Art Journal Inspiration and Valentine’s Day Cards!

Good evening friends!  Tomorrow is about “LOVE” for Valentine’s Day!  I hope that whatever you’re doing that you spend it with those that you love or at least tell someone how much they mean to you!  I have a special post this evening that is dedicated or inspired by love. ❤️

First up is my art journal page with the prompt/theme of “LIGHT/KEEPING IT LIGHT” that I’m guest hosting this month for the Art Journal Journey Challenge.   It’s been so fun to see all of the wonderful art created so far!

This page was inspired by not just the “light” prompt for the challenge, but it was also inspired by the love of my life.  We have spent many moons together and have enjoyed our time in the moonlight as we both love nature and have spent some time traveling and seeing some beautiful things.  I’m so thankful to have had these special memories with him.

For the background:  I started with a 5.5″x8.5″ watercolor with pre-punched holes at the top with my Zutter machine.  I used my watercolor to create the blue sky background with an idea of where I was going to place the moon.  I left that area to watercolor in the yellow rather than the blue.  I then used some white opaque copic watered down and splattered over top for stars.  The “moon” was die cut in white with a heart shaped die and I added a moon stencil over top to make it look like a heart shaped moon and glued it in the center of the watercolor background.

The bottom portion was made with just ripping some cardstock and ink blending one with the greens and one with greys and black.  I die cut the trees in black and glued them in place and then added the ripped layers over top.

I stamped the Lavinia Stamps “Star Gazers” stamp in black in and fussy cut it out.  I colored the rocks they were sitting on as well as their wings and popped them up on the grey ripped border.  I also hand drew more rocks around them and used a white gel pen to highlight.  I added some glitter to the wings.  Lastly, I wrote over black cardstock with a white gel pen, cut them out and attached to the ripped green border.  I then used a black pen to doodle around the words.


Next up are a few Valentine cards that I’ve made.  I’m actually really bummed because I would’ve shared another two cards that I made, but I forgot to take photos of them before I sent them out!  I used a pizza theme and they were so fun! 

This first one is for my husband and I’ve used the Craft Roulette #201 parameters to create it:

We had to make an easel card, so I decided to make a heart shaped one.  I’ve used the cute skunk from Lawn Fawn with all of the “sweets”. (which was also one of the parameters)  My husband loves his sweets!  I also had to use “quiet” colors and some sort of bokeh, so I’ve made a bokeh background and used a solid heart stamp in white over the blended colors.  It reminds me of those conversation hearts.  This skunk makes me smile!

This is another fun card that I’ve made for a friend!  I couldn’t wait to use this fun mosaic heart from Taylored Expressions.  It came as a freebie for a limited time with a Valentine release.  I like that it comes with the solid heart backer which makes putting it together easier.   I ink blended a panel in two shades of pink and then die cut the heart with the pieces.  I used the frame cut in white and then popped in the ink blended pieces inside the frame.  

The embossed heart background was made after cutting out a piece of Bubblegum cardstock with the postage rectangle die.  I stamped and die cut the sentiment over top of the heart and added some gold rhinestones. 

And this card was done for the Inky Stamper FB challenge which was to create a square card.  I have made this one 4.25″ square and used the cute Snail stamp set along with some Doodlebug papers which you can also find in their store.

I just stamped, colored and cut out the images, added a border at the bottom and cut out a scallop square in white and stenciled some clouds at the top.  More pink papers onto a white square card base and called it done!  There’s nothing better than getting snail mail!

  • I hope you’ve enjoyed my heart-filled post today and you’ve been inspired in some way!  Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you again on Thursday for a new challenge to try!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Challenges:

  1.  Art Journal Journey – LIGHT/KEEPING IT LIGHT (art journal page only)
  2. Crafty Animals – #80 Anything Goes + animal (skunk card)
  3. Critter Crazy – #83 Anything Goes + critter (snail card)
  4. Pearly Sparkles – #92 Love/Have a Heart (skunk card)
  5. Creative Knockouts – #514 Love/Valentine’s Day (skunk card)
  6. A Place to Start – Monochrome (mosaic heart card – pink)
  7. Aud Sentiments – #310 Dies/Love/Wed/Anniversary + sentiment (skunk card)
  8. Creative Inspirations – For Someone You Love/Special Friend (mosaic heart card)
  9. The Male Room – Valentine/Use a Heart (skunk card)
  10. Crafty Catz – Anything Goes optional: Valentine/Love (snail card)

New Beginnings at Sparkles Monthly Challenge!

