Rejoice Rabbit

Hello dear stamping friends! It may not surprise you that a few new stamps have made their way into my collection. I kept seeing adorable critter stamps from Waffle Flower, and couldn't wait to ink up this darling Rejoice Rabbit for an Easter card. 
I did some simple coloring with Polychromos Colored Pencils after stamping in black on watercolor paper. 

I fussy cut the image to fit behind an oval frame, trimming the flowers at the bottom to fit outside the frame. Shimmer and dotted accents were added along with a sentiment banner. 

Although I need lots of practice with this medium, I find coloring to be very relaxing. 

The inside reads, Rejoice and Be Glad. I love the way this bunny looks content contemplative and just a tiny bit bashful. Thanks so much for your visit today. Take good care.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

I

I'm adding this to the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says. 

Supplies used:

Stamps: Waffle Flower - Rejoice Rabbit

Paper: Fabriano Extra White Watercolor Paper; Patterned paper from Doodlebug

INK: Gina K  - Jet Black Amalgam Ink

Accessories: White gel pen, Wink of Stella, Oval Frame die from PTI

Brighten Your Day

Good morning, how are you on this Friday? I'm playing with stamps paper and card challenges in hopes of brightening my day and yours! The sun is shining and we're expected to have very warm temps and that is sure to be a nice change. 

I'm learning that when I make one of something I should go ahead and make another one while I have all the supplies out. I had this inked background made ahead just this week, (see THIS post for the other one) so using it made today's card easy to put together. 

I gathered a few already stamped and die cut elements from a variety of sets and arranged them to complete this card. After taking the photo I added a trio of translucent sequins. I'm adding this to the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

Hope this finds you staying well and having a great day! Sending hugs and thanks your way!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: The Greetery - Bottled Up Stamp Set, Summer Sketches, Just Mason Around

Paper: Bristol Strathmore Smooth, Basic Black 

INK: Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, Versamark, Distress Oxides: Antique Linen, Picked Raspberry, Aged Mahogany

Accessories: White Embossing Powder 

Happy Spring with sparkles!

Hello, crafty friends! I hope you're hanging in there because spring is officially here!
I'm so excited to be guest designer at one of my favorite challenges. The challenge at Tic Tac Toe Challenges is a super fun one today! I've only begun playing this challenge recently, and I just love getting to choose a row of design options for my project. 

I chose to use the colored card base, die cuts and pastel colors. I took the die cut option a step further and used the die cut to make a shaker card.

I know someone who loves pink and will be delighted with the extra sparkle when she receives this card.  

I colored using Copics, and added a mixture of seed beads and confetti for the shaker bits. 

For the card front, I added sponging in Cracked Pistachio around the image to add another pastel highlight. The bunny die cut embellished the card front, along with a few  sequins. The stamps and dies are Abby's Spring Showers from SSS (retired.)

I can't wait to see what the Tic Tac Toe team has come up with. Please check it out and play along! 

Thanks so much for your visit! Praying that you stay well and enjoy the signs of spring you find on your social distancing outings. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Peonies For You

I'm happy to have a project for you today and a special one for tomorrow. I am thrilled to see sunshine out my window as I write this afternoon post. It's been a crazy couple of weeks to say the least. I've tried several ways to put my mind at rest but it's been hard settling down to stamp. Last night I pulled out my best therapy - markers inks and stamps to do some no-line coloring! 

I gave Tombow markers a try for coloring using a paintbrush and water to spread the inks onto Fabriano water color paper. Being a rarely used coloring medium for me, some of those markers were dry then I substituted Distress Markers. Trying something new took lots of concentration and it was good for me to focus for an evening. 

Fussy cutting the flowers, I used foam tape to add them to a panel inked with Antique Linen, Lucky Clover and Chipped Sapphire DOX inks. I love the way these flowers stand out against the dark panel. Splattered with white paint, bedecked with a few jewels and it is done. 

Thanks so much for coming to my blog today. Writing helps me too, and I think reaching out is good for all of us! Sending hugs and well wishes to you all. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Altenew - Adore You. Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp: Mandy's Flowers embossed with Altenew Rose Gold powder

Freshly Made for Easter

How are you enjoying your Saturday? Hasn't it been a crazy week? 
I've loved having a good dose of sunshine outside and a bit of craftiness while inside today. Thought you'd like to see the result. 

