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Autumn Abundance

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Recently I found an envelope of already die cut and ink-blended fall leaves after creating a new card using the same die set. They seemed perfect for a card created for three separate challenges: The Paper Players: CAS-Fall Foliage, Just Us Girls: Moodboard of Fall Essentials, and Inspirational: Seasonal.Ā 

I grabbed an already die cut circle and arranged the leaves and fall fruits and vegetables to form a wreath. Once I was happy with the arrangement I laid a piece of Press ā€™N Seal on top and picked up the arrangement. I very carefully removed the die cut circle and added glue to the back of each of the elements in the wreath.

The next step was to carefully center the wreath on a piece of Dark Chocolate cardstock (PTI). Once the glue had dried, I treated the whole card with anti-static powder so I could gold emboss the sentiment from Papertrey Inkā€™s Autumn Abundance. I added the focal panel to a Dark Chocolate card base with some dimensional tape. 

The leaves are turning color quickly here, and a very windy Monday put many of them on the lawn. For some reason the trees in our yard are often the last to lose their leaves, and many frequently get buried under the first snowfall. Iā€™m having a hard time adjusting to the fall temperatures after so much fine weather, but I donā€™t want to think about snow

Christmas Gnome

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Iā€™m delighted to be the Guest Designer for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge. The current challenge is:

I knew I had a small gnome die, but couldnā€™t find it quickly once we returned from our road trip to the west coast. I found two inexpensive dies online and although I wish the gnome was a bit smaller, the dies worked well. The gnome is from the Christmas Gnome die by Scrapbooking/Cardmaking. I also used the gift from the Gift Gnome by the same company.

After die cutting the gnome and gift from white cardstock, I used finger daubers and inks to color them. Once they were assembled, I set them aside to create the background. I ink blended a Stitched Rectangle by Simon Says with Distress Inks, die cut three trees from green cardstock using Memory Boxā€™s Tall Evergreen Trees, and die cut some snow drifts with Papertrey Inkā€™s In the Meadow dies. I added some Liquid Applique to the trees and sprinkled on some Candy Rock Glitter which gave the trees a bit of dimension as well as some sparkle. I edged the snow drifts with some glitter as well. 

Itā€™s hard to see in the photo, but there was so much glitter being sprinkled on that the sky has a bit of twinkle as well. 

Hop over to the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge and add your gnome(s) to the gallery!

Color Hues #120

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Stef has chosen the perfect colors for the next Color Hues Challenge.Ā 

Knowing I have several Halloween cards to create it was easy to decide on a theme. This Hey, Honeycomb Spider is the last of The Greeneryā€™s honeycomb dies that was still in my NBUS box, so I was delighted to have a chance to use it.

The Letterpress Spider Web Background by Spellbinders also came out of the NBUS box. Once I had the background created I cut it down so I my bright purple card base would create a frame. I die cut the spider from black cardstock, and used the Hey, Honeycomb Basics to white emboss the ā€œdirectionsā€ for opening up the spiderā€™s body.

I gave some thought to adding googley eyes, but the dies for the eyes looked great, and since this will likely go in the mail, I decided against any more bulk. The spider is attached to the background panel with dimensional tape. The sentiment from Honey Beeā€™s Sentiment Banners was also white embossed on the purple cardstock.

Be sure to hop over to the Color Hues where youā€™ll find inspiration for Halloween cards as well as some beautiful fall florals from our Guest Designer, Bobby, and the Design Team. The challenge is open until 9:00 AM on October 29th. Hope to see you in our gallery!

Color Hues #119

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October 1 finds me on the road, and with a pre-scheduled post for the new Color Hues Challenge. Marcia has chosen great fall colors: Rust and Yellow.

My thoughts did go to autumn leaves, but I had a NBUS Concord & 9th set of dies, Friendship Garden, waiting for a debut, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Mums are everywhere right now, and Iā€™m quite sure I still have some Black-eyed Susans in the garden.

After diecutting and assembling all the pieces for the cute flowers, pitchers, and crate, I played around with some different layouts and backgrounds. The rust and yellow flowers were so small, I decided to layer them on a yellow panel with a rust colored mat on a kraft card base.Ā 

The sentiment is also from Concord & 9th but from The Flower Shoppe. When I purchased the Friendship Garden, I thought the dies might play very well together. That will be another project. The end result showcased the color combo well, but I must admit, it feels a bit busier than my usual style.

There is, of course, lots of inspiration on the Color Hues blog from our Guest Designer,Ā  and the Color Hues Design Team. I hope youā€™ll join us in the gallery.

AAA Birthday Challenge: Guest Designer

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I’m delighted to be the Guest Designer for the new AAA Birthday Challenge: Ombre.

I thought it would be fun to create a card with ombre colored balloons, so reached for theĀ Balloons and StreamersĀ stencil by Kristina Werner for Concord & 9th.Ā 

I don’t own many full-sized Pinkfresh ink pads, but I love having cubes that blend wonderfully from lightest to darkest. I used just two of the inks for the streamers.

Before die-cuttingĀ  the sentiment from Papertrey Ink, I did some ombre coloring on a strip of cardstock. I then die cut three more from white cardstock, layered them for some dimension and added them to a strip of vellum.

The final step was to add some clear adhesive stars for a bit of sparkle.

This challenge is open for the whole month, so you have lots of time to join in the fun! Thanks to the team at AAA Birthday for the honor of guesting with them.

Ā 

Happy Birthday, Skylar!

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Today is Skylar’s 14th birthday. In the last year she has blossomed into a beautiful teenager.

Sheā€™s an accomplished horseback rider,

a varsity field hockey player,

and one of the nicest people I know. (These fabulous photos were taken by her cousin, Nadia, @Nxdiaphotography.)
I thought it would be fun to make her an easel card using the #spellbinders Gorgeous You Make-up dies.

I started with an aqua card base and embossed the front with Taylored Expressions Dotted Lattice embossing folder. I die cut the largest of  the Pinkfresh Studio Nested Oval Blanket Stitch dies and added the make-up die cuts with some flowers I found in my stash. The sentiment is from Ellen Hutson’s Cake stamp set

To create the easel, I die cut the eyeshadow palette, assembled it, and then die cut the base twice more so it could hold up the front of the card.

The sentiment here is from Concord & 9th’s Fashion Shoppe Stamps.
We’re on the road so we’re missing the chance to celebrate with her. I hope she has a great day!

Color Hues # 118

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Jules has chosen the colors for our mid-September Color Hues Challenge:

Initially, I was a bit puzzled about these colors wondering what papers and inks I might have that matched. It didn’t take long to find Faded Jeans and Bundled Sage Distress Oxide inks which were a pretty close match. I also had a Waffle Flower Postage Collage Wild Flower set that I had only used once before, and I was happy to get it out again.

To achieve some variation in the color, I simply used a light hand for the first floral stencil, and a firmer hand when stenciling the second. Concord & 9th came out with new colors this year, and the Pistachio is a beautiful sage green. After stenciling I added some of the postage images from the Waffle Flower Postage Collage stamp set. I die cut a panel of the cardstock with The Greetery Postal Frames before arranging three of the images with dimensional tape. The sentiment and die are from Waffle Flowers Postage Collage Circle Sentiments. 

For the border I pulled out The Greetery’s Airmail Border stencil. I purchased it a long time ago, but this is it’s debut. One more item out of the NBUS box. I ended up liking this color combination a lot. One of the things I love about card challenges, including ours, is that I try things I wouldn’t have thought to use. This is one of them, and I think it will end up on repeat in the future.

I hope you’ll join us this round, and I’ll look for you in the gallery! Be sure to check out the inspiration waiting for you from our Guest Designer and Design Team on the Color Hues blog.

Blooming with Happiness

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Just Us Girls Challenge this week is Stencils: Anything Goes and the Stencil Fun Challenge is for Nature.  I have one of my favorite ever stenciled cards to share. This was made mid-summer for a friend’s birthday. She lives in Canada, and I’ve waited until I knew she received it before sharing it here.

The color choices were easy–my friend loves the color pink. The stencil is Papertrey Ink’s Wild Blooms. It’s been in my NBUS box for a long time, and once again, I’m chagrined to see how wonderful and versatile it is. Change the colors and you have a totally different feel. 

The sentiment is from the Bloom and Grow stamp set from The Greetery, and die cut with My Favorite Things Stitched Oval STAX.  I die cut the floral panel with Gina K’s Master Layout #1 as well as the narrow pink mat. In addition to Just Us Girls and Stencil Fun, this is off to NBUS–my first September offering, and to Darnell’s I.D.E.A.S. where Week 1 is Inks/Color Mediums.

Color Hues #117

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I'm the hostess for the September 1st (where did summer go?) Color Hues Challenge, and I chose:

CH #117-Orange and Green.001

When I chose the colors, I had nothing particular in mind, but I had recently purchased a geometric design die from Concord & 9th, and thought it would be fun to use. I was right. I loved playing with this die, and came up with two cards. Here's the card I posted on the Color Hues blog. It's the more dramatic of the two.

CH117Black

The Pattern Play die comes with a background coverplate, and six smaller dies that cut out pieces to play with. You can see that I die cut two hues of orange and two hues of green, and started to play around with different placements. On this card the sentiment came from the Pinkfresh Studio "Basic Banners: Celebrate" which stamps and die cuts twelve sentiments with one go.

Here's a cleaner version of the card on a white background. The background color makes such a difference.

CH117White

The sentiment here is also from a one-go set by Altenew appropriately titled "One Go Birthday Greetings". I think either card would work for guys or girls, teens or adults , and I'm quite sure I'll have this out to play with other color combinations. It worked well with just two colors but using a bigger variety of colors would be fun too. 

With fall looming, orange and green might lead you to some autumn themed cards and florals would certainly work. I'm looking forward to seeing all of your creative cards in our gallery this round. As always, check out the inspiration from our Guest Designer and Design Team at the Color Hues Blog. 

 

 

Woodblock Wednesday-August 2025

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There's been a lot going on around here, including a lot of crafting. Not all of that is ready to be shared. I did participate in the Pinkfresh Studio Create and Connect event this weekend, and have some cards ready to post later this week. I missed one class in order to go to Skylar and Ella's juried horse show. Both of them are becoming accomplished riders, and it's a lot of fun to watch them compete. I didn't finish the second card in a couple of classes so I probably have 3-4 hours of videos left to watch. All that to say, getting a card together for Woodblock Wednesday was a last minute event. (Thus the less than optimal photographs.)

Featured-woodblock-Wednesday-graphic-copy-1

I've been heavily into Christmas cards, so grabbed an old set of tiny trees by Hero Arts, appropriately named Tiny Holiday Trees. When I set out to stamp these I'm reminded of how much I rely on the MISTI for stamp placement and the ability to restamp. I may have an old stamp positioner around somewhere, but I have no idea where it is. This was the third attempt.

WoodblockWed

I stamped the trees with two Simon Says inks. The middle tree is more olive IRL than it appears in the photo. I die cut the trees with a Stitched Rectangle by Simon Says and then matted it with the next largest one die cut with New Leaf cardstock (PTI.)

WoodblockWedClose

I wanted an alternative to red for the card base and decided on Paper Source Night cardstock– a very pretty (almost) navy. The sentiment from Savvy Stamps was embossed on white on a scrap of the Night cardstock and die cut with one of The Greetery's Pretext Banners. The final touch were three Pinkfresh Studio Iridescent Clear Drops for the tops of the trees.

It turns out that this card perfectly fits the new Freshly Made Sketches Challenge:

FMS Final 701-001

 

 

 

52 Christmas Card Throwdown-Guest Designer

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I was chosen as the winner in the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Technique Challenge: Foiling/Embossing.  And now I'm delighted to be Guest Designing for a new Technique Challenge: Teepee Card. 

Technique Challenge (13)

In all the many years I've been creating cards, I've never made a teepee card. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Not suprisingly, it wasn't hard to find a good video with specific cutting and assembling direction. I chose some dark green cardstock from Concord & 9th for the base, and then used paper from two 6X6 paper pads for the additional layers. The shiny gold paper is from a very old American Craft pad–no specific name for the pad. The patterned paper is from Spellbinders Handmade Holiday pad.

TeepeeCard

Once I had the card assembled, I could work on the decoration. I knew right away I wanted to use a new Spellbinder die set I found on sale not long ago, Christmas Bird Poinsettia. I didn't use the bird or the candy cane that came with the set, but chose a variety of green scraps for the foliage and two slightly different reds for the poinsettia.

TeepeeClose

All three sides of the card are decorated with the two papers. On one of them, I will either stamp an inside greeting or write a holiday message. 

TeepeeCardBack

This is how the card looks when it's ready to mail. It fits perfectly in a 5X7 envelope. 

TeepeeEnvelope

I'm not sure I would have tackled this challenge had I not been the Guest Designer, so I'm not only honored, but delighted to have made my first teepee card. There will probably be another one–maybe for a birthday card next time. I'm anxious to check out the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Challenge for teepee cards to see what the other designers have created. Come along, and give it a try yourself!

A Shimmery Birthday Cake

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There’s lots of shimmer and sparkle on this birthday cake by My Favorite Things, but you can’t really see it in the first photo. 

MFTCake

Both the pink and white panels were die cut with dies from My Favorite ThingsĀ Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX. They’ve been in my bin for a long time but this is their debut. Both panels are cut from Papertrey Ink shimmer cardstocks. You can see the shimmer and sparkle better here:

The cake feels a little retro to me, but I love the slightly wonky cake layers. The silver loops on the top layer as well as the cake stand were die cut from  silver cardstock. The candles were die cut from silver glitter cardstock and the flames from gold glitter cardstock. The silver embossed sentiment is from The Stamp Market’s Lots of Little Words. I think it, too, is making a debut here. The final touch were a few clear sequins. It’s been awhile since I pulled out sequins, but they worked here better than the clear drops.

I’ve been waiting to post this card until my friend received it. The timing is good, though, because the current challenge at Seize the Birthday is No Flowers. None here. It’s also going to Just Us Girls Challenge: Word Week: Birthday. Two of my favorite challenges at once! And, of course, it’s off to NBUS as well.

08-14-NoFlowers  JUGS.   NBUS

Color Hues #116

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Julie has chosen Blue and Red for our next Color Hues Challenge.

Ch #116-Blue and Red.001

Almost immediately I knew I wanted to use Spellbinders Nordic Ornaments which I purchased over a year ago. I used only the outer die of one of the ornaments last year, but wanted to show their full potential this year. The first ornament is my favorite.

CH116Red

After choosing the hues of blue, I die cut the ornament three times, and inlaid the darker blue and red. I also added some gold pearls as an embellishment. I embossed a panel with Penny Black's Linked embossing folder, and then decided to cut an oval from it. That diminished the embossing somewhat but I decided it was actually good that it was a bit more subtle. 

CH116RedClose

I added the embossed panel to the card base with dimensional tape and the ornament as well. The sentiment is one of my favorites from the Memory Box Black Tab series.

CH116Blue

Here you can see the full effect of the beautiful Penny Black embossing folder. This ornament was created with the same process. The sentiment is also from a larger set of Black Tab sentiments in the shape of a banner. 

CH116BlueClose

You'll find a lot of inspiration for Blue and Red, using lots of different themes, at the Color Hues blog. The Design Team and our Guest Designer, Leslie, have outdone themselves once again. 

Elevated Rainbows

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There always seems to be one (or two) products that "speak to me" in every Pinkfresh release. There were several during the last release, but I managed to control any impulse I had. I'm not always so restrained, and the Elevated Rainbow dies and stencil are one example. When I purchase I try to find products that will work for a variety of occasions, people, and/or genders. These fit the bill, depending on the colors you choose. This time I chose more feminine colors, and one just went off to a friend who recently had a knee replacement.

Elevated Rainbow1

The sentiment from Waffle Flower's Hey, There was foiled in gold and die cut with the coordinating die. 

ElevatedRainbow1Close

I sprayed the stencil with some clear shimmer spray before adding a few Pinkfresh Iridescent Dew Drops.

The next card is for the birthday card stash. I used a few more colors on this one, and it's my favorite. 

ElevatedRainbow2

This sentiment, also foiled in gold, is from Spellbinder's You Are Everything.

ElevatedRainbow2Close

This is off to Seize the Birthday Challenge: No Flowers, Darnell's NBUS (the debut of Elevated Rainbows), and Darnell's I.D.E.A.S. for Week 2 Dies. 

08-14-NoFlowersNBUSI.D.E.A.S.


 

Bright and Happy Zinnia

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I'm a huge fan of zinnias. We started some from seed this year, and they are finally beginning to bloom. This bright and happy yellow zinnia is a bit bigger than mine right now, and is appropriately titled Big Blooms: Zinnia (Papertrey Ink). A friend gave me the bloom and when I saw the current Just Us Girls Challenge: Die Cut Florals, I knew it was time to get it on a card.

Zinnia

I started by die cutting the background with Papertrey Ink's Border Bling: Tin Stitched. It was also a perfect time to use Papertrey Ink's Alluring Brackets, another product finally out of the NBUS box. 

ZinniaClose

The leaves were die cut and embossed with Concord & 9th's Paper Posies and the sentiment is from Memory Box. 

This is also the week for Dies with Darnell's I.D.E.A.S.

JUGS 787  I.D.E.A.S.