thinking of you

Here's another card that I found in my craft room clean up.  This adorable card was sent to me from Myra, my former manager at the Westlake Impress.

thanks for everything

When I was cleaning up my craft space, I unearthed some great cards my friends made.  Here is another card made by Theresa.  I love the fun effect with just paper, eyelets, and one stamp.  So cute!

cards for church

Our church needed more cards for the deacons to write to members.  Our women's bible study has mission days so I was asked to design cards that other women could make for the deacons on that day.  It was a fun challenge.  I had to design cards that were:

1. easy to mass reproduce

2. didn't require any "dry time"

3. other non-stampers could easily make

4. were generic enough to use for a variety of occasions

5. didn't reuse any inks or stamps (since people would be at different tables)

6. were flat for easy mailing

7. had a variety of masculine and feminine

all the cards

card 1

card 2

card 2 {inside}

card 3

card 3 {inside}

card 4

card 5

papertrey march blog hop

Papertrey's blog hop inspiration this month is yellow and aqua.  It's not a natural combo for me, but I remembered I had some great A Muse paper that I paired with a bunch of Papertrey Ink die cuts to create this fun and elegant (for me) mother's day card.  After making my first rosette, I made this one using the small dahlia die and popped in a rhinestone that I colored with a copic marker.

 

proof that the rhinestone is yellow

stamp: Papertrey fillable frame, text background, & "Happy Mother's Day"
ink: Impress lemon yellow & pale aqua
other: Papertrey die cuts, rhinestone, Copic {Y06}

miss you

I have never used copics to create a graduated background so it was fun to play along with Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #58.  This card was a stretch for me because I'm not really an "orangey" color person.  But with the black flowers, I really like how it turned out.

stamp: Papertrey flowers & "miss you"

ink: VersaFine onyx black

other: Copics {Y11, Y21, Y17, YR04, YR68}

{stars}

I love the bright cheery colors of the CR84FN Color Challenge 50.  The weather here has been dreary so I really wanted to start playing with spring colors.  Fortunately today the sun has popped out and the kids have been able to play outside.  I sure hope this sunshine continues!!

stamp: A Muse chevron; Papertrey Ink dots & swirls

ink: VersaColor opera pink; A Muse orange & buttercup

other: rhinestones, Papertrey die cut, corner punch

you are one of a kind!

My first card was so quick that I wanted to make another one for One Layer Wednesday 84.  I picked three different Copics for the pink gumballs, but with such small surface areas they look all look the same.

stamp: A Muse gumball machine & "you're one of a kind!"

ink: Memento tuxedo black

other: Copics {RV10, RV13, RV14, RV21}

dreams come a size too big...

I enjoy developing my skills in one layered cards.  When you don't add a bunch of "stuff" to your card, your stamps, colors, text, and placement really carry all the weight.  I had a minute to whip out this card for the One Layer Wednesday 84.

stamp:  A Muse birds & "dreams come a size too big..."

ink: A Muse orange, bubblegum, & watermelon; VersaFine onyx black

happy birthday

I have a small container where I keep extra scraps of paper and die cuts that I don't use.  I found the "5" and the "orange lace scallop" and whipped out this card.

stamp: A Muse "happy birthday"

ink: VersaFine onyx black

other: Papertrey Ink die cut, scalloped oval punch, circle punch, square punch

howdy!

I had time for another challenge.  This time it was the CAS-ual Friday 1, 2, 3, Challenge.  It requires a pattern, an image, and a sentiment.  I may have stretched the rules a bit.  I'm not sure "wood grain" is a pattern.  Plus I used "an image" twice.  Either way, it's definitely clean and simple.

 

stamp: Rubber Soul boot; A Muse "howdy"; Papertrey Ink wood grain
ink: A Muse french roast & latte
other: A Muse die cut, twine

happy birthday

I wanted to play along with the Embellish Magazine's Rosettes Color Challenge.  I've never made a rosette, but have seen many floating around on card blogs and projects on pinterest.  I followed this pictorial tutorial and made my first rosette.  It was easy and fun!

 

stamp: Papertrey text & "happy birthday"
ink: VersaFine onyx black
other: Papertrey die cut, A Muse washi tape, buttons, twine, circle punch, vintage label punch

hello

I have been falling in love with Laurie Wilison's chevron cards here and here and here and decided to try one of the adorable circle cards.

 

I think it's such a fun and fresh look!

stamp: A Muse chevron stripes, flower, & "hello"

ink: Memento tuxedo black; A Muse orange

other: circle punch, Copics (Y17, YG23, YR68, YR04)

{apothecary jars}

Since I cleaned out my space I had easier access to these sweet apothecary jars from my friend, Kathy.  I got to practice my coloring.  Not the best but it's fun to practice.

stamps & inks: done by Kathy for me
other: twine, colored pencils, Taylored Expressions die cut

{flower vase}

I wanted to play along with The Paper Dolls "Spring Bling" challenge.  I decided to pair it with Laura Bassen adorable cherry card layout.  It was a little hard to think of Spring today as it's been snowing off and on all day here in Seattle.  I'm ready for warmer weather though!

