Craft Dash #14

It's been about three weeks since I made a card.  I still have a super sick baby - we finally got over the flu and a cold, were well for one day, and then came down with either strep or a virus (still waiting for the doctor's test results but its likely a virus).  The last two days have been the worst, so my husband decided I needed a break today.  I just sat in a daze for a while, browsed some blogs (after taking a long crafting break it was hard to get started), and finally I sat down and made a card for this week's Craft Dash.

I finished everything on the card (minus the buttons) in 7 minutes 44 seconds.  Then I sat and hemmed and hawed trying to decide if I wanted to glue the buttons on or not.  With literally just a few seconds to spare I finally decided I might as well just do it.  I finished my final button adjustment just as the 10 minute timer went off.  I just wish I had noticed that the banner was a little off...I could have used some of those last two minutes to fix that!  Oh, well.  It feels good to finally have an opportunity to make a card, and I finished just in time.  My son woke up from his nap and came in when I was cleaning up.  He saw the buttons still dumped out on the ground and said, "Whoa holy moly.  Lot a buttons." :) He and my husband have been playing with the buttons for the last 10 minutes so I could write this post.
Supplies
Stamps: TAWS (All About You)
Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Paper: PTI (Berry Sorbet, Kraft, Stamper's Select White), Making Memories (Honey Dew stripe)
Other: CTMH (buttons, grey wool marker)

PTI March Blog Hop: Sequins

So I actually posted this card at the beginning of March, but I love it and it fits perfectly with Papertrey's March Blog Hop to use sequins, so here it is again.   I've had a super sick baby the last week and my sister and two friends moved, so any free time I had was spent helping others pack.  I haven't made anything crafty for a couple weeks, but I'm hoping to get something made today!  And I'm hoping it will be another card using sequins. :) This card was a quickie...even thought it's a shaker card it took less than 10 minutes to make.  Sometimes I wish all the cards I made would come together that quickly.  I smiled when I saw that Nichole made a similar card when for PTI's March release a couple week's back.

Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Daydreamer, Tremendous Treats: Birthday)
Ink: PTI (Raspberry Fizz), SU (Chocolate Chip)
Cardstock: PTI (Raspberry Fizz, Stamper's Select White)
Others: Hobby Lobby (1" punch, sequins), PTI (Fabulous Frames dies, clear packaging), SU (3/4" punch)

Craft Dash #13 & Muse Challenge #7

I made this card to participate in Muse Challenge #7 which was to draw inspiration from Laurie Willison's beautiful card.  The card turned out exactly as I had envisioned it in my head one night while putting my son to sleep.  I loved how Laurie used a white panel with a colored trim on a kraft card base, so I did something similar for mine, using a flower spray instead of a solid colored trim.  Yes, I made flower sprays in my last card, but I hadn't put the stamps away yet, so I figured I might as well used them again.  The embossed woodgrain background was inspired by the flowers Laurie stamped in the upper left corner of her card.  When I was thinking of the colors I wanted for the card, I remembered this color scheme for Craft Dash #13 which would be perfect since I was already doing a kraft card base anyway.

The only problem is that I had already had a vision of what I wanted to do for my card and it was a bit more ambitious than I should have chosen for a Craft Dash challenge (considering I rarely execute a card without a few mishaps along the way).  The flowers are embossed, the leave were all hand trimmed, and I grabbed the wrong plate for my die cutting machine, so I had to go back and search for the right one to use to emboss the woodgrain background.  It took me about 10 minutes 30 seconds to make the card, but then after I realized I had gone over the time I went back and trimmed the leaves a little nicer.  I know I'm disqualified by my time, but I was happy with how the card turned out, so I'm entering it into the challenge anyway.
Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Botanical Silhouettes, Daydreamer, Turning a New Leaf)
Ink: PTI (Spring Moss), SU (Chocolate Chip, Old Olive)
Cardstock: PTI (Kraft, Stamper's Select White)
Other: Michael's (pearls), Paper Studio (woodgrain embossing folder), CTMH (white embossing powder)

MIM #106: Two Toned Stamped Flowers

I was intrigued by the idea of doing two toned stamped flowers, so I decided to make a card for this week's  Make It Monday Challenge.  While I've applied multiple inks to an image before, I've never done it to basically cut the image in half.  I couldn't find two pinks that I liked together, so I actually inked the flower, stamped it off once, inked just half of the image a second time, and then stamped that on my card.  I got the idea for the layout from some beautiful stationery at minted.com.  I figured that was appropriate considering another MIM challenge that Melissa Phillips did last year was based on card aisle inspiration.  I didn't get a chance to play along then, so I guess this is my way of making up for lost time. :) I simplified the flower spray a ton, but it's about as complicated as I was willing to go.  I'm having a lot of fun trying to use some PTI stamp sets that I've had for a really long time, but haven't used a ton.

Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Botanical Silhouettes, Daydreamer, Turning a New Leaf)
Ink: PTI (Spring Moss, Summer Sunrise), SU (Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Pink Passion)
Cardstock: PTI (Stamper's Select White)
Other: Michael's (pearls)

DD #42 & OLW129

 

I found a new challenge - One Layer Wednesday, and I really enjoyed playing along. The majority of my cards aren't super layered anyway, but in my efforts to actually mail the cards I make to people, one layer cards are perfect.  The current challenge is "All in a Row".

The colors for this week's Dynamic Duos challenge were still on my mind while I was trying to think of what image to stamp in a row, and then I remembered this shirt that I bought at the end of last summer for my son. (The picture is dark, but the color scheme for this line of clothing is yellow, green, and navy blue.)

Perfect.  I'd stamp an argyle pattern all in a row using yellow and green.  The only problem is that I keep forgetting to put PTI's Happy Harlequin set in my cart when I place an order, so I don't have any diamond stamps.  I've noticed lately though, once an idea gets stuck in my head, it's hard to get out.  So I grabbed some craft foam, a pen, and a ruler and a few minutes later I had a diamond stamp.  I used a stem from PTI's Heart-2-Heart #7 set to make the "x".  I think this card does this week's Dynamic Duo color combo better justice than the first card I made.  At least I like it better.

Supplies

Stamps: PTI (Heart-2-Heart #7), TAWS (All About You)

Ink: PTI (Lemon Tart, New Leaf, True Black)

Cardstock: PTI (Stamper's Select White)

CTS #17 & DD #42

 

This is definitely a last second post.  I thought about CAS(E) this Sketch #17 periodically over the last few days but nothing came to mind.  I loved the way other people were using the sketch, but I couldn't think of anything different.  Then today I looked at it and I saw a band-aid.  Odd, I know, but several friends and neighbors are sick, so I guess that is what is on my mind.  It's a slight stretch on the sketch, but once I thought of a band-aid, that's what stuck.

 

I started with a different color scheme, but it was kind of blah, and who wants a drab get well card?  So I switched to a color scheme I saw on the Dynamic Duos Challenge blog, which was much brighter, more cheerful, and definitely a color combo I would not have thought to do on my own.  It's hard to tell, but the lemon tart cardstock with PTI's Linen & Canvas impression plate and I used an embossing pen and white embossing powder to make the check marks. 



Retrosketches #52 (based on sketch #4)

Another quick project I made for retrosketches challenge #52, which allowed you to choose any of the previous retrosketches.  This time I used sketch #4.  If I had the time, I would love to go back and make something using each and every one of the previous sketches.  They are all so great.

A neighbor of ours just earned his Eagle Scout Award, so I used the sketch to make a bag topper for some cookies.  Cards for men are hard enough, but making something for a teenage boy is even more intimidating.  I kept things simple and stuck to the scout colors on the invitation we received for his award's ceremony.

Craft Dash #12 & RetroSketches #52

Update: I got a retrosketches SHOUTout for this card.  Yippee! :) Thanks, Arielle.
I've been wanting to participate in Craft Dash #12 all week, but life's been a bit hectic.  I sure love this challenge and I love the colors this week, so I was excited I finally got some time today.

I made a shaker card (which was a bit more ambitious that I was anticipating, and I finished in 9 minutes 59 seconds.  (Yes, I cut it VERY close!) I had to forego stamping a background on the pink paper, but otherwise it turned out mostly as I had envisioned it.  My friend will finish the last class she needs for her Bachelor's Degree in two days.  She's worked so hard to earn her degree (she works full time and has two kids), so she definitely deserves a party.  I'm also linking this to retrosketches challenge #52.  There's no way I could pass up the opportunity to go back and pick one of the sketches I missed out on.  I chose sketch #6.

My second card was a fail.  Not just a Craft Dash fail because it took more than 10 minutes, but it really just didn't turn out the way I was hoping.  I had tons of problems along the way...including my sewing machine going crazy.  I'm hoping my mother-in-law can fix it.  My husband and I both tried, but it's definitely beyond our abilities.   The sequins placement is not what I had intended, but I dropped a couple of the sequins after I had put glue on them, and when I tried to quickly pick them up, some of the color was still stuck to the paper....so there they stayed.  It didn't photograph well..besides the colors being off, there really is a pattern on the 1st pennant although it looks like a solid.  And there were a bunch of other problems along the way, but I've done enough venting.  So you may be asking, why am I even posting it?  So I can remember this icky experience and be grateful when things go much smoother.