BOHEMIAN GARDEN

A last minute card for CAS(E) This Sketch #129 and Essentials by Ellen Pin-Sights challenges.  I stamped the flowers and leaves in gold from Ellen Hutson's Bohemian Garden set and watercolored them with Zig Clean Brush markers.  The sentiment is from Clearly Besotted. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today and always enjoy the kind comments.  Betty

BLOOMING BUDS

Stamplorations has had a month long challenge for June to CASE a card from their posts - and I'm finally getting in at the last minute.  I used Deepti's card which she had created to CASE Virginia's card - and I'm not sure if that's who I should be CASing but anyway...??

 my card

Deepti's card

As is quite evident, the flower, stripes and gold were my inspiration.  I used Deepti's stamp Blooming Buds and colored with Zig Clean Brush watercolors.  The tags are MFT stitched tags.  The sentiment is also from Blooming Buds!

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

CANDLES AND FLOWERS

The challenge for Merry Monday #156 this week is candles and flowers.  Plenty of flowers in my stamping stuff, but nary a candle.  So I cut a strip of patterned paper, cut out a flame and embossed it in gold, added the gold embossed poinsettias and some pine branches - done.  I was afraid to stamp the sentiment before not being sure where to put it exactly and then afterwards I was afraid I'd mess the whole thing up - so added it on a matching strip. 

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

SCRAMBLE 121 AND CARD CONCEPT CHALLENGES

Today Cecelia challenged us to make a vintage card on the Hero Arts discussion group.  Only I was in such a hurry to make a card and get it posted, I didn't read the instructions very carefully  - Cecelia's sample card used a sketch from A Blog Named Hero and that's what I saw - hence a card where I loosely interpreted the sketch.

I embossed the HA butterfly in gold and then colored with my Zig Clean Color Brush watercolors.  The striped paper is from a DCWV foiled vellum pad which I cut with MFT's stitched basic edges.  The vellum leaves were cut with MB fresh foliage die.  I left a sentiment off to be added on another day.  Even if I did screw up on the 90 minute challenge, I really like how this card turned out.

I was thinking of the colors in this week's Card Concept Challenge as I created this card, so will enter it in that challenge too.  Not sure which category it is, but will go with "classy and elegant."

Thanks for stopping by and always enjoy reading your kind comments.  Betty

PTI MIM #215 and JUNE BLOG HOP

Today is a card that I made for two PTI challenges this week - the June blog hop and this week's Make-it-Monday (bringing the inside out).

I have made an inside out card before and they are so fun to make.  I used PTI's Rosie Posie and Hero Arts Thanks Stamp and Cut.  The sentiment was cut from PTI's gold adhesive paper.

 outside

inside

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

FUSION BUTTERFLY

This past week my friend, Jayne, sent me an old Hero Arts stamp (1994) which I had admired on her Flickr page.  She even sent me the card which features amazing paper pierching!  When I saw the new Fusion challenge for this week, I knew just which stamp to use.

The colors in the challenge photo are way too bright for me, but I think I managed to use them with this stamp.  I used my new Zig Clean Brush watercolors to paint the butterfly, flowers, etc.  After stamping, I fussy cut the piece and mounted with foam tape.

The sentiment is from PTI and embossed in Hero Arts white embossing powder.  Card base is from Hero Arts too.  Added a few clear sequins and done.

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

WINTERBERRY/RED BIRD

The challenge for this week on Merry Monday is red and white.  My little perched reed bird from Memory Box was die cut from red cardstock and coated with glossy accents.

 
The winterberry sprig die is also from Memory box with MME dark red enamel dots.   The background ferns were embossed with white Hero Arts embossing powder.  The card base is soft stone from PTI.

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

GIFT SET

I needed a little gift for someone who was especially kind to me, so made a set of cards.  I used Penny Black's Botanical Notes and my MISTI to stamp six cards with versamark which I then embossed with Ranger liquid platinum. Stamped a veriety of sentiments to add to the cards but only added a sentiment to one card.  The rest of the cards do not have a sentiment and I put double sided tape on the little sentiments so she can add whatever the occasion calls for.  All the sentiments are from Clearly Besotted and the cardstock is from Neenah metallics.

 

Thanks for stopping by and always enjoy reading your kind comments.  Betty

PINK BUTTERFLY

This afternoon I decided to make a card for CAS(E) This Sketch challenge - and after fiddling around with different ideas, I finally came up with something I liked.  I tried squares of paper with gold thread or the scribbles die and various butterflies and none of them worked for me - then I remembered my very old Hero Arts shadow stamps.  After experimenting with different colors, I settled on the ink and paper from the May SSS kit.

The dies I used were all from PTI - Life is Beautiful, Swoosh and Scribbles.  The base of the card is Neenah white gold cardstock.

I am also entering this in Time Out challenge - "happy the bride the sun shines on" (gold, the circle scribble and "congratulations") and a2z Scrapbooking's challenge for "new beginnings" (wedding card).

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

100 WEDDING INVITATIONS

A dear friend asked me to design and make her wedding invitations and here is the result!

I've erased their names for the photo from the top of the card but they were done in larger Edwardian script font and is a lovely contrast to the Ariel font block printing.

Since I had to make so many, it had to be simple to do and yet I wanted it to look quite classy also.  When I saw Julie Ebersole's Bold Blooms stamps and dies, that was it.  The invitation is printed on Neenah metallic white gold and the die cut is Neenah chalice silver cardstock.  I stamped the blooms in the corners with Colorbox silver pigment ink.  The vellum belly band holds both the invitation and the reply card.  Adhering the die cuts to the vellum band really went very quickly as I put some Glossy Accents in a Fineline bottle and was able to just use little dots of it.  This was thanks to Jennifer McGuire - see her video here.  Glossy accents dries so quickly that I didn't have to worry about having anything stick together when I stacked them.  I am doing the wedding program and will use the flower stamped in silver on that also.

Thanks for stopping by and always enjoy reading your kind comments!  Betty

HERO ARTS SCRAMBLE

Today was another 90 minute scramble at the Hero Arts Flickr group and Jayne challenged us to make a "card on a card".  I managed to make two cards although I didn't do the first one right.  Took me awhile to catch on and then did another.

Used the new HA hibiscus layered flower stamped with distress inks and a die cut sentiment from their Happy Stamp and Cut.

The backgrounds were pieces in my stash of playing around with watercolors which I cut from MFT stitched rectangles and tags.  Lift up the smaller tag on the second card and can stamp "birthday" or "anniversary" or whatever.

After being gone for two weeks this scramble was just I needed to get started again and way more fun than washing a suitcase full of dirty clothes!!!

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

MERRY MONDAY

Amazing tho it may seem, I actually created a card for the Merry Monday challenge on a Monday!!!  The challenge this week is newsprint.  I have had a digi poinsettia (no longer available) from Jane's Doodles on my Mac forever and printed it in different sizes on "Dearest Jane" paper from PTI (hope this counts as newsprint 'cause I really didn't have anything else that would go thru my printer).  I think this is my one and only success with a digi stamp!!

After fussy cutting three sizes of the flower, I took my new Hero Arts pink to red ombre ink pad and just smudged it over the papers.  For the leaves I used ripe avocado and simply chartreuse inks from PTI.  The card base is Neenah astroparche and the "merry" die is from Hero Arts.  The pearls are champagne colored from Michaels.

Thanks for visiting today and your kind comments.  Betty

HIBISCUS

I recently bought some of the new Hero Arts products from their new summer catalog - so today was the day to create with Color Layering Hibiscus.  After I figured out the layering positions and used my MISTI, the process was pretty easy and I tried out all sorts of color combinations.

I had Fusion's latest challenge in mind for the colors - couldn't quite bring myself to make the aqua that bright tho.  The leaves are die cut from Memory Box Fresh Foliage.  The clear gems in the flower centers are from Hero Arts but no longer available (they're similar to PTI's rainstones).  I am also entering this in Stampin' Celebration sketch challenge.

  

Thanks for stopping by and always enjoy reading your kind comments.  Betty                                             

MERRY MONDAY CHALLENGE

This week's challenge on Merry Monday is "non-evergreen trees".   After a bit of a search I settled on the Meadow Leaf die which I thought looked like a little tree.

 I die cut it three times from glitter paper and then snipped to create three sizes.  Cut the peace sentiment from PTI gold foil paper.  The base is Neenah white gold metallic cs.

Thanks for visiting and your kind comments.  Betty

PINE CONES

This week's Muse: Christmas Visions inspiration is a card with pine cones.  I used an old Technique Tuesday stamp as my focal point.  I colored the stamp with distress markers and then used my MISTI to repeatedly stamp until the colors were what I wanted.   Stamped an extra set of pine cones so that I could layer them over the edge of the frame.

The base of the card is SU crumb cake embossed with an old HA embossing folder.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts die cut from Neenah metallic cs.  The frame was die cut from MFT stitched rectangles.  The looped gold thread bow is DMC thread.  Although it's not apparent in the photo, the greens and pine cones are accented with Wink of Stella.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy reading your kind comments.  Betty

YELLOW AND GREY

I had Fusion's latest challenge in mind when I started creating this card a few days ago - unfortunately I procrastinated too long and missed the deadline.  So on to plan B - Paper Players has a "girly thanks" challenge and The Challenge colors are the same.

I have succumbed to buying more watercolors - this time it's the Kuretake Clear Color Brush Pens - love love love them - so easy to use.  The flower is Divine from Penny Black stamped in Ranger Archival ink.  The watercolored piece (die cut with MFT stitched rectanges) was mounted on HA wet cement layering paper and then on PTI soft stone.  The sentiment is from HA Messages with a Flourish stamped on PTI vellum in HA black dye ink.  This is my first attempt in watercoloring with these pens and finally feel quite successful in watercoloring.

Beverley suggested I add this to the challenge at Uniko Studios which is "flowers" - thanks, Beverley!

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

JOY TO THE WORLD

Another Christmas card for some more challenges today - Freshly Made Sketches #186 and CAS-ology.  After a suggestion from Hazel I am also entering this in MUSE : Christmas Visions (didn't even know about this challenge when I designed the card - is that serendipity??)

 

The poinsettia from Jane's Doodles Vintage Christmas was stamped and fussy cut.  The "joy" and little sentiment are from Ellen Hutson's Brushstroke Christmas.  Card base is Neenah Astroparche and enamel dot is from MME.

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

SEASON'S GREETINGS

The challenge this week at Merry Monday is to use a stencil.  I have had this Hero Arts stencil forever and have never used it as the tree - only to stencil circles.  So decided this was the perfect time to give it it's rightful use.

I used gold HA ink for the stenciling on Neenah metallic white gold paper.  The large "sending" sentiment is from SSS cut from Neenah gold metallic cs and the smaller is from Jane's Doodles embossed in Ranger gold tinsel powder.  The little gold star is from Teresa Collins.  Am also entering this in a2z Scrapbooking's May challenge.

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

BUTTERFLY TRIO

The Hero Arts scramble today is to use numbers in some way.

Used Hero Arts stamps embossed with Ranger liquid platinum.  The background paper is DCWV foil vellum and the card base is Hero mocha layering paper.  I die cut the trio openings from PTI's Take Three.  The sequin and sparkle enamel dot are from discontinued Teresa Collins.

In my rush to finish, photograph and post in 90 minutes, I forgot to put a sentiment on the front (had already layered it with foam tape).  Oh well...

After suggestions from some of my friends, I am entering this in Muse Challenge #117 - I think maybe their design was in the back of my mind when I created my card and didn't realize it - loved the dark neutral color of Michelle's inspiration with the gold accents!

Thanks for stopping by and your kind comments.  Betty

FEATURED FRIDAY BY BECCA

About a month ago I met up with Becca Cruger while visiting in Fargo, ND.  We spent two hours just talking and enjoying a latte at Starbucks.  Vast age difference and in the style of cards we create but I think stampers can relate no matter what!!  Anyway, today I am her featured Friday stamper so hop over there and check it out.  We each cased a card that I had made - had never done that before on one of my own cards and it was really fun - and Becca's card is fantastic.

Here is the CASE of my card that I did - used Neenah white gold metallic card for the base, retired Technique Tuesday Greenhouse Society flower, MME “Fancy That” pp, Ranger liquid platinum embossing powder, PTI Keep it Simple: Wedding Stamp Set, Hero Arts black dye ink, DMC gold metallic thread.

THANKS so much Becca - I really am honored!  Be sure to check out Becca's complete post at The Damsel of Distressed Cards and also the rest of her creations!

Thanks for stopping by today and your kind comments.  Betty