Fairytales

This is a fun project I found on Splitcoast called a slider card. Basically, it's a pocket card with a twist. The ribbon goes all the way to the bottom of the pocket and when you pull on it, the card slides out.

Both the fairy and the sentiment are from Fairy Song. I colored the fairy with pencils, then covered her wings
in very pale yellow superfine glitter. I don't think the photo captures how pretty it is. I also used Stickles on her lantern and on all the stars in the sentiment.I decorated the bottom of the sentiment card with punched border strips that match the colors on the pocket.

I'm entering this card in this challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, Glitter
Totally Papercraft #211, Beautiful Borders
Crafty Ribbons #81, Anything Goes with Ribbon,
Papertake Weekly, Challenge, For a girlie
Created with Love #78, Girly
Word Art Wednesday #124, Anything Goes

Hints of spring

After our snowstorms, we are seeing hints of spring. Hurray.  I'm celebrating with a spring-themed card.

I own exactly one jar of Flower Soft -- it's called sweet pea, and it's perfect for doing cherry trees. So every spring, I end up pulling it out to make a spring flower card.  These bare trees by Posh Impressions make a perfect canvas for the Flower Soft.

I used Sketch Saturday Sketch #297, using the sprig of ivy in place of the strip of paper shown on the sketch. 

Details:
Ink: Chestnut Roan colorbox chalk.
Dies: Tim Holtz  ivy; scalloped circle Nesties
Paper by DCWV

This card is for the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday #297, sketch
Totally Papercraft #207, Spring
Word Art Wednesday #120, Anything goes
Sister Act #45, Anything goes

Ready for spring

I am so ready for spring, April showers and all, but Mother Nature appears to have another blast of winter coming my way. The weather forecast is for snow/sleet/ice for the next few days, and there was craziness at the grocery store when I was there at noon.  I snagged one of the last cartons of milk but the guy who checked out in front of me had about eight gallons of milk in his cart. Seriously, that's just hoarding.

My springy card features a cute image from Crafty Sentiments.  The bunny is colored with pencils and OMS, with Sea Breeze ink sponged around the edges.  I added Glossy Accents on the raindrops and puddle (oh, dear, does that look like ice?)

To create the sentiment, I used parts of two different stamps.  To get "Sunshine" I used a marker to color only that word in a Hero Arts stamp.  Then I stamped the Hello from another set (probably studio G, something small and clear, anyway).

The layout is from Feeling Sketchy, #79.

I'm entering this card in these challenges:

Feeling Sketchy --sketch #79
Totally Papercrafts #205 -- Hey Cutie (use a cute image)
Simon Says  Monday -- We love Stamps
Word Art Wednesday #118 -- Anything Goes

Stamping tricks

I worked at a stamp show last weekend, demo-ing some stamps and techniques for Rubbernecker Stamps. One of the fun things was interacting with people who are pretty new to stamping, and also revisiting some techniques I haven't used for a while. Both of those played a part in this card.

This is a one-layer card designed to look like three layers. The first technique I used was reverse masking -- first stamping the tag on the card, then making a mask by stamping the tag again on scrap paper, cutting it out and placing it over the tag. That way I could stamp the swirly background to look like it was DP under the tag. And I used a ruler and marker to put the thin red edge around the edges of the card to look like the DP is layered on a red card.

One of the new stampers I met was fascinated by a card that used Glossy Accents -- she'd never heard of such products.  I ended up using some on this card to give the little heart some shine and dimension.

I'd like to enter this card in these challenges:

Simon Says Monday -- love notes
CRAFT challenge -- Valentine's

Just for Fun -- Love
Sister Act #42   -- Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts #204 -- CAS
Word Art Wednesday #117 -- Anything Goes

Inspired by a postage stamp

I thought it would be fun to do a couple of different color treatments to a lighthouse image. I have a sheet of the Post Office's New England Coastal Lighthouses series of stamps on my desk, and I took the color cues from the stamps, especially for the purple and orange sunset. (Oddly enough, I also have a set of knot-tying instruction cards on my desk, and I used them to try a few different knots for this card, but I have to say, to my untrained eye they don't look that different.)

The sketch for this is the current Papertake Weekly sketch, #86.

The image is from an old Stampin Up set (with the Father's Day greetings trimmed off),colored with pencils. The twine is Martha Stewart baker's twine, and the gingham is from Making Memories.

I am entering this card in these challenges:

Papertake Weekly, sketch #86
Clear it out Challenge -- Blues
Created with Love #74, Anything Goes
Totally Papercraft #203,  One for the boys (masculine)
Word Art Wednesday #116, Anything Goes
Sister Act Challenge #41, Anything Goes

More winter fun

By this time of the year, I'm ready for spring.  (I noticed some daffodils are pushing up in my garden. But snow flurries are in the forecast for tomorrow, so it's not spring yet.)  However, I signed up for some winter-themed swaps, and this is a card for one of those.

I started by flicking white paint on dark blue paper to created a snow storm.  I used a toothbrush, and the paint splatters ended up being really fine, except for the occasional dribble. I'm calling that "adding interest to the background."

The little penguin is from Impression-Obsession.  He's colored with pencils, and I used some Stickles for the ice he's saking on.  I embellished the sentiment panel with some snowflake gel stickers from EK Success. (found them for 70 percent off while trolling the clearance racks at Target. Score!)

The sketch is Sketch Saturday #292.

I would like to enter the card in these challenges:

Sketch Saturday #292, sketch
Simon Says Wednesday, Ice Inspiration
Totally Paper Crafts #201, Winter Wonderland
Simon Says Monday, Anything Goes
Sister Act Cards, Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday, Anything Goes

New year, new beginnings

Wow, it's 2014!  Happy new years to all.
"New Beginnings" is the theme at this time of year, and that was the perfect reason for me to make a new baby card for my niece, who is due in a few weeks.  I wouldn't consider her old fashioned in any way, but she doesn't know the sex of the baby, and doesn't want to, so I made a card that was neither pink nor blue. I went with pastel green and a very pale yellow.
The sketch is Feeling Sketchy #77.
The image (from Autumn Leaves) is black embossed and paper pieced. The panel is pierced around the edges, wrapped in light green bakers twine and popped up on pop-dots.  There's a little rocking horse charm hanging off of the twine.

I'm entering the card in the following challenges:

Feeling Sketchy #77, sketch
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, New Beginnings
Totally Papercrafts #200, New Beginnings
Word Art Wednesday #113, Anything Goes
CRAFT #240,  Anything Goes

Non-traditional Christmas colors

Almost all the Christmas cards I have made this year have featured traditional red and green, or at least red (sometimes with silver or kraft). So it was fun to make a card with non-traditional colors.

This card was inspired by the BE Inspired photo at The Alley Way Stamps, and features TAWS stamps as well.  The ornament is a free digi, which was cut out, colored with pencils, and   glitter was added to the top part. The strip along side it is meant to resemble snowflakes, and it includes stamps from Delicate Doilies set by TAWS.  Everything was stamped in Ranger Stream colored ink, but I used several generations of it to get some variation in color.

The card is for the following challenges:

The Alley Way Stamps Be Inspired #43, inspiration photo
Totally Papercraft challenge, Christmas with non-traditional colors
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, use a stamp
Sister Act Card Challenge #37, Anything Goes
Just 4 Fun Challenge, Merry Christmas

Charlie Brown tree

I saw a bunch of cute little stick tree cards recently and decided to try one on my own. Turns out the ones I've seen on the Internet are actually a die cut, but I made mine with glitter and double-sided tape.  I just cut a strip of brown card stock and adhered it to the paper. Then I added strips of adhesive in a vaguely treelike shape and covered them with glitter. I figure it doesn't matter if the branches aren't straight. This was quick and easy and I think it makes for a fun tree, kind of reminiscent of a Charlie Brown tree. You could also do it with strips of paper or fiber instead of glitter.

To complete my tree, I added a button snowflake on top.  I used Feeling Sketchy #73 for the layout.

The sentiment is black-embossed and comes from Hero Arts.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Feeling Sketchy #73, sketch
Papertake Challenge: Christmas
Totally Papercrafts #191: Button It Up
Sister Act #31, Anything goes
Loves Rubber Stamps #77: Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday # 105  , Anything Goes