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Color Hues #143


Tracey has chosen Orange and Black for the mid-October Color Hues Challenge. 

It’s perfect for Halloween, but I did try to move in a different direction. But since I need five Halloween cards, that’s where I ended up.

I purchased two die sets for Halloween this year. Both sets were designed to use with larger, earlier related dies. For Spellbinders the Halloween City Holiday Decorations was intended to use with a house design. The same is true for The Greetery’s Market Place Eerie Avenue dies. I’ve been working on these in between other projects. I posted the first one here.

For this one, I started with the Spellbinder’s Color Block Accent Arches along with the SB Essential Arches to create a shaped card. Most of the dies I used for the focal image are from The Greetery. I added a couple of ghosts from the Spellbinder’s set. There’s no stamping at all here, thanks to the Happy Halloween banner which fit perfectly across the arch. Although I die cut the three bats from black shimmer paper, they still don’t show up clearly in the photos. Even in the close-up you need to search for them. Because I layered three together for some dimension, in real life, they are pretty obvious.

I’ll be back before long with the rest of the Halloween cards. Until then, check out the creative cards created by our Guest Designer, Annette Elias, and the Design Team at the Color Hues Blog. 

I’m sending this off to the Festive Friday Challenge: Halloween. You need to include at least three elements from their list. I have five: orange, black, die cuts, bats, and a Halloween sentiment. It’s also going to Darnell’s I.D.E.A.S. This is week two for Dies.

Merry and Bright

I was on the Memory Box blog this week with a CAS Christmas card featuring the very cut Wyatt Bird from the recent Holiday Harmony release.

I created a frame for Watt using the Round Eyelet Frame and one of the Circle Basic dies. I doubled it for a little dimension. Wyatt was die cut from Bristol cardstock and ink blended. I also did a bit of ink blending to the inside circle.

I hand cut a snow bank and added some glitter for a little sparkle so Wyatt had a place to settle. Wyatt was added with some thin dimensional tape to the framed circle. I trimmed down an A2 panel and silver embossed the sentiment from the Christmas Wonder stamp set. I added that to a turquoise card base and then add the main image.

I’m sending this off to the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge: Christmas, Inkspirational: CAS and NBUS since this is Wyatt’s debut.

Celebrate!!!

I must admit I’m pretty addicted to The Greetery’s product suites that revolve around their Capsule Basic products. I love the Party Scene dies and the Capsule Star Studded Borders that were released in May, and I think they are a great for any kind of celebration. I made this card awhile ago, but waited to post it until my friend received it.

The balloon and star panel were die cut from white cardstock and colored with finger daubers. I added a pinked frame die cut with silver matte cardstock and attached them to a pale blue panel with dimensional tape. That was added to a yellow card base. The sentiment was stamped and die cut with the Laid Back Basics Sentiments, also by The Greetery. Lastly, I added a few Iridescent Dew Drops by Pinkfresh Studio for a little sparkle.

This is off to A Cut Above (another challenge I often forget to link to considering how many of my cards rely on dies), Seize the Birthday (Anything Goes), and NBUS.

Happy Halloween

I have a good start on the five Halloween cards for my grandchildren. Usually I make duplicate for all the girls, but this time everyone will get a different design. Just Us Girls is looking for Halloween dies, and this card has quite a few.

I started with Gina K Designs Master Layout 5 which die cuts the window. All the rest of the dies are from The Greetery’s Market Place Eerie Avenue designed to enhance their Market Place houses (which I don’t own.) I knew they’d work on their own, and I’m happy with this rendition.

With the exception of the moon and the pumpkins, these dies didn’t need any ink blending, so the card came together pretty quickly. The sentiment was white embossed with one of the sentiments from The Greetery’s new Simple Autumn Sentiments. I did put teeny, tiny pieces of black dimensional tape behind two of the bats and a piece of dimensional tape behind one of the ghosts.

This is off to Just Us Girls, NBUS (this is the first outing for the Halloween dies), and Shopping Our Stash where the challenge is Black Cats, but any black Halloween die or stamp will do. The Gina K die has been in my stash for years.

Gilded Glass

I’ve long been a fan of Art Deco, so when I saw Concord and 9ths Gilded Glass dies I didn’t hesitate to purchase them. After I made my first card, I decided to die cut multiple colors out all at once so I’d have different possibilities available when I wanted one. 

