Freshly Made Color Throwdown

One of my New Year's resolutions was to carve out some more time to create. So far so good for January!

First card I'm sharing was inspired by the colors at the Color Throwdown challenge this week -

I used the new PTI Medallion Trio set I got this week so I'm also entering this into Darnell's NBUS challenge as well. So many pretty possibilities with this set...and you know how I LOVE medallion images! Sentiment is from PTI Banner Sentiments.

Second card was inspired by the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches challenge. 

I die cut various balloon dies (SSS and PTI) in fun happy colors. Sentiment from PTI Keep It Simple. I have two versions - balloon strings....

and no balloon strings. I hand drew them in and anytime I do something free hand, it always looks strange to me. I don't know what happened to my hand when I was drawing the string for the pink balloon! 

Hope you've gotten some time in your crafty space lately! Feels good to something not related to kids, the house, or work! Have a great week and thanks for stopping in! 

Throwdown My Heart Desires When Making on Monday

Happy Thursday! Wanted to share four cards with you today. Haven't played along with some of these challenges in a while so excited to get some crafty time in these past two days and build up my birthday card stash.

First card is inspired by the fabulous color palette at Color Throwdown.  It was a big challenge for me because the color scheme has a masculine feel to it but without any blue (my favorite color!).

I stamped paisley images from PTI Woodblock prints along the bottom of a white panel. I added a die cut Happy (PTI One-Liners) on top of a strip of Pure Poppy card stock with the 'birthday' embossed on it. For a different touch I kept the red strip long, reach end to end on the card base. 

Second card is inspired by the Heart Desires Challenge. My first time joining in! I was drawn to the blues of course as well as the fun winter images. 

I was also inspired by THIS recent amazing card from Laura Bassen. I stamped my large sentiment from Mama Elephant in the middle of a white panel. I used my MISTI to make sure the sentiment was nice, bold, and dark. Then I heat embossed white snowflakes (with clear powder) in the two diagonal corners. Then I blended in a few colors (PTI Bright Buttercup, Hawaiian Shores, Stormy Sea, and Dark Indigo) on top of the embossed snowflakes. Truthfully, this is my second panel because the first time I embossed the snowflakes with white powder, not realizing that the embossing powder would also stick to the main sentiment, making it white. Oops. Lesson learned. 

Last two cards use Melissa Phillips' Masked Heart Wreaths technique in PTI Make It Monday this week. I used mask paper to die cut a heart and stamped flowers from Ruby Rose and Ruby Rose Reprise in my favorite blues and greens - Tropical Teal, Limeade Ice, Hawaiian Shores and New Leaf. I didn't add anything else so I could keep it clean and simple. LOVED how it turned out! 

Mask was still sticky so I used it to make another card. Instead of flowers I used the leaves from PTI Mighty Oak stamped in another favorite color combination - Tropical Teal, Aqua Mist, Stormy Sea, and Vintage Jadeite.  Birthday diecut is PTI with a softer Happy from Simon Says Stamp. Added a few matching pearls for a final touch. 

Like my attempt at mashing all the challenge names into my blog post title? LOL. 

Thanks for taking a peek at my latest creations. See you soon. 

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CASology #230 COLD

Hello friends and 2017! What a crazy year 2016 has been and looking forward to all that 2017 has in store. 

I've always wanted to do one of those best cards of the year retrospectives but didn't find the time this year. :(  Last year I created 125 cards with the most made in July and February. Among my resolutions this year is to craft more and visit crafty blogs more often. Let's hope the rest of my life cooperates to make this possible. 

My first card for 2017 is for the first CASology challenge of this year - COLD. 

Its definitely cold here in NJ and I just spent a couple days skiing with my family in PA. It snowed one of the days so I was inspired to create snow of my own using embossing paste and powder with the Simon Says Stamp stencils. I love mixing the embossing paste with the glittery powder to get a sparkly snowflake like shimmer. 

Embossing paste can be intimidating but once you get the hang of it, its easy to use and the effects are beautiful and can be CAS as well! Here's a shot after I lifted the stencil off (do this slow). It will look different after it dries.

Close-up after dried...it looks so pretty in real life.

Be sure to check out the COLD inspiration the rest of the team has for you this week. We have two new DT members - Janet and Rachel - so please stop by their blogs to say hello. 

