Use the color Orange

  I do love the Fall/Autumn season probably for the colors first then, for the coooler temps. We just recently just had a cool down here in Florida at the end of Septmember which was a little early for us but NO ONE complained!! So when it was my turn over at Make My Monday to come up with a theme, I thought everyone probably has the color ORANGE .   After going through my stash of cards, I decided to use orange in an everyday theme card. I use to make Fall cards but I don't send out Fall or Thanksgiving cards so I am at the stage in my life where I want to craft smarter! I am currently going through my already made cards and changing the sentiments to ones I use more of:  HB, TY and TOY. Again, smarter not harder. So with that said, see my card with Orange below...

A little stenciling on the base, the foliage stamped onto the base and water colored in. Then, stamped, colored and fussycut the poppies and strategically placed among the foliage with foam tape for dimension. 

A few enamel dots and a fussy cut birthday sentiment (because I use LOTS of HB cards) and this card will hopefully bring inspiration to you to use this vibrant fun color for our new challenge! Looking forward to seeing what you make. See you later...

Melissa

Use Dies/Die Cutting for Sparkles Monthly

  I love to stamp! But even more so, I love Die Cutting. I guess I like the intricate details, shapes and dimension dies can give to a project and sometimes with very little effort. I am the challenge hostess this round and I chose Use Dies /Die Cutting for the new challenge over at Sparkles Monthy

My card is a combo of different company dies that are a few years old but I like to select designs and elements that are not really fadish so in a few years they still have a current look. I did a tone on tone for the base of my card with a pretty lattice die and chose a lovely Aqua color to highlight the crisp whiteness of the flowers. 

 I also wanted to die cut the sentiment to add to the DC theme and that is the only area of the card that is stamped. I love the impact die cutting brings to cardmaking. Stay tuned to my blog and check back here or on my Instagram account to see some upcoming cut out cards I will be featuring. See you later...

Melissa

Fall for Make My Monday

  The things I love about Fall are first, the change in physical temperature. Then, the warm cozy colors of the season, football, baking and knowing the holidays are just around the corner. The new theme at Make My Monday is Autumn/Fall and I am thrilled! In a previous post I mentioned another 5 layer stencil I was going to feature in an upcoming challenge and here it is, a beautiful Fall scene.

For this card, I started with a sand colored cardstock base instead of white. I thought it softened stronger colors ans blended better.

 The stencil is from the Spellbinders September 2026 Stencil of the Month. As I have said in previous blogs, I am looking to downsize and simplify creating/crafting time and I find stencils give a nice presentation with not taking too much time and if you need to whip up a last minute card, stencils can help with that!

I added a fall leaf from an older Stampin Up set as the background for my sentiment(also SU!) just for a little added dimension and this card is done!

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and I am hoping you feel ispired to join us this challenge!

 Melissa

Use Colors Red & Green

  I have experimented over the years with differnet colors when decorating for Christmas but I still go back to the traditional colors of RED & GREEN. There is something comforting, cozy and familiar with the colors that I hardly vary from. That is the challenge focus this month at Sparkles Christmas Challenge and I am the challenge hostess. 

My jolly snowman was done with a 5 layer stencil. Have you tried the layered stencils? I am now offically hooked! I had purchased a few but just put them in my stash of stencils and didn't bother playing around at first. I needed a specific theme for a card challenge and rememebered I had one that would fit the bill and wonderd why I waited so long to try them! Now there are layered stencils with matching dies for a more 3D/Layered look but I haven't gone there yet!

Here you can see the 5 different stencils and the colors I choose and also the different intensity of colors of how I applied the colors. I didn't have a color blending brush in black, so I used a navy blue ink I have because It's so dark that it looks black when applied with a heavy hand.

So much fun! I really enjoy using these stencils and I received a new one and will be posting for our sister challenge Make My Monday for the October 5th challenge. 

You have a whole month to think about an decide how you are going to use colors RED & GREEN, looking forward to seeing to seeing what you come up with! See you later..

Melissa 

Pink & Pink Ribbon

 

Hello there! Well time is marching on and here we are heading into Autumn, one of my favorite color seasons. Florida is hot most of the time but we do enjoy cooler weather towards the end of the year into the spring and we are looking forward to the break!  

For the current challenge over at Make My Monday, we are remembering Breast Cancer awareness month coming up in October. We are asking you use Pink & a Pink ribbon on your creation.

  

 I kept my card simple and feminine. The Pray without Ceasing is the hope to never give up! Keep asking, keep seeking. 

I hope you will join us for this challenge and also join in with us to pray for, support and encourage those who are still fighting and those who have survived.

Melissa

Favorite Technique for Sparkles Monthy

 Hello there! Welcome to my little crafting blog! If you  have been here before, welcome back! When I saw the theme for our next challenge over at Sparkles Monthly, I was excited! This month, it's use your Favorite Technique! Great idea I thought and I like lots of techniques but Die Cutting would be my fav! See my card below...

Why do I like die cutting? LOOK at all those layers!! I don't color well but I can use tweezers and place teen tiny pieces together no problem! 

I shaded the center of the flowers with a blender brush to give dimension and cut lots of foliage pieces give it a full lush look. I decided to heat emboss the sentiment in metallic gold and then cut gold glitter paper leaves so the shiny gold was spread evenly across the card.

Here's a close up of all the detail. I had even though at one time to just use dies and stamp on sentiment...still might one day...bye for now...

Melissa  

 

Apples for Make My Monday

  Hello there! I just like a good challenge don't you? So when I saw the theme for the DT project for the Make My Monday challenge I was definitely up for the challenge. 

This round is use APPLES.

Well, in my well stocked items of crafting goods, I have nothing apples! So I reached out to local fellow crafters to borrow stamps, dies, punches, anything apple. Nothing. No one had apples so my next idea was to print out an apple image. But, not in typical apple colors but to bring a vintage feel to it and that's what I did. 

I am planning a retirement party for husband so my crafting time has been limited for the past several weeks so when I initially made the card to get it posted it on time, it was a little more simpler. When I went back to look at the photos, I felt I need to add a little something...anyone ever go back and add to a card, take away, add back and so on and so on???

So, I cut out an the apple image to layer on the original I just cut with a square shaped die. Than I bumped up the GWS sentiment. I aged & blended the edges of the card base to add more vintage and I splattered in copper. The same card, just a little more improved!

So don't let what you don't initially have stop you from creating...use your imagination! and most importnatly, HAVE FUN!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and having a look! I hope you will join in with us for our use APPLES challenge!

Bye for now...

Melissa