The Sending Hugs Collection

I am here today with a few cards to share, a group that I am calling the “Sending Hugs Collection.”

About a month ago, I created this card with an embossed sentiment on a little block of black cardstock.  At that time, for some reason, I cut a bunch of extra pieces and embossed the same sentiment onto all of them, after which they sat around doing nothing for a month.

I haven’t been feeling particularly creative since then.  The circumstances of my life as it is right now include random bursts of “crazy” which come out of nowhere to ruffle feathers and leave a mess behind.  Then I clean up the mess as best is possible, and life moves on again.  That is how the last few years have been for me – Not much normal with lots of random bursts of crazy.  I am getting better at managing the bursts, so that they don’t feel quite so threatening and deconstructing to me.  But they are still there, and I never know when a burst will happen.  Sometimes it takes a week or two, or more, to weather the storm, clean up the mess, and get back on my feet.  Often during those times, the things I love to do don’t easily fit into my schedule or into my psychological ability to switch gears.  So, my process of blogging will just have to include the fact that there will be periods of silence when the disorientation hits and until it passes.

At any rate, after belatedly seeing the most recent Color Throwdown challenge, I was able to muster a little bit of creative thought over the weekend, which included dazed moments of just sitting at my craft desk staring at those little black blocks of cardstock with the embossed “sending hugs” sentiment.  Other embellishments/elements/images that were sitting around on the desk were eventually pulled into my efforts, and the following collection ensued.

Here is the particular card that was inspired by the Color Throwdown challenge:

I know these colors aren’t quite the actual match for the color combo, but I wanted to color the flowers in different colors, and my eyes saw the peachy color of the strawberry lemonade in the glasses and pitcher, so I added a touch of that to my bouquet.

And here are the rest of the cards that followed:

After using 4 of the black sentiment blocks, I realized that I had a freebie stamp sitting there on the desk looking up at me longingly, so I used it for the last two cards instead.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.

-Ally

Altenew March 2018 Inspiration

This card is my first entry into an Altenew inspiration challenge.  I’m not sure I came very close on the actual photo colors, but I had a good time creating this card!

The camellia image is one that I stamped months and months ago but am just now using on a card.  Those layered Altenew flower sets are fun to work with, I tell you WHAT!!  I am much better at layering stamps now that I have a MISTI positioner, so I have much more fun with these types of sets as a result.  (I have a stack of these flowers in a rainbow of colors just waiting patiently to be used someday!)

Also, another word die in action here.  I Wink-of-Stella’d the black cardstock for a little sparkle there.  And the background is another of my sponged panels.

Again, this is for the Altenew March 2018 Inspiration challenge:

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

-Ally

Fab Friday 133

First usage of my Stemmed Statements stamp set here.  I am thinking that I should have purchased a TON more of the Pale Peony papers during the big sale last year.  I really love this gorgeous color, and I have swept through much of the bitty dots part of the package already.  I can tell that it will go fast!

Loving the flowers in this stamp set.

This card is up for the Fab Friday #133 challenge:

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

-Ally

CASE This Sketch 263

Do you get the feeling that you’re being watched?

I think I would like this card slightly more if I hadn’t gone the extra step of trying to stamp in the eyeball section on this little birdie.  One minute it was fine, and the next there’s this creepy look on its face.  (LOL!) 😀

Ah, well.

Loving that Taylored Expressions “weathered” embossing folder, at least!

Anyway, this card is for the CASE This Sketch #263 challenge:

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Happy Sabbath!

-Ally

Freshly Made Sketch 328

Here today with a card for the Freshly Made Sketch #328 challenge.

That little square on the right gave me a little angst, but all’s well that ends well, right?  I used my new Mixed Bouquet stamp set for the flowers.  And I think I am on a navy blue kick – can’t seem to leave my Enchanted Evening DP alone.  And Berry Sorbet is my new go-to color.

Freshly Made Sketches #328 challenge:

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you are in for a wonderful weekend!

-Ally

PTI Make It Monday Color Wheel

Don’t you love the way I just randomly drop off the face of the earth and don’t post on my blog?  Haha!  Funny, I guess.  I hope I am not the only person on earth whose schedule just blows up out of nowhere during which crafting time becomes scarce.

At any rate, here is a little something I created for the Make It Monday #341 Color Wheel challenge.

I suppose I still utilized the “wheel” shape with my Mega Mehndi Medallion stamp, coloring it with some bright Copic markers.  Not quite a color wheel in its literal sense, but hopefully still in the same vein.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

-Ally

Color Throwdown 481

Hello, friends.

I am thrilled to be guest designing today for the Color Throwdown #481 challenge.

Isn’t this a lovely color combination?  So very pretty!

I don’t have any inks that match these colors exactly, so I went with what I have that was close and created this card:

While I had the You’ve Been Framed dies out on my desk for that card, I went ahead and used them for a couple of additional cards.  One, with a different flower color:

And another color combo using the supplies from my previous card that were still hanging around:

Thank you to all those at Color Throwdown for the opportunity to be a guest today – I had some much needed creative time while on assignment, and that is time which I am always grateful to have!

And thank you all for stopping in today.
-Ally

PTI Stripes Challenge

Wednesday’s Papertrey Ink Anniversary challenge was to use stripes.

This card is going into the linkup for the Papertrey Ink Day 10 stripes challenge:

And also for the CASE This Sketch #259 challenge, except that you’ll need to look at the sketch upside down to see how my interpretation fits into the sketch:

Thanks so much for stopping by today.
-Ally

PTI Color Challenge

Monday’s Papertrey Ink Anniversary challenge was for color combos.  I ordered the Birthday Balloons stencils from last month’s release, and I have been very eager to do some ink sponging with them.  I used Laurie Schmidlin‘s rainbow color combo to create this card:

I stenciled the balloons onto the panel, then I doodled the balloon strings and outlines over them.  I also used a gold paint marker to add the dots on the balloons and the rest of the panel.

This card is going into the linkup for the Papertrey Ink Day 8 color challenge.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.
-Ally

PTI Dies Only

Sunday’s Papertrey Ink Anniversary challenge was to use dies only, no stamps.  That is a difficult challenge, for me.  I absolutely LOVE dies.  In fact, I love them so much that I have far more dies in my stash than stamps.  But when restricted to ONLY using dies…..?

Well, here is what my “Great Brain” conjured up for me:

Using my Shaped Sayings and Brushed Off Rectangle dies for the first time here, in addition to my Sheer Basics vellum paper that I purchased during that crazy paper sale last year.  Oh my goodness, we’d better not talk about the ridiculous hoard of paper I have a result of that! LOL.

Moving on…

This card is going into the linkup for the Papertrey Ink Day 7 challenge.

My teenage daughter has dubbed this card THE perfect card, so I must have done something right – LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.
-Ally