No Challenges

 Hey there-

No challenges for this post, just warm loving wishes for hubs to have a Happy Birthday!

Hope you all have a fabulous day!

A Crafty Afternoon

 Hello--

I am still deep into the reading binge.  The weather has been cooler and perfect for reading all afternoon long.  Today though, I am watching college football and playing along in a few challenges.  Instead of separate posts, I'm going to put them all into one.

First up - Freshly Made Sketches...I took a bit of a liberty on this one, but I think it should work.

I needed a get well/feeling better/recovery wishes card for a man.  This plaid paper from Stampin Up set the tone for the colors and the sketch was the perfect design.  The image and sentiment are from WPlus9.

Next up three challenges - CAS on Friday Numbers, Seize the Birthday Balloons, and Watercooler Wednesday Occasions.

The numbers are from Hero Arts, the Balloons from MFT and the sentiment is from Sugar Peas.

 

 

And my last card for the afternoon is for Color Hues. 

I pulled out an older Newton's Nook stamp for this challenge.  The pile of blankets looked perfect for soom Copic coloring.  The swoosh of stars embossed in silver is from a Stampin Up set and was laying unused in my bin. I think it goes well with the sentiment and adds a nice bit of neutral bling.

Thanks so much for visiting, especially if you made it through the whole post!  Have a fabulous weekend. Stay safe.

Warm Wishes

 Hello-

Temps are coming down here.  Nights are cold enough to grab a couple of blankets and days have me considering finding my 3/4 length sleeves.  The tanks are about to be packed away and the short sleeves are likely to be paired with cardigans.  I love a good cardigan. I always have.

Today's card is for AAA Cards.  I pulled out a new to me set from CTMH--Reindeer Crossing. I won it last year and it never made the holiday rotation.

I started with a corner and some inking in tumbled glass, then the deer and the sentiment were heat embossed on top in silver.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Thank You

 Hello -

I started the Jack Reacher series of books by Lee Child mid August.  There are 24 in the series plus a handful of short story/stand beside books.  I'm on book #17.  I stay awake all night reading. I cannot put the books down.  I am going to take a break after this one.   There are only 7 more and I need to not blow through them.  I'll be sad once they are over.   Besides, I have loads of cards to be made! :-)

I made a matching envelope, something I rarely do. But I a left over piece of the patterned paper and why not?

This card's design was inspired by two challenges: Case this Sketch and Tic Tac Toe Challenge. I used the lower left diagonal on the tic tac toe challenge.

 

The stamp set is from Stampin Up - Love what you do; the die I used is from Penny Black- Elegant Stitching, the patterned paper is also from Stampin Up - Tis the Season.

Thanks much for visiting!

Happy Birthday

 Hello -

I've been deep in the books again and not making cards.  My Dad's birthday is coming up so I had to get on the stick.  Two cards, one from Hubs and I and one from the Cats.  I'll be submitting the first one to both Watercooler Wednesday and The Male Room Challenge.

Thanks so very much for stopping by.

  

Thanks a lot

 Greetings -

One more card before I crawl in my bed.  This time I am playing along with The Card Concept. Their inspiration photo is below.

I pulled out a whimsical flower set from Paper Smooches. I love that it has sentiments curved nicely to fit the banner which is a separate stamp from the jar of blooms.  I colored the flowers in sunflower tones then fussy cut it and the banner.  I layered them. I added a fancy cut across the bottom of the card base and then underlayered a stamped black/white lined panel. 

My card is clean and layered.

Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas

 Hello-

Another break from my binge reading and laundry folding, and I took a bit of time to make a card for the CAS Christmas Card Challenge.  The prompt is:

I made a small blue sky clouded panel, then cut out Memory Box's Stitched Circle Trees from the card base.  I adhered the cloud plane behind the panel.  I've used this die several times, usually with glitter paper or blue paper behind it.  I am definitely liking the clouds in the background.  The Merry Christmas sentiment was stamped in the same ink as the stencil to make the clouds.

Thanks so very much for visiting.

Sympathy

 Hello-

My stash of sympathy cards is empty again. So I am making one on the fly to send out tomorrow.

I was inspired by the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches and the colors at Color Hues a new challenge.  The card will also be visiting the Watercooler Wednesdays Challenge.

I opted to use a portrait card orientation instead for CAS Colours and Sketches.  The base was inked, the leaves die cut and inked in the same shade of green. I liked that tone on tone. The remainder of the card was inked in yellow. A bit of a thread bow was added in yellow along with the sentiment. Simple enough for a Sympathy card, but hopefully it will bring a smile.

    

Thank you all for taking the time to visit.

Smile

 Hello There -

Its been a few days, since I actually sat down to create.  My design team work is done months in advance.  I've been hanging out downstairs watching it rain and binge reading Lee Child's Jack Reacher series.  I am on the 9th in the series of 24. I thought I needed to do something else for a few days, since I really get engrossed in the stories and resent having to leave them to do things like make meals and clean the kitchen.  Time for real life to intrude. 

This card is for the colorful challenge at Double D.  Here is the mood board:

I loved the pink, orange, purples and touch of red in that upper left panel, so I used those colors.

Some distress inking and copic coloring and I have quit the colorful just because kinda card.

I hope my card makes you smile and that you have a great weekend.  Thanks for taking the time to come visit.

P.S.  I sucked it up and went ahead and used the new blogger interface. It was easier than the last time I tried it. So I thank any and all who made a fuss and got improvements. I think I can deal with it. hugs.

Leaves

 Hi again -

One of the things that needed doing was organizing all my stamp off and die cuts friends have sent. I have stuff that is years old and it was in 4 different containers in three different places.  That mess has been resolved.  One bin, dividers for die cut pieces, panels, stamped images, words, embossed panels and duplicates which I will likely share with others.  Sometimes it's nice to get a little surprise with a card. I do not necessarily remember who all gave me the items, but the ones I do recall I will mention.

These fabulous leaves came to me from Betty.  I colored the whole leaf with distress oxide ink and placed the die cut veins over it. 

I'll be submitting this to Freshly Made Sketches. Their sketch is below.

Thanks so very much for visiting.

Twofer Card Challenge 31

Greetings-

Its the 10th of the month so another Twofer Card Challenge is going live today.  The topic is:

If you've been a frequent visitor to my blog, you know I often start with choosing my stamp, die or stencil.   This month I am going with Lawn Fawn's Joy to the Woods.

In order to play by the challenge rules:

I sketch out two card ideas before putting the time and effort in to create my cards only to end up with two looking very much the same.  Here is my sketch for this month:

Below are my Twofers, both together and individually.

My common element is the birch tree on the far left of the Christmas card.

Thanks so very much for visiting....and I hope to see your Twofers in the Gallery.

Birthdays

Hi,

Another card today.  This time I'm playing along with MFT's Color Challenge.

I chose the Happy Birthday Candles die from MFT.  I pulled a piece of white card and inked the bottom in a blue/purple shade and a good orange above.  It wasn't exact but I liked that some of the candles got a bit of orange.  To make them a touch glossy the inked card was clear embossed.

When time came to put the candles on a card panel, I left the pieces in the die and added liquid glue to the backs, set the die down on the panel and used my bone folder to press them to the panel.  This kept the fab spacing from the die.  I added a bit of foam tape to every other candle flame just to add a bit of interest to the card.  The sentiment was stamped and clear embossed on a pale gray bit of card and cut with the slant sentiment dies.



Thanks so much for stopping by.

Ghost Hug

Hello-

I am so happy that I am back in my crafty space and feeling like making cards.  Its so different from the last month...the cooler temps probably help as well.

Today, I am playing along with the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge. The sketch is below.

I used two 2.75 inch squares for the panels. One was cut from MFT's pack of polka dotted black and white paper.  The dots were too white so I colored them in with a C3 Copic marker.  The stamp set is Fab-boolous Friends; and I used the original cloud stencil with with chipped sapphire and black soot inks. Altenew's butternut ink was lightly sponged on the moon. The sentiment has two lines (you can't feel it but its there), I cut the second line off and put it on the interior.




Thanks much for visiting.

August CCC

Greetings-

This month I went with the prompt of pets...ya know I have a lot of cat stamps.  So this cutie from Newton's Nook has been waiting to be inked up for quite some time.

I hope Jeanne enjoys the card!

Thanks for visiting.

Fangtastic

Hey there -

While in blogland I have been seeing such fun cards all with cool inking and I just had to case a few.  I'm not entering this anywhere, since its a case, although not an exact one.

Recently, Michelle Short created this adorable card. It was all about layered stencils.  I used an oval, a circle and MFT's clouds stencil. It was fun to make and I love the way it turned out.  Michelle, thanks for the inspiration for my cased version of your card!


Thanks for visiting!

Hello Fall

Hi there!

Happy September.  Oh I love this time of year.  It's the first day in quite a while that I have opened the window in my crafty space.  I have enjoyed it tremendously.  The sweet gum tree outside my window had two leaf triplets that have already turned yellow, the rest of the tree is still all green.

Today I made some cards for fall.  This one is using a technique I read about at Tracey McNeely's blog called swinking.  I checked out a couple of videos on youtube and had a bit of fun.

This one is visiting the gallery at Casology.

I very randomly picked out 6 mini ink cubes and dragged then across a card front.  I added the leafy die cut (penny black I think) atop the colors.  I think it's a good "fall starter" card.  Not quite the vibrant colors of fall but definitely going in that direction. The sentiment comes from an old Simon Says set.

Thanks so much for visiting.

September

Hello-

My September Calendar page is completely out of control...but I am embracing it.  My inking is splotchy, and I really don't care.  Sometimes I love the brushes sometimes not.  I probably just need to use the distress oxides so that its creamy and smooth for the blending when I want lots of color saturation.  Next time...

I have a new to me Newton's Nook stamp set and I loved this image considering we had been going to the farmers markets several times last month. 


So here's to September!

Thanks for stopping.