Twofer Card Challenge #11

Welcome to the November Twofer Card Challenge! This month we want to see what you can do with your wreath stamps, dies, or stencils. Yes, you read that right, Darnell added stencils to make it easier.

I don't have many wreaths stamps or dies, and no wreath stencils. I picked this older stamp from Hero Arts that I think I have never used before and made a Christmas card and a birthday card with it. 

Stamps: Hero Arts (wreath), Stamplorations (sentiment)

Dies: Simon Says Stamp (butterfly), Nestabilities (circles)

Other: Cuttlebug (embossing folder strip)

The butterfly and the dark circle are actually purple even though the look almost black on the screen...

Just realized that this card fits the current CAS Mix Up Challenge
My choice is die cutting.

Stamps: Hero Arts (wreath), WPlus9 (sentiment)
Dies: WPlus9 (sentiment), Simon Says Stamp (little star), big star unknown

The pink is sparkle paper. Hard to see on the photo.

Every month it's such a pleasure to see what you do with the prompt word! Have fun playing with your wreaths, be it a stamp, die, or stencil! Can't wait to see your creations in the gallery!

Be well and keep in touch!

Hello Friend Tree

As soon as I saw the current prompt at the CAS Watercolor Challenge I knew I just had to play along. It's trees!!!! If you have followed my blog for a while you know that I love trees!

Stamps: Hero Arts (tree)
Other: Simon Says Stamp (stencil), Schmincke watercolors, Washi tape

I knew exactly which tree I wanted to use. I received this wonderful stamp a while ago from a dear friend (crafty friends are the best!) and finally made time to play with it. I created an evening sky and a hill for it with watercolors, added a strip of Washi tape (yes, again, I must be on a roll... soon I will run out of it, hehe), and some stenciled hearts using embossing paste.
I have to admit that I am absolutely in love with this card! Probably will have a hard time parting with it. Good thing that I made two... Might make more, I had so much fun!

CAS Watercolor September Challenge

Be well and keep in touch!

Sunflower Cards

Hello creative friends,

The current CAS Watercolor Challenge asks for sunflowers and since I love them and had some time this weekend I decided to see what I could come up with. I picked a very old stamp featuring a framed mosaic sunflower that I hadn't used in a very long time. And then I couldn't stop playing with it!

On the first card I colored it with markers and spritzed it with water to create a watercolor look. Because I used watercolor paper that wasn't bright white I used a kraft card base, added a little stenciling, a little spritzing, and a small sentiment.

When I used this stamp in the past I always colored the frame in blue because this color combo makes me so happy. I thought I was done but then I began wondering how it would look like with a green frame... So I pulled everything out again and had to try it. I have to say I really like the fresh look. It's almost as if it is surrounded by leaves... Since I liked the stencil (doesn't it mimic the mosaic style of the stamp?), I kept the layout, etc. the same, just changing the sentiment. 

Stamps: Rubber Stampede (sunflower frame), Hero Arts (both sentiments)
Other: Memory Box (stencil)


After all the spritzing I was curious how it would look when I colored it with markers and huffed on it (anybody remember that "technique"?). The colors are not as vibrant as when you spritz them with water but I still liked it. Since I used regular card stock I was able to use a white card base using the same stencil with some embossing paste.

Stamps and Stencil see above. The sentiment is from Print Works.


I had so much fun inking and spritzing this stamp that I ended up making three simple bookmarks with it! Sorry, forgot to take a picture but it's basically the image on a strip of watercolor and some ribbon on top.

CAS Watercolor August Challenge "Sunflowers"





Addicted to Stamps and More #304 "CAS"





Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!

Be well and keep in touch!

Twofer Card Challenge #8

Another month went by and it's time for a new Twofer Challenge! Visiting the gallery last month really made me thirsty! Thanks to all who played along!

This month we would like to see you using geometric shapes. As always you have to use the same die or stamp to make two different cards for two different occasions.

I chose to play with my new (to me) Altenew triangle stamps and dies. I made a birthday card for my younger son who just turned 15! He loved the cool geometric design.

