Happy Birthday LeAnne! (Merry Monday & MIM#174 - Diamond Wallpaper Stamping)

Good morning friends.  I'm combining 2 challenges today, and playing along with Merry Monday's who are having a surprise birthday blog hop for LeAnne (she turned 60 on Monday!!) and also with Papertrey Ink's "Make it Monday" challenge where Ashley shows us how to use our stamps to make diamond wallpaper backgrounds. 

I have to be honest here, and tell you I cheated a bit with my background, as I didn't have any PTI stamps that would really make a diamond pattern. (good reason to buy more, right?!!)  So I started with a retired SU! background stamp called "Print Pattern" and stamped off Smokey Slate ink to make my diamond pattern, and then used the "string" stamp from PTI's "Birthday Style" to stamp my definition lines.  Take a look:

I used one of the flower centers from "Beautiful Blooms" (PTI) and Pretty in Pink and Pool Party inks to stamp the little dots on the background.  I kept with those 2 colors for the rest of the card too, using one of the little Christmas birds from Penny Black's "Winter Wonderland" set (by not coloring the Santa hat red, it looks like a "party" hat, right?!!) and then the sentiment and balloon from the "Birthday Style" (PTI) set.  A little bit of glitter for the hat, and a pop dot for the balloon, and I have a cute little card for the birthday girl!  LeAnne always leaves the nicest comments when you play along with the Merry Monday challenges, and deserves many, many birthday wishes for this special milestone birthday! :0)

And make sure you check out Ashley's great card and video, and all the other entries (and COOL and surprising diamond backgrounds!!) over on Nichole Heady's Blog . 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Wednesday!  It's cool enough here in my "neck of the woods" that I'm going to go try a new recipe for berry scones and if they turn out, I'll take them along to my bible study this morning! :0) 

Tag You're It! Challenge #2

Good morning friends.  Playing along with a brand new challenge today that just started a few weeks ago.  This challenge is all about "tags", and I love making them, so why not play along?!!  The inspiration this week was by Laura Bassen and you can see her beautiful tag and find out all the information to play along right here .  Here is my take on Laura's tag:

Ink:  Melon Mambo, Tangelo Twist, & Daffodil Delight (SU!)
Dies:  Tag Sale #8 (PTI), Prim Poppy (Memory Box), Hello (Serendipity Stamps)
Stencil: Texture Diamond (Memory Box)
Accessories:  Flower Charm (Michael's), Clear Sequins (Pink Posh)

Here's a picture of the small kraft gift bag that I attached my tag to:

What a perfect way to decorate and present a small gift, right?!  This little bag is going to my cousin Sue who is coming to visit today, and since I still had my stencil and inked up sponges out, I decided to add a little something extra to the inside (on top of what I had already planned for the inside).  Excuse my poor lighting as it was nighttime when I took the photo!

Who doesn't love a little chocolate all decorated up, right?!

And here is a picture of Laura's beautiful inspiration tag:

 

Make sure you check out all the other entries too, as there are some really beautiful tags entered into this challenge...LOTS to inspire you!! :0)

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Monday!

 

Papertrey Ink July 2014 Blog Hop

Good morning friends.  Playing along with the monthly blog hop over at Papertrey Ink today, and what an awesome inspiration photo they gave to get us motivated!  There were SO many different elements to the photo that I loved, that I couldn't just pick one!!  So I didn't and used quite a few of them and love how my card(s) came out!  Take a look:

I used the 2 main colors from the inspiration photo (Pure Poppy & Spring Rain) as my starting point, and then because the photo reminded me of Melissa Phillips, I tried to make my card like one of hers! :0)  I started with a size that she always uses (3.5 x 5.5), a kraft cardstock base, and then just started adding elements from the photo.  I used "Wreath for All Seasons", "Bird's & Blooms", and "Blooming Button Bits" stamp sets (all PTI) for my wreath, the bird (which I polka dotted with my white gel pen), and my sentiment.  If you click to enlarge the photo, you can also see that I used my Aqua Painter to the red berries on the wreath to give a bit of a softer effect...really like how that turned out!

I usually make 2 cards so that if I really like something that I've done, I can still send one out, and then have another one to keep for awhile...I know, I'm crazy!!  But anyway, I changed up my 2nd card just a tiny bit. 

I used the "Tag Sale #4" die to stamp my wreath on this time, and also added a few flowers from the "Birds & Blooms" stamp set.  I switched up my ribbon, the sentiment, and also added a piece of washi tape to this one. 

Here's the inspiration photo:

It will be fun to see how everyone else interpreted this photo, so head on over to Nichole Heady's site right here and check it all out!

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! :0)

Make it Monday #173 - No Outline Watercolor

Good morning friends.  Heather Nichols over at Papertrey Ink has a great video (and BEAUTIFUL card!!) for this weeks Make it Monday challenge, and let's just say it was definitely a challenge for me!  After reading through the blogs of those who have posted cards to this challenge already, I realize that I am NOT alone in being challenged in the area of water coloring!  Being challenged is a good thing though, as it teaches me new things and how to get out of my comfort zones!  Water coloring is definitely something I'm going to have to practice on, but here are my 2 efforts:

This was my first try using the Simple Sunflower set (PTI), and while I love the colors (Berry Sorbet, Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse, & Harvest Gold), I'm not thrilled with how the flowers actually turned out!  There's not enough definition between the leaves like Heather was able to do with her flower.  I know, I know...practice makes perfect!  Anyway, on to try # 2:

Had to try out my new Botanical Blocks II, and while it's by NO means perfect, it's a bit better than my first try!  (actually, I think it's the rainstones that make me like it better...I'm going to be SO sad when those are gone!!!!!)  I used Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding, Winter Wisteria, & Simply Chartreuse inks for my lilac, and the sentiment is from Think Big Favorites: #24 (PTI).

While I may have struggled with this technique, it was still fun, and you can learn all about it and play along right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Wednesday!  (Psssssst!  Only 7 weeks till my first grandchild arrives!  If he/she arrives on time that is! :0)  Can you tell  I'm a little bit excited??????!!!!!!!!! )  

Fluffy Feather

Good morning friends.  Took a class a few weeks back on making masculine cards (love making all the flowery and bright cards but really struggle with guy cards!!), and one of the cards we made used a Memory Box die called "Fluffy Feather".  I finally had a chance to pull it out this weekend and make a card with it.  Take a look:

Pretty CAS looking, but actually has a few elements to it!  I started by inking my background with Bashful Blue and Marina Mist inks and then used VersaMark ink and white embossing powder over the background with SU!'s "En Francais" stamp.  On my top layer I used the die to cut out the feather, and then also sponged that with the Bashful Blue and Marina Mist inks.  I then stamped the flourish from SU!'s "Priceless" stamp set in Marina Mist ink on top of the feather and then offset it over the feather negative space.  I added the Thinking of You from PTI's new "Keep it Simple: Thinking of You" stamp set.  I then pop dotted this layer and added a few sequins.  Here's a closer up view of the detail:

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Monday! :0)

Beautiful Brushstrokes

Finally got a chance to play yesterday with PTI's Make-It Market "Beautiful Brushstrokes" stamp set.  Betsy and all the design team members made this set look so easy, but I struggled a little and had to practice quite a bit before I dared use any of watercolor paper that came with the kit.  I did come up with a card that I liked though...it just took a bit of perseverance!  Take a look:

The flowers in this set are a 3 step, but I only used 2...the outline stamp and the middle one.  After stamping the 2 steps in Aqua Mist and Real Red inks, I used my Aqua Painter to smooth out the color a bit.  I used Simply Chartreuse for the leaves and again my Aqua Painter to fill them in.  Here's a closer up view:

I finished up my card with a bit of twine and a few of the rainstones that came with the kit.  This is definitely a stamp set that I'll have to practice with some more, but hopefully the extra practice will produce some beautiful cards! 

Thanks you so much for stopping by today, and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.



Merry Monday #117 - Use Sequins

Good morning friends.  Merry Monday's is asking us to use sequins on our Christmas cards this week, and for any of you who follow me, you know I use sequins on just about every card I make lately!  This was definitely no hardship for me! :0)  Last week I made a card with the PTI stamp set "Wreath for All Seasons" and the baby wipe stamp pad technique.  I admitted that I really needed to have used a more solid image than the twig wreath for all the colors to show up in the baby wipe technique, so I'm entering another wreath card this week with the same technique, but using the "Rustic Wreath" die.  Take a look:

A very CAS card, but I love how the wreath turned out on this one!  I die cut the wreath first, gently pushed it facedown into my baby wipe stamp pad, and then re-inserted it back into it's negative space.  The re-inker colors I used were Gumball Green, Old Olive, & Certainly Celery.  I added my little clusters of red sequins, stamped my sentiment (from "Rustic Wreath"), matted with a layer of Real Red cs and mounted to a white card base.  Easy peasy and done! :0)

Since I had the Rustic Wreath stamp set out, I made another card with the wreath stamp instead of the die:

I used the baby wipe stamp pad again to stamp the wreath, and then used my Aqua Painter and the stamp pad to fill in the leaves.  I like this one too, but not as much as my first one.

If you love sequins like me, then check out all the beautiful cards and information to play along right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful Wednesday!  :0)