A Christmas Pair

 Popping in with a quick post on this chilly Sunday. Hi, how are you doing? I'm sharing a Christmas card today that I feel happy to have as the first in the pile up.

I used new stamps from Penny Black (Christmas with Mimi) and colored the cute couple with re-inkers used as watercolors. The snowflakes and designer paper were oldies from my stash. I'm keeping things simple with my stamping and getting used to multiple trips to the "closet" to rummage for supplies which I carry out to the dining room table. And back again. 

Those who visit my blog regularly know that we moved to be closer to our family, in spite of being 'very young' for this kind of change. (big grin here). Our move to a smaller home has been a good thing. It's an individual home in a huge 55plus community. You know - with lots of options for exercise and sociability, pretty neighborhoods with sidewalks, walking trails, a lake and an indoor pool. That last one is my favorite. So, I have big goals to move my body more. It's a .2 mile walk to that pool!

As it turns out, I do also have time and energy for stamping. It's no longer two hours per card, but just enough to have fun, share and keep up with you lovely stamping friends. Thank you for keeping on visiting me!

Challenges entered: 

Penny Black Saturday Challenge
Jingle Belles - using new/old  oops! I'm too late for this one.
A Cut Above - Anything Goes, optional New
Time Out - Inspired by something you love to do. For me, I love to walk in the snow, and gift giving is good to do too!

Songbird for The Flower Challenge

Hello again, friends! 

 It's a brand new challenge at The Flower Challenge #89 and we want you to make a SQUARE card. My card uses two of my favorite things, birds, and watercolored flowers! 

The Songbird stamp set from Penny Black was stamped on watercolor card stock with black ink and I used Distress re-inkers as watercolors to color the images in this sweet scene. 

This is my favorite kind of card to make. Simple, but with soft hues. The sentiment is also PB, from the  Happy builder set. These sets include a large greeting and small lines of sentiment to complete them.  Happy thoughts is one of my favorites.

It makes me happy that you've paid me a visit today. Your comments make me smile! Hope you your day is wonderful!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

I'm joining the following challenges: 

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

Inspired By

Four Seasons Spring Challenge

Krafty Chicks Anything Goes

Allsorts Challenge

Autumn Blessings for Freshly Made Sketches

 Hello. thanks for joining me at my blog. Today I'm excited to be guest designing at one of my favorite card challenges. Thank you to the team at Freshly Made Sketches for inviting me!

I have a fall card for you today. Have you been jumping in to all the best fall things now that it is official? I couldn't resist pulling out some of my fav stamps from the Autumn Blessings set by WPlus9 designs. 

I went for a soft look today by using Cold Press watercolor paper and stamping in a soft brown ink. Using Distress Inks and re-inkers, I watercolored the sunflower wreath, adding Glossy Accents to the berries. Sponged the banner with pale ink to match the flowers. 

The stamps and dies form a gorgeous wreath. I did take the liberty of cutting that up and arranging the florals to fit the sketch. FIrst thinking of using a basket under the banner, I decided it just needed a twine bow. 

I hope that you will enjoy seeing the samples from the terrific DT and take a crafty break so that you can play along! See you next time. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

A New Release! Flora and Fauna

 Hello crafty friends, I hope you're doing great today!

Every once in awhile an entire set of products works so well together that I buy the whole bundle. That has only happened twice for me. The summer release at Wplus9 revived my love of vintage and mixed media styles with gorgeous images of text, ephemera, birds, florals and butterflies.  I've been coloring the images and finally put together a card or two. Everything here was inspired by the gorgeous work of Dawn Woleslagle who created the beautiful images from her own paintings.

The large floral bouquet image from Flora & Fauna 3 was stamped with Warm Wool ink on mixed media paper and watercolored using Mungyo paints. 

I die cut the floral spray and then cut it to assemble on two corners of  the panel. Creating the background involved ink smooshing with Distress Oxide inks and stamping images from the Script Background stamps. For the sentiment, the words from Flora & Fauna 4 were heat embossed in gold and die cut.  See what I mean about how fabulously these products work together? Lastly, I used the Postage Layers Dies for the large panel and postage stamp image. 

Do you ever cut up your images after taking time to color them with detail?  I had the hardest time cutting the butterfly in half, lol! 

I will be posting at least two more cards from this bundle this week. Why buy the whole bundle? For me it came down to an amazing discount, and the feeling that I could create in many styles with these items forever. 

It felt so good making this card. Although I love my challenges, this one was just for the fun of creating. It took a long time but was so satisfying! I am happy with the result. 

Thanks for following through this long post. I am so glad you came by! See you soon. 

Since all these supplies are new to me, entering this in the fun NBUS challenge. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

             Make something beautiful! 

Inspired By...Love How You Lilac

 Hello, it's Thursday, you know what that means! The new challenge at Inspired By is Love How You Lilac with a beautiful floral bouquet and a pun to go with it. I don't get the pun (do you?) maybe you can explain it to me, but lilacs are my very favorite flower so I will start there! 

I love this beautiful new-to-me stamp Sweet Centerpiece from Penny Black. I stamped it onto watercolor card stock and used the Mungyo 46 pan watercolor set as suggested by Dawn Wholeslagle  on her fabulous LIVES and kept the coloring very simple. These images were too small to really build up layers but I kept with the colors in the challenge photo.  Masking the edges, I added a background with a dauber and Distress Oxide inks to really help the floral image to stand out. This is a 5X7 card that will go to someone special when the need arises. 

