Freshly Made 129

The first thing I have to do with this card is give credit to my friend, Sheila, for coloring the Hero Arts bird. She was a great sport about it and you can find her blog at 2 Paw Prints. 

I used Freshly Made Sketch 129 today and a new Hero Arts set that supports Operation Write Home. The star paper is DCWV and has a nice texture to it. The star is done with Spellbinders and the bling is Triveni. I chose to make this a birthday card to go with the current Seize the Birthday challenge to use bling or buttons. 

It's Hello Kitty Time

I've never been a Hello Kitty fan, but I saw this card and knew I had to make my own version. It's perfect for a little girl who loves Hello Kitty. I used Spellbinder dies for all of the shapes except the whiskers and a Cuttlebug folder for the embossed bow. The eyes and nose are both textured to give it a bit more interest. I love how simple this is yet so adorable.

Spring is here!

Pink and brown is one of my favorite color combinations. This card showcases both colors. The bike stamp and sentiment are both from Hero Arts and stamped in Fresh Ink Chocolate. I used brown and pink Bazzill with some white card stock for the bikes. The hexagon embossing folder is Darice. I chose some ribbon from my stash that's sheer brown with a line of pink stiched down the center.

Mojo Monday 338

I thought this week's Mojo Monday sketch was perfect for a Mother's Day card. I used some pretty yellow DCWV paper for the background and some pink SU paper for the banners. The circles were cut out with Spellbinders using some pale yellow Bazzill and silver DeNami. I used some Ranger silver embossing powder with the Fiskars sentiment.

Merry Merry Monday 101

This week's Merry Monday challenge is to use red, gray and white. Since these are pretty basic Christmas colors, I didn't have to think too hard. I got out some silvery gray paper from DeNami and some Darice red pearl paper then got to work! The Mama Elephant penguin is embossed in Recollections white and cut out with Spellbinders. I then used a Mama Elephant sentiment and embossed it with some silver Ranger. The pearls are from my rather large stash of embellishments. This card also fits perfectly for the Anything Goes challenge at Sparkle Creations.

Epic Love

I love this Hero Arts sentiment with all of these hearts. I found the idea on Pinterest and knew between my mom and myself we had enough different heart dies to make this card. I used three different Spellbinders sets and another one that didn't have it's name on it. The white hearts are stamped with Lawn Fawn stamps in two separate Memento colors. Three different embossing folders add to the texture.

Spring-y Miss You

I love the soft, spring-like look of this October Afternoon Lemon Drop paper. I used the MFT Trio die to repeat the circle theme and layered it on brown Bazzill. The Hot Off the Press sentiment is stamped in Fresh Ink Chocolate on some ivory card stock. To continue the circles, I topped the card off with three American Crafts Chestnut brads.

Bright Miss You

It was fun using some lighter colors to make this card. I'm definitely ready to see some flowers blooming and blue skies a bit more often! This is my take on Mojo Monday 277. I used some Dena Designs paper for the bottom and then matching Bazzill colors for the squares and Spellbinders heart. The banners were also done with Spellbinders and the sentiment is from Hero Arts. The thin strip of black is SU ribbon and the bling is Triveni Crafts..

Lots of Eggs

These Inkadinkado stamps are perfect for an Easter card. I used some Memento and StazOn inks for the background then my watercolor pencils on the Oogaloo stamp and sentiment. The bling is from my stash as is the ribbon. I think the egg needs to be colored with Copics...it's too soft with that bold background. What do you think?

I'm entering this card in the current "Anything Goes" challenge at Cards in Envy.

clean & simple 283

I love the look of this card. The clean & simple sketch 283 was perfect for an easy Mother's Day card. I used a Spellbinders heart die on some Bazzill then my Scor-Buddy to make the lines. The dots are dabs of silver Pearl Pen. I did a simple banner for the SU sentiment and edged it in the same color of SU Rich Razzleberry.

Freshly Made Miss You

The current Freshly Made Sketch was perfect for these DCWV papers. I love how they look together...so pretty and bold. I used a Paper Smooches sentiment and a button punch from Martha Stewart. And you can't have a button without some twine, right?

