Single Iris Sympathy

This was my first time inking this NBUS stamp.

I love the easy watercolor look that I got

by inking the stamp with markers.

I couldn't decide whether I liked it better on the white base or the Eggplant base.

So I did it both ways.

CAS on Sunday
is looking for a Sympathy card this week.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge
says ANYTHING GOES this week.

Addicted to Stamps Challenge
also says ANYTHING GOES this week.

I'm happy you could stop by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Single Iris

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, SU Markers (Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green)

Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White

Other:  Stitched Mats Rectangles Die (Lil' Inker), Basic Pearls

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Stippled Blossoms Live Simply

I've been playing with my Stippled Blossoms stamps again.

I hadn't thought of using these flowers in this type of layout

until I saw this card by Lesley of Always Playing with Paper.

I was demonstrating this stamp with some friends on Saturday

and this what came of it.

I love how easy this is to "paint".

I stamped the solid flower in a very light pink and used

the Stamp-a-majig for placement to overstamp the outline flower

in Regal Rose.

Then I used my Aqua Painter to color the dots.

It shades automatically.

Darlene DeVries has a wonderful video here

if you'd like to watch it done.

I masked the flowers and used the same technique

for the leaves.

The sentiment is a NBUS.

Since I was very recently introduced and invited to join

Word Art Wednesday,

I thought I'd enter there.

Thanks so much for the visit.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps: Stippled Blossoms, Trust God

Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose (retired), Pistachio Pudding, Wild Wasabi, Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Marker (Chocolate Chip)

Paper:  110# Solar White (Neena), Basic Black, Shimmery White

Other: Aqua Painter, SAMJ, Moonshine Sequins (SSS), Simply Scored, Simply Scored Diagonal Plate

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Happy Birthday LeAnne

Our dear Merry Maker, LeAnne is celebrating an

important birthday

and we're having a surprise blog hop to celebrate.

Happy Birthday, LeAnne!

I know how LeAnne eagerly awaits the arrival of the 

Baltimore Orioles to her yard each year. 

So I made an attempt to color one for her.

The rest of the Design Team are celebrating too.

If  you're following the hop you came here from Deanne Kay.

Your next stop on the hop is Katie Melhus.

Or you can go to Merry Monday and start from there.

You can join the party by making a birthday card for LeAnne

and taking it over to

Merry Monday

to link up.

There will be a winner and honorable mentions.

I'm going to take this over to 
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge
which is EMBOSS IT.

and

Seize the Birthday
which is Anything Goes
without the topping.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

  **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Bird Collage (Hero Arts)

Ink:  Sahara Sand, Blendabilities (Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Cherry Cobbler, Skin Tone), SU Marker (Basic Black)

Paper:  Solar White 110# (Neena), Basic Black, Whisper White

Other: Square Lattice EF, Daffodil Delight Seam Binding for LeAnne's Bow

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

More Primitive Stars

Rudolph Day is upon us

and I thought it the perfect opportunity 

to share some more of these primitive star cards.

Sarn wants 2 Christmas cards for this challenge.

The first one used some retired Stampin' Up! 

Christmas Designer Series Paper under the out cut.

I used the embossing folder that came with the Bigz die

to emboss this cut out then placed it back in the hole.

I used dimensionals to pop it up a bit so the green would peek out.

You have until the end of the month to play in this challenge.

And since I used quite a few snippets, I'm off to
Pixies Snippet Playground
where I see I won one of the butterfly stamps.
WOOT!

I'm so glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  More Merry Messages

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  110# Solar White (Neena, Whisper White, DSP (retired), Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green

Other:  Sizzix Primitive Star Bigz Die with Embossing Folder, Plaid EF (Sizzix), Square Lattice EF, Holly Punch (Martha Stewart), Red Rhinestones (Stash), Gumball Green Ribbon Snippet 

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Day Lilies

I'm not much of a gardener but I do love my day lilies.

I have some really old ones that I moved from our old house.

They have bloomed beautifully this summer and I have

enjoyed them so much.

So when I saw this stamp by Inkadinkado, I grabbed it up!

I'm not expecting to be able to color a lily as well as God can.

But I would love to get a little closer than this.

And hopefully I will get closer next time.

The Make it Monday Challenge
at Papertrey ink 
is a watercolor technique with a wonderful video
by Heather Nichols
it's called No Outline Watercolor

Maybe I'll do better with an outline?

I'll leave you with
what a day lily is supposed to look like.

Although these lilies look a lot more orange IRL.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Day Lily Bunch (Inkadinkado, Meadow Greens (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip, SU Marker (Chocolate Chip)

Paper:  Watercolor 140 lb. cold press (Strathmore), Tangerine Tango 

Other:  Re-inkers, Aqua Painter

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Celebrate Today with ATCAS

Here's a super quick and CAS card.

