Mother's Day is Coming

Before you know it we will be celebrating moms!!! Time flies doesn't it? I wanted to play along at Freshly Made Sketches #683 and went the ombré and sparkle route. Here is my take on their latest sketch.

What I used to make my card:

My Favorite Things - Harmonious Hibiscus Background stamp

Reverse Confetti - Mom die

Picket Fence - Diva Hearts

Ranger - Distress Oxide inks

Altenew - Obsidian black ink pad

Black glitter cardstock

One way that I see the sketch is a light side and a colored side, so that's where I went with it. After stamping the background with black ink, I went bright with my colors to make the dark sentiment pop. This sketch really makes it easy to come up with all sorts of designs!

Thanks for stopping in,

Carol

A Tropical Hello

I was in a tropical mood when I made this card for the Just Us Girls Challenge #772 Anything Goes with a Stencil. I added a glimmery silver Hello backed with blue that matches the blue ink. What will you make with your stencils? Out team has a variety of great stenciled cards for you.

My sentiment is cut from Your Paper Insider Holographic Silver Cosmo Swirl cardstock. 

Way more color and shimmer in real life!

Products I used:

Hero Arts Floral Trove stencil

Your Paper Insider Holographic Silver Cosmo Swirl cardstock 

Pretty Pink Posh gems

Ranger Distress and Distress Oxide ink pads

I stenciled my patterns in three different colors, then cut the stenciled panel apart to make three columns. They are popped up on foam tape. I die cut the Hello twice, once with the YPI Holographic Silver Cosmo Swirl cardstock, then again with a blue matching the blue ink to use as a shadow. I found the perfect gems to match and added those to complete the card.

Hope you will stencil up a card for us this week and play along. Be sure to make the stenciling clear to find on your card. Can't wait to see what you make!

Thanks for coming by,

Carol

A Street Fair

At Time Out Challenges #287 we have a photo inspiration of a street fair in Luxembourg. Our teammate Kate had this booth there and was selling her beautiful cards! From the photo I used flowers and some of the colors to make my card. 

Uniko is our generous sponsor this month of £25.00 Store credit and our challenge winner will be invited to be a guest designer of a future Time Out challenge. Also, Heather Heroldt of Handmade By Heather is our guest for this challenge!

One of my favorite kinds of die cutting is inlaid pieces, so I have eyed this die for a while. I used a leftover stenciled frame from die cutting a recent card and put it over my die cut piece, even though it looks like the reverse. Using this die is like putting a puzzle together. The background can be many different colors but I chose the white one with shiny hearts for something different. (That's why you see a cut piece on the top left of the background. It is meant to be one of the places where you can make a color change.) Looking forward to so many seasons and colorways for different versions using this die!

What I used to make my card:

Concord and 9th - Spring Print die 

JoAnn Fabrics - Embossed white heart cardstock

What do you see that you could take for your own card? The photo board? The costumes? The festival booth? The masks? Definitely the colors...so may good ones. Please explain what you took from the photo to make your card.

We hope you will come along to our festival challenge! Hope to see your card in the gallery!

-Carol

A Little Cocktail

I stumbled across a challenge over at Just Add Ink #747 where I loved their colors: grey and yellow. That's all it took for me to get out some things to play...and I did change my mind several times! Here is my Lemon Drop Martini card that I figure can be a birthday, stress-reducing or congratulations card.

I used Spellbinders Olive Martini die set, Aura sequins, and My Favorite Things Holiday Cheers stamp set. I ink blended with Ranger distress inks. I kept looking up martinis to see what a Lemon Drop looks like and how I might shade the beverage itself. I love this patterned paper from JoAnn fabrics. I stamped and fussy-cut the sentiment and cut it into two pieces. It is supposed to say "Have yourself a Merry little Cocktail" but I just cut away the "merry". part.

I guess I'm ready for a holiday weekend now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Easter Greetings

Elizabeth is our hostess at Just Us Girls #771 this week and there couldn't be a brighter, more cheerful moodboard than the one she chose for all of us. You can take the vivid colors, a specific element (Check out that rainbow cake!) or a combination of things you see in it. I chose the bright spring colors, the idea of a bunny playing in the garden, butterflies fluttering about, and spring flowers all around. I like Marimekko patterns and went for that feeling with the stencils and colors.

I am also playing along at Inkspirational Challenge #339 Decorated Eggs Moodboard. My postage stamps have egg-dying patterns in them and Easter colors. I don't own a single egg die for this time of year, so I go for patterns, colors and sometimes my one tiny egg stamp.

Products I used:

Waffle Flower Postal Collage stencils and die

Spellbinders Spring Together die set

Simon Says Stamp Bunny Trail stamp set

Ranger Distress Oxide ink pads

Altenew Obsidian black ink pad

We hope you will find time to join us this week. Check out the team's and guest's blogs for all the details on their cards. Now, I want a piece of that pastel rainbow cake!

Thanks for coming by.

Carol

Coffee Shop

I was so happy to be offered a Featured Stamper spot at The Color Throwdown #CTD831 this week. The challenge photo made me want to use some type of flowers as the focal point, but I went in a different direction. I actually CASEd a beautiful Laurie Willison card on Instagram from a few years ago. I think she may have used gold metallic cardstock for the door hardware and lamp, but I wanted to stay true to the CTD challenge colors: sage, yellow and coral. 

