Make It Monday #258

I am popping on here this morning with a super quick post.  In this week's Make It Monday #258, Laurie Willison challenged us to use a Cover Plate as a decorative option for a tag.  I'm just starting to think about tucking a few things away for the upcoming Holiday Season and I wanted to make a few tags using the Cover Plate: Winter Floral die.  The arched top tag is from WPLUS9 Design Studio's Love Showers Die Set.  The other tag is from Papertrey Ink's Tag Sale: Quilted. The arched top tag is a really nice size being 3 x 4.25 inches and the Tag Sale: Quilted is about 3.75 x4.25 at the tallest point also a good sized tag. These would work on a present or even larger items such as a wine bottle because it is large enough.


I chose to put a "For You" on only the one tag for now so I can pick and choose what I want on the tag at the time I need it.

To use just part of the cover plate die cut, I laid it in to the tag die so that it would cut the same shape and I could strategically place the die cut onto the tag and have it line up.  This was a super easy and quick way to make some holiday tags. You could use the same method for birthday tags or whatever occasion you might need. I only used one Cover Plate die here but I have others I could have used.

For the gold die cuts, I used a Mini Round Ink Blending Tool with Encore Gold Pigment Ink to color them.  I attached them to the tags with Ranger Multi Medium Mat and ran some ribbon through the top.  The "For You" tag was also stamped in Encore Gold Ink and heat embossed with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder so I could be sure the inks matched.  All of the tags were cut from scraps of cardstock except the Tag Sale: Quilted and it's a great way to utilize them.  The Quilted tag had ink blending done in Simon Says Stamp Island Blue Ink with Papertrey Inks in Tropical Teal and Hawaiian Shores.  The cardstock colors are from left to right and top to bottom:  Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate, Rustic White, and Hawaiian Shores.  The die cuts were all cut from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you'll find some time to make a few tags of your own.

SSS Flickr Challenge #51 & Muse Challenge #178

Hello and Happy Monday! Today I am participating in the Muse Challenge #178 as well as the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #51 with a theme of Embossing. Tracey McNeely is our Muse for this week on the Muse Challenge. Her card reminds me of poppies with the black specks in the center of it so a Poppy Image is what I used for my card!  My image is from Botanical Blocks III by Papertrey Ink. This stamp has quickly become a favorite for me.  It's easy to watercolor and makes a lot of impact.

Queen Alexandra Poppy

I started with a 4.5 x 5.5 inch piece of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper. I stamped with Versamark & heat embossed two of the Poppy images on that size panel with Simon Says Stamp Ultra Fine Antique Gold Embossing Powder so that I would have an extra all ready to go if I messed up the first one.  That was a few weeks ago during the Papertrey Stamp-A-Faire 2016 and I didn't mess up the first one so I had this second one sitting on my desk for a while ready to color.

Although there are quite a few colors of poppies in the world, my favorite is the Queen Alexandra Poppy seen in this image.  My mom has one in her yard. I'm thinking if I wanted an exact match I should have used Worn Lipstick Distress Ink but since my card is not an actual photograph, I think it is still quite pretty.  I used my favorite water brush, a Kuretake Zig that I buy on Amazon, with Hibiscus Burst Ink from Papertrey Ink. Hibiscus Burst is becoming my "go-to" choice for Pink.  It's not too dark or too pale and I love to use it for watercolor.

This is really simple to color since it is such a small image (approximately 2 x 3.25 inches) but I think it has pretty big impact here.  I really enjoy using Pink and Black together; one is feminine and the other is classic. Together it is a winning combination.

I used Shabby Shutters Distress Marker for the leaves and stem of the poppy. I'm not too keen on the more yellow greens but it was perfect for this image.  The pink background is a panel I made using a stencil brush with Lovely Lady Ink and then misted with Tsukineko Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Mist. Once it was dry, I cut it using the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies.  I also cut a plain white rectangle in the same size for the inside of my black card base.

Next I cut around the outside of the Botanical Block and matted a very thin layer of black cardstock behind it. It's about 1/16th of a inch wider than the block all the way around. I used Papertrey Ink's True Black Cardstock.  Additionally I used the second from the smallest Stitched Rectangle Die to cut the sentiment out.  I love the stitched detail and these are my absolute favorite dies.  I've gotten very good at using them creatively to make a custom sized stitched rectangle in just about any size I need (except larger).  Anytime I use a dark cardstock for my card base, I cut a stitched rectangle to put on the inside of my card.  For the very center of my flower I used my Zig Clean Color Black Marker to color it in with no water added.  The greeting is from Mums the Word Stamp Set.  One I had the card assembled, I gave the front of the whole card another layer of Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz.

