merry...

Hey friends!!  Popping in with a card for several challenges.  Recently Ellen Hutson started a new challenge and I'm playing along with the first one:  Mix it Up (combine Essentials by Ellen with Hero Arts).  I used the ColourQ combo, as well as the layout from Retro Sketches so I will be posting my card to those challenges, as well.

I own one Essentials by Ellen stamp set, Merry & Bright, as well as one Essentials by Ellen die, Prize Stag.  I combined the Merry & Bright set with the Hero Arts background stamp, Lattice and created this some what unconventional holiday card.   After stamping the background in grey on my cardstock panel, I cut the panel in two and then added the little starburst using chartreuse green ink.  The large starburst was stamped in kraft ink, a tangle of black twine and the deer (die cut from chartreuse green cardstock) were added.  After attaching the piece to my card front I thought it would be fun to add a tag to the antler.  I found a small tag, cut it down a bit more, stamped it with the sentiment and attached it to the antler.  A few enamel dots and some clear rhinestones were added.

Have a happy day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI kraft;  Recollections white; Stamps:  Essentials by Ellen; Dies:  Essentials by Ellen and Spellbinders; Inks:  Stampin Up!; Enamel dots:  My Mind's Eye; Clear Rhinestones; black twine

trick or treat...

Hello friends!!  Hope have had a wonderful week so far.  Have a little card that I put together for a couple of challenges:  ColourQ and Retro Sketches.

I think I may have said this before, but I'm not really big on Halloween and as a result generally don't buy many Halloween stamp sets, but when I saw the recently released Halloween sets from Reverse Confetti I knew I had to get them.  The images are just so darn cute!!  So I paired these fun images up with the layout from Retro Sketches and the ColourQ combo to create my little card.  The notebook page was die cut, stamped with the spider web image using Versamark and then the orange bakers twine was added.  Over that I layered the panel that I stamped with the witch's shoes (don't you just love those shoes???) in SU!'s Wisteria Wonder and the sentiment in black.   A piece of patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye Happy Haunting 6x6 pad was cut, embossed, adhered to the card base and the notebook page & panel adhered.  Popping this into the last 'Fetti Find linky list, as well.

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & Simply Chartreuse; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti Spooky Cuties & Spooky Sentiments; PP:  My Mind's Eye; Ink:  SU! Wisteria Wonder; Memento Tuxedo Black; VersaMark watermark ink; Embossing Folder:  Cuttlebug Modern Wallpaper; Baker's Twine:  The Twinery

this world

Hello friends!!  First day of school for my boys and it was a bit of "touch & go" this morning getting the older one out the door and to the bus stop on time.  We got up a little late and he only had 10 minutes to get ready!!  But he made it... YAY!  Things went much smoother getting the little one to school.. thankfully!!  Anywhoo... have a card that I made using the current ColourQ combo and the layout from Retro Sketches.   Since I used Reverse Confetti I'm linking this up to their Fetti Finds link list.

I stamped the feather from the RC set Peacock Pretties using Memento Rhubarb Stalk and SU! Regal Rose inks and then trimmed them out.  Still hoping that at some future date RC will start offering dies because that feather is killer to trim out!  A second image from Peacock Pretties was stamped on a strip of white cardstock using London Fog ink, the centers colored with Memento markers (Rhubarb Stalk & Lady Bug) and then the sentiment from Peacock Pretties was stamped using Tuxedo Black ink.  The edges of all the papers were distressed a bit before I layered them up on the card. 

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Island Indigo; PP:  Stampin Up!; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti; Inks:  Stampin Up! Regal Rose; Memento Tuxedo Black, London Fog and Rhubarb Stalk; Memento markers Rhubarb Stalk & Lady Bug

i'm here...

Hello friends!!  The week is speeding by and despite the fact that I have been spending way too much time in the car driving the kiddos around I still managed to get another card made.  This time the card is for the current Retro Sketch, as well as the brand new ColourQ challenge. 

Some happy mail arrived the other day in the form of the My Favorite Things/Lisa Johnson Design Peaceful Wildflowers stamp set and the coordinating Wildflowers dies and I just had to break them in.  I die cut three different flowers and then stamped them with the coordinating stamps using Night of Navy, Soft Sky & Calypso Coral inks.  I cut a piece of white cardstock and then die cut it with the My Favorite Things Dispersed Dots die.  The sentiment from Peaceful Wildflowers was stamped and then I adhered the flowers.   A little button/ribbon treatment was created with some grey satin ribbon, light blue button and navy twine and then adhered to the flowers.  The entire piece was then adhered to a Calypso Coral card base.  I quite like how it turned out... what do you think?  

Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, SU! Calypso Coral; Stamps:  My Favorite Things; Inks:  SU! Night of Navy, Soft Sky & Calypso Coral, CTMH Grey Wool; Ribbon:  SU! Basic Grey satin; Twine:  May Arts; Button:  PTI; Dies:  My Favorite Things.

a poppy

Hello friends... back with a second post for today.  Hadn't planned on it, but wanted to get this card posted for the current Dynamic Duos challenge before I ran out of time.  Never thought I would say this, but I really like light blue and orange together! 

About this time of the year the California poppies start to bloom in my area.  I love the vibrant golden-orange color of the blooms.  I saw a couple that had bloomed on my morning walk and that means in the next week or so a hillside close to my house will be covered with them.  So when I saw the Dynamic Duos combo I thought of only one thing... poppies!!   I got out my MFT/LJD Pretty Poppies set (and matching dies) and got to work.  The layout for the card is based on the current Retro Sketch.  You don't have to ask me twice to put a banner on my card, hee hee!  I die cut the flower heads and then stamped them using SU!'s Pumpkin Pie ink.  The Spring Rain cardstock piece was cut to fit the card base and then stamped with the script border image from the Pretty Poppies set using Memento Summer Sky ink.  I die cut the MFT Jumbo Fishtail Flag and adhered the poppies to the top using foam dimensionals.   The sentiment, also from Pretty Poppies, was added using Tuxedo Black ink.  To finish off the card I added Black Diamond Stickles to the center of the poppies. 

Thanks for stopping by....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white & Spring Rain; Stamps:  MFT Pretty Poppies; Dies:  MFT Jumbo Fishtail Flag & LJD Poppies & Leaves; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black & Summer Sky, SU! Pumpkin Pie; Ranger Diamond Stickles

wishing you the best ....

hello friends!   here with a card for several challenges:  Less is More - Glitz & Glamour; Retro Sketches & Dynamic Duos.    love it when saturday morning rolls around and i can see what the new LIM challenge is going to be for the week.   i also love checking a few other favorite challenges like Dynamic Duos to see if i can somehow fit a couple of them together.   was so glad to see that i was able to make one card for three!!  love it when that happens! 

the Dynamic Duos colors this week are midnight muse (a navy-bluish color) and silver... fit perfectly with the LIM challenge as i have lots of silver bling!  then i checked out the new Retro Sketch and thought... hmmm i can use that lovely sketch for my card!  the card base is made using midnight muse cardstock and the ribbon is PTI's enchanted evening... which is a pretty good match for midnight muse.  the ink is versamagic ocean depths.  the bling is from recollections.  i used several flourishes from the package and cut them up to suit my purpose.  in addition to the silver bling i used a bit of silver washi tape, as well.  pretty satisfied with the overall card although i may take a new photo of it in daylight... then maybe the washi tape will show up better!  must say a big thank you to allyson and deanna over at dynamic duos... lovely allyson picked my card as the winning card for dynamic duos challenge #28 and then this past week the super sweet deanna picked my card as a dynamic darling for challenge #29!   thanks, ladies!!

thanks for stopping by...

supplies:  cardstock:  pti and stampin up!; stamps:  pti; die:  stampin up!/sizzix; ink:  versamagic; ribbon:  pti; washi tape:  impress; flourishes:  recollections

hello....

hello friends!! another week is has come and gone!  have a little card to share that i made using this week's colourQ combo, as well as the current retro sketch.  

the colourQ combo is a fun one that combines one of my favorite colors (stampin up!'s cherry cobbler) with kraft, light brown, yellow and white.   i wasn't completely sure that the yellow patterned paper would look good with brownish patterned paper, but they compliment each other nicely, i think... probably because i didn't use huge amounts of either!  the ribbon is supposed to be kraft in color, but it is almost the same exact color as the brown patterned paper.  anywhoo... the flower is from the stampin up! set everything eleanor which i love and the sentiment is from hero arts. this week's retro sketch is a really pretty one and so i just had to get something made using it.  challenge closes in a few hours so i'm just squeaking it in! having said that i quite like how this little card turned out! 

thanks for stopping by.....

supplies: cardstock:   pti white; stamps:  hero arts & stampin up!; patterned paper:  stampin up!; dies:  stampin up!/sizzix doily die, my favorite things fishtail flag stax dies; inks: stampin up!

