Die-Namics Designs

The noon challenge (#2) by My Favorite Things for World Card Making Day was to use die-cuts only. I found this exceedingly difficult as I am not the biggest fan of purely die cut cards. Seemed kinda plain without any stamping, so I swapped out the cutting blade on my rotary cutter for a perforating on and added some embellishment to the edges. Topped it all off with some sequins for sparkle.

By far, the most arduous thing about this card was picking up the little dot to the "i" and holding it long enough to get it placed and glued right side up in the right spot. Oy!






Card Details:

Image: N/A

Sentiment: MFT Stamps Die-Namics

Cardstock: Neenah, SU, unknown dp

Ink: N/A
Coloring: N/A

Tools: Carl rotary cutter with perforating blade

Embellies: 28 Lilac Lane sequins

ROYGBIV

The theme of the My Favorite Things World Card Making Day Challenge (#1) was to use color, rainbow colors specifically. Since World Elephant Day was not too long ago (August 12 to be exact, though I thought it was more recently than that truth be told), I chose an elephant as passenger in my hot air balloon.

Also entered into Simon Says Stamp 'show us what you're making for World Card Making Day'














Card Details:

Image: MFT Stamps

Sentiment: MFT Stamps

Cardstock: Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor, Neenah, SU

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Coloring: Copics, TH Distress Stain, TH Distress Oxide

Tools: MFT Mixables cloud stencil, MFT Dienamics, generic pop-dots

Embellies: 28 Lilac Lane sequins

Funky Spring Ducks

I think the little duck on the end perfectly embodies the sentiment











Card Details:

Image: Missy B Designs

Sentiment: Stampabilities

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Coloring: Copics

Tools: N/A

Embellies: CTMH baker's twine, Studio 18 rhinestone

Jump for Joy

You may recall I mentioned joining an SCS swap for Stampin Up stamps, a while back. I missed posting about a few of the interim cards, but I am back with the most recent. The theme due in March was "Jump for Joy". I knew immediately what stamp set to use, but as usual, the rest of it was up in the air. (Ha! No pun intended)

Came across this sketch while googling. My kangaroo circles were already cut and colored; I could not have found a better fit!

Since I was cutting it close with the due date, there may have been some jumping for joy when I discovered it







Card Details:

Image: Stampin Up

Sentiment: N/A

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU

Ink: Ranger Archival Jet Black
Coloring: Copics

Tools: Nestabilities, Embossing folder

Embellies: Unknown ribbons

Spin Spin Spin

Princess A has her first ever dance competition this evening; I cannot express how proud I am of her! When I first saw this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches (#225), I thought it would be perfect with a ballerina mouse, but my stamp was too small.

Enter the bear. Just the right size, and the pinwheel adds a fun, festive touch.

It took a long time to decide on a sentiment (I do not have that many), but thought the double-double meaning (pinwheels spin, dancers spin) was cute. 

I get a little corny sometimes. 

Card Details:

Image: The Cat's Pajamas

Sentiment: The Cat's Pajamas

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU

Ink: Ranger Archival Jet Black, Memento Tuxedo Black
Coloring: Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Tools: N/A

Embellies: Unknown brad

Post-Surgical Smiles

I love all these adorable elephant sets that are around now! I miraculously managed to only pick up one. Come to think of it, it was a birthday gift, so you should be even more impressed with my will power.

The bass in my quartet had shoulder surgery yesterday; this card is for her.

I kinda feel it needs a little something more, but I cannot think of what or where, so it will go out in today's mail as is.





















Card Details:

Image: WPlus9

Sentiment: WPlus9

Cardstock: Hammermill, Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor, SU

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Coloring: Copic markers, Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Tools: WPlus9 dies, Paper Smooches dies

Embellies: KaiserCraft rhinestone flowers

Adding Spice to Quartet Contest Package

My quartet recently coached with Lynda Keever, Lead of International Championship Quartet, The Four Bettys. She is awesome! It was our second time coaching with her and she was just as wonderful as the first time. Plus I got to have breakfast with my good friend in Providence, whom I see much too rarely. Win win!

Lynda worked with us to "spice up" our Contest package. 
With that in mind, and a sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches (#340), this card came together fairly easily.
















Card Details:

Image: Inky Antics, Cover-a-Card

Sentiment: Inky Antics

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU, unknown dp

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Color Box Chalk
Coloring: Copic markers

Tools: LuminArte Icicles, Gelly Roll glitter pen

Embellies: Unknown pop dots, unknown Bakers Twine, unknown brads

Butterfly Blessings

In the Sisterhood this round, the theme is Blessings, with the request to include a butterfly.

"So long as we are loved by others,
I would almost say that we are indispensable;
and no man is useless while he has a friend."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
















Card Details:

Image: SU, Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Color Box Chalk Archival, Memento Tuxedo Black
Coloring: N/A

Tools: SU punch

Embellies: Unknown ribbon

Not a Princess-y Birthday

Princess A turned 17 yesterday! I cannot believe how quickly time goes by. Seems like just last year she was having her Sweet Sixteen...

I was thinking about past cards and realized that most years, her cards are purple, and the past several years the theme has been something in the fairy tale realm (princesses, dragons, wizards, etc). 
Even though she has been telling me for weeks that soon she will be allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts, this year there is nothing magical about her card.

Well, except for the fact that it is so cute

And it suits the current Lawnscaping Challenge (#124)

Card Details:

Image: Lawn Fawn

Sentiment: Lawn Fawn

Cardstock: Hammermill, Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor, SU

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Archival Jet Black
Coloring: Copic markers, Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Tools: Lawn Cuts dies, Nestabilities

Embellies: Unknown pop dots, unknown Bakers Twine

Yeti Hugs

The husband of a friend has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. Although the diagnosis is not as minor as first thought, they are maintaining a very positive attitude and great humor. I will be seeing her soon to give a hug in person, but in the meantime I am sending Yeti Hugs.

The color scheme is inspired by Cupcake Inspirations (#346), another challenge blog I have been wanting to try:

I got as close to the Berry as I could with my limited selection of Distress Inks.














The Yeti is painted with LuminArte Icicles to make him a sparkly silver

My attempt at the illusion of rolling hills did not quite work, but I don't think anyone will mind.









Card Details:

Image: Lawn Fawn

Sentiment: Lawn Fawn

Cardstock: Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor, SU, vellum

Ink: Ranger Archival Jet Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Coloring: Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Tools: Lawn Cuts dies

Embellies: LuminArte Icicles, CTMH Bakers Twine, unknown brad
 

Last Minute Challenge

Hello again! This post is just a quickie in order to enter this weeks Lawnscaping Challenge (#123). I've been wanting to enter one of these for quite a while, but never seem to get done. (It would probably help if I was able to get started )

Without further ado, here is my entry for the "Sending Love" challenge:

It was a wrench cutting these after all the effort I put into coloring them. I wish I had taken a picture of their complete selves first.










Card Details:

Image: Lawn Fawn

Sentiment: Lawn Fawn

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU

Ink: Memento, Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Coloring: Copics

Tools: SU punches

Embellies: LuminArte Icicles, unknown ribbon

A Herd of Smooches

Last night I had the opportunity to watch my chorus rehearsal via a private Periscope. Twas very cool, I must say. I was able to go about and do what I had to do, and not miss a minute of the singing. Unlike with Facetime/Skype, the sounds from my driving, or the dogs barking, or talking to Princess A, did not transmit to them and cause disruption. Awesome!

As a thank you to the one who made it all possible, I whipped up this little Smooches card. I could only use one layer for the card, so I stamped many layers of cows.  

The theme and the Paper Smooches stamps were chosen because today starts a new challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog, which I found completely by accident while searching something else.

Serendipity I think.
Or is it kismet?
















Card Details:

Image: Paper Smooches, Stampendous

Sentiment: Paper Smooches

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU

Ink: Memento, Tim Holtz Distress Ink
Coloring: Copics

Tools: Homemade masks

Embellies: Unknown ribbon

Christmas Critters, Sorta

I cannot resist buying cute critter stamps, and I have to hold myself back from overloading on Holiday images, so I was sure I had piles of Christmas Critters. Turns out, I don't. Lots and lots of wintery ones, but only one or two that are clearly Christmassy. One was too small, and the other too large. In true Goldilocks fashion, I chose a winter one that is just right. The size anyway; hopefully the hostess will like it for the holiday, too. 

Perhaps they are watching Santa load his sleigh...















