Sunny Pair Two Ways and Exciting News

I had this stamp out for the inside of a sunflower card we did in class last week.

Before I put it up, I stamped it on piece of watercolor paper

and watercolored it with my Zigs and an Aqua Painter.

After coloring the flowers, I did a light wash in the background, then

randomly stamped with a script stamp and small butterfly.

Here's another that's a little more of a loose look.

I got some blooms where I didn't really want them.  That's the thing with watercolor.

You never know what to expect!  That's one thing that I love about it!

I used my MISTI to ink just the petals and moved the color around with an Aqua Painter.

Then I stamped the petals again over top of the painting.

I did the same thing with the stems and leaves.

Then I did the center.

Finally, I used the wet on wet technique to do the wash (and bloom).

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

NATURE

is still open so I'm going to share these cards over there.

******

AND NOW FOR

EXCITING NEWS!!

There is a new challenge starting on October 1... a "sister" challenge to CAS Mix Up.  

Click HERE to check out CAS Watercolour Card Challenge.

Come join the fun!!

See you on October 1st for the first CAS Watercolour challenge!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe (Card 1)

Stamps:  Sunny Pair, Snippets, Happy Snippets (all PB), Thinking of You (HLS)

Ink:   Archival Black (Ranger), Chocolate Chip (SU)

Paper:   Chocolate Chip (SU), Distress Watercolor (TH)

Other:  Zigs (Yellow, Orange, Med. Green, Mid Brown), Aqua Painter, Stately EF (Craft Concepts)

Card Recipe (Card 2)

Stamps: Sunny Pair, Enjoy (PB)

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

Ink: Distress Markers (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Gathered Twigs

Other:  MISTI, Water Spritzer

Pink and Silver for Merry Monday

It's Merry Monday time again.

This week's challenge is brought to us by Kristie.
Thank you for coming back to be our Guest Designer, Kristie.
We miss you.

Our marbling challenge is over at CAS Mix Up, but I had the perfect marbled piece to use.
I cut a frame and popped it up on top of the part cut out.

The solid ornament was die cut from a snippet of Brusho background
and the silver swirls were die cut from foil.
(They really are silver not black. Silly camera!)

I love the soft look of this card!

Check out what the rest of the Design Team has done and then I hope you'll join us at
Merry Monday

and I can take my snippets over to
Pixie's Snippet Playground.

and we can't forget
Rudolph Days
where anything Christmas goes from the 25th to the 30th.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Holiday Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Encore Silver

Paper:   Solar White (Neena 110 lb.), Pink Pirouette, Silver Foil (SU), Marbled and Brusho backgrounds

Other:  Swirl Ornament and Classic Ornament dies (MB), Kars Snowflake EF (retired Cuttlebug), Double Stitch Frame (MFT)

Last Marbled Card...for now

There's still a few hours to enter at CAS Mix Up

This is another marbled piece I made with shaving cream and re-inkers.  

This time just one color of re-inker.

I love all the white space!

I just stamped this Penny Black stamp and sentiment with Archival black in.

A very quick and easy CAS card!

The challenge is open until the 24th.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Softly, Special Wishes (both PB)

Ink:   Archival Black (Ranger)

Paper:  Solar White (Neena 110 lb.), Daffodil Delight 

Other:  Shaving Cream, Daffodil Delight Re-inker (SU), Charles EF (Cuttlebug)

Marbling and Daisies

Using Stamping, Marbling with Shaving Cream, Die Cutting, Shaped Die Cuts, Marker Layering

The flowers were die cut 3 times and one pair was cut apart.

I colored them with Distress Markers using a
Marker Layering Technique and shaped them.
Some tiny bits of dimensionals behind the petals 
help to keep the shape.

This month's CAS Mix Up

Challenge is open until the 24th.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Friendship Messages (SSS)

Ink:  StazOn Timber Brown, Distress Markers (Squeeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed< Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Gathered Twigs) 

Paper:  Solar White (Neena 110 lb.) 

Other:  Shaving Cream, Re-inkers (SU Wild Wasabi, Marina Mist), Basic Bookmark 3 Die (PTI), Fresh Daisies Die (SSS), Rainstones (PTI)

Marbled Butterflies

Have you tried marbling your paper yet?

I have had the messiest best time doing this technique.

I've got a story to tell of this card.

I needed a sympathy card and pulled this out of my stash.
It had a stamped and cut out cross on it.
But the color of the cross looked off compared to the card base.
(I'm sure I used the same color ink as card but I'm thinking maybe not!)

I didn't feel like I could send it like that so I pulled the cross of the card
and put it aside for another day.

I wasn't sure what to put on the embossed piece.

Since our challenge this month at CAS Mix Up is Marbling,
I had several pieces on hand from my play with shaving cream and re-inkers.

So I die cut these little butterflies from a piece of marbled paper and
put them on the card.

