Just Us Girls #707 - CAS in a Circle

 Hello!  Thanks for stopping by.  Sadly, this is my last challenge as Guest Designer on Just Us Girls.  I have enjoyed this month so much working with some really lovely, talented ladies.   I thank them for having me join them. 

The challenge this week is CAS in a Circle.  What does that mean?  Create a circle shaped card that is CAS?  Use a circle?  Feature circles?  The answer is, yes! It's however you interpret this.

My card features a lot of open space for sure!  I wish you could see this in real life.  It's stunning.  I used a sweet stamp and die set from Tonic Studios called Festive Tags

I used some gold pearlescent card - I don't know how to describe this gold other than it's a light, watery gold color and it's so pretty!  The base is ivory and the detail part is gold shiny mirror card.  The bow is die I got for free from Scrapbook.com.

This card is so pretty in person, it's shiny.  I hope you are inspired to play along.

Color My Heart Color Dare #576

Hello!  Thank you for stopping by.  Color My Heart Color Dare #576 is up and ready for your fun and creativity!

We have a 6-pack to work with.  You need to use at least 3 of these colors.  I chose Sage, Pine, Shortbread and Mocha.  White is free so I used woodgrain texture card from Lawn Fawn and metallics are free, too, so I used copper specialty card from Tonic Studios.

This card is so beautiful (she says humbly)!  I used the inverted scallop die from Pink & Main and Honey Bee Honey Cuts Wagon Wheel, Fall Bounty and Fall Bouquet dies.  I don't think I've ever been so enamored by one company's collection as I have been with this collection.  Maybe I'm a country girl at heart.  I was born and raised in Denver, we were up in the mountains all the time and we did have to go help on grandparent's farm.  I was weekend country girl.  But Autumn is my favorite time of year, particularly when we lived in West Virginia.  The colors during Fall were amazing!  Cool, crisp air where you felt warm in the sun.  Cold nights to snuggle up under a warm blanket with a cup of hot tea and a good book.  Craft fairs to go to with friends and family.  It was a happier time in my life when my kids were little and my husband and I liked each other.

Anyway.... I know this collection is available still on their site.  Go check it out!  I'm already thinking of cards with this wagon wheel with snow and a bird.  

I do hope you'll join us at Color My Heart Color Dare.  We have some talented ladies on the team and talented players who inspire us!

Tuesday Morning Sketches #734

 Hey there! Thank you so much for stopping by.  As we head into this Thanksgiving holiday Tuesday Morning Sketches is here if you need a break from turkey and football and just need some crafting time to yourself.

TMS is also collaborating with our friends at Double Trouble.  Their challenge is to add stitching to your card.  My card features dies from Tonic Studios and Spellbinders.

I'm also playing along with Just Add Ink - their challenge is to use Pool Party, Calypso Coral and Petal Pink.  These are Stampin' Up! colors so I used what was close.

I recently saw some cards that on Facebook that I think is featuring CTMH products, but what I really liked about these cards was the thin frames.  So I am doing my own version here.  I cut the base from using the rounded corner stitched rectangle die from Pink & Main.  I then used stencil to lightly add pattern in the background.  I did the same with the vertical strip on the left.  The horizontal strip I embossed a subtle pattern that also looks like stitched flowers.  I added flowers from Bold Blooms and then added some small sewing elements such as buttons, bobbin, pin and needle.  

This turned out to be a really cheery notecard.  I hope you like it and that you'll join us at TMS.  You have 2 weeks to play.

Just Us Girls #706 Mood Board

 Hello!  Thank you for stopping by.  The latest challenge is up and ready for you at Just Us Girls.  This week is a mood board.  I am having so much fun with this Guest spot and am very grateful, but I struggled with this mood board.  I didn't know what the heck I was going to do with it.  I vacillated a lot and I hope you like what I ended up with.

I went more with the colors than the images - but the overall picture of the images strike me as whimsical, non-traditional Christmas and just SO MUCH FUN!  My card features these gnomes that I got from an unbranded store.  Before I made the purchase I did my due diligence to find if "they" copied from a small business.  I couldn't find them anywhere.

Are these not the cutest gnomes (that is, if you like gnomes)1  The base is a cover die from Kat Scrappiness.  The paper is "Let it Snow" by Doodlebug.  And then I added hot pink snowflakes.  The light bulbs are Nuvo Drops.  The little red gnome, I cut his hat out of felt to accent the hat.

The sentiment is from a tag that is included in the paper pad.  The present he's standing on is a die from Tonic Studios.  But look at that little guy on the right, his mug!  Eeek!!  It's so cute.  I die cut the mug carefully from the patterned paper in the same pad.  Then using a die that I'm not really sure what it's actually for was perfect to make the teeny-tiny candy cane in that mug of hot cocoa.  I was going to do a marshmallow, too, but decided against it.

I do hope you'll join in the fun at Just Us Girls.  

Tuesday Morning Sketches #733

 Hi!  Thanks for stopping by.  The latest sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches.  Maybe you'll want to give it a try.

My card features some paper that I got for free when I ordered a couple of things from Scrapbook.com.  I kept this pretty simple.  Let the paper do the work.

It's really gorgeous paper, there wasn't anything I could do it to make it shine any better.  The sentiment was in the same paper pad, too.  I just die cut a mat for it and there we go.

It's been really gray and gloomy in FL the last couple of days so getting a natural light photo was out of the question so I pulled out my WRMK ShotBox.  I guess I have ZERO clue on how to use this!  How does everyone else get these bright, colors are vibrant, best looking photos and I get blue and washed out?  I give up.  If anyone wants to buy this from, I'll go pretty cheap on it.  Worst $100 I ever spent!  Grrr.  Maybe, if anyone actually reads this post, can tell how to use this thing so I get better pictures.

Well anyway, I would love to have you join us at the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog.  We're nearing the end of the year.  You know what that means?! 

Just Us Girls #705 Thanks/Thanksgiving

 Hello!  Thank you all so much for the warm welcome I was given last week with my first Guest Spot with JUGS.  

This week is word week.  And it's perfect since we're just a couple of weeks away from Thanksgiving here in the US.

My card features, once again, the Fall Collection from Honey Bee Stamps.  This one has almost everything I have in the collection!  The paper, the fence, the wagon wheel, the apple barrel with apples and apple blossoms and the Fall Bouquet.  I love how this turned out!  The paper was actually a pleasant surprise that it worked for this card.  I had fun die cutting out these pieces.  I don't know about you but I find die cutting and putting things together very therapeutic.

I grunged up the fence using gray and dark brown inks.  The wagon wheel I didn't do much to it since I knew most of it would be behind the barrel.  I love apples, so this barrel has my favorite snacking apples and baking apples.  Red Delicious are my fave to snack on with some peanut butter.  And Golden Delicious are my kids' favorite to snack on.  And you just can't beat a good ol' Granny Smith for baking a pie! 

I hope you enjoy my card and that inspires you to play along with us!  

Color My Heart Color Dare #574

Hello!  Thank you for your visit.  This week's Color My Heart Color Dare #574 is up and ready to go!

This challenge is a tic-tac-toe challenge.  Use 3 in row or diagonal.

My card features Acorn, Pumpkin and Honey Butter.  I did pull in a few other colors because they were needed to complete this card.  I used two different die sets from Spellbinders to make the focal image. 

This is one of the Thanksgiving cards I'll be sending to my family.  I think this one will be for my Aunt Nancy.

I hope you join us at Color My Heart Color Dare - it's a fun challenge!

Tuesday Morning Sketches #732

 Hello friends.  Thanks for stopping by.  The latest sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches and all I will say is - remember, a shape is a shape and can take on many forms.

My card features the Fall Collection from Honey Bee Stamps.  I love these dies and I'm not ready to put them away.

I did not make a square card.  But honestly, in hindsight, I should have.  I used the apple barrel and filled it with gourds, I used part of the fence die cutting a post and the bottom away.  I like this card, but not super excited.  It feels like it's falling short on something but I just didn't know what it could be.

Even the sentiment strip didn't quite work as I expected - I used WOW White Pearl fine embossing powder, but it didn't turn out very white.  I decided to just go with it and show you close up.

It's pretty in real life.  Trust me on that!

I also am participating in another challenge - something I need to do more often, for sure!

Sunday Stamps - color palette

We'll see you over at the TMS blog!  Be sure to stop by and leave the team some love.

Just Us Girls #704 - Look who got a Guest Designer spot!

 Hello!  Thank you for stopping by my blog.  I do appreciate your visit.

I am so excited to share that I got picked to be the Guest Designer for Just Us Girls for the month of November!  This is a real honor for me and I just couldn't be more delighted.

Alright - let's get started with the first challenge for November...

Red and green!  Well, when most see red and green, they automatically think Christmas and especially this time of year.  But I didn't want to go that direction, so instead I made a birthday card for a December birthday friend.

This card features a 3D embossing folder from Spellbinders.  I used Chili Red card stock from Tonic Studios.  Then I went about to create my wreath.  I started with 2 circle dies to make a frame.  Then I die cut lots of greenery from Be Bold Blooms die set from Spellbinders and some sprigs from the Bouquets & Buttermilk die set from Tonic Studios.  I did 3 shades of green card stock.  The florals are also from Be Bold Blooms.  I had already adhered the wreath to the red panel and then had issues with my sentiment so I carefully cut out the center of the red panel to open up the inside of the wreath.  Then I used some light gold pearlescent card for the back panel and the sentiment. 

I think this is probably one of the most elegant birthday cards I've ever made! 

I hope to see you over at the JUGS challenge blog - it's going to be a great month!!

Birthstone Challenge November - December

Hello! The newest challenge is up at Birthstone Challenges.  This next 6 weeks is the November-December challenge for Turquoise and Topaz.

I cannot tell you how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE this page!!  It's very bohemian and I can't be more excited about it.  I chose to go with Topaz and teals.  I had hoped this would be turquoise-y enough for the challenge, but there's still too much brightness.

I really pulled out all the stops!  I hot foiled, I stenciled, I die cut, I embossed, I watercolor smooshed, I dropped!  Okay, to start with the base.  I did die cut from watercolor paper.  It was the only thing I knew would withstand all I was going to do it.

I purchased some Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray (Industrial Chic) set off Amazon sometime last year.  I never used them!  I finally pulled them out and starting spraying on a scrap piece of paper.  So beautiful.  I went with Steampunk Sephia for my base.  Once it was dry, I pulled out some hot foil borders and copper foil.  I didn't know if it would work well, but it did!

Here you can see I also colored some watercolor paper with Shabby Turbine Teal, in the Lindy's set and then hot foiled the flowers and leaves.  You can also see I used a floral stencil and some copper colored glitter paste.

I found these random feather dies so I cut them from watercolor paper and sepia colored vellum.  The watercolor feathers I sprayed those 2 colors on and then smeared with embossing ink and used copper and brown embossing powder.  I feel like this made them look like metal!  Anyway, I finished it off by adding a few drops of Chocolate Brown Nuvo drops and a few strands of twine tied into a bow. 

The words are random stickers from Tim Holtz.  

I'll see you over at the Birthstone Challenge.  These are some great colors for Fall!

Tuesday Morning Sketches #731

 Hello!  Thank you for stopping by.  I do appreciate your visit and hope you leave me a comment so I know you were here.

The latest sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches and it's a pretty easy sketch, but dress it up or down any way that you'd like.  I'm working on my Christmas cards.  Last year I designed 4 for friends and family, this year I'm only doing 3 designs.  This one is very untraditional and I love it!  It features specialty card stock from Tonic Studios Craft Perfect and dies from GinaK Designs.  The buffalo check paper I got from Scrapbook.com. 

You'll notice that I didn't include a sentiment strip as per the sketch.  I didn't because I'm not sure how I wanted to do it.  I'm thinking a couple different ideas and couldn't decide so I thought I'd just share my card without it.  I didn't take a very good picture I guess.  You can barely see the embossing behind the snowflake.  In real life, it's beautiful!  The snowflakes are 3 layers cut from silver glitter card, white vellum and silver pearlescent card on top. 

I do hope you'll join us at TMS.

Color My Heart Color Dare #572

Hello!  Thank you for your visit.  This week's Color My Heart Color Dare #572 is up and ready to go!

