Vintage Balloon

Several weeks ago, a card of mine was selected as one of the Top 3 at Raise the Bar challenge blog. It is their practice to invite the Top 3 to be guest designers several weeks later. This is my week to guest design for Raise the Bar. The challenge theme is to make a Father's Day card. I've made quite a few Father's Day cards this month and I'm sort of running out of gas on male oriented cards. Luckily, Sugar Creek Hollow recently came out with this wonderful digital image, Vintage Balloon which is a perfect image for a guy card. I paper pieced it by hand using the retired SU paper pack Brocade Backgrounds. The panel behind the balloon was stamped using the SU Artifacts set on Very Vanilla in Versamark, embossed with clear EP and sponged with Old Olive. The Vintage Balloon set comes with a "Happy Father's Day" sentiment, but I wanted to make my words wavy like a banner so I created my own on my computer. The brown edging around the main panel is actually the Martha Stewart picket fence border punch. I just let the tip ends peek out over the edge.

Thanks so much for stopping to check out this, my second post of the day. I'll be back again later this mornnig with my weekly card for Fairy Fun Friay, the Prairie Fairy weekly challenge.

Blessings & hugs,

With Liberty & Justice For All

I am so honored to be the guest designer this week at The Shabby Tea Room, an outstanding challenge blog that was launched just ten weeks ago. If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you know I love shabby and vintage style paper crafting so The Shabby Tea Room became a place that I always enjoy visiting, and I do visit often. Every week, I try to play in their challenge and it's wonderful to be able to see all the beautiful entries. When I drop by, I know I am sure to see some serious eye candy and I have discovered blogs of some really talented shabby crafters. So when Debbie invited me to be the guest designer for this week, I jumped at the opportunity.

The challenge this week is an inspiration challenge and it's perfectly suited to our summer patriotic holidays that are coming up. Here's my shabby creation that was inspired by the photo. I started with a base of Night of Navy layered with Riding Hood Red and another layer of Night of Navy that I embossed with a Cuttlebug EF and sponged with Craft White ink. I cut three white and three red wavy stripes with my old Creative Memories wavy trimmer, distressed them and glued them to a backing piece. Then I sewed them together with a zigzag stitch to look like a waving flag. I ran a ruffle of red crepe paper along the bottom. The lovely country-style patriotic heart is a digital image from Isabella's Sketchbook and was colored with Copics. The "chipboard" stars started life as the white backing for an SU DP pack. I cut two each and glued them together for a chipboard like thickness, sponged the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink and applied chunky glitter. I created the round sentiment seal on my computer and made it faux chipboard by cutting 4 more circles of cardstock and stacking and gluing them together. The seal says "With Liberty & Justice For All". It's mounted on a Cuttlebug diecut tag through which I ran the linen thread so it dangles from the button/ribbon embellishment.

So now you know everything there is to know about this card. But, of course, if you have any questions I am happy to share everything I do. Just leave me a comment or send me a private email. Be sure to stop by The Shabby Tea Room to see what the uber talented design team has to offer. Believe me, it's always a delightful experience!

Thanks so much for stopping by and for any comment you care to leave!

Blessings & hugs,

Challenges entered:

Just Us Girls - Color challenge: Red, White & Blue

Stamp With Fun - Stripes

The Wildflower Patch - Ribbon, sparkle and dimension

Exciting News and a Card to Share

I am so excited to be able to share this news with you today! Earlier this week I received an invitation to be a guest designer for the grand opening of a brand new digital stamp company Sugar Creek Hollow which will be specializing in vintage and primitive images. Humm...does that sound like a fit for my style? I think so and apparently so did the folks at Sugar Creek Hollow!!

Today I am sharing the first card I have made with one of their digis. The Sugar Creek Hollow Design Team has been working hard behind the scene creating cards to share with you for the Grand Opening. We couldn't resist holding back!! We want to share with you just a preview of what is to come.

