Thursday, May 29, 2014

1 Stamp, 4 ways

I bought the Filigree stamp from Mama Elephant and used it in several different ways and techniques.  I took my color cue from this week's pink/gray color challenge at OWH and off I went!  
Card #1: - Miss You
  I embossed the filigree in silver and the sentiment is embossed in pink. 

Card #2 - Love
I embossed the filigree in white on watercolor paper and used Tim Holtz Distress markers to color it in.  I then cut it in half and in half again to use as corner pieces on the card.

Card #3 - Thank you
I did the same embossing as before but this time, I used watercolors to color in the filigree.  It turned out with a softer glow this time.

Card #4 - Happy Birthday
I embossed the filigree and used different Distress Markers.  I cut it in half and layered it over scalloped circles.  Sentiment is Hero Arts Fancy Basics.

I stretched myself to use the stamp in different ways and love how beautiful the cards came out.
Since I worked so hard, I'm entering these cards into the following challenges:

4 Crafty chicks - Anything goes
In the Pink - Shabby Chic



Monday, May 26, 2014

Thank you cards

With high school graduation coming up soon, it seems I've got a lot of thank you cards to send out.  I used this week's OWH sketch - #226  - as inspiration for one of them.
The flower is from the Silhouette online store - #33935; stamps by Hero Arts Everyday Sayings.  I discovered that gold gets along with well with purple, a color that really challenges me.

I didn't have enough papers left over to make another card like this one, so I pulled out my new Hero Arts Tiny Flag stamp and made several thank you cards (inspired by Jennifer McGuire -here  ):
My last thank you cards are intended for my son's music teachers - all male.  A masculine musical thank you card - that's a mouthful!  I used Tim Holtz papers, tags and metal embellishment for my card:
I cut the instruments on my Silhouette and inked them with Aged Mahogany and Forest Moss.
I went to Joann's today and they had tons of clearance prices on Tim Holtz items - I stocked up!  Woohoo!  You might want to check that out, if you've got a Joanns near you.

I'm entering my masculine card in the following challenges:
Hobby Cutz - Vintage
Glitter N Sparkle - Metal
Pile it on - Add some metal

Thanks for stopping by!




OWH Bloghop candy winner

Congrats to StampnK - the winner of my bloghop candy.  I've emailed you. 

This is one of my favorite styles of card...distressed and vintage!


 If I don't hear from you by next Sunday, I'll select another winner.  Thanks to everyone who left so many nice comments.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

OWH Memorial Day 2014 + blog candy

Welcome to the 2014 OWH Memorial Day blog hop!  This is a great time to get inspired by many talented card makers and learn about OWH.  I made an Any Hero card, which is given directly to a service member.  I used sketch #215 (see why this is  my favorite sketch  and download my cutting formula) for my card:

Paper is October Afternoon Sasparilla.

I'm giving away stamps and paper to a lucky commenter.  I'll draw names on Sunday, May 25 at 7 pm EST and send you an email. Here's my goodies to send out:

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Happy Birthday cards

The midweek throwdown at OWH is to make masculine and feminine birthday cards.  I usually make two cards at the same time, so that's no problem for me.  For inspiration, I looked at the His & Hers  class that I took last year and CASE'd these two cards:
The technique uses vellum colored with Copics.  I think I'd cut the "Happy" on the guy card in black next time, but otherwise, I'm satisfied with the results.  On the feminine card, I used Imaginisce brads - a neglected embellishment in my collection.

Hope you have a great Thursday and I'm looking forward to this weekend's OWH bloghop!

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

My favorite OWH sketch...so far

Out of the more than 200+ OWH sketches, my hands-down favorite is #215:


When we get a new OWH sketch, I try to set up a cutting recipe to make the card layers quick and I was able to do that with this sketch.  You'll need three 6x6 design papers and one 6x6 layering paper and you can create 2 cards in about 5 minutes.  Yes!  It can be done!  

Here's two cards that I made in that time:


I put together my cutting recipe in a PDF that you can download at this link here.  I wrote and created layouts to show you how to cut each 6x6 paper.  I hope this helps explain the process.

I'd love to hear your feedback - were you able to follow my instructions?  Did you find any issues?  Let me know in the comments.  If you like it, I'll try creating another formula for an OWH sketch.

The paper comes from Basic Grey; sentiments from Hero Arts Year Round Sentiment set.
Adding this to last week's OWH MWT: Miss You cards.

Thanks for stopping by!



Saturday, May 17, 2014

Stuck on U sketch

I'm busy with my scrapbooks this weekend and I'm finishing up one about our trip to New York City.  I wanted to create a one page layout about our stop at Patsy's Pizzeria and used the latest sketch from Stuck on U Sketches:

Papers are by SEI; sentiment is #58274 by Lori Whitlock in the Silhouette store.  I remember this lunch stop as a nice break in our busy day touring NYC and this restaurant had yummy pizza!

I hope you're having a crafty weekend too!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Sketch N Scrap + an OWH sketch card

My uncooperative laptop as made me late in posting my card for this week's OWH sketch - #224.  I made two cards with this sketch:
Sentiments are by Doodle Pantry.

I managed to fit in some time for scrapbooking and made a page using the May "Inspired by" sketch from Sketch N Scrap:

This page uses Graphic 45 paper and documents our visit to the Jekyll & Hyde restaurant in NYC.  We're not allowed to take photos inside, which I learned after snapping the skeleton and Dracula, so I had to journal about the visit.  I used my Silhouette and the Chiller font to create the title for the page.  It's always fun to get back to my scrapping, even if I'm 5 years behind!

Thanks for stopping by and happy hump day to ya!



Saturday, May 10, 2014

Watercolor technique

I love the watercolor techniques in the Watercolor card class and I'm learning that practice makes perfect.  The card below was my third attempt!  I can't reveal the technique used, but here's the card:

I'm sending this to my mother-in-law, who surprised me with a quilt wall hanging this week.  I'm going to enter this into the following challenges:


I enjoyed a great Saturday today cropping with some friends.  I hope you had a great day too!

Monday, May 5, 2014

Happy Mother's Day to my sister

I used this Sketch #223  at OWH to make a Mother's Day card for my sister.  (I know - waiting until the last minute!)  The images on my card are by Doodle Pantry - the Petite Bouquet::


Although the photo doesn't show, I distressed the image with Antique Linen to blend in with the shabby papers by MME Dolled Up.  I was so happy that this Doodle Pantry set came with multiple sentiments for mothers, sisters and in-laws.  It was perfect!

I'm entering this in the Mother's Day challenge over at The Squirrel and the Fox which is sponsored by Doodle Pantry.  

Thanks for stopping by and happy Monday to ya!

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Happy NSD!

For the first time in years, I'm not at a crop on National Scrapbook Day.  I can still join in the fun and be a rebel by making cards today, though.  I made two for a couple of challenges.

Paula "broke" into the OWH site and challenged us to be a Rebel with a cause  today and make a card for one of the categories in need.  I made a Miss You themed card:
The sentiment is from the Hero Arts Year Round set.  This card is definitely a scrap card and it's something I make when I'm at the end of a 6x6 pad and all I've got left are strips.  I cut them into various widths and stick them onto a piece of paper, then trim it down to the size I want.  

My next card fits two challenges.  The first is the May ODBD  challenge, which is embossing.  I used a free SVG file from Short N Scrappy ( clock ) to cut out my main image.  Then I embossed it with antique gold embossing powder to give it an aged look:
The papers are from Tim Holtz.  This card also fits into this week's Cardz 4 Guyz challenge - Time.   

It's great to see everyone's cards today and I hope to see you all tomorrow for the weekly OWH sketch!