Peace and Joy

Hello friends!  I've been a tad busy since my last post -- working in the yard and garden, plus making a set of cards for a friend (not sure I'll post them) -- but I also made two Christmas cards because you know how time flies and I'm not even close to having my cards done.

Today's cards represent two of the Cottage Cutz sets I picked up in their Christmas in July sale.  New to me, but not new to Cottage Cutz.  I had a little help from Memory Box and Poppystamps for the snowflake corner and the landscape.  Some gorgeous Mintay Bokeh Backgrounds paper made the wintry sky.

The silver glitter sentiment and snowflakes on the first card are a Cottage Cutz set simply called Peace on Earth.  The snowman comes with the set I used on the next card, below.  Just imagine replacing the wreath with the snowman.  Cute!  It's called Joyful Snowman.  I really need to make another.  Love all that Christmas red and the strip of holly paper.  The white card base is shimmery and I added red Stickles glitter glue to the berries.  The holly corner is an old Cheery Lynn die.

That's probably enough fun for one day!

I'm hurrying to play along in the Peace On Earth challenge which I had in mind when I made the first card.  I don't have a barn, but I do have a snowy scene.

My Cottage Cutz dies are fresh out of the package, so I'm also heading over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge #53.

 

I enjoyed our visit today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Paper:  Shimmer white (2nd card), Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, silver glitter cardstock, Mintay Basic Book II Backgrounds - Bokeh, scrap Christmas paper  Coloring:  Copics  Dies:  Cottage Cutz Peace on Earth and Joyful Snowman, Memory Box Frostyville Corner, Poppystamps Stitched Landscapes, Cheery Lynn Holly Corner  Other:  Stickles Stardust and Xmas Red glitter glue

A Spooky Night in Lavinia Land

Hi, friends!  For today's crafty offering I had another go with my Lavinia stamps, thanks to inspiration from the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge.  I saw the board and figured I could possibly do something similar.  I need the practice and I do love a silhouette scene.

Lots of ink blending and repeat stamping and masking for the rolling hills.  I tend to lay on the ink rather heavily.  Hooray for reinkers.  All the inks (except the black) are Stampin' Up.  I have so many SU inks from the old days, still going strong.  The bats are vintage Stampin' Up, and the sentiment is nearly as vintage Whipper Snapper.

When I sat down to type today I saw that The Sisterhood of Crafters has a new challenge up with the theme "Make a Scene" so I'll be sending my card over there, too.

And since the never-before-used baskets are bottomless, I'll also share at Darnell's NBUS Challenge #53.  In this case it's the Lavinia Large Owl that's representing.

 

Thanks for your time today, and happy crafting to you! 

Stamps:  Lavinia Large Owl, Tree Branch, Willow, Skeleton Tree Scene, SU Halloween Backgrounds (2004), Whipper Snapper Spooky Expressions  Paper:  X-Press It Blending Card, black card base  Ink:  Various Stampin' Up plus Distress Black Soot

Campin' Out

 

I couldn't help myself.  When I saw the board for the Four Seasons August challenge I knew I had to pull out some of the Cottage Cutz dies I bought during the Christmas in July sale at The Scrapping Cottage.  I'm pretty sure you'll see which corner of the board inspired me.

Campin out Bear on Log, and Campin Out Mountains and Trees.  They're older dies but new to me and I had the best time playing with them and remembering camping in the mountains.  Maybe I'll get back to camping next summer.

As always I used additional dies from here and there to support the scene.  Lots of ink blending for color.  Speckles courtesy of retired SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds.  I don't know how or why they're just the thing to finish a card, but that's the way it works for me.

What a way to start the day -- sitting on a log with a mug of coffee, watching the sun come up over the mountains.

I have multiple photos which I hope you don't mind.  Personally, I think "the more the merrier".  In this case I kept trying to capture the Wink of Stella shimmer on the lake and the sentiment.

I'll be sending this card to a guy friend for his birthday and I think he'll love it.

There's more information in the recipe below my signature.

Linking up:

The Four Seasons Challenge August -- Anything goes summer, with an inspiration board provided if desired.
NBUS Challenge #53 -- Of course, I have to link up here with my never before used Cottage Cutz Campin Out dies.

Thank you all for stopping by.  Have a nice day!

Stamps:  SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, dark brown card base  Ink:  Various Stampin' Up  Coloring:  Inks blended with brushes and sponges, occasional Copic for small spots, white acrylic paint for eye glints, Wink of Stella for shimmer on lake and sentiment  Dies:  Cottage Cutz Campin' Out Bear on Log, Campin Out Mountains & Trees, and Fall Vine, Impression Obsession Have a Nice Day and Tree Landscape Layers (trees removed), Spellbinders A2 Curved Borders One  Other:  2 mm red pearl for 'i' dot.

Double D Challenge: Sunflowers

 

'Tis the season for sunflowers and that's Darlene's Double D Challenge for us today.  The mood board is inspiring for sure.  Who doesn't love sunflowers?

I bought my Stampendous Sunflowers last year and played with them a lot.  Now here they are again because I still love the set and the darling little bird that comes with it.

I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on hot press watercolor paper, then clear embossed and colored with Tombow markers and blender.  It looks like watercolor, but it's just pens.  A blank Copic marker filled with homemade blender solution makes it easy to just sit down and go for it.

Blank Copic marker filled with homemade blender solution.
2 tsp glycerin
4 tsp distilled water
1/4 tsp 70% rubbing alcohol
Shake in a small bottle to mix.  Use eye dropper to fill pen.

All the pretty pieces are hand cut.  The flowers are popped up on thinnish foam mounting tape.  I went to The Vast Hoard for designer paper because I really need to use it.  These papers are retired Stampin' Up and not necessarily favorites, but the colors worked well enough.

 

Inside is a combination of two sentiments in the set.  A cute font and a nice thing to say in a card.

Pictured below is a cute stamp set for a random prize winner.  The team votes on creative favorites.  Such a difficult task, but we're dedicated to the process.

Come on down to the Double D Challenge!  You know we love to see your stuff and we hope you'll enjoy our samples, too.

Wishing you a sunflower kind of day!

Stamps:  Stampendous Pop Sunflower  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White hot press 140 lb watercolor, Cougar vanilla, PTI Dark Chocolate, retired SU designer paper  Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Rich Cocoa (inside sentiment)  Coloring:  Tombow markers and homemade blender  Dies:  Hero Arts Wood Frame, Paper Smooches Hello Words  Other:  Tim Holtz Sizzix Lumber 3D embossing folder, detail clear embossing powder, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Delicate Rosebuds

Hello!  I'm popping in with a card inspired by two challenges:  The Flower Challenge is asking for spots or stripes.  I have polka dots in the frame and dry embossed stripes in the background.  The dry embossed stripes are for Can You Handle the Pressure which is all about embossing folders, and this time the optional twist is stripes.  The two challenges practically made the card for me... well, that might be a stretch, but they helped.

It was an opportunity to ink up a new-to-me Pinkfresh set called Delicate Rosebuds.  They are very delicate indeed, and that's what attracted me.  I love the lines.  I also got the matching dies which I looked at very closely in the samples and saw that they do a good job of cutting out the inner parts.  That's a big plus for me.  Two of the sentiments have matching dies, as well, and they're kind of perfect.

I stamped in Versamark and embossed the roses in detail white, the sentiment in detail black.  An extra die cut layer under each added just the right bit of dimension.  I also added thin foam mounting tape under parts of the roses.

Coloring was done with Tombow markers and homemade blender solution.  I debated myself over the orange frame, and the part of me that loves citrus colors won out.

Here are those aforementioned challenges, plus NBUS because my Pinkfresh Delicate Rosebuds are a first time use:

The Flower Challenge #83 -- Add spots or stripes
Can You Handle the Pressure -- Anything goes with a twist of stripes
NBUS Challenge #53 -- Never before used schtuff

 

I will see you again very soon.  Take care!

Stamps:  Pinkfresh Delicate Rosebuds with matching dies  Paper:  Arches 140 lb hot press watercolor, Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80 lb, Bo Bunny Soft Shades Double Dot designer paper  Ink:  Versamark  Coloring:  Tombow markers and homemade blender solution  Other:  WOW Opaque Bright White and Primary Ebony super fine embossing powder, Jolee's adhesive gems, Cuttlebug Candy Cane Stripe embossing folder, MFT Die-namics Stitched Rectangle Frames, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Little Bluebird

Hello again!  It's been a busy week with Life in general.  Summer things, necessary things, friend things, medical things...  all is well, but it has kept me offline more than usual.  Sometimes my head feels a little offline, too, haha!  I'll try to catch up with everyone soon, but please forgive me if I'm slow to visit.

The final card of the week features a pretty Cottage Cutz Bird w/Bluebells.  I'm an easy mark when those Scrapping Cottage sale ads come in my email, but I never regret it.  This sweet little bird perched in the garden was such fun to put together.

Layered for dimension and colored with Copics she's pretty as a picture, so I placed her in a small but mighty frame which was a gift from the lovely Michele.  The two die sets appear to be made for each other.  After coloring the bird & flowers I looked through The Vast Hoard for coordinating designer paper and came up with a Prima pad from 2011.  The oval window was already cut in the lavender piece so I layered over the yellow and trimmed to fit this 4 3/4" square card.  It's nice when serendipity makes a card design easy!

A favorite old Hero Arts woodblock stamp provided a sentiment that was a perfect fit for the front.  Inside is a Stampin' Up birthday sentiment from I-don't-know-which-set since I consolidated a lot of SU sentiments during my most recent purge.  My small stamp room and my distaste for clutter and chaos makes purging a necessity, but believe me, I still have a LOT of favorite oldies and love to use them along with the new.

I'll link up again with Darnell's NBUS Challenge #53 with my never before used Bird w/Bluebells.

Thank you for visiting!

Stamps:  Hero Arts Happy Happy Happy (2003), Stampin' Up birthday sentiment inside  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80#, Prima Sweet Fairy designer paper (2011)  Ink:  SU Brilliant Blue  Coloring:  Copics  Dies:  Cottage Cutz Bird w/Bluebells, ornate frame - name unknown, Spellbinders Classic Ovals  Other:  Black self-adhesive half pearl for eye

Dancing in the Moonlight

Hi!  Just me, playing with my Lavinia stamps because it's been a while.  As I worked on this card I realized how much I've forgotten since the last time I picked them up.  That was April.  Now it's like starting all over again.

Today I have Minni & Moo dancing along a garden path in the moonlight.

To start things off I stamped the stone path and the moon in Memento London Fog.  I masked the moon and the landscape and blended blues and greens and highlights of purple, leaving the path to appear illuminated by the moonlight.  After stamping all the black silhouettes and allowing the ink to dry thoroughly I stamped the magic sprinkles in Versamark and embossed in white.  They seem a little too stark to me so next time I'll try something different.  I also forgot to add shadows under Minni & Moo.  Every card is a learning experience.

I finished with a light spritz of Sheer Shimmer sparkle spray, then mounted on a mini-slimline white card base.

Lavinia stamps used:
Minni & Moo, Moon, Fairy Path, Tree Branch, Mini Leaf 1 (tree leaves), Fern Heads, Slender Mushrooms, Forest Spruce, Foliage Set 2, Stars 1 Mini

All these Lavinia stamps and more can be found at Del Bello's Designs shop.  Best resource I've found in the US with a full Lavinia inventory.

Minni & Moo and several other stamps I used are first time out of the package so I'll link up with Darnell's NBUS Challenge #53.

I'll play more with Lavinia soon, I hope.   It's good to have a little magic in your life.

Have a wonderful day!

Magnolia Blossom Trio

I hope you don't mind a spring card in August.  I simply have to use the rest of my Magnolia collection from Memory Box before winter sets in.  I've been hooked on dies lately and don't mind the tedium of small parts the way I did in the past.  I hope it's not just a phase because I have a basketful of dies I haven't used yet.

I've combined the Memory Box Magnolia Blossom Trio and Vibrant Leaf Corner.  Love the leaf corner because it can be cut twice and put together as a frame.  Today I felt the corner was enough.  The little bird is Memory Box from 2015, and the "hello" is a Cottage Cutz die.

For color I brushed on Distress Oxide inks with a sponge tip applicator.  The black background is embossed with the Spellbinders Stylized Calla Lily folder which is barely visible in the first photo, but shows a little better in the photo below.  In real life it can be seen and felt quite nicely.

  

Now to wrap things up with the challenges my card is visiting:

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge -- They have an optional mood board, but my Magnolia blossoms do resemble the pretty cherry blossom branch on the board.
NBUS Challenge #52 -- Magnolia Blossom Trio and Vibrant Leaf Corner are both first time use.

 

That was fun!  Thanks for stopping by.  Take care till we meet again.

Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White, other black, Bazzill Prism Light Crabapple for sentiment and card base  Ink for coloring:  Distress Oxide Milled Lavender, Victorian Velvet, Cracked Pistachio, Lucky Clover, Scattered Straw, Weathered Wood  Dies:  Memory Box Magnolia Blossom Trio, Vibrant Leaf Corner, Finnegan Fronds bird, Cottage Cutz Hello Phrase  Other:  Spellbinders Stylized Calla Lily 2D embossing folder, Memory Box Fairy Jewels

Sunflowers for August Guest Designing with Triple B Challenge

 

Hi all!  I have the honor of playing along as a guest designer in the Triple B Challenge this month.

This challenge requires either blooms, birds, or butterflies, or you can do all three at once.  There is always an inspiration board, but that's just it -- inspiration.  You are not required to use it.  I could not resist these glorious sunflowers.

I've done no fancy coloring today.  Rather, I simply used this stamp as though I was a kid with a coloring book and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on white shimmer cardstock, clear embossed, and colored with Copics.  All I had to do was stay in the lines.

It's one of those cards you have to see up close and personal.

The Stained Glass Sunflower by Whimsy Stamps is a few years old, but its charm is undiminished.

Come visit at Triple B.  I always love seeing the team's samples and the team would love to see yours.  You have lots of options and all month to play.  Very fun!

Take care, friends.  I'll be back when time allows.

Stamps:  Whimsy Stamps Stained Glass Sunflower, Memory Box Big and Little Reverse Words  Paper:  White metallic shimmer cardstock, SU Daffodil Delight & Really Rust  Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark  Coloring:  Copics  Other:  Detail clear & detail black embossing powder, SU Subtle 3D embossing folder on card base