Just beachy

Another PINspirational Challenge has been posted, and life's a beach! I hope you'll be inspired by the inspiration photo and join in the fun by linking up at the challenge blog.

I decided to feature this summer-themed paper along with a smaller image from a beach set from Purple Onion. Usually, I use the large image with this set, which is a beach chair and umbrella scene. But to show more of the paper, I chose this smaller image of a beach bag, hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen lotion. The image is colored with pencils.  The sentiment is from the same Purple Onion set.

This card is entered in these challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday -- bright and cheerful
Scribbles Designs Challenge -- A Slice of Summer
Word Art Wednesday #397 -- anything goes
Crafty Sentiments -- anything goes
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -- use patterned paper

Tagging in

Back with another Christmas project, a tag this time.

I cut the tag (using the stitched tag die from Stamplorations) from watercolor paper, then black-embossed the cityscape and Santa -- from a Whimsy Stamps set. To create the background, I applied some Distress Inks (a darkish blue and a lavender -- I don't have names handy) on a sheet of freezer paper, spritzed some water, and dragged the tag through the ink a few times. After the ink dried, I used a Wink of Stella pen to add some sparkly stars to the sky. I also used a white gel pen on some of the windows that got inked up in the process.

This tag is entered in these challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday -- not a card
Catch the Bug Christmas in July day 3 -- Anything but a card with "Santa is Coming to Town" theme
Word Art Wednesday #397 -- anything goes
Winter Wonderland -- Winter Buildings
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #447 -- die-cut

Charlie Brown Tree

       Let me start by saying that I love that everyone knows exactly what you mean when you say "Charlie Brown tree."
        I got to play with my stamping stuff for the first time in ages this week, and here's the first card I worked on. I am really happy how it came out, and it may become my default "mass produce" card as the year goes on. I try to do a variety of Christmas cards, but at a certain point, I'll find one that's easy to make and pull it out to make more of when time or imagination gets short.
        This card was made using a die from Stamplorations that I refer to as a Charlie Brown tree because it's sort of appealingly sparse and off-kilter. I wanted to use a variety of patterned papers, so I took a bunch of snippets, taped them together and ran them thru the die-cutter. (I started by cutting a full tree from a piece of white card stock, and I used the negative to make sure the snippets were arranged so they'd be well-placed on the die-cut). After cutting,  the die-cut snippets were adhered to the plain, full die-cut tree for sturdiness and to make sure everything was lined up correctly. If I were to mass produce this card, I'd simply cut the entire tree from four or five different patterned papers, then cut the pieces roughly where I did here and mix and match the trees for a similar effect. The tree is on foam tape dimensionals on the card.
         The sentiment is also from Stamplorations, (I think the set is called the Joy of Giving...?) It's white-embossed.
          The layout is the current Sketch Saturday layout, and everything on it is a snippet.

This card is for these challenges:
Sketch Saturday #573
Catch the Bug Christmas in July Day 1-- movie inspiration A Charlie Brown Christmas
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge #447 -- use a die-cut
Rudolph Days July -- Christmas
Crafting By Designs  -- get ready for Christmas
The Paper Shelter -- Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #396 -- Anything Goes
Pixie's Snippet Playground -- use snippets
Stamplorations -- neverending challenge using Stamploration products
Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge -- use patterned paper

Tour de holiday

It's time for another PINsprirational Challenge and it's a fun inspiration this time (see the photo to the right). I'm pretty sure Deanne wasn't thinking about the Tour de France when she selected it, but since I have a sometimes bike racer and huge Tour fan in my family, that's where my mind went.

The main image on my card is a vintage biker from Rubbernecker Stamps. I stamped it three times, one in navy, one in blue and one in slate gray. (The stamping platform was great for this). The sentiment is from a very old All Night Media set, and I spiced things up with some acrylic dots.

Hope you'll be inspired to make a project for PINspirational Challenge -- it doesn't have to be a card. Just be sure to link up to the challenge blog.

My card is entered into these challenges:
Paper Shelter #391 -- holiday time
Word Art Wednesday #394 -- anything goes
Pammie's Inky Pinkies #1928 --  anything goes

Summertime, and it's hot

     From everything I've read and heard, it's summer with a vengeance everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. So ice cream seems like a timely topic.
       This is my card for the current Pinspirational Challenge #242, inspired by this fun inspiration photo from Pinterest (to the right).
     To create the background, I used snippets of different colors to create -- I dunno, would you call that a  sorta ombre? I adhered all the strips to a backing sheet and ran them through an embossing folder with a popsicle and ice cream cone design. (The EF and stamp I used were in a little cheapy set I picked up at Michael's). The ice cream cones are stamped on white snippets of card stock and are colored in pencil and fussy cut.
     Added the ribbon on the bottom of the color strips, adhered to the top-fold card, and used dimensional tape to pop up the cones.
     The sentiment (source unknown) and cones are stamped in an SU color, Creamy Caramel (I think).
     I hope you'll find some inspiration in the photo and join the fun at PINspirational Challenge. Just link up your project (any project, doesn't need to be a card) at the PINspirational blog.

My card is entered in these challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday -- Make your own background
Pixie's Snippet Playground #355 -- use snippets
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes
Crafty Sentiments -- Bright Colors 
Word Art Wednesday #392-- anything goes
Crafts Galore #65-- anything goes
Pammie's Inky Pinkies #1926 -- anything goes