it's over... the cas watercolor that is

Bringing up the rear are two birthday and one hello card. Sure hope my Mom likes my prolific creations...

Papertrey die meets Sweet Stamp Shop sentiment

Only Papertrey products

FYI, I agonized on this one. Add a tiny strip of black CS after the "Y" and off to the edge? Nope. Add skinny washi (yellow and turquoise) down to the "happy" and after the "Y"? Nope. A tad of B/W chevron washi somewhere??? Nope. Call me crazy.

And meet my favorite of the whole bunch...

QuicKutz die meets Prima sentiment

This little kitty from Prima Yuki (I don't even like cats - all they do is mess in my garden) just jumped out at me (OK, fell out of the cupboard) to perch on the U. How cute is that?!? Which almost sent me off to peruse other stamp sets for image/word combo stamps that could be used with die cuts. Almost.

Hooking up at:
Mod Squad - Use Water

Bright and Beautiful

#99 CAS

#53 watercolor

CASual Fridays 136

it still ain't over...

Back with a couple more of my CAS watercolor cards, like here and here. Today it's about hot stuff and hot colors.

Hot, right? Amy Tangerine Associate die meets Paper Smooches sentiment. And the red spectrum of the rainbow watercolored paper.

I'm playing at:

ATCAS #56

ATSAM #130

CASology #132

 And here is a hot version of yesterday's card.

QuicKutz monogram die meets Lawn Fawn sentiment and the red to yellow spectrum.

Playing here:

Bright and Beautiful

Lawnscaping #99

There's more to come. I've changed the design up a little too. Thanks for visiting.

it ain't over...

... 'til the watercolored paper is used up.

Remember this post and these watercolored pieces.

Following the same card design and AAA Cards Challenge #32 I created this.

Decided to use the "love" to create a sympathy card this time. Die cut Amy Tangerine Associate "love" from my bolder watercolored paper. Selectively inked a sentiment from Altenew Ori Kami. And called it quits.

Next card was created with the current Lawnscaping challenge in mind.

I love the "be unique" sentiment from Clear to See. I just changed it up a bit, using my QuicKutz Monogram U die. TIP: If you try this design, stamp the sentiments before adhering the stacked die cuts so that your die cut doesn't interfere with your acrylic block.

I'm playing in the current Cards and More challenge #125 - Turquoise, Purple and Gray - with both cards.

Warning. The watercolored paper ain't used up yet...

up in the sky (Lawnscaping, Seize the Birthday, TCEC)

Quick one. A birthday card for a six-year-old gal. Lawn Fawn PP. Some balloons and some clouds. And a part of a sentiment stamp from Stampendous from which I have certainly gotten my money's worth. (It's actually from a baby set.)

Toughest part was deciding on which PPs to combine and then tying those stinkin' little threads!

I'm joining the fun at:

Lawnscaping Patterned Paper

The Cutting Edge #12 cuz I'm up in the air (and have clouds!)

Seize the Birthday without toppings

Supplies:

Paper:  Bringmann, PP Lawn Fawn

Stamps: Stampendous

Ink : Versafine

Tools: balloon and cloud die PTI, number MFT

Other: thread

32 to go (WW, Make the Day Special, Lawnscaping, CASE, Time Out)

I so loved the color combo from the Winnie and Walter Playdate #2 that I've four more invitations for you today. (Then I'm moving on, I promise.)

You saw my Distress-Ink-to-acrylic-block-misted-and-squished-to-paper technique BG yesterday. Well I made another while I was at it, just using the pink tones. That's what you see above. I used the sketch from the current challenge #3 at Make the Day Special. Because I embossed the words from W&W onto the vellum banner I'm hooking up to the current Lawnscaping challenge - Embossing too. And I'm going over to A Sprinke of Imagination one more time, too (peony, fuschia and lime)!

I only wanted the words for my sentiment above so I partially die cut them with my Dieversions die from a third panel I had created, the remainder of which you see in the next card.

Angled the panel,  heat embossed the cascading confetti stars in silver and die cut the sentiment from silver CS. Opted for a green base for this one. 

This BG I created by swiping Adirondack ink pads across normal CS then spritzing with water. The result is more vibrant but also watercolor-y. I die cut the sentiment from the center of the panel and heat embossed some of the twinkle confetti in gold on the cardbase before adhering the negative. I also heat embossed "birthday" and "anniversary" across the bottom cuz we are celebrating both events at our "161" party. I'm joining CASE Study with this one where Pamela H.'s amazing card is up this week (negative die cutting, birthday sentiment at the bottom).

So where did the positive die cut go from that last card? Funny you should ask...

Now doesn't that look like a party invitation? Totally inspired by Vanessa M.'s card in the W&W gallery, I changed it up a little and love the result.  I'm playing at Time Out challenge #7 where the theme is "summer" and this definitely says summer party in my opinion. Some of my DT teamies run Time Out and I've been meaning to join in!

Whew, that's it for today. TTFN. But I've still got 32 to go...

36 to go (WW, Lawnscaping, NBUS)

Have you seen this inspiration photo for the Playdate over at Winnie and Walter? Gorgeous, don't you think? Speaking of Winnie and Walter, isn't it incredible how they designed a stamp that is instantly recognizable all over blogland.  Know which stamp I'm referring to? The Big and Bold series.  Those sentiments - I used them here - are wonderful.

But, today it's not about those sentiments ;) It's about my invitations for our "161" party, 'member? So I pulled out those colors of ink, the Big Bang Confetti stamp set for its maiden voyage and my Party Time Dieversions die and went to town creating. Seriously.

Found my inspiration in the W&W gallery. Here are my first two invites for this challenge.

Some ink-to-acrylic-block-misted-and-squished-to-paper technique for the BG. Some heat embossed twinkles. Some sequins. And the die cut.

And this one is a pocket. I 'm planning to PC generate the who/what/when/where info for the inside of the invites, but on this design I can fold it up and stick it in the pocket. Isn't this fun?

I'm playing at Lawnscaping Challenge - Embossing

and have you seen this? Ms. NBUS herself, Darnell K,  has a 500 followers celebratory challenge going on right now to break out the NBUS and U it! (Should you have no clue what I'm talking about... click on the link. You'll be very happy you did ;)))

I'll be back at ya tomorrow with more invites using W&W and these scrumptious colors. Thanks for looking.

Supplies for #1:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps: Winnie and Walter

Ink : Distress, Versamark

Tools: die Dieversions

Other: sequins

Supplies for #2:

Paper:  CS Neenah, PP Lawn Fawn, vellum

Stamps: Winnie and Walter

Ink : Distress, Versamark

Tools: die Dieversions, wonky border die MFT

Other: sewing machine

epilogue to danke (Lawnscaping, SSS, LIM)

Last time I'm comin' at ya with the peony from Stampendous.  Remember in this post I mentioned a "typical Maria" card front.  Well, I had to make it.

I wanted the watercolor effect without an hour of watercoloring.  Tried a new technique to get a peony-shaped-watercolor-blob onto my front panel, which I could then stamp over with the outline stamp. And I opted for blue. Cuz there are so many blue peonies IRL, right? Whatever.

First I inked up the cling side of the stamp with various blues. Then spritzed with water. Now if I had just flipped this over and stamped with it I would have gotten a mirror image of the bloom. Not what I wanted.

So I laid a piece of acetate onto the inked surface, thinking I could get the rough shape of the bloom onto the acetate and use that to stamp onto my watercolor paper panel.

It kinda worked. Of course, when you pull the acetate up off of the stamp the ink pools. Maybe if I had used less water the pools would have been smaller?!? I picked up more of the ink on the acetate and pressed it onto the watercolor paper. And then inked up the stamp, spritzed it and stamped over the watercolor blob.

This is what I got. Definitely not a technique for control freaks... notice the few stray streaks up top... But I then tried something else new, not sure if it would work, but it did. I sprinkled some Ranger Holographic Embossing Powder on the areas that were really wet.  Hit it with the heat gun and it worked! You can see the close up in the first photo above.  Here is the finished card.

I'm hooking up to the Lawnscaping Challenge #79 where we are to try a new technique.  I tried two - transferring watercolor with acetate and heat embossing with watered down ink.

Also joining the fun at Less Is More where it's about a touch of turquoise.  Can do. And I'm squeaking in at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with this Birthday card too.

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies for Alles Gute:

Paper: Bringmann, watercolor (Target for kids)

Stamps: bloom Stampendous,  sentiment Klartext

Ink : Distress Ink, Versafine Smoky Gray

Tools: 

Other: holographic embossing powder

another mia bella (LIM, Pinspired, Lawnscaping)

Did you see my card inspired by a new PP from SEI shown at CHA 2013?  Well I made another cuz it was such fun.

Masking.  Distress inking.  Splattering with diluted acrylic paints.  A gorgeous sentiment.  Here, check out the yummy gold shimmer.

Entering Less is More - #103 Friends.

I chose the color combo, blues and grays for Pinspired - Challenge #2.  Notice the dots as fringe on the scarf?

And I'm linking up to the Lawnscaping Challenge - # 50 Winter Wonderland cuz those splatters could be bokeh snowflakes gently falling through a winter sky.

Happy winter weekend wherever you are.

Supplies for Friends:

Paper: CS Neenah

Stamps: sentiment Hero Arts

Ink : Distress ink, Hero Arts

Tools:  paint brush

Other: masking tape, acrylic paint, water

let's hear it for the gals (Lawnscaping, CMC, Dream Valley ...)

Bet you're dying to know what this girly in the sneak peek is all about, eh?  Sorry, gonna make ya wait...

OK.  So my cards take me so long cuz I get boggled down with all the possibilities - this ink or that one?  this PP or that one?  do I have a better heart stamp?  News flash:  it is really cool to challenge yourself to use only one stamp set.  Really cool.  Try it.  I've a couple more cards to share with you from the card set I made for BFF's birthday.  Remember this and this?  Using this age old Inkadinkado set:

Start with this inspiration photo from Challenge #57 at Inspired By:

And then notice the striped coffee cup stamp nestled between the bathtub and the martini glass.  Well, please meet "We Need Girl Time".

Took a Cat's Eye stack and just used it.  Talented people get paid lots of money to develop a bunch of ink colors that go together well.  Why not just trust 'em!

Entering this card at:
Card Mania - #12 Oh so girly!
Dream Valley - #48 Anything Goes

And... did you see that Lawnscaping is celebrating their second birthday?  Going strong.  Lawn Fawn is even getting into the die business now too I see.   Well, even though I'm not using LF stamps, I am making cards for BFF's birthday so I'm joining the fun.

Please meet  "Mani & Pedi - wishing you a Happy Birthday".  (Had to borrow the HB sentiment stamp for the inside from a different set but that's allowed.  My challenge.  My rules.)

Manicures and pedicures are so-not-me.  Don't know if it's that, or the fact that BFF is a hairdresser, or that these divas have such an attitude... I LOVE THIS CARD.  Did you notice the single bling on the sentiment?  And the cucumbers on their eyes?  Get outta town!

OK, so they are actually kiwis, but I'm sure your Pavlov's-dogs-brain told you at first glance they were cukes!  Some teensy thingies I picked up at our dollar store.  Supposed to go on your fancy, schmancy fingernails.  Nope.  But my wonderful card they may adorn...

These ladies are making their way over to:
Sweet Stamps - #100 Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - Friendship

Whew.  Long post.  It's bedtime.  Nite.

Supplies for Girl Time:

Paper: Cardbase Papermania

Stamps: Inkadinkado

Ink : Cat's Eye, Versafine

Supplies for Mani Pedi:

Paper: Cardbase Papermania

Stamps: Inkadinkado

Ink : Versafine

Tools: 

Other: bling, nail decals