Stamps, Paper, and Ink

Friends Make the World a Better Place

Hello everyone! I'm glad you are here for my post for Fab Friday!

I'm loving critters and cute cards lately, and the Woodland Critters set from Pretty Pink Posh made it's way to my stash this week. I just needed a few more furry friends for my cards *wink*. Aren't these two adorable? I love the way they look like they're smiling.

I began by stamping the images in black, then die cutting a bunch of them. I colored them using Copics and added highlights with my white gel pen and the Wink of Stella to add shimmer. The banners, grass and background were made by sponging distress inks: Scattered Straw, Tattered Rose, and Evergreen Bough. I spattered some of the ink color and some water droplets to add texture. 

The "friends" sentiment was white embossed onto black card stock and then fussy cut. The sentiment at the bottom is from the Simon Says Stamp You Matter set. 

Here's the sketch for this challenge.

I hope you'll join in the fun and play along at Fab Friday!

Need more inspiration? Thanks so much for visiting today, have a great weekend!

Mindy Backes
Heather Heroldt
Amy Koenders
Brian King
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Janine Tinklenberg
Wendy Weixler

 Thanks so much for visiting today, have a great weekend!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

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Stamps, Paper, and Ink: Gathered Garden for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Stamps, Paper, and Ink: Lots of Hugs

Lots of Hugs

Hello dear stamping friends!

Today I'm sharing a card I made using the Lots of Hugs stamps from MFT and the darling bear from the SSS set called Abby's Spring Showers. 

I began by sponging light blue ink to highlight background area of the card front and adding a strip of gingham DSP down the side. The images were colored with Copics markers, then touched up with the white gel pen. Brushing on Wink of Stella added shimmer to the hearts and the umbrella. Lastly, I covered the hearts and the bear's nose with clear Nuvo Drops.

This card is made with love for a recipient in a children's hospital so I had to keep embellishments to a minimum. 

I was inspired by the wonderful talent of the CAS(E) This Sketch team, I loved their sketch this week. 

 I so appreciate your coming by my blog today. Sending thanks and a hug to you!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stamps: MFTstamps - Lots of Hugs, Simon Says Stamps - Abby's Spring Showers and coordinating dies

Ink: Memento Black, Distress Ink - Broken China, Versamark

Accessories: Wink of Stella, Nuvo Drops, White Embossing Powder

 

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Beautiful Day. Doodle Buds.

This is really a BIG smile...

Blissful Birds

Spring Flowers Take Three!

Hi there, I hope you've enjoyed my focus on the Spring Flowers stamp set this week. Here is take three using this pretty set from Simon Says Stamp. I've really benefitted from making three cards with it and I hope you've liked the results too! If you missed those find them HERE and HERE. 

It's a special occasion today, it's Fab Friday! 

Again, I stamped the blooms, then colored them using Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, and fussy cut them. It's amazing to me how the flowers from yesterday and today were colored exactly the same way, same intensity. But against the Kraft card stock the colors look so clean and crisp.

Using the markers I also colored the white card stock used for the banners. The sentiment is heat embossed in white onto vellum using the lovely SSS set called Blessed.

Assembling the elements on Kraft card stock, I was inspired by the beautiful sketch for the Fab Friday Challenge this week. 

I sure hope you will join us and play along! Also have a look at the blogs of the Design Team, and be inspired.

Mindy Backes
Heather Heroldt
Amy Koenders
Brian King
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Janine Tinklenberg
Wendy Weixler

Thanks so much for visiting today! I'd love to hear which of the three cards this week has been your favorite. Was it the Bold Bright floral, the Pastel Petals with the soft wash and the pop of black, or today's Classic Kraft card? I'm having trouble deciding.

 Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

 

Pastel Petals with Spring Flowers

Hello and welcome back! 

I'm sharing my second card with the Simon Says Stamp Spring Flowers set today. If you missed the first one using bright bold colors, you can find it HERE. 

I've decided I need to give some love to stamps that have been little used by creating a couple of cards at a time to explore their possibilities.  Today's card is soft with pastel colors, an inked background, and a POP of black accents.

I used Distress inks for the background, and Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers for coloring the images onto white card stock.

I've loved experimenting with those markers, and the amazing artist Nina-Marie Trapani has fabulous videos that have helped me. Here's the link to her video where she shares this coloring technique. You will want to try it, it's really not hard and gives a light airy look to the colors. 

The butterfly die (Bitty Butterflies Cover Plate)  and the sentiment (Banner Sentiments) are from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment was embossed in white on black card stock. Nuvo drops added small black accents to the focal point.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

 

Spring Flowers in my garden

Hello everyone! 

I've been stamping as the last few days have been raining. Too wet to work in the garden but I'm still dreaming of flowers. I pulled out the Simon Says Stamps set called Spring Flowers and I would like to focus on three cards I've made with it for the next three posts. I've been delighted to really work on getting different looks depending on how I color the flowers. I hope you will come back to see all three.

For today, the blooms are brightly colored with Distresss inks onto white card stock using the emboss resist technique. 

Brights are usually my first choice, love love love them! I fussy cut out the images and slathered them with Wink of Stella. Love that shimmer too! 

Hope your day is bright even if it's not sunny. Sending hugs and happy wishes! 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

I'm entering this in the Wednesday Challenge at SSS for this week, Anything Goes.  

Mixed Media Coloring with Abby's Spring Showers

Hey there, how are you doing on this beautiful lovely day?

