random reflections

Altenew July Challenge

I'm right under the wire with these cards. Every month I think I'll get to the monthly Altenew Challenge, and it just hasn't happened. I was determined that I'd  make July's challenge since I absolutely love the inspiration photo.

Thanks to Stef Perry, one of my DT members at Color Hues, I now own the Altenew Craft Your Project Kit: Fragrant Florals. I've hesitated many times about these suites of products, but Stef's card was so beautiful, that I broke down and ordered this one. I'm not sorry. The floral image is huge, and more than fills an A2 card front. I decided to cut it into two pieces and create two cards.

I used a combination of Pinkfresh Studio and Concord & 9th inks to inkblend the florals with the four piece layering stencil. I love how it came out.

After cutting it in half I layered both pieces on separate cards with an embossed brick pattern. I found three of these in my stash. I don't own the embossing folder and didn't write down the manufacturer when I used it at a friend's. 

The sentiments on both cards are from Altenew's  One-Go Birthday Greetings. 

I'm also entering this in the Inkspirational Challenge: Use a Stencil.

Hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow with another challenge card that's due by midnight tomorrow. It's a bit iffy since we're planning a trip to the local amusement park if it's a nice day. 

 

Woodblock Wednesday: July

It's Woodblock Wednesday, and for once I was ready ahead of time.

I had two wooden stamps on my desk contending for this post, but one of them was co-opted for an earlier challenge. This floral image is from Judith stamps. I've owned it for many years, but surprisingly the company is still around and has an active Facebook page. The sentiment is from AMuse Artstamps which is also still creating and selling stamps. 

Judith stamps is know for its whimsical images and this certainly is one. It's a simple image but makes a wonderful CAS card. After watercoloring it, I die cut it with Ellen Hutson's Essential Rectangles and then used the next two larger ones to cut both a green and a purple mat. I chose to stamp the sentiment in purple ink.

Thanks to Amy Tsuruta for hosting these monthly blog posts. I'm once again using the wooden stamps which have seen very little attention in the last decade. 

I'm also sending this to the new Simply Clean and Simple Challenge. This is my third and final entry for July. I can see that this will be a regular on my challenge list---three entries are allowed each month. 

Bold Blooms

One of the more recent kits from My Favorite Things featured a die set called Bold Blooms. I didn't want all the extras in the kit so I ordered the dies and an accompanying sentiment set with a large word die. This card just uses the blooms and started with the sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches.

I had previously die cut all the of the Bold Blooms with white cardstock and I used a variety of Pinkfresh Studio inks to ink blend the blooms before assembling them. After die cutting the white panel, I scored five lines to represent the rectangle on the sketch. and arranged the three blooms. There were several other blooms, but three worked best and these were my favorites.

I was somewhat surprised when I turned my birthday calendar to the August page to discover I need four anniversary cards. Sadly, I have none in my stash, so I added one of Spellbinders Yana's Special Sentiments, hot foiled in gold on white and die cut. 

There are also three other challenges for a CAS card, including a brand new challenge called Simply Clean and Simple. A favorite of mine (but one I haven't played along with for awhile) The Flower Challenge, is looking for CAS designs, and Tic Tac Toe has a diagonal that works well: CAS/Free/Any Shape Die. I'm not totally sure I've met the last requirement--does the die need to be a specific type of shape, or does the white panel die cut with a rectangle die or the flower die work? I'm also sending this to NBUS since Bold Blooms has never been used before.

 

Treat Yourself

The wooden stamp for this card was sitting on my desk as a contender for the July Woodblock Wednesday post. But when I saw current The Paper Players Clean and Simple Challenge, I decided to put it to use right now. The card is also going to the Four Seasons Challenge-Summer.

I have to admit, stamping with a wooden stamp can be a challenge sometimes. It took four tries before I got a dark impression. Once it was stamped, I colored it with Copic markers, and die cut it with a Simon Says Stitched Rectangle. The wooden stamp, Watermelon Checkerboard, is from That's All She Stamped. The only place you can find a stamp by that company now is on Etsy or eBay.

I added a narrow black border to the image with dimensional tape after stamping the sentiment from My Favorite Things, Itty Bitty Gifting. 

Tracy's in the beginning stages of painting my craft room. That plus a busy schedule the last few days has meant little creative time. Hoping that changes over the next few days when my calendar opens up! I have other challenges I'd like to play along with before they close. Thanks for stopping by!

Color Hues #68

Our newest Color Hues challenge is up, and it's another great combination: Olive and Berry.