Hello friends!  With January comes a new year and every year people are thinking about everything “NEW” like resolutions, out with old, in with new sort of things.  It seems with cold and snow winter outside; I’ve been doing a majority of my time organizing and figuring out what to toss or keep!  I’m thinking I need a new “for sale page” here on my blog!  I will need to figure that out and update later!

Today brings a new challenge for the start of the year at the Sparkles Monthly Challenge Blog!  For the start of the year and this month’s challenge, we have the theme: NEW BEGINNINGS!  I received a Lawn Fawn gift last year and this is my first time using it for my card today:

Of course, a baby is a wonderful “new beginning”, and I was inspired to use this darling Lawn Fawn stamp set called Elephant Parade plus the Add-On.  I stamped, colored and die cut all of the images to arrange a scene over the arch opening of my card front made with the Lawn Fawn Secret Garden Window die set.

I wanted to keep the colors gender neutral, so I went with mint and yellow type colors.  I blended around the inside edge and white heat embossed the sentiment at the bottom.  I found a very old scrap of decorative paper and ran a stitched cloud background plate die over it.  (I think it’s been retired) This was the background for my window opening.  I added foam tape to the back of the mint card front and attached it to the decorative paper.  Some of the images were glued directly onto the background and some were popped up with foam tape. I’ve added this panel onto a top folding A2 white card base.

I finished out the design with some clear sparkling sequins filled with Stardust Stickles and a few white and black dots with gel pens.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and have been inspired to come join us this month to enter your creation!  I look forward to seeing what you make!  Thanks so much for stopping by as I appreciate you taking the time!  Have a great day!

CHALLENGES:

  1. Simon Says Stamp – Cute Critters
  2. Critter Crazy – Anything Goes featuring a Critter
  3. Time Out – NEW
  4. CRAFT – NEW
  5. My Time to Craft – New in Your Stash (stamps/dies – first used for this card from gift given October 2023)

Grateful & Encouraged

Hello friends!  It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow for us in the United States and I’d like to send a heartfelt Thanksgiving greeting to you all!  I would also like to say a huge thank you to everyone for your kindness and friendship.  I’m very grateful for you and encouraged by your support!

I’ve been working on several things and haven’t spent the time to photograph and share everything yet, but I will be sharing soon.  In the meantime, I’d like to share a few projects that I’ve made in lieu of the Thanksgiving holiday:

I don’t normally send Thanksgiving cards, but it’s a great way to say thank you to someone that hosted a dinner or brought something to share or just spend time with you!  That is the ONLY turkey stamp I own!  The stamp set is called “Sassy Thanksgiving” by CZ Designs at Simon Says Stamp.  I thought the sentiments in it were too cute and funny.  You certainly could make this any type of thank you as well.

This is also a fancy/fun fold card called a “Swing Easel Card”.  I found a tutorial using a vertical style on You Tube here – SWING EASEL TUTORIAL (I also used the same detail of embossing an additional panel with leaves and went over the texture with some gold paste.)

I made another panel for the center area and ink blended some blue that faded out and then splattered some gold paint over it.  I then layered it over a piece of gold that fits in the center panel of the easel.  I gold heat embossed the large sentiment and cut it out with the die.  It was popped up over the leaves.  I also cut an additional strip with the gold for the “catcher” of the front panel of the easel card.  I added the turkey and leaves along with the stamped sentiment on the inside bottom.


Autumn is my favorite time of the year and I enjoy using the colors and images in the cards I make, so here’s more that I’ve made:

I’ve made a couple of encouragement cards to send out to some people and I’ve used a favorite card kit from my stash by Taylored Expressions.  The images come from the stamp set Wheatfield Dreams.  I’ve used an oval die and oval mask to do some ink blending and just cut out the colored image to pop them over top.  Both sentiments were copper heat embossed.

I kept the backgrounds simple with the one on the left stamped with a background stamp from TE and the other was cut out with a wonky stitch die and layered over a green card base.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my creations, and I am so grateful you’ve chosen to stop by!❤️

Challenges:

  1. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  2. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Crafting Happiness – Thanksgiving/Harvest #148
  5. Four Seasons – Fall Season
  6. The Crafty Addicts – Anything Goes
  7. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes

It’s Halloween!

Hello friends!  Tomorrow is Halloween and so I thought I’d share some cards that I’ve made that were sent out to people. 

The dog and cat ghosts are too cute from Newton’s Nook!  I love their “howling”!  Not much to color and I’ve used the dies to cut them out and pop over the background with the paper pad from NN as well.  I heat embossed the sentiment over a die cut banner and then added a frame around the edges with some holographic paper.

I made this for someone who loves Halloween almost as much as I do and also has both a dog and cat.  The cat’s name is Spooky! LOL

And here’s another card I’ve made using some Taylored Expressions products.  I first ink blended the background in a couple of blue tones with dark blue around the edges and then splattered some silver watercolor for the stars.  I used a layered moon stencil to the moon effect and then die cut the witch in glitter black cardstock.  The sentiment was white heat embossed and cut out with a banner die.  I’ve also used another frame of the holographic cardstock.

And last but not least, I’ve made this card and not necessarily for Halloween, but this was made for my husband’s anniversary card.  We’ve been married 24 years and we both feel the same about Halloween/spooky things! LOL  I found these fun digital images from Etsy to print out and then I fussy cut part of one to add to another.  I stamped the background with a background stamp I had covered with roses and blended some inks around the heart.  I also added some black gems around it and covered the rose “Jack” is holding with a glitter pen.

 

Hope you’ve enjoyed my post today!  Thanks for dropping in and I hope you all have a wonderfully fun and spooky Halloween!👻

Challenges:

  1. Little Red Wagon – Trick or Treat
  2. Papercraft – Happy Halloween
  3. Creative Crafting Uncles – Halloween
  4. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
  5. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
  6. Krafty Chicks – All Occasions (bottom card anniversary)
  7. Sweet Stampin’ – All Hallow’s Eve

Rainbow of Strength

Hello friends!  Hope you had a great weekend and maybe did some crafting?  Did you participate in the World Card Making Day events?  There were so many things going on, so I basically opened up the You Tube video marathons and watched while I did a bit of crafting.

I was inspired by the Craft Roulette WCMD event with several crafters showcasing their version of the parameters they were to use for that event.  It was several hours long!

Here’s the card that I made with the Craft Roulette World Card Making Day parameters of – PROJECT: A2 card, COLORS: rainbow, ELEMENT: nature, and RANDOM: black dots

I also combined my card using one of the sponsor’s products which I’m entering for this week’s sketch challenge from My Favorite Things.

I’ve had these stamps in my collection for quite a while and it was nice to pull them out for this card.  I actually needed a card for an elderly woman who recently fell and broke her hip, so she’ll be recovering with therapy for a while. 

For my card, I used the MFT Watercolor flowers and stamped them in red-, orange- and yellow-colored layers and cut them out (This was my nature element parameter).  The middle was cut with the MFT Stitched Hexagon dies that I ink blended with green and blue inks (These colors make up the rainbow parameter).  I splattered the shape with white and black. *Before I splattered, I stamped the sentiment from the MFT Essential Sentiments set with black pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear EP.  (The sentiment was cut in portion to fit my design.)

For the A2 sized card base (makes up project parameter), I used a MFT Triangle background stamp (retired) in the same kraft color that I inked the centers of the flowers with.  I also used this color to ink around the edges of the card.  I than layered two more cut out shapes for the ink blended sentiment panel for dimension and attached to the stamped card base.  I used foam tape to pop up the flowers and lastly added some black gemstones (for the black dots parameter).

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hope you’ve enjoyed my inspiration!  See you soon!

Challenges:

  1. My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch – MFTWSC666
  2. Aud Sentiments – Ink Blending &/OR Fall Colors + sentiment
  3. The Crafty Addicts – Anything Goes
  4. The Flower Challenge – Anything Goes with Flowers – Happy 7 years!
  5. Krafty Chicks – #684 Stamp Act
  6. Alphabet – ‘N’ is for Nature

Special Silver Wedding

Hello friends!  Hope you’re having a great week so far!  Now that I’m back from a very short break, I wanted to share a special anniversary card that I made for a couple celebrating their 25th:

I always think these are so fun to make with die-cutting and layers.  There was no stamping involved except for the inside you can see in the photo below.

All products I’ve used are from Taylored Expressions.  The gorgeous heart came from the Forever Love Die Set cut out with both glitter and mirror silver cardstock.  I left those circle dots inside the heart because I liked them better intact.  The number were cut from the TE Cap It Off Numbers die set in white and silver glitter.  (I just attached them over the heart.)  Underneath the heart layers, I’ve cut out white sprigs from the TE Subtle Sprigs die set and tucked them underneath.

For the background layers:  I’ve cut out a panel that went through the TE Stitched with Love Cutting Plate and layered that over an A2 side folding white card base.  To help bring out the silver, I’ve also cut a frame piece from the TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate in the size I wanted to add detail to the design.

This is the inside of the card where I have silver heat embossed the sentiment from the TE The Inside Scoop-Anniversary stamp set.  I took a couple of the silver mirror hearts that were cut from the larger heart on the front of the card and attached them to the inside.

Hope that you’ve enjoyed my card today or been inspired!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Challenges:

  1. CRAFT – Wedding/anniversary (cutting it close!)
  2. The Divas That Cut…Paper – Layers/Layer Dies (The heart is a layer die)
  3. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes

Let the Fall Begin!

Hello friends!  We have now started the Fall season over my way and although the weather has been quite unpredictable, I am looking forward to the temperatures dropping and pretty Fall colors outdoors.  I have just now started seeing some slight changes in some of the foliage.

  • COMMENT UPDATE:  I thank you so much for taking the time and trying to leave a comment with me…I appreciate it!  I have been in contact with a support team and they’ve been very helpful.  Here’s what I’ve been told – “In response to your inquiry, WordPress.com indeed made some changes recently to enhance security and user experience. We released the new comments User Interface on 20% random sites which we believe is better than the older version in every way. e.g. Earlier the Facebook login was treated as a quick way to fill the guest form, but now when you log in with Facebook, your subscription preferences are recorded and rendered correctly; i.e. you’re actually logged in and remembered, and you can configure your preferences. However, we understand that this might not be convenient for all users.”  
  • So basically this just means that the way the comment box looks is different.  You should still be able to leave a comment.  Just pull up the comment box and start typing whatever you want to say, once you do that, buttons will appear on how you’d like to enter your information/login.  Once you do, the “reply” button will highlight and you can leave your comment.  Hopefully you will be “remembered” the next time you visit.  Hopefully, this all makes sense. (If you have any more questions or problems, you can always contact me)

So now let’s get back to some Fall crafting!  I’ve made a birthday card for a guy that likes to go camping and eat smores by the fire….

I think this turned out so fun!  I have used an older STAMPtember collaboration set from My Favorite Things and not sure if it’s last year or before that…but fell in love with the camp critters in the set!  (This year’s STAMPtember collaborations will be fun to play with too!  Stay tuned for some makes coming up with those!)

I have ink blended a panel in blues for a night sky and splattered some white over it for a starry look.  I stamped and colored all the images and cut them out with the coordinating dies.  I die cut a very dark green panel with a grass border die and attached it over the blue night panel that was layered onto a white A2 side folding card base.  I tucked in and attached all the pieces over the grass and behind it for the scene and then even added some shadow with a marker under some of the images.  I white heat embossed the sentiment from the set and then the celebrate banner was attached at the top.  Lastly, I’ve added some Stardust Stickles over the flames from the fire.

How about you?  Do you like to camp?  Eat smores?  Enjoy Fall weather?  I like all of the above of course!  Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Hope you’ve been inspired or gotten smile!

Challenges:

  1. Make My Monday – Create Your Own Background (starry sky)
  2. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  3. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  4. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  5. Allsorts – 4-legged Friends or Anything Goes
  6. Passion for Markers – For a Man or a Boy (colored with Copic markers)

Occasional Blooms

Hello friends!  I hope that you’re having a wonderful week!  I’m excited about the changes I’m seeing outside with the weather!  Looking forward to that cooler temperature and pretty colors!

