Freshly Made Sketches #709 and NBUS #79

Amidst all the Fall and Christmas cards, I decided to use a new die set to make a Springlike card for Freshly Made Sketches.

I got Perched Birds from the Spellbinder's warehouse sale.  You know I can't resist birds and I can see using them in different ways.  There is a larger one in the set but this one worked better with the design.  The pieces were all cut from scraps and the sentiment is a BetterPress done in Expresso ink.  Now that I'm looking at it, I wish I'd done something in the background but sometimes CAS is the way to go. 

I'm also sending this to Darnell's NBUS challenge.

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Freshly Made Sketches #672

The gals at Freshly Made Sketches had some creative ways to use Jacquie's sketch.  It took me a while but some little birds that had been sitting by my computer since Christmas spoke to me.

They are from Penny Black's Winter Wonderland and I had to flip the sketch to fit them on.  I don't remember how long it has been since I colored them with Altenew artist markers and fussy cut them but I think they are the cutest.  My mind took me to an old Winnie and Walter set for the branch.  It wasn't long enough so I added more with my micro pen.  A little inking with what was left on my blue DOX brush and a sentiment from MFT was all I needed to finish.

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Just Us Girls #690 - CASE the Designer

Here's your chance to be inspired by one of the Just Us Girls Design Team members.  It's our CASE the Designer Week hosted by Carol Mc. 

I think you could have a lot of fun with mine.

The stamp is Honey Bee's Birds and Bees colored with Zigs and artist markers.  The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti (oob).

Not your style?  The Design Team has a variety of cards for you to choose from to CASE.  

I'd like to thank Kristin Sluhan for her wonderful creativity as our guest designer this month. We hope to see you back in the gallery, Kristin.  

And we hope to see you too.  

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Triple B Challenge #1

Diane and Darlene, the creative geniuses behind several other card challenges have come up with another one.  Triple B which stands for Birds, Blooms and Butterflies.  That is right up my alley so I'll be sending cards to them often.  The one I have to share today I made for another of their challenges but missed the deadline.

 

I wanted to see if I could turn HoneyBee's Winter Birds cardinal die into a female.  I think she looks pretty good in Desert Storm cs with selective inking.  I gave her a snowy branch from HB's Winter Foliage to perch on with a little gloss for the berries.  An inked oval with splatters and a coverplate from Altenew make up the background.   

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Freshly Made Sketches #558

Jacquie had the perfect sketch for me to use my darling birds for the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

The birds from Penny Black are colored with Altenew Artist Markers, with a little WOS on the fur of their Santa hats.  The masked sentiment is from the same set and the leafy branch, also from PB, was colored with DI. 

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CAS Mix-Up, CAS Watercolor, HLS Watercolor and Little Red Wagon #433

I have a second card for the CAS Mix-Up Challenge. 

I think this fun little owl looks great in cork. I colored the white of his eyes with a gel pen and his beak and talons with Distress Marker.  He's sitting on a branch die cut from real wood paper (my choice).  The sentiment was masked from a stamp that originally said "Howl are you?"

This next card is for CAS Watercolor Challenge,  HLS Watercolor Challenge and Little Red Wagon..

The heart of roses from SSS was heat embossed in silver and watercolored with Distress Ink. The silver embossed sentiment is from PB.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your week gets off to a great start.

Merry Monday #242

I'm back from vacation and having a hard time getting back into card making.  I stamped a lot of images and took my Zigs with me thinking I would have time to do some coloring but instead of spending time at the river, we spent it with my brother and sister-in-law and kept busy the entire time.  We had a lot of fun and I ended up with 5 antique quilts in the bargain.  Internet was sketchy so I only had time to comment for my Design Teams.  I'm trying to catch up on the over 500 emails but I won't be commenting on them all.  Rest assured I am looking at your wonderful creations and oohing and aahing, just not taking the time to write anything.

I did have time today to make a card for Merry Monday - use branches or twigs.  What better stamp to use that this one from PB.

I used a 3 x 7 format, cutting the watercolor paper slightly smaller and roughing up its edge.  Distress Markers were colored onto the stamp and then spritzed and repeated until I was satisfied with how it looked.  The white berries and the snow on the pine cone are acrylic paint as are some of the splatters added to the ones using Distress Ink.  The PB sentiment is embossed in Liquid Platinum and there is a little of it on the cone.  I was having trouble with the paint turning brown so I tried to emboss over it. Not the best idea but it's okay.

Maybe I'll get a chance to make a few more cards or color some of the stamping while I catch up on my TV shows on demand.  We didn't watch TV (except for March Madness) so my favorites are waiting for me.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you are all doing well.

Merry Monday #239

There's a color challenge at Merry Monday and it took a little thinking.  They want you to use, copper, gold and turquoise.  I played around with a couple of ideas until I remembered an old TH die and it was the perfect thing IMHO.

The leaves and berries are cut from teal and copper shimmer paper respectively, and the branch from gold.  I tried to 'antique' them but the paper wasn't having any of it so I put on some Distress Crackle.  When it was dry I inked over it with sort of matching Distress Inks.  Here's a close-up.

The sentiment from HLS was embossed in copper.

Thanks for dropping by.

Inspired by All the Little Things #40

Inspired by All the Little Things has lovely photo inspirations and this week was no exception.

I love what I call bittersweet in the background and tried to recreate it along with a dahlia for my card.

I embossed the PB flower in Platinum on Bristol, added a little Rusty Hinge to shade it, fussy cut it and popped it up in the middle to give it some dimension.  The branch and bittersweet (tiny flowers) are from Altenew.  I am in the need for more sympathy cards so I used a sentiment from My Craft Spot (closed) also embossed in platinum.

It's lightly snowing here today and I hope it stays light as I have a luncheon with classmates today and a funeral out of town tomorrow.  

Thanks for dropping by.  I always love it when you visit.

Just Us Girls #344

It's Saturday and time for another episode of Just Us Girls.  This one is titled Color Week and Sue has picked these for us to play with.

My mind saw lovely purple flowers.

The branch and leaves are from Altenew stamped directly onto Vintage Cream cs.  The flowers are die cut from the same set, stamped and a couple of them popped up.  The sentiment is from PB and stamped in the same 'neutral' as the branch (Cup O' Joe).

Now it's your turn.  What does your mind see when you consider plum, olive and ivory?  Need more inspiration?  The Design Team at Just Us Girls has plenty for you so go take a look and make a card of your own.  We'd love to see you in the gallery.

CAS(E) This Sketch #155

The sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch was a doozy this week.  What would you do with this?

I'm trying to think more "out-of-the-box" and so no paper cutting for me.  I found an image that would work just fine, thank you.

The branch, and the flowers, are from Altenew's Vintage Flowers.  I'm still having a difficult time coming up with inks I like for layered flowers so on this one I used a pale pink Zig for the flowers and over stamped them in white to soften the color.  I also used a Zig for the leaves.  Maybe I should have over stamped them too.

While a lot of Michigan got dumped on yesterday, we here in the middle of the state got a reprieve from any more snow.  There has been a lot of crazy weather around the country.  I hope all you loyal readers are safe and secure wherever you live.