Texas Roses

I just had to make some yellow roses. There is a song that I once sung long ago for a 4H event, are you familiar with the chorus?:

She's the sweetest little rosebud That Texas ever knew, 

Her eyes are bright as diamonds, They sparkle like the dew; 

You may talk about your Clementine, And sing of Rosalee, 

But the YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS Is the only girl for me.

Brings back good times!

This card is for the Winnie & Water Share the Love featuring Essentials by Ellen Day 3: Background Building Challenge. I stamped a series of solid image roses from Winnie & Walter's The Big, the Bold and Extras Stamp Set in two shades of yellow onto a white background panel. I then overstamped the outlined image with a pale green. I filled in large white areas with the small, solid leaf stamp in that same set, as well as some dots in the green and yellow shades.

I then stamped the solid image banner in yellow and the outline banner in green, and added a sentiment from Essentials by Ellen 12 Days Companion Greeting Stamp Set onto the outlined banner image. These were both fussy cut and layered. I adhered the panel to a white card base, but before doing so, I inked up 3/4" of the right side of the card with yellow ink and then added a strip of inked green paper. I adhered the banner sentiment to the card with foam adhesive on the left side and regular adhesive on the right side.

Pretty happy with the way this one turned out. I wasn't too sure as I was making all the elements separately, but I didn't give up. And, I tried new things too, which is always fun!

Merci

I'm back again this afternoon with a card for the Winnie & Walter Share the Love Featuring Essentials by Ellen Day 2: Sentimental Challenge.

I started by marking out a light, penciled grid onto vanilla cardstock, with each block a hare larger than the "Merci" stamp from the Essentials by Ellen 12 Days Companion Greetings Stamp Set. I stamped the sentiment in peach ink in each block, having left two blocks open in the bottom right corner. I then erased the pencil guides and inked the edges. Then I stamped in green ink the solid and outlined leaf images from Winnie & Walter's The Big, the Bold and Extras Stamp Set, fussy cut them out and adhered them to the left side of the unstamped area. I added a few bronze rhinestones for the berries. I finished the card by stamping the "Merci" sentiment in toffee ink in the remaining open area.

I have one more card finished for Day 3, and hope to get the other two cards made. Have you joined along in this fun challenge? I only have one stamp from each of these companies and it has been rather fun to see the different cards I have made with just these two set.

Shades of Red

I stamped with abandon with these, and it was liberating! I'm playing along with Winnie & Walter's Share the Love featuring Essentials by Ellen Day One: Florals.

Our challenge was to create something with florals so I stamped one of the solid image blooms from The Big, The Bold and Extras in light pink, bright pink, red and crimson onto a white card panel. I then over-stamped the blooms with the lined bloom stamp image from the same set, and finished the panel with some of the stamen details and a series of dots. I mounted this panel onto a dark pink card base with foam adhesive and then added a border of a black and white strip and white cardstock strip. I stamped a sentiment from Essentials by Ellen 12 Days Companion Greetings Stamp Set. I finished the card with a set of three black rhinestones.

My little one's last day of baseball was tonight. I am so proud of him, he improved by leaps and bounds and I could tell he was having fun. You know it was a good season when they are already talking about next year's baseball games!

Just Chicken In

There is an fabulously fun inspiration image up for the Essentials by Ellen June Pin-Sights Challenge! Isn't is funny how one can be inspired? I saw the waffles in this picture and immediately thought "chicken and waffles". I've never had this combo myself, but I am sure it tastes good.

 I decided to keep my card clean and simple, as is the norm with my cards lately. I pulled out an older Lawn Fawn set, Critters on the Farm and colored and fussy cut a chicken and some chicks. I added some yellow splatters to a white cardbase and stamped a sentiment from the Essentials by Ellen, 12 Days Companion Greetings Stamp Set. I created my own patterned paper by running strips of copic colored lines (to match the colors from the inspiration picture) onto a piece of glossy cardstock. I then adhered the strip to the cardbase, adding a thin strip of black cardstock as well. I finished the card by adhering the hen and chicks onto the card.

Papertrey June Blog Hop Challenge

Reef Flowers. That is the name of this card. Do you name your cards? This card was inspired by the beautiful image for the June Paptertrey Ink June Blog Hop.

Isn't it just beautiful?! I attempted to replicate the style and colors of the inspiration piece, so once again, I pulled out the PTI In Bloom Stamp Set. I first put a wash of light blue and green inks onto some white distress watercolor paper. I then heat embossed in white the blooms and leaves, and applied a loose, but vibrant color wash over the images.

