Capture Life's Moments

I can't believe that it is already the end of April. Here is my tag for the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012 April challenge. I had hoped to receive my bird on a branch die before making this tag. Since I ran out of time, I had to improvise. I used the bird from Caged Bird and a part of Branch Tree for the branch. for my background stamp I used the music reflections stamp. Otherwise, for the most part I followed Tim's sample pretty closely. Now I'm ready for the May tag.

Wings to Fly

Lots of flowers is the theme for this month's Great Impressions challenge and Artistic Stamper wants lace and ribbon. These two challenges combine well together to make a very pretty card. Although the scan flattens the card, the bird and branch is actually stamped on the inside of the card. The circle was cut out of the base card front. The front of the card was then dry embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder. The sentiment was stamped on white cardstock and then die cut. A gold marker was used to border the die cut. Once the sentiment was adhered, the flowers, lace, and ribbon were added to the card front. The image and sentiment are from Great Impressions stamps. The image and flowers were painted with Creative Inspirations Paints.

Vintage Child's Birthday

The SweetStamps challenge this week is stamped frame. To make my frame I took a quarter sheet of Kraft paper and die cut the center using Tim Holtz's mini ornamental movers and shapers die. I used the negative of the die cut for my frame. I then stamped the frame with foam number stamps and then embossed it with the Cuttlebut stars embossing folder. The boy image is part of the SweetStamps skipping children stamp and the balloons are from the See-D Celebrations stamps. The images were colored with distress markers. The sentiment is a combination of Outline Stickers and the foam number stamps.
This card is also being entered in the Take a Word challenge which is numbers and the Kraft Journal challenge which is just for kids.

Thanks Mom

I made this card with three challenges in mind. The Cheery Lynn challenge is for mom and of course, must have at least one Cheery Lynn die cut. The Stampsmith challenge is colors of spring  and must have at least one Stampsmith image.

The Mojo Monday challenge is a sketch challenge (see left).
My card is a 5x7 card. I used a bright yellow card base . I cut the squares from blue, lilac, and green cardstock. The butterflies are the mini butterfly set from Cheery Lynn. I alternated the styles of butterflies and I alternated the colors of pink and yellow. I used colors I felt really represented spring. The image is from Stampsmith and is bordered by a Cheery Lynn die cut from the reflections boutique mini pearl circle.  The tag is a metal one and is stamped with Stazon ink. The sentiment is from Club Scrap.
I have to admit that as I was working on this card I was afraid that it would be too busy and that the colors would be too much. I was really happy with the final results.

Beauty

To be honest, I had no idea which way this card was going to go when I started. This week's Bloggers Challenge is to make your own background paper. Anyone who knows me know that I love creating backgrounds. Then I decided that since Lisa and Gerri enabled me to purchase a Gelli plate, I would use mine to make the background. I started out with sky blue acrylic paint, some bubble wrap, some foam stamps, and a comb and created the first part of the background. When that was dry I went over the panel with mustard seed distress stain. Since acrylic paint is a resist for distress, I went over the panel with a damp rag and removed the stain from the painted parts. That left that lovely yellow wherever the paint had been removed.
The image is from the Octopode Factory. Her dress was paper pieced. The sentiment is a quote I found on the computer. My word was cut using a Quikutz alphabet. The flowers are a Spellbinders die cut.
My card meets several challenges this week. Ink on my Fingers Sunday challenge wants to see summer colors. (sky blue, red, yellow)  Simon Says Stamp and Show a word. (Beauty) Tuesday Throwdown challenged us to use some sparkle. (Flowers and letters are cut from glitter paper.) Three Muses wants to see words in art. The Octopode Factory challenge theme is fashion.

Faux Patina

This week in the Compendium of Curiosities challenge we were to try Tim Holtz's faux patina technique from p. 58 of his book. I used both versions of the technique on my card. The background is done with the faux patina technique. I also used the technique on the metal spinner and gears and on metal tape on the balloon sections. The stamps are all from Tim's Remnants set. I have to admit that I didn't expect such great results on the metal. I know Tim's was spectacular, but it seemed too easy to be true. I'll be doing this technique again!

Country Life

This month the Artistic Outpost referral challenge is birds. There are a lot of wonderful bird images in the AO collection to choose from. I finally decided that chickens are birds and that they need love too. So I went to my Country Life and Home stamp sets for my images and sentiment. The background is dry embossed with a cuttlebug folder. The design reminded me of chicken scratches. Have a fun day!