Inspired By All The Little Things

It's May already and I've started potting some flowers outside my home (only in portable containers that can be brought inside in case of freezing night temps) and I've got them going on for my sample for the Inspired By All The Little Things Challenge! I'm also playing along with the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge where I switched out the oval shape for a Rounded Banner STAX Die-Namics by MFT. 

Once again, I used MFT's Stitched Blooms Die-Namics to cut these

florals from watercolor paper.  I used Mijello Mission Gold paints which have very vivid and bright colors.  I was inspired by the woodgrain background in the photo so chose this patterned paper from Recollections "Seaglass" 6x6 pad.  The sentiment is from PTI's Direct Messages stamp set and was stamped with a MISTI using Warm Wool dye ink by WPlus9.

Thanks for stopping by!  Would love to have you join us in the challenge and hope to see you in the gallery!

Inspired By All The Little Things

Hi everyone! Are you ready for the weekend? There's a great inspiration photo for the new Inspired By All The Little Things challenge and we'd love to have you play along with us!  I was inspired by the colors and the free-flowing icing and confetti which led me to splattering and watercoloring the background on my card.

I used distress inks - Wilted Violet, Peacock Feathers and Picked Raspberry - to watercolor the die cut popsicles.  I layered scrap pieces of cardstock behind them.  The patterned paper is from the Sugar Shoppe 6x6 pad by Doodlebug Design.  Stamps are from Reverse Confetti's Let's Chill stamp set with matching dies.

Quote from 365 Days of Wonder: 

APR 21 - "We love the things we love for what they are."              --Robert Frost

Inspired By All The Little Things

 

Hello everyone! Hope you're having a super Saturday and will find some time to join us in the new Inspired By All The Little Things challenge! This line-up of glass jars with fresh flowers is such a great inspiration photo! I went with a single jar for my card and used Zig clean color brush markers to color up the images after stamping with Versamark ink and heat embossing with Altenew's Pure White opaque embossing powder.  It's my favorite white EP!

I used #222 Pink Flamingo, #021 Light Carmine and #202 Peach Pink for the flowers; #051 Lemon Yellow, #045 Pale Green, #041 Light Green and #047 May Green for the leaves.  I only used #302 Haze Blue for the jar and later wished I'd have used a little darker shade of blue since it's barely visible.  I wanted subtle and I definitely got subtle!  I used a tag punch by SU for the sentiment and layered it over a banner die. Here's what else I used...

STAMPS: Peonies on Parade and Just the Jar: Quart by Papertrey Ink; New Beginnings by Verve (sentiment).
PAPER: Lime Green (Reverse Confetti); White and Black by PTI; Ranger watercolor paper; Licorice patterned papers by Bazzill Basics Paper.
DIES: Noted: Scalloped A2 Vertical Die by PTI; Tag Sale: Quilted Die by PTI (banner); Peonies on Parade by PTI.

Quote from 365 Days of Wonder:

APR 7 - "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

                 --Soren Kierkegaard  

Inspired By All The Little Things

Top of the mornin' to ya and happy St. Patrick's Day! There is a fabulous new inspiration photo over on the Inspired By All The Little Things blog! I fell in love with all the happy colors in the profusion of flowers - the shades of pinks, corals and yellows!  It was the perfect inspiration for me to break in a new die set I recently purchased.  I tried to talk myself out of "needing" this Rose Flurries 3D set of dies by Altenew, but too many papercrafters created such gorgeous cards that they pushed me over the edge - lol!  Besides...my middle name is Rose and my birthday is next month, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! 



I'll have to admit, I spent several hours on this card.  I wanted a watercolor look, so went with coloring with Zig Clean Color brush markers then blended with an Aquapainter.  I wanted to make it easier for me to use this set in the future, so I divided up the dies into tiny ziplock plastic bags with all the leaves in one bag and then two different florals went into each of the other bags.  Each of the larger flowers have at least 3 or 4 dies that you layer up to get all the wonderful dimension, so it would have been a real challenge to try to keep them straight on the single paper sheet they were packaged in. 

STAMPS: Direct Messages (Papertrey Ink).
PAPER: Kraft, White by PTI; Master's Touch watercolor CS.
INK: Versafine Onyx Black.
DIES: Striped Sentiment Strip Cover Plate by MFT; Direct Messages banner die by PTI; Rose Flurries 3D die by Altenew. 

Sure hope you get a chance to play along!  Would love to see what you create!

Quote from 365 Days of Wonder: 

MAR 17 - "Good actions are the invisible hinges on the doors of heaven." 

                         --Victor Hugo

Inspired By All The Little Things

Happy Saturday, peeps! Check out this great new inspiration photo for the Inspired By All The Little Things challenge!  I was inspired with the earthy colors (green is my fave) and by the trio of glass bottles with vintage labels.

I thought this would be a perfect time to ink up some essential oil images and sentiment by Impression Obsession.  This set - "Essentially" - is special to me since I made a request to Dina Kowal to design something for us stampers who are also big fans of essential oils.  Often, I will gift oils or DIY oily products and it's nice to have images that coordinate!

How ironic that the patterned papers are from a 6x6 pad called Beach Cottage by Creative Imaginations since there are also seashells in the photo.  I resurrected some clear dew drops from years gone by (anyone remember when these were so popular?) which remind me of oil drops.
Be sure to check out what the others on the design team have created!  You can see their samples HERE.

Quote from 365 Days of Wonder:

MAR 3 - "To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, Every inch of space is a miracle."

                      --Walt Whitman

Inspired By All The Little Things

Happy Saturday everyone! Looks like we're in for another complete turnaround in the weather this weekend! That four letter word is in the forecast (SNOW) after being up to 71 degrees just two days earlier!  Guess it's perfect to get some more stamping time!  Check out this great inspiration photo that was chosen to inspire us on the Inspired By All The Little Things challenge blog! I was inspired by the colors and the sweet little birdcage on the left.  

 

 I went with a CAS design using the sketch for the current Freshly

Made Sketches challenge.  I smooshed some Cracked Pistachio distress ink over the die cut bird cage and the images were colored with Copics. 

STAMPS: Tweet Friends (MFT), Blissful Blooms (MFT).

PAPER: Blush and Mint 6x6 pad by Recollections.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black.

DIES: Tweet Friends, Blissful Blooms, Stitched Circles Die-Namics by MFT; Vintage Bird Cage by Poppystamps. 

 Would love to see you join us!

Quote from 365 Days of Wonder: 

FEB 17 - "Every time the sun rises, a new hope begins."

                         --Jack

 

Inspired By All The Little Things

A new month and another Saturday means a new Inspired By All The Little Things Challenge is on board!  I recently bought a new Valentine's Day 6x6 paper pad at Mike's and thought I'd never have any use for this bicycle paper!  Then I saw the inspiration photo and laughed out loud!  This paper was perfect to use with this challenge! The little flowers tucked into a couple of spots in the photo also inspired my creation.  I used the sketch for the current Paper Players Challenge.

I used products from multiple stamp companies. Here is my
enabler's list:
STAMPS: Wet Paint (PTI), Fresh Cut Florals (WPlus9).
PAPER: Valentine's Day 6x6 pad (Recollections), Brushed gold CS, White CS (PTI). Cherry Cobbler and Crisp Cantaloupe (SU).
INK: Buttercup, Sunshine, Rose, Lead, Piggy Bank, Sand, Parakeet, Grass - dye inks by Reverse Confetti; Versamark.
DIES: Wet Paint (Papertrey Ink), Fresh Cut Florals (WPlus9), Sketch Heart (Simon Says Stamp), Stitched Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics (MFT), Lacey Scallop Circles (Reverse Confetti).

FEB 3 - Quote from 365 Days of Wonder:

 "The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved."  

                        --Victor Hugo

Inspired By All The LIttle Things

Hello everyone! Hope you're having a super Saturday! We've got the second Inspired By All The Little Things challenge for January happening today (remember the change in 2018 is to only have two challenges per month instead of weekly).  This sweet inspiration photo had two little details that inspired my card - the textured background on the white cookies and the heart shaped cookies!

I kept it clean and simple and started by dry embossing the background using a Sizzix embossing folder.  The layered Floral Fantasy die set by Altenew was on my desk from a previous project, so I opted to use it again and cut from some dark burgundy, medium pink and watercolored red scrap pieces of cardstock.  The watercolored leaves were also from my leftover pile as was the silver glitter Sketch Heart by Simon Says Stamp.  The sentiment is from SSS Brush Stroke Messages stamp set.  

Would love to have you play along with us!  

JAN 20 - Quote from 365 Days of Wonder:
"Have you had a kindness shown?  Pass it on."
                         --Henry Burton

Inspired By All The Little Things

***Scroll on down for my sneak peek Day Two post of Reverse Confetti's Countdown***

The Inspired By All The Little Things Challenge is back again for the new year and we have several small changes on board. First...there will only be two challenges each month - on the first and third Saturdays only.  Secondly, we'd like you to note in your post the "little thing" that inspired your creation!  And last but not least, our guest designer will do the whole month rather than change each time.  Easy peasy...right?  So, this adorable collage photo of wild critters has so many details for inspiration, but that bear seemed to have the starring role (he would be the one holding the selfie stick for the group photo - lol!).  That's what led me to use the sweet koala bear from Reverse Confetti's Bear Hugs stamp set and matching Confetti Cuts to create a thank you card.

STAMPS: Bear Hugs, Bitty Banners (Reverse Confetti)

PAPER: Every Little Bit (Reverse Confetti)

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black

DIES:  Bear Hugs, Bitty Banners, Scalloped Squares - all by RC

 I'll end my post with a quote for JAN 6 from 365 Days of Wonder:

 "All you need is love." 

        --John Lennon and Paul McCartney

 

Inspired By All The Little Things

I've got a really simple card design inspired by this fun New Year's celebration photo for the new Inspired By All The Little Things challenge!  When I first saw the photo, I immediately went for this patterned paper in the Fancy That! 6x6 pad by My Mind's Eye.  I started to add 2018 to the card, but my number dies were too large and I couldn't find any number stickers in my stash, so I just went with a more generic look that could represent many celebration occasions like a retirement, an engagement, etc.  It would work with a gift of wine, don't you think?  I really love this 'celebrate' die by MFT along with the wine dies...also by MFT! The wine bottle is so fun to paper piece.  

We hope you'll take some time during this busy season to play along with us!  Would love to see your creation in the gallery!

Inspired By All The Little Things

Whoa!! December is here already and the days until Christmas are numbered! It's time for another Inspired By All The Little Things challenge and we've got a "cool" inspiration photo to inspire you in so many ways!  I was inspired by the skating theme (my card started with this patterned paper with the skate border!), the pale blue colors, the furry border on the skates and the pompom. The pair of skates led me to use an old image with a pair of mittens and I added white Flower Soft detail to imitate the fur.  I love using this embossing folder that gives the illusion of falling snow and this sweet little penguin just had to have a pompom beanie to complete the scene. 😃  

I'm also playing along with the Paper Players challenge which has a great sketch this week (I did a flipped version of it and omitted the ribbon)!

STAMPS: Warm Winter Wishes (Flourishes), Winter Groves (Paper Smooches).
PAPER: Winter Fun 6x6 pad by Carta Bella.
INK: Blue Bayou, Baked Brown Sugar (SU), Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark.
MISC: Softly Falling EF by Stampin' Up; Stitched Oval die by Lil' Inker Designs; Polar White Flower Soft; Pure White embossing powder by Altenew.

We would love to see how YOU are inspired by this photo! Hope to see you in the gallery!

Inspired By All The Little Things

Are you all shopped out yet after Black Friday or are you like me and you do most of your shopping online? I'm waiting on Cyber Monday to roll around to pretty much complete my Christmas shopping! A few clicks, no or few shipping charges and it's delivered to my doorstep.  Doesn't get any better than that!  I'm not a fan of long checkout lines and extra traffic, so ordering online solves that stress as well.  

OK...let me get down to stamping business - lol!  Hopefully, you'll have some free time to get inky and play along with the new Inspired By All The Little Things challenge!  

I took one look and thought "rustic farmhouse decor"...something Chip and Joanna Gaines would add to one of their Fixer Upper houses!  I used mostly Reverse Confetti products with the exception of the pine bough.  I was inspired to incorporate some black, an evergreen image and some pops of gold.  I also used the merry and bright sentiment that is in the photo.  The gold splatters were added using yellow gold paint from Gansai Tambi's Starry Colors palette. I'm thinking this card would be good for a masculine recipient.

STAMPS: Peaceful Pinecones (PTI); Whole Lotta Dots, Arrows and Elements, Bring on the Merry - all by Reverse Confetti.
PAPER: Cozy Christmas 6x6 pad by Simple Stories; Cajun Craze (SU).
INK: Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Black Soot Distress Oxide inks by Ranger; Versamark.
DIES: Tag Me and Winter Words by Reverse Confetti.

That's all for now folks...enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend! It's been wonderful having the entire week off work!