Time Out #22

I have one card drying on my desk, one brewing in my head and one to post today for Time Out.  This is their inspiration photo.

When I first saw the picture, I fell in love with the wood, but then a lot of people in the gallery did wood, and I have to be different. :D I thought I had some paper that looked liked the light patterned pillow and found some similar.  The longer it laid on my desk, the more I liked it and when I found another paper to go with it, I made this:

Die by PTI, stamp by Clearly Besotted (part of their Happy set). and paper by Authentique.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope to have time later today to go visiting all of you.

MIM #158

I love the watercolor trend than has taken over the card making world.  I took a watercolor painting class a while ago and while I wasn't too bad at it, using stamps makes it a whole lot easier. This week's challenge at Make It Monday is "Stamping with Watercolor Medium".   Heather used gelatos as her medium but I used Distress Inks and I must say it takes some practice to get the right amount of water with the ink.

I stamped the ferns from Meadow Greens onto watercolor paper (many times) until I got an image I liked.  It looked better framed so I cut a circle in some woodgrained white paper.  Since the watercolor paper had a cream tone to it, I cut a frame from Vintage Cream and also used that for my card base, offsetting the popped up panel to the right and down.  I tried a number of ways to add a sentiment but the green on a cream flag looked best.

I'm so glad you stopped by to visit.  Have a wonderful weekend.

Curtain Call and Muse #53

Luckily I have been getting some cards made for challenges this week but once I get these posted, I need to get my valentines finished and in the mail.  In addition to my 7 grandchildren, 1 great grandson, my daughter and 2 daughters by another mother, I have 10 homebound people from the church that I'm sending valentines to.  Many are done because I have been making them over the last two weeks for challenges but I still have a few to finish and then address and mail.

Today's cards are not valentines.  This first one is for Curtain Call

I bet there has been a run on hot chocolate with the weather we have been having.

I've been having a little trouble with boo boos on my cards lately so it was fun to actually make a card that called for a mess.  And I didn't mess the mess.  Go figure.  I made the cocoa rings with an NBUS stencil from Tim Holtz and Walnut Distress Ink.  The cup is cut from A Child's World and the tag and sentiment are from My Craft Spot.  Can you read it?  It says "Chocolate helps" and I totally agree.  In fact our bell choir director gave each of us a giant candy bar when we played this morning for worship.  I think he thinks it will help us play better.  (wink wink)

My second card is for Muse.  I just HAD to play this one because the inspiration from Vicki Dutcher is just my style.  Here is her card.

And here is mine.

I love mixing papers and layering.  The scalloped circle is from Elegant Edges, the star is a die from PTI and the papers are from my scraps.  Well, not the background.  That's something I picked up when the local craft store closed down but I don't know who it's by. The sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Bash.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope your week gets off to a good start.

TCC #2, MUSE #52 and FM #121

Happy Groundhogs's Day!  Bah humbug!! I don't think many people around here are very happy about six more weeks of winter.  I don't really believe in all the hype but I am realistic.  I just hope it's not quite as bitterly cold as it has been.

On the upside, the cold and snow gave me a chance to spend time in my craft room and I have three cards for you today.  I don't usually show that many in one post but the deadlines are tomorrow.

First up: MUSE and this inspiration by Marion Vagg.

My brother's 65th birthday is next week so I made him this.  I was inspired by the chevron frame and the colorful element in the corner.

Next is The Card Concept.

This one had me stumped so I'm just under the wire with my Clean and Layered card.

The last one is for Freshly Made Sketches.

I know my proportions aren't right for the sketch but I wanted to use this NBUS stamp set.

I may have time to get another card finished before we head off to a Super Bowl party.  If you are a football fan, I hope you enjoy the game and the team you are rooting for wins.  Go Broncos!!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting.

