September 2018 Twofer Challenge Cards

Good afternoon, and so far, all is well in our area of Upstate South Carolina. Prayers going out for those Carolinians, Georgians and Virginians, who got so much attention from Florence. Thankfully our area has been spared. We've had hot sunny days, no rain. Yesterday we did have a bit of breeze, but definitely couldn't call it wind. Today it's overcast and perhaps the breeze might be a little stronger, but nothing to fret about. We did spend one evening picking up some of the little yard decorations about the place, brought in the bird feeders. Anything we thought could be a projectile to damage a neighbor's property in case of strong winds got taken up.

The September 2fer Challenge word is Leaves. So here goes:

 

 

MFT leaf set (an oldie and no matching dies) inked and stamped to create a background. First effort I tried using some old Kaleidescope pads that were in the pretty fall colors. As you know, when closed, those multi-pads in those, have a little 'pull' to keep them apart so they don't bleed together. When using the Misti to try to ink a couple of times, I discovered that 'pull' feature was awkward, so my first try wasn't all that great. (I used that one to cut 2 layers for the hang in there). Got the Hero arts Ombre pads and those worked better. This MFT set has the 'solid' leaf and then has a 'vein' image. Having the Misti surely helped to get even inking impressions on this background. When it was all stamped, used a gold spray - from way high up - to add a little gold dusting.

Same MFT set, stamped, and fussy cut each leaf. Used Altenew Rose Gold EP on the aspen leaf; a Ranger gold on the oak leaf, then re-versamarked it, dribbled some Ranger Copper over that.  On the maple, used the Rose gold, the copper and added in some WOW red. Used a tiny spoon to try to get the EP where I wanted it, then used the heat tool. I rather liked how this turned out. Background is a watercolor wash using the new Altenew watercolor set that was featured recently. Used a Darice Fall leaf EF and cut off the bottom portion so that I could stamp the Altenew sentiment in red. (Actually the way I had placed the c/stock in the folder, that fall was backwards on the blue side of the c/s. Another good reason to cut it off! The 4 leaf patterns in the square are debossed, but I think it looks ok anyway!)
Tied some twine in a bow, and called 'er done.

Now recently I shared a card with a PBlack berry image watercolored. The first try was using a 140# watercolor c/s, and I just didn't like the texture. I finally got around to snapping a photo...what do you think?

And if you have time, check out the Cards by Friends tab at the top to see an absolutely stunning card we received from the talented Miss Bonnie. When I showed it to DH, he asked "Did she _paint_ this?"  My reply was "of COURSE she did". We are so blessed to have lovely friends who brighten our lives with sharing their wonderful card making talents with us.

One other little tidbit to share: Got this package in the mail today:

Look at the tiny bottle of Lindy's compared to that huge box filled with packing paper. No wonder the postage rates are so ridiculous. This tiny bottle could have been put in a small mailer envelope and probably shipped for a $1.00!

Hope you'll find time to join in with Darnell's September Twofer Challenge #9. All of us are needing some Fall leaves cards!!!

Thanks for joining me this afternoon, and many grateful thanks to so many of you who emailed us to check that we were safe. It warms my heart to realize so many folks that I've not met, probably never will get the chance to meet IRL, were concerned enough to email. Fortunately our area has been lucky that we've not gotten extreme weather in the years we've lived here (16 now). I hope any of you who were in Flo's path, are safe, and that your families and friends are also.

God Bless.

Birthday Leaves

Welcome....and Happy Friday the 13th! Hope you've had a good week. Thanks for all the Anniversary wishes yesterday. We didn't make it out to dinner as planned. Our grass needed to be cut, and we were waiting until it cooled off a mite, around 7:30pm, to get outside. When Mr. suggested that it would be thunderstorms today, and thought he'd mow the grass later, I said "Fine, we can eat out later". Come 7:20pm, I looked out and it was raining! Not complaining, we needed the rain, and we'll go out tonight instead. He got out about 1pm this afternoon, as it was clouded over. Still pretty hot, and of course the sun came out. I have been trying to do the 'close trimming' with the walk behind mower, so I did my bit. Now we're all done and the yard looks nice for the weekend, and we still have a nice dinner to look forward to! Yay!

