Happy Little Stampers August Sketch Challenge

Hello and Happy August!! Summer is really flying by and I can't believe it's already August. That means it's time for a new sketch challenge over at the Happy Little Stampers blog. Here's the sketch inspiration for August

And here's my card:

I started by embossing the front of my white cardstock panel using a Polka Dot embossing folder from Sissix. The sweet library card is one of a set of eight from the Cameo Shoppe on Etsy. I love the colors and they print beautifully!!
I added a banner stamped using PTI's Heart 2 Heart #5 and the sentiment from Say It With Style.

Be sure to hop over to the Happy Little Stampers blog to see the rest of the design teams beautiful cards and join in on the challenge.

Thanks so much for visiting! Blessing~

Texture Kissing with PaperTrey Ink MIM

In Monday's Make-It Monday video with Lizzy Jones, she shares how to add texture to solid stamps using a technique called "Texture Kissing". You can find all the details in her VIDEO HERE.

I used the every fabulous Rosie Posie to try my hand at texture kissing using the patterned stamps from Half & Half. My little ink pads are a little over-inked so I ended up using the Half & Half stamp to stamp the flower image after I had kissed the Rosie Posie stamp to it. Does that make sense? Therefore, I have a backward or mirrored image of the actual flower stamp. You can see that you can barely see the texture on the leaves because that was straight from the leaf stamp after kissing. The pattern on the flower is more visible because I stamped it using the Half & Half stamp.
Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit

Sweet Daisies!!

This card was made for the challenge over at My Creative Time using these YUMMY summer colors!!

Here's my card using their super adorable new set called Hey There Little Lady

I embossed some lines down the front of the card using the Martha Stewart Score Board. The square is cut using MFT's Stitched Square Frames and the cute little images were colored using Copics.

Because I couldn't put this set down today, I made another card just for the fun of it.

I used a few different mediums to color these daisies, starting with colored pencils, a white chalk paint pen, Copics and a white gel pen for the final details.

I'm also entering this card into the Word Art Wednesday Challenge.

Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit

Grateful For You

Just popping in to post this card to the Simon Says Sparkle And Shine challenge.

I used the beautiful flowers from PTI"s new Vintage Linens and colored them in using copics. I added sparkle and shine using Stickles to the centers and details of the flowers.

I'm also entering this card into the Word Art Wednesday Challenge.

Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit

PTI July Blog Hop

Playing along with PTI's July Blog Hop! Here's the pretty inspiration photo

I created two cards

I started with a Rustic Cream cardstock base. I inked on the grid pattern using Antique Linen Distress ink. I then added the script background in fine linen using Background Basics Text. The leaves from Songbird were stamped in Spring Moss and then the roses from Sweet Life were stamped in Sweet Blush, Autumn Rose and Scarlet Jewel. The rose leaves from Sweet Life were stamped using Spring Moss and Simply Chartreuse. A strip of ribbon was wrapped on the panel and I added the scalloped oval and stamped oval from Spellbinders. The sentiment is from Wishing You. I cut two butterflies from the polka dot vellum using Beautiful Butterflies and heat embossed the edges in gold. A couple of pearls in the center of the butterfly finishes this card off.

This next card uses the same Rustic Cream cardstock base. I added a panel of Scarlet Jewel cardstock and a panel of printed paper from my scraps and cut the butterflies using Beautiful Butterflies, again from scraps. The edges of the butterflies were heat embossed in gold with a pearl in the centers. The banner was stamped and heat embossed again in gold, using Boutique Borders Sympathy set.
Enjoy the rest of the hop! Thanks so much for stopping by! Blessings~ Birgit

Playing with Chevron

I almost forgot to post these two festive Halloween cards I made for the Addicted To CAS Chevron Challenge.

I used the positive and negative spaces cut using PTI's Chevron Cover Plate, from each panel to create two Halloween cards. The pumpkins are from MFT's Primitive Pumpkins set, an oldie but a goodie and one definitely worth keeping!! The leafy flourish is also from MFT and the pages are cut using PTI's Notebook Die.

Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit

Water Coloring with Die Cut Stencils

I finally found time to play in my craft room and join the Make-it Monday challenge with Lexi Daly. She's so clever using her die cuts as stencils to watercolor. Here's my attempt at watercoloring using the Hearts Cover Plate as my stencil.

I used my new ZIG Clean Color Brush Pens to color in the hearts trying to add shadows for depth. Ha! I definitely need practice using those pens!

You can check out Lexi's video HERE

Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit

Create Along with PTI

For those who have withdrawals from PTI's Make-it Monday during release time, Betsy came up with a fabulous way that their faithful customers can still play along while the designers are busy, busy making cards and writing posts. Create Along With Us is a challenge where we can create a card using inspiration from the design team during their release of new products. I have two to share today.
My first card was inspired by the incredible Betsy Veldman herself using this card as inspiration.

Here's my card:

I used PTI's Still Life Summer and Nostalgic Notions to create my card.
I cut the crosshatch patterns using Nostalgic Notions out of black cardstock and layered the panel over some water colored paper. I then added the sentiment and sweetly stamped fruit from Still Life Summer.

I don't know about you, but I just love stamping these fruits in different colors. The shadows really add so much detail to the stamped fruit images. I sit and stamp lots of fruit in one sitting just to have them on hand when I need them.

My next card uses Nichole's book template. (I can't wait to get the die cuts for this!)

Here is a card I made a while back using the printed template.

This card really does have a dimensional look to it!

ETA: I thought I would add the link to the book template here since I'm discovering that a lot of people weren't aware that there was a template. PTI BOOK TEMPLATE

Be sure to visit Nichole's blog for the details and to join in on the challenge!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Blessings~ Birgit

Friday Catch-Up

Since I've been busy with life, I realize I've missed out on a lot of good challenges lately. So, today I spent a bit of time in my craft room playing catch up.
I started with the Sweet Sunday Sketch.

I used Simon Says Cupcake Party Stamps and added some sparkle to the frosting. The scalloped circle and center circle are cut using Spellbinders dies.

Some pretty pool blue sequins finish this card off.

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:
Seize the Birthday
Word Art Wednesday
CASology

Thanks so much for visiting! Blessings~ Birgit.

Christmas in July!

I've been wanting to make a card to link up to the Happy Little Stampers challenges going on right now. July kicked off the start of their Christmas challenge

and their CAS challenge,

so today's cards meets both of their requirements.

Very unconventional Christmas colors, wouldn't you say?
I started with a white cardstock panel cut from MFT's Inside Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangles and stamped the flower burst image using a very old stamp set that I purchased at a craft store. Sorry, I can't even tell you the name of it because the packaging has been long gone. I then stamped my tree images using Stampin' Ups Festival Of Trees, in the same colors as my flower bursts and fussy cut them. I placed them over the flower bursts, alternating the colors. The sentiment was heat embossed in white on black cardstock and I cut it into a fishtail banner and mounted it to the card and finished it off with a button.
An unconventional Christmas card made with the colors of July!

My next card was made using the same style and colors and was actually the first card I made. I had so much fun with the colors and design, that I wanted to make a Christmas card using the same style.

I used PTI's Summer Sweetness and inked the stamps using the Rock & Roll method.

I'm also entering one or more of these cards into the following challenges
Word Art Wednesday
Simon Says Monday Challenge

Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit

Botanical Bunch

I had purchased WPlus9's Botanical Bunch a few months ago and struggled with it ever since. It's a beautiful image but it still challenged me to think outside of the box, which I'm not good at. I discovered while blog hopping one day that my dear friend Marcia struggled with this same set so we challenged each other to create a card or two using this set.

My first card was very basic and used minimal supplies. I stamped the image on a white cardstock panel and then cut the center of the panel out using MFT's Stitched Rectangle Stax. I colored only the center portion of the image using my Copic markers.

