winter greetings

 hello hello!!

Playing along with the latest Inspired By challenge - Inspired by - Snowman

I was inspired by the blue and the snowflake pattern on the jacket, and took a loose interpretation of the sketch.

Totally stepped outside of my comfort zone with this card, as I typically don't gravitate toward bold colored cards.... so I challenged myself with some distress oxide ink blending in an attempt to create a wintery sky.

The snowflakes were created with opaque grit paste and layering stencils.

I really enjoyed the ink blending here, I'm going to have to try this more often :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

xoxo ~ rae

Supply List:

Dies: Pinkfresh Studio large snowflakes

Stencils: Honeybee Stamps snowflakes background stencils

Stamp: Pinkfresh Studio Folk Snowflake set

Distress Oxide Inks: salty ocean, faded jeans, wilted violet, black soot

Mediums: Ranger Distress opaque grit paste

Embellishments: Pinkfresh Studio ice clear drops

Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe alabaster

Other supplies: white glitter cardstock; white, black cardstock

I love you

Hey there!

Playing along with the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches #617

Although it took a bit of trial and error to get this card just right, the creative process was SO much fun!!!!

In the end I was pleased with the simplicity of the design, peppered with all the texture.

The 'loops' embossing folder I chose for the background panel reminded me of hearts :)

The heart panels were made from Concord & 9th cardstock embossed with Altenew's cross stitch canvas coverplate. I used Pinkfresh Studio dainty plaid to stamp/emboss the cardstock from which I die cut the hearts. 

The sentiment was stamped and heat embossed in white and the black strip was matted with white glitter cardstock.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

xoxo ~ rae

Supply List:

Cardstock: Concord & 9th (ballet slipper, honeysuckle)

Dies: Hero Arts Nesting Hearts Infinity dies; Altenew cross stitch canvas cover plate

Stamps: Dainty Plaid - Pinkfresh Studio; sentiment - Simon Says Stamp Love Messages

Embossing Powder - Brutus Monroe alabaster

Embossing Folder - Spellbinders loops

Embellishments - This Calls for Confetti sequins

Other: white, black cardstock; white glitter cardstock

Let It Snow - Inspired By challenge

Greetings!!!

Today I am sharing a card created for the latest Inspired By challenge

 

I was inspired by the sketch and the colors when designing my card....

I was inspired by the colors in the inspiration photo when ink blending my unconventional snowflake, aiming for a vintage vibe. I used Ranger distress oxide inks (old paper, pumice stone) and Pinkfresh Studio (warm buff) ink. I added some Ranger mercury glass stickles and Pinkfresh champagne glitter drops for sparkle.

The ink blended snowflake was matted with a vellum die cut snowflake for added dimension/interest before being adhered to the die cut black circle with foam tape. 

The background panel was die cut with Pinkfresh Studio snowflakes coverplate die.

The sentiment was embossed in white on black cardstock, and matted with vellum before being adhered to the card.

Fun challenge!! Check it out and play along!!

I was also inspired by the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge theme "Let It Snow"

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

xoxo ~ rae

Inspired By Pillows - #IB261

 Playing along with the latest Inspired By Challenge - #IB261

 

I was inspired by both the inspiration photo and the sketch...

The chair in the photo inspired the background, the pillows inspired the patterned paper scraps, and the fall foliage on the table inspired the die cut leaves! I was also inspired by the sketch! I just love these challenges!!

Supply List:

Pinkfresh Studio: dies: elongated lattice cover plate, leafy branch 

Honey Bee Stamps: Fall for you stamp and die

Other supplies: patterned paper scraps; jute twine; kraft cardstock; very old brad!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

xoxo - rae

Freshly Made Sketches #610

 Playing along with Freshly Made Sketches #610!

I took a little liberty with the sketch by flipping it and staggering the position of the shapes....

Although hard to capture in a photo, the snowflakes are a pretty white glitter :)

I started with the embossed background, inked the folk art frame in pale pink and adhered to the card front, then added the layered inked cardstock/glitter strips and snowflakes, then added the heat embossed sentiment and some clear sequins (that also did not photograph well!).

Supply List:

Spellbinders diamond plaid embossing folder

Pinkfresh Studios folk edge rectangle die; ink - ballet slipper

Simon Says Stamp snowflake dies

Waffle Flower Essential Sentiments stamp and die

Other supplies: silver embossing powder; clear sequins; white cardstock; white, silver glitter cardstock; foam tape

Thanks for stopping by!!

xoxo - rae

hello

 Playing along with the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches #572

Here is my take on the sketch

I used Altenew's Statement Flower stamp set for this one - I watercolored the flowers and leaves with Altenew watercolors. I fussy cut the flower, then layered and adhered them with foam tape to an embossed leaf paper strip edged with a piece of metallic gold cardstock. The card base is an embossed plaid. The sentiment was embossed in gold, and some gold sequins were added for interest. 

I don't watercolor much, I really enjoyed it, but definitely need some practice LOL.

Supply List

Altenew: Statement Flowers stamp; watercolors; brushed gold metallic cardstock

Pink Fresh: Perfect Sentiments stamp and die

Spellbinders: leafy and diamond plaid embossing folders; gold sequins

Brutus Monroe: gilded embossing powder

Other: black, white cardstock; foam tape

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo ~ rae

Real Growth

 hello hello!

Here today to share a card that I absolutely LOVED creating...

I played along with Pink Fresh Studio's January 2023 Challenge | Year in Review

.... which meant that I had a year's worth of challenges to choose from, so I chose June | Rainbow 

I was excited about the 'rainbow' prompt as I knew I wanted to do work with my new Pink Fresh Studio supplies that coincidentally arrived on my doorstep just yesterday :)

Lately I've been motivated to create CAS cards with meaningful and inspirational sentiments, and my new Pink Fresh Butterflies stamp/die/stencil set allowed me to do just that, take a peek...

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I used gobs of Pink Fresh goodies on this card... layer upon layer of yummy die cuts. Although I added texture for interest, my goal was to keep the layered card base crisp, clean and all white so that the bold rainbow color ink blended butterfly would pop off the card. I added black for a strong bold contrast as well.

I did not use all of the stencils in the Butterfly set, choosing to just use the larger stencils and freely ink blending the colors in a rainbow color theme. The butterfly and sentiment strip were adhered to the card with foam tape for dimension.

The card layout came courtesy of the latest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches | FMS 569

I cannot tell you how much I truly enjoyed working on this challenge card, and look forward to making many more butterfly cards thanks to this great set! 

Supply List:

Pink Fresh Studio Supplies: 

Butterflies stamps/dies/stencils

Radiating Background die

Ornate Medallions coverplate

Fancy Oval frame

Inks: berrylicious, clementine, sweet mustard, grassy knoll, mermaid cove, regal kiss

Simon Says Stamp: stitched rectangles dies

Misc supplies: cardstock: white, black; Tsukineko onyx black ink; foam tape

Thank you for stopping by today, appreciate your visit!

xoxo

rae

love you like crazy

Hello!

Played along with the latest sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches | sketch 568

And Just Us Girls challenge #662

So apparently this weekend I had some major creative mojo issues... yesterday, my first attempt at this sketch challenge resulted in a very disappointing card, I literally laughed at the end result! 

And while making said ugly card, my tape gun ran out of tape and when I went to reload the tape (which I have done HOW many times over the years?!) ... I could not for the life of me remember how to do it?! lol After much head scratching, frustration, and a minor swearing fit, thanks to a kind soul with an ATG gun tape reloading YouTube video - I was finally able to figure it out and was back in business - but alas the creative juices were completely gone by that point!

Fast forward to today.... took a new stab at the sketch with a brand new concept and set of supplies, and voilà, here she is:

Much better than the scary card from the previous day! A simple card with lots of technique, this was a fun one to put together! I ended up flipping the sketch because I thought this sentiment would look better on the left side of the card.

I started with an embossed panel as the card base layer. I die cut the tag, stamped and embossed it with clear embossing powder - it's hard to see, but I used PinkFresh Studio's dainty plaid stamp because I thought it would go well with the 'basic plaid' (Altenew) embossed background. I then die cut the hearts and inked them with some Altenew inks (frosty pink, coral berry, ruby red). I die cut strips and adhered them diagonally across the tag and popped the hearts on top of the strips with foam tape. For a pop of bold black, I added the black and white striped ribbon, the fun bold sentiment, and small black enamel heart.

Supply List:

Altenew: Ink: frosty pink, coral berry, ruby red

Altenew: 3D embossing folder - basic plaid

Altenew: tag from Terrific Tags die set

Concord & 9th: Big on You stamps and dies

Pretty Pink Posh: simple strip dies

Hero Arts: heart die

Tsukineko: onyx black ink

Other Supplies: black & white striped ribbon, May Arts jute twine, black enamel heart, white cardstock, clear embossing powder

eta: also submitted this card for the Color Hues latest challenge 

Thanks for stopping by today!

xoxo

rae

Freshly Made Sketches #555

Another fabulous sketch is up at Freshly Made Sketches, so of course I had to play along, being World Cardmaking Day (weekend) and all....

So, initially I was a little stumped about the rectangle element of the sketch ... me, with my literal interpretation of everything... lol. After digging through my supplies I came across the Celebrate Us Altenew/Pink Fresh Studio stamp and die and thought, voilà, there's my 'rectangular' element! The rest of the card just sort of fell in to place after that!

I used Pinkfresh Studio plaid background stamp and gold embossing powder to create the circle background, matted with kraft cardstock. The flower element was also heat embossed in gold. I added some cardstock strips to ground the circle element. Being a berry fanatic, I added some die cut berries from the same colored cardstock. The sentiment was stamped in vintage sepia.

This was a fun one to create, grateful for another great FMS sketch to get me started!!

