Christmas In July

Hello friends.  Christmas in July??  Pretty warm in my neck of the woods to be celebrating Christmas (it's been in the 90's and very hot and humid here!!), but I'm playing along with a few challenges where Christmas just fit the bill!  I'm playing along with The Flower Challenge where they are looking for PRETTY PASTELS, the Color Throwdown Challenge where they are looking for Pink, Gray, White, & Silver, and also a special challenge with my sweet friend Michele who came over to play this week and make Christmas cards.  

We were both struggling a bit with the current Flower Challenge because neither one of us is really a pastel person, but we decided to use the same Altenew Poinsettia set and see what we came up with!  

I water colored my flower with Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks (Peeled Paint for the leaves) and then mounted to a white card base with a small stitched window opening that I added a piece of embossed (SU! knitted embossing folder) gray cs behind.  The sentiment was stamped in gray (as well as the outlines of the flower and leaves) and was from one of Michele's sets that I don't remember the name of...sorry!  I also added some Silver Linings Nuvo Drops to the center of my flower and finished off with a few clear sequins.

Here's a closer up so you can see some of the detail better.  My card also works for the current Color Throwdown Challenge with the Pink, Gray, White, & Silver and their inspiration photo is what totally inspired me to use the knitted embossing folder on my card.

You can play along with The Flower Challenge HERE and the Color Throwdown Challenge HERE.  Lots of GORGEOUS cards from both Design Teams, so make sure you check them both out and play along!

I have 4 more cards to share with you today that are from the play date with Michele and she will be posting some of the cards she made today too, so make sure you check out all her lovely creations!  This 1st card uses a STAMPlorations set by Shirley called Layered Poinsettia's...

I love this stamp set and the artsy design!  SO simple but really packs a punch!!  The sentiment is from Altenew.

This was just a fun card because I wanted to use the moose die (Poppystamps) that I'd had for ages and never used.  Wasn't happy with the card though until Michele suggested tying a bell around his neck...definitely perked it up in my eyes!!

These last 2 cards were done with a Gina K set called Christmas Greenery and I had fun inking up the trees with a few different colors of green inks.  I also did some ink splattering with white and gold and a little bit of loose water coloring around the trees.

If you made it this far, CONGRATULATIONS for sticking it out through this looooong post!  Hope it made you feel a little cooler too with all this HEAT and HUMIDITY going on outside!  Once again, make sure you check out The Flower Challenge and the Color Throwdown Challenge (links above) for more wonderful inspiration, and definitely Michele's post to see all her wonderful cards from our play date!  And thanks Michele for such a FUN play day...I had SO much fun and can't wait to do it again!!   
  

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

CAS Watercolour Reminder Post

Hello friends.  Just a friendly little reminder that you have until the 24th to play along with this month's challenge at CAS Watercolour!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BONNIE!!

Who knew there were SO many birthday's in July??!!  First we celebrated Darnell's birthday, and now we're celebrating the WONDERFUL and oh so sweet Bonnie who is celebrating a milestone birthday today!  So happy, happy birthday Bonnie and here's a sweet bouquet of tulips just for you!!

I stamped in black and then clear embossed my image from SSS's Mandy's Flowers on water color cardstock and then used Distress inks smooshed onto an acrylic block and my Aqua Painter to paint the jar and tulips.  Once it was dry I used a new (to me) die from Impression Obsession called Checkered Frames and die cut around my image.  Love the subtle but decorative look this gives to my card.  I added a few sequins and some white crochet thread to finish off my little birthday bouquet for Bonnie.  I wish I lived closer Bonnie and could actually deliver this sweet little bouquet in the mason jar personally to you!!  :0)

You can check out the rest of the birthday cards from the DT for Bonnie right HERE and then play along...remember to keep your card CAS and to use a BOUQUET of flowers and not just a single flower.  The challenge is open till the 24th.

