The 12 Kits of Occasions

Hello dear crafty friends. 
Today I'm so excited to be joining The 12 Kits of Occasions blog hop as the guest designer of Jeanne Jachna! These talented ladies receive the same kit of supplies featuring a specific theme each month to create their projects. Jeanne sent us a fabulous kit with a crafty theme, so fun to discover all the goodies inside! I've loved brain-storming my designs. 

As soon as I saw this sentiment I knew I had to use it. I love you more than SEQUINS?  Oh, that's saying a lot! Couldn't resist pairing it with the hearts patterned paper and the wooden stamp.

 I added a strip of red felt to make the hand stamp look even more real.
Next up, these cute critters with their paper, glue, paint, scissors and "crafty wishes." 

I colored them with Copics and added a pale wash of blue behind the sentiment to help it stand out. 

The sweet Pure Innocence girl is feeling just a tad snarky today. Maybe it's because her paint spatters got out of hand.

For some people, pulling out the glitter really is a threat! Another sentiment that just made me giggle. AND... I pulled out the Nuvo glitter for the next card! 

These tiny mice have their hands full and bring a good message. 
My last card is super simple and was quick to make by swiping ink cubes in rainbow colors direct to paper. The sentiment is my last bit of advice for you, and the motto of my week.

I sure hope you've enjoyed my projects today. I know you will be inspired as you hop to the other blogs. I can't wait to see what others have made! I've had so much fun and want to say a big thank you to Jeanne and the team. Thank you for your visit!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supply list can be found HERE. 

CAS Watercolor

Good morning, happy Friday! I saw so many gorgeous samples from the CAS designers and players at the CAS Watercolor challenge that I just had to play along. 

On a very hot humid afternoon, pulling out my Zig markers to color a bit was a delight to my senses and my soul. Added a sparkle with WOS.

The challenge was to use a floral bouquet. 

I cut slits on either side of the stems to tie silver thread around the bouquet.

That wraps it up for me today. Have a great weekend! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

CAS Watercolor 

Supplies used:

Stamps: Blessed Easter (ret) - Stampin Up!; The Greetery - Sentiment Suite Birthday Stamp Set; PTI - Vintage Type Set

Paper: Bristol Smooth, WPlus9 Dove Grey

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, Versamark

Accessories: The Greetery - Sentiment Suite Basics die, PTI - Mix and Mat Pinked Edge Die,  white embossing powder silver thread

Just a quick Hello!

A quick hello....How often I start an e-mail or text this way, especially when the hello is overdue. Don't know how I missed posting this week as I had some cards ready to go. 

I recently pulled out some designer papers to use and today's card was planned around the pretty floral pattern from the Beau Jardin paper pack from Penny Black. I rarely use black as a background but decided it was about time to! Love the dramatic effect. 

Using the My Whole Life stamps and dies and the Welcome dies from WPlus9 made it easy to create the focal point.

I stamped a few black dots - meant to be flower centers - to anchor the sentiment die. The sentiment continues at the bottom of the card with "I just miss you" from the Hello and Thanks set. 

That's it for me today, hope your summer is going wonderfully! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Framed Sentiments

Hello and welcome! 

I've been enjoying my stamping and have new-never-been-used-stuff to inspire me for today's share. 
I'm playing along with Laurie's Favorite Challenge to show our favorite way to frame sentiments. 

I love using an elegant die cut to provide impact for sentiments, and then surround them with flowers. You knew flowers were a favorite of mine, right? 

These flowers make stamp layering a breeze. I love that there is an outline as well as the solid stamps to add to their versatility. 

I'm also playing along with the Inspired By challenge for this week. I kept the colors fresh and summery and used the detailed circle die to represent the lacy fabric in the photo.

That's all from me today. Thanks so much for your visit and your kind comments! Supplies are listed below. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Sentiment is from PTI - Circle of Love; flowers from WPlus9 My Whole Life and companion dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White, PTI Bitty Big papers

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, WPlus9 - Lake House, Hayride, Queen Bee, Lime Light Dye inks, SU - Marina Mist

Accessories: PTI - Shape Shifters Circle Die, black enamel dots. 

Get Well Gang

Hello,  welcome to a new week and a brand new month! 

I had such a wonderful weekend. A happy surprise when our 4th grandchild was born Saturday - a sweet baby girl! I love being a Mimi - it's one of life's greatest blessings. I don't do photos of the little ones for privacy's sake, but just had to tell you the news!

