happy holiday...

 Hello!  Popping in with a card for the Altenew November challenge.  I will also be posting it to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.   Haven't done an Altenew challenge in several months, but couldn't pass up the chance to use my favorite poinsettia stamp set that just happens to be from Altenew!  

I love the Altenew Festive Poinsettia stamp and die set because it is one of the most realistic poinsettia stamp sets out there.  Most poinsettia stamp sets depicit the poinsettia looking more like a traditional flower.  The flowers on a poinsettia aren't the red bracts, but the tiny yellow dots in the center of each plant.   Anyway, like I said, the Festive Poinsettia is a very realistic depiction of a poinsettia.  I stamped the image twice with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink on watercolor cardstock and then used my Jane Davenport watercolors to color in the images.  Once they were dry I splattered them with black paint, let them dry, again, and then die cut.  I layered them together for the front of my card.  I used Antique Linen distress oxide ink and the MFT rectangle stencil to create the background for the flowers.  I love the soft golden background it created.  I stamped the sentiment from the set in the Nocturne ink, die cut it with a tag die, inked the edges with the Antique Linen DO and then added the little red twine bow.  Another Christmas card done!  Since I did stencil the background I will also add this to the last JUGs challenge for the year.  

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

halloween greetings

 Hello!  Popping back in with another card for a few challenges:  Color Throwdown, Just Us Girls and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   Let's have a look at what I made.

It's pumpkin season and I am here for it!  I LOVE PUMPKINS!! And making card with pumpkins on them, lol!  Couldn't resist using the Simon Says Stamp Pumpkin die set along with the CTD colors and inspiration from the JUGs mood board.  I die cut the pumpkin from orange cardstock and then added some light inking with distress oxide ink left on the blending brush I use with orange oxide inks.  I die cut the stem and leaves from aqua and green cardstocks and did the same thing with them.   Black cardstock was die cut with a rectangle die and then embossed with the spider web embossing folder.  I adhered that to a light gray cardstock base, added the pumpkin and leaves and finished with the sentiment that was stamped in black on the same light gray used for the card base and die cut with a tag die.  To tone down the gray I used the residual ink on my black soot oxide blending brush.   Another Halloween card to send to one of the littles in my life!

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.

sweet wishes release...

 Hello, hello!  Did you see?  Simon Says Stamp has a brand new release called Sweet Wishes.  You can find the complete collection of products right here.  Simon Says Stamp generously sent me the beautiful Sketched Leaves stamp set and I created two projects with the set.   I went full on autumn colors mode for both projects.  Let's have a look at the first one.

For the card I started off by stamping the maple leaf on watercolor paper with VersaMark watermark ink, applying gold embossing powder and then heat setting it.  I then used my Tonic Studio Aqua Flow pens in autumn shades of red, yellow and brown for the background.  Once the piece was dry, I die cut it with a rectangle die and then sprayed it with distress mica sprays in Harvest Moon, Mulled Cider and Fallen Acorn.  I roughed up the edges for a more rustic look.  I embossed the sentiment in gold on vellum, trimmed it down and tore one edge.  I wrapped the other edge around the back of my panel, secured it with glue dots and tied the bow.  The panel was then adhered to an off-white cardstock base.  Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to add texture.  

I really had alot of fun creating my next project.  Let's have a look at it. 

When I first saw the stamp set I knew that I wanted to create a decor type piece with it.  I went with a tag design using a Stampers Anonymous #8 thick board tag with a distress #8 heavy stock tag on top.  For this piece I used distress oxide inks in Carved Pumpkin, Fossilized Amber, Bundled Sage and Gathered Twigs.  I blended on the inks to my liking and then splattered the tag with water.  I let the tag dry for a bit and then stamped on the three leaves using VersaFine CLAIR Acorn ink.  I finished the tag with lots of splatters foundry wax in the color Gilded.  I heat set the splatters to give them shine and make them permanent.  The edges of the tag were also roughed up for a more rustic look.   You don't see it in the photo, but I used some Tim Holtz washi tape to cover the sides of the thickboard tag for a more finished look.  Then I adhered the inkblended tag using Multi Matte Medium and let it dry.  

For the leaves I used the same oxide inks on a piece of cream colored heavy stock cardstock.   Once I had the inkblending done I stamped each leaf using the Acorn ink and then trimmed out each leaf.  There are matching dies that you can find right here, but I don't have them (yet!).  Since the leaves are fairly large, trimming them out was pretty quick and easy!   I also splattered the leaves with lots of the Gilded foundry wax.  The edges were roughed up and then I glued each leaf on top of the image stamped on the tag by adding glue down the center of each one.   To finish I stamped the sentiment in VersaMark watermark ink, applied gold embossing powder and heat set.  The sentiment was then die cut with a cute little fancy shaped tag from Simon Says Stamp.  The edges roughed up and it was adhered to the tag.  I also added a little bit of inking to the edges of the leaves before gluing them on.  Some Memory Box fairy drops in autumn shades were added, along with the ribbon bow.  I custom colored the ribbon using the mica sprays in Harvest Moon and Mulled Cider.  I really love how this tag turned out!

The challenge at Just Us Girls is to create a project based on the word leaves.  My tag fits the challenge perfectly so I will be posting it there.   Love it when things work out like that!

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

fall cards...

 Hello, hello!  Popping in with a couple of fall themed cards to share.  I thought our normal wet and dreary fall weather had arrived the other day, but nope!  We are back to sun and relatively warm temperatures.  It's a little annoying as I really want to wear my warm and cozy tops, but some days it is too warm!  Oh well, I'm sure the wet and cold will be here soon enough, lol!   And I should not be complaining anyway, my corner of the world has not faced the devastation that the southeast has!  Absolutely sickened by the response of the current administration, as well!   Anyway, you came here to see cards, so here they are.

This one will be heading off to Freshly Made Sketches.  I generally don't make cards as busy as this one, but felt in the mood, lol!  All the papers, stamps and dies are from a Simon Says Stamp fall themed card kit I got last year.  Finally putting it to good use!  I used distress oxide inks for the leaves.  I inked up the leaves using the tiny distress ink blenders and they worked like a charm.  I pounced on one color and then was able to add the secondary color exactly where I wanted it to go!  To make things easy on myself I die cut all the images first, left them in the cardstock and then lined up the images.  It worked perfectly.   I trimmed down the background paper, added some additional pieces behind it for strength and adhered it to my card base.  The gingham paper was die cut with a tag die from the kit, the leaves adhered along with the sentiment.  I finished everything off with the two little bows.  I really like how it turned out.  Will add this one to the current Time Out challenge, as well.

This card is for Color Throwdown and as you can see I used that pretty tag again!  It was right there at my finger tips so why not?   The mushrooms are from a die set from the Greetery.  I inked them up with distress oxide inks and then adhered them together.  I had the embossed background panel on my desk as well so decided to use it, too.  I went with the debossed side as sometimes I like that look better than the embossed side.  The embossing folder is from Simon Says Stamp and came in the card kit that I used to make the first card.  I die cut the tag from off white cardstock, inked up one corner with distress oxide ink that was left on the blending brush and then added the mushrooms.  The sentiment is from the Greetery Oakwood sentiment set.  I finished off the card with the double bow at the top of the tag.   More my usual clean and simple style!   Adding this card to the Simon Says Stamp World Card Making Day line up.  

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Well, that's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day. 

Birch Press Design

 Hello!  Popping in to let you know that I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today.  Here is a little peek of what I created.

Hope you will head over to the Birch Press Design blog to see the full project.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

wishing you the best day...

 Hello!  Hope all is well in your world.  I have a card to share with you for a few challenges.  Namely, Pinkfresh Studio June challenge, Color Hues color challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to emboss.   Let's have a look at what I made.

The June Pinkfresh Studio challenge is to use ombre or color gradient.  When I started this card Color Hues hadn't announce their new color combo, but I had decided to do ombre inkblending using distress oxide ink in Spun Sugar.  I got as far as inking up the cardstock and then die cutting it with the Pinkfresh Studio Artistic Blossoms die set before being distracted with other projects.  When I got back to trying to finish the card Color Hues had post the new combo and it was pink and sage!   A few days later I was finally able to ink up some cardstock with Bundled Sage distress oxide ink.  I tried to get a decent ombre look with Bundled Sage distress oxide ink.  It is subtle, but there is that ombre look.  I die cut the piece with the smallest rectangle in the Folk edge rectangles die set and then matted that piece with some white cardstock that I had embossed with an embossing folder.   That was die cut with a large Fold edge rectangle and adhered to my card base.  I adhered three of the Artistic Blossoms in the center with liquid adhesive, added the bow, the sentiment from the PFS Amazing Things stamp set and then added some tiny gems to finish it off.   

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Waffle Flower Grip Mats Re-Release!

 Hello everyone!  I popping in today to share my thoughts on the recently re-released Waffle Flower Grip Mats.  Waffle Flower sent me what they call the Stamper Bundle of grip mats to try out.  The Stamper Bundle consists of two grip mats.  One mat fits the Mini MISTI and measures 4.7 x 6 inches.  The other mat fits the original MISTI and measures 6.5 x 8.5 inches.  Just like the original grip mats these mats also come with grid sheets that can be placed on one side of the mat to help with alignment.   Full disclosure I did not use the grid sheets as I did not use my grip mats in the MISTIs that I have, but placed them directly onto my Tim Holtz glass mat.  I most likely will continue to use them this way because I did not have much success in getting the grid sheets to adhere correctly to the old grip mats that I have.  Here is a direct link to the Stamper Bundle.   Let's take a look at what I created using the mats.

Along with the grip mats Waffle Flower generously also sent me a few other products to use with the mats.  Included in my package was the super fun Oversized Daisy Die-n-Stencil set.  I used the products to create this shaped card that I will be sending off to my great niece who is turning 8 at the end of this month!   

In the above photo you can see my grip mat positioned on my glass mat with the die cut pieces placed on to.  I was using the 4.75 x 6 inch grip mat and all the pieces fit nicely with room to spare.   I then used different oxide inks to ink up the flower. 

Here the stencil is placed on the flower and you can see how the stencil is being gripped by the mat below it.  I didn't have to hold anything down with my free hand which was so nice!  I stenciled everything very quickly resulting in the flower that you see in the first photo.  Once I had the stenciling done I created a card base for the flower by using a folded white cardstock base and then using the large daisy die to cut out the base.  I also cut out a second single white flower to add to the back for a clean look.    I finished the card by sandwiching the leaves inbetween the back of the stenciled flower and the front of the card base and then adding the pre-print Waffle Flower sentiment strips.   I'm going to add this to the Time Out challenge to be inspired by a quote.   You can see the quote in the graphic below.

For the second card I used the Postage Collage Blocks stencil that Waffle Flower also sent me.  For this card I made a Christmas card using several different Waffle Flower products that I already have.  I used the Layered Poinsettia die set, the Mistletoe Branch die, Small Ornaments die set and the Merry Christmas stamp set.   I used distress oxide ink in Antique Linen to ink up the openings.  I used a Christmas paper from Echo Park to die cut all the different pieces, adhered them together and then added them to the card front after I stamped the sentiments.  I don't own the Waffle Flower postage collage die so I found a rectangle die to cut the panel to size and adhered it to the kraft cardstock base. 

As you can see even though the stencil is larger than the grip mat, it still adhere nicely to the mat allowing me to stencil the panel fairly quickly.  

I used the new Tim Holtz tiny ink blenders to do precise ink blending of the openings and they worked like a charm!  

Overall, I have to say that I like the new grips mats alot and plan to use them frequently.  In a few weeks I will be sharing how they work with stencil pastes and two cards that I made so stay turned.  I hope that the information I provided was helpful.  Here are graphics showing the grip mats that I used and the full bundle. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

two cards...

 Hello!  Popping in to share two cards that I made for several challenges.  First up is a card I made for Color Throwdown and the May Pinkfresh Studio challenge of flowers.  Take a look.

I have had the Pinkfresh Studio Charming Floral Border set of products for along time and I think have only used it once.  Shame on me because how sweet is it?  I stamped the image twice and then used the stencils to color the flowers using Pinkfresh Studio inks.  When I initially did the stenciling of the purples the second shade was too close in color to the first one use so I had to re-stencil the image using a darker purple.   Didn't have to do that with the oranges and the aquas.  Once the stenciling was done I die cut the borders with the matching die.  I die cut additional borders from scrap cardstock to adhere behind the stenciled ones to give them more substance.  There were adhered to my favorite PFS Sparkling Diamonds cover plate die.  I decided that I didn't want to cover up any of the pretty stenciling I did so I used a sentiment from the Charming Borders set that I embossed in black on vellum and then trimmed down with a sentiment strip die.  I finished with these little clear droplets that I have.  I don't know where they came from, but I sure do like them!

This next card is for Freshly Made Sketches and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Take a look.

I found the FMS sketch to be a bit of a challenge for me.  I wanted to use patterned paper for the card and used some green and blue plaid paper from a Memory Box 6x6 pad.  I die cut the center rectangle and then flipped the paper over to cut the strips from the other side.  I think I got my strips too close to the center rectangle, but no going back now, lol!  The center rectangle was popped up with foam squares and the strips around the rectangle with thin foam squares.  I had previously inked up some white cardstock with brown and blue distress oxide inks (vintage photos, gathered twigs and blueprint sketch) so I used those to die cut my little Birch Press Design Budding Twigs from those.  Some of the pieces have alot of inking and some only a little.  I liked the variation it provided.  I adhered the twigs together and then attached them to the center rectangle.  I finished with the twine bow and an Open Studio "happy birthday" sentiment tab.  

That's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Easter Bird...

  Hello!  Hope all is well in your part of the world.  I have a card to share today for several challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches, Time Out, JUGs and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  JUGs and Time Out are doing a collaboration and the theme is "birds of a feather".   I recently received an order from Simon Says Stamp that included the sweet little bird die set called Sitting Sparrow from Memory Box.  Perfect timing, right? Here is what I made.

I used a MFT brickwall stencil and some grit paste that I tinted with Hickory Smoke distress ink re-inker for the background.  The little bird is sitting on the Memory Box Magnolia Leaf Branch that I die cut from watercolor cardstock and then colored with distress ink re-inkers in Brushed Corduroy and Bundled Sage.  I tried to do the same thing with the bird not once, but twice and both times it was an abysmal failure.  So, I went back to my tried and true technique of inkblending with my Waffle Flower 0+ blending brushes and distress oxide inks.  This time success!  Once the grit paste had dried (with a little help from my heat gun!) I assembled the card.   Since I wanted the card to be an Easter card I finished with the Happy Easter sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Bunny Love stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

thank you kindly...

 Hello!  I made a card and now I'm sharing it, lol!  This is for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Hues.  The Color Hues combo is lilac and mint two colors that I don't often put together, but I challenged myself to give it a try.   Here's what I made.

I used Shaded Lilac and Salvaged Patina distress oxides and ink blended the Memory Box Cottage Flower Stem.    I used Waffle Flower Crafts 1+ blender brushes and tried to add some shading.  You can see a little bit of it on the leaves, but my Shaded Lilac pad was really juicy and despite adding several layers of color to the center of the flower, there isn't much difference.  Oh well, I tried!  I did use a little bit of Antique Linen for the flower center.  I have several Memory Box patterned paper pads and I found these neutral plaid that has a bit of minty color to it.  I used that along with strips of light gray and white cardstocks that I embossed with my old favorite Sizzix Swiss Dot embossing folder.  The sentiment is a new product from Memory Box/Open Studio called Greetings Tabs.   The tabs come in black and white, circle or strip and feature either thank you sentiments or birthday sentiments.   Perfect for when you just need to add a quick sentiment to a card.  

Since I did do some ink blending I'm also going to add this to the Memory Box February challenge of ink blending.   I'm also going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge. 

That's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

two cards to share...

 Hello!  I'm popping to share two cards that I made for a few challenges.  First up is a card that I made for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Hues.  Couldn't pass up that pretty combo of green and copper and my in real life friend, Greta, is guest designer this go round.  Just had to participate!

Before Christmas I was able to purchase a couple of die sets from Simon Says Stamp with a winter/Christmas sort of theme to them.  I wanted to use them and thought the Color Hues combo was the perfect opportunity.  I started by inking up some cardstock with Rustic Wilderness distress oxide ink.  I thought I had just the regular distress ink in Rustic Wilderness, but I don't.  Have to remedy that situation, lol!  I die cut the holly branch from that.  I then used Rustic Wilderness distress spray stain and Tree Lot distress mica spray to color some white distress heavy stock.  As that panel was drying I dipped the holly leaves in the little puddles of ink in my spray box to give a mica shine to the leaves.   The pine branches were die cut from the panel I created with the sprays once it was dry.  I used some copper glitter cardstock to die cut the berries and the strip.   I die cut the squares and the main panel from white woodgrain cardstock and layered them on a kraft cardstock base.  I had some fine copper thread that I used to create the messy loop of thread securing it with glue.  Then I layered on the holly branch and pine.  The sentiment was stamped in black ink, die cut with a label die and adhered with foam squares.  

My next card is super simple.  Take a look.

After I made the first card I thought I would make something for Color Throwdown, but struggled to come up with an idea.  I had been trying to think of something to make with recently purchased dies, but it just wasn't happening.  I almost threw in the towel on this one, but then decided to just do some simple stamping.  I used a tried and true favorite (and very old) Stampin Up! set called Kinda Eclectic.  I stamped all the images using the inks from the CTD combo and then finished with the sentiment in gray and three clear sequins.  Clean and simple!

Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Happy Christmas...

 Hello!  I'm back with a clean and simple little card for the current Color Throwdown challenge.  Haven't played along with that challenge in weeks.  The colors for the current challenge really pulled at me so I had to make something.  A few new products from Simon Says Stamp arrived in my mailbox this week and one of them was the Wonky Tree-O die set.  I just had to use the dies for my card.  My card works for the JUGs challenge so I will be adding to their gallery.   I used two of the colors (pink and green) and my card features trees.

I diecut the trees from white cardstock and inkblended on Pumice Stones, Spun Sugar and Evergreen Bough distress oxide inks.  I die cut the little tree stands from kraft.  I used a very old Memory Box die to create my little snowy background, die cut the bottom with the same Memory Box die I used to die cut the woodgrain cardstock and adhered the two together.   The trees were added and then I decided that I wanted to add a little Rock Candy glitter.  So I dapped on some distress collage medium and then poured on the glitter.  I added some Snowfall grit paste around the bottom of the trees and to the sentiment for an extra little touch.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

It's STAMPTEMBER!

Hi everyone!  September has arrived and that means that STAMPTEMBER has arrived, as well.  If you haven't heart of Stamptember I will fill you in.  Stamptember is Simon Says Stamp's celebration of all things crafting.  The month is filled with special collaboration releases from many of your favorite stamp companies, special edition crafty kits and so much more.  Today Simon Says Stamp is kicking things off with a blog party (not a blog hop)!  You can see the list of all participants on the Simon Says Stamp blog.  Each participant has a special code to share.  Using my code will allow you to get the Fancy Love die set for free with purchase!   See the graphic below for the code:

The code is good until September 3, 2023 at 11:59 pm ET.  

Simon was so kind and sent me the super cute Happy Hauntings stamp set to create with.  I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, but I now have one great nephew and three great nieces and the cute little dragon images are perfect to use to create Halloween cards for all the littles in your life!   Take a look at what I created.

There are four images in the stamp set and lots of fun sentiments.  I stamped all the images using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink on watercolor paper and then watercolored them with my Jane Davenport watercolors.  I was going to color two of the dragons purple, but loved the first two so much in the bright green that I did all four that way.  How cute are these two little witch dragons?  I just love the one with the balloon.  I have never seen the Nightmare Before Christmas, but I'm very aware of the main character Jack Skellington and the balloon face reminds me of him!  

I love pumpkins so I was happy to see two of the dragons carrying pumpkins.   Once all the images were colored and dry I die cut them with a small rectangle die and then moved onto creating the backgrounds.  I used the SSS Ticking background stamp from the July release and stamped it using Spiced Marmalade distress oxide ink.    I distressed the edges of the rectangle using Peeled Paint distress oxide ink and a very light distressing of  Black Soot distress oxide ink.  I layered the backgrounds on lime green cardstock.   For a little more interest I stamped the spider web in the corner of each piece and then added some silver stickles (which you can't really see in the photos).   I love how they turned out!

Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy the Stamptember release blog party!  Don't forget you can see the entire release right here.