Squirrel Love

I had the opportunity to get out and mow and weed yesterday, and missed the opportunity of good lighting to photograph this card today-it is raining again!

I was inspired by the colors in the MFT Color Challenge #46 to create something soft and romantic. I also knew that I wanted to use the MFT Forest Friends Set, for my third card in the CASometry Take Five Challenge 2: Stage 3. My normal instinct was to shy away from this set, because the images are cutesy and somewhat cartoonish...they don't speak romance to me, but that is what challenges are for!

I started by texture embossing with a light blue paste the hearts in the background with a stencil. While that was drying, I die cut two squirrels from the set. One one die cut I stamped the squirrel normally, then for the other, I mirror-imaged stamped the squirrel on the backside of the die cut. They were both colored with the no-line coloring technique, one in a kraft color and the other in peach tones. I also die cut two layers of grass. I adhered the squirrels, noses almost touching, onto the embossed cardstock base and then layered the grass pieces. The top most layer was first stamped with a sentiment and then adhered with foam dimension.

I'm running out to watch my oldest play his heart out in baseball, so if there are questions regarding techniques or supplies, please let me know in the comments!

Blue Roses

It's been a rainy Memorial Day Holiday Weekend and although I can't get my weeding done  (hoping to today!) I've been able to stamp away!

I was very inspired by Heather's Hydrangea Card for the Winnie & Walter Re-run Challenge #10, isn't it gorgeous?!

I didn't have the stamp set they were featuring, but instead decided to heat emboss images, color the images in the blue/purple shades and add a sprinkling of splatters in the background.

I stamped and heat embossed  in silver the roses, leaves, banner and custom sentiment from The Big, the Bold and Extras from Winnie&Walter onto Bristol Smooth Cardstock, colored them in with Zig Markers and fussy cut. I then drew three lines with a Versamarker, stamped some leaves and then heat embossed into silver onto a white cardstock panel. I finished the card by adhering the elements on top of my stem and leaf arrangement, some areas were heightened with foam adhesive.

To those who courageously gave their lives and those who bravely fight today...thank you!

Yellow Roses

It's been a rainy holiday weekend here, which has prevented me from getting outside to weed. Instead, I took the rain as a sign and stayed inside to create a few floral inspired projects.

I am totally smitten with the Altenew multi-layering stamp sets (this one is Vintage Flowers). This is my first go at creating one, and I used the Altenew May 2016 Inspiration Challenge for my color choices.

I was skeptical with my stamping ability at first, but after the third layer was stamped I was simply blown away at the flowers that were produced. I see a lot of roses in my future! After I stamped my panel, I added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp, trimmed the image into a square and mounted it onto blue cardstock. I then finished the card by just adhering the matted panel onto a white cardstock base, with a minimal white border.

Lessons Learned

I'm a real person, I make mistakes and I don't hide them. I set out to try the technique for Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday 250: Masked Backgrounds and I in my head I pictured an absolutely brilliant and breathtaking card. What I didn't realize is how very messy masking would be, and therefore there are a lot of mistakes on my card!

Since mistakes are ok in my book, and I know that I tried something new  I needed this card the next day, I persevered and just went with it.

1. I didn't have any painter's tape on hand so I tried some sort of post-it paper. I didn't realize that the paper wasn't flush with the top of bottom of the card, therefore I got ink on the edges.
2. Then, I stamped the grass and pictured more detail, but after I spent so long inking up the background I was too scared to attempt anything else!
3. The sentiment stamped ok, but when I went to pull the card out of the MISTI, I had some "reserved" ink left on my fingers and got a smudge of black ink on my nice, white border.
4. I tried to erase the ink (it was Versafine Onyx Black, and sometimes I can erase it!) I made two more smudges with the eraser.

Therefore, I had to cover the smudges up with something, and added the black rhinestones. I would have rather done without them, as they make the design a bit wonky, but...as I said in the beginning, I'm a real person!

Lessons learned on this card, lessons learned.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is Anything Goes, so I'm entering this card for that challenge too.

Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

Hello, hello! Please let me present Creamsicle Blooms. Doesn't that sound dreamy? I'm playing along in the Papertrey Ink May 2016 Blog Hop. The inspiration picture was quite dreamy too!

I was inspired by the colors of the orange/red popsicles along with the peach and yellow. I stamped some of the images from In Bloom onto Bristol Smooth paper with light gray ink and zigged them up with a mix of dark pink, pink, peach and orange markers and waters. I then added a touch of mixed gray colors to the leaves and then splatters with the same gray.