Isn't this the most beautiful vintage floral image you have ever seen? I fell in love with it immediately and I'm sure it will become a favorite go to image for many occasions. I paired it up with SU's (retired) Afternoon Tea designer paper Wild Wasabi CS and picked up the colors from there. Gingham ribbon just seemed like a must for this card and I was lucky to find some in my stash that matched. Buttons and brads along with some linen thread added the finishing touch. I plan on finishing off the inside and including a sentiment there, but wanted to get this posted along with all this exciting information.

Want to earn this digi for FREE? Become a Sugar Creek Hollow Follower. Be the 150th or 200th follower and you will receive a FREE digi of your choice!!! Deadline is February 7th at 10pm eastern time. The winner will be announced on February 8th Preview Week!

Please visit the rest of our lovely team by clicking on their links listed here:

Design Team Coordinator: Joseline
Kristina
Cheri
Cassandra
Cassie
Joan
Stephanie
Marsha
Dani
Suzi
Loretta
Donna
Sarah
Tracy

Guest Designers
Kelly
and me Linda, the funkie junkie!

Hope you will visit all these wonderful designers to see what they have created and be sure to stop by Sugar Creek Hallow to check out the images that have been early released.

I am also entering this card into the following challenges:

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle - Open challenge - enter any gorgeous creation

Cute Card Thursday - Bloomin' Gorgeous (flowers)

Artful Inkables: Think Ink Challenge #12 - Think Spring

Update: I had a question from a reader about the paper piercing tool used here. It is a Spellbinders Boarderabilities die called Ric Rac Scalloped. This die is a cutting, stenciling and piercing tool.

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Paris in the Springtime

Here is my final guest design team member card for Creative Inspirations Challenge Blog. This week our challenge is to make a feminine card. What fun - a license to go for it - as frilly and girly as you want! The design team was given a choice of three digital images by Lauretta's Digital Stamps. You may remember that I tipped my hand last week by using one of the images a week early. So last week's Flapper Girl was one of Lauretta's images and now this week my Paris lady is also one of her images. I was a little hesitant about digis, but they printed up very easily and colored very nicely with my Copics. When brainstorming about how to use this image, I kept thinking of vintage Paris. I had fun visiting some of my favorite vintage sites to find just the right feminine, flowery vintage images to use. And I found a post card of the Eiffel Tower too. I had intended to include some lace, but in the end did not want to cover up the vintage images or any more of the pretty K&Co. DP (which you can hardly see because I did cover up most of it). That's the problem with designer paper. I see it, I lust after it, I hunt it down, I buy it, I hoard it, then I use it. And when I use it, I cover it all up - aarrgghh!!! Can you identify???

I felt the card needed a touch of gold so I stamped a pretty vintage toile and a flourish around the edges and gold embossed them. After I finished assemblng the card, I decided it needed some sort of finishing touch. I was tempted to add more flowers, but finally decided on the Prima black rhinestone flourish which I layered right over the vintage images. I stood back, examined my creation and decided I liked it. It wasn't as frilly and lacy as I had hoped, but somehow satisfying nonetheless!

I've also found some challenges to play in with this card:

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #51 - Make a card inspired by something starting with the letter P - I think Paris and Pink qualify

Color Chef Challenge #36 - Light pink & dark pink

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week

Portrait of a Flapper

Confusion Reigns!!!

Here's my story - I am currently on three design teams and guest designer on a fourth. My email box is overflowing with messages flying back and forth and I am running short on time due to working so much overtime at work. So when I got the sketch for this week's Creative Inspiration challenge and a digi for next week's challenge within a couple of days of each other, I somehow lumped the two together in my mind and they became one challenge. So, silly me, here is the card I submitted for the Creative Inspirations challenge using this week's sketch and next week's digi. I gave the challenge leader a heads up on what I had done and she decided we should go ahead and publish it this week and I will make another one for next week.