I’ve made two cards. For the first card I chose navy, a dark red, and an olive green inlaid with a gold metallic frame. The sentiment is from the accompanying stamp set embossed in gold. It makes a lovely and elegant card.

For the second card I chose a black frame, two hose of turquoise (or teal,) the olive green and dark red. This card feels more dramatic and more masculine to me. Once again, the sentiment is from the Gilded Glass stamp set.

The process of inlaying dies is quite relaxing for me, and I still have a stack of the die cuts to pull out when the mood hits. 

I’ve waited to post these until both cards arrived at their destinations. Both went off to very good friends–the first a woman and the second to a man.

For a long time, I neglected to link my birthday cards up with the Seize the Birthday Challenge, but I’ve been a lot more consistent recently. Their challenges always include an Anything Goes choice. The current challenge is Fall Colors, and although I think these use some fall colors, I’m linking up with the Anything Goes option. I’m also linking up to NBUS--another unused product put to good use–and not for the last time, I’m sure.

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is my sister-in-law’s birthday. We had breakfast with her and Tracy’s brother yesterday so I was able to hand deliver the card. The beautiful die cut is from Concord and 9th. I needed (wanted) a die for a Christmas stamp and some cardstock from Concord & 9th. Somehow the Layered Lotus stencils and die landed in my cart as well. I’ve yet to use the stencil, but the Layered Lotus flower is so pretty on its own. The pretty frame also came with the set. 

The inner piece of the frame was cut from C & 9th’s Powder cardstock and the larger “frame” from metallic gold. The flower was die cut from Almond cardstock and ink blended with Watermelon ink—a combination Carissa Wiley used in her introductory video. The leaves and stem were cut with Avocado cardstock and I added some ink blending with the same color ink. The center band was cut from Vintage Cream cardstock (Papertrey Ink) and backed with a narrow gold border. The sentiment is from The Greetery’s Oblong Octagon Labels. I’ve been struggling with light recently, so sadly the gold doesn’t shine in the photo.

The simple elegance of this card design makes it appropriate for so many occasions and it’s likely to be reproduced again. 

This is off to Seize the Birthday and Simply Clean & Simple where both challenges ca be Anything Goes, and to NBUS-it’s a new month over there.

Color Hues #142

Stef had given us a color combination perfect for fall–and as you’ll see on the Color Hues Blog–any number of other ocassions.

This card is definitely not the card I intended to make. I knew I wanted to use the Magnolia Wreath from The Greetery, but the intent was to make a CAS card. This is not CAS! I also wanted to use one or more of the new Greetery products laying on my desk. That didn’t happen either, but it morphed into getting the Capsule Basics out and this where it ended up.

Most of my cards are A2 or square so a %X& shaped card is unusual for me. The first wreath was die cut using a piece of watercolor paper that was laying on my desk. I colored the leaves with Fossilized Amber and Lumberjack Red Distress Oxide Inks (which looks quite a bit brighter in the photograph than it does in person) and went back with a tiny brush to color the stems with Gathered Twigs. Using the Capsule Basics Large Borders I created the border with woodgrain paper and the Pretty Picado embossing folder.I chose Dark Chocolate cardstock for the center panel. When I laid the wreath on I realized I needed a second wreath as well as a Capsule Basics Filagree Border. I cut both from Kraft cardstock, and used some Gathered Twigs ink at the bottom of the leaves. 

I arranged the wreaths and then spent more than a little time trying to decide on a sentiment. I tried a variety of banners, but ended up adding a small sentiment on a circle die cut that nestled in among the leaves. Both the amber and red wreath and the sentiment were added with dimensional adhesive dots. I could have stopped there, but ended up using the largest of the Capsule Basic dies to create the card base.

So there you have it, a much more layered and detailed card that I usually create, but I’m quite happy with it. Be sure to visit the Color Hues Blog to see where our Guest Designer, Crystal, and the Design Team have created. And then, please join us in the gallery! 

This is off to two challenges: Seize the Birthday: Use Fall Colors and the TicTacToe Challenge: down the middle: Die Cuts, Free, Embossing.

A Trio of Christmas Cards

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It was my turn on the Memory Box blog this week, and I created a set of three CAS cards all featuring the Gilded Scroll Ornament. Each ornament was layered onto a different frame and all were die cut from watercolor paper. The ornament gets flattened out a bit when run through the die cutting machine, but there’s nice texture on the rest of the card.

This one used the Heritage Rectangle Frame–always a favorite of mine.

The frame on this one is the Cinched Frame.

And for the last card, I used the Fan Stitch Scalloped Arch Frame. For this particular set of cards, it is my favorite.

These are pretty quick to put together. Die cutting took the most time. The ornaments were very easy to put together.

As you can tell from this post, taking photos of my cards right now is a real challenge. The little light that we get in our old house is now much cooler, and there’s less of it. I’ve tried a lot of different products to solve these problems but none of them have proven very successful. It’s beginning to feel like another solution needs to be found.

Happy Birthday!

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Today is my oldest granddaughter’s fifteenth birthday. We celebrated last night because tonight she had horseback riding lessons. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, she’ll play in varsity field hockey games. She’s busy, happy, and doing well in school. Here she is with her youngest sister this summer when they both were playing in regional field hockey tournaments.

I purchased the dies for her card because the black hair of the Super Woman reminded me of her beautiful long, black hair. And because, of course, I do think she’s super!

The You Are Super die is from Spellbinders. The background is the Reverse Confetti, Stitched Rays which has long been a favorite of mine. It was die cut with some white shimmer cardstock from Papertrey Ink. The starts and sentiment are also part of the You Are Super dies.

I added some dots of glitter with a Gelly Roll glitter pen. The panel was added to a sheet of black glitter paper from Pinkfresh Studio.

This is off to Seize the Birthday: Add a sentiment strip, A Cut Above: Anything Goes, and the September NBUS gallery.

Color Hues #141

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Welcome to a new Color Hues Challenge:

Sheri has chose a wonderful color combination, and I had a lot of fun with it. 

As you can see, the purples I chose are more toward blue than pink. I think purple may have one of the widest ranges of hues. I did experiment a bit with the purples, but I had a larger selection of inks to choose from leaning toward the blues.

Once again I went rummaging through my Pinkfresh Studio collection, and came upon another product I received for a Create and Connect event (August 2025) but never used. I wasn’t particularly inspired by the samples for this product, but I am a huge fan of it now.

Pinkfresh Studio has some of the best stencils in the industry. I chose four purple inks and one green to color this stunning Chrysanthemum Bloom image. Once the stenciling was done, I die cut it as well as die cutting the image from a sheet of fun foam for dimension. It’s been a long time since I used that technique and it worked wonderfully. 

You can see that dimension here in a closer look. The sentiment strip is from Altenew’s One Go Birthday Greetings and added with a piece of thin dimensional tape. 

Please check out the Color Hues Blog for lots of inspiration from the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Amanda.

We’ve been out of the country for the last two+ weeks. It was a fabulous trip, but I’m always ready to get back into the craftroom when I return. So many ideas. . . so little time! I’m sending this card off to three challenges: Seize the Birthday: Add a Sentiment Strip, Stencil Fun, and the September Pinkfresh Studio Challenge: Anything Goes.

Magical Fuchsias

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We almost always have a hanging pot of fuchsias on our side porch during the summer. When Alex Syberia released the Magical Fuchsia suite of products I knew I wanted them in my collection. Since my birthday was coming, I put them on my wish list. I received a very generous gift certificate, but by then, the products were out of stock. They were worth the wait. 

I’ve made three cards so far—two identical ones with the 3D embossing folder and stencil combo, and one with the Betterpress/Foiling Plate. I like both versions. There’s also a die set which I haven’t gotten to yet. 

The embossing folder also has a die that will cut out the whole branch. I foiled it first, colored it with the stencils, and then ran it through the embossing folder. Spellbinders Color Block Accent Arches made a pretty frame for this card. The sentiment was gold foiled on black cardstock with Spellbinder’s Fancy Sentiment Strips.

The embossing folder also has a die that will cut out the whole branch. I foiled it first, colored it with the stencils, and then ran it through the embossing folder. Spellbinders Color Block Accent Arches made a pretty frame for this card. The sentiment was gold foiled on black cardstock with Spellbinder’s Fancy Sentiment Strips.

The embossing folder also has a die that will cut out the whole branch. I foiled it first, colored it with the stencils, and then ran it through the embossing folder. Spellbinders Color Block Accent Arches made a pretty frame for this card. The sentiment was gold foiled on black cardstock with Spellbinder’s Fancy Sentiment Strips.

Fall Dahlias

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I’m up on the Memory Box blog today with a floral card for fall. Dahlias are one of my favorite flowers, and the dahlias are the latest of the flowers to bloom here in Western New York. They don’t begin to bloom until mid-August and then bloom right through September if all goes well.

The Dahlia Stems Cling Stamp creates a 6X6 image. I used the Dahlia Stems Art Stencil to color the image, using just two inks with a light hand for the first stencil, and a heavier hand with the second stencil. Next I added some additional color to each petal with Copic markers. The leaves got a lighter emphasis at the bottom of each leaf.

The Happy Fall Stylish Script was die cut from the same cardstock, but I deepened the color with some ink blending. After adding the sentiment to the vellum shadow, I added it to the card. This sentiment lends itself to any number of occasions based on what you choose for the inside sentiment or in a personal note. 

Color Hues #140

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Nancy is our hostess for the September 1st Color Hues Challenge. When I saw her color combo, Dusty Blue and Brown, I immediately thought of The Greetery’s 3D embossing folders that I’d seen embossed with brown woodgrain cardstock, so that’s where I started.

I’d like to say it came together quickly, but I started with one embossing folder, played around with some options, and then started over with the Pretty Picado suite of products. This is the first time I’ve used the Pretty Picado Stencils, and I also pulled out the Capsule Star Studded Borders for the first time. 

Once the border was embossed I swiped a bit of white ink over it to soften the color and enhance the beautiful embossed pattern.  I used a couple of different blue inks for the stenciling. For the star border, which I love and think I will use a lot, I chose Matte Silver cardstock. The silver embossed sentiment is from the Pretty Picado Stamp set and I added some tiny silver pearls for a bit of shine on the stenciled panel. This shaped card is bigger than an A2 card, but fits nicely in an A7 envelope.

Check out the Color Hues Blog for more inspiration my wonderful Design Team and our talented Guest Designer, Michele, and join us in the gallery. 

I’ll be away when this post goes live, but will send this off to the September NBUS Blog when I get a chance. It’s always good to use a couple more new products!

A Clean & Simple Anniversary Card

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A quick post for a CAS anniversary card for the Addicted To CAS Challenge.  I’ve had Papertrey Ink’s Grand Ampersand die for years, and I don’t think I’ve ever used it. I have used some of the accompanying stamps. I came upon it recently, and knew it would make a striking anniversary card. Dressed up a little more, it would be a great wedding card, too. 

I stared with a squared 5X5 inch card base and then cut the black, red, and main panel with my paper cutter. The ampersand was die cut in gold and layered on two more die cuts for some dimension. After placing the card in my MISTI I laid the ampersand in the middle and determined where to stamp the two-part sentiment. Once the ampersand was adhered with glue, I added three gold pearls. 

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Another Punny Fish

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Earlier I made a card using Concord & 9ths Fish Friends stencils. There are also dies that will cut out the stenciled fish as well as dies that work on their own. This is a CASE of one of the cards on Concord & 9ths blog made by Carissa Wiley. 

I found a great piece of patterned paper to work as the water. It was a single sheet separated long ago from its paper pad so I have no idea where it came from. I added some ink blending to the bottom of the paper to darken the water. I trimmed the panel down just a bit so I had a narrow frame of the dark teal cardstock. I used scraps of C&9th cardstock to cut out the underwater plants and the fish, adding ink blending to all of them.

Once I had the placement figured out, I went to work on the sentiment. The one in the circle is from The Greetery’s Hey, Honeycomb Summer Sentiments and the sub sentiment is from the Something Fishy Sentiments, also by The Greetery. Finally I added quite a few Iridescent Dew Drops from Pinkfresh Studio for water bubbles.

This is my second card for the Seize the Birthday: Punny Sentiments Challenge. It’s off to NBUS as well. The is the debut of the Fish Friends dies and the Hey, Honeycomb . . . Sentiments. The Card Concept is hosting a dual challenge: Summer By The Sea and Christmas in July. I’ve entered twice with Christmas cards, but now I have Clean and Layered card for the summer challenge.