One seed can start a garden, one candle can light a room, one step can begin a journey, one conversation can start a friendship, one smile from a handmade card can lift one's SPIRIT!

Monday, September 28, 2015

Merry Monday

Well, how fun is that!  And such great inspiration from all the team members!
I chose to use a little mitten stamp from PTI's Tiny Treats Christmas and a new die from
PTI Christmas Cheer.
I colored the mittens with copics and added some "diamond" stickles to the furry part of the mittens.  The background stamp is new from Lawn Fawn called "Snowy Backdrops".
I sponged on some distress ink in tumbled glass, shaded lilac and mermaid lagoon onto a piece of paper, then I die cut the sentiment.  I had some leftover pieces of the sponged paper so I cut some little strips to add to the top and bottom of my mitten strip!
 
Thanks for taking a look and have a great week!
HEART HUGS!!

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Tag You're It # 31

I just had to play along again with
The inspiration was terrific by Jeanne and ALL the TEAM members!!
What I loved about Jeanne's tag was the GOLD.  When I look out on a fall day and all those golden leaves are on the ground I just think of bits of gold from heaven and how beautiful it makes the brown earth look!
I used some distress ink on the paper by sponging on various fall colors, then I used my versamark pen to go around the edges of the leaves, dipped them in the gold embossing powder and heat set them.  I love how they look.
I decided to emboss a piece of white paper with the same gold ep so I could die cut the word "blessings" to match the leaves.
 
dies:  PTI Tag It # 6, Lawn Fawn Stitched leaves, SSS "blessings"
Stamps:  Keep it Simple:  Thanksgiving 
misc  Michaels: organdy, daffodil ribbon, twine from May Arts
paper:  Recollections:  Craft It vintage Glam, Pure Poppy, PTI Kraft card
 
Here is the inspiration photo:
 
Heart hugs and have a beautiful weekend friends! 

Friday, September 25, 2015

PTI September Blog Hop

I can't believe how quickly times passes, it is already time for the September
September Blog Hop Inspiration 
This was our inspiration piece and an extra video from a past MIM from Betsy showing how she does a "chalkboard" technique. 
paper:  PTI Ocean Tides, gold from Recollections: vintage Glam
Stamps:  Embellished elegance, Twig Leaf, Lovely Laurels, Vintage linens
ink:  HA unicorn white, and all the PTI colors for the leaves
EP:  WOW opaque bright white

YEAH!  It's Friday!!  Happy Weekend Friends!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Seize the Birthday ~ Border Punches or Dies

Welcome to another Seize the Birthday Challenge!
We are looking for your border punches or dies to use on your card as our topping this time.
you are always welcome to make "Any kind of birthday card" also.
I had some left over border scraps from a friend and thought they would make a nice border for this "Brushed Off" PTI stamp set.  I alternated the inks and the border card stocks with hibiscus burst and raspberry fizz. The sentiment is from Avery Elle: Cakes & Candles.
Lots of sequins were added!
I look forward to seeing what you create with this extra topping!!

Border Punches or Dies!!
 

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Make It Monday ~ Two toned Stamped Sentiments


 Danielle has a video up over at the Capture the Moment Blog showing  Two-Toned Stamped Sentiments.  Wow, she really made some cool cards and it is really easy to do...so go check it out.  This is the horizontal striped cover plate in Berry Sorbet, and I just happen to have some embossing powder that is a perfect match for that color.  It is a "pink" Rangers embossing powder.  My flowers and butterfly are from the Quilted Summer Stamp set.
The little sequin gold hearts are from Pretty Pink Posh. 
Thanks for taking a look!
My granddaughter's team won the match last night and she played in all three games!
Tonight there is another match, we just love watching her play!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Merry Monday ~ Watercolor

I have been playing with my watercolors and I had this pretty back ground sitting on my desk.  When I saw that Merry Monday was to use watercolors I thought this was perfect!
I added my Impression Obsession die of birch trees and the birds.  My snowy hills are from Lawn Fawn Stitched Borders with a little glitter added. Oh, I almost forgot...I used SSS stencil:  Falling Snow with embossing paste.
 