On another topic, I've needed and found a great new (to me) set for get well wishes, the Get Well Gang from WPlus9 Designs. I find these critters to be adorable and the sentiments are just what I need for someone recovering from surgery or an accident. 

 

I got busy creating, coloring the animals with Copics and using the matching die cuts. I was playing with the sketch at MOJO but I'm posting too late to enter the challenge. 

Isn't the sketch cute? For my take on it I pulled out these dies; the WPlus9 Clear Cut Stackers: Hexagon dies, and Bold Banner and Basic Labels Dies. I sponged the sentiment and hexagon panels with Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide ink, and surrounded them with Nuvo drops.

Hope your day will be delightful. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Layers of Ink - A Blending Technique

Hello, welcome to my blog! 
I have two cards to share with you today. I love ink blending but for these cards I took it just a step further. 
Both were done the same way using the same colors, but the fun of this layering ink technique is that no two cards will look the same! 

I began with Bristol Smooth white card stock, and added a light layer of inking in Twisted Citron and Tumbled glass Distress Oxide inks. Next I stamped and embossed clear the leaf images over the inked panel.

 Lastly, I added deeper shades of the first inks, plus Peacock Feathers over the first inking, and spatters of ink and water. I achieved a wonderful textured background rich in color variations. 
The second card has even more depth of color and the embossed resist design highlights the image details.

The leaf images are from PTI's Meadow Greens stamps. Sentiments are from PTI Inspired Prayer, and  WPlus9 Modern Pansies.

I have to say, the second card is my favorite. You know I love my sequins!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Rosy-patterned Birthday

I asked a sweet little girl I know what she would like for her birthday. "A glass with flowers all over it," was her reply. She will be four soon.  I don't know how she pictured the drinking glass, but here's the card I came up with for this little gal who loves pink. Think she'll like it? 

I began with cream card stock and stamped the entire background pattern using small flower, leaf and dots images in shades of pink and berry. I love doing this and made another couple of panels while I had the stamps out for later cards. 

The focal point is made up of a layer of vellum embossed with a ruffled edge, a white panel, and the sentiment panel stamped with a berry border, on top of foam tape. Added a few die cut images to embellish, and voila!

I just want to add, that I when I tried using only cream card stock to make everything matchy-matchy I really lost a sense of definition and contrast. In the case of this card, using cream and white together makes the sentiment panel pop and a gives a much prettier result. I think the off white almost takes on a pinkish hue with all the flowers stamped on it. I also dotted white gel pen onto the flower centers.

Thanks for coming by today! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

I'm playing along with the Krafty Chicks Challenge to make your own background and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge For A Special Lady and Addicted to Stamps and More, Anything Goes. 

Supplies used:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Let's Fiesta,  Stitched in Time and  coordination dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Papertrey Ink - Vintage Cream, Vellum

INK: Papertrey Ink - Berry Sorbet, Pale Peony, Simply Chartreuse, Versamark

Accessories: White embossing powder

Stamping a Repeating Pattern

Hello and welcome to my blog today. While my husband and I watched our favorite team in the basketball play-offs over the weekend, I got in some stamping time. I was able to spend some time playing around with my inks since our team won by a good many points! Today I have a card to share!

I was intrigued by THIS video from Dawn Woleslagle, owner of WPlus9, showing how to make your own pattern for repeat stamping, and I admired the beautiful cards she made! Highly inspired by her work, I created my own patterns using different colors and sentiments. 

By creating a 6" square divided equally into 4 segments, you can easily repeat the same pattern by stamping and turning for each quadrant using the Misti. I can't wait to try this again with other stamps. 

After creating the patterned sheet I hated to cut it up but I trimmed it for an A2 card and die cut a hexagon from the center. I placed patterned paper behind it and used craft foam to lift the image. A die cut flower and leaves were added to embellish the layer. 

As always, I am thankful for each and every visit! I will list my supplies below. 

I am posting into three different challenges today. 
Virginia's "Show & Share"  for March,

the Double "D" Challenge inspired by gingham, 

and the Inspired By Challenge, Spring Lovelies. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used are from WPlus9 unless noted

Stamps: Happy Wishes and dies, Basic Banners

Paper: Neenah Solar White, PTI - Bitty Big Paper Collection

INK: Bloomsberry, Cockle Shell, Last Leaf, Wild Mango, Ocean Drive

Accessories: Clear Cuts Stacker Dies - Hexagon

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites

Hello! 
Surprised to see me post two days in a row? Well, I am surprised too. 
I'm inspired again by Laurie's Fabulous Favorites Challenge at PTI for this week. Stand alone dies? Count me in! I just got a brand new one in my order that arrived today and couldn't wait to use it. 

I paired the new die and sentiments set up with the beautiful Orchid Expressions set that I worked with yesterday. 

Now I'm delighted to have two anniversary cards ready for my stash. I don't often work ahead on Anniversary cards or send them often. But I love the choice of sentiments in the Huge Sentiments stamp set. I will get lots of use out of that as well as the Huge Banner Die and the Huge Congrats die.I love that this die is actually two dies so that you get a larger layer to use behind your word for extra depth. 

My colors are Soft Stone card stock, and Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Amethyst Allure, and New Leaf inks for the blossoms. You know I'm not much of a gray person, but I love the way the colors pop against this pale neutral gray. 

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

          Make something beautiful!

Other accessories: 
Mix & Mat Pretty Brackets Die, Cover Up Hexagons Stamp set

My Monthly Hero January Card Kit 2019

Hello! Happy Friday. I can't believe one more week has gone by! 

I created three cards over this past week using the monthly kit from Hero Arts, and I have to tell you how much I love this kit! The stamps and dies are super fun but you get many other supplies as well that make it a terrific value. I began by stamping the images, coloring them with Copics, and then die cutting them. 

The stamps involve a fabulous floral shop display that I featured in the first card. I just love that bicycle image, I know it will be handy for many types of occasions. 

The second card was inspired by the patterned paper in my stash. Framing the three images with die cuts, I added only small hearts and some ribbon from the kit as embellishments. This one is so simple but you know what? It's my favorite. 

For the last project I created a shaker card using the heart-shaped balloons for a Valentine's greeting. 

As always, I thank you so much for stopping by! Hope you have a really wonderful day. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Cas(E) This Sketch

Welcome stamping friends, hope you're having a great Thursday. 
It's a very special day for me, I've been invited to be Guest Designer this week at CAS(E) this sketch!  It's my very favorite challenge and I'm thrilled to be part of the team today. 

We were given this fabulous sketch created by Donna.  
I interpreted it somewhat loosely, using  a white embossed sentiment and a few die cuts to define the shapes. 

This kind of elegant simplicity is one of my favorite types of cards for Christmas. Be sure to check out the amazing inspiration from the design team. And feel free to play along! 
Thanks so much for visiting my blog today. I'll be back tomorrow with my 2nd take on this sketch

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: WPlus9 - Hellebore Builder and dies; SSS - Stained Glass Greetings

Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU - Real Red

INK: Versamark - WPlus9 - Gala Red, Fairy Dust, Last Leaf, Appletini, Old Gold, Hayride

Accessories: White embossing powder, Gold sequins

Vintage Merry Christmas

Hi! I'm back with a quick post today.
I created my card after being inspired by Melissa's beautiful card for PTI's Create Along With Us. 

I kept my card simply embellished but I wanted to include the oval frames, gingham paper and felt greenery that Melissa used. I cut the felt accents with dies that I had on hand. Now you see why I fell in love with Melissa's card. It's the sweet SNOWman!

Making this was a bit of a stretch from my comfort zone but I like the unique vintage style of this card. 
Thanks for visiting me today. I will be posting every day this week so please check back!  

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Fairy Tale Christmas

Hello again!
Welcome to my Tuesday Papertrey Ink post. Have you seen the gorgeous Make It Market Kit called Fairy Tale Christmas?  It's amazing! 


I've had many of the kit elements in piles on my desk. Today is the day I combined some of them into this card. I'm not quite ready for any white stuff yet, but I was dreaming of snow when I made this night time Christmas scene.

Believe it or not, there is no stamping! A printed scene is behind the oval frame, and I die cut printed images to pop up on this panel. For embellishments I added a sequin to the star in the night sky, and a wrap-up of silver chord with a flocked bit of ribbon. 

I'm happy to be playing along with the Mojo Monday Challenge. Have you heard that Julee Tilman has brought her beautiful sketches back? 

The dies are also new to me, they are PTI's Pierced Feature Frames: Ovals. I know these will become a go-to for me. They add such elegance. 

That's all for me today. It's been a dark rainy day here, and I've been stamping up a storm. See you tomorrow!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!