Spring Bird House Card with Ephemera and Stamps

 Hello and Happy Monday!  Spring has definitely sprung so it is time for a bird card!

This was for another challenge in my Artsy Inkers online group where we needed to use three different embellishments.  That was a little hard for me but I did come up with this.

This uses Stampin Up Birds and Branches stamps and dies.  K&Company Antique Garden 6x8 patterned paper pad and Ephemera pack.

Hope you are having a good day! Thank you for visiting and all your kind comments. 

Gingham for Easter!

I would like to wish all of you, who celebrate, a Happy Easter!

As I have already sent out all my Easter cards, I thought I would go with something a bit festive today, but that could be used for an every day card.  I decided on gingham!  JFF has a lovely set of ribbon stamps and one of them is a cute gingham check.  So I stamped this out in 5 pretty pastel shades and just cut them out with scissors.

I arranged them on my card and then added some butterflies!  I was really pleased how springy this looked!

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Ribbons & Rick Rack stamp set, Just Saying Hello sentiment stamp, Flora & Fauna Unmounted Sheet, Inks: Gina K Designs Innocent Pink, Applemint, Hero Arts Butter Bar, Soft Pool and Soft Lilac, other items from my stash.

Thank you for spending a few minute of your day with me!  I hope you have a very nice day, and will see you soon!

Floral Silhoueutte - One Stamp, Three Ways

Hello and Happy Weekend!  Today, I would like to share three cards I made with the same stamp.

First, I stamped the image over top of a Alcohol Ink Polished Stone background that I did on Yupo paper.  

Second, I used this stamp as my background.  I stamped in a light pool colored ink, then stamped my girl silhouette over top.  Very springy!

Third, I did some watercolor stamping.  To get this look, use water-based markers to ink up your stamp, spritz with water, and then stamp onto watercolor paper.  

Which one do you like best?  

All Stamps from Just for Fun: Floral Silhouette,  Rainy Walk in the Wildflowers, Happy Mother’s Day, Sentiment Sheet 3

I would love to enter Crafting By Designs Blooming Flowers challenge, ModSquad Challenge - Use One or More Metal dies (all three cards used a die, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangle and Gina K/Thermoweb Nested Rectangles)

Happy Easter Eggs - Making Multiples

Hello!!  I need to make quite a few Easter cards this year, as my stamping group is sending cards to residents at an assisted living center.  So, I decided to make it easier and make some multiples. Same, but different.

I started by choosing three scraps of patterned paper.  I stamped my Easter eggs on each and trimmed them out.

Then, I stamped the eggs and sentiment onto colored cardstock and die cut them different ways.  I paper pieced in the patterned eggs and added stickles glitter glue as an accent.  I finished the cards by doing some simple layouts using all pastel colors, and some embossing folders, too.

Supplies: I Brake for Stamps Happy Easter Eggs Stamp, Versafine Black ink, Elizabeth Crafts and Sizzix Embossing folders, Ribbons and patterned papers from my stash, Spellbinders Fancy Edge Rectangle dies, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangle dies.
Save 10% on your order at I Brake for Stamps with my coupon code SAVE10HEIDI..

I’d love to play in Pixie’s Crafty Workshop Snippets Challenge, and Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper challenge for March. 

Thanks for visiting today!

Here comes the Easter Bunny - handmade card

ETA 3/17/19: Thanks to Cupcake Inspirations for choosing my card as a favorite!

AND Thanks to Tuesday Morning Sketches for choosing this card as a favorite, too!

_________________________________________________


Happy Friday everyone!  Today I have a card that I made for a few challenges!  I sometimes write too much, I think, so today, just the card!!

Supplies: Art Impressions Sweet Easter stamp set, Memento and Versafine Black inks, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, EK Success edge punch,  American Crafts Everyday 6x6 paper pad, other supplies from my stash.

I would love to enter these challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches #494

Word Art Wednesday- Anything Goes

Cupcake Inspirations: Plaid

Art Impressions - Cutting Edge

I really appreciate your visiting my blog today!!!

Sending Happy Wishes - handmade floral card

Hello!  Today is a glorious and sunny day!  Tomorrow we should get bad weather from that “bomb cyclone” weather system.  What an awful name for it!  Too dramatic for me.

Anyhow!  Today I created with a stamp I won from the new release from Blue Knight Rubber Stamps.  They are a newer company, and although I saw them last year at the stamp show, I don’t think I shared any cards from the stamp I purchased. (I think I was in a hurry to get those cards sent ASAP.  Do you post every card you make?  I post a lot, but not all.)