I'm sharing my first card made for Easter using the WPlus9 set called He is Risen and my favorite spring colors of pink and apple green. I embossed the flowers and sentiment in white, and added color by sponging  Distress Oxide inks on the lily and the leaves. They are Cracked Pistachio, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Twisted Citron and Fozzilized Amber. Fussy cutting the flowers and leaves I placed them on a panel of DSP from my stash. The card base was embellished with the Dotted Swirls Debossing Cover Die from Altenew.

A simple card inspired by Freshly Made Sketches to ease me into some quick stamping. Still elegant though, I think! Thanks so much for coming by and I hope you have a terrific day. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Spring Animals for the Twofer Card Challenge

Hello, welcome to my blog today! I hope the day is going well for you.
Since my last post I got into some other activities. Like, sitting around too much. After a few days of having NO schedule, I'm trying to structure my time during the days so that life can "feel" a bit more normal again. I intend to  include a daily crafting session again. 

 The Twofer Card Challenge gave me a quick jumpstart. Darnelle hosts this fab challenge where we use the same images to make two different card designs for two different occasions. The challenge theme is Spring Animals. I chose the images from the Woodland Critters stamp set by Pretty Pink Posh.

For my first project a welcome new baby card was needed. I created a softly blended ink background for my scene and added a bow and sentiment banner in pink and sequins. The animals were colored with Copics and the card base and scene were splattered with white paint and Distress Oxide inks. 

I created a tall card - turned on its side - for my second project and intend to send it for encouragement or to say "I miss you."

This time the critters were added with foam tape onto circle windows backed with green patterned paper. This card measures 3.5 x 8".

Here's a glimpse of my cards together. 

I get totally intense and focused when I'm making cards. The process settles me and often leads me to pray. I firmly believe that God hears our prayers and He is the answer to every crisis. I encourage everyone to turn to Him for wholeness, health and life.

This is a time for sending hugs! From a safe distance that is. I'm sending hugs to you today! Thanks so much for your visit.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Birthday Botannicals

It's a new day and I have another card to share with you! Making pretty things in the craft room is keeping my spirits up. Today was especially fun using the Botanicuts Rose Dies to make pretty aqua and teal blossoms for a birthday card. 

I used varying shades of blue card stock to make the roses, adding sponged ink in places for dimension. The leaves were die cut of white card stock blended with green inks and accented with colored pencils. Three rectangles are layered on the card base. 

 Two diagonal edges of the bottom layer were stamped with the outline images from the Sketchbook Roses image. The Nordic Frames dies created the smaller rectangles, which were mounted with foam tape for dimension. The smallest was also lightly inked. Pure Sheen Gemstones from Nuvo were added for sparkle. 
I have so appreciated your kind comments! I've loved hearing from you and each one has been such an encouragement. I can't thank you enough!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Dear Friend Written in Ribbons

I love make ahead meals, don't you? It's my favorite kind of dinner to make when I'm having company. Having the main dish ready-made helps keep the last minute stress at bay. 

It was similar with today's card! I paired an ink blended background that I had made last week with a watercolored image panel I made last month. 

     The images from Summer Sketches were stamped onto watercolor card stock in light ink for the no-line watercolor technique, which I then colored with my Altenew watercolor set. Then I die cut the panel using the Nordic Frames dies. The focal point is the Hello die cut sentiment from the Written in Ribbons set. All stamps and dies are from The Greetery. I tucked in blooms and a leaf to accent the sentiment. 

The inked background uses Distress Oxides in Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, and Squeezed Lemonade. The white spatters are there too. I added the darker blue, Chipped Sapphire for the second layers of the sentiment.

I am enjoying making a few more involved cards using supplies that are in the "use me" bin on my table. Trying to really explore my own style with them is satisfying, but I am just scratching the surface. 

Hope you're having fun with your crafting today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Make It A Beautiful Day

How did it get to be Monday again? Hello, friends hope you're having a beautiful day. I think our warm weather is finally here to day and hopefully spring will hang around for awhile before it gets too hot.

I do love roses, and pulled out my Zig Clean Color markers last night to color for fun using the gorgeous Sketchbook Roses stamps from The Greetery. These are layering stamps and I look forward to the loose flowing watercolor look achieved by stamping the colors. 

I was thrilled with the vibrant colors of the markers. After coloring I added white gel pen accents. I complemented that element by tapping spatters of white gouache onto the gray textured DSP used behind the bouquet. 

Sentiments are all from the same stamp set. I had to make myself STOP before adding a few black dots or even sequins. The die cut florals are exquisite on their own! The Halfsies die cut was used to create the pretty frame. 

Did you notice? No challenges today. I may roll this way for a few days.

I know time is hard to come by in our busy lives. Thank you for spending time to see my project today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Twice is Nice for Freshly Made

It's early Saturday evening and I have just one more card to share. You know, I thought about the sketch at Freshly Made all night and just had to give it a second try. I always thought making two cards with one sketch is a great idea. If one is good, then two are twice as nice! (HERE is my first take if you missed it.)

See what you think. 

I found that the lemons leaves and flowers were easy to arrange in order to accommodate the design of the sketch. I wish the details of the stamping layers were more clear in the photo. I placed them on an inked background and embossed the sentiment in white. I got carried away with the ink splattering, I just love to do that!

That's the end of my crafty play for this week. Thanks so much for your visit! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: The Greetery - Lemon Blossom

Paper: Neenah Solar White, 

INK: Gina K Black Amalgam Ink; Distress Oxides for BG - Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen; die cut elements inked with Altenew Ink Cubes

Accessories: White EP, The Greetery - Postal Frames Die, Nuvo drops

Showers and Flowers for Freshly Made

Welcome back and happy Friday! It's almost evening and I want to wrap up my stamping week with one more card  made for the sketch at Freshly Made. 

I had such trouble with this sketch! Most of it involved choosing the stamps to use and I still felt the balance wasn't right. 
I used the SSS stamps called Showers and Flowers, coloring the image with Zig Clean Color markers and  a paint brush, then fussy cutting it. The border is from Lawn Fawn Just Stitching Double Rectangles dies. 

There are great samples from the DT for this sketch, you will be inspired! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Meadow Greens

Hello again! It's been quite a low key week for me. Some chronic health issues have returned lately so I'm curtailing some of my other activities in order to get more rest. That also means more time at home and more time to make. Being on a creative roll always makes me feel better. 

Today I pulled out an older set that I've never used and just experimented a bit with colors and design. Here's what I came up with. 

I first created a background using Spun Sugar and Squeezed Lemonade DOX inks, but rejected that combo and subbed in Tumbled Glass for the Spun Sugar. A much better result, I think. The flowers were stamped in Artic Iceberg (Altenew) and again with Versamark. The heat embossing was done on the blooms using WOW Spring Rain EP, which gives a nice iridescent sparkle to whatever color it is used with. It looks pretty neat with the tiny dots in each cluster having shine and texture.

I added a Soft Sky card front and the sentiment embossed on vellum plus a few small pearls to embellish. 

The Paper Players have a theme challenge this week, so I'm joining right in. Now you know why I just had to try one of my new to me embossing powders. 

Hope this inspires you to get crafty! I will be back soon.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI  - Meadow Greens and dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White 110, Bristol Smooth, SU - Soft Sky

INK:  DOX, Altenew, Versamark

Accessories: Vellum card stock, pearls

A Trip Back: Tea Garden

Hello, crafting world! 
You remember how I mentioned in my last post - wanting to use flowers and layers? That's exactly the direction my creating took today! 
I was inspired to use patterned paper for today's card. I pulled out the Tea Garden papers from Basic Grey - over 5 years old! Almost using up that pack made today's card fun! 

I got the idea from Tina Smith's recent video at Cards and Coffee Time. She's begun a series on DSP and if you haven't checked her videos out, I highly recommend them!

I used the same sketch she did but came up with my own take on it. The only stamping is the embossed greeting on the vellum, from WPlus9's Hand Lettered HELLO. SU provided the punches for the butterflies. I use dies so much now. It's been a LONG time since I've punched anything.

Playing with paper was good therapy for me today. I may just do this again tomorrow, HA! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Nautical Anchor

Hello, I'm back again. 
Taking a break from flowers and the mail theme, how about we go nautical today? 
The Nautical Anchor set from Stampendous has some terrific sentiments that I know I will use often. 

Today's card is meant to encourage a very special couple who is stepping out to pursue a dream.  The sentiment is what sold me on this set and inside it says "Wishing you smooth sailing" and "Let your dreams set sail."
I kept the lines very clean as shown at Freshly Made Sketches this week. 

The Wave Border die is from Wplus9.
Now I can't wait to get create something flowery brightly colored with lot of layers made for my next post. Are you surprised? 
Have a great day! 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

             Make something beautiful!