CFC112 & CTS42

I needed a card for a baby shower this weekend, which I think will be the start of many.  It seems like babies come in clusters around here.  There haven't been any new babies among friends or family since early spring but a new phase is starting.  Almost weekly (since July) I find out someone else is expecting.  I adored the color scheme for CAS-ual Friday's Challenge (the strip under the elephant is green...just looks yellow in the photo), so I combined that with this week's sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch! to create this baby card.

I paper pieced with added dimension my new-to-me Emery stamp from Verve (which I have wanted forever), my homemade Hawaiian Shores mist that I made during PTI's Stamp-a-faire, and I just couldn't leave out a speech bubble, so I reached for my new PTI supplies to find the Bubble Talk dies.  And then I flipped through them again and again and to my horror could not find the dies.  (Mind you, they were the #1 item on my list of things I wanted to order.)  Then, I grabbed the packing slip just to double check, and I couldn't find the dies listed.  How could that be?  Then I checked my order online and the tragedy was confirmed...I forgot to put it in the cart.  And PTI's all sold out. {Insert super sad face.} But...I guess that just means that I'll have to put in another order when they are restocked...better start saving now. :) Ah, happier face.  I still wanted the speech bubble, so I ended up stamping one on the back of the paper and just cutting it out.  The sentiment is from PTI's Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set, which if I remember correctly, was my very first PTI stamp set.  It's one of my best purchases, too, as I find myself reaching for it again and again.  Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Hope your week is going well! 

Stamp-A-Faire Bake & Take Challenge

 

The color scheme and layout for this challenge came from Papertrey's Stamp-a-faire's opening ceremony's Bake & Take Challenge. (You can see additional details/photos about this project and the others I created during the Stamp-a-faire event here.)

Supplies

Stamps: Bigger Blooms, Think Big Favorites #19(PTI)

Ink: New Leaf, Pure Poppy, Melon Berry (PTI), Bashful Blue (SU)

Cardstock: Soft Stone, White (PTI)

Other: Linen & Canvas Impression Plate, Tag Sale Die #3 (PTI), green marker (CTMH), Koolaid, transparency sheet, red baker's twine, white embroidery floss

Papertrey's Stamp-a-faire Cards

I had a blast joining in on the fun at Papertrey's Stamp-a-faire.  I didn't get to try everything, but hope to be able to go back and fill in the blanks.

 

Tea Staining Technique
I used Betsy's Koolaid technique on the tag.  I actually dyed some felt in the Koolaid and tea dyed some fabric, too, but those didn't make it to a card.  The felt was taking too long to dry and in a very impatient moment, I threw all the felt pieces and my tea dyed fabric in the dryer.  Big fat giant mistake.  My dryer ended up red and my tea stained fabric got red on it, too.  Oh, and I should have used tongs to remove the felt from the Koolaid, but I didn't, so my fingers ended up red as well.  Luckily after all the scrubbing and wiping down of my dryer, most of the red came off my hands.  Sidetrack finished...back to the card. The color scheme and layout for this challenge came from Stamp-a-faire's opening ceremony's Bake & Take Challenge.

A couple last details.  To tie in the stitched pocket, I also stitched the centers of the flowers.  And the Pinefeather color was the hardest for me to add, so I just drew some lines in the center of the leaves.  Unfortunately after adjusting my flowers (from PTI's Bigger Blooms set) most of that got covered up, but at least the effort was there. :)

The supply list and other details for this card can be found here.

Sprinkle of Salt

This card was super hard to photograph.  It looks so much better in person.  The vellum in the corner looks soft and shimmery IRL and not so much dirty as it looks here. :) I did indeed use the second salt sprinkling method Nichole shared on this card; however, I let my son help me pour on the salt, and he exercised no restraint.  I wasn't surprised.  He's only two. :) So pretty much it had an all-over lightening/blurring effect instead of the fun splotchy effect Nichole's card showed.  I also combined this challenge with a color and sketch combo from the opening event.

The colors blurred together quite nicely and all five are there.  Since I loved how the watercolored panel turned out, I simplified the sketch a bit and used vellum for the triangle in the corner, allowing as much of the panel to be exposed as possible.

Sprinkle of Salt Supplies

Stamps: Bountiful Banners (PTI)

Ink: True Black (PTI)

Paper: watercolor paper, shimmer vellum (Michael's), white (PTI)

Other: Bountiful Banners die (PTI), watercolor crayons, aqua painter (SU!), sequins (Hobby Lobby), salt

Scent-sational Cards

There is absolutely no way I could miss out on the scratch & sniff technique.  Too fun!  I adored Cristina's card, so I decided to CASE it.  (Side note: I've never been huge into celebrities (as far as movies, tv, or music is concerned), but believe you me I would be absolutely star struck if I ever met Cristina.  I'm not kidding.)  I also loved  Dawn's (another favorite of mine) pumpkin card and pumpkin spice was the very first thing I thought of when I saw the title "Whipping Up Scent-sational Cards", so I went with that, too.  To my delight, as soon as I heat embossed the pumpkin spice the whole room filled with a delicious aroma.  The fragrance on my card is stronger than I thought it would be (in a good way).

And the spots and texture the spice created on my pumpkins is wonderful...I think they should always be this way.  The only tricky part was that the stamp I used (from PTI's Friendship Jar Fall Fillers) is an outline stamp, so I stamped it onto orange zest cardstock, then pressed the entire pumpkin into the VersaMark ink.  Oh, and I also had to emboss the ribbon I used because once I embossed the card stock the ribbon no longer matched (the embossing made the cardstock darker).
Scent-sational Supplies
Stamps: Friendship Jar Fall Fillers, Polka Dot Basics 2, Signature Greetings (PTI)
Ink: Chocolate chip, Pumpkin Pie (SU!), New Leaf (PTI)
Cardstock: Orange Zest, Rustic Cream, Kraft (PTI)
Other: orange ribbon (Hobby Lobby), clear embossing powder (CTMH), colored pencils, Pumpkin Pie spice

Gallon:Quart:Pint Challenge & Mixing Mists to Match Challenge
The card I made for these challenges can be viewed in this post.

SAF 2013 Farewell

Phew...this is my official farewell to Papertrey's 2013 Stamp-a-faire.  I created a huge mess and only had enough time to participate in a few challenges, but the good thing about videos and blog posts is that they can be revisited again.  I learned bunch, tried new things, the stains in the carpet were able to be removed, the many dishes, pots, and pans have been washed, and very little red dye remains on my hands. :)  Oh, and hopefully in the morning the sun will be out and I can snap some photos of the cards in the above photo....I've only blogged about one so far. :)

PTI Stamp-a-faire

I was able to join in on a few challenges in Papertrey's huge Stamp-a-faire event.  Hopefully I'll get some of the other cards posted by the deadline, but if not, at least this one is ready to go. :)  And I'm pretty happy about it.  I made this for the Betsy's Gallon:Quart:Pint Challenge.  It's design tricks like this that I absolutely love learning about.  I definitely plan to apply it in my home as well.  Hopefully it is obvious, but my gallon is Lemon Tart, my quart is Hawaiian Shores, and my pint is Berry Sorbet.  I also combined this with the Mixing Mists to Match Challenge.  The splatters you can see are from my newly created Hawaiian Shores mist, but I decided to drop them on the card like Dawn did on her card.  It's a bit difficult to see, but I actually diecut "birthday" out of the white banner (saving the circles from the b, d, and a) and out of berry sorbet cardstock.  Then I placed the berry sorbet birthday into the negative cut on the banner and put the little white circle pieces back inside.

PTI August Blog Hop Card 3

 

Okay, one last card that I made for  Papertrey's August Blog Hop.  This one by far took me the longest to make.  I love the idea and some of how it turned out, but in the end it still looks a bit off to me.  I suppose this one would have been a good one to submit for a possible remix. :)  I had it done it time, too, but I hadn't been able to get a post written and technically I made it for the hop.  Oh, well.  This is the sketch/color combo I used, though I did change the color scheme just a tad.

