cQc#183

I made this a couple days ago, but I forgot to post it.  I had a bit of time to craft, but found myself not sure what I wanted to do...my mind was full of thoughts but none of them crafty related.  I decided to finally try out a ColourQ challenge.  I've seen them for a while, even pinned some of their color schemes, but never played along.

I thought these colors were beautiful and unlikely a combo I would have put together myself.  I pulled out a ton of ink pads, some old stamp sets, my scissors, and some dimensional foam squares and went to town.  By the time I was finished, this card had a TON of layers...many more than I had originally planned.  Apparently this week is all about me getting out of my comfort zone.  I'm hoping that leads to growth. :)

Supplies

Stamps: PTI (In Bloom, Mat Stack 3 Collection)

Ink: CTMH (Blush), PTI (Lemon Tart), SU (Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Pink Pirouette)

Cardstock: PTI (Kraft, Melon Berry, Stamper's Select White)

Other: Martha Stewart (border punch)

CTS#21 & MIM #110

Oh my was this card ever a challenge!  Sheesh.  I should have stopped after a couple hours (yes, I said hours), but I had invested so much time into this stinking thing that I was determined to finish.  I initially started with Papertrey's Make it Monday #110 Challenge: Collage Elements.  When I first saw the challenge my first reaction was to skip it.  Collages are like layers times a million on my difficulty rating scale.  Plus cleaner and especially simpler seems to be suiting me better these days and finding a way to maintain that was super difficult.  Nothing was working until I remembered CAS(E) this Sketch #21 (which had initially stumped me as well).  The sketch seemed collage-ish and gave me some much needed direction (which is the positive part I'm choosing to dwell on considering that after I finished my card I realized that this sketch challenge had already ended...bummer).

Fast forward a bunch, the final product doesn't have too many collage elements, but I stamped a bunch, some of it does overlap, and I really did give it my best shot, so I'm counting it. :)  Oh, and the distressed edging...well that was kind of an accident--or rather an attempt to fix an accident because at that point there was absolutely no way I was starting over...again--and I was sort of in the mindset of "why not?" since basically everything else on the card had taken me out of my comfort zone.

But on a positive note (since I feel like I need to have more of that here on the blog), I genuinely like the colors.  And I can check "ombre" off my list off techniques to try.  And I did get a good chuckle in the end when I looked back at the card and realized that the sentiment that I'd put on it said "enjoy". :)
(P.S. Thanks for sticking with me.  I'm a rambler...I try not to let that happen all the time here, but it seems to be coming out more and more.  I guess maybe because I'm gradually letting this blog reflect more "me".)
Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Background Basics: Retro, Background Basics: Super Stripes, Background Basics: Text Style, Think Big Favorites #19, Turning a New Leaf)
Ink: Colorbox (wild hare), CTMH (blush), PTI (harvest gold), SU (pink passion, pink pirouette, soft sky)
Cardstock: PTI (aqua mist, stamper's select white)
Other: CTMH (edge distresser), PTI (beautiful butterflies dies)

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)