Spring Leaves

Two cards with the same colouring, but one is mounted with black borders and the other in white. I couldn't make up my mind.

Here is the colour palette I used with my Copic markers

I used a darker ribbon for the white borders to help it stand out more.

I think I prefer the one with white borders and dark ribbon. Which do you prefer?

My entry to ...

... Global Design Project #250 : Leaves or Trees

... Time Out Challenge : Season.  We're going into spring and leaves coming back, so I chose Spring.

Doodling ...

Doodling some grass, stems and dots for the lovely primroses.

Adding some enamel accents to the centres.

My entry to ...

... Less is More : Doodles

... Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge : Anything Goes

Celebrate Today

In "The Great Weirdness" (as Susan Raihala calls it - and it's worth a visit to go and look at the cards she created), I think we have to look for small moments and joys to Celebrate Today.

I used some embossing paste with some added green ink to give the feel of those flowing leaves on the Pinkfresh Studio inspiration board.

The flowers were embossed in white and watercoloured with Distress inks.

I've left it sentiment free for now ... I'll see what I want to add when the need arises.

My entry to ...

... Pinkfresh Studio August Challenge 

... Just Add Ink : Just add "T".  I added Texture with the embossing paste.

... Uniko Challenge : In my Garden

Extending your stamps

I was so enamoured with Julie's fun extension of the dog on the Z-fold, I had to try it. I have a friend who loves dachshunds and I wanted a special card for that special Birthday.

I didn't have the Ellen Hutson stamp, but I did have a small dachshund (from Hero Arts) in the The Stamping Village Happy Birthday set. 

I used the sentiment from the same set which was from Dare 2B Artzy. The balloons were from Ellen Hutson Wish Big set.

This took some extra skill and precision to repeat the body with those first 2 little cupcakes!

My entry to ... 

... The Card Concept #138c Dogs of Summer I went with the colours and the theme. 

... A Blog Named Hero : Cute

Easel Card

I can't remember the last time I made an easel card! 

My entry to ...

... Global Design Project #253

... Uniko : In my Garden (Opt : Hot summer Colours)

... Pinkfresh Studio  August Challenge

On the Beach

I had friends asking for masculine cards, and I have a NBUS stamp set which is perfect for this ... Stampin' Up A Good Man.

A simple one layer card with lots of white space.

My entry to ... 

... AAA Cards : Along the Edge (optional Beach)

... NBUS #17

... Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge : Midsummer Blues

... Timeout Challenge #168

... The Male Room - 7th Birthday

Slimline Flower

The latest craze is slimline cards ... and I wondered how I could make one but also keep it light and CAS.

I had one flower and a left over frame sitting on my workspace ... added some script writing, a die cut sentiment (from Alexandra Renke - so thin and light) and a touch of Tonic Nuvo Aqua shimmer and sequins for that sparkle.

My entry to ... 

... The Flower Challenge : Add Sparkle

... Seize the Birthday : Tic-Tac-Toe I chose Large sentiment, flowers, one image.

  

... CAS on Friday : Nature

Reverse Colouring

Instead of colouring the focal image - colour the background!

I've had this Mondo Gerbera Daisy from Ellen Hutson for a year, but just getting round to inking it!! (I actually had to go and check when I ordered it.)

I love the little ladybug giving that extra pop of interest.

My entry to ...

... NBUS #17 - New stamp set

... Freshly Made Sketches #447

... Less is More : Summer Flowers

... Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge : Favourite Tool I'm going with my Blender Brushes from Taylored Expressions

Pretty Proteas

I was so excited when I saw that Hero Arts came out with a Protea flower stamp set.  Since it's indigenous to South Africa, I didn't think any US stamp companies would ever create one. It was the first of my new Hero Arts order that inked up!

I was also inspired by the layers of Eva's card.  Instead of actual stitches on the top layer, I decided to use one of my stitch dies. I coloured with Prismacolor pencils.

My entry to ...

... A Blog Named Hero : Embossing

... CAS Colours & Sketches #382

... Die Cut Divas : Flowers

... Less Is More : Summer Flowers

... NBUS #17 - New stamp set.

... Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge : Favourite Tool. One of my favourites - the Bigshot which I used for both embossing and die cutting.