Just For You at Color Hues

Hello friends!  The first half of February feels like it has just flown by; does it feel the same to you?  But the good news is that it brings us to a new challenge at Color Hues. This time the amazing Jules is hosting, and she's chosen one of my favorite color pairings.  

Color Hues

I used the Altenew Majestic Roses stencils to create my card with these colors.  The result with these stencils is so amazing!  Take a look.

The set has four stencils for the flowers and three for the leaves and it more than fills an A2 card, as you can see.  When the stenciling was done, I decided not to trim down the panel and instead use a frame.

I used Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Metallic Classics Kraftstock in glossy black. It has a kraft backing, which seems to be a bit sturdier than my other metallic and glossy cardstocks.  

The sentiment is from another Altenew set, the Lovely Rose Peony. It was black heat embossed, then layered on two additional die cuts before adhering to the card front. The final step was to add three Spellbinders Onyx gems just around the sentiment.  A super CAS card for me but those gorgeous roses don't seem to need much more to carry the card!

Please be sure to take a moment to visit the challenge blog for more inspiration by my wonderful teammates and our fabulous guest designer Gundi.  The challenge will remain open until Friday Saturday February 28th at 9 am EST.  I hope you'll join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

Blossoms Birthday for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  It's a new month and a new theme for The Flower Challenge.  This time we're asking you to use embellishments - any kind, whatever you like as long as your card features flowers.  Easy, right?

TFC

I have a frame die that was made specifically for adding sparkling gems so what could be more perfect?

I've been wanting to use the Butterfly Blossoms set from Simon Says Stamp again and thought these sweet flowers would frame up nicely, along with the tiny butterfly.  They were colored with Copic markers then die cut.  

Originally, I thought I would use a gold metallic frame, but I didn't care for how it looked and decided to go with white since I ink blended the interior with light blue.  I found some gems and looked through my blue cardstocks for something that would go with the inked frame center and the gems and chose a piece of SSS Island Blue. Sooo pretty! 

The frame was layered three times and adhered to the blue card front, then the center with the flowers and butterfly adhered was popped into the middle.  After testing out a few sentiments, I ended up with one of SSS Reverse sentiment strips, then finished things off with the beautiful gems all around the frame.

Are you ready to play along this month?  What are your favorite embellishments?  We'd love to see!  The challenge will remain open until August 25th.  Before you head off to your crafty space, I encourage you to visit the challenge, where my talented teammates have some beautiful inspiration to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stef

• SSS Butterfly Blossoms stamps and dies
• SSS Reverse Sentiment Strips set (not sure which one, mine are all mixed together)
• Altenew Sparkle Frame
• Altenew Deep Sea Sapphire Gem Sparkles
• Copics - YR16, Y17, 08, G19, 02
• Olos - O4.6, 4.3

Christmas Berries for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  We have a new challenge at the Paper Players and this week the lovely Claire is hosting and has chosen a theme of fruit for our CAS week.  

 

Paper Players

 

I took a bit of a different turn with this challenge, creating two Christmas cards with berry branches, since I really don't have many fruit images, plus I always like to add to my holiday card stash. 

Both cards use the Gentle Berries dies by Kristina Werner at Concord & 9th.  This card was inspired by one of her samples on the web site, using a red background with the stenciled dashes.  The berry branch was die cut three times with white, red and green glitter cardstock then adhered as you see above to a base.  The sentiment was also die cut from white glitter cardstock.

I first tried to stencil the dash lines with white pigment ink but a combination of a rather dry ink pad plus the thickness of the stencil didn't yield a satisfactory result.  So I used a white gel pen, then I covered the dash lines with Distress Sparkle Texture paste so the dashes would also have some subtle sparkle.

The second card uses a different orientation of the branch and sentiment, along with a snowflake embossed background and a white glitter frame.  

I decided to go monochromatic with turquoise and light blue, although the photos look more on the blue side.  Both cards were super easy to put together and I think the sparkle lends itself to these CAS designs.  What do you think?  

My talented teammates have some wonderful and varied designs to inspire you, so please make a quick trip to the challenge before heading off to your crafty space.  The challenge will remain open until Friday, June 20th at 3pm EDT.  Hope to see your card in the gallery!

If you have a chance later today, come back and take a peek at my reminder card for The Flower Challenge.

Thanks for visiting and take care!

Stef

• Kristina Werner/Concord & 9th Gentle Berries Dies
• KW/C&9 Kristina's Finishing Touches Stencils (card 1)
• Simon Says Stamp Flourished Merry Christmas die
• Lawn Fawn and SSS Glitter cardstocks
• Distress Texture Paste (card 1)
• Spellbinders/Simon Hurley Sparkling Snow embossing folder
• SSS A7 Nesting Frames

Whimsical Flower Vine for Color Hues

Hello friends!  Yes, a second post for me today because it's time for a new challenge at Color Hues. (If you're here for my DT post for the Paper Players, you can find it here)  The amazing Bonnie is hosting this week and has chosen the color combo of coral and yellow.

Color Hues

I love nearly all colors, but I have to admit coral is a bit of a struggle for me, and I have no idea why.  But nevertheless, I made a fun little card using my default - flowers!

Last fall I'd purchased a couple of these modern floral design die sets and thought I'd use this one from Altenew (watch for the other one from Spellbinders, it will be coming soon!).  It certainly was easy to put together once the die cutting was complete and I added it to a panel where I'd inked up a bit of light yellow ink blending so the white leaves would be more visible.  But the card needed a little somethin' somethin' since die cut doesn't fill a full card front, so I layered up a frame and the helped a lot.

Since the frame was black I thought a black sentiment strip would work well along with a few black enamel dots.  But still...it needed something more, so I added the Baker's Twine and called it good!  

We'd love to have you join us for Bonnie's challenge and I encourage you to visit the challenge blog for loads of wonderful inspiration from my very talented teammates and our guest designer,  Teresa.  The challenge remains open until Thursday 2/27 at 9 am EST.  I do hope you'll play along!

Thanks for stopping by and take care!

Stef

• Altenew Whimsical Flower Vine and Picture Frames dies
• Simon Says Stamp sentiment strip
• Concord & 9th Sorbet cardstock
• SSS Lemon Chiffon cardstock
• Altenew Lemon Ice ink
• Altenew Essential Black and White enamel dots

Birthday Wishes for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends and Happy Independence Day to those in the United States! 

Welcome to my blog and to the month of July (already?) where it is time for a new theme at The Flower Challenge.  This one is easy - create a birthday card, with the requisite florals, of course.

TFC 93

I've had a couple of beautiful floral embossing folders that have been waiting to be used, so you'll get to see them both this month.  This first one has a floral frame with the perfect spot for a big sentiment.

I started by embossing an A2 sized panel of white cardstock, then used the matching dies to cut the flowers from a separate piece of cardstock.  I taped them inside the folder and embossed them was well, then set about ink blending everything.  

I was definitely in the mood for something bright and colorful!  I used an ink family of three yellow green inks over the background, keeping the center light.  The flowers were inked with three purples, and I used an intense yellow in the center which, because I couldn't keep all the purple out of it, came out more of a yummy orange-y yellow.

Before assembling the card, the panel and the flowers were splattered with white gouache and gold metallic paint to give it more interest, plus the gold tied in with the foiled sentiments.  No embellies this time, the splatter was enough.

Thanks for stopping by for a look and I hope you'll head over to the challenge blog where my wonderful and talented teammates have a wonderful variety of floral birthday cards to inspire you!  The challenge remains open until Thursday, July 25th, so I hope you'll make time to join us this month.

Take care!

Stef

• Simon Says Stamp Beaufort Floral Frame embossing folder and dies
• Poppystamps Birthday Wishes Poe Script Foil and Die Cut set
• SSS Celery, Limelicious, Pearfection, Lilac, Orchid and Amethyst inks
• Altenew Lemonade Stand Fresh Die ink
• Altenew Metallic Gold paint
• White Gouace