Beautiful Day with a Glittery Butterfly

Good morning!  There is a new monthly challenge up on the Pink & Main blog, and for June they want to see sunny and bright cards.  I attended their recent foiling class in May, and we got to use some fun butterfly Stickies.  These are adhesive shapes that we applied to paper and then ran them through a Minc machine with some foil for some fabulous effects.  Well, when you peel the adhesive off, you are left with this piece of acetate with a black butterfly on it.  I couldn't bear to throw that away, so I put my thinking cap on.

I turned this acetate butterfly over and applied some liquid glue to the clear areas and then covered them with Rose Gold Glitter.  While this was drying, I pulled out the Wings of Whimsy stamp set and lightly stamped all the butterflies onto some pale aqua cardstock with Versamark.  This was cut out with a Stitched Rounded Rectangle die and I brushed some pale aqua ink all around the edges.  I wanted a little something "extra," so I flicked some white acrylic ink all over this panel and then I adhered this to a pale aqua card with foam tape.

I pulled out a sentiment stamp from the Daisy Days set, stamped it with black ink onto pale aqua cardstock, and die cut it with the matching die.  I cut two additional blank sentiments and glued these behind the stamped sentiment for a little dimension before I glued this to the card.  When the glittered butterfly was dry, I added more glue to the back and adhered this to the card, and then I added some black enamel dots below the butterfly.

I hope y'all play along with the fun challenges over on the Pink & Main blog.  Have a fabulous weekend!

 

Ombre Octagon Flowers

Good morning!  A Colorful Life Designs has some great new stencils this month, and I completely fell in love with the new Trim Octagon stencil.  In my previous posts, I used this stencil vertically, so now I'm sharing the horizontal orientation of this stencil on today's card.

I placed the Trim Octagon stencil onto a white card and I brushed some Tidepool ink at the top and some Juniper ink at the bottom, blending the two colors together in the middle.  I removed the stencil and added the white die-cut flowers (Taylored Expressions) to each octagon, and a die cut sentiment (Taylored Expressions) to one of the octagons.  Honestly, it took me longer to die cut all the flowers than it did to stencil the card!  LOL

You can use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  Pick up this new Trim Octagon stencil as well as any other stencils that you just gotta have and save some money with the code.  This code is also good on all the fabulous Card Bling, so have fun shopping!

 

Happy Moments Gears

Good morning!  Did you see all the fun new stencils in this month's release at A Colorful Life Designs?  One of them is this Gear Mask, and I got all inky with this grungy card.  I placed the Gear Mask stencil over a kraft card and I sponged several different colors of ink all over the place (dark brown, orange/rust, and patina green).  I flicked some water all over this stenciled background, and then I splattered some white and black acrylic inks all over.  While this was drying, I stamped the sentiment (Technique Junkies) and sponged some brown ink around the edges.  This sentiment was adhered to the card with some foam tape.

You can use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire purchase (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  Pick up this Gear Mask stencil and check out all the other great new stencils in this June release.  Have a wonderful day!

 

Father's Day Tools

Good morning!  The new stencil release at A Colorful Life Designs has some really great masculine designs this month, perfect for Father's Day cards and birthday cards for men.  This new Layered Tools stencil is going to be a really popular one.  This stencil actually comes in two parts - one for the handles and one for the metal tools.  This makes it so easy to customize the cards for whatever color tools the recipient might have.  

For this card today, I placed the first stencil layer over a white card panel and brushed blue ink over all the handles.  I removed this stencil and placed the second layer down, lining it up so the metal tools aligned with the blue handles.  Then I sponged some silver metallic ink over all these tools and set this panel aside to dry for a few minutes.  I die cut the sentiment (Hero Arts) once from black cardstock and twice from white cardstock.  The black one was glued on top of the two white ones to give this some dimension instead of messing around with a bunch of tiny pieces of foam tape.  I trimmed the stenciled tool panel down, adhered this to a white card, and then glued the sentiment on top.

You can use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire purchase (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  Pick up this Layered Tools stencil and check out all the other great new stencils in this June release.  Have a wonderful day!

 

Life Moments in Trim Octagon Windows

Good morning!  The new stencil release at A Colorful Life Designs is just fantastic, and I fell in love with the new Trim Octagon stencil.  There's just so many fun ways to use this!  I did another "window" scene but this time with a solid colored background and some colorful foliage.  

