Sending Warm Wishes - Holiday

Welcome to my blog! My card was made for Crafter's Café Challenge #201. The theme is Travel and/or Relaxing. The cat in my image is not traveling but I believe she is relaxing as only a cat can do. The image was provided by the challenge sponsor, Eureka Stamps. Let me encourage you to visit these sites!

A panel of white cardstock was adhered to a black card base. Another panel of patterned paper was adhered. A smaller panel of patterned paper was matted with black cardstock and adhered. The image was downloaded, resized, colored and fussy cut. It was adhered using foam tape to add dimension. The sentiment was computer generated and adhered with foam tape. Candy dots were also added. The inside was lined with a panel of white cardstock and decorated with a strip of coordinating patterned paper.

I invite you to visit the Crafter's Café Challenge #201 and Eureka Stamps. Join in the challenge and you could win a prize!

Materials
Stamp: Eureka Stamps "Kitty-in-Boot" (digital); computer generated sentiment
Inks: Copic Alcohol Markers
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White & Basic Black; SN for alcohol ink
Paper: My Mind's Eye "Sugar Plum"
Misc.: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape) and Candy Dots

Hugs - CAS

Greetings! With this card, I decided to go with CAS for my theme and use it for two of my favorite challenges. I urge you to visit the following challenge blogs for real enjoyment.

The first challenge is Double Trouble Challenge #6. To meet the requirements the theme is "Anything Goes". Simple, yes? But, there are other considerations. The "twist" for this challenge is to decorate the inside of the card. I always decorate, so I can check that off.

Now this is where the second challenge comes in. The Double Dare element is to link to another challenge partner from a list provided at the Double Trouble blog. I selected Three Amigos Blog Hop Challenge #16 for July, ending on July 31. Cutting it close but it's too soon to post to their August challenge. Their July theme is any type of embossing.

A panel of white card stock was dry embossed using Versamark ink on the raised shapes. Then it was heat embossed with clear embossing powder so the flowery doilies would have a soft shine. A die was used to cut the label shape, the label was matted in black and the sentiment die cut and adhered. The card base was also dry embossed for texture and the die cut unit was adhered using foam tape. The inside of the card was decorated with a die cut shape matching the front of the card and a leftover embossed piece and some strips of black scraps were added to the right edge.

I hope you'll join us in both challenges: Double Trouble #6 and Three Amigos #16.

Technique: CAS, die cutting, dry embossing, heat embossing
Size: A2

Materials
Ink: Versamark
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Basic Black and Crisp Cantaloupe
Dies: Stampin' Up! Labels Collection Framelits & Avery Elle "Hugs"
Embossing Folders: Stampin' Up!
Misc.: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape) and clear embossing powder

Happy Everything - Using Acetate

It's time for the Tic-Tac-Toe color challenge at Color My Heart Color Dare. This is Challenge #303. The rules are simple - select a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row from the grid then add any other colors from the grid that you like! Looking at the grid you can see that I used the bottom horizontal row, Glacier, Black and Poppy, then included White Daisy, Lemon and Bashful. To finish the card, I added the optional Silver.

Somewhere I saw a card that I wanted to CASE. I did not make a note of the place or the creator of the card so I am CASEing from memory. I don't believe the card I saw used acetate for the stripes - it may have been patterned paper or stamped stripes and it did not have any silver elements.

Using some striped acetate by We Are Memory Keepers, I wrapped the card around the back of the card to the left front, cutting the front at an angle for interest. The piece on the right edge of the front was cut and adhered. The adhesive does not show through if applied to the stripes. The sentiment was added. Using some flowers from my stash, I used Copic markers to color the flowers to match the challenge colors. The foliage was die cut from silver foil cardstock. The elements were all adhered to the card front along with some droplets. The inside of the card was decorated with a scrap piece of acetate.

The Color Dare Design Team would be pleased to have you visit the Color Dare Challenge #303 and join in the challenge fun! You could be eligible for a prize! The challenge begins on Friday, July 27 and runs for two weeks. There may still be time to participate in Challenge #302 as well.

Materials
Stamp: Dare 2B Artzy "BEE-autiful" (sentiment)
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black and Copic Alcohol Markers (to duplicate Bashful, Lemon and Poppy)
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White (heavyweight); WRMK "Clearly Bold" Acetate
Dies: Frantic Stamper "Wreath & Swag"
Misc.: Pretty Pink Posh droplets; flowers from stash

Balloon Wreath Shaker

Today's card was made for Challenge #149 at Creative Moments Challenge Blog. The theme is to make a shaker card.

Using a digital stamp and the sentiment from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles, the images were downloaded and resized. Printed on a panel of blue cardstock to give the look of sky, additional free balloon clip art was added. A fine black pen was used to follow the lines of the balloon strings. A circle was die cut into the center of the balloon wreath to create the shaker. The blue panel was matted with another panel of cardstock and then adhered with foam tape to a white card base.

Please stop by Creative Moments and join in the challenge fun. If you've never made a shaker card, here's your chance! There are plenty of great tutorials at You Tube and Splitcoast Stampers if you need help.

