Day 66 the 3 W’s

 Today on 365 cards Pam gave us another trio challenge. Actually, she is going to do this all week! Today was W’s : white, white space and wings.

In case you haven’t noticed, I love butterflies, so the wings aspect was right up my alley. I have had this stamp and I don’t think I had inked it up yet. I hate to say, but I do tend to purchase stamps and don’t get a chance to ink them up before they are put away. I had the oval already cut out, so green was my hint of color. I used my scor-pal to make a few definition lines. I had some green pearls, but they were not the correct shade so I whipped out my G24 copic and colored a few white ones. These looked passable. I used a gelly pen to go over the trails, but it was very hard to pick that up in the photo. It didn’t help that it was a white card in a white photo cube. Even the piece of green cardstock in the back didn’t help too much. Trust me on this element.

There is still a few hours left of Cinco de Mayo so party like you are a Mexican!

How Beautiful A Day

 I came across a new challenge blog today called the Shabby Tea Room. They have a weekly challenge that appears on Mondays.  It is their fourth week and the challenge was to Embrace the White. We were given this photo to use as inspiration:

Here is what I did for the challenge. We could use either white or cream as the main color and I choose to use cream. I have had this paper from Anna Griffin for years. It was probably one of the first sheets I ever bought 6 years ago. I used a border punch from Fiskars to create the scalloped edge. I utilized the portion of paper that had both the cream and pale lavender on it since it already had the defining line between the two shades. I pulled out many embellishments and even cut out a few nestabilities to see what would look good on the card. I choose this butterfly with the sparkle on its wings and the acrylic layer.  It is soo pretty in real life. The flower is from Prima and the sentiment is by Verve.  I used some pearls by Kaiser to make the trail. After checking the challenge on Flutterby Wednesdays I am going to submit the card for that also.  Danni and her design team asked for a card with some sparkle and this butterfly fits the bill.

My second card tonight is what I will use as my alternate card for Saturday’s Make It Take It. Sadly, I didn’t take a photo of the card that I will be demoing before I turned it in.

I began by stamping the teapot and cups (Great Impressions) onto a Labels 11 die cut. Next I stamped the pot and cups onto scraps of paper and cut them out to paper piece them. All the papers are from DCWV Cafe Mediterranean pack. I looked through all my ribbons to find one that I could wrap around the striped panel, but none of them looked right to me. They were either all the wrong shade or had a design that did not compliment the stripes. I pulled out some brads and sponged Spanish Olive ink on the white die cuts and it was finished.

I have caught up on watching The Good Wife, Trauma and Survivor so I am off to bed. See ya next time :)

Quick Valentine Challenge Cards

 Here are a couple more quick valentine cards I put together for a couple more challenges at 365 Cards.

This first one is for Day 343 which required using two separate images and put them together. I used the super cute raccoon from Stampendous and scrumptious cupcake from Hero Arts. I colored the image with copic markers and added stickles to the heart for sparkle. The sentiment is also from Stampendous and the scattered hearts are from Great Impressions. The white card opens out and is on a card base from Bo Bunny.

The next card is for Day 340 for Shape Up! The challenge was to use a heart as the dominant shape on our card. Here is what I made:

I had the red card base already made in my stash. I pulled out my score pal and made a quick border on the front. Next grabbed a scrap of gold paper and used my deckle scissors to cut the edges. The epoxy heart sticker is from Christine Adolph collection. The same scattered hearts were added to the corner so I could say there was some stamping on it :) Finally, the sentiment is a rub-on from Stampin Up.

I wanted to get these uploaded before the Super Bowl started. We are making a bunch of yummy appetizers for dinner. So who are you rooting for? Me…I would like to see the Saints win, but I think the Colts will prevail.

Barrelful of love

 Today is Sunday so Pam at 365 cards has another sketch to follow. With February starting tomorrow I thought it would be a good time to start making a few Valentine’s cards.

The patterned paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle and I have used both sides. Center image is from Great Impressions colored with my copics. The eyelet border was made with my SU punch and I again used the patterned paper for that. (I just couldn’t get the right match in my cardstock). The sentiment is a rub-on I have had for ages. Rain dot hearts and Kaiser pearls were added in the corners (grouped in 3’s Ms. Stamp Temptress) wink ;).

Make the most of your Sunday. It is a cold, windy grey day here in Florida, so I am staying inside and will cook up a couple of Shepherd pies for dinner tonight.

Winter’s Butterflies

 I did it, I did it! I finished all 30 challenges for the month of September on 365 Cards! Today’s card challenge was about white space. We could only add items along the top and left edges of the card and put a little something in the bottom right hand corner.

