Just Us Girls #512 - Word Week

It's Word Week at Just Us Girls and Ina has chosen 

I'm in the midst of making Thanksgiving cards so this gave me a chance to add a few more to my stash. 

Using my MISTI, I stamped the JV sentiment in the center and then surrounded it with leaves from WPlus9.  Once I had the images set up it was easy to make four cards, using a variety of Altenew inks.  I trimmed the panel with a SSS die and added it to GinaK's Coral Reef.

The Design Team and our guest designer are ready to show you the cards they have made based on this word.  I hope you'll check out the blog and then enter a card in our gallery.  You could be chosen our Chic of the Week.

Freshly Made Sketches #371

While trying to decide what to do for Freshly Made Sketches, I ran across a NBUS set from Concord and 9th and a card was born.

I went back and forth between what background paper and what color the pineapple should be.  I loved the gold polka dots so cut it with a PTI die and then stamped the pineapple in Altenew Peach Parfait, embossing with rose gold.  Now for the sentiment strip.  I needed something darker and thought the cork gave some texture.    Here's the sketch I was working from.

I know it's square but I rarely do square cards.  They take more postage unless it's 4.25 by 4.25 and put in an A2 envelope which doesn't feel right to me.  Just my reasoning. ;)

Have a great day and thanks for dropping by.

Inkspirational #171

I'm always in the need for sympathy cards and this week's challenge at Inkspirational spurred me on to make one.

Some place I saw a card with leaves on dark cardstock and knew that my Oxides would be perfect for this technique.

I had a whole bunch of PTI Tide Pool paper and decided it would make a wonderful calming background.  Using leaves from MFT I stamped in a variety of Oxide inks all over the panel.  The hidden sentiment is from Winnie and Walter, stacked up three layers.

It turned out so well I decided to make another card using a different background color and leaves from Catherine Pooler.

This time I used a die from MFT and stacked it four high.  This was so QACAS that I can see making more of them.

Thanks for dropping by.

Twofer Card Challenge #6

Yes, that's right.  This month's Twofer Card Challenge wants to see trees on two cards for two different occasions.  Not having many tree stamps to choose from I made a couple of little scenes using Birchland from Altenew.

For the Spring card I masked the tree and inked the background with Distress Ink, stamping the leaves in the same green ink. The birdhouse and bird are colored with Zigs. 

For the Fall card I stamped three trees with Gathered Twigs DI and watercolored them with the same.  I lightly washed the grass and sky and then stamped a variety of leaf colors in the trees and on the ground. 


Thanks again for a wonderful challenge to stretch our stamps and our imagination.

Addicted to Stamps #247

It's Make Your Mark week at Addicted to Stamps and More.  This is an easy one because you can make a card using markers, pencils, Zigs, watercolor. Anything that makes a mark.  For my card I used Inktense Pencils because I haven't used them in a while.

This was in my UFO file, stamped but not colored.  The Asters are from PB. I did a Distress Ink wash around them and splattered.  I'm not sure that was the best thing to do but it's done. I brought some of the color to the left side with strips of cardstock.


Now it's your turn.  Head on over to Addicted to Stamps and More for inspiration from the Design Team and then make your mark on a card to enter in the gallery.  ATSM is celebrating its 5th birthday so Kylie and Happy Little Stampers are awarding the winner of this challenge a $40 gift certificate to the HLS shop.

Just Us Girls #378

Nancy chose this photo to inspire our cards for Just Us Girls this week.  I took it quite literally.

Well I didn't put a ladybug on the flower but she's represented in the strip along the side.  It was originally red with white polka dots that I colored with a Sharpie.  The daisy from Altenew is colored with Zigs and the sentiment is from HLS.  

How does the photo inspire you?  Go see what the design team and guest designer Shawna Standish have done.  I hope to see your card in the gallery.

Time Out #69 and AAA Cards #77

Talk about frustration.  I should have left well enough alone.  I decided to get a Big Shot even though my Cuttlebug was okay.  It did need new plates and the handle was attached with duct tape but it's been good to me.  The Big Shot on the other hand has been a pain.  One of the plates is so warped it struggles to go through and then the cut marks (or any tape I use to hold the die) leave marks on my cardstock.  It also leaves embossing about the edge of the die - not necessarily a bad thing but not what I'm going for.

Frustration number two is with my cutting devices.  None of the three cut perfectly straight.  Well I guess the Tonic one does but I got the smaller one without knowing any better and it doesn't go 5.5 inches wide so I have to mark it first.  That means I am constantly trimming my cards to get them even.  And don't even mention the T square ruler.  That's warped too.

Okay.  Enough rant for today.  You came here for a card.  Just so you know. This is my third attempt.  Hence the rant.

I used some of Altenew's Spicy Yogurt cs, cut a MFT word from it and then 3 times in chocolate. My original card attempt included some Distress Inking so that ruined panel became my C9 leaves.  They are heart shaped and perfect for the Time Out challenge - Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart.  I'm singing it now. ;)  I'll also link up to AAA Cards for their thanksgiving/thanks challenge.

Now that my rant is over, I'll go make the bed and finish the laundry.  Have a great day!

Time Out #68

Ardyth is the guest to CASE over at Time Out.

I used one of my favorites, SSS Artful Flowers.  There are no leaves with this stamp set so I added green by stamping the triple dots from Candy Cane Lane by CP.  The sentiment is from Neat and Tangled.

Thanks for dropping by.

Time Out #54

The minute I saw the photo inspiration for the Time Out challenge I knew what I wanted to do.  I saw this wonderful card by Yoonson Hur on the Simon Says Stamp blog a while ago and loved it.  I used the same SSS stamp set and made this.

The card was watercolored with Distress Inks and a MFT die is layered three times on top.  Here's the photo that inspired it.

That's all for me today.  I hope your week has gotten off to a great start.

Edited to Add: I'm going to send this to the Pintrest Inspired Challenge, too.  Thanks, Carol. Here's their inspiration photo.

Merry Monday #195, Muse #156, The Card Concept, and Tic Tac Toe #5

It's the start of the weekend and it promises to be a great day here in mid-Michigan.  Before I get involved in other things, I have several cards to share with you.

For Merry Monday:

We were asked to use buttons on our card and for the convenience of mailing, I used paper buttons from PTI with my Neat and Tangled tree.  The buttons are all cut out of foil (which are hard to see in the photo) and to add some interest I used the SSS stitched rectangles.  The sentiment is from SSS.

Up next is a card I made for Muse.  Michele asked for cards with a layered 'thanks' like hers:

I pretty much copied her design with different colors.  I'm not crazy about it but here it is.

A die from MFT and a stencil from HA combined with Melon Berry cs and Abandoned Coral DI and it's done.

For the Tic Tac Toe Challenge I used the first row down - green, friendship, charm.  It was the charm that got me until I remembered this little pair of scissors from long ago.

The sentiment was computer generated before gluing on the quilt die from MFT in a variety of green papers.  I'm also going to send this to The Card Concept where green and patterns are featured.

Anytime you cut out something like this there are lots of pieces left over so here's a second helping.

This sentiment is also computer generated and I used one of the frames from an initial cut for the sashing.  I love making paper quilts almost as much as fabric ones. ;)

Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend.

Addicted to Stamps #161

Talk about time getting away from you.  I realized at 3:00 Tuesday afternoon that I hadn't made a card for my Design Team assignment at Addicted to Stamps and More this week and it needed to be posted by 7:00 pm.  I could have sworn I did one but I guess not.  I must be thinking of last time. Sometimes my mind fails me. ;)  Fortunately the theme is Anything Goes and I have been wanting to try this technique that Jennifer McGuire had on her blog a while ago.  Hence my quickly thrown together yet rather attractive card.

I planned on doing a get well card but once I blended Abandoned Coral and Wild Honey Distress Inks onto my paper, it looked like Fall to me.  I changed gears and cut the word die from MFT from Dark Chocolate, which is also my card base.  The secret to the card is the gold Perfect Pearls that has been dusted over the DI before embossing with my newest ef from Sizzix.

It should be easy for you to enter this week since the theme is Anything Goes.  You'll find great inspiration from the Design Team over on the blog. And there are double prizes for the winner.

$15 to the store at Deedee's Digis AND

5 digis from Rosey Hearts

Muse #129, CASology #160, and Freshly Made #200

Boy are you going to get an eyeful today.  I've been whipping up a storm in my craft room and I have one card due by 8 am tomorrow and two cards due by noon.  I'm going to put them all in one post, if you don't mind.  First up is Muse.  Here's the inspiration from Anita.

I pretty much followed her formula, changing just the details.

I used a Tim Holtz stencil with Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink, Winnie & Walter word die done in SSS Slate instead of black since I thought the sentiment warranted it, and a gold dragonfly from Elizabeth Crafts.  I'm sorry about the darkness of the photos.  It's pouring rain here today.

The next card is for CASology.

This card features a Cuttlebug embossing folder, Penny Black sentiment, SSS tag die, Stormy Sky Distress Ink, and Hemptique cord.  

And last but not least, my entry into Freshly Made Sketches 200th challenge celebration.  The sketch itself is very simple and wide open to interpretation.  They are thanking us for following them and entering the challenges every week by offering prizes.  I thought I would thank them for giving us such wonderful challenges and Design Team inspiration.

I triple embossed the 'thanks' die from MFT with Liquid Platinum and then used a Fresh Squeezed stamp to give it some texture.  The Hero Arts grid is also embossed in platinum and a sentiment from PTI is embossed in white on a Dark Chocolate banner. 

Whew!  That was a lot for one post and I still have other cards done that need to be posted.  I sure hope the challenges for the coming week spark as much creativity in me as this past week has done. I'm raring to go!

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