CAS-ual Fridays -- Chip Off the Ol' Block Challenge

I decided to play along with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week by creating a clean and simple project using chipboard. Here's my card:

I cut white cardstock down to a standard sized card and scored it so that the fold would be at the top of the card. I seem to do this a lot! Next, I cut a piece of red cardstock to measure 4"x5.25" and a piece of kraft cardstock to measure 3.75"x5." I used distress ink to stamp the background and distress the edges. The sentiment was stamped with the same ink on a strip of white cards which I trimmed with two strips of scalloped patterned paper. I adhered this to the card using foam dimensionals and added some buttons and twine for good measure. I added the chipboard cupcake which I decorated with Stickles. After all, shouldn't all cupcakes be decorated!

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertray Ink (Stamper's Select White; Pure Poppy); Stampin' UP! (Kraft);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happy Definition;Happiness Messages );

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Barn Door);

Patterned Paper/Chipboard: Basic Grey (Sugar Rush);

Embellishments: Buttons (Making Memories); Twine (Martha Stewart) Ranger Diamond Stickers.

A Christmas Thank You

What a nice surprise I had in the mail a few weeks before Christmas when my cousin sent me the gift that every crafter covets: a Michael's gift card. And the only thing better than getting a Michael's gift card is knowing that it is actually worth twice as much as it says because who,after all, buys anything at Michael's without a 50% off coupon. (Yes, I even turn up my nose on those 40% off coupons and patiently wait for the 50% off coupon that inevitably shows up!) So, with such a wonderful scrappy gift in mind, I knew I had to make a crafty thank you card. Mind you, not one product used on this card came from Michael's but I don't think my cousin will know. Here's my card:

I knew I wanted to play along with Ellen Hutson's Hero Arts Cling Take 'N Make Challenge so I pulled the wrapper off of the Indie Bloom Hero Arts Star Blooms Background Cling Stamp. (I did forget to take a picture of the card with the stamp before mailing it. Oops!) I was also anxious to use the new seasonal distress inks from Tim Holtz so I decided on an embossed resist technique. I inked up my background stamp with Versa Mark and heat embossed with White Zing. Next, I swiped some of the Festive Berries and Evergreen Bough inks on my mat, spritzed with a little water mixed with Liquid Pearls and began painting in the image with my aqua brush.

To finish off the card, I wrapped some twine around the card, stamped the sentiment on the die cut piece and affixed to the card using foam adhesive, and scattered some rhinestone stickers for a little added bling!

Supplies

Cardstock: Neenah (Solar White); Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy);

Stamp: Hero Arts (Star Blooms) Papertrey Ink (Mat Stack 1 Collection);

Ink: Versa Mark; Tim Holtz Distress (Festive Berries; Evergreen Bough);

Misc.: Zing embossing powder (white); Martha Stewart twine; Recollections rhinestone stickers

June PTI Blog Hop

Welcome to the June Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. This month's challenge was to use a photo as inspiration. Here's the trigger photo:

And here's my card:

There's something about the photo that reminded me of the patterned paper which I matted on Dark Chocolate cardstock. I stamped the main image on a piece of cardstock that I had cut with PTI's Mat Stack 3 die. To get the two-toned berries, I stamped my image, turned my stamp about 90 degrees and stamped again without reinking. I love the depth that this technique gives the wreath. Finally, I used distress ink around the edges, tied the ribbon and adhered the mat with foam adhesive.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream; Dark Chocolate);

Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket (Honey Pie):

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Wreath for All Seasons):

Inks: Ranger (Coffee); Stampin' Up! (Regal Rose); Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen;

Tools: Papertrey Ink Die (Mat Stack 3);

Ribbon: EK Success

Tuesday Trigger: Rainbow Bright

The inspiration for today's card came from the Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger.