OWH and Merry Monday

I used the OWH sketch 215 to make my Merry Monday card (use brown, green, gold and white or cream). I have a huge stash of cream paper I got when a local paper store closed, so I went with that instead of white. The green paper is Reminisce and the gold is DeNami. Both have a pretty sheen to them. I added some American Crafts brads and a Hero Arts sentiment stamped in Fresh Ink Chocolate. 

I'm enjoying slowly building my Christmas stash. It will be such a huge relief to not stress over them in December.

Flowering Thinking of You

This pretty flower card is something like a few I've seen on Pinterest. I used a SU tag punch on some Authentique paper, a Recollections flower punch and some American Crafts brads. The sentiment is Stampendous and the baker's twine is glued down so the bow doesn't unravel.

Friendly Kid Card

I've had this EK Success Sesame Street paper for a couple of years and it was time to use it! The front side had all kinds of character squares on it and the back is the striped background. The Stampendous sentiment is heat embossed to give it a shiny look. I managed to get eight of these made for Operation Write Home, all with different characters on them.

Mother's Day Circles

I made three of these for Operation Write Home. I love the Color Box Cat's Eye stack of inks I used. They're so bright and spring like, don't you think? And I really enjoy making my own background papers. I think the SU Circle Circus is a perfect set to use for them. The ribbon is from my rather large stash, the ovals are done with Spellbinders and the sentiment is Fiskars. For the corners, I used a Tonic punch I always seem to forget about. Oh, I used a pin from Pinterest for inspiration and I'm entering this in the Midweek Throwdown over at OWH.

Love Ya, Papa

For this card, I used Freshly Made Sketch 126 and mashed it with The Friday Mashup by making it a masculine card. I dug deep for some masculine papers and came up with a piece from Basic Grey and a piece of Lily Bee Design. The sentiment on the left is heat embossed and the one on the right is popped with some dimensional adhesive. Both of them are from Mama Elephant. 

Christmas CAS

I was going through some challenge blogs today and found three that work well together. The first one comes from Sparkle Creations to make a Christmas card and use heat embossing if you want. I didn't heat emboss because I couldn't find my silver embossing powder. The second challenge from CAS-ual Fridays is to use two shades of grey and the third challenge is sketch 282 over at clean & simple.

I used a piece of grey DeNami card stock for the background and two shades of grey ribbon. The turquoise paper is SU and so are the stamps. The grey ink is Memento and the turquoise is SU. The bling is JoAnn Craft Essentials. To make it a Christmas card instead of a possible birthday card, I put a Penny Black sentiment inside that reads: May your holiday be wonderful and wonder-full.

It's a die. It's a stencil. It's both!

A Blog Named Hero is having a stencil challenge and this Taylored Expressions die popped into my mind. Using the die, I created a stencil then pulled out my Color Box Cat's Eye stack of inks. I love how it turned out. It's so bright and cheerful. I even saved the stencil so I can use it again. The sentiment needed to be bold so I chose these two words from an A Muse set and stamped it with black VersaFine. 

Some Stars & Stripes

This card was fun to make. I found the video here with all of the measurements. I used mostly basic card stock and a piece of flag paper I've had forever. The border is a Martha Stewart punch and the star, stamped with SU Real Red, is Hero Arts. The shapes are Spellbinders and the ribbon is from my stash. I put a Post-It note on the white saying "Pull out here." Both the front and back are white for more writing space.

 

Polka Dot Birthday

I have a friend who loves green and when I saw this green Echo Park polka dot paper, I knew I had to use it for her birthday card. I paired it with some green paper embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and used some black and grey polka dot ribbon to cover that pesky paper seam. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches. I added some white American Crafts brads for extra dimension. This card is not only perfect for her birthday, it's perfect for the current Cards in Envy challenge to Think Green and the Anything Goes challenge at Seize the Birthday.

Circles of Thanks

Lots of circles for you today on a thank you card which fit perfectly with the March ODBD challenge over at OWH and The Paper Players challenge as well. I started with this idea. A Cuttlebug folder makes the background and Spellbinders dies with Simple Stories papers make the circles. Finishing it off, a Paper Smooches sentiment edged in black.

Ray of Sunshine

One of my friends has asked if our craft group could send some uplifting cards to her sister who has cancer. This is the one I made for her. This cute MFT Flopsey bunny always makes me smile. I did some paper piecing and colored the bunny with a Copic marker. The clouds have some pale blue Copic streaks in them. Both polka dot papers are Bella Press. The clouds are a Fiskars punch. I'm also entering the card for clean & simple 281.

Merry!

This card is for Seize the Sketch 14 and Rudolph Day over on Stamping for Pleasure. It's rare that I use typical red and green for my Christmas cards, but I'm trying to use the Recollections papers I used for some gifts last year. The background is embossed with a Darice folder and the ribbon is from my stash. The circle and ovals are done with Spellbinders. For the sentiment, I used a Mama Elephant stamp. The bling is by Triveni. 

Here's my picture for the Rudolph challenge showing two cards, although I made four of these.

It's a boy!

Today I made a baby shower card for a friend who's having a baby soon. I used Freshly Made Sketch 125 and even decorated the inside. For the front, I used some Echo Park design paper and some Spellbinders. The sentiment is Rubber Moon and one of my favorites for these kinds of cards. The inside has a strip of Echo Park and a giraffe from Impress. I'm not sure who the inside sentiment is from. 

Hexagons, triangles and stripes!

The current Friday Mashup is to use hexagons, triangles or both. I chose to use both! Using my Taylored Expressions hexagon dies, I cut out the hexagons from some SU paper and then cut them into triangles. Then I formed a new hexagon with the triangles. It was fun to do, but time consuming lol. The brad in the middle is American Crafts and the bling is Triveni. I used a Hero Arts sentiment and Deconstructed Sketch 137. This card also works perfectly with the MWT over at OWH to use turquoise or teal.

Merry Monday #97

Color challenges aren't my favorite, but when I saw the aqua, silver and white challenge over at Merry Monday, I knew the perfect paper to use. This shiny silver paper is some I've been hoarding because it's so expensive, but this is the perfect challenge for it. You can see how shiny it is because of my picture taking reflection on the card. The snowflake punch is EK Success and the sentiment punches and stamp are SU. I used some baker's twine for some extra aqua color.

A few scraps

For today, I have two cards made with some scraps of DCWV. I used some shiny pink Bazzill on the first one. Both sentiments are Hero Arts and stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black. The black bling is Triveni Craft.

Lucky stars...and polka dots

Isn't this a bright, cheery card? I never thought I'd use this super bright green card stock, but it works so well with the A Muse polka dots and Recollections button. The tag is done with a Paper Trey die and the stars with Spellbinders. I used a Paper Studio embossing folder for the background. The Hero Arts sentiment is stamped in Fresh Ink Chocolate. The basic idea for this card came from Pinterest.

Masculine Birthday

Although I call this masculine, it's really more generic. I chose DCWV colors for the banners that weren't too girly or boyish. The white is my actual card base. I heat embossed the black card stock with a Stampendous sentiment, making sure to use my Embossing Buddy before stamping and adding the powder. I used a Spellbinder die to make the banners and attached them with black American Crafts brads. The idea for this layout is here.

Loads of Love

I love how this card turned out and you can see the original one here. The heart stamp came with the SU Loads of Love Accessories set and the sentiment is part of the original SU Loads of Love set. I colored the hearts with some red and pink Copics and heat embossed the sentiment. The pearls are Recollections. A Spellbinders die was used to shape the sentiment and a Cuttlebug folder for the dry embossing. This card fits in perfectly with the Cards in Envy challenge to use red, pink and/or white.

A CASE of my own card

As I was looking through my cards from 2013, I found this one and decided it would be a perfect CASE kit for CHA (yes, from way back in January!). The design paper is Graphic 45 and lots of Bazzill. The ivory card stock circle has a Paper Smooches sentiment stamped in Fresh Ink Chocolate and a piece of Triveni bling. I rounded the corners to emphasize the circles and pierced around the brown and red for added detail.

Merry Monday #95

Here's my entry for the Merry Monday #95 challenge. This week we needed to use an animal on our card. I started with a SU reindeer stamp, then embossed it with Ranger Copper. The striped paper is Simple Stories. Since I didn't have any copper paper laying around, I also embossed the layering paper to match the reindeer. The Mama Elephant sentiment is embossed in Recollections White. All of the red paper is Bazzill. I edged the image in black to make it pop a bit more and added some American Crafts brads to pull out the black a bit.

Popcorn Love

I've had this striped paper for quite awhile and decided it was finally time to use it. The red/white striped paper is Recollections, as well as the heart brads. There's some red, white and black card stock for layering. I used a Spellbinders die for the center shape and fussy cut the black layer. The sentiment is Fiskars and stamped in SU Real Red. For a bit more detail, I added some baker's twine. 

When I showed this card to my hubby, he said it reminded him of an old popcorn box. I realized he was right!

Conversation Hearts

One of my local LSS had a crafty garage sale awhile ago and I picked up a set of "conversation heart" stamps. I knew they would be perfect for some love and Valentine cards and I was right! I just wish I knew who made them.

This card is made with some paper from my stash that didn't have a company name on it. I used the My Favorite Things Peek-a-boo Trio die for the circles. The layer of brown is Bazzill and the hearts are stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa. Those chestnut colored brads are from American Crafts.

For this one, I used some Authentique paper layered on blue card stock. The hearts are stamped in Memento Danube Blue and the blue bling is Queen & Co.

Are you ready for Valentine's Day?

Sparkle and Shine

I saw some color block cards while surfing the other day and it sparked the idea for this card. It didn't turn out quite the way I wanted (even after several tries), but it's close enough. 

I started by inking up my block with SU Tempting Turquoise and giving it a light spritz of water before stamping it. The Memento Cottage Ivy was simply swirled on my block and stamped to show the design. A Hero Arts bicycle stamp and a Recollections sentiment heat embossed in black finishes off the scene. I mounted it on yellow card stock to represent the sun. 

Girly Cards

Here are a couple of cards using OWH sketch 99. They both use the same things: DCWV patterned papers, Bazzill, black and white card stock, a Stampendous sentiment and Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I love how this sketch showcases the top layer of patterned paper. 

 

Time for Stockings

The Merry Monday challenge this week is to use a stocking theme. I'm so glad my LSS has lots of different dies for us to use. Both the stocking and the "joy" are old Sizzix dies. I did some paper piecing with DCWV papers and they turned out great. The sentiment is a cream color from Darice that didn't quite show up in the picture. The design paper is Authentique. I also used some green and brown card stock.

Soccer, anyone?

I love soccer. I played for several years growing up and still enjoy the game. When I saw this card, I knew I'd have to do something similar, especially when the OWH MWT is hexagons. I started by using my Taylored Expressions hexagon dies and mounting them on a piece of green paper. Then I used a Spellbinder circle to cut out the ball. The embossing is a Cuttlebug folder and the sentiment is from Mama Elephant. The baker's twine sets off the sentiment tag. 

Love is in the Air

I enjoy using non-tradition colors and here is a love card in browns, green, white and black to prove it. I used a lighter brown card stock for the base and the white is all basic card stock. The hearts use dark brown Bazzill while the thin border layers are basic black card stock. The green is some pretty DCWV double-sided heavy paper I got for Christmas. I used Spellbinders for the hearts and a Hero Arts stamp for the love sentiment. The brads are black American Crafts. 

This card is for the "Love is in the Air" challenge over at Cards in Envy. The idea for the design can be found here.

Card Bowl 2014 Finale

Our last challenge for the OWH Card Bowl is to make a card using today's sketch. I used some bright blue card stock for the base, brown Bazzill for the layering and SU turquoise design paper. The brads are Recollections and the sentiment is Hero Arts.

Yesterday, Sandy challenged us to show a picture of our desk as it looked "right now." This is what mine looked like at the time. It was still a mess from unpacking my black rolling tote from spending the day at my LSS. 

This is what it normally looks like when I'm done with a card or two. I made a resolution to keep my craft area tidier this year. So far, so good. If you look closely, you'll see which team I cheer for lol.

Whole lot of hearts

Today is the second day of the OWH Card Bowl and the challenge is to make a mostly brown card. I got the layout idea from Pinterest. The base is basic red card stock and the heart paper is from Hambly Screenprints. The ribbon is a pretty sheer brown that goes well with the brown Bazzill and brown American Crafts brads. I used Spellbinders to cut out the hearts and a Sizzix embossing folder for the large one. I think I'll be giving one of these to my husband for Valentine's since it's more manly without a lot of pink and no sappy sentiment.