I received the bottom card from my girlfriend the other day and yesterday I just learned that her long time neighbor and friend passed away. Since dragonflies are my friend Joy’s soothing image, I decided to CASE the card I received from her as a sympathy card in the loss of her neighbor.

I found the dragonfly dies on Amazon which is a set of two –detailed and outline. After cutting the outline on the front single layer card, I then added the detailed die and embossed in to the inside of the card. Then die cut once more the detailed dragonfly and colored it. With my sticky fingers I glued each individual section to the embossed inside. Then backed the detailed outline with clear transparency sheet. Both dies are the same size and cut nicely. My clouds were made using a SSS cloud stencil and Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass ink. The sentiment is from GKD’s Showtime StampTV Kit Picture It! As I was adding the sentiment I kept on thinking “be straight, be straight”. Whew…it worked without the Misti and a red rubber stamp too.

Thanks for looking. Have a great day and weekend. Stay Safe.

Two totally cute free digis were made available by The Cat’s Pajamas PaperArts stamp company. Their Poochie and Kitty Kats are all too cute. I’m feeling satisfied with the finished cards and clearing one project off my desk. Note: I did clear a tiny section of my desk and blocked the back view….LOL….the mess went right back on top after photo. Thanks to our Stamp Buddy who advised of this freebie.

Thanks for looking. Stay Safe.

Round 2 with gesso. I think I’m focusing too much on the product and results which is way out of my comfort zone. Anyway business at hand, The AYSI challenge for 05.08.20 was a sketch challenge:

and the The Sisterhood of Crafters Challenge is one of Birds, Bees, Butterflies which of course I immediately chose butterflies. I used some clear gesso on my text vellum, then stamped the Pretty Pink Posh Beautiful Butterflies stamp set in Versafine black onxy ink. I colored my butterflies with color burst in marsala and rogue with a water brush, adding some dots with the Ice White Pearl Pen. My clouds using my Bonnie cloud stencil were created using Distress Oxide ink in Milled Lavender and Broken China. I liked the light milled lavender and am thinking I should have stopped there, then for good measure tried to add some white gesso through a cloud stencil…..not happening and trimmed that down. My side panel was cut from my favorite DCWV patterned paper pack The Mariposa Stack and layered on some GKD cardstock after using a darice butterfly embossing folder which cannot be seen but I know it’s there. The sentiment is GKD’s Sweet Friend that I cut apart.

I really enjoy playing along with both of these challenges as they are always fun and creative.

The gloves are coming off with this gesso stuff and am definitely open to constructive critique. You won’t hurt my feelings because you are all such good friends. I promise to only cry a little bit…LOL. To my eye it’s messy.

Deal in place — ordered and finally received clear and white gesso and my reward is one fabulous butterfly stencil by our Bonnie. As you buddies know, Bonnie makes the most outstanding backgrounds and mixed media concept cards. I’m not sure if the mixed media will fit me but I do love butterflies. Thank you Bonnie. I’ll be searching your blog and other YouTube videos on what to do with this new to me product. So I taped off all but three butterflies from the stencil and spread on some white gesso. After drying and taping off the two thirds of the card, I used direct ink to paper to create the background. The inks used were GKD’s Key Lime, Ocean Mist and Memento’s Lady Bug. The color challenge PP490 at The Paper Players is to incorporate Melon Mambo, Granny Apple Green and Pool Party.

The AAA Cards clean and simple challenges CAS Game #165 is Up to One Third + optional twist A Repeating Image which is where my three butterflies comes in. Although it’s not the same butterfly there are three.

I used Bonnie’s suggestion of text vellum (not sure if I have the same weight) and then spread some clear gesso over that…..just for good measure!! Oops almost forgot the sentiment is from GKD’s The Giving Tree. Now h ave a great day. Stay Safe.

I have been very remiss is getting out a congratulations card for a new baby. So I thought I would use the Double D Challenge of using Lavenders-Lilac-Purple challenge and the ModSquad Challenge A Day for Mothers to include the word mother on the card. The Double D Challenge mood board:

includes shades of purples, white and green. So I sponged a GKD stencil in Lovely Lavender, Wild Lilac, Wilted Violet and Shaded Lilac inks cutting it out and layering it on some green. The base card was also sponged using the same stencil in the lovely lavender. My alphabet die letters are Concord & 9th’s double cut alphabet letters which were layered for dimension. My sentiment and “baby pins” image were both from GKD’s Oh Baby! stamp set illustrated by Rupa Shevde.

Thanks so much for looking and hope all had a wonderful day on Sunday.

My card today will be entered into the Dies R Us Challenge #144–Seas the Day which is an ocean/water themed project and to use a die. I stamped my card using the Rubbernecker Stamps Luncheon Meat stamp. I then stamped the fish, worm and sign onto masking paper and cut them out. This will fulfill the requirements for the Mix It Up Challenge #37 Anything Goes + Masking. I die cut a background die from Momenta and used this as my stencil (masking in place) and then pounced on some Distress Oxide Salty Ocean Ink, Memento Dandelion and Peacock Green Pixie Powder hitting it with some water. After drying I then stamped and fussy cut my ocean plants, small swimmy fish and crab (not sure what stamp set this was probably picked up at my Michael’s). Since I wasn’t sure if the die background that was turned into a stencil would fulfill the DRU requirements, I die cut Penny Black Stitched edges for my ocean floor. On those pieces I needed some texture so I swiped some NUVO glimmer paste and then platinum pearls liquid pearls on top to make it look a little sandy. Some GKD crystalline drops were added to the bubbles.

It only took me three attempts to create this background. 1st try I forgot to mask the fish, 2nd attempt I had my die/stencil upside down and finally the finished product. So glad that this was not a timed card. Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek. Have a great day. Stay Safe.

Happy Cinco de Mayo 2020. It will be a quiet night at our neighborhood Chili’s Restaurant as there will be no tents, margaritas, Corona beer, crowds or tacos in celebration of Cinco de Mayo but these two cards were sent to our grands as thank yous for stopping by to celebrate their Pops’ birthday on Saturday. A short visit but a sweet one. Both images were free on line images. I’m thinking the kids will get a giggle out of them.

I’ll be entering my card into two different challenges today. The first one is Sunday Stamps SSC230 Getting Sketchy sketch challenge with this nice sketch by Amy:

The second challenge is the As You See It Challenge #224 Fleet Florals which is a timed flower card challenge (under 10 minutes).

So my idea came from using the Sunday Stamps Challenge sketch, pulled my cardstock and patterned paper, paper trimmer in place, misti ready, stamp set and dies chosen, Big Shot close by, punch, ink, timer. Timer????look for your phone — ok found it under papers. Ready set go. The stars were aligned and this came together nicely. Stamped the GKD 2 step flowers from Dazzling Dahlia and die cut, stamped sentiment from same stamp set, cut a piece of patterned paper, punched the circle with Marvy Uchida circle punch. I had a little extra time so stamped and die cut the leaf image, assembled card and time: 9:47.55. If I had a little more time , I think an embossing folder or stencil on the layering image would have been nice. Both were fun challenges and I enjoyed playing along. Thanks for stopping by today.

The challenge at AAA Cards: CAS Game #164 is to create a card with one image + tv inspired optional twist. My image is a stamp from Art Impressions Live Laugh Love set featuring three girlfriends and of course I thought of the older TV Show The Golden Girls complete with Dorothy, Blanche and Rose. Sophia is inside the card eating the cheese cake.

Have a great day. Stay Safe!