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!

Simon Says........One Layer

It's Wednesday and that means a new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

Our theme this week is "One Layer", and the DT are playing with Paper Smooches products.  

I think I've said this before, but I have great respect for those of you who can make a 1-layer card interesting.  I found this challenge quite challenging!

supplies: white cardstock, Paper Smooches Blossoming Buds stamp set, Simon Hydrangea, Hero Arts Bubble Gum, Wplus9 Silver Lining, and VersaFine Onyx Black inks, heart line die-cut, Paper Smooches Dashes die, Doodlebug Lily White Glitter sprinkles 

I masked my card diagonally and stamped a ditsy floral pattern, bordered it with lines of hearts and stitching to give it a lace-like edge, and then stamped my sentiment in the remaining area.  Lastly I stamped the 3 flowers near the sentiment and centered each with a sparkly enamel dot.

On my next card I inlaid my image and sentiment:

supplies: black and white cardstock, BoBunny dotted cardstocks in 2 greens, red, and yellow, Paper Smooches Adorable Array and Birthday Words dies, My Mind's Eye enamel dots

Now it's your turn!  I can't wait to see what you do this week!  We have a $50.00 gift certificate for one random winner of our challenge!

Do you use Instagram?  If you do, we'd love you to add #ssswchallenge to your challenge entry uploads so we can see them on there, too!

I LOVE these colors!

Today's card is made for the current Pinterest Inspired challenge.  Those colors drew me right in, and looked like a quilt to me, so I was off and running.

supplies: white cardstock, Lil Inker Circles & Diamonds Stitched Pattern cover plate and their coordinating Diamonds stamp set, lots of green and blue inks, a Sizzix Flowers embossing folder, Winnie & Walter In a Word: Hello cutaway

I love how the bright white makes these colors pop even more!  If I was still quilting, I would love to work on a quilt using them!  So, the process: impress the Stitched Pattern cover plate into a white card panel, then use the diamonds and pointy ovals, for lack of a better description, from the coordinating stamp set to "piece" in the various colors, using a variety of blue and green inks.  When complete, as I often do, I thought I'd add a quilt-like texture by running it through an embossing folder.   And lastly, I cut 3 of the sentiment, glued them together, then popped it above the finished panel.

I'm also entering this into Winnie & Walter's 2nd Birthday Bash challenge, this one to create your own background.

More Valentines

Here's a card for one of our sons.  Both our boys live more than a day's journey away, so we don't see them nearly as often as we'd like.  So I think it doubly important to touch base with them on days like Valentine's Day.

supplies: red and kraft cardstock, Simon's Stacked Hearts die and You stamp set

I think adding kraft to the traditional red makes for a more masculine look.  My next 2 cards are definitely not masculine!

I mentioned yesterday that I won some Stampin' Up goodies.  Today I'm playing with the coordinating stamp set from yesterday's card.

supplies: red and white cardstock, Stampin' Up Bloomin' Love, Hero Arts Red Royal ink and die from their February card kit

There are 16 individual clear stamps in this set, and I only used 2 of them for these cards.   One of the first things I did when I opened this set was to see how it would coordinate with my other supplies that I already own.  The little floral heart fits very nicely inside the Hero Arts die, as does the sentiment.  I thought the 2nd card was just a bit too CAS for my taste, so I tried roughly the same layout, but covered the area around the heart die with repeated stamping of the floral heart stamp.  I love the lacey look it gives!

As always, thanks for stopping by.

A Heart with Hugs and Flowers

I recently won a gift certificate from Lydia to her Stampin' Up shop, and had a ball choosing some beautiful stamps and dies!  Here is my first play with the die I chose, just in time for Valentine's Day:

supplies: pink, white, and silver glitter cardstock, Stampin' Up Bloomin' Heart and Simon Painted Hugs dies, Winnie & Walter Audrey Cutaways, tiny heart rhinestones, foam squares

I'm sure this one will become a workhorse for this time of year!

Thanks for coming by!

