Flourish for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  It's time for a new challenge at the Paper Players and since it's the fifth Sunday of the month, that means Tic-Tac-Toe.  The amazing Ann is hosting and has given us a great board from which to draw inspiration.  

Paper Players

 

For my card, I went diagonal from top left to bottom right - die cut, flowers, layers.

I'm also joining in at Just Us Girls for their Anything Goes Stencil Week challenge.

JUGS #816

This card was pretty quick and easy to create because I used stenciling for both the floral image and the background. 

 

The pinks are from the Altenew Blushberry Bliss quad - Strawberry, Dusty Pink, Blush Rose and Raspberry Sunset.  The flowers were colored with Strawberry, Blush Rose and Rasberry, and then I used a light application of Dusty Pink on the stenciled background panel.  

The floral image was die cut then layered on two additional die cuts. It was added to the stenciled panel after it had been cut with a diagonal stitch rectangle die.  I trimmed off the overhanging parts of the floral image after adhering it to the panel, which was then added to the card front.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.  The final touch was to add several sequins.  

It'll be fun to see which column or row everyone chooses to use.  For more inspiration, I encourage you to visit the challenge blog, where my wonderful teammates have some gorgeous inspiration for you.  The challenge will remain open until Friday, April 3rd at 3pm EDT.  I hope to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

• Altenew Scripted in Bloom stamps, stencils and dies
• Altenew Elegant Swirls Stencil
• Altenew Featured Sentiments die
• Pinkfresh Studio Diagonal Stitched Rectangle die
• SSS Moonlit Snow Embellishments
• Altenew inks other than the pinks - Redwood, Mossy Meadow and Reindeer Moss  

Rustic Layering Flower for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  It's the fourth Sunday of the month and that means it's time for a new sketch challenge at the Paper Players.  The lovely Claire is hosting and has created at good one with plenty of design options.

Paper Players

I was all set to use this sketch for a Christmas card to add to my stash, and I did make a card.  In fact, I made two but as I went to create my blog post I realized I forgot a very important part of the sketch - the vertical piece under the focal image.  Oops!  But that's okay, now I have 2 more holiday cards completed!

So back to square one and I shifted to spring because I was inspired by the challenge at Seize the Birthday, where the topping is to use primarily green on your card.

STB #322

And here's what I came up with...

I chose to use the Simon Says Stamp Rustic Layering Flower and thought a pop of yellow on my otherwise green card would look nice.  I used Copic and Olo markers to color it.

For the horizontal bar, I wanted scallops but don't have any edger dies like that.  However, I remembered I had a slimline die set with a die that would work perfectly. Happy dance!  

To go along with the scallop design, I used one of the scallop layers from the SSS Layered Scallop Tags dies and die cut it from white.  I did some partial die cutting so the length could be extended and I added a green hole tab at the top.  

The scallop strip was added to the panel that had been embossed by the Spellbinders Tiny Dots folder, then mounted the tag with foam tape and adhered the flower. I found the sentiment in with the MFT Stylish Sentiments stamp set and it was already stamped and die cut with the Altenew Featured Sentiment die, which was a happy discovery.  

The last element was the twine bow.  I put a foam square underneath the green hole tab, then secured the bow onto the foam square through the hole.  

All in all, I'm pleased with how this turned out after having to pivot and make a new card lol!  

So how are you inspired to use this sketch?  For more ideas, please head over to the challenge blog to see all the fabulous cards by my wonderful teammates.  The challenge will remain open until Friday, March 27th at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll have a chance to join us!

Clematis Hello for Color Hues

Hello friends!  Here we are in the middle of March already and time for a new challenge at Color Hues.  This time the lovely Marcia is hosting and has chosen a beautiful color combination of purple and marigold.

Color Hues

According to my online search, marigold is described as yellow with an overlay of orange.  Having said that, please do not stress on getting a perfect match, simply something close in that hue will work just fine.

Please remember to use just purple and marigold, along with any neutrals (nope, not green!).

For my card, I used a couple of new products from Altenew, so I'll be sharing that over at Darnell's NBUS challenge.

NBUS #84

And here's my card...

I was tickled that my new Clematis dies would work so well with Marcia's color choices.  I die cut the petals and stamen from colored cardstock, then did some ink blending for shading.  I was a bit disappointed that the ink dried back as much as it did, but the flowers were already put together so I went with it as is.  

Because of the size of the flowers, my card ended up being A6 (4.5" x 6.25").  While I was trying to decide on the background, I had a lightbulb moment, remembering an old MFT Watercolor Wash paper pack, and the lighter purple worked great.  

The sentiment is from the new Creative Labels Stamps and Dies.  Love the flourished tale on the H!  The finishing touch was to add a few Opal gems.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you'll take a moment to pop over to the challenge blog to see the incredible cards from the design team and our wonderful guest designer, Chris.  After seeing all that inspiration, I hope you'll decide to join us.  The challenge will remain open until Sunday 3/29 at 3pm EDT.  

Take care!

Stef

• Altenew Clematis Layering dies
• Altenew Creative Labels Stamps and Dies
• MFT Watercolor Wash patterned paper
• Simon Says Stamp Opal Dazzling Gems

Regal Birthday for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  It's time for a new CAS challenge at the Paper Players and this week the amazing Jaydee is hosting.  We're looking to see clean and simple floral cards - limited layers and embellishments, plenty of "white" space, etc.  

Paper Players

 

I know many of you are looking to be done with all the crazy winter weather this year (I'm talking to you in the East and Midwest!) so this is the perfect challenge to think about what will be coming soon - warmer weather and flowers!  

