Sending Some Sunshine

That's what our challenge is this month for the August Diva Dare at the Verve Stamps blog: to make a card that is encouraging and cheerful and actually send it out.  Here's my entry, and it will be sent out to my chemo patient on Monday:

supplies: white card stock, green gingham from Cosmo Cricket "Material Girl" mini deck, Verve "Bloom and Grow" and "Believe" sets, worn lipstick, spiced marmalade and mustard seed distress inks, Hero Hues grass chalk ink, versafine onyx black ink, various pink, gold and green pearls

I used my 2 Verve sets Bloom & Grow and Believe.

I'm also entering this into the Simon Says Stamp & Show "Anything Goes" challenge - there's a huge prize!!

Kindred Spirits

Here's a card that will fit 3 challenges, using a brand new stamp set from Flourishes that I won over at Stacy's blog recently - I adore this sweet silhouette and the sentiment is my favorite of all of them in the set - those 2 words make me remember Anne of Green Gables, one of my favorite books.  I don't believe I read it until I was a young adult, and it still holds a special place in my heart.  I'm sure lots of you feel the same way about it!

supplies: cream parchment card base, design papers from October Afternoon, Flourishes "Sweet Days of Summer", versamark ink and white embossing powder, stamped on a piece of polished stone paper, VersaFine Deep Lagoon ink, PTI Beautiful Blooms II #1 dies, Making Memories Velvet brad, seam binding dyed with broken china distress ink

Here are the photo inspirations from CR84FN and the Shabby Tea Room. My birthstone is the aquamarine.

                                     
And at a new (to me) challenge blog called Fashionable Stamping Challenges, we are to use ribbon or lace.  Hand-dyed seam binding is what I used on this card.

More hearts?

I wanted to try the Moxie Fab World's square sketch again.  Here it is:

And my card:

supplies: white card stock, Hero Arts CG216 Wreath of Leaves, Hero Hues Grass chalk ink, CL435 So Artsy (sentiment), VersaFine onyx black ink, seam binding dyed with worn lipstick distress ink, punched hearts, (EKSuccess), pink embroidery floss

Vertical challenge

Moxie Fab World is having some fun sketch challenges to introduce the newest publication called Card Ideas for Paper Crafters.  Here is the vertical sketch:

A simple sketch, and a simple card.  I've used these heart buttons before in a similar manner, and I still like the way they look dangling like this.

supplies: kraft, red and cream cardstock, Hero Arts CL400 SparkleClear Buttons, CL301 Hugs and Hearts, Adirondack Cranberry ink, twine

Another sketch at Moxie Fab World

PaperCrafts magazine is introducing a new publication full of sketches - it's called Card Ideas for Paper Crafters.  Cath at Moxie Fab World has challenged us with several sketches; here is the second one:

Here's my take on it, using a Sizzix embossing folder borrowed from my friend Carol. Isn't that little chubby bird adorable?

supplies: white card stock, Lasting Impressions Guava Check design paper, Sizzix embossing folder, peeled paint and worn lipstick distress inks, Hero Arts CL491 Made with Love, versafine onyx black ink

Lily Pad Cards Resist Challenge

Our challenge this time at Lily Pad Cards is to make something using resist.  This is one of my very favorite techniques, so I made you 2 cards.   For those of you who are unfamiliar with the resist technique, you stamp an image and heat emboss it, then add your other elements on top of it.  The embossing "protects" that stamp, and you can color and stamp over it, but it always appears to be on the top layer and always stands out, because the embossing powder resists everything else.  Both of my cards started with white card stock, and were stamped with clear ink and heat embossed with clear powder, allowing the white card stock to show through.  Then I added background color and images using other shades of ink.

supplies: white card stock, Stampin' Up Top Notch die, Hero Arts CL479 Dictionary Greeting, G4917 Dandelion, VersaMark ink and clear embossing powder, bundled sage, tumbled glass, and broken china distress inks, CL383 Antique Engravings, Versafine Vintage Sepia ink, scraps of printed papers

I wish I had a stamp that said "Make a Wish", because that would have been perfect for this card.  I tried doing it digitally, but it just didn't work. This next card looks more detailed, but it's just added layers:

supplies: blue card base, white card stock, Hero Arts CG108 Circle Doily, Versa Mark ink and clear embossing powder,  antique linen and tea dye distress inks, CG222 Music Background stamped in vintage photo distress ink, LL040 Wodland Ferns stamped in peeled paint distress ink,  CL383 Antique Engravings (butterfly) stamped in chipped sapphire distress ink, seam binding dyed using chipped sapphire, heart button, Papertrey Ink tiny tags die and Friendship Jar Spring Fillers (sentiment tag)

This technique is really kind of magic.  After you emboss the image in clear powder, it just about disappears on your white card stock, but when you start rubbing in the distress inks, it magically reappears, and becomes stronger and stronger the more color you add to the background!  For this card, after I embossed the doily and added my background colors, I then just kept stamping over the top, adding different layers with different colored inks.  And may I say that I am in LOVE with the blueberry color that the chipped sapphire gave to the seam binding - the perfect periwinkle color!

