Monday, May 30, 2016

Make it Monday #251: Gradient Watercolor Die Cuts


Y'all know how I am about Papertrey Ink's MIM challenges - they are usually too challenging for me! But I love today's Gradient Watercolor Die Cuts challenge and I'm so excited with how my card turned out. The best part is that the sentiment is STRAIGHT! STRAIGHT!! I used my mini MISTI to produce that magic! (Speaking of magic, did y'all watch the Harry Potter marathon this weekend? Deathly Hallows 1 & 2 are on today and make perfect watching while crafting!) I applied Tim Holtz's Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Carved Pumpkin, Abandoned Coral, and Barn Door directly to a piece of watercolor paper. I used my Aquapainter to blend the colors and then used the Mighty Oak cover plate to die cut the paper. I thought I might use solid brown for the tree trunk, but I decided I liked the colorful piece better. I stamped a sentiment from the coordinating stamp set PERFECTLY STRAIGHT in Barn Door using my mini MISTI. I love the negative piece that was left so I'll be using that for another colorful creation. Thanks for stopping by! Happy Memorial Day - please remember those who have given their lives serving our country. Freedom isn't free.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

colourQ challenge #343 and Make it Monday #250



Killing two birds, or challenges, with one stone, doesn't usually work for me, but today, I made it happen!! The colourQ challenge colors gave me a bit of trouble at first but I like how this turned out. I was going to add some smaller gold flowers but chose to keep my card a little simpler. I love gold embossing! I used a homemade template to mask the background, which leads me to my second challenge for PTI's Make it Monday. I used Wplus9's Freehand Florals and Neat & Tangled Scandinavian Prints for the sentiment. I finally got a mini MISTI!! I usually don't buy into the hype of new products, but the MISTI truly delivers. I have a terrible time getting evenly stamped images and the MISTI improves my stamping tremendously. I used PTI's Stampers Select White cardstock and SU! Cameo Coral cardstock. I also used PTI's True Black ink, SU! Cameo Coral ink, and Delicata's Golden Glitz ink. Thanks for stopping by and have a great Memorial Day weekend!!

Saturday, May 21, 2016

colourQ challenge #342


This week's colourQ challenge colors are gorgeous and Coastal Cabana and Melon Mambo are two of my very favorite colors! I found a card on Pinterest that was the inspiration for this card. I embossed a flower from SU!'s Heartfelt Thanks (Remember that one? It's a classic!) and then I sponged on MM, TT, and CC. Y'all are much savvier that I am so you probably already know that you can remove the rubber and foam from your old stamp blocks and use the stamp on an acrylic block. Mind. Blown! Now I can successfully use all those wood-mounted SU! stamp sets I've been holding on to for a decade. I added a few Night of Navy flowers from PTI's Life and adhered the focal point panel to pieces of white, Night of Navy, and Coastal Cabana cardstock. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Sketch Ranunculus. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

Sunday, May 15, 2016

colourQ challenge #341 (part 2)

So, in a fit of mad creativity (not really!), I created ANOTHER card using this week's colourQ challenge colors! I really love PTI's stamp set, Life, because it has so many filler flowers that can be used on their own as I did here or together to create beautiful bouquets. I randomly stamped one of the stems on white cardstock using all the colors. The sentiment is from another new acquisition, Sketch Ranunculus from Simon Says Stamp. I stamped the sentiment on and adhered the focal point to pieces of cardstock with little, darker flecks to give the card some depth. This card is for my older daughter who will finish her first year of high school next week. She is amazing! Thanks for stopping by (again, I hope!)!!

colourQ challenge #341


I got a few new toys this week and I was determined to use them on this card whether they worked with the colourQ challenge color combo or not!! I bought ANOTHER floral stamp set because I'm weak and I caved!! Wplus9's newer set, Freehand Florals, was designed by Dawn Woleslagle, who based the set on her own floral Copic illustrations. I have tried to watercolor flowers freehand and it is very far outside my wheelhouse. This is the first card I made with the set and, while I don't love how I put together the colors, I like the finished product. I also finally caved and bought a mini MISTI which has lived up to the hype even though I've only used it on this one card. I can't tell you how many projects I have ruined because I didn't get a perfectly stamped impression and when I tried to stamp again, the image was blurry. So infuriating! The MISTI easily solves that problem. The card needed a little pizzazz so I added a few sequins and my favorite jute twine from the hardware store. Thanks for stopping by an enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

colourQ challenge #340

Boy, do I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this week's colourQ challenge colors! They are fresh, beautiful, and feel like spring! So, in honor of spring (even though it was, like, 54 degrees here today!), I broke out some of my favorite florals - Brushed Blooms and Painted Petals. I used Rose Red as the base color for the flowers and Poppy Parade for the accent color. I really like how well the sentiment is nestled in the flowers and Coastal Cabana and Poppy Parade are simply gorgeous together! Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Make it Monday #247: Watercolored Card Sets

This week's PTI Make it Monday challenge is watercolored card sets and this card, inspired by the PTI website, is a perfect one to lightly watercolor and mass produce for a lovely and thoughtful gift. I used my favorite set, Flower Favorites, and PTI colors, Royal Velvet, Winter Wisteria, and Simply Chartreuse. I am completely obsessed with the little bee and ladybug stamps included in this set so be prepared to see a lot of these little creatures on my cards! Thanks for stopping by and do something nice for someone today!