Dancing with Heart

 I've long loved this stamp and I'm so happy to feature it on today's card. 

Besides the cutie ballerina, isn't the sentiment so fun? 

I stamped the image on Hammermill card stock and colored with Zig markers and a damp paintbrush, then used the die to cut it out. I'm also using the Outlined Heart Die from Waffle Flower. I'm not sure I didn't overwhelm the image with the bold hearts and scraps of patterned papers. Part of the fun of this craft is experimenting and that is just what I did. 

I'm playing with these challenges today: 

Shopping Our Stash - Love Me Do 
Simon Says Stamps - HEART with Penny Black
Cut It Up  - This Makes Me Happy (it's the subject of my card. I love to dance!)
Just Us Girls Die Week - Heart
Penny Black Saturday Challenge - ATG 

Thanks  so much for coming by! Have a wonderful weekend. Dancing, anyone! I will be watching the Olympics.

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 
               Make something beautiful!  

A Latte Love for Color Hues #41

 Hello crafters, so glad to have you here for a visit to my blog!  It's time for a new combo at our Color Hues challenge and this time I got to be the one picking the colors! 

I love Aqua and Red in general, and putting them together seems like a good idea. For our challenge you may use the two colors plus choose a neutral, so with a fun coffee theme, I added brown. Here's my card!

I've purchased a few simple stamps from Penny Black and I've been loving using them for CAS cards. I stamped on Bristol Smooth card stock and colored the images with Zig markers. 

I'm not even a coffee drinker, but I just love this sweet illustration. 

I sure hope you will be inspired to play along, I can't wait to see your projects in the gallery! Thanks so much for your kind words and for spending a bit of time with me today. Happy crafting! 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies used: 
Stamps: Penny Black Love Ya
Paper:  Doodlebug Design 
Accessories:  WPlus9 - Postage Dies

Inspired By: Spring Into Color

I love it when the spring brings gorgeous flowers, blooms and splashes of bright colors. That's just what we are featuring this week at our challenge, Inspired By. What I love even more is when there is a sentiment that describes the season perfectly! 

I found the perfect combination in the beautiful stamps from Penny Black called faith.hope.love, and Spring Day. Using my MISTI, I stamped the images on watercolor paper and used my Zig markers and a brush to add color to the images and the background. I didn't add spatters this time, but there are a few tiny dots to look like speckling on the eggs. 

Our challenge is calling for SPRING COLOR and I sure loved creating this card. 

We would love to have you play along too! It is always amazing to see how you are inspired. 

Thanks for you visit, I've enjoyed having you stop by. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Inspired By...another great challenge!

 Hi there, I am so glad that you are back! I'm excited to announce my new DT spot on the Inspired By Challenge! I am honored to be invited to join the team of very talented stampers and look forward to the weekly challenges. 

I've been just waiting to ink up this new to me background stamp from Pinkfresh Studio. I used dark green ink to stamp the outline, and colored the image with Zig markers and a paintbrush.  

Today we're to be Inspired By...everything is a-bouquet. 

I was inspired by the colors, the trailing leaves and the sketch for my project. 

What will you be inspired to make? Be sure to head off to see the fabulous DT samples. Have a great day! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Altenew - Floral Frame (sentiment) Pinkfresh Studio - Sweet Blooms 

Paper: Neenah Solar White, watercolor paper

INK: WPlus9 - Siren Song Dye Ink, these hold fast when used with water!

Accessories: Border dies are from MFT

Color Throwdown #562

Welcome to my blog today, I so appreciate your visit. 

I got crafty and pulled out my Zig markers for today's card. 

I have been so inspired by playing along with the Color Throwdown Challenge. I find sketch challenges to be easy but color challenges make me think a bit more. 

I end up with not only different color combos that I would never try on my own, but often different style elements as well. 

I die cut the card front diagonally, used foam to raise the two panels, and placed black card stock behind for a bold and graphic design. 

The images are from Simon Says Stamps Look for the Rainbows and were heat embossed in black. Also entering this at the SSS Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge.

That's it for me today. Hope to see you back here soon!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Beautiful Butterfly, Beautiful Day

Hello, stamping friends. 
I am hanging on to summer for as long as I can! Even though I'm wrapped up in a warm sweater today, I still look forward to the last few days of summer. You'll have to wait a bit longer to see me pull out the fall and (GASP!) Christmas stamps. Especially since I still needed to ink up this beautiful butterfly to play with today. 

I love the mosaic look of this beauty from the Beautiful Day stamp set. My fav Zig markers were used for coloring in the images. I added Nuvo drops to the butterfly, plus patterned paper and textured card stock to complete the design. Thanks for coming by today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: (SSS) Beautiful Day, Sentiment from WPlus9 - Wishing You Sentiments

Paper: (SU) Daffodil Delight,  Basic Black, Bristol Smooth

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black

Accessories: Tim Holtz Kaleidoscope 3 D Embossing die, Beautiful Day Wafer Dies

 I'm playing along with: 
the special celebration at Freshly Made Sketches and 

Simon Says Stamp Weekly Challenge - Clean and Simple. 

TWOFER

TWOFER for this post refers to two cards and two challenges. 

I'm so excited to be able to get this under the line on the last day of the Twofer Challenge! In case it's new to you, we are to make two cards using the same stamps or images for two different occasions. This month was a nautical theme.

 It's a favorite of mine, so here are the two cards I came up with.

One card is a missing you occasion and the other is a birthday card. Both use the stamps and sentiments from the Sunny Studio Oceans of Joy set which has been in my prominent "to use" file all summer.  I think these little guys are adorable! 

Here's a closer look at my favorite of these cards. I created it for the Color Throwdown challenge. 

Thinking these shades were perfect for an ocean I ink blended a background using Distress Oxides in Tumbled Glass and Wilted Violet, adding spatters. I also stenciled the rays using Peacock Feathers. 
The images were colored onto Bristol Smooth Card Stock using Zig markers. The glittered enamel star and heart came in my newest card kit. I just had to add some sparkle and also some WOS was added to the whale, octopus, and the balloon. 

Phew! Guess this was a long post! Thanks for hanging with me. 

Supplies used:

Stamps: Oceans of Joy

Paper: DSP (ret.) from SU!

First Card for Christmas 2018

Hello, how is your week going so far? 

I've been holding on to these last days of summer for as long as I can before I start on fall and holiday cards. I broke in with a Christmas card for today. It does feel good to have one created and ready! 

Sometimes I hold out on purchasing something for a long time. I know.... I know, it's rare. But sometimes I DO!  It seems I just remembered that this gorgeous stamp set from Papertrey Ink called Botanical Blocks IV, had not seen ink yet. It's been around awhile but it is definitely new to me!

I inked it with my Versafine Onyx Black pad and stamped on Bristol smooth paper, heat embossing with clear powder. I colored it in with Zig markers. Can you tell I've been in the mood for coloring this week? I added gold details, using a gold gel pen to fill in the frame, a gold embossed sentiment and gold mirror card stock behind the panel. 

Of course it needed a sequin or two and some clear Nuvo drops to highlight the berries. 

I've stamped out a few of these panels so that I can do some coloring on the go. It makes me smile that you took time to come by my blog today. Thanks! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

You can never have too many... Beautiful Flowers

The Beautiful Flowers set from Simon says Stamp is the newest addition to my stamping stash. I tell myself I really don't NEED new flower stamps, but oh how I love this set! Flowers? You can never have too many! 

I made a stamping schedule of sorts for my blog posts, but I have had trouble keeping up with it this summer, so I hope you will bear with me. Today's post definitely fits the "What I Love" theme but I can't wait until tomorrow to share! 

Things I love: flowers, large bouquets, and coloring. This time with Zig markers. Have a look! 

I made this card first, using markers in pink and purple and then blending with a water brush on Strathmore Watercolor paper. I will be hand delivering this card to a very special someone soon! 

For the next card, I used less of the bouquet and colored with Light Carmine and Carmine markers, keeping the blending a bit more simple. 

The Happy was stamped and embossed with gold. I filled in the inside with a black gel pen.On both cards, I went over the flowers with a shimmer pen. I made both of these cards in the same sitting. It seems I like the coloring best on the first card, and the layout/design details better on the second card. 

What do you think? 

I hope you've enjoyed my floral display. I know I am glad that you've come by. Have a great day! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

What I love: Sweet Honey and Bears

Hello stamping friends, how goes it for you?

We've had a couple of rainy days and I've found some cozy time in the stamp studio. 

Hope you don't mind if I share my Wednesday What I LOVE feature a day early. 

I'm happy to share these darling itchy-pawed bears and their helpers from the Curious Friends stamps from W Plus 9 Designs. They are up to some antics today! 

On Bristol Smooth card stock I blended a background using Distress Inks in Vintage Photo and Cracked Pistachio. For coloring, I chose my Zig markers, stamping the images and sentiments with black ink and heat embossing. I rounded out the scene with the tree boughs, scalloped circles and a few ink spatters. 

I love the inside of this thank you card the best. It tells a story and has a happy ending. What's not to like about that? 

Hee, hee, sweet and sappy. Sorry, I couldn't resist. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today, I hope you know how much it means to me!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Playing along with the challenge at Simon Says to use dies or punches.