Peace

It's that time again. Another challenge over at Papercraft Star. This week the challenge was a photo inspiration challenge which normally I love. However, this particular one was a bit, well, challenging. A summer photo from Martha Stewart Living that was to be used as inspiration for a holiday card. Here's the photo that made me think of nothing to do with the holidays.

When I first looked at the photo I saw pale blue and white with sandy shells, large flowers, and got a calm vibe from it. So, I went with what I felt pulling in the other aspects that stuck out to me.

I went with the sandy feel using just a hint of white because it felt a bit warmer (and calmer) to me. I also used flock on the flowers so they would feel more natural and I curled the paper to give them more life.

Thanks for looking.

Supplies: Stamps-Gina K.(flower), PTI(sentiment), Paper-Bazzil, Flock-Doodlebug, Ink-Ranger Distressed inks

Thankful for...

I don't like Thanksgiving. I don't get it. And I hate turkey. HATE it! But I do love expressing my gratitude to others. And while I don't like the turkey festivities this time of year I do think it is as good a time as any to let a few friends know what they mean to me. This first one is for a dear friend of mine who has adopted my kids as her grandkids.


Challenges:
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Thank you with Autumn colors
Sweet sketch Wednesday - sketch
Paperplay Challenges - Circles
Raise the Bar - Let's see those curves

Thanks for looking.

Supplies: Stamps-Papertrey Ink, Pattern Paper-Creative Memories, Embossing Powder-Stampendous

Magic Happens

Christmas is such a wonderful, magical time of year. I wish the magic of the season could last all year. This card celebrates that magic. It started with the challenge over at The Corrosive Challenge Blog (I cased Michelle who cased Anita).

A card celebrating magic had to have some glitter!

Challenges:
The Corrosive Challenge Blog - CASE a design team member
The ABC Challenge - G is for Glitter
Charisma Cardz Challenges - With Love at Christmas

Thanks for looking.

Happy Turkey Day

Another Thanksgiving card courtesy of the Pink Cat Studio digi stamps I won a couple of weeks ago. This particular one was selected by the hubster. He really liked the Turkey Family and who am I to argue? They are adorable. This particular card was created thanks to the new (at least to me) challenge blog, Papercraft Star. I love this blog and look forward to participating in many of their challenges. This week's challenge is a recipe. And here it is.

Simon Says Make a Card
Base 4.5 x 5.5
Double Mat #1: cut at 3 3/8 x 4 5/8
with another color cut at 3 1/4 x 4 1/4
Double Mat #2: cut at 2 3/4 x 4
with another color cut at 2 3/4 x 2 1/2
Add Ribbon
Add Button(s)
Add Punch or Die Cut
(Add anything else you would like to add)

And here is my turkey family.

I really like how this card came out.

Thanks for taking a peek.

Supplies: Stamps-Pink Cat Studio, Pattern paper-Creative Memories, Cardstock-PTI, Buttons-Basic Grey, Die Cuts-Creative Memories, Markers-Copic, Ribbon-Pink Hedgehog

Halloween Cuties

Here's a look at my Halloween cuties!

Gobble, gobble

I hope everyone had a fun and happy Halloween. We had a great time. The costumes were a huge success and the kids had a great time. Lucky for us the kids didn't make it the whole three hours of trick-or-treating. I'd like to say Halloween projects are over, but I have pictures to do something with for the extra kids we took. However, I have postponed that project until the weekend...

So, until then I'm working on some Thanksgiving cards. A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to win the challenge over at Christmas Stampin' All Year sponsored by Pink Cat Studio. I won five, yes FIVE, digital images to play with. I hadn't gone down the digital road, but I love Pink Cat Studio especially the Itty Bittys. Of course, I had to get the Itty Bitty Turkey Rides. Love, love, love them!

Here's Itty Bitty Bobby riding his turkey.

Isn't he just the cutest?!