I colored this in springy colors. I especially like that little vine that meanders through.  Next time I color this, I think I am going to color that in the darker green to draw more attention to it.  I picked out a scrap of cardstock for my sentiment, then tore the edges off to make it look a bit organic.  

Supplies: Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Wild Flowers, Power Poppy Natural Beauties stamp set (sentiment), Memento and Versfine Black inks, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, cardstock from my stash.

I would love to play in SimonSaysStamp’s Monday Challenge - Feminine cards, and Word Art Wednesday’s Anything Goes challenge.

Thanks for visiting today!  

Some Bunny Loves You - Handmade Easter Card

Hello everyone!  This past weekend, I had the chance to work at a Stamping  Show.  I did the make n takes for Just for Fun, and it was a really great experience.  I enjoyed meeting different people, and chatting about what we like to make.  (It was also a little fun to get a behind-the-scenes look!)

  I highly recommend going to any of the Stamping Conventions/Shows that are remotely near you.  It is just a special treat to be able to see the demos, and try some of the products before you buy, or maybe find a new favorite company that you might not have seen otherwise!  I have never set foot in a stamping store, as they have mostly all closed, so supporting this kind of show is important if we want to maintain the diversity in the papercrafting world.

___________________________

Also I had fun coloring this super cute Easter image this morning.  I did just a bit of masking to add the eggs in front of the flower pot.  I especially like that the sentiment  that came with it is typed, easier for the little ones to read.

Supplies: Art Impressions Sweet Easter stamp set, Memento and Versafine Black inks, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, Die Namics Pierce Square dies, EK Success Square punch.

I would love to enter Art Impressions Challenge #251 - Floral Cards and WordArtWednesday’s Anything Goes.

Thanks, as always, for your visit! If you aren’t already a follower, I hope you will consider it!  I am always trying to find ways to comment back, so I hope your profile is linked to your blog. 

Spring Flowers Teacup Cards

Hello and thanks for stopping by!  I want to share two cards I made with analogous color schemes.  I go into more detail about what this is at my design team post today at Just for Fun.  

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Floral Teacup, Thank you sentiment, Feel better Soon sentiment from Unmounted Sheet 1, Memento and Versafine black inks, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, American Crafts Everyday 6x6 paper pad, Sizzix Embossing folder

Hey, remember when I broke my cuttlebug back in February?  Well, this stamped image is the one that broke it!  I had to step away from these for a bit before making them into cards!

Thanks for stopping by!

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Happy Easter Bunny!

Hello!  Hope you are ready for Easter!  I am not!  I did already send out card earlier this week, so the two I made today will go in the stash for next year.  Which is good because I didn’t have nearly enough this year.

I made this first card for the Library Challenge for Watership Down.  I haven’t read it, but apparently, it is about bunnies and I was inspired by the colors on the cover.  The bunny is stamped in dark green, I think it works even if most will assume it is black.  

The second card was made for ModSquad’s Ready for Spring Challenge and SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.  I used some pretty blues for a very springy look!

Supplies:  Craft Smart (Michaels) 125531 Bunny stamp, Versafine Olympia Green ink, Hero Arts Shadow ink Pool, Recollections Backyard Table 6x6 paper pad, My Mind’s Eye The Sweetest Thing 6x6 Paper pad, Cuttlebug Decorative Tiles embossing folder, Die-Namics Pierced Squares die, other items from my stash

Hey!  You might have noticed that I have embossed and die cut things on this card!  I was recently able to replace my Cuttlebug!  It is the Version 3 and I have to say I like the improvements on it.  You can bypass the C plate altogether, by using their new grey embossing mat in the sandwich. I like it!

Also, I replaced the blade on my trimmer with a titanium one, and it is acceptable, for now!  I do still want to replace it and it sounds like a lot of you like the Tonic one, but gladly, that can wait for a while!

Thanks for stopping by!  See you again soon!

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Ducklings Easter Card - EASY and cute

Hello!  Easter is just around the corner?  Are you sending cards this year?  Here are two easy card designs I want to share with limited supplies - stamps, ink, paper, a paper cutter and glue.

I stamped the ducks onto light yellow cardstock and staggered the stamp as I created rows of ducks.   For the first card, I used a bold striped patterned paper for my background, and framed out my ducks in the center. The sentiment was added on white cardstock.

For the second card, I used the entire stamped card panel, and just added the leftover strip of the striped paper on the side.  I added a very old brad from my stash near the sentiment to draw your eye right to the greeting. 

