Botanical Notes

I really need to be cutting out cards for a demo tomorrow, 

but I wanted to share this card with you.

I had a burning desire to play with some watercolor.

I was really happy with the way it turned out.

I used a no line watercolor technique and negative painting to make the flowers stand out.

Hope you like it.

Now off to do that cutting.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Botanical Notes (PB)

Ink:  Antique Linen (Distress), Distress Markers

Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore), Baked Brown Sugar (retired SU)

Other: Aqua Painter (SU)

Snow for Merry Monday

Good Merry Monday morning!

This week Kathy is our hostess.

I adhered some Sizzix sticky paper to a snippet of white cardstock

and cut the snowy Christmas tree.

I pressed some coarse crystal glitter onto the sticky stuff, put the tree together

and stuck it in the snowbanks.

I'll join in at

Edited to add:

Rudolph Days Challenge

as it's the 25th of the month.

Thanks for the nudge, LesleyG.

Christmas Card Challenges #21

ANYTHING GOES

and

Pixie's Snippet Playground

I hope we'll see your snowy card in the gallery at

Merry Monday.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Holiday Snippets (PB), Wishing You Cheer (retired SU)

Ink:  Whisper White, Night of Navy (SU)

Paper:  Solar White (Neena 140 lb.), Night of Navy

Other:  Snow Covered Tree Small Die (Dee's Distinctively), Coarse Glitter (MS),  Kars Snow Fall EF (retired Cuttlebug), Stitched Snow Drifts Die (MFT), Stitched Mats Rectangles (Lil' Inker), Dazzling Details

Dear Friend

I used Loll's Watercolor Splash Technique for the background of this card.

I stamped the flowers n the background and messed them up

decided that I needed to add some dimension.
So I stamped the flowers again on a snippet of watercolor paper,
watercolored, fussy cut them out and added them atop with dimensionals.

The punched butterfly is coated with Inka gold.
Love that shine!

For the card base I used a Lil' Inkers die and embossed it
instead of cutting it.


There's a Linky Party going on at Virginia's View.

Virginia is asking for a newly created card with a theme of

 "miss you", "hello"...any types of friendship card. 

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

BUTTERFLY BEAUTY

Simply include a butterfly somewhere on your project!

and

I haven't played at Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge in ages.

The challenge this time is 
Butterflies + T is for Texture and/or Teal.
I have texture.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

MAKE IT GIRLIE


Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Butterfly Basics, Birthday Blooms (SU)

Ink: Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Spun Sugar (Distress), Black Archival (Ranger), Distress 

Paper: Watercolor (Arches 140 lb. cold press for design, Strathmore 140 lb. cold press for card base)

Markers (Peeled Paint, Picked Raspberry, Scattered Straw)

Other:  Aqua Painter (SU), Cascadia Butterfly Die (MB), Stitched Mats Rectangles Die (Lil' Inker), Jade Inka Gold, Bitty Butterfly Punch, Basic Pearls (SU), Crochet Thread

Purple, Silver and White for Merry Monday

Good Merry Monday morning.

We have a great challenge this week from Debbie.

This was actually the 2nd card I did.

I had a sheet of purple Origami paper that I decided to sacrifice use from my hoard.

It has a bit of a textured foil look.  You can see on the solid ornament.

I stenciled a flourish to "hang" the ornament from by

sponging Encore silver metallic ink through the stencil.

I used the last bit of foil (it had ornaments cut from the middle) to

add a thin layer behind the design piece.

Here's the first card.

I had it all made and set to post then looked closer at the challenge.

Oops! That said silver not gold!

Fortunately I had just enough of that gorgeous purple paper to do

another card using silver.

CAS Mix Up

I have used Stenciling, Stamping, Heat Embossing and Die-cuts

Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge




I hope you'll pull out your purple, silver and white and join us at

Merry Monday

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Mixed Christmas Sentiments (HLS)

Ink:  Encore Silver, Encore Gold

Paper:  Solar White (110 lb. Neena), Origami Paper (gift)

Other: Flourish Stencil (TH), Stitched Mats Rectangles (LI), Classic Ornament, Swirl Ornament, Crisp Bows (MB), Silver or Gold EP (SU)

Spring Flowers

My friend Jan brought this die for me to have a play with.

I cut it out of some snippets of yellow and green and  messily loosely sponged some ink 

close to the embossed piece, popped some candy dots in the center,

and called it daffodils.

AAA Cards Game #62

ANYTHING GOES

Thanks so much for choosing my stenciled tag card to be in your top 3!

Pixie's Snippet Playground

I used snippets of yellow and green for the die cuts.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY MAY FLOWERS

      

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Friendship Messages (SSS)

Ink: Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi, Crushed Curry (SU)

Paper:  Solar White (110 lb. Neena), DSP, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi (SU)

Other:  Joyful Bouquet Die (MB), Stitched Mats Rectangles (Lil Inkers), Candy Dots (SU)

More Stenciling for CAS Mix Up

 We are so impressed and inspired by the stenciled entries at
CAS Mix Up!

Here's  a little more inspiration using Lee-Anne's
Stencil Monoprint Technique

Lee-Anne's directions are easy to follow.

I had so much fun using this technique!

I used stamping, stenciling monoprint, Brushos and die cutting for my mixed media.

I used a stencil that Loll had cut with her Cameo and sent to me.

(Thanks Loll)

I used some Distress inks to ink up the stencil, spritzed and laid the stencil 

down on a piece of Mixed Media paper.

After it was dry, I stamped some small script after stamping off on scratch paper

and stamped some little flowers using the same technique.

I wanted the stamping to blend with the softness of the monoprint.

The butterfly was die cut from a piece of Brusho colored watercolor paper.

The challenge is open until the 24th so you still have time to join in.

Hope to see you in the gallery.

How about a twofer?

 Same technique, different butterfly.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Flower Sparks (PB), French Foliage, Take Care (retired SU)

Ink:  Crushed Pistachio, Salty Ocean, Antique Linen, Abandoned Coral, Mowed Lawn (Distress Ink)

Paper:  Solar White (Neena 110 lb.), Certainly Celery (retired SU), Mixed Media (Strathmore)

Other:  Stencil, Bold Butterfly Framelits (SU), Crystals (SSS), Bitty Butterfly Punch

Winged Beauty

I inked up these stamps with Distress Markers, spritzed with water and stamped on
watercolor paper.  By using my MISTI, I could stamp again to add more definition.

After the images were dry, I added some clear water to the background
and dropped some color into the puddles with a waterbrush
and moved it around a bit.

Since my robin is playing in the puddles, I'm going to enter this at
Penny Black Saturday Challenge
APRIL - SHOWERS

I hope this will count. 

and since I gave this to my friend, Macie for her birthday,

Penny Black and More
***Birthdays***


Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Winged Beauty (PB)

Ink:  Distress Markers

Paper:  Solar White (Neena), Baked Brown Sugar, Whisper White (SU), Watercolor (Arches 140 lb. hot press)

Other: Water Spritzer, MISTI, Aqua Painter (SU)

Celebration at Merry Monday

We're having a CELEBRATION at Merry Monday this week.

It's our 200th challenge!

Wow! That's a lot of Christmas cards!

The best thing about it is that my Christmas cards were done and 

ready to mail well before Christmas!

Our way of celbrating is to invite others to help host our party.

All the Merry Making Design Team has chosen a

Guest Designer to join in the fun.

My choice is Loll Thompson of Stamping with Loll

Here's her card.

She chose to do the Inspriation Theme.

Isn't it gorgeous?

Thank you for joining our party, Loll!

I chose the Snowman Theme.

I also used the colors Red, White, Green and Kraft.

I've used the snowman stamps from the retired Season's Greeting set by There She Goes.
I've colored the image with a combination of
 Copics, Blendabilities and Zigs .

The background snow is embossing paste through the 
Falling Snow stencil by Simon Says Stamp.

I've torn the snowdrifts and edges with Dazzling Details.

I've also added some sparkly stickers to decorate the trees.

Stamping, Stenciling, Alcohol Markers, Zigs, Glitter, Die Cuts 
and Fussy cutting put this in the CAS Mix Up gallery.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Season's Greetings (Retired There She Goes)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Crumb Cake (SU)

Paper:  Solar White (110 lb. Neena), Crumb Cake, Whisper White (SU)

Other: Copic Markers, Blendabilities, Zigs, Falling Snow EF (SSS), Stitched Mats Rectangles (Lil' Inkers), Aqua Painter, Clear Dazzling Details (SU)

Celebration Time

I tried the stencil monoprint technique and I've got to say,
I love this technique!

It's super quick and easy.

I used some Distress ink cubes I had recently acquired.
They made it very easy to add the different colors to the stencil.

I just dragged the ink pad the length of the stencil and 
repeated with each color.
A few light spritzes of water and it was ready to press into the mixed media paper.

Simon Says Stamp
is celebrating a 7th birthday for the Wednesday Challenge.


These colors said birthday celebration to me so I 
added some of Simon's Celebration Time balloons.

I cut the balloons from some mixed media paper
smooshed with Inka Gold.
They have a wonderful shimmer!

Here's another card showing more of this stencil monoprint panel.

Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge this month is



and our

CAS Mix Up April Challenge
We're asking for stamping, stencils and at least 1 other
mixed media technique or product.

I've added Inka Gold and Die Cutting and embossing to the stencil technique
and stamping.

What stencil do you have that you can ink up?

Hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe (Card 1)

Stamps:  Celebrate (SSS)

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink (Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber, Mermaid Lagoon, Seedless Preserves)

Paper:  Solar White (Neena 110 lb.), Mixed Media (Strathmore)

Other: Boarders Stencil (HA), Inka Gold (Lava Red, Gold), Celebration Time Dies (SSS)

(Card 2)

Stamps:  Tin of Cards (SU)

Ink: Same as above 

Paper: Solar White (Neena 110 lb.), Mixed Media (Strathmore), Whisper White (SU)

Other:  Boarders Stencil (HA), Tempting Turquoise Marker, Brights Candy Dots (SU)

Stencil x3 for CAS Mix Up April Challenge

I used my favorite Scraped Paint stencil again.

Can you tell that it's my favorite?

I used another stencil and sponged a bit of color on a tag.

Before I removed the stencil, I stamped that pretty fern over it.

Then I took a snippet of some heated copper from my dear friend Loll, 

punched a couple of butterflies and dry embossed them.

Some crinkled ribbon finishes it off.

Lots of mixed media techniques and still CAS

for CAS Mix Up

AAA Cards Game #61

Edited to join in at
 Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge

Thanks for the suggestion, Susan.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Butterfly Basics (SU)

Ink:  Scattered Straw (Distress), Old Olive (SU)

Paper: Solar White (110 lb. Neena), Old Olive, Whisper White

Other:  Scraped Paint Stencil (MB), Moroccan Lattice Stencil (Kite), Embossing Paste (Wendy Vecchi), Lots of Labels Framelits (SU), Heated Copper, Pear Pizzazz Seam Binding (SU)

Inlaid Daisy

I used my Penny Black Bashful die and cut from a piece of white,

a piece of green and a bit of "smooshed" watercolor paper.

Fit it all back into the negative cut of the white piece, 

popped it over a piece embossed with my favorite SU folder

and was done.

Oh, I did stamp a little hello too.

My friends at Addicted to CAS have a fun challenge.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Friendship Messages (SSS)

Ink:  Garden Green, Chocolate Chip (SU)

Paper:  Solar White (110 lb. Neena), Whisper White (SU)

Other:  Bashful Die (PB), Square Lattice EF (retired SU)