{Cupcake Inspirations} Color Challenge Reminder

Hello there friends! Hoping you’ve had a wonderful weekend! It’s gotten pretty warm again over my way after enjoying the slightly cooler and beautiful weather for a while! I’ve been enjoying the flowers while they’re still around!

I’m sharing some more inspiration with you today for a reminder on our current color challenge for {Cupcake Inspirations}, so if you haven’t played along with us yet, you still have another week to join us!

For some reason this color challenge still had me thinking of daisy flowers…so I went with that again for my design this week as well:

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I’ve pulled out a Pink and Main stamp set called Daisy Bugs and colored up the bundle of flowers image with Copic markers and then used the coordinating dies to cu it out with which was popped up over my design with foam tape.

I used the sentiment from the same stamp set as well and white heat embossed it over Navy cardstock and used the coordinating die to cut that out with as well which was glued over the card.

The yellow decorative papers were pulled out from my older Stampin’ Up! stash as I thought it fit with the theme and I was super happy to use some more papers up! I’ve used a stitched circle die to cut out the white layer behind the flowers and then another fancy circle die from Gina Marie cut out with Navy to layer behind that as well. I also die cut a border strip with a Crafter’s Companion die to place across my design and I wrapped some stitched navy ribbon (SU!) over it before attaching to the design.

I glued the bow over top of the circle image panel and then I used a navy marker to create the stitch lines around the edges to finish it off.

Here’s a closer look at the flowers popped up on the design. You can see in the centers of the flowers that I’ve added some glossy accents.

I think it really makes the flowers pop off the design!

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and has brought you some inspiration!

Thanks so much for joining me here today and I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

The House That Stamps Built – JL2220 Anything Goes
Krafty Chicks – #517 All Occasions
Creative Knockouts – #360 Flora and Fauna
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC281 All About Occasions

{Cupcake Inspirations} New DT!🧁

Hello friends! I’m so excited to announce that I’ve been asked to join the {Cupcake Inspirations} Challenge design team!!

What could be better than crafting AND cupcakes, right?! So be sure to join me here every Monday for new challenge and reminder inspiration! I do hope you’ll check out the challenges and join us over there to play along! (And maybe enjoy yourself a cupcake treat while you’re at it!😁)…if you’ve followed along with me for a while, you may have remembered about 5 years back that I used to be on this team before! So I’m excited to be joining with them once again!

So here we go with the brand new challenge and a really fun theme to play with:

The theme for this challenge is “Flowers with Pearls/Sequins“

The challenges will last for 2 weeks, so you will have that long to play for each challenge! There is a theme challenge and then a color challenge for every other one. There will be a reminder week in between each one as well…so be sure to subscribe and follow the blog so you can see the inspiration and play along with us!

**We are also partnering with the Double Trouble Paper Crafting Challenge Blog with their challenge of a tic-tac-toe board! So be sure to check out all of the up-coming details and play along with them too!**

Here’s my take on the challenge:

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I was really inspired with the flowers and pearl theme and I’ve been wanting to play around with a past card kit I had to color with pencils, which I hardly ever do!

The flower images come from the Simon Says Stamp Stronger Together stamp set and kit. The kit had some colored pencils with it that I used to color the image and then I just used some dies from my stash to add the layers. I took an additional floral image from the set and white ink to stamp the background and swiped the ink pad around the edges.

To fit with the challenge theme, I thought it would be fun to add several sizes of pearls along the edges of the oval panel.

Here’s a closer view of the coloring on the flowers. I’ve also taken a sentiment from the stamp set and inked it up with some eggplant ink using my MISTI tool. I inked it up again with some embossing ink and then added some clear sparkle EP over top of it to heat set. The sparkle shows up so much better in person, of course! I cut it out with my scissors and popped it up over the image with foam tape.

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Really hope that you’ve been inspired with my creation today!

I will be back next week with more inspiration for this challenge! Thanks so much for dropping by!

Other Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Crafty Creations – #411 Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – #119 Anything Goes
Crafts Galore Encore – #77 Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – #401 Anything Goes
Love to Craft – LTCCB48 Anything Goes
Love to Scrap – LTSCB135 Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC278 Anything Goes Feminine

Floral Watercolor Foiled Hello

Hello friends!

Here’s what I made for today:

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I’ve been wanting to do some coloring… so I got out several of my Aqua Pigments and Watercolor Brushes and went to town with one of these floral panels! What I love about these card panels is not only are they all gorgeous, but I love that the lines on the images are a bit raised as if embossed which helps with the watercolor process.

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As you can see, I’ve only used half of my card panel cut diagonally on my card. So after coloring up the panel, I thought it was a nice way to cut the panel in half and then still have another panel left over to create another card with later! So there’s a tip for extended more life out of your card panels!

Here’s a closer view of my watercolor and the pretty shimmer from the Aqua Pigments! So as you can see, I also did some foiling! I wasn’t sure if these panels would foil correctly or not, but as you can see only a portion of the image foiled. I was fine with that as it still adds a pretty sparkle to my card.

I did take the “hello” die and cut that from cardstock and then added some glue over it with the Deco Foil adhesive pen and then foiled over it in my laminator with some Deco Foil Rose Gold Transfer Sheets. Love the look of the foiling and how it turned out!

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For my card, I attached the watercolor cut panel over a piece of black cardstock that I also cut diagonally with the panel and then attached it over a piece of very heavyweight white cardstock. Then I attached my foil die cut sentiment across the card and added some Acrylic Bubbles randomly over the card. I finished it with some Nuvo Dew Drop accents as well.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today! I appreciate you stopping by!

Challenges for my card:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Clean and Simple
Allsorts – Feminine
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1934 Anything Goes

It’s CAS at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great week so far!! I had forgotten to give updates on the “bird nest” situation, but actually the last time we had checked, the baby bird hopped onto the roof next door and the mother bird was chirping at us and then the baby took off and flew away! We never were able to get any more photos. I think there was just that one baby bird that survived. Now we have the empty nest in the tree. We think another bird may be trying to build on it, but we don’t see anything.

Today is Thursday which means it’s time for a brand new Cute Card Thursday Challenge!! The theme for this week is CAS (clean & simple) Our sponsor is All Dressed Up, so be sure to play along for your chance to win!

Here’s my take on the challenge:

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I have used this really cute image kindly donated by our sponsor called Dreaming of Summer. I love the “dreamy” pose she has! I thought she would look so cute propped up over a fence, so I made one for her!

**Sometimes, CAS puzzles me as to the “definition” of what it TRULY is. To me, it is a bit different to some than others. I feel it to be more like an “art term” where everything is subjective in it’s form and if I have to think about it TOO much, I’m not being “me” and having my fun with it…so I just create weather it is considered simple or not. 🙂 For me, this seemed like a CAS design.**

First, I colored up the image and then stenciled on some clouds behind her. I took a craft knife and cut out just the bottoms of her elbows. I stamped another panel with a woodgrain stamp in gray colored ink and then used a punch with a sharp point to create the “planks” for the fence. I sponged around the edges with more gray ink and then I tucked the fence panel underneath her elbows and attached it to the image panel. I cut out these pieces with a stitched rectangle die and layered that onto a piece of black cardstock that was layered over an A2 top folding white card base. Lastly, I added the die cut “hello” with black cardstock in the corner.

Here’s a closer look at the coloring I’ve done on this image. I’ve colored her in with Copic markers and then for the tiny butterflies, bees and flowers around her, I’ve used some metallic gel pens to color them with. You can see the shimmer on them.

I’ve also taken some liquid pearls to place some dots around her as well. I thought it made her look a bit more whimsical.

You can also see where her elbows are lifted up over the fence panel too.

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Thanks so much for stopping by!! See you soon!!

Challenges for this card:

All Dressed Up Challenge – Anything Goes + ADU image
Craft Rocket – Summer is Coming
Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes with Dies
Crafting From the Heart – Anything Goes
Crafty Creations – #392 Anything Goes

It’s the April Anything Goes for Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! This week has completely flown by me so very fast!! I can’t believe how quickly it went and I’m thinking being outside in the warmer weather will make it go even quicker! Summer will be here soon, right?!

Today is Thursday and also the first Thursday of the month, which means it’s time for our regular “Anything Goes” theme at Cute Card Thursday! We are also sponsored by our regular monthly sponsor Whimsy Stamps! So of course, you know I’m going to be using one of those for my creation today:

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Isn’t she just a cutie?! This newly released digital image is called Elfie from Whimsy Stamps. I’ve been starting to see a few lady bugs here and there around my area, but I actually don’t like it when they are everywhere! Otherwise, I can take them on a card and think they’re so cute!

After coloring her up, I cut her out with a stitched circle die and layered another circle with black cardstock behind her. I also cut out the Whimsy Stamps Friend Word die set with black cardstock and set it aside to work on the rest of my card.

I pulled out this embossing folder with lady bugs (by Darice) and embossed a piece of red cardstock with it. I took some white ink to lightly go over it to highlight the texture a bit. I layered this piece onto a piece of black and then layered these over a white A2 sized top folding card base. The circle image was place towards the right of the card and then I just cut off the excess circle with scissors.

I stamped the “hello” from the Whimsy Stamps Painted Sayings clear stamp set with black ink next to the image. The “friend” die cut piece was glued at the bottom of the card. I also took the WS Quick Strips die set to cut out a couple of stitched banners from some shimmer paper and added them to the side of the circle. Lastly, I’ve put the black gingham ribbon bow over the banner strips and added the lady bugs and sequins to the design. I filled the sequins with some Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops.

Here’s a closer look at the coloring of this cutie. I’ve used some Copic markers to color her in and then I’ve used a Wink of Stella Clear Glitter pen to add some shimmer over her wings and the wings on the butterfly. Here’s the list of Copics I’ve used:

Hat, skirt, shoes and ladybug – R39, R37, R35, R32, C8, C5, C3
Shirt, leaves – G24, G21, G20
Hair – E49, E47, E44, E43
Skin – E21, E13, E00, E000, R20

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I think there are so many different ways you could color up this image, but I saw her holding this little ladybug and so I just went with that theme when coloring. Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and got inspired!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Sketch Saturday – #557 Choose a Sketch
QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #341
Just Us Girls – Wild Card Week – embossing folders
Artistic Inspirations – #214 Just for Fun (Anything Goes)
Crafting From the Heart – #240 Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – #89 Anything Goes

Hello Cute Chicks!

Hello friends! Err…should I say “Cute Chicks”! 🙂

I have some more Whimsy Stamps inspiration to share with you today using this sweet image by Crissy Armstrong called Penguin’s Cute Chicks. Now it may look familiar to you and that’s because it was originally made as a rubber stamp, but starting with this month’s release it has been released in digital format! So it’s great to now have both options available to you!

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I am a huge penguin fan and Crissy’s penguins are so fun to color! I have colored this image with the following Copics:

Penguin Body, Beak, Feet, Cheeks: C8, C5, C3, C1, C0 – YR18, YR15, YR12 – R00, R000
Penguin hat & scarf: E89, E87, E84, E81
Chicks: Y38, Y17, Y15, Y11 – Cheeks: R00
Chick blue & purple ribbons: B39, B37, B34 – purple: V17, V15, V12
Egg shell and around image: BG000
Grass: YG67, YG63, YG61

(More up-close details below!)

I have also used some fun digital papers from the January digital release called “Oh Boy” digital papers collection. (You may remember the “Crateful of Kittens” card that I had previously done which was using these same papers. I’ve used both the striped and solid papers for my card here. At the top of the striped papers, I used the Whimsy Stamps Pierced Border Trio dies to cut a curvy border. I cut another piece like that in black cardstock to layer behind it.

I took the WS Painted Sayings clear stamp set and stamped the greeting in the upper left corner of the image panel and I also used the splatter images from the set and stamped some black splatters over the solid colored digital papers. Before attaching the striped panel to the solid background, I added some white ribbon with a bow and a black button with a bow twine through it. I attached this to the solid panel and then attached all layers to a white 5″ square top folding card base.

Here’s a closer view of the image with my coloring. For around the edges of the image panel, I took a glue pen and sprinkled on some clear glitter for a bit of a sparkly touch around the design. I layered this onto a black piece of cardstock and then added some craft foam behind it for a slight dimension and attached it to the card front.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today! Thanks for stopping by!! I’ll see you back again tomorrow for another really fun project I made!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

As You Like It – Pearls or Buttons? (I love to add buttons in the center of bows and with different colors it can work on any style you’re designing.)
Crafting From the Heart – #235 Anything Goes

Whimsy Stamps + Anything Goes at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! I’m not only here to share my creation for the new release at Whimsy Stamps, but also another new challenge for Cute Card Thursday which is also being sponsored by Whimsy Stamps this week! The new challenge for Cute Card Thursday this week is another “Anything Goes“! We look forward to seeing your creations, plus if you enter this week, you put your name into a draw for a win from our sponsor! Don’t miss out!

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Now how adorable are these little cuties?!! This is the newly released digital stamp called Crateful of Kittens from Whimsy Stamps. I have also paired it with the newly released Oh Boy – Digital Papers. I thought that the solid yellow and gingham would work nicely with this image to give it a happy feel! For the sentiment I’ve used the Whimsy Stamps Bold Statements clear stamp set to stamp over some of the yellow solid paper and made my own fishtail banner with it.

I’ve added some white ribbon with a bow to go around the yellow papers and then attached it to an A2 sized white top folding card base. For the banner, I’ve added a white daisy flower and placed a rhinestone in the center that I’ve colored yellow with a Y17 Copic Marker.

Here’s a closer look for you on how I’ve colored up this image! I’ve used a stitched square die to cut the image out with and additional die to layer some of the solid yellow digital papers behind it. For the background of the image panel, I’ve used a cloud stencil and very lightly inked some clouds in the background. I added some sparkle to the center of the flowers on the image with a glue pen and clear loose glitter. I’ve also added some dots to their cheeks with a white gel pen.

Here are the Copics I’ve used to color with:

wooden crate: E23, E25, E27, 0-blender
Flowers, leaves, grass: Y11, Y15, Y17, YG61, YG63, YG67, G20, G21, G24
Kitties: C1, C3, C5, E41, E43, E44, R20 (cheeks), W1, W3, W5

Hope you’ve enjoyed my creation today and see you soon!

Challenges:

My Time to Craft – Something NEW (New image, new papers and new friends!)
Always Fun – Something NEW (ditto above!)
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Classic DT Challenge – open (Anything Goes)
The Crafty Addicts – Anything Goes with optional: “It’s a purrfect day!”
Little Red Wagon – Hey Newbie! (new image, new papers and new friends!)

Masked Floral Eclipse and ICAD Week 4

Hello friends! Posting a bit later than what I had wanted today, but sometimes I get caught up in other things going on and just keep crafting when I have totally forgotten that I need to post something…especially if you can’t remember if you’ve posted or not! LOL! Does that make sense? I hope so!

I just love all the beautiful blooms that are coming up around the house as we continue with Summer! It is a bit hot outside and I’m only out for a brief time watering and that’s about it right now. So I decided to take the idea of flowers indoors with a card!

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I created a floral bouquet and then used the “Eclipse technique” (click link for a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.com) for my design using all Lawn Fawn products on my card!

I started off with the Fab Flowers stamp set and made several masks from Post-It Notes and cut them out as needed to create the bouquet on white cardstock. I’ve used several colors of Stampin’ Up! inks pads which is what I have the most of in any ink pads I own. I masked off the flowers that I needed so that I can put the ones that I wanted to show up in the front. I’ve also used a white gel pen to create “dots” all around the flowers.

After completing my masked floral bouquet, I used the LF Scripty Hello die and cut it right in the center of the bouquet. When I first tried this technique, it freaked me out, but it’s pretty cool how it turns out! I also cut this out several times with black cardstock to stack them up and place behind the stamped bouquet on the front.

I finished the card by cutting out the panel with the LF Stitched Rectangle Stackable and the LF Fancy Scalloped Rectangle Stackable in black which I mounted onto a top folding A2 white card base. I then added some clear sparkling sequins filled with Clear Nuvo Crystal Drops in the centers.

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Here’s a closer look at what the technique looks like on the card. It shows up best when you put dark cardstock behind it. it takes a bit of planning and maneuvering, but it’s totally worth it when you’ve done.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Friday floral bouquet!

And now of course I have the Week 4 ICAD 2018 index cards to share with you!

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I have noticed that as I go along, some days I just don’t want to put much effort into it and others I find spending a great deal of time putting one together. LOL! I guess some days you just “feel it” and other days you don’t! These may seem a bit weird, but if I was able to share the prompts and ideas behind each one, they would totally make sense…. but for now, I’m just enjoying the process and being able to get out and play with all the different media that I either don’t use or want to learn more about.

I hope you are enjoying seeing the results each week. I know I enjoy looking back at them each week rather than seeing each one for the day it’s done. It gives a different perspective and makes me feel proud for completing one every day despite what’s going on around me!

Thanks so much for dropping in and I wish you a fantastic weekend! Stay cool!

Challenges I’d like to enter my floral card in: