ABC Apple Sketch

Another really fun sketch by Linda Callahan this week at Freshly Made Sketches!

I chose to make a card for a teacher since school will be out in a few short weeks!

Used PTI's Petite Places: School stamps and dies, as well as the Enclosed:  Apple die.  I cut off the "Thanks" sentiment on the die and used the apple as a frame.  Also from PTI are the letters cut with the Headline Alphabet die set.

The little trees are from Teeny Trees by Claire Brennan.  The background is made with the Impression Obsession Cover-A-Card background called "Screen."  Love their 6x6 cling backgrounds!

Chalkboard Baking Inspiration!

I absolutely love the picture and sketch this week at the Fusion Card Challenge, and the DT had tons of awesome inspiration for us!

I took out an old clear set that I love from Hero Arts called "What's Cooking?" I had to get it when I saw the cute apron and little pot holders!

I made my chalkboard by stamping in Versamark then heat embossing with white powder.  I colored around and inside the images with white and colored pencils. The "YUM" was cut with PTI's Headline Alphabet dies, and the windows with PTI's Trio die.  The sentiments are from Ways to Say:  Birthday.  The tag is cut with Tiny Tags with a sentiment from Mixed Messages. The cup and donut are from Lawn Fawn's "Love You a Latte."

Topped it off with some Baker's Twine, or course :)!

Felt Daffodils

This week for PTI's Make it Monday, Lizzie Jones challenged us to make gorgeous felt flowers and gave us lots of sweet examples!

I created some birthday tags with felt daffodils!

I used a sentiment from Beautiful Berries and felt cut with Beautiful Blooms II dies, set #1.  My centers were made by folding over felt, cutting slits along the folded edge, and rolling them up.

My first recipient of the tags gave Lizzie's flower idea a huge thumbs up :)! (Me, too!)

Gran's Garden Sketch

This weekend I decided to play along with Hannelie's awesome sketch at the 

CAS(E) this Sketch challenge!

I just received Dawn McVey's lovely floral set "Gran's Garden" from Papertrey Ink this weekend.  Cards practically make themselves with it, it's so much fun!

I used Impress Fresh Ink in Sugar, Peony, Sicilian Blue, Gypsy Blue, Navy, and Slate for the flowers and leaves.  Added a side panel of Dark Indigo cardstock from PTI embossed with an old Cuttlebug folder, and a sentiment from PTI's Beautiful Berries.

So happy it's spring!  Thanks for stopping by!

Botanical Butterfly

The Card Concept Challenge had a lovely set of vintage botanical notecards for inspiration, so I had to play along!  (Can you tell that my Mother's Day included some stamping time? :))

I chose to use the butterfly from Nordic Spring by Claire Brennan.  I stamped it on a piece of PTI's Rustic White cardstock then went about "botanicalizing" it (SO much fun)!

I stamped the butterfly in Stazon Black, then watercolored in and around it.  Once dry, I stamped an old Penny Black text background over the top in Frayed Burlap ink.  Splattered some black paint on, then ran it through the Cuttlebug with PTI's Canvas embossing plate.  Stamped a sentiment from PTI's Scripted Sentiment in Stazon Black, too, then cut out the piece with a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle die.

Last  but not least, a coating of Glossy Accents on the butterfly to give it a little dimension and to make the colors pop.  My husband seemed mildly impressed when I told him this was a blank piece of cardstock when I started :)!!

Smile Background

Melissa Phillips made a fun background using sentiments stamped on a diagonal for PTI's Make it Monday, and then there was this cool sketch by Jen Timko for Freshly Made Sketches!

I used the "Smile" sentiment from Enclosed:  Flower stamp set to make my ombre background for a birthday card...

The balloons are from "Birthday Style" and the small sentiment is from Ways to Say: Birthday set.

And I even used a pink card base instead of white, go me!  :)

Quatrefoil Tulips

A beautiful photo at the Fusion Card Challenge called "Navy Patterns" this week!

I was drawn to the pillows and those beautiful yellow (my favorite color) tulips!

I used PTI's Tulip Time and Beautiful Berries sets, and a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's "Doodle Buds."

The quatrefoil pattern is a DCWV stencil that I used with Wendy Vecchi's white embossing paste.  Added a few Glossy Accent "dew" droplets to my flowers and leaves, too :)

Such gorgeous inspiration cards from the DT members and players this week at Fusion Card Challenge!

Pastel Flower Sketch

A card today for two fun challenges, Reverse Confetti's Sketch For You To Try this month, and Color Throwdown's lovely colors of the week!

I used Reverse Confetti's "Blooms 'N Buds" and "Bitty Banners" stamps and dies.  They are so much fun to play with!

I stamped an old background from Cornish Heritage farms in the background using A Muse Studio's warm gray ink called "Seattle," and used a plaid Cuttlebug embossing folder on vellum  adhered over the bottle half of the card.

The flowers and leaves were stamped in shades of A Muse and Fresh Ink in yellow and aqua, and the leaves in A Muse's Latte and Seattle inks.  Added some white opal Liquid Pearl and stardust Stickles details.  Celebrating spring and Moms everywhere :)!

Watercolor Wash Background

Another Make It Monday for me, since I was so lucky last week ;)!  Plus I couldn't pass up a chance to play along with Laurie Schmidlin's first MIM tutorial!  She showed us how to make two kinds of watercolor wash backgrounds, one with emboss resist and one without.

I chose to make a resist background with shades of aqua that I added some yellow to along the bottom and a classic favorite of mine, Background Basics: Tin Types.

Stamped some more Bitty Bouquets since I had used them earlier, but this time I inked them with Tim Holtz Distress Ink markers to get a softer sketchy colored look to match the background.  So much fun!

Black and White

Having some fun with PTI's new Mix and Mat: Scallops die.   I love how bold and lacy it looks backed with black cardstock!  Added a pop of "lilac" color with Bitty Bouquets dotted with White Opal Liquid Pearls :).  The sentiment is heat embossed with black powder on vellum.