Happy Monday!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend!!  Are you ready for a new Inky Paws challenge?  We've got a fun sketch for you this time!

For my card this week, I used the new Tree Rings Stencil over a piece of cardstock that I heavily inked up with Aged Mahogany distress ink.  I used some gold shimmer spray and misted over the stencil to get a gorgeous shimmer patter.  While that dried, I worked on the rest of my card.

I gold heat embossed a sentiment from the Wine A Little set onto some black cardstock.  I also edged that piece, which was cut with the Frameworks die, with gold embossing.  From the same wine set, I stamped and colored up a couple images on craft cardstock.  Then trimmed them out and layered them over some patterned paper and ribbon.

The background was die cut with the Frames and Flags die set.

I hope you'll join us for this fun challenge!

Thanks for visiting! <3 read more →

Hello hello and Happy Monday!
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  We participated in a waterfront festival!  While it didn't turn out quite as nice as we wanted it to, it was still a little fun.  But boy...we are tired!

So that gives us a good excuse to sit back and join in our current Inky Paws Sketch challenge!

For my card, I chose to use one of the brand new gorgeous stamp sets - Blooming Botanicals.  I started by inking up a piece of cardstock with Picked Raspberry Oxide ink.  Then misted my big botanical stamp with water and stamped it onto the oxide.  The ink reacts with the water and almost bleaches out the image.  It's a super cool affect and adds just a little bit of subtle detail to the card.

I also stamped a few of the lilies again to color and trim out to be the focal pieces of my card.  Using a circle die, I cut out a piece of my embossed background and layered it over the water stamped piece.  Colored up my lilies and fussy cut them out.

Then stamped and white embossed a sentiment from Peony Blooms onto some patterned paper and layered them around the circle window.  Scattered a few White Blizzard Nuvo Drops around my images and that was it!

You only have a few days left to join our challenge so don't miss out!

Thanks for visiting! <3 read more →

Hello hello!!
Happy Monday!!
Are you ready for a brand new Inky Paws challenge!??  This time we have another fun sketch for you to follow!!  So pull out your supplies!  I can't wait to see what you come up with.

For my card, I've used the Little Lilies image as part of the frame around my sentiment.  I had colored this image up awhile ago to use on a different card, but ended up not liking it.  So I set it aside to hopefully get used later...and this sketch offered the perfect opportunity for that!

The overall design is super simple.  I stamped out a background with some tone on tone yellows and added some shimmer.  Then did a little ink blending on a die cut circle to stamp my sentiment on.  I framed everything in black for that bold pop against the yellow and then foam mounted my colored lilies along the edge of the frame.

Super simple and oh so cute!!

I hope you'll join us for this fun challenge!!

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!! <3 read more →

Hello hello!  Happy Monday!
We're back for the second week of our gorgeous color challenge at Inky Paws and I hope you've had the chance to play along!

For my card this week, I combined a bunch of products from different companies, but ultimately I think they worked out perfectly together!  This card took several attempts to get right.  I really wanted to make sure the colors in our challenge were the star so I had to make a few designs before I found the one that I just loved.

The main focal point of the card is that gorgeous die cut heart in the center from Concord & 9th called Heartstrings Die.  I love this die cut but don't use it very often, so this card ended up being the perfect way to pull it back to the top of my stash.  I die cut several layers and then used one of the layers to watercolor in all the little middle parts with the colors from the challenge.

I layered the "frame" pieces up and then did some inlaying with the watercolored pieced so there is dimension around all that color.  I also made sure to spritz the watercolor pieces with some shimmer mist so they sparkle.

The background is a new die cut from Lawn Fawn called the Quilted Backdrop.  It's so gorgeous!  It's subtle so perfect to add some simple detail to the background of a card, but perfect to help pull a lot of different elements together.  I layered that over some lavender cardstock from Simon Says Stamp.

Then to pull in my Newton's Nook products, I used one of my all time favorite sets, Beautiful Wings (I know..not a cat set!  What is wrong with me??)
I white embossed a few butterflies onto some vellum and then inked them up with a dark purple ink before trimming them out and layering them onto my heart with a simple stamped sentiment banner.

