Spring CAS BetterPress rainbow!

NEW Spellbinders BetterPress Arched Messages for the CAS on Friday Spring Challenge!

Hi all!

Welcome to another CAS on Friday challenge, this time our theme is SPRING!  You can interpret the theme any way you'd like, but make sure it is CAS...AND since I am a guest designer for Spellbinders' April release, I decided to feature this fan-tabulous BetterPress set called Arched Messages.

 

I love the look of the pressed image, it's so classy and traditional.  When I received my very first letterpress wedding invitation, I was so enamored with how beautiful it was.  I wanted to figure out how to create that look with what limited supplies I had 20+ years ago...little did I know it would become so easy for me to do!  The trick for the embossed stamped look is the paper, but the system can be used with regular card stock too, it just won't have the super embossed look depending on the thickness of your card stock.  I chose to use the cotton paper they recommend with the system.

The great thing about the Arched Messages set is each arch is its own separate plate, that way you can use multiple colors with it.  Hence...the rainbow for my spring card!  This set also comes with a super handy...and brilliant...registration template made from thin acetate to help create a perfectly aligned arched image.  I used Altenew's Summer Dreams color group for my rainbow colors since I have them on hand.

After I completed the rainbow and sentiment, the panel was trimmed and was placed on a light blue card base to give the hint of sky color.  I also added the white sequins in various sizes to create my sparkly clouds, it's super fun right?...can you tell I'm an 80's chick?😂😂😂.    I'm also playing along with the JUGS, and Simply Clean and Simple challenges this week.

    

Now head over to CAS on Friday for more inspiration from the DT and play along!  Maybe even try a letterpressed card yourself?  Have a colorful day!!

Color Throwdown with NEW Spellbinders Press Plate!

NEW Spellbinders April Release Guest Designer card featuring Tropical Leaves BetterPress plate and Hello wax seal!

Hi all!

I know I've been bombarding you with posts, but I've had so much fun with this release by Spellbinders!  Being a guest designer for any company is a complete thrill for me, so I tend to go overboard really...  

Anyhoo...I decided to use the stunning Tropical Leaves Press plate for this card while using the Color Throwdown challenge as my color inspiration.  The design was kept simple to really allow the beauty of the leaves to be the focus of the card.

Altenew's Fresh Dye Dusty Pink was perfect to ink up the Tropical Leaves press plates for my touch of pink.  After pressing the images, they were colored using colored pencils with yellow and shades of green.  The colors really popped off the pink-pressed images don't you think?

The great thing about this set is it comes with matching dies for the leaves...which saves my arthritic hands from too much discomfort.  Before assembling the leaves on the card front, some metallic gold watercolor paint was used to add some splatter for interest and to break up the space of white card base.

For the sentiment, the brand-new Hello Oval wax seal seemed to be the perfect touch.  After the wax cooled down, a metallic gold Sharpie marker was used to highlight the letters.  Finally, another touch of metallic gold was added with some gold thread.  

That's it for me, I hope all my cards are inspiring you to check out what Spellbinders released this month.  I am an affiliate of Spellbinders, if you purchase through one of my links, I do receive a small commission at zero cost to you.  Also, any commissions I receive are used to purchase giveaway items from my favorite vendors on my blog posts!

Have a colorful day!

NEW! Spellbinders House Mouse stamps!

NEW Spellbinders Flower Market House Mouse stamps are adorable and EASY to use!

Hi all!

I'm here with another card to share with you, it was created for my guest designer spot with Spellbinders for their April release!  This card features a stamp from the House Mouse collection.  Since the mice are so adorable, I'm entering this card in the Double D Challenge, Cute Little Animals, and the Four Seasons Spring themed challenge.

Now, I have never used one of the stamps from this collection, as I'm not very confident in my color skills.  This adorable little stamp set made me feel like I was an illustrator!  All the details are already there...you can go as simple or as detailed as you like with your coloring and still have a beautiful image.  I did choose to color my little mouse scene, and I LOVE how it turned out!

How cute are these guys?  This set is called the Flower Market.  I used a bunch of Altenew alcohol markers...I had so many out, it's not really worth listing them all here.  Using them all was more an exercise in learning how to color the image than anything else.  So for me, it was just all in fun...and it was fun...and not about documenting the process.  I did however do another stamp set using colored pencils which is another perfect medium for these stamps.... one I will share later this month.  

Would you believe this is a ONE layer card?  Well, I did put the panel on a card front, but the image and it's framed background...all one layer.  It was SO easy to do.  After I stamped and colored my image, I used a piece of plain old printer paper, traced around the outside of the image, cut out the shape, and used removable adhesive to cover the image with it.  I then used Spellbinders Buffalo Plaid BetterPress plate...also new in this release...with Altenew Fresh Dye Rose Quartz ink and my BetterPress platform and ran it through my Platinum 6 die cutter.  Voila'!  A perfectly stamped gingham frame around the image!

