random reflections

Color Hues #80

It’s an unusual occurrence, but this is my second post of the day. My post as the Guest Designer for the AAABirthday Challenge went live at 3:00 this morning due to a time difference in England. 

It's February 1st and time for a new Color Hues Challenge. Sheri is our hostess this time and has chosen Red and Pink. Perfect for Valentine's Day if you're so inclined. And check out our new graphic--an awesome design!

My card could easily be a valentine, but I was somewhat surprised to find I had several valentines left over from last year. I'm thinking this is more likely going to be an anniversary card for close friends of ours. I do have to make new valentines for the five grandchildren, but this one doesn't seem quite right for any of them. 

I've kept my New Year's Intention in a big way here. Every product I used was in my To Be Used Box of products purchased, but not used. I'm quite happy with all of them. I started by stenciling Papertrey Ink's Happy Hearts with Kitsch Flamingo and Lumberjack Red Distress Oxide inks, masking off the bottom of the panel for a space for the sentiment. I die cut the panel as well as a slightly larger red panel with dies from Gina K's Master Layout #3. I use her Master Layout #1 all the time, and purchased several more versions during sales over the past year. It's way past time to put them to use.

The sentiment was die cut with a very recent purchase during the after Christmas sale at Waffle Flower. The Print and Script with Love die includes two versions of the words as well as shadows for all of them. I chose the block print ones and die cut them from a scrap piece of paper that I ink blended with the two Distress Oxide inks. 

I hope you'll hop over to the Color Hues blog and check out all the amazing designs by our Guest Designer, Bobby, and the Design Team. We look forward to seeing what you create in the gallery.

If all goes as planned I'll be on Day Four of a Tanzania Safari Tour when this goes live, and most likely will be checking out your creations on my return. Aside from lack of time, my understanding is internet service is hard to come by. Nancy, our fearless leader on Color Hues, has graciously offered to cover for me while I'm gone. It's an incredible offer as she's one of the busiest card makers I know as well as running two challenge blogs. Many thanks, Nancy!

Clean & Simple for Color Hues # 113

Tracey leads us off in July with a versatile color combination for the next Color Hues Challenge:

I have two anniversary cards to share today. The first card design has been a favorite for anniversaries over the years.

The die cut tree from My Favorite Things has long been a favorite of mine. I die cut it on a white panel and added it to a red panel cut with Gina K's Master Layout #1, which allows the red to show through. I added a narrow black border also cut with Gina K's Master Layout #1.

The sentiment is from My Favorite Things, Hugs and Kisses. No embellishment was necessary.

The second card practically made itself. I created a card for friend's anniversary, and although it was okay to send, I really didn't love it. Before it went off in the mail, I realized that by changing the card base I could have a clean and simple card for Tracey's challenge. It doesn't get more clean and simple than this:

The card base is my favorite red: Papertrey Ink's Pure Poppy. The little hearts came from Hero Art's Infinity Hearts die, and the white panel was cut with one of Ellen Hutson's Essential Rectangles. I popped the hearts up with a tiny dimensional foam dot. 

I used the same stamp set, Hugs and Kisses, from My Favorite Things for the sentiment, and added one small red pearl from AMuse. Those pearls have been in my collection for years.

Be sure to hop over to the Color Hues Challenge blog to see how the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Kim Miller, were inspired for this challenge, and then add a card of your own to our gallery.

I'm sending the second card to AAACards: Anything CAS Goes. 

 

 

Color Hues #112

Mid-June already? I so love the warm weather that I wish summer didn't fly by so quickly. One consolation: there's a new color combination on the Color Hues blog, and Stef chose a delightful new combination. Another color combo I would never have thought of, but I enjoyed the challenge.

The first place I look for inspiration is in my box of NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff). This time I came across an Altenew mini-stamp, Tulip Motif, that I loved, and knew it would fit right in one of the new Penny Black Classy frames. I actually borrowed the frames from a friend when I created this card, but I now own the set. 

