Inlaid Die Cuts - Holiday Cards Day 2

Lesson #2 was about different ways of using die cuts.  I chose to do an inlaid die card. I started out with the idea of birch trees against a starry sky.  It turned out to be a lot more intricate for something that simple.  Tiny spaces between branches and the tree trunks!  I first tried using glitter with a glue pen for the stars, but they didn't show up at all!  So I ended up placing rhinestones individually instead.  This will be a one-and-only for someone special!  The birch trees come from Impression Obsession.  The cardstock, which looks a lot darker here, is PTI Enchanted Evening.

Holiday Card Class - Pop Up card

I saw a different way to make a pop up card in the Holiday Card class!  I colored the Gingerbread house first, then heat-embossed it with clear embossing powder.  It turned out great.  Images and sentiments are all from MFT.

Here's the front of the card:

Make It Monday - Borders

I'm getting braver about tackling Make It Mondays on PTI.  Usually my excuse is that I don't have the right stamp or die, etc. yet.  But I actually do have a border stamp (Boutique Borders: Baby) and the challenge was to make a focal point with one.  I love coloring and shading with Copics and used some for the image from PTI Friendship Jar - Fall Fillers.  I feel very blessed after spending a weekend up in Minnesota with my sister, celebrating the release of her novel, "The Cartographer of No Man's Land".

PTI - Inlaid card challengs

At first I didn't think I had the right kind of die for this challenge-- I'm still new enough to card-making.   But I came across the PTI Birthday Trio and remembered that my oldest daughter's birthday is coming up--  one of those where one would prefer to be eternally "39" as my mom used to say!  The paper is a fun one from Graphic 45 --Bohemian Bazaar.  Love the colors!  It turned out great.

More leaves!  The leaves that I ordered from PTI arrived yesterday.  The fun was in using multiple inks on them-- Orange Zest, Raspberry Fizz, Canyon Clay and some Harvest Gold. The colors were so pretty that they really didn't need anything else... Just a couple of sparkly dewdrops!  (All from PTI)

Had to try it!  I added dimension by stamping more leaves, heat embossing them with clear embossing powder, fussy cutting the tiny things and adding some glitter.  Painstaking but what a difference!  That's why challenges are so fun!

Thank you wreath

The PTI Make It Monday challenge was to make a wreath from leaves.  And the ones I actually ordered last week haven't arrived yet-- but using the smaller leaves from Polka Got Parade (PTI) worked just fine!  I used PTIs Basket of Blessing for the sentiment with orange zest, pure poppy and raspberry fizz for an ombré effect-- card base is scarlet jewel.  I've been loving that cranberry color for fall!

Inside Out Day 2 - Part 2

... and here's the inside of the card!

Inside Out Day 2

 Today I decided to make a window card -  all the tutorials on this class are awesome!  I added acetate to the window frame  to give it a more "glass" look.  On the inside of the card I made a "forest" of trees with Autumn leaves.  Used PTI inks and trees and leaves from the Polka Dot series.

Inside Out Class

The first day of Inside Out card class was really good.  I never considered making my own pop-out cards before!  And I loved the design ideas.  I used PTI inks on Scarlett jewel cardstock.  The mums come from PTI Mums the Word  and sentiments from Basket of Blessings.  Can't believe I actually got this done at the crack of Dawn this morning, but I was determined to give it a try.

And here's the front of the card

Spooooky Halloween

Spooooooky Halloween card!  I made about 20 different cards with images from Graphic 45 "Steampunk Spells" and images from PTI.  Unusual colors for this one, but it works!

Oh goody!! Another card class is starting so I'm making sure I remember how to upload my card photos.  Above is a sympathy  card I made last week.  The leaves are from PTI's Mighty Oak.  I loved the effect of dipping each leaf into more than one color.  And the one leaf that is floating away was such a lovely metaphor,

SCC Week 3 Day 2

Today's homework was about using die cuts in various ways.  I had to use a new Meadow Greens PTI stamp - I love images from nature.   I happened to come across some lavender paper and used that for accents, die cut the butterfly (PTI) a second time in vellum and stamped with Versamark and then disovered that I actually had the perfect shade of lavender in Perfect Pearls!  You can't really see the sparkle in the photo, but it really sets off the butterfly.  Added another touch of sparkle to the Queen Anne's Lace, popped the ferns and the flower with pop dots.

SCC Weekend 2 challenge

Yea! New colors to work with.   This one just took on a life of its own!  I started  with the rose embossed in white, used Orange Zest and Pure Poppy for the petals, New Leaf for the leaves, a sweep of Hawiian  Shores for the symbol of healing energy, and Pure poppy for a bunch of sentiments.  All from PTI.

SCC Week 2 Day 4. Christmas in July??

Today's assignment:  make a card from a Holiday stamp.  I was barely beginning my card-making career last December. Back then, I used a block print (I think it was from Clear Stamps) of bare trees against a night sky.  So I gave those bare trees some leaves with my Copics and made a summer sky.

Summer card camp week 2 Day 2

Today's homework was to use embossing techniques.  Sad to say I haven't yet collected any colored embossing powders yet and I loved the ombré effect that was demonstrated today!  Adding more stuff to my wish list!  -- so I just did the clear embossing with blue shadow done with resist.

Take #2

After sleeping on it I kept thinking that the first version was just out of balance.  So I reduced the amount of blue to being an accent and it does look better!

Summer Card Camp week 2 day One

This time l thought I'd be more organized for the week and assembled a bunch of inks and papers in the colors of the week.  Greens and browns aren't necessarily my favorite color combinations, but as I looked at them, a great image came to mind.  I fussy-cut her tank top.  I think one of the reasons I like  making cards is that it reminds me of paper dolls.

Day 2 Summer Card Camp

This is the card that go lost in the shuffle while I spent what seemed like an eternity trying to figure out how to upload my stuff to the card gallery.  Never mind that I had done it the day before but forgot some key element.  It used the colors of the week and my scraps.  I really liked how the banners turned out.

Card Camp Day 5

My drafting table looks like a tornado hit!  Trying this and that and then another color, stamp, paper etc. Aqua and purple are not natural partners but I did have some paper with both colors and a bit of yellow.  The purple looks too dark in the photo but it was nailed on by the time I had second thoughts!  This is why I always look a a card on "the morning after".  Haha!

Today's homework for summer card camp was to make a card in ten minutes.  I actually did turn my phone's timer on!  Lined up dies & sentiments etc. and off I went!  Very simple but fun to do,

Today's homework was to use some of the design and color ideas from Summer Card Camp Day 3.  It was a busy day for me but I dove I to my scrap pile and this is what I came up with!

Summer Camp - Day 2

I decided to try using different inks for the same sentiment on this card.  Painstaking!  But I finally got one right.

It's the first day of Summer Card Camp and I actually made a card because at last, I have enough stamps, papers, inks and dies to be able to try out different things.  I really enjoyed all the experimenting with placement, balance and getting all the colors in.

Flowers from a friend

I drive out to the country to visit my friend Betty once a week.  We have lunch and we play a marathon game of Sequence that has been going on for months.  I won yesterday's series!  The best thing is that Betty hands me her clippers and lets me cut a  bouquet of flowers to take home.  This time it was a lovely set of lilies.