random reflections

Color Hues #22

The Color Hues Challenge has a new duo for you:  Lime Green and Aqua.

 

I love this bright and cheerful color combination, but it took me awhile to come up with a design I liked. As I often do, I turned to dies and ended up with The Greetery's "Inside and Out Berry Branches."

I die cut the branches in two shades of lime green and two shades of aqua, arranged them in a bouquet and "tied" them with a gold ribbon from the "Fit to Be Tied" collection, also from The Greetery. The next step was to find the right background and again The Greetery had the answer--a "Nordic Frame," one of my favorites. 

The sentiment from an old, and loved, set by Papertrey Ink "Autumn Abundance" was embossed in gold. Either lime green or aqua would have worked as a cardbase, but I liked the lime green better.

I hope you'll hop over to the Color Hues Challenge and join in the fun, checking out the cards made by my awesome Design Team members, and our Guest Designer, Rosemary.

 

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

 Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

 

Color Hues #21-Red and Blue

Independence Day is just three days away, and I'm guessing that Carol's color choices for this round of Color Hues was influenced by the holiday. It's always a great combination, and I have two cards to share.

The first was the card design I had in mind, but the die cut letters (on #2) were too tall, so I had to substitute another alpha which I ended up liking even better. Luckily, I have two perfect occasions for these cards. The first one is going to my mother-in-law for her July 5th---92nd birthday. I had previously made a birthday card for her, but my husband thought this one was perfect the minute he saw it.

With the exception of the Slimline Diagonal Stitched Rectangle from Pinkfresh Studio, everything on the card came from The Greetery. I die cut the pinwheels in Blueberry Sky (Papertrey Ink) and Cherry Kisses (Gina K) and then stenciled the darker colors onto them. 

The letters are cut from the recent release of Bold Alphabets, die cut from Cherry Kisses and Enchanted Evening cardstock. I added some gold and silver gems to the center of the pinwheels. 

The second card is a congratulatory card for one of the sweetest, hardest working young ladies I know. I've been working with her for the last five years. I started helping her with her homework at a community center in the inner city. After two years there, she won a scholarship to the local Catholic all-girls school here. We've continued to work together at the school, Paneras, and at our house for the last three years.  During the pandemic we met much less frequently and virtually. She just graduated from 8th grade and is headed for high school at Mercy next year. Her grade point average is amazing, and she's played soccer, run track, and been involved with other activities. I couldn't be happier for her.

The letters from the Waffle Flower "Tower Outline Alpha" dies were cut from Pure Poppy and Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink) papers. I've been in the habit recently of using score lines for interest, and once again, I pulled out my scoreboard to add some dimension behind the letters.  I borrowed the "Twisted Crepe" dies (The Greetery) from a friend (thanks, Michelle!) and die cut those with red, blue, and silver glitter paper.

I think 8th grade girls are pretty interested in sparkly, so I added a few glittery stars to finish it off.

I hope you'll check out all the Red and Blue creations by my talented Design Team members, and our special Guest Designer, Carol.

   

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

 Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

And if you're in the U.S. have a safe and fun Fourth of July! We'll be arrived just in time to celebrate with Sarah and her family after an early birthday celebration here for Tracy's mom.

 

Color Hues #20

It's hard to believe, but we're already at the 20th challenge for Color Hues. Sheri chose Aqua and Black for this round.

It's not the first time that I've ended up making two cards for the challenge. Although I liked the first card, it really "wasn't me." Meaning, of course, not Clean and Simple enough. So here's card #2, much more to my liking.

I knew right off that I wanted to use an older set by Papertrey Ink called "Life is Beautiful." I thought the black butterfly against an aqua background would be striking. (And you'll see that the first card I made has the same main elements, but different products.) I die cut the open butterfly die twice, once with black shimmer cardstock and once with gold. I off set the two of them and adhered them to a piece of aqua shimmer paper cut with The Greetery's "Crimped Frames." You can see the shimmer better here:

Then I layered the aqua layer onto a larger Nordic frame in black shimmer before adding it all to a white cardbase. 

