a CASE in blue

 Hi there peeps! 

I was very inspired by a card Andrea M. made recently and it actually moved me to hit my craft room and CASE it.

Loved her color combo so I stuck with it. Perused my dies for something that would give that fall feel, but keep my life simple. Chose a bit bigger pattern for my BG but it sure looks a lot like hers. Love it.

Because I loved the design so much I decided to put a twist on it and go a bit masculine. Same colors. Different motif. Feathers this time. And an embossed plus clock BG to go with the happy birthday, time passing theme.

Inkystamp sentiment stamp,

Penny Black Berries and Leaves die,

embossing powder, twine

Lifestyle Crafts feather die,

A Pocket Full of Happiness cover plate

That's it for today. Thanks for looking.  

spellbinders dance for joy

Ever since I saw this die it tickled my fancy (see the pooch nipping at the last girl's dress?). So I got it! I do love silhouette dies. And what to do with them? Well, there are several, albeit limited options. I went with the classic, black silhouette...

I pulled out an old inked and stamped-off piece that had some blues and greens in it, reminiscent of the sky and grass. I die cut it and adhered the silhouette to it, hanging it over the edge a bit for added interest. Then, cuz I didn't know what do for a background behind this piece, I decided to give an acetate card front a try. I really like how it turned out.

 Spellbinders Dance for Joy die

Lil Inker Stitched Rectangle die

distress inks

See the subtle stamped print in the BG? So unexpected, but pretty.

Thanks for stopping by. I'm stopping by at these fun challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes

Basteltraum - Die/Stencil

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Fusion - Penguin Love (that photo of the three loving penguins plus the Fusion colors... I think my card fits the challenge)

be still my ink smooshing hearts

Howdy peeps!

Popping in quickly today to share a make from a little bit ago - we were in the snow in northern Italy for a sun and snow-filled week before I headed off to spend two weeks with my Dad in cold and sometimes snowy Michigan - that made use of a fabulous die cut panel sent to me by the lovely, happy dancing Bev B.

 Neat and Tangled Wholehearted Cover plate

Cornish Heritage Farms Alphabet BG

Distress Inks

embossing powder

First off I stamped the die cut panel with the background stamp. Then I backed it with an ink-smooshed BG. Heat embossed the "HI" section of the BG stamp onto a black snipet and mounted the panels askew to a cardbase. Voila! Love that dimension and interest!

I'm off to play at:
Simon Says Wednesday challenge - Texture
Die Cut Divas - Anything Goes
Papercraft Challenges - Bingo - I've got heat embossing, text and no PP

Happy Little Stampers - Anything goes with Dies April

when cardmaking is like pulling teeth...

... take the time to find your good wire snippers! Yep, that's how my dilemma started.

I've a story for you today. Actually it all started when I wanted to play with my new Distress Oxides AND play along with the Ellen Hutson Mix It Up challenge with Concord and 9th products. They were still out on my workspace.

I got the idea to create some DO backgrounds and then cut one with my new heart dies. It's been awhile since I'd used my wire snippers to cut new dies apart and the ones I grabbed out of my tool drawer were old ones. Actually, I didn't realize that I had better ones! The darn things were too thick to get between the hearts to snip the wires. And because of the way the hearts were wired together, there was no way to wiggle them back and forth to break the connection - if you know what I mean. So frustration took over and I die cut my DO piece with the hearts just as they were in the package.

And I gathered my EH and C9 products and set out to make several cards for the challenge. Hmmm. No ideas. Sometimes it's nice to create with limitations. Not this time. Having read about B/W with pops of bright colors in this post, I was able to come up with this card.

Two die cut hearts down. Two to go. And then a day passed.

And then... story of my life.... the Mix It Up challenge ended. Ha! Serves me right.

But a Pin-Sights Challenge went up and lucky me - my DO piece was pink, orange and yellow - the colors in the inspiration! I conveniently continued plugging on, pretending I'd had this planned all along ;)

Like pulling teeth, it was, let me tell you. Stuck with my two die cut hearts. What to do with them? Since you listened to my story I'm going to share my creations with you. Not that they're my best work but I bet you've all had one of those crafting sessions where you back yourself into a corner and even with a craft room full of supplies you can't get yourself out of that corner!

The least daunting, I started with the negative to use as a card front. Filled the heart area with a large sentiment surrounded by a few water-softened DI blooms. Still two hearts left...

Having seen Time Out Challenge's graphic, and keeping Pantone's Greenery in mind, I added a fabric-y flower BG and a tropical leaf to one heart. Notice the hexagon in a nod to the invitation in the inspiration photo? Did you know you can make one easily from a circle? And the gold embossed edges in a nod to that scrummy cake. I'm also taking this flower-laden card to The Flower Challenge.

Couldn't bear any more pink. The last little heart with its yellow/orange tones got lots of black to parther with. Simple. And done, finally. Whew. Like pulling teeth it was. BTW, I've since found my good wire snippers and the dies have been freed ;)

heart die

dot stamp

love stamp (absolutely love this sentiment font)

super lucky sentiment stamp

flower stamp

you die

leaf die

happy birthday sentiment

Thanks for bearing with me today. Happy weekend.

MMCC #28

New month, new challenge over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge. This month's theme:

I must admit this card's been in my stash. Kinda forever. But there's something fun about it I thought you might enjoy. It's a way to use up some of your scraps.

I dry embossed a black panel with a Sizzix embossing plate. I stamped a CHF sentiment (before Kim Hughes started Paper Smooches she designed for CHF). And I die die cut and offset-layered the you from a Sizzix Bigz die.

I spent oodles of time punching those little confetti pieces, but saved some time by using some spray adhesive along the bottom of the card (masked the top) and dumping on the confetti. I only used glue to place the individual pieces at the top.

Technique - dry embossing, die cutting
Texture and dimension - dry embossing, textured CS

Black and purple? Why not make a mixed media Halloween card and join us over at the MMCC this month?

MMCC #25 - reminder

Coming by to remind you that there's still time to join us at the Mixed Media Card Challenge for this month's challenge where it's all about "Sparkle", with an optional element of gems too.

Here's another card for you with some sparkle on it ;)

I trimmed a CS panel and inked it with Broken China. I stamped it with CHF Polka Dot BG using the same ink. Then I put down the Tando Harlequin stencil (looks like a trellis doesn't it?) and inked the top half with Peacock Feathers and the bottom half of the panel with Lilac and Seedless Preserves. I stamped the Hero Arts Konnichiwa roses with Versamark, sprinkled (using my fingers) three colors of embossing powder including one with glitter in it and heat embossed.

I heat embossed the sentiment from PTI Cutting Garden onto vellum, trimmed it into a banner and adhered it to the reverse of the panel. Adhered the panel offset to my cardbase. TIP: To keep embossing powder colors cleanly separated on a sentiment, first cover last line with post it note, apply white powder and shake off excess, then cover with gold powder. The gold will not stick to the area already covered with white powder!

I'm hooking up at WOW Embossing Powder - Anything Goes challenge. I'd love to see your mixed media cards using "Sparkle" and/or gems in the MMCC gallery this month. You still have a couple days to link up here.

and more fish

But this is the last. I promise ;)

Here are the last cards I made with the stamped panel I created for this card. This version is probably my favorite/standard design for randomly stamped backgrounds. Just give it a heat embossed sentiment (from Mia's Stempelkueche) on a contrasting color and voila! I actually added a bit of Tim Holtz Mixed Media die cut too. And dry embossed the stamped panel with Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangle die.

Went for a twofer with the last panel. Sliced it in half diagonally and added PTI Happy die cuts, accompanied with a stamped or a sticker sentiment. The netting BG stamp is CHF.

Sure enjoyed working with WPlus9 Fish More - it's a set you really should have in your arsenal ;)

I'm taking these cards to:
Cards in Envy - No Girls Allowed
Lawnscaping - Off Kilter

Craft Stamper - Take it Make it June - Let's Get Inky

Mixed Media Card Challenge #24

Welcome to June and welcome to the challenge to incorporate a "sunset" onto your mixed media card and then join us over at the Mixed Media Card Challenge.

Well. You'll search far and wide for the sunset on my card. I just created one for last month's reflection challenge. So for this card let's imagine that's the sunset sky shimmering through a field of sunflowers, shall we?

In addition to the stamps (BG from CHF, sentiment from Hero Arts) and inks, I've got the following on my mixed media card:

TEXTURE - the heat embossing and even the yellow strip of textured CS on the vellum strip
DIMENSION - the vellum (wrapped around the card front) kinda floats in the air
TECHNIQUE - brayering distress inks onto glossy CS and heat embossing

I'm sharing this at:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday May - Sunshine

Hope you've enjoyed my card. Check out the beautiful projects the DT created and join us this month, won't you? We've had way too much rain around here lately. Here's to a beautiful sunset tonight ;)

CASed RIC for STAMPlorations inspiration #41

Because I'm squeaking in under the wire at CASe This Sketch #143, I'm coming at you one day early with my inspiration project for STAMPlorations.

I just read about simple ways to make my brain happier (thanks Monika S.) and decided to "#3 Make that decision" to use these two challenges and this stamp set to create with. So there!

RIC #93

STAMPlorations Mixed Media Elements

 Six grungy line stamps and many ink pads later this was born. Made me happy ;)

Don't know if the model's skirt has pleats in it or if the vertical lines are part of the fabric print, but I took a distressed lines BG stamp from CHF, inked it with white pigment ink and stamped it over the entire stamped area before removing the circle mask and heat embossing my sentiment from STAMPlorations Party Time. See the lines?

Watch for the other cards from the Inspiration DT over at STAMPlorations and join us in the CASE Playground if you have a chance!

love with buttons

Stencils and ink and paint and golden paste and stamps and dies - Oh My! This card was an adventure that started with a stencil and the need for a Valentine for DS. I knew I wanted to use the loving birds from Hero Arts.

I also decided to create a personalized sentiment - "you have my love". I sometimes tell DS I love him, but don't like him/his behavior. Decided to reinforce the love idea. Used various stamps from STAMPlorations for my sentiment.

I paper pieced the birds and adhered them onto a piece of scrap paper I had used to clean up with when working with paints. The "love" circle is from same paper. The other circles were punched from scraps.

My background was created by:
1. tracing around a few shapes in the ARTplorations Shutters stencil with a black Sharpie
2. stamping over/through the stencil with a CHF polka dot BG stamp and Archival ink
3. applying gold embossing paste through a few random shapes onto the CS
4. splattering with Dylusions Turquoise and then misting with water

Remember, you have until Feb 25 to join the Love and Buttons challenge at The Mixed Media Card Challenge. And Craft Stamper Take it, Make it is all about stencils this month so I'm hooking up there.

As well as at the Nature Challenge at Hero Arts.

And Add a little Texture at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday.

grab it

Just quick to share a card I made for the Cure for the Monday Blues challenge over at birthday girl Taheerah's. And to thank Shelly K. for the "sweet greeting" she sent me - a Teresa Collins paper pad with great neutral patterns. Here's what I did with it.

I was looking at the place setting, thinking knives and forks, when I noticed the fish net type pattern of the dinner plate. So I heat embossed it gold.

The rest happened while perusing the paper pad. I like the love idea and how the little tickets in the PP mimic the place card. And also support the love theme.

Thanks for looking. Off for more Mardi Gras stress!

STAMPlorations december challenge

You're probably a busy little elf right about now, but if you've got a spare moment maybe you'd like to join us at STAMPlorations for this month's nearly-anything-goes challenge.

Your choice. In other words, pick a challenge from 2014 (sketch or theme) and go with it for December. I chose last month's Stamps and Layers. Lots of eye candy in the gallery if you missed it.

Layer 1 - cardbase

Layer 2 - white CS

Layer 3 - alpha BG stamped in white

Layer 4 - stripes stamped, misted and stamped again

Layer 5 - splatters

Layer 6 - black CS

Layer 7 - subway art sentiment from It's Your Day heat embossed white

Layer 8 - Distress Inks

Whew! You must check out the beauties the DT created using their favorite challenge themes. And our guest designer, Laura Jane, has created a blue beauty you won't want to miss. The challenge is open until the end of Christmas day. The winner gets one 3x5 stamp set, two if STAMPlorations stamps were used, and a guest designer spot in February.

The sketch challenge #24 is open all month this time around with more prizes to be had. And if you are interested in applying for the new STAMPlorations Digi Design Team the deets are here.

Appreciate your stopping by in the midst of the December rush. Have a great day.

visiting the cousin

Did you see the PC &S Thanks! blog hop yesterday? Lots of amazing and thankful cardmakers sharing their talents in a final nod to the team at the magazine which is closing its doors.

I shared a card made with heat embossing and die cutting.

And today I am sharing its cousin,

Notice the family resemblance?

I swiped Distress Inks in an ombre pattern across a piece of white CS. I heat embossed the tiny leaf CHF BG on another and sponged on gold ink. Then I ran them through my Xyron sticker maker and die cut the PTI oak tree. After that it was just a matter of filling in the puzzle pieces.

Two wow! cards for the price of one. Thanks for visiting.

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine Special Thanks! Blog Hop

Joining the fun today to express my gratitude to the gals at Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine. What a short but wild ride it was for me!

Started with this published card I made back in January 2013, one of several I created for my first submission call (thanks to the nudging of some fellow cardmaking bloggers).

Back when Cath E. left Moxie Fab  I compared it to the Grand Central Station of Cardmakingland shutting down. Now, with PC&S,  I feel like the Drama Club at Cardmakingland High School is disbanding. Gone the tryouts (submission calls) and nail biting waiting to hear if you've gotten the part. Gone the buzzing crowd clamoring to see the cast list posted on the bulletin board (Friday FB parties). Gone the drama teacher encouraging you to keep on trying (SRO). Not to forget the whole production crew who, now jobless, must find other outlets for their talents.

So my wild ride ends 76 pubs later. My card today is one of a bunch I made in November for the now-to-be-known-as-last-and-never-to-come-to-fruition-submission-call for the Stamp It issue. Boy did I go to town creating for that call.  Stamping and techniques? You don't have to ask me twice. I was ecstatic when the deadline was extended cuz I had so many projects to write up and upload, I would never have made the original deadline! I digress :) Here's my card.

I'm diggin' that STAMPlorations sentiment. "Believe". And then, of course, take the first step. Reminds me of submitting for the first time. And it's my attempt at "cheerleading" the whole "production crew" today.

A closeup of all that Delicate Golden Glitz shimmer sponged on over the turquoise embossing. Extra for SRO ;)

I'll miss the mag. I'll miss the blog. I'll miss the lovely ladies at the mag. Thanks for a wonderful ride! And thank goodness for social media :) CU around.

My farewell to PC&S from Rhine wine country and me and my first pub, in Birthday Creations Vol. 3. Should you ever find yourself in the neighborhood, stop by. There's always a Riesling cold. Cheers to you on a job well done and good luck with whatever comes next!

You should have come from something colorful from the lovely Laura Williams and your next stop is certain to be something beautiful at Lisa Arana's blog. Enjoy. Thanks so much, Taheerah A., for making this hop happen.