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!

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. 

Color Hues 103

Our February 1st Color Hues Challenge is an exciting collaboration with the Inkspirational Challenge as well. They are joining us with Tracey's great color combination of Pink and Red. I'll let Carol, our creative Design Team member and the designer/behind-the-scenes organizer of Inkspirational Challenges fill you in on all the details.

Carol here. The design team gals and I at Inkspirational are delighted to participate in this first-time collaboration with Color Hues. Creating with Red and Pink – a combination open to such a wide range of hues, as well as occasions/events – makes us even more happy! Hopefully, you’ll find our team’s contributions as inspiring as those created by the team here.

This collaboration serves two key goals: to increase the exposure of both challenges to players who may/may not know about them and to offer YOU a chance to share your projects in two galleries. If you link up here, please be sure to hop over to Inkspirational to link with us there. We’re hoping for an outstanding number of entries over the course of the two week run of both challenges.

A wee bit about Inkspirational Challenge, in general:

We’re a two-week challenge that features a rotation of: Word Prompt, Designer's Choice, Mood Board, Clean and Simple, Use Stencils and Seasonal. We’re pleased to have a strong group of participants who embrace our challenges with enthusiasm and creativity on a regular basis. We look forward to introducing them to Color Hues and hope they'll add this engaging challenge to their crafting repertoires.

This was the perfect opportunity for me to create another valentine. When we were visiting Wisconsin in November, my granddaughter and I ended up having a conversation about gumball machines. I have no recollection of how that conversation came about, but when we returned for our Christmas celebration I brought along my NBUS Spellbiner die, Pop-up 3-D Vignette Bubble Gum Machine. I purchased it awhile ago during a clearance sale. Hannah and I never got around to actually making a card, so using it for her valentine was a no-brainer. 

I chose red metallic cardstock for the machine, and silver metallic for the trim. All the gum balls are cut from paper scraps in my stash. There's a piece of acetate behind the black frame for the window, and although it doesn't show, the bottom of the silver piece lifts up as if to let out the gumballs. I layered the sentiment, die cut from black, on silver. 

The gumball machine is larger than an A2 card base. This card is 6X41/2. I used a premade card from Bearly Arts as a guide for the measurements.  Spellbinder's 3-D Cross My Heart Embossing Folder which is s 5.5X8.5 inches was the perfect background--needed (and appropriate) texture, but white on white so it didn't distract from main event. I layered the gumball machine with dimensional tape before adding it to the card base.

The sentiment on the inside is also a NBUS product purchase after Valentine's Day last year--Simon Say's Love You Greetings. I added three glittery heart stickers.

Whether it's valentines or another occasion, I hope you'll find a reason to play along with the Design Team and  Trina Pham, our Guest Designer. Be sure to link your creations with the Inkspirational Challenge as well. It's a fun two-fer! This card is off to Darnell's NBUS as well!

 

Color Hues 102

Stef has chose the new colors for the mid-January Color Hues Challenge:

Typically when I see a color combo like this one I reach for one of my geometric stamp or die sets. I really wanted to branch out this time and have an Altenew collection I've been wanting to use for months. I rarely purchase one of Altenew's kits, but I had some points to use and fell in love with the Craft Your Life Project Kit: Chocolate Flowers. It includes a Zero-Waste die cut, layering stencils, a background stamp set with sentiments, and a 3-D embossing folder. I die cut the Zero-Waste flowers and leaves from white cardstock with no firm idea of what I wanted to do with it. 

I started by choosing two navy inks (Pinkfresh Studio Sapphire and Stargazer) and two lime inks (Papertrey Ink Limeade Ice and Green Parakeet) and set about ink blending some of the flowers and leaves. After coloring the ones you see above, I already had an ideas for the card. I added a center die cut ink blended with Honey Bee's Metallic Silver ink and put the flower together. While we were away, I purchased some Artpop Watercolor paper at Dick Blicks specifically for using as card bases. When I was creating some card bases, I miscalculated on one and ended up with a narrow edge that extended beyond the card.

The Pinkfresh Studio Fancy Dotted Frames looked to be a great base for the flowers and the leaves, and I was happy with how they fit on the frame which I added to the card base. I die cut a narrow strip of blue paper for contrast at the bottom of the card.

The sentiment is from Memory Box and is one of their Black Greeting Tabs--this set is all birthday greetings. Because the lettering is gold, I added a PFS gold pearl to the center of the flower.

