Ears to You for Color Hues

Hello friends!  Today I'm sharing my card for the latest challenge at Color Hues!  The delightful and talented Nancy will be our host for the next two weeks and she has chosen a beautiful color combination.

Color Hues

I'm also popping in at the last minute to join the Word challenge at Just Us Girls, using the word you.

JUGS 770

I love this soft color pairing and decided to make a cute and simple Easter card.

I adore that big bunny and used it a couple of years ago to create shaped Easter cards for the grands, but this time I wanted to use her on a card front.  Because of her size, the card ended up being A7.

Starting with the background, I randomly ink blended Shaded Lilac and Salvaged Patina over a panel of mixed media paper.  When the ink dried the panel was embossed with tiny polka dots and then trimmed down. 

The bunny, flowers and leaves were die cut in white, then ink blended with the same colors.  The bunny was adhered to the blended background, added to the card front and decorate with one flower and the leafy branches.  The sentiment was stamped, fussy cut and added to the card with thin foam squares.  I decided it still looked a little bare, so the remaining flower and two leaves were adhered in the corner.  The last touch was to add Glossy accent to the bunny's gray eye and Stardust Stickles to the white flower centers.  

For more inspiration be sure to visit the challenge blog and check out the fabulous variety of cards created by my talented teammates and our Guest Designer Caroline!  I hope you'll join us for this challenge, it will remain open until Tuesday, April 29th at 3pm EDT.

Thanks for visiting and take care!

Stef

• Ellen Hutson Essentials by Ellen Sew Cute Bunny dies and Ears to You stamp set
• Spellbinders Tiny Dots embossing folder
• Salvage Patina and Shaded Lilac Distress Inks
• Simon Says Stamp Earl dye ink

Flamazing Day for The Paper Players

Hello friends!  I'm back with my card for this week's challenge at the Paper Players.  It's color week and LeAnne has chosen a beautiful combination that offers lots of options for creativity.

Paper Players

What immediately leapt to my mind with these colors was a tropical scene of some kind and below is what I came up with.  I didn't have all the papers and/or inks in these colors, so I tried to come as close as possible. 

As soon as I saw Flirty Flamingo as one of the colors, I knew I had to use this fun flamingo die from Ellen Hutson.  It was cut from Flirty Flamingo cardstock, then I used a bit of ink blending on the body and top wing but it doesn't show up well in the photo.  I cut a second flamingo from white, colored the legs with yellow Olo markers, removed the pink legs and added the pink body to the white die cut.  The beak was cut from white and colored the same as the legs, then the black die cut piece was layered on top.

The arch panel was ink blended with Distress Inks to simulate a beach scene, then I stamped the sentiment and added the flamingo.  I used a tropical leaf die that had a larger and smaller leaf, cutting it four times from what I think is Coastal Cabana cardstock, used some Distress inks for shading, adhered them around the edges of a white panel, then added the beach layer.  This really was an easy card to make thanks to all the dies and using some colored cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll do the same over at the challenge blog (linked above) where my talented teammates have some wonderful inspiration for you!  The challenge will remain open until Friday, Feb 14th at 3 pm EST.  Hope to see your card in the gallery!

Stef

• Ellen Hutson Flockstar die and Inner Flamingo sentiment stamp
• Simon Says Stamp Tropical Leaf Bunch die
• SSS Nested Domed Arches die
• Evergreen Bough, Peacock Feathers, Squeezed Lemonade and Antique Linen Distress Inks
• SU Flirty Flamingo and Coastal Cabana (?) cardstock

 

Mondo Hydrangea for The Flower Challenge

Hi friends!  It's mid-month and time for our reminder post at The Flower Challenge.  This month we're asking you to add spots or stripes to your floral card.

The Flower Challenge

For my lily card at the beginning of the month, I used spots on the lilies.  This time I'm adding strips with an oldie but goodie cover die.  In fact, all of the card elements used are items I've had for probably two or more years.  

I started off by using my Copics to color that beautiful Mondo Hydrangea from Ellen Hutson, using purplish blue colors for the flower petals and a light green for the center.  The leaves are a separate stamp, which I stamped twice and colored with yellow-greens, then everything was die cut with companion dies.

The cover die cut from white was left unused from another project and I thought it would work great for the stripe theme.  The word thanks was already die cut from white and I simply die cut the shadow die twice from a light green and layered them together.  Rather than have white on white, I wanted a colored cardstock panel under the striped cover die, so I tried a variety of colors and settled on the pretty light blue.  After everything was adhered to the card base, the final step was to add drops of Stardust Stickles to the flower centers.  You might be able to see the little bit of sparkle in the photo below.

I love how this card turned out (can't always say that about every card I make lol!) and I hope you do to!  Please be sure to take a minute to see how the other DT members used this theme on their stunning cards and hopefully find time to join us - the challenge is open until the 25th of August.

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Ellen Hutson Mondo Hydrangea

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Concord & 9th Sprout and Powder

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Clair Nocturne (restamped the images after the coloring was done)

Dies:  Mondo Hydrangea, MFT Bold Strips Cover-Up die, Hero Arts Nested Rectangle die, Simon Says Stamp Script Thanks dies

Other:  Stickles

Copics:  B69, 66, 63, YG67, 17, 05, 03, 01

Party Like a Flock Star!

Hey, friends, just popping in with a quick post.  I made a fun birthday card with my new Inner Flamingo stamp and die set from Ellen Hutson and thought I'd share it over at The Paper Players, where they have a very fun Tic-Tac-Toe challenge going on.

PP651

I ended up going across the top row - flowers, green and embossing.

I'm also sharing this over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme this week is Summer.

I totally love these cute flamingos!  I did some very basic Copic coloring of them, along with the drink glasses and party hat.  A gold gel pen was used to color in the spots on the hats as well as the birthday girl's crown.  The leaves and flowers are also by EH, from their Tropical Foliage stamp and die set, and were stamped using a few Simon Says Stamp ink pads.

Because I wanted to make this a little tropical party scene, the card base ended up being 5x7".  I trimmed down a separate panel slightly smaller than the base, lightly ink blended it with Concord & 9th Aqua Sky, then adhered it to the base.  After gold heat embossing the sentiment (which totally tickles my punny sense of humor!), the strip of paper was added to the panel with foam tape, then all the other elements were adhered.  The flamingos were layered on two additional die cuts to give them some dimension.  I want to give credit to the card samples at EH (by Julie Ebersol?), which is where I got the idea for the placement of the drinks.  So clever and fun!

Lastly, I added Glossy Accents to the glasses, the gold spots on the party hats and the crown, and used gold glitter gems for the flower centers.

Thanks for taking time to stop by.  Take care!

Stef

Stamps and dies:  EH Inner Flamingo and Tropical Foliage

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, CutCardStock Super Smooth White (Amazon), Hero Arts Pitch Black

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Clair Nocturn, Versamark, C&9 Aqua Sky, SSS Seafoam, Limelicious, Fairway and Sherbet

Other:  Altenew Gold Gel pen and Antique Gold embossing powder, Ranger Glossy Accents, Studio Katia Gold Glitter Gems (not sure if they're still available)

Copics:  R11, 01, 00, YG05, 01, YR16

A Groovy Day

Hello and welcome!  Today I have a fun card to share that I made for the challenges at Festive Friday and Fusion.

FF0101

 

Fusion

Used the sketch from Fusion and for Festive Friday, the three elements are brown, masculine, blue.

I've had this fun Ellen Hutson stamp set for a while, which I bought primarily since my husband loves old VW buses (fortunately we don't have room for him to "collect" them lol!).  Since he's seen this particular card, he won't get this one for his birthday, but we have plenty of other male relatives to send it to.  The bus was stamped and colored with Copic markers, die cut with the matching die, then Glossy Accents was added to the lights and the windows. A silver gel pen was used on the peace sign and also randomly along the bumper and the rear view mirrors.  Once the Glossy Accents was dry, I used a white gel pen to add a "reflection" to the windows.

For the rest of the card, I started by die cutting a panel of plaid patterned paper with a Wonky Stitched Rectangle die, then adhered directly to the white card base.  A strip of Crushed Curry was embossed, trimmed down to fit on the plaid layer, the sentiment label adhered behind it, then it was added to the card.  Two skinny strips of Cinnamon Cider cardstock were added to the top and bottom of the strip to help it stand out from the background.  A white circle was layered on a larger one of Cinnamon Cider, then the bus was popped up with foam tape and the entire thing was mounted on the card, also with foam tape.  

Since I was going retro with this card, I even dug out a couple of brads, cut the prongs off the back and glued them to the card front. Back in the day I used brads frequently on my cards, but it's been a long, long time!

Thanks for visiting, I really appreciate it!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  Trippin' (Ellen Hutson)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White; Crushed Curry, Cinnamon Cider & Plaid Tidings (all SU)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Clair Nocturne

Other:  Trippin' matching die, Tasteful Texture embossing folder (SU), Wonky Rectangle die (SSS), Nested Infinity Circle dies (Hero Arts), Stitched Jumbo Fishtail die (MFT), Strips 1 die (SSS), brads, Silver and White gel pens (Altenew), Ranger Glossy Accents

Copics:  B04, 02, 01, 000, C9, 7, 5, 1, 00, T4, 2, 0, Y17, 13

Holly Christmas for Sunday Stamps

Hello and welcome!  It's time for a new challenge at Sunday Stamps, where the colors are perfect for finishing up your holiday cards.

Sunday Stamps

I think I managed to get all the challenge colors on my card along with some silver embossing and baubles.

I started by stamping and Copic coloring the large holly image.  The leaves have lots of intricate little shapes to them, so it was a bit of a challenge to color them.  I love the bright cluster of red berries and when the coloring was complete, I used Glossy Accents to give them a nice shine.  While the Glossy Accents dried, I went to work on the remainder of the card.

The sentiment was silver heat embossed on some Midnight Green card stock, then I used the matching die to cut it out.  I went through my patterned paper stash and found the green plaid paper, which I cut into a one-inch strip.  The main panel was trimmed down, then the patterned paper added along with two thin strips of silver paper.  After the panel was adhered to the card base, the sentiment was added with thin foam squares and the final touch was to add a few silver baubles.

Thanks for taking time to visit, I really appreciate it!  Be sure to use the link above to see all the wonderful creations by the other DT members and hopefully join us for this challenge!

Stef

Stamps: Mondo Holly (Ellen Hutson), Ornamental Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Matte Silver (SSS), Midnight Green (SSS), 9x4 Holiday Paper Collection (Trinity Stamps)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark

Other:  Ornamental Christmas die, Silver embossing powder (Hero Arts), Glossy Accents (Ranger), Silver Baubles (Trinity Stamps)

Copics: G29, 20, YG99, 45, R59, 46, 27, 14, C1

Bear Birthday

Hello and welcome!  I'm sharing a card that I made for the challenges at The Paper Players and As You See It.

PP554

AYSI #256

Quite honestly I have many animals I consider my favorites and bears are one of them.  My card uses a real fun one that has lots of accessory stamp sets.

This was a fun and easy card to make.  The bear, his party hat and balloons were all colored with Copic markers.  I used the colors from the patterned paper as the inspiration for the hat and balloon colors.  They were all cut with the matching die set.  One of the things I love about the bear die is that it cuts around his arms to you can create scenes were he is holding things.  So cute!

After die cutting the bear and accessories, I stamped the sentiment and die cut the circle.  The strip of patterned paper was adhered to the navy card base, then the circle added with thin foam squares.  I determined where I wanted the balloons and also popped those up with thin foam squares after tying on the linen thread.  The bear was adhered to the circle with thin foam squares, making sure not to stick down his right arm (leg? 😁) before tucking in the strands of linen thread.  Some navy enamel dots finished off this quick, easy and relatively CAS birthday card.

Thanks for visiting, I really appreciate it!  Have a great remainder of your week!

Take care and stay safe!

Stef

Stamps:  All Inside and Bear Ware (Ellen Hutson), Watch This (sentiment/Colorado Craft Company)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Soft Navy (Simon Says Stamp), Enjoy the Ride 6x6 paper pack (Altenew)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Clair Nocturne

Other:  All Inside and Bear Ware dies, Nested Circle Infinity die (Hero Arts), Linen Thread (SU), Sakura White Gelly Roll pen, Glacier Caves Enamel Dots (Altenew)

Copics:  B99, 97, 95, 93, YG17, 05, 03, 01, E79, 57, 35, 33, 31

grill.all.the.things for the Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Hello friends!  I hope you're doing well.  It's time for another Tic Tac Toe Challenge and this week Claire has given us a fun board that would be perfect for Father's Day or a masculine card.

tttc115

I'm also joining Addicted to Stamps ATSC #406  and the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, where the theme is Anything Goes

For my card, I went diagonal - die cut, twine/ribbon, texture.

A while back, Ellen Hutson had a wonderful sale on all her Essentials by Ellen products, and I used the opportunity to scoop up some stamps and dies I have had my eye on for over two years.  I LOVE this cute bear and all the accessories you can use to create fun scenes! I started by stamping and coloring the barbeque, bear, sun and hot dog, using Copic markers.  After die cutting with the matching dies, I moved on to creating the background.