When I first saw this image I was a little concerned because I'm not all that experienced at using digital images and this image is not the style I usually work with. But I must say, I really enjoyed working with this image and brainstorming what a flapper would look like and how to make a card with a feeling of that era. I probably could have done an internet search and found out more about these girls, but I just dove in and went from memory of what I have read in the past.

The card stock is SU's Garden Green and Riding Hood Red. The green DP is from SU and the top layer DP is Graphic 45. The image was colored with Copics and I used red Stickles to color her necklace. The red eyelash yarn was supposed to be reminiscent of the fringe that flappers frequently had on the hemline of their skirts. I probably should have gone to Jo-Ann's to look for real fringe, but I had to work overtime yesterday, got out late and was in a crunch for time to get the card finished and submitted by the deadline.

So the image that I was scared to work with really grew on me and I ended up liking it and the card. Let me know what you think about it! I hope you will stop by Creative Inspirations to see what the other designers created for this week's sketch challenge. And BTW, the image is by Lauretta's Digital Stamps and I'd like to congratulate her on this beautiful sketch and thank her for allowing me to use it on my card!

Elegant Toile

Another great DT opportunity came to me this week. I was chosen to be guest designer for the Creative Inspirations Challenge blog for the month of January. Wow - two DT invitations in one week, both based on the submission of this card. The Creative Inspirations challenge this week is New Year, NewProducts! My new product for this card is the beautiful Cosmo Cricket Everafter paper. I've been wanting it since it came out and used some of my Christmas money to buy it on an after-Christmas sale. I've matched it up here with an Inkadinkado floral flourish stamp that looks almost the same as the flowers in the DP. I used the stamp to clear emboss on a piece of Dusty Durango card stock, the edges of which were sponged with Faded Burlap distress ink. I dug out my old Tender Toile set and stamped the toile image in Memento Tuxedo Black, sponged it with Old Paper distress in, embossed it three times with Glassy Glaze, froze it and cracked it. I thought it just cried out for the cracked glass technique. I know this card isn't a style that is popular right now as the trend seems to be more contemporary, but I love the vintage look of it and think this style of card still has a place in today's stamping galleries. What do you think? Thanks for stopping by - I love it when you leave a comment! I have entered this card into the following challenges: Kitchen Sink - A Stitch in Time (I LOVE stitching on my cards!!)

Retro Santa

From The Funkie Junkie

This week's challenge at Creative Card Corner is to make a Christmas card. How fortunate, right? We get to make a card for a challenge that we can put to immediate use. Here is what I came up with for my design team card this week. The stamp set is the many-years-retired SU Up on the Rooftop which I borrowed from a friend. Last year, I tried to buy it on eBay and was outbid every time. I think I set $30 as my maximum bid and ever time it went for around $70 so I think it is a set many stampers would love to have in their possession!



I started with a shell of Very Vanilla, sponged with Creamy Caramel to distress it. Next layer up is Always Avecado followed by another layer of Very Vanilla stamped with an old SU text background stamp (sorry, don't remember the name of it). Next up is the delicioiusly retro Melissa Frances designer paper called Rudolph. The main image was stamped with Superior India Ink on #140 lb. watercolor paper and watercolored with my SU reinkers for a nice vintage look.


The flowers were made using the Cuttelbug flowers die. I stamped the text stamp in black on the Melissa Frances paper and cut them using the die. The stars are also a Cuttlebug die coincidently called Stars. Brads are SU and the ribbons are Basic Grey. The buttons are from Jo-Ann's.


Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Snowflakes & Sparkles

From The Funkie Junkie

Whoo hoo! My friend Wendy, aka Looby Lou, of Digital Delights is sponsoring the challenge at the Creative Card Crew this week. She generously gave each of the DT their choice of one of her latest releases to work with. I picked Jingles the Snowman. Isn't he adorable? And not much to color, either - hehehe!! The challenge theme this week is favorite things. Isn't that the most fun challenge ever? You just make a card using your very favorite things and you are qualified for the challenge. If you are one of my blog readers, you have probably already guessed that one of my favorite things is TAGS!! So here I am, back again with another tag this week. Plus I added some bling. So here is a pretty simple card this week. The base is Soft Sky topped with a layer of Whisper White run through the Snowflakes Cuttlebug EF. Used my Top Note die to cut a piece of BG Figgy Pudding designer paper and a Spellbinders tag die to cut the tag. Creamy Caramel was used to ink distress the edges. I masked Jingles and sponged Soft Sky around him then colored him a bit with Copics. The tiny snowflakes were punched with a Martha snowflake border punch and the other snowflakes are Cuttlebug dies. A little Dazzling Diamonds glitter and some Prima crystals and the card was good to go. Oh, the flowers? They were handmade by punching four small hearts and four larger hearts with my old CM Heart Maker. The hearts were ink distressed and either stamped or embossed, crumpled up and formed together to shape a flower. The crystal brads are from the Pretties Kit.

And now I'm checking out for the week. Wishing all you Americans a happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Harvest Bouquet

From The Funkie Junkie

Lucky me! I got to set the challenge on the Creative Card Crew challenge blog this week. I chose "Strings Attached". You can use any kind of string/fiber on your card. I chose this cool rope hemp, but you may use plain old string, embroidry thread, crochet thread, yarn, hemp twine or ribbon to name a few suggestions. I can't wait to see what beautiful embellishments all the participants come up with.

For my design team card, I used the recent free digi from the Layers of Color fall release party over the past weekend. Owner and artist, Laura, offered eight free digis and two are still available. So be sure to stop by to pick up your free digis and check out the awesome new stamp sets, nine in all, released this weekend! Unfortunately, this was one that was only offered for a few days so I'm sorry if you missed out. I really love it and am very happy with the way this card turned out.

Okay, now for the details: the shell is More Mustard followed by a layer of textured green from the DCWV Heritage pad (last year). The designer paper is from MME and I stamped aand clear embossed the top layer with one of the sunflower stamps from the old SU Summer Sunflower set. The paper it is stamped on is More Mustard sprayed with Tim Holtz Butterscotch alcohol ink. I printed the digi onto Neenah Solar White and heat set the ink so it wouldn't smear. It was colored with Copics, masked and sponged with Tim Holtz distress inks - first Old Paper, then closer in with Scattered Straw and last around the very edges with Faded Corduroy. To give the image a little background, I added some dots with Copic #YR23. Then, in the spirit of last week's CCC doodle challenge, I added dots around the Nestie frame and carried that throughout the card. The little fall leaf flourish stamp on the inner panel is from Inkadinkado. Spellbinder dies used were Nestabilities Labels 4 and Lattice Borderabilities.

Be sure to stop by the Creative Card Crew to see what those talented ladies came up with for the Strings Attached challenge. If you have time, check out some of the participants' blogs too. Lots of talent there! Hope you can play along with us for this challenge!

Other challenges I am entering this card in:

Quixotic Challenges - add stitching to your card

Lots To Do - use dry or heat embossing on your card

Creative Inspirations - New or Neglected

Rejoice!

From The Funkie Junkie

I made this card with the free digi Herald Angel from Layers of Color. Don't forget, their big Fall release party is coming up this weekend, November 14th and 15th. There are already four free digis on their site to celebrate this event and there will be even more at the release party! And have you entered their $100 gift certificate drawing and the drawing to receive all nine newly released stamp sets? If you haven't, hurry on over to the Layers of Color bog and get yourself signed up!

Whew, I got so excited about the release that I almost forgot to give you the details of this card. The background was stamped in Versamark with a flourish from the Old World Flourishes set and gold embossed. I really am loving this flourish set to create my own designer paper! And the Herald Angel was printed out on my home computer with the Layers of Color digi I picked up on their site. The medallion was cut with a Spellbinders die and backed with SU gold paper. The star (die cut with a Sizzix die) is binged up a bit with JudiKins Egyptian Gold embossing powder - the glitter is right in the EP. That EP was a big favorite of mine last Christmas season, but this is the first time it's been out this season. I'm sure you'll be seeing much more of it over the next few weeks.

