I have two cards to share, both inspired by current challenges which also gave me an opportunity to move one more item out of my NBUS box. The pretty little blooms were perfect for these challenges, all of which are among my favorite challenges. First off was Just Us Girls where it’s Die Week and they want a birthday card. Seize the Birthday wants “no stamping,” and The Flower Challenge (they’re celebrating their 100th challenge!!) wants a circle in the design. Here’s my answer to these three challenges. 

I started by die cutting Simon Says Exotic Blooms from watercolor paper as well as a Simon Says Stitched Circles die. I used finger daubers to color the florals, picking bright and happy hues to celebrate some of the first warm days we’ve had recently. They just make me happy. It’s hard to tell but I very lightly ink blended a pale blue onto the circle before adding the flowers. Since no stamping is allowed, I pulled out my fave Memory Box Black Tab Sentiments. 

I had another set of die cut florals, and remembered that The Paper Players are looking for pastel colors. The flowers are the same, but the design is different.

Once again I used the watercolor paper. I love the texture it gives to CAS cards. This time I die cut two of Pinkfresh Studio’s Nested Hexagon Blanket Stitched dies and layered them before adding the florals which I again colored with finger daubers. I thought this card needed a little something so I added three small gold pearls, and another Black Tab birthday greeting in a different font.

This card is also off to Seize the Birthday  and Just Us Girls as well as The Paper Players.

It’s unusual for me to post twice in a day, but here is a set of three cards that, once again, came out of my “Work on This” box. This particular set of products have been sitting around for quite some time, but when I saw the As You See It Challenge for Birds, I knew it was time to get a move on. Having been away, I’m just posting these under the wire since the challenge closes in just a few hours.

The project idea began months ago when a friend gifted me with three charming die cut birds all assembled. I put them in a wooden bowl and pulled out Paper Trey Ink’s Songbirds stamp and die set, a long-time favorite. The three birds were created with a gradient of blues, so I chose a different card base for each of them.

This was the lightest of the three birds, so I chose Papertrey Ink’s Rustic White cardstock for the base. This card has a slightly different design than the other two. When I initially added the die cut branch, I glued it in the wrong place, so had to start all over. I had already put the MISTI away, so had to reposition the stamps. The musical stamp ended up being higher than the others, so I added a second branch to the bottom. I might like this design a bit better, but it was the last one I put together.

For the second card, I chose Papertrey Ink’s Soft Stone, another favorite of mine. I added a few musical notes at the top of the card from My Favorite Things, Strike Up the Band.

 This combination of the darkest bird on the kraft cardbase ended up being my favorite. One of the things I like about these cards is that they are pretty generic birthday card. I’d feel comfortable ending them to guys or girls. One close up so you can see how darling these birds are. 

In addition to As You See It, I’m sending this off to A Cut Above challenge as well.

A couple of challenges motivated me to move another project out of my “Work on This” box which utilizes a NBUS product, the Hill Blossoms stencils and dies by Altenew. I don’t find using Altenew stencils to be as intuitive as those by Pinkfresh Studio, but once I got them placed correctly, they were very easy to color. I used my new one inch blending brushes from Pinkfresh, and they are truly a game changer. 

I ended up making a mini-slimline card when I found the stitched and scalloped die cut in my box of premade treasures. I must have die cut them at a friend’s house, since I don’t own any dies quite like this one. 

The sentiment is, once again, a Memory Box black tab. They work well on so many cards! I added some very tiny black pearls to the centers of the flowers, and then some clear drops as a final accent. 

The challenges that inspired me were The Paper Players looking for Spring Flowers, Just Us Girls: Anything Goes: Stencils, and Neglected Stuff (this stencil has been in my box for months!). It’s also off to Darnell’s NBUS, and will link it up to her I.D.E.A.S. since this is the week for Ink (not a challenge per se.)

The night before we left for vacation, I actually found time to put together two cards. After using the Betterpress, the Breezy Blossoms were then colored using the accompanying stencils. This was all done so long ago that I don’t remember a thing about it. After die cutting them, I put them in a little plastic bag and stuck them in my “Work on This” box. I had dumped them on my desk, and before cleaning up to leave, I sat down and figured out two ways to use them.

This card uses a NBUS coverplate, Modern Design Blocks. It came as part of the August 2024 Pinkfresh Create and Connect event. I never seem to get to all the class cards, let alone the Make & Takes, but eventually I get around to using the products. I layered it on a mint card base, and then die cut two Nested Elongated Balnket Stitched Ovals, also by Pinkfresh.

I layered just one stem of the Breezy Blossoms, added a sentiment with a Memory Box Black Tab Birthday greeting, and three enamel dots. 

This card also uses a cover plate that came with a Create and Connect event, the Stitched Octagon Cover Plate. Concord and 9th’s Grapefruit cardstock was a great match for one of the inks I used coloring the florals. This card uses a number of different stems grouped together.

I die cut two of the Pinkfresh Notched Corner Frames, bumping the top one up with some dimensional foam. Another Black Tab greeting and some enamel dots.

I’m sending these off to The Neglected Stuff Challenge blog as well as NBUS – these are a perfect fit! I’m also adding them to the February Pinkfresh Challenge where Anything Goes, and Seize the Birthday without the Topping. 

I’m CASEing myself with this card. It’s the same general design as my previous cards with an addition of a strip of patterned paper from Papertrey Ink’s Three Piece Suit paper pad which has been in my stash for years. I needed a masculine card for a note of encouragement, and luckily, The Paper Players are looking for CAS Masculine cards. 

With the exception of the patterned paper, all the dies used are from The Greetery: The pen (Pen Pal), the postal background (Postal Frames), and the sentiment (Scripted Sentiments.) 

When the Pen Pal dies were introduced, Betsy showcased some of them with patterned and stamped papers, so I gave that a try which I quite like. 

In addition to the Paper Players, this is also off to the Word Power Challenge where the sentiment should take center stage. 

I recently won a very generous gift card at Pinkfresh Studios. I’ve been saving the lovely gift certificate I received for Christmas, but I had no trouble spending the money I won! Most of the order were for things that had been on my wish list for quite some time, but I also purchased the stamp and die, Magnificent Magolia, from a recent release. Once I was done making valentines, I was anxious to get it out for a play date. 

The first step was to emboss the image in gold. Then I chose a group of three pink Copic markers and two green markers. I considered two different dies for the background, but settled on the Notched Corner Frames which I die cut in white after die cutting the magnolias. Both were added to a pink card base.

The sentiment came from another, older, Pinkfresh floral set, Nothing But the Best. I had forgotten this lovely birthday sentiment which also included a die. It, too, was gold embossed, and I added three Clear Drops in Blush from Pinkfresh.

Looking out my window it’s hard to imagine that magnolias will be blooming in a few months. We’ve gotten several inches of snow every day for the last several days. Around noon today, the sun came out, but the wind is so cold it feels like -7°. Our snowblower “died” yesterday, so Tracy has had to shovel our long and steep driveway. We cancelled a meeting scheduled meeting here to night, as there is no easy parking on our street if the snow is piled up. Fortunately, if all goes well, we’ll be headed toward warmer climes this coming weekend. 

Pinkfresh has changed their monthly challenge so “anything goes,” I always think I’ll get an entry in, and I should, since I have a very large selection of Pinkfresh products. So this is off to the Pinkfresh February challenge.

I chose pink for the magnolias since The Flower Challenge is looking for pink, and a birthday sentiment so I could play along with Seize the Birthday, without the topping this round. It’s also off to Darnell’s NBUS, and follows along with her I.D.E.A.S. which this week is embossing.