Graphically speaking

So, I love graphics, well, ok, I love fonts too.

My major source is TheHungryJPEG.com 

for both of these.  They have a current

package of graphics that is available that I

simply could not resist.

It is something different for me and

I think it came out pretty.

Simple and not so simple

I just wanted to do a simple little

card so I decided to do some

simple stamping. I off set it

and added a few sequins.

Now, this was the not so simple

one.  I purchased the Hyacinth planter

file from DreamingTree.com

because I fell in love with it.

Actually, it wasn't really that hard to do,

just a lot of curling of paper for the flowers.

I think it came out cute.

Got behind on my posting.

I decided to crank out the Explore and use

the images that are available to 

me.  I cut the circles out and 

put the images behind them.

Just some simple cards, but

I thought they came out cute.

Here's a flower.

I ordered the Altenew set 'Magnolias for Her'

and it finally came.

I love that stamp set, so pretty.

I wanted to use stamps only so I pulled out a

couple of sets and picked one to use and

got to stamping.  It came out cute I think.  The

sentiment looks better than the picture shows.

I found another floral set after a 

trip to Hobby Lobby.

Used my Zigs and colored it in.

Simple but cheery.

Challenging myself...

My inspiration was to go with

flowers.  I started out with one card and

decided to challenge myself

to see if I couldn't make a few

cards using the same paper

on each one.

So, 5 colors of card stock, 3 pinks and 2 greens.

I turned on the Explore and found

several flowers that I liked.

This first one I decided to cut the stems

of the flowers out of the white and put

the green cardstock behind so it would

show thru the shapes of stems and leaves.

The flower shapes went on top, a little

bit of pink and white string. The grass

die on the darker green.  'Thanks' out

of both greens (for shading) with a bit of

Wink of Stella in the center

of the flowers and I called this one done.

2 greens on the leaves and stem, grass, 

2 pinks on the hyacinth and 'shine'

and pink and green for the butterfly.

I put Wink of Stella on the darker pink 

to give it a shimmer and added 3

pearls.

This one I added the ribbon and sequins

and called it done!

All in all, came out pretty cute I think.

Just paper

I found some inspiration from Pinterest

and decided to see with I could do

just using paper....no paint, no pencils, etc.

doing different folds.

I'm pretty happy with what I came

out with. I used a regular A2

top folding card, turned it on it's side

and went from there.

The sentiment will go in the 

middle in the top card.

Laurel Burch

I have loved Laurel Burch for years, I have

several pairs of earrings of her designs

and I use to have a purse as well.

I came across this stamp set and knew

when I saw it that I just had to have it.

I played around with the coloring

of the cats...the one on the top left

is with colored pencils

and gamsol.

Top right, is with

Copic markers, which

I don't have a lot of.

The bottom two are with 

Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors.

The colors are bright, as required by

her designs, but I wasn't happy with

the 'finish' and blending of colors.

Then I decided to try my Prismacolor

Premier Water-soluble pencils.

I like the results, I was able to blend

the colors before I even started adding

the water, giving me a much

smother transition of colors.

This one, I made for a friend!

On a roll.....

So, I'm getting back into the swing of

card making.  Still trying to do some 

different things along the way.

First up, I decided to buy a Brothers ScanNCut

mainly to be able to use my stamps and cut 

around them without spending a 

fortuning on buying their matching dies.

The wheat stalk on the left side was my

first trial at doing this.  It came out

great and I wanted to use it.

The card is navy and the paper on the left

has touches of blue/navy in it. So I thought

the pops of blue on the 'laugh' and flowers

were perfect.

Now this one, I have to admit, is my favorite

of all time.

I had seen someone do this embossing technique

with gold embossing powder and fell in love

with it.  I had to give it a try!

I ordered some gold embossing powder

and gave it a shot.

WOW!!

I love this card, it is one a the

prettiest ones I've ever made, IMHO.

I had ordered a new peony die and decided to 

do something a bit different with it.  Instead

of tossing the pieces of the petals I took them

and used watercolor on them.  I put 

them back together (rather like doing a

puzzle) and this is how it came out.

Ok, so I may have been buying a few new

things lately.....here's a new stamp

set I purchased from Stampendous 'Build a Bouquet'.

Again, using my ScanNCut to cut around

the pieces I came up with two separate

cards.  Both using my Zig Clean Colors

Brush pens.

The first one is my favorite I think, but 

both are nice.

Hodge Podge

Once again, trying to challenge myself to

try something that I hadn't tried before.

Bargello.

While I have seen this concept in

quilting, I hadn't until recently

seen it done with cards.

So, I gave it a try, and I have to say,

I'm please with the way it came out.

Then I decided to step away from the

cards for a day and work on some

hydrangeas.

Aren't they awesome.

I purchased the file from DreamingTree.com

after seeing someone post theirs over on

one of the Facebook pages.

I knew then I had to give it a try.  Since

I didn't need the 'MOM' on the sides

I left that off and just duplicated another set

of the regular sides.

I love it!

Then I went back to my cards.

I needed one more Easter card

and I just had to pull out the

Crazy Birds set from Tim Holtz.

I love those little guys!

I made several purchases this week, mainly supplies

wise, paper, dies, etc.  

But I did make one purchase that I had been

mulling over for a while.  I bit the bullet

and made the call after hubby said 'get it already'.

Brothers ScanNCut350.

While I have a Cricut Explore and will continue to 

use it for main things, the reason I wanted this

thing was to scan and cut around my stamps, thus

not having to buy dies for stamps.

'

I got it a shot, and I'm please with the options I now have.

While I will continue to use the Explore, I will continue to

play with the ScanNCut and see what my options are.

Excited!!