What if Wednesday Sketch Challenge

Hi back to share a card I made following the sketch at

The House That Stamps Built, 

WHAT IF? Wednesday sketch challenge O3118.

Here is the sketch

This challenge is put out by Repeat Impressions stamps,
you do not have to use them but you get an extra entry if you do.

The Kokopelli is a RI stamp that I have had for years so
I am not sure if it is even still available.  Since I live in the
Southwest I love these kinds of stamps.
I colored it using Catherine Pooler Inks and a water brush.  The
purple panel I embossed using a Southwest pattern folder.  The
happy birthday is a Gina K design stamp.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog.
Have a great day.

Challenges entered:

WHAT IF? Wednesday - sketch - ends 11/7

Art Impressions - Lots of layers - ends 11/7

Crafting with Attitude - anything goes - ends 11/25

Cute Card Thursday - anything goes - ends 11/7

Seize the Birthday - birthday - ends 11/6

A Sweet Friendship

Wow, a month since I posted last, well I have a good

reason for that.  A "sweet" friend and I went to visit my

                              Mom out of state for a few weeks.  It was a

fabulous trip.  

So when I got home I had to make her a card to thank her

for going with me.  My Mom loves her too and calls her,

her adopted daughter.  This friend means more to me

than I can out into words.

I used this week's sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches

to create this card.

Here is my card.

I LOVE how this card turned out.  I created the background

using Distress Oxides, Abandon Coral and Fossilized Amber.

              I really like how these two color blend together.  I recently got a

few spiritual stamp sets.  The above was from a stamp from the

Penny Black set called "Faith"  I am sure you will see

more card made using these stamp sets.  I stamped

it using the Catherine Pooler Ink Coral Cabana.  The

vine/branch is a CP die from one of the SOA boxes.

I will share this card on the following challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches - sketch - due 9/23

Crafting with an attitude - anything goes - due 10/3

Little Miss Muffet - anything goes - due 10/5

Through the Purple Haze - bright colors - due 10/6
CASual Fridays - break out the sequin - due 9/25

Multi Step Stamping

Hello, I have another card to share with you that is 

using the Kitchen Sink stamp multi stamping flower.

This is the same stamp as I used in my last post, while I was

making the previous card I had stamped out a few of the

flowers in different colors to decide which colors I wanted

to use.  So when I saw the sketch this week at 

Crazy 4 Challenges it was perfect to use one of those

flowers I had stamped.

Here is the sketch

and here is my card.

I replaced the center square with a circle that I die cut using a 

stitched circle. All the papers are from a Close to my Heart

paper pack called Roxie.  It is a few years old but I love the colors

and patterns.

Even the 2 strips across the card, they are the top strip

of 12 x 12 piece of paper that I cut off.

It was a simple card to put together but I love how it 

turned out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Flowers of Friendship

Hello, hope everyone is doing well.

Today I have a card to share with you that I created following

the sketch this week at 

Freshly Made Sketches

A couple years ago I heard of stamp company named

Kitchen Sink Stamps most of their stamps are multi-step stamps

so the images you stamp all the layers separate so it gives

them dimension.

Both of the flowers were stamped in 4 layering including the

center.  The sentiment is from the same set.  The set

is called Daisy you can check it out HERE.

I used Catherine Pooler inks to stamp them,

The yellow background in an embossing folder from

Cuttlebug.

That is it, hope you liked my card and I am grateful you stopped by.

Challenges entered:

Freshly Made Sketches - sketch - ends 6/18

4 Crafty Chicks - Birds & Blooms - ends 6/20

Aud Sentiments - anything goes/sentiment - end 6/18

Crafting with Attitude - anything goes - ends 6/24

Southern Girls - anything goes - ends 6/27

A Humorous Birthday

Hi, today I have a card with a bit of humor on it

I have had this stamp set for a number of years and haven't

used it much.  I love chickens so when I saw this stamp set

from Rubbernecker I had to buy it.

I made this card following the sketch from last week over at 

The Outlawz.

I stamped the chicken on kraft cardstock using 

Catherine Pooler inks, Eucalyptus and Sauna.  I used my

MISTI (as I do for all my stamping) so I could stamp it

a couple times to make it show up on the kraft.

The chickens and the sentiment are both from the same

Mark's Finest stamp set, unfortunately, they have closed

down their shop.  I must have bought these stamps 6-7 years ago.

I used my chicken wire embossing folder for the background and

the background chicken paper is a single sheet I had.

Added a bit of twine and that was it.

I will enter this in the Retro Rubber challenge that

wants you to give your love to some old stamps.  The challenge

is open until June 15th so you still have time if you wish to play along.

Well, I hope you liked my card and got a chuckle out of it.

Just have to figure out who I can send it to that would get a chuckle also.

A Cheery Get Well

Hello all, when I started to make this card following the sketch this week

over at Sketch Saturday I knew I wanted to use the new

ink colors from Catherine Pooler.  As I was working on the pieces

and started to put it together I thought it was just

right to cheer someone who is sick up.  The colors are

so bright and cheerful.

This is the sketch.

I started out by stamping the atrip across the card with a 

dotted stamp that came in the last Stamp of Approval box using the

new inks, Limoncello, Grape Crush and Be Mine and then a 

little bit of All that Jazz.  I just love these inks, the colors are

so vibrant and the names are so fun.

Then using those same inks colors I watercolored the vase and flowers,

The vase & flowers are a Gina K stamp I have had for a long time.
The sentiment is a Rubbernecker stamp, stamped in Grape Crush.

I embossed the yellow using a Darcie embossing folder.

Thank for stopping by to take a peek at my card.

Challenges entered:

Sketch Saturday - sketch ends 6/8

Aud Sentiments - Anything goes + a sentiment - ends 6/18

Crafting with Attitude - Anything goes - ends 6/24

Creative Knockouts - Anything goes - ends 6/23

(CAS)E this Sketch

I play along this week at the

(CAS)E sketch challenge, I love CAS or clean and simple

but I often have a hard time with them. 

So I made this card following this sketch.

So out of my comfort zone but I am pleased with how it turned out.

I wanted to use the latest 4 Catherine Pooler inks that

just came out.  A couple of them actually came on in a previous

Stamp of Approval box, but they were just added to the store. 

I wish the colors would show up better in the picture.

The bottom circle are stamped in Grape Crush, the dots above it

in Limoncello and Be Mine.  The dotted line was stamping

using All Tha Jazz.  I love CP inks they are so vibrant and stamp perfectly. 

Maybe I can get more comfortable doing CAS cards if I practice them and make some more.

Watercolor Background

Hi, woohoo posting 2 days in a row.

I love creating a card following a sketch and recently I ran across another

challenge that has a weekly sketch challenge it is

called Paper Craft Crew.

Here is the sketch for this week.

I was drawn to the watercolor look of the yellow in the background
so I got out my Catherine Pooler inks and went to work.

I used 2 of the colors from the Spa Collection for the watercolor look,
Stone Blur and Rose Petals.  Then for the strip across I cut out
a piece of paper using one of the new CP border dies that came in the
lasted SOA box.  Then I colored it using Daydream ink.
The butterfly is a Close to my Heart Stamp, that I stamped in
Stone Blue then with an aqua brush I filled in the pink area with
the Rose Petals ink.  To finish it off I added a couple
flower buttons.

Challenges entered:

Paper Craft Crew  sketch - ends 5/29

Clean and Simple - CAS card - ends 5/29

QKR Stampede  - Anything goes - ends 5/31

Spring Birthday - Distress Oxides

Hi, today I have a card to share with you that I created

following the sketch this week at

My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge.

Here is the sketch.

I thought this looked like a fun sketch to create.

I love to create my own background paper using various mediums

and lately, I got the urge to place with my Distress Oxides. 

So using some Bristol paper I made a piece of paper using Oxides

in Cracked Pistachio, Broken China, and Wilted Violet.

I love this combination of colors.  I made a larger piece so that I could

just cut off a panel for this card but still have the rest of the paper to use on another card.  

The colors reminded me of Easter but I didn't want to make an Easter

card because I probably would not use it as I don't send out

Easter cards.

The purple edge I made using one of my Fiskars punches.  The purple

circle is a Unity stamp that I stamped using Catherine Pooler

ink Sweet Sixteen and then hand cut it out.  The sentiment is

also a Unity stamp.  Cp inks are the greatest.

  The butterfly is from Stampin up that

is a 3 step stamp, so I used the same colors as I used on the panel.

Well I am just getting this one in under the wire at

MFT Sketch Challenge so I better get this posted.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

Challenge entered:

a2z Scrapbooking - anything goes - ends 3/31

A Inky Mess - anything goes with mixed media - ends 3/24

Always a Happy Birthday - Birthday anything goes - ends 3/30

Sending Birthday Wishes X 2

Hello, hope everyone is doing well and avoiding the

icky stuff that is going around.  I have been lucky (knock on wood)

and have avoided it so far, my hubby not so lucky he has

been sick this week.

Well on to my cards, I have a couple of birthday cards to

share with you today both using the same

greeting stamp.

This one I used papers from a stack I have had for years

that has coordinating colors and patterns.  Makes it easier to

pick out papers.  The oval was cut with a die, the butterfly was a

punch and the vine is a die and stamp from one of the 

Stamp of Approval boxes.  

I created this card using Altenew flowers stamps with matching dies.

These flower stamps are a 3 layer stamp process, I love that it makes the flowers more dimensional.  The background I made using a stencil and some

Catherine Pooler Garden Party ink.  

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you enjoy my cards today.

Challenges entered:

Crafty Creations - anything goes - ends 3/26

Creative Moments - anything goes - ends 3/19

Inspiration Destination - anything goes - ends 3/27

Sparkly Bettie Bow

Hi, it is that time of the month again over at the 

Crafting Circle for this month's Crafty Awesomeness Challenge.

This month our challenge is Digistamps4Joy and I have to tell

you I had never heard of them till they came to be our sponsor.

There is pages and pages of images to chose from, make sure you

go check them out.

So here is my project using the Bettie Bow image, she is

just so sweet.

I wanted to do something a bit sassy so I chose some bold

colors.  I love the combination of red & turquoise.   I knew I wanted

red and something, I tossed around yellow or blue in my head but I

am glad I decided on this combination.

I colored her using my Copic markers and then add some sparkle

to the bows with my SpectrumNoir Sparkle pen, unfortunately,

 it does not show up in the picture.  I stamped a Penny Black sentiment

using Catherine Poolers ink called "All that Jazz" and then heat embossed it with sparkle embossing powder on the circle die cuts.  I then cut out the image using a wonky stitched die and mounted it on to red & turquoise paper which

I distressed the edges.  The base of the card are papers from an

old DCWV pack. 

Thank you for stopping by and visiting my blog, make sure you go

and play along with the 

Crafty Awesomeness Challenge.

Birthday Party Hats

Today I have a card I made following the sketch over at

Viva La Verve sketch challenge.  

If you are a regular visitor of my blog you know that I

love following a sketch when I create cards, in fact, it is rare

that I do not follow a sketch. 

I thought this looked like a fun easy sketch, so here is what

I came up with.

I wanted to use some of my Verve Stamps, so from the 

Treasured Words set I used the little party hat and stamped it randomly

in various colors of Catherine Pooler Inks.   The happy birthday is

also a Verve stamp from the Cake & Candles set, although when I

bought it many years ago it was available as a single. 

I stamped the HB and then cut it out with a Spellbinder die

from a label set.  I added a cute party hat button to the side as

my embellishment and added a strip of lime green ribbon.

You have till November 4th to create a card of your own

following the sketch at Viva La Verve challenge so head on over

and have some fun. 

Challenges entered:

Dragonfly Dreams - Fully Loaded - ends - 10/30

Stamped Blessings - anything goes + a stamp - ends 10/29

Lil Patch of Crafty Things - anything goes - ends 11/3

Variety of cards using inks & Water

Hi, I been busy playing around with my inks and

various mediums and water to see what I could come up with.

I will share several cards here instead of doing a bunch of 

different posts.

Over at StampNation they are having a challenge that is

"just add water" well that was perfect for me to  play with

inks and water.

This first card I used Catherine Pooler inks in the colors

Mint to Be and Pixie Dust for the background.

I sponged the colors on a piece of watercolor paper but

was not too happy with it so I thought what the heck and I 

told my water bottle and sprayed it and wow I loved the

effect that made.  This card was actually made following

a sketch over at the Unity Show & Tell Facebook page.

I stamped the flower from Unity Stamps and then I took my waterbrush and added a little more color to the flower. 

The next card is using another Unity Stamp.  

I tried the loose or messing coloring then sprayed it with water and let the water move the color around.  I was not really happy with it till I cut it out with a GinaMarie die and then mounted it on a coral colored paper.

OK, and up next is another watercolor background plus

using a stencil to pick some of the color back up using water.  I

stamped the peacock, from the Naturally Inspired using various Catherine Pooler inks and mounted it on a die count out also from the Naturally Inspired collection. 

And last but not least I attempted the no-line watercoloring technique.

I love this rose stamp from Stampin Up and thought it was simple enough to try 

the no-line technique.  In the end I outlined the rose with a 

color glitter pen and it looks real pretty in person.

Well that is it for today, I sure hope you enjoy all my card, 

let me know what you think and which is your favorite one.

Challenges entered:

Crafty Sentiments - anything goes - ends 10/9

Creates & Makes - anything goes - ends 10/30

Digi Choosday - anything goes - ends 10/17

Ink Smooching

Hi, I have a quick card to share with you today.

Over at Stamp Nation, they are having a challenge,

"Just add Water" so it is any project that you have

used water to make.

                  I love working with watercolor and inks and all the good stuff.

  So here is what I came up with. 

Luckily I do not need a sympathy card right now, but I like

to have some on hand.

For this card, I use Distress Oxides in Wilted Violet, Faded Jeans, and Broken China.  I just smooched some ink on a piece of acetate

and then sprayed it with water, then smooched it onto

a piece of watercolor paper.   I like using the acetate because

you can see what is going on with your colors and then

press or move to get the look you like.

I then mounted in on cardstock to piece up a couple of the

colors.  I used my MISTI to stamp using a couple

Unity Stamps.  The watercolor paper is very rough so by

using the MISTI I was able to stamp it a few times.  I used 

Catherine Pooler Black Jack ink which is a dark gray.

Thanks for stopping to take a peek, hope you are

having a fabulous day.

Challenges entered

Crafty Sentiments Design - anything goes - ends 10/2

Digi ChoosDay - anything goes - ends 10/10

Lemon Shortbread - anything goes - ends 10/17

Through the Craftroom Door - anything goes - ends 10/2

Just for You

I am sharing a card with you I made a couple months ago

but never posted it. 

I was a fun simple card to make and I even made it

without following a sketch ha ha ha.

I used stamps that came in the Stamp of Approval box that was leased in June.

The collection was called Naturally Inspired and I love the stamps that same in there.

The cross hatch stamp made a fun simple background.  The feathers I stamped

in 3 different colors using Catherine Pooler Inks and then fussy cut them out.

I used a Fiskars punch to cut along the right edge of the card then wrapped some

bakers twine around it and popped the top layer.

This card was simple and fun to make, maybe I will try and do it in

a Christmas theme.  Will keep you posted.

Thanks for stopping to take a peek, have a great day.

Challenges entered:  

Crafty Freinds Challenge - dies cuts/punches - ends 9/22

DisDigiDesigns - Ribbon, Lace Twine - ends 9/22

Teeny, Tiny Stamps

Hi, this was a fun card to create.

Over at StampNation they had a challenge to use those

tiny, tiny stamps that come in stamp sets.  You know the little filler

stamps that a lot of the time you never even notice.

So the challenge was to use those tiny stamps

to make a card.  I used the tiny stamps

from Catherine Pooler's Lovely Flowers stamp set and

a few from the Perfect Reason stamp set.

The card was also made following the sketch this week at

MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge. 

I am really happy with how the left side of the card came out using

the tiny stamps.  I am not very good at random stamps but I think I

pulled this one off.

Well thanks for stopping by, would love to hear from you. 

Hugs & Happy Thoughts

It is that time again for a new challenge over at the

Crafty Awesomeness Challenge.

Here is my project I created using a Unity Stamp from

the "Remembering You Blooms" and background

paper from A Bit More Time to Craft.

I was able to combine both my 1st of the month DT projects into one,

love when that happens.

I stamped the flowers and heat embossed them in gold, then watercolored them 

with a combination of Catherine Pooler Inks and my Zig Clean Color markers.

I backed the image using an oval die from Gina Marie dies. 

I cut the tab/banner at the bottom using another Gina Marie die and stamped

it and heat embossed it in white.  I edged the pattern paper using a Fiskars

punch to give it a bit of interest.

And that's it!.  So head on over to the

Crafty Awesomeness Challenge and join in the fun.

Also, make sure you go and check out the great digital papers over

at A Bit More Time to Craft and join in the challenge there. 

Naturally Inspired Card

Well hello, everyone.  I am super excited because my

new Stamp of Approval box arrived yesterday.

This "Naturally Inspired" collection has so many awesome

goodies in it the possibilities are endless.

I had a sketch I wanted to do and it was PERFECT for using

some of the goodies on the box.

Here is the sketch............

I knew the Lattice die was exactly the shape of that center piece.

I stamped the background piece of the panel using the cross-hatch
stamp in the new Catherine Pooler ink color All that Jazz that came
in the box.  The flowers were stamped and cut out using the matching dies.
Then I stamped the "birthday wishes" and heat embossed it in white.
All those things came in the SOA box and oh so many many more.
I am sure I will be back soon to share another project I make using
some more of the elements int he Naturally Inspired box.
Thanks for stopping by.

You are Fabulous

Hi, today's card I have to share with you is made using

items that were in the Stamp of Approval box

called "A Perfect Reason" that was released in February 2017.

Although the Stamp of Approval box is no longer available

you will still be able to purchase some of the items at

Catherine Pooler store a little later this year. 

So here is the card I created using the Peacock stamp and dies.

I used the stencil that came is the box to create the left hand edge of the card.

I just inked over the stencil with my Catherine Pooler inks.

I used a few different color CP inks to stamp the peacock, I tried to do

a variation of color.  To add some pop I inked the oval cut out using CP ink called Pixie Dust which is from the new Spring Fling collection of colors.

If you have never used  CP inks I would recommend you check them out, the colors are awesome and the stamps are very juicy and stamp a great impression even when it is a solid image stamp, as the body of the Peacock is.

To really add some bling I put rhinestones along each part of the peacock tail.

This card will be entered into a contest to win the next SOA box so if you feel so inclined to head over to Catherine Pooler's blog and vote for my card.  Voting will begin on May 21 through the 23rd. 

Click to VOTE, thank you.

Playing With Inks

Hi, I have a couple quick simple cards to share with you today.

After I make a card, if it is not specifically for someone

I will leave it on my desk until I type up a blog post.

Well, I have a bit of a back up on my desk so I am going to

have a few cards in this post that I have made playing around

with inks, Distress, Distress Oxide and Catherine Pooler Inks.

The first card I created the background using the Distress Oxide inks.

At first, I started out by just painting on stripes using Worn Lipstick and Fossilized Amber, it di not come out the way I envisioned it but the great thing about the Distress Oxide is that once it is dry you can layer the colors.  I added some Spiced Marmalade and Iced Spruce.  In the end I really liked it and did

not want to cover it up too much so I just added a Gina Marie die label

and stamped the happy birthday.

The next two cards again I played around with the Distress Oxides.

Both of these cards were made with the same piece of paper.

I really didn't like the way the paper came out after I had added the

Oxide inks, so I thought what the heck let me try using the 

Joseph's Coat technique on it.  I grabbed some CTMH solid flower stamps

and randomly stamped using Versamark and then clear embossed them.

I then used Distress Walnut Ink I just covered over the stamped piece using my blending sponge.  It was amazing to see this come to light, so I turned my

not so nice piece of paper into a pretty usable piece.  I cut it in half using a wavy die and used the two pieces to make a couple cards.

Finally, the last card of the day is one using Catherine Pooler Inks and Unity Stamps. 

The Cather Pooler inks are so vibrant and work pretty much like

the regular Distress Inks.  I just spread some ink on my craft mat

misted it with water and drug my watercolor paper through it.

I then stamped the Unity Stamps flower from the "Rebuild Your Life" set and

the sentiment is from "Bunches of Love" set.

After I stamped the flower and went back in and added some water from

the petals and dabbed it with paper towel lifting off some of the color.

Thanks for stoping by, would love to hear which card is your favorite.

Challenges entered:

Aud Sentiments - use a stamp for your sentiment - ends 4/30

Crafting with Attitude - anything goes - ends 4/30 

Crafty Girls Creations - anything goes - ends 4/30