Little Things for the Paper Players

Hello friends! It's time for a new CAS challenge at the Paper Players and this time the amazing Christy is hosting.  She's chosen a fun theme for our CAS cards.

Paper Players

I don't have many baby animal stamps or dies, but I found one in my stash that is so sweet, I'm glad I remembered it.

I have a number of Anita Jeram stamps from Colorado Craft Company but hadn't used this particular image before.  The little bunnies are just toooooo cute in this scene and the sentiment says it all.

To color the image and create a background, I went back to my roots and used Distress inks to watercolor.  The soft colors are wonderful and perfect for this family of bunnies out for a little jaunt on a Spring day.

When the watercoloring was dry, the panel was trimmed down with an Eyelet Layer frame die.  It was adhered to a panel of light blue then added to the card base with foam tape.  

We would love to have you share your baby animal card with us this week!  I encourage you to head over to the challenge blog where my talented teammates have some wonderful inspiration for you.  The challenge will remain open until Friday, April 24th at 3pm EDT.  Hope to see you there!

Stef

• CCC/AJ Happy Days Stamp set
• SSS Eyelet Layer Frame die
• Lost Shadow, Hickory Smoke, Broken China, Mowed Lawn, Worn Lipstick and Mustard Seed Distress inks

Peace for the Paper Players

Hello friends!  It's time for a new challenge at the Paper Players.  Since it's the fourth Sunday of the month, that means a sketch challenge, and this time the fabulous Joanne is hosting and given us this great sketch to work with.

Paper Players

I did take some liberties with the sketch, using a landscape format and using metallic cord rather than horizontal strips, so I hope you'll be okay with what I came up with, Joanne!!

This card was actually created during an online class with Tim Holtz using Simon Says Stamp collaboration products, designed by Tim.  Afterwards, I was looking at the card I made, and it reminded me of Joanne's sketch, so I decided to use it for this challenge.

We created many flowers and different types of foliage, going direct to the stamps with Distress Watercolor pencils after misting with water, then stamping on watercolor paper.  It's not a new technique to me, but one I haven't used in at least two years and some of the images turned out fine and some went into recycling lol! I selected a small poinsettia and two branches for the card, all of which were decorated with a bit of glitter on the edges.

The white panel was sprayed with Hickory Smoke Distress Spritz, which looks more silver the gray IRL, dried it and die cut the Peace shadow die from it.   The panel was backed with acetate to create a shaker card.  I used silver sequins and chunky Rock Candy glitter for the interior.  After completing the shaker portion, the silver die cut Peace was adhered to the front along with the flower and branches, and the panel wrapped with silver cord.  It was matted with a panel of silver metallic cardstock then added to a Sea Glass card base.  

This card was not my typical style, but I was happy to step out of my comfort zone and just have fun creating!

So what are you inspired to make with Joanne's fabulous sketch? Take a moment to stop by the challenge blog (linked above) to see a wonderful variety of cards by my talented teammates, then please join us this week!  The challenge will remain open until 3pm EDT Friday October 31st.

Thanks for visiting!

Stef

• SSS/TH Festive Watercolor Stamps and dies
• SSS/TH Festive Words dies 
• Distress Watercolor pencils
• SSS Starshine Confetti
• Tim Holtz Rock Candy and Chunky Rock Candy Glitter
• Hickory Smoke Distress Spritz
• SSS Silver Cording

Autumn Leaves for The Paper Players

Hello friends!  It's time for our monthly CAS Challenge at the Paper Players and this time the amazing Jaydee is hosting and is asking us to use foliage on our cards.

Paper Players

And of course, what a perfect time of year to create cards with leaves.  Just remember to keep it CAS, with minimal layers and embellishments, along with plenty of "white" space.

My card has both die cut and embossed foliage on it.

As with many, autumn is my favorite time of year and creating fall foliage is just so fun.  For the acorns and leaves, they were die cut from Distress watercolor paper, then I watercolored them using Distress inks.  

While those dried, the background was embossed and the sentiment die cut from gold, white and vellum papers.  Because I was going to adhere the sentiment to a textured background, the words were layered on top of the vellum with gold on white, then a second layer of white was added to the underside of the vellum, which seemed to give it more stability and not appear lumpy when adhered.  I saw Amy R. from Prairie Paper and Ink use that little trick and thought it was a great idea.

After the card front was assembled and added to the card base, it was finished off with three gold sequins.

Okay now, assemble those leaves and share your beautiful creation with us this week!  For more inspiration, I encourage you to visit the challenge blog (linked above) to see all the gorgeous cards created by my talented teammates.  The challenge will remain open until Friday October 24th at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll join us!

