Friday, July 30, 2010
A Mini 3-D Project
Hello friends, so happy to have you back with me today for Fairy Fun Friday ! Our challenge this week is to make a 3-D project. My week has been super hectic and I didn't have a lot of time to plan. I remembered seeing this lovely bookmark highlighted a few weeks ago on SplitCoastStampers. Here is the tutorial posted there. I whipped this together in just about two hours which is equivalent to lightening speed for me. I had a real urge to drag out some fall colors but I mitigated it a bit by choosing a pattern with some blue in it rather than all earth tones. The colors here are Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Baja Breeze and a snippet of really, really old SU DP called Autumn Meadows. I used Spellbinders Labels #1 and a border die. The image is Terracotta Pot from the Prairie Fairy and it was colored with Copics. I finished it off with machine stitching and some pretty crinkled seam binding.
I hope you'll make something 3-D to share with us this week at Fairy Fun Friday. Stop by the blog and maybe even the blogs of the rest of the DT.
♥Margreet - Margreet's Scrapcards ♥Suzi - Sugar n Spice♥Viv - Crafting Haven♥ Hege-Annie - Hege-Annie's Paper {He}Art++ ♥Ann - Raindrop Echo Designs ♥Carla - Carla's Corner ♥Corry - Fancy Free 4Ever ♥Lori - Just Ducky ♥Kelly - Kelly's Kreative Korner♥Trisha - T-Bear's Touch ♥Sue - Arty's♥
Thanks so much for stopping by today and for your lovely comments!
Blessings & hugs,
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Isabella's Sketchbook Color Challenge
Good morning and welcome to my weekly Wednesday post for the Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge. This week we are encouraging you to stay cool in the heat of the summer by using the cool colors of blue and green. To enter, all you need to do is use an Isabella's Sketchbook image and blue and green as the main colors on your card. I used the adorable image called Feeding the Earth available in Isabella's Sketchbook Boutique.
Card Details: Digital image from Isabella's Sketchbook as noted above, all DP is digital: the floral is from the Flower Delights paper pack from Bearly Mine, the gingham is from Pink Petticoat and I'm not remembering where the leafy flourishes is from (but if you must know, leave me a question on it and I'll cruise through my digi paper files and figure it out). I also used Garden Green and Brocade Blue CS from SU. The main image and the flower were cut with Spellbinders dies and the leafy branch was cut with a Sizzix die. The image was colored with Copics and sponged with Brocade Blue ink. All other edges were sponged with Creamy Caramel. I used a bit of Stickles on the water sprinkling out of the can and the jumbo rick rack is from Jo-Ann's.
That about wraps up my post for Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge this week. Hope you will grab an Isabella's image and play along. Hope you will take time to say hi to the rest of the team this week too.
♥Annika♥Cec♥Diana♥Jackie♥Linda♥Lisa♥Peggy♥Peri♥Randi♥Sharon♥Sue♥Viv♥
Thanks for dropping by today. Thank you for your encouraging comments. I love to hear from you!
Blessings & hugs,
Saturday, July 24, 2010
A Delicious Color Challenge
Thanks so much for dropping by today! It's time for another challenge at Our Creative Corner. This week we have a delicioius color challenge for you. Summertime makes our hostess, Jennifer Meyer, think of watermelons and inspired her challenge colors - green, red, black and white. I was a bit stumped so I surfed the challenge blogs and decided on the Mojo Mondays #148 sketch which really did jumpstart my mojo! This is the result and honestly I had so much fun developing my sample for this challenge. There was something very satisfying in working with these colors. Maybe because I love watermelon and agree with Jennifer that it can't really be summer until you have had your first watermelon - LOL!
Let's get on to the details:
Sentiment: Raindrop Echo Designs (not sure if this one is available, I picked it up as a freebie on the Sentimental Sundays blog a few weeks ago)
Paper: Designer Digitals - Jessie's New Day Paper Pack and the red print is from Designer Digitals Krafty Elegance but I changed the cream and black to two shades of red with my PhotoShop Elements, Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White
Spellbinder Dies: Classic Circle and Fleur De Lis Pendants
Other: Martha Stewart border punch, KaiserCraft half pearls, Versamark & clear embossing powder, Creamy Caramel and Frayed Burlap ink for distressing, sewing machine.
