random reflections

Circles

I rarely am cutting it so close to a challenge as I am today. It's Theme Week at The Paper Players and the theme, chosen by Stef, my teammate at Color Hues, is Circles. I've been thinking about the challenge off and on all week. Last night, however, instead of crafting, I started sorting and purging my precut diecuts, card fronts, images to color, etc. As I was working through them I came upon an envelope filled with precut black and white circles from the Simon Says Geometric Circle Dies. There was also a group of circles cut with patterned paper, and the answer to the call for circles.

Instead of sitting right down and getting to it, I ended up watching the second installment of the Ken Burns documentary on Lewis & Clark. We're planning to drive that route in the fall, and it's a fascinating look at the perils and challenges of exploring the west in the early 1800's. 

So this morning, when we got home from the gym, I sat down and came up with a birthday card I'm quite pleased with. It's a good masculine card, and I have more circles to play with later.

It took awhile to figure out how to arrange the circles, but once I die cut some squares from Ellen Hutson's Essential Squares, the card came together pretty quickly. I attached the squares onto a panel die cut with Gina K's Masterlayout 1, and added the circles with dimensional tape. Two small red enamel dots provide a bit of color.

The sentiment is from Memory Box's Black Tabs series. Always a good choice when I need a premade sentiment. I still have a few hours before the challenge closes so it's off to The Paper Players!

Poinsettias for Christmas

I'm right on track with making my Christmas cards. I have a goal to make a set of 10 each month. So far, I've only missed one month so I'm halfway there. I do occasionally make a card for a challenge as well. As soon as I saw the Jingle Belles Challenge for Poinsettias, I knew I had the perfect die in my NBUS box to start. I also knew that one of my very old Poppy Stamps dies would work as well.

I recently purchased the Simon Says Hanging Leaf Ring. It comes with a set of floral dies, but I knew the Small Blooming Poinsettia die from Poppy Stamps would work beautifully here. I did cut the Ellen Hutson Lattice Background from black cardstock and added it to a black panel before adding both to a gold panel. The card base is Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream which I also used for the circle inside the ring.

The sentiment is from Spellbinder's Wonderful Christmas stamp set which was one of the monthly offerings last year. I don't think I've used it before, but the font seemed just right for this design. At the last minute I added two gold leaves from the poinsettia dies and then some Gold Glitter Pearls from Pinkfresh Studio. 

This is also off to NBUS--one more product out of the NBUS box!

 

A Trio of Ice Cream Cones

Today is my granddaughter, Maddy's, ninth birthday. She's celebrating her birthday on Nantucket--what could be better? Before she left on vacation we went on a birthday shopping trip. She turns out to be one great shopper. She knows where she wants to go, and when she gets there she makes good choices. She had the choice of opening her card that day. But she chose to take it to Nantucket to open today. Hopefully, she'll be pleased with it. All of my grandchildren are fans of The Greetery's Honeycomb products, and the ice cream cone seemed perfect for a July birthday. 

I finally have the dies for the What's the Scoop? stamp set, and they are so much fun--adding a chocolate topping that creates sprinkles. Also new for this card is the Frosted Frames die. The patterned papers were in a box with older papers from my scrapbooking days. 

I added a few enamel dots for embellishment, and it was done.

I made two other ice cream cards with the Hey, Honeycomb Ice Cream Cone. They're all similar, but all three have different backgrounds. 

This one has a foiled background with The Greetery's Ticker Tape, and die cut with The Stitched Scallop, also by The Greetery. You can see the foiling better in this photo:

And finally with the honeycomb opened up.

The background for the next card was stamped with Concord and 9th's Celebration Turnabout stamp, and die cut once again with the Stitched Scallop die.

I don't often enter more than two or maybe three challenges at a time, but this is an exception.The AAA Birthday Challenge and The Four Seasons Challenge are looking for Summer cards. Festive Friday's current theme is National Ice Cream Day. Maddy's card has sprinkles, a cone, and ice cream for the Festive Friday Challenge. And at Just Us Girls, it's Die Cut Week with Summer Things as the theme.

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Paper Posies

I hardly need another die cut flower set, but my resolve was broken when I saw the new Concord and 9th Paper Posies. I haven't let them sit in the NBUS box very long. In an unusual move for me, I chose a range of Concord and 9th papers, and then just started die cutting away. When I had a nice selection I embossed some of the petals and leaves with the accompanying embossing folder which is quite a nice addition to the set. After putting together a variety of florals, I selected some for two cards. The first is a thank you card to a friend who brought me some treats from Paris. The second is for a woman in my book club who is scheduled for a knee replacement this week. I still have enough flowers left over a couple more cards.

