A star challenge

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend. I decided to ditch laundry and play a bit--laundry will ALWAYS be there, right? And today I wanted to jump in on the challenges over at the Simon Says site and CAS-ual Fridays site. At the Simon Says site, we were challenged to make a card using stars. I immediately knew what patterned paper I'd be using! Then, at the CAS-ual Fridays site, the challenge was to make a masculine card using patterned paper.

Here's my card. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye (I think) and I layered some red cardstock. I used a "go-to" sketch from Paper Crafts magazine and I really like it. I added some star brads along the top of the sentiment strip and cut out a diploma stamp. I then added some faux white stitching and the card was done. Easy! :) Thank you so much for stopping by and enjoy Memorial Day...to those that are military families, thank you for your sacrifice... Pat

Simon Says...male card...

Hi everyone, I hope everyone is having a good week...it's a 3 day weekend coming up and I'm looking forward to some family time! Tonight I wanted to join in on the challenge at the Simon Says Stamp site. The challenge was to make either a Father's Day card or a male card. I have a friend who asked me to make a card for her grandson--her only grandson--and this was the perfect challenge to pair the request with!

The little boy is turning 2 and is a HUGE fan of tractors! I believe the birthday party is also a farm theme party so I knew I wanted to incorporate that into the card. A friend let me borrow the stamps for the card--sorry, I can't remember the company that makes the stamps! I used colored pencils on most of the image and paper pieced a lot of the tractor and the chicks. Took some work but I really like how it turned out... Thanks for stopping by--and for all the lovely comments, too. They put a smile on my face every time! Pat

To heat or dry emboss...Lawnscaping challenge card

I am so excited to be feeling better AND having a chance to make some cards! I know there's tons of work to do tomorrow...but it's been so long since I've felt good that I'm going to milk it tonight for all it's worth! :) When it comes to making cards, embossing is one of my all-time favorite techniques...It makes me happy! :) So when I saw that the Lawnscaping challenge site wanted us to create a card by either heat or dry embossing, I knew I wanted to play along. Here's the challenge logo and my card:

If you knew me, you'd know that I tend to not spend oodles of time on cards...I like the clean, elegant, simple-yet-quick method...Homeschooling 2 boys doesn't give me the luxury of wanting "perfect" cards. However, for this card, I easily spent double the normal time...AND this is the 4th try to get it the way I wanted! I started out by heat embossing the red Hero Arts heart and then making a mask of it. I then placed the mask on top of the heart and stamped the music note background (I think the company was called Impression Obsession). Then, I heat embossed the music notes. I added the sentiment and some small gems and the card was done...I guess since I was adamant about the vision in my mind, I refused to give up when the card wasn't working out right. I'm happy with the card now, though...And I'll save it for my anniversary in a month. :) Hope everyone has a good night and thanks for stopping by! Pat

A Play Date with Simon Says

Here's post #2 for the day! :) I love the challenges on the Simon Says site. This week's challenge was to create a clean and simple card. Truth be told, this is one of the hardest techniques for me! Mainly because I LOVE to emboss things and distress things. But, when I saw the challenge at the Play Date Cafe, I was immediately drawn to it! Here's the challenge photo:

Clean and simple was the name of this card! I used some patterned paper from My Mind's Eye and then stamped the circle sentiments in black. Then, I stamped the small birthday cake in mustard seed distress ink and the card was done! It was so fast and simple, I'm thinking of making a ton of them so I can always have some b-day cards on hand. I think the clean and simple challenge is almost over but there's still time to join the Play Date challenge. :) Thanks for stopping by! Pat

Dusting off with a MOJO :)

Hi everyone! So sorry for the absence...I have been in bed quite a bit--still battling this bronchitis and coughing thing. BUT, I feel much better today...and decided to celebrate by making some cards! So, this will be the first of--not sure how many posts! :) First up, A Blog Named Hero challenged us to use some stamps/products that we haven't used in a while...LOVE that challenge! And, of course, I might as well use a sketch for inspiration. I hadn't joined in on a MOJO Monday in many weeks so I chose to jump in! Here's the sketch and the challenge pic:

Here's my card. I left the sketch as it was...just changed the flower to a cupcake since it's a birthday card. I used to use the Birthday definition from Hero Arts all the time and it's been ages since I used it. And there was a brand new Penny Black Happy Birthday Eye chart stamp that was itching to be used...so I paired the two stamps on this card. The little cupcake is a Martha Stewart punch and I used my cuttlebug to emboss the bottom portion with some stripes and the top portion with some swirls that I then added some stickles to. Cute card and not too complicated, either. Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope everyone is having a great week! Pat

Using a favorite stamp!

Hi everyone! Happy Mother's Day! I decided to start celebrating my day by playing...laundry can wait, right? :) Anyway, there were tons of challenges that I wanted to jump in on and I felt a bit inspired so I raced to my room as soon as the kids were in bed so I could play a bit. I am playing along with 3 different websites--2 of which I just stumbled yesterday! The first is Simon Says Stamp and Show and they are basically asking us to use our favorite stamp...there was no way I was going to pass that up! The second site that was new to me is called retro sketches and if there's one thing I love--it's sketches! Then, I joined in the color challenge over on the Lily Pad site that I also enjoy very much! Here's the sketch and color palette that I used for my card:

Here's my card. First off, I LOVE the damask fabric stamp from Hero Arts...I love embossing it and using inks to add color to it. Here, I actually used gelatos...talk about easy AND vibrant colors, too! I didn't stray or vary the sketch very much because I actually liked the way it was laid out originally. The card was pretty easy to do yet I love the colors in it. They're bright and vibrant and it makes me think of someone that is filled with joy--they just shine! Anyway, hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday and thank you so much for stopping by! Pat

Another graduation card

Hi all! Yes, it's my THIRD post today! Kids are in bed, hubby is watching a basketball game, and I am "resting" from bronchitis by doing what relaxes me the most--making cards! And, for tonight's card I went with a challenge over at the new A Blog Named Hero site. Really fun site to check out if you haven't already! The challenge was to use a sentiment in a different way. Here's the challenge poster:

I chose to make another graduation card. I used the sentiment from a Fiskars frame set that says "best wishes" on it. I stamped that as a pattern paper and then added the diploma. Easy card to make once you have all your papers. And I really liked using the tiny sentiment to make some pattern paper that goes so well with the theme of graduation. There's a few hours left to join so hop on over if you can! Good night and have a great weekend! Pat