's a photo I found on Pinterest that totally made me think of the Meadow Greens stamp set:

All the black lines in the top 2 pink flowers reminded me of the flower centers in the Meadow Greens flower stamp and since I hadn't played with that stamp set in a loooooong while, I decided to pull it out for this challenge.

In keeping with the water color theme of the inspiration photo, I used Ocean Tides and Hibiscus Burst inks on my craft mat and smooshed to create my backgrounds.  I ended up with 2 cards because I did one on water color cardstock (TH) and one on heavy white cardstock (PTI), not knowing which one I would like better.  Here's the 1st one:

This one is on the PTI cs and I really like the way the background turned out on the smoother surface.  After inking up the greenery and the flower, I misted them both with water before stamping to continue with the water colored look.  The sentiment is from the Meadow Greens set and the framing is Ocean Tides cs and the largest of the Pierced Feature Frame dies (PTI).

This 2nd card is done on actual water color cs and gives more texture to the background and the stamping.  My sentiment was stamped and die cut using Penned Elegance II stamps and dies, with some mini pop dots behind it along with some gold thread.  The frame is the same as the 1st card from the Pierced Feature Frames.

I think they both turned out pretty, but I do like the one on the left better...which one do you like better??

Where do YOU find your inspiration??  Play along with Laurie's challenge HERE for the chance at a $100 gift card.

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites

Hello friends.  This week PTI's Laurie Schmidlin is asking us to choose a favorite Make It Monday feature on our card for the Laurie's Fabulous Favorites challenge.  I'm combining two favorites...#305 Love of Layers and #315 Embossing Enamel Splatters.

I started with a grid stencil and Lemon Tart, Harvest Gold, & Bright Buttercup inks to create my background, and then layered the Shape Shifters: Oval over top.  Then I added LOTS of layers with Tulip Time, Forest Floor: Spring and A Bit More: Butterfly Blooms.  To the leaves and the butterfly I added Shabby White Embossing Enamel...here's a closer up:

  
I may have gotten a little carried away with the embossing enamel on the butterfly considering I had already embossed it in white before blending my ink colors to it, but I still like the way it turned out.  I layered all this to a Harvest Gold piece of cs and then adhered that to a white card base.  I left a sentiment off as I'm not sure if I'm going to use it as a Mother's Day card or maybe even a Thinking of You card...I'll decide later!

There were SO many wonderful Make It Monday challenges that it was hard to choose, but it was definitely FUN to go back and browse through them all!  Play along right HERE by Wednesday April 3 (6:00AM) and you could win a $100 shopping spree!!  

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites - Favorite Color Combination

Hello friends.  Playing along with PTI's Win It Wednesday Challenge where Laurie Schmidlin is showing us one of her favorite color combinations, and asking us to make a card that uses 2+ favorite colors together.

Pink & Red has long been a favorite color combination for me and using Hibiscus Burst and Pure Poppy inks I came up with this:

Still playing with the Mixed Bouquet stamp set (can't seem to get enough of this set lately!!) and stamped up a bunch of the flowers using Hibiscus Burst and Pure Poppy inks, and then fussy cut them out.  Here's a close up so you can see them a little better:

I used a Hibiscus Burst card base and added the Bold Borders: Arabesque die cut over the top, also in Hibiscus Burst.  I love the tone on tone look this gives...Michelle Leone used this technique on a couple cards this week HERE for the Transformation Tuesday feature.  My sentiment comes from the Phrases & Praises stamp set and I made it two toned using Smokey Shadow and Weathervane inks.  I also added just a bit of light blending around the edges of the white sentiment panel with the Hibiscus Burst ink.  After adding the flowers, I finished with a few jewels from Lucy's Rainbow Sparkle Mix.

I really like how the red & pink color combination came out on this card!  Check out Laurie's favorite color combination and then play along right HERE.

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites - Favorite Sentiment

Hello friends.  Had time this weekend to play along with Papertrey Ink's Laurie's Fabulous Favorites challenge, where this week she is looking for us to use our favorite SENTIMENT stamp or die.  You can check out Laurie's beautiful card HERE.

