Freshly Made Sketches #728

I'm still trying to use older stamps when making cards and I have one that sparked my card for Freshly Made Sketches.  Christmas Rose from WPlus9.

It is stamped with Memento Toffee Crunch and colored with CP inks for the flowers and Distress Inks for the leaves.  I added white anthers with a Uni-Ball pen and a few splatters before stamping the sentiment from PTI in Toffee Crunch.  The colors were inspired by my own flowers that I always called Lenten Roses, scientific name Hellebore.  

Pardon the dead leaves in the middle.  When I know the frost is over they will be removed.  

Thanks for dropping by and spending a bit of your day with me.

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The Paper Players #776

There is a "Colors of the Rainbow" challenge at The Paper Players and instead of making an actual rainbow I pulled out an older stamp set that features flowers.

I've always loved these Artful Flowers from SSS.  I masked and stamped seven of them for ROYGBIV, coloring them with Zigs.  I can't tell you how long it took to find a sentiment and I'm still not happy with it.  I didn't have anything with the thin lines of the flowers.  Then it seemed unfinished so I added splatters using Altenew's Jet Black spray.  I don't actually spray it but dab a bit in the box and use a thin paint brush.  This has worked better for me than using thinned acrylic paint and I get a dark black.  

Thanks for dropping by and spending a bit of your day with me. 

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Freshly Made Sketches #716, Can You Handle the Pressure? and Krafty Chicks #798

I've been busy with cookie making and almost forgot about the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  I'm glad I checked on it this morning so I could get a card made in time.

I didn't use my TH Dash Away All die at all this holiday season so I pulled it out and cut it three times in black.  Spellbinder's Cosmic Sky was cut with an MFT circle and stamped and heat embossed with their Brush Splatter Background.  That was placed on a panel embossed with an older 2D snowflake folder from Sizzix.  The sentiment is from Penny Black cut with a Sizzix banner die.  

I'm also sending this to Can You Handle the Pressure? where the option is "Any Holiday" and to Krafty Chicks for their Christmas challenge. 

Thanks for dropping by and spending a bit of your busy day with me.

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Time Out #292 - Photo Inspiration

It's time for our Photo Inspiration Challenge at Time Out. 

The seashells and sentiment are from a Honey Bee set.  The background was colored with Distress Ink and splattered to resemble sand.  The shells are colored with Zigs and also splattered.  

We are being sponsored by The Frantic Stamper and our winner will receive a $20 store credit so get those cards made. 

The Design Team has plenty of inspiration for you on the blog.  We hope to see your card in our gallery.

I'm also sending my card to Cardz 4 Guyz #374 - Seashells.

ETA:  I just saw the challenge at Double D and I'm sending my card there too.

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The Flower Challenge #103

Summer is upon us and for the June challenge at The Flower Challenge we want you to use embossing, either heat or dry.

I saw this fabulous card by Debby Hughes and tried to make one similar.  She used watercolor pencils and got a little more differentiation in color while mine is more subtle. 

I started by smooshing a panel of watercolor paper with Speckled Egg and Lost Shadow Distress Ink, spraying until it was well blended.  I ran it through the Magnolia Dream embossing folder that was a gift with purchase from Altenew.  The flowers and leaves were watercolored with Kitsch Flamingo and Evergreen Bough DI.  When it was dry, the panel was cut down, splattered with Hero Arts Unicorn Spray and added to a gray card base.  That same gray was used for the BetterPress sentiment.  

Which type of embossing will you choose?  The Design Team has wonderful cards to inspire your choice.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.  

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Christmas Kickstart #97 - Reminder

I'm back with another card to inspire you to join us for this month's Christmas Kickstart - Positively Poinsettias.

We're asking  you to use your poinsettias to make cards for this challenge.  This card is an entirely different style from my first one.

The dies are from Tim Holtz, called Festive Bouquet.  Everything was cut from watercolor paper and colored with Distress Inks.  I thought I'd give them a rustic look with black splatter.  Not sure that was a wise choice but I'm going with it.  The images are arranged on a panel embossed with Altenew's Poinsettia Cluster, popping up some of the leaves with foam tape.  The sentiment is another one from Pinkfresh Studio's Basic Banners Christmas, heat embossed in black. 

If you haven't joined us yet there is still time.  Don't miss this chance to get a kickstart on your Christmas cards.  I'd love to see your poinsettias.

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Altenew Inspiration Challenge - March 2025

The minute I saw the inspiration photo at Altenew's March Challenge I knew I had the perfect image.  

All I needed to do was get it stamped and colored.  What do you think?  

The Dancing Sunflowers were colored with the accompanying stencils using Altenew inks.  The card took a couple of turns during the process and for a few of them I held my breath.  I wanted needed to make a colorful background so I cut a mask of the sunflower and used brushes to add the pink, green and yellow around it.  Whew!  I liked it but thought maybe some splatters would add to the look.  I held my breath and used Altenew's Jet Black Spray with a paint brush.  So far so good.  Now if the sentiment that comes with the set stamps okay.  It did but I thought the black needed something to tie it all together so I added a tiny black border.  Finally done and everything worked out beautifully IMHO.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you week goes well.