But wait!  Where in the world am I to put some stamping?

A NBUS stamp set from Technique Tuesday caught my eye.
I wanted something subtle so I stamped with some VersaMark ink.

And I loved it!

I hope you do too.

So I used Stamping, Marbling, Die Cuts and Dry Embossing.

There's still time to join us at
CAS Mix Up

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Wildflowers (TT)

Ink:   VersaMark

Paper:   Baja Breeze, Whisper White (SU), Coated paper for marbling

Other:  Shaving Cream, Marina Mist Re-inker (SU), Isabella and Pippi Butterfly Dies (MB), Basic Pearls (SU), Square Lattice EF (retired SU)

Warm Mittens Merry Monday

Good Merry Monday morning!

This week Kathy has challenged us to make a Christmas card using something
that would keep us warm.

I recently bought the Cable Knit Embossing Folder that's in the Stampin' Up! Holiday Catalog.

It made some warm looking punched mittens from snippets of red cardstock.

I used a snippet of velvet ribbon to the cuffs and
some snow swirling around.

Check out what the rest of the Design Team has done to make you feelwarm and cozy.
 Then I hope you'll join us at Merry Monday.


Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Oh, What Fun (SU)

Ink:   Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper:   Real Red, Whisper White (SU)

Other:  Mitten Punch (retired SU), Cable Knit EF (SU), Velvet Ribbon (retired SU), Snowflake And Scroll EF (Darice), Bakers Twine ($1 bin)

Spray, Splatter and Drip

Last month we used sprays for CAS Mix Up.

By the end of the month, I was pretty comfortable using sprays.

So when I saw that Virginia's View Challenge for September
was Spray, Mist or Splatter, I was ready to jump in!

I was in a hurry so I just held a piece of watercolor paper in the wastebasket

and sprayed with some re-inkers and water in mist bottles.

I used Calypso Coral and Daffodil Delight.

Darnell got us all on the NBUS wagon recently and this 

Penny Black stamp was sitting front and center in my NBUS box.

So I stamped it on the dried (be sure you let it dry first, ask me how I know),

sprayed watercolor paper.

Then I had the bright idea of coloring in the leaves and flowers with my Gold Uniball Gel Pen.

And I hated it!

So, I went in my box that's full of backgrounds and found a snippet done

with Brushos and stamped the flowers on that.

Mind you, it was a snippet and it took some creative stamping to get all the flowers on 

that little piece!

So I fussy cut the flowers out and paper pieced them over the undesirable gold flowers.

It really brightened it up.

Before it looked like a sympathy card and the sentiment just didn't fit!

Finally, I dripped some of that Pico Embellisher around.

I totally could have ruined the whole thing with that.

Whew, I'm glad it didn't have to go back to the trash can after all that!

So, along with Virginia's challenge, I'm taking my flower garden to

Penny Black and More

ADD A SENTIMENT

and

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

NATURE

and with those snippet flowers, I have to go to

Pixie's Snippet Playground

I think that's enough for now.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Softly, Special Wishes (PB)

Ink:   Archival Black (Ranger)

Paper:   Basic Black (SU), Mixed Media (Strathmore)

Other:  Sprays (made with re-inker and water), Stampin' Spritzers (SU), Gold Uniball Gel Pen, Tuxedo Black Irresistible Pico Embellisher, Stitched Mats Rectangles (LI)

Stenciling with Memory Box

I'm pretty sure that my good friend, Loll, has done a card very much like this.
She always inspires me!

The Memory Box Outside the Box challenge

I had their Texture Tiny Dots stencil in my NBUS box.

(My box is bulging at the seams and I need to get the inventory down so 

I can buy more see what's in there.)

I used some new Pearlescent Embossing Paste.

I love the shine it gives.

The butterfly, also a NBUS from Memory Box, is die cut from a piece of 

Inka Gold Smoosh.

For good measure I tucked a die cut Madera Corner piece under the butterfly.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Happy Snippets (PB)

Ink:   VersaMark

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

Other: Texture Tiny Dots Stencil, Madera Corner Die, Moonlight Butterfly Die (all MB), Pearlescent EP (Dreamweavers), Lots of Labels Framelits (SU)

Botanical Rose

Altenew has an Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop going on.

If you haven't seen it yet, do go check it out.

I used the Altenew set Botanical Garden for this card.

I also used a marbled piece  for the 

CAS Mix Up September Challenge

Using Stamping, Marbling, Heat Embossing, Watercolor

I heat embossed this image and watercolored it with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers.

The top piece is marbled using shaving cream and re-inker using this technique.

I did a wash around the flower with watered down Zig colors.

(I scribbled the color on a palette with the markers and watered it down, 

adding the color to a wet background.)

The diagonal border was a piece smacked with VersaMark and embossed with

the same Liquid Platinum embossing powder.

