Romance

I'm enjoying the creating of cards in the spirit of Valentine's Day for the various challenges relating to this holiday. The Kraft Journal Make It Monday challenge has the theme so romantic and Tuesday Throwdown wants us to use hearts. To create this card, I started with a red cardstock base card. I used kraft cardstock for the layering panel. I started by adding white picket fence distress stain to the embossing folder and then embossing the panel. I highlighted the lettering with red distress ink. I then added clear embossing powder over the panel and heat embossed. I die cut the red lacey heart using the Cheery Lynn Celtic Heart die. The flowered background I cut out by tracing around the die and cutting it. I layered the hearts and adhered it to the embossed panel. It was a fairly simple card to make, but I think the outcome is quite effective.

Love Being With You

Armed with several new dies this week, I really enjoyed working on the challenge at the Cheery Lynn Designs Blog which was sweethearts. The large oval frame is from the Japanese Garden Lace Oval die. I adhered the frame over the base card covered with a panel of designer paper from My Mind's Eye. I placed the Celtic heart in the lower corner and adorned it with flowers made from the miniature rose die. To finish the card I used tattered rose distress ink in the corners of the card, used an outlines sticker within the heart, used word boxes for the main sentiment, and added a few crystal butterflies. I think my sweetheart will like this card.

Green, Glorious Green

At Gingersnap Creations the current color challenge is glorious greens. Although the weather in Chicago hasn't been too bad this winter (yet), I'm ready for green and flowers. That said, I enjoyed making this card. It's amazing how many shades of green there are.
I used the sketch challenge at the City Crafter Challenge blog for my card layout. My background layer is actually the Japanese Lace and Flourish die cut from Cheery Lynn and the Cheery Lynn Blog Challenge is dry embossing. The lighter green panel is dry embossed using a Sizzix folder and highlighted with meadow green ink (Adirondack). My image is a digital stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms (a freebie) which I painted using Creative Inspirations Paints. Ah, the promise of spring!

Send in the Clowns

The current Spicy Supply Challenge at Gingersnap Creations is ribbon. This week the challenge at Kraft Journal is tie it up. I guess this was an obvious combination of challenges. I tied up my card with ribbon. My focal image and sentiment are from Artistic Outpost. I used the stacked nesties technique from the Oct/Nov 2011 TJ newsletter. All of the design paper is from My Mind's Eye. I love the colors stacked up against the kraft base card. The ribbons were all dyed with distress stains. I used my binder hole punch to punch the ribbon holes. I think it's fun to have the card fold at the top of the card as a change.

Love Tag

RangerInk Link has reinstated the monthly challenge in the Yahoo group. This month the theme is  to use Stickles (at least three) and our organizational skills. Well, I created a tag for Valentines day. I combined hearts, love, and Cupid for the tag. I cut a tag from Core'dinations paper, embossed it with hearts, and sanded the embossing. I adhered this tag to a manila tag for structure. I distressed the edges using victorian velvet distress ink and an edge distresser. I covered the entire tag with clear Rock Candy distress stickles (my favorite). The letters for the word love (unknown company) were stamped and embossed with gold embossing powder. They were cut out individually and adhered to the side of the tag vertically. A row of bling circles was adhered to the bottom of the tag and then heart gems were attached to the middle of the circles. Cupid and two hearts were die cut from a deep red paper. Cupid was covered with burgundy stickles and adhered with foam dots. The middle heart was covered with crystal ice stickles and the top heart was covered with worn lipstick distress stickles. The tag was finished by adding ribbon and a heart charm with the letters, l-o-v-e, hanging on it. With the embossing, the stickles, and the bling, this tag definitely has pizzazz.
The tag also qualifies for the Tuesday Throwdown challenge of using a charm and the Sweet Stamps challenge which is Love.

Que Sera Sera

This week's Bloggers Challenge is texturize it. I only wish you could feel my card instead of just looking at a scan of it. I liked the sketch challenge at Mojo Monday for my card. It had lots of areas to play with. Before I talk texture, I also went with the theme challenge from Simon Says Stamp and Show which was song title. I used the song Que Sera Sera, from the '50's. Those of you who remember the song will probably have it floating in your brain all day. I know from experience. Now back to the texture. Each panel has a different texture. I'll start with the Eiffel Tower. I used Rock Candy crackle paint on it, so the panel is quite crackly. The bistro panel is layered with Golden bead gel. The Arch de Triomph panel is layered with Golden pearl mica gel. The shop panel is layered with Golden fiber paste. The sentiment panel is dry embossed using a Cuttlebug folder and the letters were highlighted with Viva Decor gold paint.
This card also works for the challenge at Three Muses this week which is Oo la la (French).

How Much

This week the challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs blog is a sketch challenge. My stamps are from the ODBD Mother Theresa set. I stamped the sentiment in Ranger Archival coffee ink and the image in Ranger Adirondack pebble (stamped off once). The die is from Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders. All paper is from Club Scrap.