I finished the card off with some White Blizzard Nuvo drops and that was it!!

I hope you'll join us for this fun challenge!!

Thanks so much for visiting! <3 read more →

Hey!!  Happy Tuesday!
It has been forever since I've had the time to participate in Tuesday Throwdown!  I can't believe I've missed so many of their challenges...but I am putting my best foot forward and working hard not to miss so many going forward!

So that starts now with our newest challenge starting today which is Seeing Stars!  We want to see you feature a bunch of stars on your project!!  And our awesome sponsor is Bugaboo!!

For my card, I decided to pull out my Gansai Tambi watercolors which I haven't played with in months!  I realized while making this card how much I've missed watercoloring!  Need to do that more often.  But with my paints, I did a very washy galactic type background using various shades of blue and a little purple.  I did 2 layers just to get a good vibrant color and depth.

Once that was dry, I pulled out my Big Bang Classic Stars Creative Screening from Winnie & Walter and applied some Pure Platinum Nuvo Mousse to my background so I'd have some shimmery silver stars!  It's so gorgeous!!  I'm in love!

While all that dried again, I die cut a bunch of clouds with my Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Border dies in both white and vellum.  I layered these onto my starry background and then added my little Chibi Unicorn image from Bugaboo that I had colored up in coordinating colors with my copics.

Next to my sweet unicorn, I added a great sentiment from the Paper Smooches Magical Sampler stamp set that I white heat embossed onto some black cardstock and then used the same star stencil and nuvo mousse to add a few more accent stars on the clouds.

I love it!!  So colorful and starry!

I hope you'll join us this week for this fun Star challenge!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! <3 read more →

Hello hello and Happy Monday!
Welcome back to a new challenge at Inky Paws!!
We have a gorgeous spring color palette for you to use for this challenge!  Perfect to go with all those super cute little flowers poking up in some of your yards :)

For my card today, I stuck with a simple design, only using the adorable little kitty from Newton's Costume Party.  But to start my card, I first created that circle in the background by doing an acrylic pour!  I'm still learning how to do this, and I'm not entirely that good at it...but I've been practicing for awhile and trying to find ways to use this technique on my cards.  So this card design felt like a good way to use it.  I mixed some blue, yellow, and white paints in a cup and them poured them onto my circle die cut....and they all mixed massively together to make green!  You can see a little bit of the other colors behind the kitty...but the green really took over.

So while that dried, I cut out a couple layers of vellum with a Hugs word die and also a simple white background for some extra fun detail.  I stamped and colored up my kitty image and then trimmed him out.

When the circle die was finally dry...it took forever!!  I adhered everything together onto my die cut background and added a few clear nuvo drops for a little extra shine.

I hope you'll join us for this fun color challenge!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!! <3 read more →

Hey!!  Happy Monday!
Have you had the chance to check out the newest sketch challenge at Inky Paws??
I say this ever time, sketches are a great way to kick-start your creativity if you are struggling to come up with an idea.  And this sketch is fabulous!

For my card this week, I pulled out the adorable Newton's Birdbath stamp set.  I colored this sweet image up with my copics and then trimmed it all out so I could layer the image onto a little scene.

Then I created my background by blending a couple of distress oxide colors together and used the Radiating Rays stencil from MFT Stamps for some extra detail.  I splattered the whole background with water and perfect pearls and set that aside to dry before cutting it out using the scallop frame from the Flags and Frames die set.

I layered my scallop framed oval onto the background and embossed my sentiment onto some vellum banners that I tucked behind everything.

I hope you'll give this sketch a try!  Can't wait to see what you come up with!!

Thanks for stopping by! <3 read more →

Hello hello!!!!  Happy Friday!!!
Who loves unicorns?  Pshh...everyone loves unicorns!  You are going to love the new Sami Stamps release then!  Cuz it's all about unicorns!!

We're also starting a new challenge for this month to Use Bright Colors, which is perfect with these adorable images!

I always think of swirling clouds high up in the sky when I think of unicorns, so I went with that idea for my card today.  I used some pinkish purple distress inks and blended them out around a cloud stencil until my entire card front was covered with bright clouds.

Then I layered a few vellum clouds over top and a scallop cut piece of cardstock to help ground my sentiment strip.

I colored up my Rose Unicorn with some pencils and added a ton of shimmer to her mane and tail.  Foam mounted her onto my panel and that was it!

I hope you'll join us this month!  Just remember to use a Sami Stamps image!

Thanks so much for stopping by! <3

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Hello hello and happy Monday!!
Stopping in to share a little reminder card for our current Inky Paws sketch challenge!  You have just a couple of days left to enter, so don't miss out!

For my card today, I've used the Hanging Around set.  This set is retiring and I've been told there are only a few left, so be sure to snatch yours up soon before it's gone!

I started by embossing my background panel and cutting it apart into 3 different sized stripes.  Then applied a very light blend of color from the bottoms fading up to white at the tops, and adhered all of those down onto a light grey cardstock.

Then, to make this card a little fun, I decided to have my koala swinging along the card!  So I cut a little track in my front panel, stamped my branch a couple of times, and hung the koala onto one of them!  So now he slides back and forth!

So super fun!  I'm addicted to making interactive cards right now and this one just fit so perfect with the stamp set!  To finish it all off, I stamped a coordinating sentiment and a few little lines to mimic ribbon and then clear embossed them.  Added a few white Nuvo drops and that was it!

Thanks so much for stopping by! <3

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Hello hello and Happy Tuesday!!
It's another snowy one here in Washington...kind of.  The weather has been quite weird lately...first snow, then rain, then the suns shining!  And right back to snow before you can blink...so strange.

Since I'm totally ready for spring, my card for today's new challenge at Tuesday Throwdown took on a very springy feel :)

It's been a really long time since I've used only patterned paper for my backgrounds.  I usually try to do something unique with a fun technique, but just wasn't feeling it for this card.  So instead I focused on the coloring to make my image pop and kept the rest of the card simple.

This little cutie is Amy in the Garden from our fabulous new sponsor-Sasayaki Glitter!  I colored her all up with my Prismacolor pencils and cut her out with a stitched rectangle before layering her onto my patterned papers.

I stamped and embossed a fun sentiment from HoneyBee Stamps onto vellum and then trimmed that into a flag and foam mounted it on the side.  A scattering of some Sparkling Clear Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and the card was done!

I hope you will stop by and join us for our Thinking of You challenge at Tuesday Throwdown!

Thanks for visiting! <3

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Hello and Happy Tuesday!
Time for a fun new challenge at Tuesday Throwdown!  This week we want to see your Favorite Embellishment!!

Our awesome sponsor for this week is Power Poppy!  Have you checked out their shop yet?  Wow...breathtaking!  I just love getting my hands on their images and coloring away!

For my card today, I have used the Spring Meadow Bouquet.

I colored up just a portion of it with my ShinHan markers and then trimmed around the whole thing to pop it up on my card front. 

Right now, my favorite thing to add to my cards is the Nuvo Drops in White Blizzard, so I added a bunch of those to the frame of my card and also to some of the flower centers. 

It's a pretty simple card, but that bouquet is so stunning!  It totally needed to take center stage on this card, that's why I left everything else quite simple.

Thanks for stopping by! <3

 

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Hello!
It's my third post as Guest Designer over at Newton's Nook and you do not want to miss this one!
Every set of Newton's Nook stamps comes with sooooo many wonderful images, that for this card...I couldn't just settle for one image...I had to use them all!!!

Here is a little sneak at what you will see over at Newton's Nook this week.

You can find all the details on this card at Newton's Nook.  So swing by to see all of the cute little scenes I created for my spinning wheel card!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! <3


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Happy Friday!
We're starting a new challenge today at Sami Stamps and it's an easy one!  Anything Goes!!  The only requirement is that you use a Sami Stamps image!

We don't have a new release for you this time, so the DT has created some fun fall cards using their favorite fall images from Sami's collection.  I chose to work with Sunflower Kitty.

I started this card by printing off my image with a super faint outline.  I really wanted to do some no-line watercoloring on this adorable little kitty and didn't want a bold black line getting in the way.  Once the image was printed, I used some of my Inktense pencils to do some simple coloring on the image.  It may be simple, but I think it is just so adorable!  I of course had to paint the kitty like my little Cloud...couldn't help myself.

For the background, I wanted to do something fun with a tone on tone design.  So I inked up a piece of cardstock in a dark green color and then added some green ink to some embossing paste so that it was just a little bit lighter than the background color.  Spread that on through a striped stencil and then sprinkled it with some glitter embossing powder.  I set that aside to dry and finished working on my kitty panel.

I trimmed the whole thing on an angle, fussy cutting around the kitty.  Then embossed my sentiment on some vellum and wrapped that around the lower portion of my panel.

After the embossing paste had dried, I hit it with my heat tool to set all the glitter embossing powder.  Added my kitty panel and a few Sparkling Clear Sequins and that was it!

I hope you will join us this month for our Anything Goes challenge at Sami Stamps!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    CAS(E) This Sketch #197
    Craft Your Passion #336-Anything Goes
    Fab n Funky #325-Animals
    Simon Says Stamp-Thinking of You
    Word Art Wednesday #254-Anything Goes

Have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by! <3

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Happy Friday!!!
We have another super cute release for you today at Sami Stamps!  This one is all about Greyhounds!  And we are starting a new challenge to add dots to your project!  Just remember to use a Sami Stamps image!

I've used Greyhound Friends and turned my card into a simple shaker frame!!  By putting foam tape and acetate around the outside of my image, that allowed me to put some tiny beads and sparkly shimmer dots into my shaker, while leaving my image framed in the middle.

My sentiment was black glitter embossed onto some vellum and adhered with some of the Stick It adhesive, since that doesn't show through!!  Hurray for that!

Stop by Sami Stamps to see the rest of this adorable release!!
Thanks for visiting! <3

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Happy Friday!!!
Stopping in to share a super cute little image with you from our most recent release at Sami Stamps!

This card is nothing like what I originally envisioned for it.  I used Mr. Pencil Peep on this card, but he was totally giving me a Harry Potter vibe from the beginning!  I tried so hard to come up with a great idea to turn it into that, but nothing was working out.  So I switched gears and want with something else.

I still wanted this cutie to be colored like Hedwig though...or at least like a white snowy owl.  So I fussed around with that for a good long while.  I didn't want to do just flat shading, I wanted there to be feathers and puffs...not sure it looks like that...but he's still cute :)

Then I set to working on my background.  I decided to do some ink blending around an embossed frame.  So, using my rubber embossing mat in my Cuttlebug, I embossed this fun design into my card front and then created a mask so I could ink the background around it.  After that was done, I cut out my owl and was starting to assemble everything, but really felt like the whole card was too plain.

So I put the die back into place that I had used for the embossing, and then used the same inks to blend on the inside of the frame.  Having the frame in place allowed for there to still be this nice white border so there is separation between the inside and outside areas.  Once it was all colored, I flicked on some white, black, and purple shimmer sprays.  Much better!  Plus now if you look close, you can see that his glasses are see through!

I printed just his glasses onto some transparency!  Cutting them apart was a bit tough but you just have to take it slow and really focus.  Before I adhered the transparent glasses, I outlined the eyes and added the white highlights in with a white gel pen so that they were a little bit bolder.  The transparency was dulling them down a bit so they needed some touching up.  Then I took some glossy accents and added little dots to the eyes and stuck the "glasses" down!  Worked like a charm!

I embossed my sentiment from Honey Bee Stamps Beautiful Life set onto some vellum and then flagged the ends and added it to my card with tiny strips of foam tape.  Scattered a few shimmy dots of glossy accents around the card and it was done!

You have just a few more days to enter our Anything Goes challenge, so don't miss out!  Just be sure to use a Sami Stamps image!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    As You Like It-Favorite Shaped Card Base (I don't really get into making anything other than the standard A2 size card base.  It's easy for me to visualize this style card and find great ways to use that space, whereas if I try to do any other shape, the design gets muddy or I just can't make it flow well enough.)
    Fussy and Fancy #171-Let's Fly Away
    Penny's Paper Crafty #292-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting! <3

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Happy Tuesday!
We have a fun new challenge for you today at Tuesday Throwdown.  We want to see Sparkle!!
And our fabulous sponsor this week is Honey Bee Stamps!!!  I'm so thrilled to have them as a sponsor!  Their products are absolutely adorable and every release they just get better!

I'm totally smitten with their stamps...not only are they gorgeous, but they have taken on a huge roll in my strive to overcome my creative rut.  And honestly, I think their designs are perfect to work with when searching for inspiration because they are lovely, yes, but they are simple in that loveliness.. So you don't have to always think of complicated techniques to pair with the stamps.  They are gorgeous on their own and I love that!

So I shared my tips on getting through a rut last week.  While I was making that card, this card happened to pop out as well :)

There is nothing overly complicated with this card and yet I feel like it is absolutely striking!  Again, to focus on getting my creativity flowing again, I stuck with the techniques and materials that I love, so sparkle, watercolors, and embossing.

I embossed all of the flowers that I used from the Country Wreath set in white onto watercolor paper.  Then I did super simple washes to color them.  Nothing fancy, just cover the image with water and drop your colors on.  Move them around a bit until they fill the image the way you want them to and then let them dry.  Simple as that.  It satisfies that desire to watercolor without having to think super hard about getting the right blend or not dropping too much water into the image.

I did blend a few colors together on each of the images.  For the flowers I did a blue and pink.  Nothing too crazy but just enough to change the colors from flower to flower.  And the leaves are all just 2 different shades of green.  Once everything was dry, I fussy cut them out.

For the background, I didn't want anything that would pull away from these super pretty flowers, so I stamped a simple stripe background with the Winnie & Walter Scenery: Stripes set in a super super light blue.

Then cut out a stitched rectangle frame with my Silhouette and mounted that to the card front with some foam tape.  I also applied a heavy coat of some Spectrum Noir Clear Shimmer because...why not? :)  Once that was all put together, I started assembling my flowers.  I wanted there to be a heavy cluster in the bottom right and a small cluster in the top left.  So I started with the bottom right and got everything arranged the way I liked it, adding foam tape to some and regular tape adhesive to others so there was a variation in their heights.  Then took the left over pieces and added them to the top left corner.

After all that was done, I realized I hadn't added a sentiment or figured out what I wanted that sentiment to be.  So I pulled out the Beautiful Life set and started testing which sentiment would work.  I totally meant to stamp more than just the Beautiful...but forgot and then couldn't find a good place to put the rest.  So I left it at just the Beautiful stamped onto some vellum and embossed with Liquid Platinum.

I scattered a few Sparkling Clear Sequins around the arrangements and added a little bit of Ice White Pearl Pen to the centers.  Love love Love!!

I hope you will stop by Tuesday Throwdown to see the rest of the DT's creations and then join in this super fun challenge!!

I'd like to enter this into the AAA Cards challenge - Blending!

Thanks for visiting! <3

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Happy Friday!
It's time for a new release at Sami Stamps and just in time for school to start, we have Pencil Peeps!  These guys are adorable, you don't want to miss them :)

We also have a few new ladies on the team!  Meet Rae Ann and Tracey!  Stop by their blogs and show them some love! 

Since I'm still working through my crafty rut (see THIS post for more on that), I struggled a bit to get something put together that really made these sweet images shine.  The first few ideas I had failed miserably...but I was determined to push through.

I'm working with Mrs. Apple Peep today for my card.  She's just so fancy!  She deserves a ton of sparkle!  But who knew working with glitter was a pain in the behind....

I've watched so many other videos of people using glitter and cleaning it up with a swifer cloth like it was not big deal...not me!  I still had glitter all over after "clean up"...hands, face, floor...legs...yeah I was totally covered!  So I had to rethink the whole sparkle idea.

Fortunately, I have this awesome glitter washi tape from Best Creation in my stash!  I tested it out a little bit to see what I could do with it, and turns out it takes marker really well!  So I pulled out a burgundy color that I'd also use on the apple so the color was consistent throughout the whole card, along with a light grey to give me a silverish color glitter.  Colored up several stripes and then cut it into varying widths.

All of those cut stripes of glitter tape were then affixed to a piece of vellum.  The cool thing about washi tape is that it's low tack, so you can put it onto cardstock to make cutting it apart much easier.  Then just peel it off the cardstock and put it on your card front!  Worked like a charm!

Once the background was done, I colored in my image with my ShinHan markers, layered it onto a scallop cut piece of vellum so that the background wasn't covered up, but the image something to keep it separate.  Added a sentiment, and some sequins to finish it all off!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Have a great weekend! <3

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That dreaded rut....something I push so hard to avoid and yet somehow manage to fall into more often than I should....it can be very depressing to hit that stage, especially when your job and income rely on you Not falling into a rut.

I've been stuck in this for a few weeks now.  It sucks.  My mind has been completely blank.  What once was filled with so many swirling ideas that I never had enough time to complete became an empty void of cricket chirps.  I felt like nothing as going to pull me out and it infuriated me.

But I want to let you know, if you ever fall into a rut...there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Don't give up or throw in the towel.  Just keep pushing yourself forward, no matter how frustrating and depressing that blank void is.

I can't say that I've fully pulled out of this rut yet...but I'm making progress and that makes me happy.

A few things to try if you find yourself there:
~Search the internet for inspiration
~Organize your supplies.  Sometimes being reminded of what you have can help inspire you.
~Browse back through your past work.  I know that seeing some of my old cards can often trigger an idea or make me balk at how awful that card was and push me to remake it :)
~Get outside!  Work in the yard or go for long walks every day.  Clearing your head and working with nature can be great inspiration.
~Give yourself a couple days off.  Maybe your brain just really needs a break.  Grab a great book and just chill.

But the one thing that worked for me (since I tried everything above..repeatedly) was to pull out my favorite supplies and force an idea out.  I just started watercoloring and stamping stuff.  It was all horrible and probably a waste, but every time I blended something together or inked up another stamp, a new thought came to mind.  It may take a little bit of time and lots of random playing around, but if you're using the supplies and techniques that you absolutely love, something will trigger!

So my favorites are all featured in today's card, which is my breakthrough card that I will cherish forever because it became my light at the end of this horrible rutted tunnel.

First fav is ink blending!  Who doesn't love a great color combo to feature on a card?  And for me, I can never resist a blue/purple combo.  This background was inked with Peacock Feathers, Faded Jeans, and Dusty Concord.  Of course, you can't do a distress background without some water drops.

And that leads to my next fav which is sparkle!  I sprayed the entire background with a shimmer spray.  I just needed a lot of sparkle to make me smile :)

I also took the Beautiful Life stamp set from Honey Bee Stamps and silver sparkle embossed the outlines of the hearts.  Then went back over just a few of those hearts with a clear embossing powder and embossed the solid heart.  This helped make a few of the hearts pop on the card.  I also white embossed some itty bitty hearts around the background too.

Next favorites - Vellum and Stitching!!  With such a colorful busy background, I didn't want to cover it up or try to put a sentiment directly on it since it would probably get lost.  So I took a simple piece of vellum and white embossed my sentiments on that.  Then did a zigzag stitch across the top to affix it to my card.

When you focus on using your favorites, I feel like it can really pull great ideas out.  Maybe all of your favorites don't work together on one card, but some of them will definitely mesh well, and that is a great start to get your mind working again.

If you've ever hit a rut, leave me a comment and let me know how you pulled out of it.  I love to hear other peoples ideas, because while it is never fun to fall into those dreaded ruts, it happens and knowing ways to get out is always a huge help!

Thanks for sticking around for this long winded post!  I know it was lengthy, but I wanted to share all of my thoughts with you :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Addicted to Stamps #207-Make Your Mark
    Fab n Funky #316-Anything Goes
    Penny's Paper Crafty #291-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #244-Anything Goes

Love to everyone! <3

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Heelllooooooooooo!!!
It's been a little while!  My absence these last few weeks has been because we took a vacation!  We had a couple of weddings in Michigan to attend, so we made it our full vacation for this year!  We went to the beach, spent lots of time with friends.  We even went the Michigan's Adventure and had a total blast!  I love vacations and doing all the things that we enjoyed as a kid :)

But now we are home and life has to return to normal.  And what better way to come back than with a brand new Sami Stamps release!  This one pairs perfectly with our Getting Stronger release from a couple weeks ago because this times it's all about the ladies!

My card features the Strong image.  I love her!  She's classy and feminine but also isn't afraid to hold her own.  Such a perfect image!

To highlight this beauty, I did some fun watercolor washing for the background, mixing together a pink, purple, and green.  While that was still wet, I splattered some glitter paint around it as well so it has some sparkle.

It's super hard to see, but the white card front has actually been dry embossed.  I created my own custom stencil with my Silhouette by repeating the word "Strong" in an area that would fit my card front, and ran it through my embossing machine to get the design embossed on the paper.  It's a perfect subtle detail for the card.

The image was colored with my pencils.  The layout was inspired by the sketch at Case this Sketch, though it doesn't follow their design exactly.  I liked the idea of having the details through the center of the card with the sentiment across the middle area.

For my sentiment, I knew I wanted it to be on vellum but I didn't have any stamps that said what I wanted them to.  So I printed it off onto some white cardstock, and then traced it onto the vellum!  Super simple and it's exactly what I want!

Everything is finished off with a few Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh!

Stop by Sami Stamps to see this awesome release, and then join in our Anything Goes challenge!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    CAS(E) This Sketch #183

    Incy Wincy Designs-Anything Goes
    Word Art Wednesday #242-Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting! <3

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Happy Friday!
It feels like it's been forever since I had the chance to stand at my desk and just let my mind wander into the creative realm to come up with a card design.  My time has been so dedicated to one specific task these last few weeks, and that will be the case all through June.  But it will be worth it, I hope.  Once my confirmation comes in, I will be able to share the good news with you...but for now, thanks for sticking with me through the long gaps :)

I did manage to get a card put together quickly yesterday for Sami Stamps using an image from our most recent release.

Keeping with the theme of our current challenge to Use Stripes, I played around with my ShinHan markers a little bit.  I made a pile of all my blues and a few of my blue-greens and put them in ombre order.  Then made thick stripes across the piece of diagonal cut card stock.  I did use a colorless blender in between each color transition to try and give it a different faded look, but it wasn't as noticeable as I wanted, so I added some stitching between each color as well.

Then set to work on my Three Loyal Friends puppy image.  Dogs can be tough to color...since I usually stick to cats...but I wanted to feature several colors of Labs on this card so did a google search and had a perfect image pulled up on my computer screen while I worked.  My first go around with this image was going great until I got to the middle pup...and my markers bled so far out of the lines that I had to start over...so I printed this image again on some thicker card stock and started over.

But that little bit of bleeding ended up working in my favor in the end because I needed a mask in order to add the ink blended sunset behind these pups.  So I just trimmed out my previous colored image and added a little re-positionable glue to the back.  Once the glue was dry (you want to let it dry so that it becomes tacky), I placed it over my colored image and added my sunset!  Worked perfectly.

I kept the background plain white outside of the striped piece at the bottom.  I did add a little ripped up piece of vellum along the side and some twine to pull everything together.  The sentiment was stamped right onto the image panel in some black ink.

Remember we have our Use Stripes challenge running for this month, so stop by Sami Stamps and join in for your chance to win!  Just be sure to use a Sami Stamps image!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Addicted to Stamps #197-Make Your Mark
    Crafty Catz #328-Animal Magic
    Retro Sketches #217
    Simon Says Stamp-For a Guy
    Word Art Wednesday #234-Anything Goes

Thanks so much for visiting! <3

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