I love how the embossing comes alive when the light hits it!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

AT THE MOVIES

Remember Pretty in Pink?

I remember watching that movie with my daughters years ago.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

CLEAN AND SIMPLE

My favorite kind of challenge

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Botanical Garden, Thinking of You (Alt)

Ink:    VersaMark

Paper:  Solar White (Neena 110 lb.), Distres Watercolor (TH)

Other:  Zigs (Pale Pink, Purple, Violet, Pale Green, Lt. Green, Deep Green, Liquid Platinum EP (TH), Rainstones (PTI)

Marbling Reminder for CAS MIx Up

It's the 15th of the month already.

Wow! Time does fly!

Using Stamping, Marbling, Die Cutting, Dry Embossing with Dies, Heat Embossing, and Inka Gold Smoosh

This is a reminder that we are still doing Marbling at
CAS Mix Up

This time I used fingernail polish to marble my paper.

Yep, fingernail polish.

I used the technique found in this video and came up with

some interesting results.

It doesn't smell as good as the shaving cream technique, but it has 

a sparkle from the glitter that was in the polish.

I was lucky and found this fingernail polish for $1.00 a bottle when

I bought my shaving cream.

You've gotta love those dollar stores!

I used the Stitched Square Died to cut the square opening

and the next larger die to dry emboss around that.

For a little extra pizzazz, I touched the edges of the frame in the

silver ink pad and heat embossed it.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Happy Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Encore Silver

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

Other:  Fingernail Polish, Stitched Square Dies (Lil' Inker), Meadow Dragonfly Die (MB), Inka Gold (Steel Blue, Platinum), Silver EP (SU)

Altenew's Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop

We are so excited at CAS Mix Up today.

Altenew invited us to join in their Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop.

I was honored to be chosen to create a card to represent CAS Mix Up.

Here's a collage of the challenge sites that are participating.

Links are at the CAS Mix Up site

and the Altenew Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop.

We are honored to be among them.

There are prizes too.

Altenew will be awarding $35 gift certificates to 5 random winners.

And they are offering a free gift with orders over $50 through September 16th

Since our 

CAS Mix Up challenge this month is

I used a piece of marbled paper for this beautiful Altenew Painted Butterfly.

I also used this sweet flower from their Botanical Garden set.

The marbled piece is one that my grandchildren made using

shaving cream and food coloring.  The cardstock is coated.

It's something I bought from a local printing company.

It made for some awesome marbled prints!

I stamped and embossed the butterfly on a snippet they left behind.

My first card with this design went wrong and I had to do the front again.

I liked the flower better on the first card so I cut it out and

popped it over the painted flower on this card.

It adds some dimension.

I used stamping, marbling, heat embossing and watercolor.

There's a linky at CAS Mix Up so you can join in the Blog Hop

using your Altenew products.

They have a lot of gorgeous sets to choose from.

I hope you'll join in.  

Use some marbling and join us at CAS Mix Up too.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Painted Butterflies, Botanical Garden (Altenew)

Ink:  VersaMark, Antique Linen (Distress), Distress Markers (Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn) 

Paper:   Mixed Media, Basic Black

Other:  Black EP, White EP (SU), Tuxedo Black IrRESISTible Pico Embellisher (Imagine Crafts)

Star of Light for Merry Monday

I think everybody was glad to be playing at Merry Monday again.

There were so many beautiful entries for last week's challenge.

Now on to this week.

Debbie chose a beautiful inspiration photo for our challenge this week.

I love red and white!

I used my new Star of Light set from Stampin' Up!

I cut the solid and added the die cut of the lacy one on top.

The photo doesn't show it, but the star sparkles with Wink of Stella.

A white embossed sentiment and some rhinestone "stars" 

finished this quick and easy card.

Be sure to check what the rest of the Design Team has done over at 

Merry Monday.

I hope you'll be inspired and join us.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Star of Light (SU)

Ink:   VersaMark

Paper:   Heavy Wt. Whisper White, Real Red, Whisper White (SU)

Other:  Starlight Thinlits, White EP (SU), Wink of Stella, Stately EF (Craft Concepts), Rhinestones

Marbled Butterfly

I'm still using some of those marbling pieces.

This time I used my Penny Black Flights of Fancy butterfly die.

The marbling was done with shaving cream and re-inkers.

I am loving the smell of these pieces.  So clean and fresh!

I added some splatters because I thought the card needed something else
and the big marbled butterfly made everything else look too busy.

CAS Mix Up

This was quick and easy using, Stamping, Marbling, Die Cuts, Splatter

Since I used some splatter, I'm going to enter in at
Virginia's View September Challenge

I know how Virginia loves bright colors so I hope she'll like this.


Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Sprinkles and Smiles (PB)

Ink:   Memento Tuxedo Black

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

Other: Shaving Cream, Re-inkers (Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight), Stitched Squares Die (LI)