It's Fussy and Fancy Challenge Time . . .

Hello Everyone!

It's time once again for a new challenge over at the 

Fussy and Fancy Challenge Blog!

 

This new challenge is hosted by Gina and the theme she has chosen is

Ribbon & Lace

 

What a fun time I had creating this card!

I was actually even able to use a few items that were laying around on my work table begging to be created with.  I really need to take a day and just create cards from the items I have stacking up on my table ... or quit changing my mind midway through a creation which results in extra cuts of ribbon, stamped images & die cuts!  LOL!

Challenges to share in:
Crafting With an Attitude February Challenge - Anything Goes
As You Like It Challenge - Ribbon or Lace??  (must be ribbon because I have a TON of it!! )
Craft Rocket Challenge #33 - Anything Goes

  I hope you've enjoyed my card today and are inspired to come join in our challenge.  And, for more awesome inspiration be sure to pop over and see what my team mates have created ... OMGoodness ... so much talent on this team!!

Hope to see you there!

Thanks so much for stopping by and as always . . .

 Recipe:

Papers:  White cs, Black cs, Pink cs, Lavender cs, BoBunny dp

Stamp/Ink:  Old Stampin Up / Versafine Onyx

Dies:  Spellbinder 'Victoria Corners' S2-134, Memory Box 'Cross Stitched Frame Borders #99124, Tutti Designs 'Nesting Stitched Rectangles', Impression Obsession 'Love Birds', 

Accessories:  Really Reasonable Ribbon butterfly ribbon, Jambo White Lace Tape, Prima Flowers, Sequins, Nuvo crystal drops, Craft-Dee Bowz bowmaker

Clean and Simple . . .

 . . . is definitely NOT my style 

but maybe some practice will help me improve!

Hello All and Happy Afternoon!

While working on some design team work today I thought possibly I could create

something in the CAS (clean and simple) style for a particular project ... but although I like the card, it just wasn't what I was looking for.

I used a circle punch of Eclipse Masking Medium for my 'moon' before 

sponging the upper part of my panel with Tim Holtz 'broken china' distress ink.

The lower portion was sponged with Tim Holtz 'tea die' distress ink and 

then I created my scene with the following stamps:

Seaside Stampin' 'Single Dune' #D236

Inkadinkado Sentiment #5626-M

Stampendous 'Sea Gulls'

Stampscapes 'Gulls' #302A

Not bad!  But I'll keep practicing and hopefully get better.

A few challenges to share in:

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #229 - Clean and Simple

Ike's World Challenge #82 - Anything Goes w/twist - Nature

Inky Chicks Challenge #78 - Clean and Simple

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #330 - Say It with Words

I'll be back again real soon with another ATTEMPT at this style

but until then ... thanks so much for stopping by and

as always . . .

Double D - Ric Rac / Zig Zag

Hello my friends!

How was your Valentine's Day?

Were you lavished with roses & chocolate?  

Or just a lot of heart warming LOVE like I did?

Either way works for me!!  LOL

Anyways ... today begins a new challenge at the Double D Challenge Blog.

Team Darlene is hosting today and the theme is RIC RAC / ZIG ZAG

here's a peek at the mood board . . .

We all have patterned paper or actual ric rac that would fit this

challenge theme so why not come join in the fun!  YOU could be our winner!!

Here's what I came up:

I have had a sheet of 3D owl stickers hanging around my pegboard wall for several months and they just kind of jumped out at me today so I decided that would be the basis for my card.   Then I just started looking through my stash to see what I had available that fit the theme/board.  

I found a DCWV Basic 6x6 paper pack that fit for the background.

A wheel of OLD single zig zag stitched ribbon from Michaels.

And,  I also found I had two packs of Wrights Ric Rac ... one pink, one purple.  

I went with the purple for today's accent.

With so many OWL lovers out there today, I'm sure someone at one of my craft shows will squeal in delight when they see this card available.  Just might have to whip up a few more owl cards for the sale box too ... this was fun!

