Make It Monday #164: Cluster Stamped Sentiment Challenge

Hello there and Happy Saturday to all!

I'm pretty excited as today is a beautiful, sun-filled day in Colorado which is such a wonderful and remarkable change from last weekend when it was 32 degrees farenheit and snowing! Today I'm sharing a card for Papertrey Ink's challenge: Make It Monday #164: Cluster Stamped Sentiment

I love the idea and how Heather Nichols so exquisitely executed the technique... alas I don't think I did it justice. I feel that there were two things holding me back-- 1) Not a good sentiment stamp for this technique (Wet Paint stamp set, here I come!) and 2) Not a very fine or detailed white embossing powder. So you've been warned and here is my card:

 I inked up for the first time my Simple Stars stamp set. I thought the varying  patterned stars would be perfect for the technique and the sentiments would tie in beautifully with "Wish" followed by "Upon a birthday star," inside the card. "May all your wishes come true," is from a Fiskars stamp set I received as a gift a couple years ago and the "Happy Birthday" is from May-Birthday Basics.

To break up a bit of the stars, I also grabbed the center of a flower that looks like a fun polka dot from the Ruby Rose stamp set and threw them in at random.Topped it off with rhinestones from the Pink Posh Spring Kit and aqua satin ribbon I picked up from Michael's. 

Hope you weren't completely mortified by my failure at  this technique and that the wonderfully sweet little girl who will have this card in her hands today won't be either! :D

Craft on!

-O

Thinking of You

Hello and happy Tuesday!

Today I'm sharing a card for a very special lady. Hopefully the card will do her justice as she is such an elegant, beautiful  and admirable woman-- a true lady!

The design was inspired by this week's Mojo Monday sketch:

 

I was told that the recipient of the card loves Peacock Blue and as it turns out... so do I! My big sis stopped by a little over a month ago and brought along a gorgeous and regal paper stack called Violet Leaf by DCWV. I knew I just had to use it for this card! So, my card base is Classic White from Paper and More and the bottom most layer (the strip to the left) is Gold Metallic, 105# cardstock also from Paper and More. Then the base for the right side of the card is from the Violet Leaf stack I mentioned. It has accents of gold, which I believe tied in beautifully with the strip. Now, here is where the fun begins-- I did not go traditional with the sketch but I did indeed have the 4 elements 'swinging' from side to side and from top to bottom like in the sketch. I took out my PTI Ruby Rose stamp set and dies and went to work piecing these blooms together, I alternated with Tim Holtz's Peacock Feathers distress ink, PTI's Tropical Teal dye ink and Ranger Ink's gold embossing powder. 

I also used vellum for some leaves 

(as you can see in the above photo) and topped some of the blooms with an assortment of sequins purchased via Simon Says Stamp.

I wanted to show the detail on this flower as I was pretty proud of my SEMI (hey, have to be a wee bit modest here!) cleverness. I wanted to continue implementing the monochromatic feel of the teal/aqua/peacock blue scheme, but when I stamped the flower that is immediately on top of the gold base with Peacock Feathers, it felt too dark. So what did I come up with as a solution, you ask? Vellum! It toned the color down and gave the card a certain softness and elegance that only vellum can! I then topped it with Recollections' Cool Water cardstock cut with another Ruby Rose die in the set. At the right, bottom corner framing the sentiment is a flower from Prima. It originally had a silver rhinestone in the center but I swapped it out for a gold pearl. 

And here is a close up of the sentiment, which was heat embossed on a lovely, luxurious piece of  iridescent white vellum paper...big suprise, also from Paper And More! Ha, I like them so much and always drop their name I should ask for a discount! hehe Finished it off with three teal rhinestones from Want2Scrap Baby Bling and voila! Hope you enjoy the card and that the recipient will too! Fingers and toes crossed ! :D

Craft on!

-O

PTI Make It Monday-- Envelope Wraps!

Quick post for this week's PTI Make It Monday challenge. Danielle Flanders had a lovely video to show how quickly and beautifully one can adorn the sometimes forgotten part of the card: the envelope!
So lovely and girlie, huh?


I made a graduation card for a friend and thought that was the perfect opportunity to jazz an envelope up. The color scheme was inspired by her school's colors and the design is like that of my previous card. Here is my entry:

 I heat embossed with gold embossing powder the arrangement of stars and strategically placed the white and gold striped piece of vellum over one of the to soften and have it peek through. I think that vellum always adds such a touch of class and elegance. finished it off with gold sequins from Pink Posh and the Best Wishes sentiment from PTI's Gatsby Glamour.

Well that's all for now... going to spend some quality time with my other half and snuggle next to the fire because *gasp* it's snowing and cold here in Colorado!

Thanks and craft on!

-Oreet

The Card Concept Challenge: #9

Below is the inspiration board for The Card Concept Challenge #9
 And here is my take on it:

 This was a graduation card for a friend of mine. I believe this may qualify as Clean and Layered as it has many layers, some white space, patterned paper and heat embossing. The zodiac wheel to the right is from the PTI Star Gazer additions stamp set and the sentiment from the original Star Gazer set. I chose to layer and emboss with silver to give it a touch of elegance that I believe all graduation cards should include! Also, love the balance of fairly demure and muted tones with a pop of Lilac thrown in!

I also made a matching envelope with the stars heat embossed with silver in order to tie the card and envelope together in terms of texture and color scheme!

That's all for now but I will be back later with more cards and challenge entries! To all the mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!

-Oreet