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins

Jacquie Southas

Janet Ribet 

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Guest Designer:  Wendy

Sponsor:  Rubber Dance Stamps

Can't wait to see what you come up with. Don't be left out in the COLD...be sure to keep your creation clean and simple for a chance to win a prize by this week's sponsor Rubber Dance stamps. Thanks for stopping by! 

CASology #229 TOAST

Hello friends -

Its nearing the end of 2016...what a year this has been! Almost time for a fresh beginning with 2017 so we thought it would be great to end the year with TOAST, as in toast to the new year!

I've been piling up a stash of NBUS (Never-Before-Used Schtuff if you aren't familiar with crafty great Darnell's term). 

I stamped a row of martini glasses (from SSS Adult Beverages set) in some of my new Papertrey Ink colors.  Love Saffron Spice! Instead of stamping the sentiment, I embossed the PTI Congratulations die across the martini glasses. Love how it adds some subtle texture without bulk.  

I matted the stamped panel on Olive Twist cardstock before adhering to Saffron Spice card base. 

Check out what my fabulous teammates have created inspired by TOAST. 

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Deidre Payne
Hannelie Bester
Hazel Hodgkins
Jacquie Southas
Jen Wills
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kymona Tracey
Melissa Chipperfield
Tracey McNeely

Guest Designer:  Susan

Sponsor:  STAMPlorations

  
**This is a 2-week challenge due to the holidays!**

I'd also like to TOAST to you, who read my crafty blog and take the time to comments. I always appreciate your sweet words. Can't wait to see what you create for TOAST. Don't forget this challenge runs 2 weeks and be sure to keep it clean and simple! 

Happy New Year! 

CASology #220 COFFEE!!

So this might be my favorite CASology cue word ever.....COFFEE! I absolutely adore coffee. I probably couldn't survive life without it so I guess that makes me an addict. 

It starts my day off right...

And the joke in my house is that my girls don't talk to me until after I've had my first cup. They know better because anything I say before the first cup either doesn't make sense or won't be the answer they want. 

So now that you understand my love and need for coffee, I'll get to this week's crafty business! 

Believe it or not, this coffee addict doesn't have a lot of coffee related crafting supplies. But I do have a few recently acquired items I couldn't wait to use. 

For my card, I used the MFT Stitched Strip die to created stitched lines on a kraft panel. I die cut the Simon Says Stamp Coffee Cup die out of a scrap piece of My Minds Eye patterned paper and used the backside pink/red for the heart insert on the cup. Sentiment is from MFT Coffee sentiments set. 

Be sure to check out all the coffee creations by the rest of the Design Team:

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Deidre Payne
Hannelie Bester
Hazel Hodgkins
Jacquie Southas
Jen Wills
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kymona Tracey
Melissa Chipperfield
Tracey McNeely

Guest Designer:  Asa

and our 

Sponsor:  STAMPlorations

  

I know you are inspired to create your own COFFEE creation. Can't wait to see what you come up with! Thanks for popping in! 

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Inspired By All The Little Things #16

Happy Monday friends! Checking in with a quick card I made inspired by the Inspired By All the Little Things challenge this week. Love the rectangles of the doors and the peacefulness of the green and blues in the photo. Makes me think of European cobblestone streets where people bike everywhere. 

I stamped my Mint Julep card base with MFT Scattered Surface background in Soft Stone and added a few PTI Tag Sale #9 dies on top for a tone on tone look. Sentiment diecut from MFT cut from Simon Says Stamp Island Blue. The 'Sending You' from PTI Thanks All Ways was stamped in Smokey Shadow. 

Thanks for popping in and hope you have a good week. I'll be back tomorrow with this week's new CASology challenge. 

Big Bloom

So got to playing around with the new Winnie & Walter - Simon Says Stamp collaboration set Big Bloom that I got during the SSS Stamptember celebration and can already see this will become one of my favorite sets. It goes so well with gold embossing powder.

First is a card which inspired by the Pinterest Inspired Challenge this month. Love this mix of colors.

For my card I heat embossed the big bloom on watercolor paper and used watercolor to paint in the petals. Sentiment from Mama Elephant heat embossed in gold as well.

My second card pairs the gold embossing with deep purple. Love how regal it looks. I used a different center for the big bloom. 

Also linking to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Thanksgiving challenge as well as the One Layer Simplicity Gratitude challenge. 

That's it for me. Thanks for stopping by!