It’s the August Woodblock Wednesday post.

I pulled out one of my all-time favorite pumpkin images, Pumpkin Harvest by Annette Watkins, to color with Copic markers.

I decided on an Altenew embossing folder, Deck Planks, for the background, running it through with Classic Kraft cardstock. It lends a rustic look to the card.

I trimmed the embossed panel down just enough so the Cocoa Brown card base would create a narrow frame. I fussy cut the pumpkin image; there were no coordinating dies in the days when I purchased this stamp. I rarely give it much thought, but it’s truly amazing how much this hobby has changed over the years. I had to stamp this image twice before I got a clean image. With a MISTI stamping tool, restamping is so much easier (and wastes no paper!) The sentiment is from Altenew’s Sentiment Strips 2, die cut with MFT’s Itty Bitty Banners.

Thanks to Amy, as always, for organizing this monthly affair! I’m sending this off to AAA Birthday where the challenge remains: Anything Goes for a few more days!

I only own three Betterpress plates, one came with the Spellbinder system, and two are part of Altenew’s Dainty Flower Garden set. Both sets include a few sentiments, although for today’s cards, I used Altenew’s One-Go Birthday Greetings, a new set I’m quite sure will get a lot of use. There are 12 sentiments on one stamp and one die that cuts them all out. I love having an envelope filled with sentiments ready to go. Both cards are very similar and both were watercolored with Zig Watercolor markers.

The blue card went in the mail earlier this month, and I know my friend received it. So it’s time to get these cards off to a couple of challenges. 

The Betterpress cardstock is perfect for watercoloring. I tried not to add too much water, and let it dry completely between layers.  I just trimmed down the sides of this one and added it to a navy card base.

Sometimes it’s good (and easy) to CASE yourself, so here is the orange edition.

This time I used Gina K’s Master Layout one dies to cut the impressed panel as well as a black panel which gives it a lovely narrow border. I added it to a card base of Orange Zest. 

The blue card is off to Addicted to Stamps and More. The challenge is for birthday cards. And the orange card is off to Less is More. The challenge is Orange!

I’m sending them both off to the NBUS August Challenge since this is the sentiment set’s debut.

Now that the recipients have received their cards, I have a card to enter in the current TicTacToe Challenge.

I made two of these cards although I only photographed one of them and both have been received.  I used the elegant Spellbinders Betterpress plate that came with the system. I can’t seem to find a name for it. I inked it up with gold ink and impressed it on the Bisque Betterpress paper from Spellbinders.

I added narrow borders of gold glitter paper that I purchased in Milwaukee at Broadway Papers and then added it to a card base of gold shimmer paper from the same source.

The sentiment from Sugar Peas Everyday Sentiments was embossed in gold on black and die cut the MFT Itty Bitty Banners-a die I used repeatedly. Finally, I added some gold glitter dots from Pinkfresh Studio.

It’s easy to find my path through the TicTacToe board–diagonally from right top to left bottom.

My craft room is already being dismantled and painted although I probably have a week or two before I have to vacate it completely. All my crafting time has been eaten up with trying to organize and purge what’s in here. Nonetheless, after church today, I was determined to get an entry into the Freshly Made Sketches challenge which is their 600th sketch. I don’t often gravitate to sketch challenges, but this is one of the best–and their celebration surely represents their success. Here’s the sketch:

The Jumbo Curiosity: Dragonfly & Stencil are from The Greetery. I used the stencil to color it with shades of blue and purple with Pinkfresh Studio inks. 

I ran the strip behind it through a very old dotted embossing place and edged it with some silver paper. The circle was also die cut from a piece of textured silver paper.

The sentiment is a preprinted one from Waffleflower that arrived in their Sneak Peek Kit #8 package which I won last month. I added some glitter to the dragonfly with the Spectrum Noir glitter pen.

I’m also sending this off to AAA Birthday–always CAS and this time Anything Goes. I’m expecting to be back again tomorrow as I have a list of cards I’d like to make before I have to give up the craft room for a week or so.

It’s Word Week at Just Us Girls Challenge and the word is BEE.

We’ve just returned from a vacation in Michigan, first a week with Sarah and her family at Big Twin Lake, and then a weekend on our own which we split between Traverse City and Petoskey. I picked up a couple of new dish towels in a little shop in Traverse City. They were rolled and tied with a piece of black and yellow twine and a Bee Kind tag was tied to each towel.

