random reflections

Christmas, Again

It's hard to believe it's been over a week since I posted. I've been busy crafting, but not much I've made can be shared yet. I'm trying to work ahead for my Design Team commitments so when the summer schedule becomes hectic, I'll be all set. And that's soon to happen. The next week is the first of three where we'll be spending lots of time with family, so the blog is likely to continue to be on the quiet side.

I did make a Christmas card for two Christmas challenges:  Christmas Craft Creations (Trees) and 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (Dry Embossing) that I can share.

When I was looking for my mermaid stamp awhile ago, I came upon an old Sizzix embossing folder of pine trees and immediately thought of these two challenges.

I started by die cutting a piece of Concord & 9th Evergreen cardstock with one of the dies from Gina K's Master Layout 1, and then embossing it in the folder. Die cutting first keeps the embossed panel sharp. I used a brayer to add white pigment ink to the panel to enhance the trees.

I add it to the larger panel in the Master Layout 1 die cut with Gina K's Cherry Red cardstock. It appears darker than it is in the first photo, but is the correct color here where I've embossed a sentiment from Gina K's Holiday Tapestry in gold that was die cut with a Stitched Circle from Simon Says.

Next week is the first week in July. Someone told me that in their family, it marked the beginning of the end of summer! I was shocked. For school teachers in New York where school ended just last week, July marks the true beginning of summer. Despite the fact that I've been retired for 14 years (another unbelieveable fact!), I'll be operating on an academic schedule for the rest of my life. And September always seems to be a new beginning, which I rather like.

A Christmas Wreath

Here's another card made especially for two challenges. First the CAS Mix-up Challenge which calls for "Stencils and Embossing Paste." I created the portion with the embossing paste several days ago, and put it aside because I didn't have a design idea for it at the time.

Then I saw the CAS Christmas Challenge asking for a wreath, and it all came together.

Both challenges are back after a three month break, so it's good to have them back!

I applied Nuvo Glitter Embossing Paste through the My Favorite Things "Basket Weave" stencil. I die cut it with one of the circles from Ellen Hutson's "Essential Circles" and then die cut another one from Shimmer Green cardstock which I think came from Papertrey Ink. I used only the frame from that circle.  The wreath is "Breezy Wreath" from Poppy Stamps and is die cut from the same shimmer green paper.

The glittery background is so pretty in person, and the wreath with the gold pearls has a lovely shimmer which doesn't show up well in the photo. You can catch a glimpse of it on the sentiment strip which was gold embossed with a sentiment from Gina K's "Sparkle and Shine" set.

It's nice to have another Christmas card in the stash. I'm behind a month in my goal to create 10 Christmas cards each month, but I hope to catch up next week. 

Happy Father's Day and More

We've had a busy day. I was a participant in this morning's worship service where we welcomed a new member. I'm co-chair of the Membership and Evangelism Committee, and this is one of the pleasures of that commitment. It was quickly followed by a fabulous brunch at Betsy's father's house. Her dad was in NYC, but the rest of the family, Leon's parents, and friends of the family were also there. The food was delicious, and the star of the buffet was a smoked brisket Leon prepared. He was up past midnight before it was finished. 

I walked down to visit a friend afterward. The weather here has been absolutely perfect, albeit a bit windy. It's sunny and warm, great for getting out for a walk.

Later this evening we're headed to Maddy's sixth birthday party. She'll not turn six until early July, but they will be in Nantucket, so she's celebrating with friends (and us) tonight. Actually I took her gifts to her this morning since she asked for a giant stuffed fox. I ordered it online and lucked out. Not only was he cute, but soft and cuddly. She was thrilled.

Here's Maddy's card for 2022. Her party theme tonight is mermaids, and I just happened to have the perfect stamp set from a Simon Says card kit from several years ago.

It's an edge to edge shaker card which is always a hit with kids. I inkblended a panel with a trio of the new Simon Says "Pawsitively Saturated Inks" which I'm quite sure were a good investment. The inks blended beautifully with little effort. Thanks to an Instagram friend, I found my Shimmer Spray and gave the panel a good spray of sparkle before I added some fish that I colored with Copic markers and fussy cut. The sentiment was white embossed before adding the confetti and sequins to make the shaker. I think embossing the sentiment on the outside would have been a better plan, but there was no way I was starting all over.

The mermaid was also colored with Copics and fussy cut but added to the outside of the shaker. I do love how the inside looks like a beautiful aqua sea. Here's a peek at the inside of the card. I had a left-over turtle I didn't know what to do with, so I popped him up on dimensional tape on the inside.

I'm adding Maddy's card to the Time Out Challenge: Tropical. I think this card fits the theme pretty well.

Today is Father's Day in the U.S. and all three of my Father's Day cards are a CASE of one by Laurafadora for My Favorite Things. I used her recessed die technique and the same die. I recently won a $25 gift certificate to My Favorite Things, and this die was one reason I spent it quite quickly. I changed up the colors and the sentiment. In fact, all three cards were variations on the same design.

It's hard to see the recessed letters, but Matt thought it was a very cool design! The first one was for Matt, then Adam, and finally Tracy.

The recessed letters are a little more apparent on this card. The inner panel was die cut and then added to the card base with lots of dimensional tape. Then the letters were added to the card base.

The sentiment, "To The Best Dad Ever" from The Greetery is true for each and every one of these dads---they are the greatest dads ever! I can't imagine more caring and involved parents than the three of them. 

And these cards are another entry to the NBUS June gallery. I'm doing a pretty good job of using the dies and stamps that haven't seen any love yet, but there's still a pile to go!

A Sketch Challenge

I don't often participate in sketch challenges. I have a good friend who loves to use sketches for inspiration, but I usually prefer theme or color challenges thinking it leaves a lot more open for interpretation. However, when I saw the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches, I knew I'd be making a card. I had recently used my Pinkfresh Studio "Nested Hexagons" hot foil plate when I made this card, and I had left-over flowers and time to hot foil a new hexagon today.

I started by using the beautiful Gina K embossing folder, "Tapestry" for a background. I used two of the nested hexagon dies to cut out the frame, and then arranged two flowers and some leaves from the Pinkfresh "Brighter Days" hot foil plate that weren't used for the last card. 

The sentiment is also hot foiled in gold from "Yana's Special Sentiments." Here's a closer look at the embossing folder and the foiling.

Unexpectedly, I had a whole day to craft today, and it's been quite the pleasure. I did take time for a three mile walk. I haven't been good about getting out to exercise recently, but a friend texted me Wednesday and we did nearly four miles. It inspired me to get outside, and I've managed a good number of steps every day since. Hope your day has gone well, too!

Color Hues #43

Julie is our hostess for the new Color Hues Challenge, and she's chosen Blue and Green.

This is the second card I made for this challenge. I had another card posted on the Design Team post, and then created this card in Blue and Green I liked much better.This one was created after taking the Online Card Class: Spring Card Camp 2022, where Jennifer McGuire taught the technique of ink lifting. 

The first step is to ink blend a cardstock panel. I ink blended mine with blue and green inks, and then embossed it in white with Simon Says "Outline Leaves" background stamp. Next I used a paint brush and some clear water and lifted the ink from one half of all the leaves. I have to say I like the result, but I'm not sure how often I'll return to the technique since it's a bit time consuming.

The die cut sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio was cut three times and stacked before adding to the vellum shadow. A few sequins finished it off after adding the panel to a white card base. 

I hope you'll check out the many interpretations of the Blue and Green combo on the Color Hues blog created by the Design Team, and our Guest Designer, Amy. And, then, come join us in the Gallery!

 

A Rainbow of Flowers

As soon as I saw the Pinkfresh Studio June Challenge for Rainbow Colors, I knew just what I wanted to do.

One of my birthday purchases was the "Brighter Days" suite of products. Today I used the hot foil plates, the coloring stencils, and the dies. I did substitute pink for the red in the challenge photo. I did stencil a red flower, but the pink one was so much prettier!

I hot foiled, colored, and die cut two sets of the "Brighter Day" florals and leaves. I also pulled out the "Nested Hexagons" hot foil plate and foiled it in gold. Once die cut, the hexagon served as a perfect focal point for the florals.

It took awhile to find a sentiment that worked well. I finally decided on this one from Pinkfresh Studio's "Scripted Greetings" even though this is a birthday card for a friend. Finding a good sentiment for the inside shouldn't be a problem.

Once again I'm entering the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge: Make Your Mark (coloring stencils), Happy Little Stampers: Dies (Anything Goes) and NBUS---everything on this card is new except the sentiment.

 

 

 

Watercolored Magnolias

I took a variety of images to watercolor while we were away, and as usual, not much got done. I did, however, get these beautiful images from Altenew's "Magnolia Ballerina" finished. 

They don't need much embellishment, and take up an A2 card front. The images are actually larger than this and I've seen them cut down in a variety of ways. I used a photo of the magnolias in Highland Park for my color inspiration, and used Zig Watercolor markers which are great for travel.

I added a pink frame on top of the image cut from My Favorite Things "A2 Rectangle Frame" set. The sentiment is from my favorite The Ton "Easy Expressions: Birthday" set. The final touch was to add three clear sequins.

I'm sending this one off to the AAA Birthday Challenge (Flowers) and Seize the Birthday where the challenge is to use a favorite technique. Watercolor is definitely that for me. 

More Bold Blooms

After creating this card, I still had lots of flowers and leaves left from my watercolored "Bold Blooms" by Spellbinders. Papertrey Ink had a good sale a few weeks ago. I needed some paper and wanted a few of their $5 sentiment stamps. The discount included the brand new products as well, so I added this "Country Hand Basket" die to the order, and I'm so glad I did.

It took awhile to figure out a good placement for the flowers, but I love the way the basket die is open in the middle. It was pretty easy to add even the blue flowers at the end, tucking them under the handle so they showed on both sides of the basket. It's hard to see the texture with the embossing folder above, but it's much better in the close-up.

Surprisingly, it's the only Stampin' Up product I own. Somehow in all my years of card making, I've never found a Stampin' Up distributor. When I saw this striped embossing folder, I ordered it from eBay since it's no longer available. It's the first time I've used it, but it certainly won't be the last! The sentiment is from one of the Papertrey Ink sets, "Vintage Picnic Sentiments" that I've had for years! It's the perfect sentiment for the card, and I love the mix of fonts. 

This card meets the requirements of three challenges: AAA Birthday: Flowers, Addicted to Stamps and More: Make Your Mark (in this case watercolors) and Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies as well as NBUS thanks to the embossing folder!

Daisy Days

The Greetery has a fabulous suite of products that use stamps, stencils, and die cuts to create fabulous cards. Thanks to a lovely birthday gift, I was able to purchase two of their latest Print Shop sets. This one is called "Daisy Days." I have lots of ideas for this set, but started out with the standard A2 card using the stencils to create the overall pattern which is then die cut and added to a black card base. (I seem to be favoring the bright flowers against black this week!)

The black panel was first cut with the largest of the The Greetery's Postal Frames and layered on a bright pink card base. I also stenciled some single flowers and die cut those to add a bit of dimension to some selected flowers.

I added some black Enamel Accents to the centers of those flowers. The sentiment is also from the latest release, "Scripty Hello." I added some ink blending to the pink die cut to create an ombré effect before adding it to the vellum shadow. I have to say these designs are lots of fun to create!

I'm entering this in the Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge: Anything Goes.

 

 

 

Just for You

I'm always in need of birthday cards, and this is the perfect time of year for floral cards. I have a bunch of new floral dies, many purchased during a big Spellbinders sale a month or so ago. In the mail this week was a new embossing folder from Simon Says that's been out of stock for a long time. I decided to put some of the Spellbinders "Bold Blooms" together with the beautiful "Blossom Field" embossing folder.

I die cut all the florals and leaves from the "Bold Blooms" from Altenew watercolor paper and watercolored them with Zig watercolor markers. I decided I liked the bright colors against a black background, so embossed a piece of True Black cardstock. The card started out as a standard A2 card, but I kept cutting it down until it was finally a square card which I liked much better. It's hard to see the detail in the embossing folder above, but this is a better view:

I cut four additional pieces of black cardstock and added them behind the embossed panel to add some dimension and then added it to a square card. All the florals and leaves were attached with liquid glue. I added a small piece of dimensional tape behind the large white daisy. The sentiment is from one of my favorites, The Ton's "Easy Expressions: Birthday."

I'm entering this in the AAA Birthday Challenge: Flowers, Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and/or Stencils, and NBUS ( I've never used the dies or the embossing folder before.)