Pink Balloons with Gold Glitter

My blogging friend Gundi from papierelle has a challenge at the moment with a balloon theme. That motivated me to dig out my balloon dies that I don't use often enough (but then again what DO I use often enough...?).

Stamps: Sentiment (CAS-ual Fridays), Background (unmounted, unknown)
Dies: Balloons (SSS)


I sponged a glossy scrap of paper with different shades of pink and a light lavender, cut out the balloons, dipped the upper half in Versamark, and heat embossed that part with gold glitter embossing powder. Embossed the sentiment with the same EP on a strip of grey. You can see the glitter a little better in the second picture. The sparkle was hard to capture. The background was stamped with one of my old, unmounted background stamps (this one is marble), that I used to buy when I went to Rubber Stamp Conventions many years ago. It could be from Stamp Camp or Stamp Out Cute, but unfortunately these companies don't exist anymore.

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


Papierelle







Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "For a Special Lady/Girl"
I gave this to one of my Thursday Night Stamping Friends who is a very special lady and loves grey and pink! We celebrated her birthday this past week.

Seize the Birthday "Anything Goes"







Happy Little Stampers March Anything Goes With Dies







Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Be well,

Large Vellum Flower

The current Pin-Sights Challenge on Ellen Hutson's blog has inspired me to finally break open my Mondo Magnolia stamp set!  

Stamps: Essentials by Ellen (flower and sentiment)
Other: Washi tape (Recollection), Spectrum Noir Markers, various sequins, white embossing powder (Recollection)


I white embossed the flower twice on vellum, colored the back side with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, and cut the flowers out. The metallic washi tape matched the colors even if it's hard to see in the picture. Even though it's a large flower I think the vellum makes it look quite delicate.


This is for

Essentials by Ellen February Pin-Sights Challenge






Thanks for your visit. Hope the week ahead brings you only good things!

Be well,

Heart of Roses

After all these graphic, modern triangles I have a more delicate and feminine card for you today!

I was inspired by Therese's card over at the Flower Challenge. If you are not new to the stamping world you have probably heard of Therese and visited her blog "lost in paper". She is a master of lots of different styles and regularly posts videos. So if you need some inspiration you will find plenty of it on her blog!

This is her card that we were to CASE it:

And here is what I made:

Stamp: Happy Stampers (happy)
Dies: SSS (heart of roses), unknown (birthday - it was a gift)


I die cut the heart and put it back into the panel. Behind it is a background that I made a long time ago using the direct to paper technique. I didn't use any acetate like Therese did but my background is on glossy paper so it has a similar shine. I cut out the birthday from the same panel. The heart is treated with Wink of Stella but you know how difficult it is to capture on camera.


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

The Flower Challenge #5 "CASE Our Guest Designer"
***This card was the winner!!!***






Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"





Seize the Birthday "Inlaid Die Cutting"







Thank you so much for your visit! If you want to make my day leave me a comment!

Be well,

More Triangles

In my last post I mentioned that I had made a different version of that card and here it is! By the time everything was dry, the daylight was gone and since I worked every day last week I chose to wait until the weekend to take a picture of it! I much rather work with daylight.

So these are the triangles I cut off when I created the other triangle. For this time I used white embossing paste. The strip on the side was created by sponging Distress Ink directly on the card and stamping a splatter stamp repeatedly along it.

Stamp: Stampin' Up (splatters)
Other: Triangle stencil (Hero Arts), micro beads, embossing paste, distress inks


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


CAS Mix Up February Challenge 






Stamplorations CAS challenge February







Addicted to Stamps and More #229 "Clean and Simple"







If you are tired of triangles now, fear not, my next blogpost will feature something more feminine.

Be well,

Triangles

The current CAS Mix-Up Challenge wants us to use corrugated cardboard. Ha, I have tons of it in my cupboard in all the colors, with polka dots, metallic, wavy, etc from way back. A couple of years ago a friend in Germany took me to a big craft store and there I bought a roll of this brown corrugated cardboard. Love the look but hadn't used it yet. But this is what I thought of when I first saw the challenge. I also immediately thought of filling some of the valleys with micro beads, something else I haven't used in ages! Didn't feel like adding a sentiment...

Stay tuned for a different version of this card!

Stamps: Mama Elephant (small triangles)
Other: Stencil (SSS)

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


CAS Mix Up February Challenge
My choice was stenciling/microbeads
This card won "Outstanding Design"!

Simon Says Stamp "Work It Wednesdays January" - NEW
The corrugated cardboard was new

Can't copy the graphic, a warning comes up. Does anyone know why?


Another question: I saw that I have some new followers and wanted to welcome them with a link to their blog so that you can visit them too, but when I click on their icon Google doesn't give me their blog name anymore. Can anyone tell me what I should do? Thanks in advance!

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,

The Year of the Rooster

Happy Lunar New Year! Today starts the Year of the Rooster. I know that I am late and the day is almost over. I should have planned this post better but oh well, I am going to show you the card I made for this occasion anyway. It's very CAS.

Stamps: Picture Show (rooster), JudiKins (calligraphy background)
Dies: Spellbinders (circles)

The card is cream colored because I found white too stark.

My blogging friend Izzy who also posted a card for this occasion (check it out here, it is phenomenal) used the same color scheme and described why:
Red is the traditional color for the Lunar New Year. It announces a happy event and is a symbol of prosperity and happiness.
Gold is a symbol of nobility and wealth.
Black is a symbol of strength, nobility, and honesty.

I made my card a week ago and sent it out already so it would arrive by today. I did not copy Izzy's color scheme but used it intuitively. Izzy's card is much more spectacular. Check it out!

This excerpt is from an email my acupuncturist sent out:

Rooster qualities – commitment, loyalty, honesty and outspokenness – can help us all in 2017. The Rooster’s vivacious and charming energy draws people to them and they can be quite influential. In 2017 with Rooster energy abound, we can all be change-makers.

All my best wishes for a happy year of the Rooster!

Be well,