Here's a card that was made from waste paper on the table where spraying is done. Many times when boxes are shipped - there is a waste paper scrunched up to act as filler. It's not tissue paper exactly, but more like a thin newsprint type weight. It's perfect to line the table where I spray and do other messy techniques, and sometimes before I pitch it, I look and see some pretty color. This card is a good example. I hope you (and the recipient of this card) will agree with me. The color was created primarily from spraying brusho-s and probably some Lindy's sprays.

 

 

 

 

After cutting the sprayed paper into a usable section, adhered to a lightweight piece of white card stock. Cut this piece into 3 sections and placed on a black base.

 

Memory box leaf die was cut 3 layers - 2 from black c/s, bottom layer from white snippet, colored with copic black. Covered the top layer with Clear WoS, then added some Nuvo Crystal Glaze after adhering the die to the card. Did the same treatment with the sentiment. A few pearls, and it's done.

 

Since this card is basically ALL snippets, I think I shall zip over the Pond to say Hello to Parsnip and all the elves at Pixie's Snippet Playground for Challenge 330. Maybe there is a cool breeze out on the swings. Don't ya'll want to come along and play?

 

Thanks for dropping by....Have a great day. Hugs

 

 

 

Birthday Leaves

Good evening, and sure hope you had a fabulous weekend. Ours was hot, quiet, but pleasant. Relaxed. Had a lovely birthday, spent with most of the folks I love best (DD is in Italy, so she was missing). Thanks to all who sent lovely birthday wishes. It made my day.  Stayed inside in the cool as much as I could, and just did some piddly house things and read a good book, by Anne Cleves (writes the Vera Stanhope and Shetland series - both of which are tv series).

Please help me welcome a recent new follower:

Lynn of Lynne's Craft Haven

 

Very happy to make a new friend, and I hope my blog pals will hop over to see Lynn's work and say hello. It's been a while since I realized I had any new followers, so if I've neglected to give you a shout out, please call it to my attention. It's a lovely way to meet new bloggers and get to enjoy what they do, and get to know new folks. 

Here's a card that I hope has reached its destination:

Are you as intimidated as I am to send one of your cards to someone that you consider to be a truly fine card maker? This one was made from an old wooden set (NBUS I think...as the trio of stamps was still in the cellophane wrapping). Inkadinkadoo

- used a pierced rectangle set to cut each cream piece, then stamped each fern/leaf in a different shade of green. Matted with a kraft mat - and intended to add a black mat as well. The black made the trio too large for the 5.5x4.25 cream card base. Looked a bit bare, so added an olive green and kraft strip below and above the leaves. In the photo the green strip looks a sort of lime color, IRL it is more of an olive shade. As I look at this photo, guess I should have 'grounded' the leaves. I was so pleased with myself for finding the die that would fit the stamp, then die cutting before I stamped. Usually I've not planned that well :-).

Simple Happy Birthday for the sentiment, and it was stamped in the same green shade as the right hand leaf. Which did have a bit more of a lime tone.

That's it folks. Thanks for drifting by to visit, and have a wonderful week. Blessings and Hugs.

More Rubber Band Cards

Happy Saturday afternoon, and it's been lovely in our area. Temperatures show that it's in high 70-s, but truly it doesn't feel all that warm. Nice, though!

Made some more cards using the fun rubber band technique shown in this video by my talented pal Loll. Took photos this time to show what tools I used, and first up shows the brayer & the size of rubber bands used for this card.

 

 

 

Look closely where the brayer fits into the white handle, and you will see that one of these bands broke. There were 2 bands wrapped on the roller. One broke as it was being rolled. Had a large bag of rubber bands, and they must dry out awfully rapidly, as so many broke as I tried to wrap them. I'd like to buy a smaller bag, but this was the only size I could find at the time. Anyway, it still worked to create the look. The final design definitely depends on the width of the rubber bands used.

 

 

Decided to try the bands over an acrylic block as shown in the video. Used 2 narrow rubber bands on the block. Use an embossing buddy over the surface of the card to keep the ep just where you want it. After inking the block edge of the rubber bands with versamark, just stamped around all the surface of a white c/s, embossed this with a silver EP. Then used DOX in Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, and Mermaid Lagoon (I think) to sponge the surface. Buffed off the sponging with a soft cloth. Then die cut with some dies that were bought from Ali Express. Here's the 2 cards created from this piece.

