Sunday Stamps Challenge 101/MIM Fussy Cutting

Hello all and happy Friday,

Edited to add this exciting "development": 

Yep, that just happened!!! Thanks so much to all members of the Sunday Stamps Design Team, especially Angel Johns, for picking my card. There was some fierce and beautiful competition so I am honored to have been chosen as a  Top Cup! 

My apologies for the lack of activity here, as of late...I've been (and unfortunately still am) combating a respiratory infection, which currently feels like what I would imagine the Black Plague felt like. I'm chronically ill, so when a nasty bug takes up residence in my lungs, havoc ensues. But, I have my 4 year old son, who happens to be my most effective medication, and cardmaking to distract me from hacking up what appears to be my left lung, so all is well. :) But on to the 'order of business': I came across a new-to-me challenge and when I saw the inspiration photograph, I knew I simply had to play along! I am a sucker for high-contrast color schemes and happen to worship teal, turquoise, aqua and any shade of these, so this was right up my alley! Here is my interpretation:

 So I began with a top-folding white card base and from there layered the striped patterned paper and two stitched panels cut using Lawn Fawn's Large Stitched Rectangles from Hawaiian Shores cardstock and PTI's new-ish Vellum Bitty Dot paper. I adhered the Hawaiian Shores layer at an angle for added interest and so the aqua color could peek through the vellum. I then stamped and fussy cut various florals from PTI's Quilted: Spring and Bitty Bouquet stamp sets. Ashley Canon-Newell had a wonderful video this week full of tips for fussy cutting. I happened to not get my hands on the Bitty Bouquet dies so old-fashioned cutting it was for me...perfect for this week's Make It Monday . The sentiment is from one of my current favorites, PTI's Swoosh set, such a beautiful and flowing font! Yeah, I'm also a sucker for typography...but I digress. :) It was stamped in Memento's Tuxedo Black on to a piece of Hawaiian Shores cardstock that was first cut, again using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Rectangles, and then with Pretty Pink Posh's Borders 1 set for the scalloped border. I scattered a few enamel dots from My Mind's Eye Necessities and I'm done!
Here is a more detailed photograph of the focal point:

Be sure to check out more lovely inspiration by heading over to the Sunday Stamps Challenge.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me and have a wonderful weekend!

-O

MIM #211: Using Gelatos with Stamps

Hello and Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and grandmothers out there! I currently have a fairly severe respiratory infection so this will be a very quick post! This week Melissa Phillips aka the Queen of Shabby Chic showed us how to soften stamps and a floral background with gelatos. I actually only owned two gelatos, which were silver and gold, so I bought a set through Amazon Prime and set to work! Here is my take:

If I have the strength, tomorrow I'll be back with the supply list. Thank you for sharing a portion of your day with me and until next time...craft on! :)

Also entering this card into Virginia's View Challenge, with the theme of "dimension" I thought this card aptly suited.

MIM #210: USING VELLUM TO SOFTEN PATTERNS

Hello all and I hope you are enjoying the relatively nice weather and the rest of your weekend! I
m back today with a quick post for this week's MIM, which was hosted by Lizzie Jones. This week we were challenged to create vibrant and bright backgrounds, which we would then soften with vellum. Here's my take:

I began by choosing the lovely and adorable Wee Folk Mini Market Kit released this month by Betsy Veldman, aka Papercrafting Genius Extraordinaire! :) I used various stamps from the set and stamped them randomly in the following colors: SSS Audrey Blue, Memento Rose Bud & Tangelo, Lawn Fawn's Freshly Cut Grass and Sunflower, and finally Hero Arts' Neon Purple. I then layered it with PTI's beautiful and high quality bitty dot vellum, which was cut using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Large Rectangles. I cut out a tag from Tag Sale and matted it with a stitched circle from MFT. I threaded through some fuchsia ribbon and tied it with PTI's button twine. Then to accent it, I used one of the adorable wooden buttons that comes in the kit. I then die cut the deer and a couple butterflies and adhered to card panel. Then the sentiment, also from the kit, was stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed with Tinsel Gold Embossing Powder. And I'm done! Here is a close up of the focal point:

And here is a detailed shot of the button and ribbon:And that's all for today. Thanks for stopping by and spending a portion of your day with me! As always, craft on! :)

-O

PTI's April 2015 Bloghop

Hello all,


I hope you're having a lovely weekend! I'm back today with a card for this month's PTI bloghop. Here is the gorgeous inspiration:
 The colors are simply stunning and the textures and bold stripes inspiring! Here is my interpretation:

 I started off with a white card base upon which I mounted an Enchanted Evening panel cut with the Center Stage coverplate from PTI. It's so bold and striking and absolutely reminiscent of the chair sashes from the inspiration photo. I then stamped the beautiful Garden Grace foliage with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored them in with a combination of Copics, Spectrum Noirs and even my old Pantone Letraset professional alcohol markers, which sadly are no longer available. I popped them up with dimension adhesive. Then I cut out a scalloped Tremendous Tag and stamped the sentiment, also from Garden Grace in both Enchanted Evening and Hibiscus Burst inks. This was then attached to the white seam binding ribbon with a clip from the County Fair Make It Market kit.

 I also elected to make a matching envelope, which I thought adds a little extra 'je ne sais quoi!". I actually later went back and added pink enamel dots, alas by the time I remembered that I would need to rephotograph the card, it was already on it's way to the recipient!

That's all for today. Be sure to check out the other blogs as there is so much beautiful inspiration to be found! Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely rest of your weekend!

-O

ColourQ 287: Sprinkled With Love

And I'm back again... I have thoroughly searched through the ColourQ blog to see if there is a submission limit but have not been able to find anything. Hopefully there isn't, as I plan on entering a few more cards! Once again, the inspiration photo:

This card was created exactly as the last but simply with different patterned paper and sentiment:

The last was upright and here is a close up of the shaker element:

Don't mind my fingers that are reflected in the window! ;)

I simply love what contrast that a pop of color yields when paired with black and white...I'm sure you can tell as I have created a slew of cards with this color scheme!

Also submitting to these challenges:

1. Virginia's View Challenge

Supplies Used:

Paper: Paper and More 120# white cardstock, PTI True Black, Heidi Swapp Memory Planner 

Ink/Embossing Powders: Versamark Ink, Recollections Turquoise Glitter Embossing Powder, Ranger Gold Sprinkle Embossing Powder

Stamps: PTI's Baker's Dozen

Dies: Baker's Dozen

ColourQ #287: Celebrate Shaker Card

Hello and happy Monday,

I'm back with another submission to the Colour Q #287 Challenge. Once again, here is the inspiration photo:
This time around , I opted to go with a splash of turquoise. I started with my Lawn Fawn Large Stitched mats and die cut it from white cardstock and the smaller piece from Heidi Swapp's Memory Planner patterned paper pack. Then, I cut out the little window from that mat using the die from PTI's Baker's Dozen I did the same with white cardstock and swapped out the floral frame with the white and inlaid it. . I also cut out the cupcake and stamped it in black with Memento's Tuxedo Black. I then used Copics and Spectrum Noir alcohol markers to color the butterfly, wrapper and tiny dots on the cupcake. I created the shaker and poured in various confetti and sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and PTI's Make It Market Kit Shakers and Sprinkles. I cut out the banner from black cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment in gold, to bring out the gold heart confetti within the shaker. Popped the cupcake up with dimensional adhesive and then mounted it all onto a top folding standard A2 size card and I'm done! This is what the card looks like laying down

And here it is upright.  This picture is a closeup of the shaker element.Well that's all for now but I am likely going to be back soon with another card for the challenge!

Colour Q #287

Hello, all!

Hope you had a nice weekend. This post is for my submission to this week's Colour Q Challenge. Here is the inspiration photo:

I've always loved the contrast of black, white and a pop of color. In fact, my wedding colors were black, white and red, which was also what inspired my card:

I started by cutting out the coverplate from True Black cardstock. Then, cut out of Pure Poppy cardstock the "birthday" with the Swoosh die collection. I FINALLY received these dies, after waiting since February 15th...and boy were they worth the wait!!! Then I die cut the floral arrangement from the Spring of Betsy Veldman's first installation of the Quilted Collection. I then die cut the banner that is from Tag Sale #10 and stamped "wishes" from the Swoosh stamp set. A few black and red enamel dots and I'm done!

Here's a close up of the focal point:

And that's all for me today. Thanks for stopping by and as always, craft on! :)

-O

Colour #286: With Love

Hello all and happy Monday!

I'm back today with a card for theColour Q Challenge Here is the lovely inspiration:And the following is my interpretation of the inspiration and color scheme:

My card is rather straightforward. I do not own Stampin' Up colors so I substituted with Hero Arts' Butter Bar, Dark Quartz, Tide Pool and PTI's Classic Kraft. I began with a Classic Kraft, top folding card base and then matted it with PTI's diagonal coverplate cut from Harvest Gold Cardstock. Then I stamped various flowers and foliage using the beautiful Make It Market exclusive stamp set, Beautiful Brushstrokes. I arranged them all on top of the matted coverplate. For the sentiment, I actually swiped Tide Pool ink straight to paper, so it would match perfectly, and then cut it out with the amazing PTI Swoosh die. Finished it off with a some enamel dots and I'm done!Here is a close up of the focal point.

Well that's all for today...have a fantastic week! :)

-O

The Card Concept 32

Hello all and happy weekend!

I'm back today with a card for The Card Concept Challenge #32. It was a color challenge this time with this lovely inspiration:
So fresh and reminiscent of Spring, which is rather appropriate! My card is actually a shameless case of this card by Ashley Canon-Newell. I finally ordered the Circle Scribbles dies from PTI and her lovely card was actually one of the reasons!
 I did switch things up a bit in terms of the background and sentiment (using Wet Paint I rather than Wet Paint II) and of course the color scheme. I started with a white card panel and stamped the Wet Paint I words "love" "enjoy" and "happy" in Hero Arts Fresh Peach and Tide Pool and Lawn Fawn's Fresh Cut Grass. I then die cut in all three sizes the circles scribbles from Hawaiian Shores, Berry Sorbet and New Leaf PTI cardstock. I also die cut various pieces from Embellished Elegance and stamped them in the color scheme. I arranged them all on the panel, stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black and added some coral enamel dots. The panel was then mounted onto a Hawaiian Shores card base and done! I'm having a bit of a hard time figuring out whether the card qualifies as Clean and Layered or Freestyle Collage...or perhaps a bit of a mix? Either way, such fun creating this card and I absolutely loved the fresh inspiration!

And here is a close up of the "cluster"

 
I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:
1. Virginia's View Challenge- Layers & Dimension and
2. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog- Spring

That's all for now. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and as always...Craft on!
-O

MIM: Ombre Stamping

Another week, another Make It Monday. This week, Laurie shows us how to stamp our images in ombre style--rather pretty, if I do say so myself! Here is my take:

I started with a Hawaiian Shores card bases, layered it with Lawn Fawn's patterned paper, Bitty Dot Vellum Paper from PTI, a white scallopped stitched border in white using Pretty Pink Posh's die and some lace. Then, I die cue the flowers, sprigs and leaves from Cutting Garden and Inked them up with Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores and Tropical Teal for the aqua flowers and Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst and Raspberry Fizz for the pink ones. For the leaves, I used Lawn Fawn's Fresh Cut Grass and Memento's New Sprout, Bamboo Leaves and Cottage Ivy. The sentiment stamped in Tuxedo Black (also Memento) is from Lawn Fawn and is oh so lovely, in my opinion! Finished the card off with small butterfly's from the Make It Market Mini Kit Clipsters, Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and some white seam binding ribbon. And there you go!

Hope you're having a great week and happy Spring to all!

-O

Also entering into the following challenges:

1. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge