random reflections

Spring Sprays

Technically, it's still Spring, but the last week has felt a lot more like mid-summer. Today a fresh breeze has blown in, and it's much cooler. Right before we left on our trip, I received an order from The Greetery that included a stencil and die set called Spring Sprays. I created the card and got it photographed, but didn't have time to post it. The challenge at Double D is Flowers as is the challenge at Stencil Fun, so here's the perfect opportunity to share the card.

I used a variety of Pinkfresh Studio inks to color the florals with the stencil and added some detail with colored pencils. The die cut clusters were added to a white panel with some dimensional tape and then to a bright pink card base.

The lovely die cut sentiment, Scripty Hello, is also from The Greetery. Just five pink enamel dots finished it off.

It's been a whirlwind since we returned. I'm heavily involved in two big church events--one this Sunday and then another on the 11th. This is also the week of the Walker family cottage on Honeoye Lake, so we'll be driving back and forth almost every day this week. I have a list of projects I want to create, so I'm hoping to sneak a few minutes at the crafting desk each morning. 

Color Hues #65

We arrived home 0n Monday from a fabulous tour of Portugal and Spain. I'll have lots more to share in a week or so. The tour lived up to all our expectations--and more. This post was written before we left. I'm anxious to get back to the crafting table, but it will probably be another day or two. Today is the first of June and time for the new Color Hues Challenge.

Red and Aqua are such a happy combination, and Jules is our hostess at Color Hues this round.

I've chosen a Pinkfresh Studio Suite of products, Farm Fresh, for this challenge. It was another of the products we received as part of the Create and Connect even in February, and one of my favorites.  

Despite several layers all with dimensional tape, it's quite a CAS card. I chose to color the flowers with Copic markers rather than the accompanying stencils. The card photographed darker than it really is, and even photo editing didn't quite fix it. There's definitely more shading in those florals than is shown here. I used an embossing folder from Taylored Expressions, Subway Tiles, to create a backdrop for the milk can full of flowers.

I added some shading in gray to the milk can and die cut two ovals from white and aqua papers for the sentiment which also is included in the Farm Fresh set. I briefly toyed with the idea to layer the focal images on either an aqua or a red card base, but decided the clean look of white was much better.

Please hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what the Design Team and our Guest designer have in store for you! Then help us fill the gallery with your Red and Aqua creations!

Color Hues #64

Julie has chosen a color combination I have always loved for this round of the Color Hues Challenge: Orange and Slate Gray. I have multiple orange sweaters which look great with gray, and a couple of very lovely gray and orange print scarves. 

The cardstocks I chose for this were Simon Says Slate (perfect name!) and Gina K's Tomato Soup, which is a darker hue of orange than the graphic above. One great thing about this two color challenge is the "hues" part of our name which allows for quite a bit of variation in color. 

I'm trying to focus on using different techniques for the Color Hues challenges. Two challenges ago, I had a floral that was stamped and colored with stencils, and the last challenge was a geometric hot foil plate colored with stencils. This time it's another graphic design but with Waffle Flower's Triple Line Diamond Panel which I die cut from the gray paper. It was layered on a top folded orange card. Next up was to choose a sentiment, and after much deliberation, I chose a sentiment from Spellbinders hot foil plate: Everyday Sentiments II which was foiled in silver and die cut with one of Simon Says Sentiment Labels.

Instead of adding embellishments. I die cut a portion of the panel again in metallic silver paper and inlaid some of the diamonds to coordinate with the silver foiled sentiment.

I hope you'll jump over to the Color Hues blog and see what the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer have created, and join in the fun with your orange and gray cards!

When you read this, I'll be about halfway through a tour of Portugal and Spain! Before the pandemic we took a tour with the same company to Morocco, and I was so tired at the end of the day, I had no energy for the internet so I'm anticipating a break from technology while we're away. I know there won't be any action here on the blog, but I may try to upload some photos to my Instagram account. 

Pretty Pastels

After days of cold, damp days, we’re finally experiencing some sunny spring weather. The Flower Challenge is looking for “Pretty Pastels” and although I won’t have much blooming in my yard for several more weeks, I was motivated to produce a very “springy” card.

The beautiful hot foil plate, Simplest Gestures, from Pinkfresh Studio is one of my favorite bouquets of flowers. I foiled it in gold and used a variety of Pinkfresh Studio inks with the accompanying stencils to color it, and then die cut it.

A design technique I learned during the Create and Connect event in February was to use another stencil in the background. This time I used the My Favorite Things Basket Weave stencil with a very pale blue ink. The sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio was embossed in gold on the stenciled panel. I added the Pinkfresh Deco Frame to that and then added the bouquet with some dimensional tape.

The final touch was to add a very gold pearls. 

My mid-May Color Hues post is ready to go live on May 16th, but that’s about it for the rest of the month. We’re off exploring and although I hope to post a few photos on Instagram, I don’t expect to be on the internet. I’ll be catching up with you at the end of the month.

 

Sending Hugs

Creating an inventory of my crafting supplies has multiple benefits. I know what I have, and I know where it is. But in addition, I "find" things I've forgotten about. This beautiful Floral Focus from My Favorite Things is one of them. I embossed it in white on Altenew watercolor paper and colored it with my Zig Watercolor markers. Every time I get out the watercolors I remember how much I enjoy it. I need to do it more often. 

When I finished the watercolors, I fussy cut the right side of the design and added it to this lovely purple/red cardstock which I can't identify. The sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio's Perfect Sentiments was hot foiled in gold. I added a few clear "rain drops" and called it done.

I'm entering this in the Four Seasons Challenge: Spring and the Just Add Ink Challenge. Both challenges have a beautiful inspiration board with some lovely purple florals, although my purple is a different hue. Hope it doesn't matter.

 

Garden Goodness

The Greetery’s Garden Goodness suite of products has been sitting in my box of “need to use” products for nearly a year. I had tried to use it as soon as it arrived, but discovered I had two of one of the stencils and was missing one. Betsy, in typical customer service excellence, mailed me the stencil I didn’t have. Although the transaction really didn’t take very long, I was into something else, and never got back to it. Finally this week, I put it to use.

The card that I ended up with was definitely NOT the card I had in mind when I started but I do like it quite a bit. I first stenciled the whole panel with a variety of Pinkfresh Studio inks. The I used the die cut on a piece of black cardstock and used the negative to lay over the stenciled piece.

I had a slight problem with the overlay and when I tried to correct it I made a mess of one side of the piece. The solution was to cut the piece down. After adhering it to an orange card base, I added a narrow strip of black cardstock to the edge.

The sentiment, from Altenew’s Sentiment Strips II, was already embossed on black cardstock which I found easily since I had just reorganized how I keep pre-stamped or foiled sentiments. Little by little, I’m reorganizing and/or inventorying most of my supplies.

I’m sending this off to the Stencil Fun Challenge where the option is Flowers and to Addicted to Stamps and More where the challenge is Stencils or Die Cuts.

 

Birthday Balloons

Both Seize the Birthday Challenge and AAA Birthday Challenge are calling for balloons. I needed two birthday cards for kids this month so I pulled out a die set for one, and a favorite stamp set for the other.

For the first card I die cut some brightly colored balloons with one of the dies from Simon Says Balloons, all cut from scraps.

Once I knew where I wanted the balloons, I stamped some strings from Papertrey Ink Birthday Balloons and Birthday Strings and then attached the balloons. Before adding them to the card front I adhered a piece of striped paper with many of the same colors in the balloons. I think this might be from a My Favorite Things paper pad, but it was filed away under stripes in my 6X6 patterned paper box.

It’s interesting that the orange balloon appears a bit more red in the photo than IRL. If I’d thought of that possibility I wouldn’t have put them next to one another.

I love the critters on the next card, and added a heart-shaped balloon for the penguin to hold.

All the critters were colored with Copic markers as well as the sentiment where I used two shades of blue for an ombre effect. I also added two balloons to the front of the envelope.

The final touch was adding some Nuvo Crystal glaze to the balloon for some dimension and shine.

Color Hues #63

Hannelie is our hostess for the May Day Color Hues challenge. It's a bright and vibrant combo, and I cased myself this time around.

In February I created a set of masculine cards using one hot foiled panel of Geo Blocks by Pinkfresh Studio. For those cards I used only one stencil and one color of ink to create the pattern. This time I used the same stencil but alternated colors--using Simon Says Positively Saturated Inks in Peony and Ocean. They were a good match for the two cardstock papers I that were closest to hot pink and cyan: Concord & 9th's Oceanside and Paper Source's Fuschia. Just by changing colors, the cards are much more feminine. 

After cutting the hot foil panel in three pieces I added them to the card fronts with narrow strips of gold paper. The sentiments are exactly the same as I used on the earlier set. From the top:  a hot foiled sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio's Wonderful Words, a gold embossed sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Banner Sentiments, and a gold embossed sentiment stamped and then die cut with Simon Says Hexagon Greetings. I did add some dimensional tape to the back of the hexagon greeting. 

It's easier to see the gold embossing and hot foiling as well as the gold pearls that were add to all three of the cards.

Please join us in the next two weeks and add some bright and happy pink and cyan cards to our gallery. For inspiration, be sure to check the Color Hues Blog to see what the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Kristin,  have created.

 

 

Curved Florals

One of my most recent purchases was the Gina K Curved Floral stencil and die set. I set out to see how different combinations might work. I started with light colors, using Pinkfresh Studio inks for all the stenciling. For the first two cards, I stenciled first and then used the outline die cut to place over the stenciling.

For the light colored stencil, I chose a white die cut and placed the curved floral on a scalloped oval I found at Dick Blick’s several years ago.

The sentiment is also from Gina K’s Wreath Builder set. I used that sentiment on the second card as well, choosing brighter colors and a black die cut.

The last card doesn’t use stenciling at all. I die cut the solid die cut from a piece of patterned paper—Altenew’s Gel Printing, and used some light shading with a small brush to highlight a few spots in the centers of the flowers. I found a dark gray panel using the Altenew Deck Planks 3-D embossing folder in my box of precut panels, and was surprised at how much I liked it. Definitely a different look.

The sentiment here was one I had foiled earlier from Spellbinder’s Everyday Sentiments II, and was die cut with a banner die from The Greetery.

I’m adding my brightly colored florals to the Paper Players Challenge. It’s a fun Tic Tac Toe challenge and I chose bright colors, die cut, and birthday running diagonally from left to right. I’m also adding one of the cards to Seize the Birthday Challenge—no topping, but I do expect to be back with one for the balloon topping soon.

Woodblock Wednesday

It's the April Woodblock Wednesday, and I had time this afternoon to put together a card.

I love this challenge because it encourages me to look back through the wooden stamps I chose to keep. I wonder now how many I sold or gave away, I'd be glad to have back again. This Memory Box stamp has always been a favorite. I love it's artsy look.

After coloring the image with Copic markers, I trimmed it down and mounted it on a piece of black cardstock and then onto the card base with some dimensional tape.

The sentiment is also a woodblock stamp. It's so old I can no longer read the name of the company, but it was made in Redwood City, CA.

I'm in the process of making and addressing 17 birthday and anniversary cards that need to be mailed in May, so I'm happy to have another birthday card in the stash.