Crisp and summery

 I love the look of crisp white with blue or red, so that's the look I was going for here. The stamps are all from a set from Stampabilities that has about a dozen little nautical-related images. I sketched the card out on a piece of paper, then dug through my snippets folders looking for papers that basically fit the places I'd marked out. (The red was the exact size; I just added the fish tail. The blue layer perfectly fit under the red banner. And the white was the exact size to be die-cut into the stitched circle.) White-embossed images on the red layer, regular black ink on the white circle so I could add some bits of color with pencils.

This card is for these challenges:

Creative Inspiration -- stars and/or stripes

Double Trouble #196 -- 3 layers, two images, one stitched element 

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2529 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #708 -- anything goes

Gem of a Challenge #8 -- anything goes

DigiChooseday #7 -- anything goes

Snippets Playground #511 -- use snippets (everything but base layer)

 

House Mouse Christmas

 

I recently received this House Mouse stamp as a gift, and it was the perfect fit for a few challenges requiring cute critters. The image is colored with pencils, with some clear Wink of Stella on the lights themselves. The color of the lights were chosen to coordinate with the fun bit of ribbon. I sponged around the edges of the main panel with a turquoise-ish ink -- it was too much so I spritzed some water on to soften it. 

This card is for these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- cute critter

 Jingle Belles -- tic/tac/toe -- the row I chose is animal, patterned paper, ribbon

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2529 -- anything goes 

Word Art Wednesday #708 -- anything goes 

Crafts Galore Encore #137 -- anything goes 

The Paper Funday #78-- anything goes 

Polkadoodles #8 -- anything goes  

Reason to smile

 

 

 

My swap group had a challenge that was "text and flower." For the text element, I stamped script on high gloss paper and sponged on lavender ink. Placed that panel behind a die-cut aperture and placed a die-cut flower over it. The sentiment is clear embossed (and between the glossy paper and the clear embossing, it was impossible to get a photo without glare).

 

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- emboss it

Beautiful Blossoms #31 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2528 -- anything goes

A Cut Above -- use a die-cut

Word Art Wednesday #707 -- -- anything goes

A Gem of a Challenge 8-- anything goes

Digi Choosday 7 -- anything goes 

Green Rocker Card

 Making these rocker cards is so fun. As long as it can fit in an envelope, you can add any size or shape you want on top of the rocker base.

For this card, I used some images of potted plants and used a variety of greens for a sweet and simple birthday card..

This card is for these challenges:

Double D -- flower pots

Die-cut Divas -- birthday

Crafts Galore Encore #137 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #706  -- anything goes

Gem of a Challenge 8 -- anything goes

Pammie's INky Pinkies #2527 -- anything goes

A Cut Above -- use a die-cut

Digi Choosday #7 -- anything goes 

Summer fun

 Honestly, it's WAY TOO HOT here to even think about being outdoors, but I went there with my stamps. I colored this adorable digi image (Elisabeth Bell) with pencils, then die-cut it and mounted it on a stitched circle. The sentiment is computer generated and inspired by one I wanted to buy in the Technique Junkies clear-out sale, but it was already out of stock. The card features a gatefold/fun fold.

The card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- Vacation

Double D -- Beach

Simon Says Wednesday -- anything goes 

Double Trouble #194 -- (3 colors, two shapes, one fun fold, CC104)

Creative Creases #104 -- use a fun fold 

The Paper Funday #77 Anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #704 -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations #231 -- use an image

Gem of A challenge  #7 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2525 -- anything goes

DigiChooseday #6 -- anything goes 

Sort of vintage

 I've been attempting a  technique called faux tin ceiling, where you adhere foil to chipboard, emboss it, paint it, then remove some of the paint. It's supposed to look like an old tin tile ceiling. I finally made a piece I like, and tin tile made me think "vintage" so I made a sort of vintage inspired card.

The other vintage-ish elements are a quill and ink bottle (you can't get much more vintage than that). I arranged them on a piece of kraft paper with a sentiment that sort of looks hand-written. For the rest of the card, I followed the 3-2-1 recipe at Double Trouble, using the Try a Sketch on Tuesday sketch.  The papers are chose are old-fashioned fabric prints, so they feel vintage as well. All the panels are edged in the same blue ink used for the inkwell and sentiment -- it gives everything a little more definition.