I started by embossing the image in gold. Sadly, the gold embossing doesn't show up well in either photo. Coloring it was a bit of a challenge because it's so small. I used a combination of Tombow and Copic markers and there were a couple images that hit the circular file before I finished. The cobalt frame was die cut three times and stacked for some dimension. I used The Stamp Market's Pierced Plaid Cover Plate to add some texture to the peach background.

I decided not to add a sentiment this time. There didn't seem to be a natural place for one, and the inside sentiment will determine how the card is used--a birthday, a thank you, or a thinking of you--all work with this design.

As always, hop over to the Color Hues Challenge blog for some inspiration. It's fun to see how many ways a color combination can inspire someone. The Design Team and our Guest Designer, Teresa S., aced this one! 

This goes off to the NBUS blog since the Tulip Motif saw it's first run today.

Color Hues #111

Sheri is the hostess for the June 1 Color Hues Challenge. She chose Coral and Green:

The last time we had coral as one of the challenge colors I spent a lot of time being sure I understood exactly what "coral" looked like. This time I knew which inks and papers would work well, and chose a relatively new stamp and stencil set from The Greetery, Bitty Botanicals. I've always felt a bit challenged by layering stamp sets, but a stamp and stencil pairing was a breeze. The greenery is stamped, and then the flowers are stenciled. Lining them up was easy. 

I used two hues of coral ink for the flowers: Pinkfresh Studio's Coral Reef and Passion Fruit. Then I die cut the Diamond Ribbon from Concord and 9th's Grapefruit cardstock and added some details with the darker coral ink to the connectors with the accompanying stencil. I love how it all works together so beautifully.

I decided on The Greetery's Nordic Heart die cut for the sentiment, cutting the larger scalloped heart from the Grapefruit cardstock. I was delight to find that the gold embossed sentiment from The Greetery's Bloom and Grow Sentiments fit perfectly on the heart.

For lots more inspiration from our Guest Designer, Barbara, and the Design Team, head over to the Color Hues blog. Then join in, and I'll look for your card in the gallery! 

This is headed for Darnell's NBUS. All the products except for the Nordic Heart are having their debut today!

 

Color Hues #110

I'm the hostess for the mid-May Color Hues Challenge and I chose:

It's important to remember for this challenge that it's a color HUES challenge, and let me tell you, I had no idea how many hues of plum I would find. Here are just three and you can see how different they are.

I wanted something on the pastel end of Plum so went with the Paper Source hue to stencil my Pinkfresh Studio Magnificent Magnolia after embossing it in silver.

I used a soft gray ink for the leaves. I used Altenew's Dotted Scales Debossing Cover Die on white for the background. After stenciling the image and die cutting it, I added it to the background with some dimensional tape.

The stamped and die cut sentiment is also from the Magnificent Magnolia set. I added some beautiful Iridescent Clear drops from Pinkfresh as the final embellishment.

As always there's lots of inspiration to be found on the Color Hues blog by our Guest Designer, Rachel, and the so-talented Design Team. Please join us in the gallery! 

One of my favorite challenges is the Seize the Birthday Challenge. I ought to have an entry every month (at the very least) but it doesn't always happen. The current challenge is Flowers, and I was glad that I could add this card to their gallery.

 

 

Color Hues #109

It's May Day. When I first went to school we lived in Hays, Kansas. I remember May Day being a big deal. We made little baskets filled with treats, left them on our friends' front porch, rang the bell, and ran away. I can remember dancing around a May pole at school. Such celebratory events never happened when we lived in Ohio, and I've never seen much of it in New York. Now the first of May represents the likelihood that Spring will come and stay, although there has been snow in May on occasion. It's also the first Color Hues Challenge of the month, and Marcia has chose two springy and happy colors:

I reached for one of my new Pinkfresh purchases (I was enabled by a generous gift certificate for Christmas) the Radiating Hearts and Stars stencil and die set. I knew it would be great for two color challenges, and it's a very versatile set--good for almost any age. This time I chose the stars.

