As You Rest & Heal

I recently purchased this SSS "Stylized Tulips" die and wasn't sure how I wanted to use it at first. Blended Distress Inks on this  background panel seemed to be the right home for these tulips. Wanting to add a special touch, I used Gina K Design Petite Flourish background stamp on the tulips and some Antique Linen distress ink so the card stock wasn't completely white. I used a Spellbinders Candlewick rectangle die for the design around the panel and a sentitment from SSS "Healing Hugs" stamp set (one of my favorites.) This is for a special person who just got out of the hospital. Entering it in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"  and Monday Challenge "Beautiful Botanicals." (a trick to keep all of the little pieces together as you work with them = use Press & Seal, invented by Jennifer McGuire's husband!)

closer view

Believe

This card project uses the water color stamps from Art Impression. They are so much fun because you can pick and choose whichever stamps you want to create whatever picture you want. The Bonnie Krebs's videos are very easy to follow. Here is her latest video - Bonnie Krebs AI video. And Sandy Allnock has two classes on how to use these stamps. I have taken both of her courses although I have not completed the second course on making AI scenes. Find Sandy's classes HERE. I want to add this project to the Art Impressions Simple Challenge this week. Plus, it fits into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge "Anything Goes" and Monday Challenge "Beautiful Botanicals."

Offering Sympathy

Summer is slipping away and as much as I love the colors of fall for card projects, I can't resist coloring flowers! This card features a Penny Black stamp, sentiment from Altenew with a stencil background from Mint Owl Studios, together for a Sympathy card. I always need them and a few friends of mine always order sympathy cards from me, too. This image on water color paper was colored with Zig Real Brush Markers  I am entering this card in the Penny Black Saturday Challenge for August and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Beautiful Botanicals.

Smile

I absolutely LOVE layering stencils and have been looking for new ones lately. Although you can mask areas of a stencil to make it perform like a layering set, some companies are producing these sets more and more. This stencil set is from Pretty Pink Posh "Layered Leaves & Flowers." I used Distress Inks for the background (stencils.) Then I searched through my sets to find a matching flower = Stampin'Up's Flower Patch and matching die "Flower Flair Framlets" to create several flowers to layer on top for more dimension. The "Smile" sentiment is from Technique Tuesday. This is for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Beautiful Botanicals.

Gnome One Like You

Made this cute card for a friend a few days ago and thought I might as well add it to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Oh So Cute." These cute stamp images are from Purple Onion  and Open Studio, colored with copic markers. This is a 4-bar size card, so it's smaller than the standard A- 2 size.

Season's Greetings

This holiday card is for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Oh So Cute!" Plus I am trying to get ahead on my holiday cards with Jenn Shurkus's "Get Cracking on Christmas Challenge. Check out her gorgeous card for this month by following the link. This card project uses an older stamp from Sunny Studio called "Snow Kissed" and the die scene from Sugar Pea Designs. Added in a few evergreen boughs and created this cute scene of the Penguin skating on a sheet of glitter paper! I also decorated an envelope to match.

Super Hero

I had sent a bunch of thank you cards to the staff at my local nursing homes and assisted living facilities a while back, but I found one lonely left over medical worker hiding on my desk. I decided not to let her go to waste. These images were offered for free from My Favorite Things, which was a wonderful gift for the crafting world. I decided to follow the sketch for this week. You will find the entries here - MFT Wednesday Sketch 503.

Autumn Blessings

This card for fall only has a bit of stamping - the greeting from SSS Autumn Greetings, and lots of die cut leaves - the DieNamics Autumn Wreath set. I selected several MFT pattern papers in the Challenge colors and made my own wreath design (so easy.) The lemon drop panel is mounted on some milk chocolate card stock and it's complete! Entering this in the My Favorite Things Color Challenge #147.

Happy Dance

Today I challenged myself to make a card which would fit into both of the My Favorite Things weekly challenges. So, here it is! The MFT stamp set is "It's a Mice Time to Celebrate." Check out the color chart and the sketch design below. I flipped the sketch on its side. Placing this card on the MFT Color Challenge #147 and MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #502.

Ice Cream

What's better than ice cream on a hot day? A birthday with ice cream on a hot day of course! Here's one I made with several different products, colored with copic markers just for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Summer Memories" and Wednesday Challenge "Midsummer Blues."

Thinking

A quick entry for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, "Midsummer Blues" since this card features blue colors, a "blue" sentiment "Thinking About You," and a summer-y chair scene. I water colored this with Zig Real Clean Brush Markers. Adding it to SSS Monday Challenge, too,

What's Up, Buttercup?

I recently registered for the Altenew Small Stamp club and this adorable stamp came in the mail, "Delight Buttercup." Even though it's a small stamp of 1 flower, it has multiple layers. I stamped it with several yellow inks and paired it with the "Leaf Canopy" stamp/die, and a piece of the "Cozy Flannel Cover-up" die. All this was inspired by the August 2020 Inspiration Challenge. I am also going to place this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Summer Memories.

   

Sunshine & Love

 One more card this weekend, this one with flowers of course, is for Gina K August Monthly Mix Challenge, White Space. I used the "Layered Daisies & Dies" from the Sunshine and Love kit which was at least a year ago. I loved this particular layering set and used it on cards before. This time I used several shades of Gina K yellow and gold ink, and embossed the centers of the daisies with white. I left the space around the flowers empty because of the challenge. Normally I would use a stencil or background stamp to create a background. I hardly ever leave white space... not sure why, but I like how it looks and will try to leave some white space more often. I am also entering this card in the MFT Day 5 Summer School - White Space.

Perk Up

 Day 5 for My Favorite Things Summer School - White Space led to this card with Pure Innocence "Steeped in Love" stamp set. This concludes the 5 days of Summer School for this year's MFT.

