Trend Watch challenge

I decided to make a few cards for this week's WPlus9 challenge: Trend Watch.

Card #1 features metallic watercolours (Twinkling H2Os), gold, and peacock feathers. Feathers, although not the newest trend, are still quite prevalent in the crafting and fashion industry.

The card itself was quite simple. I used a few twinkling H2Os and blended a nice shimmery background. I also stamped and embossed a feather and painted it to match a peacock feather. I completed the card off with a little bit of gold card stock and a gold embossed sentiment.

Supplies:

Stamps: Fanciful Feathers

Ink: Versamark, Gold

Paper: White, Cotton White, Gold

Accessories, etc.: twinkling H2Os, white and gold embossing powders

This next card features a few trendy items- grunge look, rainbows, 80s themed. Again, they aren't the newest trends, but they are still quite prevalent in both the fashion and craft industry. 

This card was also quite simple. I chose my colour palette, then staggered the starry paint swipe image. I completed it was embossing the word "Awesome" in white and popped up the "you're so". All that was popped up on a white card base.

Supplies:

Stamps: So 80s

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Black

Paper: White

Accessories, etc.: White embossing powder

Superstar!

Here's my card for today's challenge over at PTI.  The challenge was to make a card and a matching decorated envelope. I stamped star clusters all over gold card stock. I stamped and embossed the larger gold star and then added my sentiment. For the envelope, I decided because my card was vertically oriented, I'd make my envelope that way too. I stamped a starry border, another greeting, and a popped up star.

Supplies:

Stamps: Superstars, Star Prints, Inside & Out: Baby

Paper: Gold Card stock, White, Black

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Gold

Accessories, etc.: Gold embossing powder, star punch

More challenge cards!

I really wanted to get two cards made tonight, one for the PTI challenge and one for WPlus9.

Here's my PTI card. I really liked this challenge. Basically, there were 9 lists that consisted of 6 items. I used a random number generator and got the following items:
Colours: Enchanted Evening, Hawaiian Shores, Spring Moss and Kraft as my neutral
Embellishments: Baker's Twine (Fiber), Glitter
Technique: Heat Embossing
Theme: Anniversary
Sketch #6

I was really happy with me selections, although I was a bit unsure about the colour combination. It worked out though! For my stamps, I chose Rosie Posie and Beautiful Butterflies. I combined my glitter and embossing elements as one. I used Pearly Sparkle embossing powder.

From the straight-on shot, you don't get the full impact of the glitter. Here's a slightly different angle to show just how this glittery embossing powder picks up the light!

The WPlus9 Designs challenge was all about dimension. It was called Step it Up! I was inspired by the fact that tomorrow is Valentine's Day and figured I should make a card for my fiance. Here's an angle that really shows how popped up these hearts are:

And here's the front view. So first, I die cut the hearts, one at a time. I layered dot-embossed paper behind that, then popped up the stamped little hearts. Very simple, but a nice impact I think!

Supplies: Stamps: Heartfelt Mix

Ink: Black Onyx, Cherry Cobbler

Paper: Soft Stone, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black, Smokey Shadow

Accessories, etc. Hearts & Clouds dies, swiss dot embossing folder

More PTI Anniversary Cards

Here are two recent cards I made for some of the Papertrey Ink anniversary contests.

This first one was for the birthday card challenge. I really love using the notched flower die and I wanted a matching notched leaf. I drew out a few freehand leaves on cardstock and then cut them out with a few notches. I sponged ink around the edges of the flower and leaves to give it a bit more pop.

Here's my card for the stripes challenge. I really like using Faux Ribbon to make patterned paper. I decided on 4 colours and 4 line images and just started stamping. Two of my colours were Melon Mambo and Old Olive, which made me think watermelon- so I pulled out this image from Scent-imentals.

ATC

Here's a quick ATC I made this morning. I wanted to keep with the whole scrapbooking theme and make something that you could easily fit into a layout (instead of something that specifically screamed card/sentiment).

Supplies:
Stamps: Beautiful Blooms II, Simply You, Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf,  Fresh Snow
Paper: Kraft, New Leaf, Aqua Mist
Accessories, etc.; banner die (SSS), sequins, 1/2inch circle punch

Festivities!

