Saturday, August 22, 2015

Merci Dogwood




This week, I'm competing in the CCNS Challenge #98, a color challenge. For my last attempt, I used all 5 colors, which was harder than I thought it would be, looking at the inspiration photo, which went so easily together. Turns out, it is very hard to get patterned papers to go together when they are not part of a set. I'm beginning to see more of the logic of those "expensive" sets! I pulled out my MFT blueprints-13 set to cut the stitched rectangle panel and the top layer of the tag. (The two backers for the tag were just fussy cut.) On the tag, I had stamped my Hero Arts dogwood in Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush ink then sponged around it with Jim Holtz mowed lawn and bundled sage. The French thanks is a Memory box sentiment I die cut. On the panel itself, I started with washi tape in all five colors. The remainder of the white panel was background stamped with flowers by Judith in the same strawberry ink. I adhered it all to a green folder, and there you have it.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Dandelion Joy


All three of my kids love dandelions, racing each other to find the best bouquet for mommy, and presenting their spoils to me as if they are the best thing in the world. I tried to capture that joy with my camera and my baby cakes. If you look closely, you can see she's surrounded by dandelions and has a full bucket.

When I saw this Quietfire Design stamped sentiment in a friend's collection, I could not resist turning the photo into a card. I stamped it with Jim Holtz mustard seed ink and distressed it with squeezed lemonade. I popped it up on a fishtail banner with Joy! foam pads.

I thought it would make a cute scene as if viewed from inside, so I used a Poppy stamps Grand Madison window over a chain link fence embossed panel in green. I then used punches from my stash to make the flowers and branches from some patterned yellow and green papers. The flowers were finished with either small pearls or orange "rock candy" embellishments.

This week, I'm competing in the CCNS Challenge #98, a color challenge, and the Citrus with a Twist challenge at Simon Says Monday (lemon and lime ahoy!).

Monday, August 17, 2015

Cerulean birthday

I've managed to squeeze in a few minutes here and there for my catharsis (creative time), but since I don't have much time with the kiddos home, I needed to focus on the cards I need -- birthday and thanks! I figure anyone looking at my little blog is beginning to notice this pattern. I look at those beautiful, ornate "hello" or "just thinking" cards out there with time envy -- who has time to write one of those to a friend?! Perhaps in my next stage of life... Instead, here is a CAS birthday card I came up with.

It started when I wanted to play with my new "Birthday" die set from Memory Box. What came next was one of my many lessons in unforeseen consequences as I start out on this card-making hobby! Surprise one: the letters all came out separately (did I mention I'm new?), which gave me a small start after I cut them. I overcame that with some grid paper and a piece of washi tape to help me line them up.  Surprise two: the set had no "happy." The only such stamp I had was a block print that did not go very well with the blocked birthday. SO now I had to stop production and go find a scripty "happy." (Little B by the way)...

Phew. All that and all I have is my sentiment. From here it got back to being CAS for me! I used My Favorite Things Blueprints 13 to cut the stitched rectangle panel, then used an Impression Obsession cloud die cut to mask clouds on with Tim Holtz tumbled glass distress ink. I used other such inks to sponge small sections from which I punched the balloons then added the twine. I chose the balloon colors to go with a the Citrus with a Twist challenge at Simon Says Monday (think lime, pink grapefruit and lemon). The green folder seemed to set the panel off the best, and then I was at last done, on what looked like and should have been a very fast card. Lessons learned! ;-)

This week, I'm competing in the CCNS Challenge #98, a color challenge, and I hope you join me!

Friday, August 14, 2015

Hoppy Birthday



This week at Classy Cards N Such there's a very cute challenge photo (CCNS Challenge #97). My second take is a bit more involved than the first:

As I  mentioned, my kids are all about bunnies since we saw them at a local lavender festival in the spring of 2014. So I borrowed a little bit of that farm vibe with the Poppy Stamps mini garden cart, which I made from a finger-painted blue I stole from my baby girl, sponged brown for the handle, and shiny black from a stamp insert for the bands and wheel. That great blue color also drove the folder I used.


This time I embossed the bricks on a white background and added more layers of Impression Obsession (IO) grasses, some popped up with Joy! foam pads, so my IO bunnies could hop in and out. The bunnies are watercolored (one) or dry brushed onto bumpy watercolor paper (two). The leaping one is also popped up to add to his motion. I tried to recreate the ivy feel from the inspiration photo with a bunch of overlapping Penny Black leaflets then some sponging with Tim Holtz distress inks. Finally, I added my sentiment (thank goodness the clear stamp and brick pattern helped me get it straight -- I always worry about stamping directly onto the card after I am so invested...

I'm also playing in the Simon Says Monday Homegrown Summer Challenge.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Bunny Thanks





This week at Classy Cards N Such there's a very cute challenge photo (CCNS Challenge #97). My kids have been petitioning for a bunny, and truth be told, I always wanted one as a kid, but I am resisting as the overwhelmed keeper of a house, three kids, a hubby and a dog! This week's photo is NOT helping!

So my first take is truly a clean and simple version:
I embossed bricks on a grey background. Then I started with my Impression Obsession (IO) swirly tree, added an IO bunny and some IO grass, then a sentiment from Little B. I liked how the white bunny popped, so I chose him in favor of the grey, brown and black ones I had water-colored as I experimented. (You'll see them later.) I am a very visual creator, so i am never positive which direction a card will take.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Merci Tulip

My 3rd and final take on the CCNS #95 Colors and Patterns Challenge (what can I say? This one gave me a lot to think about...) combined both the colors and the patterns.

I had three green and peach patterned papers that I really liked but would never have combined until I saw the challenge photo. To this basis, I added a white lattice die cut overlay for visual interest and a Poppy Stamps tulip that I cut twice: once from Tim Holtz distress inked peach paper, and once from green distressed paper, which I obviously layered. I used a lighter green Tim Holtz sponged paper as the background for my sentiment, cut it with a Lawn Fawn stitched oval, and added my little "merci" die cut. I'm shocked how different these three cards turned out, from simple to very ornate (for me)!

Fall Blessings

My second thought for the CCNS #95 Colors and Patterns Challenge was to use the color inspiration in a fall theme, rather than the quilting patterns. I had just gotten a new background die -- Spellbinders Leaves A Fallin' -- at my very first scrap-booking expo last month, and I was itching to use it. First, I used a LOT of different Tim Holtz distress inks to make a fall ombre pattern, from which I cut the leaves overlay. I wanted the colors to pop, so I went with the chocolate background. My sentiment is from Stampin' Up, and was stamped using Versafine ink onto another background I had sponged with a mix of Tim Holtz inks. One scallop punch, one circle punch and some brown satin ribbon stolen from a friend, et voila!



Challenge I'm playing in: Classy Cards N Such CCNS#95 Colors and Patterns.

Birthday Stack

I loved the quilted inspiration this week, so my first thought was to use my Gift Stack Cut Out die by Impression Obsession with a quilted set of designer papers. 


The sentiments were die cut from the Little B Handwritten set. Truly a CAS card!
Challenge I'm playing in: Classy Cards N Such CCNS#95 Colors and Patterns.