Wednesday, June 25, 2014

A groovy day!

When I checked on this week's Fantabulous Cricut Challenge, I knew I had to participate because it's a color  challenge, using purple, yellow and gray.  I've been using more purple in my cards lately and the first idea I had was a dinosaur, from Create a Critter:
Actually, all the elements are from that cartridge (except the sentiment):
Purple - Dinosaur
Yellow - Sun
Gray - clouds

I made a second card using the groovy van  from the Silhouette store:
Purple - van
Yellow - sun
Gray - van windows & front bumper

The sun is from Create a Critter and the sentiment is free from Bross Art - here.  (Scroll down to see it)
I love that van - they're now a vintage auto!  Makes me feel old....

Thanks for stopping by!



Monday, June 23, 2014

Sympathy card for the vet

This week my daughter brought home a kitten that she was only supposed to babysit and find a home for and well, you know how that goes.   We adopted him and now I've got two cats again.  When we took him to the vet for his shots, I remembered how considerate they were when one of my cats died last year.  They even sent me a sympathy card, which I thought was nice.  I'm going to make them a small set of sympathy cards to send other pet owners and used this week's Fusion card challenge to start off that set of cards:

I adhered a piece of vellum to white cardstock and added gold paper around it.  The gold flower is from an SEI 6x6 paper pad and the sentiment is from the Hero Arts Year Round set, stamped in Delicata Gold ink.  I even used some lace ribbon at the top!  My next set of sympathy cards may be a bit simpler, but I enjoyed fusing the sketch and inspiration photo together for this challenge.

Since today's Sunday, I also made cards for this week's OWH sketch - #230.  In my own personal challenge to use more purple, my first card uses a purple/green combination:
I inked the background with an embossing folder using a technique Jennifer McGuire recently shared.  It was one of those OMG - I have to try that! videos - seen here.

My next card is a masculine version, using scraps:
I embossed the background with gold embossing powder.  The brads are punched through to the card on the inside so everything was nice and flat for mailing.

That's it for me today!  Thanks for stopping by.



Saturday, June 21, 2014

You make me smile

A happy hot day to you!  It's a sweltering day here in South Carolina and we're getting our usual afternoon thunderstorms, so it's a good time to make a few cards.  I had quite a time coming up with an idea for this week's Muse challenge card (#72 ), which was designed by Marion Vagg:

I couldn't find any stamps to do the trick, so I used a flower file and cut it on my Cameo.  I made a shadow and cut two different blue glitter papers to fill in behind the flower border:

I cut the "You" from glitter paper, using a die from Simon Says Stamp, which I just bought- again.  I lost my first You die and now I've got that baby adhered to a piece of magnet so that won't happen again!  The rest of the sentiment is from the You SSS stamp set, which I stamped in Versafine black ink and embossed in clear powder.

My second card is for the peach and teal color challenge  at OWH.  I searched through a lot of my papers and couldn't find anything with these two colors, so I made my own background, using the Filigree stamp set from Mama Elephant:
I used two SSS inks - Audrey Blue and Cotton Candy, which came with my SSS haul this week.  Honestly, there's been so many good sales going on that I've bought way too many things!  I'm enrolled in the upcoming Stretch Your Stamps 2 class and they just released the supply list, so there will be yet another box of goodies coming to my door!  But, I do love it - it's like Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by!


Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Smooches to ya!

It's a thrilling Tuesday for me because I received an honorable mention at the Muse challenge blog!  Woohoo!  I feel like the father in A Christmas Story who jumped around all happy for his Major Award!  Yippee.  Thanks so much to the ladies who voted for my card!!!

I made a card from this week's OWH sketch ( #229 ) using the Paper Smooches Chubby Chums set.  I bought this set during the Memorial Day sale and found that those cute little animals fit into the circles from the sketch:

Those happy little faces are a reflection of how I feel today!  Yippee!!

I'm entering this card into this week's Paper Smooches challenge - Anything Goes

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day!



Thursday, June 12, 2014

Octopus hello!

One of the last colors in any set of paper I buy is purple.  I just have such a hard time with it and I've decided to push myself and use it as my first color choice for the rest of this month.  I found a Doodle Pantry image with purple in it - one of the cute octopus designs from Little Octopus .  This little guy was my color inspiration for this card: 
I used my Silhouette to print and cut the octopus and the greeting.  The circle background is design #61195 from the Silhouette store.  I embossed the top half of the card with the Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder.  Purple and green go very well together, so I'm happy that I used up some of my purple paper stash!

I'm entering this card into the Ocean/Sea theme over at the Mod Squad challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by!


Red, white and blue

I regularly follow the Muse challenge blog because the cards are always amazing and the inspiration can be difficult, well, for me, that is!  This week, it's Muse challenge #71  and Therese Calvird's card was our inspiration:
After making my version of her card, I've got a true appreciation for the effort that was put into her card.  I decided to make a patriotic Any Hero card for Operation Write Home and cut out the word "hero" multiple times.  I layered each letter to pop it up, like Therese did:
I did try layering the words on the same background paper, but it stood out better against the striped background, so that's what I went with.  The top layer is backed with red letters, the second with white and the bottom with blue (red, white & blue).   The sentiment is from the Doodlepantry Tree Glee set.  I punched a few stars to go with the sentiment and added some Wink of Stella to make them shine.

Papers are WeR Memory Keepers Red White & Blue.

Edited to add:  Barb over at a2zscrapbooking invited me to join in their June Stars and Stripes challenge, so I'm entering this card over there too.  Thanks for the invitation and I'll be sure to enter more A2Z challenges!


 The mid week throwdown challenge at OWH is kites and I love to using up scraps to make a kite:
Papers are Corinne by SEI.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, June 9, 2014

Clean and Simple hi

Happy Monday!  I try hard to use up all the paper in the stamp kits I buy and it's a challenge to come up with creative ideas for those small leftover pieces.  I love the soft green paper in the June SSS kit and paired it with ecru for a clean look.  I cut a simple "hi" using my Silhouette (#57029) with an offset for the focal point of my card:


The oval frame was something I cut long ago and put in my stash, so I don't know the file.  I backed the frame with the vellum and dots from the kit.  

I'm submitting this card to this week's CAS on Sunday #35 challenge - Paper Piecing

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Sunday sketches

Hey there!  If it's Sunday, that means there's time for me to make cards for a few challenges.  The first one is the latest sketch at Operation Write Home - #228.  I love the layers in this sketch, but I turned it on its side for my card:
Papers and stamps are from the June SSS kit, except for the dark blue and the oval frame, which I cut on my Silhouette.  It's hard to tell, but I layered the frame, vellum and a piece of striped paper behind the sentiment.  

My next card is based on Retro Sketch #118:
I turned this sketch as well - I guess I'm being a rebel today!  

Here's the sketches for both cards in case you want to play along:



Thanks for stopping by and have a great Sunday!


Happy Birthday!

June is a busy month with birthdays and Father's Day card making.  You'd think I'd prepare those cards early, but no, procrastination is an issue for me, so I'm always putting those cards together at the last minute.  Here's one of the birthday cards that went together quickly using scraps and a cut file from the Silhouette online store:


I took my color cue from the pattern paper and love the gray with the brighter colors.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Thanks a melon!

This week cannot end soon enough for me!  Work stress and then an important event - my son's high school graduation - happens this weekend.  I've had few moments for crafting but I still fit some in to keep my sanity.

My card for the OWH midweek throwdown challenge is a Thanks a Melon card.  The theme for the challenge is cheeseburgers/BBQ and since I made a cheeseburger card earlier this year (here), I wanted to try something different.  I think watermelon is a must-have when you've got a BBQ, so I made a watermelon punny card:
I couldn't find a digistamp, so I made my own.  I just love punny phrases!

I'm entering this card over at Pause Dream Enjoy's latest challenge: Food or Beverage.

Have a great day and thanks for your comments!