Questions? If you have any questions on products or techniques, leave me a question in the Comments section and check back later for my updated post to include that information.
Now it's time to hop on over to Our Creative Corner and check out the rest of the beautiful green, red, black and white creations. And while you are surfing, stop by the blogs of the rest of the OCC design team and leave them an encouraging word.
♥Wendy Jensen♥Dana Grothaus♥Diane Gilbert♥Jennifer Meyer♥Julie LeBlanc♥Sarah Gough♥Lori Rider♥
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Blessings & hugs,
Friday, July 23, 2010
A Symbiotic Relationship
Another week is winding down and that brings us around to Fairy Fun Friday again. I'm so happy you took the time to stop by today to see what I have made for our weekly challenge. This week's challenge is called Lace it Up, which I interpreted by adding lace to my sample. I decided to use the wonderful muted colors from the Play Date Cafe's challenge this week.
Card Details:
Image: In the Garden by The Prairie Fairy
Sentiment: Raindrop Echo Designs (I'm not sure if this is available. I picked it up as a freebie from Sentimental Sundays a few weeks ago.)
Paper: The background paper is from Designer Digitals La Cremerie Citrouilles paper pack but I altered the color in my PSE to match one of the color chips given in the Play Date Cafe challenge. The paper used to mat the main image is an antique botanical drawing from the Vintage Moth. Flourishes card stock was used to print the digital image on which works wonderful with Copics. Stampin' Up Basic Black and Whisper White
Ink: Copics, Creamy Caramel and Frayed Burlap DI
Other: Crocheted lace and buttons
Questions? If you have any questions on my work, supplies or techniques, please leave them in the Comments section and then check back later for an updated post including that information.
The rest of the design team has some lacy beauties to share with you so be sure to stop by Fairy Fun Friday and check them out. Hope to see you playing along with this week's challenge.
♥Margreet - Margreet's Scrapcards ♥Suzi - Sugar n Spice♥Viv - Crafting Haven♥ Hege-Annie - Hege-Annie's Paper {He}Art++ ♥Ann - Raindrop Echo Designs ♥Carla - Carla's Corner ♥Corry - Fancy Free 4Ever ♥Lori - Just Ducky ♥Kelly - Kelly's Kreative Korner♥Trisha - T-Bear's Touch ♥Sue - Arty's♥
Thanks so much for stopping by today! I sincerely appreciate any comments you care to leave.
Blessings & hugs,
Challenges Entered:
Play Date Cafe - Photo Inspiration Color Challenge
One Stitch at a Time - Use a digital image
The Pink Elephant - Color Challenge: Brown
Paper Playtime - Flower Power
Pixie Cottage - Sketch and/or Double Up (use two stamps, one of which can be a sentiment)
Just Inspirational - Use a digital image
Stamp Something - Something Flowery
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Black-Eyed Susans
It's Wednesday again and you know what that means, don't you? That's right, it's time for another challenge at Isabella's Sketchbook. Did you see the graphic on the sidebar? Isabella's Sketchbook is having a one-day sale TODAY!! Images are just $2 so get over there and get shopping. You need to use an Isabella's image to enter the challenge.
It's a 3-D/paper tole challenge. This week we want to see your cut out and popped up images. I used this new image from Isabella's Sketchbook called Sunny Flowers. I think it was probably designed to be a daisy, but I was in a yellow and brown mood and mine became Black-Eyed Susans, a favorite wildflower of mine, and was colored with Copics.
I did use a couple of other stamps on this project because I wanted to do some embossing and I just don't have any luck embossing with digis on anything except vellum. So the flourishes around the perimenter of the card are a Verve stamp and the flower on the main panel is an ancient, long retired SU stamp called Summer Sunflowers. Both were stamped with Versamark and clear embossed. I also used the SU Linen BG stamp on the main panel, stamped in Baja Blue. I sponged the Baja Blue panel with Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip and then a bit of Vintage Photo, using the lightest colored ink first and building it up. The DP is from Cosmo Cricket, the More Mustard squares were embossed with the Cuttlebug Fancy Corners EF and the Chocolate Chip panel was embossed with the Diamonds in the Rough EF from Cuttlebug. A little hemp twine and buttons and this card was good to go. No stitching again, but the good news is my sewing machine is fixed and I picked it up yesterday afternoon. So I'll be back to stitching on my cards with my Friday post.
