Fluffy on the Lily

Sometimes I just feel like making something cute and sweet and easy, and that's why I love a bit of whimsy now and then.  No pun intended, but this is Whimsy Stamps "Fluffy on the Lily".  It's not a new stamp, but one I hadn't colored yet.  I made this card quite a while back and sent it for a birthday.  I hope it's been received by now.

The watercoloring was done with Tombow markers, including the die cuts and punched flowers.  An easy design with ancient SU! designer paper and a Hero Arts sentiment.  Just plain fun!

I can't stay long today, so I'll list ingredients in the recipe below and leave you with a wish for a happy day!

Stamps:  Whimsy Stamps Fluffy on the Lily, Hero Arts Moments  Paper:  Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor, white card base, retired Stampin' Up! designer paper  Ink:  Ranger Archival Shadow Grey and Watering Can, Tombow markers plus SU! Cool Caribbean for watercoloring  Accessories:  Pearls, Memory Box Lavish Branch, Impression Obsession Leaf Cluster, flower punch

A Valentine for my Sweetheart

I was stumped for Valentines this year, trying to come up with something not too frilly for my husband, and trying to avoid buying anything new.  I was on a self-imposed shopping hold for the month of January.  I'd love to send cute little Valentines to all my friends, but I'd probably have to start a year in advance, sheesh.

Anyway...  I remembered my Tutti Designs Tweet Home die and came up with this:

He knows what a backyard bird enthusiast I am, and it's rubbing off on him, so he'll get the connection.

• I layered the "Tweet Home" die three times using Neenah 110 lb card stock.
• Stamped and white-embossed the Power Poppy "Good Thinking: Love Notes" sentiment, positioned the Spellbinders Classic Hearts die over it and cut, then embossed with Sizzix "Branches w/Leaves #2" embossing folder.
• More embossing plus designer paper and gold cord on the center panel.
• Assembled the card, added a rhinestone, and took pictures on a rather dark day so they didn't turn out very good despite all the Ott light I had on the subject.

Inside is matching, but simpler:

Now, to come up with something for my son...

Playing along in two challenges today:

Dies R Us Challenge #66 -- Hearts
Little Red Wagon Challenge #379 -- How Tweet it is (use birds)

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Power Poppy "Good Thinking: Love Notes"  Paper:  Neenah 110 lb white, Real Red, Basic Black, Carta Bella Words of Love designer paper  Ink:  Versamark  Accessories:  Rhinestone, gold cord, white embossing powder, Sizzix Branches w/Leaves #2 embossing folder, Tutti Designs Tweet Home Die, Spellbinders Classic Hearts die, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Lavender and Lace

Hello!  I'm joining up with Team Diane today to help usher in this fortnight's Double D challenge -- Lavender and Lace.  Sounds pretty, doesn't it?  We'd like to see the color Lavender on your project, along with any kind of lace, be it real lace, die cut lace, stamped lace, or even a lacy doily.  Right away I thought of the Stampin' Up! ink color, Lavender Lace, so that's what I used on my card.

Now, feast your eyes on the inspiration board.  It makes me ooooh and ahhhhh.  Too pretty not to play along!

I was inspired by the rose-adorned tie back on the lacy curtain.  Well, actually, I was inspired by the entire board, but I focused on the rose.  My design doesn't look much like a curtain tie back, but maybe you can see the point from which I jumped.

This is Stampin' Up!'s Stippled Blossoms, probably retired, but still a go-to set for me.  I stamped some flowers down the side, then stamped and cut several more flowers and leaves to arrange in a cascading fashion over the ribbon and lace.  A few sequins and some Black Diamond glitter on the large flower center finish it off.

The Double D team really got their Lavender and Lace on for this challenge.  Many shades, many styles.  Pretty stuff!  Speaking of pretty, we were wow'd by all the entries for our black and white challenge.  Winners are announced on the Double D blog today, too.

Thanks for sharing a little time with me today.  I hope we can do this again soon!

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! Stippled Blossoms and A Greeting for all Reasons  Paper:  Whisper White  Ink:  Lavender Lace, Vintage Violet, So Saffron, More Mustard, Certainly Celery, Old Olive  Accessories:  Sequins, lace, crushed velvet ribbon, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Frosty Joy

Your eyes don't deceive you, it's a Christmas card today.  I hope to minimize the Christmas frazzle in 2017, and I've noticed I'm not the only stamper getting a head start.  I'll thank myself when the time comes.  Have you started yet?