I stamped the sentiment in a darker gray across the blooms similar to the inspiration picture sentiment .(Goodness, this step was difficult, I feared the whole time I'd mess up and have to redo the blooms! Good thing the MISTI helped me out). I finished the card by adhering the panel, along with some woodgrain cardstock and a strip of colored paper onto a white cardbase.

I look forward to hopping along today! If you'd like to see a quick glance of some of my other projects, I'd be tickled if you check out my Instagram feed and maybe follow if you'd like!

I'm also playing along in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

A Puppy Hello

Aww...seeing any little with their softie or real pet melts my heart. My littlest LOVES his real life dog and even though he'd never admit it, my oldest still keeps his stuffed puppy up on his bed. This set from Neat & Tangled reminds me so much of my boys, so I'm not quite sure why the first stamp I inked up was of the little girl? I'm also not sure why she's got blonde hair, as both my boys have brown hair??

I tried my hand at no-line coloring again. I inked the stamps up with Antique Linen Distress Ink and then colored them up with colored pencil. I embossed a linen cardstock card base and then added some washi tape and white sentiment panel to finish the card off.

I'm entering this card into the Little Tangles Challenge 68: Anything Goes.

Baseball Season & a Blushing Bear

Little League Baseball Season has officially arrived. Games four nights a week between my two boys with tournaments on most weekends...but you know what? I wouldn't change it for the world to see my boys play ball. It takes me out of the loop for crafting and creating, but I know that when they are older and away, I will have all the time I want to play.

I did have some free time this past weekend in the early morning to create this card! I was inspired by the colors showcased on the May Butterfly Reflections, Ink Mood Board (especially the sunset picture in the bottom left side!) and the Sketch 281 from My Favorite Things. I also used the Forest Friends Stamp and Die Set by My Favorite Things to complete the second stage of the CASometry Challenge 2: Make Five. (My first card is here.)

I started inking a cardstock panel with distress inks and then spritzing with water. After the panel dried I die cut a circle and adhered a stamped bear. The bear is void of color except for two pink patches by his cheeks. I often forget to keep my images simple and not colored...I really like the way the background circle stands out. I finished the card by adhering the bear to the circle, and the circle onto a white cardstock base that was embossed with Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Woodgrain Cover-up Die and a bannered, white embossed sentiment.

Lil' Inker Designs Spring Sale

Popping in with a card set I made featuring some Lil' Inker Designs goodies! They are having a sale through the 16th, don't miss out!

I stamped two of the cute images from Perfect Pairs onto Bristol Smooth and colored with zigs and used the brand new Perfect Pair Dies that were released for this set! I mounted each onto a cardstock panel that was inked with distress inks, and stamped with a sentiment and die cut with Stitched Mats: Rectangles. Perfect Pairs have really cute sentiments included in this set, but I mixed things up and used a few sentiments from Sending You. Before mounting this panel to the cardstock base (embossed with Circles and Diamonds Stitched Pattern Die and Quilted Swirl Stitched Pattern Die, respectively), I finished the card by adding a single line of black embroidery floss.

I hope you get a chance to check out the amazing products that Lil' Inker Designs has to offer and take advantage of the sale too!

Unforgettable

I work full time in an office, with a group of about 20 women. We all work so well together and it truly is a joy to call the ladies my friends. One of "us" is leaving for a new adventure, and as the resident card-maker, I knew just what kind of card I wanted to make for her.

She really loves elephants, so I masked (many times!) one of the cutie-pie elephants from MFT's Adorable Elephants onto Bristol Smooth Cardstock and zigged them in various shades of cool and warmed toned grays. (Isn't that a great word, thanks Jen!)

I finished the card with a stamped banner sentiment and patterned paper.
I made the card size is just over 5"x5" so that everyone had room to sign and write a greeting.

Fox Grove

I am absolutely enamored with the combination of Zig Markers and Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper. A little bit of water and the images come to life!. I created a little scene for the current MFT Card Color Challenge #44 and the MFT Sketch Challenge #278.

Starting with a white card base and I scored lines to mimic the sketch. Then I attached the colored and die cut trees, filling in the area with stamped and colored flowers. I created a sentiment panel using the same techniques. I finished the card with the fox. I've added ears to him with a Copic Multiliner Pen and he's got a shiny black enamel dot nose.

Also playing along in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

I'm intrigued by Anna's CASometry Challenge 2, so this will be my stamp set to use to complete her challenges.

Supplies:
MISTI
Neenah Solar White 110lb Cardstock
Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive

Hero Arts Intense Black Ink
Copic Multiliner Black Pen
Uni-Ball Pen Signo Gel, White
Zig Markers
MFT Forest Friends Stamp Set
MFT Forest Friends Dies
MFT Adorable Elephants Stamp Set
Scor-pal

*affiliate links used if possible