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Make-It Monday

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Make-itMonday

One last challenge before I leave for vacation. I've always loved the hand-drawn frames Nicole Heady does on so many of her cards, but I've never been very successful at it. After watching her video, I found it's easier than I thought.

SoSweet

This tulip image from the Friendship Jar Spring Fillers set was the image that pushed me over the edge and put the stamp set in my cart. But this is the first time I've used it. I love the way it looks on its own without the jar. I don't make one layer cards that often, but I think that might change. The tulips were colored with Copic markers, and the sentiment is from Signature Greetings. You can find the other entries for this challenge here.

Color Challenge

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I've been lurking on the CR84FN Color Challenge site for a few weeks, but finally got around to creating a card. I love this combination of red, aqua, and white.

CR84FN25+Graphic

The first thing I did was take a look at the most recent Studio Calico kit, and found two perfect papers, one by Studio Calico and one from Emma's Shoppe by Crate Paper. The strawberry paper then dictated which stamps I used. I was surprised to discover that the only strawberry stamp I own is part of Papertrey Ink's Vintage Picnic set. It's one of my favorites, and it's been awhile since it's seen some love. I also cased Heather's design which you can see on the CR84FN site as well.

CR84FN4.26

I colored the strawberries with a combination of Copic markers and Faber-Castell Artist pens. The strawberries are so tiny, the artist pens were much easier to use on the leaves than the Copics. I also used the artist pens to enhance the picnic basket and added two brads to the handles. I cut out five sets of strawberries and layered them into the basket after adhering it to the Lacey Circle I cut from the B side of the Studio Calico paper. The ribbon and button are from Papertrey as is the Tiny Tag. I just love the Tiny Tag set. It's the perfect size for tying to a bow.

 

Anniversary Wishes

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I've been trying to complete all the cards I need for the many birthdays and anniversaries of friends and family that occur in May. The last two I needed to do were for anniversaries, and both cards meet the challenge at Mark's Finest Paper where the challenge is to create an anniversary card. The first is based on the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge so I'm posting it there as well.

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AnniversaryWMS

The cardstock is Simply Chartruese (Papertrey Ink) and a pale yellow (looks cream here) by Memory Box. The bottom half is embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder (I think it's called Snow Flowers). The stamps are Very Vintage Labels 4 by Waltzing Mouse Stamps and the greeting is from Fillable Frames #4 (Papertrey Ink). The ribbon is Simply Chartreuse. the pearls are Reflections (Michaels), and the heart pin came in a Scrapbook Circle kit.

Anniversary1

This card was based on a simply beautiful card I found here by Heather Jensen. I love the Sending You stamps and dies (Papertrey) and used the same cardstock and ribbon that was lying on my desk from the previous card. The patterned papers are DeLovely by Cosmo Cricket, and the sentiment is the same as above as well. The leaves are a Sizzix die "Branch with Leaves" which I cut into two pieces. I have all the May cards addressed and in my bag to mail at the appropriate times when we're on our trip.

 

Happy Easter

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After a beautiful service at our church (always totally uplifting) we'll be headed to my brother- and sister-in-law's for Easter dinner and a celebration of Bill's 90th birthday. I think there are 14-15 people scheduled to attend. This will Matt's last dinner with us before he heads to Colorado on Monday. I expect to have more than a few mixed-emotions today and tomorrow!

Here's an Easter project I did for the Scrap-Mart blog. I love these Quickutz fry boxes and they make a perfect home for a little bag of jelly beans.

Boxes&Card

The patterned papers are all Jillibean Soup and just perfect for Easter. I cut the bunny and the grass with my Silhouette. A Lacey Circle and Small Circles (Spellbinder's Nestabilities) made a perfect home for the Papertrey Ink sentiment on the card. I used some Fun Flock on the bunnies' ears and on their tails. The tag is a Papertrey Ink die.

If you celebrate Easter, I hope it's with family and friends and that the day is a joyous one!

Spellbinders’ Week at Scrap-Mart

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This week was Spellbinders' Week on the Scrap-Mart Blog and I thought I would repost my contribution here. No week goes by without my using one (or many) of my Spellbinders dies. It's a rare card that leaves my studio without a mat or message cut and embossed with a Spellbinders' die. I'm lucky enough to have a Grand Calibur and a few of the Grand Nestability dies. They're great for scrapbooking, but my favorite use is to create a shaped card base with them. This time I used the largest die from the Grand Nestability Labels Four and created a tri-fold card.