Supplies:  Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Duck and Ducklings, Happy Easter sentiment, Hero Arts Butter Bar ink, Versafine Black ink, 1 sheet of paper from the American Crafts Everyday 6x6 paper pad, yellow and white cardstock from my stash, My Mind’s Eye Tangerine brad.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!  

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Spring Tulips Easter Card

Hello and Happy Monday!  It is sunny and a little warmer here.  I just took a nice, long walk.  I have a springy card to share today using some older stamps that have been favorites of mine.

I stamped the background stamp using three colors of ink.  I added the tulips in black right over top and then trimmed it out.

On the inside of the card, I used the same three colors of ink to stamp the eggs. I thought the polka dots there mimicked the dots in the berries on the card front.

Supplies:  Hero Art Newspaper Tulips, Berry Background Stamp, Clear Design April Stamp set, Hero Arts shadow inks in Green Hills, Mint Julep and Tide Pool, Versafine Onyx Black ink, My Mind’s Eye enamel dots, background die cut was a gifted item, Gina K Designs Jelly Bean green cardstock.

I would love to play along with A Blog Named Hero’s Use Your Favorite Hero Arts items, and SimonSaysStamp’s Wednesday Challenge which is Easter Inspired!  Also, I would like to play with Card In Envy’s No Patterned Paper challenge!  Thanks for running this challenges to help inspire us to use our stamps and paper!

Thank you for your visit today!  I hope you will leave a comment with your blog information in it so that I can come visit you too! 

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Flower of the Month Card Series - Daffodil

Hello!  Welcome back to my Flower of the Month Series.  I am trying to make one or more cards each month using stamps I already have that are the birth flower for the month.  This month, the flower is daffodils, which is fun since my daffodils are working their way up in the garden.  Some of them have buds, but no blooms yet.

I often stamp my image twice if I am going to color it.  It gives me room to mess up.  But when I don’t mess up the coloring, that gives me the option to color another way and make two cards!  

For the first card, I used some yellow Distress Oxides and a stencil in the background.  The second card, I used patterned papers.  

Supplies: I Brake for Stamps March Daffodil, Memento Black ink, Just for Fun Happy Easter Sentiment, Versafine black ink, Distress Oxide Mustard Seed ink, Heidi Swapp stencil, DCWV Citrus Stack papers

I would love to play along with the Flower Challenge’s March Anything Goes theme!

Thanks for your visit today!  I appreciate it!  I have more daffodil stamps so I hope to have a couple more posts for the Flower of the Month in March.  Find all the Flower of the Month themed posts HERE.

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Easter Egg Tree Cards & A Stamp Show

Hello everyone!  Hope you are having a good Wednesday!  We are getting snow today, but Easter is still on it’s way!  And I am hoping to go to a stamp show this weekend!

 I am coloring the Easter Egg Tree stamp with colored pencils today.  I colored it once on white cardstock, and again on green!  Since colored pencils give really good coverage on dark cardstock, so the colors do still pop.  I added glitter Nuvo drops on the white version, and then Glossy Accents to the Green. (Just a note, I first tried the clear Nuvo drops for this, but they cracked as they dried, so I re-did the stamping and found Glossy Accents works better.)  I like each version equally, but I like to mix things up.

I had fun pairing this image with springy patterned papers and cute sentiments.  As you may know, I don’t have a die cutter at the moment, so I did what I could with just a paper cutter.  

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Easter Egg Tree, Happy Easter Sentiment, Do I Smell Jelly Beans sentiment, Versafine Black Ink, American Crafts Everyday 6x6 paper pad, other items from my stash.

Have you ever been to a stamp show and sale?  I have never seen one that seemed close enough to me to attend.  BUT there is one this weekend in Oaks, PA, the Stamp, Scrap and Art Tour. JFF and other vendors will be there, and I hope to attend.  Anyone else going to be there? Details can be found here.

Folksy Bluebird card

Hello!  It feels like spring here, and I have been seeing bluebirds regularly.

I simply colored this stamp with my markers and found a piece of bird themed patterned paper to pair it with.  The sentiment banner was colored with markers to match, exactly.  I think it feels just as springy as this first warm, sunny day of the year.

Supplies: Power Poppy Folk Heart and Natural Beauties stamps set, Memento black ink, KI Memories Doilies 6x6 patterned paper, Avery Elle Wonky stitched rectangles dies

I would love to enter these challenges:

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge - Add a Die Cut

Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes 322-323

Thanks so much for your visit today!

You can find me on facebook or pinterest, too.

Flower of the Month - January Snowdrops Card

Hello!  Hope you are having a great weekend!  I have a second card for my Flower of the Month theme.  

I saw that Snowdrops are also considered a birth flower for January. I have always loved how the snowdrops come up from the snow in early spring.  Last year, we did have them bloom in February, because it was unusually warm, but typically they come up in March.  So it was a surprise that they are actually a January flower.  Maybe down South?  Or maybe people plant the bulbs indoors to bloom in the winter?

Again, my stamp comes from I Brake for Stamps.  It is my only snowdrop stamp, but I search around and found just a few more that are available.  I stamped it with green Distress Oxide ink onto ivory card.  Then I used a water brush to bring out the color.  The background lattice was stamped with the same ink, but I spritzed the stamp with water before stamping.  I was in the mood for a bright, springy look, so that is why I used the pretty lemon yellow.

Supplies:  I Brake for Stamps Bubble Wrap, Lattice and Flowers stamp set, Distress Oxide Lucky Clover ink, Gina Marie X Stitched Circle Die, DieNamics Pierced Squares dies, Tim Holtz tag dies, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Special Thanks to these challenges that helped inspire my card today:

Tuesday Morning Sketches #437

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge - Layer it up

I was thrilled to see that Bonnie is also making cards with a Flower of the Month theme too!  See her January Card here!

You can see all my Flower of the Month Cards for 2018 at this link.

Thanks for stopping by!

Springtime Challenge!

Happy April!  I would like to introduce the new monthly challenge at Just for Fun Rubber stamps.

Springtime/Easter Challenge with this fun moodboard.

Here is the card I made for the challenge.  It uses the Just Ducky sentiment and the Duck and Ducklings stamp.

The yellow circle was stamped using the Watercolor Stamping with Distress Oxide technique with the Cracked Pistachio ink.  I noted before that this color (and other blues in that line) do not behave like the others for oxidizing, but no mind.  It still produces a beautiful result by separating out in lovely green and blue.  I used a large floral heart stamp from the Flora and Fauna set.

I hope you will hop on over and share your spring and Easter cards with us and be in the running for the prize!

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Flora and Fauna unmounted sheet, Just Ducky Sentiment (also found in Sentiment Sheet 3), Duck and Ducklings stamp, Distress Oxide ink Fossilized Amber and Cracked Pistachio, Versafine Onyx Black ink, My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary Jack & Jill paper pad

Thanks for stopping by!

Spring Daisy - Stamping with Watercolors

Hello! I have a couple springy cards that I stamped with watercolor paint.  In fact, I only stamped the image once, and then cut it up into two pieces so I could get two cards.  I plan to try to get these cards sent out in today's mail, if I hurry!

(Lilac experiment update at the end.)

I have done this before, here is a post where I describe it better, but basically you paint the pan watercolor to your rubber stamp and then stamp onto regular or watercolor cardstock.  The nice thing is that you can use more than one color.  Here I used a couple shades of yellow.  

Supplies:  USA Stamp Quest Daisy Stamp, Hero Arts Sentiment, Koi Pan watercolors, Versafine Smokey Grey ink, MFT Pierced Square dies, GKD Wild Dandelion and Turquoise Sea cardstock, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Cute Card Thursday Anything Goes

Double D Challenges Think Spring

Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes 272-273

CAS Watercolor Spring

I also want to give an update of the Lilac branch experiment I am doing to force them to bloom early indoors.  I first posted this 8 days ago with bare branches and look at it now!  It has been amazing to watch the leaves and flowers unfold from their insanely complicated origami buds.

Look at the blooms, so many of them!  I was concerned that I might not have many since I couldn't tell between a leaf bud and a flower bud, but I have so many!  I just hope I can keep it healthy enough till it blooms.

Thanks for stopping by oday!  Have a great one!

Daffodil Birthday Cards

It may be a little late for Daffodils to be blooming in the garden, but as one of these two birthday cards is a belated card, I think they will work just fine!

(Click on photos for larger image.)

I colored this *most beautiful* stamp with alcohol markers.  I first did in in traditional colors, but then I wanted to try to represent a version of a white and pink daffodil I have.  (I only have one or two, they were more expensive bulbs.)

I don't have many alcohol markers yet, but the pinkish one from the flesh tones set worked for my flowers and it turned out pretty.

Supplies: Gina K Designs Sending Love and Happy Birthday to You stamp sets, Memento Jet black ink (for alcohol ink coloring), Versafine Onyx Black ink (for sentiments), Spectrum Noir markers, Spellbinders oval dies, Gina K cardstock Wild Dandelion and Ocean mist, other items from my stash

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!  I hope to see you again soon!