Sketch Challenge #91

Here's a rose-themed birthday card I did for Tracy's Sketch Challenge #91. You can see the challenge here.



The stamps were from the Clear Design: Cupcakes set by Hero Arts.

A Flutter-by Thank You. . .

I recently hosted a Leader/Daughter event and the patches didn't arrive in time. When they finally did arrive at my house, I thought it was only appropriate that I make up some cards to deliver them in.

Here's the patch that I found here:




















And the card that I based on it (with some inspiration from Jennifer McGuire's cards here):

















Hope the girls like getting these in their mailboxes!

Mini Flower Card

Well, it's been raining non-stop here, which has made it difficult to get motivated and also to photograph my cards. So, here's a fun little birthday card I did a while back.





















The repeating flower was a little accessory on one of my Hero Arts Sparkle Clear sets from a while ago (THIS one to be exact), and the birthday cake is by A Muse. The sentiment is part of another Hero Arts clear set called Happy Day Animals. I colored some white Memory Box pearls with my green Copic for the purple flowers' centers.

Here's hopin' it gets sunny and spring-like really soon!

Japanese Birthday Card. . .

I've been needing lots of birthday cards lately, so I came up with this quickie using a Hero Arts stamp, and October Afternoon Cherry Hill patterned paper, and an A Muse sentiment. See you soon!

Tracy's Sketch Challenge

I was very happy to see Tracy bring back her Sketchy Thursday feature last week, kicking it off with a fun and easy sketch, no less. One of my New Year's resolutions is to participate in more challenges, so of course I had to do this one.

Here's the sketch:



















And here's my card:

















I broke out the "You're the Best" Sparkle Clear set from Hero Arts for this card. This girl is just super-cute, and I'm working on some other cards with her already. The patterned paper and the ribbon are by A Muse, and the notecard is by Memory Box.

Have a great day!

Cat's Pajamas Challenge

I happened to catch the sketch challenge for the Cat's Pajamas last week and thought I'd play along. Leigh was the hostess, and here's her sketch:













I pulled out one of my first Cat's Pajamas stamps and a scrap of paper from Basic Grey's Lilykate collection and got to work:















I colored the cupcakes with Copics and colored over the cherries with red Stickles. The flame was colored with a Gold Spica as well. The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

Have a great day!

Sketch Challenge Entry #3

Are you sick of this layout yet? I'm not! In fact, I think this third card is my favorite so far! I love love love this card!

Want to see why?















It's all about love!

The strip down the side is actually a repeating stamped image by Stampendous. And, although you might not be able to tell in this photo, I Versamarked the Flourish Trio by Hero Arts across the red notecard. The car image is one of my favorites by Elzybells, and the Delivering Love sentiment is by A Muse (although it might be discontinued). The ribbon is by A Muse too, of course.

See you soon!

Sketch Challenge Entry #1. . .

Here's my first (of hopefully many) entries for Tracy's Sketch Challenge. You can find out more about her big contest here, or just click on her blinkie on the right.
















The yummy cupcake image is by Hero Arts, and I even glitterfied it with some Antique Linen Distress Stickles. Yum!















Remember, she needs 52 entries to do the giveaway, so enter today!

A Very Dotty Birthday. . .

My my my, how quickly a week goes by!

Today's card was actually made using a loaner stamp from my mom. I don't think I would have purchased this stamp on my own, but it IS very cute and I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Here's my first attempt:


















I stamped the image on Neenah 80lb white cardstock and trimmed it with my Tonic paper trimmer. I colored the image with Copics, then mounted it onto an oversized piece of Bazzill Loganberry Pie cardstock. I added the ribbon by A Muse and tied some white embroidery floss around it and through the button. The panel was mounted onto a piece of paper by Little Yellow Bicycle, and that was mounted onto a Memory Box notecard.

See you soon!

Trial and Error. . .

Happy Monday!

Did you have a good weekend? It was overcast and gray both mornings here in northern California, but each day it burned off just in time to reveal some pretty nice weather. So, my weekend was fun and sunny. Best of all, I got all of my projects done from last week, so I was freed up to do a few cards.

These three cards are all based on the same sketch, an oldie-but-goodie from Taylor Van Bruggen, Sketch #44.

Here's the sketch:



















Fun, right?

Well, I started off with this card:


















I was bound and determined to cut the striped patterned paper (rather than layering another blue circle on top of them), and that's where the challenge began for me. I really liked how this card turned out in terms of colors and patterns, but the circle wasn't quite even. I had cut a 3 inch square first, cut them apart and then punched the circle out of each corner before gluing them down. That didn't work.

For my next attempt, I tried using my Coluzzle to cut the circle out of the full 3 inch square, then cutting it apart and mounting it. (I also cut the center image to be the same size circle.) That had slightly better results, but the circle still seemed uneven:



















But, I think I got it on my last card. On this attempt, I used two different sized circles on my Coluzzle, the third track from the center for the patterned paper (which I pre-divided and glued down to a scrap of paper), and the second track from the center for the center image. Here's the result.


















Three cards later, I'm finally happy with the result. Does anyone else go crazy over little details like this?

Now That's Better. . .

Well, Thursday's shaping up to be much better than Wednesday was. I have a plan (albeit an expensive plan) for the car, and better yet, it's my mom's birthday!

















With a present like that, who cares that you're turning 50 again, right? Here's a close-up of the tag (made with A Muse and Hero Arts stamps, of course!)















We're taking her out to dinner tonight to celebrate another year of fabulous-ness. Have a great Thursday!

Halloween Tag. . .

Oh, Wednesday. You started off so promising (I actually got out of bed ON TIME!), and then you just came up short. Everything was cloudy and gray, and then I was faced with a vehicle crisis which culminated in me in tears on the phone to my husband. Yay for husbands. Boo for big car repair bills and tough decisions. And onto today’s card.

Today’s card isn’t a card, but in fact a tag. I’ve been making so many Halloween cards lately that I had a lot of strips of patterned paper lying around my workspace, so I figured I’d try and use them. I just stacked them on top of one another, added a scalloped edge, and voila! a tag was born.


















Here’s hoping for a better Thursday. Actually, I KNOW it’ll be a better Thursday because it’s someone’s birthday. See you tomorrow to find out who!

Simple Halloween Card

I recently discovered that Hero Arts came out with some new single clear stamps for Halloween and Christmas. This simple Jack O' Lantern jumped out at me, and I had to ink him up last night to see what he was about.

Here's the quickie card I made with my first impression:


















The layout is an adaptation of a card in this post by Natasha Trupp. I'm always looking for new ways to use smaller stamps on cards, so this sketch is a keeper for sure! Here's a close-up:














This weekend, we're attending an 11 year old's birthday party, so there's at least one birthday card in my immediate future.

Have a lovely weekend, and enjoy the nice weather while it lasts!

Ideas from All Over

In my wanderings through blogland, I'm constantly coming across ideas or cards that appeal to me and my creative spirit. Since I've been in a bit of a slump recently, I've been going through my starred items in Google Reader and trying to re-capture the things I love in others' cards and apply them. Here are a couple that piqued my interest.

The Hero Arts Blog is a treasure-trove full of cool ideas and inspiration. While I'm not usually able to participate in their weekly challenges, this week they're all about sketches and I couldn't resist, especially because they involve circles. Here's the one that jumped out at me first:



















And here's my take on that sketch:

















The other card that caught my eye was in this post by Natasha Trupp. My card actually came out a bit different than hers, but the basics are the same:














That's all for today. See you soon!

Cupcake Challenge

Well, Tracy's done it again. While I was posting my card for this week's challenge, I wandered through some of the past challenges and came across one that really inspired me, Sketch #46.

I've had this birthday cupcake panel sitting around my workspace for forever, and it just fit the sketch so well I just had to use it!















The image is from the Cupcake Set by Hero Arts, and the sentiment is from a mini clear set, Happy Greetings.

See you soon!

It's A Jungle Party!

Good morning!

As promised, here's another card using Jen del Muro's SFYTT.

Today's card came about as a result of trying to use up my scraps. I've generously been given a coffee table with shallow drawers to keep all of my stamping stuff in while I'm watching TV and hanging out in the living room. The problem is, I am already starting to overfill the drawers with paper scraps! Sometimes I have imperfectly colored images, duplicates, or just things in colors that don't go with the card I'm working on.

