You Shine

 I made this card for my little granddaughter who will be traveling to participate in a gymnastics competition. She has competed in several local events, but this is her first big trip to an out of state meet. She's so excited!  I wanted to encourage her since I can't be there.  

I used the Starburst embossing folder on a soft shimmer champagne paper and cut it down to a smaller panel before mounting on a gold dotted acetate panel.  The sentiment was cut with a SSS die of the same name from the champagne card, gold and teal matt card from Simon Says Stamp. I finished by adhering tiny fold stars and a single gold heart.

                          This second photo shows the shine a bit better. Tough to capture in a photo.

I'm linking to Can You Handle the Pressure - I did use the embossing folder, though not with the dots option.

Spots and/or Stripes

 Good Morning!  It is my week to host the challenge at Allsorts and the theme I have chosen is

                                .....Spots and/or Stripes ////

This month’s prizes come from Oakwood, Stamp Addicts, Sizzix and AALL and Create, these links take you to their individual websites.

My card used striped paper from my stash and a sentiment die cut from Simon Says Stamp. I used the shadow layer to cut the opening in the front panel, and the sentiment was cut with gold matt mirror card stock.  I cut a few extra hearts to use as embellishments. 

Please check out the fantastic inspiration from the rest of the design team HERE and we hope you will join the challenge!

Birthday Wishes

Sketch #590 at Try Stampin' On Tuesday was just fun to put together! 

 As part of my 2023 'Intentions," I am using pretty scraps. I go through my papers and clip together card stocks that coordinate.  Then I have lots of these little sets I can select when a sketch seems just right for them.  This has been so helpful and fun for me! 

I stamped the flowers and leaf with Altenew's Dark Night ink and then colored with Zig Clean Color Light Pink and Light Gray. The stamp and die set is Altenew Focus On You. I stamped the inside with another floral spray. The circles were cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities. The sentiment is a preprinted strip.  

Please check out the fantastic inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and join us in this sketch challenge!

Tuesday Morning Sketch

 Inspired by sketch #690 at Tuesday Morning to use some florals that were on my desk - left from a card made last night. The stamp/die is from Altenew's Focus On You bundle. I've loved using this set, and it is on sale right now.

For this beautiful sketch by Andrea Whisman I used a scrap of gray card stock and embossed it with the Twill Stripe folder, cut a circle out of it and popped it with foam tape, tucking the flower inside. The sentiment was cut from Altenew's Essential Sentiment Strips.

Watercolor Birthday

Welcome to the new year of challenges at Sketch Saturday!                                    Sketch #717 with an optional twist: Use a new stamp

Our challenges run for two weeks and the Linky will close on Friday the night before the new challenge begins.  Each sketch also has an optional twist.  We love seeing what you create with the sketch!  There are some new designers on the team providing LOTS of inspiration. 

For my DT card I have rotated the sketch to a horizontal orientation, and did not use the option this time. I painted some leaves then highlighted them with metallic gold water color. The gold embellishment is a piece of ric-rac that I rubbed with Guilding Wax and then sprayed with gold shimmer.  The sentiment was cut using a Poppy die. 

Winter Blues

 Newest challenge at Allsorts!   #711 theme from Lorraine is

                               *** A/G or Winter Blues ***

This month’s prizes come from Oakwood, Stamp Addicts, Sizzix and AALL and Create, these links take you to their individual websites and you can read more about each on our Patrons’ page here.

My Design Team inspiration for you uses a Hero Arts rubber die "Snowy Nights" from 2013. There are some stamps that are just so pretty they must be saved forever.  This is one of those for me, and I pull it out often in winter when I need a CAS card-  in grey it is a peaceful sympathy card. It's just timeless. Here it is in Navy. I will make a set as a gift of notecards.

You're Sweet

Try Stampin' On Tuesday has a new sketch #589 with an Option of monochromatic.

My inspiration card for the sketch is pretty simple. I used the Brutus Monroe Chunky Hearts stencil and blended with Altenew Fuschia ink. I embossed the card stock with a Close To My Heart Small Hearts folder. The sentiments are from a long ago wood CTMH set. It isn't entirely monochromatic, I suppose, because of the black and white. 

A quick and easy Valentine.

Linking to TIME OUT card challenge #229, Celebrate Love