We are starting out with another gorgeous week here in the PNW...in the 70's so pleasant and nice.  Have a great week friends, I am off to watch my granddaughter play a VB game for her high school.  She is a freshman but made the varsity team...we love cheering her on!

Friday, September 18, 2015

The Card Concept ~ Daisies!

I colored up a bunch of yellow daisies (makes me think of the song:  We met in a field of yellow diaisies... by Charlie Rich) from the Lawn Fawn set called Happy harvest.
I used a lot of copics in the shades of yellow to orange.
The sentiment is a Lawn Fawn die:  Thinking about you which I die cut three times.  I colored a bit of blue around the daisies.
I am linking this card to The Card Concept Challenge.
 
Happy Friday Friends!
Have a great weekend!
Heart Hugs!

After sitting with this card on my desk I decided I did not like the orange for the word die...just didn't pop out enough, so I cut it in black and glued it to the top of the stack.  I think this is better.  Also, I added wink of stella to all the flowers, now they sparkle and shine!
 

CAS(E) this Sketch

Happy Harvest is a fun little set from Lawn Fawn, it has so many cute images perfect for autumn and perfect for the CAS(E) this Sketch.
I sponged on some distress inks:  scattered straw, crushed olive and tumbled glass for the background, then inked up the corn with PTI fine linen ink.
Everything was colored with copics.
The background was made with an MFT linen background stamp that belongs to my BFF.
 
We are back to very nice fall weather...in the 70's today!
Have a great weekend friends!
Heart Hugs!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Fall card with pumpkins

I seem to be on a watercolor kick and enjoying it!
I smooshed some distress inks onto a plastic sheet, spritzed it, then smooshed my water color paper into the ink.  I used fossilized amber and wild honey.
I heat set it, then stamped my pumpkins with versamark and heat set with gold embossing powder.  (I did the large one first, then masked it before stamping the smaller one)
I water colored the pumpkins with my Zig Real Brush Markers. 
I felt it needed a bit more, so I splattered on some ripe persimmon distress ink.
I finished it off with some orange sequins and a twine bow.
The stamp is from Lawn Fawn:  So Thankful
Once again I am entering this into the AAA Cards : 48 Autumn colors

Autumn Cards

I had sponged a lot of distress inks onto a piece of paper and die cut all the leaves from Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves and Small Stitched leaves.  These were leftover from another card I made.  OMG, I noticed my dashed white line did not go all the way up the side...I fixed it, so the card is alright, the picture is NOT, sorry about that!
I do love Fall when the world is just full of all those awesome colors, the yellows, golds, oranges, reds and greens, I LOVE IT!  And I must admit to loving the shorter days and even cooler or rainy ones because then I don't feel so guilty playing in the studio all day!
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Monday, September 14, 2015

PTI's September "Create Along With Us"!

OMG It was hard to pick just ONE inspiration card from this release!
I combined two of Dawn's cards and came up with this"
I used Tucked In:  Thinking of You and a Die from the Mat Stack 4 collection (selectively cut!) and then some stamps and dies from Quilted:  Autumn.
I layered a piece of orange Zest pattern paper and then a piece of PTI vellum over the top.
DSC_6685.1DSC_6705.1 
Thanks for taking a look!

Merry Monday ~ Sentiment as focal point and NBUS!!

Merry Monday 
asks for a focal sentiment on the face of the card...what could be better than a GREAT BIG MERRY!!  This stamp was purchased a year ago from Damask Love and never been used  (which allows it to qualify for my last card in Darnell's NBUS CHALLENGE!!)...so I white embossed it on water color paper.  Really put on a lot of water and paint (distress ink),  Then I took a piece of saran wrap and crinkled it up and pushed it into the paper with ink, I let it sit until it was fairly dry and gently lifted it up...it does give lots of lines and textures and shading.
I found a "Christmas" that was the right size and white embossed it on green paper.




Thanks for taking a look friends!
Have a great week!!
Heart Hugs!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Tag You're It!

I think this might be my first tag for Tag You're It 
 How is that possible?
I followed the cupcake theme...found one cupcake in the Tremendous Treats:  Birthday collection.  I had to make it with chocolate icing, of course!  I used Distress Pens to color and die cut with water color paper.
OH...the tag itself was cut with watercolor paper and can you guess what I used?
BRUSHO!!  
And it was the orange color I used!
I love how it splatters out, reminds me of fireworks and how all of a sudden the explosion is filled with lights of all colors...that is what happens with this if you just spray it at an angle and don't saturate the paper!

So fun!  I added a second tag to the back to match the berry sorbet ribbon I used.
This was very fun, I will definitely be back with more tags in the future!!
Here is the awesome inspiration tag from the very talented Nancy Penir .
 
I hope you will play along and thank you for stopping by and visiting me!!
Have a terrific week!
Heart Hugs,
Colleen

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Another card for NBUS Challenge

When Linda was here visiting me,  we went to the Craft Warehouse in Beaverton and had a lot of fun roaming that store...so many goodies!  I purchased some Fall Home accessories, like leaves and acorns etc.  But they have a wonderful paper crafting area too!
Well, shame on me, but I went back yesterday with my two daughters!  While they were looking for Fall Home accessories, I was looking at stamps and dies and other things crafty related.  I spotted this Penny Black Stamp:  Fragrant and thought it would be so pretty to water color or even use copics.  I stamped it on watercolor paper and used my Zig Clear Real Brush Markers.  The sentiment is from SSS:  Handwritten Borders.
Since this is a NEW stamp (hmmm, I have plenty already in my stash that need to see ink, but love playing with most recent new ones!) I will join in the NBUS Challenge!
You have until next Friday the 18th to link up any NEW TO YOU STAMP or DIE or NEVER-BEFORE USED SCHTUFF!!  go to Darnell's blog to check out the rules and all the awesome prizes she will be randomly giving away!!

NBUS Challenge & Addicted to CAS

Thank you Darnell for encouraging us to use our NBUS!!
                         
         This is a NEW We R Memory keepers embossing folder...and the NEW Little Stitched leaves from Lawn Fawn!  I took a piece of paper and using various distress inks, I sponged all over the paper, then laid out all the leaves (original and little) and cut them out. The stitched border is also NEW from Lawn Fawn called Stitched Borders.
I added a strip of glitter paper to the top and bottom of the rustic cream paper.
My sentiment is from an old PTI set called Falling Leaves.
Oh and this is a CAS from Nicole from the Lawn Fawn blog
           

                          Never-Before-Used-Schtuff (Stamps, Dies, EFs, etc.) 
And if you want to play along with this challenge you can go HERE to Darnell's Blog and join in the fun!!  She has many sponsors and lots of goodies to give away!!


                 I am also entering this card in the Addicted to CAS Challenge     

thanks for stopping by!!    

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Seize the Birthday ~ NO Topping!!

Seize the Birthday Challenge has NO TOPPINGS this time!
ANY day that is a birthday, is a good day to be happy, right?
So I used a friends stamp from PTI: Balloon Bash and did a little masking and then just stamped away to get a lot of nice soft colors.
The little bunny holding that big bouquet of balloons (and floating away, I think!!) is from Mama Elephant:  Up and Away
I couldn't resist a few sequins too!

 
I hope you will join us with "Anything Goes" Birthday Card!

Make It Monday..Camouflaged Pocket Inserts!

A great new MIM up HERE.  Dawn has a fabulous idea for a making a pocket card but camouflaging it with die cuts!  Love it!!
I do not own that bookmark die, but my BFF does and I made some when I was at her house!!  I chose Beautiful Brushstrokes for the flowers and leaves and the sentiment is from Twig Leaf.


I tried a different one first..using candles, good idea, but didn't really pan out...might give it another try and place the candles on top of a BIG die cut number, what do you think??
there is a sentiment inside...it just reads "happy birthday", but the candles got all wonky on me, so they kind of stick out instead of laying flat...this one has to be a redo!!
 

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Watercoloring ~a very productive 8 days and one more to go!

Linda and I have had so much fun, starting with PTI's SAF that we mostly participated in and then watching videos for watercoloring and blending inks by Laura Bassen.
I am just going to post a whole bunch of them here and give a brief description of them.
 A water wash with distress inks for the background, the stamps were colored with Zig Brush pens.  Lawn Fawn "Happy Harvest"
 MFT Wonky Chevron Background white embossed and then water colors in a gradient effect.  Mama Elephant "Up & Away" colored with Distress Markers
 A beautiful flower set from Clearly Besotted, "Friends Forever" that Linda brought with her.  The background is a gradient water color with an added dotted stencil that was dotted "off" with a piece of paper towel in random places.
The same stamp set as above from Clearly Besotted, this time white embossed and colored with distress ink, smooshed on an acrylic block.  My brand new FAVORITE: Abandoned  Coral (LOVE!!).  I took my Impression Obsession thin stripe background stamp and inked it up with versamark and embossed with white ep.  Then I took my bundled sage distress ink and rubbed it across the paper.  I wanted to add a light blue water wash around the flowers  but was afraid I would totally mess it up!!  Water color still scares me!!
 A single blue gradient watercolor wash, after it was dry I stamped the leaves from Turning a New Leaf, then I added some white pigment dots for the Bokeh effect.  The sentiment is from PTI Choose Joy...love it!
 I had this NBUS from Impression Obsession, "Pine Tress"  Cover a Card,  and decided I needed to use it and to also try another technique with the distress inks.  First I rub a bit of the distress inks (I think I used four colors) across the page, then I spritzed the heck out of it and helped to move the ink around with a brush.  After it was dry I stamped the trees...like FOUR times in the Misti...because the watercolor paper had so much texture, I didn't get a perfect impression, so I simply went over it with some black water color paint and my paint brush.  I took some pigment ink for the watercolor inks and really got a lot of ink on it and then I flicked small paint splatters all over the card.
 I took a new to me Kirarina Wink white pen and made more distinct snow dots.  I also added white to the branches of the trees.
 After I did the first one, I thought I would try another one, only this time emboss the trees with white as if they are covered in snow...more softer looking and not nearly as striking as the first one.
And after doing those two I thought I would like to try the same embossed trees but this time sponging on my distress inks.  It is very pretty in real life, but again not nearly as striking as the first watercolor one with the silhouette trees.

Sorry for the long post, just thought I would put them all out there in one full swoop..!!!

Tomorrow I may try more flowers...hmmm, I think I will have to practice a lot more before those ever meet the blog!!

My BFF is here tomorrow, then leaving on Tuesday morning.  She lives in Washington, about a 3 hour drive.  we have spent hours and hours in this studio.  She is in sitting and relaxing playing games on her Kindle while I post this!  I think I will retire now too!
Thanks for hanging in with me and taking in this long post!!

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Merry Monday ~ Holly

Linda and I watched a video at Jennifer McGuire's Blog
and we looked at each other and thought of doing the same thing, obviously with a different background stamp (it had to be holly and I just happened to have an older wooden Hero Arts stamp called Holly Flourish.  Being the Bestie, I let my friend use it first and WOW do I love what she did with it!  (Of course, I was slaving away in the kitchen browning up some beef for a taco salad, and then making a Texas Chocolate Sheet cake, and grilling some chicken for our lunch!!   All while my friend is just playing away in the studio!!)  Ha Ha!!   My thought was to maybe use gradient greens, tried it and did NOT like it.  So then Linda gave me this idea:  stamp the holly flourish with white pigment ink, then with the BACK of a rectangle stamp (just happens to be a PTI: Crackle stamp) I inked up the back with the green and stamped it ...had to do it four times to get a good layering of ink!  Doesn't it look cool?  and the picture below I took at an angle hoping you could see the white on white...it is very soft and velveteen looking!
My sentiment is a SSS die cut with a little PPP gold heart for an accent!

Go here to Merry Monday to play along.