This card will make it's way to the NBUS blog as the stamps are brand new. I am so glad you were by to visit today! I appreciate your time and kind words.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Penny Black - Sweet Centerpiece, The Greetery - Fresh Air Stamp Set (sentiments)

INK:Distress Oxide Inks - Antique Linen, Dried Marigold

Accessories: Clear drops, WPlus9 - 5X7 Layers Dies

Inspired By.... Wrap Me Up in Spring

Hi friends, happy Thursday! 

We have another wonderful spring theme and challenge for you today at Inspired By!  I am loving all florals right now, especially those images I can paint with watercolors. 

That is exactly what I did for today's card. I was inspired by the colors in the photo, and the texture in the tissue wrap. The designer paper added a linen texture, and I used an oval dressed up with a die. The bouquet was  stamped on water color paper, colored and die cut.

Of course, I had to wrap the blooms in a ribbon bow. 

What will inspire you this week? I hope your days will be wrapped in smiles and a happy heart.

You will be WOWed by the gorgeous samples of our team. Thanks so much for coming by! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Taylored Expressions - Field Notes; PTI - Warmest Wishes

Paper: Neenah Solar White, watercolor , Card Stock Vellum

INK: Gina K Amalgam, Altenew 36 Halfpan Watercolors, Versamark

Accessories: Rose God Embossing Powder; PTI - Shapeshifters Oval 2 Die; Ribbon - SU

Christmas Rose Bouquet

 I am still enjoying revisiting a few much-loved Christmas sets from my stash. Christmas Rose Bouquet from W Plus9 Design is one of those. I experimented with a couple mediums for adding color but liked watercolor the best. 

I stamped the image with brown ink onto watercolor card stock using the Misti and painted several layers of colors. I wasn't pleased with how it looked at first, but after it dried I decided to go with it.

A bit of wild spattering with white gouache added texture and from there I was liking the look. I added more texture by pulling out the paper crimper. Do you have that tool buried in the back of a drawer somewhere? I was so inspired seeing Dawn's gorgeous card (with her new release HERE) that I pulled mine out. I had almost forgotten how to use it! I lightly inked the kraft card stock directly with white craft ink.

I'm soon coming to the end of the line for "specialty" cards for this year. I'll pick a couple of simple designs to mass produce for the rest. 

Sadly, that there are two shipments with new stamps that have been stuck for days en-route. They currently reside at the post office hub that's only an hour away from me. Been there for days.

Thankfully I've wrapped up the Christmas gift packages we are sending and will soon mail the cards too. Hope and pray that you are staying well. Thanks so much for visiting with me today!

I am adding this to the theme challenge at The Paper Players. They come up with one great challenge after another!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: WPlus9 - Christmas Rose Bouquet; The Greetery - Written in Ribbon Christmas

Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU - Crumb Cake, water color card stock

INK: WPlus9 - Coconut Husk, Gala Red, Sweet Gelato, White pigment ink

Accessories: Altenew - watercolors

Day 5 Watercolor Backgrounds with a Stencil

I've loved Online Card Classes for a very long time! I'm especially enjoying Spring Card Camp since the stay-in mandates have left me with LOTS of time to stamp. And at least for week 1 I've been able to keep up. 

For day 5 we are focusing on watercolored backgrounds. You know I love these, so I went right to work! 

The twist is to use a die cut: first as a stencil and then as a die cut over the inking on the second card. 

I used Fabriano Extra White watercolor card stock, and Distress Inks painted on with a brush for the colors. 
For both cards I used the Inside and Out Berry Branch Die (The Greetery). 

For the first card the die cut was used as a stencil.  It was spattered with paint but when I removed it the leaves outline remained. I loved the way this turned out.

 I took the stencil and adhered it over the background on the second card.

For both cards, I added accents of the die cut leaves in white to add brightness and texture. The lovely sentiments and coordinating die cut are from the Cotton Comforts set (The Greetery.)

Needing some shimmer, I embossed circles with Wow Sea Glass Embossing Glitter and added clear jewels. Here is a closer look.

I have no idea what I'll be making tomorrow. First I've got to clean up the huge mess in the craft room. I'll be back. 

Thanks for visiting! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Circle of Love Watercolor

Hello, how are you today? 
We had a fun and busy weekend but in between the activities I found some moments to watercolor. I have two cards to share with you today.

I fell in love with the Circle of Love set from Papertrey Ink.  I know I'll enjoy using the solid fill-in images for this floral bouquet on future projects. My desire was to be able to watercolor the images and feel pleased with the results. It's a very humble beginning!

The first card is a CASE of this card done by Betsy Veldman. Nothing like trying to imitate a master, right? Stamping in pale ink, I used the no line watercolor technique, with loose coloring. What you see is my second attempt at this, and I am pleased enough to post it. Number one was for the trash can. 

I added a few sequins, keeping the card very simple. 

For the second card, I embossed the image in gold and then watercolored. While this was easier, I'm not as pleased with the result because the embossing seems to stand out more boldly and the colors seem to get lost. I paired the die cut image with some patterned paper, and added a bow from gold thread.

I chose the Oh happy day sentiment because the card could be for a birthday, wedding or anniversary depending on the greeting inside.  Stamping the trio of hearts was a fun addition. 

I am so grateful to be able to share here on my blog. Many thanks for coming by to spend a little time with me today. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps:  Circle Of Love and coordinating dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Canson Cold Press watercolor paper, DSP from Penny Black - Beau Jardin 

INK: Versamerk, WPlus9 - V.I.Pink, Bloomsberry, Fairy Dust 

Accessories: Watercolors - Kuretakd Gansai Tambi, sequins