Thanks for visiting!

Stef

• SSS Acorn Bundle dies
• SSS Happy Autumn dies
• Spellbinders Autumn Splendor 3D embossing folder
• Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey, Carved Pumpkin, Rusty Hinge, Cracklin' Campfire, Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain, Ground Espresso and Scorched Timber Distress inks
• Altenew Antique Gold sequins

Scenic Birthday for The Paper Players

Hello friends!  A new Sunday brings a new challenge at the Paper Players.  It's Clean and Simple week, and our host, the lovely Jan, is asking us to use watercolor.  

Paper Players

 

Keeping things CAS is easy to do.  Add only a limited number of layers or embellishments and your card should be clean and uncluttered, with lots of "white" space.  

I haven't water colored much over the past few years as I prefer to use my Copic or alcohol markers.  But this challenge reminded me it doesn't have to be complicated.  I chose a small scene, which also kept things simple. 😉

I used the Simon Says Stamp card kit for July to create this card.  The kit had many components, including three window dies, some fabulous city scene pattern papers, and a stamp set with various outdoor scenes that work with yet another window die, which is what I used here.  

The scene was stamped on watercolor paper with black pigment ink then heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I smooshed four Distress ink pads onto my glassboard work surface, added water and did some simple coloring of the scene.  

A strip of aqua paper was trimmed down and stamped the sentiment black and heat embossed, adhered it to the card base, then added the two strips of green cardstock.  The window was die cut from black glossy paper to coordinate with the black embossing, layered onto the trimmed down watercolor scene, then popped up with foam tape.  I felt like the card needed something more, so black enamel dots to the rescue.  In hindsight, I think some scoring on the panel would have looked nice as well.

Below are a couple of other cards I made with the kit.  They were sent off to a dear girlfriend as part of her birthday present, along with some other cards.

Thanks for coming by! I encourage you to visit the challenge blog, where my talented teammates have some wonderful designs to inspire you!  The challenge ends Friday 9/26 at 3pm EDT.  I hope you'll share you card in the gallery this week!

Stef

• SSS Through the Window Stamps and dies
• SSS Strips 1 die
• Altenew Black Enamel dots
• Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Hickory Smoke and Salvage Patina Distress inks

Bouquet Birthday for The flower Challenge

Hello friends!  I'm back with my mid-month reminder post for The Flower Challenge.  This month we're adding strips or spots to our cards.

TFC 102R

 

I found myself looking through my Pinkfresh Studio stamp sets and came upon one that I hadn't used for a long time and it was perfect for this challenge with its striped vase.  I looked through the set and found the floral image already heat embossed and water colored.  What a great timesaver!  I did find a mistake I made in the coloring, so I think that's why I tucked it away, but that was easily hidden with a sentiment.  

ETA: Full disclosure - I realized after I posted this that I used this watercolor image (sans boo boo) for my TFC DT card a couple of years ago. Oh well, I hope you enjoy seeing it again on a different design LOL!  I would have created another card, but I was going out of town and ran into a time crunch.

The image was water colored with Altenew Artist 24-pan watercolors.  It was die cut with the coordinating die, then I heat embossed and die cut the sentiment from another PFS stamp set.  

The octagon was die cut from brushed gold cardstock and matted with a panel of SU Pacific Point cardstock and added to an antique ivory base.  The floral image was added with foam tape before adhering the sentiment.   Thanks to my younger self for saving that water colored piece!

The challenge remains open until May 25th, so plenty of time to play along or upload a 2nd card if you've already joined in.  My talented teammates have some gorgeous inspiration on the blog, so I encourage you to go take a peek.  

Thanks for visiting and take care!

Stef

• PFS Inky Bouquet and Joyful Day sets
• PFS Blanket Stitched Octagon die 
• Altenew Artist 24-pan watercolors

Chelsea Floral for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  Today I'm sharing my reminder card for The Flower Challenge, where this month the theme is to create a birthday card.  

TFC 93 Reminder

As I shared in my blog post for TFC at the beginning of the month, I decided to play with a couple of as yet unused embossing folders, so today I reveal the 2nd of the two.

For this card, I reached for something I rarely use, which are my Distress Watercolor Pencils.  If you follow my blog, you know my favorite coloring medium is alcohol markers, but I knew it would be relatively easy to use some simple water coloring for this panel.  It was embossed using watercolor paper, then I set about using some bright and cheerful colors.  I really love how the peachy flowers turned out by mixing Tattered Roses and Wild Honey. I finished it off with a tiny bit of splatter using Picked Raspberry and Wild Honey.

After the water coloring dried, the panel was trimmed down then layered on two additional panel of scrap paper for a bit of dimension.  It was then matted on a bright green A2 panel before adhering to the card base.  The sentiment was stamped then die cut with a label die and the last step was to add a few embellies around the sentiment that matched to peachy flowers.

There's still plenty of time to join us this month; the challenge remains open until Thursday July 25th.  In the meantime, please be sure to visit the challenge blog, my teammates have new cards to further inspire you!

Take care!

Stef

• Simon Says Stamp Chelsea Floral embossing folder
• Concord & 9th Pop-Up Par-Tay stamp set (sentiment)
• Distress Watercolor Pencils in Picked Raspberry, Tattered Rose, Wild Honey, Twisted Citron and Rustic Wilderness
• Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink
• Stampin' Up Polished Dots
• MFT Fishtail Foundations

Hugs for The Flower Challenge

Hello friends!  This is a special day because it is The Flower Challenge's 7th birthday!  The theme is Anything Goes plus we have a number of previous Design Team members joining us for this month-long celebration, along with our latest new DT member Judy Rozema. Woo hoo!

The Flower Challenge

Sadly, this is Viv and Aileen's last challenge as part of the DT, and Cara as well.  We wish them all the best and hope they come back to play along once in a while.

For my card I stepped out of my comfort zone and did some water coloring using Distress Watercolor Pencils.

In February I attended a class led by the amazing Jenn Shurkus where she taught us some basic skills for using Distress Watercolor Pencils, so I decided to apply some of what I learned using a page from the Altenew Watercolor Coloring Book.  I painted in layers then when the flower and leaves were done, I used Speckled Egg to go around the outside of the image, then added splatter in Seedless Preserves, Black Soot and metallic gold paint.

The panel was trimmed down to 3.75" x 5.75" from it's original A7 size, matted with Stampin' Up Blackberry cardstock and added to a lavendar panel that was embossed with the Gina K Lattice folder using a bit of thin foam tape.  The sentiment from Altenew Versatile Greeting was die cut from matte gold and layered on a vellum shadow.  The last step was adding it to an A7 Ivory card base.

We sure hope you'll join us in celebrating TFC's 7th birthday!  In the meantime, please head over to the challenge blog where the DT and guest DTs have some beautiful inspiration to share with you!

Take care!

Stef

Paper:  Altenew Watercolor Coloring Book, Simon Says Stamp Lavendar, SU Blackberry Bliss, Hero Arts Antique Ivory, SSS Matte Gold, Lawn Fawn Pearlescent Vellum

Dies:  Altenew Versatile Greetings, Waffle Flower A7 Layers dies

Embossing:  Gina K Lattice folder

Watercolor:  Altenew Metallic watercolor pan set; Distress Watercolor Pencils in Shaded Lilac, Seedless Preserves, Twisted Citron, Rustic Wilderness, Folssilized Amber, Wild Honey, Vintage Photo, Black Soot and Speckled Egg

Hugs for Color Hues and a Blog Hop

Hello friends and welcome!  Today, we have a very special Challenge here at Color Hues that we are bringing a day earlier than our normal schedule!  

In conjunction with our normal Color Challenge, The Color Hues Design Team and a few guests, from our sister challenge Seize the Birthday, are participating in a Blog Hop! 

Collectively as a team, we are hopping in memory of our dear friend, fellow cardmaker, and Design Team member, Lindsey Martin-Penny, who sadly passed away last year from a rare and aggressive form of Ovarian Cancer. 

The purpose of this hop will be to honor Lindsey, celebrate her life and all that she loved, as well as spread the word to raise funds for Clear Cell Ovarian Cancer Research.  

How can you Help? You can find all the fabulous details and the start of the hop at Emily's Blog HERE!

In honor of Lindsey, the team has created a variety of cards using her favorite color combo of Purple and Red.

Color Hues

For my card, I wanted to do something different that would made the red and purple colors that Lindsey loved stand out.  I didn't have the privilege of knowing Lindsey, but my teammates and others that knew her make me think she would have been my kind of person; a smart, funny, loving and kind human.

While my favorite flowers are peonies, coneflowers and sunflowers run a close second, so decided to use my new Brilliant Coneflower embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp.  I started by embossing an A2 panel of Stonehenge black watercolor paper.  Next, I dusted off my Altenew Metallic watercolors and painted the flower petals in Amethyst and Garnet.  For the stems I used a dark red called Rhodolite, which I chose because it almost looks like a reddish brown.  For the cones, I used the side of my paintbrush to try to add the Gold Pearl just on the embossed portion so the black could show through.  When that was done I lightly splattered the panel with the same gold paint.

After the paint dried, the panel was trimmed down to 4" x 5.25" then adhered to a black card base.  The sentiment was die cut from SSS Matte Gold cardstock with the SSS Big Scripty Hugs die and adhered to the front.  At this point I toyed with the idea of adding an embellishment but decided the splatter was sufficient.

We would love to have you join us in honoring Lindsey!  The challenge will remain open until 9 am September 28th.  Please take a moment to pop over to the challenge blog, where my incredibly talented teammates and our wonderful guests, Barb and Glenda, have created some stunning inspiration with this color combination.  

Also, more details about the blog hop and a link to the next stop can be found there.

Thanks for taking time to stop by and if you have a chance, I'd love to have you drop back by in an hour when my reminder post for The Flower Challenge goes live!

Take care!

Stef

Sulfur Cosmos for Color Hues

Hello and welcome!  It's the first of the month and that means it's time for a new challenge at Color Hues!  This time the amazing Jules has chosen the beautiful combo of Coral and Sage.

Color Hues

When I saw those colors, I immediately thought of my as yet unused Craft-a-Flower: Sulfur Cosmos dies from Altenew.

For starters, I pulled out some Distress watercolor paper, smooshed Abandoned Coral and Bundled Sage on my glass mat, then laid down a base color on the flowers and leaves.  My intent was to add layers of watercolor but I came to the quick realization that my ink pads were very dry and I was shocked to find that out of all the Distress reinkers I have, those two colors were not amongst them!  So, in order to create more depth and dimension, I ended up using my copic markers on the flowers, leaves and the flower centers.

Next came the card base and sentiment.  Originally, I was going to use white on white for the background but I had just received the Distress Kraft Heavystock and thought it would add a bit more interest.  The panel was die cut with the Altenew Scallops Cover die, adhered to a white base measuring 4.5" x 5.75", then added the die cut flowers and leaves.  The sentiment, which is from the Simon Says Stamp Black-Eyed Susan stamp set, was gold heat embossed on a strip of the kraft heavystock, die cut with the coordinating die.  Before adding the sentiment to the card front, I lightly splattered it with white gouache and gold metallic paint.  When that dried, the sentiment was popped up with thin foam squares and I added a few Altenew gold sequins.  

So what are you inspired to make with these colors?  I hope you'll join us for this challenge, it's open until 9 am EST 2/14.  In the meantime, be sure to pop over to the challenge blog and see the gorgeous cards by the other DT members! 

Take care!

Stef

 

Peace for The Flower Challenge

Welcome friends!  It's time for the final challenge of 2022 at The Flower Challenge.  Appropriately, the theme this time is Christmas.  

The Flower Challenge

**Please note, our challenge will close on the 15th of December and the design team will be off until our next challenge on February 4, 2023.

For my card, I decided to change things up and watercolor rather than use Copic markers.  Now, I say watercolor, but it's very basic as this is definitely a medium for which I need further practice!  So all of you that watercolor proficiently, please be kind when viewing my card lol!

I used a new to me stamp set from Penny Black and heat embossed with Altenew Rose Gold this lovely poinsettia image on watercolor paper.  I primarily used the wet-on-wet technique, adding a second layer to get a bit of shading on the petals, then used a lovely shade of green around the image and some purple mixed with the pink to achieve a kind of plum color for the berries.  

Next the panel was splattered with gold shimmer spray and white acrylic paint.  When dry the panel and a piece of Altenew Brushed Rose card stock were die cut and layered directly onto the plum card base.  The sentiment was heat embossed and die cut, then popped up on foam tape for a little dimension and I was done!  A note about the "at Christmas" part of the sentiment.  It was actually part of a "missing you at Christmas" sentiment, but I just used my Misti and some Scotch tape to cover up the part I didn't want to use, inked it up then removed the tape and stamped.  After it was heat embossed, I used the matching die then just trimmed off the bit where the first part of the sentiment would go. 

The link above will take you to the challenge where you can see all the gorgeous cards by the other DT members and hopefully join us by the 15th!

Happy Holidays to everyone celebrating this month! 

Stef

Stamps:  Penny Black Scarlet, Simon Says Stamp Christmas Blessings

Paper:  Hero Arts Plum, Altenew Brushed Rose, Arches 140lb watercolor

Ink:  Versamark

Other:  Christmas Blessings dies, Altenew Rose Gold embossing powder, Altenew 24 pan watercolor set, Imaginecrafts Gold Shimmer Spray, Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White paint

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)