CR84FN37 & JUGS #100

Hello there, friends!  Sorry it's been quiet around here this week, but I'm finally back with a card for a couple of challenges.  The first is the color challenge at CR84FN which includes some lovely shades of blue plus a neutral.  The second started out with the 100th sketch at Just Us Girls, but after I'd finished it I realized I left out the horizontal strips behind the oval.  Oops!  Still, I thought I'd link it up to help them celebrate their milestone!

The idea for this card came because I wanted to send a card to my sweet friend Andrea, who is currently on her way across the country to her new home on Prince Edward Island.  She is a member of the design teams for CR84FN and JUGS, so I thought it would be fun to combine these two challenges to make a card for her.

The house and sentiment come from PTI's Boards & Beams colored with Copics.  I inked the oval Nestie with tea dye, then adhered it with foam dots to a Hawaiian Shores panel debossed with the Woodgrain impression plate.  A brown ribbon and buttons add the finishing touches.

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Rustic White, Dark Chocolate)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Boards & Beams)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Chocolate Chip), Papertrey Ink (Tea Dye duo), Copic markers

Tools:  Spellbinders (oval die), Papertrey Ink (Woodgrain impression plate)

Accessories:  Papertrey Ink (buttons), ribbon, DMC floss

I hope my American and Canadian friends are enjoying a long Labor Day weekend!  I'm currently visiting my FIL in Maine and hope to have a chance to go sailing tomorrow morning before we head home.

Thanks for stopping by tonight!  Have a good one!

Just Us Girls #95--Use Fabric! & CAS-ual Fridays #13

Hello there!  I hope your weekend is off to a great start.  If you have plans to get crafty, I hope you'll play along with this week's Just Us Girls challenge!  This is my last week as a Guest Designer for JUGS, and I just want to say a huge thank you to the wonderful ladies on the JUGS team for having me this month!

This week Lisa has challenged us to use fabric on a project.  I love hoarding fabric almost as much as I love hoarding patterned paper, so this was a good excuse to use some of it!  There are lots of fun ways to use fabric on your card--you can stamp it, die cut it, ruffle it, use it as a background, or any other variation you can come up with!  Just get creative and have fun with it!

I'm also playing along with this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge to make a long 4 X 9 card.  This is not something I do often, but it worked well for what I had in mind.

For my project, I decided to die cut and stamp three little teapots on coordinating fabric.  It helps to back the fabric with a fusible interfacing first to prevent fraying, but it's not absolutely necessary.  I dressed up a couple of the teapots with buttons and adhered them to a Hawaiian Shores panel scored with an argyle pattern.  The sentiment is from PTI's Tea for Two.

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Hawaiian Shores, white)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Tea for Two)

Ink:  Papertrey Ink (Dark Chocolate)

Tools:  Martha Stewart (Scoring Board), Papertrey Ink (teapot die)

Accessories:  fabric, buttons, ribbon, thread

I'm looking forward to seeing your creations with fabric!  Maybe it will inspire me to use up some more of my stash, or at least give me an excuse to buy more!  *giggle*

Thanks for your visit today!  Have a goodie!

JUGS #94--Gift bag

Patterned paper:  Colorbok

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames #11)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Melon Mambo)

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Limitless Layers, Eyelet border, Delightful Dahlia dies)

Accessories:  Papertrey Ink (silk ribbon), felt, DMC floss, button

Hi there, friends!  By the time you read this, I will probably be on my way to Papertrey Ink's Stamp-a-faire!  Yippee!  I'll be sure to update you with some fun photos when it's all over.

Today is another fun challenge at Just Us Girls, and this week it's a 3D project.  The challenge is to embellish a gift bag--fun, right?!  You can use any products and any theme, so the sky's the limit!

I decided to make my own little bag out of patterned paper.  I found a tutorial on Pinterest and adapted it to make my bag 4 X 6 X 1.  I pinked the top of the bag and punched holes to thread some white silk ribbon through.

To decorate the front of the bag, I crocheted a flower and adhered it to a felt circle cut with PTI's Limitless Layers die.  I added two leaves cut with a die from Delightful Dahlia.

Behind the strip of blue patterned paper, I added eyelet borders cut from white felt.  Last, I added a sentiment from PTI's Fillable Frames #11.

Okay, I'm off to get some rest before the big PTI event!  Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you'll play along with us this week at Just Us Girls!

JUGS #93

Hi there, strangers!  Sorry I've been quiet all week, but I'm currently on the road, traveling to Indiana to visit family, then headed to Cincinnati next weekend for Papertrey Ink's Stamp-a-faire!  Lots of fun stuff coming up!

This week at Just Us Girls brings a fabulous color challenge of coral, blush, and gray.  For more inspiration, check out the gorgeous graphic highlighting these colors:

Makes you want to go get your craft on, doesn't it?

For my card, I worked on it right after seeing THIS card by Nichole Heady, so I had those stitched cardstock strips on the brain and knew I had to incorporate them.  I started with a Smokey Shadow card base partially debossed with the sheet music impression plate.  I left a small strip for some Sweet Blush cardstock stamped with a sentiment from Verve's Accent Notes.

I stitched Berry Sorbet and Sweet Blush cardstock strips vertically, then topped them with a dahlia stamped onto Bitty Dots patterned paper and shaded with a Copic marker.  I added the large leaf, also from PTI's Delightful Dahlia, stamped on Sweet Blush cardstock.

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Smokey Shadow, Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush)

Patterned paper:  Papertrey Ink (2008 Bitty Dot Basics)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Delightful Dahlia), Verve (Accent Notes)

Ink:  Inkadinkadoo (Black), Copic markers

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Sheet Music impression plate, dahlia & leaf dies), We R Memory Keepers (Corner Chomper), Martha Stewart (Scoring Board)

Accessories:  Michaels (rhinestone), thread

I show you this close-up not to draw attention to my miserable coloring skills, but so you can see more of that yummy debossed music score!

Okay, friends, it's off to bed for me so that I don't drive off the road tomorrow on the last leg of my journey.  Thanks for dropping in, and I hope to be back around to visit your blogs in a couple of days!

JUGS #92 & CR84FN #33

Hello, friends!  I'm so glad to be back for another week as Guest Designer with Just Us Girls!  This week Kristin has challenged us with a fun technique--making cardstock buttons!  There's a great tutorial for this technique HERE.  I chose to use the challenge colors at CR84FN as well, with kraft as my neutral.

ETA:  Check out this wonderful tutorial by JUGS Designer Dana at Want2Scrap!

The idea for this card started with the buttons, which I made using Papertrey's button dies, although you can make yours with any shape of die or punch you want.  Each button has 5 layers of cardstock to give it a nice thickness.  On the top layer of white cardstock, I stamped an image from WPlus9's Mehndi Medallions.  I can't tell you how much I love how this turned out!  A coat of Glossy Accents and these babies look almost like the real thing!

For the rest of the card, I stamped images from WPlus9's Spring Post, including the letters L-O-V-E over the bird postage stamp.  

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Kraft, Pure Poppy, white)

Stamps:  WPlus9 Design Studio (Spring Post, Mehndi Medallions)

Ink:  Clearsnap (Frost White, Cranberry), Stampin' Up! (Pretty in Pink)

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (button dies)

Accessories:  DMC floss

Another sweet card for my sweet hubby.  I don't think he'll mind the pink, do you?  *grin*

I hope you'll give this technique a try and share your creation with us at JUGS!

Thanks for stopping by!

JUGS #91 Guest Designer

Good morning!  I have a little surprise for you this morning, as the lovely gals over at Just Us Girls have asked me to join them as Guest Designer for the month of July!  (Thanks again, ladies!)

What makes JUGS unique among challenge blogs is that each week brings a new type of challenge, either a sketch, color combo, technique, or project involving a template.  This week Kathryn has provided a fun sketch to use:

It has been a while since I used patterned paper on a card, so I pulled out a cute sheet from the Alphabet Soup line by My Mind's Eye.  I could easily buy every sheet of paper this company makes!  I used the "A" side with the argyle and heart pattern for the main panels, and the "B" side with pink stripes for the scalloped circle and punched border.

For the focal point, I die cut a red felt heart and stitched around the outside, then added an aqua button and a sentiment from PTI's Baby Button Bits.  Lots of stitching and a row of buttons at the bottom finish it off.

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, white)

Patterned paper:  My Mind's Eye (Alphabet Soup Girl "Lovely")

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Baby Button Bits)

Ink:  Papertrey Ink (Ocean Tides)

Tools:  Spellbinders (circle, scalloped circle Nesties), Papertrey Ink (heart die), Fiskars (border punch), We R Memory Keepers (Corner Chomper)

Accessories:  Papertrey Ink (buttons, felt), DMC floss, thread

I hope you'll make some time to play along with us this week!  The JUGS gals always have amazing eye candy to get you inspired, so be sure to hop over and see their creations!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by and leaving such sweet comments.  And a special thank you for all of your well wishes on my anniversary, it really means so much!  

Have a fantastic weekend!

ColourQ #91 & JUGS #90

Good morning!  It's Tuesday again, and that means a new ColourQ challenge!  This week's color combo can be found in a super cute plaid dress, perfect for the upcoming July 4th holiday in the U.S.  I used it as inspiration to make a jar lantern for the Just Us Girls challenge to make a 3D project with a patriotic theme.

I couldn't resist creating my own plaid using PTI's Distressed Stripes.  I stamped a panel of cardstock with red, burgundy, and navy plaid, then cut out a circle to fit in the jar lid.  On top of that is Fillable Frames #10 in Basic Gray and a punched circle stamped with Tag-its #4 and Star Prints.  Three gray gemstones add a little sparkle, and some satin Pure Poppy ribbon is wrapped around the lid and tied in a pretty bow.

From the remaining plaid cardstock, I punched six stars.  I glued the stars back to back and embellished each with a white button and gray rhinestone.  Then I threaded the stars with red and white baker's twine and glued them at different lengths from the inside of the jar lid.

My original plan was to put a strand of battery operated white lights in the jar, but I couldn't find any in time.  Guess I'll have to scope them out at Christmas!  So instead I filled the base of the jar with sand and added a battery powered tea light.  It makes a cute little lantern for our deck table!

Cardstock:  Stampin Up! (Basic Gray), Papertrey Ink (white)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Distressed Stripes, Fillable Frames #10, Tag-its #4, Star Prints)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Bravo Burgundy), Papertrey Ink (Enchanted Evening), Clearsnap (Cranberry), Versamark

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames #10 die), EK Success (circle punch), Fiskars (star punch)

Accessories:  The Twinery (baker's twine), Papertrey Ink (ribbon), Michaels (rhinestones), buttons, sand, Ball jar, tealight

Another fun aspect of this project is that it would be easy to change out the decorations for different holidays, since additional lids are inexpensive.

As you can imagine, this was a difficult project to photograph with my limited skills, but I hope you get the idea!

Don't forget to check out the rest of this week's samples by the ColourQ Royal Court DT, then link up your project to be in the running for Colour Queen!

Thanks for stopping by today!

JUGS89 & Pinterest inspired

Hey there, crafty friends!  My week is off to a great start, as I got to spend a lot of time playing with stamps and paper today.  How about you?

I've been contemplating the colors for this week's Just Us Girls challenge, and when I pulled them out I just kept thinking of a rainbow and the way the color blocks in the photo remind me of those rainbow cakes I keep seeing on Pinterest.  Have you seen them?

That's just what inspired today's card.  I used the challenge colors to create blocks of color on a white card base, like the strips of color you see inside the rainbow cake.  Each block is debossed with a different PTI impression plate.

For the cake, I stamped all of the layers from Lawn Fawn's Bake Me a Cake onto white cardstock and cut them out, then colored the cake and stand with Copic markers.  The candles were stamped directly onto the Saffron cardstock before it was debossed.

The sentiment, from Verve's Dream Big set, seemed perfectly appropriate for a birthday cake of this magnitude.

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! (So Saffron, Riding Hood Red), Papertrey Ink (Simply Chartreuse, Aqua Mist, white)

Stamps:  Lawn Fawn (Bake Me a Cake), Verve (Dream Big)

Ink:  Inkadinkadoo (Black), Copic markers

Tools:  Papertrey Ink (Diamonds, Argyle, Polka Dots, and Book Print impression plates)

I almost gave up on this card halfway through making it, because it just didn't seem "me", but I'm glad I stuck with it.  You can never have too many fun and colorful birthday cards in your stash!

Thanks so much for coming by tonight!

JUGS87 & CR84FN31

Hey there!  I have a super quick post to share before I head to bed.  I combined the sketch from Just Us Girls (although I just discovered that the linky expired a few hours ago) with some gorgeous soft colors for this week's CR84FN challenge.

This card was made with my friend Andrea in mind.  She is on the DT for both of these challenge blogs, and she is celebrating her birthday this week.  Not only that, but I received some happy mail from her today in the form of a gorgeous card using PTI's Delightful Dahlia.  So Andrea, this one's for you!

I did some masking to stamp the large dahlia three times in one corner of my Vintage Cream cardstock using SU's Regal Rose ink.  I spritzed the image with Pink Pirouette and Wild Wasabi ink mixed with a little bit of Perfect Pearls for sparkle.  I then stamped a sentiment from PTI's Signature Greetings, added a bit of bling, and adhered the panel to a Wild Wasabi card base.

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream), Stampin' Up! (Wild Wasabi)

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink (Delightful Dahlia, Signature Greetings)

Ink:  Stampin' Up! (Regal Rose, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi)

Accessories:  Michaels (rhinestones), Ranger (Perfect Pearls)

Time to get some sleep!  Thanks so much for sharing part of your day with me, friends!