I like combining Laurie's challenge with the IG challenge if I can, so I used the same Mixed Bouquet stamp set that Melissa used on her card HERE to make my card.

I love how Melissa tends to use a lot of soft blending on her cards, so I made a stencil out of the Bold Borders: Arabesque die, and blended Aqua Mist ink on a panel of Aqua Mist cardstock for my background, and then attached to a white card base.  Next I die cut from white using the Brushed Off larger rectangle die and softly blended Aqua Mist ink around the edges, and then stamped some of the flowers from the Mixed Bouquet set in Ocean Tides, Lilac Grace, & Amethyst Allure inks.  Some of my favorite sentiments have always been the Think Big Favorites (#20, #22, & #24), but lately I keep seeming to reach for the Penned Elegance sets, and the "Happy Birthday" that I've used on my card is from the 1st Penned Elegance set.  I embossed it in black so it would stand out from my flowers.

Here's a closer up view that shows some of the sparkle from the WOS I used on the flowers and a few of the aqua colored gemstones I added.  I also added a piece of white bakers twine at the top of my card to finish it off.

There's still a little bit of time to play along with  this challenge, so choose your FAVORITE sentiment stamp or die and play along right HERE.

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites

Hello friends.  Just a quick post today to show what I made for Laurie's Fabulous Favorites challenge where she's asking us to show what our favorite Papertrey packaging is.

I have MANY favorites, like the Pillow Box Die, all the Tiny House Dies, the Penguin and Unicorn Pot Belly Dies, etc., but my favorite Spring and Easter die is the Carrot Treat Box Die!

I made 2 of these adorable carrot treat boxes for my grandbabies Addy and Landon and filled them with orange jelly fruit slices.  I used the Orange Zest Bitty Big DSP to make the boxes and also die cut a triangular window on one side so they can see what's inside.  I tied them shut with green curling ribbon and then added a tag from the die set, and decorated it with a bunny and carrot from the Bunny Blessings Die and Huggables: Bunny & Chick Dies.

I used Kraft Bitty Big DSP for the bunny (sponged around him using Vintage Photo DI), Green Parakeet Bitty Big DSP for the carrot top, and Orange Zest cs for the carrot.  I used a black Sakura Glaze pen for the bunny eye and a small white pompom for his tail.

You can check out Laurie's FABULOUS little treat boxes and how to play along right HERE.  

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites #4

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Win It Wednesday challenge over at PTI where Laurie's Fabulous Favorites is asking us to use a favorite accessory on our cards.  I have many favorite accessories, but my all time favorite are Rainstones.  I don't use them that often because they can't seem to keep them in stock, and also they aren't real mail friendly.  So anyway, I use them very sparingly and just on special cards!!  :0)

I love to use yellows when I want to make a happy card, so I started with some Harvest Gold DSP for my background.  In full disclosure here, I have to tell you that I was trying to CASE Michelle Leone's card so I could combine the IG challenge with this one.  After realizing I didn't have the Shape Shifters: Circle #4 die for the center (I ended up using the 1st Shape Shifters: Circle), and then completing the card and realizing that the Rustic Wreath die I used wasn't the die Michelle used (Embellished Elegance), about all I accomplished was using Michelle's design and Berry Sorbet like she did!  Oh well, I still like how this card came out and I did use my favorite accessory Rainstones.

I also used PTI's Felt (Harvest Gold & Berry Sorbet) and PTI's Jute Twine which are also favorite accessories of mine.  I used the Songbirds dies to cut the flowers and the die cut smile is from Words To Live By: Smile.

You can check out Laurie's FUN card and play along with this challenge right HERE.    

