Joyful Day for Color Hues

Hello friends!  Mid-month brings a new challenge over at Color Hues and this time the lovely Marcia has chosen pink and sage.

Color Hues

I'm also sharing with the Time Out Challenge, where the theme is based on this wonderful quote by one of the great Impressionist painters, Henri Matisse. 

 "There are always flowers, for those that want to see them."

TOC 265

And I'm sharing my card at Seize the Birthday for the Anything Goes choice.

STB 285

No surprise, with the CH colors, I went with leafy branches and flowers, which also worked perfectly with the TOC challenge.

Pinkfresh Studio's new release included those pretty leafy branches, which I couldn't resist (wink, wink).  They were stamped, stenciled with three muted greens, then die cut with the coordinating die.  The sentiment and matching die are from the same set.  One additional die cut was added to the leaf branches and two were added to the die cut sentiment, nice for a bit of dimension and also stability on the die cut background.

Next I die cut several tiny flowers from a Memory Box and Poppystamps die sets and ink blended them in pink.  I used the same pink on the front of the card base, then added the die cut trellis over which I adhered to branches, leaving room for the sentiment.  At first, I just had a few flowers on the branches but kept adding more and more until I'd used almost all of them, and liked how it looked much better.  After they were adhered, I curled up the petals a bit, then added a sparkly gem to the middle of each.  After adding the sentiment, I decided to finish things off with a couple more flowers - why not lol?

What are you inspired to create with these colors?  For more inspiration, be sure to visit the challenge blog, where my wonderful teammates have some fabulous cards to share with you.  The challenge will remain open until 9 am EDT June 29th - hope to see your card in the gallery!

Take care!

Stef

• Pinkfresh Studio Joyful Day stamps, dies and stencils
• Memory Box Layered Impatiens
• Poppystamps Petite Blooms Flower set
• Altenew Garden Trellis Cover die
• Altenew Blush Rose, Silver Sage, Jade and Eucalyptus Fresh Dye Inks
• Honeybee Stamps Aurora Borealis Gem Stickers

Thank You for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  We at The Flower Challenge are back with our mid-month reminder, where we have a great sketch to inspire your creativity!

TFC 92R

I'm also sharing with the Time Out Challenge, where the theme is based on this wonderful quote by one of the great Impressionist painters, Henri Matisse. 

 "There are always flowers, for those that want to see them."

TOC 265

My first card for TFC92 used mostly new products so this time I decided to use some older products to create my card.

This beautiful flower is from Altenew's Build-A-Flower: Tree Peony stamp and die set.  The stamps are layering stamps, which I usually struggle with but the ones for the flower lined up really well.  I tried with the leaf a few times and gave up lol!  Since everything else, including the sweet sprigs behind the flower were in black and white, I decided the leaf could be too!

Next the Reflections Cover die was cut from white, as I initially thought I'd have a black card base.  But it just didn't come together, so I cut a strip of black per the sketch, added the die cut then popped up the floral images along with the sentiment, and a bit of bling topped things off.

Thanks for stopping by and I encourage you to do so over at the challenge blog as well, you will love seeing all the gorgeous inspiration my wonderful teammates are sharing over there!  If you haven't joined us yet or want to add another card to the gallery, the challenge remains open until Tuesday, June 25th.

Take care!

Stef

• Altenew BAF: Tree Peony stamps and dies
• Altenew Elegant Sayings stamp and die
• Altenew Reflections die
• Altenew Dew Drops, Aqualicious, Teal Cave, Honeydew Glow and Lemonade Stand Fresh Dye inks
• Simon Says Stamp Surf Dazzling Gems

Fresh Flowers for The Flower Challenge

Hello, friends and happy June!  Welcome back to a new month at The Flower Challenge and this time we have a fabulous sketch for you.

TFC 92

I'm also joining the current challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.

ATSM #469

Plenty of options with this sketch!  I am using the as-yet unreleased stamps, dies and inks from Altenew that was part of the Secret Garden Retreat that I attended in early May.  After six classes and seven cards, I can tell you these products are fantastic to use!

I started with the background, which was created with the Flower Bed Layering stencil set on an A2 panel.  Once that was done, I worked on the die cut flowers using two of the five Fresh Flowers dies.  They were die cut from white cardstock, then ink blended with Blush Rose, Honeydew Glow, Lemonade Stand (which came out a while back) and Rhodolite (currently available in Crisp Dye version).  One of the techniques we learned from Dawn Wolslagle was creating dimension on the tips of the petals using Altenew's detail blending brushes, which really takes things to a whole new level IMHO.

To construct the card, the stenciled panel was trimmed down and added to the white card base, then a white embossed strip was layered on top.  I adhered both flowers with glue just in the center, then added some tiny pieces of foam behind some of the flower petals so they could retain their dimension even if mailed.  After splattering the card with a bit of white gouache, the sentiment from the Cascading Flowers stamp set was inked up in Teal Tempest, die cut and popped up with foam tape.  Finally I added three gems to finish things off.

I look forward to seeing your card in the gallery this month!  The challenge remains open until the 25th and we'll be back on the 15th with a reminder post.  But in the meantime, please pop over to the challenge blog, as always my teammates have some gorgeous inspiration for you!

Take care!

Stef

All products are from Altenew unless otherwise noted.

• Fresh Flowers dies
• Flower Bed Layering Stencil Set
• Cascading Flowers Stamp set
• Elegant Motifs Slim 3D embossing folder (previously released)
• Spellbinders Essential Stylish Oval die (used for sentiment)
• Blush Rose, Honeydew Glow, Lemonade Stand, Rhodolite and Teal Tempest Fresh Dye inks
• Crystal Clear Gem Sparkles
• Winsor & Newton White Gouache

Sweet Friend for Color Hues

Hello friends!  As we enter the month of June, the Color Hues team has a new challenge for you.  This time the lovely Karen has chosen the wonderful color combo of yellow and blue.

Color Hues

 

As I was contemplating what to create for this challenge, I flipped through some panels that were previously foiled and I found one that looked stunning in cobalt blue foil and voila! my decision was made!

The foiled floral image fills a full A2 card panel, but I knew I wanted to trim it down and just color the part I would use in the portion cut out with an oval die. I then used Copics in yellow for the flowers and a light blue for the background, then the colored piece was layered on a slightly larger yellow oval.

Next a panel of white was embossed with a very subtle pattern (you can see it better in photo below) then added to a white card base.  I found some scraps of a panel that had been foiled with the same cobalt blue, so I used those for the horizontal strip and to die cut the sentiment (foil is so hard to photograph - the strip looks black on one side in each photo lol!).  After assembling everything on the card front, I found some jewels that were the perfect match and added them to finish things off.

What are you inspired to make with these wonderful colors?  We'd love to have you join us, the challenge will remain open until 9am EDT 6/14.  In the meantime, I encourage you to pop over to the challenge blog to see all the beautiful cards my super talented teammates and our guest designer Rosemary have created.

Take care!

Stef

• Pinkfresh Studio Peony Print Hot Foil Plate
• Spellbinders Essential Stylish Ovals dies
• Spellbinders Cobalt Glimmer Hot Foil
• Altenew Versatile Greetings dies
• Stampin' Up Taseful Textile embossing folder
• Simon Says Stamp Cool Tones Dazzling Gems
• Copics - Y26, 18, 15, 11, B000