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Freshly Made Sketches #666

I hadn't played with Stump, Twig, Breezy and Chilly at all this year so I brought them out for the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

Actually Twig had to stay home since he was too tall for the card.  I wasn't sure how to fit a sentiment on the card until I took a lesson from my daughter who had her grandchildren hold letters for her Christmas card.  Mine are Memory Box cut from silver glitter.  The background was masked, colored with Stormy Sky Distress Ink and splattered. 

Thanks for dropping by.  

 

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The Flower Challenge #97 - Thanks

It's the month of Thanksgiving

so the theme for The Flower Challenge is: 

I went back to my earlier style of card making

with a Clean and Simple card.

The Lovely Camellias from Altenew were embossed and then colored with a stencil using Altenew inks. I thought it needed a little splatter and then added the die cut sentiment from the same stamp set. 

We'd love to see your Thank You cards featuring flowers in our gallery.  For inspiration you only have to look at the cards by the fabulous Design Team.

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 20.23

Today I am guest designing at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  I have been playing with them for the past 19 weeks and on week 17 I was a winner of the sketch challenge with this card.   Today is a sketch challenge too.

As you may have read on my last 52CCTD post, I came to the lake with only a few Christmas stamps and didn't have this sketch sent to me before I left.  Fortunately I had something that I could make work by turning the sketch on its head. 

The Altenew poinsettia was stamped and clear heat embossed on Bristol smooth and colored with Zigs.  I added a little splatter and a sentiment from the same set. 

I want to thank the Design Team at 52 CCTD for having me this week.  You have really stretched my creativity with your challenges.

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Just Us Girls #650 - Color Week

Hey all.  I'm hosting Color Week at Just Us Girls and I hope you'll join us with a card using these colors.

I thought they looked rather Autumnal.

This was an image borrowed from a friend and I didn't write down from whom - either the friend or the stamp company. 😁 It's stamped on Bristol, colored with Zigs, and splattered with black.  After trimming the panel down, I mounted it on orange and then a cream cardbase.  It looks very fairy tale-ish to me. 

Now it's your turn.  Check out what the Design Team and our guest have made to inspire you.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.

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Color Throwdown #651

 There are four colors this week at Color Throwdown.  

This is what I decided to do.  

I thought the MFT stencil would make a fun background for the old folks and sentiment also from MFT.  I inked it up with Altenew's Frayed Leaf and splattered  CP inks.  The images are colored with PolyChromos pencils.  I showed my husband because I thought it was cute and he said "Who's that for?"  We're old and have old friends so someone will get a kick out of it.  

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Color Hues #18

I brought with me what I thought would be a great image to color for the Color Hues challenge.  Michele stamped it for me quite a while ago and it's from Waffle Flower.

I used my Zigs in two colors of purple and teal and what looks like kraft for the pot.  A little black splattering and a sentiment from The Ton finished it off.  

This is the first card making I've done in a while.  Everything else you've seen has been scheduled.  It felt good to color again.  I have a few other things I want to do as soon as I get organized.  

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you are all doing well.

Just Us Girls #568 - Photo Week

It's Photo Week at Just Us Girls and Carol has chosen a most interesting one for us.

What do you see in this picture that inspires a card?  Buildings?  Snow? Lights?  The thing that caught my attention was the light pole.

I stamped the lamp post from Penny Black and clear heat embossed it so I could ink the background with several Distress Inks after first masking off the area around the candle.  Then I went in and added yellow ink to the circle, fading it into the blue.  Next came the splattered snow and a sentiment from CP.  I also added a little snow to the post with Snow Marker that puffs when you heat it.

I can't wait to see how the photo inspires you.  Check out the Design Team and guests Carol and Melanie to see what they saw.

Inspired By #154

With challenges still happening, I'm getting a good head start on next year's Christmas cards.  This one is for Inspired By.

I was inspired by the holly and two different greens.  I cut two Penny Black dies from black watercolor paper and painted them with Altenew metallic paints.  The PB sentiment was white heat embossed and the black cardstock splattered with white and green before attaching the holly. 

Thanks for dropping by.  

CAS(E) This Sketch #398

I have a card for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch based on this sketch.

I didn't want to do Ho ho ho and looked through my dies until I found a word die that would work.  It's the sentiment from Gina Marie's ornament die.

First I spread some paint down my watercolor paper for my sky (like I saw Kristina do only not quite as well).  I started with watercolor but it was too light so ended up using Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.  I also used it to swipe across a piece of paper to have a matching color for the die cut.  After splattering with white gouache, I layered the die cut and cut a star from SSS from glitter paper.

I'm so glad you dropped by.  I hope your week is off to a good start.