Make It Monday #286 - Coordinating Card Pairs

Hello friends.  Stephanie is up this week with her 2nd Make It Monday video and she's showing us how to do a coordinating pair of cards.  Would have loved to just CASE her cards as they were SO lovely, but I held myself back and went instead with my Butterfly Cover Plate that hasn't seen any love in quite awhile!

I blended Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lipstick DOX inks on a panel and then splattered some water droplets before die cutting it with the Butterfly Cover Plate.  This card uses the negative pieces and my 2nd card uses the positive piece.

My sentiments for both cards were from the Especially You stamp set, and I used the same stamps (and die) but just mixed them up a bit.  The first one uses the die cut and the 2nd one is embossed on vellum.

This was a fun little challenge and I loved Stephanie's video!  Especially the part about using washi tape to stick your images that are ready to be embossed onto a piece of scrap paper, so you have something to hold on to while embossing so you don't burn your fingers!  Now why didn't I think of that?!!  Also loved to hear her laughing on her video too...totally made me smile!!

Had to show you a couple more felt flowers that I made for these little treat boxes for a couple friends from bible study who had birthdays this week.  The one like these that I made for last weeks MIM was so big (1 1/2" x 12"), so I cut it down to 1 1/2" x 6" for these and I like them much better!  I also added centers to these ones too.  These flowers get kind of addicting and I even managed not to burn my fingers with the hot glue gun this time!  :0)

Make sure you check out Stephanie's video and BEAUTIFUL cards, and then play along right HERE.

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

12 Kits of Occasions - May 2017 HAPPINESS IS HOMEMADE

Hello friends.  My dear friend Birgit is hosting this month's 12 Kits of Occasions challenge, and has asked me to Guest Design with her using her Happiness Is Homemade kit.  How could I say "no" to a kit with that name?!  Birgit is honoring her mother (who sadly passed away 2 years ago) who loved everything "homemade" with this kit, and I am so honored she asked me to celebrate her mom along with the other designers from the 12 Kits of Occasions team.

This kit was such a delight to work with...everything was right up my alley!  I loved the papers, the colors, the images, the die cuts, the accessories, EVERYTHING!!  I limited myself to just 6 cards, because I've finally learned that I always see FABULOUS ideas from the rest of the team, and wish I had saved some of the kit to CASE!  So here goes...

 
This kit was SO easy to use as Birgit did all the hard work putting all the die cuts together, like this apron!  Don't you just LOVE it?!  The little pocket was left open at the top so I could add the oven mitt and spoon.  And don't you just love the DSP?  (Bo Bunny "Kiss The Cook")

I had a hard time refraining from using ALL the die cuts Birgit sent with her kit, but really like the way this CAS card turned out using just a few of them!  Hard to see in the photo, but I colored the "Enjoy" with a Copic marker and then embossed it with clear powder, so IRL it's really shiny!

Another case where Birgit colored the die cut, so all I had to do was add the DSP and some trim...easy peasy!!  :0)

Gotta LOVE Stampingbella images, and this one is no exception!  I colored the chicks up with my Copics and then matted with a stenciled background I had found in my pile of "saved" stuff.  Added a little banner (MFT) with one of the sentiments Birgit included and finished...another easy card!!

Absolutely LOVE the DSP on this card, and how can you go wrong with strawberries?!  Once again, Birgit included everything to make this card other than the die I used to cut out the sentiment and the baker's twine.

And last but not least, a card (and envelope!) using the beautiful Tulips that Birgit stamped!  I loved the delicate look of the white border die cut piece, and thought it was so pretty with the yellow cardstock and the Tulips.  Loved the die cut "Hello" too!

You can find links to all the 12 Kits Of Occasions DT members and the winner of this month's kit (Linda Snodgrass) right HERE to see what they've done with this WONDERFUL kit!  I'm so glad I saved a few things from the kit because I'm always so inspired by what the rest of the DT comes up with and then want to CASE them!  Make sure you leave comments, as they always pick a winner to receive the next months kit, and I tell you, it's like having Christmas delivered to your door!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  And a BIG Thank You to Birgit for asking me to Guest Design this month...I LOVED every minute of it!!  :0)

Merry Monday #250 - Rustic Theme

Hello friends.  It's time for another challenge at Merry Monday, and this week Deanne is our hostess and she would like to see a RUSTIC theme on your Christmas cards.

I equate "rustic" with "vintage", so that's the direction my card took me this week, and when I think "vintage", I think of Flourishes Santa I Believe stamp set.  Here's what I came up with:

This is probably my all time favorite Santa stamp and I inked him up in Soft Suede ink on Rustic White (PTI) cardstock, and then blended TH Walnut Stain ink all over the image.  I used some Bo Bunny DSP and photo corners (PTI Mix & Matt: Herringbone die) on my card and also added a Poppystamps Giovanna Snowflake die cut (stained with the Walnut Ink and lightly embossed with gold). 

How is your Christmas card collection coming along this year?  I think I'm almost halfway done, and that's a good feeling to have in the month of May!  Let us help you get your cards done early by playing along with us each week...lots of fun inspiration and then that overwhelming feeling that comes in November and December when you're thinking how you're going to fit making Christmas cards in with EVERYTHING else won't be there!  Check out this weeks challenge right HERE and then play along!

