Gold Butterfly For You Card

It's time to say goodbye to August and that makes me HAPPY! I wanted to make one more card for this month and had some time this afternoon to make this Gold Butterfly For You Card.  I combined the Tall & Skinny Sketch at Mojo Monday with the Tic Tac Toe challenge at The Paper Players. The middle row down was used to create this card and that includes: Circle, Embossing and Mint Macaroon. The finished size of this card is 3.5" x 6".

Most of the supplies for this card are by Stampin' Up! unless noted, here is the ingredient list:

• Paper: Very Vanilla cardstock, gold textured cardstock by Recollections and patterned paper from the Pretty Petals paper stack. 
• Stamps: Kinda Eclectic and Bitty Banners 
• Inks & coloring: Gold emboss powder and Mint Macaroon stampin' pad.
• Other Stuff: Big Shot, polka dot embossing folder, heat gun, ribbon by Decorative Trim (Hobby Lobby in the sewing section), Bitty Butterfly punch, stitched circle steel dies by My Favorite Things and stampin' dimensionals. 

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Fangtastic Halloween Card

Dracula wants you to have a Fangtastic Halloween! I send Halloween Cards to immediate family and a couple of friends that have younger children. So, I don't need a lot of them, but I love to make Halloween Cards. I especially love using purple in my Halloween designs. The color purple just makes me smile!

To create this Fangtastic Halloween Card I've used an image and sentiment from the Haunt Ya Later stamp set by Stampin' Up!. The stamp set will be available starting next week when the holiday catalog is released on Sept. 1, 2015. I think he is rather fun and will make a great Halloween card for the boys. He was stamped using Memento black ink and colored with Copic markers. All patterned paper are from the Eek-a-Boo paper pad by DCWV. I added some glossy accents to his eyes and three orange dot stickers for detail. That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

This Fangtastic Halloween Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Cardz 4 Guyz: Myth &/or Magic
• Dragons Lair Design: Three of a Kind
• Crafting with Friends: Anything Goes

Autumn Birdies Thanksgiving Card

Hello! This year I decided to make my Thanksgiving cards in advance. Usually I'm trying to make a dozen or more cards the week before I need them and I always feel rushed to get them in the mail. By doing this, maybe I'll be able to send cards to everyone on my list. Do you start making your holiday cards early or wait to right before you need them?

For this card I've used the Autumn Song Birdies digital image by Doodle Pantry. It comes with a pre-colored option that I used. The two patterned papers used are by American Crafts and the blue cardstock is Marina Mist by Stampin' Up!. To cut the image I used a Lil' Inkers stitched rectangle die cut with my Big Shot. The sentiment is by Inkadinkado and the the little flourish is by Bo Bunny, they were stamped using StazOn Timber Brown ink. The final touch was adding some twine and candy dots for detail. Thanks for stopping by!

This Autumn Birdies Thanksgiving Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Digi Choosday: Use 2 Papers
• Crafting By Designs: Things with Wings
• Aud Sentiments: Fall Fun + Sentiment

Scribbles Good Thoughts Card

Thank goodness for Thursday, I'm so ready for this week to be over!!!

Last night I did some stamping with a new to me stamp set called scribbles2stamp by The Stamps of Life. I bought it last week at the CK Scrapbook Convention that was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The colors are from the Colour Me...! challenge to use: Pool Party, Lost Lagoon, Cajun Craze and Tangerine Tango. First, I cut the triangle panels to the desired size then I stamped the scribble outlines with the darker colors and filled them in using a sponge dauber with the lighter color. Then the panels were matted to the darker cardstock and then adhered to a piece of Pool Party cardstock. The sentiment was stamped in Tangerine Tango and then die cut using Lil'Inkers Stitched Rectangles and then matted to Tangerine Tango cardstock. Some rhinestone basic jewels were added for a little sparkle. That's it, pretty easy! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

This Scribbles Good Thoughts Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Colour Me...!: Colour
• Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
• Crafty Gals: Lots of Layers

Apple Pie Give Thanks Card

Mmm... Apple Pie is my favorite kind of pie and it's a must have at Thanksgiving! However, it must be homemade and not a store bought pie, there is a big difference.

