Another rose card

The subject of this week's Teapot Tuesday challenge was tattoos.  I prefer my ink on my fingers and my stamps rather than on my body, thank you very much, but I thought a rose would make a nice tattoo, so I created this card.  I used the current Card Patterns sketch (#162) for the layout

The stamp is one I picked up at a stamp show in a bargain bin. It's inked in Memento black and colored with pencils.  The ribbon is from a grab bag of stuff I bought at a stamping consignment sale on Saturday; the ribbon is from Elements, and someone on SCS pointed out it looks kind of thorny.

Instead of the buttons the Card Patterns sketch showed in the lower left corner, I just did a little paper piercing, because I didn't want to clutter the card too much, and I do like this image a lot; didn't want to take attention away from it.

Going International

My house was actually quite bilingual for the last few weeks, as we played host to a German exchange student. He was a very nice boy, and a very talented musician, and it was quite interesting to get to know him.
That's my lead-in to a card honoring France -- it's the best I could do, aside from noting that this week's Teapot Tuesday Challenge was all about France.  I used the current Card Patterns sketch (#158) to create my card, and I ended up making it an odd size, to fit what used to be known as a "letter envelope"  or roughly 6 /14 by 3 1/4 inches.
The Eiffel Tower is black-embossed on white card stock, with blue ink (SU Blue Bliss) sponged pretty heavily around the edges.  The sentiment is also black-embossed.
I had seen a really cool embellie made with a button and twine, looped to look like a flower, on a card at SCS. That inspired my odd little blue and white embellie here -- it's not as nice as the inspiration, but it is an interesting little do-hickey, and it let me get a little blue down at the bottom of the page.

Life is a beach

This week's Card Patterns Sketch (#154) inspired me to do a simple beach theme.
The images are both from Impression-Obsession (I'm 90 percent sure). The larger one is embossed with Winter Wonderland EP, which gives it a nice sort of sparkle, like sand in the sunlight.
The smaller is stamped with Chestnut Roan ink, which is also sponged around the edges of the oval.
The blue strip actually has a linen texture, so it's a little more interesting in person.  The ribbon matches the paper quite well and provides a nice feminine contrast for the kraft paper and brown ink.  It also qualifies this card for the current Victorine Originals Challenge (#28), to use lace on your card.

Salute to Spring

     We got a blast of winter today, but no sleet, snow or slush, thank goodness. In hopes of enticing spring to come back, I have a very spring-like card today.
     Daffodils are already in bloom here, thanks to the mild winter, so tulips should be the next up.  This lovely tulip stamp is from SmArtWorks.  I like the more subtly shaded tulips, so mine here are white with pink at the base.
      I used the current Card Patterns sketch (#152) for this card.  The color scheme comes from There's Magic in the Air, which challenged us to use pink, white and another color -- green, in my case.
     The sentiment is from CTMH and is stamped in Baby Pink ink. The pink patterned paper is an old Stampin' Up set.
     Hope your day is wonderful, no matter the weather.

Happy Bday

This week's sketch at Card Patterns (#149) called for a circle card.  I had to make a birthday card for my sister-in-law, and a circle card just seemed kind of small (based on the nesties I own), so I used the sketch and put it on a square card (like one of the DT did).

My SIL enjoys gardening, so I did a gardening theme. The wide variety of different stylized flowers on this card really strikes me as sort of funny, but I think the common colors make them all work together OK.

The stamp is from a very old SU set, and it's fun to give it new life occasionally.  Image is colored with pencils, and Colorbox Ice Blue ink is sponged around the edges.  The panel is sewn onto the card. The Nestie circles feature Cosmo Cricket paper, flower embellies are from a yard sale bargain box, and the super wide ribbon is from Offray. 

Winter fun

     I got this cute penguin stamp during Impression-Obsession's annual Thanksgiving sale, and I'm so happy to have an excuse to use him. Cute images like this are "almost" enough to convince me that winter is fun (but I live in the South, where ice is serious and can shut the town down for days, so it's not "completely" enough to convince me).
     I also love this sketch from Card Patterns (sketch 145).  It went together so quickly I was amazed, and I really like that element I used blue vellum on -- it really gives the card an extra bit of pizzazz.  This card is also for the current challenge at There's Magic in the Air -- "winter fun with bling" (bling in this case being glitter).
     Image is stamped in Memento black and colored with pencils and OMS.  It's matted on a scalloped circle.  White layer has a punched edge and is also embossed with the Swiss Dot folder.  Blue vellum was punched with same edge punch.  Ribbon is actually sewn in place -- I sewed the button on the card with embroidery floss.
      What sort of winter fun do you enjoy?

Cats Rule

     The theme of this week's Teapot Tuesday challenge is Diva Cats.  The layout is the current sketch from Card Patterns (#140)
     This cat stamp from A Muse seemed perfect -- the crown, or tiara, really seemed to capture the idea of a diva. The cat is stamped in Colorbox Chalk Yellow Cadmium ink, and additional ink is sponged around the circle. I always have ginger cats, and this color is pretty close to that of my current cat.
      To emphasize the diadem, I colored it in with a Spica pen and added gemstones. (Somewhere in my stash are tiny green gemstones that I intended to use and that would be perfect. Of course, I couldn't locate them.)
      The sentiment is computer-generated, and the little heart/paw stamp is from All Night Media. I used markers to ink it up so I could get two colors on it.
     The patterned paper was a gift, so I don't know the origin. Twine is Martha Stewart baker's twine. Border punch is labeled Recollections (I don't know anything about the company, but this punch works really well, although it could be because it's fairly new.)

I {heart} glue dots

This week's Teapot Tuesday Challenge at SCS has a King Kong theme.  I thought this little monkey stamp from Autumn Leaves would be a good one to use.
I based the card on this week's sketch from Card Patterns (#138).  To be honest, one of the most time-consuming part of this card was doing that half circle.  It's too big for a nestie, so I went around my kitchen looking for something circular and 5 inches wide to trace. (I eventually found the lid to a big cannister of pretzels that fit the bill.)
I traced the circle and cut it out, then stamped the vine in SU Garden Green and the monkey in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them both with pencils and OMS.  Next I added the rickrack, which is both an embellishment and a way to disguise my not-perfect circle. I could have tried sewing it on, I guess, but I went with glue dots -- one on every other "zig" (hence the title of this post, in case you were wondering.  It was a lot of glue dots.)
The sentiment is computer-generated and cut with a tag punch.  The leafy patterned paper is from DCWV's "Kid Safari" stack. The sketch called for a ribbon across the top, and I added a few flowers to finish it off.
Funny thing about King Kong -- I've seen dozens of spoofs of it, but I've never actually seen any of the movie versions.  Folks on SCS assured me I really hadn't missed anything.

Christmas scraps

The current sketch at Card Patterns (#136) is a perfect way to use up scraps of designer paper to color block the background layer. I pulled out a stack of Hobby Lobby Christmas papers to make this card.

I don't usually put things at an angle but I like the effect it has on this sketch.

I hope the flower looks like a poinsettia to you -- I improvised it by tracing around the red felt flower on green card stock and cutting out the leaves, then finding a little yellow flower to be the center part of the poinsettia.

Stamps of unknown origin (possibly Hero Arts or Inkadinkado).   SU Forest Foliage and Colorbox Lipstick Red chalk inks. Spica pen used on all the stars to add a little glitter that doesn't show in the photo.  Center panel popped up on popdots.

That's 1 Christmas card done, in possibly one of my earliest starts ever.

Cooking up a cowboy image

I spent part of Saturday playing in the Virtual Stamp Night challenges at SCS.  One challenge called for using a technique to create faux leather with masking tape and clear embossing. It's a technique I've done before and, while the results are fun, tearing up little bits of masking tape can get tedious.  So, the two small diamonds on this week's Card Patterns sketch (#130) were the perfect size -- big enough to have impact, small enough not to take too long -- for me to use this technique.
The VSN theme this time was rodeo, and paired with the leather technique, a masculine card seemed appropriate. The image is one I simply found through a yahoo image search.  A little plaid paper, a few eyelets and lots of piercing sponging around the edges completed the look.

Goodbye to OTWC challenge

     This week is your last chance to take part in the Off The Wall Craftiness Challenge. Kim is stopping the challenge, which I have participated in regularly since the start.  We'll miss you Kim -- good luck with your future plans.

     The color combo for OTWC#58 is navy and coral (see inspiration photo to the right).  I combined the colors with the sketch for this week's CardPatterns sketch (Card patterns #129) to create this card. 

     The image is from Inkadinkadoo, stamped in SU Night of Navy ink.  The squarish panel and the coral panel are both stamped with the same flourish background stamp to tie the pieces together and add a little depth and interest-- I used versamark on the coral and looks quite subtle on the photo.

     I went punch crazy as well, adding punched corners to the square panel and using a new border punch on the white strip  (it's a new punch for me, and it appears I'll have a bit of a learning curve getting things to line up on it.)

     Hope everyone is having a great week.