CR84FN40 -- Joy!

Hi Friends! I hope you're having a nice, cool, fall weekend, and maybe even getting in a little crafting time. I've been eagerly awaiting today so that I could finally tell you my latest happy news! I'm the Guest Designer for the CR84FN Color Challenge for the month of October! Whoo Hoo! When I got Mona's invitation I was beyond thrilled, as I already loved participating in CR84FN's challenges. Mona always has the most beautiful color combinations and her super-talented Design Team consistently creates beautiful, inspirational projects to spark your personal creativity. Thanks, Mona. I'm looking forward to a fabulous, colorful month with CR84FN!

So, without further ado, here is my take on this week's CR84FN color challenge of red, brown, and kraft.

If you've been around my blog at all, you probably already know that I adore distressing paper, and the challenge colors this week are perfect for shredding and inking! I used both Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress Inks on the edges. On the lower panel, I used the Dots, Circles & Stars embossing folder, then swiped white acrylic paint across the raised areas to give them just a little extra definition before distressing the edges. The dots on the Lotus pendant behind the sentiment panel are Liquid Pearls and the black dots on the Parisian motif are Enamel Accents. The Joy stamp was another dollar bin find at Michael's. I stamped it in Aged Mahogany Distress Ink and added teeny little red rhinestones to the tip of each flourish.

I dyed red seam binding with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink reinker and sponged that same color on the edges of the poinsettia petals (McGill Paper Blossoms punches) before I assembled the flower. The beads in the center were a pearl white color. I colored them with a yellow Copic marker.

Here's another angle so you can see the layers a little better.












The bg paper on the inside came about as an afterthought. When I was dying the seam binding, I accidentally spilled reinker on my craft mat--more than I needed to dye the seam binding, so I grabbed a piece of cardstock and blotted it up. As I was drying the seam binding with my heat gun, I also kept blotting the extra ink with that same piece of cardstock. When I was finished, I really liked the way the cs looked, but it still needed a little something else, so I used Vintage Photo ink and a Hero Arts background stamp to add a design to it. I inked the edges with Vintage Photo, and...tada!

You can just barely see it in the photo, but there is a small watermark design directly behind the "Peace Hope Love" sentiment, and I inked and pierced the edges of the Labels Thirteen die cut while the paper was still in the die.

Now that you've seen my card, be sure to feast your eyes on the rest of the Design Team's inspiring creations, and then head over to the CR84FN40 Color Challenge for details on the challenge and play along with us!  

Mona

Suzanne

Deborah

Stephanie

Heather

Sue

Andrea

Lisa  

I can't wait to see YOUR fabulous creation!

Thanks for visiting, and come back soon!

 

Stamps: Joy (Michael's); Holiday Greetings (Flourishes); Dots & Flowers (Hero Arts); Studio 112
Paper: Timepiece Collection (Bo Bunny)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Versamark; Copic markers
Dies: Labels Thirteen, Parisian Motifs, Lotus Pendant (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Alpine Snowflake punch, Star Lily punch (McGill Paper Blossoms punches); stylus; Dots, Circles, & Stars embossing folder (Sizzix); seam binding dyed with Distress reinker (Hug Snug); Enamel Accents (Inkssentials); acrylic paint (Ceramcoat); paper piercing tool; rhinestones; sewing thread; beads; Liquid Pearls; Glossy Accents; Perfect Pearls Mist; foam dots
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Wacky World Card Making Day Challenge

Hi Friends! In honor of World Card Making Day earlier this month, Flourishes issued a wacky color challenge: find a picture of your favorite animated character and be inspired by the colors. This was a fun challenge, and it was so easy to know which character I was going to go with. My favorite animated character is...

If you haven't seen this movie, well...you should. I won't even tell you how many times I've seen it! It's a really funny movie, but I like the Megamind character (the big-headed blue guy) more than the actual story. He's the "bad guy" but only because he likes playing the role. I won't say any more. It would spoil the movie for you.

So, for my Wacky Megamind card, I used blue, green, black, purple, and pink. The blue and black is obvious. The not-so-obvious: green for his eyes, and pink and purple for his cheeks and ears. Isn't he just adorable!

The layout is from the September 2011 Card Maps. I chose the word "Hello" for the sentiment because of a scene in the movie where Megamind answers the phone and says "Olow" (hello, backwards...sort of). Kind of clues you in about how clueless he is about even the simplest things. It's cute. Anyway, here's the inside of the card.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a fabulous evening.

 

Stamps: Bee My Honey (Flourishes)
Paper: Abrianna (K&Co); Best of K&Co
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Dies: Nested Lacey Pennants, Ironwork Motifs (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Binding Edge punch (EK Success); Tropical Paisley embossing folder (Sizzix); Corner Chomper; Mod Podge; glitter (Martha Stewart); twine (The Twinery); buttons
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Crazy for you

Hello Friends, and TGIF! Do people even say "TGIF" anymore? Am I dating myself? LOL!

My card today is for three challenges: Viva la Verve September 2011 Week 3 Sketch Challenge, Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #136 Challenge--"All Dolled Up," and Lily Pad's Bling Challenge--use any kind of bling.

I had more fun making this card today than any card I've ever made. It's as different as is possible from the last card I made that was inkless, crisp, bright, and clean. I'm not sure if you'd call this card grunge, shabby, or vintage, but whatever it is, I believe I've finally found my "style." Maybe I should call this "Kitchen Sink" style. On this card, I distressed with ink and a Distrezz-it-all, used my sewing machine, embossed and inked the raised areas, made a ribbon ruffle, used twine, paper pierced, used Liquid Pearls, Enamel Accents, eyelets, half pearls, and a metal charm, and made a "metallic" hinge out of cardstock and Perfect Pearls Mist. Here are a few close ups before I show you the whole card.

I used a page from an old dictionary for my sentiment stamp. First I aged it with Walnut Stain and Tea Dye Distress Inks and Distrezzed the edges. If you look closely, you can see the paper piercing. It's a little hard to see because the paper is so busy, but it's there. Then I used Black Soot Distress Ink and a Quietfire stamp for the word, "Love." To distress it even further, I spritzed the stamped image with water to make the ink run. I drew the swirl by hand and put the half pearls on one at a time (I don't have ready-made swirls yet). I adhered this to a Beaded Circle die cut which I had inked while still in the die. I used Liquid Pearls in each of the "beads." I finally learned how to use the stuff, and all my dots actually turned out round this time instead of blobby. 8~D

In this picture you can see the embossed strip. I used three different color Distress Inks to ink the raised areas, starting with the darkest color on the outside and working to the lightest on the inside. I attached four large copper-colored eyelets to the top of the strip and tied a metal charm to it by running twine through two of the eyelets. You can only see a smidgen of the ruffle that is sewn to the bottom of the embossed strip. I made it by folding a length of ribbon in half lengthwise and gathering it with basting, then sewing it to the cardstock.

You can see the edge of the faux metal hinge in this photo in the lower left corner. I misted it heavily with Perfect Pearls Mist and dried it with my heat gun, then added four dots of black Enamel Accents. See that loose thread at the top of the photo? I did that on purpose. I stopped sewing there, pulled the thread out of my sewing machine and continued stitching to the end of that edge so that it would look like the stitching had come loose. The top of those panels are distressed the heaviest, so it made sense to me to have loose threads there.

And, here's the finished card. See the stitching on the outer edges? I kept changing from a straight stitch to a zig zag and back to straight as I went around the card, and when zig zagging, I randomly changed the length and width of the stitches to add just a little more shabbiness. 

On the inside of the card, I layered up different papers from the front of the card. If they look a little crooked, it's because they are. I purposely tilted the two middle panels just a tiny bit. The bottom and top panels are both straight and fairly centered (I seldom measure--I just eyeball things. I figure if it looks right to me, it will look right to anyone else, unless, of course, they are going to get a ruler out to check).  ;D I'm not sure why I couldn't bring myself to make all the panels be straight. I fiddled around with it for quite a while and just was not liking it all proper looking.

So just what IS this style? I don't have a clue. But, I sure had a blast making it!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you've got a wonderful weekend ahead of you.

~Hugs,
 

Stamps: Quietfire
Paper: Once Upon a Time (DCWV); Que Sera Sera (K&Co); old dictionary page
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks
Dies: Beaded Circles, Std Circles Large, Lattice Pendant, Lattice Rectangles, Curved Rectangles (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Tropical Paisley embossing folder (Sizzix); ribbon (Michael's); embossed metal charm (Making Memories); Enamel Accents (Inkssentials); Liquid Pearls; half pearls; large eyelets; household twine; Perfect Pearls Mist; sewing thread; foam dots; Distrezz-it-all
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Isn't it fun!

Hi there! Quick post here today. My great-niece is having her first birthday soon, and I made this card for her. I used this week's My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch #34.

This sketch actually has two long skinny panels on it, but since the balloon stamp was so large, I opted to use a medallion for the second panel to keep from covering up the entire front of the card. I really like all that orange and pink. 8~D

The balloons are covered in glitter glue and paper pieced, and the number "1" on the front of the card is covered in Glossy Accents to give it some shine and dimension.

This is the inside, but it could just as easily have been the front, I think.

  



Hope you all had a great day today. Thanks for visiting!

 

Stamps: Party Balloons & Everything Happy (Stampendous)
Paper: Bright Blossom (S.E.I.); Bright Pattern Pack (Colorbok); Basics Pack & Textured Cardstock stack (The Paper Studio)
Ink: Memento; Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Copic markers
Dies: Nested Lacey Pendants, Floral Doily Accent (Spellbinders); Curlz Alphabet (Sizzix)
Accessories: Pompom ribbon (Fancy Pants Designs); button; twine (The Twinery); glitter; Stickles; Glossy Accents; foam dots
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Zinnias

I recently bought the new book, Copic Coloring Guide, to try to improve my coloring skills, and I practiced on the card I'm sharing with you today. While I'm far from an expert, it was amazing to see how much better I colored once I understood better about the Copic numbering system. I also found that I had been way too heavy-handed with the markers in the past. and flicking isn't nearly as difficult as I was making it out to be.

This card is for two Tuesday challenges: Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #129--Favorite Flowers, and Tuesday Morning Sketches #105. Here's the sketch:

For my flowers, I used a stamp from Flourishes' Zinnias set. What a fun stamp to color. Zinnias come in so many bright, festive colors. I think I used about 30 different markers for this stamp :). I'm sure I could have colored it with less, but what I did seemed to work okay, even if it probably took me way longer to color than it would have if I'd had more Copic experience. After coloring it, I used a pale yellow blending chalk for some of the background.

After spending all that time coloring, I was in a dilemma over what paper to use for the card. A lot of papers looked good with the flowers, but I really wanted the stamp to shine, so, in the end, I went with all white, with just a touch of black ribbon as an accent. (I apologize for how dark the photos are. I tried using brighter images, but any brighter and you couldn't see the embossing on the background paper.) I used two different EK Success edge punches for the left panel and adhered the Lattice Chain over a piece of black organdy ribbon. Even the butterfly is almost all white. I inked the die with black ink before cutting, and left it without any other colors. I embossed the main background panel with a Sizzix embossing plate (Squares), and added black rhinestones and crystal Stickles to the left panels for a little sparkle.

I layered two different Spellbinder dies behind the stamp because the first layer seemed too flimsy, plus being all white, I needed it to show up against the background. 

For the bow, I tied a bow with two loops on each side, then folded it in half so that all the loops fell to one side of the knot in the middle. I hot glued it to the edge of the main image, and rather than put a sentiment on the front of the card, I left long lengths of ribbon hanging to where the sentiment would have gone. I attached the white butterfly to the bow knot.

For the inside, I cut two black corner accents and put them in opposite corners, then stamped a sentiment (also from the Zinnia set) in the lower left corner.  

I've been wanting to make an all-white card for awhile, and attempted it about a month ago, but ended up adding color to the embossing before I was finished. I'm glad I stuck with white for this one. 

Thanks for visiting me today. Have a great weekend!  

 

Stamps: Zinnias (Flourishes)
Paper: Darice; Recollections
Ink: Staz-On; Copics
Accessories: Dies: Classic Circles Lg., Parisian Accents, Parisian Motifs, Lotus Pendant (Spellbinders); Dimensional Butterfly (Cheery Lynn Designs); Squares embossing plate (Sizzix); seam binding (Hug Snug); organdy ribbon (Joann); rhinestones, Stickles; Lattice Chain Lg Edger & Diamond Lace Edger (EK Success); Inkadinkadoo blending chalk; dimensionals
Size: A^ (4.5" x 6.25")

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SSC22

The first day of school ritual went off without a hitch this morning. My daughter is excited to be back with all her friends and is thrilled with her new teacher--a good way to start the school year. :D I'm hoping, with her back in school, I'll be able to make cards and post to my blog during the day, rather than in the middle of the night. When I don't get in bed until 3 a.m., 6:30 comes around awfully quick!

The card I'm sharing with you today is for the Sketchbook Saturday challenge #22--a great sketch, with lots of different elements to play with.

The background paper I chose is from the K&Co Abrianna stack. I love the way all the colors in this particular pattern compliment each other so well. That also made it easy to choose other papers to go with it. When I cut the sentiment layer out, I left it in the die and lightly sponged Wild Honey Distress Ink over the embossed areas and just inside the edges before stamping the sentiment, and I sponged the same Wild Honey ink over the edges of all the yellow papers. Other than that, I didn't use any other ink on the front of the card.

On the inside of the card, in addition to sponging the edges of the yellow paper, I sponged the edge of the patterned paper with Concord Grape Distress Ink just enough to define the sides, and also on the Fleur de Lis accent at the top, and used the dark purple cardstock as a tiny border at the top edge.

The stamps are from Flourishes. I love their sentiment stamps. The letters are always so crisp--even on this cardstock, which is slightly textured. And, isn't that font lovely?





 






Thanks for stopping by today!





 

 

Stamps: Kids Play, Sweet Nature (Flourishes)
Paper: Abrianna (K&Co); Coredinations; Mango Frost Stack (DCWV); Paper Studio Textured; Recollections
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Staz-On
Accessories: Dies: Labels Four, Labels Thirteen, Ribbon Tag Trio Two, Fleur de Lis Motifs (Spellbinders); Diamonds in Diamonds embossing folder (Sizzix); seam binding (Hug Snug); lace; mulberry paper rose (Recollections); rhinestones; dimensionals 
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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You Rock!

Good morning! I've got a Mojo Monday card to share with you today, but my daughter and I are off to the theater for the final summer series movie in a few minutes, so I'll be brief--or, at least try to ;).

Mojo202 is an interesting sketch and I had no preconceived ideas about how I was going to approach it, so I just started going through my paper to see what tickled my fancy. Almost immediately, I came upon this strange distressed-looking paper with words and arrows all over it. I've seen it before, and never given it a second thought, but this time I decided to see what I could do with it. Honestly, it's not my favorite paper, but I was in the mood to experiment. It's kind of funny how it worked out, because I was positive I wasn't going to like this card when I was finished.

The rectangular layer paper was designed to coordinate with the background paper, so that was a given. The green and peach colors, I just matched to designs within the paper. I love almost all shades of green, but primary green is definitely NOT one of those shades, so I layered it up with lime green and inked the edges with tea dye Distress Ink. I don't own a pennant die yet, so I cut rectangles the width I wanted the pennants to be and twice the length, then cut from corner to corner to get these shapes. Since I used a rectangle die with a wavy edge, I trimmed the pennant edge to match the curvy rectangle. For the circle, I decided to try my hand at a felt flower, so I cut layers with Daisy Heads dies (2 each of the smaller 2 dies), snipped between each petal, and sewed the layers tightly together with thread to make the edges curl up. I threaded orange waxed linen thread through the button, tied a bow, and hot glued it to the flower and scrunched the whole thing up around the button to give it some dimension. I added a couple of brushed gold brads over the ribbons to balance out the rectangle. I used light pink embossing powder for the "You ROCK!" sentiment from Verve, but I sponged walnut distress ink in that area first to make sure the sentiment didn't have to compete too much with the background paper there. Lastly, I used Liquid Pearls in the corners.

When I was finished, I stepped back and checked it out. Wow! I loved it! It's a little bit funky compared to my usual cards, but it's a fun card, and I already have someone in mind to send it to. Here's the inside:

I'll have another card later today for the Flourishes Bring Back Beautiful challenge, but for now, we're off to see Cats and Dogs. Hope you have a great day today!

 

Stamps: Sweet Treats (Verve)

Paper: Best of K&Co; The Paper Company; Bazzill Basics; Recollections

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Accessories: Dies: Small Labels, Daisy Heads, Curved Rectangles (Spellbinders); Binding Edge Edger punch (EK Success); Reading & Writing embossing folder (Sizzix); Zing embossing powder; ribbon (Fancy Pants Designs); button; felt; waxed linen thread; brads; sewing thread; Liquid Pearls; Perfect Pearls

Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Top Secret

Happy Thursday! I hope you've had a good week...the weekend's almost here!

I think I've gotten back in the groove with my cardmaking now and have two cards to show you. To keep the post from getting waaayyy too long, though, I'll post each one separately. This card is covering three different challenges: a color challenge, a sketch challenge, and a theme challenge. Before I get into exactly what those are, though, here are some detailed photos of this card. See if you can tell what kind of card it is before you see the entire thing.

Is it too soon to guess yet?



Know what kind of card it is?

 

Does this give it away?





What about now?

It's a Christmas card! Both my husband and my daughter held this card in their hands and didn't know it was a Christmas card. Granted, it's not traditional Christmas colors, but I thought just the Naughty and Nice "clipboards" would have been enough. Then, adding in the date--well.... Just to make sure there was no doubt as to it being a Christmas card, here is the inside:

Now, for the challenges. I love the colors for Color Throwdown #152--rosy pinks and greenish browns. Anything that even hints at being green... I'm on it!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge #128 is one that I hadn't even considered doing. It's to make a Christmas card/project, and I don't own one single Christmas stamp, nor do I have any Christmasy paper, besides solids. So I was going to wait this one out and just admire the Design Team's creations. You should check them out--they are stunning. Oh, I have GOT to have that Vintage Post Card set). But, while pink and brown aren't traditional Christmas colors, I got to thinking that a vintage red and green card, with just the right amount of age on it, would probably be those colors, so I went with it. 

The sketch for this week's Mojo Monday #201 is a great one.

 I love the two tilted panels and they were perfect for Santa's Naughty and Nice clipboards. I only attached the notebook paper image at the top, and it can be lifted, so I think if I had someone specific to send this to, I would put their name underneath the "paper" on the "Nice" clipboard. The tag was a challenge, but I found a flower stamp that kind of looked like a poinsettia, so I colored it with Copics, tied it on, and said "Done."

I'll be back in a few hours with another post. In the meantime, leave me a comment--I love reading them and then I can visit your blog and see what you're up to, too ;). Come visit again any time!

 

Stamps: Blue Skies (Verve); Everyday Expressions (Paper Studio); Studio 112; all text generated in Word and either printed on a transparency and used as a rub-on or printed directly on the paper.

Paper: Simply Delightful (My Mind's Eye); Bazzill Basics; The Paper Studio; Recollections

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks; Colorbox; Copics

Accessories: Dies: Oval Tag (Sizzix); Floral Doily Motifs, Labels Sixteen, Labels Four (Spellbinder's); Clockworks embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Morocco Lace Edger (EK Success); seam binding dyed with Distress Inks (Hug Snug); twine (Twinery); brads (Pitter Patter-Making Memories; Flora & Fauna- K&Co; Recollections); button (K&Co); corner chomper; Liquid Pearls

Size: 5" sq.

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It's a pink and yellow day

Hi there, blog friends! Maybe you noticed that I was all about green and orange in my last two posts. I didn't plan it that way, it just happened. Sometimes it's a challenge for me just to stay away from green. So, when I saw that the CR84FN34 Color Challenge 34 was pink and yellow I immediately knew I wanted to play along. 

When I was choosing paper, I wound up with both soft and vibrant color possibilities. I couldn't decide which one to go with, so in the end, I just made two cards for the color challenge. For my soft version, I combined CR84FN34 with the Viva la Verve July 2011 Week 4 sketch challenge, and for the vibrant version I combined CR84FN34 with the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 126.

 

Here's the soft version--

Within Your Heart:

And, here's the vibrant version--
Pink Hello:

I still can't decide which I like better. What do you think???

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a happy weekend :D

 

Soft Version--Within Your Heart (CR84FN34 & VLVJUL2011-Week 4)

Stamps: Blue Skies & Sweet Treats (Verve); Faux Finish (Stampendous); Mark My Heart--interior of card (Recollections) 

Paper: Best of Brenda Walton (K&Co); Bazzill Basics; Recollections 

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink; Colorbox; Stampendous; Inkssentials Clear Embossing Ink
Accessories: Dies: Tim Holtz Ornate (Sizzix); Heart Base, Heart Ornamental, & Oval Tag (Sizzix Sizzlets); embossing powder (Zing); paper raffia (Michael's); Flora & Fauna Metal Studs (K&Co); Perfect Pearls; Perfect Pearls Mist; paper mini roses (Recollections); pearls, rhinestones; beads; dimensionals
Size: 4.5" Square

Vibrant Version--Pink Hello (CR84FN34 & SSSC126)
Stamps: Daily Junque (House of Three); Everything Happy (Stampendous)
Paper: Colorbok; Bazzill Basics; Recollections
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks; Staz-on
Accessories: Satin ribbon (Michael's); mini round gems (Recollections); Daisy Edger Punch & Double Loops Edger Punch (Martha Stewart); Crop-a-Dile corner chomper; Liquid Pearls; twine (Twinery); sewing; dimensionals
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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