Saturday, August 27, 2011

Welcome baby girl card with soft edges

I loved the idea that Pals Paper Arts had this week to take the edge off with soft corners, etc.  So here is a soft colored, soft lace, soft corners card for a sweet soft baby about to be born.  I had two cards to make and you'll see the other variation in my previous post.  :o)  



The baby is a Close to My Heart stamp.  I used colored pencils to color her, and then punched it out with a large scallop SU! punch.  It's raised up off the card with pop dots.
The 'welcome little one' stamp is from Job Lot with Old Olive SU! ink.
The patterned paper and tag were in a kit.  I used a brad to hold the tag on.  
Layered a little strip of lace behind that.
Added two little flowers as decorations.
Lastly I rounded all the corners to make it soft and oh so eligible for this great challenge!
Thanks for swinging by!

Welcome baby girl card

Annabelle Stamps has a sketch challenge that I used to make a new baby card.

Here's my card:

The baby is a Close to My Heart stamp.  I used colored pencils to color her.  And then punched it out with a large scallop SU! punch.
The 'welcome little one' stamp is from Job Lot with Old Olive SU! ink.
Aside from layering paper, I used a pink brad, 3 jewels and some pretty feminine lace.  I had to put a piece of green under the lace so you could see it.  Otherwise it blended into the background paper.

Thanks for swinging by!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Guest Designer!!!

I am beyond excited that the girls over at A La Card Monkey asked me to be a guest designer! During a recent challenge they picked my card as one of their favorites.  It was such a compliment because although I play along with many challenges, my cards have never been picked as a winner (I did win once in a random pick though).  There is some serious talent out there so it's not like I ever expected to win.  So imagine my surprise!  And it was on a site with monkeys!  It was meant to be! 

The challenge was to create an Autumn themed card using this sketch as a guide:

 And here is my creation.


Started with textured orange cardstock I scored from a yard sale.

Layered striped paper & leaf paper which are both from a Me & My Big Ideas specialty cardstock stack.
The monkey is a Dustin Pike digital stamp that I colored.  It's mounted on green then purple paper.
Buttons were added from the stash I had saved from all those new shirts over the years!


I had lots of fun making this card and would like to thank Terry and Shirley for the opportunity!  
Thanks for swinging by!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Frame challenge

Allsorts challenged us to use a frame on a card.  My grandfather likes to hunt so I made this for him.  (I never would have thought to do this if it wasn't for this challenge!  I love getting inspired this way!!)


It's night here so the colors are off in the photo - sorry.  The paper and ink are Old Olive from Stampin' Up.
I used SU! Lovely as a Tree stamps.
I drew the deer.  haha!  I'm not a pro but it works!
I cut out the target with red scraps (although it looks orange in the pic).
Finished with a simple Happy Birthday stamp in black.

Perfect for my Gramp!

I am also entering this card on another one of my fav challenge blogs:  Do You Stack Up.  They want to see cards for the guys in our lives!  How perfect.

Thanks for swinging by!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Male birthday card

Pals Paper Arts has a sketch challenge... 
...and Aud Sentiments has anything goes.  So here is my card:
Made for my FIL who loves to hike.  He's even gone to Nepal twice!

I used paper and stickers that definitely suit a mountaineer type!  I got a kick out of the "difficult trail ahead" sticker since it is a birthday card - subtle punch at age.  The block with the happy birthday on it is raised with pop dots.
I used two pieces of raffia.  The first I opened a bit and glued down.  I glued the 2nd down after I tied two little knots in them.  (This was actually plan b.  I put 3 staples in the brown paper but they were crooked.  I love staples as accents for male cards but it just didn't work this time.)  And now I love the knots in the raffia look.  I will def do this again!

Thanks for swinging by!

Friday, August 19, 2011

A Sympathy Sketch challenge

A La Card Monkey had a challenge per the little pic below.  Sadly it ended last night but I just made a card today using the layout.  I had a sympathy card to make.  :o(

The flower paper, beige & light green papers are from Creative Memories.
The butterfly is from a vellum pack that I cut out.
"Sharing in your Sorrow is from Stampin Up!
I used a Fiskars lace paper edger too.
Tied a little bakers twine and it was done.

Thanks for swinging by, even if I did miss the deadline!  I just love the inspiration!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Mojo Monday thank you

I wanted to make a quick thank you card for my MIL for buying new clothes for the kids.  I am so thankful she likes to shop because I.do.not... unless it's at a local craft store!  I just made a quick card using this template at Mojo Monday.



I used:
Stampin Up! thank you stamp from the Wow Flowers set.
Large circle scallop punch.  A little flower embellishment glued on that.
Patterned Paper is from a stack.  I layered it on orange.
Little piece of ribbon with snipped ends.

It's kind of busy but it's bright and sunny which is what I was going for.  At least it's homemade!
Thanks for swinging by!

One layer music themed birthday card

Stampin Sisters in Christ had a challenge to incorporate music or song on our cards.  
And Less Is More wanted us to use ink in a new way.  
They were my inspiration for creating this birthday card for my friend.
I started with the gift.  I rubbed an inked sponge over a stencil.  I colored in the bow with watercolor pencils just to add a little dimension.
The birds and sentiment is from an older Stampin' Up set.  I only inked "happy bird-day" on the 3rd line and hand wrote "dear Andrea".  Then I added the music notes.
That would have been my clean and simple card for the Less Is More challenge but it was so plain that I couldn't just leave it!  hahaha  (So now I don't have white space or qualify for the LIM challenge but they inspired me so hence the credit.)
So I rubbed ink on the edges.  I added the stickers on the corners and the word "Celebrate!" to finish it off.  Now it looks complete!
It was fun to make a one layer card though!

Thanks for swinging by.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Christmas in pink!

I follow a blog called Always Playing with Paper.  She makes beautiful cards.  She's on a design team for another blog called The Paper Players.  They had a challenge to use 3 shades of pink and I was inspired to do something with those colors!
Then I saw that Aud Sentiments wants to see "Merry Christmas" on a card.  Since I want to make my cards this year, I thought I better start!  I love when inspiration strikes!


I started by going thru old Christmas cards I received and had stashed away to repurpose.  Finding pink among all the green and red was tricky!  But I found this little gift box on a card and cut it out.
I chose the dark pink card base from there.
The green layer of paper is from a stack and feels like velvet.  Love the texture.
Merry Christmas is stamped but I'm not sure why I stamped it crooked.  Just ignore that.  hehe
I marked fake stitching on the sentiment.  Added two pink jewels.  And a lighter pink ribbon for my 3rd shade of pink.  Voila!

Thanks for swinging by!

Embossed butterfly

Do You Stack Up has a challenge this week to use embossing on your card.  Here is my butterfly birthday card.


  • The base of the card is light beige.
  • Dark brown paper layered over that.
  • I stamped the butterfly (purchased years ago from a street vendor in Ottawa) on light lavender paper using Stampin Up! chocolate chip ink then embossed it with clear powder.  Then I cut it out using my Big Shot and a shape from the Spellbinders Shapeabilities Pendants Fleur de Lis set. 
  • "birthday wishes" was done with a SU! stamp and choc chip ink.  I punched it out with an oval punch.
  • The sides of the sentiment are embellished with two little fleur de lis tucked under on each side (also from that Shapeabilities set)
  • I layered the sentiment on some light beige lace I scored at a yard sale.
  • Finished it off with 3 pearls from SU!
Thanks for swinging by.