A shape card

It's fun to go back to the beginning when all I had was my Cricut.  One of my first Cricut cartridges was Wild Card, which I've used a lot over the years, however, I do forget it, and when I saw this week's Shape card challenge at FCCB , I thought I'd dust it off for a fun card.

 

This is the doily card on page 52 of the cartridge, cut at 4.5 inches so it will fit into an A2 envelope.  The card sketch design is from this week's Mojo Monday challenge:

Papers are from the Nov 2012 Simon Says Stamp card kit.  Sentiment is Paper Smooches.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 



Holiday cards

Hi there!  I'm back from vacation and ready to get back to my craft desk and continue working on those holiday cards for Operation Write Home.  Using today's OWH sketch, I made this card:

The stamps are from Paper Smooches; the present is a Simon Says Stamp die.  I just love that little dog!  I'm going to enter this in the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.

 

 

 

While I was on vacation, I lost my Nikon DSLR camera, so I'm shooting with my point-and-shoot camera.  I'm on the hunt for another D40 Nikon now - boo hoo!

 

Thanks for stopping in and have a nice Sunday!

 



Blogging break

I'll be taking a blogging break while I'm on vacation, driving the Blue Ridge Parkway.

 

 

I'll catch up with ya'll in a week or so.



A mermaid card

This is my last night for crafting for a week because I'm going on vacation.  I put together this card for the Simon Says Stamp By the Sea challenge and used this week's Mojo Monday sketch for the design:

I embossed the kraft base with the Swirly embossing folder and rubbed white chalk ink on it.  The papers are from Creative Imaginations; sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs and I added a piece of lace at the bottom. 

 

This is a dreamy card to me - perhaps because I'm dreaming of my vacation!  Ha ha.

 

Thanks for stopping by.



Summer Card Camp - Week 2 Day 3

Here's a card that I made for today's Summer Card Camp:

I did plaid stamping with Hero Arts Pool and Soft Olive inks and overstamped with a brown ink.  I decided to make hexagons out of the stamping and placed them on an angle.  It turned it to be a masculine card, to me.  It loosely follows sketch #3.

 

My next card is for this week's Christmas in July challenge at Operation Write Home :

 

On a Kraft card base, I stamped & embossed the snowflakes.  I laid a piece of vellum over that, added a gold border and the white lace.  The tree is cut from vellum and white cardstock.  The little silver bow is from my stash.

 

Thanks for stopping by!



OWH Design bootcamp

I'm pausing during my Summer Card camp class to make a few cards for OWH's Design Bootcamp - Get Your Priorities straight!  Paula puts together great tutorials for us and this one teaches us how to select colors.  She's got lots of color combinations to choose from, but I used the papers that were on my craft table to make these cards:

 

The three colors are teal, white, and yellow. 

On this card, I used black, teal, and white.

 

Yesterday, I was struggling to use four colors on a card and gave up!  Three colors is much easier and less frustrating, so this will be something I'll keep in mind on future cards.

 

Thanks so much for the monthly class, Paula!

 



Summer Card Camp - Week 2 Day 1

Yeah!  It's another week of Summer Card Camp.  Here's today's card:

 

After I finished the card, I realized that I only followed this week's color scheme, but not any of the sketches!  Oh well! The trees and sentiment are Hero Arts.

 

I cut the card on my Cricut as well as the circle watercolor paper that I embossed with a background stamp, then rubbed Peacock Feathers on for my sky.  The trees are also from watercolor paper that I inked with Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters.  The brown ground give the trees a place to rest with a bit of white snow.

 

Thanks for checking in!



OWH Sketch #181

Today is Sketch #181 at Operation Write Home and it's truly a challenge:

I noticed that there's a mistake in the measurements - the top & bottom pieces should be .75 x 5.25 instead of .75 x 4 inches. I turned the sketch because I was working with a leftover piece of heart paper that would've been sideways if I didn't turn the sketch!

This was toughie for me!

I made another card using the great Scrappy backgrounds tutorial:

I also made another window card:

And finished an Art Journal page:

Yes - I spent most of the afternoon crafting, but I enjoyed it!

Speaking of my art journal, next week I'm taking the Technique Toolbox class at Big Picture classes.  I'm nuts to have two classes going on at the same time, but I'm having fun learning how to art journal and this class offers a lot of techniques that I want to learn!

All of these classes wouldn't be a problem for me if I didn't have to work!  Ha ha - but if I didn't have a job, I wouldn't be able to afford the class.

 

Hope you have a restful Sunday and I'll catch ya'll tomorrow!

 

 

 



Summer Card Class - Day 5 + some challenges

I've been so busy with Summer Card class, that I'm behind posting entries for some other fun challenges, so today's post is a catch up for me.

 

First up is the card for Friday's challenge, which is a window card and embossed acetate.  I admit that when I first saw this card, I thought it was too complicated, but it went together in a jiff:

 

 

My next card is for this week's Muse challenge.  Our inspiration card is:

I loved that one of the flamingoes stood out from the others.  I reversed the colors and used July's free digital from Birdie Brown:

In my world, pink dolphins exist!

My last card is for this week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I pieced the banner together using papers from the July Simon Says Stamp kit.  I liked this sketch and though it would go with a lot of ideas in my head.

 

I'm hoping to play with today's OWH sketch too.

 

Thanks for checking in!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Summer Card Camp - Day 4

I'm happy to be able to keep up with the daily homework at the Summer Card Camp.  Today's challenge is to make a card in 10 minutes - something I've been wanting to try for a while.

 

I think you absolutely have to have a sketch in mind to accomplish this and I chose OWH sketch #25:

I gathered my supplies and made this card, with 2.57 minutes left to spare!

Supplies are from the July Simon Says Stamp card kit.  The flowers/brad are from my stash.

 

I think I'll try this again.

Thanks for stopping by!

 



Summer Card Camp - Day 3

We had another day of inspiration for the Summer Card Camp!  I used masking and embossing to create this card, based on Sketch #1:

 

I used Quick Quotes Powder Puff chalk inks and the stamps are the Sweet William flowers from Our Daily Bread Designs.

 

My next card is for this week's Mid Week throwdown at Operation Write Home.  The challenge is to make a masculine card and here's a Thinking of You card I made:

 

The green paper is from my stash and I made the tan background using an Impression Obsession Splatter stamp.  I embossed the stamp and then used Distress Inks over it.  The sailboat is a K&Company sticker.

 

Glad to have met the halfway of this work week!

Thanks for stopping by.

Summer Card Camp - Day 2

Today's camp homework is stamping techniques and I was inspired by Tami Hartley's stamping on painted backgrounds.  I made my own stencil, using a cutting file from A Little Hut and used a Tim Holtz background stamp in archival ink:

 

I used Ranger Distress Paint Broken China to make the background for the flowers, which are the Sweet William flowers from Our Daily Bread Designs.

 

This is the first time I used Distress Paints and I loved it.  I think I'll turn this idea into an Art Journal page too!

 

Thanks for stopping by.



Summer Card Camp - Day 1

Hello bloggers!  Cardmaking is an art form, right?  When I get to play around with paints/inks, I feel like the guy in the Subaru commercial that gets his first art easel:

 

2013 Subaru Commercial with painting

 

Ha ha!  I just love his expression when he sees it for the first time.  After making some art with inks, I turned them into these cards:

I played with alcohol inks on transparency in the above card and voila!  I'm an artist!  Ha ha - well, maybe not yet, but I was pretty happy with it.  I'm entering this card in the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger Tangerine challenge, which has this image as our inspiration:

 

Today is the first day of Summer Card camp.  While I can't divulge all the details, here's my card, using Sketch #2 flipped on its side:

"Smile" - Going Places Cricut Cartridge

Mouth - Lettering Delights Lip Smackers

 

This is a different style for me and I had fun putting it together.  Catch ya tomorrow for more class homework!

 

 

 

 

Finding inspiration

Thank goodness for Kristie at The best things in life are Pink!  I was about ready to give up on today's OWH sketch and her card inspired me to turn the sketch on its side, which worked.

 

First, let me show you first two cards, that are just, well, OK:

I used alcohol inks and an air compressor to create that wild background. The "Hello" sentiment fit in, but I had no idea what to do for the second rectangle, so I created a mosaic with bits of paper.  Hmmm....now my next card:

The flower is a transparency print.  The Hello is from Hero Arts and I thought a script font was more feminine, but I'm not sure about those butterflies??  That second rectangle was driving me crazy!

 

My third card is better after flipping the sketch:

The lights and sentiment are from Technique Tuesday's Bright Idea.  I made the bottom chevron with a Hero Arts stamp and different colors of Distress Ink.

 

Thanks for reading all the way through my blogpost.  It's nice to get inspiration from another OWH cardmaker - that's why I read almost every post!

 

Tomorrow starts another online card class for three weeks!  Yippee!  They're so much fun.  If you want to sign up, go to Online Card Classes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Stampin' on Saturday

There's been a few challenges that I wanted to enter and I made some cards today for them. 

 

Muse challenge #24 had this card as the inspiration:

 

The green and black color combo was interesting to me and I used Cupcake party stamp set from Simon Says Stamp for my card.  I used the woodgrain embossed paper, which is hard to see in the picture:

 

My next card uses this sketch from Unscripted Sketches

 

I used the same stamp set and papers from the July Simon Says Stamp kit.  I didn't follow the sketch exactly, but I was happy with the results.

 

My last card is a Christmas one, which I'm submitting to the Merry Monday July Challenge.  Last year was my first full year making cards for Operation Write Home and I started on my holiday cards too late.  Now I know to get started earlier!

 

 

I think this card used every tool I have!  The doll is from the Going Places cricut cartridge, which I edged with Tea Dye distress ink.  I punched snowflakes and her wreath from the Martha Stewart leaf punch.  I used an Inktense pencil to color her hair and glued things down with Glossy Accents.

 

I created the faux stitching along the edge with my Signo white pen.  This qualifies the card for this month's ODBD challenge for Operation Write Home. 

 

It's been so rainy here in South Carolina that this was a good day to craft indoors.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 



Sympathy cards

I took a day off from work today and finished up some scrapbooking.  I don't know what my scrapbook alternative will be now that Creative Memories is in bankruptcy. :-( 

 

I needed a few sympathy cards and here's the first one:

 

I think teal and silver make a calming color combination. I used a Memory Box die and mounted it on a piece of vellum.

 

My second card:

My focal point is a piece of watercolor paper, white embossed with a floral stamp and then colorwashed with Distress Inks Peacock Feathers and Shaded Lilac.  The vellum behind is from my stash. 

 

It takes me a long time to put together these type of cards - I want them to be simple yet elegant.

 

I'm entering this card in a new card challenge blog - An Inky Situation. 

 

Take care.

 

 



Happy Fourth of July!

Hello!  Happy Fourth of July to ya!  I hope you've got plans to relax and enjoy today.  Our fireworks plan may not happen with our rainy weather here, but I'm still enjoying a day off.

 

I made two cards for some challenges today - all patriotic in keeping with our holiday.

 

This card is for the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge:

 

I white embossed the Hero stamp and then used my Inktense pencils to wash the red/blue over it.  (Kristina Werner showed this technique today and I totally CASE'd it!)  I really really wanted to embellish it more, but just kept it simple.  This card also fits this week's OWH midweek throwdown color challenge of red, white, blue and kraft.

 

My next card will be another AnyHero card for the FCCB Red White and Blue challenge:

The My Hero is cut from the Stand and Salute cartridge, which I placed over a piece of embossed Kraft paper.  The stars are from the same cartridge, placed over a piece of jute.

 

Have a great day and thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog.



Yippee!

What goes around, comes around, right?  From the OWH Memorial Day bloghop, I found the Ranger Ink blog and then from an OWH tutorial, I was inspired to make a card that I entered in one of the June Ranger contest.

 

Yesterday, I learned that I was one of the contest winners!  I can't wait to see what Ranger goodies I receive (plus a bit of Jersey sand, I hope).  Thanks, Ranger!

 

All this excitement inspired me to continue using Distress Inks to make a card.  The stencil is from Crafter's Workshop and the inks used are Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade and Crushed Olive:

 

I kept the sentiment simple to let the design show on the card.  I used this same stencil with alcohol inks and it came out very different - will make a card with that soon.

 

I'm entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge and will add it to Sandy A's Inky Tutorial. 

 

A happy day!  Sure hope yours was happy too!