Make It Monday #240 Watercolor Resist

Hi everyone, I hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday.  So far it's sunny and near 50 here in MI.  We are suppose to get some rain this evening after getting almost a foot of snow this past Wednesday. 

If you haven't had a chance to watch Lexi's Make It Monday Water Color Resist, do so.  I really enjoyed playing with this technique yesterday.  I have two cards to show you.  The first card is my first attempt at the water color technique.

Red card stock
White card stock
Water color card stock
Yellow, Red and Blue water colors
Rubber Cement
PTI Shaker Shapes: Balloon Dies
Yellow Floss
Stormy Sky, Broken China & Tumbled Glass

Since I had fun with these colors, I thought I would see what the colors for Color Throwdown are for this week.  Pink, green and kraft.  Ooh, I wonder how they would look together....

IRL how this card turned out and am entering it into the MIM #240, Color Throwdown #381 and Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

Water color paper
Green Water Color
Brown Water Color
PTI Hibiscus Burst ink
PTI Rustic Wreath Die
PTI Beautiful Blooms II #3 dies
PTI Swoosh Stamp Set
SU Polka Dots EF
SU Crumb Cake ink








Here is what is left of my water color resist pieces.  I should have taken a picture of them before I die cut them up.  I did get one of the green and pink as I couldn't decide how to put my card together.

Thanks for stopping by.  I would love to know what you think of this technique by leaving a comment below.

Happy Birthday

Fellow blogger, Marcia and I met 23 years ago, when our two oldest daughters started preschool.  She and I have shared many great memories over the years, including our love of stamping.  She loves Melissa Phillips' cards as much as I do.  So I thought this card would be perfect to make for her birthday.

One of my favorite set from PTI is Doodlie Do and I've been wanting to CASE this card by Melissa Phillips for a very long time.  I've looked at her card so many times, but never realized until I read the blog today that she paper pieced it.  I thought she had colored it with markers.  Shows you how close I looked at this card...oh my!


I stamped the flowers on different sheets of designer paper from Penny Black's Painted Blooms paper pack and fussy cut them all.  My card isn't exactly like Melissa's but awful close.  It was a time consuming card with all the fussy cutting I did, but I think it was worth it.  IRL how my card turned out, as did Marcia. 

Thanks for stopping by, I love it when you do.

PTI's Challenge #5 - Sampler Squares & Challenge #9 - Snail Mail

I am entering this card in both Challenge #5 and Challenge #9.   Challenge #5, which is to cut 9 1-1/2" squares and put a different technique in each square and Challenge #5. 
Top left across - splattering, inlaid die cutting, ombre water coloring.  Row 2, left to right, regular die cutting, heat emboss stamping, confetti stamping.
Row 3, left to right, smooshing, watercoloring and dry embossing.

Challenge #9 is to make a thank you card for the PTI warehouse staff thanking them for their hard work and "snail mail" the card.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I love it when you do.

PTI's Create Along With Us - Feb. 2016

Aren't these "Peonies on Parade" gorgeous!  When I saw Kay Miller's card, I fell in love with the Peonies and the bright colors she used.  I knew it was going to be her card I was going to CASE for PTI's Create along with Us, Feb. 2016 challenge.

Here's is my take on Kay's card.  I used PTI's "Beautiful Brushstokes".  I stamped the outline in black and then inked up the solid stamps in PTI's "Raspberry Fizz" and "Hibiscus Burst" which I spritzed with water before stamping on water color paper.  The outline of the leaves are inked in black ink, too, and the solid stamp is inked with PTI's "Simply Chartreuse" and again spritzed with water before stamping on water color paper.  I fussy cut out the flowers and leaves.  I then took my "Raspberry Fizz" ink again and spread it an acrylic stamp block, spritz it with water and smooshed my water color paper on top of the acrylic block.  I popped up the flowers and leaves and added PTI's "Hello" from the "Wet Paint Cut Dies" collection. and popped it up on a piece of white card stock.  Not a pretty as Kay's, but I still really love the way it turned out. 


