random reflections

Woodblock Wednesday-October

It's the last Wednesday--and nearly the last day--of October, so time for Woodblock Wednesday.

This month I chose one of my favorite autumn stamps of any kind, Annette Watkin's Pumpkin Harvest. It's one of the few woodblocks that I've always used with some kind of regularity. 

This time I brought out the Copic markers. It's been awhile and it took a few tries before I got the hang of it again. Using X-Press Blending cardstock made a huge difference. 

Once I finished coloring, I die cut the stamped panel and a black framing panel with Hero Arts Infinity Rounded Rectangles which I added to a card base of Orange Zest by Papertrey Ink. The white embossed sentiment is from Pink and Mains Special Day set. 

Thanks, always, to Amy Tsuruta, for hosting this fun challenge every month. There are three other challenges with pumpkin themes this month so the card is off to: The Card Concept: Pumpkin Season, Colorful Options: Orange, and Double D: Use a Pumpkin.

Autumn Tags

The Paper Players have a fun challenge-Clean and Simple: Add a Tag! I've always enjoyed making cards with tags so I wanted to play along. Since I need quite a few November birthday cards, I chose an autumn theme for both of my cards. 

I organize my stamps by theme so I have all my autumn stamps and dies in one place. When I flipped through them, I found some beautiful leaves that I had already colored from The Greetery's Curio Autumn Findings so I started there. I also have a pretty large collection of pre-made tags--all of which are years old. I picked out two different ones.

The first card uses a pretty standard dark kraft tag, and I arranged three of the leaves on it, adding a die cut sentiment in gold from The Greetery that I also found in the box. For the background, I chose a piece of Papertrey Ink's Rustic White cardstock and ran it through the die cutting machine with Altenew's Deck Plank 3-D Embossing Folder.  I stamped the sub-sentiment from Pink and Main's Special Day stamps in Dark Chocolate ink on a tag cut from the same cardstock. Adding a double bow from Altenew's metallic threads and a few gold pearls from Pinkfresh Studio finished off the card. 

Although I would classify the first card as Clean & Simple, the second card is a much more Clean & Simple design. I have no idea where I picked up this tag, but I just love it, and it was perfect for a autumn card. I used two dies from Spellbinders' Essential Squares die and embossed them on another piece of Rustic White cardstock. I adhered the leaf with very thin dimensional tape, and stamped the sentiment from Gossamer Blue in Dark Chocolate ink. That stamp dates back to my scrapbooking days when I often purchased a monthly kit from a company. I don't think anything besides this stamp set has survived the multiple purges I've done since I quit scrapbooking. I trimmed that panel down and added it to a card base of Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink.) The autumn light is already causing problems with photographs. I couldn't get a sharp close-up photo for either card this afternoon. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge it a bit so the details are clearer.

These cards are off to The Paper Players as well as Inkspirational where the challenge is Seasonal.

 

 

Happy Halloween

It's been taking longer than I expected to get my mojo back after our fabulous trip to Northern Italy, but I have managed to get all the Halloween cards completed that I need for my grandchildren. Not unexpectedly, there are a couple challenges looking for Halloween cards, two of which end today so I thought I'd best get busy and write the blog post. (Oops! Missed the deadline on one of these.)

The first card was created for my twelve year-old grandson. I thought he'd like the eerie feel to this stamp and stencil set by Taylored Expressions called Halloween Scene.

I used some purple Distress Oxide inks and the My Favorite Things Clouds stencil to create the sky, adding some silver metallic ink splatters before stamping the bats. The stamp set comes in two parts, the jack-0-lanterns on the bottom and the sky with the bats for the top half of the card.  There's a stencil for adding the orange glow to the jack-o-lanterns. The sentiment is a die cut one from Papertrey Ink, Tricky Trio.

The card ended up being 6X6, so I got out some Halloween paper left over from my scrapbook days, my Envelope Punch Board, and created an envelope for it. Hannah's card was created for an earlier Color Hues Challenge, and both of the cards went in a padded envelope to Wisconsin. Last year, I mailed both cards on the same day, but Caleb's card didn't arrive until two weeks after Halloween. Now the cards get mailed together in the same envelope.

I made three of the next card for the three girls here. They like getting the same card, and I know they'll be happy with this interactive one. Skylar's birthday card in September used some the The Greetery's honeycomb balls, and all three girls loved it. 

The web in the background was stamped with Papertrey Ink's Caught in the Web stamp. All the rest of the products are from The Greetery. I used a double layer of dimensional tape to made the spider pop off the card.

The sentiment is from the Hey, Honeycomb Sentiments and stamped on a Tear Strip Banner die. The directions for creating the spider's body were from the Hey Honeycomb Halloween sentiment set. The final touch was to add a few rhinestone stars to the background. 

