Elegant, yet Funky

I was playing with the Layered Background Technique today.  It just happens to be one of the challenges for Hero Arts this month.

 I started with some cream cardstock, and stamped Friend Definition in Old Paper Distress Ink. I over stamped that with the Envelope Pattern in Antique Linen. I stamped the Cluster from Delicate Cluster in Peeled Paint ink. I found a scrap of some scalloped cardstock that matched my Certainly Celery cardstock, that I used for my base, so I wanted to add that. However, just adding the scallop didn't fit the card. I found some fringe that I had bought over 6 years ago, and have always wanted to use on a card.. so I did. I taped the scallop on top of the edge of the fringe.

Joy Ride !

This is just a card I did for fun, inking up my new Joy Ride set. I used Basic Grey paper, some scrap fringe, and Mango Memento ink.

The Colour Throwdown Challenge Card

This is my card for the Colour Throwdown challenge. I used Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Marina Mist cardstock. I did a 1 inch strip of the Marina Mist on the left hand side of the Olive card base, then I did a 3.5 inch square of the Pumpkin Pie. I then did a 3.25 inch square of white cardstock, so that I could stamp the images (Tim Holtz). I stamped the sentiment (Inkadinkado) last. I used Versamagic Olive and Agean Blue inks.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge 74

This is my first card for the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week.. The colours to use are a Lilac purple, turquoise, and white. I tried to stay pretty faithful to the colour palette this week, only using black for the sentiment, because it didn't show up in turquoise :)  I started with a turquoise card base, and using Broken China Distress Ink, stamped the Hero Arts Envelope Pattern on the card front.  I then punched out a 3 inch circle from some purple cardstock that was a failure of trying to use the Essential Glue Pad to stick Pearl Ex on.  I followed the instructions HERE, only I used the Pearl Ex instead of the glitter.  Sadly, you can't see the pattern of the envelope pattern on the circle that well, and the Pearl Ex got everywhere on the cardstock, not just on the pattern, and I couldn't blend it, hence the failure.  It works as the backdrop for the Hero Arts Hydrangea though, which was stamped in Purple Hydrangea Versamagic chalk ink, then punched out with a 2.5 inch circle.  I found some old paper I have had stashed for over 6 years, and it was close enough that I used a strip of it on the card base.  I lined up the hydrangea where I wanted it, then took the Inkadinkado sentiment and stamped it in Broken China Distress Ink, but it was way too light, so I stamped it again in Onyx Black Versafine ink.  To finish things off, I just foam mounted the circles onto the card stock, and rounded two corners with my Corner Chomper.

Joy's Inspired By Challenge and a Hero Arts Challenge Card

This card satisfies two challenges.. One is Joy's Inspired by challenge, and the Hero Arts Inspiration Friday challenge.  I used a butterfly from Antique Engravings, the Hydrangea stamp, and the Envelope Pattern stamp.  I started by stamping Kraft cardstock, cut and folded to a standard card, with the Envelope Pattern stamp in Stormy Sky distress ink.  I layered the SU top notch die, cut in navy, on the card.  I took a scalloped rectangle of cream cardstock, and distressed it with Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans Distress Ink.  I flicked water onto the distressed cardstock with a toothbrush.  Once it was dry, I stamped the Envelope Pattern over it in Chipped Sapphire.   I used white pigment ink and white embossing powder to stamp and emboss the Hydrangea.  On white patterned paper, I stamped the butterfly twice, and cut out. Realizing I didn't have enough navy to tie things together, I added a bit of navy sheer ribbon across the leaves of the hydrangea.  I foam mounted the hydrangea layer on the top notch layer, and then foam mounted the butterflies on that.  I finished the card by stamping "you inspire me" in chipped sapphire, and adding some bling to the butterflies body.

You can see Jacqueline's card HERE

Play Date Cafe Challenge 73 card 2

This is the second card that I did for the Play Date Cafe Challenge 73 this week.  This card too, also fit the Hero Arts 1.5 hour scramble challenge, using acetate.  I started with some Apricot Appeal (retired, SU) card base, and stamped the Envelope Pattern stamp in Dried Marigold.  I then stamped the Large Fabric Background stamp in Purple Hydrangea.  On a piece of acetate that fit the card front, I stamped the Hero Arts Hydrangea and sentiment in Plumeria Versamagic.  I clear embossed and carefully heat set the acetate.  Once I had lined up the hydrangea on the card front, I took a die cut scalloped oval and adhered it to the card base where the flowers would be.  I finished the card by attaching the acetate to the card front with two white snaps.  I will say, I am not really loving this card, but with the time constraints of the 1.5 hour challenge, I couldn't do more with it.  I may play with this card later.

