use those scraps

I was cleaning up my paper scraps mess from last week's cardmaking sessions and decided to actually make cards with some of the scraps rather than put the scraps back into my scrap storage. Makes sense, right? How come I never do it?

I took a look at the Distress Ink mop up scraps which were red and realized I needed an anniversary card ... soooo, why not die cut lots of little hearts? This card was born.

Amuse Studio Heart die

Hero Arts All Occasion Messages stamp

Heidi Swap spray ink

The next scrap was from this card way back when. It was pulled out of scrap storage for my pop up box card bouquet making but didn't get used cuz of the blue. So was it to go back to scrap storage? Again? Nope. The negative of the bloom got backed with a portion of it and I even managed to get the sentiment out of skinny little areas of the scrap! That, folks, makes me happy!

Pinkfresh Studio Floral Square Frames die

Penny Black Many Thanks die

The leftover little hearts from the first card had to go somewhere ... four of something isn't the easiest to design with. So I added a sentiment as the fifth element and voila! A birthday card.

Amuse Studio Heart die

Inkystamp Geburtstagsgruesse stamp

I'm joining these challenges:

Use Your Stuff - Out with the Old (YEP! All three cards!)

Penny Black Saturday Challenge - AG with option of  "Something New" (card #2)

The Cat's Pajamas - January

 

right time, right place revisited

Another one of my commissioned cards for a gal who truly enjoys giving handmade cards. And she claims the recipients enjoy receiving them too! Yaaaaay.

Next up - a Valentine for her boyfriend. I showed her a card I had made years ago (it was even published back in the day!) and she was sold. I still love this idea. Talk about making a card personalized...

All you need is a PC. And a map of the place you're celebrating so you can die cut a heart from it!

I'll recommend these two sites too - this site for coordinates and this great site for nautical knots (mine is the square knot).

No multiples on this one. It's truly unique ;) But I'm taking it over to SSS Wednesday Challenge where it's Anything Goes this week.

more wcmd fun with winnie and walter

Two more creations for you inspired by the fun WCMD challenges over at Winnie and Walter.

My first card is for Keren's Number Cruncher challenge, cuz I've used the rule of three - three layers of die cuts. I chose my colors based on the September Color Combo challenge.

Winnie Walter Thanks die

Winnie Walter Anna's Flora stamp

Altenew inks 

sequins

And then, also for the September Color Combo challenge, and wanting to play with the Rerun: Typecast Cary, since I don't own the stamp set I let myself be inspired by Gayatri's card and created this. This is also for Keren's Number Cruncher challenge. Obvious, eh? Some random stamping, vellum, a tag and random alpha/number die cuts. Used a few spots of PP too.

Pinkfresh Studio Dream On paper

Winnie Walter Audrey die
Winnie Walter Big, Bold and You die

Amuse pigment inks

vellum

I think that's it for me. Another gorgeous day here today, must get outside. Happy rest of the weekend to you. I'm including my "craftie" from yesterday's crafting session. It's scary. But it's real ;)

anniversary a la flora fauna

Had a request for an anniversary card. So I made one , a couple, many. And you get to see them all.

Today's was inspired by this cool card using Flora Fauna stamps. Don't have them but I tried my best cuz that design is just so cool.

Meet my card.

Die cut a mask. Stamped graphic images within heart. Then stamped black images. Voila!

Aha Arts Painterly Shapes stamp 

Hero Arts All Occasion messages stamp

Amuse Heart Trio die

Thanks for looking. I'm hooking up at:

Basteltraum - colors

Creative with Stamps - it's an anniversary "celebration"

guest designing at the heart desires #10

I had a blast the past couple months, creating entries for the beautiful challenges over at The Heart Desires. This month, for Challenge #10, I get to join the talented gals over there as guest designer. "Be still my heart" I thought when I saw all this lovely map goodness. I can seriously lose myself for hours in maps...

Which immediately brought to mind a card I'd created a long time ago for my hubby. Isn't it cool to personalize a card to include a special spot on this earth? I love this design for wedding or anniversary or plain ol' love cards. I went ultra CAS for today's card which also features a heart die cut from a map.

I die cut the letters using PTI Headline Alpha and adhered them. Die cut the hearts with Amuse Heart Trio die. And added a wooden arrow I painted with gold nail polish. A strip of washi adds a little punch at the bottom, bringing in the black dots of the cities on the map.

Thanks to the THD team for having me and I can't wait to see their projects!

On a personal note - as I write up this post I am waiting to depart for MI. My wonderful Mom is having serious health problems and I don't know what to expect or when I will be returning. So it'll be quiet around here for awhile. FYI. Positive thoughts are appreciated :)

CUTplorations october - reminder

Have you played with us yet in the CUTplorations die cut challenge over at STAMPlorations?