Here are two cards I made for the PTI 7th anniversary celebration.

The first I did was for the limited supply challenge. I chose my 7 supplies (white card stock, 5 ink colours, and 1 stamp set) within 7 minutes. And then I completed my card in under 17 minutes (I actually took only 8 minutes!).

Supplies:

Stamps: Happy Trails

Ink: New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, Orange Zest, Berry Sorbet

Cardstock: White

For my second card, I used one of the sketches and colour combinations from here (I went with New Leaf, Ripe Avocado, Aqua Mist, Kraft, and Hawaiian Shores).

Stamps:Year of Flowers:Marigold, Bloomin' Button Bits
Ink: Ripe Avocado
Paper: New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Kraft, Aqua Mist
Accessories, etc.: Copic markers, brads

Feathers on the line!

Here's a card for WPlus9's "Comfort Zone" challenge. What makes this a "comfortable" card for me?

-The use of two of my favorite Wplus9 stamp sets

-Mix of bright and earthy colours

-Minimal layers (2)

Supplies:

Stamps: Fanciful Feathers, Heartfelt Mix (WPlus9 Design Studio)

Ink: Terracotta Tile, Harvest Gold, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink), Island Indigo (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: White, Island Indigo (Stampin' Up!)

An old classic.

Sometimes it's fun to go digging through the old stash of stamps and see what one finds! I stamped a few of these cheerful sealife images onto some basic card stock, coloured them with copic markers and then a quick swash of twinkling h2os overtop that.

Supplies:
Stamps: Silly Sealife, Fishy Friends, Whale Wishes, Medallion
Ink: Tuxedo Black, Tempting Turquoise
Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Winter Wisteria, White
Accessories, etc.: Copic Markers, twinkling H2Os

Happy Cupcakes!

Today was a bit of a snowy, overcast day. What's a good solution for that? Rainbow cupcakes!!

I really like the look of simple, bold outlined images in a range of colours just in a cascade down one side.

Supplies:
Stamps: Sweets & Treats 
Ink: Summer Sun, Only Orange, Tempting Turquoise, Limeade ice, Raspberry Fizz, Black
Paper: Raspberry Fizz, Black, White

Happy Birthday Flowers

I was cutting out several purple flowers the other day, and liked how the card stock looked with negative cutouts. I adhered that over a piece of acetate and then placed that over some shimmery purple paper. I finished that off with a few baubles and a sentiment strip and called it a day!

Supplies:

Stamps: Stylish Sentiments: Birthday

Ink: Royal Velvet

Paper: Royal Velvet, Coastal Cabana, Certainly Celery, White, Shimmery Purple, Acetate

Accessories, etc.: gems, button, twine, blooms dies

Happy Happy Happy!

Good afternoon!

Today I have a delightful little cupcake card. I was in the mood for a one-layer card with a little "pop".

I die-cut the word birthday and placed that on the card. Whenever I am die-cutting letters or words, I placed some scor-tape on the reverse side of the card stock to make an instant sticker. I keep a roll of 1 inch wide scor-tape for this purpose alone.

Sometimes when I'm using cupcake stamps I feel like being bright and whimsical. This time, however, I felt like using traditional cupcake colours- chocolate browns and light pink frosting. Yum!!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sweets & Treats, Sweets & Treats Fillers
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Cherry Cobbler, Sweet Blush
Paper: Real Red, White
Accessories, etc.: Birthday Trio Die collection

Happy New Year!

Happy 2014!

Here are two quick birthday cards I made as part of a gift set. Although the leaves are traditionally masculine and the flowers, feminine, both could be used for anyone!

Supplies:

Stamps: Beautiful Blooms II, Stylish Sentiment: Birthday (PTI), Shapes and Shadows (SU!)

Ink: Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar

Paper: Kraft, Dark Chocolate, White, Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush

Relax!

Here's a fun camping themed card.

Supplies:
Stamps: The Great Outdoors (DoodleFactory), Flipping Out (PTI)
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Tuxedo Black
Paper: Happy Campers (We R Memory Keepers), Spring Moss, Soft Sky, White
Accessories, etc.: Baker's Twine, Copic markers

Some Love-Themed Christmas Cards

I know it's only mid-September, possibly too early for Christmas cards, but it'll be December before you know it! I was looking through some old files and found several cards I made for a magazine card several months ago. So I present to you some "rejects". I was actually really happy with these two cards. 

This first card is extremely simple. I die cut out this sprig from felt, tied some baker's twine around it and attached tiny red pearls all around it. I love this sort of design on a kraft card base with round corners. I don't know why, it just seems classic, but a little rustic.

I don't remember what the specific call was. I think one of the themes was to use non-holiday product for a Christmas card. So what did I do? Used various chipboard hearts and covered them with glitter and paired that with a Christmas sentiment.

Supplies:

Stamps: Love Lives Here: Holiday

Ink: Dark Chocolate

Paper: White, Kraft

Accessories, etc.: Winterberry die, Red Pearls, Baker's Twine, Chipboard hearts, glitter, corner rounder

Wishing you sunshine

Here's an almost one-layer card today. I love making flowers using these bloom builder dies!

Supplies:
Stamps: Turning a New Leaf, Blooming Button Bits
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Simply Chartreuse
Paper: Kraft, Lemon Tart
Accessories, etc.: Button, Bloom Builders #3

"Herd" it's your birthday!

Here's a punny birthday card.

Supplies:
Stamps: On the Farm
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, Harvest Gold, Pure Poppy
Paper: White, Kraft, Pure Poppy
Accessories, etc. Twill ribbon, Corner Rounder

You are my sunshine!

Here's a card I made a long while back that showcases an ombre background. I made use of glossy white paper and sponged inks across them. I also inked up the word sunshine using three different colours of ink to mirror the background.

 

Supplies: 

Stamps: Hello Sunshine

Ink: Terracotta Tile, Canyon Clay, Harvest Gold, Summer Sun, Lemon Tart

Paper: Summer Sunrise, Glossy White, Canyon Clay, White

What is this? A Christmas Card??

I know, it's September. Christmas isn't technically that far away... I just haven't felt like even thinking about holiday cards. However, I was perusing Pinterest and found this. I thought that it would be a good "warm-up" card. 

Do you ever have those days? You feeling like creating, but don't really know where to start. I like to find a good inspiration card to get me into the crafting groove. 

I had some awesome Chevron ribbon to use, so I thought this card would work well!

Supplies: Stamps: In the Meadow (PTI)
Ink: Fresh Snow, Dark Chocolate
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Kraft
Accessories, etc.: Cherry Cobbler Ribbon (SU!)

Vellum Leaves/Wooden Tri-Panels

This is one of those cards that was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest. I actually only used the basic idea of the tri-panel mask. To make the mask, was a bit of a process. I traced the die I wanted to use onto plain copy paper three times- I used this paper as my guide. The sandwich I used was the Spellbinders magnetic plate, the guide paper, the die (it easily stuck to the magnet through the copy paper), and then a 2nd piece of copy paper. I made sure to keep the top piece of paper the same size as my guide and kept them lined up throughout the process. I only had one die, so I did that three times until I had my mask ready to go!

I sponged on some Vintage Cream cardstock and then stamped over with a Woodgrain background image. Next, I stamped the leaves onto vellum, hurried the drying process with an embossing gun, and cut them out.

Supplies:

Stamps: Beyond Basic Borders, Leaf Prints (PTI), Woodgrain Background (SU!)

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Canyon Clay, Summer Sunrise, Vintage Cream

Paper: Canyon Clay, Vintage Cream, Chocolate Chip, Vellum

Rainbow Make A Wish

I just can't get enough of watercolouring on this paper! For this one, I just starting playing with a rainbow palette of colours and then decided to actually use it on a card.

I don't have that many PTI reinkers, so I just used a larger clear block as my palette. I pressed the inkpads directly onto the clear block and used an aquapainter.

Supplies:
Stamps: Think Big Favorites #1, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday {the small stars}(PTI)
Ink: Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart, New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Spring Rain, Royal Velvet, Tuxedo Black
Paper: Basic Black, White, Cotton Paper