My Soul Listens

It's time for Blogger's Challenge. This week the challenge is one of my favorite, black and white and a splash of color. As a coincidence, Stampsmith also has black and white and a splash of color as the monthly challenge. For my card I chose Serena, a Stampsmith stamp as my focal stamp. She is so pretty, surrounded by pretty little flowers. I chose a beautiful handmade paper as my background. My splash of color is orange which I used for the flowers and frame. A few orange buttons framing the sentiment finish off the look.
I am also entering my card in the Sunday challenge at Ink on My Fingers which was paper and at Critter Sketch with a challenge of buttons.

Snowmen

Card Front

Card open

I'm blogging this a day late. I wanted to wait until it was a little brighter to photograph the open card. Then my daughter decided that we needed a nice lunch without children, so she took me to Red Lobster (It's lobsterfest!). I think that's a wonderful reason for being late.

My card is the result of several challenges and a fantastic bargain on the Sizzix pop-up house die. At Kraft Journal the challenge is white on kraft. Critter Sketch wants to see snowflakes. Tuesday Throwdown has a monochromatic challenge. City Crafters has the theme all that glitters.

The card base and house is cut from kraft paper. The roof was painted with picket fence distress paint and the icicles were made with Viva Decor ice white paint. The snowflake edges of the inside and bottom of the card front were cut using Tim Holtz's on the edge snowflakes die. The snowman is also a Tim Holtz die. The snowflakes were cut using Cheery Lynn dies. All of the snow pieces were covered with picket fence stickles so they all glitter a lot.

It was a fun card to make and quite appropriate since we had the biggest snowfall of the year here in Chicago last night.

Happy Valentines Day

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Valentines Day. I'm sharing cards I made for my grandchildren to celebrate the day. Unfortunately, the sunlight was poor and the photos do not have their sharp colors. Suffice it to say, there's a lot of red and purple on the cards.
I'm entering Joshua's card into the Tuesday Throwdown challenge which is anything goes, into the Cornish Heritage Farms challenge which is Valentine, and into Mark's finest Papers Speedy Fox and Friends challenge which is love.
Jayda's card is being entered into Critter Challenge which is red and purple and into Three Muses which is red.

12 Tags of 2013 -- January

It's a new year and a new set of 12 tags of 2013 by Tim Holtz . This is my version of the January Tag. The stamped and stained ribbon is a really cool touch. I love the gears stained with the metallic stains. They almost look real especially when paired with the metal gears. There is so much detail and so much to look at in Tim's tag style.
I am also entering my tag in the Critter Sketch challenge which is bring the metal.

Trick or Treat

 

inside

 

Hi everyone! It's great to be back blogging again. I just returned on Monday from a fabulous trip to Washington DC. My Dad will be 92 in December and is a veteran of WWII. I wanted him to see the World War II Memorial and some of the other related sights in Washington, so my sisters and brothers and I sponsored the trip for him. On Wednesday I had some minor surgery. It wasn't serious, but it slowed me down quite a bit. Then I had to babysit for my granddaughter yesterday. Today was the first day in a long time I could get down to my studio. It felt good to get inky again.
All of the above is why my Bloggers Challenge posting is a bit late today. Since the week is almost over, and since a number of my usual challenges has a Halloween challenge, my card will be entered in a quite a few challenges.
Bloggers Challenge has witches and goblins as its theme. Tuesday Throwdown, Mark's Finest Papers Friends of Speedy, Cornish Heritage Farms, Fashionable Stamping, and Creative Belli have Halloween or Halloween colors as the theme. Octopode says Trick or Treat. Kraft Journal challenged us to show inside and out. Critter Sketch wants to see embossing.
As you can see from this card, Tim Holtz is quite a fan of Halloween. The design paper, all of the stamps, and all of the die cuts are products from his collection. The sentiment is embossed using Rangers verdigris embossing powder.

The Crafter

Combine a sketch challenge from Critter Sketch and a challenge from Stampotique with the theme of squares and this is what I came up with. (I did turn the sketch a quarter turn.)
 I started by embossing my background with an embossing folder. I thought that the background went nicely with the stitching motif. My squares are actually squares of squares. I used faux stitching to give a patchwork appearance. It looks like the crafter has been quite busy. All of the images (crafter, heart, buttons) used are from Stampotique.

Steampunk

I decided to have a little fun with a steampunk card today. I used the sketch from the Critter Sketch challenge as the basis for my layout. All of the stamps used are from Artistic Outpost. Since the August challenge at Artistic Outpost is anything goes, my card fits right in. The Sunday Challenge at Ink on my Fingers is steampunk, so I'm right on target.
I started my card by embossing a metal foil sheet with the riveted metal texture fade (Tim Holtz). I used ginger and black soot alcohol ink to distress it.  I stamped and adhered the image panels and added a few gears and some number washi tape. And there you have my bit of steampunk for today.

CHAPTER 18: Now you see him. . . Now you don't! Week 2

`Do you play croquet with the Queen to-day?'
`I should like it very much,' said Alice, `but I haven't been invited yet.
`You'll see me there,' said the Cat, and vanished.
Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used to queer things happening. While she was looking at the place where it had been, it suddenly appeared again.
-- Chapter 6, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Just like the Cheshire Cat, we would like you to make a card where things appear and disappear! It could be as simple as a tag in a pocket or something more interactive and fun, for example a wiper card, a slider box or a slider card or even a double slider card, a telescoping card, a T-slide card, a swing (flip-flop) card, or a ViewMaster card. These tutorials from Splitcoaststampers are for inspiration; your project does not need to be a card. Enter by August 24 , and the winner will receive three digi stamps from our sponsor!

Our sponsor this month is Dilly Beans, featuring the whimsical art of Megan Suarez, famous for her charming big-eyed girls! You can see the digi stamps and collage sheets on her blog, Dilly Beans Stamps. There is also a Dilly Beans design team challenge blog and an Etsy shop with Megan's artwork to inspire you. Dilly Beans offers four Alice-related digi stamps: Alice in Wonderland, the Queent of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat and some whimsical mushrooms; the design team will be featuring the first three.

I've got two cards to share with you today. My first card is a telescoping card. (Technique Junkies 3D and Fun Folds CD)

Here is adorable Alice trying to make sense out of her adventures in Wonderland. The image is Alice from Dilly Beans. Coloring was done with distress markers.The die cut flower and lace are from Cheery Lynn's Manon's Wedding garland. The background was dry embossed with flowers (Cuttlebug) for texture. All of the sentiments are from TweetyJill.

Here is what you see when you unfurl the card. In the center is the crazy, or should I say "mad" Cheshire cat (Dilly Beans). He is surrounded by leaves. (Cheery Lynn Flourish leaf strip).

Below him is the Red Queen (Dilly Beans) still looking for her tarts. Behind her is a row of flamingoes (Alpha Stamps) just waiting for the Queen to play croquet. The lacy border was also cut from Cheery Lynn's Manon's Garland. The outside circle is also from Cheery Lynn (Reflections Boutique Mini Pearl Circle).

 

My second card is a double slider card. (Technique Junkies 3D and Fun Folds CD)

On the front of the card stands Alice (Dilly Beans). I wonder what she is looking at...let's pull the tab and see.

It seems like the Cheshire Cat is up to his old bag of tricks. There he is with just his grim. All images on this card are from Dilly Beans and the sentiment is from Tweety Jill Stamps.

My first card is also being entered into the following Challenges:
Cheery Lynn --shaped card, Critter Sketch--round it up (circles), and Bloggers Challenge--texture.
My second card is being entered into the Tuesday Throwdown challenge--on the move (moving parts).

Holiday Memories

This will probably be the last Christmas card for a while. It's still in time for Christmas in July.
I'm entering my card in four challenges: Mark's finest Papers Sketch with a twist has given us a sketch to follow and wants to see an animal on it. Third Coast has deck our halls as the challenge. Kraft Journal wants us to use any sketch. Critter Sketch has anything goes as the challenge.
For my image I used the trees stamp from Mark's Finest Papers an Heinrich Company, the reindeer from Third Coast Stamps, and the sentiment (stamped on ribbon) from Club Scrap. The holly leaves are die cut from Tim Holtz's festive greenery. Everything is layered on a green background panel and then on a kraft card base.

Sail Away

I had a little chance to play today  and here is a card I created. I'll be entering it into several challenges. I created a variation on the sketch at Critter Sketch. City Crafters has bon voyage as its theme. Mark's Finest Papers Tutorial challenge is to create a tent top card. This month ArtisticStamper wants to see circles.
To make the background panel I used the sand background stamp from Rogue Redhead's Beach Babes and then diecut the circles. The boat and anchor stamps, as well as the sentiment, are also from Beach Babes. I used the outside the nestie technique from Technique Junkies for the boat circle..

StarsNstripes4evR

The 4th of July holiday (USA) is just around the corner, so I created this Independence Day card to share.
My card layout is based on the challenge sketch this week at Mojo Monday. The flag background panel is an Our Daily Bread Designs background stamp. In order to color it the way I wanted, I stamped it in Memento London Fog. Then I brought out my denim, garnet, and winter frost Creative Inspirations paints and painted the flag. I dry embossed the dark blue core'dinations panel with a Cuttlebug folder, sanded the stars, and then went over the stars with fairy dust paint. The center oval was a bit of an experiment. I spread gel medium on my nonstick mat and placed the stamp in the glue. Then I stamped the fireworks (Northwoods) on a piece of white cardstock. I quickly added Resplendence (CI glitter) emerald, regal red, and gold. This made some very sparkly fireworks. (It's important to wash the stamp off immediately before the gel dries.) The 4 is from Tim Holtz's Idea-ology line. I painted it with garnet paint and quickly sprinkled it with Resplendence regal red. The glitter stuck to the paint like it was glued. I think this card celebrates the 4th quite effectively with all of its sparkle and shimmer. I am also entering it in the Critter Sketch challenge which has the theme sparkle.

Friends

This week the challenge at The Octopode Factory and at Take a Word was friends. The layout of my card is a quarter turn rotation of the sketch challenge at Critter Sketch. The Octopode version of the Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum characters from Alice in Wonderland looked perfect for a friends challenge as they walk along arm in arm. I thought the sentiment was ideal for a friends card.

Thanks a Bunch

I had a lot of fun combining a few challenges to make this card.

I began with the sketch challenge from Mojo Monday. The challenge at My Minds Eye is to use MME brads in our work. At the Artistic Stamper the challenge is spots and stripes. I used MME papers with stripes, with spots, and with florals. The striped brad and pink pearl brads worked well with the papers. Both Critter Sketch and I Brake for Challenges had flowers as their theme. The flower stamp is one from I Brake for Stamps. Finally, the sentiment (from Club Scrap) was stamped on a spun sugar dyed ribbon. The challenge at Kraft Journal is a thank you challenge. All of the panels were adhered to a kraft base card.

Mother's Treasure

Although I'm a little late in posting, I didn't want to miss the Bloggers Challenge with the theme Oh Baby. My card features the most precious baby in my life, my granddaughter, Jayda. This card will make a wonderful Mother's Day card for my daughter. Jayda will be 20 months in a few days.
My card is a fairly simple card. The image is the focus. The base card and frame are a shimmery opal cardstock. I die cut the frame and the picture. I die cut a flower using a Spellbinders die and used Tim Holtz's ChitChat words for the sentiment.
This card will also be entered into these challenges: Critter Sketch with the theme Mom; Tuesday Throwdown with the theme motherly love; City Crafter with the theme photo booth (use a photo in our project) and Creative Belli Blog with the theme new arrivals or babies.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.

