sending you Sunshine!

Hi there, I do want to send you some sunshine! It's much needed in our state. Can you imagine there were snow flurries in our state today? Snow on April 2 in NC is a bizarre twist since our dogwoods and azaleas have just started blooming. 

Bringing some flowers your way today so that I can play along with Laurie's Favorites challenge on the PTI blog before it ends tomorrow. 

We were to choose any past Make It Monday technique to use for our card. I chose to use  MIM #312  featuring a framed sentiment. I also was highly influenced by THIS card of Laurie's because I just love her color choices. 

I began by using the stencil and inking it lightly with Midnight Muse ink from Stampin' Up! I stamped the images using additionally Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, Harvest Gold and Honey Nut. I used the Stitching Garden and Sending You stamp sets adding a bit of sparkle with yellow sequins. 

Hope you have a great day! I'm wishing you a burst of goodness and happy hugs. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Decked Out Dies

Hello friends! 
Well, the theme of decked out dies is a good one for Make it Monday. 

I must have had the deck the halls idea in mind as I created today's card, combining a rustic country feel with snowflakes and traditional colors. 

I've been wanting to use the Let It Snow die from PTI for awhile. It was fun covering it with read foil paper so it can shine against the background of snowflakes.  I used a designer paper (Echo Park) with a wood background for the main panel, then added two panels with a pattern of flakes over the wood. A few large die cut snowflakes and holly for flat mailing. Please notice - NO sequins, lol!
That's all for me today. Happy creating! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Yuletide Sparkle

Hello!
Time for another card using the Bold Borders: Yuletide Die with lots of sparkle and the bling of foil!
I'm loving making multiple inked borders and keeping them handy until the idea strikes to use it for a card. For this background, I inked the panel with Distressed Oxide inks and then covered that over with Versamark Ink, adding a layer of glitter for a super sparkly look. The photo only shows a smattering of this, but IRL it covers the entire panel. 

I also layered inks to add shading to the die cut greenery. I adhered silver foil to the die cut sentiment which makes it stand out with SHINE as the focal point. 

I'm playing along with the Love of Layers Make It Monday Challenge at PTI. Hope you have a great day! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Beside Still Waters

Welcome back, I'm so glad to have you visit my blog today! 

Sometimes when you have an idea you just have to get creative with it when it first hits you! That's what happened with today's card. 

I love the idea that Dawn shared at MIM to use panels made with brushstrokes from paint. You can see her gorgeous cards and the amazing challenge samples HERE for more inspiration. 

I got excited about making panels using Nuvo Mousse as I have a quite a few colors of that product. After I made the panels and let them dry, it was too late for me to enter the challenge. 

I also realized that I didn't want to use my panels as a card front or frame, or for foliage since the Mousse colors are soft pastels. 

As I was cleaning off my desk for another project, the idea hit me to use these satiny papers as elements for a Psalm 23 scene.  Instead of setting them aside,  I made this card right then.

I only wish the photo captured the subtle colors and shimmer. The Year of Psalms June set from Papertrey is so beautiful and uses one of my favorite Scriptures. I embossed it in gold. The trees were die cut with Fresh Pine Trio (Memory Box) and the deer die cut is from the first PTI set that I bought - Winter Wonderland.

That's it for me today! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Year of Psalms June

Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU - Baked Brown Sugar

INK: Versamark

Accessories: Gold EP, Nuvo Mousse - Mother of Pearl, Aquamarine, Spring Green, Indian Gold; other dies - PTI Stitch In Time Borders Die

Bling for a Birthday!

Hello, everyone! 
I'm joining the fun at Make It Monday with a sparkly bling-y birthday card. Lexi shared the glitter inlay technique and I gave it a try! 

My card uses the Fiesta Birthday and Seasonal Borders: Spring stamps. The Mix & Mat: Pretty Brackets Die cut is filled with turquoise glitter. Tempting Turquoise Ink from SU made the best match with the glitter. The great thing about this technique is that using adhesive paper and burnishing the glitter to make it stick, also keeps it from going anywhere, something very nice for the recipient. 