 

stamp: Memory Box flowers; A Muse chevron stripes
ink: Memento tuxedo black; A Muse sage & grass
other: scallop punch, hole punch, Copics (YG23, Y02, Y06, Y11), Memory Box jewel stickers canary yellow

happy birthday

Do you remember being in school, starting a worksheet, skipping the instructions and jumping right into the worksheet?  Yeah, I don't recommend it.  That was me with the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #57.  This card took me way too long.  I started watching the video, paused it, and then got busy with the idea that jumped in my head.  I should have continued watching.  I had all this trouble with blurry images with my colored kissing technique.  I tried die inks, then pigments, then colored paper with die inks and pigment inks.  Nothing made the images any clearer.

Finally, I thought to watch the rest of the video. I noticed that Heather was stamping the solid image first, cleaning the stamp, and stamping the second time with the pattern.  How could I be such a fool?! {palm to forehead}  Everything went much quicker after that!

failed attempts

stamp: Papertrey Ink car, "happy birthday" & "enjoy the ride"

ink: A Muse sky, ocean, & blueberry

other:  Papertrey Ink die cut

life isn't about waiting for...

I have enjoyed playing along with challenges lately (have you noticed?).  It keeps me crafting even when I can't think of something on my own to create.  This time I participated in the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #43.  The goal was to make the sentiment the focal point of the card.

Ironically, it was raining when I took this picture.

stamp: Papertrey Ink cross & "Life isn't about waiting for..."
ink: A Muse grass; VersaFine onyx black
other: Papertrey Ink die cut, twine

thanks so much!

So I wrote this last night.  Maybe I was a bit harsh on myself?  I think I had a different vision and didn't pull it off.  It's not the best card, but it might not be that bad.

I decided to try a Runway Inspired Challenge.  I should not do that again.  I'm a "wear black all the time" person who maybe switches it up with some grey (real exciting, I know).  Runway fashion is always so bold and over the top. I have a hard time just picking one item and simplifying it the way Cristina or Angeline do.  Plus, I was trying to channel my inner Dawn McVey with the paper layers, but it just looks like a mess.

stamp: Papertrey Ink dots; A Muse stitching & "thanks so much!"
ink: Impress cherry pink; VersaFine onyx black
other: Papertrey Ink dies

Apologies if I just burnt out your cornea's.

twinkle, twinkle

Now that my desk is clean, I've been wanting to do some more challenges.  I love Susan Raihala's gorgeous one layer cards, so I thought I'd give the One-Layer Wednesday challenge #82 a try.  While I do simple cards, I don't do one-layer cards.  It requires too much planning, precision, and color palette knowledge.  All of which are my downfalls.

My girlfriend had a baby on Leap Day (how cool is that?) and who better to give a card to than a sleep deprived mother?  They can't remember if they ate breakfast, let alone if your card was perfect or not!

front 

inside

I can't tell you how badly my fingers were itching to add some tiny rhinestones, buttons or twine to this card.

stamp: Papertrey Ink star, swirls, & "twinkle, twinkle little star"

ink: A Muse ocean & sage

other: corner punch

thinking of you

Cristina wowed me again with this adorable burlap butterfly card.  I did my best to recreate it.  Fortunately, amuse|studio has a 3 sizes of butterfly dies, so I didn't have to hand cut my little butterfly.

stamp: Memory Box "thinking of you"

ink: VersaFine onyx black

other: A Muse butterfly die cut, burlap

happy birthday

This is another old card I came across.  It was a Savvy sample card at Impress, that I copied.

celebrate today

I was intrigued by the Make It Monday #56  from Papertrey Ink.  The challenge is to use a partially die cut image.  I don't own any chipboard, so I had a hard time creating the right thickness to keep the one side from cutting, but it was fun to play with a die cut in a different way.

stamp: Papertrey Ink mat stack 4 & "celebrate today"
ink: A Muse slate; VersaFine onyx black
other: buttons, twine, mat stack 4 die cut, circle punch

hello sunshine

I found this white card front in a stash of half-started projects.  All I had to do was add a sentiment, some Stickles, and affix it to a card.  It reminded me of Staples.  That was easy.

stamp: Papertrey Ink flowers & "hello sunshine"

ink: VersaFine onyx black, A Muse shell & grass

other: Stickles cotton candy, Copic multi-liner .05

{flower vase}

So in cleaning up my giant mess, I came across cards that I had been saving for ideas and inspiration.  I figured that I would blog them, that way they'll be stored for me and I don't have to have a giant shoe box in my clean new space! 


Here's the first of many.  My friend Theresa made me this card after I had my first daughter.  I first met Theresa when I was working at Impress in Tukwila.  She's now one of the main cogs of Memory Box.  She is über talented!! You can't see, but on this card she used glitter with the Diamond Glaze to give it something more.  She colored the flowers and stems with either Radiant Pearls or Twinkling H2O's.