Hello friends! I have a shabby little card to share today and I hope that it passes muster with my sweet Kiwi friend, Sue. This is my hope because you see Sue is quite adept at the shabby chic style of cardmaking and this week she is the hostess with the most-est over at Our Creative Corner. Her choice of challenge? Shabby chic, of course. Now, when Sue made mention of the fact that she would be hosting an OCC challenge I mused in my comment on her blog that I should play along. Well, Sue took me up on that little comment and challenged me to, and I'm quoting her, "see as much Shabby as you can possibly do, extend yourself and let go,
shove CAS out the window, down the path and over the wall". See, I love CAS and I'm not overly comfortable with layering things up and adding multiple embellishments. Sue, on the other hand, finds creating CAS cards difficult and has no problem layering and embellishing. I tried my best to add as many layers and embellishments as I could. I hope that this card meet with Sue's approval. 
Hello, friends!! Hope everyone in the US is enjoying the long weekend. Have a couple of cards to share. I made one using the current colors from ColourQ, but missed out on getting it posted in time for the challenge and the current Deconstructed Sketch. I'm not entirely happy with the card as I don't think I combined the colors very well, but that is the point of a challenge... to challenge yourself! The stamps are from the Taylored Expressions limited edition set "Vintage Dreams", as well as another TE set "Make it Amazing". The patterned paper and the brads are from one of my TE Key Ingredients kits -- March, I think. The cardstock is PTI. And I think I can officially say that I absolutely LOVE my Fishtail Flag Stax Die-namics dies from My Favorite Things. They are the coolest dies evah!! I couldn't figure out where to put a sentiment so I cut a fishtail flag using the smallest die in the set and stamped it with the sentiment from "Make it Amazing". I clipped it to the larger fishtail flag using a mini binder clip that was embellished with a twine bow. 
The second card is for the current The Craft's Meow sketch challenge. The challenge lasts for the entire month, but for some reason I just can't seem to get my card done any earlier than several days before the challenge closes! Anywhoo... for this card I used some really pretty papers from a Me & My Big Ideas 8x8 paper pad. My sister-in-law gave me the pad for Christmas and for someone who knows nothing about papercrafting she managed to pick a really good one! The stamps are from The Craft's Meow, of course, two different sets, Beautiful Spring and Thanks Bee to Thee. The sentiment from Thanks Bee to Thee didn't fit on the fishtail flag I diecut, so I masked off the bottom portion and inked up only the "thanks". Worked pretty good. I stamped the large butterfly on some of the patterned paper using black ink and trimmed it out. The smaller one was stamped on white cardstock using pink ink and trimmed out. The two were then layered together and the rhinestone added. I really like the very clean look of this card.
Welcome to Our Daily Bread Design's Alumni Team's bi-monthly For the Love Blog Hop. This week the Alumni team along with some of the ODBD designers are featuring a hop for the For the Love of ODBD Celebrations stamp sets! Check out each link and leave a comment. If you get lost along the way, go back to the ODBD blog for a full list of links. One of the post is a hop hot spot and a name will be drawn from that list of comments to win a $15 ODBD store gift certificate. So, all you have to do is hop along and see all the creations and leave a little love! You have until Wednesday, June 6th at 6 pm. Enjoy all the awesome inspiration using For the Love of ODBD Celebration sets!
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When I saw the LIM challenge this morning I was so thankful that last month I won a super cute baby set that was included in the April Flourishes release. I was also thankful that Chupa's wonderful sketch this week would work perfectly for a CAS style card! Since I'm still in my white on white with a pop of color mood I went with using just white and baby blue (one of my "b" items... the others are bow, buttons, baby & boy). I cut a piece of PTI's Bitty Box Basics paper in Spring Rain and adhered it to my card front. The fishtail flag was cut from PTI's white cardstock using the largest Fishtail Flag die from the MFT Fishtail Flag Stax set (I absolutely LOVE those dies!!) and adhered over the patterned paper. Then I added the Spring Rain double stitched ribbon. The onesie was stamped on the patterned paper using black ink, trimmed out and adhered to the card using foam dimensionals. The sentiment was added using black ink followed by three little Spring Rain buttons. I matted the white piece with some Spring Rain cardstock. Pretty cute, don't ya think?
Hello!!! It is Saturday and that means time for another fabulous ODBD Shining the Light challenge!!! Yay!!! This week the challenge is to create your project based on a fabulous sketch! I just love sketches... don't you?? For my card this week I used the newly released ODBD set Dreams. I just love that set... the quotes are beautiful and it coordinates with the ODBD/Spellbinders exclusive Elegant Ovals dies! What more could you ask for??? The papers I used are from the My Mind's Eye Paris & Co 6x6 pad. All the cardstock is from PTI. The sentiment was stamped on white cardstock using dark brown ink, die cut using the largest Elegant Oval die and then ink distressed with Old Paper DI. The dove and olive branch from the set were stamped using dark brown and light blue inks, trimmed out and ink distressed, as well. They were then popped up on the sentiment using foam dimensionals. The larger oval shaped die (a Heartfelt Creations dies) was cut from Fine Linen cardstock, left in the die and embossed. The oval sentiment piece was then placed inside as you see. All the edges of the cardstock and patterned paper were distressed with a distressing tool before the card was assembled. A strip of burlap ribbon was adhered to the card front (you can just see the edges of it peeking out). A twine bow finished everything off. 
Thanks to a bloggy friend, Michelle, I learned about a new color challenge blog called Dynamic Duos. Intrigued by the idea of using just two colors and a neutral I decided to give them a try. The current challenge colors are Pool Party (Aqua) and So Saffron (Yellow). As I was rummaging around in my stuff I came across one of the remaining stamps I have from Cornish Heritage Farms. (I was so bummed when they closed up business! I believe someone bought the rights to the images and are now selling them, again.) It is a really fun gingham background stamp and made me think of the Moxie Fab gingham challenge. So, I threw the Sketchbook Saturday sketch in the mix and this came up with this super simple card. I initially had the idea to add something to the gingham background, but that idea didn't quite work. So I went back to just letting the gingham shine and added a bit of the yellow ribbon. I quite like how it turned out. The sentiment is from the Hero Arts set Thoughtful Messages.
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I have a card I put together using the current sketch from the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge. This time I used a sweet little PI set called Scientist. When I first saw the little PI I thought it was a boy, but then I saw the tiny heart in her hair and realized I was wrong! Anywhoo... I used some papers from the My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline Howdy Doody pad, as well as a brad from the same line. The little scientist's outfit was paper pieced and then the rest of her was colored with Copic markers. The zig zag dies, Fishtail Flag as well as the little mini doily die are from My Favorite Things. The circle dies are Spellbinders. Sentiment is a "two-parter" so I stamped the first portion on the fishtail flag and then finished off the interior of the card with the second part of the sentiment, as well as second stamping of the little PI. 
Back in April I was super lucky and won the entire April Flourishes release... three beautiful stamp sets and a gorgeous background stamp! For my card I decided to use the background stamp, Antique Lace, along with stamps from two other Flourishes sets: Clematis & Butterflies & Botanical Bookplates. I stamped the Antique Lace on white cardstock using SU!'s So Saffron, trimmed it to fit the card front and adhered using foam dimensionals. I cut another piece of white cardstock and stamped the sentiment in bottom corner and then the butterflies were stamped using So Saffron ink. A piece of So Saffron grosgrain ribbon was then tied around the piece. This piece was then adhered using more foam dimensionals. I stamped the another butterfly using Tuxedo Black ink, colored it with Copic markers and trimmed it out. A light coating of Diamond Stickles was applied and then the butterfly was adhered to the card as shown. I seem to be in a white on white with a pop of color mood right now as this is the third one I have made in the last several days. IThe is just something about a crisp white card that makes me happy!
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The patterned paper that I die cut using a Spellbinders plain circle die is what inspired me to use the TE set Birds of a Feather. The patterned paper circle was matted with green felt die cut using a larger Spellbinders circle die. I stamped the branch image using dark, dark brown ink and then trimmed it out. The birdcage was stamped using yellow ink and trimmed out as well. Both images were then popped up on the circles for more dimension. I stamped a couple of little birds using a light aqua ink, trimmed them out and added them as you seen. The sketch called for the sentiment to be on the front, but I decided to finish off the interior of the card with a strip of the same paper that was used for the die cut circle. The left over paper just happened to have the little frame image already on it... the perfect spot to stamp my sentiment. I have to tell you that I have been having a bit of a laugh over some of the comments left for me on cards that I have posted where I have finished the inside because many of you think I have made two separate cards! If you take a look at the finished card, you can see the interior just peeking out on the one side. I can see, though, how it might seem like two different cards since I have been taking a picture of the interior before I have adhered the finished card front to the card base. (Ha!! I just discovered that I can add a caption to my pictures, so I have given both photos a caption!)
The ColourQ combo this week was another tough one for me, but I knew that the graphic style of this week's Retro Sketch would work well with them. I had planned on using one of the text image stamps from PTI's Text Styles border set to create the strip across the card front, but when I saw the new A Blog Named Hero challenge to use sentiment stamps in a way different from what they were meant to be used as I decided to use a couple of sentiments from the HA set Year Round Sentiments. The flowers are from another HA set Bold Pop Designs. Despite the fact that the flowers do cover up some of the sentiments, you can still figure out that it says "I miss you" and "Thinking of you". I was quite impressed that I managed to get everything to line up so well just by eyeballing it! I stamped a flower in the following colors, Ruby Red, Pool Party & So Saffron and then cut them out using the matching die. Clear rhinestones were added to the centers. The sentiments were stamped using Early Espresso. I rounded the opposite corners of the card front to add an additional bit of interest.
