Black and White

I've got a quick and easy card for two different challenges: black and white only for Laurie's Fabulous Favorites challenge on the Ink to Paper blog and it's also using the sketch for the new Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

While I'm all about loving color, there is also something so timeless and classy about black and white only. The papers are from the Black and White Basics 6x6" pad by My Favorite Things and the sentiment is from the Orchid Expressions set by Papertrey Ink. The stitched square dies are by Lil' Inker Designs. It only took about 10 minutes to complete this 4 1/4" square card, so it doesn't get much easier than that! :-)                                     ~Wanda

Color Throwdown #554

Amy Rohl is hosting the new Color Throwdown challenge and has a fave color combo of mine: black, red, green and kraft! I can't resist watercoloring these sunflower dies from The Greetery, so turned them into coneflowers by making them shades of red! :-)

I cut the floral layers from Ranger watercolor cardstock then painted them in 3 different shades of red from my Mijello Mission paints.  I adhered them together with large glue dots, then touched up the occasional white edges of the die cuts with a Zig marker that was also red.  I stamped the sentiment twice with my MISTI using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

STAMPS: Sentiment Suite Birthday (The Greetery).

PAPER: Black and White Stripes 6x6" pad by MFT; White and True Black by PTI; Watercolor CS by Ranger.

DIES: Sunflowers (The Greetery).

We'd love to have you play along with us! For more inspiration, you can check out the great projects by our design team:

Amy Rohl 

Amy Rysavy

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe 

Jodi Collins

Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put

Vickie Zimmer

Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Susie Moore - July 2019 Guest Designer

CAS(E) This Sketch

 I'm playing along with one of my favorite weekly challenges and that's the CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge! I started with a piece of Yupo paper that I had used with alcohol inks and gold fixative. It's been on my leftover pile for some time and I decided this sketch would be the one to just add a couple of white embossed vellum feathers and this beautiful gold embossed sentiment by The Greetery.

STAMPS: Comforting Commands (The Greetery); Fine Feathers (Waltzingmouse Stamps).
DIES: Comforting Commands (The Greetery); Fine Feathers (Waltzingmouse Stamps); Stitched Rectangles and Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics (My Favorite Things).

Thanks so much for stopping by...                 ~Wanda

Paper Players Sketch Week

It's sketch week over on the Paper Players Challenge blog and you are going to love playing with this layout - thanks to Ann Marie! I wanted to ink up this fun butterfly image by Reverse Confetti and then colored it with Copics and spritzed it with some Smooch Spritz to add some shimmer.  
I also added some black Enamel Accents to the flower centers.

Here is what I used...

STAMPS: Butterfly Blossoms and So Many Sentiments - both by Reverse Confetti.
PAPER: Kraft and White (PTI); Black and White Basics 6x6" pad by My Favorite Things; X-Press It Blending Card.
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black.
DIES: Pierced Feature Frames (PTI); Butterfly Blossoms (RC). 

For more inspiration from the rest of the talented design team, please check out their creations HERE.  Hope to see you in the gallery! Have a blessed day!                         ~Wanda                            

Freshly Made Sketches

I generally leaf through my leftover pile when I begin to create a new card to see if there is something I can utilize. In this case, I went with a diagonal alcohol ink design in the background and layered a white over metallic gold die cut called Prim Poppy by Memory Box. I already had the simple strip sentiment white embossed on black, so this only took about 5 minutes to put together! Now, that's my idea of easy! I'm entering this into the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

It's going to be a full and fun weekend with our oldest son and family visiting from Arlington and our middle son and his wife are celebrating their son's 3rd birthday tomorrow. The cousins will have a ball playing with each other! Thanks for stopping by...
                                                               ~Wanda

Fusion Card Challenge

It's time again for a new Fusion Card Challenge with an explosion of color in the tie dye inspiration photo and a great new sketch! I combined both of the options in this kindness themed card using stitched bloom dies from MFT paired with a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's We Can Do This stamp set.

I started with this vibrant colored patterned paper from the "Hello" 6x6 pad by Doodlebug Design Inc. I then die cut some of the flowers and the leaves from more patterned papers in the same pack, plus utilized some solid cardstock colors from my leftover pile. The sentiment was stamped twice with my MISTI using Picked Raspberry distress oxide ink.

STAMPS: We Can Do This (Simon Says Stamp).
DIES: Stitched Blooms (MFT), Rounded Banner STAX (MFT).

We'd love to see how you are inspired by the new Fusion Card Challenge! Hope to see you in the gallery.
                                                                       ~Wanda

Color Throwdown #553

Hey everyone...it's Wednesday and that means a new Color Throwdown Challenge is up and running! Broni is our hostess and has chosen orange, yellow and pink for our colors! So many beautiful possibilities but, I decided to go with color blending of three distress oxide inks - Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry - as the backdrop to this cover die.

This was such an easy card to create that I almost felt guilty - lol! The die is a cover plate by Papertrey Ink called Butterfly Hope. The sentiment is another of the Simple Strips Background set by Taylored Expressions. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new second simple strips set with sentiments about friendship!

We'd love to have you play along with us! For more inspiration, you can check out the great projects by our design team:

Amy Rohl 

Amy Rysavy

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe 

Jodi Collins

Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put

Vickie Zimmer

Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Susie Moore - July 2019 Guest Designer

Happy 3rd birthday, Cash!

I wanted to share a card I created for our grandson who turned 3 yesterday! I have to give total credit for the design to Inge Groot who made this card for the My Favorite Things release this month. I fell in love with her creation and HAD to have this fun stamp set as a result! I used fewer layers and a different sentiment but kept the colors and used the same image. 

STAMPS: Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes (MFT).
PAPER: Black and White Stripes 6x6" pad by MFT; Sour Apple, Blue Raspberry and Smooth White CS by MFT. X-Press It Blending Card (used for images).
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black.
DIES: Stitched Rectangle STAX and Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes - MFT; Stitched picture frame by Lil' Inker Designs.

Here's a recent photo with the birthday boy and his sister enjoying a local small town carnival a week ago! His party will be this coming weekend when his out of town cousins can be here to celebrate with him.

 Thanks so much for stopping by...                                  ~Wanda

Freshly Made Sketches

I got some happy mail on Saturday from The Greetery after there was a mini release earlier in the week! I love sunflowers which are such a happy flower IMO. So, this Sunflowers die set was a must have and, of course, my first project would be to create a trio of flowers in the traditional yellows! I die cut the shapes from watercolor cardstock then painted and splattered with colors from my Mijello Mission Gold palette. The layout is for the current Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.

I created the illusion of the two vertical panels by stenciling two strips of Soft Suede ink (SU) with a TCW stencil called Mini Tile Texture. I cut out two hello sentiments (Small Hello by Simon Says Stamp) from a dark brown piece of CS from my scrap paper pile.

Thanks so much for stopping by...

Birthday Bouquet

The Birthday Project Challenge on the MFT blog is to create a card with a Birthday Bouquet theme! You don't have to twist my arm to use florals, so this was a must-do challenge for sure! I used this latest Flowers in Bloom stamp set by MFT - this time coloring them in blues with zig clean color brushes. The MFT English Brick Wall stencil was inked up using Sahara Sand and Crumb Cake dye ink then I splattered yellow gold Gansai Tambi paint from the Starry Colors collection and also splattered some thinned down Copic Opaque White. The sentiment was stamped in Tempting Turquoise (SU).

DIES: Pierced Feature Frames (PTI); Flowers in Bloom and Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics by MFT.

I seldom embellish with buttons anymore, but thought the wee bit of twine and button was perfect to anchor the sentiment banner.
                                                                ~Wanda

Paper Players CAS Masculine Week

Happy Sunday everyone! Ann is challenging us to create a CAS masculine card for the new Paper Players Challenge.  Lately, my go -to stamp set for masculine recipients is the Geared Up Garage set by Stampin' Up! The background is the You've Got This stamp (SU) in Faded Jeans distress oxide ink by Ranger.

 

The gears were die cut from brushed silver cardstock. I added Glossy Accents to the windows and headlights and added Clear Star Gelly Roll (Sakura) pen highlights to the hubcaps.  Copics used: B34, B37, C0, C2, C4.

For more inspiration from the rest of the talented design team, please check out their creations HERE.  Hope to see you in the gallery! Have a blessed day!                             ~Wanda                            

MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge

So, this is my entry for MFT's current Wednesday Sketch Challenge!  I was planning on entering this into their birthday challenge as well and totally goofed when I added a sentiment of thanks instead of birthday greetings. Guess that means I have to create another card - lol! On a stifling hot day, that won't be hard to do. 

 

I started with a background using 3 different patterned papers from MFT's Black and White Basics 6x6" pad...one of my favorite go-to pads! I stamped the Flowers in Bloom image twice in Memento Tuxedo Black then in Versamark so I could clear emboss the image. I colored with Zigs (the clear embossing makes it so much easier to stay in the lines).

Thanks for stopping by and stay cool everyone!         ~Wanda

CAS(E) This Sketch

There's an awesome new sketch that Brian King has created for the current CAS(E) This Sketch challenge! I wanted to play with the floral and mason jar dies from the awesome mega die set - Tag Creations: Joyful Jars - by Ink to Paper. I will have to add that this set takes a lot of patience to layer all the tiny floral pieces, but it's worth it in the end! If you want quick and easy, this set isn't for you - lol! For helpful hints on organizing and using the set, you can check MY POST HERE.

I have lots of washi tape and the stripe elements on this sketch were perfect for using some. I wanted the horizontal element at the bottom to be very subtle, so I tore off an edge of heavy weight vellum and adhered it using a quick squirt of Elmer's spray adhesive. I added some twine and dew drops for embellishments.

It's going to go up to 95 degrees in VA today! If we can survive the weekend which will go even higher...I'll look forward to the 80's predicted for next week! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!                                        ~Wanda

Seize the Birthday: Rainbow

I'm needing at least 3 birthday cards for grandchildren in the next 3 months, so this was a perfect challenge to get one of them done! The Seize the Birthday challenge is offering the "topping" of rainbows, so I went for some multi-colored patterned papers from BoBunny's "Surprise" 6x6" pad.

I'm loving the adorable birthday critters in My Favorite Things

recent release set called Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes! I colored with Copics then die cut with matching dies to the set. The dimensional sentiment banner was a freebie die with my last order. I added Diamond Stickles to the cupcake icing and Glossy Accents to the cherry...fun little details to add more pizzazz to the card!

DIES: Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes, Stitched Dome Frames,

Folded Fishtail Banner - all by MFT.

Thanks so much for stopping by...there's another thunderstorm happening as I post. The hot, humid weather just doesn't want to go away here in Virginia!                             ~Wanda

Lauries's Fabulous Favorites

Every Wednesday, Laurie Schmidlin posts a new challenge in her Laurie's Fabulous Favorites series on the Ink to Paper blog. This week it's all about CASEing a release week card from one of the

design team members and we are to highlight birthday wishes in the sentiment.  I chose to CASE one of Kelly Lunceford's cards - you can see it in this post! Kelly is the queen of tasteful layering and texture details and I'm consistently in awe of her creations. There's been more than one instance where a sample card of hers has enabled me to spend money - lol! I also included her card on the right.

I love the texture details of the freebie Folded Fishtail Banner that I got with my last My Favorite Things order. I also got texture details from the pierced frame and the embossed quilting pattern.

What did I use?
STAMPS: Beautiful Berries: Spring (Papertrey Ink).
PAPER: Kraft, True Black, Rustic Cream, White - PTI.
INK: Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse - dye ink cubes by PTI; Versamark.
DIES: Beautiful Berries: Spring, Pierced Feature Frames by PTI; Folded Fishtail Banner by MFT; Quilted Cover Plate by Lil Inker Designs.

My mom died in 2010 and today would have been her birthday! I'm thinking of her as I post this card...wishing her a happy birthday in heaven!

Color Throwdown #552

 

It's hump day and that means it's Color Throwdown Challenge time! Barbara has some great colors - gray, pink, white and silver - and I was triggered by some Christmas in July posts on the internet to use this Layer Snowflake die by Reverse Confetti. It fits so perfectly inside RC's Square and Circle Frame!

The silver metallic cardstock is from Stampin' Up. The pink and gray was from my huge leftover pile of scrap papers, so I'm not sure of the exact colors. I really like the end result and am happy to have another Christmas card completed. The sentiment will be added to the inside.

We'd love to have you play along with us! For more inspiration, you can check out the great projects by our design team:

Amy Rohl 

Amy Rysavy

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe 

Jodi Collins

Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put

Vickie Zimmer

Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Susie Moore - July 2019 Guest Designer