The part I do love about this card is that the little pie chart represents tons of things that I love about fall.  I adore the fall, so really I would need about 15 more "pieces of pie" to show all the things I love about it, but this is a good start.  I created the pumpkin, acorn, and leaf slices with PTI's Friendship Jar Fall Fillers set.  I just had to do a bit of masking for the pumpkin and leaf parts.  The football is from PTI's Have a Ball mini set.  The apples and wheat-ish slices are from two really old SU! sets (Basket Full of Fun and Pocket Silhouettes).  The argyle background is from PTI's new Autumn Pattern Pieces stamp set (love!).  Oh, and the sentiment is from PTI's Friendship Jar Fall Fillers as well.  Phew...I think that's about all.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hope everyone enjoyed the hop.

Paptertrey's August Blog Hop Card 2

Here is the second card that I made for Papertrey's Blog Hop.  I went so literal with my last card, that I wanted to be at least a little outside of the box on this one.  I didn't change the sketch itself much, but I forced myself to use something besides flowers.

I made a little window with PTI's darling new ghostie peeking through. (Yay for new PTI supplies!  It's been month's since I was able to order. :) ) I made this card a few days ago, and it was super hard to photograph (as you can tell with the vast color variance) but we've had so much rain and wind the last few days that this is as good as it gets.  Thanks so much for stopping in. :)

Supplies 

Stamps: Polka Dot Parade #7, Friendship Jar Fall Fillers (PTI)

Ink: Outdoor Denim (CTMH), Hawaiian Shores (PTI), Not Quite Navy, Lavender Lace, Kiwi Kiss (SU), VersaMark

Cardstock: Hawaiian Shores, Royal Velvet, White (SU)

Dies: 1 3/4" Limitless Layers Circles, Polka Dot Parade #7 (PTI)

Other:: White embossing powder (SU), Olive embossing powder (CTMH), transparency paper

Papertrey August Blog Hop Card 1

I finally have a quick second to share a card I made for Papertrey's August Blog Hop.  Nothing like hopping in at the last minute.  I actually made all my cards for the hop a few nights ago, but I'm just barely having a second to share them.  I went extremely literal with the interpretation of the sketch. 

 

The only thing I debated with was the buttons...not sure whether I liked them on or off, so I took a picture of both. :)  What do you think?  Thanks for stopping by....hopefully I can get my other two cards up and posted soon and have a chance to pop by some of your blogs, too. 

Supplies (all PTI)

Stamps: Bigger Blooms

Ink: True Black

Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Harvest Gold, Hibiscus Burst, Spring Rain, Summer Sunrise, White

Dies: Sketched Shapes

10 Minute Craft Dash Birthday Bash

I toyed with the idea of calling this post "If at First You Don't Succeed Try Try Again" because that is kind of how I felt making these cards.  Notice the plural?  There is a reason for that. :) It's been a while since I've played with one of the Craft Dash challenges, and I'm a bit lot rusty.  This is one of my very favorite challenges, but lately my approach to cards has been less planned.  Making cards is a way for me to unwind and often when I begin my mind is cluttered with other thoughts.  This is not a good thing if you want to play along with a Craft Dash Challenge and make a card in 10 minutes.  You have to have a plan (well, at least I do).  I was determined I would not only play along Craft Dash's Birthday Bash but be successful---meaning make a card in under 10 minutes.  My first card was a fail.  Rats.  So last night I thought I'd try again.  Card number 2 is the one you see above with the cute little dog.  Loved it, but I went over.  When I glanced at the stopwatch it said 10:02 and I still hadn't adhered the trio of buttons, which by the way are completely inspired by Leigh.

Loved the card, but it was a bit too ambitious with all the fussy cutting (speech bubble, dog, dog's spots, banner).  So, determined to succeed, I thought I'd simplify things a ton and make the one layer card below.  I finished it in 6 minutes 49 seconds, but really it was done a lot quicker.  I hadn't quite balanced things the way I'd wanted and didn't know how to fix it, so I stared at the card for a while then decided to just leave it alone.  Successful time, but I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out.

On to card four.  I kept working with the same colors/supplies and made another one layer card, but went with a little more complex stamping.  I used a single diamond to create the background and the card ended up taking over 15 minutes.  Boo!  (Side note: I am loving my new set "On Trend 2013" from Fresh Squeezed Stamps.)

On to card five.  This time I decided to use the other stamp set I had pulled out, Fresh Cut Florals.  I used the rounded leaf image to create a wreath like I had done on this card and double stamped some die cut flowers to put on top.  I trimmed the focal panel with pinking shears and quickly stamped the sentiment, AND I finished in 9 minutes 51 seconds.  Yay!  I finished in time!  It's not perfect and it's not my favorite of the bunch, but I am okay with it and I like enough to give it away.  And actually I really would put a wreath like this on my door.

PTI Make It Monday 129: White Crayon Resist

I always love when Maile Belles overlaps images across the bottom of her cards (like this), and I finally decided to try it out.  I thought Papertrey's Make It Monday Challenge to use a white crayon resist technique to keep some areas free from color would be the perfect to help me CASE Maile's card.  And as I type this I think I may have inadvertently CASEd a card of Cristina Kowalczyk's, too.  Now that I think about it I'm pretty certain she made a card with cupcakes overlapping across the bottom.  I'm sure it was an awesome card (they always are) if the idea stuck in my head without me even realizing it.  Anyway, for my card I embossed the cupcakes first, colored some areas white, then watercolored them in.  Then I watercolored the background and last I embossed the sentiment....not my best idea.  I should have reversed the order of the last two steps because I had a bunch of stray embossing powders stuck to the wet paint, but I was trying to make this card for 10 Minute Craft Dash's Birthday Bash, and hasty work definitely increases the likelihood for mistakes.  The embossing fiasco threw me over the 10 minute time limit, so I slowed down and took my time adding glitter to the hearts and stars.  I think I finished the card around 14 minutes.

Supplies

Stamps: Tremendous Treats: Valentine, Tremendous Treats: Birthday (PTI), Strictly Sentiments 1 (WPlus9)

Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz (PTI), Kiwi Kiss (SU!), Versa Mark

Other: Black Embossing Powder, Aquapainter, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (SU!), watercolor paper

Moxie Fab Holiday Card/ Navy Tuesday Trigger & WPlus9 Mood Board #18

Okay, this will probably be a long post.  My husband can attest to the fact that when I'm really excited about something I want to talk and talk and talk about it, explaining every little detail so nothing is missed and my excitement can be fully appreciated and hopefully shared.  And I'm excited about this card, so here it goes.  I little while back I won a prize at Moxie Fab World, and much to my surprise the oh-so-generous Cath sent me a BOX full of goodies including the Roma stamp by Hero Arts/Studio Calico.  I was so excited - it's my very first map themed item.  I guess it's all the Christmas cards I've seen, but every time I looked at my new stamp I thought it would be a great background on a Christmas card with an image of the wisemen, but I couldn't quite bring myself to make a Christmas card when it's been so hot outside.  But then I saw Moxie Fab's Holiday Card Challenge and this week's Tuesday Trigger: I'm Craving Navy.

The blue dresser, striped armchair, and kraft colored rug and window caught my attention, and I knew the colors would make a beautiful Christmas card.  Soooo I gave in and decided to entertain the idea of making a Christmas card using navy for the focal point with kraft accents.  Then it was like the stars aligned and I saw WPlus9's Monday Mood Board.

The monogrammed anchor card in the front immediately jumped out at me.  Not only did it use the same navy/kraft combo but it had the perfect layout for the idea I had mulling around in my head to have wisemen with a map background because you see, the images in PTI's Star of Wonder Set are all round.

Everything was going great.  Map background in kraft..check.  Navy blue wisemen...check.  Then I ran into a problem: the wisemen image was too small in scale for my card.  I scanned my new WPlus9 stamps and my eyes rested on a curved leaf image in Fresh Cut Florals.  Could it be made into a wreath I wondered?  And as you can see, yes, yes it can.  To make the wreath, I placed a 1 3/4" punched circle on my paper, stamped the leaves all around it overlapping them just slightly, and cut everything out.  It was just the added size I needed to frame my focal point.  I embossed the panel with PTI's Linen and Canvas Impression Plate and it adds such a great texture to the card.  Oh, and in the end I snuck in a stripe on either side of the card because stripes had been a dominant element in both inspiration photos and I just couldn't leave them out.  Phew.  That's all.  Thanks for sticking with me!  I was so thrilled with how the card tuned out that I had to share...everything. :)  Just wish it hadn't been rainy today so the pictures could have captured it a bit better.  Oh, well.  I guess something had to be tricky.

ETA: With the encouragement of Kim, I'm also linking this up to the Map It Recipe Swap at the Catered Crop. I so admire Kim's work and appreciate her for not only letting me know about the challenge, but also encouraging me to submit this card there.  Thanks again, Kim!

Linking up at:
Moxie Fab World - Tuesday Trigger: I'm Craving Navy
Moxie Fab World - Holiday Cards & More Week: The Holiday Card Challenge
WPlus: Monday Mood Board #18
ETA: Catered Crop: Map It Recipe Swap

Supplies
Stamps: Hero Arts/Studio Calico (Roma), PTI (Star of Wonder), WPlus9 (Fresh Cut Florals)
Ink: CTMH (Outdoor Denim), PTI (kraft, tea dye duo)
Cardstock: PTI (Rustic White), navy
Other: (Hobby Lobby) 1 3/4" punch, PTI (Linen & Canvas Impression Plate)

CFC111: Buttons

I whipped this card up really quick last night for CAS-ual Fridays button challenge.  As I was putting my son down to sleep I remembered this sentiment from PTI's Movers & Shakers Sentiments set.  I noticed it last time I pulled the set out because I don't think I've ever used this particular stamp.  I thought it would be perfect with a little rainbow of buttons.  I found the perfect itty bitty buttons from Close To My Heart, slapped on some washi tape, and the card was done.  Love cards that come together quickly.

CFC111, MMB #18 & STS #1

Masculine cards are always tough, so I made this card with the help of a few challenges.  First, I was inspired by Dawn's fabulous Monday Mood Board, which I can finally play along with.  Yay hay hooray for new stamps! Yeah...you start to say things like that when you watch one too many episodes of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. And sadly that phrase has made it into my everyday vocabulary.  At least the little guy gets a kick out of it.  Three of the things that stood out on Dawn's mood board were the colors, the stripes, and the washi tape...so I went with those.  The layout may look familiar.  It's the first sketch of the brand new challenge Seize the Sketch (a sister challenge to Seize the Birthday).  So fun to have great sketches and the freedom to make them for any occasion.  But alas without even realizing it, I made a birthday card.  Ha!  The buttons were the final touch on the card and were inspired by Casual Friday's Button Challenge. 

Supplies

Stamps: WPlus9 (Strictly Sentiments 1)

Ink: CTMH (outdoor denim)

Cardstock: PTI (rustic white), navy

Other: washi tape, buttons

 

Challenges:

Monday Mood Board #18             Seize the Sketch #1      Casual Friday #111: Buttons       

 

Curtain Call Watermelon Wonder Card 3

Just a short post to share one last card I made for Curtain Call's Watermelon Wonder Challenge.  (You can see my other two cards here and here.) I hope there wasn't a limit for how many cards you could enter...I forgot to check.  This card came about a bit randomly.  Each piece is something that got scrapped from the other cards I made and a card I never finished.  I obviously drew inspiration from the color scheme on the inspiration board and the feather photo.  Speaking of the feather...the feathers in the inspiration photo really stuck out to me, but alas I have no feathers or feather stamps, so I just watercolored some with some ink and my aqua painter.  I made three in different colors but this one is the only one I liked.  The butterfly is punched out of the green feather I didn't end up using.   Oh, and I have to mention the splattered background because it was the funnest part of the card.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy flicking paint.  When I was in high school I wanted to make a giant bookcase I had a bit more exciting, so I painted it white then flicked navy blue paint all over it.  It took a while to do, but it was so fun.  I'd totally forgotten about that until tonight.  Good times.  Well, I'm off to bed. :)  Have a happy weekend!

Supplies

Stamps: PTI (Think Big Favorite's #19)

Ink: PTI (Berry Sorbet, Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf), SU! (Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean)

Paper: PTI (Berry Sorbet Melon Berry, Rustic Cream), MME, watercolor paper

Other: Martha Stewart (butterfly punch), PTI (Doily Details Die), SU! (aqua painter), button, burlap string, paint