PEONIES

Was playing around with distress inks and water with the EH mondo peony yesterday - today made them into two cards for two different challenges.

On both cards, I stamped and embossed the flowers and leaves on some watercolor paper and then smooshed with picked raspberry and wild honey.  The sentiment on both is from SSS "You Matter" set.  

The first card is for "Inspired by All the Little Things" and the second is "The Paper Players".  My colors aren't as vibrant as the challenge colors, but they're all there.

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

SENDING PRAYERS

I'm still "putting a flower on it" for A Blog Named Hero's April/May challenge even tho the current challenge is finished.  Another fun new challenge with prizes will be up tomorrow, but for today I'm still going with flowers (like that is anything new, eh??!!!)

I first stamped Altenew's gradient stripes in a pale gray ink and the Hero Arts flower from the April 2016 My Monthly Hero kit over the stripes.  Any one of Hero Arts gorgeous large flowers would work for creating a card similar to this.  Check out all they have here.  Then added the leaves from that set embossed in HA silver.  Finally die cut the "prayers" and stamped the rest of the sentiment.  Mounted this on a base of pale gray and done.

Be sure to check in tomorrow for a fun new challenge.  Thanks for visiting today and love to read your kind comments.

CASOLOGY GUEST DESIGNER

I am so pleased to be the

this week with a fun challenge

My first thought when Melissa sent me the theme was "Oh goodness - fish, mermaids - not a stamp in my collection like that!!"  But more brainstorming came up with words like waves and the color ultramarine - and I went with that!

Ultramarine literally means "beyond the sea" - it was the most expensive color Renaissance painters used because the pigment had to be imported from Asia.  So today I have ultramarine Dutch iris on a wavy background.

Colored my iris with copics and added them onto a wavy stitched background (courtesy of my friend, Cat). Spectrum Noir glitter on the flowers and sentiment along with a few clear raindrops finished off my card. The CAS in my card is lots of white space and one main focal point.

Will look forward to seeing your "marine" creations at CASology this week.  Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments always make my day!

BEAUTIFUL DAY

Before I left for London in early April, I stamped a bunch of flowers for coloring so I'd have something to do while Mike and Sarah were at work and the girls were in school.  I got a lot of practice in and now have quite a stash for card starters.

The beautiful day flower and leaves were stamped on gray paper for coloring.  I first did a layer of white before doing the shading.  The background stripes were cut from the same color paper as the flower.

I am entering this in The Paper Players tic-tac-toe challenge (flower, yellow, birthday), Cas-ual Fridays (April showers bring May flowers) and LaVon's LOVE challenge (anything goes). 

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

 

 

ANOTHER MAGNOLIA

Since the challenge theme this month at A Blog Named Hero is "Put a Flower On It", I decided to use alcohol inks to color this lovely new magnolia stamp from Hero Arts.

 

I first created a two pieces of alcohol inked Yupo paper - one in peach and one in green.  Then I embossed the flower in gold and fussy cut.  Did the same with the green - then adhered them together with a nest of gold thread on a vellum circle.  This is one of those cards that will be ready for a sentiment when I need a special card.

Be sure to enter your floral card here.  The challenge runs until May 10th - great prizes to be had - $50 g.c from Hero Arts for the winner and $25 g.c. for a random winner!

Thanks for visiting today and always enjoy reading your kind comments.

VOLLEYBALL ENGLAND CHAMPIONS

I mentioned in a recent post I was going to London for a few weeks. The reason I'm here is because my two granddaughters were playing in the England volleyball finals for girls under 18.  And yesterday was the most fabulous day - they won the gold and Anna (17) was the MVP!!!  Both girls played their sox off and Anna made the winning point in the 5th set!!!  They were playing against Tameside, a team from Manchester, who had beat them twice during the regular season.  Anna and Katie play for Richmond.  Katie is also on the under 16 team and they won the silver medal.  The boys team from Richmond took 2 golds.  These are club teams rather than teams from schools as at home.

 Anna is the bottom row center holding her MVP trophy and Katie is top row, 3rd from right.

Mike (son), me, Sarah (DIL), Anna (17), Katie (15), Diane (DIL), Kevin (son).

Am here for another ten days, but am keeping up with the card world as everyone here will be at work or school.  Will probably go into school with Sarah (head of a primary school in Kingston) several times - help out listening to the younger kids read and all the other stuff teachers need help with - too bad I don't have my stamps with me, I could teach them how to make cards:-)

All for now...

 

GOLDEN DRAGONFLY

Wanted to share another card featuring more of my Hero Arts favorite products for A Blog Named Hero even tho the current challenge is finished.  Be on the lookout tomorrow for a new challenge.

My favorite products here are the rectangle and circle infinity dies - they have a permanent home within easy reach on my desk!!  But that gorgeous new dragonfly die is easily going on the favorite list also.  Foiled the polka dot background as well as the dragonfly - he's very shiny!!

Hope you like my card and thanks for stopping by.

IF FRIENDS WERE FLOWERS...

I have no business making cards today since I have a zillion things to do before I'm off to London on Wednesday, but...!!

