Just Us Girls #278 Wild Card!

Happy, happy Saturday!! I'm late with my post and hope you can forgive me! Anyway, Nancy has a great challenge for Wild Card week -Make your SENTIMENT the focal point of your card front!  This is something I seldom do, so it was a challenge, indeed! But FUN!

I've used this great birthday sentiment from Mama Elephant-I've seen it lots of places and took inspiration from other cards I've seen.  

First, I rubbed water color paper with my embossing buddy. Then, I stamped the XL sentiment on water color paper in Versamark, covered it with white embossing powder and heated.  After that I used my water brush and NEW Koi Water Colors to sweep some color across my paper, blending colors as I went.  I let that that dry.  This morning I cut it out with MFT jumbo banner stax (coming out soon with stitched edges!! Oh, my, something else I need!)

The focal piece is layered on a piece of MFT limelight card stock.  The teal layer is from PTI and the card base is white.  I also used not quite navy and a little dot stamp a few times on my focal panel and some stickles and gems.
I knew it needed something else, so I pulled out two colors of twine and put those around my card front.  That will add a little interest to the inside, too!

We all hope you'll join in this week and show us your cards!  You have until Thursday, Feb. 5 at 9 pm to link up your card/project.  There's tons of inspiration on our BLOG, which is linked HERE!
Thanks for visiting!!
Have a great day!
Cheryl

There's Still time!!

Here are two more Valentine's day cards that I made using the same pieces as my last post.  This one opens at the bottom.

 The one below has a Coastal Cabana card base and the heart colors are altered a bit. This one opens at the side

Sentiment is from SU.
You can still particpate in our Just Us Girls photo challenge this week.  Details and links are HERE!
Come visit on Saturday when the Just Us Girls team will have a new challenge! You won't want to miss it!

Just Us Girls #277 Photo week!

   Here's Chris' great (and timely!) photo!  What a beauty!  There's loads of DT inspiration on our Blog-Just Us Girls!                                  
                                         
And, here's my card!  I'm very late posting and I'm not sure I hit the inspiration on the mark, but thanks for coming by to have a look! I'm also entering this in IC477 at Splitcoast Stampers!
                                                                             

I've used a poppy red card base stamped in burgundy with a background stamp from Impression Obsession-it's swirly.  The Kraft panel was die cut with Simon Says Stamp die that has these three rounded square windows.  Isn't it great!!??  After cutting it and rounding the corners I stamped it in kraft ink with the linen background stamp (ret. SU, I think!)  As you can see I sponged the edges -vintage photo distress ink for this.

I stamped the love sentiment (manufacturer unknown) in Versamark and embossed it in white eb.  The layered hearts are cut with my Verve set of 4 hearts from Coastal Cabana.  They are also stamped with the linen background stamp and then the edges are sponged with CC  Those gems on the hearts are red and a line of Stardust Stickles is run down the opposite side of the heart.  The whole kraft panel is raised on dimensional tape (so it doesn't sag0I hate that!) and the hearts are inserted in the windows.  They are rasied too, of course!

So, again, thanks for stopping by!  Please consider joining us in Chris' JUGS challenge this week!  You have until Thursday night, Jan. 29 at 9 ET.  Chics of the week in January have a chance to be our guest designer in March!

Just Us Girls #276- COLOR

Our hostess for the COLOR challenge this week is Maria and she's picked some great ones! GREEN, ORANGE AND BLUE! Love them!  See the graphic below and OUR JUGS BLOG for a larger photo and tons of DT inspiration!

And, here's my card...  First a close up. Keep scrolling to see the whole thing, please!  Bear with me~this is my favorite card in awhile and I took a number of photos!

This adorable Fox from Whipper Snapper Designs is a favorite of mine! He is soooo cute!  AND, so fun to color! His name is Rizzo and you can find him HERE.  Rizzo is colored with copics.

I used one of My Favorite Things rounded banners to cut a window in the top two layers of my card-the dp and orange. I taped them together and cut through both at once-no problem or worries about lining up!  Behind that is a layer of Aqua Mist or Pool Party.  That is sponged a bit with baja breeze and coastal cabana.  Wish I'd made it a bit darker...

 The grass die is from Impression Obsession.  Love the height of this grass.  There's one layer behind Rizzo and one layer in front.  The clouds and banner are from Papertrey Ink.  The sentiment is from and SU set, I think.  I used some double sided dimensional tape to cover the back side of my 'window' piece so the foxy is in a sort of shadow box.  My card base is a lime green-not sure whose, but isn't it pretty!

