For a friend......

This was made for a friend going through a rough patch.

supplies: white and green cardstock, dps from Doodlebug Sunkissed and My Favorite Things Farm Fresh Gingham paper pads, Taylored Expressions Uplifting watercolor panel, Spectrum Aqua Floral markers, water,  and tumbled glass distress ink, Winnie & Walter Audrey's Cutaways

Gorgeous day here, is spring on the way?  I did some decorating for it today - took down the snowmen and substituted some cute bunnies, seed packets, etc.  Didn't go quite all the way spring when I changed my blog header today, though......it's kind of a transitional one for this time of year, where we can have spring one day and snow flurries the next!  How's the weather in your neck of the woods?

Just sharing......

It's been pretty quiet around here the last week; we've been at my Mom's.  I thought I'd fill the void with a share of some cards I sent awhile back for the Lasting Hearts Card Drive.

I decided to make a series of cards in pinks and blues, using the same ingredients, just changing up the colors and embellishments, and keeping them as flat as I could.  Here are a few of them.

supplies: The Ton Rose Terrace Background, Hero Arts Bubble Gum ink, Winnie & Walter Audrey's Cutaways scalloped die, Hero Arts Prayers die and stamp set

I used the same supplies as above, but colored the big background stamp first with watercolor markers (Tombow/Memento) before stamping.

Same supplies again, only I stamped the background using Simon's White pigment ink on Hero Arts Carnation layering paper, and added some Altenew Painted Flowers embossed in white on vellum, coloring only the leaves from behind.

I also wanted to send a warm welcome to my newest follower, Kimberley.  Thank you!

Thanks for visiting today; I hope I'll be back in the swing of things again soon.  In the meantime, I plan to get outside and enjoy the close-to-60-degree temps we're supposed to have today!  

Simon Says.......Anything Goes!

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another challenge over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

It's Anything Goes week!  The team were generously gifted with some Memory Box products for this challenge, and that's what we'll all be highlighting today, but you can use any product and any theme you'd like!

Here's my card using a stamp set and coordinating die set that I received:

supplies: white and Audrey Blue cardstock, red dotty dp, Poppy Stamps Cup of Cheer stamp set and matching dies, colored pencils and tumbled glass distress ink, white embossing powder and VersaMark ink, Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins, tiny heart punch, Spellbinder's Circle die

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  We have another $50.00 gift voucher

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!

Don't forget, you can enter our challenge using your Instagram account, too!   Just add #ssswchallenge to your entry uploads.   And don't forget to follow us HERE.

A birthday card

for my husband!  I decided I wanted to do a masculine version of this plaid, and since he's been taking such good care of our birds outside this winter, I chose a sweet bird as the centerpiece.  After stamping it and coloring it in, I pulled the same colors out to make my plaid background.

supplies: white and dark wine cardstock, Winnie & Walter Stripes set to make my plaid, Hero Arts StoneWash, Teddy Bear brown, and Wplus9 Crushed Cranberry inks, Inkadinkado Bird Stamp, markers to color, Hero Arts sentiment from a discontinued Sparkle Clear Messages set, Simon's Stitched Rectangles

The spongings around the stamped image weren't originally planned, but when I colored in my berries, and then later picked up that panel, they smudged, so I added more smudging with some distress inks.

Thanks for stopping by!

So Happy for You!

Here's a card I made for Winnie & Walter's 2nd Birthday Celebration,  And it fits in 2 of the challenges: Mayuri's Inlaid Die Cutting challenge, and stretching it a bit, Vanessa's Rainbow challenge.

supplies: white cardstock, dps from Lawn Fawn and Doodlebug, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Happy die, and rest of sentiment from their Big, Bold Happy stamp set, PTI Beautiful Blooms II #1 die set, Essentials by Ellen Bold Blossoms (leaves), Sizzix Flowers embossing folder, Simon's Stitched Rectangles die

I started with a panel of cardstock sized to the front of my card, and die-cut the Stitched Rectangle from it. Then I inserted it back in place, and positioned and die-cut the large flower and the Happy sentiment.  I removed all the diecuts and embossed what was left (the frame) in an embossing folder, then reinserted everything back together, minus the flower and Happy sentiment.  Those were cut again using patterned papers, then inlaid into the card front.  The leaves (which are also inlaid die-cuts) were tucked under the flower before gluing it in place.  I built up my flower with 2 smaller layers, centered with a brad and popped above the surface, and then stamped and added the remainder of the little words for my sentiment.  

