Plant Love

Hello friends, welcome to a new week! 
I didn't get much stamping in last week, it seems my energy and motivation disappeared. Don't we all just need a little extra kindness right now?  I spent some time coloring this sweet bear for today's card. 

I bought a few sets recently for simple coloring and card making including the Plant Sunshine set from Penny Black.  I love the sentiments that come with this set! 

For day 10 at Spring Card Camp 2 we were encouraged to use an image to substitute for a letter in a word.  I chose the small flower bouquet and added a tiny heart underneath instead of the O. Adding details with black Nuvo drops, a white gel pen and shimmer completed the card.

Thanks so much for your visit today! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Penny Black - Plant Sunshine, WPlus9 - Whimsy Alpha and dies

INK: WPlus9 - Beanstalk, Gala Red, Wild Mango

Accessories: The Greetery - Nordic Die

Happy Thoughts

Hi, glad to find you here! 
I am thanking God for some good times out in the sunshine thinking happy thoughts and some great art therapy time to continue the springtime theme. 

Today's card was made with products from The Greetery and inspired by Lydia's wonderful day 5 lesson (#OCCSCC2) on stencil shading. 

I used sponge daubers to add colors to the lavender blossoms and stems with Distress Oxide inks, keeping the darkest colors at the base of each bloom for an ombre effect. The stencil was placed over the die cut mason jar so that the stems appear to be inside!

There are two stencils to make the layering easy, and all stamped images were layered. This adds such depth of color and wonderful dimension. 

I am hoping this bouquet, fresh picked for you, brightens your day! I added a few gems for sparkle.  Hang in there friends! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: The Greetery - Just Mason Around, Fleur Impressions, and coordination dies.

Paper: Neenah Solar White

INK: Distress Oxides 

Accessories: Stencil - Mason Jar Fillers Stencil, Sentiment Suites Basic Die; Nuvo Crystal Gems Pure Sheen Gemstones

It's time for a TWOFER!

It's time for a new challenge at Twofer! I am thrilled to be the guest designer for this month at this fun and intriguing card challenge hosted by Darnelle. 
We are asked to create two different cards for two different occasions using the same stamps, stencils or dies. 

Our theme for this month's challenge is flowers! I chose to use the Bouquet Builder 6 stamps from Waffle Flower for my cards. 

Using flower images for two different occasions came easily. I chose a birthday and an encouragement greeting. A different way to use the images? I began with stamping on designer series paper. 

For the card above I stamped the floral spray directly onto the brick patterned paper and heat embossed in white. I added color with markers on the leaves. I wanted a bolder look for the flowers so they were embossed on colored card stock, cut out and adhered over the first stamping.

For the second card, I used patterned paper with a subtle design, and stamped the floral spray multiple times to create a background. I also added some distressing to the panel with a faint stripe.

The gold accent strip and trim on the die cut plus a few white gel pen highlights were the only embellishment needed. 

I sure hope that you will check out the Twofer Card Challenge and play along with us! It's really fun thinking of new ways to use your stamps, and inspiring to see what others create! 

 I am glad that you came by today. Happy Mother's Day greetings! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Plant Sunshine

Hello, how are you today?
For as slow as the days are going at my house, I sure have a hard time believing that this week is nearing the end so fast! My days and sense of time are all muddled. Anyone else in their right mind having this trouble?

It is always a good time to plant sunshine! 

Our challenge at Online Card Classes Spring Card Camp 2 was to use masking. I took a twist with my design and decided to use small images inside a die cut shape and pulled out the Plant Sunshine stamp from Penny Black.  Sponging DOX inks in Tea Dye, Squeezed Lemonade and Worn Lipstick inside the shape, I then inked the images with Warm Wool (WPlus9). This ink color is a favorite of mine for softer looking images and sentiments. It's a neutral between brown and gray.  I added coloring details with Polychromos pencils. Drawing the white line with a gel pen was easy using the next smaller die in the set as a guide. 

I decided a flat layer card with no embellishments was really OK. That's my was of letting you know how hard it was to resist not adding another thing!

Thank you so much for spending time to see what I've been making! I appreciate you and wish you well today. I'm adding this to the challenge at Inspired By. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

I'm adding this to the challenges at Inspired By called Flower me with Color and Use Your Stuff - Flowers or Butterflies. 

Sweet Sentiments

Hello there friends! Being outside has been so therapeutic as the weather has turned warm here.  My husband and I have been gardening - the veggies are planted and flowers are on the list to plant today. 
I just hope it stays only warm for a while longer before HOT summer hits! 

I can never get enough flowers, can you?  Coloring them on cards is fun too! For day 20 of Spring Card Camp the lesson involved creating and coloring a display of flowers. 

The Bouquet Builders 6  and Sweet Sentiments from Waffle Flower were just waiting to be inked! I used Zigs Real Color Brush markers to add bright hues. 

I'm adding this to the challenge at The Paper Players too! 

Guess what happens tomorrow?  Spring Card Camp 2 begins. Yep, I'm signed up all ready for crafty play time to begin! The thought sure makes me smile.
Thanks so much for your kind visit today. 

 Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Get more out of your inks!

It's Friday and it's a new month!  I'm continuing with a project from day 19 of Spring Card Camp's lesson on second generation stamping. 

It was fun to re-visit this technique using the fully inked image for one card and the stamped off version for the second card. It's interesting to see the difference in the shades of color you get, and a helpful way to get more out of your inks. Thinking of using this technique when making multiples of cards makes great sense. Thank you, Jennifer McGuire! 

I think the paler flowers looked a bit washed out but adding a pop of gold foil and sequins makes it better! What do you think? 

Thanks to you for your visit! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Stamps: WPlus9 Southern Florals, Waffle Flower Sweet Sentiments, SU - Aida Cloth Background

Simple Shaker Card

Hello there! Welcome back!
I love shaker cards but I don't often enjoy making them because lining up all those layers of foam tape ends up being tedious. For day 8 Cathy Zielske shared a super cute and easy simple shaker card. We are nearing the end of the Spring Card Camp class so I decided to put one of these together. 

It involved using a small word die with chunky letters. I paired it with a sentiment from Friends Furever (MFT) and some colorful papers from Doodlebug. I feel sure this will brighten someone's day! 
Thanks for spending some time with me today. I appreciate it so much. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!