JULY CCC

My card this month for the Card Chain Challenge was sent off to JoAnne in the U.K.  I used the suggested colors of aqua, slate and amethyst and the theme of friendship.  

I stamped my floral bouquet background and then proceeded to color with my copics using aqua for the petals, slate for the leaves and amethyst for the little berries in between the large flowers.  Added some little black dots for fillers and the die cut sentiment.  Matted it in black onto a white card base and done.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

TIC TAC TOE CHALLENGE #75

I am guest designing today for the fun Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  Every week there's a great prompt to get your creative juices flowing and this week is no exception.  I chose the middle row across - blue, square and flower.

The blue background was a piece of alcohol inked yupo that was in my scrap basket.  I embossed the flower with Versamark and gold embossing powder and then used a die to cut my square.  Then using a set of stitched squares, I die cut a gold frame and using a larger frame dry embossed the card base.  Added the little sentiment and done.

Why not give this challenge a go this week - then add it to the challenge blog here.  Looking forward to seeing your creations.

Thanks for stopping by.

BEAUTIFUL DAY

Our challenge theme this month at A Blog Named Hero is embossing - I chose heat embossing for my card. 

I used the My Monthly Hero Kit from April 2016 for my card today - kit no longer available but many similar stamps are still for sale at Hero Arts.  I embossed the flower and leaves on watercolor paper by stamping in black ink and then heat embossing with clear powder.  I watercolored them and fussy cut because I didn't want an edge around them.  Used a black marker on the edges to cover up the white.  On the card base, I blended some speckled egg DO ink and then spattered with some black watercolor ink.  Glued on the rectangle frame and heat embossed the sentiment which is from the same stamp set.  Did the flower arrangement and done.  I really like how the narrow black frame sets off the flower and leaves.

 

Try some embossing for our challenge this month - heat embossing, embossing folder, stencil embossing or any other method you may like - they'll all be acceptable and you'll have a chance to win one of two gift cards from Hero Arts.  

Thanks for visiting today.

SPLIT 4

After seeing Loll, Cat and few other posts with the fun "split 4" cards, I decided I'd better finish mine and get them posted.

I used various stamp sets and inks to create my cards.  Trimmed them down and added some black borders, my die cut "hello" and a few Nuvo drops for accent.  This is such a fun way to create four cards at once.  I have been going through boxes of photos and found some of friends from ages ago and so am using these cards to write a note and include a photo memory.  Here is a link for this technique.

Hope you all have had a good weekend.

 

TIC TIAC TOE CHALLENGE #74

It's time for another Tic Tac Toe Challenge and I'm so pleased to be their guest designer today.  Was also pleased when Felicita sent me the board that there were so many ways for me to go.

I chose the bottom row across - pink, tropical flower and palm tree (the trunk of my palm tree is hiding behind those hibiscus).  I first just smooshed some watercolor paper in pinks and greens and then die cut the flowers and leaves.  The polka dot pattern is some washi tape. Arranged everything adding a sentiment and some black Nuvo drops and done.

Hope there's something here for sparking your creativity this week - looking forward to seeing your entries.

 

TRANSFORMATION

The stamp I used for the current Twofer Challenge is called "Transformation" - it is mainly this gorgeous butterfly that can be used is so many ways.

By looking at the stamp you can see how I used the flower part of the butterfly to create a totally different look with the same stamp.

For the large butterfly card, I smooshed watercolors onto a piece of  watercolor paper until I was happy with the colors on the plain side.  Then I added more watercolor for more depth on the flower side.  I filled in the body of the butterfly and flower stamen with a black glaze pen. The butterfly was fussy cut.  Added two gold frames and sequins and done with that one.  This will be an all occasion card as I didn't want to detract from the butterfly.

 

I stamped the flower part of the butterfly only in the corners with Versamark and embossed in gold.  Watercolored the flowers, added the gold frames and the large sentiment and done.  Both cards are on a navy card base.

I am also entering these cards in Seize the Birthday (non-neutral card base) and Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.

NASTURIUM SPOTLIGHT

Another card using Yana's no blend alcohol marker coloring.  This is such a fun way to color and for my card today I even took the plunge and colored the background in black - was so afraid I'd mess it up.  Used a fine tip marker to outline all the flowers and then just filled in the space.

Before coloring I used my black frame and marked a light pencil line where I needed to color.  I colored the nasturiums with Altenew warm sunshine, caramel toffee and paper bag.  The leaves were done with Copics YG01, YG63 and YG95.  I used the HA rectangle die to make my frame and also to cut out the white layer.  Mounted it all on a black base.  Added the little sentiment embossed in gold along with some gold sequins and black glaze dots in the centers of the flower.

I am entering my card at Kathy's 30 Day Coloring Challenge and also Virginia's Show & Share.

Tomorrow begins a new fun challenge at A Blog Named Hero along with prized for the winners - so be sure to check it out.

Thanks for stopping by.

BEST FISHES

Holy mackerel!!!  Hope you don't think I've gone off the deep end but here's a card without a flower anywhere.

I chose the middle row across for the TicTacToe Challenge this week - die cut, sea creature and circle.  Embossed the background with a wave die and then used a blending brush and DI to color in the background fish bowl/shaker part.  Stamped some grasses and rocks for the bottom of fish bowl and then added my gold fish.  Used some clear flat sequins in the bowl for "bubbles" and adhered the circle shaker part with more sequins and the sentiment over all.  This was another one of those challenges that when I first looked at it my first thought was "no way".  Stamps and dies are from Hero Arts.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

SUNFLOWERS & STRIPES

Flowers, stripes and stencils are the three items I chose to use for my Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge entry this week.  I also am entering this in The Flower Challenge where the challenge is summer/winter flowers-obviously these are my summer flowers.

Than

I die cut my sunflowers from three shades of coral and then used distress inks to do some shading on them - same for the leaves.  I did the stripes with a stencil and black soot DO ink.  Arranged my bouquet on the stripes, added the sentiment, a few enamel dots and done.

Thanks for stopping by.

NAPKIN CARDS

A week or so ago, a friend had several of us over for morning coffee in her beautiful backyard.  It was a lovely morning enjoying coffee, fruit, sweet rolls and being with friends (socially distanced).  The napkins (birds) Sally used were just gorgeous and took one home with me - and this weekend had a play around making a couple of cards from it and another napkin I had.

Had never done this before so had to do a little search on Google - found cling wrap and glue stick methods - didn't have a glue stick and didn't want to get the iron out.  Then had the idea that maybe double sided tape might work (I used 1" wide) - and it worked like a charm -  just laid it on the back of the napkin, making sure to butt up the edges.  Peeled the backing off half way and adhered to a piece of cardstock and then just peeled rest of it off.  Then I ran it through my Gemini, Jr. with a rectangle die - not only did it cut beautifully but also really smoothed out the napkin.  So made two "thanks" cards and left the others blank for future use.  For the leaves that I added, I blended forest moss and crushed olive DI and spattered with some water before cutting out.  Just thought that was a fun addition to those card fronts.  The bird napkin was a much heavier weight than the other one and worked much better. 

Hope all my USA friends have had a good 4th of July weekend - I'm really glad all the boom, boom, booming is over with for another year.  All for now.

SENDING YOU BIG HUGS

A few weeks ago with a Honey Bee order was a prestamped card for coloring - it's been on my desk and calling my name to get going and do some coloring.

I did Yana's no blend alcohol marker coloring again - I think I'm a bit hooked on that lately 'cause it's such fun!  The original HB card had the same area blocked off with a printed sentiment, but I wanted to jazz things up a bit.  Covered the center part with a band of white cardstock and bordered it with thin black strips.  Cut the "you" out six time and layered.  Lastly added the rest of the sentiment.  Used a black glaze pen to add a little definition to the stamen in the flower centers.  Aren't those little bees darling - too bad one of them is sort of covered up.

I am entering this in Kathy Racoussin's 30 Day Coloring Challenge, the SSS Flickr Challenge (friendship) and the SSSIGChallenge for July (friendship).

Supplies:

Stamps: You Matter (SSS); Spring Blossoms (HB)

Die: You (SSS)

Thanks for stopping by today.

 

 

FLORAL FANTASY

Here's my card that I'm sending to Jeanne in Minnesota for the June Card Chain Challenge.

 

I used the colors (peach, terracotta and pineapple) and a larger version of the sketch for my card.  To get the colors as close as possible to the ones required, I inked cardstock before die cutting.

Supplies:

Dies: Fantasy Floral

Thanks for stopping by.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW...

Our challenge this month at A Blog Named Hero is "something old, something new" - in other words, use an old Hero Arts stamp with a newer one.  The stamp I chose is a sunflower from back in the 90's - I took it off the wood block so I could use it in my stamp positioner.

I used masking to create the background sunflowers and had to fussy cut the main flower along with cutting a smaller area to give it dimension.  Since the stamp didn't come with leaves, I found some from another set that worked.  Gave the piece a black mat and added to a white card base.  The sentiment comes from a set I bought last fall.  Added a few yellow enamel dots for a little color and done!

You certainly have something old and something new in your stash for creating a card for this month's challenge - two great prizes are there to be won!

Supplies:

Stamps: Peonies (sentiment)

Ink: Intense Black 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

POPPY

Today's card is for three challenges - Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge  (polka dots, coloring and sparkle or polka dots, sequins and summer), Seize the Birthday (watercoloring) and Festive Friday (birthday, floral, CAS and single image).

I stamped my poppy on watercolor paper and used DI inks (worn lipstick, wild honey, abandoned coral, peeled paint and shabby shutters) to color my flower. The background "polka dot" piece was mounted on a champagne metallic card base (part of my sparkle altho difficult to see in the photo) and I stamped and embossed the sentiment.  I have no idea where the dotted background piece came from - have had it in my stash and was sort of "saving" it 'cause it was "too nice to use".  If anyone knows about this background die, I'd love to know who manufactured it or who sent it to me.  Anyway, finally attached the poppy to the card - and then remembered I was going to ink blend some color around it - too late:-(  So this morning, I used some DI speckled egg ink and did a little watercolor wash around it.  Added a few sequins with a dab of glossy accents in their centers - and done!

Thanks for visiting today.

JINGLE BELLS

When CAS Christmas announced their June theme, I was sure I had bells somewhere in my collection - alas, none to be found!  Then last week, Linda posted her cards with some really cute bells.  I bemoaned in my comment how cute they were and that I had no bells anywhere - a few days later there was an assortment of bells in my mailbox.  Managed to create two cards before getting them in under the deadline.

This card is pretty self-explanatory - layered the die cut circles with the copper bell on top - added a little copper thread and a Nuvo drop to attach to the top of the card.  I first stamped in black a small sentiment, but it smeared on the metallic cardstock - hence another small sentiment heat embossed in copper.  I really like the simplicity and the copper on this card.

Started this card by die cutting some dark green boughs and and a silver bell and it just wasn't talking to me - so tried black boughs and a gold bell on the silver metallic cardstock and it worked for me. Tied the bell onto the bough with some gold thread.  Had the sentiment still in my MISTI and just went with that embossed in gold.  A few gold sequins finished it off.

Thanks for visiting today.