-----------------------------------
Card 1
Frame: Fabulous Finds Cricut cartridge
Candles: PTI Wishes Come True
Sentiment: PTI Birthday Bash

Card 2
Embossing folders:  Bubble and Distress Stripes
Sentiment: Hero Arts Everyday Sayings

Card 3
Stamp and dies:  PTI Button Boutique
Punch:  EK Success 2" circle
Other:  UTEE embossing powder, embroidery floss

LIM #156

I have another valentine for you today.  This one is based on the sketch at Less is More.

I wanted this a little more masculine so I put it on a kraft card base. The sketch made this card so easy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Paper: Doodlebug, scraps
Die: PTI 
Sentiment: My Craqft Spot

CTS #61

Quick post to made the deadline before heading off to art class. This is for CASE This Sketch.

and again so you can see the Glossy Accents.

What a difference light makes.  The first one is natural light this morning.  The other under my LED track light at an angle last night.  The colors are totally different.  I need to find a really good way to do my photos.

Dies and stamp - PTI's Wishes Come True, I cut the candles  3 times to make them thicker.

Thanks for stopping by.

FM #120 and OCC

It's great that I'm getting my Christmas cards done by joining in two Christmas card challenges but I'm also getting my Valentines done the same way.  No, there are no specific valentine challenges but they seem to fit into some of the challenges.  For example, this one at Freshly Made.

I turned it sideways and came up with this:

And for the online card class

This was a technique Kristina Werner taught using colored pencils to color through a stencil.  This is an old, old stencil I had and it was perfect for making another valentine.

First card
Echo Park, Simple Stories, scraps of paper
Heart die from Papertrey Ink
Clearly Besotted sentiment

Second card
Soft stone. smokey slate, and white paper
EK Success postage stamp punch
Crayola pencils
My Craft Spot sentiment

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm off to watch the videos for today's Stenciled Class.

MUSE #49 and ABNH

I love the sunny inspiration over at the MUSE blog this week.  I think we can all use a little sunshine nowadays.

Doesn't all that brightness just make you feel warm and toasty?

My card is a little more subdued but still has the sun.  Normally I would only add three clouds because design principles say an uneven number is best but I also wanted to enter my card over at A Blog Named Hero.  This is a new challenge for me and they called for 1 of something and 4 of something.  So there is my 1 sun and 4 clouds.  Oops, I just realized I didn't use any Hero Arts product on my card.  If that makes me ineligible for the prize, that's okay, I still have a good card to send to someone to cheer their day.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope your day has been cheery, even if the sun isn't shining where you are.

MIM #146

Ashley Cannon Newell has a video over at Make it Monday showing how to do an angled background. What a great way to use up scraps of paper.  I had to try it right away.

I used 7 different papers for the background.  The sentiment is cut from PTI's Wonderful Words:Hello.  I did three layers to give it depth, topping it with a red print for some pop.

The temperature is dropping to record lows but at least we're out of the snow zone.  Tomorrow will be a good day to hibernate in my craft room and get some serious card making done.  I may even try to figure out my Silhouette Portrait and do some cutting.

Thanks for stopping by to visit.  Please stay safe and keep warm.

RB and RS

It's half time at the Rose Bowl game so I'm taking the time to post my first card for 2014.  Both my son and son-in-law graduated from Michigan State and I thought I heard screaming a while ago when they got behind.  lol

Speaking of behind.  I have gotten way behind on my card making, blog reading and posting.  Everyone says 2013 went fast, and I agree, but it seems like each day goes faster and faster.  I thought I was a fairly organized person but I can't seem to get everything done.

One good thing, if you want to call it that, is that we won't be going to Alabama this year.  We have spent the last 19 winters in Gulf Shores but with my parents in failing health, we cannot leave them and they cannot travel to my brother's in Florida.  That's the down side.  The up side is that I can continue to make cards and enter challenges throughout the winter.  Before I had no way to take all my crafting supplies with me.

My first challenge of the year is Retro Sketches #95.

I just realized when I posted the sketch that I turned it sideways.  I cut a pattern first and then cut a variety of yellow/orange papers to make the rays.  The star is from PTI, cut from some shimmer paper, glued to a heavier cardstock and mounted on foam tape. The sentiment from My Craft Spot is stamped in HA Soft Cantaloupe.

Thank you for giving up some of your time to come by and visit my blog.  I hope that you have a very happy and prosperous new year.

CTS #55

The deadline is approaching so this will be a quick post for my card for CAS(E) This Sketch.

I had some snowflakes on my work desk from a previous card (here) and thought they should be used.  This is the perfect sketch for them.

The card base is PTI Rustic White, inked around the edge with Walnut Distress Ink.  It took a while to find some paper for the little panel but this blue and brown polka dot fit the bill.  The middle snowflake is popped up on Kool Tak clear foam.  The sentiment, stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa, is from SSS Holiday Hello.

I have to run.  My church women's group is having their Christmas party at noon and our Circle is making the food.  My casserole needs to be put together and in the oven shortly.  Thanks for stopping by.

CFC #121 and MUSE #45

I've been playing around with some of my new stuff and out of the play came a couple of cards.  Today's is for CASual Fridays where the cue is "use 8 of something"

and Muse where the inspiration card from Lucy looks like this:

One of the things included in the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Card Kit was the Ashlynn snowflake die and that's what I used for most of the card.

I cut 3 snowflakes from blue cardstock (it is actually lighter IRL) and mounted the panel on some white glitter paper from DCWV, putting in the blue centers.   Then I cut 3 snowflakes from the same paper and glued them on top of the panel.  I tried embossing one of my little snowflakes to make up the other two but they didn't look very good, so I cut two other snowflakes using my Cricut, and glued them over the top of the "mistakes".   The sentiment, stamped in Hero Arts Cornflower, is from My Craft Spot.

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Creating!

Camp Homework and CAS gold

On week 3, day 2 of Summer Card Camp 2, Jennifer McGuire talked about heat embossing die cuts.  Her technique made those cuts look wonderful and so I tried my hand at it.  Still using the color combo of 2 browns, 2 purples and blue, I created this card.  If Jennifer can use gold as her brown, I guess I can, too.

I don't have many dies so my image was cut with my Cricut from Stretch Your Imagination.  I cut three images, gluing two together to give it more stability.  I then heat embossed it several times with Ranger super fine gold embossing powder.  I cut the flowers from the third image, swiped them with Dusty Concord Distress ink and Hero Arts Soft Lilac, and embossed them with sparkle powder.  To show off this flower, I used my Nestibilities oval dies to cut white and blue cardstock in two sizes.  This layer is popped up on the card that is stamped with a PTI Healing Touch sentiment and gold embossed.  I love this technique and will be doing it again.....and again.

I'm also going to enter this in the challenge at CASology.

The homework for today is a challenge to do a style of card that is new and/or different for you.  Now that has me stumped.  I started making "cute" cards with my Cricut.  Then I went with more sophisticated images.  From there I did some rustic cards, graduating to the clean and simple style.  Tell me.  What's left besides Shabby Chic?.  I absolutely refuse to put 3D flowers on a card.  You can't mail them and that's how I send my cards - so what's the point.  If you have a suggestion for a different style I can try, post it below and I'll give it a whirl.

Thanks for your visit today.  If you leave a comment to let me know you were here, I'll return the favor.

Retro Sketches #73 & Jackie's Challenge

I saw on Lynn's blog that there is a different sort of challenge with an excellent give away.  Jackie Rockwell is working her way through the Pantone colors in her blog header.   You can create a card in one, or  all of the colors, post it on her blog and win a chance for a new blog header of your own.

This week's color is tender shoots, gray and white.  Sounds interesting, doesn't it?  So I jumped right in and made a card.

I am sorely lacking in Sympathy cards and thought this simple green plant cut from Stretch Your Imagination would do the trick.  I placed it on a panel of white, with a little overhang, and then popped the panel up on a gray card.  I punched out some gray circles for the berries and covered them with Glossy Accents.  Then sentiment is from Hero Arts stamped in their Charcoal ink.  It looks rather dark in the photo but it really is more of a tender green, almost the color of the new grass growing in my lawn.

While I was cutting, I decided to make a second card using a printed background.

I also got a card made for this week's Retro Sketches.

This one is a decidedly masculine card which I know some people have trouble with.  I find them fun and easy.

This could have been one of those 10 minute cards.  I took a piece of kraft cardstock and ran it through my crimper.  I stamped cream cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black ink with a sentiment from Hero Arts "It's Your Day" and cut them into flags.  The black stamp is a die from My Craft Spot, cut from Core-dinations kraft core cardstock, and sanded.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope your day is all you'd like it to be.

(My preview screen shows different fonts on my blog.  I hope it comes out right when I actually post it.  If not, blame Blogger, not me. *_*)

Week One Homework

I haven't been able to do much card making lately.  Life has gotten in the way and I lost energy and creativity.  Even though I was excited to take the online card class Summer Camp 2, I just watched the videos and dreamed of what I would do.  If you've never taken one of these classes, I highly recommend it.  The instructors are so talented and their instructions clear and easy to follow.

I did a little work in my craft room yesterday and finished up a couple of cards today, so I'm finally getting a blog post in.

Day 1 was all about a color combo for the week and three sketches. Here's my take.

Day 2 was stamping techniques.

I loved the dragged gelato look.  I don't have gelato, or any glossy cardstock, so I did mine with Distress Inks.  I ended up making two cards, each one on a different card stock.  I think a gloss card stock would have worked much better.  I cut the opening with my Cricut, and used a sentiment from My Craft Spot, masking off the "you".  The die cut "you" is from Papertrey Ink and the stars from Simon Says Stamp.

Day 5 (yes, 5.  I skipped 3 and 4 for now.)  introduced some alternate color combos.  I ended up using the original ones with a technique shared by Jennifer McGuire.

I must say that this card was WAY out of my comfort zone.  Not because I have difficulty with the design but because I don't do much image stamping and have very few stamps.  I just happened to pick up a flower stamp set from Inkadinkadoo on clearance at Marshall's last spring, and another small set at WalMart from Studio G yesterday.  

I just hope I don't get addicted to stamping now because this was actually fun.  Part of the idea was to use vellum to tone down the bright colors on the card but I actually like them.  This is a double layer of vellum, stamped with a sentiment from Hero Arts and embossed with silver.  I stamped and cut out a couple of the flowers to add on top of the vellum.  That is definitely NOT my strong suit.  With all the quilt making I've done, I have a difficult time cutting paper with scissors.  Go figure.  

 Here's a picture of the plain card front.

FYI: You should take a look at some of your other stamps for small images. The little yellow flower came as part of a My Craft Spot stamp set. The same Hero Arts set that the sentiment is from had a tiny flower that looked a lot like the image I call Queen Anne's Lace that I used to fill in.  All the inks are from Hero Arts.

Now that I have finally posted for the first time in over a week, I'm getting anxious to get back to my paper.  I have a couple of challenges that look interesting and more class homework.  Next challenge:  a 10 minute card.  Wish me luck.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your day is full of creativity in one form or another.  

STB 18 and CTS 31

The deadline is fast approaching so I have to get this post finished.  I almost forgot about the Seize the Birthday challenge this week.  It runs for two weeks and so I put it on the back burner.  I'm sure glad the DT sends reminders.

When I first saw the sketch, I was going to do something other than stars but changed my mind because I wanted to make the barn stars.

The stars are cut from a die from PTI then scored to the middle to make them 3 dimensional.  The paper is from my stash and the sentiment from PTI.

My other card is for CAS(E) this Sketch.

It took me a while to come up with an idea and I almost thought I'd skip the challenge this week.  I started thinking about what kind of cards I might need and once the sentiment came to mind, the design quickly followed.

You can't see it in the picture but I used a PTI texture plate on the background.  The cloud die and the sentiment are also from PTI. The sun is a punched circle, inked with a little Mustard Seed Distress Ink.  I also inked the bottom of the clouds with Iced Spruce.

Thank you for stopping by to visit.  Have a wonderful day and I hope you come back again.