One seed can start a garden, one candle can light a room, one step can begin a journey, one conversation can start a friendship, one smile from a handmade card can lift one's SPIRIT!

Monday, February 29, 2016

Merry Monday ~ A Tropical Theme

Hi Friends!  Lori has selected a "tropical" theme for this inspirational photo

 
 I just wanted to show you these POINSETTIAS that Linda and I spotted growing wild along the side of the road on the Big Island last November.  We were shocked to see these and had to stop and inspect them...sure enough that is exactly what they are!



Stamps & dies:  MFT: Polynesian Paradise, WPlus9: Merry & Bright
Lil' Inkers Stitched circles
distress inks, copics

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Seize the Birthday ~ NO toppings!

Welcome to another Seize the Birthday Challenge!
There is NO topping this time, so Anything Goes!!
I decided to try some inlaid die cutting.
And I like how it turned out!
I hope you will join us...go check out the rest of the design team and their inspirations!


dies:  PTI: Birthday Cheer, Wishes Come True
washi tape, sequins, 

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

MIM # 240 Watercolor Resist

Lexi has the latest MIM up and she is using Rubber Cement and Watercolor for a Resist.
This was a fun technique, but it does take some time to let the layers dry. 
And I did run into a little bit of trouble with my "older" rubber cement.  It did not want to flow off the brush to leave nice streaks.  I had to touch the brush to the paper,  I have a picture to show you...after the first using the rubber cement, I took out some Fineline Masking Fluid that had a fine point to making squiggles.

You can see from these two photos, how the rubber cement globbed up on me and would not flow off the brush.  That was when I decided to use my masking fluid pen and the finer lines are made with that.
I used my KOI watercolor paints and did a light wash with blue, then after drying I added the Fineline Masking Fluid to make my markings.  After letting that dry, I added a color that was more Teal...a little darker shade and let that dry.
I pulled out PTI:  With Sympthy and added the 'wheat stalks" in versafine black ink.  I punched out the small butterfly from one of the above pieces I made using a Martha Stewart punch.  The sentiment is from Words of Comfort and I used a piece of fun foam to adhere it to the soft stone card base!

Thanks for taking a look!!
I will save those pieces and use them, I really like the balloon that Lexi made ~ might give that a try!
Have a wonderful week.  I leave Thursday for Denve, Colorado again to watch my Granddaughter Ellie play volleyball, this time my husband is going to join me and my daughter!  (the dynamics will change a bit A LOT I am sure, as he kind of likes to be in "control"  if you get my drift!!
Heart Hugs my friends!

Monday, February 22, 2016

Merry Monday ~ Ringing in the BELLS!

These week's Merry Monday Challenge by Linda is all about BELLS!
I wish you could see this in real life because oh does it sparkle and shine!
I embossed the bow with GOLD, I added a ton of WOS all over the holly, and greenery and then red stickles to the berries...it really does shimmer and glisten!



Stamps & Dies:  PTI:  Spruce & Sprigs, Bells & Boughs
Lawn Fawn paper pad:  Let's Bokeh in the Snow

Friday, February 19, 2016

A special birthday card

I have a special birthday card today for my oldest daughter, Dina.  I can't believe it was 39 years ago she began our family!  She was the easy daughter to raise, a good student, a kind and compassionate person, she was also the one who got stage 4 lymphoma  in 2011.  She is totally in remission now after going through chemo.  We are blessed that our prayers were answered.  She has three children...I talk about the two girls, 14 and 12 because they both play volleyball and my husband assists with coaching.
Her son is 8 and LOVES basketball!
Dina and I were able to spend this last Presidents Day weekend together in Salt Lake City because her older daughter, Ellie had a volleyball tournament there.  
We shopped, we drove to Park City, we worshiped in the Cathedral and we shared every meal...so many wonderful memories and talks we had together!  We cherish this time just the two of us!

I used four different stamps for this card.
Layered Banter Banners
Bitty Bouquets
Movers & Shakers
Wonderful Words:  Birthday
a few PPP sequins and some from PTI too!

Thanks for taking a look! 
Today my younger daughter, Dina, her MIL and I are going out to lunch to celebrate!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!

Heart Hugs!

Monday, February 15, 2016

Merry Monday Challenge with BERRIES ON IT!!





Bonnie has a fun theme for our 
A card with BERRIES ON IT!! 
I just received this holly and berry stamp from Serendipity Stamps,
how perfect for this challenge!!  I colored with copics and added some glossy accents to the berries...even my husband noted how shiny they are!



stamps:  Serendipity:  Holly Frame, PTI:  Stylish Sentiments
dies:  MFT stitched rectangle, pinking edge square 




Friday, February 12, 2016

Day 8 Color Pop Fortune Teller

I am on a time crunch here folks, leaving for Salt Lake City in 2 hours...so much still to do, but I had to try to get this card made for today as I will not be playing the rest of the release.
So I made my little fortune teller (LOVED playing this as a young girl!!)
And my colors are aqua mist, spring rain and royal velvet.
Since I had so little time to really get into it..I pulled out a watercolor sheet form the Bold Blossoms and dropped down some reinkers.
I dabbed some water in the spaces first and then dropped my brush with the reinkers into each space.  I made sure I didn't touch each petal if it was wet.  I especially love the royal velvet blossom because it just fanned out so pretty and gave me different shadings all on its own.  Interestingly, the spring rain did NOT do that.  and I also thought the spring rain reinker did not look like the actually color, so I swiped the ink pad on my craft sheet and picked up some color that way, that seemed to be more true to the real color.

