Color Hues #23

It's flower time again.  This one is for Color Hues - pink and yellow.

The image and sentiment are from different sets from STAMPlorations.  I colored with Zigs and then bordered the panel with some pink cardstock.

That's is for me today.  Have a great week!

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The Flower Challenge #51 - reminder

I'm sure you're all busy but there is still time to make a card for this month's The Flower Challenge.   

I don't often use embellishments but I do have a few and chose sequins to add to my die cut card.

I used the NBUS Craft-a-Flower Poppy from Altenew, cutting it from paper that my daughter used for an art class project.  It has a rather chalky finish but there are so many fabulous colors and she's not using it anymore so it became mine to play with.  The rectangle from RC lets the cardstock of a similar color show through.  The sequins, sentiment ink and flower centers are all dark gray.

Helen is our guest designer this month and she and the rest of the Design Team have some fabulous cards to inspire you.  I hope you can take the time to make a card and join us.

The Flower Challenge #51

Are you ready for another The Flower Challenge?  This month we want to see embellishments on your card in addition to your stamped, stenciled or die cut flowers.  

I was going through my "what to do with this" (WTDWT) box and found some flowers I had stamped on a crafting visit to Michele's.  It was time they were colored and made into a card.

The fuchsia are from Pretty Pink Posh and colored with Zigs.   I layered three frames from PTI, embossed the background with a HA stencil (not visible in the photo) and mounted it all on a pink card base with a sentiment from The Ton. I'm not much of an embellishment person but I thought the dew drops would look good. 

The Design Team has plenty of inspiration for you on the blog along with this month's guest designer Helen.  We hope you'll join us.

Time Out Challenge #162

Here is Time Out's Challenge for this week.

That shouldn't be too difficult, should it?  Well it was for me.  The first thing that came to mind was "Free like a bird" so I stamped a bunch of my The Greetery birds.  Then two of them sat on my desk for days while I wondered what to do with them.  I finally made the card and then struggled with the sentiment. 

I thought the birds needed a sky to perch in so I used my MFT cloud stencil and Broken China Distress Oxide.  The branch is from Altenew that has had major surgery and an inking all over with Cup O' Joe (which also stamps the sentiment btw).  Should I use a speech bubble?  The bluebirds are too close together for that, and besides what would it say?  Technique Tuesday to the rescue with this one.  I can image the mama bird saying it to her young even without the speech bubble.  Whew, I'm glad that's done.

Thanks for dropping by. I hope your struggles are few.

Inspired By - Sweet on You

I had all the elements for the Inspired By challenge so I had to make a card.

The background similar to the photo came from a Love Nicole paper pack, the crimped die from The Greetery and the cherries from Sunny Studio.  An homage to the silver spoon comes from slate gray cardstock from EbyE and the sentiment is from MFT.  Companies working together to make another uplifting card for my homebound church people.  How fun is that?!

It's the beginning of a rainy week here in Michigan so I should get a lot of crafting done.  How about you?

Less Is More #400

Small images,  We all have a lot of them that often get neglected.  Less Is More wants us to find those little critters (figuratively speaking) and use them on our clean and simple cards.

Literally speaking I used a critter on my card.  One that has been colored for a while and just waiting for the right time and right challenge.

He's from Gerda Steiner, colored with PolyChromos pencils.  A sentiment is always the hardest to add but I thought this one from Technique Tuesday kind of says it all.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you have a wonderful day!.

Time Out #138

I don't have any what I call funny stamps except for the dancing ladies from IO.  That meant I had to put my brain to work to come up with something for the Time Out Challenge. 

I pulled out The Whole Herd from MFT and decided chickens was the way to go.  I had this chicken wire die cut from KS and put it to use for the first time.  I stamped the Altenew wood plank background and put my Zig colored die cut chickens on it so their little faces could peek through.  Then it was sentiment time.  I didn't have anything in my stamps so it was computer generated.

Confession time: I don't usually force cards when I don't get an immediate idea, especially when I don't know who I'd send it to.  I've been busy with DT cards to get ahead while I'm on vacation so I haven't made any 'just for fun' cards.  I love playing with Time Out so I broke my rule for them.  Not my best work but it was fun putting it together.

Thanks for dropping by.

CAS(E) This Sketch #326

I really didn't think I'd get a card made for CAS(E) This Sketch with all the turmoil at my house but I had the perfect stamp for the sketch and I just had to make the time.

The image is CP stamped in GinaK amalgam ink and the sentiment is HA stamped in CP All That Jazz on a MFT oval die cut, stacked four times. 

Gotta run.  Still putting things back together after the last of the carpet was laid this morning.  I'm hoping for a calm evening when I can do some stamping and enter a couple of challenges.

Thanks for taking time from your busy day to drop by.