I used stencils to create the ink blended grass and clouds. Next a panel of Desert Storm cardstock was embossed with the Corrugated 3D embossing folder, then the stenciled panel was trimmed down and adhered to it.  Before adding to the Desert Storm card base, I wrapped some hemp twine around the panel and tied on a bow.  The BBQ, bear, sun and sunglasses were adhered directly to the panel.  The grilling fork was glued under the bear's paw (the die cuts the paws away from the body so he can hold things) but I used a small amount of foam tape to pop up the wienie portion.  The sentiments were stamped, die cut and added to the card front with foam tape, then the last step was to use my white gel pen on his sunglasses.  This will be perfect to send to one of our grill-loving friends!

Thanks so much for visiting, I really appreciate it!  Be sure to use the link above to check out the fabulous cards by the other DT members and hopefully join us this week!

Take care!

Stef

Stamps:  All Inside and Bear Ware 3 (EH)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Versafine Clair Nocturne; Fire Fly, Grass Field and Sea Glass (Altenew)

Other:  All Inside and Bear Ware 3 matching dies, Skinny Strips die (MFT), Grassy Edges and Rolling Clouds stencils (MFT), Corrugated 3D embossing folder (ret. SU), Hemp Twine

Copics:  E79, 57, 35, 33, 31,30, 29, 09, R59, 46, 24, 05, 22, 20, Y26, 19, 15, 13

Spring Flowers Birthday

Hello again!  I hope you're doing well.  Today I'm sharing a card that I made for three challenges - Seize the Birthday, The Flower Challenge and Addicted to Stamps (my second entry for this current challenge).

STB #212

TFC #55

ATSC #403

One of my favorite spring flowers is the cherry blossom, so I thought no better way to go than to use Ellen Hutson's Mondo Sakura. I decided to watercolor these big, beautiful blooms using my Karin markers.  I use the term "watercolor" loosely as what I did was such an simple technique.  

After gold embossing the floral image on watercolor paper, I used a #8 round brush to bring water to each petal, use the marker to drop in some color at the petal base, then mostly let the water do the work, with a bit of help with my brush to get the color moving.  After the petals and leaves were done, water was added around the image and water colored in light blue.

When dry, the panel was trimmed down, splattered with the pink marker color and white gouache (both watered down), then added to the Ivory card base with foam tape.  The large sentiment was die cut from gold once and white twice then layered together and added to the panel.  I trimmed down a sentiment strip and adhered above the die cut, then added a few sparkling clear sequins for the final touch.

Thank you for taking time to visit, I really appreciate it!  Take care and enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

Stef

Stamps:  Mondo Sakura (EH)

Paper:  Ivory (Simon Says Stamp), Arches Cold Press watercolor, Gold Pearl (Tonic), Reverse Sentiment Strips (SSS)

Ink:  Versamark

Other:  "You" die (MFT), Rose Gold embossing powder (Altenew), Karin Brushtip Pro markers, White Gouache, Sparkling Clear Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Voices in My Head for The Paper Players

Hello friends, I hope you're doing well.  It's time for a new challenge at The Paper Players!  This week our challenge is a sketch brought to us by the lovely LeAnne.

The Paper Players

While I had a concept in my mind for this layout design, I struggled with the execution for a while.  But hey, that's why it's called a challenge, right?  I ended up making a card larger than A2 to fit all the elements!

Starting out I knew I wanted the speech bubble in the upper right corner and the rectangle in the sketch to be an online zoom cocktail party to coordinate with the sentiment.  I began by stamping the computer, dividing the screen into quadrants, then masking off each one as I stamped the ladies and their beverages.  I can't lie, that took some practice and multiple versions before getting it just right, but in the end, I like how it turned out.  I used Copic markers to color it up and once complete, it was fussy cut.

For the background I used larger beverage images and stamped them on a panel of light blue card.  As I worked to put all the elements together on the card base, I realized the card would have to be larger than A2, and finally ended up with a 5"x 7" card.  That meant resizing the speech bubble a few times until everything looked balanced and fairly representational of the sketch.  Sorry LeAnne, I did take a few liberties ha ha! Once the blue and black layers were adhered, the speech bubble was lightly inked blended with Tattered Rose DOX ink, then both it and computer were added with foam tape.  Plus a few sequins...just because.

Thanks for taking time to visit, I really appreciate it!  Be sure to check out the amazing designs by the rest of the DT linked below.  Also, be sure to head over to the blog and join in the fun this week!

Stef

Jaydee
LeAnne Pugliese

Claire Broadwater
Joanne James
Laurie Schmidt

Anne Marie Hile
Ann Schach
Allisa Steinlicht

Stef Perry (that's me!)