Please visit Lily Pad Cards to see what my DT teamies did with this technique - I know you're in for a treat!

......We remember moments......

I'm playing for the first time at PTI's August challenge!  Here is the photo inspiration:

An inspiration for sure!  I was drawn to the picnic idea, the books, the flowered tea towel, the flowers of course, and the lining of the suitcase:

supplies: cream parchment card base, papers from October Afternoon and BoBunny, Nesties Labels one, PTI Vintage Picnic and Hero Arts Antique Flower Background, Versafine onyx black ink, antique linen distress ink, markers to color flowers, twine, heart button

Sweet Violets

Flourishes is celebrating its 4th Birthday, with a blog hop and a challenge to use your favorite Flourishes stamp!

When I think of Flourishes, beautifully drawn flowers come to mind, and if I could afford it, I'd have their whole line!  The challenge is to use your favorite stamp and make a card.  This Violet set was my first, I think, and I have used it over the years so many times, but I think my favorite way to see it is simply framed in an oval, and that's what I did today.  This seems so old-fashioned to me, like one of those hand-painted flower pins that our grandmothers used to wear.  I love how it turned out!

supplies: white and periwinkle card stock, Susan Branch pinstripe design paper, white doily, Flourishes set #51 Sweet Violets, VersaFine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, blue, lavender and green Memento markers, Nesties oval and scalloped oval dies, seam binding dyed with chipped sapphire distress ink, Creative Charms Vintage Brads from Stacy

In all the times I used this set, I never remember using the lovely flourished brackets before, so I'm so glad to have made this today and "discovered" them, as I think I'll be using them lots more on other cards, too!

Happy Birthday, Flourishes!!

Bearing Thanks

Can you stand one more try at the sketch at PageMaps?  The sketch is wonderful to use with all the mini paper pads we all collect!  This version uses the My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose Hattie papers. My stamped scallop is also my sentiment:

supplies: gold card stock as base, papers from "Hattie" collection, MME Stella & Rose, Hero Arts CG288   Scallop Borders, broken china distress ink, F5170 Bouquet Bear, versafine onyx black ink, markers and pencils to color, turquoise silk ribbon

Moxie Fab World Shaped Sketch challenge

This week, Moxie Fab World is celebrating its newest issue called Card Ideas for Paper Crafters and it is full of sketches!  Here is the first sketch we have been given to play with:

Isn't it fun?  I was immediately drawn to it and here is what I came up with:

supplies: patterned papers from Cosmo Cricket, PinkPaislee, BoBunny, and Echo Park, The Craft's Meow stamp set "Baggin Some Rays", Hero Arts CL475 Friendly Flags, Adirondack cranberry and versafine onyx black inks, Nesties scalloped circle and circle dies

Once I had decided on the central sun, surrounding the circle with banners seemed the next logical step.  It measures about 6 inches across.

A shabby one for PageMaps

Good morning!  I'm still going strong using the fabulous sketch over at PageMaps!  For today's card I used some of my hoarded Girls' Paperie papers, a stamped butterfly panel and lots of shabby accents; quite a bit different from yesterday's version.

supplies: white card base, Girls' Paperie design papers, Hero Arts S5101 Raindrop Background, spun sugar distress ink, CG201 Little Butterfly Frame, Versamark and white embossing powder, Inkadinkado 97635 Round Frames ("dream"), Hobby Lobby lace and tiny pink buttons, hand-dyed seam binding (spun sugar) and white button, twine

Here's the sketch:

Lucy's Back!!

And she's sponsoring a new challenge on her blog!  She wants us to make a rainbow card.  Here's my idea:

supplies: kraft card base, punched Martha Stewart butterflies, BoBunny double dot papers, PTI cloud die, white card stock, Hero Arts CL272 All Occasion Messages

Another card for PageMaps

I am really enjoying this sketch from over at PageMaps!  Here's it is:

My card today uses "A Walk in the Park" papers, and a die-cut flower:

supplies: aqua card base, Echo Park Paper Co. A Walk in the Park papers,  Martha Stewart double loop border punch, Papertrey Ink Beautiful Blooms II #1 flower dies, Making Memories velvet flower brad,  Nesties labels one die, Hero Arts CL371 Essential Messages, Versafine Deep Lagoon ink

Embossed Flowers

Over at Embellish Magazine, the challenge is to use the colors given and to include an embossed flower.  Here's the photo inspiration:

I used a little flower embossing pattern on the red flower and the background, and a dot pattern on the leaves and the yellow part of the flower.

supplies: cream and tan card stock, October Afternoon and Memory Box design papers, Sizzix embossing folders in little flowers and dots, red button, twine, Hero Arts S5485 Many Petals, CG286 Leaves, CL434 Just Find Me, versafine onyx black ink and barn door distress ink

Here's a detail photo to show you the 2 different embossing designs:

PageMaps sketch challenge

Here's a new challenge for me, from PageMaps.  The sketch is wonderfully detailed, and because of the tremendous prize, I'll be trying it several times.  Here's the sketch:

And here's my first attempt, following it to a "t":  I used papers from DCWV "Garden Party":

supplies: cream parchment card base, papers from DCWV Garden Party, Hero Arts stamps D2129 Vanessa Butterfly andCL497 Find Joy, Memories Artprint Brown ink, antique linen distress ink, colored pencils, pink pearls

Navy, pink and green

This week at the Play Date Cafe, I think we have some difficult colors:

I love pink and green, but adding in the navy is what took me awhile to get it together.  Here's my take on them:

supplies: cream parchment card base, Webster's Pages background paper, stamped with pinkpaislee Butterfly Garden stamps and The Craft's Meow Simply Delightful sentiment, chipped sapphire distress ink, Hero Arts E5388 Traditional Butterfly, Tim Holtz Sizzix Caged Bird die

CASE-ing Chupa

CASE Study is celebrating it's anniversary this month, and this week's challenge is to CASE one of Chupa's cards!  Chupa is the owner and a designer of this wonderful blog, where I get inspired every single week!  Here's her card from a CASE Study on April 7 of this year.  She was CASE-ing Silke Ledlow at the time:

Here's my card, using some brand new Flourish stamps, courtesy of Stacy; I won a giveaway on her blog and these arrived just this morning in a box packed to the brim with other goodies, too!  THANK YOU, Stacy, you are so generous!  Is this sweet silhouette not THE BEST?!

supplies: cream parchment cardstock, October Afternoon papers, Flourishes "Sweet Days of Summer", barn door distress and Versafine onyx black inks, heart buttons, natural twine, Martha Stewart punched butterfly

Lily Pad Cards Sketch challenge featuring The Greeting Farm digital stamp

Good morning, all!  I'm back today with my card made for Lily Pad Cards.  This week we got to play with our choice of a digital design from The Greeting Farm, and we were to follow a sketch.  When you go to Lily Pad Cards, you'll see that I followed it exactly.  Here it is, using the cute little "Candycane Chipmunk":

supplies: white and green cardstock, Heidi Grace "Jolly & Bright/Mini Dots" dp (both sides), The Greeting Farm "candycane chipmunk", Prismacolor pencils and Tombow markers, Nesties ovals and scalloped ovals, EK Success snowflake punch, Hero Arts CL355 Lots of Merry, versafine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder

This is my first Christmas card of the season!  I enjoyed coloring in this cute little guy!  And I like the sketch - I'm sure you're going to see all kinds of fun variations from the other Design Team members!  I hope you'll play with us, too!

The Craft's Meow Card Sketch

The Craft's Meow is starting a monthly card sketch challenge.  Here is their 2nd one,  using this sketch.  Even the colors on the sketch are pleasing, aren't they?  I think subconsciously I cased them, too - what do you think?

I have a grand total of 2 sets of Craft's Meow stamps, and both of them are circular, so I had to be a bit inventive here!

supplies: white cardstock, design papers from jillibean soup "Blossom Soup" and "Dutch Mustard Soup", The Girls' Paperie (pink with brown dot),  Creative Imaginations (green dots), The Craft's Meow "Baggin' Some Rays" and "Simply Delightful", soft blossom, conch shell, and Versafine Vintage Sepia inks, Die-namics doily die-cut, Hero Arts heart gems

And since this card makes liberal use of polka dots, I'm also entering it into The Shabby Tea Room's challenge this week.

Yellow, kraft. and neutral

Here is the inspiration photo and colors for CR84FN's current challenge:

I was backing up some files on my computer earlier today and came across this Edith Holden image that I found somewhere and saved.  A light bulb went off and I knew I could use it for this challenge:

supplies: kraft card base, Edith Holden digital print, design papers from Memory Box, pinkpaislee, and Websters' Pages, Impression Obsession Spring stamp,  Hero Arts paper art flowers, hemp string, crochet lace from Carole, tiny brown and yellow buttons and 1 larger button

It's a long way until Spring again, but this will go into storage until then.  Love this color combination!

Sitting here

At the Play Date Cafe Challenge, our colors are fudge, goldenrod and teal.  Here is the photo inspiration:

My mind went right to the My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose paper pads that contain these colors: Hazel and Hattie.  I've had this Hero Arts clear stamp set for awhile, but this is the first I've inked it up.  High time, wouldn't you say?  These diminutive patterns are perfect for them!  My living room has 2 wing chairs just like this, only my table between is more of a chest with drawers.

supplies: teal card base, My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose "Hazel" and "Hattie" papers, wood "floor" from Crate Paper's "Emma's Shoppe Collection", Hero Arts CL480 Wish You Were Here, Anita's Teddy Bear ink

One more Flourishes challenge

If you're here to see my Lily Pad Cards post using the Frog's Whiskers stamps, please scroll down one post or go here.  Thanks!

.....can you tell I REALLY would like to win these wonderful sets from Flourishes?  Here is our photo inspiration:

This one gave me fits!  I just don't use red all that much.  I tried all kinds of ideas, and slept on it overnight.  Here's what I came up with using the colors requested. I finally went with an idea to kind of illustrate this sentiment, having in mind a garden, which always includes butterflies of one kind or another.

supplies: kraft, creamy parchment, olive, gold, and tomato red card stocks, Flourishes sentiment from the Lenten Rose set, versafine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, Nesties Labels eight dies, Sizzix little flowers embossing folder, Martha Stewart monarch butterfly punch

Frogs Whiskers!!

Good morning!  It's time for another challenge at Lily Pad Cards!  This week it's to incorporate some kind of fabric or felt into your project.

The Design Team was able to choose some stamps from a Canadian company called Frogs Whiskers - what an amazing selection of stamps they have!  I did 2 cards for this challenge, and the stamps worked beautifully on each one, a nice clear impression.  The first one uses the stamp called Sunflower Script, which I stamped right onto some gold gingham cotton fabric left over from my quilting days:

supplies: kraft card base, gold gingham cotton fabric, Frogs Whiskers #K670 Sunflower Script, versafine Vintage Sepia ink, Memento markers to color, natural twine, buttons, gold card stock and Memory Box "Valise" green gingham paper as frames, The Craft's Meow "Baggin Some Rays" sentiment 

After stamping I carefully colored in the flowers and leaves with Memento markers, then inserted a piece of cardstock behind the fabric, and pulled the fabric around it, securing it behind.  After wrapping some twine

and buttons around that panel, it was framed in 2 pieces of card stock, and that placed on the kraft card base.. 

My 2nd card was really simple, using a piece of linen which was stamped with the beautiful Bittersweet Wreath, then sewn down to the card base. Then I just added the little red pearls, some ribbon and a button.  I am so glad to have this stamp - I'll use it often for all seasons!

  

supplies: red card stock, linen, Frogs Whiskers #J377 Bittersweet Wreath, Versafine Vintage Sepia ink, Memory Box red pearls, Hobby Lobby checked red and cream ribbon, red button, natural twine


I hope you'll go on over to Lily Pad Cards to see what the other DT members did, and then play along with the challenge!

{Embellish Magazine} coloring challenge

It's always a true challenge at {Embellish Magazine}.  The current one is to use these colors and to actually color - with markers, pencils, ink.

Here's what I did with the colors, using a Pure Innocence digital stamp and colored pencils:

supplies: tan and white card stock, scraps of design papers, Pure Innocence digital stamp, Prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits, Nesties Labels Eight, design papers: pink unknown, yellow Memory Box, green pinkpaislee Hometown Summer, Penny Black sentiment from30-067 To You, Versafine onyx black ink, various buttons, thread

Shades of Sunset

To kick off the Flourishes August release of 4 new sets of stamps, they are having a challenge called "Shades of Sunset:

Beautiful colors, who wouldn't be inspired?  I don't have very many Flourishes stamps; most of mine are flowers and so I  thought I'd use this beautiful damask stripe from the Strips and Stripes set and some distress inks to make my own kind of sunset:

supplies: white cardstock, Flourishes Strips and Stripes, dusty concord, worn lipstick, spiced marmalade and mustard seed distress inks, sentiment from the Lenten Rose set, Hero Arts S5316 Silhouette Grasses, versafine onyx black ink, clear embossing powder

I have always loved this "Be still and know that I am God" quote; it has given me great comfort, and I thought it was appropriate for this card.