PDCC73

This is one card that I did for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge.  I took some retired Pale Plum cardstock from SU, and  used my new Hero Arts Envelope Pattern stamp and stamped it with Purple Hydrangea Versamagic ink.  I took some scrap pinky red cardstock, and punched three 2 inch circles from it.  I added the ribbon (Michaels) then attached the circles and trimmed to the edges of the card.  I took some MS purple vellum, and inked a Hero Arts Butterfly in Dried Marigold Distress Ink, clear embossed it, heat set, and cut out.  I did this three times.  I used a little bit of Scor-Tape to attache the butterflies bodies to the circles.  Finally,  I used the Dried Marigold Distress Ink again and stamped the Hero Arts "you're in my thoughts" on the base cardstock.  This card also satisfied the last Hero Arts 1.5 hour Scramble, which was the sketch option.

PDCC 72 Card

This is the card that I made for the Play Date Cafe Challenge 72.  The colour challenge this week was yellow orange, hot pink and navy.  I started with a card base of yellow orange, and stamped the Hero Arts Large Fabric Background in Wild Honey Distress Ink.  Taking some hot pink cardstock, I punched out 4 circles in different sizes, distressed the edges with the Tim Holtz Tonic Distress Tool, crumpled the circles, ran Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink over the mountains, and flattened the circles.  I used a hole punch to punch a hole through all four layers, then added a gold brad from my stash for the centre.  I used some sheer navy ribbon, and ran it down the length of the card.  I mounted the flower on the ribbon.  Using some scrap hot pink cardstock, I cut a 1 x 3 inch rectangle, distressed the edges with Tonic Distress Tool, edged it in Wild Honey ink, and stamped Hero Arts Happy  Birthday in Chipped Sapphire.  I foam mounted the happy birthday on to the card.

Please pardon the bad scans of my cards lately.  My camera just doesn't want to give crisp photos, and I am not sure if the camera is dying, or my apartment is just too dark.  The scans, although don't show the dimension as well as I'd like, at least it's more clear and crisp than my photos.  I am also putting this into the Hero Arts March challenge, which is birthday cards.

Giveaway from Crafting Life's Pieces

Chelsea is giving away some gorgeous stuff at her blog HERE.  The paper above is one thing you can win.. she also has a beautiful ribbon rose and some cool pins to give away.


I am in the process of making some cards, hopefully I'll be doing some more blogging in the next day or two.. today is "I miss my kids terribly" day... can't stop thinking of them.

Paper Craft Card rejects

These are some cards that I did to submit for publication to PaperCrafts Magazine, but they got rejected.  I submitted for sketched 6, 7, and 34.  I did do one for sketch 82, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to get it submitted in time to be considered.

For the sketch 6 card ( I have posted the cards in numerical order of the sketches) I started with 4.25 x 11 inches of white cardstock, scored at 5.5 inches.  I then trimmed 1.5 inches off of the front  of the card.  I stamped the sentiment "Friends" from Quietfire Designs in Shabby Shutter Distress Ink. I took some DCWV luxury stack cardstock, and cut a 1.5 inch wide by 6 inch long piece, and punched it with a Martha Stewart Doily edge punch.  I adhered the punched cardstock to the back of the card front, and trimmed to size.  I took a 1/4 x 6 inch piece of dark green cardstock ( DCWV) and taped it to the edge of the white card front. I finished the card with three large gems on the upper left hand side.

For the sketch 7 card, I started with 4.25 x 11 inch white cardstock, scored at 5.5 inches.  I took a piece of DCWV The Four Seasons cardstock, and cut it to 4 x 5.25 inches, and taped it to the base cardstock.  Using a 2 inch circle punch, I punched 3 circles in white scrap cardstock.  I stamped the star (Hero Arts) twice in Mustard Seed Distress Ink, and the Dove (Hero Arts) once in Stormy Sky Distress Ink.  I edged the three circles in the opposite colours the images were stamped in. I adhered the stars to the card front, and foam mounted the dove in the middle of the stars.  I  used the sentiment " Blessed is the Season" from Quietfire Designs and stamped that below the dove.

For sketch 34, I started with white cardstock, cut to 5.5 x 8.5 inches, scored at 4.25 inches.  I took Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and randomly stamped plant form Delicate Leaf Clusters (Hero Arts).  I then stamped the image again in Forest Moss Distress Ink. I took a 1.5 inch piece x 12 inch piece of DCWV Luxury cardstock and used the SU scallop punch on one side, cut to 6 inches, and foam mounted the two pieces onto either side of the  card front.  I  used a scrap piece of white cardstock, sponged it in Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, then edged it in Forest Moss Distress Ink.  I stamped "Get Well Soon" (Hero Arts) in Forest Moss, then double foam mounted it onto the card front.

