Tuesday, January 31, 2012

MWT and Sketches 5, 6, 7

This week over at Operation Write Home, the mid-week throwdown is to use bling with no glitter. I didn't have any problem with this! I rarely, and I mean very rarely, use glitter for anything. Every so often I'll use Stickles, but I find it so annoying how glitter sticks to everything!

I also combined the MWT with three sketches. Here is OWH sketch 5.


I used my new Hero Arts set Earth Flowers and stamped it in three different colors. I pierced around the edges and used a black pen to make it look like stitching because I wanted the stamped flowers to stand out a bit more. I'm not sure who makes the "missing you" stamp.The background paper is from DCWV and the pink on it is metallic for a bit of bling. The other papers are all from my stash and the ovals are a Nestability.

Next is OWH sketch 6.


I really enjoyed working with this one and have a feeling I'll be using it often. The patterened paper is a single sheet of double-sided Graphic 45. The monkey sticker is from The Paper Studio. My hubby bought them for me when we made the trek up north to our new Hobby Lobby a few months ago. They are so adorable and I've made several cards with them. I added some Pearl Pen for a bit of bling.

The last one for today is OWH sketch 7.


This one made me think a bit since I'm not a fan of vertical sentiments. So instead of a sentiment, I used some Prima flowers with rhinestone brads. I ran the paper through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder. It's simple, but pretty, I think.

I hope you enjoyed my takes on these sketches. Have you been working on any?
Cherie

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Sketch 105

Here's the next OWH Sketch. They're up to 105 now! After you're done here, go check out all of the great cards using this sketch.

For some reason, this struck me as perfect for masculine cards. Maybe it's because I've been looking for a way to use these fish stickers.


Here's a close up of my favorite one:


The middle fish is all shiny and all of the fish on the cards has some dimension to them, as well as having that glassy eye look. They are from K & Co. The two red strips are Graphic 45 paper. The rest of the paper is all from my stash. I could tell how old my green plaid strip paper was when I turned it over for info and all it said was "Green Pld .59" lol. I debossed with my Swiss Dots folder and added a bit of brown to help the fish cirlce pop.

The actual sketch:


Thanks for stopping by!
Cherie

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Sketch 2, 3 and 4

It's warming up here. Most of our snow is gone and we're back to our normal rain. Yay! I snapped a picture of some pretty icicles yesterday before it started to rain yesterday.They're so pretty and we rarely get them here. I bet that bush was glad to see them go.


While it was storming yet again yesterday, I worked on a few cards. I haven't resolved to work through all of the OWH sketches, but it appears that's what I'm doing. I did another three of them. Here's my take on sketch 2:


I wanted to use up those two pieces of paper I used for sketch 1. I'm trying to be good about that, but it isn't easy! The black stripes are My Mind's Eye and the pink is Echo Park. Those swirls are the last of a set of stickers. Add a little bow of white ribbon and it's done!

For sketch 3, I came up with this:




Yes, those are the same papers lol. I embossed some black cardstock and mounted it on some pretty lavender. The clear embellishments are from my stash. I think I still have over 400 of them (they came in a pack of 500!). The sentiment is from Studio G.

Last sketch for this post is sketch 4:


Everything for this one was in my craft stash. I embossed the purple paper, tied some ribbon around it that I've had for awhile, and added some black Pearl Pen to help balance the black around the sentiment.

Today I'm off to use the last of my Christmas gift certificates at a LSS. I'm hoping they have the new OWH Hero Arts stamp sets!

Enjoy your weekend, everyone.
Cherie

Thursday, January 19, 2012

OWH MWT and Sketch #1

It's been an interesting week here in western Washington. We've had as much snow as we usually get in a whole winter. Then it decided to rain ice all day, so everything (including the snow) is covered with at least an inch of ice. The key to all of this: staying home and staying warm! I'm one of the lucky ones and still have power...knock on wood! Here's a picture from yesterday afternoon while it was still snowing. It looks a bit grainy since it was taken through the screen.



It seemed like a perfect time to combine a couple of things on a card. This week it's black and white with a splash of color for the midweek throwdown on the Stars & Stamps blog along with sketch #1. I made two cards for this one.




The striped paper is My Mind's Eye and the pink if from Echo Park. I added some black ribbon and used Nesties to cut out the shapes. I was going to add an image to the top square but loved the look of that pretty paper. I popped the black square with dimensional adhesive.

