¡Salud! Cheers! (DTC 165)

It's interesting to learn that Cinco de Mayo is not a big celebration in Mexico, but is recognized more in the USA than elsewhere. In fact, the largest celebrations occur in Los Angeles, CA. Double Trouble is giving Cinco de Mayo an optional nod with Challenge #165. Because this is the fifth Monday of the month, it's an Anything Goes event and lasts one week, ending on Sunday evening, May 5, 2024. Here is a summary of the challenge:

Thing 1 (required): Trouble Maker says this is a "Something, Anything, Everything" challenge. Specific details are available at the DTC 165 Blog.

Thing 2 (optional): Double Dare hopes you will share your project with at least one of our previous partners. A list is available at the DTC 165 Blog.

Thing 3 (optional): Twisted Sister has provided an inspiration board for Cinco de Mayo (below). Playing along with the board will give you an extra chance in our random drawing. In addition, if you include the image of an avocado in your project, you will be eligible for an additional randomly drawn prize.

I selected five colors from the board for my card - green, yellow, purple, orange, and red. To create the background, strips of cardstock were hand-cut into fringe and adhered to a white card base. A piñata image was stamped, colored with markers, and fussy cut, then adhered to a white die-cut circle. This was adhered to another die-cut circle in red. The sentiment was hand-printed and cut into a banner, backed with red cardstock. The sentiment and the pinata were adhered to the card using thin foam tape. A few gold pearl stickers were adhered. The inside of the card was decorated with a touch of the fringe, leaving sufficient space for a personal message.

I shared my card at The Paper Funday Challenges #64, an Anything Goes challenge.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Melanie

Materials

Stamp: Lawn Fawn "Year Seven"

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black and Copic Alcohol Markers

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic White, Mint Macaron, Hello Honey, Pale Plum, Real Red

Dies: Hero Arts Infinity (circles)

Misc.: CTMH thin foam tape, Honey Bee pearl stickers

Thinking of You... So Very Much! (CD #597)

It's time again for Color My Heart Color Dare Challenge #597. This biweekly challenge ends on Thursday evening, May 2, 2024. Over time I have learned to enjoy color challenges although I found them daunting in the early days of my card-making. Below is the color board. The colors remind me of my emerging tulip garden. The challenge requires using at least three of the colors shown and there is also a selection of free options. I used all four colors plus black and white.

I have recently been thinking about creating Clean and Simple (CAS) cards more often, so this card attempts to accomplish a CAS design. The important element seems to be keeping a significant amount of "white space". The space does not actually mean the color white. In graphic art, white space refers to blank space, not color. I could not resist adding a bit of bling so my card may be just outside the realm of a true CAS design.

After die-cutting the leaf image, it was colored by blending three colors, Ballerina, Sundance, and Limeade. The leaf was adhered to a white card base. The sentiment was stamped. I selected this for the simple, small font. The color, Rosy, was introduced by adding gems. The inside of the card was decorated with a coordinating stamp of the leaves in green ink, leaving sufficient space for a personal message.

I plan to mail this card to my Aunt Mildred. She is 98 years old and recently broke her leg. I have already sent her a few cards but I know she will enjoy receiving another while she is rehabilitating. 

Please visit the Color Dare Blog #597 and enjoy our color challenge. Thank you for stopping by.

Melanie

Materials

Stamps: Altenew "Leaf Canopy" (sentiment and leaves inside of card)

Inks: Stampin' Up! Parakeet Party (for Limeade), Blushing Bride (for Ballerina), Crushed Curry (for Sundance); Memento Tuxedo Black (sentiment)

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic White

Die: Altenew "Leaf Canopy"

Misc.: Honey Bee Gem Stickers

Hello... Love You (TSOT 645)

 

Thank you for visiting my blog. Today's card was inspired by a sketch from Try a Sketch on Tuesday Challenge #645. Sometimes my interpretation doesn't follow the sketch precisely but for me, the sketch is for inspiration, and not necessarily to be copied exactly, unless that is what the cardmaker is inspired to do.