Products I used:

Concord and 9th Pop-up Bake Shop dies and stamp set, mini ink pads

Altenew Obsidian black ink pad

I made a mask for ink blending the window using the big die that cuts the whole store front. Then I used a combination of Sorbet and Honeysuckle inks to get as close to my coral flowers as possible. Foam tape pops up the door, window frame and flower box. Can't wait to send this to a certain coffee girl!

Card number two: I also made a similar card of and for a coffee shop that may or may not still be open in my area. I was going to give it to the manager for allowing my friends and I to sit and make cards recently. We found another place to hang out because the one we chose didn't seem to be open. This card has acetate in the door windows as well as the big picture window. The inside of the actual café is white and has black drawings to make the furniture, "bookcases" and "plants" and everything else look 2D.

The actual café. I took this picture through the window. The furniture looks 2D when set up, with its white base and black outlines. Really fun concept!

The colors of this week's Color Throwdown Challenge are such pretty spring colors. Can't wait to see the cards in the gallery using sage green, yellow and coral!

Thanks for stopping by,

Carol

Relax

Here's to summer on its way! This was a really hard card to photograph, but the gold shimmer is like the golden hour of sunset. This layout is from the Freshly Made Sketches #681 challenge ending today.

Products I used:

My Favorite Things - Palm tree die

Sizzix - Vacation Words Block die

Stampin' Up! - Banner die

Patterned Paper 

Sequins

Gold card stock

I covered the front of my A2 card base with gold card stock. Then I die cut a banner from a white panel to have a negative-shape version of the sketch. I cut another banner out of shiny palm tree patterned paper. The white panel is popped up on foam tape and the banner is adhered flush to the card front. (I wanted the gold to show around the edges of the banner through the opening in the white panel.) I added the die cut palm and sentiment and they float over the opening in the white panel. A couple of sea-colored sequins for color and it was done!

Thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Love You

I made a Valentine shaker card in February and saved the letters out of the frame I die cut to make today's springtime card for our Just Us Girls #770 Word Week: You. We are asking you to use any sentiment that includes "you" such as Miss you, Happy Birthday to you, You are the best, Thinking of you, For you, Thank you, and so forth. I'm hostessing this week and am looking forward to seeing all of the cards in the gallery with this theme. 

Products I used:

Honey Bee Stamps - Hearts in Bloom layering stencil set, Love cover plate

Reverse Confetti - You "tag" set

Concord and 9th - mini ink pads

Ranger - Distress Oxide ink pads

Vellum

Pretty Pink Posh - jewels

I stenciled an A2 white panel, then used the Love cover plate to die cut the words. I die cut three plain white Love panels and stacked each letter with three white and the stenciled letter on top. I temporarily taped a white panel to my card front to adhere the stacked letters to the card front. I removed the white panel once all letter stacks were adhered in place.

I die cut a pink "you" and traced the same die onto vellum. Fussy cutting "you" was quick since it is a  short word! I adhered the vellum "you " behind the pink one, then adhered them to the card front. Three little jewels added a little sparkle around  my sentiment and the card was done!

Please join us this week for an easy challenge. I think everyone has a sentiment with "you" in it or a set of alphabet dies. Can't wait to check out what you create!

Carol

I Shore Do Miss You

Our new challenge at Time Out Challenge #286 is Pick Two: Stencil, Floral Spots, Arch, Water, Pastel. I chose stencil and water using this perky sea gull and a lifesaver ring. I've been waiting for the perfect challenge to use these dies and here is my card.

Products I used:

Sugar Pea Designs - Nautical Notions die set

Waffle Flower - Inquisitive Seagulls die set

Hero Arts - Seas the Day Seagulls stamp set

Altenew - Obsidian black ink pad

Park Lane - Travel Printed Cardstock with gold foil

Handmade waves stencil

Ranger - Distress ink pads

Concord and 9th - Mini ink pad

First I die cut everything I needed for my card, then stenciled the waves and ink blended the lifesaver and beak pieces. I made a second beak and bent it upward, then adhered it to the inlaid beak to look like he is squawking (or maybe smiling). I saw that done somewhere when the Seagulls were first released last year.

I cut a 5" x 5" white card base and a panel of patterned paper the same size. I arranged and glued together all of the die cuts and just had to stamp and cut down the sentiment to the size I wanted. Now to make an envelope to fit the card.

We hope you will join us for our Pick Two challenge. Gina K is our sponsor offering a $25 gift cardd to her store! The team and our guest Fran Wing have made a variety of great cards for your inspiration! Please join us!

Thanks for stopping by,

Carol

Always Take the Scenic Route

I love inlaid die cut designs and this landscape die called out to me for a long time. This card is made with only Your Paper Insider cardstock and I also designed it for our Just Us Girls #769, Anything Goes Using a Die: No flowers. We hope you will get out your dies and make a non-flower card using dies. Our new guest for the month is the talented Wanda Cullen, so check out her card and those of the design team.

Products I used:

Spellbinders Colorblock Landscape dies

Your Paper Insider Box 1

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk sentiments

This landscape die is like putting together a little puzzle...really fun and quite easy. Can't wait to use it again with other color combinations. The smooth and shiny confetti cardstock reflects all the colors on my card and adds some "bling" in the sky.

Hope to see your die cut projects in our gallery and that you have some fun crafty time making them!

Carol