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Buttercups #1

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Before we left on vacation, I die cut quite a few buttercups from Spellbinders Fresh Cut Buttercups. I’ve been entranced by the series of Fresh Cut flowers Spellbinders has introduced, and the designs that cover the card completely have been very eye-catching. But I wondered if I could create several versions of a CAS card. This is the first of several you’ll see. Ultimately, I’ll try one of the more elaborate designs as well, but as usual, I ran out of time.

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I added just a bit of ink blending to the flowers with some Spun Sugar Distress Oxide.  For some visual interest and texture the Basket Weave Cover Plate from Gina K was added to the pink cardbase. After attaching the blossoms to the stem and leaves I added them to the cardbase, with a tag from a very old Papertrey Ink set, Tiny Tags with a sentiment from Be Still, by Honey Bee.

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I”m sending this off to Colorful Options: Pastels, The Card Concept: Spring Flowers with a lovely inspiration photo, The Flower Challenge: Add Layers, and to NBUS since this is the Buttercups debut.


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Color Hues #85

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It’s mid-April and time for a new Color Hues Challenge. Hannelie has chosen Yellow and Pink for this challenge. 

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I was determined to create something a bit out of my comfort zone. The first card I created was just OK. I’ll send the card, but I wanted to try something else for the challenge. As I was looking through my dies I came upon a Memory Box die set (dated 2015) that I’ve had for many years, but never used. The images in Rain or Shine, are small so it took me awhile to figure out how to use them. The old familiar saying “April showers bring May flowers” was going through my head as I looked at the dies. The rain and the umbrellas were right there, but I needed to find the sentiment as well as some flowers. 

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By lining up the “rain” image and repeating it I got a square of rain drops. The two cute umbrellas paper-pieced with old AMuse papers fit right on there. Luckily I had two of the (also very old) Papertrey Ink sets from the Monthly Moments sets that gave me most of my sentiment.

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I layered the umbrellas with two pieces of heavy cardstock and the handles with two of the handle die cuts for a bit of dimension.

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Finding the word “bring” turned out to be the most time-consuming part of the card. I could have used the computer, but I wanted the message to be on one layer. My collection of Christmas stamps turned out to be the best option. I found a couple different ones, but this one from Waffle Flowers Oversized Joy fit perfectly. I found the little flowers in The Greetery’s BotaniCut Strawberries set, and I popped them up with teeny pieces of dimensional foam.

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We’re hoping for lots of May flowers here, but the bulk of them won’t be planted until Memorial Day so there’s still lots of time for April showers. Personally, I’m hoping for lots of April sunshine!!! When this post goes live, we’ll be in South Carolina so we’re more likely to be enjoying sunshine than we would be in Rochester.

I hope this color combo inspires you to create a card for our gallery at Color Hues. Be sure to check out the Design Teams clever and beautiful cards!

This is going to the NBUS blog. This might be one of the oldest unused die sets in my collection! It’s also going to Juat Us Girls where the Word Week Challenge is Rain. How lucky am I as this challenge closes at 9:00 tonight!

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Be Happy

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There is a pile of partially-finished projects on my desk, but I did complete one made specifically for a few challenges: Seize the Birthday-Spring Florals, Stencil Fun-Spring/Flowers, and Colorful Options-Pastels. The challenges offered me an opportunity to use a NBUS stencil by Papertrey Ink and a new set of sentiments by Honey Bee.

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I tend to be very heavy-handed when ink blending, but tried my hardest to keep this one soft and subtle. I love the Wild Blooms stencil and the sentiment set, Be Still, is filled with lovely greetings in both print and script. I opted for the dies as well, and they work perfectly.

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I struggled to find an appropriate pink ink for the sentiment and although I have several to choose from they were all either too light (even with multiple stampings) or not quite the right hue. I’m still not thrilled with this one. I added some Pinkfresh Studio light pink jewels and called it done.

