Operation Safe and Sound

Hi guys!

Today I am participating in Operation Safe and Sound! 

If your just stopping by the blog I hope you can join in! Several of us are doing a post today for Christy. Christy's home was broken into and several valuables were stolen. Some of these things are of sentimental value and are simply irreplaceable.  So today we are sending her love and prayers we are also asking for any possible donations you can make. Every little bit will help Christy and her family start to replace the things that they need and rebuild their normal lives. If you would like to donate please click on the Donate icon in my sidebar. Our goal is to raise $1,000 in donations.


Christy,
Though we have never met and I cannot imagine what you are going through I hope this simple card reminds you that their are caring people in the world who will help you rebuild while others are trying to tear you down. I am praying for you and your family sweetie.

If you would like a complete list of all the bloggers participating please go to A Blog Named Hero or Lawnscaping Thank you guys so much! 

Thank You Chevrons

Hi guys!

I here to share my card for this week's Runway Inspired Challenge. I created this thank you card for my friend Michelle after she so generously sent me some crafty goodies. Michelle hasn't actually received her thank you card, it's still in the mail, but there is a deadline on this challenge so Michelle if you're visiting LOOK AWAY!!! :)

Instead of an outfit the inspiration photo is a shoe . . .who doesn't love a gorgeous shoe?!

I absolutely love these colors! and all that shine . .SWOON! I wanted to use the colors in a color blocking "kind of" way but I wanted it to be trendy . . .enter the chevron :)

I know I just shared a make your own chevron card yesterday so you'll have to forgive me :)

I started by cutting varying strips of light pink, dark pink, green and white. I pieced them together on a 3in piece of card stock and trimmed off the edges. I really wanted to include the shiny element of the shoe so I added glossy accents to just the green strips. 

The roses were paper pieced with the same card stock, which is all from American Crafts Primaries collection by the way. After I added the panel to a white card base I added a white strip to stamp my sentiment. The roses were adhered with dimensional adhesive and stardust stickles were added, because, really, I just can't leave them off lol.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Today the A Blog Named Hero DT is sharing BIG birthday wishes for our sweet friend Michelle!

Michelle is such a wonderful, generous, outgoing person, and she is super talented to boot! I wanted to create a bright trendy card to match Michelle's fabulous personality :)

I decided to create my own chevron :) I used hot pink paper from American crafts and cut it into 1 x1 inch squares, then I cut the squares at a diagonal. I did the same with some white card stock. I then pieced them together to create my pattern :) I wanted a bit of added pattern so I stamped the houndstooth background in versamark over just the chevron. (yes I am addicted to this stamp . .CAN. NOT. STOP.) The sentiment was stamped in Rose Bud ink by Memento, a few rhinestones finished the card off. 

Happy Birthday dear friend, I hope your day is completely amazing! 

I'm heading over to A Blog Named Hero to see the other girls cards, hope you'll come with me :) If you can stop by Michelle's Blog and wish her Happy Birthday too :)

I'm also entering this card into CAS-ual Fridays Pretty in Pink challenge.

CASE Sunshine

Hey crafty peeps!

Today I'm tossing my hat in the ring for this week's CASE Study Challenge.  The fab Joy Taylor is the muse in case you have forgotten and here is her card

Per usual Joy's card is delightful! I really loved the puffy clouds and her embossed circle background. Now when you first see my take your going to say "huh?!" but I'll explain I promise :)

When I look at Joy's card I see sky. What's in the sky? Clouds and sun and rainbows! My favorite :) 

I used my spellbinders circles to cut the rainbow, I thought it played well off Joy's embossed background. I colored each piece with my copics because frankly it was easier than cutting out each circle in a different color. The sun is almost identical to this card. the only difference is I stamped on yellow card stock in poppy ink. The bottom cloud and the sun were added with dimensional adhesive. 

I added some stardust stickles to the rainbow and my little heart because everything is better with stickles hehe

Thanks for coming to visit! I do hope your day is filled with sunshine and laughter :)

Mojo? Mojo? Never mind, I found Michelle Instead

Welcome to the best Monday post in quite awhile :)

If you are a frequent flyer on my blog you know that I've been struggling with my card making mojo lately. After some serious discussion my friend Michelle and I realized that our mojos more than likely packed up and went to Vegas together, leaving us high and dry.

If your mojo is off gambling and singing Celine Dion with our mojos no worries, we have a game plan! For the next five (yep FIVE) weeks Michelle and I will be hosting a mojo inspiring challenge in our A Blog Named Hero Flickr group.  We will be alternating sketch and color challenges until the very last week, when there will be a sketch and a color challenge.

Of course we just couldn't have a challenge without some prizes! Prizes are always mojo inspiring :) In addition, Michelle and I will both be picking 4 favorites that we are particularly inspired by to share on our blogs. 


So here is the first sketch my darlings :) It was put together by Michelle based on this Shari Carroll card. Big thanks to Shari for letting us use your fabulous sketch!

Here is my take

After I created my white card base I trimmed an inch off the front. I inked up that scrap piece with picked raspberry distress ink (LOVE) and punched a border. I adhered my pattern paper (WHAT?!) flat to my card base.The border was added to the back so it would hang over the side. The black/gray stripe is from Echo Parks Dots and Stripes. The green polka dot is from Sketchbook by Amy Tangerine. 

I'm not usually a purple person but I love this particular hue. I trimmed a small banner and stamped it with the houndstooth background using versamark ink. For my "tab" I punched 3 small circles out of black cardstock to create a scallop border. 

The flowers were paper pieced using that gorgeous purple again. I just adore these roses (you'll see them in another card later this week :) For the sentiment I stamped on a piece of white and added three strips of picked raspberry colored paper. To complete I added a simple purple button and some stardust stickles :)

I'm so happy to be creating again! Thanks Michelle! 

I do hope you'll come check out the Flickr group and play along! 

Happy 1st Birthday Chloe!

Hello Again!

While we were away on vacation my niece Chloe celebrated her very first birthday! Since her party wasn't going to happen until we got home I made her some cupcakes (banana strawberry with cream cheese frosting) and snapped some photos. :)

Today is the actual party so I thought I would share her card as well as her "real" birthday photos.

For the first part of the day we traveled to the beach

Is that swimsuit not completely adorable?! hers . . .not mine . . .though I think mine is pretty cute too hehe

After dinner she enjoyed her birthday cupcake :) Who doesn't love banana cake with strawberry filling?

Now onto the card :) 

Chloe loves Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street. Fortunately for me they offer free coloring pages :)

I started by resizing Abby to about 3 inches and coloring her with my copics. I covered her body in glossy accents then poured on flock in pixie pink to make her all soft and fuzzy :) 

The one was cut out using my Cricut to create a faux chipboard piece. I did 3 white and one pink. I stamped my chevron (I told you it's going to be on like EVERY card) in soft lilac. It's subtle in real life but not quite as much as it is in the photo.

I adhered my one, then added the banners. I also stamped some little flower type star things LOL in soft lilac and added a rhinestone to their center. To add some more shine I covered the one in stardust stickles. Plus in real life it really makes it stand out from the card base even though they are the same color. 

My sister-in-law saves the cards I make the kids and displays them on a shelf in their bedrooms. Isn't she the sweetest?! Hopefully Chloe is happy with the first one in her collection :)

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend!

A Splash of Blue

Happy Saturday Crafters!

Are you doing buckets of fun stuff this weekend? If you are enjoy them for the both of us as I am working all weekend. I did find time to play along with The Play Date Cafe's color splash challenge. This time it is a splash of a vibrant blue . . LOVE!

Here is what I came up with

I super love the way it turned out :) I started by masking my white card base and then stamping the houndstooth background in London Fog by Memento. 

After I removed the masks I stamped the chevron for My Happy in jet black archival ink by Ranger. Do I even make cards that don't include this stamp anymore?! I so love this stamp :) 

I stamped the tea rose on a scrap piece of white and colored just the blooms with copics. I used B21, B24, and B28. I trimmed out the rose and sprayed it down with Tattered Angels in Pearl for some shimmer. I popped the flower up on foam and called it lovely :)

Thanks for visiting, hope you get some crafty time in!!

Multi-Colored Sentiment Tutorial

 Hey guys!

So after I posted THIS card quite a few of you said you would be interested in seeing how I created my multi-colored sentiment. So here I am with a photo tutorial. I swear some day I will get an iphone so I can do videos, promise. :)

So here is the card I created (I forgot that Cas-ual Fridays closes their post at noon and missed getting it entered. Duh!)

I used my Memory Box Heart Delights Die to cut the hearts. I then backed the hearts in a rainbow of vellum colors. I wanted a sentiment to match so here we go :)

first stamp your image on a scrap piece of paper and trim. 

cut apart the image for everything that you want to be a different color. Apply repositional adhesive to the back of your pieces. 

put your sentiment back together like a puzzle. It's important that your pieces line up, this is how you are going to see where to stamp. 

remove the mask for the first color you are going to stamp. If you use a clear stamp you will be able to see the already stamped part through your stamp making it easy to line everything up. 

put your mask back in place and remove the next mask for your next color

 Make sure you replace each mask after you stamp it. 

continue masking and stamping until you get to your last color.

remove all masks and enjoy your super cool colored sentiment :)

I used Hero Arts Shadow inks in Soft Pool, Soft Blossom, Soft Green and Soft Lilac for my colors. One little note normally I use regular computer paper as my mask so I don't have to worry about there being too much of a difference in height (i.e. stamp skips because it can't touch the paper) but shadow inks are wetter and I had some bleeding through the mask so I used regular card stock. Play around with your inks to find out which you'll need to use :)

Thanks for popping in! If you decide to give this a go I'd love to see what you make :) Drop me a comment and I'll come visit!

Play Date Thinking of You

Posting just under the wire tonight :)



I had this idea for this week's Play Date Cafe colors but unfortunately it didn't come together the way I ghad pictured in my head. So I came up with a different game plan. Don't worry I'm still going to share my "not so awesome" card with you in the hopes it will help you come up with something :)


So here's the colors

and the card I'm actually entering

I cut my color panels and adhered them to my card before stamping my flower in versamark. After I heat set it in white I stamped the lattice background in versamark over the whole card. I used my copics (B24, BV04, and V04) to add some shading. The sentiment was popped up on dimensional adhesive and some stardust stickles finished off the card.

Now the not so awesome one :)

I mean it's not wretched it's just not what I had pictured :)

Thanks for popping in! If you do happen to come up with something based on the not so wretched card please leave me a comment I'd love to come see!!!





Thinking of You CASE Study

 Hi guys!

The card I'm sharing today is for this week's CASE Study Challenge. This month's Muse is Joy Taylor which is super exciting because I LOVE her work. She is always one of the sweetest crafters I know :) If you have the chance go check out her blog. I promise you WILL find amazing inspiration! Are you ready yo see Joy's Gorgeous card?!

Lovely right?! I absolutely love her color scheme as well as that blue peaking out from under her border.

Unfortunately, for as much as I love that border I don't have one that cuts that way so I stamped one instead. I also flip-flopped the colors for it. 

I colored my flower with tumbled glass and broken china then trimmed it out and popped it up on dimensional adhesive. I colored the center with copics, using various browns for the center.  The leaves were colored with copics then folded down the center for some added dimension. I topped my flower center off with little dots of stardust stickles. 

All stamps are Hero Arts. The border is from Calico Borders and stamped in Soft Apricot. The flower is called Classic Bloom. Those cute little leaves are from 3 Leaves. If you don't have this set I highly recommend getting it, I use these leaves ALL the time. Lastly the sentiment is from the Find Joy set. 

Thanks for stopping in :)

Get Funky

 

You know I love techniques right?! Well the newest challenge over at A Blog named Hero is all about a certain technique . . . . . K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

How much fun can you have with this, right?! In case you aren't sure what kissing is I'll explain. You ink up one stamp (usually an image with quite a bit of solid area) then ink up another stamp (this one is typically more detailed) then "kiss" them together. Once they have kissed you can chose which one you want to stamp with. I do hope you get a chance to play along because you could win a wonderful prize . . . .

Simon Says Stamp is so awesome to sponsor us! They have such a variety of goodies you can always find just what your looking for! I find a lot more than what I'm looking for but that's why I have a crafty spending account hehe

Let's get to the card!

When I think of the kissing technique I generally think of elegant cards. I don't know how I associated the two but that's where I go immediately, today I decided to go a different way lol

I knew I wanted to use Hero Art's 3 Silhouettes as my solid which fits that elegant feel. However, it's summer and I had all these bright colors on my desk that I wanted use. I thought I'd combine the two for something unexpected :) 

I stamped the girls using rosebud, tangelo, and pear tart memento ink. All the kissing was done with bahama blue. I played up the elegant factors by scoring a line above the girls and two below them then adding rhinestones to their hair. The sentiment is computer generated. 

I think it's so fun to combine the two styles. All these little classic romantic touches then BAM crazy colors and quirky sentiment :) 

That's it for me! Head on over to A Blog Named Hero to see the rest of the girl's inspiration and of course to play along :) Can't wait to see what you make!!!

Happy Birthday Cristina!

 I'm here today with a very special post. My friend and fellow DT member is having a big birthday today :)

Happy 30th Birthday Cristina!


I hope you have the most fabulous birthday ever!!

Here is my card for you

Bright, Fun, and Sparkly what every birthday should be!!

I stamped the chevron arrow from My happy in Memento Bahama Blue Ink. Next I stamped the diagonal stripe from Calico Borders in Memento Pear Tart. The super cute Happy Birthday border is also from Calico Borders. The cupcake was stamped multiple times then trimmed out an pieced back together. I rounded the top left corner and added some stardust stickles to the flower. 

Head over to A Blog Named Hero to see the rest of Cristina's Birthday cards and don't forget to go wish her a happy birthday too!

Houndstooth + Bright Colors = LOVE

 Hello Crafters!

I have been trying to post this card for the last two days and Blogger has refused to let me! Every time I get it all typed up and hit Publish it publishes a completely blank post . . . grrr . . . So today I am posting using Google Chrome. Hopefully it works!

Since I returned home from vacation I have really been struggling to make anything. It seems I had misplaced my mojo :( So I went about surfing blogs and challenges until I found the newest Runway Inspired Challenge.   Finally, I had an idea!

I immediately thought of color blocking. I also immediately Thanked God I just bought Hero Arts Houndstooth Background at 40% off hehe. 

I usually do color blocking in an exact shape. So I decided to do something a little more abstract (although I think the yellow piece in the center may be a hair too big). I cut all my strips and colored them using worn lipstick, squeezed lemonade, and peacock feathers. I adhered them to a 3x3 square, letting them hang over where I wanted them to meet the edge the card. 

In the original photo the pink stands out because it is different. I wanted my pink to stand out as well but as you know I don't have markers I can stamp with. Instead I left them solid by masking them before I stamped the houndstooth in black soot. 

I wanted a sentiment that had an 80'sish vibe (yes I just made up that word lol) and I found the perfect one in Hero Art's Let's Chill set. After I adhered my piece to a white card base I rounded two corners. I still felt like it needed something so I added the little black strips. 

Thanks for popping in to visit me. I cannot tell you how excited I was to get home and read your comments on the posts I scheduled while away. You guys are the best!! I'm off to (hopefully) make more cards. I hope you find some time to get crafty today too :)

Embossed or no?

  Hello crafters!

Popping in to share a card with you today. I really love the lattice craze that's going on right now. I don't have a lattice embossing folder but that's the look I wanted so I got a little creative.

I cut several of the Memory Box Tessatina Border and quickly colored them with a copic before adhering them to my card base. It's raised just like dry embossing without the embossing folder :)

I love the way it looks in the background I'm just not crazy about the whole card. I guess that happens to all of us sometimes :)

Thanks for coming over!