It's Your Day!

Are you ready for a new week? I spent a fun weekend with friends, so I'm rested and ready to roll!

I'll bet, just by looking at the front of this card, you'd never guess that it is a wedding card. I don't think I would, and I wasn't even sure that's what I wanted to do with it at first, but the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge this week is weddings, so I decided to go with it, and I'm glad I did. Once it was all put together, I really liked it.

I colored the image with Copics, added some white gel pen dots inside some of the flowers, then cut it with a circle die, using the out of the box technique, so I wouldn't lose any of the image. All the three-dimensional dots behind the image were inspired from this week's Play Date Cafe challenge color palette photo. I wanted the bg to look similar to the photo also, so I started with gray cs, then spritzed it with several colors of Dylusions Ink Spray before added the dots.

In keeping with the dotty card front, I used plenty of dots inside the card, also. ;)

I've always liked the Floral Ovals die, but often hesitated to use it because I always had to clean out the little pieces that got stuck in the die, but not this time. I've got a good tip for you when using intricate dies that will keep pieces from getting stuck inside the die and will also immediately release the entire die cut easily: Save the poly bags that are in cereal boxes and add them to your die cutting sandwich between the paper and the die. You might be able to do this with just one layer of the poly, but since I didn't get all the crumbs out of the bag first, I just flattened it, using a double layer. I've been using regular wax paper, sometime even four layers, and while it does help some, it's not nearly as good as the cereal bags. Give it a try. I think you'll soon be eating a lot more cereal! ;)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fab week!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #217: Wedded Bliss (FTTC217)
The Play Date Cafe Challenge #179 (PDC179)
Color Throwdown #239 (CTD239)
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Summer Blossom, Hollyhocks, Wedded Bliss (Flourishes)
Ink: Copics; Memento; Distress; Dylusions Ink Spray; white gel pen
Dies: Std Circles Sm, Classic Scalloped Circles Sm, Classic Ovals Lg, Floral Ovals (Spellbinders); Tiny Sweet Scallop (Verve)
Accessories: White embossing powder (Zing); ribbon; twine; Enamel Accents; Liquid Pearls; Pearl Pen; foam dots
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Swallowtail Courage

Hi Friends! I hope you've had a good week so far. Ours has been interesting, but extremely trying. We have honeybees in one of our exterior walls! What a frustrating mess! We thought they were just in a garage wall, and that the beekeeper had gotten all of them a few days ago, but they are back with a vengeance!!!

But, on to my card...

The design is from this week's My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club (MFTWSC120), and the color palette is from The Play Date Cafe Color Challenge #178 (PDCC178). It was a simple card to make, but it may not be obvious how I did it, so here are the deets: The card base is gray. I heat embossed the beautiful Swallowtail image on white cs, with a bright pink embossing powder then randomly swiped a Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink pad directly on the cs. The edges were sponged with Memento London Fog. The layers behind the image are gray, then yellow, then pink. The final, largest layer is gray cs, dry embossed with a Bubble embossing folder. Then I used a silver and a white paint dauber along the outer edges, finishing it with Black Soot Distress Ink.

For the flags, I die cut them, then folded them along the yellow twine, gluing the ends together, and I added just a tiny bit of glue to the back to hold them in place over the image, but I left the pointy ends of the flags loose. The clear gems were added to each flag with Glossy Accents.

On the inside, I used a smaller butterfly stamp randomly on white cs, punched the corners with a Stub Corner Chomper, stamped the sentiment in gray ink, then again in pink ink, and sponged yellow, then black ink along the edges. It is mounted to pink dp and the yellow pearls in the corners are dots of Liquid Pearl.

Oh, what I would give for a butterfly infestation rather than honeybees!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a fantastic, bee-free weekend. :)

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:

My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club #120 (MFTWSC120)
The Play Date Cafe Color Challenge #178 (PDCC178)

~Hugs,

Stamps: Swallowtail, Papillon Potpourri (Stampin Up); Words of Wisdom (Verve)
Ink: Distress; Memento; Versamark
Dies: Banner Stacklets 1 (Taylored Expressions)
Accessories: Bubble Embossing Folder (Sizzix); embossing powder (Recollections); twine; mini round gems (Recollections); Stub Corner Chomper; Liquid Pearls; acrylic paint
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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John 11:25

Hi Friends! I almost let Easter pass by without making a single Easter card! I still have cards left from last year, so it wasn't absolutely necessary, but I did manage to get one made just in time.

The color palette for this card came from the Play Date Cafe Challenge #175. I stamped the Flourishes image in gray ink, then colored with Copics, using Distress Ink to sponge inside the die. I used the out-of-the-box technique so I wouldn't have to cut any of the image off. Because I made the card base 5" square, I didn't have a circle die large enough to fit behind the image die cut, so layered two purple, oval die cuts, and cut the yellow die cut into four parts so I could spread them out.

I followed the sketch fairly closely, adding a sentiment panel, and I used pearls in one corner instead of photo corners. For the sentiment panel, I sponged Milled Lavender Distress Ink inside the die cut, stamped the Bible verse in dark purple, then edged the die cut with a gold calligraphy pen.

I cut decorative corners on the two layers inside the card. For the yellow layer, I sponged Scattered Straw Distress Ink around the edges, then stamped the image from the front of the card on the left, letting it fall off the side of the card, and I also stamped the single Easter Lily in the lower right corner.

And, that'll do it for me today. Thanks for stopping by, and have a Happy Easter!

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:

Seems a Little Sketchy #35 (SALS #35)
Play Date Cafe #175 (PDC175)
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge: Quotable

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: He is Risen (Flourishes)
Ink: Copics; Memento; Distress Ink; Gold Calligraphy Pen
Dies: Exquisite Circles, Classic Squares Sm, Labels 18, Floral Ovals (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Morocco Lace Edge Punch (EK Success); Decorative Tile Set embossing folder (Cuttlebug); ribbon; Deco Corner Chomper; pearls
Size: 5" sq.

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Compass Rose Birthday

Hi Friends! This will be super quick--I'm down to the wire on the Play Date Cafe Challenge!

I made this masculine birthday card using the Viva la Verve March 2013 Week 1 sketch, the Play Date Cafe #171 color palette, and I used corrugated cardboard for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #210 Cards with Cardboard Challenge. My card recipe is at the bottom of the post.

Here's the inside.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Play Date Cafe Challenge #171 (PDCC171) (Chosen as one of the Fab 4 at PDCC!)
Viva la Verve March 2013 Week 1 Sketch Challenge (VLVMar2013)
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #210: Cards with Cardboard! (FTTC210)

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Classics #1 (Stampers Anonymous); Signature Greetings II (PaperTrey Ink)
Paper: Story Teller (Crate Paper); Clippings (Basic Grey); corrugated cardboard
Ink: Distress; Distress Embossing Ink
Dies: Std Circles Sm & Lg
Accessories: Garden Rail edge punch (Martha Stewart); Distress Embossing Powder (Ranger); brads; metal embellishment; acrylic paint; cork sheet; Stickles; Sewing Thread
Size: 4.5" square

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Kaleidoscope Father's Day

Hi Friends! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I have a quick Father's Day card to share with you today. Flourishes is having a Gimme Ten (minute)! challenge, and even though I usually take hours to make a card, I thought I'd give it a try. And, I used this week's Play Date Cafe Color Challenge for my color palette:

I mentioned, in my last post, that I wanted to take a photo of my home library and try to come up with my own personal designer paper. I had already made almost a dozen versions of the photo, using different effects to make the photo more abstract. But, my library is mostly dark cherry wood, and most of the books in the photo I wanted to use are leather-bound in rich reds, browns, and blacks--no where near copasetic for the color challenge--so I used my photo program to make a few more changes.

I used the tiled and kaleidoscope version of the photo, and simply adjusted the colors until they fit the color challenge. Easy peasy! Now, thinking about the design of this card took a long time, but finally putting it together was a snap. I printed the kaleidoscope design to the size I needed, cut it out, punched the corners, inked the edges a little, then heat embossed the sentiment. Then, I glued everything together. Metal accents are glued to each corner.

Finally, I added Stickles to the design. Even close up, you can't tell that this design was originally a photo of a library. I love the kaleidoscope effect feature in my photo program!

On the inside, I thought about adding some kind of sentiment, but decided to just stamp a light motif as a background. I'll add a personal sentiment before I give it to my husband.

And, that's it--quick and easy! Well, quick, after I figured out what I wanted to do. ;)

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:

Flourishes Gimme Ten Challenge (FLLCJun12)

The Play Date Cafe PDCC135: Aquamarine, Poolside, Clay

One Stop Craft Challenge #186: Father's Day

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #189: Father's Day

Sugar Creek Hollow Challenge #15: Make Your Own Designer Paper

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope the rest of your weekend is fabulous!

~Hugs!

 

Stamps: A Guiding Light (Flourishes); Motif (Inkadinkadoo)
Paper: My Library in Kaleidoscope Digi Paper (Personal)
Ink: Distress Ink; Clear embossing ink
Accessories: Morocco Lace Edger (EK Success); white embossing powder; metal accents (K&Co); Stickles; Distress Stickles; sewing thread
Size: A2 (5.5" x 4.25")

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Lavender Daisy and a Tote

Hello again...I'm baaaack! I've got one more card to share with you today, as well as a sewing project. I'll start with the sewing project, as I only have one photo for that.


I made this quilted tote bag for a friend I met when I first started my blog, about nine months ago--Hi, Heather! (I posted a similar tote bag here, where you can also find a link for the free pattern, but I used French seams inside this one so the seam edges are enclosed.) Heather probably has no idea how much she helped me back then, answering all kinds of questions, critiquing my blog, and giving me encouragement when I thought I was never going to get blogging or cardmaking figured out. I've still got a lot to learn, but at least now I know it's not impossible. Thanks for getting me through the hardest part, Girl!!! Couldn't have done it without you! :D I'll get this in the mail to you on Monday.


Now on to the card.

I used the colors from The Play Date Cafe Challenge #129, of Dusk, Magenta, and Seedling--a luscious palette!

I stamped the daisy with Staz On ink, then used chalk and a wet paintbrush to color it. The edges of the image panel were torn with a deckle ruler, then I sponged Distress Ink on it. The lavender and green panels are all dry embossed. The bg layer was embossed with a Sizzix embossing plate. It's subtle, but you can see the squares if you look closely.

I made an envelope for this card using my Martha Stewart Scoreboard. Because the paper is patterned, I added pieces of solid cardstock for the mailing address and return address, and the scalloped border is decorative.

The inside is partially lined with paper that coordinates with the card. I really like making matching envelopes for my cards, but they are too time-consuming to do it often. 

Well, that will do it for me tonight.

I'll be entering this card in the following challenges:

Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC129: Dusk Magenta, Seedling

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Moving Along with the Times: Garden or Flowers

Pixie Dust Studio Challenge #124: Embossing

Little Darlings Challenges: Flower Challenge

Thanks for stopping by...again! :)

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Watercolor Daisy (Hampton Art)
Paper: Best of Brenda Walton (K&Co); watercolor paper
Ink: Distress Ink; Staz On
Accessories: Chalk; deckle ruler; Real Estate Sign Large punch, Scallop Diamond Edge punch (EK Success); Corner Chomper; Swiss Dot embossing folder, Script Texture embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Squares embossing plate (Sizzix); twine (The Twinery); foam dots; scoreboard (for envelope)
Size: A6 (4.5" x 6.25")

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