Anyway, FUN idea, loved it and will probably keep this little game and make more when I need a mojo lift!!
This is Day 8 of the Release and you can go HERE to check out the whole release and the challenge is at the bottom of the page.

Thanks friends for stopping by...have a terrific weekend!!

Heart Hugs!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Seize the Birthday ~ CUPCAKES or CANDY

I am so happy to be building up my birthday cards again!
The Challenge over at Seize the Birthday 
is all about cupcakes or candy!!
That is the topping
of course, you can make any kind of BIRTHDAY card you want!

Go check out what the design team members have for your inspiration!
And thank you for joining us!
This challenge lasts TWO weeks, it will end on April 23 at 9 AM.
 
stamps:  PTI:  Tremendous Treats: Birthday, Hooray
dies:  PPP Storybook I
distress inks for blending
paper:  PTI:  Tropical teal, white 

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

PTI Day 5 Sampler Square Challenge

Have you visited all the fun activities over at the PTI Blog?
Day 5 challenge is about making a 5.5 x 5.5 card and using 9
1.5 inch squares
I went with a birthday theme for my card and here is the list of all the stamps I used:
Asian fusion
Tremendous Treats
Birthday Style
Balloon Bash
Hooray
Scene It:  Celebration
Caution another Year Older
I used Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist and Berry Sorbet
I did several with heat embossing and then sponging on ink over the top.
Some were colored with copics.

Thanks for taking a look!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

PTI Create along with Us!

I loved Dawn's card for the color challenge, I just changed up the colors and some of the sizes of the flowers..I loved her curvy design of the flowers too.
This is  Bold Blooms.

If you want to play along with the Create Along with Us challenge, you can go HERE
DSC_7287.1

PTI Day 2 ~ Dress Up Inspiration Challenge

I need a new raincoat because my zipper broke and just the day of this challenge I received the Nordstrom catalog in the mail and saw this raincoat:
I am sorry the color is not true to the real picture because it was definitely a camo green and I loved the cuffs and inside of the jacket.

I used an assortment of flower stamps from PTI 
flower fusion, bitty bouquet, daydreamer
think big # 2

Monday, February 8, 2016

Merry Monday ~ Chalkboard challenge!

Kristie selected the chalkboard technique for this challenge over at Merry Monday.
I like this technique and hope you do too!
Please play along with us and go check out the cards by the design team!
I used a piece of PTI Smokey Shadow paper for my chalkboard.
I white embossed the images and sentiments and then colored in with some prisma
colored pencils.  The red dots are from a hole punch.
After it was all done, I sponged on some HA Unicorn white pigment ink around the edges and the images.



stamps: PTI Rustic Wreath, Joyful Christmas for sentiment

Friday, February 5, 2016

PTI Anniversary Challenges ~ Day 1

Oh how I love when this time rolls around every year!
It is the month of the PTI Anniversary festivities and they are  always so FUN!!
Everyday from now to Feb 15 there will be challenges and prizes over at the PTI blog
Today it is a color challenge.  Each designer has chosen her favorite card from last year and given us her color combos and she has made a new card with those same colors.  Los of inspiration over there!

I selected Kay Miller's beautiful color combo
Kay's-colors
Thanks for stopping by!

Tag you're It! Challenge

Welcome to another TAG YOU"RE IT CHALLENGE!
I am the honored guest as I won the # 38 challenge!
Today we are inspired byJen Michel's tag:
 
I loved so many elements of her tag, I tried to duplicate it!
It looked like a mosaic background...so I went digging and found a die from the SAF Ancient Rome set from two years ago and luckily I had already die cut it for a stencil...so I then cut out a big heart and made another stencil.  I used translucent embossing paste and then added some glitter to the top before it dried. 
We look forward to the tags you create using Jen's inspiration!
Thanks for taking a look!

stamps & dies"  PTI: Tag Sale Quilted Die, With all my Heart, Limitless Layers: Hearts
 

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Online Waterclass Day 2 ~ Pattern on Pattern Emboss Resist

Laura Bassen showed us a Pattern on Pattern Emboss Resist Technique using watercolors and a circle stencil.  I added the sentiment from PTI's Graceful Greetings.
So much to do people, not enough time in the day to do it all!!
Just had a lovely walk with my daughter and husband...my DH thought we were going for a "stroll"...in his words it was a "power walk"!!  We had to stop and wait for him to catch up, of course I didn't mind to stop and catch my breath and rest my knees!!
I had the dog help pull me up the last hill!!  LOL!!

Online Watercolor class day 4

"Lost & Found" details was the title of this video by Debbie Hughes...why you ask?
It is all about softening the edges of the images and dragging them out.
I also did a little "lifting" to take away some color and give more depth.
And of course "splatters" was a must!
Lots more to catch up...not sure if I ever will!

Monday, February 1, 2016

Merry Monday #190 ~ Santas

Oh I can hardly wait to see the assortment of Santa's for this Merry Monday Challenge.
A while ago I sat down and watched some Hallmark Christmas movies and colored some of these Santa's...Perfect to use for this challenge!
Kathy is bringing us this Santa Challenge, I hope you will join us!


Stamps & dies:  Clearly Besotted: Santa Baby,  MFT Stitched Squares & Pinking Edge Square
MFT Small Brick wall stencil
copics