Wednesday, February 12, 2025

The Three Polar Bears

 
Hello and welcome.  Today I'd like to share with you a card made using the Polar Bear Fun Greyscale coloring book.  I love how these little guys turned out.  With the migraines I've been having lately, coloring helps me relax and focus on something else besides the pain.  

I started by printing them at 3 x 5 1/2 so they'd be easier to color and pulled out my Castle Arts Harmonious pencils and got to work.  I'm loving the muted colors of these pencils plus the varying shades of them.  Once the coloring was finished, I layered the main image before adding brads then distressed the outsides of the image panel.  After adding that to a navy card, I dug out some white/silver baker's twine I've had for a few years and added that to my card before highlighting parts of it using both ice stickles and star dust stickles.  It was then I decided to lightly blend some stormy sky distress ink, leftover from another project, to help "soften" the sky a bit.
 
Challenges entered:
 
 
The Four Seasons
 Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.
 
Stamps: Conjurer of Dreams
Ink: Tim Holtz Stormy Sky
Card Stock: Neenah; Stampin Up
Accessories: Computer, Printer, Castle Arts Pencils, Paper Distresser, Brads, Glue Dots, Bakers Twine, Stickles
 

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Winter Church

 

 
 
 Hello and welcome to the February Recycled Artistry IG Hop hosted by @newdawncards and @createwithkas ♻️ We’re taking recycling to the craft room and giving new life to discarded items in a creative way. From paper towel rolls, junk mail envelopes, cereal boxes, bubble wrap and so much more, we encourage you to look around and see if you can ‘use it before you lose it’ to the trash! We post once a month on the 2nd Tuesday at 2 PM EST. To join, message Dawn or Kelly and tag us using #recycledartistryighop.  My card today is re-using some corrugated packaging from inside a Chewy box as well as a digital stamp from Impression Obsession (now closed).   Although I've had this image printed for some time, I just hadn't colored it up to put on a card.
 
After coloring my church scene using both Lyra and Castle Arts pencils, I blended everything using a Prismacolor blender pencil before stippling chipped sapphire distress ink to fill in the sky.  Once the coloring was finished, I layered it and added some faux brads before adhering it to my card using glue dots.  The final touches were copper cord along the left edge and icicle/star dust stickles to add some sparkle.  I'm semi happy with how this turned out since I'm dealing with another migraine.
 
Challenges entered:
 
Peace On Earth #81 - See Insp Pic Below (inspired by snow, deer color)
 
Peace On Earth
 
The Four Seasons
 
Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.
 
Stamps: Impression Obsession
Card Stock: Neenah; Stampin Up
Ink: Tim Holtz Chipped Sapphire
Accessories: Lyra and Castle Arts Pencils, Blender Pencil, Stipple Brush, Gel Pens, Small Hole Punch, Glue, Stickles, Copper Cord
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 

Monday, February 10, 2025

PIP Challenge 2506

 
 
 
Hello and welcome. Today begins a new challenge over at Pammie's Inky Pinkies and this week we're sponsored by Sheepski Designs.  I would like to thank Andrea for her sponsorship.  My card this week uses Andrea's image called Spring Gnome.

I started out by printing the image on Neenah white card stock before coloring using both my Lyra flesh tone and Castle Arts colored pencils.  Once I was finished coloring, I lightly stippled left over stormy sky distress ink around the image to "soften" the white space before layering and adding brads.  Taking my Martha Stewart hydrangea punch, I punched out several pink/purple flowers then shaped and added them to my card using glossy accents,  To the flower centers, I added some yellow ice stickles.  As an afterthought, I pulled out a long retired Stampin Up word set, Small Script, and added the wish in the bottom left corner.  It took a few days to get it done thanks to my migraine but I'm really satisfied with the end result.

Challenges entered:
 
 
Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day and don't forget to check out this week's challenge over at Pammie's Inky Pinkies.  

Stamps: Sheepski Designs; Stampin Up
Ink: Tim Holtz Stormy Sky
Card Stock: Neenah; Stampin Up
Accessories: Computer, Printer, MS Punch, Glossy Accents, Brads, Glue Dots, Blending Brush, Lyra and Castle Arts Pencils, Blender Pencil, Stickles

Thursday, February 6, 2025

A Birthday Deer and Valentine

 
Hello and welcome.  Today I'd like to share with you a couple of cards I've made.  First up is a birthday card made for one of my brothers-in-law whose birthday is next week.  Since he lives in Idaho, I decided to use a Sizzix stamp/die set I received from a friend for Christmas and pair it with a digital snowflake plaid background from Conjurer of Dreams.  After stamping the image twice, I colored only one deer before die cutting it using the attached die.  I then blended old paper and tea dye distress inks before layering and adding brads.  I then adhered the image panel to my card before stamping my birthday sentiment inside.
 
Challenges entered:
 
 
 
 
My second card is featuring a long retired Stampin Up set called Greeting Card Kids. I've had this old wood mounted set for years (10-15 yrs at least) and haven't used it until now for some reason.
 
I started out by stamping the image onto a white scrap before coloring using Copic markers.  Once my coloring was finished, I blended some tattered rose distress ink using my blending brush before layering and adding some tiny red brads.  I then adhered the layered image panel to a dry embossed card using  glue dots.  The final touches were red/gold organdy ribbon from my stash and some red Prima flowers I've had for a long time. I'm really happy with how both cards turned out.
 
Challenges entered:
 
Double D Feb 2/2025 - Hearts (image, embossed background)
Neglected Stuff Feb 2025 - Use Your Neglected Stuff (image - have had stamp set 10-15yrs and not used yet)

 
Double D
 
Colorful Options
 
Neglected Stuff 
 
Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Conjurer of Dreams February 2025 Inspiration And Challenge

 

 Hello and welcome.  Today's my day to share inspiration for this month's Conjurer of Dreams challenge. I have a few digital pages, ATC's and cards to showcase.
 
DIGITAL PAGES

 


 

 
 
ATC's


Challenges entered:
Shopping Our Stash #540 - Remnants (everything but main images) 

 

Challenges entered:
Never Before Used Schtuff (NBUS) #71 - Use Your NBUS (all images except Victorian Madam)
 
Double D
 
 
 
 

Challenges entered:
 
 
ATC
 
Sets used: Steampunk Junk Journal, Steampunk Fall, Old West Ghost Town 
 
Challenges entered:
 
Card
 
Challenges entered:
 
 
Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day and don't forget to enter this month's challenge over at Conjurer of Dreams.

Sunday, February 2, 2025

A Quiet Winter Mountain View

 

Hello and welcome.  Today I'd like to share with you a card made for one of my brothers-in-law using an image from Conjurer of Dreams Winter Wonder Mountain Scene and Window Frames Night digital sets.  

After printing out the entire set, I colored it using Castle Arts Harmonious pencils before layering and adding faux brads to the bottom corners of the frame only before adding to a green card base.  I then dug through my ribbon stash and found some brown crushed velvet ribbon I've had for years and added that to the top before digging out some brown Prima flowers from my stash.  The final touch was some bling and star dust ice stickles finished it off.  I'm really happy with how this one turned out.

Challenges entered:
 
 
The Four Seasons
 

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.

Stamps: Conjurer of Dreams
Card Stock: Neenah; Stampin Up
Accessories: Computer, Printer, Castle Arts Harmonious Pencils, Primas, Glue Dots, Bling, Stickles, Ribbon
 
 
 

Saturday, February 1, 2025

A Corset Birthday

 
Hello and welcome.  I decided to get a head start on my sister-in-law's birthday card and colored up this beautiful greyscale image from  Conjurer of Dreams beautiful Greyscale Coloring Book images.  This image is from the Victorian Corset collection.  Plus, I wanted to try out my new Castle Arts Harmonious colored pencils.  I think I'm in LOVE with these pencils.  The colors are so soft and really keep the vintage feel.
 
Once my corset was colored, I lightly blended some milled lavender distress ink around the edges to finish softening the white spaces using a blender brush.  I then layered the image panel and added some lavender button brads I've had for years.  I then distressed the bottom layer to the image panel, using a paper distresser before adding it to a dry embossed plum card.  Taking my Art Impressions birthday saying (long retired), I stamped it using a scrap of pale plum card stock before adhering it to a perfect plum scrap.  After distressing the bottom edge, and adding faux brads, I adhered it to the card using pop up glue dots.  The final touch was adding a touch of lavender stickles to rose centers and the corset.  I'm very happy with how this turned out especially with my migraines, and fibromyalgia, acting up again.  It was push through or cry and crying hurts too much.

Challenges entered:
 
 
Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.

Stamps: Conjurer of Dreams; Art Impressions
Ink: Tim Holtz Milled Lavender Distress; Memento Tuxedo Black
Card Stock: Neenah; Stampin Up
Accessories: Computer, Printer, Castle Arts Harmonious Pencils, Blending Brush, Pop Up Glue Dots, Brads, Lavender Ice Stickles


Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Just Some Winter ATC's

 
Hello and welcome.  Really quick post today as I'm in a lot of pain and not focusing good right now.   I have a couple of ATC's made using this month's free sheet from Gecko Galz.  After trimming down to size, and layering, I added some small, icy floral sprays as embellishments before adding star dust ice stickles as the only embellishments.  Close up's below:




Challenges entered:
 
 
Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.

Stamps: Gecko Galz; Stampin Up (Winter Saying)
Ink: Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass, Picket Fence
Card Stock: Neenah; Scraps
Accessories: Computer, Printer, Paper Crimper, MS Punches, Paper Pouncers, Glue Dots, Glossy Accents, Stickles