Bold Bouquet

 Well here I am again! 

Just had to pop in and give a quick share of the card I made today. I was inspired by the great cards over at Just Us Girls, where they have a stencil week - anything goes! And so many great cards that I wanted to play along. In looking for a stencil, I ended up with a bundle! 

The Bold Bouquet stamp and die bundle (Altenew) includes stencils and an embossing folder. This has been in my stash for years and barely used. That's sad but we got re-acquainted. 

I embossed the bouquet, stenciled it, then die cut it. Now totally in stencil mode I added more color with the SSS stencil Petal Lattice in the bottom right corner. A few tiny dots with pens gave detail to the flower centers in black and gold, and a few sequins in pink made me happy. 

Off to post this now, as the challenge closes soon. I will see you tomorrow! Thanks so much for your visit. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Let's Make Two

Gratefully, we had some much needed rain yesterday and I had time to finish two cards that have been worked on bit by bit this week. No online challenges this time. Just my own goal of using a new to me die. I unwrapped that package and gave it a whirl! 

I began by combining the Curvature Die from Penny Black, and the Garden Party dies from Pinkfresh Studio. When I had a moment, I  randomly cut a bunch of these, a few in color, but mostly from white card stock. 

 Adding Altenew inks to color, I sponged with aqua, teal, pink and green, including the teal in the corner of the card front. These dies are fun to layer, the possibilities are endless! The Curvature die in white makes a soft home base for my focal point. The sentiment from SSS Happy Day is stamped and die cut. 

The fun part came with the leftover bits of flowers on my desk. Here's take 2! 

Even the Blush pink panel was already cut to size sitting there on my desk. Better to use it up! With the very simple layout, I jazzed it up a bit with  a small dot EF and a few clear crystal sequins. The sentiment is from Penny Black called Special Thoughts. My completed cards are overflowing their space, so I'm using generic sentiments in hopes of donating them. 

Thanks for visiting me today! 

I guess I do want to add this to Darnell's NBUS Challenge, the Curvatures Die is my new schtuff. That item is still on my desk, so there is more to come!

Is it really simple?

 Hello and happy day to you! I began with a question - Is is really simple?

That's my reflection after making a simple clean card with a sketch for the Freshly Made Challenge. Love the sketch! Yes, filling that  small inner square with a focal point should have been simple. Not so for me as I tried many options and configurations. Too many! 

The Delicate Magnolia and Itty Bitty Branches dies from Altenew were featured as I brought this creative session to a close. I added stitched embossing to the base layer with the Allover Stitches folder from Penny Black. 

It's not my favorite card - but hey! It's just paper! There is certainly more for another day! See you soon. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Peonies for the Paper Players

 Hello and happy day to you! A beautiful new set of stamps designed by Dawn Woleslagle just had to join my collection of floral images recently. The Perfect Peonies stamps are from Honeybee Stamps. I love the timeless beauty of Dawn's illustrations, I am a huge fan. With some uncertainty about being able to do them justice, I began coloring with Copic markers. 

Most often I prefer using a damp brush and re-inkers, but I really enjoyed using the markers this time. I added a sentiment from Altenew, white gel pen accents and mini sequins. The image was on white card stock sponged with light pink ink.

I like the simplicity of this card - just stamps, paper, and ink!

I was happy to see that this fits the color challenge at The Paper Players, and I will also add it to the NBUS Challenge, and SSS Wednesday Challenge, Fabulous Florals. 

I know I'll enjoy using this set again. Keeping this short, hope you don't mind!

I hope you enjoyed your visit, thanks for coming by! See you soon. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Kindness in Bloom Birthday

 Hello, friends! I'm back with my last card for this week. Our weather has been super hot and in my craft room I'm keeping cool, busy, and contented. 

I decided to play along with Freshly Made Sketches, and pulled out the new-to-me Kindness in Bloom stamps and dies from Pinkfresh Studio. I love the wonky look of these flowers and appreciate the stripes on the leaves. Coloring with Zig markers, I followed the example on the stamps packaging and used bold strokes with white spaces on the flowers. 