At first I wasn't sure a lighter berry color would work, but truly, Color Hues is named that way so that different hues of the basic color can be used. In the end I chose three Altenew inks that were designed to go together with the darkest one named Cosmic Berry. Finding olive inks was easy as Concord and 9th has a great combo.

Keeping with my determination to use new stamps, I broke out one of my newest purchases, Pinkfresh Studio's Pretty Blossoms.  It's a full card rubber stamp with coloring stencils and a very interesting die that cuts out all the spaces between the flowers. It's easier to see with a closer view.

I love the layering stencils and the variation in color you can create in a relatively brief time. 

The sentiment is also from the Pinkfresh, from the Floral Vase set. "Beet" cardstock by Paper Source was a great match for the darkest color in the floral so I embossed the sentiment in white and die cut it with the Itty Bitty Banner die from My Favorite Things. Luckily I had some beautiful berry pearls in my stash which finished the card.

There's a wonderful variety of cards (as usual) from the Color Hues Design Team and our special Guest Designer, Bonnie. After checking out the inspiration there, I hope you'll come and join us! 

 

Outdoor Adventure

My Wisconsin grandchildren recently attended a huge family reunion on their father’s side. When we asked about their favorite activity, they both responded “canoeing.” I’ve had this stamp for almost two years, and every summer I think I’m going to get the card made for them before we spend a week on a lake with them. Their response was the motivation I needed to finally get the card made. It’s an interactive card, and I would have never managed to figure it out it in a reasonable amount of time without a wonderful “how-to” video by Jessica Frost Ballas for Ellen Hutson. The stamp set, Peek-a-Boo Pals: Camp Wanna Stamp, was a collaboration with Ellen Hutson and Avery Elle. My card is definitely a CASE of Jessica’s card.

I started by stamping and coloring the animals and canoe and cutting them out with my Scan-N-Cut. The next step was to ink blend the sky and water for the background. Next was to assemble the My Favorite Things  Twist and Turn interactive die which allows the paddles to move back and forth when the white tab is pulled. Once that was accomplished, putting it all together went fairly quickly. If I had better video skills, there’d be a little video showing how the paddles move back and forth. These two photos are the best I could do. Both critters lean to the left and the paddles move to the right.

The card arrived in Wisconsin earlier this week, and was a big hit with the six year old. Not sure what the eleven year thought about it. He was busy making zucchini muffins while we were talking.

The current Double D Challenge is The Great Outdoors, so this is a perfect match! We’ll be on Big Twin Lake in Michigan in August with Sarah and her family. We have a boat for the week, but I’m not sure about canoes. It also fits this month's Colorful Options where the colors are red, white, and blue.

I'll be back tomorrow with the new Color Hues Challenge.

Seascape

I was the lucky winner of an Altenew gift card several weeks ago. I didn't have anything specific in mind, so I waited for a sale and was able to pick up several items I like quite a bit. This Abstract Seascape die for a slimline card is one of them. The photograph below is a bit confusing since I laid the card on a blue slimline envelope to photograph it. The card base is white, and I'd retake the photo, but one of the challenges ends shortly. I may retake it tomorrow and edit the post. 

Once I had chosen the blues and yellow (see the inspiration board for the Sunday Stamps Challenge, piecing it together went quite quickly. The card took an unexpected turn, however, when I went to chose a sentiment. We have a BIG anniversary coming up, and this will be my card for my husband. He never reads my blog (to my knowledge) and I won't post it on Instagram until our anniversary.  I do know, however, that he will definitely like the design.

The sentiment embossed in white on black and bordered with a scrap of the aqua cardstock is from Papertrey Ink's Sun and Moon set. Here's the perfect inside sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Seas of Life.

I'll add a long letter inside, so I don't think I'll add an anniversary greeting. The sailboats which I stamped and fussy cut are from W+9's Dockside.

The colors came from the Sunday Stamps Summer Days Inspiration photo. Just Add Ink's challenge is for an inlaid die design, and Addicted to Stamps and More is Use a Die or Stencil.

 

 

 

A Bridge Card

There are a lot of bridge cards being made this week. First, Jennifer McGuire published a wonderful tutorial, and then Freshly Made Sketches posted this challenge:

I didn't expect to have time to make a card, but circumstances opened up just enough time today. The challenge closes in less than an hour, but here's my card!

