5 to go (AAA, Craft Stamper)

Have you seen the July release/birthday blog hop happening over at STAMPlorations? You might want to check it out. There are some fabby stamp sets in the release and you could win some too.

I've made two more invitations. Green. Me? Maybe this can be blamed on the number of soccer pitches that have bombarded my eyes lately ;)  Actually, it probably started with this card a few days ago. Do you get a sky, pitch and soccer ball vibe? Well it continues with this card.

I used STAMPlorations Sketch #14 again and the negative leftovers from the Dieversions die cut. In a nod to my teamie Shirley B., I've again tried the bleach blocking technique from Craft Stamper's Take It Make It challenge and this time it worked! See the faint "party time" which I randomly stamped with my die cut craft foam and water?

And I'm CASEing teamie Vicki D. cuz that's what we're supposed to do over at AAA Cards this week.

Kept the color scheme going in this next one. And used up another leftover negative die cut (notice the mixy matchy this time).

On this card I've used the STAMPlorations Celebrate Artsy set to create a flower. Don't ya love these "crayon strokes"?

Have a great weekend. Happy World Cupping!

Supplies for party time:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, Neenah, PP Pebbles

Stamps: STAMPlorations 

Ink : Distress inks

Tools: die Dieversions

Other: water, scoreboard

8 to go (clean and simple, feeling sketchy, deconstructed sketches, SSS)

This post could also be titled "Rock, Paper, Scissors". It's got 'em all.

Check out this amazing paper collection from Alexandra Renke here in Deutschland. It's all about stones. Love it. Got me some. Had to make some invitations with it. (If you don't know what's up with me and my invitations, you can find out here.)

Took my new PP, my Dieversions die and these sketches and went to town.

Clean and Simple #295

Feeling Sketchy #93

Deconstructed Sketches # 156

I'm also hooking these up at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where it's all about Friends. If we didn't have 'em, I wouldn't be making all these invites!

I love the speech bubble sketch, but had to work with my "party time" circle. So this happened. Oh well.

Now if I had been clever, I would have taken a closer look at my PPs for guidance on the placement of the circles on the first card. Don't ya love the "flow" of the images on this next card. And, well, I had to tweak the sketch a bit to get my die cut nestled into the "flow".

Here's a closeup so you can see the small pattern stamped in Delicata gold on the vellum backing the die cut. Which is dark gray, BTW. Looks blue here :(

On the last card I stayed pretty true to the sketch. Even kept the banner! But mine looks kinda not so good. The elements are too stretched out. Ugh.

But I love these papers. And the fact that I've only five more invites to go! I'm guessing my folks would probably like these best - they've always been great fans of greige. The house I grew up in was painted "Adobe Gray" (no clue why I still know that). Just googled it and it's all about software today. Proof that I'm getting old ;)

Thanks for visiting. I'm off to watch some soccer -go team USA- if I don't fall asleep on the couch!

Supplies:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, PP Alexandra Renke, vellum

Stamps:  herringbone BG Impression Obsession, sentiment STAMPlorations

Ink : Versamark, Delicata gold

Tools: die Dieversions, circle punches EKS

Other: 

10 to go (Fusion, CTS)

I was psyched that Kelly G. last week chose my pink, orange and yellow invite  as her winner at Fusion. I'm revving up the Party Time die again this week for two invites that were inspired by the current Fusion/(CAS)E this Sketch challenge. I "fused" the photo and sketch again.

Deepti M. (DT) made the sweetest card, which inspired me to go watercolor instead of literal with the banner element on the sketch. Actually added some stitching here too.

On this one I opted to go with the butterfly, which, keeping to the natural feel, led to the Poppystamps sprig in lieu of the stitching. (My newest die and may I say I'm infatuated - see, Donna M., I really own dies other than Party Time ;)) I actually like this card better (there's something about negative die cuts that gets me every time ;))

Hooking up to (CAS)E this Sketch #81 too. Thanks for stopping by. Are you watching the World Cup? Germany is up today. Wish us luck! Of course on Monday I'll be rooting for the USA too!

Supplies:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, vellum, old book

Stamps:  

Ink : 

Tools: die Dieversions, sprig Poppystamps, punch Martha Stewart

Other: watercolors, sequins

14 to go (SSS, paper players, TCEC)

OK, so a bit ago I told Shirley B. that I loved this card of hers, especially that luscious panel in the back. Love the color combo red, pink and purple. It started when I was a kid using up the magenta crayon out of the Crayola box of 64 first. Continued to my choice of sweats in college. And then my bridesmaids' dresses - which were actually inspired by their earrings I saw while descending an escalator at Hudson's, but I digress. At which point Shirley said maybe I need to post a photo of those dresses. Ta daaa!

We're not done yet, folks. I decided to continue invitation production with those colors too. Heck some of the people invited to our party were actually at our wedding way back when! Maybe they remember those colors...

Well I was gonna go the Distress Ink route (think Barn Door/Ripe Persimmon mix, Pick(l)ed Raspberry and Seedless Preserves). But I got lazy. And used up some PP from my stash! And that is a really good thing.

Meet #1.

Eh. Took a couple detours. Die cut the sentiment from the front panel and backed it with purple. But notice the print on the panel is off-center. Bugged me. Rounded a corner. Bugged me even more. Added tabs to the corners (which I now only had three of since I'd punched one off!). Bugged. Added a few... drumroll please... epic-failure-DIY-enamel-dots-now-to-be-called-enamel-donuts. Eh. Added a few hearts from a die cut border and stopped. They're just invitations for Pete's sake!

Cuz it turned out so crazy, I'm parking at Simon Says Stamp Monday - Anything Goes.

Meet #2.

Needed some white space. Minimal, but there. With a scalloped border (remember those?) and some scattered, may I call them "twinkles" for lack of a better word. They were a byproduct of a different border I cut to play with. That was a happy surprise.

I loosely followed this sketch from Paper Players. In honor of their 200th challenge, the DT chose their favorite past challenge and you can choose one of the DT's faves. I chose Sandy's.

#3 needed to have some white space, but I opted to tone it down a bit by stamping with a great stamp, Konnichiwa Floral Blossoms by Hero Arts/Basic Gray. Then I layered on some PPs.

So, now nearly back to my comfort zone, #4 lets the stamp play a bigger role and I just packed a color punch with the die cut and some additional die cut circles.

Modeled (die cuts lower left, stamping upper right) on the lower left card from the graphic of a new challenge in town - The Cutting Edge. Gotta use die cuts. Um, yep.

Hope you're happy, Shirley. I am. 30 down and only 10 to go.

Supplies :

Paper:  cardbase The Paper Studio, PP Marianne Creatables

Stamps: Hero ARts

Ink : Adirondack

Tools: die Dieversions, scalloped die Amuse, heart die PTI, circle die MFT

Other: perler beads turned enamel donuts

16 to go (card concept, make the day special, sprinkle of imagination, KIS)

I'm gettin' there. Only 16 more invites to make for our "161" party. And before you raise your eyebrows on this one... may I remind you that our last name is Fischer...

Ready for card #1? I started with the sketch at Make the Day Special challenge #3.

And because the challenge requires you to use stamps from a company the store carries (they carry all the good ones!) I started thinking about which stamps I could use. Because I was also challenging myself to create a nautical card for the challenge #12 at The Card Concept and the June challenge at A Sprinkle of Imagination

the little fishies from Fish More from WPlus9 sprang to mind . It's one of those never-thought-I-would-have-needed-but-love-to-use-it sets. Still remember our last name?... and this card was spawned (tee hee hee). I'm callin' this one Clean and Layered. Sorta.

I even used the dots from WPlus9's Fresh Cut Florals (I've yet to make a flower card with that thought-I-had-to-have-it-cuz-everyone-else-has-it set) to make some bubbles in the Distress Inked water. The images are heat embossed with glitter embossing powder. They look like real fish reflecting the sun. Cool! Took some artistic license with the banner/sentiment part of the sketch as I am restricted to using my Dieversions "party" die cut. Does it remind you of a life preserver? It should ;))

Which brings us to card #2. I'm callin' this one Clean and Simple. Actually this beaut by Julie E. brings us to card #2. Enter a white die cut. Which needs to rest upon something. Enter the life preserver. Floating in the ocean. Nuff said.

Hooking up at Keep it Simple - Splatters. Got the water spots on the first and the watercolor splatters on the second card.

Are you getting sick of me and this die cut yet? I had my moments today. But maybe that's because I made four more cards. Come back tomorrow to see 'em. Hint: Shirley B. made me do it...

And while I toil away at invitations, DD is baking a batch of these every day in an attempt to create the perfect macaroon.

Supplies for #1:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps: WPlus9 

Ink : Distress inks, Versamark

Tools: die Dieversions

Other: glitter embossing powder, crochet thread

Supplies for #2:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps:  

Ink : Distress inks

Tools: die Dieversions, circle dies MFT

Other: waterbrush

STAMPlorations sketch #14

Here's a fun sketch for you, brought to you by STAMPlorations.

I'm using it to continue my mission of 40 invitations to our "161" party.  Only 16 to go, BTW. This is what I did with the sketch and the soon-to-be-released set called Sentiment Builders: Celebrate. There are 24 - count 'em, 24 - individual words you can use to create sentiments! Thanks for designing this set, Shery R. It's perfect for me on my mission ;)

Have a look at the DT creations here, as well as our oh-so-talented Guest Designer Deepti M.'s beauty here. You've got til June 27 to hook up.

Thanks for coming by. Have a great day.

Supplies for party time:

Paper:  CS Bringmann, Neenah, PP Pebbles

Stamps: STAMPlorations 

Ink : Distress inks, Versamark

Tools: die Dieversions

Other: scoreboard, white embossing powder

you know you're a cardmaker when... (Fusion)

I was actually going to use the term "card artist" in the post title, but thought that might be stretching it. What am I talking about? This. You create an inked strip of CS to die cut something from.

And you can barely bring yourself to cut into the strip cuz it's so darn gorgeous as is. Ever have one of those moments?

Well, I forced myself to make the first cut. And this is what happened.

And you can probably guess what the next card is gonna look like...

All that inked color gorgeousness going on... couldn't not use the negative pieces! I was completely and totally inspired by the current challenge at Fusion. I actually combined the sketch and photo.

Ever have one of those I-know-I-am-truly-a-card-artist-when moments? I'd love to hear about it...

19 to go (AAA, CFC)

Three more invites for our "161" party...

The first two are brought to you courtesy of the, hmm hmm, weekly, challenge over at AAA. I'm squeakin' in under the wire.

Inspired by the DT over there, I pulled out my STAMPlorations Chevron and Arrows and stamped the arrows (not well, but I'm thinkin' my non-cardmaking friends who will be receiving this may forgive me). Added some frosted embossing paste through a Studio Calico stencil. Die cut the sentiment from a panel I masked, stamped with the chevron from Lawnscaping Interlocked Backgrounds and inked.

As for this bugger, don't look too closely. The star sequins... trying to hide the spots I mangled. Maybe cuz it was midnight. Maybe cuz I adhered the color blocked CS strips with double sided adhesive. Maybe cuz this poor die is just getting tired of all the work it's doing lately...

It wouldn't cut through the color blocked panel! What I wanted, was to use the negative parts to fill in the white space of the largest circle. What happened, was that after I ruined the first die cut when realizing it wasn't cut through and running it (incorrectly aligned) through the Big Shot again, even five passes on the new one wouldn't get that bugger to cut all the layers.

Plan B. Die cut a white one and adhere it over the embossed-but-not-fully-cut circle and put that whole package back into the largest circle. Could have saved myself 20 minutes and a battered front panel by just die cutting a white sentiment and adhering it over the color blocked panel in the first place! But I had wanted the negative die cut look... (still whining)...

One more for you, by no means original, for the current CASual Fridays challenge.

Got the masculine going. No kraft. Ribbon's there. For one of our single, male friends. Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy your weekend.

22 to go (CTS, Iron Craft, MIM,Colour Q)

Someone please tell me again why card challenges are only open for a week??? Seems I just saw this sketch at CTS, thought "oh cool, I like that" and today it's already closing!

Miss Ellie got spayed yesterday morning (poor groggy thing) and my day was crazy just watching/helping her. But I snuck down to the basement in the evening ;)  I made six cards. SIX. I'll keep it short.

Let's just call this first one Swiss Cheese. What can I say? Everyone was doing rectangles so I had to do circles! 

I'd remembered a great 12x12 paper pack (Seen and Noted by Pebbles) I'd won last year and pulled it out to combine with some bright colored CS for "Swiss Cheese". So then I opted for the PP rectangles myself on #2. Put some vellum behind the die cut to tone down the PP.

So what else could cascade down the side besides rectangles?  How about party balloons? After struggling with their placement in a vertical design, I figured out it was much easier if I flipped the sketch ;) Added wispy strings to each balloon - fun IRL.

Make it Monday #168 was stuck in my cabeza, so pulled out the balloon stamp from Birthday Style, added some reinkers to two folded baby wipes and used it as a stamp pad to create this card. I heat embossed a stem from Garden of Life as the strings on this one.

TIP: Don't just throw away your baby wipe stamp pad - that would be such a waste ;) I pressed the ink blob to CS when I was done and die cut my sentiment from it. I also have two dry baby wipes waiting to be turned into flowers or something somewhere down the road.

And since my soon-to-be-released STAMPlorations stamps arrived in the mail yesterday and were screaming to be tried out, I grabbed the colors from Colour Q #245 (although I think looking at it on my PC now, the Starfruit color is more green - I thought it looked like yellow. Oops) and made this one. The theme of the July release is "birthday". Let me just say... sketchy, large word, wonky cake. Interested? Hop with us on June 26 to see all the stamps in action and maybe win some.

TIP: Or check out this deal here. STAMPlorations is offering the whole July release until June 20 at 30% off!

Bringing up the rear we have the oh-so-expected washi tape variation. I partially heat embossed a CHF BG on the front of my Soft Stone CS (nice stuff - NBUS) before adhering the washi and die cut. Although most of my washis are bright and bold, I went with nearly all neutrals for this card.

Done! I'm also joining the Iron Craft challenge #2 with a couple of these. I actually saw the sketch over there for the first time as part of the Inspiration Board from Mayuri's segment. That's where the B/W on the last card came from as well as the use of the turquoise/yellows in the first cards.

32 to go (WW, Make the Day Special, Lawnscaping, CASE, Time Out)

I so loved the color combo from the Winnie and Walter Playdate #2 that I've four more invitations for you today. (Then I'm moving on, I promise.)

You saw my Distress-Ink-to-acrylic-block-misted-and-squished-to-paper technique BG yesterday. Well I made another while I was at it, just using the pink tones. That's what you see above. I used the sketch from the current challenge #3 at Make the Day Special. Because I embossed the words from W&W onto the vellum banner I'm hooking up to the current Lawnscaping challenge - Embossing too. And I'm going over to A Sprinke of Imagination one more time, too (peony, fuschia and lime)!

I only wanted the words for my sentiment above so I partially die cut them with my Dieversions die from a third panel I had created, the remainder of which you see in the next card.

Angled the panel,  heat embossed the cascading confetti stars in silver and die cut the sentiment from silver CS. Opted for a green base for this one. 

This BG I created by swiping Adirondack ink pads across normal CS then spritzing with water. The result is more vibrant but also watercolor-y. I die cut the sentiment from the center of the panel and heat embossed some of the twinkle confetti in gold on the cardbase before adhering the negative. I also heat embossed "birthday" and "anniversary" across the bottom cuz we are celebrating both events at our "161" party. I'm joining CASE Study with this one where Pamela H.'s amazing card is up this week (negative die cutting, birthday sentiment at the bottom).

So where did the positive die cut go from that last card? Funny you should ask...

Now doesn't that look like a party invitation? Totally inspired by Vanessa M.'s card in the W&W gallery, I changed it up a little and love the result.  I'm playing at Time Out challenge #7 where the theme is "summer" and this definitely says summer party in my opinion. Some of my DT teamies run Time Out and I've been meaning to join in!

Whew, that's it for today. TTFN. But I've still got 32 to go...