Sending Hugs with Build A Wreath

It's been a long week, I'm still under the weather with vertigo, unfortunately. I think it's caused by allergies. Hopefully the cooler weather will come with showers to make everything fresh and new again, including me! New and feeling much better would be a great forecast to me. 

I couldn't decide if my wreath would be for fall or Christmas. In all, I ditched the fall-ish one and went with my take #2 which has a more evergreen vibe, possibly for Christmas. You will have to see what you think. 

I used my lovely Concord & 9th card stock in colors of Artichoke and Juniper for the leaves, and Nectar and Sorbet for the bow and card panel. I really love the way the greenish blue and the olive colors combined nicely for the wreath. The etched Build A Wreath Dies and Garden Wreath Add-ons from Spellbinders were used to create a variety of twigs, sprigs and leaves meticulously arranged for the wreath. Berries were added with Gold Luxe drops from Nuvo that have iridescent shine.

Although I like the result, this card was a bit too fiddly to create. It is my first time using the dies, so as NBUS (never-been-used-schtuff) the card will be heading over to the gallery at Darnell's. I was also inspired to play at Tic Tac Toe challenge where I chose the options of Wreath, Free, and Matching Envelope. 

It was enjoyable coordinating the envelope, and not something I usually think about. 

That wraps up my week, hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Coastal Escape

 Hey there! I realized that a week had gone by without a post so I'm here to rectify that! I had a bit of time to pull out another not used yet set to make this card before summer is over. Here's the beach scene!

I've been doing some watercolor landscapes, and this scene began with a scrap I'd painted practicing clouds. . 

Blended inks were used to color the pretty cuts from Spellbinders Coastal Escape View Etched dies, providing the palm trees, waves and shells. For embellishments, I added pearls, a twine bow, and white Nuvo drops to accent the portholes. I cut those with gold card stock here's a closer look. 

I am so glad you made time to visit today. Wishing you sunshine and smiles!

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

For challenges, I'm joining Tic Tac Toe  where I chose: Beach, Blue and Ink Blending

and the challenge at NBUS where I'm using Spellbinders dies and Sending Sunshine Sentiments stamps. 

Showered in Love

 Hello on a Thursday evening! I couldn't resist playing in Claire's theme challenge of Rainy Days at The Paper Players and the time to join is almost up! 

The theme encouraged me to pull out the Rain Boot Bouquet Die from Spellbinders that  I've had in my new items stash and make a card. 

I also have wanted to feature the Concord and 9th Garden Party Paper Pack and was able to combine a few patterns I just love and colors for my boots. I foresee lots of uses for theses dies in many color combos for encouragement cards. The sentiment is from Penny Black. Playing at The Paper Players.

I'm so glad to have popped in with a just for fun project today. It makes me even happier that you've dropped in too. Have a great weekend!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

The Flower Challenge Reminder - Use dies!

 Hello friends, I hope your month has gone well as we transition from summer to fall. For us in the south, fall brings welcome cooler temps and wonderful Carolina blue sky weather! 

I'm back with a second card using dies for The Flower Challenge, and I went all out with cut-outs for this card! Speaking of Carolina blue...

have a look! Besides the dies, this card is all about the colors. I pulled out my card stocks and mixed a combo of colors that I love. Using the Zig Zag Chevron Die I combined two soft blues and intertwined them as a base for the floral arrangement.

 It was a delight assembling these flowers and stems into a bouquet. The die cuts were just the right size so they could be glued and assembled without being too fiddly.

Gold sequins were added and a gold foil sentiment to dress it up a little. I hope to see you playing along with your die cuts and cards showing up in our gallery! 

Thanks for your visit today, make it a great one! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

I am happily adding this to the gallery at NBUS as the stamp and die are brand new! 

Just a Hello ...

 Hello crafty friends, it's good to be here today! You know how I love card challenges and it's even more fun when I get chosen as Guest Designer. That's the happy circumstance for today's card, which I've created for the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge! 

You may know that they post a board and you may chose which elements you'd like to include on your card. 

I'm delighted that this prompted me to finally pull out my new-to-me Strawberry Patch large dies from Spellbinders. 

I was first led in the direction of FRUIT in the top row, but instead I decided to go with: embossing, fun fold, and gingham in the left row vertically. 

I love interactive cards, but don't make them often enough. This one is an interlocking  gatefold and it was so fun to make, I can't wait to try another one! The card measures 5.5 x 5.5 and I want to remind you that it will require extra postage. I needed the extra space to feature those beautiful berries! 

The sentiment is heat embossed, and there is embossed texture on the die cuts. I added a bit of shading with Copics and inks. 

Please be sure to check out the fantastic cards from the team, and join us to play along! You will find them HERE. 

I'm so happy for your visit today! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Wonderful Day

 Here I am, checking in on a Monday to see how you've been! My traveling is over for now and my health has leveled out again, so in this lull between activities I've got a card to share!

Many have shared gorgeous cards with the Spellbinders Wonderful Tulips Glimmer Plates and Layered Stencils and I have been waiting to use these new-to-me supplies! 

I used Copper foil as it shows up nicely and then added color with WPlus 9 inks and sponge daubers. Using yellow because of wanting to play along at Double D's Color Challenge, and because yellow tulips and yellow roses are my favorites!

Also new-to-me is the Plaid Collection Embossing folder (Spellbinders). I like the texture it adds and I don't think the classic style detracts from the focal image. 