Please drop by the Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge blog and check out the rest of the DTs' samples. Wonderful work this week from the very talented team. And if you want to stop by their blog and leave some love, here are all the links you will need.
♥Annika♥Cec♥Diana♥Jackie♥Linda♥Lisa♥Peggy♥Peri♥Randi♥Sharon♥Sue♥Viv♥
Thanks for dropping by today and for your lovely comments!
Blessings & hugs,
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Vintage Blues
Today is the day for the bi-weekly Creative Card Crew challenge and our team mate Sandie Shores has come up with a great sketch challenge for you. You'll find the sketch on the Creative Card Crew blog. You'll notice that I have rotated it 45 degrees to accommodate my design. I started with a shell of Very Vanilla followed by a layer of Chocolate Chip. The yellow DP is the retired Bella Birds from SU. Next I embossed a layer of Very Vanilla with a Cuttlebug embossing folder from the Fancy Corners set, flipped it over and use the debossed side which I brayered with Faded Jeans DI. The same embossing folder was used on the Very Vanilla mat for the vintage label which I downloaded from The Graphics Fairy. All edges were sponged with Creamy Caramel. The sentiment was printed on my computer and die cut with a Spellbinders die. Some bead caps, SU brads, lace, buttons prima flowers and beads from the SU Pretties kit finished the card off.
Now it's time to hop on over to the Creative Card Crew to see the sketch and the rest of the team's samples. This week our sponsor is Crafty Addicts and the prize is three pearl pens. And I'm off to find some challenges to play in with this card. I'll update today's challenges by mid-morning Eastern Time.
Thanks for stopping by today and for any comments you care to leave. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and then check back for an update to the post with my response.
Blessings & hugs,
Saturday, July 17, 2010
It's a Beach Thing!
Hello and happy weekend to you! Any beach plans in your weekend agenda? That's the challenge theme this week at Our Creative Corner. Isn't this an idyllic scene? Even though I live in Miami, I am not a beachgoer. My kids are and I am glad that they do take advantage of our wonderful beaches in the area. I'm more of a pool person myself and do intend to log some pool hours this weekend if the weather cooperates.
Here's my take on the beach challenge. I really love the bright tropical colors in the DP I found to use (Lost at Sea by Designer Digitals). The stamp used is from the By the Sea set by JustRite Stampers and was colored with Copics. The sentiment was computer generated. All edges were sponged with Creamy Caramel and the stitching was done by hand again (since my sewing machine is in the repair shop!). The CS is Tempting Turquoise and Barely Banana from SU and the shells were cut with a Cuttlebug Die. Spellbinders Ovals and the Labels Four dies were also used.
I hope you will stop by Our Creative Corner and also the blogs of the rest of the team. Lots of yummy eye candy to see this week!
Friday, July 16, 2010
It's a Boy Thing!
Before I left for vacation, I was trying to alter a bathing suit I had purchased that didn't fit just right and I BROKE MY SEWING MACHINE. Can you imagine? The first time I have tried to sew on cloth in probably two years and the cloth was too thick. I heard a bad "thunk" and then the needle wouldn't go all the way down. I worked on it awhile last night to no avail so I ended up stitching this card by hand using some old, old crochet thread from my grandmother's sewing box. I actually like the way it turned out - very rustic looking but it is NOT something I want to do all the time. I dropped the machine off today at a local repair shop and am hoping to get it back in a week or so.
After using cork for the OCC challenge last week, I fell in love with it and here it is again! I think you may see it frequently until I get sick of it! It's really great for embellishing male-oriented cards. It adds some pizzaz without being girly. The image is called Pokin Puddles by the Prairie and the sentiment is from Raindrop Echo Designs. The image was colored with Copics and cut out with a Spellbinders label die. The cardstock and twill tape are from SU, the DP from Cosmo Cricket and the stars DP was someting from a local craft shop that I purchased about 10 years ago. The buttons are from Jo-Ann's and the brad from SU.
Here are the blog links for the Fairy Fun Friday design team. I hope you will pay them a visit this week and let them know how fabulous their work is! And be sure to stop by the blog and play along with us this week!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Posies 'n Punches
Hello and happy Wednesday! I'm so glad to be back among my blogging buddies! I was away for another long weekend in Key West. This was family weekend with all my DH's sisters and their DHs. Too many people and too fast-paced to be relaxing, but it was still great to spend time with the family. But now I am back -no more long weekends until the fall football season rolls around. I'm just starting to get back into the card-making groove and have a lot to catch up on.
I managed to get this card finished for this week's Isabella's Sketchbook challenge before I left so it was already "in the can". Our challenge this week is another easy one - use punches. I have been fascinated lately by Becca Feeken's amazing use of punches amd wanted to try more of her right angle punching. So I made this two-layer element according to her video tutorial and a Martha Stewart corner punch. I thought it was too plain so I wrapped it with vintage crinkled seam binding and added buttons. The image, Flower Song, is relatively new in Isabella's boutique. I decided to give it a vintage flavor with the retired Parisian Summer SU papers and Creamy Caramel sponging. It was colored with Copics and the sentiment was made up on my computer, which was then cut with a Spellbinders tag die. Let me know if you need any more information on anything here.
Now that you've had a peek at my DT card, I hope you will stop by the rest of the teams' blogs and pick up a little inspiration.
♥Annika♥Cec♥Diana♥Jackie♥Linda♥Lisa♥Peggy♥Peri♥Randi♥Sharon♥Sue♥Viv♥
Thanks so much for stopping by today and for any comments you care to leave.
Blessings & hugs,
Challenges Entered:
Mark's Finest Papers - Use Punches
Paper Sundaes - Lots of Layers
Papertake Weekly - In the Garden
Stampin' Bees - Polka Dots
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Cork-a-Doodle-Do
Good morning, friends! Isn't this a wonderful wake-up call? I sincerely love this rooster from Isabella's Sketchbook. But first let's talk about the really cool challenge this week over at Our Creative Corner. Our fab hostess (and blog owner), Jennifer Meyer, has a wonderful challenge for us - use cork on your card. What a blast I had using this new media! The cork I purchased was from Michael's and came in sheets for around $7 a pack. It is very thin and works perfectly with your die cut machines. I started with this wonderful Rise and Shine image from Isabella's Sketchbook and the found a perfect match in a sentiment from Raindrop Echo Designs. (Don't you just love it when everything just seems to fall into place?)
Friday, July 9, 2010
Fairy Fun Friday Color Inspiration
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Celebrating Life!
Hello and welcome to my Wednesday post for Isabella's Sketchbook. This week's challenge is "Anything Goes" combined with an Isabella's Sketchbook image. We thought it would be a great week to relax, kick back and enjoy the summer. So check your inventory of Isabella's Sketchbook images, pick one out and have a go. You could win two of Isabella's delightful images. The one I used is called Cup Stack and I don't believe it's available yet. I digitally paper pieced it, including the background of the image panel using the Sweet Violets digital paper pack from Designer Digitals. I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch and also lined the colors up with this week's Just For Fun Color Challenge which is to use purple, green and blue.
The die cuts were cut with a Cuttlebug die, the embossing folder used was from Stampin' Up! I used two different Spellbinders dies, the sentiment was a lovely freebie from Ann Vento at Raindrop Echo Designs/Sentimental Sundays Challenge. You can buy her digital sentiments from Whimsey Stamps. The mini library clip is from SU and the button is from Jo-Ann's.
Let me know if you have any questions or need more information.
Now it's time to stop by Isabella's Sketchbook Challenge Blog and the blogs of my teamies. I do so hope you will be able to play along with us this week!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Fun With Die Cuts
Good moring friends! I'm so happy you stopped by this morning to check out my sample for the Creative Card Crew challenge. This week, Jen is our hostess and she has challenged us to use die cuts on our creations. We all love our dies and die cutting machines, don't we? So this should be a fun challenge for everyone and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all can do.
Our sponsor this week is Simon Says Stamp and they have offered a generous prize - a $20 gift certificate. So that should be a great incentive for you to join in our To Die For challenge!
My sample was made using one of the JustRite stamps I won earlier this spring. I'm not sure why I ended up with so much red in this card, but I really like it. I started with the K&Co. DP and since the one paper had some red in it, I decided on red for my die cut and everything got out of hand from there. I was working on it on the 4th of July so maybe I had red on the brain or maybe because it rained here in Miami all of the holiday weekend I felt the need to brighten things up. Red is my favorite color so when my mojo headed in that direction, I just let it run wild.
