Fun Filled Birthday Wish

I have a fun card for a child's birthday today! It began with the frame that was inked and sat around on my desk for a couple of months waiting to be caught up in my creative process. 

Today was the day! 

Although the frame was inked in pale pink and blue, I wanted to use critters. I combined Avery Elle More Stories for the hedgehog and bunny. The other images and sentiment are from WPlus9 Curious Forest Friends.  Using a stencil I added clouds to the top panel behind the sentiment.

I used watercolor for the hedgehog, bear and raccoon. The bunny was cut from a piece of the inked paper and I dotted his tail with a white gel pen. 

I'm happy to be playing along with the Fusion Card Challenge for May. It gave me great motivation to pull out the hedgehog stamp! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Celebrate In Style

Hello everyone! 
I've been so caught up in Christmas preparations and events. Have really missed my crafting and regular posts. It's a busy time of year but I'm delighted to be able to stamp today as the featured guest stamper at CAS(E) this Sketch! I'm so honored to stamp again with this talented team of designers. 

I need a card to be on hand for a January guy birthday and I wanted to create a classy style. Choosing bold neutrals with gold gave me a great head start on a card that could also double as a New Year's greeting.

I'm way out of my comfort zone with two grays and black but they do look really good with lots of white and gold accents. 

Here's the sketch. 

You can find the challenge HERE and it will be in play for two weeks. Hope you will check out the wonderful projects and make your own to join in the fun! 

Thanks for your visit. Hope you have many good things to celebrate today.   

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: none

Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU - Basic Gray and Basic Black, WPlus9 - Fog, Gold Foil paper

Accessories: Sissix - Celebrate die, SU - Starblast Edgelit Die (retired) 

A Simple Sketch - Times 2

Hello there! 
My stamping has been a bit hit or miss this fall, but somehow I got on a roll. Here's the first post to share with you! 

I used to have a category on my blog called Twice is Nice. If I found a sketch I really like it was fun to make two completely different cards with it. That's what happened with me while crafting. I couldn't stop after one card and had to make a second. 

Let me show you the sketch first, from the great designers at CAS(E) This Sketch. 

I began with wanting to place the sentiment in the sketch and then added the leaves around that to form rows. Although it is a bit busy, I like how this card turned out. 

For the second card, I went looking for a smaller image and pulled out the Whole Lotta Happy set from W Plus 9. This card is still also a bit busy, but the uniformity of the images gives it a more cohesive look. I like it so much better than the first card.

These images are so cute and I thought they'd be perfect for a rainbow themed card. You know they've been the rage for so long but until now I hadn't made one! What fun! 

Here's where the rainbow comes in, on the inside - 

This will be a congrats card for someone we love so much! The photo makes it look wonky but I promise that the image and sentiment dies are straight. Both cards give me a sense of delight in using stamps and dies that have been long lost in my stash. It is invigorating to re-discover them. The sketch inspired me to seek them out. Another reason I love sketches. 

Thanks for visiting today! It has been raining here, but I keep looking for the rainbow from my warm cozy spot. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: SSS -  Apple of my Eye;   WPlus9 - Whole Lotta Happy

Amazing YOU: A birthday card

Hi, how are you doing?

I am playing catch up here on the blog this week. Don't know how it's gotten to be Thursday already! I missed my Wednesday What I Love post, so how about if I combine it with Take Out Thursday? 

However I decide to call it, I have a special card to share with you today. 

I made this background a few months ago, and it's been sitting on my craft table.  I loved these roses and the technique of wet on wet stamping with the Vintage Roses set from Altenew. I stamped in layers and did some spattering with inks and gold watercolor. 

The die cut sentiments (from Stampin' Up!) are mounted on a vellum strip. I embossed the You in gold at the bottom for an ombre look. 

I embellished further with a bow and clear drops. 

Have you noticed that my style changes often on these posts?  I've been looking at some posts from my old blog and it reminded me how often I made cards with a Shabby Chic style. I love clean and simple. I love cute. I love layers, and I love this feminine look. 

This was such a fun card to make and I hope my dear friend will like receiving it for her birthday. 

Thanks so much for your visit today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

What I Love Wednesday: Ink Blending and Polka dots

Hello, is it beginning to look like spring where you are yet? 

I hope if not, that it will be soon. Our cloudy skies are gone this afternoon blue skies are back and with them will come warmer temperatures. I'm hoping we don't miss spring and go right into summer, but I am enjoying sitting outside as I type this. 

You're here to see what I love today, aren't you? Besides spring? OK. 

I love ink blending and polka dots. I had fun getting inky with the cute Showers and Flowers set from Simon Says Stamp. I absolutely fell in love with these polka dotted boots. And the pretty flowers!

I blended the background by combining Distress Inks in Salty Ocean and Worn Lipstick colors onto Bristol board. I stamped the images and colored them in with Zig markers, then fussy cut them out. 

I did add ink spatters in blue and in white acrylic paint, and a trio of sequins. The HELLO is from the Penned Elegance set, from PTI.  

I'll see you tomorrow, hope you'll be back too. Thanks so much for your visit to my blog. In the meantime, don't forget to ~

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

What I love Wednesday; He is Risen from W Plus 9

Hello friends, I hope your week has been going well. We are finally getting WARM temps here and I can't wait to get outside for some sunshine! 

Just a brief note of explanation about my blog. It seems on a recent post that I had gotten a bit bogged down. In thinking about it I've realized that I need to focus on the JOY that stamping brings me, and reflect that more often here on my blog. I got this great idea from Leslie Miller, to plan out my stamping itinerary to help keep my focus and to help keep it fun. ( In case you haven't yet discovered Leslie's blog I will invite you to check it out HERE where you will be inspired to learn, laugh, and love her amazing work and happy outlook.) 

Back to the blog planning. I've come up with posting three times weekly with the following themes. 
  
Paperytrey Tuesday - where I share work done for Papertrey challenges

What I LOVE Wednesday - where I share a favorite set or technique, new or old, in my favorite elegant style, using flowers, butterflies or other things I love as elements.

Playday is Thursday or Friday. You can expect simpler cards and my intent is to keep it light, easy, and fun! Fun for me = fun for you. 

For today's card, I fell in love with the He is Risen stamp set from W Plus9 after seeing this 

card by Dawn and decided I must make my Easter cards using it. 

What I absolutely love about this set are the large floral background that covers the whole card front and can be stamped tone on tone, and the fabulous sentiments that speak of my Lord and the real meaning of Easter. Of course there are beautiful lilies to love too!
Here's my card. 

I used PTI card stock in Harvest Gold, stamping the background floral in W Plus 9 Queen Bee ink. Dawn's photo shows this beautiful color much more accurately. The individual flowers were inked onto white card stock and embossed in white. I sponged Distress inks to fill them in with color. 

The pretty banner is called Bold Banner from W Plus 9, and there's a sweet coordinating set of sentiments. I used the MISTI to stamp my sentiment, and curved it a bit to fit the banner. 

How often do I mention that I love SEQUINS? I just felt this card needed some sparkle. I couldn't stop at 3. 

I'd love to hear from you and will take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Easter. Will be back tomorrow or Friday for Play Day. 

For now, I'm off to play outside while the sun is still shining. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!