Thankful Friend

Here is another card for the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge 247

This is the Pure Innocence "Thankful Friend" stamp set. A close up shows the little girl, colored using alcohol markers, masked off, then Distress Inks for the background. A little pattern paper and ribbon finishes the card.

Bountiful Blessings

Love this set "Harvest Mouse" and the matching dies. They are so busy for fall. I'm entering this Thanksgiving card in the
My Favorite Things Sketch challenge 247

Here is a close up of the central image which was colored using the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers on Tim Holtz watercolor paper.

What's new...

Nothing new. Just got back from vacation. Didn't make any cards while I was away.

Spent a week at the Jersey shore with our friends from Connecticut 

Blue Sympathy Flowers

Used an idea from Gina K's Stamp TV for the design of this card... and love how it turned out!

Entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Use a Stamp and Blog Hop Challenge

Happy 60 Birthday

This card was for a friend's friend... and I'm entering it in the 

Simon Says Stamp ....Monday Challenge

The background paper was created with Distress Inks. 

The balloons were stamped and I added the "60" 

with another stamp set. 

Adhered Happy Birthday with a shadow behind it and the balloon strings.

Beary Good

This card was for my friend Kathy S. when she retired from 30+ years of teaching!

I am entering it in the Simon Says Stamp Monday 

Use a Stamp and Blog Hog Challenge

One Layer Halloween

This one layer, multiple-step card started with one of my favorite techniques, ink blending. 

The blending is done after stamping and masking the images.

 For this card I used Inkadinkado masking paper and Tim Holtz Distress Inks.
Ooops, I forgot that I added the gold stars... but other than that, it's a one layer card!

I'm entering this card in the LAWNSCAPE One Layer Challenge

Stamps:      Darcie's Heart and Home #POL 79 stamp

                   Clearly Besotted "Fright Night"

                   Lawn Fawn "Spooktacular"

Die Cut:     "Spooktacular"

Sympathy Card

I am here to share a card which I made for a neighbor. 

Sadly, one of our neighbors passed away a few days ago. Although I did not know 

this couple well, we all know how awful it is to lose a loved one. 

So I'll be sending this to Darlene tomorrow.

 My husband and I just moved to this wonderful neighborhood about 4 months ago. We quickly met the terrific people on our block because they were so friendly and helpful to us newbies.

The current challenge from My Favorite Things inspired me to create this card using a circle within a square and embellish around the edges. Since the card fit the parameters of the challenge, I am entering it in the My Favorite Things MFT Sketch Challenge 246

Here is a close up of the little cart willed with 2 dimensional flowers...

Fall Leaves Coming!

This card is basically one layer except for the dimensional leaves flying.

The technique of ink blending is one of my favorites and you can see it 

in the background of this card which was done with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and a blending tool.

  The orange card base and burlap strip on the left helps to pull the fall colors together.

I am entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp
Monday Challenge Love This Technique

Stamps:         Inkadinkado "Autumn Foliage"

                      Stampin' Up "Sheltering Tree"

                      Newton's Nook "Wagon of Wishes"

                      

Dies:             Elizabeth Craft "All Season Tree"

Trick or Treat

This one layer, multiple step card started with one of my favorite techniques, ink blending. 

The blending is done after stamping and masking the images.

 For this card I used Inkadinkado masking paper and Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

I am entering this in the Simon Says Stamp 

Monday Challenge.....Love This Technique

Stamps:      Darcie's Heart and Home #POL 79 stamp

                   Clearly Besotted "Fright Night"

                   Lawn Fawn "Spooktacular"

Die Cut:     "Spooktacular"

Thinking of You

I am entering this card in the 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Die Crazy

and Make My Monday Challenge Black, White, Hint of Color

This striking card in pink, white, and black was an accomplishment for me. 

First, this pink paper was sprayed with Iridescent Glitter Dust to use for this card. 

