One in a minon!

Since getting my Silhouette, I've been looking at blogs that create Studio files and one is the Pretty Paper Pretty Ribbons blog.  She's got a lot of great cutting files and when I found her Minions, I was hooked!  I cut a small army of them and made cards like this:

The sentiment is computer generated and the paper is from the Boy Scout pack that I'm still sorting through.  It was a lot of fun to make and I'm entering this into the OWH Midweek Throwdown, which is Cards 4 Kids (one of my fave challenges). 

 

Her Minion cutting files are here: Minion cutting files in case you'd like to produce an army of them.

 

Thanks for stopping by!



Pastel challenge

The midweek throwdown challenge at OWH is Pastels .  This card was my third attempt - I tried purples, then pinks and finally pulled out the DCWV Linen Closet stack, which is blues and browns. 

 

I guess circles have been on my mind from last Sunday's OWH sketch because I used them again here:

Through trial and error, I learned to punch the dark blue circle ring first (it's 2.5 inches), then use it as a guide to layer the 1.25 circles underneath it.  The sentiment is stamped on a 2 inch circle.

 

The dots are white Liquid Pearls.  This is a good card to use up those scraps, which I have tons of!

 

Thanks for stopping by!



The key to my heart

My card for this week's OWH sketch was made from scraps on my desk and became a feminine card very quickly.  It started with a chipboard key that I embossed in white, which I paired with a piece of watercolor paper that I stenciled with Distress Inks:

 

The circles are made from vellum and embossed with the Swiss Dots folder.  I had a tough time lining up those circles!  I adhered a bit of ATG tape to a 5.5 inch of strip of paper, stuck down the circles, then adhered the entire strip to the back of my distress paper.

 

I embossed the purple card as well because I thought it needed some interest too.  Lots of embossing here - dry and wet - and I went into the purple zone too - always a tough color for me.

 

I'm entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Emboss it .

 

Have a great MLK day!

 

 

 

Mojo Monday #328

A happy chilly Saturday to ya!  I've been working through 12x12 sheets of Boy Scout paper leftover from an album I made my son.  The dark colors work great for masculine cards and they coordinate with the new Hero Arts Lil Hoot stamp set.  I colored the cute bear with Copic brown markers:

 

This is a great sketch because it uses lots of layers and paper. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!



Bunny love

I'm in the middle of making masculine cards, but stopped for a bit to make an Easter card for OWH.  I pulled out Easter stamps from Our Craft Lounge to make this card:

 

I colored him in Copics and kept it simple. 

 

I'm also entering this card in the Anything Goes challenge at Through the Craft Room Door.

Now, back to those masculine cards!



Love card

Today's sketch at OWH is great for using a busy background paper, like the one in the January SSS card kit.  I made this card in about 10 minutes!

Sentiment is from Hero Arts OWH Fundraiser set #LP278.

 

Our sketch:

That's it for me right now - thanks for checking in.

 



Monster love

Hello from rainy South Carolina!  We've had some real thunder-boomers move through our town today and I've stayed inside until they move on outta here.  I've been using the January SSS card kit today to make some cards.  One of my resolutions is to use up one kit before I order another...we'll see how that goes for me this year.

 

I love the monster with three eyes stamp and made a Silhouette cut file of him so I could avoid fussy-cutting it out.  This is one of the cards I made with the monster:

 

The woodgrain paper in the kit is awesome and I made a simple card to show off that paper:

 

My last card involved more work, but I'm pleased with it.  I'm entering it into the CAS-ual Friday challenge: In a word .  My word: Love!

 

I cut the word on my Silhouette using the Gloucester font and the "you" is a die from Simon Says Stamp.  The background stamp is Hero Arts.

 

Well, that's it for me today.  Gotta do some housework now...boo hoo.... 

Thanks for stopping by!



You are so loved

Now that I'm learning how to use my Silhouette, it's time to put it to use and make a card.  I used this cute bear and balloons cut file from Miss Kate's Cuttables to make this card:

I cut the balloons out of glitter paper and it took 4 cuts to get through the heavy paper, but the Silhouette cut it precisely.  I cut this same file on my Cricut and it was not good (sad trombone sound), so I'm so happy with my new toy!

 

I made the background for the little bear with a Hero Arts background stamp and the sentiment is by Paper Smooches.

 

I'm entering this happy bear into the following challenges:

Silhouette Challenge #9

Pause Dream Enjoy Challenge #1

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

Doodlepantry and Chalkboard technique

Hello there, frozen bloggers!  We're going to climb out of our deep freeze here tomorrow and I cannot wait!  To keep me warm and busy, I cards for a few challenges.

 

I have fallen in love with Doodlepantry images since they offered a set for OWH and using my Silhouette to print and cut them makes it so easy to use them on cards.  I had this cute elephant printed out and went through my scraps to create this quick card:

 

I stretched my green paper by piecing it behind Mr. Elephant and the dots around the edges are done using a Pearl Pen. This is my first time entering the Doodlepantry monthly challenge and I'm going to do this regularly - check it out over at their blog here . You get a featured digi image just for playing along, which is wonderful!

 

This week's throwdown challenge over at OWH is a chalkboard technique.  I learned this last year, but this time, I used the Picket Fence Distress marker to make the shadow effect on my embossed images:

I went over some of the embossed swirls with Inktense pencils to add a little color.  It was fun to revisit this technique.  Great challenge idea!

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 



One more card for today....

Before I head off to catch Season 4 of Downton Abbey, I made a card for today's OWH Sunday sketch challenge - #206 .  I used a Doodle Pantry image, which I just learned how to Print and cut with my new Silhouette.  I didn't follow the sketch exactly and it has the colors of the Denver Broncos, which is a team I know that Cheryl at Gone Scrappin  roots for, so I hope she likes it:

 

Just to warn ya, Cheryl - the Carolina Panthers may be playing your Broncos soon!  Ha ha!  It's all good fun to root for your home team.  That would be a fun challenge - to make a card using a team's colors?  Mid week throwdown perhaps?

 

 



Angled background or using up those scraps!

Papertrey Ink's latest Make it Monday challenge is here and it's a great idea on how to use up scraps of paper to make an interesting background piece.  I went through my scraps to create this card:

The sentiment is from PTI and I was so happy to use a bit of purple on a card, for once!  If you're interested in learning the technique, be sure to check out the link above to watch the tutorial.  I've already made several cards using up those scraps.  Sadly, I've still got tons of scraps left.....

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

   

Challenges for Saturday

Hello!  I'm entering a few card challenges today - a good way to keep that creativity flowing. 

 

The first is a new card challenge blog started by two OWH bloggers - Words 2 Scrap by.  The challenges take their inspiration from words and this month's challenge is to use a lyric from "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.  I listened to the song and chose the words - "wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings" and imagined geese flying against a setting sun.

 

Here's my card:

 

First I made a circle mask for the moon and put it onto the watercolor paper.  Then, I used Distress Inks to create the sunset background, which I misted over with Perfect Pearls.  The geese are from the Silhouette store (#5442), stamp from Technique Tuesday. 

 

This challenge pushed me to try a new technique and that's always a good thing.

 

The second challenge is the monthly Our Daily Bread Designs challenge at OWH , which is stripes.  Here's my card:

I used three Memento Dew Drop inks and made a simple design, pulling the colors from the striped paper.  I used OWH sketch #201 for this card design:

 

I'm still looking over the many cards posted in the OWH Top 13 of 2013 blog hop and writing down cards that I want to CASE.  There's so much inspiration in the blog world.

 

Hope you have a chance to enter these challenges in between the football playoffs, that is!

 

 

Top 13 in 2013





It's time for the OWH Top 13 bloghop!
I've learned so much in 2013 as a cardmaker - from online card classes and OWH, to card bloggers everywhere.  I've picked 13 cards from this year where I used a technique that was new to me.  I added a link that either inspired me or explains the technique, in case you're interested.

 

#1 - Partial embossing  

Stamp TV - Partial Embossing



 

#2 - Creating a strong focal point (Bootcamp lesson)

OWH Feb 2013 bootcamp lesson

 

#3 - Using 12x12 paper to make several cards at once

Disappearing act

 

#4 - Copic coloring

Copic coloring

 

#5 - Creating a shabby chic style card

CASE'd the style here: Leas Cupcakes

#6 - Making my own diecuts for a misted background
Diecuts with misting 



#7 - Layering elements on a card
Layering tips


#8 - Window card
A Blog Named Hero - Window card


#9 - Making one layer cards (still scares me!)

Kristina Werner - one layer card

 

#10 - Using a photo on a card

Julie's photo challenge

 

#11 - Coloring with a die

OWH ICP

 

#12 - Negative/Positive die cut

Hero Arts Negative Positive technique

 

#13 - Plaid stamping

Laura Bassen plaid stamping

 

Come on and hop along with us at Operation Write Home and show us your Top 13 cards!

 

Have a great New Year's day!