Challenge #645 is a semimonthly event that began on the third Tuesday, April 16, 2024, and runs through Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

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Just about every card I make these days is with existing items from my stash. I have so many beautiful patterned papers that I have resisted purchasing more until I reduce my current inventory. I thought this paper was sweet when I saw the tiny pink birds and the coordinating floral paper. After die-cutting and adhering the double-stacked branch along with the sentiment and its shadow I used scraps of pink cardstock and adhered it to a white card base. A few silver pearls completed the card front. The inside was decorated with the die-cut words "love you" and a leafy pink branch.

Last week I received word that my 98-year-old Aunt Mildred had broken her femur (thigh) in a fall so this card with a long overdue letter enclosed, is already on its way to her in Virginia. I will be sending her cards regularly while she is in rehab for this fractured leg.

Please visit the TSOT Challenge Blog 645 and thank you for stopping by!

Melanie

Materials

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic White & Pink Pirouette

Paper: Spellbinders "Love Grows Here"

Dies: Altenew "Decorative Swirls" (Leaf) & "Sweet Expressions" (sentiment)

Misc.: 3M foam tape & Honey Bee pearl stickers

Just for You - Less but Better aka CAS (DTC 164)

 

Thank you for joining in Double Trouble's Challenge #164. This challenge runs through Sunday evening, April For this challenge, we are partnering with The Crafter's Cafe #307. As is customary, there are three "Things" to the Double Trouble Challenge. 

Thing 1 (required): Trouble Maker is waiting to see your Clean and Simple (CAS) project. For details about CAS, visit the Double Trouble Challenge Blog.

Thing 2 (optional): Double Dare suggests you link your project to the CAS challenge at The Crafter's Cafe #307.

Thing 3 (optional): Twisted Sister wants you to tweak your CAS design. CAS usually means your card should have plenty of uncluttered "white" space. In graphic art, white space means uncluttered blank space regardless of color. So her optional twist is to use a color other than white for that uncluttered blank space. I chose to use pink with silver accents and a black sentiment.

To create my CAS card, a floral image was die-cut from pink cardstock and adhered to a pink card base along with a few additional flowers, also in pink. For a bit of interest, a stencil was used to add silver embossed accents. In addition, the centers of the small flowers were heat embossed with silver. The sentiment was stamped with black ink for contrast. The inside was lined with a panel of white cardstock and several small flowers were added for decoration.

As usual, photography seems to be the bane of my existence. The silver embossing was difficult to capture and there is a "funny" spot in the photo that is not present on my card. The camera lens is clean so who knows where that spot came from? Oh, well. 

Be sure to visit the challenge blogs for DTC #164 and The Crafter's Cafe #307 to view the Design Team projects.

Melanie

Materials

Stamp: Stampin' Up! "Picture Perfect" (sentiment)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black & Versamark

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic White & Pink Pirouette

Die: Spellbinders "Kaleidoscope Floral"

Stencil: A Colorful Life "Rippling Squares"

Embossing Powder: Wow! Metallic Silver Super Fine

Thinking of You (CD 595)

 

It's time to create Challenge 595 at Color My Heart Color Dare Challenges. The color board below is a Fancy Five Challenge meaning you have five colors from which to choose. You may use three, four, or five colors from the board. I selected Peach, Flamingo, Glacier, and Sage, including black and gray. This challenge is biweekly and runs through Thursday evening, April 18, 2024.

I used a stamped image - a freebie from Honey Bee Designs, to create my card. After coloring it with Copic alcohol markers, it was fussy cut and adhered to a black and gray patterned paper panel. This was matted asymmetrically with Glacier-colored cardstock and adhered to a card base in a peachy hue. The sentiment banner provided with the image was adhered with thin foam tape and a few pearls were added. The inside was lined with white cardstock and decorated with patterned paper. 

We look forward to seeing your project in our challenge, so visit the Color Dare Blog and play along!

A few days after creating this card, I received word that my 98-year-old Aunt Mildred had fallen and broken her leg so I mailed the card to her with a personal message included. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Melanie

Materials

Stamps: Honey Bee Designs (freebie image & sentiment)

Ink: Copic Alcohol Markers

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic White, Pool Party (sub for Glacier), Crisp Cantaloupe (sub for Peach)

Patterned Paper: Paper Rose "Katie's Tea Party"

Misc.: CTMH thin foam tape, Honey Bee pearl stickers

The Tea Party (TSOT 644)

 

A warm hello to you! Thanks for stopping by. Challenge #644 for Try a Sketch on Tuesday is up on the blog and ready for you to post your project. Below is the sketch for this challenge, which will close on Sunday, April 14, 2024.

In my continuing effort to use items from my stash, I selected a few coordinating patterned papers along with bits of matching ephemera. I followed the sketch and finished off the front with a sentiment heat embossed in silver and a few silver pearls. The inside of the card was lined with a panel of white cardstock and decorated with ephemera matching that on the card front. 

Please join us at the TSOT 644 Blog to see their lovely projects, and share your creation.

Melanie

Materials

Stamp: Altenew "Elegant Sayings"

Ink: Versamark

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic White, Mint Macaron & Basic Gray

Paper & Ephemera: Paper Rose "Katie's Tea Party"

Die: Hero Arts Infinity (circles)

Embossing Powder: Wow! Silver Metallic Super Fine

Misc.: CTMH thin foam tape, Honey Bee gem stickers

Let's Get Krafty on Earth Day (DTC 163)

 

It's time for another biweekly challenge at Double Trouble. This is Challenge #163 and runs through Sunday evening, April 14, 2024. As is customary, we have three elements to our challenge.

Did you know Monday, April 22, 2024, is Earth Day? In observance, Trouble Maker's requirement is to use Kraft-type paper in your project. Kraft is biodegradable and breaks down very quickly, absorbing into the environment.

Double Dare hopes you'll take the option to link your project to our partner's challenge. Inspiration Station Challenge #60 is suggesting using their photo prompt of Planet Earth (below) to energize your creativity and then tell your readers about it in your personal post.

Twisted Sister has an optional twist for you! Planet Earth is often called "The Blue Planet" because of its appearance from space. Did you know that about 71% of Earth is covered in water? Our twist is to focus on the color blue. This photo energized me by encouraging me to look up the details of our Blue Planet and Earth Day's history and create a card depicting our unique and beautiful planet.

To create the card I used part of a die from my stash. This die depicts a globe that is mounted in the semi-meridian style. I only used the mounting cradle portion of the die. I hand drew the rough outlines of five continents, fussy cutting them from the green mirror cardstock. (Australia and Antarctica are not within view from this angle.) Texture was added to the green pieces and were adhered to the blue mirror cardstock. 

The flowers and leaves were die-cut and colored with Copic markers. Much of the North American continent is covered with flowers but you can still see Florida. The background is patterned paper adhered to a Kraft-type cardstock. The inside of the card was lined with a panel of white cardstock and decorated with additional flowers and leaves. In the photo the lighting has played a trick showing Asia as a lighter green than the other continents.

I have two grand-nephews who enjoy receiving cards so I will make another but different card for Earth Day so each will have one. It's never too late for them to learn about caring for the Earth!

I hope you will stop by the DTC 163 Blog and Inspiration Station #60 to enjoy the challenges.

Thank you for visiting my blog...

Melanie

Materials

Inks: Copic alcohol markers

Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Baked Brown Sugar (for Kraft), Basic White, & Silver; Tonic Mirror in  blue & green

Paper: Reminisce "In the Clouds"

Dies: Spellbinders "Be Bold Blooms", Hero Arts Infinity (circles), Kokorosa (globe cradle)

Misc.: CTMH thin foam tape