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Color Hues #84

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Peach and Green are the new colors for the April 1st Challenge at Color Hues. Cindy has chosen the duo, and I had a lot of fun with it.

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Rather impulsively I ordered the February Clear Stamp and Die of the Month from Spellbinders. I have no regrets. It was just perfect for this challenge, and I’m a big fan of lilies!

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The feature that sold me on the set was the die cut which cuts the arched frame and all the inside areas at once. After coloring the image with Copic markers, I backed the arch with black cardstock, and the lilies just popped! Concord and 9th recently introduced a new set of colors. I usually invest in a sampler pack, and it arrived just as I was trying to find a piece of peach cardstock. Their Creamsicle paper was just what I needed. 

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The stamp set included several lovely sentiments as well as the dies to cut them out. I added some dimensional foam behind the arched lilies, and then stacked several sentiments to provide more dimension. 

April usually hold some promise of consistent Spring weather in western New York, so hopefully we’ll soon see lilies beginning to peek through in the garden. In the meantime, hop over to the Color Hues blog to see the what the Design Team and our Guest Designer have created. We hope you’ll join us!

Thanks to this new stamp and die set, I’m likely to be one of the first in the gallery at Darnell’s April NBUS post.  I’m also posting this in the Seize the Birthday Challenge: Spring Florals, and The Four Seasons Challenge: Anything Goes. 

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Woodblock Wednesday: March Edition

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It’s the last Wednesday in March so it’s also Woodblock Wednesday, kindly hosted each month by Amy Tsurtua. 

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It’s still going to be awhile before butterflies appear here. Today’s another mild day, but the temps go down again tomorrow. I’m hoping that a month from now we’ll be in full bloom with Spring flowers and a few butterflies. This woodblock butterfly is from Lockhart Stamps. I gave away or sold a huge portion of my wooden stamp collection, so it’s interesting to me how many Lockhart stamps I saved. The copyright date on it is 2009.

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It had been awhile since I used my colored pencils, so I pulled out a sheet of Stonehenge White paper which works well with colored pencils. I also pulled out three cards from my Color Box 2. I knew I wanted to use purple, and the cards helped me choose the additional colors. I’m enjoying the Color Box. It gives me color choices I might not have chosen on my own.

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Of course, I didn’t use all the colors, but it’s easy to find the ones I did use. After coloring the butterflies, I fussy cut them. I die cut two rectangles from The Greetery’s Crimped Frames, and added dimensional foam behind both of them before adding them to a purple card base. 

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I also added a strip of dimensional tape behind the body of the butterflies, so I could bend their wings a bit for more interest. The sentiment was white embossed on black with My Favorite Thing Itty Bitty Strips, also mounted with a bit of dimensional tape. Despite all the dimension, the card still fits in an envelope easily. 

In addition to Woodblock Wednesday, I’m posting this with two other challenges. When I enter The Triple B Challenge (Birds, Blooms and Butterflies) it’s almost always blooms. This time it’s a butterfly, and I could have entered a bird as well if I had only thought about it! I’m also sending this to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge where it’s Anything Goes.

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Special Day

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Just Us Girls and Time Out (two of my fave challenges) have joined together. “Birds” is the theme and I knew I had a great stamp set, Pure Joy, from Pinkfresh Studio that would fit the bill. Since it was a Pinkfresh Studio stamp set, I added a frame to the card to meet their March challenge: “Frames.” Finally, I have another entry to The Flower Challenge with my square card. I’ve been keeping up with my #100DayProject, and although I used this stamp set when I participated with my first Create and Connect event, it’s the first time I’ve used it on my own. 

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I used some Pinkfresh Studio inks to color the image with the accompanying stencil. Ellen Hutson’s Essential Circles worked perfectly to create the frame. To keep the clean look of the card I kept it all white and decided not to add any embellishments.

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I don’t often think to create a shaker card, but this seemed liked a good design for one. I frequently struggle with these, but this one came together so easily I may try this again soon! The clear sequins and drops were in my stash, but I’ve never been good about labeling such things so I have no idea who the manufacturer is. The sentiment was created with Betterpress using Spellbinders A Little Message. It’s always good to have another birthday card in my stash. 

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Color Hues 83

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Carol has chosen Cream and Blue for the next Color Hues Challenge. I started out with one idea in mind and ink blended a group of white diecut flowers from My Favorite Things, Bold Blossoms, using two sets of Pinkfresh inks. The next morning, I totally revised my plan, but the ink blended flowers are still the centerpiece of the card. I decided to stuff an envelope with pretty blue flowers. The envelope die I own wasn’t nearly large enough, but I had exactly one small cream envelope in my stash, and it worked out perfectly.

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The sentiment stamp and die are new–part of the Greetery’s Love Letters release in January–Sent with Love Sentiments. To add some dimension to the greeting I stacked three of the diecuts under the stamped sentiment. Altenew’s Window Slats 3-D Embossing folder worked well as a background.

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Instead of the die cut centers for the flowers I added a Pinkfresh Studio jewel to each. They add just the right amount of sparkle.

This turned out to be a fun challenge, and I hope you’ll think so, too, and join us in the gallery at Color Hues. You’re sure to find lots of inspiration from the Design Team members and our Guest Designer, Steph.

Since this is the debut of the new sentiment set, I’m sending this over to Darnell’s March NBUS Challenge. It also fits with her Dies/Die Cuts weekly “challenge” as this is the last day of Week 2. I’m also entering this in The Card Concept Challenge: Spring Has Sprung where a basket of flowers is a focal point of their inspiration photo. 

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Lucky

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After seeing a couple of cards created with Papertrey Ink’s Into the Bloom: Clover, I thought it would make a great birthday card for Tracy, whose birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day. At the time, it was out of stock at Papertrey Ink, but luckily a friend had the die set and was kind enough to loan it to me.

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I die cut all the shamrocks from white cardstock and used finger daubers to ink blend them in two colors of green ink from Pinkfresh Studio. Ellen Hutson’s Lattice Background has become a favorite of mine, especially white on white. One of the designers for Papertrey Ink had used a circle to hold the sentiment as well as a place to tuck the stems of the shamrocks. I backed the circle from Reverse Confetti’s Lacy Scalloped Circle with a piece of New Leaf cardstock from Papertrey Ink to add some color to the bottom of the card.  The sentiment is from a new stamp set recently released by Simon Says, Lucky Horseshoe. 

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After taking the photos for this blog hop, one of the extra shamrocks landed on the card next to the sentiment. It was a lucky accident as the design is much improved with that added element, even though it did necessitate retaking some of the photos. 

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This card is off to Colorful Options: Green, Four Seasons Challenge with the great inspiration photo below, and Inspired By: Luck. I’m also adding this to Darnell’s site where her I.D.E.A. for the week is Dies/Die Cuts. In addition, it is the first time I’ve used the set where I got the sentiment. 

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Birthday Shine and Sparkle

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I rarely have a card with so much bling and sparkle, but I couldn’t resist using this reverse foiled panel to create a bold and bright birthday card. 

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I had a free morning last week, and pulled out my foiling machine to create some backgrounds. This card uses Spellbinders’ Starburst hot foil plate. I made a couple of panels, one with gold foil and one with Rainbow Stripes foil. You’ll see those panels eventually, but when I pulled the foil off the Rainbow Stripes panel, I immediately pulled out my Solid Hot Foil Plate from Pinkfresh Studio which produced this panel which I love. 

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The sentiment was also reversed foiled some time ago and die cut with Pinkfresh Studio’s Brushed Sentiments that came with a fabulous prize I won a year and a half ago. I don’t often use large and bold sentiments, but this card definitely called for one. I also added some Honey Bee Aurora Borealis Gem Stickers to each of the starbursts. 

I’m sending this one off to a new-to-me challenge, Word Power. It’s a challenge to showcase sentiments as a focal point on a card. It’s also going to Colorful Options where Rainbow is always welcomed. It’s another one for Addicted to Stamps and More: Birthdays. And, finally, it’s off to NBUS–it’s the Starburst’s debut on a card. 

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Birthday Basket of Flowers

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The Flower Challenge is looking for a square card. When my Seagrass Basket from the Greetery arrived this week, I decided to put it to use right away. I already had an envelope filled with die cut and assembled flowers and leaves from the Spellbinder’s Bold Blooms. 

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The basket can be assembled with or without weaving, but I opted to weave it together, it gives it additional dimension. It was die cut from Weathervane cardstock, and I added some ink blending to it to add some character to it. The most time consuming part of the card was getting the florals arranged–so many options! I dry embossed a square die from Ellen Hutson’s Essential Squares to create a frame on the Soft Stone square behind the basket full of flowers.

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The pretty die cut label is part of the Seagrass Basket die. I found the perfect sentiment for it in Gina K’s Beautiful Baskets Additions which I need to put to better use soon!

With late March and April birthdays coming up, this card won’t be in the stash for wrong. Most of us in this area are anxious for some consistent Spring weather. I have to admit, however, that winter here has thus far been pretty mild. 

In addition to the Flower Challenge, I’m sending this off to the Triple B Challenge--this time for Blooms, and Addicted to Stamps and More: Birthdays.

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Colorful Thanks

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Quite some time ago, I was looking through an envelope with already die cut flowers, and came across the three on this card.

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When it came to arranging them I tried all kinds of things, finally gluing them down on a card. When I looked at it, the balance on the card was way off. I hated putting it in the circular file. After waiting awhile, I finally chopped off the bottom half of the card and mounted it in this green card base that just happened to be sitting on my desk. I don’t know that I would have chosen this color, but I really do like it with the bright florals. They’re held together with a kraft wrap and bow from The Greetery.

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The flowers are from the Papertrey Ink Into the Blooms. The background is also from The Greetery, the Herringbone Parquet, cut from Concord and 9th’s Mushroom cardstock. The sentiment is gold foiled with Spellbinder’s Everyday Sentiments II. 

My commitment to the #100DayProject is proving to be very helpful. Despite a busier than usual schedule (I’m now tutoring three days a week), I am managing to get at least 30 minutes a day in my craft room. I’ve been working on cards for the Design Team at Color Hues, finishing up cards started during the Pinkfresh Create & Connect event two weekends ago, and making sure I have the needed birthday cards for March. 

I’m also committed to editing our many, many photos from the safari for at least 30 minutes most days. The end is in sight. Meanwhile, getting things up on the blog and on Instagram is proving to be a bit more difficult.  

Although the mood board at the Triple B Challenge features soft pastel colors, anything goes as long as you have Birds, Blooms, or Butterflies. This blooms are off to the gallery.

 

Color Hues #82 – Two for One

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Tracey has chosen a beautiful color combination for the new Color Hues Challenge:

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Right away I knew I wanted to use my new Alex Syberia stencil, Modern Weave. It’s a 6X6 stencil so I had two panels I could use for cards.

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I started out by using the larger panel and adding it to a card base made with Concord and 9th’s Oceanside, a beautiful dark turquoise which matches the small diamond pattern in the stencil. You can see in this photo, the three Pinkfresh Studio inks I used to stencil the design.

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Here’s a closer look. The sentiment also new to me, My Favorite Things Stylized Happy Birthday, was die cut from gold metallic paper and layered on a vellum shadow die.

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After die cutting the first panel, I was left with a narrow strip of patterned paper and wanted to make good use of this gorgeous stenciled design.

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I backed the stenciled piece with some of the Oceanside cardstock and added it to a white notecard. 

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The sentiment, foiled in gold, is from Pinkfresh Studio’s Perfect Sentiments. Needless to say, this card pleases me with its CAS design. I embellished both cards with some gold pearls.

