random reflections

Color Hues #10

Times flies, and here we are with the tenth Color Hues challenge:

One of my intentions for this year, is to make sure I'm using all the stamps and dies I have accumulated since the pandemic started! One of the dies is the "Altenew Circled Greetings." I have all four of them, but today I used "Thanks." I'll start with the card I posted on the Color Hues Challenge post.

You can see that the die creates a wonderful focal point for an A2 card. I backed the open circle with a piece of cream cardstock on which I'd stamped with another new purchase, My Favorite Things "Peacock Pattern Background" in Dark Indigo ink.

I used a stamp from W+9's "Hand Lettered Thanks" for the small sentiment strip, and bordered it with a bit of the dark navy cardstock. The front panel was then added to a cream colored card base which is perfect for writing a thank you note.

The second card is very similar, but I chose to dry emboss a series of narrow score lines on the cream card base before adding the navy panel which I trimmed down to expose a narrow cream border.

This time I chose a brighter hue of navy cardstock that has a subtle texture to it.

I added a few sequins and pearls from Lucy's Cards: "Pearl Necklace" collection.

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

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

Color Hues #9

Happy New Year and Welcome 2021! I imagine most of us are more than happy to put 2020 behind us, and hoping for a much better year ahead despite knowing that we still have some dark days ahead. For me, crafting has been the one way I can put aside all the fears and anxieties of the times for a few hours. I hope it does the same for you.  And the Color Hues Challenge is here to help. I love this round's color choices:

I'm a fan of Laura Bassen's graphic cards, and when she designed and released some graphic dies for Simon Says this winter, I picked up the "Geometric Builders: Squares." Putting the squares together is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. It's not something I do quickly, but I enjoyed the challenge. And I have a lot of pieces left to play with to make one or more additional cards.

I used three shade of gray from Simon Says: Fog, Smoke, and Slate, and my favorite red from Papertrey Ink: Pure Poppy. I love the clean and simple design of the card, and think it will make a great masculine birthday greeting.

The sentiment from The Stamp Market, "Tons of Type," was embossed in white on black cardstock, and bumped up with some dimensional tape.

You may well see a similar design in a future Color Hues Challenge as this set is perfect for a two color challenge. Now check what our Design Team and Guest Designer have for you at the Color Hues Challenge.

Marcia, Guest Designer

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

Pull out some reds and grays, and join in the fun! I'll be back tomorrow to share my One Little Word for 2021.

 

Color Hues #7

It's time for the next Color Hues Challenge: Blue and Magenta.

Since it's now December (yikes!) I thought a Christmas card was in order so I pulled out another stamp set that's been in my stash for a couple of years, and never used! Honestly, it's embarrassing. But it proved to be just what I wanted.

I die cut the three ornaments and stamped them with Pinkfresh Studio inks (Sapphire and Bubble Gum) and then added a layer of Spectrum Noir glitter. I embossed the background with the Papertrey Ink Herringbone Impression Plate and "hung" the ornament with some silver cord. That was then layered onto a piece of magenta cardstock to create a thin frame, and finally to a bright blue card base.

I embossed the greeting from Altenew's "Holiday Tag Sentiments" with Black Opal embossing powder which has a wonderful glittery appearance which didn't show up well in either photograph. The final touch was to add some clear sequins. 

Hop over to the Color Hues site and check out the creations from the Design Team and our fabulous Guest Designer, Vikki:

  Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

And please join us for the new challenge!

Color Hues #6

It seems like time just flies by, despite the restrictions. Already Color Hues is up with the sixth challenge; this time Pink and Brown.

The design of this card is based on several cards I've seen in blog land, and it turned out better than I expected! I think it might be called a spotlight design.

I started by stamping one of the outline flowers from Simon Says "Delicate Flowers" set in brown on white cardstock. Then I stamped one of them on another piece of paper, and colored it with Copic markers. 