The image used on this Apple Pie Give Thanks Card is by Meljen's Designs. It came pre-colored which makes life easy when I make multiple cards with the same image. I bought this image before Meljen's changed her store, not sure you can buy it individually anymore. The layout is from the challenge Tuesday Morning Sketches and this sketch was designed by Jessi Fogan. Click here to see her card. The background patterned paper is from the Sweater Weather paper pad by DCWV and the banners were made from scraps. The edges were sponged with Frayed Burlap distress ink (I may have gotten a little carried away with this process). The Give Thanks sentiment is from the retired hostess set called Good Greetings by Stampin' Up! To add the "stitching" detail from the sketch, I used a little punch with woodgrain paper and added little brown rhinestones for some sparkle. That's it! Thanks for stopping by! 

Sympathy Card with Enamel Cross

Hello and thanks for stopping by my blog today! I would like to share my latest handmade card, it's a Sympathy Card with Enamel Cross. It's been awhile since I've made a sympathy card, but unfortunately this week I need one. I had a couple of sympathy cards in my stash but they weren't what I wanted for this recipient, so I made something more appropriate.

The  retired Trefoil Cross was stamped with Blackberry Bliss ink, fussy-cut and then was heat embossed using Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel by Ranger. I used a new to me stamp set for the flowers called Watercolor Flowers by My Favorite Things. The ink colors used include: So Saffron, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Hello Honey, Wisteria Wonder, Rich Razzleberry, Blissful Blackberry, Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive all by Stampin' Up!. Once the flowers were stamped I used the coordinating die set with my Big Shot. I adhered everything onto a white swirl embossed background that was created using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. That last detail was adding the stamped butterfly from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set by Stampin' Up! I decided to leave a sentiment off the front and stamped the inside with a sympathy message.

Many find making sympathy cards difficult, but if you create something from the heart you can never go wrong.

This Sympathy Card with Enamel Cross is entered into the following challenges:

• Allsorts: Roses
• Crafty Cardmakers: No Patterned Papers
• Crafting with Dragonflies: Make it Floral
• Get Creative: No Printed Papers

Your Heart Sing Card

"Every single day do something that makes your heart sing." 

~Marcia Wieder

This card was part of a make-n-take at a local scrapbook store that I attended last weekend. The stamps are by Impression Obsession. It was nice to have everything already cut to size, stamps mounted and ink pads selected. All I had to do was stamp and assemble. I added the gold sequins when I got home to give it a little sparkle. I really like the selection of stamps, especially the sentiment. Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you a creative day! 

Squirrel with Sunflower Card

There are many people who feel squirrels are pests but I absolutely adore them! They are charismatic and thoroughly entertaining. It may not surprise you that I feed them in my backyard so they will come visit. The squirrels here in Eastern Oklahoma are brownish red in color and are classified as a Fox Squirrel. They are super cute!

This Squirrel with Sunflower Card was created in anticipation of fall arriving. I know it's still a month away but I can't wait. I used the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches for the card design. The Sunny Squirrel digital image is by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps and I colored it with Copic markers. Keeping with the fall theme, I selected patterned papers from Bo Bunny (yellow polka dot) and Stampin' Up! (retired Color Me Autumn dsp). I added some candy dots for detail but decided not to use a sentiment to keep the occasion options open. That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

My Squirrel with Sunflower Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: Sketch
• Try it on Tuesday: Sending You Flowers
• Love To Scrap!: Anything Goes

Using Texture at Tuesday Throwdown

Happy Tuesday! This week at Tuesday Throwdown we would like to see texture on your project. We are sponsored by Lawn Fawn, they are a small company from Southern California that specializes in crafting products that are fun and lively. Unfortunately my stash doesn't include any Lawn Fawn products, so I created a card using Texture Paste and Gelatos. We would love for you to join us this week!

This was my first time to use both Gelatos and Texture Paste. The supplies have been hanging around in my stash unused until I found the courage to try something new. I watched lots of videos before attempting this process on my own. It wasn't difficult but does require more patience. The down side is you have to allow for drying time between steps, so this definitely doesn't make a quick and easy card.

