Classic Design Challenge : Santa

 Welcome back again to this month's Classic Design Team Challenge! It's that time of year again where we start thinking about Christmas and making or sending out our Christmas cards. 

I have a great image from Dr. Digi featuring Santa himself, checking the naughty and nice list. Have you checked to see if your name is on his "nice" list? I'm sure it is! Here is a link to his digi store Dr. Digi and here is a link to my Santa image : Naughty or Nice. Dr. Digi has some great quality digi stamps in his store, and I hope you go check them out!

I colored my image in with Copic markers, then used MFT's Double Stitched Rectangles to cut it out with a decorative border around it. I then sponged some Distress Inks around the image to "age" it and tone down the white cardstock, as my design papers and lace panel is off white/cream. After sponging, I matted my image with a red cardstock from Bazzil. I layered a cream lace panel cut from a die by Stampin Up, then matted that under my image, over some design papers from The Paper Studio's "Old World Winter" collection. I completed the matting by adding one more cardstock layer of a reflective gold from Tim Holtz's Metallic Cardstock collection, then I added a few holly diecuts from Tim Holtz's Ideology "Christmas Botanicals" collection. My sentiment is from Fresh Pink's "Foiled Holiday Sentiments".

And there you have it. My take on Dr. Digi's Santa inspired digi stamp. I really love how it turned out. I'm not the greatest at coloring in people, but how can you mess up Santa?! LOL!

Thank you for joining us this month in our Classic Design Challenge! I'll see you here for next month's inspiration! And don't forget! Santa Claus is coming to town .... !

November Beautiful Blossoms Challenge : Fuchsia Postcard

Happy November, Challenge Friends!! Can you believe the year is almost over! We've had so many challenges and inspirations together. I love it!

This month's November inspiration photo is my absolute favorite of the year!! Look at those deep blues, magentas, golds, and purples! So beautiful and what I'd consider quintessentially traditional fall colors. I love, love them!

As you can tell, I was completely inspired by the colors in the photo. But this time, I wanted to try to capture the color intensity in watercolors. So, I found an old postcard with watercolor paper, and decided I was going to go as intense with my shading as I possibly could.

To start my watercoloring, I taped off the edges of the postcard to create a "frame" for interest. I used Distress Inks and Aqua Markers to color my image in. My image is from Heartfelt Creations, called "Fuchsias". After coloring in my image, I sponged in some Antique Linen and Old Paper Distress Inks along the bottom half and around the image, I painted a blue 'haze' with the Distress Ink, then sponged just a little of the Old Paper Distress Ink around the top half of the card.

I love how it turned out! I just have to seal it so that when I want to send it out to someone, if it rains or gets wet, it won't smear. 

I can't wait to see all the creations submitted this month and see how you all used the colors! Until then, happy Crafting!

September Beautiful Blossoms Challenge : Birthday Greetings

 Good morning fellow crafters, I've missed you! 

Another month, another design challenge! How are you enjoying them so far? Have you been feeling the challenge? Have you enjoyed the beautiful inspiration photos? I know I have.

I definitely love the rusty red and the soft oranges, so perfect for my favorite time of the year. Such beautiful fall colors!

I chose to use Honey Bee Stamps Love is a Rose stamp set and the dies to cut it out. I colored it in with my Copic markers. Then I chose a Doodlebug Design blue doily to place under the image. I found some blue-green coordinating paper that I cut out with Pink Fresh's Slim Ornate Banner die, then rounded the corners with a corner punch. Then I placed Popdots under that, and placed it over some design paper with Pink Fresh's Fancy Rectangle Frame over Bazzil's Cornmeal cardstock, then added some yellow enamel dots.

As busy as this looks, it was pretty simple to make and layer. I just love it when a card comes together so quick, don't you?!

Thank you for your follows and kind comments, it means the world to me! Until next month, thank you for joining us at Beautiful Blossoms Challenge!

Classic Design Team Challenge: Surfing Santa

 Welcome back to another fun Classic Design Challenge, I'm glad you're here!

This month, we're featuring digi's from Dr. Digi, himself! Dr. Digi has many fun and quirky designs that appeal to everyone. I chose to keep it simple and use his Surfin' Santa digi. Again, like always, I chose to make it a clean and simple card,  using Christmas reds and keeping the focus on the Santa image.

