Your Kind of Beautiful

Today I have been working with a paper collection, Charlotte, from Close To My Heart. I took a break to check on some current challenge blogs to get some inspiration.  Found!!  First there was this sketch at Pals Paper Arts.  It's sketch #318. Then a new to me Challenge blog, Color Throwdown, #410   This was just what I needed. I clear embossed the little flower and then water brushed the color. I used a Copic marker to color 'kind'

 

 
Stamps: CTMH Springtime Wishes; Create Kindness-Beautiful
Ink: CTMH Whisper, Sorbet, Lagoon
Paper: CTMH Charlotte, Whisper and Lagoon card stock
Die: CTMH Springtime Wishes
Sequins; 3D foam tape

 

 

Sunny Days

Sunshine and blue skies returned to PNW after a few days of rain, and I must say this is my happy place!  I love the crisp nights and how the start of autumn smells.  Many of the colors are richer as the yellows and umbers creep in.

Today's card for #177 at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge uses an old favorite floral. It was a Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month years ago, featuring a late summer flower that I love to see in real life.  The card was also inspired by a CTMH video this week reminding us that we can use the backs of the acrylic stamps as a solid stamp - perfect for water color/misting technique.  I did just that using the CTMH watercolors, then stamped in Cocoa. I used my embossing tool to add a bit of border and dimension to the small panel. It was backed with a thin foam piece. The sentiment is from a set called Happy Autumn. Indeed it is!!

 

 

More Marbling

Making two more cards with the marbling technique at CAS Mix Up September challenge.

On the first one I put the ARTplorations Bubbles stencil on the inked shaving cream, then laid down the watercolor paper.  The circles are faintly there.  Inks were Heavenly Blue and Garden Green
re-inkers (now retired CTMH colors).   The sentiment is Thoughtful Florals, from Verve. Since I had used a stitched panel die (Simon Says Stamp), a double stitch for each side of the green sentiment piece, from Die-Namics, My Favorite Things, seemed to connect the pieces. All on a Garden Green card base.

The second card used Olive and Goldrush re-inkers.  The stitched leaves are Lawn Fawn dies. I used the Atlantic Hearts Sketch  for this week for the design.  The green panel had edges 'roughed' up and sponged. Looking in my 'brown' bin I found a short piece of heavy twine, and unraveled it for the leaf cluster.  Put a stitched panel and a few more leaves inside.

 

Back to School

Pals Paper Arts #316 has a good sketch for some side embellishments. My card using the sketch is another back to school card for the grandchildren.  Images and sentiment from a Close To My Heart set, School is Here. I fussy cut the pencil and crayons.  Simon Says Stamp dies were used for stitching and circles, and a Stampin' Up! punch for the black piece on the side.

 

 

School is here!

Well, for the grandsons anyway.  Me?  I am going to the fun lunch for retired teachers held the first day of school!  We gather to celebrate...then some of us go home and check for substitute jobs.

But even more fun than that was making this card for one of the grandsons.  My inspiration came from a Jennifer McGuire video using acetate and the great sketch at Sketch Saturday, #428

 

I had intended the gold on the acetate to be in the other direction- so they would be hanging down like pennants. Sigh.  Once all was together, I saw my mistake.

 

Image:  Day for Daisies, colored with Copics

Sentiment: Close to my Heart

Gold on Acetate: CTMH Fundamentals

Papers: Bazzill, classic red; My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup; red check from stash

Dies: Stitched Circles, Simon Says Stamp

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Gold thread

 

 

 

Autumn

 

Fun new dies in my NBUS basket!  And perfect inspiration at two great challenge blogs:

Freshly Made Sketches #252                    and                       CASology
                                                           




My dies are Small Stitched Leaves from Lawn Fawn cut from a variety of Close To My Heart card stocks.  The bottom of the card base was scored and I sponged that, around the outside edge of the card, and the leaves.  The stitched twill and sentiment are also CTMH products (retired).

 

Marbling

Found a new challenge while admiring posts on Darnell's NBUS link. There is some seriously gorgeous work to see there!

So at CAS Mix Up the challenge is to try the marbling technique.  I watched lots of videos, and tried several types....but ended up happiest with the shaving cream/re-inker versions. But am now craving some Sunimagashi inks....

 

 

 

I had a great time experimenting with colors, and have three finished cards and at least three more I can create with the marbled papers.  For this first one, placed a piece of mat board (from Inchie Arts) on cream swirled with Cranberry and Garden Green inks.  I cut the mat into 1" squares. Sentiment is a CTMH stamp from a retired set, A Holiday. So Stamping + Marbling + Die Cut panel.

 

 

 For the others pieces I used 140# Strathmore cold press water color paper, and made the card bases from it as well.  Stamping + Marbling + Heat Embossed sentiments.

This one looked masculine, and made a great guy card.

 

The blue swirls on this one looked like flowers.

 

What a lot of fun!!