Today I found a couple of challenges that support each other well. Take dies and a stamp and some suitable gelli print scraps...
... and the card was ready in no time.
Thank you for these awesome challenges that make card making so enjoyable!
Entering this in:
In(k)spire me: #592 
The Paper Players: #PP791 (clean & simple) Weather
Simply Clean and Simple: AG/ Nautical otional. This is my 2nd entry and I am going with AG.
Cut it Up: #358 One for the boys/ men
There is popular and often repeated saying 'Life is better with donuts'. I don't necessarily agree, being more partial to salty liquorice myself, yet today I felt drawn to a couple challenges where I could live out some candy colors.
My all time favorite color combo is yellow with pink, the whole color range of hues ranging from bright to muted. I just find them so cheerful together. Today I picked small color cards in muted hues and partly with shiny finishes, and combined them with a bright yellow background.
I also used different size circles dies. I don't own stamps or dies with 'sweets' motifs, but I figured with my collection of circle dies I should be able to produce some donuts.
In the end I used two irregular circles and one perfectly round one for the hole.
I am entering this in these following challenges that inspired me today:
Crafty Gals Corner: #278 Anything goes / Sweets for dad optional - I did go with the 'Sweets' for option, but since I am at the age where my dad is long deceased, this card will be for anyone
Inspired by: #IB393 Inspired by... donuts - I went with the colors and the donuts
As You Like It: Favorite color combo - mine is yellow with pink
Snippets Playground: #535 AG
Simon Says Monday challenge: Food and/ or drink
ETA: After looking at the finished card for a few hours, I decided to add some Liquid pearl accents on each donut. This tiny addition does make it look more finished.
Today I had my eye on a few challenges that could combine well for a card for a person who is not opposed to childish themes.
I have this fantastic circus themed stamp set (by My Favorite Things) that I have had for two years. (I used it here.) I thought I could combine this with two fruit stamp sets. The last time I used the cherry set (Hero Arts) was two years on the day (here). I had just acquired it then. The mixed fruit set (Sizzix) is also from that same year.
The card was straightforward to make: stamp, cut, color. Finding the right background took the longest. Finally I settled on a paper with a leaf print and a piece of green gelli print.
Entering this in these very inspiring challenges:
Retro Rubber Challenge: #rrcb274 Taste of summer
Creative Knockouts: #573 Summer fun
Girlz and the Art of Letters: #29 De letter van C van... circus!
Papercraft Challenges: #131 Sunny days & bright hues
The cards I make are usually rectangles, but today I wanted to make a square.
I was inspired to select colors from my gelli printed papers to match the hues in two inspiration photos. I found several possibilities, but in the end I only picked three of them for my card, one bright, one pastel and one somewhere in the middle. I think the image has more impact this way when the flower does not have to compete with its background.
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The Dainty Daisy die (Crafters Companion) is one I have not found a way to use yet. Perhaps it needed a square background? I die cut it twice out of white card stock, then cut the petals of the second one apart and used only the half. I glued them over the bottom part to make the daisy look fuller and more dimensional.
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I am entering this in these challenges that play well together and I used as my starting point:
AAA Colourful: #29 Colourboard
Just Us Girls: #828 Moodboard week
Fab 'n Funky: #639 Summer Flowers
Crafters' Cafe: AG, optional blooms - I went with this option
Creative Moments: #283 Pastels or brights - I say: both! They support each other.
Thank you for your visit!
... called the gnome excitedly and made a jump in the air.
I took inspiration from a few wonderful challenges and gathered my supplies: stamps (ferns by Marianne, Queen Anne's lace by Kaisercraft), colored pencils and the Hopping gnome die (also by Marianne).
I had long wanted to make a double layered card where the background and foreground images match and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I wanted to create a scene from a woodland garden, complete with a gnome.
I had a rounded square left over from a recent make (I only used the frames for this one). I stamped the images on both surfaces, then colored in the parts that would show. I die cut and colored the gnome.
I am playing with this card in these lovely challenges:
Inkspirational: #369 Visual prompt: woodland gnome 
Cardz4Guyz: #387 Gardens/ gardening
Pearly Sparkles: #120 This makes me smile
Kleuren met potloden: Alles mag / AG
I have more flower stamps and dies than anything else, but I have neglected them quite a while. Today I finally grabbed a good and trusty flower stamp with a great background (Studio Light). The butterfly was a left-over from a while ago (here) and the sentiment ('Best wishes' in German) comes from Creative Depot.
I colored it with my Gansai Tambi watercolors - twice. The first layer can still be seen in places, it is a different color. It gives the color some depth in my opinion.
Entering this in these challenges that I took cues from:
Triple B: June challenge. - I went with the colors and used two 'b' 's (bloom and butterfly)
Fab 'n Funky: #639 Summer Flowers
Unicorn Challenge: #121 Flowers
Allsorts: #851 Anything Goes from the garden - my second entry
I will happily confess that summer is not my season. It is hot, it is sticky, swimming brings only temporary relief and there's no point gobbling tons of ice cream, either. Nevertheless, in the spirit of challenging myself, I considered a few challenges that want to see summer or seaside. And I know a friend who would love a card in this vein.
So I gathered my supplies: a die that reminds me of frothy water, and a cat with sun glasses. The stamp is actually meant for Halloween, but I think it fits perfectly for a summer scene, too.
The cat definitely needed an ice cream, so I drew a paw and a cone with three scoops, a classic. I then colored the cat in with my pencils. I made the sun umbrella out of two circles, red and white, that I cut strategically and put together again.
Entering this in these challenges that I drew my ideas from:
Time Out: #315 Pick 2 - I picked water and ice cream, but summer belongs here, too
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Just Us Girls: #827 Summer
The Four Seasons Challenge: AG Summer
Cardz 4 Galz: Seaside or coast
Shopping Our Stash: #576 Summertime
I have eyed some challenges for a while. They are not easy ones to combine by any means, but I have been feeling brave lately. Take a sketch, vellum, fruit, a frame and stripes and combine them freely. I chose my title by sheer exhaustion. In my head it is spoken in tinny robot voice. Because, let's face it, some cards are easily made and others ... not so.
First I thought these supplies would be enough. Two dies, a lovely pear stamp and vellum.
I hadn't thought of the pear. It had to be colored in. This was done with Ecoline markers, I like the fact that they are water soluble.
The striped round die-cut needed to be backed with vellum. The vellum needed to be colored in. Enter alcohol markers.
For sentiment I used another die and glittery green card stock.
I am entering this into these wonderful challenges that got my brain going:
TGIF: #tgifc581 sketch 
Addicted to CAS: #310 Codeword Frame 
Lost Coast Portal: #210 Fruit, flowers, foliage
The Paper Funday: #88 AG, polkadots or stripes optional - I went with the option of stripes
Seize the Birthday: #328 Use vellum or acetate - I used vellum
After 'three of something' there is now a challenge with 'two of something' - how fun. I paired it with a sketch and got ideas for it via two other challenges.
But first, I pulled out the fun stuff I thought I would need: two embossing folders, dies, stamps and gelli printed and ink smushed paper in suitable colors. I sketched the outlines of the wavy pieces, then tore them. The sun was die cut. The fish were first stamped with pale blue an a pink gelli print, then stamped again with grey and when that didn't look good enough and it was still wet, I sprinkled some clear embossing powder on them and heat embossed.
The bottom blue layer was dry embossed with a seaweed kind of pattern - not that you can really tell. (It is Weeping Willow by Creative Expressions.) The 'sky' part was embossed with a ray pattern.
Entering this in these lovely challenges that inspired me today:
Freshly Made Sketches: #740 
Cardz 4 Gyuz: #386 Squash it
The Sisterhood of Crafters: Fish / Sea creatures
The Alphabet Challenge: D is for Double
And because this was the first time using the seaweed dies, I am showing this in the
NBUS: # 87 June
And then I just had to make another one with three of something. (Such a great challenge!) The goose and beets were staring at me...
This time I wanted to make a clean and simple card. I grabbed some paper snippets, stamped the goose and the beets, then colored them in slightly.
I am entering this in the following challenges:
CAS on Friday: #336 Birds
Sparkles Monthly: #200 Trios (Three of something)
ElliBelle's Garden Party: #16 Anything in (or from) a garden
FarmQuest General Store: # 41Anything farm/ country (rural, outdoors)
Critter Crazy: #111 AG