 

On the filigree leaf, wrapped another rubber band across the block and dabbled around the black mat  of the filigree leaf. Used Ranger Blue Pearl, Green Pearl, just to see what these pearl embossing powders looked like on a dark background. They don't usually show up very well on white (I tried embossing the sentiment this way, and ended up covering it with the black fishtail). The card fronts were dry embossed with a square die to add a subtle frame around the black mats . Due cut the happy die from black c/s, inked with versamark, sprinkled the blue pearl EP & heat embossed.  Right black mat edges were dragged over the versamark, then sprinkled some of the green pearl EP over it to add a little more interest.

 

The April CAS Mixup Challenge is still open until April 24, so why not have a little fun with this technique, and link your cards there?

 

Thanks for visiting & enjoy your weekend. Hugs & Blessings.

 

 



 





Mixed Media Fall Birthday

Good afternoon and welcome. We've had several days of overcast & dreary, with some much needed rain. Had to be out of the house on these days, and the temperature felt a lot more chilly than it has been todate, so I guess Fall is officially here in our area. Still have "things" going on, but more the normal day-to-day stuff - thankful to get back to that kind of day.

Neighbor has a birthday coming soon. A few afternoons I did a little experimenting play with some Ken Oliver Mineral Burst  product, Silk acrylic paint, Distress Oxide Ink and colorburst. Used some of these backgrounds for this card.

- Background for the leaves (Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Foliage) was made first. Spread Copper Mineral Burst on watercolor paper (think it was #140 weight). Added some Silk acrylic paint in a gold color (sorry don't remember specific color, but the link will show the texture of this product). While the paper was still quite wet, sprinkled on some yellow & leaf green shades of colorburst, sprayed a little water and let it spread. This piece was quite wet, so placed another w/c on top of it to absorb some of the wetness, and got a two-fer. Let this dry overnight, and then die cut the leaves.

The card background was done using DOX inks -  (just got some fall-ish colors and played with sponging). Used a mister to spray droplets, and then sprinkled some leaf green color burst over the surface. Sprayed again to get the crystals to spread. Once dried, used a Darice Fall EF to dry emboss. Picked this particular one because it had the maple and oak leaf patterns in it. Since the embossed Fall is part of the design, decided to just do the birthday bit on the inside. A S/Binder label die cut a cream snippet of C/S for the interior sentiment, and added one of the oak leaves as well. Thought this turned out ok, and I think she will like it. Used Nuvo Crystal Copper to add the pearls.

There's a new Halloween card added to the Cards by Friends page and also added the DOX definition to the Blog-a-nition page. Saw that used on a blog and don't remember where so as to give credit. Seems easier than typing out Distress Oxide Ink every time it is used!

Here's a couple pics of our Halloween night. We had about 15 kids; some were tiny & adorable. Some were too old to be out after candy. One delightful toddler was fascinated with the lighted ceramic pumpkins and wanted to stay to talk with them. Her parents had to coax her to come collect her candy from where we were sitting in the swing. As she left the porch, she said "Bye Bye punkins, thank you for the candy". She was about 15-18 months old and was the star of the evening.  We had made the pumpkins long, long ago when our daughter was very small. We both worked, so she wasn't able to stay after school for a ceramic class. She was so disappointed that we decided we would go as a family to a ceramic shop to take classes, and that's when we made 3 pumpkins. The owner's husband was DH's friend, so they let us come at night when the day's kiln firing was being done. That's another expensive hobby we got into, buying a kiln, all the supplies. Years later, donated to another person who was getting involved in the hobby.   After it got dark, these pumpkins really showed up quite spookily.

 

My own little pumpkin sitting in the swing ready to hand out candy. We moved the mums off the steps to avoid any stumbles. It got dark right after I took these pics..came down quite rapidly and was a bit chilly too.

Thanks for popping in to visit. Wanted to catch up on all my previous post's commenting before I did another post. Ya'll have a great afternoon and come back when you have time, heah?

Big hugs, God Bless.

White Leaves, Green Leaves - Celebrate!

Good Morning and thanks for dropping in for a bit. First off, please help me welcome a new follower, Nancy Stislow.   Nancy does not have a blog _yet_ (but some of us are trying hard to convince her to start one). If you are a Splitcoast Stamper, she has a gallery there, so you may already know her work.  I met Nancy through Loll and the CAS Mix up Challenge.  Nancy has been clever enough to design a unique metal plate (think Sizzix Precision Plate only better!) to do intricate die cuts. Loll and Bonnie provided Nancy's information & I contacted Nancy for the particulars; happy to say that this new plate is in house and I am LOVING it! It's a bit thicker & heavier than the Sizzix plate, but oh, does it cut like a dream. And even more fun, I've made a lovely new friend...which to me, is the very best part!

