This card is for the CASual Friday #145: Precious Metals challenge.

The challenge was to use metallics – and foil was listed as an option. I definitely wanted to play with my foils again! This time – lots and lots of colors. I thought this funky wreath was perfect because it had lots of openings for lots of color.

This took many passes through the laminator. I used a toner pen to make a few dots, laid 1 color of foil down, and sent it through the laminator. Repeat 5 more times. I used pink, purple, blue, turquoise, silver, and gold.

This bold & bright card makes me happy – not sure I’ll be able to send it away!

Thanks for taking a peek!

I’m playing along with two challenges. The One-Layer Simplicity: Gratitude challenge and the CASology: Give challenge.

I thought this sentiment was perfect for both challenges. The original sentiment stamp has the word thanksgiving in the same font as the other words (with “our” being on the same line as well). I wanted the word thanksgiving to stand out, so I cut apart the original sentiment, and stamped it with space for a larger, scripty word.

To give the foliage images some depth, I stamped them and then, without re-inking, stamped them again a little offset for a shadow effect. It looks good in person, but on screen it just looks blurry…ugh!

Thanks for taking a peek!

I am finally starting to work on the cards I make each year for my family friend. Here is the first one:

There is so much I love about this card! First – the Spruce & Sprig images – I knew as soon as I saw this set that it would receive much love…and its first outing did not disappoint me! Second the colors – this is a wintery color combo without being cold. And I have fallen in love with Stampin’Up’s Tip Top Taupe – it is an awesome neutral!

The final thing I love about this card can’t even be seen in this post! As I have said in the past, I hate mass producing (and anything more than one iteration counts as mass producing to me ;). I bought a MISTI months ago – but mostly because I loved the idea of being able to re-stamp a sentiment/image if it didn’t come out correctly the first time. I have used it a few times for that purpose. Today I broke it out to make 5 of the same card and oh boy did this make me happy! I don’t know that it was any faster (though it probably was), but so many of my problems were solved – consistency in the end product, fewer inky fingers, and less thought (I didn’t have to spend minutes ensuring I was stamping in the correct place). One thing though – the MISTI can’t ensure you ink up with the correct color (thankfully I caught that before I put stamp to paper!).

Thanks for taking a peek!

It is time I started stamping Christmas cards. I browsed my digital inspiration file for a sketch and found an old Fall to Layout (131):

And that layout reminded me of a card I saw on Karolyn Lancon’s blog weeks ago. I loved the way she used the negative space from the die cutting.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Today is the PTI October Blog Hop. The inspiration:

I pulled quite a bit from the inspiration: the shiny ornaments, tags, greenery, and the wood table.

I didn’t have any shiny red paper, so I went with glitter paper. One of the tags has joy written on it, so that is how I selected my sentiment.

I had originally selected a small holly die to accent the card, but the scale was wrong – they got lost, so I went with the medium size.

The string for the tag is glued down because I wanted it to lay a specific way. I put a small dab of glue at the top of the string and then another about an inch from the end.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Over the weekend my kid was invited to a friend’s house for a party his parents were having to celebrate their 25th anniversary. The kid wanted a card, so I made one.

In search of inspiration, I saw the Freshly Made Sketch #208 and immediately came up with the card.

Thanks for taking a peek!

My final boss’s day card – and probably my favorite.

This floral set is a PTI anniversary set (2014). I debated about getting it for months – actually the whole year it was available. I bought it at the last minute because it kept talking to me…and I love it!

Thanks for taking a peek!

So last week as I was making a fruit salad, I was inspired by the colors:

Last night I sat down to make a card from it. I decided to do the wet paper watercolor technique (again – I love that technique!). I ended up using distress inks, but I tried to stay close to the colors I chose originally.

When I was done with that, I had no idea what to do. But then I found the Fab Friday Challenge #74 – which was a perfect sketch!

I’m usually a straight layers kinda gal, so I know I would never have made this card without the sketch challenge. So happy with this card – thanks Fab Friday Challenge!

Thanks for taking a peek!

I played along with the recent Retro Sketch #185. This is an awesome sketch!

I also added in the PTI October color play. I never would have thought to stamp acorns with Terracotta if it wasn’t for this color combo!

My leaves are two-toned which I accomplished by sponging the green ink onto the orange-inked stamp.

So I originally stamped the background – but that so did NOT work! I decided instead of trashing the card base, I’d cover it up with paper. And this gave me the perfect opportunity to break out my MISTI. I bought this tool months ago but I’ve only used it one other time (and that was just because I was stamping onto watercolor paper and I wanted the assurance that I could re-stamp the images to ensure good coverage). This time, I pulled out my MISTI because I knew my sentiment would flow from the paper to the card base and I wanted it lined up perfectly. Eeeek – I am in love! This was so blasted easy and perfect!

Thanks for taking a peek!

Today is PTI’s blog Hop. And this is the inspiration:

I started my card as soon as the inspiration was posted (a first for me, I think!). I knew right away what I wanted to do – and I needed lots of time!

This card is for my wonderful husband. I started by white embossing the main sentiment. Then I used white pigment ink to stamp the other words as well as the leaves. I set it aside to dry. After it was dry, I sponged white ink around the main sentiment. More drying time. I used colored pencils to color the leaves.

I finished off the card with some felt acorns and various fibers.

Thanks for taking a peek!