Skip to content

Vellum Overlays

  • by

One of the lessons at the Online Card Class Spring Card Camp 2 was on creating vellum overlays. I loved the three cards Caly Person created and set off to create some myself. I have to admit I’m lukewarm about the results. I find vellum difficult to work with, and tried a variety of adhesive sprays and techniques, none of which worked quite the way I would have liked. In retrospect, I should have used a product called Stick-it which I own, but for some reason never considered. More than one attempt hit the circular file. Nonetheless, I ended up with four cards–some of which I like better than others. The first card incorporates an Altenew flower that I created after seeing a video Erum Tasneem posted a week or so ago. It’s a loose watercolor technique that used watercolor markers. Here’s a look at the flowers that I posted on Instagram.

WatercoloredFlowers

And here’s the first of the vellum cards. 

BlueVellumBorder

The Bold Border die from Papertrey Ink is called Wave, and I’ve used it to great effect by cutting it from black and layering it on a white card. It’s OK on this card, and it was one of the few where I didn’t have a lot of trouble with adhesive.

BlueVellumClose

Next up is the first card I created. I used another Papertrey Ink die, this one is the Butterfly cover plate. It’s perfect for Caly’s technique, but I didn’t think the butterflies offered a lot of contrast over the ink-blended background. I added some shimmer to the middle butterfly and some sequins as well. It is, however, another good entry for the AAA Birthday challenge: Wings. 

#13 (1)

ButterflyVellum

The next card presented the worst of the adhesive problems. I die cut the border frame by Ink to Paper from dotted vellum. I decided the border was too wide, so I used a rectangle die from Spellbinders to cut it down a bit, and ended up with a smaller frame you’ll see in the next card.

PinkVellum

The flower was another one I colored with watercolors for the #100DayProject. I die cut all of them and have them in a small bag to use as needed. The sentiment from Pretty Pink Posh was white embossed. It’s a pleasing CAS design despite the difficulties.

The last card uses the smaller vellum frame and some more of the watercolored flowers. Of the four, it’s my favorite, but the least like any Caly presented during the lesson.

YellowVellum

The flowers are from a Simon Says set, Spring Flowers. I have had two of their spring flower sets forever, and had never used them before. I knew I’d like them. Why it’s taken so long to get them out is beyond me! The sentiment is from Pretty Pink Posh as well.

 

 

 

Colorful Butterflies

  • by

My #100DayChallenge is proving to be very productive, so I have lots of images now to use for cards. This week I spent some time putting together some, so the blog will be more active than usual in the next week or so. I hoped to get this post up several days ago, but trying to keep up with both the #100DayChallenge and two Online Card Classes my days go by even faster than usual. Given the stay-at-home orders, I guess that’s a good thing.

This coloring piece was lots of fun. It’s a preprinted (on watercolor paper) design by Suzy Plantamura and sold by Simon Says Stamps. I’ve received several of these in the monthly card kits. For this one I used my Zig Clean Color markers.

ColorfulButterflies

I really love the gorgeous colors, and wish I had another one of these to paint. Sadly, they come in packs of ten different designs, some of which I really like, and others I’d be unlikely to use. 

ColorfulButterfliesFlat

I’m linking this up to AAA Birthday where the challenge is “Wings” and to Seize the Birthday without the optional twist.

#13 (1)

STB-AnythingGoes

 

Multiple Cards with Die Cuts

  • by

I have another entry into the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge to use a die cut. I made eight cards with The Stamp Market’s “Rainbow Stripes” die and a sentiment from Sugar Pea’s “Everyday Sentiments” which I seem to reach for over and over again.

SendingHugs

Once you die cut enough rainbows to create one, you’ve got a total of four cards just mixing the colors up. I did that twice, and sent them out to friends local and miles away. I wanted to be sure they reached everyone before I posted them. 

Here’s a closer look at one of them.

Hugs1

I think bright and cheery is the theme for cards during this unsettled time. Hope you’re doing well!

Wednesdayblog-logo

Happy Mother’s Day

  • by

In normal times, which this is not, we’d be celebrating Mother’s Day with Tracy’s family at brunch. Last year I think there were 11 of us. This year we’ll be delivering gifts and cards to his mom and Betsy. Sarah’s went in the mail early last week, as did cards to my two sister-in-laws. I thought I’d share them here and enter some of them in some challenges.

First off, cards for Sarah and Betsy. As soon as I saw this die and stamp set by Concord and 9th, I ordered it. I knew I’d find lots of ways to use it, although Mother’s Day didn’t occur to me until later. Fortunately, after I ordered it, Kristina Werner posted a video using the die which saved me a lot of time since her directions for assembling it are so clear and explicit. The moms may wonder at first why there’s a camera on their Mother’s Day card—neither of them are photographers—but once they pull down the tab, I think they’ll understand.

Mother'sDayCameras

SarahFlat

BetsyFlat

I posted my mother-in-law’s card quite some time ago, and put it aside. The cards for my two sisters-in law were watercolored early last week for the coloring projects, and turned into cards quickly. I drove them out to the main post office Wednesday so I’m pretty sure they arrived on time.

Mother'sDayPink

Mother'sDayPinkFlat

Both cards are very similar and use a floral image from my newest stamp set, “Bouquet Builder 1” by Waffle Flower. I watercolored a background, let it dry and then stamped the floral image and watercolored it. The first one was embossed in white, and the second with Altenew’s Obsidian Black Ink which stamps sharply in one go even on watercolor paper.

Mother'sDayYellow

Mother'sDayYellowFlat

I actually cut apart a sentiment stamp from Clearly Besotted to use on these cards. The attached sentiment was meant to be given to your mother, and my mother passed away over 50 years ago, so I knew I’d never have a reason to use it. It was a tedious process using a craft knife, but was worth it in the end. I tried it on vellum, but didn’t care for it, so used an old banner die from Papertrey Ink.

If you’re celebrating Mother’s Day today, I hope you have a lovely day. Despite our social separation, I’m looking forward to FaceTime and Zoom calls later today.

I’m entering the pink floral card in CAS on Friday Challenge: favorite floral. This new set is definitely a favorite. I have lots of ideas for coloring the images for the 100 Day Project. I’m also entering it in The Card Concept Challenge–Mother’s Day! The pink flowers in the photograph and the theme make it a very appropriate choice. It fits their category: Clean and Simple. 

Fan FridayTCC134 0429

And finally, I’m tossing one of the camera cards in the ring at  Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Use a Die Cut or a Punch.

Wednesdayblog-logo

 

Five in Five: May Blooms in the Greenhouse

  • by

I ought to stop complaining about our weather, but really—-it has snowed the last two days and more is expected tomorrow. At least it’s not accumulating here, as it is both south and north of us. Yesterday we drove to the Finger Lakes to pick up our spring allotment of wine from Boundary Breaks where we belong to the wine club. Afterwards we walked 2 miles on the Seneca-Cayuga Canal Trail — yes, it was snowing. The highlight of the walk was spotting a blue bird which neither of us have ever seen despite the fact that it is New York’s state bird. Our next stop was Horning’s Nursery and Garden Center in Penn Yan. I’m not sure why garden centers are considered essential services, but I’m glad they are. Everyone is very careful to maintain appropriate social distancing, and it’s now required that you wear a mask wherever you go in New York state. I decided it was a great place to get my 5 in 5 photos for Sandie’s monthly meme. so here are the bright, beautiful colors we’re waiting for:

IMG_3725ed

IMG_3726ed

IMG_3728ed

This nursery is run by an Amish family and their plants are always very healthy, well-cared for, and reasonable. We bought one of the large hanging pots of red geraniums found in this greenhouse. As well as two of these pretty geraniums and some vinca vine for a pot on our patio.

IMG_3729ed

Although we didn’t buy any this trip, here are my favorites—Martha Washington geraniums. They’ll probably go in the cart in a few weeks when we return just before Memorial Day when it will finally be safe to plant annuals.

IMG_3731ed

We had already gotten in the car when I remembered I wanted to take photos for this blog post, so these definitely fit into the requirements for the meme: five photos in five minutes!

April OLW Recap

  • by

COMMIT has remained a good word for these unusual times, although the goals for April evolved as the month progressed. This, I’m sure, will be the new normal for the summer ahead. All our plans for travel and special events have now been cancelled through the end of August. I’m still holding out hope for a trip to Wisconsin before summer ends, but we’ll have to wait and see what things are like, not only here but in all the states between here and there. If things were normal, we’d be there now to celebrate Mother’s Day and my birthday. Thank goodness for FaceTime and Zoom. 

Like the pandemic, winter has still not lessened its grip on western New York. Trees have still not leafed out, but the birds are returning. In the last two weeks, we’ve had rose-breasted grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, many yellow finches, and a red-winged blackbird and a cowbird at our feeders. The last two are new are new to our yard. 

I finished Sandie’s 30 Day Photo Challenge, and managed a photo-a-day–again all on my iPhone.

April2020

In the middle, you’ll see a couple photos of grandchildren I did not take, but were sent to me by my kids. Twelve of the photos were from our almost-daily walks and hikes. We tallied over 57 miles during April, 24 of them on the Lehigh Valley Trail. There are also three photos of food. I’ve really enjoy cooking, and there could have been many more photos. I’m trying 2-3 new recipes each week, and doing some baking which is really unusual. The walking seems to be offsetting the increased calories!

So back to goals, on the 7th of April I committed to doing a 100 Day Project–daily coloring in any medium which coincided with Kathy Racoosen’s 30 Day Coloring Challenge. It’s a good project, challenging me to try some new techniques as well as get out a variety of coloring mediums. Amazingly enough, I’ve managed to post on Instagram regularly as well. I also signed up for an Online Card Class which I’ve enjoyed. I completed several projects, and have several more I want to tackle.

Another new goal emerged a week or two later when I received notice that my iCloud storage was about full. After offloading about 90% of my documents to an external hard drive, I started to tackle the incredible numbers of photos in my Photos app that go back to 2006. I’m about halfway through (now working on 2013) and have purged over 11,000 photos. It’s been a good trip through memory lane and a reminder to henceforth delete duplicates and blurry photos as you go. (As well as the multiple photos I take solely for my blog.)

I read seven books:

ThingsseenLent Light of the world Writerslovers

Wonder Dearlife Gallagher

I particularly enjoyed Writers and Lovers, the only romantic novel on the list. I found some of Alice Munro’s short stories challenging, but in the end understand why she has received so many accolades. Although I found the first of Nora Gallagher’s book slow-going in the beginning, by the end I had marked so many pages, I ordered her second memoir and enjoyed it as well. Five of those are books for my Unread Shelf Project. April’s goal was to read five books and complete a BINGO sheet. Done! (See the photo for Day 17; one of the books was finished late in March which met the requirements for the BINGO game.) Now I’m engrossed in two long, but interesting books, so I’m thinking I won’t finish seven books in May. 

So my goals for May: keep working on the 100DayProject, and begin to assemble cards with all the coloring I’ve done so far; participate in Spring Card Camp 2 which started Wednesday; read another book from the unread shelves (reorganized by genre during April); complete the purging of photos in the Photos app, and move on to one or more projects I keep pushing ahead month after month. We’ll see which ones win the battle! I’m also determined to walk every day in May. This weekend will be the biggest test as snow is predicted Saturday night. Mother’s Day (celebrated here on Sunday) is going to be really cold!

Coloring Projects and Challenges

  • by

Today is the last day of Kathy Racoosen’s 30 Day Coloring Challenge, and Day 31 of the 100 Day Project. I’ve been faithful to both and have a whole envelope of images ready to be turned into cards. I have one to share today that fits three different challenges.

YellowFlowers

The current challenge at The Flower Challenge is monochrome as is the new challenge at Seize the Birthday! The image is from Altenew’s “Pen Sketched Flowers,” and I liked the subtle yellow of these. Just a strip of black and white paper from a pad by My Favorite Things and a simple embossed sentiment. Although it’s a birthday card, the design would be appropriate for any number of occasions. At AAA Cards the challenge is for a single image so I’ll enter it there as well.

YellowFlowersFlat

 

TFChallenge#44#1642020-05-07-Monochromatic

 

 

Spring Card Camp Continued

  • by

I have a few more cards to share based on the lessons in Spring Card Camp. Two of them were also part of my #100DayProject and the #30DayColoring Challenge. I want to get them posted before the galleries at the card camp close on Thursday. However, I probably won’t get to all the cards I’d still like to try before then. First off is an open butterfly card, one I wanted to try after making this set of cards earlier based on Julie Ebersole’s lesson on Day 4.

OpenButterflyFlat

The butterfly stamp is Butterfly Folk by Papertrey Ink and the sentiment is from Taylored Expressions.

OpenButterflyInside

I had, of course, a second butterfly that was die cut from the front of the card. I decided to use it with a design by Kristina Werner from the class on Day 6.

BlueButterflyFlat

It’s not often that I do ink blending, but I gave that a try here as well and then cut the pattern from Vintage Jadeite and Hawaiian Shores (PTI).

Here you can see them together:

2Butterflies

Finally, a card from the last class led by Ashlea Cornell who offered a whole range of cards using a multitude of stamps and techniques. She created an overall pattern card using a Pinkfresh Studio stamp set I owned, and I did a more CAS design, placing the florals on just the left side of the card.

GratefulHeart

The stamp set is “Fancy Blooms” and the sentiment is from a Simon Says set “30 Days of Thankful.” They were colored with Copics, and in the spirit of two cards for each lesson I did complete two pretty identical cards.

GratefulHeartFlat

I’m entering the Open Butterfly card in the AAA Birthday Challenge: Things with Wings. 

#13

More Spring Card Camp Fun

  • by

Creating multiple cards was the focus of Spring Card Camp. On Day 11 Dawn Woleslagle created a group of cards all focused around die cutting rainbows made from Simon Says Stitched Circles. I didn’t have any of the other supplies she used, but I had plenty of products to substitute. In the end, I created eight cards starting with two sets of die cut circles in rainbow colors. It’s taken me awhile to get them all assembled as I continue to work on my #100DayProject and the #30DayColoring Challenge. This weekend I worked on Mother’s Day cards for Sarah and Betsy, but today I finally finished the last of the rainbow cards.

4RainbowCards

These are all variations on the theme. One of the two circles was cut into quarters. The clouds on the bottom I cut freehand. For three cards I used stencils for backgrounds, and one uses die cut clouds.

Rainbow1

Rainbow2

Rainbow3

The other circle was cut in half to create two cards. The design for these was actually one I saw in an email from Reverse Confetti. Once again, I didn’t have any of the products used on that card, but I did have good substitutes.

JustANote

JustANoteFlat

Although Dawn did not use the die cut circles left from the rainbows, I decided I could put them to good use as well, and created two more cards–one pictured here.

HelloCircles

HelloCirclesFlat

I now have a nice stash of cheerful cards to stick in the mail to friends I haven’t seen in over seven weeks. Three of them already have stamps on them and are headed out the door tomorrow. I still have three or four more techniques to try from this card camp, and Spring Card Camp 2 begins on Wednesday. I’m not having any difficulty staying busy!

Sandie’s 30 Day Photo Challenge

  • by

I took a group of photos yesterday at the park thinking I’d get a May Day post up, but it didn’t happen. I did, however, get the photos for Sandie’s 30 Day Challenge edited today. Sandie had a prompt for each day of April. A couple of the photos didn’t happen exactly on that date, but I did capture a photo for all 30 prompts.

Day 1: A Selfie—truly one of my LEAST favorite photos to take. They are never flattering, but here is one from the trail. We spent several days in April hiking part of the Lehigh Valley Rail Trail. We still have a few portions left to hike, but the one we hoped to hike today was flooded in areas, so we headed out in a different direction. We’ll have to do that link another time.

