Color Dare - Surprise Challenge!

Teams A and B are combining this week for an extra Color Dare Challenge!  It's an opportunity for you to create a card choosing YOUR favorite colors

Earlier this month, I was asked to make a card for a celebration honoring the Community Manager in our building. The party theme was "You Are Our Sunshine," so I created two cards to give the party planners a choice.

This is the first card I made for Color Dare's Surprise Challenge, where you get to choose your favorite three colors for your card. I picked three of my favorite summer colors—turquoise, yellow, and pink.

I took the theme quite literally with this design, using a small sun die to cut 10 sunshine images. I mounted each one on a small square to create a fun background. The focal point is Lawn Fawn Stitched Sun Die, paired with a die-cut "you" and tall alphabet letters from Scrapbook.com to spell out the word "sunshine." Be sure to check out the second card I created for the celebration here. I'd love to know which one you like better!

I hope you'll join the fun and play along with both Team A and Team B in this Color Dare Challenge! Thanks for stopping by my blog.

In kindness, Cathy

 

Color Dare Challenge #714

I'm back today with a new challenge for the Color Dare Challenge Blog!

I did a little shopping during the Sizzix sale earlier this month and picked up the Brushstroke Flowers 2 dies at an amazing discount.  I thought this versatile set would make a wonderful addition to my craft stash, and I couldn't wait to put it to use.  

For today's card, I used all eight dies in the set, cutting the pieces from a mix of patterned papers and solid cardstock. I finished the flowers with a bit of ink blending to add depth, dimension, and a touch of texture. 

I hope you'll take a look through your stash, get inspired by our newest color challenge, and join us this week. I can't wait to see what you create! Happy crafting!  Thanks for stopping by my blog. 

In kindness, Cathy

Color Dare Challenge #712

 How about switching to a little navy, red, and green for this week's Color Dare Challenge?!?

Unfortunately, I have had a need for sympathy cards over the past few weeks, so the Color Dare challenges have been a great jumping-off point to build my stash.  

For this card, I wanted navy to be the primary color. I pulled out my treasured (and very old!) SU! French Script background stamp and inked it with white pigment ink. Then I used oval stitched nesting dies to create an olive frame for the focal point.

The flowers are Memory Box dies - called Wildflower Stems.  I found them in the sale room at my local stamp store, so they're new to me even though they're not readily available anymore.  Keeping with the challenge colors and taking advantage of the “free” extras of white and neutrals, I tried to make the blooms resemble white coneflowers with brown centers. It was easy to ink the stems green while leaving the tips white to create the look of fresh buds.

The panel behind the flowers is splattered with green ink, Distress mica spray, and brown ink for added texture and interest. I knew I needed to incorporate the red from the challenge palette, so I tied a piece of red twine around the stems for a simple finishing touch.

I loved the challenge of these three colors together because they made me think a little harder about the card design.  Hope you find inspiration and join the Color Dare Challenge.  Thanks for stopping by my blog.

In kindness, Cathy

Color Dare Challenge #710

This week's beautiful Color Dare challenge colors were the inspiration for my card, although I ended up creating two additional cards using other color combinations while I had everything out!

  

My card features a newly acquired stamp, stencil, and die set from Concord & 9th. I had been patiently waiting to purchase Kristina Werner's Long Line Lilies collection, and I was thrilled to finally pick up the stamp, stencil, and die set during Concord & 9th's recent sale.

The purple background was created with a favorite die from Reverse Confetti, and the die-cut lilies are attached to a frame made with dies from a Pinkfresh Studio class kit.

I hope these beautiful colors inspire your creativity over the next two weeks. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! 

In kindness, Cathy

Color Dare #704 & A New DT for Me!

 Happy to announce that I’m now part of the Color Dare Challenge DT! I’m on Team B and will be posting every other week. I absolutely love a good color challenge, and these palettes are so inspiring!

For today’s card, I used a new-to-my-collection Altenew layering die set called Botanical Waltz. I made the mistake of watching one of Altenew’s new release videos a couple of months ago, and somehow this set magically landed in my cart!

The layout featuring the three blooms was inspired directly by the Altenew inspiration folder. It’s a simple design, but it really showcases the three colors from this week’s challenge beautifully. I added some stenciling to the card base, a sentiment, and a few gold pearl accents to finish everything off. 

Honestly, this card practically made itself, and I just love how it turned out! I hope you’ll play along with these fun colors—I can’t wait to see what you create in the Color Dare gallery. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! 

In kindness, Cathy