I will say....I did hold my breath and did a few sample passes before I did the final one.  I didn't want to mess up all my coloring, but it really worked PERFECTLY!!  I will be using that technique again and may do a video on it soon.

I've been having so much fun using the Spellbinders items for my projects this month, a big thank you to them for including me!

Have a colorful day!

SOC April 10th

 NEW SpellBinders Better Press Peony Perfection for Sisterhood of Crafters challenge!

Hi all!

I missed out on our last challenge, due to a long-scheduled vacation and some crazy drama in our lives...we currently have a new addition to our family for the time being!  She is our 18-month-old God daughter and while the circumstances surrounding her arrival were less than ideal, we are happy she is safe and content with us until she can return home.  It requires adjusting our lives, but we are happy to do it for her!

In the meantime, this week's challenge for the Sisterhood is SHOWERS or FLOWERS.  I opted for the flowers, as an opportunity to share this NEW BetterPress plate by Spellbinders being released TODAY!  

The new press plates I chose to use for this card are called Peony Perfection and Buffalo Plaid.  Both are gorgeous and have such extreme detail!  I think that's why I like the press plates so much, the detail is so beautiful and can be used with regular card stock...you won't have the lovely letterpress detail, but the image is still as crisp.

For the the Buffalo Plaid frame panel, I used Altenew's Fresh Dye ink in Berry Cool.  It inked up like a dream and was pressed into cotton cardstock using the Spellbinders BetterPress system.  I was so hesitant to get the BetterPress...its completely worth it!  I use it more than I thought I would and since I can use some of the inks I have on hand for inking, it's been a fantastic tool in my studio.

The Peony Perfection plate was used in my Glimmer system with gold foil, so you can use the plate for either the Spellbinders BetterPress or Glimmer systems.  LOVE you can use these plates different ways, even the sentiment was 'stamped' and heat embossed...so versatile!  The image was colored in using Altenew markers in the Red Sunset and Green Meadows color stories, then Arctic and Caribbean Sky markers for the background.  

Now...I'd love to see what you create for this challenge, AND visit Spellbinders today for their new release!  They have a deal happening....click the photo to be directed using my affiliate code at zero cost to you.

Have a colorful day!

Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive!

Join Altenew for the Celebrating Parents Card Drive, and a TON of GIVEAWAYS!! 

Hi all!

I'm so excited to be a part of Altenew's Celebrating Parents Card Drive this year!  If you don't know what it's about, you can find out more about the program here.  But the short part of it is, as Mother's Day and Father's Day draw near, it can be a challenging period for seniors residing in nursing homes or shelters.  Altenew will be collecting handmade cards between February 26 to April 19!  Check out the details at the end of the post for ALL the giveaways you can enter if you donate cards.  In the meantime, be sure to hop along today so you can get entered in the blog hop giveaway!  Comment and follow the designers to be eligible to win a part of $200 in total prizes! To celebrate the event, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by March 27, 2024, for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on March 29, 2024.   

For this blog hop, I created a few cards!  I wanted to keep the projects simple, beautiful, and not holiday-specific so they could be used for either a mom or dad.  Altenew's products absolutely are the perfect items to use while creating beautiful cards for anyone.  First off, this calm serene card features the gorgeous stencil, Majestic Mountains.

This gorgeous stencil does all the work for you, with 4 layers and their graduated color system, it's really fool proof!  The sky background was created with ink left over on a large ink blending brush, it was rubbed across the top of the card panel which was perfect for the sky.  

Next, the Tropical Forest Crisp Dye Ink set was used with each color one layer of the mountain stencil.  With the large blending brush, it took all of 5 minutes to create this gorgeous scene!  Once it was completed, the stenciled image was then passed through the Better Press with the new Rustic Burlap cover die.  It adds some lovely texture to the panel don't you think??

The card was finished off with a widow panel created using their Ornate Nesting die set and the sentiment from the Bold Bouquet stamp set heat embossed with white on a strip of vellum.  Simple and elegant....makes a perfect statement!

This next card features my go-to Mother's day stamp set, Best Mom.  This set has a beautiful floral stamp that is perfect for coloring, but it was used here in a neutral color tone to brighten anyone's day. 

The card front was first ink blended with Buttercream and Warm Sunshine Crisp Dye inks to create a halo effect.  Next, the floral stamp was added using Permanent Black dye ink.  To keep the card monochromatic and make the flowers pop, coordinating alcohol markers from the Mediterranean Terrace marker setwere used.  ***BONUS WAY TO HELP***   Altenew is donating $1 with every order from the Alcohol Markers collection from 2/26/2024 until 4/30/2024 to the Food Bank of Central New York to support seniors in need.  So get those markers now to help!!

Finally, since the sentiments from the Best Mom set are geared toward moms, and I wanted to keep the card not holiday-specific, I used a sentiment from the Reason to Smile stamp set.  It was stamped on white card stock and then layered atop a piece of Caramel Toffee trimmed to size.

This last card used a tiny stamp set called Thanks Dad which features a bow tie!  Bow ties are one of my hubby's favorites to wear, so this is a set I get to use often for him, but also for cute girly cards for my daughters.  It's incredibly versatile!

This was kept very simple, with the base card panel embossed with the new Natural Wicker Pattern 3D and trimmed to 5.25x4".  Next, a tag was cut from the Terrific Tags die set with an added touch of yellow ink blending to the center using Citrus Burst ink.  The sentiment was again created from the Reason to Smile stamp set with Permanent Black ink.

Atop of the ink a fussy cut, Sea Glass and Volcano Lake stamped bow was placed with foam dimensional tape.  A couple black enamel hearts and some embossing floss finish off the tag, which was added to the card front with foam tape.

MORE GIVEAWAYS!!!

These cards were incredibly easy to create, and although simple, they would make someone feel noticed and special!  What about you?  Do you have some cards in your stash that could be put to good use for someone feeling forgotten?  Check out all the details here at Altenew on how you can donate cards, I know I have a ton I'll be sending their way!  When you donate, each donor is eligible to win one of FIVE $30 Altenew gift certificates! If you use #AltenewCardDrive when you share your Celebrating Parents cards on social media, you are entered to win one of three additional $15 gift certificates! The winners will be announced on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 12, 2024.  This is an AMAZING program with or without the giveaways!  We all love to share our craft, let's share them with someone who could really use some love.

Now finish the hop and go make some cards! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a colorful day!

Be Bold!

 Simon Says Stamp NEW Be Bold release!

Hi all!

I have the privilege to be a part of the Simon Says Stamp Be Bold release today! The entire release is just gorgeous with new foil and die colors, lots of embossing folders, some with coordinating stamps and dies, and lots and lots of sparkle!!!  I am featuring the new Fancy Happy Birthday die and boy is it pretty.  

Look at this pretty thing!  It's a lovely font with extra flourishes right where they are needed.  I know I will whip this out often!

I made several cards featuring this die, but this one...this is my favorite.  I was excited to see SSS has it in their gallery on the product listing too!  It has so much sparkle and shimmer...it just makes me happy looking at it!  I know I'm using a lot of exclamation marks, but I'm just so excited!!!!!!  The background panel was ink blended using Altenew's Pinkalicious and Lagoon inks.  Then Simon Hurley Lunar Pastes of Prom Queen and Tropical Tango were added with the SSS Hearty Tweed stencil.  I've been using the stencil and the lunar pastes a ton lately...I adore the combination.  

A window was cut from it using the Waffle Flower A2 nesting dies to make the shaker element.  SSS has a new A2 nesting set out with this release too which would have been great for this too.  The sentiment was cut from white cardstock, but the shadow background was cut from the same acetate used for the shaker which makes it float over the shaker element....and I JUST NOTICED.... I forgot to dot the i..........oh cheese and crackers...........    All those little sparkly bits you can pick up from SSS...what's even better, is they have NEW sparklies released today too!

I have several more cards to share, so come back tomorrow to see them for more inspiration!  Have a colorful day!

SOC Green

 Hi all!  

Crazy life here right now, so this is a quick one…

We have a new challenge at the Sisterhood of Crafters today!  We want to see your GREEN projects. It can be any theme…I did Christmas.

Now get to crafting and share your GREEN projects over in our gallery, we love to see your work!

Have a colorful day!

Playing with Simon Hurley's Lunar Paste

Fun with Simon Hurley's Lunar Paste and stencils!

Hi all!

What products have you been loving lately?  I've been on a Simon Hurley Lunar Paste kick! Ever since I made this card for Valentine's Day, I can't seem to stop using them.  I've graduated from colored card stock, and now I'm adding them to ink-blended panels with multiple colors and the results have been so fun!

Since I have the Tropical Tango and Fake Plant, I thought I'd enter the current Color Hues challenge turquoise and green as well as the current JUGS challenge, green, lime green and another color...which is obviously turquoise!  It's a great color combination, fresh and trendy.

The main panel is started by ink blending Altenew's Lagoon and Grass Field inks, each on 1/2 of the card stock.  Using the Simon Says Stamps Hearty Tweed stencil set, the 2 Lunar pastes were added on the opposite colors. Fake Plant onto the Lagoon ink...bottom...and Tropical Tango on the deep lime green Grass Field ink...at the top.  Due to the colors being so close together in hues, the effect is very subtle, but so very pretty!

