random reflections

Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt Wrap-up

September is over, so quickly it seemed, and the end of the Summer Photography Scavenger Hunt kindly hosted by Mary-Lou is a wrap! I had just four of the 2o items on the list to find, and two of the alternates. I managed all but one of the alternates---and could have easily captured that one had I thought of it at the time. You can find my first posts here and here. Here are the final finds:

Something that displays a rule - #7:

Something inherited - #15:

My grandmother's diamond, reset in a necklace.

Something with rough texture - #16:

Two finds for this one, I couldn't decide which was the better example.

Something with the number 7 in it:

The day I was looking for this among mailboxes on a walk in Racine, I didn't expect to find such a lovely example!

And lastly, Alternate B - something heavier than your shoe:

My great-grandmother's flat iron which also could have been chosen for #15. I actually use it in my craft room to weight down craft projects after they've been glued.

Thanks again, Mary-Lou for a very doable list during the pandemic. It took me longer than usual to get started, and I have to admit it is more fun when there's a vacation or two during which you can go looking. But, as always, I enjoyed it. 

 

 

Time for Champagne

The current Time Out Challenge is an "inspired by words" challenge:

My intent was to make a one layer card, and as you will see, that was a failed attempt. In the process, though, I came up with glittery card I know I'll be able to use:

I started by partially stenciling Simon Says "Falling Stars" with some Nuvo Glitter paste. While that dried, I die cut the sentiment and champagne flutes with dies from Papertrey Ink's "Uncorked" set. I used a pretty silver glitter paper from my scraps folder for the sentiment, and vellum for the glasses.

I embossed the champagne in the glasses with Bridal embossing powder, and adhered both to the card base. Here's a closer look at the Glimmer Paste and the embossing on the glasses: 

There are two one layer challenges out there as well, so I haven't totally given up on that idea, but I think this may be the only stamp set I have that has glasses. They look good die cut, but the stamp itself is a solid stamp, and I couldn't find any ink that worked well. We'll see if something comes up after a better search.

 

Stars

It's Photo Inspiration week at Just Us Girls Challenge, and I can never resist stars as a subject for a card.

I'm never sure quite how a card will come together. Sometimes it's quickly, and just as I imagined it. Sometimes it takes a lot of twists and turns and ends up totally differently than I anticipated. This card evolved. I started with the Memory Box stencil and Barn Door Distress Ink.

Originally the stencil was the size of a card front, and I tried a variety of things to add the black and white stripes and polka dots from the star banner in the photograph. I finally cut the stencil panel down, added some striped paper from My Favorite Things behind it, and attached it to some fun foam for some dimension before adding it to the black card base. I die cut the little polka-dot stars (Simon Says "Holiday Shapes) from another pack of paper from My Favorite Things, and added them to the larger stars.

There are three tiny black rhinestones for some added interest, and several of the stars got a coat of Wink of Stella glitter. Sadly none of the sparkle shows up in the photographs. The sentiment seemed a perfect match for the card and came from the "Sparkle and Shine" set by W+9.

We're enjoying a very warm Sunday . . . hopefully not the last, but surely the last for the next couple of weeks. Lots of chilly, rainy weather in the forecast. I have a couple of big indoor projects to tackle, so it may just be a good thing, after all.

 

Just Under the Wire

I have two cards to share for challenges that end in the next 24-48 hours. The first is The Flower Challenge where the prompt is pink and brown. I love that color combination, and finally had time this afternoon to create a card for it.

This card will also get entered the NBUS Challenge. I've had this "Floral Fun Cover" die from The Stamp Market for months now, and today was the first time I've pulled it out. I'm not a huge fan of jigsaw puzzles, but putting this together was certainly reminiscent of trying to find just the right puzzle piece. Had I given it a bit more thought, a different technique would have made it much easier, so I'll try again with other colors.

I used two shades of pink--Raspberry Fizz and Lovely Lady by Papertrey Ink, and a pretty brown that I found in my scraps folder. The card quite a bit brighter than my usual style, and I might have preferred a more subtle color combination. I do know, however, that it's just perfect for one of my friends.

After running the die cut through with all three colors, the next step was to put the pieces back in where I wanted them. It's hard to tell, but I chose to inlay only the flowers and leaves, and not the background. The sentiment is also from The Stamp Market, "Tons of Type."

The next challenge is Less is More, and the challenge this round is Shades of Purple.

For Less is More the card needs to be very CAS. Often folks think that the expanse of white space for a CAS card must be white, but colors are also acceptable, and in this case it's black. 

I love the metallic watercolors on the black cardstock, and the lilac shimmer cardstock border on the deep purple card base really shows it off. The beautiful floral is from Altenew's "Persian Motif," and the embossed sentiment is from Sugar Peas "Everyday Sentiments" which I find myself reaching for over and over again. I used the Gina K Master Layout dies to cut the focal image and the thin border before adhering it to the Royal Velvet card base.

Here's a closer look at the lovely metallic watercolors. It's a set I bought after a class at a local stamp store, probably 20 years ago. It was put together by the class instructor so there is no indication of who the manufacturer is. 

Another Die Cut Birthday Card

I'm back just under the wire, for another entry into Seize the Birthday's Die Cut challenge.

I actually made four variations on the same card. Like yesterday's entry, these cards went out pretty quickly, and I never got around to posting them on the blog. Although one of them actually uses a die for the greeting, I'm entering one with the optional stamped sentiment to the challenge.

In order to create just one card, I needed to die cut a variety of different colors, leaving me with plenty of choices to create more cards. The die, The Stamp Market's "Color Block 1,"  appealed to me because I felt like it created cards that worked (depending on the colors used) for both males and females--a win/win in my book since so many of my stamps lean toward female recipients.

All the papers used are also from The Stamp Market, and they are so bright and cheerful.

The die cut circle for the sentiment is from Simon Says "Stitched Circles," and the greeting which fit perfectly inside is from Papertrey Ink's "Birthday Bash Sentiments" which I turn to over and over again. 

Hope your week is off to a good start. It's been very chilly here---good for crafting and organizing, not so good for spending time on the patio. It's supposed to warm up again for the next week, and I hope to make good use of the warmer weather to get outside again while I can.

Seize the Birthday Challenge: Die Cuts

The Seize the Birthday Challenge is one after my own heart: Die Cuts. There's an option for a stamped sentiment if you want, and I'll be back tomorrow with a last-minute entry in that category as well. 

But for today, I have a birthday card that uses ONLY die cuts. 

This Stamp Market die came as a freebie several releases ago. I wasn't quite sure how to use it. The Happy is actually one die and I knew I wanted each letter to be a different color so I lined us narrow pieces of cardstock and managed to die cut them separately in a couple of runs through the die cutting machine. I loved the bright colors against the black card, and once that was done, once again I was puzzled about what to do next.

I finally settled on Gold Mirror cardstock, and I'm happy with the way it stands out layered on top of the HAPPY! I don't know if this would qualify as CAS--but it makes for a relatively quick and easy card to reproduce. The only time consuming part of it was the decision making!

This card has already gone in then mail, but I decided it was time to get it on the blog as well. 

 

Color Hues #2

The new colors for the Color Hues Challenge are Navy and Turquoise.

Navy is one of my favorite colors, and I had several different ink pads to choose from. It was rather amazing to me to see how dark a couple of them were---almost black, so I chose to go with a more medium tone, using Pinkfresh Sapphire ink with the new Concord and 9th's Oceanside. 

I thought it would be fun to play with Altenew's "Sohcahtoa" stamp set since I'm always needing a graphic card that can be used for a guy as well as a woman. Lining up the images down the center of the card was made possible by using the MISTI stamping tool. I rarely make a card without using it, and in this case it was essential. 

The open triangle was the perfect spot for the sentiment which is also from Altenew--"Sentiment Strips 2."

The final touch was to add three clear droplets from The Stamp Market. Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has come up with . . . and join in the fun!

Two Cards for Two Challenges

I have cards for two challenges to share today. Both were created before we left for vacation, and both have already gone in the mail. The first card is for The Paper Players Challenge---a new challenge for me. The current challenge is for masculine cards.

Masculine cards can be a challenge, but I thought these colorful feathers worked for one of our longtime friends who just celebrated his birthday. I first colored this image for the #100DayChallenge. The image itself is a coloring page made for cards by Papertrey Ink, "What the Doodle: Feather," and has been in my stash for years. I first tried one of these with Copic markers but that hit the circular file. Using my Polychromos pencils made for much cleaner coloring.

I tried a new design technique that I've seen elsewhere, slicing a narrow strip from the black panel and backing it with a piece of red cardstock. I love the way it came out. 

The sentiment strip from Althenew's "Sentiment Strips 2" was embossed in white on black cardstock.

The second card is my second entry to the Just Us Girls: Leaves challenge. This card was sent to a long time friend thanking her for lunch on her porch a few weeks ago. 

What I like about Altenew's "Leaf Canopy" stamp set is there are both open and solid leaves.

I applied several colors of Wendy Vecchi's ink pads to the solid leaves and spritzed them with a tiny bit of water before stamping them. Then I overstamped with the open leaves in black waterproof ink and used the same inks to add water color to those leaves.

The sentiment (just perfect for this thank you note) is also from the "Leaf Canopy" set. I trimmed the panel down just enough to have a thin black border on the Memory Box Licorice card. I love these cards because they have a white interior perfect for writing a note.

We're down to our last two days at the cottage. Despite the dismal forecast, the actual weather hasn't been too bad---only one day of rain. It is cooler than we wish, but it hasn't kept us indoors. It's foggy over the lake now, but it's supposed to clear and our last two days are forecast to be warmer and much sunnier. Here's hoping!

Stencil Fun

I recently completed one of Altenew Academy's classes called "Stunningly Styled Stencils," and finally found time right before we left on vacation to create a couple of cards inspired by the lessons. The first one uses a Gina K stencil, "Ornamental Fans." I dry embossed it on Neenah 110# paper. I wish I had thought to photograph it, as it was lovely just embossed. But I went to the next step and repositioned the stencil over the embossing and ink blended it with Speckled Egg and Evergreen Bough Distress Oxide Inks.

Concord and 9th's Oceanside cardstock made a great frame for the piece which I adhered to a white card base. 

One of my Pinkfresh Studio purchases with my birthday gift cards was the Phrase Builder: Hello die set. I love that the words can be die cut alone or with a shadow. Adding the shadow with the Oceanside cardstock provided a good focal point against the somewhat busy background. Here's an even closer look at the pattern. It's a bit easier to see the raised embossing which I love.

The sentiment was finished off with a white embossed greeting from Sugar Peas Everyday Sentiments. 

The final touch was to add three clear droplets from The Stamp Market.

The second card uses a different technique altogether, and one I need to practice. I first ink blended some Gina K Key Lime ink onto Altenew's Flowing Drops stencil. The next step was to flick color with some Copic markers onto the drops with the stencil in place. The first problem arose when I realized (a bit late) that my first Copic marker was too dry. (I recently read an article about the importance of keeping your markers filled. I've had some of my Copics for years and have never refilled them. Copic recently came out with small, easier to use refills, so I'm making a list of a few I'll need to order.) But I moved on to the next color, and ultimately added some detail with a Polychromos pencil.

I decided to use a series of Essentials: Squares by Ellen Hutson to die cut the stenciled pattern and two mats from New Leaf and Green Parakeet cardstock. I adhered all three to a square notecard.

The sentiment die cut and white embossed are from Simon Says "Sending Happy Thoughts," although this card is headed for a close friend who has just had some major surgery and a very concerning diagnosis. I hope the cheerful colors will brighten her day a bit.

There are still several more techniques from the class to try as well as giving this one another shot!

Just Us Girls: Word Week

The challenge at Just Us Girls is quickly becoming a favorite. This week is Word Week and the word is: LEAVES. 

I've been playing with stencils recently. Another post is coming later this week with two new techniques using stencils, but this one was created with a more traditional technique: ink blending. It's a quick and easy way to create a card.

Appropriately for this challenge, the name of the stencil is "Tumbling Leaves" by Simon Says. The full stencil would fill a larger square card, but I used just a portion of it for this A2 card. I first applied some Squeezed Lemonade (Distress Oxide ink) onto the leaves, and then added Fern Green (Wendi Vecchi Make Art dye ink.) 

The stencil was layered onto a piece of Gina K Asparagus cardstock and then added to a  cardbase of Simon Says Fog cardstock---both are faves. The sentiment comes from one more favorite: The Greetery's "Sentiment Suite" series--in this case, "Thinking of You."