Celebrate - Painted Flowers (again)

Hello to my crafty blog readers!

Last weekend my card-making gal pals and I headed up north to a cottage, where we go twice a year, and spent 3 wonderful days crafting paper goodness and enjoying each other's company. Oh yeah ... and eating & drinking! :-)

But back to the cottage ... it's about 2 hours north, so it wasn't much of a surprise to still see snow on the ground in the woods. In fact, the lake the cottage is on was still frozen. The weekend was our best yet weather-wise, so by the time we left, there were pockets on the ice that had melted, and within the largest melted "pool" off to the left, I saw my first Loon of the season. LOVE hearing their haunting calls while at the cottage!

Here's a couple of pics of this gorgeous setting - one of the frozen lake off the patio, and one of our mess of crafty goodness on the table and spread around the dining area, which overlooks the lake:

Looks like there's quite the shortage of craft supplies, right? LOL We ALWAYS end up bringing way too much, and this time around we "scaled down" (believe it or not).

There's nothing like spending time with crafty friends to re-ignite my creativity!

Which brings me to one of the cards I made while on our weekend get-away - and since there was a beverage or two consumed while said weekend, please don't be too critical of my "off" angles. In my defense, the lighting at night wasn't exactly the greatest for my poor ole eyes ;-)

Altenew's Painted Flowers (yes ... again!), combined with WPlus9's Pretty Peonies leaves & fillers.

I started by sponging a white cardstock panel with Soft Sky ink, then stamped my leafy images in Versafine Black and Old Olive and the floral clusters in Black/Stampin' Up's Poppy Parade. I trimmed this panel down to fit behind the negative space at the top of the stitched frame, then adhered the Painted Flowers diecuts with dimensionals.

I stacked 3 of the sentiment diecuts and glued them right down in the center of the white space of the frame, and used a coordinating (poppy coloured) DP from my stash (MME) to place behind the bottom negative space of the frame diecut.

Stay tuned ... more cottage creations to come. Thanks for dropping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Altenew's Painted Flowers; WPlus9 Pretty Peonies
Ink: Versafine Black; Stampin' Up's Cameo Coral, Poppy Parade, Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive, Lucky Limeade, Soft Sky; Simon Says Stamp Fog
Dies: Frantic Stamper Diagonal Card Sketcher; Papertrey Ink Wet Paint Cuts III; Altenew Painted Flowers Die set
Cardstock: White & Black cardstock; MME 6X6 DP

Painted Flowers - Take 3

It is coming down to the wire ...

I have promised to return this lovely stamp set to a friend this weekend.

Yet there is good news as it is back in stock in the Altenew shop, and my order has been placed!

So today I'm sharing yet another card I created with the Painted Flowers stamp set - a simple, CAS creation that didn't take long to put together.

In hindsight, I wish I had rounded the outside corners of this card to match the sentiment panel, but I was too excited and glued the panels down too fast :-)

I used my Inside/Outside Rounded Stitched Square dies to cut out a section in the middle of my card, and replaced it instead with a black panel on which I white embossed the "hello" sentiment (which was applied using dimensional dots). A few sequins here and there and voila! Another Painted Flowers card for my stash!

Happy weekend!

Supplies:
Stamps: Altenew Painted Flowers; PTI Bitty Bouquets
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Bordering Blue, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Old Olive; PTI Hibiscus Burst; Versafine Black
Dies: MFT Inside & Out Stitched Rounded Square Stax Die-namics
Accessories: Adhesive Pop Dots; White Embossing Powder; Sequins

Painted Flowers "Hello" card - Muse Challenge #160

I am involved in a love affair ...

with a stamp set!

I can't seem to get enough of the Altenew stamp set "Painted Flowers" that I borrowed from a friend in order to create a card for a challenge with a blogging friend (previous post). I spent most of my weekend crafting with it, as I know that, too soon, I will have to give it back.

I wonder if she'll accept my "excuse" that one of my dogs ate it?? Ahhh, memories of school ... LOL

Seems that this set is sold out in many of my favourite crafting haunts (no surprise there). So I guess for now, I'll enjoy my limited time with this set until I can get my inky fingers on my own set.

I used the sketch/inspiration card over at Muse Challenge as a jump start for my card, creating a similar LO with a framed panel and sentiment located at the bottom as seen on Michele's beautiful card here (couldn't resist playing along with my friend over at I Card Everyone) - :-)

And this is the card I came up with:

I kept the sentiment general so that I can use this card for any occasion, and used a lovely frame die set that I ordered recently (and love!).

The floral panel is popped up on the embossed panel. I glued together 3 of the sentiment diecuts and adhered it to the floral panel with pop dots as well. A few iridescent sequins finish the card off.

I'll have more Altenew Painted Flowers cards coming ... I hope you don't tire of them (as I know I won't tire of making cards with this lovely set!)

Happy Monday & enjoy your week.

Supplies:
Stamps: Altenew Painted Flowers
Dies: Papertrey Ink Wet Paint Cuts; My Favorite Things Stitched Rectangle Scallop Frame Die-namics
Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Mellow Moss; Versafine Black
Cardstock: White & Black cardstock; Stampin' Up Baja Breeze cardstock
Accessories: Sizzix EF; Pop Dots; Iridescent Sequins

Paper Bag Inspiration Challenge - Just For You

I'm such a procrastinator! (I know you're smiling, Lainey!)

A LOOOOONNNNNGGGG time ago, I asked a wonderful blogging friend, Lainey over at Made @ Home by Lainey, if it would be OK to send her a picture I took while going through the flower department of one of my local grocery stores. The purpose was to see if she was interested in creating a card inspired by this picture of a paper bag that I thought was absolutely stunning. Don't you agree?

The colours are fabulous, the florals amazing, and as happens most often when I see such lovely items, I immediately start to identify the colours in relation to ink pads I have - or think I have.

In this case, it was "think I have", as I didn't have a strong coral ink pad colour to match this picture, so I ended up borrowing it from a friend.

I knew I wanted to use this stamp set as I wanted it to look similar to the photograph. This is the card I FINALLY came up with:

And just as the card says, Lainey, this card is "Just For You" - thank you for accepting my challenge, thank you for allowing me to postpone our posting date a time or two - or more ;-) - but especially, for being such a wonderful blog friend.

Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without my readers popping over to see Lainey's beautiful card, which she posted here today (and seeing this post encouraged me to rush home and complete my card LOL).

A couple of things I did with my card that were inspired by the amazing collection of cards on Lainey's blog: a sponged, stencilled background, and the use of baker's twine.

For the stencilling, I used a heavier hand on opposing corners, using Stampin' Up's Pool Party ink. My stamped floral panel is diecut with Papertrey Ink's Mat Stack 3, and mounted on a Mat Stack 3 Layerz diecut in Stampin' Up's Bermuda Bay cardstock.

What a fun challenge!

Supplies:
Stamps: Altenew Painted Flowers; Altenew Painted Greetings
Dies: PTI Mat Stack 3; PTI Mat Stack 3 Layerz
Ink: Stampin' Up's Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Cameo Coral, Poppy Parade, Lucky Limeade, Old Olive; Versafine Black
Cardstock: White cardstock; Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay cardstock
Accessories: Coral Baker's Twine; Clear Scraps Chevron Stencil; Adhesive Pop Dots

Ahoy, Matey!

Just a quick post today as this card isn't entered in any current challenge (other than my own to myself to post more LOL).

I got together with my card-making group on Sunday and wanted to add to my stash of birthday cards for little guys. I knew I wanted to work with this sailboat die, so the card basically made itself, with a little help from me! :-)

I've had an old pirate stamp set from when I first began stamping, so I used the sentiment and anchor image from it. Unfortunately, it's not in its original packaging so I can't list the manufacturer. It has some adorable images, but I must admit I'm not too fond of the sentiment I chose (because of the "e" in "Matey"), but it's all I had on hand. From the same set, the inside sentiment says "Be Havin Yourself a Treasure Filled Day" stamped in Night of Navy ink, with a treasure chest image stamped in red below it.

If anybody out there knows this set, drop me a line so I can update my blog post with the correct info.

Have a fantastic day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Unknown Pirate stamp set: Ahoy, Matey
Dies: My Favorite Things Sailboat Die-namics; Wave Dies
Paper: MME 6X6 DP pad; Stampin' Up Night of Navy, Lucky Limeade, Real Red and Marina Mist cardstock; white cardstock
Ink: Stampin' Up Night of Navy, Soft Sky; Papertrey Ink Fresh Snow

Tulip Birthday Card - Inspired by All The Little Things Challenge #7

Hello and thank you for joining me again today!

If you happened to catch my last post, you'll know that I admitted to a bit of an addiction to flowers. OK, maybe more than just a bit ;-)

Today's post is another flower card using a couple of stamp sets that I recently received from Papertrey Ink. I was totally smitten with all the gorgeous cards made by the DT for Tulip Time Stamp Set, so I just had to have it.

One card in particular that I spotted on Pinterest - this card by Diana on her blog, Overnight Waffles - combined this set along with the flowering branches from PTI's Spring Woods set.

I fused the inspiration from that lovely card with this inspiration photo over at Inspired by All The Little Things, Challenge #7 -

and this is the card I put together:

These multi-step stamp images come together so beautifully. The hardest part is choosing what colour combination you want to use on your current design.

I think my next kick at the can will use yellows for the tulip images ... the options are endless & a whole lotta fun!

I've added the clickable link to the Inspired By All The Little Things challenge above, so get your pink on and join in the fun :-)

Supplies:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Tulip Time; Papertrey Ink Spring Woods; Papertrey Ink Graceful Greetings
Inks: Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette, Pale Plum, Lucky Limeade, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip; Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Burst; Versafine Black
Dies: PTI Tulip Time; PTI Spring Woods; Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies

Spring Fever!

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I have Spring Fever!

Although our winter this year was quite mild, I'm itching to get into my garden to prepare it for the glorious colour and scent of flowers that are coming! One of my favourite plants in my front garden is a Japanese Peony Tree. It produces large, buttery yellow blooms that have a heavenly scent!

I must admit, however, that I love ALL KINDS of flowers! Even the paper kind ;-)

Since I have to wait for the REAL ones, I decided to play in my craft room this weekend to make the next best thing - flower cards! This is one of the many I have worked on:

I originally put these lovely flower clusters together about 3 weeks ago. They've been adorning my craft desk for a while so I figured it was time to finally put them on a card - actually several card designs (yes, I made a LOT of these floral clusters!).

Super sweet "Hello" card to send a friend "just because", don't you agree?

Have yourself a glorious day - and may it be full of sunshine & flowers!

Supplies:
Stamps: Avery Elle Simply Said: Hello
Dies: My Favorite Things Spring Garden Die-namics; WPlus9 Hand Lettered "Hello"; Memory Box Grand Madison Window; Frantic Stamper Diagonal Card Sketcher Dies (stitched tag)
Ink: Frayed Burlap Distressed Ink; Versafine Black
Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Crisp Canteloupe, Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, Old Olive Cardstock; White Cardstock
Accessories: Taylored Expression Brick EF; 1/8" Hole Punch, Twine; Lace Ribbon; Stickles; Dimensional glue dots