The Color Throwdown #459

© Lynn Put

I always love Black, White & Red Color Combinations so I had to play along with this week's Color Throwdown Challenge. The Design Team had lots of inspiration and I had thought I would use Papertrey Ink's "Gran's Garden" for this challenge. That was before I saw Lynn Put's Design (The Queen's Scene) on Instagram Wednesday Night.  That was a tough act to follow since she also used Gran's Garden to make her gorgeous card! This card was quite the topic of conversation on the Papertrey Forum yesterday but I have long admired Lynn's work. I mentioned that I would need to come up with a new game plan and I was basically challenged to use the same stamp set as Lynn (like I originally intended to) and put my own spin on it. So I gave it a whirl.

I started with a card base made from True Black Cardstock.  I die cut a panel of White with Black and Gold Polka Dot Patterned Paper for the background. The Gold dots are metallic.  I also cut several of each of the die cuts for the Gran's Garden Stamps from Stamper's Select White Cardstock and a Spellbinders Floral Oval frame from gold metallic cardstock.

Using one of the negatives from the Gran's Garden die cuts with my Mini Misti, I stamped the leaves first using Smokey Shadow Ink and then the blooms using Pure Poppy and Scarlet Jewel. For the very center dots on the flowers I stamped them in Versamark and heat set using Antique Gold Embossing Powder. so that I could tie in my stamped elements with the gold foiled frame.  A little reminder here to let the ink DRY before doing this or it makes a mess of the embossing powder. Guess who forgot and also forgot to use the powder tool on the first round! Its a good thing I had stamped extras.

Once I had the embossing done, I sat down with all the pieces to make my arrangement. Once I had it how I wanted, I put a piece of Press N Seal over the top and then picked it up and flipped it over to put adhesive on the back. I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte and put several dots on the back side of the pieces then placed the whole thing in position on my card front.  This doesn't get glue every where you need it, but it does keep your arrangement intact so you can place additional dots of glue where needed. as long as you give the adhesive a minute to set first.  I have a Small ScraPerfect No Clog Writing Tip on mine which lets me have access to my die cuts with it's longer tip. The one I linked to here is for the .5 oz bottle of Multi Medium Matte.  Simon also carries a Medium ScrapPerfect No Clog Tip for the 2 oz. bottles of several other adhesives like Glossy Accents.  I have been using the same tip on each of my bottles for about 18 months now and I love them. With the little Quilled Creations Tip, I tore it about a week in, so I had to look for a more durable alternative and this has been it. The price is the same too, so I've been super happy with the durability of it. Anytime I get a new bottle of adhesive, I just soak it for a few minutes in warm water and then rinse it clean before I put it on the bottle.

The sentiment is one that I stamp lots of at one time and is my favorite for many of the cards I send.  Its from the Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp Set and I stamped in onto a banner from Number the Stars Banner Die.  I actually like this a bit better before I snipped off what was hanging over the edge of my card, but it wouldn't have fit into the envelope if I would have left it there.  Since I made my card base from black cardstock, I also put a white panel on the inside of the card for a message.

Thanks for stopping in to see my project today.  Be sure to stop and see all of  the projects at The Color Throwdown Challenge Blog.

A New Card and a Little Update

Hello everyone! This is my second blog post for today so if you are looking for The Challenge #93, keep scrolling down. This card is for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge #453.

I had so much fun playing with Pattern Play Hexagons from Altenew yesterday.  I have several other projects in progress that will be coming in the next week or so, but there is just one for today.  I love the colors in the inspiration image so I really wanted to play along on this challenge.  There is bright Pink, Yellow and Green and as always any neutrals we like. In my case, the neutral is White as it often is.

The Pattern Play Hexagons Stamp Set is from Altenew's latest release and I had to have it.  I also want Pattern Play Diamonds.  Both sets are 6 x 8 stamp sets. Nicole Picadura designed these stamps and they are awesome.  The clear background stamp is large enough to cover an A2 card base going either direction. There are 6 other stamps that let you fill in whatever parts of the pattern you want and includes two sentiments as well.  I knew I'd want to heat emboss the background in Antique Gold so that is what I did yesterday morning.

You can see here the various parts that are included with the stamp set.  There's the hexagon, the diamond, the diamond row and the zig-zag row.  I have a MISTI Tool but I just did my stamping yesterday by hand with an acrylic block.  If I would have used either of the rows, I would have used the MISTI Tool. Since I was selectively stamping in only some random diamonds and hexagons it wasn't necessary to be so precise. There is no rhyme or reason to my stamping so don't look for a pattern as there isn't one there.  I used Altenew's Crisp Inks in Pink Diamond, Frayed Leaf and Lemon Tart from Papertrey Ink for my yellow.

I wish I would have thought to take a picture of just the background panel before I assembled the card, but I didn't. Next time I work with this set I will try to remember to do that for you.

Once I had my background stamped how I wanted it, I die cut it with the WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Die.  I like that it is a full A2 Card front size as I love this pattern and didn't want to cut any of it off.  Next I heat embossed two of the flowers and two of the leaves from the Beautiful Day Stamp Set which continues to be a favorite.  Heck, all floral stamps are my favorites, but Beautiful Day has seen more use than any other set in my collection. I used the 2nd and 3rd detail layers in Pink Diamond and Pinkalicious from the Altenew Cherry Blossom Collection for the blooms with Frayed Leaf and Forest Glades for the leaves from the Green Fields Collection.  By misting each layer right after it was stamped, it helps to soften the color and let the two mix and mingle.  The Cherry Blossom Collection is one of the 3 new ink collections from Altenew's most recent release. I only have room to store one more collection so I have to be very choosy for which collections I want. I'll have to move one collection to a different storage area as soon as I add one more which I would say is highly likely at some point in the not too distant future.  I'm still wanting to add Tropical Forest Collection and Pocketful of Sunshine Collection to my ink color choices.

I had one tiny little spot where the embossing was a little messy but I just put that corner where I was planning to put the blooms to cover it up.  So this is how the card sits as of this posting. I like how it looks now but I'm thinking of adding some Crystals or sequins to the card.

I've gotten a few e-mails from folks commenting that I'm not blogging as much right now.  I'm not planning to slow down, but right now I'm taking a class and there is a lot of homework for it.  So I'm making just as many cards, but doing fewer blog posts.  The blog posts take a considerable amount of time. The class runs through the 2nd week in September, so it's only temporary.  I share nearly everything on Instagram so you can look for me there. There's a link just under my blogger profile. I will still be doing my Design Team posts for The Challenge each week and The Card Concept will be starting back just as my class is finishing up.

I'm also going to link this card up over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this week with their theme of "Anything Goes".

Simon Says "Anything Goes"

It feels like it has been forever since I got to play along with the Simon Says Stamp Challenges but today's card was made especially for this week's challenge.  I am pretty smitten with this stamp and die bundle from Avery Elle called Floral Bouquet. I almost never use black ink, choosing instead heat embossing with Antique Gold Embossing Powder, but Copic markers work better with Copic friendly black ink.  I have a particular one that I like to use -- Simon Says Stamp Intense Black. It was formulated to work with Alcohol Markers such as Copics. I have two other images already inked up and ready to be colored today with some lovely pink shades.  

This is pretty simple Copic Coloring with no special techniques.  I am not a master colorist and I've had almost no training. Most of what I know is from watching others on YouTube.  I'm also not trying to achieve perfection, I just want something that looks pretty.  It doesn't need to be photo realistic.  

I basically used 2 colors of green for the leaves and 3 for the blooms + black for the Stamens. The part of this card that really helps it pop is the My Favorite Things Striped Sentiment Cover Up.  I die cut it from Stamper's Select White and mounted it to a Deep Indigo Top Folding Card Base.

The Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp and is the Painted Hello Die.  I cut four of them and glued them on top of each other to make a thick embellishment.

This is it for today.  Thank you so much for stopping by to see my card.  I hope you'll come back soon.  

Papertrey Ink's Fresh Bouquet

Jenni Murray's Card

Today I have a card for 2 different challenges that was inspired by this card from Jenni Murray over at the Muse Challenge Blog. They are celebrating their 200th Challenge this week. As a card maker, I find my inspiration (a.k.a. Muse) in many different places but most often it is in seeing what others create and share. It might be a color or color combination, a design or a technique. I love going around to the different challenges and seeing what everyone creates.

One of my favorite techniques from the past year is Gold Paint Spatter.  It provides a lot of textural interest without having to add another layer of paper which makes it a CAS (Clean and Simple) technique and is why I am participating over at the CAS on Sunday Challenge as well with "Hearts" as the challenge.

I started by adding spatters of Gold Watercolor to a card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  Using the Papertrey Ink Fresh Bouquet Die I cut one from Stamper's Select White then stamped the Fresh Bouquet Outline Stamp in Versamark and heat set it with Simon Say Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  Next I stamped the images using Altenew's Ruby Red, Coral Berry and Forest Glades inks and then attached that to my card base using Foam Squares.  Fresh Bouquet is a multi layer stamp set so that you can use several colors for the blooms.  I love the color Jenni used so I chose to stick with the Ruby Red.

The greeting was cut from Gold Foiled Cardstock using the Big Basics: Love You Die from Papertrey and the hearts were cut using the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts Die.  I popped up only one of the hearts on some Thin 3D Foam Squares cut down to fit.  Everything else was adhered with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

I have a few choices for Gold Watercolor but since I am only creating cards and not art pieces that need to last for the next thousand years, I've been looking for a less expensive alternative.  I adore the Finetec Mica Gold Watercolor Set, but it doesn't take long to use up one of the little pans and my supplier doesn't carry the individual refills in that brand although they are available.  Another choice is Gansai Tambi Watercolors Set of 36. My retailer carries the individual little pans of color for this brand but I found a less expensive alternative before they got them in the store.

While I was searching for Finetec Refills, I found Sargent Art Watercolor in Metallic Gold and Metallic Pearl White.  This is a huge 8 ounce bottle that is currently available for $6.64 for the Gold and $9.94 for the White on Amazon.  I love this size and I don't have to be careful with how much or how often I use it. It can also be diluted with water which is what I did with this card. You can see the spatter but it doesn't overtake the whole card.  I plan to try it again soon with a straight-from-the-bottle solution of the paint. There are so many ways to achieve this look.  I've also tried it with the Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Gold Lamé.  Rather than using the spray bottle, I put a bit in a small container and spatter it on with a paintbrush or you can use the end of the sprayer to tap color onto your paper or cardstock.  I'd recommend just trying different mediums and techniques until you come up with one you like. Personally I like them all but I use different ones for different looks.  The biggest bang for the buck is the Sargent Art brand and I can only imagine that a bottle will last a few years for sure.

Thanks for coming by today and spending a few minutes at my blog.  Be sure to check out the Challenge Blogs to see all of the beautiful cards for that have been submitted.

A Few Floral Favorites from 2016

Hello Everyone!  I am here today with a blog post that highlights some of my favorite cards from this year (2016). For most of these, I can even tell you who I sent it to. This first card was sent to my sweet friend, Amanda who endured 20 months of Chemo and 4 surgeries (her final one was yesterday) so she could battle Breast Cancer.  She has been so valiant in those efforts!   In 2015, my husband and I traveled the entire southeast portion of the United States and that included stopping in Charlotte, NC to see Amanda. It's an experience that did and continues to touch my heart.  This card is made with supplies that are primarily from Papertrey Ink (Cover Plate Twist) with the exception of the leaves which are a My Favorite Things die. 

