Color Throwdown #679

 

Hello everyone! It's hump day and that means a new Color Throwdown challenge is happening. Vickie has chosen some gorgeous colors inspired by the beautiful abstract art photo. I immediately went to my stash of alcohol ink background panels and was happy to find that I already had one in blues and greens! You very rarely see a CAS card in my gallery but this is one. I added die cuts and some rain drop embellishments and this was quickly completed!

I'm also playing along with the theme challenge - love and friendship -

at The Paper Players. 

I adhered two of the sentiment dies together with white card stock then slightly offset another die cut from Luxe Gold.

PAPER: Yupo; White, Luxe Gold (Papertrey Ink).

INK: Alcohol inks + gold fixative.

DIES: Hand-Drawn Heart (The Stamp Market); Love You (Papertrey Ink); Stitched Rectangle STAX Die-Namics (My Favorite Things).

 

We'd love to have you join us in the challenge! Hope to see you in the gallery...   ~Wanda

 

Love is in the Air

 

It's the month where love is in the air and that's the theme with the inspiration photo for the current The Card Concept challenge. I wanted to use a favorite old stamp set from Papertrey Ink called Love in Bloom. It's a layering set using three main colors: Lovely Lady, Raspberry Fizz and Vintage Jadeite - dye inks by PTI. I call my style "clean and layered" and love this color combo!

 

I lightly stenciled the background with a narrow stripe stencil and Vintage Jadeite ink. I then layered the medium Border Bling: Skinny Heart Frames die with inset tiny hearts from die cutting the frame from the Vintage Jadeite card stock - a tiny detail that ties it in with the card base. The heart and sentiment banner are popped up with foam tape.

STAMPS: Love in Bloom, With Love Mini (Papertrey Ink).

INK: Lovely Lady, Raspberry Fizz, Vintage Jadeite, True Black (PTI).

PAPER: Vintage Jadeite, White (PTI).

DIES: Love in Bloom, Border Bling: Skinny Heart Frames (PTI); Stitched Rectangle STAX Die-Namics (My Favorite Things); Basic Sentiment Suite (The Greetery). 

OTHER: Basic Diagonals stencil (? company); Rain drop embellishments (PTI). 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!   ~Wanda

Freshly Made Sketches

The new sketch for the Freshly Made Sketches was perfect to accommodate this pitcher of florals that I created last evening just for the fun of it! I did have to flip the vertical element to the right side to make the pitcher handle fit better. Not sure why the bow looks gray rather than pale blue in the photo. Sometimes photo editing can be quite the challenge!

 

I love to add more greenery to this floral set so I inked up some leaves from the Towering Stems set. This pitcher and florals are from the Abundant Blooms set - an ongoing favorite for me.
 

STAMPS: Abundant Blooms, Towering Stems (Papertrey Ink).

INK: Sweet Blush, Pale Peony, Berry Sorbet, Weathervane, Spring Rain, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse, Limeade Ice, New Leaf, Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink dye inks).

PAPER: Bitty Big: Sweet Blush, White (Papertrey Ink).

DIES: Abundant Blooms, Towering Stems (Papertrey Ink); Simple Strips (Pretty Pink Posh).

That's all for now. It's a rainy, foggy day here in VA but it's perfect for getting my craft desk cleaned up and this blog post completed. Thanks for stopping by...    ~Wanda

Fusion Card Challenge

 

It's time for another Fusion Card Challenge and this time the theme is Valentine cupcakes. I chose to go with a cake instead and did not use the sketch this time. I came across a card by Kelly Lunceford while browsing through Pinterest  and wanted to CASE her idea of using Nuvo drops to add "icing" dimension on the cake. The new Border Bling: Blooming Hearts border die from Papertrey Ink is a new favorite and it has a hint of Valentine's day with the tiny hearts "growing" on the vine. I lightly sponged Simply Chartreuse ink over the frame. 

STAMPS: Cake Creations, Message in a Bottle (Papertrey Ink).

PAPER: White, Luxe Gold (Papertrey Ink).

INK: Simply Chartreuse, Lovely Lady, Raspberry Fizz, Green Parakeet, Ripe Avocado (PTI dye inks).

DIES: Border Bling: Blooming Hearts, Builder Basics: Basics, Cake Creations, Skinny Frames: Diagonal Border (Papertrey Ink).

OTHER: Sequins, Nuvo Dream Drops.

Hope to see you in the Fusion gallery! Remember, you can use just the sketch, just the inspiration photo or you can fuse the two together for your creation! Happy stamping!  ~Wanda

 

Color Throwdown #678

 Hello February! My least favorite month - but... it's short and that means spring is getting closer! Lynn is hosting the Color Throwdown challenge this week and has some great colors for us: red, pink, cranberry, brown and kraft! I couldn't resist playing with the new Poppies stamp and die set from Reverse Confetti again. The layout was an old one I used previously a few years ago.

 

STAMPS: Poppies (Reverse Confetti).

PAPER: Sweet As Sugar 6x6" pad by Reverse Confetti; White, Classic Kraft by Papertrey Ink. 

INK: Pale Peony (PTI), Ballet Slipper, Grassy Knoll, Espresso (Pinkfresh Studio), Salsa (Reverse Confetti).

DIES: Poppies, Pierced Round Top Layers (Reverse Confetti); Framelits Hearts (Stampin' Up), Stitched Flags STAX Die-Namics (My Favorite Things).

OTHER: Staples, Moonshine sequins. 

 

We'd love to have you play along with us! Happy stamping!  ~Wanda

Tic-Tac-Toe

It was another bitterly cold day yesterday and after I got the grands off to school for a 2 hour delay, I came home and grabbed a cup of hot coffee and hunkered down in my craft room. I wanted to play along with the tic-tac-toe challenge at The Paper Players and used the top horizontal choices of rainbow, sparkle and die cut. 

It's been awhile since I used this Flying By stamp set from Papertrey Ink and thought it would be fun to watercolor with distress inks after heat embossing with gold. I added sparkle with moonshine sequins and Star Dust Stickles to the body of the butterfly.

STAMPS: Flying By (Papertrey Ink).

INK: Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers, Blueprint Sketch distress inks (Ranger); Versamark.

PAPER: Harvest Gold, True Black, White (Papertrey Ink).

DIES: Border Bling: Blooming Hearts, Love to Layer: Scalloped Circles, Flying By (Papertrey Ink); Sentiment Suite Basics (The Greetery).

OTHER: Queen's Gold embossing powder (Ranger); Moonshine sequins, Star Dust Stickles (PTI).

 

 In hind sight, I wish I had omitted the black circle and used vellum instead. Glad you stopped by...thanks and have a great day!  ~Wanda

What Do I Do With This?

 

I'm up on the Papertrey Ink blog today with a card creation for the newest What Do I Do With This? challenge. It's no secret that my first choice with card creations is usually flowers and birds! I'm showing the newest Feathered Friends 19 die set using Nuvo Embellishment Mousse and Textured Paste Crackle - both available at PTI. 

Step 1: I used Aquamarine mousse with a Dots stencil to cover the Aqua Mist card base. I then adhered a Border Bling: Skinny Postage frame...positioning it in the lower right corner.

Step 2: Prepping the florals was done by cutting them all from Bristol Smooth Surface paper which tolerates water and other liquid mediums well. 

Step 3: I love to get varied colors by ink "smooshing" with distress inks. For the flowers and leaves, I placed 3 colors on an acrylic block or glass mat, spritzed with water, then dipped watercolor paper into the inks. I dried after each "smoosh" and built up the layers of color until I was satisfied. Not drying between times can result in muddy colors. A final splatter of Permanent White Gouache paint finished up the process.

Step 4: I cut all die parts of the bird from Bristol Smooth Surface paper and covered the main body part with aquamarine mousse. It gives a pearlized look which is a fun detail. The remaining pieces were color blended with dye inks. I added crackle paste to the wings which adds another element of texture.

Step 5: Now comes the fun part of arranging all the elements! I avoid gluing down the tips of the foliage and also added Glossy Accents to the berries to give added dimension.
 

So... how do you add texture and dimension to your projects? We'd love to have you join in the challenge and post your card on the PTI blog post. Happy stamping!  ~Wanda

STAMPS: Just Sentiments: With Sympathy
INK: Dried Marigold, Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick, Bundled Sage, Evergreen Branch, Pine Needles distress inks; True Black, Classic Kraft, Sweet Blush, Pale Peony, Lemon Tart, Weathervane, Hawaiian Shores.
PAPER: Bristol Smooth Surface, White, Aqua Mist.
DIES: Feathered Friends 19, Into the Blooms: Dahlia, Border Bling: Skinny Postage, Stitched circle and rectangle.
OTHER: Dots stencil, Nuvo Embellishment Mousse Aquamarine, Distress Texture Paste Crackle, Glossy Accents.