More Spring Flowers and Happy Wishes

Hello, and happy Sunday!

We love to go to the beach in the off season, so a couple weeks ago when we had a few warmer days, my dearest and I had a lovely mini vacay at the ocean. I took along images to color. As my husband says, I wouldn't want to have symptoms of hobby withdrawal while we were gone, ha ha!

These bright and sunny flowers have been on my desk ever since, reminding me that warmth and sunshine will be returning. Soon, I hope!  They are from the Simon Says Stamp More Spring Flowers set.

In the meantime, I made them into a card. Which is, after all the point of this post. 

I began by blending inks onto a panel of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper using Distress Oxides in Worn Lipstick and Vintage Linen. I added a touch of Scattered Straw also splattering droplets of plain water and pink ink onto the background. The images were embossed with white onto watercolor paper, and were colored in using various inks from WPlus 9 who also provided the sentiment and Happy Wishes Die. 

I really like this sentiment because I can later customize it for a specific occasion when I need to mail it. 

Thanks for coming by to visit today! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

         Make something beautiful!

I'm linking to the challenge at Simon Says Stamp: Girl Power. 

Playing with the Color Wheel

Good morning! Hope your day is getting off to a good start. 

 I finished up my card last night for the Make It Monday Challenge, hosted by Lexi this time. She showed how she often chooses colors and wanted us to create a card using the colors of the color wheel. 

I loved her card and it was fun to figure out my own take on the theme. I didn't have the images in my PTI supplies that I thought were the right size, so, I used a die cut and transformed it with scissors and markers.

 I added a good coating of Wink of Stella to each blossom, used Nuvo drops in the center of each flower, and added a few drops in green. 
Why I absolutely LOVE doing challenges is this: I never would have come up with this card on my own. I've not really jumped on the bandwagon with rainbow colors in my cards, but this was such fun and I learned so much from making it. 
I hope you've enjoyed your visit, thanks for coming by today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

ETA: It's rainy today, wish the bright colors showed up better!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Penned Elegance

Paper: Neenah Solar White, SU - Basic Black

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, Zig Clean Color Markers, Wink of Stella

Accessories: PTI - Tag Sale Quilted, and Cutaway Tags: Summer dies

Remake with In the Meadow

Hello friends, welcome to a new week. 
I am enjoying the Transformation Tuesday Challenge to remake one of your past cards. 

In this case, I decided to update a card made a few years ago with the In the Meadow stamp set. This is the first set I ordered from Papertrey and I still love it! 

Here's the old card and the original post is HERE. 
And the new card....

I used pretty much the same silhouette image of the girl sledding. I changed the layout and updated the colors and the DSP used. Also included  more current techniques of adding texture by blending inks and using Nuvo drops on the snowflakes. 
I'd love to hear what you think about the changes! Thanks for visiting my blog, come back again soon! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - In the Meadow and dies

Paper: Neenah Solar White, DSP from Stampin' Up!

INK: PTI - Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, Distress Oxide - Cracked Pistachio

Accessories: Nuvo Crystal drops, Wink of Stella

Showers and Flowers, hop stuff!

Hey there! 

Remember our puppy Josie? see her HERE. She debuted on my blog when she was only a few weeks old. Soon she will turn 8! She sleeps lots more than she used to, but the other night we had a bunny in the backyard when I let her out. The bunny froze and when Josie spotted her a frenzied chase ensued around our fenced lot. They circled it four times before said rabbit ducked under the fence somewhere. What a race! I like the happy ending.

The bunnies in my stamp stash have been multiplying. I love this one from the Simon Says Stamp Showers and Flowers set!

I added shading and layered it with vellum, DSP, and die cuts according to the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch. It makes me smile! Hope your day is hoppy too. (Like the bunny I also could not resist the pun.)

Thanks so much for your visit to my blog. See you Monday!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Showers and Flowers 

Paper: Neenah Solar White, DSP from PTI, vellum

INK: WPlus9 - Silver Lining, COPIC markers, Versamark

Accessories: White embossing powder, sequins, Poppy Stamps - Flower Dies

Lilies of the Field

I often remind myself that I have so many flower stamps. And I don't need to buy ANY more! Then along comes one that is just not like anything I already have  - and I buy it! That is the story of how I recently came upon the Lilies of the Field stamps in my recent order. 

And the Make It Monday Challenge gives me a great chance to use it! Betsy asked us to do some Masking and Stacking of the cutest stamp we could find. Unable to find any critters from PTI I used flowers instead. 

Using a die to cut the masks surely makes this a much easier technique to use. I began with the tall flower in the center and continued to fill in by masking and stamping. I wanted to keep it clean and crisp, so I nixed the idea of adding shading to the background but stamped a few dots in Old Gold to fill in some of the spaces and add dimension.

Thanks for visiting my blog today! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Lilies of the Field, Banner Sentiments

Paper: Neenah Solar White, PTI - Sweet Blush, Bitty Big - Green Parakeet

INK: PTI - Sweet Blush, Pale Peony, Berry Sorbet, Green Parakeet; WPlus9 - Old Gold

Accessories: Border die from MFT

Let's Make It Again! Take Two

Have you ever completed a card, and as you are seeing it come together you have an idea for making it better? That often happens to me, but I rarely re-make it.  Sometimes I rip it apart and fix a thing or two. At other times I leave it alone and get busy with photos and posting it for a challenge.

Speaking of challenges, there is a new one at PTI called Transformation Tuesdays. To take an old card, change it up and make it new! 

So I got busy with yesterday's card. See that post HERE. 

I felt it was too busy. The placement of the sentiment and the flowers in the frame was awkward. 

I began by deciding to shift the frame to the landscape position. Using sponging in the soft blue for the sentiment die cut and the card base, helped simplify the focal point and add cohesiveness.

 I added shimmer to the die cut and spatters in blue as well. Lastly, I used a scalloped rectangle die cut to repeat the scalloped edges inside the small frame.

Using colored card stock on the base pulls in another layer of color. 

I'd love to know what you think of the changes. I always love hearing from you. Thanks for visiting!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps:  Quilted Summer, Inspired: Lord Mini Stamp Set 

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Aqua Mist

INK: Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Green Parakeet

Accessories: Wink of Stella Shimmer Pen

Framed Sentiment

Happy Friday! How is everyone doing today? 

I was itching for a chance to stamp today and just had fun puttering in my craft room. I wanted to play along with the Make It Monday Challenge where Laurie encouraged us to use a frame to highlight a sentiment or images. 

I used the Inspired: Lord Mini set to create the focal point for my card, using the die to cut out the word Lord. I sponged this with inks blended to create an ombre effect. I also inked up the background using a stencil behind the frame in the same pale yellow. 

I really love this concept for a card and want to use it again. I'm not really sure how much I like this color combo but you know what? I made it up as I went along and it's a bit brighter than the photo show. 

I'm happy that you came by! Thanks for taking time to visit and for your fabulous comments.

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: PTI - Quilted Summer, Inspired: Lord

Paper: Neenah Solar White,

INK: PTI - Leaf Freen, Raspberry Fizz, Gravest Gold, Summer Sunrise

Accessories: Dies for Frame from SSS,  English Brick Stencil from MFT