A New Challenge at Cupcake Inspirations

 Hello friends!! 

Popping in with a card for the new Cupcake Inspirations Challenge. The next two weeks is a color challenge AND we are pairing up with the Double Trouble Challenge Blog for some added fun.

The challenge for this weeks Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #552 is Jade, Yellow and Brown.

Here is the additional parts of the challenge at the Double Trouble Challenge Blog.

Play along here and hop over and play along with Double Trouble!

Combine their theme recipe with our color challenge:

From:       The Kitchen at Double Trouble 
Servings:  Unlimited Portions of Fun
Recipe:     3-2-1 Recipe

Ingredients:  

     *3  Colors of your Choice  (Jade, Yellow, Brown if playing along here)
     *2  Embellishments 

     *1  Stamped or Digital Image 

*For more of the recipe instructions check out their blog: HERE

On my card, I used the jade color on my frame. It complimented the green of the pattern paper and the leaves that I used. 

The yellow is my PaperTrey Ink's Feathered Friends #3. The brown color is on my bird as well. 

As for the the Double Trouble Challenge Recipe I kind of added more. I have pearls as embellishments and the bird is stamped.

Well that is all from me today. I hope that you choose to hop on over to Cupcake Inspirations and play with us this week. I cannot wait to see what you create!!! 

I want to thank you for stopping by. Have a FABULOUS day!!

Nora

Wishing I was at the Beach and a Critter Card

 Hello friends!!!

It is a very rainy day in Connecticut. I brought my daughter down to the beach yesterday to stay with my sister at her cottage and it was so sunny. I wish I had been able to stay but had appointments and couldn't fit it in. Chris and I were going to go down and spend half the today but the weather is just not cooperating. I am not complaining because I would rather have rain than a drought.

Today I am popping in with two cards I created for some challenges. The first is a challenge I have just heard of and decided to play along. It is the Inspiration Station Challenge.

The challenge was to use the photo below as my inspiration for the Inspiration Station Challenge #9-Sun, Sea, and Sand. I also was inspired by the Card Concept Challenge #158-Long Summer Days.

When I think of the beach, I think of lighthouses. I was lucky enough to vacation in Cape Cod when I was little with friends. The two things I remember are the lighthouses and the sand dunes. Cape Cod is the home of 22 lighthouses. This includes the lighthouses on the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. I decided to create a lighthouse card in honor of those vacations.

I used CottageCutz Lighthouse die to create this. I die cut my lighthouse out of red and white paper. I then used gray Copic marker to make some shadows.

The background was created by blending Salty Ocean Distress Ink on the bottom and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to shade the sky. I added some clouds and seagulls that I had die cut using CottageCuz Lighthouse w/ Clouds die. 

The sentiment is from PaperTrey Ink. I had a retirement card to make for a friend so this was the perfect die to use!!

I LOVE how this card came out and I hope my friend likes it too. Oh how I WISH I was retiring right now.

For my next card, I am playing with two new TO ME challenges.  Crafty Animals Challenge #52-Anything Goes and 2 Crafty Critter Crazies #52-Anything Goes. 

Both challenges you could make a card for any occasion but it had to have a critter on it. I chose to break out my never before used My Favorite Things Birdie Brown Mice Day to Celebrate stamps and matching dies to create a birthday card. 

The background is a piece of pattern paper that was left over from another project, as well as the green triangle underneath the mouse.

The mouse itself was colored in with Copic Markers. I did a dot technique all over the critter. You might wonder why I decided to color him/her in gray. The mice that we catch in our house all happen to be this color. (They tend to find their way in to our upstairs in the winter. We have not figured out how, though.)

The sentiment is from the same Mice Day stamp set and I added some sequins around the little birthday mouse to make it a bit more festive. I love the way this came out and cannot wait to create another card with this set!!!

I have just recently become an Affiliate of My Favorite Things and if you use my links, I will earn money at no extra cost to you!! (I am playing around with it as I am really not 100% knowledgeable on how it works.) July 6-July 9 they are having a 15% off sale site wide (in-stock products only), no code, so there is till time to shop!!! 

That is all from me today. I want to thank you for taking the time to stop by. I hope you have a FABULOUS day!!

Day 3 Homework

 Happy Wednesday!! Just popping in with my projects from Day 3 homework for my Watercolor Christmas Class. I like these cards a bit better BUT I will never just be able to do a one layer anything I have decided.

My first card was a card with some simple trees. 

Again, I got a little heavy handed on my trees with the paint. They were lighter but I kept trying to blend and then this is what happened. 

Since I spent so much time on them, I decided that even if I didn't love them, I was making a card anyway. I created a gold frame from some gold foil cardstock using the Waffle Flower Frame dies.

I also heat embossed a sentiment from PTI at the bottom.

There was another cards I was supposed to do with a different technique with trees BUT the masking medium I used was a disaster so I threw it away.

My third card was to create an ornament without any masking. This was actually kind of fun. The watercolor did not blend like I wanted BUT it came out way better than my other cards from the first two days.

I chose to adde a silver piece of mirrored cardstock for the top of the ornament and some silver thread as a bow.

The heat embossed sentiment is from Mama Elephant.

I actually thought that this card technique was relaxing. I liked trying to keep the paint within the circle and I did slowly layer the color down. Not perfect but getting better!!!

That is all from me today. I thank you for taking the time to stop by!! Have a FABULOUS day!!

Freshly Made Sketches, Color Throwdown and Cards for Challenges

Hello everyone. Just popping in with some cards for some challenges.

My first card was inspired by the Color Throwdown #599.

It is kind of an unconventional birthday card in that I had to add a heart on the beer bottle to get the pink color in!! Here is the color badge that inspired this card:

I used Waffle Flower Crafts Home Brew Combo set for the beer and the bottle, The Greetery's Pinwheel Party Stencils and Dies, Honey Bee Stamps Confetti Background Stencil, and a sentiment from Simon Says Stamps Birthday Palooza.

If any of these products looks familiar, they were extras that were on my desk from my card making activities from last weekend!!!

Don't you love when you have extras to use for a card? I am liking how this came out and it took no time because I had it all on my desk!!

My second card I was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches #441-FMS441-and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge-Anything Goes.

 

Again, I used stuff from my stash that was already stamped.

I doctored up the stamping on both the birds and the leaves with some Copic markers.

The birds and sentiment are Papertrey Ink's Brushed Birds stamps and dies.

The leaf is Altnew's Leaf Canopy stamp and die set.

This is actually my favorite card that I created this weekend!! I just love these bird stamps!!!

In other news....
Not been a great weekend here in our household. My poor dog is really sick and I am thinking we are going to have to put him down either tomorrow or Tuesday. His heart is not doing well and the additional meds we got from the vet this past Thursday are not working. I have spent most of the day taking all my time snuggling with him.

That is all from me today. I will be back tomorrow with two more cards I created for some challenges. I thank you for taking the time to stop by.

Have a great night.

Make a Wish

Hello everyone!! Just popping in with a card I created for some challenges. I actually created most of it last night but die cut the panel today and added it to a card front.

My inspiration for this card was this weeks CASE this Sketch #376 and the Inspired by Challenge photo. I was inspired by the colors in the photo. The orange blanket, the little tufts of color-it just made me happy!!

I used an old stamp from Papertrey Ink, Cupcake Collections, for my image and sentiment. 

I originally was trying to make this a one layer card to enter into AAA Card Challenge BUT when I took the tape off the stencil I used, it ripped the side a tiny bit and I had to alter my design. Hate when that happens!!

I did go overboard on the Stickles frosting but that is fine. I like the sparkle.

 Well that will be it from me today. I thank you for taking the time to stop by! Have a 

FABULOUS night!

Multiple Monday

Happy Monday everyone!!

I had done a post like this two weeks ago and I want to make this a new "thing." I was originally going to post a video for the batch I made this week but looking at the footage I took, it wasn't so hot. The desk shook a lot and I just decided that it wasn't good enough for people to see. That doesn't mean the cards didn't come out, though!!

I have to admit that I had A LOT of fun making these cards. As a rule, I do not do multiples of cards. I find it boring. However, during this time of being isolated, it has actually been kind of fun.

Here is the first card that I created for this "series." I started off by stamping my butterfly, heat embossing it in gold and then using Zig Clean Markers to paint it in. I then fussy cut it out.

I actually painted all the butterflies first and then picked the colors of ink I would use to stamp my background from there. I used Pinkfresh Studios "Dainty Blossoms" dies for the white flower/leaf die under my butterfly and the tag is Reverse Confetti's "Grid Stitched Tag."

I then repeated this design using purple for the background and butterfly, as well as changing up the tag to Reverse Confetti's "See Through Tag." The sentiment was in my stash.

I used some DMC Floss in white at the top and some sequins from Cartwright.

I created the card in pink...

in Jelly Bean green...

and in mint green. I thought all these came out really pretty.

I had a couple butterflies left over so I decided to use some pattern paper scraps for the last two cards I created. I actually think I might like these cards the best!!! The white tags pop off the paper better than the stamped backgrounds.

I wish I had only done the leaf die cut behind the butterfly on all of the cards.

I think it looks classier. I also stamped right on the tag, unlike the first five cards.

Here is another purple card. I like the colors with this background.

I am entering these cards into Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #391-Anything Goes and Watercooler Wednesday Card Challenge #273-Marsha's Challenge-All About Occasions.

Well, that is all from me today. I thank you for taking the time to stop by. Have a FABULOUS day!!

Basic Supplies:

(some affiliate links used, when possible, at no extra cost to you)

Paper: Neenah Solar White Cardstock, Lawn Fawn Black Licorice Cardstock

Stamps: The Stamp Market "Painted Background," PaperTrey Ink's "Butterfly Blooms," and Taylored Expressions "Simple Strips Sympathy," MFT "Deepest Sympathy"

Dies: Taylored Expressions "Simple Strips," Reverse Confetti "See Through Tag," MFT "Blueprints 13," PaperTrey Ink "Butterfly Blooms," Pinkfresh Studios "Dainty Blossoms," Reverse Confetti "Grid Stitched" tag, 

Ink: Simon Says Stamp "Duckling," Versamark, Simon Says Stamp "Mint," Simon Says Stamp "Jellybean," MFT "Wild Wisteria," Hero Arts "Bubblegum"

Other: Ranger "Superfine Gold" and "Superfine White" embossing powder, Wagner Heat Gun, MISTI, Zig Clean Color Markers, Yellow Twine, Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen, Foam Adhesive, Gemini Jr., Ranger Multi Matte, Scotch Dot Adhesive Roller, Wagner Heat Tool, Cartwright Sequins, DMC Floss