Challenges

Here's a card I created for this week's sketch challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches and Dies R Us Blog Challenge.   

Here's the sketch for TMS:  


The challenge at Dies are Us is to use layers.                                                                                                                                                              


I die cut the strawberries, colored them with distress inks, added them to the white CS after embossing it with the Swiss Dots folder and then layered it onto red CS and repeated the layers. Instead of stamping a greeting, I decided to die cut that too. All of the dies are from SB Maker's Mart Die of the month kits. The "enjoy" is from the June kit and the strawberries are from the May kit. I'm enjoying these monthly kits. They are great dies and not too expensive. It's a fun way to increase your stash of dies too.

Thanks for stopping by today.

blessings,
shelia

Tropical Paradise

Hi everyone,

DRS Designs is just about to release some new images that you are going to love! My card today features the new Silhouette Palm Trees (288P) and I just know this is going to be a favorite of mine.

I started by stamping the line of palm trees (288P) with Versafine Onyx black ink onto water color paper, embossed it with clear embossing powder and then sponged on various TH Distress Oxide inks for the sea and sky. Once the inks dried I stamped the Sand, snow, water lines with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with detail white embossing powder. The little seal and dolphin were stamped with Memento Black ink onto white CS, colored with Copics and fussy cut. I used a craft knife to cut an opening along the top of the waves so I could tuck the dolphin and seal into the water. I really liked how this turned out and was so excited I just had to create another card with this new image.

This card uses the same inks for the sponged background. I started with a strip of paper, stamped the silhouette palm trees (228P) with Versafine Onyx black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Once the embossing cooled I sponged in the sky and sea and layered the strip onto black CS before attaching it to the larger panel which was also sponged with the same distress oxide inks. Once dried, I stamped the greeting with Versafine Onyx ink and then attached everything to a black card base.

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to head over to the DRS Designs on line store to check out the new images that will be released in just a couple of days!

Happy Stamping,
shelia

Follow Your Dreams

Hello Everyone! My card today features our new Follow Your Dreams sign post with some hot air balloons. I think this new sign post image is great for both retirement and grad cards. Don't you?

I started with white CS, sponged on TH Distress inks for the grass and sky, then I stamped the sign post and colored it with Copic markers. The balloons were also stamped on white CS, colored with Copics and fussy cut. The yellow and pink ones were glued onto the panel and the purple one is attached with foam adhesive for some dimension. I die cut a kraft colored frame using SB rectangle dies and then attached everything to a white card base.

Thanks for stopping by today!

blessings,
shelia

Retirement Wishes

Hi everyone. My card today reflects where I want to be when I retire. I love the beach. Early morning and late evening walks on the beach are two of my absolute favorite things. I'd love to retire on or close to a beach.

I started by creating the background with distress inks and sponges. Once the sand, sea and sky were the way I wanted I stamped the splatter background image onto the sand with distress ink for some more definition. The retirement greeting was stamped with Versafine Onyx ink, die cut and layered onto blue CS. The 4 in 1 seashells were stamped with Memento Black ink, colored with Copics, fussy cut and added to the greeting panel. Once glued on, I added some sparkle with a Sakura Gelly Roll pen. The clouds and sun were die cut, sponged with a dab of ink and added to the sky before everything was attached to the white card base. Now I want to go to the beach!!

Thanks for stopping by today.

blessings,
shelia

Retirement Time

Happy Monday Everyone. Hope you had a good weekend and were able to find some time to get creative. I've been playing around with TH Distress Oxide inks and thought I'd share a couple of cards with you.

On this first card, I started with some watercolor paper, the oxide inks and a TH clockwork stencil. I wanted to create retirement cards, so I thought the stencil with clocks would be perfect. So I taped the paper and stencil onto a craft mat and sponged the inks onto the watercolor paper, blending the inks together. I really like the chalky look of these oxide inks. The As you Retire greeting was stamped on to the same water color paper, die cut and layered onto a die cut label. Everything is attached to a black card base.

The second card uses the same water color paper, oxide inks and stencil, only this time I sponged and blended the inks onto the water color paper, sprayed the back of the stencil with water and carefully laid it onto the paper. I used a paper towel to wipe up the excess water. After just a few minutes the inks react with the water and the stencil image appears. I really like the look this technique creates.

The God Bless your Retirement greeting was stamped onto white CS with Versafine Onyx ink, die cut and layered on a black oval. A punched strip was added to the center, along with gingham ribbon before attaching everything to the white card base. A blue button and bakers twine complete the look.

Thanks for stopping by today!

blessings,
shelia

Swing!

Hi Everyone. My card today is a retirement card. I know my husband would like nothing more than to be swinging on the golf course when he retires and that gave me the idea for this card.

I started by stamping the silhouette male golfer onto white CS with Versafine Onyx ink. I used my Misti so I could get a good impression, heat embossed him with clear EP and then fussy cut him out. I used my Misti again to stamp the Everything Golf background image onto the green CS using Verafine Onyx. Both of these panels were glued onto a black panel and then attached to the white card base. The Swing greeting (191D) was stamped with Versafine Onyx ink, die cut and layered onto black CS before attaching it to the main panel. Some black half pearls complete the look.

It doesn't show up in the picture, but I added some glossy accents to the green tee on the green panel. It does add some dimension in real life.

Inside I stamped the new Happiness retirement greeting (163G) and added a stamped and fussy cut blue golf tee.

Thanks for stopping by today.

blessings,
shelia

See Ya Later Alligator!

I have a niece named Allie, whose nickname is "Allie"gator. When I saw this new background image I knew I had to make a birthday card for Allie with it. There are so many different sayings on this image, the possibilities are endless!

I stamped the green panel with the new image (158H) using SU Old Olive ink and then die cut the oval window out, attached it to the cream card base and stamped the Happy Birthday greeting inside the oval with the same ink. The frame was made using  stitched oval dies. The gator was created using the Animal Kingdom cartridge and my Cricut machine. I rarely use my Cricut and it took me a few tries to get the gator sized correctly. I added some shading to him with the old olive ink and popped him up with some foam squares. A couple of tiny black half pearls were added for his eyes. I think my niece will like this.

Just a reminder there's only a couple more days to get in on the chance to win big here at DRS Designs. Be sure to check out the details here.

Thanks for stopping by today!

blessings,
shelia