LEAF SILHOUETTE

The challenge this month at CAS Watercolour is to use a silhouette.  I finally thought of something that wasn't just a black or white silhouette in the regular sense of the word.  So I went back to my new Altenew striped leaf cover die and tried to work out what I was originally trying to do in this post.

I wanted just the die cuts bits all back on my card (without going mad) and finally figured out how to accomplish this.  First I die cut the leaves on a piece of watercolor paper using 3 layers of dryer sheets on the back so all the bits would stay in place.  Then I did a watercolor wash mixing my paints so I would get this peachy color.  After it was dry I covered it on the front with a piece of Press' n Seal.  Then I carefully removed the dryer sheets from the back making sure the bits of the die cut stayed stuck on the Press 'n Seal.

So now all the little pieces are stuck in place.  The other piece is warped from being wet and peeling it off.  Added dots of glue to the back side, positioned it over my card base and pressed all in place. Let it dry for a few minutes with an acrylic block on top. Again, gently and carefully, I peeled off the Press 'n Seal.  The larger pieces adhered really well, but did have to add more glue (used a glue pen) to get the bitty dots on the top and bottom and also some of the skinny pieces to stay in place.  Finished it all off with a simple sentiment on copper metallic paper and some copper Nuvo drops. I didn't time myself doing all this (am used to putzing around on a card) but would guess it  took about an hour.  Hope all this makes sense.

I ironed the other piece between two sheets of copy paper to flatten it, and made a shaker card which took no time at all.  

 Thanks for visiting and maybe reading all that description.

FALLING LEAVES

The challenge theme at A Blog Named Hero this month is "one layer" - and I must admit this is not easy for me to do.  So I put on my thinking cap and thought of ways I could give my card some dimension, texture and interest without adding layers.

First I used a large woodgrain stamp with a light tan ink to create my background.  Then added a variety of leaves - the little ones are from 2016 September MMH and the large one is a wood block stamp (HA) I've had for ages.  HA also has Color Layering Grateful Leaves which has lovely fall leaves which could also be used.  Picked out a selection of orange and gold inks and stamped my pattern.  The sentiment (also from September 2016 MMH kit) was stamped in black and embossed in clear.  Added some Spectrum Noir to all the leaves and a few copper Nuvo drops and done.

Hope you will find some wonderful ways to create a one layer card and enter our monthly challenge here - and be eligible to win a great prize from our sponsor this month.

Thanks for visiting today.  Happy creating,

A CHALLENGE WEEKEND

I went a little crazy this weekend in making cards for various challenges.  So here goes!!

This card is for two challenges - Ellen Hutson's Mix-It-Up (use EH and Honey Bee products) and The Paper Players (pink, green, silver and white).  The flower is EH Mondo Peony loosely watercolored and with Nuvo drops in the center.  The sentiment is from Honey Bee - cut from vellum and silver.  It's all on a green SU base (I think it's called moss).  

I made this card for CAS Mix-Up (watercolor wash, stamping and heat embossing).  After doing the peachy watercolor wash, I cut my piece down, stamped the magnolias from Clearly Besotted and embossed with HA copper powder.  Added some definition to the flowers with a Prismacolor pencil and copper Nuvo drops and finally added the sentiment.

CAS on Sunday's challenge is to use markers or pencils.  I first made my background with the same CB stamp embossed in the Altenew peach. I used Zig markers to lightly color three of the flowers and gave them more color with a Prismacolor pencil.  Added the little sentiment and some more Nuvo drops (I'm certainly loving them) and done.

Thanks for looking at this long post and love to read your kind comments.

MORE SKETCHY FLORAL

Both the Muse Challenge and the September Altenew Challenge have similar colors and mostly because my friend, Cat Craig, is the guest designer on Muse, I made one card for both.  I am also going to enter this in Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge.

After stamping Altenew's Sketchy Floral with their black crisp ink on Bristol paper, I colored my flowers and leaves with watercolor pencils and blended with a little water. Am loving copper these days - especially with shades of pink - so added it to the side strip and the sentiment along with some Nuvo copper for the flower centers.

 Thanks for stopping by and all your kind comments.

STRIPED LIEAVES

I received my new cover die from Altenew yesterday and couldn't wait to try it out.  Had this great plan in my mind about how I was going to use it - well, that never happened - several little glitches ocurred along the way.  So on to the rescue operation!!

 

First of all, I embossed two pieces of cs - one in HA copper and the other in Altenew golden peach.  I didn't put a dryer sheet under the peach one and the little pieces went all over the place.  I did use the dryer sheet method on the copper and ended up with just embossed leaves.  That was last nite and I just didn't want to deal with it anymore.  So this morning (from all the scattering of leaf bits) I adhered one leaf to the copper background - this was rather tedious - hence one leaf!!  Also some of the peach embossing came off so I covered it up with some Nuvo drops.  After adding another coat of embossing powder, the peach piece became a shaker card with a simple sentiment.  I'm happy with the way they turned out - ever since my accident tho, my favorite quote is "man plans and God laughs"!  I am "planning" on having another go at my original idea - we'll see how that works out!!

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.

AUGUST CARD CHAIN CHALLENGE

A new stamp from Altenew (Sketchy Floral) and a new friend in Georgia (Katie Mowery) are together today.  I only used the colors from the challenge for my card as I really wanted to try different techniques with this large stamp.

After stamping and embossing the flowers, I used a dauber and inks and just sponged on the color.  I also did  cards with regular watercolors and  Zigs, but liked this technique the best (plus it was very easy and fast).  This is such a large stamp, you can easily get two cards from one stamping. Used some gold Nuvo drops for the flower centers - done and dusted!

Thanks for visiting and love to read your kind comments.

MORE BACKGROUND EMBOSSING

I really liked how the background embossing looked on my card from the other day, so decided to give it a whirl with the HA hibiscus stamp.

Stamped the second layer of the smaller flower in the set with HA white embossing powder - also used the stamen and the leaves to fill in gaps - I'm still not very good at this background stamping - need to keep practicing!!!  Added some more flowers colored in various blues and the HA sentiment (also embossed).  Used a black glaze pen on the stamens of the flowers to give them more depth.  The card base is a soft grey which I think works particularly well with the white embossing.

The challenge theme at A Blog Named Hero this month is "embossing" and there is still time to enter here. 

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.

HIBISCUS

Curtain Call has an inspiration challenge using a hisbiscus going this week.  Have always found the HA hibiscus layering stamp so pretty and easy to stamp, especially when I use the Altenew inks which coordinate so beautifully.

This was a pretty quick and easy one to make - colored a bunch of the flowers and leaves and just put these on the chevron die cut background.  Will put a sentiment inside when the time comes to use the card.  Used a black glaze pen to give the stamens a little more definition.

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

HAPPY ECLIPSE DAY

I made this card awhile ago but thought it was a good one for this day of the total eclipse.  Will be having lunch with some friends and viewing the eclipse around 1 pm - Lincoln, NE is in a great spot for observing.  

Decided to add a pic of the eclipse - it was very cloudy but the eclipse is at the center top of the picture - it was very eerie - lots of wind and then it would die down, temp went from 84 down to 78, very silent - no birds chirping at all, never got as dark as i expected - it was really a unique experience.  Watched it at a friend's house -  had lunch including moon pies, sun chips - i made a green pea salad with cheese (the moon is made of green cheese!) - anyway a memorable day.

So to all of of you who read my blog, you truly do brighten my day.

FLOWER BACKGROUND

The challenge this month at The Flower Challenge is "background" - so I made three cards using the same technique with my MISTI.  I am also entering the first card in CAS on Friday where the theme is "birthday".

I used the third layer from Altenew's layered lily for the background which is white embossed.  Coordinating inks from Altenew were used for the colored flowers.  Added some Nuvo drops in colors that matched and done.

Thanks for stopping by and love your kind comments.

SALT STENCILED CHRISTMAS

It's quite rare for me to make a card that fits four challenges, but when I started playing around with a new (to me) stencil, I found it fit CAS Watercolour, Christmas Challenges, ABNH Embossing and Just Add Ink - Stencils.

I began with the HA stencil on watercolour paper using inks that would react with water and blended.  I left the stencil on the paper, lightly spritzed with water to dampen and sprinkled on some Celtic sea salt (rather large crystals) - let this dry naturally and scraped off the salt.  Made my card base background by embossing with the HA star confetti die.  After die cutting the stenciled piece with a HA rectangle and giving it a little border mat, I popped it up with some foam tape.  Added the glitter stars, some Spectrum Noir for a bit more glitz, and the sentiment (black ink, clear embossed) - done!

Thanks for visiting today and all your kind comments.

 

FLORAL WEDDING

The challenge theme this month at A Blog Named Hero is "embossing" and I wanted to make a wedding card in the bride's chosen colors (white, black and gold).

In order to have a a crisp black flower outline, I stamped the flowers and leaves with HA black dye ink several times and then clear embossed.  For sentiments or any outline I think this is best way to have a really crisp black line.  I do use my MISTI and stamp it twice so it stays wet long enough for embossing - but I have never had any trouble with this HA combo.  Masked the flowers with a Post-It so the leaves could look tucked under the flowers.  This piece was die cut with a HA rectangle die and popped up with thin fun foam on a white base.  Die cut the "happy" from some gold metallic paper and made a sentiment strip using gold embossing powder.  My flower is from the HA April 2016 kit.

There's plenty of time to enter your embossed creation at A Blog Named Hero and be eligible for a great prize.

 

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

SALTY BACKGROUND

The CAS watercolour challenge this month is to use salt on the card with watercolours.  Had seen the technique before but had never given it a try.  Since I had started making some Halloween cards decided to give it a go with a background and NBUS stamp.

 

I first stamped the woodland scene using my MISTI - had to give it multiple stampings since it was so difficult to get an even black on the watercolour paper - in the end I even filled in the bottom portion with a black brush marker to get it dark enough!  Waltercolored the background and added some Celtic sea salt - was hoping to get more definitive markings from the salt, but this was the best that I could get after leaving it to dry.  Added the little bats and the sentiment and done.

 

 

Am also entering this in LaVon's LOVE challenge where the theme this month is "critters".

 

Thanks for stopping by and am so appreciative your all your comments.