My friend, Cat, is the guest designer over at Inspired By All the Little Things and I just HAD to make a card.  The row of long stemmed flowers against the white inspired me.

I die cut all the little flowers from vellum and colored them on the back with copics.  Made the stems from twine and put them down with a fine line of glue (pretty messy - there must be a better way!)  The sentiment was stamped on a piece of vellum that was colored on the back with copic marker and then dotted with blending solution to give it sort of a cloudy look.  A few gold Nuvo drops on the flower centers finished it off.

 

I will absent for a few weeks but have a couple of posts scheduled and I'm sure I'll find some time to check out blogs while I"m gone (no sightseeing this trip, just family time).

Thanks for stopping by today and your wonderful comments always make my day!

 

HAPPY EASTER

When I first saw this stamp set from Studio Katia, I knew it was a "must have"!!  Not only perfect for Easter, but also for any other religious occasion like a confirmation or first holy communion card.  Then the challenge word from CASology this week was "cross" - perfect combo!!

After stamping the floral cross (black and silver embossed), I colored them with my Prismacolors and blended with gamsol.  The sentiment is from the same set.

Wishing you all a blessed Easter. Thanks for stopping by today.

MORE MAGNOLIA

Have another magnolia card for you today.  When I first received this new Hero Arts stamp, I decided I would use it with different mediums and different card designs for my A Blog Named Hero Facebook team posts this month.  In case you missed it, the first one is here.   Since I have been using it, it's fast become my favorite flower stamp - which is the challenge this month at A Blog Named Hero - use your favorite Hero Arts product.  Besides this stamp I love their embossing powders and black ink - use them all the time!

I colored with my polychromos again, but this time on kraft cs.  I laid down a base of white on the magnolia before adding color with two shades of pink.  The flowers were first stamped with Versamark and white embossed and the sentiment was stamped in black and clear embossed. I had to snip a bit of the flourish off on the "you" so I could get it to fit on the card properly.  Trimmed the piece down to 4"x5.25" and popped it up on a white card base with fun foam.  Added some white Nuvo drops and done.  TaeEun has a wonderful video showing how to color with pencils - she is a fantastic artist and you can learn so much from her.

Plan on experimenting with alcohol inks, watercolours and copics with this same stamp.

I have always had trouble positioning a wood block stamp.  To make things easier for myself, I peeled this stamp off the block and coated it with Aleene's Tack It Over and Over - I just put a little bit on the back and smooth it out with a credit card or something similar - let it dry overnite and you have a cling stamp to use in your MISTI. 

There's still time to create a card with your HA faves and enter it here.

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

80th BIRTHDAY

A friend asked me to make an 80th birthday card and here's what I designed for her.

I had a difficult time photographing the closeup of the hidden "80" (looks like a different color background) but you can get the idea.  My card is a combo of this card and one by Therese.  Inside the sentiment is "and fabulous!".  

Thanks for visiting today.

FOIL EASTER EGGS

Had this piece of alcohol inked and foiled Yupo paper on my desk for a bit and when I saw the challenge at CASology, it inspired me to use it.  

I first stamped some smaller eggs using Versamark all over the background piece for a little interest.  Next figured out where I wanted the eggs, stamped and embossed the sentiment and then adhered the eggs.  Mounted all on a white card base, added a few Nuvo drops and done.

In case you don't know how to do foil with alcohol inks, here is a link. 

Thanks for stopping by and also for your kind comments.

HOLLY

In the midst of finishing some Easter cards, I made a Christmas card at the last minute for the new challenge - CAS Christmas.

 

I stamped the HA holly and colored with copics.  Then used the alpha dies to cut out the word "joy" - cut three more sets of letters in white and stacked them.  Adhered the stamped piece to the base and then put my stacked letters back in place.  Added some Nuvo drops to the berries and done.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments make my day.

 

 

BIRTHDAY WREATH

I have never felt I've been any good at stamping a wreath - so decided to have another go at it - turned out fairly decent even tho it is rather oval shaped.  Think it has sort of a folk art look to it tho.

Sorry for the shadow from the sprig prop - didn't notice it when I took the photo this morning and had already mailed off the card to my granddaughter today.  Used EH stamps supporting breast cancer research which I bought last summer and have barely used.  Lots of little layering stamps in this set which I thought would work well for a wreath.   Added a few Nuvo drops for some texture and done.

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

MAGNOLIA

Hi all - this is my introductory post for A Blog Named Hero Facebook Team for 2018 - so made a special card with a new Hero Arts stamp for the new challenge year.

Created the background for my magnolia flower by stamping it with Versamark and white embossing it.  Stamped and embossed another flower on the same pale gray cs I used for the base and die cut - then colored with polychromos. I used a black glaze pen to make the tiny dots in the flower center. Trimmed the white panel and added to a light gray base.  The sentiment is stamped in black and clear embossed.  Popped up the flower with some foam tape, added a few sequins (tiny gold Nuvo drop in their centers), gold thread and done.

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to check out the A Blog Named Hero FB page for more Hero Arts inspiration.  Also check out my blog again for more ideas using this gorgeous stamp.