Watercolor Peace

This was such a fun one layer card to create! I used the sketch by Chrissy Larson for the current CAS(E) this Sketch! challenge and used an older WPlus9 die set for the WPlus9 Throwback Thursday Challenge #8.  I'm also entering this into Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge where anything goes this week.

I created the background by smooshing 4 different distress inks on acrylic sheets, spritzing with water and applying the ink on Tim Holtz watercolor CS.  I heat dried between each color then splattered some Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine over it.  I added fine glitter to the snowflakes which doesn't show up well in the photo. 

DISTRESS INKS: Evergreen Bough, Pine Needles, Scattered Straw, Peacock Feathers.
DIES: Snowflake Trio die by WPlus9; Winter Words Confetti Cuts by Reverse Confetti; Stitched Rounded Rectangle Die-Namics by MFT. 

An Oily Side Note...
Anyone in your household suffering with a sore throat?  A soothing remedy is to fix a Thieves "tea" by adding 2 drops Thieves oil and 2-3 drops lemon oil to 8-12 oz. hot water.  Sweeten with 1-2 tbsp. raw honey (local made is best!).  
I'm also a big fan of adding 6 drops Thieves essential oil to my diffuser which acts to enhance the immune systems of everyone in the room!  The diffuser has the added benefit of acting as a humidifier which keeps those mucous membranes from drying out!  

Color Throwdown

It's the last Color Throwdown Challenge of the month already and we have a beautiful fall color palette chosen by Joan - this week's hostess!  Here's my take on it...

I die cut some leaf shapes from Pool Party and Cajun Craze cardstock, then stamped them in the same inks.  I used Smoky Slate ink for the outline leaf images and the sentiment background.  A very clean and simple one layer card which is rare for me!  I used two stamp sets by WPlus9: Autumn Leaves and Greetings and Salutations.  

We have to say goodbye to Michele Boyer, our guestie for October, so be sure and stop by her blog (see link below) and leave her some love! Stay tuned next week for the announcement of the new guest designer for November.

Congrats to our guest star stamper this week: Ashwini Rao from Experiments With Card Making, Etc.

For more inspiration by the rest of the design team, click on their blog links below...or... you can go to the Color Throwdown blog to see their cards and to get the details on how to play along. 
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins 
Lori Tecler   
Tammy Hershberger
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)
Michele Boyer - Guest Designer for October

Mojo Monday

 It's downright scary to think this is already the last Monday in October! In 2 months, Christmas will be history! Yikes!  Needless to say, I'm working hard on getting some Christmas cards completed.  With it being the end of the month, it's time for a tall and skinny Mojo Monday Challenge.  I decided to go with a shaker circle element after coloring in the holly and berry wreath from Verve's Glad Tidings set.

I recently ordered several mixtures of Couture Gilding beads and sequins by The Ton - thanks to Teresa Kline's enabling (smile).  I combined 2 of the color mixes for this card.  The leafy flourish, the stitched flag and the stitched rounded rectangle dies are all from MFT.  Papers are from MME's 12 Days of Christmas 6x6 pad.   

Card size: 3 1/2" x 5 1/2".
Copics used: G03, G16, RV09, RV25.

To see what the rest of the mojomakers have created, click on their blog links below...or...you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and click on the first nine thumbnails.
Carole Burrage
Julee Tilman (Owner)
Justin Krieger
Lori Tecler
Marisa Ritzen 
Mary Fish
Sarah Bigelow
Teresa Kline 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)

One Layer Christmas

I really need to kick it up a few notches and get more Christmas cards made! I love the current Retrosketches Challenge and used that as my starting point.  Reverse Confetti had an awesome Christmas release about a week ago, so had to try out the new Holly and Winter Words Confetti Cuts along with their Winter Word Coordinates stamp set!  This set gives you a gazillion options for sentiments!  Amy Tsuruto inspired me when she posted she is making 3 of the same card with each Christmas creation she completes.  I'm not quite as industrious and have made my goal to make two of every design.  This was an easy peasy one layer card to put together.  Papers are from Echo Park's "Tis the Season" 6x6 pad.  Stitched circle die is by Lil' Inker Designs and the flags are MFT's Stitched Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics.

 On an oily side note...
One of my favorite fall blends of essential oils to diffuse uses 4 drops cinnamon, 4 drops orange and 3 drops nutmeg.  Here's a chart that will give you even more "recipe" ideas for fall and winter!

Color Throwdown

Don't these weeks just fly by?! It's time again for a new Color Throwdown Challenge and Broni has chosen some fabulous colors - fuschia, red, black and white! Wow, those heels will put some pizzazz...and pain... in your life - lol!  There's nothing classier than using black and white with a pop of color on cards, so I couldn't wait to play with this combo!

Now that I've got matching dies (thanks, Altenew) to use with the Peony Scrolls set, I know I'll be reaching for it more often.  I started by pressing ink on an acrylic sheet, spritzing with water then blotting the colors - Picked Raspberry and Festive Berries distress inks - on TH watercolor cardstock.  The leaves were colored in with an Aquapainter and Smoky Slate ink by SU.  I love the patterned vellum stack (Winter Wonderland) that SU has in their Christmas catalog and adhered a strip of the striped paper using Elmer's Craft Bond adhesive spray.  I used a VERY quick, light spray and placed the paper face down in my trash can so I wouldn't get adhesive all over my desk.  The sentiment is from Altenew's Label Love stamp set.

We're happy to have Lin Brandyberry as our guest star stamper this week!  She has some amazing talent and you don't want to miss her beautiful card!

Michele Boyer is our guest designer for the month, so be sure and stop by her blog as well! You will learn so many valuable Copic coloring tips by browsing her blog!
  
For more inspiration by the rest of the design team, click on their blog links below...or... you can go to the Color Throwdown blog to see their cards and to get the details on how to play along. 
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins 
Lori Tecler   
Tammy Hershberger
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)
Michele Boyer - Guest Designer for October

Hello Fall

I love the brisk, fall temps and all the warm colors of the season which inspired me to make a card using the current warm palette of the Color Q Challenge.  I combined it with the wonderful sketch for Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.  I used Altenew's Wood Palette BG stamp and added Weathered Wood distress ink to only a portion of the stamp using a large sponge dauber.  Next...three step stamping on the flowers (Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Memento Tuxedo Black) and 2 step stamping

on the leaves (Peeled Paint and Black) - after first die cutting the shapes.  The flower centers needed a little extra pop, so I gently added some black Enamel Accents by Inkssentials.  I had this gingham banner in my leftover pile for a LONG time, so have no idea of the paper origin.  A touch of twine and sequins finished it off. 

STAMPS: Pretty Peonies (WPlus9), Greetings and Salutations (WPlus9), Wood Palette Background (Altenew).

My diffuser smells so good right now with a mix of Christmas Spirit essential oil (no I'm not rushing Christmas but I love the hint of cinnamon in that oil mixture) and Northern Lights Black Spruce by Young Living!  Yes, I'm really into using oils to support so many different body systems! :-)  Thanks so much for stopping by...

Mojo Monday

Good Monday everyone! Here's my take on the new Mojo Monday Challenge...another great sketch featuring one of my fave elements - a tag!  I had difficulty getting a good photo of metallic cardstock without a blatant glare, but think you can see there is lots of shiny gold going on in the cardstock and the embossed images!  

Here's what I used:
STAMPS: Unto Us (Verve)
PAPER: Vintage Glam (Recollections), Vintage Cream (PTI)
INK: Versamark
ACCESSORIES: Flourished Tag and Reindeer Fun dies by Verve, Snowflake wood veneer embellishments by SU, Gold bendable ribbon.

To see what the rest of the mojomakers have created, click on their blog links below...or...you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and click on the first nine thumbnails.
Carole Burrage
Julee Tilman (Owner)
Justin Krieger
Lori Tecler
Marisa Ritzen 
Mary Fish
Sarah Bigelow
Teresa Kline 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)  

Happy Boss's Day

I am very blessed to have a wonderful *boss* in Student Health where I work full time and this is my card that I created for her as staff recognized her leadership on Wednesday!  She has quite the gift for choosing funny cards for staff, so when I was debating what theme to use...I was immediately drawn to the Crazy Bird stamp set and matching dies by Tim Holtz! These birds just make me laugh and I love that they are so easy to accessorize. The nurses cap was from Google images which I resized on a Word document.  The background is a techniqe of an online class that I'm thoroughly enjoying by Sheri Carroll!  Her first lesson was on layering inks and I used 4 distress inks: Peacock Feathers, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain.  Unfortunately, I covered up the nicest portion of the watercolor paper - lol!  The whole card is much busier than I wanted but time just wasn't available for a do over!  :-/
The heart die (Tipsy Heart by Sizzix) was run through a crimper then sponged with white pigment ink.  The sentiment was computer generated, cut and layered on black CS.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Heading out to eat shortly with our middle son's family and looking forward to some gramma time with Quinn!

Sending Joy

I created this card for the Sketch For You To Try challenge #29 over on the Reverse Confetti blog - a really fabulous sketch to get my Christmas card stash built up!  I'm not happy with my snowflakes and think I need a re-do since the metallic cardstock I used is much thinner than I like.  
Here's what I used...

STAMPS: Winter Word Coordinates (Reverse Confetti).
PAPER: Trim the Tree DP by SU, White, Chocolate Chip, Metallic Gold.
INK: Chocolate Chip.
ACCESSORIES:Winter Words, Shakers 'N Frames, Let It Snow - Confetti Cuts by Reverse Confetti; Sequins; Stitched Fishtail Flags STAX Die-Namics by MFT; Lace doily.

Color Throwdown

Hey...you know what day it is??? It's hump day and that means it's a new Color Throwdown Challenge day! Check out this awesome sneaker that inspired Barbara to choose this week's colors!  Love it! I had planned to get another Christmas card done, but I had just received some new dies from Altenew, so went with a floral creation instead!  

Using WPlus9 Pure Color inks and 3 step stamps from Altenew's Painted Poppy set, I paired it up with Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge...tweaking it to an A2 instead of square size.  The sentiment banner and woodgrain background are from Wood Pallet Background by Altenew.

INKS: Beanstalk, Mojito, Lake House, Sweet Nectar, Flamingo.
PAPER: Aqua Mist (PTI), White.
ACCESSORIES: Stitched rectangle and circle dies by Lil' Inker Designs; Avery Elle sequins.

For more inspiration by the rest of the design team, click on their blog links below...or... you can go to the Color Throwdown blog to see their cards and to get the details on how to play along. 
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins 
Lori Tecler   
Tammy Hershberger
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)
Michele Boyer - Guest Designer for October 

Mojo Monday

Check out this fun new sketch for the Mojo Monday Challenge! I stamped the 3 individual pumpkin images in Verve's Bountiful Harvest set, colored with Copics then fussy cut and popped with foam dots.  Patterned papers are from "An Eerie Tale" 6x6 pad by Graphic 45 and the card base is PTI's Vintage Cream.  The stitched circle and square dies are by Lil' Inker Designs and the banner flags are Stitched Fishtail Flags Die-Namics by MFT.  It's hard to capture the subtle shimmer on the leaves from a clear Wink of Stella brush marker.

To see what the rest of the mojomakers have created, click on their blog links below...or...you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and click on the first nine thumbnails.
Carole Burrage
Julee Tilman (Owner)
Justin Krieger
Lori Tecler
Marisa Ritzen 
Mary Fish
Sarah Bigelow
Teresa Kline 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)  

Color Throwdown

 Hello Color Throwdown fans! I'm hosting the new color challenge today and we're doing a 180 degree turn from the bolder colors of last week to a very pastel palette of light mint green, saffron and ivory! I hope you'll like playing along with the softer side of colors!  

I was inspired after I watched this video tutorial by Laura Bassen on the Papertrey Ink blog!  She creates backgrounds with colored texture paste (I used Sage Shadow re-inker on one block and smooshed So Saffron on a second acrylic block to add to the paste).  I liked her idea of giving the illusion of loosely layered string behind the sentiment by cutting a Circle Scribble die (PTI) from vellum!  I cut the sentiment 3 times and adhered them together to give it more thickness and dimension.  I splattered some Antique Linen distress ink over the background as well.  The leaves stencil is by Simon Says Stamp.  I kept it very clean and simple!

I'm happy to share that our October guest designer is the super talented Michele Boyer from Paper Cuts !  My first time meeting her was at a Copic instructional class and you will soon see she has some fabulous coloring skills!
  
For more inspiration by the rest of the design team, click on their blog links below...or... you can go to the Color Throwdown blog to see their cards and to get the details on how to play along. 
Barbara Anders  
Broni Holcombe   
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins 
Lori Tecler   
Tammy Hershberger
Vickie Zimmer 
Wanda Cullen (you are here) 
Michele Boyer - Guest Designer for October 

Mojo Monday

 

'Tis the season to get some Christmas cards created and the new Mojo Monday Challenge was perfect to feature these lovely snowflakes from Verve's Glad Tidings and sentiment from Weary World.  If I did this design again, I would most likely choose silver cording and embossing powder instead of gold.  No surprise that you are seeing more smooshing of distess inks on watercolor paper!  I can't seem to stop using this technique for backgrounds and this time it was with two shades of blue: Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers.

Accessories Used: Stitched Rounded Rectangle STAX Die-Namics by MFT; Stitched rectangle die by Lil' Inker Designs; Gold cording and Iced Rhinestone Embellishments by SU; Snowflake Tidings dies by Verve.

Since it's the first Monday of the month, that means it's contest week!  There will be one winner for every 50 entries - up to a max of seven winners!  The prize is a free stamp set of your choice.  So, play along as many times as you like!

To see what the rest of the mojomakers have created, click on their blog links below...or...you can go to the Mojo Monday blog and click on the first nine thumbnails.
Carole Burrage
Julee Tilman (Owner)
Justin Krieger
Lori Tecler
Marisa Ritzen 
Mary Fish
Sarah Bigelow
Teresa Kline 
Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Sweet Sunday Sketch

Another rainy day means more time in the ole craft room! Since I still had these supplies on my desk from an earlier project, I went with the same inks and stamps for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge!  As much as I love the warm, rich colors of autumn, I had to break that routine up a bit and go with the springy pinks and greens.  

STAMPS: Vintage Flowers (Altenew); Amazing Grace Plain Jane (Verve).
PAPER: White, Old Olive, Regal Rose.
INK: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Versafine Onyx Black.
ACCESSORIES: Stitched scallop border die by Lil' Inker Designs; Adhesive pearls. 

The nearly constant rain for a solid week has meant many headaches for people here in VA... flooded basements and yards, closed roads and the ground so super saturated that trees are falling.  Yesterday late afternoon, I heard what sounded like a huge sonic boom!  This is a huge oak tree that decided it didn't want to hold its ground anymore!  It doesn't look very big since I took the photo a good distance away.  I'm just thankful it landed in our open field and not on any buildings or wires!  Guess God thought someone needed some firewood this winter - lol! 

World Card Making Day

Well, now...I simply couldn't let World Card Making Day pass by without creating a card!  I went with these vintage roses by Altenew and played along with CAS(E) this Sketch #143 - a great CAS design!  I used 3 step stamping using Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose on the roses and Certainly Celery, Pear Pizzazz, and Old Olive on the leaves.  The sentiment (Little Hello by Simon Says Stamp) was die cut 3 times to give it more dimension.  I'm also entering this into the SSS Wednesday Challenge where anything goes this week.

Thanks for stopping by...I'm off to build my ark for this non-stop rain that has been coming down for DAYS!  If the sun ever makes an appearance, I will be jumping for joy!