I ran the card front through my die cutting machine with Reverse Confetti's Stitched Rays cover die, and then layered two of the stenciled stars at the meeting point of the rays. I used three Simon Says inks for the stenciling: Marine, Cadette, and Sunshine.

The sentiment was embossed in gold with Altenew's Sentiment Strips.  I added five sparkly gold stars as an embellishment.

I hope you'll join us at The Color Hues Gallery during the next two weeks, but first check out the amazing inspiration from our Guest Designer, and the Design Team. I'll be away for a good portion of the challenge, but will be checking in as soon as I get home! Have fun!

 

Color Hues #108

It's mid-April and time for a new Color Hues Challenge. Nancy, our fabulous leader, has chose Lilac and Aqua. It's such a beautiful, soft color combination.

The biggest problem I had with this challenge was finding the "correct" lilac ink. Although the first ink I used had "lilac" in its name, it was entirely too pink. I tested several more before finding an older Altenew in called Lavender Fields. It was a great pastel purple.

As I did for the last challenge, I chose an older Pinkfresh Studio product. This time the Charming Floral Border with accompanying stencils and die. I used just one ink for each color, starting with a light hand and adding the highlights with a firmer hand. After finishing the coloring, I die cut the border. Then using Papertrey Ink's Lilac Grace cardstock, I did a partial die cut on the card base with the border die, adding the floral border on top. The foiled sentiment banner, Curved Everyday Sentiments, is by Spellbinders.

The closer view gives you a peek at the beautiful foiling as well as the perfect match jewels from the Pinkfresh collection of Essential Jewels as a final embellishment.

In the next day or so, I'll post the two additional cards I made while working on this challenge--the pink one and another "fail" when I used a stencil brush that wasn't clean enough so instead of aqua, I had green! But it's nice to have a couple additional cards in my stash.

It's time now for you to hop over to the Color Hues Blog and check out the great designs and creativity from our talented Guest Designer, Caroline, and the Design Team. I hope you'll join us in the gallery.

I'm sending this off to the April Pinkfresh Studio Challenge: Floral Frenzy.

 

Color Hues #107

It's April Fool's Day. It was one of my least favorite days as a teacher of 5th graders who delighted in trying to do you in and usually succeeded at some mischief. Today, however, April 1st means a new Color Hues Challenge, and it's a good one. Jules chose Orange (one of my faves) and Teal. It's a great combination, and not one I've used very often. 

I pulled out an old favorite hot foil plate from Pinkfresh Studio, Geo Blocks and it's accompanying stencil. I don't think I've ever used all three stencils because I love the way it looks with some white space. 

This time I decided to use a larger hot foiled sentiment from Waffle Flower, Hey, There.  I liked it placed on the diagonal which is not something I often do. 

This gives you a better look at the shiny gold foil. It took me awhile to figure out where I wanted to add some gold pearls, but I'm happy with the final decision.

As always, you'll find lots of inspiration on the Color Hues blog by our wonderful Guest Designer, Renate, as well as the fabulous Design Team! I hope you'll come join us!

My schedule has been crazy recently, and although I've been crafting, there hasn't been much that could be shared just yet. I don't usually let two weeks go by without blogging, but I hope to remedy that this week. The Women's NCAA March Madness schedule hasn't helped much. I'm a huge fan of women's college basketball and watch a lot more television during the tournament. The only consolation to the increased TV time, is that while I watched the games, I finished two big organizing and cleaning out projects in my craft room that have been on the to-do list for far too long. 

 

Lemons and Limes for CH #106

As soon as I saw Julie's pick for the current Color Hues Challenge,

I knew I had exactly the right stamp, stencil and die set. A year ago February, I participated in Pinkfresh Studio's Create & Connect event. As usual, I never finished all the cards but I hadn't forgotten the Citrus Twist set which I never used during the course. This card is a CASE of Anett Gelencsér's Make and Take for that class. 

Her card used a partial die cut technique, but I opted to just cut a diagonal slice from the card front which I was able to use on the inside for the sentiment. I then attached the die cut slices to the front of the card.  Anett used the same coverplate, Stitched Octagons, but she used it on the front of the card, and I opted for the inside.

The stamp was embossed in gold as is the sentiment from Honey Bee's Be Still stamps. I added some of the additional flowers and leaves included in the set that are die cut separately with the same die for the citrus slices. This card turned out to be difficult to photograph and the gold embossing will have to be imagined by the viewer (probably due primarily to the gray days that extend in western New York through March--and sometimes into April.)

I attached the diagonal piece from the card front to the inside of the card so I'd have a good place for the sentiment.

This sentiment and die are also from Be Still by Honey Bee.

This color combo is a great antidote to gloomy days. Regardless of where you live, I hope you'll find yellow and green to be inspirational colors and join us in the gallery at Color Hues! You'll find lots of inspiration from the Design Team and our very special Guest Designer, Michele! 

I'm sending this card to the AAA Colorful Challenge, where the colorboard is yellows and green. Once again, this card is off to NBUS as well as a relatively new challenge Neglected Stuff since I've had the stamps and dies for over a year, and have finally found the perfect use for them!

     

Color Hues #105

The new Color Hues Challenge is live, and Carol has chosen another good one:White and Green.

They are perfect colors for St. Patrick's Day, and since it's also my husband's birthday, I wanted to find a design would work for both. I ended up with a two-fer which is always a good thing.

The first card I created is the one on the right. I started with the white die cut from Papertrey Ink, Decorative Circles Coverplate, which has always been a favorite. I layered it on a card base of New Leaf (a very shamrock-like color) and inlayed the black diamonds. 

I also added some black gems to the center of each diamond, but they're almost impossible to see in the photo. The sentiment is from Altenew's One-Go Birthday Greetings embossed in white on black cardstock. 

Having die cut a second panel of the coverplate in black for the diamonds above, I realized I could reverse the colors and ended up with this card:

For the sentiment here, I used a new stamp and die set from Spellbinders (their February Stamp & Die Club pick). After stamping and die cutting the sentiment, I die cut three more to stack for some dimension. This card will go to my husband. The inside birthday sentiment also comes from this set.

The white version is already in an envelope to go to a good friend who's birthday is next week.

Be sure to check out all the inspiration on the Color Hues Blog from the Design Team and our very talented Guest Designer, Nance.

I'm sending this off to Darnell's NBUS March gallery. This is the second time recently when I've used a new stamp and die in a timely manner! 

  

Color Hues #104

Mid-February, and here in Western New York, we're in need of some fresh, bright colors. Bonnie has chosen a perfect combo for the next Color Hues Challenge: Coral and Yellow.

Frequently, I turn to orange in my card making, but I rarely think about coral. I did some searches on the internet to be comfortable with the difference between orange and coral--they are very close! Then I wanted to find an image to watercolor. I thought I could blend the coral and yellow for a floral, so chose Altenew's Magnolia Ballerina. We live just a block away from a fabulous park which has a large collection of magnolias. There are two yellow magnolia trees, but I must admit I took some liberties with the brightness of my hue, and with the coral centers-a bit of creative license!

I stamped the design on Arches 140# watercolor paper, and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I found two watercolors in my collection that worked well: Lemon from Altenew's 36 Pan Watercolor Set. and Coral Reef from The Stamp Market's Color Crush Watercolor Palette Pans. I used two shades of brown watercolor from the Altenew set for the centers. 

The sentiment from The Greetery's Tagged Elegance was stamped on Arches watercolor paper and die cut with the accompanying die. I'm determined to get to all the NBUS dies and stamps in my box, and the dies for this set were purchased during the Christmas release last year but it's the first time I've used them.  A simple black border attached to a card base created with Gina K's Coral Reef cardstock finished the card. I did try some coral and clear embellishments but they all seemed too busy.

I hope you'll join us! As always, you'll find lots of inspiration from the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Teresa. The challenge will be live until February 27th.