Next, the flowers were stamped with My Favorite Things black ink 

and colored with alcohol markers. They are from Penny Black "Blooming Garden." 

The middle flower was fussy cut and adhered in the middle of the other two with fun foam 

for added dimension. Simon Says Stamp "Stitched Circle Die" was cut in black to frame the flowers. Two Di Namics "Simple Leaf Flourishes" were added to the card along with the sentiment 

Thinking of You, which is a Simon Says Stamp die cut. As a little embellishment 

the corners were punched with a Fiskar corner punch.

Birthday Balloons

This card was inspired by my grandson's birthday because he loves balloons! 

Don't we all think of balloons when it's birthday time. 

I used Simon Says Stamp "Celebration Time" to die cut the balloons out of pattern paper 

and drew strings with a white gel pen. 

The "happy birthday" greeting was die cut from My Favorite Things from white card stock. 

I am entering this cute card in the Simon Says Stamp

Wednesday Challenge
Die Crazy

Colorful Thank You

This card was so much fun to create! I stamped white card stock with flowers and leaves, 

die cut that panel, and added the dimensional thank you. 

I am entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp
Wednesday Challenge Die Crazy

Stamps:      Hero Arts "Let Love Grow"

Dies:           Spellbinders "Lattice Rectangle"

                    My Favorite Things Die-Namics "Thank You"

Happy Halloween

Wow, Halloween! Yes, it's right around the corner. 

This cute card is being entered into the Lawnscape

Too Cute to Spook Challenge

My Favorite Things Die Namics Peek-A-Boo Trio was used to cut a strip of black card stock creating a cute window for three Halloween symbols. These were die cut from Lawn Fawn "Spooktacular" set after stamping and coloring with alcohol markers. More embellishment was created with stamps from Clearly Besotted "Fright Night":  the web, raven, and tiny spider. The Happy Halloween sentiment is from Lawn Fawn "Booyah" and embossed with black embossing powder.

Gnome in a Window

This card creates a little garden scene including Mr. Gnome peeking through through a window from the inside of the card.  I am entering it in the 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Die Crazy

Stamps:       My Favorite Things "You Gnome Me"

Inks:            Tim Holtz Distress Inks                   

Dies:            DieNamics "Spring Garden"

                     Impression Obsession
                     Lawn Fawn Grass die
                     Elizabeth Craft "All Season"

Shaker Card

Here's my shaker card made with paper I created using Distress Inks applied to water color paper with a broad brush when the paper was saturated with water. I love, love, love how this paper turned out. I had just gotten this new die "Hooray" from Clearly Besotted and wanted to try out my We Are Memory Keepers Fuse Tool (also new!) YEA, I was trying out all kinds of new products! I adhered this to an aqua card base, although here it looks blue! and added some matching ribbonon the sides. The whole panel is popped up for dimension and for the shaker!

Entering this card in Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

LOVE THIS TECHNIQUE

The part I love - Distress Inks on the background of a card!

Wishing Umbrella

I made this card for a friend of my dear daughter in law. She and my son (AND their 10 month daughter) were all going to be in this young girl's wedding. It was so exciting for all parties involved. 

I am entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge 

LOVE THIS TECHNIQUE

      One of my favorite stamping techniques is using Distress Inks for the background of a card or for objects to embellish my cards!

      For this card I took some water color paper and used several pink and yellow Distress Inks. I used a broad brush on very wet paper to create the mottled look, cut the basic umbrella shape by hand (didn't have an umbrella die at the time!) and then used  a Spellbinders die for the detailed edge, A2 Scalloped Borders One. I also used a white gel pen for the broken stripes.
      The card stock was white shimmer paper, dry embossed with a Darice Embossing folder on the right side and corner punched with a Fiskar punch; then added to a light pink card base.
      The sentiment is Simon Says Stamp Wishing stamp and die set.

