colourQ 285

This week at colourQ we've got some great spring time colors inspired by these Easter baskets to play with.  Despite these colors telling me I should make a card with pretty flowers my crafting mojo fell asleep and I couldn't come up with a single idea so I went in a bit of an abstract route instead.

The scribble-y circles are fun and a pretty popular image right now.  I stamped mine in the colors of the challenge then added some solid ones too.  I went over those with a Wink of Stella pen and they have a pretty shimmer to them in real life.

There's a one year anniversary "anything goes" linky party going on at The Challenge this week, so to celebrate the milestone I'm playing along there as well!

My colourQ teamies have some beautiful cards to show you this week so hop on over there to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Bokeh Dots (Essentials by Ellen); Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Cool Caribbean (SU)

Ink:  Cool Caribbean, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Kiwi Kiss (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Wink of Stella

Just Us Girls 286 Guest Designer

Today is my last week guest designing at Just Us Girls.  I've really enjoyed my time with them this past month and want to send a heartfelt thank you to them for inviting me along.  I've gotten to design some cards that are just outside of my comfort zone and also some that are well within my comfort zone!  I was a little apprehensive about this week's inspiration challenge because as a rule I'm afraid of those, but once I broke it down to some colors and images I was just fine!

The green, the yellow, and the red jumped out at me from the inspiration photo and as I pondered how I wanted to use those colors I came across the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.  This set some light bulbs off in my head and I went on to design a one layer card.   The square in the sketch became some watercolor splashes and the flowers became some simple stems and splashes of color.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Watercolor Wonder, Botanical Silhouettes (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  So Saffron (SU); Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Tag You're It 18

It's Friday!  Yay!  And time for a new challenge at Tag You're It!  Nancy is our hostess this week and our inspiration is a beautiful floral tag she made.  Here's my take on it.

I was inspired by the colors and the layout of Nancy's tag.  But instead of a floral design I went with feathers.  I embossed those in Melon Mambo and Tangerine Tango on vellum then fussy cut them out.  The sentiment is from my brand "new" (to me anyway) vintage Dymo labeler that I recently got on eBay.

A while back I got a stamp set (I'm sure you know which one) that resembles these old fashioned plastic labels.  I love that set and use it all the time and figured I could buy one of those label makers and then I'd be able to make any sentiment I wanted.  So I bought one and it only cost about $10.  Well after the first label I made, the thing refused to work.  It was just cheap plastic but still.  So fast forward a few months and there I am on Amazon reading the reviews for the one I bought hoping that someone had the sames issues as me and maybe, also, a way to fix it.  Lo and behold I found one with a solution!  The person that wrote the review  basically echoed my sentiment that the labeler was a piece of junk and said that he picked up a vintage one on eBay and was very happy with it.  So I did the same!  And I've got to say I love it.  It's heavy duty chrome, works like a dream and I've been sticking labels on things all over the house!

The amazing Tag You're It design team have some beauties for you to see for this challenge so head on over there to check them out.  We'd love to see your tags, your tags on cards or wherever else you can imagine using one!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Feather Finery (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Kraft, Vellum (Papertrey Ink); Lucky Limeade (SU)

Ink:  Distress Embossing Ink (Ranger)

Accessories:  Pierced Traditional Tags STAX, Medium Fancy Flourish die (My Favorite Things); Tangerine Tango and Melon Mambo embossing powder, Tangerine Tango button, Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, Antique Brass jumbo eyelet, linen thread (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 179

Hello, hello!  It's time for a brand new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week the talented Amy is our hostess.  I really admire the way she uses color and I must have been channeling her this week because I decided to try a little something different color-wise on my card.

First of all I'll tell you that I recently got the MISTI and I love it!  I used it to stamp the three layers of this dahlia image and it is so much better than using my old stamp-a-ma-whachacallit.  Lousy first impression?  No problem!  Need to layer images perfectly?  No problem!  It's amazing how such a relatively simple tool can make stamping so much easier!

Now on to my color story.  My intention was to layer some white cardstock cut with a stitched die on top of the Smoky Shadow layer so that my flowers would be against a white background.  But I got myself turned around and cut the Smoky Shadow layer using the stitched die cut instead.  I hated the thought of covering up those stitches with white cardstock so I decided to use it as the base for my flowers.  I chose some appropriately moody colors for the dahlia and voila!  I did use some translucent embossing paste and a stencil to add a little interest to the background but other than that I let this beautiful flower and the shades of gray to do the talking for me.  I love how it looks in real life!

You can image that the Freshly Made Sketches design team has got some fantastic cards for you to see this week and you wouldn't be wrong.  So please hop on over there and check them out.  I hope you have time to join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Delightful Dahlia Additions (Papertrey Ink); Thank You Kindly (SU)

Paper:  Soft Stone, Smoky Shadow, Lavender Moon (Papertrey Ink); Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Lavender Moon, Smoky Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Perfect Plum, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow (SU)

Accessories:  Stitched Journal die (My Creative Time); Fishtail Flags Layers STAX (My Favorite Things); Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); translucent embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

colourQ 284

We're back with a brand new challenge at colourQ!  This week the colors are inspired by this pretty figurine.  Perfect for a spring time card, I think!

