Thursday, February 28, 2013

Recipe card

Hello there!  This week, the Midweek Throwdown at OWH is a Recipe Mix:
1 Embossing folder
1 Border Punch or die
2 Patterned papers
1 Ribbon
 
And it sounded like a great challenge, except I was tired and so was my mojo, so I struggled to find something to put together.  Here's my entry:
Layer by layer:
Background paper embossed with Kaisy's Brocade Cuttlebug folder
Yellow strip with an EK success border punch
Pattern paper #1 - paper from a SSS stamp kit
Pattern Paper #2 - Sentiment cut from Wild Card cartridge
Ribbon: From my stash with Liquid Pearls accents
 
Done!  Matching patterned paper is not easy, my friends.  There's a bunch of talented ladies with cards in this week's MWT - they made it look easy - but I worked hard for this card.  It's all good in the end, though cuz that's what a challenge is.
 
Take it easy.


Tuesday, February 26, 2013

More card challenges

Here's my card for last Sunday's OWH sketch challenge #161:
 
I needed another sympathy card for my OWH box.  I used the Memory Box "Blooming Vines" die against a blue watercolor-y paper.  The "With Sympathy" sentiment is from the Wild Card cartridge which I placed over the white ribbon.  The Hero Arts paper is pre-embossed with the woodgrain background - just lovely!
 
The next card is for the FCCB's Challenge #150 - Fun with Puns.  I enjoy making punny cards for kids and here's mine, using the puppy from Create A Critter:
The cardstock is from SEI's Dill Blossom pack.  I thought this would be a good card for a father to give to his son.
 
Thanks for checking in and have a great Tuesday!
 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Card Challenges

Hi everyone! Today's a rainy South Carolina day and it's a good day to stay indoors, do chores and sneak in some card making.  Last week's VCMP at OWH was full of inspiration and challenge #5 (make a 12x12 paper disappear) inspired me to take on the task of making a 6x6 pad disappear!  I've been tackling the Teresa Collins "Every day moments" paper pad and I'm proud to say that I'm down to scraps now.
 
I've also been trying to use up images or cuts that I made but had yet to put onto a card.
 
I've found some challenges around the blog world that I can enter my cards into, so here goes:
Challenge entered: Through the Craftroom Door
I used the Hero Arts Chevron stamp on Kraft and colored in each chevron with Inktense pencils.
Sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, on paper I distressed with Peeled Paint.
 
Challenge entered: Stamp-n-doodle
This is Wee Henry, a digistamp made for OWH that I colored with Copics.  Papers are from the Teresa Collins Every day Moments paper pack.
 
This cat is a digistamp that I was going to use for the OWH critters blogskip, but decided he was a bit too early for this time of year.  Now, I'm loving that happy cat in the water.  The paper is from Jillibean Soup - Watermelon Gazpacho paper.  The sentiment on the paper is very small, but it says - "Summer time is the best time".  I agree!
Challenge entered: Paper Playtime #4
This bunny is from the Create a Critter cartridge.  I embossed the yellow paper with Swiss Dots and the cream paper with a larger circle embossing folder (sorry - don't remember the name).  All papers are from my stash and the sentiment is from My Pink Stamper.
 
Challenge entered: Crafting for all Seasons
This challenge was to use a die or punch and mine uses the Blooming Vine die from Memory Box.  I also used Spellbinder dies for the papers behind the vine and the "Mother" sentiment is from Inkadinkado.
 
Whew!  I know this was a long blogpost, but thanks for taking the time to read it.  All of these cards will go to Operation Write Home. 
 
 


VCMP Blog Candy winner!

Hi everyone!  I waited a week to announce the blog candy winner for my Virtual Card Making Party (VCMP) post and it is:
 
Comment #22 by Shari B. from
 
 I'll email you Shari! 
 
Thanks for all the entries for my chevron challenge - ya'll made amazing cards and have inspired me to make more zig zaggy cards!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Get to the point - Bootcamp lesson

Whew!  I'm still recovering from this weekend's VCMP.  I commented/reviewed every card made for my challenge and was impressed with the creativity of everyone.
 
This month's Bootcamp lesson is Creating a strong focal point.  Here are my entries:
The lighthouse is from Stacy Stamps, which I stamped on blue cardstock and colored in with Inktense pencils.  I felt that the image needed a white oval background to help it stand out against the red cardstock.  The papers are from my stash with the sentiment going from left and leading the eye to the right and the image.  Well, at least that's my hope!
 
I enjoy your comments and critique - it's always good to learn something new.  Thanks for the lesson, Paula!
 


Monday, February 18, 2013

VCMP Challenges #9 and 10

All good things come to an end - like our VCMP this weekend.  I wanted to make a card for every challenge and here are my entries for the last two challenges:
 
Sharon's White on white challenge:
I embossed the background and cut an image from the Ornamental Iron cartridge on my Cricut (first time I've used this cart!)  The sentiment is from Simon Says stamps and I layered butterflies on top, along with a piece of ribbon behind the sentiment.  I thought this was going to be hard, but it came together easily for me.
 
Our last challenge (boo hoo) is from Kaylee: Glitz and Glam but not Glitter.  One way to put on the glitz is from reflective paper and I sure do have tons.  I stamped & embossed the birdcage and sentiment in silver on turquoise paper.  We had a color challenge a while back to use turquoise & silver and I think it's an elegant combination:
My bow is a little wonky-gotta straighten that out.  The white paper is from Simon Says Stamp and comes with the woodgrain embossing.
 
I was so inspired by the many bloggers who made cards for the challenges - I'm still going thru the cards in my challenge and thanking everyone for submitting a card.  I hope ya'll will consider being a hostess the next time around - it really is a lot of fun!
 
Next up - boot camp!


Sunday, February 17, 2013

VCMP Challenge #8

Donna's VCMP challenge at Indiana Inking is Washi Tape.  I do own some rolls, but I don't use it very often, so I was happy to have a chance to pull it out.  My washi tape here is from Simon Says Stamp - the "With Love".  I simply placed the tape over a piece of cardstock - very easy.
 
The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday and those are heart brads on the end of the sentiment, which I distressed with Fire Brick.  I have tons of heart brads...I need to keep using them on cards.
 
OK - on to the next challenge!


Sketch #160 & VCMP Challenges 6 & 7

The great thing about our VCMP this weekend is that my OWH box is filling up! 
Here's sketch #160, which was made from a scrap bundle - Jennifer McGuire's tip for assembling scraps of paper together for a card:
Challenge #6 is from Linda: Things with wheels.  This weekend, I bought a new Tim Holtz stamp set with a car and road tracks.  I distress inked the background with Seedless Preserves, Wild Honey, and Walnut Stain:
 
Challenge #7 is Jen's Caffeine challenge.  I used a SVG file from My Scrap Chick and this card went together in a snap!  Who doesn't love a great cup of coffee - that's what's getting me thru the VCMP!
 
I'm looking at each and every card posted for my challenge - they are all sooo beautiful!  We're lucky to have so many talented ladies donating their time to OWH.  Woo hoo!
 
I wonder what the next challenges will be?  It's like getting a present when they pop up!  I love that.
 


VCMP Challenge #5

Leslie, aka The Crooked Stamper, challenged us to "disappear" a 12x12 sheet of paper.  What a great idea because I've got tons of paper that needs to get disappeared.  I bought this sheet of American Crafts paper (called What's New) on clearance and thought the pins & paper clips would be perfect for a card:
 
Leslie gave us OWH Sketch #63 as a guide and I made 4 cards from my paper, rotatint the sketch around:
The "Just a Note" is an SVG file that I made - if you'd like to have it, let me know and I'll email it too you. 
What a lot of fun and thanks for the great challenge, Leslie!  Let's see if I can keep up with today's challenges.


VCMP Challenges #3 and #4

I enjoyed both of the next VCMP challenges.  #3 is from Bunny Scrap - selective embossing.  I made several samples with my Big Shot to get the pressure just right and here's my card:
Stamps from Our Craft Lounge - Just Bugz.
Embossing folders - Swiss Dots and Circle Dots
Twine from Michael's Recollections brand
 
#4 Challenge - Wings with Things from Penguin Papers. This theme is full of ideas - not only birds but also vehicles that have wings.  I decided on butterflies and used Perfect Pearls to color them in.  Perfect Pearls is so easy to use - I just dipped my paintbrush in water, added some pearls and colored in the butterfly.  If you emboss your image first, the Perfect Pearls resists the embossing and keeps the paint within the lines.
Stamps are from My Favorite Things Inspired by Butterflies Stamp & Die combo set.
I am so inspired by all the work I've seen so far in the challenges - unbelievable!


Saturday, February 16, 2013

VCMP Challenge #2

Woo hoo!  There are so many creative ladies participating in this weekend's VCMP.  The challenges are great and I'm happy to see so many ladies participating in mine.  I'm a little behind today because I went shopping at the Scrap Stamp Art Tour in Columbia, but here's my card for Misty's challenge, which is Cards for Kids:
The horse and sentiment is from the Create a Critter cricut cartridge.  The border punch is from EK Success and papers are from my stash.  This was a lot of fun to put together - thanks for the challenge, Misty!


Zig Zag your cards!

Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Card Making Party!  My challenge for you is to make cards using Zig Zag elements (or more properly known as Chevrons).  There's many ways to spice up your cards with chevrons  - Stamps, Scissors, Rulers, or even Paper. 
 
My sample card uses a Hero Arts Chevron background stamp and I colored in between each chevron with red, white, and blue Inktense pencils.  It will be an Any Hero card:
 
Those chevrons really make a bold statement!  I also created more cards with chevrons in yesterday's post, if you want to check them out.
 
Now it's your turn!  Make a card using a zig zag element and post it below.
I'm also giving away blog candy to a randomly chosen comment, which is a 6x6 SEI paper pad and matching embellishments:
Zig that zag, ladies!  I can't wait to see what you come up with!
 
 
 


Friday, February 15, 2013

Just a few card shares.....

This has been the longest week ever for me and it's always good to wind down doing some crafting.  I'm looking forward to OWH's Virtual Card Making Party (VCMP) this weekend and some shopping!
 
This week's cards for me:
I made my own chevron mask, then spray misted them with Mr. Huey mists.  The sentiment is Technique Tuesday on vellum.
I cut the chevrons and "hi" on my Cricut.  Kept this one pretty simple.
 
The chevrons are actually from my Creative Memories square punch. You punch the smaller square, then slide the paper over into the larger square and you get a framed square edge.  Then I cut those in half to make chevrons.
I still use these punches!  The sentiment and background stamp is from Simon Says Stamp.
See you all tomorrow for the VCMP!
 
 


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

OWH Midweek Throwdown

Our MWT challenge at OWH is to use colors from our state flag for our card.  Here's South Carolina's flag:
See?  I've got two colors - blue and white.  Two.  Yep that's right - two.  Just two.
 
But that's what a challenge is, right?  I kept the card simple and cut out the background and the word "Sympathy" in white for a 4.25 square card:
Did I mention that I had two colors?  Do you hear me whining?  OK, OK I'm done!
 
Next time, can we do state flowers, please?  South Carolina's got a great state flower!
 


OWH Tuesday tutorial - ink sprays!

This week's tutorial at OWH is all about ink sprays, which I've been using a lot lately. I bought several Mister Huey inks when one of my local scrapbook stores was going out of business and I enjoy using them to make unique backgrounds.
 
 I used a template from The Crafter's Workshop on my first card and sprayed it with Mister Huey's Dewey mist:
Sentiment is from Hero Arts. 
I got all ambitious on my second card and cut my own template for misting.  I spent about an hour flicking out all the little pieces, but now I've got a template that I can use again. 
Sentiment is from Paper Trey Ink.
 
Now I'm tired!  Ha ha - it was a lot fun, though!


Sunday, February 10, 2013

Groovin on Sunday

It's funny how one idea leads to another...this card totally started out with no inspiration.  It started when I found a purple Smooch spritz in my stash and thought - I'll make some background paper!
 
Then I was wandering around Office Depot and found Post it notes with adhesive across the entire note.  I punched flower dies out of it and put it on a piece of white cardstock, like so:
 
I put the cardstock in a box and sprayed purple Smooch ink all over it:
I left it out overnight to dry, but didn't know what I would use it for.  This morning, I saw the Groovy digi at Designs on Cloud 9 and got my inspiration! 
After buying the digi stamp, I traced it in SCAL and cut out the pieces of the bus, putting the Groovy day sentiment with it.  There's also a piece of purple washi tape at the bottom.  This card is loosely based on today's sketch:
 
Well, that was a long story, but it tells ya how my creativity works - randomly.  I'm going to make another card for my son's birthday because he's always wanted to own a VW bus.
 
I wanted to give a shout out to Club Scrap who recently posted an OWH writeup on their blog.  They encourage their cardmakers to support OWH and give us inspiration with their sketches.  Way to go, Club Scrap!
 
Hope the rest of your Sunday is groovy!
 


Wednesday, February 6, 2013

OWH MWT and ODBD challenges

Happy Wednesday! OWH's midweek throwdown is cards for kids.  I diecut birds from Lettering Delight's Mulberry Lane and used a stamp from My Pink Stamper:
 
I also made a card for this month's Our Daily Bread Design Challenge.  When I think of fruit, all I could think of was fruit puns:
 
The grapes were a free file from SVG Cuts: Grapes tag.  I may make some more punny fruit cards to add to my OWH box. 
 
Hope you're all having a great day.  Thanks so much for your comments.


Monday, February 4, 2013

Blog Candy Winner!

Hi everyone!  I was late getting on to my computer tonight to choose the blog candy winner from this weekend's OWH Blog Skip.  I used random number generator and it chose commenter #2 - Kathy S!

I'll send you an email, Kathy.

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments and joining in the Blog Skip!
 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

OWH Sketch #158

What a weekend!  I was happy to read all of the lovely comments from everyone from OWH's Blogskip. Thanks so much! Tomorrow night I'll pick one of the comments for my blog candy.
 
Today is our weekly OWH sketch challenge - #158:
 
Here's my card, which I started before the Super Bowl and finished during halftime:
I paper pieced the Floating Blossoms Hero Arts flower stamp (something I've never done before) and popped up the pieces with foam tape. The paper is Echo Park, This & That, with a ribbon from my stash. 
 
This card also fits the latest challenge over at A Blog Named Hero, so I'm entering my card there too:
If the rest of the Super Bowl is a snoozer, I'm switching it to Downton Abbey!  Hopefully, my husband will be asleep by then...he he!   Have a lovely Sunday!
 
 


Saturday, February 2, 2013

OWH Blogskip - Cards with Critters

Hello everyone and welcome to OWH’s Cards with Critters Blogskip!  We’ve got a talented bunch of ladies providing ideas today and I’m excited to be part of the group.  In fact, I may have gone overboard with three cards, making this blogpost a little long - so be sure to check out my blog candy at the end! 
My chosen critter?  Why, cats of course, since two of them allow me to coexist with them (cats are such snobs).
Cat Card #1
 I colored the stamp with my Inktense pencils, trying to make him look like my calico cat, Suzume.  I mounted him on black cardstock and used Vintage Photo to distress the image. 
 I embossed the paws behind the striped paper with clear embossing powder and my final touch was some black twine at the top.  Every time I read the sentiment, it makes me smile!
Stamp: Feline Set from Art Impressions
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Inktense pencils
Vintage Photo Distress Ink
 
Cat Card #2
 I cut the cat from the Nifty Fifties cartrdige, using gray cardstock. This one is in honor of my other cat, Lucy. The striped paper had a stripe of brown, which didn't match my black card, so I adhered a piece of black paper over the brown stripes.
Stamp: My Pink Stamper
Paper: Basic Grey Out of Print
Striped and gray papers from my stash
 
Cat Card #3
This kitty is from an SVG file.  I had a small bit of striped paper that I cut into dots which pulls all the colors together.  I drew her smile and whiskers by hand and chalked her face and paws a bit.
 
Papers from my stash
Stamp from Friends Furever, embossed in white
 
Now on to the blog candy!  I'm giving away a Teresa Collins Fabrications Canvas 6x6 paper pad and the Hot Air Balloon Collage stamp from TPC Studio.  Just leave me a comment if you'd like to win it and I'll draw the names by Monday, Feb 4th at 6:00 pm EST and email the winner.
  
 
Now skip on over to the next stop, which is Joann Ross. If you get lost along the way, you can always start at the beginning here: Stars and Stamps.
 
Happy skipping!