Jar of Flowers

             Hero Arts challenged it's viewers to take an old project and redo it as a way of celebrating their new website/online store! My cards have changed a lot since a year ago when I first started making cards in earnest. See my last blog where I acknowledge the talented ladies I have been following and who have taught me so much!
      The old card on the left....  actually a pitiful card, and I would never send it!! But I liked the purple patterned paper so I used that as the basis for my new card.

Entered in the Hero Arts MAKEOVER CHALLENGE

      I used the stamp set from Hero Arts called "Love Jar" for the jar and the flowers. I masked the center flower to position the other two on the sides. I also masked the top of the jar so the stems would not show through. The lid and the water in the jar were colored with alcohol markers and the jar was die cut using the die and adhered to the panel.  I used Hero Arts Bubble Gum and Soft Olive ink for flowers and stems. They are stamped directly on the card base, not popped up. The scalloped purple pattern paper and the white panels have die cut edges using Mama Elephant's "Basic Set." The sentiment is Staz On Black ink on a piece of vellum cut into a banner with Lawn Fawn Titled Banners.

 

Makeover Challenge

      Hero Arts challenged it's viewers to take an old card and redo it. When I looked back at some old cards, I realized how far I have come in a year. The cards I made a year ago were totally different than the cards I am making today! I have learned so much and discovered so many talented crafters online. The only drawback is that I am spending more time online learning from these card makers and finding it difficult to make time for crafting myself! LOL
      I would like to acknowledge some of these talented people:  Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner, Sandy Allnock, Catherine Pooler, Gina K Designs, Laurel Beard, Lauren Bassen, Kelly Rasmussen, Laura Sterckx, Patty Bennet. If you want to learn how to make cards, look them up!

This was a simple card I made over a year ago with some pattern paper and one embellishment. 

Below is the new card, totally new for the Hero Arts 

MAKEOVER CHALLENGE

This is the new card. I used the card base and the first layer of pink dry embossed cirlces. It was a Sixxix Large Polka Dot embossing folder. I stamped flowers on this using the circles as the centers of the flowers. They are from Hero Arts Color Layering "Happy Day Flower" and "Let Love Grow." I used a bit of Ranger Super Fine White embossing powder on the centers and set it with my heat gun. I cut, stamped, and embossed the tag using the black and white colors from the card. The sentiment is from Hero Arts "Happy Day Flowers."

Fishing You the Best!

Entering this card in Simon Says Stamp ...... Wednesday Challenge/

Ocean Scene on Water Color Paper

This top panel was made using blue water color applied to a wet piece of water color paper from Tim Holtz. The sentiment and stamped fish are from Gina K "Fishing You the Best;" the birds are from Inkadinkado "Sea Breeze;" the seaweed is actually a leaf design (but I forget which set !) and the starfish are from Lawn Fawn "So Jelly." They were die cut after stamping from white card stock and adhered to the panel. All images were stamped with Ranger Jet Black ink.

Three Step Flowers

Stamped cards using the MISTI tool!!  

Wednesday Challenge/

  

               

      

These cards were made using the MISTI tool and Altenew's stamp set "Vintage Flowers." I used a technique from Jennifer McGuire where you stamp with white pigment ink first, then stamp again with a die ink. As you can see,  I used four different color dye inks. "Vintage Flowers" is a three step stamp creating a more realistic looking flower.

The leaves were not done in green, so some realism is lost, but the overall look of the design is appealing. I used a gray color for the second step on the leaves for some of the cards. On the Sympathy card, I only stamped the leaves once because I loved the way they looked against the blue paper.

The sentiments were from three different sets:  Sizzix 658701 (You are Amazing and Thanks So Much;) Impression Obsession Thank You die cut; and Hero Arts "With Sympathy." For a final touch I used a corner punch from Martha Stewart on three cards; the gold card has white lines drawn with a white gel pen!