  • I wanted to do a bit of “house keeping” regarding my blog.  I apologize if you’re having problems trying to leave a comment.  I’ve had a few people contact me about this and I noticed that when I cleared the “cookies/cache” from my end…it somehow changed the appearance of my blog comment area…I don’t know why!?  I did find out that if you start typing in the comment box, buttons above the box will appear in which you can choose how to login.  I suggest that if you don’t have a WordPress/Gravatar account, to choose the envelope button to leave your name and e-mail address that way. (The Facebook login does not work.)  Then you can hit the reply button below the box to publish it.  I tried letting the commenter leave an anonymous reply (without having to type in name and e-mail), but then I’ll have NO idea who it is unless a name is given within the comment, so I had to re-engage that again.  I have also contacted a support person to help me navigate what’s going on and maybe I can get it back the way it was before.  I do apologize if it’s giving you a problem.  You can also go to gravatar.com to create an account which will work with ANY WordPress platform blog….but you don’t have to unless you want to do that!  You should still be able to leave a comment regardless.  Thank you for taking the time to care enough to share your support with me…I deeply appreciate it!

So now to get on with some crafting projects!  I’ve had to change gears on the seasonal makes and create some cards that I needed to send out to some people and they all happen to be in blooms:

First up is a “thinking of you” card creating for a friend using several Lisa Horton products.  These particular LH products all came from Inky Stamper.

I started with the craft background and embossed it with the LH Variegated Leaf 3D embossing folder and went over the texture with white ink.  I then used the LH Hydrangea Stencil/Die/Embossing Folder to create the blooms…love how it turned out!  I took some gold ink on the last layer of the stencil to go over the centers of the flowers.  I popped the bloom up over the embossed craft background and white heat embossed the sentiment from the IS Pig Cause stamp set and cut it out in a banner to place over the blooms.  I finished it with some gold gems.

My next card is a sympathy card needed for a craft friend who lost a loved one.  This person likes to cross-stitch and quilt, so I thought this MFT stitched quilt die (this one retired) would be fun to do over some pretty floral papers.  I had to die cut several white frames with it and lay the centers of the paper cut pieces on the first frame and then I layered two more of the white frames over top with the last pattern paper over that to give it that 3D look.  (Not sure where the paper came from other my stash!)

I cut the sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Sympathy/Heartfelt/Condolences die set and layered it in the same way I did the quilt frame die.  I also white heat embossed the sentiment from the WS Deepest Sympathy stamp set and cut it out from a banner to attach right underneath the “p” in the die cut word.  I finished this one off with some clear gems.

And on a happier note, I’ve made another bloom card to wish someone turning 75 years young a happy birthday!  This is the first chance I’ve had to use this fun die set from Taylored Expressions!  The bottom container came from the TE Antique Pails die set.   I stamped the TE Burlap Background over it with the same color ink as the cardstock as well as Butter Cream ink to give it some texture.  The flower arrangement was cut out from the TE Garden Variety die set in various colors.  I also brushed some of the same colors in the centers of the flowers.  The centers of the flowers have a silver metallic enamel dot.

For the frame, I’ve used the TE Diagonal Stitch Rectangle die that only leaves the marks but doesn’t cut anything out.  The sentiment was stamped and cut out with the TE All Together-Occasions 2 set/die and popped up with foam squares over the panel.

I think the most fun was arranging the flowers in the container!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my cards today and you’ve been inspired!  Thank you so much for stopping by!  I appreciate you!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Challenges:

  1. Addicted to Stamps & More – Any Occasion
  2. The Sisterhood of Crafters – Die Cuts/Anything Goes
  3. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  5. Cardz 4 Galz – Use a Stencil, a Sentiment, an Image (top card only)
  6. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes
  7. 613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes no twist
  8. The Corrosive – Anything Goes

Alice in Wonderland for Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends!  Hope you’re doing well and have had a great start to September!  It’s hard to believe we’re almost into Autumn already!  I’ve been enjoying the outdoors for as long as I can and Autumn around my area is so pretty, so I need to go out in it!  Crafting will be waiting for me soon!

Today starts a new challenge for Sparkles Monthly with the theme of: Alice in Wonderland!  So I hope that you will stop by the blog to check out the inspiration and join us this month!  Here’s what I’ve come up with:

This was really fun to put together!  I have always loved the Alice in Wonderland stuff and I actually have quite a bit of it for crafting, but this stamp set by Visible Image was new to me and something that I had gotten from a win for a challenge I entered a few months back.  I also used the Supernova Stencil for the background from the same company.

For the background:  I ink blended several colored and then spritzed with water for the watermark effect.  I went over it with the stencil in a darker blue ink and spritzed it again.  I then added some gold and white ink splatters over top for more texture.  It was cut out with the wonky stitch rectangle die and layered over mirror gold cardstock.

I had some Alice in Wonderland papers and used s strip of the blue checks to cut out a wavy border and attached it to the bottom of the stenciled panel.  I added these layers to an A2 top folding blue card base.  I had some old-fashioned looking stamps which I had for years and stamped a few on the background in blue ink.

I colored “Alice” with Copic markers along with the piece of cake and key and then used the coordinating die to cut them out and attach to the card front.  I added some pink glitter to Alice’s drink in her hand and the filling in the cake.  I also added some gold sequins over the card.  The sentiment was cut out with a banner die which I thought would make for a fun birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my card and I hope you’ve got some inspiration with it!  (I’m a bit behind with so many things, so I will be checking out to see what you’re up to!)

Challenges: 

  1. Crafter’s Cafe – Clothing Styles for Children
  2. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  3. Alphabet – ‘L’ is for Literature (inspired by a book) Alice in Wonderland
  4. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  5. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  6. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using Paper
  7. Love to Craft – Anything Goes

Bugging Out With Sketches

Hello friends!  I hope you’re having a good week so far and staying safe wherever you are in the world.  Sending hugs to all experiencing a troubled time.  I hope that my post can bring a smile to you today.

I needed to create some get well type of cards and so I thought I’d try to incorporate some challenges while working on them which helps me to concentrate more in what I’m doing and maybe think outside the box a bit.

My first card is made with the Beccy’s Place Challenge freebie this month and she also challenged us with a sketch which I’ve decided to use for my card. (see sketch below)  I was really happy to use up some more pattern papers with it and I also decided to add a tiny dragonfly at the top to enter another challenge and to adhere to my “bug” theme today!

I printed the image in black and white and colored with Copics.  The dragonfly and the center pink strip were stamps that I cut out and added to the design.  The rest is pattern paper from my stash except the scalloped kraft border in the center that I cut out with a die.  I stamped the sentiment and cut it out to go with my twine around it. *You will notice in ALL of these cards that I’ve used some sparkly gems.  I wasn’t aware until posting them!  I must be on a kick of wanting to use them!*

Challenges for 1st card:

  1. Beccy’s Place – August challenge + sketch
  2. Paper Dragonfly Creative – Anything Flies (Goes) or Party
  3. Kreativ-Tanten – Anything Goes
  4. The Crafty Addicts – Anything Goes
  5. Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
  6. Dragonfly Dreams – Dragonflies

And for this next card, I’ve played with a large bug:

Around my area this time of year, you can hear the sound of these cicada bugs with their distinct noise throughout the trees.  My husband likes the sound when a bird catches one! EEW!  This bug is a cute one from Inky Stamper called Cicada and I’ve colored it up with pencils this time.  Hard to see, but I’ve also added some shimmer with a glitter pen on his wings.

I’ve used the Picket Fence Tree Bark stencil over kraft on the background and then splattered it with brown and white paint. The leaves under the bug and the accent came from the Lisa Horton Variegated Leaf EF+die that I cut over light green cardstock.  I used some metallic green wax to go over the details in them.  I also used some gel pens to make some doodles around the strip, the circle and under the sentiment along with following a sketch. (details below) You will also notice more sparkly gems!  I’m also entering this in the Inky Stamper FB challenge this month which is using an IS bug image.

Challenges for card #2

  1. Sketch Saturday – #732 sketch + twist: add a doodle
  2. Creative Knockouts – #501 Anything Goes
  3. We Love Stamping – Masculine
  4. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  6. A Place to Start – Anything Goes optional: leaves/trees
  7. The Corrosive – Anything Goes

For my last card I decided to keep this one simple’ish’:

So, I know these aren’t real bugs because I’m not squealing, but these guys are too cute! They’re popping up out of the dirt for a special greeting!  I mixed in both a new and older stamp set from Lawn Fawn on this one. I’ve used another sketch for this one and decided to keep it very simple.  The hardest part of this was the coloring which honestly wasn’t all that difficult either because they’re small images.  I’ve also added some shimmer with a glitter pen on the wings and of course, there’s those sparkly gems again!

Challenges for card #3

  1. Sunday Stamps – SSC316 in the corner sketch
  2. The Paper Players – CAS using any Bug
  3. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Clean and Simple
  4. Krafty Chicks – CAS (Clean and Simple)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I appreciate your time and thoughts!  I’ll be seeing you again on Saturday with another AJ page!