I punched the blossom out of the white card front.
Then I embossed the card front with the Perfect Polka Dot Embossing Folder.
I place a scrap of Decorative Paper behind the outcut?
(I'm never sure which is the outcut and which is the cutout.)

I sponged some yellow on the cutout flower and used a brad to fasten it
to the card front and adhered it all to the front of the card.
(Somehow my sponging always looks messy to me. 
Wish I could get the hang of it!)

A fussy cut stamped banner finished it off.

I'm taking it over to 
Addicted to CAS



Simon Says Monday Challenge
says it's a MID-SUMMER challenge.
I've got warm colors and I enjoy the flowers in the gardens.



Simon Says Wednesday Challenge
says EMBOSS IT.
I've got dry embossing on this card.



That snippet of Decorative Paper will get me into
Pixies Snippet Playground



I hope that wherever you are you can
Celebrate Today.

Thanks for coming by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Perfectly Penned (retired)

Ink:  Marina Mist, Daffodil Delight

Paper:  Marina Mist, Whisper White, DSP

Other:  Blossom Punch, Brad 

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Merry Monday Primitive Star

Good morning and Merry Monday to you!

I have 2 cards today.

I had a little trouble making up my mind which to use.
When in doubt, use both!

But before I show and tell let's look at the challenge.

Our hostess this week is Lori.

(She's helps Lesley keep the Merry Makers straight

and does a fabulous job of it too!)

The buttons really threw me.

I love to use ribbon, but rarely use buttons.

So I had to dig deep to find some.

I used the Sizzix Primitive Star Bigz Die for both of these cards.

These cards were inspired by the cards I saw here.

Thanks, Stacy, for the wonderful inspiration.

For this one I used a shank button and cut the shank off.

I'm hoping that still counts as a button.

Can you see the little plaid design on it?

The diecut star was embossed and inserted in the opening.

I used dimensionals to pop it up and let the

Cherry Cobbler peek out.

This card was made using a negative piece.

I had this pretty snippet of decorative paper in my box 
and it went perfectly with the retired Sage Shadow cardstock.

I used a teeny, tiny heart button on this card.

I got 2 very different looks.

I made several others but they don't have buttons.

Some don't even have ribbons.

I'll share those later.

I hope you'll go over to see what the rest of the Design Team
has done for your inspiration pleasure.
Some very good ideas indeed!

Then I hope you'll put a button or buttons and ribbon 
on your Christmas card and share it with us at 
Merry Monday.

Oh, and since I used some snippets, I'm going over to
Pixies Snippet Playground

Thanks for visiting.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Teeny, Tiny Wishes  

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, 110# Solar White (Neena)

Other:  Primitive Star Bigz die (Sizzix), Square Lattice EF, Plaid EF (Sizzix), Cherry Cobbler Polka Dot Ribbon back side (retired), Altered Button, Dimensionals

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Christmas Joy (Verve - card 2) 

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  Sage Shadow, DSP (stash), Very Vanilla

Other:  Primitive Star Bigz die (Sizzix), Plaid EF (Sizzix), Large Oval Punch, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Button (Stash)

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Thank You

Thank you so much for all the Birthday wishes.
I'm sorry this thank you is so late coming.
I've been trying to write this blog for 5 days!
A lot of celebrating going on around here!

They helped to make a very special day days for me!
How delightful to open my happy mail, email, Facebook page 
and blog comments to find good wishes.

I stamped the row of vases twice on scraps.

One was left as is.  

On the other I stamped the vases with some of the 

NBUS Banner Blast stamps.

The little boo boo on the one was covered very well 

with a tiny bow of linen thread.

I colored the flowers with my regular markers.

Since I stamped on and matted with snippets, I'm off to

Pixie's Snippet Playground.

Addicted to Stamps

is playing CAS this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Vivid Vases, Banner Blast (Sale-a-bratiion)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Markers

Paper: Pool Party, Basic Black, Whisper White

Other: Linen Thread

Flower Shop

Here's a couple of cards with the Flower Shop set.

The first one uses some faux flower soft in the center of the flower.

{The faux "flowersoft" is made by rubbing 2 Styrofoam balls together 

and collecting the rubbings in a sandwich bag. 

 A couple drops of re-inker makes it any color you want.}

This one has a tiny yellow punched flower and pearl in the center.

Which do you like best?

So glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Flower Shop, Simply Sketched (retired), Be Happy Sentiments (Amy R.)

