I’ve never made one of these before and decided that it was time to try. Its not bad for a first attempt and it fits into the Anything but as Square challenge at Sweet Stamping.

I used a GKD stamp set called the Wetlands to create this and followed two different tutorials found HERE and HERE. Images were coloured with Inktense pencils and I added some shimmer to the dragonfly. It took me a while to get the wiper part correct and I’m not happy with it even now but it works and will have to do. If and when I make another I will have a better idea of how to do it. Even though it isn’t 100% I am happy with the overall result. I think I may give this to my sister for her birthday in July.

I had been playing at making some water colour backgrounds on water colour paper and in cutting it up for a different project I had this frame left over. In making this piece I had used various stencils in different inks to get the look I needed at the time. Problem was the frame was bigger than my usual card size and the sides weren’t an even match. I also had the smaller piece you see in the center left but I didn’t need to do anything to this piece. I measured a card front 6″ x 4 1/4″ to fit the frame and then played with the frame to get the sides to match the top and bottom edges. Glued it to the card front. I measured where to place the center piece and glued that as well. The die cut poppies were left from another project but one stem was missing leaving a gap. I found this piece of teal (no shine or texture) ribbon and it fit the width exactly so I played with some stamps and added the 2 sentiments in white. It didn’t take very well so I went over it with a pen and prayed it would dry and stay on. Thankfully it did and I was able to glue this piece over the poppies to fit the gap. I will make an envelope to fit this card when I eventually give it to someone. And just so you know – it was an accident that the pattern from the frame fits the center panel. Luck played a role here.

It is always nice when one can combine two challenges with one card and I managed it with this one. Don’t really need a baby card at the moment so I made this generic and it can be used for either sex if and when the time comes. The sketch worked nicely for this card too.

The pp is from one of those 6 x 6 pads but it is so old I don’t know who made it and it was the last piece. The paper ribbon is by KCompany and is another thing I’ve had forever. The dies are by Sissix and paper scraps were used for cutting. I added some clouds to the white layer using my ‘Bonnie’ cloud stencil and tumbled glass ink. The heart/turtle stamp is from SSS with sentiment from the same set. I coloured the image using Inktense pencils added a touch of shimmer to the heart. Using scrap cs I cut out several of them to glue together for dimension. Once it was added to card front I cut the sentiments out, added a tiny strip of orange paper to the edge and glued it as shown.

This card was made as a practice for a coloring class I was taking. My hubby really likes it, but I wasn’t sure I did. Anyway I played with it a bit more added a touch of sparkle to the flower stamens and some black enamel to the stems of same. That made the whole thing much better. I layered it onto some orange cs and then added it to the black card front. It is slightly crooked but to me that proves handmade so I left it that way. The stamp set is from GKD and I used copics to color it with a few pencils to emphasize some areas. The bling was added partially to cover up a spot I couldn’t erase. My tiger lilies are up in the garden with big buds on them but they need some consistent sunshine before they will be blooming.

Decided on this design for the Paper Players sketch challenge and combined it into the Double D challenge as a 2nd entry. Basically used up various scraps sitting around including a small piece left from my water colour efforts. I added a couple of thin strips down the sides to enhance it, but first I stamped the moon using an Altenew set called to the moon. I used two of the moon pattern stamps one with Forest Moss and one with cracked Pistachio on top of the light water colour cs. Took a striped embossing folder and dry embossed the white card then added a smidgen of peacock feather ink on top. Die cut the heart in same blue as card front and added it on top then added the small water colour piece before adhering it all to card front. Stamped the sentiments and played around with placement until happy to glue down. The moon has a touch of shimmer on top. I like how this ended up and am happy with it.

The As You See It challenge was to use these retiring colours in some way and I chose to use them for this card. Using a – The Cats Pajamas, thanks Gayle for telling us about these – free digi stamp and sentiment. I sized them as you see using my graphics program and then printed them onto cs. Although I used Distress Oxides to colour them these colours are a close match to the ones shown on the blog. I added some bling mounted it onto the red foil and then onto the soft suede card front. There is a bit of sparkle for the hearts and the cats eyes but it doesn’t show in the photo.

This is another of my water colour pieces and for this one I die cut the negative leaf shape added some dimensionals to the back and popped it up onto another water colour piece. Although it isn’t visible in the photo the part that shows through is very sparkly. I added a line of bling to emphasize the leaf shape and a die cut butterfly (Altenew). Sentiment is from GKD and the leaf die cut is from SSS. I’ve used the positive die cut leaf on another card which I’ll probably post tomorrow.

I’ve been into making some water colour backgrounds this week and this is one of my panels. I cut it to the size and then stamped the images in black and one bird in pink. Using some perfect pearls I painted in the white shimmer so the flowers stand out and then stamped it again so the details were more apparent. It was deliberate to offset the 2nd stamping slightly. Stamp set is a new to me, GKD set called Birds and Blossoms 2. I mounted this onto some sparkle cs and then onto the card front. I’m happy with how this turned out.

At Double D the challenge tells us we have to have something with M in the card and the Mod squad just wants a nature scene. Nice to be able to combine these two challenges with one card. My scene contains mountains so there is my ‘M’ and definitely this is nature.

I began by using some of Bonnie’s text vellum paper so I could create the background and basically the card is a CASE of something seen long ago on StampTV. I liked it so much I saved it with the intention of creating something like it one day. To get the sandy looking savanna I swiped Distress Oxide Frayed Burlap across the bottom and painted in a small amount of Tea Dye so it looked more natural. Using a small wooden block stamp and Forest Moss ink I stamped in the grasses. I don’t have any stamps with mountains so decided to hand draw them in and used Black soot to colour. Then I added some clouds using Tumbled Glass and my cloud template another gift from Bonnie. (Where would we be without her constant generosity?) I added a hint of pink with Spun sugar. Using a Hero Arts die from their Jungle set I cut out the elephant and coloured with water colour pencils. I cut several out of scraps and glued together so I could pop him up from the background and I added the fussy cut grass at his feet. Before gluing him I realized that the scene needed a tree so I found one in a GKD set called Framescape and stamped it in black. Mounted the background onto some blue cs and then onto some pink before adding to card front.

Trying to get as close to the colour choices as possible I made a watercolour background, splattered it and left it to dry overnight. Using a small red rubber GKD stamp (one of my first purchases) I stamped the image and sentiment, matting them as shown. I also added a tiny amount of pink to the petals of the flowers. An uncomplicated card that ended up being something I like myself. Always a bonus when I like my own stuff – lol.