NBUS

Double D 
Can you handle the pressure?
Stencil Fun 
INKspirational Challenge #62 Embossed backgrounds 

We're approaching the HOT summer season and I'll be spending more afternoons in stamping activities. I've made some changes to my crafting regimen which I'll be sharing in the days to come. Meantime, I hope your day is wonderful and that you are enjoying the ordinary simple moments! I'm happy to be able to post today and so happy for your visit!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful! 

My Favorite Flavor

Popsicles, anyone?  I'm pulling out my Chill Summer stamps and dies from Spellbinders for the first time, and they are providing me with many fun options and COOL sentiments too!  YOU'RE MY FAVORITE FLAVOR makes me smile!

I began with  adding beautiful patterns by embossing white card stock with the Geometric Stripes folder, also from Spellbinders.

I decided to create a chocolate bar with speckled ice cream dripping out. I used random dies from my stash to cut the drip and confetti, and brushed Crystal Effects on for shine. Can you tell how much fun I was having? First time using my new card stock from Concord & 9th's new color collection.  Love. 

LeAnne's lovely sketch at The Paper Players inspired my layout. Hope you have a yummy day. One of the other sentiments in this set is "It's a good day to be happy!" Hope this is true for you, my friends. Thanks for visiting! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Good Things Take Time

 Good things do take time.  The arrival of spring, the growth of a flower, the struggle of an emerging butterfly, a sunset after rain. It's a new challenge at Color Hues #62 and I chose Purple and Green for our projects this fortnight. Even though Easter is over, there are lots of ways to use these shades.

I had summery vibes in mind and so out came the butterflies! 

Choosing two patterns of paper from Waffle Flower, I used the pale green dotted piece as a background, and the purple inside the butterflies. The beautiful layering dies are by Bibi Cameron for Spellbinders, as are the sentiment and border panel. 

As always, you'll find wonderful inspiration at the Color Hues blog, and we hope to see what you make as you play along.

Thanks for joining me today! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Special Day for Color Hues

 Hello, welcome to my blog today! A new month means a new challenge at Color Hues! Carol has chosen Green and Gold for us to use, and it's full of possibilities as you will see in the wonderful DT samples. Of course there's the Luck O' the Irish option which also first came to my mind, however, I went a different direction. I have a friend who loves green so I set out to make a birthday card for her. 

I thought peonies in white with deep green leaves would pair up well. Actually, I was mistakenly picturing magnolias but the flowers can be whatever colors I make them, right?   I began by using the Peonies Hot Foil Plate by Spellbinders with Gold foil for the floral focal point. Adding accents with Copic markers in greens and gold brought out the details. I layered white card stock and gold designer paper panels cut into deckle edged rectangles, cut the floral spray out and adhered it on top. 

The card base is covered with paper from Altenew in ombre shades of green. It has a lovely shimmer to it, easier to see in real life. A strip of deeply embossed white card stock patterned with blooms adorns the side of the card.  A bit of twine and a black sentiment with gold foiling finish it off. 

I can't wait to see what you will create with these colors! The most important thing is to have fun as you go.

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies used: 
Stamps: NONE 
Ink: NONE
Accessories - Spellbinders - Glimmering Peony Hot Foil Plate, Yana's Special Sentiments Glimmer Hot Foil Plate; Spring Burst 3D Embossing Folder; Spellbinders Deckle Edge Rectangle Dies

Gold Designer Paper is from SU!

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!  

Mixing it Up for Color Hues #56

 Our Color Hues challenge #56 is here! Sheri has chosen Pink and Red for us and to me that's all about Valentines's! I had fun mixing up products to create my card. 

Combining the Bicycle Builder dies from Honey Bee with elements from the Spellbinders Parcel Post Heart Decorations I came up with this card for my dear one. 

I just love the LOVE letters and cut them using silver Glitter paper. They are only glued at the bottom so they hang jauntily over the basket and hearts.

Papers from my stash supplied the heart theme.The sentiment is embossed in white on black card stock. It's retired (SU). 

My neutrals and white black and silver. We can't wait to see what you will make for this challenge!

I appreciate your visit, hope it's a great day for you. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

             Make something beautiful! 

I'm adding this to the challenge at TicTacToe where I chose the center row: hearts, free, red. 

Leaf Border Birthday

 Hello dear friends! 

We've turned a page of the calendar but so much is going on. My heart, thoughts, and prayers are caught up in the struggles for world peace and the Ukranian people.  On this first day of March we have a new challenge going at Color Hues!

Our original challenge is to use Green and Gold on your card. My card was made a couple weeks ago, and I'm sharing that with you today. Additionally, in honor of those in Ukraine, we are offering a second challenge to use the colors of bright blue and yellow that reflect the Ukranian battle for freedom and give them a message of encouragement. 

My card is clean and simple, and uses my favorite technique of late - foiling! I used the Autumn Leaf Border from Spellbinders and the Essential Glimmer Sentiments to create a masculine birthday card. I think the gold foil dresses up a classic style.

I'm finding that using Neenah Solar White 110 # card stock gives me great results with the foiling. It is sturdy so I was able to color the leaves with Zigs and a blender pen. 

I will keep this short as I need to get busy getting this card ready to mail. I hope that you are doing well at keeping on. 

Be sure to check out the team's creations and be inspired. And please join us in our special challenge for Ukraine! I will be adding my card later.

Be yourself          

Have delight in your craft 

Make something beautiful!