To assemble the card, I pulled out two favorite dies: Essentials By Ellen: Squares, and the Gina K Master Layouts: 1. The square dies cut the interior and also a narrow frame, so I die cut the floral image, and cut a second one from Lovely Lady (PTI) cardstock. I used the Master Layout dies to cut out the larger floral image and a narrow frame for that as well.

The sentiment from Sugar Pea's "Everyday Sentiments" was embossed in white on brown cardstock. These were all layered as you see above, and then finally added to a Dark Chocolate (PTI) card base. No embellishment needed!

Hop over to the Color Hues site and check out the creations from the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Susie:

Susie

  Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

And then join us!!!

 

 

 

Color Hues #4

It's time for the fourth Color Hues Challenge, and the colors this week are:

This is a favorite color combination for me, and I actually made two cards. The first one is the one you'll find on the Color Hues Challenge blog.

I started by ink blending two pieces of cardstock with Distress Inks---Salty Ocean and Blueprint---for the blues, and Carved Pumpkin and Spiced Marmalade for the oranges. I used the darker colors toward the center. Then I die cut both pieces with Pinkfresh Studio's "Pop-out Sunburst" die, and pieced the card together.

I did a bit of ombré ink blending on a scrap of cardstock, and die cut the greeting from Simon Says "Bold Hello," adding it to a circle of orange die cut with the Pinkfresh Studio die. A few Rainstones from Papertrey Ink finished off the card.

The card above was not the card I started to make. Originally, I planned for a floral image but after coloring it with Copic markers I couldn't decide on a design for the card. That came somewhat later.

In the end, I liked this card as well, so decided I'd share it as an alternative. It also points out that you may choose any number of hues of a given color for the challenge. The image is from Altenew's "Needlework Motifs" which I colored with Copic markers. 

I finally wondered what it would look like if I added a thin frame over the focal image, and die cut one from Orange Peel cardstock (Simon Says) with the Simon Says A2 Thin Frames. It wasn't as difficult to adhere as I thought it might be, and I'm quite happy with the overall look. The sentiment is one from Taylored Expressions "Sentiment Strips."

Lucie is our fabulous guest designer this week. Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what she and the rest of the Design Team have come up with . . . and join in the fun!

Color Hues #3

It's time for the third Color Hues Challenge, and the colors this week are:

I went fairly glizty on this one. When I was reorganizing I came upon a folder with gold and silver adhesive papers from Papertrey Ink. I thought I'd give them a try.

After die cutting this beautiful and ornate "Arabesque Border" from Papertrey, I wondered if I'd be able to adhere onto the cream colored cardstock without wrinkling or tearing. Amazingly, it went on without any difficulty at all.

The sentiment was also a die cut from Simon Says and the stamped sentiment comes from the same set (purchased separately), appropriately titled "Love." 

The stamped sentiment was gold embossed on a banner from Neat and Tangled and adhered with some foam tape adding just a bit of dimension to the 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 first guest designer, Ashwini.

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!

Color Hues #1

The very first Color Hues Challenge has been posted! Every two weeks there will be a new challenge focusing on two colors. Any gradient or hue of those colors along with a neutral can be used in creating your project. The first colors are yellow and green:

Since I chose two simple flowers for the focal point of the card, I decided to start with a stenciled background, using Pinkfresh Studio Sunshine ink with a Hero Arts stencil, "Tweed." 

I stamped the two doodle-style flowers and leaves from My Favorite Things, "Buildable Bouquet" over the top of the stencil, and watercolored them using Altenew's 36 pan watercolors. 

I played around for awhile trying to decide whether to add some embellishmentsm, sequins, clear drops . . . but decided in the end they were too distracting and left the card very clean and simple. I die cut a very narrow frame with Gina K's "Master Layouts 1" from The Stamp Market's Leafy green cardstock which was a perfect match for the watercolored leaves.

The sentiment strip and die are from Taylored Expressions "Simple Strips."  I hope you'll 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!