Garden Party

 Wendy Vecchi has a gorgeous release today at Spellbinders, called From the Garden!  You'll be seeing lots of cards using these products, as I had to have the entire collection!  Here's my first card, using 3 of the sets in Wendy's collection.

supplies: white and coral cardstock, Garden Party stamp, die, and stencil bundle, Tea Party, Deep Blue Seas, Lime, and Mango Smoothie ink cubes, blender brushes, Heartfelt Thanks and Scallops dies, Tammy Tutterow (retired) Happy Grams #4 sentiment and die

I am all over anything that is a stamp and has matching stencils to color it!  This Garden Party set fit the bill beautifully!  And I am so impressed with the mix of dies in Wendy's Heartfelt Thanks and Scallops set - it has 3 nesting scalloped rectangles, which I know I will use over and over, plus a set of 5 nesting heart dies, small to medium sized, and a word and shadow die.  

I can't wait to try all kinds of colors on this gorgeous arrangement!  

Stay tuned for more from this beautiful collection!

Simon Says......Things with Wings

 

Welcome to the new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!

This week the theme is "Things with Wings"!  The team is featuring Honey Bee Stamps products.  You don't have to use this brand to play along, but if you have any of their products that would work, we'd love to see them!

supplies: white, green, kraft, and Cotton Candy cardstock, Honey Bee Lovely Layers Coneflower dies, Simon You Shine butterfly and Friendly Flowers sentiment stamps, markers to color

I used markers to shade my pink cardstock for the flower, and the same markers to color my stamped butterfly.

Now it's your turn!  We have a $25.00 gift certificate 

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

Blooms Turnabout

Happy March!

Playing with my favorite Turnabout set, and I made 3 cards with it today!  

I needed some sunshine, so first I went with some happy warm colors. 

supplies: white, yellow, orange, and Green Leaf cardstock, Concord & 9th Blooms Turnabout set, flower die from (retired) Everyday Bouquet turnabout tool kit,  Altenew mini inks, MFT? Hello die, Hero Arts Nesting Rectangle dies 

This Turnabout set has 2 stamps, one for the flowers, and another for the leaves.  I stamped the background panel, then used a rectangle die to cut out a panel from the center.  That was matted with a 2nd rectangle in green, then put back in place, attached to my card front, and then I just added some die-cut flowers and a sentiment.

When I get out my turnabout supplies, I usually try to make a couple cards at one time, so here's another colorway.  This time I started by stamping on a colored cardstock, Hero Arts old Carnation layering paper.

supplies: white and Carnation cardstock, Concord & 9th Blooms Turnabout stamps, Altenew Tea Party and Green Valley inks, Simon Thinking of You Line die, Doodlebug heart sprinkle

This one is a much simpler design.  I cut my stamped panel and framed it with lots of clean space.  I cut the script portion of the sentiment from the same Carnation paper.  I like the mixed font of this die!

And a final one, using the same inks as above, but on white cardstock.  I really like that the stamps and this die play together so nicely size-wise!

supplies: white and Hero Arts Punch layering paper, Concord & 9th Blooms Turnabout, Altenew Tea Party and Green Valley inks, Simon's Thinking of You Line die, Hero Arts Nesting Rectangles die

This time I trimmed the floral panel to a smaller rectangle, then moved the sentiment up a bit.

Hope your week is off to a great one! 

A Christmas set from The Greetery

The Greetery had a Christmas release recently, and I couldn't live without the new With Love at Christmas stamps.

supplies: white and coral card, The Greetery With Love at Christmas stamps, Altenew mini inks from Spring Bouquet greens and Tea Party, sentiment from a (retired) The Craft's Meow Holiday Poinsettia, Spellbinders Hemstitch Oval die, adhesive foam to lift up flowers

I thought I'd make the floral spray dimensional, so I stamped the greens separately and cut them out, then the flowers, then raised the flowers above the greenery.   I also made myself a smaller floral spray using some of the extra stamps included in the set.

Betsy has a true gift in giving us these lovely layering stamps - keep them coming, please!

Sending Hugs

Here's a card that uses dies almost exclusively and a mix of different companies.

supplies: white, Cotton Candy, 4 peach to coral tones, Green Apple, and Green Leaf cardstock, Altenew Rose Flurries dies,  framing dies from MFT and PTI, Simon Sketched Flowers sentiment

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

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

Happy Wednesday!  Welcome to another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

Our theme is Anything Goes, and the team and I are showcasing Tim Holtz products.  

supplies: white, black, robin's egg, kraft, pinks, yellows, and light orange card, Tim Holtz Sizzix Funky Florals 1 dies, Simon's Four Seasons and Chisolm Wreath dies

These Funky Florals are really fun to play with - the flower shapes are pleasing, with lots of ways to mix and match them, and there are plenty of leaves to go along with them.  Here's a 2nd card using a hydrangea type flower and a leaf from the set and the color of the year.

supplies: cream, white, and 3 coral card stocks, Tim Holtz Sizzix Funky Florals, Simon's Love and Friendship sentiment, Doodlebug Tiny Hearts sprinkles, Lawn Fawn Quilted Backdrop cover die, trimmed, retired MFT Blueprints 20 (stitched banner) and Spring Wreath bow dies, glue dots

I'm sold on Tim's Funky dies - the Funky Foliage set is next on my wishlist!

Now it's your turn!  We have a $50.00 gift certificate 

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

Something New

I loved so much of the recent Sunny Studio release, and treated myself to a lovely new layered stamping flower set and a sweet embossing folder.  Here's my first play with them.

supplies: black, white, and yellow/gold card, Sunny Studio Everything's Rosy stamp set and Quilted Hearts embossing folder, Altenew Pocketful of Sunshine mini inks and Warm Sunshine ink, sentiment from Simon's Handwritten Sentiments

You know my love of yellow roses, so I had to try this color first.  Maybe not a good decision, as the yellow inks I chose to use were so light that it was hard to see where to line up the flower stamps.  So I tried them again using a set of coordinating inks called Tea Party, and then found some papers to match.

supplies: Bristol paper, black and white card, dps from Bo Bunny's Early Bird collection and MFT Sorbet Dots & Stripes paper pads, Sunny Studio Everything's Rosy stamps, Altenew Tea Party and Green Meadows mini ink cubes, sentiment from Hero Arts Celebrate Everyday, Sunny Studio Fancy Frames Circle dies, adhesive foam squares to pop up main feature

As with all things in life, it gets easier to stamp these each time you do it.  

Hope you're enjoying your day off here in the states!

Layered Roses

Here's a card using Altenew's Layered Rose dies - these are fun and easy to layer!  Since they are nice and big, I paired them with a large sentiment die, too.

supplies: white, black, Green Apple, Green Leaf, and 3 shades of coral card, Altenew Layered Rose dies, Hero Arts Love Stamp & Cut set, Winnnie & Walter Big Bold Friends, Wplus9 Lattice Frame Die

Not much explanation needed here.  Both the flower and leaves have an outline die in this set - I chose to cut those from black card, and followed that color through on the sentiment also.

Hope you're having a great Sunday - thanks for coming by!

......and one more time!

I think this will be my final entry for the Paper Smooches challenge this month: Black/White with a Pop of Color.  The month is young, though.......you never know with me :))

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts Punch layering paper, Paper Smooches Blossoming Buds and Best Buds, Spectrum Noir markers, Lucy's sequins

I kind of like the way the background came out, looks a little like lace!

From the Craft Room

This month at the Altenew blog, they have given us a challenge called "From the Craft Room", which is a grouping of crafty items.  We are to use these to inspire us to make a card.  Here's mine:

supplies: white, grey, and silver foil cardstock, Altenew Vintage Roses and Vintage Flowers (for leaves), Hero Arts Tweed Pattern, various corals, navies, and grey inks, Simon's Big Hugs die, natural twine, chipboard banner, wood veneer leaves, silver sequins

Here's our inspiration:

I tried to pull as much out of this photo as I could: a grey graphic background, coral and navy colors, twine, something using wood veneer, and something silver.  I was glad to use up some hoarded supplies, and it was fun to see this all come together!

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your weekend!

Coral, brown, and tan

Beautiful colors this week at CR84FN!  Coral is one of my favorite colors to wear, but I almost always pair it up with white - after playing with the browns and tans, I just may add them to my wardrobe, also.  Here's my card, using a previously stamped panel, done in tans and browns with a tiny bit of green.   The Doily was stamped and heat embossed, then the other elements were stamped over and around it to make my panel.   I just had to make the flower and the sentiment, and I was finished!

supplies: brown, tan and coral cardstock, Lawn Fawn Bright Side coral patterned paper,  Hero Arts CG168 Circle Doily, CL383 Antique Engravings, LL040 Woodland Ferns, H2141 Manuscript Background, CL491 Made with Love, Palette Burnt Umber ink, PTI Beautiful Blooms II #1, Basic Grey brad, 

Negative die-cut

We're CASEing Joy's gorgeous card this week at CASE Stidu:

I love everything about Joy's card, but the very first thing I noticed was her use of the negative image of her die-cut panel.  I thought I'd try to do the same.  Here's my CASE of her card:

supplies: Hero Arts green card base, white cardstock, BoBunny Flamingo Double Dot dp, Sizzix Sizzlits Branch with Leaves, Spellbinders Rose Creations dies, Basic Grey Sweet Threads brad, Hero Arts AR137 Script Messages, VersaFine onyx black ink, pink pearls, Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares

I trimmed a white cardstock panel slightly smaller than my card front, then die-cut the Branch with leaves twice from it. I stamped my sentiment as shown, then the negative die-cut panel was then popped above my green card, adding the flower and pearls to finish.  

CASE-ing Joy

Joy Taylor is our muse this month at CASE Study!

I substituted a fluffy hand-made flower for Joy's beautiful medallion and used a chevron design paper against a horizontally striped text design paper.  Love the font on the sentiment!  It somehow makes it all look less formal......

supplies: Dear Lizzy Neapolitan chevron dp, Echo Park Playground text dp, carnation and green cardstock for flower and leaves, Hero Arts CL267 Card Messages, VersaFine onyx black ink

Just for You

Look at the luscious colors we have to play with at the Play Date Cafe:

I thought that these papers from the Gabrielle Collection by Bo Bunny were a wonderful match to them.  Here is my entry:

supplies: white and grey cardstock, design papers from BoBunny's Gabrielle Collection, ivory seam binding, Die-Namics doily die, Nestabilities oval scallops, Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly punch

The evolution of a card

Hi!  I love playing at the Play Date Cafe challenges - their colors are always fun.  Here is this week's photo inspiration.  Be sure to go look at the DT examples - and check out Sav's take on them:

When I make a card, unless I have a specific image in mind, I often start by looking through my design papers and card stock to pull the colors for the challenge.  In this case, right away I went to this beautiful K&Company butterfly paper that has the colors required, plus cream and chocolate brown.  I wish I could show you how pretty it is - the gold swirls in it are very slightly glittered.  In the same pack was the coral and pink plaid.  I liked them both against this pale gold parchment paper, so that was my card base, and then I just added a shell pink.  Because of the chocolate in the main panel, I ended up framing each of the other panels in chocolate cardstock.  Here was my first version:

The more I looked at it, that ribbon looked too bright and too thin, so off it came and I made a new sentiment panel and placed it to the right:

Then I placed it to the left:

supplies: dark cream parchment, pale pink, and chocolate card stocks, BoBunny flamingo dot (reverse), K&Company "Garden Party" design papers, Hero Arts CL166 SparkleClear Special Friend, Memento Artprint Brown ink, Nesties labels eight die,  Martha Stewart small Monarch butterfly punch, gold pearls

I don't know........I'm confused.........what do you think?

Once again, I'm entering this into the "Anything Goes" challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show.

Off the Wall Craftiness Challenge #19

Aren't these colors gorgeous?  So summery!  They are the challenge colors for Off the Wall Craftiness, a new one for me.  Here is my entry:

I stamped my background with the new spun sugar distress ink, and used shabby shutters for the leaf sprays. I also distressed a bit around the edges of the card and here and there inside it, adding a bit of scattered straw, too.   All stamps Hero Arts. 

Supplies: Hero Arts S5213 Dots and Flowers, CL338 Be Yourself (branches), CL374 Big and Small Flowers, CG130 Butterflies, CL184 Thoughtful Messages, white, corally pink, and yellow cardstocks

Card Style Shabby and Vintage

Made for a challenge at Moxie Fab World: Shabby and Vintage Style.  Here's how Cath describes these styles:

"Shabby chic is a style characterized by layering. It is soft, utilizing ribbon, lace, and techniques such as inking and distressing. The final product looks comfortable, weathered, and worn.  Vintage goes a step further by adding old images, found items, and antique trinkets to the mix."

I adore this style, but always struggle with it.   I started with this bird image, and my card evolved around his coloring.  I added the floral Brenda Walton paper, some of my favorite music paper, lace and buttons, the little brass birdhouse charm, and stamped some haphazard script here and there.  I also distressed the music paper, the lace, and all around the edges.   I like my result, but I don't think I'm there yet.  But I'll keep trying!

Garden Bouquet, take 2

This time I started with watercolor paper and stamped the image after "painting" it with markers and spritzing it with pearlized water.  After die-cutting it with a scalloped circle,  it was lifted above a background of 4 panels, each dry embossed with a different pattern, and separated with some lace.  The butterflies are stamped on 2 pieces of polished stone papers that I had in my scrapbasket, adding wire antennae.  I finished with a PTI sentiment that I trimmed to fit in the corner.  This will be my second entry into The Shabby Tea Room's challenge to use embossing.

Supplies:  HA CG172 Garden Bouquet, CL383 Antique Engravings, PTI Vintage Picnic Sentiments, watercolor paper, coral, blue, and green cardstocks, embossing folders: Cuttlebug Textile and Victoria, Sizzix Large Flowers and Dots, Marvy brush markers, versafine onyx black ink, lace, black wire for antennae

{Embellish Magazine} Color Challenge with Labels, take 2

These colors from the {Embellish Magazine} color challenge are so lovely together, I wanted to try another card using them.  I am getting in just under the wire!

Supplies: Hero Arts AR137 Script Messages, Waltzing Mouse Very Vintage Labels #4, Nestabilities Labels Four, yellow, coral, brown cardstock, Petite Pink Posies designer paper, Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder, Memories Art print brown ink, clear embossing powder, coral ribbon, K&Company Susan Winget Grand Adhesions butterfly

ColourQ challenge #37

Thanks to Rosemary (look at her GORGEOUS card for this challenge), I found a new color challenge at ColourQ #37, and she's right, the color combination is yummy! Here's my take:

Supplies: HA CG148 Blossoms, CL380 Truly Appreciated, Punch notecard, soft shadow apricot ink, apricot pearls, BoBunny coral dot dp, PTI button, Sizzix embossing folder, Martha Steward pansy border punch, apricot embroidery floss