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!!!

Sunday Stamps #134, Simon Says Stamps Work it Wednesday August 2016 and NBUS Challenge #7

Happy Hump Day!! Just a quick post for a few challenges.

I am officially back to work as of yesterday. Today was the first official day of school for the high school where I work and it went pretty well. If my schedule remains the same, this year will be good.

Today I sharing a card that I created using Hero Arts "Marianne's Flowers" set that I had gotten this past spring but did not ink it up at all. It has the prettiest flowers on it!! I used the Sunday Stamps Sketch #134 as my inspiration.

Here is the sketch:

I began by stamping the lilies on a piece of A2 sized Copic Marker paper with Memento "Tuxedo Black" ink. I then colored the flowers in with Copic markers.

I mounted the panel on an A2 sized, white, top folding card. I then added a piece of green/white twine across the top.

Using the My Favorite Things "Stitched Banner Alphabet," I die cut the sentiment out of green and yellow card stock. I took the green letters out of the green banners and adhered them into the yellow banner pieces.

I then used foam adhesive to pop the alphabet over the twine on the card.

I completed the card by creating two bows out of the twine and using Ranger Multi-Matte Adhesive to adhere them to the card.

I have to admit that this card is extremely simple but I LOVE how it came out. The coloring of the lilies was an experiment. I had looked up a photo and tried to get the colors from there. The greens are really dark but I like it.

I am entering this into Darnell's "NBUS" challenge and Simon Says Stamps August 2016 "Work it Wednesday" theme-stamping.

I thank you for stopping by!!

Winnie and Walter 1st Birthday Bash-Collage Challenge with Laura and NBUS with Darnell

I am back again today with a super quick post. I am trying to post all the cards I did for Winnie and Walter's 1st Birthday Bash. Today I am entering the "Collage Challenge with Laura" and Darnell's NBUS challenge. Here is my card:

I have to admit out of all the cards I made on Saturday, this card is my favorite. It was actually a "happy accident." I only shaded in the background with the gray because I got black ink on my hand and it smudged. I used the pumice ink to hide it!!

Here is the inspiration from Winnie and Walter's challenge that inspired this card:

Here are the instructions to make this card:

• Stamp the "thank you" sentiment from Winnie and Walter's "Big Bold You" stamp set randomly over the front of a 4" by 5 1/4" die cut piece of white card stock.
• Using an ink blending tool, blend green ink over the front of the card. 
• Next, place die cut stars on the front and ink over the with gray ink.

• Mist Heidi Swapp "Sea Foam" Color Shine mist over the front panel. Let the panel dry and adhere to mint card base.
• Adhere die cut gray banner to card front
• Adhere pinked edge embossed circle over banner with foam adhesive
• Adhere die cut butterfly over circle. Die cut a mint green button, tie a piece of gray twine and adhere over the middle of butterfly using foam adhesive.

• Adhere white, silver and star sequins randomly on the front of the card.

I have to admit that at first I was intimidated by this challenge. I was not feeling the deer. Instead I just used the color gray from the photo as my inspiration. I brought in the star designs with the embossing, the ink blending and the sequins. I have a few "mistake" background papers that I threw aside but will be using them on different cards. The thank you sentiments that I had stamped were really crooked and it annoyed me. For my design it was important that the sentiment was not too off.

I have found that doing these challenges has sparked my creativity-something that I have been lacking as of late. I know Valentine's Day is around the corner but I just don't feel like making Valentine cards this year. I am just not feeling it this year and that is okay.

Again, I am entering into Winnie and Walter's 1st Birthday Bash Challenge-Collage Challenge with Laura and Darnell's NBUS challenge. I never had used the thank you sentiment or the button die before.

I thank you for taking the time to stop by. Have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com