Color Throwdown for a Special Birthday

When this popped up in my e-mail, I was immediately in love with the colors!  And I just happened to need to make a birthday card for my youngest sister today.   I started with the colors, of course.  Although I was in love with stripes, my black and white paper pads don't include stripes.  Polka dots, yes!  Choosing a sentiment was next; I don't have many beyond the "Happy Birthday" ones.  The Emerson quote on a Wordsworth stamp seemed fitting.  To make the card decidedly feminine, I added the butterfly for the Color Throwdown challenge.

Fusion Card

I loved the colors in the inspiration piece of the Fusion Card Challenge, so I pulled out brushes, water and some watercolors. The sentiment is from Wordsworth. 

Less is More with One Layer of Stencils

Time to catch up again after being gone for almost two weeks... I'll start with the dreaded One Layer Card for Less is More.  (I've found that I usually enjoy the challenge of a OLC, even though it doesn't always work for me!)   The stencil is one from The Crafter's Workshop and I used Distress Oxide inks.  (Ths faint shadows are from the screen on the window that provides the light.)

Watercolored Poppy for April

I actually made two different card fronts with two different poppy stamps for CAS Watercolor's April challenge, only to remember that I needed more white space.  It's always good to go back to the blog post and study the DT cards. 

Hero Arts' clear "Delicate Blossoms" stamp is one of my favorites; two tall arrangements of poppies.  I stamped and heat-embossed the image on white cardstock and then colored with SU's Sweet Sugarplum marker (and another darker pink), while using an water brush. I found a piece of cardstock that matched the color and layered the painted piece on it and a black card.  The sentiment from Wordsworth is one I've had for years but never used.  (I have planted a plum-colored poppy plant twice in the past 4 years and neither one came up in the spring.  I'm not giving up!)

Angles for CAS Colors & Sketches

The DT cards were really an inspiration for this particular sketch (CAS Colours & Sketches); I'm keeping several in mind to CASE later!  For my own card, I started with a multicolored piece of DSP from Lawn Fawn's "Really Rainbow" petite paper pack.  Then I chose the solid orange for the angled piece.  The image of poppies is a Penny Black stamp and the sentiment is from Wordsworth. 

Double D Pink and White

Our theme:  "Pink and White"

(anything using these two colors)

The mood board for the current Double D Challenge contains images of four pretty retro images in pink and white...unfortunately, I don't have one stamp that even resembles any of them!  Pink and white make a beautiful combination, and it's a light-hearted color combo to work with while my world is surrounded (almost buried)in snow!

I chose the Hero Arts clear image, embossed it in white and colored it with SU! markers. Then I fussy-cut it out and applied it to a dry-embossed layer that had already been stamped with a Wordsworth sentiment. 

One Layer for Less is More

One layer cards for a Less is More challenge are generally not the favorite of card-makers.  It's interesting to think how one layer used to be THE way to make a card...way back when, I'm sure!   For me, it's logical to use watercolor as the background in a one-layer card; I thought about alcohol ink but couldn't find my glossy cards. 

The sentiment is a wooden stamp by Wordsworth, my favorite source of sentiment stamps.  Unfortunately, they are clear stamps now, and I simply cannot keep all clear stamps on the sheet.  I don't know where they disappear to, but for me it's rather like socks. 

Freshly Made in Pink and Black with a little Gold

Pink and black make a favorite color combo for me; in this case, I went to a Prima paper pad called "Amelia Rose" for the inky-looking background of this Freshly Made Sketch.  Three patterns of washi tape make up the diagonal piece and a Poppystamps die cut in black and gold are the focal point.  The sentiment is from Wordsworth. 

Purple for Less is More

I believe "ultra violet" is the Pantone color of the year, and what a beautiful color it is.  Purple has been my very favorite color since high school --very long ago!  Less is More's challenge of the new two-week format involves "Purples," so I went to my alcohol inks and Yupo paper.  The fancy feather die from Impression Obsession created a beautiful purple feather. The sentiment is from Wordsworth.

Color Throwdown -- Red, Black, and White

As I mentioned in my previous post , I'm fond of this color combo and made two cards in one day with these colors.  For this Color Throwdown card, I used a background stamp "Splatter" from Wendy Vecchi and one of my favorite Wordsworth sentiments -- I love the font and the sentiment.  I started with one wide red ribbon, but it was too wide; instead, I chose two narrow ribbons accented with silver thread. 

Mojo Monday -- on Friday

Continuing to catch up with my card challenges this week:  Mojo Monday #490.

It was that beautiful black and cream plaid ribbon that inspired this card:  the ribbon was a freebie included in my Verve order!  (I've used it on two cards now.)  From there, I went to Graphic 45's Artisan Style paper pad for the designer piece to front the black dry-embossed layer. Finally, I chose another of my favorite sentiment stamps from Wordsworth.  

Less is More -- the dreaded one-layer (with leaves)

I do not do well with one-layer cards, but this one worked out just fine.  Less is More #319 features leaves, so I used a stamp from Paper Inspirations with the Melon Melody Kaleidacolor inkpad  and then drew the border/frame with an ink pen. The quote is a Wordsworth stamp.  

CAS Mix Up Birthday

I did some "smooshing" with Distress Inks and water on watercolor paper for the background.  The Wordsworth stamped front was layered with a complementary color and everything was adhered to a simple card for my entry in the CAS Mix Up. 

Mojo Monday -- Tall and Skinny

I like the look of a tall and skinny card for a change. This week's Mojo Monday sketch provides some options for completing the sketch; I chose the tall and skinny version.   Seemingly stuck in the designer paper "rut," I chose Prima's Engraver pad for my papers, with a Wordsworth image for the sentiment.  (The card measures 3.5" x 6" and fits nicely in the No. 6 3/4 envelope.  

Less is More with a One-Layer Sentiment

One layer again with Less is More, and the sentiment is in the spotlight.   I chose a Wordsworth sentiment with a background of Color Burst colors.  (They are messy to work with  and they produce unplanned results. I suggest masking very bit of cardstock that you prefer to stay white!)  

Sweet Sunday Sketch #281

I love this black and gold specialty paper from Club Scrap; it's dramatic of itself, but combined with black and gold cardstock, it's even more dramatic, in my opinion.   When I was deciding what to do for Sweet Sunday's sketch 281, I opened a drawer I haven't looked in for awhile....and there were these papers!  The sentiment is an old stamp, one of my favorites from Wordsworth.

  

Freshly Made in Blue and White

Crisp blue and white designer papers and ribbon from Papermania's Capsule Collection were used for my version of Freshly Made Sketches 196. The sentiment is "This Day" by Wordsworth.