houndstooth & damask card set.

I was totally blown away by *this card* on Ashley's blog.  And since I needed to whip up a quick card set for a last-minute gift, I cased her design, rather than start from scratch creating my own.  Sometimes it's just like that.

The set came together so quickly, except for cutting out all of the flowers by hand.  That'll teach me to not buy the matching dies *wink.*

Thanks for peeking!

MAN week, part 2.

Yesterday, I shared the card I made for my own daddy.  Today, something I whipped up for my baby-daddy...

See him in the truck?  hee hee.  I was cracking myself up whilst sticking his tiny head in there...  I'm such a nerd like that - you know people who breathlessly laugh at their own jokes, and everyone else just laughs at them because they're cracking themselves up?  Yeah, that's me.  Pathetic, I know.  

The vanilla focal point mat was covered with "text-style II" and then I grabbed every vehicle stamp I own (see PTI's tiny treats: birthday truck near the bottom?  it's so cute!) and randomly stamped them around.  I stamped the main truck (from SU's "loads of love") onto patterned paper and snipped it out, including making room for popping in the big daddy's head.  A silver brad handle added just the right amount of man-bling.

Tomorrow, I'll share some father's day decorations!  Stay tuned...

postmarked missing you.

I know I'm late to the whole post-card party, but I couldn't resist.  Have you been *wasting* time on pinterest, like I have?  (I could argue the whole "time enjoyed isn't time wasted" but for now, let's just say that there are sometimes more important things in life than looking at pretty things...) My friend recently said that if she spends time on pinterest before bed, she dreams pretty things :)

I've loved looking at all the wedding stationary that has this whole vintage postcard vibe....

I'm obsessed.  sigh.  If only I could re-plan my wedding... without actually having to go through a wedding again, lol!  

So, being completely inspired, I came up with an-almost-1-layer card (if you don't count the 2 popped-up elements).  I love the depth and interest that I managed to create on this one layer!  

Here's a close-up of the text portion... with a bit of masking, I kept the text-style II background within the blocks to make it look like a hand-written postcard (but prettier.  No one wants to see my handwriting, believe me.)

Thanks for looking!

MIM - sympathy.

Sympathy cards are hard enough to send out, let alone create.  It's a fine balance between somber, elegant, and uplifting at the same time.  When I saw that the PTI: MIM challenge was sympathy cards, I decided to add to my stash... I figure that when you NEED a sympathy card is probably not the best time to be creating one... you know?

I have never tried the "emboss-resist" technique before, but gave it a whirl here.  The clear-embossed florals (from PTI's "larger than life") "resist" the ink that I sponged and stamped on top - so cool!  The bird is from SU's "notably ornate" set, and was "kissed" with PTI's "text-style II".

fruit salad

I guess we're continuing our cutesy, punny streak on the blog - I promise my next card will be completely elegant... we'll see if I can pull that off, since it's been awhile...

I pulled out the new-to-me lawn fawn set "silly valentine" and stamped the fruit.  After I colored them in with copics, I created a mask for each and randomly stamped with PTI's "text style II" over top.  I used LF's "smitty's abcs" to create my saying.  I was racking my brain for what could work with the cute fruit and that's what I came up with.  What d'you think?  I added some basic grey paper to the bottom of the card and stitched and stuck everything to an SU kraft card-base.

This card was created especially for my first guest-blogging experience.  My awesomely prolific and self-professed non-crafty friend, Bethany, invited me over to her blog to share a bit about myself and my creative process.  I'd love it if you would check-it-check-it-out!

i chair-ish you.

I love that armchair.  Like, really love it.  I don't know why I don't break out this set more often.  I saw this card yesterday and was totally inspired.  I stamped a sheet of white paper with "text-style II" and then stamped the chair outline on top.  Adding another layer, I stamped the circles pattern in SU's cherry cobbler ink.  A few swipes with a copic marker added some definition and then I used my colorless blender to spread the color around.  The SU ink bled (on purpose - ha!) and covered the whole armchair.

The little cushion got the same treatment.  Doesn't this look like the most comfy armchair ever?  I want to curl up in it!  I stamped the kitchy little sentiment in memento black ink, and the rows of text style II underneath in antique linen distress ink.  I ragged-up the edges of the white mat - to underline the comfiness of the worn-in couch.  Sooo, to say it plainly:  your friendship is so cozy, and makes me feel as comfortable and warm as sitting in the cushiest of chairs.  Cheesy?  you bet.  But sweet too, non?

MIM #10

Where do you derive inspiration for your papercrafting?  Or for your general craftiness?  I find mine in the weirdest places... 

This week's MIM challenge was to mask using your die-cuts.  I die-cut the cupcake you see above, and then used the negative space to sponge in my colors.  I sponged the entire space in SU's crumb cake ink and then created another mask that allowed me to sponge fresh snow ink at the top for the "icing" and SU's early espresso ink for the "wrapper" at the bottom.  I wanted the wrapper to stand out, so I also stamped it using text-style II.

Here's my inspiration photo:

Doesn't it look yummy?  That icing is calling my name, begging me to eat salads all day so I could fit it in to my daily WW points, lol!

When I sponged white ink onto my cupcake, it wasn't looking enough like that yummy icing.... so I busted out my liquid applique (who uses that anymore? ha!) and painted over the top to make it pop.  And, for good measure, I added some chocolate chip sprinkles.  Because, according to my kids, everything is better with chocolate chip sprinkles...

Everything else is pretty straightforward.  I stamped a row from polka dot basics II in SU's cherry cobbler, and another row in daffodil delight.  The little "eat cake" sentiment is from Tiny treats: birthday and was stamped in baja breeze.  Everything was sponged to tie it together, even the embossed polka-dots on the card base.  For a final touch - a little baker's twine.

Thanks for looking!