Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Sketch challenge with a coffee theme

I learned of a new challenge blog a few weeks ago called 'A la Card Monkey' and of course was rather fond of them just cause of the name!  I subscribed back then but this is my first time playing along with one of their challenges.  It's a sketch challenge with a coffee theme.

I downloaded this freebie girl/coffee from The Sherlocks Home awhile back so thought she'd be perfect for this thank you card.



I printed the image from my computer.  Colored her in with watercolor pencils (that I have not mastered I might add), but love how they blend!  I used patterned paper paired with brown.  Brads hold the tags in place.  I hand wrote thank you.  And finished off with a bow.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Happy 60th birthday

My mother in law is turning 60 soon.  She loves Maine and the water so I wanted a lighthouse on her card.  Mojo Monday had a great layout for the card so that was my inspiration...

But I couldn't get that EXACT layout to work.  It was looking too masculine.  So I shifted things around a little.


I got the circle sentiment with the 60 on it for free over at Netty's Cards.  She has some great freebies!  I just printed it on white card stock and used my circle punch to cut it out.  It's also raised with pop dots.  This is a pretty simple card with lots of layers of paper.  The rock paper is from Creative Memories.  And I used my lace edge punch on the white to make it more feminine.  Plus the ribbon helps.  :o)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Bridesmaid thank you cards

I have a friend who is getting married in June.  She wanted thank you cards for her bridesmaids so I made these for her.  Her bridesmaid dresses are floral with the same colors.

I first made this card on white cardstock but after it was done, I felt it was missing something.

So I cut the front off and layered it on pink cardstock and it looked much better to me.
I ran the white cardstock thru my Big Shot with a paisley embossing folder.
I made the dress using an oval (Creative Memories oval cutters) and a circle punch.  I just cut part off with funky scissors.
I used Stampin Up! flower stamps and ink on the dress.
The belt is made with a SU! flower punch with SU! pearls.
I printed the text from my printer and snipped the ends.
The inside looks like this:
I hope the bride likes them!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Birthday in blue

Here's a card I made for one of my favorite people ever in the world.  Her birthday is later this month.  She has blue eyes and is stunning in blue so alas that was my inspiration for this card.  Here's a photo of her back in 2004 at her daughter's wedding (who is incidentally one of my BFF and like a sister to me.)


I embossed the aqua paper with my Big Shot and a Sizzix folder.  
Added the ribbon.
"Best Wishes" is from Stampin Up!  As are the ink and pearls.
Oval punch and Oval scallop punch from SU! too.
I edge the white paper by rubbing the ink pad along it.  Then I added the swirls.  
The card was looking incomplete so I added the corner stickers last. Not the best blue but I love how all the swirls tie together.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

A touch of red

Less is More is having a challenge to use a touch of red.  My friend's little boy Luke is turning 8 and I was inspired after going thru my stamps to create this card.  Less is More is a challenge to create simple cards with few embellishments.  They want us to use white space but that's something I seem to struggle with although my cards are often just a couple steps.


This card is simply a big pocket stamped directly on white paper with 'Not Quite Navy' ink from Stampin' Up!  
I stamped the Happy Birthday using the same ink.  
Then I dabbed a sponge in the ink and rubbed it all over to finish the jeans.  
The tag is so clever it makes me giddy.  Glad Luke's name starts with an L like the famous jean brand!  I used the white gel pen from SU! and handwrote it.  Love that pen!
Even if I don't qualify for white space, I appreciate you stopping by from the Less is More blog!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Purple, orange & white flowers.

I needed to make a friend a birthday card so I'm playing along with two challenges from which I got my inspiration:

Annabelle Stamps wanted us to use orange, purple and white.  I like these colors!  Something cheerful yet soothing about them.  (I have previously won a challenge with Annabelle and received some clear stamps.  They are beautiful!  They hold ink well and stamp perfectly and although I have used them, I haven't entered those cards into challenges or posted them online.  One day!)


And the Allsorts Challenge's theme is Blossomin' Blossoms.

So merging those two ideas, I came up with this:


The flowers and centers are made with punches - most are Stampin' Up! (SU!) except the flower with the shredded look.. that punch is from Martha Stewart's line.  The other big flower is a scallop circle punch and I cut petals by cutting towards the center.  I added a little jewel from SU! in the center of the big flowers.  (You can click on the picture to enlarge it.)  I used the awesome white gel pen from SU! on the small flowers.  The text is from a SU! set (coincidentally called 'Wow Flowers').  The bottom of the card was done with a corner punch from Creative Memories.

Thanks for stopping by!