Simplicity

This image was given to me by a very kind friend recently, and I thought it would be a good candidate for paper piecing. I used solid cardstocks for everything but the magnolia flower and the background. The flower is made up of an old scrap of Anna Griffin tone-on-tone ivory printed paper, and the background is a mottled blue from the Dollar Tree. I thought the Simplicity sentiment went nicely with the image.

Supplies: Martha Stewart cardinal stamp, Hero Arts CL156 Treasure the Moments, red, green ivory, kraft cardstocks, yellow Prismacolor pencil for flower center, black fine-tip marker for coloring in bird's legs

Dancing Butterflies

When I saw the challenge on Moxie Fab World's blog was paper-piecing, I mentally chose these butterflies. Then I saw Barbara's card using polka-dotted clouds, and I knew I wanted to add that idea to the mix, too.
I chose mostly dotted papers, with a stripe and a gingham, too.

supplies: Hero Arts S5215 Clouds, CG130 Butterflies, CL184 Thoughtful Messages, MX115 Designer Butterflies (butterfly trails), white cardstock, Recollections pastel pearls, black wire for antennae, VersaFine Onyx Black and Adirondack Stonewashed inks

Embellish Stitching Challenge

The Embellish challenge this time is to use kraft, light aqua, light pink, and stitching. Ooops! No sewing machine here in Florida with me, so mine is the faux kind, and I added a button and some embroidery floss to add to the stitched theme.

Supplies: Hero Arts CG123 Flower Wallpaper and CL380 Truly Appreciated, BoBunny dotted pink cardstock, kraft and aqua cardstocks, Prismacolor pencils, pink button and embroidery floss

Spring Blossoms

Got some new stamps today, and I've been playing a bit. The bottom half is stamped in clear ink and embossed with pale pink embossing powder on vellum. The top is tattered rose Distress ink on peachy-pink cardstock. The blossom images were sent to me by Judy; I colored them to match and cut them out.

Also entering this into the Caardvark's Challenge, to use lace. Mine isn't real, but I hope it still qualifies!

Supplies: Hero Arts S5341 Lace Background, CL380 Truly Appreciated, unknown flower stamp

Spring Pastels

Just sharing a card I made while playing today.

Supplies: CL401 Speckled Ornaments, AR137 Script Messages, Shadow inks: soft pool, soft lilac, soft blossom, soft apricot, Distress inks: tattered rose, scattered straw, shabby shutters, white cardstock

Jane's rose

Earlier this year Jane sent me a lovely selection of her handmade buttons, including some of these beautiful tiny roses. I have been hoarding them ever since, waiting for just the right project. I made one of these popular scalloped circle flowers using music paper, and I thought her rose looked perfect at its center.

Supplies: CG128 Three Flowers (for flower stem and leaves), CG102 Antique Brocade, CL371 Essential Messages

Happy Birthday, Deborah!!

Today is Deborah Nolan's birthday! This is the card I made for her. Happy Birthday, Deborah!

Supplies: Hero Arts K5370 GardenSilhouette, CL158 Cupcakes

Play Date Cafe challenge

At this week's Play Date Cafe the challenge colors are medium pink, pale pink, and pale yellow. Here are my cards; both are paper-pieced.

This one uses Jane's lovely digital daffodil
Supplies: Jane's digital jonquil, Hero Arts CL307 SparkleClear Mini Messages, Bobunny dotted pink paper, yellow embossed cardstock, pink, yellow, green cardstocks

And for this one, I used my new cling stamp that I won on Kathy's blog recently.
Supplies: Hero Arts CG128 Three Flowers, S5213 Dots and Flowers, S5101 Raindrop Background, CL307 SparkleClear Mini Messages, yellow, pink, parchment pink cardstock, striped pink paper, tattered rose distress ink, flower button

Lilac and Lemon

For the Lilac and Lemon challenge at Papertake. I paperpieced the bouquet and vase, using various printed papers, distressing the edges a bit with scattered straw.
Supplies: Hero Arts stamps CG104 Bouquet in a Vase, CL307 Mini Messages

And here's my second attempt. This is a fun color combination, one I'll be using more often! I tried photographing this in all kinds of light, but the lilac is coming out periwinkle. I wonder why? Have never noticed this problem before.Supplies: Hero Arts stamps CG130 Butterflies, AR130 Handwritten Sentiments, S5213 Dots and Flourishes, yellow cardstock, various printed papers to piece the butterflies, black wire for antennae

Egg-stravaganza!

Just some Easter silliness.......hope this makes you smile.

Supplies: Hero Arts CL338 Be Yourself, B3864 Happy Spring, white and green cardstock, various colored papers and cardstock for eggs, Prismacolor pencils for accents

My case of Jill's card

Jill did a card today on her blog and it really touched me, so I had to have a go of it. I kept her same elements, music and bluebirds and even her sentiment, and used what I have on hand here. Thanks for your wonderful inspiration, Jill!