When I made my first card, I had leftovers. Leftovers don't go to waste at my house ;) So this card happened. I disregarded the dark background and went the way of red-yellow-and-green-things-hanging-in-the-air!

I actually saw the strip of red neon paper that I'd cut the word out of for my first card and it was just too cool to pitch. So I plopped one of the leftover Birthday Word into it and built a card around it. I had die cut the hearts while making my first card too, using up the extra space on the paper strips. They reminded me of the heart balloons from Dee's Balloons and Banners, so I pulled that out and did some stamping and then string drawing with a marker. Added a sentiment from Kathryn's Big Wishes and voila!

Wafting balloons like rays of light floating through the air... does it work? Hope I've inspired you to play along with us. If you already have, thanks! Wanna play again?!?!?

I'm playing at Seize the Birthday with this one - it's Anything Goes this time around.

love cupcakes and you

Happy Valentine's Day to all you lovelies! I hope your day is filled with chocolate and flowers and more chocolate... (I gave up chocolate for Lent. Wonder how many times I will have broken it by the time this goes live?!?!?)

Anyhoo, when I saw this inspiration photo from Cupcake Inspirations, I couldn't get my eyes off that creamy (maybe even cream cheese) frosting. Yum. Oh a gold cupcake liner doesn't hurt either.

A squirt of bold coral Kesi Pschhiitt (yeah, go ahead, say it) which is an opaque spray ink available in fabulous colors. A snippet cut with Little B Block Out. A gold embossed STAMPlorations Sketched:Cupcake with puffy frosting. And a red glitter Amuse heart with a Memory Box "u" cut out of it. Voila! Lotsa product. But lotsa scrumptious white space.

Join the fun over at Cupcake Inspirations. STAMPlorations is this week's sponsor.

I'm playing in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Spritz and Spray
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - One Layer
CASology - #184 Valentine
Stempelkueche - #37 Love is all Around
Mod Squad - From the Heart

Here's to a love-filled L♥VE day!

CASEplorations february

Well welcome to the month of LOVE ♥

Living in Germany I don't see lots of LOVE day stuff happening, although I must admit there is a bit more hype now than there was 20 years ago. I'm a Michigan gal and Valentine's wasn't necessary a big deal there either. But I did experience Valentine's Day in Myrtle Beach back when my folks were doing the snowbird thang, and boy is there a lot of LOVE happening down there!

Enough of that. We have a super clean and bright love card for you this month at CASEplorations. It's from the queen of clean and bright and linen cardstock! My blogland pal, the lovely Anita in France is joining us as our guest this month. Wonder if Valentine's Day is big in the land of amour!?!

I locked in on her design elements of hearts and warm colors. And her big love sentiment. And although Anita's card is pretty CAS, I went even CASer. With this stamp set.

I die cut the heart from the card front and the next largest heart from scrap paper. Used the negative as a mask on the inside and stamped the area full of hearts and blooms using tiny images from Frames and Flowers. I used all the warm color Amuse pigment inks that I own! Added a couple black hearts for interest. Learned that in this class.

A Paper Smooches die cut from vellum stitched on the outside and a PTI sentiment on the inside finished off my birthday-card-disguised-as-a-love-card project.

Please check out Anita's card and those of my teamies here. And join us in CASEing Anita this month, won't you? (Regardless of how you feel about Valentine's Day ;)

Joining the fun at:
Uniko Challenge #28

AAA Cards #57

Share Joy - #20 I've gone Clean and Simple
Just Us Girls - Tic Tac Toe (I've used die cuts, stamps and flowers)

Mixed Media Card Challenge #17

Have you seen the theme at the Mixed Media Card Challenge this month?

May I present my card. With a little explanation.

I am Kappa Kappa Gamma (sorority). My "little sister" from those days just celebrated her 50th and this card is for her. So I'm stretching the "family" theme a bit but I'm practical like that ;)

I started with a panel I had dry embossed with a selectively inked-up arrow embossing folder from The Paper Studio . That's what those touches of pink, green and blue are. And I was heading down the road, use-the-panel-as-my-card-front, which seems to be one of my go-to designs. But then I thought, "why not cut a portion out of it to use later on a CAS card and make a window in this card?". So I did.

I die cut the panel with Lil Inker Stitched Rectangles and die cut a square out of the panel. Pencilled where I wanted the window on my cardbase and die cut a square out of that too. And a frame out of pink CS to adhere to the inside of the card with the glittery "50" from MFT High Rise Alpha and my "it's your birthday" sentiment.

