Retro Vibes

 Hello All,

For today I am playing along with INKspirational, Fusion, and  Freshly Made Sketches. Here is my card for today, enjoy!

This simple card of peach stripes and retro shapes is a blast from the past.  The stripes remind me of socks from the 1970's time period. I was very young then but I do remember them well. 

The mini slimline card features a retro-style sentiment. I die-cut its shadow then took that die-cut and die cut the sentiment. This gave a nice outlined image showing off the peach-colored stripes.

The places where I had to add a center of a letter are clearly illustrated. I die-cut another sentiment and used liquid glue to for the center of each letter. I then placed the die-cut directly in place and pushed the centers in their place. 

Freshly Made Sketches: FMS504

INKspirational: Word Prompt- Retro

Fusion: Peach Birthday

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. Lots of good crafting vibes are headed your way. I hope you all have a fantastic day and please stay safe and healthy.

All the best,

Sunset with Dog

 Hello Everyone,

Today I will be playing along with The Paper Players, Double D, and Fusion Challenges. Here is my card for today, enjoy!

CAS card with one image of a dog. Now isn't that relaxing. I liked the Fusion sketch because this die-cut conforms perfectly with the sketch and still in keeping with the CAS style.

I brushed on Seedless Preserves, Carved Pumpkin, and Mustard Seed DI's to create the sky. Also, kept the layers to a minimum by masking off the base layer to ink.

The die-cut was the inspiration for the card. I was thinking maybe make a sympathy card, but I thought I would make a broader sentiment in the end. It can go with so many occasions including sympathy.

Challenges Entered:

The Paper Players: CAS Animals Challenge- PP533

Fusion: Easter Eggs (Obviously I followed the Sketch)

Double D Challenges: Skies

 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. Lots of good crafting vibes headed your way. I hope you all have a fantastic day and please stay safe and healthy.

All the best,

Strange Thing...

 Hello All,

For today I am playing along with Fusion card challenge. I decided to work on the photo inspiration and loosely based the design on the sketch. Here is my card for today, enjoy!

Upon a full moon, there is a spooky house with some guests to come for a frightful visit. 

The moon was done by stamping away the mica powder with VersaMark Ink using the solid circle. I then just followed the layers using pigment white ink. When the ink was still wet I purposely smudged it using my finger to give it the appearance of shining through some atmospheric fog. The house and moor were created similarly by stamping away the mica powder using VersaMark ink. I also added some shadowing on the house to show a reflection of the glowing moon.

This pic shows a lot of what makes this card special. Firstly, the mica powder shimmer throughout the card. Secondly, the sentiment and the ghosts are both designed to be translucent. The sentiment was stamped using pigment white ink. When dried it shows through to the background just like the vellum ghosts.

Challenges Entered:

Fusion: Purple Night

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. Lots of good crafting vibes headed your way. I hope you all have a fantastic day and please stay safe and healthy. 

BeYOUtiful Rooster

 Hello All,

Today I am playing along with Freshly Made Sketches and Fusion. LOTS of colors! Here is my card for today, enjoy!

The rooster is decked out to impress the lady hens. At least in my fantasy world, they are beautiful birds, full of color and splendor! I am sure some of you out there have one of these fowls and maybe have another point of view.

The peeled paint paper was chosen for the background. The peeled paint reminds of an old hen house and the hexagon pattern that is behind the rooster looks like chicken wire. The border is a punch that reminded me of a fence. I wanted to keep the farm theme, obviously.

Challenges Entered:

Freshly Made Sketches: FMS456
Fusion: Old McDonald

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. Lots of good crafting vibes headed your way. I hope you all have a fantastic day and please stay safe and healthy. 

Watercolor Dragonfly

 Hello Everyone,

For today I am playing along with Fusion card challenge. Dragonflies intrigue me. Why? I will get into that later but first here is my card for today, enjoy!

I had to flip the sketch for the dragonfly to show on the card. 
Yes, I could have centered the entire image but I like the way it cuts off. 

A lot of color and action with the stamped image so I thought I would stamp a simple sentiment guiding you into the dragonfly scene.

I used Zig markers to lay down the color and an aqua pen to distribute the color- using Canson Multi-Media paper. I have never tried watercolor on multimedia before and I must say I am very pleased. The color blended nicely and no pilling or ripping. I also like the smooth texture of the paper vs. traditional watercolor paper. 

Challenges Entered:

Fusion: Dragonfly

I had to do a bit of research (thirty minutes on Google 😀) to confirm what I have learned before spouting facts about the dragonfly. Okay, here we go! Dragonflies are one of the first species of insects to evolve some 300 million years ago. Now they are small, delicate, and fragile little creatures but some scientists believe that they were once monstrous creatures (as was the cockroach)! Fossil evidence shows dragonflies to once have wingspans up to 2 feet! They are efficient killers and can fly as fast backward as forwards! Amazing creatures that are so well designed they didn't have to evolve too much over the 300 million years here on Earth.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. Lots of good crafting vibes headed your way. I hope you all have a fantastic day and please stay safe and healthy. 

Sunflower Mandala

Hello Everyone!

For today I am going to be playing along with Fusion and Cardz 4 Galz. I am in love with coloring on kraft paper. The color just pops off the kraft paper which makes this one of my favorite things about crafting. Here is my card for today, enjoy!

A little bit of layering went into making this card. I stamped the mandala stamp from PTI twice by turning the paper 180 degrees. This leaves a gap in the middle of the card making room for the flower and sentiment. 

The Fusion challenge is the perfect challenge to use kraft paper. The pops of color are brought in using colored pencils on kraft paper and a sunny flower.
Fantastic inspiration!

I also added two leaf die cuts for the sunflower. The one-layer sunflower was popped up using dimensional adhesive. I die cut the sentiment 3x using kraft paper and then topped off with light yellow. 

 Challenges Entered:
Fusion: Critter
Cardz 4 Galz: Challenge #114- Use Kraft or Card

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.

All the best,

Tall Pines

Hello All,

For today I will be playing along with The Male Room and Fusion Card Challenge. I have decided to play with both the sketch and photo inspiration. Here is my card for today, enjoy!

The snowflake backdrop was done by inking up the stamp in an ombre style so it faded out along the edge of the die-cut circle border. I then applied a bit of DI Black Soot using an applicator to soften up a bit.

The 'Warm and Wishes' sentiment was from one metal die.
I simply cut it right down the middle to make room for the coppery 'birthday' sentiment.

The embossed copper trees flow nicely into the 'birthday' sentiment. I used a small white rectangular piece of paper to add the word 'birthday'. The split 'warm and wishes' were placed on the edges of the rectangle creating a pleasing aesthetic and focal point.

Challenges Entered:
Fusion: Winter
The Male Room: Anything Goes Masculine


Even though this is a masculine card I am giving it to my daughter. She is turning fourteen on Friday! She isn't the type who likes pink and frills. I thought this would be a perfect card for my 'little' poet. I put little in quotes because she is six inches taller than me. I remind her all the time 'You know, I am still your mother and I can still ground you.'.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.

Watercolor Dragonfly

Hello All,

Today I am playing along with Fusion and Just Us Girls. I love this card! It is full of glimmer and sparkle but not too intrusive to interfere with the design. Anyway, you be the judge. Here is my card for today, enjoy!

The watercolor panel was stamped using Distress Ink and Zig Markers. I then added water to dilute and spread the color around the dragonfly. I dried the panel to add more water to pick up some extra color. The Fusion sketch shows a large circle with a smaller circle. I decided to use the space of the smaller circle for the sentiment and embellishments.

Above: The background was stenciled using a Hero Arts stencil that came with one of their monthly kits. I usually do not like symmetry but in this case, the dragonfly image, embellishments, and sentiment seem to break up the symmetry very nicely. Below/Left:  You can see the shimmer in this photo very clearly. The wings, body, and eyes were painted using Pearl Ex. It gives it just the shine it needed again without being too intrusive. The background was stenciled using silver ink. Again giving the design just a bit of bling. Bottom/Right: The frames material consists of heavyweight watercolor paper. That is important because when I die-cut the frame it didn't cut all the way through 140lb paper; what a happy accident! Leaving the pieces intact gives the frame an embossed impression versus a die-cut with gaps. It also reflects the Art Deco pattern of the background. 

  

Challenges Entered:

Fusion: Dragonfly
Just Us Girls: Week 509- Frame It!

 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.

Minty

Hello All,

For today I am playing along with Fusion and Retro Rubber Challenge Blog. I love this challenge! I thought long and hard how am going to go about this 'mint' thing from Fusion. Well, it only took skimming through my mint paper when ideas started flowing. I will explain more in the captions. Here is my card today, enjoy!! 

The striped paper background started this entire design. The color was a perfect mint green. The snowflakes were part of a larger sheet of designer double-sided paper I found in my stash (picture below). I individually die cut the snowflakes into circles; I think it was a good idea from fussy cutting around its outline. I feel it would have been too busy.

As you can see by the picture the patterned paper which was double sided
adorned with silver shimmer. 

Above: I stamped the girl in the oh-so-cozy sweater, cut her out, and placed her over the sentiment banner. Left/Below: The oh-so-cozy knit sweater reminded me of one of the pictures from the inspiration photo. I have wanted to use this stamp for a while and this was my perfect opportunity!  Right/Bottom: Some of the die-cut snowflakes have some shimmer and shine and matches nicely with the silver shimmer of the standalone flakes.

 Challenges Entered:

Fusion- Mint

Retro Rubber Challenge Blog: #106- Earn Your Stripes

I have owned both stamps for at least two years

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.