So, I'm (again!) resolving to try and make something out of those scraps immediately, or just give up and throw them away. I'm such a hoarder. (sigh)














The main panel on this card was a leftover piece that I had lying around. The giraffe was already stamped on it, but I thought it would be fun to add the grass around him. Then I thought, "Why not a birthday giraffe?" and this card was born.

The card base was another scrap that I had lying around, and the patterned paper is by Making Memories. The hat and the grass is by A Muse, the giraffe is part of a clear set by Hero Arts, and the sentiment is by Denami Designs.

See you tomorrow!

Hello Friend!

And happy Tuesday!

For Monday movie night last night, we went and saw "The Proposal," starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. It was all right. I felt like it took parts of lots of romantic comedies that I'd already seen, and smooshed them all together to make a movie. Then again, getting to watch Ryan Reynolds for 2 hours wasn't so bad (wink!). I give it a 7 out of 10 stamps.

Let's move on to today's card. While I was working on the card you saw yesterday, I was also looking at some sketches online. Jen del Muro hosts a weekly Sketch for You to Try (SFYTT), and last week's sketch particularly piqued my interest.















Here's my pretty literal interpretation.















I used more of the origami paper and the kokeshi doll by Hero Arts. The sentiment is by Wordsworth.

I'll be back tomorrow with another take on this sketch!

Bring It On, Monday!

Bam! Pow! Shazam! I am attempting to tackle my Monday with both hands.

After a very relaxing yet productive weekend, I am pumped up and ready to go this week. We're all caught up on our 3 Netflix discs (a constant battle), we helped my mom pick out a new couch, grilled burgers and shishkebabs, went grocery shopping, and washed my car.

On top of all those things, I actually had time to make several cards, and here's the first:















I CASE'd this card from this post on the Hero Arts blog. (Scroll down--it's the fifth picture in the post.)

The squares are actually made of origami paper that I found on a recent trip to Japantown in San Francisco. The kokeshi doll is part of a set of three by Hero Arts, and the sentiment is by A Muse.

All right, off to get some things done around here. See you tomorrow!

Yum!

Hi, and welcome to a lazy Wednesday. For being June, it sure isn't looking like it around here. It was overcast and drizzly yesterday and this morning, it actually rained. Where's my summer weather, June?! I hope you're talking to August and September and giving me a credit for some later summer days.

Anyway, I made this card while I was THINKING about summer. This background paper by Doodlebug was just killing me with its cuteness, so I had to make something with it, and quick! Here's what I came up with.

















The ice cream stamp is an oldie but goodie by Hero Arts. It was one of my first stamps when I really got into stamping, and I'm not even sure that they carry it anymore. Anyway, the colors in this picture are a little wonky, but the cardstock colors are all a little lighter in real life.

All right, off to go find coffee. I was up later than I should've been last night playing trivia at a local pub. I learned a lot though. Did you know that the angriest country in Europe is Great Britain? Or that the average age of a combat soldier in Vietnam was 19? Or that it takes 600 grapes to make a botle of wine? Neither did I, until last night. And now we know!

Have a great day!

Dear Mom. . .

Dear Mom,

Greetings from California! While you're away on your worldly adventures, I stuck into your house and borrowed some of your stamps. This cherry one by Denami Designs is particularly cute. Look what I was able to do with it:














I CASE'd this card from a card that I saw at our LSS, Scrapbook Territory. Isn't it cute? I embossed the sentiment (part of a clear set by Hero Arts) with black ep. Oh my goodness, it had been so long since I embossed anything that I had almost forgotten how to do it! But, I think it turned out well.

Then, I went back to one of my go-to layouts for a simple card using your cherry stamp.















The sentiment is by A Muse, and I just love it. Isn't it cute? I'm sure you can't tell, but the "o" in "top" is a cherry, and I colored it in with a Blush Copic marker just to give it some zing. I also colored over the cherry with a couple of Atyou Spicas. Can you believe they're coming out with 12 new colors?! I know! I'm so excited.

Anyway, hope you're doing well and enjoying your trip. Be well!

Love,

Teresa