Fairies

This week Bloggers Challenge is a sketch challenge. The challenge at Critter Sketch is fairies and the challenge at Kraft Journal is use your stash. My card works with all three challenges. I followed the sketch, used lots of fairy images, and pulled out items from my stash that I hadn't used in ages.
The base cardstock is Kraft. I just love the background paper. It is from Graphics45 Once Upon a Springtime.  I've been saving it for way too long. This was the perfect card to get me to use some. Both stamped fairy images have been in my stash for years. Again, it was the perfect time to pull them out and use them. I used glossy accents on the focal image for emphasis. The paper lace was the perfect touch to the center of the card. Do I have to say that I've been hoarding it forever.

It's time for Green Beer and Shamrocks

Once a year I get to bring out my shamrocks and green beer stamps. Happy St. Patrick's Day! I created this card for the Kraft Journal challenge -- Luck o' the Irish theme, for Critter Sketch -- Monochromatic Green, and for Take a Word -- green. All of the image stamps are from Kitchen Sink Stamps. The sentiment has been in my stash forever.Both the shamrocks and the green beer are multi-step stamping images.
Color recipes: All ink is Adirondack
Green beer -- 1 willow, 2 citrus, 3 lettuce, 4 pesto
Shamrocks --  1 citrus, 2 lettuce, 3 meadow

Snow Couple

This week the challenge at Critter Sketch is buttons and  the sketch at Three Muses is couples. I created this card using the sketch challenge at Mojo Monday. I started with matching design paper and brad from My Mind's Eye. The partial doily is cut from vellum using an on-the-edge die from Tim Holtz. The image is an adorable couple from Rogue Redhead's Candy Kisses. I know spring is around the corner, but this adorable, loving, winter couple needed to be showcased at least one more time.

With Love

Here's another Valentine for you. This one is very dimensional, although the scanner did flatten it somewhat. I started with a stamp from Outlines Rubber Stamps called Whimsical Blossom. I thought is was rather lacey looking and would look great on a Valentines card. I stamped it several times and cut out each layer. I adhered the layers to each other with foam dots. Over the top layer I adhered some die cut hearts which had been covered with glass bead gel. The challenge theme at Outlines Rubber Stamps is Follow Your Heart.
This card follows the sketch challenge at the Critter Sketch Challenge Blog seen at the left. I'd like to say congratulations to Critter Sketch on reaching their 100th challenge posting. There's a blog hop going on now to celebrate.
This card also meets the Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge which is a love recipe -- word love(s) hearts, lace, and the colors red, pink, and white. (I hope my lacey background and flower qualify for the lace.)

Love Your Style

When I saw that the challenge at I Brake for Challenges was fancy folds, I thought of one of my favorite folds from the Technique Junkies Newsletter, the Z-fold card (Aug/Sep 2007). I decided to combine this challenge with that of Creative Belli which is fancy frames and Critter Sketch which is 3 embellishments. My stamps are from the Millinery Misses collection at Rogue Redhead Designs. All of the cardstock is from Club Scrap. My frame is one of the picot circles die cuts from Spellbinders. My embellishments --sticky back pearls around frame, blue flower button, and bling border have been in my stash for a long time waiting for their time to shine.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

 The weather outside is frightful, as the song goes. It's so cold that Frosty came inside and is watching the snow through the window. Now, that's cold.
Both Tuesday Throwdown and Critter Sketch have the challenge Baby It's Cold Outside. The Take a Word challenge is Nature.
My cold and snowy outdoor's scene is a stamp from Heartfelt Creations. Although it doesn't show up really clearly, the scene is highlighted with stickles for snow. The fancy window die is a Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders die. Of course, Frosty is a Tim Holtz die. The sentiment is Dymo generated.
It's been relatively nice here in Chicago; however, the threat of cold and snow is just days away.