The card is entered in these challenges:

Double Trouble #193 -- all three elements (layers, patterns, kraft) plus TSOT sketch

Try a Sketch on Tuesday #672 -- sketch

Word Art Wednesday #704 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2524 -- anything goes

A Cut Above -- use a die-cut (feather and ink bottle)

The Paper Funday #77 -- anything goes with optional twist of embossing (faux tile is embossed) 

Digi Chooseday -- anything goes 

Tearing it up in the craft room

 The Double Trouble challenge this time calls for torn edges. I remember when I first started stamping, torn edges were all the rage, but now I can't remember the last time I intentionally tore paper. You know what paper is fun to tear? Mulberry paper gets wonderful edges full of fibers. (The trick is to wet a paintbrush with water and use it to mark approximately where you want your tear to be. The water weakens the fibers so they tear more easily.)

I used the sketch from Try a Sketch on Tuesday, technically turning it upside down since I moved the sentiment to the bottom. I used dotted paper for the embossed sentiment and used the same paper to for the flowers on the die-cut. Sparkle seemed like an appropriate sentiment, what with the silver and the gems.

This card is for these challenges.  

Double Trouble #193 (3 torn edges, 2 colors, 1 die-cut plus TOST)

Try a Sketch on Tuesday #671 -- sketch

Simon Says Stamp Monday  -- emboss it -- sentiment embossed with silver EP

Pammie's Inky Pinkie's #252 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #700 -- anything goes

A Cut Above -- use a die-cut

Paper Funday #76 -- anything goes

Gem of a Challenge -- anything goes

Digi Chooseday -- anything goes

Polkadoodles Challenge -- anything goes

 

 

Happy bird-day

Just a quick birthday card featuring one of the prettiest birds around, the northern cardinal. We have two pairs that visit our bird feeder this year and I enjoy watching them.

No, I didn't use a bad pun for the sentiment, just a simple saying from Whimsy stamps. The image was a stamp-off someone sent me, colored with pencils.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- things with wings

 Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- things with wings

Double Trouble #191 -- birthday challenge

Word Art Wednesday #698 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2519 -- anything goes

Digi Chooseday #5 -- anything goes

 

Graduation day

 Sometimes, all it takes it the right patterned paper, right? I needed a graduation card, and this paper works perfectly since the grad's school colors are black and gold. (There is gold ink around the edge of the black panel, although it's hard to see in the photo).

This card is for these challenges.

Double Trouble #191 -- graduation

Word Art Wednesday #698 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2519 -- anything goes.

 

Come rain or shine

 I dug deep into my stash to make this card. The patterned paper of clouds and raindrops was gifted to me ages ago; the pre-made flower comes from a pack I think I got at a yard sale, and the image is an old one from Bugaboo, which is no longer in business. The sentiment is from The Alley Way, which I'm pretty sure is also closed. (So sad that so many companies have closed.)

The image is colored in pencils with a little silver gel pen on the handle.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- Whatever the Weather

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations #230 -- use an image

Word Art Wednesday #696 -- anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore May -- anything goes

Gem of a Challenge 5 - anything goes

Polkadoodles 6 -- anything goes

Hopping bunny rocker

 

I was looking through some snippets of paper when I came across a piece of patterned paper with cute bunny images on it. I also found some carrot-themed paper and coordinating sticker, and an idea formed.

Using a snippet of peachy-colored paper, I die-cut the largest circle I have, then cut a slighyly smaller circle from the carrot paper, and created a rocker card. I also die-cut the bunny with a circle and matted it on a circle cut from a rust-colored snippets. The sticker was already a circle, and I found a green snippet to mat it on.

Thanks to the fun papers, this card was quick as a bunny to make.

This card is entered n these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- patterned paper

Paper Funday -- begins with B

 Creative Inspirations -- Easter

A Cut Above -- use a die-cut

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2515 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #694 -- anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore #134  -- anything goes

Snippets Playground #504 -- use snippets

I love rainbows

 

I got this image in the Technique Junkie's clearance sale because it's perfect for spring. I could have used rainbow colors to color it, but since the patterned paper is so colorful, I chose a more limited palette of yellow and purple to color the image, with lots of blue, purple, yellow, plus some red in the patterned paper. The card is a tent style card with the main image sticking up in tent-topper style. I added a couple die-cut clouds to the scene and used floss for a simple little bow.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Double Trouble #188 -- 3 colors, 2 die-cuts, 1 scene plus umbrella and clouds for the April Showers twist.

Word Art Wednesday #692 -- anything goes

A Cut Above -- use die-cuts; anything goes

Pattie's Creations #229 -- use an image

Gem of a Craft Challenge #4 -- anything goes

CRAFT #752 --  spring

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2514 -- anything goes

 

Pretty pink roses

 For this birthday card, I used a Rose stamp image from Studio Katia with matching die. The rose is clear embossed, then watercolored, using stamp reinker as the coloring agent. Since I think this rose blossom is gorgeous, I wanted to keep it as the focal point by using a very simple layout and a simple sentiment.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Die-Cut Divas -- flowers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- birthday

Paper Funday -- begins with B (birthday and blossom/bloom/bud)

Beautiful Blossoms #27 -- anything floral

Word Art Wednesday #692 -- anything goes

crafts Galore Encore -- anything goes

Digi choosday  #3 --  anything goes

Green Christmas

 Happy St. Patrick's Day. I'm celebrating by making a green Christmas card.

For the big focal sentiment, I stamped the shadow area with a sheet music stamp before adding the green letters. I added some white holly leaves with a few red micro beads as holly berries. Just to switch it up a little, there's a contrasting strip of paper along the bottom of this mini slimline size card.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Jingle Belles -- Primarily Green (sorry, no grinch)

ABC Christmas -- F is for Focal Sentiment

Simon Says Wednesday -- Bit of Green

Word Art Wednesday #691 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2511 -- anything goes

 

You're the best!

 I saw a technique that's new to me and tried it out in this card. In a nutshell, stamp an image, then use a stencil to add color over select parts of the image. (this is not about having a matching stencil to color the image, you're just adding color without worrying about keeping in the lines or anything like that.) I saw this in a stamp company newsletter, and they were using organic shapes to add color. I have a stencil with a variety of geometric shapes, so that's what I went with. It was fund to match geometric shapes with bits of the image.

First, the image was black-embossed. Then I used a small circle stencil to colors some flowers pink, a triangle stencil to add some green to the bouquet, and a long, thin diamond shape to color the vase. I die thin circles in blue and pink and used them to frame the main image. The sentiment as also black-embossed, with a  pink stenciled circle emphasizing the "Best!" A few blue circles were sprinkled on as a sort of muted embellishment.

This card is entered in these challenges:

The Flower Challenge #100 -- add circles

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2510 -- anything goes

A Cut Above -- anything with dies

Word Art Wednesday #689 -- anything goes

 

Snippets strips

 I'm always on the lookout for interesting ways to use leftover bits of paper, so I had to try this technique I found on Splitcoast. It takes a couple of one-inch wide strips and two one-inch squares of snippets to create an interesting design with a pinwheel at the center. You could use a different width of strip, just adjust the size of the squares accordingly.  (I also used a white snippet for the main panel and a light blue snippet for the matting.)

Embossing the panel added some texture, with a flower and gem embellishment.  

This card is entered in these challenges:

Snippets Playground #501 -- use snippets

Word Art Wednesday #689 -- anything goes

Crafts Galore Encore #113 -- anything goes

The Paper Funday #74 -- anything goes

Digi Choosday -- anything goes

Creative Inspirations -- Anything goes 

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- your favorite technique (dry embossing)

Inspired dragonfly

 I saw this photo prompt  (photo below) at Inspiration Station and loved the composition of the photo and the contrast between the bright flowers and the dark wings of the butterfly, inspiring this card.

The flowers are from Catherine Pooler; The circle was diecut and put on a dark green panel. The diecut dragonfly has a blue shimmer o it. A few sequins add to the shimmer.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Inspiration Station Prompt 70

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #689: anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2508 -- anything goes

A Cut Above: Anything goes with a diecut

Paper Funday #73: anything goes

Gem of A Challenge #3: anything goes

Digi Chooseday #2: Anything goes

Blue Birthday Blooms

 

I started with a whole bunch of blue snippets and randomly cut out various flower shapes using a stitched flower set from MFT Die-Namics. I mixed and matched  pieces to stack up three multi-layer flowers (adding a snippet of pale taupe to the mix).

Used a stitched curve die from Whimsy Stamps on a snippet of off-white, then adhered it to a blue snippet to create the main panel. Arranged the flowers along the curve (popping up the smaller one in the middle) and added a couple of burlap leaves for some texture. 

The sentiment used a bit of the leftover off-white, with a sentiment from Printworks in navy. Everything is mounted on a navy card.

This card is for these challenges:

Snippets Playground #500 -- celebration theme

Allsorts #817 -- shades of blue

A Cut Above -- Anything die-cut

Word Art Wednesday #687 -- anything goes

Beautiful Blossoms #26  --  anything floral

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2507 -- anything goes

 

 

 

Birthday fun

 

I don't think I've made a straight birthday card for a while (meaning one that features birthday images vs. a pretty card with a birthday sentiment.). To make this card, I started with an assortment of patterned snippets and used the sketch #663 from Try a Sketch on Tuesday.

The birthday bear and sentiment are from Studio Katia. The balloon die is from Sunny Studios. The main  image is colored in pencils, and lavender ink is blended around the edge of the circle. 

This card is entered in these challenges:

Snippets Playground #499 -- use snippets

Double Trouble #184 (meets 3-2-1 requirements; balloon is the "in the air" element; also entering in TSOT partner challenge)

Try a Sketch on Tuesday #663 -- sketch

Word Art  Wednesday #687 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2506 -- anything goes

 

Ready for Spring

 I am so ready for spring. Right now, the best I can do is make a spring-themed card. For this card, I took a stamped image of a bare tree (from Stampin Up) which I masked while I stenciled a brick wall, then colored in the sky and grass with pencils. To turn it into a spring scene, I used Flower Soft to create the budding flowers and leaves. (I am not even sure if Flower Soft is still available; I've had this one jar of it for years).

The main panel is edged in a brown ink, and I turned it at an angle and matted it with a sweet flower print that also reminds me of spring.

This card is entered in these challenges

Crazy is Our Name, Stencils are our game -- anything goes using stencils

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2505 -- anything goes

Digi ChooseDay #1, week 4 -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations # 227 -- anything goes with an image

 

 

 

Eat dessert first

 A couple recent challenges are looking for us to make them smile, so here we go.

I went with cute images, plus this fun sentiment -- life is short, eat dessert first.  I had intended to get the sentiment out front, but I ended up making rather a busy card front, so it's the inside sentiment (see right).

For my card, I used mainly Taylored Expression images and added the apple pie image, which I've had forever and have no idea of origin.

I used the sketch from Try a Sketch on Tuesday and stayed true to the layout. Since the main elements are circular, I chose circles and dots for my choices of patterned papers. (I chose the colors used to color the images based on colors in the main print, then so many of them got covered up...) For more interest, I matted the white circles on a patterned paper, as well.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- funny/punny

Double Trouble #183 -- (met all 3 requirements -- the 3 images/2patterned papers /1 sentiment recipe; food that goes with cheese (apple pie) and entered in TSOT)  

Try a Sketch on Tuesday #662-- use the sketch

Word Art Wednesday #683 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2504 -- anything goes

Cute cat

 I'm back with another cat card. Seriously, there's no intentional cat  theme here, but I was looking for an image featuring a heart and came across this cat image in my file of digis from the company From the Heart. I decided to paper piece the heart and found a lovely plaid snippet for the paper piecing. 

(You can see the snippets in the photo to the right, and get a sense of my process as well. I'd already progressed pretty far on completing the main image before deciding to use the rest of the plaid snippet on the mini slimline card. I needed another scarp, a coordinating light blue, to fill the space since the plaid by itself wasn't enough.)

The cat is colored with pencils.

This card is for these challenges:

Snippets Playground #498 -- snippets

Word Art Wednesday #683 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2503 -- anything goes

Pattie's Creations #226 -- use an image

Digi Choosday #1 -- anything goes

Polkadoodles challenge #2 -- anything goes

White on white

Today's project is white-on-white, so it's got layers of texture as well. After the base layer, there's a full panel that was embossed with classic-looking EF design. For the second layer, a filigree corner piece was added in the left upper corner. On top of that, die-cut flowers were stacked three high and leaves where added. The die-cut sentiment has an embossed pattern around the edge, and the sentiment was silver-embossed. A white organza ribbon with silver edging was tied around the embossed panel. (Looking at this, I'm thinking I'll add a touch of silver in the center of the flowers. What do you think?)

This card is entered in these challenges

Double D -- white on white

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- add some texture.

Can you handle the pressure -- use an EF

A Cut Above -- anything goes with die-cutting

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2502 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #683 -- anything goes

Digi Choosday #1 --  anything goes

Die-cut Divas -- something new (embossing folder)

3x3x3

 My swap group is doing a swap where you make three cards sized 3x3 all with a related theme. After seeing how small 3x3 is, I decided it would be a great way to use up some snippets, so I pulled out a few that I thought would work togehter and started crafting. I settled on a theme of cats and pulled out a variety of cat-related images and sentiments. Each card uses at least one snippet and a different technique or style. This turned out to be a really fun size to work with.

 

 The background is strips of patterned paper cut about 1/2 inch wide and adhered together on a sheet of copy paper. the cat was colored with pencils and fussy cut.

This card uses a diecut cut set on a strip of patterned paper with a bold sentiment and some acrylic docs

 For this card, there are two layers of patterned paper, with an aperture die-cut in the yellow layer to reveal a portrait of a cute tuxedo cat who is, in fact, pawfect.

Here is the selection of snippets I started with. All but the one at the very bottom were used, and I added another snippet, the black layer on the pawfect card.

These cards are entered in these challenges:

Snippets Playground #497 -- use snippets (see photo)

Doublc Trouble #182 -- You're Pawfect: meeting the requirements of the 1-2-3 challenge plus cuddly critter challenge

Pattie's Creations #226 -- Best friends: use an image

Word Art Wednesday #681 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2501 -- anything goes