IMG_3652ed

Day 2: Something that gives you joy—these daffodils bloomed in our back yard much earlier, and we brought them inside to enjoy. The ones in the front yard have been blooming for a couple of weeks. Our very cool temperatures (and even some snow) seemed to have agreed with them.

IMG_3332ed

Day 3: Centered–as we were walking on April 3rd, I told Tracy what the day’s prompt was. Almost immediately, we came upon this lawn sculpture in front of an apartment building. The cerub is definitely centered.

IMG_3339ed

Day 4: A book you are reading/loved. I finished this book at the end of March. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read—imaginative, tragic, and uplifting. It’s a novel based on a true story of two men–one Israeli and one Palestinian–both of whom lost a daughter to the fighting in Israel/Palestine. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, however. Sarah is a voracious reader, and she’s finding it hard to stick with it.

IMG_3288ed

Day 5: Window–we were walking along the Genesee River on the fifth, and I took a photo of the windows on the University of Rochester’s Interfaith Chapel.

IMG_3369ed

Day 6: Prints–I try to keep current photos of my grandchildren on a board in our kitchen. These are the last three prints I made. All the photos were taken by their parents since we haven’t seen anyone for the last seven weeks!

IMG_3646ed

Day 7: Favorite mug–Tracy and I pour coffee into thermal mugs each morning, and head to the living room to read for an hour–or two. This mug keeps coffee hot all morning.

IMG_3603ed

Day 8: Rainbow–a yard sign in a nearby neighborhood.

IMG_3496ed

Day 9: Reflection– in a puddle at the park.

IMG_3637ed

Day 10: Something that makes you laugh–a squirrel in our bird feeder—annoying, but funny to watch him maneuver himself around.

IMG_3545ed

Day 11: Pattern–shadows on the foot bridge

IMG_3318ed

Day 12: Look up

IMG_3447ed

Day 13: Look down–new signage at the park.

IMG_3567ed

Day 14: Self-care–one of my indulgences has been getting a pedicure. That’s no longer possible so I purchased a foot spa. It costs about the same as a pedicure, and was worth every penny. I also bought a scented foot soak which softens your feet. Quite a lovely experience, and one that will get regular use during this stay-at-home time.

IMG_3647ed

Day 15: A door–ours.

IMG_3644ed

Day 16: Escape–crafting is the best one I know!

KarinMarkers

Day 17: Food—my sister-in-law always serves deviled eggs on Easter. No family dinner this year, but I made some.

IMG_3431ed

Day 18: Digits–this prompt actually inspired a card for my great-nephew’s birthday later in May.

Finn

Day 19: Where I’d like to be–Hawaii, where I should have been in March!

IMG_3642ed

Day 20: Something with a scent or smell–soon these lilacs will be sending out a lovely scent in the park. This year’s Lilac Festival is cancelled like every other festival in 2020.

IMG_3590ed

Day 21: What I am doing to relax—reading. I read seven books in April. I think that’s a record number. These are the five I read for the Unread Shelf Project.

IMG_3472

Day 22: Communication—a family Zoom birthday party.

IMG_3575ed

Day 23: Outside. The one saving grace is that the parks and trails in our county have remained open. We walk for 2-4 miles every day we can. This is Genesee Valley Park.

IMG_3363ed

Day 24: Texture–a watercolor card with lots of texture.

JustBecauseFlat

Day 25: Something that marks today–we walked another section of the Lehigh Valley Trail. It was a gorgeous day, and I could have taken photos of the ice cream cones we got on the way home, but I didn’t! This part of the trail went through Rochester Junction—a stop on the Black Diamond Railroad.

IMG_3580ed

Day 26: Something you look forward to–we had a tour of Scotland scheduled for August. They’ve rebooked it for August of 2021. I hope it’s possible by then.

IMG_3643ed

Day 27: A show of appreciation–a thank you card I made as part of my #100DayProject–coloring something every day.

GratefulHeart

Day 28: Cozy–a corner in my craft room.

IMG_3372ed

Day 29: An achievement–finishing five books from my shelves of unread books for the Unread Shelf Project Bingo game.

IMG_3473

Day 30: A celebration–a great way to end the month. Matt and Betsy drove over. They all stayed in the car, and we got to talk to the girls from the sidewalk. It was the first time we’d seen them in seven weeks, although we have had a couple video chats.

IMG_3615ed

And an award to you if you lasted through this very long post! I gave thought to dividing it into two parts, but just kept on going. It’s been a fun project, and ended up being a good summary of a month during the pandemic. Thanks, Sandie, for the inspiration!

 

Addicted to CAS: Silhouette

  • by

ATCAS - code word silhouette

Recently Altenew had a day or two when shipping was free, and I took the opportunity to order two stamps and their Obsidian Black ink pad. I’ve already put both stamp sets to use, and as well as the stamp pad which I love for watercoloring. When Addicted to CAS came up with “Silhouette” as their current challenge I knew I had the perfect stamp for it. My one concern was the patterned paper I chose since I wasn’t sure it would be considered CAS enough. However, several of the design team showcased cards with ink blended backgrounds, so I’m going to throw this card in the ring. I found the paper (from Pinkfresh Studio’s Indigo Hills pad) while I was looking for something else entirely, and set it aside knowing I’d like it with this new set from Altenew, Line Art.

LineArtBright

I trimmed the patterned paper down just enough to add a thin strip of black cardstock to a card base of Raspberry Fizz paper (PTI).

LineArtBrightFlat

The sentiment is also from Line Art, one of many I like and will use with other stamp sets as well.

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Spring Card Camp Fun

  • by

I’ve been sharing my cards and coloring on Instagram as part of the #100DayProject (coloring) and the #30DayColoringChallenge, but it’s time to share one of finished projects here. I wasn’t quite sure ink blending counted as a coloring technique, so I’ll catch up today with that. I’m definitely counting these as part of my 100 Day Project.

SPRSCC2020-participantParticipationbadge

 

Yesterday’s lesson by Cathy Zielski was one of my favorites. (Today’s lesson with Laura Bassett is equally great; there will be more on that later.) One of Jennifer and Kristina’s objectives in creating this card class was to showcase techniques that create multiple cards. Cathy’s resulted in four cards—one of them went in the mail this morning to Caleb and Hannah!

SendingHugs1

SendingHugs1Flat

Cathy used a “Thanks” die cut for her cards, but once I found the Papertrey Ink “Big Hugs” stamp and die set in my collection I knew exactly what I wanted to do. After ink blending a piece of cardstock to put behind the die cut word, I stamped the sentiments, and then mounted it on a Limeaid Ice card (PTI),

SendingHugs2

For the next card I found a piece of glittery cardstock I purchased at the Broadstreet Paper store in Milwaukee during our last trip to Wisconsin. The second sentiment on the next two cards is slightly different as they’ll be mailed locally.

SendingHugs3

This is another piece of the glittery cardstock. 

After die cutting three pieces for these cards, you’re left with three die cut “HUGS” which I stacked together for the fourth card. Cathy used a piece of patterned paper for her’s, and despite my rather extensive collection of patterned paper, I couldn’t find just what I wanted, so I returned to an earlier class by Kristina Werner who provided two patterns for paper piecing, and found three sheets of coordinating colors from Sunnyside Studio’s pack of “Gingham Jewel Tones.” I have two more backgrounds from that process to use on future cards as well.

SendingHugs4

I have a couple more projects completed to share here soon, and a list of several more I hope to try. Spring Card Camp has been a good diversion during these unsettled times. 

Fusion Challenge: Let Us Remember

  • by

The beautiful poppy photograph that’s one piece of the current Fusion Challenge inspired me to pull out the My Favorite Things “Flowers in Bloom” set I bought several months ago. I watercolored them as part of my two coloring challenges, and then turned it into a card for the challenge.