This is my last hurrah to spring and summer, wish they could last a bit longer, don't you? 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Combining Texture for Make It Monday

Tuesday is my day to highlight products from Papertrey Ink, so I'm here to share my card for Make It Monday #331. Stephanie Gold provided a fabulous sample and video showing how to create mixed texture in the background. (see it HERE). 

I loved the way she stamped leaves in gray and wanted to give that a try, since gray is not a color I use often. The leaves in curved patterns, almost like a flourish, from the Corner Adorner: June Mini Set made this easy to stamp along the left edge of the card, and carries over in the form of the berries and flowers on the main panel. Other PTI products include: Vintage Linens stamp set, and Soft Stone Ink. 

More texture comes from the Stampin' Up! Hexagon Die that covers the whole card front to add tone on tone dimension.

I loved making this card, and I thank you for coming by my blog today. Sending happy hugs your way. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Beautiful Botannicals

Hello! I'm playing along with Make It Monday where Melissa inspires us to stretch our dies by using them to make stencils.  

I  chose the diagonal striped pattern from Mix and Mat: Flourish die and enjoyed creating a softly blended background on the tag that features the Botanical Bounty florals by PTI. To see supply details, they are listed below. 

Make it a great day! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Botanical Bounty I and II, Penned Elegance, Stitch in Time Borders and dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Bitty Big DSP Hawaiian Shores

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, PTI - Spring Rain; WPlus9 - Shell Pink, Little Piggy, Sweet Gelato, New Leaf 

Accessories: sequins

Blended Ink Backgrounds

Hello crafting friends! 

Is any one besides me having their days mixed up after our holiday on the 4th? Yesterday felt like Monday to me, my days are all off.  Feels like Tuesday today. Turns out any day is a good day to pop in with a project for Make It Monday! 

Betsy's Make It Monday #327 is all about Ombre Watercolor Backgrounds. (see her video HERE sharing a fool proof and easy way to make blended backgrounds.)

I've got two cards for you today. 

For the first, I blended shades of pink and then washed them with a damp thick brush. After it had dried I used the Stencil Basics: Dots to add tone on tone design.

My second card is clean and simple, using yellows for the background. I added tone on tone stamping with two or three leaf images, and spattered white paint to add texture and detail. Well. I did get a bit carried away with splattering the paint.

For the flowers on both cards, I used the 2108 Anniversary Set: Mixed Bouquet, trimming out the blooms with my scissors. 

I will be uploading this soon. Wishing you a fabulous weekend! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something wonderful!

Inchie Elements for Make It Monday

I had so much fun making a card using Inchies that I'm thinking I just can't wait to make another one! Can you make just one? 

You can find a wonderful tutorial on the Make It Monday video by Lexi. 

I wanted to use different stamps than Lexi did and thought about it all week. Then I pulled out the panel I had on my desk using blended inks (a first attempt for THIS card) and the light bulb went on in my head. Here's my card using the Salt Air: Fauna and Reef Builder stamps and dies. 

 I love the contrast of the stark white against the colorful inchies. For a few bits of sparkle, I added iridescent confetti stars. 

It's a bit too hot here today, I am happy to be staying cool inside. Hope you are enjoying your day. Thanks so much for your visit and kind comments. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

One Stitch at a Time: Quilted Summer

Hello, friends! 

Hope those in the US are enjoying the long weekend. 

I've been making up for my lack of posts this week, and had some time to play today. We've had lots of rain, so I played inside my craft room.

At Make It Monday, Lizzie invited us to create a card with embellishments above and below the sentiment.  Marcia inspired me with her very pretty card using the Quilted Summer set from Papertrey Ink so I set out to create a get well card with it.

I love the images with small patterns that coordinate with the set and quilt die, however I decided to highlight the florals. I did randomly tuck some of the quilted triangles behind the die cut flowers for a boost of color and layering. I stamped small flowers and added black centers and black stitch lines onto the panel.The pinwheels were stamped and "sparkled" with WOS. With all my elements, I grouped in threes arranging in triangles to keep the balance and suggest movement. 

I just love the sentiments with this set, and used another one inside to complete the well wishes.

Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog. Have a fantastic day! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Quilted: Summer

Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU - Basic Black and Daffodil Delight

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, Versamark, WPlus9 - Queen Bee, Lime Light, Sweet Nectar, Flamingo, Lake House

Accessories: White Embossing powder

Papertrey Tuesday: Ink Blending on Colored Card Stock

Hello, and welcome to my blog today! Are you enjoying warm spring weather where you are? I hope so! It's so nice I just want to be outside. But I took time to play along today with Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink.

Melissa's cards were soft and beautiful and her video showing ink blending on colored card stock inspired me to try it. 

I went soft with my colors too, I can't quite get the edit right, the contrast is not really this deep. 

Loved using the Peonies on Parade and the Stitch In Time stamps and dies. I inked in Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, and Vintage Jadite onto pale yellow card stock. 

When I held my panel over the gingham DSP, I knew I had the best choice for drawing the eye to the sponged design and classic sentiment. 


Just like Melissa's card, I added a fluffy bow using seam binding.

Thanks for visiting today. Hope your day is fabulous!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Papertrey Tuesday Brushed Birds

Hello all, here I am popping in at the end of the day with a card to share with you. I'm calling this post Papertrey Tuesday. 
I'm really happy to pull out the Brushed Birds set from Papertrey Ink and use it for the Make It Monday Challenge. 

Lizzie instructed us to use a stencil to pull the eye towards the focal point on our card. It was easy to do and it does make a difference. I'm always happy to do some ink blending. I also used a sponge to dab inks onto the the bird images. Each bird has 3 stamps to layer and sponging the inks allowed me to blend in additional colors for a soft look. The MISTI was helpful for the multiple stamping. 

Also new is the Shape Shifters Oval 1 Die, and I used all three layers. Under the pretty oval with the tiny cut outs, I cut an oval of white card stock inked with Nuvo Mousse. What a sheen it adds, as you can see in the close up. 

The birds are snuggled among die cut leaves and a banner with the sentiment. I love that this can be used for any kind of occasion I may need later on. 

That's it for me today, I hope you'll be back again soon. Have a great evening. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Brushed Birds

Paper: Neenah Solar White,

INK: PTI - Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz, Harvest Gold, W Plus 9 Warm Wool

Accessories: Stencil, sequins, Nuvo Mousse

Playing with the Color Wheel

Good morning! Hope your day is getting off to a good start. 

 I finished up my card last night for the Make It Monday Challenge, hosted by Lexi this time. She showed how she often chooses colors and wanted us to create a card using the colors of the color wheel. 

I loved her card and it was fun to figure out my own take on the theme. I didn't have the images in my PTI supplies that I thought were the right size, so, I used a die cut and transformed it with scissors and markers.

 I added a good coating of Wink of Stella to each blossom, used Nuvo drops in the center of each flower, and added a few drops in green. 
Why I absolutely LOVE doing challenges is this: I never would have come up with this card on my own. I've not really jumped on the bandwagon with rainbow colors in my cards, but this was such fun and I learned so much from making it. 
I hope you've enjoyed your visit, thanks for coming by today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

ETA: It's rainy today, wish the bright colors showed up better!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Penned Elegance

Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU - Basic Black

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, Zig Clean Color Markers, Wink of Stella

Accessories: PTI - Tag Sale Quilted, and Cutaway Tags: Summer dies

Lilies of the Field

I often remind myself that I have so many flower stamps. And I don't need to buy ANY more! Then along comes one that is just not like anything I already have  - and I buy it! That is the story of how I recently came upon the Lilies of the Field stamps in my recent order. 

And the Make It Monday Challenge gives me a great chance to use it! Betsy asked us to do some Masking and Stacking of the cutest stamp we could find. Unable to find any critters from PTI I used flowers instead. 

Using a die to cut the masks surely makes this a much easier technique to use. I began with the tall flower in the center and continued to fill in by masking and stamping. I wanted to keep it clean and crisp, so I nixed the idea of adding shading to the background but stamped a few dots in Old Gold to fill in some of the spaces and add dimension.

Thanks for visiting my blog today! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Lilies of the Field, Banner Sentiments

Paper: Neenah Solar White, PTI - Sweet Blush, Bitty Big - Green Parakeet

INK: PTI - Sweet Blush, Pale Peony, Berry Sorbet, Green Parakeet; WPlus9 - Old Gold

Accessories: Border die from MFT