Card Details:

Image: Stampendous

Sentiment: N/A

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU, SU dp

Ink: Memento
Coloring: Copics

Tools: Nestabilities, Mini Snowflakes Lawn Cuts die

Embellies: Gelly Roll glitter pen, Liquid Applique, unknown ribbon
Special Thanks to Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 (#2-74)

Serene Grace

I joined a new swap over on SCS. It is a monthly themed swap, using Stampin Up! stamps primarily. Sounds fun, right? First theme was released yesterday and it is "Serene Grace". Huh. Makes my brain go to something religious. But that is not my style at all. I do not own a single religious stamp, nor do I wish to. (ok, that is not completely true, I own one. It was a gift for my sister in order to make a gift for my brother cuz the image was so close to a quilt she had made for him. Ironically, neither of them are religious either)

I googled "serene" and I googled "graceful" and came up with a great idea. Only problem? My image would not be SU. Back to the drawing board. Keeping my google results in mind, I opened drawer after drawer of stamps, and an idea struck. And every single stamp in it was the right brand!

Kind of mellows you right out, doesn't it?




















Card Details:

Image: SU

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU, vellum

Ink: Versamark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Memento
Coloring: N/A

Tools: water mister, 1/16" hole punch

Embellies: White embossing powder, white brads

Favorite Things Birthday

Though I have completed at least one challenge per week, I have not had the time to blog them before the challenge expires. But I have a couple more hours today to get this one entered. (I think)

The bass in my quartet recently posted a pic on Facebook similar to this:

Who knows? It may have even been this one; I cannot remember exactly.










For her birthday last week, I remembered her post and made this card:

Tuesday Morning Sketches (#297) provided the inspiration. The scraps on my desk from a recent project provided everything else. (Except the image, of course)














Card Details:

Image: Stampendous

Sentiment: N/A

Cardstock: Hammermill, SU, unknown dp

Ink: Memento
Coloring: Copics

Tools: Fiskars Paper Crimper

Embellies: N/A

Happy 50th Birthday, Joe!

Another big event at our chorus retreat, was a celebration of the 50th birthday of our coach, Joe Connelly. I needed to make a card that was roomy enough for everyone to sign, and was special enough to double as a "gift"

Here is what I created:

I used images of items from his childhood (well, except for the big-wheeled bicycle) and followed a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches (#177)

 The inside is an exploding box with a cupcake in the center. It is supposed to be a cupcake anyway, but I had attached the base to the base of the card before I realized I had forgotten to run it through my crimper; it does not have that cupcake wrapper feel, but I was not about to take it apart to fix. 

The images from the outside of the card were stamped inside with Versamark, so it would not be so plain, but would not impede signatures. 

The frosting is embossed and the candle is a drinking straw. The flame was made by tying different lengths of orange ribbon and securing them with a brad (so they would not shift) then stuffing all of that into the straw. 

Other than the crimping mistake, I am quite pleased with how this came out. 








Card Details:

Image: SU

Sentiment: SU

Cardstock: Bazzill, SU, unknown dp

Ink: Memento, Versamark
Coloring: N/A

Tools: Nestabilities, embossing folder, unknown brad

Embellies: unknown ribbon, drinking straw

Baby (Doctor) Who

At our Retreat, my chorus had a baby shower for one of our members. I was asked to provide a card for everyone in the chorus to sign. The soon-to-be mommy is a HUGE sci-fi geek. She loves all things Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, etc, but how do you get any of that into a baby card? 

It took me several days, but I finally stumbled upon an idea. I used the phone booth from the SU set, 'Feeling Sentimental', to produce a Tardis. By googling "Tardis images", I found a background I could recreate.

Coming soon from a Galaxy near You...

I sliced around the edges and adhered it to a panel underneath, using Velcro to keep it closed. Underneath, the image of the baby on the moon seemed just right for my sci-fi theme.

 

 

The next Doctor!

The whole card then opens up for everyone to sign. The party was great fun, and I am proud to say my card was a hit!













Card Details:

Image: SU, PSX

Sentiment: Made with individual unknown letters

Cardstock: SU, GP

Ink: Memento, Kaleidacolor
Coloring: Copics

Tools: Reinkers and alcohol, cotton balls, SU punch, Velcro

Embellies: Embossing powder, unknown ribbon, unknown brads