ColourQ 143

I'm playing along today with some new stamps that I purchased with a $25 gift certificate from Make-it-Monday 65 and some birthday money.  This is the first time I've had PTI products right after they were released.  I feel very trendy! :)

I thought the primary colors of ColourQ 143 would make a bright and happy banner.  I love this little $5 heart-2-heart set.  This card by Maile Belles is the one that convinced me to add the set to my order, and this post by Melissa Bickford, who designed the set, is the one that inspired me to make a matching tag. 

The set stamped beautifully.  I didn't purchase the matching die, but the triangles were super simple to cut out by hand for the portion of the banner that is popped up.

I've been gone a lot lately with summer visits and haven't been doing much stamping or blogging.  This afternoon we had a bit of free time and my 7-year old wanted to make cards.  We sat at the kitchen table for an hour or so playing with my new stamps.  It was lovely!

Thanks for your visit today.

Ann

Supplies:
Paper: PTI white
Stamps: PTI heart-2-heart #5
Ink: Memento Bahama blue, ladybug red, London fog, Brilliance yellow

 

Bordered Sentiment Cards

Last night I made a couple of cards for several challenges.  Both of them use the bordered sentiment technique described at PTI's Make-It-Monday.  The first card is a simple one-layer card also inspired by Less is More (something shiny) and One-Layer Wednesday.

The One-Layer Wednesday challenge, hosted by Heather Telford this week, is to make a card inspired by something in your kitchen.  I opened the pantry door and the first thing that jumped out at me was my daughter's water bottle.  It's been at school on her desk all year, but since Wednesday was the last day of school, it's back at home now.  I was inspired by the circle designs on the bottle as well as the colors.

I added bling to some of the circle images, so it also qualifies for the Less is More challenge to use something shiny.  I don't always know what to do with bling, but I love it on this card!

I made a second card using the colors from ColourQ challenge 142.  I have to say I never would have put these colors together, but I love them.  I used the same layout as the Make-It-Monday sample card.  Stamps are PTI Mehndi Medallion, which is one of my favorite sets.  I used some white ric rac, but in the morning light it looks much creamier.  I liked this card better last night at midnight! :) 

I tried it mounted on both white and dark blue.  Which do you prefer?

ColourQ Inspiration:

Stamping on the Edge

Susan's One-Layer Wednesday challenge hurt my brain cells this week.  Stamp on the edge - the edge of the card, that is.  She asked us to stamp up to any edge without going off the edge. 

The first card is made using a Memory Box stamp called vintage peony.  I colored it with Marvy brush markers, huffed on it, and stamped as close to the edge as I could without going off.  I added a PTI sentiment. 

I don't know if my second card qualifies.  The image doesn't get as close to the edge as on the first card.  Image and sentiment are from a TPC studio set.  Ink is Memento tuxedo black.

Play Date Cafe 136 & Card Patterns 170

Last night I made two cards using the beautiful colors of PlayDate Cafe 136.  The first card is a CASE of this beautiful card by Heather Nichols, and the second card uses this week's sketch from CardPatterns.  I've used a Martha Stewart butterfly set called doily lace butterflies.

Thanks for your visit today.

Ann

Beautiful Inspiration:

Shikepoke Cards

I've made two Father's Day cards using the Wplus9 guiding light set.  I think I bought this set just so I could make cards for my dad using the heron image, so it's strange that until now, I've used all the images from the set except for the heron. :)

Now I've put that little heron to good use.  For both of my cards I cased this beautiful card from Sea Glass & Sentiments.  I've also used the beautiful colors from this week's ColourQ challenge on my first card.  The picture doesn't show it well, but one of the buttons is actually green.

Living by the water as we do, great blue herons are everywhere.  We love to watch them standing as still as statues along the shore.  I spent a large portion of my childhood on a small island in Puget Sound where there are also many herons.  My dad often called them "shikepokes."  I've never heard anyone call them that except for him.

Out of curiosity, I Googled shikepoke and the first thing that came up was a Wikipedia article about herons.  There are two interesting paragraphs about the origination of the term shikepoke.  Check it out here, if you're interested. :)

Thanks for your visit today.

Ann

 ColourQ Inspiration:

Less is More 71 & Dynamic Duos 6

It's a one layer challenge at Less is More this week and we're asked to use a flourish.  I didn't think I had any flourishes, but I rummaged through my stamps and found a couple that I hope will qualify! :)

First up are these ornaments.  I believe they are by Stampendous, although I don't have the original packaging.  Aren't those flourishes on the ornaments?  I used the beautiful pink and grey color combination from Dynamic Duos and made my first Christmas card of the year.  Woo hoo!