To create this card I really didn't have a plan other than the colors and products. There is a torn strip of text paper on the base layer of mixed media paper that I cover with Gesso. I had hoped the Gesso would cover the ivory color of the paper, but it didn't. It's most obvious to the top right where the lighter color of Gelatos were applied. At the end I decided to add the white silhouette die cut by Spellbinders and wished I had used less texture into the middle of the card. The stencil used is called Dot Fade by Tim Holtz and that's pretty much it. All in all, it was a lot of fun and nice to create something different.

This Textured Card is entered into the Anything Mixed Media/Creative/Inky Goes Challenge at We Love to Create.

 

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Thankful Fall Rabbit Card

I'm ready for FALL!!! This time of year the colors of FALL are already taking over my craft room and that makes me happy! Using warm color tones is comforting to me. Here is my latest card featuring a darling baby rabbit stamp that I was able to use this weekend at a local scrapbook store. They had a make-and-take event and the rabbit stamp was featured on one of the cards but by the time I arrived they had ran out of supplies to create a card with this stamp. I asked the owner if I could stamp the image anyway and take it with me to make a card and she gladly agreed.

This Thankful Fall Rabbit Card features the rabbit image, I think it was by Impression Obsession however, I didn't find it on their website. The patterned papers are by DCWV from the Sweater Weather paper pad. I used Cajun Craze and Delightfully Dijon cardstock by Stampin' Up! as accent colors. I die cut the Delightfully Dijon cardstock and matted it with patterned paper to run vertically down the side of the card. The sentiment from the Good Greetings retired hostess set was masked and stamped with Cajun Craze to fit into the oval shape. To add more depth of color I used some brown Doodle Twine and that about sums this card up. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

This Thankful Fall Rabbit Card is entered into the following challenges:

• Crafty Boots: Fair and Square
• 613 Avenue Create: Anything Goes
• Stamping Sensations: Anything Goes with a Stamp and Die

Wicked Inspired Halloween Card

Last week while my niece was visiting she found my Wicked soundtrack cd from the Broadway Musical and of course we listened to the whole thing. Since then I've had several songs from Wicked stuck in my head. I decided to make my niece this Wicked Inspired Halloween Card. Hopefully when she gets it around Halloween she will remember her visit to my house.

To create this card I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches. I made a card using the sketch earlier this week but I really loved it and knew it would be perfect for the witch image from the new Haunt Ya Later stamp set by Stampin' Up! (available starting in September). I colored the image to look like Elphaba from Wicked using a combination of Copic markers and stampin' pads with a blender pen. The patterned paper is long retired but it has the words Wicked and Spooky which made it perfect for this card. I added a little bling flourish to the bottom of the card for some sparkle.

I would also like to enter this card in the Any Holiday Challenge at Crafty Gals Corner. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Tangerine Flower Hello Card

Happy Friday! Today I have a fun bright card to share with you. I was immediately intrigued with the colors from the challenge at Create with Connie and Mary to use: Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango. These colors are very happy together and I thought they would make a nice Hello Card. This Tangerine Flower Hello Card is also entered into the Bright and Beautiful challenge at Crafting for all Seasons.

Sometimes when working with three bold colors I find it easier to keep the layout simple so the colors can really shine. I used a fun patterned paper that wasn't too busy. Then decided to use the tangerine flower for a pop of color and silver sequin ribbon for some sparkle. So even though the layout is simple it's definitely not a boring card.

All supplies used are by Stampin' Up! and they include:

• Paper: Whisper White, Cucumber Crush and Pacific Point cardstock. Patterned paper from Pretty Petals paper stack. 
• Stamps: Flowering Flourishes, Petal Potpourri and Watercolor Wishes. 
• Inks: Stampin' Pads in Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point and Tangerine Tango.
• Other Stuff: Flower Medallion punch, silver sequin ribbon, Tangerine Tango candy dot, large scallop edgelit and stampin' dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Challenge colors:

Butterfly Just for You Card

Hello! This afternoon I combined a couple of challenges to create this Butterfly Just for You Card. The challenges include:

• ColourQ: Colour 
• SU-Only: Butterflies
• Fab 'n' Funky: Things with Wings
• Mod Squad: Heat Emboss

All supplies for this card are by Stampin' Up!, some are new and some are retired. Here is the list:

• Paper: Whisper White and Bermuda Bay cardstock (I didn't have any Taken with Teal). Woodgrain Patterned paper from the Adventure Bound paper stack.
• Stamps: Watercolor Wings and Simple Stems.
• Inks & Coloring: Stampin' pads in Rich Razzleberry and Early Espresso. VersaMark stamp pad and White emboss powder. To color the embossed flowers I used the retired Blendabilities makers in Pumpkin Pie and Rich Razzleberry.
• Other Stuff: Heat Gun, Big Shot, Decorative Dots embossing folder, Butterflies Thinlits, Washi Label punch and silver sequins.

Here is the inspiration photo from ColourQ:

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Back to School Card

Last week my youngest niece came to stay with me for a couple of days. This week she starts back to school, so I made her this card. Red is one of her school colors and the reason I picked the red background paper by American Crafts. The layout is from this weeks sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches. Their challenge is being sponsored by Bugaboo Digi Stamps, so I used their Nuts About - Books image. The image was colored with Copic Markers to coordinate with the polka dot paper by My Mind's Eye from the Quilting Bee paper pad. I created the sentiment on the computer and punched it using the new Washi Label punch by Stampin' Up! The final touch was adding the two dot pastel stickers by EK Success/Sticko by the banner. That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day.

Stronger Than You Think Card

Good day! My mojo has been running a little low lately so this afternoon I embraced the sketch challenge at Create with Connie and Mary. I also took inspiration from their Saturday Blog Hop featuring the color Mint Macaron.

Here is the sketch:



All supplies used to create this Stronger Than You Think Card are by Stampin' Up! Here is the list:

• Paper: Mint Macaron, Basic Black and Whisper White cardstock. Patterned paper from the Stacked with Love paper stack.
• Stamps: Birthday Blossoms, Heartfelt Sympathy and Papillon Potpourri.
• Inks: Mint Macaron, Memento Black and VersaMark.
• Other Stuff: Clear emboss powder, heat gun, bitty butterfly punch, silver glimmer paper, circle punches, basic rhinestones and silver sequins. 

I pretty much followed the sketch using the above supplies. The one detail that may need explanation is the Whisper White background panel. It was stamped using the Birthday Blossoms stamp set and heat embossed with clear emboss powder. Then I used a Q-Tip to delicately add Mint Macaroon ink into the flowers. I debated about leaving the flowers white but they really didn't show up that much, so I took a chance on this approach. What do you think?  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Frightening Feline Card

Halloween will be here in eighty-four days and I decided to get a head start on making my cards! It is one of my favorite holidays to make cards for family and friends. I think it's the colors that I enjoy working with the most. To create this Frightening Feline Card I used the sketch from Sketch Saturday. I stretched the sketch into a 5.25" square card to accommodate the spider web doily accent and since the image is text, I stamped bats in the sentiment area. The focal image is retired by Stampin' Up! called Frightening Feline, I really love it and I don't feel like I've used it enough. I stamped it using Memento black ink and then added some grunge splatters from the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. The edge of the image panel was inked using a paint brush along with Purple Twilight alcohol ink that had been diluted with a small portion of 70% Isopropyl Alcohol. All patterned papers are by DCWV from the Eek-A-Boo paper stack. That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Die Cut Thanks Card

Last September I was a guest designer at Cardz 4 Guyz and then joined their team. I have really enjoyed my time as part of the team but today is my last post as a designer at Cardz 4 Guyz. I have the honor of being hostess for my last challenge and the theme is a color challenge to use Brown and Orange. I would love for you to join us to celebrate my last challenge!!!

To create this Die Cut Thanks Card I used a Spellbinders die called Glass Effects with Early Espresso cardstock. The fun background was made using watercolor paper and alcohol inks. First I cut the watercolor paper to the desired size. Then using a spray bottle I coated the paper liberally with water and then randomly dropped Sunset Orange Adirondack ink by Tim Holtz. The process was repeated as needed. I let the inked panel dry thoroughly before adhering the die cut panel. For the sentiment strip I matted a piece of Whisper White cardstock onto a slightly larger Tangelo Twist cardstock and adhered the die cut Thanks sentiment by Stampin' Up! to the center. To finish the card I added three dot pastel stickers by EK Success/Sticko. I think it turned out pretty cool and I hope you agree.

Don't forget to CLICK HERE to view the wonderful inspiration from the team. We would love to see your card in the gallery this week. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Sketch Challenge at Tuesday Throwdown

Happy Tuesday! I have an exciting announcement... (drum roll, please)... I'm a new design member of team B at Tuesday Throwdown!!! Today is my first challenge to provide inspiration and it's a sketch challenge. Our sponsor this week is MyGrafico and we are featuring the Pretty Mermaid set on our cards. It looks like we all had a lot of fun using the Pretty Mermaid digital set. Click here to see the wonderful inspiration the design team created for the challenge.

To create my card I selected the fish image and some sea grass and sized them to fit my card. Then I fussy-cut and colored the images with my Copic markers. I adhered the images to a panel of Soft Sky cardstock that had been accented with Twinkling H2O's for some subtle shimmer. The main portion of the card was covered with One Fish Two Fish patterned paper by Bella BLVD. I decided to make this a birthday card and used a nice sized Happy Birthday stamp by Hero Arts. It was punched out with a 1 1/4" circle stamp and matted with a slightly larger scalloped circle. The last detail was adding three silver sequins to look like air bubbles. That's it!

We would love for you to play along with our sketch challenge this week. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Sweetbriar Rose Card

It's sad when you buy a stamp because you really love it and then it sits unused for over six months. That's the case with the Sweetbriar Rose stamp featured on this card. I really love it but always thought it was too large of an A2 sized card. This week The Paper Players is having a square card challenge and I thought it would be the perfect time to use this neglected Sweetbriar Rose stamp.

To create this Sweetbriar Rose Card I created a 5.25" square card from Whisper White cardstock. A slightly smaller piece of Soft Sky cardstock was cut and then the patterned papers from the Painted Blooms dsp. Then I stamped the image using Memento Black ink onto watercolor paper and then die cut it using a stitched rectangle die by Lil'Inkers. Then I watercolored the image using Aqua Painters and Classic Stampin' Pads in Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi, Garden Green and Soft Sky. The sentiment stamp is from the Wetlands stamp set and I added a Daffodil Delight bitty butterfly from the Kinda Eclectic stamp set accented with faux pearls by Recollections. It's rare that I use ribbon because I love twine, but I added some Wild Wasabi stitched ribbon for detail. That's pretty much it!

This card is entered into the following challenges:

• The Paper Players: It's Hip to be Square
• The Friday Mashup!: Square Shaped Card
• Penny Black and More: Summer Flowers

All supplies by Stampin' Up! unless noted. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back soon.

Butterfly Card with Washi Tape

Do you have supplies in your stash that rarely see the light of day? For me, it's washi tape! I really like the idea of it, but I'm just not that skilled at applying it to my project. In fact, I almost gave up on making this Butterfly Card with Washi Tape until I decided to wrap the tape around to the back of the white panel. This gave it a finished look I could live with. There are a couple of washi tape challenges right now and several with butterflies. I was prompted to make this card by another crafty friend, KT Fit Kitty, you can see her card HERE. Her card was made for the Butterfly Challenge from Mrs. A. to use a Butterfly along with Washi Tape. Sometimes it takes a challenge to push me to use my neglected supplies.

The list of challenges that inspired this card include:

• Butterfly Challenge: Butterfly + Washi Tape
• QKR Stampede: Washi Tape
• Suzy Bee's Bloomin': Anything Goes with Wings or Feathers
• Crafting with Dragonflies: Card with Butterfly

Most of the supplies for this card are by Stampin' Up! with the exception of the corner punch by Fiskars and pink rhinestones by Recollections. The colors include: Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Island Indigo and Night of Navy. The stamp set used is called Butterfly Basics and the washi tape is at least a couple of years old. That's it! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!