Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Hard Work

I took some time this holiday weekend for a little stamping, just for fun.  I had recently discovered a fun new-to-me challenge that I wanted to play along with… the Time Out Challenge.  This week, the challenge was to be inspired by the phrase “May all your weeds be wildflowers.”  I decided to pull out my Watercolor Doodles panels from Simon Says Stamp to make a card for this challenge.  I’ve had these panels since last Fall, and have never used any until now!  I thought my daughter would like this card… she’s working pretty hard at school, making good grades and keeping her nose to the grindstone so I thought I’d send this to her this week.

Hard Work

I used my Zig watercolor markers to color the panel, using bright color (especially purple!) that I knew Kelsey would love.  I kept the design fairly simple, just mounting the panel to a piece of black card stock for a pop, then mounting it to a white card base.

That’s all for me today… thanks for stopping by!

Monday, May 30, 2016

Color Throwdown #394

swatch394

Hey there!  I have to hurry today and get my card uploaded for the current Color Throwdown challenge!  I actually made this several days ago, when my order came from Simon Says with this DARLING new stamp set and dies from Lawn Fawn!  As soon as I saw this new So Smooth stamp set and dies, I HAD to have them!  Here’s what I came up with…

Smooth Birthday

I knew the pink would be just perfect for the “smoothie” then I added a little bit of red with the strawberries, and some blue from the blueberries!  (Actually, if I was blending strawberries and blueberries, my smoothie would probably be more purple than pink, I suppose!  LOL)  I added a little more blue with the milk carton and the diagonal stripes in the border, and some more red with a few enamel dots.  This is definitely going to be a fun stamp set to play with!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Color Throwdown #393

swatch393

Broni picked some sweet colors this week for the Color Throwdown #393, so I decided to use them to make a birthday card for my BFF Barbara Anders, who had a birthday last week!  Here’s my card…

Color Throwdown #393

I used the Vintage Flowers stamp set from Altenew to make some beautiful pink roses, and layered them over a gray card stock panel that was stamped with the BG Wood Plank background from My Favorite Things.  The sentiment was created by using the Simon Says Sending die, die-cut from two layers of dark gray card stock, and the Best Hugs stamp set.  I embellished with a few pewter sequins.

Now, if only I could actually get this in the mail!  I always say I’m good at making cards… not so good at sending them!  Smile  Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Big Hugs Bear

Way back in January, I saw this DARLING card created by Amy Rysavy and I just knew I HAD to have that little bear stamp set and die!  So I headed over to Simon Says Stamp and quickly purchased the Bear Necessities stamps and matching dies!  I know, right?  TOO stinkin’ cute!  And then, as usual, I never got around to using them… until a few weeks ago, when I was at a retreat!  And for inspiration, I just decided to CASE Amy’s card.  Why mess with perfection?

Big Hugs Bear

There’s a little girl at our church who is very, very sick and so this was made to send to her.  The background is watercolored, and I added my own splatters in addition to borrowing Distressed Patterns from My Favorite Things from a friend (thanks Kirsty!)  For the sentiments, I used the Best Hugs stamp set, and Scripty Big Hugs dies from Simon Says.

Now that I’ve used this sweet bear, I must not neglect him/her!  It’s just too cute!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Color Throwdown #392

Hello friends!  Happy Wednesday!

swatch392

Have you seen the newest Color Throwdown #392?  I spotted it yesterday afternoon on Facebook and was instantly intimidated.  If you know me well, you know I don’t work well with blue!  But I also spotted this card by Kimberly Crawford that I had saved to one of my Pinterest boards, and my wheels got to turnin’!  So here’s what I came up with…

Color Throwdown #392

On a piece of Cement Gray card stock from My Favorite Things, I stamped the BG Thin Chevron background, then die-cut with Pierced Rectangle STAX Die-Namics.  Then I pulled out some Reverse Confetti products and die-cut "birthday" two times for dimension from the Fancy Words Confetti Cuts from Lush Lagoon card stock.  Then I used my Leafy Confetti Cuts and die-cut two branches from Sweet Tooth and Kraft card stocks.  I added the word "wishes" (from what stamp set I can't remember!) and embellished with a few black enamel dots!

Thanks to the Color Throwdown girls for another great challenge... I miss you, chicas!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Sunshine & Rainbows

Hi friends!  I have another card to share with you today that was made this past weekend.  I was lucky enough to get the brand new End of the Rainbow Die-Namics from My Favorite Things recently, and paired this new die with the Freshly Made Sketches sketch #235 to make this card…

Sunshine & Rainbows

I die-cut rainbow colors and layered them on a white card stock panel, then die-cut the panel using the Pierced Rectangle STAX Die-namics from MFT.  I used the Radiant Sun Die-Namics cut from Lemon Chiffon card stock, and die-cut the cloud from vellum to layer behind the sentiment banner.  The sentiment is from the Rainbow of Happiness stamp set, and the Color the Rainbow Die-Namics.  I freakin’ LOVE this new Rainbow die!!!

Happy Tuesday… thanks for stopping by!

Monday, May 9, 2016

Cards, Cards, Cards…

Hello friends!  I hope you had a great weekend, and to all the mothers out there, I hope you had a beautiful Mother’s Day!  I can honestly say that my kids treated me like royalty!  And I had time on Saturday getting crafty with friends and I got quite a few cards made this weekend!  Here are a few I’d love to share with you today!

My first card was made with a really fun Comforted by Carrots stamp that I picked up from Rubbernecker when I was at the Adventures in Stamping convention a few weeks ago.  I just found this sentiment to be so hilarious!  Thanks to my sweet friend Katie, I was able to add some die-cut carrots to this card by borrowing her Rooting for You stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn…

Why Carrots 2

Ha!  Don’t you love it?  That sentiment made me burst out laughing in the RN booth, so I had to buy it!  The layout for my card was inspired by the current sketch #71 at The Challenge, and I added some emerald green for Barbara’s current challenge at Crazy 4 Challenges.

Unfortunately, in the last two weeks I’ve needed three sympathy cards so here are two more I made this past weekend…

with Sympathy 2

For this first card, I used the current challenge #171 at CAS(E) this Sketch, and the current color challenge #340 from the Color Q.  I stamped the two smallest flowers from the LJD Scribble Roses from My Favorite Things in Versamark, heat embossed them in white, then watercolored in shades of rose and red.  I added a Polaroid frame behind the flowers, and the With Sympathy die from Simon Says Stamp.

with Sympathy 3

My second card uses my new favorite stamp, the Bunch of Tulips from Rubbernecker, and my layout was inspired by the current sketch #235 from Freshly Made Sketches.  I used Ranger Distress inks on the tulips, and again used the With Sympathy die from Simon Says Stamp.

Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by today!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Color Throwdown #391–Cool

My girls over at the Color Throwdown have another great color combo with today’s challenge!  Aren’t these flowers GORGEOUS??

swatch391

I wanted to make a really cute birthday card for one of my co-workers this week, so I reached for my BB Penguins in Paradise stamp set from My Favorite Things, and used these colors for a tropical-themed card…

Color Throwdown #391

(My shades of orange here didn’t end up being very prominent, but they’re there!)  I colored with Copics, and die-cut the penguin, tree and beach ball with the matching Die-Namics.  The background is a watercolor wash of Summer Splash and Blu Raspberry premium dye inks from MFT and is speckled with some drops of water and Perfect Pearls.

I’m trying not to jinx it, but I think I may have pulled out of my stamping slump!  Smile  SOOOOO happy about that, and sooooo happy that YOU stopped by today!  Thank you for all the kind comments!

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

A Spiffy Birthday

I stopped by the blog at My Favorite Things on Monday night, and found this wonderful combination of colors for the current Color Challenge #44, so I sat down for some creative time (since I happily no longer have to work late on Monday nights!)  So here’s the clean and simple design I came up with using the colors of Orange Fizz, Limelight, Grapesicle and Grape Jelly

Spiffy Birthday

I’ve had the LJD Terrific Ties stamps ever since they were released, but have just never taken the time to use them.  So finally, they got inky!  I die-cut four bow ties with the matching Die-Namics, then used my MISTI to stamp each one in the challenge colors.  (I actually stamped the top one with Orange Zest ink because my Orange Fizz ink had a very yellow-cast to it.)  For the background panel, I stamped the BG Grid background with Versamark ink, then heat embossed with white detail embossing powder.  I added a sentiment from the Ties stamp set, stamped on a flag banner, mounted with foam boosters, and added some enamel dots for embellishment.  Now I’m all ready for my next masculine birthday card need!

Thanks for the great color challenge, MFT… and thank YOU for stopping by today!

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Happy Mother’s Day

Well, Mother’s Day is approaching so of course I had to get a card made to send to my Mom!  I’m hoping she will love this…

Mother's Day Tulips

This Bunch of Tulips is a new stamp I got from Rubbernecker Stamps.  Ever since I saw Debby Hughes make this beautiful card, I have wanted these tulips, and finally bought the stamp at Adventures in Stamping last weekend in Akron.  I used Ranger Distress markers to color the red rubber stamp, then applied to Distress watercolor card stock that I had pre-wet.  I used the Happy Trio Die-Namics from My Favorite Things to cut the “happy” from platinum glitter card stock, and embellished with some gold sequins and linen twine.

I’m entering my card in the Crazy 4 Challenges #334 color challenge, and the Mother’s Day challenge #94 from the MarkerPOP blog.

C4C334        unnamed

I’m pretty sure my Mom will love this! 

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Curtain Call–With Sympathy

Hello stamping friends, how was your weekend?  I spent some time stamping, and it was wonderful!  One card I needed to make was a sympathy card for a friend at church who lost her Mom this past week.  As luck would have it, I already had the Altenew Vintage Flowers stamp set out on my work table, and when I saw the newest Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge today, I knew those flowers would work for my card!  I created a beautiful rose, and combined it with some blues and purples to go with the challenge and made this card…
with Sympathy
My rose was stamped with hybrid inks from My Favorite Things, from lightest to darkest Pink Lemonade, Cotton Candy, Ripe Raspberry and Cranberry Cocktail.  The leaves were stamped with Factory Green, Jellybean Green and Olive hybrid inks, and the little purple flower was stamped with Grapesicle and Lavender Fields.  I used Distress watercolor card stock and Blueberry premium dye ink from MFT for the background, splattering with more ink and some Perfect Pearls mixture.  On the left is a strip of purple gingham paper from this Doodlebug pad, and I added a die-cut sentiment using the Simon Says With Sympathy die.  I mounted my finished panel to a piece of Fog card stock.
I’m also entering my card in the current Work it Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp.\
charming FMS Final 234-001
I hope you’ve had a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!