A Classic

 Hello, I'm glad you're here to visit again! If you visit often, you already know that I love card challenges. One I find easy to join is NBUS - Never Been Used Schtuff, but there's a new kid on the block; The Neglected Stuff Challenge. I have lots of both kinds of stuff.  

I was inspired to pull out two of my very first wood block stamp sets purchased from Stampin' Up! for today's card. 

I find that I'm still pleased to see these lovely, timeless images from my first year (2011) as a demo. Stamping the text background was much easier to line up using my Misty. How things have changed in the stamping world!

Simply using just stamps paper and ink felt good! Oh, and two stitched rectangle dies. I think the stamp set was called Natural Beauty. It's a keeper! It is one of the handful of wood block stamps that remain in my stash.

Check out the challenge HERE and give it a try! The goal either way is to use the stuff that we have, right? 

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Color Hues #87 Coral and Teal

 Oh, happy day! It's the middle of May! 

Where did the time go, I wonder? I always say since living in North Carolina that spring is too short and summer is too long. I wish it was the other way around, lol! 

But you're here for a card. First, the color combo coming from Julie P is Coral and Teal. Great colors for any season! Or theme. I went with florals.

I had a time picking the right shades, but went with Copics for coloring because they were labeled coral and teal. After finishing the beautiful bouquet of wildflowers (The Greetery) I glued three die cuts together for dimension and added strength. 

I thought it needed a bit more so I added  DOX Tea Ink sponged with a mask to make the circle on the white panel. In real life it is a pale kraft color, but in the photo it shows up as a pale coral because of the warm tones. To the inner flower I added WInk of Stella for shine. 

I'm sending you happy thoughts and good springy vibes today. Thanks so much for visiting! 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

The Flower Challenge #91 Reminder

 Just a note to say hello, crafty friends, and a quick card post too! 

It's mid-month and time to remind you of our invitation for you to join us at The Flower Challenge, and color your flowers this month using the medium of your choice. 

I chose soft pastels and stencils for my card this time, keeping things very simple. 

I really love the Altenew Craft Your Life Project Kit: Meadow Breeze. For my first time using it, I experimented with only two colors: pink and yellow and gray as the neutral. After stamping and coloring the line drawing, I die cut the whole grouping out using the one die they provide and masking paper. Using the die cut as a mask, I then inked the solid trailing vines stamp in pale gray ink.

After stamping the sentiment, sponging lightly with yellow ink in the top corner added balance and a soft effect.  I love how this turned out! I die cut the panel to be smaller than A2 size, and used a rectangle of fun foam to add dimension. 

I hope you're having fun with this challenge and feeling inspired to join us! Our gallery is filling up with beautiful florals! Thanks for visiting with me today. 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 
               Make something beautiful!  

Challenges:

Adding this to NBUS today, the stamps and stencils are new and 

Four Seasons Challenge, Spring

Stencil Fun Challenge May 2024

Thinking of You for Color Hues #40

Hi friends! Glad to have you back to my blog today, and welcome! It's time for a new challenge at Color Hues! How does blue and tan sound to you? I made this card in advance, and since then I've thought of lots of other ideas. At the time I was stumped, and somehow this idea came to me while sitting at the kitchen table. 

 

Can you see it? Trying to avoid fancy florals I used stamps and dies  from the Greetery and combined them with a couple patterned papers in my stash. What will you make to inspire us? 

 I kept the design simple and used the textured die cuts to assemble my plants on. Using watercolor paper on the rough side to die cut the plant pots added more texture. This card is a mini slim line and I learned how to make a matching envelope for it at Roseanne's delightful  tutorial HERE. 

Having an envelope makes it much more likely that this card will get mailed. That's it for me today. Thanks for coming by! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies from The Greetery - Pot-pourri Stamps and dies, Macrame Dies, Cozy Cup Coaster Die, Sentiments Suite Basic Dies, Sentiment Suites Thinking of you stamps.

Flora and Fauna 3 for Color Hues

 Hello and I am sure glad to be back from my short break. Glad you are back too! I hope things are going well for you. 

It was my turn to pick our combo for Color Hues, and I invite you to check them out on the blog and play along! 

Lime Green and Aqua can be bold and vibrant or pastel-y and summery. Which do you prefer? When I picked these shades I had bold in mind, but the pretty butterflies in the Flora and Fauna 3 stamps (new from WPlus9) were really fun to do using light sponging. 

My slimline card measures 3-1/4 by 8-1/4". Images were stamped in light gray ink, and the sentiment was embossed in white on Basic Gray card stock. I added a few gems for sparkle. 

I can't wait to see your projects in the gallery. Thanks so very much, I appreciate you stopping by. Hope you're having a great summer!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

             Make something beautiful! 

Inspired By... Orange You Lemonade

 Hello, sorry I've been missing most of this week! We find ourselves on the go more often now that things are getting a bit back to normal. 

