Patterned Paper Challenge!!

I am so happy to share that I was asked to be part of the Design Team for Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge!  This is a wonderful monthly challenge -- it is always Anything Goes -- so long as you use patterned paper!  Who doesn't have some of that and need a small push to get you using your stash!

I definitely do!  The patterned paper I used for my sample this month is one of my newest pads, Aquarelle by LoveNicole.  It is such a pretty pad with lovely watercolory motifs.

I used a pretty color layering hibiscus stamp for my focal image.  I found so many pretty color combinations for this flower.  I found inspiration from the Tuesday Morning Sketches #407.  

Supplies: Hero Arts Hibiscus stamp layering set, Gina K Designs Birthday Go-Round stamp set, Gina K Designs Innocent Pink and Lipstick inks, Hero Arts Butter Bar, Green Hills, Field Greens, Fresh Peach, Raspberry Jam inks, Love Nicole Aquarelle 6x6 paper pad, Gina Marie X-stitched circles dies, Spellbinders Flourish die, Nuvo Drops Glitter.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I appreciate your visit and hope you will come again soon.

Rudolph Days

Hello!  I am getting down to the wire for the Rudolph Days challenge.  I was on a roll with coffee and tea themes, so I decided that Coffee Makes Everything Better...Especially Christmas mornings!

(Click to enlarge.)

Supplies: Lil Inker Designs Coffee Cozies stamp set, All Night Media snowflake background stamp, Just for Fun Rubber stamps Coffee Unmounted stamp set, Hero Arts Soft Sand shadow ink, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Momenta 6x6 paper pad, Gina Marie designs X Stitched Rectangles stamp set, Stickles glitter glue

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I have something exciting to post 6/30/17 at 7pm EST!  And a new challenge announcement for Just for Fun on July 1st.  So I hope you will come back and visit again soon!

June Bug and Tea Challenges

Hello!  I have a quick share of a card I made for some fun challenges.

I watercolored the stamped image and trimmed it out.  The background is all from an older patterned paper pack.  

Supplies: Power Poppy Short Stacks stamp set, Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Sentiment set 1, Versafine Onyx Black ink, watercolor paper, My Mind's Eye Be Amazing 6x6 paper pack

I would love to play along with these challenges:

Power Poppy June Bug challenge (I had to include my bug in the patterned paper!)

2017 Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Coffee - Take it One Sip at a Time

Hello stamping friends!  I had a need to make an encouragement card for a man, but I wanted to combine this with the coffee blog hop and a new to me Distress Oxide technique.  This is what I came up with.

The background was made with the Swipe Your Credit Card technique. I used Faded Jeans, Broken China and Fired Brick Distress Oxides because I originally wanted a sortof patriotic look.  However, Distress Oxides do have a mind of their own and the Fired Brick turned orange.  No problem!  It still looks summery like madras plaid, to me.  I also used perfect pearls in my water, so there is the slightest shimmer in the stripes.

I used snippets of patterned paper and the orange cardstock from my scrap box.  The card was a bit plain, so I colored up some coffee beans and used them to embellish.

Supplies: Lil Inker Designs Coffee Cozies stamp set, Just for Fun Rubber stamps Coffee Unmounted stamp set, Versafine and Memento black inks, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, My Mind's Eye Happy Camper 6x6 paper pad, Distress Oxide inks Faded Jeans, Broken China and Fired Brick, Gina Marie X Stitched Rectangle dies

I would love to participate in these challenge:

Coffee Lovers Summer Blog Hop

Pixie's Crafty Workshop - Snippets Challenge 287 and 288

SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I would love to visit you if you have a blog, so I hope you will leave a comment with a way to find you!  Have a great day!

Space Card

Hello! I just got back from a week trip and have been going through my blogger reading list.  Wow, it is super long!

I would like to share a fun space card I made for a young boy.  Unfortunately, the photos don't do it justice, it is brighter and more lively in real life.  If only photographing your cards was as fun as making the cards!

I stamped the images and colored them with alcohol markers.  The background is silver metallic ink over navy cardstock.  I stamped the sentiment with white ink - the silver just didn't show up well enough.  The moon was made by embossing a piece of ivory cardstock and die cutting it with an oval.  I then applied the silver ink right over top - direct to paper.  I think it turned out fun!

Supplies: Stamp set is unknown, Brilliance Platinun Planet ink, Avery Elle white pigment ink, Spectrum Noir and Copic markers, Cuttlebug Mosaic embossing folder

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I really appreciate your visit and hope to be back to normal blog visiting soon!

Joys from Nature card

Hello! I have a quick share today of a card I made quickly for a male recipient.  

I have had this image for a longer than  I would like to admit, but I just inked it up and colored it loosely with alcohol markers.  It is a large image, so I just trimmed it as small as I thought I could get away with, and mounted it over top of some camping patterned paper.  

Supplies: I Brake For Stamps scene, Memento black ink, Copic and Spectrum Noir markers, My Mind's Eye Happy Camper 6x6 Paper pad

Thanks so much for taking a look at my blog today! I hope you will have a chance to leave a comment so that I know you were here.  Have a great day!

Nautical Father's Day

I want to wish all the dads a very Happy Father's Day!

My card for the occasion is nautical.  I stamped the two seahorses in grey ink and filled them in with a light blue marker.  I sponged the edges of the patterned paper with ink and added a navy mat.

I stamped and fussy cut a shell on more patterned paper to use as an embellishment, along with a brad and some enamel dots.  