I placed the Trim Octagon stencil over a white cardstock panel, and I brushed a soft blue ink over the entire panel.  After I removed the stencil, I carefully masked off the bottom of each window and stamped the foliage and butterflies (Papertrey Ink).  The sentiment was stamped with black ink and the "Life" was fussy cut with scissors before being adhered with foam tape.

You can use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  Pick up this new Trim Octagon stencil as well as any other stencils that you just gotta have and save some money with the code.  This code is also good on all the fabulous Card Bling, so have fun shopping!

 

Faded Octagon Flower

Good morning!  Did you see the new stencil release over at A Colorful Life Designs?  There's so many great new masculine designs this month, but I decided to go in a feminine direction with today's card.  I love the new Trim Octagon stencil, and I had a lot of fun making all kinds of different cards with this new stencil.

I placed the Trim Octagon stencil over a white card and very lightly brushed some soft brown ink from the center out.  This creates a wonderful fade out to the edges of the card.  I stamped the sentiment (Taylored Expressions) in one of the octagons and then added the die cut and ink-blended flower (Kristina Werner).  

You can use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  Pick up this new Trim Octagon stencil as well as any other stencils that you just gotta have and save some money with the code.  This code is also good on all the fabulous Card Bling, so have fun shopping!

 

Father's Day BBQ Apron

Good morning!  The new stencil release from A Colorful Life Designs includes a fantastic BBQ stencil which is perfect for making Father's Day cards.  That's what I've done here, except I used an apron die to make a fun shaped card with a pocket to insert a gift card.  

I started by placing the BBQ Party stencil over a white cardstock panel and I brushed some blue and green inks over the entire panel.  Then I used an apron die (Honey Bee Stamps) to cut the stenciled panel.  I adhered this to another apron die cut from white cardstock with a little hinge on the left side so it opens like a card.  For the pocket, I die cut that first from white cardstock, then I stamped the sentiment (Ink Blot Shop) with blue ink.  I placed the BBQ Party stencil on each side of the sentiment and brushed green ink over the glove and jalapeno.  I folded the pocket and adhered it to the apron card and added the blue neck loop at the top.

You can save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) by using this code, HollyFan10, when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs. Check out all the great new stencils in this month's release.  If you gotta have it all (like me!), then these Master Creator Bundles are a great deal - 20% off all the stencils in each of the three bundles below.  Have a great day!

 

 

Wildflower Octagons

Good morning!  Have you seen the new stencil release at A Colorful Life Designs?  There's so many great new designs, and one of them is this awesome Trim Octagon stencil.  I had so much fun with this one.  You can use this stencil vertically or horizontally, and I will have several cards with this new stencil on my blog during the month.

For this card, I placed the Trim Octagon stencil over a white cardstock panel and I brushed on a rainbow palette of inks horizontally across the panel.  Then I carefully masked off individual octagons and stamped the silhouettes and sentiment and winged critters (Waffle Flower) with black ink.  This panel was trimmed down and then adhered to a white card base.  I love how this turned out!

You can save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) by using this code, HollyFan10, when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs. Check out all the great new stencils in this month's release.  If you gotta have it all (like me!), then these Master Creator Bundles are a great deal - 20% off all the stencils in each of the three bundles below.  Have a great day!

 

Vintage Gears

Good morning!  There is a fantastic new stencil release over at A Colorful Life Designs today, and this month is all about backgrounds and masculine themes.  I played with the cool new Gears stencil and I knew that I wanted a rusty, grungy look with this stencil.  I started by smooshing some green inks (light and dark) onto my glass mat, sprayed it with water, and pressed some watercolor paper into the "pool" until it was covered with green inks.  After this panel dried, I placed the Gears stencil on top, sponged some distress oxide inks (Rusty Hinge, Gathered Twigs) over the whole panel and let that dry.  After I removed the stencil, I then splattered the panel with some Rusty Hinge distress spray and some glossy black acrylic spray.  While that was drying, I stamped the sentiment (Technique Junkies) and grunged it up by brushing some brown ink over it.  I used the same brown ink to grunge up the edges of a white card base before I adhered the Gears panel.  The sentiment was affixed with some foam tape.