All the layers in the center medallion were cut with various Spellbinder dies. I'm not going to name them all here, but if you can't identify one, let me know and I'll do an update at the bottom of this post. The flowers are from Prima, the buttons from Foo-fa-la and the clip is from the SU Hodge Podge Hardware. I bought the gorgeous red crinkle ribbon on Etsy. That's about it - nothing tough or involved on this one. Just a lot of cool die cuts!
Please be sure to stop by the Creative Card Crew blog to check out the wonderful samples from the rest of the team. And sometime over the next two weeks, I'll be looking for your To Die For card linked to the challenge!
As always, thanks for stopping by and for all the lovely comments.
Challenges Entered:
Little Red Wagon - Use Nestabilities
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Peachy Sweet
Good morning and happy Saturday to you! And if you are in the U. S., I hope your holiday weekend is off to a great start as we prepare to celebrate our country's birthday.
This week at Our Creative Corner we have a sketch challenge for you. I flipped it and took some liberties with the two stars on the end. I really wanted to use this Flourishes set and make a card for Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday challenge which is fruit inspired this week. This stamp is from the Peaches & Cherries set, which I absolutely LOVE! I have used the cherries stamp, but this is the first run for the peaches. I colored it with my Copics and I really like the way it colored up. The DP is from K&Co. and the CS is SU - Old Olive and Chocolate Chip. I used a Fiskar's boarder punch, some bead caps and peach colored shabby seam binding. It felt great making my favorite kind of card - shabby chic!
That's pretty much all the details for this card. Now I hope you will hop on over to Our Creative Corner to see the other beautiful work by our design team.
Thanks so much for starting your weekend off with me! I sincerely appreciate your comments and encouragement.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Pinwheels Make Me Smile!
Hello and welcome to Fairy Fun Friday, the weekly challenge from the Prairie Fairy. So glad you stopped by today. I feel so out of touch with everyone since I was away on vacation. I have been back five days already, but I am still playing catch-up.
For today's Fairy Fun Friday we have an anything goes challenge, which I think is just the thing for enjoying the long holiday weekend here in the U. S. To play along, all you have to do is link your card on the challenge blog and provide a link back to the challenge blog in your post. You do not need a Prairie Fairy image, but we'd love it if you shopped in Roberta's store. She has some mighty cute new images available so be sure to check them out!
Here's my DT sample for this week's challenge. I used a digital set called Sketchy Blooms from the Prairy Fairy's shop. I made the card with two other favorite challenges in mind - The Shabby Tea Room has a delightful challenge this week called Popsicles and Pinwheels. There is a photo for inspiration and we were to use the colors of hot pink, bright green and turquoise. The other challenge I targeted this card for is Mojo Monday which had a wonderful sketch this week.
Here are the dets on my card: Sketchy Blooms by the Prairie Fairy, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White SU CS, DP is the Life Could Be a Dream digital paper pack from Designer Digitals but I changed the purple in the floral paper to turquoise in my PSE. The embossing folder is Finial Press from SU, used Spellbinders Nestabilities for the square and circle, a Martha Stewart punch was used for the scalloped strip, the sentiment was printed on my computer, the printed flower was paper pieced (by hand, LOL). The tiny buttons are from Jo-Ann's.
I was asked if I had a template for the pinwheel. No, but it's easy peasy. Just start with a square cut toward the center diagonally at all four corners, leaving a small piece in the center uncut. Then just bend in one corner in each quadrant and glue. Isn't it cute? I did use paper that was printed on both sides.
I hope you will take a few moments to stop by the other DT members' blogs and leave them some love. A warm welcome to our newest design team member, Sue from Arty's. Welcome aboard Sue!
Margreet - Margreet's Scrapcards
Suzi - Sugar n Spice
Viv - Crafting Haven
Hege-Annie - Hege-Annie's Paper {He}Art++
Ann - Raindrop Echo Designs
Carla - Carla's Corner
Corry - Fancy Free 4Ever
Lori - Just Ducky
Kelly - Kelly's Kreative Korner
Tonya - Stamp Happens
Trisha - T-Bear's Touch
Sue - Arty's
Don't forget, it's anything goes this week at the Fairy Fun Friday challenge blog. Hope to see you over there!
Blessings & hugs,