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

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #14 - Favorite Hot Beverages

Hello friends.  Made a card at the beginning of the week for the current Christmas Kickstart Challenge and then almost forgot to post it!!

This challenge is all about your favorite hot beverage and mine is definitely mint hot cocoa (don't like coffee at all...tastes like hot dirt!!).  I have quite the collection of sweet snowmen mugs that I use during the Winter for my hot cocoa, but today I'm using one of my favorite Impression Obsession tea cups filled with hot cocoa...

I stamped, colored lightly with Copics, and then fussy cut my little tea cup out and pop dotted against a Real Red stitched circle die cut.  I kept my cup very simple because I made a quite colorful background using washi tape from SU! that I had gotten last year and never used!  There were 5 rolls in the package, and I just kept repeating them on a piece of white cardstock, and the used a stitched rectangular die to cut out the panel.  Running them through your die cut machine really helps to adhere them more permanently to your cardstock.  Here's a close up so you can see more of the glimmer from all the gold, silver, and copper in the washi tape:

Isn't that such a FUN background?!!  And now you can see why I kept my tea cup pretty simple...it would have gotten lost if I had colored it up too much!  I added my washi tape panel to a white card base and then added the tea cup and circle, and also a piece of heavy red bakers twine at the card top.  Almost makes me wish it were cool enough for a little hot cocoa...almost!!  I can definitely wait a while longer for the colder weather since we had to wait SOOOOOOOOOO long for warm weather this year!!

Only a couple more days to play along with the challenge, but this is a fun one and you will be so glad you got a head start on those cards now come December!!  You can check it all out and play along right HERE.

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

Tag You're It Challenge #91

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Tag You're It Challenge where they have the yummiest inspiration photo for us this time!

Doesn't this photo just scream SUMMER?!!  I just LOVE fresh fruit in the Summer and still had The Greetery's Lemon Blossoms set sitting out on my desk, so used the citrus slice stamp to pick up on the orange, lemon, and lime slices in the inspiration photo.

I used PTI's Made With Love Tags 2 dies to cut out my tags (the background tag was die cut using Harvest Gold Bitty Big DSP - PTI) and then stamped the white tag with the 2 step slice stamp from the Lemon Blossoms set.  The sentiment is also from the Lemon Blossoms set.

I took a close up hoping to capture the WOS I used on the fruit slices to give some sparkle and shine, but unfortunately I just could not capture it!  I finished with a few enamel dots and some yellow ribbon and white crochet thread.

You can check out all the WONDEFUL inspiration tags by the DT HERE and then play along.

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

CAS Christmas July 2019 - SNOWFLAKES

Hello friends.  Playing along with this months CAS Christmas challenge where they are looking for SNOWFLAKES!

I pulled out my favorite snowflake dies from PTI (Fancy Flakes) and came up with this:

I started by blending Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Salty Ocean, Faded Jeans, & Stormy Sky Distress Inks for my background and then splattered with white acrylic paint to resemble falling snow against my Winter sky.  Next I added 2 die cut Fancy Flakes and then sprayed the panel with Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Spritz.  You can see a little bit of the shimmer in this close up:

In real life it really sparkles!!  Next I lightly traced my panel onto the card base and used it as a guide to stamp my "merry and bright" sentiment (SSS's Tiny Words Christmas) all around my rectangle and then erased my pencil marks before adding the snowflake panel along with a piece of foam to add a little dimension.

Make sure you check out all the BEAUTIFUL snowflake cards from the DT and then play along right HERE.  This challenge is open till the 24th.  

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

The Greetery 2nd Release

Hello friends.  Just a fun little post sharing some cards I've made using my new goodies from The Greetery.

It was suggested when I posted a picture of all my new goodies on IG that I start with the Macra-Made dies, so I did, and yes, I did let out a little squeal out when I ran the dies through my Big Shot!  These remind me of my college days when several of my friends and I learned how to make macramé hangers for our plants...oh the simple things!!  The flowers in my pots are from the Summer Sketches set.

During release week Wanda Guess showed a BEAUTIFUL card (HERE) and then Betsy did her own version of Wanda's card (HERE), so of course I wanted to play along and this is my take on the striped background!  I used a striped stencil and a blending brush with some Lovely Lady ink and then simply added the die cut floral branch from Summer Sketches along with a sentiment strip using the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You set.

I was trying to channel my inner Heather Nichols with this card and stamped the Eucalyptus branches on kraft cardstock and then stamped with white pigment ink and Moonlit Fog (Gina K) ink.  And of course I had to add the Mason jar from the Just Mason Around set.

  
This card uses the Just Mason Around jar again and the Lemon Blossom set and will be going to my hubby as kind of a joke for his birthday.  When he had a kidney stone a few months back, his boss told him that he used to get them (kidney stones) all the time until someone told him to drink lemonade, and since he's been drinking a quart of lemonade a week he hasn't had a kidney stone in 4 years.  Truth or old wives tale??  I don't know, but I've been instructed to pick up lemonade every week at the grocery store since then!  Anyway, FUN set to play with!!

A simple card using the Simple Things stamp set...who would ever have thought Eucalyptus branches could be soooo pretty all on their own??!!

And last but not least, a card inspired by Betsy's card using one of the stamps from Summer Sketches as a background stamp.  And of course I had to use the Just Mason Around jar again because, well, you have to stamp them in every color combination to see what looks good (they ALL do!) and when they're all sitting there on your desk, well you use them!!  Along with the purple flower from Fleur Impressions (Betsy's 1st release) and the flowers and leaves from Summer Sketches (yes, I stamped all kinds of color combo's with this stamp set too so I had lots to choose from!).  A little bit of gingham (SU!) at the bottom of my card added to the country feel of this card.

Now you know what I've been doing for the past week...it was like Christmas around here!!  I still have the bird stamp set and branch stamp set to play with yet, but I will definitely get to them!  :0)  

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

CAS Watercolour July 2019 - Bouquet of Flowers

Hello friends.  We're back with a special edition of CAS Watercolour this month...

Special Event

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARNELL!!

Please join us in celebrating Darnell's Birthday!!

One more part to this special event.

The team has made special cards for Darnell's birthday,

along with our Guest Designer Leslie,

and several Featured Designers (friends from the retreat).

During our retreat, Darnell (Dolly to us) was up early one morning

and decided she wanted some frozen blueberries.

Some how she spilled almost the whole, Costco-sized bag of

blueberries all over the floor.

Bonnie snapped these pictures.

See the swipe of blueberries on the right photo??  We couldn't find a broom so we grabbed

a large piece of card stock to pick up the berries.  As they thawed, the blueberry juice

"smooshed" on the cardstock in a lovely design that looked perfect for card making.

Well, without Dolly knowing, we kept that piece of blueberry smoosh and cut it up.

Each Designer has used one piece in making Dolly's birthday cards. :)

And here's what I came up with using a piece of Darnell's special smooshed BLUEBERRY cardstock:

I thought it was a lovely piece of cardstock and wanted to show as much of it as possible (nice job Darnell!!), so I went with a small image, using PB's Golden Dance stamp, and water colored the bouquet of flowers in several shades of blue and purple inks with my Aqua Painter.  I fussy cut the image out after it dried and pop dotted it to Darnell's lovely background and finished with a simple sentiment banner embossed in white on Night of Navy cardstock.  Here's a closer look at the flowers:

This was such a fun little bouquet of flowers to color up for you Darnell, and I hope it brings lots of Birthday smiles to your face!  

We'd love it if you'd join us in wishing the lovely Darnell a very happy birthday, and water coloring up a bouquet of flowers for her...BLUEBERRY smooshed background is optional!!  You can check out what the rest of the DT and some very special guests came up with using the same background right HERE.  This challenge is open till the 24th, and we'd love to see you in the gallery!  

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