Supplies: Digi stamp-Pink Cat Studio, Darcie's, Pattern Paper-Creative Memories, Buttons-Basic Grey, Flower-Stampin' Up

Challenges:
Card Patterns - Sketch
One Stop Craft Challenge - Anything Goes
Paper Sundaes Challenge Blog - For the Boys
Cards for Men - Anything Goes (this one is for my uncle)
Papertake Weekly Challenge Blog - Penny for the guy

Thanks for looking!

A witchy boo

Halloween came back to me, finally! It's funny how the first costume went together so well and the second just didn't. I still have two days before trick-or-treating so there's still hope. But in the chaos of the costumes and the pull toward Christmas there was still one more Halloween project to get done. The second Boo Box. As we are trick-or-treating on Saturday instead of Sunday we decided to postpone giving the boxes until Halloween just so the little people in the house will have something festive to do that day.

This one is a bit cute, but still fun. And so very witchy! This is the box and the card that will go inside with the goodies.

Here's a closer look at the card.

All four sides are decorated, of course! Here's a look at them.








I think I used almost every witch stamp I have. And while I made sure there was a hint of orange, I'm happy it isn't the main color. We're baking special Halloween cookies on Sunday and then filling the box up to deliver in the afternoon. The neighbors will like it as much as the little people.

Challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend - Halloween/Fall
Raise the Bar - Orange, Black, Purple
Stamptacular Sunday Challenges - Halloween Color Challenge
The Corrosive Challenge Blog - Halloween
Tuesday Taggers - Deep Purple Halloween
Crafty Creations Challenge Blog - Halloween
Charisma Cardz Challenges - Match Master
Paper Play Challenges - A haunting we will go
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Sweet Treats with a Twist

I hope you like the witches! Thanks for looking.

Simple little Christmas

Another Christmas card. Halloween costumes are still not done, but the red and white with snowflakes was screaming at me from the photo challenge on Christmas Stampin' All Year. It came together so fast and was so simple.


Thanks for taking a peek.

A confused brain

The last few days my mind has been flip-flopping between Halloween and Christmas. One minute I'm singing Christmas carols and the next I'm trying to find a good Halloween cookie to make. My brain can't seem to decide which holiday it wants to celebrate. Today I'm offering a Christmas card. I guess Christmas won out in the art room.

Today's offering:

Here I've used the Vintage Ornaments from PTI. A little sanding and distressing and the broken glass technique.

Challenges:
Winter Wonderland - Give it a vintage look!
The Corrosive Challenge Blog - Get rid of the white!
For Fun Challenges - Red, Brown, and Cream

Thanks for looking!

TRICK or Treat

Ted over at Happily Ever Crafter is having a super fun challenge this month. His trick or treat challenge is, well, challenging. Basically you must ring his doorbell (email him) and he will respond with either "trick" or "treat." If you get a treat your challenge is to make a Halloween card with traditional images and colors. However, if you get a trick you must use nontraditional images with pastel colors for a Halloween card. I guess the TRICK is on me. Yep, I got trick. Now what to do?
I was flipping through my index of stamps and there it was screaming at me. A Halloween card for the hubs. I had found the image and the idea. A little help from PaperPlay Challenges with a sketch and in my head it was done. It was time to get to work. And here is what I did.

But what's going to make the hubs like it? Well...

Take it as you will.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Halloween

Today's offering is the Halloween card I made for my older son. He is going to be a hedgehog for halloween this year so when I sat down to make his card it seemed fitting to pull the halloween hedgehogs from Stampin Up out. Luckily I still had them as I nearly sold them a few months back. What was I thinking??
Here is his card:

This image seemed most appropriate for him. And then I had to add the felt pumpkins he likes so much and a card for him would not be complete without buttons. He LOVES buttons on cards. I love orange and brown this time of year. They make everything seem a little cozier.

Challenges:
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch
Charisma Cardz Challenges - Autumn Colors
Stampin' for the Weekend - Autumn Inspiration
Paper Sundaes - A change of season
Cupcake Craft Challenges - Scary Creatures
Tuesday Taggers - More than two legs
Papertake Weekly Challenges - 3 of a kind

Thanks for looking!

