commissioned cards

And yet more commissioned cards. 

Requested for a policeman getting his third star ...

And I loved this one. Got the request for a "Traufe" card - Trauung + Taufe (marriage + baptism) card. And the couple loves Dumbo. OMG. That stumped me for awhile. Nothing against Dumbo, but for the life of me I could not get a wedding card and Dumbo combined in one design idea that I felt comfortable with.

I searched all my supplies (for two hours) trying to find inspiration and these Top Dog Die elephants did the trick. An elegant elephant wedding card - whoddathunk? The white and gold did the trick. And pleased my customer.

STAMPlorations cover plate

Waffle Flower Tower Alpha die

Top Dog elephant die

Have a great weekend! 

guest designing at cas on friday

I'm joining the talented ladies over at CAS on Friday today for this fortnight's challenge which is "Tag It". I decided to use a tag along with the spotlight technique for this wedding card for a friend's daughter.

Altenew Sketchy Floral stamp

WPlus9 Timeless Tags die

Ellen Hutson Congrats die

Altenew inks - Blush, Grapevine, Paper Bag, Deep Iris

So this wonderful stamp does nearly all the work for you. And as lovely as it looks colored, it's also pretty amazing in B/W, especially with a small portion colored for interest. I used Altenew inks and my water brush.

And take that interest up a notch by popping it up a notch. I stamped the image onto CS and die cut the tag shape, then adhered it with foam tape in the appropriate spot. I added a sentiment die cut from rose gold foil CS. On the inside I stamped the bride and groom's names (with this great alpha set) and a strip of washi.

I chose my colors from the Pantone Quietude palette over at Ellen Hutson.

Thanks for having me, CAS on Friday. I hope you'll play along. Happy weekend!

twofer card challenge - hearts

It's taken a while, but I've got an entry for this month's Twofer Card Challenge. This month we're to use hearts. Ready for my twofer?

STAMPlorations Clustered Hearts die

Kelly Purkey Ampersand die

Honey Bee Grunge Alphabet stamp

We R Memory Keepers Gemstone embossing folder

Heidi Swapp gold spray ink

See the cluster of hearts? Pretty normal that they make an appearance on a wedding card, right? Even if they're not only die cut, but also embossed. So here's my second make.

STAMPlorations Clustered Hearts die

STAMPlorations Layered Snowman stamp

STAMPlorations Party Time stamp

Memory Box Branch die

It's a birthday card with a whole slew of chickies sending wishes. Recognize their faces - yep those are carrol noses actually, from Layered Snowman. To tell you the truth, this card was already made for the March CUTplorations challenge (which is on a temporary winter break) where this was going to be the challenge graphic ;) Probably makes more sense now, eh?!?

How nice that the Twofer girls chose hearts for their theme this month!

Oops - still have to learn that I need a shot of both cards in one photo. Improvising here...

I'm also playing at:

AAA Cards - Only Die Cuts

ATSAM - #279 CAS

Happy Little Stampers CAS - Hearts

Memory Box - Hearts (2nd card)

Cards in Envy - Give it some Heart

Watercooler Wednesday - All About Occasions

Die Cut Divas - Love is in the Air

enabled by therese

Rarely does this happen, but when I saw this card by Therese C. I went right out and bought that alpha die. Knew I had a wedding coming up and decided on the spot that I was going to CASE her card. Wanna see?

My bridal couple was going natural - wood slices as table centerpieces and muted colors. So I worked some woodgrain paper, pastel and gold sequins AND tiny hearts die cut with Winnie and Walter Audrey Cutaway from their wedding invitation into my shaker card design.

Used Memory Box Urban Lowercase Alphabet die and Dienamics Ampersand die.

We gifted them money (which I put into a kraft gift card envie on the inside of the card) and I wrapped it all up with this hashtag LOVE wall hanging I found at TJMaxx. And brought back in my suitcase!

Happy Sunday! And thanks, Therese! This, BTW, is what their tables looked like at a local winery.

it's red, white and blue for the inspiration

Popping in to share the results of my latest crafting session. Thanks to two guys who share a birthday on July 3rd and my lightbulb moment to use red and blue to spice up the design in a nod to America's birthday these two cards were born.

Both were going to be the same design, but then I decided to skip the stamping on the bottom for the second one (on the right). But to give it a bit more balance I stamped the mailbox image in the lower right corner.

I chose to use STAMPlorations Country Rustic for some good, down home Americana images. I had thought I would give the images touches of red and blue watercolor originally, but then decided to pull out some stars from Winnie and Walter Big Bang Confetti and added red and blue that way.

Cuz I liked the idea so much and there are two casual weddings happening this week in Michigan I decided to carry my design idea over to two wedding cards too!

Liking the plentiful white space, I used STAMPlorations Newlyweds and Newyweds extras from The Bee's Knees line along with a sentiment from The Birds and the Blooms. After deciding that I might have been heavy handed with the stars on the first one, I went a little lighter on the second.

Do you have a favorite? What do you think about the flat photography trend - I've decided to give it a try. Saves me having to plop myself down on the floor in between the dining room table and the floor length window to shoot my cards on the dining room chair every time. I'm getting too old for that ;)

I'm playing in a couple places with my patriotic cards:
Penny Black and More - For the Boys
Cards in Envy - Red, White and Blue
#ppmoodboard - July 4th
Curtain Call - Red, White and Blue

winnie walter leading lady - take one - watercolor

Hello friends! I'm thrilled to be sharing my creations over at Winnie & Walter as Leading Lady this month. And thankful that I get to give away a w&w $30 gift card to one of you who leaves a comment on all my Leading Lady posts here on my blog this month! W&W products are such fun.  I've got four projects for you today.

When Shay of w&w said "delve into a topic... whatever makes you giddy" I decided I'd be delving into trends and techniques. They make me giddy! Hope you like what you see this month. I'll be posting a "Take" every Saturday. Today we'll talk WATERCOLOR.

Watercolor is not a new trend, but judging by the plethora of watercolor mediums on the market, it doesn't appear to be going out of style any time soon. What can you use to watercolor? Well, watercolors for one - the tube or pan kind. Or dye inks. Or water-based markers. Or, or, or.

Card #1

On this card I've used turquoise and pink Dylusions spray inks spritzed with water for a smooshing with an acrylic block technique (a la Mayuri!) to create a watercolor background. I stitched that onto a card and added a Flawless Diamond cutaway cut from silver cardstock. I left a few pieces in for some extra brightness to go with my sentiment. It's from Wishing You.

Card #2 

Notice the background colors and their placement are similar to card #1, just softer (and vertical). That's because after smooshing card #1's background, I spritzed the leftover ink on the acrylic block and smooshed it onto a second piece of watercolor paper. Stamped a few tweeties from the delightful, recently released So Tweet and a sentiment as well as a snippet of stamped  woodgrain from Into the Woods at the bottom too. What do you think - are the birdies falling from the sky or bouncing on a trampoline?

Card #3

Source: Adrienne Vita

Modeled this card on an inspiration piece and stamped flora and fauna from In Bloom: Addie's Garden, Elsa's Flora and Anna's Flora in gray and then heat embossed My Precious gems. TIP: Stamp with black Versafine and heat emboss with clear powder to avoid stray black embossing powder bits all over your card.

I did some messy application of color to the stamp images.  Distress Inks pressed onto an acrylic block as a palette were my watercolor medium. I applied some water and dropped in ink with a brush. Splattered the leftover ink and even used Wink of Stella on the gems to add some sparkle to this one-layer card.

And meet card #4. Watercoloring an image "rainbowed" seems popular lately. I've created an ultra-CAS wedding card using Sugar Rush and sentiments from The Big, The Bold Party and Extras. Gave it a huge portion of fun topping the cake using Distress Inks to watercolor.

Remember to leave a comment on my four Leading Lady posts (today I'd like to hear  what your preferred watercolor medium is) to be in the running for the w&w gift card. I'll announce a lucky winner on April 6th. 

In Take Two, we're gonna talk about the ILLUSTRATED trend...

it's a happy blue world

I love Pinterest Inspired Challenge. The last inspiration photo totally spoke to me and this month's is no different. Had to play along and it was the perfect chance to give my new watercolors a test drive.

I heat embossed Penny Black Retro Pattern BG stamp onto watercolor CS. Then I went to town randomly watercoloring the little spaces. No thinking. So soothing. Thanks for the 30-Day Coloring Challenge Kathy R.!