I am feeling cheery today. If you have grandchildren you know that pictures of them or visits can be the very best medicine there is. That's what I was remembering while I made this card using the Abby's Spring Showers stamps from Simon Says Stamp.

 Isn't she adorable?

I'm still in coloring mode and enjoying coloring and making whatever strikes my fancy without  recipients or occasions in mind. Just for fun. Coloring is mental therapy. 

I used Peerless watercolors on The Master's Touch watercolor paper (from Hobby Lobby) to color the background. Abby was colored with my Zigs Real Color Brush markers and details were added with colored pencils from Derwent. I added Wink of Stella to "sparkle" her hat, and a few details with a white gel pen. Very carefully. I didn't want to mess the whole thing up with crooked or splotchy white dots! Still on a learning curve with that. 

The Simon Says Happy and Smile Clear Stamps provided the sentiment.

Thanks so much for talking a peek!  I am on a roll with encouragement cards this week. Want to encourage me?  I'd love to hear from you! 

 Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Sketch Ranunculus A bouquet for Autumn

 I've determined to get in my craft space every day this week, and create. It doesn't mean I have to complete a card or even part of one, sometimes it may be only 15 minutes. Yesterday was a full and wonderful day with little time for stamping, but I spent 15 minutes making some dots with Nuvo Crystal Drops for embellishments. That just made me happy. 

Today I created this card using the Sketch Ranunculus set from Simon Says Stamp. 

I masked a circle and sponged with pale blue ink and then placed a mask over it to add the floral images in fall colors. Using Copic and Distress markers to color them in gave me a broad range of color options. I decided not to add sequins, but made a few dots with the Copic marker to embellish the panel.

I'm playing along with CAS(E) This Sketch #195 and adding this to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes. 

 

I really loved this sketch. It is open-ended enough to allow for a few variations. I'm sure I will be using it again. 

Can I just say how glad I am that you came by to visit my blog today? I hope you leave inspired and just a bit happier than you were before. Beautiful. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

ETA: Ranunculus
noun plural -luses or -li (-ˌlaɪ)
any ranunculaceous plant of the genus Ranunculus, having finely divided leaves and typically yellow five-petalled flowers. The genus includes buttercup, crowfoot, spearwort, and lesser celandine

 

Color Play Fun

 I wanted to use the yellow, blue and black color combo given the highlight this week at The Color Throwdown. Do you ever think about a card for a day or so before making it? 

In my mind, I pictured a card with bright clear shades and lots of crisp white. As you can see, my card took on totally different dynamics!  

It began with finding these patterned papers in my stash. I really loved the cozy warm feel of them, reminding me a bit of a worn quilt. I chose a large pattern (the one with black in it), a medium size pattern and a small pattern. I love any kind of gingham so that was an easy pick! 

I stamped and die cut the flowers, adding more color by sponging the outer edges. I stamped the sentiment in black, adding enamel dots and twine as the finishing touch. 

Honestly, I think I like my clean bright idea better (like THIS card I made a while ago!) but it was fun to change up my style a bit for today. 

Hope you are doing well today, blog friends! Thanks for coming to visit. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stamps: Simon Says Stamp - Flowers on my Mind and coordinating dies

Paper: DSP - from my stash :-> and card stock from SU!

Ink:SU - Soft Sky, Pool Party

Accessories: Dies from Pretty Pink Posh - Stitched Borders 2

 

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Farewell to my Favorites!

Winter Birthday Wishes

It's a Parade for Fab Friday!

Hi everyone! I hope your Friday is off to a good start and you are ready to roll for the weekend. 

At the Fab Friday challenge we have a parade of Stampin' Up! In Colors ready for you today and quite a line up of terrific samples to inspire you. It's always a challenge to fit in all five of the colors, but I managed to do it in style with the Beautiful Ride stamps and dies from Simon Says Stamp. 

I used a paintbrush and the inks from Stampin' Up! to color in the images and popped them on a white card stock banner. I LOVE the new colors, especially Flirty Flamingo used for the card base, and Peekaboo Peach for the sentiment strip. Just a dab of Sweet Sugarplum in each flower center. 

I think Miss kitty is in for a beautiful ride and so are you as you check out the blogs of my Design team-mates. 

We look forward to seeing your creations using the In Colors!

Mindy Backes
Heather Heroldt
Amy Koenders
Brian King
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Janine Tinklenberg
Wendy Weixler

 Until next time~ sending big hugs to you. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

 

Lets Go Wild! Cute Critters

Hi everyone! 

I hope you're halfway through a great day!

I'll tell you, my husband recently fully retired, we made a move to the middle-of-nowhere in a home that we down-sized and really love, and we are more on the go than EVER! Time to stamp (or post) is getting hard to come by! 

I was thrilled to have a chance to pick up this lucky dog from the Cute Critters set from Simon Says Stamp. He's been sitting on my desk for almost a month since I brought out the Copics and colored him. I just love this set of adorable animals and the accessories and dies that come with them because they are so versatile for cute cards just waiting to happen! 

I loved making this a spotted doggy. Like our beagle Josie, who sits at my feet. The sentiments that come with the set are cute too, don't you think?  The pretty plaid and chevron papers are from My Favorite Things. I added a light sponging of Distress Ink in Twisted Citron on the white panel. 

Dogs can be wild things, right? So I'm including this in the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Let's Go Wild.

And yes, I wish I could send a hug to you.

Thanks for spending some time with me today. I always love hearing from you!  

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

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