August Card Chain Challenge

Hello, friends in blog land...

Here it is the first of September. I can't believe it. 

Fall is just around the corner. 

It's been so hot here in Ohio for most of August and, I hate to admit it, I'm looking forward to some cooler weather.

I love summer though, so I know I will miss that warm weather soon enough.

My life has become quite different since my husband died, and as you can imagine, the worst part is being alone 24/7. I have a dog, and that helps a lot, but I am so extremely grateful for my God whose presence is always with me. And for my card making, that keeps my mind in a happy, creative place. It would be so much harder if I didn't have a place to go to where I can relax. Let my mind go to wonderful places and beautiful colors.

So here is the card I sent to my assigned recipient:

      I used Bristol extra white paper and colored with several different colors of blue and teal until it came out to a teal background. I wanted it a little more green than what I got but I did not have a green that worked.  

      Next I used Versafine ink to stamp Poppies Background by Simon Says and then emboss with gold. I love gold embossing on flowers. 

      The die cut leaves are from Simon Says too and I just love them. They are the Eucalyptus leaves. They're so delicate with those lines in them. But I had a heck of a time getting them cut out. Some of my gold turned out to be a two layer thin paper that fell apart with this intricate die. And some just weren't bright enough. I ended up covering them with Versafine and embossing with a clear, kaleidoscope powder. They are much prettier in real life than in the picture.

      The Hello and the thin frame were cut from a gold paper.

      After that I was stumped. It just needed something and I couldn't figure it out.

My daughter came in and after looking at it said, "it needs something deep blue!'

"What?" deep blue??? How does that work with teal??? I was looking through my butterflies at the time and found this dragonfly in a deep blue and a teal inlay!!! Couldn't believe it!!! There it was... PERFECT!!!

I love it when it all comes together like that!!!

If you have not tried this Card Chain Challenge I hope this encourages you to do so. It's really fun sending an actual card to someone you don't know and receiving one from someone else.

I'm also entering this card into this challenge:

https://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/

Thank you for coming by,

Rainbow Card Challenge

Hello blogger peeps,
I am so excited to tell you that I have been invited to be on the DT team of the Rainbow Card Challenge!!! This is a first for me and I feel like I don't know anything!!! I keep having to ask questions like crazy.... so if they don't fire me after this month... then I might make it!!! I'm really hoping I make it.

This is a challenge that uses rainbow colors 2x of the year and monochromatic colors the rest of the months. Their inspiration pictures for the colors are just gorgeous and my head goes spinning with all kinds of ideas as to what kind of a card to make. Take a look, this is the inspiration photo for August...

Isn't that beautiful???
So, I knew I had to use this background I had made when I was playing with some alcohol inks a couple of weeks ago. It seemed so perfect to me.
Here's my card: 

So the background is alcohol inks applied to the wrong side of 4x6 photo paper.

I got this information from Mindy Eggan https://mindyeggendesign.com/. It was very helpful to me. 

The white flower is a die cut I have had in my stash for a while. I cut it 3 times and glued it together to get that full flower effect. Then I added some gem stones that mimicked those rubies on the inspiration picture. 

I framed it twice to support that white flower.

This was a very fun project for me. 

I enjoyed it very much.

I love making backgrounds... but then sometimes I have a hard time finding how to use them.

Thank you for stopping by.

Hope you enjoy and leave a comment.

I would love to know you were here.

Elena

For My Friend...

Hello again,
I guess I'm on a roll. I have another card that is ready to post, and I'm going to get that done while I have the chance.

The funny thing about this card is that I started out not liking it at all. I had seen a design using that lacy half of a circle and I really liked it so I thought I would give it a try. I bought my Gemini Junior not too long ago and that lace design came with it. So it was a perfect time to make that card.

I'm not sure I have ever made a gray card before. It seemed kind of dreary to me. And I actually like the color gray, but in a card it just wasn't doing it for me!!! I wasn't happy with it until I got all the pieces cut out, colored and laid out on the card front.  At first, the word "Friend" was cut out from holographic paper. Somehow, that just didn't fit, so I cut it in white (to go with the lace) and that was the right thing to do!!!  I liked it YAY!!!

So here's my card:

>  The rainbow background was made a while ago when I was trying different distress ink backgrounds.
>  The lace piece was cut on my Gemini Junior. I cut two and glued them together.
>  The flower is from Altenew Flower Garden. I really like that set because it has several different designs of flowers in different sizes. Perfect!!! I colored it with my watercolors and then added that darker shade of orange with my chromo pencils.
>  The center of the flower is black micro beads. I LOVE that. It is so striking against the orange background. I've done all kinds of flower centers before, but I think I like the micro beads the best!!!
>  The greenery at the bottom is a Tim Holtz die of different ferns. Love that die. Does not have to be used just for winter.
>  And the "Friend" is cut on my Cameo. (I cut it in triplicate and glued together for extra thickness.) Mine is still the original Cameo and I had to update it because it stopped working with my Windows 10. But the update worked great and it's up and running  again!!! Whew!!! I would hate to have to purchase another one right now....

I am entering this card into these challenges:
https://rainbowcardchallenge.blogspot.com/ pastel rainbow
http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.com/  favorite stamp (Altenew flower)
https://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.com/  photo challenge

So there you have it...
I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and my attempt to make a pretty card for my friend. She's the one I have alphabet challenges with and this one is for "F".

Please leave me a comment. I would love to know you were here,