When I saw the trigger, I was immediately drawn to the colors and created this:

This was pretty simple to create. I cut a standard size card out of red card stock and rounded the opposite corners. Then I cut Stampin' Up! Naturals Ivory 1/4-inch shorter on each side. I stamped the various medallions in the inspiration colors, stamped the sentiment, rounded the corners and adhered to the card base. I added a few gem stones for texture. This card should be easy enough to reproduce since I need five "thank you" notes.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy); Stampin' Up! (Naturals Ivory);

Stamps: My Mind's Eye (Stella & Rose);

Ink: Colorbox Chalk Ink;

Tools: EK Success Corner Rounder;

Embellishments: Recollections Rhinestones

Thomas the Tank Engine

My great-nephew Thomas is aptly named. At age two, he has developed a love for Thomas the Tank Engine. He pours through the Thomas catalog and books naming every engine and pushes the trains around the track with delight. When designing his birthday card, it was a no-brainer. I had to make a train card. Here it is:

I die cut the train using the Cricut Joys of the Season cartridge. I just love getting double duty out of my supplies and cutting a design for a birthday card from a Christmas cartridge made me feel like I was getting my moneys worth out of this cartridge. I cut the train twice so that I would have two extra cars -- one for each letter of his name. I then cut out letters and adhered them to punched circles. To finish off the cars, I die cut a flourish for the smoke coming out of the locomotive and used silver brads on the wheels. I cut out some clouds from the Graphically Speaking cartridge, stamped the sentiment and then dry embossed them with a Cuttlebug folder. Here is a close-up:

Since the track for this die cut was an oval and I wanted my track to go straight, I improvised and stamped my track using Papertrey Ink's Just the Ticket stamp set.

The card was a big hit with Thomas. Upon opening it, Thomas studied the card then surprised us all by reading the letters of his name. Here he is reading his name:

and posing with his card:

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Supplies

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce (Scooter's Vacation); Jilllibean Soup (Monster Stew); October Afternoon (Farm Fresh);

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Just the TIcket)

Ink: Ranger (Jet Black):

Tools: Cricut by Provo Craft (Joys of the Season; George and Basic Shapes; Graphically Speaking); Cuttlebug (Swiss Dot Embossing folder);

Embelishments: brads by Making Memories.

We Interrupt LOAD...

..to bring you a card. Unfortunately, I needed to make a sympathy card. Hands down, this is my least favorite kind of card to make and I usually procrastinate doing so. This one is late but it will be sent with love later today. Here it is:

To create the image, I used a technique that Jennifer McGuire introduced called smooching. She has a great video tutorial on her blog. Basically, you ink up the stamp, kiss it to another stamp and then slide or twist the inked stamp across the stamp it is kissing before lifting it up and stamping. For my card, I inked up the Hero Arts Poppy Background stamp and smooched with with the Stripes Pattern. I like that it looks like the flowers are against the siding of a house. Here's a close-up:

To finish off my card, I scored a border around the edge of the card, added some pearls to the stamped image, stamped a sentiment, and used some embroidery floss to make a bow. Here's a close-up:

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (white); Stampin' UP! (Soft Sky; Blue Bayou);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Poppy Background; Stripes Pattern; Deepest Sympathy);

Ink: Stampin' UP! (Soft Sky; Blue Bayou);Ranger (Jet Black);

Tools: Martha Stewart Scoring Board;

Misc.: Recollections White Pearls; DMC white floss;

A Passion for Purple

I am not much of a purple person. Plum, maybe. Eggplant, definitely yes. But lilac, lavender and plain old purple have never been my thing. However, like most girls her age, Melissa has a passion for purple. So when it came to making a birthday card, I reluctantly pulled out my purple inks and began stamping. Here's my card:

Using Papertrey Ink's Dot Spot stamp, I inked the stamp with the lighter purple. Then, I "kissed" the edges of the stamp with the darker purple and stamped. I love how the two colors mixed where they met on the stamp and created a third purple. Here's a close-up:

I stamped my sentiment using Papertrey Ink's Fillable Frames. I just love this concept. To finish off the card, I added a little bling to the center of the spots and the corners of the sentiment.

So as I'm seeing some sneak peaks of products from the upcoming CHA, I'm noticing a LOT of purple. Who knew I'd be ahead of the trend. I only hope there's some plum and eggplant in the new lines!