Supplies:
Paper: PTI white
Stamps: Stampendous, Hero Arts sentiment
Ink: Memento rosebud, London fog
Other: Casa Collection ribbon

Second, I used this sentiment from a TPC Studio set called butterfly collage.  I'm hoping that those brackets on either side of the sentiment are considered flourishes.  I used the butterfly from the set and did some simple masking.

Supplies:
Paper: PTI white
Stamps: TPC Studios butterfly collage
Ink: Memento grape jelly, sweet plum, lilac posies, lulu lavender

Dynamic Duos #6

Less is More 70 and MIM 69

Just squeaking in on the last day with my entry for Less is More.  In honor of Jubilee Weekend, it's a color challenge to use red, white, and blue.  I never think of flowers for a red and blue color combo, so I decided to challenge myself to try something different for me.  I used flowers from PTI floral frenzy with buttons for the centers, and I think they're kind of fun.

My layout is based on one of the PTI sketches this week at Capture the Moment.  I liked the simplicity of this one (big surprise!).  I did change the sentiment a bit after much playing around.  The sentiment strip is popped up on dimensionals and scored on the top and bottom.  One of the flowers is also popped up for a little dimension.

sketch:

OLW 90 - Dudes Rule

Just popping in again today to share the masculine card I made last night for Susan's One-Layer Wednesday Challenge to make a one layer card for a guy.  I used the beautiful wplus9 set guiding light to make my card. 

I was totally inspired by this tutorial I came across on Crafting the Web.  Theresa used Memento cantaloupe, tangelo, and potter's clay for her inked background and her card is absolutely stunning.  I was curious to see what those colors would look like sponged on a kraft card base.  While I do like how it turned out, I think it is missing that luminous quality achieved when inking on white and letting some of the white shine through.

I added some hemp cord and probably should have just done a knot since it's a masculine card, but I rather liked my bow and didn't want to take it off!

Supplies:
Paper: PTI kraft
Stamps: wplus9 guiding light, PTI sentiment
Ink: Memento cantaloupe, tangelo, potter's clay

RetroSketches #14

I'm playing along for the first time with the RetroSketches challenge.  This week's sketch really appealed to my clean and simple nature! :)

I immediately thought of the Wplus9 Mother's Day Bouquet set.  I've been wanting to play with those gorgeous flowers since I got it!  I stamped the flowers and leaves using the citrus-colored VersaMagic inks that I've been so in love with lately.  I cut each bloom and leaf and put them together to make a a flower cluster.  This set is so pretty, and a great deal at just $6.00.

 

For the vertical element, I first masked and sponged an inked panel but I wasn't too excited about it.   Then I remembered this beautiful card from Maile Belles, and decided to place the sponged panel behind a cut out section of white card to give it a little dimension.  It  still needed a little something to set it apart from the flowers, so I stamped my large plaid HA background stamp across the sponged panel.  Finally, I popped the flower cluster up on dimensionals and added a sentiment.  

I wondered if it need a little something up in the right hand corner to balance it out.  I've never been very good at random bling, but I gave it a try.  I can't decide which I like best.  What do you think - bling or no bling?

 RetroSketches #14

Supplies:
Paper: PTI white
Ink: VersaMagic persimmon, pink grapefruit, mango madness, key lime
Stamps: Wplus9 Mother's Day Bouquet, PTI communique curves sentiments

Pocket Cards

I loved the Make-It-Monday video at Capture the Moment this week.  It is all about making pocket cards, which is something I've never done before.  I played around and made three different pocket cards a few days ago, but am just now getting to blogging them.  I think these would be fun for invitations or for giving gift cards.

It's interesting to me how the french blue ink took on more of an aqua color on the kraft cardstock.  On the white I had to switch to robin's egg blue to match.

Supplies:
Paper: PTI kraft, white
Stamps: PTI turning a new leaf, think big favorites, Fiskars floral flair
Ink: Colorbox frost white, , french blue, robins egg, Memento tuxedo black

Supplies:
Paper: PTI kraft, white

Stamps: wplus9 guiding light, PTI think big favorites
Ink: Colorbox frost white,Memento

For this card I added a plum color to go with the ColourQ challenge this week.  I didn't have a good button to match, so my button is a little more reddish, but I'm still pleased with it.

Supplies:
Paper: PTI kraft, white

Stamps: PTI turning a new leaf, think big favorites, Fiskars floral flair
Ink: Colorbox frost white, french blue robins egg, Memento ocean depth, Versamagic perfect plumeria