A Retro Card

Hi everyone!

Let's not tell the hubby that I'm ditching all my chores and crafting instead! :) I LOVE when you see something and right away know how you'd craft it! And that's what happened when I saw the latest sketch from the Retrosketches site. It was just finding the time to play along and today I decided, "why not?!".

Here's the sketch graphic and my card.

This is the kind of sketch that I LOVE! It's got great lines and lends itself to a very classy and elegant look. So, I chose to go with a deep red cardstock that I embossed using the Fancy Swirls embossing folder. I then, lightly, inked it with Colorbox Silver ink. I used my Spellbinder die to cut out the focal shape. I then stamped my flower image on scrap cardstock and made a mask. After putting the mask down on the fancy square, I stamped the Old Letter Writing Stamp from Hero Arts (LOVE that stamp!) in silver. The flower image I then stamped in red and I added a silver ribbon that had some goldish color on the other side. The sentiment is stamped on the inside.

Love how this turned out...I love the deep tone of the reds and the silver. The challenge ends tomorrow so come play if you can! :)

Have a great weekend!
Pat

Color challenged MOJO card

Hi everyone!

Although I have tons of laundry to do, I'm ditching my chores b/c I worked on a card tonight! :) (After posting, it's off to do laundry...boo!) Anyway, I had seen the latest color challenge over at the CR84FN site almost 2 weeks ago and I've been itching to play along! I almost did a card before the weekend but then decided to wait for MOJO Monday to provide the sketch. Glad I did!

Here's the challenge graphics and my card.

I used a few pattern papers from the Teresa Collins Tell Your Story collection. However, I wanted to incorporate more cream so I went ahead and stamped a fleur de lis, also from Teresa Collins, onto cream using broken china distress ink. LOVE making my own pattern paper! Then, I added a strip of brown--which I really needed to break up the color scheme a bit--and then stamped the flower image using a Color Box Turquoise pigment ink. The flower stamp is also from Teresa Collins--can you tell I'm a big fan of her style? :) I added faux stitching on all the pattern paper and then added glitter to the inside of the flower with a glitter pen. The sentiment, "Happy birthday", was placed on the inside.

Thank you so much for stopping by today...and for all the sweet comments that have been left on previous posts, too. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the comments!

Have a great week!
Pat

Love is in the air...

Hi again,

Yes, I got to make 2 cards tonight! Yay! I'm trying to milk it since I'll be starting up the homeschooling routine again soon...

I had one last wedding card to make so I chose to play along with the Lawnscaping challenge. The challenge was to make our own pattern paper by using stamps. Well, this afternoon, I went to Barnes and Noble and, while my boys played with some legos, I got to browse through the latest Card Design magazine. I am so regretting not buying it right now! It was filled with great tips on card design and amazing samples! Anyway, while browsing, I saw a card that I just loved! I wish I knew the name of the talented artist who made it but I drew my inspiration from her card. (If anyone knows which card I'm referring to, please let me know so I can credit her.) Here's the challenge badge and my card:

After I came home from Barnes and Noble, I looked thru my stamp stash to see what stamp I could use to get the look I'd seen in the magazine. When I saw this Teresa Collins stamp, I knew it would be perfect! I had to rotate the stamp in several directions to get it to curve around the area I was stamping but I love how it turned out! I will be using that technique with many other color schemes! Then, I simply stamped the sentiment and the card was done. I was really tempted to add more color or some bling but finally chose to just keep it simple and leave it alone. I mounted the panel with some dimensional adhesive just to make it stand out more but kept the overall design very simple.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!
Pat

Another Wedding card

Hi all!

Our church is overflowing with back-to-back weddings so I have another wedding card to share today. For inspiration, I used the sketch from Retrosketches. Here's the sketch and my card.

