Sew Thoughtful

There is some paper in the Lost and Found stack by My Mind's Eye that looks like a clothing pattern.  I thought about how to use it and when I found the dress form cut on the Nifty Fifty cartridge, I knew I had a plan.

I'm not much of a buttons and bows kind of card designer but that was the challenge at My Craft Spot this week.  I figured this was the right card to use them on.  The bow is from actual seam binding that was in my sewing cupboard.  I might as well confess that I have quite a stash of buttons, too.  They were bought to use on blouses or dresses I was going to make and never did. 

I cut two of the images, one in kraft cardstock and one in black and cut them apart.  I heat embossed the black to make it look like wrought iron.  The sentiment was computer generated and printed on a scrap of the pattern paper. 

I am also entering this in two "Anything Goes" challenges.  Celebrate the Occasion and Die Cuttin' Divas.

Friendship Jar

I have seen several bloggers make the stamped jar cards and thought the idea was cute.  The Less is More challenge is to make a shaped card and since there is a jar cut on the Doodlecharms cartridge, I made my card using that. 

I welded the image together and cut it out of light blue paper.  I cut the top layer from a sandable core-dinations paper in a light teal.  I inked the edges and cuts of the jar portion in Broken China Distress Ink and the lid in Black Soot.  I sanded the lid to lighten it up and added some Glossy Accents in the cut out portion.  Before attaching the top layer, I tied some black and white twine around it to attach the sentiment punched with an EK Success tag punch.  I love the way it turned out.

Since this is not really a friendship sentiment, and I wanted to enter a jar in the Paper Playtime challenge, I made a second card.

This one is cut from gray paper for the card and white top layer.  I inked the edge with Weathered Wood Distress Ink, then embossed a little silver on the lid.  The twine is light blue and white.  I don't like this one quite as well as the other but thought it followed the theme better.   Now I want to try another one, leaving off the cut out and making a label. 

Lest We Forget

The challenge over at Fantabulous Cricut is to make a card for Memorial Day using red and a symbol that reminds you of the day.  My first thought was poppies since our American Legion and VFW Posts both "sell" poppies this time of year. 

This card is 3 1/2" by 7" with the corners rounded.  I didn't have an actual poppy cut so I improvised with this image from Cindy Lou.  I cut the bottom layer in a dark red, the leaf/stem layer in dark green and the outside edges of the flower in a lighter red.  I hid the contours in the big leaf so the red wouldn't show through and cut off the leaves that were under the blossom.  There is a cut for a circle in the middle of the flower but I used onyx liquid pearls and dotted the center in.  I inked the blossom with Fired Brick Distress Ink, bending it in places to accent the petals.

I crinkled the green, inked it with Black Soot Distress Ink, and distressed the edges (poppy leaves are furry).  It doesn't show up that well in the pictures but looks good in real life.

I made this in honor of my Dad who served in World War II.  It wasn't until the 50th anniversary of the end of the war that he would even talk much about it.  We watched "Saving Private Ryan" together and he said that was exactly like it was.  I'm so thankful that he returned safely and pray that all those who are serving now will also return home safe and sound.  God bless you for your service.

You'll be 21

I'm way ahead of myself with this 21st birthday card but it seemed to fit in with the challenge at The Paper Players.

The paper had four squares of different colors all on one sheet and I thought it fit for the sketch.  I stamped and embossed the sentiment, punched the circles, and cut the 21 from Kate's ABC cartridge.  Now if I just don't forget I made it when the August birthday rolls around.

Fleur de Lis

I like sketch challenges.  Sometimes they inspire to use a certain paper.  Sometimes it's the image that I cut.  For this sketch by Freshly Made, I wanted to come up with an image to replace the three squares.

I knew I had a number of different symbols in the Accent Essentials cartridge.  I looked through the handbook and voila', there was the fleur de lis.  Then came the paper pick.  Lost and Found from My Mind's Eye.

I cut the fleur de lis from gold paper, embossed them with the Sizzix Damask folder, placing the pattern in just the right place.  Here is a close up.  I inked the edges and embossing with Black Soot Distress Ink. 

The pictures came out two very different colors.  The entire card is more the color of the background paper.  In order to get the gold without a lot of shine, I turned off the lamp and used the flash.  That washed out the background color but lets you see the embossing.