Words to your Mother

The Flourishes Release Week Challenge is "Words to Your Mother", using a sentiment directed to your Mom as your focal point.  I spent Mother's Day with my parents and my sister Nancy, who also made a card for our Mom and her sentiment was this computer-generated one, which I absolutely ADORE.   It describes exactly how I feel about our Mom.   Sorry, Nan, but I'm lifting this one!

supplies: pink and white cardstock, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found "Madison Avenue 'Sisters" Lace Paper, BoBunny  Tutu Dot dp, computer-generated sentiment, Hero Arts CL130 Frames and Messages (little swirls  above and below sentiment), pale pink pearl heart, My Favorite Things Rolled Rose dies ( used all 3 sizes), Nesties Labels Four, dusty pink organza ribbon, lace

Embedded Embossing, take 2

Still playing with the technique from my previous post.  I love gingham, and blue and yellow together!  The gingham flowers are punched, then glued to the white cardstock before running the panel through an embossing folder.  I'm entering this into Hero Art "Fabulous Flowers" challenge for this month.

supplies: white, green, and blue cardstock, Making Memories Blue Gingham, BoBunny Buttercup Dot dps, Hero Arts CL374 Big and Small Flowers, CL342  Everyday Sayings, versafine onyx black ink, vellum, blue button, medium flower punch, Sizzix   embossing folder "Flourishes, Floral"

Embedded Embossing

I was really excited to try this (new to me) technique that I first saw at Rosemary's blog.  Go and see the beautiful card that Rosemary made using it!  Briefly, you glue a punched or fussy cut or stamped and cut out item to a plain backing, then run the whole sheet through an embossing folder, and it comes out looking like the added items were printed right on the backing.  I plan to try this several different ways, but for my first attempt I thought I'd try using these vellum-like stickers that I've had for years. (The brand is Miss Elizabeth, which I found at the Dollar Tree.  Sadly they've discontinued this lovely and inexpensive line.  This set is called "Violets")  LOVE the color of them, my favorite periwinkle, but somehow I've never used many of them..  So here's my finished card, using no stamping, only these pretty stickers, and the dry embossing (a Sizzix folder "Swirly Vines with Hearts"):

I'm entering this into the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge, which is to use embedded embossing on your project.  I realize I may be disqualified because I didn't use any stamps, but I wanted to share this card anyway.  

Play Date Cafe challenge #80

Here's our photo inspiration for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge:

LOVE that jug of poppies!  Here is my entry for this week:

I haven't played with this poppy silhouette stamp in a long while, and what better time?  The sentiment is from Flourishes and I think its cheery wishes is the perfect one for these flowers.

supplies:  white and red cardstock, My Mind's Eye Bloom & Grow dp (orange dots), Hero Arts CG140 Poppy Background, versamark ink and white embossing powder, Momento Hero Hues Markers to color in the flowers and stems, Flourishes Spring Has Sprung (sentiment), versafine onyx black ink, tiny punched tag from Carol, Hobby Lobby stitched red ribbon

Winners of my ATCs

Just a quick pop-in this ;morning to announce the winners of the ATC's from this post.  They are #7, Anette, and #9, Kathy.  I've written you both a comment on your latest posts on your blogs to please contact me with your snail mail addresses, and Anette, your choice of the ATCs.  Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments.

Bright Pink, Gray, Cream

Happy Mother's Day!  Hope all you Moms are treated royally today!!  Here are the colors for this week's CR84FN challenge this week: 

For this challenge, I decided to stamp and paper-piece a die-cut label as my base.  So I alternated grey-on-white strips with white-on-grey ones.  Then I remembered this lovely Hero Arts Jewelled Flower.  I placed it over some winter white loops of seam binding, added my sentiment on a die-cut label, and backed the whole thing with my beloved BoBunny dots:

supplies: white and grey cardstock, Stampin Up Top Note diecut as a base,  from top: Hero Arts CG211 Magical Background, CG102 Antique Brocade, S5213 Dots and Flowers, CG125 Friends Definition, S5341 Lace Background, K5175 Houndstooth, Penny Black sentiment 30-067 To You on Nesties Labels Eight, Stampology ink (grey), Versamark and white embossing powder, Hug Snug seam binding in winter white, Hero Arts CH249 Jeweled Pastel Flowers, BoBunny Blush Dot as background


Thanks for visiting!  Now please see what the CR84FN Design Team did for this challenge: Mona, Suzanne, Deborah, Heather, Stephanie, Sue, Andrea, and Lisa.  And hope to see you playing along with these colors, too!

Another entry for CASual Fridays

If you're here to see my card for the Lily Pad Cards blog, please scroll down 2 posts, please.

Here's another entry for the CASual Fridays challenge, to use text prominently in our creation.   This one I love, but I'm not so sure it would be considered CAS.  I'd love some suggestions, please.  Is there too much going on to be considered CAS?  And when I think of CAS cards, they're always on a white ground - is color allowed?

supplies: periwinkle cardstock, text from an old book, Hero Arts S5324 Simple Frame, CL428 Earth Flowers, CL430 Real Garden Petals, Brilliance Pearlescent Lavender, peeled paint distress, and versafine onyx black inks


We'll be away for a few days visiting my Mom, so I'll take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Mother's Day!!  I received some gourmet brownies in the mail today, so I'm a happy Momma!!

CAS-ual Fridays challenge #1

If you're looking for my post for the Lily Pad Blog, please scroll down one post.  Thanks!

I love it when a brand new challenge blog begins!   I've been looking forward to this one, because I've got lots to learn!  In case you haven't noticed I'm about 180 degrees away from Clean and Simple.  Here is our first challenge, to use text in our creation:

Here's my submission:

 I used a page from a Reader's Digest Condensed Book called The "Ladies of Missalonghi" for my flower, and the leaves have script built right into the stamp.  I'd love some criticism on how this design could be improved.......if I had my way I'd have stamped a big text background in tone-on-tone behind all of this, but I restrained myself.

supplies: kraft and cream cardstock, text from old book, Hero Arts CL495 Blossom Art, CL298 Scattered Leaves, AR130 Handwritten Sentiments, versafine onyx black ink, gold and orange markers 

Kathy's Color Throw Down with The Greeting Farm

Welcome to another Color Throw Down at Lily Pad Cards.  Kathy has chosen some lovely springy colors for us this time:

We were given the chance to play with some digital Greeting Farm stamps!  Here is the image I chose; he's called Irvin!  Given that my maiden name was Irvine, and loving music, I couldn't resist him!  Here is my card using Irvin and Kathy's colors this month:

supplies: kraft, cream, and white cardstocks, Greeting Farm "Irvin Sax" digital stamp, colored pencils and markers, Papertrey Ink Vintage Picnic (sentiment), versafine onyx black ink, Heidi Grace green plaid dp, aqua satin ribbon, heart punch, aqua cardstock

I printed Irvin out on white (for his eyes), cream (for the background), and a light kraft cardstock.  I colored in his clothes, beak, feet, and saxophone on the kraft copy,  and then cut him out and glued him to the background, piecing in his eyes, and adding some punched hearts to give me more of the aqua color.

Be sure to visit Lily Pad Cards to see the other DT's creations using The Greeting Farm stamps, and then enter to win some Greeting Farm of your own!

Artist Trading Cards

Another of the themes for this month's challenge at the Hero Arts Blog is ATC's, which stands for Artist's Trading Cards.  They are 2.5 X 3.5 inches, about the size of sports trading cards, and are little miniature works of art, meant for trading.  Here are 2 that I'm submitting for this month's challenge:

supplies: jade cardstock, Hobby Lobby ledger dp, Hero Arts CG165 Silhouette Bells, stamped in Brilliance Tri-color Peacock ink, CL156 Treasure the Moment, stamped in VersaFine onyx black ink, bit of lace, Martha Stewart butterfly punch

supplies: red cardstock, October Afternoon Seaside: Beach Chair dp, Hero Arts F5407 Let's Garden Silhouette, CL497 Find Joy, VersaFine onyx black ink, teeny buttons

If you'd like to have one of these ATCs, please leave a comment by Sunday night at midnight (May 8), and I'll draw 2 random names next Monday and send each of you an ATC.

Sharing

I wanted to share a couple of cards made recently for 2 different challenges.  This first one is for this week's Penny Black Blog challenge, to lift one of the design team's cards.  Lots and lots of inspiration there, but I knew immediately that I wanted to do a lift of Peet's card.  Did she not bring that stamp to life?  I went with a more pastel theme, but totally lifted her card:

supplies:  aqua cardstock, K&Company Brianna Block Collage dp, Girls Paperie Vintage Whimsey and Jubilee dps, Penny Black stamp #4182K Butterfly Suite, aqua pearls

And this next one was made for the Hero Arts blog challenge for this month.  One of the themes we have is flowers, so I'm a happy girl and I'll be submitting lots this month!   

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Hues Grass and Punch Layering Papers, Hero Arts CG291 Three Dotted Flowers, S5055 Floating Leaf Pattern, H5029 Flowering Flourish, CL380 Truly Appreciated, Grass chalk ink, Versamark ink and white embossing powder
For anyone who may not be familiar with the Hero Arts challenges and their Flickr group, I encourage you to find yourself some Hero stamps (you just need to use one to enter), and come and jump into the pool there.  This is the kindest, closely knit community you will ever find and I know you'll be welcomed with open arms.  Hero Arts is amazingly generous, giving away $50.00 shopping sprees  to 10 lucky people each month!  Here's a link to the blog, where you can see an example 5 days a week from their amazingly talented artists.  I just happened to be beginning my card making about the time that the Blog was born, and I have learned almost everything from them!  Please consider joining us!  Also, another little wonderful thing about the Hero Flickr site is that if you have a Hero Arts stamp, just plug the stamp number into the search bar in the pool area, and you will get lots and lots of ideas for how to use that particular stamp.  It's a wonderful tool that I use often! (Edited to add that the stamp numbers are added as tags on flickr)

Sweet Dreams

Look at these lovely soothing colors that we get to play with at the Shabby Tea Room this week:

Wouldn't a guest here feel pampered in this room?  Here is my take on this week's colors:

It's so very difficult to find this pastel baby blue color anymore - mine came from a 12" paper pad by Colorbok that was at Walmart of all places!  I love all of the soft pastels in it, so you'll be seeing more of them, at least this season.  I also used an older punch, this pretty lacy one by Fiskar's, a toile-like background stamp, and this lovely label that's easy to cut out by hand, plus some die-cut flowers, some winter white seam binding and lots of pearls.

supplies: kraft, blue, (Colorbok Textured Dark Pastels), and winter white cardstock, Fiskar's lace punch, Hero Arts CG245 Classic Fabric Design, CL488 Congrats (stamped label), CL342 Everyday Sayings (sentiment), Adirondack Stonewash and an almost empty teardrop pad of ColorBox French blue inks, PTI die-cut flowers, swiss dot embossing folder, Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly, blue and white pearls, Hug Snug winter white seam binding

May CCC now at Lily Pad Cards

It's time for signing up for the Card Chain for May!  It has been moved to Lily Pad Cards now, and the rules have been slightly changed; we make the card FIRST, then sign up, and after the deadline, Deborah will let us know where to send it.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this monthly challenge, we are given a choice of a sketch, a color palette, and several themes;  all we have to do is choose one of the criteria, make a card, and then send it off.  In return we get a card from someone else in the challenge, and since we are world-wide, it could come from anywhere!  Here's the card I made this month, following the sketch and the color palette:

supplies: kraft, pink, canteloupe, and pale yellow cardstocks, Hero Arts H5426 Artists Butterfly, Penny Black #30-067 To You, Versafine onyx black ink, clear embossing powder, Martha Stewart doily border punch, Hero Hues pearls


Hope you can join us!  You have until this Friday, May 6 at 11:59pm EST to make your card and link it here.

I'd also like to enter this into the paper-piecing challenge at Wee Memories.

CR84FN#26 and happy news!

I am so very excited to share with you that Mona Pendleton has asked me to be her guest designer for the month of May for her color challenge blog, CR84FN!  I am over the moon to be playing with Mona and the other members of her fabulous design team!!  Thank you, ladies!

Here are the colors we will be working with this week, and as a bonus, we're also celebrating Stephanie's birthday!

And here is my take on them:

supplies: kraft and white cardstock, yellow embossed and gold dotted dps (older scraps, sorry I can't identify them), BoBunny Mellow Yellow dot, (scalloped circle),  Papertrey Ink Vintage Picnic (basket and tulips) and Vintage Picnic Sentiments, versafine onyx black ink, Prisma colored pencils, Nesties circle and scalloped circle, paper doily, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Wraphia bow, brown button, twine


Happy Birthday, Stephanie!  To see this week's cards made by the Design Team, please visit their gorgeous blogs:  Mona, Suzanne, Deborah, Heather, Sue, Andrea, and Lisa.  I guarantee that you'll come away with inspiration overload!!  Thanks so much, ladies for allowing me to play with you this month!