My card features Scarlet, Candy Apple, Pine, Mink, Jade and Mocha.  Great Christmas colors, eh?  I also used the Festive Tags Stamp & Die set from Tonic Studios.  And let me tell you, it's not just for tags, check out this sweet Christmas card...

I used some stitched rounded rectangle dies from Pink & Main for the mats.  The paper is actually from a well loved, almost gone Fall paper pack from Echo Park.  The stitched oval dies are from CC Designs.  The rest of the card is from the stamp and die set from Tonic.  This was really fun to put together and made a very easy Christmas card.

We'll see you over at the Color Dare challenge blog.  

Tuesday Morning Sketches #730

 Hello!  Thank you for stopping by!  The latest sketch is up on the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog.  It's similar to last week's but with some slightly different elements.

My card - this one features some digital papers I've had for a long time.  Now that I have my printer back online I decided to print some paper.  This card, the paper is doing all the work and all I did was die cut a few layers and stamped a sentiment.   Easy!

The center image is hiding a beautiful bird but there wasn't anything else I could about it.  I love the bookprint and if I know my classics, I think it's a page out of Tom Sawyer.  I love the idea of using bookprint on cards and art journals but I just can't bring myself to tear up an actual book. 

Please join us at TMS and leave some love for the team!

Tuesday Mornning Sketches #729

 Hello!  The latest sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches.  It's meant to be a slim line card but really, you can use any size card - it's an easy sketch.

My card features die cuts from the Heartfelt Harvest collection from Honey Bee Stamps.  I'm obsessed with this collection and I can't stop playing with it!

This time I got the papers and just had to use them.  The colors and patterns in their papers are so warm and rich and make for super easy masculine cards.  I am planning on sending this to a guy, because even though it's flowers - it still feels very manly to me.

This card is a quick and easy one.  I hope it inspires you to play along with us!

Color My Heart Color Dare #570

 Hello!  Thank you for your visit.  This week's Color My Heart Color Dare #570 is up and ready to go!

I realize my colors are very similar to the card I shared a couple of week's ago.  But really, I love this color combination.   I chose Journey, Mink and Ballerina.  They just worked way too well for this cup of latte love.  Once again, I am featuring the Tonic Studios Craft Kit Marshmallow Hugs.  I love this kit so much!  Probably my top most favorite since I started subscribing to these kits.  Don't get me wrong, I like the other kits that I received, but this one just stole my heart!

So I started off using Mink colored card stock, which to me, is a light gray.  I took a 4x5.25 sized panel and using this stencil I have and some of Glimmer Paste that comes in the kit I made this retro looking panel.  So cool and shiny!  I cut the whipped cream from white card stock and added Embellishment Mousse in Snow Storm to the detail die cuts and then once they were dry I adhered to the main piece using foam squares.  

Here's a close up of the glimmery background and all that texture to make the whipped topping look so real and creamy delicious!  This was a fun card to make!

I hope to see you at the blog joining is this colorful fun challenge.

Tuesday Morning Sketches #728

 Hello friends, thanks for stopping by.  The latest sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches and it's really easy.  It's a great one for using up scraps.  Don't forget a shape is a shape and it can take on many forms.

For my card, the shape took on the form of a snowflake....

This card isn't my favorite and it was obvious I wasn't feeling well on Saturday.  But I did try to let the paper do the work and I used one paper stack and pulled out some old Martha Stewart snowflake punches.

I do hope you'll join us at TMS.  

Just Playin' Around

 Hello!  Thank you for stopping by.  So Saturday was World Card Making Day and I wasn't feeling well, so I celebrated on Sunday.  

My card features some die cuts from Honey Bee Stamps - their Heartfelt Harvest collection has grabbed my heart and isn't letting go.  I'm also playing along with Just Us Girls 700th challenge.  Congratulation JUGS!

I started with a piece of watercolor card stock die cut from a stitched rectangle die from Pink & Main. I washed some Broken China Distress Oxide ink onto the cardstock.  That was the extent of "watercoloring."   The wagon wheel and mushrooms are from the Heartfelt Harvest Collection from  Honey Bee Stamps, I die cut these elements from scraps in my scrap box using the color palette from JUGS.  I added a grass die cut from Tonic Studios behind the wheel.  I added a bit of Moroccan Flame Dream Drops to the center hub of the wheel.  I finished off the card by adding a sentiment from Bouquets & Buttermilk from Tonic Studios and Mountain Dew Crystal Drops. 

