Back in the Saddle

Hi friends!  I’m squeaking in under the wire to enter my card for the sketch challenge #353 with My Favorite Things this week.  I made this card on Saturday while I was at Crafty Day with my friends, and realized I needed to get it photographed and uploaded!  I have a co-worker who’s having surgery in a few weeks, and I agreed to make a card for everyone to sign.  She’s an animal lover, and a motorcyclist so I thought this card with a horse AND the saddle reference (thinking of the motorcycle seat!) would give her a chuckle!

Here’s the sketch, and as you can probably tell, I flipped it upside down.

I also got some inspiration for my design from this card by Kay Miller, also using the (retired) Farm-tastic stamp set and Die-namics from MFT.

I hope you had a nice weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #356

Hello friends!  It's time again for the Color Throwdown challenge, and this week Broni is our hostess.  She's got this great inspiration photo for you!  With Summer still in full swing, but Fall on the way there are a LOT of possibilities with these colors...

For my card, I just had to finally use my fantastic new Blissful Blooms stamp set and matching Die-Namics from My Favorite Things… 

I die-cut a BUNCH of flowers and leaves from watercolor card stock, then used my MISTI to stamp them all.  Then I pulled out my Zig Clean Color watercolor markers and started coloring.  After I had a good garden full of flowers, I started on my card.  My layout was inspired by my BFF Barbara Anders and her great CTD card from two weeks ago.  On the Sweet Tooth card stock background I started by applying a thin layer of white embossing paste using the Harlequin stencil from MFT.  After the paste was dry, I laid the stencil back over the embossing and sponged the diamonds with some Orange Zest dye ink.  I layered this panel on a piece of Black Licorice card stock, and mounted to a Sweet Tooth card stock base.  I die-cut the Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX from Green Room card stock, and layered it behind a piece of Black Licorice card stock that was cut with the Blueprints 12 and my Stitched Circle STAX.  Then I arranged my floral bouquet and added the sentiment on a Sweet Tooth card stock Fishtail Flags STAX.  The sentiment is from the LJD Spring Tulips stamp set, but I only used half the sentiment.  A few black enamel dots completed my design.

Be sure to stop by the CTD blog for all the challenge details.  And visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration!
Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Lindsay Amrhein, August Guest Designer
Yapha Mason, Guest Star Stamper

Happy Wednesday, and thanks for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #353

Hello friends!  Today's Color Throwdown challenge is otherwise known as "Vickie is TORTURING ME!"  LOLOL  Yeah, I know all the pep talks there are about getting out of your box, but the simple truth is... I DON'T DO PURPLE!  Seriously... she's trying to kill me!

 



OK, OK... enough whining!  Here's what I came up (and as you can see when you visit the CTD blog, several of us were inspired by the sunflowers in the photo!)

 

 

 

I started out partially stamping the BG Fine Chevron background from My Favorite Things, then heat embossing with detail white embossing powder.  Then I did a water color wash on my background using my Zig Clean Color markers, and then die cut the panel with the Blueprints 11 Die-Namics.  Then I used one of MY favorite stamp sets from My Favorite Things, the LJD Splendid Sunflower!  (*gasp!*  I think it's been... *gulp* RETIRED!)  I die-cut my flower with the matching Die-Namics set, then used my MISTI to stamp the sunflower using Lemon Chiffon hybrid ink and added some depth by coloring the petals with my Copic markers.  The leaves were stamped in Jellybean Green hybrid ink, and the flower center was done with Chocolate Brown and Hot Fudge hybrid inks.  I added the sentiment (from LJD Peaceful Wildflowers) in heat-embossed white on a strip of Steel Blue card stock.  Finally, I added some ink spatters to the background with a combination of water and Steel Grey dye ink as well as some MIX-ables Steel Shimmer mist.  The water colored panel was mounted to a piece of Steel Grey card stock, then mounted to a Sweet Tooth card stock base.

 

 

Be sure to stop over at the Color Throwdown blog for all the challenge details, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins - off this week
Lori Tecler
Monika Davis
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Valentyna Komisarenko, July Guest Designer
Donna, Guest Star Stamper


As always, thank you so much for stopping by and for your comments!



Sunflower Hello

My husband and I were serving as greeters at church yesterday, and just a few minutes before the start of the service we noticed a young couple carrying a little girl, coming across the parking lot.  As greeters, we’re always supposed to be on the lookout for new people, and I mentioned to my husband that I thought maybe they were new.  As they came closer, my husband said “Oh my gosh, I think that’s our neighbors!”  And sure enough, they were!  They live around the corner from us, and have been looking for a new church, so we were really happy that they decided to give the Orrville C&MA a chance today!  I told pastor after the service that I’d do what I could to extend the welcome into the coming week, so I made some zucchini bread last night and this card to take over to their house…

I was really glad to have colored this sunflower image on Friday night right after I got my package from Ellen Hutson with this new Clearly Besotted Sunshine and Smiles stamp set.  (The first Clearly Besotted set I’ve owned… I have a feeling there are going to be more!)  I was SO inspired by this card that Debby Hughes did with this set, so I just had to have it, especially since I’m so partial to sunflowers, anyway.  I used Ranger Distress markers on watercolor card stock for the image, then used a wet brush to color.  I also added some distress color around the sunflower, then distressed the panel up good with some splotches of Antique Linen ink.  The layout comes from the Sweet Sunday Sketch #273 this week.  I used the Happy Hellos Die-Namics to die-cut the hello from Steel Grey card stock… I cut three layers, glued them together, then applied crystal lacquer for dimension.  I die-cut some Sno Cone card stock with the Medium Scallop Die-Namics (retired) and a circle from Grout Gray card stock using the new Zig Zag Stitched Circle STAX Die-Namics.  On the yellow background panel, I stamped the BG Diagonal Stripes background.
I hope you like my happy sunflower!  Thanks for stopping by today!