And, here is the inside of my card.  A rectangle cut with MFT's rounded rectangle die, another die cut of grass and a couple more clouds.  Not sure of the sentiment, but birthday, of course!
So, there's my color challenge card! Hope you like it too!
And, please show what you can do with these colors this week!  Our chics of the week in January may win a Guest DT spot for March!  You have until Thursday, Jan. 22 at 9:00 pm ET to link your card on our JUGS blog.
Thanks for swinging by and have a great day!  Cheryl

Just Us Girls -Stencil

                                   When I made my first DT card for this week's challenge, I made two panels.  Before it languished for months on my craft table I decided to use it in another card!  Very unusual for me!
                                               

so here it is...

This time I used the whole panel to cover the Coastal Cabana card front.  I die cut My Favorite Things 'Thanks' die (it was free with my order!) 4 times and glued them together. Then I covered the whole die cut with glassy accents and let it dry.  It really shines, so I hope you can see a little of that in the photo. Pretty easy card!
You have until Thursday, Jan. 15 at 9:00 to add your card (using a stencil) to our BLOG!  Come join us!
(And this Saturday's is a knock out!  Be sure to return-I colored an image!)

Just Us Girls #275 TREND!

And, Sue (our lovely host) has a great one for us this week!  STENCIL!!  They are hot, inexpensive and everywhere these days!  So we want to see what you can do with your stencils!  Below is what I've done with mine!  Check out our BLOG for all the DT inspiration!

 I was totally inspired by Jennifer McGuire for this card.  You'll se if you check out her PIN HERE!

The inks I used are Coastal Cabana (of course!), Not quite Navy, PTI Simply chartreuse, Limeade Ice and Crushed Olive.  The enamel dots are a lime green.
the sentiment is from Impression Obsession and is cut four times in black, glued together and then topped with some sparkling Wind of Stella clear pen.
I didn't get great photos, but I really like this one-for boys or girls!
Please consider showing us what you create with stencils this week!  Have a great weekend!
Cheryl

New card and the WINNER is....

Hello!  I have my winner chosen for some blog goodies.  My contest was in THIS POST!  I had six lovely comments and Random.org chose #2!   That is YOU, cndomino!!  I'll be emailing you to get your address!  congratulations!  See end of this post for goodies!

 I suppose some are tired of winter cards, but I love making them, so here is another!  This one uses the Cocoa Penguin set from Darcie's combined with MFT Cool Day's ice floe and sign.  The snowflake template is also an MFT die. I've colored my image with copics in what turned out to be my favorite colors this holiday season-hot pink, lime green and aqua!

 And, here is what cncomino will have coming to her home.  There's more underneath, but it was tough to get a picture of EVERYTHING!

Though it's clear at this moment we have a snow day from school today. Up to 3 ft are expected when the Lake Effect Snow Machine gets cranked up.  So, I have a day to call my own!  Getting this post done was first on my list.
Be sure to return for a new Just Us Girls challenge first think Saturday! It's a great TREND!!
Cheryl

Another Winter tag!

Hello and happy mid-week!  We are really in the icebox this week in Western New York! It's 12 degrees currently and going to drop (!!) through the day! Snow and wind warnings abound! But a snow day from school~not likely!

 Here's another tag I made and sent to a friend who also loves the My Favorite Things polar bear set. I started with a manilla tag and stenciled snowflakes from a memory box stencil onto it in aqua (not sure of colors now-possibly coastal cabana, pool party?)  I sponged the edges with vintage photo to dull the color a bit.

I had cut several of this MFT snowflake from SUs silver glitter paper so I added one of those.  I was trying to figure out how to fill the tag with my polar bear, ice block and sign.  It just seemed empty on the bottom when I saw a scrap of glitter paper laying (lying?) there on the table.  Just what I needed!  After that a skinny strip of purely pomegranate and some dots with a white pen.  Then I could call the tag done. I added ribbon, brown twine and baker's twine to the top and mailed it off to Luanne!
My 'contest' is still going on (Until this evening)!  I've pulled together a little pile of goodies, included the brick stencil from MFT, a Whipper Snapper stamp, spellbinder's nestabilities, Magnolia stamps (3), a dotted stencil, AND the snowflake stencil I used on this card!
Please see THIS POST for my contest and leave a comment!! 
AND the JUGS challenge is going on until tomorrow (Thursday) at 9 pm.  It's HERE.
Thanks for swinging by!
Cheryl

Winter Woods

I'm actually getting some cards done these days so here's another I wanted to show you.  This card is by way of a reminder that the Just Us Girls challenge word for this week is WINTER!  You can make a card or project expressing what winter means to you!  Please check our BLOG and consider joining in this week! (you also have a chance to be our guest designer for February!!)

