Quilt Prints

I had a free day to myself yesterday, so I played with this wonderful Wplus9 Quilt Prints stamp set.   Using my Hero Arts mid-tone inks, I first stamped the "stitched" outline in Charcoal, then filled in the "fabrics" with Green Hills, Butter Bar, and Bubble Gum.  After trimming my panel to fit my card base, I ran it through a Cuttlebug Houndstooth embossing folder to give it that dimpled look that real quilts have after being washed many times.

Then using some rose cardstock and BoBunny Passion Fruit dotted papers, I die-cut 2 each of the 3 sizes of  PTI's Beautiful Blooms II flowers, securing them with a little yellow Basic Grey brad.  My leaf dies are from Wplus9's Folk Art Florals die set, and the sentiment comes from an old clear set, an Archiver's/Hero Arts exclusive.

Love this new quilt set - I hope that Wplus9 continues to offer us more in the same style!  

Simon Says........Flower Power!!

Good morning!!  It's that time again, a Simon Says Stamp challenge!  This week it's one of my favorite topics , Flower Power!!  The Design Team  and our May Guest Designer Annette are using Prima and/or Casual Fridays products this week.  If you have any we'd love to see you using them too!  I know Prima for their beautiful flowers, but did you know that they also make papers and stamps?  I chose one of their paper pads and matching flowers for this card today:

The collection is called Sun Kiss, and the colors are spring-like aquas, sunny yellows, and greens.  I chose one of the papers as my background and 2 of the 6 flowers included in the package, and added a doily and some buttons.  My sentiment is from an Impression Obsession set called In a Garden.

While I had that Sun Kiss paper pad open, I chose another paper featuring sunflowers and one of the little tags that are included on one of the pages, and put them together, just adding a ribbon and a die-cut sunflower centered with a button.

Dear Heidi has given us another $50.00 gift voucher for the random winner of this challenge.

You can use it for anything you'd like at the Simon Says Stamp Superstore!

CASE Study #140

Maile is our muse for CASE Study this week, and here's my take on it.

I started with a kraft card base as Maile did, stamping my background Dot Flower Pattern using Latte chalk ink.  I used the same ink to stamp the Lenten Roses onto ivory cardstock, and colored the leaves and flowers minimally with Memento markers before fussy-cutting them out.  Again following Maile's example, I added a pink ribbon and a sentiment from Find Joy, stamped in Cup o' Joe ink, then popped my flowers above the card base.  

Once again, thanks for visiting - Happy Mother's Day to those of you in the US!

350 Cards & Gifts Week: the Card Set challenge

At Moxie Fab World, Cath has challenged us to create a coordinated card set and matching container, and she's kindly allowed us to re-enter anything we've done within the last 4 weeks.  So I'm using this card set that I posted on April 23, and decorated a little basket container to hold them.

If you'd like the supplies for the cards, please visit my blog post referenced above.
My friend Mary Anne gave me this cute basket awhile back, and I can just fit the cards inside (I think Ill put some Easter grass or colorful tissue paper in the very bottom where it's too narrow for the cards to fit).  To decorate it, I embossed the cuttlebug Poppy folder on white cardstock, then pounced my distress inks, spritzed with water, dried and then cut out the largest Nesties Labels 20, and attached it to the basket.  I made a little banner using a stamp from Simon's Flower Friend set.  I stamped, colored, and die-cut another butterfly, and used some silk ribbons and a colorful yarn to wrap around the handle.

  

I'll probably give this to my Mom or sister as a Mother's Day gift.  Thanks, Cath, for this great challenge!  I can't wait to see what's in the gallery for this challenge!

Cloud9 May Blog Hop

I'm a huge lover of all things Wplus9 - they have wonderful stamps and dies!  Trouble is, somehow I don't own many of their products, so I haven't participated in many of their challenges.  But when I saw this amazing inspiration photo for the current Cloud9 May Blog Hop, I just had to give it a try!

Swoon, right?  LOVE these colors together.  I have no idea why, but I don't think I've ever paired them up.  So I took my one stamp set, Quilt Prints, and the leaves from my one die set, Folk Art Florals, and here's what I made:

I added some dies from some "other" companies along with a sentiment from a Simon exclusive stamp set.  LOVE how the Quilt Prints stamp up, and with all the options for fill-ins in this wonderful set, the sky's the limit with what I'll be doing with it!  

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Watercolor Roses

I was taken with Jennifer McGuire's watercolor card that Cath featured in her samples for the current Wonders of Watercolor challenge at Moxie Fab World, and thought that this beautiful Penny Black Bed of Roses stamp would lend itself to the technique.

I stamped in VersaMark ink, white embossed, and then smooshed distress inks on an acrylic block, spritzing them with water to make my watercolors.  I used worn lipstick, shabby shutters, faded jeans, and tumbled glass for the background. The sentiment is also Penny Black, from their Eloquence sentiment set.....I thought the flourishy font went well with the soft colors.  Then, following Jennifer's example, I just added some gems and pearls.

As always, thanks so much for visiting!

Simon Says.......Things with Wings!

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for a new Simon Says Stamp challenge, and this week our theme is Things with Wings!  I know the gallery is going to be full of beauty this week!  The design team  and our May Guest Designer Annette are using Studio Calico products.  Here's the first card I made for you:

Most of the papers on this one are also from Darling Dear, and the paper for the clouds came from the Classic Calico pad.  This time I used some of the Birds wood veneers.  The sentiment is from a Simon exclusive stamp set, Just a Love Note, as is the tree trunk die, Small Forest Tree.

I used these Studio Calico products: the floral paper from Darling Dear, and the butterfly wood veneers.  They were so fun to play with; I left 2 of them plain and used inks to color the other 2, then added some pearls and popped them above the card front with foam adhesives.  My sentiment is from one of my favorite Technique Tuesday sets, called This is the Day.

Heidi has generously offered up another $50.00 gift voucher.

There are so many wonderful things to choose from at the Simon Says Stamp superstore!  

The Craft's Meow Flowers Blog Hop

Welcome to our monthly Blog Hop at The Craft's Meow!  This month our theme is flowers.  You should have arrived here from Karen's blog, but if you'd like to start at the beginning, just go to The Craft's Meow and there will be a list and a starting point.  Once you get started, you should be directed from one blog to the next.  Here's my card for today:

First I chose this design paper from My Mind's Eye The Sweetest Thing Tangerine collection, and pulled the colors from it to color my stamped image from our Lovely Birds stamp set.  I die-cut my panel, inked the background with tumbled glass distress ink, then framed it in a pool cardstock and attached it to my card.  My sentiment is from our Baggin' Some Rays set, and I added some little gem stickers to the centers of my flowers

Now hop along to Lindsay's blog.  Leave a comment at each blog and also at The Craft's Meow blog by 11:59 PM Pacific on Thursday, May 9 and a random winner will win a TCM stamp set of her choice!  The winner will be announced at The Craft's Meow blog on Friday, May 10.  Good luck!

CASE Study

Our muse this month at CASE Study is none other than the amazing Maile Belles!  

And as usual, literal Linny CASEd her to the t!  I would never in a million years have come up with a design like this, but now that I've made one card, maybe I'll follow through and incorporate her style some more down the road.  Here's my card:

I just got this gorgeous little ditzy-flowered paper recently, from MME's Collectable "Notable" line (just LOVE the colors!), so that was my start, and then I chose stamps from 3 different companies to finish my card.  The flower is Stampendous Ruffled Bloom, the aqua flower is from Verve's Bloom & Grow set, and my sentiment is from Penny Black's Friendship set.  The brad is MME's The Sweetest Thing Tangerine.  I used VersaFine Onyx black, clear embossed, and Hero Arts Charcoal and Splash inks.

Thanks for visiting!

Simply the Best

Here are 2 more cards using the beautiful papers and stamps from Simon's May Card Kit, May Flowers.

I wanted to let this beautiful taupy-grey floral paper shine, along with the lovely lace, so I kept this one pretty simple, just adding a rose and leaves that I white embossed.  The sentiment is from an Ali Edwards set, Simply You.

Again, everything on this card is from the Kit, except my green cardstock for the leaves.  I also embossed the card and the big banner with a cuttlebug embossing folder called Poppy before adding my other elements.  

Thanks for visiting, and for your kind comments!  Have a great day!

Yellow Roses for Mom

Still playing with the May CardKit from Simon Says Stamp.  Since my previous 2 cards used lots of the papers from the kit, I thought I'd make a card that used no papers and all stamps.

I've been wanting some roses like these; they're a big part of why I wanted to own this kit.  Did you see what Jennifer McGuire did with them?  Swoon!  I'm a yellow rose girl, so that's how I colored these, sponging on mustard seed distress ink and then highlighting them with a spun sugar distress marker, to simulate Peace roses, which are my absolute favorites.  I also wanted to use that mesh banner, so that was stamped in Charcoal mid-tone ink, and, keeping it simple I finished with the sentiment (love the font!) and some of the little circle stamps, which I then filled in with the petal pink liquid pearls included.  I had forgotten about liquid pearls, but I'm pleased with how easy they are to use!

As always, thanks for visiting!

The greatest

I'm back again today with another card using supplies from Simon's May Card Kit.  The papers this month are just breathtaking, in shades of pinks, greys, taupes, pale golds, very understated but each one so elegant.  They're double-sided, so it's really hard cutting into them!

For this card I focused in on the gorgeous paper that has a lacy border printed on it, and then found some others that I thought looked nice with it.  I only stamped the rose and leaves, used the little arrow that was included in the embellishments, and covered 2 of the chipboard hearts with some of the paper.  Love this color combination!  I just added some silver pearls of my own.  

A Mother's Day card

I have my Simon Says Stamp May Card Kit in my hot little hands, and I LOVE everything in it!  One of their best yet, in my opinion!  Just feast your eyes on the contents!

So, since Mother's Day is coming up fast and I haven't done anything for my Mom, I started there. When I saw that rose bud in the stamp set, I decided to make a bouquet of 3 of them in various shades of this mauvy pink, to represent me and my 2 sisters.

All I added for my card are some green cardstock for the stems and leaves and 2 mauves for my roses, the tiny pearls and the silk ribbon tying my little bouquet together.

Run, don't walk, and get your Card Kit before they're sold out!!

Simon Says......Happy Mail!

It's Wednesday and it's time for our Simon Says Stamp challenge for this week!    Our theme is Happy Mail, and by that we mean "just because" cards or something to make someone happy, not a specific occasion, like a birthday or anniversary.  We are playing with Technique Tuesday products this week, and you don't have to use them, but if you have some, please share them with us!   The Technique Tuesday set called Bring on the Sun, by Ali Edwards has been on my wishlist for a long time, so I was so pleased to have an excuse to get it.  I really love the sentiments on it, and made 2 cards today:

For this first one, I started with a sticky-back canvas ATC and using mustard seed and spiced marmalade inks, I stamped a little Hero Arts flower all over it repeatedly until the white background was covered.   I like the texture this canvas gives to my card - hope you can see it in my picture.  I framed it in black and cut out 2 more panels of a BoBunny dot, using the dotted side and the reverse solid.  On one of them I stamped and heat embossed this sentiment, then framed these panels also in black.  To finish I added a fussy-cut stamped sun centered with a button tied with twine.

For this 2nd card, I started with a card base of Hero Arts Daffodil layering paper and stamped another of the sentiments, also clear embossing it.  Then I die-cut the stems from Simon's Fresh Daisies and some daisy flowers and centers and attached them beside my sentiment.

I hope my cards have brought a little sunshine to you today - thanks for visiting!  Be sure to visit the Simon Says Stamp blog to see what my team-mates and our May Guest Designer Annette made this week!

Our generous Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher to the random winner of this challenge!

What would you get at the Simon Says Stamp superstore?