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

Make It Monday-Watercolor Background with "Splashes"

... well at least that is what I am referring to it as! Such a fun challenge this week and here is my take on it:

I inked up the background with Tim Holtz's Distress Inks in Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Lilac and followed with "splashes" of water. Let it air dry and then cut the panel in half and popped it up with dimensional adhesive. I layered it on to a coordinating card base, upon which I also heat embossed the lovely sentiment from Cutting Garden. Finished the card off with 3 pink rhinestones and matching twine. Simple and fun!

PTI Bloghop Entry #3

Yes, another for you...

For this card I felt rather clever, I wanted the word 'blessings' to complete the sentiment from Birthday Basics April but it was in the larger image... well, I simply pulled out my son's Crayola (yes, Crayola!) markers and found a matching Teal color, put down some color only on the "blessings' part, did a "huff breath" and stamped!
The stamp set so you can understand what I mean in terms of my cleverness :) Aren't I incredibly modest?

As for the wreath, I used my fresh out of the box stamp set from WPlus9, Fresh Cut florals... just love it!! I should also mention how much I love the newest Teal color from PTI-- had nothing like it in my stash!

Thanks again for stopping by... enjoy your weekend!

PTI Bloghop Post #2

Another entry for this lovely bloghop inspiration! This card was such a blast to create as it was a new technique I decided to give a try: I began by selecting a thick, heavy coverstock in cream from Paper And More (my very favorite cardstock supplier!) and ran it through my Big Shot with an Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug Poppy embossing folder. Then, I got out my Faber-Castell water soluble penciles and started laying down color in the debossed areas. Then, I went in with my Aquash brush (LOVE JetPens.com!!) and started moving color around. Next was die cutting and stamping the large "Happy" sentiment from embellished elegance (looove) . I placed dimension adhesive both under "happy" and the watercolored panel and mounted it on a cream cardstock base. I selected the "everything" sentiment finished once again from Embellished Elegance and finished it off with 3 purple pearls. I think it came out quite well... hopefully you do too! :)

Here is a close up. I actually clear embossed this sentiment with Ranger Ink's Holographic Embossing Powder... I just love the added depth and 'bling' it gives, while still not being too overpowering!

Papertrey Ink's April 2014 Blog Hop- Embroidered Inspiration

Here is the inspiration for this month's bloghop

Lovely, isn't it? The cards that I will be posting today were certainly inspired by this image but not necessarily a traditional, embroidered look. It's rather the emotion, the colors, the feel of embroidery that I attempted to instill in my cards. Hope you enjoy!

This card was not only inspired by the bloghop challenge, but also by the Senior Design Team newsletter edition by Maile Belles... I just absolutely loved the simple but striking technique of divided panels! 

Here is a close up-- quite simple but I felt that the colors gave it such a punch that it didn't quite need much more!

More to come...thanks for stopping by!

Card Chain Challenge--Last Month's

Another card for another challenge but one that is also a swap-- I shipped this card off to another lovely lady that is as addicted...uh passionate about cards as I am! We had to either use the above color scheme or following sketch or both. I opted for both! :Here is my take:

I actually masked off and painted the background using some water, Hero Arts' Shadow Ink Navy. Then stamped the Rosie Posie and Cutting Garden sets from PTI using Mint Julep and Soft Sky Ink. To soften it up and add another level of texture, I stamped white pigment ink topped with clear embossing powder on some vellum. A satin bow and a CAS sentiment to top it all off. Can't wait to send this out tomorrow!

That's all for now, have a lovely night!

-O

Paper Crafting Challenge #7: Masculine

So Kimberley from the Wienerhoneymooners blog suggested I sign up for the new-ish challenge over at the http://www.challenges.papercraftingmagic.com/ blog, especially since I have quite a few masculine cards recently made! Here is one of my submissions--

This card came together fairly easily and I think it turned out to be both maculine and rustic while exuding a bit of elegance... precisely what I was going for! Unfortunately, for the life of me I cannot recall which patterned paper stack I used  but I used two different designs from the stack, backed with thick, cream cardstock from Paper And More. Then, using Versamark, I stamped a fern from the Green Meadows stamp set from PTI and sprinkled gold embossing powder over it. The sentiment is stamped on a Recollections heavy, textured cardstock and "Sail Away" is from the masculine monogram stamp set from Just Rite. I did some scoring and folding to turn it into a dimensional banner and popped it on some foam tape. To finish it off, I used some natural, rustic twine.... and there you go!

Here is a close up of the sentiment so that you can see the added texture, which I feel added depth and dimension.

And here is a close up of the embossed fern--such a beautiful stamp set!

That's all for now, thanks for stopping by!