Beautiful Blossoms May 2023

Welcome friends! It's mid-May and time for a Beautiful Blossoms Challenge. Here is the inspiration board:

I was totally inspired by the top left corner picture with the bright beautiful flowers, so much so, I made 2 different cards:

The flowers were cut out of Taylored Expressions Watercolor Paper with the Be Bold Blooms die set from Spellbinders. I used the Altenew's 36 Pan Watercolor Pallete to color all the flowers and leaves.

The embossing folders are (above) Taylored Expressions Dotted Lattice Embossing Folder and 2) Altenew's 3D Rows of Squares.

The sentiments are from Altenew's Birthday Builders Stamp Set. This is such a great set to have in your stash. So very versatile. This set has 18 different fonts which can be mixed and matched 300 different ways.

The card above has Hero Arts Lacquer Pen - Sparkle Pen. Leaves such a great shine!

The flowers above were edged with Ranger Ink - Tim Holtz - Gilded Foundry Wax.

It comes in a 2 part kit, Mined is the other wax. Once applied, it is heated with a heat gun and melted. I can't seem to pick up the beautiful color. It looks dark in the pictures, but it really a beautiful shiny gold.

Overall, I love a card with plenty of white, texture and bright colors. Thank you for sticking to the end and I hope to see you at The Beautiful Blossoms May Challenge!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

HLS Stencil May 2023

Welcome to the Happy Little Stamper Stencil Challenge for May 2023 where anything goes!

My card today uses many different brands of products from my stash, but I think they all work together well.

My stencil in the background is from A Colorful Life Designs called Polka Dot Stencil. I ink blended Scrapbook.com Hybrid Ink - Cyan then moved the stencil slightly and used Scrapbook.com Hybrid Ink - Pear.  Then I ran it through my Big Shot with Altenew's Dotted Tile Debossing Cover Die for stitches and movement in the background.

The floral stamps and dies are from Altenew's Fresh Bloom Layering Stamp & Die Set. One day I played with this set all day and tried all different inks from both Altenew and Scrapbook.com...kind of lost track of which blues and greens, but with this set anything works. I really liked the floral image in pinks, as well. 

For the center of the flowers I dabbed some Ranger Ink - Simon Hurley - Lunar Paste in Shooting Star for a little texture. The sentiment comes from Brutus Monroe's Stamp Set called Sharon's Script. This set is one of my absolute favorites of all times for the font and variety of sentiments. There are not too many occasions for which this set wouldn't work.

I inked "Just a Note" with Scrapbook.com's White Pigment Ink several times on Lawn Fawn Black Licorice card stock. Then I sprinkled Ranger Ink's Super Fine White Embossing Powder on it and heat set. I cut it out by hand around the edges - I like that look. This is my preferred way to white heat emboss on black.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you over at our HLS Stencil Challenge this month!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Guest Designer for TTTC207

Today I am honored to be the Guest Designer for Tic Tac Toe Challenge #207:

Looking over the challenge, I thought I would start with the Purple choice because I very seldom do...don't know why for it is a lovely color.

I created a CAS (Clean and Simple) card with the diagonal choices of Purple, Dry Emboss and Die Cut.

The butterflies are from Simon Says Stamp Graceful Butterfly Set. This is an embossing folder along with the matching cutting dies. I choose to die cut the butterflies first and then nestle them in the embossing folder and run it through my Big Shot for that great texture.

The background embossing folder is from Pink and Main called Catch a Wave. I thought it had great movement for flying butterflies. A little light ink blending with Altenew's Lavender Fields and Ultraviolet on both the background and the butterflies gave it that Purple Haze we needed. 

The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Background. One stamp set with 18 different sentiments that you die cut one time with the Simple Strips Die. I liked these so much that I also bought the Simple Strips Storage boxes to hold all the different sentiments.

For sparkle, I used Hero Arts Sparkle Clear Lacquer Pen both on the butterfly edges and the background. A few Honey Bee Rainbow Gem Stickers in a lavender color sparkled up the card, too!

Thank you for joining me today and that you to #TTTC team for inviting me to Guest Design. This is such a fun challenge...come join in the fun!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Black Eyed Susans

It's May 3, 2023 and time for a New Paper Funday Challenge! Our challenge this month was to all do the "Twist" use "Emboss It" either heat or dry. 

I did both types of embossing. The background is a dry emboss panel and the designs are stamped with Altenew's Obsidian Black Pigment Ink and sprinkled with Altenew's Crisp Clear Embossing Powder and heat set.

My coloring style is messy and sketchy and always leave white! At least I try... 

What did I use to make this card?

1) Simon Says Stamps and Dies Black Eyed Susans (they are my favorite flower!);

2) Ranger Ink's Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper for the images;

3) Altenew's 24 half pan Watercolor Set;

4) Silver Brushes Black Velvet Size 8;

5) Pink and Main's Garden Gate Embossing Folder (retired).

6) Paper Roses Hug Die.

I love this card...right up my alley. Come join us this month at The Paper Funday Challenge and  let's do "The Twist"!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Featured Stamper ctd#739

Hello friends! I was excited to be picked as the Featured Stamper for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge #739!

The colors are as shown in below, Celery green, Yellow and Aqua:

Honestly, I made about 7 different cards, but decided to feature this one made with Gina K. Designs' The Lord is My Shepherd Stamp Set.

This was stamped with Versamark Ink onto Canson 140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor Paper, sprinkled with Ranger Ink's Princess Gold Embossing Powder and heat set.

Now I could watercolor the 3 colors in the challenge. I thought I would use blue for the flowers just for a change of pace. To watercolor I used Altenew's Watercolor Brush Marker Refills in: Sea Breeze, Fresh Lemon, Lime, Citrus Burst and Sweet Leaf. They are liquid watercolors and very intense, so a little goes a long way. This is how they look:

I painted with my Silver Brush Black Velvet #8. It holds a good amount of water and has a wonderful point. My style is sketchy - always leave white "sparkles".

Once dried, I stamped a background text stamp over the entire image with Scrapbook.com's White Pigment Ink. It is very faint, but in real life you can see it. I wanted to break up the solid blue background created with the liquid watercolor.

The background was cut with my all-time favorite: Sugar Pea Designs' Card Front Elements Builder II - just nice little subtle dots along the edges. The sentiment and butterfly is from Pink and Main's Wildflower Silhouettes (retired) and a few Fashion Gold embellishments from Spellbinders to finish it off!

Thank you to Color Throwdown Challenge for inviting me to be the Featured Stamper. Always a pleasure!
*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Beautiful Blossoms April

April 15th...time for the next Beautiful Blossoms Challenge! This challenge (month long 15th to 15th) we are not only have our beautiful inspiration board shown below, but are also partnering with Double Trouble Paper Challenge:

My card is from the 3 colors on the inspiration board: Green, blue and pink "ish". I have a the Sizzix Thankful Bicycle in my stash for a while and thought this would be a perfect time to use it. I love these sets from Sizzix for they include the matching dies along with the stamps for a very good price point.

I stamped the bicycle with Altenew's Obsidian Black Pigment Ink onto Ranger Ink's Tim Holtz's Distress Watercolor Paper  (smooth side) and heat embossed with Altenew's Crisp Clear Embossing Powder. My go-to set for watercoloring images!

I used Daniel Smith's 238 dot card colors to watercolor the bicycle and filled in the metal parts with a fine tip silver metallic pen. Used the matching dies to cut it out with my Big Shot:

The background is from Altenew - Dotted Tile Debossing Cover Die. I recently won a gift card from Altenew and this is what I bought! I thought it would be very versatile. After I ran the cover die through my Big Shot, I ink blended Ranger Ink Distress Oxides over the background. Colors are Peacock Feathers, Salvaged Patina and Crushed Olive.

Lastly, the sentiment is also from Altenew's Inky Bouquet stamp set. Very fun fonts in this set. Cut it with a small square die and used my Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper to round the corners.

I hope you've enjoy my floral bicycle card and we'd love to see you at both the Beautiful Blossoms and Double Trouble Challenges!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Penny Black Doggone Sweet

Welcome to my card for Penny Black's Saturday Challenge for April: Something funny! If that last puppy dog lying in his back isn't just the cutest and funniest thing, I don't know what is!

I used Penny Black's Doggone Sweet Stamp Set for this card - I actually used all of  the images! Stamped onto Ranger Ink's Tim Holtz Watercolor Card Stock with Memento Toffee Crunch Ink and sprinkled with Altenew's Crisp Clear Embossing Powder and heat set.

To watercolor, I used The Stamp Market's 24 Pan Color Crush Watercolor Palette. One of my absolute favorites for watercoloring. Colors are striking!

The background was cut with Penny Black's Lovely Border Dies for I wanted hearts all around for these cuties.

A kraft card base and we are good to go! The inside says "Happy Birthday" "How old is that in dog years?" I thought it went well with the cover and would give the recipient a good laugh! Thank you for joining me today and I will also be submitting to:

NBUS (I have not used this set before, sadly)

Critter Crazy Challenge

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.