100th Post and a Scenic Card

Thanks for stopping by today, especially.  I noticed that this is going to be my 100th post!  What a fun milestone!

Today I have made a card that is not my normal style.  Over at Artsy Inkers, there has been a challenge this month to make an arch with stamps. It has really taken me all month to figure out what to do.  

(Click on photos for detail.)

I decided to use an oval stamp as the basic shape of the arbor.  Then I stenciled on the outside of the oval with blue ink and below it with greens.  I used several of my peg stamps to change the oval into a flower arbor.  I also used one of the tiny flowers to add texture to the grass below. 

These little bunnies had never been inked before.  I fussy cut them and sponged ink to color them.  The ink is Distress Pumice Stone, which I knew was a brownish color of grey, but it really is much more brown than I realized. 

Art Impressions wants us to take a photo of the stamps we used in the project, and I mixed and matched so many for this project. 

Supplies:  Gina K Designs Warm Spring Wishes (Oval), Rubber Stamp Tapestry from Cherry Blossom and Herbal Sachet sets, Art Impressions Try-Folds Furries, Hero Arts sentiment, Avery Elle Pigment inks, Versafine Smokey Grey ink, Distress Inks Pumice Stone, Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage, Peeled Paint, Heidi Swapp Stencil

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Art Impressions - Show Off Your Stamps

Artsy Inkers - A is for Arches

Non-traditional Mother's Day Card

ETA (4/26/16):  I was so excited that this card was chosen to be an Honorable Mention at CASology. Thank you so much!

This may not *look* like a Mother's Day card, but the great thing about making your own cards is that you can personalize cards specifically for someone.  There are a couple reasons I made this card for my mom.  First, she really likes more natural colors over pinks and purples. Also, she gave me this stamp set, and I often will make a card for someone using the supplies they gifted me!  I used the "thankful for you" sentiment on the outside of the card because I think it gets the appropriate message across for mom.  I can write or stamp "Happy Mother's Day" inside.

The process for this card was not hard.  First I sponged blue distress ink on the left side of the card, then I stenciled the green over top of that.  The stamping was done with pigment inks because I think that looks nice and smooth over top of the dye ink sponging.  

Supplies: Inkadinkado Meadow stamp set, Gink K sentiment Thankful For You, Avery Elle pigment inks Sea Glass and Jungle, Distress Ink Tumbled Glass and Bundled Sage, Heidi Swapp stencil, Gina K Ocean Mist cardstock

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

CAS Mix Up April (Dye Ink, Pigment Ink, Sponging, Stenciling)

CASology - Mom

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I appreciate your visit and kind comments!

Sending Love with Butterflies Card

ETA (4/26/16): I was so excited that this card was chosen to be in the Top 3 at Tuesday Throwndown #290!  Thank you!

Hello!  I am glad you are here!

I have a card to share today that fits a couple challenges -  a sketch and a monochromatic challenge.  I was having fun with some new supplies I just got and enjoyed doing basic stamping techniques.

I stamped the background for my card using purple ink on purple cardstock.  I then used the same ink on white cardstock, and stamped just the second generation of the small butterfly.  I love using generation stamping here because I got a perfect coordinated look with just one inkpad.  

Supplies: Gina K Designs Sending Love stamp set, GKD Wild Lilac ink and cardstock, American Crafts twine.

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Tuesday ThrowDown #290

RetroSketches #211

Three Marker Challenge

Thank you for visiting my blog today.  I really appreciate your taking the time.

Today I have a big combo of challenges in one card.  I used a sketch, colored using only 3 markers, made a feminine card and used water in my project by both watercoloring, and having water in the image itself.  Sometimes challenges just come together like this and help make my choices for me.

I knew the 3 marker challenge would not be so easy since coloring is not my strength.  I stretched my markers a little by first watercoloring with a waterbrush and then, adding some deep shading directly with the marker just in the spots where the illustration seemed to indicate I should.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

Supplies: Power Poppy Simply Camellias stamp set, Versafine Onyx black ink, Versamark Ink, Recollections White detail embossing powder, Ranger Distress watercolor paper, Gina K Designs cardstock in Navy and Ocean Mist, Spellbinders Lattice Rectangles, Tombow Markers, flowers from my stash

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Power Poppy 3 Marker challenge

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge Blog - Make it Girlie

SCS Sketch 589

ModSquad Challenge Blog - Water, Water Everywhere

Waxed Paper Embossed Resist

Hello and thank you for being here.

Today I have a card to share using a waxed paper resist background. I had not done this in a long time, so when I saw this recent video by Gina K, I wanted to try it again.  I made 8 backgrounds total, so I still have more to use.

(Click image to enlarge.)

