Happy Monday everyone! I hope that you are all staying healthy at that those of you that celebrate Easter had a nice holiday yesterday. Warning-there are a lot of photos in this post!!
It is rainy here in CT with winds gusts of more than 60 miles per hour. Just praying that our power does not go out!! I usually try to go for a walk but since the weather was not cooperating, today I actually went down and did the elliptical machine. We have had this since my 41st birthday? Not sure but I hardly ever use it. It is harder to pedal than the ones at the gym so I would rather use those! I also did some weights. Hopefully I will be pleasantly sore tomorrow.
Today I am getting some cards for some challenges that I am getting in under the gun. I have "vacation" from school this week so I have time to blog them at the last minute.
The first card I created for Freshly Made Sketches #430.
I used WPlus9 "Fresh Cut Florals", Simon Says Stamp "Thanks and Encouragement Word Mix," and my new Altenew "Fine Frames Diamonds" die set.
The florals were from a pile on my desk that has been there forever. It has been fun challenging myself to do this. I always stamp "extras" when I am doing a project and have SO MANY to choose from!!
I have also been trying to stamp sentiments to have on hand and I had fun looking through them to pull for this card.
The challenges I am entering this card into are:
It is rainy here in CT with winds gusts of more than 60 miles per hour. Just praying that our power does not go out!! I usually try to go for a walk but since the weather was not cooperating, today I actually went down and did the elliptical machine. We have had this since my 41st birthday? Not sure but I hardly ever use it. It is harder to pedal than the ones at the gym so I would rather use those! I also did some weights. Hopefully I will be pleasantly sore tomorrow.
Today I am getting some cards for some challenges that I am getting in under the gun. I have "vacation" from school this week so I have time to blog them at the last minute.
The first card I created for Freshly Made Sketches #430.
I used WPlus9 "Fresh Cut Florals", Simon Says Stamp "Thanks and Encouragement Word Mix," and my new Altenew "Fine Frames Diamonds" die set.
The florals were from a pile on my desk that has been there forever. It has been fun challenging myself to do this. I always stamp "extras" when I am doing a project and have SO MANY to choose from!!
I have also been trying to stamp sentiments to have on hand and I had fun looking through them to pull for this card.
The challenges I am entering this card into are:
Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes With Dies (I was inspired by the pink flowers)
Inspired by Challenges #119: Spring is Here (I used Frame Dies)
NBUS Challenge (I used my Altenew Frames for the first time)
For my second card, I started out being inspired by two challenges. The first was the Color Throwdown Challenge #588. I usually have a difficult time doing color challenges but I paired it with this weeks CASE this Sketch Challenge #367 for a simple card design.
I started off my card by using Distress Ink to paint my four lines on a piece of watercolor paper.
I rarely do this kind of technique because I am LAZY and hate to wait for things to dry!! Yes, I could use a heat gun but don't like the way the paper warps when I do that. When the stripes were dry, I die cut the image with an MFT Blueprints 13 die.
The branch is from Paper Smooches and I die cut that from watercolor paper, using Twisted Citron Distress Ink to give it some color.
The sentiment from Altenew's free "Best Sentiments" set that has been sitting in my NBUS pile of things to use. I think I will be inking this stamp up a few times to have in my stash.
The next card I was inspired by the Flower Challenge #43: Spring/Autumn, Inkspirational Challenge #210: Spring, and the Time Out Challenges #159-Quote Inspiration.
I made this card to go in a set for my Aunt's birthday this week.
This card was SO FUN to make!! I stenciled the background and then splattered with a couple colors of Distress Mist.
The large flower and large leaves were stamped using some Altenew dye ink combinations. The smaller flowers I colored with Copic markers. All are from Aletenew's "Beautiful Day" stamp set. This is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE stamp sets.
The frame is from Pink Fresh Studio. I cut it in half and used it on another card that I will post later this week.
I know this card would not be everyone's cup of tea with the background but I LOVED how it came out!!!
On another note, since we couldn't spend Easter with our family we did a Zoom call instead.
My father had a few difficulties at first but it was fun to do. I have been doing virtual happy hour with some of my girlfriends on Saturdays and this has kept me SANE!! Also figured I would post a photo of my pup. He is declining even with all his meds he is on.
He has been refraining from snuggling as of late. I think it is because it is hard to get comfortable on the couch.
That is all from me today. I hope I didn't bore you all!! I thank you for taking the time to stop by. Stay safe and healthy. I think of all of you wonderful cardmakers that I call my friends and love you to pieces!!!
