Just Us Girls #661 - Color Week

It's the start of a new year and time for a new challenge at Just Us Girls.  Lisa K is the host for our Color Week challenge and these are her colors.

I had a background made that would work so I finished the card like this.

A Lawn Fawn snowflake stencil was lightly inked, and the panel trimmed to mat on navy cs.  The Layered Snowflake die from Altenew brought in two other light blues, navy and both white and white glitter.  The sentiment is from Penny Black. 

We are welcoming Jules Peddicord as our guest this month and I'm anxious to see how she and the rest of the Design Team have used the colors.   I hope we inspire you to make a card and enter it in the gallery. 

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Just Us Girls # 477 - Word Week

Vicki is our host this week at Just Us Girls and she has chosen a word that should fill our gallery.

I spent way more time on my card that I usually do but once I had the idea in my head I had to keep going.  It's all part of using neglected stamps.

First I wanted to do a text background with the sentiments from the MFT Stay Tuned set.  It takes a while and some practice to get those laid out correctly.  For once it wasn't MISTI but my trusty old Fiskars press to the rescue.  There was a mis-stamp near the top so I cut another piece of the Fog paper and stamped the sentiment in Red which I think worked out even better design-wise.  I couldn't just pop the TV on so I cut 4 layers putting the sentiment on the bottom and then adding acetate between the middle two. It looks great IRL.  This must be a rescue card because I knew I wanted the sentiment to say "It's Your Birthday".  Typing it into Evernote brought up the perfect one by EBE.

Please check out the birthday cards the rest of the Design Team and our guest designer, Greta Hess, have made.  We hope they inspire you to make a card for the challenge.

Just Us Girls #476 - Photo Week

Wait until you see the photo that our host Lisa chose as our inspiration for Just Us Girls.

How lucky are you, if your birthday is in February, to have the lovely amethyst as your birthstone.  How will you be inspired by it?  This is what I saw.

The Mondo Hydrangea from EBE.  It is very difficult for me to get a good purple color with my camera but believe me I used the violet and deep violet Zigs on those petals.  I heard tell that watercoloring works well with CP ink so I took Twilight and used it for my background, splattering it with black and white when I was done. 

I hope you'll be inspired by me and the rest of the Design Team including our lovely guest, Lisa Elton, to make a card for the gallery.  If you are chosen Chic of the Week you could become a guest designer.

Just Us Girls #475 - Color Week

Are you ready for some color?  Just Us Girls host Maria has chosen these colors for the challenge.

I must say I struggled with this because I didn't want to make any more valentines.  After days of thinking about it, an idea came to me in the wee hours of the morning.

I see cards where the flowers are stamped around the edges but I rarely do that.  Using the Altenew wildflowers in the challenge colors around the edge of my card worked just as I imagined. I cut an MFT scalloped oval to stamp my PTI sentiment on and popped it in the middle.

What will you do with these colors?  I hope you'll make a card for our gallery for a chance at being Chic of the Week.  The Design Team and guest designer Lisa Elton have some beautiful cards to inspire you.

Just Us Girls #448 - Word Week

What does this word conjure up for you?   Just Us Girls host Carol has chosen it for the Word Week challenge.  It can be fruit or colors or wherever your imagination takes you. I went with fruit.

The images and sentiment are from Concord and 9th.  I heat embossed the fruit in white on mixed media paper and lightly watercolored with Distress Inks. 

Be sure and check out what the Design Team and this month's guest Julia Aston have made to inspire you.  If you link up a card and are chosen the winner, you will be eligible for a guest spot in September.

Just Us Girls #447 - Wild Card Week

The fifth Saturday of the month brings on our Wild Card challenge at Just Us Girls and Vicki has chosen this for your card making pleasure::

There should be no excuse for not making a card since you can do anything.  Well, within reason. It's the last challenge for our talented guest designer Hannelie Bester.  It's been great having you with us, Hannelie.  Your cards are all fantastic.  Check our what she and the rest of the team have made for this challenge and then enter a card of your own.  You may be chosen Chic of the Week and be our August guest.  

While making another card using an Altenew stamp, I stamped a couple of the smaller images from the set to try them out.  I liked them so well that I made more and turned them into this lovely birthday card.

What will you do for our "Anything Goes" challenge?

Just Us Girls #443 - Word Week

The word of the week at Just Us Girls as chosen by Sue is

There are so many ways to go with this but I wanted to use an Altenew stamp that was feeling a little neglected.

I love the flower adorned tree swing so I stamped it on 'sky' colored paper and colored it with PolyChromos pencils.  I usually re-stamp the image when the coloring is done but I didn't in this case and am sorry I didn't.  I think some of the detail got lost under the pencil.  To give it a little more oomph I added some white UniBall dots to the flowers.  The sentiment is from the same set.

How do you interpret the word "Outside"?  We'd love to see what you come up with in our gallery.  This month's guest designer, Hannelie Bester, and the rest of the Design Team may be able to inspire you with their wonderful cards.  If you are chosen Chic of the Week you will be eligible for a guest design spot.

Just Us Girls #441 - Color Week

Lisa is our host for Color Week at Just Us Girls and she's chosen these colors.

I had another card in mind when I remembered a background I stamped some time ago that could be finished up to meet the color challenge.

The stamp is from Concord and 9th and although the stamping isn't the best I thought it looked like denim so I left it as is.  I added Altenew inks in two shades of gray and aqua to finish up the flowers and leaves.  The label die was stamped with a Hero Arts sentiment in the same HA Navy ink that I used on the background.

The Design Team and our lovely guest, Patti Kehl, have some wonderful cards to inspire you to join our challenge.  If you do, you could be chosen Chic of the Week and have a chance to be our guest in July.

Just Us Girls #439 - Word Week

Sue is the host for Word Week at Just Us Girls and this is her word:

You can see in the explanation the various way to interpret this word.  I chose to do shadow stamping.

I stamped the leaves from Altenew's Build a Flower Hibiscus in white on Smoke cs and then stamped offset in Fog.  It took me several tries to get the offset right and I didn't always get the shadow on the same side on this finished one but I didn't want to do it over - again.  These are the same leaves that are part of the focal point of my card.  They look entirely different in four shades of green.  I added three of those little drops that I have had forever and never use.  The one on the bottom is sort of hiding a little boo boo.

The Design Team and our guest designer Karren Johnson have some fabulous cards to inspire you and we hope you'll make a shadow card to enter in the gallery.  If you are chosen Chic of the Week you could be a future guest.

Just Us Girls #437 - Color Week

That's right, stampers, it's Color Week at Just Us Girls and the color of choice for our host Carol is . .  .

I've had an alcohol ink panel on my desk for a while deciding what to do with it and this challenge sparked my imagination.

EbyE's Mondo Magnolia to the rescue.  I stamped it on the panel with Archival Ink and die cut it, adding a little green ink to the stem.  The die cut panel adds interest to the background and the PTI sentiment was heat embossed on a strip of black.  I still have a large section of the purple left so I need to think of a way to use it.  

I hope you'll check out the fabulous creations by our Design Team and guest designer Karren Johnson and then make a purple card of your own.  If you are chosen Chic of the Week you could be our guest in June.

I'm also linking this up to the Ellen Hutson PinSights Challenge where this mood board is our inspiration.

Just Us Girls #428 - Color Week

Here are the colors for this week's challenge at Just Us Girls as chosen by Angie.

I often have difficulty with color challenges but the first thing that popped into my mind was 'berry'.  If the color is berry why not make berries.  And so I did.

These are the summer berries from PTI stamped with Altenew Ink and shaded a little with colored pencils.  The sentiment is from PB.

Our guest designer this month is Tenia Nelson and she and the Design Team have some colorful cards for your inspiration over on the blog.  Please go take a look and then link your card up in the gallery.  You may be chosen Chic of the Week and be eligible to be our guest in April.

Just Us Girls #427 - Trend Week

I was going through tag withdrawal after the Tag You're It! challenge closed.  Nancy gave me a chance to make one with her choice of trend for Just Us Girls this week.

I put my tag on a card.

Concord and 9th gave me all the elements I needed for my card, including the tag die.  The only added piece was the yellow cardstock for lack of an actual ribbon to use. 

You can make only a tag, or put a tag on a card.  We just hope you'll join us this week.  If you are chosen Chic of the Week you will be eligible to be a guest designer like this month's guest Tenia Nelson. Come and see what Tenia and the rest of the team have for your inspiration at Just Us Girls.

Just Us Girls #426 - Word Week

What better word for me to pick when you're all making valentines.

This is Bobby and the Design Team at Just Us Girls would like to see your cards based on love, whether valentines or for some other occasion.  I did a valentine.

I colored these darling RC pups with Zigs and put them on some PP.  The pun-y sentiment has been clear heat embossed for shine.

If you enter a card in the gallery you may be chosen Chic of the Week and be eligible to be our Guest Designer for April.  Our Guest Designer this month is Tenia Nelson.  Come and see what she and the rest of the team have for your inspiration.

Just Us Girls #418 - Word Week

Maria is our host for this week's word challenge at Just Us Girls and she chose this:

My new Stamp of Approval box had just the perfect things to make a thankful card.

I inked the stencil with a variety of Distress Oxides before layering the vellum that has stamped and heat embossed words.  This is truly the way I feel - thankful, grateful, blessed.

The members of the Design Team have made wonderful creations along with our guest designer Trina Pham from My Crafting Closet.  We hope we inspire you to make a card and enter it in our gallery.

Just Us Girls #380

Our host Vicki chose hearts for the Just Us Girls word this week.  Very appropriate since it's nearing Valentine's Day.

Do you make a lot of valentines?  I've been making a bunch of them but chose this one to show you today.

Are those enough hearts for you?  The jar and candy are from Papertrey Ink, colored with Zigs, and popped up on foam.

The design team and our guest designer Michele Greenwood have wonderful cards for you to see at Just Us Girls.  We hope they inspire you to make a card and enter it in the gallery.  You could be chosen Chic of the Week with the possibility of being a guest designer in April.