The Card Concept #88, Less Is More #366, Fusion and Inspired By #10

Well this is a first.  The card I made for Less Is More is also good for The Card Concept, Fusion and I hope Inspired By. . .  One card.  Four challenges.  Yay!

I stamped EbyE Rustic Botanicals in various shades of Altenew green for Less Is More's monochrome challenge.  I picked green because The Card Concept has an all green challenge and my card fits their clean and layered category.  It's a little sketchier with Fusion and Inspired By. . but they both include a lot of green in their photo inspirations. 

I'm finding that I need more masculine get well and sympathy cards and this is a little less feminine than what I generally do. 

Thanks for taking time from your day to drop by my blog.

CASual Fridays #194

Who could resist making a rainbow card?  Not I.  This is for the CASual Fridays challenge.

I took the image from their Breath set and stamped it with Altenew inks from a center point.  To the side I added a sentiment from the same set.  QACAS in Darnellese.

Well the weekend is almost over and since my creativity came back I have seven more cards finished and ready to post.  I'm off to check the deadlines so I don't miss any of the challenges.  Thanks for dropping by.

CASology #290 and Time Out #104

I channeled my inner Kandinsky to make a card for CASology (Abstract) and Time Out (Bold).

Using the SSS Doodle background, I stamped on Bristol and colored with Zigs.  A little black frame was added before popping the 'art' on foam and then the card base.

I always appreciate the sun on cold days like this.  There's nothing on my agenda (as my husband asks every day) so I guess the day will be spent finishing up a couple of cards and maybe cutting some quilt strips.  I hope you have something exciting planned.

Just Us Girls #431 - Trend Week

Carol is our host for Trend Week at Just Us Girls.  This is what she chose.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do because I don't have any stamps that are mystical or magical.  I finally just went with the word 'magic'.

This is the first time using the 'believe' die from SSS (another of those 'have to have it' products).  The shadow portion is red foil and the top is silver glitter paper.  I used the same paper behind the wonderful die cut border that is cut from metallic paper.  This might be a better view.

We hope you'll pull out your magical or mystical stamps and make a card for the gallery.  If you are chosen Chic of the Week you will be eligible to be our guest designer in May.

Merry Monday #280

This is the photo inspiration for this week's Merry Monday.

There's a lot to take in but the first thing that caught my eye were the beautiful topiaries in the center of the table.  So out came my long neglected PTI stamp and this was born.

The white PTI panel reminded me of a fancy table cloth and I foam mounted it on the plaid.  The topiaries were cut from black, the bases heat embossed in platinum and the tops die cut in green.  I love that the little leaves are three dimensional.  The sentiment is from PB and I think maybe I should have added the word Christmas somewhere but it's too late now.

I'm so glad you dropped by today.  I love it when you do.

The Paper Players #383 and The Flower Challenge #18

I'm as eager for Spring as The Paper Players who have a Spring photo for our inspiration this week.

I immediately thought of my PTI tulips and wanted another go with my Polychromos. This is the resulting card.

After coloring on the Toned Gray paper, I thought the card needed something else so I cut some copy paper with the tulip die and used it as a mask so I could stamp the background with the MFT burlap stamp.  The sentiment is from Jillian Vance.  I still need pencil practice but it's so much fun coloring that I don't mind.

I'm also going to send this card to The Flower Challenge where the theme is "Anything Goes".

Thanks for dropping by.

Inspired By . . . #9

Over in the meadow is the theme for the Inspired By. . . challenge this week and there is a photo to inspire us.

I wasn't quite sure how to interpret this so it took me up until the deadline to get a card made.

I ended up with a rather literal translation using several embossing folders, paper scraps and a die set from CPD.  The sentiment is from MSE. 

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your day is sunny and bright and that you scatter joy.

CAS(E) This Sketch #261

It's another CAS(E) This Sketch retro challenge with this sketch.

I'll show you my original below but first the new one I agonized over.  With all the DT cards and a flurry of others I had been working on completed, all of a sudden my inspiration flew out the window. I've been sitting here for days with nothing accomplished until late yesterday.  I had an idea and worked on it, didn't like it, worked on another, didn't like it and went back to the first one.  And here it is.

The stamp is from PB, colored with Zigs on Bristol.  The sentiment is from the same set.  I didn't buy critter stamps for a long time because I didn't have a way to color them until I got my Zigs, and then I wasn't sure they (or I) did a good enough job.  I'm getting better and some of the images are just so cute how could I resist.

The previous card was before critters and Zigs, back when I did a lot of flowers and all my coloring was done with Distress Inks.

Now that I look at it, it was also before my watermark and light box.  Boy have things changed.

Thanks for dropping by today.  I hope you're continually learning and changing in your craft life too.

Happy Little Stampers Christmas - March

It's time for this month's Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge and the theme for March is:

I included all of Santa's reindeer on my card.

I stamped all the images from ME on my card front after computer generating the sentiment.  I used Cashmere from WPlus9 that I bought because I loved the sound of the name. It's a lovely color and I didn't want a plain white background for my PolyChromos coloring.  I'm still practicing and they look better to me IRL than on the screen.  I probably should have played with them more but I didn't want to go too dark.

You know those guys wouldn't let Rudolph play so I stamped him on the inside.

The winner of this challenge will receive a $20 coupon to spend at the HLS shop.  

The reindeer are optional for this challenge but we sure would like to see a whole herd of them in the gallery.

CASology #289

When you don't have stamps that 'fit' the word (no pun intended) then you have to get creative.  This is CASology's word of the week.

This is what came to mind.

Oh yes you can!  Fit a square peg into a round hole that is. 

Thanks for challenging my creativity, CASology.

Addicted to CAS #131

Jaydee is our host at Addicted to CAS and she has chosen this as our code word for this challenge.

As luck would have it (pardon the pun 😉) I had what I thought was a great stamp for the challenge.

The clover image, tag and sentiment are from PTI.  I stamped the clover on a label die from CF and colored it with PolyChromos pencils.  The label was popped up on fun foam and a second tag was cut from purple and the two tied together with twine.

The Design Team has some wonderful cards inspired by the code word.  Take a look at theirs and then make your own 'lucky/luck' card.  We'd love to see yours in the gallery.

Just Us Girls #430 - Word Week

Maria has chosen this for Word Week at Just Us Girls.

Won't that be fun to see a whole gallery full of balloons?  I wanted to do something a little different with mine.

My balloons are all of colored vellum.  I partially die cut one on the top so it would hang over and then trimmed off the rest of the cs. The others are stuck directly to the front panel using my Xyron sticker maker.  That worked slick as a whistle let me tell you.  I don't know why I didn't think of that before.  I just happened to have some DSP in the same colors so I used it for a strip down the side. 

We have Stef Perry with us as our guest designer this month.  She and the other members of the Design Team have some colorful balloons for you to check out before you make your card.  If you are chosen Chic of the Week you will be eligible to be a guest designer in May.

Merry Monday #279 and AAA Cards #109

I have a couple of Christmas cards for you today. The first one is for Merry Monday and their poinsettia challenge.

I gold heat embossed the flowers from EH and watercolored with Distress Inks.  The sentiment from HLS is gold heat embossed too.

The next card is for AAA Cards.  They want a die cut only card and that worked best for another Christmas card.

The images are cut from paper that has been smooshed with Distress Inks including the sentiment. The pines are TH, the pine cone Gina Marie and the sentiment is EH.

I'm glad you dropped by today.  How are your Christmas cards coming? 

The Paper Players #382

This week it's a sketch challenge at The Paper Players.

I bought an Anna Griffin paper pack a while ago because I loved the prints and they worked perfectly for my card.

For the focal panel I gold heat embossed the PTI Botanical Block on Bristol and colored it with Zigs and Distress Ink.  I decided to leave off a sentiment even though I have some tiny ones that would fit.

We're supposed to be getting a winter storm today.  For those of you in it's wake, please stay safe.