I used the pattern papers from the Luxury Stack. The wedding cake and sentiment is from the dollar bin at Michaels. I stamped the wedding cake on the pattern paper, too. Then, I punched out 2 little hearts and put them as the cake topper. I added some ribbon and a button, along with some glitter pen faux stitching and the card was done. Now I just have one more card to go... :)

Have a great day, everyone and thanks for stopping by!
Pat

MOJO Monday sketch

Hi again!

Yes, two posts in one day! Kids have been playing happily with Legos and then they decided to go play at the park...all that meant--more time to craft!

I saw the new MOJO Monday sketch this morning and liked it right away. Here's the sketch and my card.

I knew I had to make a wedding card for this weekend so this sketch lent itself for some beautiful pattern papers. I used the Colorbox Pattern Pack papers and only added some deep red cardstock for contrast. The red cardstock I stamped with Hero Arts Old Letter Writing to add to that elegant look. I stamped the wedding cake (from the dollar bin at Michael's) onto some pattern paper and then just added some red gems--part of the color scheme for the bridal party. The sentiment is on the inside of the card and it simply says "Congratulations on your wedding". I added some faux stitching along the sides of the paper and then card was done. LOVE it! I love the color combination of red, black and white.

Off to prepare to dinner. Hope everyone had a good Monday!
Pat

Kraft based card

Hi everyone,

We are slowly getting back into our homeschooling routine so I'm going to try to get some crafting time in before time gets even more scarce!

I wanted to play along with the challenge over at A Blog Named Hero site. The challenge was to use kraft cardstock in your project. Here's the badge and my card.

I decided to make an Earth Day card. I wanted to use some pattern paper on a kraft base and then I just added some embossed mustard-colored cardstock and some ribbon. I used a text from the Bible that I printed out using different fonts and then inked the edges of that. I added a flower and a butterfly and the card was done. I then used some leftover pattern paper to decorate the kraft colored envelope with some faux stitching rub-ons, too. Hardest part of this card was getting the font on the text like I wanted it...took forever! But, happy with how it turned out...

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat

Wedding bells!

Hi everyone!

It's been a busy weekend and this week is going to fly by, too, b/c we have 2 weddings coming up on back-to-back weekends! So, I had to find time tonight to start working on the wedding cards. The one I created tonight had to be color specific for the person who is purchasing it. She wanted the colors to match the colors of the bridal party. I chose to go w/a pretty simple design b/c the couple is having a pretty laid back yet elegant wedding. And, once I completed the card, I realized I could enter it into the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge. The challenge was to simply create a card with no stamped image--only a sentiment.

Here's my card:

I used pattern paper from The Luxury Stack from DCWV--I love that paper for elegant occasions such as a wedding. Then, I used a Dark Berry Red cardstock and embossed that using my cuttlebug. I added some gems and then stamped my sentiment (from the dollar bin at Michael's) and layered that on 2 circles. The inside of the card continues the sentiment with "Congratulations on your wedding". Again, the colors were specific to the bridal party and that was trickier than I thought it would be. The bride was very specific about what shade of red and brown her attendants were wearing...Glad I was able to coordinate the colors for my client, though. I'll have my wedding card done later this week--but I'll be using my own color palette. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great Monday!
Pat

Quick post

Hi all!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while...We just got back from vacation a couple of days ago and my kids and hubby are sick! :( So, will try to get back to crafting soon! Til then, just wanted to share a quick pic of the fun rafting trip we all took on the Clark River in Montana...so much fun!!!

See you all soon with a card!
Pat

Postcard

Hi everyone!

Once a month, I go to a cardmaking club meeting and tonight is the night...The store where we meet gives us a challenge and certain materials to make the card. This was a new challenge--we had to make a postcard! Talk about being stumped! I didn't know where to start...and it literally sat on my craft desk for 2 MONTHS while I tried to figure out what to do. (The July meeting was canceled). But, I finally got an idea and I'm so happy with how it turned out!

Here's my postcard:

Yes, I have VERY inky fingers right now! :) I started out by tearing a piece of scrap cardstock and using that as a mask for the bottom edge of the postcard. I kept turning the mask a bit to then add more dimension to the ground area. Then, I stamped the tree image in black and embossed it--with the help of my 7 year old who loves to see the heat gun at work! Then, I had some fun! Using a circle punch, I masked out a portion of the setting sun and inked the background using distress inks (spicy marmalade and mustard seed). The postcard was kraft colored, though, so I went ahead and added some wild honey to the setting sun. I added a few birds around the tree in black ink and then the "thinking of you" sentiment. I used a glitter pen to add some highlights to the center of the tree image that had some swirls in it and the card was done! Nothing makes me happier than having inky fingers!!! :)

Have a great rest of the week!
Pat

MOJO Monday time!

Hi everyone!

I was able to squeeze in a card today before the week gets too busy...and Mojo Monday was the perfect starting point! Here's the sketch and my card:

I used pattern papers from The Blossoms and Butterflies Stack from DCWV. I added some faux stitching around some of the papers and added a punched Martha Stewart butterfly with some gems. I added some gltter to the center of the flowers in the background paper--doesn't really show up here but it does add a nice touch in real life! The sentiment, one of my favorites right now, is from Hero Arts. I love the colors on this card! And the green ribbon was the perfect accent to all the colors, too.

Hope you can join in on the fun!
Pat

Color Challenge Freestyle card

Hi again!

Yes, 2 posts in one day! I'm back with another card. It's a sympathy card--and I really hate making those! This one is for my high school choir director's wife. My choir director passed away about 2 weeks ago and he changed my life. My love for singing blossomed under him and I wanted to make sure his wife knew how much he meant to me.

I wanted to incorporate a couple of challenges. Since condolence cards are so depressing, I figured maybe using some inspiration from the blog world would help. And it did! First up, the CR84FN site has us trying our hand with a color combo and A Blog Named Hero basically let us do whatever we wanted! Yay for freestyle! :) Here's the inspiration photo with the color challenge, freestyle challenge banner and my card.

I knew that the image would be a flower...but I played with many flowers til I finally chose this one! This comes from a Hero Arts set that I use often for condolence cards. I had to use the purple and green so coloring the image in with those colors using my distress markers was easy. But the blue color...I finally chose to use that as my sky color. I made a mask for the image and then stamped in Color Box Colonial Blue the Old Letter Writing stamp from Hero Arts. I then used a glitter pen to highlight the flower--looks so cool in real life!--and added some ribbon and gems. I used my EK Success Border punch on the sentiment (also from Hero Arts) and the bottom of the image panel. I embossed the background so that the image would be the main focus--again, that took some time to figure that one out!

I'm hoping it will be received with as much love as it was made and that it at least brings some comfort to my friends that are grieving such a huge loss right now.

Have a great Monday everyone!
Pat

CAS card for 2 challenges

Hi all!

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! We finally got hit with the heat that the rest of the nation has been baking in. Yesterday we hit close to 100 degrees--which is very uncommon in the Northwest--and today we're in the upper 90s, too. But, in all things give thanks and we aren't dealing with humidity so I'm grateful for that!

Since it's so hot outside, might as well make some cards! Hoping to finish one later today, too, but for now I'm sharing a card I made for the Cute Card Thursday challenge and the CAS-ual Fridays site. Although both cards want a clean and simple look, the CAS-ual Fridays site wants the card to incorporate something we see in the sky. Here's the challenge badge and my card.

I knew that I'd use a butterfly for my card--and I wanted a bright orange one! I stamped the image on some white cardstock using black ink, embossed it and then inked it using distress inks (Spicy Marmalade and Mustard Seed). Then, I mounted it on the cardstock that I had embossed using my cuttlebug. I layered the embossed cardstock on some orange cardstock, too. After adding a few gems, the card was done! The sentiment is on the inside. It says "Have a super fun birthday" and is from Hero Arts.

Hope to be back later on tonight with another card--this time a color challenge one!
Have a great afternoon!
Pat