This card was sent to Amanda as well although at a later time.  She told me she actually fell asleep with this card the day she got it and when she woke, it was under her pillow.  It was a simple card, but it turned out so well. I love the little Chickadee and this one from WPLUS9's Clear Day Stamp Set is a favorite.  I don't want to send the same style of card to the same person over and over, so part of what I do is dreaming up something new and different. The thing about handmade cards is that each one is different, even when you are using the exact same supplies.  

For the next card, I was experimenting with my Kuretake Zig Gansai Tambi Watercolors and Finetec Metallic Gold Watercolors to make this gorgeous watercolored card for one of my sisters-in-law. This is another WPLUS9 Stamp set called Lucky Stars. 

The next card in my line-up features my favorite flowering tree, the Dogwood. This is a wood block stamp from Impression Obsession that I have had for a number of years (10+).  This was the first time I had used it. I love the Legend of the Dogwood and how it relates to Christianity.

I confess, I haven't yet mailed this card to anyone.  I didn't finish it until after Easter so it is waiting for Easter 2017 to be sent out. The die cut "Easter" is from Simon Says Stamp.  

Next up is a card I created using Altenew's Persian Motifs Stamp Set and Graceful Greetings from Papertrey Ink.  Since I started making cards, I have learned that I have several favorite colors besides pink; aqua, teal, sugarplum, coral, etc.  I also love heat embossing and gold embossing powder. My favorite gold embossing powder is Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I painted this using Nicholson's Peerless Watercolors with some Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder in the water.  

My next card features another Altenew Stamp Set called Beautiful Day.  There are Beautiful Day Coordinating Dies for this set which I also used.  In addition I used the love die from the Hero Arts Love Stamp and Cut. My daughter loved this card, so I sent it to her.

Next in the lineup is a card I sent to a Canadian friend and uses the Papertrey Ink Hands of Time Stamp Set with WOW! Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder; another favorite! I love ink blending and I used that technique for this card.  The Awesome Die is from Waffle Flower Crafts and the little hearts are from a Simon Says Stamp Die called Mini Hearts Set.  

This next card uses Papertrey Ink's Tulip Time Stamp Set and Tulip Time Coordinating Dies. This card was made for my friend Yana and I wanted to send her something that she wouldn't make herself. It uses a "go to formula" that Yana shared on her blog along with papers from Papertrey Ink (Berry Sorbet) and even a paper called Sea Glass that is from Creative Memories. Creative Memories papers aren't normally suitable for card making, but since this is only a mat layer, it was fine. Yana does a lot of how to videos on her blog and I wanted to thank her for sharing her knowledge and expertise with all of us card makers and crafters. As you can see, I love these Tulips and I used them many times over the course of the year. I'm looking forward to using them again in 2017.  

Another 2016 favorite is the Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp and Coordinating Die Set.  I used it for every kind of card but my favorite was to wish someone a really nice day or a Thinking of You type card. It is always so nice to get a card in the mail from a friend who lets you know they are thinking of you, especially for no particular reason. The "Perfect" Die is another from Waffle Flower Crafts.  Even though I used the same basic supplies, each card has a different look. I love it when I can mix and match supplies from all different manufacturers to create the perfect card for the person I am sending it to. 
These are just a few of my favorite floral cards from 2016.  There are many others. Beautiful Day and Tulip Time were my most used stamp sets in 2016 for good reason.  They are incredibly beautiful and the coordinating dies make them just that much more stunning on your finished project.

I'd love to hear about your favorites from the year.  I barely made it into Spring with this post so I'm thinking next year I need to break my favorites into about 3 posts during the last week of the year.  Some of the Christmas cards I made were also among my favorites for the year, but I've been sick this week, so I never got to it.

I have several fun projects coming up this month as I am the Designer in the Spotlight for the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge every Wednesday in January. I hope you'll stop by to see my project each week.

I'm wishing you all the happiest possible New Year in 2017!  Stay safe and make sure you carve out some crafty time int he new year as well.