Simon Says Challenge

Hi everyone, Yes, 2 posts one after another...but I was lucky enough to squeeze in a bit of time to play again. A dear friend's birthday card had to be made so I took the opportunity to play along with Simon Says "anything goes" challenge. The prize is a $50 gift voucher and who wouldn't want that?! :)

My card today has tons of distressing! I stamped the focal image in brown and then clear embossed it. Then, I added the distress colors to the sky (chipped sapphire and broken china). The papers are from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose. To finish off the stamped image, I added some bling to the girls' wreaths. Nothing beats getting your fingers all inked up! Thanks for stopping by! Pat

Lily Pad Flower Challenge and a Sweet Sunday Sketch

Hi everyone! I've been so busy these last few weeks that I haven't had much time to craft...However, a friend asked me to make a sympathy card for her so I squeezed some time late Monday night. Although we can all agree that sympathy cards aren't fun, I'm sure receiving a handmade cards helps ease the pain a bit by just knowing that someone cares. So, I knew I'd need some inspiration and I chose to go with the flower challenge over at the Lily Pad site. There's still tons of time to enter this challenge, too! The Ribbon Carousel site also has an "anything goes" challenge right now--basically, do whatever card you'd like as long as there's ribbon on the card somewhere--so I thought I'd enter the card here, too. Also I thought I'd use the sketch from the sweetest thing site for inspiration. Here's the sketch:

For my card, I chose to rotate the sketch and then use a soft yellow and dark purple palette. I embossed the flower image and then wrapped some ribbon to the scalloped pieces. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. A few pearls add some dimension, too, and the card was done... Thanks for stopping by! Pat

Another green b-day card

Hi all! I hope everyone survived Monday! I have a crazy week ahead and I have a strong feeling this will be my last chance to craft this week. So, I decided to play along with the sketch at the CPS site. Here's their sketch:

Although I'm not a fan of the color green, the paper from DCWV The Luxury Stack went perfectly with the sketch. I went with a monochromatic green color and simply went darker with each layer of the card. I inked the edges with vintage photo distress ink to add some depth. Then, I added some pearls along the center of the background layer. I punched out a small circle to put the butterfly on and then added some more mossy green gems to the butterfly. The sentiment in on the inside. (Sorry about the poor quality of the photo...the shimmer of the paper and then the lighting just didn't want to cooperate...) Hope everyone has a good week! Pat

A bit of Green

Hi everyone, I've read many people blogs when they say this hobby is like therapy...I can't agree more! I escaped to my room this afternoon, turned on some Christian music and felt myself being refreshed... There's a special b-day coming up. And I figured I'd enter the card into the Simon Says Stamp "Bit o' Green" challenge. Not a huge fan of green but turns out, for this card, it worked perfectly to have just a bit o' green! :)

Here's my card. I chose to use a cuttlebug embossing and die cutting folder. I inked up the embossed areas with worn lipstick distress ink and then inked the pink paper with the same distress ink to match the embossing. I scalloped the edge and then used a Martha Stewart punch for the butterfly. I knew I wanted some contrast so I used some mossy green gems and added those to the centers of the flowers and the middle of the butterfly. I used a black glaze pen for the antennae and the added some white ribbon to the side of the card. The inside of the card has the sentiment and another butterfly that is stamped in the distress ink color and spritzed with a tattered angels mist. Not a very hard card to do--and I love the look of it! :) Thanks for stopping by--and hope you can join the fun, too! Pat

Hero Arts color challenge card

Hi everyone! I have tons of b-days coming up so I figured it was time to make some cards! For tonight's play time, I chose to play along with Hero Arts' color challenge. Here's the color palette:

Here's my card...I knew I wanted to get my fingers all inked up and chose a couple of Hero Arts images that would let me do just that! I first used the Happy Birthday Definition Hero Arts cling stamp and stamped it on white cardstock in faded jeans distress ink. Then, using the Versamark dazzle, I stamped the Large Blossom cling and clear embossed it. Then, the fun begins! I used small make up sponges and used the following distress inks: mustard seed, broken china, and faded jeans. I started inking the yellow centers of the flowers first. Then, went in with broken china. Those two colors mixed beautifully in spots and a great green color was made! Then, I added some faded jeans ink to the tips of the flowers. After it was all inked, I spritzed some water on my work mat and blended the colors. I went ahead and inked white cardstock with the mustard seed ink and mounted the image on that. I added a teal-colored ribbon and a button with twine. The sentiment was just a dollar stamp and I embossed it in white. The paper is from My Mind's Eye. So much fun to be pushed into using certain colors...The creativity spills out... Hope you can play along, too! Thanks so much for stopping by! Pat

SO excited!!!