Supplies:

Card Stock: Papertrey Ink (White)

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Dot Spot; Fillable Frames #1)

Inks: Stampin' UP! (Orchid Opulence; Lovely Lilac)

Bling: Recollections

Tools: EK Success (Corner Rounder)

Fibers: DMC Floss

Greetings from Paradise

My niece, Jenn, loves the beach, so when I saw the Paper Crafts Go-To Sketch Challenge #4, I immediately thought of replacing the scallops along the top and the rectangular strip running down the right side with a palm tree. Here's the sketch:

And here's my take on it:

To create this card, I first stamped the clouds onto white card stock. I filled in the clouds on the bottom of the stamp with distress ink to create the horizon line. After cutting out my palm tree and waves with my Cricut, I used VersaMark ink to stamp a different pattern onto each piece. I also distressed all of the tree's edges. This added both texture and pattern to the card. After tearing the kraft card stock, I stamped the shell. Again, I used VersaMark ink to ink up the edges and add some depth to my sand. Finally, I stamped the sentiment and hung it from the tree using a bit of twine.

Here's a close-up of some of those details:

Happy birthday, Jenn!

Supplies:

Card Stock: Papertrey Ink (White); Stampin' UP! (Wild Wasabi, Kraft); DCWV (Brown)

Stamps: Hero Arts (Clouds, Raindrop Background, Stripes, Flourish Background, Antique Engraving, Love that Sparkles)

Ink: VersaMark; Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Faded Jeans, Broken China)

Tools: Cricut Cartridge (Ocean of Words); Tim Holtz Paper Distresser; EK Success Corner Punch

I'm Back!

It seems like I have fallen off of the blogging bandwagon! I can only blame end-of-school-year activities. Between award ceremonies, final track meets, dance recitals, band concerts and finals, there just hasn't been enough time to sit down and blog. Not blogging, however, does not mean there has been a lack of creating. I have been scrapping and stamping like crazy! In addition to several layouts, I have been making cards like a Hallmark production line. There have just been so many occasions this month and my card-making frenzy is not over yet.

So anyway, today I have a card to share with you. Here's the color inspiration for my card:

And here's my card:

It uses Hero Arts' Big and Small Flowers set that I picked up during my Fresh Face Winner shopping spree. You'll be seeing a lot of this stamp set. Since it was out on my table, i just kept stamping!

To create this card, I first stamped the brown flowers onto a large rectangular block. Next, I cut the yellow card stock into three even panels and matted each on brown. After stamping the sentiment onto the oval piece, I felt that it looked flat so I went back and stamped some small flowers using Versa Mark ink. Here's a close-up:

I finished off the inside of the card with a little extra strip from the original yellow rectangle and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink.

Supplies:

Card Stock: Papertrey Ink (Berry Sorbet, Dark Chocolate); Stampin' Up! (So Saffron)

Stamps: Hero Arts (Big and Small Flowers, Enjoy the Moments); Papertrey Ink (fillable Frames #4)

Ink: Ranger (Coffee); Versa Mark

Ribbon: Michael's

Tools: Spellbinder's Nestabilities (Petite Oval Small; Petite Classic Oval Large)

Happy Mother's Day!

Just a quick post tonight to wish all of my family and friends a happy Mother's Day! Here's the card I made for mother:

This card came out nothing like I imagined it. First I randomly stamped a small rectangular scrap of paper with my sunflowers. However, since this is a big flower, I didn't get the look I was going for so I pulled out my Nestabilities and cut it into a circle. I placed my stamped piece on the brown scalloped circle (also cut with a Spellbinders Nestabilities) and put that on the white card stock. Still not what I was going for. Then I remembered that I had these circular felt coasters that I had picked up in the dollar bins at Michael's. I put foam dimensionals on the back of the scalloped circle, adhered it to the coaster and put that on the white card. Better but the card was still missing something. That's when I pulled out my Hero Arts background stamp and some clear embossing powder. After embossing the image and distressing the edges, I added a little twine and gem,rounded the corners and finally had a card that was worthy of all the love my mother gives. Here's a closer look at the embossing:

I am submitting this card to Clips-n-Cuts Around the World Challenge #2. (http://www.clips-n-cuts.com/2010/05/around-the-world-challenge-2/). I didn't have a tulip stamp, so sunflowers will have to do!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Supplies:

Card Stock: Papertrey Ink

Stamps: Hero Arts (Real Flowers, Scroll Frames & Messages, Flourish Background)

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Crushed Curry); Tim Holtz Distress (Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo); Versamark

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Circles, Classic Scallop Circles)

Bling: Recollections Pearl Stickers

Misc.: Clear Embossing Powder; Twine from stash

It's a Boy!

I love sketches! Sometimes they are all I need to get the creative juices flowing. Here's the sketch I saw on the Moxie Fab World' blogs Go To Sketch Challenge:

Here's the baby card I made using the sketch:

There's a lot of paper piecing on this card. After cutting my card stock and patterned paper to the desired sizes for 4.25" square card, I stamped the clothesline in black in. I stamped it again on white card stock with blue ink, red ink and yellow ink. I also stamped it on my patterned paper. I cut out all of the shapes and pieced them together. For added dimension, I "hung" the clothes on pop dots! I used my Cricut to cut out the speech bubble and popped the top layer of that too. You can also take a peek at the stamping I did inside the card.

If you want to read more about the Go To Sketches Challenge head over to Moxie Fab World at http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2010/04/get-sketchy-our-go-to-sketches-week.html.

Supplies

Card Stock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: DCWV (Nana's Nursery)

Stamp: Inkadinkadoo (Baby Boy)

Ink: Stampin' Up (Bayou Blue); Ranger (Black); Technique Tuesday (Sunlight, Lava); Signo Gel Pen (Black)

Tools: Cricut (George & Basic Shapes)

Two Challenges -- Just For You

I played along with two challenges to create this card for my brother-in-law's birthday this week. First, I incorporated the colors from this challenge:

Then I added a bow for the this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner which you can find here:

http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.com/2010/04/occ-challenge-bows.html

The result is a birthday card that will probably arrive late. Here it is:

To create the image, I used two Hero Arts background stamp. First I stamped the main image using the Dots & Flowers. Then I punched a one-inch strip using the Stripes Pattern cling stamp. I just love making horizontal stripes. After punching a decorative border on the strip, I distressed all of the edges and inked with distress ink to give a "vintage-y" feel. After adding the ribbon, I attached the main panels to the card using foam dimensional squares. I added the sentiment and then inked the edges with Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream pigment ink. This is the first time I used PTI ink and let me tell you that it is the creamiest ink I have ever used. Can't wait to get it in other colors!


Thanks for looking!

Supplies

Card Stock: Stampin' Up! (Kraft; Very Vanilla Naturals)

Stamps: Hero Arts (Dots & Flowers; Stripes Pattern: Happiness Messages)

Ink: Stampin' Up (Riding Hood Red); Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo); Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream)

Patterned Paper: October Afternooon (Katie)

Ribbon: Cosmo Cricket (Honey Pie)

Punches: Stampin' Up! (Circle; Scallop Circle); Fiskars (Upper Crest)

I Just Couldn't Resist

As soon as I received this Hero Arts Poppy Background stamp as part of my Fresh Face Winner shopping spree, I knew I couldn't resist trying my hand at the embossed resist technique that I have seen so many designers do.

To create my stamped image, I started with a piece of plain card stock and distressed the edges lightly with Scattered Straw Distress Ink. Next, I inked up my Old Letter Writing stamp with some brown ink and stamped the text background. Since the Background Poppy stamp highlights the negative part of the image, I inked it with Versa Mark ink and then used clear embossing powder. Now came the fun part! I just kept blending the blue and green distress ink onto the card until the flowers were the color I wanted. After wiping the image with a dry tissue to remove the ink from the embossed image, I sprayed the entire image with a mixture of Perfect Pearls and water. This last step gave my image a nice pearlized shine. Here is a closer look:

See how the Perfect Pearls makes the card shimmer!

Jennifer McGuire has a great video tutorial on this technique posted her blog. You can see it here: http://jennifermcguireink.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/02/cool-links-for-ya-tonight--lovin-this-first-layout.html.

Supplies

Card Stock: Stampin' Up!

Patterned Paper: K & Company (Brenda Walton)

Stamps: Hero Arts (Poppy Background; Old Letter Writing; Scroll Frames & Messages)

Ink: Ranger Archival Ink (Coffee); Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Broken China, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw); Versa Mark

Tools: Stampin' Up! punch (Scapllop)

Embelishments: Cosmo Cricket ribbon (Fleuriste); Making Memories button (Vintage); Recollections Pearls

Misc.: Ranger Perfect Pearls; Stamp 'N Stuff Embossing Powder (Detail Clear)