PDCC131

Another week of Play Date Cafe! I must admit, this week's color combo was not my favorite (I LOVED last week's, but missed playing along), but it's always good to challenge oneself outside of one's regular preferences and comfort zone! Since I'm a week and a half away from celebrating my 10th anniversary, I am in the throes of making (at least) 10 anniversary cards for my hubby. So even though these colors aren't terribly conventional for an anniversary card, I thought it would be fun to do "different".

Supply list:

Cardstock: True Black, Shimmer White (PTI); Glorious Green (SU); light green (scraps)
Patterned Paper: from Summer Picnic DSP {retired} (SU)
Stamp Set(s): Happy Day, Make a Wish Additions, Lock & Key (PTI)
Ink/Colorants: Glorious Green (SU); Black, Kiwi (CTMH)
Embellishments: Pinefeather Baker's Twine (PTI)
Tools: Lock & Key lock & keys dies, Happy Day frame die, Heart border die (PTI)

There She Goes Mother of All Blog Hops 2012

Hello, Stampers!

I'm participating in the 3rd annual Mother of All Blog Hops sponsored by There She Goes Clears Stamps! All of us (customers and trendsetters) are featuring at least one of our favorite There She Goes Clear Stamp sets. Not only that, There She Goes is offering the chance to win some fabulous prizes! To find out how, please go to the There She Goes blog and read the simple instructions.

For my project, I chose to use the beautiful Welcome Home stamp set. I love sets like these that allow you to stamp a scene and create a little picture! I've never been able to hand draw, but love being creative, so being able to "draw" something with stamps is great for someone like me!

I really wanted a wooden door with stained-glass windows, so I chose to texturize both the door frame and the door with a woodgrain impression plate. I then stamped the windows on confetti cream cardstock, colored them with water-based markers (Copics might run a little too much when working in such tiny detail spaces), cut them out and pieced them over the window spaces. Then I stamped the same windows on vellum, cut them out and layered them over the colored windows. The confetti cream card base has an additional layer of confetti cream cardstock that was impressed with the woodgrain impression plate also. The effect is subtle, but creates just a little bit of dimension which I really like.

I layered the whole focal piece over a Spellbinders Nestie die cut and added some pink silk ribbon. For the sentiment, I simply punched out a heart, stamped the sentiment and then ran the whole thing through my Big Shot with the same woodgrain impression plate used on the door & frame. Voila!





That's it from me! Please click on the InLinkz below and follow it to the next blog...

Supply list:

Cardstock: Confetti Cream, Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede textured, So Saffron, Baja Breeze (SU)
Stamp Set(s): Welcome Home (There She Goes)
Ink/Colorants: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler (SU); Markers - Baja Breeze, Regal Rose, Cherry Cobbler, Riding Hood Red, So Saffron (SU)
Embellishments: Pink Silk Ribbon (MME)
Tools: Woodgrain impression plate (PTI); Fleur de Lis Rectangle die (Spellbinders); Full Heart punch (SU)

PDCC129-CFC50

I'm again combining the two lovely challenges from the Play Date Cafe and CAS-ual Fridays. The CFC was pretty simple, just use some flowers! I was still in need of a couple more Mother's Day cards, so I thought I'd throw one together with flowers and the PDCC colors:

Well, this card turned out to be the "learning curve" card. I wanted to try a bunch of new things on it...techniques I haven't used a lot (embossing with PTI dies, using watercolor crayons w/stamps) and busting out some stamp sets that I've had for ages but never used (sad, I know). I also thought I'd practice my Copic coloring, but in the end, I decided to leave that for another time, as the flower that I colored at first just didn't turn out. That's when I turned to my brand-new looking watercolor crayons. I love these things!

I used a two-step stamp set from Technique Tuesday to stamp the outline of the focal flower, and then topped it off with the watercolor-look filler stamp. I liked the look, but it still needed something, so that's when I got busy with the watercolor crayons. I wanted to stamp the sentiment at the bottom, but it just needed something else, so that's when I decided to add the roses from the same TT set. Just stamping the sentiment in dye ink looked too bold, so I decided to color on the sentiment stamp with my watercolor crayon, misted it, then stamped. That worked. The final touch that balanced it all out was adding the scallops at the top. Before that, it was too color-heavy on the bottom. This card took me forever, but now that it's done, I'm pretty happy with the result. It was good practice at working at a design until I got it right. Sometimes that result comes together quickly, and sometimes it doesn't!



Supply list:

Cardstock: Lemon Tart (PTI); Natural White (SU)
Stamp Set(s): Two Steppin' in the Garden, retired (Technique Tuesday); Love Deepens (Verve); Boutique Borders (CTMH)
Ink/Colorants: Concord Crush, Purely Pomegranate (SU); Lemon Tart (PTI); Rich Razzleberry & So Saffron watercolor crayons (SU)
Tools: Limitless Layers circle dies, 1-3/4" & 2-1/2" (PTI)

My Mind's Eye April Sketch Challenge

I love My Mind's Eye and now I'm getting back to doing one of their monthly sketch challenges again! For this month's sketch, I pulled out their Ooh La La For Him collection. It's not one of their newest, but about a year or so ago I went on a mad paper buying spree, including TONS of MME papers, and ever since then I've been struggling to use it all up...and I can't justify buying any more until I've made a dent in the stacks & stacks I already have! So many of my challenge projects may include older - and sometimes no longer available - (but still amazingly beautiful) papers & die cuts.



Supply list:

Cardstock: Crushed Curry, retired color (SU)
Patterned Paper: from Ooh La La for Him collection (MME)
Stamp Set(s): Get to the Point, Get to the Point Sentiments (PTI)
Ink/Colorants: Early Espresso (SU); Log Cabin Smooch Spritz (SU)
Embellishments: die cuts from Ooh La La for Him collection; epoxy brads from Fine & Dandy collection; wooden button (OT); mini clothespin (SU); colored staples, twine (misc)

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #94

Time for another Waltzingmouse Sketch...I've missed the last few so it was really fun to jump back in with this one. I didn't make too many Easter cards this year so I felt like I had missed out on using my sweet Spring Baskets set...I looked it over and decided to make an inspirational, great-for-anytime card! I love the way it turned out, just as I had imagined it in my mind.

Supply list:

Cardstock: Soft Stone (PTI)
Patterned Paper: from Be Mine collection (Echo Park)
Stamp Set(s): Spring Baskets (WMS)
Ink/Colorants: Going Gray (SU); Copic markers - R43, R46, YR02, YR07, Y11, Y15, G12, G17, B21, B26, V01, V17, W1, W5, W7, T1
Embellishments: 1/8" Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon (SU)
Tools: Circle die (Spellbinders)

Papertrey April Blog Hop

I'm getting my post in for this month's blog hop a little later than I want to, but last month I missed it altogether, so I'm in good form this month! ;)

This month's challenge photo was...

My colors didn't come out as close as I was going for, but I think the general feel is there! I added some detail photos so the clear-embossed detail can be seen.







Edited to add, several hours later - I also made another card for the blog hop today that I started yesterday but didn't finish until this afternoon. I was playing around with trying some rolled flowers with fabric and I was concerned that the card was not going to turn out because my fabric flowers were not turning out the way I was hoping..but I think in the end it came out, so I thought I'd add it to my blog hop post for the latecomers! ;)

 

Supply list:

Mother's Day Card:
Cardstock: Cream card base (OT)
Patterned Paper: from Garden Party paper stack (DCWV)
Stamp Set(s): Happy Day (PTI)
Ink/Colorants: Crystal Blue, Blush (CTMH); Versamark ink; Clear embossing powder (CTMH)
Embellishments: Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Pink Pirouette pleated ribbon (SU)
Tools: Happy Day frame die (PTI)

Happy Birthday card:
Cardstock: Ballet Blue{retired color}, Pink Pirouette (SU)
Patterned Paper: from Kitschy Kitchen 6x6 paper pad (Melissa Frances); from Smitten paper pad (Kay & Co)
Stamp Set(s): Polka Dot Basics, Inside & Out: Birthday (PTI)
Ink/Colorants: Bubblegum (CTMH); Melon Mambo (SU)
Embellishments: Buttons (SU & stash); Pearl (CTMH); fabric from Twitterpated collection (SU)
Tools: Ribbon Banners die (Spellbinders); Linen & Canvas impression plate (PTI)

PDCC128 & CFC49

This week's CAS-ual Friday challenge was a sketch, so I decided to combine the Play Date Cafe's color challenge with CFC's sketch. Easy peasy!

The minute I saw the CFC sketch, I thought of an older Papertrey set that I have that I've never really used, Sign Language, and knew I wanted to pull it out and try it. I also threw in the use of a (relatively) new Papertrey die, Card Base-ics #2. Simple & fast, but I did want some opaque white on top of the colors, so I did some embossing for that.



Supply list:

Cardstock: White (PTI)
Patterned Paper: from Razzleberry Lemondade DSP (SU)
Stamp Set(s): Sign Language (PTI)
Ink/Colorants: Black (CTMH); Raspberry Fizz (PTI); Versamark, White embossing powder (Filigree)
Embellishments: Rox (Queen & Co)
Tools: Card Base-ics Die #2 (PTI)