Blooming Birthday Wishes

Hello!
I'm surrounded by a winter wonderland today and it's so so pretty. We don't usually get this much snow, but having several inches suits me just fine today. Nowhere to go but upstairs to do a little stamping in the craft room. 
It's always a good week when I get to create with the 
CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge and the sketch is such a fun one today!

I had stamped and die cut the floral spray when I was having play-time with the Fill In Blooms stamps. If you missed it, those posts are HERE and I give a brief tutorial HERE. If you don't have this set yet, I hope to give you good reasons to get it! If you have it, I want to inspire you to use it! I guess you can tell it's at the top of my list right now.

For today's card, the background was stamped with Dapper Denim from Stampin' Up! For the flower details and small die cut branches I used Flirty Flamingo. I love navy and pink together! 

I'm glad to be getting this post going in the last hours of the challenge, so I'll list the other supplies used below.
Thanks for visiting! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used ~

Stamps: Banner and sentiment are from WPlus9 

Paper: DSP from MFT

Accessories: Dies used for circle frame is from PTI - Don't Forget to Write Kit

A "Twofer" means two good things at once!

Hello my crafty friends. 
I remember telling you I had been so craftily busy and I had cards just lined up waiting to be posted for you this week. 
I didn't lie. Those cards are still waiting in the wings.
It happens every January. There are SIX family birthdays this month, plus we made an almost 800 mile round trip over a weekend, and....
you get the picture. 

But today is special, know why?  Because it's my day to play in Darnell's new Twofer Challenge! You can find out all about it on her wonderful blog HERE. Darnell is just the friendliest, funniest and one of the most fabulous stampers out there.  I just can't wait to show you the two cards I made for this theme: feathers. 

Mine are on birds. 

 Here is my "twofer" sample photo, using the same images two ways and for two different occasions. 

I made the card with the chickadee for my husband's birthday, using watercolors to create a wintry looking background. Pulling out my Tansai Gambi watercolors, I brushed on shades of blues and violet, plus a wee bit of green.

PTI's Winter Woods is the set I used for both cards.The berries from the set were stamped in black as accents, well, just because I needed a triangle for balance. 

For the second card, I wanted a springy look and clean bright colors. The chickadee turned into a Baltimore Oriole, or my version of it. 

As this post is getting long, I will post the supplies under my signature for you all. 

Thanks so much for visiting! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Winter Woods stamp set and dies

Paper: Ranger Distress Watercolor paper, PTI Harvest Gold

Accessories: MFT Die-Namics Stitched Scalloped Basic Edges, Poppystamps Dianna Border Die, twine

More with Fill In Blooms

Hello, welcome!
As I shared in yesterday's post (see it HERE) I focused over a period of several days on exploring with the Fill In Blooms set from Concord and 9th. In just playing around I made a few observations that I found helpful. So that I don't forget what I learned, I need to WRITE it down (aren't we all that way?) I'll write it here so that you can share it too! 

This is a different kind of post for me, so bear with me.
My samples are in the come-just-as-you-are state. Nothing fancy here.

The essence of this stamp set is the background color that fills a complete A2 card.  The first step is to experiment with different inks. Which types of ink give the best coverage? I tried dye inks from Stampin' Up!, Hero Arts and PTI with similar results. But I discovered the BEST inking I got was with the Distress Oxide Inks, as in the medium blue sample below. See how crisp the floral details are?

My second bit of advice is to choose whether you want bold contrasting colors in your floral pattern, or softer complimentary or monochromatic shades, as in the soft green and light gray samples. For an even sharper contrast, I used black and navy for the background color. This is dramatic and beautiful! 
The great thing about this set is how user friendly it is and forgiving.There's no way you won't have a great result no matter what you stamp it with.

 

Try combinations you've never used before and have fun! I found it helpful to search online for fabrics/swatches that inspired me with different color ideas. 

Lastly, I found that added details with colored pencil gave depth and interest as in the light blue flowers above. 

The best thing about this set is that you don't have to color in all the images. Leaving lots of the images white as in the yellow sample makes it fast and easy to complete and it looks great!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Fascinated with Fill In Blooms

During the Christmas holiday I would use spare minutes here and there exploring the wonderful possibilities of the Fill In Blooms stamps and dies. Kudos to Concord and 9th for creating stamps that are uniquely innovative and allow the user to create inked floral patterns. 

Fascinated, I spent time playing with different ideas and color combinations every chance I got. Finally it's time to complete a card, and here are two for you.

My first card uses Tomato Red ink for the background, with cantaloupe and greens added to the blooms. I added berries, a leaf cluster and the sentiment that were embossed in gold.

The background color for the Hello card was stamped with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink. 

Keeping the leaves a soft green, I popped in bold colors of red and blue for the flowers. I'm having trouble with my photos lately, but I have to say how bright and pretty these colors are in real life. This card measures 3.5" X 5".

Thanks for visiting today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

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Hello, it's a new year! Just a Note for you

Hello, happy Monday to you! Just a quick post from me today as I'm going to take advantage of clear roads and get a few errands done. 

Over the weekend I cleaned up and organized the stamp studio, and stumbled across some never-been-used supplies which were perfect to put together for this easy card. I've listed them at the end of this post for you. 

The music notes were stamped on a white panel and added to a white card base, with the heart die cuts on top. I love how the musical notes are part of the large heart image. The red line, musical notes and the sentiment were stamped onto the card base. 

I'm playing along with the new layout at CAS(E) This Sketch!
I just love this card design. 

Also adding my link to the Simon Wednesday Challenge - Something New.

Thanks so much for visiting today, I love hearing from you!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps:  SSS - Music 2 My Ears, MFT - Music Notes background

Ink:  Wplus9 - Sweet Gelato, Little Piggy

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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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Count the Stars

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I find it's always hard getting back into stamping after the rush of the holidays. With all the frenzy of Christmas card making and activities, followed by a few days of being out of the craft room, my mojo vanishes. 
I got back in my craft room saddle last night and cleaned up all the mess covering my tables! Now I'm ready to look forward and I have a card to post for you. 

I'm loving ink blending with my new Oxide inks and pulling out the Count the Stars set from MFT. Challenges help kickstart my creativity. I'm playing along with the MFT Sketch Challenge and the Star Power Challenge at Creative Construction with Blueprints.
Thanks so much for taking a look! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Count the Stars MFT and dies

Paper: Whisper White, Silver Glitter

Inks: Distress Oxide Inks - Broken China, Peacock Blue, Faded Jeans

Accessories: Blueprints 24, SSS Stencil Falling Stars

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