A Study in Blues

I treated myself to some Altenew goodies recently - here's a play with a new set of mini inks and a clear stamp set that I've had on my wishlist for a long time.

supplies: white, Cornflower and Soft Navy cardstock, Wildflower Garden stamps, Lapis Lazuli and Forest Glades inks, Flower Arrangement sentiment die

It's been a VERY long time since this country blue has been available to us - we evidently overdid it in the 70's?  SO glad to see it slowly reappearing!  

There are alot of stamps in this large set, and I didn't come near to using all of them.  I did use each of the 4 blue inks in this mini Lapis Lazuli set.  After stamping out my arrangement, I watered down a bit of a medium blue ink and added some splatters to the mix.  And to keep the blue theme going, I used soft navy cardstock to cut my sentiment.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out and look forward to playing some more with the set in other colors!  Thanks for stopping by!

Simon Says.......For a Special Lady

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

Our theme this week is "For a Special Lady", and we're playing with Altenew products.  You don't have to use these products to play along, but if you have some of their goodies, we'd love to see you using them.

I just received this Garden Picks layering die set in time for this challenge, so here's a card in my favorite colors.  This sentiment allows me to use this card for lots of occasions, Mothers Day, a birthday, even a wedding card!

supplies: white, 4 shades of blue, 3 shades of yellow, Green Apple, and Green Leaf cardstock, Hero Arts retired Circle Doily cling, embossed in white, Altenew Garden Picks dies, Wplus9 Doodle Buds sentiment, Doodlebug Tiny Heart sprinkle

I wanted to make a sort of nosegay of flowers and this Hero Arts Doily cling stamp from 2010 was the perfect pairing!

Next up, a card using layering stamps.  This one's for my Mom - she loves bright colors, and especially pink, so that decision was easy!

supplies: white, pink and black card, Altenew Beautiful Day stamps, Altenew Rose Petal and Tropical Forest mini ink cubes, Simon Stitched Alphabet and Mom & Dad Icons stamps, Stitched Rectangle die, adhesive foam strips

I stamped 5 of these lovely Beautiful Day flowers across a panel of white card stock, then masked them and added leaves from the same set.  The panel was trimmed with a stitched rectangle, matted in black, and then mounted on a pink card base.  

Then I stamped and fussy-cut my letters and popped them above the card, adding the black stamped sentiment on top of them.  

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!

Edited to add: I'd like to enter my first blue card with the embossed doily into The Flower Challenge #32: Embossing (Heat/Dry).

CASEing Jennifer

Jennifer McGuire recently did a video that included combining some cover plate dies as a background for some florals.  Here's my take on that idea.

supplies: white and silver foiled cardstock, Wplus9 Floral Background die, Altenew Build a Rose set, Cherry Blossom and Green Meadows mini ink cubes, Penny Black Your Day die

This beautiful rose is stamped with 6 layers of stamps!  I used the darkest ink color for the last 3 steps.  

Hope to see you tomorrow for a new Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge!

In Stitches

This Hand-Stitched stamp set has been on my wishlist a long time, and I finally got it!  Here's my first play with it.

supplies: white card, diagonal striped dps from Sunny Studio Striped Silly paper pad, Neat & Tangled Hand-Stitched clear stamp set, Tonic Nuvo markers to color, rectangle dies from PTI Mix & Mat, tiny heart sprinkles, adhesive foam squares to pop up flowers

I used to cross-stitch and quilt, so this sweet little set with lots of small elements, all with tiny stitches, really appealed to me.  This time I used them to make a roughly oval wreath, and colored it in brights, but I think pastels will be pretty for next time.  

Thanks for coming by!

Stencilled Spring Tree

Here's another new thing from The Greetery, this time a 3-part stencil.  I have a crab apple about to bloom in our backyard, and so of course, I did a spring tree this first time out.

supplies: white card, Sunny Studio Pastel Gingham dp, The Greetery Fir & Foliage #1 stencil, vintage photo distress ink, and Altenew Pink Diamond and Pinkalicious mini inks, sentiment from Memory Box Spring Lilacs clear set

I love stencils, you can do so much with them, and the idea of layering stencils is really fun!  I know I'll use these lots for all the seasons!

Hope that your weekend is going well!

More Fleur Impressions

More blues, but towards the aquas/teals today.......

supplies: white cardstock, Sunny Studio Striped Silly dp, The Greetery Fleur Impressions, Altenew Sweet Dreams and Simon's Lucky mini inks, Hero Arts woodblock sentiment To Be So Nice

This time I did a little masking, then trimmed my stamped panel and offset it on my striped background instead of centering it as I usually do.  Aren't these colors pleasing?  As is the font on this Hero Arts woodblock stamp from 2009.  I've made a conscious decision to try and use some of my many Hero Arts stamps that I've collected, since they are celebrating their 45th birthday in business.

Have a great weekend!

Foiled Cards for May Birthdays

I have lots of birthdays this month, and most of them will be getting a foiled card.  If you don't like photo-heavy posts, then this one isn't for you - I have 5 cards today.  They were all made with stencils, transfer gel and foils, and sentiment dies.

The first 2 cards use sentiment dies that were cut from adhesive fun foam with foil pressed directly to the adhesive, not heat-set. All of the other foiling was done with my laminator.

supplies: kraft and Peacock Teal card, The Crafters Workshop Mini Cubist stencil, transfer gel, Emerald Watercolor foil, Winnie & Walter In a Word Happy die and their Big, Bold and Happy stamped sentiment

supplies: green and white card, The Crafters Workshop Mini Vineyard stencil, transfer gel, Lime Deco Foil, Lil' Inker Boxed Up Birthday die

supplies: white, Core'dinations Broken China, and gold foil card, Tim Holtz Doily stencil, transfer gel, Emerald Watercolor foil, Penny Black Happy Birthday die

supplies: Cotton Candy and a darker pink card, Tim Holtz Floral stencil, transfer gel, Gina K. Designs Bubblegum foil, Penny Black Happy Birthday die

supplies: Lavender, darker purple and lime glitter card, Bouquet of Roses stencil, transfer gel, Lilac and Lime foils, stamped sentiment a combination of Hello You and Hand Lettered Hello stamps, Grape Soda ink

These were fun to make - which is your favorite?  I think mine is the pink one.

A Sympathy Card

I needed to make a sympathy card, and used my brand new stamps from The Greetery.

supplies: white and Cornflower Blue cardstock, The Greetery Fleur Impressions, Altenew mini inks from Lapis Lazuli, Golden Sunset, and Green Meadow sets, sentiment from Simon's Sketched Flowers, Spellbinders Becca Feeken Hemstitch Oval die, adhesive foam squares to pop up smaller rose

These lovely layered stamps are easy to line up and not too much to fussy-cut, for now......there are matching dies, though.  And I really love these new blue ink shades from Altenew - FINALLY just the right cornflower/skyblue!

Simon Says........It's Our TENTH Birthday!!

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

This week we are celebrating our TENTH birthday!  And we're inviting you all to join us in our celebration by making a birthday creation!  My teamies and I are playing with our own Simon exclusive products - you don't have to use them to play along, but if you have some, we'd love you to use them this week!

Here's my card:

supplies: white, kraft, Audrey Blue, and Green Apple card, Floral Mix Background cling, More Spring Flowers, Even More Spring Flowers, Brush Stroke Messages, Happy Birthday die, Tiny Heart sprinkles, Nuvo markers

I've been wanting to try mixing the older clear stamps with this new Floral Mix cling, as the cling is a mixing of the elements in the older clear sets.  So I stamped the background in VersaMark and embossed in white on kraft card then trimmed it and attached it to my white card base.  Then I white-embossed the rose and leaves onto blue and green cardstock, adding just a bit of shading with my Nuvo markers, cut them out and added the rose over its image in the background, then the leaves.  The image from the clear sets are not an exact match to the background, but very close, so my idea worked!  The Happy sentiment was die-cut 3 times and layered, then paired with my stamped sentiment.

Now it's your turn!  We have TEN $50.00 gift certificates

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 10 lucky random winners of this week's challenge!

Stitched Turnabout

Here are 2 cards made with the Stitched Turnabout stamp set from Concord &9th.

