Little Sailboat

We live by a rather large lake and I never get tired to look out at the blue water dotted with sailboats in the summer. But I have no desire to learn how to sail and own a sailboat! I wouldn't say no if someone invited me on their sailboat but otherwise I'd rather make a card featuring a sailboat!

Stamps: My Favorite Things (background), Hero Arts (sentiment)
Die: SSS (sailboat)

This is another salted watercolor wash that I made at the same time as the green one. I cut a wavy slit in it to tuck in the sailboat. Added some Stickles there to mimic the sparkling water. Doesn't the balloon string background from My Favorite Things look like the surface of water here?

Since the die and both stamps are NBUS I am sending this over to Darnell's challenge

NBUS #12






Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"





Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Be well,

Cat and a Rainbow of Fish

Quite a while ago I got this fun stamp set from the very generous and sweet Gundi from "papierelle" and finally dug it out from my bursting NBUS box to make a birthday card for her. (She likes cats...)

Stamps: ScrapBerry's (cat and fishes)
Die: SSS (balloon)

Just stamped everything in black Versafine, colored it with my Polychromos, added some accents on the fish with glitter pens, and put Glossy Accents on all the eyes! Die cut a little balloon from a scrap of glossy paper. White embossed one of the fish on a strip of black card stock. I had so much fun making this card!

I'm sending this over to the very generous and fun Darnell and her equally fun challenge called

NBUS #12
Check out the gallery to see what people have been finding in their NBUS boxes...

Be well,

Grey with Pink and Orange

I am back so soon with a card for two challenges that are about to close...

The colors of the current "The Card Concept" - white, pink, orange with a bit of grey (see further down) - really made my heart sing and with a little gentle nudging from kind Michele of "I Card Everyone" fame I sat down and made a card this weekend. Working with those beautiful colors made me so happy! I am in love with grey and love it even more combined with vibrant pink and warm orange.

Stamps: Hero Arts/Basic Grey (background), Hero Arts (sentiment)
Dies: Hero Arts (chrysanthemum), SSS (banner)

Cut the flower out from watercolor paper, inked it with different distress inks, and spritzed it with water.

Challenges (click on the links for more information and lots of inspiration from the DTs and the galleries):


The Card Concept #65
Freestyle Collage Category





Darnell's NBUS #9
Both the background stamp and the die have been chillin' in my NBUS box for way too long...







Hope the coming week will bring you lots of happy moments!

Be well,

Flowers and Snowflake

A warm hello to all of you stopping by here!

I am certain you all know Darnell ! Kind, generous, creator of acronyms as well as the NBUS challenges, and not only famous for her fabulous cards but of her humorous posts as well. Well, she is celebrating all kinds of milestones on her blog (you better click on over to read about them for yourself) with a new NBUS challenge, where she wants us to use not only Never Before Used Schtuff but, if possible, colored pencils on kraft! I tried it out and am very pleased with the result. My NBUS is the flower bouquet.

Stamps: Stampendous (flowers), SSS (sentiment)
Die: SSS (banner)
Other: Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils


Challenges (click on the links for more information and lots of inspiration from the DTs and the galleries):

NBUS #8

The Flower Challenge #4 "Blue and Yellow"

The half pearls and banner are a light yellow in real life

The snowflake card I originally wanted to enter at the last Time Out Challenge but I completely forgot to post it! I had these blue circles lying on my desk from a different project and thought they would look good with a snowflake on top. This is how this card came about. The background is splattered with two different colors of blues and dry embossed.

Stamp:
Dies: Spellbinders (Circles), SSS (banner)
Other: Snowflake punch (Martha Stewart), embossing folder (Cuttlebug)


Challenges (click on the links for more information and lots of inspiration from the DTs and the galleries):

Retro Rubber Challenge #54 "Let it Snow"
Only the sentiment is stamped (if that is not enough please ignore my entry) but way older than one year)

The Heart Desires #8

Be well,

Sailboat

The latest NBUS (Never-Before-Used-Schtuff) challenge over at Darnell's blog is almost over but I really wanted to play because I am so grateful that she is regularly nudging us towards using the things we buy. My NBUS box is bursting at the seams and given the time I could have made hundreds of cards... Alas, time to create is still very scarce right now but I sat down yesterday and made a card. I really wanted to use this MFT sailboat die (that I have had for way too long) while real sailboats are still on the lake.

Stamps: None!
Dies: My Favorite Things (sailboat), Memory Box (waves), SSS (stitched rectangle), cloud unknown


I cut out the different parts of the sailboat from various PP, the waves from a recent play with spritz bottles and adhered everything to a stitched rectangle that I thought was a very light blue but looks grey on the photo.

Speaking of photo, I am suddenly unable to download photos from my camera to my computer. I have no idea why. Plus I also can't do a backup on my external hard drive. I just hope my laptop doesn't break down before get a new one... So this blog post almost didn't happen! But I took a photo of the card with my phone and managed to get it on the post (not hard but I had never done it before). Phew!

Challenges (click on the links for more information and lots of inspiration):


NBUS #7







Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge #30 - "Anything Goes"







Virginia's View Challenge #23 - "Spray, Mist, Splatter"






Uniko Challenge #35 - "Inspired by a Song Title"
(In my case it's "Sail Away" by David Gray - one of my favorite songs, check it out if you don't know it!)





Thanks for stopping by despite my infrequent postings of late! Your visits and comments still make my day so please don't give up on me!

Be well,

Sending You Sunshine

I have a hard time committing to one style but if I absolutely had to I think I would choose CAS (Clean and Simple) Mixed Media. I do like the clean look but I also like to try out different techniques. So I was very excited when I read that there would be a new challenge called CAS Mix Up. It is run by two amazing ladies: Loll and Bonnie. I always was a bit intimidated by mixed media but they make it very easy to understand. Their first challenge is going on at the moment and it is:

With "your choice" they ask us to pick something from the list on the right side of their blog. I picked die-cutting and stitching (the watercolor panel has stitches around the border).

Stamps: Hero Arts (sentiment)

Dies: PTI (word die), Nestabilities ("sun"), SSS (rectangle)

For the sun I used a technique that I learned years ago and haven't done since then. Unfortunately I don't know what it's called. There are probably tutorials around but since we don't know the name how should we search for them? If any of you knows the name of this technique let me know and I'll add it to this post. Also tell me if you would like me to try and do a tutorial myself. It's pretty easy. I remember when I was first introduced to it we had to trace around a template and cut out all those points! Then they came out with very expensive punches which I fortunately did not buy. Now it's easy to do with dies! 

Since this was the first time I was using the "sunshine" die I am squeezing in at Darnell's NBUS challenge before the door closes. I love how she challenges us to use the stuff we keep buying!

Also entering it into the STAMPloration CAS Challenge:

Thanks so much for spending some time with me! Your visits and comments make my day!

Hugs,

Susanne

Big Flower with Stenciled Background

Do you know the Make It Monday feature on the PTI blog?  This week I loved Betsy Veldman's stenciled ombre background technique plus I had ordered PTI's first stencils and wanted to try one of them out.

Stamps: Stampendous (flower), PTI (sentiment)

Other: stencil (PTI), Faber Castell Polychromos, Marvy ink pads

I used two different colors of Marvy ink pads. It does require some time and patience to achieve a nice smooth ombre background but I like how it came out. Then I used one of the stencils in the 3-pack. The flower was stamped and colored with Polychromos (lots of layering and shading. A gold embossed sentiment on a strip of vellum finished the panel that is mounted on a 5x7 card. I like the graphic pattern paired with the flower. 

I am sending this card to the following 

Challenges (as always, click on the links to see the fabulous cards of the DT and in the gallery):

Make It Monday #241 "Ombre Stenciled Backgrounds"

NBUS #6

The stencil and the flower are my "Never Before Used Stuf"

Inkspirational #103 "Geometric"

Freshly Made Sketches #226

I appreciate your visits and comments and wish a wonderful week!

Hugs,

Susanne

NBUS New Home

Quick, quick, another card before the door closes on the NBUS #5 challenge hosted by the fabulous Darnell! Don't panic, you still have until the end of today (Friday, started writing this on Thursday but didn't have time to finish and post it), so go ahead, pick something from your "Never Before Used Schtuff" pile (because I know you have one), make a card and post it!

I should have at least entered one card per day to make a dent in my Mt. NBUS but unfortunately time would not allow it... My card actually features two NBUS: The Brevilla Houses and the Arbocello tree, both from Memory Box. Cut out the tree from a scrap of watercolor paper and watercolored it.

Made this for my friend who recently moved away. The airplane symbolizes the hope for many visits back here!

Stamp: Winnie & Walter (sentiment), Inkadinkado (airplane)
Dies: Memory Box (houses, tree), Sweet 'n' Sassy (clouds)



Challenges:

NBUS #5 (second entry)







Pixie's Snippet's Playground #194 (second entry and also closing soon!)
The tree and the clouds are cut from snippets







Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Die Cuts"







Memory Box #4 "Terrific Trees"







Wishing you all a fun and creative weekend!

Hugs,
Susanne

Four (!) graphic triangle cards

Yes, you read that right! Today I have four cards for you! I think, that's a first!

I love geometric patterns and have many graphic stamps and embossing folders. So, of course, the current challenge over at Virginia's View really speaks to me and I wanted to play. The fairly new Pinterest Inspired Challenge features triangles so I pulled out a triangle embossing folder that I had never used.

Inked the EF in different Distress Inks, spritzed it, and "stamped" it on watercolor paper. Spritzed and stamped it again to get lighter colors. Then I made cards of my backgrounds. I thought the Design Teams could pick their favorite card from this collection.

A close up so you can see the vellum

And all together!
Which one is your favorite? Mine is card #4!

Stamps: Winnie & Walter (sentiments on cards 1 and 3), Altenew (sentiment on cards 2 and 4), Mama Elephant (Triangles on card 4)

Other: Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

Challenges:

Virginia's View Challenge #18 "Geometric Patterns"

Pinterest Inspired Challenge "September 2015"

Darnell's NBUS #5
In addition to her usual generosity, this time Darnell has many sponsors! Click on the link to find out more! It runs until the 18th!






Pixie's Snippet's Playground #194
Because Miss Di celebrated her birthday last week, this week's prize is extra generous! The infamous Crazy Bird stamps, dies and accessories! Am I the only one in blogland who doesn't have them yet...?
My snippets are the vellum on card 1 and the labels on card 2 and 4!





I really appreciate your taking time to visit my blog and hope you come back!

Hugs,
Susanne

Happy belated Birthday, Dora!

Thursday night the 7 Cardologists celebrated Dora B.'s birthday. It was actually right after Christmas but she preferred that we celebrate it later and this was the first time we were all together again. 

This is the card I made for her and there is a funny story that goes with it. We all have a million of these dew drops (half domes made of glass) in every color that we bought when our LSS had them on sale way back when. So when we make a card often one of us suggests jokingly using some of our dew drops. That's why I wanted to use as many as possible on Dora's card. (12 used only 999,988 to go...) Also because I could hand deliver it. Those dew drops are very bulky and make mailing a pain. (I am thinking of challenging myself to use lots of them on all of their cards this year, shhh!)  

I colored strips of vellum with the only set of Spectrum Noir Markers that I own. Bought them months ago and only opened them now! How sad is that!

Stamp: Avery Elle (sentiment)
Punch: Carl Carla Design

Sending this to the following challenges (Thank you, Darnell, for a very thorough list of Challenges, including links! Your rock!):

NBUS #3 (my Spectrum Noir markers), second entry




Simon Says Monday Challenge "Old and New" (new are my Spectrum Noir markers, old are the dew drops)




Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "New" (my Spectrum Noir markers)



Seize the Birthday (no toppings)




Pals Paper Art





Hope your weekend is fun and relaxed! Thanks for your visit and your kind comments! They make me so happy!

Hugs,
Susanne

P.S. Btw, I updated my last post with a new photo of the card made in daylight. Really didn't like the other one.