Featuring Pink Roses for The Flower Challenge

Welcome back!  It's good to be here with my crafty friends again so soon.  Today I'm sharing a card I made for The Flower Challenge where they're asking for pink.  I can do that!

While I had my Penny Black Winsomely set out for Rich's Valentine I decided to go right ahead and keep playing with it.  This time I stamped the larger image in a soft grey and watercolored with a combination of Stampin' Up inks and Tombow markers.  One of the card bases I made up with Jill's Sketch #4 made for a quick card design.

After coloring I cut by hand, then turned the flower cluster face down on a foam pad and used an Empressor rolling ball embossing tool to slightly round the cluster.  Added bits of foam tape under the rounded parts.  It's amazing how this small process improves the look of a hand cut image... when I can remember to do it.

I ink blended the sentiment and the panel inside the arch, and added some stamped splatters.  Before I adhered the flowers to the card I splattered with white acrylic paint.  I really don't know what's going wrong with my splatters lately, but it appears as though I dropped a paint can nearby. 

The Flower Challenge #99 -- Feature the color pink
Penny Black Saturday Challenge -- Optional use a heart

 

There are more details in the supply list below.  I'll wrap it up now and leave you with a wish for a happy day!

Stamps:  Penny Black Winsomely, Stampin' Up! Itty Bitty Backgrounds (splatter stamp)  Paper:  Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140 lb hot pressed watercolor, Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80 & 110 lb  Ink:  Ranger Archival Shadow Grey, SU So Saffron and More Mustard  Coloring:  Watercolor with SU inks and Tombow markers  Other:  Cottage Cutz Hope Phrase, Spellbinders Essential Arches, Spellbinders Arches & Dots embossing folder, white acrylic paint, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

Double D Challenge: Color Red

Hello friends!  The Double D team is seeing red today... in a good way.  Everything in Blogland seems to be red or pink this month, and why not?  'Tis the month to let red have its way, so that's our challenge -- show us your red.  Here's a lovely mood board for inspiration if you so desire:

Creative winners are voted on by the team, and the prize pictured below will go to a random winner.

Penny Black Across the Miles premium 3.25" x 4.5" cardstock

For my sample I used Stampendous Mailbox Spring with a sentiment from another Stampendous set.  I colored with Copics and covered the card base with Echo Park Love Notes paper.  I'm sure this Valentine has been received by now, but no telling with the crazy weather it has to go through to get there.

I ink-sponged the edges of the image panel and flicked a little water.  Added Wink of Stella to the butterflies.

I love red and think it should get to come out and play more often.  I'll work on that.  In the meantime, I hope to see your red in our gallery at Double D.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Stampendous Mailbox Spring and Flower Frame sentiment  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80 lb, scrap red, Echo Park Love Notes designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Bashful Blue, Pink Pirouette, and Old Olive for image edges  Coloring:  Copics  Other:  Lil' Inker Silly Stitched Die Set, SU 3-in-1 Heart Punch, Wink of Stella on butterflies

A Valentine for my Sweetie

Hello, friends!  Today I'm sharing the Valentine I made for my sweetie.  I generally make him something humorous or cute with critters, but thought I'd surprise him with a pretty card this year.  I've used Penny Black's Winsomely.  Just the one rose, stamped twice, colored and hand cut.  I opted not to get the dies for this set.

Jill's Sketch #4 from her latest series for Penny Black was one of my favorites.  It's so simple, but practical and it takes a plain white background out of the ordinary.  I love it so much that I made five card bases in this layout, but with different embossing folders.  While I was at it I made two with another of her sketches, and then I ran out of time, but I'll get back to it.  I like the idea of having these made up and ready for whenever I take a notion to add a splash of color or cuteness.

I nested Spellbinder's dies to make the frame, layered three times and popped up on foam tape.  The "love" is a Frantic Stamper die layered three times.  The black cardstock on the top "love" layer was made glossy by covering with clear packing tape before cutting.  Same with the hearts.  Thanks to Natalie Bowers at NB Cards for that trick.

I'm playing along here:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge -- Optional hearts
NBUS Challenge #71 -- My never before used schtuff is the Winsomely stamp set.

 

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day.  Sending love and hugs all around!

Stamps:  Penny Black Winsomely  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 80 lb, scrap black cardstock  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black  Coloring:  Copics  Other:  Spellbinders Devine Eleoquence and Labels Twenty-Eight, Frantic Stamper Sending Love/Hugs, hearts from spare parts, Spellbinders Scallops embossing folder, clear packing tape

Ladybug and Flower for the Neglected Stuff Challenge

Hello again and welcome!

I'm all excited about the Neglected Stuff Challenge, brand new this month.  It's another of the umpteen challenges run by our friends, Diane and Darlene.  It runs for a month, and all neglected stuff is welcome -- stamps, dies, papers, embellishments, ephemera...  endless stuffs -- anything that's been sitting unused for far too long a time.

My thoughts turned first to the many woodblock stamps I've loved enough to keep through multiple purges.  The one I chose today goes way back to my earliest days of stamping and it's still one of my favorites.  It's been many years since I've used it.

It's a Great Impressions stamp with no name on it.  Alongside is a Heartfelt Creations sentiment which was in my spare parts drawer.  The patterned paper is 2009 BasicGrey Origins which had only been neglected 2 or 3 years until I pulled it out for my previous post.  I have so little of it left that I decided to work on finishing off the pad.