The sentiment is from Pink and Main's "Special Day," embossed in gold and die cut with The Greetery's "Pretext Banners"--possibly the best banner set I've found.

Here's the first card I made. This time I started with the "Cover Plate: Butterfly" die from Papertrey, die cutting it from the same black shimmer paper I used above. 

After adding it to a piece of the aqua shimmer paper, I colored the insides of the butterfly wings with a Copic marker to give them some contrast. 

The sentiment from Taylored Expressions was embossed in white and added with a thin strip of dimensional tape.

Finally, I added some aqua and silver sequins. It's a bit busier than the card above, but I'm quite sure I'll find a recipient who will enjoy it.

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what our Guest Designer, Trina, and the rest of the Design Team has come up with . . . and join in the fun!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

Color Hues #19

The weeks fly by and here we are with another great color combination for the Color Hues Challenge. This round it's Blue and Brown.

I cased myself for this challenge and returned to a design I used last September. I love the closed and open leaves of Altenew's "Leaf Canopy" set.

To color the closed leaves, I added two shades of Pinkfresh Studio blue inks directly to the stamps, spritzed them with water and stamped them onto a piece of Altenew's watercolor paper. Once that had dried, I overstamped with the open leaves in Dark Chocolate ink from Papertrey Ink.

I stamped the sentiment from the same set in Dark Chocolate, and use my favorite Gina K "Master Layout" dies to cut a thin border of Dark Chocolate cardstock before adding it all to a Blueberry Sky (also Papertrey Ink) card base.

As always, I hope you'll pop over to the Color Hues Challenge and check out the great cards by the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Michel.

   Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

And please come join the fun!

Color Hues #18

The new Color Hues Challenge is for Purple and Teal which ends up being a really lovely color combination.

Pretty or not, it did take me awhile to come up with a design I was happy with. I started out with some stencils, but you can see that is not where I ended up!

After the stencils didn't work out quite the way I envisioned them, I headed to my die cuts. Almost immediately I came upon Mama Elephant's "Botanic Envelope" and knew just what I wanted to do. I love the gold detail on the envelope, and filled it with a variety of die cuts in shades of purple and teal.

Some of the foliage came from the Mama Elephant die, but I also add some die cuts from Pinkfresh Studio's "Delicate Blossoms" and Althenew's " Star Flower Pop-Up" die. All the colored cardstock is from Memory Box.

Then I added a small piece of the reflective gold paper (from Tonic) behind the star flower, and attached the envelope to a "Nordic Frame" from The Greetery.

The sentiment was gold embossed from The Greetery's "Sentiment Suite: Thank You."

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what our Guest Designer, Janet, and the rest of the Design Team has come up with . . . and join in the fun!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

 

Color Hues #17

It's May 1st and time for a new Color Hues Challenge!

 

This time it's a duo of Red and Orange, and it took me awhile to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. Once I did, it came together pretty quickly, and I've decided it's color combination that I like quite a bit---bright and cheerful!  As I've been trying to do for the last several months, I used a beautiful stamp from Altenew that I've never used before.

The starting point was ink blending red and orange on the bottom portion of the card. Then I stamped one of the images from Altenew's "Fragile Foliage" partially off the edge.

I added just a touch of color to the delicate flowers with an orange Staedtler Fineliner and die cut the panel with Gina K's "Master Layout" die. Then I die cut the larger layer from red cardstock and added it to a bright orange card base. 

I decided on a stamped and die cut sentiment. The stamped portion is from Papertrey's "Wonderful Words: Thank You," and the die cut from The Greetery's "Sentiment Starters" collection. 

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what our guest designer, Tracey, and the rest of the Design Team has come up with . . . and join in the fun!

      

  Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

Color Hues #16

I'm the hostess at Color Hues this round, and chose Yellow and Gray for the colors. It's always been a favorite combination, and as it turns out, it's the Pantone Color(s) of the Year. Pantone decided to chose a duo rather than a single color this year. 

I CASED myself this round, using a design I've previously used. 

I started with this Memory Box card with subtle gray stripes. I've had these in my stash for so long I have no idea where I purchased them originally. Then I die cut a white "Shape Shifter Oval 2" by Papertrey Ink.

