Right before the latest Color Hues Challenge went live, I discovered this canvas from an Etsy shop:

Had I seen it earlier, I'm pretty sure I would have made this card:

But it didn't take me long to get to it since I needed another masculine birthday card. (In fact, I need several, so hopefully I'll be back soon with more.) I knew as soon as I saw the inspiration piece that I had the perfect die from Ellen Hutson, Abstract Sunset. After die cutting the pieces from multiple cardstocks, I pieced them back together on a cream rectangle cut with Ellen Hutson's Essential Rectangles.

Then I pieced together some oranges, and die cut the sun. I ended up using one of Ellen Hutson's Essential Circles, since the circle die in the Abstract Sunset was smaller than I wanted. Once again the gold foiled Black Tabs from Memory Box was the perfect sentiment. 

This is off to the Just Us Girls Challenge where they want die cuts, but no flowers, and the Wednesday Simon Says Challenge: Birthday Cards.

We're in Wisconsin for a few days. It's always good to be visiting family, but Sunday was a rude awakening–snow, ending up with nearly 2" of the white stuff. Meanwhile, back in Rochester it was 60°+.

The day before we left, I squeezed in a little time to make a birthday card for my brother-in-law. The main foiled pattern, Pinkfresh Studio's Abstract Triangles, had already been foiled, so it was pretty quick and easy once I settled on the design. 

I did manage to put another NBUS die to use: My Favorite Things: Stitched Diamond STAX. Recently, I spent some time hot foiling lots of sentiments, so the Happy Birthday from Spellbinders, You Are Everything, was also ready to add to the diamond die cut. 

I love this design–elegant, but simple, and another great card for a guy. I'm quite sure I'll use the design again. No additional embellishment was needed. 

The card is off to three challenges and Darnell's NBUS site. AAA Birthday Challenge is looking for Masculine Cards, Addicted to Stamps and More: Birthday Cards, and I'll add it to Seize the Birthday's Anything Goes category. 

I have two cards to share, both inspired by current challenges which also gave me an opportunity to move one more item out of my NBUS box. The pretty little blooms were perfect for these challenges, all of which are among my favorite challenges. First off was Just Us Girls where it's Die Week and they want a birthday card. Seize the Birthday wants "no stamping," and The Flower Challenge (they're celebrating their 100th challenge!!) wants a circle in the design. Here's my answer to these three challenges. 

I started by die cutting Simon Says Exotic Blooms from watercolor paper as well as a Simon Says Stitched Circles die. I used finger daubers to color the florals, picking bright and happy hues to celebrate some of the first warm days we've had recently. They just make me happy. It's hard to tell but I very lightly ink blended a pale blue onto the circle before adding the flowers. Since no stamping is allowed, I pulled out my fave Memory Box Black Tab Sentiments. 

I had another set of die cut florals, and remembered that The Paper Players are looking for pastel colors. The flowers are the same, but the design is different.

Once again I used the watercolor paper. I love the texture it gives to CAS cards. This time I die cut two of Pinkfresh Studio's Nested Hexagon Blanket Stitched dies and layered them before adding the florals which I again colored with finger daubers. I thought this card needed a little something so I added three small gold pearls, and another Black Tab birthday greeting in a different font.

This card is also off to Seize the Birthday  and Just Us Girls as well as The Paper Players.

It's unusual for me to post twice in a day, but here is a set of three cards that, once again, came out of my "Work on This" box. This particular set of products have been sitting around for quite some time, but when I saw the As You See It Challenge for Birds, I knew it was time to get a move on. Having been away, I'm just posting these under the wire since the challenge closes in just a few hours.

The project idea began months ago when a friend gifted me with three charming die cut birds all assembled. I put them in a wooden bowl and pulled out Paper Trey Ink's Songbirds stamp and die set, a long-time favorite. The three birds were created with a gradient of blues, so I chose a different card base for each of them.

This was the lightest of the three birds, so I chose Papertrey Ink's Rustic White cardstock for the base. This card has a slightly different design than the other two. When I initially added the die cut branch, I glued it in the wrong place, so had to start all over. I had already put the MISTI away, so had to reposition the stamps. The musical stamp ended up being higher than the others, so I added a second branch to the bottom. I might like this design a bit better, but it was the last one I put together.

For the second card, I chose Papertrey Ink's Soft Stone, another favorite of mine. I added a few musical notes at the top of the card from My Favorite Things, Strike Up the Band.

 This combination of the darkest bird on the kraft cardbase ended up being my favorite. One of the things I like about these cards is that they are pretty generic birthday card. I'd feel comfortable ending them to guys or girls. One close up so you can see how darling these birds are. 

In addition to As You See It, I'm sending this off to A Cut Above challenge as well.

A couple of challenges motivated me to move another project out of my "Work on This" box which utilizes a NBUS product, the Hill Blossoms stencils and dies by Altenew. I don't find using Altenew stencils to be as intuitive as those by Pinkfresh Studio, but once I got them placed correctly, they were very easy to color. I used my new one inch blending brushes from Pinkfresh, and they are truly a game changer. 

I ended up making a mini-slimline card when I found the stitched and scalloped die cut in my box of premade treasures. I must have die cut them at a friend's house, since I don't own any dies quite like this one. 

The sentiment is, once again, a Memory Box black tab. They work well on so many cards! I added some very tiny black pearls to the centers of the flowers, and then some clear drops as a final accent. 

The challenges that inspired me were The Paper Players looking for Spring Flowers, Just Us Girls: Anything Goes: Stencils, and Neglected Stuff (this stencil has been in my box for months!). It's also off to Darnell's NBUS, and will link it up to her I.D.E.A.S. since this is the week for Ink (not a challenge per se.)

The night before we left for vacation, I actually found time to put together two cards. After using the Betterpress, the Breezy Blossoms were then colored using the accompanying stencils. This was all done so long ago that I don't remember a thing about it. After die cutting them, I put them in a little plastic bag and stuck them in my "Work on This" box. I had dumped them on my desk, and before cleaning up to leave, I sat down and figured out two ways to use them.

This card uses a NBUS coverplate, Modern Design Blocks. It came as part of the August 2024 Pinkfresh Create and Connect event. I never seem to get to all the class cards, let alone the Make & Takes, but eventually I get around to using the products. I layered it on a mint card base, and then die cut two Nested Elongated Balnket Stitched Ovals, also by Pinkfresh.

I layered just one stem of the Breezy Blossoms, added a sentiment with a Memory Box Black Tab Birthday greeting, and three enamel dots. 

This card also uses a cover plate that came with a Create and Connect event, the Stitched Octagon Cover Plate. Concord and 9th's Grapefruit cardstock was a great match for one of the inks I used coloring the florals. This card uses a number of different stems grouped together.

I die cut two of the Pinkfresh Notched Corner Frames, bumping the top one up with some dimensional foam. Another Black Tab greeting and some enamel dots.

I'm sending these off to The Neglected Stuff Challenge blog as well as NBUS – these are a perfect fit! I'm also adding them to the February Pinkfresh Challenge where Anything Goes, and Seize the Birthday without the Topping.