The striped paper in the background was altered to add the ship wheel stamping.  I really especially like that detail, subtle as it is.

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Beach Unmounted sheet, Happy Father's Day, Versafine Smokey Grey ink, Distress ink Tumbled Glass, Tombow water-based markers, My Mind's Eye brad and enamel dots, various patterned paper scraps (probably all My Mind's Eye)

Thanks so much for spending some time with me today!  Hope you have time for creativity today!

Masculine Mojo Monday

I was really surprised last week to see that Mojo Monday has posted their very last sketch.  I was happy that we had two weeks to work on it.  I used it today to make a last minute Father's Day card I needed to get sent out! 

When I am working last minute like this, I do simple stamping for the card.  Plus, this gave me a chance to use up patterned paper and scraps!  

Supplies: Technique Tuesday All Aboard stamp set, Hero Arts CL053 Cleardesign June stamp set, Versafine black ink, My Mind's Eye Darling Dear 6x6 paper pad, Spellbinders circle dies, Cheery Lynn Designs Inverted Scalloped circle dies, enamel dots from my stash

I would love to participate in the following challenges:

Mojo Monday Farewell sketch #500

SimonSayStamp Wednesday Challenge - Make it Masculine

Great Impressions June Challenge - Masculine

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper June Challenge

Pixe's Crafty Workshop Snippets Playground 285-286

Thank you so much for visiting today!

Distress Oxide with Sparkle: Under the Sea

If you are having any trouble getting results you like with your Distress Oxide backgrounds, I humbly suggest adding some sparkle.

The easiest way I have found to do this is to use Perfect Pearls.  This background was made starting with the same technique Tim Holtz has shown in many videos.  Smush your ink onto your surface, spritz with water and drag the paper through it.  Dry in between and repeat.  This is my twist on the technique, when you have your color down, get a bit of perfect pearls powder and add some water.  Use a brush and flick it all over your background.  At this point, I hope you will see your matte background come alive, like they did for me.

For this background I used two colors of gold Perfect pearls.  I love how it looks at different angles.  I used a lovely shell stamp and colored it with alcohol markers and used Pearl Nuvo Drops for embellishment.

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Beach Unmounted stamp set, Sentiment sheet 1, Memento black ink, Archival Black ink, Distress Oxide ink Cracked Pistacio, Broken China and Vintage Photo, Perfect Pearls Antique and Perfect Golds, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, Nuvo Drops Pearl

I would love to play along with this challenge:

Freshly Made Sketches #291

Thanks so much for coming by!  I hope you will have time to leave a comment or follow my blog.  Have a great day!

Hoppy Birthday

Hello!  Thanks for visiting today!

I lightly colored these cute bunnies with alcohol markers and cut them out. I then used some dies to create a little scene.  The green for the grass and kraft for the fence were snippets from my scrap box, and I jazzed them up with background stamps.

I loved the "Hoppy Birthday" sentiment and used an old label punch to cut that out.  I didn't photograph it but on the inside I stamped, "You're somebunny special."  Very appropriate for the little girl who got this card.

Supplies: Hero Arts March Monthly Hero Kit, Welcome Home stamp set, Tweed and Woodgrain background stamps, Memento black ink, Versafine black ink, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, American Crafts Everyday 6x6 paper pad, Fiskars label punch

I would love to participate in these challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper challenge June

Pixie's Crafty Workshop Snippet's Playground 283-284

Summer Camp Cards

Hello, I hope you are having a great day!

The cards I am sharing today I will need very soon for summer camp!  I figure out how many days it takes for a card to get to the camp and then I send them ahead so that DS will hopefully get one each day.  I used some super stamps from the JFF's Camping Theme that I bought specifically for this purpose.

I first cut a window into patterned paper.  I stamped my images and simply filled in color with some markers.  For this first card I stamped over top of the image in light beige ink with a tattered screen background stamp.  The sentiment was stamped on kraft cardstock and trimmed out.  

The second card is just a variation of the first.  I trimmed around the image so that the leaves would go outside the frame.  I also used the campfire as a little embellishment.  These were not difficult to make at all and themed cards can be so much fun!

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Camp fire, Camp Laundry, Happy Camper, Tattered Screen background stamp, Versafine Onyx black ink, Hero Arts Soft Sand shadow ink, kraft, blue and white cardstock from my stash, My Mind's Eye Happy Camper 6x6 Paper Pad, My Favorite Things Die Namics Peek a Boo window die

I would love to play along with the following challenges:

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper June Challenge

Die R Us Challenge - Make it Masculine

Cards in Envy - You're the Man

SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge - Masculine

THANK YOU for stopping by!  I really appreciate each visit, each comment and definitely each follower!

Masculine Card Challenge

Hello, I am so glad you are here today so I can announce the Just for Fun Rubber Stamps June Challenge - Cards for Men!  This is your chance to create plenty of cards for men for your stash - they are so often needed.  Here is my card project.

I used stamp kissing on this beautiful framed fern to get some added texture.  I kept the colors bright by only using white in addition to the green pigment ink.  I recently gave this to DH for our anniversary.  He and I both love walks in the woods where you can find a carpet of ferns this time of year.

I hope you will play along this month and be in the running for the prize!

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Framed Fern, Avery Elle Jungle ink, Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Sentiment sheet 1, Versafine ink and Recollections White detail embossing powder, Gina K Jelly Bean Green cardstock, textured cardstock.