Here's the sketch:



Hope you're all staying warm enough!
Cherie

Monday, January 16, 2012

OWH Sketch Challenge #104

So far this year, I'm keeping up with the sketches at Operation Write Home. This time it's sketch 104. I did a couple of different cards for this challenge.


This is the first one. I used one of my DeNami chick stamps and lots of papers from my stash. That ribbon has been around for ages, so I made five of these, plus a special one for a friend, to use it all up. I colored them with Copics and used brown ink to edge everything. I didn't want the harshness of black. The white is Cuttlebugged with Swiss Dots and popped with dimensional adhesive.


The second one done with different colors and papers. That's really purple, not blue. On this one, I popped the chicks and the black strip to help balance the thickness of the knot on the ribbon. I only made one of these today, but I love the purple so it will likely be duplicated.

I enjoyed this sketch and will be using it in the future.



Enjoy your week!
Cherie

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Happy birthday, ladies!

Yesterday was my monthly get together with my craft group. A couple of them had birthdays and needed to have a pretty card to help them celebrate!

My card for Lori:


No matter how many times I took this picture, it was always blurry. Trust me, it's not blurry in person! Lori's favortie color is purple so I wanted to use a lot of it on her card. The papers are all from my stash, as was the ribbon. I added a Prima flower and some Pearl Pen. I used a white pen to help accent the edges of the dress and scalloped edge. This design is a CASE of a card I saw in a The Angel Company catalog.

Julia's card:

Julia loves the beach. I had a totally different idea for her card, but I searched and searched and couldn't find the stamp I wanted anywhere. You know I'm going to find it in the next few days now that she has her card, right? The image is SU and colored with Copics. I used three different Nestabilities and a Fiskars border punch. All of the papers and ribbons were in my stash. It needed just a little more, so I added white pen to the top and scalloped bottom.

Happy birthday, my friends!
Cherie

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Love is in the air!

Our first challenge of the new year over at Crafty Contagion is to make a love card. That's right, Valentine's Day is right around the corner! It's time to drag out the heart and love stamps and paper.  Of course, we all know you can make a love card any time of the year, but hopefully this will give you a jump start on those Valentines.


My card features two stamps from my new Penny Black set "j'aime paris." Aren't those bunnies cute? I cut out three of the hearts and popped them to give some depth to the card. They are colored with Copics. The background paper is DCWV and the pink is Creative Imagination.

This card also uses OWH Sketch #103.

Look out for Cupid!
Cherie

Friday, January 13, 2012

OWH MWT Floral Fantasy

It's that time of the week...midweek throwdown! This time it's Floral Fantasy. It's pretty simple: make a card with flowers. My attempt:


The flower stamp is from The Angel Company and the bling is from my stash. I had no idea how many colors I had! The flower stems are Copics. I layered the clouds four times with the top layer run through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder. The border punch is from Fiskars. I think it's still missing something, but I can't figure out what lol.

Update: I took Paula's and Sherry's advice and added a DeNami sentiment and like the card much better. Thanks for the input, ladies!



Stay warm!
Cherie

Monday, January 9, 2012

The Anything Goes Challenge

Over on the DeNami Design blog, they're having "The Anything Goes Challege." You can make any type of card as long as you use at least one DeNami stamp. I was so excited to see this! I love their stamps, especially the chickies. So pulled out my stamps and this is what I came up with:


The chick and sentiment are both from DeNami Design and embossed with black. The pink/green static looking paper is Basic Grey and the rest is DCWV. I colored the chick with Copics, added a button, twine, popped up the image and presto!

This card, like most of mine, will go to Operation Write Home.

Thanks for stopping by!
Cherie

Sunday, January 8, 2012

January ODBD Challenge

It's time for another monthy Stars & Stamps blog challenge sponsored by ODBD. The challenge is to use three different patterned papers on a card. At first I thought, no way! But I went through my many piles of paper and discovered three that went well together.


It continues to amaze me how many different papers I have. The brown background paper is from a yard sale at my LSS yesterday, the layering paper is Basic Grey, and the flower pot/swirl paper is Creative Imagination. I added Glossy Accents to the flower on the pot, three layers of ribbon and some Pearl Pen to help make it a little snazzier.

Happy January!
Cherie

Saturday, January 7, 2012

OWH Sketch Challenge #102

I managed to squeeze in the sketch challenge for this week before the next one comes out tomorrow. Here's the sketch:


And here's my take on it:


Eeyore is a sticker from Sandylion. The papers are from my stash. The circles were all cut out with Nestabilities.

Happy Saturday!
Cherie

Friday, January 6, 2012

OWH MWT

This week over at Operation Write Home, the midweek throwdown challenge is to use something crafty we received for Christmas or to make an Any Occasion card. I did both! I hope it counts that I used a gift card to buy my crafty item.

I also accomplished getting rid...umm I mean using resourcefully...a piece of patterned paper from DCWV that tried to suck all the mojo right out of me. Slowly, one piece at a time, I'll whittle down of my stash of paper. I don't know what possessed me to choose this particular piece. Maybe it's because I have three pieces of it. All I know is it will be awhile before I use another piece!

Here's my first card of four today:


That background paper is the one that has tormented me for two days. I like to think I used it well. This digi was a freebie from somewhere. I've started keeping better track of where I find my digis since I always feel a bit guilty not being able to give proper credit. I colored it with Copics and used the blender pen to add the stripes. The teeth have a nice shine to them from Glossy Accents. The sentiment is from "Laugh with Me" by Fiskars that I purchased with a Jo-Ann gift card. A couple of eyelets and some green glitter paper help make it shine. Both images are popped with dimensional adhesive. The ribbon was added as an after thought because it just needed a little something more.

Card two:


I think this is my favorite. A couple of Disney characters should make some lucky person smile, if not giggle. I stamped the sentiment, from the same Fiskars set, directly onto the black ribbon with silver ink. I was worried it might bleed or smear, but it worked just fine.

Number three:



This is my favorite freebie from the OWH website that I like to color. There are so many variations to choose from. I colored it with Copics, added some twine and cut out three pieces from the patterned paper. The background paper is also from DCWV and came already embossed. Add a bit of twine and some dimensional adhesive and you're done!

Last one:


I wanted at least one of the four to be a definite girly card. This is another freebie image I colored with Copics and edged with black ink to make it pop a bit more. The flower is from Prima, the ribbon is from my stash and the image is popped with dimensional adhesive.

Thanks for stopping by!
Cherie

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Happy New Year!

Well, we did it! We made it to 2012. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to a better year than last year. And this year, I actually made some resolutions. It's been years since I've made them, but this year I really do want to accomplish a few things, including three crafty ones. 1) Do a blog entry at least once a week. 2) Participate in more challenges. 3) Empty out the container below.


This container is full of cards that need to be revamped. Many of them have just a sentiment slapped on them. I've had some of them for a few years because I knew they weren't good enough to send out. Now I've challenged myself to get them out of the house! And just think of all the new craft stuff I can put in that container.

So here's what I got accomplished out of it today:


This was originally just the pink card base with the celebrate embellie in the middle. I carefully peeled it off and added some more color. The squares are Basic Grey and the green is from a DCWV pack that was pre-embossed. I love that kind of paper. This card is for my friend Mary's birthday.

Next I redid this one:


It originally had only the pink card base with the embellie off to the side. The same papers were used. I'm trying to work on using some of my stash. I have so much paper and ribbon that I'm running out of room in my small craft area. My hubby helped with the pink ribbon placement on this. I wanted to add more but he insisted it would be too much. Turns out he was right lol. The white ribbon came with the embellie.

I love rhinestone sentiments, like the one on here:


And that's all it was before I fixed it...the green card base and sentiment. I couldn't remove the sentiment like I did the other two, so I worked around it. There's actually two different ribbons, the black with stitiching and the white with circles. I added a layered Prima flower and textured brad from Imaginisce. I had to really dig in my box of embellies because I just knew I had those brads.

The last one:


This had a sentiment that didn't come off in one piece, so I kept the card base and created something new. That patterned paper is the last of that Basic Grey piece. I love the Kid Sentiments from Inkadinkado. They are so funny and yet so truthful. I learned how to do the silk flowers from a tutorial on the Stars & Stamps blog. I was surprised how easy it was to deconstruct them and make them easy to use on cards. The top flower is purple, not blue like it looks in the picture.

All of these cards, except the first one, will go to Operation Write Home.

Good luck on any resolutions you made for the new year!

Cherie