Supplies: All Hero Arts CG152 Two Birds, CG122 Branch Background, CL309 Whoo Loves You (branch), CL298 Scattered Leaves, CL371 Essential Messages, digital music, Prismacolor pencils on birds, Adirondack lettuce for leaf background, blue and white cardstock

Pastel rainbow

I stamped the Heart Flourish on 5 different pastel cardstocks, darkening the hearts with Prismacolor pencils, then cut the pieces up and reassembled them using a panel of each color. These digital Hero Arts "Flutterbies" were resized and colored using the same pencils.

Supplies: CG169 Heart Flourish, CL272 All Occasion Messages, Digital Flutterbies

More heart flowers

I love the colors in the Embellish Magazine color challenge: pink, peach, yellow and green. The main flower image is made of punched scalloped hearts, folded in half and glued down to a circular backing, centered with a crocheted flower from my friend Carol, and a gold pearl. Thanks to the note below from Barbara, I didn't miss the deadline for this challenge!

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps D5204 To Be So Nice, S5101 Raindrop Background, CG148 Blossoms (leaves -stamped on back side), Martha Steward pansy punch

FINALLY!!! A day at the beach

After being here almost 2 months, we finally got to spend our first day at the beach! Just thought I'd share some pictures from today and send along some sunshine to those of you who are craving it.
Always fun to see the natives.

Today we went to the beach at Boca Grande; this is the old lighthouse there.

We are along the Gulf Coast, south of Sarasota and north of Fort Myers, and the beaches have thousands of tiny shells like these, so it's really fun to walk and look for treasures.

This is Denny, fishing from shore......no bites today, but that didn't matter. We enjoyed the warmth, the sun and the beautiful water.

Tuesday Trigger

Here is the classy inspiration for this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger. When I look at this picture I think "elegant". Love the toile and the beautiful curved lines of the chairs. Here is my card: I love this soft sage green, and used a shadow ink to stamp a soft brocade background and switched up the checks in the inspiration picture to stripes, adding pearls and rounding all the corners. I learned to make this flower from Jackie; it is composed of punched hearts folded in half.

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps S5264 Antique Flower Background, CG148 Blossoms (leaves), AR130 Handwritten Sentiments, Bazzill dotted green paper, ivory and green cardstock, unknown striped printed paper, Hero Arts Shadow soft leaf and shabby shutters distress inks, cream Art Flower, green pearls

Sunshine flowers

Just sharing a card based on yesterday's cover of our church bulletin. To see my inspiration piece and a description of how I made this, see my photostream at flickr.

Blue Hollyhocks and hummingbird

I loved Kiara's idea of stamping this image on text, and I wanted to try it, too. I found an old schoolbook in French, and used a page of that to stamp on. The large blue panel is a paint chip.

Supplies: K5370 Garden Silhouette, CL383 Antique Engravings (hummingbird), CL272 All Occasion Messages, Adirondack Stonewash and Vintage Photo Distress Inks

Hollyhocks

I love these flowers, but haven't had much luck with them in our gardens. On all 3 versions here, this new Hero Arts silhouette image was stamped, embossed with white, and then colored in with Distress inks and a few touches of markers. The background paper on this first one is from the Dollar Tree when they used to carry scrapbook papers.
Supplies: K5370 Garden Silhouette, CL173 Simple Messages, Distress inks: worn lipstick, shabby shutters, mustard seed and scattered straw

I'm entering this one into the "Just Because" challenge at Paper Play Challenges. This version was stamped on a light pink polished stone background sent to me by my friend Carol, then the leaves were colored with shabby shutters and the little flowers were darkened a bit with a pink marker. The sentiment is from an Inkadinkado set that my sista Cathy sent to me, and the little flower button comes from Kath in Scotland.

And this lavender version was stamped on a small lavender plaid printed paper, also from Carol - if you look closely you can see it showing through the leaves. Again, I added accents with distress inks and markers.

Spring scene

Another entry for Hero Arts spring challenge for March.

Supplies: D5234 Young Deer, D4925 Sweet Bird, CL309 Whooo Loves You (branches), CL307 SparkleClear Mini Messages, BoBunny dotted papers for backgrounds, Distress inks for edging, Prismacolor pencils, heart punch, Nestabilities Labels 1

Another spring card

For the March challenge at the Hero Arts blog. For details and supplies, see my Flickr photostream.

Spring IS coming......

......and soon we'll all be complaining about the heat. :)
The theme for March at the Hero Arts Blog is Spring and Easter. I love pastels, and here's my chance to use them again! See my Flickr photostream for supplies.