I set out to make this just a happy colorful card with lots of pattern, but then realized that it might qualify for the Rainbow challenge; I have red, orange, green, blue, and violet, and got my yellow in with that brad!

Simon's Card Kit for March

The new Simon Says Stamp Card Kit was revealed earlier this month, and it is adorable!  I love the stamp set and the gorgeous papers - they are truly all about spring!  Here's the first card I made using the supplies in the kit:

supplies: white cardstock, Simon's My Kind of Peep stamp set and dies, Echo Park Spring papers and Simon's Sunshine Mix sequins, all from kit, also Memory Box Pinpoint Rectangle Layers dies, acetate, and foam tape to make shaker element, and a few Simon flower sequins

I love those teensy bunny stamps and die, perfect to make fun shakers like this!  There are actually 3 sizes of bunnies, both solid and outline, all with matching dies!

I could not resist watercoloring this panel, one of 2 by Suzy Plantamura that are also in this kit:

supplies: white cardstock, watercolor panel in kit, Spectrum Aqua watercolor markers, water, tumbled glass distress ink and finger dauber for "sky", Doodlebug twine bow, DieNamics Blueprints 20 scalloped die

And the bonus in this kit is a random Tim Holtz Distress crayon!  I got one in Mermaid Lagoon!  As always, don't wait too long to order this kit if it's calling your name!

Lavender Blue

I wanted to make a card for a friend of my sil who had some lovely things to say about the cards I send to my sil.  I was told she likes purples and lavenders.  Here's the card that I made for her:

supplies: white and black cardstock, Altenew Beautiful Day stamp set, Brilliance Pearlescent Lavender, Simon's Hydrangea, and MFT Lavender Fields, Hero Arts Green Hills and Grass inks, shaded lilac distress ink and marker, Hero Arts Old Letter Writing stamp, Winnie & Walter's Big, Bold & Happy cutaway

I stamped, inked and fussy-cut my flowers and sprigs, and then glued them to my card, which had been overstamped with the script partially wiped away first.  The card was also sponged lightly with the same shaded lilac distress ink.

Too much of a good thing?  Hope she likes it?  Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

Two MFT Challenges

It's about time I made a card using My Favorite Things  Beautiful Blooms.  When I saw this week's MFT Sketch challenge, it gave me a place to start.

supplies: Beautiful Blooms stamps and dies, dps from MFT's Farm Fresh Gingham  and Tranquil Textures paper pads

Here's the sketch:

And while I was at it, I checked the colors at MFT's Color Challenge, and decided to make a Christmas card using them!

Supplies: red, grey, and white cardstock, dps from Lawn Fawn and BoBunny, My Favorite Things Santa's Elves stamp set, Spectrum Noir markers to color, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Merry cutaway, Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes die, circle die, Pretty Pink Posh Sweet Pea sequins

These are our colors:

Thanks for coming by!

Coral, Lime and Aqua

.......are the colors that Heather has chosen for her color challenge at Winnie & Walter, celebrating their 2nd birthday.  I thought these colors would be pretty in a plaid - here's my entry:

supplies: white and coral cardstock, Winnie & Walter Stripes stamp set, Simon's Teeny Bikini, JellyBean, Audrey Blue, and White inks, W&W Big, Bold Friends cutaway, Audrey's Cutaways (scalloped panel and line of hearts), PTI flower die, green button

I used a large, medium, and small stripe to stamp my pattern, then overstamped across the widest stripes with a stitch stamp in white ink.  I trimmed out my panel and cut out a tiny line of hearts under the sentiment to kind of underscore it - you have to look hard to see it, though.  That flower has been sitting on my work surface for awhile, and the colors worked perfectly, so it got popped on for some dimension.

I highly recommend this Stripes set - it really has everything you need to make your own custom plaid!

Thanks for coming by!  Also, many thanks to my newest followers, Lady Editor and Sue! 

Simon's New Release: Reason to Smile!

Today is the day that Simon's newest release, Reason to Smile, is being unveiled!  I was sent a set of 2 dies, called Churches, and here is my card using one of them:

supplies: white, blue, and green cardstock, Simon Says Stamp Churches die, chipped sapphire, blueprint sketch, and blue jeans distress inks, VersaMark ink and silver super fine detail embossing powder

The night sky is a blend of 3 distress inks.  I'm not sure that a winter scene was what the designer of this die had in mind, but its simple design reminded me of the first performance of the beloved carol Silent Night in Austria on Christmas Eve, 1818.  I pulled in supplies from my own collection to complete this little scene of a church in the woods,

I can't wait to see what others are doing with this!  Be sure to visit Simon Says Stamp store today to see all the other new things being released!

Simon Says.......Shake it Up!

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

This week our theme is "Shake it Up!" and my teamies and I are playing with products from We R Memory Keepers.  I chose a set of ephemera from their Hello Darling collection and made 2 shaker cards.

supplies: white cardstock, dps from my stash, DieNamics InstaFrame die, acetate, Hello Darling ephemera, a mix of sequins to match (includes Pretty Pink Posh Enchanted Garden), green enamel dots

My next card is much flatter: I sewed around 3 sides of a folded vellum piece, inserted my sequins, then closed up the top of the shaker with more stitching.

supplies: white cardstock, pink gingham dp, Simon's Stitched Rectangle die, rose ephemera from Hello Darling, vellum, pink, silver, white, and gold sequins, Simon's small love you die, Doodlebug heart sprinkle

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!

Merry Monday

I was so pleased to see our challenge at Merry Monday this week, because I could break out this new stamp set that I won recently and give it its maiden voyage!  The theme this week is "berries"!

supplies: white cardstock, red plank dp (Simple Stories, I think, from a Simon Card Kit earlier this year), Stampin' Up Wondrous Wreath, Simon Jelly Bean, Hero Arts Forever Green and Red Royal inks, VersaFine Onyx Black ink

This makes me think of a wreath on an old red barn!

Zinnias!

My friend Carol and I got together last week, and she shared these stamped flower images with me.  With snow flying here soon after, they were begging to be used, and so I made a card for 2 challenges celebrating Winnie & Walter's 2nd Birthday Bash.

supplies: white, black, and Green Apple cardstock, Stampendous Zinnia, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, Spectrum Aqua and Zig Clean Color markers, water, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Happy cutaway and The Big, the Bold and the Happy stamp set

Doesn't this remind you of a seed packet?  My photo doesn't show it very well, but the yellow flower is stamped on the white panel, the orange one is secured only in the center, and I popped the pink one up.  

This works for Kelly's Over the Edge Challenge, and also for Lydia's Floral Challenge.

And another new follower!  Welcome, Gretta - so pleased that you stopped by!

....and one last PTI challenge!

Today's challenge at Papertrey Ink is a fun one - they have given us a Paper Crafting Alphabet, and we're to choose at least 3 letters from our (first or last) name, and take those requirements and make a card!

I chose L: Lean your sentiment at an angle

             I:   Use an Impression plate/some kind of dry embossing (Sizzix Dots)

            N: Try a New product that you haven't used yet (Simon's Hello You stamp set)

My Papertrey product is their Simple Sunflower stamp set.  To make my card, I masked off the sentiment area on an angle, then stamped my sunflowers on the top and bottom of my panel, using Ranger Lemon Twist, Simon JellyBean, and VersaFine Onyx Black inks.  I also did my dry embossing selectively, avoiding that center strip.  The panel was then attached to a black card, and I added some black strips along the sentiment strip before stamping my unused "Hey" and cutting and attaching the Sunshine die.  

Thanks for coming by on this frigid Valentine's Day - hope by now you are nice and cozy!  And  Happy 9th Birthday, Papertrey Ink - your celebrations all week have been lots of fun!

Heart of Roses

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!  Hope you get to spend  your day with someone special, be it your honey, your kids, or a good friend!

It took me awhile to get this Heart of Roses die......it sold out several times before I was able to get it into my shopping cart!  For today's first card, I cut it out of carnation, green apple, and white, and then pieced the roses and leaves back into the frame.

supplies: white, Green Apple, and Hero Arts Carnation cardstock, dp from Simple Stories wood plank, Simon's Heart of Roses and Painted Hugs dies

And I decided to go bright and channel my inner Donna Mikasa for my next card:

supplies: white and black cardstock, picked raspberry, carved pumpkin, and mustard seed distress inks, mini blending tools, Simon's Heart of Roses die and sentiment from Lila's Heart, Cuttlebug Cross My Heart embossing folder, gold sequins

Thanks for stopping by!

