Sweet Friend for Color Hues

Hello friends!  As we enter the month of June, the Color Hues team has a new challenge for you.  This time the lovely Karen has chosen the wonderful color combo of yellow and blue.

Color Hues

 

As I was contemplating what to create for this challenge, I flipped through some panels that were previously foiled and I found one that looked stunning in cobalt blue foil and voila! my decision was made!

The foiled floral image fills a full A2 card panel, but I knew I wanted to trim it down and just color the part I would use in the portion cut out with an oval die. I then used Copics in yellow for the flowers and a light blue for the background, then the colored piece was layered on a slightly larger yellow oval.

Next a panel of white was embossed with a very subtle pattern (you can see it better in photo below) then added to a white card base.  I found some scraps of a panel that had been foiled with the same cobalt blue, so I used those for the horizontal strip and to die cut the sentiment (foil is so hard to photograph - the strip looks black on one side in each photo lol!).  After assembling everything on the card front, I found some jewels that were the perfect match and added them to finish things off.

What are you inspired to make with these wonderful colors?  We'd love to have you join us, the challenge will remain open until 9am EDT 6/14.  In the meantime, I encourage you to pop over to the challenge blog to see all the beautiful cards my super talented teammates and our guest designer Rosemary have created.

Take care!

Stef

• Pinkfresh Studio Peony Print Hot Foil Plate
• Spellbinders Essential Stylish Ovals dies
• Spellbinders Cobalt Glimmer Hot Foil
• Altenew Versatile Greetings dies
• Stampin' Up Taseful Textile embossing folder
• Simon Says Stamp Cool Tones Dazzling Gems
• Copics - Y26, 18, 15, 11, B000

My Favorite Human Bean for Just Us Girls

Hello friends!  Well, the month of January is flying by and today I'm sharing my 3rd card as guest designer for Just Us Girls.  This week we have a wonderful mood board that I think is one of the sweetest and coziest I've ever seen.

 Just Us Girls

I know the photos are a bit hard to see but if you head over to the JUGs blog, they have a larger version where you can see all the details.  

I'm also joining the current Inkspirational Challenge, where the theme is Stencils.

Inkspirational #307

I just love this JUGS Mood Board!  I was inspired by the kitty's warm cuddly sweater and hat, along with the cup of coffee.

I started with Altenew's Sweater Pattern stencil and used light brown and medium gray to create the pattern on a panel of white, which was then cut it down with a rectangle die and added to a white card base with foam tape.

Next I used the MFT Coffee Talk Bundle to create the die cut coffee cups and stamp the sentiment.  I laid the coffee cups on a sticky mat, then colored them with Copic markers.  Two additional dies were cut for each cup and they were layered up before adhering to card front around the sentiment.  The last thing was to add a heart.  I have some clay hearts from Trinity Stamps but the color was a little too tomato-y, so I just used a dark red Copic marker to change the color and after adhering it to the cup, I covered it with Glossy Accents for some shine.  I was tickled pink by how this card turned out because I've never used this bundle before although I think I bought it over a year ago.  Time to keep shopping my stash, I guess!

So, what inspires you on the mood board?  Please take a moment to visit the challenge blog and see what inspired the DT and hopefully play along!  Thanks for visiting.

Take care!

Stef

Stamps and dies:  MFT Coffee Talk Bundle, Hero Arts Nested Rectangle die

Stencil:  Altenew Sweater Pattern

Ink:  Simon Says Stamp Latte and Earl, Versafine Clair Pinecone

Other:  Trinity Stamps Candy Apple Hearts, Glossy Accents

Copics:  R39, C2, 1, 0, 00, E35, 31, 30

Hello Friend for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  I hope the first part of May brings flowers your way and it's also bringing us a new challenge at The Flower Challenge!  This month we are using our pretty pastels.

The Flower Challenge

There are several flowers that bloom in pastel colors this time of year and one of my favorites is from the dogwood tree.  When I saw that Honey Bee Stamps came out with their beautiful Lovely Layers: Dogwood dies and coordinating products, well let's just say I was totally smitten!

I started by die cutting all the dogwood branch components from white cardstock, then used my Copic markers to color them.  Next I followed the layering guide and put together all the pieces/parts.  It really didn't take an enormous amount of time and the branches are so, so pretty!  I put those aside and then worked on the card base.

Next, Seafoam and Surf inks were blended on a portion of a panel of white cardstock, then embossed with the coordinating Dogwood Blooms 3D embossing folder.  I trimmed it down and added to the card base.  Next I die cut the Spring Vine Layering Frame dies twice, took apart the various pieces and just used the frame and the interior.  Those were all added to the card before adding the dogwood branches.  The sentiment was stamped in Versafine Clair Morning Mist, a nice soft gray, die cut and added to the center.  The last step was to scatter about a few Ocean Wave Crystals from Studio Katia and the card was complete.

So what florals in your stash are calling out to be used for this challenge?  I know you have some lol!  In the meantime, for some amazing inspiration, be sure to drop by the challenge blog and see what my fabulously talented teammates have created.

Take care!

Stef

Copics:  RV23, 21, 10, E47, 44, YG17, G43, 40

Dainty Flowers for Sunday Stamps

Hello and welcome!  It's time for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps and this time Melissa has given us a wonderful sketch to work with.

Sunday Stamps

I decided to pull out some pretty patterned paper that I've had for a few years and use that as the inspiration for my card.

I love the dainty flowers and the soft colors, plus I was pretty certain I had a flower stamp with a similar shape to those on the paper. Sure enough, the Altenew Floral Henna stamp set had a trio of stamps shaped similarly to the ones on the paper.  I stamped them, then Copic colored and fussy cut the center flower and a couple of the leaves.

I pulled out two sheets of the paper. One was die cut and adhered to the white card base.  From the other I cut a 1" strip and layered it on a slightly larger piece of white, then added it to the card front.  The sentiment was stamped and die cut then added with thin foam tape.  Lastly the fussy cut flower was popped up with regular foam tape.  Originally, I had the flower on a die cut circle with the sentiment going across the bottom but it didn't look proportional to the size of the vertical strip, and since that was already glued down, I decided to add just the flower without the circle.  That helped but I do wish I'd made the blue strip about a quarter or half inch larger.

Thanks so much for visiting!  Now it's your turn to create something with this fabulous sketch!  But before you head off to your craft room, the design team has oodles of wonderful inspiration to share so head over there and take a peek!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Altenew Floral Henna, MFT Stylish Sentiments

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Moda Scrap Spring Flowers Collection paper pack

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Clair Nocturne

Dies:  Hero Arts Nested Infinity Rectangle die, Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Label dies

Copics:  B93, 91, C0, G82, 40

Hello Friend for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  It's the 15th of the month and time for our reminder cards for The Flower Challenge.  This month we've had lots of beautiful sparkle in our gallery and I hope you're inspired to join us - you have until the 25th of September to play along.

The Flower Challenge

 

For my card, I kept things relatively simple, adding sparkle with a pretty die cut sentiment but also some sparkle on the flower as well.

We've been enjoying some beautiful sunflowers from our yard, so I was inspired to use this large image from Colorado Craft Company.  It came out last spring in support of Ukraine, but I hadn't had a chance to use it until now.  It's so large my card ended up being 4.5" x 6.25", which fits perfectly in an A6 envelope.  Anyway, I began by stamping and coloring the flower with Copic markers then die cut it with the coordinating die.  

The large friend word was die cut twice from white and once from non-shedding white glitter paper that I colored with one of my brown Copic marker to get a better color match.  I hadn't tried that before but saw other card makers successfully do it and I was pleased that it did not harm the nib of my marker.  The layers were adhered together and then to the shadow die cut from Neenah Natural White.  I also use Natural White for the card base, then added a panel of white woodgrain paper.  The sunflower was adhered directly to the panel, then the sentiments added, the sub-sentiment popped up with foam tape.  Lastly, I used my aqua shimmer pen and covered the entire flower, although the photo really only picks up the sparkle in the middle.  With all that sparkle, I didn't think anything further needed to be added to the card.

Please be sure to use the link above to see all the beautiful reminder cards from the other Design Team members and hopefully join us this month.

Thanks for visiting!  Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Ukraine's Sunflower (Colorado Craft Company), Itty Bitty Basics (MFT)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White and Natural White, Woodgrain Embossed White (Ellen Hutson)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Clair Pinecone

Other:  Ukraine's Sunflower die, Master Layouts 9 dies (friend and sentiment label/Gina K Designs), Aqua Shimmer pen (Tonic Nuvo)

Copics:  YR27, 24, 21, Y19, 15, 11, E29 37, 39, 34, 33, 31, 30, YG67, 17, 25, 03

Old Friends for Sunday Stamps

Hello friends! It's time for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps and this week we have fabulous sketch created by the talented Annette!

Sunday Stamps

  

I decided to use some newer products I hadn't yet used to create my card and to use a rectangular frame rather than a circle.

I started by using the Stampin' Up Timeless Tiles background stamp.  I've had this for months and it needed to be inked up!  I used a light green and purposely die not try to get complete coverage.  When that was done, the panel was trimmed down and adhered to a white card base. I did use a sponge dauber to add some ink for a tiny bit of antiquing, but it's very hard to see in photos because I intentionally left it very light.  

Next the flowers were stamped, colored with Copics and die cut with matching dies.  I also die cut the frame four times, three out of white and the last out of silver, then adhered them together.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set as the flowers and was stamped with a darker green ink.

The cross pieces were trimmed down from white cardstock, then I used the direct to paper method with the same green used to stamp the background.  When dry, they were added onto the card front, then topped with the frame and flowers, along with the sentiment, and that finished it off.  No embellies this time.

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate it.  Be sure to use the link above to see the beautiful cards by the other DT members and hopefully be inspired to play along with us!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Timeless Tiles (SU), Focus on You (Altenew)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Matte Silver (Simon Says Stamp)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Aspen and Pine (SSS); Antique Linen Distress

Other:  New Day Card Kit Frame (Altenew), Focus on You dies

Sketchmarkers:  V61, 62, 54

Copics:  G29, 21, YG45, YR23, Y17

Sweet Friend

Hello and welcome!  Today I have a friendship card to share with you that was made for three challenges, all with the theme of love and friendship.

PP577

 

Just Us Girls 618

FF0102

(pink, sparkle, hearts)

I have three friends back in Oregon that I have been especially close to for several years - we used to go for walks or hikes on a regular basis, plus gather for celebratory meals out and sometimes even allow our spouses to join us lol!  As a result of now living in a different state, I tend to make a lot of friend/hello cards to send.

My card is pretty straightforward.  The floral heart wreath (which I love but recently discovered Simon Says Stamp discontinued or retired it) was stamped and colored with Copic markers then die cut.  The hello sentiment was die cut from pink glitter paper and added to the white die cut shadow.  The sub sentiment, left over from a previous project, was white heat embossed on black cardstock then die cut.

Next, I applied an adhesive sheet to the back of a white cardstock panel then die cut it with a trellis cover plate die.  It was layered on the white card base then I used a bone folder to press it down firmly.  I love the white on white background, adding just enough interest without being too busy. Two more of the floral heart wreaths were die cut from white cardstock, and layered beneath the color image, then adhered to the card front.  Although not captured in the photos, I painted the wreath with an aqua shimmer pen for even more sparkle, then added the sentiment with the aid of strategically placed foam tape and called it done!

 Thanks for taking time to stop by!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  You Have My Heart (ret.SSS), Bitty Buzzwords (Honey Bee)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Black, Glitter Assortment Pack (SSS)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Other:  You Have My Heart and Bitty Buzzwords matching dies, Garden Trellis Cover Plate die (Altenew), Featured Sentiment die (Altenew), Tonic Aqua Shimmer pen, SSS Fine Detail White embossing powder

Copics:  RV69, 66, 55, 52, BG99, 96, 93, 90, G29, 21, 40, YG45

Sweet Friend

Hello there and welcome back!  I have a card to share that I've made for the wonderful Festive Friday Challenge.  The three elements I used from the list are wreath, heart and friendship sentiment.

FF0088

I'm also joining the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the current theme is "Emboss It".

This is my second post today.  If you're interested, you can see my stargazer lily card here.

To create my card I used one of my favorite wreath stamps and a new word die.

I absolutely love that the wreath is shaped as a heart, I think it's so pretty.  The stamped image was colored with Copic markers then die cut with the coordinating die.  I also used a gold gel pen to color the berries but it looks more like platinum in the photos.  Next a panel of white cardstock was embossed with a 3D floral embossing folder and adhered to a panel of Pale Papaya, one of the new Stampin' Up In Colors which I love!  I knew I wanted to add the hugs die to the center of the wreath but it didn't stand out from the embossed background, so I channeled my inner Jennifer McGuire and set about adding vellum to the center.

To create some dimension as well as add the vellum center, I die cut the wreath three more times from white cardstock.  Before adhering I glued the colored wreath to a piece of vellum, let it dry then cut off the excess so it didn't show around the outside edges.  Then the vellum layer was sandwiched between the top layer and the other three layers glued underneath.  The hugs die was die cut five additional times from white cardstock, adhering the gold layer to two white layers and gluing to the vellum center, then adding the three remaining under the vellum so the center would not sag (I hope that makes sense!).  I truly felt like this was almost an engineering project lol!

To wrap things up the wreath with the die cut sentiment were adhered to the embossed layer, then the rest of the sentiment was stamped and heat embossed with gold embossing power, die cut and added to the card front with thin foam squares.  Lastly, some gold sequins were added to the card.

Thanks so much for visiting, I really appreciate it!  Take care and have a great weekend!

Stef

Stamps:  You Have My Heart (Simon Says Stamp), Bitty Buzzwords (Honeybee Stamps)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Pale Papaya (SU), Black (SSS), Tonic Mirror Gold cardstock, Pearlescent Vellum (Lawn Fawn)

Ink:  Gina K Obsidian Amalgam, Versamark

Other:  Big Scripty Hugs (SSS), Blossom Field embossing folder (SSS), You Have My Heart die, Featured Sentiment Die (Altenew), Antique Gold embossing powder (Altenew), Marvy gold gel pen, gold sequins from my stash

Copics:  G29, 28, 09, 03, 21, YG45, YR02, 01, 00

Hello Friend

It's time for a new Color Challenge at Splitcoaststampers!  I'm the host this week and have chosen Flirty Flamingo, Crushed Curry and Rich Razzleberry with a dessert option to use die cuts.

Splitcoaststampers

I'm also joining the current Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

SSS Wednesday Challenge

I had to again use the beautiful Farm Fresh Flowers stamp set for my card, after using it last week here.  I love these images and coloring them.  Copic markers similar to the challenge colors and neutrals Merry Merlot, Mossy Meadow and Basic Gray were used for coloring.

When the coloring was complete, the bouquet and metal pitcher were die cut with matching dies and set aside while I worked on the background and sentiment.  You can see in the photo above the die cut panel that was cut with the Dotted Scales Debossing Cover die and also rounded rectangle die, after which it was added to the card base with fun foam.

It took me longer to figure out the sentiment than it did to color with my Copics, but I finally landed on the pretty bold hello die.  It was die cut four times and then two Copics were used to achieve a custom ombre color close to Rich Razzleberry.

The sentiment was adhered along with the accompanying stamped friend, then the pitcher was glued directly to the debossed panel and the bouquet added with foam tape.  I think you can see above the sentiment was covered with a shimmer pen as were the flowers but I don't think that's visible.  So hard to photo sparkle!  Finally I added a few jewels and called it a day.

Thanks so much for visiting, I really appreciate it!  I hope you'll join us for the Color Challenge this week!

Stay safe and healthy!

Stef


Stamps:  Farm Fresh Flowers (Honey Bee), Mini Everyday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Neenah Solar White
Ink:  Gina K Obsidian Amalgam, Versafine Clair Nocturne
Other:  Dotted Scales Debossing Cover die (Altenew), Rounded Rectangle Nested dies (Hero Arts), Bold Hello (Simon Says Stamp), Bridal Mix Jewels (Lucy's Cards Little Things), Tonic Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen