Color Throwdown #703

 

Hi crafty friends! It's time for a new Color Throwdown challenge! Broni is hosting and has some great colors: powder blue, cream and kraft. Initially I was thinking "beach" but then went with some older dies by MFT and PTI and went with a "baby" theme.

I layered up two bib die cuts using Vintage cream paper. Images were stamped with Blueberry Sky ink by PTI. I added a button to the bib and a baby rattle to the twine bow for sweet little accents! A touch of Crystal Stickles to the heart topped it off.

STAMPS: Wonderful Words: Baby (Papertrey Ink); Beautiful Baby (My Favorite Things).

INK: Blueberry Sky (PTI).

PAPER: Distressed Floral 6x6" pad (The Paper Studio); Classic Kraft,  Vintage Cream (PTI). 

DIES: Blueprints 27, Baby's Bib, Beautiful Baby (My Favorite Things); Wonderful Words: Baby (Papertrey Ink).

OTHER: Twine, Crystal Stickles, Button.

We'd love to have you join us this week! You might just get picked to be our guest star stamper for the next challenge! Happy stamping!                                               ~Wanda

Color Throwdown #580 & Sunday Stamps

It's hump day (as my 3 year grandson loves to say!) whenever Wednesday rolls around. That means a new Color Throwdown Challenge and yours truly is hosting this week with a color palette of violet/purple, green and gray. I found this photo of a polymer piece of jewelry on Pinterest and fell in love with the inspiration possibilites! I took it literally with the heart shape and the florals.

I used products from a variety of companies! The Smoky Slate

paper, ink and French Script background stamp are all from Stampin' Up. The Postal Frames die, Sentiment Suite Basics die and sentiment from the Sentiment Suite:Love stamp set are from The Greetery. The floral heart and die are from a fabulous multi-step stamping set called Love in Bloom by Papertrey Ink. It's layered on a unique tag die - Stitched Hex Tag - by Reverse Confetti. I embellished with a glittery brad. Several of the layers were popped up using foam tape. I'm enjoying all the Valentine creations and will be sad to say goodbye to creating them after this week, however, I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to send some love throughout the entire year!

I used the sketch from the current Sunday Stamps challenge. I always love using a tag as the focal point!

For more inspiration, be sure to check out what the rest of the CTD design team has for you HERE! 
                                                                      ~Wanda

Tag, You're It Guest Designer

What a great piece of happy email when you find out one of your cards is a challenge winner! I recently played with the Tag, You're It challenge and won a future guest designer spot! Today, I'm guesting with them and the theme is buttons! How fun to bring out this older Papertrey Ink stamp set  - Baby Button Bits - which was so perfect! I felt a bit guilty for only using one button, but thought this bee would be perfect to add a baby card to my stash!

I used a small blending brush with a TCW Mini

Hexagons stencil and So Saffron ink by SU for the background. I then layered a Hexagon Element die by Simon Says Stamp over it...leaving an occasional solid hexagon intact. A strip of black cardstock and some washi tape were added for a horizontal element. The tag die is the Traditional Tags STAX Die-Namics by My Favorite Things.  I colored the wings with Copics - Y32 and YR21. The white base was die cut with the Crimped Frame die by The Greetery.  

So let me hear some buzz - haha! Hope your day is a great one!           ~Wanda

Fusion Card Challenge

It's time for another Fusion Card Challenge and I've chosen to use both the sketch and the inspiration photo! Leaves are really starting to turn and fall here in VA, so I love using these dies from My Favorite Things this time of year! I had watercolored a large number of these leaves several weeks ago using Mijello Mission Gold paints, knowing I would use them in multiple fall projects. 

I'm also entering this into Laurie's Fabulous Favorites challenge on the Ink to Paper blog where she is challenging us to create a favorite fall card. This twig frame is a long time fave of mine and I love pairing it with the fall leaves!

Here's my enabler's list...
STAMPS: Comforting Commands (The Greetery).
PAPER: Kraft, White - Papertrey Ink; Ranger watercolor CS.
INK: Baked Brown Sugar (SU).
DIES: Mix and Mat: Plaid and Pierced Feature Frames (PTI); Comforting Commands (The Greetery); Falling Leaves (My Favorite Things).

We'd love to see how you are inspired by the new Fusion Card Challenge! Hope to see you in the gallery.        ~Wanda
                                                                    

Twofer CAS Designs

I've got two cards today for two different challenges and both are CAS designs. Card #1 is for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge which is a redo of their 300th sketch. My starting point was an ink blended panel of 3 distress oxide inks: Fired Brick, Ripe Persimmon, Dried Marigold.  It had fallish vibes to it but I chose to go with this sunburst stamp/die set (My Sunshine by Reverse Confetti). The background was made with RC's Stitched Rays Cover Panel die.

