Mojo Monday

Not sure what happened to May, but it has zipped by like a streak of lightning and we're already on the last Monday! You know that means the Mojo Monday Challenge has a different shaped card as part of the challenge and this time, Julee has a tall and skinny layout for us! 

Since this is Memorial Day in the states, I wanted to remember those who have died in their service to our country by using poppies on my card.  I always associate this flower with veterans who are seen handing out the paper version of the flower to people who donate money to their cause.  

I did a watercolor wash with Candied Apple and Festive Berries distress ink on Ranger watercolor CS, then die cut the flowers using Verve's coordinating dies to the Poppy Birthday stamp set.  I colored the leaves with Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn distress ink markers, stamped with Garden Green ink and fussy cut them.  The flower centers have black Enamel Accents added which gives them a glossy sheen...not picked up well with this photo. Papers are from My Mind's Eye "A Mother's Love" 6x6 pad.  The tiny crosstitch dies are from Paper Smooches "Stitched" wise dies set.

For more inspiration from the rest of the mojomakers, click on their blog links below...or...you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and click on the first seven thumbnails. 

Julee Tilman (Owner)
Justin Krieger
Lori Tecler
Marisa Ritzen 
Sarah Bigelow
Teresa Kline
Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Altenew Daisy

  My newest fave triple step stamped flower is this Altenew Daisy stamp set that was recently a freebie offer!  Pssst...It is also available for purchase.  I created this card for two different challenges.  It's photo week over on the Just For Girls Challenge blog and I was inspired by the wallpaper background to include a yellow BG on my card and also to add a pop of pink.  

The second challenge is The Paper Players Tic-Tac-Toe challenge (I used the birthday, sequins and paper clip row). 

The sentiment - Altenew's Painted Greetings set - was gold embossed over a heavy weight vellum (SU).  Tiny Tip:  Make sure your heat gun is hot before you heat the vellum.  You will want to move quickly as soon as the powder melts.  
I sponged Daffodil Delight ink over a TCW Mini Chickenwire stencil.  The flowers were triple stamped with Little Piggy and Sweet Gelato WPlus9 dye inks and the leaves with Beanstalk and Mojito WPlus9 inks.  The wonky stitched rectangle die is by Lil' Inker Designs.

Crazy 4 Challenges #338

Sadly, this is the last week for me guesting with the Crazies at Crazy 4 Challenges. Thanks to Barbara for the invitation...it's been a fun month!  With May coming to an end, it means the school year is also coming to an end.  Our challenge is to create a teacher thank you card...but...if you don't have a need for a teacher TY card, just create a generic TY card instead.  We can ALL use those in our stash!  

I knew right away I wanted to use Reverse Confetti's Class Act stamp set.  The polka dotted apple is just the sweetest!  I used a number of Confetti Cuts dies: Class Act, Posted Note, Documented, Office Edges. The designer paper is Back to School by Recollections.

For more inspiration by the rest of the talented team, please click on the the links below:

• Anja de Regt
• Barbara Anders 
• Frances Byrne
• Jen Benner
• Jessie Rone
• Joanne Grzelak
• Karen Aicken
• Maryann Einam
• Peggy McCurry
• Raquel Mason
• Rebecca Ednie
• Vicki Burdick

We hope to see you in the gallery this week!  You can go HERE to link up your creation.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Inspired by...

I'm playing along with two great challenges: Inspired by...All the Little Things and Freshly Made Sketches.  I loved all the texture in the old building, so I knew I wanted to use texture paste over the watercolor wash background.  I was also inspired by the colors and it gave me a chance to use my fave distress ink combo - Cracked Pistachio and Evergreen Bough! The pop of blue was accomplished by adding a couple of stitched heart dies.

My daughter is going to be starting her first traveling nurse

assignment in Omaha, Nebraska in June.  She's a fiercely independent young lady who has quite the travel bug and has been on numerous trips already and it doesn't look like she'll stop anytime soon!  She's currently taking a 4000 mile trip through the midwest with a former roomie...hitting Fargo, ND 2 days ago, Boseman, Montana yesterday and then heading toward Yellowstone and Glacier national parks!  From there, they'll come south through Wyoming, Colorado and eventually will end up in Omaha.  That was a long tale to get to the point of this card's sentiment - lol! 

PAPER: Ranger watercolor CS; Pool Party (SU); cobalt blue CS is from my leftover scrap pile and I'm not sure of the source.
DIES: Stitched hearts by Lil' Inker Designs; Stitched Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics by MFT; Incredible sentiment die by Concord and 9th.

Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

I loved the inspiration photo for Papertrey Ink's May blog hop and knew I had to take time to play along!  It inspired me to watercolor some florals while dreaming of eating raspberry sherbert - lol!  I'm a big fan of layering large sentiments over an image, so this was perfect to use one of my fave PTI sets - Wet Paint!  I layered 3 'happy' dies to give it more dimension. A touch of Wink of Stella clear shimmer marker was added to the peony center.  I used a Copic marker (Y02) to add some highlights to the peonies and the Copic B0000 was added to 'ground' the jar.

