Happy Spring and Another Christmas Card

It's time to make a few spring cards even though I have to keep up with creating my Christmas stash, so today I've got one of each.  First up for Tic Tac Toe's line that says "pastel colours, flowers, spring theme" and the Four Seasons Challenge "anything spring":

The dogwood is British Columbia's provincial flower so we have a lot of dogwood trees and it's quite glorious in the spring when they're all blooming.  Not yet though as we're having colder than normal temperatures and all our spring flowers are delayed.

The image is watercoloured with a bit of pink splattering on the background and then added to a dry embossed background.

My second card is for Color Throwdown "green, cream, and brown".

A simple stamped and watercoloured image, die cut with an oval, bordered with a green deckle oval, and a green pine border die cut for the bottom of the card.  I used cream cs for the card base and there's cream in the breasts of the birds, and brown for the pine cones.

Challenges:

Tic Tac Toe (I used the centre vertical line)

Four Seasons "Spring"

Color Throwdown "Green Cream Brown"

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Technique Junkies dogwood, Stampendous sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Sizzix embossing folder

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Serendipity chickadees, Make an Impression sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, green and cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Memory Box pine border, Spellbinders oval and deckle oval dies

A New Look for My Blog!!

I'm thrilled to introduce you to the new look of my blog, created for me by my wonderful generous talented friend, Loll Thompson.  Loll came across the image on my new header and knew right away it would appeal to me.  And sure enough it does.  I live in a small older white wood-sided house, and I'm a passionate gardener so this image really makes me think of my house, my shrubs, my flowers, etc.  Here's a photo of my house so you can see what I mean (though it's autumn in the photo so not much flower colour):

I also love the fact that the image on the header is watercoloured - my favourite technique these days.  And Loll found a perfect font for my blog name.  Thank you so much, Loll! 

Now on to a card.  The latest Color Throwdown Challenge really appealed to me as they are colours that a friend of mine loves to put together:

 

So I thought I'd make this card for her:

I used various blue, orange, and yellow Distress Oxide inks to create a smooshed background on mixed media cardstock.  When dry, I stamped the script in dark blue ink for added texture and interest.

I bordered with navy cs, added a white die cut, and popped the panel up on fun foam.

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black script stamp

Ink - various blue, yellow, and orange Distress Oxide inks;  Ranger Cobalt

Paper - white, navy, and mixed media cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Poppy Stamps Delicate Dogwood, fun foam

Brand New Dogwood Stamp

The provincial flower for my province in Canada is the dogwood and when I saw a lovely dogwood stamp on Technique Junkie's website, I decided I had to have it.  Because it's new, it's perfect for this month's Flower Challenge:

I wanted to use a technique that I'll be leading when I get together with a group of lovely crafty women in May.  This card will be one of my samples.

I sprinkled a couple of colours of Brushos onto watercolour paper, spritzed with water, let the colours run and mingle, and then set it aside to air dry.

Next I stamped my image in archival ink.  I lifted the colour from the flowers with bleach, and then went back in with watercolour paints to add touches of colour to the flowers.  I was trying to get them close to this image of a dogwood flower, with the pink bits around the dip in the petals and the greenish centres:

I wanted to add more interest to my panel so did some stenciling with Picked Raspberry and some grey text stamping.  The panel is popped up on fun foam.

It's snowing here again - so kind of ironic to be making a card that says "happy spring"!  I think I'll go back to Christmas cards!

Supplies:

Stamps - Technique Junkies dogwood, Stampendous sentiment, unknown script stamp

Ink - Archival Jet Black, Memento London Fog, Distress Picked Raspberry

Paper - watercolour paper, white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - pink and orange Brushos, TCW stencil, bleach, watercolour paints

Congratulations X 2

A friend asked me to make him two "congratulations" cards for his coworkers who recently got promotions.  He wanted them larger than the usual A2 so that there is room for all his staff to sign.

First up is one using some lovely die cut dogwoods (I borrowed the die from my friend Christine).

 

I sponged a blossom stencil - the flowers are sponged in two shades of pink distress ink and the leaves in one shade of green. After cleaning the stencil, I replaced it over the sponging and added clear embossing paste.

I die cut the dogwood flowers and leaves in white cs and sponged them with the same colours of distress ink as on the stencil. I shaped them a bit with a stylus, stuck them together with crystal effects and added them to a die cut branch over the stencil. I finished off with yellow liquid pearls in the centres of the flowers and mounted them on a brown branch die cut.

The sentiment is cut into a banner and lightly sponged in the same colours.  Pink ribbon down the edge holds extra pages on the inside for signatures.

The second card uses my favourite technique for making hydrangeas:

I made a background on coated cs with two shades of blue brushos then stamped the hydrangea collage stamp. I brayered a piece of the same coated cs with the Hydrangea ink pad that gives a nice variety of blues and mauves inks, and punched out lots of tiny hydrangea blossoms which I layered over the image. I added white gel pen dots to the centres.

I framed it with a stitched rectangle frame (using 3 layers to give substance) and added one tiny blossom to the bottom corner.

I'm entering it in the Less is More challenge "Congratulations".

 Supplies for Card 1:

Stamps: unknown sentiment

Paper: white and brown cs

Paper Size: 7x5"

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Distress Shabby Shutters, Spun Sugar, and Tattered Rose

Accessories: Tim Holtz blossom stencil, Dreamweaver clear embossing paste, Susan's Garden dogwood die, Memory Box branch die, Liquid Pearls Buttercup, dimensionals

Supplies for Card 2:

Stamps: Rubber Stampede sentiment, Inkadinkado hydrangea

Paper: white cs, coated cs

Paper Size: 7x5"

Ink: Big and Juicy Hydrangea, Archival Jet Black

Accessories: Martha Stewart hydrangea punch, Lil Inkers stitched rectangles, Ultra Marine and Oster Blue Brushos, Signo white gel pen