These cards are off to Just Us Girls who have a fabulous Halloween moodboard this week. 

 

 

Beautiful Washi

Pinkfresh Studio has some of the most beautiful Washi tape. I've ordered a couple of sets and have received the complete suites a couple of times for big events. This summer's Create and Connect event featured a gorgeous Washi tape designed and watercolored by Dawy Woleslagle. I followed along with the video for her second card, and when I was finished I was a bit puzzled because I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Pinkfresh sends a wonderful book with directions and photographs of the cards that will be made in class in addition to Make and Takes by other designers. I had looked at the card in the book and liked it a lot. When Dawn created it in class she added a lot more floral pieces to the frame, and it was too much for me. I took my card apart and put it back together again so it's very similar (but not identical) to the one in the book.

In addition to the Washi tape and coordinating dies, there is also a stamp and stencils. I've yet to try those, but am quite sure you'll see some eventually. It was hard to capture the beautiful foiling in this Washi, but this photos catches a bit of it.

The sentiment here is part of the stamp set, and the dies cut out the sentiments which I love. This sentiment and the floral are on another of the products for the class. When I first saw the Dotted Fancy Frames I wasn't sure if I'd like them. But when layered together as they are here, I'm very fond of them.

The next card is simpler and, not surprisingly, a design I came up with when I ended up with three of the large florals from the Washi Tape on my desk.

I found an already embossed Honey Bee Winter Gems card front in my stash. I know it says winter but when done white on white, I think it works with these pretty flowers as well. This card could not be simpler or quicker. I added the large image with some thin dimensional tape and another sentiment from the stamp set.

I also added a few of the Iridescent Dew Drops that were also part of the event kit. 

I'm getting these posted just under the wire for the Pinkfresh World Card Making Day Challenge. I was in Italy for WCMD, but am happy to have these completed before the challenge ends. 

 

Color Hues 97

Julie P's Color Hues combo is so inspiring this time around. I love the Olive and Mustard combination and was able to put another NBUS stencil to work.

Altenew's Wonderful Wreath has been sitting in the NBUS box for far too long. It's a very easy stencil to use, and I used Papertrey Ink's Ripe Avocado for one layer, and after rotating the stencil a bit added a second layer of leaves with Gina K's Asparagus ink--two of my favorite greens. The mustard berries were hard to see even when I used a heavy had with Concord and 9th's Honeycomb ink so I added some Nuvo Crystal Glaze to each berry for a bit of dimension. 

 

The main panel was die cut with Hero Art's Rounded Rectangles (before adding the Nuvo glaze), and the sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio's Betterpress Plate, Favorite Things Sentiments, foiled in gold.

These are such pretty fall colors, and I hope you'll be inspired to join us in the Color Hues Gallery. There's lots of inspiration there so take a look!

Color Hues #96

Julie B's choice, Purple and Orange, for the first of October Color Hues Challenge sent me right off to find my Halloween die cuts. 

I reached for my favorite purple (Simon Says' Royal Purple) and orange (Papertrey Ink's Orange Zest) cardstock. Most of these images were die cut two or three years ago when I got together with two friends and used some of their Halloween dies. I die cut enough that I've used some of those for the last two Halloweens, and still have some left for more cards this year and next! All of the dies are from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is from the Tricky Trio die cuts, and is no longer available. I layered three sentiment together, two purple and then the orange slightly offset. 

The sparkly moon is from the Boo Black Cat and the three ghosts were stamped and die cut from Ghost and Ghoulies. I love their tiny googlie eyes that I found in my stash. Once I arranged them, I decided the card definitely needed something more, so cut a panel of purple and then used Spellbinder's Stargazer embossing folder--just what it needed.

I'll need a few more Halloween cards, but it's good to have one on hand early. I hope you'll join us in the gallery of the Color Hues Challenge. You'll find plenty of inspiration from the Design Team there. 

Clean and Simple Florals

Knowing full well I'd be away when the latest Pinkfresh Studio Create & Connect event took place, I signed up anyway. The truth is I have a terrible time keeping up with the live videos. And too frequently, the card the designer is sharing is a bit over the top for my taste. By doing it this way, I could watch the videos and make some decision about what and how to create with the (always) fun product that comes with the class. 

In addition, I can watch the videos in any order I want. This time I started with a cling stamp, stencil, and die called Modern Botanicals. I colored two sets of the florals, knowing I want to eventually create the first card Kristina Werner designed for her class. For one set, however, I decided to make three CAS cards, using a variety of precut card fronts and dies I had in my stash.

The black piece was dry embossed with The Greetery Crimped Circle dies. I thought I was going to use it on a previous card, but ended up putting it in my envelope of card fronts instead. I trimmed off the top and bottom and added a thin strip of black cardstock as a border, and added it to a bright pink card base. All the florals are from Modern Botanicals. The sentiment is a Betterpress one from Spellbinders' Always and Forever Sentiment Strips.

The background for the next card was die cut and given to me by a friend several years ago, and I'm just now finding the perfect use for it. It's Scalloped Stackers: Medium from Papertrey Ink.

Teal isn't a color I often choose, but it was perfect for this floral. I added a Stitched Circle from Simon Says and a another Betterpress sentiment from Always and Forever Sentiment Strips. I added some dimensional tape to it before adding it to the circle.

The last card uses some Stitched Scallops from The Greetery. A friend loaned these dies to me, and I die cut a good stack of them in several colors. It didn't take me long to find a use for these.

This sentiment, too, came from the same Betterpress plate by Spellbinders. I added some thin dimensional tape to the smaller Stitched Scallop for a little interest. I gave thought to embellishing all three with some pearls or enamel dots but in the end, decided I liked them as is. (Easier to mail, as well.)

I'm sending these off to The Flower Challenge: Include a Stamped Image.

We're off on our next adventure tomorrow. I have a group of posts written, and depending on my time and internet access, I may get a few posted. For sure the next Color Hues Challenge will go live on October 1. I gave some thought to totally getting off the internet while we were away until Tracy asked me how many emails I thought I'd have on my return. I shuddered at the thought. I'm taking my iPad so I can read my Kindle books on the flights, but because I usually use a laptop, I'm not terribly adept at using the iPad for much other than reading. 

 

 

Just A Note

Yesterday I had time to create a card for three different challenges. The first is Addicted to CAS: Just a Note, and as soon as I saw the challenge I knew what I wanted to do. Then I realized that the card fit both Freshly Made Sketches and the Word Power challenges. I've never played along with the Word Power Challenge, so I was happy to finally have a card where the focus was on the words. This makes my second post for the day, but the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge ends today, so I couldn't wait. 

The card was created with just dies from The Greetery. I had already die cut and assembled some of the pens from the Pen Pal die, and I also had precut several panels from the Postal Frame die. All I needed to do was the stamp and die cut the fabulous sentiment from Scripted Sentiments.

I liked this one so much I found two more assembled pens and created masculine cards with those. 

 

What I really like about these cards are all the sub-sentiments that are included in Scripted Sentiments which means I can use these for birthdays, anniversaries, or encouragement cards--to name a few. I'm quite sure I'll come back to this design in the future. 

 

Blue and Pink for Color Hues 95

Cindy has a great color combo for us on the Color Hues Blog this round: 

I pulled out two new products (NBUS) from Alex Syberia: Garden Tweets and Signature Tags for my card, and I'm really happy with how it came out.

I chose two Papertrey Ink papers for the main blues: Blueberry Sky and Spring Rain. The foliage was die cut with one of my favorite neutrals: Soft Stone. The pinks all came from my scrap box as most of the die cut pieces were very small. After assembling the bird and flowers, I arranged them on one of the two large tags from the Signature Tags set cut from a piece of patterned paper in an older My Favorite Things paper pad, Road Tripper. I like the subtle light blue pattern which adds some interest but doesn't detract from the main images.

After tying a bow with gold thread from Altenew, I added a sentiment that was hot foiled in gold with Spellbinders Better Press Plate, Fancy Sentiment Strips. I used some dimensional tape under the sentiment strip, and adhered the tag to a card base of Spring Rain cardstock. 

There's always a lot of inspiration from our Guest Designer and the Design Team at the Color Hues Blog, so hop over and see what might inspire you to join us in the gallery.

This is off to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.

 

 

With Sympathy

I don't tend to make sympathy cards ahead, so when I need one in a hurry I head to my envelope of card fronts or embossed panels. This time I found two pieces I had previously embossed with embossing folders, so made two cards. Now I have one in the stash.

Altenew's Magnolia Ballerina 3D Embossing Folder is so beautiful, it needs no embellishment. I decide to off set the oval and trimmed off the excess.Then I added a simple die cut sentiment from The Greetery's All Occasion Script Sentiments which I embossed in gold.

Gina K's Tapestry Embossing Folder is also beautiful. I cut down the panel, and added a narrow gold border and then used dimensional tape to add it to a white card base. For this card I used an already gold foiled sentiment from Spellbinders, You Are Everything set. I did add three gold pearls from Pinkfresh Studio.

These will be two more entries into the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge and I'm also adding them to the AAA Card Challenge that's looking for CAS sympathy or get well cards.