Inkspirational #348

The challenge at Inkspirational is Clean and Simple with the option of flowers.  You know I had to make a card 1. because it's flowers and 2. because I was honored with a top pick in the last challenge. 

Any one who reads my blog knows I love daisies and this one from SSS is called Sunrise Stem, cut in white and colored with Distress Inks.  White space doesn't have to be white so I put it on a yellow background embossed with a plate from STAMPlorations.  The sentiment is from BetterPress.

Edited to Add:  I just saw the challenge at Krafty Chicks and am going to send this card to their CAS Challenge #782.  

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a wonderful week!

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Tic Tac Toe #252

 Today's card is for Tic Tac Toe.

I used the right column down and I hope just one flower qualifies. ;)

I wanted to use the freebie Bee dies from Sizzix that I got with an order and thought one would look great with the Sunrise Stem from SSS.  Everything was cut from Bristol and colored with Zigs with the exception of the bee's wings which are vellum.  The card looked rather plain so I masked off the edges and inked the center with Squeezed Lemonade.  

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great week!

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please fill out the subscription form in the upper right sidebar.

It is also important to add  Bobby.bitsandpieces at gmail dot com to your contact list 

so Google recognizes the address and delivers the updates.

You may also unsubscribe using the same form. 

The Flower Challenge #35

You get to use your favorite flower on your cards 

for this month's The Flower Challenge.

My favorite flower is the daisy.  I love their sunny faces 

and how bright and cheerful they are.  They just make me smile.

The flowers from Altenew's Smile More are stamped in gray on Bristol and colored with Zigs.  The background is kraft stamped with MFT burlap in CP Spruce. 

We have as our guest this month the wonderfully talented Therese Calvird.  You will definitely want to see what she has done for the challenge but also check out her entire blog.  There is so much creativity there to amaze you.  

We also have a prize from Clearly Besotted.  They are giving our winner a $20 certificate to their store.  Be sure to follow the rules on our blog to be eligible for a win.  

I hope to see your card in the gallery featuring your favorite flower.

Just Us Girls #483 - Trend Week

Angie has a fun one for us this week at Just Us Girls.

There are a number of ways to do this and you will see many wonderful examples from the Design Team and our guest Christine.  Here's mine.

I marked the 4.25 inch mark on my card and stamped the Altenew daisy half over the top.  It was partial die cut, folded on the mark and the bottom trimmed.  This way it fits into an A2 envelope.  The flower was masked to stamp the stem and then colored with Zigs.  Distress Ink and spatters filled in the background before a sentiment was added.

We hope to see your card in the gallery.  You may be chosen Chic of the Week with a chance to be a guest designer.

The Flower Challenge #30

It's March and time for another Flower Challenge.  This time it's Anything Goes.  I know you all love that kind of challenge.  Just be sure that flowers are the focal image on your card. 

For my card I used my brand new Mondo Daisy from EBE, stamped on Bristol and colored with Zigs.  I placed it on a yellow gingham background because I think yellow gingham and daisies go together like peanut butter and jelly. 

The field is wide open so there's no excuse not to make a card for our challenge.  Need inspiration?  There's plenty to be found on the blog. 

CAS(E) This Sketch #307

I have two reasons for this card.  One - I wanted to use this ancient paper that I ran across while looking for something else and Two - I needed a little Spring after all of this cold weather.  CAS(E) This Sketch gave me the perfect sketch.

The flower is from Altenew, the sentiment from HLS and luckily the polka dots were the reverse side of the DSP that I think was from a kit long ago but can't remember.  My Zigs added the color.

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a wonderful day!

September Essentials Challenge

Today's card is for the September Essentials Challenge at Ellen Hutson.  This is the sketch we are to follow.

And my card.

You have to use stamps that are sold by Ellen Hutson on your card so I've used the Altenew Spring Daisy for my flower and a sentiment from MFT's More Essential Sentiments.  The background is from my WTDWT (what to do with this) drawer that was made with shaving foam and food coloring.

Thanks for dropping by.

The Flower Challenge #24 - Reminder

There's still time for you to enter a card in September's The Flower Challenge.  The Design Team is back with some new cards to inspire your entries for this Anything Goes challenge.  My card is a rather simple one that I made a while ago.

I quickly watercolored the stem and center of the Unity daisy, cut the panel with an irregular die and placed it on a SSS plaid background.  

Whether clean and simple or rather complex, we'd like to see your cards with flowers as the focal image in our gallery.  There is a $25 voucher to CASual Fridays for the winner.

Just Us Girls #435

It's Word Week at Just Us Girls and our host Ina would like to see bold cards.

I happened to have a smooshed DOX background on my desk that looked pretty bold to me so I added a flower and called it good.

I've had the TH flowers for quite a while but I just got the dies which allowed me to put my daisy on the background.  It was stamped with DI and then I used a waterbrush to move the color around.  The sentiment is from PB.

How do you interpret the word 'Bold'?  For inspiration check out what the Design Team and our Guest Designer for the month of April, Karren Johnson, have made.  The winning card maker will be chosen Chic of the Week and have a chance at guest designing in June.

We'd love to see your card in the gallery.

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.

Altenew November Challenge

It's been a while since I entered a challenge at Altenew but November's photo appealed to me and I had to make a card.  It's actually been done for a while and here I am just beating the deadline.

I was playing with my Brushos one day and I thought this background would be perfect for the challenge. I combined it with the daisy stamp colored with Zigs to look like the Gaillardia in the photo.  Here's the inspiration.

Thanks for dropping by.

Less Is More #293, Altenew Blog Hop and Virginia's View #23

Less is More is asking for our favorite flower on a one-layer card.  My favorite is the daisy and what better stamp to use than Altenew's Spring Daisy.

I masked and stamped the flowers with Altenew Evening Gray and colored them with Inktense pencils.  I got a little carried away with the splattering. Why did it do a little on my sample but went all over the place on the actual card?  One of the mysteries of life I guess.  At least it gets me into Virginia's View Challenge to use spray, mist or splatter.  I'm also entering it into the Altenew Blog Hop.

I'm so glad you dropped by.  Please leave a comment to let me know you were here.

Addicted to CAS #89

Since daisies are one of my favorite flowers, I just HAD to order the ones from Altenew and then I had to try them out right away.  The challenge at Addicted to CAS is the perfect place to debut them.

I printed the sentiment on the computer and then stamped the daisy in Evening Gray and colored the center with Inktense pencils.  I stamped again and cut some petals and mounted them on foam tape to fall down the card.

I'm glad you dropped by.  Have a wonderful week.

Tic Tac Toe #10 and Seize the Birthday

Tic Tac Toe challenges are a fun way to pick a design for your card. Stamping Smiles Designs has such  a challenge and I've made a card using the middle row across.

I clear embossed the SSS grid on some watercolor paper and made an ombre' wash with a Zig.  This panel is covered with  Neenah that has an oval cut with Spellbinders and is mounted on thick foam.  The daisy is a die from Penny Black that I added a little Distress Ink to.  PB also makes the sentiment that is stamped in Soft Granite.  There you go.  Resist, ombre', grid.

The topping at Seize the Birthday is 'Dimension' and this has it so over it goes to join the gallery.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by.  I love it when you do.

Time Out #40 and OCC - Watercolor

It's day three of the Online Watercolor Class and I'm still watching the videos from day two.  Some of the things they're teaching I have already done but you can always learn something new and hints about how to do things better.  One of the techniques was watercoloring backgrounds which is what I did for this card for Time Out. We're to CASE this card by Tracey McNeely with a twist.

Isn't that Mondo Magnolia just beautiful?  I ran with the vellum flower (substantially smaller unfortunately) and my twist is using colored vellum.

I pearl embossed the flower from Tim Holtz and leaves from SSS onto yellow and green vellum.  I had a heck of a time finding an outline leaf in any of my stamps.  After fussy cutting them, they are mounted on a background watercolored with Twisted Citron DI. The flower details don't show well in the photograph but the card is scrumptious IRL.

This next card was meant for The Card Concepts challenge and it's been done for a week and still I missed the deadline. No worries.  It's perfect for Day 1 of the Online Card Class - watercoloring with markers.

The image is from PTI and colored with my Zigs.

I'm so glad you dropped by.  Have you tried watercoloring?

MUSE #133

Michele (of I Card Everyone) knows I love patterned paper and her card for Muse makes wonderful use of a fabulous one.  How could I not play?

Michele's card.

And mine.

The paper is something I've had in my stash for a long time and love it so I wish I had more than the half sheet that is left.  I didn't use vellum but cut my daisy die from PB from white and watercolored the stem and center.  The SSS tag was cut from the reverse side, stamped with a sentiment from PS and split to allow the stem to 'grow' through.  Here you go, Michele.  Thanks for the inspiration.