I put these together as a set and gave them to my daughter in law for her birthday. I made extras and kept a few for myself! Thanks for reading all my steps.
Wednesday Challenge/

If Friends were Flowers

Entered in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge/

         The layout of this card was inspired by Gina K from Stamp TV. I used her design with products of my choice. The decorated panel was adhered to a blue base and then both were placed on a white A7 card. For the stamping and die cutting I used Stampin' Up's "Flower Patch" and matching "Flower Flair" framelits. First, I stamped the flowers and leaves on the top and bottom portions of a white card stock panel cut to fit a A7 card. Then, I used a scoring tool to score lines just below and above these two sections. The center section of the panel was stamped with a sentiment from Lawn Fawn "Hello Friend" set.
          I'm sorry to say I don't recall the colors of the inks used, but they were die inks in light blue, gray, lavender, and light green. Three flowers and two sprigs of leaves were die cut and adhered to the center of the panel next to the greeting giving the card dimension. For a finishing touch, the centers of the blue flowers were stamped with white pigment ink and then heat embossed, and several of the smaller gray flowers have glossy accent centers. Here a close up of the center of the card.

Sweet Birthday

Entered in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

For this card I used an Inkadinkado Stamp set called "Birthday Cupcake" -  stamping three different cupcakes on white card stock with three different color inks, red, pink, blue. I mounted the panel on some blue card stock which was mounted onto the heart paper from Pebbles "Yours Truly" 6 x 6 pad and tied some red ribbon on top. The sentiment (from the same set) was stamped with red ink on a die cut heart from Spellbinders "Classic Heart." Turned out to be a colorful card!

Wishing

Entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesdaychallenge

and Seize the Birthday Challenge

Stamps:     Penny Black "Sweet & Cute"
                  Simon Says Stamp "Wishing" for sentiment and die cut
Ink:            Distress Ink blended on white card stock
                   Alcohol markers for coloring the images

Amazing in Pinks/Blacks

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Entering this card in Simon Says Stamp STAMP & PUNCH/DIE CUT challenge. I made this card for my amazing niece who had been through a traumatic few weeks with her 8 year old daughter at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. Below is the inside of the card.

Stamps:  Penny Black "Efflorescence"
Dies:   Gina K "Min Fanciful Flourish"
            Sizzix Alterations 660060

Celebrate with a Butterfly

Vellum Butterfly Purple and Silver Birthday card

I am entering this card in the Seize the Birthday challenge for early September. 

and Lawnscape's TEXTURE challenge

The butterfly comes from Stampin' Up "Watercolor Wings." It's a three step stamp and the colors turned out wonderful although there is a vellum butterfly on top of the purple one so it's hard to see. The card stock has polka dots, both the lavender AND the solid purple. Some silver was used for the ribbon and the greeting for added detail.

Birthday Wishes Card

The Ellen Hutson (wonderful crafting online store) challenge was REALLY a challenge for me because I only recently discovered the terrific stamps/dies from Essentials by Ellen, and I don't have that many!! I love to watch Julie Ebersole's videos and recently discovered Julie designs some of the Essentials by Ellen products! Luckily I have loads of Obsession Impression dies ... so I rooted around my supplies and put this together for the challenge....Then I discovered a new blog and challege for birthday cards so I entered the card there, too. 

Mix It Up Challenge

Seize the Birthday Challenge

I decided to use black card stock on Neenah Solar White, stamped with black, pink and green. The hollyhocks from Obsession Impression on the left panel were stamped with Hero Arts light pink ink and die cut from pink card stock. I created the flower design on the bottom panel using Essentials by Ellen "Bohemian Garden" flowers and leaves. I used some Hero Arts ink, Bubble Gum and Green Hills, and My Favorite Things Black Licorice. A few extra hollyhocks were used on the bottom panel to tie the flowers together. A butterfly fills in the space on right; it's embossed with one of my glittery powders (sorry, but I forget which!) Here's a close up:

Here's the inside of this card: 

I like the color combination- pulled it together with two pieces of ribbon from my ribbon drawer. Oh, and I added several pink dimensional circles! SO that's my entry for the Mix It Up Challenge!

