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Just A Note

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Yesterday I had time to create a card for three different challenges. The first is Addicted to CAS: Just a Note, and as soon as I saw the challenge I knew what I wanted to do. Then I realized that the card fit both Freshly Made Sketches and the Word Power challenges. I've never played along with the Word Power Challenge, so I was happy to finally have a card where the focus was on the words. This makes my second post for the day, but the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge ends today, so I couldn't wait. 

The card was created with just dies from The Greetery. I had already die cut and assembled some of the pens from the Pen Pal die, and I also had precut several panels from the Postal Frame die. All I needed to do was the stamp and die cut the fabulous sentiment from Scripted Sentiments.

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I liked this one so much I found two more assembled pens and created masculine cards with those. 

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What I really like about these cards are all the sub-sentiments that are included in Scripted Sentiments which means I can use these for birthdays, anniversaries, or encouragement cards–to name a few. I'm quite sure I'll come back to this design in the future. 

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Blue and Pink for Color Hues 95

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Cindy has a great color combo for us on the Color Hues Blog this round: 

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I pulled out two new products (NBUS) from Alex Syberia: Garden Tweets and Signature Tags for my card, and I'm really happy with how it came out.

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I chose two Papertrey Ink papers for the main blues: Blueberry Sky and Spring Rain. The foliage was die cut with one of my favorite neutrals: Soft Stone. The pinks all came from my scrap box as most of the die cut pieces were very small. After assembling the bird and flowers, I arranged them on one of the two large tags from the Signature Tags set cut from a piece of patterned paper in an older My Favorite Things paper pad, Road Tripper. I like the subtle light blue pattern which adds some interest but doesn't detract from the main images.

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After tying a bow with gold thread from Altenew, I added a sentiment that was hot foiled in gold with Spellbinders Better Press Plate, Fancy Sentiment Strips. I used some dimensional tape under the sentiment strip, and adhered the tag to a card base of Spring Rain cardstock. 

There's always a lot of inspiration from our Guest Designer and the Design Team at the Color Hues Blog, so hop over and see what might inspire you to join us in the gallery.

This is off to Darnell's NBUS Challenge.

 

 

With Sympathy

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I don't tend to make sympathy cards ahead, so when I need one in a hurry I head to my envelope of card fronts or embossed panels. This time I found two pieces I had previously embossed with embossing folders, so made two cards. Now I have one in the stash.

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Altenew's Magnolia Ballerina 3D Embossing Folder is so beautiful, it needs no embellishment. I decide to off set the oval and trimmed off the excess.Then I added a simple die cut sentiment from The Greetery's All Occasion Script Sentiments which I embossed in gold.

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Gina K's Tapestry Embossing Folder is also beautiful. I cut down the panel, and added a narrow gold border and then used dimensional tape to add it to a white card base. For this card I used an already gold foiled sentiment from Spellbinders, You Are Everything set. I did add three gold pearls from Pinkfresh Studio.

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These will be two more entries into the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge and I'm also adding them to the AAA Card Challenge that's looking for CAS sympathy or get well cards. 

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Just Because

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My blogging friend, Darnell, posted a card using Altenew's Streamlined Sprig die for her I.D.E.A.S. project–D is for dies. When I saw it, I told her I'd try to get a card up that week, but it's taken longer than I anticipated. But looking at the current challenges I saw two that might help me get this die into use. Time Out Challenges: Friendship or Encouragement, and Can You Handle the Pressure? I'm not using the Optional Leaves theme, but it's always using an embossing folder. I had one of those in my NBUS box along with the Altenew die. 

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I have to admit I just love this die. The die includes the stem and outline but separate die for the fillers behind. I chose my colors from scraps in my scrap box, and did some ink blending for dimension.

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The graphic nature of the embossing folder (Spellbinders' Geo Screen) was just perfect for this stylized flower. 

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The sentiment is a Betterpress one also from Spellbinders, You Are Everything.

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Hope you are having a day filled with sunshine! It's cool here, but very bright and likely to warm up by the afternoon.

Color Hues #94

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I knew September would show up long before I was ready to say goodbye to summer. I remember Tracy once saying that now that we're retired "it's  endless summer." Sadly, not. I will miss the long hours of sunshine, the pretty flowers in my yard and garden, and the warm weather. It will still be nice for a few more weeks, but once Labor Day arrives, summer seems to end for me.

Knowing fall is on its way, Carol has a wonderful color challenge for us at the Color Hues Challenge blog:

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For this challenge, especially, remember that this is a color hues challenge so there's always room for a variety of hues. I chose two hues of cardstock for rust and two hues of green. I also included some dark brown and white–neutrals are always welcome. I immediately thought of two die sets in my NBUS box:  Spellbinders' The Botanical Solarium and Altenew's Through the Window. 

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After die cutting all the elements, I added a bit of ink blending to the greenery and backed the window with a piece of cloud vellum. When I started to consider what I could use I remembered some of this, but I had no idea if there was any left. I had plenty for the window, and enough for several more when I use this die again. 

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I had several contenders for a rust card base but chose Papertrey Ink's Terra Cotta Tile. The rust cardstock for the pots is Gina K's Rusty. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things, Sunflower Sweetheart. The only embellishments were the pearls for the flower centers and one for the butterfly. I had a few die cuts left over, and decided to use a few of them on the inside:

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The sentiment here is from My Favorite Things Sweet Birthday Wishes. I'll bet there are a few stamps or die in your collection that would make for a great entry to our Rust and Green gallery. Be sure to check on the Color Hues Blog for more inspiration, and come join us!

As noted above, this card definitely benefited from my NBUS box, so it will be an early entry to Darnell's September NBUS challenge. I'm also adding it to the gallery at Addicted to Stamps and More: Die Cuts and Stencils.

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Woodblock Wednesday-August

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The fourth Wednesday is always Woodblock Wednesday, and this month the last Wednesday in the month. I read an Opinion piece in the New York Times recently saying that although most people see Labor Day (Monday) as the end of the summer, you don't have to buy into that. Most of my adult life Labor Day was the last weekend of summer because it brought the beginning of the new school year. I actually loved the start of a school year, but this year I'm going to try to hold on to that summer feeling for a few more weeks. 

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We got home last yesterday from a fun week on Intermediate Lake in Michigan and two days with friends in the wine country of Traverse City. I'll have some photos up by the end of the week. Luckily, I made my Woodblock Wednesday card before we left, and you can see that summer was definitely on my mind. 

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This is another old woodblock that's been in my collection for years. The manufacturer was Fred B. Mullet, and I have no idea where I picked it up. I stamped it on watercolor paper and water colored it with Distress Oxide Inks. Both the narrow frame and the card base were created with woodgrain papers from Simon Says.

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The sentiment is from Colorado Crafts' A Fox's Life which a friend gave me. It's never been used so it's off to Darnell's NBUS.  Thanks, as always, to Amy Tsuruta for hosting Woodblock Wednesday! 

Color Hues #93

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Tracey has chose perfect summer colors for the new Color Hues Challenge.

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I pulled out an old favorite for some bright and cheerful Coneflowers by Honey Bee. The layers and size of the florals make a big impact on an A2 sized card.

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Catherine Pooler's Chic Chevron coverplate made a good background for the florals. I added a sentiment stamped in dark brown and fussy cut from Pinkfresh Studio's Friendship Blooms stamp set. 

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The colors in the photos are quite a bright as they are in real life–a too frequent result of living in an old house with limited light. I added a few yellow enamel dots was the only embellishment. 

I hope you'll join us at the Color Hues Challenge. The gallery is open until August 29th so there's lots of time to create with us! 

 

Pinkfresh Studio August Challenge

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I was excited to see the theme of the Pinkfresh Studio Challenge this month: Washi tape. I immediately knew what I wanted to use, but had to wait until my friend received the card before posting it.

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I hadn't pulled out the beautiful, gold enhanced Pinkfresh Studio Washi tape, Sunflowers, in a very long time. They are perfect for a summer birthday. I used a card design I learned from Anett Gelencsér during the Create & Connect event held in February. It creates a middle portion that "pops up" when the card is released from the envelope.

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To create the card, we used two of the Notched Corner Frame dies as well as the Stitched Octagons coverplate. I did some light yellow ink blending on the coverplate die and chose two dies from the washi tape collection to decorate the frame. You can see the dimension better in the photo below.

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The sentiment is also from Pinkfresh, Perfect Sentiments, hot-foiled in gold. 

I have more Pinkfresh Studio washi tape, but my crafting time for August is just about up, so another entry is probably unlikely. We're off to Michigan this weekend with our daughter and her family, and then to visit with friends we met on our tour of Portugal and Spain last year.  So many ideas, so little time!

 

Color Hues #92

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Another month has flown by, and we're at the top of August already: time for a new Color Hues Challenge. Stef has chosen:

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Last month, Jill Foster for Penny Black presented ten videos in a series call "Permission to Play." Each video featured a different layout design, and I chose the layout from the second video.

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You'll quickly realize I made one major change, using a circle frame rather than an oval. Much to my surprise, I didn't have any decorative oval frames, and no circle ones that I was happy with either. I ended up creating my own using one design from Pinkfresh Studio's Braided Circles and using one of the Ellen Hutson Essential Circles.

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I've always love Penny Black's hedgie images, but only own one set. This cute critter rushing off with his package is from the Critter Delight set, and is one I've owned for a long time. Jill Foster used watercolors for all the images in her 10 video series, but I chose Copic markers for this guy.  After adding some ink blending to the background circle, I added the frame with dimensional tape.

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The sentiment from The Greetery's Inflated Sentiments was curved to fit inside the frame (and doesn't look as close to the frame IRL.) I added a small butterfly (an embellishment used by Jill on several of her cards.) I didn't have a small die so fussy cut this one from an older Papertrey Ink set, Life is Beautiful. 

There's lots to see at the Color Hues Blog so hop over and take a look at the creative designs by the Design Team. 

Pinkfresh Studio Challenge: Geometric

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The Pinkfresh Studio Challenge this month is Geometric. There's a lovely inspiration board, but fortunately you can use the photo, the colors, or the theme. I definitely went with the theme.

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The PFS geometric stamps and hot foil plates are some of my favorites. I reach for them time and time again, and especially when making cards for guys. This one fits the bill.

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This time I foiled the Quadrant Backdrop in gold on black cardstock. It really packs a punch, I think. The sentiment is Simon Says It's Your Birthday, cut from gold metallic cardstock.

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Aside from a narrow gold metallic frame, this card didn't need any embellishment.  In addition to the Pinkfresh Challenge, this card is off to Inkspirational: Use products from 2 or more companies, and Addicted to Stamps and More: Birthdays. 

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Beautiful Day

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Altenew recently issued two large floral stamps drawn by Sarah Simon of the Mint Gardener. A few years ago, I took a drawing and watercoloring class with her online, and I love her book, Modern Watercolor Botanicals.

Despite my best intentions not to purchase any new stamps, I caved on these. Yesterday I found the time to watercolor the first set, Peony and Lilac Swag. 

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This floral is just a part of the whole image. There are a variety of ways to position parts of the florals on an A2 card base, and eventually I want to try a 5X7 card. I used my Zig Watercolor Brushes this time. I tried an earlier image with the Altenew 36 pan watercolors, but they weren't transparent enough for me. Next time, I'll go back to my Daniel Smith watercolors which take more time.

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I die cut the floral and added it to a panel I embossed with Spellbinders, Dazzling Dots embossing folder. The sentiment is from a Pinkfresh Studio set, Best Thing. After debating it for awhile, I ended up added three pearls as embellishment. 

This week's Simon Says Wednesday Challenge is Beautiful Blooms, using Altenew stamps so this is a perfect fit! I'm also sending it to the Flower Challenge: Make a Birthday Card and AAA Birthday: Fabulous Flowers.

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Woodblock Wednesday: July

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July is definitely flying by. I did think that time would slow down a bit now that we're home for several weeks, but not so. I chose another woodblock stamp from the Lockhart Stamp Co. for July's Woodblock Wednesday. This bright red Adirondack chair reminds me of the red chairs we encountered in random places throughout the Canadian Rocky Mountains National Parks when we visited. After we returned we bought our own red Adirondack chairs. 

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I used a Taylored Expressions Masking Stencil to create the blue background. The image was colored with Copic markers, and then die cut with Simon Says Stitched Rectangles. I added a second square and with dimensional tape added it to a square card.

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The sentiment is from a My Favorite Things set: Itty Bitty Basics embossed in white and die cut with MFT's Itty Bitty Strips. In addition to Woodblock Wednesday, I'm sending this to the Four Seasons Blog: Summer and Shop Your Stash, also Summer.

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Most Beautiful Day

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I have a card for the AAA Card Challenge: Fabulous Flowers.

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The card is a variation of a card Lea Lawson and Heather Hoffman taught in a one time class last fall.

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The flowers are from the Brighter Day set by Pinkfresh, colored with Copic markers and then die cut with the accompanying dies. The background was created with the cover plate, Harlequin by Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is also from Pinkfresh–the Farm Fresh stamp set. 

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These bright and happy flowers remind me of this time of year when we have bright and beautiful flowers in the garden and in vases in the house. It's probably my favorite time of the year.  

In addition to the AAA Card Challenge, I'm sending this off to Triple B: All about Birds, Blooms, and Butterflies.

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Postal Cards

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It took awhile before my WaffleFlower Postage stencils and dies arrived, and then even longer for me to get them out of the NBUS box. I created all three a week ago, but waited to post until now since one of them needed to arrive at its destination before they showed up on the blog. Two are almost identical because I needed two birthday cards.

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These are die cut with the main postal die and stenciled with the Wild Flower Collage stencil. The stamps are from the Postage Collage stamp. Both greetings are from Pink & Main's Special Day stamps.

I hesitated before purchasing the Beach Days Postage Collage stencils, but I couldn't resist. The images are so much fun, and I don't own anything like them. 

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I used both the Beach Days and the Postage Collage stamps sets after stenciling the backgrounds.

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The sentiment came from Simon Says Stronger Together stamp set.

There are still a couple of challenges looking for summertime cards so this one is off to the Time Out Challenge: On Vacation and the Shopping Our Stash Challenge: Summer. We'll be off to a lake vacation in August, and I'm looking forward to a week of sunshine (we hope) and water fun. 

Edited to add: Also posted at Darnell's NBUS! (I was sweetly reminded by Darnell that I needed to get these in the gallery!

Color Hues #91

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Sheri's pick for this Color Hues Challenge came at a great time for me. Red and Green called out Christmas, and my stash of Christmas cards is very small. 

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In keeping with my goal of using NBUS, I pulled out Pinkfresh Studio's hot foil plate, stencil, and die cut for the Winter Berries Frame purchased months ago and went to town. The first card is my fave and the one I posted on the Color Hues Challenge site, but there are four more cards as well. I challenged myself to try a different design for each of the cards. 

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This is the only card where I didn't use the die. I've always love the Savvy Joy die cut and use it almost every Christmas. I used the stencil and two shades of green and red to color the berries. I stenciled enough panels for all the cards first, and actually have quite a few left over.

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The closer view shows the beautiful hot foil and the pretty gold sentiment.

For the rest of the cards, I'll just list the additional products used for the card.

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black & gold mirror cardstock, Pinkfresh Studio Diagonal Stitched Circles, Spellbinders Betterpress Fancy Sentiment Strip & die (foiled in gold), PFS gold pearls

MerryBright

a premade embossed square card, PFS Perfect Sentiments: Holiday (foiled in gold), PFS Gold Glitter dots

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Gina K embossing folder Tapestry, Ellen Hutson Essential Arches die, PFS Perfect Sentiments: Holiday, PFS scarlet clear drops

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PFS Basic Banners: Christmas, The Paper Studio gold pearls 

It's not just Christmas on the Color Hues Challenge board although I'm not the only one to add to their stash of holiday cards. Please hop over and take a look at the great designs of our Guest Designer, Rosemary, and our Design Team. 

Some of these cards are off to two additional challenges: Addicted to Stamps and More: Christmas, the Christmas Kickstart Challenge: Festive Frames (which I'd better continue to play with!) and NBUS for the berry frame.


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