Technique: Shaker
Size: A7

Materials
Stamps: Digital from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles; misc. free clip art
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Soft Sky, Elegant Eggplant
Die: Spellbinders Classic Circles
Misc.: Foam tape, sequins and beads from stash

Honey Bee Thank You

Who ever heard of falling in love with a paper collection? Well, I am crazy about the patterned paper (with matching stamps and dies) that I used on my card. There are many more patterns than what you see here and I am eager to use all of them. My thank you card is based on a sketch from the Try Stampin' on Tuesday Challenge #373. The optional theme is "Field of Flowers".

On a cardstock base, a panel of cardstock was adhered and then a panel of patterned paper. The paper collection has strips that coordinate so I used one of them matted with gold to keep with the sketch. I tucked a die cut eyelet circle behind the dotted strip. I cut the two floral images from the paper, enhanced the colors with Copic markers, and adhered to a square of cardstock with foam tape. This was backed with foam tape and adhered. The inside was lined with a panel of white cardstock, decorated with a strip of coordinating paper and set aside to be mailed to a family member.

We hope you'll visit our challenge blog HERE and consider joining in the challenge!

Materials
Ink: Copic Alcohol Markers
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Lost Lagoon, Crushed Curry
Paper: Dare 2B Artzy "Honey Bloomz" Collection
Dies: Spellbinders Eyelet Circles & Dare 2B Artzy Honey Bloomz
Misc.: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape)

Rejoicing with You - Double Flip

Thinking that maybe a "Christmas in July" Challenge would keep me cool this summer, I decided to give it a try! So far, it's not working...

I invite you to visit the Double Trouble Challenge (DTC) #5 and make a holiday card. Our challenge runs from July 16 until July 29, 2018. Trouble Maker's Thing 1 is Christmas in July, Double Dare's Thing 2 (optional) is to play along at the Heart 2 Heart Challenge Blog (H2H) and Twisted Sister's Thing 3 (optional) is to use a fun or fancy fold. You could be eligible to win a prize!

See the tutorial on making this Double Flip Fun Fold Card HERE. This is not the only style - there are tutorials on several other variations available. I elected to change my card by matting all of the patterned papers before adhering to the card base. I am please with the results and the card only took me about 90 minutes to make once I had viewed the tutorial and selected my paper.

I think this fold would really be fun if it were made using images of cute little critters celebrating Christmas with Santa Claus.

Hope to see you at DTC #5 and H2H.

Techniques: Stamping, die cutting, fun fold
Size: A2

Materials
Stamps: Stampin' Up! "Versatile Christmas"
Ink: DOX "Vintage Photo"
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla, Bashful Blue (retired)
Paper: CTMH "White Pines" & "Snow Haven" Collections
Dies: Stampin' Up! Framelit & Spellbinders Scalloped Ovals
Other: Stampin' Up! Candy Dots; ribbon from stash

Adorable Bloom Fairy

It's time for another card challenge at The Crafter's Café! Here is my card for Challenge #200. The theme for this challenge is to use layers. The image was provided by My Besties and is Image #937 - Adorable Bloom Fairy in the on-line store.



Panels of patterned paper in green, yellow and purple were adhered to a white card base. The image was downloaded, resized, printed using a laser printer and colored. The image was cut into a rectangle and adhered to a panel of pink patterned paper then adhered using foam tape. Three clear droplets were added. The inside of the card was decorated with a strip of patterned paper.

Our challenge runs from July 15 through month-end so we hope you'll stop by The Crafter's Café Blog and submit a project. There are prizes!

Materials
Stamps: My Besties Digital  Image #937
Inks: Copic Markers
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White; SN for alcohol markers
Paper: Echo Park Summer Fun Collection & Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes
Misc.: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape) & Pretty Pink Posh clear droplets

Cat on a Fish Bowl

Update: Favorite of the Week ending 07/14/2018 at Splitcoast Stampers!

 

Having just returned from vacation, my card is late for the July monthly challenge at Brown Sugar Challenge Blog. I am using an image provided by A Day for Daisies, one of my personal favorite stores for on-line digital images. Our theme is to use at least two patterned papers in the design. (I used three.)

As someone who loves cats I gave humor a nod - one of my papers has fish skeletons on it...

 

 

Onto a card base, panels of patterned paper were adhered. The image was downloaded, resized and printed on a laser printer. After coloring the image with Copic markers, the image was trimmed down to a square, matted and backed with foam tape and adhered to the card front. Three clear droplets were added. The inside was lined with a panel of white cardstock and decorated with a strip of patterned paper.

We hope you'll come by and check out our Brown Sugar Challenge. Consider entering your project and you could win a prize!


Materials
Stamp: A Day for Daisies "Cat and Three Fish"
Ink: Copic Alcohol Markers
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Basic Gray; SN for Alcohol Markers
Paper: My Mind's Eye Meow Collection & Echo Park Merry Mermaids Collection
Misc.: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals; Pretty Pink Posh clear droplets.

Sending Wishes Your Way - CAS

This card layout was CASE'd from memory but I cannot recall where I saw it. Having done it from memory it may actually be different than the original card. I used colors from Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #301, matching them as closely as possible to what I already have in my supplies. I hope you'll visit the Color Dare Blog and consider joining the challenge.

The floral image was stamped on white cardstock along with the sentiment. The left side of the panel was sponged with two ink colors and a stencil. A ribbon was added. This panel was adhered to a panel of patterned paper and then to a white card base. The enamel dots were added. The inside was decorated with a stamped leaf image.

In making this card, I found I was having difficulty with the stamps not sticking to my MISTI. This was the fourth attempt to get it stamped. This was the least damaged by the green ink from the stamp falling off of the MISTI and onto the card. I used my MONO sand eraser but some of the ink did not erase. After finishing everything, I cleaned my MISTI thoroughly and it appears that cleaning was the answer. Note to self: Clean MISTI after each use.

Please join us in the challenge fun at Color Dare Challenge #301.

Techniques: Stamping, stenciling, CAS
Size: A2

Materials
Stamp sets: Uniko Originally Organic & Organic Wishes
Inks: Stampin' Up! Pistachio Pudding (sub for Willow), Crushed Curry (sub for Lemon); Memento Tuxedo Black; Hero Arts Dark Peach (sub for Poppy)
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Whisper White
Paper: Photoplay "Think to Remember" Collection
Misc.: Stampin' Up! ribbon (Crushed Curry); enamel dots & stencil from stash

Cherry Blossoms

07/18/2018 Update: Top Three Winner at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #272!

Challenge #4 requires a 3-2-1 theme - three colors, a two-word sentiment and one stamped image. Two options included with the challenge are embossing and joining in at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenges #271 and #272. Double Trouble is a biweekly challenge and AHSC is weekly, so this is the sketch for the second week, July 9 through July 15, 2018.

 

 

To meet the Thing 1 Challenge, I selected two shades of pink along with black as my three colors, used a two-word sentiment, and the single branch as the stamped item. For Thing 2, I followed the AHSC sketch and entered their challenge and for Thing 3, I included a dry embossed element.
 

A panel of black cardstock was adhered to a white card base. The floral paper panel was adhered to the black panel. A banner was cut from a panel of pink, dry embossed cardstock and adhered with foam tape. The reverse side of the floral patterned paper was cut, matted with black cardstock and adhered with foam tape. The final layer is a the image of a branch on vellum, colored with markers, fussy cut and matted with black cardstock. The inside of the card was decorated with a strip of the patterned paper and pink cardstock.

Please join in the challenge fun at Double Trouble #4 and AHSC #272! We look forward to seeing your designs.

Techniques: Stamping, dry embossing, coloring
Size: A2

Materials
Stamp: Stampendous "Brushed Wishes" & digital floral image (source unknown)
Ink: Stampin' Write Markers; Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Basic Black, Strawberry Slush, Vellum
Paper: stash
Embossing folder: Stampin' Up! "Tuft" D-TIEF
Other: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape)

3-2-1 Masculine Birthday Card

Time to make another card for Double Trouble Challenge!

Challenge #4 requires a 3-2-1 theme - three colors, a two-word sentiment and one stamped image. Two options included with the challenge are embossing and joining in at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenges #271 and #272. Double Trouble is a biweekly challenge and AHSC is weekly, so this is the sketch for the first week, July 2 through July 8, 2018.

 

 

I flipped the design so my card followed this sketch:

To meet the Thing 1 Challenge, I selected brown, blue and vanilla as my three colors, used a two-word sentiment, which is also my stamped item. For Thing 2, I followed the AHSC #271 sketch and entered their challenge and for Thing 3, I included two dry embossed elements.

A panel of brown cardstock was adhered to a vanilla card base. The blue cardstock panel was dry embossed for texture and adhered. A strip of patterned paper was matted with vanilla cardstock and adhered with foam tape. A strip of brown cardstock was dry embossed with a basket weave design and adhered while the focal point was cut from patterned paper, matted with brown cardstock and adhered to a die cut stitched square, sponged with blue ink. The little tag was stamped, die cut, sponged with blue ink then adhered. A metallic gem was also added to the tag. The inside of the card was decorated with a small piece of the patterned paper.

Please join in the challenge fun at Double Trouble #4 and AHSC #271! We look forward to seeing your designs.

Techniques: Stamping, sponging, die cutting, dry embossing, masculine
Size: A2

Materials
Stamp: Stampendous "Brushed Wishes"
Ink: DOX Faded Jeans & Stampin' Up! Soft Suede
Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Marina Mist
Paper: Authentique "Explore Seven" & "Rugged Seven"
Embossing folders: Stampin' Up! "Basket Weave" D-TIEF & vertical stripe (unknown origin)
Dies: Reverse Confetti Triple Stitched Squares & small stitched tag (unknown origin)
Other: Stampin' Up! Dimensionals (foam tape); metallic gem from stash