Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

I don't often participate in the Fall Coffee Lovers Blog Hop but since I now have a couple of images that I can use for it, I have a card to enter.

I paper pieced the cup from Altenew and stamped in some coffee (that I don't drink).  The postage stamp die was cut from a snippet that I thought matched one of the colors in the cup and  placed that on some Ripe Avocado that I ran through my fabric embossing folder.  I'd love for you to join me in a cuppa anything you like to drink. ;)

The Flower Challenge #12

The Flower Challenge has a tic tac toe board to use for inspiration this month and I found it very easy to make a card using either the up and down center or top row across.

I had heat embossed in gold the flowers from Altenew and they'd been sitting around waiting for a card and a color.  I watercolored them with Abandoned Coral and Mowed Lawn DI.  For the sentiment I cut the word die from Popystamps in gold and layered it on two layers of Berry Sorbet.

Thanks for dropping by.  I love it when you do.

CAS Mix-Up September

How does time fly by so fast?  Here it is past the mid-point of September and I'm just getting my card into the CAS Mix-up Challenge.

We are to do a watercolor wash for our cards, so I stamped the Painted Flowers from Altenew and washed the flowers in Worn Lipstick, the leaves in Peeled Paint and the background in Black Soot Distress Inks.  Once dry, I cut the panel with the N&T scalloped die and added a coil of silver thread before attaching my heat embossed sentiment from PTI.

I've not been happy with my photography lately.  Mainly because they aren't bright enough, especially the whites.  I've fiddled with my point and shoot camera settings and also with my photo editing program but I'm still not happy.  Next stop may be my iPhone.

Thanks for dropping by and have a great week.

Time Out #92 and CAS Watercolor

There's a new challenge at Time Out featuring this phrase: Paint the Flying Spirit of the Birds rather than it's Feathers. That is wide open to interpretation and this is how I interpreted it:

I smooshed Distress Oxides on Mixed Media paper then stamped Natures' Friends from PB in HA India Ink Black several times using my MISTI.  I trimmed the panel before adding it and the sentiment from Technique Tuesday onto my card front.

I trimmed the panel to  make my card a little more CAS so I could also send it to CAS Watercolor where they want to see a silhouette on your card.

I'm so glad your dropped by today.  I hope you'll come back again.

Muse: Christmas Visions #84

I almost forgot that Muse:Christmas Visions went to a bi-weekly format until I looked at my challenge list.  My card has been done but I've been posting for other challenges thinking I had plenty of time for this one.

Kimberly Weiner is the Muse for this challenge and she made this lovely card.

I have the same SSS die cut ornament so I used that for my card with a different background.

A Distress Oxide smooshed background to be specific, which I mounted on some Spring Moss cs. The ornament and TH sentiment are cut from from gold paper.  I love smooshing those DOX inks.  You get such great layering and sometimes surprising results.

Thanks for dropping by.

CAS Watercolor September Challenge

Heaven knows I have a number of silhouette stamps so making a card for the CAS Watercolor Challenge was a no brainer.  In fact you may see a second card soon.  But first let's take a look at this one.

I did watercolor block stamping for my background.  Actually I did a double stamping because I wasn't liking the first sky color and the green was too light.  This is much better.  The silhouette is from PB and the sentiment is a NBUS one from TT.

Happy Little Stamper has a CAS Challenge that is asking for a silhouette so I'm sending this to them too.

I'm glad you dropped by.  Please come back again.

Addicted to CAS #120

I love florals.  Don't you?  If so you're in luck because that is the word our host Jaydee has chosen for Addicted to CAS.

I have a lot of floral stamps so the difficult part was choosing which one to use.  I decided to go with one of my newest ones.

I colored the poppy from PTI's Stemmed Statements with Inktense pencils and framed it with a new die that I ordered from AliExpress.  A number of blog friends have ordered from them - inexpensive but it takes a while to get the product.  I popped the frame up with fun foam, added the tag and sentiment from the same set and tied on some twine.   I got lots of dimension while still keeping my card CAS.

Our sponsor for this challenge is STAMPlorations.  They will award a $10 store certificate to the winner so get out those floral stamps and get busy making your clean and simple card. ;)

Just Us Girls #411 - Color Week

Maria is our host for the color challenge this week at Just Us Girls and she has chosen

Rather "Fall-ish" looking to me and although that's where my head went first it took a U-turn and I ended up with this:

I cut the Concord and 9th leaves from patterned papers in the challenge colors although the patterns are so subtle that they are hardly noticeable. Sorry about the blurriness of the photo.  I think it's the shadows made from layering the pp on colored cuts to make them more stable.  

