Some birthday cards

I have several birthdays this month, and here's one I made for a sweet friend here in town.  This is a CASE of a card by Audrey Tokach - I just loved her idea of using a brush stroke stamp to make a striped background!

supplies: white cardstock for card base and Bristol smooth paper for watercoloring, Avery Elle's Brushed stamp and Simon's Audrey Blue ink, Wplus9's Doodle Buds, watercolored with my Spectrum Aqua markers, Simon's Sending & Wishing stamp set, moonshine sequins

And since this is 100% stamped, I'll enter this into Virginia's View challenge #16!

And here's another feminine birthday card, for my son's girlfriend.

supplies: white cardstock, various washi tapes, Hero Arts Zinnia Bloom, colored with markers and colored pencils, and Happy Stamp & Cut, Winnie & Walter's "birthday" sentiment from The Big,the Bold and the Happy

I ran across the floral and mint dot washis as a set on sale at Michael's and added the pink and black ones from my collection.  

Simon Says.........Furry Friends!

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

This week our theme is Furry Friends.  I can't wait to see the gallery fill up with your fun creations!.  The design team are showcasing Newton's Nook products this week.  If you have any of their fun products, we'd love to see them, but they're not necessarry to enter, as long as you follow our theme.

In our married life my husband and I have only owned 1 dog, a lab mix named Brandy.  We got him from the pound as a puppy after our youngest son wrote an essay in school saying how much he wanted a dog, and that we wouldn't allow him to have one - smart boy!.  Brandy, of course, became my dog, and he was with us for 16 years.  He was a character!  I still miss him!

So when I saw the new stamp set from Newton's Nook called Fetching Friendship, it went straight into my shopping cart!  Whoever the artist was for this set, she surely captured the expressions that I remember so well!  I chose 2 of the 3 images and made cards with them for this challenge.  This first one is a portrait of our Brandy.

supplies: Newton's Nook Fetching Friendship stamp set, colored with colored pencils and a blue marker, all Spectrum Noir, Simon's Stitched Rectangles dies, Doodlebug heart paper, Simon's Lipstick Red ink to stamp the heart

This is what Brandy would do when he wanted something from me: come and sit down and stare at me until I noticed him.  He could bark up a storm when a stranger entered the house, but we never were able to teach him to bark when he wanted our attention.  Here I tried to color him as I remember him; it took me several tries with many mediums, but these colored pencils finally did the trick.  Isn't this sentiment perfect to go with it?

The other thing I remember about him is that when you'd be talking to him, he'd tilt his head; such an endearing habit.  I also think this sentiment is so cute, and I was able to show you the party hat, gifts, and paw-prints, too, on this next card.  There are also a bone, a ball, and 3 other sentiments in this set!

supplies: Newton's Nook Fetching Friendship, a variety of washi tapes, VersaFine onyx black and vintage sepia inks, a red marker to color details

On this one, I stamped him on a light kraft cardstock, and then just lightly used the same colored pencil as above to do some detailing, then cut him out and popped him above the rest of the card.

Now it's your turn!  Heidi has yet again provided another $50.00 gift voucher

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

100% stamped!

I've been playing around with this older Penny Black stamp set called Every Happiness, and came up with a summery design I'd like to share today.  I love these citrus colors for summer!

supplies: Penny Black Every Happiness, Avery Elle Brushed, Ranger Lemon Twist, Electric Lime, and Cheese Puff  dye inks, Simon's Watt's Up? sentiment

I find it very amusing that when these brush stroke stamps came out a couple of years ago, I wanted nothing to do with them; fast forward to today, and I can't get enough of them!  Guess I'm just a slow learner!  

Since this is 100% stamped, I'd like to enter it into Virginia's View challenge for this month.

Birthday Wishes

Just recently found this set of washi tape at Michael's (the floral and mint dot) and wanted to have a play with it.  Yesterday I saw the new Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes challenge, and here is what I made for it:

supplies: Paper Smooches Blossoming Buds, colored in Prismacolor pencils, and sentiment from Lovely Thoughts, washi tapes from Michael's, Simon Says Stamp, and Doodlebug, Doodlebug and Basic Grey enamel dots

On Your Special Day

Once a month at the WPlus9 blog, Maureen has a Throwback Thursday challenge, using older stamps.  This month I was taken with her pretty pastel colors, and in particular, her heart card, so I set about making my own version:

supplies: Wplus9 Folk Art Florals and a few Fresh Cut Florals stamps, pale pink, melon, yellow and green inks, with the sentiment stamped in grey, pink pearls

Those curved leaf branches were a big help in making my heart shape!  I thought this would make a simple wedding or anniversary card, and with a change of sentiment, these soft colors would be perfect for a new baby, too!

Red, white, and blue!

The 2nd ReRun challenge is up at Winnie & Walter!  It's based on another set that I don't own, but I wanted to make a card anyway, inspired by Gayatri's Shine Bright card that was in that post.  And since today is the 4th of July, I wanted to get it posted today!

suppplies: white cardstock, W&W's Scenery: Stripes, Simon's Lipstick Red ink, Big,Bold Blessings, Hero Arts Navy ink, Lil Inker stitched star die, dp from My Mind's Eye, Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear sequins

Entering this also in the Sparkle & Shine challenge going on right now.

And another card for Color Throwdown

In my blog hopping yesterday I saw several cards that showcased colored pencils on a kraft background, and I thought I'd give that technique a try and use the colors from this week's Color Throwdown.

supplies: Hero Arts pool layering paper for card base, desert storm for panel, Altenew Painted Flowers, embossed in white and colored with PrismaColor pencils and gamsol, Winnie & Walter's the Big, the Bold, and the Happy cutaway and stamp set, white sequins from a Lawn Fawn Christmas mix

Hope You Have a Beautiful Day!

Once again, the ladies at the Color Throwdown have chosen some wonderful colors for us to create with!  Here's my entry for this week:

supplies: Hero Arts Circle Doily, embossed in white, Wplus9 Doodle Buds, pieced in dotty papers, orange and aqua sequins, board dp as background

Here's the inspiration and colors for this week:

Thanks for stopping by!  Looks like a great weekend coming up - enjoy your festivities, and be safe!

Simon Says..........Going Dotty!

This is my second post for today; if you'd like to see my Guest Design spot for the Paper Sweeties challenge, please scroll down a post, or click HERE.  Thanks!

Happy July!  It's Wednesday, too, and that means a brand new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge blog!

This week our theme is "Going Dotty!"  Please add something with dots to your creation.  The design team are showcasing Art Impression products this week.  If you have any of their fun products, we'd love to see them, but they're not necessary to enter, as long as you follow our theme.

I had a fun time paper-piecing and playing with a large variety of dotted papers this week:

supplies: Art Impressions Wildly Cute stamp set, BoBunny Soft Shades and Very Vintage Double Dot Designs paper pads, My Favorite Things Die-Namics Chevron Stripes die

I chose this Zoo Baby called Wildly Cute precisely because giraffes have spots/dots.  Then I decided to paper-piece him and use as many dotted papers as I could.

My second card uses a small Easter stamp -  I stamped it on 3 different colors of BoBunny dotted paper, shaded them a bit with colored pencils, then cut out the little birds and arranged them around my large die-cut sentiment:

supplies: Art Impressions Easter Chicks stamp set, BoBunny Soft Shades papers, colored pencils for shading,  Lawn Fawn Let's Polka papers, Lawn Fawn Scripty Hugs die, Winnie & Walter Big Bold Friends ("sending" sentiment)

Now it's your turn!  Our sweet generous Heidi has yet again provided another $50.00 gift voucher

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

Happy Birthday, USA!!

Back in June, I was lucky enough to win a Paper Sweeties challenge, and as part of my prize, I get to Guest Design with the team this week!  Debbie couldn't have chosen a more appropriate inspiration photo for me, as, if you look closely, this flag is actually a quilt!

Here's my take on it:

supplies: red and tan cardstock, My Favorite Things Die-Namics Quilt Square Cover-Up, red, blue and tan dps from various paper pads, Darice Quilt embossing folder, Simon's Happy Birthday die, Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold and the Happy sentiment, Paper Sweeties Apple Pie and Frosting flower sequins, Lil' Inker Stitched Stars die

I chose to use an antique tan color instead of pure white in my design, and I'm really pleased with the way my card turned out!  After I pieced and quilted my star, I wanted to add some more blue, so I die-cut a star for the center, and added some blue flower sequins.   

Thanks for visiting, and be sure to visit the Paper Sweeties blog to see what the Design Team did with this inspiration, and then I hope you'll play along, too!  The challenge is open all month long, and the winner gets a fun shopping spree at the Paper Sweeties store!

I think this card will work for the current Sparkle & Shine challenge, too, so I'm entering it there.

Pink scalloped hugs

Winnie & Walter has started a new challenge series they're calling ReRun, where they focus on a featured product for the month.  This month the product is  Parentville Extras.  I don't have that stamp set, but they have given us a loophole in that we can use one of the cards featured in the challenge article and put our own spin on it.  I chose the very first card shown, called Missing You, Friend, by Julie.  I loved her use of scallopped edges and vellum, and so, using what I have here, this is my take on her card:

supplies: pink, cream, and gold foil cardstock, vellum, W&W's the Big, the Bold, and the Extras (flowers and leaves) and the Big, the Bold and Friends (stamp set and cutaway), Spellbinder's scalloped dies, gold sequins

I basically used Julie's sketch. I love pink and gold together, so that was my color scheme.  I am still thrilled with being able to write "sending hugs" anytime I want, so that was my sentiment, and I used my only set of W&W flowers.  It goes without saying that at the top of my wishlist are the new In Bloom flower sets!

A Vintage design?

On Saturday, the Hero Arts Flickr group had another of our Scrambles, hosted by Cecilia.  She asked that we make a vintage design.  I remembered an older Hero Arts cling stamp called Circle Doily and embossed it in white over a newspaper print from a My Mind's Eye paper pad long discontinued, then stamped a sentiment and added some Prima Flowers.

It was an easy design to execute in our given 90 minutes, and I was pleased with the result, but the more I looked at it, I knew it would end up being one of those cards that have to be physically handed to someone......those flowers make it impossible to mail.  So I took them off and replaced them with some stamped flowers.

supplies: My Mind's Eye newspaper dp from a MME Lost & Found paper pad, Hero Arts Circle Doily, sentiment from Luscious Patterned Flowers, Altenew Painted Flowers, Paper Sweeties flower sequins

This one kind of looks like an old-fasioned tussie-mussie that Victorian ladies carried, really just a little bouquet of flowers wrapped in lace.

Which do you prefer?  Thanks for stopping by!

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!