Thanks for stopping by.  I love it when you do.

PTI - Challenge #3 - Grab and Craft

I had a lot of stamps, dies and papers out already when I came up to this challenge.  It was a pretty fast five minutes though when you are trying to pick out just the right colors and stamps, etc. for this challenge. 

This is what I ended up with.  Not exactly what I had in mind when I started with all this, but it worked.  I used PTI's "Tag Sale #4" die and cut a circle out from Spellbinders.  I then used the PTI "Oopsie Daisy" die and cut out the daisy from the peach colored circle card stock and also out of a couple of pieces of My Favorite Things Plaid 6x6 paper pack.  I added a blue center to the daisy.  I then used PTI's "Branching Out" die in both a MFT plaid piece of paper and in SU's "Pear Pizzazz" card stock.  I cut a piece of SU's :Bashful Blue into a banner and attached it to a piece of DSP paper that I had in my stash.  I don't remember the name of the paper pack it came from.  I added some twine in different colors and a white ribbon to finish off the card.  The peach color card stock is from SU called "Apricot Appeal".

Thank you for stopping by, I love it when you do.

PTI Challenge #2 - favorite inspiration clothing

My posts are going to be pretty short as I want to get this posted before my bedtime.  I was busy this weekend and I caught up with all the PTI anniversary challenges, except today's.  I haven't even read today's PTI post as I've been busy making cards. 

This is my favorite new fleece.  I got it this past November and I wear it all the time!  Great challenge, PTI!

My card is on Stampin' Up's "Real Red Card Stock" and mounted it on a piece of Gina K "Pure Luxury White Layering Card Stock".  I used another NBUS stamp set from PTI called Fair Isle Borders.  I stamped them in Hero Art's"Unicorn White" ink and heat embossed them in white embossing powder to make the pattern pop.  I added a "Happy Birthday" from Simon Says Stamp "Birthday Sentiments B64" stamp set, which I stamped in VersaMark and heat set in red embossing power popped it up with pop dots.  IRL how this turned out!

Thanks for stopping by, I really love it when you do.

PaperTrey Ink's Day 1 - DT Favorites

Hi everyone,
I'm behind on PTI 9th Anniversary Challenges, but I'll see how many I can get done this weekend.  I chose Kay Miller's color recipe.  I used PTI's "Twig Wreath" stamp set.  I've had it for months and finally had a chance to play with it.  What a fun set.

I do struggle with lining up stamps with dies a lot.  I've used Jennifer McGuire's trick in the past, where you cut out the die on a scrap piece of paper and line up the stamped image under the cut out.  Put the die back into the cut out and run it through your machine.  Works for me about 75% of the time.  I fail at die cutting the image first then stamping onto the die cut.  Never perfectly lined up...drives me nuts.  So today, I tried my own idea...at least I think it's mine.  I took a piece of card stock, stamped a solid circle, then die cut out my flowers and leaves.  Worked like a charm.  Why didn't I think of that a long time ago.  I know you are thinking, why didn't I just use card stock.  I don't own any PTI card stock.  I know that is sad, but I would rather buy stamps then card stock.


The card is pretty self explanatory.  Unfortunately I can't remember which PTI set the Birthday Wishes stamp came from (sorry).  That's what I get for waiting a week before posting my card.  The piece of designer paper is from My Favorite Things "Plaid Patterns" paper pack.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I love it when you do.

Two more Valentine's Day cards done!

I cheated and made two of the same cards, but in two different shades of red and different designer papers.

I first stamped Will You Be My Valentine? by Simon Says Stamp "Paper Hugs" with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I put Distress Ink "Barn Door" on my craft mat and added some water and smooshed my water color paper over the red ink. 

I sponged Distress Ink in "Barn Door" over the piece of designer paper from Crate Paper "Hello Love" for the ombre look.  I added some white gel pen to the hearts on the designer paper, but my white looks pink against the red.  I added a stamped heart from the "Paper Hugs" stamp set in "Barn Door" and finished off the card, by adding some heart sequins.





