Monday, October 25, 2021

Thankful Sunflowers

Monday greetings, all! Hope you are doing well. I've had an ill-filled weekend, unfortunately. Finally got the medical ok to get the Covid jab, so got to do that Friday and at various times been battling chills, nausea, a bit of the runs, lethargy and a need for lots of sleep. I was able to do a little crafting to make my DT deadlines and just have a GD spot make to finish, then I can breathe a bit. I'm thankful to have these assignments, as they have kept me trying to focus on something other than my issues. Today has been an improvement on the weekend ailments, but I awoke with the sciatica screaming for attention and it's been one of those can't-get-comfortable days. I rotate the heating pad, gentle stretching and trying to not hear the screaming, LOL. 
At any rate, I realized I do have something to share with you in the meantime. I'd put this up under the ceiling fan in another room for the Stickles to dry several days ago. Honey asked me if I'd forgotten it. LOL, 😏yes. It began as a way to use some leftovers from previous projects on a card. The checkerboard is from a Gecko Galz collage sheet and the sunflowers are a Sandi's Samples digital image. I've added some green designer paper from Basic Grey's Sublime 12x12 collection (plus another sheet on the back). 
I chose Splitcoaststampers Sketch SC525 for my design mainly because of the arrangement of layers #2 and #3, as this would let me use the Gina Marie A2 vertical Wildflower cover plate die (with an A2 embossing folder underneath) and the horizontal Sandi's Samples digital image of sunflowers on top. However, I originally wanted to make a square card, so I stretched the sketch out on the sides a bit. Then, I decided I wanted to make it a hanging deco so the square card is on a 7x8" thin cardboard base. And element #2 on my piece is at an angle. So, suffice it to say that I did not follow the sketch religiously...more like very loosely. But to me, it looked better so that's where I went with it.
I edge-distressed the green BG pieces except for the top horizontal layer beneath the sunflowers digi. For that layer, I ran it through my Cbug inside a Darice Stripes embossing folder. It cracked the paper making squiggly little lines which then made it too delicate to edge-distress. I added trios of dull purple gems from my stash to each side edge and stuck in a couple of leftover Elizabeth Craft die strawberry vines. The Thankful sentiment is a Papertrey Ink die cut from white card twice, then glued together and adhered with dimensionals. The sunflowers digi was colored using my Zig Clean Color watercolor brush pens scribbled onto an acrylic stamp block and picked up with a wet paintbrush. The centers of the flowers are covered with Cinnamon Stickles (which is what was needing to dry under the ceiling fan). The fibers and ribbon at top are from my Black Hole of Stash.
Close-up of the middle section: I used a Gina Marie Wildflowers cover plate die to cut a sheet of TH Distress Watercolor card. Then I water colored the flowers going for an abstract look. How's about that Sennelier Orange, eh? It's like my favorite watercolor paint color, so I had to use it. The die cut flowers had to hold their own against the background behind them. Speaking of which...
Here's a close-up of that background. I took another sheet of TH Distress Watercolor card (rough side). For each color I used, I loaded my dry brush heavily with watercolor paint and quickly brushed one stroke in multiple places. Then after it dried, I went back over it with Twinkling H2O watercolors using a wet brush. I let that dry, then ran it through my Cuttlebug inside the Floral Screen embossing folder. I absolutely 💓LOVE💓 how this came out. The subtle embossed texture is really cool, as are the colors.
For the back, I raided my BG Sublime scraps, really just needing to cover my ribbon line at top. The checkerboard is some ancient 7G gaffer tape. 
And a final view. I just ordered some silk sunflowers for my entry foyer table and this will go quite nicely beside them as part of that display. I'm really pleased with how this came out and am happy I opted for something I get to keep! 😍 

Thanks so much for visiting today and until next time, please be well and craft-happy! xoxo

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
I chose top row across & also left column down
Die Cut Divas October: AG w/Die Cut or EF
Dies used: Gina Marie, Elizabeth Craft, PTI; EF's used: CBug, Darice
I used Zig Clean Color watercolor brush markers and regular water colors and Twinkling H2O's
Dies used: Gina Marie, Elizabeth Craft, PTI
I used Zig Clean Color watercolor brush markers and regular water colors and Twinkling H2O's
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Thursday, October 21, 2021

Big Ole' Cuppa Birthday!