You can save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) by using this code, HollyFan10, when you shop at A Colorful Life Designs. Check out all the great new stencils in this month's release.  If you gotta have it all (like me!), then these Master Creator Bundles are a great deal - 20% off all the stencils in each of the three bundles below.  Have a great day!

 

Crackled Dahlias

Good morning!  I love the new Dinnerplate Dahlias stencil from A Colorful Life Designs.  I wanted to see how it would look with some crackle paste, so I spread some over this stencil onto some watercolor paper and set it aside.  After it was completely dry and crackle-y, I sprayed some pink ink over the panel and then used some paper towel to blot it off the crackled flowers.  Surprisingly, the pink spray is more permanent than most sprays.  I then sprayed a shimmery blue over the whole panel, blotted it off the crackled flowers, and the pink stayed behind.  What an interesting development!  

I trimmed this panel down after it dried and glued it to a white card.  I also added the sentiment (Pinkfresh Studio) and some gorgeous Luminous Damask Rose Card Bling.  I love how this card turned out!

Please feel free to use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  You can use this code on any of the stencils in the store, like this Dinnerplate Dahlias, as well as any of the Card Bling.  Stock up and get several colors of Card Bling - they are just gorgeous! Happy shopping!

 

Southernwood Dragonflies

Good morning!  The new Southernwood Foliage stencil from A Colorful Life Designs is a really unique design.  I spread some pearl paste over this stencil onto some watercolor paper and set it aside.  After it was completely dry, I pulled out some Dylusions sprays and sprayed some yellow, lime green, and darker green all over this panel.  Then after this dried, I added the sentiment (Hero Arts) and some cute little dragonflies (Taylored Expressions).  How fun is that?  Just think of all the different colors of sprays you could use with this awesome stencil.

You can use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% on your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  Pop this Southernwood Foliage stencil into your cart along with the other ones on your wish list.  Add a few colors of Card Bling and you'll be all set to have some fun.  Happy shopping!

 

Outline Daisy Birthday

Good morning!  I'm stocking up on birthday cards, and today's card was such a joy to create!  I placed the new Outline Daisies stencil from A Colorful Life Designs over a pink card and brushed a pale pink ink on first.  Then I moved the stencil 90 degrees and brushed a darker pink ink over the card.  I added the die cut sentiment (Honey Bee Stamps) and some Glossy White Card Bling to complete this quick and easy card.

You can use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles)  at A Colorful Life Designs.  Get those stencils on your wish list as well as some more colors of Card Bling and save some money at the same time.  Have a great day!

 

BBQ King

Good morning!  Did you see that A Colorful Life Designs released their May Mid-Month Inspiration stencil?  This fun stencil is called Kiss the Cook and it's only $4 until May 22.  I was playing around with the flames at the bottom of this stencil and they are really cool!

I started by brushing some yellow, orange, and deep orange/red ink onto some white cardstock.  Then I placed the Kiss the Cook stencil over the paper and brushed some black ink over the top half of the paper.  After this black ink dried, I brushed a little bit more of the deep orange/red ink across the bottom and over the flames to give them that feel of movement.  For the sentiment, I brushed some anti-static powder over the stenciled panel, placed the stencil with the sentiment at the top, and sponged some Versamark over the BBQ King lettering.  I removed the stencil, covered the paper with white embossing powder and melted the powder with a heat tool.  This panel was glued to a white layer and then onto a deep orange/red card.  This will be a fun card to give to someone for Father's Day!

  Be sure to use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  Grab this Kiss the Cook stencil this week while it's still on sale for only $4 (use the code HollyFan10 for an extra 10% off too!!) and check out the wonderful stencils in the May release.  Have a great weekend!!

 

Kiss the Cook

Good morning!  A Colorful Life Designs has just released their Mid Month Inspiration stencil called Kiss the Cook.  It's full of all kinds of fun bbq images and it's perfect for making some cards for Father's Day.  It's only $4 until May 22, so hurry and get this stencil while it's on sale.

 I created two cards with this fun stencil - one is an apron shaped card and the other one is an A2 sized card.  It's really fun to pick and choose the images to stencil onto your project, and no two cards will be the same.  I drew a plaid pattern onto the bbq gloves above with some black and white markers for a little touch of whimsy.

You can use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  Check out the wonderful stencils in the May release and add a few to your cart along with this new Kiss the Cook stencil.  Don't forget to stock up on that Card Bling, too!  Have a wonderful day!

 

Infused Thistles Blessings

Good morning!  Did you see all the great new stencils in the May release at A Colorful Life Designs?  Aren't those new flowers just gorgeous?  The new Thistle stencil has such a gorgeous look to it, sort of art deco-ish.  I wanted to try something different with this one.  When I do some messy creating and I have leftover puddles of ink or paint, I usually take some extra cardstock and smoosh it around to soak up all that leftover liquid.  

For this project, I happened to have one of those panels where I had smooshed some watercolor cardstock around in some blackberry ink.  It was completely dry, so I placed the new Thistle stencil on top and carefully sponged some Versamark over the whole panel.  After I removed the stencil, I covered the panel with white embossing powder, tapped off the excess, and melted the powder with a heat tool.  Wow, this white really stands out against the dark blackberry background!  I added a sentiment (Pinkfresh) and some Crystal Metallic Flamenco Card Bling to complete this card.

Please feel free to use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  If you want all of the new flower stencils, you can get them in the Flowers bundle with a savings of 20%.  This is such a good deal!

 

Daisy Ring Joy

Good morning!  The new May stencil release at A Colorful Life Designs has some gorgeous new floral stencils, and I fell in love with all of them as soon as I saw them.  One of them is this Ringed Daisies and I couldn't wait to ink this one up.  I placed the stencil over a white card so that one of the rings was framing the upper left corner.  I brushed on a light pink ink first and then I used a darker pink ink in the centers of each daisy.  I stamped the sentiment (Pinkfresh) with black ink and then I added some Opalescent Peony Card Bling.  I love the simple elegance of this daisy cluster.

Feel free to use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  If you want all of the new flower stencils, you can get them in the Flowers bundle with a savings of 20%.  This is such a good deal!

 

Christmas Blooms - Spring into Christmas BYSHC

Good morning!  I'm playing along with the Linky Party on the BYSHC blog for their Spring into Christmas event this week.  I bought this Festive Blooms die set from Concord & 9th last year but I didn't actually use it until this week.  It's been fun to have an excuse to actually USE some of the things that I bought.  LOL

This set is really fun to play with.  It's mostly just die cutting and gluing pieces together.  The hardest part is figuring out the colors of cardstock you want to use.  I basically grabbed some colors from some of my older cardstocks so I could use them up.  This is a great way to make a bunch of cards for your Christmas stash!

I hope y'all play along in the Linky Party and share your Christmas creations with us. Today is the last day of the party, so get those entries in!  Have a wonderful day!

 

Sweet Christmas - Spring into Christmas BYSHC

Good morning!  I'm playing along with the Linky Party on the BYSHC blog for their Spring into Christmas event this week.  It's a fun week of sharing Christmas, Hannukah, and winter cards while also building up our holiday card stash.  This really helps us get those cards done before December rolls around.

I started this card by pulling out the Christmas Quilt stencil from A Colorful Life Designs (use code HollyFan10 to save).  I placed this stencil onto some pink cardstock and spread some pearl white paste over the whole panel.  While this was drying, I stamped the Christmas cake (Pink & Main) and colored it with Copic markers.  I die cut this cake and adhered it with foam tape to a small white arch panel and I stamped the sentiment with black ink.  After I glued the stenciled pink panel to a white card, I adhered this white arch with some foam tape.

I hope y'all play along with this Linky Party and build up your holiday card stash!  

 

Sending Holiday Cheer - Spring into Christmas BYSHC

Good morning!  I'm playing along with the Linky Party on the BYSHC blog for their Spring into Christmas event this week.  It's a really fun week of sharing our new Christmas, Hannukah, and winter cards that we are making for our stash of holiday cards.  

I finally broke out some of the supplies from the 2024 Taylored Expressions Advent Calendar and I watercolored this panel before I die cut it with an arch-shaped die.  I also cut some gold glitter paper with a slightly larger arch-shaped die.  I glued these two together and punched a hole on the arch end so I could tie some sheer red ribbon into a bow.  I stamped a green card with some winter foliage and then splattered some white paint for that snowy look before I added the gold glitter arch and the watercolored panel.  That gold glitter paper just makes me smile!

I hope you play along with this Linky Party and share your holiday creations with us! 

 

Bright Thistle Birthday

Good morning!  Did you see the awesome new stencil release at A Colorful Life Designs?  In case you couldn't tell, I fell in love with all the new flower stencils.  Today I'm using the gorgeous Thistle stencil.  I took my time with this one, masking off the leaves first so I could brush some light and dark purple inks over the thistle flower heads first.  Then I removed the sticky notes from the leaves and used them to cover up the flower heads so I could brush some green inks over the leaves and stems.  After I removed all the sticky notes, I stamped the sentiment (Pinkfresh) with black ink and then adhered this panel to a purple card base.

Please feel free to use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order (excluding Master Creator Bundles) at A Colorful Life Designs.  Check out all the great new stencils in the May release and have fun shopping.  If you want all of the new flower stencils, you can get them in the Flowers bundle with a savings of 20%.  This is such a good deal!  Have a great day!

 

Very Merry - Spring into Christmas BYSHC

Good morning!  I'm playing along with the Linky Party on the BYSHC blog for their Spring into Christmas event this week.  It's a really fun week of sharing our new Christmas, Hannukah, and winter cards that we are making for our stash of holiday cards.  

I finally broke out some of the supplies from the 2024 Taylored Expressions Advent Calendar and I watercolored this panel before I die cut it with an arch-shaped die.  I stamped a green card with some winter foliage and then splattered a lot of white paint for that snowy look before I added some gold thread and the watercolored panel.  It was so relaxing to just color and fling paint.  LOL

I hope you play along with this Linky Party and share your holiday creations with us! 

 

Celebrate the Season - Spring into Christmas BYSHC

Good morning!  I'm playing along with the Linky Party on the BYSHC blog for their Spring into Christmas event this week.  It's a really fun week of sharing our new Christmas, Hannukah, and winter cards that we are making for our stash of holiday cards.  

I finally broke out some of the supplies from the 2024 Taylored Expressions Advent Calendar and I watercolored this panel before I die cut it with an arch-shaped die.  I stamped a green card with some winter foliage and then splattered a lot of white paint for that snowy look before I added some gold thread and the watercolored panel.  This was a really fun card to create.

I hope you play along with this Linky Party and share your holiday creations with us! 

 

 

Penguin Cocoa - Spring into Christmas BYSHC

Good morning!  I'm playing along in the Linky Party over on the BYSHC blog for their Spring into Christmas week.  If you'd like to join, just make a Christmas, Hannukah, or winter card and share the link on their linky party.

I started by pulling out the Diagonal Stripes stencil from A Colorful Life Designs (use code HollyFan10 to save) and I sponged a bright red ink over 3/5ths of the card.  After I removed the stencil, I added a black die cut oval and this adorable penguin from Pink & Main that was colored with Copic markers.  I stamped the sentiment (also Pink & Main) with black ink and added some black enamel dots to the card.

I hope y'all play along in this Linky Party and share your Christmas creations with us.  Have a fabulous day!

 

Winter Sledding Wishes - Spring into Christmas BYSHC

Good morning!  I'm playing along with the Linky Party over on the BYSHC blog for their Spring Into Christmas week.  All you need to do is make a Christmas, Hannukah, or winter card and share a link on their blog.  I got this cute stamp from Taylored Expressions in their 2024 Advent Calendar, and this is the first time I've used it.  It's just too fun!  The background was created by spreading some glittery paste through a snowy stencil that was also in the advent calendar.  I used a wavy hill die to cut the snowbank and I stamped the sentiment with black ink.

I hope you play along with this fun Linky Party and share your Christmas cards with us!  

 

Daisy Bee Birthday

Good morning!  There is a wonderful new stencil release over at A Colorful Life Designs full of flowers, graduation, and some really cool backgrounds.  The new Outline Daisy stencil is so fun and retro!  I brushed some turquoise ink over this stencil onto some turquoise cardstock, and then I added the die cut bee (Spellbinders) and the sentiment (Pink and Main).  I couldn't decide which Card Bling I wanted to use, so I used both the Crystal Iris Aurora Borealis and the Opaque Iridescent Dark Turquoise.  I love how this card turned out!  You can use this code, HollyFan10, to save 10% off your entire order at A Colorful Life Designs (excluding Master Creator Bundles).

This month A Colorful Life Designs has 3 Master Creator Bundles to choose from - Backdrops, Flowers, and Graduation.  These are a fabulous deal with 20% off each bundle!  Get one, two, or all three bundles and enjoy the savings.  Have a great day!