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Color Hues #23

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July passed in a blur. We were away most of the first two weeks, and I've been recuperating from my fall for the last two weeks, but here we are at the beginning of August. August is likely to pass by in a blur as well since my daughter and her family will be here for a week, we'll share a cottage on a lake in Michigan for a week, and then spend the last week traveling back and forth to a cottage in the Finger Lakes to spend time with Tracy's family. Fortunately, I'm back in the craft room and playing with some new (as well as some old) products.

The new Color Hues combo is such a pretty one:

Color Hues23

I knew right away I wanted to use my new Altenew "Classy Stripes" stencil which I saw Laurie Willison use during the recent Cardmakers Summit event. I already had some of the Ink to Paper's "Into the Blooms II" dies cut from pink paper so it was just a matter of adding a yellow layer and doing some ink blending with my (also new) Detail Blending Brushes from Altenew. 

YellowPink

I settled on a mini-slimline format which I like a lot. Once I had the stenciled background prepared, I die cut a piece of it with one of the Pinkfresh "Mini Slimline Essentials" dies. I cut a narrow yellow border and then added it to a white cardbase.

YellowPinkFlat

I shaped the floral pieces with the Tim Holtz "Shaping Kit," (another new product,) added a pink enamel dot to the center, and adhered the flower to the card front with some dimensional tape. The sentiment is from The Ton's "Easy Expressions Birthday" set stamped in black and embossed in gold. To pick up the gold accents, I added three gold dots from The Paper Studio. 

YellowPinkClose

I hope you'll hop over to the Color Hues Challenge and join in the fun, checking out the cards made by my awesome Design Team members and our Guest Designer, Conil.

   

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

 Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

Color Hues #22

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The Color Hues Challenge has a new duo for you:  Lime Green and Aqua.

 

ColorHues#22Anim

I love this bright and cheerful color combination, but it took me awhile to come up with a design I liked. As I often do, I turned to dies and ended up with The Greetery's "Inside and Out Berry Branches."

LimeGreenAqua

I die cut the branches in two shades of lime green and two shades of aqua, arranged them in a bouquet and "tied" them with a gold ribbon from the "Fit to Be Tied" collection, also from The Greetery. The next step was to find the right background and again The Greetery had the answer–a "Nordic Frame," one of my favorites. 

LimeGreenAquaClose

The sentiment from an old, and loved, set by Papertrey Ink "Autumn Abundance" was embossed in gold. Either lime green or aqua would have worked as a cardbase, but I liked the lime green better.

LimeGreenAquaFlat2

I hope you'll hop over to the Color Hues Challenge and join in the fun, checking out the cards made by my awesome Design Team members, and our Guest Designer, Rosemary.

 

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

 Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

 

Color Hues #21-Red and Blue

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Independence Day is just three days away, and I'm guessing that Carol's color choices for this round of Color Hues was influenced by the holiday. It's always a great combination, and I have two cards to share.

ColorHues#21Anim

The first was the card design I had in mind, but the die cut letters (on #2) were too tall, so I had to substitute another alpha which I ended up liking even better. Luckily, I have two perfect occasions for these cards. The first one is going to my mother-in-law for her July 5th—92nd birthday. I had previously made a birthday card for her, but my husband thought this one was perfect the minute he saw it.

Pinwheel

With the exception of the Slimline Diagonal Stitched Rectangle from Pinkfresh Studio, everything on the card came from The Greetery. I die cut the pinwheels in Blueberry Sky (Papertrey Ink) and Cherry Kisses (Gina K) and then stenciled the darker colors onto them. 

PinwheelClose

The letters are cut from the recent release of Bold Alphabets, die cut from Cherry Kisses and Enchanted Evening cardstock. I added some gold and silver gems to the center of the pinwheels. 

PinwheelFlat

The second card is a congratulatory card for one of the sweetest, hardest working young ladies I know. I've been working with her for the last five years. I started helping her with her homework at a community center in the inner city. After two years there, she won a scholarship to the local Catholic all-girls school here. We've continued to work together at the school, Paneras, and at our house for the last three years.  During the pandemic we met much less frequently and virtually. She just graduated from 8th grade and is headed for high school at Mercy next year. Her grade point average is amazing, and she's played soccer, run track, and been involved with other activities. I couldn't be happier for her.

CelebrateStreamers1

The letters from the Waffle Flower "Tower Outline Alpha" dies were cut from Pure Poppy and Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink) papers. I've been in the habit recently of using score lines for interest, and once again, I pulled out my scoreboard to add some dimension behind the letters.  I borrowed the "Twisted Crepe" dies (The Greetery) from a friend (thanks, Michelle!) and die cut those with red, blue, and silver glitter paper.

CelebrateStreamersClose

I think 8th grade girls are pretty interested in sparkly, so I added a few glittery stars to finish it off.

CelebrateStreamers Flat

I hope you'll check out all the Red and Blue creations by my talented Design Team members, and our special Guest Designer, Carol.

   

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

 Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

And if you're in the U.S. have a safe and fun Fourth of July! We'll be arrived just in time to celebrate with Sarah and her family after an early birthday celebration here for Tracy's mom.

 

Color Hues #20

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It's hard to believe, but we're already at the 20th challenge for Color Hues. Sheri chose Aqua and Black for this round.

Color Hues #20

It's not the first time that I've ended up making two cards for the challenge. Although I liked the first card, it really "wasn't me." Meaning, of course, not Clean and Simple enough. So here's card #2, much more to my liking.

AquaBlack

I knew right off that I wanted to use an older set by Papertrey Ink called "Life is Beautiful." I thought the black butterfly against an aqua background would be striking. (And you'll see that the first card I made has the same main elements, but different products.) I die cut the open butterfly die twice, once with black shimmer cardstock and once with gold. I off set the two of them and adhered them to a piece of aqua shimmer paper cut with The Greetery's "Crimped Frames." You can see the shimmer better here:

AquaBlackClose

Then I layered the aqua layer onto a larger Nordic frame in black shimmer before adding it all to a white cardbase. 

AquaBlackFlat

The sentiment is from Pink and Main's "Special Day," embossed in gold and die cut with The Greetery's "Pretext Banners"–possibly the best banner set I've found.

Here's the first card I made. This time I started with the "Cover Plate: Butterfly" die from Papertrey, die cutting it from the same black shimmer paper I used above. 

AquaBlack2

After adding it to a piece of the aqua shimmer paper, I colored the insides of the butterfly wings with a Copic marker to give them some contrast. 

AquaBlack2Close

The sentiment from Taylored Expressions was embossed in white and added with a thin strip of dimensional tape.

AquaBlack2Flat

Finally, I added some aqua and silver sequins. It's a bit busier than the card above, but I'm quite sure I'll find a recipient who will enjoy it.

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what our Guest Designer, Trina, and the rest of the Design Team has come up with . . . and join in the fun!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

Color Hues #19

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The weeks fly by and here we are with another great color combination for the Color Hues Challenge. This round it's Blue and Brown.

Color Hues #19

I cased myself for this challenge and returned to a design I used last September. I love the closed and open leaves of Altenew's "Leaf Canopy" set.

BlueBrown

To color the closed leaves, I added two shades of Pinkfresh Studio blue inks directly to the stamps, spritzed them with water and stamped them onto a piece of Altenew's watercolor paper. Once that had dried, I overstamped with the open leaves in Dark Chocolate ink from Papertrey Ink.

BlueBrownFlat

I stamped the sentiment from the same set in Dark Chocolate, and use my favorite Gina K "Master Layout" dies to cut a thin border of Dark Chocolate cardstock before adding it all to a Blueberry Sky (also Papertrey Ink) card base.

As always, I hope you'll pop over to the Color Hues Challenge and check out the great cards by the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Michel.

   Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

And please come join the fun!

Color Hues #18

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The new Color Hues Challenge is for Purple and Teal which ends up being a really lovely color combination.

Color Hues #18-Still.001

Pretty or not, it did take me awhile to come up with a design I was happy with. I started out with some stencils, but you can see that is not where I ended up!

CH18-2

After the stencils didn't work out quite the way I envisioned them, I headed to my die cuts. Almost immediately I came upon Mama Elephant's "Botanic Envelope" and knew just what I wanted to do. I love the gold detail on the envelope, and filled it with a variety of die cuts in shades of purple and teal.

CH18Flat2

Some of the foliage came from the Mama Elephant die, but I also add some die cuts from Pinkfresh Studio's "Delicate Blossoms" and Althenew's " Star Flower Pop-Up" die. All the colored cardstock is from Memory Box.

CH18CloseGold

Then I added a small piece of the reflective gold paper (from Tonic) behind the star flower, and attached the envelope to a "Nordic Frame" from The Greetery.

CH18Close

The sentiment was gold embossed from The Greetery's "Sentiment Suite: Thank You."

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what our Guest Designer, Janet, and the rest of the Design Team has come up with . . . and join in the fun!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

 

Color Hues #17

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It's May 1st and time for a new Color Hues Challenge!

 CHRedOrangeCH#17

This time it's a duo of Red and Orange, and it took me awhile to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. Once I did, it came together pretty quickly, and I've decided it's color combination that I like quite a bit—bright and cheerful!  As I've been trying to do for the last several months, I used a beautiful stamp from Altenew that I've never used before.

RedOrange

The starting point was ink blending red and orange on the bottom portion of the card. Then I stamped one of the images from Altenew's "Fragile Foliage" partially off the edge.

RedOrangeAngle2

I added just a touch of color to the delicate flowers with an orange Staedtler Fineliner and die cut the panel with Gina K's "Master Layout" die. Then I die cut the larger layer from red cardstock and added it to a bright orange card base. 

RedOrangeFlat2

I decided on a stamped and die cut sentiment. The stamped portion is from Papertrey's "Wonderful Words: Thank You," and the die cut from The Greetery's "Sentiment Starters" collection. 

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what our guest designer, Tracey, and the rest of the Design Team has come up with . . . and join in the fun!

      

  Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

Color Hues #16

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I'm the hostess at Color Hues this round, and chose Yellow and Gray for the colors. It's always been a favorite combination, and as it turns out, it's the Pantone Color(s) of the Year. Pantone decided to chose a duo rather than a single color this year. 

Color Hues #16

I CASED myself this round, using a design I've previously used. 

YellowGray

I started with this Memory Box card with subtle gray stripes. I've had these in my stash for so long I have no idea where I purchased them originally. Then I die cut a white "Shape Shifter Oval 2" by Papertrey Ink.

YellowGrayClose

The floral is a favorite of mine from Pinkfresh Studio's "Keep Going" set. I watercolored it on Altenew Watercolor paper which I like very much. It's a nice clean white and the watercolors move nicely on it. This time I used my Karin watercolor markers.

YellowGrayFlat

I don't own the accompanying dies, so fussy cut the image and added it to the fancy oval. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions. 

I hope this color combo appeals to you as well, and that you'll join us at the Color Hues Challenge. Be sure to check out the great designs by my Design Team members, and our Guest Designer, Amy.

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

Color Hues #15

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No matter the weather, by April 1, I'm ready for spring. This year we've been treated to very early signs of spring and I'm hoping a greener landscape is not far away. Today's new challenge at Color Hues is sure to brighten your day, regardless of where you are in welcoming the new season.

Color Hues #15

If you've followed me for very long, you know I'm partial to Clean and Simple designs. This card totally falls in that category. I'm not sure if I've ever created anything that was more Clean and Simple. This card more or less created itself. I die cut the floral from The Stamp Market's "Fresh Floral Layering" die in Concord and 9th's Ballet Slippers. Although this was made for inlaying the pieces of the floral, I knew as soon as I laid down the outline, that was all I was going to need.

PinkGreen

I then die cut the two leaves from a pieces green cardstock in my bits and pieces folder and added them to the floral on a piece of white cardstock. 

PinkGreenFlat

I cut a narrow border from the Ballet Slippers cardstock, and added dimensional tape to the back of the focal piece before adding it to a white card base. The sentiment, embossed in white on black cardstock is from Reverse Confetti's "So Many Sentiments" set. 

After I had created this card, I started playing around with the new-to-me coloring stencils by Pinkfresh Studios for their stamp set "Friendship Blooms." And although I do like this card, it is definitely not CAS!

FriendJoy

After die cutting the florals with the accompanying dies, I die cut two panels, one in black and one in gold, with Gina K's Layering dies. I love the narrow border these dies create. The sentiment, embossed in gold, is also from "Friendship Blooms." I layered everything onto a bright pink card base.

FriendJoyClose

The final touch was the addition of some gold sequins.

FriendJoyFlat

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Tenia, have come up with . . . and join in the fun!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

Color Hues #14

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The new challenge at Color Hues is really versatile. Neutrals can be added as well as gold or silver.

CHBlackWhite#14

This is one of those cards that just "came to be." I had a card completed for this challenge, but about a week or so ago, I was in another organize and purge mood. In the process I came upon the card front which was embossed with a beautiful embossing folder by Alexandra Renke.

White:Black

As soon as I saw it I knew it would make a perfect CAS card for this challenge. I added it to a black card base and used a sentiment strip from my stash.

WhiteBlackFlat

I debated for a bit about embellishments, but finally decided on some small black pearls from AMuse which have been in my stash forever. I'm pretty sure I'll use this design again. It's very versatile. I can see it as a birthday card, an anniversary card, a thank you note, and even a sympathy card. 

I hope you'll hop over to the Color Hues Challenge and join in the fun, checking out the cards made by my awesome Design Team members and our Guest Designer, Shawna.

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

 

 

Color Hues #13

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It's March first, and time for a new challenge at Color Hues. I have to admit March is one of my least favorite months. When travel is safe again, I expect to spend the month of March in a location much warmer and sunnier than Rochester! Here are the new colors:

Color Hues #13

These bright and cheery colors gave me permission to create a card that celebrates sunshine.

BlueYell2

This is actually the second card I made. Both cards started with The Stamp Market's " Color Block" die. For this card I chose two hues of yellow and two of blue. Each piece is popped up with dimensional tape on a white card base. Then I searched through my stamps looking for a sunshine die, and ended up with Reverse Confetti's set "Over the Rainbow." I added a bit of ink blending to the edges of the sun to set it apart from the yellow panels.

BlueYell2Flat

I added a white puffy die cut cloud (from Papertrey Ink), and a sentiment from a new stamp set from My Favorite Things, "Bitty Hugs and Kisses." 

Here's a look at the first card I created. For this card I used four hues of yellow and blue.

BlueYell1

I do like this card as well, but doesn't meet the I. need. spring. requirement. I inlaid the panels from the "Color Block" die this time, and added a die cut sentiment from Simon Says, "Bold Hello," that was included in one of the monthly card kits. 

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has come up with . . . and join in the fun!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

Color Hues #12

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The new Color Hues Challenge offers a chance to craft for Spring. By mid-February, I'm always thinking about Spring even though I know it's probably a good two months away here in western New York. 

Color Hues Badge #12

Not surprisingly, I headed for a floral stamp, and chose a new one from Simon Says: "Best Friend Ever." It has four lovely floral arrangements so I'm sure you'll see another image from this set in the near future. 

Peach2

I kept this card very clean and simple. I embossed the florals in white on Tim Holtz watercolor paper, and used my Daniel Smith watercolors to mix a pretty peach hue. After watercoloring, I added the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's "Signature Greetings"–an old favorite.

Peach2Close

I added some detail to the flowers and the leaves with my Polychromos pencils. Although it's hard to see in the photos, it does add some depth.

Peach2Flat

Then I die cut the piece with Hero Arts "Rounded Rectangles," adding it to a piece of Concord & 9th's Grapefruit cardstock (also cut with the next largest rounded rectangle), and added it to a white card base. Five Champagne Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh finished it off.

I hope you'll hop over to the Color Hues Challenge and join in the fun, checking out the cards made by my awesome Design Team members, and our Guest Designer, Chick:

 

   Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

And then, come join us in the fun!

Color Hues #11

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It's time for the next Color Hues Challenge! It's a perfect one for Valentine's Day which is just a couple of weeks away.

Color Hues Badge #11

Initially, I thought I had the perfect set of dies to create a card for this challenge. I made it; I gave it away as an anniversary card. But I decided I didn't love it, so went back to the drawing board. This card uses one of my all-time favorite Simon Says stamp sets, "Center Cut Heart." I've used it again and again for anniversary cards and valentines, but this time I decided to use only the center cut heart, making it clearly a CAS card.

PinkRed

I also own the somewhat coordinating die, "Deco Heart," so after I embossed the heart in black and colored the hearts with a red Copic marker, I used the die to create the perfect red border for the heart. 

RedPinkClose

I used an Ellen Hutson "Color the Strips" die to cut the three wider strips, and used my paper cutter for the thin strips at top and bottom. I added the center heart with some dimensional tape, and embossed the small sentiment in white on black cardstock with a sentiment from The Stamp Market's "Tons of Type." I like this sentiment because it works for Valentine's Day as well as an anniversary card.

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Julie, have come up with . . . and join in the fun!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

Color Hues #10

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Times flies, and here we are with the tenth Color Hues challenge:

Color Hues Badge #10

One of my intentions for this year, is to make sure I'm using all the stamps and dies I have accumulated since the pandemic started! One of the dies is the "Altenew Circled Greetings." I have all four of them, but today I used "Thanks." I'll start with the card I posted on the Color Hues Challenge post.

NavyCream1

You can see that the die creates a wonderful focal point for an A2 card. I backed the open circle with a piece of cream cardstock on which I'd stamped with another new purchase, My Favorite Things "Peacock Pattern Background" in Dark Indigo ink.

NavyCream1Flat

I used a stamp from W+9's "Hand Lettered Thanks" for the small sentiment strip, and bordered it with a bit of the dark navy cardstock. The front panel was then added to a cream colored card base which is perfect for writing a thank you note.

The second card is very similar, but I chose to dry emboss a series of narrow score lines on the cream card base before adding the navy panel which I trimmed down to expose a narrow cream border.

NavyCream2

This time I chose a brighter hue of navy cardstock that has a subtle texture to it.

NavyCream2Flat

I added a few sequins and pearls from Lucy's Cards: "Pearl Necklace" collection.

Hop over to the Color Hues blog to see what the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Julie,  have come up with . . . and join in the fun!

 Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

 

Color Hues #9

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Happy New Year and Welcome 2021! I imagine most of us are more than happy to put 2020 behind us, and hoping for a much better year ahead despite knowing that we still have some dark days ahead. For me, crafting has been the one way I can put aside all the fears and anxieties of the times for a few hours. I hope it does the same for you.  And the Color Hues Challenge is here to help. I love this round's color choices:

Color Hues #9

I'm a fan of Laura Bassen's graphic cards, and when she designed and released some graphic dies for Simon Says this winter, I picked up the "Geometric Builders: Squares." Putting the squares together is a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle. It's not something I do quickly, but I enjoyed the challenge. And I have a lot of pieces left to play with to make one or more additional cards.

Red:Gray

I used three shade of gray from Simon Says: Fog, Smoke, and Slate, and my favorite red from Papertrey Ink: Pure Poppy. I love the clean and simple design of the card, and think it will make a great masculine birthday greeting.

Red:GrayClose

The sentiment from The Stamp Market, "Tons of Type," was embossed in white on black cardstock, and bumped up with some dimensional tape.

Red:GrayFlat

You may well see a similar design in a future Color Hues Challenge as this set is perfect for a two color challenge. Now check what our Design Team and Guest Designer have for you at the Color Hues Challenge.

Marcia, Guest Designer

Nancy

Hannelie

Cindy

Julie

Sheri

Kristie

Lindsey

Pull out some reds and grays, and join in the fun! I'll be back tomorrow to share my One Little Word for 2021.