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites

Hello friends.  Wednesday's aren't just hump day anymore...over at Papertrey Ink they are now Win It Wednesday's where they have 3 different challenges for you to play in and today I am playing along with Laurie's Fabulous Favorites!  This week Laurie is asking us to choose a favorite stand alone die to create a card with, and well, I couldn't pick just one!!  So I combined 3 to come up with this CAS Christmas card:

Papertrey has a lot of wonderful snowflake stamp sets and dies, but my FAVORITE has always been Fancy Flakes!  I cut a medium size flake out of plain white and then two smaller ones using a piece of blended (Dusty Concord, Salty Ocean, & Peacock Feathers Distress Inks) cardstock, and also die cut the JOY from Bold Borders: Flurries and the frame from Cover Plate: Pretty Frame Die with the blended piece of cardstock.  These colors blended together really made my die cuts stand out and showcase what wonderful dies they are...is it any wonder that all 3 of these dies are FAVORITES?!!

I was trying so hard to get a photograph that showed all the shimmer and sparkle from the Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Spritz I used on the blended pieces, but I gave up after about 50 photos!  So anyway, try to imagine as it really is beautiful IRL!!  I added a few Rainstones and some white bakers twine to finish off my card.

You have until next Wednesday at 6:00AM (27th) to play along, so check out Laurie's FABULOUS colorful and bright card for inspiration and then play along right HERE.

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites #2

Hello friends.  I am combining two of the new Win It Wednesday challenges over at Papertrey Ink...Laurie's Fabulous Favorites which is to use your FAVORITE color cardstock/ink on a project, and the Instagram Challenge which is to use one of the same stamps/dies that Kelly Lunceford used on her cute little chick baskets.

Picking a favorite color is darn near impossible, but when looking back at all my PTI projects and orders for more cardstock, Aqua Mist is clearly in first place, and all the pinks coming in 2nd!  I also wanted to get ahead of the game on some Easter projects, so decided to use the same set as Kelly Lunceford's adorable little chick boxes/baskets (HERE) Huggables: Bunny & Chick, and used the bunny stamps and dies to come up with these:

Aren't those faces just too cute?!!  I started by die cutting the baskets using the Favor It Box 2 die and then stenciling over each one...Aqua Mist ink and one of the stencils from the Modern Background Stencil Collection and Hibiscus Burst ink and a circle stencil.  After assembling the baskets, I die cut all the bunny pieces using white cs, Aqua Mist Bitty Big DSP, and Hibiscus Burst Patterned Paper Pack.

The tag is from the Tremendous Tags dies and the sentiment from the Huggables: Bunny & Chick set.

So there you have it...2 sweet Easter projects done ahead of time!!  Laurie's challenge (favorite color) and the Instagram challenge are both open till Wednesday at 6:00AM.  You can find all the details to play along and see Laurie's and Kelly's AWESOME projects right HERE.

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

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites

Hello friends.  There are some new challenges going on over at Papertrey Ink and there's a fun one called Laurie's Fabulous Favorites that I'm playing along with today.  Laurie Schmidlin is asking us to pick out our FAVORITE PTI stamp set and create a card with it...you can see Laurie's lovely card and read all about it HERE.

I thought this would be a lot harder than it actually was because hey, how can I pick just ONE favorite?!!  But when it came right down to it, my favorites are ALWAYS florals, and Farmer's Market Florals just totally stands out for me!!

I used a little bit of Laurie's idea by adding black & white striped DSP (Smoky Shadow Bitty Big DSP) to the bottom and top of my card and then grounded the bottom layer by adding a thin strip of Pure Poppy card stock.  My sentiment came from the Penned Elegance II set, and then I went to town stamping in shades of red all the flowers from the set.  Here's a closer up view:

I don't have the dies, so I fussy cut them all out and then arranged them into a little bouquet that would fit into the bottom half of the card.  I also made the tiny stem of flowers in yellow (Bright Buttercup) to give just another pop of color!  A few iridescent sequins and some white crochet thread finished off this card for a special someone who could use some lifting up right now.

Make sure to check out Laurie's beautiful card (HERE) and then play along with your favorite PTI stamp set...there's a $100 gift certificate up for grabs!!  :0)

I am also adding my card to The Card Concept (#108) challenge where my colors are spot on for the inspiration photo...red, white, & black.

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

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