Boo to you!

We're still gearing up for Halloween here. I love Halloween. There are so many things one can do, but there is no pressure to do anything. I think that fact alone makes it a wonderful holiday and reason to celebrate.

This year we're adding a few things to our Halloween traditions. The first one is Boo boxes for two of our neighbors. As we can barely communicate with most of our neighbors we will be wishing them a Happy Halloween without attempting to explain what "Booing" really is. It'll be fun all the same.

The first set to be taken care of is for the old lady across the street. This particular project uses a lot of goodies that had been forgotten about. Thanks to For Fun Challenges for encouraging me to pull them out and give them their chance to shine.

I know the box looks kind of blue, but it's black, really. I used a netting/lace piece of material that had the spiderweb pattern to make the spiderwebs on the sides using a combination of embossing powder and glitter. I really loved this material and had wonderful ideas for it, yet here we are years later and I'm just now getting around to playing with it. And while I had a really hard time taking a decent picture, there are black spiders with red eyes in the webs popped up on dimensionals on all four sides. The spiders are from a stamp cube from Northwoods Rubberstamps. I bought it for the bats but have never used the spiders.
Here's another view of the box.

This is one of those really big gable boxes. I bought them forever and day ago and then they got lost. I found it during a recent reorganization of the art room. Since I had two I decided to use them for the "Boo" boxes this season. This way they can't be lost or forgotten again. See how that works?! And thanks to One Stop Craft Challenge Blog for giving me a kick in the pants to get this done with their Alter It Challenge.
And here's the card/tag we'll be putting inside with all the goodies.

This image is also from Northwoods Rubberstamps. The sentiment is made from an alphabet set from Purple Onion Stamps. I think the googly eyes give it just the right amount of fun.

Thanks for taking a peek.

Have a drink

Today's card was inspired by two challenges. The first, Happy Hour over at Cupcake Craft Challenges led me to the second, Congratulations at One Stop Craft Challenges.

When I first saw Happy Hour I almost passed. I wasn't working on nor did I need to work on any kind of project even close to Happy Hour. Then I looked at my general To-do list. A friend of mine has a birthday later this month so her name was on my list to get the card mailed out. Her husband is currently out of the country for an entire year doing the military thing so I thought if anyone needed a drink it would be her. I didn't want to encourage her to drink alone just because he was gone, though I know there are days when doing just that might be the thing to do. That's where Congratulations came in. What about a card to congratulate her on making it this far into the year. Trust me, she's about a third of the way through so she deserves some congratulations.

Here's what will be popping in her mailbox.

It's a pretty simple card - just her style. The image is from Stamping Bella, the sentiment from PTI.

Thanks for taking a peek.

Fall is in the air

I know it's been awhile since I've posted. No big or exciting adventure this time, just a little reassessing. I have let my desire to participate in challenges trump my creativity and so I've stopped to take a look at my approach. I think I'm finding a better one. Plus, I've been going crazy with Halloween stuff. It seems the costume ideas this year were much easier on the drawing board than in real life. Luckily I still have a few weeks - I'm going to need them!

But none of this is why you are here. You are here because fall is in the air, at least in theory. We went from summer to winter, back to summer, and now the weather seems to be thinking about at least trying to be fall.

JUGS has a super simple, super sweet sketch going on this week. My take:


This little flower was one of the very first stamps I ever bought way back when. It's from Hero Stamps.

Paper Sundaes has a challenge this week to use something from your stash which made me think of this little charm which has been in my art room so long I can't remember buying it.

There you have it. My little bit of fall.

Thanks for taking a peek.

Try, try again

My Time Made Easy is (or rather was) having a call for some new designers. I love their products. Getting them and having to play with them sounds so wonderful! Hubby certainly can't argue with that. I just love seeing the 3-D boxes and bags come to life. For the call, I put together a little set to wrap up a scarf my son and I recently picked up on one of our travels for her. Nothing fancy just a little something. I used the tote it all template, which goes together even easier than I could have imagined.


The scarf is pink and so the color theme revolved around pink.

Here is the bag.

I wanted the bag to look a little purse like because this particular friend LOVES purses. I used paper from their fresh fabrics collection 2 (these are my favorite papers!). I also wanted a simple yet unique focal point so I made a medallian of sorts. I used the argyle set from MTME to stamp a pattern on shrinky dinks, cut out a circle, and shrunk it all down.

And now the back.

I wanted to use the same pattern on the pocket, but I wanted the colors to be a bit softer so I chose to go with a shimmery ink in the same colors. The pocket is empty at the moment because that is where the kids picture for her will go.

And here is the card.

I used the same contrasting paper from the bag to make the background on the card using the same curves from the top of the bag. I then repeated the pattern though put it on it's side. The sentiment is from a stamp that was given to me years ago. The white are will be filled in with hearts from the kids, but that takes more patience than I had this weekend.

Thanks for looking and wish me luck!

Testing

Once again I've been a bad blogger because we were off on an adventure. This time it was the Czech Republic. Fun, fun, fun!

Anyway, I'm back and we'll be home for a bit so I should be able to get the mojo going again. I really hope it comes back fast.

Anyway, today I have a little something to offer. It's a simple little card I made to submit to My Time Made Easy. It was a failed attempt, but here's the card none the less.



Though I've been meaning to try it, this is the first card I have ever sewed on. I did both machine and hand stitching. The patterned paper was inked and distressed around the edges prior to sewing. I like the simplicity of the card and plan on sending it to a friend for Thanksgiving.

Challenges:
Charisma Cardz Challenge - Something new
Stamptacular Sunday Challenges - Distress it
Paperplay Challenges - Autumn is a comin'
Raise the Bar - Orange, brown, green

Thanks for looking!

A ladybug thank you

I know I haven't been around for a bit. First there was the issue of the art room. Three times in one week I couldn't find what I was looking for even though I knew I had what I wanted. The only answer was, of course, a reorganization of the space which was almost like Christmas because while I found those things I was looking for I also found papers and cardstocks I forgot I had. Once that was done it was time to get ready for the next adventure. We went to Brussels to see the Flower carpet in the main square. Beautiful!! And crowded. Though it is Belgium so lots of chocolate!! The really good stuff! I only brought a few pounds back with me. And yes, I will be disappearing again as we head out on another adventure next week. But before then I hope to show you a few things I've been working on.

First up is another thank you card. It seems I lost a bit of my holiday mojo while working on the gift and I'm really hoping it returns before it's crunch time. This thank you came about mostly from the ladybug brads.



The image is from Stampendous and the sentiment is from PTI. The papers are from Stampin Up.

Thanks for looking.

I was wrong...

the birthday card was not the hardest one to make. Making an anniversary card for the doc was beyond difficult. Seriously. I went through at least five ideas that just did not work. I finally ended up with this one which I do like, but boy was it hard.



I don't know why I got fixated on black, but I did. At one point I switched to white only to come back to black. And while I wasn't going to do hearts look where I ended up.

The hearts and sentiment are from PTI.


Challenges:
Crafty Creations Challenge Blog - wedding/anniversary
Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenges - Pink and Black

Thanks for looking. And please, let me know what you think.

Thinking of you

I'm still working my way through the gift set. Thankfully I'm just about done. Today's card is my favorite in the bunch. It is not something I would normally do. I am not usually this simple. However, once the idea hit me I really wanted to see it through.



The hearts are from PTI, all stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent ink. The sentiment is from Stampendous from back in the day. It too is stamped in Pearlescent ink. Then all I did was add two strips of glitter and done.

Challenges:
Papertake Weekly Challenges - White and Bright
Cute Card Thursday - Whateva!

Thanks for looking!

Sweet Wonderful You

Working my way through the gift, it came time to do the birthday card I assume he will send to his wife. I discovered just how hard it can be to design for someone else without them knowing about it. I mean think about it...creating a birthday card for a man to send to his wife whom I don't know in a situation where they are apart. I had to turn to a sketch and I went with a red rose because I think it's about as universal as you can get for the occasion.



The rose is once again unidentified. The rose is colored with a red copic and then highlighted with the blender. The sentiment is from PTI. The embossed paper came that way from Creative Memories awhile back.

Challenges:
Crazy 4 Challenges - sketch (Thank you!)

Thanks for looking!

Happy HOT Holidays

Working my way through the challenge of getting the cards done for the deployment gift and here is the holiday card. Since he'll be somewhere in the desert I figured a sandy, hot, crazy Santa would fit the bill. I didn't want to go overly mushy or sentimental because I didn't want the card to make the separation at that time of year even worse. So, a bright sunny day with a little sand and Santa.



The stamps are all Stampin Up. Santa and the tree are from a retired set. So glad I've never parted with him. To finish off the affect there is a strip of sandpaper.

Challenges:
Christmas Stampin' All Year - Sketch
Our Creative Corner - Christmas in July
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Out of this world (I don't think we'll be seeing Santa in his bathing suit any time soon!)

Thanks for looking!

Brighten the day

As I said yesterday, I am working on a set of cards for my doctor who will be deploying very soon. This is the second birthday card and I really hope it brightens the day of whichever girl happens to get it.



I love this little puppy. I've had him for years. He's from Comotion Rubber Stamps. Sadly he doesn't get inked up as much as he should. The dots on the circles are from PTI. The sentiment is from Stampin Up.

Challenges:
Crafty Creations Challenges - Summer Lovin'
For Fun Challenges - Summer Colors
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - Sketch

Thanks for looking.

Make a wish

Though I am right in the middle of prime Christmas card making time I am shifting my mojo for the sake of my favorite doctor. Well, really it's for his family. He's deploying for 16 months. We'll have moved on by the time he gets back. I'm very sad. However, I thought the best gift to send with him was a collection of cards for him to have on hand to send back to his girls. This is the first of the birthday cards. I hope to get four birthday cards (one for his wife and each of their three daughters), a Christmas card, Anniversary card, and two anytime cards done in time for him to take. Wish me luck since there is also a teething baby in the house and a husband who isn't.



This card came about mostly because I saw the challenge over at Cute Card Thursday focusing on text. I remembered this big block stamp I bought from Purple Onion Designs awhile back. I love the stamp - all of them really - but had never gotten around to inking it up. Other ideas bopping around in my head involved this adorable mouse from Whiff of Joy and eventually the two came together.

Challenges:
Cute Card Thursday - Texting crazy
Charisma Cardz Challenges - Something with a tail
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Sketch
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything goes birthday

Thanks for looking!

For my son

Every year it happens. I make the cards to send to everyone and do all the other Christmas "chores" only to realize on Christmas Eve (or maybe the day before) that I have once again forgotten to make my family cards. Every year. Normally I can pull something together for the hubs, but I have never gotten my act together enough to make my son a card. I know, I know. Don't say it. Don't even think it. I feel bad about it every year. This is the year. THIS is the year because I thought ahead and got the card done. Yes, he will get a card this Christmas because it is sitting in the art room waiting for Christmas. Here it is:



My little boy loves trains so this image is perfect. Once again I don't know who made it. I'm pretty sure I found it in a clearance bin at a stamp convention one year. He also loves buttons. He claims mine all the time and anything he makes for his friends or teachers is loaded with them. Ribbon is another big thing for him. He is always asking me if I'm going to use this or that piece of ribbon and if he can have it. I don't know why, I just embrace it. I'm so happy it's done and he will not be left out of the card part of Christmas this year.

Challenges:
Paper Cutz - Wheels
Christmas Stampin' All Year - Buttons and Bows
Anjillic Creations - First Annual Christmas in July Challenge
Tuesday Taggers - Christmas in July

Thanks for looking!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Ok, not really. It's still very sunny and hot, at least when it's not raining. It is still very much summer. It is, however, that time of year. Every year for at least the last 10 years my Christmas spirit kicks in during July. The first few years I fought it; now I accept it. I use this burst of Christmas spirit to work on getting our Christmas cards done. So, in my art room is really is beginning to look like Christmas.

The first offering of the year (please excuse the bad picture) is an adorable little snowman.

This little guy is from Penny Black. The snowflakes and background (you have to look really close on the light pink) are from PTI. I wanted to use these fun, sparkly lime green brads from Doodlebug and when I reached for them pink came to mind. There's lots of sparkle here - the snowman, the snowflakes, the light pink paper, the brads. I realize it's not a traditional Christmas color combo, but I like it anyway.

Challenges:
Sweet Sketch Wednesday - sketch
Crafty Creations Challenges - happy or sweet
Stamptacular Sunday Challenges - Christmas in July

Thanks for looking.

A magical day

I recently came across the wedding candy post over at Charisma Cardz Challenge blog. It is an amazing prize and I really hoped to be able to participate. Plus, who doesn't love weddings?? Not knowing the bride and groom personally I couldn't gear the card to them which made things a little difficult for me. Here's what I came up with:

I didn't want the card to be only about the bride and let's face it, many wedding cards are geared to the girls side of things. I also wanted to have some color. And I wanted to keep it pretty simple and flat because from my view wedding cards are the most likely to end up in a scrapbook of some sort. I love the way the gold stands out on the brown. And I love this sentiment for a wedding.

It didn't even occur to me to use it for weddings when I bought it, but somehow that makes it better.
The image is from Stampin Up and the sentiment is from Stamping Bella.

Challenges/contests:
Charisma Cardz - wedding
Delightful challenges - it's so simple

Thanks for looking.

A treat for you

As promised I am posting the goody (or is it goodie) boxes from the birthday party. Of course, they had to fit into the theme of an American BBQ. Thinking, thinking, thinking...baskets. Lucky for me I already had the Pack a Picnic template from Papertrey. The only question was how to make it scream USA and basket. My Time Made Easy digital papers to the rescue. I used the Well Woven papers with the Fresh Fabric Collection 1 to make it looked like a lined basket. I made blue baskets with red liners for the boys

and red baskets with blue liners for the girls.

A birthday basket wouldn't be complete without a little sparkle so I continued the star theme using the same stars as were on the invitations (here if you missed them) glittered up with a glitter combo called Freedom (don't you love it?).
I love the fact that this template has a lid. And what better place to personalize it for the kids? So I took the same star punches and put the kids names on the lids.

Then we filled them up with gummie hot dogs and hamburgers, a candy necklace, a tootsie roll pop, a patriotic stress baseball, and two cans of playdough. I think the kids liked them. I know the birthday boy was excited about giving them to his friends.

Challenges:
Just us Girls template challenge
Thanks for looking.

Red, white, and blue...Happy Birthday to you

In case anyone is wondering where I disappeared to, I got in way over my head with birthday stuff for the little man. When inviting children to a birthday party in the middle of the week in July one should consider the possibility they will all come (or at least the large majority). I did not consider this would be the case. And of course, I had to make everything. Somewhere along the way I also got talked into letting him invite 12, yes TWELVE, kids ages 3-6 to this party.

The smart thing would have been to start with the invitations. I wasn't smart. In the end it all worked out and everyone had a great time with only one melt down and one incident. I call that good given the age group. Most importantly the birthday boy had fun and was happy.

Ted over at Happily Ever Crafter has a challenge going on this month honoring Old Glory, the American Flag. You should check it out if you have a minute. He's offering up a $10 PTI gift certificate to the winner and who doesn't love a bit of red, white, and blue in July??

The birthday party, an American BBQ, was the perfect place for a little red, white, and blue.

Here's the invitation.


I decided on an American BBQ to give his German friends a taste of American culture. Initially I wanted to make pinwheels, but it just wasn't working. While working on plan B I found this pinwheel stamp I've had for awhile but rarely use. I really wish I knew who made it. If anyone happens to know please pass the info along. Lucky for me, the pinwheel had stars and stripes. I stamped and embossed the pinwheel image and then colored it with copics. At this point I had already designed the goody bags (I'll post those a little later.) so I knew I wanted to use stars and glitter. Hubby was gracious enough to punch out tons of stars in a few sizes using the Creative Memories star punches. I then ran them through the Xyron to get a good layer of adhesive on them and then covered them in red, white, and blue glitter. Then I randomly placed the stars across to make a fun, festive, very American border. After my first run on a white card base, I realized something had to change. I had a pack of premade black cards sitting on the shelf. I had my answer. A simple "you're invited" was perfect for getting the point across through the language barrier.

I hope you like my take on Old Glory. Thanks for looking!

Back on track

A bit ago I said I was going to focus on thank you cards and then, of course, I got distracted. I am happy to report I am back on track to getting a few thank you cards at the ready. This will be short lived as it is about time to focus on birthday stuff for the little guy which will take all my time 'cause I'm just that kind of mommy. Until then we're doing thank yous.

Here's a sweet little card made with a Bella image I received in a swap somewhere along the way.



The musical border (from OnyxXpressions) is beautiful and now that I remember I have hopefully I get it inked up a bit more. The sentiment (from Papertrey) is classic. A nice combination.



Challenges
Raise the Bar - Sweet Music
Truly Scrumptious - Sketch

Thanks for looking!

Just because...

Don't you just love it when something comes together beautifully all by chance? I saw the sketch on the Papertake Weekly Challenge blog and it spoke to me so off to the art room I went. I had wanted to see if these sheer materials I have (and have used on cards) would work as a border or accent instead of a whole background and these sketch sent me straight to them. As I was looking at my choices I decided I liked this one best for today.



I started wondering if I had a coordinating stamp - some kind of flower that would at least "go" with the ones on the material. And what do you know? Yes, I do. They look almost like they were made to go together. Happiness. And in my favorite colors too!

The stamp was bought awhile ago unmounted, I don't know from where. The sentiment is from Papertrey's Damask Designs. The background is embossed with an old Fiskars embossing plate. As a side note, hubby bought these for me and I refuse to discourage him so I keep them and use them despite other, more current options. It was then brushed with white ink.

Thanks for looking.

Just in case

This card is one of those that's nice to have around because if you need it you likely won't feel like making it. I hate making sympathy cards. I like happy cards and cheering people up. Sometimes though you need something else. Coming across the Corrosive Challenge blog I took a look through my die cuts and found this rocking chair which led me down the path to make this card that will hopefully sit in my room on the shelf for a long, long time.



The sentiment reads, "Sending thoughts of love and praying for the Lord to sustain you with bright and restful days." It's from Stampin Up. The background was made using PTI's Guidelines.

Challenges:
Truly Scrumptious - Sketch
Charisma Cardz Challenges - Flowers
Tuesday Taggers - All that Blooms
Colour Create Challenge Blog - Baby pink and pastel blue
The Corrosive Challenge Blog - die cuts

Thanks for looking.

Father's Day

I'm back from my travels - for now. Paris was wonderful, of course! I'm finally getting back into the art room and back to my creative work. One look at the calendar and I realized the Father's Day projects that had to be mailed had to be the first priority. While it seems so far away the mailing deadline is practically here. Now first up is my dad. Let me just say, he is the hardest person I make cards for. He loves his work and isn't really into the typical guy stuff but he certainly isn't into anything remotely girly. Tough I tell ya.

I got a little nudge from a few challenges and here's what I came up with. This is not my usual style, but I'm happy with it and I think it fits the bill.



The border around the image is embossed with distressed embossing powder and the blue around that is painted with distressed paint. The staples are from the fastenater (is that how you spell it??). They were brown, but have been sanded to go along with the whole distressed look. The image is an old PSX one and the sentiment is from a set that was given to me.

Thanks for looking.

Challenges:
Just Us Girls #46 - Sketch
Tuesday Taggers - Touchy Feely Texture
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