I don't color Santa's in very often, or that much skin for that matter, but I thought I'd have a little fun with it. Because he's Santa, 

I kept to the Christmas theme as best as I could without being too overt, but also elegant.

I printed off the image onto Gina K paper (it's thicker) and colored it in with Copics. After coloring in the image, I sponged some sand on using Distress Inks Antique Linen and a blue sky with Tumbled Glass. Then I cut out the main image with MFT Stitched Rectangle, then cut out the bottom with another MFT that's been long since retired but I can't remember the name. Then I cut out an A2 rectangle from Spellbinders from Bazzil Ruby Slipper red cardstock, and embossed an edge around it. I finished the card with some black pearls.

I really enjoyed coloring this image in, and if you can tell, I added some subtle pink highlights in some areas to give Santa a "sunburn". I hope Santa enjoyed his vacation. He works so hard all year, so deserved it! :)

Have a great day and I'll see you next month on the next Classic Design Team Challenge! 

June Beautiful Blossoms Challenge : A Little Hello

 Hi Friends! Welcome back to my little blog, I'm glad you're here!

It's actually June, can you believe it?! The year is half over! And it's time for another monthly blog challenge. This month's photo is my favorite so far. So patriotic :)

I was so inspired by the Red, White & Blue, I made so many card attempts. I just couldn't get the right shades of reds and blues for my card without it looking so strongly garish. I really wanted it to be soft but distinctly Red, White & Blue.

I chose a stamp that I picked up at a local scrapbook store's stamping Garage Sale event. After I stamped out my image and colored it in, I diecut out the image with the corresponding die. I cut out some light blue background paper with a stitched rectangle die from MFT, and put it on some white cardstock cut out with MFT's Mini Scalloped die. I put some popdots under the image and placed it over the design paper and base. I cut out an oval piece of white cardstock and stamped out the sentiment.

I like how the card lightly touches on the red, white, and blue color requirements, but without it being so strong. My favorite kind of cards are the clean and simple kind :)

Thank you for joining us at Beautiful Blossoms this month and we can't wait to see you next time for a new challenge!!

JUST BECAUSE

 Have you ever done something or blessed someone "Just Because"? I have and it's such a joy and blessing when I am able to! So I translated that message and sentiment into a card.

I chose Power Poppy's "Everything's Even Rosier" set that I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and colored in with Copics. I lightly sponged "Antique Linen" Distress Ink around the edges of the image and patterned paper, and added half a white, paper lace doily, white and gold polka dot washi tape, and some light gold pearls.

I wanted the image to pop, and everything else to have a calming influence in the background, keeping it super simple so the message and the image would shine. Sometimes less is absolutely more, as it is in this case.

Fuchsia Flowers

 I made a couple of watercolor Postcards just for fun, a while back and decided I should post them.

One of the Postcards I watercolored was of a Fuchsia vine. I decided I was going to use some pretty strong colors on the flowers instead of using some softer colors I would normally like to use for this image, for no reason other than to do something different.

I believe this is a stamp set from Stampendous or Heartfelt Creations I stamped and colored in using Distress Inks and my Aqua watercolor markers. After coloring the image, I sponged a background and border in with more Distress Inks.

This isn't the most prominent image I've ever made or anything, but there's beauty in the simplicity of all art and I love that. I love the shadows and colors I chose for the flowers. They're so unique and different, I love how it turned out, and if I tried to create those flowers again I'd never be able to duplicate them, and I love that.

Apple Postcard

I love apples and I'm getting excited that fall is here so I can go apple picking!! I LOVE Fall and I Love Apple Picking!! I always look forward to crisp air, hot apple cider, and warm caramel to dip my apple slices in :) I don't know about you, but there's just something about fall and apples that make me giddy, happy, and cozy all at once.

I made this watercolored postcard on a whim years ago while I was just playing around with my watercolor paints. I actually painted the picture first and realized it would make a great Postcard instead of just a greeting card image.

I used Power Poppy's "Apples in Season" stamp set that I colored in using Distress Inks and watercolor markers. I added the lines with a fine line pen, and then sponged on a border and background color using the Distress Inks again. Super Simple! 

I kept the Postcard sweet and simple, just letting the image shine, as it should. By just playing around and experimenting, I think I stumbled upon creating a sweet looking Postcard by accident. 

Now that I'm hungry and inspired, I'm off to go Apple Picking!

Peace and Joy

 Once again, it's Christmas in July!! In only six more months it will be Christmas Day! I can't wait! All those fun, festive traditions, food, and family fun! I love it!

Until then, I'll enjoy the countdown to the festivities by creating Christmas cards, inspired by Power Poppy's Monthly Blog Challenge. Why not? :)

I chose to create a card using the Power Poppy "Simple Joys" stamp set and coloring it in simply with Copics, only emphasizing the red glass ball ornaments. I chose some fantastic cozy looking patterned paper from Brutus Monroe called "Playful Plaid", adding some simple craft store lace, a blue silk ribbon, and some bronze pearl embellishments. 

I purposely kept everything simple so that the image and sentiment shines, but cheery paper colors to keep it from looking too dull.

I really enjoyed this months' Power Poppy challenge. At times it's great to get the old inspiration gears turning and realize new ideas and creativity by accident, just by participating in a fun challenge! I'm looking forward to next month's Power Poppy Challenge!

 

Happy Independence Day

Hello crafting friends happy early Independence Day! Today I am showing you a card I made for the 4th of July.

I used Patriotism on Parade, I stamped onto Flourishes
Classic White Cardstock I matted with Flourishes Color Made Easy Christmas Red Cardstock & Iced Aqua cardstocks. Then I stamped out the sentiment onto a Flourishes Tailor-Made Classic Tags die and tied a 1/4 May Arts Red Silk Ribbon to the top loop of the tag die.

I sponged the background in a yellow to represent the fireworks glow and I added a few heavier sponge circles to show the fireworks "die off" effect, like the afterglow after a firecracker dying out.

I hope this card gets you in the crafty mood for the weekend, because Flourishes is having a 4th Sale!! They are offering 10% off the entire store!  Plus, if you all three of the 3 June Releases, you will save 20% off on them!!
Also, starting JULY 5th, ALL DIES are on sale 40% off - once they are gone, they are gone. First come first served. Find all the details here at FLOURISHES.

I'll be back next week with a nice Shabby Chic card I know you'll all love!

~ Amanda Havon

PageMaps!

Do you ever crave inspiration and look to sketches for help?  Some of the ladies from the Flourishes Design Teams and Becky Fleck of PageMaps are teaming up to give you some inspiration! Becky always has the best sketches! Every time I am in a rut with my cards, I pull out one of her sketches and it always gets my creative juices going!

For more info on the cards and sketches you can visit the PageMaps website here: PageMaps

Here is the sketch that Becky sent to use for my inspiration.

I love this sketch and I had many ideas, but I decided to create a card with a large stamped area, like a picture window. I made my card into a 5x7 size so I could fit my multiple stamped images in to create my scene.

I chose to use Flourishes "Field of Poppies" that I masked off and stamped multiple images of it onto Flourishes Classic White cardstock. I colored the flowers in with Copic markers then dry embossed a line around the whole image. I sponged in some clouds with "Tumbled Glass" Distress Ink, then I framed the whole card with Color Made Easy "Poppy" cardstock. Flourishes "Basque Red" ribbon from Color Made Easy was added with a sentiment from "Tiny Flowers and Tags" on the Tailor-Made Classic Tags die. Under the Basque Red ribbon is one of the Flourishes new "Perfectly Pierced Window Die" that I placed "Ivory Scalloped Guipure" lace under with a Zva "Corner Rhinestones" on top of it.
Here are the Copic Collections that I used to color the poppies:

Just one more thing before you go, the Gamblers sale at Flourishes is now up to 35% off on the Sale Page! This means all the items on our Sale Page are marked down to 35% off retail! I've seen the Sale Page and there are some Crazy Good deals! Items do sell quickly, so don't miss out!

Please visit the rest of these Flourishes designers to see their sketches and creations, for some extra inspiration!

Julie Koerber
Cindy Lawrence
Stacy Morgan
Tammy Hershberger
Ally Cope
Broni Holcombe
Heather Jensen
Christine Okken
Cindy Haffner

Thank you for visiting and have a great day!