Just Us Girls #523 - Color Week

Ina has chosen some rather elegant colors for Just Us Girls this week.

My first thought was gold as a metallic but the more I thought about it I went a whole different direction and I love the results.

I stamped the leaves from Altenew's Wallpaper Art in black directly on Gina K ivory cs along with the PTI sentiment.  The flower was stamped on mixed media paper, watercolored with Distress Ink and die cut.

The Design Team and our guest designer Betty Jacobsen have some inspiration for you over on the blog.  Please check them out and make a card for our gallery so you can be eligible for a guest design spot.

ETA:  I'm also sending this card to Altenew for their February Inspiration Challenge.

The Flower Challenge #40

It's the beginning of a new year and there's a new The Flower Challenge.

This is not my favorite thing to do and if not asked I will never make a shaped card.  But asked I was so here's what I did.

Alex Syberia is our guest designer and also our sponsor.  She gifted me with this lovely lupine digital image that I watercolored with Zigs and cut using an MFT die.  I chose this digital because my Mom loved lupines and had a book called Miss Rumphius that she liked to share with the children at church.  She was also a prayer warrior so I thought the sentiment fit.

Alex will be giving two of her gorgeous digital images to our winner.  If you haven't checked out her Etsy site you should.  Also take a look at what the Design Team has made.  There's so much to inspire you to make a card for this challenge.

The Design Team is showing off their favorite cards from 2019.  You'll want to check out their blogs to see them.  Many thanks go to Viv for making the collages for us.

CAS Watercolor - October and Time Out #146

CAS Watercolor is celebrating their 3rd birthday.  Boy did that time go fast although I know how  easy it is to lose track of time when you're crafting. ;)  Happy Birthday, CASW!!  For this challenge they are asking for maple leaves.  I recently made a ton of Thanksgiving cards using my one and only maple leaf from Hero Arts and Distress Ink spritzing.  I had to think what I could do differently for this challenge. 

Brushos were the answer.  I did a panel with several Fall colors, let it dry and cut the leaves.  I added them to a circle die from RC and curved a sentiment from PTI along the edge.  I picked this sentiment for two reasons.  I need some more masculine prayer cards and Time Out wants encouragement cards. 

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

Twofer Challenge #18

With my love of flowers I don't know why the first thing I thought of when I saw the challenge at Twofer was vegetables and how I don't have any vegetable stamps. 

When I got my brain in gear 

I pulled out my PTI Garden Gate set and made these.

I used to love hollyhocks 

and I remember making little dolls out of the blossoms.  

For my prayer card I used just one set of flowers and added some wisteria on an MFT die cut that was embossed with a SU folder and popped up on lavender cs.

The sentiments on both cards are part of the set.  

The next one is a birthday card.

I cut three layers of the gate, cut off the doors, glued them together and heat embossed them with platinum.  Distress Inks were blended on the background and then three sets of hollyhocks added in various colors of Altenew ink.  The MISTI really came in handy in lining up the layers and stamping multiple flowers.

I'm so glad I had time before I go on vacation to get a card made for one of my favorite challenges.  Thanks for dropping by to take a look.  You'll definitely want to look at what the Design Team has made too.  Head on over to the Twofer blog.

CAS Mix-Up June

Guess who's guest designing at CAS Mix-Up?  Yup it's me.  I won with this card in April and Bonnie invited me to create along with the Design Team this month using this prompt.

The idea to use the Starry Flowers from Altenew hit me in the early morning and I got right to creating my card a few hours later.

I heat embossed them on Mixed Media paper and watercolored with Altenew Ink.  I inked a strip with the darkest color, heat embossed the sentiment from PTI and placed it all on an embossed background.

I encourage you to check out the challenge and the creative cards from the Design Team.  Then make your own ombre card.

Color Throwdown #535

If I don't have an image almost immediately of what I want to make, I usually don't enter a challenge.  I find if I force myself to come up with something, I'm not happy with it.  I knew right away what I wanted to do for the Color Throwdown.

I stamped the Concord and 9th Bloom Fill-in with CP Shea Butter then added the blossoms and leaves in Altenew ink.  The sentiment from PB is on an oval die from PTI.  It look me longer to decide on the sentiment than it did to make the rest of the card.

I'm off to my daughter's today to spend Spring break with her.  I'll have my Chromebook so I'll be able to comment but won't be doing any posting.  Anything you see crop up will be a post that was scheduled.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you have a great week.

CAS Watercolor - July

Splash watercoloring is such a fun way to make a background and it's this month's theme for the CAS Watercolor challenge.  You can get varied looks depending on colors and how many times you splash or layer and that's what makes it interesting. 

I used Broken China and Faded Jeans Oxide inks for my 'sky' and placed it behind an oval die cut from MFT.  The bird is from PB and the sentiment from PTI.  Inside it says "And in my prayers."  It seems I need a lot of prayer cards lately.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your week is off to a good start.

CAS Mix-Up Challenge July

I really like the CAS Mix-Up challenge this month.

Coloring die cuts is such a simple request and the results can be fantastic.  Plus it gave me an excuse to use my Dr. Ph Martin's liquid watercolor.  I've had them for years and rarely use them.

The PB iris was cut from watercolor paper and layered on two other die cuts to give it stability.  I stamped the sentiment from PTI, added some splatters and a frame cut from Royal Velvet cs. 

I'm so glad you dropped by.

Time Out #103

I'm not twisting for the challenge at Time Out because it would be a little difficult to do my hobby in one layer although I have before.  My other hobby is quilting.

The larger die cut is a gift from Michele by Gina Marie and the smaller one is from WPlus9.  All the paper came from a PB stack and the sentiment is from PTI.

For those of you interested in quilts, I've updated my page at the top with some of my most recent quilts. When I find pictures of more, I'll add them in.

Thanks for dropping by.  My prayer for you is to find peace and comfort whenever you need it.

Inkspirational #151

Stamping only?  That should be an easy task to complete for Inkspirational.

Wow!  This looks a little washed out now that I see it on the big screen.  Between my light box, point and shoot camera and iPiccy you'd think I'd have a better handle on what my photos look like.  Where does the blame lie?  Maybe with the user?  ;)  The flowers are from Altenew and sentiment from MSE.

I hibernated all weekend and have eleven cards to show for it.  Some are for Design Teams and the others for some of my favorite challenges.  There are still a couple of other challenges that I'd like to enter so more time in the craft room today while the laundry is going.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Addicted to CAS #123

Anja is our host for challenge #123 at Addicted to CAS and she has chosen the following code word.

This is such an appropriate word this time of year especially in the northern United States where the leaves dress in brilliant colors before falling to the ground.  That being said, I went an entirely different way with my card.

I had smooshed and die cut two of these leaves from CP's Stamp of Approval for another card but didn't use them and they were just laying on my desk.  I cut another one from a scrap of green smoosh and added two little ones from HA.  I was wishing I had more frames so I broke out my Cricut and cut a number of them.  This one is heat embossed in two layers of gold.  I found the left over sentiment piece and since I'm still in need of prayer cards I added it to the mix.

Happy Little Stampers is the sponsor for this challenge and are offering $15 GC to their store.  Check out what the Design Team have made for your inspiration and enter a card in the gallery.  You may be our next winner.

Essentials by Ellen Mix It Up Challenge and The Flower Challenge #13

The minute I saw the United We Flourish collaboration between Ellen and Altenew I knew I had to have those poppies.  I've use them to make a card for the Mix It Up Challenge.

I stamped the poppies in Altenew ink and fussy cut one side of them so they could hang over a polka dot panel.

Red, black and white are my favorite colors and poppies are one of my favorite flowers so I'm also sending this card to The Flower Challenge, where they are celebrating their first birthday.  Should I win I would like The Ton gift certificate.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your week is off to a great start.

Time Out #84

"Flowers and friends make life a garden."  That's the inspiration quote for the Time Out challenge.  I have a friend who needs a pick-me-up card and so I made this.

Altenew's Hello Sunshine set provided the flowers (Zig colored) and Essentials by Ellen provided the sentiment.

It looks like it will be laundry and sewing today.  Back to card making tomorrow.  I need a few masculine birthday cards next week and my sympathy cards are getting low.

Thanks for dropping by.  Enjoy your day.

CASology #223

My church has a telephone prayer chain, a prayer group that meets at a local bakery every Wednesday morning and a prayer shawl ministry.  On Sunday a member presented us with a challenge to make care bags for eight people in the local nursing home who have no family.  I ended up making prayer cards for each of them.  You could say prayer is a team endeavor so I made another of the cards for the challenge at CASology - cue word TEAM.

Taylored Expressions die, Altenew Spicy Yogurt and Neenah Desert Storm papers

I must admit I didn't glue all those little hearts in the other eight cards I made but the CASness of this card called for a little color.

I'm off today to watch my granddaughters dance in Hansel and Gretel this afternoon. This will be the last time they will be in a production together since Anneka will graduate from high school next spring.  It's always a joy to see these beautiful girls dance.

Inspired by All the Little Things #31

This lovely photo at Inspired by All the Little Things stirred me to make a card.

There are so many things to take from this photo but I love birds and had to make one the focal point of my card.

I watercolored the little chickadee from WPlus9 and mounted it on a black panel.  Not having any music paper I got the horizontal design by using a stencil.  The sentiment is from MSE, which continues on the inside to say "that God will keep you in his care".   I'm sure I'll be using it a lot for my homebound card ministry.

I hope your week is going well and thank you for spending a little time dropping by my blog.

Addicted to Stamps and More #199

It's clean and simple week at Addicted to Stamps and More.  It seems a lot of the cards I make lately are CAS.

I stamped the flower and butterfly from Altenew on Bristol board and colored them with my Zigs. The SSS 'Prayers' was cut from the center, mounted on black fun foam and stuck back in place. I thought it needed a little black border to tie it all together.  This card came about because I wanted a prayer card for a special blog friend.  It will be in the mail by the time you read this.

Our sponsor for this challenge is Robyn's Fetish and More.  You can win 3 digital stamps from her store.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you make for this challenge.  If you need more inspiration, you'll find it from the amazing design team over on the ATSM blog.