I know this card is a bit off my usual "cute" style, but it is always fun to try something different, don't you think?  I took a piece of sahara sand from my scrap pile (yep, pile!) to make a practice scene on.  Well, a few practice pieces later I was ready for the real thing! I stuck with Sahara Sand and stamped the brush tress (Impression Obsession) in Olympia green (Versafine).  I did NOT reink, but just moved the stamp to the side and stamped it off to get a lighter version which looks more distant.  The front trees are a stamp I bought at a local stamp show a year ago. It's similar to the large pine in Lovely as A Tree (SU).  It is also stamped in Olympia Green.

After that I used my MFT white pigment ink pad and a paint brush to brush the snow under the trees.
Then I sponged some crushed olive onto those background trees.  Then I set to work on the sky.  (I also did a few practice on this part!).  The inks are from Adirondack -Cranberry and Butterscotch.
Lastly, I took a fat stencil brush, got it a little wet and tapped it into the same white pigment inkpad then raked my pallette knife across it to spatter (and splatter!) heavy, white snow.

Okay, that's it. I'll probably slow down a bit since it's back to work today.  I feel like I have a bit of my creative MOJO back though, so I hope it won't be too long!
Please consider joining us at Just Us Girls in 2015~Maybe starting THIS WEEK!!
AND I have a little contest on my post from Friday that I'd love to have you enter for some goodies.
You can check that out HERE!
Thanks and have a great day! cheryl

Featured Stamper is Torico!!

When I saw that Torico was the featured stamper on SCS today, I KNEW I had to get a card done !! Here's what I came up with.

The fox is from Close to My Heart and the sentiment from a cute little set by Wplus9.  Of course, the gingham bg that I've used so many times is from Impression Obsession.
I stamped the image in pumpkin pie. Since it is a 'solid' image there wasn't much to color, but I did use some copics in YR and E to shade it a bit.  That's a cool thing about stamping in dye ink-the copics don't make it bleed.

I have a little contest on THIS POST until Wednesday if you can see (and comment on) the difference(s) in two of my cards.  Would love a few more comments before I go to random.org on Wednesday evening!  Thanks!

Just Us Girls Word Week Challenge!

And, the word Sharyn has for us the week is WINTER!! Join in and show us what winter means to you!  We'd love to see what you come up with no matter where you are in the world! I happen to be in Western New York-a long ways away from New York City! We're in the snowbelt one hour south of Buffalo, so winter means snow and cold to us! This year has not been too bad in our little corner of the world, but with the new month and year who knows?!

Anyway, I'll say it again-I'm CRAAAZY about this MFT set-Cool Day with its adorable polar bears and accessories! So, here is another card made with it!

 Once again, I colored his sweater and used a wash cloth dabbed in blender solution and then dabbing on to the colored image to get the fuzzy sweater look.   The card itself is Hawaiin Shores cardstock (PTI) and is stamped with a 5.00 set from PTI in peacock feathers distress ink.  The snowflake die is also from My Favorite Things and is cut from Stampin' Up's glitter paper.  Those silver dots are what came out of the snowflake!

And, another view!  Remember to check out the JUGS blog for all the DT inspiration!  Then please enter your card or project for WINTER by 9:00 pm Thursday, Jan. 8.

Please see the post BELOW  (or linked here) for my little contest with crafty goodies being sent to one lucky commenter!

Color Challenge with More is More!

Hello and blessings for the New Year!  It's already day 2 of 2015! I'm all mixed up on my days so I guess it'll be good for me to get back to work!  On Tuesday I played along in the color challenge on SCS-crumb cake, old olive and white.   PLEASE KEEP READING FOR A CONTEST AT THE END OF THE POST!

 I first went looking for a stamp to use and before long came upon Loads of Love.  I decided to have a green truck  and work in the crumb cake and white (easy!) As you can see, hearts add a pop of color!  They are watercolored in coral and cranberry crisp.  The brick stencil is from My Favorite Things (inks are soft suede and early espresso) and the window from Memory Box.

 Here is one more look straight on.  (the cat is from Impression Obsession, BTW).

Now a little contest! If you'd care to have a look at this card in my gallery, linked HERE you can join in.  Take a look at the two cards and tell me ONE (or BOTH) of the things I've done to the original (on SCS) and shown here.  Leave a comment below letting me know what you've noticed by  Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 7:00 pm ET.
I'll be choosing one random name (who gets it correct) and sending out a package of crafty treats-included will be the brick stencil!! Plus some other things.  International shipping is fine!

Please remember to check out the JUGS blog tomorrow morning for a new challenge of the week.  It's a good one and you won't want to miss the inspiration!  Our BLOG.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!
Cheryl