Happy Independence Day!

It's a wonderful country we live in. I am so very thankful to those who have and are sacrificing their time and for some, their lives, to keep all the wonderful freedoms we have. My family will be spending the afternoon at a picnic at my sister's. I hope you are able to spend time with family and friends today.

I wasn't sure that I'd have time to make a card for the inspiration challenge on SCS today, but when I looked at the samples (I picked the one on the right), I knew just what I wanted to do and the card went together fairly quickly. Of course it helped that I had an image on my desk all colored.

The music is from an old piano practice book that I found in a rummage sale. The background layer is embossed in my cuttlebug. All the layers are sponged on the edges.

What's in it?
stamps: natural beauty, small scrip (SU)
ink: jet black stazon, creamy caramel
paper: whisper white, barely banana, bashful blue, old music
other: hemp, buttons, prismacolor pencils, gamsol, foam tape, sponge, cuttlebug, cb diamond in the rough embossing folder

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderfilled day.

more cardboard

Hi everyone. I had so much fun with the corrugated cardboard on my card that I decided to make another for the ways to use it challenge.

I used three of the SU's new in colors on my card. The base layer is dusty durango. I die cut the rich razzleberry with my top note die and stamped the bird image from wings of friendship (a new hostess set) in white craft ink and then heated it to dry. I like to have a strip of card stock behind the top note, so that it doesn't look likes it's floating. But since the other end was being covered by the cardboard, I only needed a small piece where it would show. I used my cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder to give the bermuda bay piece some texture.

For the corrugated cardboard piece, I spritzed one side with water, let it sit a bit and then removed the outside layer. I used my Sizzix scallop circle die to cut out the cardboard and then trimmed two sides so that it would fit in the corner of the card.

I wanted to use a crochet flower and found one that matched the dusty durango perfectly. I punched two flowers to put behind it, as well as some fern punches. The flowers are embossed with the Swiss dots folder. I used a wire cutter to remove the shank on the button for the center of the flower.

All the edges are sponged in rich razzleberry and the faux stitching is done with a white gel pen.

What's in it?
stamps: wings of friendship (SU)
ink: rich razzleberry, white craft
paper: dusty durango, bermuda bay, rich razzleberry, corrugated cardboard
other: cuttlebug, cb Swiss dots embossing folder, top note die & scallop circle die (Sizzix), 5 petal flower punch, fern punch (Martha Stewart), sponge dauber, button, white gel pen, flat back pearls, crochet flower

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

Fun with cardboard

Happy Thursday. I thought maybe we were going to get a peek of sunshine this morning, but it's clouded over again. Today the challenge on Splitcoast is the ways to use it challenge, and I'm the guest hostess - how fun. I decided with all the talk about going green, we'd use something that we normally throw out or recycle. We all get things shipped to us in corrugated cardboard boxes and sometimes those boxes get pretty damaged during shipping. They are perfect for your card making challenge today. We are using corrugated cardboard. I'd love to have you stop over on SCS and join in.

I started by stamping my background. I used a clear stamp that's a large corner image from pollen dust (Fancy Pants) for the lower left part of the card. Then for the upper/right side, I inked up my lattice backgrounder (CHF), stamped off once and then laid my card stock on the stamp and only rubbed where I wanted the image. Both images were stamped in chocolate chip. The edges are sponged with chocolate as well.

I die cut ovals using my nestabilities and cuttlebug. I stamped the flower with melon mambo (a new SU incolor), sponged the edges and popped up the ovals.

The flower was made by stamping French script (SU) on melon mambo and punching out several with a Fiskars punch. I sponged all the edges and then used a stylus and my fingers to give a little shape to the petals before adding a large brad in the center.

The crochet edging is a piece I recently made.

Now for the fun part - the butterfly. I spritzed a piece of corrugated cardboard with water and let it sit for a few minutes, then peeled off one side to reveal the ridges underneath. Then I die cut the butterfly with my SU beautiful butterflies die. I spritzed bronze glimmer mist on it, dried it with my heat gun and then sponged the edges with chocolate and the ridges with melon mambo. Added some pearls for the body.

The corner adornment is a cuttlebug die. A few more pearls completed the card.

What's in it?
Stamps: French script (SU), agapanthus cluster (Stampendous), lattice backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms), flourish (Pollen Dust – Fancy Pants)
ink: melon mambo, chocolate chip
paper: melon mambo, chocolate chip, very vanilla, corrugated cardboard
other: cuttlebug, CB corner die, Sizzix beautiful butterflies die, nestabilities ovals (Spellbinders), flower punch (Fiskars), flat back pearls (Kaiser craft), brad, hand crocheted edging (made by me), sponge, foam tape

Gina K challenge #3

Hello again. This is my third challenge card for the Gina K June release. This challenge was to create a pink and brown card.

The butterfly is stamped twice. One is colored with an ink pad and water brush and then cut out and glued over the top of the other with the wings popped up.

The sentiment is a left-over from another card.

I punched the lower edge of the chocolate layer with a scallop border punch and added some white gel pen. I also used a chocolate chip marker to make faux stitching along the edges of the card and added some flat back pearls.

What's in it?
stamps: oval all (SU), take flight (Gina K)
ink: jet black stazon, pretty in pink, chocolate chip
paper: pretty in pink, chocolate chip, very vanilla
other: white gel pen, scallop border punch, scallop oval punch, sponge, flat back pearls, foam tape, water brush

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

Gina K single layer card

Here's my second card for the Gina K June release challenges, this one a single layer card.

I stamped the butterfly in black stazon and colored with colored pencils and gamsol. I stamped the sentiment and then added a flight trail with a black marker. Some blue rhinestones finished the card.

What's in it?
stamps: flight of the butterfly (SU), take flight (Gina K)
ink: jet black stazon
paper: very vanilla
other: prismacolor pencils, gamsol, blue rhinestones

Thanks for stopping by.

Gina K release sketch challenge

Happy Monday. I just finished making three cards for the Gina K June release party challenges. They were due by 7:00 this evening, so I was doing a bit of scrambling to get them done before the deadline. I'm going to put them in separate posts, since I have a really hard time getting my text to fit next to the right card.

The first is a sketch challenge. I did embossing resist technique on a page from an old book. I really like this technique, but it works much better with a larger bold image than what I used. Then you can see more of the writing underneath the image.

What's in it?
stamps: peace & comfort (Gina K)
ink: versamark, brilliant blue
paper: brilliant blue, very vanilla, digital paper (Gina K), page from old book
other: twill tape, clear ep, heat gun, flower trio punch, sponge, blue rhinestones, foam tape

Thanks for visiting today.

four challenges - whew!

Hello everyone. Happy am I. I just managed to fit four challenges into one card. AND it didn't take me all day either. The challenges are inspiration, color, sketch, and ways to use it on SCS this week.

What really made this easy is that there were certain parameters from each challenge that just meshed together. A blue bird for the inspiration, which fit the sketch and the colors nicely and the colors already worked for the ways to use it, which was bold and bright.

I used my new hostess set wings of friendship, did a little bit of paper piecing, some cuttlebug embossing, added a crochet flower, button and some pearls.

The deets:
stamps: wings of friendship (SU)
ink: pacific point, tangerine tango, summer sun
paper: pacific point, tangerine tango, summer sun, whisper white
other: cuttlebug, cb textile embossing folder, nestabilities labels one die, corner rounder, sponge dauber, crochet flower, button, half pearls, foam tape

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed day.