Panda Party

   Just had a blast working with my Simon Says monthly kit this weekend!  Party Like a Panda.  Colored with Copics.  It is the first one I've tried, and I made 7 cards. This one was the last of the evening and my inspiration was the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge # 327. It's a great sketch you can find here, and play along!

You are Special

A card for two challenges.  Ink misted on block to recreate the photo scene.

Challenge #351 at
Addicted to Stamps and More
                                       and
Just Us Girls #498

Anniversary

My youngest son and his wife celebrate their 10th anniversary this August. What a beautiful 10 years it has been!  I feel so blessed to have them living close by now - and their two darling children light up my life,  So this card is to celebrate them.  I created a panel of bright colors with alcohol inks, and placed it behind this Simon Says heart cut out.  Card base is a Bazzill textured paper. The front panel is from my stash, and has very subtle shimmery flecks.  Don't know where it came from, but it sure is pretty. It was popped with fun foam.  The die cut sentiment is from the same Simon Says die set.

Linking this to Watercooler Wednesday 231

Thanks a Bushel

Linking my card to CAS(E) This Sketch #332

Vertical panel was done using watercolor distress technique. The image and sentiment are Lawn Fawn, colored with watercolors. I also used Lawn Cuts scalloped +stitched circle dies.

Nautical Thanks

     
Two challenges inspired my card today.  Addicted to Stamps and More #350, Photo Inspiration and
Freshly Made Sketches #397

I created the stripes with Chipped Sapphire Distress ink and the Ombre Stripes stencil from Altenew.
The anchors are Savvy dies - stacked three layers. The debossed stripe along the endges of the red panel were created with a My Favorite Things die. The tiny thanks (an older Verve stamp) was white heat embossed.

A dear book club friend lives on a lake and every August she hosts our meeting aboard their boat. Her husband motors us around to a restaurant up lake, and then after our dinner takes us all around the lake until sunset.  This will be the thank you card I send them this year.  It's always a very special evening!

Birthday!

linking to
AAA Birthday Card Challenge

I began by stamping the Penny Black image in light ink and did a no-line watercolor.  I left the stamp in my Misti, and when the water coloring was dry, heat embossed with gold.  Then I added some background water color wash, masked the flower area, and splattered with gold and leftover pink and green from my palette.
Then heat embossed the sentiment. The panel was cut down and matted on some Cotton Candy card stock, and popped up with foam tape on a panel of gold linen. The sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.

Have a Happy Day

Paper Players #450 is a color challenge this week.  And I have used a long retired Close To My Heart stamp set for the bowl of blueberries, background and sentiment. CTMH inks as well.  The panel was cut with Simon Says stitched rectangle and the center die cut is a brand new My Favorite Things window die.  Apple Green Nuvo Drops embellish.

Hello Friend!

Stencils...I bought quite a few in the last few months, and have only tried two.  This one is Ombre Stripes from  Altenew and the Penny Black and More Challenge to use 'Summer Colors' moved me to try it out with a few Distress Oxide inks. I used Scattered Straw, Shaded Lilac, Worn Lipstick, and Tumbles Glass.   **Summer Colours**

Just Us Girls #496 this week challenges us to make the sentiment the focal point of the card. This beautiful font is from a favorite Mama Elephant set. I stamped it with Versafine black. Splatters are water, Zig white ink, and CTMH Black re-inker.

       

Atlantic Hearts #325

A new sketch week, and a tale of ink woes...I want so much to be able to love my Altenew Layered flower stamps and new ink sets. But it is very difficult.  I am so challenged to get them aligned properly.  I thought I finally had practiced enough (lots of once lovely white card stock in the trash bin), and also marked the block side of my stamps with permanent ink dots to help...I cut masks for the flowers using the coordinating dies out of Inkadinado mask paper, and began stamping. Two terrible things occurred which required either giving up and adding to the trash, or problem solving.  I opted for problem solving. The result is far from perfect, but must do. 

 First, I stamped the outline with Memento...when I added the layers of dye ink, it bled. The second flower was stamped with Simon Says Intense Black and that worked much better. Then when I masked and inked the leaves, they did not print all the way to the flower.  So I smooshed some of the green inks on my work mat and used a water brush to fill in the gaps.  I tied some twine and added a few Nuvo drops. 

Go to Alantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and play along with us this week!  

Sorry

I rarely make square cards, and I'm not sure why.  It was very nice to make one today using the Freshly Made Sketch #395. I used Altenew's Dahlia set for the flower and leaves and colored them with Copics.  The sentiment is from a Close to My Heart set stamped with CTMH New England Ivy ink. Clear drops are from Studio Katia. The textured pink card stock is from the stash, and is very pale - difficult to photograph, but a lovely match to the flower's lightest shade.

Summertime Strawberries

At the end of last summer, I purchased these sweet little strawberry dies, but never used them until today.  I cut two colors of leaves. The sentiment is a Simon Says Stamp die as is the stitched rectangle die.
 My garden has two large containers of strawberries that delight my littlest grandchildren. They inspect them on every visit and are excited to find  treats they can pick. The 1 1/2 year old adores this fun!  And I do, too, because of his sweet delight.

A CAS card that I am linking to Addicted to Stamps challenge blog - #176 Summer

Smile

My craft room has been busy...and once again I've neglected the blog.  Made 28 baby invitations for a friend hosting a shower, made several anniversary cards, made 6 birthday cards for late June early July birthdays...My dream would be to be able to create a card binder for the year with special cards ready made for sending each month. Anyone else do that?

When I got back from Japan, I was greedy for some new supplies. So for today's card, I managed to use quite a few of them.   The inspiration is Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #323.  Being on their design team really keeps me posting on the blog. And I love using Brandi and Michelle's wonderful sketches.  I didn't add the flower on the center panel in the sketch since I had a stencil flower placed in that spot anyhow.

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Difficult to photograph the shimmer on the smile sentiment. I stacked three together for dimension. The flower stencil panel and the strip sentiment were popped up with foam tape.

Products used today are:

Altenew Floral Garden stencil with Distress Oxide inks:spun sugar, abandoned coral, crushed olive

Gina K designs smile sentiment and die set

My Favorite Things skinny strips die

Altenew Square Weave Pattern stencil with CTMH Pixie ink

Close to My Heart colored card stocks

Nina Solar White card stock

Life saving brushes from Picket Fence

foam tape

Wink of Stella pen

Pretty Pink Posh sequins

Gina K Connect glue