MOJO time!

Hi all!

Popping in very quickly this afternoon to share a card I made yesterday for the MOJO Monday site. Here's the sketch and my card:


How cute is this sketch?! Loved it! I started out with an old Basic Grey paper pack called "Little Black Dress". I used a frame from a chipboard stash that I just recently found. I used black soot distress ink to ink it up and then I embossed the frame with the musical flourish cuttlebug folder. I used my inktense watercolor pencils to color in the butterfly (Teresa Collins). To add some shine to the butterfly, I used a dot of liquid pearls and added a bit of water to it and then just used a paintbrush to color it on the butterfly. The sentiment is from the dollar bin from a local craft store. I added some ribbon and inked the edges with some vintage photo distress ink and the card was done.

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

Unscripted Sketches time

Hi AGAIN!

Yes, 3 times in one day! I haven't played this much in my room for a VERY LONG time! I'll probably drown in work tomorrow but that's ok. It was TOTALLY worth it! :)

Now, I'm popping in to share a card I made for the Unscripted Sketches site. They had a fun sketch that I wanted to play with. Here's my card and the sketch.


With Father's Day right around the corner, I figured I'd start working on some cards. I used some pattern paper (sorry, it's from a friend's stash so I don't know who designed the paper) and then I used some chipboard. Truth be told, I started out as a scrapbooker and I really need to use some of my scrapbooking supplies! When I stumbled upon my chipboard, I knew it would be perfect! I inked the bracket and the letters with vintage photo distress ink and then I embossed the bracket with my swiss dots cuttlebug folder. I adhered that main panel on some blue cardstock and then put it on the card base and the card was done! It's a great card to mass produce, too!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!
Pat

retro sketch time!

Hi all!

Popping in quickly to share a card I made based on the great sketch by the retro sketches site. Here's my card and the sketch.



I started out with some paper from My Mind's Eye and I layered that on some brown cardstock. I added some white dashed lines and then some orange buttons with some twine tied on them. I stamped the sentiment (from the dollar bin at a local craft store)and then embossed it in white. Super easy card and probably a good one to give to a guy.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you can play along!
Pat

Anything Goes!

Hi all!

Just popping in to share a card I made for a couple of challenges. If you head over to the Simon Says Stamp! blog and to the Word Art Wednesday site, you'll see they both have "anything goes" challenges. The Word Art site just asks that you also include an encouraging/uplifting message with your card. Here's my card:


I started out with some watercolor paper and stamped the image. (I don't know who made the stamp--it was a gift from a friend that wasn't stamping anymore and she gave me all her stuff and there's no company info on the stamp.) I stamped it using Versafine ink and then used some distress ink to color the sky. I then colored in the image using my inktense watercolor pencils. After mounting it on the red cardstock, I wanted to add more depth to the image so I inked the edges lightly with some distress ink and then masked the image and stamped some script writing around the image. (You can barely see it b/c of the texture of the watercolor paper but it did add some depth to the card.) The center of the flowers also has some stickles--who doesn't want a little extra shine, right? I then added some twine and a decorative edge and mounted it to the card base. The sentiment is from Skipping Stones and I like picturing the person smiling when they get this card.

Have a wonderful Thursday!
Pat

Thinking of You

Hello everyone!

I'm popping in to share a card I made for a young lady who is struggling right now. Her name is Maddy and if you follow Simon Says Stamp! you probably already heard about her situation. Life isn't fair sometimes. But, we can all help each other through the hard times by encouraging one another and praying for each other. I'm also entering the card into a couple of different challenges in the hopes that more people come by the blog and also make cards for Maddy. First up is the Lawnscaping site that has a CAS challenge. Although the clean and simple look appears easy, it's actually not and I struggle with wanting to put more on the card when I participate in these types of challenges. The second challenge is from the Word Art Wednesday site. The challenge is "anything goes" but it also wants us to add an encouraging word. So, although the sentiment on my card is simply "thinking of you" it is an encouraging one for someone who is going through such a hard time. Below you'll find my card and the challenge badge.

I started out by using a VERY old square punch from Creative Memories to make those 3 windows. I then used a Flourish embossing folder from Cuttlebug and used my scoring board to add a couple of lines in between the embossed area and the windows. I punched out some butterflies (Martha Stewart) and then added some pearls to the center. Then, I stamped the sentiment (Teresa Collins, I believe) and heat embossed it. I layered the front of the card to some dark navy cardstock so that the butterflies would stand out a bit and then the card was done. Pretty easy...but hoping it brings a smile to Maddy's face. Please, if you have a bit of extra time, consider making a card for her. You can send cards to this address:

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Maddy Justice-Patient
262 Danny Thomas Place
Attention Mail Stop 108
Memphis, TN 38105

Hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend! See you soon!
Pat

Sending Smiles

Hi all!

It's been a long time since I've been able to craft--too long! May has proven to be a VERY busy month with tons of changes and challenges. Add to that the end of the school year stuff that needs to happen and, well, crafting time was very scarce. But, tonight I had a lot of fun in my room. A while back, Jennifer McGuire shared on her blog that we should really send cards to people "just because". I liked that! So, that's what I'm sharing tonight. It's a "just because" card I'm sending to a friend. I chose to use the sketch from the sweetest thing site, too. Here's my card and the sketch:
I chose to keep the sketch pretty much "as is" with a few exceptions. I did change the center shape and I added an embellishment on the small banner--but that was it. I used paper from My Mind's Eye and then brown and cream cardstock. The brown cardstock was embossed to just add some texture to it. I added some polka dots to the cream strip that runs diagonally. The stamp is from an old Stampin' Up set and I used my inktense watercolor pencils to color it in and then added glossy accents for dimension. I also watercolored the sky using distress ink. I added a small dragonfly brad to the banner--I've had that brad for YEARS!--and liked how it added that unique embellishment to the card. The sentiment is from Skipping Stones.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! We'll be off to enjoy Seattle...Yay!

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat

Mother's Day retro card

Hi all!

With Mother's Day right around the corner, I had some time last night to work on the card I'll be giving my mom this weekend. I chose to play along with the sketch from the wonderful retro sketches site and also the Ribbon Carousel blog that challenged us to make a card for a particular celebration. So here's my card and the sketch.

This Mother's Day will be a special one because I'll have my parents in town. That also meant I didn't have to worry about the card being too bulky to mail! I kept the sketch "as is" because it worked well for what I had in mind. I just tweaked the sentiment a bit to make it a banner and added an image. The paper is from My Mind's Eye and the die is from Simon Says Stamp!. The butterfly was colored in using inktense pencils and then I misted it with some Glitter Mist. The sentiment is from a set that I found in the dollar bin--love it when that happens! I added a few pearls and the card was done.

Hope everyone has a lovely Mother's Day,
Pat

A Mother's Day card

Hi again!

Here to share another card I made tonight for Mother's Day. If you head over to V's Sweet Ideas, you'll see this is the latest challenge over there and with Mother's Day right around the corner--it's a perfect time to play along! Also, there's a color challenge at Inkspirational AND A Blog Named Hero challenged us to use glitter, bling, etc on our card. That's right--three challenges in one! :) You'll find my card and the challenge badges below:

Let me begin by saying that, for those that have been seeing my cards these past couple of weeks, yes, I am using a lot of embossed cards right now. I took my cuttlebug on vacation with me and embossed tons of cardstock so that I could come back and finish the cards any way I wanted. And I still have a lot of embossed cardstock so don't be surprised if you keep seeing different variations for the next few months! :) Although, truth be told, it's a great way to get some prep work done beforehand.

Now, for this particular card I used shaded lilac distress ink and added some dusty concord to the edges of the sentiment, too. The color is a very soft purple color. I wanted to use a darker purple for the butterfly and used a Martha Stewart punch for the butterfly and added some bling to it. I also added some gems to the center of the flowers and also used my glitter pen on the smaller flowers. It's hard to see in the picture but you can see it a bit on the flowers towards the top of the card. Looks really nice in life real. I also wanted the butterfly to appear as if it was on a fence so I used the Hero Arts Lattice stamp and placed that behind the butterfly. I added some ribbon, the sentiment, some stitching and we were done.

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat

A runway-inspired baby card

Hi friends!

I'm so excited to share a card I made late last night with you. It's for the Runway Inspired site and it challenged us to be inspired by a photo and make a baby card. Here's the photo and my card:

I had been looking for a baby stamp set for a long time! And last week I stopped by Michaels and they had just put this Inkadinkadoo stamp set on clearance...$3.99 and no sales tax! I was thrilled! I was dying to use it so when I saw the challenge for the week, I jumped at it! I wanted to use my swiss dots embossing folder to mirror the dots the little girl had on her dress. And the grey/black she's wearing is on the card base and the insert behind the main image. I added a ribbon that says "it's a girl" and used the stamps from the "welcome baby" set. I colored in the cute little dog with my inktense pencils. They didn't have a really light pink so I just kept watering down the color I had and it worked! I added a few gems and the card was done. Such a fun card!

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat