Celebrating Friends

Good Saturday morning blog friends! I created this card for a brand new challenge - Where Creativity Meets C9 - and the theme is "celebration".  I am also playing along with The Challenge where it's color week.  Check out their gorgeous color palette...LOVE!  

It's so easy to create your own patterned papers with C9's Wildflower stamp set (along with the splatter stamps from their Brushed Blossom set).  I embellished with

a trio of coordinating flower dies (don't you just love the open, airy design?!).  I was limited in my sentiment choices until I thought about the many friends I've made over the years and decided to celebrate a friend.

Here's what I used...
STAMPS: Wildflower, Brushed Blossom and Wonderful Women stamp sets by Concord and 9th.  
PAPER: Perfectly Plaid Fall by Lawn Fawn.
INK: Pool Party, Crisp Cantaloupe, Daffodil Delight by SU; Versafine Onyx Black.
DIES: Wonderful Words, Floral and Flutter by C9; Edge Essentials (tiny scallop) by Reverse Confetti; Stitched Fishtail Flags Die-Namics by MFT.   

I'm heading out to work soon with my Virginia Tech scrubs all ready to roll!  Big game tonight with Tennessee at the Bristol raceway with a record-breaking crowd predicted!  Go Hokies!

Sunflower Hugs

Sunflowers rank near the top of my favorite flower list! They're not only a vibrant pop of color, but their seeds are tasty as well! I'm playing along with two challenges that took the summer off, but are now back in business once again.  The Challenge #76 gives us a simple sketch that has boundless possibilities and Inspired By...All The Little Things #22 has this incredible inspiration photo with sunflowers!  I knew I wanted to watercolor with the vibrant Peacock Blue shade from Mijello's Mission Gold palette.  The image is an oldie but goodie from Rubber

Stampede called Sunflower II.  I colored with Copics then fussy cut and popped with foam tape over the polka dotted border cut with Lil' Inker Designs' stitched border die.  The sentiment is from MFT's Label Maker Sentiments set.  Some dew drop embellishments were added using SU's fine-tip blue pen.  This is my favorite to use with sequins, dew drops, etc.

After a jam-packed day yesterday with cooking, cleaning, laundry, grocery-shopping, etc. for company coming for supper, it feels really good to relax in my girl cave and stamp this afternoon.  Hope you are having a wonderful and restful Sunday!

Guesting at The Challenge

***Scroll on down for my Mojo Monday card***

I'm so excited to share that I was the winner at The Challenge last week (with this card) which means I have the honor of guesting with their talented design team this week! Since it's week 4, the challenge is a masculine photo inspiration.

I was immediately drawn to the vintage feel, the fact that it was a wheeled focal point and the most obvious...that wonderful red pop of color!  Here is my take on the photo inspiration...

This retired SU image reminds me of my dad's old pickup truck and thought it would be perfect to create a Father's Day card. After die-cutting a white watercolor CS panel using a wonky stitched rectangle die (Lil' Inker Designs), I added Barn Door and Pumice Stone distress inks for the background.  I then partially inked MFT's Burlap Background stamp with Early Espresso ink (SU).  The gear collage stamp is from MFT's Collage Backgrounds set - stamped twice using a MISTI and Early Espresso ink.  Fired Brick, Hickory Smoke and Black Soot distress inks were used on the truck which was then fussy cut and popped with foam tape and has Crystal Effects added to the hub caps and windows.  I silver embossed the sentiment on vellum and embellished with Tim Holtz' Mini Gears.

STAMPS: Loads of Love (SU), Burlap BG and Collage Backgrounds (MFT), World's Greatest (ODBD) - sentiment.

I'll have to admit...creating masculine cards is a real challenge for me, so I'm really anxious to see how others interpret this photo!  I tend to gravitate to flowers in the majority of my cards and they simply don't work for men - lol!  For more inspiration from the rest of the design team, be sure to head on over and check out their samples HERE.  Hope to see you in the gallery!

Anemones in Blue

The sun is nowhere in sight this morning...all the more reason to create a sunny yellow background on my card!  I was inspired by Stacey's beautiful Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge photo (florals and stitched edges) and am including the colors that up for The Challenge on Lesley's blog - light blue, dark blue, yellow and green!  Edited to add: So bummed, but I missed the deadline for Curtain Call. :-(

I started with Ranger watercolor CS and die cut a panel using Lil' Inker Designs'

Wonky Stitched Rectangle die.  I used Squeezed Lemonade distress ink to add a color wash background, then stamped the anemone bouquet using Beanstalk dye ink (WPlus9).  The anemones (stamped off once with Bo Peep ink before adding the step 2 floral layer) and several leaves were die cut and popped with foam tape.  I stamped the sentiment using WPlus9's Fairy Dust ink which is such a pretty light gray shade!  Clear sequins were the finishing touch. 

STAMPS: Watercolored Anemones (WPlus9), Greetings and Salutations (WPlus9).
PAPER: Bashful Blue (SU), Ranger watercolor CS, Neenah Solar White.

That's all for now...heading out to run some errands and look for some hanging pots to put on my front porch!

Retrosketches & The Challenge

 I'm needing a ton of birthday cards this month, so this is one more checked off my list. I used the colors in The Challenge #68 - hot pink, green, teal, yellow - and paired it with the layout for the Retrosketches Challenge #210. 

I stamped a couple of washi tape images in Bermuda Bay ink from SU's Tape It stamp set.

The florals are from the Wildflower stamp set by Concord and 9th - stamped in Melon Mambo then fussy cut. Instead of solid coloring, I used a Copic marker (Y06) and stippled the petals.  They were then layered with a matching floral die.  Leaves were punched using the bird punch by SU. The sentiment was stamped twice using my MISTI and I'm loving the bold font from Altenew's Painted Greetings set. It was then die cut using MFT Die-Namics.  Enamel dots were the finishing touch!

While creating this card, I was playing a couple of episodes from the Outlander series (season #1)...SO VERY GOOD!!  I'm not typically a binge show watcher, but this one has me hooked - lol!  Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Scent With Many Thanks

A quick CAS card to thank a friend for joining the Young Living oil journey with me!  I got inspiration from this rustic room photo for the current The Challenge #61 and used the sketch for Sunday Stamps Challenge #120.  Papers are all from Pebbles' Cottage Living 6x6 pad.  The trio of oil bottles is an image by Impression Obsession's Essentially stamp set.  Inside the card, it reads "Scent with many thanks!".

Loads of Love

I dug into my SU archives to find this Loads of Love stamp set for

the following challenges: 

The Challenge #58  - masculine photo inspiration

Tag, You're It! Challenge #39

Tuesday Morning Sketches #336

I used distress inks to watercolor the truck, then added Glossy Accents to the windows and hubcaps before fussy cutting and adhering to the textured CS tag.  I blended the trees and clouds using an Aquapainter.  Even though

there are no hearts to be found on this card, I'm thinking it could pass for a masculine valentine!

STAMPS: Loads of Love (SU).
PAPER: Be Amazing in the Follow Your Heart series of DP by My Mind's Eye; Vintage Cream by PTI; Textured ivory CS by Bazzill.
INK: Peacock Feathers, Carved Pumpkin, Mermaid Lagoon, Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass, Hickory Smoke, Black Soot, Antique Linen.
ACCESSORIES:  Traditional Tags STAX Die-Namics by MFT, Jute ribbon and jute twine, Glossy Accents.