Make it Monday, #220 - Diecut Mini Notebooks

Melissa had a sweet summertime project she shared with us: Mini Notebooks! After looking at the gallery, I was inspired to do some crafting. I will be visiting my granddaughters later this month, so made them a booklet, each.
I haven't used this stamp set nearly enough (PTI's Scentimentals), so this was my chance to rectify that! I didn't have much luck with making these stamps into scratch and sniff projects, but coating the stamping with Glossy Accents was another way to use them.
Thanks for looking!

One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #19- Strip Down

Well, doesn't that title catch your eye?  This is my first time posting in this challenge, and, since I am trying to do more CAS cards, I thought I'd give this a whirl. Plus, I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and make Christmas cards sooner than November, so here goes.
I masked a strip down the side of my card and sponged 3 inks, 2 Distress Inks, and Delicata Gold ink in the middle, overlapping the red and green inks. You can't really see the shine of the gold ink in this photo, though, unfortunately. A star and a simple jewel embellishment finishes it off.

And, because I might as well do two, I did another strip. I didn't mask off enough area, however, and accidentally sponged ink over the tape and onto the card front. Sigh. So, I trimmed out the strip, and glued it down onto a new card. So this one is technically 2 layers and doesn't qualify for this challenge. However, I jazzed it up with some stamping and some colouring with my Zig markers, and liked it even better than the first one (told you I have trouble with CAS)! Okay...2 down and 28 to go!

Make it Monday #216: Adding Colour to Cover Plates

Happy Canada Day!  Well, it's nice to be back! I've missed the challenges lately due to busy-ness, but at least we have a freshly painted interior of our house. I found picking the paint rather challenging, though--it's not like choosing paper for a card! And I'm exhausted from moving furniture, books and other paraphernalia!! Heaven help me if we ever have to move...

The challenge this week was to colour a Cover Plate, so I used the new "Waves" plate from PTI. Instead of just doing the plate, however, I painted the whole thing. I liked the texture that the negative portions of the waves gave to the whole panel. I used Distress Inks to paint a panel of watercolour paper, adding the Lighthouse and sentiment from the new "Guiding Light" stamp set and dies. (Must practice stamping these lighthouses, though...)

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #213: Condensation Effects

Betsy has us using our Glossy Accents to make some "Cool Condensation" on our cards. Now, does she mean "cool" as in temperature? Or "cool", as in an "interesting effect"?? I guess both apply ;)

Anyhoo, here, at the last minute, is my effort. I used the flowers from "Flower Favorites", and the vase is from "The Ton" stamps (Peonies). The sentiment is part of a sentiment from "Banner Sentiments" set, selectively inked. I die cut and stamped the flowers, then watercoloured the background, as well as the water in the vase. I cut a slit in the top of the vase to tuck the die cut stems behind, then stamped the stems into the vase of water in an attempt to make it look more like the stems were IN the water, not glued on top, like the flowers.

 And here is a close up of the "condensation" on the vase, as well as a bit of the dimension of the flower hanging over the top of the vase. The Glossy Accents are not dry, yet, but I have to get this posted!

Thanks for looking!

May 2015 - Blog hop Challenge

This month's Blog Hop has the following inspiration photo for our cards.

                                                  

My cards are very loosely based on the rainbow cascade of the blocks. I went for a watercoloured background, choosing to not use the square shapes, focussing just on the colours. See that one rogue purple block in the lower right corner? I just had to put that in my first card ;)

My second card is a variation on this same theme/layout, since I needed 2 birthday cards for family this month! These are not my usual style, which is to gravitate for lighter, less vibrant colours. (Going a little out of the box, this month...)

Stamps: Brushed Blooms (and dies), Sentiment Strips (and dies)

Inks: Distress inks for the background, PTI inks for the flowers and sentiment, as well as Versamark ink and white filagree embossing powder

Thanks so much for looking!

Make it Monday #212: Fussy Cutting

Ashley has us digging out our scissors and fussy cutting this week! I never thought I'd see the day... However, it went just fine, and I may even try this again! Lol. Can you tell I don't like fussy cutting, as a rule? However, here is my effort.

The stamps (Brushed Blooms, Graceful Greetings) are from PTI, and all of the paper, except for that lovely lavender background paper, which is from Gina K. (Sure wish PTI would come out with this colour, as well as a true pink! Hint, Hint!) The striped background is from a Hero Arts stamp, I think. I no longer have the packaging...

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #211: Using Gelatos with Stamps

I was intrigued with this week's MIM (seen here), where Melissa gently smudged gelatos over a stamped image. It produced a halo of colour and intensified the ink colours. Loved it, especially on the linen paper! Great texture! I was going to use some new stamps, but when I had a look at the gallery, it seems that everyone else had the same idea (and they are beautiful), but I wanted to do something different. So I dug out good ol' Year of Flowers: Sweet Peas.  I watercoloured the flowers with Distress Inks, then smudged the Gelatoes over top. The blue doesn't show up very well in the full photo, but it's there, giving a hint of sky in the background. Thanks for looking!

Papertrey's April Blog Hop

Welcome to PTI's April Blog Hop! We have the following inspiration photo to use for our cards.

And here is the card I've made. It uses the "You've Been Framed: Oval" die and stamps, as well as the flowers and stamps from Bitty Bouquet. For the ombre background, I used a sheet from the "Beautiful Brushstrokes" patterned paper. I felt a bit nostalgic, so dug out some pearl adhesives and an old flourish die for embellishments.

Inks: Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst, Berry Sorbet, Enchanted Evening, Limeade Ice

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #209-White Die Cuts With a Pop of Colour

Oooohhhh....Loved the idea for this challenge! I do have difficulty leaving white space, so thought this would be a good challenge to enter.

I used "Zappy Birthday" for my card, and quite like how it turned out. I confess all the white space was kind of bothering me, though (sigh--just couldn't leave it alone), so I added a strip of washi tape to the bottom edge, and then stamped the zig-zag above the row of white "thing-me-bobs"... What do you call those..."star bursts"?? I also popped up the main image on some dimensional squares, for some added "POW"! (I wish this stamp set also included a "Pow!", and a "Bam!" They would have been fun stamps to put in the star-bubble, too.)

All stamps and card stock are PTI. Thanks for looking!

And here's a close up of the dimension.

Make it Monday #207 - Double Partial Die Cutting

Well, Laura Bassen has us kicking it up a notch with this challenge! I needed a masculine birthday card, so decided to try out this technique, for this card.
Oh, drat! I just noticed that one of the gold stars fell off! Hmmm...can you just pretend the turquoise balloon also has one? I guess I need to use a better adhesive on that clear embossing powder!

All materials are PTI, unless otherwise noted.

Stamps: Birthday Style

Paper: Rustic White card base, Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss striped, Simply Chartruese, Orange (from my stash), Harvest Gold, Hawaiian Shores, Gold adhesive backed paper (Silhouette)

Dies: Mat Stack 1, Tipped Top, Birthday Trio, Star Gazer Additions, Birthday Style

Inks: Versamark

Other: Clear embossing powder, twine, Wood Grain Embossing Plate, dimensional adhesive, Clear Wink of Stella on the word dies