Actually, I made this card right after Christmas 2016, and haven't made another one since, but I declare I will share a Christmas card post by the end of each month.  If I say it, I have to make good on it, right?

This one is a Bugaboo image I bought not last year, but the year before.  Now that I've colored it, I think it's just the cutest thing.  It's called Penguin Joy.

It's easy on the postage, just the way I like it when mailing time comes.

For a little something extra in the design I cut the image panel down a little bit and then cut the snowflake die along the edge.  Layered the panel onto designer paper, cut the snowflake die again and set into the first cut.  I rounded off the edges to complete the look of a snowy hillside.

I added Stickles for sparkle, and white gel pen accents.  Coloring was done with Copics.

And there you have my monthly Christmas card.  See you again soon, I hope.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Bugaboo digi Penguin Joy  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, white card base, Whimsy Stamps Winter Blues designer paper  Ink:  Printer, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Frosted Lace and Baby Blue Stickles glitter glue, Memory Box Frosty Border die

Double D Black and White Challenge (The Celebration Continues)

Hello again, friends!  The first order of the day is to announce the winner of my Double D anniversary giveaway from Jan. 4.  Comments were numbered in order of appearance -- one comment per person, and Double D team members excluded -- then entered into random.org.  The winner is:

#23, Marsha  "What a cut image with all those heart flames. LOVE all your stitching."

Congratulations, Marsha!  If your email is correct on your Blogger profile, I'll contact you.  Otherwise, I hope you see this!

We continue to celebrate our one year blogaversary at Double D with today's Black and White Challenge.  Be sure to visit Double D to see the extra prizes being offered to challenge participants this fortnight.  Check out all the inspiration in our mood board:

Loving critters as I do, I focused on the black and white kitties and pulled out a favorite old Rubbernecker stamp.  They have some seriously cute and pretty stamps at Rubbernecker, but I don't see this one there any longer and don't remember the name.  "Howling Cats" maybe?  I stamped in Memento London Fog and colored with Prismacolor pencils which are blended out with odorless mineral spirits.

There is a teensy touch of color in the image as I couldn't reconcile the coloring without it, but my fellow team members have some perfectly pure black and white samples to share with you.  Just remember -- no big POPS of color for our Black and White Challenge.

Also remember -- we're still celebrating with extra prizes for participants, so I hope you can play along.  Card supplies and more details are listed below.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Rubbernecker cats (retired, name forgotten)  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White for image and flower, other white for card base (came with a pack of envelopes), black, Bo Bunny Double Dot Natural Necessities designer paper  Ink:  Memento London Fog  Coloring:  Prismacolor Pencils and odorless mineral spirits  Accessories:  Stickles Stardust glitter glue, black rhinestone  Dies:  Poppystamps Happy Birthday Melody (cut twice from Neenah 110 lb cardstock and once from black, then layered), Elizabeth Craft Bunch of Flowers 4, Die-namites Small Ivy ( cut just three leaves from the branch)

Winter Blooms

Oh, happy day, I was, at last, able to print one of my Power Poppy digis on watercolor paper!  All that beautiful open space makes the watercoloring so much easier.  I tried to use a free hand with this and not get too mired in the details, but I'm a detail kinda gal, so it took some discipline.  The longer I look at it, the more I want to touch it up, but, no... let it go...

The image I used is Dancing with Daffodils, truly one of my all-time Power Poppy favorites.  I enlarged it quite a bit and printed just a corner of it in a lightened outline.  It's watercolored with Stampin' Up! inks -- dropped from reinkers into a palette.  The background is a somewhat random mix of a few of the same colors used in the flowers -- yellow, amethyst, and crumb cake.  Finished up with splatters of crumb cake in varying degrees of dilution.

The stamped sentiment is from another Power Poppy set -- Dynamic Duos:  Foxglove and Ranunculus.  The images from that set are available in digi format, too, and I'm thinking I'll enjoy enlarging and watercoloring those later.  I wanted to keep it simple, but give the card a little something extra, so I stitched the watercolored panel onto a die cut mat, and adhered that to a pale green card base.

I should mention that my printer is a simple, inexpensive Epson XP-310.  Nothing fancy, but I don't need anything fancy as I don't print photos.  It's only for digis and recipes, etc.  It's only the second printer I've had in my whole life, and maybe they're all this way now, but I've been surprised to find that its ink is waterproof.  It can also be used with Copics and is undaunted by the odorless mineral spirits I use with Prismacolor pencils.  Oh, happy day, indeed!

Okay... to finish up here...  the daffodils and periwinkle will start popping out here in late winter, so this image is perfect for Power Poppy's Winter Blooms challenge:

More details below.  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Power Poppy Dancing with Daffodils digi, Dynamic Duos:  Foxglove and Ranunculus clear stamp set  Paper:  140 lb hot press watercolor, Neenah white, pale green Bazzill  Ink:  Printer for image, PTI  chocolate brown for sentiment  Coloring:  Watercolored with Stampin' Up! inks  Dies:  Cheery Lynn Dutch Daisy Boutique Stacker A2 Frame

Snow!

It snowed here yesterday, a rare occurrence, so naturally I had to take pictures.  It's a small showing compared to many regions, but it was a big deal to us.  We got about 3".  Here's part of our side yard at 8:00 in the morning:

Rich, Wally, and LuLu:

Wally posing for next January's calendar page:

Wally catching a snowball:

Had to get my mug in there, too:

Wally was so excited he ran outside with my shoe and acted like a big puppy.  I love his squinty eyes:

We had a lot of fun getting our morning exercise in the snow.  Went for a walk and didn't even put the dogs on a leash.  They loved it!  I wouldn't mind if it stayed for a couple of days, but it can go away after that.  Happy new year!

It's a Double D Anniversary Celebration!

Edited to add:  A winner of my giveaway will be chosen by random.org on Tuesday night, 1/17, at 8 pm pacific time, and announced on my blog 1/18.  Thank you, all!

Hello, and happy New Year!  I hadn't planned on it, but I took a little blog break over the Christmas holiday.  I'm back in time to celebrate Double D's first year anniversary, though, and I tell you, the Double D team is celebrating in style!  Over on the Double D Challenge Blog there will be not one, not two, but three randomly selected prize winners.  Many of the Double D teamies are handing out prizes, as well (myself included).  So, let's get started, shall we?

Our challenge today is based on our anniversary theme, but we want you to know you can make anything your heart desires as long as you take your inspiration from our pretty theme board.  As an example, I went with peach and creamy colors and a cake, which is clearly a birthday cake.  Here's my card:

And here's our inspiration board:

Using three Tombow markers, I watercolored a whimsical Penny Black birthday cake and paired it with a Stampin' Up! sentiment that's been around a long time.  Backed it with some pretty designer paper and finished off with a die cut flower and foliage.  I added Platinum Stickles to the cake, as well as a few sprinkles of Stickles and Nuvo Crystal Drops around it.  Stardust Stickles sparkle up the candle flame hearts.   There is a full supply list at the end of this post.

Now... about the prize I'm sharing...  Just leave a comment here on this post and random.org will select a winner from among them at the end of our challenge.  I will ship internationally, too.  Take a look:

Yes, two dies and a Power Poppy stamp set will go to one random commenter.

Be sure to visit the Double D Challenge Blog to join our celebration and get the scoop on the doin's.  You'll see more prizes and samples, and I sure hope you can play along.  Don't forget to pop around to all the team blogs.  Leave some love and your love might make you lucky.  Lucky in love?  Hmmmm...  Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Penny Black Touch of Whimsy (cake), Stampin' Up! Send a Celebration (sentiment, retired)  Paper:  140 lb Arches hot press watercolor, SU! Very Vanilla, Bazzill light suede, Bo Bunny The Avenues Collection designer paper  Ink:  PTI Dark Chocolate (image outline), SU! Cameo Coral (sentiment), Tombow markers for watercoloring  Accessories:  Platinum and Stardust Stickles glitter, Neptune Nuvo Crystal Drops  Dies:  MFT Die-Namics Wonky Stitched Squares, Sue Wilson String Flowers, Die-namites Small Ivy and Ivy Corner