I went with some simple floral images using the sketch from Fusion.  The sentiment was die cut three times and glued together to give this some dimension.  And I used some translucent embossing paste on the vertical layer in a diagonal line design to give this a bit of texture.  Little did I know that some cat hair would get stuck in the paste and really give this some texture!

Of course, our amazing colourQ design team has some beautiful cards to inspire you this week, so head on over there to check them out.  And I hope you can join us in the gallery this week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Artful Flowers (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Pool Party, Old Olive, Basic Black, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Blushing Bride (SU); Lavender Moon, True Black (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories:  Thanks Script die (Mama Elephant); Diagonal Stripe stencil (Simon Says Stamp); translucent embossing paste (Dreamweaver); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Just Us Girls285 GD

For some reason this week at work dragged on forever.  So thank goodness that Saturday is here and I can relax a bit.  I do have to pop in to work on Sunday for a software upgrade but that shouldn't take much time at all.

But for now it's time to share my latest card for Just Us Girls.  This is my third week joining them as a Guest Designer and this week the challenge is to design a project that is black and white and another color of your choosing.  Fun!

Whenever I see a challenge like this I want the third color to be something bright.  I'm particularly fond of how Melon Mambo looks when paired with black and white so I went with that.  I'm also playing along with the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.

My coffee stains take the place of the circles in the sketch and I went quite literal with the butterfly.  Although I think that an all black butterfly is a little unusual I really like how it contributes to the bold color scheme.

Well that's it for me.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  And please stop by Just Us Girls and check out the cards from the designers.  I hope you can join us!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Java Spills (Stamping Bella); Live, Love, Laugh & Be Happy (My Creative Time); Textures 2 (Florileges Design)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Whisper White, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Melon Mambo (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Cheviot Butterfly die, Delaney Butterfly die (Poppystamps); enamel dot (My Mind's Eye); washi tape

Freshly Made Sketches 178

Happy Wednesday everyone.  I hope you all survived the St. Patrick's Day festivities, if you had them!  St. Patrick's Day is a big deal where I live.  There's parades, and parties, and corned beef & cabbage dinners, and drinking, and singing and even a breakfast where local politicians get together and pretend they like each other for a day!  It's all in good fun!

Today we've got a new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches designed by Narelle.  She's got such an eye for color and design and she always tries to make a sketch for us that's a little easy on the layers.  I'm sure it kills her to do it, though!

I whipped out my favorite Super Girl for my card and the little ka-pow bubble behind her is pointy like the banner in the sketch and also round-ish like the circle, so it's doing double duty here.  I actually began this card with a bright yellow layer that I embossed with clear paste using a starry stencil.  But I couldn't figure out where to put the sentiment.  Then I found this starburst paper in my stash and knew it was a better choice for a background.

The colors for my card are inspired by the colorful creation that is the inspiration this week at the Muse Challenge.  I started with the bright yellow background then pulled in several other colors as well.

There's lots of fantastic inspiration from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches.  I hope you have time to play along with us this week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  You're Super (My Favorite Things)

Paper:  Soft Sky, Pacific Point, Real Red (SU); X-Press It Blending Card

Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Onyx Black (Versafine); Copics

Accessories:  Bam Bubbles die (Paper Smooches)

colourQ 283 Redux

Top o' the morning to ya!  It's St. Patrick's day - the day where everyone is Irish even if you're not!  And around these parts it's also Evacuation Day.  A totally made up holiday that just happens to fall on March 17th every year so that anyone who works for the government in Suffolk County can have a day off!  Sadly I work in Bristol County so I'm plugging along at work today. 

But it's also Tuesday, which is also colourQ day.  Due to some technical difficulties the challenge from last week is being extended, so you've still got time to play along.  And the colors just might inspire you to make a card celebrating this green holiday!   I know it did me - at first.

Now don't call me crazy because there is no pot of gold or shamrocks on this card.  And I'm not going to try to convince you that I exercised a little poetic license because I think those flowers look a bit like wilted shamrocks.  Nope, I started out making this card with visions of leprechauns in my head.  I even bought a digital image on Etsy.  But I just wasn't feeling the love from the little bugger so I made this instead.

I made a crafty resolution to myself this year that I was going to try new things.  And one thing that I do horribly is water color and I am determined to do it better.  So I treated myself to some good quality watercolors and used them to color my flowers.  I was trying to be very careful and not create a big muddy mess and I'm pretty happy with the result.  At least I'm encouraged to keep plugging along at it.

The layout for my card comes from the latest Deconstructed Sketch.

Thanks for stopping by.  And don't forget you've got another week to join in the fun at colourQ!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Charming Gardners (a.muse studio); Bright Days (Avery Elle)

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Smoky Slate (SU); Distress Watercolor Paper (Ranger)

Ink:  Jet Black Archival (Ranger); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Dotted Borders die (Avery Elle); Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things); Gansai Tambi watercolors (Kuretake); baker's twine

Just Us Girls 284 Guest Designer

Today I'm showing you the second card that I made as Guest Designer at Just Us Girls.  The challenge this week is SPLATTERS!  Be still my heart.  Who loves splatters more than me?