CCC #15... Night

{for my Shining the Light card, please scroll down}

Hello!! It's me, again... back with my post for this week's CASology challenge!  This week our cue word is night and with Halloween just around the corner the possibilities are endless.   Must take a moment to tell you all that the design team was completely blown away by all the amazing entries for last week's leaf challenge!   Thanks so much to everyone who played along last week.   Now.. you can find all the details concerning this week's challenge here.  Our super talented guest designer this week is Amy!!

Since the cue word is night I knew I definitely wanted to make a Halloween card and used PTI's Spooky Sweets & Hero Arts Spooky Halloween.   The layout for the card is based on the current sketch from Retro Sketches.  It stamped the little bats and trimmed each one out and then adhered some black Waxy Flax to the back of each using Zip Dry.  Cut the top piece and punched one edge using my Fiskars Upper Crust punch, then attached the bats.   I to keep the night theme going I decided to make my card base black. 

Thanks for stopping by....make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team: Melissa, Tracey, Jen, Ardyth and this week's guest designer, Amy! Can't wait to see what you come up with using this week's cue word!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI black & white; Ink:  black; Stamps:  Hero Arts & PTI; Fiskar punch; black Waxy Flax

CCC #8.... Relax

{for my Shining the Light post, please scroll down or click here}

Hello... Its me, again!  Back with my card for this week's CASology challenge.  Wow... I was so completely blown away by all the fabulous cards that were entered into the green challenge!  It was soo hard picking the winner!  All I can say is ladies... You Rock!!!   This week the cue word is Relax.  All the challenge details can be found here.

 

Yes... I used green on my card this week!  I really wanted to use another color, but when I think about things that remind me of the word "relax" the color green is almost always associated with those thoughts!   Green is such a calm and relaxing color to me and I just had to use it!  I went with a white on white design with a pop of green from the ink, the ribbon and pearls.  The layout is based on the current Retro Sketch.  I used a Spellbinders Labels 18 die (the largest one) to cut the white cardstock and then stamped it with a fern image and sentiment from the Flourishes Ferns & Fiddles set.  One edge was trimmed to be flush with the card edge.  Ribbon and pearls finished things off.

Thanks for stopping by....make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team:
Melissa, Tracey, Jen, Ardyth and this week's guest designer, Karen! Can't wait to see what you come up with using this week's cue word!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Flourishes; Ink:  Stampin Up!; Die:  Spellbinders; Pearls:  Hero Arts; Ribbon:  Stampin Up!

Less Is More and Trying Out a Trend...

Hello friends!!  Happy weekend to you!  Boy is it GORGEOUS here in Western Washington!  Just checked the forecast and it says temps will be in the 90's by evening!! Yikes... a bit too hot for me, but going to enjoy it just the same!  Have a little card I made last night, but didn't get a chance to post until this morning.   As the title of my post indicates this is for the current Less is More challenge to use blue and green.  But what is the trend I'm trying out?  Washi tape!!  I have resisted it for a while now because it is just one of those things that I like when I see other people use it, but when I give it a try my results always appear less than stellar.  Anywhoo... I decided to be brave and give it a try!

For my layout I used the current Retro Sketch.  I pulled out a favorite Hero Arts set, Antique Flowers & Butterflies because it has a little butterfly perfect for the little grouping you see on the sketch and because it comes with matching dies!  But much to my dismay I discovered that the die for the little butterfly is missing!! Ugghh!!  So instead of die cutting all the butterflies I had to cut them out!  Oh well... they still look pretty.   The Washi tape I acquired during my last shopping trip to Impress Rubber Stamps.  I think my biggest problem with Washi tape is the two rolls I had I did not buy and sometimes when I have a paper crafting item that I did not buy it is hard for me to use because it isn't necessarily something I would have picked out.  I did a bit of fiddling with the tape to get the look I wanted and so I'm relatively happy with it and may purchase another roll this week when I go to Impress to pick up some dies I had on order.  My card would also work for CAS-ual Fridays, but not sure if I will include it in their challenge.  The current challenge at A Blog Named Hero is freestyle... anything goes so I will pop it into that challenge.

Thanks for stopping by....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  Hero Arts; Ink:  Stampin Up! Night of Navy; Washi Tape; Hero Arts gems

CCC #4.... Take Flight

Hello friends!!  Tuesday is here and that means it is time for a brand new CASology challenge!!  Yay!!  This week's cue word is "bird" and you can find all the details about the challenge here.

This week I decided to look for a sketch to help me get my card completed.  If you ever get stuck for ideas when you are trying to create your CAS style card, don't forget about sketches.   Clean and Simple is a great resource to turn to for inspiration, as well as Retro Sketches.   It is also possible to "CAS-ify" more complex sketches that you might come across.  Simply spend a little bit of time deconstructing the sketch and figuring out ways you can use your stamps or other supplies (like twine) to replaces those layers.    I chose to use the current sketch from Retro Sketches for my card as it is a great example of a CAS sketch.  

The papers I used are from a favorite 6x6 pad from Echo Park called Hello, Summer.  One of the papers has this fun cloud pattern on it and thankfully I still had a sheet of it that I could use for my card.  The little bird was created using my Stampin Up! bird punch.  The body was punched from some pink Bazzill cardstock and the wing from a scrap of yellow gingham paper.  I brought all the colors together by creating my little ribbon piece using some yellow ribbon, a blue button and pink baker's twine.  

Thanks for stopping by.... make sure you check out the cards from the rest of the design team:
Melissa, Tracey, Jen, Ardyth and this week's guest designer, Lindsey!   Can't wait to see what you come up with using this week's cue word!

sew....

Hello friends!! Happy Sunday!  Here with my card for Less is More, as well as Retro Sketches.  Started this one last night, but didn't get it finished until this morning and wasn't even sure I really wanted to finish it.  However, I decided to emboss the card base using my PTI Quatrefoil Cover Plate and that did the trick for me, sort of....  Anyway, it is what it is.  The tag is a bit busy for a LIM challenge, but the rest of the card is clean and simple so hopefully it will past muster with the Divas!

The theme this week at Less is More is sewing.  So you can sew on your card or use sewing themed images.  I went with sewing themed images.  One because I don't own a sewing machine... although I have considered getting a small one just for sewing on cards and two, because I was rather tired last night and didn't feel like doing any hand-stitching on the card.  The images are from the SU! set Sew Suite and the sentiment from the Hero Arts set Sew Stylish.  The tag was die cut using my ODBD tag die.  The papers are also from SU!, the Sweet Stitches collection.  I stamped the dress form and pin cushion on the tag and then again on patterned paper, trimmed them out and adhered them to the tag.  the sewing machine was stamped on patterned paper, trimmed out and popped up over top of the dress form and pin cushion.   I added the buttons because that white space at the top of the tag looked just a wee bit too empty for me. 

Thanks for stopping by..... a big shout out goes to my CASology teamie, Tracey!!  She is guesting over at Retro Sketches!!  The layout for this week's sketch is based on one of her fabby cards!!  Woo hooo... YAY Tracey!!!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; Stamps:  SU! & Hero Arts; Ink:  Memento; PP:  SU!; Buttons:  PTI; Ribbon:  PTI; Twine:  Twinery

what's the buzz???

Hello, friends!!  Once again, the week is flying by and the weekend is almost here!!  Have a little card that I made for a couple of challenges:  Retro Sketches and ColourQ.  

Once, again, I adhered very closely to the sketch.  Mainly because I have never made a card using hexagon shapes which are all the rage right now and I really wanted to use my The Craft's Meow Thanks Bee to Thee set which has hexagons in it.   I think the card is pretty self-explanatory.  I stamped the hexagon images, trimmed them out and then arranged them as you see.  The little bee from the set was stamped three times, trimmed out and Black Diamond stickles added to the wings.  Some kraft colored bakers twine was tied in a bow, adhered to the hexagons and then I added the bees. 

Thanks for stopping by....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white and red; SU! crumb cake; Stamps:  The Craft's Meow; Ink:  SU! Riding Hood Red, Pear Pizzazz; Memento Tuxedo Black; Punch:  SU!; Corner punch:  Fiskars