 

Card #2 is for Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge which is to create a clean and simple design.  Since CAS-ual Fridays is their sponsor this week, I went with their fun birthday sentiment set called Whole Shebang. I lightly stenciled with Daffodil Delight using the Hero Arts Tweed Pattern stencil.

 

Here's what else I used...

STAMPS: Whole Shebang (CAS-ual Fridays); Polka Dot Parade #12 by Papertrey Ink.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; Summer Sunrise, Tropical Teal, Pure Poppy dye inks by PTI; Parakeet and Bumblebee Yellow dye inks by Reverse Confetti. 

DIES: Crimped Frame (The Greetery); Blueprint 27 (My Favorite Things); Polka Dot Parade #12 (Papertrey Ink).

It's an overcast day with rain showers predicted.  I'm ready for the lower temps they say are coming! Yay!

                                                                              ~Wanda

Color Throwdown #553

Hey everyone...it's Wednesday and that means a new Color Throwdown Challenge is up and running! Broni is our hostess and has chosen orange, yellow and pink for our colors! So many beautiful possibilities but, I decided to go with color blending of three distress oxide inks - Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry - as the backdrop to this cover die.

This was such an easy card to create that I almost felt guilty - lol! The die is a cover plate by Papertrey Ink called Butterfly Hope. The sentiment is another of the Simple Strips Background set by Taylored Expressions. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new second simple strips set with sentiments about friendship!

We'd love to have you play along with us! For more inspiration, you can check out the great projects by our design team:

Amy Rohl 

Amy Rysavy

Barbara Anders

Broni Holcombe 

Jodi Collins

Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler

Lynn Put

Vickie Zimmer

Wanda Cullen (you are here)

Susie Moore - July 2019 Guest Designer

Freshly Made Sketches

Amy has a great new sketch over on the Freshly Made Sketches blog! I thought I'd go with a beachy theme since our family beach vacation is coming up in a few weeks. I already had extra images stamped and die cut, so this fell together very quickly.

STAMPS: Salt Air: Flora and Fauna by Papertrey Ink; Color Layering Waves by Hero Arts (sentiment).

Because I had stamped the images many weeks ago, I don't recall what inks I used. Striped paper is from MFT's Black and White Basics 6x6" pad. The rectangle is Pool Party by SU.


Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!      ~Wanda

Color Throwdown #545

Hey, it's hump day and that means a new Color Throwdown challenge is happening!  Jodi is our hostess and has some really beautiful, vibrant colors for us! I went with a succulent theme since her chosen photo happened to feature them.

I went with water coloring these succulent dies from The Greetery

using Zig clean color brush markers. I struggled with blending the colors to the point of nearly causing the water color paper to disintegrate - lol! I'm still working on mastering these dies, although the assembly is easier if I can look at this reference photo I took when I first got the set. I layered the succulents over Reverse Confetti's Geo Panel die in kraft CS. I thought they looked rather lonesome, so tucked in some leftover berries from PTI's Spring Berries stamp/die set and then I was happy!  And once again...I grabbed a sentiment (one of 18 total) in my favorite Simple Strips Background stamp/die by Taylored Expressions.  I think I need to earn a commission by my constant plugging of this versatile set - haha!

Speaking of succulents, I'm really loving the variety of subtle coloring and textures IRL and thought I'd share a photo of a pot of succulents that sits at my kitchen door entrance. 

So that's all for now. We'd love to have you play along with us this week! For more inspiration from the rest of the talented design team, you can visit their links below.

Amy Rohl 

                                Amy Rysavy

 Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collin
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put  
Vickie Zimmer
 Wanda Cullen (you are here)

 

 

                        ~Wanda

PTI Win It Wednesday

Laurie Schmidlin's Win It Wednesday challenge on the Papertrey Ink blog is to create a favorite shaped card - anything other than an A2 card. I have always like to use the largest of Simon Says Stamp's Balloon dies for a special birthday greeting.  I cut two shapes and scored a line 1/2 inch down from the top of the bottom balloon so the card will open readily. 

STAMPS: Polka Dot Parade #12 (PTI); Wet Paint (PTI).
PAPER: Bitty Big: Aqua Mist (PTI); White, Black (PTI).
INK: Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz, Plum Pudding, Summer Sunrise - all by PTI; Memento Tuxedo Black.
DIES: Balloons (Simon Says Stamp), Wet Paint (PTI), Polka Dot Parade #12 (PTI), Tag Sale: Quilted Die (PTI).
OTHER: Twine.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Spring Butterfly

Nothing says spring like butterflies and flowers, so the spring mood board for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge was perfect to inspire me to use this large butterfly image by PTI! I'm also playing along with Papertrey Ink's Win It Wednesday challenge where Laurie Schmidlin has challenged us to use our favorite coloring technique. I love using my Zig watercolor brushes - especially to water color tiny spaces! I stamped the butterfly multiple time using my MISTI.

STAMPS: Simple Strips Background (Taylored Expressions), Butterfly Folk (Papertrey Ink).
PAPER: Smooth White (MFT); Water Color CS (Ranger).
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black.
DIES: Butterfly Folk (PTI); Simple Strips Background (Taylored Expressions); Blueprint 27 and Stitched Fishtail Flags STAX (MFT); Pierced Frames (PTI).

Fusion Card Challenge

This warmer spring weather has got us thinking tropical thoughts on the Fusion Card Challenge blog and our inspiration photo is a beautiful ocean scene! I opted out of the sketch this time and created an alcohol ink background with Denim alcohol ink and Pinata brass mixative. 

Photos just never capture the beautiful shimmer and shine of the background like you see in real life! The images were mostly all two step stamping from Papertrey Ink's Salt Air: Flora and Fauna sets that have coordinating dies. 

INK: Pumice Stone, Chipped Sapphire, Barn Door Distress Oxide by Ranger; Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Green Parakeet, Simply Chartreuse by PTI.

For more inspiration, be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has created... Barb Ghigliotty, Jeanne Jachna, Jen Mitchell, Karren Johnson, Linda Callahan, Lyndal Higgins , Michelle Leone, Michelle Lupton, Wanda Cullen (you are here). Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you in the Fusion gallery!

PTI Win It Wednesday

So many of my favorite challenges seem to happen on Wednesday and Papertrey Ink's Win It Wednesday is one of them! This week, the random drawing is for $100.00 and believe me...I was the lucky winner a couple of weeks ago and I felt like I won the lottery - lol! You can't win unless you create a new card and join in the challenge! This week, Laurie Schmidlin is asking us to create our favorite card style.  I like a variety of styles, but typically I consider clean layered cards with florals as my favorite! I decided to use PTI's Orchid Expressions set for another birthday card.

The multiple stamping steps create a beautiful depth to the images! For the orchids, I used Sweet Blush, Hisbiscus Bloom and Raspberry Fizz inks by PTI.  The leaves were stamped with Reverse Confetti's Parakeet and Lime Green inks.  I used Fairy Dust and Silver Lining inks byWPlus9 and Sand by RC.  The pink panel is Raspberry Fizz CS by PTI.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a great day! 
                                                                             ~Wanda

PTI Win It Wednesday

For the Win It Wednesday challenge on the Papertrey Ink blog, Laurie is asking us to identify a primary source of inspiration for our creation. I had these stamp sets on my desk from a previous project, so went with another ocean-themed card using PTI's Salt Air: Flora and Fauna stamp sets and coordinating dies. I searched Pinterest with these stamp names and it took me to this link. Pinterest is definitely my "go to" website when I'm needing inspiration for card ideas!  Only problem...I get so overwhelmed with SO MANY ideas that it's hard to narrow it down - lol!  I'm a huge fan of Amy Sheffer's cards and was especially drawn to this card -->

Once again, I used an alcohol ink Yupo panel with Copic refills and Pinata Brass metallic fixative (ordered on Amazon).  My card ended up being too busy to add a sentiment, so that will go on the inside. Thanks so much for stopping by... 

Alcohol Ink Birthday

 

Our family has a boat load of birthdays this month, so I'm needing to build up my stash! I'm using the sketch for Try Stampin' on Tuesday's current challenge!  I started with another alcohol ink background (yes, I have quite a few from a recent play session) using Copic refills and Pinata Brass metallic mixative (ordered from Amazon).  

STAMPS: Whole Shebang (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps), Your Beautiful Birthday (Papertrey Ink).
PAPER: Yupo by Ranger; White by PTI.
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; Green Parakeet, Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise by PTI.
DIES: Scalloped Squares by Reverse Confetti; Stitched Rectangle STAX by My Favorite Things.

The frame, sentiment and cake were all popped up with foam tape.