SpellbindersDaffodils

After folding the two sides in, I cut and embossed a lighter shade of green and trimmed it to fit the inside center of the card. Using a third shade of green I cut a Lacey Circle and then a Large Nestability Circle from cream cardstock for the sentiment and focal point. The daffodils are from the Heartfelt Creations "Daffodils" set which I colored with Copic Sketch markers. The sentiment is also from Heartfelt Creations, the "Classic Message" set. The sentiment is stamped with Quick Quotes chalk inks. I used half of a velcro circle to close the card.

90 Sensational Years

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Today is Tracy's stepfather's 90th birthday. We're celebrating Bill's birthday on Easter when we'll all be together at Tracy's brother's. We decided to make a donation to his favorite charity for his birthday since he doesn't want any gifts. I was appointed to make the family birthday card, but I already had it done. I love this Papertrey Ink set and the number dies. They work for nearly any birthday. It's safe to post the card today as Bill definitely does not read my blog!

90SensationalYears

Cardstock: Fine Linen, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); Patterned Paper: Turning a New Leaf (Papertrey Ink) & Conservatory (7 Gypsies); Stamps: Big Birthday Wishes (Papertrey Ink); Dies: By the Number (Papertrey Ink)

The Alphanumeric Blog Hop

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Alphanumeric hop badge

Welcome to the Alphanumeric Blog Hop hosted by the fabulous Mel! You should have arrived here from the beautiful Peonies and Pennies.

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It’s easy to see what number I drew. I thought it would be fun to share three Top Ten Lists.

First of all Ten Great Reads. I loved all of these books. It’s a mix of fiction and nonfiction. Hopefully some will be new to you, and worth adding to your “To Read” list.

Top Ten Reads

This I Believe

Undaunted Courage

The Happiness Project

People of the Book

True Notebooks

Intuition

Water for Elephants

Bel Canto

Three Cups of Tea

(Our local paper featured an article yesterday saying 60 Minutes would be showing a segment disputing the claims made in this book and the sequel, "Turning Stones into Schools." I hope they’re wrong. This was a really inspirational read.)

Into the Beautiful North

(I recently heard Luis Urrea speak, and he was one of the most engaging speakers I've heard in quite a few years. I thought his book was equally engaging, and he was an author I had not heard of before.)

It’s been a few years since I did a “things I love” scrapbook page, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make a new one. It’s interesting how things have changed since my last one. The car and the computer are a bit newer, but essentially the same, but my camera and cell phone are much improved and many items on the list didn’t even exist when I did my last one. You can see that I kept the list to things. There’ll all things that make each day more interesting or much easier. If you click on the layout, you'll be able to read the journaling.

TopTenLO
The background paper is Scenic Route, the photo template by Kitty Designs, the small patterned papers by Collage Press and October Afternoon, and the two stickers from Echo Park’s For the Record.

And finally, a list of Ten Great Cardmaking Blogs, for although I love photography and scrapbooking, at heart I’m first and foremost a card maker. If you’re ever looking for inspiration for creating a card, you can usually find it somewhere on one of these blogs. They embrace every style from Clean and Simple to totally Vintage and Shabby Chic.

Ten Great Blogs by Card Makers

My Paper Secret

Inspired By

Jennifer McGuire Ink

Capture the Moment

Simply Stamped

Thinking Inking

Paper, Scissors, and Superheroes

Lime Doodle

Just Made From Paper

Lily Bean's Paperie

Thanks for stopping by. You should be off now to Carrie’s “Rosalind Revival,” and I know you’ll have a great time there. And in case you're lost in this wonderful hop, here's a complete list of the blogs in the hop.