Challenges to share in:
Stampin' Royalty Challenge SR#363 - Dies
Word Art Wednesday Challenge 270-271 - Anything Goes
Words 2 Craft By Challenge #38 - Celebrations (birthday)
Jo's Scrap Shack Fun-Day Friday Challenge #175 - Anything Goes

Be sure to pop over to the Double D Challenge Blog and see what the team as created for your inspiration!  These ladies ALWAYS come up with the most amazing & creative designs!!!

Hope to see you there!

As always . . .

Recipe:

Papers:  DCWV Basics dp, white cs, black cs

Sentiment:  Computer generated

Dies:  Cheery Lynn Designs 'Birch Tree w/cute critters' B370, Sue Wilson 'Stitched Flags' CED4317

Accessories:  Wright ric rac, Prima flowers, Nuvo crystal drops, Michael's zig zag single stitched ribbon

Tutti Designs - Easter Gate

Happy Sunday Friends!

Today I'm sharing a card of Easter and the hope of Spring using a beautiful new die from the fabulous Tutti Designs Store called 'Easter Gate' .  This die is among the 22 new dies available in our latest January Release ... be sure to pop over and see for yourself!  They are fantastic!

I've actually used two Tutti Designs dies on today's card.  The Easter Gate as mentioned above and also from our October Release a beautiful die called 'Flower Symphony Corner'.

I was wanting to add some dimension to my Easter Gate, so instead of die cutting it 3 or 4 times, I die cut it once from white card stock and again using 3mm fun foam.   Adhered them together and Viola ... I have the dimension I was looking for.

When I die cut the Flower Symphony Corner,

I realized the one side was a little too long for my corner

and hit up against the gate arch.

NO PROBLEM ...

A little snip and now it was the perfect size for

my corner and the snipped off piece worked beautifully

with my added flowers on the gate front.

Here's a peek at the dimension on the gate die using the fun foam . . .

Please be sure to pop over to the Tutti Designs Store and check out all of the fabulous dies in this latest release.  And, of course, you'll want to browse through the store to see what other dies you need to have on hand.

Challenges to share in:
Crafty Friends Challenge #51 - Anything Goes
Creative Fingers Challenge #124 - Anything Goes
Cut It Up Challenge - Bendy or Scene cards (mine is a scene)
Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge - Add flowers
Simply Papercraft Challenge #43 - Anything Goes

Need inspiration? 

The team has something new to share on the Tutti Designs Blog EACH and EVERY DAY!   Pop in often and see for yourself ... what a talented group of designers!!

For your convenience, here are all the Tutti Designs quick links you will need:

Tutti Designs Store

Tutti Designs Pinterest

Tutti Designs Facebook

Tutti Designs Blog

 Thanks for stopping by and as always . . .

Recipe:

Papers:  White cs, Lime green cs, Pink Pirouette cs, Hot Off The Press 'Botanical Etchings' dp

Dies:  Tutti Designs #188 Flower Symphony Corner and #262 Easter Gate, Sue Wilson #CED1437 Laurel Leaves, Heartfelt Creations Botanical Wings

Stamps:  Heartfelt Creations Botanical Rose 

Accessories:  3mm Fun Foam, Flower forming stylus/mat, white embossing powder

Oh how I long . . .

. . . for the dog days of summer!

YESTERDAY . . .

TODAY . . .

{Big Sigh}   Oh well, it is February in Ohio, USA so I shouldn't complain!!

Instead I'll just keep making cards that remind me of warmer times yet to come.

Like the card I have to share with you today.

The fun challenge offered up at the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge Blog is a color challenge and I thought I'd play along once again.  I'm really enjoying the challenge themes they've been offering!!  Here are the colors we are to create with this week. 

I didn't have the EXACT colors but I came as close as I could.

This card was created totally with dies (and 1 punch)!

I love creating scenery card like this and I think they can be used for a

variety of occasions!  

Sometimes my dark green card stock shows up black in my photos so here's

a close up to show the ivy vine is really dark green ... as it should be.

I couldn't decide what color to make my butterflies

then I spotted a scrap of multicolored inked card stock left

over from an earlier project and thought that would work beautifully!

A few challenges to share in:

(must remember Watercooler Wednesday only allows 4 including theirs)

 

Crafting When We Can Challenge #137 - Flowers

Animal Friends February Challenge - No Designer Paper + animal

Happy Little Stamper - Anything Goes with Dies

Well that's it for me today!  Think I'll work on some DT projects!

Always nice to get ahead of the game!

Thanks for stopping by and as always . . .

Recipe:
Papers:  Card stock:  Sky Blue, Hunter Green, Olive green, Guava, Peach, Lavender, White
Dies: Cheery Lynn Designs 'Chicken Wire Frame'  #FRM144, Tutti Designs 'Cherry Blossom Branch' #177, Sue Wilson 'Greek Island Collection Corner, Border, Tag' #CED5102, Precious Marieke 'Grass Border #PM10002, Memory Box 'Laborador' #879
Accessories:  Martha Stewart 3-in-1 butterfly punch, dimensional tape

Sisterhood of Crafters - RED

Hello Everyone!

There's a new challenge starting today at The Sisterhood of Crafters.

I'm thrilled to be your host today and with

this being the 'month of LOVE' I chose the color RED for today's theme.

I've also created a mood board to help inspire you.

I was inspired by the fabric patterns, the white puppy & red tulips.

Here's what I've created . . .

I'm not a huge animal lover (don't dislike them ... just don't want to be

bothered with the clean up at this stage of my life).  We always

had animals when I was growing up on a small farm and  always had

a dog when I was raising the family ... but now I want to be able

to pick up & go when hubby says let's go on vacation!

This little guy is just too cute!  His name is 'Buster the Dog' and he's by Elizabeth Craft.

He came from the Dies R Us Store but currently he is out of stock.  There are

other adorable animal dies that you'll want to check out!  These are the kind

of animals I can handle so you'll be seeing more of them in the near future!  LOL

The flowers are by Poppystamps ... 'Tulip Branch' and I've die cut them

twice ... once in green (for the stemming) and once in red for

the flowers.  The grass was created using the Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Border'

and the fence is an older  Poppystamps die called 'Picket Fence'  #827.

Challenges to share in:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Cute
Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #109 - Shads of Red

Cuttlebug Mania Challenge - Roses are RED

Crafty Sentiment February Challenge - Anything Goes

Scrapyland Challenge #59 - Anything Goes

I hope you'll come join in our challenge fun and be sure to pop over

for more inspiration from the design team ... what a talented group!

Thanks for stopping by and as always . . .

Recipe:

Papers:  DCWV dp, white cs, green cs, brown cs, red cs, black cs

Dies:  Elizabeth Craft 'Buster the Dog', Poppystamps 'Tulip Branch', Poppystamps 'Picket Fence', Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Border', Tutti Designs 'Happy' and 'Birthday'

Just saying "Hello"

Happy Monday Everyone!

Did you see that Super Bowl last night?

Last half was pretty exciting!  Just goes to show ...

It's NOT over TILL it's over!!

(those who follow football will understand!  [wink wink])

Congrats once again to the New England Patriots!!

Anyways ... anyone who knows me knows I enjoy a good sketch challenge and

I look forward to seeing what the Mojo Monday sketch looks like each week.

But today I came upon a sketch challenge over on Great Impressions

that I thought I'd join in on.  You get extra credit if you use their

stamps and I knew I had a few in my stash ... so here goes!

I must admit, since I've gotten involved with die cuts, I 

don't use my stamps nearly as much as I once did!  So this challenge

gave me to opportunity to get inky & creative all at the same time!

I've used two Great Impressions stamps that are very old.  They are #G298

and #G304 (Sea Grasses).  I thought they would work good together for my focus

image and then decided they would be equally as good as my background

so created a background panel then cut it to accommodate the sketch.

I've used a fine tip black marker to do the faux stitching

which I think helped accent the sketch design also.

The butterflies are from the Martha Stewart 3-in-1 Butterfly Punch

and my sentiment is by Technique Tuesday.

 Thanks so much for stopping by!

As always . . .

A Butterfly Hello . . .

Happy Superbowl Sunday Everyone!

Just a few more hours and the BIG GAME will begin!

But in the meantime, I have created a

second card for the sketch challenge over on the

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge Blog. 

I totally forgot that they have a rule of sharing on only FOUR

challenges including theirs and my earlier entry had five ... oops.

So I will remember that rule this time around!  LOL 

As I stated before, I enjoy working with a sketch and this one

is a fun one to create with so here goes card #2 for this challenge!

I have a couple sheets of beautiful butterflies put out by K&Co

so today that was my choice of focus image.    This particular butterfly is a beauty!
It is two layers with color on both the chipboard bottom layer and
the top vellum layer ... so so pretty!

As on my original entry card, I have once again

used the Tutti Designs 'Nesting Stitched Oval' dies.

My background paper is Ken Oliver,

Satin ribbon is from my stash,

Sentiment is Avery Elle - Sentimentals

and the left corner butterflies are from the
Martha Stewart '3-in-1' Butterfly Punch.

I've also used Nuvo white crystal drops on the smaller
butterflies and the background panel for my focus butterfly.

Well I have lots to do before the game starts
so I'd best get busy! 

Thanks for stopping by and here's wishing
you a FABULOUS week ahead!!

As always . . .

Tutti Designs - Holy Crosses

Happy Sunday Friends!

Today I'm sharing a card of color and beauty using a die 

from the fabulous Tutti Designs Store.
WARNING:  Post is photo heavy ... but please stick with me to the end ... I think you'll be happy you did!  

I had forgotten I used this same basic technique of 'color' on last week's creation, so sorry about that!  But I have done something a little different this week so I hope you'll find inspiration in both techniques.

The same technique I am referring to is the use of Ken Oliver Color Burst to create the panel to use for die cutting this amazing Tutti Designs die ' Holy Crosses' #249.  

Easter really isn't that far away (April 16th) so I'm happy that Tutti Designs has released their new line of Easter dies so I can get ahead of the game this year!  You will find 22 gorgeous dies available in their January Release that are very fitting for this holiday. 

 I must confess!

I started this entire process using another of the January Release dies called 'Easter Lilies Window'.

When doing my color burst, I had the card panel so wet I grabbed another scrap of white card stock and laid it over the top to absorb some of the liquid color.

I used the first panel to die cut this beautiful panel.  Next I adhered it to a sheet of yellow vellum and began embossing with my stylus inside the different flower cuts.

It's been so many years since I've played around with this technique, I totally forgot this step should have been done from the BACK in order for the embossing to show through correctly.  Photo on the left is how it appears from the front ... photo on the right is how it appears on the back. (click images to enlarge)  Ooops.

SO, that is why I started again!! 

(I'm sure you will see this panel on another card sample some time in the future!)

 Below is the color panel I created using that 2nd 'absorbing' panel.  It was

pretty except the center was too light!  So I added a different color of Color Burst ... sprayed it again with water and VIOLA!  As you can see, it too was very wet (heavy trigger finger I guess) ... but, luckily it ran together beautifully.  

P.S.   That white streak you see on the left is actually a 'wet shine' in the photo ... not a white streak on the paper.

OKAY so let's start this process again!

Once my color panel was dry and after die cutting my Holy Crosses, I backed my die cut using lavender vellum.  I then flipped the panel over and using my stylus, carefully embossed certain panels to have them 'upraised' on the front side of my focus panel.

BACK of Panel

And here is a close up of the Front of the panel after embossing.

See how it it totally changes the appearance of the vellum.

FRONT of Panel

Thanks for sticking with me and I hope you've found inspiration in this posting!

Here's another quick look at the finished project.

Please be sure to pop over to the Tutti Designs Store and check out all of the fabulous dies in this latest release.  And, of course, you'll want to browse through the store to see what other dies you need to have on hand.

Challenges to share in:
A Bit More Time to Craft Challenge #37 - Anything Goes
A Perfect Time to Craft Challenge #2 - Anything Goes
Crafts and Me February Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafts Galore Encore February Challenge - Anything Goes

Need inspiration?

The team has something new to share on the Tutti Designs Blog EACH and EVERY DAY!   Pop in often and see for yourself ... what a talented group of designers!!

For your convenience, here are all the Tutti Designs quick links you will need:

Tutti Designs Store

Tutti Designs Pinterest

Tutti Designs Facebook

Tutti Designs Blog

 Thanks for stopping by and as always . . . Happy Cutting!