BATS AND A SUNFLOWER

Have two challenge cards today and just getting in under the wire with both of them - sometimes just photographing, editing and then doing a post just causes me to miss deadlines.  

My sunflower card for Just Us Girls was stenciled using my blending brushes - masked the stencil so the colors would stay separate.  The red mat and the kraft card base reflect the red barn in the JUG photo.

I love making Halloween cards to send out and had fun making this one for The Paper Players tic-tac-toe challenge this week.  I used patterned paper from Graphics45 for my background and just made my little scene - blended black ink on the bottom and then some in the sky part to make it a little more spooky. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of the week!

INSPIRED BY...

Our theme for this month at A Blog Named Hero is "Inspired by...".  I have loved Yana Smakula's card designs forever and since she is a designer for Hero Arts, I had no problem finding one of her cards for inspiration.  A big thank you to Yana for allowing me to post the photo of her cards.

Yana's Cards

Yana did these cards with an overall design stamp, but since I didn't have a Hero Arts stamp that would cover the whole card front I used my new Hero Arts/Gina K. Friendship Blooms.  Both were stamped and embossed in gold and a few of the flowers were shaded with a gold pen.  Whereas Yana had masked off her stamping to give a 1/4" border for the card front, I trimmed my stamped pieces to 3.75x5 and popped them up with some thin fun foam.  The sentiment on the white card is from the HA Hello set and the one on the black card is from Everyday Sayings.

Find a card designer who inspires you and enter our challenge for this month and you will be in the running for a gift certificate from Hero Arts.

Thanks for visiting today and your kind comments always make me happy!

A CARD FOR CAT FOR THE CARD CHAIN CHALLENGE!

How about that for an alliterative title!!  The Card Chain Challenge for September uses some rather dark fall colors but managed to use them for my card for Cat!

I stenciled the background on kraft with black ink using the Winnie & Walter plaid stencil.  Die cut the maple leaves in dark red cs, black foam and kraft.  I think my chocolate color is more like mocha latte!!  Added a few Nuvo drops and done!

It's always fun to get happy mail from near and far, so join in the CCC sometime. Thanks for dropping by and always love to read your kind comments.

LACY LEAVES

About twelve years ago I visited Thailand and Malaysia with my son and his family.  While we were there we went to a huge Sunday market - vendors selling everything imaginable.  Among the treasures I found was a package of these gorgeous lacy leaves.  They have been in my stash ever since and never used.  So when I was doing the big destash, I decided they had to be used or they had to go bye-bye!

Too pretty to throw away and way too many to ever use by myself.  So I challenged one of my card groups to each make a card with them and also my friends, Greta and Cat. Everyone had about five or six leaves for using on a card.

I glued three together just at the top of the leaves and then tied with a twine bow.  Also found a small pad of barely used "Core'dinations" cardstock (do they still make that??).  Embossed with a wood frame die and then sanded off the color to reveal the kraft color in the paper core.  Cut this piece to 4x5.25" and mounted on a kraft card base.  Added the leaves up in the corner and the sentiment and done!!

Can't wait to see the cards from my card group and you can see Greta's and Cat's cards here and here.

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

FLORALS AND STRIPES

I recently took an online class with the focus of using fashion designs as inspiration and, of course, fashion and design are everywhere.  Well, there it was right in front of me in church this morning - a lady in front of me had this shirt on that had pale oatmeal flowers overlaid with gray stripes - the base was oatmeal also.  Totally inappropriate to snap a photo in church, but as soon as I was home I popped into the craft room and started on my card.

I stamped the new Gina K./Hero Arts collaborative florals in black on some oatmeal cardstock.  Then I placed a stripe stencil over it and added some soft granite stripes.  Trimmed it down to 3.75x5" and matted it in black.  Added the small sentiment and some Nuvo black drops and done!!

A Blog Named Hero has a new challenge starting tomorrow so be sure check it out - make a card and have a chance to win one of two Hero Arts gift certificates. 

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

COLORS AND A SKETCH

Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown came together for me today.  When I saw the FMS sketch I immediately thought of the Book Club stamps from Altenew and decided to color them in the CT colors.

I used my copics to color the flowers, die cut the piece with a wonky stitched frame and put it on a navy card base.  Added the sentiment and a few Nuvo drops and done.

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

 

CASING KRISTINA AND LYDIA

Kristina Werner and Lydia Evans are both designers that I always follow and am always so inspired by them.  Recently both of them have done watercolor techniques that I wanted to give a try.  