The stamp on the left I brought home tonight from Stamp and Deliver. It is part of the October stamps for Great Impressions. I colored it with a few copics. The round stamp is a new set from JustRite called A Merry Little Christmas. That was waiting in the mail for me today after work! I stamped that in SU Cool Caribbean ink. I added the strip of blue snowflake ribbon and a couple of buttons along the top. This gives me another holiday card to send out. This is at least 5 count them 5 Christmas/holiday cards finished by September 30th. I never really start making my cards this early. I need to tell my hubby that this blogging and following 365 Cards is really getting me more organized. Do you think he will buy it? Enjoy the rest of your day :)

August Make and Takes

Yesterday was M&T day at Stamp and Deliver. I was demoing how to double emboss using the Cuttlebug. I first saw this shown at Stampfest and fell in love with the technique. For the card below, I used Coredinations cardstock which really shows off the embossing technique. I ran the red panel through the CB using the swiss dots folder. I then ran the same panel through the CB using Stylized flowers.

I took a sanding block and lightly touched the cardstock where I wanted the inner color to show. I layered the red panel onto a metallic silver panel then to black cardstock. Sheer silver and red ribbon were layered to the front. The tag was stamped with black and sponged with Rhubarb stalk Memento ink. I threaded the tag through a black button and added rhinestones as the finishing touch.

As a second card, I used the same two embossing folders, but on  white cardstock. I took metallic paste and rubbed the embossed image to color it in. This panel was layered to copper metallic cardstock and onto a white card base. Two different ribbons were wrapped on the card and a bow was added.

Here are two of the other cards that we demoed yesterday. I still have one more card to finish.

The card on the left used two new stamps by Great Impressions. It may be hard to see in the photo, but I did take a glue pen and added glitter to the dragonfly’s wings. The card on the left used a stamp by Magenta. To begin, I sponged Broken China and Peeled Paint distress inks around the image. Colored pencils were used to color it in. I ran my clear Atyou spica pen on the butterfly and flowers for shimmer. A strip of pp was laid down and the image glued on top. I added a couple vellum butterfly stickers by The Paper Studio.

Being that it is still summer, the snow birds have not returned so it was not a large crowd and no one felt rushed to make their cards. They had time to chat and catch up with friends they may only see once a month. Stamping is a very social event :)

Life’s Simple Pleasures

 I am getting a later start today. This morning we went to a bagel company, Upper Crust & Crumb and bought a baker’s dozen. This company also has a small spot at a local farmer’s market on Saturday. But they have so many more flavors in their store and much cheaper. Char…those cookies you love that cost $2 are only $1.39. After eating a late breakfast, we waited for our Game Stop to open as today the Resort Games was released for Wii and I had one on hold.

So I finally sat at my craft table and produced the card above. I am still combining challenges so I can complete all of them for SCS Dare to Get Dirty 09. But I threw in a color challenge from the Stamp Shack. Along with the color challenge, I used the sketch by Cindy Haffner, Good enough to eat by TruCarMa, and Taken with Texture by DeborahLynneS.

I began with the colors: black, certainly celery, creme and cranberry crisp. These were the closest choice to the copic colors we were given. The choices went really well with the sketch by Cindy. The pie stamp was for the good enough to eat (like my wild animal choices last night, my food stamps are not plentiful) and I ran the green squares through the Cuttlebug using the swirls folder for texture. Also used on the card were: SU modern label punch, Nesties in large circle and petite scallop circle, copic atyou spica pens in garnet and clear, regular sketch copics in C3 and YR21. The pie stamp is by Great Impressions and the sentiment is by A Muse.

A thunderstorm is starting to roll in so I don’t know if I will be able to post anymore cards this afternoon. But I will keep plugging along. I am excited as I only have to work two days this week and then the rest of the week is at CHA :)

Under the sea

My youngest has been bugging me to make a card using a seahorse image for his girlfriend. Well, first I had to purchase a seahorse image which I did at Stamp and Deliver. The main image is by Impression Obsession and the background is June’s stamp of the month by Great Impressions.

I began by cutting out the scalloped circle with my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders Large scalloped circle dies. Next I cut out a plain circle die from Dusty Durango (new 2009 SU in color) for the backing. I stamped the main image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink since I would be using my copics. I colored in the image using these markers:

 I started with E11 then E08 for highlights. The seaweed was YG03 with YG63 for highlights and the water effects were BG01 lightly feathered on with BG10 as filler. I went over the seahorse with Chocolate Atyou Spica pen and the seaweed with the Melon for sparkly highlights that are not showing well in the pictures sorry. The background paper is a new sheet from the Basic Grey Lemonade 6 X 6 pack. I took the GI stamp and inked it with SU Bermuda Bay. I sponged a bit of Dusty Durango near the bottom of the paper.

 I popped the main image on foam squares and added Pewter Kaiser pearls on the bubbles. I wrapped a bit of twisty ribbon around the BG before gluing it to the front of the card. The card is 5 1/4 square and I used a piece of Bazzill for the base.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!