Muse #99

Happy Sunday to you!  When I looked over this week's Muse challenge (#99) , I was inspired by Vicki's use of negative space and knew I wanted to play along.  I found the shape I was looking for in the Silhouette store and put together my card using strips of DCWV glitzy paper that I've been hoarding.

 

I didn't use the red/white theme from the inspiration card, but rather the idea of paper behind a die cut:

It's a bit of a color departure from Vicki's card, but it gave me an idea that I've never done before, which is always a good thing:

Thanks for stopping by!

 



Muse Challenge #86

Talk about procrastination!  I waited until today to enter the latest Muse challenge - #86!  The card for this week is this beauty by Anita Bowden - 

The sketch inspired me, as well as the lovely blue and green colors.  Like Anita, I started with a round focal point, which is teal vellum embossed with the Hero Arts Classic Fabric stamp.  I used my circle dies to cut a circle frame around the vellum:

Like Anita, I cut the word "Happy" from a coordinating color and embossed the word "birthday" directly on my white panel in Peacock Feathers and clear embossing powder.  

The most difficult part was placing the "Happy" down because I had to add foam tape behind portions of the letters to keep everything even on top.  I'm happy with the end result, though, and I'll use this as a birthday card for my mother in November.

Thanks for the inspiration, Anita!  And thanks to everyone who stops by and leaves me a comment - I appreciate it very much!

Live in the moment

Life can get busy and sometimes it feels like I'm just living moment to moment.  I squeezed in a bit of crafting time today to create a card using embossing paste and Distress Inks.  I've watched a few tutorials on this and decided to give it a go because this week's challenge at Muse is this lovely card:

Bobby encouraged us to try stenciling with paste and I love the multiple colors she used.  For my card, I used a Tim Holtz stencil:

I inked multiple Distress Inks over the embossing paste - Wild Honey, Salty Ocean, Stormy Sky and Walnut Stain.  Like Bobby, I set my sentiment to the side.  While I had my embossing paste and stencils out, I made a few more backgrounds for future cards as well. While my desk is messy, it's fun to keep experimenting, right?

I'm also entering this card into this week's AAA challenge - 

AAA Cards - Stencil style

where this image is our inspiration:

Thanks for stopping by!

Sending warm thoughts

This week is just zipping by because I'm busy getting my son ready for college.  I promised to not get all misty when I see him off this weekend, but I'm excited for this next big step in his life.  

I've been in a bit of a creative slump and decided I would just CASE ideas until my own returned, starting with the weekly Muse challenge card, provided by Therese Calvird:

All of that pink scared me, but I pushed myself to copy her colors and style using the SSS Everything Flowers set.  I stamped Colorbox Frost White as the bottom layer of each flower and then used Hero Arts black for the black circles.  Here's my version:

I masked the flowers to stamp the leaves, which I haven't done in a while and found it was loads of fun!  The sentiment is from Impression Obsession - Anytime Sentiments.  Now that I'm finished, I love the vibrant colors!  I hope you get a chance to play over at Muse too!

My next two cards are part of the Stretch your stamps 2 class homework.  I used the Avery Elle rounded diamond set to make graphic backgrounds.  I did a lot of stamping and experimenting to create these two cards:

The ribbon was the inspiration for my stamped colors.  I'm enjoying this class so much, even though I'm waaay behind.  I do come back later to the class lessons and make cards, so it's all good.

Thanks for stopping by!

Red, White and Blue!

The midweek throwdown challenge is up over at Operation Write Home and we're making Any Hero cards with red, white and blue colors.  Looking at the cards today is like a July 4th parade and I had to add mine to the line up here:

The flag is from Miss Kate Cuttables; the hero cut file is #32171 from the Silhouette store.  I embossed the red vellum with the Stars folder and added some brads around the border.

I made another file using the same flag file:

The sentiment is by Lawn Fawn for this card, which I'm entering in the red, white and blue challenge at Party Time Tuesday.

My last card for today was inspired by the tropical card below, created by Jennifer Wills for the Muse challenge #74

I love the beach scene and since I just came back from a weekend beach retreat, I created a scene of my own:

The files I used are from the Just Beachy collection  by SVG Attic and the paper is the Glitzy Glitter 6x6 pad by DCWV.  The Silhouette cuts through the paper like buttah and the best thing is there's no glitter rub off!  The tiny sentiment is from the newest SSS stamp set - Sending love.  I'd just love to be in that chair thinking happy thoughts!

I'm also entering this card in the SVG Attic July challenge - Anything goes

I hope you can play along in the latest Muse challenge - they're always so inspiring!  

Thanks for stopping by!

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!

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!

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!

Purple and Yellow

Purple and Yellow is the Color Challenge for this week's OWH Midweek throwdown.  I combined this challenge with the Muse #60 challenge which had this card as our inspiration:

I actually have this stencil in my small stencil collection and was excited to pull it out and use it.  I imagined the background as a sunset and used Distress Inks as the background for my card:

I'm always looking for a way to put more purple in my cards and I love the combination with the yellow.  I added some Wink of Stella to the inks as well.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 



*Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad SEEDLESS PRESERVES Ranger Fall TIM32847

*Tim Holtz DISTRESS INK PAD MUSTARD SEED Yellow Ranger

*The Crafter's Workshop MINI ASPEN TREES 6 x 6 Template

*Simon Says Clear Stamps ALWAYS AND FOREVER Exclusive Set

InLinkz.com

Snow day cards

It's unbelievable to think that we're getting snow again in South Carolina, but it's here!  Two weeks ago, we were in awe of it, but now, we don't want anything to do with it.  While I'm stuck inside, I'm busy making cards for a few challenges.

 

First up is this week's Muse challenge - #54.   The inspiration card is here:

 

I was inspired by the watercolors over the flowers and used my Inktense pencils to watercolor the "Always" sentiment:

I added Wink of Stella to the sentiment and to my heart peeking over the edge.  It was a challenge for me to use my watercolors, but I always enjoy playing around with them.

 

My second card for today is for a new-to-me challenge blog - Cardz 4 Guyz. 

I'm always trying to make more masculine cards and this challenge blog will inspire me to do that.  This week's challenge is Truly, Madly, Deeply - make anything that represents love - for a guy. 

I used a Miss Kate's cut file for the "Love" embellishment and kept it masculine with the black, white and red colors.  I cut the heart in red, then used Wink of Stella on it and finally Glossy Accents which makes it very shiny.  I may actually give this card to my husband on Valentine's Day!  Ha ha.

 

I hope you're staying warm today too.  Thanks for stopping by.

 



Muse Challenge #48

This week's Muse challenge is #48  and Marion has posted this lovely card as inspiration:

 

I love her window card with the decorated inside, which inspired me to make this window card:

I added acetate, embossed it, and sandwiched it behind the window. Here's the inside of my card:

 

The paper on the left hides the glue that's holding the acetate in place.  The paper on the right shows through the window and is attached to piece of paper that lines the inside of the card.  Here's another look:

Window cards are fun to make and I enjoyed using those spring colors.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp: Hero Arts CL596 Pattern Flowers & Hearts

 

 



Red + Green = love!

This week's Muse challenge (#47) is red and green but no Christmas with this card as our inspiration:

The green alligator inspired me to make a froggy love card:

The die cuts are from Lettering Delight's "Frogs and Kisses" collection.  I used a Pearl Pen for his eyes and the papers are from my stash.

 

This card also fits the Midweek Throwdown challenge at OWH , which is general love cards!  I think this would make a great card for someone to send to their child.

 

Happy Wednesday to ya - thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 



OWH Aug Bootcamp - Relationship advice

Before I dig into this weekend's OWH VCMP, I wanted to submit a card for the August Bootcamp lesson - Relationship advice.  Paula's homework was to re-do a card from the past and apply the techniques we've learned.

 

I'm not afraid to take an epic-fail card and re-do it!  Here's a one-layer card I made using with a floral stamp set.  I thought that the flowers were supposed to be stamped together, which I tried along the bottom and side of the card:

 

I colored them with Inktense pencils and then watercolored them.  Every time I looked at the card, it just seemed off to me.

 

After reading the lesson, I realized that I didn't group the flowers together and the sentiment seemed to just float by itself.  For the lesson, I dragged out the stamps again and tried to group them together - it just wasn't working.

 

I was forcing the flowers to have a relationship, so I chose one flower and a sentiment and stamped them together.  Here's my re-do of the card:

I took inspiration from the latest Muse challenge - #32 - to make the flower and sentiment "relate" to each other.  I used the Muse card sketch for my version:

 

 

I enjoyed the chance to fix a card and Paula's lessons have helped me along the way.

 

Now, on to the VCMP!

 



Thinking of You

I'm loving the OWH weekly sketches!  Every Sunday, I think the sketch is one of my favorites, but then the next week, that one becomes a favorite too!  After listening to Sandy's weekly OWH TV episode, I put away my spring papers and pulled out a pad that I bought a year ago and haven't used (for shame!).  This is my Thinking of You card with the Orchard Harvest pad:

 

And here's the sketch:

 

I also made a card for Muse Challenge #30 .  We were inspired by this lovely card:

 

This is the card I made:

 

I used a stencil from the Simon Says Stamp August card kit and Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I cut the birds on my Cricut and used the sentiment from Hero Arts.

 

Thanks for stopping by!