Color Throwdown #449

Hello friends.  Been awhile since I played with a Color Throwdown challenge, but the inspiration photo of the beautiful Poppy was just to pretty to pass up!

I love Lisa Johnson's Pretty Poppies (MFT) set, and made a very simple card for this challenge:

I started with a piece of Gina K Ivory cardstock and stamped my first Poppy with Tangerine Tango ink (SU!).  I thought it was a bit dark, so I spritzed with water my 2nd Poppy and I like the lighter shade and also the contrast to the first one.  My leaves were stamped with Old Olive (SU!) and then used Soft Suede ink (SU!) for my flower centers, sentiment, & middle layer of cardstock.  I used Crumb Cake ink (SU!) for the script background.  I die cut a window using MFT's rectangle Peek-a-Boo Window and love the CAS look it gives this card.

Check out all the beautiful inspiration from the DT and all the players in the gallery right HERE.

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

 

Make It Monday #289 - Building Wreaths With Small Images

Hello friends.  Lizzie Jones has a wonderful tutorial on this week's Make It Monday challenge over at Papertrey Ink.  It's all about using some of the smaller images in your stamp sets to build a wreath, and because wreath's generally involve flowers, I got all excited!!  Until I saw Kim Heggins and her fabulous wreath made with Summer images that is!  Her fun wreath got me thinking that maybe I need to think a little more "outside the box" and try something different!  So with the 4th of July approaching, I thought maybe a star wreath might be the way to go...

I used a lot of different star images from O'Tannenbaum, Winter Hills, & Warmest Wishes, and a small leafy image from Birds & Blooms to create my wreath on a piece of white cardstock that I had first stamped with Weathered Wood Distress Ink and a SU! Hardwood background stamp.  I stamped my stars in Americana, Enchanted Evening, & Weathered Wood inks.  I used my new To The Point Edger's to die cut the bottom portion of the stamped layer, and then added another die cut layer of Americana cardstock again with the To The Point Edger's.  I stamped the bottom portion of my card base with the Americana ink and a SSS Gingham background stamp.  I bought the Americana ink and cs when it first came out and this is the first time I've used it...what was I thinking to wait so long as I really love the color after making this card?!  Anyway, I added some bakers twine and my sentiment banner (Butterfly Hope), and thought to finish it off I would add some WOS to a few of the stars...bad decision!  BAD DECISION!!   I don't know what it is with WOS, Spectrum Noir Sparkle pens, or even glue and glitter AND red ink, but the red bleeds every time for me!  And why I didn't think of that before I added it this time, I'm not sure, but all I know is that my pretty card turned into a hot mess!  So back to work I went and re-stamped the whole card (because of course nothing came apart with out ripping!!) and added little diamond gems to some of the stars this time for my sparkle.  Here's a close up:

 

It was worth the time to re-make as I think it turned out really pretty, and will definitely brighten up my dear friend Nora's day, who is battling her 3rd year with ALS now.  She is such a trooper, and even though she's deteriorating at such a fast speed, she always has a smile and a kind word (through her ipad...she can't speak anymore) for everyone!   For those of you who believe in the power of prayer, please lift Nora up as she continues this battle...thank you!

Still lots of time to play along with Lizzie's fun challenge, so check out her video and beautiful card and then play along...you can check it all out right HERE.

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

Merry Monday #254 - Moose

Hello friends.  Lori is our hostess this week at Merry Monday and she would like to see a MOOSE on your Christmas card!

Isn't that moose just so cute all tangled up in the Christmas lights?!!  When I went looking through my stash of a bazillion Christmas stamps, would you believe I couldn't find a single MOOSE stamp?!!  So, like any self respecting stamper, I went shopping!  It was hard, but I did it!!  :0)  And actually found an older and adorable stamp set from SugarPea Designs called Moosing You and came up with this:

Isn't he just a happy looking dude?  I colored him with my Copics and then layered him on a SU! Circle Framelit along with some glittered snow banks, a lightly blended blue sky, and a few pine trees that were included in the stamp set.  My plaid DSP is SU! and the sentiment is from the stamp set also.

If you need more inspiration, make sure you check out all the cute, cute cards from the DT right HERE, and then play along with us.  We will be taking a short Summer break here at Merry Monday after this week, and then will be back on September 4th.  For those of you who love making Christmas cards all Summer long (I do!!), we will have a Summer Link Up starting July 3rd, so stay tuned!

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

Papertrey Ink June 2017 Blog Hop

Hello friends.  It's the 25th and that means it's time for Papertrey Ink's monthly blog hop!  Nichole has a beautiful ombre inspiration photo for us this month...

I was totally inspired by the teal colored jar and the peachy colored flowers, and while the photo is showing roses, I just HAD to play with my new Humming Along set and the pretty Petunia's!

I started by blending my card front with Tropical teal, and then added some water splatters that I mostly covered up when I added the Mix & Mat: Flourishes frame over the top.  You can enlarge the photo by clicking on it to see a few of the splatters closer up if you'd like.  Next I stamped and cut my peachy colored Petunia's (Bellini, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist, & Ocean Tides inks) and then added to the bottom corner of my white frame...love how they pop against the white and ombre teal!  For my sentiment I heat embossed in white on my black banner (Banner Style), sponged the edges with white ink to give it a bit of the chalkboard style, and then adhered it to my card front along with a few iridescent sequins.

 
Can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with for this one!!  You can check it out and play along right HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by and a special thanks to all who leave comments...I love hearing from you!!  :0)

Wedding Wishes

Hello friends.  Playing along with two challenges today:  Double D - Anything Wedding and CAS Watercolour - Summer.

Since June has long been considered Wedding month, and Summer makes me think of flowers, I figured these two challenges would definitely work together!  I also had been wanting to try a water color technique that my friend Colleen tried and loved by Laurel Beard, using Zig Clean Color Real Brushes...so these two challenges worked out for me to come up with this:

I kept my card very CAS so the focus would be on the lovely flower from PTI's Especially You.  I embossed my image in gold and then literally scribbled with my Zigs over it!  Yep, scribbled!  It was a hot mess!  (darn, should have taken a picture at that point!)  The magic happens when you spritz the image with water and the color starts to spread...so fun to watch!  After patiently waiting for it to dry, I fussy cut it out.  I added a simple gold frame (PTI - Cover Plate - Pretty Frame Die) to coordinate with the gold embossing, and then added a simple sentiment from PTI's Spring Woods.  I will definitely be trying this technique out again...fun, FUN!!

The CAS Watercolour challenge ends tomorrow (24th), so not much time left to play in that one, but the Double D - Anything Wedding goes until July 2nd, so plenty of time to play along yet.  And lots of BEAUTIFUL inspiration to be found from both DT's and players in their galleries!

Edited to add:  Also going to add this to The Challenge #88 where they have some challenge words for you to pick from to design your card...I chose Flowers, Bright, & Watercolor.

 

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

Make It Monday #288 - Pantone Chip Inspired Cards

Hello friends.  Lexi Daly is up with this weeks Make It Monday challenge over at Papertrey Ink and it's a FUN one!!  Lexi's video and cards are all about Pantone Chip inspired cards, which is apparently a new art form that I was completely unaware of!  I loved Lexi's cards though, and had fun browsing through the link for more inspiration on Pinterest.

Rather than doing a small chip card, I went for the larger style that Lexi showed with her flip flop card, and came up with this:

I used the Cover Plate from Bitty Butterflies and Raspberry Fizz cardstock...I know, I know, it looks more like a cross between Hibiscus Burst and Berry Sorbet cardstock!  It really is Raspberry Fizz though...sometimes even natural sunlight can do strange things to colors!!  I sponged all the butterflies with Raspberry Fizz ink before gluing them back into their cutouts to give them a little bit more definition, and then used just one that I had smooshed with ink so it stood out a bit more.  My bottom piece I stamped with gray and black using Wonderful Words: Hello.  This really was a fun challenge and I loved learning and doing something new!

Lots of time left to play along with this challenge, so check out Lexi's fun and beautiful cards and video and then play along right HERE.

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

Merry Monday #253 - Bears

Hello friends.  This week at Merry Monday our hostess Linda is asking for us to use a BEAR on our Christmas cards.

Kinda hard not to love a challenge that involves something as cute as a bear, isn't it?!!  I still smile every time I pull out MFT's Polar Bear Pals stamp set...the faces on those bears just crack me up!

I started with a piece of kraft cardstock and stamped 3 of the Polar Bear images in Soft Suede ink (so technically they're not Polar Bears, but Brown Bears!), and then masked them off so I could stamp my trees.  (Deep Red - Winter Pines)  I used a few Copics to color the scarves (R29 & G05) and an E31 to do a little shading on the bears.  I used HA Unicorn Pigment Ink and a sponge to add some snow to the bottom of my panel and then mounted to a Cherry Cobbler and kraft card base.  Some bakers twine and a Tiny Tag (PTI) and also a few wooden stars (also PTI) finished off my card.

Check out the rest of the inspiration from the DT and then play along with us right HERE.  We'd love to see what you come up with using a BEAR image on your Christmas card!  And remember that Merry Monday will be taking a short break for the Summer (July & August), but will return the beginning of September.  So play along with us this week (and next!) and get a head start on those Christmas cards...December will be here before you know it and you'll be so glad you worked ahead!!

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