CAS Christmas card

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge #65 shop is So Stinking Sweet, which sells scented soaps. My inspiration was a red soap with white snowflakes on it. The card ended up being clean and simple, and I really like it. The showflake is from Impression-Obsession, embossed with Winter Wonderland EP. The greeting is an old, no-name one from Hobby Lobby or Big Lots, but it's very useful at this time of year. I used Colorbox Chalk Ink (color "Lipstick") on it. And I got to use my new nesties for the first time!

The layout is from Card Positioning System's current sketch CPS 145.

And, for SmART-Works "smART-Word" challenge this month, it's a Christmas card.

Back in action

Wow, it's been ages since I posted anything. We went out of town last week, and before that I was finishing up work projects so we could travel. I'm back with a three-fer.

This for Etsy Inspired challenge # 64, inspired by the lovely pale colors of this awesome triangle scarf from a wonderful Etsy retailer called Barefoot Weaver.

I used Card Positioning System sketch CPS 144.

And it qualifies for Stamping for the Weekend's colour challenge to use lilac and silver.

The glittery snowflakes are all stickers. (I really am not a sticker person, but a friend gave me a bunch of holiday stickers, and I am finding them useful for making quick cards. These snowflakes are especially pretty. I am not fond of snow, but I do love snowflake shapes.) The tiny greeting (from a holiday set that I picked up either at HL or Mikes -- it has no manufacturer's name on it) is embossed in silver.

EIC 62, baby card

How appropriate that this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge EIC62, takes us to a store for baby items, Quiltish by Alissa Jacobs. I needed a baby card. A member of my book club is expecting a baby, and we're having a little celebration tonight along with our regular book club meeting. Because we're all book lovers, we're showering her with baby books.

My inspiration was this appliqued bird in blue and orange. I picked up the color scheme and mimicked the applique by paper-peicing the baby carriage. I always loved those beaded ID bracelets they used to make for babies in the old days, and decided to use that for an embellishment.

Stamps are from Autumn Leaves, and both images are embossed with black detail empossing powder.

Milestone birthday

You have to love it when a challenges meshes precisely with something you have to do. Case in point: Stamping for the Weekend's challenge #24 to make a card for a milestone event. Guess whose husband is about to turn 50?

I used CPS sketch 142 for this. The chipboard squares are left from another 50th-birthday card I made a few weeks ago (is there trend here?) I overstamped the chipboard with the word "celebrate" several times. The saying about "forget your age" is from SmArtWorks. The black and white paper is from Making Memories. In keeping with the "masculine" theme, I used red twine as the embellishment.

ISC 42

I used this week's challenge sketch from Inspirational Card Sketches ICS #42 challenge sketch for a VSN challenge. (It was a technique challenge for a technique called emerging color. It's a resist technique, and ideally you wouldn't see the floruishes under the orange, but I kind of like how it looks.)

I used Colorbox tangerine and cadmium yellow for the technique, along with versamark and clear EP. The swirl stamp is by Stampabilities, the flower by A Country Welcome, and the Hello is from an old SU set.

Memories of spring

A few days ago I posted a fall card, and here I am, doing a spring card, using the same stamp. This was inspired by this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge #61, a photographer known as Jared in Kansas. I was inspired by his photo of a flowering pink tree in bloom, titled "memories of spring."

In fact, I was inspired to pull out my one jar of Flower Soft and try using it. I'm just not sure how thickly to apply the stuff -- anyone have any advice? Also -- does it hold up in the mail?

The sketch is Card Positioning System CPS141.

The stamp is from Posh Impressions, inked n Colorbox Chestnut Roan. You probably can't tell, but there are scoring lines above/below the ribbons.

Gratitude

The SmARTworks Smart Word challenge for this month is "gratitude." I decided to make a Thanksgiving card for the family (this will go to my in-laws), and to play with some new "toys."

I found this little leaf punch at the Target Dollar Spot, marked 50 percent off. And I got the bare tree stamp at half-priced day at a stamping consignment sale. (I'm also thankful for 50 percent off sales...)

Stamp is Posh Impressions, inked in Chestnut Roan fluid chalk ink. (Sentiment is computer generated). Main image is popped up on foam tape, and I accented it with a couple different sizes of brads.

Rocking Birthday

My son is going to a birthday party tomorrow and needed a card. They are going to one of those indoor rock climbing walls. My son came up with the idea for the card and the sentiment. I don't have any rock-climbing stamps, so I went looking for line art online. The pickings were slim, and when I found something usable, it would only print out in pink. I thought my son would be unhappy, but guess what -- he says the climbing shoes at this place are pink! (Well, he said pink, then told me it's actually faded red). Anyway's he's fine with it, so I am too. I selected the gray printed paper because it kind of looks like rocks, and he just said he likes that. Boys, so predictable.

The layout is SASSC#39 --Stamps and Smiles at Our Creative Corner.

Etsy 60, CPS 140

I kind of feel like this is one of those ideas that just got carried away and maybe doesn't work like I wanted it to-- you know the feeling? This week's Etsy Inspired #60 shop is Vivikas, which sells cute plushies, mostly owls. Since she has owls in a variety of colors, I was going to do several colorful, fashionable owls. (Fashionistas = Fashionist-owls -- get it?) I liked this little pink and blue owl, and probably should have made one of my owls blue, but there you go. (I paper pieced them, which meant cutting the eye portion out -- which was more trouble than I expected, because there was just a narrow edge around them...)

Sketch is CPS140.

The owls are from a Dustin Pike digistamp. I just created the title on the computer (who would make a stamp that says fashionist-owls, seriously?)

ICS 40

This is my card for Inspirational Card Sketches (ICS) #40, with another great sketch by Dawn. It's a very summery looking card, I know, but I love these colors. My inspiration was today's Teapot Tuesday challenge and I also included a border punch for Flourishes's Timeless Tuesday Challenge.

The images are by Flourishes, colored when pencils and OMS. I sponged a little chalk around the edges of the circle. The paper is from Basic Grey (Lime Rickey).

CPS 139

I used CPS sketch 139 to make this card. The sketch called for a wavy element alongside the central image, and I haven't used torn paper for a while, so I thought I'd revisit the first "technique" I ever learned. Blue is my favorite color; I incorporated a couple shades and made it monochromatic.

The subject matter was from Saturday's Inspiration Challenge at SCS (I used this item from Anthropologie). This week's CAS challenge was to use eyelets or brads, and they worked well with the torn paper.

Main image is SU (Nature's Wonders), sentiment is Purple Onion Designs. Ink is Ancient Page Cobalt Blue.

My fave time of the year -- 4 challenges

Fall is my favorite time of the year, and I seem to have collected a large number of leaf stamps because I love colorful leaves. So, no surprise I jumped at several chances to use a leaf/fall theme in a card.

This card is for CPS 138 -- a nice, clean layout that can have endless variations.

It's also for Etsy Inspired Challenge #58, which sent us to a jewelry store called Linkel designs. This shop has page after page of beautiful jewelry, and I was inspired by a pair of fall-looking, leaf-shaped earrings.

And it's for the Smart-word challenge, which asked us to create a card based on the word "fall". How could I resist that challenge?

Finally, it's for this week's CAS challenge at SCS, which challenged us to make a sympathy card. I don't normally make those, and it's probably a good idea to have one on hand.

Main image is by SU (Botanicals), sentiment by Club Stamp. DP is from WR Memory Makers. Ink is Maroon Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink. The twine is from Martha Stewart (designed to wrap around boxes of cupcakes, but Martha doesn't really know papercrafters, does she?)

Bluebird of happiness, Etsy inspired CPS

This is my card for Etsy Inspired Challenge #57, Kharlie Bugs, which sells fabric handbags and makeup bags. I loved the mix of stripes and paisley print on this bag, so that's the element I reproduced in my card. (I loved the colors on the inspiration piece, too; that'd be great paper, wouldn't it?) I used CPS sketch 137 to make the card.

The bird stamp is by Inkadinkadoo; sentiment is from Another Stamp Co. (Once I made the bird blue, it had to be the bluebird of happiness, right?) The papers are by Making Memories, Fiskars border punch.

Sheetload card

This is the card I created from this month's Sheetload Sketch.

The snowflake (from Impression-Obsession) was stamped in Versamark and embossed with Winter Wonderland EP. The edges of the white panel are sponged in Colorbox Ice Blue chalk ink. The snowflake paper rectangle is edged in cobalt blue.

I got the metallic charm from Michael's a few years ago.

ICS #37

My stamping time is limited right now, so I'm multi-tasking, doing several challenges in one card. This one uses Dawn's sketch for Inspirational Card Sketches #37 with a little tweaking (that rectangle is a smaller oval on her sketch) and a few challenges from SCS -- the blue layer is faux suede for the technique challenge, and the other elements and colors were suggested by a couple inspiration challenges.

The flowerish stamp is from a little foam-backed set from EK Success I picked up on clearance at Hobby Lobby. Actually, it's a Thanksgiving set -- I mainly grabbed it for the solid pumpkin stamp, and have never actually used this flower one before. It is a nice graphic element, I think.

Inks are SU garden green, and Adirondack Stream and Eggplant. And some faux gems finish it off.

Life is measured, Card Patterns #35

I made this on World Card Day for an SCS challenge to use a quote as a focal point. I used Card Patterns sketch #35 for the layout.

The quote is from a set by All Night Media, stamped in Chestnut Roan Chalk Ink. The timepieces are all from a set of diecuts (that I think I got at Big Lots). There are eylets in the corner of the quote block and paper piecing connecting them.

Etsy inspired# 55 copper inspired

This is for Etsy Inspired Challenge #55, The Salty Cat Co, home of lovely metal jewelry For the first time ever, I think, I used the prize item as my inspiration piece. The prize for this challenge is a gorgeous copper bracelet, and I love the look of embossed copper, so that's what I did.

My brother-in-law's birthday is coming up, so I had him in mind when I made this. The leaf stamp is from Autumn Leaves (how appropriate!), the popped-up birthday greeting is from Endless Creations. Metallic copper c/s and copper brads finish it out. Easy, peasy.

EIC54, I heart flowers

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge, #54, sends us to an Etsy shop called I Heart Flowers, which offers both lovely photos of -- what else? -- flowers, and jewelry. I love filigree work, so I was drawn to this filigreed piece as my inspiration. That gave me a chance to try a new Technique Junkies technique, called Alcohol Ink Foil. The foil is the "filigree," and I tried to pick up the jewel colors in my flowers -- pinkish and yellow.

The stamp is from Impression-Obsession, and that's the cuttlebug textile plate.

If you don't normally do the Etsy challenge, check it out. I Heart Flowers has donated a gorgeous pair of earrings for this week's winner. (pick me, pick me!)

ICS34 For the birds

I did this card using ICS sketch 34, which is a lovely and versatile sketch I can see revisiting many times. I made the card for the Featured Stamper challenge at SCS this week, as well.

The stamp is inked in Versacolor Bamboo on the leaves,; the bird is mostly SU Baroque Burgundy, but that was puddling on the clear stamp so I also added a little bit of a red (on one of those little 1-inch square pads you get with cheap sets of stamps). Ribbon is another one of those clearance "Christmas" ribbons from Michael's.

Must say, paper piercing is the world's cheapest, easiest embellishment and it really helps add a finished feel to things.

Basket case

I did this card for Teapot Tuesday this week, using the current CPS card sketch, CPS 133.

The stamps are from DRS, I purchased them in a grab bag more than a year ago, and this was the first time I've ever used them. They were still in a little baggie, waiting for me to put Tack-It-Again on them and put them in my filing system. (Bad me, letting poor defenseless stamps sit around like that.) The sketch calls for a curvy element at the top and bottom, and the line of trees worked perfectly for that.

Inks used were Chestnut Roan chalk on the baskets (the colored with pencils and OMS); SU Forest Foliage on the trees. Ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

EIC52

For this week's (first anniversary) Etsy Inspired Challenge, EIC52, we were supposed to find our own Etsy shop for inspiration. I found a pottery shop called MudFairy, and used the Dragon in the Clouds candy dish (see photo below) as my inspiration.

The card features a stamp from Faerie Song Art Stamp's new Dragon plate. I was inspired to make the dragon purple from MudFairy's design (I decided this dragon didn't look anything like Barney, so I could get away with a purple dragon). It's watercolored with markers, and the stamp has such lovely, fine lines I may have overwhelmed them.

Sketch is from SCS's sketch challenge 245, but I took pretty extreme liberties with the sketch..

CPS132 Ladybugs

So, is there any color combo as unbeatable as red, white and black? (And I'm not even a Georgia fan ... the colors are pretty inescapable where I live.) This week's Teapot Tuesday Challenge required ladybugs, so the color combo was almost a given. I used the Card Positioning System Sketch #132 for my layout.

The ladybug is an old Stampcraft stamp. I black-embossed in on the white and on a red print, then paper pieced it, die cut it and speckled a little black on the squares. (Oh, let's be honest, I was covering up for stray black EP). I put the sentiment block (Hello from Purple Onion) at an angle because everything was just so straight and symmetrical. I added a button for this week's Doubledog Dare challenge to use a button on your card. The size is about 6 1/4 by 3 1/4 -- it's made to fit in a "letter" envy.

Penguins for ICS32

Here's my card using Inspirational Card Sketch #32. I love this penguin stamp from Lasting Impressions. I got that ribbon from Mike's a couple years ago -- it was on mega clearance among the Christmas items, but really, there's nothing Christmasy about it. That taught me to check out seasonal items for supplies that can work as non-seasonal.

We're going camping for the long weekend. Hope everyone else has a good weekend.

ICS31

This is a quicky for Inspirational Card Sketches, ICS 31. I used a set of stickers a friend gave me, and stamped the background with snowflakes. That's an old All Night Media stamp; the ink is Ranger demin blue -- I stamped about four generations with each ink-up.

The stickers are by Stick-Abilities.

Etsy 51

The Etsy Inspired Challenge #51 is Red Crow Arts, a shop with handpainted pottery, raku and handcrafted clay pendants. I was inspired by a clay pendant called Tree of Life.

I did this card using masking and sponging on the color. The warm colors are all pigment inks, and the green is a dye ink. (No technical reason for that, those were just the colors that worked best. I actually thought the pigments would spread better, but I got good coverage with the green.) Am I the only stamper who doesn't own a brayer???

The big panel is glossy cardstock. Stamp by Impression Obsession. I stuck the leaves on because it needed something, but I'm not certain they will stay. What do you think?

CPS130, FTTC30

Yes, it is one of the goofiest images I own. I got this stamp of a, um, voluptious couple dancing in a grab bag I purchased from another stamper years ago, when I first started collecting UMs. It isn't the type of image I'd usually choose, but I've kept it around, and it came in handy this week, when I created a card for MotherMark's Tea Party Challenge, based on the game Clue.

The layout I used is CPS130. The half-pearls are for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #30.

The image is from Viva Las Vegas (I'm pretty certain, anyway), with the sentiment from KI Memories. Half pearls from the Flourishes shop. Dp is from Making Memories.

I'm way behind this week; I've been helping out at my church's yard sale for missions. Volunteers got to shop at a presale today and I resisted buying the rubber stamps someone donated (they were really small stamps -- about 1-inch images, but one was a set of about 25 Christmas stamps for $2, I'm sure I could have found something useful in there...)

