Bokeh Birthday

Hello friends.  When I was making my cards for the PTI Blog Hop, I had a few extra background pieces that didn't make the cut for the challenge, but they weren't bad enough to throw away either, so I turned them into Bokeh backgrounds.  And I love what I came up with!  Take a look:

My girlfriend Sue gave me the really cool flower stamp (Penny Black) for my birthday a few weeks ago, and I just absolutely love how it looks against the background!  I did emboss it (and the "happy" from PTI's "Wet Paint" stamp set) with black embossing powder.  I did learn something with this card that I'll pass along to you fellow stampers...you can't stamp with regular dye ink on a Bokeh background!  I was able to make a "save" when I learned that little tidbit with this card though!  When I first stamped my sentiment with my Momento Tuxedo Black ink, it looked terrible!  Where the ink hit parts of the white circles that are stamped with pigment ink, the color showed up as gray instead of black...grrrrrr!  So I stamped the sentiment again (thank goodness for clear stamps!!!) with Versamark and then embossed using black embossing powder.  So a good tip for Bokeh backgrounds is to use die cuts or embossing when adding directly to that layer! :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful weekend!  We get to do the wonderful FAFSA this weekend and so looking forward to it...NOT!!!  I definitely don't want to wish my youngest daughters life away, but I will be so happy when we don't have to do this anymore!  Why can't the government just write things out in plain English so we can understand what they're asking?!!  OK, done ranting! :0)

Merry Monday #147 - Stars

Good morning friends.  Playing along with the Merry Monday challenge where Bonnie asks us to use a star on our Christmas card.  The stamps I used are an older retired SU! set called "The Sounding Joy" and I love this set that features both a star and one of my most favorites words "Joy"!  Take a look:

I also used a couple Spellbinder star dies to create the red glitter open star that I tucked under the ribbon, and the PTI "Super Star Border Die" for the red glittered strip of stars down the one edge of the card.  It doesn't show up very well in my photo, but I stamped the "Joy" in Delicata's Silvery Shimmer pigment ink and then embossed over it with clear embossing powder.  It gives off a real delicate and soft shimmer against the boldness of the red that I wish I could have captured in the photo, instead of the way it just looks like gray!  I was so excited too when I found a piece of vellum in my stash that was embossed with stars, and had to use that on my card too! :0)  So anyway, I think I got quite a few stars incorporated into my one small card and I really like how it turned out!

  
You can check out all the other beautiful cards, and all the info you need to play along, right here.

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

February 2014 PTI Blog Hop

Hello friends.  Time for Papertrey Ink's monthly Blog Hop, and this one got me really excited to play along!  LOVED the colors in the inspiration photo, and this is what I came up with:

I used Distress Ink's for my background (Worn Lipstick, Dusty Concord, Tumbled Glass, & Salty Ocean), and then embossed in white the Lilac image from Botanical Blocks II.  My sentiment is from "Reasons to Smile", and I embellished with a little black and white bakers twine and a few rainstones.  Couldn't stop with just one, soooooooooo...

Used the other image from "Botanical Blocks II" for this card (not sure what this flower is...peony??) and basically made it the same way but just changed up the sentiment ("Think Big Favorites: #22).

No sun when I took my photos, but IRL my colors are much bolder!

You can check out all the other entries and hop along by following this link here.

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

Make it Monday #202 - Anchoring w/ Border & Banner Dies

Hello friends.  Playing along with the Make it Monday challenge this week, where Melissa Phillips shows a couple absolutely beautiful cards with lots of embellishments and layers and then anchors it all with a couple border and banner dies.  I basically CASED Melissa's card, as it was just so "Spring-like" and it's been a loooooooong winter here!  Take a look:

I found some pre-printed vellum in my stash and used that over my Ripe Avocado Bitty Dot tag (Tag Sale #3) and over my Harvest Gold (Pattern Pack) butterfly (Life is Beautiful).  I also added the scalloped heart from "Limitless Layers: Hearts, the Heart Border die, the banner die from Fabulous Frames Die Collection (the sentiment on the banner is from the new Lovely Laurels stamp set), and then a flower die cut from the Button Stacks II.  A little yellow flower sequin from the Lovely Laurels was glued to the center of the flower die cut.  My tulips on the bottom left of the card are from the new Bitty Bouquet stamp set and stamped in Lemon Tart, Harvest Gold, Spring Moss, & Ripe Avocado inks.  I also added a little strip of the striped DSP from the Harvest Gold Pattern Pack. 

 You can check out the other entries and Melissa's beautiful cards and video all on Heather's blog right here.

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

Tag You're It Challenge #15

Good morning friends.  Playing along with the Tag You're It challenge, and just squeaking in with only 2 days left!  Nothing like waiting till the last minute, right?!!  Anyway, I loved Donna Mikasa's card and tag with her rainbow of color, and used that rainbow of color as my inspiration.  Take a look:

 
I used PTI's Tag Sale # 10 die to cut out my tag and then used the smallest butterfly stamp from the "Life is Beautiful" set (also PTI).  Then I used one of the dots from "Polka Dot Basics" (PTI) to highlight each of the butterflies in a rainbow of colored inks (Hawaiian Shores, Winter Wisteria, Orange Zest, Hibiscus Burst, Harvest Gold, Limeade Ice, & Lavender Moon).  The "Smile" sentiment is from PTI's "Reasons To Smile" stamp set, and I also added some pink polka dotted washi tape to the bottom of the tag.  Since Donna's tag and card looked water colored, and I always seem to mess up on water coloring, I decided to add a few rainstones to mimic the water element in the tag. 

You can check out all the other entries and if you're really quick, play along, right here.

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

Make it Monday #201 - Cover Plate Stencils & Embossing Paste

Hello friends.  Because it was such a COLD day here today, I stayed in and played in my stamp room and made a card for the current Make it Monday challenge.  I wasn't going to play this week as I only own one cover plate and feel like I use it for every challenge that uses cover plates.  I also don't own any embossing paste. (may need to rectify that!)  I've still been following the different cards that have been entered, and a few of the gals have said they used Glossy Accents with the stencils they made from their cover plates....hmmmmmmmm.....I could do that!  Wasn't as easy for me as it sounded!  The Glossy Accents kept getting under the stencil and just looked really messy!  I finally got one to come out that looked kind of ok, so I went with it.  Take a look:

The original plan had been to have the chevrons covering the whole background, but I was so happy to finally get 2 that didn't look terrible, that I quit and said that 2 was just fine! :0)  The rest of my card was inspired by a beautiful card I saw on one of the 8th Anniversary challenges where they used mostly black and white flowers from the "Doodlie-Do" stamp set. I also added a flower from "Beautiful Blooms" and leaves from "Pretty Petals" stamp sets.  My sentiment is from "Wet Paint" dies and stamp set.  I finished with a couple of enamel dots.

Lots of beautiful inspiration and Laurie's card and video over on Nichole's blog that you can check out right here. 

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

Lost Lagoon...Again!!

Hello friends.  Just a quick post sharing another card using SU!'s Lost Lagoon ink (hey, it was still sitting on my desk yesterday and I thought "why not?!!") and "Painted Petals" stamp set.  Take a look:

Went with a monochromatic background and embossed the top half with the Painted Petals embossing folder and then sponged lightly with Lost Lagoon ink.  The bottom half I used the 3 stripes from the Painted Petal set and stamped, then stamped off to get the two tone striping.  I used Blackberry Bliss and Primrose Petals for the flowers.  After I finally figured out how to line up the leaves and flowers, this whole card really came together quite quickly! :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!  And stay warm!!  We're up to -5 ... woohoo!!  Even the dogs don't want to go outside...grrrrrrr!!