I hope you’ll check out all the great designs from the Color Hues Design Team and our Guest Designer, Tenia. Please join us for this bright and happy color challenge! 

 

There are two CAS challenges where my second card fits the challenge: AAA Cards: Anything CAS Goes and Addicted to CAS: Geometric. 

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Happy Birthday, Matt!

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It’s hard to believe my youngest is now 41, but that’s a fact! Tracy and I celebrated with Matt and Betsy on Saturday night at his favorite restaurant. Tonight we joined them for cake and opening presents. 

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And a photo of my granddaughters being a bit goofier than usual. Their power was out due to high winds here so we celebrated at Betsy’s father’s house. I’m not sure that’s an excuse but they were more wound up than usual. No outage here, but we have a generator so we wouldn’t be without power for long.

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Here’s Matt’s birthday card:

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I embossed Uniko’s Block Arts Décoratifs in gold on True Black cardstock. I knew I wanted to use my Iuile metallic watercolors but knew I wouldn’t need a lot of water to do what I intended so went with standard cardstock instead of watercolor paper. 

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I wanted to try a “fade out” technique with the gold metallic watercolor. It turned out to be pretty easy to do, and I like the end result. 

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The Pinkfresh Studio Basic Banners: Celebrate was embossed with gold and die cut with the matching die. I started this card with a couple of challenges in mind, but in the end it wasn’t CAS enough to enter in any of them.

 

Woodblock Wednesday

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It’s the last Wednesday in February (and our son’s birthday!), so it’s also Woodblock Wednesday hosted by Amy Tsuruta.

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I’m in need of thank you cards, so I decided to pull out a favorite woodblock stamp by Paper Parachute and, for inspiration, five cards from the Color Cube which I’ve owned for several months but never used. As you can see, each card features a photograph (and inspiration for photography) as well as five colors drawn from the photo. I chose three of the colors from each card to color the floral design with Copic markers. I was a bit apprehensive trying to color such a small image with Copics but it actually went pretty well. I ended up with five thank you notes.

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All five cards use the same products, so I’ll just share them one by one. Some of the different color schemes produce cards with a different vibe which is nice when deciding which one to use for a note.

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I’ll be back later tonight with a birthday post for Matt. I’m hoping the girls will be receptive to a photo with their dad. Either way, I’ll be back to share his birthday card. 

 

 

 

#100DayProject-Day 2

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I really do enjoy how a project evolves as you work on it. Yesterday I decided to start a little notebook for the 100 Day Project.

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I set a 30 minute timer when I begin, and when it ends, I jot down how much I accomplished in that 30 minute period. Both yesterday and today I continued on and finished some cards. I can’t share yesterday’s cards yet but today’s is #1 for the stash. My internet friend, Darnell, has also started a project to help her work through her stash. Here’s her plan:

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Each week she choose one of the items on the list to focus on. She’s been working on one a week since the beginning of February so this week it’s Embossing Folders. No surprise, I had a new embossing folder in my NBUS box, so I pulled it out to play along.

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Spellbinder’s Tufted 3-D Embossing Folder is huge so I got two pieces from it. You can see both of them here. I ran the piece on the card through my die cut machine with Gina K’s Master Layout #1 and you can see how it flattened the pattern. I decided I was fine with that although I could have easily trimmed down the other piece to use. I used Smoky Shadow for the card base and the Waffle Flower Oval Frame. They appear a bit darker in the photo, but I’ve retaken the photos twice so I’m giving up on accuracy. Sadly, the card is much prettier in real life than in the photos. Some days are just like that.

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The floral die cut is also new–Simon Says Morning Blossom. I die cut it from white card stock and ink blended it using two orange, one yellow, and two green  Pinkfresh Studio inks. The oranges are accurate in the photo but turned out to be a much more yellow hue than I anticipated. The sentiment is from an old set by The Ton, Easy Expressions.

Good photos, not withstanding, I’m sending this over to Darnell’s NBUS Challenge and to the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge which always wants embossing as a focus of the card.