For the last card, sketch 82, I started with some SU Certainly Celery cardstock, cut to 5.5 x 8.5 inches, and scored at 4.25 inches.  I used the Hero Arts friend Definition, and stamped that in Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, covering the entire front of the card.  I wanted to add some ribbon, so I made a small slot on the top of the card, and ran some sheer white ribbon through it..  I took some Luxury Stack cardstock, and drew the pattern that I wanted for it on the back.  I then traced it onto scrap paper, then copied it to the bottom of the piece of cardstock, so the wavy piece of cardstock would be the same thickness throughout.  Using some scrap cream cardstock, I  rounded the corners with a Marvy corner punch, and stamped Hello (Hero Arts) in Forest Moss Distress Ink, and adhered it to the bottom of the curve. Once that was done, I adhered the whole wavy piece to the card base.  I stamped the butterfly (Hero Arts) in Forest Moss Distress Ink, rounded the corners of the cardstock, and foam mounted it to the card front.

Thinking of You

Starting with a pale plum cardstock, I cut it to 3 3/4 inches square.  I took Milled Lavender Distress Ink and inked Antique Background.  I took the "thinking of you" form clear set 350 and stamped it in Dusty Concord ink.  I added a gold flower that I had in my stash, and attached it with a gold brad.  I adhered this layer to a 4 inch square plum card base. All stamps are Hero Arts.  This is yet another card that I did today at my friend's house.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge 71 Card 02

This is a card that I did that works for both the Hero Arts birthday card challenge and the Play Date Cafe Challenge 71.  For this card, I started with a standard card base from shimmer black and white cardstock. Using some textured white cardstock, I stamped the Large Fabric stamp in Regal Rose ink (SU). I took a scrap of that black and white shimmer cardstock, and cut it to size, rounding the corners.  I cut scrap white cardstock a little smaller, rounded the corners, and stamped Happy Birthday in Regal Rose ink.  I taped it to the Large Fabric stamp, added some sheer white ribbon, and adhered it to the black and white cardstock. All stamps are Hero Arts.

A Very Productive Stamping Day :)

I was at a friend's house today stamping, and made some cards that fit in with the Hero Arts challenge this month, Birthday cards.

This is a card I made today.  I started with a 10x 5 inch piece of DCWV Luxury cardstock in light green, and scored it to make a 5 x 5 inch card.  Using some scrap white cardstock, I inked up the Musical Walk and Happy Birthday stamp ( from the clear set of birthday wishes) in Shabby Shutters Distress Inks.  I used a 2.5 inch circle punch to punch out the Musical Walk image, and I trimmed the sentiment image to size.  I then punched a 3 inch circle from dark green cardstock, and took a piece a little bigger than the sentiment.  I layered the white circle on the dark circle. I rounded the corners of the base cardstock, and the sentiment layers.  I adhered the Happy Birthday flat to the card, but after adding some sheer white ribbon, I foam mounted the Musical Walk image on the card.

For the Poppy card, I started with white cardstock, I used a SU background stamp (I think it's French Script) and stamped it in Barn Door Red. Taking some textured red cardstock, I stamped Poppy Background in Versafine black ink. I rounded opposite corners and adhered to the card base.  Using a SU punch, I punch out the label shape in the same red cardstock as the Poppies.  I edged it in black, and stamped Happy Birthday on it. I foam mounted the label on to the card. The Poppy and Happy  Birthday stamp are Hero Arts.

I started with some pink Bazzil bling cardstock.  I rounded opposite corners.  I stamped Silhouette Bells in Versafine Black ink on white textured cardstock, colouring in with Regal Rose and Green Galore markers (SU).  I rounded all the corners, then mounted it onto some light green shimmer cardstock.  I rounded the opposite corners again, making sure that I did the reverse of what was on the card base.  I added some sheer white ribbon, and stamped Happy Birthday on the bottom right. All stamps are Hero Arts.

I used some blue Bazzil cardstock, cut at 4 1/4 inches by 11 inches, scored at 5 1/2 inches.  I took the Dots cling stamp, and stamped it in Memories Soft Baby Blue ink. I then used Walnut Stain Distress ink to stamp the typewriter and Happy Birthday sentiment from the Type clear set.  I punched the typewriter out with a 2 1/2 inch  circle punch.  With some scrap brown ribbon I had on hand, I wrapped it around the front of the card, and adhered the Happy Birthday to it.  I edged the circle in Walnut Stain Distress ink, and foam mounted it onto the card.  All stamps are Hero Arts.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge # 71

This is the card that I did for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge.. it's black and white with a splash of colour, the colour being the player's choice.  I went with gold.  I started with black cardstock, cut and scored to a standard sized card. I matted a gold layer on that, each side being 1/8 inch smaller.  I took a white piece of cardstock 3 3/4 inches x 5 inches, and stamped the Hero Arts Large Fabric Design stamp in Versafine Onyx Black.  On some scrap white cardstock, I cut to size, rounded the corners, and stamped Happy Birthday (Hero Arts CL350 set).  I layered the sentiment on some scrap gold paper, rounded the corners, then adhered it to the classic fabric piece.  I had some gold flowers from ages ago, and I used one on the bottom left hand corner, attaching it with a gold brad.  This card also fits the Hero Arts challenge for the month, which is birthday cards.

Hero Arts Layered Backgrounds

These are a couple of cards that I did today, when I was playing with the Layered Background technique that Shari Carroll showed on the Hero Arts blog today.  I didn't have all the stamps she did, so I improvised.   I used part of the Friend Definition for the text, I don't have the Envelope Pattern stamp (yet, it's in the mail) I used a retired SU Crosshatch stamp.  For the image stamp, I used the new Hero Arts Large Blossom stamp.  I did about a half dozen of these, using different Distress Inks.

For the green card, I used a mix of Old Paper to do the block inking, Wild Honey for the Crosshatch and a mix of broken China, Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo for the inks.  I did experiment, because I don't own a Ranger Craft sheet yet, but borrowed a friend's for this technique.  It's next on my list to buy:). 

For the Purple card, I started by stamping the Large Fabric stamp in Milled Lavender on some Almost Amethyst cardstock, then I added a pink Bazzil layer under the image.  For the colours on the image, I used Worn Lipstick for the block colouring and Crosshatch, and a combination of Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord and Broken China for the flowers.

Happy Anniversary to the Most Wonderful Man on Earth

Yes, I am going a little off topic here.... today, hubby and I celebrated the second day of our 19th wedding anniversary :)  Yesterday was a fun day together, music hunting, lunch out, cards in the evening, and just hanging out together.  Today we were more like our usual Tuesdays, with me stamping (there's a group here who meets weekly) and hubby processing the music.  Not only did we have one of my favourite meals tonight, he wrote me a LOVE LETTER.. yes, even after 19 years of marriage, I still get the occasional love letter from him...  So here's my love letter back to him:  You are the most wonderful, godly, sweet man who has ever walked this planet.  I love you so much, words would be an inept way to describe it.   I love you more now than I did when we got married, and I'll still love you when we're old and grey, even if we have both lost our minds :)  I LOVE YOU!!

PDCC70 Card

This is the card that I did for the Play Date Cafe Challenge 70.  I finally have some time to play :)... The colours this week were fresh green, pale turquoise and orange.  I started with a Certainly Celery card base, and stamped  the SU Crosshatch background stamp  with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink I rounded all the corners of the cardstock before layering them together.  Then,with the Hero Arts Dots stamp, I stamped the orange piece in Dried Marigold. I layered it on the Certainly Celery card base.  I took some turquoise and white cardstock from a discontinued Old World Stack, and cut it to 2 inches by 5.5 inches.  I layered that on the orange layer.  Using some white Neenah card stock, I cut it to ATC size and rounded all the corners, then I used Tumbled Glass Distress ink and stamped Hero Arts Silhouette Bells on the white cardstock.  I used one layer of foam tape for the side of the image that was on the layers, and  two layers of foam tape on the side that was on the card  base.  Taking some scrap white cardstock, I cut it to length, rounded the corners, and edged it in Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.  I used a Hero Arts Happy Birthday stamp, and stamped it in Dried Marigold.  I put  the Happy side on the layers with double sided tape, and the Birthday side with foam tape.

March Christmas Card Challenge

For this month's Christmas card challenge, you need to use Holly on your card.  I ended up making about 8 cards like this... I have to admit, I totally CASed this card from someone else, but for the life of me, I couldn't find her.  So if you see the blog post about it (it had decorating and some cards) please let me know, and I'll be happy to credit her for the idea.  I started with green cardstock for a base.  I cut the white layer to be  about 5 x 3.75 inches.  I took the Hero Arts Musical Background and stamped the white cardstock in Antique Linen Distress ink.  Using Vintage Sepia Versafine ink, I took the Hero Arts Classic Holly and stamped it in the right hand corner. I used a watercolour pencil in Mineral Green and coloured in the holly leaves.  I used red Stickles for the holly berries.  I added a bit of sheer gold ribbon on the left hand side, and finished the card by stamping Quietfire Design's "Blessed is the Season" in Satin Red Versafine.  I then adhered the white layer to the green card base.