Succy Birthday ?

My older TN niece loves succulents -- she just asked on FB "At what point would you say my elephant and plant obsessions have gone too far?"   Well, if you are reading this you probably are having the same reaction I had -- we can NEVER "Have gone too far!" Of course our obsession is stamp - ink - and paper.  Or at least mine is.  

SO  . . . this is for her.  The succulents and pots are from MY Favorite Things.  I masked the pots to place the succulents into them.  I kept the pots masked to stamp the wood grain border  as a shelf (also from MFT). I watercolored them with a combination of watercolor pencils and Peerless watercolor.  

Then I used some of the same water colors to make a wash of the green, terra-cotta, and yellow.  Sprinkled large salt grains on it and let it dry.  When it was done I cut a strip for the side and die cut the balloons.  One was stamped with the sentiment and coated with glossy accents.  All got strings and attached to the bitty snail (from Hero Arts). 

I am putting this into the following challenges:

1. CAS Watercolor - Add Salt

2. CAS on Friday (or Sunday)  Challenge #114 Birthday

3.  Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge is to Add A Sentiment

4. Try it on Tuesday  "In my Garden"  Succulents and a snail should qualify.  

5. I am also putting this onto My Favorite Things Camp Create page Magnificent Masking

As always thank you so much for stopping by to look.  

I hope you are enjoying your day. 

Beach Love

My  younger son and his wonderful lady are celebrating their 4th wedding anniversary.  They love the beach.  This card is for them.

Here is the inside of the card:

I recently stumbled across this blog: Mixed Media World.
And this month's themes is "Anything Goes" Mixed Media World June Challenge

I'm not sure, but I think this card may qualify as mixed media.  For the "sand" I used Viva art stone product in a color called sand gold.  I've had it for a very long time (at least 2-3 years,) and thankfully it was still workable.  I scored the Internet, but can't seem to find it any more.  I then used the bottom of a crochet hook to hand draw the letters in the sand.

The "wavy water" was created using vellum and a wave stencil.  I embossed with some embossing enamel from Stampendous (that I also can't find on the web any more)

This card was inspired by this card I received from my husband for Mother's Day.  I loved the photo, and thought . . . "I could do that!"

I am also entering this into the following challenges

Double D  ANYTHING WEDDING  

While I made this for an anniversary, it could certainly be used as a wedding card.  

Little Red Wagon  Challenge #400 - Three of a Kind  

It was a gorgeous spring weekend and my hubby wanted to go out for a drive to the beach -- Fire Island to be exact.  So of course I said YES!  He was a bit suspicious when I said we needed to bring a small container.  But he knows this by now -- I love collecting rocks, shells, and other terrific beach finds.  But this day I was on a mission -- finding shells small enough for card-making.  It was much harder than I thought it would be -- they had to be small and complete.  Three of them made their way to this card.  :) 

Words 2 Craft by    Keep Love in Your Heart - I think the cards speaks for itself :) 

Shopping Our Stash Weekly   Lazy Summer Days - Many people go the beach to play in the sand.  

  

Try it on Tuesday : Letters or Numbers or Both - 

Marker Pop -  # 123  Summer Fun it is (and it was fun creating it too!)

And Marker Pop - # 122  Use at least 3 colors - I have the blue-turquoise, and the browns, and the light beige shells . 

As always, thanks so much for stopping by to take a look.  I hope you are enjoying your summer!

SaveSave

Mr and Mrs

finished size - 5 x 7

This is going into Atlantic Heart Challenge .  I was inspired by the sketch

And I was also inspired by the this card by Cathy's  HERE

This is also going into Penny Black Photo Inspiration Challenge

This is going into Double D Challenge Flowers Galore:

And into Time Out Challenge Flowers and Friends make life a garden - This is for one of my best friend's son's wedding. 

The inside of the card - also used a bit of the Concord and 9th stamp on vellum.  The sentiments are from 2 PTI sets.

Stamps:  Mr and Mrs = PTI,  Wood Grain = Heidi Swapp, flower (large cluster) = Concord & 9th, flower (small cluster) = Sweet Impressions

Papers: watercolor (for wood grain), colors = PTI, vellum (for flowers)

Techniques:
1) wood grain - stamped with distress ink, then embossed with clear embossing powder - watercolor washed over with a light gray distress ink
2) Mr and Mrs - cut stamp apart - embossed with a mix of embossing powders
3) vellum flowers - white embossed, colored on the back with Stampin Up markers - ala Jennifer McQuire HERE , then fussy cut - adhered with liquid adhesive - a few "pearls" and rhinestones to embellish.

Thank you for taking the time to look.  Hope your day is going well.

vintage watercolor flowers

I stamped and colored this image a while ago when I got together with crafty friends. So I'm not sure, but it may qualify for Pixie's Snippet Playground

The main image is from Technique Tuesday.  The script on the right is from ??  The "chicken wire" is from Prima (I think).  The sentiment and papers are from PaperTreyInk

We emulated this post from  Heather Telford She calls it Vintage Watercoloring.  I also used Vintage Photo distress ink and watercolor pencils.

So I am also putting this into Happy Little Stampers Watercolor Challenge

I never made it into a card . . . until  . . . 2 snow days in a row  . . . attached to a weekend -- a teacher's dream!  And a crafter's dream - time to create!
So I looked for a sketch that would compliment the image  and found this:
Case This Sketch

I'm also placing this into Vintage Journey February's challenge is Words that are Special  I think the sentiment speaks for itself.  

I pulled the background colors from the image, focusing on these colors from the Chocolate Baroque Challenge 

That's all for now.  My daughter-in-law invited for a day out with her mom, to visit some local wineries!  So I'm out of here!  Woop Woop.  

Hope you are all doing well.  And thanks for looking.  

Cupcakes are Muffins ? !

At my job we celebrate birthdays once each quarter.  This time we had a bunch of cupcakes along with cake and some other goodies.  We tried to rationalize eating all the sweets . . . but ate them anyway.  That's when I remembered this sentiment stamp from Riley and Company - so much fun!  I just had to make a card for an upcoming birthday.

I am putting this in the following challenges:

Paper Craft Crew 

Shopping Our Stash I love the title of this challenge "Stickle Me Elmo" . I really shopped my stash, and used a very old jar of "sprinkles" - glitter - not edible! I sprinkled them on top of some Alene's snow paste (used as "icing" ). 

Happy Little Stamper - The dies are from Paper Trey Ink -- 

And I'm also putting this into Seize the Birthday

As always, thanks so much for taking a look.  Hope you are having a good day.

W T Fifty?

A co-worker is turning 50 next month - this is for her.

The stamps are from CAS-UAL Fridays - embossed in gold and black.  The pink numbers are a stencil from The Crafter's Workshop - sponged with distress spun sugar to go from dark on top to fade to the bottom.  

I had 2 hours to do this and get on to my blog to qualify for CAS Colours & Sketches

This will also go onto CASual Fridays Challenge - everything turns to Gold

And Paper Craft Crew Challenge

This was one of the fastest cards I've ever made. To be honest, there were several failed attempts, before I got it the way I wanted.  :) 

All for now -- need to go get dinner and ready for work tomorrow.

Hope you are having a good day.

Caught a Bug . . .

This is for a friend that is ill with the flu or other upper respiratory infection.  These are her favorite colors.  

The images are from Sweet and Sassy. 

The paper is from My Mind's Eye.  

I am putting this into the following challenges:

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge

Crafty Hazelnuts Pattern Paper Challenge - now -- you need to know that I choose this pack of paper before I went looking for challenges in which to put this card.  And there this was -- Crafty Hazelnut -- and the paper pack prize for this month is the pack I used -- what do they say about "great minds"? :)

And Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes 

and into Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday  - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for taking a look.  I hope all is well with you. 

ConGRADulations!

I teach 6th grade science at a middle school in NY.  My department head just finished her PhD.  This is for her.
The image is from Stamping Bella , which I watercolored.  The sentiment is from Paper Smooches.
I don't know if you can read the pattern paper, but that is from Echo Park.  The words on the paper are about Graduate and School.

I'm putting this into the following challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC164

Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge  - Anything Goes

and Cute Card Thursday also Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look.