Thank You Square Card

Entering this card in Mix It Up Challenge sponsored by Ellen Hutson
September Mix it Up

Obsession Impression die "Thank You" was adhered to two Spellbinder Nestability Scalloped Circles. Essentials by Ellen's "Bold Blossom" designer die flower was cut in light blue paper and backed by darker blue card stock, then popped up with fun foam. Two three dimensional leaves surround the bold blossom. All appear on striped pattern paper embellished with blue polka dot ribbon/bow!

Happy Thanksgiving Wreath

       I know it's early, but I've gotten a head start on Thanksgiving! Blame the die - beautiful MY FAVORITE THINGS Die-Namics "Autumn Wreath."  Once I purchased it, I couldn't wait to try it. The wreath is cut out of Neenah Solar White 110 lb card stock and colored with several alcohol makers, blended together, then covered in Wink of Stella Clear Glitter.

Entered in the My Favorite Things Sketch challenge 245

and

Simon Says Stamp Stamp and Punch/Die cut Challenge

The wreath was adhered to another piece of Neenah white cut into a circle and an orange square of card stock; then punched on the corners with a Martha Stewart punch. The central image was stamped using a wooden stamp  of a large pumpkin and Lawn Fawn's "So Thankful" two smaller pumpkins. All were colored with alcohol markers and the largest pumpkin was embossed with Ranger orange. The sentiment is a Hero Arts wooden stamp, "Happy Thanksgiving" highlighted with a bit of marker. Here is a close up of the central image:

Thanks for reading my blog!

Gold and Gray Masculine Card

This masculine card has no sentiment. Write your own note inside. Entering in My Favorite Things Challenge #245

A Hero Arts stencil added to the gold card stock with Versa Mark ink for a tone on tone look. Squares of pattern patter and gray card stock were trimmed to form the tear drop shapes and arranged in the center of the gold panel. I used a Fisker corner punch to add detail to the corners and the gray panel shows through these designs. In the center I added an Obsession Impression die cut of a button and tied some heavy string in a bunch. Three silver sequins finish the card.

"Wonderful Butterfly" card

I'm highlighting a card I made a week or so ago.
It fits into the My Favorite Things Challenge #245  perfectly.

The central image is from Stampin' Up "Watercolor Wings." It's a three step stamp and the colors turned out wonderful. I used Ranger Jet Black, My Favorite Things Tropical Teal, and Color box pigment blue which is slightly embossed. The "Honey Blossom" sprig is from Memory Box. I cut it from Hero Arts Cerulean paper and inlaid it in the card. Yes, that took me a while to figure out AND three attemps!! Here is a close up:

The aqua glitter paper, which matches the cerulean paper, comes from DCWV Glitzy Glitter 6 X 6 pad. I used a Martha Stewart border punchfor the butterflies across the top of the black border. Lastly, the sentiment is My Favorite Things "Simply Fab Sayings."

Hummingbirds

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stamp & Punch/Die Cuts MondayChallenge

Two hummingbird cards - which do you prefer? I made this card for a neighbor. My original idea was to use black ink for the flowers and just have the hummingbird colored. However, I stamped an extra hummer (colored them with alcohol markers) so I made two cards! The colorful background was achieved with water color paper and Distress Inks; then I stamped the flower images with Jet Black Archival Ink.

Hooray Shaker Card

Entered in Lawnscape Challenge "TEXTURE" at  http://lawnscaping.blogspot.com/
This shaker card was created with a die cut from Clearly Besotted. I had colored some water color paper with Distress Inks, popped it up for the shaker card, and added ribbon.

Shower card

Love this shower card! Embossed sleek white card stock and punched corners with Martha Stewart punch. Water colored my own "pink" paper and die cut the umbrella by using a borders die from Spellbinders, cutting the top of the umbrella myself freehand. "Wishing" is from Simon Says Stamp.