Triple B Challenge January 2024

Hello friends.  Today I'm playing along with the Triple B Challenge (Birds, Blooms, & Butterflies).

 

My sweet friend Bonnie sent me some stamped images of Unity's Winter Birdie Swag to color up, and I did one using my Copics and came up with this card...

Isn't he a cutie with that little Winter hat??!  I had so much fun coloring him up in BLUE's (remember I told you I was challenging myself this month to use more BLUE??) and then adding him to a panel that I used a SSS embossing folder on (Icy Snowflakes).  I also added a die cut circle aperture using Penny Black's stitched circles dies to frame him out a bit.

   

My sentiment was hot foiled in silver and popped up a bit with a strip of foam tape for dimension and added to a black strip so it would show up against the blue (Boho Blue - SU!) background.  I finished with a bit of glitter to the branches to resemble snow and the pompom on his hat.  Thanks again Bonnie for sharing this sweet little birdie with me...stamping friends truly are the best!!

You can check out this challenge right HERE and play along till January 31st @ 8:00PM. 
 

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

Color Hues Challenge #79 - COPPER & GREEN

Hello friends.  It's time for another Color Hues Challenge and this time our sweet hostess is Karen and she would like to see COPPER and GREEN on our cards.

I admit I was a little stumped on this one at first.  I love the color Copper, but I thought the only thing I had in my stash in that color was really, REALLY OLD Copper embossing powder and it did NOT work any longer!  Then the light bulb went on and I remembered that when I received my Glimmer Hot Foil machine, it came with a roll of Copper foil...YAY!!  

I can't tell you how many times I've photographed this card trying to get the colors to show up decently, but there just isn't much light in Michigan during the Winter months...grrrrrrrrrr!  But anyway, trust me that the outlines of the leaves are copper foiled and so pretty in real life!  I Copic colored the leaves in YG61 & YG67, and then die cut them out.  (This is a PFS set called Delicate Foliage)

This close up shows the copper foiling a bit better, and also my embossed background (Spellbinders) and sentiment strip that I also foiled in the copper (also Spellbinders).  I finished with a bit of copper cording I found in my stash (SU!) and a few Champagne Pearls from PFS.

We hope you'll play along with us and show us what YOU can do with COPPER!  There's lots of awesome inspiration from our DT and our Special GD Greta that you can check out right HERE.  This challenge is open till Sunday, Jan. 28th @ 9:00AM.

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

Word Power Challenge #1

Hello friends.  There's a new challenge in town from Diane and Darlene called Word Power and it's exactly what it sounds like...they're challenging us to use our words (sentiments) as the focal point of our cards!

I used PTI's Psalm Reflections: May stamp set and the Wild Blooms stencil set to come up with my card.  Take a look...

Blue has never been one of my favorite colors to work with, but it's been growing on me this past year, so I decided to challenge myself this month to use it as much as possible...so yes, you will be seeing some BLUE cards from me this month!  I started this card by stenciling the Wild Blooms in a light and medium blue and gray for the stems and leaves.  Next I stamped the verse in black over the top of the stenciling and then used Spellbinder's Notched Corner Frame Dies to die cut my stamped and stenciled panel and also my card base...something a little different than a standard A2 rectangle.

I did a bit of sponging around the edges of the stamped and stenciled panel before adhering it to the card base so it would stand out a bit.  I also added a foiled (silver) butterfly from PFS's Small Butterflies set that I colored in with a couple Copics.  Here's a closer up so you can see the foiling a bit better...

This challenge is a month long challenge and runs through the last Thursday of the month, which is Thursday, January 25th, so plenty of time to play yet.  You can check it all out right HERE, and CONGRATULATIONS to Diane and Darlene on starting up their 9th challenge.  You two must be SO busy, but I love playing in your challenges, so thank you, THANK YOU for starting up another one!! 

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

Color Hues #78 - LIGHT BLUE & NAVY

Hello friends and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!  I'm the hostess this month for the Color Hues Challenge and here in Michigan where I live, January can be a very chilly month, so I thought we'd start out with the cool tones of LIGHT BLUE & NAVY BLUE.  I may be eating my words this year though as so far it's been pretty mild and hardly any snow...but trust me, I'm NOT complaining!!  I much prefer paper snowflakes and Winter scenes from inside my nice warm house!!  Haha!  Anyway, let's get started, shall we?!

Here's what I came up with using these 2 shades of blue...

I've been having a blast with this new mitten die from SSS (Winter Mitten) and sweet little Walter from Tim Holtz, and having several January birthdays in our family made a birthday card the obvious choice for me!  I used SU!'s Night of Navy and Boho Blue cardstocks for my card base and mitten layers and of course the neutrals for Walter.  The white layer is embossed using SSS's Icy Snowflakes ef.

  My sentiment comes from an older PTI stamp set called Winter Hills and was die cut using SU!'s Tasteful Label Dies.  I even did a bit of sponging around the edges with Night of Navy ink which is something I haven't done in ages! (Used to do it ALL the time when I first started stamping, but not so much now!) Also sponged around the edges of the mitten cuff that was embossed with a SU! knitted pattern so that it would stand out a bit from the white snowflake background.  A piece of ribbon and a few gems finished off this sweet card.

There is so much fun and varied inspiration for you from the DT and our Special Guest, so check it all out right HERE and then play along with us...we really would love to see YOU in the gallery! This challenge is open till Sunday, January 14th @ 9:00AM.

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

Peace On Earth #54

Hello friends.  I'm still in Christmas mode and had a new Press Plate from Spellbinder's that fit the mood board beautifully for the current Peace On Earth Challenge.

And here's what I came up with...