On the second card, I did the same process, but used Distress Ink in "Festive Berry" and used a piece of designer paper from PTI called "Holiday Plaid Patterned Paper".  I added some silver thread and some heart sequins to finish off this card.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I love it when you do.

Valentine's Day is right around the corner

Hi everyone,
Just a quick post tonight as I'm listening to Coldplay during half time.  Made some cards this weekend, not as productive as last weekend, but I'll still get my Valentine's Day cards out to my kids.

This first card I am entering into PTI's Make It Monday challenge and Simon Say Stamp Wednesday challenge, Have a Heart.

• SSS Falling hearts stencil
• Designer Paper is Create Paper "Hello Love"
• The black & white designer paper is from Stampin' Up
• PaperTrey Ink Wonderful Words Love Die
• The Heart die is from PTI, too, but I can't find the name of the die on their site, sorry
• PTI's Rasberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst and Sweet Blush inks
• Splatters of  Distress Spray Stain in Picket Fence

I used the ombre technique on a piece of the designer paper, which was white.  I added some water and white ink splatters and colored the hearts in with a white gel pen.  I used white paste with the falling heart stencil and colored some of the hearts with the three PTI ink colors.  I added some hearts with a white gel pen to the pink die cut hearts.  I cut out the word love twice and layered them together.

IRL the way this card turned out.  A bit graphic for me, but still cute.  Thanks for stopping by, I love it when you do!

Birthday with "Altitude"

I'm getting punny!  Darnell must be rubbing off on me...hahaha!  I love her posts.  If you haven't checked out Darnell's blog, you need to..http://www.djkardkreations.com/.  She is such a hoot! 

Anyhoo, back to my card for my oldest sister.  I have 3 sisters and one brother.    This card came about from one I made at a stamp class last week using the same technique, just different colors, dies and stamps.  I used a piece of cream colored card stock that has silver flecks in it that I picked up at my local stamp store and masked off a portion of the card and sponged Distress Inks in "Broken China," "Tumbled Glass" and "Stormy Sky" on the top half and "Dusty Concord" and "Seedless Preserves" on the bottom half.  Before pulling off the mask, I inked up Hero Arts' "Hand Drawn Snowflakes" in "Broken China" and Seedless Preserves" and stamped them over my distress inked area.  I inked up Impression Obsession's "Solid Tree" in "Tuxedo Black" ink and "swiped" the ink before putting the tree on the paper to make the tree look like it has some bark.  The "Happy Birthday" is from PaperTrey Ink's "Friendly Flowers" stamp set.  I mounted this panel onto a piece of dp from Bo Bunny's "Altitude" paper pack from last year.  Just love that dp!!  Then mounted the two panels onto Stampin' Up's "Not Quite Navy" card stock.  I finished the card off with some sequins. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I love it when you do.

Just giddy...

I loved how this card turned out and so did my nephew.  I found this pad of paper called Stationers Desk by Prima and fell in love with it.  I started thumbing through the pad trying to figure out what I wanted to do for his birthday card, when I came across this piece.  It immediately started "talking" to me...hahaha!

I inked up a NBUS stamp from Penny Black called "Regalia" in VersaMark ink and embossed it with Liquid Platinum by Ranger.  Don't you just love this color?!?!?  I got so excited when I saw how the tree turned out...just giddy!!!  I decided to do a Jennifer McGuire trick and inked up a scrap piece of card stock with VersaMark and embossed it with the Liquid Platium and just a bit of Stampendous' "Aged Silver embossing enamel.  Then die cut "Happy" from Wplus9's "Happy Trio" die set.  The word "birthday" is from Wplus9's "Whole lota Happy" and the tag is a die cut from Simon Says Stamp "Bundle of Stitched Shapes".  I used gold thread to tie off the tag and sequins to finish off the card and mounted it to a piece of Stampin' Up's "Chocolate Chip" card stock.

