Just a Note

 Here's a card just because.......it started with this black and white dotty paper, black on 1 side and white on the reverse.  I die-cut out 2 scalloped rectangles and placed them on a white card base, then piled on some little posies.

supplies: white, black, Green Apple, various pinks, yellows, aquas, Doodlebug black and white dotty cardstock, Spellbinders Petite Floral Potpourri and Mini Blooms and Sprigs, Wendy Vecchi large scallop rectangle, MFT Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle, Pink Fresh Studio Perfect Sentiment stamps and matching die

Happy March!  Is it spring for you yet?  

Spellbinders Glimmer of the Month Kit for August: Illustrated Floral and Solid

 This month's kit is exciting to me because we get a pretty spray of flowers and matching die, a solid oval glimmer plate, and 2 sentiments that can be foiled, with dies to cut them out.  Here are my 2 cards using these new supplies, and black foil.

supplies: white and black cardstock, black and white Petite Patterns floral print, Spellbinders August Glimmer of the Month kit, black foil, Glimmer Hot Foil system, Platinum 6 machine

Did you know that you can get black foil?  That's useful for floral sprays like this that you want to be the center of your design; see my 2nd card.  This foil is not as metallic as most others, but it is shiny, so it's still a nice option for our foiling.

So for this card, I foiled the spray and one of the sentiments with black foil.  I set aside the floral image that resulted for my 2nd card, and placed the "used" black foil over the oval foiling plate and foiled again.  That foiled panel was trimmed to a smaller rectangle, matted in black, then placed onto the floral print background, along with the foiled sentiment which I trimmed out with its matching die.

For my 2nd card, I used the matching floral die to cut out the previously foiled floral spray and colored it with markers.  That was attached to a pretty lacey oval and then adhered to my card base which was inked in an oval shape.  To finish I just added a fussy-cut stamped sentiment.

supplies: white cardstock, August Glimmer of the Month floral spray, matching die, and black foil, Picot Petite Oval die, a retired sentiment from Tammy Tutterow's Tiny Sentiments

You can find all the information you'll need HERE to get this fun kit for yourself.  You'll have until August 28 to join the club, and you can "unjoin" at any time!  And don't forget that each month you'll also get a roll of glimmer foil!

Thanks for stopping by today - beginning of a new week AND a new month!  Enjoy!

Simon Says.......Red, White, and/or Blue

Happy Wednesday - welcome to our challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

This week our theme is "Red,White,and/or Blue" and the team is playing with Avery Elle products.  Here's my card.

supplies: white cardstock, red, white and blue star and grid patterned papers from Sunny Studio, Avery Elle Loads of Wishes sentiment, flower and leaf sprig dies, enamel dots, adhesive foam

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!  I can't wait to see what you all make this week!

 

Snowflake Joy

Still in love with my new alphabet dies!  Here's a red and white snowflake card using them.

supplies: white and Lipstick Red cardstock, dps from (retired) Echo Park Celebrate Winter pad, PinkFresh Studio Adore Alphabet dies, Memory Box bow die from Precious Hearts, stamped sentiment from Wplus9 Hand Lettered Holiday, snowflake dies from Concord and 9th Take a Bough set, Hero Arts red metallic dots

I used my alphabet dies to cut out the word from the striped paper, then layered it over the snowflake paper, and lined the letters with white - the skinny outlines are part of this alphabet set!

As always, thanks for stopping by today!

Thankful Flowers

Hi!  Today I have a card using the supplies in the Simon Says Stamp October Card Kit. 

supplies: white cardstock, striped dp from MME My Heritage, Tim Holtz Metallic Kraft Stock paper, Simon's Thankful Flowers and Bold Thanks die

I stamped the lovely flowers onto white cardstock and clear embossed the image, then fussy-cut the bottom half away.  Next I added a thin strip of metallic kraft paper to the bottom and trimmed it closely, following the stamp lines.  This panel was placed over the striped dp on a card base, and to finish I added my die-cut Thanks.  

Here's the kit for this month - very classy!  Note that it includes a pair of mini scissors, perfect for fussy-cutting!

Black, White and Yellow

Here's another card using the supplies in the August Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp.  I have always loved text/script as an element, and adding black and yellow to the mix is icing on the cake for me.

supplies: white and yellow card stock, dps from Bo Bunny Early Bird and a black dot, Simon's Mandy's Flowers clear stamp set, Tonic Nuvo Sunshine and Irish Clover markers, Doodlebug Tiny Hearts, adhesive foam squares to lift flower

Here's the Card Kit:

Enjoy your week!