The second card is an encouragement card. I used the same tiny triangle die for the sun that I used for the silver accents on the birthday card. I also used some of the same stamps to make clouds. What do you say? There are no triangle shaped clouds in your neck of the woods? That's strange...

Stamps: Altenew (triangles), PTI (sentiment)
Dies: Altenew (triangles)

Stamps: Altenew (triangles), Hero Arts (sentiment), PSX (swirl in the sun)
Dies: Altenew (triangles)


If you haven't checked out what the amazing Design Team has come up with and our Guest Designers, Cheryl from Paper Panacea and Brenda from Inkspired to Stamp please click here and then get creative and play along! Hope to see you in the gallery!

Be well and keep in touch!

Wedding Explosion Box Card

Warning: Picture-heavy post!

You might have noticed that I rarely do anything other than regular folded cards but for my niece's wedding (pictures below) I decided to try my hand at an Explosion Box card. It was quite time consuming and one of the reasons I didn't blog much before our departure. I didn't go overboard with embellishments as I didn't think that was their style. Also I went for sort of a rustic look as I got the feeling that the table decorations, etc. would be in that style. Forgive the quality of the pictures, it was hard to get good ones...

One of the hearts on top is gold, btw...

Stamps: My Favorite Things (wood background), Stampin' Up (swirls on cake), Inkadinkado (letters and numbers), Hero Arts (branch with hearts)
Dies: SSS (distressed heart), Impression Obsession (hearts on stems), My Favorite Things (letters), WPlus9 (big wooden heart), Nestabilities ("plate" for the cake)
Other: Punches (all the flowers, heart in the "O")


For those of you who have never seen one of those boxes, the sides are not attached and fall open when you take off the lid hence the name.
I started out with the cake which was quite fiddly I have to say (that's why it doesn't have a third layer, hehe). But I like how it came out.
The plan was to die cut the letters for LOVE on the outside but I discovered that all my dies were too small so I hand cut them intentionally in a loose, sort of organic way to add to the rustic feeling of the card. The top part is where we put the monetary gift and the lower part is where we wrote our wishes for the couple.

And here is a picture of them. They live and got married south of Munich in the mountains and were dressed in the tradition of the area.

And look at the fun car (vintage Ford) they had. A friend of the groom owns it and drove them from the church to where the party took place.

Well, if you made it this far, thank you very much! Your visits and comments are always very much appreciated!

I am sending this card to Time Out Challenge #113 focusing on the word "heart" and because there are lots of reasons to smile at a wedding!

Be well and keep in touch!

Twofer Card Challenge #4

It is time for a new prompt at the Twofer Card Challenge and this month we would like to see:

For more details and the rules please click here.

I have to admit that I was a bit stumped with this one. My vast collection of stamps and dies is seriously lacking in the pet department. I guess I ended up being inspired by the funny stories my coworker told us about her pet bunny. He had such an distinct personality! Sadly he passed on last year but she just got an adorable little bunny girl and the cute pictures my coworker shows us makes me want to get one, too! So my cards feature the sweet bunny from Uniko:

Stamps: Uniko (bunny, sentiment), My Sentiments Exactly (dot), Stampscapes (birds)
Other: Marco's Paper (cloud paper), Punches (grass, flower)

Stamps: Uniko (bunny, sentiment), Hero Arts (background)
Dies: SSS (hearts)

Sending my Easter card to

Uniko Challenge #46 Color and Optional Twist Easter

Hope to see you in the gallery! I always learn so much from your creative takes on our prompt word!

Be well and keep in touch!

Tuscany

Hello crafty friends,

When I saw Michele's beautiful take on that gorgeous inspiration photo over at "Inspired by..." I felt an urge to hop on the next plane to Italy! Since that was not possible I made a card. I immediately thought of this stamp from Stampendous.

Stamps: Stampendous (landscape frame), Savy Stamps (sentiment), Hero Arts (poppy in background)
Die: Memory Box (dragonfly)

The landscape is colored with my Akashiya Sai watercolor brush pens, three of the poppies are fussy cut and mounted on foam tape. I cut out the landscape and mounted it a on dark green panel. The cream layer is stamped with a poppy stamp in a very subtle (and old) peach shadow ink from Hero Arts. The little dragonfly is cut out from paper that I painted a long time ago with some shimmery watercolors. I love this little dragonfly - it's perfect for when your card needs a little something and you don't feel like using a butterfly.


Challenge:

Inspired by... Over in the Meadow






Uniko's 6th Birthday Linky Party





So, who wants to come to Tuscany with me...??? (Well, at least we can dream, right?)

Be well and keep in touch!

Two Cards in Blue and Yellow

It seems that a lot of stamp companies are celebrating an anniversary at the moment. Made these cards for two of them. Didn't make them on the same day but the color combo really makes me happy and it fit so well for the theme of the second card so I used it again. The blue inks are from Altenew.

Stamps: Winnie & Walter (sentiment, sun), Hero Arts (background)

Was planning to use some Washi tape down the side but in my large collection of Washi tapes I couldn't find one that worked!!!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (stripes from the Ombre Builders and swirl from the Scribble Circles), Hero Arts (sentiment)
Die: Gina Marie (stitched rectangle)

The stripes would stamp smoothly no matter how often I inked them. Don't know if it is the stamp, the inks or the paper. Decided to call it distressed look and use them anyway.

Challenges:

Winnie & Walter Shay's 4th Birthday Bash Challenge

Winnie & Walter Crystals Birthday Bash Challenge

Papertrey Inks 11th Anniversary Stripes Challenge





CAS(E) this Sketch #259





Hope your weekend was fun and that you could squeeze some crafty time in! I really appreciate your visit!

Be well and keep in touch!

Twofer Card Challenge #2

We were blown away by your enthusiastic response of the first Twofer Card Challenge and hope this month's prompt will inspire you even more! Here it is...

I tried to see if I could use the little stamps that come in stamp sets and are often neglected and make them the stars of my cards. I used the same size little heart in the Hero Arts "Prayers" set (see below) to make the four-leaf clovers on the first card and the background behind the letters on the second card.

Stamps: Hero Arts (hearts), Uniko (sentiment)

Dies: My Favorite Thing (mini scalloped rectangles)

Other: butterfly (punch), hand drawn (stems, ladybug, and grass)

The first card has a layered look and even uses some patterned paper.  I created a little scene featuring four-leaf clovers, a hand drawn ladybug (covered in glossy accent and a butterfly punched out from a scrap that was sprayed with shimmery blue. The panel is layered on a red panel and mounted with fun foam on a die cut layer of polka dotted paper. 

Stamps: Hero Arts (hearts and sentiment - from the prayer set)

Dies: Essentials by Ellen (hinged alphabet), Sweet 'n' Sassy (red heart), My Favorite Things (dotted chevron)

The second card is more CAS with lots of white space. I die cut the new-to-me hinged letters from Ellen Hutson (so, so cool) and the dotted chevron border, stamped the hearts in red and purple on the card underneath, and attached the panel to the card. Stamped the sentiment on a heart die cut from red card stock and sprinkled more hearts in three different sizes around it (the purple one above the big red heart is the same one I used to make the background behind the letters and the four-leaf clovers). I put Stickles on the little purple heart and Glossy Accents on the small red one to add a little interest.

I really hope that I have inspired you to play along this month and can't wait to see the different designs you create using a heart stamp or die! Remember to take one picture of both cards. And now hop over to the Twofer Card Challenge to see the spectacular designs that my team mates came up with!

I am going to enter my second card to the
STAMPloration February Challenge "Paint it Red"





and to the
AAA Cards #108 "All You Need Is Love"
(Isn't that frog the cutest ever?)





ETA: I was encouraged on Instagram to enter the second card at the
Calling All Sistahs #10
Happy to do that! A challenge with an important mission!

Be well and keep in touch!