SAF 2016 - Starry Night with Amy Sheffer

Hello friends.  Was out of town yesterday when all the Stamp A Faire celebrations and challenges were going on, but figured I'd pick a couple today to play along with, and the Starry Night with Amy Sheffer was one of them that really intrigued me!  It looks like a lot of other people thought so too...SO many beautiful cards in this gallery!  I kept mine very simple because of time, but totally love how this background came out...thank you, thank you Amy for all the tips and techniques for achieving this look!

,

My background was blended (and water colored) with Blueberry Sky, Enchanted Evening, Amethyst Allure, and Hibiscus Burst inks.  Acrylic white and gold paint spattered made up my stars, and my sentiment was embossed in gold using the O Holy Night stamp set.  My two black trees and hill were die cut using In The Meadow dies.  Very simple, but didn't want to distract from that beautiful background!  :0)

Make sure you check out Amy's video and beautiful card, and all the rest of the lovely starry sky cards right HERE.

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

Stamp - A - Faire 2016: Friday Night Gallery Reception

It's time for the 2016 Stamp-A-Faire over at PAPERTREY INK, and to kick off the gala, they are asking us to post our favorite Masterpiece from this past year.  Oh, decisions, decisions!  I've narrowed it down to two, and now can't make up my mind!

The first card was from a recent Create Along With Us challenge, and I was so inspired by Kay Miller's card.  My 2nd card was from a Make It Monday challenge from just a few weeks ago where Amy Sheffer challenged us to use string on our cards.  I really love how both of these cards came out, but maybe the 1st one just a tiny bit more!  :0)

You can check out everyone's Masterpieces right HERE.  And now let the fun begin!!  :0)

Make It Monday #256 - Spritzed Stamps

Hello friends.  Melissa Phillips shares her tips on this weeks Make It Monday video on how to get a water colored look with spritzing your stamps with water.  This has been a favorite technique of mine for some time now, but if you've never tried it, you definitely need to check Melissa's video and beautiful cards out!

I used Maile Belle's  Splits: Just A Note stamp set and came up with a set of 4 note cards in a very short time.  Take a look:

I used Hibiscus Burst and Orange Zest inks and then embossed the sentiments in black.  (I did use the "thank you" from one of the other Splits stamp set)  Then I simply layered each panel with a piece of Hibiscus Burst and Orange Zest card stock, and then mounted that to a white card base.  A few enamel dots finished off each of these CAS cards, and that quickly I now have a nice little set of note cards to give one of my girlfriends next month for her birthday!  :0)

Still time to play along, so check out Melissa's video and beautiful cards right HERE and play along!

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

Ghosting Technique

Hello friends.  Last week I made a couple cards using a technique called "ghosting" that I learned about from Loll Thompson and a fabulous video she did that you can watch right HERE.  Know what I love most about Loll's video's (besides the beautiful cards and great technique's)?  They are short and sweet, and direct to the point!  Her video's are usually only 2 - 4 minutes long, and yet she manages to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know to try that technique and be successful!  So anyway, here's what I came up with:

 
Isn't that leaf gorgeous?!  Anyone that knows me, knows how much I LOVE leaf images and am always on the lookout for new leaf stamps and dies!  This particular die comes from Gina Marie Designs (WWW.WHOLESALECRAFTINGSUPPLIES.COM).  My background using the ghosting technique was done with Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint distress inks and a Winnie & Walter stencil.  My sentiment is from PTI's Keep It Simple: Praying For You.  Here's a close up view:

My next card uses the same ghosting technique for the background but with different colors (Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers) and another Winnie and Walter stencil.

When I was blending my distress inks on for the background, I did the Picked Raspberry in circles, so I thought using the Pattern of the Rings stencil was perfect to use for this ghosting technique!  This time I added a butterfly (Memory Box - Vivienne Butterfly), sentiment (PTI's Keep It Simple: Thinking Of You), and enamel dot.

Hard to tell in my photo, but the butterfly is really sparkly, thanks to my Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen.

If you have 4 minutes, make sure you go check out Loll's video and beautiful cards...it will definitely be time well spent!! 

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

Tag You're It! Challenge #51

Hello friends.  Getting in just under the wire again at the Tag You're It! challenge, but couldn't let Donna Mikasa's inspiring tag go by without playing along!  I loved her water colored background and beautiful blended flower...so bright AND delicate looking!!

I pretty much CASE'd Donna's card because, well, why mess with perfection?!  

 
Donna has a light background and a bold colored flower on her tag, and I went the opposite, with a bold background and light colored flowers.  The reason I switched mine around was pretty simple...I found a stash of water colored panels that had been meant for the trash can, and for whatever reason, I saved them...SO glad I did now!  I die cut my tag (PTI's Tag Sale #8) using just a portion of a panel that had been colored with Cobalt Blue Brusho's...love the depth of color that was on just the one portion of the panel and how perfect it worked out for the tag!  The flowers (MFT's Funky Flowers) were embossed with white and fussy cut from another water colored panel that as a whole piece I hadn't liked, but worked out just perfect for the 2 small flowers!  The leaves (PTI's Songbirds) were actually done for another challenge with embossing paste and ink painting that I thought at the time was too messy looking, but after fussy cutting them out, they didn't look too bad!  So anyway, this whole tag just about came from stuff meant for the trash, and came out great in my humble opinion!  A strip of washi tape, a few rainstones, and a seam binding bow and button finished off my tag.

This challenge ends tomorrow, but if you're quick you can still play along!  You can see all the beautiful tags and be inspired right HERE.

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

Colour Q Challenge #350

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Colour Q Challenge this week, where they have an awesome palette of colors to work with!

My first thought was a baby card, but since I already have a couple on hand and don't even know anyone expecting right now, I went with a floral and came up with this:

Actually now that the card is finished, it reminds me of Spring and Easter with these colors!  I started with a Pool Party base, and added a strip of gingham (can you tell I'm loving gingham lately??!!) stamped with Pool Party ink and a SSS background gingham stamp to the bottom.  I added a row of hearts from PTI's Heart Border die, and then used PTI's Just the Pint jar stamp and Friendship Jar Flowers stamp and die set to create my card.  A jute bow, a tag from PTI's Tiny Tags, and a few sequins finished off my card.  Oh, and I also added some shimmer with my Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen to some of the flowers and the heart on the tag.  :0)

You have till Monday to play along with this weeks challenge over at colourQ, so check it out and play along!

I'm also adding this card into the Double "D" Challenge, where they are asking for gingham...hope they're not tired of me yet, but they did say you can enter 3 times, and I really, REALLY do like gingham!!  :0)

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

July 2016 Create Along With Us

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink's Create Along With Us challenge this week, and while there is always oodles and oodles of inspiration to be found from all the DT every month, I was completely blown away by Dawn McVey's card:

 
SO simple but SO striking!  I absolutely LOVE the colors!!  How does she do that where she just knows what colors will look great together?!!  I never would have chosen these 4 colors (Pale Peony, Hibiscus Burst, Berry Sorbet, & Melon Berry) to go together, but they totally work!  I wanted to completely CASE Dawn's card, but thought I should at least try to put my own spin on it!  So I kept mine simple too, used the same color cardstock, used the Mighty Bloom cover plate die, and flipped mine upside down, and came up with this:

Very similar, but just enough of my own spin on it.  I still can't get over how perfect all those colors are together...love, love, LOVE!!  My sentiment is from Winter Woods, and I also added a rainstone to the center of the bloom.

Check out what everyone else is being inspired by, and play along over on Nichole's blog right HERE.

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