Gilded Thanks

Hi everyone.  This is a reminder of the CAS Mix Up April challenge - Stenciling.  I used stamping, stenciling, gilding flakes, heat embossing, and torn edge for today's card. :)

I had fun making this card.  The yellowy background is from my stash.  It's done on mixed media paper, smooshing the watercolour sprays (yellow, orange and pink) and then blotting with a paper towel to get a soft dreamy look.

I experimented with this card.  I used the gilding flake glue through a stencil.  Wasn't sure if it would work, so I just did a small test, adding a bit of gilding flake glue (it's a special glue) over a mesh stencil on the bottom right of my panel, then burnishing with gilding flakes.  Turns out it works really well, with the glue washing easily off the stencil, as long as you wash it right away.  I'll be doing more of this! :)  The large gilding flake butterfly is done using double-sided tape.

Here's a close-up ...

This was made for my dear friend Lee-Anne (Creatively LA) to thank her for being our Featured Designer this month.  Bonnie and I appreciate the time she took to create an amazing card for the launch of our April Challenge on April 1st.  And she created another fabulous card for today's reminder post.  Check it out HERE. Thanks again Lee-Anne.  xx

The challenge is open for another 9 days, so still lots of time to play along.  Hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Stamps:  Lots of Thanks Simon Says)
Paper:  White (Neenah); Mixed Media (Strathmore 400 Series)
Ink:  Versamrk
Accessories & Tools:  Watercolour sprays for the background ... mostly likely yellow, orange and pink (made from Liquid Watercolor Concentrate by Dick Blick), Moonlight Butterfly die (Memory Box), Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann), Textured Mesh stencil (Memory Box), Red Blaze Gilding Flakes (Cosmic Shimmer), Gilding flake glue (Cosmis Shimmer), Be Creative / Sookwang Tape, gold embossing powder heat tool

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up April Challenge - Stenciling

Smooshing with Inka Gold

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing my new video tutorial on Smooshing with Inka Gold. :)

I show two different ways in which to "smoosh" with inka gold --- the first using different colours of Inka Gold, and the second using just one colour of Inka Gold and Distress Re-inker.  The card above is the last (third) panel I made with the Gold and Distress Re-inker in the video.  :)

I hope you'll take a look at the video below, or you can watch it in a larger size on YouTube.  If you like the video, please give it a thumbs up to let me know! :) Thank you!  :)





To make the card above, I used the third (lightest) panel from the gold Inka Gold and Peacock Feather's Distress Re-inker for the background.  I die-cut the butterfly's body from the second panel (a bit darker).

I sponged Inka Gold onto white cardstock, once dry, I buffed it to a shine.  I then die-cut the top layer of the butterfly and the flourish from the sponged inka gold card stock.  The sentiment is stamped in Delicata gold ink to finish the card.

I'm entering the card into a few challenges.  Virginia's View wants to see Colouring this month ... I used my Inka Gold and Peacock Feathers distress ink to colour the background and the butterfly.  CAS-ology #168 is looking for a card that includes "You" ... I have "you" in the sentiment. :)

Addicted to Stamps & More #166 is Anything Goes. :)  ... and Simon Says Monday is looking for Watercolouring (I watercoloured with my Inka Gold!). :)


I hope you enjoy the card and video.  Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Stamps:  Butterfly Birthday Sentiment (Happy Little Stampers)

Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Peacock Feathers Distress Re-inker (concentrate) from Tim Holtz; Delicata Gold (Tsukineko)
Accessories & Tools:  Inka Gold wax paste in gold, palette knife, water mister, Moonlight and Kaleidoscope butterfly dies (Memory Box); Flourish #6 (Crafty Ann)

Challenges:

Virginia's View #19 - All things Coloured
CAS-ology #168 - You
ATS&M #166 - Anything Goes
Simon Says Monday - Watercolouring

With Sympathy and HLS Announcement

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing a sympathy card I made a little while ago for very good friend who's mother had recently passed away.  I CASED this card I made a while ago from my friend, Mary's birthday.  I used the same sprays and ghosting technique to make the background.  Then I added the two-layer die-cut butterfly, flourish, and heat embossed the sentiment in white.