Almost time for work - wishing you blessings on your day!

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Doodle Dots and Dashes

From The Funkie Junkie

This week's challenge at the Creative Card Crew is to add a doodle to your card. Well I tried and failed quite miserably. So I dug out this doodly set from SU called Time Well Spent. My concession to doodling is the dots and dashes around the edge of the circles. The other girls in the CCC DT have some great samples to help you get started on this challenge so be sure to hop over and check them out. Conindendently, the Flourishes blog has a wonderful tutorial by Jenny Gropp on doodling. You might want to stop over there and read it before you start your doodling.

My DT card is pretty simple this week. The base and matting card stock is from last season's SU In-Colors - Baja Breeze and Kiwi Kiss which happened to match up pretty well with the colors in the Early Bird papers from Cosmo Cricket. The bottom panel of Kiwi Kiss was run through the Bloom Dots Cuttlebug EF. The coloring was done with Copics on Neenah Solar White card stock and the circles and tag were cut with Spellbinders dies. Thanks for visiting. Can't wait to see what you all come up with for doodling this week on your cards!


Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

A Time to Mourn

From The Funkie Junkie

Quick post this morning because I have to fly out the door for work in exactly 31 minutes and haven't even started to get ready! No time to finish off the inside of this card before posting. When I finish it later this week, I'll update this post with shots of the inside.

This card was made with the Old World Flourishes set from Layers of Color. It is so wonderfully flexible and I have a suspicion that it is going to be my go to set for dozens of future cards. I needed a sympathy card and another Beatitude came to mind while I was sitting in church this past Sunday listening to the homily on the Beatitues. I used the large flourish from this set to create my background paper. Plus I clear embossed the same flourish pattern on the black for a black-on-black effect. The sentiment was computer generated. I think everything else is pretty self evident, but post any questions you have and I'll be happy to fill in any details of interest.

Don't forget, Layers of Color has a huge autumn release coming up November 14th and 15th. Get your pre-release party favors the week of November 7th. More details here.

Have a BLESSED day!

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

This Week at Creative Card Crew - Ribbons & Gems

From The Funkie Junkie

It's Sam's turn to be hostess this week at the Creative Card Crew challenge blog and she has selected something that is close to my heart - ribbons & gems! That wasn't hard at all!



Here's my DT card for the challenge. I started by stamping this darling Sarah Kay image onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and coloring with Copic markers. After cutting with the Nestability Oval die, the panel was sponged with Tim Holtz distress inks starting with Old Paper from the other edges inward. Once I achieved the desired color, it was then sponged very lightly just on the edges with Brushed Corduroy. To give the image an inner glow, Scattered Straw was sponged next to it and then I also surrounded her with a series of tiny dots using the Yellow Ochre (YR23) Copic marker. This panel was then mounted on a scalloped panel of Mellow Moss with the edges lightly sponged with Brushed Corduroy. The DP used was Cosmo Cricket Gretel: Gingerbread, another horded piece from my stash.

Sentiment panels: Both are computer generated. The bottom calendar strip is a digital download from Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals. The top one was simply printed on my computer and lightly stamped in Creamy Carmel with a flourish from the Layers of Color Old World Floruishes set. Both panels were stamped on white cardstock and then sponged heavily, first with Old Paper and then with SU's Creamy Caramel.

The bottom "Golden Orchard" tag is a Melissa Frances sticker, again sponged with Creamy Caramel. The eyelet trim is from Lace Heaven and the ribbon from SU! The safety pin is Tim Holtz. The oposite corner features both Prima and silk flowers, orange gems and branches and leaves from MS punches.

The sentiment inside is from the retired SU set Season of Plenty. The stamped frame is Inkadinkado and the embossed floruish on the bottom panel is one of the new Cuttlebug border embossing folders called Oranic Flourish. All panels were sponged with distress inks.


Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Thanks for stopping by. Blessings and hugs to you!

Blessed Are The...

From The Funkie Junkie

I am so honored to be asked to be a part of the guest design team for the Autum Release for Layers of Color. We're all waiting with great anticipation to see the nine new stamp sets being released November 14th and 15th. Although they are a clear art stamp company, there will be free digis (party favors) for all during the week of November 7th so be sure to go to their website and grab yours! And you'll want to return on November 14th and 15th for the release blog hop and more party favors for all!

Here's my first card using stamps from the Old World Flourish and the Gothic Crosses sets. Of course these vintagy art stamps had an immediate appeal to me because you know I love all things vintage - sigh...and look at what I created with them. I'm a Roman Catholic and I have already been reading the Gospel reading for this Sunday. I had been brainstorming on what I could make that would really pack a punch. When I read this week's Gospel, it just struck me as perfect. It's Matthew 5:1-12 from the Sermon on the Mount containing the Beatitudes which sometimes are so hard for us to understand...Blessed are the poor in spirit - what does that mean? The Beatitudes aren't a list of commandments that we have to live by if we want to follow Jesus. Instead they show us how we can live when the source of our life is Jesus. Because of Him we are "Blessed", our lives reflect a profound change in us, the result of His grace, which enables us to be poor in spirit, gentle, merciful, peacemakers, etc.

I knew I wanted to use chipboard letters to spell out Blessed but I didn't have a stamp for the Beatitude that I had chosen so I printed it out using my computer but also stamped it with one of the LOC stamps, stamped off one time first. The chipboard letters were cut using the Cuttlebug Olivia alphabet set and then heat embossed using Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress embossing powder, which was also used stencil-like with the Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Borderabilities. Other Spellbinder dies used were the Oval, Tag and Labels 1. The DSP is SU retired Brocade Backgrounds. Tim Holtz Antique Antique Linen distress ink was sponged on the Very Vanilla and Close to Cocoa ink was sponged on the edges of the DSP. The edges were distressed with scissors. And of course the inside panels are also finished off to compliment the front panel.





Thanks for stopping by to see my latest work. Be sure to check out the rest of the LOC Design Team and Guest Designers to see what they have created using LOC stamps.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I am entering this card in the following challenges:

PaperPlay Challanges - Favorite Embellishments - I think it is a toss up for me - stitching or die cuts!

Daring Cardmakers - These are a few of my favorite things - I think this is just the coolest challenge! You had to include at least five of your favorite tings on your card. If you can get to 10, then you get a virtual gold star. I started looking at this card and it is a gallery of favs for me. Here's my list: layers, stitching, die cuts, tag, popped up, chipboard letters, distressing, embossing, ribbon, pearls, flourishes

Mojo Monday - sketch challenge. I have to admit, I pushed the limits of the sketch a bit, bit I really did use it. I really struggled with the layout of this card until I saw that sketch an then it all fell into place!


Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Friends Forever

From The Funkie Junkie

This charming vintage images tugs at my heartstrings. There is something so purely innocent these three little ones playing at having a tea party that makes me want to sit and play along with them, drinking in their simple joy.

This week, the challenge at the Creative Card Crew is to make a card for a child or baby. I seem to be fresh out of those type of stamps so I went to my collection of vintage images. This one if from Shabby Chic Papirskatter. Here is my design team submission for this week's challenge. I hope you will stop by and check out the rest of the DT submissions and maybe play along. Be sure to chck out their blogs and see their other fantastic creations.

For this card, the paper is Melissa Frances. The front frame was cut with the Mega Rectangle Nestabilities and stamped with an Artistic Outpost filagree stamp (yes, its the same one that I used for my last card. I just discovered this stamp in my stash. I had never used it and now I LOVE it - LOL!!). I inked it up with Versamark and Pretty in Pink and clear embossed it to add texture. I stamped it in the opposite corners of two sizes of the frame, which I then layered with craft foam between. The lable was also cut with a Spellbinders tag die and the bottom punched with a MS border punch.



On the inside, I used two heart dies to cut the element and then glued it down together. I like the way the one heart cut inside the other one looks. The sentiment is by Rubbernecker and the floruishes are by InqueBoutique. The lower panel was dry embossed with my Cuttlebug and the With Love set of embossing borders.







So that's my design team entry for this week. Hope to see an entry from you over at the Creative Card Crew blog.



Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Creative Card Crew Scallops Challenge

From The Funkie Junkie

Here is my DT card for this week's challenge at Creative Card Crew. The challenge is to make a card with scallops. My first impulse was to use my Nestabilities, but a couple of weeks ago, I made this card using the Martha Stewart scallop border punch and I really liked the way it came out so I went for it again. The layouts are somewhat the same on the front, but I changed the inside panels.



This is another vintage image from a CD I purchased from LunaGirl.com. It was printed on my home printer on 110# white card stock. I made the frame with my Nesties from the same card stock. I cut two identical frames and glued them together for thickness. I would have preferred
chipboard, but the Nesties don't cut chipboard very well, only the very thinest of chipboards. Once cut and glued, I sponged the edges a bit with Creamy Caramel ink, applied glue to the surface and then spinkled on some chunky glitter. The black velvet floral strip is from Prima as
is the flower. I also applied the chunky glitter to the flower. The flourish is an Inkadinkado stamp and the black pearls are from KaiserCraft. The words 'Mery Christmas' in the upper right are from the same vintage image. I cut them off the section with the little girl and glued them in the upper corner. The word 'Celebrate" is on a piece of pre-decorated chipboard from K&Co. I bought a box of Chirstmas Cheer Chipboard - 55 pieces on after-Christmas sale last year for about $3. I really prefer to make my own embellishments, but these were vintagy and cheap so I grabbed them. The snowflakes on the inside were cut with Cuttlebug dies, sponged and glittered same as the frame. The 'Seasons Greetings' stamp on the inside is from Stampin' Up. I think that about covers it. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section.

I have also entered this card into the Bizzy Becs - Creatalicious challenge. The challenge ending on the 15th is to make a creation with the color combination of pink or plum plus burgundy and green. Also to add some sort of fiber such as lace or ribbon.


Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.


Have a blessed week!

Night of the Black Cat

From The Funkie Junkie

Here is my last guest designer card for the Creative Inspirations Challenge Blog. Whew, those three months sure went fast. I have so enjoyed being part of that talented group. This challenge is a sketch challenge and I chose to make it a seasonal card - Halloween. I haven't really gotten into making Halloween cards in the past, but last year there were so many great vintage Halloween images out. I didn't get a chance to make any cards with them so I have been looking forward to making two or three this year. I love the way this one came out. The black cat images are vintage ditigal images that I bought on Etsy (sorry I don't remember the seller's name). The card is made on a shell of Basic Black; The next layer up is also Basic Black, clear embossed with the old SU Filagree stamp. I love the black on black effect of the clear embossing on the black. The stamps used are from Pink Paislee's Twilight Collection. The paper is Melissa Frances "Garnet" and the retired SU Pumpkin Pie DSP. Both papers were altered. The black design on the Melissa Frances paper was brown, but I took a black marker and inked over the brown.

The orange striped paper from the Pumpkin Pie collection was sponged with Creamy Caramel and a little Tim Holtz Vintage Photo to tone it down a bit. I used the same ink treatment on the orange gingham ribbon. It was to bright and white. The tiny little cats were punched out with an old craft punch. The ones on the front were also glazed with Crystal Effects. I also created a flourish by making small dots with black dimensional paint. Below you can see the inside of the card.

I am also entering this card into the Creative Card Crew challenge this week, which is to decorate the inside of your card. Additionally, the Cute Daisy May blog has a challenge this week to use texture on your card. I always load up with texture. I think that's my favorite part of card making! So I have entered this card in that challenge too.

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.