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 Sunday and a Few Challenges

Hello everyone!! I hope everyone is doing well. I have been doing a lot of creating, as well as organizing lately in an attempt to calm my mind. Sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't. I appreciate everything I have, though and am grateful for all the healthcare workers and critical people that are working at their jobs throughout all this. Such strange times.

For my first card today, I created a birthday card for a co-workers daughter. Her little girl is turning 10 and she asked for people to send her cards. Of course I jumped on the bandwagon and created the card below using Simon Says Stamps "Party Like a Panda" stamp and die set.

I chose to use the stamps that make up my sentiment from the SSS set. The cupcake is a new die cut I bought from Honey Bee Stamps. It is called "The Cupcake Builder" and I had a lot of fun coloring the pieces in with Copic Markers.

I also colored in the balloons with Copic Markers, then used a Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Pen to give them some sparkle and topped it all off with some Glossy Accents.

The hearts on the front were left over from a previous project and I had to add them on for some accent. I used Ranger Shaded Lilac Distress ink and a stencil to create some soft polka dots on the background.

I even decorated the inside of the card as well. It is for a little girl so I had to make it festive!! I added a sentiment from PaperTrey Ink and some balloons from the SSS Panda stamp set.

I am entering this into the following Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge-Happy Birthday

Seize the Birthday Challenge: With Topping-Cards for Kids

Another thing I am trying to do is to challenge myself to not only use stamps I have not touched but also to create more than one card from a stamp set. So for my second card, I again used the Simon Says Stamp "Party Like a Panda" set to create a belated birthday card.

The paper is from PaperTrey Ink, the dies are from My Favorite Things.

I am notoriously the WORST at sending birthday cards so all the cards I should make for birthdays are belated!!! I colored in the Panda with Copic Markers and used a stamp from Lawn Fawn for the speech bubble.

This card I am entering into a couple of challenges as well. 

The Paper Players Theme Challenge-A Day at the Zoo 

(because I used a Panda! I hope this counts!!)

The Watercooler Wednesday Challenge-Anything Goes with a Feminine Twist

Well that is all from me today. I thank you for taking the time to stop by. I hope these cards make you smile!!

Have a GREAT night!!

EDIT: I never edit posts but Darnell told me I should enter this into the NBUS Challenge Blog and by darn, I am going to. If you have NEVER heard of this, hop on over because it is AWESOME!!!

CAS-ual Fridays Release-Day Four

Hello everyone!! Happy April Fools Day!! I hope you are all staying healthy.

Today is the last day of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps release. I am showcasing a project that I created with the new "Heart Ribbon" stamp set.

I began using one of the ribbon stamps and repeatedly stamping it using four different colored pink inks.

I cut the panel down to a 3" by 4 1/4" panel and adhered it to an A2 sized card base as shown.

I stamped the sentiment using Versamark ink onto black cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment in white. I then cut around the edges of the sentiment and adhered it to the card front using foam adhesive.

My last step was to adhere some random sequins around the sentiment. Below is a peek at the new "Hope Ribbon" stamp set.

This stamp set, as well as the other new stamp sets are available in the NEW section of the the CAS-Friday Store right now. Use my code NORASENTME to get 15% off your total order!!

To see more fabulous projects with this new stamp set, please hop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Blog.

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