random reflections

Morning Glories

Last week a friend loaned me The Greetery's  Botanic-cut: Morning Glories. I had a lot of fun ink blending the flowers and assembling them. I ended up making three sets of them, and die cut a couple more from white for later. I chose the purple ones for today's card knowing that would work for the Double D Color Challenge. You can use one of more of the colors in the Inspiration Board.

I also decided to give the trellis card design a try. I originally saw it on Bibi Cameron's blog, but since then several card makers have used the design as well. Everyone's is just a bit different. 

Cutting the strips off the card front is the first challenge. I used five as shown in Bibi's blog, but I think next time I'd try four instead.

Luckily, I had a die cut sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio's Farm Fresh stamp and die set which fit on the top section perfectly. Most of the cards I've seen elsewhere have stamped their sentiments on one or more of the slats on the trellis. Although I didn't photograph the card standing up, it does stand up easily and looks great.

In addition to the Double D Challenge, I'm sending this on the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes, and to the Triple B Challenge: Birds, Butterflies and Blooms where using their Inspiration Board is totally optional as long as you use 1-3 birds, butterflies and blooms. It's my first time playing along with the Triple B Challenge and I opted not to use the Inspiration Board this time around.

A Favorite Flower

I had just enough time yesterday to pull out two new products from The Greetery to create a card for The Flower Challenge. The prompt this time is "Use Your Favorite Flower," and the link closes later today. 

I have lots of faves, but the hibiscus is right on top of the list. Typically in the summer I have one in a pot on my patio. This year I wasn't able to find one the right color and also the right size, so I'll have to settle for now for the new Botani-cut, Hibiscus, from The Greetery. 

I must say I'm quite impressed with how easily these dies are to assemble. I die cut them from Spellbinders white Specialty Flower cardstock. It has an interesting texture, but is very easily shaped to produce more 3-D like flowers. After die cutting them, I used some Pinkfresh Studio inks to ink blend each of the pieces and then assembled each flower. The background is also one of the new products from The Greetery--the Woven Cane Background die. I must say die cutting this makes quite a mess, but I knew I'd love it. We have several caned chairs that I inherited from my great-aunt's home which I love.  

I added the Woven Cane Background to a white card base and then arranged the florals. The foiled circle sentiment is from one of the Pinkfresh Studio collections of premade sentiments and fit perfectly tucked in with the flowers. 

This is also another entry to Darnell's NBUS June Challenge! I'm doing a better than average job of using new (or old and unused) products.

 

 

Card Challenges

As you know, I enjoy playing along with different card challenges. It's not often, however, when the challenges align with my need for specific cards. Usually I add the card I've made for a challenge in my box of cards "to send" without anyone particularly in mind. This week, however, there were challenges for three cards I needed to make. First off, Maddy's birthday card. Her birthday isn't until July 7th, but Matt and his family left for a three week vacation yesterday so we celebrated here before they left. I made a very summery birthday card which fits for Addicted to Stamps: Birthdays and The Four Seasons Challenge: Summer.

I've had these popsicles dies from My Favorite Things since last summer, and this is the first time I've put them to use. I added clay sprinkles to the middle one, and some glittery sugar to the other two.

I had a harder time deciding how to design the card but settled on an old dotted embossing folder by Cuttlebug and a Stitched Rectangle (Simon Says) layered on a Raspberry Fizz card base. The sentiment is also from My Favorite Things, Every Flavor of Happy. This card is also going to Darnell's June NBUS for never before used stamps and dies!

Next up is an anniversary card for dear friends. CAS on Friday's current challenge is Love--just perfect. 

This card came together quickly thanks to a box filled with envelopes of already die cut or stamped elements. I already had the red embossed panel (Honey Bee Pierced Fluttering Hearts) with the circle cut out of it, and the sentiment banner, so it was just a matter of finding a piece of black and white striped paper (My Favorite Things) and die cutting a red heart. I used my Gina K Master Layout 1 dies to create the layers for the white card base.

I like this card enough that I'll probably use the design again.

Finally, Shopping Your Stash has an interesting challenge right now called Sentimentally Yours. They're looking for cards where the sentiment is the focus. Our beloved Music Director and organist at our church is retiring at the end of June. I thought this older Papertrey Ink stamp, Year of the Psalms: February was perfect for my note of appreciation and thanks.

After embossing the sentiment in silver on watercolor paper, I taped off the edges and watercolored an ombré panel in blue. I layered that with a thin border and added it to a navy card by Memory Box which has a white interior perfect for writing a note.

There are a couple more challenges out there that match my card needs, so I'll be back in a day or two with some other offerings. 

Father's Day

It's Father's Day in the US, and I always make cards for three special men in my life: my husband, my son, and my son-in-law. I posted my son-in-law's card earlier so I could enter it in a couple of challenges. You can see it here.

Tracy's card uses the same Spellbinder's set All the Tools as well as the stamp set A Cut Above. 

For Tracy's card I started with a piece of Ellen Hutson's woodgrain paper. After assembling the tools I added them to the woodgrain panel along with the sentiment. The stamp set comes with a die for the sentiments which I used, adding a couple of nailheads to it and backing it with some red cardstock. I used some black cardstock to add a narrow border before adding it to a red card base. 

These tools from the Spellbinder's set were so much fun to put together and the little details are amazing. There was a small indent on the scissors, so I added a third nailhead which made them even more realistic.

Matt's card also used a new stamp and die set that I ordered before our trip, Concord & 9th's Greatest Hits. 

He's always been a huge fan of music so these record dies were impossible to resist. And one can never have too many stamps and dies for masculine cards. I die cut the records from black glossy cardstock. I cased the arrangement from a card created by Carissa Wiley for Concord & 9th.

This is another set where the details make such a difference. The grooves on the records are so cool and the label dies take me right back to the days of records and record players. (Both of which Matt took with him some years ago!)

It's been a pretty quiet day. After church we picked up a new hydrangea we'd ordered and found a farm market with fantastic fresh strawberries so strawberry shortcake is on the menu later. We had a great Facetime call with Sarah, Adam, and the kids tonight, and will celebrate with Matt tomorrow night. Tracy's been absorbed with the US Open golf tournament so he's perfectly happy to sit back and relax.

The Shopping Your Stash Challenge: Let's Hear It For the Boys is still open so I'll be sending these along. I'm also sending Tracy's card to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Lots of Layers, and Matt's card to NBUS (another set out of the unused basket!)

 

Color Hues #66

I'm the hostess this round for Color Hues, and I've chosen two colors specifically so I could play with a wonderful Spellbinders die set that a friend loaned me. These colors definitely say SUMMER to me, and we're finally seeing the warm temperatures and sunshine.

This die set of lemons and pretty white flowers makes such a happy card. I chose a sentiment that can be used for a variety of occasions, so it could easily be sent as a birthday card or a encouragement card.

Papertrey Ink's Lemon Tart was the perfect color (and name!) for the lemons. For the leaves I chose Gina K's Asparagus and The Stamp Market's Leafy. One of the things I particularly like about these dies is all the detail that they add. I did do a bit of ink blending to add more dimension to the lemons and added tiny yellow pearls to the flowers.

I backed the pretty stitched scalloped frame with some black and white striped paper from My Favorite Things. The sentiment from Waffle Flower was stamped on a Stitched Circle from Simon Says.

Please hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what our Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer, Michele Ferguson, have created with this color combo. It's sure to inspire you, and I hope you'll add your cards to our gallery in the next two weeks!

I'm throwing my card into the ring at the Double D Challenge: Lemon-Ade and the Yellow Challenge.

Summer Vibes

It's Woodblock Wednesday for June. I missed May's posting so I wanted to be sure to join in this time. I chose a very old wooden stamp by Stamp Francisco, that I'm pretty sure I purchased when we took our kids to California 27 years ago. I planned the route around stamp stores and came home with quite a nice collection. In addition to Woodblock Wednesday, the AAA Cards Challenge is Everything Beach, and Addicted to CAS is One Layer. This card satisfies all three challenges.

I stamped the image on a premade A4 Ivory card from The Paper Source, and colored it with Copic markers. To color the sun's rays and the tiny border at the bottom of the stamp, I used Staedtler Triplus Fineliner. I bought a set of these many years ago, and I'm amazed at how long they've lasted.

The sentiment is a newer one from Papertrey Ink's Just Sentiments: Summer. Another oldie, but goodie, is the orange vellum envelope which I purchased from Impress Stamps when I was in Seattle many years ago.

All the Tools

When I saw the challenges at The Paper Players and Shopping Your Stash, I knew exactly what I wanted to make--my first Father's Day card. Both challenges are looking for masculine cards. I purchased the Spellbinders All the Tools die set and the accompanying stamp set, A Cut Above, because I have three men in the family for whom tools are important. This one is for my son-in-law and the sentiment couldn't be more perfect. My daughter started out with the woodworking tools and projects many years ago, but in the last couple of years, she's ceded the hobby over to her husband who has definitely upgraded the tools she had.

I loved putting together the tools for this card and will definitely be using it again. There are so many good sentiments in the stamp set. It can be used for a number of occassions. I started the card by die cutting multiple shiplap dies from The Greetery and adhered them to a kraft card base. I like how the kraft color peeks through the tiny holes in the shiplap die. 

I used a variety of cardstock from my scrap folders for the tools, adding Nuvo Glaze to the paint brush and die cutting the roller for the paint roller from felt. I won't be posting this on Instagram until Father's Day since my son-in-law is apt to see it there. Along with The Paper Players and Shopping Your Stash, I'm sending this off to NBUS as this is the first time I've used the Spellbinders sets.

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!