 Hello, there! Hope you are all having good weeks and fun weekend plans, inside or out.
Today I'm sharing a girlfriend's birthday card. Earlier in the year I went through my coffee-themed stuff and realized I don't really know how many recipients of my cards drink coffee. So when someone who does drink it has a birthday, I decided to try to use that theme on their card. You could say I've grabbed opportunity by the beans! 😅
 
I chose Splitcoaststampers Sketch SC43 to resize to A7 and use for my layout. It's a pretty plain design that allowed me to use multiple papers from Basic Grey's Urban Couture collection and add the CAS-ual Fridays big cuppa die and this super cute My Besties digital image sized large enough to decently color.
I love the names given these two. They are Polly and her Lolly Wog. Yes, her little green friend is a wog...a Polly Wog, heeheehee. 😋 Well, why not? Smoke 'em if ya got 'em, right? I've done a hand-stamped sentiment mash-up using MFT, Verve, Clear Dollar and CAS-ual Friday stamps. I added Nuvo clear glaze to the die's coffee surface after drawing the curly que with a white gel pen. The glaze melted it into the chestnut brown Promarker and made it change colors! Hey, my card has chemistry! 😝
Inside the card I added some of the paper leftover from the front and then added a computer-generated sentiment, hoping to tie the coffee cup and cup sentiment to birthdays.
On back, more of what's on front paper-wise plus a Kaiserkraft siggie stamped in Versafine and then swiped with VM chalk ink.
Ah, my overhead shot - looks coordinated to me!
Some close-ups. I ink-distressed all the edges with VM chalk ink (save the Sip sentiment) and edge-distressed the mats with my Tim tool.
Close-up of the image and coloring. The little red hearts on her cushion and the Wog's lips and freckles were done using a Sakura metallic gel pen.
I just love looking at that girl's expression, don't you? And her Wog's. This is a great shot of the gold colored pencils I applied to her hair on top of the tan Promarker I colored first. Looks pretty cool in real life and at certain angles it shimmers. LOL, that white line on the surface of her coffee is being caused by the reflection of the Nuvo clear glaze I applied, although the Wog might think it's a worm! 😁
And a final view. Thanks so much for visiting me and please stay safe and keep on crafting! XOXO

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
Splitcoaststampers Sketch SC43
My Besties Aussies Challenge #10: AG -- Image used: Polly & her Lolly Wog Doll #8
My Besties Brazil October Challenge: AG 
My Besties Dutch Girls October Challenge: AG -- Image used: See Aussies above
My Besties International October Challenge: AG
My Besties Spanish October Challenge #88: AG
Color It! Create It! Show It Off! October Challenge: AG
Passion for Markers Week 614: Dies and/or Punches -- CASual Fridays coffee cup die
Colour Crazy Craft Challenge Week 41: AAG w/Colouring -- Promarkers used
CD Sunday Plus #71: AG w/USB,CD, Digi -- My Besties digi used.
I Love Promarkers #445: AG + Opt. Die cut or punch -- Coffee cup die used
The Sisterhood of Crafters: Happy Birthday
Your Scrapbook Place October: AG
Crafts Galore Encore #92: AAG
TTCRD 10/19-10/26: AAG
613 Avenue Create October #11: AG
Penny's Paper-Crafty #507: AG w/PP -- Used Basic Grey Urban Couture
Cute Card Thursday #693: AG
Classic Design Challenge #10 October: AAG
Die Cut Divas October Challenge: AG w/Die cut -- Coffee cup die used
ABMTTC #146 Oct/Nov: AAG
ABMTTCXtra October: AAG
CHNPPC October: AAG w/PP -- Used Basic Grey Urban Couture
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Sunday, October 17, 2021

Autumn Birthday in the Pink

Hello, hope everyone is well and have had a lovely weekend. 
I've got a pink Autumn birthday card to share today. I love sitting at a firepit or open fire on cool Autumn nights so this image looks so inviting to me. After I printed out the focal image (a pre-colored digi from Jan's Digital Stamp Shop's Alone Together set), my eye kept going to the pink in the plaid pillow. I knew I had some DCWV autumn leaves patterned paper and a plaid ribbon with pink edging, so I looked in my SU card stock and found a pink. For some reason, the camera is not reflecting how well the card stock matches the leaves in the print, it's making it either too peachy or too pink, but just know, it does match well in real life! Anyway, I added a sheer yellow ribbon and some brown mesh ribbon along with a Spellbinder lattice die cut in brown card. I finished the front with some enamel dots, one of the brown lattice cutouts and sentiments (Impression Obsession and Wild Rose Studio) hand-stamped with Fallen Leaves Versafine Clair. 
 
