Bird on Crumb Cake

I started with a Stampin Up Marina Mist card.  I added texture to it with one of the Itty Bitty Background stamps in MM ink.  I created the background bands with narrow strips of Season of Style DSP left over from this project.  I adhered them so they would fall behind the central element.  I repeated Crumb Cake in the central rectangle which I layered onto a piece of Whisper White.  I stamped the bird from the Punch Potpourri in MM on white and punched him out.  I punched the wing and the branch from MM card stock.  I glued the branch, then the bird then the wing in the bottom left hand corner.  I was tempted to add more MM on the Crumb Cake but resisted.



Can you tell I've been shopping at SU Retired Sales?  I have been looking for this stamp set for a while and found it on the weekend. Yippee!

Submitting this to the following challenges:
TGIF 07 Sketch

Snowflake on Trio

I started with a Stampin Up Island Indigo card laid in the portrait orientation.  I added a narrow strip of Whisper White in the left third of the card front.  I cut 2 squares of Winter Frost DSP and layered these on squares of Basic Grey card stock.  I cut a snowflake from non shed silver glitter with the smallest on the Snow Flurry Bigz Die.  I mounted on the middle square.  I mounted the 3 squares with 3D foam tape.  I stamped the greeting with one of the stamps from the Good Greetings set in Not Quite Navy ink.

Submitting to the following challenge:
CAS colors & sketches #128
Sparkles Christmas Card - #28 Anything Goes

Bird on Branch

I started with a Stampin Up Bashful Blue card and used my Itty Bitty Backgrounds to add some texture with Wild Wasabi ink.  I lined up some small scraps of the Winter Bright DSP laying the blue piece on a piece turned over to show the WW color.  I wrapped a piece of white thread around the piece a couple of times and knotted it.  I stamped the bird from the Punch Potpourri with WW on Whisper White then punched it.  I cut the branch from WW card stock and the wing from white.  I cut a piece of white and pressed it into the WW ink pad to add a bit of interest to the white rectangle. I glued the bird and the branch to this piece then mounted it to the card front with 3D foam tape. 

Submitting to the following challenge:
Fab Fri 66 - sketch

Red Strawberry

I captured this small ripe strawberry at the Community Garden.  It looked delicious.  It was very sunny so I have some pretty harsh highlights. I'm not sure what white stuff has been captured by the leaves but it makes it look fuzzy.

There were a few which had been eaten to the stem by some furry critter so I hope that the owner visits the garden every day to pick these wonderful fruit. 

Submitting this to the following challenges:
Macro Monday 2
I Heart Macro - 107

Mosaic Monday - Community Garden

These photos are from my walk through the Community Garden in my area.  It likely contains about 50 small plots. Everything is so dry but there were red strawberries, blooming chive, and a few green tomatoes.

Many of the plots are decorated with garden ornaments.  I chose this cat face.  It is metal with a solid face and wire body which mostly disappears with the busy background.  It is about 12-14 inches tall.

The blue flower is wonderful.  I'm not sure what plant it is but it could be flax.

The bee was quite still for longer than usual which is why I got a decent shot of it.  They are buzzing about very diligently collecting pollen.  The purple chive flowers seemed to the most popular as there was constant activity.  Fortunately, many plots in the garden has some so I could move from plot to plot to get a photo or two.

The garden has very spongy rubber paths which is interesting.  They have a small building for storage.  We did get some rain over the weekend so that should help the green.

Submitting it to the following challenges:
Mosaic Monday at Lavender Cottage hosted by Judith

Sail Boat on the Sea

I made a masculine card today.  I started with the Stampin Up Sail Away stamp on watercolor in Early Espresso.  I added blue in the sky and water with the Not Quite Navy
Watercolor Wonder crayon and the Aqua Painter.  I added a hint of sun in the top left hand corner with a More Mustard WW crayon.  I trimmed down the watercolor paper to 5 x 3.75" and layered it onto a piece of Marina Mist card stock which just leaves a small border on the Early Espresso card.  I cut a Bitty Banner with the framelit in EE and then stamped the greeting from the Good Greetings stamp set in Baja Breeze cause I have no Marina Mist stamp pad. These were layered and mounted to the car front with 3D foam tape.

Submitting to the following challenges:
Paper Pal Arts - #255 Early Espresso, Maria Mist, Sahara Sand.
Cute Card Thursday - #377 Beside the Seaside

Stack of Teacups

I started with the designer paper from Creative Imaginations which is watercolor with calligraphy words on it.  The variations in color provides lots of card color options. I chose a light warm green. It's light and summery. I cut the piece of DP to leave a small border.  I used the Memory Box Tea Cup Stack.  I cut the first layer in a soft aqua glossy card stock.  Then I cut it again from a deep blue green card stock.  This time making sure I did not lose any of the confetti pieces so that I could put them back in the holes of the first one.  I put scotch tape on the back of the aqua one and then just placed the pieces back in. Once all done, I trimmed the extra tape away from the outside edges with scissors.  I color printed my sentiment on white card stock then trimmed it to 2 x 5.25 inches.  I punched slots in the top and bottom with the Stampin Up punch.  I ran a caramel seam binding through the slot to the inside of the card and back through the slots in the top.  Tied a knot and trimmed the ends.
Submitting to the following:
Come and Get It Challenges - Paper Piecing.
Coffee Loving Cardmakers - Summer Blog Hop.

Christmas Wreath

I started with a light green card fold in the tall orientation.  I cut the frame from deep red card stock with the Die-namics Stitched Square Frames.  It's 4" square.  I backed it with a piece of painted brown paper which repeats the brown in the pine cones.  I stamped the greeting on white with brown ink and a clear stamp.  I layered that onto the same red card stock as the frame. These were layered together then I punched a 1/8" hole in the corner and added an olive thread to it.  I then tied the tag onto the frame with the thread.  The frame accent was then adhered to the top of the card front.  I added some double sided tape to the back of the tag to keep it in place on the card front below the frame.  I then adhered the wreath accent (brand unknown) over the frame with 3D foam tape.

Submitting to the following challenges:
Holly Jolly Christmas Challenges - Frame It.
City Crafter Challenge - tic TAG toe

Water Drop

There aren't many water drops around here because things are so dry.  I walked by these hostas shortly after someone watered and the drops were still there. Once I converted the photo the water drop popped!  Looks like it's headed down the slope.  I cropped the photo to have the water drop be the focus.

Here's the colored one.

Submitting to:
B&W Wednesday.

Inside a Petunia

Petunias are not flowers I would normally photograph.  They are plentiful and come in a large number of colors.  This morning I decided to see what I could do if I got really close.  They have interesting inside bits.  I liked to color of this one and the focus was good.  There are a few dirt particles but that comes with the territory when outside.  I did crop the image to move the focal point off center.
Sharing this at
I Heart Macro 
Macro Monday 2 

Mosaic Monday - Tea for One

I have set up tea for me today.  I wanted individual tea bag saucers for when I serve tea and found these porcelain spoons at a garage sale. The price was right so they came home with me.  I am storing them in a glass dish for now. The top right is a few chocolate almonds in a bowl.  The main photo is breakfast. Muffins, cheese, and a banana with with a large cup of tea.  In the bottom left is my honey jar, center is the glass coasters, and bottom right is a yellow Tuppeware container where the goodies for tea are stored.  Golden yellow and navy blue is the color scheme for my kitchen and I am using golden yellow and turquoise in the dining room.  It's a work in progress.  I found a gorgeous honey dish the other day, so keep an eye here for it in a later post.

Sharing this at Mosaic Monday at Lavender Cottage hosted by Judith.

Card - Christmas Kraft Red Black

I started with a Kraft card.  I placed a hand drawn line on my designer paper with a black marker. I cut red triangles from card stock.  I added dots with a marker then I glued them along the line to create a banner. I stamped the tree and greeting from the Stampin Up Contempo Christmas stamp set with Versafine Onyx stamp pad.  The snowflake from the SU Delightful Decorations.


Submitting this card to the following challenges:

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Use Kraft
City Crafter Challenge - Add a Banner
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything

Card - Gentle Trees

I started with a Stampin Up Mellow Moss card.  I stamped a piece of Whisper White with Versamark ink and the Harlequin background stamp.  I clear embossed the background then watercolored it with Regal Rose ink using an Aqua Painter. I wanted to tone it down so I stamped Lovely as a Tree in Mellow Moss on the bottom third of a piece of vellum and clear embossed them also.  I stamped the greeting from Little Bit of Cheer stamp set with Regal Rose and embossed it also.  I cut the background to leave a large border.  I cut the vellum just a bit bigger.  I placed three white candy dots above the trees.  I placed Zots behind the candy dots and a bit of vellum adhesive behind the trees to adhere the vellum to the background.  I adhered the background to the card front.

Submitting this card to the following challenges:

Color and Sketches for clean & simple cards - 127 Colors  

TGIF #TGIFC06 Watercolour Challenge

Card - Butterfly Thank you

This is a card made with Stampin Up product. I started with a Soft Suede card.  I added a layer of Delicate Dots DSP cut to leave a small border.  I punched top right and bottom left corners with a corner rounder.  I cut a piece of Rose Red card stock with one of the flowers from the Flower Fair framelits.  I ran it through the Pretty Print embossing folder.  I brushed the embossing with ink pad. I stamped the greeting from an unknown stamp set with Soft Suede on Whisper White and embossed with clear powder. I brushed the edges with the ink.  I cut the butterfly with the Sizzix Winged Beauties thinlit from So Saffron card stock.  I used an Aqua Painter to add the body of the butterfly with Soft Suede ink.  The greeting is adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.
Submitting to the following challenges:
Pals Paper Arts - 254 Color Challenge

Greeting Card Gift Set with Folder

I decided to package some of my Stampin Up cards in gifts.  At this time, these would make great gifts for teachers. 
I designed the cover with the Stampin Up Tea Shoppe stamp set.  I used 3 different tea cups on the 3 folders. I mixed So Saffron with a few different colors. Not Quite Navy, Island Indigo and Elegant Eggplant.  The folder holds 4 cards protected in cellophane sleeves.The folder measures 6" x 11". I scored the 11" side folder at 5.5" then .75" on each side to create the spine.  I placed 2 one quarter inch holes in the spine .75 inches from the center of the 6" spine.  I used a piece of So Saffron 7/8" twill ribbon and I created an innie outie bow then flagged both ends.  The folder is used as a card for the recipient.  Their name can be written on the front and your sentiments can be put on the inside cover.












This second picture shows the cellophane sleeves with 2 cards each.  The sleeves are adhered into the spine.

Pine Cone B&W

I went through the photos I took a few days ago to see if one had enough contrast to go to black and white.  I chose this pine cone photo where the green pine needles have turned dark and the top bits of the pine cone are lighter. The background has a good mix of light and dark. The focal point is just off center and I have some of the ends of the needles and some not.
I think nature is wonderful, inspiring and relaxing.



I've included the color version. 

Submitting to the Black and White Wednesday hosted at My Memory Art.

Rain!

It's wet! It's raining this morning.  Just a quiet gentle rain.  We really need it.  I walked for an hour and did not get soaked without an umbrella. 

Dandelion in the Sun

I took this photo on my walk this morning. The weather was perfect not too hot not too cool.

This is a dandelion in full seed.  The shot is taken from the underside. I love the way the sun highlights the fluffy white seeds.  The white clouds in the sky provide a repetition of the white.  The sun through the green spikes looks great.

I'm submitting it to:
Macro Monday 2
I Heart Macro

Mosaic Monday - Apple Blossoms

I appreciate so much the time to go take a walk and shoot a few photos while I am out in nature!
This week it was lilacs and they smell so wonderful. A pink one and a very blue one. Apple blossoms in a couple of colors.  A beautiful yellow tulip poppy with the unopened heads glowing in the background.  The robin on a wire.  It was keeping an eye on me but it's not a bad shot.

Submitting this to Mosaic Monday with Judith at Lavender Cottage. 

Christmas Card Challenge - June - Nativity - Brayer - Glitter

It's time again for the June Christmas Card Challenge.  The three elements are Nativity, Brayer and Glitter.
I started by making a brayer background with several blue ink pads from light to dark.  I brayered the lightest in the center and then layered the darker colors towards the top and bottom edges. I then stamped it with a script background stamp and clear embossed it.  I then used the same stamp with navy blue ink.  I chose a medium to dark royal blue card.  I trimmed the brayer background to leave a small border.  I punched the night sky stars with a Creative Memories Star border punch.  That gave me dark stars in the sky.  I cut the nativity from pearl card stock with the QuicKutz Nativity die.  I was able to include the shepherds but not the wisemen.  I adhered the background to the card front then the nativity die cut to the background. I repeated the stars in the sky with a non shed glitter card stock cut with the Sizzix Star and Star Bursts bigz die. I trimmed away the star that came with the die cut to add a glitter star adhered with 3D foam tape.

In this close up you can see the clear embossed sections to the right of the glitter star.