Sympathy

CAS-ual Fridays has a color challenge this week:

 And the Mod Squad challenge is to make a square card. 

Spellbinders and Imperial Gold die cuts.  I like this color combination for a sympathy card.  Soft, but not morbid.  Come play along with us at Words 2 Craft By "Keep love in your heart" challenge. 

Three Little Bunnies...

I have been playing around with the April SU! Paper Pumpkin stamp set.

I stamped the faces, and die cut them with Spellbinders.  I stamped the ears on two different shades of purple, then fussy cut and layered the inner ear.  I embossed the yellow floral paper with Stylized Flowers, and added the purple bow ties.  I'm sharing this one with The Mod Squad Challenge Ya Wanna Piece of Me, Cuttlebug Mania Some Bunny to Love challenge,  and the Shopping Our Stash Tie One On challenge. 

Christmas Quilt

Last Christmas, every card I sent was hand made by me.  I want to be able to do the same this year, so I am trying to play along with different challenges, and make Christmas cards.  This way, I will have a diverse stash of cards and won't be pressured at the last minute.  

I made two cards using two different patterned papers with green "sashing".  For the quilting, I embossed both quilt squares with a snowflake folder.  For the first card, I stamped the sentiment in ink, then in VersaMark, and heat embossed with clear powder.  I am really enjoying this Gina Marie die!!!  I am sharing this with the Jingle Belles Flake challenge, and the Mod Squad TEXT(urize) challenge. Lots of time to play with us at Words 2 Craft By - Let's Celebrate!!

Painted Poppy Part Two

I am having so much fun playing with the Alte & New Painted Poppy set!

The center of the larger poppy is highlighted with clear Wink of Stella, bling is a mix of plastic and Swarovski crystals.  Sharing this with the Mod Squad Bling Challenge.  Come play along with us at Words 2 Craft By for our Change challenge!

Merry Christmas

I think that the best craft purchase I made this year was a MISTI.  It allows me to stamp the same image more than once in the exact same place.  It is super-helpful for reverse image stamps like this one:

I have never been able to come up with a usable image form this stamp.  With the large red background, it never came out complete.  With the MISTI, I was able to re-ink the stamp multiple times and come up with a complete image.  I trimmed the image and layered it on matte silver paper.  I edged the red card base with a silver Sharpie. 

I'm sharing this with the Mod Squad challenge Trees and Snow and Creative With Stamps Christmas Challenge. 

Lovely as a Tree

I broke out my favorite set and played today!  Not much time for fun lately, between work, holidays, and family.

I heat embossed the tree in silver on purplish paper that looks more blue in the photos, I layered with matte silver paper, and added pearls as ornaments on the tree and as accents in the corner.  The sketch is #233 from OWH.

I am sharing this with the Can You Case It #142 color challenge for eggplant, silver, and neutral, and with the Mod Squad's Holiday Dimension challenge.  Wednesday is the deadline for the Small Heart Large Gratitude challenge over at Words 2 Craft By!!

Purple and Green Halloween with Lawn Fawn

I love this Lawn Fawn holiday raccoon!

 In the first version, I thought the sky was a bit too light.  I like the darker one much better.  The background was inked with Distress Inks, then stenciled with the Memory Box Garden Floral Confetti and silver Delicata ink.  I used a regular graphite pencil to color the raccoon, and Derwent watercolor pencils for the pumpkin.  The sentiment was computer generated and printed on vellum.  I' sharing this with the Cards in Envy Purple and Green and the Mod Squad Halloween Fun challenges.   Come play along with us at Words 2 Craft By Happiness is a Warm Puppy challenge - Annie has a great set of Tim Holtz Crazy Dog stamps as the prize this month!!!

ABC, Anything But A Card

The Mod Squad Challenge this week is Anything But a Card.  Some years ago, I made boxes of gift tags for my friends and family members.  Every year since, I fill their boxes with new tags.  This challenge prompted me to get going on this year's batch.  Here are a few:

Come play along with us at W2CB Happiness is a Warm Puppy challenge.  We have a Set of Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs up for grabs!

What's That You Say?

This week's challenge from the Mod Squad is, What's That You Say?, to use a sentiment as your focal point.

 I love the soft grey ink, card base, and sequins.  Bundled Sage and Stormy Sky Distress Ink. 

Dogs!!!

This week's challenge over at the Mod Squad Challenge Blog is Teacher's Pet - use a pet or an animal. 

The paw print paper is dry embossed with paw prints.  Inka Dinka Do images, die cuts from Spellbinders, stash ribbon. Come play along with us at Words 2 Craft By - Just Keep Swimming!

Mod Squad Bordered Sentiment

This week's Mod Squad challenge is to use a bordered sentiment without flowers.