I didn't want to cover up too much of my background, so I stamped a lot of butterflies which I watercolored with distress ink pads and fussy cut.  True to my style of creating, arranging the butterflies took just as long as the rest of the work for this card!  

Supplies: Gina K Designs Whimsical Spring and Birthday Label stamp sets, Versafine Onyx black Ink, Tim Holtz by Sizzix embossing folder, Distress inks Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Peacock Feathers

I would love to participate in the following challenge:

SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge - Butterfly Beauty

(Not So) Shabby Chic Mother's Day Card

Hello and I hope you are doing well today.  

I wanted to try the shabby chic look.  However much I love it, it is not the style I usually create with, so I altered the style to be more clean and simple. It is a style oxymoron to be Shabby CAS Chic?  

Before I overthink this further, here is my card...

The essential parts of Shabby Chic for me are lace and the colors pink first, then beige and mint.  The essential, for me, for CAS is clean white space, so I just left out distressing that would normally be included.

Supplies:  Rubber Stamp Tapestry A Spot of Tea peg stamp set, Avery Elle inkpads in Kraft, Mint to Be, Raspberry and Pixie, Hero Arts Celebrate Everyday (sentiment), Echo Park Victorian Garden paper pad, Die-Namics Pierced Squares, EK Success circle and corner punch.

I would love to participate in the following challenge:
CASology - Pink

I really do appreciate your stopping by!

Spring Floral with Faux Patterned Paper

Hello and thanks for coming by.

I have this long and detailed list of card ideas on my computer, but I feel like I am in a little bit of a slump and don't have the energy to make all these ideas in to a reality.  I know this happens to everyone so I am hoping this will pass soon.

I do have one card I managed to finish up this week.

I masked off the stripe and then used distress ink to sponge color, and then used a bunch of those little stamps to fill in a faux patterned paper.  I really love the strawberry red and yellow color combo of those flowers.  I wonder if I will be able to find those colors to use in my real garden this year.

The vellum butterfly I had in my "unfinished bits" box, and I think he coordinates nicely, even though he is not a match to the other colors I used.

Supplies: Rubber Stamp Tapestry stamps from the sets Holiday Stockings, Cherry Blosson and A Spot of Tea, Gina K Designs Massive Messages and Warm Spring Wishes stamp sets, Avery Elle Pigment inks in Celery, Lemongrass, Papaya, Strawberry and Mimosa, Versamark Ink, Ranger Verdigris Embossing Powder, Vellum, GKD Jelly Bean green cardstock

I would love to participate in the following challenge:
SimonSaysStamp Monday -  April Showers Bring May Flowers

Whimsical Spring Bird Card

Welcome!

I followed a sketch for this card, which I colored with Inktense pencils and a Dove blender pen. You might not be able to see that the little bird's tail is curled up.  I colored the bird on the page plus another bird that is fussy cut, so there is a cute bit of dimension to this card.

Supplies: Gina K Designs Whimisical Spring, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Inktense Pencils, GKD patterned paper  and cardstock, Spellbinders Cirles and Lacy Circles

Thanks for stopping by!  

Lily of the Valley "Quilted" Card

Thanks so much for visiting my blog.

Earlier this week, I jotted down this card idea, and today I finally had some time to create it.  It turned out very similar to what I had pictured.  Often I go off on some tangent with my designs, so it is fun when it goes as planned.

(Click on image for detail.)

I first die cut all the squares and then stamped onto the blue ones.  I have been using these two colors of cardstock often, and today I used them together.  The little brad shaped like a button was the only yellow one left in my stash, so I was glad to find a home for it on a project.

Supplies: Our Daily Bread Stamps Lily of the Valley and Home Sweet Home stamps, Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink Olive Pastel, My Mind's Eye Handsome 6x6 Paper pad, Brad from my stash, GKD Jelly Bean Green and Ocean Mist Patterned paper, My Favorite Things Pierced Squares dies

I would love to participate in these challenges:

Art Impressions Add a Brad

Our Daily Bread Designs ODBD Recipe Challenge

O- ODBD stamp, D- Die, B- Brad, D- designer paper

"Sentimental" Christmas Card

The prompt at Merry Monday this week was Sentiments, so I decided to see what I could do with this sentiment collage from Inkadinkado. I have used this before, but I definitely feel it is a bit hard to use since it uses up so much of my card with just the sentiment - and I really like using image stamps too.  I also wanted to combine this with a challenge to do a one-layer card.

(Click on images for better detail.)

Although this card is full of stamping, I did try to leave some open space in the frame, to make it less busy.  I added stickles to the snowflakes in the sentiment.

Supplies:  Inkadinkado Sentiment (60-00862), Versafine Onyx Black ink, Rubber Stamp Tapestry Holiday Stocking peg stamp set, Avery Elle Ink Sea Glass, Cherry, Strawberry, Celery, Stickles

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

I would love to participate in the following challenge:

Merry Monday -  Getting Sentimental

You're Sew Special

Welcome to my blog. I appreciate your coming by today.

I have a card that I made for an interesting challenge at SplitCoast Stampers.  They have something called Teapotters challenges where you make a card according to their challenge theme and then you have the option to send it to the chosen recipient.  What a good idea as so many cardmakers do not send as many cards as you may want to.

The recipient for this challenge was CherylQuilts and the theme was a Stitch in Time. If you haven't seen Cheryl's work, you should pop over to her blog and see!  She colors beautifully and makes lovely cards.  But she also is just really encouraging and sweet to all cardmakers and has been very encouraging to me too.

Here is the card I sent Cheryl (I think it should have arrived by now.)

(Click on images to enlarge.)

I used a mix of stamp sets from Rubber Stamp Tapestry and one from Cardmaking & Papercraft Magazines.  I really love the look of the soft flowers with the bolder images in black. 

Supplies: Rubber Stamp Tapestry Holiday Stockings and A Spot of Tea stamp sets, Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine Sew Pretty stamp set, Versafine Onyx Black, Avery Elle Pigment ink Sugar Plum, Orchid, Celery, Gina K cardstock

CAS Spring Blessing Tulips

Hello and I hope your week is starting out well.  Today I have a Clean and Simple springy card to share.  I really like pinky red and green combo for spring cards.

I used my water-based markers to color onto my tulip stamp with red and pink for the blooms and two colors of green for the foliage.  I then spritzed the stamp with water and stamped onto plain cardstock.  I sponged the edges and embossed with a pretty leaf pattern.  

I stamped the sentiment with the same Distress ink as I used to sponge with. 

Supplies: Hero Arts Newsprint Tulips, Gina K Spring Blessing sentient, Tombow markers, Distress ink Mowed Lawn, Elizabeth Designs Embossing Folder, Patterned paper from my stash.

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

A Blog Named Hero Clean and Simple

SSS Wednesday - Anything Goes

Belated Birthday Card

Happy Weekend!   It is raining here, which we need to help our grass seed grow, but it might put a damper on the sporting events today.  I hope they will still go on so the kids aren't disappointed.

Today I have a card to share that I did for a sketch.  As a cardmaker, you would think I usually send birthday cards on time, but I often forget and need belated cards. I think the OOPS stamp makes it funny.

I applied the glitter over top of glossy accents so that the balloons would have some dimension.  My son told me this is a card for a girl, not because of the pink color, but because of the glitter!  Good to know!  

Supplies: Gina K Designs Happy Birthday To You, GKD Lipstick Ink and Cardstock, Versamark Ink, Recollections Detail White Embossing powder, Wow Glitter Green and Blue, Recollections Glitter Shimmer Coral, Glossy Accents

I would love to participate in the following challenge:

Freshly Made Sketches #230

Two people told me that they couldn't comment on my posts sometimes because of the blogger picture verification. I do have word verification turned off, so I am sorry to say I do not think I have control over this "feature" of blogger.  I do appreciate your comments so much and am sorry for the trouble!

Our Daily Bread - Crocheted Poppy Card

ETA 5/5/16: I was so pleased to see that this card was featured today on the Our Daily Bread Designs Blog as the Customer Card of the Day!  Thank you so much!

Hi there!  I have a card I created as a combination of challenges.  Sometimes I like to focus just on one challenge, and sometimes a few will just all come together to make the decisions about cardmaking easy. 

(Click on photos for a larger image.)

The challenges were to use a circle, lace and a scripture verse.  The lace is the crocheted frame of my stamp, which is so pretty!  I stamped the remainder of the verse inside, since there was not enough room on the outside for the whole thing.  I added a frame of score lines, too.

I decided that I wanted to make the stamp look like stained glass, so after coloring with water-based markers, I used my Versamarker all over the circle so I could add several layers of clear embossing powder.  I did 3-4 layers, until I thought it looked right.

A lot of my family members really like the card to have some shine!  

Supplies: Our Daily Bread Crocheted Poppy, Our Daily Bread Seed Packet (Sentiment), Versafine Smokey Grey ink, Tombow markers, Versamarker, Recollections Clear Detail Embossing powder, Ranger watercolor paper, Gina K Designs Ocean Mist cardstock

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Our Daily Bread Designs Shining The Light: Scripture and Lace

Simon Says Stamp Monday: We Can See Clearly

Tuesday Throwdown: Add Lace