I created this card for the Waltzingmouse sketch challenge (wmsc68). This was a fun sketch to figure out.
I did some layering (paper tole I think it is called) on the pine cones to help them pop a bit.
Thanks for stopping by!
It is the 25th of the month – which means a PTI Blog Hop! I love this inspiration photo – which should be obvious seeing as I haven’t managed to stamp for a blog hop in months…but this one I couldn’t pass up!
I started by deciding how I would lay out the lines. I liked the intersecting lines in the photo, so I decided I would use 4 colors and stamp them in the corners offset from the center point. Next, when I chose the colors, I started with a PTI color combo I liked and then tried to find some ink that would match as best as I could.
Finally I needed to add a sentiment. I knew I would be covering up the center point so I wanted something that could ‘compete’ with all the lines. I think I read once that, in design, lines love curves, so I thought this Fillable Frame would be a great compliment to the linear feel of the base. I chose a melon color for the die cut, again to stand out.
Thanks for stopping by!
A co-worker of my husband’s (from our time in Hawaii) recently got married. We weren’t able to go to the wedding, so I sent this card (and a little gift) along afterwards.
I took my cue’s for designing from her invitation which was quite elegant. The invitation had a clear embossed border as well as a black border. I used those as starting points.
I chose a script for the clear embossed background. Thankfully the Mat Stack 1 Collection had a perfect label to use. The Mat Stack mat is not the new Layerz – that was just too wide for my taste. What I did was lay the die down on black paper and use a thick-leaded pencil (i.e., not mechanical) to trace the die; when I cut it out, I kept to the outside of the pencil line – between the extra space around the die and the think lead line, it was a perfect finish.
I wanted a pop to my card, so I decided a red rose would be perfect. I had so much fun coloring this image! I think I’m finally getting the hang of my Copics! I ended up using 4 different colors of red – 1 very dark shade, 2 medium shades, and 1 very light. I almost didn’t want to give it away, lol!
I forgot to take a photo of the inside, but I used Background Basics: Diamonds to create top and bottom borders in grey on the inside and finished it with a black stripe to partition it from the writing space.
Thanks for taking a peek!
I created this card to mail to a friend who likes blue: (Lydia @ UnderstandBlue).
To create the cameo, I used lots of white embossing powder; I did about 3 layers, restamping with craft ink for each layer – I LOVE clear stamps!!. Once that was done, I used my embossing buddy again and this time stamped the frame and gold embossed.
For the rest of the card, knowing I wanted lots of blue, I used some old SU DSP for the background. To break up the blue a bit I added a layer of pink (light so it wasn’t overpowering).
I used WM Sketch #61 for the layout.
Thanks for taking a peek!
A couple months ago we had another family member receive her driver’s license – the day before she and her family moved. So I waited to (create and) mail this card until they were “settled”. (The quotes are due to the fact that they are still in temporary housing and as they will be for a couple more months, I decided not wait any longer.)
Other than the car stamp, I had no idea what I would do. So, I did what I normally do and started flipping through my sketch book (which is not a book of sketches that I’ve made, rather, sketches from others that I’ve collected – if I could make my own sketches, I wouldn’t need to collect everyone else’s, lol). Anywho – I decided that a recent Fall-to-Layout (ftl153) would work great.
The green strip and clouds are both embossed with the canvas impression plate (I was going to say the pieces were impressed with the impression plate, but that just raised weird images of cardstock engaging in intelligent conversation).
Before stamping the pink solid image of the car, I kissed it with a tight polka dot background image. Oh – and see the license plate – the tiny sentiments from the original Mixed Messages fits so well (which, if PTI had included a “celebrate” in the car set I wouldn’t have had to know!).
Well, that was quite wordy for me, so I’ll beg off now. Thanks for stopping by!
These cards are all ones that started their lives as index cards for the SCS gallery. It was fun to try to create an index card that I could “finish” as a real card.
The first card is actually the index card. I thought it could stand on its own fairly well. Since the image is the sentiment I didn’t need to add anything else. I kept the theme of stars and stripes when picking the pattern paper and ribbon.
The machine stitching was originally just on the layers, but it got lost in the patterns, so I extended it to the full horizontal. I probably will eventually add a couple vertical stitch lines on the edges, but the back is so horribly done with all the starts and stops I’m not even sure the needle would make it through, lol.
This next card is what I had in mind when I created the index. For the index, I could only use the ball and the “Home Run” sentiment since that is all that is part of the stamp set.
After taking the photo for the index, I went back and added the rest of the sentiment. Of course I had to do it word by word so I could squeeze it all in, and so it isn’t as straight as I would have liked.
The ball is hand-cut to have that “crack” graphic (comic-book) look.
This final one is another a la carte image, so the index card is sans the greeting, but also without the leaf die cut – mostly because I didn’t want to obscure the image.
The bird image is watercolored. The background is embossed with the Elegant Bouquet folder from SU. The ribbon, I’m not sure about the ribbon, but I think it is an old retired SU color – Cranberry (one of the first InColors).
Thanks for taking a peek!
I created this card for the PTI Make-it-Monday Freestyle Coloring challenge (MIM29).
After perusing my index, I decide the bingo card would be a great image to freestyle color. That was the easy part. I then spent a couple hours figuring out the rest of the card.
My sewing machine is a bit messed up. The problem is that the last time I wound the bobbin it was an utter mess and I was too lazy to unwind it and do it again. I’m sure I could compensate with changing the tension, but that requires digging out my manual – and I’m lazy, remember? lol Anyway, we’ll just go with the idea that I like the result because the messy “outside the lines” thing is sorta the idea of the challenge. Yeah, that’s what I’m going with.
Thanks for stopping by!
I created this card for the Moxie Fab Tuesday Challenge (Girly & Gutsy).
Right away I knew I wanted to use this chandelier image. I embossed it with silver and then colored it in with Copics. The candle flames are the splash of yellow from the trigger piece. The crystal baubles in the chandelier image are filled in with stickles. Then I added a few rhinestones as well.
To keep the elegant feel, I added a satin bow to the chandelier and stamped the card’s background with a damask pattern. Finally, I used a fancy tag for the sentiment (and a couple more rhinestones).
Thanks for taking a peek!
Today was the first day of school. But a few days ago was “Meet the Teacher” day. I made these gifties for the girls’ new teachers.
I started with a cleaned-up hot chocolate can, covered it with paper and embellished it. I added some decorated pens & pencils. Since I sharpened the pencils (for immediate use), I wanted to protect the points in the can. Thankfully the interior circle of the can was a perfect fit for a Spellbinder die – so a quick die cut of craft foam and the inside is soft.
In addition to pens & pencils, I added a skinny note pad and a card. The card is a wacky size so it would fit in the can.
The final bit in the can is a questionnaire where I ask the teacher stuff like ‘what is your favorite color’, and ‘do you like apples’. I’ll use the information when making other gifts throughout the year. If you are interested, you can download the questionnaire (PDF).
As for supplies, the stamps are all PTI (except the frame on the card – that is MFT). The DSP is all retired SU stuff. If you want to know something specific, don’t hesitate to ask.
Thanks for stopping by!
Today is the first day of school. My girls are very nervous this year (not sure why) and so I wanted to make today a little more special. I wrote positive notes inside the cards – trying to encourage them.
I created this card late last night (I’m an expert procrastinator). I chose Teal because that is a school color. I don’t really have any “school” stamps, so I got out Wise Owls and added the graduation cap to convey the school theme. I added the Diamond impression to the card base because, to me, it mimics the owl’s belly.
Thanks for taking a peek!