Etsy 50 ICS 30

The Etsy Inspired Challenge's EIC50 shop this week is Mrs. Kwitty's Cottage, which features sort of vintage-inspired cards, bookmarks and other items. I was inspired by a cute little bird tag.

I based my card in Inspirational Card Sketches #30, stretching and shrinking the three squares to fit my design. The paper the tag is had flowers similar to the paper I used for the bird, which is embossed in black detail EP. The pale orange layer has a sort of vintage fabric look, which fit in well with the overall feel of Mrs. Kwitty's, I thought.

The felt flower was a last-minute inspiration -- the color matches so well and the shape echoes the flowers in both the dps. I love it when that happens.

Bird is by Inkadinkadoo. Joy is from Another Stamp Company. Don't know who made the modern floral dp, and the vintage-y one is from a stack by Provo Craft.

This one just grew

This is one of those cards that started out one way and ended up totally different. The inspiration is Etsy Inspired Challenge #49, an Etsy shop called MelissaKate. Melissa Kate makes cards and prints. I chose this pretty original painting of tulips for my inspiration piece. I was thinking of doing my card in red and white, until. ...I realized the tulips in the painting are pink.

Plus, I had purchased a pack of Making Memories papers on clearance at Michael's and it had this cool die-cut paper that I thought would look good on the Card Positioning Sketch #129. It was silver, which would work with pink, so the color scheme ended up pink, silver, black and white.

This is what I came up with. True it doesn't look much like the inspiration, but it does have pink tulips.

The tulip stamp is by Endless Creations. I colored it with markers, spritzed with water and stamped in on watercolor paper to give it a painterly quality. The tulip pieces are edged with silver. So is the edge of the die-cut. The ribbon is from Target and the little pearls in the corner are from Flourishes.

ICS 29

It's Saturday; my husband is out fishing and my son is at a sleepover, so I get to stamp. Yay!

Here's my version of Inspirational Card Sketch #29. I used it for the first VSN challenge at SCS -- we had to use flowers and a circle.

Tulip stamp by SmARTworks, sentiment by Flourishes. The papers are from My Mind's Eye.

Have a good weekend, I'm off to stamp some more.

Another paint chip card

I used one of the paint chips I had left over from my VSN challenge for this card. The changing colors on the chip adds a lot of interest to the card, I think.
The elf is from Faerie Song. I stamped him three times in StaZon black ink, then trimmed the paint chip and rounded the corners. The Live Laugh Love is another Faerie Song stamp – but the words are stacked one on the other, so I cut them into strips to spread them over the space available. The polka dot background paper matched the colors in the paint chip and also reflected the dots of the elf’s shirt. The base card is a very dark purple, eggplant would probably be the best term for it.

Don't forget: Virtual Stamp Night this weekend at SCS. There are a couple challenges Friday night and a full menu on Saturday.

CPS128

You know how when you're watching a movie on TV and at the beginning there's a little message that says "This movie was edited to fit your screen"? Well, this image was edited to fit the piece of sticky paper I had left.

This card is for CPS 128 challenge, and also for the featured stamper at SCS, sleepyinseattle, one of the stampers I really admire. I was casing this card, but the only piece of double-sided paper I had was tiny. (And I went to two Mike's and Staples looking for more. I almost bought some at Michael's about 2 months ago, and now they don't appear to sell it anymore.) In a way, that made it easier to fit the CPS sketch for this week.

The flower (from SU's Heartfelt Thanks) was stamped on white CS, covered with the sticky paper and covered with glitter. The rest is just layering. I used a corner punch on the three little tabs by turning the punch so it punched onthe diagonal intead of in each corner, and the result was a nice little point. The larger white panel was embossed with the CB Swiss Dot folder.

Etsy Inspired #48

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge #48 features Vol25, a shop that sells prints and other graphics. I loved several of the designs -- especially the bookwormy stuff (after all, I am the stamping writer). She even has bookplates. I don't have any booky stamps, however, so I moved on to another inspiration. I had the perfect stamp and paper to interpret this T.S. Eliot quote, however. And you have to love that cute little RV on this poster, don't you? (We just have a boring square white pop-up, and this litte trailer has so much more personality.)

I have had this dp forever and finally found a good place to use it. (I'm not really used to letting a piece of dp be the main image, so this is a little stretch for me.) The quote is from All Night Media. I combined this challenge with the Ways to Use It challenge at SCS this week -- the theme was pleats, so I pleated the ribbons, both beside the sentiment and in the corner treatment. Pleating does add a new texture to the card. There's a a cute little car charm dangling from the corner ribbon (from a box of charms I bought at a stamping consignment sale last spring, I think it was Making Memories but I threw away the label).

I love paint chips

I have long been a fan of using paint chips on my cards. I think they are fun to work with and add an unexpected element to a card. They are very versatile -- you can stamp on them or use them like designer paper. They look fabulous when run thru an embossing folder -- an embossed paint chip really resembles an old embossed tin tile that's been painted.

The VSN challenge I hosted Saturday required everyone to use a paint chip in their cards, and people were wonderfully creative. This card is one I made as a sample, but didn't really use. I'm not sure I did it within the 45-minute time limit -- I was listening to a Braves' game while working, and probably doing a load of laundry besides, and just didn't keep an eye on the clock.

I loved the lemony yellows on this chip and thought it would go well with Flourishes lemon set. (I also entered this in Flourishes' birthday challenge.)

Etsy Inspired #47

This week's Etsy Inspired Design challenge (#47) is for JulieAnn's Jewels. Julie makes some beautiful beadwork jewelry.

For my piece, I was inspired by both the colors and the design of her "rock crystal quartz with aventurine and sterling silver necklace and earring set". I silver-embossed the butterfly (from Stamps On Fire) on green paper, trying to match her green beads. The flourish (in place of the white beads) is a rub-on. Sentiment is from Club Stamp. It's clean and simple, for sure.

If you've been wanting to try the Etsy Inspired Challenge, Ashley is encouraging new players by offering special prizes this week -- you could win a gift certificate from Julie or to a papercraft supply shop. Just tell her I sent you when you post a link to your creation on the Etsy-Inspired blog.

Join me for VSN

Hope you all can join me at Virtual Stamp Night Saturday at SCS. (If you've never done VSN, it's a series of challenge, one posted each hour. You have 45 minutes to complete a card for the challenge.)

The theme this time is "food chef" and tomorrow's offerings are "Snacks". The first challenge goes up at 5 p.m. Eastern, and your's truly hosts the challenge that kicks off at 6 p.m. I can't reveal what it will be, but you will need at least one of the supplies on this list.

If you don't want to do the challenge, please join me on the chat thread -- We can talk about stamping, food, the new Harry Potter movie, or anything that interests you. I'll be chatting from 6-7 p.m. Eastern. Hope to see you, or at least your card.

Simply inspired music card.

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge #46 focuses on the shop Artistic Flair, which sells fused glass art. There are so many interesting pieces at this store that I made several false starts before finishing a card. (My ballerina stamp just wouldn't give me a good image; I tried a dragonfly with glitter but the glitter just didn't look right; I vaguely thought about doing something with the Eiffel Tower. ... Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to work?)

The solution came with Monday's Clean and Simple Challenge #25 at SCS, which gave me a sketch that worked well another piece I liked from Artistic Flair, a saxophone.

So, here's what I came up with. Stamps are from Club Stamp. I didn't have a sax, so I had to go with the trumpet instead. In honor of the colorful dots on the inspiration , I went with lots of dots on this card. (Surprisingly, the paper and ribbon work perfectly together but they are from separate source). Ribbon was from Hobby Lobby and the dotted paper came from a grab bag I got from Bits and Pieces--obviously a while ago, as they closed shop about 2 years ago).