Time Out #289 - Inspired By

This challenge at Time Out is an inspiration one.  

We want a card featuring your favorite winged thing.  Those who know me know my love of owls and that my card would probably showcase one, although I do have a love for all birds and have a number of stamps and dies that would work.

This cutie is from Gerda Steiner and is colored with PolyChromos pencils.  I thought that was the best way to get the look of feathers.  Once colored, he was masked and the background inked with Salvaged Patina.  Lawn Fawn's Stitched Scalloped Square Frame was embossed with the Subtle folder and popped up.  The sentiment is from the same GS set.

The feathers should be flying in the gallery.  We hope your card is one of them.  The winner will receive $25 store credit to Lawn Fawn and a chance to guest design with us.  

I'm also sending my card to The Paper Players #738  CAS - Things that Fly.

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Color Hues #80 - Guest

I was lucky enough to win Marcia's challenge at Color Hues and invited to guest design for this week's challenge.  I have been playing at Color Hues for most of their 80 challenges so I had to say yes.  These are the colors.  Very February-like don't you think?  And what about their new graphics?  Perfect for a color challenge if I do say so myself. 

MFT opened their vault recently and I jumped at the chance to get the Candy Jar dies and Companion stamps. 

The jars are layered three times with some light inking around the top one - not very visible in the photo. The rest was a matter of stamping and cutting out the peppermints and inking paper with Kitsch Flamingo and cutting out the hearts.  I just happened to have Kitsch Flamingo spray so I used it on a scalloped panel from Neat and Tangled for the background.  The sentiment is on a jar label included in the set. 

I hope you will check out what the Design Team has made in red and pink and play along in the challenge.  

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Tic Tac Toe #239

Hey there.  I'm so glad you dropped by. 

The Tic Tac Toe Challenge worked great for one of my valentines - middle row across - red, patterned paper, valentine.  This one is for my granddaughter who loves puns as much as I do.

The tomatoes and sentiment are from Concord and 9th.  They were cut from colored paper and inked with red Distress Ink, whichever one gave me the look I wanted.  They are on a panel cut with a Neat and Tangled die and layered on patterned paper from my stash.  She'll get a kick out of this.

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Christmas Card Throwdown 3-23

I hope you aren't getting tired of my Christmas cards.  I want to make at least one a week for Christmas Card Throwdown.  This week it's "Fairies".

I don't have any fairy stamps so I masked the halo on this angel from MFT and colored her with artist markers.  I think she looks like a fairy.  The background is made with Brushos and cut with a die from Neat and Tangled.  I had a little trouble with the heat embossed sentiment from Penny Black.  The "E" on enjoy did not want to stamp.  I must have done it over 6 times before I got a legible impression. Oh and did I mention the WOS on the star and Dazzling Diamond spray on the background?  Very magical indeed. 

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great weekend.

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Time Out #205

I have all my valentines made and picked one to enter in the challenge at Time Out.  

I made another valentine with hearts using little pieces cut from a paper pack and when I saw the negatives laying on my table I couldn't let them go to waste.  Of course I had to square them up first, 😉 then arranged them on a panel cut with a scalloped edge (Frantic Stamper) and embossed with a quilt folder.  The little sentiments come from a couple of sets - two from The Greetery and the other from Penny Black. 

Thanks for dropping by.  

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Inspired By #169

I had the honor of winning last week's challenge at Inspired By.  My policy is to always make a card for the next challenge whenever I win but I already had this card made for their Spring is Sweet challenge before I saw the announcement.

Here's the photo my card is based on.

Red being my favorite color I had my eyes on that cupcake.  I don't have any zigzag circle dies so I just embossed a circle with my fabric folder that makes it look like icing although you can't see any of it. :(  The flowers are from Waffle Flower colored with Zigs with Enamel Accents centers.   The white panel is cut with an MFT scalloped die, stamped with a sentiment by PTI  and centered on the icing colored paper embossed with Swirls.

Have a great week and thanks for dropping by!

Inspired By #105

I love when an inspiration comes together.  The photo at Inspired By really spoke to me.

Yes, I have an Avery Elle skate die.  And a Knitted Pattern embossing folder.

Silver marker is as difficult to photograph as any metallic cardstock or embossing powder.   The 'blanket' was cut with a Neat and Tangled die and the sentiment is from MFT.

It feels so good to get back into blogging mode and making cards for challenges.  I have to be careful not to overdo but it's all coming back to me.

Time Out #133

Embellishments.  Not something I usually add to my cards but since Time Out wants to see at least two, I obliged.

I placed the PTI scalloped die on their Winter Wisteria cs which matches closely with the Altenew ink I used to stamp the Gardenia.  Gardenias are usually white but I love the look of this layered stamping in other colors so let's pretend it's a different flower. ;)  The little dots are iridescent ones that I've had forever and are fairly flat to mail, especially since the flower is popped up.

It's been a busy couple of weeks so I'm getting behind again.  I did have over 12 DT cards scheduled and only two are left.  I have two more ready to post today and then I have to get commenting. I love seeing how creative everyone is when I stop by your blogs.

Thanks for dropping by.

Inkspirational #172

For the vellum challenge at Inkspirational:

I have this rather thick linen vellum that I thought would look nice over some Kaisercraft paper that was a gift from Nancy.  I stamped and watercolored with Distress Inks some Altenew flowers, hoping to match the DP colors. 

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate.  My granddaughter tried to FaceTime me this morning so the kids could thank me for their cards but the connection was bad.  I was hoping to see them in their costumes.  I'll be seeing them this weekend so I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to share.

Just Us Girls #463 - Color Week

Lisa is the host for this week's color challenge at Just Us Girls.

As soon as I got Dee's Flower Spray #1 from STAMPlorations I was itching to try it out and decided to use the colors from this week's challenge.

I colored the flowers with Zigs on a Bristol panel that was the same size as the center of the Large Scalloped Stacker from PTI.  I heat embossed the sentiment from PTI on linen vellum and wrapped it around the flower panel before adhering to the scalloped one.  It was all placed on some Spring Rain cardstock.

The Design Team has a variety of cards using the challenge colors to show you.  If you make a card and are chosen Chic of the Week you could be a guest designer like Julie Beech is this month.

I hope to see you there.

Just Us Girls #454 - Color Week

Yes it's color week again and Angie has chosen these colors for us to use on our cards for Just Us Girls.

My usual fair with light colors like these is to use flowers.  Not wanting to be in a rut I got out an old die cut and used it as the basis of my card.

I colored some Bristol with Twisted Citron and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxides and cut the SSS birthday die from it.  I didn't have any yellow paper that I thought was light enough so I inked up one with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink and cut it with a Neat and Tangled scalloped die that ties in with the scalloped die behind the colored sentiment.

Ros Crawford, our guest designer, and the rest of the team have some colorful cards for your enjoyment and inspiration.  If you make a card and are chosen Chic of the Week you could be our guest in October.

Addicted to CAS #140

Doni picked this as her code word this week.

I don't often make baby cards but I got some stamps and dies in a bundle that I bought from my friend Lynn and they came in handy for this challenge at Addicted to CAS.  I actually have two cards to show you because I wasn't thinking straight and my first card wasn't CAS.  That's important for you to remember.  This is a clean and simple challenge and your cards must reflect that. 

I'll show you what I made first so you can see how you can take a not so CAS card and make it one using the same elements.

I started with the little onesie die cut in white.  I knew I wanted to use the little elephant on the front so I went looking for some gray paper and because I wanted a gender neutral card I added yellow to the mix.  I cut a scalloped panel from each with a MFT die and then found the polka dot paper to pull it all together.  Darling card IMHO but not CAS.  Here's how I changed it.

Same color combination but this time I placed the onesie on a plain yellow background that I ran through a quilted embossing folder.  The same scallop die in gray holds a different sentiment on a white panel cut to fit inside the stitching lines.  Now I have two cards to choose from.

The Design Team has some darling baby cards to show you and we hope you'll make one and enter it in the gallery.  The winner will be awarded a $20 GC to the Happy Little Stamper store.

Inspired By All the Little Things #82

It looks like everyone is anxious for Spring judging by the number of flowers springing up for challenges around blogland.  If we can't have it in reality we can surely live it virtually.  One such challenge is Inspired By All the Little Things.

One thing that caught my eye was the lovely peach colored Calla lilies and since I have a PB stamp of them that's where my card began.

I stamped in VersaFine Gray ink on Bristol cut with a N&T die and colored with Zigs.  I thought it needed a little something more so I stenciled some gray through mesh around the stems before adding the sentiment from My Pink Stamper and attaching the panel to Dove Gray cs.

I have one entire day today with nothing planned so it's into the craft room for me.  Yay!  I hope you get some crafting time today too.

CAS Watercolor - March

While making another card I ran across an image I thought would be perfect for the CAS Watercolor Challenge.  I've never inked it up so it's about time.

The little garden is from one of the PTI Jar filler sets, watercolored with Distress Inks on a die cut panel from Frantic Stamper.  The sentiment is from EbyE.  This is rather simplistic but I was happy to finally stamp out those cute little flowers.  Maybe I'll have time to do another card before the deadline.

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

PTI Anniversary Challenges

Happy 11th Anniversary Papertrey Ink!

I found a couple of the Papertrey Ink anniversary challenges compelling and went right to work to make cards for them.  The first one I saw was the Transformation Tuesday Challenge where you make over a previous card.  Here's the first one I made using Beautiful Blooms almost three years ago.

Here's the updated version.

The second card is brighter, with some of the petals overlapping.  While the first one was part of a doodling requisite for Make It Monday, the second one has some colored pencil shading.  Even my photography (or editing) has improved.

Another of the challenges is the Retirement List Set Challenge.  I found the Confetti Garland Borders Mini Stamp on the list and created a valentine.

The sentiment is from PTI's Wet Paint and the card base is their Lovely Lady cs.

I'm hoping to find time to do a couple of their other challenges.

Inspired By ...Kitchen Love

There's another interesting photo image to spark creativity at the Inspired By... challenge.

I picked up on the colors, hearts, and tea.

The Altenew tea cup was paper pieced and the sentiment heat embossed.  I'd enjoy having a cup of tea with any of my bloggie friends.  How do you take yours?