I arranged these on a Soft Stone (PTI) card base, and stamped one of my favorite sentiments from The Greetery's Tagged Elegance set.

You can see the lovely embossing here. I'm not sure which side of the petals are intended to be used, but it's clear to me that either side would be great.

The next card is more CAS. I started with a white woodgrain card base, and made a simple floral arrangement. Using the rule of 3, I tried adding another floral, but it just didn't work! I did add three gold pearls from Pinkfresh Studio. The sentiment is from Spellbinder's You Are Everything. 

The Paper Players have a TicTacToe board this week. I'm sending the first card off to them, using the middle row across: flowers, die cuts, embossing. And both are off to the Wednesday Simon Says Challenge: Sending Flowers. I used to play along with Simon Says regularly, but seem to forget this challenge when I'm creating. And always with a NBUS, off to Darnell's challenge as well.

A Call for Stencils

Just Us Girls Challenge is asking for Stencils as is Inkspirational. Geometric stencils are the optional element at Inkspirational and this works perfectly for that as well. I've challenged myself this month to create 31 cards using a NBUS product. I'd like to say a card-a-day. but I know there are days when it's impossible to get to the craft room for very long. I pulled out a stencil that's been languishing for months in the NBUS box. Somewhat to my surprise, it's a coloring stencil for a Spellbinder's hot foil plate, which I do not own. As you can see, it works perfectly well on its own.

I pulled out three Catherine Pooler inks that I've had for a long time and never used. I love the summer vibe they give to the card. I used just three of the four stencils since I liked the design with the white areas. After stenciling, I die cut the panel with a Hero Arts Rounded Rectangles Infinity die and added a white border before adhering to a lime green card base.

I tried a variety of sentiment styles, but liked this preprinted and foiled one from Pinkfresh Studios. I added a few Pinkfresh gold pearls as well.

These are off to Just Us Girls and Inkspirational. Both challenges end this week, so it was a timely make.

Hope your summer is off to a great start. We've had some much needed rain, but today is clear, sunny, and not too hot. 

Clean & Simple for Color Hues # 113

Tracey leads us off in July with a versatile color combination for the next Color Hues Challenge:

I have two anniversary cards to share today. The first card design has been a favorite for anniversaries over the years.

The die cut tree from My Favorite Things has long been a favorite of mine. I die cut it on a white panel and added it to a red panel cut with Gina K's Master Layout #1, which allows the red to show through. I added a narrow black border also cut with Gina K's Master Layout #1.

The sentiment is from My Favorite Things, Hugs and Kisses. No embellishment was necessary.

The second card practically made itself. I created a card for friend's anniversary, and although it was okay to send, I really didn't love it. Before it went off in the mail, I realized that by changing the card base I could have a clean and simple card for Tracey's challenge. It doesn't get more clean and simple than this:

The card base is my favorite red: Papertrey Ink's Pure Poppy. The little hearts came from Hero Art's Infinity Hearts die, and the white panel was cut with one of Ellen Hutson's Essential Rectangles. I popped the hearts up with a tiny dimensional foam dot. 

I used the same stamp set, Hugs and Kisses, from My Favorite Things for the sentiment, and added one small red pearl from AMuse. Those pearls have been in my collection for years.

Be sure to hop over to the Color Hues Challenge blog to see how the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Kim Miller, were inspired for this challenge, and then add a card of your own to our gallery.

I'm sending the second card to AAACards: Anything CAS Goes. 

 

 

Festive Friday: World Chocolate Day

The concept behind the Festive Friday Challenge is an interesting one. Each challenge focuses on an individual festivity or holiday. Recent challenges have been World Pet Memorial Day and Father's Day. The challenge team then lists a variety of elements inspired by the event. I follow the challenge, but don't often have a great idea that would incorporate three of the elements (the minimum). The current challenge, however, spoke to me right away. It is World Chocolate Day! What could be better? And Altenew's Chocolate Flowers kit was just what I needed.

I finished this card a few days ago, but have held off posting it until the last minute of the challenge because the card is on it's way to a fellow card maker. I hope she opens the card before she sees it on the blog. The three elements I incorporated in the card are: chocolate (the background), brown, and a sweet sentiment.

I die cut all the flowers and leaves from white cardstock and ink blended them with a varieety of Simon Says Pawsitively Saturated Inks. I love pink and brown together and wanted a bright vibe to the card so used some vibrant pinks and greens.

The sentiment strip from Spellbinder's Always and Forever sentiment set was hot foiled in gold. Not sure why I got such a blue tint to the sentiment strip in this photograph but it's too late to fuss with it. I added a few of Pinkfresh Studio's gold pearls as an embellishment and to accent the gold foiled sentiment. 

I am a huge fan of chocolate as is my husband. We have three granddaughters who live near us and two of the three don't like chocolate at all! We just can't understand it. 

 

 

 

Woodblock Wednesday: June 2025

I had a rather grand plan for this card which would have combined a couple of challenges. Although the technique worked, the end result was disppointing, and I moved on. We, like many, have been experiencing very hot weather--over 90° for two days with high humidity. Today's in the mid 80's, but it doesn't feel much cooler. This wood block stamp, Too Much Sun, seemed like the perfect choice. The stamp company name is so faint that I'm not sure who the manufacturer was.

 

 

I got the darkest impression with Altenew's Obsidian ink, so I chose Tombow markers for coloring it. I used just three: a light yellow, a yellow orange, and a red orange. I matted the image with black and used dimensional tape to add it to the white card base. 

 

 

The sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Sun and Moon is a two part sentiment. I wasn't crazy about the font for Enjoy, but couldn't find anything in my sentiment collection that worked any better. I die cut the sentiment and the mat with Ellen Hutson's Essential Ovals. The second part of the sentiment was just perfect:

 

 

I stamped the medallion with black ink, and then die cut the sentiment with the Banner Dies from The Greetery. 

 

In addition to Woodblock Wednesday, I sending this to the Four Seasons Challenge: Summer.

 

 

Brushstroke Stamping

The Penny Black videos showcase not only their stamps and dies, but a variety of techniques. They caused me to get out my watercolors here, and today's card takes me back to the days of woodblock stamps where I used Tombow markers directly on the stamps, then misting them lightly with water to create a watercolor look. I have a couple older Penny Black "slapstick/ Cling" stamps, but this newer one is a much simpler design. 

The Curvature frames are another of my more recent purchases. This is the middle-sized one and I used the interior, cut from Bristol Smooth paper and put it in my MISTI to stamp. This is a great improvement over the woodblock stamps where restamping was impossible. I used the Tombow markers as well as a waterbrush to even out the stamping and to blend the different colors of ink. I should have done some ink blending before stamping the image, but I didn't think of it, so just added some splatters. My friend, Bonnie, made a beautiful card, and she was able to do the wash after the stamping. I wasn't so brave! 

Nearly all Jill Foster's card bases are the same color as the paper on which she stamps. That makes for a very clean and simple card. I like this particular image much better on a green card base, but I think it's still pretty CAS. 

I'm sending this off to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge--my second entry this month. It's also going to NBUS--another first run for both the stamp and the frame.

Watercoloring with Penny Black

For months now, I've been watching videos by Jill Foster for Penny Black. Although I had a few products from Penny Black purchased years ago, I've added a few more over that last few months. I've used some of the frames before, but pulled out two  new images for a bit of watercoloring. Jill uses re-inkers for Distress Inks as her watercolors. I have just a few of those, but I have many different watercolor sets to choose from. For these I used both Altenew's 36 pan watercolors as well as a few of the Zig Clean Color brush markers. It had been quite awhile since I had done any watercoloring, and it took a few tries before I got a handle on it again.

This card uses one of two images in the Penny Black stamp set, Perch. The title of that set doesn't make much sense for this image, but the second image features a darling bird perched on a flower pot. The beautiful frame is one from the Classy Frames set which I borrowed from a friend. I lightly ink blended the interior die cut before stamping the sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio: You Are My Rainbow. 

The second card uses a set (stamps and die) from Penny Black's new Flower of the Month series. The minute I saw it, I knew I wanted both the hydrangea and the watering can. We have multiple hydrangeas in both our front yard and around our patio. They are among my most favorite flowers. They are beautiful outdoors and last a long time when I bring them in for a flower arrangement. 

This card design is one of Jill Foster's many designs with both embossing folders and images. This uses Penny Black's Texture embossing folder. I added a thin strip of light gray paper as a border. The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio's Extra Special Sentiments.

I'm sending the first card off to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge: Anything Goes, and the second card is off to The Flower Challenge that wants dry or wet embossing. Both will show up on Darnell's NBUS blog since it's the first run for both images, and for the embossing folder as well.