If it ain't red, leave it in the shed...

My dad and my son, Tim, are tractor fanatics.  My dad has had a Farmall tractor for as long as I can remember.  Tim started out as a John Deere fan, but has come to the right side of the tracks and wants nothing but a Farmall.  The caption is from a t-shirt Tim got as a present last year.  This birthday card was for my dad who turned 82 this past Sunday and still drives his Farmall whenever he can.  I think he somewhat looks forward to snow so he can plow with the tractor.

Penny Black came out with this stamp set last year, I believe.  It was a must have for me!  It's called "Life is Simpler", which I colored with pencils.  The die cut tree is from Impression Obsession (IO die 0006-V), which I cut out from a piece of Stampin' Up's "Basic Grey" card stock.  I water colored the sky and grass on water color paper with Distress Inks in "Broken China" and "Peeled Paint".  I fussy cut out the tractor and popped it up.  My dad sure did agree with the sentiment.

Thank you for stopping by, I sure love it when you do.

My Last December birthday...

Back again with another birthday card.  This was for my brother-in-law.  Last year, I also fell in love with Simon Says Stamp January 2015 card kit.  Did you figure out yet, that I love winter colors?  Again, SSS used my favorite color scheme.  It was BoBunny's "Altitude" designer paper collection that did me in.  I've had to order a few of the 6x6 paper packs, in addition to some of the 12x12 individual sheets out of that collection.  Beautiful!!!  I started with a piece of SU's Bermuda Bay card stock as my base and added a piece of the "Altitude" designer paper.  I had looked at Tim Holtz's January Tag blog and thought I would try his technique "industrial metal", but didn't want to use "Black Soot" ink, so I used "Bermuda Bay" ink and "Iced Spruce" Distress Stain.  I took a piece of silver foil tape and covered a piece of white card stock and put that into a Sizzix snowflake EF.  I then took the Iced Spruce Stain and Bermuda Bay ink and layered on the color, letting it dry before adding more.  I ran across the problem of the ink not completely sticking as it kept coming off on my fingers.  So I took some multi-medium matte to the strip I was trying to use.  I let that dry and ta-da, that worked.  No more ink coming off on my fingers.  Yea!  I'll be honest, it took me a couple of hours to figure out how to fix my problem.  Seriously thought about ditching it, but I loved the way it looked.  I die cut "Happy Birthday" from Simon Says Stamps "Painted Happy Birthday" in white card stock and attached them to the front of the card.  Another easy card, after figuring out my little problem :) 

Thanks for stopping by, I sure do love it when you do.

Simon Says Stamp January Card Kit

When I saw this card kit, I had to order it.  I love the colors Doodlebug Designs used in their Frosty Friends designer paper collection.  My favorite winter colors.  My card is a CASE of Shari Carroll's card from the collection.  Here's the link to her card.  I loved the colors she used and the layout.  Of course my card ended up with more snowflakes...I seem to have that problem of never knowing when enough is enough.  I made this card for my niece who turned sweet 16 in December.  I used the the white 120 lb card stock in the kit as my base and stamped the snowflakes from "Cute Snowflakes" that was included in the kit in Stampin' Up's "Bermuda Bay" and "Coastal Cabana" inks, Versa Mark ink and Simon Says Stamp "White" pigment ink on the "Audrey Blue" card stock, also included in the kit.  I then cut a few strips of the Frosty Friends dp for the edge.  I had one of the "Festive Flurries" from SU, left over from last week's card and added it to this card instead of the snowman and the "Make a Wish" stamp is from PaperTrey Ink's "Mum's the Word" stamp set, which I stamped in SU's Pacific Point ink.  I added some silver thread and popped up both the sentiment and the snowflake to the front of the card.  I added some of the Doodlebug Sprinkles that were included in the kit and the white snowflake sequins are from SU.  I think this card turned out super cute and my niece thought so to.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I love it when you do.