Saturday was World Card Making Day. I didn’t see all the Pinkfresh Studio Challenges until too late to participate. Thankfully the galleries are open until this weekend. I have a lovely collection of Pinkfresh stamps and dies, so Sunday I spent some time with my Pinkfresh stash. I have more I’d like to do, but the week is slipping away from me, through no fault of my own!

Here’s #1 using a “Shaker Tag” die cut, “Everyday Script” die cut, and two blooms from the “Celebrate Ephemera” pack for Challenge #1: Die Cutting and Challenge #6: No Stamping. The tag is one of several in a set, and it’s one of those Never Used Before Stuff that’s in my Pinkfresh collection. 

The next card is for Challenge #10: Watercolor. This time I watercolored the background and die cut the beautiful Pinkfresh Studio “Botanical Branch” from some Canyon Clay cardstock. A double layer of green (Asparagus from Gina K and a scrap of green paper from my stash) sets it off from the Canyon Clay card base. The sentiment isn’t PFS, but an oldie and favorite of mine “Wishes Come True” by Papertrey Ink. I added some Nuvo Crystal Glaze to the berries.

Number three ended up so differently than I imagined, and took way too long given it’s CAS design at the end. I used the new “From Our Home to Yours” stamp and die set. Love the little paths from one house to the other. Bright reds and greens and another Christmas card for the stash. 

The next card goes into two challenges: #4 – Monochromatic Colors and #5 – Stripes. I got out one of my birthday purchases which I’ve never used before, the “Color Block Gradiating Stripes.” I used the Pinkfresh ink cube set, “Urban Raincoat” for the stripes, and the “Phrase Builder: Hello” die cut for the sentiment.

Last (for now, at least) another card for the Stripes Challenge and the Clean and Simple Challenge. Again I used the “Gradiating Stripes,” and added a sentiment from the “Hanging Florals” stamp set. The leaves were in my stash, and are from Papertrey Ink’s “Forest Floor: Autumn.”

With any luck, I’ll have a couple more cards made by the weekend when the challenge galleries close. I’m also sending this over to Darnell’s NBUS Challenge.

The current Time Out Challenge is an “inspired by words” challenge:

My intent was to make a one layer card, and as you will see, that was a failed attempt. In the process, though, I came up with glittery card I know I’ll be able to use:

I started by partially stenciling Simon Says “Falling Stars” with some Nuvo Glitter paste. While that dried, I die cut the sentiment and champagne flutes with dies from Papertrey Ink’s “Uncorked” set. I used a pretty silver glitter paper from my scraps folder for the sentiment, and vellum for the glasses.

I embossed the champagne in the glasses with Bridal embossing powder, and adhered both to the card base. Here’s a closer look at the Glimmer Paste and the embossing on the glasses: 

There are two one layer challenges out there as well, so I haven’t totally given up on that idea, but I think this may be the only stamp set I have that has glasses. They look good die cut, but the stamp itself is a solid stamp, and I couldn’t find any ink that worked well. We’ll see if something comes up after a better search.

It’s Photo Inspiration week at Just Us Girls Challenge, and I can never resist stars as a subject for a card.

I’m never sure quite how a card will come together. Sometimes it’s quickly, and just as I imagined it. Sometimes it takes a lot of twists and turns and ends up totally differently than I anticipated. This card evolved. I started with the Memory Box stencil and Barn Door Distress Ink.

Originally the stencil was the size of a card front, and I tried a variety of things to add the black and white stripes and polka dots from the star banner in the photograph. I finally cut the stencil panel down, added some striped paper from My Favorite Things behind it, and attached it to some fun foam for some dimension before adding it to the black card base. I die cut the little polka-dot stars (Simon Says “Holiday Shapes) from another pack of paper from My Favorite Things, and added them to the larger stars.

There are three tiny black rhinestones for some added interest, and several of the stars got a coat of Wink of Stella glitter. Sadly none of the sparkle shows up in the photographs. The sentiment seemed a perfect match for the card and came from the “Sparkle and Shine” set by W+9.

We’re enjoying a very warm Sunday . . . hopefully not the last, but surely the last for the next couple of weeks. Lots of chilly, rainy weather in the forecast. I have a couple of big indoor projects to tackle, so it may just be a good thing, after all.

I have two cards to share for challenges that end in the next 24-48 hours. The first is The Flower Challenge where the prompt is pink and brown. I love that color combination, and finally had time this afternoon to create a card for it.

This card will also get entered the NBUS Challenge. I’ve had this “Floral Fun Cover” die from The Stamp Market for months now, and today was the first time I’ve pulled it out. I’m not a huge fan of jigsaw puzzles, but putting this together was certainly reminiscent of trying to find just the right puzzle piece. Had I given it a bit more thought, a different technique would have made it much easier, so I’ll try again with other colors.

I used two shades of pink–Raspberry Fizz and Lovely Lady by Papertrey Ink, and a pretty brown that I found in my scraps folder. The card quite a bit brighter than my usual style, and I might have preferred a more subtle color combination. I do know, however, that it’s just perfect for one of my friends.

After running the die cut through with all three colors, the next step was to put the pieces back in where I wanted them. It’s hard to tell, but I chose to inlay only the flowers and leaves, and not the background. The sentiment is also from The Stamp Market, “Tons of Type.”

The next challenge is Less is More, and the challenge this round is Shades of Purple.

For Less is More the card needs to be very CAS. Often folks think that the expanse of white space for a CAS card must be white, but colors are also acceptable, and in this case it’s black. 

I love the metallic watercolors on the black cardstock, and the lilac shimmer cardstock border on the deep purple card base really shows it off. The beautiful floral is from Altenew’s “Persian Motif,” and the embossed sentiment is from Sugar Peas “Everyday Sentiments” which I find myself reaching for over and over again. I used the Gina K Master Layout dies to cut the focal image and the thin border before adhering it to the Royal Velvet card base.

Here’s a closer look at the lovely metallic watercolors. It’s a set I bought after a class at a local stamp store, probably 20 years ago. It was put together by the class instructor so there is no indication of who the manufacturer is. 

I’m back just under the wire, for another entry into Seize the Birthday’s Die Cut challenge.

I actually made four variations on the same card. Like yesterday’s entry, these cards went out pretty quickly, and I never got around to posting them on the blog. Although one of them actually uses a die for the greeting, I’m entering one with the optional stamped sentiment to the challenge.

In order to create just one card, I needed to die cut a variety of different colors, leaving me with plenty of choices to create more cards. The die, The Stamp Market’s “Color Block 1,”  appealed to me because I felt like it created cards that worked (depending on the colors used) for both males and females–a win/win in my book since so many of my stamps lean toward female recipients.

All the papers used are also from The Stamp Market, and they are so bright and cheerful.

The die cut circle for the sentiment is from Simon Says “Stitched Circles,” and the greeting which fit perfectly inside is from Papertrey Ink’s “Birthday Bash Sentiments” which I turn to over and over again. 

Hope your week is off to a good start. It’s been very chilly here—good for crafting and organizing, not so good for spending time on the patio. It’s supposed to warm up again for the next week, and I hope to make good use of the warmer weather to get outside again while I can.