Mary Deatherage

Stamps:  Mini Voices in My Head, Voices in My Head Accessories, Voices in My Head Vol. 3 (Ellen Hutson)
Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Black, Surf Blue (Simon Says Stamp)
Ink: Gina K Obsidian Amalgam, Versafine Clair Nocturne, Tattered Rose Distress Oxide
Other:  Speech Bubbles die, Sparkling Clear sequins
Copics: [BV08, W5, 7] [V15, E35, 33, 31, R39] [R12,02] BG11 [Y21,00 YR12] [E11, 21, 51, 50 R22] [Y00, B0000] V01 [E29, 27, 23] [V15, 33, 11, R37] [R59, 39, 37] R00 [E33, 25, 50] [E33, 11, 51 R35] [Y38, 35] [E30, 0000] [C5,3,1 YG01, G43, 03]

Mondo Birthday Wishes for The Paper Players!

It's time for a new challenge at The Paper Players!  It's the fifth Sunday of the month, which means it's the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge.  The lovely Jaydee is our host and has given us these fun choices:

The Paper Players

My card design was inspired by the current Mojo Monday sketch:

MOJO 537

And I'm also joining the current Anything Goes challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge:

SSS Wed Challenge

From the Tic-Tac-Toe grid I chose the top horizontal (flowers, girly, birthday).  The wonderful Mondo Wildflower image was inked up and colored with Copic markers.

I love these light and dark pinks together and the touch of light purple.  A light blue-green marker was traced around the entire image, a white gel pen added to the tops of all the stamen, then the image was die cut with an oval die.  (Sorry, Julie, I did take a few liberties with your sketch!)

For the background, three shades of Distress Inks (from top to bottom, Scattered Straw, Worn Lipstick and Seedless Preserves) were blended on a panel of Bristol.  After die cutting with the round corner rectangle die it was splattered with water to get those great drop effects, then sprayed liberally with a shimmer spray.  While that dried, the flowers were painted with a shimmer pen.  The sentiment I happened to have on hand, unused on a previous project, so once the ink blended panel was dry the assembly came together pretty quick.  The final touch was to add a few jewels, because a girly card should have both sparkle and shimmer, right?  💖💖

Thanks so much for visiting, I always appreciate it!  Be sure to use the link above to check out the other DT's beautiful cards and hopefully join us for the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge this week!

Stef


Stamps:  Mondo Wildflowers (Ellen Hutson), Mini Everyday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Strathmore Bristol
Ink:  Gina K Obsidian Amalgam; Seedless Preserves, Worn Lipstick and Scattered Straw Distress Inks
Other:  Nested Rounded Rectangle die (Hero Arts), Ovals Collection framelit (ret. SU), Tsukineko Sparkle Sheer Shimmer spray, Tonic Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen, Bridal Mix jewels (Lucy's Cards Little Things)
Copics:  Leaves:  YG67, 17, 03, YG25, 01, G28, 24, YG45; Flower 1: R43, 32, 20, E37, 35, 33; Flower 2: RV69, 17, 55; Small Flowers: BV02, 0000

Hello for The Paper Players!

Hello friends, I hope you're continuing to stay safe and healthy.  I have something that may take your mind off things momentarily.  It's Sunday and time for a new challenge at The Paper Players!  Laurie is hosting our sketch week challenge and has a wonderful sketch to spark your creativity!

The Paper Players

For my card, I decided to use the wonderful Mondo Succulent Pot from Ellen Hutson.  I love succulents and cactus, so this stamp set quickly found it's way into my shopping cart when it was released in early March.  Laurie's sketch worked really well, although the center panel had to be bigger for the large stamp.

I confess to being a little creative with my color selections, in that they may not all be true to life, but I'll claim creative license ha ha!  Copics worked perfectly to color this up, but I was left feeling like there wasn't quite enough contrast in the darker areas, so I pulled out some colored pencils to try and darken the shadows a bit.

I could have done a little deeper shading but after all the time spent coloring it with Copics, I was a bit nervous to use a medium with which I have little practice LOL!  With the coloring complete, a stitched rectangle die was used to trim down the panel, then layered on panels of Bermuda Bay and Cajun Craze.  After mounting on the Ivory card base with foam tape, the sentiment strip was added.

Thanks for visiting, it's always so appreciated!  Be sure to use the link above to check out the rest of the DT and hopefully join us for this great sketch challenge!

Stef


Stamps:  Mondo Succulent Pot (EH)
Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Bermuda Bay, Cajun Craze (both SU), Ivory, Sentiment Strips 2 (both SSS)
Ink:  Gina K Obsidian Amalgam
Other: Stitched Rectangle die (SSS), Prismacolor Premier colored pencils
Copics:  BG34, 11, G43, 17, 20, YG67, 17, 03, E49, 37, 33, 29, 27, 23, 19, YR30, 18, 07, 04