I took a photo of the leftovers from the Zero-Waste Die Cut so you can see how much restraint I used to get a CAS card! You're certainly going to see more cards soon! (I love these small divided acrylic boxes from The Container Store. They stack and I also have one with just two compartments for larger dies. The work great to sort the die cuts as you cut them as well as when you are ink blending and assembling the pieces.

I hope you'll join us for this new challenge. You'll (as usual) find lots of inspiration from the Design Team as well as our Guest Designer, Esther Asbury. I'll be adding this to the gallery at A Cut Above where die cuts are always the main event.

 

Color Hues #101

Sheri is the hostess for our first Color Hues Challenge of 2025. She chose Red and Kraft, and it was a perfect combination for putting two of my very recent purchases to work.

I couldn't resist ordering the Frosty Buds (and a few other goodies) from The Greetery's November release. Betsy always has a nice sale for this release, and she ships her products very quickly. I also ordered Pinkfresh Studio's Nested Hexagons Blanket Stitch from Simon Says Black Friday sale. 

I die cut the two hexagons and created the card base from Papertrey Ink's Soft Stone paper which is a very pale grey. The Frosty Buds were die cut from pretty red cardstock in my scrap box and the branch from kraft cardstock.

Deciding on the centers of the buds took a bit of trial and error. I first tried crystals from the Crystal Sequin Mix offered in The Greetery's November release. It ended up looking too busy, so I settled for four of the crystals with tiny silver pearls in the centers of the crystals and just the pearls for the smaller buds. 

I silver embossed the sentiment from Pink & Main's Special Day sentiments and trimmed it down. I fluffed up the florals and the leaves a bit for some dimension, and also added dimensional foam between the largest hexagon and the card base. "Time to Celebrate" is one of my favorite sentiments because the card is suitable for a variety of occasions. 

I hope you'll join us in the gallery to start off another year of inspirational color combinations! The Design Team and Guest Designer, Stephanie Severin, have some great inspiration waiting for you on the blog. 

Thanks for visiting. Here's to a Healthy and Happy New Year! 

 

Color Hues 100!!!

Our fabulous leader, Nancy, has chosen the wonderful colors for this amazing 100th Challenge for Color Hues.

Since this is our 100th challenge, Woohooo... there will be a fabulous prize offered to one of our winners. You can read all the details over on the Color Hues blog. 

Originally, I thought I'd create a holiday card for this challenge (and sadly, I'm still in need of a few). But I found a foiled panel on my desk of the beautiful Spellbinders Cosmos Backdrop, and thought it would be lovely stenciled in blue and purple. I'm happy with the result. 

It's hard to see how pretty it is unless your can see the gold foiling as well. You can see the purple card base better in this photo, too.

I used two shades of grays for the leaves. Then I die cut the panel with one of Ellen Hutson's Essential Arches and layered the two pieces on a purple card base. 

The sentiment from a new Pinkfresh Studio Betterpress plate, Here for You was foiled in gold and die cut with the accompanying die which I love. Foiled cards are so hard to photograph well. I hope the second photo gives you a sense of how pretty the card is in your hand.

I hope you'll join us for this monumental challenge. Hop over to the Color Hues blog and see the wide variety of wonderful cards from the Design Team!

 

Color Hues #99

It's mid-November (where does the time go?) and Marcia has a wonderful color combination on the Color Hues Blog for the next two weeks: Pink and Aqua.

These colors were perfect for the Hey, Honeycomb Balloons, by The Greetery. I started out with The Greetery Ticker Tape hot foil plate foiled with Silver Holographic Facets by Spellbinders.

For my hues of Pink and Aqua, I matched the cardstock to the colors of two of the Honeycomb Balls: Party. After die cutting the balloons, I white embossed sentiments from the Hey Honeycomb Sentiments on each balloon. 

I die cut some streamers, the balloon strings, and the sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio from silver metallic cardstock. Before arranging everything, I die cut the main panel and a panel of silver cardstock with Gina K's Master Layout #1, and attached them to a white cardbase. The white stars on the balloons are actually die cut from double-sided adhesive. Once the top layer is pulled off here's the final card.

I knew these products would make a very festive card, and I'm quite sure I'll be using up my supply of honeycomb balls for a variety of cards.

You'll find lots of inspiration on the Color Hues blog, where you'll find great cards created by our special guest, Teresa, and our very creative new Design Team member, Bonnie Klass!