The floral is a favorite of mine from Pinkfresh Studio's "Keep Going" set. I watercolored it on Altenew Watercolor paper which I like very much. It's a nice clean white and the watercolors move nicely on it. This time I used my Karin watercolor markers.

I don't own the accompanying dies, so fussy cut the image and added it to the fancy oval. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions. 

I hope this color combo appeals to you as well, and that you'll join us at the Color Hues Challenge. Be sure to check out the great designs by my Design Team members, and our Guest Designer, Amy.

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

Color Hues #15

No matter the weather, by April 1, I'm ready for spring. This year we've been treated to very early signs of spring and I'm hoping a greener landscape is not far away. Today's new challenge at Color Hues is sure to brighten your day, regardless of where you are in welcoming the new season.

If you've followed me for very long, you know I'm partial to Clean and Simple designs. This card totally falls in that category. I'm not sure if I've ever created anything that was more Clean and Simple. This card more or less created itself. I die cut the floral from The Stamp Market's "Fresh Floral Layering" die in Concord and 9th's Ballet Slippers. Although this was made for inlaying the pieces of the floral, I knew as soon as I laid down the outline, that was all I was going to need.

I then die cut the two leaves from a pieces green cardstock in my bits and pieces folder and added them to the floral on a piece of white cardstock. 

I cut a narrow border from the Ballet Slippers cardstock, and added dimensional tape to the back of the focal piece before adding it to a white card base. The sentiment, embossed in white on black cardstock is from Reverse Confetti's "So Many Sentiments" set. 

After I had created this card, I started playing around with the new-to-me coloring stencils by Pinkfresh Studios for their stamp set "Friendship Blooms." And although I do like this card, it is definitely not CAS!

After die cutting the florals with the accompanying dies, I die cut two panels, one in black and one in gold, with Gina K's Layering dies. I love the narrow border these dies create. The sentiment, embossed in gold, is also from "Friendship Blooms." I layered everything onto a bright pink card base.

The final touch was the addition of some gold sequins.

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Tenia, have come up with . . . and join in the fun!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

Color Hues #14

The new challenge at Color Hues is really versatile. Neutrals can be added as well as gold or silver.

This is one of those cards that just "came to be." I had a card completed for this challenge, but about a week or so ago, I was in another organize and purge mood. In the process I came upon the card front which was embossed with a beautiful embossing folder by Alexandra Renke.

As soon as I saw it I knew it would make a perfect CAS card for this challenge. I added it to a black card base and used a sentiment strip from my stash.

I debated for a bit about embellishments, but finally decided on some small black pearls from AMuse which have been in my stash forever. I'm pretty sure I'll use this design again. It's very versatile. I can see it as a birthday card, an anniversary card, a thank you note, and even a sympathy card. 

I hope you'll hop over to the Color Hues Challenge and join in the fun, checking out the cards made by my awesome Design Team members and our Guest Designer, Shawna.

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

 

Color Hues #13

It's March first, and time for a new challenge at Color Hues. I have to admit March is one of my least favorite months. When travel is safe again, I expect to spend the month of March in a location much warmer and sunnier than Rochester! Here are the new colors:

These bright and cheery colors gave me permission to create a card that celebrates sunshine.

This is actually the second card I made. Both cards started with The Stamp Market's " Color Block" die. For this card I chose two hues of yellow and two of blue. Each piece is popped up with dimensional tape on a white card base. Then I searched through my stamps looking for a sunshine die, and ended up with Reverse Confetti's set "Over the Rainbow." I added a bit of ink blending to the edges of the sun to set it apart from the yellow panels.

I added a white puffy die cut cloud (from Papertrey Ink), and a sentiment from a new stamp set from My Favorite Things, "Bitty Hugs and Kisses." 

Here's a look at the first card I created. For this card I used four hues of yellow and blue.

I do like this card as well, but doesn't meet the I. need. spring. requirement. I inlaid the panels from the "Color Block" die this time, and added a die cut sentiment from Simon Says, "Bold Hello," that was included in one of the monthly card kits. 

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!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey