LIM #313 - Balloons

It just so happened that I just made a card this morning that fits perfectly with the LIM challenge for this week!  I needed a card for a new baby, so I made this cute little gift card holder card. 

The only part that opens on this card is the light blue striped piece on the very front of the card base (and is the actual card).  The flap that says "welcome Ezra" is held down by the elephant's trunk.  When you slide the sentiment tab out from under the elephant's trunk, the card will open to display a gift card and a message.  The elephant is from W Plus 9 Unforgettable set, the "welcome" part of the sentiment is from PTI, and the name was stamped with Concord and 9th's Perfectly Penned set. The sentiments was stamped in versamark and heat embossed with white.  I colored the elephant and balloon with Copics and cut them out to pop on the front of the card. I would say this was a quick and easy card...and it probably would have been if I hadn't totally messed up the elephant's eyes on the first one I cut out...so that meant that I had to re-stamp, re-color, and cut another one out! Other than that little mess up, it was quick! LOL!

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

NBUS Challenge - Week 2

I thought I'd play along with Darnell's NBUS #9 Challenge this week, which is to use NBUS (never before used schtuff).   

I've made a couple of cards thus far...so off we go...

This first card will make you dizzy if you look at it long enough! ♥  The new schtuff I used on this card is the diagonal striped background from MFT and the Kindness die cut from Sugar Pea Designs. The diagonal stripe is actually a wide stripe, but I used my MISTI to stamp a second image under the first by shifting the card panel down a tad to stamp the second time. I cut the "kindness" from the card panel, after adhering it to some fun foam, then inserted it back into the card panel.  The trick with these type of cards is not losing all the little bitty pieces that go in the holes in the letters! And...in a word like this, you have to make sure you put the right pieces back in the holes or the pattern won't line up.  I had to trim the panel down a bit, so I used the dark pink (SSS) ink to color the edges of the card base, then popped the panel off set on the front of the card base.  SUPER simple and quick card!

This is the second card I made with NBUS.  The only NBUS on the card is the flower.  It's a stamp set that I've probably had for several years, but it's never seen ink (bless it's little heart!).  It's from an old Flourishes set called Chrysanthemums.  I cut the sending from the card base just like the first card using the fun foam.  The word "hugs" is from SSS Best Hugs sentiments. I also used the peek-a-boo die to cut the aperture in the card panel.  Flower was colored with Copics and I added a little wink of stella for sparkle. Flower is mounted on card base and panel is popped over it with fun foam.

Darnell...I don't need a prize...just doing this for the fun of it! MWAH ♥

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

CAS Watercolor and CAS Mix Up Challenges

I think I'll just make these two challenges...CAS Watercolor and CAS Mix Up.  So here we go...

I actually made 2 cards for each of these challenges...hmm...which shall I chose to enter...

This first card is for the CAS Mix Up challenge and was made using alcohol inks.  I used glossy paper and added drops of three different alcohol inks (sailboat blue, sunshine yellow, and citrus).  I dropped the ink on one or 2 drops at a time and using the Tim Holtz Air Spritzer tool to spray burst of air at each of the drops.  I repeated the process until I was happy with the results.  You really get a different look every time you spray air at the alcohol ink.  I cut it at an angle and popped it on a card base. Sentiment is from Altenew's Beautiful Quotes set.

This was the second card I made and I wasn't as crazy about it as I was the alcohol ink card.  For this card I used the shaving cream technique that Loll talked about with distress ink re-inkers for the background of the card panel. I stamped the flowers from Sweet 'n Sassy - layering them using masks.  I added some yellow Copics to the flowers. Of course, I also added a touch of wink of stella for a little shine.

This was actually my second card for the CAS Watercolor challenge, but I like it best. I'm really loving playing with water colors. I think I discover something new every time I try it!  I cut a panel larger than I ended up with, and water colored the background. I think I needed a little more blue in the sky...but I'm happy with it. The trees are an older stamp from Flourishes...stamped twice and heat embossed with white. Sentiment is from PTI. Cut the watercolor panel down quite a bit and added a tiny dark blue border behind it, then popped it on a card base that I had embossed with a snow embossing folder.

This was the first card I made for the water color challenge.  I water colored the background, and after it was dry, I stamped some tiny snowflakes (from a really old stamp set).  I cut snowflakes with dies from MFT from glitter paper and added them on top of the painted panel.  Then sentiment is heat embossed with white and is from Flourishes.

This is a card I just thought I'd share since I was posting.  LOVE how this turned out!  More water coloring (but no snowflakes!)  It's kind of all in sepia tones.  Sentiment is from PTI.  

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

CASology and HLS January Challenge...and much more!

I've been really busy making cards this week.  I need a boxed set for a gift and then just some birthday cards for upcoming birthdays...so get ready...lots to see!

               

This first card works for the cue card at CASology and Happy Little Stampers January "anything goes with dies" challenges.

The flowers are die cuts from Penny Black that I cut out of watercolor paper and painted with watercolors.  I had to paint them several times to get the deep red color I wanted. On another piece of water color paper, I loosely painted the background with green and blue.  I really love how the background turned out! I then cut the background with a stitched rectangle die from SSS and popped the flowers on top of the painted background.  The sentiment is from Sugar Pea Designs.

This card could also work for both challenges.  I cut a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of water color paper and added my watercolors in blue and yellow.  I "think" I might be getting the hang of water colors! I die cut the word "Kindness" from the painted background and also cut it from a piece of craft foam and popped it back in the water color base.  The die and the rest of the sentiment are also from Sugar Pea Designs. (Oh...and don't forget to pop the little pieces from the middle of the letters back in the appropriate places!)

Ok...now comes the "photo heavy" part....LOL!

This one is entirely hand painted

The first ten of this last group of cards will be used as a boxed set that I'm giving as a gift.  I've also made a cute little purse (Thanks for the link [for the purse by LeeAnn Greff] to the tutorial, Loll!)

Whew!  I think that's all for right now...

Sorry for such a LONG post, but I really wanted to share my burst of inspiration! For the sake of space and time, I didn't put a description of the cards in this post, but as always, if you have any questions about how something was done, or what products were used...just drop me an email and let me know. (You can click on the contact me button on the right hand side of this blog.)

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!

Happy New Year.....and...LIM 309

Happy New Year!  It seems the older I get the faster the years fly by!  Sometimes I can barely keep up! Hopefully, this year, I'll be a little better at keeping up with my blog.  I've been making a few changes and hopefully, keeping up with my blog better will be one of the good changes!

The holidays were extremely busy around here.  We had several family get-togethers and those are always BIG!  There was baking, shopping, wrapping of gifts...and just the general holiday rush! I had to move the location of my tree this year...I'm thinking I like it in this spot. I also managed to make some cards.  Unfortunately, I did not manage to get any Christmas cards mailed this year!  (I'll have plenty for next year though.)☺

I've made a few cards that I can use as encouragement for a friend of mine who recently found out that she has breast cancer.  

So, let's move on to the cards...

I believe this card is perfect for the LIM challenge. The last challenge of the year was to make a card with dimension...and here it is!  I stamped the flowers on water color paper using a Penny Black stamp and a very light distress ink for stamping.  I colored the images with Tombow markers and a little water on a brush.  Then I cut around the edges of the image and popped on a white card base. The sentiment is from SSS.  I colored some water color paper with the same color used for the blooms, then used the believe die to cut the sentiment.  I cut several layers of the word so that It would be popped up off the card.  The "all things are possible" is from the same stamp set.

This next card also has dimension on it...I used the Peony Swirls stamp from Altenew.  I layered my stamping using masks, then after coloring with Copics, I cut around the image and popped it on the card base. The sentiment is from SSS.

I really love this PB stamp, so i used it again, only this time I stamped it on Bristol paper and colored it with Zig Clean Color brushes. I added a few Nuvo pearl drops.

I love this sentiment from SSS.  I smooshed some distress inks on some card stock, then sprinkled a little water over it and blotted it with a paper towel.  After making sure it was really dry, I stamped the SSS sentiment in Versafine black and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I also added a few faux stitches on each side of the panel.

I know this was a looooooong post...so thank you for sticking with me!  Maybe if I keep up with my blog on a regular basis, my post won't be this long! ☺

As always, thanks so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your visit...and I appreciate each and every comment!