The Flower Challenge has been on almost all month and the challenge is to use a die cut. It happens all too frequently that I put off getting a card made until nearly the last minute. The Altenew Stargazer Lily die has been on my desk at least all month, but finally I made a card with it.

I die cut the lilies with the. Spellbinders Specialty flower paper which does make it easier to shape the petals once you've colored them. I pulled out my ink daubers for these and used several different inks from Pinkfresh Studio. After I assembled the lilies, I splatter some white ink over the them.

For the background I chose a piece of Smoky Shadow cardstock which I die cut with Altenew's Dotted Scales Debossing Cover die which adds subtle, but lovely, texture to the card. The sentiment is from The Ton's Easy Expressions: Birthday. 

In addition to The Flower Challenge, I'm entering the challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More: Any Occasion, and another entry to Darnell's NBUS–the lilies first run!

I loved this week's Color Throwdown Challenge: orange, red, maroon, and gold. The Double D Challenge is looking for Fall Plaids, and this fits that challenge as well. 

Pinkfresh Studio's Dainty Plaid and stencil were laying on my desk so I decided to see if I could use these colors for a card.

To use the stencils properly, you'd use six different inks, but I experimented and came up with a plaid using just three inks: Papertrey's  Orange Zest, Pure Poppy and Scarlet Jewel. I gold embossed the plaid and used a preprinted gold sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio. 

I've totally depleted my stash of Thinking of You cards which, sadly, are the cards I seem to need most often. This is the third card I've created this week, but I still need a few more. 

It's not often I post twice in a day, but the Color Throwdown Challenge closes tomorrow, and I don't want to count on remembering to get it up in the morning.

In addition to the Fall Folk dies used here, I purchased the Fall Folk stencil from The Greetery. Like the dies, I can see this stencil used in many seasons beyond fall depending on the colors you choose. For this first card with the stencils, I opted for a color palette of teal, red, and orange, not at all what I might choose if I wanted a fall palette.

I used both ink cubes and cardstock from Concord and 9th: three hues of the teal, two of red, and one for the orange. 

Because the stencil creates a rather busy pattern, I decided not to add any embellishments after adding a gold foiled sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio's Perfect Sentiments. I cut down the stencil with one of Hero Art's  Infinity Rounded Rectangles,  and then die cut the next two layers of Juniper and Marmalade cardstock to add a bit more color before adding it add to a Tidepool card base. 

It's been a busy weekend here–two memorial services (for me), and a three day celebration for Tracy's high school graduating class. It's been a small gathering–about 40 in all, but fun for Tracy to reconnect with friends he made in high school and for me to reconnect with a few I've known for quite some time as well as to get to know a few I don't believe I've ever met before. 

Sending this card to Darnell's NBUS blog to share my NBUS Fall Folk stencil.

I was inspired by three challenges to finally break out some holiday stamps and sentiments. While I was purging stamps I often came upon stamp sets I loved but hadn't paid any attention to in a long time. Papertrey Ink's Fair Isle Motifs was one of those sets, so I pulled it out to create two CAS cards for Addicted to CAS: Holiday, Christmas Craft Creations: CAS, and Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge: Anything Goes. I think this is the first time I've ever played along with Christmas Craft Creations although I've been following them for awhile. 

I chose two different motifs and created cards with different orientations. For some reason I've had a lot of trouble lately being able to photograph cards without shadows. If I weren't so close to the deadline for the Peace On Earth Challenge, I'd give this another go tomorrow. 

The sentiment for this card is from one of my favorite holiday sentiment sets, Simon Says  Holiday Greetings Mix 1. After die cutting the motif with Ellen Hutson's Essential Squares I die cut a white square from the next largest die. It's hard to see, but I added one layer of dimensional tape behind it.

The greeting here is from Pinkfresh Studio's Berry Branch stamp set and die cut with My Favorite Things Itty Bitty Strips. Again I backed the image with white and added some dimensional tape before adding it to the card base.

Last year I had over 50 Christmas cards completed by now. This year we're doing a photo card for many people on our holiday list, so I'm not in need of the large number I usually create. With all the disruption in my craft room, it's a good decision.

It's the August Woodblock Wednesday post.

I pulled out one of my all-time favorite pumpkin images, Pumpkin Harvest by Annette Watkins, to color with Copic markers.

I decided on an Altenew embossing folder, Deck Planks, for the background, running it through with Classic Kraft cardstock. It lends a rustic look to the card.

I trimmed the embossed panel down just enough so the Cocoa Brown card base would create a narrow frame. I fussy cut the pumpkin image; there were no coordinating dies in the days when I purchased this stamp. I rarely give it much thought, but it's truly amazing how much this hobby has changed over the years. I had to stamp this image twice before I got a clean image. With a MISTI stamping tool, restamping is so much easier (and wastes no paper!) The sentiment is from Altenew's Sentiment Strips 2, die cut with MFT's Itty Bitty Banners.

Thanks to Amy, as always, for organizing this monthly affair! I'm sending this off to AAA Birthday where the challenge remains: Anything Goes for a few more days!

I only own three Betterpress plates, one came with the Spellbinder system, and two are part of Altenew's Dainty Flower Garden set. Both sets include a few sentiments, although for today's cards, I used Altenew's One-Go Birthday Greetings, a new set I'm quite sure will get a lot of use. There are 12 sentiments on one stamp and one die that cuts them all out. I love having an envelope filled with sentiments ready to go. Both cards are very similar and both were watercolored with Zig Watercolor markers.

The blue card went in the mail earlier this month, and I know my friend received it. So it's time to get these cards off to a couple of challenges. 

The Betterpress cardstock is perfect for watercoloring. I tried not to add too much water, and let it dry completely between layers.  I just trimmed down the sides of this one and added it to a navy card base.

Sometimes it's good (and easy) to CASE yourself, so here is the orange edition.

This time I used Gina K's Master Layout one dies to cut the impressed panel as well as a black panel which gives it a lovely narrow border. I added it to a card base of Orange Zest. 

The blue card is off to Addicted to Stamps and More. The challenge is for birthday cards. And the orange card is off to Less is More. The challenge is Orange!

I'm sending them both off to the NBUS August Challenge since this is the sentiment set's debut.

Now that the recipients have received their cards, I have a card to enter in the current TicTacToe Challenge.

I made two of these cards although I only photographed one of them and both have been received.  I used the elegant Spellbinders Betterpress plate that came with the system. I can't seem to find a name for it. I inked it up with gold ink and impressed it on the Bisque Betterpress paper from Spellbinders.

I added narrow borders of gold glitter paper that I purchased in Milwaukee at Broadway Papers and then added it to a card base of gold shimmer paper from the same source.

The sentiment from Sugar Peas Everyday Sentiments was embossed in gold on black and die cut the MFT Itty Bitty Banners-a die I used repeatedly. Finally, I added some gold glitter dots from Pinkfresh Studio.

It's easy to find my path through the TicTacToe board–diagonally from right top to left bottom.