Great giveaway going on!

Hi everyone!

First off, I wanted to thank you all for all the sweet comments you leave when you stop by. I always get a smile on my face when I receive a comment...And today, is actually the one year anniversary that I started blogging! I started last year, on my b-day, in an attempt to just do something fun. It's been a LOT of fun! And I'm hoping to share some more cards with you all soon.

I was a huge fan of Lily Pad Cards. Unfortunately, the site has closed but we can still follow Vicky and Debbie on their blogs. And right now, Debbie has an amazing giveaway on her blog! She's pretty excited to start dedicating more time to her personal blog and she's giving away a LOT of goodies! Click here for Debbie's site.

Here's the cool blinkie from the site and you'll see her badge on my sidebar, too. Hope you guys check it out!

Pat

A bit of brown layers

Hi all!
I hope you are all having a great Sunday! I have enjoyed some time listening to music while crafting a card.

There were a couple of challenges that I really wanted to join in. Simon Says Stamp and Show challenged us to use a bit of brown--kraft cardstock or the color brown on a card. And the Young Crafter's Unite challenge was to make a card with many layers. Here's the challenge badge.









Here's my card. I started out by using vintage photo distress ink on a script stamp from Fiskars. I then used my Versamark Dazzle and clear embossed Hero Art's Silhouette Flowers stamp. That was the first layer of the card b/c now it looks like there's a background. Then, I used distress inks and markers to color in the flowers. I mounted that on some pattern paper for a couple of layers and also added a layer of ribbon. I then added some gems to the center of the flowers and to the side of the ribbon, too. I stamped the sentiment and used dimensional adhesive for the banner and the card was done. Because of the challenge to use brown, when I saw the pattern paper, I knew I'd go with some flowers and make a very summery card. Not a huge fan of pink but do like how this turned out.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week, everyone!
Pat

the sweetest thing sketch and DT call...

Hi everyone,
I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! My family and I were blessed to be able to go to the Portland Rescue Mission and give food to the homeless. It's the second time my oldest and I have gone--and the first time my 7 year old came. It was quite an eye-opening experience for him! Nothing like seeing how little others have to instill gratitude for God's blessings in your life and to teach compassion and empathy!

Tonight, I wanted to share a card I'm entering in the sweetest thing DT call. They provided a sketch and figured I'd have some fun with it and see what happens! :) Here's the sketch.















And here's my card.I chose to turn it counter-clockwise. Sometimes I'll leave the sketch as-is...but other times, it's fun to twist it a bit! This was one of those times! :)

I started out with the Three Penguins Hero Arts stamp. Aren't they cute?! I inked them in black ink and embossed them. Then, I colored them in and used a glitter pen on the striped scarves. I used a scallop punch to add a border and also added some red and white twine. All the papers are from My Mind's Eye (Merry Little Christmas). I know it's not even remotely close to winter--but why not get ready for the craziness of the season early? I added a few gems to the center red panel and also some faux stitching on all the papers. I added a glittered snowflake and a smaller brad snowflake and then stamped the sentiment. I love how cute it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Sunday!
Pat

Thinking of you w/a splash of color

Hi everyone,

It's been a long week...but I chose to have some fun tonight. I wanted to make a "thinking of you" card for the Hero Arts monthly challenge and I wanted to play along with the latest Lawnscaping challenge, too. The challenge for the Lawnscaping site was to make a card with a splash of color.

Here's my card: I wanted to make a mostly monochromatic card. I mounted the card on red cardstock and then embossed the main panel. I then used 3 different butterfly punches and inked them with barn door distress ink. I scattered them across the card and then used the Hero Arts sentiment that I just LOVE! I added some gems to the butterflies and used a glitter pen to add some shine to the butterflies, too. Easy card--but love how it turned out!

Gearing up for the weekend and I hope everyone is having a good week!
Pat

Father's Day card

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday where they get to celebrate their dads or hubbies. We spent quite a bit of time outdoors on Sat. afternoon and all "men" in my household were fast asleep before 9:30--which meant, time to play!

I wanted to make my husband a special card from the kids. He's such a great dad and such a blessing that I wanted to really make something that would be meaningful to him. Here's the card that's sure to make him smile... So, to start off, I know this looks like a hand on some pattern paper with a simple father's day greeting. Well, it kindda is...but the handprint is from our youngest son's gloves. I traced the glove on to the paper and then cut out 2 handprints.

When you open the card, you'll find this message. It says "I love you this much". However, I crossed out the "I" and put "we". This expression is one that my husband and I used all the time when we were dating and newlyweds. Since we were long-distance for a few months before the wedding, we'd sign our emails using this expression and I thought it'd be cool to let the kids in on it. He will open the card and find the two hands joined together by an accordion fold and the sentiment that always meant so much to us.

Since he won't open it for a few hours, I went ahead and added some twine to keep it closed. Can't wait to see his face tomorrow when he sees the card that has his son's hands on it and the expression we both love...and I even used his favorite color--orange! :)

Happy Father's Day to you and yours...
Pat

CASE and cute card

Hello again! It's almost the weekend--yay! Hope everyone is having a good week!

I wanted to share a b-day card I made based on the CASE study card for the week. It's a beautiful card and I wanted to see if I could put my own spin on it. Also, the Cute Card Thursday site had a challenge where we had to use punches on our card. There's still plenty of time to play along with both challenges, too, so c'mon and join the fun! :) Here's the inspiration card and then my card.


















I knew that I wanted to have some type of a punch on the side of the card. I grabbed an old The Paper Studio border punch. I mounted that using dimensional adhesive on blue cardstock that I inked with chipped sapphire distress ink. I added the blue ribbon and stamped the Hero Arts sentiment in chipped sapphire also. I used 3 different butterfly punches and added small blue gems to add some interest. A few gems to frame the sentiment a bit and the card was done.

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy the weekend!
Pat

CardPattern sketch card

Hi again! I've taken a break from the madness to enjoy some stamping...and with Father's Day coming up, I knew I needed to start making a card for my husband. It always tends to sneak up on me! And this year I wanted to make sure the card was done at least a few days before!

I chose to use the sketch from the CardPatterns site. Here it is:

















Here's my card: I chose to use papers from My Mind's Eye. LOVE them! And I initially wanted to keep the sketch vertical but when I realized what my focal point would be, I tilted it and actually really liked the sketch horizontally, too. I used a "Happy father's day" stamp on the mustard yellow strip and the bike and sentiment are from Hero Arts. I actually just bought the sentiment last week and, hopefully this isn't just me, I got such a euphoric feeling when I opened the package and smelled the new stamps! I love that smell of newly-purchased, not-yet-used stamps! :) I added a ribbon and the card was done. Quick card--but I love how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of the week!
Pat

Fun sketch card

Hi everyone! I had the chance to chat with a friend tonight and it made me realize how much I missed crafting! I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to sit and play...but tonight I decided to have some fun!

I combined 2 challenges for this card. The first is from the Simon Says Stamp and Show site. This was an easy challenge because it was an "anything goes" challenge! Doesn't get easier than that! The second challenge was a sketch challenge from the great site Retro sketches. Here's the sketch and my card.

When I see a great sketch, I tend to leave it as is...and this was one of those sketches. The only change I made was I changed out the very cornered rectangle with the sentiment to a more rounded rectangle. Other than that, I left the sketch as is. I used some Lilybee Design paper (Picket Fence) and added a contrasting darker purple cardstock that I embossed using my cuttlebug. Then, I added some red ribbon and just a few red gems at the top left corner and the card was done. I wanted to make a sympathy card simply b/c I feel like I should always have a few on hand and the sentiment from Hero Arts is so elegant--Love it! I stamped it in dusty concord distress ink and I love how everything coordinates so well on this card.

Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone is having a good week so far!
Pat

Many a challenge card

Hi there everyone! Sorry for the long absence...This month will be crazy for me since I'm in charge of our church's Vacation Bible School and it starts later this month! But, I wanted to balance my responsibilities with some fun time, too, so tonight I'm off to my monthly card club and I had to make a card for it. I love sketches so I turned to the MOJO Monday site for inspiration. But there were a couple of other challenges that I also wanted to incorporate. One was the challenge over at Lawnscaping. They want us to use some pattern paper on our card. Then, at the Young Crafters Unite blog, they wanted us to use flowers/flower images on our card. The sketch and all the headers for the challenges are at the bottom of this post. Here's my card. The pattern paper is from Lilybee Designs Picket Fence. I LOVE the color combo! I used an old Stampin' Up stamp for the butterfly and masked it to put the writing in the background. The ribbon and flower at the top of the card is actually from a wedding invitation that we received about 2 years ago! I immediately knew it would end up on a card! :) Just for fun, I added some twine, too...can't ever have too much twine! :) I wanted to repeat some of the color combo on the butterfly, too, so I added some turquoise bling to it, added a sentiment and the card was done. Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone is having a wonderful week! Pat