It's a free standing card, but folds and fits into an A2 envelope. After creating the card base, I used The Greetery's Wicker Weave stencil to create some patterned paper. Once that was done, I need to find some way to create the bridge, and luckily found Papertrey Ink's Shape Shifter Circle 2 which was just perfect. The sunflowers are from My Favorite Things' Sunflower Wreath die and were already assembled just waiting for this card.

I had also already foiled the sentiment from Spellbinder's Yana' Special Sentiments. This is such a fun design, and I'm sure another bridge card is in my future. I'm also sending this to NBUS since it's the first run for the Wicker Weave stencil.

 

 

Variations on a Theme

I was inspired by several challenges to pull out four different hydrangea stamps to create a few cards. I have three finished, and it turned out to be a rather educational experience. The biggest challenge was completely my doing. I intended to watercolor the images, but when I stamped them I used Neenah 80#. It actually turned out alright but I'll wait on the last challenge until I redo the stamp with watercolor paper. All the images were cut with my Cut-N-Scan which I purchased over the winter holidays. It has proven to be a great purchase. I don't own any of these dies and the Cut-N-Scan actually does a better job than I sometimes do with a manufactured die. I was unaware of the Cut-N-Scan until I started watching videos using the Silhouette and the Cricut. The Cut-N-Scan is very user friendly, and although I've yet to explore all the possibilities with it, I'm quite happy with it's scan and cut abilities. I can do sentiments as well as images. In this case, I die cut all the images before watercoloring them. 

The next challenge was finding appropriate colors. I stuck to the current colors on the Color Throwdown Challenge: pink, purple, and green. I was also interested in playing along with Just Us Girls where the challenge is Pastels. The colors for the Color Throwdown Challenge are much more vibrant, so I toned it down for the JUGS Challenge. I'm also sending one of these to Triple B: Birds, Butterflies, and Blooms. 

In order to come up with some different pinks and purples, I used three different mediums. I often use the Altenew 36 Pan watercolor set as well as my Zig Watercolor markers, but this time I also pulled out a set of Lyra Aquacolor crayons which I've probably owned for 20+ years. I can't remember the last time I used them. It's easy to see how different the colors are in each example.

So, finally, here are the cards!

For Color Throwdown I used the Gina K  Heartfelt Hydrangea and The Ton's Easy Expressions: Birthday. I used the Zig Watercolor markers. The label on the pink markers says "light pink" but it is surely glowing against the purple.

I used a Dick Blick premade scalloped oval that I embossed with the Dotted Lattice embossing folder from Taylored Expressions. I used some dimensional tape on the sentiment and added a few gold pearls.

The pastels for the JUGS challenge were done with the Altenew 36 pan watercolor set. To deepen the colors a bit, I applied one light coat, let it dry and then added a second coat of watercolor. I mounted it on two Reverse Confette Pierced Rounded Top dies and used a beautiful sentiment from Gina K's Sweet Sentiments.

The only embellishment were a few purplish pink enamel dots. I also used some dimensional tape to pop up the floral arrangement.

Finally, the hydrangeas colored with the Lyra Aquacolor crayons. Several months ago, I added The Greetery's Arched Sentiments to my order. I already owned Ellen Hutson's Essential Arches and wondered if The Greetery's sentiments would work with them. Indeed, they do, and this is their inaugural debut! I stamped a birthday greeting from The Greetery's Sentiment Suite: Birthday set in the middle of the arch and then added a series of arches and frames before adding the flowers.

I found the florals in a very old Papertrey Ink set, Friendship Jar: Summer Fillers. I've always loved the Friendship Jar sets, but it's been a long time since the summer fillers made an appearance, and I'm quite sure I've never used the hydrangeas. This one is off to the Triple B Challenge.

Well, that was one long post, and if you made it to the end, thanks for sticking with me!

Congrats!

My daughter-in-law's niece just graduated from American University in just three years. Being unable to attend classes in person the first two years, she actually was able to manage enough extra credits to finish a year early. We're all very proud of her accomplishments, and equally glad that she's decided to do graduate work here at the University of Rochester.

Her card is very definitely a Clean and Simple one, but rather elegant, too, I think. I'm also a believer that the Clean and Simple space does not need to be white. 

I started by die cutting the sentiment from Penny Black in the Enchanted Evening cardstock by Papertrey Ink. I repeated the die cut with shiny gold cardstock and inlaid it before adding a narrow gold border.  

I added it to a white card base and then attached the motorboard 3-D sticker that I luckily found in my stash. 

I'm sending this off to three challenges: Less is More: Anything Goes, Addicted to CAS: Celebration, and Addicted to Stamps and More: Any Occasion.