Hi everyone! I came home this evening to find a wonderful email from the uber-talented Jennifer McGuire...telling me that I'd won a spot in the Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 101 class!!! I can hardly believe it! I commented late yesterday and was totally thinking "there's no way I'm gonna win a spot" and there's no words to describe the shock I felt when I saw that I'd won! (Also, Jennifer explains how these classes work on her site and you can click here for more info.) Anyway, if you're interested in the class, click on the link here. I hope to share some of my cards/tags/scrapbook pages using some of the new techniques I learn. :) Have a great night, everyone! Pat

MOJO Monday b-day card

Hi everyone! I had such a special day today with my boys and, to top it off, I got to create a card for this week's MOJO Monday challenge! I hope you all had a great day, too. Here's the sketch for this week's MOJO challenge:

I love these clean line sketches...so I jumped at the chance to play along! And, I decided I'd break out those old brass stencils! I used the cuttlebug and it embossed the image very nicely! I love dragonflies so I knew this would be the image I'd be using. I chose to use my distress inks to color it in. First, I used shabby shutters on the grass and then added the pine needles ink to add some more depth and richness in color. The dragonfly was colored in with mustard seed first and then I noticed some green specks from the grass had bled onto the dragonfly so I added some specks of green to both sides! Then, I added the spiced marmalade color. I then, very lightly, shaded in the sky with broken china ink. All the papers are from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose and I stamped the dollar sentiment in white pigment ink and distressed it. After I adhered everything, I realized I'd forgotten my ribbon...sigh. So, I made a slit in the crease of the card and wrapped the ribbon around the card. Once everything was glued on and wrapped, I added some stickles to the image. And I love how it turned out! It's a very special friend's b-day tomorrow so I can't wait to give her this card... Hope you come play along, too...and have a great week! Pat

CAS-ual Fridays Sentiment challenge

Hi again, Yes, 2 posts in one day...and I actually have more cards to share but have laundry to do...boo! I've played along on several CAS-ual Friday challenges and it's always a lot of fun. Their latest challenge wanted us to focus on the sentiment of a card. Keeping a card semi-clean and simple and focusing on a sentiment was something I wasn't sure I could pull off...so, figured I'd give it a shot. Here's the challenge image:

Here's my card. I thought maybe the best way to approach this would be to make more of a masculine card. Men tend to like geometric patterns and simple words--not the frilly stuff--so I chose to use blue as the main color and keep it pretty clean. I embossed the card and then used chipped sapphire distress ink to add some highlights to the card. I then stamped the sentiment with the same color ink and inked the edges and added a heavy brad for interest. I felt like there was a bit too much white around the border of the card so I added some faux stitching, too. Quick and easy card--but love the colors! The 2 shades of blue and the really graphic embossing worked well--at least in my opinion... :) Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all get a chance to create something this week, too! Pat

Kathy's Lily Pad Palette Challenge

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Sunday! Mine was great--beginning with the fact that I didn't get out of bed til 11:30! :) And I was crafting away by 3 p.m. so it was a good day all around! I am a big fan of the Lily Pad Cards site and when I saw the color challenge, I knew I wanted to give it a try. Here's the color palette:

Those that know me, know I'm not a fan of pink...a bit too girly for me...but I try to participate in pink color challenges to force myself to use a not-so-fave color. And, I have to admit, that this card actually DID make me smile...

Here's my card: I started out with a tan colored base and then embossed some kraft-colored cardstock. The cardstock was too light so I inked it using some vintage photo distress ink and then embossed it. I cut out the butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch and then added glitter to it using a stardust pen (LOVE it!). I then added some ribbon but the ribbon was too light, too, so I grabbed the worn lipstick distress ink and inked the ribbon, too. Mounted the butterflies on some textured brown cardstock which I punched out using some old Creative Memories punches. Love how this card turned out... Thanks for stopping by--and have a great week! Pat

CAS-ual Fridays Baby card and CPS 255 sketch

Hi all! I hope everyone had a great weekend...I had some time to make a couple of cards so that always makes me happy! :) Our church has had a few families that have grown recently with some cute babies! So, I figured I'd make a card for one of the families and use the challenge from the CAS-ual Friday site to play along with. Here's the challenge:

I also loved the sketch from the CPS site for this week. Here's the sketch:

Who doesn't love a baby card? Here's my card. All papers are from My Mind's Eye the Stella Rose collection. The onesie is a stamp from the dollar bin at Michaels (I think) and it was stamped in faded jeans distress ink. The sentiment is also from the dollar bin. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! Pat

MOJO Monday card

Hi all! I guess I'm starting March off with some crafting! :) I stayed up late crafting a thank you card while my men slept and, after taking such a long break, it felt great! Here's the sketch for this week's Mojo Monday:

And here's my card: I used My Mind's Eye papers and the sentiment is from Hero Arts. I love the papers and added just some bling along the scalloped edge. I added some flowers and a button, a ribbon, and the card was done...I can't wait to mail it off to a very dear friend... Thanks for stopping by! Pat