I'm also sharing some exciting news.  Yesterday, Kylie (Kylie is Addicted to Stamps), owner of Happy Little Stampers Forum, HLS Challenge Blog, Addicted to CAS Challenge blog, and Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge blog (whew!!) :) ... launched her first release of Happy Little Stampers stamps.  It is very exciting, and I hope you'll check out the shop HERE and take a look at her first four sets of stamps that are available NOW! :)

For those of you outside of Australia ... Kylie is shipping internationally - YAY!  She has already shipped mine and I can't wait to get them and start playing!

The prices in the shop are in Australian currency, so you might want to keep that in mind.  That means the prices will be a lot less for anyone using U.S. currency (today's rate is $1 AUD = $0.73 USD) ... and even a little cheaper for my fellow Canadian's (today's rate is $1 AUD = $0.95 CDN).

Stamps:  Bloom of Hope (SU)

Paper:  White (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Green sprays, Leaf stencil cut with my Silhouette Cameo, Moonlight and Kaleidoscope butterfly dies (Memory Box), Flourish #6 (Crafty Ann), white embossing powder, heat tool

Summer Colours

This is my final reminder for the Happy Little Stampers June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists.  We've had a lot of wonderful entries, so if you have a chance, check out the gallery --- you will be inspired!! :)

Today I made another card using the Ghosting Technique.  This time I used my favourite colour combo that is just perfect for summer time. :)  I used small, white die-cuts to embellish so that I didn't cover up very much of the pretty background.

The background was made with three watercolour sprays (yellow, orange and magenta).  Once dry, I place this beautiful flower stencil (from STAMPlorations), over top.  I did use masking tape to hold my watercoloured background flat, but the stencil is simply placed on top (I find this easiest for removing the stencil quickly).  I spritzed with lots of clear water and removed the stencil right away (this is important, otherwise the water will seep underneath the stencil and blur the design). I waited about 10-15 seconds for the water to work into the watercolour paper and then blotted with a paper towel, which removes some of the colour where the water was.  LOVE this technique!

There seems to be a lot of challenges right now looking for stencils :)  ... so I'm entering this into Less Is More - Week #229 - Stenciling, and also AAA Cards #42 - Paste and/or Stencils.  Also entering into Simon Says Wednesday where they are looking for your favourite technique (right now mine is Stenciling), and I used a few snippets for my flourish and flowers, so I'm heading over to join the fun at the Snippets Playground. :)

ETA:  Used STAMPlorations stencil for this card, so I'm linking up to their blog for the Anything Goes challenge. :)

Stamps:  Be Happy Sentiments (Amy R)

Paper:  White card base and die-cuts (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Watercolour sprays (yellow, orange and magenta), made with concentrate from Dick Blick, water mister, Bold Florals stencil (STAMPlorations), Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann), Five Point Flower die (C.C. Designs), stylus and mat for shaping

Challenges:

HLS June CAS Challenge - Sprays / Mists
Less is More Week #229 - Stenciling
AAA Cards #42 - Paste and/or Stencils
Simon Says Wednesday - Favourite Technique
Snippets Playground Week #181 & 182
STAMPlorations Anything Goes

Embossing Folder Technique

While I was playing around with new techniques recent, I finally tried the Embossing Folder Stamping technique that I have seen done expertly for a long time by my good friend, Karen (Snippets).  She is the master at this technique.  Not only was I trying something new, but I used coloured card stock ... something I rarely use for card fronts. :)  LOVE the results.  For those that have not tried this, you ink up the raised design side on the inside of  an embossing folder.  Spritz with a little water, place your card stock inside and close it.  Press down with your hands a little, then remove card stock and let it dry. Easy, peasy and oh-so beautiful!!  Can't wait to try it again with different coloured inks on white card stock.

