Freshly Made Sketches #682 and Color Throwdown #831

I fiddled around for a long time before I came up with something for Freshly Made Sketches and I'm still not sure I like what I did.   

I went through a lot of my patterned paper and fell in love with this one from a Color Wash pack from years ago.  I cut it apart and used different corners of the 6 by 6 piece to make the background.  The dragonfly is from Honey Bee, embossed in silver and colored with DI.  This is the second one I made since the first one didn't show up well.  The sentiment from the same set is also embossed in silver. 

I'm glad I went to see the challenge at Color Throwdown before I finalized my post.  Glory be, they are asking for sage green, yellow and coral.  I see tones of that in the background but I also painted the wings with Scattered Straw and Abandoned Coral.  I hope their DT thinks this qualifies. 

I'm so glad you dropped by.  Have a good weekend!

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Color Hues #102

I missed the deadline for the last Color Hues.  I'm not going to let that happen again.  Here's my card in navy and lime green.

The first thing I thought of was my Honey Bee dragonflies.  I stamped one on lime vellum, heat embossed it and cut it out along with another in Gina K's Key Lime cardstock.  I was trying to figure out what coverplate to use and found the navy one already cut but none of the holes were punched out.  I must have gotten lazy and just put it aside for another time.  This was the time.  After poking them out, I attached the panel to a green one.  It looked rather plain so I added Penny Black's Ascending die.  I couldn't see a good way to add a sentiment so it's going without.  

I'm so glad you stopped by.  Have a wonderful weekend.

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CAS Mix-Up August 2022

My supply of sympathy cards was depleting fast so I got a new stamp and die set called Dragonfly from HoneyBee to make a few cards.   I'm sending this one to CAS Mix-up where the prompt is 'emboss resist'.

The dragonfly was white heat embossed on PTI paper and inked with Salvaged Patina and Wilted Violet Distress Inks.  I thought it was a little too plain so I cut a SSS stitched circle from the center - thank goodness it fit around the ink blending - and popped it up.  The set has sentiment dies so it was heat embossed, cut and inked with Wilted Violet.  

While I had the stamps out I made a few others that will probably pop up on my blog at some time.  You'll have to come back to see. ;)

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CAS Mix-Up June 2021

I have already entered a card at CAS Mix-Up that I actually made for another challenge.  I had in mind something else so I have a second card for their 'watercolor - flight' challenge

 A dragonfly is a symbol of change, transformation and self-realization.
It teaches us to love life, to rejoice and have faith even amidst difficulties. 

I recently purchased this dragonfly stamp/die from Hero Arts which includes the sentiment.  Truth be told I actually got it for this challenge but also because I love dragonflies and their symbolism.   The background is acetate smooshing with Catherine Pooler inks and the dragonfly is colored with the same ink.  

Thanks for dropping by.  

Inkspirational #190

It's purple and gold at Inkspirational.  A very regal combination I do believe.  My colors are a little more muted.

I did the alcohol ink background a while ago and added a popped up frame of Plum Pudding which matched perfectly.  Gold and purple foil were die cut into a dragonfly (with a little purple vellum under the wings) and flower and a sentiment added in black.

ETA: I keep forgetting about the challenge at The Cat's Pajamas.  This month they are asking for die cutting so I'm going to sent this card to them. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Just Us Girls #332 and Freshly Made #226

It's Photo Week at Just Us Girls.

While a lot of the Design Team went with frogs for leap year, the first thing I noticed was the flourishes and thought of a certain stamp.  See if you know what it is.

It's a Christmas tree stamp from PB.  I masked off the star and stamped it in two directions with Twisted Citron DI.  I got my layout from the sketch at Freshly Made so I silver embossed the sentiment on vellum and added the smooshed and glittered dragonfly.  It looks a lot better IRL.  Even with photo editing, the colors don't come out quite right.

Thanks for dropping by.

Addicted to CAS #73

It took me a while to come up with an idea for Addicted to CAS this time until I remembered a stamp I got quite a while ago when Serendipity had a sale.  It's perfect for the challenge.

The Memory Box flower was cut from Slate cs as a silhouette so as to not take away from the beautiful dragonfly from Elizabeth Crafts.  It was cut from silver for the top layer and aqua and purple glitter for the under layers.  The sentiment with that dreamy font was stamped and embossed in silver.

I have an array of card pieces to put together so I'm signing off now.  Thanks for dropping by.

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.

CAS(E) This Sketch #127

It's all about CAS(E) This Sketch today.

The sketch:

My card:

The little squares were a leftover from a PPP die that I stuck on my craft sheet and inked with Distress Inks.  Then I separated them on the card front and added two drangonflies from Elizabeth Crafts, embossed with Verdigris powder.  I wish you could see the shine.  I added a layer of vellum to the wings and stamped a sentiment from Stamplorations.

Thanks for stopping by.  Your visits and comments are always welcome.

CASology #114

Thanks for all the congratulations on my win last week at CASology.  It has inspired me to enter this week's "Flutter" challenge.

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, colored vellum

Die: Elizabeth Crafts

Stamps: MFT Fall Foliage, Stampendous Soaring Sentiments

Once I decided on my design, I found this sentiment and knew just who the recipient was going to be.  You may have read here before about Jenny (my daughter from another mother).  She and her twin sister Suzie have been best friends of my daughter for ages. Last year Jenny was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  Things seemed to be going well and when I saw her in August she looked wonderful.  She had a check-up last week and the cancer has returned.  This card will be going to her.  I'm also going to make another one for a friend in church who just had a skin cancer removed and is having a difficult time with it.  There are so many people who need their spirits lifted for one reason or another. I'm so glad I can do a little something with the cards I make.

Thanks for stopping by.  Your comments make my day so I hope you leave one.

TO #10, CTS #86 and TCCC #15

I'm off today to visit my son and his family for some work projects.  My daughter will be joining us and we girls will be painting and whatever else needs to be done to finish up projects around their house.  It sounds like work I know but we always have a wonderful time doing it.  Before I go, I have two cards to share with you.

First up is TIME OUT.  I hate to tell you how many times I tried to make a card for this challenge.  Nothing looked good.  I was doing my old "follow the photo exactly" thing and I learned my lesson.  Go with what speaks to me.

I tried strips of nearly matched to the photo DP with feathers of different colors.  I tried paper piecing an arrow.  I almost gave up when I found a piece of paper that gave the essence of the photo and everything fell together.

I cut up the bottom like the opening of the tepee and used that space for my sentiment from HA.  I clear embossed the feathers from Clearly Besotted and colored them with Distress Inks.  I'm happy now.

This next card I made for CASE this Sketch.

I just got an order with a darling dragonfly die and knew it was meant to be.

Isn't  she just precious?  I cut her from colored vellum and sparkle embossed it to give it that shine.  Sorry it doesn't show in the photo.  I cut a body from black and used black sparkle embossing powder on it.  The flower from Memory Box is four layers, two white and two green.  Finishing it off is a sentiment from Penny Black.  Since the colors look lime and aqua, I'm also sending this to The Card Concept Challenge as clean and simple.

Thanks for stopping by.  I won't be able to visit you for a while but I'll try to catch up when I get back on Thursday.  Happy Creating!