Team Makres

So, I know that no one will see this except my friend, Mary Ann (hey!!), but I really like how it turned out so I wanted to share it. Every summer, my #1 daughter goes to the beach with a friend and her family, and I send snacks for the road. This year's request is muddy buddies - they practically inhale them! But I can't just send little loose bags of snacks - they have to have a cute little container to keep them in, and this year's container has a soccer theme since the family is very much into soccer. Isn't it the cutest?!?! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

colourQ challenge #347

This week's colourQ challenge colors were indeed challenging, but I found some inspiration on Instagram and was able to knock out this card without too much trouble. I used Simon Says Stamp's newer set, Sketch Ranunculus, along with PTI's Mini Blooms (seriously, one of the most versatile stamp sets ever!). The white frame I die cut needed some grounding against the white card base, so I added two little enamel dots that I had on my craft table. Crafters love to improvise, don't we? I'm sorry for the shadow on my picture. I am having a bit of trouble successfully lighting my cards. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

colourQ challenge #346

This week's colourQ challenge colors are perfect for a Fathers' Day card. I found the inspiration for this card on Pinterest using Washi tape, but I didn't have the correct colors, so I embossed and cut cardstock to resemble Washi tape. I used SU!'s Gorgeous Grunge for a little splatter action and my Silhouette to cut "Dad," which I popped up with dimensionals. Quick and easy Fathers' Day card! Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

PTI Create Along with Us June 2016

There are so many beautiful projects to pick from for this month's PTI Create Along with Us challenge, but I think Betsy Veldman's card is my favorite. I used my favorite Brushed Blooms with PTI Pure Poppy and SU! Flirty Flamingo. I cut the sentiment using my Silhouette and the Channel font. The sentiment is from Neat & Tangled's Scandinavian Prints. Thanks for stopping by and have a great evening!

colourQ challenge #345

This week's colourQ challenge colors stumped me again! I must be losing my creative mojo. Anyway, I saw the inspiration for this card on Pinterest and thought these colors would be perfect for a Fathers' Day card. As I look at the picture now, the Taken with Teal looks more like Pacific Point, but I promise it's not. I'm having phone/picture/computer problems. I actually had all the colors this week and didn't use any stamping. I had hoped to find some teal sticker letters in my stash but it was not to be so I used my Silhouette to cut out #1 DAD. Luckily, it only took me 32 tries. :( Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!!

colourQ challenge #344

This week's colourQ challenge colors did not work for me at all - this is my third try! I needed a sympathy card for a dear sweet friend who lost her sister last week and I think the way I put together these colors works well. I put down a light wash of Coastal Cabana on a piece of watercolor paper and, when it finally dried, I used the remaining colors to stamp the flowers and stems, all from vintage stamp sets, SU! Heartfelt Thanks and PTI Life. Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed Sunday afternoon.

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.

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!!

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!!

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!

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!

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!

colourQ challenge #339

If you're an insane crafter like I am, you will probably spend twice as much money to get something free! That's exactly what I did recently when I bought Stampin' Up!'s April Paper Pumpkin in order to get a free stamp set - an UNKNOWN stamp set!! But, for less than $20, I was willing to take the chance and, while I didn't particularly love April's project (it has since grown on me a bit), I do love the "free" stamp set I received called All About Everything. And, as luck would have it, Tracey McNeely posted her project for this week's colourQ challenge earlier today so I was able to make a card while my little one was at preschool. I didn't have Marina Mist and Pear Pizzazz, so I subbed Tim Holtz Broken China and Bundled Sage. I think this is going to be my sweet mama's Mothers Day card. Don't forget that Mothers Day is less that two weeks away! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

colouQ challenge #338 and Make it Monday #246

So, I made this card as soon as I saw this week's colourQ challenge colors, but it has taken me the ENTIRE week to upload it! I tried to complete two challenges with one card but I wasn't quite as successful as I was last week. And, sadly, the only PTI product I used for the Make it Monday challenge was the Berry Sorbet Swiss dot ribbon. I love this stamp from Neat and Tangled and I used my water brush to write over the word "favorite" to give it a faux brush-lettered look. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great week!

colourQ challenge #337 and PTI Create Along with Us

This week, I'm knocking out two challenges with one card! I'm so proud of me!! I used the colors in this week's colourQ challenge palette and I used Melissa Phillips's card as my inspiration for PTI's Create Along with Us challenge. The only color of ink I had was Cool Caribbean so I subbed stamped-off PTI Hibiscus Burst, SU! Basic Gray, and Tim Holtz Wild Honey. I also used Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink and Zing! white opaque finish embossing powder. The stamps I used are an old favorite from PTI called Life and a newer PTI offering called Graceful Greetings. I used a bit of washi tape along the bottom of the panel and a piece of Going Gray cardstock for the base. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great week!! 

colourQ challenge #336 (part 2)

I saw this inspiration for this card on Neat and Tangled's Instagram page yesterday, and I thought it would be perfect for this week's colourQ challenge. This is their new stamp set called Scandinavian Prints that I snatched up when it was released (it's sold out for now). I used the other sentiment from PTI's Think Big Favorites #14 - it fills in large white spaces very nicely. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!