I was looking through some of my smaller floral sets and came across this one from Altenew.  The silhouette image is so elegant, I thought it could easily be the focal image for a CAS card.  I tried heat embossing it in white on a different color of cardstock but much of the detail was lost, so I ended up using black pigment ink on this pretty Honeysuckle pink panel.

After die cutting the panel with an eyelet scallop die, I added a bit of white splatter to go with the white card base. After adhering the dried panel to the base, I added three black onyx gems for that finishing touch.  

What are you inspired to create for this challenge?  For more ideas, take a moment to visit the challenge blog, where my talented teammates have some beautiful inspiration for you.  The challenge will remain open until Friday March 20th at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll join us this week!

Thanks for visiting!

Stef

• Altenew Regal Frame Silhouette stamp set
• Simon Says Stamp Eyelet Layer Frames die
• SSS White Splatter Matter
• Spellbinders Onyx gems

Rainbows and Butterflies for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  We have a fun new challenge over at the Paper Players starting today.  The amazing Joanne is hosting our color challenge week and is asking everyone to use the colors of the rainbow.

 Paper Players

You don't have to use an actual rainbow on your card, just be sure it includes all the colors of the rainbow.

For my card, I found some older pattern paper that was a gift with purchase from Honey Bee stamps and it worked beautifully for a rather CAS card.

Isn't that paper glorious?  I love the blend of the colors and how the yellow almost looks like the sun peeking out.  I was loathe to cut much from the panel so I used a fun stitched edger die, then adhered the panel to the card front.

The vellum butterflies were set them in motion across the "sky" then I added black gems for the bodies.  The last element was the die cut sentiment.  I used white on black to so it would stand out against the card base.  Super simple! Not an actual rainbow but all the colors are there.

This is such a fun challenge, I hope you'll have a chance to join us this week!  For more ideas and inspiration, please pop over to the challenge blog and check out the beautiful cards created by the other design team members.  The challenge will remain open until Friday March 13th at 3pm EDT.  I hope to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by.

Stef

• Simon Says Stamp Flickering Butterflies dies
• Altenew Scripty Sentiments dies
• Sugar Pea (no longer in business) Card Front Element Builder die
• Spellbinders Onyx gems

St. Patrick's Day

Hello friends!  I've been playing around with some new things and ended up making a St. Patrick's Day card.  I usually don't create cards specifically for this holiday, but I thought the set from Simon Says Stamp was fun and decided to add it to my stash.

And when I finished making my card, I saw that it would work perfectly for the new Just Us Girls Challenge.

JUGS #813

The set is called Printmaking Clovers and the stamps are layering, so I was able to use three different colors of greens to create the clovers and shamrocks.  The die cuts them out all at once, so that made things easier too.

After creating all the clovers/shamrocks, I moved on to the background.  I used the SSS Falling Shamrocks stencil, inked with the same three greens, then it was die cut with a fun scallop rectangle die.  

The set comes with multiple sentiments and I used the two that worked best with my design, gold heat embossing them on green cardstock and using the matching dies to cut them out.  

I layered a panel of the same green cardstock on the card base, adhered the stenciled panel, then the die cut circle was added with foam tape.  I arranged the clovers/shamrocks around the edges then popped up the sentiment with foam tape.  Super easy card!

Thanks for taking time to visit!  I'll be back tomorrow with my DT card for our new challenge at the Paper Players, so stop by if you have a chance.

Take care!

Stef

• SSS Printmaking Clover Stamps and dies
• SSS Falling Shamrocks stencil
• Hero Arts Nested Circle and Scallop Circle dies
• C&9/KW Kristina's Essential Dies (scallop rectangle)
• SSS Spring, Dublin and Lucky inks

Butterfly Birthday

Hello friends!  Today's card is using a die set I've had for many months and decided to bring it out of the NBUS pile and give it some use.  As I was finishing it up, I saw that it would work perfectly for the current Toppings at Seize the Birthday, which is Anything with Wings.

 STB #321

NBUS #84

I didn't quite realize how detailed the dies were until I started cutting them out.  There are some teeny tiny bits to keep track of if one wishes to inlay, which is what I intended.

The butterfly wings were die cut out of white plus four colors of card stock.  Thank goodness for little trays to keep all the bits contained lol! There is no backer die for the inlay, so after watching Sandi McIver on YouTube here, I used her hack of applying good old Scotch Tape to the back of the wings and then inlay all the parts. Sure, it's rather fiddly and initially I felt a bit overwhelmed, but after I decided on where each color would go, it was almost meditative.  Assembly of the butterfly was a piece of cake after that.

Due to the size of the butterfly, the card base is A7.  I settled on a large embossing folder with a leaf background.  I used Altenew's Dew Drops Crisp Dye ink, the closest match to the aqua cardstocks used for the die cuts, and used the ink pad directly on the flat side of the folder and ran through the die cut machine.  I did this about 3-4 times.  After adding it to the base, the butterfly and sentiment were popped up with foam tape.  I finished things off with a bit of sparkle by adding a few opal gems.

Thanks for taking time to visit! I'll be back tomorrow and Sunday with new posts; stop by if you have a moment.  Take care and have a great weekend.

Stef

• Alex Syberia Butterfly Bliss Die Set
• Altenew Essential Sentiment Strips die
• Spellbinders Leafy ef
• Simon Says Stamp Opal Dazzling Gems
• Spellbinders cardstock in Coral, Sicily, Seaside and Waterfall