I added some subdued stamping in pink to my cardbase in the upper right and lower left corners using the text and number stamps from STAMPlorations Mixed Media Elements. Before adhering the dry embossed panel I gave it some more interest with embossing paste applied through a Pink Paislee Mask Doodles stencil. See the added texture on top of the dry embossing?

For more texture and dimension I head embossed "lil sis" on the die cut heart and added some light and dark blue sequins (Kappa colors!). This and a yummy German chocolate bar are on their way to "lil sis".

I'm hooking up at Seize the Birthday where it's Anything Goes and Mixed Media Monthly Challenge where it's all about Texture this month. And Jennifer McGuire's Kindness Campaign where this week is about Family and Friends.

guest designing at card concept 33

Happy Wednesday! I'm back with another mixed media card today, joining the lovely ladies at The Card Concept for challenge #33. Check out this inspiration photo. Makes my graphic-loving heart beat faster!

This photo totally "spoke" to me. How? Neutrals plus pink, geometric shapes, babies, textiles and two rubber duckies.

My card... gray/white with pops of pink; baby card; hexagons; a bunny rather than a rubber ducky; stitching and a pom pom in a nod to the textiles.

Wanna see how I created this mixed media card? Remember, mixed media simply means using various mediums, creating texture and dimension. I used inks, gesso and structure paste as mediums in addition to PP, vellum, washi, heat embossing and stitching for texture and dimension. Oh, and not to forget the little pom pom for the bunny's tail!

I started with a piece of recycled packaging trimmed to 10 x 15 cm. Applied some Worn Lipstick randomly. TIP:  odd numbers, especially "threes" are a great rule of thumb in design.

Then I added some "+" signs with a Glitz design stamp roller and Archival ink.

The next step was to glue down some hexagons I die cut from various PPs using a Sizzix Bigz die.

And then I covered 'em up with a layer of gesso!

Added three more hexagons on top of the gesso and highlighted them with some Picked Raspberry Distress ink.

Stamped a moon and some stars in gray with Imaginisce Baby Animals. Then I applied some structure paste through a Dylusions Leter Jumble stencil, again randomly in three areas. As you can see from the die cuts laying on the right, I was thinking of stringing various items across the card front on a piece of twine. But then I decided to use the negative of the vellum bunny die cut and that's how my final card was born!

More than one medium? Yep. Distress inks, Hero Arts shadow ink (gray), gesso, structure paste.

Texture? Yep. Die cuts, structure paste, washi.

Dimension? Yep. Raised sentiment label. Pom pom. And the panel is partially attached to my cardbase, with adhesive and stitching along the top edge only.

Hope you enjoyed all the photos. I certainly enjoyed guest designing for The Card Concept. I hope you will use the gorgeous inspiration photo to create a card. How about trying mixed media?

I'm joining Virginia's Layers and Dimension challenge. You may not see all the layers at first glance, but they are definitely there!

And I'm hooking up at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Middle. I don't often, but this time I put my focal image and sentiment in the middle of the card.

Appreciate your visit. I hope you enjoyed this mixed media card.

simply create too 77

It's a Mother's Day (or Something for a Female) challenge over at Simply Create Too. Here's what I did.

And the coolest thing? When the spinner flips over you get "WOW"!

Recognize the Freshly Made Sketches # 169?

Thanks for looking. Check out what the rest of the DT created and join in. Why not get a Mother's Day card made ahead of time? Happy weekend :)

a bright spark (CMBC, HOC, Virginia's View )

Did you guess from this sneak peek where I'm going with today's card?

It's over to the Cure for the Monday Blues Challenge #31. Here's the fabulous inspiration photo.

And here's what I got from it. The headboard immediately jumped out at my cuz I have the PTI art deco frame die! Then I got the color blocking of the wall, yellow and white. While my eye was there the red vase jumped at me and I knew something bright red had to appear on my card. Then I noticed the cushions on the bed - purple piping and ikat-ish.

So this happened.

Crappy weather. Crappy photo. But if you look closely you'll see that I stamped a barely there ikat pattern on the white portion in a nod to the pillow. And I painted the stacked die cut frame with purple nail polish. See the shine? I love that trick.

Why did I angle the frame? I honestly don't know. It just looked boring when straight.

Thanks for a great inspiration photo, Taheerah A. And thanks for looking friends.

I'm hooking up over at:
House of Cards - October Challenge "Punches and/or Dies"
Virginia's View - #8 Clean and Simple too.

Supplies:

Paper:  Bringmann, DCWV

Stamps: PTI

Ink : Amuse

Tools: frame and sentiment die PTI, heart die Amuse

Other: nail polish