Simon Says..........Snow White

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

Our theme this week is "Snow White" - you can put some snow on your creation, use lots of white, or interpret this as you like!  The DT are playing with Reverse Confetti this week - I made 2 cards using their Snowflake Trio dies:

supplies: white and Simon's fog cardstock (for twig wreath used as snowflake base), foiled and glittered silver card stock, Reverse Confetti Snowflake Trio die, Impression Obsession Wooden Plank cling stamp, Hero Arts Soft Granite ink, Simon's Stitched Rectangle and Chisolm Wreath die, Tim Holtz Holiday Words dies, white seam binding bow, light blue gems

I cut the smallest of the snowflakes from foiled and glittered silver card stock, and arranged them on the Chisolm Wreath, then added a bow and glued the wreath onto my planked background, edged in silver, then added my sentiment.

Here's a closer look - it sure is a sparkler!

Here's one more card, white on white this time, and it uses all of the snowflakes in this set:

supplies: white and white glitter cardstock, Snowflake Trio dies, another Tim Holtz Holiday Words die, Swiss Dot embossing folder, pearls, adhesive foam squares, white twine

Now it's your turn.  As always, we have another $50.00 gift voucher

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

Simon Says.........Clean and Simple

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

Our theme this week is CAS: Clean and Simple, and the DT are all playing with CASual Fridays products.

I find myself in an uncomfortable position this week - the stamp set I got to use this week has evidently now been discontinued, as it no longer shows up at Simon.  I'm pretty sure that is the case, because I found a newer very similar set called Mistletoe and Holly, which would work at least for my first card.

supplies: kraft and BoBunny Wild Berry cardstock, CASual Fridays Merry Kiss-Mas clear stamp set, VersaFine onyx black and VersaMark inks, Simon white embossing powder, Doodlebug Ladybug twine, Hero Arts pearl heart, Signo white gel pen, Quickie glue pen, DieNamics Blueprints 20 stitched rectangle die, adhesive foam squares

There is a bow on the mistletoe sprig - using a glue pen, I glued some twine right over the stamped bow.

For my second card, I stamped the holly repeatedly in the center of my card base, masking the top and bottom.  Then I added some red strips and a colored version of the holly.

supplies: Hero Arts Grass layering paper and Simon Schoolhouse Red cardstock, CASual Fridays Merry Kiss-Mas stamps, Grass and Versamark ink with white embossing powder, Signo white gel pen

After I'd put all my elements onto my card, I felt it needed something, and so I added the little white dots by hand with my white pen.  That really helped to pull everything together.

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!

Florals and Dots

Here's another card using MFT's Flashy Florals stamps and dies; I can't seem to stop playing with them!

supplies: white and black cardstock, black and white design paper, My Favorite Things Flashy Florals stamps and dies, Lawn Fawn Stitched Scalloped Border, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Happy cutaway, Hero Arts retired sentiment, mini Misti

I think the black and white dots make everything look crisp!  Thanks for stopping by today - have a fantastic weekend!

Hello Sunshine

It is a beautiful day here today, so I thought I'd post a card full of sunshine that was recently sent off to a friend.

supplies: white, black,  and yellow cardstock, black dotty dp, Simon Floral Bookmarking flowers and leaves,  Altenew Warm Sunshine and Simon Jelly Bean inks, Painted Hello and Stitched Rectangle die, Winnie & Walter Audrey Cutaways scalloped die

I love this time of year when things begin popping out of the ground!  It's that sunshine that makes it happen!

......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!

More Black, white, and a pop........

Here's another entry for Paper Smooches challenge this month.  When I said I'd be entering this challenge another time, I didn't think it would be so quickly, but when I got this idea, I wanted to se how it would turn out, so here's another card!

supplies: white, black, and green cardstock, Paper Smooches Best Buds and Blossoming Buds (sentiment), VersaMark and white embossing powder, green enamel dots and green gingham ribbon

Thanks for stopping by - hope your week is off to a great start!

Black, White, and a Pop of Yellow

I'm excited about this month's challenge at Paper Smooches, because it reminds me of a favorite challenge from the past. (Play Date Cafe's Black and White with a Splash, one I loved to play!).  This challenge wants us to use black and white with a pop of a 3rd color.  Here's my entry.  Since this challenge lasts all month, it may not be my only one......

supplies: white and black cardstock, dotty black dp, Paper Smooches Adorable Array and Birthday Words dies, Paper Sweeties flower sequins

I've never used black much in my cards, but lately combining it with bright white and yellow has been appealing to me.  

Here's out inspiration:

Our spring has come to a screeching halt here in NE Ohio - we had snow last night which is still hanging on, because of the frigid temps that came with it!  Hope your spring is faring better!

