Merry Cactus-mas

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Hi!  It's Saturday AND the first of the month so it's time for the Inspiration Challenge AND the Fan Club Christmas Challenge.  This card started out its life some time ago but it just didn't feel right so it was in my stash.    When I found two photos from this week's Inspiration Challenge I pulled out the card and remade it. I cut away the pink card base and added the black framing layer, gold paper, and black base. It's amazing how the makeover gave the card life! What a difference!  

Here is what I used: 

 Woodgrain Frame

Potted Cactus

Small Tags

Primitive Gingerbread

Here's how the card started out:

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you will join us for the challenges!

       

    

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I am up on the Picket Fence Studios Blog today sharing Christmas cards and a Rose card.  I unapologetically love Christmas and I love creating Christmas projects!  Fun for me because Picket Fence Studios July Release features several new Christmas items.  For both cards, I used the beautiful Brocade Stencil which is not really a Christmas stencil but paired with Christmas colors and a Christmas sentiment it's Christmasy!  The sentiment is included in the wonderful Believe in the Magic set.

I don't have a lot of variety in my watercolor powder colors so I decided to change the look of my powders a bit by first brushing Distress Ink through the Brocade Stencilwith my Life Changing Blender Brushes.  (also sold in a discount Bundle) Next, I spritzed the paper with water and tapped on the watercolor powder.  I love how the Distress ink changes the color just enough to give me a bit of variety.  I wanted to cover up as little as possible of this interesting background so centered the sentiment from Believe in the Magic.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you have enjoyed the inspiration!

Angie

         

        

Hang in There!

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Hello!  It's Watercolor Wednesday and this week our special Guest Designer is Lydia! I made several Hurricane Cling Wrap Backgrounds at Lydia's retreat last October.  I am so glad I didn't rush to make cards with all my backgrounds because it's so nice to pull one out once in a while and create a card.  I get a rush of happy emotions remembering the laughter and late-night chats. 

 I took my background and decided the colors were just right for A Little Nuts set.  I chose this particular squirrel in the set because it looks like he is tumbling in a hurricane. My tumbling squirrel is holding on tight to his prize while four more nuts are following him down. It was easy to add the little nuts because I cut them with the Coordinating Die!  I also sprinkled gorgeous Margarita Sequins on the background!

Curious how I created this fabulous background?  Check out Lydia's technique with a video HERE.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope to see you in the Watercolor Wednesday Gallery!

      

Thinking of You Roses

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It's time for Art Nudge #20!  The colors are dreamy!  Everyone is welcome to join the group and create along with the weekly art prompts.

  I actually had the Rose background stamped from a previous art session and thought they were perfect for this week's theme.  I stamped the sentiment from More Fancy Sentiments then I added green Margarita Sequins.  I know they photographed dark but they are green!   This is the second time this week, I am using these yummy sequins. 

     

Thanks so much for stopping for this quick visit!  I hope to see you at the Art Nudge!

       

Summer Fun

Happy Monday!  It's the last week of July and I am not sure how to feel!  I am usually sad because it means my kids go back to school but with one graduated from college and the other in her 2nd year of college during a pandemic, I am not sure what to feel!  Honestly, I sort of want to roll back to June and not have to face it for another month!  I think I will just be like Summertime Girl and live in the moment!  I adore the sentiments in Beach Mode so I used one!   Lastly, I added a frame from the Rectangle 6 in 1 Frames Die.

I created this for the Old is New Day at Impression Obsession and the Pool Party CAS Challenge at SCS.

Stop by the Impression Obsession blog to view the list of participants that are featuring older stamps in a new way!

Also, until the end of the month, IO is offering 25% off the Birthday Wishes themed stamps and dies!  Click HERE to see the entire category!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you can take a little time out of your week to enjoy summertime!

(Affiliate links used when possible which means when you click a link and order from my link I receive a small commission without any additional cost added to you.  Thanks so much!)

        

Growing in Unity Blog Hop

Happy Sunday to you and welcome to the Growing in Unity Blog Hop!  

I used the beautiful dress from the 3/20 Kit of the Month.  There are so many fabulous images in this kit. I especially love the bunnies but today I thought I would feature the lovely dress.  The sentiment is You Are So Amazing.  Lastly I added two tiny ribbons and scattered three Pink Lady Sequins.

The participants are listed below so follow along and leave a comment for a chance to win Unity Stamp Co. goodies!

I am also celebrating this week's Featured Stamper at SCS!

1. Dawn 
2.Angela You are here!
3. Marica 
4. Doreen 
5. Trude 
6.Trudi 
7. Alaine 

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Dreaming

It's time for a new Inspiration Challenge at SCS and I found the cutest photo of a white Christmas tree.  

I used the Tree Stencil and Snowdrop Paper Glaze from Picket Fence Studios.  After spreading on the glaze I sprinkled the trees with glitter.  This is such a sparkly card IRL! But wait there is more sparkly stuff!  I added Gin and Tonic  Sequins.  What I love about this sequin mix is that it has flat sequins that look a bit like micromirrors.  So fun!  Lastly, I added a sentiment from Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

  I love working on Christmas cards all year long.  I think they cool me off during the hot summer months and we have a LOT of hot summer!  Are you working on your Christmas cards yet?

         

Embellish

It's my turn to host the Free 4 All Challenge at SCS so hop on over and check it out!  

I used Distress Spray to create the water for my beach scene.  I love that stuff but it clogs up ever spray bottle even when I wipe it off as directed.  So I just unscrew the sprayer and use the tube and just splatter that stuff around!  If I am going to wear flops they might as well be pink!  I jazzed them up a bit with little wooden butterfly beads I bought years ago on a fun vacation with my sister.  

The stamps are 

Flip Flops

Beach Mode

from Impression Obsession

Are you going anywhere this summer?  I would love to know!  We are not traveling this summer but I sure enjoy seeing summer vacation photos my friends are posting on FB!  

    

Salted

(Affiliate links used when possible which means when you click a link and order from my link I receive a small commission without any additional cost added to you.  Thanks so much!)

This week's Watercolor Wednesday Challenge inspired me to grab my salt and create several backgrounds.  I tried out a couple of types of paper and two different types of salt.  For the first card, I used Margherita salt since I am out of my course kosher salt.   I love the cool little circle patterns the salt left!  The word die is Best by Picket Fence Studios and I used just the word "friend" from a sentiment in the Spotlight On You set also by Picket Fence Studios.

Next up I used table salt for this design inspired by this week's Art Nudge #19.  I love the patterns made by the salt so instead of stamping silhouettes on the background, I just added a couple of Impression Obsession Autumn Leaves.  The background layer was die cut with  Postage Cuts And lastly, I added a sentiment from Card Sentiments.  I love the smaller size of this sentiment set.