From Places Abroad - Cyprus

That's our challenge this month at Altenew.  Since I am a blue girl, the inspiration photo grabbed me right away!  Here's my entry, as it happens, my 2000th post since I started blogging in 2009!

supplies: cream, charcoal, and black cardstock, gold glitter paper, Altenew Beautiful Day stamp set, Ranger Super Fine Detail gold embossing powder, Brilliance Sky Blue, Hero Arts Cornflower, and Brilliance Galaxy Gold inks, Tim Holtz Gothic stencil, modeling paste and more Gold embossing powder, Wplus9 Hand Lettered Thanks die, My Mind's Eye gold enamel dots

Originally my stencilled panel was only 1 piece, but looking at the 2 sides of the door, I split it down the middle and framed the whole thing with gold glitter paper. The leaves and flowers were embossed in gold, then overstamped for color.  Lots of gold along with my favorite color - it really glistens under the lights; wish I could capture it better in my photo!

Here's the inspiration:

Lots of Hugs

I'm in full Valentine mode, in case you haven't noticed.  My Mom sends us Valentines each year and I want to continue that tradition, so I make them for all my family, and for friends, too.  Here's the latest, a CASE of one by Lisa Addesa.  I loved her idea, and this was fun to make too!

supplies: white and shades of pink to red cardstocks, Nestabilities scalloped heart dies, 2 flower punches, (unknown manufacturer and as old as the hills), tiny pearls, Hero Arts sentiment from Truly Appreciated

For my heart base, I die cut a large heart, and then die-cut a smaller one from that, to form a rough base on which to build up my flowers.  I must say that as much as I love my dies, it was so much easier to punch out these flowers!   Each flower was shaped a bit before gluing onto the base, and then I added some tiny pearls to the centers of the most prominent flowers.  The heart was then popped up on my card base after stamping my sentiment.  This one is definitely not mailable without alot of extra expense, so it will be hand-delivered to a neighbor or a friend. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Lacey Hugs

Here's another Valentine.

supplies: ivory, black, and lollipop cardstock, Watermelon Gelato, Impression Obsession Floral Lace Heart die, Simon Painted Hugs die, silver sequins

I'm adding this to this month's Die Cut Divas challenge: Love, Marriage, or Anniversaries.

Thanks for stopping by!

Simon Says..........Have a Heart!

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

Our theme this week is "Have a Heart", and my teamies and I are using Reverse Confetti products.  

supplies: white cardstock, BoBunny Strawberry Double Dot cardstock, Reverse Confetti Love Blooms, Hero Arts Punch and Grass chalk inks, Simon's Large Heart Doily and Scripty Big Hugs dies, DieNamics Blueprints 20 scalloped 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!

I'd like to add this card to this month's Die Cut Diva's challenge: Love, Marriage, and Anniversaries.

Uplifting

Today I'm working with some watercolor panels from Taylored Expressions.  I want to play with Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge this month, and these were a great way to get started.  The panels are a nice 3 X 4" in size, which takes up most of the card, but allows some space to embellish.  Here are my first 2:

supplies: Simon Green Apple cardstock, dp from Doodlebug Kraft in Color - color pad, Taylored Expressions Uplifting watercolor panel, Spectrum Aqua markers and water, turquoise felt and a flower die, lime button

supplies: white and Green Apple cardstock, dp from Doodlebug Sunkissed paper pad, Taylored Expressions Uplifting watercolor panel, Spectrum Aqua markers and water, heart dies from Simon Outline Hearts die set

Kathy's challenge runs all month, and she is encouraging us to do a little bit of coloring every day.  You choose the medium, and work on anything you want.  She'll be giving us daily inspiration, and there's a gallery link on her Day 1 blog post where you can see other people's work.  Share your creation there or on Instagram, marking it #THEDAILYMARKER30DAY.  I hope you'll join in, too!

Throwback Thursday #11

The monthly Throwback Thursday challenge at Wplus9 is a Valentine's Theme.  Even though I don't have the featured stamp set, I wanted to play anyway.  Here's my entry, using one of the first Wplus9 products I bought:

supplies: white, black, and 3 shades of pink to red cardstock, watercolor paper, spun sugar, worn lipstick, abandoned coral, and barn door distress inks, Wplus9 Seasonal Sentiments love and heart dies and their Hand Lettered Thanks stamp set, Simon's Mini Hearts Outline dies

I diluted 4 shades of distress inks and painted them across my watercolor paper, then affixed that to my card base.  Then I cut out the love die 3 times and used the negative to pop above the card base, adding a stamped sentiment and some tiny hearts.

I'm entering this into this month's Die Cut Diva's challenge: Love, Marriage, or Anniversaries.

Thanks for visiting me today!