I colored with Copics, created a frame with one of my oldest Spellbinders dies, and embellished with tiny gems.

If I saw this stamp today I would still want to buy it.

I get so intent on using my newest purchases that I skip over some of the best stuff.  I use oldies, but they tend to be mostly sentiments, dies, papers.  It's not often that the focus is on the oldie.  Hoping to change that going forward.

The Neglected Stuff Challenge

Thanks for visiting with me today!  I hope to see you again soon.

Blooms and Birds and Fixing Mistakes -- Four Cards

Hello there, and happy Monday!

My friend, Diane, inadvertently sent me on quite a creative journey when she posted this card for the Love Those Pretty Papers challenge.  Diane gives a link to a video and tells her story, saying it was a learning experience.  I'd say she's right about that.  I cut some pieces wrong, and then couldn't properly line up the ones I cut right.  However, I figured a way to fix my messes and piece together some different designs.  In the process I used four sheets from a 2009 BasicGrey 6x6 pad, as well as two not-yet-used Tim Holtz Sizzix die sets -- Bloom, Colorize and Feathered Friends.  I would not have thought of this paper/die combination, but one thing led to another.  You know how that happens, don't you?  I'll share in the order the cards were created.

In the first card I added a frame because my pieced papers came out with uneven edges.  The two ivory center panels helped separate the focal flowers from the busy background.

After I made the flower for the first card I was not eager to make that flower with its tiny parts again, so I pulled out one of the TH birds and combined it with foliage from the flower set.  I tried spacing the pieces as shown in the video, but ended up with too wide a space across the center of the card.  That's when I added one of the scalloped edges I'd cut from the paper.

For the third card I used another of the Feathered Friends combined with foliage from the flower set.  These patterned paper pieces were cut in the wrong direction (it's hard to explain) so I had to do a different design altogether.  I taped them together on the backside to create diagonal rows.  The prints don't line up, tsk tsk, but I'll live with that.  I added the crimped border to the card front and trimmed the patterned piece to fit.  This design is a little different, but it was Day 3 and maybe it's not so bad.

I was about to call it done, but I still had some pieces and I thought I really should have another go at the flowers.  That's my self discipline and waste not/want not philosophy nagging at me in unison.  It might be my favorite of the four.  Maybe I was just glad to be done.

The insides are all finished with bits of the paper to decorate.  Each card has Viva Cream Pearl Pen dots added.  Some I tapped the backside of the card to flatten the dots, some are left half-round pearl shape.

After all that... I'll be sharing in three challenges:

Love Those Pretty Papers -- Optional use red.
A Cut Above -- Anything goes with die cuts.
NBUS Challenge #71 -- Never before used schtuff.  That's my Tim Holtz Bloom, Colorize and Feathered Friends.

 

Thanks so much for bearing with me through all these cards and words.  I will see you again soon (I hope).  Take care and have a happy day!

Other dies:  Memory Box Wrapped Stitched Frames, Spellbinders Small Classic Ovals and Fluted Classics Rectangles, Creative Expressions Just for You set, Sue Wilson Creative Expressions Stacked Just Because

Love Blooms in Purple

Hello and welcome back!

Sometimes it just has to be a simple splash of color against an all white background.  More of my Penny Black Love Blooms flowers today.  So quick and easy.  Colored with Tombows and blender.

 

It's nearly impossible to see in the photo, but the white card base is woodgrain.   I stamped a Penny Black Super Day sentiment and called it done.  Maybe this saves time for some of those other cards that take all morning to finish, sheesh.

Have a happy day!

Double D Challenge: Hearts

Hello, friends!  Double D is at it again.  A new challenge starts today and this time Diane is asking for hearts.  Little hearts, big hearts -- 'tis the month for hearts.  See the pretty inspiration board...

... and a prize for a random winner:

I'm still working my way through not-yet-used supplies, and that will go on for a long time.   You'd think I was a craft survivalist with the way I've stockpiled.  Today it's the cute little envelope with flowers from the Stampendous Mailbox Spring stamp set.  The large kraft heart was a spare part.  I embossed it with an old folder and tapped all over with a freshly reinked white pigment pad.

The glossy dots are punched cardstock circles with Diamond Glaze added.  The die cut sentiment  is two layers. I used the packing tape trick on the top layer -- applied clear packing tape to red cardstock, then die cut.  Instant glossy cardstock.  After I hand cut the stamped envelope and flowers I coated with Versamark and clear embossing powder.  Maybe sometime I'll try the packing tape on a hand cut image.

This little 4 3/4" card will be a Valentine for a friend.

My teamies have used their hearts in some clever and beautiful ways.  Come along and spread some love with us by sharing your hearts in our Double D Challenge.

Have a happy day!

Stamps:  Stampendous Mailbox Spring  Paper:  Neenah Classic Crest Super Smooth Solar White 110 lb, kraft, Cougar Vanilla, Stampin' Up Ridinghood Red and Groovy Guava, red glitter cardstock  Ink:  Memento Toffee Crunch, Stampin' Up White Pigment ink, Versamark  Coloring:  Copics  Dies:  Tutti Stitched Nesting Hearts, Impression Obsession For You  Other:  Cuttlebug Seeing Spots embossing folder, 1/8" & 1/4" circle punches, heart punch, JudiKins Diamond Glaze, clear packing tape, Scotch brand foam mounting tape