A Splash of Red Retro card

Hi everyone!

Is everyone as happy as I am that today's Friday?! I'm giddy with excitement! :) I'm hoping to have time to craft on Sat. evening and Sunday and that always makes me happy.

Today I'm sharing a card I'm entering in 2 different challenges. The first is the Play Date Cafe site that has my FAVORITE color combo--black and white with a bit of red. And the other is the retro sketches site. I love getting ideas from sketches and I really liked this one.

Here are the badges and my card:

I started out with black cardstock that I then stamped with polka dots and heat embossed white. Then, I used my script embossing folder and embossed that strip of red cardstock and inked just the embossed portion with white ink. I added some ribbon and made the bow using a technique I just learned from StampTV where the bow looks like it's wrapped around the entire card but it's not! I used a Sizzix die for the label and the sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp! apothecary labels--isn't the sentiment great?! I added some red gems on the label and it was done! I really like how it turned out...but, again, this is my favorite color combo!

Have a wonderful weekend! And thanks so much for stopping by!
Pat

A Hearty Christmas

Hi everyone!

Well, tonight was my night to craft and I had a few challenges I wanted to enter! First off was a challenge from Simon Says Stamp & Show and their challenge was to make a card/project with a heart on it. The Young Crafters Unite site has a Happy Holidays challenge so my card worked with that, too. And finally, the Simon Says Stamp! site had an "Anything Goes" challenge.

Here's the challenge badge and my card:

I started out by punching out tons of hearts out of the My Mind's Eye Merry Little Christmas pack. I cut out a strip of white cardstock and used an old Creative Memories wave cutter to make a snow drift. I then embossed it and added some stickles. I cut out a strip of brown cardstock for the trunk of the tree. I used an old dollar stamp from Michael's for the sentiment that I wanted to use as a base for the tree. Then I just layered all the hearts to form the Christmas tree. Again, this was one of those times when the idea hit me right away when I saw the challenge for using a heart. I added some snowflakes and then some gems for the ornaments and the card was done!

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great Thursday!
Pat

Color Sketch Thanks card

Hi friends!

Although it was a busy Sunday, I decided to carve out some time to make a card tonight. I wanted to thank my best friend who, while I was visiting NY, came with her baby to visit me. She drove a long way to see me and I am so grateful she made the trip. The card is also extra special to me because two days after I saw her, NY got hit with Superstorm Sandy and my best friend was without power for 8 days. There aren't enough words to describe how worried I was about her and her family. And I'm beyond grateful to God for sparing her family and her home from any damage.

I gathered my color inspiration from the current challenge at the CR84FN site. The colors really got my attention and, for some reason, I envisioned the card very easily. Also, because it was a "thank you" card, I am entering it into the latest challenge on the Simon Says Stamp & Show site, too. AND, because it's for my best friend, Tricia, I am also posting it on the Cute Card Thursday site that wanted us to make a challenge for "Girls Only".

Here is the color badge from CR84FN and my card:

I decided to make another gatefold card. Now that I know how to make them, I LOVE making them! I masked off a portion of the card using some post-its and stamped the Hero Arts Large Fabric stamp in a beautiful eggplant ink. I then heat embossed it and it looks so elegant! I then added some black cardstock to soften the division between the embossed and gray cardstock and added some gems along the top of the black strip. I used a Marvy scallop punch in cream and then layered a white circle with the sentiment also inked in the same eggplant color and heat embossed the sentiment, too. As a final touch, I added gems under the sentiment to just repeat the gem pattern a bit more. It was not a difficult card to make but I love the look of it!

Hope you all had a great Sunday and thanks so much for stopping by!
Pat

A sketchy Christmas card

Hi friends!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend--especially with Thanksgiving that just passed. I have so much to be thankful for. God has granted me so many blessings.

Every Saturday, the Unscripted Sketches site posts a new sketch and, when I saw the latest sketch this evening, I knew I wanted to join in. It was one of those "I know exactly what I'm going to do!" kindda moments. And I had also just seen the latest challenge from the Young Crafters Unite site and thought the card would work perfectly with that challenge, too.

Here are the challenge badges and my card:

My first step was to turn the sketch upside down. For some reason, I immediately saw Christmas trees and a cloud-like shape. All papers are from My Mind's Eye "My Little Christmas" pack. I cut out the trees and then added little gems to the tops of them. I wrapped some red, green and white twine around the base, too. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and then I punched out a snowflake. I added some faux stitching and the card was basically done. What you can't really see in the picture is that I stamped some snowflakes along the front of the card, too, in soft white. Up close it's a nice touch of dimension.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you get a chance to do something crafty this weekend, too! :)
Pat

Play Date Cafe Baby card

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far! I took the weekend to try a few new techniques and last night I played around with my Martha Stewart Scoring Board. I finally used it! I have had many friends having babies and a baby card was needed. So, I made a gate-fold card to play along with The Play Date Cafe color challenge and with the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge which asked us to craft a card for a child.

Here's the photo inspiration and then my card.

I started out with a gray card base and scored it for the gate-folds. Then, I used light pink and soft green pattern papers from The Luxury Stack and made the front panels. I used the Apothecary Label from Simon Says Stamp! as the center of the card. I cut it out in gray paper and then again in white cardstock. I trimmed the white apothecary label so that it would nest inside in the gray label. Then, I stamped the baby hands using a soft pink Colorbox ink. I actually stamped it on some scratch paper and then stamped it lightly again on the actual card so that the look was even softer. The sentiment was then stamped in black.

This is what the card looks like when you open it. I added some white cardstock on the inside so that it looks a bit more finished. I added some pink ribbon and then adhered only the left side of the label so that you can easily open the card.

The card was really not that hard to make. I think I spent more time looking for the stamps than actually making the card! :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat

Perfect Pearl Christmas

Hi again,

Yes, this is my 2nd post. This time, I tried the perfect pearl technique on a dark-colored cardstock. I could still see the residue so I'm not sure I like it but wanted to share how it turned out. (To see my previous attempt with perfect pearls on white cardstock, click here).

The CR84FN Color Challenge site was, again, my inspiration. If you get a chance to play along, there's still a few days left!

Here's the inspiration photo and my card.

So, here's the gold perfect pearl powder on purple cardstock. I ran the cardstock thru an embossing folder and then inked the panel with perfect medium using my brayer. Although the gold stands out much better than on my previous post, I can also see a lot more residue on this card than on the other one. Sigh. Then I worked on the main panel which I stamped a music note background with Versamark and clear embossed it. I cut out the tree and tied some gold twine around the base of the tree and the card was done. The sentiment is on the inside.

After making 2 different cards, still not sure using the perfect medium is the way I like to use perfect pearls. I think my preference is to still use it as a watercolor medium. What about you guys? How do you guys use perfect pearls the most?

Thanks for stopping by!
Pat

Perfect Pearl Thank you

Hi everyone!

Have you guys ever had a technique that you were determined to master? That was me this weekend! And, for the record, still not sure I mastered it. For years now, I've had perfect pearl powders. I LOVE them! But, I've always used them as a watercolor paint more than using them with the embossing medium. Why? I hated the residue they leave behind. So, this weekend, I was determined to try again!

I chose the color scheme from the CR84FN Color Challenge site for my card. And, I had a "thank you" card that I needed to make so I joined the challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge blog, too.

Here's the inspiration photo and my card.

Let me start out by saying that I'm so sad that you can't see JUST HOW SHINY this card is in real life! :( I tried several angles to get the shine from the flowers but it just didn't work out. I used a stamping technique called "three time stamping" (I think) and you can see videos of the technique on youtube. You basically have 3 different panels in different sizes and you stamp on all 3 panels overlapping the stamp. I used Perfect Medium, which is the embossing ink that comes with the Perfect Pearls pack. I then spread gold powder over the embossed areas and wiped off the excess. It really does look amazing in real life! The white cardstock worked well in not showing the residue from the Perfect Pearls. I also stamped a small flower in purple just to break up some of the white space. After the white panels were stamped, then I layered them on the purple cardstock. I wrapped some tan twine and added a purple button and the card was almost done. After adding a few gems--it was done!

Hope you guys can play along with these challenges. And thanks for stopping by!
Pat