I loved discovering (or being reminded?) that PFS dies cut out all the images at once, making this so easy! I used a border die to cut the accents for the line across the sketch. 

I appreciate you taking the time to come and visit with me. Hope you have a great weekend. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

I'm entering this to these challenges: 
NBUS - new stamps and dies
Freshly Made Sketches 
A Cut Above 

Other Supplies: Hexagon Die is from WPlus9; Border Dies are from Penny Black; The Happy Birthday stamp and die are from Simon Says Stamp.

A Little Artsy Birthday

 Happy to greet you on a new day, with a new card. 

Playing with only two colors, especially when one is a neutral is hard for me, but I took the challenge and created today's card with yellow and black. It's a little artsy.

Yes, that is the name of the stamp set from SSS. I chose the bold daisy and created a bright yellow background. I added stamped images in yellow for tone on tone distressing and a few images in black to the panel. I stamped and cut out the daisy and the sentiment, and decided to add sparkle embossing paste on the flower for shine. I'm delighted to enter this at the Color Hues Challenge. 

Hope you don't mind a shorter post, time to get moving! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Watercolor Flowers for You

 Happy Monday and new month day! 

I have a summery and feminine card to share today using the Craft Your Life Kit from Altenew called Watercolor Flowers. 

I was inspired to organize all my stamps and dies over the weekend. I'm loving the results, including finding supplies I've not used in a long time. And finding all my supplies much more easily. My single use dies are in alphabetical order. Thank you to my friend Leslie for the inspiration! 

Here's today's card. 

I began with white card stock, die cutting the floral spray and then using the 3D folder to emboss it. Using Altenew inks and the kit stencils I added color to these pretty flowers. I really like the look of the florals using just the stencils. I skipped the outline I could have obtained with the stamp set. 

For the background, I embossed a pale blush card stock using the Altenew Raised Sentiments folder, tapping the raised text lightly with a white ink pad. The bouquet is popped up. I added Rose Gold gems and embossing to the sentiment.

The challenge at The Paper Players caught my eye, with a lovely tic tac toe board. I chose Die Cut, Stenciling and Layers. 

Playing also at: 
NBUS - using the background folder for the first time. 
Just Us Girls - Stencil Week 

I loved having you visit! I appreciate your comments and support so very much. Wishing you a beautiful day. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Stenciled Blooms

 Earlier this week I hoped to add to the gallery at  Freshly Made as they have a lovely, simple sketch. The week has been busy but a rainy Saturday gave me time to create. I was happy to be hunkered down at the craft table this afternoon!

I brought out one of my favorite sets lately, Butterflies in Bloom (Pinkfresh Studio). These flower stencils have large open spaces making it easy to vary the intensity of the inking for a shading effect. 

I chose Altenew inks in soft Blush and added a pale yellow to the flower centers and a faint hint added to a couple of the blossoms on the outer edges.  I am challenging myself to learn to use a lighter hand when I stencil. It's a work in progress! 

Adding ink to white card stock, I created a background using mint green inks. For the leaves, I blended a yellow green with a blue-green. A gold pen supplied the butterfly body and the dotted flower centers. 

Mustering all my momentary restraint - I did not add any embellishments. Aren't you proud of me? I'm thinking the simplicity of the sketch is just enough. The bling will come out another day. 

Here's a look at the sketch! 

I enjoyed the time to stamp just for fun today. I need to do it more often!  I'm happy you came by for a visit too. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft!

             Make something beautiful!  

Other supplies: Frame is from The Greetery; Sentiment is from Altenew 

Happy Hello

 Hi! It's me, coming back with a happy hello after a bit of time away from the craft table. I hope you're happy to see a new week and a new post! 

It's time for Team X and a new board from Betty at Tic Tac Toe Challenge #292!

I had ideas for other options when I set out to create, but I found one option that I was excited about so I pulled out cream card stock and ran with it.

I love techniques, so I tried something a bit new with today's card. There are many floral stamps with matching embossing folders and stencils. Have you ever thought of stamping an image and then using a different embossing folder layered on top? I wish I could remember where I saw this idea - I sure didn't think of it! But I'm so glad that I tried it. Here's the result. 

I stamped the Soft Blossoms floral spray image (Altenew) on cream card stock with black ink, and colored it using markers. I needed a large image or pattern on the embossing folder, and I chose the Floral Fence of Togetherness folder (Spellbinders), finding it to be just right, as it is also large in size, 5.50 x 8.50 inches. 

I ran the colored image panel through with the folder and I love the way it adds a subtle texture behind the colored flowers, while adding a rich pattern in the background. This folder features flowers vining  across the bottom, and just two or three more flowers growing up the left side. 

The sentiment from the Altenew set was heat embossed on black card stock. Black spatters were used to tie the ink and contrasting black mat together. 

I chose the middle row across: Floral, FREE, and White/Cream.

Please join us and share your work in our gallery!  We would love to have you inspire us!

Thanks for your visit to my blog today. 
TicTacToe Challenge
NBUS - my new to me Floral Fence Embossing Folder 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft             
                 Make something beautiful!  

Honeybell Floral WIth Sympathy

Just a note to say hello. 

I know none of us really like to make sympathy cards, but there comes a time to send them. I don't usually like to keep them on hand. It seems more meaningful to me to make one that can be personalized and made special for the recipient when I get the sad news.  Now today, I need to send two! Here's the first one. 

I prefer light colors and simple layouts for sympathy cards. 

Choosing three shades of rose/pink I used the Honeybell Floral Wafer Die, cutting the images twice, and adding inking to the edges of the pieces. 

I found a fence die that's been camped out in my stash for a few years. It holds the flowers nicely!

I debated inking a cloud-filled sky versus keeping a white background. I decided to go very very light with the sponging, and I'm glad I did. Altenew Blue Horizon ink is my new favorite for clouds. 

A very light swipe of yellow for the butterfly completes the scene. 

I will wish you a happy weekend, enjoy sunshine and special times with the ones you love! See you next week. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Playing at:
NBUS  Never-been-used-stuff 

Triple B - Birds, Butterflies, and Blooms 

Supplies: 

from my stash - sentiment, MFT prairie fence, MFT cloud stencil

New - first time use - Honeybell Floral Die - SSS

Butterfly is from Butterfly Escapade EF, dies, and stencils - SSS

Sparkle for Spring

It's been a busy time! Lots of household improvements going on including having the walls and kitchen cupboards painted. It's lovely to have it finished. Also, I'm teaching a local Papercrafting class, so there was prep work to plan and assemble the projects. 

It just happens, a found a new card recently made and photographed. Ready to share! 

The flowers were embossed in gold, colored using inks and stencils, and die cut. I love having the bouquet arranged for me so it is cut in one pass. Layering it on a scalloped stitched panel and a stitched frame made it easy to assemble. The stamps are Flowers for the Soul from Pinkfresh Studio.The sentiment is a favorite.

The gold thread, gold embossing and gold metallic gems add some sparkle! I'm happy to play at The Paper Players. I love a good TTT challenge and used the middle row across; sparkle, flowers, embossing and the right row vertically; sentiment, embossing, layers. 

  Wishing you a wonderful day and much joy. Thanks for coming by!

         Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!   

Happy Easter Wish

 Hello there! I'm sorry to say that I don't often make Easter cards, even though it's an important holiday and there are so many lovely options to choose from right here in my stash. Today changed that.

I'm delighted to share it with you! 

The well-loved oldies came out first, beginning with the Cathedral Die and stencils from The Greetery. Some light sponging of pastel inks behind the windows and at the card base created a soft base for the bouquet. 

The flowers and leaves are from the very new-to-me Garden Party Die from Pinkfresh Studio, cut from white card stock and sponged with color. Also brand new, these Ethereal Butterflies from Memory Box seemed to round out the scene, with their rich texture and an added pearl. The sentiment is from Spring Day... by Penny Black. I got an extra nudge from the challenge at Double D,  Easter/Church/Cross. 

I'm so thankful to these ladies for their beautiful inspiration and hard work. 

I will add this to the lineup at NBUS  and Die Cut Divas  Celebrate Spring as well. I can't thank you enough for taking the time to come by today and say hello. See you again soon!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Grateful for You

 Hi friends, I'm glad to see you! I'm wondering what happened to make this week rush by so quickly!

I thought it would be fun to enter a card into the monthly challenge at Pinkfresh Studio. The theme is Sew Much Fun based on the many products in a recent release featuring sewing items. 

As I looked through my supplies I found some pretty flowers ready to go! Here's my card. 

The elegant circles die has lovely stitching elements, and the pale pink card stock was given a quilted stitched pattern with the Sparkling Diamonds coverplate die. 

I used the Flowers for the Soul stamps and dies.The florals were stamped and embossed with gold and colored with markers. Gold foil leaves are the only embellishment. 

I had trouble with this card. You know? It just didn't come together easily and I almost wanted to start over, then had not the best lighting for the photo. Some days that happens! 

I'm entering this to the theme challenge of Clean and Simple Florals going on at The Paper Players.

I'm remembering not to be so hard on myself. (grin) I leave you with a farewell wave, wishing you a good time creating! 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

He will sing!

 How are you on this Monday? It's pouring rain here with lots of wind. I'm staying in!

I wanted to encourage a dear friend going though a tough time and was so glad to find my favorite Scripture verse available in digi form at Word Art Wednesday. 

One of my newer stamps is Blossoms and Butterflies from Pinkfresh Studio, it's fast becoming my favorite! I ordered just the stamp but next order included the dies and stencil. This bouquet of flowers is so versatile and I know that it could be one of those images that I grab often. 

Stenciling is a technique that has grown on me over this year. You may know that I love to watercolor, and slowly add layers of shading and color.  But you can't beat a good stencil or two for coloring an image quickly. 

Speaking of quickly, I need to run this card out to the mailbox. I'm wishing you a wonderful day! Adding this to the Word Art Wednesday Challenge.  Besides inspiring Scripture and beautiful artwork, they have some great prizes if you want to check it out!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

In my Garden

 Hello friends! I've been working in my craft room with a garden theme of butterflies and blooms today. Playing with a sketch and a nice collection of new supplies that I have lined up from recent orders. And oh boy, did I have fun! More awaits.

Michele's sketch from Freshly Made was my starting point.  My interpretation is not literal although I took quite a while trying to get a  balance of the die cuts and embellishments. 

It's a great sketch! For the leaves and flower, just a bit of inking added interest. I think the butterflies fit well with this sentiment. Pearls were the only embellishment. 

Hope your Saturday is going well! I appreciate your visit so much. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Challenges:
NBUS  **see below for  4 new items**
Freshly Made

 and a new to me challenge from The Paper Shelter where I used Flowers, Free and Pearls

Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp - *Rose Branch Wafer Die, *Jaunty Sunflower Die
Altenew - inks, *Itty Bitty Branches Die Set
Pinkfresh Studio - Butterflies in Bloom Stamps and Dies, *Scalloped Grid Coverplate Die
Penny Black - Butterflies 

Happiness for You

Happy Friday to you! A while back when I got my Zigs out I did some coloring for future cards. This is one of them. I began with stamping the images from Butterflies and Blooms (a new-to-me stamp from PinkFreshStudio) onto white card stock. 

After cutting it out, I layered it onto aqua card stock, placing a vellum gingham panel (SU) behind it. Here's what I love - my favorite  EF from Altenew (Piped Floral Lace). I just keep choosing this one! It's the debossed side that forms the card base layer. 

Tiny silver dots are the only embellishment. Entering this in Tic Tac Toe challenge #287 middle row across: Layering, Encouragement, Enamel Dots/Sequins. 

 Team O has some wonderful samples and it is so easy to play along! I also love to play at Word Art Wednesday  NBUS and Simon Says Stamp. I hope your weekend is wonderful and I want to say a heartfelt thanks for your visit. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!