JUGS #513 Guest Designer

Welcome!  I'm so excited you're here...  I'm very honored to have been chosen to be the November guest designer for the Just Us Girls Challenge.  It's been fun so far, and this weeks theme was extra fun!


It's always fun to create outside of your comfort zone.  This was an idea I've had in my head for a while now.  I'm glad I had an excuse to get it out.

I started with an embroidery hoop, which has been all the rage lately in decor.  The greenery was created using Altenew's Leaf Clusters stamp and die set.  Stamping it on SU! paper using Evergreen and Forest Glades inks, the leaves were layered on each other around the lower half of the hoop.

The flowers were created using the Virgina Rose 3D die set.  My daughter and I love to create mixed media papers, and she created the paper used for the second layer of the flowers.  The papers and layers were mixed up together, so the flowers match without being exactly the same.  The leaves from the set were added in a darker olive color to add some depth to the leaves.

I decided to hang this in my studio over the coffee station so I can see it every day.

Have a colorful day!

Stash die cut find

Thank you so much for stopping by!  It's starting to get cold here in Ohio and I have the holidays on my mind.  I am hosting Thanksgiving, a Christmas cookie party, coordinating our company's party, decorating our home, our country club and all this has to be done by December 6th.  Cookie baking is in full force and I will be completing the decor this weekend.  Load of things on my plate!

Today I am continuing my SIC Die Cuts week.  I adore die cuts, and use them frequently in my creations.  I love when they coordinate with stamps, but also stand alone dies.  Yup, I just love them all!

I was checking out my stash today and came across this fabulous background I created when I made this card here.  It's the opposite of that background.  This one had tons more sparkle and needed just the right theme to work with it.  Christmas with all the sparkle was the perfect theme!

The die cut background was created by running the cover die with each card stocks through the die cutting machine a piece of Press and Seal wrap behind it.  Then on each piece, peel the positive part of the die off the wrap and swap them!  It's really that easy!

Leaf Canopy is a versatile stamp and die set.  It is a perfect set for any theme, from sympathy, to birthdays to Christmas; this set can be used for them all!  I recently used it on a set of cards for a business.  Today, its being used with vellum and white embossing powder to give the feel of an icy branch of silver dollar eucalyptus.....which is one of my favorite greens for the holidays.....  The sentiment was created by using the Merry Christmas die set from Altenew.  Its a great set and has several options for creating the sentiment you want.  AND, I of course had to add even ore sparkle with sequins!....I have an addiction really.....

I'm adding this creation to this weeks Addicted to Stamps challenge, Anything Goes.

It was great to see you!

Another reject

Hi ya'll!

A super quick post.  I have another card with a fabulous layered die today.  Again, I've been working on my AECP program and this is another creation I made, I wasn't thrilled with so I'm not using it for my submission.  I thought this had great potential, until I messed up the sentiment!  I tried to fix it, but didn't like how it looks.

The Altenew Peony Dream 3D die cut is fantastic!  A large piece of watercolor paper was painted in various colors of red.  Then the flower pieces were die cut from the different values.  It's a great way to create these layered flowers, the large paper allows you to create many different flowers that complement each other.  I whipped out a few to keep in my stash for future projects.

The background was stenciled and stamped which helps to ground the image so it doesn't look like it's floating there.

I'm bummed the sentiment stamping went awry, this had great potential.  Oh well!

Have a colorful day!

Halloween and health

Hi y'all!

I've been remiss in my posts.  We had Halloween trick or treating last Thursday.  Then last Friday, I spent the day in the ER with weird numbness across the left side of my face and down my left arm.  After a round of tests and scans....it's apparently nothing scary.  It however did lead to migraines on Saturday and Sunday.  I didn't get to finish my watercolor week, but I'm not worried.  I know I will be using that technique many more times!

My SIC....Self Inflicted Challenge.... this week will be die cuts.  I love die cuts!  I think they're versatile and you can use them in so many different ways.  I've also been working on my current class for the AECP Level 2 program.  This card is a reject for that class, but I do like it.

The 'You Are' sentiment should have been a shade darker.  Using a MISTI to repeat the stamping down the left side of the card is incredibly helpful. It keeps the sentiment in line and perfectly spaced.  Sparkle was added down that part of the sentiment with clear sequins and iridescent gems....love those!....

The sentiment was created from watercolor painted paper and die cut with Script Words from Altenew.   To add more interest and to make it pop, it was layered with a die cut from More Mustard from SU!  I have ton of their paper, which I love.

The background was finished off with some ink splatters in various shades of yellow.  It's so bright and cheery with LOTS of sparkle!  I'll be sharing this with one of my girls, they are FABULOUS!!

JUGS Easy Watercolor

The weather is changing, tomorrow the time changes, my daughters are getting older....which means I'm getting older!....  Change is everywhere!

I'm beyond HONORED to have been asked to be the guest designer for the Just Us Girls Challenge Blog this month!  How much fun is that?!?  I love that they switch up their challenges every week, keeps me on my toes and those brain cells firing.  These ladies have fabulous creations for us each week, please be sure to visit each and everyone of them and give them some love and thanks for inspiring us each week!  For this week, the theme is 'Thanks'.  The timing was perfect, as I had an order for some thank you and sympathy cards for a family member this week.
 
They needed it for the business, so I kept the design simple and without any embellishments....UGH, that was hard!.....  Sticking with my SIC this week, I decided to do some watercoloring.

I think I may be addicted to watercoloring now.  The flowers are coming along nicely, but I love using them for specialty papers.  I created a piece of paper using Altenew's 36 Pan Watercolors.  I chose Mountain Mist, Volcano Lake and Lagoon for this as teal is the color of their business logo.  When the paper was dry, the open leaf images from Altenew's Leaf Canopy was stamped with Emerald ink and die cut.  It gives a nice variegated image for interest while keeping the design simple.

The background was die cut from the Layered Snowflakes Cover die from Vellum paper.  It adds a texture element without making it fussy....aka, not business like.....  Using spray adhesive, it was mounted onto a piece of white card stock and run through my die cutter so it would adhere well.

That's it!  Thanks so much for joining me on my journey this month with JUGS!  I'm really excited and honored to be a part of what they are doing!