Thank goodness for a new challenge at Inspired By to keep me going with some stamping. This challenge is called Orange You Lemonade, a good punny line. My subtitle might read Make Mine Sweet and Juicy, lol! 

I pulled out the Summer Citrus stamp set (WPlus9) and did some masking and creative inking. 

I masked a rectangle across the card front and filled in with random stamping in black adding the colored layer over the images. I purposely left some misalignment of the images for more interest. The label and a few die cuts were placed for the sentiments. I drew in details with a white gel pen.

I will be honest, I had real trouble choosing a layout. I would like it better if there was ONE focal point but I decided to just go with this. I didn't want to cover up the stamping!

What will you make to show how our photo inspired you? 

Thanks so much for you visit today, my friends. Orange you glad you came? 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: WPlus 9 - Summer Citrus, Basic Labels; Pinkfresh Studio - Floral Notes Stamp set

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Basic Black

INK: Gina K Black amalgam; Wplus9 - Queen Bee, Lime Light; Ranger Distress - Carved Pumpkin, Picked Raspberry: Versamark and white embossing powder

Inspired By: Celebrate Her

It's May! Along comes pretty little May, as the song says, and I am loving this weather! April brought us a chance to travel and now I am happy to be back at my station on the screened porch to write this post. 

It's a great day to Celebrate Her with the challenge at Inspired By! 

I chose flowers in similar colors to the inspiration photo and added a feminine touch or two to the bouquet for my Thinking of You card.  The scalloped circle die is from PTI and the softly striped papers are from Waffle Flower. I chose the inks first and felt lucky to find the papers to match the colors! Finally, I added pearls to the coral flower centers. 

How will you be inspired by our theme?  I can't wait to see! Please get your craft on and join us!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Pinkfresh Studio - Lovely Blossoms stamps and dies, Just Because 

Inks: Altenew

Happy Mail With Love from The Greetery

Hi to my stamping friends! Hope your day is going well. I'm enjoying the sunshine and very cool temps we're having today by spending some time in the stamp studio. 

You know how every once in a while you begin with a small idea for a card and as you make it the process unfolds into a result you really like? That's what happened today. 

Betsy has done it again with her designs at The Greetery! With Love at Christmas stamps are designed for Christmas stationery. With a change of colors this set is perfect for any season. And who doesn't love happy mail? I adhered the little envie to the card front so that it can be removed and used again added to a gift bag or a lunchbox.  

I thank Color Throwdown for the great combo featured this week. Check out the fabulous DT samples as well!

I stamped with PTI inks and added details to the images with colored pencils and a white gel pen. Hope you have a great day, I am happy that you came by. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

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!

Sunny Get Well

Watercolored stripes and tulips are a sweet combination. I'm hoping it will brighten someone's day! 

Combining the old and the new: retired SU stamp for the tulips and the new Sentiment Suite stamps from The Greetery. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

 My entry for Addicted to Stamps and More

MACRA Made for You

Welcome! Here is one more for you.
I guess it's no secret that I've been enjoying my supplies from the June release at The Greetery! I spent my birthday gift money almost exclusively on these delightful sets.

 New to me is the Macra-Made for You die that depicts the cute macrame hangers I used to make for gifts for all the plant lovers on my list! (roll eyes here) -  LONG AGO. 

Isn't this just what they looked like? I die cut the pots and the hangers from watercolor paper that adds a bit of texture and painted a wash of Kraft ink over them to mimic jute. 

I die cut the smaller hanger a second time from dark green card stock and inserted those tiny pieces into the hanger like heart-shaped beads. Topped with a touch of glossy accents.

I couldn't resist adding the panel to lemon yellow polka dotted paper which just seems to fit the retro vibe. 

Hope you got a kick out of today's card. 

It came together much faster than the knot-tying of the real thing. And it makes me happy. Thanks for stopping by!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used from The Greetery:

Pot-Pourri Stamp set and dies, Macra-Made for You dies,

Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You stamp set

More with Happy Wishes

Hello, it's been a beautiful Saturday! I was out enjoying the sunny weather and breeze on our boat this afternoon, but earlier today I had some time to stamp. 

Remember when I shared on my last post how I hated cutting up the pattern I'd stamped using the Happy Wishes stamps and dies from W Plus 9?  Coming to the rescue is the CAS(E) This Sketch for this week that gave me the perfect chance to use it on another card.

The stamped strip and hexagon frame that I had left over fit right in to make today's sketch. I added a couple of die cut and stamped flowers to a white hexagon, attaching the patterned frame on top. Behind that I mounted the polka dot paper, and foam mounted it all as my focal point. 

It may be a bit busier than I would have liked for a clean and simple card. After several attempts to rearrange things, I ended up adding a yellow enamel dot to draw your eye to that center flower.

All inks were from W Plus 9 also - Bloomsberry, Cockle Shell, Last Leaf, Wild Mango, Ocean Drive, and Coconut Husk. Also used were the Clear Cut Stacker Dies - hexagon, and the sentient from Papertrey's Mixed Bouquet Stamp set. 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today. It always means so much! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!