Texture challenge

This week at Lily Pad Cards, our challenge is to use texture on our creations.  I just received this gorgeous peachy lace from Sue and thought it would be a good starting point, and everything else was built around it.  To add a little more texture I used an embossing folder and some ink to create this background using the faux letterpress technique.  Basically you ink the flattest side of the embossing folder before you emboss it, and the ink transfers to the background, while the design get pushed up.  Just an eensy bit of stamping today, for the sentiment on the tiny tag.

supplies: white cardstock, cuttlebug Victoria embossing folder and tattered rose distress ink, Webster's Pages "Hollywood" Designer Trim, PTI flower die, peachy pink cardstock, decorative brad from Basic Grey "Sweet Threads", PTI tiny tags die and sentiment, Hero Hues latte chalk ink, Hero Arts CH173 Hearts Accent Pearls

Please visit Lily Pad Cards to see what the rest of the DT did this week, and then make a card with texture to win a gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp!

More faux letterpress

At CASE Study, our muse, Niki Estes has given us another lovely card to case.  Here's my submission this week,  using faux letterpress again - this could be addictive!

supplies: white and green cardstock, white watercolor paper for faux letterpress, Sizzix embossing folder and worn lipstick distress ink, Verve Bloom & Grow flower, Stampers Anonymous leaf sprig, peeled paint distress ink, Hero Arts CL491 Made with Love, VersaFine onyx black ink, K&Company Adhesive Gems, faux stitching with fine-tip black marker

Happy Birthday, Play Date Cafe!

The Play Date Cafe is celebrating its 2nd anniversary this week using the colors at the bottom of this post.  I thought I'd try something a little different, using cloth for my flower (with some batting and stitching to make it really dimensional) and leaves and faux letterpress for the background.  This also qualifies for the Moxie Fab World's Texture challenge.

supplies: white and green cardstock and watercolor paper for faux letterpress, mauve, yellow gingham and mottled green cotton, thin cotton batting, needle and thread, ribbon rose, Hero Arts S5485 Many Petals, CG256 Three Leaves, CL494 Hip Hip Hooray!, Versafine onyx black ink, colored pencils, Sizzix flower embossing folder and scattered straw distress ink, pink gems

A Lily Pad Cards Sketch Challenge

Hi!  This week over at Lily Pad Cards, our challenge is to use this sketch:

The Design Team is playing with some Nina B. stamps; my set is called Simply Delightful.  I decided to use the beautiful lacy medallion, and I followed the sketch exactly.  Here's my card:

supplies: red and cream cardstock, The Craft's Meow Nina B. Simply Delightful set, Adirondack Cranberry ink, clear embossing powder, Hobby Lobby lace,  EKSuccess corner rounder, red gems

Please visit Lily Pad Cards to see some other ideas  for this challenge, and then I hope you play along, too!

My Mind's Eye Fall sketch

I've become a real fan of My Mind's Eye design papers.  Until recently I didn't have access to them, but Archiver's is carrying them now, and I make a bee-line to that area every time I can get there.  At the My Mind's Eye Blog, there's a challenge and the winner gets to choose the collection of her choice!  What could be better?!  Here is the sketch:

And here is my very loose interpretation of it, using all papers from their Stella & Rose "Mabel" pad - I just couldn't choose which ones to use, so I used most of the autumnal colors from it:

supplies: cream card base, dps from Mabel 6 x 6 pad, PSX stamp #G-3322 (from 2002), inked with spiced marmalade, fired brick, tea dye and vintage photo distress inks and detailed with markers, hand-dyed seam binding (spiced marmalade), twine, large orange and small brown buttons, lace

And since there's a nice selection of ribbon, lace, and twine here, I'd also like to enter this into Really Reasonable Ribbon's Fun 4 Fall challenge.

Sweets and Smiles

I recently ordered these Halloween digital postcards from Janet's Etsy Shop, and this is my first time playing with them. The challenge at Really Reasonable Ribbon is called Fun 4 Fall - my project includes some leaf ribbon and twine, along with lots of little scraps of papers that I thought picked up the colors in the postcard:

supplies: Vintage PostCard, scraps of orange and green dps, Hero Arts CL353 Happy Halloween, VersaFine onyx black ink, green leaf ribbon, 2 buttons, twine

A card using fabric

We were challenged at CASE Study to CASE Niki Estes card, and to incorporate fabric.  If there's one thing I'm rich in, it's fabric.......as a former quilter, I was the queen of the quarter yards!   So when I began to think about CASEing Niki's card, I thought of snowflakes; sure enough, I had 2 samples to choose from:

supplies: white card stock, scrap of snowflake cotton fabric, 3 different punched and die-cut snowflakes, Our Daily Bread "Peace & Joy" sentiment, Versafine Lagoon Blue ink, sewing machine and white thread, pop-up adhesives

I'll also be entering this into the Moxie Fab World texture challenge.

Holiday Cards

I wanted to make another card for the Wee Memories Holiday Card challenge, this time a Christmas one.  I started with the Lawn Fawn Bannerific set (got it just for those cute little birds!), and then started digging around in my Christmas stamps to find something that it would work with.  The sentiment from Hero Arts fits nicely into the banner.  This holly wreath is from 1997; I got it second hand; it's from a company called StampCity USA, from Oshkosh, WI!  Here was my first try pairing up these stamps:

I had so much fun putting it together that I thought I'd try it again, but adding in more stamps.  This version adds the music from Skipping Stones Designs "Heartsong", and the banner is overstamped with a Sugarloaf damask stamp.  I added some Stickles to the berries on this one and sponged around the edges of the panel with tea dye distress ink:

supplies for both cards: kraft, cranberry and green cardstock, Lawn Fawn Bannerific banner and birds, Hero Arts CL464 Sending Holiday cheer (sentiment), StampCityUSA #JZ034-M (wreath), Memento markers to color, Skipping Stones Design "Heartsong " (music), Adirondack Cranberry ink, Sugarloaf damask stamp from Pat Catan's, Christmas Red Stickles, tea dye distress ink

Which one do you prefer?  

Trick or Treat!

The challenge over at Wee Memories is to create anything with a Holiday theme:

Here's my card:

supplies: white, orange, purple and black cardstock, unknown dp, Sweet November Stamps "Baby Tricks or Treats - Hero", Hero Arts CL353 Happy Halloween,  versafine onyx black ink, colored pencils for hair and skin, JoAnn chartreuse ribbon, doodlebug designs spooky town brad

Donna sent me these stamps - was it a year ago??  They are from a company called Sweet November.  I don't usually make Halloween cards, but having grandchildren changes things........I think Liam is dressing up as some sort of caped somebody, so this will go to him. 

A Halloween Scrapling

I wanted to join in the CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week, to make a Halloween card that doesn't have any  orange in it.  I don't have many Halloween items, but I found a previously stamped image of witch's shoes, which I colored and then cut out.  Since they were so tiny I thought I'd put them on a scrapling.  What is a scrapling?  It's what's left when you trim an A2 (5 1/2" X 4 1/4") card to a 4 1/4" square.  What's left is 1 1/4" wide by 4 1/4" long, the perfect size for my motif!

supplies: white cardstock scrapling, cut out of unknown witch's shoes, colored with Prismacolor pencils, Hero Arts CL353 Happy Halloween, Hero Hues Grass chalk ink, Palette Iris and VersaFine onyx black inks, purple silk and JoAnn's skinny chartreuse ribbons, googly eyes

Another 90-minute scramble

I haven't posted lately, so thought today I'd share the card I made this morning for the Hero Arts Flickr group's 90-minute scramble.  Briefly, the hostess comes up with a challenge, and posts it, then we have 90 minutes to come up with a design, execute it, photograph, and upload it to the pool.  Sue was our hostess this week, and her challenge was to "use the same Hero Arts stamps used on your last project in the Flickr Hero Arts group.  The only stamps allowed on your project must match the stamps on your last posted project in the HA Flickr group."   


So here was my last posted card there:

and here is what I did this morning, using the exact same stamps.  Evidently I'm NOT a morning person, because the only  thing I could think to do was to change up the colors a bit.  I like the result, but I don't think I met the challenge to make a different card; better eat my breakfast FIRST next time, huh?  I must add that the glittered kraft snowflake on the bow was an addition AFTER the 90-minute time had elapsed (it was originally a little red gem).

supplies: blue, kraft,  and white cardstock, Hero Arts CG215 Wreath of Leaves, Colorbox Sky Blue and Hero Hues Latte inks, CL251 SparkleClear Birdhouse Tag, CL558 Snowflake Ornaments (sentiment), twine, blue ribbon, punched snowflake, glitter

the Name Game Challenge

Over at the Flourishes blog, Suzanne Czosek has come up with a really fun idea for a challenge, to use your monogram, find something that represents each letter of it, and then use all of them on a card you create.  Fun idea!  I knew just what I wanted to do, using a new floral paper, and my latest Flourishes stamps from the set called Sweet Days of Summer.  My letters are LIB, and I used lace, ink, and blossoms!

supplies: white and orchid card stock, design papers from Echo Park Country Drive, Jillibean Soup Blossom Soup mini pad, BoBunny Sweet Pear Dot, Flourishes "Sweet Days of Summer", versamark ink and white embossing powder, Hero Arts Little Inker in pink, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, lace from Carole

Red, brown, and kraft

Here's my card for the current CR84FN challenge.  You can't go wrong with these colors!

supplies: red and kraft cardstock, Frogswhiskers #J377 Bittersweet Wreath, Hero Arts CL361 A Season of Giving, Anita's Teddy Bear ink, Christmas Red Stickles, brown dotted grosgrain ribbon, red button, natural twine

Here's the lovely photo inspiration from CR84FN:

Happy Haunting!

Here is my submission for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge to use the colors shown below.  I just received this adorable Lawn Fawn "Happy Haunting" clear set from my win at Simon Says Stamp, and I thought these colors would be fun to use it with; I spent a fun afternoon putting my little scene together.

A peachy note

Niki Estes is this month's Muse at CASE Study.

I was drawn to the music and the lace and followed her sketch almost exactly, just bringing in my own colors and motifs:

supplies: white, green and kraft card stock, dp from Websters Pages, Hero Arts CG222 Music Background, PTI sentiment Friendship Jar Spring, VersaMagic  Pink Grapefruit and Hero Hues Latte inks, Martha Stewart doily edge punch,  May Arts ribbons, lace from Carole, Spellbinders die-cut bird from Yvonne, tiny pearl

A clean and simple Christmas card and an ammended announcement

Before I get started, I wanted to say that I never heard from the winner of my Hero Arts clear stamps giveaway, so I did the random.org thing and the new winner is Paula (PEP).  I've already been in touch with her, and will be sending out the set early next week.  Congratulations, Paula!

Here is my first Christmas card of the season, one I may very well reproduce in many forms, just changing up the ink color and perhaps the sentiment, although this beautiful font seems a very good pairing with the lovely image....both are from my newest stamps from Hero Arts.

supplies: white cardstock, VersaFine Deep Lagoon ink, Hero Arts K5537 Winter Town, CL559 The Greatest Gift of All, rhinestone star

Textured to Perfection

The challenge this month at Moxie Fab World is to incorporate texture.  Coincidentally, while going through my closet this week I found this unframed cross-stitch project, and thought it might qualify for the challenge.  I used to cross-stitch back in the 80's and 90's, until my eyesight and the cost of framing forced me to stop.  I like the idea of recycling this little piece on a card:

supplies: gold card base, BoBunny slate dot and wild berry flourish double dot, Hero Arts CL397 SparkleClear Sew Original, tiny buttons


I simply stitched it onto a piece of cardstock to stabilize it, then sewed on some buttons and the simple sentiment, and framed it up with some coordinating colors.

Hello Sunshine

This week the Design Team at Lily Pad Cards got to play with some Tiffany Doodles digital images.  I chose the Warbler, and turned it the opposite way.  Here's my card:

supplies: gold and dark green cardstock, K&Company dp, Cuttlebug Birds & Swirls embossing folder, Tiffany Doodles Warbler, Memento markers to color, Tim Holtz birdcage diecut, tiny gold buttons, the Craft's Meow "Baggin' Some Rays" for sentiment on punched tag from Judy, twine

The sentiment reads "Hello Sunshine".  I hope you'll head on over to Lily Pad Cards to see what the rest of the Design Team made for your inspiration!

Another entry for Skipping Stones Designs

Just playing again with my new set of Skipping Stones Designs stamps from Kryssi.  These are wonderful, thick, quality stamps.  Here is my entry to win some more of them!  Love this sentiment!

supplies: white cardstock, BoBunny Flamingo Double Dot and My Mind's Eye Gertie dps, Skipping Stones Designs "Heartsong" clear stamp set, Memento Tuxedo black ink, antique linen, shabby shutters, worn lipstick and broken china distress inks, tiny buttons to match, heart charm from the Ribbon Girl, white twine

WCMD - Ellen's Holiday Card Challenge

Here's my final submission for the World Card Making Day challenge over at Ellen Hutson's CLASSroom in the Holiday Card category, using a sketch from this month's Hero Arts challenge:

supplies: white and red cardstock, Hero Arts CG377 Merriest Christmas Wishes, VersaCraft Cerulean ink, CG118 Stripes Pattern, CG222 Music Background, barn door distress ink, punched snowflake, dotted button from the Ribbon Girl, white twine, small snowflake sequins, small clear rhinestones

Tuesday Trigger

Oh YUMM, is this not a treat and a half?!  I'm imagining it's peaches and raspberries, and ice cream.  It's the Tuesday Trigger for this week; here's my interpretation, influenced by the rich colors:

supplies: kraft, deep red, and butternut card stock, shaded with lot of distress inks: tea dye, vintage photo and fired brick, Hero Arts CG292 Timely Bird, AR137 Script Messages, Anita's Teddy Bear ink,  red gemstones, platinum pearls, natural twine

Sharon's Inchie Challenge at the CLASSroom

Here is my 3rd entry for the wonderful candy at the CLASSroom, this time using Sharon's challenge.  I loved her example to use an inchie to highlight a stamped image.

supplies: white, black, and pale green parchment card stock, pink marbled dp, Penney Black 4037K Mixed Media, black ink, pink and green Prismacolor pencils, PTI sentiment from Embellishment set, Hero Arts CG102 Antique Brocade, Skipping Stones Designs Heartsong, VersaMark ink, white embossing powder, bundled sage and spun sugar distress inks sponged on colored panels to bring out the white embossing, pink and green silk ribbons, scrapbook adhesives 3D foam squares to raise flower panel and inchie

This works for THREE Autumn challenges!

This card was made for 3 challenges - CR85FN #39, to use orange, yellow, and brown, the Ribbon Reel challenge #12, to use orange, neutrals, and flowers and using the photo inspiration below (and coincidentally one of the same ones used by CR94FN), and The Shabby Tea Room #82, whose inspiration is also shown below.

supplies: white, kraft and brown card stock, an old scrap of a DCWV autumn pad (tablecloth) and various other scraps for pumpkins, Hero Arts H3129 Flower Cluster Sketch, Prismacolor pencils in yellows and oranges, F5270 Traditional Pumpkin, CL361 A Season of Giving (little punkins), CL119 Happy Thanksgiving, Memento Cocoa and Tuxedo Black inks, Hero Arts designer twine, tea dye distress ink

Here are the inspiration pictures:

for Joan's Gardens challenge

The criteria at Joan's Gardens this week is to use something from nature, layers, glitter, and a border.  Here is my submission; this fleur de lis die has always been a snowflake to me:

supplies: white and blue card stock, cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder, Hero Arts CL234 Winter's Butterfly, faded jeans distress ink, Spellbinders Fleur De Lis die, Cheery Lynne butterfly die, Jelly Roll glue pen and Hero Arts prisma glitter, clear rhinestones

Color Challenge at Ellen Hutson's CLASSroom

Here's another card for the World Card Making Day Challenge over at the CLASSroom, based on the colors given to us by Julie Ebersole:

supplies: aqua, yellow, and black cardstocks, dps from Basic Grey, DCWV Mariposa stack, and Jillibean Soup Blossom Soup, Die-namics doily, PTI flower die, Basic Grey brad, Hero Arts CL434 Just Find Me

Here's the color inspiration picture:

the CLASSroom WCMD sketch

Over at Ellen Hutson's CLASSroom, there is a wonderful challenge going on with GREAT candy for the winner!   Here is a sketch by Julia Stainton:

And here's my card for the challenge:

supplies:  gold and light aqua cardstock, dps from FoBunny, The Paper Store and My Mind's Eye Hattie pad, Sizzix swiss dots embossing folder,  Hero Arts CL498 Live Life, Cheery Lynn butterfly die, tiny gold button

World Card Making Day!

It's rainy and dreary here, a perfect day to stay in and play at our craft!  Hope you are able to do the same!  I have several cards I want to make for some challenges, so I'll just add to this during the day.

Here is my first, made for the Hero Arts Blog challenge this weekend:

supplies: red and white cardstock, The Paper Studio "Classic Snowflakes Blue" dp, Hero Arts CL558 Snowflake Ornaments, versamark ink and white embossing powder, CL462 Magic of Christmas, Memento Tuxedo Black ink and clear embossing powder, K5242 Big Pine Bough, Memento Cottage Ivy ink, glue pen and glitter, red embroidery floss


And a tag for the 25th Scramble at Hero Arts Flickr, hosted by Arlene:

supplies: tag, Hero Arts E3375 Fall Memories, CL338 Be Yourself, CG152 Two Birds, S5507 Envelope Pattern, Anita's Teddy Bear brown ink, lots of distress inks


I started this next one this morning, but had to put it aside to do the Scramble above.  It's for the Skipping Stones Design blog, using my new set of stamps that I received from Kryssi this week.  It's the first inking - I just made a simple 1-layer card, starting with the acrylic block technique to make the background rectangle, defined a little more with a blue colored pencil to bring out the blue in the bird.  Then I just added some heart buttons and a twine bow.  I love all the elements in this musical set and I know I'll use the sentiments often!

supplies: blue and ivory parchment card stock, Skipping Stones Designs "Heartsong" stamps, antique linen, tea dye and vintage photo distress inks, Memento Rich Cocoa ink, blue prismacolor pencil

And the winner is.......

Thanks to everyone who kindly commented on my post when I was a guest designer at Jill's blog last month.  After taking out the comments for those who already have the Hero Arts Antique Engravings set, there were 48 comments. I used Random .org, and the winner is #35, Karen, who said on September 21: "Gorgeous card, Lin....I love your work!".

Karen, I can't find an email address for you, so please contact me within 7 days with your mailing address so I can send this stamp set out to you.

September Diva Dare

At the Verve Stamps blog, this month our challenge is to CASE-a-Diva!  I chose Betty Wright's gorgeous card (2nd one in her post) because she showcased the lovely leaf sprig from the Bloom & Grow set.  That same leaf sprig was what influenced me to get the set.  Here's my card:

supplies: ivory cardstock, Basic Grey dp, Nesties scalloped oval die, Cheery Lynn butterfly die, Verve VS-0144 Bloom & Grow set, stamped in peeled paint distress ink, my own dyed seam binding, Basic Grey brad, Hero Arts spring art flowers, pale pink pearls.

CASE Study #59

Julie Lacey is our muse this month at CASE Study.  

I loved her blue and brown combination!  Here's my version:

supplies: kraft, bugundy, and Core'dinations Perfect Plum card stocks, Hero Arts CG248 Large Solid Flower stamped in Versamark ink and clear embossed, AR130 Handwritten Sentiments stamped in Adirondack Cranberry ink, plum ribbon, bright pink rhinestones