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?)