Ink: Timber Brown (Memento), SU Marker (Crisp Cantaloupe)

Paper:  110# Solar White (Neena), Crisp Cantaloupe, Pip White, Snippets of Green

Other:  Arrows EF, Perfect Polka Dots EF, Windows Frames Collection Die, Festive Paper Piercing Template, Paper Piercing Tool, Lorelei Leaf Die (Memory Box), Stylus, Pansy Punch, Faux Flower Soft, Tiny Daisy Punch (Marvy Uchida), Basic Pearls

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Merry Monday Golden Angel

It's Merry Monday time.

I sure love how my Christmas card stash has grown!

This week Deanne is our sparkling hostess.

This is what she chose.

I remember someone giving my girls some kits for ornaments like this.

Homemade Christmas ornaments were a favorite gift giving idea at Christmas.

Here's my card.

I embossed this image on some 

beautiful shimmery cardstock that DH

picked out and gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago.

This is the last of it. :-(

The stamp belongs to a friend and I have no idea

who makes this stamp.

If you recognize it, please let me know so I can give credit.

I pulled out the Timeless Rectangle dies that I used a couple of weeks ago.

This image seemed to call for something elegant!

Since I used a snippet of Brushed Gold,

I can go play at

Pixie's Snippet Playground.

I can't wait for you to see what the rest of the 

Design Team has come up with.

Pop on over to Merry Monday and take a look.

Even better...make a Christmas card with sequins on it

and come join the fun at

Merry Monday.

I'm so glad you stopped by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps: Unknown

Ink:  Encore Gold

Paper: Shimmery, Brushed Gold (SU)

Other:  Gold EP (SU), Timeless Rectangles (Spellbinders), Gold Sequins (Joann Fabric)

Mixed Media Coral Blossom

I've been seeing a lot about using Mixed Media on cards.

I usually create a card without thinking about

a specific technique. 

I have to admit that the thought of using more than one 

boggled my mind.

But my friend Loll is on the DT Team for a new challenge

The Mixed Media Card Challenge

It's a monthly challenge and they define Mixed Media as

Basically, a card that has stamps and inks PLUS at least two other items (embossing paste and alcohol inks, for example) is a mixed media card in our book.

I used a stamp and ink for the sentiment.

The flower and leaves are punched from a piece of watercoloring

(and cardstock).

And I used an embossing folder.

Watercoloring, punching, embossing

along with the stamp and ink

makes Mixed Media. (I think)

That wasn't so hard!

This went to a dear friend who is experiencing some health issues.

I hope she receives this card before she sees it here!

Thanks for stopping by and I really do appreciate your comments.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Field Flowers

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper:  Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Watercolor

Other:  Re-inkers, Bonjour EF (Couture Creations), Blossom Punch, Blossoms Petal Builder Punch, Sunshne Punch (Fiskars), Tiny Sunshine (Recollections)

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Merry Monday Shades of Green

It's Merry Monday time again.

 The amazing LeAnne is our hostess this week.

I love this picture!

I pulled out my NBUS Papertrey Ink Polka Dot Parade #9

stamps and die.

The sentiment is a NBUS too.

It's from Verve.

For the background I used the partial embossing.

I put the directions on this blog post.

The bow is made from crochet thread

dragged through Gesso.

Virginia's View Challenge

is looking for die cuts.
This die set is from Papertrey Ink.

Pixie's Snippet Playground
is always open for play when we use snippets on our cards.
The tree is made from snippets.
What a great way to us up some of those narrow pieces!

I hope you'll pull out your greens 
and join us at Merry Monday this week.

And be sure to go over there and check out all the Design Team cards.
WOW!

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

    **********

Card Recipe

Stamps: Polka Dot Parade #9 (Papertrey Ink), Christmas Blessing (Verve)

Ink:  Pistachio Pudding, Wild Wasabi, Gumball Green, Garden Green, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Gumball Green, Whisper White, Brushed Gold (for star)

Other: Polka Dot Parade #9 Die set (Papertrey Ink), Plaid EF (Sizzix), Simply Scored, Gessoed Crochet Tread

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Peaceful Petals Blended for Kylie

I've been playing with my Blendabilities again.

I used the Daffodil Delight set.

I think this is my favorite color set so far.

And I want to wish Kylie a very happy birthday!

Loll has a Birthday Celebration going on for her.
I hope you'll go over with a card and give her some birthday love.

One of Kylie's challenges is

Addicted to Stamps

This week's challenge is

MAKE YOUR MARK

you can use any kind of pens, pencils, paints or chalks. 

Perhaps you can make you mark by sponging or even sewing? 

The choice is yours!

I used the Blendabilities which are 

Stampin' Up!'s new alcohol markers.

I'm so glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!

   **********

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Peaceful Petals, Perfectly Penned (both retired)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper:  110# Solar White (Neena), Daffodil Delight, Whisper White

Other:  Blendabilities (Daffodil Delight), Gingham Ribbon (retired), Scallop Trim Corner Punch (retired), Simply Scored

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted