#911 – Flurries of Happiness

Hello and welcome to the very first challenge of Seize the Birthday for the new year!! Following tradition, we have a new topping for you to work with. This time, our wonderful teammate Barbara was the one to choose ‘Snowy Background’ as the topping. If you’re not a toppings kinda person, well…..you can just stick with our usual “Anything Goes”Birthday! The choice is yours!

And here’s what I made –

I’ve started trying to create my own backgrounds while watercoloring, and the topping felt like a good start. So, I just thought of going for it!

The cute little foxie is from My Favorite Things Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes, and I modified its birthday hat into a snow cap and added a muffler around its neck to help it with the cold weather. The rest of the image is drawn and watercolored.

I used Gansai Tambi watercolors with CrafTangles watercolor paper to create the entire scene. Finally, I stamped the sentiment from Paper Smooches Winter Sampler stamp set at the bottom in black ink. I then trimmed the panel a bit more and mounted it on a grey card base.

And that finished my card! And I’m joining the following challenges –

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Something New

My Favorite Things Color Challenge #156

Addicted to Stamps and More challenge #396: Make Your Mark

Look for more inspirational and innovative cards from the rest of our DT and our Party Guest Julie Peddicord at the Seize the Birthday challenge blog! And don’t forget to play along and add a few more birthday cards to your stash! 🙂

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#869 – Garden Gnome

PE: Winner at Just Add Ink challenge!! Yippie!!

Hello and welcome! Its been a bit busier than other weeks! Last night I did some more watercoloring. Since I’ve been using my Gansai Tambi watercolors for so long, I thought of changing my medium to distress inks instead.

And I made this piece of no line watercoloring of a Garden Gnome. I used the MFT You Gnome Me stamp set, stamped the images with a light grey ink (frankly, it had almost dried up, so I had to stamp some places twice or thrice to even be able to see the image!). I used the colors from the latest MFT Color challenge. For paper, I used Hndmd watercolor paper. I also used my color pencils to add a little bit of extra shading.

Once done, I trimmed the piece to size. For the matting, I stamped the Concord & 9th Barnwood Background in Pumice Stone distress ink after misting it lightly with water. I then laid it at an angle on watercolor paper card base. The sentiment, which I stamped in black ink, is also from the MFT You Gnome Me stamp set.

And that’s it. I kept the rest of the card clean, since I wanted to keep the focus on the watercolored piece.

Joining the following challenges with this card –

Just Add Ink challenge #506

MFT Wednesday Sketch challenge #490

MFT Color challenge #141

Happy Little Stampers May Watercolor challenge: Anything Goes + optional Emboss

Thank you so much for stopping by!

#796 – The Hedgehogs Say…

Hello and welcome to listen to what the hedgehogs want to say!! 😀 😀

I had these cute lil hedgehogs from MFT for quite some time now, and it felt like using autumn colors on them was the perfect idea. So, I made two cards, with the exact same arrangement, but with little changes.

I used MFT Happy Hedgehogs and Verve Stamps Bountiful Harvest stamps. I actually wanted to test one of the cardstocks that I own, on which I usually do misted stamping for superb effects, with watercoloring. The results weren’t exactly what I expected, but my sis said she liked the soft tones, so I thought of using the piece (or rather, keeping the card I made) than not. And that’s the one you see on the right.

I made this other one as I wasn’t satisfied with the first one. The one on the right is made by watercoloring using distress inks – and even bright colors were significantly toned down by this card stock. And the one on the left using stamping with MFT Black hybrid ink, then coloring using Zig Brush pens.

Coming back to the card on the right. Once the cardstock had dried, I die cut it using MFT Stitched Mini Rectangles die, added a base of dark brown cardstock, then adhered it to a kraft cardbase that I had already stamped in plaid tones of orange, red and brown using the MFT Plaid Background Builders. The sentiment is heat embossed on the same dark brown cardstock, die cut using MFT Slanted Sentiment Strips, foam mounted on the panel.

For the card with the brighter tones, the sentiment comes from Ranger Letter It – Thank You stamp set. I used distress oxide inks to create the blend of colors in the background, on which I splattered some water. I fussy cut the hedgehogs and pumpkins and mounted them at different levels of dimension.

With these cards, I am joining the following challenges –

MFT Sketch Challenge #402

Happy Little Stampers: September Watercolor challenge: Anything Goes (not using the optional Butterflies)

Color Throwdown challenge #510

Timeout Challenge #118: Photo Inspiration

Paru’s Card Making challenge: September challenge: Anything Goes

Thank you so much for listening to the hedgehogs and for stopping by! 🙂

#761 – Smile!

Hello and welcome! Ok…so I got a lil too motivated with the MFT challenges. I made another card. A third card was on its way, but I thought that would be one too many and that it might be better to save it for another challenge! 😉 So anyway, here is the second card I made –

I started with making fringes out of a few thin sheets I had. These sheets came in between OHP sheets/transparent plastic sheets that we generally use to make those shaker cards. I had saved those hoping to put those thin translucent sheets to use. Came in handy! 🙂

So anyway, I used some distress and other water reactive inks to color these, applying the ink, then the paper on top and then misting it with water to get the color on. They dried fairly quickly, and I die cut them in layers, since they were thin enough. I then layered and adhered them on a white card piece of cardstock, then die cut the piece using MFT Pinking Edge Rectangle.

I also cut out a few flowers, which I misted, stamped and fuzzy using the images from MFT Pretty Posies, and adhered them on the fringed panel using glue. I then added foam tape below, and adhered it on the card base, on which I had already adhered another panel with trimmed edges and one rounded corner.

The sentiment is die cut using MFT Emmitt Alphabet and the stamped portion is from MFT Things with Wings.

With this card, I am joining the following challenges –

My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #388

My Favorite Things Color Challenge #94

Happy Little Stampers June Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday: Summer Inspired Projects

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂

#760 – Spring Butterflies

Hello and welcome! Since it has been quite some time, I wanted to play along the MFT challenges. My card here combines the two challenges from MFT – the sketch and color challenges –

I started with the butterflies. I first picked a light yellow cardstock, blended in a peach color on the bottom and die cut the butterflies. I did the same with a few pieces of vellum. I used MFT Flutter of Butterflies, both the Lace and solid dies. I then adhered the pieces using double sided tape in the center.

For the background, I used MFT Bold Blooms, trimmed the card panel and rounded of two corners. I foam mounted this on the card base. The sentiment comes from MFT Cup of Tea. I stamped this on a white strip, cut off one side at an angle, added two black lines and foam mounted it, along with the butterflies, on the card. I also embellished the card with a few white pearls.

With this card, I am joining the following challenges –

My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #388

My Favorite Things Color Challenge #94

Happy Little Stampers June Anything Goes with Dies challenge

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: All Things Bright & Beautiful

Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday: Summer Inspired Projects

Thank you so much for stopping by! 🙂