For the last several weeks I’ve been working on creating an inventory of all my stamps and dies and doing a major purge as well. It’s taken up most of my creative time, but in the end, will be well worth it. Yesterday as I was going through a box of stamps I found a Simon Says kit from 2019. As luck would have it, it was a bee themed kit called “Bee Yourself.” The combination of events was too good to pass up, so this morning I got busy creating a card for the JUGS challenge.

Along with the stamp set, there was a variety of patterned paper, several of which I tried before ending up with my usual CAS style, stamping one of the bee hive stamps on yellow paper and adding the tag with some dimensional tape. 

I added a thin black mat and attached them to a card base made from Papertrey Ink’s Rustic Cream cardstock. 

We’re off this afternoon to spend time with friends on their boat on Canandaigua Lake and it’s just perfect weather for it. 

The Time Out Challenge is Monochromatic and this Betterpress card fits the bill. It’s a slight variation on the card I shared earlier.

Once again I’m using one of two designs from the Altenew Betterpress plate, Dainty Flower Garden. This time I centered the design and added a sentiment strip embossed in white on a black banner from My Favorite Things, Itty Bitty Banners.

I also added a large Stargazer jewel from Pinkfresh Studio and three smaller ones as a bit of embellishment. They don’t photograph well, but are just wonderful in real life.

I’m also sending this to the Triple B Challenge where you must include at least one Bird, Butterfly, or Bloom. 

The JUGS Challenge has a fun option this week: CASE one of the Design Team’s cards. Here’s the definition of CASE from the JUGS post: (CASE means Copy And Selectively Edit, or Copy And Slightly Edit, and even Copy And Share Everything. It is “proper etiquette” in cardmaking that the person CASE-ing a card gives credit to the person he/she CASEd for the original idea.) 

As soon as I saw Vicki’s card, I knew I could use my new Betterpress system and one of the two Betterpress plates I have. I needed a card to thank my daughter-in-law’s sister who helped me plan our 50th Wedding Anniversary party last Saturday. The Open House was a huge success and better than anything I imagined. 

To CASE Vicki’s card I chose to use the same black and white color scheme as well as a slight variation on her layout. My image is in the lefthand corner rather than the right, and my sentiment is placed to the right of hers as well. I spend an afternoon running plates through my Betterpress system, but most of those I can’t share yet as they are either on their way to someone or will be by the end of the month. Once I know the recipient has received the card, I can post them.

Spellbinder’s Betterpress system replicates the old letterpress effects with one easy to use system. I’ve always loved letterpress, and once owned a very complicated system which I rarely used. If you’re unfamiliar with letterpress here’s a great definition of it:  Letterpress printing is a form of relief printing; the raised surface of letters or images is inked and then pressed into paper. This card uses one of Altenew’s new Betterpress plates, Dainty Flower Garden.

I don’t think it’s possible to see in a photograph how deeply the image is impressed into the paper, but the effect is truly beautiful.   The system does require special paper. Today’s card uses the Spellbinder’s Pebble paper, a very light gray. Both the sentiment and the floral image were inked with black ink. You can use colored inks as well, and the Betterpress ink is waterproof so I watercolored two of the cards I made last week.

This is also headed to NBUS as the first ever card with my Betterpress System. I do believe it’s close to foolproof!

I don’t often have two posts in one day, but the Color Hues post always goes up on the first of the month, and fortunately for me, The Pinkfresh Studio July Challenge doesn’t close until tonight. 

July’s challenge is to Go Geometric!

Pinkfresh Studio’s Geometric designs are my fave, and I have a new one that I was anxious to try. I used the Quandrant Backdrop hot foil plate, and chose the last three colors in the optional colors seen in the challenge graphic: Ocean Breeze, Mermaid Cove, Tidal Pool, Sweet Mustard, and Marigold. It’s not a color combination I would have chosen, but I absolutely love it.

The sentiment is from PFS’s Foiled Sentiments 6 pack and I used two pieces of dimensional tape for it which lends a little interest, but doesn’t detract from the geometric design.

I’m not particularly happy with either of the photos as the card is much more beautiful than it appears. Photographing metallic elements in cards is always tricky, but the light just wasn’t working for me this morning. We, however, are off to Seabreeze for the day, so this will have to do.

Like yesterday’s card, this one is headed to the Inkspirational Challenge and to the new NBUS post for August as this is the first time I’ve used the Quandrant Backdrop hot foil plate.