Supply List:

Pinkfresh Studio products: diagonal stitched circles dies; modern script sentiments and die; dainty plaid rubber background stamp; Pinkfresh/Altenew Celebrate Us stamp and die

Altenew branches and berries die set

American Craft gold embossing powder

Echo Park colored cardstock

Simon Says Stamp white woodgrain cardstock

Other supplies: kraft cardstock, May Arts jute twine, Versafine vintage sepia ink, foam tape

Thanks for stopping by!!

xoxo ~rae

think happy, be happy

 I immediately fell in love with the color scheme of the latest challenge over on the Inspired By blog...

and made a card based on both the inspiration photo and the sketch - here is my card...

Here is where having a patterned paper hoard comes in handy... lol... I was able to find a woodgrain patterned paper that matches the inspiration photo and some small pattern papers that reminded me of those sweet shoes from the photo. I knew I wanted to keep my image simple, so I just stamped the large floral design on white cardstock with black ink and placed it over the pattern paper strips to draw attention to that element of the sketch.

Supply List:

Altenew: Handpicked Bouquet stamp and die set

MFT: Wonky Stitched rectangle dies

CZ Design: 'happy' sentiment strip

Other supplies: white cardstock, patterned paper, twine, foam tape

The simple, clean design let me play with the patterns and texture to create interest ... love how this one turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!!

xoxo- rae

You're the best

 I was inspired by the latest sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches

Here's my card...

I was excited to try out my new Pepperberry embossing folder and dies from Simon Says Stamp for this card. I used the embossing folder to create the background panel and the berries were die cut from cardstock and patterned paper. I also used a sentiment from my new Pinkfresh Modern Script Sentiments stamp & coordinating die set - I just love this unique font/set!

Other card elements: some random kraft cardstock tags from my stash, thin burlap-esque ribbon, and some twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

rae

good friends

two great challenges, one card...

I used the sketch from the latest Fusion challenge

and the quote concept from the latest Inspired By challenge

And here is my card....

Just a simple, sassy card... used spun sugar distress ink to create the watercolor background panel onto which I stamped the main image. Stamped the quote sentiment with StazOn ink onto vellum and wrapped it around the card front. 

Thanks for stopping by!!

xoxo

rae

find a rainbow

 another day, another challenge... love it!!

today I played along with the latest CAS(E) This Sketch challenge #393

So initially I was a bit intimidated by this sketch, not gonna lie....

But finally, after digging through my crafty stash, the light bulb went off, and this is the result...

It's a loose interpretation of the sketch, but rather than get tripped up on my typical literal interpretation of sketches, I decided to go with what I "saw"... and in the circles of the sketch I saw the arcs of a rainbow!

Lots of die cutting here... the card panel, the cloud, the rainbow... and a wee bit of stamping, with the Reverse Confetti sentiment. Added a bit of fine gold trim and a few clear dots.

I was so pleased when my original frustration with the sketch turned into a card that I really like!!

Grateful for another CTS sketch to challenge my creativity and help me think outside of the box!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

xoxo

rae

you are loved

 rainy days are the perfect days for card making, no??

today I tackled two challenges with one card - a sketch challenge and a photo inspiration challenge

Freshly Made Sketches #456

and

Inspired By: pumpkin spice

I love working from a sketch, and it's always easy to be inspired by a great photo...

this is what I came up with

So I took a rather loose interpretation of the sketch, but I love how it turned out! 

I die cut the two hearts from patterned paper, inked the edges for definition, and adhered them to the card front with foam tape. I die cut the sentiment from white cardstock and colored it by blending several shades of Altenew gray inks, mat the sentiment with another die cut from black cardstock, and adhered to the hearts with foam tape. The flower embellishment rounds out the sketch.

All of the colors were inspired by the inspiration photo... I don't have any pumpkins in my crafting arsenal, so I went with the heart shape instead.

This was a fun one to work on!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

xoxo

rae

World Card Making Day 2020

 woohoooo!!!!! A holiday just for us card makers!!!!

I played

I along with some challenges over at Scrapbook and Cards Today to celebrate!

Check them out!!

Color challenge...

 

A patterned paper challenge...

Inspired by challenge....

One stamp three ways challenge...

A sketch challenge...

What a fulfilling day of creating!! There's no better feeling than taking on a challenge concept and seeing the end result!

Can't wait until WCMD 2021!!

Thanks for dropping by!

xoxo

rae

It's ok to not be ok

 Played along with the latest sketch challenge over at CAS(E) This Sketch #392

And here is my card...

I used a yummy Altenew stamp set to stamp the panel, added some black embellishments, and tied a stamped sentiment around the panel. A simple, clean card ... just the way I like it!

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

rae

inspired by challenge

 played along with the latest challenge over at Inspired By - colors of fall

I feel that I reallyy stepped outside of my comfort zone with this challenge, as I am not always very adventurous with stamping and color.... but was eager to take on the challenge!

This is what I came up with...

I was inspired by the colors as well as the sketch, flipped. This was a great challenge for me to practice my stamping, which is definitely not my forte LOL, and the clean and simple style, also not my strong suit! I enjoyed digging through my inks looking for the hues which could work for the color challenge.

Grateful for the inspiration this challenge provided!!

thanks for stopping by!!

xoxo

rae