I am so pleased with how this card turned out.  I am loving these dies so much, you'll see them a lot during the months of October and November.

 Congratulations to Lisa Kind and her team on their 700th challenge!  They started just after I started Tuesday Morning Sketches - I am so glad that both these challenge blogs are still here after 14 years!

Tuesday Morning Sketches #727

 Hello!  Thank you so much for your visit.  The latest sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches.  It's easy going and a lot of fun.

My card features a snowman die set by Tim Holtz that I got for free last year.  I only played a little with it last year, so I thought I'd pull it out.  

I also pulled out some other dies and embossing pastes.  This one was really a lot of fun to work on.  One of the pastes I used is a Crackle Paste and then I mixed whatever was left on my glass mat with some Snow Drift embossing paste to smoosh onto the card below the snowman.  Their names are Chilly and Freezy. 

I did go with a square card which I don't make very often, they are a little more postage to mail but I needed the space due to the elements I used.  I like it - so I went with it.

We'll see you over at the TMS blog - can't wait to see what you make!

Just Playin' Around

 Hello!  Thank you for stopping by.  I'm playing along with Just Us Girls challenge.  This week they said to CASE a Design Team member.  It was so hard to pick which card to CASE but this is what I went with...

I'm CASE'ing Ina.  I had made some new dividers for my bin that holds my card bases and scraps so I had this paper out and decided to keep using it.  I also had made this flowers months ago and still had them on my table so I used them, too..  You can't really see it in this picture but the long panel and the dots on the base panel are gold foil.  It looks so pretty in real life.

This was a lot of fun to make and honestly, because all the materials were on my table, it was quick to make! 

It's a great challenge and there are some cards to CASE!

Color My Heart Color Dare #568

   Hello!  Thank you for your visit.  This week's Color My Heart Color Dare #568 is up and ready to go!

For my card, I saw this very cool technique on Instagram where someone showed how to make flowers with the Nuvo Drops.  So I wanted to do something similar.  It turned out to be a little messy but still, super cute.  I came as close to the color called Journey as I could with what I have and added pink and green.  I dropped the "journey" color in 5 drops in a circle and then using a pokey tool I stretched the drops out to form petals.  The sentiment is from an old stamp set from Close To My Heart.

My drops don't have the best, fresh from the store consistency because they are kept in a room that isn't very climate controlled - hard to do in an older home in FL, which is why some of the drops got a little goopy.  But overall, I think this is an adorable card.

Please come get colorful with us on the challenge blog.

Tuesday Morning Sketches #726

 Hello!  Thank for you stopping by.  The latest sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches and it's a great one.  Some really great elements.

I've been playing with the September '23 Crafty Kit from Tonic Studios - Marshallow Hugs.  Truth is, I can't stop playing with this set!  You'll see a lot of it in the coming days/weeks.  This card I went ALL OUT with the sparkle...

This is a 5x7 card - I had to go big to fit everything I wanted to fit onto this card!  I used silver glitter card and coral card stock from the kit.  The spoon, I put some Nuvo Drops on it to make it a chocolate covered spoon.  The snowflake panel I used both the embellishment mousse and the glacier paste in the kit, too.  The snowflake is stencil from GinaK and the retro design is a stencil in my stash.  I made a saucer from an oval die and then added some pieces from the cup cut out design.

Here's a close up of all that sparkle and the chocolate covered spoon. 

I hope to see you over at the TMS blog to join the fun!

Just Playin' Around - FOORRREEE!!!

 Just Us Girls said to make a CAS Sports card.  Talk about a challenge!!  So I have to admit that I took to Pinterest for some inspiration.  There was a really cute card that inspired me but it was way too complicated.  So here is my version...

I further challenged myself to use scraps on my table - not to pull out a single thing, other than ink.  This is what I came up with.  Cute retirement card, don't you think?

I'm vying for a Guest position.  Crossing my fingers!  

Tuesday Morning Sketches #725

 Hello! Thank you for stopping by.  The latest sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches.  If fun, it's easy, I think you'll like it if you just give it a try.

My card features a Hot Foil plate and Layering Stencils from Crafty Meraki.  This is one of my new favorite stores.  I try to buy often but my crafting budget only goes so far.  This set is called Love Forever.

I rarely make 5x7 cards but this set is so huge, an A2 card couldn't contain it's gloriousness....

I took an ivory 5x7 base from Tonic Studios, which is very heavy card stock and hot foiled the image directly on the card.  Never did this before, but the results are fantastic.  Then I hot foiled again on a smaller size card.  This smaller layer I colored using the layering stencils.  I then cut 3 squares out from the colored piece and layered to some gold card stock and then placed on the base.

Check out this shine... it looks like fire!

I think my sister is going to love her birthday card!  

Thank you for your visit and we'll see you over at the TMS blog.  Be sure to leave the team some love.

Color My Heart Color Dare #566

  Hello!  Thank you for your visit.  This week's Color My Heart Color Dare #566 is up and ready to go!

This is a gorgeous color palette and I could only think of pumpkins.    I did make these myself using oval dies cut from ivory card stock and then colored using ink.  I did ink the edges the brown ink before putting the pumpkins together.

The sentiment is from a Craft Kit by Tonic Studios.  I also used some copper colored metallic card stock to mat the focal panel.

I am so pleased with this card!  I do hope you'll join us.

Tuesday Morning Sketches #724

 Hello!  Thank you for stopping by.  I do appreciate your visit.  The latest sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches and it's a really nice and easy going sketch.

My card this week features dies from the Sept 23 Craft Kit from Tonic Studios called Marshmallow Hugs but there isn't a marshmallow in sight on this card.  This is a really great kit and if you don't subscribe to Tonic Studios Craft Kits, I really urge you to try one.  The cute box they come in is packed with dies, stamps, card stock and extra goodies like embellishment mousse, drops, adhesive.  It's a great bargain.  Enough advertising, although I earn nothing, I just love the products.  Here's my card....

The craft kit is looks like this....

Do you see that cup sitting on top of the blue card stock with tabs on the sides and bottom?  That's the image I used cutting off the tabs.  Then I stamped a decorative design onto the bowl.  I then die cut the "liquid" die from ivory card stock.  Using one of the steam dies I embossed on that little piece and then inked the piece with yellow and brown ink.  I cut a slit so that I could slide in the spoon.  After it was put together I used Nuvo Drops in Buttermilk to make some noodles.

Then I made the crackers by using the Mini Rotary Paper Perforator by Tim Holtz.  I put my card stock on my Scor-Pal Mini and then cut the crackers.  I separated them and then using a paper piercer I punched the holes in the center of the cracker like saltines.  Then inked them a little for depth and shading.  

The paper I used is from Pink & Main and the sentiment is from Hero Arts. 

I do hope you'll join us and we'll see you over at the TMS blog.

Just Playin' Around

 Hello.  Thanks for stopping by.  I've been playing around with all sorts of things lately, but it seems it's only for design work.  The one thing I have in my life that's purely for fun (and sometimes I make it my design work) is my Card Traders group.  The challenge was to make a Halloween Z fold card. 

Challenge accepted!  I pulled out my Silhouette Cameo for some help...

I used cut files for everything except the cat and the pumpkins.  I made the base 11 x 5 1/4 gray card stock.  Then cut a piece of white card stock that measured 5 x 10 3/4 and ink blended Black Soot, Villainous Poison and Stormy Sky Distress Oxide inks.  I did cut a piece of masking paper with a circle die to block off some of the card stock to make a full moon. 

I cut out everything in black so it made me wonder should I really do orange pumpkins, but in my world there is a light bulb in the street lamp illuminating the pumpkins as well as the big full moon.  Besides, it's not quite full night so I figured that's why you can see the color of the pumpkins!  LOL  Just go with it.  

This also is a type of box card.  I'll be honest, it was inspired by Lori Whitlock's pop up box cards.  I put in a couple of cross bars so that I could add a sentiment that I made on the Cameo.

This is a better look at it.

I don't normally make Halloween cards - it doesn't seem a holiday for card greetings but it was the challenge and it was a lot of fun to make.  

Although, the moon isn't the focal point, I am entering this in the Just Us Girls Challenge.