Altenew Bold Bouquet for The Flower Challenge

 Happy greetings to you on this new day. It's time for me to get to crafting and posting a bit more often as The Flower Challenge returns to inspire you! After our January break, we are in full swing with love month, asking you to add a heart (or two or three!) to your card. And of course, don't forget to feature flowers! My card is a stencil design using the Bold Bouquet 3D embossing folder from Altenew.  

When I saw THIS card by Carol - it's the second card - I was smitten and my card is  unashamedly a CASE of her beautiful work. I began by sponging Distress inks onto watercolor card stock for an ombre background in pink and deep red. Next I dry embossed the panel using the 3D folder, and lightly sanded some of the high points to add distressing. 

Using the coordinating stencils, I sponged in darker shades of red to some of the flowers. With a damp brush, I added deeper shading using Memento Toffee Crunch ink and a bit of gold metallic paint. I embossed the sentiment (Bold Bouquet stamps and dies) in gold, and embellished with three small hearts. 

I appreciate you for sticking with me through this long post. I know you'll love the DT's beautiful inspiration. Please join us and play along! 

Thanks for visiting me today. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Challenges: 
Just Us Girls Color Week Simon Says Have a Heart
Cardz 4 Gals red and pink  
The Paper Players Love

Gratitude Color Hues #61

Hello friends! Welcome to our new challenge at Color Hues! For April our dear Stef has chosen Peach and Kraft for us to use.  I chose floral stamps and stamped them in warm brown ink,  colored with Copics, then fussy cut them out. 

I wanted the sentiment (Penny Black - Smile) to be the focal point on my card because I love the message and the pretty fonts. Using the dies I cut and framed a diamond shape and matted it with kraft card stock. 

  

To dress it up even more, I added a 3D embossed panel (SSS - Magnolia Branches) and a few flat gold sequins. 

Our wonderful challenge participants fill our gallery with beautiful cards and clever designs. I can't wait to see what you will make! Just have fun.

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Stamps used: Waffle Flower Bouquet Builder   Dies: Spellbinders' Diamond Foil Frame Plate and Die set. 

Thinking of Blues for Color Hues

Let's say goodbye to Green and Gold and enjoy some blues at the Color Hues Challenge!  For challenge #60 Marcia has chosen Blue and Turquoise for our hues and the DT samples are amazing! 

I never quite know what inspires my stamping or how the process makes twists and turns as I go along. For this card, I began with a gorgeous embossing folder and just fiddled with adding color!

The Spring Burst 3D folder (from Spellbinders) has deeply embossed florals with detailed leaves. I began by coloring the large floral spray after it was embossed, lightly with Copic markers.  I love how the big bloom turned out, but felt the other leaves and blue vine needed more contrast, which I added with colored pencils.

The sentiment (PTI) and black mat, and a few sequins are the finishing touches.  I will continue to experiment with ways to use this pretty folder, the deep texture is fabulous. 

I hope that you've been inspired today and will join us in playing along! 

Be yourself
          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

CAS Butterflies

 Hello, hope things are going well for you today! 

I'm posting a quick share for two challenges today. Tic Tac Toe has a wonderful grid where I chose to use CAS, Metallic and Word die cut. The Paper Players are asking for a CAS Get Well card. 

I am back to crafting a little bit each day, just when and as I can. It's helping me to work through my stash of supplies and I enjoy trying new things out with the challenges. 

Today's card is a CAS slimline measuring 3-1/4" by 8". I got a new slimline folder from Spellbinders, and paired it up with the butterfly die cuts, also from Spellbinders and never been used.  Needing to use up some patterned paper, I chose the pretty Gradient Card stock from Altenew in shades of raspberry and topped the butterflies with a layer of vellum and silver foil for the bodies. The blue card stock, sentiment and die are from PTI. Yes, I really did mix it up this time, I truly scrambled to find a word die that fit. 

This is the kind of get well card I would need for someone having a long stage illness. I hope I won't need it soon! 

Adding this also to NBUS as we are almost wrapping up the month.

Sending a hug and a prayer for you today. See you in a day or two! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Happy New Year, Color Hues!

 Starting the year with friends at The Color Hues, are you ready? We have a new challenge for you to use pale pink and gold. Does that bring to mind images of flowers, hearts or a gala new year? Maybe snowmen or a sweet scene? We can't wait to see what you make. Hopefully you are able to find some crafty time now that the holiday flurries are over and join us.

I am thinking spring! Using a 3D embossing folder,  I brayered pink inks directly onto the recessed side, added my white card stock and fed it through the machine. 

It did take me a couple tries to find the right color (WPlus9  Pink Piggy) and the best sandwich for even coverage. The color fills in the background and the white flowers are raised with dimension.

It was so easy to make this. I added a label and sentiment from The Greetery, a gold mirror card stock mat and gold sequins. I wanted to let the floral pattern shine.

I've taken quite a break from stamping over the holiday, so I will be transitioning into more frequent posting. It may take me awhile to get my mojo back.

I'm so happy to welcome our new designers to Color Hues! Wishing all of you a Happy and healthy New Year. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Stamp sets: The Greetery -Signed & Sealed and dies, Signed & Sealed with a Kiss

Christmas Blessings for the Paper Players

 Sunday has come around again, and I'm happy to welcome you to my blog. Laurie has a great sketch for us at The Paper Players #619 and I can't wait to share my card with you. 

I love sketch challenges and holidays are my favorite time for card making. Now that for the US our Thanksgiving Day has passed, let's get down to some serious  creating for Christmas!

I bought a new multi-level embossing folder from Sissix called Winter Pattern, and ran it through my Big Shot using Baked Brown Sugar card stock. I carefully daubed white craft ink just along the top of the images and love the depth it created to the overall pattern. 

Here's a closer look that allows you to see the three levels of embossing.

My sentiments and dies are from The Greetery, the JOY sparkles in the red mirror card stock. 

I sure hope you'll want to play along at The Paper Players! We love it when you do! 

I will also add this to two other challenges: at Peace on Earth Christmas they have a mood board.

 For the Tic Tac Toe Challenge I chose the top row across.  Holiday, Die, Embellishment. I hop

I hope this inspires you to be crafty. Have a wonderful week!

 Be yourself
     Have delight in your craft
         Make something beautiful!  

Three for One: Season of Chic from Stampin' Up!

 Oh, I can hardly believe that June is almost over, can you? June is my birthday month, and our dear new little grand made her entrance to the world last weekend! What a delight and such a happy time! God in His goodness helped me get better (even though vaxxed I had a rough stint with COVID)  just in time for my husband and I to help with the older children. You can bet I'm still smiling! 

I really enjoyed being able to focus on one stamp set last week, and you seemed to like it too! Three cards coming up this week using the Season of Chic stamps and dies from Stampin' Up! If you missed it, you can find my first card made with it HERE. 

My second card is a clean and elegant thank you. 

I began by embossing white card stock with the Seashells 3D embossing folder. I love the clean texture this gives! Using the die that looks like a grid, I cut that out of the embossed piece for even more texture. The shell on the left was die cut directly from the patterned paper, it was a perfect fit! The pink shell was die cut from the pink/gold paper and I stamped it to add the shell detail. 

Every once in awhile this happens - I was positively thrilled with how this turned out!

Thanks so much for popping in! I've loved having you visit. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!