Cuteness advisory! Penny Black

 Hello crafty friends, it's been a hot minute since I've posted. The busy-ness of June is now behind me, and it was a wonderful wonderful time! Now that we're back and settled into more of a routine we've been hit with the heat advisory. I'm really happy to have had ample  time while I stay cool inside to play at stamping. 

That has included watching these terrific videos from Jill Foster for her new card class series, Permission to Play. This time her videos suggest sketches to make simple cards and they are filled with ideas and the sweetest cards! I highly recommend checking them out!

I'm showing you three cards from the day one sketch. 

For each card, I stamped images on watercolor paper, and colored with Distress re-inkers. 

The next card is my favorite, I just love the Cuteness stamps! 

Lastly, these mice got a bit carried away....

Jill says so often not to compare your cards with others, and that's its OK to make simple cards, or to reuse your fav sketches. I need that reminder.  I've had so much fun doing just that. I hope you enjoyed seeing them! Thanks for taking the time to come by! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supply lists: 
Make a Wish - Time to Celebrate 30 - 414; Critter Party 30 - 013

Love and hugs- Cuteness; Delightful Day

Happy - Critter Party 30 - 013; Smiles and Sprinkles

Color Hues: Hope Your Day is HAPPY

 Welcome to Color Challenge #89, can you believe it? It's amazing how the months fly by and so do the color combos! Our delightful hostess Marcia has chosen sage and pink for us to use this time around. 

Pink flowers are the sweetest! I chose a pale pink and a medium pink for this floral card, along with gray greens. I tried lots of pinks to find the ones I wanted to use for stenciling. 

The above photo shows the truer hues of the blooms. The photo below shows the front details from a better angle including the gold embossed sentiment and gold Liquid Pearls accenting the stamen.

Creating this was easy and enjoyable. I'm liking to stencil more and more these days. Using the Bold Bouquet stamp and stencils from Altenew that are brand new stuff! Not yet been used. I will love trying this softly falling bouquet in other combos.

The supply list is extensive so I will add it below. Please do play along with these gorgeous hues. I will love seeing your cards in our gallery. 

I can't thank you enough for your visit today.  It means so much that you keep coming by! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Inks: Old Gold from Wplus9; Iced Spruce and Bundled Sage DOX; Concord & 9th Honeysuckle and Pink Lemonade; Altenew Rose Blush 

Card stock: Concord & 9th Ballet Slipper 

Nordic frame dies (The Greetery) 

Rose Gold Embossing powder and Liquid Pearls

The Flower Challenge: Reminder

 Hi friends, it's me again with a reminder for The Flower Challenge! Please use our sketch and upload your card to the gallery before the end of the month. 

I took some liberty with the sketch, not on purpose but I didn't remember more than the vertical panel when I made this card. I thought you'd still like to see it! 

I was able to use some new-to-me supplies and that was an interesting challenge in itself!  I couldn't wait to pair the brand new Altenew Elegant Tulips stamps, die and stencils with metallic looking patterned papers from Consortium called Patina. I chose one pattern for the vase, then striped the darker lines from the stencil using teal ink. The other pattern is used on the sides of the focal panel, and on the envelope. 

Pleased to find a foil teal paper in my stash, I cut thin strips to finish out the sketch. I love those tulips, and I used red and green inks to color them.

As always, your visit is what makes blogging so much fun! Thanks for coming by today. I've loved having you! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

The Flower Challenge #92 Use Our Sketch featuring Altenew

 Have you ever taken an Altenew Retreat? My first event was the Secret Garden Retreat in early spring. This project is my own, featuring the exclusive supplies we received and worked with during the retreat. I highly recommend these products (some are not yet on the market) and the retreat! 

We had several new inks to use and the gorgeous colors blended beautifully. Embossing folders, stencils and specialty card stocks and dies, plus fabulous teachers. End of my hearty endorsement, lol! 

Here is my card. 

I blended yellow and rose inks for the flowers. Yellow and teal inks for the embossed vining leaves, using a stencil.  The sentiment was die cut from silver glimmer paper and inked with teal. I added matte gold card stock as a border and for the embossed leaf die cuts. 

The beautiful sketch comes from The Flower Challenge and this will be our request all month long! We'd love for you to fill our gallery with floral cards floral cards using the sketch. 

It is unique and the simplicity allows for many variations. I can't wait to see what you will make! As always, our DT has provided wonderful inspiration. Please be sure to check it out!

Thanks for spending a bit of time with me today, it is always a delight to see you again! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies: The sentiment is from Sissix. The colored card stock is Sea Glass from Concord & 9th.

Yellow and Blue for Color Hues!

It's June and I could not be HAPPIER! It's my birthday month, our anniversary month (number FIFTY) and our time is coming soon for a fabulous vacation with our family! Besides that, there are TWO granddaughter birthdays and then Father's Day! Isn't it a good thing this card was made well ahead of time? 

Karen has picked Blue and Yellow for us to use at Color Hues, so let's get to it! Although my color choices are paler, we say that is fine as long as you  use hues of the colors given.

My card is filled with blue skies, cute critters, a postal theme, and yellow accents. 

I really had fun with this one, beginning by die cutting the postal frame from Waffle Flower from white card stock. I looked for images to fit in the spaces and enjoyed combining products from two companies. 

I stamped and colored each critter, then fussy cut masks for each one. Using the masks allowed me to create the sky using a clouds stencil. I ended with stamped postal images from the stamp set. 

I know you will be loving the DT creations and we'd love for you to play along too! 

 Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 
                  Make something beautiful! 

Supplies: 
Waffle Flower - Postal Collage Dies and Stamps
Penny Black: Critter Party

Embossing Fun for a Sweet Birthday

 Hello every one! I hope that your long weekend was fabulous. We had lots of rain and no plans but to relax a bit. For me that meant catching up on some photo edits and blog posts. Popping in for a quick share today of a sweet card for another granddaughter birthday.

Did you know that Jennifer and Kristina gave a new card class recently on Embossing folders? It was informative, and so fun to pull those folders out to play. 

For this card, I used a 'diffuser' so that I could leave an area without embossing for my images. I've had it forever but never used it. The stamps are also new. These adorable bunnies are from Penny Black transparent set called "Cuteness."

After embossing the outer part of the panel, I stamped the focal point  in the off-center circle and colored with Copics very simply. Then, I used masking to ink the embossed part, using light blended strokes. I was going for a pastel look but got a bit too heavy handed in the top left corner. I know my sweetie will not mind. She's two! 

I loved using this technique and will try it again soon as it makes it easy to dress up a one layer card. 

Thanks for visiting, have a great day!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supplies: PB Carefree wishes, Dashed Design EF, Distress Oxide inks

Playing in these challenges:

PBSC Penny Black Saturday Challenge 

NBUS 

Live Life in Full Bloom

 Hello crafty friends, I hope that your week has been going well and that you've been enjoying spring!

I recently found a card I made in early spring using watercolors, which is my favorite media. I find adding layers of color with a brush and re-inkers to be therapeutic. I think I may even have been sitting on our back porch when I colored this.

The stamp set is called Flutterby - although a very sweet image I chose to leave the butterfly off this time - by Penny Black. I stamped the tulips using Toffee Crunch Ink (Memento) and followed the package inspiration to color the florals using Distress ink re-inkers. I added several layers, letting them dry in between to create shading and dimension. With markers and a black pen I added details.

I adhered one of the Penny Black Background Basic stencils to mask the rectangle forming a frame. Sponging Toffee Ink lightly at the corners gave shape and added depth. The sentiment is also from Penny Black, from the Exuberance transparent set. 

I have acquired quite a collection of PB stamps this year and I love them all! I still can't decide if the artsy, cute ones or basic CAS are more my style, but as you see more of them used we can figure this out! 

I'm so glad that you are in my corner. Have a great day! 

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Playing in these challenges: 

Penny Black Saturday  ( I did not use the optional pastel)and NBUS with my new stamp

The Four Seasons Spring Challenge and 

Triple B May 2024 Challenge