Love this color combo (too bad I am too late for the Can You CASE It challenge!!).   On Wednesday, come play along with us at Words 2 Craft By!!!

Mod Squad Distress Ink Birthday Birds

This week's challenge at The Mod Squad is Distress Ink Lifting. 

I used a stencil as a mask, inked with Versamark, and heat embossed in clear.  I inked with a variety of Distress Inks, and polished with a baby wipe to remove the ink from the embossing and further blend the inks. The concept was a bit puzzling to me, and I hope that I figured out the intent. 

Come join us at Words2CraftBy.blogspot.com for our Just Keep Swimming challenge!!

Mod Squad Lazy Days of Summer

The challenge at the Mod Squad is to feature something that makes me think of the lazy days of summer.  My neighbors planted wonderful bushes and flowers that attract lots of butterflies that I love watching. 

Cheery Lynn die, Darice Scroll Flourish embossing folder. 

Use It or Lose It!!

The challenge this week at the Mod Squad Challenge is Use it or Lose It.  Choose something I have not used for a long time, rarely used, or never used, and put it to work.  Well... I have plenty of goodies that fall into that category!!

The Kaiser Craft Home for Christmas paper pad and stamps were give freebies from the Simon Says Create event last October.  I love the clear embossing patterns on the paper, and how the patterns coordinate with the stamps!!

I have been terrible about card making and blogging for the past month or two, and it's not going to get better any time soon.  My son graduated from high school last weekend.  Being the procrastinator I am, I was 13 years behind on his first day of school scrapbook (LOL!), and 6 years behind on his sports scrapbook.  I finished the school album, and phoned it in on the sports album.  Track season has 4 weeks to go!  State next weekend!!  Woo hoo!!!

Die Cuts - Positive and Negative

These die cuts have been sitting in my basket of new goodies for quite a while, waiting for the perfect way to use them.  I think this qualifies!!

Very simple layout for this sympathy card I will send to a friend who recently lost her kitty.  I am sharing this with the Mod Squad Animal Fun challenge.  

Love is in the air....

I am not big on Valentine's Day, so I tend to make love cards instead.

The Mod Squad challenge this week is to make a card with hearts or the words "love".  The kraft hearts were stamped with various background stamps and white Lawn Fawn ink, red hearts  from very old Bazzill patterned paper and stamped on the patterns.  The sentiment is from Clearly Defined, and accented with a kraftish-gold heart brad.  Colorbok cream and white patterned paper.  I am sure you can't tell how much time and effort went into this one....

Come play along with the Words 2 Craft By New Beginnings Challenge!!!

Using what I have....

Sometimes, I am overwhelmed by my hoard.  Don't get me wrong, I am SO grateful for my husband who indulges my passion, the Marti gift, and the resources to add as I choose.  I am trying to make myself use what I have, and not hoard the papers I love. 

And I love these SU! Retro Fresh papers!!  Accented with a stash sticker and Antique Gold SU! ribbon (thank you Seongsook!).  The brown has a lot of grey in it, the photo makes it look chocolaty.  I am sharing this with the Mod Squad Friend challenge, and the Color Throwdown #375, green, orange, yellow, and grey.  I hope my brown is close enough!!  Come play along with us at Words 2 CRAFT By for our New Beginnings challenge!!

Pink Ombre

I have been having a lot of fun playing around with different techniques, and this card has a few!

I started with a piece of acetate, and cut it with the Spellbinders Cascading Hearts die to make my stencil.  I taped the stencil to a piece of watercolor paper.  Then, I took 3 globs of drywall spackling, mixing cranberry ink into the first glob, spreading it in the upper left corner.  I then mixed the second glob into the first, and dragged it further down the stencil, and repeated with the third glob.  I tried to use the remaining spackle to color the die cut, but that didn't work.  I found a coordinating piece of paper, and die cut the sentiment for the front, and a few small hearts to decorate inside.  

I am sharing this one with Shopping Our Stash - Monochromatic or Pink  (in honor of Leslie), and the Mod Squad Ombre challenge.  Big changes coming to Words to Scrap By - Words 2 CRAFT by!!  Join us January 15!!!

Die Cuts Galore!

I am on a mission to use all of my dies before I buy any more.  We'll see how long that lasts...

The letter are My Favorite Things, the banners are from Sizzix, sentiment from Unity.  The background paper is from Doddlebug. I am sharing this with the Mod Squad die cut challenge. 

New Craft Supplies...

I was lucky to receive a gift card for Christmas, and hit up the after sales at our local craft store.  I Scored a set of beautiful dies by Heidi Swapp. 

I cut these with shiny silver paper, and mounted it on Core Creations glitter paper.  Simple, with plenty of shine and bling.  I am quite happy with it!  I am sharing this the Mod Squad challenge - One Die Cut.