Just Us Girls #704 - Color Week

Hi friends!  Carol has a great color combination for the week's Just Us Girls Color Week challenge.  Perfect for getting those holiday cards started! 

Of course I thought of a poinsettia for this color challenge, as did a couple of my design team friends did!  I die cut the poinsettia from cranberry and red card stocks and accented them with ink.  I also die cut some leaves and evergreen sprigs from green card stock and accented them with inks as well.  For the background, I used a cover plate to get the snowflake design and accented it with antique linen distress oxide ink.  The sentiment was die cut three times from cranberry card stock and stacked for dimension.  I spitzed it with shimmer spray for some sparkle and added gold pearls.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new November guest, Melissa Craig, on the JUGs blog.  

Welcome Melissa!  We are so happy to have you joining us this month!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  White, red, cranberry, green

Ink:  Marigold, doe; cranberry, evergreen, antique linen oxide

Accessories:  Lovely Layers: Poinsettia (Honey Bee), Pointy Pine Needle Sprigs (Memory Box), Snowfall cover plate (Concord & 9th), sentiment die (Paper Roses), stitched rectangle (MFT), gold pearls, shimmer

Just Us Girls #700 - Color Week

 Hello friends!  It's Just Us Girls 700th challenge!  That's something to celebrate!  I'm the hostess for this challenge, and I guess it's appropriate because I've been with this challenge since the beginning 14 years ago!  So let's see what I came up with for this Color Week challenge.

My photo isn't showing up very well.  This is supposed to be a terrarium.  I have die cut the glass top of the terrarium from vellum, however you can't really see it!  Oh well!  It's there!  I die cut all the leaves and mushrooms from white card stock, then used the coordinating stencils to color the pieces.  I added them to the terrarium and placed some pearls on the mushrooms.  I stamped the sentiment with Versamark and heat embossed it with white embossing powder on brown card stock.  Love these fall colors!

To celebrate this 700th challenge, I'm giving away a little prize.  I have a Distress Oxide ink pad, some mica sprays (these are so fun!), some stamps and a few other things.  In order to win this, please comment below on my blog and on the JUGs blog as well as enter the JUGs challenge with a card in these colors.   Unfortunately I'm only sending this to US residents (shipping costs are too expensive outside the US!).  I will select one winner randomly.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new October guest, Bonnie Klass, on the JUGs blog.  Welcome Bonnie!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Decorative Pumpkins sentiment (Pretty Pink Posh)

Paper:  White, brown, vellum

Ink:  Versamark, sky blue, summer shower, clementine, persimmon, warm buff, doe

Accessories:  The Magic is in You stencils and die (Pink Fresh), terrarium die (Pink Fresh), stitched rectangle (MFT), pearls, white embossing powder

Just Us Girls #695 - Color Week

Hi friends!  The new Just Us Girls challenge is up and this week it's our Color Week challenge.  Lisa E. is our hostess and she has chosen AQUA and APRICOT.  I love these colors!

 

I had so many ideas running in my head, mostly pumpkins, but I instead went with a floral design.  I chose this stencil set from Pink Fresh.  I used only aqua and apricot inks.  I used a lighter hand for the lighter color then a stronger hand to get the darker colors.  I spotted another stencil on my desk, this time a script one.  I decided to stencil over the floral design with a very light gray ink for a different look.  I have to say I love it.  So for the sentiment, I used a sympathy die with a shadow companion die and used a light gray for the shadow.  I added a secondary sentiment with another gray ink.  Crystals were added for sparkle.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new September (how is it September already?) guest, Stephanie Lanzalotto, on the JUGs blog. 

Welcome Stephanie!  So happy to have you joining us this month!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Moments of Grace (SSS)

Ink:  Versafine onyx black, apricot, ocean breeze, misty coast, rocky slope

Paper:  White, apricot, gray

Accessories:  Seamless Floral Panel stencils (PF), Script stencil (Hero Arts), With Sympathy die (SSS), stitched rectangle die (MFT), sentence strips die (Gina K), crystals

Just Us Girls #691 - Color Week

 Hi friends!  Vicki has chosen a pretty color combo for this week's Just Us Girls Color Week challenge.

I recently watched a Jennifer McGuire video where she used this stencil from Gina K Designs to create this design.  I loved it so much (and of course the stencil) I had to get it but it was out of stock.  I put myself on a wait list and when it came back in stock I snatched it up!  The technique was very cool.  I started by cutting a full piece of card stock into four equal pieces and taped them back together on the back.  I put the stencil in the center of the piece and stenciled it in the challenge colors.  When I took it apart, a quarter of the design was on one corner of each panel.  I kept arranging the panels so that the center was blank and stenciled again.  I did have to mask a few petals on the final time I stenciled.  I used the mask to stencil in the leaves too.  The sentiment was die cut three times and stacked for dimension.  I added crystals for shimmer.  The main panel was popped up with craft foam and adhered on a yellow card base.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new guest for August, Greta Hess, on the JUGs blog.  Welcome Greta!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  White, yellow, black

Ink: Sunshine, marigold, summer shower, grassy knoll, warm buff (Pink Fresh)

Accessories:  Spectacular Sunflower stencils (Gina K), happy birthday die (Creek Bank Creations), stitched rectangle (MFT), crystals, craft foam

Just Us Girls #686 - Color Challenge

Hi everyone!  The new challenge over at Just Us Girls is our Color Week challenge.  Elizabeth is our hostess and she has chosen something different...pastel colors.  How fun! 

I have been really busy this week with my best friend and her husband visiting from out of town and our niece's wedding TODAY!  It's been a long week!  She just texted me from the venue (I'm writing this on Friday) and asked me if I had two more tulle aisle decorations that I made for the wedding.  I made eight at her request, and she wants two more.  It's eight o'clock at night and I'm exhausted!  So I better get this post done and get to those decorations!

So I didn't have time to make a card, but I did find this one that I made at at Crop and Create online event.  I really don't remember the designer of this stamp set (maybe Elle Studio?).  It was stamped, colored with copic markers, and die cut.  I love those little bees and the pastel colors.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new guest for July, Kristin Shulan, on the JUGs blog.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Just Us Girls #682 - Color Week

 Hi all!  Vicki is our hostess over at Just Us Girls for this week's Color Week challenge.  She has chosen a very unique color combination of blue, purple, and gray.  I loved it!

Last fall, I took up a new craft...quilting.  I fell in love with it and have made several quilts since then.  I was very lucky to have found someone to do the quilting (the finishing part of the quilt process where the top of the quilt I made is combined with the inside batting and the backing piece using a machine called a longarm) just 15 minutes away.  She is very talented at longarming, and did some amazing work on my quilts.  Well, it seems she is moving south and taking her longarm with her!  I'm so happy for her, but sad for me and her other customers.  

Anyway, long story short, I wanted to make a card for her to express my happiness for her next chapter in her life and my thanks for all she's done for me.  I pulled out this quilt die and die cut it from white card stock for the frame and three pattern papers in the challenge colors and created this pattern.  Just like a quilt!  The best part is that I can create two more cards with the left over pieces.  I covered the front of the card base with gray pattern paper and added the hello.  To finish it, I added crystals.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new guest for June, TK, on the JUGs blog.

Welcome TK! We are so happy you are joining us this month!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  White, various pattern paper

Accessories: Quilt Square Coverup die (MFT), Hello die (Paper Smooches), crystals

Just Us Girls #678 - Color Week

 Hi friends!  Nancy has chosen pretty colors for the Just Us Girls Color Week challenge.  Pink and yellow!

I pulled out this layering die set from Honey Bee for this challenge.  My friend Cheryl gave me a birthday card using this flower and I loved it.  I had the die (never used it) and thought it would be pretty in these colors.  I die cut everything from white card stock and inked them with two pink inks and two yellows.  I shaded with the darker inks for dimension.  I adhered them on a panel that I stenciled by Tim Holtz with the lighter yellow ink and die cut it with a stitched rectangle.  I didn't want a black sentiment, so I die cut the sentiment from gray card stock.  Pink crystals were added for dimension.  I wasn't sure how yellow leaves were going to work, but I think it came out fine!

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new guest for May, Claire, on the JUGs blog.  Welcome Claire!  I can't wait to see what you create this month for us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  White, gray

Ink:  Lemon whip, lemongrass, ballet slipper, sparkling rose

Accessories:  Lovely Layers Peony dies (Honey Bee), Impression Obsession die, stitched rectangle (MFT), Gothic stencil (T. Holtz), crystals

Just Us Girls #673 - Color Week

 Hello friends!  Bobby is the hostess for this week's Just Us Girls Color Challenge.  She has chosen terracotta and green.

I initially thought of a plant in a pot (I see some of the other designers had the same idea) but I needed a quick sympathy card.  My good friend's brother passed away suddenly and I had to go to the wake/funeral yesterday.  Stencils make for a quick card, so I chose this turnabout stencil and used the two challenge colors.  After stenciling, I cut it on the diagonal, added the die cut sentiment and the black strip and some crystals and was done.  I really like the way the colors worked and how the card came out.  

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new guest for April, Joanne James, on the JUGs blog.  Welcome Joanne!  I'm looking forward to seeing your creations this month!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  White, black

Ink:  Peeled paint and tea dye oxide 

Accessories:  Retro Petals turnabout stencil (Concord & 9th), stitched rectangle (MFT), With Sympathy die (Dee's), crystals

Just Us Girls #669 - Color Week

 Hello!  Ina has chosen these beautiful colors for the Color Week challenge at Just Us Girls this week.  Let's have some fun with them!

I have had this idea to create a card with strips on a diagonal for a while.  I love this design and thought it would work well with these colors.  I used a strip die in two sizes to create the strips.  The blue and yellow strips are larger than the black strips.  I adhered double sided tape in the two inch size (I think) on a piece of white cardstock then adhered the strips on a diagonal.  Once done, I used a stitched rectangle die to cut it down.  I then die cut the floral frame and sentiment from black and yellow card stock.  I layered the flower and sentiment, offsetting them.  I added crystals and was done!  Easy card, but it's very bold!  

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new March guest, Michele Ferguson, on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  Black, aqua, yellow, white

Accessories:  Slim Strips dies (Pink Fresh), Floral Stem Collage die (Poppy Stamps), Hello There die (MFT), stitched rectangle (MFT), crystals

Just Us Girls #665 - Color Week

 The new challenge over at Just Us Girls is our Color Week challenge, and Lisa E. has chosen pink, kraft and white.  

Here I go with stencils again!  I've never tried Distress Oxide inks on darker card stocks before and when I was thinking about this challenge, I knew I wanted to try it.  I chose this Altenew layered stencil and used Kitsch Flamingo for the first layer and Picked Raspberry for the second layer.  (The colors look orchid, but really are pinks.)  I think I should have used a sentiment that was just a die, not a stamped sentiment but this was sitting on my desk and I thought it would make a nice Valentine card.  I stacked that sentiment and added crystals.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new guest for February, Karen Walker, on the JUGs blog.  Welcome Karen!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Love & Hugs (Taylored Expressions)

Paper:  White, kraft

Ink:  Versafine onyx black, kitsch flamingo and picked raspberry distress oxide

Accessories:  Layered Dahlia stencils (Altenew), Love & Hugs die (TE), stitched rectangle die (MFT), crystals

Just Us Girls #661 - Color Week

Hello friends!  Happy New Year!  I hope your holidays were wonderful.

Just Us Girls is back from a month long hiatus and the first challenge of the year is Color Week and I'm the hostess.  I hope you like the colors I chose! 

I wanted to used snowflakes for this challenge and have been mulling it over for a while.  I found this layered snowflake from the now defunct Reverse Confetti.  I started by die cutting the backing piece from white, the next layer from dark blue, and added the accents in light blue and dark blue.  I added shimmer to it and then a white pearl to the center.  I used a snowflake stencil with tumbled glass ink on the background piece.  I die cut that piece with a stitched rectangle then with a thin frame die.  I also die cut the thin frame from navy cardstock and added it to the background.  The sentiment was stamped with Juniper ink.  My niece's birthday is next week, so this will be sent to her.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new guest for January, Jules Peddicord, on the JUGs blog.  Welcome Jules!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Winter Hills (PTI)

Paper:  White, navy, light blue

Ink:  Tumbled glass oxide, juniper mist (C. Pooler)

Accessories:  Layered Snowflake dies (Reverse Confetti), stitched rectangle (MFT), thin frames (SSS), snowflake stencil (PPP), shimmer, pearl

Just Us Girls #659 - Color Week

 Hi friends!  Carol is the hostess at Just Us Girls for our Color Week challenge.  I love that she chose these classic holiday colors.

I chose these bells as the focus of my card this week.  I die cut them from two different green colors and gold for the accent. The bow was die cut from red and burgundy card stocks.  I chose to display them on this pattern paper I received free from Honey Bee.  It was the perfect back drop for the bells.  The sentiment was embossed in gold on red card stock and stacked with two other pieces for dimension.  I popped up the bells and added shimmer on the red berries to complete the card.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our November guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Ornamental Christmas (SSS)

Paper:  Red, green, burgundy, gold, Honey Bee designer paper, white,

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories:  Layering Holiday Bells (Honey Bee), Ornamental Christmas die (SSS), gold embossing powder, shimmer, dimensionals

Just Us Girls #654 - Color Week

Hello!  I'm the hostess at Just Us Girls for this week's Color Week challenge.  I love autumn and chose some colors that remind me of my favorite season.

I started with this card.  I received a pretty paper pack from my friend Cheryl and it was in these colors.  I chose a pattern from it and the Fall Foliage stencil and die set from Pink Fresh.  The orange here looks yellow, but it really is orange.  This is a four-piece layering stencil set that has a coordinating die.  I layered the pieces onto the panel and added a twine bow and crystals.  Before I added the sentiment, I spritzed it with shimmer spray.

Then I did the next three cards, which were stenciled on one sheet of paper using the Falling for You layering stencil set from Taylored Expressions.  I used the same colors as in the first card and created three mini slim cards.  I chose card bases in the challenge colors.

You can see more from our JUGs design team and October guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe Card #1

Stamps:  Happy Harvest (Taylored Expressions)

Paper:  Whtie, Bohemian Harmony

Ink:  Apricot, sky blue, warm buff, doe, gathered twigs

Accessories:  Fall Foliage stencil and dies (Pink Fresh), twine, crystals, stitched rectangle, shimmer spray

Recipe Cards #2-4

Stamps:  Happy Harvest (TE)

Paper:  White, brown, apricot, blue

Ink:  Apricot, sky blue, warm buff, gathered twigs

Accessories:  Falling for You stencil set (TE), crystals, shimmer spray

Just Us Girls #650 - Color Week

 Hello friends!  It's Color Week at Just Us Girls and Bobby has chosen a very pretty fall color combo.

I went through my fall stamps and I came across this pumpkin that I've always loved from Honey Bee.  I stamped it in three shades of orange with three different stamps.  It looked too white, so I shaded it with some light orange ink.  The middle piece was die cut three times and stacked for dimension.  I stamped the stem, leaves (I put too much shimmer on the large leaf), and twigs and added some crystals down the middle piece.  I chose a weave stencil for the background and brown ink.  It looks too busy, but I had to live with it.  I chose a simple sentiment.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our September guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Patchwork Pumpkin (Honey Bee), Harvest Pumpkin (The Ton)

Paper:  White

Ink:  Apricot, clementine, persimmon, key lime, gathered twigs, frayed burlap

Accessories:  Patchwork Pumpkin dies (HB), weave stencil (MFT), crystals

Just Us Girls #646 - Color Week

Hello!  I'm the hostess for this week's Just Us Girls Color Week challenge.  I love these colors. 

I just received some new product from the current Concord & 9th release today and thought they'd work well with the colors.  I started by creating the background using a Turnabout stencil.  I stenciled it twice in yellow and once in teal and tan (my tan is Sand Castle but it looks brown).  Then I die cut it with a stitched rectangle die and then with the oval die.  I die cut the oval from the card base as well so there is a see through element.  I stamped the sentiment on the inside with teal ink and then again on a scrap piece with yellow ink and die cut the middle part with the banner die.  I adhered that on the front covering up the stamped image inside.  I added some stamped leaves and crystals to finish it off.

And my favorite color is autumn!!

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our August guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Autumn Hues (C&9th)

Paper:  white

Ink:  Sweet mustard, aquamarine, sand castle

Accessories:  Autumn Hues TAB stencil and die (C&9th), Friendly Florals die (C&9th), stitched rectangle (MFT), crystals

Just Us Girls #641 - Color Week

 Hello!   Cecile has chosen a very pretty color palette for the Just Us Girls Color Week challenge.

First of all, this card is so much prettier in person.  I just couldn't capture it on camera.  I needed a wedding card for today and this was the perfect color combo.  I started by hot foiling the flower and sentiment, then die cut them with coordinating dies.  I used some coral ink for the flowers and a bit of green for the leaves.  That took care of the gold and the coral.  For the light gray, I used fog card stock and ran it through an embossing folder.  I mounted that panel onto a gold panel.  The flower and sentiment were die cut two more times for dimension.  I added coral crystals for that final shine.  The corners were rounded as well.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our July guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  White, gold, fog

Ink:  Coral reef, fresh pear

Accessories:  Magnolia Bouquet hot foil & die, Elegant Occasions hot foil & die (Spellbinders), Dainty Diamonds embossing folder (SU), corner rounder, crystals