Play Date Cafe challenge

Hi everyone!

It was another quiet day at my house. Kids are missing their dad but enjoying the break they're getting from homeschooling. I've enjoyed having the big chunks of time to scrapbook and I even had time to make a card tonight, too!

Play Date Cafe had a 2 week challenge this month. Here was the color combo they wanted us to use on our card:

I took on the challenge because, to be honest, if there's 2 colors that I really don't like it's yellow and green. And this challenge had 2 shades of green. I know it's very Christmas-like colors but I really don't like green. I was actually surprised to find that I even had green cardstock on hand b/c I'm not a fan of the color--at all! But, that's part of the fun of the challenge--using colors you wouldn't normally use and trying to make a nice card.

Here's my take:

I started out w/the lighter shade of green as the base and then the darker shade of green on top. I embossed it with the flourish embossing folder using my cuttlebug. Then, I used my flower inchies stamp set from inkadinkado and stamped the red flower on cream cardstock. I punched them out using an old square creative memories punch. I added some red ribbon and some bling and stamped the sentiment and the card was done. Not sure I love it but it could just be the color thing getting to me... :)

I think you all have a few more days to play along in the challenge if you have time. Hope you're having a great week!

Pat

MOJO Monday time!

Hi everyone!

Well, my crafting time continues! I hope all of you are getting a chance to play, too, although I know that this time of year is busy for most...

This was the sketch for this week's Mojo Monday.

And here's my take:

I started out with brown cardstock that I embossed using my cuttlebug and the flourish embossing folder. I added the ribbon and then a line of pearls along the top of the ribbon. I stamped the sentiment and flowers (Hero Arts) and inked the edges of the white cardstock with vintage photo distress ink. Done! :)

Off to catch up on some scrapbooking...that'll be my project for the next few days.

Have a happy and healthy 2012!
Pat

Another sympathy card

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas time with family. I am currently at home with my 2 sons while my DH is visiting his grandmother in Mexico. Since I HATE going into our bedroom when he's not home, I put on a movie, lit a scented wax candle, and made some cards!

Although it's a sympathy card, which I do not enjoy making, I figured maybe it wouldn't be so dreary if I combined it with a few challenges. First up was the Lawnscaping Challenge. It's all about texture for this challenge and I knew I'd be embossing one way or another! :)

The second challenge comes via Young Crafters Unite. Their challenge was to use dies on a card. I love dies!

Here's my card:

I started out by using my cuttlebug embossing folder (flourish, I believe) and embossed white cardstock. I cut it in 3 strips and adhered that to the black cardstock. I then stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts and matted it on black cardstock. I believe the flower is from Inkadinkado and I wanted a pop of color so I used a cranberry pigment ink from the $1 bins. I cut it out using a spellbinders label. For a little bling, I added a gem in the center of the flower and the card is done! I love how it turned out, too. It's simple yet elegant.

Will be back tomorrow with a Mojo Monday card. Hope everyone is having a good start to the week...Wow--last week of 2011!

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat

MOJO Monday time!

Hi everyone!

I think I'm truly giddy right now--I've had so much fun crafting cards this afternoon! I haven't been able to play along w/a Mojo Monday in a while so today was a treat!

Here's the latest sketch from Mojo Monday:

And here's my card:

Again, all papers are from Echo Park's Season Greetings 6x6 pack. I stamped the Christmas tree (Hero Arts) in silver and then heat embossed it w/silver powder. I added the Christmas ribbon, which was given to me years ago by a friend, and then stamped the ornament (Hero Arts) and colored it in using glaze pens and stickles. The stamp comes with the sentiment around the ornament so I just added a few red gems to it. The Christmas tree also has some stickles on it--it's just hard to see in the picture. Pretty easy card to make and lots of fun!

Have a great night!
Pat

Finally making my own Christmas cards!

Hi all!

I hope everyone is having a good week--I'm sure many must be stressed out right now w/the holidays. Our Christmas will be quiet this year so it's allowed me some time to FINALLY make our own family's Christmas cards! I know--I'm really late...

I used a few challenges to help inspire me a bit...First up, the sweetest thing site. I used their sketch for my inspiration.

The sketch worked great with another challenge that I was dying to play with! The Cute Card Thursday site had a challenge involving stripes. And I knew exactly what I wanted to do w/that!

I also saw that the Wee Memories site had an "anything goes" challenge going on and figured I'd enter this card for that challenge, too. And since it's a 2 week challenge, I may enter again! :)

If you have time, check out these sites--it's always a great way to get your creativity jump started!

Here's the sketch:

I love this sketch! And I can see it being used in tons of different ways and for so many different occasions!













Here's my card:

All the papers are from the 6x6 paper pad from Echo Park called Seasons Greetings. I cut out the striped paper and inked the edges with vintage photo distress ink and then mounted that on the red cardstock. I stamped a $1 stamp of the Christmas tree in some mossy green pigment ink and then heat embossed it w/clear powder. The strip of green paper is from the reverse side of the striped paper and I hand wrote the greeting using a white pen and then added a snowflake to the strip. I added some rhinestones to the tree and the card was done...and I love it!

Now to pick who this card will go to... :)

Hoping to share more cards later on today. Thanks for stopping by and for all the sweet comments--they sure do brighten up my day!

Pat

A misted, wintery b-day card

Hi all!

Before I go and start my homeschooling week, I figured I'd share a card I made for 3 different challenges going on right now. Here are the challenges:

Stampin' Sisters in Christ asked that we make a b-day card in honor of Christ's b-day.

PaperPlay Challenges asked that we use a snowman on our cards.

And, lastly, CAS-ual Fridays asked that we make a card using a mist technique. Here's the image for their challenge.

Here's my take on all 3 challenges:

I started out by inking up the snowflakes. I used one from Hero Arts and another from a dollar stamp set. I used broken china distress ink on them and then embossed them with clear embossing powder. Then, I inked up the background with the same distress ink. I then used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Dazzling Diamonds and spritzed it all over the background. You can't tell in the picture but the background just glitters! Love it! Then, I stamped the snowman (from stampin' up) in black ink and then stamped another snowman on some scrap paper. I cut out the snowman from the scrap paper and colored him in using glaze pens. I added some detail to the snowman by using the black glaze pen on his arms, eyes, and mouth. Then, I stamped an oval in distress ink and stamped the happy b-day sentiment (also from a dollar stamp set). I added 2 small gems on the sentiment and then pearls on the snowflakes. I mounted it on cardstock that I had inked with distress ink and done!

This was a really fun card to do...and I LOVED using the mist! It's a subtle glimmer but so lovely!

Hope you all can join in the fun!

Have a great week!
Pat

Wee Memories challenge

Yes, two posts in one day! :) Like I said, it's the perfect day to be in pjs and crafting cards!

This time, I'm playing along with the Wee Memories site. Their challenge was an anything goes holiday card. Perfect! I've been making a lot of Christmas cards so this challenge was right up my alley!

Here's my card:

I used pattern paper from the 6x6 paper pad called Season's Greetings from Echo Park. I punched out a circle and used the back of the paper for the plaid pattern insert. I then mounted the front of the card using tons of foam adhesive and adhered the paper on the circle insert. I stamped a dollar stamp ornament and embossed it and then used glaze pens to add the color. I added some Christmas red stickles to the dots on the ornament, too. Using some red and white twine, I hung the ornament in front of the punched circle and then wrapped the twine behind the front panel. I cut out a sizzix label and then stamped the sentiment and added some more stickles. A fun card to make and easy to coordinate the papers since it's from the same paper pack.

Thanks for stopping by...
Pat

Cute card Thursday

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. We have a cloudy, misty kind of day going on here so it's the perfect day for crafting and sharing. And nothing beats crafting in a cozy room w/pjs on! :)

I stumbled upon a new site called Cute Card Thursday this past week and LOVED it! They have different challenges and those are always so fun for me to play along with. This week their challenge was easy--it's "anything goes"! So, I figured I'd take out an old stamp and make a new card with it.

Here's my card.

I started out by stamping the Friend Definition from Hero Arts using Versarmark ink on the red cardstock. (Sorry, I know you can't really see that detail on the picture). Then, I punched several strips of daisies b/c I knew I'd be using them as kind of a ribbon on the card. Then I embossed the brown cardstock with the flourish embossing folder from cuttlebug. I adhered the red and brown cardstock to the base of the card and then stamped the very old, yet cute, Stampin' up Bear Hugs stamp with brown ink. I added the Thinking of You sentiment from Hero Arts and then mounted that on red again. I put the strips of flowers on and then used foam adhesive to mount the bear and the card was done!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great week!
Pat

Card Patterns #144

Hi all,

I hope everyone had a great weekend...Mine was bittersweet since I had a funeral to attend. But the service was beautiful and it was nice remembering a very special lady.

Since the card I dread making the most is a sympathy card--and this one was for a very dear friend--I knew I needed some inspiration. I saw this sketch from the Card Patterns site yesterday and thought it would be perfect for the card I was about to give my friend. Here's the sketch:

Here's my take on the sketch:

I didn't stray from the sketch very much at all...I loved the sketch as it was. I used 2 papers from the Luxury Stack and mounted the square piece on some maroon cardstock. I then cut out an oval using my old Creative Memories oval cutters. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and the borders on the oval are from a small dollar stamp set I got at Michaels. I inked the edges of the oval with a burgundy ink just to finish it a bit. I tied the burgundy ribbon and adhered a flower that was a bit too pink (I ended up inking it with my burgundy pigment ink) and then used a pearl for an added accent.

The papers were so glossy and luxurious feeling that I didn't want to mess with the card too much...I wanted a simple and elegant card and these papers gave me that feel.

Hope everyone has a good week and thanks for stopping by!

CAS-ual Friday challenge and Wee Memories

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I was introduced to letterboxing today. It's kind of like geocache but without the GPS. We got to hike around a park and use clues to find boxes hidden around the park...It was fun--cold, but fun!

After a fun afternoon, nothing beats relaxing and crafting! I thought I'd combine two current challenges. One is from the CAS-ual Fridays site and the other is from the Wee Memories site. The Wee Memories site was gracious enough to let us have a "free for all" challenge and those are always fun b/c you can simply get creative without any restrictions. The CAS-ual Fridays site, however, had quite the creative way of displaying their challenge. Here it is:

I was intrigued the moment I saw the tic-tac-toe board! I started writing down all the possible combinations (as my husband sat there watching me and wondering what I was doing!) and then sat in my craft room wondering what would work best for me. Here's what I came up with...

I decided I'd go straight down the middle for my card combo. I wanted polka dots, kraft, and orange. I knew I had some polka dotted orange pattern paper and it was a matter of finding it! I found the Bright and Basic Recollections paper pack. I used a sketch for the design and simply laid out the papers and then added the strip of kraft-colored paper down the center. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I added the butterfly with a Fiskars punch (I think) and added some faux polka dots to it with a white pen. I added the faux stitches and then some buttons with pearls. Easy card--and easy to replicate. But I really enjoyed the way the challenge was laid out so I may try another combo before the challenge is over. :)

Have a great Sunday and thanks for stopping by!
Pat

MOJO 217

Yes, I am posting twice in a matter of minutes! :)

It's been weeks since I've had a chance to play along with the Mojo Monday site. I saw this sketch earlier in the week, though, and really wanted to try it out. Here it is:

I decided to rotate the sketch and use the square version. Here's my card:

I started out by embossing the blue cardstock with a snowflake embossing folder with the cuttlebug. I knew I wanted to add some dimension, though, to the embossing so I used a faux letterpress technique and inked one side of the folder with white ink. That gave the background more of a snowy, midnight feel. I stamped the bears in a brown pigment ink and they're from a stampin' up set from years ago. I heat embossed the image and then colored it in using some glaze pens. I LOVE the wet, glossy feel of the image. I then cut it out using a spellbinders label and lightly inked a bit of broken china distress ink around the edges. I then used 2 strips of turquoise paper and freehanded the sentiment in white ink. I added a snowflake and then added some faux stitching around the strips. I added some stickles on some of the snowflakes and on one of the bear's earmuffs. Done! :)

There's still some time to join the mojo site this week... :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Skipping Stones design

Hi everyone!

I know--I've been MIA for awhile. Thanksgiving came and went and we had family in town. But, we also had a friend's mom turn very ill over the holiday. And she passed away yesterday so I have been really busy with other issues. In fact, I really had to muster up some creativity to decide to make a couple of cards tonight. It was therapy for me, though...

I wanted to use the latest sketch from Skipping Stones...it looked so fun--and it was! Here's the sketch:

Here's my take on it:

I used kraft-colored cardstock as the base and embossed it using my cuttlebug. Then, to make the embossed area pop a bit more, I added some vintage photo distress ink. I used an old Creative Memories circle cutter to cut a circle out of the main panel and then cut out a smaller circle using my fiskars circle punch. I stamped the flower image and added a rhinestone and then adhered that to the card base. The embossed panel is mounted with dimensional foam all around the card. I stamped the sentiment and cut it into 2 strips and the card was done! I LOVE this sketch b/c I can see myself using it A LOT for different occasions.

Hope you can play along!

An anniversary card

Hi all!

Halfway through the week and just another week to go before Thanksgiving is here! Wow--feels like this holiday surely snuck up on me! But I have plenty to be grateful for and it's a time that our family makes it a point to count our blessings and thank God for His many, many blessings.

I wanted to share a quick card. I was asked to make an anniversary card that had a heart on it and I thought I'd play around with some frantage. I got it on Sat. night and have been dying to try it out! It's like an embossing powder and glitter all mixed into one!

Here's my card.

I started out using my Hero Arts dots and flowers background stamp and inked it with silver pigment ink on some pink cardstock. Heat embossed and mounted that on gray cardstock. Then, using a heart cling from Hero Arts, I used the versamark and then poured the pink frantage on it. Heat embossed it (from underneath the paper) and then put some pink rhinestones on it. Cut the heart out using my spellbinders label and then added some white ribbon behind the heart. Done! Inside, the card says "happy anniversary".

Not sure yet if I love the frantage...I find the glitter to be annoying b/c it tends to splatter everywhere it's not supposed to. BUT, I've only tried it w/two different stamps. It could be that the bigger the stamp, the better it works...I'll have to keep playing with it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas card with a Skipping Stones Design

Hi everyone!

I was able to sneak into my room for a quick card tonight...I saw this great sketch by the Skipping Stones team and I just had to try it. I think I'll be using it quite a bit! I can picture using it w/all kinds of fun papers! :) Here's the sketch.

I wanted to try a technique that I'd seen videos on and that I've read about but had never actually tried it. It's a faux letterpress technique. There's a few youtube videos on how to do it.



Here's my card.

I started out by inking my sizzix embossing folder with barn door distress ink. Then, I ran a piece of white cardstock thru my cuttlebug and this was the result I got! I cut a long strip of scallops and then cut it in half and used that for my border. I stamped the tree (a dollar stamp) on red pattern paper in silver but it didn't come out quite dark enough so I embossed both the sentiment (from Hero Arts) and image in white powder. I also added a trunk to the tree by inking up some vintage photo distress ink and cutting a small strip. Then I took some Christmas-colored rhinestones and added those for a bit of color. Quick and easy card--and I love the look of the faux letterpress...

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat

Kathy's Lily Pad Palette Challenge

Hi everyone!

First off, thank you to all who left messages during the blog hop...I was so touched that you'd take the time to leave a comment. I smiled with each and every comment--so thank you!

I saw the latest challenge on the Lily Pad challenge. I had a lot of fun doing Kathy's color challenge last time and thought I'd give it a go again this time. Here's the palette:

I am using this mini-card for my local craft store, too. They asked that we make a small gift tag sized card and figured I'd incorporate the colors from this challenge. Here's my mini-card:

Since it's such a small card, I wanted to add some shimmer to it so it wouldn't look so plain...I stamped the background with a Hero Arts stamp (can't remember the name) with Versamark and then added the red perfect pearls to it. Spritzed it with water to make sure the pearls set and then stamped the Christmas ornament in blue and heat embossed that with clear powder. Then, I took the gold perfect pearls and added some water and used it as a watercolor to color in the rest of the ornament. I added some gold ribbon and then stamped the sentiment and the mini-card was done. Easy--but the shimmer really does add the extra touch that I was hoping for.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone had a good Monday!
Pat

SSSC141...a very special card for a very special couple

Hi all!

I hope everyone has had fun hopping around the different blogs and checking out the talented bunch of crafters that made masculine cards. It was so fun to participate in that blog!

The card I made today is for a very special couple. Our pastor and his wife spend endless amount of time and service in our congregation and it's time for us to show them they're very much appreciated.

I chose the latest sketch from the sweetest thing site to help me create the card. Here it is:

Isn't this a great sketch!?! I loved it! Here's my take on the sketch.

I used the pattern papers from The Luxury Stack. Then I stamped the butterfly in black pigment ink twice, heat embossed both and layered the butterfly. The butterfly on top I chose to color with distress inks--broken china and chipped sapphire--but I really wanted the butterfly to have some shine, too. I used the pearl perfect pearl powder, mixed it w/a bit of water, and then used that to blend the colors on the butterfly and give it some shine. LOVE it! Added some wire white ribbon and then a strip of teal cardstock. Stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts on a Nestabilities label and then cut it in half. Added pearls to both the butterfly and the strip on the ribbon and the card was done...

This was a wonderful sketch that I can totally see myself using again. There's still a few hours to play with this challenge, too. Have a great weekend!
Pat

YOUNG CRAFTERS UNITE BLOG HOP! :)

Welcome to the 2nd blog hop for the great website Young Crafters Unite. I stumbled upon this site a few months ago during their first blog hop and have loved it! You should have arrived here from Jenny's site.

craftinginthecountry.blogspot.com - Jenny M

This time, they've asked the bloggers to make a masculine card.

Here is my card.

I started out by using a sketch I had seen in a Paper Crafts magazine. I used some teal-colored cardstock and my fiskars texture plates to add some vertical lines and then used a circle punch to make that notch in the middle. I used some pattern paper from the DCWV Stack 6 for my background. Then, I stamped the bike image from Hero Arts with broken china distress ink and I inked the edges of it with some tea dye distress ink. I mounted that on some cardstock that I had distressed with barn door distress ink. Then, I realized I wanted the sentiment to be kind of incorporated onto the bike. So, I masked the image and used a "happy birthday to you" dollar stamp and stamped that on the main image. Glossy accents were then added to the bike to give it some dimension. And I punched a small tag and stamped "let's party" in broken china distress ink and tied some twine. Done! :)

Thanks for stopping by...and now to your next stop: Kyla's site! :)
http://kylanorris.blogspot.com - Kyla Norris

Happy hopping!
Pat

SSSC140

Hi everyone!

Although it's been a busy week, I did find some time to work on the latest sketch over on the sweetest thing site. Here's the latest sketch.

I love sketches that repeat patterns/images and this sketch was right up my alley! I wasn't quite sure what I'd do for the 5 repeating images but here's my card!

I started out with some pattern paper and kraft-colored cardstock. I wanted the brown to be a bit richer in tone so I inked it with some vintage photo distress ink. Then, I adhered the pattern paper and cardstock, added the green ribbon, and then grabbed my heart punch. The punch actually cuts out 2 hearts, the large one on the side of the ribbon AND the small one from the center of the large heart. I LOVE this punch! I punched out 5 hearts and used the small hearts for the repeating image/design element. I then added some glossy accents to the small hearts and used a white pen for some faux stitching around the bottom portion of the card. I stamped the sentiment and then re-traced the sentiment with a brown pen to make it stand out a bit better. Fun sketch and a fun card! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!
Pat

CFC #25 and Tuesday Trigger

Hi again!

I am squeezing in just in time for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge. The challenge this week was to add color to any stamped image. And I knew just what stamp I'd be using.

For the Tuesday Trigger on the Moxie Fab site, it was a beautiful wall sculpture in autumn leaves...which is the direction I was heading for my stamp. Here's the wall sculpture.

Truth be told, my local craft store had a challenge for this month, too, and it meets this coming Tues. night. I knew I needed to start working on the card and I had already picked out the stamp for that particular challenge. Their challenge was to make something more "vintage" looking and they provided us that pin on the vase. So, here's my take on the challenges.

I started out by stamping the olive green cardstock with the "friend" definition stamp by Hero Arts in vintage photo distress ink. Then, I used my "happy" definition stamp and using broken china distress ink I stamped that on white cardstock. Then, I used my versamark to stamp the floral vase image from Hero Arts and heat embossed it with clear powder. That's when the fun begins! I took my vintage photo distress ink and inked the vase. Then, using the mustard seed, spiced marmalade, and barn door distress inks, I inked the leaves. After it was all inked, I spritzed some water on my craft mat and blended the colors with a paintbrush. I added the vintage-looking pin provided by my scrapbook store. I then mounted the image on a burgundy cardstock and stamped the sentiment. I really like how it looks like a blue sky is in the background b/c of the blue text...and I love the autumn colors!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lily Pad's Sketch Challenge

Yes, 2 posts in one day! Although, it's still another sympathy card. Sigh.

Once again, there's a great sketch you can play along with at the Lily Pad Cards website. I needed some inspiration for this sympathy card and this sketch was perfect.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it.

I started out with 2 pattern papers from The Luxury DCWV stack. I added some blue ribbon with some pearls. For the sentiment, from Hero Arts, I used Staz On Black ink. I stamped my floral image with broken china distress ink and inked the edges of the label. A quick card but the papers are so beautiful that I couldn't resist using them!

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!
Pat

In our prayers

Hi everyone!

Today I share a card for a dear church family that has recently lost a loved one. He was a great man...so kind, sweet, and always had a smile on his face. His wife treated him with such love and dignity all the way til this past Friday when he went to sleep in Jesus. So, I wanted it to be a special card...

Here it is.

I started out by inking my purple cardstock with some dusty concord distress ink. I wanted it to be a really rich, royal color purple. Then, I took my Penny Black stamp and stamped it in white pigment ink and heat set it with some white embossing powder. Then I reached for my Perfect Pearls. The picture doesn't really do it justice to how shiny the card is in real life. But I took some gold perfect pearls and mixed it with some water. Then I used it as a watercolor background. It looks so pretty! Then I used my border punch on both the image panel and the one behind it and added some purple rhinestones to add a pop of color again. I added a strand of purple ribbon and then mounted the sentiment on top. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and I stamped it using my versamark pad. Then, I added the gold perfect pearls to the sentiment and spritzed some water on it.

Can't wait til Jesus comes back so I don't have to make these kinds of cards anymore...

Take care everyone...
Pat

CPS 240

Hi everyone!

Well, after such a long break from making cards, I was finally "in the mood" to work on one tonight! :) I was inspired by the great sketch over at the CPS site and figured I'd give that one a try. Here's the sketch:

Here's my take on it:

I've had this Hero Arts stamp for a long time! I saw a card that one of my fave crafters, Jennifer McGuire, did with it and I was dying to try it out. Hers was stamped in a metallic silver but I did love the technique that she used.

I started out with white cardstock and I stamped the image using an orange pigment ink. Then I heat embossed it. I wanted it to look like it was sunset--hence the orange...That's when the fun began! :) I used my fantasstix tools and started coloring in the image with distress inks. I would first dip the fantastix tool in a bit of water and then grab some ink right off the ink pad. The flowers were inked with a milled lavender and then with dusty concord. The leaves were first inked with shabby shutters green and then with pine needles green. After the image was colored in, I used a paintbrush that was dabbed in water to smooth out the coloring. I mounted the panel on white cardstock and then started working on the background. I knew I wanted a purple background. But the color cardstock I had was the wrong the purple--too red. So, I grabbed my dusty concord distress ink and colored in that wrong-colored purple cardstock and transformed it in the rich color I wanted. Then I realized I needed something else for the background. I used the "Happy b-day" definition stamp from Hero Arts and stamped that in silver pigment ink. I stamped the sentiment in dusty concord and cut half of a spellbinders label for the tag of the sentiment. The final touches were just adding some pearls on 2 corners of the card and it was done!

Hope you enjoyed the weekend and that you get to play along this week, too!
Pat

Quick sympathy card

Hi everyone!

I know, I've been MIA all week! Between having a little one with stomach and still trying to recover from pneumonia, getting into my craft room has been difficult! But last night my hubby informed me that he needed a sympathy card b/c he'd be attending a funeral today. These aren't the most fun cards to make, in the least, but I guess when someone is going through such a huge loss, the least we can do is offer a card telling them how sorry we are...

Here's my card.

Like I mentioned, I'm still recovering so I knew I didn't have the energy for a complicated card. I wanted something pretty easy yet classy. So, I found this pattern paper. It actually had the scalloped border and everything! All I did was mount it on some red cardstock that I added some vintage photo to and then added some brown ribbon. I used the cuttlebug for my sentiment label and then stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts using vintage photo distress ink, too. I had some fabric flowers from JoAnns and I added them to the corner of the label, put a button for the center of the flowers w/some twine and the card was done! Easy!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I'm hoping to get back to playing this week!
Pat

Kathy's Lily Pad Palette Challenge

I can hardly believe I was able to post 3 different cards today! THAT hasn't ever happened! :) But nothing beats having inked up fingers and this card surely gave me some inky ones!

The Lily Pad website has a great color challenge going on right now. Here's their color palette:

I'll admit that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to incorporate those colors but here's my take on challenge...

Turns out I had the greenish-teal color cardstock on hand and I chose to make that the base of the card. I then took white cardstock and inked up the "Happy" definition stamp from Hero Arts in Tea Dye distress ink. Then, using brown pigment ink, I stamped the Dancing with Flowers image from Hero Arts and heat embossed it w/clear powder. Then, the fun began! I took the mustard seed distress ink and inked the entire card. Then, about midway up the image, I added some spiced marmalade distress ink. Finally, I added some fired brick distress ink towards the top of the image. It looks like a great sunset--and what a great image of kids enjoying the sunset, too. I then mounted the cardstock on brown cardstock and used my EK Success punch for a border on the bottom. I added some yellow ribbon and then grabbed a paper flower, added some script writing to it, colored it lightly with fired brick distress ink, and added that to the panel. Then, I added a pearl colored button w/twine and stamped the sentiment. A fun card! Can't wait to play with this stamp in other color combos, too!

Hope you can play, too...
Pat

Color Throwdown 162 and RCC23

Yes, this is my 2nd post of the day! My men are still out enjoying the day so I have been having fun in my room... :)

This post contains a new challenge for me, though. Although I love participating in sketch challenges, I'd never done a color challenge before. But the great colors that came up for this week in the Color Throwdown were calling my name! Here's their swatch.

Also, the ribbon carousel site had an "anything goes" challenge where you basically just had to incorporate anything that came from a spool to participate. Since I love ribbon, this was an easy one to incorporate for me!

Here's my card.

I started out with some dark brown cardstock and I then layered a kraft-colored panel on top. I didn't like the look of the kraft cardstock, though, so I altered it a bit using tea dye distress ink. That looked a bit more rich to me. Then, I took some light yellow/cream cardstock and using my versamark dazzle pad, I stamped the damask (I think?) Hero Arts stamp on that. I heat embossed with clear powder b/c I wanted something subtle on the cream paper. Then, I cut out a sizzix label and stamped the sentiment in broken china distress ink. I looked in my very messy ribbon drawer and found this ribbon from Li'l Davis Designs that matched well with the colors. Finally, I stamped out a butterfly using the Martha Stewart 3 in 1 stamp and punch butterfly and adhered it to the label, too. I had originally envisioned a different card with bigger elements in blue but this worked, too.

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat

CPS 239 and Lawnscaping 19 Challenge

Hi everyone!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday! I'm actually home alone--which means I get to play in my room! :) My men are off at our church's apple festival and, since I'm recuperating from a pneumonia bout, I'm home resting (and playing a bit, too!).

There's a couple of challenges I had hoped to sink my inky fingers into. The first was a sketch challenge from CPS. Here's the great sketch!

The other challenge had been posted for a bit but I'd been too sick to play along..til today! :) Lawnscaping's challenge was to do some layering/dimension elements on your card. Here's the official pic of the challenge.

The sketch lends itself to some dimension so it was great to incorporate both into my card. Here it is:

I started out with kraft-colored cardstock that I inked up using vintage photo distress ink. I then used 2 strips of KI Memories pattern paper that I cut using an old Creative Memories wave cutter. I punched out 2 circles--one in white and one in teal. The white circle I decided to use the script Cuttlebug embossing folder and add some dimension to the circle. The card kindda reminds me of going to the beach and the script seemed to remind me of writing in the sand. I changed the color of the circle, though, and used shabby shutters distress ink to have it give some more color to the card. When I started assembling the card, I kept thinking the brown background needed something. So, I took my "happy" definition stamp from Hero Arts and stamped it in vintage photo. Just wanted a subtle pattern in the background. I adhered the strips of pattern paper and the circles. But it was missing something...so I grabbed some pearls and that made me happy! :) I used a spellbinders label for the sentiment die cut and then stamped Happy Birthday in vintage photo ink.

LOVED the sketch! Hope you can play along!
Pat

Clips-n-Cuts

Yes--2 posts in one day! :)

I stopped by one of my favorite blogs and saw the CUTEST video! Vicky made the cutest cartoon-comic strip card and she's showcasing Penny Black stamps. I've been watching her blog all week--she's on day 4 of the showcasing--and it's been great! Here's the link--and there's a give-a-way, too!

Wee Memories Challenge 70 and CFC 22

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone had a good time this weekend making some cards! Although, technically, the weekend isn't over but I know many enjoyed World Cardmaking Day yesterday. I was busy almost all day but did make a quick card last night and decided to use these 2 challenges to enhance the fun!

The first challenge was from CAS-ual Fridays. Here's the challenge pic.

I knew I had some ribbon that had some loops on it and I hope this counts! :)




Over on the Wee Memories site, the challenge is basically to do whatever technique is your favorite. That's easy for me--I know it's gonna have some embossing on it! :)

So, here's my card.

It's a smaller card--I think it's 4.25x4.25. I started out with some light blue textured cardstock and embossed it with the swiss dots embossing folder from Cuttlebug. Then, I used my spellbinders label (#8, I think?) to cut out the white panel. I knew it'd be a baby card so I used an old Fiskars texture plate and used that to emboss the little hands and feet on the white panel. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't pick it up much. Then, I took some of the baby blue ribbon w/the baby bib loops and added it to the white panel. Added 2 buttons w/twine knotted through and the sentiment is on the inside. Quick card--but fun! :)

Hope you guys can play along, too!
Pat