I Speak Melsh
BE Glorious
Captured On Film
Chatty Crafty Arty Pig
Creating Room
Curiouser and Curiouser
Daily Life – Bits and Pieces
 Deb's World Den's Crafty Diary
 From High In The Sky
Gallo Organico
Ginger's Life Of Spice
 Handmade By Kirsty
 Havoc and Mayhem
 Heather's Scraps
 Helena's Creative Maven
 Holaday's Happy Hearts
Jeant-Jinnag
Just Jimjams
 K's Crafty Corner
 Life…As I See It
 {Life Behind The Purple Door}
 Lisa E Design Blog
 Living Life One Blessing At A Time
Mary's Musings
 Michelle Loves…
 Obstinate Pursuit
 Over At Our Place
Paper Turtle
 Peonies and Pennies
 Random Reflections
Rosalind Revival
Scrap Dreams
 Scrappyjacky
 Scrapworthy Lives
Staring At The Sea
 Surefiredaisy Says
 This Kalil Life
This Little Life Of Mine
Xnomads' Blog

Make-It Monday 10

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Make-itMonday

This week's challenge at Papertrey Ink was to use a die as a mask. It's not something I think to do often and it took me the better part of the week to come up with an idea. I ended up liking the card quite a bit, and think I'll try the technique more often. It occurs to me that this also fits the challenge for a collage card at Mark's Finest Papers.

 

MIMDressForm

I'm in love with these beautiful "Butterfly Garden" papers by Pinkpaislee which I stitched around and adhered to a piece of Sweet Blush cardstock. I cut a mask with the dress form die and inked it twice, overlapping the images. I used Tim Holtz's Distress Inks, "Antique Linen" and "Milled Lavendar" on the first, and "Broken China" on the second. Then I die cut another dress form from the patterned paper and layered it on top inking around the edges with "Broken China Distress Ink". The buttons and silk ribbon are from Papertrey as is the "Tiny Tag" with the sentiment.

Card Patterns Challenge and a Heads Up!

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I really enjoy sketch challenges. They give you a direction, but don't dictate too much. Once I saw the current sketch challenge on Card Patterns I knew what I wanted for the focal image, and I knew I wanted to use my new paper pad "Butterfly Garden" by Pinkpaislee. I love the soft colors and they just say "spring" to me. Here's the sketch:

Sketch110

And here's my take on it:

CardPatterns110

The focal image is from the Delightful Dahlias set by Papertrey. I colored it with Copic markers on the new X-Press Blending cardstock that Copic put out this year. I love this paper for coloring; it's very smooth, very white, and the colors blend beautifully. I'll be keeping a folder of it in my drawer. I stamped some text on the patterned paper cut from the Big Scalloped Circles die by Spellbinders with Background Basics: Text Style (Papertrey), stitched the patterned papers together and cut the scallop with Papertrey's medium scallop border punch. The gingham ribbon is from my stash.

And a head's up! This Sunday the fabulous Mel is hosting a blog hop! Be sure to come back and check it out.

Alphanumeric hop badge

I'm off with a friend tonight to hear Alice Hoffman speak. I love her novel "Story Sisters," despite the fact that magical realism as a genre has never appealed to me. Nonetheless, I had a hard time putting the book down, and I'm anxious to hear her.

Emboss Resist–A Challenge Card

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I just recently discovered the challenges at Mark's Finest Papers. This week's challenge is to use the emboss resist technique. It's been a long time since I used this technique, but on Monday I purchased a few bottles of Tim Holtz's Distress Stains and thought it would be fun to try them. The card came together really quickly.

EmbossResist

I started by stamping the floral image from Unity's Insightful Meadows with Top Boss ink and embossing it with clear embossing powder. Then I applied Antique Linen Distress Ink, but wanted more color. Fired Brick certainly solved that problem! I tore the sides of the image and adhered it to a card made from Fine Linen (Papertrey Ink). The sentiment is also from Insightful Meadows. I hand cut it and used Papertrey Ink's Chamomile Tea Dye ink to distress it before adhering it with dimensional adhesive.

Make-It Monday 7

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Make-itMonday

I missed participating in last week's Make-it Monday at Papertrey Ink. I had this beautiful patterned paper from Emma's Shoppe by Crate Paper laying on my desk after finishing a scrapbook layout so decided to get busy with this week's challenge:  heat embossing. The card is so simple, you'd think it came together in no time, but it was one of those cards that had multiple iterations before I ended up with this:

MIMSoSweet

I heat embossed the sentiment from Signature Greetings, one of my all time favorite sets from Papertrey Ink. The cardstock is also from PTI–Hibiscus Burst and Sweet Blush. I found a jar of these beautiful roses on clearance at Michaels last week. It needed a bit of color so I misted it with Tattered Angels Creme de Rouge. The trim is from my stash and colored with a RV32 Copic marker.

Two Cards; Three Challenges

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This is my second post today, for the Team-up Thursday and Kim Klassen's texture photography challenges, scroll down.

I'm on a roll this week with card challenges and enjoying it! For my Mother's Day card, I used a sketch from Card Patterns . . .

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and the Just Rite Color Challenge.

Justrite inspiration

 

Here's my take:

HappyMothersDay

I used two Just Rite stamp sets, "Breath of Spring" and "Happy Everything." The two yellows and the blue in the challenge show up on the tulip image which I colored with Copic markers. The green became the card base and scallop. The dies were from Papertrey (medium scallop) and Spellbinders (tag), the ribbon from my stash, and the pearls are Hero Arts. We'll be away for Mother's Day so I'm happy to have this ready to put in the mail to my MIL.

The next card is for the Less is More challenge, "a touch of red." I had a red butterfly left from a previous card this week, so this card came together quickly. I'm very happy with it, and think it's a design I'll use again.

CelebrateYourDay

The cardstock is Select White from Papertrey, and a green textured cardstock from American Craft. The brand of leaves is a Sizzix die, and the stamp are Hero Arts (butterfly) and Papertrey (sentiment.)

 

 

 

 

Celebrate

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I have a blogging friend who excels at combining card challenges. Yesterday's post was simply luck, but this time I set out to combine the sketch from Clean and Simple with the Challenge to "spotlight an animal" on a card at Mark's Finest. Here's the sketch which I stretched out so all my butterflies would have enough room. This card fits into a buisness style envelope perfectly.

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Here's my take on the challenges.

Butterflies

I'm really happy with this card, and it's in an envelope ready to send off to a good friend for her birthday later this month. The cardstock is Bazzil Blush Red Dark. It has a slight texture to it, and next time I'm at an Archiver's I'll be looking for more of it. The patterned paper is from October Afternoon's Road Map series, and the tiny stickers are Cosmo Cricket. The butterflies are from an older Hero Arts clear set. Somehow I lost the name of the set, and I don't think it's available any more since I couldn't find it on the HA website. All the butterflies were colored with Copic markers and then enhanced with Spica glitter pens. The photograph doesn't pick up the sparkle very well but it's definitely there IRL.

We are celebrating here as Matt got word yesterday that he has a full-time job with benefits in Denver, CO starting May 2. We'll be leaving the end of the month to help him with the move, and then extending our trip to visit friends and family in Arizona, and Sarah and Adam in California. Can't wait!

Card Set–Three Challenges

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It's not often that there are two challenges looking for the same kind of project. But the Waltzing Mouse Stamps challenge this week is to create a card set.

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And yesterday Moxie Fab World posted a similar challenge for a card set. Today Cath posted a second challenge for Gift Card Holders, and as it happens, my card set is a set of gift card holders!

GiftCardSet

These 3X4 inch cards were designed as tiny packages that open to reveal another gift:

InsideGCHolder

I recently got the new Crate Paper "Emma's Shoppe" paper pad, and all the patterned papers are from there. The cardstock is Neeah Solar White, and the bright pink came out of my scrap folder. I used a Sizzix embossing folder, the Papertrey Ink rickrack die, and some twine from Paper Source (silver) and The Twinery. The sentiment is from Waltzing Mouse Rescue Remedies Additions. I couldn't find a tag die the right size so I cut them myself and used an old decorative corner punch from Carl.

Embellish Trim & Color Trend Challenge

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I wanted to make a thinking of you card to send to Deb's mom, and thought I'd combine it with the current Embellish challenge. Here's the Embellish color  inspiration:

DecorativeTrim_ColorTrimsChallenge

In addition to the color challenge, decorative trim also needed to be added to the card. Here's my take on the challenge:

SendingYouEmbellish

Once again, the green seems much duller looking on Type Pad than IRL or on my monitor (which is color calibrated, to boot!). So frustrating! The card base is PTI's Ripe Avocado and the sentiment panel is PTI's Spring Moss. The patterned paper is from the Gertie pad (Stella and Rose by My Mind's Eye). I'm loving these paper pads for card making! The stamp is Sending You by PTI. The first time I saw it, I didn't think I'd add it to my collection, but I'm so happy I did. The sentiments and "frame" are so versatile, I know I'll be using this again and again. The ribbon is from Paper Source and the pins came with a scrapbook kit, but I think they might be Maya Road. I also added some sage Flower Soft to the middle of the flower.