Off to Dinner at International Art & Soul

Our challenge for this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Off to Dinner. 

 

Inspiration/Challenges:
613 Avenue Create: (1st Sunday) Anything Goes + Optional Twist: Heart & Soles
Cut It Up: (2W) #219 Valentine or love-themed project that includes a die cut

Update: This was chosen as a Top Rocker at 613 Avenue Create!

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Pink Pickup Shaker -- Hearts at International Art & Soul

Our challenge for this fortnight at the International Art & Soul Challenge is Hearts. 

Inspiration/Challenges: 
Bastel-Traum: (P15) Love
Creations in Pink: (P15) #30 Anything Goes in Mainly Pink
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: (Wed) Anything Goes 

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

Not-so-coy Koi - New Stash with the UnstampaBelles

Our theme this month at the UnstampaBelles challenge is Anything Goes Without Stamps, with the optional twist of Use something new you have recently acquired. You need to follow the twist to be considered as the DT Favorite, but you only have to follow main theme to win our prize.

I used the Newton's Nook snowglobe die set that I received for Christmas, but I wanted to use it in a different way so I matched it with my koi die from Memory Box.

The lighter fish is cut from a shiny yellow paper and inked orange; the darker fish is heat-embossed with a shiny orange powder. I made the sentiment using the fonts 4 My Lover and De Balme Initials. For the fishbowls, I decorated the shiny white paper by inking an embossing folder and gently embossing it. I sprayed the inked portion with a mix of alcohol and water. I used a scrap to create the punched hearts. The shakers are filled with microbeads & orange, heart-shaped sequins.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Love

Be sure to check out the fabulous projects by my teammates the UnstampaBelles this month!

Thank you for visiting,

Sea of Love -- Valentines at Crafting with Dragonflies

Our challenge this fortnight at Crafting with Dragonflies is Valentine/Romantic Card.

I used my "Land Ahoy" rubber stamp from Lili of the Valley and papers from Paper House & Imaginisce to make this heartfelt shaker card.

I made the sentiment using the fonts 4 My Lover and De Balme Initials, printed it on off-white paper, die-cut/embossed it, and inked it with Antique Linen distress ink. The stamp was colored with Copic markers; I pieced it onto a patterned paper, and used the flip side for the frame (this paper has been in my stash forever!) I used square dies for this, and black fun foam to make it pop. I filled the shaker with microbeads & die-cut arrows (Impression Obsession). The blue mesh was packaging for garlic!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Creative Sketchy Girls: Sketch
Paru's Card Making Challenge: Love
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes


Thank you for visiting & hope you'll join the fun at Crafting with Dragonflies, 

Love is in the Air at International Art & Soul

Today begins the first International Art & Soul Challenge! I'm so happy to be a part of this fun new challenge team! Our theme this fortnight is Love is in the Air.

I made an Easel Card featuring this adorable couple stamp from Art Impressions. I used Glossy accents to write "love" on the acetate background, and carefully covered it with baker's twine. The sentiment stamp is from Fiskars.

Thank you for visiting! Hope you'll join us at International Art & Soul,

XOXO

Mom gifted me this gorgeous wired ribbon, and since it looks like little Xs, I paired it with a circle stamp from CAS-ual Stamps (which I recently won from the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!) to make a "Hugs & Kisses" card.

To make the circles, I inked a white coated cardboard from some packaging with red ink, sprayed it & heated to for a watercolor effect, and coated it with clear embossing powder to set the ink. The circles are cut out with the "Fun Filled Rings" die from Spellbinders Celebra’tions collection. I couldn't find my "xoxo" stamp, so I did it myself with letter stamps. The white panel is popped with foam tape off of the embossed background.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Crafty Ribbons #145: Monochrome + Ribbon (wired ribbon)
Freshly Made Sketches: Sketch #226
Less Is More: CAS + Wire (wired ribbon)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Rays of Love

A dear friend just gifted me a bunch of Valentine's Day-themed Washi tape and I'm having lots of fun using it.

I adhered the Washi directly onto a silvery cardstock and backed with with a lavender paper. The paper doily, originally white with gray dots, was inked with Amaryllis ink from Sweet Stamps. I stamped the sentiment in pink ink directly onto a pre-made pink tag, and attached it to the card with baker's twine. 

Inspiration:
Stampin' Royalty: Washi Tape
Share Joy Challenge: Sketch & CAS
Sweet Stamps: Anything Goes (+ SS ink)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Baltimore Love

When in doubt, I often make a shaker card. It adds just the right touch of interactivity and is an easy technique. I use plastic packaging for the clear cover and two layers of foam tape to pop it up. I know folks who use chipboard or foam sheets instead, but I like the precision that foam tape gives me.

This card was partly inspired by the current UnstampaBelles challenge: National Symbols with option of your flag colors. Although I think this woven adhesive sticker came from Florida originally, the pink flamingo is a favorite cultural icon in parts of Baltimore City (you may be familiar with Pink Flamingos by John Waters), so I incorporated a rowhouse design to make this B-more Valentine:

Sorry about the photo...it was the best I could get on a cold gray Baltimore day! I used an MFT stencil & red brick distress ink to create the brick pattern on the red paper. The window is cut with a Memory Box die. The fence is an IO die cut from a scrap of woodgrain-patterned paper. The grass is that plastic grass you get with sushi!

This card would also be appropriate for the "Love" Challenge at One Stitch at a Time (OSAAT). Check out my challenge list below, and join the fun!

Shaker Card Tip: I found that included some micro beads along with paper die-cuts helps to make the pieces move inside the shaker.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Inky Chicks #46: from (your country) with love
One Stitch at a Time: Love
Mojo Monday #383: Sketch (past sketch; not entered in the challenge)
Top Tip Tuesday: Favorite Color Combo or Tip
UnstampaBelles February Challenge: National Symbols with option of Your Flag Colors

Thank you for visiting,

Lots of Love for Valentine's Day

Although I do a lot of craft blogging, I do occasionally make projects that don't get posted to my blog. Here are some Valentine's I made for family this year:

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Cupid Card-in-a-Box

Valentine's came came early at our house with my Smarties Pants treat bags, and I received an extra treat when those bags won the challenge at Decorate to Celebrate. My prize was 25 beautifully hand-made puzzle piece embellishments. Thank you so much, Rhonda!

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Friday the 13th Valentine

My husband & I don't celebrate Valentine's Day, at least not officially, but I did tease him that since Friday the 13th is the day before this year, he should get me a bouquet of black cats! That's not gonna happen for so many reasons, but I figured I'd make him a special card.

Note: Well, my husband surprised me with a fabulous Valentine's gift ... "He went to Beacon!"

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For the Nieces

I couldn't resist grabbing the last sheet of this My Little Pony™ paper at Michael's last week to make a special Valentine. I grew up with these plastic ponies, and apparently they are on the third generation now. Oh my. Happily, my sister-in-law has passed on this fun toy to her daughters, so I went on their website and found some great coloring pages. I chose this sweet image of Spike the dragon & Twilight Sparkle to use on the card, and also printed a few of the coloring-book pages for our nieces to play with. For the design I used Tuesday Morning Sketch #286.

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Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Love

You can't go wrong with a shaker card! I used my Silhouette to cut out the tiny hearts, and used the resulting mask to ink the blue hearts. The clouds were cut with IO dies. It's almost impossible to see in this photo, but there is a city silhouette heat-embossed in white along the bottom of the card. I wrapped the bottom of the card with some actual baker's twine, which I got from a New York-style bakery in Arizona a couple of years back.

Thank you for visiting, and lots of love to you & yours!

Heart Triple Easel Card

A friend gave me a template by HOTP for a Heart Triple Easel Card, and I used it to make this Valentine for my folks.

I sorta surprised myself by choosing a rose-red & teal color theme, but I loved this double-sided heart-and-notebook DP from Lawn Lawn, along with this teal heart-patterned DP from my stash.

I used the Gluber Flower technique to make the ribbon rose, but since I couldn't find my Glubers I used an adhesive sheet. This ruler-patterned ribbon went perfectly with the papers. The heart button is die-cut with a PageMakers die. I used a watermark pen to create the border and messily heat-embossed it in white to create a chalkboard effect.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Amusing Challenges: Valentines
Crafting By Designs #62: Love Is In The Air
DoubleClick Skittles #15: Use a heart
Really Reasonable Ribbon #111: Buttons & Bows + Ribbon

Update: This made the Top 3 for Amusing Challenge #113, and was Spotlight project for Crafting By Designs #62!

Thank you for visiting,

Pilin' on the Hearts - Shaker Card #2

You have until Saturday night to join our Hearts and/or Flowers Challenge at Pile It On!

Most of the paper used are actually scraps from a friend, and the pretty flowers were handmade by another friend. I used the Love Banner digi stamp from by Digital Delights to make two matching shaker cards (the 2nd card is showcased here).

I'm entering this card into these great challenges:
My Sheri Crafts Challenge #149: Valentine's day + Use a Heart
Wags 'n Whiskers: Hearts

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Pilin' on the Hearts

Our theme this week at the Pile It On Challenge is Hearts and/or Flowers. We're sponsored by Digital Delights, and so I used used their great freebie Love Banner to make two matching shaker cards (only one is showcased here).

Some friends came over last week for a day of crafting, and after cutting out some Valentine's projects on the Silhouette, I ended up with the scraps. I couldn't resist putting them to use, along with some papers & embellishments the same friends gave me at a birthday party ... a couple of years ago!

The outer heart frame is a black-and-white paper that I inked pink. I added a border of pink Liquid Pearls to the red heart frame. I used plastic from old packaging to cover the heart, adhered the piece with foam tape to a scrap of DP from the aforementioned birthday party, and filled it with die-cut hearts & pink microbeads.

I printed the Love Banner digi stamp twice: on a textured red paper and on a white cardstock. I cut the red piece with a border around the banners, and colored the white banners with Copics markers. I decorated it with pink-and-white baker's twine & black gems.

The background cardstocks are the only papers that aren't scraps. I embossed the light pink piece with a Sizzix folder.

Challenges/Inspiration:

1. Bunny Zoe's Crafts: Hearts
2. Clear It Out: Theme - Valentine/Love + Stash - Flowers (the handmade flower has been in my stash 2 or 3 years)
3. C.R.A.F.T. #295: Recycling (scrap paper & packaging)
4. DL.ART Thankful Thursday Challenge #149: Valentines
5. DRS Designs #158: Lovely Hearts
6. In the Pink: Pink & Pearlie (Liquid Pearls & pearl on flower)
7. Kitty Bee Designs #39: Use Scraps
8. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Have a Heart
9. Sweet Stamps #205: Hearts
10. TIME OUT Challenges: Valentine's Day with the optional twist of Hearts

Update: This was a random winner for C.R.A.F.T. #295, and also a Top Pick for Kitty Bee Designs #39!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting! Hope you'll join us at Pile It On,

Anything with a Heart at Sunshine Mail

click images to enlarge

Our current challenge theme at the Sunshine Mail Foundation is "Anything with a Heart" & the only real rule is that you send in at least one card (it doesn't have to be the card you enter in the challenge; Donation guidelines here). This challenge is sponsored by Stitchy Bear's Digi Outlet, so I used the Baby Bug Set by BB Kakes.

If you want to try your own Card in a Box, there's a great written tutorial at Splitcoaststampers, and a video tutorial by Stampin T! for a smaller version. I trimmed my card down to 5.5 inches tall, to fit in an American/A2 envelope; you can find my measurements here on my blog.

Here's the card all closed up:

And then it pops up into a box:

I colored the sweet fairy with Copics, printing her wings on vellum. The other images were printed on a pink paper and colored with Tekwriter gel pens and Smooch enamel.

The sentiment is by When the Scrap Hits the Fun. The heart-patterned papers are from a K&Company set that I've had for years. Love the vintage touches.


Inspiration/Challenges:
The Crazy Challenge: Fairytale (I've studied the DT samples & I think this applies as a "fairy tale")
Deep Ocean Challenge #70: Fantasy
Hanna & Friends: Hearts + cute/stamped/person/animal
Scrapbooker PhD: Hearts (use red and pink)

Thank you for visiting, and hope you'll join us at Sunshine Mail,