Tuesday Trigger, Take Two

As I said yesterday, the Tuesday Trigger this time has my creativity simmering!

This time my eyes focused on the little flowery prints in the hexagons, and I went looking for a little flower stamp.  Once that was colored and trimmed out into a circle and framed with a brown scallop, my "plan" took on a life of its own.  I had originally thought I'd use some gingham and ditzy prints and make different sizes of circles to sprinkle down the card - that just didn't pan out, and instead I cut those same papers into strips and made a little strip-pieced panel, which I then embossed to look like it's been quilted.  I added some lace down the right side, found a sentiment that would fit into what was left of my card base, and here is the result:

supplies; white and brown cardstock, Amuse and various scraps of old dps, Hero Arts CL500 Love Every Day (the flowers from a little vase), CL417 Huge Hugs, Palette Burnt Umber ink, Memento markers, Hobby Lobby lace, Cuttlebug Wicker Weave embossing folder, Ranger Glossy Accents for centers of flowers

Tuesday Trigger - SEW cute!

When Cath put this Tuesday Trigger up, I practically fell over myself gathering some papers to play along.  This one hits all my buttons, and then some!

supplies: white cardstock, dps from Simple Stories Baby Steps and assorted bits and pieces from The Girls' Paperie, Crate Paper's Emma's Shoppe, and doodlebug designs sugar & spice, Die-Namics hexagon die, paper doily, Signo white pen, natural twine, Hero Arts CL397 Sew Original, Artprint Brown ink, pins from Heidi Grace

I went literal again, couldn't help it, I just loved all the patterns on the photo inspiration.  I already have another idea, so I'll be back...... 

Hero Arts and distress markers

Happy Wednesday!!  Can you believe another month has flown by and it's time again for another Anything Goes challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge!   The design team is using Hero Arts stamps this week, so I made you two cards, both using distress markers in place of inks, which allowed me to add more detail and colors to my stamps.  Here is my first one:

This one features the Designer Woodgrain background, the Floral Blossoms cling set as the main image, and a clear set called Find Joy for the sentiment.  I used 3 distress markers to color the roses: Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, and Peeled Paint.  After coloring them directly onto the rubber of the stamp, I spritzed with water, and stamped onto ordinary cardstock.  Then I cut out my panel using Spellbinder's Nestabilites Labels Eighteen, and framed it in gold hand-cut label.

My next card uses the same principles.  My Hero Arts Stamp here is called Garden Bouquet and the sentiment is from the clear set called Just Find Me.

This time I used Wild Honey and Peeled Paint distress markers, and a Tombo periwinkle marker.  I just sponged on some Shaded Lilac distress ink while the panel was still in the Scalloped Rectangle die.

Please head on over to our blog and see what gorgeous things Guest Designer Piali and my teamies did with Hero Arts stamps!

As always, Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher at the Simon Says Stamp store for the random winner of this challenge - it could be you!  You don't have to use Hero Arts stamps, but we'd sure like to see them if you have some!

I made a wish.......

.......and it came true!  Got some happy mail yesterday which I can't share just yet, but I wanted to encourage you all to have a dream and go for it!

supplies; white cardstock, vellum, dps from Simple Stories Baby Steps, MME Howdy Doody, The Craft's Meow Butterfly Kisses stamp set, green dotty grosgrain ribbon, green pearls, Nesties Labels Eighteen dies

I'm entering this into MFW's Focal Point contest.

Moonlight Garden

My favorite challenge at the Play Date Cafe has rolled around again - their "Black and White with a Splash" challenge.  This time the splash is lime, a color I love - here's my entry:

supplies: white and lime cardstock, Hero Arts K5361 Flower Medley, CL493 Live Life, VersaFine onyx black ink and Hero Arts ultra fine clear embossing powder, lime gems, lime baker's twine from Jillibean Soup

Put on your Sunglasses!

This week at the CASE Study challenge we get to choose one of our fellow submitters and CASE one of her cards from a past CASE Study!  I've been going through past challenges and have found all kinds of inspiration, so I will be playing again......for now, though, here's the card by Wanda Cullen that I chose today:

I liked the way she tilted her stamped image, and her addition of the buttons.  Last night I was feeling do-less, as my husband calls it (or uninspired to the rest of us) and decided to just sit down and color.  Looking at my stamps, this little Hero Arts "Angels in a Vase" from 2004 jumped out at me.  Back then, the woodblocks had a colored image on the fronts, so I proceeded to follow that example with what I had on hand, using Memento and Tombo markers.  I even went as far as framing it up in the blue and orange, and then went to bed.  So when I saw Wanda's example today, everything clicked and here's my finished card:

supplies: white and aqua cardstock, dps from a digital download (ginghams) and doodlebug designs petite prints tangerine dot/grid, Hero Arts E3086, Angels in a Vase, CL456 Big Hugs, Really Reasonable Ribbon's  hot ink dot grosgrain ribbon, various buttons, Nesties scalloped rectangles dies

I really tried to use 2 background prints ala Wanda, but could find nothing in my stash that worked, until I came upon this digital aqua gingham, and you know me and gingham - it won!

Thank you, Wanda, for your inspiration!

I'd like to enter this card into the Card Design Handbook Week's Gallon, Quart, Pint challenge, though I have more than 3 colors here.  My gallon would be the aquas, quart is the orange, and pint is pink.......

Green

The word this week at CASology is green!  I thought about this for awhile, and kept coming back to how beautiful shade gardens can be......they are usually made up of various sizes and textures of interesting leafy plants, sometimes flowers, but mostly just 1000 shades and shapes of green.  So then I went and pulled out all my leafy stamps, and finally decided on this big fern.

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts K5314 Silhouette Fern, S5707 Envelope Pattern, S5101 Raindrop Background, CL491 Made with Love (dragonflies), Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden sentiment, peeled paint and shabby shutters distress inks

Unless you haven't been here lately you will also recognize the sketch from this month's Hero Arts contest which I have used on every other card this month.  :))

Card Design: Movement

Cath is posting a number of challenges based around some design concepts to be found in the new publication called Card Design Handbook.  This challenge is about the importance of movement in design.  I'm not sure I ever really thought about it, but a good card does move your eye all around the surface.  Here's my card:

supplies: white and pale aqua cardstock, Hero Arts CL596 Pattern Hearts & Flowers, CL491 Made with Love, S5324 Simple Frame, VersaFine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, roses watercolored with tumbled glass, broken china, and peeled paint distress inks, Signo white pen, white pearls

If I'm understanding this design concept correctly, your eye should go to the popped roses cluster first, then the repeated subtle stamped roses in the background, then to the sentiment, and finally to the delicate frame that encloses all of them, which brings you back again to the main roses.  Hmmmmm......I think I need this issue!

Popcorn goes to School

Hi!  It's time for another Simon Says Stamp challenge!

We have a really fun one this week - Back to School!  Here's what I made:

I stamped, colored, and cut out this adorable Popcorn the Bear from the School Days set, and set him against a blackboard made of a paint chip framed in a woodgrain paper from My Mind's Eye Howdy Doody. paper pad.  I used my favorite white pen, the Signo uni-ball white gel pen to write on it.  Then I embossed some red cardstock with the Sizzix Dots embossing folder as my card base, and put everything together.  

What will you make this week using our theme?  As always, Heidi has provided a $50.00 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store for our random winner!

Need some ideas?  Come on over to our blog to see what the our Guest Designer Piali and the rest of the Design Team did!

Minty Fresh

At Moxie Fab World, we are to showcase the color of green we know as mint.  I loved Cath's first example of a dress in mint with chocolate dots and I used that as my inspiration  (mint chocolate chip ice cream not being far from my mind either):

supplies: cream and brown cardstock, dps from American Crafts dear lizzy Neapolitan, Hero Arts K5376 Hydrangea, 330053 Heydey Sentiments, Pallette Burnt Umber ink, Hero Arts craft twine, Nesties scalloped rectangles, Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares

Aqua, tan and cream

supplies: cream and tan cardstock, Hero Arts Tides layering paper, PTI  The Sweet Life, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Collection, Technique Tuesday Mon Ami Paris, tumbled glass and broken china distress inks on flowers, peeled paint and shabby shutters on leaves, soft pool chalk ink for tone-on-tone images on card, VersaFine Deep Lagoon ink, Nesties scalloped rectangles, tiny button and crochet thread

This is my entry for the 61st CR84FN challenge, based on these colors:

They are so soothing, I may play more than once this time......

And my card fits for the Card Design Handbook Week: Focal Point Challenge at Moxie Fab World, too.

Thanks for your visit and your kind comments!

Inspired by Clare

This week at CASE Study, we are to choose a member of the design team and CASE one of her cards.  I chose a card by Clare Buswell.  I loved the doily and the roses and her buttons sprinkled  here and there.  Here's my card for this week's challenge:

supplies: green cardstock, graph paper from K&Co Brenda Walton Flora & Fauna Ledger pad, roses from Pink Paislee's Spring Jubilee pad, Hero Arts CG168 Circle Doily, F3342 Stitched Ribbon (zig-zag faux stitching), Paper Inspirations E7011 Forget me not..., Skipping Stones Design Heartsong (music), vintage photo, tea dye, and antique linen distress inks, VersaFine onyx black ink, Die-Namics rolled roses, Sizzix Sizzlits Branch with Leaves,  May Arts dusty peach silk ribbon, PTI melon berry buttons

I made it my own by adding the music to the background and choosing the lovely peachy-pink color for my flowers and buttons.  Thank you, Clare, this was a fun exercise!

CASE-ing Cindy

Last Friday, Cindy hosted our 46th 90-minute scramble at the Hero Arts flickr group, and one of her sample cards was this gorgeous one.  I fell in love with it immediately and could not wait to CASE it.

I used what I had on hand: CG405 Leaf & Floral Background, AC005 Untitled Word Shadow, Cup 'o' Joe mid-tone ink, Grass and Splash chalk inks, Layering Papers from the Earth, Foliage and Pool sets, Art Flowers, and Mixed Buttons from several sets, all Hero Arts products, plus Colorbox Frost White ink.  I plan to add some other colors and then I'll have a nice gift set for someone special.

Thank you, Cindy, for your wonderful design!

Flower Box

Here's another entry for A Blog Named Hero's challenge.  I love kraft and had forgotten that it is really lovely when stamped and colored with colored pencils.

I used 2 "shades" of kraft and these Hero Arts stamps: CG127 Flower Box, and a woodblock from 2002 that I found in a local stamp swap this spring - was thrilled to find it, as I don't think I've ever seen it, and the set appeared to be brand new!  The set is LL747 Friendship Messages; the one I chose for this card is E2289 Thank You Message.

Ocean

supplies: ivory parchment and dark aqua cardstock, watercolor paper, Hero Arts S5316 Silhouette Grass, ST508 My Happy, vintage photo, tea dye, antique linen, tumbled glass, broken china, and faded jeans distress inks, VersaMark and clear embossing powder, aqua pearls 

The challenge for this week's CAS-ual Fridays is to be inspired by the ocean.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do, after reading Maile Belles' article this morning about watercoloring.  I stamped the grasses and clear embossed them on watercolor paper, then just put some distress inks on an acrylic block, spritzed them with lots of water and painted on my background color with a big soft brush.  Again, I used my favorite current Hero Arts sketch to put this card together.  This may be one of the most CAS cards I've ever done, and I like the sentiment with it - this will be a perfect card for my chemo patients or for anyone needing a little encouragement.

Crafting with kraft

Our challenge over at A Blog Named Hero is to use kraft paper in our creations.  In going to get my kraft cardstock, I found in my stash a couple pieces of Core'dinations/Tim Holtz kraft core and chose this dusty pink color to use for this challenge.  I hadn't tried dry-embossing it and wanted to see the effect.  I like it - will be stocking up on more colors, now!

supplies: kraft cardstock, Core'dinations Kraft Core color #2, scrap of unknown design paper reverse for stamping flowers, Hero Arts 657773 Antique Flowers & Butterflies stamp and die, Latte chalk ink, ST508 My Happy, Sizzix flowers embossing folder, Nesties oval die, EK Success Sticko dimensional stickers in centers of flowers

I had trouble stamping on the kraft core, however - the inks I tried faded, even when embossed, so I had to use a scrap of another paper close in color for my flowers.  Has anyone else had this problem with the kraft core?

And since this layout is loosely based on one of the sketches this month for our Hero Arts contest, I'll enter this card there also.  

Old and new

Wallpaper Flowers.....is the name of the stamp I used for the strip on this card, made for the Hero Arts August contest, using one of the 3 sketches they've provided.  The stamp is from 2009, and I paired it with a new birthday sentiment stamp from this summer.

supplies: white and blue cardstock, Hero Arts K5185 Wallpaper Flowers, CL611 Many Birthday Messages, VersaFine onyx black ink, Hero Arts ultra fine clear embossing powder, Spectrum Noir blue markers, Memento New Sprout marker, Letraset sunflower flexmarker, Martha Stewart butterfly punches, We R Memory Keepers corner chomper

GOAL!!

Welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Challenge!  This week we're calling it Animal Antics
and I can't wait to see what fills up our gallery!!

I LOVE the Simon Says Stamp Store!  If you haven't already, take some time and go see all the brands that they offer!  There are things there that I never knew existed, among them this adorable Teddy named Popcorn from Crafter's Companion in the UK, and you can get him doing all kinds of fun things. Back in the dark ages, I collected Teddy Bears and still have them all over my house.  When I saw the Football Crazy set, I screeched to a halt and put him in my shopping cart!

Here in NE Ohio we have a very active youth soccer organization; when our boys were young, they started at about age 4 or 5, and our youngest son stuck with soccer all the way up through the high school team.  He was on a travelling team by then, and we have wonderful memories of the kids and their parents during those years. Now he has a little boy of his own who has started soccer already!  But I digress......

I paper pieced my Teddy, dressing this little guy in the colors of one of my son's teams, blue and yellow.  I should have put a number 14 on this shirt, but his tummy was too round :))  Here's my card:

I used the Football Crazy set for everything except the sun, which came from a Hero Arts set, Be Happy.  The cloud paper is from Echo Park's Hello Summer

What will you make for this week?  Please visit the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog and see the other fun creations from the design team and our Guest Designer Piali, and then link up yours - you might be the random winner of the $50.00 gift voucher from the Simon Says Stamp store!!

Pink Roses

supplies: aqua, pink, and cream parchment cardstock, Hero Arts CL490 Sending Smiles Messages, CG125 Friend Definition, PTI The Sweet Life, VersaFine onyx black ink, several pink and green inks for roses and leaves, Hobby Lobby lace, Darice Damask embossing folder, pink pearls

I made this card for The Shabby Tea Room's challenge this week: using pink, aqua, cream and text.  I recently got these 3-step roses from PTI - here I only used 2 of the steps, leaving the base cream to tie it in  with the rest of the card.  

Black and white

I just received some new (to me) stamps from Hero Arts, and had a little play, using one of the sketches they've posted for our monthly challenge.

supplies: black and white cardstock, Hero Arts CG125 Friend Definition, CL508 Luscious Frames, VersaFine onyx black ink, Hero Arts CH171 Pink Accent Pearls

This black and white color scheme is so not my style, but once I'd stamped the friends definition, it just seemed to follow to keep almost everything else in the same colors, except for those tiny splashes of pink in the centers of the flowers.  

And because this lack of color is very outside the box for me, I'll also enter this into CASE Study's "Think Out of the Box" challenge again.  

Flower Girl

The challenge this week at CASE Study is "Think Out of the Box".  I wasn't going to enter, but then after looking at the DT examples, I decided to try to do a scrapbook page, using these photos taken in May of our granddaughter, 16 months at the time.  I had printed them out, but never framed them as I usually do.  After working on a recent card using these flowers, I thought they looked enough like the flowers in these pictures to try pairing them up together.  So here is my entry for this week:

supplies: BoBunny Wasabi dot and scraps of other papers, Hero Arts CL511 Sweet Threads Thank You, Martha Stewart butterfly punch and labels (thank you, Joy!), doodlebug designs Jack & Jill alphabet rub-ons

Thank you, CASE Study, for pushing me WAY out of my comfort zone......this is probably the 4th or 5th 12" page I've ever done.  Scrapbooking is just too scary for me - too much space and too little expertise to fill up that space.  I even started a scrapbook of our grandson, and only got through the first 8 months of his life, and that was an 8" one!  (he's 3 1/2 now!)  I'm ashamed that I haven't finished it or started one for our granddaughter.......they are both so photogenic I have no excuses.  I have a lot to learn, and I've gained lots of respect for those of you who do scrapbook.  I would love some advice on how I could improve this page.......be kind, please :))

I have you in my heart.....

supplies: white cardstock, imaginisce "Lucy Bird" printed paper, Hero Arts F5158 Heart Winged Butterfly, CL476 With Sympathy, Versafine onyx black ink, Hero Arts clear ultra fine embossing powder, black wire

Here is my card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge, to make a square card.  I remember doing a similar design back in 2010, after a tutorial by Hero Arts artist Nancy Taylor.  Simply, I stamped this old favorite Heart Winged butterfly on printed paper 3 times, heat embossed it, then cut it out, and glued all 3 together, trimming as needed.

I cut off the original antennae and used some black wire instead.  I love this sentiment with this image!

this Children's Summer Holidays/Back to School challenge is specifically for children between the ages of 2 and 16 years of age so now is the time to let your Children, Grandchildren, Nieces and Nephews loose in your craft rooms !! :-)

We have not one but 2 very special prizes for this event !!




2 lucky winners will each win one of these fabulous Junior Stamper Kit's !! Woo Hoo !!! :-)

In celebration of crafting with our kids, we have developed this "Junior Stamper" kit targeted for ages 4 through 14. The kit includes whole assortment of products from stamps, ink, neon papers, coloring pages, twistable crayons, markers, window markers, to stickers, construction paper, glue stick, washi tape, and scissors (safe for 4+). There is a huge list of supplies and many of them reusable for a long time to come. It's important to celebrate our children and so the kit is complete with a "Junior Stamper" Certificate of achievement.

The theme is ANYTHING GOES

you have until 31st August to join in AND you can enter as many times as you like :-)

CLICK HERE for more details

Pink Carnation, Orange Sherbet and Lemonade

Couldn't resist playing with the colors at the Play Date Cafe challenge this week; summer to the max!

I thought I'd make a little bouquet of posies, with the help of some masking:

supplies: white card stock, dp from doodlebug designs "hello spring", Hero Arts CL511 Sweet Threads Thank You, bubble gum and butter bar mid-tone inks, Adirondack Sunset Orange ink, peeled paint and shabby shutters distress inks, Nesties Labels Eighteen, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, orange ribbon, tiny green button

I'm also entering this into A Blog Named Hero's Freestyle challenge.

Just a Note

Another Wednesday, and time for a new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog!  This week we have a fun Bingo board: just choose a column, row, or diagonal for your elements.

The design team is using Memory Box products this week:  Here's my card:

I used these Memory Box products: Pixie paper in the background, the Index Card stamp, and the Meadow Leaf die.  I used the first column on the left: ribbon, die cut, and buttons.  The stamped sentiment is from this Hero Arts cling set.

What will you make for us this week? Please visit the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog and get some ideas from our Guest Designer Piali and the rest of my teamies.

Heidi has provided another $50.00 voucher for the random winner to shop at the Simon Says Stamp Superstore!

Hero Arts sketch

This month there are several criteria to choose to enter the Hero Arts August contest.  I decided to make a clean and simple card using one of the sketches we were given:

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts 331065 Lattice, VersaMark ink and spun sugar distress ink, CL569 Truly Grateful, CL496 Layered Flowers, VersaFine onyx black ink, papers from Doodlebug Designs sugar & spice, Recollections pearls, pink button, corner chomper

I was in the mood for something very softly colored.  It's still hot here, and these colors just feel cooler to me!  I first stamped the label and sentiment, then masked it, masked off the edges of the card, and clear stamped and white embossed the lattice.  Leaving on all the masks, I then sponged on spun sugar distress ink.  Of course I chose a flower to embellish this simple card, and added a button to it's center, some leaves, and a few pearls.

Does this card look "short" to you?  Wouldn't you know, that after I did all my masking and sponging, when I took off the masks, there was a smudge of black ink, pretty faint, but there nevertheless on the bottom left. I hated to throw this away after all the work, so I hacked off about 1/2" of the bottom :))

Hugs & Love

At Joan's Gardens, the challenge is to use this recipe:
                Use a flower as your focal point
                Use black and red
                Use an embossing folder
                Use either a stamped or die-cut border at the bottom

Here's my card, heavily influenced by this one I posted a few days ago:

supplies: white card base, black, red, and green cardstock, Cuttlebug Herringbone embossing folder, Hero Arts CL596 Pattern Hearts & Flowers, CG288 Scallop Borders, Versafine onyx black ink,  heart punch from Michael's, Hero Arts red gems, Scrapbook Adhesives foam squares

Because I was kind of following the outlines of my previous card, I chose the herringbone embossing folder for this card.  And I like that I used an older (scallop border) and a newer (roses and sentiment panel) stamp to make it.

These roses remind me of a red rose bush that came with our house when we bought it.  You all know that red is not a favorite color of mine, I even prefer pastels in my flowers, so this plant has been moved many times.  It must be on its own stock, because it is still going strong!  

Signature Style?

There's an interesting challenge at CASE Study this week (and a wonderful 2nd Anniversary blog hop I encourage you to visit for amazing inspiration).  The challenge is to make a card showing off your signature style.  I like to dabble in lots of styles, but using these elements makes me happy: mixing patterned papers, the use of gingham and hearts, text, lace, buttons, pastels, and flowers.  I just got this new Carta Bella "Beautiful Moments" paper pad, and decided to start with it, and then try to bring in those elements.

supplies: white card base, Carta Bella "Beautiful Moments" paper pad, pink gingham from MME Lost and Found Two: Blush paper pad,  Hero Arts CG291 3 Dotted Flowers, VersaMark ink and Hero Arts white embossing powder, DieNamics large scallop, Martha Stewart doily punch, Hobby Lobby lace, Martha Stewart flower button, Heidi Grace heart stick pins

This is a layout I often use.  I chose the center panel because of the word "Joy" in it, which is my life's word (and there are some little birds there, too), and also because I like the way adding text breaks things up and gives a little more interest.  Then I chose 3 patterns for my flower, and constructed  it with foam squares in between each layer so that the layers showed up better.  The small gingham is the only pattern not in the paper pad.  The other papers were chosen to help bring in most of the colors in the central panel.  Using a stripe is another thing that I do often - it seems to look good with most any other pattern.  

So, what is my style?  I liked the way Nina Brackett described her style: Simple Shabby.  I think I'll go with that, at least for today!

I am also entering this into A Blog Named Hero's challenge: Freestyle this week.

Best Wishes

Happy Wednesday, everyone, we're half-way to the weekend!  In the meantime, there's another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, and this week we have an adorable photo inspiration from our Guest Designer Kristina Werner - it's her sweetie called Mannie!

This week the design team is working with Basic Grey products - you are welcome to do the same, but it's not necessary.  I used the 3 roses stamp from one of my favorite sets called Pattern Hearts & Flowers  I kept my card mostly black and white except for the tiny touches of blue and green.  Here's my card:

I stamped my roses 3 times, cutting out smaller portions of the flowers each time and built them up with pop-dots.  The background embossing on my card is from one of the folders in this Sizzix Floral Flourishes and Vines set.

Heidi and the Simon Says Stamp Store have generously provided another $50.00 voucher for the random winner of this challenge.

Please visit us at our Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog to see what our Guest Designer Kristina and my team mates have done this week, and then play along with us!  Let's see how Kristina's picture inspires you!

And since the timing is right and these are Hero stamps, I'd like to enter this into the Freestyle challenge at A Blog Named Hero.