colourQ challenge #236

So, this week has been . . . what's the word . . . RIDICULOUS!! We are still trying to sell our house, my little one has been sick, and I'm trying to put the kitchen back together after having new flooring installed last week. The kitchen and dining room are just bare bones to show how spacious (read: cavernous!!) the rooms are. No table, no chairs, no extra cabinets or countertops, no cookbook rack. And today, my teen who is still recovering from knee surgery felt awful so my head is constantly on the verge of exploding. But I took the 10 minutes I had when my hubby got home and put together this quick and easy card for this week's colourQ challenge based on one by Nichole Heady that I saw on Pinterest this morning. And since I have about a million buttons, it didn't take long to find a few in this week's color scheme. Thanks for stopping by and have a great night! Time for me to get ready to watch "Scandal!!!"

Chevrons and flowers and pearls, oh my!!

I make a lot of cards, but rarely do I absolutely LOVE them. I may love the card that inspired them or the technique or the idea or the designer but I rarely love my own execution. So, for me to stand up (figuratively!) and say (type), "I LOVE THIS CARD!" is significant! And I DO love this card and it is so simple that anyone from a beginning papercrafter to a seasoned (that's me!) one can make this general idea their own. I used the larger of the two dies from PTI's chevron stripes border die set and cut three pieces of coordinating designer paper. I stamped my sentiment in black and highlighted it with a few self-adhesive pearls. Then I cut six scalloped circles, crumpled them up, spritzed them with a bit of water, and continued crumpling them until they were quite distressed. I used three circles for each flower and attached them with tiny brads. THE GREAT THING about this technique is that once the cardstock dries, it is stiff and the flowers maintain their shape beautifully. Have a great weekend!!

colourQ challenge #235

In a cruel twist of fate, I had NONE of this week's colourQ challenge colors except white! How is that possible?!?! I subbed Kraft, Rose Red, PTI Hawaiian Shores, and Cameo Coral, and broke out four, awesome embossing folders! I found the inspiration for this card on Pinterest and LOVED it enough to share it with you this week. In the midst of trying to sell our house and nursing my #1 daughter back to health after knee surgery, making cards should be fairly low on my to-do list, but that and Starbucks coffee are the only things keeping my train on the tracks these days. Life's little pleasures! Thanks for stopping by and have a great Thursday!! :D

Make it Monday #158: Stamping with Watercolor Mediums

This week's PTI Make it Monday Challenge is stamping with watercolors, a technique that is newly near and dear to my heart. The card I made may not look water colored, but the ink smudges on the card and on my fingers tell the true story!! I love this stamp set! I used Fired Brick, Festive Berries, and Evergreen Bough Distress Inks (sorry for the Christmas colors!!), and SU! Wild Wasabi and Pure Poppy cardstock. After I inked up the stamps, I ever-so-lightly spritzed them with water and then carefully stamped on watercolor paper. I like the result and I can't wait to send it to a precious friend who will be celebrating her 93rd birthday next week. Thanks for stopping by and happy hump day!! :D

Make It Monday #157: DIY Cover Plates

Apparently, I can only remember one card challenge (colourQ challenge) at any given time, but this week, I remembered Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday challenge, too!! The challenge was to use Papertrey Ink dies to make a faux coverplate. I had a few ideas floating around in my head but, to keep things simple, I used the Heart-2-Heart #6 Mini Stamp Set and the coordinating cloud die to create this little thinking of you card. I bought two adorable tubes of sequins today at Scrappin' in the City so I added a few for a little pizzazz. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

colourQ challenge #234



I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have used Apricot Appeal over the many years that I've been a SU! fan. It is simply not a color I like, so I was a bit concerned when it was one of the colors in this week's a colourQ challenge. But it turns out that it works beautifully with coral and turquoise! I have a new-found respect for Apricot Appeal and I LOVE how my card turned out!! If course, I only had TWO of the colors this week, per usual, but I subbed Cameo Coral and PTI's Hawaiian Shores. I sneaked in a tiny bit of white with the embossed sentiment. Thanks for stopping by and have a WONDERFUL Friday!! TGIF!! Oh, wait . . . I'm a mom!! :D
 

colourQ challenge #233

WOW! I am on a roll!! I have completed two challenges in two days - one was very late and this one is very early! I LOVE the colors in this week's colourQ challenge and I knew immediately what kind of card I wanted to make so it went together super quickly. Don't you just love it when that happens? I found the inspiration for this card on Dawn McVey's blog. If you haven't discovered her blog yet, here it is. You're welcome!! As usual, I only had half the colors so I substituted Bermuda Bay and Kiwi Kiss. The stamp and die sets I used are Bigger Blooms from PTI. This is one of my very favorite floral sets because it is so versatile and has beautiful sentiments! And also economical - the stamps are $15 and the dies are $7. Thanks so much for stopping by - have a great week!!

colourQ challenge #232

I finally finished my card for this week's colourQ challenge!! Here's a quick rundown: PTI New Leaf cardstock, Neat and Tangled stamp, tiny piece of Kraft paper and (sort of ) Kraft ink to distress the book page (newsprint), white and black cardstock. Thanks for stopping by and have a very happy St. Patrick's Day!!

colourQ challenge #231

As usual, I didn't have much crafting time this week and that lost hour plus an early and loooooooong church service meant a Sunday afternoon nap instead of Sunday afternoon card-making! I created this super-simple card for colourQ challenge #231 using Neat and Tangled's Ink Splash stamp set. The card definitely needed something else so I added a few sequins also from N&T for a little pizzazz. My sweet Daddy's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day so this card will be perfect for him, with a little something tucked inside! Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Little Tangles Challenge 31: Monochromatic Color Scheme

I know most of you must be BLOWN AWAY by the fact that I have written FOUR BLOG POSTS in as many days after weeks of not much, but I have REALLY gotten into this watercoloring thing! I have about 20 different shades of turquoise including ink pads, refills, and markers, and they all blend together beautifully making my first efforts at watercoloring successful for the most part and perfect for the Little Tangles Monochromatic Challenge. I don't even know what specific colors I used here, because I add a little of this and a dab of that and a smidgen of just one more color, but I did start the whole thing off with Neat and Tangled's Ink Splash which gave my background a bit of texture that I had been working toward. Of course, after a few stamps, I went back to spritzing and brushing and dabbing on color till I liked the result. I used N&T's Dreams stamp, embossed in white, as well as SU!'s Gorgeous Grunge set and a tiny star that I have kept on a tiny acrylic block so I won't lose it! The stars are a little crazy because I stamped them first with Versamark and couldn't see exactly what I'd done until I put embossing powder over them. We'll call this design "whimsical" for lack of a better term! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Two challenges rolled into one!

Not only have I created entries for TWO challenges this week, but I also created one card that combines BOTH challenges! A crafting miracle of the highest order!! So, this card is for PTI's Make it Monday Watercolor Background challenge and colourQ challenge #230. Don't be surprised if you see A LOT more watercolored projects on my blog. LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!

colourQ challenge #230

I wasn't sure I'd be able to work with the colourQ challenge colors this week, primarily because I didn't HAVE any of them (how is that POSSIBLE?!?!), but I hope I faked it well enough. I did have black and white, but I used Kiwi Kiss, Creamy Caramel, and Pool Party for the other colors. I must admit that I have no idea why I DON'T have Cool Caribbean! Anyway, I used a little star stamp and a wonderful sentiment stamp from Neat and Tangled. The cardstock, miraculously, is Summer Starfruit (I had half a sheet in the entire house!). Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

PTI Make it Monday #153

I'm baaaaaaaack!! I finally got into my craft room this week thanks to the amazing inspiration over at Nichole Heady's blog! This week's challenge is Watercolored Backgrounds With Heat Embossed Sentiments and I have had so much fun playing around with watercoloring. The key is to use watercolor paper and some imagination and VOILA! For this card, I used PTI's Watercolor Wonder stamp set, a spray water bottle, and every turquoise ink I have (PTI Hawaiian Shores, Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers & Broken China, SU! Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, & Baja Breeze). I inked the stamped, spritzed it VERY LIGHTLY with water, and stamped on my watercolor paper. I did this very randomly, and if I had places that had too much water or color, I carefully smoothed them out with a damp paintbrush. The stamp is from Neat and Tangled, and I heat embossed it with SU! Sterling Silver embossing powder. This card reminds me of the ocean or a delicious swimming pool, and I am so ready for summer!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!!

Happy 7th Anniversary, Papertrey Ink!!

If you haven't checked out Nichole Heady's blog, I hope you'll take a few moments to check it out because it is amazing!! I have been a faithful follower of Papertrey Ink for several years and really love their stamps and inks and dies. And their design team is super talented! I look forward every month to their new product release. This card is for their most recent challenge to create a project with STRIPES! PTI has new vertical and horizontal stripes coverplates coming out this month that allow you to make a large gingham pattern with a spray ink or, as I did it, with an ink pad and sponge dauber. I recreated Nichole's idea using my Silhouette Cameo and cutting out a similar template. I also used an image from a print-out that Nichole posted on her blog last week. The cardstock is PTI white and Hibiscus Burst along with SU! Night of Navy. Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to play along with the challenges on Nichole's blog this week. The prizes are FANTASTIC!

colourQ challenge #226

It has been snowing BIG TIME here in East Tennessee and we are freaking out!! Winters in the South typically consist of a few snowy predictions followed by a disappointingly light dusting. We converge on the grocery stores, hoarding milk and bread and chocolate and diet Coke (that's me!), and then wake up the next morning to yucky grey skies and schools in session. Not this time!! If you've seen the national weather, you know that we have been lambasted with several inches of snow that we were not prepared for. Southerners just don't know how to drive when the roads are icy and they were definitely icy. As crazy as it was in Knoxville, Atlanta was absolutely slammed beyond anything they could've prepared for!! So please keep these poor folks in your prayers as they dig out of a nasty and frightening situation. I tell you all this to tell you that it was nothing short of a miracle that I was able to make a card today. The kids were in school for all of 3 hours yesterday and it looks like that might be it for this week, but while Bailey & her friend were sledding and Morgan was watching another episode of PAW Patrol today, I flew into my craft room and whipped this up! I had seen the inspiration for this card on Pinterest yesterday and knew (once again) that it would be perfect for a colourQ challenge. The ombre color scheme looks really nice with the fringe - if you don't own Martha Stewart's fringing scissors, buy them!! They are amazing!! Just don't use them on your bangs - lol!! Thanks for stopping by! Stay warm and safe if there's snow where you are.

colourQ challenge #224

Whenever I look at Pinterest, I always find cards that would be PERFECT for a colourQ challenge, and this one was at the top of my list! I LOVE these colors - you just cannot beat turquoise and red together! I could not find any Island Indigo in my stash so I used a bit of Bermuda Bay. I really like the clean look of this card and I hope the recipients will, too. Thanks for stopping by and have a great night!

colourQ challenge #222

My paper crafting time and skills seem to have taken a hit over the holidays, but I cooked and baked like a BOSS so my hands weren't too idle over the past few weeks! Hope y'all had a very merry Christmas! My family had a wonderful holiday! Personal note: I've tried my entire adult life to have a peaceful, Christ-filled Christmas, and it has never happened, despite making changes here and there to our schedules and traditions over the years. But this year - THIS YEAR - was lovely! We did several service projects, saw Santa, had lots of fun, set reasonable expectations, and enjoyed being together. It truly was MIRACULOUS!! And I realized only yesterday how successful we'd been when a friend sent over a belated Christmas gift and I didn't even realize she hadn't given us a gift. I DIDN'T KEEP SCORE THIS CHRISTMAS!! This is huge for me! So, enough about me - this is the card that took about 5 tries and several different approaches to finally complete! I saw the inspiration on Pinterest,  but I didn't have the stamps used for the sentiment. I tried using letter stamps and stickers and I didn't like the result. I wish I could do calligraphy or that I had had small, script letter stickers for this card. The FAN{TACHE}TIC is cut using my BRAND NEW Silhouette Cameo which is probably my fourth favorite Christmas gift of all time, right behind my engagement ring, my iPhone, and my cobalt blue Kitchenaid mixer! Thanks for stopping by today! Go check out this week's colourQ challenge and get some inspiration for the new year!

December Design Team Projects

I absolutely LOVE this line of Christmas paper from Jillibean! I have been using the same pad of Peppermint Twist paper from K. & Company for YEARS (and I still love it!) but it was great to find something new and fresh and fun!! I have seen so many projects using Papertrey Ink's Christmas tree die and I am amazed by how quickly these projects came together just by having a theme to work with! I learned to make this little bag topper a hundred years ago, maybe even before I became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, and it is one of the easiest and prettiest way to dress up a plain white or Kraft bag. And you don't have to use tissue paper, which I am ALWAYS searching for even though I have a ton stashed around the house. I may have another project or two to post this week, but please don't hold your breath - I've been baking like crazy and I still have a little more to do!! Hope y'all have a very merry Christmas!!