ParticipationbadgeChallenge_graphic_april_may_20_650

Fusion 200416 Anzac-001

You have the option with this challenge to use the sketch and/or the photograph. I chose just the photo.

Poppies

I liked the black edges around the photograph, and die cut Ink to Paper’s “Geometric Rectangles” in black to use as a frame for the poppies. Then I added it all to a black Memory Box card.

PoppiesFlat

The sentiment from Sugar Peas “Everyday Sentiments” was embossed in white on black cardstock. Finally I added a few Amuse black pearls that have been in my stash for years.

Coloring has been very therapeutic while observing our stay-at-home mandate, especially since winter still seems to have a grip on western New York. Yesterday we had temps in the 50’s but today it’s back to the 40’s and the 10 day forecast shows no improvement. At least the sun is out today, a big help. Nonetheless, spring is trying hard to burst through regardless. Here are a few photos from our walk yesterday through Highland Park and down a few city streets on our way home.

IMG_3490ed

Our forsythia isn’t doing particularly well this year, but the ones in the park are lovely.

IMG_3491ed

On the other hand, we’ve had gorgeous daffodils, and most of ours are near the end. The ones in the park are just beginning to open.

IMG_3493ed

I’m always happy to see the beginning of the flowering trees. Highland Park is known for its extensive lilac collection. They are just beginning to bud,
and very few trees have begun to leaf out.

IMG_3494ed

The magnolias need some warmth! I was playing around with adjusting the f-stop on my iPhone. It’s always been an available option, but I had been unaware of it until recently. Not wanting to hold up our walk, I took this photo a bit quickly. The background is appropriately blurry, but the magnolia blossom isn’t as sharp as it should be. 

IMG_3501ed

And finally, these bright red tulips are the first tulips we’ve seen blooming anywhere. Most of them are just beginning to show their buds.

 

 

 

A New Challenge

  • by

By chance, I discovered a new challenge hosted by Penny Black. I don’t have a lot of sets from Penny Black, but I do have a few and used one of my favorites to color for my #30DayColoringChallenge, and my #The100Day Project.

IMG_3456ed

I trimmed down the panel just enough to allow a the edges of the Royal Velvet card to create a border. This beauty is an older Penny Black cling stamp, “Botanical Notes.” I hadn’t pulled it out in a very long time, but it was perfect for coloring with my Polychromos colored pencils.

Purpleflowers

There really wasn’t any need (or space) for a sentiment, so this card is ready for whatever occasion arises. 

PurpleFlowersFlat

We had a lovely, sunny day, a bit warmer than the last few. There’s still snow in the forecast, but by the end of next week, it looks like Spring might make a lasting appearance. I’m ready for lovely flowers in the garden, and butterflies in the air.

Spring Card Camp

  • by

I enrolled in the Online Card Classes “Spring Card Camp,” thinking it would provide some additional inspiration for my #The100DayProject of daily coloring.

SPRSCC2020-participantParticipationbadge

The first three lessons focused on stamping rather than coloring, but today’s lesson by Julie Ebersole was perfect, and definitely a technique I had never tried before. Each lesson in the camp is focused on creating two cards using one technique. This one was called the “Coordinating Die Cut Trick.” It requires a stamp with a matching die cut. I have plenty of those so I was a bit surprised how few stamp and die sets I had that I thought would work with for this technique. I’ve pulled a few more sets to try later, so you may see more of these. 

The first step is to stamp an image on the front of a card and then die cut. You set that die cut aside for card #2. Then you restamp the image through the die cut on the inside of the card. Here’s a look at the front of the card:

HBFlyWithMe

Before coloring the inside image, I masked off the cute little elephant and added two other images to the inside of the card.

HBFlyWithMeInside

Here’s the second card. I opted to use an A4 card by Paper Source for this card, and added two die cut clouds.

SendingSmiles

I popped the little guy up with some dimensional tape after stamping the sentiment. All the coloring was done with the Polychromos colored pencils.