inspired by beauty

Happy Saturday, everyone. Although we had a few peeks of sunshine this morning, it's another gray, windy day. For the past couple of days, we've had strong winds and most of the beautiful colored leaves are now on the ground.

Today's inspiration challenge on SCS targeted a site called Precious Possessions, which sells Franz Porcelain. I looked around the site a bit and came across some gorgeous pieces. I chose this stunning black vase as the inspiration for my card.

I started with a piece of black cardstock that was 5-1/4" x 4" and embossed antique background (retired SU) in gold. I trimmed off the left side to mimic the shape of the vase. I was going to layer it on a white card base, but realized that I shouldn't have trimmed it down from a quarter sheet of cardstock, so I decided to back it with a layer of white and put both on a black card base.

I chose a flower from Stampendous, which I stamped twice in black stazon on white and colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Because of all the little squiggles around the petals, it took forever to cut out the flowers. I then sponged some real red ink on the edges of the petals and shaped them a bit with my fingers for some dimension. I layered them so that the petals underneath weren't the same as the top ones. There is dimensional tape between the layers. I added a small amount of dazzling diamonds glitter to the flower center.

The sentiment is from a Cornish Heritage Farms rummage bin set called beautiful.

I really love how this card turned out.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a wonder-filled day.

Oh, no, more pink!

Hi everyone. I have another card from Saturday's mini VSN challenges. This one was inspired by the beautiful dress & hair adornment worn by the young lady in the film linked here.

The background is stamped with French filigree (SU) in regal rose on pretty in pink. Flowers from paint prints (SU) were inked in pretty in pink and then rock & rolled in regal rose and cut out. I glued 5 layers together and manipulated the petals so they would stand out from the card. A pink jewel is glued in the center.

The leaf from paint prints was also rock & rolled in certainly celery & old olive and stamped many times and cut out. I just kept adding until I thought there were enough.

The wide strip is white, black and regal rose. The photo corner punch is certainly celery, black & regal rose. Some dots were added with white gel pen.

The sentiment is also from paint prints.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

pink and purple

Pink -- Look what I received on Tuesday! Along with a set of texture plates and a whole bunch of dies from Sizzix. Now, if you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I don't care for pink, but this was such a great deal (a weekend clearance sale - it was 60% off - yay!), I decided I could live with the color. This is the Hello Kitty line, with a cute kitty, jewels, & lots of PINK! I've played with it just a bit and I like the way it feels with the bigz dies - very sturdy, but it does take up a lot of counter space. Since I already have a cuttlebug, the biggest reason I wanted this was to use the longer dies, so now I will have to get the long cutting pads to go with it.









Purple - That's the ways to use it challenge today on SCS. Purple is another one of my not so favorite colors, but I figured if I can get a pink Big Shot, I could certainly play along with a purple challenge. And to make it easier, I used yesterday's sketch challenge for the layout.

I decided to use some paper that I picked up for pennies when a local craft store was closing. I got a whole stack of it and it doesn't match my inks very well. I paired it up with elegant eggplant and pale plum cardstock. First I used friendly words jumbo wheel (SU) in eggplant along the bottom of the pale plum card base. Along the top edge of the wheeled strip, I placed a narrow strip of eggplant cardstock. Then at the top, I put the smaller pieces of designer paper backed with eggplant. I sponged eggplant all around the outside edge of the card.

For the main image, I stamped a flower (Inkadinkadoo) twice on white cardstock in jet black stazon and colored it with mustard in the center and the petals with lavender lace. Since the lavender didn't really match, but neither did any other color, I sponged perfect plum over the petals to get a better color match. After cutting out the flowers, I sponged eggplant around the edges. I stamped both flourishes from priceless (SU) in always artichoke on white, sponged the edge with eggplant, and adhered the flowers, popping up the one in front. I backed the white panel with eggplant and added a knotted eggplant ribbon and popped up the panel.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

how many layers?

Hi everyone. It's another gray, cloudy day here today. I would really like to see some sunshine. I have another card that I did on Saturday for the VSN mini on SCS. This challenge was to make a one layer card. Yup, just one piece of cardstock. I didn't even add any extra embellishments like ribbon or brads, etc. Just ink and paper.

I started with a vanilla card base. I used my cuttlebug and a nestabilities label to make a mask, which I used both parts. I masked the outside and sponged on the inside in chocolate chip and stamped the oak leaf from autumn splendor (SU) in really rust.

Then I removed the outside mask and used the inside one to draw around and make a border. I should have used another size die to make it easier, but instead I did it the hard way and had to pen in the color very carefully.

Leaving that mask in place, I sponged more mustard over the rest of the card.

Using some post-it notes, I left just a narrow strip open for a faux ribbon and sponged on really rust. I added stitches with a white gel pen.

I used my mat pack and a chocolate chip marker to make faux brads, which white gel pen highlights.

The sentiment is from pocket silhouettes (SU).

Thanks for stopping by today. Be blessed.

Happy St. Patty's Day

Ha! I'll guess you are wondering if I've gone crazy! Well, no, I haven't. But I do have a fun green card to show you today.

On Saturday, my sister and I spent the morning at a stamp/scrap expo here in town, and we both managed to spend a bit of money. Yesterday's card showed one of the items I purchased, an embossing folder from Quikutz. I got three of those, plus a few from Sizzix. I also found a Sizzix Bigz ornament die that is exactly the kind I was looking for (for 40% off, too). I wanted one that I could cut chipboard with. This has 2 ornaments, a round one and a fancy one - perfect - and a nice size as well. I think I will be able to make stencils to play with, too. I found a few stamps and embellishments as well. I was happy with what I found. Anyway, I'm a little off track here.

Saturday evening was a mini VSN on SCS and I got to play. I did 4 out of the 5 challenges. By the time I finished the 4th one, I was ready to go to bed, too tired to even upload that card until the next morning.

The first challenge was make a card with a holiday stamp masquerading as a different holiday. So I used a pretty heart stamp to make a shamrock and made a St. Patty's day card.

I stamped the heart 4 times in garden green on gable green and cut them out. I arranged them as a shamrock on white cardstock and drew in the stem. I then used my ticket corner punch on all four corners and sponged the edges with green galore.

I printed the sentiment on the computer and die cut it with a spellbinders label die. I then added some sponging to the edges. I cut a few 1/4" strips of green galore cardstock and glued them on at an angle. The brads are 1/4" circle punches with a white gel pen highlight. The sentiment piece is raised on dimensional tape. The card base is garden green.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

neglected

Yes, that's what my blog has been - neglected. Sometimes life just gets crazy busy and something has to give.

Hi everyone. Today I made a card for the technique challenge on SCS called retiform. This one was a little bit different from how I had done this technique before, but actually much faster and quite easy. You start by choosing 3 or 4 ink colors. Using the lightest color first, in this case summer sun, brayer over the cardstock. Then place a few small post-it notes randomly on your cardstock and brayer the next darker color, only orange. Add some more post-its and brayer the 3rd color, really rust, and then once more with close to cocoa. Then remove all the post-its. Since I had never done this version of retiform before, I was unprepared for the result. There was more summer sun showing than any other color and it was very bright, most definitely not the result I was expecting. I wanted to tone it down, so I used my cuttlebug and a new embossing folder called leaves from QuicKutz and then I sponged over it with chocolate chip, enhancing the embossing at the same time as toning down the brightness. I also sponged the edges with chocolate chip and then layered on vanilla and a chocolate chip card base.

For the main image, I stamped 2 of the leaves from autumn splendor in chocolate chip on more mustard and really rust cardstock and cut them out. I sponged chocolate chip around the edges and popped them up on a piece of more mustard layered on vanilla and chocolate chip. I left the chocolate piece a little longer so I could add a row of gold brads.

I stamped a phrase from pocket silhouettes and punched it out with my word window punch, added some sponged chocolate chip and popped it up.

I really like how the card turned out.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

butterfly bliss

Happy Saturday everyone. Another gray day here. The day started out with a little sunshine, but it didn't last very long. Last night before I went to bed, I checked out the inspiration challenge on SCS and found a very cool website to be inspired by. So this morning I went back and chose this butterfly image as my inspiration. Although I really like black and white cards, I love the pop an accent of red adds, so that's what I did with mine.

I started by die cutting some ovals with nestabilities and my cuttlebug. Then I stamped the butterfly from Flores Suaves (SU Spanish supplement) once on the smallest oval and once on another piece of white cardstock. I colored them with a red prismacolor pencil and gamsol. After cutting out the 2nd butterfly, I glued it over the one on the oval and popped up the wings.

I cut a piece of white and used a scallop border punch on both edges and glued two pieces of red grosgrain ribbon on it and then adhered that to a black card base. I added a black dot to each scallop.

The sentiment comes from an old SU set called Noteworthy. I layered the ovals together and popped them up on the card base.

Because the inspiration piece came from the crochet category on the site, I was going to use one or more crochet flowers, but just couldn't get them to look right. So I decided to use some punches to make the flowers. The petals are a Martha Stewart hydrangea punched 4 times for each flower. I scored down the center of each individual petal, sponged the edges with red, then folded a bit along the score lines and glued 4 together. The flower centers a 1/4" black punched cardstock. For the leaves, I punched some white 5-petal flowers, cut the petals apart, and used the same process as the flowers, but with black ink. Each flower is popped up with dimensional tape. There is really a lot of dimension on this card, although the camera doesn't pick it up.

It took me several hours to make this card, because I had a hard time getting it to come together, but I really love how it turned out.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a wonder-filled day.

happy little thoughts

Hi everyone. It's been cold here -- around 30 in the morning and only up to around 50 during the day. Today was also cloudy all day. So anyway, I checked the technique challenge on SCS this morning and saw that it was an easel card. I've been wanting to try one of these, so I decided to play. Seems like it took me forever, but I finally got one finished.

I decided to use a Penny Black flower, blush, for the main image. I colored the stamp with always artichoke, dusty durango and soft suede, then misted with water and stamped it on a piece of watercolor paper. Then I repeated the process, so that I could cut out the 2nd flower. I sponged the edges and popped it up on top of the image.

The cardstock I picked to go with the image is dusty durango, groovy guava and black. I did a lot of sponging along the edges with chocolate chip. Two of the layers were embossed with textile embossing folder in my cuttlebug.

I added some black brads and mounted the two smaller black layers on foam tape for a bit of dimension.

Since this type of card needs something to hold it up in the easel position, rather than use a button or brad on the inside of the card, I chose to add an extra layer of cardstock underneath the sentiment, raising it off the base just enough to catch the front of the card and hold it up.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a wonder-filled week.

osw class

Hi everyone. This is a picture of the cards we will make in my upcoming one sheet wonder class.

Thanks for stopping by.

inspired joy

Happy Saturday. I have a card I made this morning for the inspiration challenge on SCS. I used the sample shown on the left in the above link for my inspiration. This needs to be a quick post, because I have my bobbin lace meeting this afternoon and I need to make lunch for the family and get ready to go.

The circle background is done with some stamping (Rubbernecker flourishes set). The flourishes are all stamped in ballet blue. Then I used a cut up plastic bag scrunched up to dab ink here and there (ballet blue, turquoise & cool caribbean). I sponged the edges with brilliant blue and turquoise. Also added some gold paint dabber. White circle cut with scallop scissors and gold paint dabber added. The butterfly (wonderful wings) is two layers, which were sponged with different blues and cut out. I added some blue jewels and pearls. The sentiment is from small script.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Be blessed.

Lookie, lookie what I got!

The mailman just came with a box for me. And look what was inside. This is part of my prize from Spellbinders that I won during their July blog frenzy. How cool is that! A few of the items are on backorder, so I didn't get everything today. Am I going to have fun playing or what?

Thanks for stopping by.

a double challenge card

Hi everyone. Today I made a card that combines the technique challenge on SCS, which is faux suede, and an inspiration challenge (EHWCMD5) on the Classroom. I went for colors, green, brown & aqua, an unusual combination to be sure, but I like it.

The main image is embossing resist. First I stamped the woodgrain pattern from Hero Arts in creamy caramel ink on vanilla cardstock. Then I stamped the leaves (Hero Arts) over it in versamark, covered with clear embossing powder and heated. Then I sponged old olive ink over the whole piece. I layered this on chocolate chip, added some brads and glued it to my cool caribbean card base.

Along the bottom, I stamped thinking of you ribbon stamp (Hero Arts) in chocolate chip.

I wanted a big flower that would pull all the colors in, so I looked in my stash & found this big prima flower. I used the faux suede technique to make the chocolate chip layer and the leaves and pulled out a flower that had been punched from some handmade paper. I manipulated the flowers with a stylus on a mouse pad to give them some dimension. The leaves were crimped and sponged. The flower is adhered with dimensional tape.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a wonder-filled day.

lots of cards

Hi everyone. Well, I guess I didn't make it back here yesterday to post again. I spent the entire day stamping. In addition to the card I posted yesterday, I made eight more, plus a simple ornament. I did one more card this morning. So here are some of those that I made. You should be able to click on each one to see it bigger. All of the challenges can be found here. I am not going to list all the supplies for each because I don't know how to get everything lined up, so if you want to know, you can click on the link to my SCS gallery & find the supplies listed with each card there. Thanks so much for stopping by.

with joy

Good morning. Happy World Card Making Day! Hopefully today I'm going to be able to get some stamping done. SCS is having challenges all day. I did make a card already, but not for those challenges. This one is for the inspiration challenge and a Gina K release party challenge. For my inspiration, I actually combined two of the pieces from the web site, this one and this one. Gina's challenge was a single layer card. That sure made for a quick card.

The process:
I stamped two flourishes from Rubbernecker's Flourishes Set in black stazon on whisper white cardstock. Then using a ruler, I ran my real red marker across the card. I placed some post-it notes down, just covering the red line and leaving a 1/2" space and filled in with black marker.

Then I stamped the butterfly from Innovative Stamp Creations' Friends set and colored it with a prismacolor pencil and gamsol.

Finally, I added the phrase from Fundamental Phrases (SU) and I'm done.

Thanks for stopping by today. I will probably have more posts later. Have a great day.