







I felt inspired by Altenew\’s November Inspiration Challenge and those lovely pink flowers. I just received several Altenew Mega Alphabet dies plus Altenew\’s large thanks die and wanted to play with them. I was thinking thank you notes and personalized stationary.
I decided ink smooshing on the Mega \”T\” die would be interesting. I applied two shades of distress ink: Spun Sugar and Pickled Raspberry to a 6×6\” acrylic block and then sprayed with water. I put the spun sugar at the bottom and the pickled raspberry at the top because I wanted gradient color. I put the ink/water side onto watercolor paper, weighted it down with a book and let it sit for 5 minutes. When that was done, I took a piece of cardstock and sopped up the remaining color for my background panel. I wanted the same colors but in a more muted watercolor look. There is a bit of pinkish linen in the color swatch so I did the same smooshing technique with Antique Linen. After the watercolor paper was dry, I die cut the \”T\”. I also die cut the \”Thanks\” die cut from Elm Green textured paper that matched the color in the inspiration color swatch. I then die cut small flowers from the antique linen, and pink watercolor panels. The leaves were left over from a previous project and I thought they added to the layout.
I assembled the card by putting the second generation sopped up ink smooshed panel behind a die cut cover and then arranged the die-cut elements.
I always give my mom a packet of cards for Christmas and I think I am going to include this one.
I am pleased to be entering this card in Altenew\’s November Challenge.
I am so pleased that you stopped by!
Karen

Less is More \”Small Images\” Challenge

Hello and thank you for stopping by! This week the theme for Watercooler Wednesday is Masculine \”Anything Goes\”. Michelle is our hostess.
Once a quarter, I take a Copic class with Laura Griffin. Recently, instead of coloring with Copics, we used Copic refills to make alcohol ink backgrounds. I\’ve been playing with alcohol inks, but had never tried re-inkers. Reinkers make a vibrant glossy creation!
It\’s citrus season here in Texas and that inspired me to make a bright cheery citrus themed card. I was invited to be a Guest Designer for Create-A-Smile stamps and I used one of my favorite stamp sets, Fruit Salad. For this card, I chose to use only the citrus stamps. The theme for their current challenge is \”Stamp a Background\”.
I started by embossing the three citrus images on Brisol cardstock. Next, I used my Kuretake Watercolors to paint a watery lemon-yellow base and then dropped in more concentrated lemon yellow. I wanted a messy watercolor background so the lime green (sap green light) was placed here and there.
I let the panel dry overnight and then I used a stitched die to trim the card down slightly. I also cut an interior stitched frame out of white cardstock. I glued the white frame and the watercolor panel to a white A2 card. I die cut the \”thanks\” sentiment twice, glued them together and placed it at the bottom of the frame.
Rainbow Card \”Yellow Challenge\” My first time to enter this challenge…mostly yellow with a bit of yellow-green splashed in.
Pile it On Favorite Color Challenge I just love the color yellow because it is so happy and warm.
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge It is citrus season in Texas so it is sunny and warm. 🙂
I love how bright and happy this card turned out.
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen
Its time for another Watercooler Wednesday Challenge and this week is the bonus 5th week of the month so we have our broad \”Anything Goes\” prompt. To find out more, please pop on over to the Watercooler Wednesday website.
A while back I watched a Jennifer McGuire video about one layer \”Framed Stamping\” and thought I would give it a try. I loved the last card she did where there was coordinating outline stamping outside the frame. Jennifer McGuire Framed Stamping Video link.


Coffee Loving Cardmakers Fall/Winter Blog Hop I cant figure out why, but I was unable to copy their graphic without an error message. Such a fun hop though!
Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #459 Sprinkle and Sparkle – Love this bright festive prompt!
Stamping Sensations Winter Sparkle My winter sparkle comes from the Wink of Stella on the frothy whipped cream.
Paper Players Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas Challenge – Love this bright Christmasy inspiration!

I am trying to stay ahead so I began creating my holiday thank you notes. The idea for this card came to me over several days. I won a challenge this summer and the prize was a gift certificate to Visible Images. I selected several stamp sets and thought it would be fun to do a modern card using some of the circles and spheres that came in the sets. Aqua and red are perfect for this time of year.
I embossed all the images in silver on watercolor paper and used just two watercolor hues. I changed the shades by adding more water to the areas I wanted less intense, so while I had just two colors on my pallet, I had several pools of aqua and red in varying shades to work from. I added a strip of aqua to the edge to accent the colors. I love the shine and shimmer from the silver embossing powder.
I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Color Throwdown #519 Challenge I got my color inspirations from this challenge. I had been pondering aqua and apple green, but when I saw this challenge I knew I wanted to use red and aqua.
Simply Less is More #384 Metallics Challenge I love their metallic prompt!
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen