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.

OCC Challenge - Strawberries, Chocolate & Pearls

From Our Creative Corner

Have you checked out the OCC challenge for this week? It's an mummm, yummy color challege reminding me of some of my favorite foods. It's an inspiration color challenge featuring the colors hot pink, light pink, chocolate brown and white which reminds me of some of my favorite foods, namely strawberries and chocolate!! even though my mouth was watering, I still struggled with this challenge I think I spent at least three evenings on it! Here is the result. I actually had chocolate brown pearls instead of the white ones, but I re-read the challenge guidelines just before I uploaded and yikes(!!) I realized I missed the color white. So I carefuly pried off the brown pearls and replaced them with the white ones - but I really liked the chocolate brown pearls a lot better!! Anyway, here is my response to Dana's challenge this week. Be sure to check out the challenge and see what the other DT members have come up with to inspire you this week.



Update: Here's another Pink & Brown challenge that I am entering. It's the C. R. A. F. T. Challenge. Check it out and maybe enter your card there too!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Always and So Many Sayings by Stampin' Up!, various clear stamps from Laudry Line (My Mind's Eye)
Paper: Stampin' Up: Close to Cocoa & Pink Piourette (retired), K& Co.
Ink: Versamark, Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Spellbinders Labels One and Lattice Borderabilities, silver EP, Martha Stweart ribbon, Martha Stewart leaf punch, Blue Moon charm, paer flowers by Prima (colored with Copics), Hodege Podge Hardware - Silver, KaiserKraft pearls.

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

Back to School

From The Funkie Junkie

About a month ago, I discovered a fabulous blog called The Graphics Fairy. Karen, the blog owner, has some amazing vintage graphics that are downloadable for free. I spent an entire evening delightedly wallowing in vintage art. This darling vintage drawing of a school boy really grabbed me. I saved it and have been dying to use it to make a vintage card, but I wanted to use just the right DP. I finally settled on this Cosmo Cricket Jack's World-Lessons paper along with a little Basic Gray Cupcake paper and this creation was born. I really had a ball making it. The only stamping involved was on the inside where I stamped a Rubbernecker sentiment. I created an old-fashioned slate using black cardstock which I framed with a piece of chipboard covered with a woodgrained paper and cut with Nestabilities. I took a sponge that I had used to sponge craft white a few weeks ago. There was still some white on it that I rubbed on the black cardstock to make it look like a blackboard that had been erased. Then I stamped the Rubbernecker sentiment in white craft ink. I think it looks just like it was written with chalk. The word studies page is a digital image of an old fashioned lesson book. It is also from The Graphics Fairy website. The ruler is a download from the Just Something I Made blog. If you haven't visited that blog, it's a great oppotunity to spend time browsing all the fun and amazing things Cathe Holden has on her blog.

Please leave me a comment and let me know how you like my latest vintage creation.



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

OCC Challenge - Happy Fall Y'all!!

From The Funkie Junkie

This week, the Our Creative Corner hostess Dana Grothaus has a timely challenge - make a card using fall elements and colors. It's my favorite time of year, hence one of my favorite kinds of cards to make. So I went happily hunting through my stamps and stash of paper and embellishments. It took me awhile and I realized I don't have very many fall stamps. but I dug out an old favorite, Seasonal Sprays from SU. This is one of the first stamp sets I purchased, back in the day when I first started stamping - LOL!! I have used diferent coloring media to color it in this past - watercolor pencils, watercoloring using re-inkers and even chalks. This time I used Copics and I really love how the image looks. It took me a very long time to design this card. I played around with different papers and elements and I am finally happy with this way it looks. The shell of the card is SU Really Rust, followed by Chocolate Chip. Both of the designer papers are from K&Co. Classics - a huge box of 150 sheets of beautiful chintz-type prints. On the upper layer of DP, I stamped the leaves and acorns from Fantastic Foliage in Chocolage Chip and Close to Cocoa ink. The bottom panel of DP was stamped in Chocolate Chip craft ink and heat embossed with clear EP using the Baroque Motifs stamp. The top corner embellisments are chipboard cut with the CB Fancy Corners die then coated with Chocolate Chip craft ink and clear embossed. The leaves in the bottom right corner were punched out of the upper panel DP with an old Creative Memories leaf punch, then stamped in craft Chocolate Chip with the Baroque Motifs stamp. The edges of the leaves were sponged with Really Rust and the entire leaf was coated with Crystal effects. When dry, I punched a hole in the cetner and added a jewelry rondell and a brass brad. The bottom of the top layer of DP was punched with the SU Scalloped Punch and punched again with the Crop-a-dile to make the holes. The circles and scallops are Nesties. On the main image panel, I applied a Tim Holtz scroll mask and sponged Creamy Caramel ofer the whole panel. I removed the mask and stamped the Rubbernecker sentiment in Chocolate Chip dye ink. A piece of crocheted lace and two copper brads finished off the front panel. The inside has similar decorations and the leaves were die cut and embossed with a Cuttlebug set. The edges of all panels were sponged with Really Rust, but I restrained myself and didn't do any scissor distressing on this piece. Not an easy task - LOL!!


Be sure to stop by Our Creative Corner to see the rest of the talented design teams's work!Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Under the Weather?

From The Funkie Junkie

Note: I have to apologize for purple colors in these photos. My camera does not like PURPLE!! I know it doesn't look like it in the pics, but the background purple really does match the Copic-colored Willow.

Here's this fortnight's Creative Inspirations guest DT card. The challenge this time is the color combo purple or lilac and gray. When I saw the guidelines for this challenge, I was not inspired. Ugh - purple and gray? I'm in a fall mood and want rich auburns, oranges, browns, mustards and olive greens, not purple and gray! I struggled to think what image would go well with gray.

Then I remembered this Whiff of Joy stamp that I purchased several months ago and still had not used. Perfect - a gray day! I found this Creative Memories purple and green designer paper in my stash and paired it up with SU's Green Galore. It looked great! Willow is colored with Copics, stamped twice, trimmed out and popped up. Her umbrella is paper pieced and the top surface glazed with Crystal effects. Willow is mounted on a die cut from the Nesties Labels 4. While it was still in the die, I sponged the surface with Going Gray ink. Stickles were applied to the rain drops and also used to create a pubble at her feet.

I cut two scalloped rings, one out of chipboard and one from purple card tock. The card stock went through the Cuttlebug with the Tiny Bubbles EF. I dropped a bubble of Crystal Effects on each of the tiny bubbles and added clear dew drops for good measure.

As always, the inside was also finished off in coordinating papers and embellishments. Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week.

Sweet Dreams - Let's Get Shabby #3

From The Funkie Junkie

A couple of months ago, I ran across a wonderful new challenge blog called Let's Get Shabby. They have a monthly challenge. If you are a regular visitor to my blog, I'm sure you already know that shabby and I are very tight! Of course, this will be one of the challenges I participate in regularly!

The current challenge is to make a shabby chic card that is mainly white with a hint of one other color. Here is my challenge entry. I maybe interpreted the word 'hint' a bit losely as this card ended up with more brown that I had planned. But I love it. What fun it is for me to work with shabby/vintage genre!
The only thing I don't like about this challenge is that you can only enter it into their challenge - no double dipping allowed!

My card started with a vintage card image that I found on the Shabby Chic Papirskatter blog. If you love vintage and you haven't been to her blog, you need to pay Heidi a visit. She has amazing vintage images that she allows you to download for free. Since I decided my one color would be brown, I changed this image which was in color to sepia tones with my photo editing software and printed it out on white cardstock. I trimmed it out and distressed the edges with scissors and Chocolate Chip ink. I ran a square of the white cardstock through the Textile EF, swipped it lightly with my glue pad and applied Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I decided it was too glittery so I cut a smaller panel of white, ran it through the Swiss Dots EF to be layered over the glittered layer. The edges of both white panels were both scissor distressed and sponged with Creamy Caramel. On the Dotted Swiss layer, I ran a length of lace trim vertically along the right side, applied a layer of craft foam to the back and layered it over the Textile layer. The vintage image was slanted and layered over the top white panel. I found a white Nestie frame in my scrap box, stamped the top and bottom with a scrolly flower in Close to Cocoa and applied glitter to just the very tip edge all the way around the frame. The frame was then layered over the vintage image to frame just the angel and baby. I cut a thin cardboard heart with my Nestie heart dies and applied white Tim Holtz crackle paint (I LOVE that stuff) which I edged with Creamy Caramel when it was dry. The sentiment Sweet Dreams was computer generated and printed in a chocolate brown. I added a couple of Boss Cut flourishes, also glittered, two prima flowers which I sponged with Close to Cocoa ink, pearls, a beautiful button and the front panel of my shabby masterpiece was good to go!

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

I'm So Excited!!

From Our Creative Corner

Several weeks ago the Our Creative Corner Challenge Blog had a call for a few new design team members. I recently decided that one of my artistic goals this year was to become a member of a prestigious stamp art design team. I have been a fan of the OCC blog since its inception and try to participate when time allows. Even when I don't participate, I always check out what is happening on a weekly basis. In early August, I was excited to see a DT call. I decided it was now or never and entered a card into the challenge. I held my breath and hoped against hope. I even scoped out the competition by looking at all the cards entered into this challenge - LOL!! The day came when the call closed. I checked my email; I checked my blog comments - I think almost hourly!! And then, almost a miracle - an invitation to join the fabulous OCC design team.

Today's the day of the big announcement and the publication of my first card on the OCC blog. But before I show you my card, I want to introduce you to the fabulously talented OCC Design Team. I hope you will take the time to stop by their blogs and congratulate them on their achievement and their beautiful creations!

Jenny Gropp - One Krafty Cat
Loretta Lock -Love to Create
Silke Ledlow -My Life
Joycelyn Turner -Stamps 'n' Coffee
Jennifer Meyer - Jennifer's Sweet Designs
Dana Grothaus - Dana's Dabbling Studio
Lori Rider - Diva Stamper
Cindy Burgess - Mrs. B's Craft Room
Wendy Janson - It's All About Stamping

Melissa Young - Stampin Fabulous

So on to this week's challenge. Since this is Labor Day weekend, the last of the summer's patriotic weekends, Dana Grothaus thought it would be fitting to do a stars and strips challenge. The entry didn't have to be patriotic, just that it needs to have some stars and stripes. I actually set out to do a western style card in non-patriotic colors, but somewhere along the line, my creativity took an unexpected turn. I found myself looking through my paper stash for reds, whites and blues. I've had the wonderful western Bronc Buster set from SU for over a year and it has never seen ink. I thought I could use it to do an American Hero themed card. I started out trying to use the DSP from SU's retired Western Sky pack. But I had the idea that I would cut out the stars in denim covered chipboard and the Western Sky blues didn't really work with the denim color I was using. Plus with the denim, I wanted to use Night of Navy embossed with the CB Paisley embossing folder that is then sponged with Craft White. It gives it a great washed, weathered denim look. So that's where I was - stuck with denim stars and weathered paisley. What to do? Nothing in my paper stash really worked with those colors. And this was my first OCC DT card. I had to get it right! So I did what I have been doing with increasing frequency lately, I went surfing for digital paper. I came across The DesignerDigitals site and this wonderful Stars and Strips paper pack by Katie Pertiet. Perfect! I purchased it, downloaded it and printed it on my home printer. I teamed it up with a Night of Nayv base. A tag was created out of some old, old, old Creative Memories paper in a red bandana print. The red in it was too bright so I sanded the surface off to dull it and then sponged it with Creamy Caramel ink. The tag was cut with the Nesties Long Rectangle die and I rounded the corners to give it more of a tag look. I glued an old piece of denim to some chip board and when dry, I cut it with a Sizzix star die. The smaller stars were made with some old blue bandana fabric that I also glued to chipboard. I used Tim Holtz Crackle Paint along the edges of the stars to cover the gray of the chipboard and to give it a vintage look. When the crackle paint was dry I also sponged it with Creamy Caramel ink. I cut another piece of the bandana, frayed the edges and tied it to the tag along with some red gingham ribbon. The sentiment stamped on the distressed red bandana paper is from a retired SU set (sorry I bought it second hand and it doesn't have the name on it) and says "It is love of country that lights and keeps glowing the fire of patriotism - J. Horace McFarland".

The inside is finished off with the same digital paper. In keeping with the genuine American hero theme, I stamped the Genuine stamp from the set onto the distressed bandana paper and heat embossed it in white. It was cut with the die from the Cuttlebug Halloween Sign set and then mounted on a piece of paisley embossed Night of Navy cut with the Nesties Mega Rectangles. I toppped this off with a frayed piece of the bandana and red gingham ribbon.

There is so much detail on this card. I tried to cover the main points, but if you have questions, please leave them in the comments and I will happily get back to you with the details.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Bronc Buster, Land That I Love, Baroque Motifs

Paper: Night of Navy, Whisper White, Stars & Strips from DesignerDigitals

Ink: Craft White, Night of Navy, Creamy Caramel for distressing

Accessories: Cuttlebug Paisley embossing folder and Halloween Sign, white EP, Vanilla HodgePodge Hardware, scraps of denim and blue bandana, gingham ribbon from Jo-Ann's and SU, hemp string, Spellbinder Long Rectangle Nestabilities, tag die and Mega Rectangles, Sizzix star die, sewing machine, SU Photo Corner punch

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

Belinda Garden - Crafty Pad Guest DT

From The Funkie Junkie

Isn't Belinda Garden adorable? A couple of weeks back I was fortunate enough to be the winner of the Crafty Pad's challenge. The prize was the opportunity to be a Guest Designer for two challenges. And I was given the stamps to use for both of the challenges - can't ask for more than that, right? Here is the second of two Guest DT cards I was lucky enough to have published on the Crafty Pad's blog.

When I first saw this stamp and thought gardening, my mind flashed to greens. But it is not really a green time of year so I went looking for papers and a color scheme that was more timely. In leafing through my enormous stash of designer paper, I found the retired Stampin' Up Ginger Blossoms DSP. I love the colors and patterns of this designer paper pack and though it would work well for the time of year when we are just easing into autumn.

I rotated the sketch 45 degrees and instead of the scalloped divide, I used the MS picket fence border punch - just what you would find in a garden, right? And to reinforce the garden theme, I dry embossed flowers along the base of the fence using the Cuttlebug With Love strip embossing folder. I found the color scheme just a bit too faded for this time of year, so I added black accents to give it a little pizzaz. To the stamped image, I added some Crystal Effects for a little gloss and Star Dust Stickles. The flower was made by punching four small hearts and four large hearts with my old Creative Memories Heart Maker. Since this DSP is double sided, I punched two of each size heart on each size of the paper. I sponged the edges of each punched heart with Ruby Red ink. Then I crumpled each heart into a small ball and then flattened them out again. Using just a small blot of Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tec glue at the point of each heart, I layered the largest four in a circular pattern and then on top of those four, I layered the smaller four, again in a circular pattern. I topped it off with the largest black pearl in the KaiserCraft pack. With the rotated sketch, it called for a sentiment in the upper left corner. I found the perfect sentiment on a brass medallion in my stash. It's made by Petals a Plenty which I picked up at Michael's a few months ago on sale. It's fastened down with a fastening and brad from SU's brass Hardware Hodegepodge. I threaded a piece of black hemp between the two and tied it in a knot.

So please let me know what you think of this cute little Belinda. Hope you like her as much as I do!!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Belinda Garden by Crafty Pad
Paper: All Stampin' Up! Ruby red, Ginger Blossoms DSP, Whisper White and Basic Black
Ink: Sponged clouds with Bashful Blue and foreground with Cream Caramel. All other coloring is done with Copic markers.
Accessories: Cuttlebug and With Love embossing folder and Circle/Scallop Nestabilities, Martha Stewart Picket Fence Border Punch, Creative Memories Heart Makers - large and small, KaiserCraft black half pearls, SU Brasss Hodgepodge Hardware, brass medallion by Petals a Plenty, black hemp and sewing machine.




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

Fall Wildflowers - Creative Imaginations Challenge Guest DT Card

From The Funkie Junkie

Here's my submission as guest designer for this fortnight's Creative Imaginations Challenge blog. The challenge is sewing on a card. Would you believe I once said I would NEVER sew on a card? If you have strolled through my blog, you know that I can't make a card without sewing. It's addictive. Once you start, you can't go back - LOL! Your work will just feel naked without stitching on it!!

This card was quite time consuming with all the embossing and distressing, but I love the way it came out so to me it was worth the extra effort. I started with a 10x5" piece of Always Artichoke and scored it at the 5.5" point to create a 5x5 " card which is the standard size for me. Each of the next layers was distressed with an SU distressing tool and sponged with Creamy Caramel and then a little Close to Cocoa ink. The next panel us is Pumpkin Pie on which I have clear embossed the SU background stamp Script. The green print layer is from the retired SU Brocade Backgrounds DSP. The next layer, a smaller square panel is Barely Banana stamped with a stamp from the SU Garden Silhouettes set. I used my SU markers and inked the leaves in Close to Cocoa and the flowers in Pumpkin. I stamped off once before stamping on the card stock. I also embossed the sentiment from the On Gossamer Wings set. Next up, matted on another Pumpkin Pie/clear embossed panel is the flower from the On Gossamer Wings set. The flower is popped up with craft foam and mounted on a piece of Creamy Caramel card stock that has been stamped and clear heat embossed, distressed and heavily sponged with Creamy Carmel, Chocolate Chip and a little Pumpkin Pie ink throw if for color. I stamped the flower and heat embossed it on a piece of 140# cold pressed watercolor paper and water colored it using my SU reinkers and an aqua painter. Both the flower and the butterfly are from the On Gossamer Wings set and are paper toled. I also painted a light coat of a sparkly mixture I make using a very small amount of Simple Solutions #2 Medium Acrylic Medium mixed with LuminArte Metallic Mica Luster Pearl powder. In between some of these layers, you can see that I have added machine stitching, a little fancier than my normal stitching around the borders. The corners of the main Pumpkin Pie layer were also punched with a Fiskars corner punch.


Card Recipe:
Stamps: All SU - Script, On Gossamer Wings, Garden Silhouettes
Paper: SU Brocade Backgrounds DSP, Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie, Barely Banana, Creamy Caramel, 140# cold pressed watercolor paper
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chip, Versamark, Barely Banana
Accessories: Clear embossing powder, brads, reinkers, aqua painter, Fiskars corner punch, sewing machine, SU distressing tool

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

Bon Voyage

From The Funkie Junkie

Purely for the love of crafting, I have created what I think of as a wonderful retro study of a South Seas vacation. Sit back, close your eyes, let your body relax. Breathe deep. Can you smell that tang of salt in the air, maybe laced with a little pineapple smell? I deeply enjoyed making this card. The farthest south I have ever been is to the Caribbean, but this card carried me off on a little vacation. I could just feel the balmy sea air. I could envision packing my trunks...they had a little musty smell when I opened them the first time...then I pictured myself flying off in a propeller airplane, not a jet...sending a postcard back home, wishing someone special was there to enjoy it with me.

Okay, back to reality, but don't you just love these wonderful beach images from Flourishes and the travel icons from

Stampin' Up? Working with vintage and retro just satisfies some sort of creative yearning I have inside me. So I don't know if anyone will actually like this card, but I sure had a wonderful time making it!!

I am entering this card into two challenges:

Stamp Something - a card that recalls your summer vacation

Cute Card Thursday - At the Beach!

The base cardstock layers are Baja Blue (one of last year's SU In-Colors) and Creamy Caramel. On the Creamy Caramel, in Close to Cocoa ink, I stamped a montage of every travel stamp I owned. Then I stamped a selection of travel stamps over the montage with black ink and Versamark. Then I clear embossed them. I created a scene with the Flourishes Beach Life set and turned it into a vintage postcard by deckle cutting the edges and then sponging them with Creamy Caramel, my favorite distressing ink. Of course, I "damaged" it by folding over a corner and then ripping off a piece. Then I gave the damaged corner some extra sponging with Creamy Caramel. I stamped the three travel stamps on the left, cut them out and popped them up on craft foam. The "Beach Cottage" sign is a Melissa Francis sticker, sponged with Creamy Caramel, of course.

For the interior panels, I did the montage and embossed overlay thing and then added the sentiment from the Flourishes stamp - a beautiful, uplifting quote from Victor Hugo. For the blank panel to write a special message, I created another vintage post card style. So, there is a super lot going on with this card. Please let me know what you think about it. I am curious to see if it appeals to anyone besides me - LOL!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Flourishes Beach Life, SU Travel Post, World Tour, Balmy Breezes, Aged to Perfection, Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps
Paper: Creamy Caramel, Baja Breezes, Very Vanilla, Neenah Solar White Ink: Versamark, Stewart Superior India Ink, Memento Tuxedo Black, Summer Sun, Really Rust, Copic Markers for coloring

Accessories: Clear EP, Silver EP, swing machine

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week

OCC Challenge - Christmas in August

Christmas in August???? I am SO not ready to start making Christmas cards. I haven't even gotten to Halloween yet! I just made my first autumn card yesterday.

But the vintage style fall card I finished on Saturday did put me in that vintage/shabby chic mood so that's the approach I took to making a card for the OCC Challenge.

I am also entering this card in two other challenges with a Christmas card theme this week:

Dutch Dare Challenge Blog
Creative Card Crew


I really had fun with this one. I started with SU kraft card stock, running a piece through my crimper and slathering it with Tim Holtz crackle paint then added a piece of white cardstock embossed in a snowflake pattern and lightly sponged with my favorite distressing ink - SU's Creamy Caramel. An old sheet of Christmas music was printed out from an image on The Graphics Fairy's website, torn and sponged with Creamy Caramel and Tim Holtz Vintage Photo inks. All of this was mounted on a layer of kraft on which I had embossed snowflakes with white EP and then sponged with Vintage Photo. Add a bit of gingham ribbon, a glittered chipboard snowflake, a tan Prima flower and a bit of hemp and this card was good to go. Well, almost anyway. I did finish off the inside. I made a tag with a cute rub-on sentiment from SU. Would you believe, that's my first rub-on? I have several sheets in my stash, but have never actually pulled one out and used it - LOL!! I added another distressed piece of music for good vintagy measure. The only stamping was the snowflakes from The Snowflake Spot by SU. The santa image is a vintage digital from LunaGirl.

Update: This card was featured on Card of the Week

Penny Pamper - Crafty Pad Guest DT

Several weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be selected as a guest designer for The Crafty Pad challenge blog. It was a bonus that I was given this very cute Penny Pamper stamp to use for my entry. Here is my entry for the current challenge which is to use one embossed paper, two ribbons and three buttons or brads (I substituted the dew drops instead of brads). I thought the dew drops looked like the bubbles on the stamped image and went well with the theme. Yes, I know there are more than three, but I couldn't get enough bubbles! Maybe that means I am yearning for a relaxing bubble bath - LOL!!

The paper, ribbon and brad are from Stampin' Up. The Crafty Pad image was colored with Copic markers. I made the bubbles a little 3-D and shinny by glossing them with Crystal Effects. The bubbly embossing was done with the Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder and, although it doesn't show up in the picture, the flowers have all been brushed with Star Dust Stickles.

Hop on over to The Crafty Pad and see the other DT's gorgeous creations using the darling stamp!

OCCC Inspiration Challenge/DT Call

I made this card for the inspiration challenge (last week's challenge) over on Our Creative Corner both for the challenge and to apply for a design team spot. The challenge was "In rural communities, it is almost time for harvest". Autumn is my very favorite time of the year so it wasn't difficult for me to jump right in and come up with a fall inspiration.


While blog surfing, I found several other challenges that this card fits so I am also entering it into:
Stamping for the Weekend - days gone by (vintage)
Stampin' B's - use two die cuts
Daring Cardmakers - use lace

The main image is from Artistic Outpost's Bluebird set. I have used it before, but never as the focal point for a card so I was happy to have such a great showcase for it. I created two tags using the Mega Rectangles Nestabilities. The bottom tag says "harvest blessings".

I normally would have used brown as the accent color, but I purchased this beautiful black crocheted lace from Flourishes recently and it was calling out to me for this card. So the accents are done in black and I love the way it looks. The bottom panel is stamped and clear heat embossed with the SU Filagree stamp. The DSP is from My Mind's Eye. I only had one sheet so I have been hoarding it - saving it for a really terrific fall card. The panel the bow is attached to was cut with the Mega Rectangles and the corners were embossed with the Cuttlebug Fancy Corners embossing folder and brayered with Memento Tuxedo black ink. I very carefully masked off all areas of the card except just want I needed to roll ink over. I carried that technique throughout the whole card. The card stock is scissor distressed along the edges. The edges of the layers and elements have been sponged with both Creamy Caramel and Ranger Vintage Photo ink. The word "harvest" was computer generated with the Metallic Avacodo font - love that font!! It's messy, like an old time typewriter. The chipboard B is a Cuttlebug alphabet - Olivia, which I actually get quite a bit of use out of. The inside of the card carries the same papers and theme. The sentiment is from SU's Happy Harmony set, one of my favorites.



Card Recipe
Stamps: Bluebird by Artistic Outpost, Filagree, Happy Harmony and Wonderful Words by SU and the filagree on the bottom tag is by My Minds Eye
Paper: SU Very Vanilla and Basic Black, MME 29th Street Market collection
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Accessories: Clear EP, Cuttlebug Fancy Corners Embossing Folder, Spellbinders Mega Rectangles and Circles. Ribbon from Jo-Ann's, Black crocheted lace from Flourishes, Tim Holtz trinket pin, bird charm is from Petals a Plenty, sewing machine, mini clip from SU



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

My Bad

Oh, am I bad!! I was supposed to submit a tag for this fortnight's challenge on the Creative Inspirations Challenge Blog for a guest DT spot. How embarrassing - I submitted a card for the wrong challenge!!! I skipped down on the challenge list and made this card. I won't tell you what the challenge is because I don't want to spoil it for the next round, but obviously I won't be submitting this one again.

So I hastily made a tag and submitted it to the folks over at the Creative Inspirations Challenge blog so they could replace my rouge card if they wish. I am really enjoying making tags. They are quick to make so you get instant gratification, plus you can do so much with them. And of course, a lot of tags you see are distressed style that really appeals to me. So it wasn't an imposition to make the quick tag that you see above.

Card recipe:
Stamps: Rubbernecker
Paper: Don't remember the DSP, card stock from SU - Taken With Teal and River Rock, watercolor paper
Inks: Versamark (images stamped and clear embossed), Stewart Superior India Ink, Reinkers to watercolor images: Going Gray, Yoyo Yellow, Only Orange, Really Rust, flesh tone watercolor crayon, Creamy Caramel, Old Olive, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Csrystal Effects, ClearDew Drops, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and Tiny Bubbles embossing folders, Creative Memories cutting system for the starfish shape, SU corner punch and brass brads, sewing machine, Crystal Stickles

Tag Recipe:
Stamps: SU Artifacts, Flourishes Seaside Life, Inkadinkadoo, Family Traditions by Scrappy Cat, Hero Arts
Ink: Chocolate Ship, Taken with Teal Close to Cocoa, Ranger Alcohol Inks: Stream, Butterscotch and Ginger, Taken with Teal, Tattered Angel Simply Khaki Glimmer Mist, Versamark
Accessories: Gold Dimensional Paint, Crystal Effects, Clear EP, Fiskars corner punch, sewing machine, Organdy ribbon from Jo-Ann's crinkled with heat gun

Sweet Strawberry Girl

After my last card missed the challenges by a mile, I set out to create a card that would hit several. I believe this one will hit:

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - use hardware (red diamond brads between the flowers)

Three Clovers Designs -Tootie Fruitie

Cute Card Thursday - fruit

Cuttlebug Spot - use your favorite CB embossing folder and spot 3 of their blinkies on other blogs

Dutch Dare - use lace

Daring Cardmakers - Bejeweled bliss

This is the first time these stamps (Whiff of Joy and Flourishes) have seen ink. I have quite a few Whiff of Joy and Sarah Kay stamps that I still have not used (so many stamps, so little time - sigh). The new Flourishes Strawberries set is fabulous and I have been planning on using it so these fruit challenges were very timely. But oh, what to use for DSP? I wanted a crisp white for the dotted swiss but any rich red DPS I owned had a cream color rather than white in the pattern. So off I went again in search of the perfect DSP via a digital download. I found just what I was craving at Raspberry Road Designs. Their Flour Sack paper pack really appeals to me and it had a couple of papers with strawberry patterns. And so this card was born.

The coloring was done with Copic markers and I had a shock when my colorless blender pen ran out of ink. I have only had these pens since May. Luckily I had purchased a refill canister and a bottle of the colorless blender fluid. It was a pretty quick and easy task to refill it with the assistance of this four-part tutorial. I was fortunate that I had the refill on hand and I think next time I order supplies, I should start ordering a couple of refill colors each time I order - especially the colors I am using the most like skin tones, hair colors, basket colors, etc. I would hate to have a marker run dry in the middle of a project!!

~Card Recipe~

Stamps: Flourishes Strawberries, Whiff of Joy Willow With Basket

Paper: SU Real Red and Whisper White, Neenah Solar White for coloring with Copics, Raspberry Road Flour Sack DSP

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots embossing folder, Nestabilities Labels Four, Stickles, lace from Jo--Ann's, sewing machine, Prima Say it With Crystals

Beach Hideaway

I've been having fun entering challenges lately. Usually I check to see what kind of challenges are going on at the moment and then make a card that will hit a few of them. But I was seized by the need to create this card and just went for it without trying to match it up with any challenge. I spent about an hour this afternoon surfing the challenge blogs, but nothing seemed to match up. So here's my card, all lonesome with no challenge to play in.

Oh well, I really did enjoy making this. I love the soft beachy feel to it. Sort of like weathered driftwood or cushions on a wicker chair that are faded by the coastal elements of sun and salt.

I started the card with digital download paper by Debbie Knorr at Scrapbook-Bytes. I actually went blog surfing looking for some digital paper that gave me the feel I was looking for for this card. This Casual Villa paper pack really hit the nail on the head! It was exactly what I was looking for. I am pretty new to all the digital paper and elements, but I plunged in and printed my own paper on my home printer. I did go out and buy some heavier weight paper to print on to give my card a more substantial feel to it.

I stamped the images with Chocolate Chip in. I deliberately did not color them in to continue the faded feel of the card. All the edges were scissor distressed and sponged with Creamy Caramel ink. The Coconut Hill element is a Melissa Francis sticker that I popped up on craft foam after distressing it by sponging it heavily with Creamy Caramel ink and scratching it up a bit using a Tim Holtz distressing tool. I added a strip cut with a MS edge punch and a few Prima flowers, buttons, ribbon and hemp. The beautiful inspiration saying on the inside of the card is a stamp from Rubbernecker. All other stamps are from the Flourishes Beach Life set. I really gave Spellbinders a workout with this card, using the following Nestabilities: Scalloped Circles, Scalloped Long Rectangles and Scalloped Squares.

I am really in love with this Flourishes stamp set. I made my last card with it, have just finished this card using it and have one more in the works using it. After making three cards in a row, I will probably put it into retirement for quite a while - LOL!!

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