The die cut on today's card was done using the plate, and haven't had a chance to try the intricate doily dies I have that cause me so much frustration, but I shall soon.

On to the card:

Stamps were inked with versamark, and heat embossed with Sparkle n Sprinkle white detail opaque EP. (This is by far the best white EP I've used, although there are some others that I like. This detail white gives such a nice coating as it melts, and if the stamp has fine lines - this shows up so nicely).

Did the leaves just a couple at a time, with versamark, ep, heating, (layered embossing video). This technique worked much better for me so that the only 'overstamping' done, was intentional, not because previous placement was hard to see. (thanks Bonnie & Svitlana for this technique).

After all embossing finished, used DI Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Stormy Sky to sponge color...liked this a lot. Used a paper towel to burnish and clean some of the ink off the white embossing.

Die cut with a stitched curved die (not sure if MFT, Lawn Fawn or PBlack). Cut a matching edge out of American Crafts black glitter.

- Used versamark over a green textured paper, then dumped SnS Sparkling Snow semi-transparent glitter over all this to create a custom shade of green glitter paper. (Saw Jennifer McGuire do this). Die cut using the Palms Die.

Stamped a sentiment using a green ombre ink.

I was quite pleased with the final results, as it was pretty much the way I'd envisioned it. Remember my mention of 'smelling green' on Mother's Day as we sat on the front porch? Well, this is the result of that fragrance!

Penny Black Cling Breezy, Hero Arts Shadow fern wood block, Inkadinkadoo wooden block fern and Wplus9 Happy Wishes clear stamps
Hero Arts Fancy Die Palm die
Sparkle n Sprinkle Sparkling Snow glitter
HLS Bold Birthday Sentiments
Hero Arts Green Ombre ink for sentiment

Linking to Sparkle n Sprinkle May Anything goes as long as it has glitter, flocking or embossing!
Linking to CAS Mix Up May Challenge

DeeDee's Digis - Rustic Leaves

Good afternoon, and Happy Monday. Back again with another card using DeeDee's Digis - the Rustic Leaves set. This one proved to be so very easy to use with a created background and a Memory Box border die.

Before sharing the card, let me first extend a warm welcome to a lovely new follower:

Caz S (Bunny) of Bunnys Bits n Bobs

 

Thanks so much for  becoming a follower here, and I hope you'll enjoy what you see! Also encourage my readers to pop over to say a big hello to Bunny, and check out her blog. Always so nice to meet a new friend.

 

Now on to the card:

printed the precolored leaves and used a S/B square die that fit the motifs to cut out. Used a dark blue Copic marker to go round the edges, as there was not room on the card front to add a skinny mat behind these squares.

- Memory Box Contempo Circle border (sorry, can't find this one to provide a link) - die cut from some Reflections Blue C/s. This die cuts off the edges, and there's a scalloped edge waste - which I decided to fit back over the 'holes' to create a defined border above the leaf squares after I saw that it looked better this way.

- background created using Tsukineko All Purpose Champayne Mist and some wadded cling wrap - daubed around on the card stock, leaving lots of clear spaces. Then put out some small dabs of Silk acrylic paint in a dark fall green and some orange. Spritzed all the paint with water to make puddles, then swiped some 140# w/b paper through the puddles, repeating until all the puddles were used (with just a few blobs, 4 backgrounds were created...as the ink is used, more water sprayed and of course the backgrounds get lighter). It's really quite a pretty look. This background was embossed with a leaf motif folder (Paper Studio A2 Leaves).

- Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves - smaller leaves) were cut from a snippet of another created background which had been done earlier. Sentiment is from the Falling Leaves digi set and printed on the computer, die cut with a S/B label and sponged lightly with Shabby Shutters DI. Once I decided what I wanted to do with these pretty fall leaves, this card came together very easily.

Don't forget to check out the fall & winter digis that you can find over at DeeDee's Digis, as well as some pretty Christmas sets.

Thanks for joining me today, and I hope your week is off to a good start. This will be another busy one for us, but at least the weekend gave us a little breather. Hope the weather is nice where you are. Come again when you have time! Big hugs.

DeeDee's Digis - Cornucopia for Thanksgiving

Welcome on a Monday afternoon, after a gloomy rainy morning; now the sun is beginning to peek out. Hope you had a lovely weekend. Ours was quiet and the temps got some colder, so we were happy to just cozy down and enjoy being inside. Did some Netflix watching, napping and both of us just generally being lazy. (well, I've gotten in the habit of that I'm afraid!). Saturday night we went out to a fish restaurant for dinner with about 8 other couples from our subdivision...that was fun - noisy too!

Help me say a big Hello to a new follower: Hazel Kinvig-Paul of My Card Attic. Thanks for joining as a new follower, Hazel.  Just popped out to get the link for Hazel's blog and she has a stunning winter scene card to share today. Hope you'll find time to go check it out, make a new friend & tell her I sent you for a visit.

Here's the card for today:

 

 

- DeeDee's Bounteous Blessings  image and sentiment. Usually I do some shading on the printed precolored image, but this one is so pretty, all I did was die cut with a S/B circle, add some Memento Desert Sand shading around the outside. A S/Binder scallop circle did the scant mat in a snippet of rusty orange.

 

- Paper Cuts circle shaped card (found while doing some straightening up last week..had a pack of various colors that turned up LOL). Used a Dots EF.

 

- Shimmer sheetz snippet (from another project not yet shared) was just the size to emboss with a border leaf folder. MFT Stitched Scallop die cut snippet was cut to fit at either side of the focal image, then 2 pieces joined top & bottom on each side. After I had put this on the card front, I realized I should have covered the 'joins', so the maple leaves were my creative solution to hide the separation! However, that covers up the border leaf embossing.

 

- Elizabeth Craft die 763 Tags cut the maple leaves & acorns. (more snippets just big enough to cut these leaves. This die has various sized small tag, holly leaves and maple leaves with the acorns. )

 

- DeeDee's Bounteous Blessings sentiment was die cut with a S/B rectangle die, embossed & edged with the Desert Sand, popped up on dimensional foam.

 

The precolored digis sure come in handy when one doesn't feel like doing any coloring. This one has been very lazy & laid back of late, so I'm loving these marvelously easy-to-work-with digis. Give 'em a check out, and you are sure to find something that you just have to have. There's a big selection of  holiday motifs, not to mention a really cute Snowman Soup freebie available until November 21. You certainly won't want to miss a chance to add this one to your collection for the holiday season.

 

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Thanks also for all the lovely comments on the blog make-over. I'm so pleased you like it. Kylie worked very hard getting it all set up just the way I wanted it!

 

Come again when you have time to visit. It's a little chilly to sit on the porch, but we could enjoy a cup of something inside where it's cozy & warm. Big Hugs.

Dylusions Sprays and Another Palm Fern

Hello and welcome. As you'll see from today's card, I've been having fun with some Dylusions sprays and that Hero Arts Palm die. I really like the look of that die and have seen that Penny Black has one similar to the Hero Arts die. I've been trying to keep improving on that embed the die technique and the frond in this card was one from an earlier attempt.

- Hero Arts Palm Die cut from a Dylusions sprayed paper using Postbox red, dilutions with white linen, Tangerine, yellows, then sprayed with bronze spray.

- Green mixed media (Canson #90) paper sprayed with various greens - either full strength or diluted with white linen or just plain water. There's a bit of yellow spray created with an acrylic paint mixed with water added in as well. I just play with colors in the family of choice, until I get a result that pleases me. Sometimes I spray the paper first with a spritz of water, sometimes I don't. I wear some Dollar store latex gloves too ---- if I think of it before starting the play.

-S/B curved bracket border die at the bottom.

- under side of the die cut was created with spraying some reds & bronze over a snippet of white Canson. There's a bin of old tissue dress patterns sitting by the airbrush table (part of the reorganization and finding another place to store these old patterns). A loose piece caught my eye, so took it, crumpled it well & dabbed into the wet sprayed red. Then decided to try spreading the crumpled piece into the wet & let it dry to see what effect it would make. Sprayed it with another coat of the bronze, and left it to dry overnight. Not sure I like it here, but I do plan to try some embossing paste, color that and then apply some of the crumpled tissue into the wet paste to see what happens!

Think this will be another family birthday card, but sentiment will get added later.

Thanks for spending some time here today, and come again when you can. Hugs & Blessings. Have a great afternoon.