Sptirz of Lemon anyone?

WOW.....let me start by saying it sucks to live in a place that is 29 degrees with 100% humidity today!!! At 9 pm it is still 27 degrees.....yuck! I feel like a slug in this heat and humidity. So as a perk me up, I thought it would be nice to see something refreshing......check out those lemons!

I used paper from May's promotion, Taste of Summer. I added a White Daisy scalloped border piece, on top of some Juniper Paper Fundamentals. The bottom mat is Canary cardstock.

I coloured my lemons and Sparkles with Shin Han Alcohol Markers. I added Liquid Glass on the lemons, but you are not able to see that in this picture.

All supplies are Close To My Heart.
Paper: Taste of Summer
Cardstock: Juniper Paper Fundamentals; White Daisy; Juniper; Canary
Stamp: retired
Ink: Black; Shin Han Alcohol Markers
Embellishments: Sparkles
Tools: Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge

Anything Goes

Oh, how I love an Anything Goes Challenge, like the one at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog.

This is my second post for today, as I get prepared to head to Disneyland for Close To My Heart's annual convention. We are going to spend a few days on the beach first, at our favourite spot in Yachats, Oregon. After a week of fun in Disneyland, then we'll make our way to Portland for some back to school shopping. I will also celebrate my birthday in the "Keep it Weird" city! I will try to schedule some posts while I am gone or post some pics of our travels along the way.

I used some of my favourite things for this card. First, the gorgeous Blossom patterned paper for the base, with Lagoon cardstock. I added one of the zip strips alongside some Turquoise Shimmer Trim. I also used my Scallop Border punch on the Lagoon mat, just for a peek underneath the main piece.

I have found a new LOVE of watercolour backgrounds and thought these cute monsters from, Love Ya Silly, would work perfectly. I used Lagoon; Glacier and Flaxen ink on the watercolour paper, after I embossed the monsters. Once the piece was dry, I stamped the sentiment from Joyful Birthday and the stars from Doodled Designs, in Black ink. I added some Epoxy stars and a wee bit of drawing, with my Journaling pen, and this card is done!

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.

Paper: Blossom

Stamps: Doodled Designs; Love Ya Silly; Joyful Bithday

Ink: Glacier; Lagoon; Flaxen; Black; Versamark; Black Journaling Pen

Cardstock: White Daisy; Lagoon

Embellishments: Black Epoxy Stars; Turquoise Shimmer Trim

Other: Watercolour Paper

A little MIST & some STAMPING

 Well, summer has been here in Victoria for at least a month now. My raspberry plants have been keeping my fingers red and my belly happy the entire month of June. All of our strawberry plants are producing and I'm excited to eat my figs soon. I am going to harvest my 3rd rhubarb crop this year and my tomatoes are growing strong. I treated myself to a new Ketchup & Fries tomato/potato plant this year and it is full of cherry tomatoes.

So, this card is fitting for my gardening and for the Monday Challenge of STAMP + MIST at Simon Says Blog.

I started with some Creme Brulee cardstock on a White Daisy base. I have a delicate retired script image that I stamped in the background with Creme Brulee ink. Then I added some Lagoon reinker with a wee bit of water to my Spritz Pen and added some colour.

I stamped with my Taste of Summer set in Cranberry for the strawberries and Topiary for the vines. The strawberries have been paper pieced and I added some retired mini Blooms along with some Shin Han Alcohol Marker coloured Bitty Sparkles.

I used an Art Philosophy cut piece to stamp my sentiment in Black ink, then sponged some Lagoon on the edges. Finally, I used a stitched die from Simon Says to cut the piece and mounted it on some Lagoon cardstock.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.

Stamp: Taste of Summer; retired

Ink: Creme Brulee; Topiary; Cranberry; Black; Lagoon; Shin Han Alcohol Marker

Cardstock: Creme Brulee; Lagoon; White Daisy

Embellishments: Bitty Sparkles

Tools: Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge

Other: Simon Says Stitched Rectangle Dies

My favourite technique & products

Today I am joining in on the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge of Using your favorite Technique and/or product. I am happy to share a few of my favourite Techniques: Watercolouring; Die Cutting; Stamping; and product favourites: Blossom Paper Pack and Baker's Twine.

This card started with some doodling on watercolour paper. I know most want to call doodling zentangle these days, however, to me it is just plain doodling. There is no real rhyme or reason.....just making my own drawings to the beat of my own drum! I doodled with my new Faber Castell Black Pitt Big Brush Pen.

I schmoosed Gypsy; Lagoon and Pear in on my All Purpose Mat. Once I had spritzed the ink with water, I randomly painted it on. Once the watercolour paper dried, I die cut it with a stitched die from My Favorite Things. I also die cut a Lagoon and Pear border with more stitched dies from My Favorite Things. The stitched ticket is from Lawn Fawn.

I used the beautiful Blossom patterned paper along with the sentiment stamp set from Artfully Sent and another retired one. Finally, I tied things up with some Lagoon Baker's Twine.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.
Paper: Blossom
Stamp: Artfully Sent Sentiment; retired Say It In Style
Cardstock: White Daisy; Lagoon; Pear
Ink: Gypsy; Lagoon; Pear; Black
Embellishments: Lagoon Baker's Twine
Other: My Favorite Things Stitched Rounded Rectangle; Horizontal & Vertical Stitched Strips; Lawn Fawn Stitched Labels

Friends or Superhero Challenge

Okay, so I know it is Saturday....but sometimes stuff gets in the way of weekday challenges. So, I'm entering this card in the "Friends or Superhero" Challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog.

 I started with my new favourite, Blossom Paper and Lagoon cardstock. I accented with a Glacier border that I die cut with a My Favorite Things stitched die. I added a Lagoon mat cut with Art Philosophy and also a Sunset mat. 

The sweet girl is a Pure Innocence girl from My Favorite Things. I coloured her with my Shin Han Alcohol Markers, then finished the card off with Sunset Baker's Twine and some coloured Clear Sparkles.

This card will be given to a special friend who has been a little down in the dumps lately. She sustained an injury that has taken her off of her health goals.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted. 
Paper: Blossom
Cardstock: Lagoon; Sunset; White Daisy; Glacier
Ink: Black; Shin Han Alcohol Markers
Embellishments: Sunset Baker's Twine; Clear Sparkles
Tools: Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge
Other: My Favorite Things Pure Innocence stamp & Horizontal Stitched Strips

My first canvas!

This is my first mult-media canvas and I am entering it in the "For the Love of Plants" Challenge at Simon Says Stamp Blog - Monday Challenge.

Just before Mother's Day, my son asked me what I would like as a gift. I took a split second to think about it, then told him I would like to have a new craft tool. That tool was Faber Castell Gelatos. I took him to get me some and I came home with the Designing with Gelatos kit. In the kit were 10 Gelatos.

I have had various canvasses for some time now, waiting for me to use my acrylic paints on. So instead, I tried out my Gelatos. I coloured with a red, orange and pink to cover the canvas. I lightly spritzed over with water, then used my finger to blend the colours together. This step was wonderous! I also spread some leftover colour to each of the sides of the canvas, as it has a thick frame.

After I let the surface dry, I spread a glaze medium over the entire surface. Then I used some gesso and a stencil to add the white dots. Another new tool I received on Mother's Day, from myself, was some Faber Castell Pitt pens. So once the gesso was dry, I coloured with my Black Pitt pen on a background stamp and made some impressions over the gesso.

In the meantime, I stamped and die cut these flowers on some retired paper. I Modge Podged each flower so they would be protected from the elements. I added some sparkle to their centres. I decided to cut the word with my Cricut and I stamped on the white layer, with 2 different background stamps. Once I stuck the letters down with Liquid Glass, I then added another layer of glaze over the entire canvas again.

Finally, I added some Pixie Thick Twin to the flower corners, then added the flowers with Liquid Glass. I found some lovely sparkle flourishes, cut them to my liking, then added them. VOILA, my first multi-media canvas!

Products used: Close To My Heart paper, ink, stamps & embellishments; Faber Castell Gelatos & Pitt Pens; Heartfelt Creations Stamps & Dies; Dyan Reaveley Stencil; Liquitex Gesso; and Golden Glaze.

Watercolour Wedding

Since I have been creating lots of watercolour cards, I thought I would sneak another one in the Watercolour blog hop at Pretty Pink Posh.

This card was created for a special order, from an old co-worker. He was invited to a wedding and their invitation was watercolour. I suggested I create a watercolour card for him to give them, at the event this summer.

I started circle images from Doodled Designs and I Do. I embossed them with Colonial White Embossing Powder on watercolour paper. Then I used Lagoon; Canary and Pixie ink to fill in the background. I stamped the retired bride & groom image with Black pigment ink, then embossed it with clear powder. I cut an embossed the banner from Oodles of Doodles and the sentiments are from I Do and Banner Wishes. I added little dots of Stardust Glitz all over the card and some lovely sequins from our Oceanside Sequins.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.
Stamps: I Do; Doodled Designs; Oodles of Doodles; Banner Wishes
Cardstock: White Daisy; Thistle; Black
Ink: Lagoon; Canary; Pixie; Black Pigment
Embellishments: Oceanside Sequins; Stardust Glitz; Colonial White Embossing Powder
Other: Watercolour paper; Lil' Inker Stitched Die

Watercolor Blog Hop

I am addicted to watercolor! There, I said it and you can add that to my other things that might require a 10 step program at some time! With that said, I happily found a wonderful blog hop to enter with all my watercolor fare. It is over at Pretty Pink Posh.

I stamped first with a retired background stamp, with Whisper ink. Then I schmoosed Cranberry; Cotton Candy and Pixie ink on my All Purpose Mat. I spritzed them with water, then got to painting. After I finished I decided to add a bit of Canary ink and some spatters of Cranberry. 

While the watercolour piece dried, I cut 3 sizes of flowers from retired patterned paper with Art Philosophy. I added Cranberry Baker's Twine and retired buttons. The background is Cranberry cardstock and the sentiment is stamped in Black from, Have A Happy Day.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.
Stamp: Have A Happy Day
Cardstock: Cranberry; White Daisy; retired patterned
Ink: Black; Cranberry; Cotton Candy; Pixie; Canary
Embellishments: Cranberry Baker's Twine; retired buttons
Other: Watercolour paper

Father's Day for a challenge

I really liked the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, so I decided to play. I'm stuck on Lagoon and everything turquoise, so that fit in well with this Father's Day card.

 I used the gorgeous wood grain turquoise patterned paper from Seaside and the zip strip from Blossom. I also added Lagoon Paper Fundamentals with White Daisy and Lagoon cardstock. I used stitching dies on all three pieces from Lawn Fawn; My Favorite Things; and  Lil' Inker Designs. I stamped with 2 retired sets in Black ink, then added Glacier Thick Twine and puffy stars from the Chalk It Up Assortment.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted
Stamps: retired
Paper: Seaside; Blossom; Adventure Paper Fundamentals
Cardstock: Lagoon; White Daisy
Embellishments: Glacier Thick Twine; Chalk It Up Assortment
Other: Lawn Fawn, My Favorite Things, and Lil' Inker Designs Dies

Birds and Backgrounds

If you don't already know this about me, when Close To My Heart comes out with a background stamp set or one with a bird in it.......I must have it! There is just so much you can do with backgrounds it is craziness. I do love me some birds and often when mixed with butterflies, it is just too much! Here are two cards I created with the Hostess set, Paper Bird and new background set, Botanical Backgrounds.

 I used Pixie and Pear with Black cardstock. There is a glimmer of Turquoise and Pink Glitter cardstock, also. I used a sentiment from, Happy To Be Friends, for the top card with Pixie.

For the ink splatters I used retired alcohol markers in Sweet Leaf and Cotton Candy with my Tim Holtz Spray Pen Holder. (You could also achieve this by putting a few drops of reinker into our Spray Pen.) I also used my Shin Han Alcohol markers to colour the Clear Sparkles to match.

All supplies are Close To My Heart, unless noted.
Stamps: Happy To Be Friends; Botanical Backgrounds; Paper Bird
Cardstock: Pixie; Pear; Black; Colonial White; White Daisy; Pink & Turquoise Glitter
Ink: Black; Sweet Leaf & Cotton Candy retired alcohol markers; Shin Han Alcohol markers
Embellishments: Clear Sparkles
Other: Tim Holtz Spray Pen Holder

Taste of Summer

It has been a week of beautiful weather here in Victoria. Our garden is growing well. Our raspberries are ripening fast; we have strawberries ripening like crazy; we have lots of blueberries on our bushes; I just harvested my second crop of rhubarb; my figs are looking good; and the vegetables are inching up. Summer weather seems to be here already, so here are a couple more of cards I made with May's Taste of Summer special.

These cards were fun and simple to make. I used Pear; Sunset; and White Daisy cardstock. I stamped the orange wedges with Sunset ink; cut them out; then applied Liquid Glass over top of them.

I added Topiary Chevron Striped ribbon along with Clear Sparkles I coloured with Shin Han Alcohol Markers. The sentiment and frame are stamped with Black ink.

All supplies are Close To My Heart.
Paper& Stamp: Taste of  Summer May 2015
Cardstock: Pear; Sunset; White Daisy
Ink: Black; Sunset; Shin Han Alcohol Marker
Embellishments: Topiary Chevron Ribbon; Clear Sparkles
Tools: Artiste Cricut Cartridge