The background looks like watercolouring to me.  I love the randomness and flow of it. :)

This is not CAS so I won't be adding it to the HLS June CAS Challenge (Sprays / Mists), but wanted to share with you this water misting technique. :)  I also included a daisy (shaped a little differently than yesterday's card). :)

I'm heading to the Snippets Playground with this card.  Used lots of snippets for the flower. :)

* * * * *

A little housekeeping ... I have changed my comments settings so that everyone may comment (including anonymous users), but will need to review the comments before they are posted.  This means that your comments won't be published right away, but not long after you leave them.

I do love hearing from you, and if you have any questions or want to hear back from me, please remember to leave me your email address.  If you don't want your email published in the comments section, please email me directly by clicking on the "EMAIL ME" in the right hand column.

Thanks so much for taking the time to view my blog.  I love hearing from you.

UPDATE:  What was I thinking??  :)  I've only opened up my Anonymous commenting for a couple of hours and have already been inundated with spam messages, so I'm going back to the registered users.  If you would like to leave me a message, please join my site, otherwise send me an email.  Thanks!

Stamps:  A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie (SU!)
Ink:  Black (Memento); Cajun Craze, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Water mister, Musical Flourish emobssing folder (Cuttlebug), Snow drifts die (My Favorite Things), medium daisy punch (punch bunch), small sun punch (punch bunch), Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann), sponges

Challenges:
Snippets Playground Week #180

Stretching your Dies

Hi everyone.  Back with a reminder of Happy Little Stampers May CAS Challenge - Die-cuts and Punches.

I have been seeing some beautiful cards around with the layout above.  Love the split of the card front with pretty paper peeking out from underneath (coloured panel is made with brushos and lots of water).  I have so many techniques on my "to-do" list and this is one of them.  When I saw this card done by the very talented Angela (from the tool shed), it really inspired me to move this to the top of the list.  I hope you'll check out the link ... Angela's card is amazing!!

The reason for the title of this post ... it's always great when you can use a die for something other than it's original intended use.  This curved die is a snowbank die from My Favorite Things ... and it works perfectly for this design.

Bonnie is our Guest Designer this month, and she has made a fantastic die-cut card to share with you today. Check out the challenge blog to see.  Thanks Bonnie!!

I hope I've inspired you to join in our fun CAS challenge at Happy Little Stampers. The challenge is open until the end of the month, so there's still lots of time to play along.   Come join in the fun and add your CAS card with die-cuts or punches to the gallery.

There's also a DT call over at the Happy Little Stamper's blog.  Three calls in fact ... one for the Sketch challenge, and one for the CAS challenge ... and one for the new Christmas challenge that will be starting at HLS in July.  We hope to see lots of entries for these fun Design Teams ... come join in! :)

I'll be back again soon with a different way to use die-cuts.

I'm entering this card into ATS&M Challenge (#144 - CAS). :)

Edited to add:  I'm also adding this card to AAA Cards - celebrating a 1st birthday --- congrats to them!!

Stamps:  Happiest Birthday Wishes (SU!)

Paper:  White (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Smoky Slate (SU!); Brusho Colour Crystals (emerald green, purple, turquoise)
Accessories & Tools:  Snowdrifts die (My Favorite Things), Moonlight and Kaldeiscope Butterfly dies (Memory Box), water mister

Challenge:
HLS May CAS Challenge - Die-cuts
ATS&M #144 - CAS
AAA Cards - 1st Birthday

Happy Mother's Day

Hi everyone.  Wanted to wish all my readers that are mother's a Very Happy Mother's Day!! :)

This is the card I made for my Mom.  We are heading over to her place late this afternoon, along with my youngest son and his partner.  We are having dinner together, brought in from a local restaurant.  This afternoon my oldest son, his wife and their baby (my grandbaby) came by for afternoon tea.  It was so fun! :)

I kept my Mom's card CAS, using some saturated watercolouring for the butterfly. It's hard to tell, but there are a few different colours of inks used on this ... much prettier in real life and not all orange.  Don't you just love when the camera has a mind of it's own??!! :)  I stamped the background "splatters" in Versamark and the sentiment ... along with a sentiment inside the card that says "Happy Mother's Day, all embossed in gold.  I used gold card stock for the flourish and butterfly body.

This second card I made for Nikki (DDIL) ... she likes card that are not super CAS, so I wanted to make her something with a little more to it.  I watercoloured the background panel, added splatters and then stamped the flowers and watercolour them.  I do have fun with this technique.  I left it without a sentiment on the front ... there's one in the inside (Happy Mother's Day).  I thought she might want to frame it for a little picture to hang in their new home.  Nikki, Evan and Cooper will be moving into their new home at the end of May.  We are so happy for them.  They bought a three bedroom home with a large backyard. It's perfect for them. :)

I tried something different with this watercoloured panel to flatten it and it worked really well so will pass this along in case you might be interested.  I usually place my finished watercolour panels under some heavy books for a few days if it needs to be flattened.  With the above card, I used two brand new cutting plates and ran it through my Big Shot with a shim.  The pressure really helped to flatten it out.  Make sure to use new plates  because ones that have cuts on them will transfer a "design" of the cuts onto your card. :)  I also mounted it onto a thick white card stock panel that was the same size to make it completely flat. Worked perfectly! :)

That's it for me.  I really enjoyed making something special for both Mom and Nikki.

Have a wonderful day!

Butterfly card:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, Field Flowers (both from SU!); Mother's Day Bouquet (Annabelle Stamps ... sentiment on inside of cards)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Gold (SU!); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Liquid Watercolour Concentrate (orange, magenta, yellow) from Dick Blick, Moonlight Butterfly die (Memory Box), Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann), Gold embossing powder (Hero Arts)

Daisy card:
Stamps:  Daisy Thanks (Stampendous)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Archival Black (Ranger); Distress Inks:  Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany, Crushed Curry, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  waterbrushes, water mister, heat tool

Faux Mother of Pearl

Hi everyone.  We are already into the second week of the March CAS challenge ... and there are some gorgeous cards in the gallery.  I hope you'll check them out and join in the fun with you CAS Sponged cards!  :)

My card above uses the Faux Mother of Pearl technique.  I have made a youtube video to watch if you're interested in trying this technique.  Basically you randomly pounce a little shimmer paint using a scrunched up piece of cling wrap.  Once dry, you sponge over top with ink ... distress inks and dye inks work best.  The shimmer paint acts as a resist so the ink sits on top of the randomly pounced design --- you just puff it off with a dry paper towel.  Makes for an easy, but beautiful, design that can be used as a background or for die-cutting.  Today I simply punched out four squares from my Faux Mother of Pearl paper and added two-layer butterfly with a scroll die, which I hope looks like a butterfly trail.  :)  A simple sentiment and the card was done.

I hope you'll give this technique a try, or use any sponging technique that you like and join in our fun and easy challenge.  Be sure to keep your card CAS, use some sort of sponging and add to the link at Happy Little Stampers blog.

This is also a reminder of the Mixed Media Card Challenge - Hints of Spring that is running until Mar. 25.   Still lots of time to play! :)

I'll be back next week with a final reminder card for the challenge.  In the meantime, check out the cards below! :)

Butterfly Grid

Stamps:  Bitty Birthday (SU!)

Paper:   White (Neenah); Vellum - 40 lb. (Bazzill)

Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Melon Mambo, Smoky Slate (SU!) 

Accessories & Tools:   Frost Shimmer Paint (Tsukineko), cling wrap, sponges; Elegant Scrollwork die, Moonlight Butterfly die, Kaleidoscope Butterfly die (all from Memory Box)

____________________

I'm going to share a couple of more Faux Mother of Pearl cards I made while on the Dirty Dozen Design Team at SCS.  These haven't been posted on this blog before, so I'm sharing them today.  They are made from one piece of card stock done with the Faux Mother of Pearl technique.  I cut the piece up to create a background for the first card, and used the leftovers to die-cut the butterfly on the second card.

Flowery Thank You

Stamps:  Short and Sweet (SU!)

Paper:  White (Neenah); Whisper White, Bermuda Bay (SU!)

Ink:  Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Bermuda Bay (SU!)

Accessories & Tools:  Frost Shimmer Paint (Tsukineko), cling wrap, sponges, Madera Corner die (Memory Box), Hydrangea punch (Martha Stewart), Oval Nestability (Spellbinders), half pearls

Lacey Butterfly

Stamps:  Be Happy Sentiments (Amy R)

Paper:  White (Neenah); Whisper White (SU!)

Ink:  Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Bermuda Bay (SU!)

Accessories & Tools:  Frost Shimmer Paint (Tsukineko), cling wrap, sponges, Circle Nestability (Spellbinders), Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann); Moonlight Butterfly and Kaleidoscope Butterfly dies (Memory Box), Scoring Plate; Paper piercing tool, and mat

Challenges:

HLS March CAS Challenge - Sponging

Mixed Media Card Challenge - Hints of Spring

Daisy Hello

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of the February Sketch Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  Kylie has come up with another fabulous CAS sketch ... which can be used for ANY style of card (doesn't have to be CAS).  I hope you'll come and play along! :)

Here's the sketch ...

I did keep my card CAS (clean and simple), sponging a background using a starburst stencil, and adding a die-cut flourish with a little sponging around the edges to give it interest.  The daisy is punched and shaped using tweezers and a stylus (see my written tutorial here on how I shaped this flower).  I added a teeny, tiny bit of pattern with the brad I used for the center of the daisy.  A simple stamped sentiment finishes the card.  I wanted to match the colour of my brad and didn't have an ink that colour, so inked the stamp first with ripe persimmon and then one quick swipe with barn door and then stamped ... it matched pretty well. :)

That's about it ... pretty simple design.  Easy peasy card to make that didn't take very long.  I hope you'll come and play along with our sketch challenge.

And, if you also enter your card into the same challenge located on the Happy Little Stampers Forum, your name is automatically entered for a random draw prize.

____________________

You may have noticed that I haven't been around for a little while.  Just over a week ago, I was out for a nice walk with my hubby when I tripped and fell.  I tore a tendon in my leg and had to have surgery.  I've just been home from the hospital for a few days now.  The recovery is at least six weeks with not being able to put any weight on the one leg and have it straight at all times.  It's a challenge to say the least.  After that there will physio to get everything working properly again.  This means my on-line time  will be limited and I may not be get back to my studio for quite a while.   In the meantime, I have some pre-scheduled posts with some fun cards that I hope you'll check out.

Stamps:  Where Your Heart Is (Simon Says)
Paper:  White (Neenah); Pear Pizzazz (SU!)
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz (SU!); Mustard Seed, Ripe Persimmon, Barn Door (Distress inks by Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Starburst stencil cut with my Silhouette Cameo, sponges, Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann), Medium Daisy Punch (Punch bunch), Designer Brad (SU!), tweezers and stylus for shaping daisy, glue dots

Brushos and Butterfly --- Part 2

Hi everyone.  Today is the latest challenge for ATS&M (#124 - CAS).  Of course, you know that this is my favourite style of card, so I had fun! :)

This challenge is being sponsored by

Prize:  5 digital images

There's something about butterflies with the Brushos backgrounds.  Am loving them together! :)  I'm not one to use butterflies very often, but it just works :)

I continuing having fun with my Brushos colour crystals and used them again today for the main panel on this birthday card for my friend Frances ... it was her birthday a while back, but I have only recently given her this card (didn't want to mail it and have the butterfly crushed) :)  I kept the die-cuts simple, even adding vellum for the solid butterfly so nothing would cover up the gorgeous colours of the background.  I used glossy accents to attach the butterfly and lift the wings.  I hope you like it!

Please join us for the ATS&M #124 - CAS challenge.  Come check out the rest of the talented Design Team cards and the rules for the challenge.  We'd love to see your CAS cards in the gallery!

Stamps:  A Little Sentimental (Clearly Besotted)

Paper:  White card base and die-cuts (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press); Vellum (40 lb. Bazzill)
Ink:  Brushos colour crystals:  Turquoise, Emerald Green, Purple; Smoky Slate for sentiment (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  water mister, Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann); Moonlight Butterfly and Kaleidoscope Butterfly dies (Memory Box), glossy accents

Blushing Butterfly

Hi everyone.  I seem to be on a butterfly kick lately :)  This card is for several challenges, so I'll get right to the list ...

First, this was inspired by Diane, who was Queen For the Day at Splitcoast (QFTD209 - fionna51) last week.  I'm a little late to the party, but really wanted to honor her by CASEing (Copy And Share Everything) this beauty.  I changed up the colors, stenciled my background instead of using a patterned paper banner, and used splatters instead of pearls.  Congrats Diane ... I hope you enjoyed your special week!

This is my second entry into Virginia's View Challenge #2 - stenciling and Time Out Challenge #2 (Butterfly Motif).  I made my own stencil using my Cameo cutting machine, plastic clear sheet and a cut file from Silhouette America called "grid: diagonal".  To me it looked like lattice and made a great background for the flourish and butterfly.  You can just see a peek at the inside of the card, where I've added a strip of the same stenciling design for interest.

This is for the "Ways To Use It Challenge" (WT473 - New Beginnings) - this reminds me of the start of spring.  I also used a new product to make the card (my stencil).

This is also for the Free For All (F4A215 - tone-on-tone) ... I have three layers of tone-on-tone (white) in my card:  base, card front, butterfly and flourish.

And also for my first entry into this fairly new challenge - Card Concepts (#7 - include a butterfly).  I believe my style would be Clean and Layered.

And last, but not least ... this is for the current challenge at Simon Says - Happy Birthday, where they are celebrating their fifth year of challenges.  I made this a birthday card and used the butterfly dies that I purchased from SSS.  Happy Birthday to them!

I secured my stencil over my card front and sponged lightly with blushing bride ink, just filling in the top center area.  As mentioned above, I also added a strip of stenciled lattice to the inside of the card.

I removed the stencil and added splatters by tapping a paint brush dipped in smoky slate re-inker which had been diluted with water.  I die-cut the flourish and top layer of the butterfly from white card stock, and die-cut the solid butterfly image from vellum.  I stamped a simple sentiment to finish.

This has been a really nice day.  It's Gord's birthday and we headed to Crescent Beach for a walk and then out for a nice lunch.  The sun is shining and it's warm (but windy!) ... so nice to get out and enjoy the fresh ocean air! :)

Stamps:  Be Happy (Amy R)
Paper:  White (Neenah); Vellum
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Smoky Slate (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Silhouette Cameo, clear plastic sheets, sponge, paint brush, Big Shot, Flourish 6 die (Crafty Ann), Moonlight and Kaleidoscope Butterfly dies (Memory Box)

Challenges:
QFTD209
Virginia's View#2
Time Out #2
WT473
F4A215
Card Concept #7
Simon Says - Happy Birthday

Happy Thoughts for You

If you are looking for my DT card for the ATCAS Challenge, click here.

Hi everyone.  Time for another Saturday Challenge at Bugaboo's Catch the Bug Challenge Blog.  Today it's a Theme challenge ...

Indian Summer

We frequently have Indian Summer's here on the Westcoast of B.C.  In fact, September is one of my most favorite months ... the sun is shining, but it's cool and breezy.  Perfect weather to be out in the garden (another of my hobbies).

Today I colored three sunflowers that are a partial of a digi stamp from Bugaboo, called "Sunflowers Vase".  I didn't print off the vase part, instead printed the sunflowers in two different sizes, colored them and then mounted them on a beautiful flourish.  I even managed to include a piece of designer paper from my stash!


Here's a close-up:

Stamps:  Sunflowers Vase (Bugaboo); Sunny Sentiments (Amy R)
Paper:  White (C.C. Designs); watercolor; Early Espresso, Old Olive, Orchard Harvest DP - retired (SU!)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Old Olive (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Flourish #6 die (Crafty Ann), Tender Leaves die (Memory Box), blender pen, sponges, glue, adhesives, and dimensionals


I printed the sunflowers onto watercolor paper and used the marker layering technique to color (link to tutorial is on my Tutorials Page).  I die-cut two flourishes and two leaves, sponged the edges, and used my Old Olive Stampin' Write marker to draw in the embossed lines on the leaves to make them more visible.

I hope you'll join us for this week's Theme challenge - it's gonna' be fun!!  Check out Catch the Bug Challenge Blog to be inspired by all the beautiful cards from the rest of the Design Team.

A Card for Peggy

Hi everyone.  This card is for the SCS Challenge this week - Queen for the Day (QFTD175 - choose a previous Queen with the initials J-L), and I picked this card to CASE (copy and share everything).  I wanted to honor my good friend Peggy (jasonw1 on SCS).  I just love her elegant style.  She layers dies to create a work-of-art with every card she makes.  Many of Peggy's cards are monochromatic, with ivory being her favorite color so I used my ivory watercolor paper for this card.

Thank you Peggy ... not only for your inspiring cards, but also for your generous support of so many other crafters.

Here's a close-up of the flourishes and butterfly:

I die-cut the frame for the card front, positioned over my card base and then used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the sentiment.  I die-cut two flourishes (a gift from Peggy) and glued them at the base only.  I die-cut the two layers of butterfly, and then embossed the solid one with polka-dots (hard to see in the photo).  I glued the layers together at the "body" only and adhered on top of the flourishes.

Stamps:  Short and Sweet (SU!)
Paper:  Watercolor
Ink:  Soft Suede (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Apothecary Accent Framelits (SU!), Moonlight Butterfly and Kaleidoscope Butterfly dies (Memory Box), Flourish #6 (Crafty Ann), Polka-dot embossing folder (Sizzix for SU!), Stamp-a-ma-jig, adhesives, glue, glue dots, and dimensionals

Christmas in July

Hi everyone.  There are two new challenges up today that are both "Christmas in July" ... how perfect is that??!!  So I'm entering this card into the Paper Players Challenge #153 and CAS on Sunday Challenge #12.

I created a 3-D poinsettia using my Memory Box "Blooming Poinsettia" die.  If you're interested in knowing how I made the poinsettia, check out my tutorial.  I spent ages yesterday writing and photographing for the tutorial.  Not completely happy with the pics, but after several hours I was at the "this will do" point :)  It's the first tutorial I've written in over a year and I am a little out of practice.

Stamp:  Christmas Greetings (SU!)

Paper:  White (C.C. Designs); Real Red, Old Olive (SU!), Designer Paper ($1 store)

Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot, Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Blooming Poinsettia die (Poppy Stamps), Flourish#6 die (Crafty Ann), green glitter glue, gold glitter glue, stylus and mat, glue, adhesives, and dimensionals

Very little stamping on this card - just the sentiment.  I used my circle nestie to make the aperture which is lined with beautiful gold, white and taupe designer paper (a great find at the $1 store!).  The two green flourishes and poinsettia center are painted with green glitter glue ... and the poinsettia petals are painted with gold glitter glue.  I've added a 1 1/4" strip of the designer paper to the inside bottom of the card.  The card front is popped up from the card base ... and the poinsettia is also popped up ... lots of dimension here - definitely a hand-delivered Christmas card ... no going through the mail with this one!  :)

Here's a close-up: