The Color Throwdown #528 - January 2019 Guest Designer

Hello all! I'm back with this week's guest post for The Color Throwdown Challenge #525, which is my last post as the January 2019 Guest Designer.  This week's colors are Aqua, Yellow Saffron, and Brown. 

Yellow is my least favorite color, so I often struggle when pairing it up with other colors.  You know, different colors than what you might see in nature such as green foliage on a yellow flower. When I know something is going to be a struggle for me, I look to my stamp sets and imagine how it would look in the color scheme designated for inspiration.  When I came across my Home to Roost Stamp Set from Papertrey Ink, I thought what a cute birdhouse it would make to stamp it in the two shades of yellow and add a brown tree branch.  One of the earliest signs of spring is seeing the Bluebirds, so that is where my inspiration came from.

For my card, I used supplies from a few companies; My Favorite Things, Papertrey Ink, and Gina K Designs.  I don't have that Saffron color in any of my ink brands, so I Combined a few to get something that I thought was pretty close.  I used PTI's Summer Sunrise stamped a couple of times, then a layer of Fine Linen with a final layer of Bright Buttercup for the top layer.  When the layers of color are put together, it came out with what I think is a pretty good version of Saffron.  The "siding" on the birdhouse was stamped in Papertrey Ink's Harvest Gold.

For the brown tree frame, I used PTI's Mix & Mat Plaid.  For the background layer, I used MFT Blueprints #15 (which has been retired), die cutting it from a sheet of a designer paper pack from Wild Rose Studio.  For the birds and the baby birds, I used Gina K Designs Ocean Mist.  It has just a touch more blue in it than Papertrey's Aqua Mist which is what I wanted to go with the background panel.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to stop at The Color Throwdown Blog and see all of the inspiration.  Thanks so much, Wanda, for inviting me to join you this month!  Here are the links to the rest of the stops on the hop.

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put

Vickie Zimmer

Wanda Cullen

Amy Rysavy

Amy Rohl

Vicki Finger, January Guest Designer (You are here)

The Color Throwdown #527 - Guest Designer Post

Hey everyone!  I'm back with my week 4 post for The Color Throwdown Challenge this week, #527 with the colors Navy, Green, and Gray.  This is a color combination I wouldn't have thought of, but I love how it turned out and I plan to use it again in the future!

I have been wanting to play with a new stamp set I got recently from Altenew called Wild Ferns Stamp Set and this was a perfect time to try it out.  Each of the three ferns in the set has three layers so I started by laying out the arrangement of the ferns on my card front and then choosing the inks I wanted to use.  I used the three darkest shades from the Green Valley Mini Cube Set; Grass Field, Shadow Creek, and Mountain Pine working from lightest to darkest. These ferns are so realistic and I think they could work for several types of cards.  Today I chose to make a thank you card for some of the gifts received this Christmas.

I used Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Weathervane, and Dark Indigo cardstock.  The "Thanks" die is from Simon Says Stamp.

This is super clean and simple cardmaking with a lot of white space and a bold design.  I'll be checking out your projects all this month to see the cards you've created using the color challenges.

Here's the Blog List:

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put

Vickie Zimmer

Wanda Cullen

Amy Rysavy

Amy Rohl

Vicki Finger, January Guest Designer (You are here)

The Color Throwdown #526 - January 2019 Guest Designer

Hello there!  I am back with this week's Guest Post for The Color Throwdown Challenge #526, White, Blue, and Aqua.  Even though I live in Texas, I am in a very northern part of the state at a time of year when we might just get some snow.  This time last year our home was under a thick layer of ice and no one could get in or out of the subdivision because the ice was so thick.  Actual snowfall is preferable to ice and comes so seldom in Texas that we try to enjoy it when it actually comes around.  These huge snowflakes in the inspiration image remind me of the snow we got on Valentine's Day 2004 when our grandson, Charlie, was just a little toddler still.  He would have just turned three years old that January and it was a memorable occasion because Papa was home, it was Valentine's Day and the two of them got to build a snowman and have a snowball fight in our backyard.  I have a large double page spread in one of Charlie's scrapbooks documenting that event.

