Blessed Gift

Sometimes you see stamps that you envision using to make the exact card featured on the packaging (well almost!)  These images of a snowy village and a beautiful sentiment warmed my heart so much I knew they were for me. Bought them. I didn't know it would take me so long to ink them up! Today is the day.

Why today? Jaydee's challenge at The Paper Players is a theme: Gifting. I've loved the sentiment from Penny Black stamps Peace and Love, referring to the gift of Christ at Christmas. I paired it with the village scene from the Sleigh Ride stamps, and painted the buildings with Distress ink re-inkers. Using Background Basic stencils to mask, I sponged a light night sky studded with a few stars. This card measures 4.25 x 5".

I have challenges to thank for keeping me inspired, keeping me stamping, and sending me to my stash to seek out just the right items. 

Besides The Paper Players, I will add this to the challenge at NBUS, and the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  

Thanks so very much for your visit. I'm not putting the boxes of Christmas stamps away yet! See you again soon. 

Be yourself

         Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

A Penny Black Valentine

Hello!  I didn't expect to stamp much after our move, but I also forgot that we are usually sick in January. So we are 'under the weather' and staying home inside due to the winter storm. Which for us, meant a bit of ice that is now melting. Either way, I'm happy to be house bound and enjoying sunshine today as I look out the windows.

Inspired by the sketch at Freshly Made, I water colored this sweet image using re-inkers. One of the best things about my new community is that there is a group that meets to make cards and collects them to be distributed at many venues and for every occasion. It makes me happy to be able to easily donate my creations and know they will make someone smile. 

I'm also sharing this at NBUS as the stamp is new, and Penny Black Saturday Challenge where they also focus on something new this month.

I hope you are doing well today. Thanks for your visit to my blog. 

CASEing my Favorite Artist

 Hello there! If you've been visiting my blog for awhile you may know that I love the work of Dawn Woleslagle at WPlus9.  She's my favorite artist and the best teacher! I love that her goal is to show us how to use the supplies she creates in multiple ways to stretch not only our stamps but our creativity! 

Inspired by her release of a wonderful new stamp set called Just Breathe, I'm giving no fail watercolor a try.

I think the inks used were Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick and Rustic Wilderness.  I was in high creative mode and made three cards in one sitting.

Creating the background panel with inks, I added a length of canvas ribbon. 

For the second card, I changed the colors and went for a vintage look. 

Beginning with a white watercolor panel, I added the bird and flowers. This time using shades of Peacock Feathers and Faded Jeans.  I really like the card just that way but you know what happens when you just keep adding elements and ink! It was playtime and a girl has to have some fun, right! It's all about experimenting and trying new things. 

If you'd like you will find all the information and instruction from Dawn at her video HERE, as well as the gorgeous samples I have CASEd.  

I will enter this at NBUS as well.  I have one more that I will share tomorrow!

Thanks so much for visiting today. I want you to know that I really love sharing with you. I hope your day is going to be great! 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.  
          Make something beautiful! 

The Paper Players #596 Make it ONE Layer

 Hi there! It's time for a new challenge at The Paper Players #596! Our lovely hostess Jaydee has chosen a one layer CAS challenge for us this week. It's been a long time since I've made a truly one layer card. I came up with an idea that's a bit different. Hope you like it! 

I've been playing around with some freehand loose watercoloring over this past year. Using strokes and blobs of color in a random fashion to create flowers and leaves in a bouquet using just paints and a paintbrush. I took one of my practice pages and decided to make it into today's card.

I went back in after the first layers were dry to add just a few details. The idea is to keep the images loose - and flowing - and not too detailed. I kind of make up the composition as I go.

The only stamping is the lovely sentiment from Penny Black stamps. I am absolutely only a beginner - playing at the watercoloring, so just know that. It's fun to try something new! If you are at all interested in learning to paint, you must check out the videos by Dawn Woleslagle HERE. 

Got covid last week and that was NO FUN! Still not over it and then there's more time to quarantine. I know I will be feeling better when I feel like stamping again! Hope you can find some crafty time and join us! 

Stay well, friends!

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Showers and Flowers for Freshly Made

Welcome back and happy Friday! It's almost evening and I want to wrap up my stamping week with one more card  made for the sketch at Freshly Made. 

I had such trouble with this sketch! Most of it involved choosing the stamps to use and I still felt the balance wasn't right. 
I used the SSS stamps called Showers and Flowers, coloring the image with Zig Clean Color markers and  a paint brush, then fussy cutting it. The border is from Lawn Fawn Just Stitching Double Rectangles dies. 

There are great samples from the DT for this sketch, you will be inspired! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Watercolored Thanks

I pulled out the Look for the Rainbows Stamp set from the September Card Kit again today. 

This time I wanted to watercolor those gorgeous flowers. One thing that attracted me to this set was the large flowers with petals big enough to color generously. And that is what I did! 

I love to watercolor but I'm still in the learning stages. I used my Peerless watercolors but the colors were a bit more intense than I wanted. Once I realized that I was stuck with that, I added details over the blossoms with Copics, and flicked on spatters in black and metallic gold. I added a pale yellow background and black card stock with the sentiment embossed with Liquid Platinum. And I liked the results!

 Using a black mat, I mounted the card front onto Very Vanilla card stock for the base and added a few jewels.

Thanks so much for coming by today! Thank you for your kind words and comments. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

What I love: Springtime Blooms and more polka dots!

Hi stamping friends! 

It's Wednesday when I get to share something I love. I'll love watching the cliff hanger tonight on TV's Designated Survivor! Just thought you'd like to know. 

What else do I love?  I just can't get enough of pretty spring blooms and cute polka dots! Put them together in a comfy looking pair of boots and it just gets better.

I shared another image with polka dotted boots and flower awhile back. CLICK. 

Today's card uses another fun set from SSS called Choose Joy. 

I stamped the images, colored them with Zig markers, and added details with a white gel pen. Then I cut them out with scissors. 

I playfully arranged them along the sentiment strip, popping up the boots and flowers on foam dots.  I adhered gingham DSP to a card base, and placed the panel in the top left of the card. Of course a few sequins were needed to add sparkle. 

This card just makes me smile! Hope it brings you a smile today too. Thanks for visiting my blog! See you tomorrow.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Warm Winter Wishes for Make It Monday

There's nothing warm where I am right now. Like the northeastern US, we were blanketed with snow and cold temps this week. I'm nice and warm though in my flannel shirt with my cup of hot tea nearby. The cold is a good reason to stamp up a storm, and I've been doing that! Will have quite a few cards to post next week. 

Today's card is for the Make It Monday 2017 A la Carte which allows us to pick any challenge from the past year. 

I'm happy to play along and chose to make a watercolor wash background as shared by Laurie Schmidlin. 

I used Distress inks to watercolor the background for this winter birthday card using the In the Meadow stamp set. That was on my very first order from PTI and I just don't use it enough! I loved the sentiment and can't think of anything more appropriate for this card. I also blended inks on the tree and the sentiment tag, before embossing the greeting in gold. The two deer had sparkles added with WOS. 

I was inspired by this beautiful card sample of Laurie's. 

Thanks so very much for your visit! Hope your New Year is off to a good start, stay warm! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Playing along with challenges at:
CAS Watercolor (Birthday)  
Seize the Birthday

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