I used Splitcoaststampers sketch SC421, resizing it to A7 in PSE. 
On the inside of the card is a mat of the leaves paper, then I printed out the Donna Ellis digital sentiment and cut it with Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles 2 die. I also cut some of the pink card stock with this die and then cut the middle out using another Spellbinders Labels die. I glued  it on top of the printed die cut, creating a frame for the beautiful sentiment.
Wow, this is so fake pink it's hurting my eyes a little - thanks, camera! 😖 On the back of the card I've laid a mat cut from a different sheet of the leaves papers, laid some of the ribbon across and then the negative of the pink die cut that was leftover from the inside frame. I added lattice cutouts from the front to the corners and then hand-stamped my Lawn Fawn siggie with the VF Clair. I hope y'all know I can match paper colors better than this - Embarrassing!
And a final view that is pretty close to actual colors! I saved the best for last, LOL. 😉 Thanks so much for visiting me today and best wishes for a safe, healthy and productive week, XOX.
MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
I was inspired by the leaves and colors in the photo
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Friday, October 15, 2021

Outlawz Festive Friday and ADU

Happy Fri-Yay, my friends! Hope you are all well and looking forward to a nice weekend. It's time for a new Festive Friday challenge at Outlawz. Our sponsor this month is All Dressed Up Stamps and my card features ADU's Little Patch Puppy, colored by me with Promarkers.
It's an A2 size with a white Recollections card base, Springhill Digital for the image and the orange mats (hand-colored with Promarkers), and Basic Grey's Max and Whiskers designer papers. 

These are the card themes to choose for the challenge. 
 
I chose Splitcoaststampers sketch SC350 for my design.
I typed the sentiment right on the image surface before printing out. I chose the flower-comb design because it really reminds me of the flowers in the image, so I tried to use the same colors when coloring.
On the inside I've hand -stamped a mash-up of sentiments: Clear Dollar, Wordsworth and Verve.
On back, a mash-up of scrap strips from this paper collection, with an I/O stamped siggie .
My favorite shot 😎 
And a final view. Thanks so much for dropping by and until next, stay safe and keep crafting! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
(I used ADU's Little Patch Puppy digi)
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Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Jan's Christmas Holly and Outlawz Wednesday Sketch

 Hiya, Blog Folk! Happy Hump Day and time for a new Wednesday Sketch challenge at Outlawz, check out the link for all the deets. The challenge begins today and ends on Oct. 26.
We are sponsored by Jan's Digital Stamp Shop this month and I've used her Christmas Holly for my focal image. 
 
Here's our sketch for the challenge and I turned it 90 degrees, just to be ornery different! 😛 
I printed the image out in black n white on my laser printer on Springhill Digital card. Here's a close-up to show my coloring. I used a combination of Faber Castell Artist Brush markers and Promarkers. Then I went over all of it with red and green Wink of Stella glitter brush marker pens. I used a gold Wink of Stella on the round outer wreath. I used a Sakura red glitter gel pen to color all of the patterned paper holly berries, and a white gel pen to accent the image and the snowflake paper.
The patterned paper I used is The Paper Studio's Rustic Noel 6x6 collection. I have a ream of Wausau Rocket Red heavy copy paper that has sat forever and I decided I might as well use it with my cards, so I've used it for my mats. It's a gorgeous red and that's a really hard color to match or blend sometimes.
Inside on more Wausau red mats, I stamped a Papertrey Ink sentiment with Memento Black Tuxedo ink.
The back of the card has another Wausau red paper mat and more Rustic Noel and a stamped siggie.
Of course, my favorite shot of the front and back together, the red mats pop!
And a final view. Thanks so much for visiting and until next time, stay well and keep crafting! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
(Optional Twist not played this time)
(I colored my focal image with Promarkers, Big Brush Markers and Wink of Stellas)
(Option not played this time and I colored w/Promarkers, Big Brush Markers and Wink of Stellas) 
(Option not played this time)
(Snowflake paper and white Satin ribbon)
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