My first card was inspired by this card from Kristina.  I had a similar stamp set (Leaf Canopy from Altenew) and stamped it in autumn colors with distress inks - crushed olive, rusty hinge and wild honey.  Then I watercolored and splattered them just as Kristina did.  Changed up her design a bit by adding the sentiment in the lower right corner. This technique is so easy and fast and gives wonderful results.

This card from Lydia was the inspiration for my second card.  I used the stamps from Billowing Blossoms and also one from the Hope set along with the same Altenew watercolors.  The doodling accents were a little difficult for me because I have a really hard time being random, but think I did ok.

The colors (even tho mine are a bit brighter) from the "Lydia" card fit Color Throwdown for this week so am entering it there.

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

STRETCH YOUR STAMPS

This month our challenge at A Blog Named Hero is "Stretch Your Stamps" and I must admit this had me really stretching my brain!  I finally decided to use my Teacup Flowers as Christmas flowers as I thought one of the larger flowers looked like a poinsettia.

I began by stamping and die cutting multiples of the flowers and leaves - then coloring them with copic markers.  To arrange my flowers I used an acetate jig as I was going for a symmetrical balanced arrangement.

After figuring all that out, I used some Press 'N Seal to lift it up and then attach to my card.  Added this to a gold mat and then onto a navy card base.  Used some gold Nuvo drops and gold sequins to complete.  I'm pleased with the way it turned out and think it has a rather folk art look.

How are you going to stretch your stamps?  Have a go and enter your card here in our challenge this month - you'll have a chance at winning one of two Hero Arts gift certificates!!

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

ALTENEW ACADEMY RUNWAY INSPIRED

After going through my stash and doing a huge clean out and then a sale of it all and donating the leftovers to a school, I needed a little something to get me going again.  Altenew's Runway class was the perfect remedy.  It's sort of a combination of the old Runway challenge and Carissa Wiley's Muse class.  Over the weekend, I managed to do a card for each day's lesson - don't think I've ever finished my homework so early!!  Since I have six cards, I'm not going into much detail for each one.

Day 1 - Line

I used a Winnie & Walter stencil and Desert Night ink to created the background.  Vellum for the band and enamel dots mimic the belt on the jacket.  The sentiment is from SSS - You Matter.

Day 2 - Color

Altenew's Wallpaper Art stamps were used for the flower - orange Nuvo for the stamen to pick up the orange in the model's purse and a black border for the color in her scarf and boots.

Day 3 - Print

I couldn't help but use the leafy cover plate for my card after seeing this gorgeous gown.

Day 4 - Texture

  
The sheer flowered top called for vellum flowers - Wallpaper Art flowers embossed in white.

Day 5 - Shape and Form

When I saw this creation I immediately thought of Mid-Century frame die - the die cut was embossed in silver and the card base is silver metallic to recreate the shininess of the outfit.  Also rounded the corners of the card base to follow the form of the shoulders and sleeves.

Day 6 - Anything Goes

Jennifer used this design for inspiration today - used the flower and leaves from Adore You and pp from Enchanted Washes - flower and leaves were die cut and paper positioned in back.  Had a few smudges so covered them up with the sequins.

Thanks for enduring this lengthy post and love to read your kind comments.

CAS MIX-UP REMINDER

Have you tried the fun paper towel technique for this month's challenge yet? 

On my first card as guest designer, I used the imprint from the paper towel as my background.  Today I am using the actual paper towel.  

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The paper towel was two ply so I carefully separated it.  Then I put a thin layer of glue on a piece of white cardstock and adhered the paper towel.  Was able to do this twice since there were two pieces.  I put three of the infinity wood frames together with some washi tape and die cut.  Put these on a piece of fun foam and adhered to the card base.  Added the magnolia die cuts, the little sentiment and some raindrops and done.
 

There is still time to enter your card here.  Thanks for stopping by and always love to read your kind comments.

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GLIMMER INKS AND A POINSETTIA

I have used my Hero Arts metallic glimmer inks only a few times since I bought them last year - not good 'cause they give such lovely results.  So found a refresher from Jennifer McGuire on using them and went to town!

Stenciled the background with texture paste and set aside to dry.  Stamped in black ink and die cut the poinsettia (retired HA) and leaves and then watercolored.  Used the red, green and gold along with a bit of water.  To give a more yellow/green tint to the leaves, I mixed the green and gold together.  Put it all together on a little nest of gold thread and few sequins on a navy card base.  It all has such a pretty shine - but impossible to capture in the photo.

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 always love to read your kind comments.