The Card Concept #114

My former house used to have a high fence behind it and I would have wanted to decorate it like the photo from The Card Concept.  I did actually have colored paint cans hanging though.

No fence where I am now so I did it on paper.  Yes I got literal again.

I saw a video by Rina K and adjusted her idea to make my fence, using Altenew ink.  The boots are from PB and I colored them with PolyChromos, adding gel pen to the flower centers.  I also used gel pens for the flowers that I put in them.  Both the flowers and the sentiment are from EBE.

Thanks for dropping by.

CAS Stencil - April Reminder.

There's still time for you to get out your embossing pastes/gels and join the challenge at CAS Stencil.

I hope you'll head on over to the blog to see what fabulousness the Design Team has for you but first take a look at my card as this month's guest designer.

I colored my translucent paste with - you guessed it! - Wild Honey Distress Ink and put it through my Funky Fossil stencil onto yellow cardstock.  It didn't have enough color variation so I added a little Rusty Hinge to what was left on my mat a gave it a quick once over.  While my panel was drying, I cut the PTI Polaroid die ,stamped the RC sentiment and colored the bee with Zigs, adding WOS to his wings.  I put it all together on a top folding card, popping the bee up with foam.

I hope to see you in the gallery.

Just Us Girls #482 - Word Week

I'm the host this week at Just Us Girls and it's Word Week.  The word I chose is

Don't ask me why.  I was just at a loss for a word that would encourage you to make a card.  Everyone has at least one house stamp or die don't they?  I haven't peeked to see what the Design Team has done but they never disappoint.  Why don't you check them out for some inspiration.  We have Christine Perez as our guest this month. 

Here's my card.

The little houses and trees are from CP and are colored with Zigs.  The set also includes the hill die.  Usually I just leave the windows open but I fiddle diddled around and fit back in the die cut pieces.  What was I thinking?  I mean they are TINY!   And now that I've said that, why didn't I do the doors?

I hope we will see your "house" card in our gallery this week.  You could be our Chic of the Week with a chance to guest design.

Time Out #130

Time Out has this as a word prompt.  What to do?  What to do?

I finally came up with something - again in the early morning thoughts.

I combined the rather sedate and drab GS owl with the brightly billed MFT toucan.  They are placed on a CF word die, layered three times, that is glued over a stenciled background from HA. The minor sentiment was computer generated.  I didn't use a word bubble because depending on your perspective, either of these birds is unique.

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a nice weekend.

Inspired By #60

As soon as I saw the photo at Inspired By I had an idea.  Then I got sick and totally forgot about the challenge.  It came back to me last night so I hurriedly made the card I had in mind to get it in before the deadline later today.

I knew I wanted to include my NBUS Gardenia from Altenew and spent quite a bit of time stamping it out to get just the look I wanted.  It's difficult to get a white flower with all the shading and still have it look white.  This one is several layers of Morning Frost with a little PolyChromos to darken some of the shadows.  The frame is from PTI and the little letter is stamped with a postmark from My Craft Spot (OOB) and Penny Black script. 

Thanks for dropping by. 

Time Out #127

It's Inspired By Words at Time Out and there are so many ways to go with the quote.  I ended up going with friends.

I stamped and loosely colored the flowers from Altenew with Distress Inks.  I had planned to use the Verve sentiment "If friends were flowers, I'd pick you" but someone else used it and since it wouldn't fit on the oval anyway I chose another one from Penny Black. I'm not a sequin kind of girl but a little smudge made it necessary on this card.

The flowers are a bright spot on this cold and blustery day,  and all of you are friends that make me happy when you drop by and leave a comment.

CASology #328

If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.  There will be plenty of smiles to go around at the CASology challenge this week.

An EZPS QACAS card using an ancient sentiment from Hero Arts.

I'm smiling because you dropped by.  I hope you find something to smile about today.

Just Us Girls #472 - Photo Week

As our hostess, Nancy picked this for photo week at Just Us Girls.

She doesn't know what she put me through because I don't have any of these stamped images.  Never one to give up, I searched for free clip art to make my card.  I'm telling you this so you know you can do the same if you don't have any stamps that work for the challenge.

I printed it on Mixed Media paper and did a little coloring with both Distress Inks and PolyChromos pencils.  I wanted it to look like an old photo so I inked the edged and ran my Clarity brush over the oval to give it an aged look.  I couldn't decide what to do so I left off the sentiment.

I hope the images don't stop you from entering a card in our gallery.  The Design Team and our illustrious guests, Janet and Cindy have inspiration for you over on the blog if you get stuck.  Don't miss a chance to be Chic of the Week and a guest designer.

Less Is More #386

I ordered the darling ducks from Gerda Steiner a while ago and thought one of them would be perfect for the 'water' challenge at Less Is More.

I colored the images with Zigs and added the sentiment to a PTI Polaroid die cut just to keep it Clean and Simple.

Thanks for dropping by.