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

 

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop - May 2017

Hello friends.  It's the 25th and that means it's time for Papertrey Ink's monthly blog hop!  Nichole has chosen a really pretty photo by irtsya for this month's inspiration:

I love the beautiful colors in this photo...the pink and peach colors in the flowers and the blues and grays in the leaves.  Nichole suggested using a water color medium that we're not comfortable with, and that definitely meant Zig water color markers to me!  I have a love/hate relationship with these markers...every once in awhile something turns out ok, but most of the time I'm very frustrated with them!  I've been told paper is the key to getting good results with these markers, so I guess I need to do some more experimenting!  But anyway, I feel I was somewhat successful this time, but it did take 2 tries before I was happy with the result!  Take a look:

 
I silver embossed on heavy weight white cardstock the main flower image from the new Especially You set, and then used my Zigs and water to color in the flower and leaves.  While that was drying, I worked on my background layer where I stamped in gray ink the flower image repeatedly on a piece of Blueberry Sky cardstock, and then die cut the hole border using the Mix & Mat: Flourishes die.  I also die cut the tea cup (Fancy Tea Cup die) with white and silver embossing for the top layer and a piece of Blueberry Sky DSP for the back layer.  Here's a closer up view:

I thought about adding bakers twine, sequins, Rainstones, ribbon, etc., but in the end decided I liked it just the way it is.  I also left the sentiment off the front of the card and instead put it on the inside:  Grateful for little things, big things, and especially you.  Love everything about this new floral set, from the beautiful flowers and the wonderful sentiments!!

Can't wait to see how everyone else was inspired by this month's photo, so I'm off to hop along.  You can too...find it all right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)

 

Make It Monday #285 - Felt Flowers

Hello friends.  Lizzie is up for a tutorial on making felt flowers in this week's Make It Monday challenge.  I have a whole box of different colors of felt that I had bought when I purchased the coin purse dies and guess what?  Haven't made a single coin purse and haven't used even a scrap of the felt!  So no excuses, I needed to make a flower!!  I was actually quite intrigued by the rolled flower Lizzie showed, and made a tag with it.

I started with a piece of 1 1/2" X 12" Winter Wisteria piece of felt, and rolled, and rolled, and rolled!  My flower turned out quite large and I wish I had stopped at about 8".  I still really like the way it looks though, and added a few Simply Chartreuse leaves that I die cut using the leaf die from the Enclosed: Apple set.  I attached the flower to a (Tag Sale #10) couple of tags I cut and stamped with the new Especially You stamp set.  I have some white gift bags and purple tissue paper that this tag will look really nice with!  Quick (well except for trying to find my glue gun!), easy, and FUN...I will definitely be making some more of these!  Thanks Lizzie!!

Still time to play, so check out Lizzie's video and BEAUTIFUL flowers all right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by...I love it when you do!  :0)

   

Merry Monday #249 - Mistletoe

Hello friends.  Colleen is our hostess this week at Merry Monday and she would like to see some Mistletoe on your Christmas cards.

I had fun using a sweet little set I had won from Deepti and Stamplorations called Christmas Bell Medley and a embossing folder from Quickutz.

Pretty CAS, but I really liked how elegant this one turned out!  I embossed in gold the mistletoe and bow images, and then blended a little Ocean Tides and Pure Poppy inks on them with makeup sponges.  A little hard to tell in my photo, but I used Gina K's Ivory cardstock for the base layer and the embossed layer with all the Christmas words...it looks a little white to me in my photo's, but it really is a pretty cream color IRL!  I used a Lil Inkers Stitched Circle die and inlaid the Ocean Tides circle into the embossed ivory layer, and then finished up with pop dotting my bow and adding a few SU! pearls for the berries.

So dig out those Mistletoe stamps and play along with us this week...you'll be so glad when December rolls around if you keep playing with us each week!  Check out the rest of the inspiration from the DT and then play along right HERE.

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

  

CAS Watercolour May 2017 - Flowers

Hello friends.  Playing along with this months CAS Watercolour challenge, where FLOWERS are the subject.

It seems like everyone in blogland lately is using the Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors, so I finally broke down and purchased them, and then tried them out on a simple card using Altenew's Painted Poppy set.

I heat embossed the flower, stem, and leaf in black and then watercolored them, and I have to say I really like the way these watercolors go on!  Very smooth, and bright and vibrant colors!  I still like my Peerless watercolors too, but I think there's room for both in my life!  After my watercoloring was dry, I added my sentiment from WPlus9's Hand Lettered: Hello (LOVE this set!!), and then because I thought it needed just a little something extra, I added just a lightly stamped partial background using a retired SU! background stamp called En Francais with Smoky Slate ink.  Added a few Rainstones (PTI) to finish it off and I really like how this came out!  For this card I watercolored, die cut, embossed, & stamped.

You have till the 24th to play along with this months challenge, and there is LOTS of GORGEOUS inspiration to get you started!  You can check it all out right HERE.

 Thanks so much for stopping by today...I love it when you do!  :0)