Play Date Cafe card

Hi again!

Yes, 2 cards in one night! I'm cutting it close with the latest challenge at the Play Date Cafe site so I had to work fast tonight! :)

Here's the color inspiration badge and my card.

I used the Rain or Shine Unity Stamp set for my CAS card tonight. I wanted to incorporate the colors through some pattern paper so I did some paper piecing on the dress and the umbrella. I colored in the man's clothing using distress markers and then just added some pink gems to the umbrella. A CAS card is usually not my style--it's much harder than it looks!--but I'm happy with how this one turned out.

There's a few hours left if you want to play along with this week's challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat

A button challenge

Hi everyone!

I am quickly posting a card I worked on for the Young Crafters Unite site. The challenge is to basically incorporate buttons into your card. My mom gave me TONS of buttons years ago when I started scrapbooking and cardmaking so I dug into my stash and came up with this. Here's the challenge badge and the card:

I used a music sheet stamp from Impression Obsession for the background. The panel was mounted on turquoise cardstock that I then added some white faux stitching to. I punched out some butterflies and added some gems to them. The sentiment is from Hero Arts, which I put on a self-made banner that has some dimension to it. Finally, I had some turquoise buttons that went so nicely that it was the finishing touch. I think the buttons really add a nice touch!

Hope everyone had a good day and thanks for stopping by!
Pat

A retrosketch card

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I had the lovely surprise of having my dad come up from CA for a few days and then we took off to Seattle to spend the weekend with my DH's family. LOVELY weekend!

It's no secret that I LOVE sketches! And this week, the retrosketches site posted a great one! Here's the sketch and my card.

I knew that I wanted to use the Hero Arts Newspaper Tulips stamp. I inked that using the Distress Markers and then used an EK Success border punch for the trim. I used different pattern papers and then added a small blue banner with an orange button with twine. The sentiment is also from Hero Arts. It was an easy card--but a really fun stamp to color in and use!

Hope you all can join in the fun, too!

Be back really soon with yet another card...
Pat

CAS-ual Fridays black base card

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far...Mine has been pretty busy! But, I was able to squeeze in a VERY quick card today! I wanted to play along with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge site this week b/c the challenge was to create a card on a black card base. I LOVE black--so this was definitely a challenge I wanted in on!

Here's the challenge badge followed by my card:

I stamped the image (Hero Arts Bold Flourish) in silver and embossed it in silver. Then I added the sentiment from Hampton Arts in silver and embossed that, too. I added some red gems to some of the circles and the CAS card was done! Super easy--but love how it turned out!

Hope you guys can play along, too! Thanks for the sweet comments, also..they always make me smile! :)

Have a great rest of the week!
Pat

Christmas in July card!

Hi everyone! Well, every time I check the blogs I follow, I see more and more Christmas cards! So, I figured I should play along and get busy making some Christmas cards. I wanted to play along with several sites. First, there's a color challenge at the Ribbon Carousel site. Then, there's a "Christmas in July" challenge at the PaperPlay site. And, finally, there's a "no rules" challenge at the Simon Says Stamp and Show site. Here's my card and the challenge colors from the Ribbon Carousel site.

These colors were, clearly, a perfect Christmas card! I used my Hero Arts Christmas tree stamp and inked it in a mossy green and then cut it out. Then, I added some Christmas red stickles to fill in the ornaments and garland. I used pattern paper from My Mind's Eye "Merry Little Christmas" 6x6 paper stack and stamped a simple "Merry Christmas" sentiment and embossed it in white. I added some red and green twine at the top of the card and it was done! The tree took the most time but it looks cute... :)

I guess I got a headstart on Christmas this year!

Hope you call can join in on the fun, too!
Pat

Husband's b-day card

Hi all,

Just a quick card today...We are celebrating my husband's birthday so the kids and I all got busy making cards. The kids loved making their cards--and my youngest liked it so much that he got busy making a b-day card for himself!

Here's my card:

I've really gotten into the royal blue/white/yellow color combo lately. I guess it looks so regal that whenever I think of making a masculine card, that's the color combo I turn to! I wanted to play around with my graphic stamps again. So, taking some ideas from the Stretch Your Stamps online class, I used a Teresa Collins Fabrications stamp and stamped the pattern repeatedly on white cardstock. The pattern paper is from a stack that a friend had in her stash so I don't know where it's from--but I LOVED it! It had some gold glitter on it so I repeated the gold by adding stickles to the stamped pattern. I added some ribbon and a sentiment and the card was done!

Thanks for all the sweet comments and hope everyone is enjoying their week so far!
Pat

Inspired by a Hero Artist card

Hi everyone!

When I saw the latest challenge at the A Blog Named Hero site, I IMMEDIATELY knew I would be participating! Anyone that knows me knows that I am a BIG fan of Jennifer McGuire. I love her style! She makes cards that look so complicated--yet, aren't really that hard to do! And the cards always look so classy...LOVE her style! And I hope I don't embarrass her by sharing that she's not only incredibly talented--she's also super sweet! When I first started stamping and buying Hero Arts products, I was shocked to find in my mailbox one day that she had sent me some stamps!!!! I had been fighting a horrible cold and had 2 sick boys--and her package arrived at the perfect time! I could not have been more appreciative of the gesture! In fact, the stamp I used on the card below was from the stack that she sent me...I LOVE her!

Also, the site V's Sweet Ideas is also having a "celebration" challenge. My card was perfect for that, too. The last site that I'm submitting this card in is the Stampin' Sisters in Christ site. Their challenge is to add sparkle to a card..I love those little touches of sparkle. One card--three different challenges...guess that's a good way to stretch my stamps! Anyway, I hope you'll all join me in playing along.

Without further ado, here's my card:

Like I said, I wanted to use one of the stamps I had gotten from Jennifer. I had seen her do a video, years ago, where she took some distress ink pads and inked up the stamp and spritzed it. I'm a bit of a coward in doing it that way b/c I'm convinced I will contaminate my inks...so, I went the easier way and used distress markers to color in the image. Then, I spritzed it with water a couple of times and stamped the image. I took a paintbrush and a bit of water and blended the lines a bit but was overall happy with how the image turned out. I added some purple strips to the side of the main panel and then heat embossed a butterfly on vellum. I wanted to add color to the butterfly so I grabbed my distress ink pads and inked up my work surface with spicy marmalade and dusty concord. Then, I added some water and painted the butterfly on the back of the vellum. This gave it a softer look--and you can't see my messy painting! :) I added some gems throughout the card and then stamped a few small butterflies. The sentiment, although I could have added it on the front, I chose to add it on the inside. It says "Hope you have a super fun birthday"--also from Hero Arts.

I think I've only played with this stamp a couple of times...but I love how this card turned out! And I love that I can still see the main stamp through the vellum wings of the butterfly...

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

PS--If, by chance, Jennifer is reading this--thank you for always inspiring me with your creativity and generosity!

A Graphic Hexagonish card

Hi everyone! I trust everyone is looking forward to the weekend--I know I am! It's the first weekend in a while that I'll be able to do nothing but craft! :) And since I'm taking the Stretch Your Stamps online card class, I'm being bombarded with ideas that I want to put on cards!

I wanted to play along with the Moxie Fab Challenge of using hexagons on cards. When I first started scrapbooking, I bought a hexagon punch from Creative Memories and I haven't used it in AGES! But when I saw the challenge, I knew it was time to, literally, dust it off! Also, the online class gave a lot of ideas on how to use graphic stamps. I wanted to try using a graphic stamp and kissing it with another before stamping it on the card.

Here's my card...

I started out by inking the Teresa Collins Fabrications stamp in royal blue ink. Then, before stamping it on the paper, I kissed it with the Hero Arts Old Letter Writing stamp and then stamped it on the card. If you look really closely, you can see some of the writing on that cool graphic. Also, I stamped that same Old Letter Writing on blue panel where the hexagons would go. Then, I punched out the hexagons from that graphic using a 1 1/4 inch punch. I then took the 1 1/2 inch hexagon punch and cut those out in yellow and added some faux stitching around the edges. I added the ribbon, gems, butterflies and the sentiment (also from Hero Arts) and I was done. The photo doesn't do it justice--but the graphic looks so cool with that added script writing!

Hope you guys can join in with the Moxie Fab challenge!

Thanks for the comments and have a wonderful weekend--that's hopefully filled with crafting, too!
Pat

Texty color challenge

Hi everyone! I am so excited that I've had so much time to make cards this week! I guess we had so much company these past 2 weeks that the house is still clean and that gives me some extra time to craft! Yay!

I had been eying the CAS-ual Fridays challenge for a few days now. I wanted to incorporate some text onto my card but was still playing around with how I wanted to do it. Then, today, I stumbled on a color challenge website called CR84FN and it immediately sparked what I would do for my card. Here are the 2 badges from the challenge sites.

Here's my card. I LOVE the red, yellow, and white challenge...the only way I strayed a bit was that I added some script to the flowers in brown (we were allowed a neutral). Other than that, I played with the colors. I knew that I'd use my embossing folder that has script writing for the text part of the challenge. I started with the script panel and layered that on red cardstock that I inked in barn door red distress ink. I then took 3 white paper flowers and inked 2 in the barn door red and one in the mustard seed distress ink color. I then used the old letter stamp from Hero Arts (LOVE this stamp!) and used that to add some more texture to the card. I added buttons and twine and then some pearls along the sides to frame the panel. The sentiment is from Hampton Arts (from Michaels) and I stamped it in the same red distress ink as the flowers. Easy card--but I love how vibrant it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by--and for the sweet comments that always make me smile! Hope everyone is having a good week so far!
Pat

A summer card

Hello again, Yes, two posts in one day--and even in the same hour! I wanted to make sure to play along with a new blog. V's Sweet Ideas is hosting a challenge where they want you to make a summer card. You can obviously go many different ways for this challenge but I chose to go with a flower card. I also wanted to incorporate the sketch I found over at the retro sketches site. Here's the sketch...

I have never had a green thumb. However, years ago I was watching QVC and they had the most spectacular flowers on there and I immediately knew I wanted to plant flowers. Ever since then, it has been my thrill to see my flowers blooming in our front yard. Hence the reason, for me, summer means flowers... Here's my card...

First, I used the Old Letter writing stamp from Hero Arts for the text in the background. Then, I used a cling Hero Arts flower stamp (sorry, I borrowed it and don't remember the name of the stamp) and stamped that with Versamark ink and embossed it clear. Then, I colored in the image using distress inks. I put a strip of white cardstock thru the cuttlebug and used the fancy writing embossing folder. I added some twine and buttons and the sentiment and it was done. It was a fun sketch to play with!

Hope everyone is having a good start to their week!
Pat

Stretch your Stamps class inspiration

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a card I made today based on the inspiration of the Stretch Your Stamps online card class. Today's topic was how to get more from your background stamps and it was a great class!

Here's my card.

I used the background stamp to make a graphic border on the bottom edge of the card. Then, I added some yellow ribbon and decided to color in the background stamp a bit with my yellow distress marker. Love the graphic look to the card and it's perfect for a guy...The sentiment is from Teresa Collin's Fabrications line and it was stamped in distress ink, too. I added just a few gems to it and mounted it with dimensional adhesive.

If you get a chance to check out the class, it's not too late to join in. Click HERE and you'll be amazed at the creativity these talented people are sharing...

Have a good night!
Pat

A garden b-day

Hi everyone! It's Friday and it's the first day in 2 weeks that I have been able to sleep in and enjoy a quiet day at home...I love having family and friends over but it's nice to return to a normal routine, too.

I had the chance to play with a fun image from Hero Arts today. A friend of mine lent me her stamp and I knew exactly who to play along with! The Cute Card Thursday site is challenging us to make a garden theme card and the PaperPlay Challenges site wanted us to make a happy b-day card.

Here's my card:

I love this reverse image stamp! I used versamark ink--but I guess there had been some other ink used before that didn't wash off completely--so to my surprise, the pinkish-brown background was what I ended up with! I liked it! I wanted to show the pretty butterflies that hover over gardens. And with several friends that love tending gardens, they'd love a bday card like this! I colored everything in using distress markers and then added some glitter to the butterflies using a glitter pen. I layered the panel with brown cardstock and added some green ribbon. I used a border punch to add some interest to the 2 panels and then added some gems to the ribbon and on each side of the sentiment. I used the peeled paint distress marker to then ink the sentiment stamp.

Hope you can join in on the fun...and have a great weekend! Pat

A Lawnscaping and Color Throwdown card

Hi everyone!
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We've had family in town so it wasn't til tonight that I got to enjoy some time in my room...but I had a blast in my room tonight! :)

Have you ever had a thought in your head for a card and you were just missing one element to make the card work? I had been thinking about a card for DAYS and I finally got the missing element today..and I'm so happy with my card!

I chose to play along with two different challenges. The first is from the Lawnscaping site. The challenge was to add dimension to a card and I love that kind of a challenge! The second challenge was a color challenge from the Color Throwdown site. Here are the badges for both challenges.

Here's my card: I have a friend that is going through a hard time right now. She needs some encouragement and I wanted her to know how loved she is by, not just me, but by Jesus. I knew I wanted to use a light blue sky with a cross that I had embossed and inked from kraft cardstock. I knew I would mount it on a dark blue cardstock and would stamp the sentiment in dark blue, too. But the red color...that was driving me nuts! I then thought I'd incorporate text like we find in the Bible--and Jesus' words are usually in red...Perfect! As I was crafting, I had some company and we were talking about what we could add and she mentioned a cloak...I tossed that idea around for awhile and finally grabbed some ribbon and I LOVE how it looks! I love the contrast of the colors and the dimension the ribbon gives...

I hope you all can join in the fun, too! Thanks so much for stopping by and for the sweet comments. They always make me smile...

Have a great weekend!
Pat

A sporty retro card

Hi everyone!
I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. We are still getting rain here in WA--but I think today may have been the last bit for awhile...So, I had a very relaxing afternoon and got the crafting bug around 11:30 tonight!

I really wanted to play along in two different challenges. The first is Simon Says Stamp. They wanted us to make either a sporty or patriotic card. And since I have a friend that asked me to make a football card, I knew the challenge was perfect! Then, I saw the latest sketch from the retro sketches site and I knew exactly what I was going to do! I love it when that happens! :)

Here's the sketch.

Here's my card. I left the sketch pretty much as-is except for some liberties on the placement of the sentiment. I used pattern paper from My Mind's Eye and a football stamp from a dollar bin that I embossed in white. I stamped the word "score" on the bottom portion of the paper--again from the dollar bin set that the football came in--and then added some orange ribbon. I added the sentiment banner and the card was done! I know the person receiving the card is a huge football fan so I'm hoping this puts a smile on his face...

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Sunday!
Pat