Take Care & Sparkle {SSS Wednesday Challenge, CAS(E) this Sketch & Color Throwdown

Today I made a card for three different challenges; Simon Says Stamp {Sparkle}, CAS(E) this Sketch and the Color Throwdown. One of my cards was watercoloured and the other card, I used my Copic markers. I also inked up the Bamboo Rose stamp set again, from Altenew. 

       

I loved the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch and used my new Tim Holtz stencil to add some neutral gray to my top card. The sparkle is the shiny sequins on my card. They sparkle in the light!

The Flower Challenge and Meet "Maeley"

Hi Crafty Friends! I am back! It feels so good to get crafty once again after being off with pregnancy complications. Now that our sweet baby girl is here and my body is back to being my own again, I finally can craft. Of course, I am crafting between feedings and our new sleep schedule. LOL! It is an adjustment but worth it! Little Maeley is a doll and she is such a sweet baby. Corey and I are in love with her.

I found a new to me challenge called "The Flower Challenge". 

HELLO!!! 

This is one challenge I plan on playing with as much as I can because I LOVE floral stamps. This month's challenge is to CASE one of their designers...so I did! EEP! I cased the talented TaeEun and her stunning card!

 

I was inspired to watercolour and to create a simple, clean-lined card. Be sure to visit the challenge blog to see all the gorgeous inspiration there!

I used an Altenew set called "Bamboo Rose" that I absolutely love! I stamped the flowers in Archival ink and I did some masking to create a large focal point on one part of the card; inspired by TaeEun. Then I loosely watercoloured the flowers with my distress inks. Thank you for stopping by and for your support! I am off to craft some more. I hope you are crafting today too!

Crafting

I had the urge to get crafty last weekend! Considering I have not crafted in months, it felt so good getting out some paper and some ink to play along with some challenges. I tried linking up my cards to challenges from my Instagram account...well that didn't work. So even though the challenges are over, here are the cards...

This is a card I made for my best friend; she lost her mom on Friday. We have all been reeling from her mother's passing. Mrs. A was like my other mum...and she meant the world to me. She could light up a room with her sparkly eyes and infectious laugh. She was full of wisdom and kindness. She had been a champion of mine my entire life. She was lovely. I knew I needed to make an extra special card for my best friend to let her know I am thinking of her. I used a Verve stamp set called "Surely Goodness" for the bloom which I coloured with my Copics. Then I used the Verve set "Floral Notes" for the sentiment.

Then I did some loose watercolouring with a Mama Elephant stamp set and my distress inks...I made it into this card below.

I kept the design simple and tried to take a good photo but alas...it is pretty dark! My photos are all taken with my phone these days as we have moved into our new space and my light tent and camera are packed away! 

Guest Designing for The Cat's Pajamas!!!

I am back with another card for the stamp & die release over at  The Cat's Pajamas. I am guesting with them for this release and I am SO excited to show you this gorgeous new Sketchy Flowers stamp set! I couldn't wait to watercolour the images!

I stamped the large flower in versamark/clear embossing powder and heat set it. Then I used my distress inks to colour the flowers. I let the ink flow from my water pen...and I am SO happy with the results. 

I used another sentiment from the cute Friendship set! I love the versatility of that set!

Here are some details you need to know:

1. All the new stamps and dies will be released on Tuesday,  April 26th.

2. Are you IN IT TO WIN IT? For a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to The Cat's Pajamas store, leave a comment on each of the sneak peek posts, including The Cat's Pajamas blog. A winner will be randomly drawn and will be announced on the TCP Facebook Page the following day.

3. Save the date for the Pajama Party on Monday, April 25 from 8-10pm EST.

Reverse Confetti {SFYTT-April 2016} With Heartfelt Sympathy

Hooray! I had the chance to get inky today and I was pretty excited to play along with the Reverse Confetti Sketch for You to Try!! I LOVE the versatility of this month's sketch and I finally got the chance to use my new dies from Reverse Confetti! Yay! I went with a clean and simple sympathy card...my inspiration came from the floral photo over at Inspired by All the Little Things.

I used the Edgers-Confetti Cuts to make the swooped edge...so easy and really cool! As soon as I saw those edgers in the last release, I knew I had to have them because I always struggled with those kind of edges on cards...do you know what I mean? I just do and it was pretty great to use my Big Shot to create the edge I wanted!

I also watercoloured the Rose from the Rose Garden Stamp set and die cut it with the matching dies. I couldn't find my stitched circle die for the life of me, so I went with an oval...and that allowed for the sentiment to fit better anyway! So I just went with the flow! 

Inspired by All the Little Things {The Thief of Joy-A Personal Note}

Sunday already? Where does the time go? Lately I have been noticing that it is going much faster than normal! Summer is just around the corner and I really have a lot of big ideas and plans to accomplish before the end of the school year! Does anyone else ever feel like there is not enough time in the day!

Friday I came home from work to find such a wonderful "happy mail" email in my mailbox. Her kind and thoughtful words really boosted me. 

Every once in a while, being a crafter can be intimidating. We try to not compare ourselves to other stampers or crafters but we do. We wish we could colour better or that we took better photographs. Do you know what I mean? It is hard to be happy with who we are...right now. We always want to be better. 

This year I have been focusing on being the best me I can be and I am striving to compare myself to ME. No one else.  (Easier said than done...right?)

In the meantime, I am sharing another card that I made for the Inspired by All the Little Things challenge once again. This time I wanted to create something for the challenge that was not a floral. I was inspired by the colours and the watercoloured images in the graphic.

I stamped the images in distress ink and then used my waterpen to "smudge" the images. Then I added some blue watercolouring around the images, to tie them all together. I used a sentiment from Verve, and two retired Stampin' Up stamp sets. 

As a final pop...I punched out one butterfly on vellum and one on white paper...then I added them with a glue dot over the butterfly on the card. My card panel is slightly skewed...just for some added interest.

I hope you have the chance to craft day and remember to find joy in your creativity!

Paper Smooches November Guest Designer {Thanks Friend}

Today I am super excited to be Guest Designer for Paper Smooches! Wow! The November stamp and die release is amazing! Thank you, Kim for choosing me as a Guest this month. 

I used the new Natural Beauties stamp set and the matching 

Natural Beauties Icons Dies. I also used the Bookplates Dies.

I stamped the floral images onto 140lb watercolour paper with black Ranger ink (it's waterproof). Then I "watercoloured" the images with some Distress Inks. The sentiment was gold embossed and then I added the bookplate die to make it stand out more. Then I painted and die cut the small birdie.

Paper Smooches & CAS(E) this Sketch {You Are Unique}

There's a fun challenge at Paper Smooches and it inspired me to watercolour! I took the leaf stamp from the Zoo Crew set (NBUS) and I inked it in the pattern of the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch. Then I coloured each leaf in a unique colour. The background was washed with water and then I dropped some china blue distress ink around it, to make a "watery" look. The sentiment comes from Swanky Snowdudes.

I let the ink go all over the card...haphazardly because being "unique" is about colouring outside of the lines! I hope you can see how I was inspired!

 

The Challenge #43 {Inspiration Challenge}

Hello and welcome to The Challenge! 

We are so excited about this week's challenge because we get to introduce you to a new team mate!!! I am thrilled to welcome, Diane Jaquay to our team! Welcome, Diane. I asked Diane to share a bit about herself...here's what she had to say!

Diane Jaquay

Hello!  My name is Diane Jaquay and I'm super excited to be a part of The Challenge design team!  I love paper crafts, particularly creating cards, I think I'm "addicted" to it!  Anytime I can sit down and find time to create I'm a happy camper.  I live in beautiful Lancaster County, PA with my programmer/analyst husband and 14 year old daughter.  My son recently left us to attend Bloomsburg University, and I'm definitely missing him like crazy.  I home school my daughter and currently don't have a job outside of the home, and I think I like it that way.  My home is my haven and I love being here.  In addition to crafting, I love nature, reading, spending time with my family, and watching good TV shows and movies.  I also love to watch some of the reality TV shows that are on, my favorite being Big Brother (ha ha, yes, I'm not too proud to admit that, it's my guilty pleasure).  I'm thankful that Lesley asked me to be a part of her team, and I hope that my creations inspire you.

Thank you Diane!!! This week we have an inspiration challenge and I was so excited to make my card! I really wanted to do some watercolouring and some fussy cutting. I will admit, this card did not turn out as I had hoped...it is a little "weird" to me but I think you can see I was inspired by the colours and the textures of the photo. I usually like to have a white or "clean" card base but I was trying to recreate the wall in the background of the photo. I also used the awesome sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch! Love it! I thought it worked perfectly for the design I had in my mind! I hope you do too! I used a retired My Favourite Things stamp set.

The design team have created some inspiration to get you in the crafting mood! Come and join us! Our weekly winner will be our next Guest Designer! So come and join the fun!

Alanna 

(Featured Designer)

Kim Heggins	Anita Madden	Kimberly Wiener
Lee Ann Barrett	Claire Broadwater	Nance Salkeld
Lori Tecler	Diane Jaquay	Michele Ferguson

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