Color Hues - Aqua and Black

As soon as I saw Karen W's design team entry for the current Color Hues challenge, I knew exactly what stamps to use for the color combo. I've not purchased many MFT products but the Brilliant Butterflies set recently lured me to their store. It's an ideal set for two color themes and hopefully my card will inspire you to create something for this challenge.

I used another new purchase, the mini slim line die set bundle from Pink Fresh Studio. This is an ideal size in my opinion and even fits in a standard sized envelope. The happy sentiment is an older PTI die cut from black sparkly fun foam. A trio of iridescent stars finishes the card.

Here's a second card in A2 size which suits this larger butterfly. 

                                                 

Nordic Frame die cut panel (The Greetery)

Life is Beautiful sentiment (PTI) 

As the photos show another card is in the works using die cuts supplied by my friend Greta.                    

Spring Cards - Stencils, Wings etc

Here are three cards I've recently posted on my Instagram site vikkispapertrailetc. Too lazy to regularly blog I sometimes worry that IG may not be the best place to keep track of card details.  Thanks for joining me today.

Card #1

Card Menu: 

The Greetery: Always in Bloom stencil, 

PTI Scallop Stackers: Medium die

Card #2

Card Menu:

Hero Arts My Monthly April Kit: butterflies, sentiment

PTI: Songbirds die (negative panel)

Concord & 9th inks

Card #3

Card Menu:

Altenew Feathered Leaves stencil

The Greetery: Crimped Circle die

PTI: Butterfly Blooms, Palm Prints

SSS: Sentiment Strips

Cards 1 and 3 are linked to SSSWC: Stencil It. 

Cards 2 and 3 are linked to SSSMC: Things with Wings

Thinking of You Trio

Three cards today featuring Lovely Blossoms and Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You from The Greetery. Each card uses Concord & 9th inks. I love how different each color combination looks on my cards. I hope you will too!

Card #1

I stamped this bloom in unusual colors for a flower but so fun. The flower center was stamped in VersaMark ink and embossed in a Ranger gold EP. The tiny tag sentiment is from Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You (The Greetery). I stamped this long before I looked for the background panel. Boy, did I luck out with an ancient paper pad of tropical papers. The bright panel was trimmed with SSS Wonky Rectangles.

Card #2

This card uses the smaller bloom from the Lovely Blossom set, stamped and die cut, 

before adding it to a previously colored PTI Center Style: Feminine die. 

Card #3

On the last card I directly stamped the blooms on a panel trimmed with a Nordic Frames die (The Greetery). Another small Sentiment Suite tag was added to keep the focus on the florals. The panel was framed in green letting the holes share some color through the open holes. It was glued to an apricot top-folding card.

Well that's all folks. I'm linking all three to the SSS Monday Challenge: Bright, Cheerful Colors. Thanks for stopping by today. See you on Instagram too.

vikkispapertrailetc

Easter Cards with Help from The Greetery

 I die cut several pairs of The Greetery's BotaniCuts: Lily, both from white and colored card stock. I finally figured out how to glue them together easily and added details with markers, ink daubers, and Prismacolor pencils. Palm leaves from the Caring Cross stamp-stencil and die sets were added to balance the large lilies and their thin leaves. 

Card #1

In February I participated in Jenn Shurkus' Distress Ink Online class and created over 30 backgrounds. This card uses a Hero Arts Flower Garden Bold Prints cling stamp which was white embossed before ink blending a few green Distress Inks over it. It was directly glued to a white card front. I anchored the lilies on a vellum PTI Shape Shifters: Circle 1. The card front is busier than I usually make so I left off a sentiment. Inside I stamped a PTI Bible Inspired by Love verse along with Happy Easter greetings.

Card #2

This card is similar but less busy and includes three Caring Cross palm branches. I took this photo last week after my four cards were designed. Today as I stamped the inside messages I added light green and white splatters around the lily and a He is Risen sentiment below it. It was sealed in the envelope before I remembered the changes and thus no photo update.

Card #3

Another background in shades of blue and yellow from Jenn's Distress Ink class was die cut with the largest Nordic Frames (The Greetery). The panel was glued to a dark blue card front. A Happy Easter sentiment is from The Greetery Caring Cross stamp and stencil set.

Card #4

Three palms and two pink lilies were stacked vertically along the edge of a green side folding card front. The Happy Easter sentiment was embossed in white and additional tiny splatters in green and white inks were added around the florals. I had a lot of fun with these die cuts and arranging them in various positions. All four plus three other Easter cards were mailed today. 

The SSS Monday challenge is for Easter/Spring themes. I'll be linking several of these to the challenge. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you a wonderful Easter week.

Happy Easter & Hello

 Last minute addition and NBUS materials to boot for the Twofer Card Challenge! The Greetery and Altenew to the rescue and so much fun indeed! Sitting down with my new Altenew Craft-A-Flower: Poppy I chose several shades of red for the blossom, two greens for the leaves, and colored a white center piece with yellow Copics. I've had the NBUS Greetery Square Dance stencil set for a few months and dragged it out for my projects. I cut the panel with PTI's Feature Frames and used both the inside portion and the frame on my two cards. Card #1 uses a Petite Places: Church sentiment. Card #2 a SSS Hello die and a small sentiment strip layered over a stamped Altenew Leaf Canopy outline spray of leaves. Feeling happy with my results! And completely in love with this layering poppy die and the stencil background.

Card #1

Card #2

This duo is linked to the Twofer Challenge and NBUS

Church Easter Cards

 The first part of March I was busy putting together 80 Easter cards for a church group. The leadership team will distribute friendship bags in a couple of weeks to their members who haven't met for worship in a year. At first the task seemed daunting as it often takes me a whole year to get our 80 Christmas cards finished. Granted I tend to only make a couple of the same design for them which slows down the process. So I made my 80 white cards, rounding a corner or two sometimes for interest. Next I chose 5 different spring colors of PTI Bitty Big papers and cut 16 mats in each color from a variety of PTI dies. I stamped a complimentary inked sentiment on each mat and added either more stamping or die cut objects from my collection. Many of the decorations were extras stamped from previous cards. The results were fun and will be an attractive part of the encouragement package. I'm sharing a lot of photos, the group shots were already featured on Instagram but this post will include closer looks at the various designs. Get ready for a lot of photos. Though apparently I tired of taking photos of each group and didn't get individual shots from the peach and aqua groups.

Lavender Group

Altenew Line Art and PTI Scallop Stacker: Medium

PTI Shape Shifters Oval 1 die, Stitching Garden stamps/dies, Inspired by: Lord

Hero Arts Thinking of You, PTI Mix & Mat: Confetti die, Grand Botanicals  

                                               

     

PTI Shape Shifters: Circle 1 die, Hero Arts Circle Pattern & Starry Night Cling Bold Prints backgrounds

Yellow Group

PTI Bitty Bouquets, Mix & Mat: Confetti die

The Greetery Caring Cross stamp/die, Altenew Essential Sentiment Strips

PTI Mix & Mat: Confetti, Beautiful Berries: Spring; SSS Kind Flowers (retired)

 

Green Group

PTI Mix & Mat: Postal die, Bitty Bouquets, Simple Stems; The Greetery Thinking of You 

PTI Mix & Mat: Confetti, Beautiful Berries: Spring; SSS Kind Flowers

Peach Group

Aqua Group

Easter Wishes in Shades of Purple

 I'm always ready to enter a colors challenge and The Flower Challenge #54 focus for March is shades of purple with small amounts of other colors. I found in my basket of stamped and colored panels a Waffle Flower Bouquet Builder 1 flower already colored with Altenew alcohol markers in purple and greens.  Today I added a PTI Spring Woods sentiment and PTI Stemmed Statements bee. The panel was die cut with a Waffle Flowers A2 Layers and glued on a PTI pattern paper panel trimmed with a Greetery's Nordic Frames die. The matted panel was added to a purple card front. Voila! a Shades of Purple card ready for Easter mailing. 

A trio of baby cards

Last summer I ordered Waffle Flower's Little One Baby stamps and dies following a blog hop full of darling cards. The set has sweet folk-style images of florals, seasonally bundled babies, and dainty fonts. I have few baby related stamps thus the purchase. Several friends are new grandparents and I like to send a card with a children's book to the new family. In January twin girls arrived in Seattle where their 43 year old parents also have a two year old boy. Grandma Shirlie, my friend, is helping the frantic parents as a temporary live-in nanny but admits it's a circus of laundry, feedings, and no sleep. I planned to make a card with twin babies decorating the card but just in case mama Wendi makes two baby books I made each girl their own card. With the stamps out I also made a boyish card for their big brother. The two pink cards have backgrounds made during a recent Distress Inks/Oxides class with Jean Shurkus. One was ink blended with oxides and the other uses a smooshed technique with acetate and distress inks.

Card #1

Card #2

Card #3

This card also used Waffle Flower Color Combos geometric shapes cut from pattern paper.

The girls' cards were shared previously on Instagram. This card is linked to the NBUS challenge #24.

It's been two months since I've blogged on this site. I'm sorry but Instagram has proven easier to share brief details and photos on my crafting projects. Thank you for your visit.

Two Rennie Rose (Altenew) cards

Recently our good blogging friend, Darnell Knauss, sent a reminder for the January Twofer Card Challenge #34 - Flowers. It's not difficult to find a set of floral stamps on our shelves, right? I chose an older Altenew set, Rennie Roses, for my flowers and also two differently sized cards, a slimline for encouragement and an A2 birthday card. 

Card #1

First I stenciled (Altenew Classy Stripes) a light yellow diagonal stripe on the upper two thirds of the white panel. Three Beautiful Day foliage die sprigs fan out around the flowers adding texture and visual interest. The orange blooms were each stamped in VersaMark ink and gold embossed on an watercolored panel (Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan set). The green leaves were each stamped in green DI, clear embossed, and tucked around the modern roses. More green was added with the Beautiful Day clear embossed sentiment. The white panel was glued to a kraft slimline card which fits nicely in my Paper Source slimline envelope.

Card #2

My dramatic black card focuses on a stamped background. I set up several stamps in the corner on the white panel and with the Misti stamped in black, rotated the panel and stamped the opposite corner. I repeated this with another group of stamps completing the panel with smaller images to fill the background.  Pink Fresh Studio's Lea's Ornate Uppercase Alphabet helped create the focal sentiment cut from black glitter foam. A small sentiment from SS Sentiment Strips was inked with DI to match the small Rennie Rose die cut. The inside of the black card was lined with a white panel for a message. Such a fun card to create.

Both cards fit the Twofer Challenge. Card #2 is also linked to SS - Make Your Own Background. 

                         

I'll see you around the blogs and always on Instagram @vikkispapertrailetc