I'm So Grateful - Ombre'

 Was a busy weekend in the craft room. Here's a card for My Favorite Things Day 4 of Summer School - Ombre'. I used Snow Cone, Blue Raspberry, and Tropical Teal with the "Thanks Very Much" stamp.

Christmas in August

Here is the card project I put together after Bonnie Krebs challenged us to make a Christmas in August scene with Art Impression stamps and Tombow Markers. Bonnie does a live video every first and third Wednesday of the month and has quite a following of water colorists. I REALLY love doing these little scenes. You can see Bonnie's lesson here https://www.facebook.com/ArtImpressionsRubberStamps/videos/682275602359655/

Happy "Tranquil" Birthday

A crafty friend recently suggested that I check out the Penny Black Saturday Challenge which is a month long challenge using Penny Black stamps. I DO have quite a few of these stamps, but it's been years since I entered any cards in their challenges. I am going to try to broaden my entries into the "challenge world." Here's the first card I will enter into PBSC for August - Anything Goes or Make the Sentiment the Focus with a "Tranquil Buds." And since it's a Birthday card, I can also place it on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Happy Birthday."

Happy Birthday

Spent time in the craft room organizing some products which I hadn't put away, and realized I had a flower stamp which I never used. Sounds crazy, but this has probably happened to other crafters at some point or another. I combined several challenges to create this fairly simple birthday card using "Flower Silhouettes" and the "Splotchy Dots" background stamp.

Entering this in My Favorite Thing Color Challenge #146, MFT Summer School Day 3 - Symmetry, and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Happy Birthday."

Happy Birthday Bear

Here is a birthday card which I made twice. The first one was for my grandson Chase who had the nickname of "Chasie-bear" when he was younger, and the second one was for a friend who wanted a similar card for her niece because she loved it so much! I used the Altenew Diamond Builder Stencil for the bottom portion of the card. The top portion is Hero Arts Wish Big Peek A Book stamp. Kobi Bearing Gifts from Studio Katia is the focal picture. The balloon is from Sunny Studio. Putting this card on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Happy Birthday."

Best Friends Will Always Be Remembered

I made this card a few weeks ago and never posted it. It was a request from a friend who is a dog lover herself, and the person who told me about the "rainbow bridge." I never heard about the "rainbow bridge" before, but I knew it should be part of the sympathy card I was creating so I blended Distress Inks and placed them behind a black heart outline. The large "Sorry" die cut is from Honey Bee Design, the smaller sentiment is from My Favorite Things (Critter Condolences), and the dog silhouette is from Impression Obsession. I am placing this card in the following challenges:

My Favorite Things Summer School Day 2, Rainbows

My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #500

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes.

Snail Mail Hello

Sometimes when I least expect it, an idea pops into my head, and I just have to get to my craft room and start creating.  When I was thinking about My Favorite Things Summer School Day 2 - Rainbows, the image of a bunch of rainbow colored envelopes popped into my head. Hence the card project below! The background panel was stamped with MFT Typewriter Text background stamp. The envelopes are from Sugar Pea Designs and the "Hello" is from Hero Arts. I believe the sentiment on the purple strip is from MFT, but I could not find my stamp set to get the name!! :) Going to enter this is the SSS Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes too.

Happiest Birthday

This card project is a cute birthday bunny flying by to wish a little girl Happy Birthday! I used the My Favorite Things Color Challenge #146 Colors and the Sketch Challenge #500. Plus, since I wanted to use three balloons on the card, they demonstrated the MFT Summer School Day 1 lesson- Visual Triangle. I love the look on the bunny's face, "How did I get up here so high!" This is from MFT "Birthday Buds." The balloons are a layering stamp from Sunny Studio. The scalloped panel is mounted on a piece of Summer Splash card stock.

Thank You

Here is a fairly simple card which has a lot of punch. Rainbows are the focus of My Favorite Things Summer School Day 2. They are very versatile and can be made from lots of different products. Click on the link to see what other creations have been submitted for day 2 of MFT summer school!

This rainbow was created with Distress Oxide Inks for a thank you card. The bold sentiment is from MFT "Thanks So Very Much" stamp set.

Thinking of You

I tried a new technique which I saw on my friend's blog. It's called Split Four. Here's the link that shows this technique - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbP0ibNZn8Y&t=3s And take a look at  Cat's use of the technique here - Cat's blog post. So I selected some stamps and inks and here's the results-

The second part of the process involves cutting this large piece of card stock into four panels and making four cards. I had planned originally to have 2 landscape and 2 portraits cards, but it didn't turn out that way! I liked the landscape better. Here's the results - 

Lastly, I am going to enter one of these cards in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes.

Anna

This card was made special for a friend of mine, hence the Name prominently displayed on the front! It was a birthday card for a young lady so I used MFT stamps and dies, plus a new set from The Ton called Floral Bits. I was curious to see how The Ton's layering stamps work compared to Altenew layering stamps, and I have to say that The Ton has made it easier if you are planning on cutting the flowers out for your project. Because of the guide marks they use for the layers, which are displayed on the stamp itself, you don't have the flexibility of stamping out the flowers in any pattern you want if you follow the guide marks. In summary, I think both Altenew and The Ton have made layering easy, but the methods are a little different so both are worth considering depending on your project. This card is for the MFT Sketch #500 for this week's challenge and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes.

Nuts Over Bolts

This cute card is for the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge 500 and for MFT Summer School 2020 Lesson 1 Visual Triangle. I copic colored the central image, a small robot, placed it on top of a pink heart with white heat embossed hearts on top, and used some pattered paper in the lower part of my card base. The three pink Nuvo drops form the visual triangle on the card and add dimension (along with the robot which is popped up.) Below is the Sketch for this challenge.

Also entering Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes.