STAMPlorations sketch #26

There's a new neighbor in my parents' hood. Actually the daughter of the original builder/owner has decided to make it her retirement home. So happy for her and her hubby. And for my folks. Now there is someone else living along the beach year round.

And there's a new sketch up at STAMPlorations.

So I grabbed my cute little houses from Shirley's The Bees Knees: Houses and created a hood.

Know how I made the grass? With the roof of one of the house stamps (one I didn't stamp on the card)! Got some new Memento Luxe and Radiant Neon inks to play with (on sale for around €3 at Scrapmalin for any of you on this side of the pond) and voila!

For my sentiment I hung a vellum banner with alpha stickers and a PC-generated secondary sentiment with some stitching. Put a strip of cheery washi along the bottom of the inside of the card (a la Kate). Easy peasy, as they say! And a great idea for using up some of your washi stash. I'm hooking up at Challenge up your Life #6.

And since my world consists of life here in Germany and life back in Michigan, I'm hooking up to Addicted to CAS #50.

This is a great sketch, even rotated :) Won't you join us for the challenge? Check out the cards from the DT and our guest designer, Maria, at the STAMPlorations blog.

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!

welcome new baby

Here's another mixed media card I've made following the "New" theme of the challenge #7 at The Mixed Media Card Challenge. Babies are definitely new. And life changing :)

Used pink ink and Aha Arts Border and Pattern to stamp my cardbase before adding a layer of the "optional challenge element", crumpled pink tissue paper (using a thin layer of Multi Matte Medium). Smushed pink ink onto my craft sheet, added a dollop of metallic embossing paste, mixed and stencilled a few random hearts onto my card. Die cut a balloon from PP and softened it down a bit by generational stamping white pigment ink circles onto it using SSS Lots of Dots.

Then I stamped "welcome" with a tiny alpha set and a bit of one of the borders from the Aha Arts set to draw a bit more attention to the "welcome". Added the stacked "baby" die cut and some gold thread and voila! Now we just need a baby girl in the 'hood!

The challenge is open thru the 25th. Remember, TEXTURE, DIMENSION, and TECHNIQUE make for a mixed media card. Join us, wont't you?

I'm joining the Happy Anniversary party over at The Card Concept #26. With my baby card. Go figure. But those soft pinks of the bouquet scream baby girl! I'm hanging out in the mixed media corner with the new DT members ;) Congrats to all on a successful year.

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 :)

aspen

My cousin's 9-year-old Labrador, Aspen, died. For the kids, Aspen was like a sibling. This card is going to them.

Went with the doggie heaven/Rainbow Bridge idea. Used the MFT Rainbow die and Papertrey's Clouds. Watercolored some CS and die cut the alphas with Memory Box Parker alpha.

I wasn't certain that the white rainbow was working. So I made another version with rainbow colors for the rainbow.

I like this one too, especially cuz the little tag with Aspen's name on it reminds me of a dog tag. My kids opted to send the first version.

I'm joining a couple challenges with these CAS cards. The first one is going to:

MUSE Challenge #100 (Happy Birthday!) where Michele F.'s simple beauty is the inspiration. I've used a lot of white, a heart and a touch of pastels.

City Crafter #244 - Winter White

I am also hooking both up to Virginia's View Challenge #11 - Clean Slate. There are so many glorious examples of lotsa white space over there, you must check it out if you haven't yet.

Thanks for coming by today!

my favorite cards of 2014

I've never done a "Favorites of the Year" post before. It is very interesting (and very time consuming!) to review your year's work. I thought in the process I might become enlightened about "my style".... Nope. I'm still all over the board, though I do notice my picks are either extreme CAS or heavy on the technique.

Ready? In no particular order, I present my favorite creations of 2014.

Creative use of stamps + Ali E. handwriting = love.

Technique - magic slider.

Rainbow + white + old typewriter = major love.

The "illustrated" look.

Emotional attachment to this one plus lotsa technique.

Stencil + paste + watercolors + embossing + Dymo. So much to love.

Emotional attachment + iconic image PLUS technique!

Just thought I was being so darn clever ;)

Giving a faux gelli plate a go - with tutorial! 

Technique - Versamark with Perfect Pearls. Oh la la.

Lotsa work but so pleased with the result.

Puffy heart. That's all.

Emotional attachment (161 party). And creative use of stamps.

Using just the PC and dies. And makes me chuckle.

CAS + rainbow + technique + PUBLISHED.

My fave - it just all came together. And it's unexpected. And published too!

Whew! Are you pooped? I am. Hope you enjoyed.

If you've done a "favorites of 2014" post let me know. I'd love to see yours.

winnie and walter mojo overload finale

My last two creations for the Winnie and Walter 1st birthday bash are up today. I've had such fun playing along. Are you playing yet?

My first card is for Julie's Shaker challenge. And I decided to use a W&W facebook freebie too (details can be found on my link to the birthday bash).

This was such fun. I started with the image. Masked around it and applied Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to frame it before stamping the secondary sentiment. I really love the typewriter font used on many W&W sets. Then I searched for some PP in green and found this pattern from Basic Grey PB&J. Die cut my frame with Lil Inker stitched rectangles. TIP: Use a frame die cut from craft foam and adhered with Matte Medium in place of foam adhesive to avoid sticky edges for sequins to stick to. I have a skinny paintbrush dedicated to Matte Medium which works great in small areas.

Added some orange and pink sequins, and my shaker in W&W colors was nearly finished. I added a balloon die cut from patterned vellum with a metallic string on the front for some extra fun.

I'm also playing at Cure for the Monday Blues. Happy Birthday, Taheerah!

And at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is "New". I used my new SSS balloon die on my shaker card.

Last, but not least, a tag. I wanted a smaller canvas to work with the fabulous leaf stamps from The Big, Bold and Extras. I think the tag can adorn a plant given as a gift so I chose to use "natural" ink colors. I'm hooking up to Mayuri's Distress Inks + Patterns challenge with this.

If you've followed my posts the past few days, I hope you've enjoyed my projects. And I hope you are inspired to join the party at Winnie and Walter. See you over there. And if you're interested, come back tomorrow for my Faves of 2014. Although if you are one of the luckies, you're probably on your way to CHA... If you are, enjoy. And share please!