I started by masking off the bottom third of the cardstock and then started ink blending with pink, purple, and blue.  If you've never ink blended on cotton cardstock, you really NEED to try it...it blends like soft butter!  Next I used my Better Press and a new Press Plate (Season's Greetings Evergreens - Spellbinders) to create the tree line over the ink blending.  I wish you could see this in person...the deep etching the Better Press does is SOOOOOO cool looking!

I added a black strip of cardstock to ground the top 2/3rds of the card and then finished with the pressed and die cut sentiment (comes with the set) and a few black gems (Gina K).  Oh, and also did some ink splattering with white acrylic paint for snow on the top 2/3rds of the card.  Another easy peasy card and also another for next years Christmas stash.  

You can check out all the beautiful cards from the DT for inspiration right HERE.  This challenge is open till Thursday, Jan. 4th @ 8:00PM.

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

Double D Challenge - Winter/Snow Scene

Hello friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas?!  We celebrated a week ago as it was the only time all 3 girls could get together, and a good thing we did it early as almost everyone came down with colds this week!  It was still a nice Christmas with just my 91 year old mom yesterday, and on Christmas Eve it was so warm out that we grilled hot dogs for dinner...pretty much unheard of in Michigan on Dec. 24th.  Last year at this time we had a blizzard and 17" of snow!  Go figure.  But anyway, you came here for a card, and I'm still in the Christmas mood and had just received an order from Spellbinder's 50% off sale, so I created this sweet little Winter scene using the Dancin' Penguin dies.  Take a look...

Isn't he a cutie?!  And the best part is that his skating feet swing back and forth so it really looks like he's skating!  I stamped the little piece of ice from MFT's Cool Day stamp set, and then ink blended the background and then did a bit of splattering with white acrylic paint.  I stamped the trees from Gina K's Christmas Greenery set and then embossed the panel with SSS's Icy Snowflakes ef.  LOVE the way this background turned out!  Next I assembled the die cut pieces of the penguin and used thicker foam circles behind him for dimension and to give room for the skates to swing back and forth.  Pretty easy card and a great start for my 2024 Christmas card stash!

     

 Lots of beautiful inspiration from this wonderful mood board and from all the DT too, so check it all out right HERE and then play along to get a head start on next years cards.  This challenge is open till Sunday, Dec. 31st @ 8:00PM.

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

A Christmas Playtime with Michele

Hello friends.  Michele and I had another playdate shortly after Thanksgiving, and while Michele had all her cards done right away, I didn't have time to work on finishing mine up until last week...Christmas kinda snuck up on me this year and I just don't move as fast as I use to!  But anyway, we had a FABULOUS time together at Michele's house with all the usual card making, laughing, talking, and of course eating!  (Michele treated me to her awesome egg drop soup and egg rolls...yummmmmmm!!)

I have 6 cards to share with you today, the first two stenciled beauties from PFS's Lush Peonies Stamp, Stencil, & Die set.

Stenciled with yellow shades and then die cut and added to a die cut background using ASD's Tiny Crosses Coverplate Die with foam tape for dimension.  The die cut sentiment is from SSS using gold mirror cardstock and a few yellow gems finished it off.

This one was stenciled with shades of purples, and then I cut part of it off before adding foam tape once again for dimension against the background done with Waffle Flower's Tiny Crosses Texture Die.  My sentiment is from Spellbinders Letter Press plates, and finished off with a few light purple gems.

OK, let's head into Christmas now.  Michele had asked if I would bring my TH Twigs & Stump die set, and trust me, it's no hardship to play with these 2 adorable snowmen!

   Don't they just crack you up with their facial expressions?!!  I dressed them up in a red & white classic Christmas color combo and attached them to an oval opening with a piece of striped vellum embossed with the Snowflakes embossing folder from Honey Bee.  I added a few die cut snowflakes from Impression Obsession and clear gems to finish off this card.  No sentiment as I haven't decided if it will be a Christmas card, Thank You card, or Winter birthday card yet.

Twig and his own Christmas tree are starring in this card with another embossed background using the Honey Bee Snowflakes folder again, and a snowbank using a die from The Greetery.  The sentiment is an oldie from PTI called Think Big Favorites #20.  Hard to tell in the photo but the tree is splattered with white and GOLD acrylic paint and the gold really does have a nice shimmer to it!

I know this card is a little dark for a Christmas card, but I think it just might be my favorite...must be Michele and her love of grays is rubbing off on me!  My background is a coverplate die from The Greetery that I swiped a gray ink cube up and down across my white cardstock panel first, and then used the die.  I love the wood textured look it gives and makes this card a bit rustic.  I added a Ornate Banner die cut from PFS before layering my Magnolia Wreath die cuts (The Greetery) that I splattered with white & black acrylic paint.  I used gray and silver metallic cardstock for the Rustic Star die cut (also from The Greetery) that I hung like an ornament over the center of the wreath, and then finished with some silver metallic pearls and a pre-printed sentiment strip from SSS.  

The photo of this last card does not do it justice...in real life this card sparkles like crazy!  I started with residual ink leftover on my ink blending brushes in turquoise and purple using a new stencil from The Greetery called Snowflake Prints.  Keeping the stencil in place I used Gina K's Glitz Glitter Gel and once it dries, it really sparkles and shines!  I cut off a little bit at an angle on the bottom and added a strip of turquoise cs to differentiate from the card base.  Next I die cut the word JOY using TSM's Festive Foliage Dies and then stamped "to the world" beneath.  Pretty simple card really that sure does pack a punch in real life!

So there you have what I started at Michele's and then finished up at home last week.  I'd definitely say we were both pretty darn productive considering all the talking, laughing, and eating we did too!  Make sure you check out Michele's post right HERE to see what she did using some of these same products...you won't be disappointed!  (I can hardly wait to see what she did with Twig & Stump!!)  Thanks for another wonderful play day and year of friendship Michele...you truly are the best!!

 

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