CHRISTMAS TREES

Whenever I decide it's time to destash my stamps, I get sidetracked by stuff I forgot I had.  Yesterday it was Pine Trees by Penny Black that I bought on sale after Christmas.  It was the end of destashing for this weekend!!  Had to try it out for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge with the theme of trees and an added challenge from Darnell to do a twofer!

For my first card I stamped the trees in gold pigment ink on a 5.5x4.25 piece of black cardstock.  Then I die cut a piece from the center and cut a gold frame for it.  Put the original piece on a black card base, added black fun foam to the back of the framed piece and put it all together.  The little sentiment is gold embossed and the whole card was spattered with some gold metallic paint.

I first used a blending brush to make the blue sky on my second card.  I randomly added distress inks to the pine tree stamp and stamped - did this a couple of times until I had enough color.  Then I used a watercolor brush and not very much water to blend the colors.  Kristina Werner gave me the idea for this.  The area under the trees was also done this way.  Finally, I used white gouache to spatter some "snow" around my little scene.

Thanks for visiting today and love to read your kind comments.

CAS MIX-UP GD

I am so pleased to be the CAS Mix-Up guest designer this month.  Awhile back when Loll first showed her paper towel technique for making backgrounds, I gave it a try and just gave up on it.  So when Bonnie told me what the challenge was my first thought was that I had to figure out how to make a background that looked good and that I liked.  This time I couldn't give up!!  You really need LOTS of ink to make this work.

First I liberally smooshed broken china, salty ocean and peeled paint distress inks on my work surface and spritzed with water.  Blotted it all up with my paper towel and just kept doing that until there was a lot of color absorbed.  I let the paper towel dry and then continued the way Loll shows in her video.  On the left is the paper towel and on the right is my background.

I made a shaker using my new wood frame infinity dies and icicle sequins from Hero Arts with magnolia die cuts.  I'm really happy with the results - even had a large enough piece to make several cards.  I also managed to use the actual paper towel on a card - check back on 15 August to see my card.

Be sure to have a go at this fun technique and enter your card here.  Besides stamping and the technique, my mix-up items are die cutting and the shaker with sequins.

Thanks for visiting today and love to read your kind comments.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Do you have your Christmas card stash started yet?  If not, now's the time to get going - especially since you can enter our latest A Blog Named Hero challenge and have a chance to win a prize from Hero Arts!!

I started my card by stamping holly (HA stamp but no longer available) around the edge of my kraft card base with black ink.  Colored the holly with my polychromos (any colored pencils will work) layering the color from light to dark and then at the end going over it again with the lightest green to blend it all together.  Used some white gouache mixed with a little water to spatter some "snow".  Die cut the sentiment (a discontinued HA stamp & cut) twice in white and once in gold for a little more texture and to make the gold pop a bit more.  Finally added some red Nuvo drops.

Check out our challenge and get a head start on those Christmas cards!  You have until 10 August to enter!

Thanks for visiting today and always appreciate your kind comments.

DAISY

I have been having some fun simply watercoloring flowers which I have die cut from watercolor paper.  Thought the one on my card today looked rather like a daisy.

Made the shaker using my new HA wood frame die and also some HA sequins.   Added the little sentiment and a few more sequins to the flower center and done.

Am entering this in ATS CAS challenge where the code word is "daisy", Virginia's Show and Share, and CASology #348 where the code word is "shimmer" (lots of shimmer in those sequins with white space and one focal point).  

I am sending this card to my granddaughter, Katie, who lives in London, England.  She and her volleyball partner won the first ever female gold medal for England at the NEZVA (Northern European Zone Volleyball Association) Beach Volleyball Championships this past Sunday in Sweden.

Katie is on the left - she's 16.  I'm so proud of her!! 

Thanks for visiting today and always love to read your kind comments.

A COUPLE OF MORE CHALLENGES

I'm really not a "last minute" person, but seems that's what has happened with my card making this week.  Realized Darnell's Twofer challenge was ending tomorrow and have been meaning to enter since the theme is "garden" - but only came up with an idea today!!!

I used MFT's Flashy Florals for both cards.  On the sympathy card I just used two shades of gray ink and only stamped the base layer of the flowers and leaves.  The second card is a pop-up card a la Jennifer Mcguire's technique.  So difficult to photograph.  Some of the leaves are stamped inside the card but no matter how I propped it up to photograph it was just all shadows.  I am going to enter this card also at MFT's Birthday Challenge.

Thanks for visiting today and love to read your kind comments.

JULY CCC

This month I sent my Card Chain Challenge card to Robyn in Australia.  I used the challenge colors - purple, yellow and green - and the theme of friendship for design my card.

After stamping and embossing Altenew's sketchy floral, I watercoloured with my Zigs - added some spattering - and done.

I am entering my card in the Retro Rubber challenge where the colors are also purple, yellow and green.  This stamp came out in late 2017.

Thanks for stopping by and always love to read your kind comments.

PINK BOUQUET

Just getting my card in under the wire again for Color Throwdown #552.

Die cut my flowers from watercolour paper, dabbed some water on the them and then some pink watercolor.  Cut the little sprigs from some silver metallic paper and tied them and my flowers with some silver thread.  Added the white frame to a soft gray card, mounted the bouquet and little sentiment and done.

I am also entering this in CAS Watercolour challenge and MFT Birthday challenge for this month where the theme for both is "bouquet".

Thanks for stopping by.

90 MINUTE SCRAMBLE

This week Cindy revived a fun challenge on the Hero Arts Flickr group - make a card, photograph and post all within 90 minutes.  Our challenge was to make a long card.  I was so used to making top folding cards, I couldn't figure out how to make a long top fold card - duh!!!  So I made a 3"x6" card from a 12" piece of cardstock.  After I was all finished I realized I could have easily done a side fold card and made it long and narrow - math has never been my forte!!!!  Anyway, here's my card.

The gold frame was cut with my new Hero Arts Infinity Wood Frame die.   I die cut the flower from watercolor paper, put water on it, dabbed some pink watercolor in the center and just let it flow.  Used my heat gun to get it dry quickly.  Tied a little gold thread on it, added the sentiment and done in 65 minutes.  Now to find an envelope to fit my card.

Thanks for dropping by!

 

PRAYERS

Have another card for A Blog Named Hero that can be used for sympathy or for anyone who is going through a tough time.

The flower garden fancy die was mounted on light gray cardstock.    Die cut the "prayers" twice and offset them a bit and added the rest of sentiment.  Finally some Nuvo dream drops were added to the centers of the flower.  A very quick and easy card to make.

A new challenge begins tomorrow on A Blog Named Hero so be sure to stop by and check it out. 

Thanks for dropping by and for all your kind comments.

RETIREMENT CARD

A friend asked me to make a retirement card for her family doctor who is retiring - and she wanted something about him being such a classy dresser!  

I found a video on how to make a shirt card, dug through all my patterned paper and came up with this card.  Had to do the sentiment on my computer.  I think it turned out pretty cute and wasn't very difficult to do - did a little practicing with some copy paper first.  Photographed this quickly so that's why the card base looks crooked - just a shadow on the left.

Thanks for dropping by today and love to read your kind comments.

 

THANKS A MELON

When I saw the Color Throwdown challenge for this week, I knew I wanted to make a card with stamps I've had for at least twenty years!  Probably haven't used them in that long either!!  So am just getting in under the wire today with my card.

 

 

"Thanks a melon" for stopping by and for your kind comments!

 

 

MORE HOMEWORK

I'm finally getting around to posting the rest of my homework from Therese's 3D Floral Focus class from Altenew Academy. 

Day 2 - Monochromatic

Just alternated the layers of this peony to create this monochromatic look.  Added some stitched borders for some texture.

Day 3 - Inlay Die Cut

I had a terrible time doing this - I don't think my brain works in reverse!!!  But finally figured it out to some degree.  The dotted vellum is overlaid onto some dark blue/gray cardstock.

Day 5 - Design Paper & Washi

An extra card for day 5.  Used the same design as I did for my card the other day.  The black and white tape is actually packing tape that I adhered to a piece of white cardstock.

Day 6 -  Combining Stamps and Dies

I love how this turned out with the pale blue leaves in the background of the layered flowers.  Will decide later what kind of sentiment will be used.

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FLORAL, BIRTHDAY, WOOD + FANCY FOLD

A few weeks ago, Jennifer Mcguire did a video on how to make a bridge card - have been itching to have a go at it and along came Just Us Girls "fancy fold" challenge - perfect timing!!  Paper Players has a tic-tac-toe challenge going also so combined wood, floral and birthday along with my fancy fold.  Am also adding this to the Double D "tropical" challenge and the Altenew photo challenge for July.

To make my flowers I smooshed a variety of inks onto watercolour paper until I was happy with the results.  Then I used the dies from Altenew's Hibiscus Garden to die cut the layered flowers and leaves.  Made the base for my card with wood grained cardstock from Hero Arts (very nice and heavy and makes the card stand up perfectly).  Die cut an oval for my bridge, arranged the flowers, added the tiny sentiment and done.  I'm loving it!!

Thanks for stopping by and love to read your kind comments.

COVER THE CARD

Just getting in under the wire with a card for the current Seize the Birthday challenge - added topping is "cover the card".  I have the Concord & 9th Floral Fill-In papers and stencils (discontinued) and haven't used them in quite awhile - but found they were perfect for this challenge.

I used Altenew's pink pearl and coral bliss for stenciling in the flowers.  Cut down my background to 4.25x5.5 and used the happy die from The Ton and mounted it on a black card base. Stamped the tiny sentiment in Versamark and white embossed it.  Added a drop of Nuvo black to the centers of the flowers and done.

Thanks for visiting today and love to read your kind comments.