Concord & 9th has done it again - love this sweet design!  I used only the small part of the overall stamp.  When I looked at the design, I was taken with the flourish shapes, and so my first card is stamped in just a blue ink to emphasize them.  I love this country blue shade, and I thought a gingham accent would be pretty with the design.

supplies: white card, design papers from Sunny Studios Classic Gingham and the reverse of a Doodlebug Gingham-Linen Rainbow Petite Print pads, Stitched Turnabout, Altenew Persian Blue mini cube, sentiment from Neat & Tangled Hand Stitched set

Then I chose 4 pastel inks and made a 2nd card.

supplies: white card, Doodlebug pink floral dp, Stitched Turnabout with Jelly Bean, Warm Sunshine, Lavender Fields and Pink Diamond inks, a PTI Mix & Mat die, Wplus9 Hand Lettered Hello sentiment

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you'll visit me again tomorrow for a very special Simon Wednesday Card challenge - we're celebrating a very special occasion, with prizes to match!

A Birthday Card

Our oldest grandson turned 10 yesterday!  Goodness, where has the time gone?!  I thought I'd share the card I made him.

supplies: white and Lipstick Red cardstock, vellum, Concord&9th Bitty Burst Turnabout stamp and Jig, Altenew mini inks in primary colors, Simon's Happy Birthday Circle die, Your Next Stamp Bold Numbers dies, MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, various star embellishments

Hope your week is off to a great start! 

Flower Frenzy!

Two posts in one day!  I recently ordered the Spellbinders Small Dies of the Month - what a good price for all that you get!  Here's the first card I made with them.

supplies: white cardstock, Doodlebug patterned papers, Small Dies of the Month for April, Your Next Stamp Mini Flower Splatter stamp, turquoise ink, Simon's (evidently retired) Happy & Smile sentiment, adhesive foam to separate flower layers

I've used this aqua/blue/purple combination before, but this time I threw in some orange.  The sweet little flower splatters are a nice touch with all the big die-cut flowers, and now I have another birthday card ready for when I need one.  I separated all the flower layers with foam adhesive and curled up the petals for even more dimension; this one will best be hand-delivered!  

This uses just 2 of the 3 flowers in the kit, and there are also buds and single leaves, plus a hello sentiment - as I said, very good value!

Some Floral Wreaths

When I saw this pretty Floral Wreath set recently, I couldn't wait to bring it home - you know my love affair with wreaths!  I have 2 colorings of it today, one bright and one pastel.

supplies: Bristol, white, Green Apple, and purple card, Studio Katia Floral Wreath, colored in Nuvo alcohol markers, Hearts embossing folder, adhesive foam squares to lift up wreath

supplies: Bristol, black, and yellow card, Floral Wreath, Zig markers and water, Spring Blessings die, cut twice

This is a nice big stamp that easily fills an A2 card, easy to color for these old eyes!  And there are a fun variety of sentiments to mix and match to go along with it!

Alcohol Pearls

In this month's Simon Card Kit are 3 full-size bottles of alcohol pearls, blending solution, and some yupo paper, so here's a card that I made with them.

supplies: white cardstock, Yupo paper, Sublime and Tranquil alcohol pearls inks, and blending solution, Tim Holtz Flourish embossing folder, Spring Blessings die, MFT Stitched Blooms dies, Limeade sprinkles for flower centers

I squirted on the 2 colors of pearl alcohol inks along with some blending solution, and then used a felt-covered tool to pounce the colors around until I was pleased with the results.  The resulting color mix is a beautiful spring green with a lovely pearlescence, and that's when I decided to make a card for the season.  

After allowing the panel to dry a short time, I then put it inside the embossing folder, ran it through my machine, then lightly sanded the surface of the panel to bring out more of the flourish details.

The original plan was to cut the panel into pieces and just add my die-cut sentiment, but it was on the boring side, so I quickly cut some flowers to add to the mix and used some green enamel dots in their centers.  This design puts me in mind of sweet woodruff when it blooms ......beautiful green leaves with simple little white flowers.

Here's the Card Kit for May, which includes 3 of these inks plus so much more!

I hope spring is moving along in your neck of the woods.....we're having lots of rain at the moment, so that should foresee lots more green in the future!