Another Case Study

Hi guys, I'm back with another Case Study card today.  This month's featured guest is Sarah Martina Parker.  I love her cards and have followed her for a while now.  I made the card a few days ago and completely forgot to post it! 

I chose to keep the layout and the shabby chic feeling of the card and several of the elements Sarah used in her card, but I changed the color scheme.  I used some paper from Cosmo Cricket for the background and added stitching to the middle panel.  I used a library card, like the CASE card.  I stamped mine out using PTI's library card stamp and then rounded out the edges.  The cute fairy with the dandelion is from The Craft's Meow and I absolutely love her!  I stamped her in red on cream cardstock and added a touch of sponging with Antique Linen.  The metal brads are from Hobby Lobby and the crochet rosette was made out of a scrap piece of trim.  Lots of elements went into this card, but I like it.

Prickley Pear will be releasing new rubber stamps on May 21, be sure to stop for the release!


Paper: cardbase - Neenah cream cardstock; Cosmo Cricket - Circa 1934, Social Club
Stamps: Butterfly Kisses - The Craft's Meow; Library Card - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Tuxedo Black - Memento; Red Barn, Antique Linen, Tea Dye - Distress
Accessories: wrinkled seam binding; pearls - Pizzazz Aplenty; brads, crochet trim - The Paper Studio; burlap string - May Arts

Hello Friend

Howdy, I'm back again with a card for this week's MFT sketch challenge. 

This card was super easy to make,  I kept the same color scheme from the CASE Study card I and just pulled paper from my scrap pile.  I happened to have this cute a la mode girl colored and waiting for me so it was just a matter of cutting and embellishing.  Yay for simple cards!!  The sentiment is from PTI's Embellishments stamp set.

Two posts in one day, not bad, huh.

Case Study

Hi guys, long time no blog, huh.  I'm back today with a card for this week's Case Study challenge.  This week's inspiration card kept running through my mind when I sat down to craft yesterday and I happened to have some butterflies colored in the inspiration colors so I just went with it.

I tried to keep as true to the card as possible without directly copying the sketch.  The orange paper is from pink paislee.  For the bottom scalloped panel, cut a piece of Hawaiian Shores cardstock, stamped my sentiment in brown ink and added two score lines on either side of the sentiment before punching the border with a Martha Stewart punch.  Some felt ric rac, an orange button, and brown twine completed this panel.  The white panel is stamped in brown with PTI's Fancy Flourishes.  I stamped the largest butterfly from Blue Skies, colored them with copics, cut them out and attached them with glue dots.  Some brown bling on the butterflies and on the bottom scallop finished off the card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Viva La Verve Week 3

Hi guys, I'm back with week 3's sketch for Viva La Verve.  I've got to admit out of the three card I've made so far, this one's my favorite.

I went for the pink and craft combination again, it seems to be a favorite of mine right now.  The paper is from MME's Lost and Found collection and I've incorporated it into all three cards.  The tag pulls out to reveal a sweet message, lol.

I went for a polka dot theme again both on the background paper and the tag.  The pocket was made using impressed kraft cardstock.  After scoring the pocket, I die cut the front opening using PTI's mat stack 4 die.  The left over piece was flipped and attached to the top of the card.  The tag was also cut using the same die using more raspberry fizz cardstock and stamped with more polka dots.  The top of the tag was made by die cutting a piece of scored and folded kraft cardstock.  The swirls on the kraft piece were stamped using the hearts on fire scrolled heart from Verve.  I stamped the sentiment from Verve and added three pink rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty for some added sparkle.  The start was stamped using hot pink dye ink, cut out, and attached with foam dimensional adhesive.

Did I mention this was my favorite card? Lol.  Don't forget to stop by on Jan. 29 for the first day of Prickley Pear's 4 day blog hop.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Viva la Verve Week 2

Hi guys, I'm back with week 2's sketch card.  Once again, it's a Valentine's Day card using two shades of pink and craft cardstock.

The card base was made using raspberry fizz cardstock.  The background layer was letter pressed using craft cardstock, white hybrid ink, and PTI's giga guidelines impression plate.  On top of that, I layered another piece of raspberry fizz stamped with polka dot basics II using white hybrid ink.  The scrolled heart was stamped onto vellum, die cut, and embellished with fuschia pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.  A shiny, satiny ribbon finishes off this card.

That's all I've got today.  Thanks for stopping by!!

Viva La Verve Week 1

I finally got a chance to play along with Verve's weekly challenge.  I'd wanted to play along last year, but somehow never got around to it.  Each week a new sketch is uploaded onto their Splitcoast Stamper's forum.  Here's the thread for week one.  And, here's what I came up with:

The background is made with several different grey and pink patterned papers edged with tea dye distress ink.  A brown ribbon loop behind my stamped image helps the image to pop a bit more.  Since Valentine's Day is around the corner, I decided to challenge myself to create Valentine's themed cards along with the sketches.

Stop by tomorrow for the next challenge card!  See ya later alligators!

Gettin Sketchy

Hi, I'm back with a second post today!  I know, I'm surprised too. :)  My Favorite Things has changed their weekly challenge to a weekly sketch challenge.  I had some extra time to stamp this weekend and I decided to play along.  Here's what I came up with:

The dancing girl is from MFT's Dancing the Night Away stamp set.  I colored her with copic markers, brushed her skirt with candlelight Shimmers paint and added a rhinestone belt to her dress.  Once my image was die cut, I sponged it with Aquatic Splash chalk ink and added just a touch of distress ink to the edges.  I sponged a scrap piece of paper doily with distress inks and finished off the card with three silver pearls from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Since I'm off from work until Thursday, I plan on playing along with Verve's Viva La Verve weekly challenge, too!  :)  Look for those later this week.

Thanks for stopping by!!

A Vintage Card

Hi, I'm back today with a card for Embellish Magazine's current challenge.

I must admit, I was rather surprised when I finished my card and discovered that I hadn't used a single stamped image!  Now, that's something that doesn't happen often!  I love the color combination that was chosen for this challenge. It's so perfect for the fall.

To make my card, I started with Webster's Pages paper and I distressed it with Tea Dye Distress ink.  Next, I cut two rows of burlap scallops using MFT's Jumbo Scallop die and adhered them in two layers.  I took a small paper doily and aged it with Vintage Photo Distress ink and then sprayed it with Tattered Angels Apple glimmer mist.  While wet, I slightly crumpled it and flattened it out again and let it dry before attaching it to the card.  I used some rust ribbon that I purchased from Stamp Simply and finished it out with a crystal swirl. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Supply and Demand...

That's the theme of this month's MFT Guest Designer challenge.  We were challenged to base our project around a office/school supply theme.  Here's what I came up with:

I stocked up on several pencil cases during back to school time earlier this year.  I plan on using them to make gift holders for the holiday season.  I thought this pink one would be perfect for my project!  I cut a piece of black cardstock, punched the edges with my MS star border punch and layered some Bazzill swiss dot paper.  I tied a large bow with some wide stripped ribbon.  I added some doodles to my Maya Road library card pocket with my white gel pen.  It still seemed a bit plain so I added some pink stamped stars around the library card.  My main image is from MFT's I{heart} books stamp set and her book is paper pieced with some of my favorite SEI paper.  I die cut my image and ran a copic around the edge to add some dimension.  Our little bookworm's glasses were glossed with a Sakura glaze pen and her headband was blinged out with the help of a stardust pen.  A couple of paperclips and a library clip finish out my project. 

I love using pencil cases as gift holders, they're the right size to hold small items such a mittens, a tie, candy, beauty supplies, or you can fill the case with some tissue paper and nestle a gift card in there.  And, the container can be used again and again by the recipient.  They're perfect for those last minute small gifts for teachers, neighbors, co-workers, etc.

Thanks for stopping by!

Case Study

This week's CASE Study is a gorgeous card by Bar.  When I saw this card in her blog a while back, I was smitten with the color palette, teal and black create a wonderful, striking combination.

Bar's card inspired me in several ways: the color palette, of course, the use of Graphic 45 paper, the carnival theme, and the minimal embellishments for an elegant yet vintage look.  The top teal panel on my card is an embossed metal sheet from Ten Seconds Studios, I embossed the peacock metal sheet with my Tim Holtz damask folder and lightly sanded the embossed image to add contrast.  The bottom left panel is from Graphic 45's A Proper Gentleman collection.  The right hand panel is from Webster's HollyVogue collection.  The main image is from Prickley Pear's Collage ATC transparency collection.  I cut the transparency to size, ran it through my Zyron machine and added teal, blue, and chocolate glitters to the back of the transparency.  The ribbon on my card is satin instead of grosgrain and I really like the sheen it adds to the card.  The pretty turquoise rhinestones are from Pizzazz Aplenty.  Psst, if you haven't checked out Judy's bling, you are SOO missing out!! ;)

I apologize for the dark, blurry picture, it was taken at night time. :(  A new CASE card will be posted on Thursday, I hope you can play along too!

Thanks for stopping by!

And Then I Said

Wow, it's been a while since I've used my MFT stamps and I still have several stamp sets that are unused. :(  So, I decided that this week's MFT Guest Designer challenge was the perfect excuse to pull out a new stamp set and get it inky.  And then I said, is on sale in the bubble bin at MFT, once it's gone, they will not be restocking it!

Susan and Jen decided to make this month's challenge a color challenge: raspberry, aqua, and lime!  Definitely bright!  The colors actually blended together a lot better than I thought they would.  Be sure to stop by the MFT forum on Splitcoast Stampers, they will be having their monthly release party this Thursday.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: paper - SEI Bissette; cardstock - PTI simply chartreuse, hawaiian shores, kraft; Bazzill swiss dot; ribbon - PTI raspberry fizz saddle stitch; ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMagic - Aquatic Splash; copics; Nestabilities; EK Success - notebook edge punch; MFT - And Then I Said stamp set, jumbo scallop die-namic

Case Study

Last week, a fellow design team member, Tesa, posted about a fairly new blog called CASE Study.  The blog features a guest designer each month that will inspire you with the beautiful cards.  I decided to play along and create a card of my own.

I kept the general layout and color scheme of the card but changed a few of the details.  I used my text style stamp from PTI to stamp my background.  Instead of using copics on my butterfly, I stamped it out on acetate and colored it with PK Glitz glitters and added a crystal flourish trail.  Instead of a scalloped, pear trimmed border, I opted for a double loop border punch from Martha Stewart.  The sentiment is from Prickley Pear. 

I just love inspiration challenges, they provide a great starting point!  Thanks for stopping by!

Embellish Color Challenge

Ever since I discovered Ashley Newell's blog, I've been admiring the gorgeous work her and her design team colleagues produce for their color challenges on the Embellish blog.  Although I love their work, the color combos are not colors I would normally combine.  This time, even though I was unsure of the palette, I decided to jump in and play along.

When I showed the card to Aldo, he surprised me by telling me that he loved the color palette I had chosen. Hmm, maybe I've been playing it a bit too safe with my color combos!  Part of the challenge was to use your stamps to create a background so I used my new Juliette stamp set from SEI to stamp the medallion print on yellow cardstock using grey ink.  The die cut flourish is from PTI's embellishment stamp set.  I added black 3mm rhinestones from Pizzaz Aplenty to the center of each medallion.  A black rhinestone flourish and velvet ribbon complete the card. 

Card Sketch Challenge

Happy Saturday!!  Prickley Pear is sponsoring this weeks sketch challenge over at Card Patterns.  They asked a couple of us from the design team to play along with them this week.  Here's this week's sketch:

And here's what I came up with:

A coworker asked me for a girlie horse theme card for a friend of hers and I'd been wanting to use this beautiful flourished horse stamp for a while now.  I stamped my horse with Brilliance ink and embossed it clear embossing powder.  I then sponged it with my pink Memento ink to give a soft pink glow.  I stamped my stars using Fresh Snow ink on some pink PTI cardstock, embossed them with clear detail power, cut them out, and lightly sponged them with tea dye distress ink to give them a bit of depth.  I edged some more pink cardstock with my MS star border punch and layered some pink cowgirl themed paper I picked up a while back at my LSS.  Some rhinestone swirls and a loop of twine complete the card.

I'll be heading over to the CKC Convention in San Marcos next weekend with my mom and my aunt.  I'm so excited, I can't wait!!  Is anyone else out in blogland going?

Rusty Hips

MFT is having their monthly guest designers challenge and this month's theme is sentiments. 

The sentiment I used is from Amanda Baird's Dance the Night Away, which happens to be on sale right now! :)  Although fall is still a few weeks away, I'm finding myself drawn to the fall color schemes already.  This one uses tones of chocolate, warm greens, and deep blues.  I opted for ivory for my panels versus white to keep it from being too stark against the warm color palette. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Combo Galore Card

A few weeks ago I discovered Color Combos Galore, a color and design challenge site and I finally got a chance to play along with this week's challenge.

 

The images are various stamps from my collection stamped onto 1" squares with Memento New Sprout ink.  I edged the squares with the same colored ink, intentionally smudging the ink over the edges and then mounted them on blue cardstock edged with Palette Vintage Cream ink.  I embellished some of the images with glitter, rhinestones, and my stardust pen and added a large fluffy bow to complete the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken Soup

Howdy!  Today I'm sharing a card that I made using this week's TCP Tuesday challenge.  The Cat's Pajamas has a great sale last week and I couldn't resist picking up a couple of sets to add to my collection.  I've been asked a couple of times to make some get well cards and I don't have any stamps that really fit, so I picked up this set, thinking it's a must!  The images are just so darn cute!

I made the card using a SFYTT sketch from a few weeks back that I meant to use and never got around to.  The background paper is from my Cosmo Cricket paper pad that I picked up a couple of months ago and just haven't gotten around to using.  Note to self: create more stuff with your new toys! The craft panels were embossed with a cuttlebug folder and highlighted by lightly dragging a distress ink pad across the raised portions.  I wanted to keep my image nice and clean, so I just added some subtle shading with my gray copics.  The small button on the corner is mounted on an embossed grungeboard circle and threaded with twine. 

Have a great weekend!

Sitting Pretty

Hi, I'm back again today with another post.  My Favorite Things is hosting their monthly guest designer challenge at Splitcoast and this month it's all about the flowers.  The challenge immediately made me think of my Sitting Pretty Jolinne stamp just waiting to be inked up for the first time.

This project ended up totally different than the vision I had in my head, but not it a bad way.  I stamped Jolinne onto ivory Neenah paper and colored her with my copics.  I added glaze pen to her eyes and the flower on her hat.  I made 3 layered flower out of aida cloth using my Prickley Pear hibiscus die, colored it with dye inks, crumpled it up, and sprayed it with gold shimmer mist.  I also added a cream panel stamped with MFT's Boho Blossoms in Memento Rich Cocoa.

MFT is hosting their monthly release part tomorrow on Splitcoast.  Hope to see you there!

WSC

Hi!!  I finally had a chance to play along with this week's MFT Wednesday Stamp Club.  This week it's all about the ruffles. 

I thought Flopsey would look perfect with some ruffles and a bit of lace.  But after adding the ruffles and lace, the card still looked a bit empty so I opted for a crystal flourish and shimmer flower in the corner.  I added a bit of color to the flowers by spritzing them with gold shimmer spray and adding a touch of pumpkin color to the edges.

Sunday Sketch Challenge

Prickley Pear is hosting a sketch challenge on their blog this week.  One random winner will win a half sheet of rubber stamps of their choice!!  Be sure to stop by the PPRS blog for all the details! 

Here's my card for this week's challenge:

The stamp is from Prickley Pear's spring collection.  Be sure to check out the other DT's cards, everyone did an amazing job with their cards.  It still amazes me how two people can look at the same sketch and get a totally different take on it.

By the way, be sure and follow along the Prickley Pear blog, there's big news coming in the next few weeks and we are very excited about it!  I'm sure you will be too!!

Thanks for stopping by!