SC503--Hummingbird In The Meadow

This is today's sketch and my card--

Night of Navy and white were the colors for today! I used Stampin' Up's sets called "Wildflower Meadow" for the three panels and "Gorgeous Grunger" for the stripped horizontal piece. I wanted it to look like a ribbon. When the hummingbird got cut off while creating the three panels, I stamped that part again, cut it out and glued it on top of the cut-off image. Worked for me!

I pray that you have a blessed day!
Dianne

CAS287 --Color The Flowers

Today's Clean and Simple challenge -- coloring! Where do I start? So many choices! My favorite coloring tools are my Prisma color pencils with Gamsol. So that is the direction that I chose to go.

I used the Stampin' Up set "You're Lovely". The sentiment came from The Stamps of Life set "tiny titles 2 stamp". I used the matching framelits and Melon Mambo ribbon, both from Stampin' Up. I found the accent paper in my stash--it is from Bazzill Basics Papers in the color Razzleberry Light.

SC502 -- Little Bird

After a busy day I have finally finished my card for today's sketch challenge. I started two or three times to work on my card and then had to leave it. With each start I seemed to go a different direction.

I used two stamp sets -- Stampin' Up Simply Sketched and Wetlands. I used SU crumb cake card stock for the card base and for my accent layers. The green was a piece of paper laying on my desk. It is from the Tim Holtz core'donations collection. I colored the image using markers and my aqua painter. The color palette included distress markers in vintage photo, wild honey and bundled sage and Su always artichoke.

Experimenting with Distress Ink

I have been trying to do a little more with the distress ink pads that I have. Sometimes I have success and then there are other times that -- Well, things don't go so well. For this experiment, I started with a quarter sheet of white card stock and sponged it using antique linen, vintage photo and tea dye distress inks. It looked like a mess, but I continued on. I chose a stamp from SU's Serene Silhouettes and embossed the image with black detail embossing powder. After trying to match the image with different colored card stock, I decided to use the leftover piece of sponged paper to cut the scalloped layer. After putting the stamped image back into the cutting die, I used a black ink pen to create the black line just inside the cut edge.

Here are the two parts cut from the sponged paper ready to be put together.

 This is the finished card. It is amazing to me how pretty the end result can be.

CAS286 -- Feed Our Faith

Today's CAS challenge was ways to use a stencil. This was going to be easy! Well, not quite. On my first try, I got the background to dark. The stamped image did not show up very well. On the second try, the background was better, but the stamp smeared. The third time -- much better.

I used a stencil from Tim Holtz called "Burlap". Memento Sky Blue and Desert Sand were used for the sponging and VerseFine Onyx Black for the stamping. After removing the stencil I went over the sponged areas with the same ink to give a softer look. The birds are from Stampin' Up's set called "Wetlands" and the sentiment comes from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set called "Be Encouraged". I used SU Bashful Blue for the card base. I did not have black brads so I made my own. I punched three circles using a 1/4-inch punch, glued them in place and cover them with 3D Crystal Lacquer. They will need to be coated again once they dry. I learned this trick from Roxie at Splitcoast Stampers when she was doing the Wednesday sketch challenges a few years ago. Finally I was able to salvage a strip from the first background and use it on the inside of the card.

Sketch Challenge and Others

This has been a week of changes. Sometimes I don't handle change very well. I did get my card completed for yesterday's sketch challenge at SCS. It was a simply sketch and really fun to work with.

Here is my completed card. I used four different stamp sets: Stampin' Up's "Flower Shop", "Summer Silhouettes"and "Gorgeous Grunge" and Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps "Be Encouraged" set. The color theme used SU Pool Party, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz and Memento New Sprout.

The next card was a CASE that I found on Pinterest. This is the card. In a couple of weeks I am doing a class on ways to use your punches. I thought this was a really great way to use one of my favorite edge punches. I used five different colors of card stock and a natural card base. I added a brown grosgrain bow and a brown heart with flowers. I love the lacy look this punch creates.

For this card I used some scraps of card stock and a Martha Stewart bird punch, circle and coordinating scallop punches.

Week's End

A new week has started. I have two cards that were made last week and not posted. My brother, Dale, had a birthday on the 7th. He is four years younger and lives in Tullahoma, Tennessee. This is the card that I mailed to him.

I had been working on several projects using my Cricut and the software -- My Craft Room. There are so many things that you can do with the software. I saw this card on Pinterest that I really liked. Here is a link to the card. Here is my card--

The original card was made using dies. With my Cricut, I connected the five 1-inch circles and cut them out using SU More Mustard card stock. I chose the letters and cut them out at 3/4-inch using a scrap piece of SU So Saffron card stock. Texture was added to the circles using a background stamp and clear embossing powder. The word "Birthday" was printed onto a piece of white card stock using a computer. I sponged that piece of paper with two distress inks -- Antique Linen and Tea Dye. For the card base I used a piece of SU Cajun Craze card stock. Using the Craft Room means that I can save my work and then go back and cut these pieces again when I want to make another card like this. Pretty cool!!!

The second card in this post was made with a hostess set from Stampin' Up called "Bloom With Hope". I love these flower images. This one was colored with copic markers and then cut out. I stamped the leaves onto the card stock and colored them. Then the flower was glued into place. I used the color spritzer tool and markers to add color to the white background. Love the effect that you get doing this.

 In this picture you can see a little of the sparkle that I added to the flower using my new "Wink of Stella" pen. I love this pen. It is the perfect to added just a touch of bling to any project.

CAS285 -- The Colors of A Watermelon

Today's CAS challenge was to use at least three colors from the watermelon palette that you see here.

What beautiful colors! For my palette I chose to use Stampin' Up's cherry cobbler, blushing bride and pear pizzazz with a layer of black. Now here is my card--

I used two Stampin' Up sets -- "Bloom With Hope" and "Summer Silhouettes". I colored the flowers with my colored pencils and Gamsol. I used the SU's color spritzer tool (which is now retired) with markers to add a little color to the white background.

The middle layer was cut using some new dies that I got in  the mail today. They are Spellbinder Dies called "pierced circles". There are three circle dies with a pierced inlay for each one. I know that I am going to enjoy using these dies.

Sketch Challenge 500

Today was sketch challenge #500. We were to chose one of our favorite sketches between 400 and 499. That was a challenge; I have so many favorites. I chose to use sketch 481. I kept my card CAS (clean and simple).

CAS284 -- Three Balloons

Today we were to visit Tenia Sanders-Nelson's gallery and CASE one of her cards. I enjoyed looking through her gallery and found many cards that I wanted to try; it was hard to have to choose just one. Here is a link to the card I chose called " Hello Balloons Card".

This is the card that I made -- very similar but different.

For my background panel, I used an Impression Obsession cover-a-card stamp called "clouds". I stamped a piece of white card stock using Stampin' Up's retired ink color Brocade Blue. I matted that piece using some black and red card stock, both layers used 1/16" borders. The balloons were cut out of black card stock using a new die from Impression Obsession. I then went back and punched the balloons out using bits of scrap paper.

The "hello" sentiment was cut using one of my first dies purchased from Cuttlebug many years ago. This past week, I came across a new blog to me -- Jennifer McGuire Ink. She has wonderful video covering many topics. I found one showing how to emboss a die cut sentiment with clear embossing powder. I had to try it. Actually this is my second try. It is easy and creates a very unique embellishment. Here is a link to the video.