For Valentine's or not

Earlier this month, our hostess Betty gave us a fun 90-minute Scramble at the Hero Arts Flickr site.  We were to make a Love card (not necessarily for Valentine's Day, but maybe for an anniversary or wedding), using the sweet photo inspiration she posted.  Here was my entry:

supplies: white and kraft cardstock, smooshed spun sugar distress ink, discontinued Memory Box Grapevine Wreath die, (but this adorable Simon Chisolm Wreath set is almost identical, with some fun extras included), Simon's String of Hearts and Stitched Rectangle dies, Doodlebug Cupcake twine, Hero Arts sentiment from Find Joy and tiny stamped hearts from their Hello Stamp & Cut set

Here was the inspiration photo:

This also works for the challenge at The Die Cut Divas.

It's the weekend again already!  Time flies when you're retired!

Color Recipe challenge

I have very limited PTI products, but will never tire of coloring these lovely spring tulips from Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar Spring Fillers.  So this time I did them using Ashley's Color Recipe:

Here's my card using the above colors:

supplies: Audrey Blue cardstock, watercolor paper, Friendship Jar Spring Filler Tulips, lots of water-based markers, water, Wink of Stella, Friendship Jar, blue vellum, Simon's Medium Dots stencil, tumbled glass distress ink, blue gingham ribbon

Thanks once again for stopping by!

For 4 challenges!

supplies: white and Bazzil Candy Necklace cardstock, watercolor paper, Taylored Expressions Leafy Vine embossing folder, salty ocean and lucky clover distress inks, water, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Hello and Audrey's Cutaways, Happiest of Holidays (bird), Big, Bold Friends stamps

I inked the embossing folder with distress inks, spritzed with water, and pressed gently to "stamp" the image.  That was trimmed using an Audrey's Cutaways scalloped frame, and then I decided to run it through the same embossing folder, to bring out some of the smaller details.

The cardinals always look so brilliant against the white snow at this time of year - so glad I have this little guy to play with, for now, and for the rest of the year, too!

This works for 4 challenges: Winnie & Walter's Create Your Own Background with Gayatri and the Two Challenge with Shay (I used 2 stamp sets), the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch, and I got the idea for this background after seeing the Happy Little Stampers challenge: Embossing Folder Stamping.

Welcome Spring

I loved the new releases earlier this week at PTI, in particular, the new Tulip Time stamps and dies shown to us on Wednesday.  So I pulled out one of my favorite PTI stamps from their Spring Jar fillers, and made a card.  I was inspired by Dawn to color them in shades of aqua, after seeing her coloring her peonies that way.

PTI is also introducing new stencils this time around, so I added a stencilled background to my bouquet.  My card is for the Create Along with Us challenge, and it also works for one of Winnie &Walter's Birthday challenges: Lydia's Floral Challenge.

supplies: white, back, and Surf Blue cardstock, PTI Friendship Jar Spring Fillers, Spectrum Noir Turquoise and Green markers and colored pencils, Hero Arts Tweed Pattern stencil, tumbled glass distress ink, Winnie & Walter Big Bold Seasons die and stamp sentiment, Pretty Pink Posh Share Handmade Kindness Sequins Mix

Thanks for stopping by!

A Grid Card

Papertrey Ink has an interesting challenge going this week in celebration of their 9th birthday.  We are to feature nine 1 1/2'" squares mounted onto a 5 1/2" square card base.  They'd like each of the squares to be altered in a different way.  Here's my entry:

supplies: white cardstock, 3 different Flower Fusion sets, sentiment from their Garden Variety set, and a Cloud die, tumbled glass and twisted citron distress inks for background, coral, yellow, orange, and green inks for flowers and stems, buttons

You should check out the gallery for some very innovative ideas for this challenge!

Spring Blessings

First I want to give a warm welcome to my newest follower, Rina!  During this time of Blogger's ruthless cutting away of our followers, it is wonderful to see a new face!  Thank you, Rina!

Here's a card I made as part of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge that Kathy is running all this month, and it also works for the current challenge at Power Poppy, to use a medium we don't often use.  We recently had a day here in NE Ohio with temps in the 60's!  That is unheard of for this time of year!  Maybe Punxatawney Phil will be right this year!!  I celebrated by pulling out this old 1995 stamp from PSX and coloring it with colored pencils, which I haven't used in a long time:

supplies: white cardstock, dps from BoBunny Soft Shades Double Dots pad, PSX untitled stamp, Spectrum Noir colored pencils and tumbled glass distress ink for background, Simon Christmas Blessings die, Spellbinder's Labels Eighteen die

Because this image is so large, I previewed several die-cut sentiments for it.  I chose this one because it is relatively delicate and doesn't cover up my work!