I have several challenges that I want to play along with this week so I'm going to scoot off here.  If I've left out some detail, be sure to send me an inquiry and I'll come back and edit my post. There's not much new and different here but I enjoy this poppy so much that I already have another color combination in my mind. Thank you so much for spending a few minutes here at my blog today.   I appreciate all the encouraging and uplifting comments!

ETA:  I'll also be linking up this card to the Stampin' Royalty Challenge for their "Anything Goes" Challenge.

Color Throwdown #393

This week over at the Color Throwdown Challenge #393 there is a very soft, subtle and muted color palette.  The photo on the left was our inspiration image for the colors we were to use; blush, rose and grey and white.  I chose to watercolor some of the images from the Altenew Magnolias for Her Stamp Set and use the coordinating dies.

I've been working with these magnolia images in an attempt to imitate an artist whose work I greatly admire, Marika Rahtu. For this card, she used Copic Markers with Faber Castell Polychromo Pencils to get the phenomenal results you see here.  I still need more practice, but my 2 attempts so far have resulted in great learning for my third attempt which will hopefully happen soon.  My results were not terrible but not good enough for me to share yet.


I do love Magnolias and the smell from the blooms is incredible! The image on the left is from my Magnolia tree in our yard. We purchased and planted it 2 1/2 years ago and it was such a beautiful tree. That first winter, it got hit by an ice storm causing it to lose several branches and some height.  It was so heavy with ice, it just broke the top completely off.  I feel lucky that it survived at all.  Last year, we had so much rain that the blooms would get knocked off by the rain the same day they bloomed so we didn't get to enjoy them at all.  I took this picture last weekend of the year's first bloom on this tree.  It is loaded with buds this year.  We are still getting quite a lot of rain at this point, but I'm hopeful.  A second bloom came out yesterday.  If this flower seems large to you, it's because it is.  I haven't actually measured, but it is approximately 10 inches in diameter. I'll have more Magnolia beauty coming to the blog in the coming days and I can't wait to share!

I've mentioned before that I detest "fussy cutting" and that one of the things that had happened over the 5 years between scrapbooking and making cards is that now most stamp sets have coordinating dies. That is what I used to wish for, but I kind of got away from even traditional scrapbooking and had been doing digital scrapbooking for the last several years. Once I started making a few cards last year and found out this wish had been granted. . . well to me, it's paper crafting heaven! I've gone from scrapbooker to card maker in nearly one fell swoop.

I stamped the magnolias with Versamark and heat embossed them using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder on a piece of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper. I have other gold embossing powders, but this is my current favorite Gold Embossing Powder.  It's a warm rich color, melts fast and is a reasonable price. Using my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens, I painted the blooms using Sugared Almond Pink and Pale Rose so that I could keep with the designated throwdown colors. Originally, I tried to do a grey branch, but it just didn't look right so I opted for the grey card base.  The branch is cut with the Altenew Vintage Flower Dies.

I laid in my first layer of watercolor using the Sugared Almond Pink and went over the entire image on all three blooms.  I let that dry and went in with subsequent layers of Pale Rose with more color at the base of the petals where the shadows would be deepest.  I use a #2 and #4 Round Silver Black Brush that I got at Simon Says Stamp. You can buy each separately or the three in a bundle. Once I had the blooms painted and they were dry, I went over them with a coat of Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer and let that dry before die cutting them with the coordinating dies.  Then it was only a matter of arranging the elements on my card background and adhering them with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  The biggest bloom is attached with foam squares under the petals except for the very center of the flower is glued down to give it that extra bit of dimension. I added a few Moonshine Sequins in 6mm and 10mm to finish it off.  Simon's has a few sizes and also a multi-pack with 3mm, 5mm, and 10mm in it.

The greeting is from Papertrey Ink's Friendly Flowers and heat embossed with the same Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  This is my favorite font and  also my current favorite sentiment set.

The Color Throwdown Challenge #393 will end Monday at noon so I'd better skeedaddle and get this post up!  Thanks so much for stopping by today and if you'd like to leave a comment, I really enjoy reading them.