July Beautiful Blossoms Challenge : Wishing You a Bright & Beautiful Birthday

Welcome back my crafting Friends! How is it even possible that we're in July... Already?! It seems like January ended a couple of weeks ago!!

Well, as it turns out, it's a start to another monthly Challenge, here at Beautiful Blossoms Challenge. This month's July inspiration photo offers some hot colors that really inspired me.

Gorgeous, isn't it?? I love, love the Hibiscus and the hot, neon colors in that basket. Well, I don't happen to have a Hibiscus stamp, much to my surprise, but I'm getting one soon. In the meantime, I remember those Bird of Paradise flowers really pack a colorful punch, so I broke out my new stamp set from Picket Fence and started watercoloring.

I chose to use Picket Fence's Bird of Paradise stamp set, then colored it in with Azteca Watercolor brush pens, then I fussy cut it out. I chose some very spicy 49 and Market background paper that I cut out with Lawn Fawn's Small Stitched Rounded Rectangles, then Matted that against Bazzil's Cornmeal cardstock that I die cut out with MFT's Stitched Eyelet Lace Rectangle. I then cut out some vellum using a retired MFT die, then added some sparkle with Honey Bee Stamps gem stickers, added a white lace doily, some candy dots, string, and a sentiment from Pink Fresh, diecut & stamped out in Mama Elephant's Apricot ink.

This card is a little more on the "spicy" color side than I usually make, but it's good to shake it up a little and go for it. You never know, you might end up enjoying the process!

Until the next Beautiful Blossom Challenge, have fun crafting, Friends!

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge : Sending Smiles

 Hello and welcome back crafty Friends! I'm back with another fun blog challenge card. But first, I have some fun news. I joined Donna and the rest of the talented Beautiful Blossoms Blog Challenge Team! I'm so thrilled!

If you haven't heard of the Beautiful Blossoms blog challenges before, on the 15th of every month they offer a Floral Focused challenge. Easy Peasy, right? Exactly! Who doesn't love a good flower focus? I know I do :)

Here is the DT's February 2025 design challenge photo.

Beautiful, isn't it? I know I was inspired by it!

I chose Gina K's Poppy Garden Stamp that I colored in with Copics. After that, I cut out the image using Pink Fresh's Stitched Rectangles. I matted the main diecut image out onto some design paper from Simple Stories called Simple Vintage Life in Bloom. Then I used Lawn Fawn's Stitched Sentiment Banner's to cut out a banner out of vellum and stamped my sentiment from Flourishes (a beloved but now closed stamp company) Tulips stamp set.

Honestly, I took forever to find the perfect design paper for that card! I was obsessed with finding the perfect, but not too distracting, background color and print! 

Thank you for visiting my blog today, and don't forget to join us over at the Beautiful Blossoms Challenge. I love to see your creations there and for you to see the other DT's inspirations, too!

Let's Celebrate!

 Good morning Craft Friends! I'm back with another blog challenge from Lawn Fawn (my first!). This week, their challenge is : Let's Celebrate!

As crafty as I am, I thought I had more Lawn Fawn stamp sets. But alas, I searched my stash, and I actually only have one, long since retired set, called "Blue Skies".

So I decided that my card would be great for a recent graduate, and that's still a great reason to celebrate!

I stamped out my hot air balloon from 'Blue Skies" and lightly colored it in with Copics, then fussy cut it out and around the image. I stitched around the design paper from Lawn Fawn, called "Daisy", and adhered it to some Kraft cardstock, then backed that with Bazzil cardstock called "Chiffon". Then I added some clouds from a random die from my stash that I have no idea where I got it. Then I used Lawn Fawn's Stitched Sentiment Banner die to cut a banner out and stamped out the sentiment from the Blue Skies set.

I really love how this card turned out! I won't lie, it was difficult since I only have one stamp set, one die, and one DP from Lawn Fawn, but I'm still proud of how it looks. Once again, a blog challenge really made me think and I love the results!

Thank you again, Crafty Friends! Join me again when I post another craft challenge to my blog :)

Happy New Year 2025!!!

 Welcome back and Happy New Year to my erratically posted, blog 😆 

You know, I could really try harder to post more often, so I will. My goal is to post 2 cards a month, this 2025 year. So lets begin. 

I decided to participate in Color Throw Down's color challenge : Black, White & Gray. 

Super simple, right? But it's actually tricky to do cards in monotones without getting bored or challenged by the lack of pizzaz or color pops. A master or intermediate card maker would enjoy this challenge and blow it away, but for little more than an amateur card maker like myself, I struggled. I ended up making two cards because I felt the first one was way too simple, so I went back to the drawing board and tried harder.

I stamped Altenew's "Enjoy Your Journey" on Neena Solar cardstock, and cut it out with MFT's Selfie Square & MFT's Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle in Black cardstock. Then I added Gem Stickers from Honey Bee Stamps from the "Farm Fresh Holiday" collection.

Then, I decided to try another card, and really challenge myself again.

I stamped out Avery Elle's "Look For Rainbows" bunny, out on Lawn Fawn's "Narwal" gray cardstock, and fussy cut it out. Then I masked off the face of the bunny, and sponged a pattern from Gina K's "Leafy" stencil, in Distress Ink "Weathered Wood", to add some texture on the umbrella. I created a background by stamping out MFT's "Scene Builder" on some more Narwal cardstock, in Memento " London Fog" ink.  After that, I used popdots placed for dimension on the back of the bunny, and placed it in the scene on my card.

Then, I diecut a pennant out for my sentiment by using MFT's "Skinny Strips" dies, and stamping out the sentiment from Penny Black's "Rain or Shine" set, in white ink from Pink Fresh, called "Calico White". To add just a touch of sparkle, I added some Gem Stickers, from Honey Bee Stamps, from their "Farm Fresh Holiday" collection.

This was quite the challenge, and one that I want to challenge myself with again, because I enjoy the effort to think outside the creative box! I still wish I could add some pink to the nose and ears, but those are the rules! 😄

Until I post again, Enjoy your crafting day!