To not compete with the beautiful background, the simple white flower from Altenew's Bellflower die set seemed the perfect fit.  It's a beautiful die set, with the new keyhole system so it's incredibly easy to assemble and add to your projects.

The card was finished off with a sentiment I found in my sentiment stash bucket from Altenew's Classic Greetings stamp and die set and some turquoise sequins.  I forget I have this sentiment stamp set, which is a shame because its wonderful!   I will need to whip up a bunch so I can have them on hand.  

Now, go play with some Lunar pastes if you have some, they are worth the effort!

Have a colorful day!

Alcohol Marker Magic

 Using Altenew's Alcohol Markers to create some MAGIC!

Hi all!

How did you kiddos figure out there is no such thing as Santa, or the Easter Bunny? 11 years ago, when I tried to surprise her with a gift for St. Patty's Day, my eldest daughter found out.  

I was HEAVILY Pinterest-influenced to create something 'magical' with little foot prints and butterscotch chip poops around the house, along with some gold chocolate coins in a little jar...to see what I made, check it out here.  She was appalled I wasn't mad that some little man was pooping and leaving little green prints all over our house!  That's when she caught on.  It was an EPIC fail, as she asked if the Leprechaun was real and I admitted it wasn't, she then asked about the tooth fairy.  I couldn't lie, and that's when the floodgates unfolded.  With wide eyes, she went through every magical being she grew up believing in....the Easter bunny.  Tinkerbelle...that was a big one for her....then finally, Santa.  It was a sad day for sure.  Everytime St. Patty's comes around, I think of that day.  The end of her 'innocence'...I can laugh about it now, but boy did I sure feel TERRIBLE about it!

When I saw the challenges posted for this month, mostly St Patty's Day-themed, I thought about this old stamp set and decided to pull it out.  For this card, I went with the Festive Friday Challenge which is paired with the Double Trouble Challenge.  This card checks off all the requirements for both challenges... green, gold, gold embellishments Leprechaun, and a shamrock.

I am trying to develop my alcohol coloring skills and this adorable very old set from Paper Smooches called A Magical Spring is helping out with that.  It also has a bunny with Easter stamps to go with it...only downfall...lots of fussy cutting.  Altenew's Green Valley and Warm & Cozy collection of green markers and orange markers, Fresh Lemon, Maple Yellow, Industrial Diamond, and Blush were used to color him in.  

Since I was using an old set, I went with an old layout with old patterned papers, a bit of foiled paper scrap, and an embossing folder.  I have always liked this type of layout, it kind of gives a mixed-media vibe.

It's finished off with some yellow flat sequin disks, which give off a gold-green kind of color.  

I will be sending this off to my eldest at college...I wonder if she remembers the story behind this set?

Have a colorful day!

My dog ate my homework...

The NEW Altenew Rustic Rose stamp set is apparently delicious!

Hi all!

My dogs LOVE being in the art studio with me!  I have developed this habit of giving them treats...aka Cheerios...when they come in and immediately sit in their 'place', so they get very excited whenever I grab the keys to head out there.  It's adorable really...I mean, look at these faces...how could I resist?

Can anyone resist those eyes??  They are great company out here and like to grab pieces of paper that may miss the trashcan and rip them to shreds....it makes them so proud when they do that.  So Penny...the white and brown one, which is my baby...was SHOCKED when I yelled the other day.  You see, I did not notice I had dropped one of my cards on the floor when organizing and putting them away.  5 minutes later, I hear the rip of paper, look over, and there she is in all her glory....with this card in her mouth!

She's so darn cute...and yes, that photo was staged for your viewing pleasure, but look at that corner!  I did give her a treat after scaring her when it happened.  I couldn't let her think I was mad at her...

Here it is...sans the dog bites...for the current Triple B challenge.  Altenew's new Rustic Rose set has SO much detail!  If you are a watercolor aficionado, this is a set you would want in your arsenal.  Jaycee Gaspar made the most beautiful card with this stamp set, check out his talented work with it in the gallery on the Altenew site.  It is breathtaking!

For this rose, layers and layers of watercolors were placed down to create the depth of the rose.  "The more you do it, the better you get" my college professor would say...I didn't like her too much so I never really connected with the medium.  BUT...with this new Altenew release which included this set and the Paint and Stamp series sets?  I may have converted to the watercolor side...

The background was created by just plopping down watercolor paints along the bottom of my paper with a few splatters...that is easy enough!  The card was finished off with the included sentiment stamped with Altenew Obsidian ink and a few black enamel dots.  And there you have it!  A perfect snack for your furry friend!

Hope you enjoyed the anecdotes of my little fur babies, they are such a joy...most times!  Have a colorful day!