I added the watercolored panel onto a bright pink card base, flush to the top and then trimmed the sides. I finished the card by heat embossing in white a sentiment from Iconic Images onto black paper, adding it to the card with dimensional adhesive. The sides of the sentiment panel overhang just a tad. Ooh, and then lastly, I added a few iridescent sequins too, they change colors from pink to blue in the light and I thought that they fit perfectly with the blooms.

Girl with Balloon

This is my last post for the My Favorite Things Stamps Camp Create. The last challenge is Spectacular Shakers! Although my shaker area isn't too large, I still love this sweet shaker card! I think it is awesome that almost any simple image can become an area for a shaker, so I had to try it out with the balloon.

I started with an older, retired image from the Pure Innocence My Balloon Stamp Set and watercolored her in with Zig Markers. I followed suite with some customary watercolor splatters and then added a sentiment from Adorable Elephants. I then die cut a circle where the balloon image was to use as the shaker part of my card.

I assembled the shaker portion by backing the open balloon area with acetate, adding sequins and glitter in the area not backed with dimensional foam and affixing the panel to a kraft card base. I then bordered the panel with a decorative pink edge. So simple, but so sweet I think!

I really enjoyed playing in all the Camp Create Challenges, I was able to try new to me techniques and that is awesome for an "old" stamper like me.

Pastel Gnomes

I'm back again with the fourth challenge for  My Favorite Things Stamps Camp Create. Today's card features the partial die-cutting technique for the Delightful Die-Cutting Challenge. I really, really enjoyed making my cards for this challenge and how cute and simple they turned out (probably because I was stretched for time and didn't think too much about how the end result would look)!

I started this card by utilizing the partial die-cutting technique on the yellow panel. Then I die cut two rows of grass from the Fresh Cut Dienamics Die and die cut a cloud panel using Lil' Inker Designs Border Builders Die Set. All the edges were slightly inked with a coordinating color (for the white I used a light gray). I adhered a piece of light blue cardstock onto a white card base, then the white cloud panel, the yellow "sun" panel, and finished with two rows of grass.

I then stamped, colored and fussy cut a cute little gnome from You Gnome Me  and he was attached to the card between the two grass layers. I stamped a sentiment from Adorable Elephants onto a white strip of cardstock and adhered that to the card to finish it off.

A Sweet Lil' Elephant

My Favorite Things Stamps hosted a fun challenge series, Camp Create. Today's card is for the third challenge, Watercolor Wonder.

Seriously, so glad I tried this. I feel like a true artist! This turned out cuter than I could have imagined. I stamped one of the elephants from Adorable Elephants onto watercolored paper with light gray ink, then watercolored him in with zig markers and water.

I then added a wash of green for the grass and blue for the sky, and of course, had to add some splatters in each color. I then decided he needed a balloon, so I stamped that in gray as well and watercolored it in purple. I then stamped the sentiment, also from Adorable Elephants. I went simple with the card so the watercolored panel was affixed to a light green card base. 

Wiggle Eyed Pup

My Favorite Things Stamps hosted a fun challenge series, Camp Create. The second challenge was Sensational Sliders. (Now, I don't have a slider card to show today, but I do have a card with a googly eye on it. The video from Stephanie mentioned that we could use these instead of the slider, and I had forgotten how much fun they add to a card!)

I started by die cutting two rows of grass with the Fresh Cut Dienamics Die, adhering each to a white card base that had been stamped with a sentiment from Adorable Elephants. The bottom strip of grass was adhered with dimensional adhesive. I then colored and fussy cut a puppy from You Make My Tail Wag, adding a google eye. Before adhering the puppy to the card, I stamped, colored and fussy cut three balloons from Adorable Elephants and adhered them to the card. I drew in the strings, and then affixed the dog to the card. For a finished touch, I covered each of the balloons with glossy accents.

I'm thinking that the eyes will stay out on my desk, and they will make more appearances. 

Glitzy Fox

My Favorite Things Stamps hosted a fun challenge series, Camp Create. The first challenge was Glitzy Glitter.

I kept this card pretty simple, by adhering a wood embossed black cardstock panel to a portion of a hot pink card base. I then affixed some silver glitter tape to the card, and a stamped a sentiment from Forest Friends and Adorable Elephants.

I then stamped and die cut the fox from Forest Friends (I think it is a fox, but perhaps it was a skunk, not sure, but for today she's a fox!) and added a bit of black enamel accents to the nose (it went a bit wonky!) and then some perfect pearls to the tummy, head and tail for added glitz and glam.

The challenges last week were quite fun for Camp Create. I completed all of them so will be showcasing them in a few posts.