Even More Challenges!

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:

Freshly Made Sketches #430

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!!!

Hello! And a Few Challenge Cards

Hi everyone!! I hope you are all hanging in there.

I am on my fourth week of social distancing and working from home. We have done a pretty good job of not being at each other's throats. I am thinking this is because my husband, daughter and I hide in our corners during the day working and only really "socialize" at night.

I am going to admit, though, that this social distancing is starting to wear me down. I need to grocery shop and have been putting it off because I didn't have a mask. I spent about four hours yesterday making three-one for each of us. They are not fabulous BUT they will work. Lucky I had fabric hanging around as I got rid of a ton of it a couple years ago because I was not doing anything with it.

Given that I am going buggy, I have had mojo and have been using supplies that I have!!

My first card I created for my Aunt for her birthday, which was yesterday. Since I never sent it out, it is now late. I have a gift so I am going to the PO today when I go grocery shopping.

I LOVE how this came out!! I used the Canterbury Bells stamp set to stamp all of the flowers. The "make a wish" is from a Mama Elephant Mini Messages Stamp set.

I used green and yellow stamp sets of four to stamp the flower colors on the Canterbury flower and Copic markers to color in the small ones.

The background is a die from Lil' Inkers Design and the frame is Reverse Confetti's Stitched Note and Frames die.

I am entering this card into the following Challenges:

Seize the Birthday #187-Spring Fling

Inkspirational Challenge #210-Spring

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge-Add Texture

NBUS Challenge #13 (the flower set was never inked up!!)

 

For my second card, I again used the Altnew Canterbury Flowers but in purple to create my card.

I created a panel for the background with a NBUS stencil and green ink.

The sentiment was taken from the same set as the flower and heat embossed on black cardstock.

I covered the flowers with Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen and added some sequins that matched the flower color.

The white embossed panel is also from the Reverse Confetti Stitched Note and Frame die.

I am entering this card in Watercooler Wednesday Challenge WWC266. Heidi picked it this week and it is All About Occasions. I am sending this as a birthday card. I also made it for the Time Out Challenge #159. It was to use the quote on the badge for your card. My inspiration was the garden.

 

I am also entering it into this weeks Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, which was to use the mood board below as inspiration. I was inspired by the purple flowers.

That is all from me today. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by my blog today. I hope you all have a FABULOUS day and I will be back tomorrow with some more spring cards I created!!!

Happy Monday and Some Cards

Happy Monday! Just dropping by to add a couple of cards.

The first card I used two challenges as my inspiration-CASE this Sketch #310 and Just Us Girls #476-Photo Challenge.

I had fun stamping a bunch of different colored roses on my day off last week using Altenew's Vintage Rose stamp set and die cutting them using the matching dies. I decided to use a couple of the purple ones on this card.

I embossed the pattern on the white Neenah Solar White Cardstock using a Darice embossing folder.

The sentiment is from my new favorite Memory Box stamp set "Best Life Typewriter Sentiments."

Again, I am entering them into two challenges.

My second card I created for Inkspirational Challenge: Use Your Stash.

I used Sugar Pea Designs "Birthday Balloons" Stamp set and and the MFT cloud stencil for the background.

I was also going to do a color challenge but could not get the colors right.

Well, that is all from me today. I hope you have a FABULOUS day!!

A Crafty Weekend!!

Hello everyone!! Happy Sunday!! I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend. I have been crafting away, using a bunch of things from my stash that I have been wanting to play with for a while. I also have been using a bunch of SCRAPS from my patterned paper stash. I am trying to use it a bit more and this weekend I had a TON of success!!

The first two cards I created I used three challenges as my inspiration. I LOVE that I had time...and actual ideas (which don't always match up in my world!) to create these two cards.

I used a TON of patterned paper scraps, as well as some 6" by 6" paper to create this card. I even pulled out some stamp embellishments that I have had for YEARS to use on this card.

The sentiment was on one piece of the 6" by 6" pieces of paper. I had more then one piece so I cut it out and used foam adhesive to pop it up from the background. The stamps I used are the "Happy Thoughts," an older set from Simon Says Stamp.

The three challenges that inspired me were the photo from Inspired By..., the Time Out Challenge: Theme-Retro, and  Inkspirational Challenge: Use Your Stash.

Can you see where I was inspired by in the photo? I loved the fun frame and the use of the hanging letters!! I inked around the edges for a retro, vintage look.

I had so much fun with the first that I created a SECOND card using all three challenges!!

I had the panels already die cut from my stash and I used some extra envelopes I had left over from the first card.

This version has a little too much white space for me and I think I might have to go back and add a little something later. I do need thank you cards, though, so I might just use it!!

One thing I will admit, though, it was darn fun to get inky again. I used to ink up my cards all the time but haven't done it in a while. It was fun!!

If that was not enough, I created two more cards for the Paper Craft Crew Challenge #337, which was a sketch.

Isn't this sketch so cute? I used a even more pattern paper scraps on the two cards I created for this challenge, as well as the same stamp set-"Foodie Friends"-from Simon Says Stamps.

Isn't that typewriter adorable? I masked the eyes on the paper to add a sentiment instead. The sentiment was from Memory Boxes "Best Life Typewriter Sentiments," which is now one of my new favorites.

I colored this typewriter in like the one I learned to type on. I added some Nuvo Clear Glitter Gloss over the keys, the spacebar and the rollers.

I went through my scrap box to find papers that had some kind of type on them to compliment the image.

For my second card, I used the same image but I masked out the faces on both the paper and typewriter.

I was less picky about finding print paper and was too lazy to look through my large amount of 6" by 6" paper pads. Sometimes the card just needs to be created!!

For this typewriter, I looked up images on the internet to find a color scheme.

This came out cute but I think I like my first version better!!

Well, that is all from me tonight. I thank you for stopping by. Tomorrow I have another card to show using yet another challenge. Have a FABULOUS night!