I added a sentiment to the center and decided that it needed something more so I finished it off with some sequins and photographed it again as you can see in the first picture. I popped the center colored panel up using foam tape to give it dimension.

This is a design that's been done over and over again, but it's always beautiful!

My second card has a little more to it, starting with a kraft cardstock base and brown panel that was cut using MFT's Blueprints #13 and heat embossed using clear embossing powder and the berry sprig from the stamp set. I love the look of that background!!

I stamped the Botanical Bunch image using Tim Holtz Antique Linen onto primitive white cardstock and colored it up using Copics in fall colors. I added some detail using a white gel pen and a black fine tip Copic pen. I'm not too sure if the black dots were a little too much for this image, but it is what it is...
I then cut the scalloped circle in Kraft using Spellbinders Scalloped Circles and cut the image out using two graduating sizes of Spellbinders Circles. The center part of the circle is popped up again, using foam tape for dimension. A piece of ribbon and the sentiment from PTI's Flower Fusion #1 stamped on the smallest of MFT's Inside Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangle finishes the card off.

Hop on over to Marcia's blog to see how beautifully she used WPlus9's Botanical Bunch and if you want to join in on this challenge, send Marcia or I a link and we'll be sure to stop by and visit.
Thanks for playing along with me Marcia!!
Thanks for stopping by! Blessings~ Birgit

Hidden Messages

Sorry I've been MIA for a week. We had our son and his sweet wife home from Ohio for a family wedding that took place on Saturday, so we've been busy~busy enjoying our time together. I must say it was a beautiful wedding but most difficult without my mom there to enjoy it with us. Life is hard without her but I know you didn't come here to hear me sob so I'll get right to my card.
Today's card was made for the Happy Little Stamper Sketch Challenge that's going on right now!
Here's the inspiration sketch

Here's my take on this sketch

I started by cutting my scalloped panel from MFT's Blueprints #20 and the front panel from Blueprints #13. I stamped the beautiful rose images from Altenew's Vintage Roses. I added a few random dots, stamped very lightly, from PTI's Petite Pots. I then cut the "thanks" sentiment out of the center using My Creative Time's Hello Frame Dies. I cut the sentiment out two more times using plain card stock and stacked them together to give it dimension when placed back into the negative space, creating a hidden message. The rest of the sentiment is from PTI's Embroidered Blooms.

There's still time to join in on the fun sketch challenge over at Happy Little Stampers. You can find all the details about this challenge as well as their other challenges going on right now, HERE.

Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~

Creating Your Own Custom Border with PTI MIM #217

Happy Make-It Monday folks! Laurie's got a great video on creating your own custom borders over at Nichole's blog. You can find all the details HERE.

As you can see I used Nostalgic Notions to create my border and card. The sentiment is from Ruby Rose. The colors I used were Momento Angel Pink, PTI's Spring Rain and Pure Poppy.

I popped my panel up to give it some depth, just like Laurie did in the video.
I love how this card came out!
I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:
Word Art Wednesday
Addicted To CAS

Thanks so much for looking! Blessings~ Birgit

Happy 4th of July!!

Just popping on to post a couple of cards to celebrate our nation's independence. Happy 4th to everyone!!
I'm using colors from ColourQ for my first card.

I started with a kraft cardstock base and cut a white cardstock panel using MFT's Inside Out Stitched Rectangle Stax. I then stamped my images and sentiment from PTI"s Funky Florals in the designated colors. I then cut the center out of the panel using MFT's Stitched Rectangle Stax. I mounted the center panel to the kraft card base and popped the frame up using dimensional foam tape to give it a lift.

My next card uses an image from Crafty Secrets "American Beauty".

I'm also entering one or more cards into the following challenges:
CASology
Word Art Wednesday
Addicted To Stamps
Simon Says Monday Challenge

Thanks so much for looking! Have a safe and happy 4th of July!!
Blessings~ Birgit