It took a while to decide how to present my leaves. I had them straight up and down but then how would I do the sentiment, and on what?  I angled them and liked that arrangement better.  I remembered a die cut from Avery Elle that I knew would fit in the corner and then stretched the rules a little and cut it from cork.  You can use neutrals with your design and I figured my cork was a neutral.  The sentiment is from My Craft Spot (closed). 

What do you think of when you see these colors?  Let's see you translate that image into a card for the gallery.

CASology #266

With all the birthday cards I do, you'd think I'd have more cake images.  I have a large one from C&9th and a cupcake from Altenew that I used for CASology this week.

I stamped it on an MFT oval and colored it with Zigs before popping it up on foam.  The SPD confetti was an afterthought but it adds a little party to the cake.

I'm so glad you dropped by.  I hope you come back again.

Less Is More # 345

It's one layer time at Less Is More and they want coloring on our cards. That's an easy one.

I used an oldie but goodie stamp from PB that I colored with Zigs.  It needed a little somethin' somethin' so I cut the side with a My Craft Spot (closed) scallop border and added some Berry Sorbet cs.  The sentiment is from HLS.

I'm so glad you dropped by.  I hope you come back again.

Inspired by All the Little Things #63

Inspired by All the Little Things is back after summer break with some changes and a beautiful inspiration photo.  The wonderful Darnell Knauss is now one of the administrators on the blog and for her first assignment she invited her lovely friend (and mine) Bev Buenker to be the guest designer. When Bev listed me as one of her inspirations I HAD to make a card.  How could I not.

The flowers are from Altenew, stamped in Altenew inks.  They needed a background and I took a cue from the paper in the photo, stamping a PB script stamp in Soft Vanilla ink on cream cardstock.  A little Distress Ink around the edges and a PB sentiment with a scripty font and it's done.  (A little secret?  I originally wanted the flowers in the upper left corner but the sponging left a big bright spot in the right corner so I made a switch).

I'm so glad you dropped by today.  I hope you come back again.

Addicted to Stamps and More #259

My great-granddaughter will be two on Friday and I made this CAS card for her birthday.  You can see it again at Addicted to Stamps and More along with those my Design Team-mates have made.

The card base is Spicy Yogurt from Altenew to give a little color and texture to the background.  The Memory Box scalloped 'word pop' (their words, not mine) cut my computer generated sentiment. The little giraffe is from CB, colored with Distress Inks and Yes! he's on a wobble.  What little kid doesn't like a wobbly animal on their birthday card?  I know Hannah will love it.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you'll be making a Clean and Simple card to enter in our gallery. You can find the definition of CAS on the blog.

Time Out #91

It's CASE the designer week at Time Out and the designer is Beverley Brown of Uniko fame.  She made this lovely to inspire us.

Here is how I was inspired.

I knew right away I'd use my lily from PB.  It wasn't until someone mentioned their Clarity brushes that I decided to use a W&W stencil for my background.  The stencil is a diagonal stripe and I hoped I could do the stripes in rainbow Distress Ink and then move the stencil down and do the same color again to make a wide stripe.  Well you can see that didn't happen.  A heavier or lighter hand made the colors a little different from the first application but I rather like it. It's like I used 14 colors instead of only 7.

Thanks for dropping by.

CAS(E) This Sketch #238

Nothing like a good sketch to make you use a stamp set you HAD to have. CAS(E) This Sketch did it for me this week.

This was made with PTI's Garden Gate set that I've only used twice but not these images. The frame and hanger are silver embossed and the Bleeding Hearts are stamped with Altenew Inks.

I finally got caught up on all my emails.  It feels good to whittle that number down and comment on all the blogs I get by email.  I so enjoy seeing all your beautiful creations.

Thanks for dropping by.

Freshly Made Sketches #304

It's been a while since I played at Freshly Made Sketches but I have a die that was begging to be used and this sketch fit the bill.

The Spira Doily is from CP.  The sentiment from Dare2BArtsy is stamped on Summer Sunrise that matches a color in the pp.

Thanks for dropping by -  again.  This is my second post today because my finished  cards  are all due shortly and I don't want to miss the challenge deadline.

CASology #265

The word this week at CASology is

Since both my daughter and granddaughter are art teachers, I had to do something that shows the importance of art education.

I stamped the easel from PS, added the words from WPlus9 and some Distress Ink for color.  Like the saying goes, the earth without art is 'eh'.

Thanks for dropping by.