It's amazing how just by adding a bit more water, you get such a range of hues with the colors. Strong stuff those Gansai Tambis. Added the sentiment from Bold Blooms to qualify for the current Mix It Up Challenge at Ellen Hutson. I'm also joining in at Seize the Birthday (without candy toppings) cuz I plan to use this as a masculine birthday card.

And then I dug out this bridal couple who had come to live at my house just before Shirley B. brought out her bridal couple stamp set. They kinda got lost in the shuffle. But don't they look great paired with some Essentials by Ellen loveliness? And a touch of color to her bouquet.

My sentiment is heat embossed "best" and die cut Merry and Bright. I'm joining the Cupcake Inspirations, Simon Says Wednesday (One Layer), Challenge up your Life and Stempelkueche challenges too.

new. beginnings.

I've a reminder card for you today for The Mixed Media Card Challenge. I've got a wedding card, but I skipped the optional sequins. I've got enough going on on my card without 'em ;)

This card was a result of me and my new Color Bursts trying to get to know each other. I dry embossed watercolor CS, poofed some blue and green CB onto it, spritzed it with water and panicked. But after some tipping, dabbing and patience, I was pretty happy with this cool BG panel. And after sopping up leftover color, got five tags outta the deal too!

Grungy stamped some hearts, die cut a heart from old tulle and added a nest of wispy gold thread. I heat embossed "celebrate" from Winnie and Walter Big and Bold Extras onto a snippet of black CS and die cut "love" from Amy Tangerine from black CS and white fun foam. Adhered them together and topped it with Glossy Accents.

Even adhered the "love" with dimensional adhesive. And cuz it's so yummy, here's another shot of that texture and shine!

I'm really pleased with this result. Just have to get a better relationship going with those poofy Color Bursts. Anyone know of good videos for me to watch?

I'm playing at:
Stamps and Stencils - Oh So Blue
Addicted to Stamps and More #176 - Anything Goes
Sisterhood of Crafters - Something old (tulle), Something new (Color Bursts)
Anything but Cute #9 - Bring in the New (Color Bursts)

Thanks for visiting.

Mixed Media Card Challenge #19

If you are looking for my CASEplorations post, click here.

Hope you had yourself a merry, little Christmas and a happy, New Year! It's a time for new beginnings - both on the calendar and over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge! Did you get nice and mixed media messy last year with us? If not, why not join us this year?

January's challenge is all about "Beginnings". And the optional element is "sequins". Sounds like a great time for a New Year's card. Or a shaker. Or a baby card. Or how about a wedding card?

So meet my wedding card. I'm actually sharing a card published in Paper Crafts magazine back in November 2014. I think it fits the bill perfectly.

Just to give you another look at the yumminess of that Perfect Pearls shimmer... depending on the way the light hits it it looks different every time!

Mixed media card? Well, I'm sayin' yes. In addition to stamps and ink, I've got

TEXTURE - heat embossing on frame and sentiment (Papertrey)
DIMENSION - die cuts
TECHNIQUE - heat embossing, Perfect Pearls on Versamark BG (Impression Obsession)

See that sparkle and shine from the Perfect Pearls? I just love this technique. I did a tutorial on it for this card if you're interested.  Join us with a mixed media card for MMCC #19 won't you?

I'm joining the parties at:

SSS Wednesday Challenge. It's "Party" theme there this week!
Inkspirational #98 where it's non-Christmas

Mod Squad where the theme is Anything Goes with at least one die cut and

new to me Stamp, Ink, Paper #28 where it's also non-Christmas!

nbus goes us - take 2

More fun with PTI Phrase Play #11 die. First up, inspired by a sketch and code word.

Got my butterflies from STAMPlorations Trendy Butterflies, stamped in Neon Yellow pigment ink.

And the rest of the sketch... love how the frame from the sketch is built into this die cut! I used white textured CS for the die cut to help it stand out from the cardbase a bit. Recognize the sketch?

Going to CASe This Sketch #126 where the incredibly talented Sonja K. is guest designing.

And to Addicted to CAS #65

How about a wedding card? Same frame, die cut from recycled gold packaging, this time as a shaker housing some Pretty Pink Posh sequins and backed with a panel watercolored with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink.

In a nod to the sketch I added some vellum roses and watercolored leaves die cut with Winnie and Walter Maggies Roses.

I'm hooking up at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge where it's about Love of Plants

And at Sparkle and Shine sponsored by Pretty Pink Posh

Thanks for looking. More tomorrow!