I had an idea about how I wanted my card to look, I just needed some colors.  Enter the latest challenge at Muse.  I knew the yellow and black that are so prominent in the inspiration photo would be perfect for what I had in mind.  Some fussy cut flowers, a couple of die cut leaves, splatters, coffee stains and a few enamel dots and I was done!  I love how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you join the challenge over at Just Us Girls!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Gorgeous Grunge, Off the Grid (SU); Hasthags (Tim Holtz); Ink Splats (Indigo Blu)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Basic Black (SU)

Ink:  Daffodil Delight (SU); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Craft); enamel dots (Doodlebug Designs)

Freshly Made Sketches 177

I can hardly believe it's Wednesday but the calendar doesn't lie!  And, of course, since it's Wednesday there's a brand new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Karren and I can see a lot of possibilities with this sketch!

I had an idea to do a watercolor background then stamp the outline of these flower stamps on top.  Then I remembered that I stink at watercoloring so I stamped a bunch of grungy images to fill up the background and layered my floral outline over them instead.  Then I had an idea to scrunch up some thread and stick it behind the sentiment layer as a substitute for the circle on the sketch.  I didn't count on the fact that the black thread would be lost against the black outline of my flowers.  But rest assured it is there!

The colors for my card come from the challenge at The Paper Players.  I nearly forgot the Wild Wasabi but they're there in the tiny enamel dots!

Please head on over to Freshly Made Sketches to get some inspiration from our fabulous design team and all the details about how you can play along with the challenge.  I hope you can join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Artful Flowers (Simon Says Stamp); Jumbo Abstract Art (My Favorite Things); Label Love (Altenew)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Naturals White (Neenah)

Ink:  So Saffron, Crisp Cantaloupe (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  enamel dots (Studio Calico); black thread

colourQ 283

Well here it is Tuesday again!  And that means it's time for a new palette at colourQ.  This week the color combo is one of my faves because it's got Kiwi Kiss, kraft and black!  It's inspired by this tea towel.

I hemmed and hawed, and fussed and fumed for way too long over this card.  But I was having Internet issues (for the second weekend in a row) the day I was making this card so I was a bit off-kilter.  I do like how it turned out though, especially because I used an old favorite stamp set, Best Blossoms.  At one time this was a go-to set for me when I wanted a pretty flower and I had actually forgotten all about it.  Shame on me!

The layout for this comes from Match the Sketch.  I always love a sketch with good geometric layers and this layout is perfect to show off some patterned paper and the flowers.

Having Internet issues means I'm behind on everything.  I'm behind on my DT work and behind on commenting.   Apologies if you've popped by lately and I haven't returned the favor.  I plan to get caught up tonight so hopefully I'll be back to normal soon!

As always thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the cards from my teamies at colourQ.  They are beauties!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Best Blossoms (SU); A freebie "thank you" stamp from Avery Elle

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black, Smoky Slate, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Going Gray, Kiwi Kiss (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Vertical Stitched Strips, Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Craft Designs) 

Just Us Girls Guest Designer

I'm super excited to share today that I'll be joining the talented ladies at Just Us Girls for the month of March as a guest designer!  First up is a masculine card challenge.  Despite me shivering in my boots over that one, I rolled up my sleeves and decided a super hero would save the day!

Don't you just love the big grin on this guy's face?  I know I do.  I even added some Wink of Stella pen to those pearly whites so that they'd really shine in real life!  And it was just my luck that the colors this week at Color Throwdown were perfect for a masculine card so, of course, I used those in this card.

I want to extend a big, heartfelt thanks to the ladies at Just Us Girls for inviting me along with them this month.  I'm excited to join them in this crafting journey and so grateful that they even asked!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Super (Paper Smooches)

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); White (Spectrum Noir); Night of Navy, Real Red (SU); X-Press It Blending Card

Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Night of Navy (SU); Copics

Accessories:  Bam Bubbles die (Paper Smooches)

As You See It Guest Designer

I'm so excited to tell you that I'm the guest designer over at the As You See It challenge this week!  I love playing along with their challenges so I was very excited when Amanda asked me to join them.  This week the challenge is shades of purple and it's also a speed stamping challenge!

The idea behind a speed stamping challenge is to try to make your project in 10 minutes or less.  I've done a few of these before so I know that I need to carefully plot out my design and have all the supplies I'll need handy so I don't waste time trying to find things in my stamp room.  So with my stamps and dies at the ready, the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments as my layout and a little washi tape inspiration from City Crafter Challenge I set to work.  I thought for sure that I would go over 10 minutes but I'm pleased to say that I had this all put together in 8 minutes, 3 seconds!  Woo hoo!

I want to extend a bit thank you to Amanda and all the ladies at As You See It for liking my work and asking me to join them this week!  I'm grateful beyond words!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Celebrate Artsy (Stamplorations); Dandelion Dreams (Clearly Besotted

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Concord Crush, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder (SU); Dusty Concord (Distress Inks)

Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Cheviot Butterfly die, Delaney Butterfly die (Poppystamps); Basic Rhinestone (SU); washi tape, white crochet thread, white seam binding ribbon