Merry Monday challenge

Have you visited the Merry Monday challenge blog?  The idea behind it is to make 1 Christmas card each week, so by the time that Christmas rolls around, you'll have a good supply of cards to send out.  I ran out of cards this past Christmas, so I'll hopefully be playing as often as I can.

This week's challenge is white on white.  I had loads of already cut snowflakes, so I put them to good use for my entry:

supplies: white and silver glitter cardstock, various snowflake die-cuts, some of which I can't identify anymore, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Merry cutaway, stamped sentiment from Hero Arts Joy to All, Pretty Pink Posh sequins

Black, white and gold

I haven't played along at the Color Throwdown challenge in awhile.  Though the colors are way out of my comfort zone (black hardly ever gets used around here), I thought that these colors were so elegant, and I can think of several people who I can send my card to this Christmas.

supplies: black, white, and gold glitter cardstock, Hero Arts Magical Background, versamark and Ranger gold embossing powder, Simon's Holiday Frame die, Wplus9 and Penny Black Snowflake Trio dies, gold sequins

Here's our inspiration:

And since I used glitter as a major part of my design, I'd like to enter this also into Virginia's final challenge at Virginia's View.

Thanks for stopping by!

Black & White

Here's a card for this month's Memory Box challenge: Black & White.

I used their Bella Bouquet die, music paper from Lawn Fawn, and a discontinued sentiment from The Craft's Meow, black and white pearls 

Happy World Card Making Day!  

Wishing You Joy

This is the 25th challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Flickr group and the theme is "White on White with a Touch of Color"  Sounded like fun to me, so here's my entry.

supplies: Simon's white woodgrain cardstock, pale blue cardstock, Artful Flowers, blue and white vellum, pale blue and white pearls, Simon's Wishing die, and Sending & Wishing stamp set (sentiment), VersaMark ink and white embossing powder

I chose some of my favorite Simon flowers and stamped and white embossed them on blue and white vellum, then arranged them on my hoarded woodgrain cardstock and added a sentiment and some pearls to finish.  This could be sort of a "something blue" item for a bride to be.......

Smile!

The Color Throwdown challenge has reached its 350th challenge!  Quite a milestone!  So of course I had to play, as I have become a big fan of the beautiful colors they put together for us!

supplies: black and white cardstock, Altenew Painted Flowers, Simon's Happy & Smile sentiment, VersaMark ink and white embossing powder

Be sure to pop over to their blog, as the design team have done some amazing cards!

CASEing Jocelyn

This month's Gossip Column at Winnie &Walter is to be inspired by Jocelyn Olson.  I bookmarked that column when it came out earlier this month, and have gone back and forth with it ever since.  Finally yesterday I decided to have a go, and here is what I created:

I had a good look at Jocelyn's blog, and noticed several things: that she uses lots of white space and that she often dry-embosses her backing panel.  I also noticed that she uses bits of doilies on her projects, which I really like and decided to adopt.  So I decided to choose a card of hers to CASE and put my own spin on it, as Taheerah suggests.  I found a card HERE that I really liked: and went about finding my own elements to CASE that design.

I knew I'd use a bit of a paper doily, and I decided to emboss my background in a woodgrain pattern (Tim Holtz embossing folder).  I like the idea of rough and dainty against each other.  Then I went looking for a flower (Hero Arts  Lauderdale Floral) large enough and with enough detail so that I could heat emboss it on vellum using an aqua embossing powder.  Next I made my own little polaroid frame and covered a corner with some washi to bring in a bit more color and make it stand out from all the whiteness.  I attached my vellum flower and stamped my Winnie & Walter sentiment (Big, Bold Friends), and then assembled everything and popped the frame up on adhesive squares.  Lots of Jocelyn's designs show splatters of paint on the background at this point, but I wasn't that brave, so I added my own little bit of color with some tiny aqua pearls and a bigger one in the center of the flower.  And lastly I die-cut some leaves (Essentials by Ellen Bold Blossoms) and added them to the mix.  And to finish I mounted the whole panel on a backing of bias-striped design paper (Echo Park's Bundle of Joy Boy Dots & Stripes).

This was a very fun exercise and a good stretch for me - thank you Taheerah, and thank you, Jocelyn, for your inspiration!

Hello Sunshine!

Man, we have had the rain here in Ohio this summer!  Today is a beauty of a day, however, and when I saw the inspiration for The Card Concept challenge, I knew just what I wanted to do with these colors:

supplies: Simon's Fog Grey card base, woodgrain cardstock panel, various washi tapes, Die-Namics cross-stitch die from Blueprints 20, Hero Arts Zinnia Bloom, Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards Bring on the Sun sentiment, charcoal ink, Paper Sweeties flower sequins and Prettty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins

I guess I'd put this into the Clean & Layered category.

It's Friday!  I hope you have a great weekend!