Guest Designer for Color Hues Challenge #84 -- Peach & Green

 

My card for Color Hues Challenge #82 was chosen as the winner and I was invited to

guest for TCH84. And as luck would have it, I got to play with my favorite colors!

 

 

Here are the challenge colors for the first half of the month of April.

 

 

Here's my card using some older products that I needed to give some love to

and I also knew that I wanted to make a shaped card.

 

 

I first stenciled Pinkfresh Studio's Bougainvillea Print, using only Stencils 1 and 2

and inks from Concord & 9th. 

A base was cut twice from a rounded arch die and the back piece was adhered to the 

front to form a hinge. The stenciled piece was cut from a smaller arch, then run through 

a floral 3D embossing folder and adhered to the base. A sentiment was added and the 

card was finished off with some gems. 

I hope you'll play along with THC 84's colors. The deadline is April 14, 2024 at

9am EST. Thanks to the Color Hues team for the kind invitation to join you!

Time Out Challenges + JUGS Collaboration Challenge

 

Blogging friend Michele directed me to a collaborative challenge between

Time Out Challenges and (new to me) JUGS, the acronym for Just Us Girls.

 

And the cue word for both challenges is BIRDS.  I'm a huge fan of birds and I feel that I was 

destined to enter the challenge. Here's my rather busy entry.

I just received Papertrey Ink's Into the Blooms Spring Nest Die and quickly put one together. 

I have several of their Feathered Friends cut, colored, and assembled in a "bird box" and chose

 a blue one that matched the eggs.

 

I unsuccessfully researched birds' egg colors and I believe blue colored birds don't lay 

blue eggs. I don't even know what species of bird this is but I was short on time to color 

a beige/brown bird. 

The nest and eggs were assembled and flowers and leaves were added, together with

the bird and a white embossed sentiment. Yes, it's the same sentiment that I used a 

few cards back that's a fave.

Ok, off to link this up! Thanks so much for stopping by and to Michele for

introducing me to the challenge.

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Edited to add: I've just returned from an overseas trip a few days ago and feeling a bit 

jet lagged when I read in some comments that I won the collaborative challenge!

 Many thanks to the gals at Time Out Challenges and JUGS for the honor!

 

 

Color Hues #82 --Turquoise & Green

 

I haven't played in a Color Hues Challenge in quite a while and when I found some

  Greetery dragonflies that were already cut and colored, I decided to enter a card.

 

Here's Tracey's color palette for Challenge #82. 

 

And here's my card. 

I colored them quite a while ago and I think I used Zig makers and a waterbrush.

I adhered him to an embossed panel and added the white embossed Honeybee Stamps

sentiment. Some Pretty Pink Posh jewels finished off the card.

 

Earlier I added some vellum leaves but took them off and decided simple is best.

Besides, I don't think dragonflies ever land on greenery--they're much too busy flitting.

Off to link this up with a few days to spare. Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Edited to add: My card was chosen as the winner! Thank you Color Hues!

 

 

 

The Flower Challenge #89 -- Make a Square Card

 

This month's challenge theme at The Flower Challenge is to make a SQUARE card.

 

 Here's my little square number.

 

I  just received my Greetery order of BotaniCuts Lilacs. I thought they'd be a pain to assemble

but I watched Betsy create hers about a dozen times and I was sold on the set.

 

Betsy used daubers to color her lilacs but I took the lazy route and smooshed whatever

purple inks I had and picked up the colors on watercolor card stock, then cut them out.

The leaves were ink blended on white die cuts and I used the residual ink to color the

tops of the clusters. 

I added a frame to a 4.25" card base and sponged in a blue background. I spattered water

and blue ink then added the blooms and leaves when the panel was dry. The sentiment

is from Honeybee Stamps Be Still stamp and die set. Sequins finished off the card.

All in all it was fast and easy to assemble the lilacs and I'd like to try and make some

 white ones that Betsy shared. But that's for another day. 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #781

 

I'm squeezing in a card to Color Throwdown Challenge #781. Here's the challenge graphic.

 

And here's my card using mostly Altenew products.

Flowers and leaves from the Mini Flower Cluster Layering Die Set were cut from

white card stock and colored with peachy/pink colors from The Stamp Market.

Two white card stock panels were cut from Reverse Wonky Rectangles then embossed

with a Sizzix 3D Lace Embossing Folder.

The panels were adhered together by a hinge and the flowers and leaves were

assembled on a slight diagonal. The sentiment and shadow were adhered below

the flowers and the card was finished off with sequins.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you're having a good weekend!

The Flower Challenge #88 -- Add a Heart

 

I'm so happy to see The Flower Challenge back from a well deserved hiatus.

This month's challenge theme is to Add a Heart and it gave me a chance to use

some (two year old) Greetery products that were still in their packaging. Oh my!

 

 

Here's my card and I'm hoping that the heart isn't too overwhelming.

The heart wood slice was assembled and spattered then topped with Forget-Me-Nots that

were colored with Zig markers. I had no idea what color forget-me-nots were until I looked 

it up, so I apologize for these bright pink ones.

 

 

I added the love word and popped up the heart on Altenew's Masonry Wall. At the last 

minute I decided to add the sub sentiment to balance out the design.

I might redeem myself and color these blooms again in their "proper" color.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

* * * 

 

Edited to add: 

Many thanks to The Flower Challenge ladies for choosing my card as the  

winner for Challenge 88! Honored to display this badge.

 

 

Simon Says Stamp January Flickr Challenge -- Anything Goes

 The theme for Simon Says Stamp's January 2024 Flickr Challenge is Anything Goes 

so I decided to enter a card made with some new Simon Says Stamp goodies.

 

I ordered the Printmaking Hearts Stamp and Die set which has layered stamping on

9 hearts. Feeling a bit lazy, I decided to cut out the hearts from several alcohol ink

panels that I've accumulated.
 

 The hearts were spritzed with alcohol, some gold Kuretake watercolors and I found

my ancient set of metallic rub ons that all added touches of gold. The hearts were

adhered to a kraft card base and a popped up sentiment finished off the card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Freshly Made Sketches #620

I decided to enter Freshly Made Sketches #620 after my Concord & 9th order arrived and 

I pictured the knitted heart as the main element in the sketch.

 

 And here's my card with a simplified take on the sketch.

 

After watching Jennifer McGuire go through her stash of AI backgrounds, I went through

mine and looked for the most appropriate ones for a heart. All of the dies were cut from

one inked piece and assembled with the "stray" yarn coming off on the side.

 

I stamped the sentiment before running the card base through Waffle Flower's

Quilting Texture Die. In hindsight, I didn't have to add the extra stitches over the

heart because it looks super variegated even without it. But I do love the texture.

I'm off to link this up with a few days to spare. Thanks for stopping by!

Inspired by Challenge #271 -- MITTENS

 

The theme for this month's Inspired by Challenge is MITTENS. 

 

Here's how I was inspired.

Meet a 5-year old stamp and die set from Simon Says Stamp. I remember buying it and 

it never touched ink until recently when I watched some of Kristina Werner's Christmas

Card series on You Tube. I spotted Critter Sweaters from 2018 and dug through my

SSS Christmas stamps and found it! 

They appear to be snuggled in mittens, or is that just me? The stamp set is unique

because it's simply stamped on each die cut critter to resemble cozy sweaters.

The background uses MFT's Knitted Sweater Background, stamped on kraft with

Versamark for a tone on tone look. The stamped sentiment finished off the card.

Ok, I'm off to link up my card. Thanks for stopping by!

SSS Wednesday Challenge--Something NEW

 

Happy New Year to you! I made this card for a friend and decided to enter it in 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with a theme of Something NEW.

 

While the theme may be "new" the stamp itself is old and long retired. I used 

Birdie Brown's Warmest Wishes stamp and die set and had this cut and colored 

in my scrap bowl. She must have been waiting for a chance to make an appearance.

After die cutting a card base from Reverse Wonky Rectangles, I inked a sky, stamped

the sentiment, then ran the panel through a falling snowflake embossing folder. I used 

a sanding block to take away the color and leave the appearance of "snow" behind.

I grounded the girl with a torn bottom and finished off with some extra snowflakes.

The back panel was hinged so the card can stand to be displayed.

 

I'm off to enter this and mail it out, too! Thanks for stopping by!