STAMPS: Wet Paint, Peonies on Parade, Quart Jar - all by PTI.
PAPER: Raspberry Fizz (PTI), Ranger watercolor CS, Black and White printed CS by Recollections.
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Tumbled Glass distress inks by Tim Holtz.

You'll want to stop HERE to see all the other PTI fans' creations!  Thanks so much for stopping by... 

Color Throwdown

It's time for a new Color Throwdown Challenge and Amy Rohl, our hostess for the week, has chosen a fabulous color palette based on this yummy cake photo!  I went very literal with my interpretation and inked up these berries from WPlus9's Fresh Picked stamp set. 

Here's my take on it... 

I started with a Ranger watercolor CS base and added a light pink watercolor border using Spun Sugar distress ink (I seem to be addicted to adding watercolor details to all my cards lately 😜).  Then, I inked up the strawberries using Festive Berries distress ink and rocked and rolled the edges in Cranberry Crush dye ink by WPlus9.  Here's what else I used...
STAMPS: Fresh Picked (WPlus9).
PAPER: Winter Dots and Stripes by Echo Park, Real Red, Ranger watercolor CS.
ACCESSORIES: Fresh Picked dies by WPlus9; Red twine. 

 Congratulations to our guest star stamper - the talented Tenia Nelson!  You'll want to stop by her blog and check out her beautiful creation HERE.     


To get all the details on how to play along with the challenge, please go to the Color Throwdown blog and check out the info on the right sidebar!  You can also check out the rest of the design teams' creations for more inspiration on the CTD blog... or you can clink on their blog links below.
Amy Rohl
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins 
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)
Jill Hawkins - May Guest Designer    

 

Color Challenge Meets Paper Players

The Paper Players Challenge has a great CAS sketch this week, so I paired it with the Color Challenge on SCS to create a 70th anniversary card for an aunt and uncle. I built a plaid background with the 3 main CC colors: Watermelon Wonder, Pumpkin Pie and Crushed Curry (dessert option is to add green).  The happy die was cut 3 times and layered up to create more dimension.  I took some liberty with the 'any shape' element and went with a floral collage instead of a single shape.  Once again, my mighty MISTI came to the rescue and made it easy to line up the sentiment via the grid lines and then allowed me to stamp it twice to get a crisper image.

STAMPS: Mini Modern Blooms (MFT), Plaid BG Builder (MFT), Wet Paint (PTI).
INK: Watercolor Wonder, Pumpkin Pie, Crushed Curry, Memento Tuxedo Black.

Let's Get Fruity!

...this is the theme for the CAS Challenge on Splitcoaststampers! I'm combining it with the current CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge for this clean and simple card. 

Using WPlus9's dye inks, I first stamped the berries in Sweet Gelato then rocked and rolled the edges in Cranberry Crush ink.  The leaves were stamped with Beanstalk ink.  The diamond background was stamped twice using SU's Crushed Curry ink.  A quick gold embossed sentiment on vellum was tucked in the corner collage and a trio of gold sequins finished it off.


STAMPS: Fresh Picked (WPlus9); Just Geometrics: Triangles.

Thanks so much for stopping by...

Guesting at The Challenge

***Scroll on down for my Mojo Monday card***

I'm so excited to share that I was the winner at The Challenge last week (with this card) which means I have the honor of guesting with their talented design team this week! Since it's week 4, the challenge is a masculine photo inspiration.

I was immediately drawn to the vintage feel, the fact that it was a wheeled focal point and the most obvious...that wonderful red pop of color!  Here is my take on the photo inspiration...

This retired SU image reminds me of my dad's old pickup truck and thought it would be perfect to create a Father's Day card. After die-cutting a white watercolor CS panel using a wonky stitched rectangle die (Lil' Inker Designs), I added Barn Door and Pumice Stone distress inks for the background.  I then partially inked MFT's Burlap Background stamp with Early Espresso ink (SU).  The gear collage stamp is from MFT's Collage Backgrounds set - stamped twice using a MISTI and Early Espresso ink.  Fired Brick, Hickory Smoke and Black Soot distress inks were used on the truck which was then fussy cut and popped with foam tape and has Crystal Effects added to the hub caps and windows.  I silver embossed the sentiment on vellum and embellished with Tim Holtz' Mini Gears.

STAMPS: Loads of Love (SU), Burlap BG and Collage Backgrounds (MFT), World's Greatest (ODBD) - sentiment.

I'll have to admit...creating masculine cards is a real challenge for me, so I'm really anxious to see how others interpret this photo!  I tend to gravitate to flowers in the majority of my cards and they simply don't work for men - lol!  For more inspiration from the rest of the design team, be sure to head on over and check out their samples HERE.  Hope to see you in the gallery!

Mojo Monday

Good Monday everyone! After MANY days of rain this month, it's finally looking promising with seeing some sun this week! Julee has another awesome Mojo Monday Challenge sketch for us, and as you can see, I went with a flipped version.  Remember those dew drop embellishments that were so popular years ago?  Well, I have LOTS still in my stash and decided to resurrect them on this card.  Using a fine tip glue pen (SU) really makes adhering them so easy!
Two of my favorite distress inks to combine for a beautiful aqua background are Cracked Pistachio and Evergreen Bough.  It blends well with SU's Pool Party CS which I layered with some of their gold striped vellum paper.  Here's what else I used...

STAMPS: Moments Remembered (Verve), Hope Blooms (Verve).
DIES: Small Marianna Vine Background and Outline dies by Poppystamps; Stitched rectangle die by Lil' Inker Designs.

Another shot that captures more of the shine from the mirror gold cardstock I used (a new purchase from Altenew)...

For more inspiration from the rest of the mojomakers, click on their blog links below...or...you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and click on the first seven thumbnails. 

Julee Tilman (Owner)
Justin Krieger
Lori Tecler
Marisa Ritzen 
Sarah Bigelow
Teresa Kline
Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Crazy 4 Challenges #337

Hello everyone! May is flying by quickly and we're already on the 3rd week at Crazy 4 Challenges! This is sketch week and I know you will love this sketch!  I love pairing up this sunny yellow CS with black and white (PTI calls it Harvest Gold), because it brings a bit of sunshine to my stamp room in the midst of rain, rain and more rain!

The diagonal stripes background stamp by MFT is one of my favorite stamps because it works when I don't have patterned paper in the colors I want!  I really mixed up the companies on this card...Stitched dies from Lil' Inker Designs...Hello sentiment from Altenew's Painted Greetings stamp set...Floral and Flutter Dies by Concord and 9th (I'm really loving these open and airy flowers!)...Oval punch by SU...and as I already mentioned - the Diagonal Stripes BG by MFT.  ***A tiny tip with using large background stamps: I use my MISTI tool so I can stamp more than once if I don't get perfect coverage with the first inking.

For more inspiration from the rest of the design team, please go to the links below:

• Anja de Regt
• Barbara Anders 
• Frances Byrne
• Jen Benner
• Jessie Rone
• Joanne Grzelak
• Karen Aicken
• Maryann Einam
• Peggy McCurry
• Raquel Mason
• Rebecca Ednie
• Vicki Burdick

Thanks so much for stopping by and we hope to see you in the challenge gallery!  You can link up your creations HERE.

Color Throwdown

Happy hump day everyone! You are going to LOVE these colors that hostess Broni has chosen for the new Color Throwdown Challenge - Blush, Rose, Gray and White! I knew right away I wanted to ink up this freebie Daisy stamp set that Altenew recently offered with any paper order. 
I went with one of my 'go to' layouts by adding a striped border using MFT's Diagonal Stripes background stamp and Smoky Slate ink by SU.

Isn't that font gorgeous?  I'm loving Altenew's Super Script set!  I highly recommend using a MISTI to do repeat stamping (I did it 3 times) for a crisp, clear image.  

INK: Smoky Slate and Blushing Bride by SU; Fairy Dust, Silver Lining and Sweet Gelato by WPlus9; Memento Tuxedo Black.
PAPER: Rose Red, Neenah Solar White.

Congrats to our guest star stamper - Eliz Stewart of Paper Sweetness!  Be sure to stop by her blog to see her lovely card!

To get all the details on how to play along with the challenge, please go to the Color Throwdown blog and check out the info on the right sidebar!  You can also check out the rest of the design teams' creations for more inspiration on the CTD blog... or you can clink on their blog links below.
Amy Rohl
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins 
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)
Jill Hawkins - May Guest Designer    

Bird-Day Wishes

A fun 'threefer' card on this marvelous Monday (marvelous because the sun is shining once again!).  Here are the three challenges I'm playing along with...
Tag, You're It!
Retrosketches #215
Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Birdhouse. 

I started with a watercolor wash on a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2 " panel of Ranger watercolor CS using Tumbled Glass distress ink. I used an angled brush and scribbled the ink in a diagonal direction. Next step...cutting 6 stitched die strips (Lil' Inker Designs). 
Since they weren't long enough to use only 3, I had to 'piece' them together behind the tag.  I used Reverse Confetti's The Tweet Life stamp set and coordinating dies.  The large tag and the checked flag are also dies by RC.  

PAPER: Quilting Bee by My Mind's Eye; X-Press It Blending Card; Ranger watercolor CS. 

Thanks for stopping by...