I love a good, thick snowfall that leaves a Winter Wonderland for however long it sticks around before it warms up enough to melt it.  In Texas, that is usually a day or less.  The white is almost always accompanied by blue skies which is such a contradiction in and of itself.  So when it came time to put this card together, I was very inspired by the colors we were to use.  I also wanted to use some sparkling elements because, just as in nature, when those sunny blue skies hit the snow, the sparkle is immeasurable.  But, a girl can try.

I die cut the Bold Borders: Flurries from some white shimmer metallic cardstock and then cut a piece of white glitter paper to put behind it.  I have a few types of glitter paper and this particular one does not die cut well at all.  If you just want to put some sparkle behind a border or frame die, it is perfect for that as it cuts simple shapes nicely.  It just doesn't seem to be able to be intricately cut.  I have several sheets of this that I got several years back and this particular style has a plastic substrate which is the issue with intricacy in die cutting.  The glitter papers with an actual paper substrate cut fantastic in the Gemini.  I still use my Cuttlebug most often for die cutting, but anything that has a lot of detail, like the snowflakes, cuts very well in the Gemini.

For the snowflakes, I used Simon Says Stamp Glitter Cardstock in Teal and Sapphire.  I added little gems to the center of each one with Multi Medium Matte and let that dry before attempting to attach them to my card front.  I made a top folding Horizontal Cardbase from Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Stamper's Select White Cardstock and started adhering everything into place.

I used a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Two Feet Deep Stamp Set and stamped it with Versamark then heat embossed it with some Sapphire Pearl Embossing Powder from Recollections.  I don't often use colored embossing powder, but this was the perfect match for my card!  I always treat with my powder tool so that I have nice clean embossing.  I used a vertical strip from MFT to put my sentiment on since I was planning to do it on an angle.  This will be a fun card to send to a friend in the Winter months.

I took the inspiration photo quite literally this time around but you sure wouldn't have to.  I can't wait to see what you make for the challenge!

Here's the Blog List:

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put

Vickie Zimmer

Wanda Cullen

Amy Rysavy

Amy Rohl

Vicki Finger, January Guest Designer (You are here)

The Color Throwdown #525 - January 2019 Guest Designer

Hello all!  I'm back with this week's guest post for The Color Throwdown Challenge #525.  This week's colors are Black, Brown and White.

The inspiration image has a rustic farmhouse vibe and I really wanted to capture at least the "rustic" part of that in my project.  To that end, I recently purchased the Tree Ring Die from Altenew.  I felt like it would be an easy way to give a more masculine feel to guy cards which I sometimes really struggle with.

I started my project by selecting the papers I wanted to use.  As always, I started with a cardbase made from Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  I die cut a 4.25 x 5.5-inch panel of Bitty Big Black and White paper using the larger checked background side to mimic the pillow and blanket in the photo.  I die cut three of the leafy branches from Stamper's Select Vellum using the Papertrey Ink Songbirds Dies.  This die puts a little stitch line down the center of each leaf.  For a more rustic feel, I used Delicata Gold Ink with a Stencil Brush to add a little bit of very light color to the semi-translucent vellum.

I die cut the tree ring from Tonic Studios Cinnamon Silk Cardstock.  I love this cardstock because of the texture it gives my projects.  They have a few in this style called Silk Look or Silk Effect.  I have another in Tonic Golden Satin Silk Look that is more of an antique gold rather than the brown of the Cinnamon.

For the sentiment, I used the Papertrey Ink 2012 Birthday Tags with the Limitless Layers 2¼ inch ovals and stamped in Black Amalgam Ink.  I wanted the black to be super crisp and it is.  My grandson, Charlie, turns 18 in a few weeks and I am planning to make a card similar to this for his birthday card.  He loves graphic design and I know he will appreciate the design of this card and the fact that it isn't girly.

I can't wait to see what you create using The Color Throwdown's Challenge colors for this week.

Here's the Blog List:

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe

Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put

Vickie Zimmer

Wanda Cullen

Amy Rysavy

Amy Rohl

Vicki Finger, January Guest Designer (You are here)