Yep, just when I thought I was getting back into the creative mode, my computer dies! My hard drive bit the dust and not very nicely. Of course my backup is over 3 months old, so I’ve lost a bunch of stuff. Thankfully nothing life-altering important, but lots of effort involved in what was lost. So now I’m just using my hubby’s computer to check email until my hard drive replacement arrives (and ugh, it was delayed until Halloween – not much of a good omen, eh?). I am creating cards (I’m *determined* to get Halloween cards out) and I’m taking pictures, but I don’t have my image software loaded, so posting will have to wait.

Much thanks goes out to my blog followers for your patience!

I started this card a few weeks ago – in response to Nicole’s blog challenge on World Card Making day (wcmd2). The challenge was to be inspired by Mexico. In thinking of Mexico, I think bright colors, mosaic tiles, and the Day of the Dead. I have no idea why I think about that holiday…but I do.

Anywho. I started the card, but there was no way I was going to finish on time for the challenge so I set it aside. Making the mosaic took FOREVER – though, in all fairness, it was probably because I chose the wrong movies to watch while I worked – I ended up spending more time watching than cutting/gluing!

And then, once I had the focal part done I decided to make a mosaic border too, ugh! {more time passes}

I finally got it all finished today. I really love how it turned out!

Oh, and here is a frugal tip The “thread” I used is really the elastic string that ties kids shoes together in the store. I’ve been saving it to use as, well, elastic, but the texture of it worked so much better than embroidery thread, so I used it here too.

Not much to say about this one – I did it without using a challenge and it sorta just happened, lol. I do love Scarlet Jewel – I didn’t realize it had a purple under-tone. And, while the grid on the Guidelines 2 doesn’t work the way I want, I do prefer the round images to the square ones – especially the little frames.

Another old PTI challenge (cmwc56). This time a color challenge.

I recently purchased Button Bits and hadn’t used it yet – though I have collected all the buttons *sigh*. This set is fun – and easy! I added a couple Lemon buttons because I didn’t think the Summer buttons really matched well, but it looks ok.

The layout is a Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge (sssc38). This is a great “go-to” layout!.

I do wish PTI would come out with some more generic DSP where each sheet has more than one color in it. So far the packs they’ve done that with are “holiday” specific. I know their limited color palette makes it a bit of a challenge, but still, there are many great color combos to be had!

I host challenges over on PTI once a week – ok, not really once a week. Participation is slim so I really don’t get excited about posting, so sometimes I forget. And other times I post and never get around to making a card for my own challenge *ugh*. So I am trying to catch up!

This past week was an inspiration challenge (cmwc57) – a bedspread at the Pottery Barn. The colors were autumnal and the leaves reminded me of a recently release PTI set.

The layout is for Beate’s weekend sketch (wsc100), so my card is a little square card.

The leaves were done by inking the leaves with 3 colors of ink and spritzing with water then stamping. The ink is PTI, and I’ve learned that Palette ink doesn’t work the best with this technique. The good news is the orange did beautifully and it is their new pigment ink, inwhich all new colors (and retro-ly the old colors) will be available – yeah!

CPS is a blog that hosts sketch challenges every week. I usually need a kick to get started when creating cards, and sketches are a great kick. This week’s sketch at CPS (CPS136) is a cool multi-layer card. I was a little daunted at first glance, but their sponsor this week is Gina K and I just purchased a dandelion set from her store that I thought would be perfect.

I white embossed the dandelion on a blue panel then found some DSP that had blue and green in it. I don’t have my sewing machine (I feel like I want that tool every card I make!), so I faked it with piercing and pen. Not perfect, but I like the fun touch it added. I rounded every corner, not something I normally do, but I like it on this card.

I made this card for a challenge posted n Stacey’s blog. She had a color challenge that I just loved! The inspiration photo had a lot of white with the pops of color, so that got me to my card. Since she is an SU demo, I wanted my card to be an SU-only card (not a requirement, especially as I am doing this for my own fun, but hey, its a challenge ).

I don’t own a lot of current SU sets – so I opted for spots of color and I used my new Butterfly die. I cut scrap paper the right size and used it as a template to draw my box. I stamped the greeting. The final touch was black rhinestones.

The final PTI challenge was Inspired by Australia. When I think Australia, I think the Outback – not the restaurant . . . the dusty, desert Outback. The challenge was to use dot outlined images and masking.

The masking was in reference to Aboriginal art that was done by using a body part (like a hand) as a mask and blowing paint over it. Using that idea I grabbed a sponge and my color spritzer tool. I embossed the butterflies (I know, not technically a mask, but um, I was NOT going to cut out all those dots for the big butterfly! ). Then I sponged around the images, and finally used the spritz tool to add even more depth/color. I like the monochromatic look and the color scheme reminds me of the Outback.

Next up on the PTI world tour of challenges is India. I based the card on the bold bright colors that you can find in Indian textiles.

I *love* how this card turned out! I wouldn’t normally think of this flourishy stamp set, but once I got the colors right, it was perfect! I have another version of the card that looks like it would work for the Japan challenge Not to mention a ton of hand-cut flowers (in colors that didn’t work for this card). My hubby actually had the idea of using the curry color as the base – and it was a great choice!

To color the flowers, I stamped with dye ink and then used a wet brush to move the ink around.

The challenge also required some bling. I added little pink rhinestones to the middle of the blue flowers. That touch of pink really helped to unify the card in my eyes.

This past Saturday was World Card Making Day. I didn’t get a chance to stamp on the weekend, but I was a card makin’ fool on Monday!

Papertrey Ink posted 4 world-travelin’ challenges. They were hard, but I had fun. I am squeakin’ in by the deadline getting these three posted. I actually have a fourth almost done, but it is midnight here and I need sleep, so it will have to wait.

So up first was a challenge to be inspired by Japan. I really wanted to use PTI stamps for these challenges, but nothing really says “Japan” to me (except doing Cherry Blossoms with the “Out on a Limb” set, but I’ve done that already, lol. So I went with the tea theme.

The layout is a sketch challenge from the Clean & Simple blog (FTL62). I don’t own that really cool large scallop punch that many folks are using lately, but I was able to fake it. I used a CM circle cutting template to draw my half-circles, then I hand-cut the border. A bit of bling and ribbon, and the card is done!