~Create.365 ~ Sharing My Paper Crafting Life

Today's design team post with Lemon Shortbread Digital Stamps using Hedgehog Leaves was a fun change of pace from summer themed cards! 

The background papers all came from Stampin' Up and the card base is a 5 x 7. Coloring was done using a mixture of Spectrum Noir markers with Prismacolor pencils over the top. Accents with a Star Dust gel pen finished everything off nicely. The light blue background was done with decorator chalk and distress ink along the edges.

Until next time~

Today's design team project is another Christmas card with Happy Little Stampers and this month's optional theme is SANTA!

I did some simple layering and colored the image with decorator chalks on the red part of the hat and on the beard plus clear Wink of Stella pen on the trim parts of the hat.

Simple and sweet -that's all for me today~

Today's design team project for the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge is a bridal shower card for my niece who is getting married in October. I will also be entering it @ Angie's Digital Stamps for "Anything Goes -BINGO" , @ heARTful Stamping Challenge for "Anything Goes + a stamp" and @ 613 Avenue Create for "Anything Goes + Button and Bows". 

I used the "Ribbon/Twine - Glitter - Embossing" diagonal row, as the dress and sentiment are embossed with black holographic embossing powder...the dress is colored with clear Wink of Stella  glitter pen and then I added the blue bow.

A touch of patterned paper on the inside carries over the theme from the front.

After die-cutting the main image with the pierced rectangle, I added the subtle touch of some pale blue chalk all around the dress image and sentiment stamp.

Until next time~

Today's card is one we will be making at the January library class and I will also be entering it @ One Crazy Stamper for "Anything Goes -- but with a twist -- add purple or blue and a ribbon or button", @ Creative With Stamps for "Snowflake", @ Stamps & Fun for "Use a Stamp" and @ The Crazy Challenge for "Winter Wonderland".

The snowflake background is randomly stamped and heat embossed with a single snowflake stamp using holographic powder. 

The large snowy scene was stamped in Versamark ink and then colored using the Poppin' Pastels technique....which involves rubbing dry art chalk colors over the top before the ink dries. Very easy and very pretty!

Until next time~

Today's card was inspired by the July Mix It Up challenge from Sugarpea Designs. I will also be entering it for the "Liberty Quote" challenge @ Words 2 Craft By, for the color challenge of "Red, White and Blue" @ Paper Play Sketches and for "Where in the World" @ the Sisterhood of Crafters blog.

For this card, I started with a white side folding A2 size card base and gathered some patterned paper from my Amuse Studio collection...a thin red diagonal stripe and a navy polka-dot.  I gathered a mix of retired stamps from The Angel Company and 2 rectangle dies from Fun Stamper's Journey. I used both dies at the same time to cut and pierce the red striped paper, backed it with the navy polkadots and adhered them to the card front.

Next up I knew I wanted a circle shaped frame, so I used 2 different colors of my CM trimmer blades (red and blue) with the same circle template on the navy paper...cutting the smaller one (blue) first is the key to making this work. Since Amuse Studio paper is patterned on only one side and white on the other, I was able to make use of the inner circle by turning it over and using the white side to stamp fireworks on in blue and red dye inks.

I hand cut the banners according to the sketch, edged them in inks by using the quartered sponges and stamped them with "July 4th" using a tiny calendar set from TAC.

I used mini foam dots to mount the navy circle frame near the bottom of the card and then adhered the white fireworks circle flat in the middle. I used regular foam squares for the banners and planned for extra dimension foam circles to adhere Lady Liberty so that she would stand out above everything else on the card front and take center stage.

Lady Liberty was stamped and embossed in silver on to a white scrap of cardstock, colored with art chalks and fussy cut out before popping her up to finish off the card front.

The inside I kept clean and simple by stamping fireworks in red for several "ink generations" and then over stamping "Happy 4th of July" in blue ink. I was really pleased with how this card turned out, even if I am a little late in celebrating Independence Day here on my blog, lol!

Until next time~

Today's card was made using sketch #65 from Your Next Stamp and inspired by the "Winged Things" theme from The Artistic Stamper, the "F for Feathered Friends" theme from The Alphabet Challenge and the "Flowers and Friends make Life a Garden" quote challenge from the Time Out Challenge Blog. 

I started out with a birch A5 side folding card base and a piece of birch cardstock that I cut into a 4" circle using my Creative Memories circle cutting tools and templates.

The stamps I used are from A*Muse Studio (I think they were a past stamp of the month set from 2016) and the patterned paper was from an old Basic Grey Collection called Sweet Pea Alyssa.

The vintage bird was stamped in Tuxedo Black Momento ink and colored using water colors. Once that was dry, I used 2 shades of distress inks to give the edges of the circle a vintage photo look...but after I did it, I was wishing I hadn't, lol...oh well -it was clearly too late now. So I made the best of it and used some sky blue chalks to brighten up the sky a bit more.

The "hello" was die cut from both pink glitter paper and white fun foam to layer and add some dimension to the front of my card. Foam pop dots completed the look by popping up the bird circle just a tiny bit too. 

Final touches to the card front included clear sequins in 3 different sizes from Pretty Pink Posh and I even used my Gelly Roll Star Dust pen to add some glittery details to the middle of each flower blossom.

The inside of the card was stamped also in black ink, softly colored with chalks and I then tore the edge of a patterned paper scrap and glued it to the bottom right corner. This card is now finished and ready to mail to one of my aunt's later this year.

Until next time~

Today's card is one we will be making for the month of July at my local library card making class and I will be entering it in "For Dads" @ Send a Smile 4 Kids and in "Masculine" @ My Time to Craft. 

This is a 5 1/5" square gatefold card that came in a pack of 10 with matching envelopes from DCVW many, many years ago and I am just now getting around to using them...better late than never, right? 

The lighthouse stamp set is a long ago retired one from TAC that I still use often because the design is very classic and will never go out of style.

To start off, I die cut 3 of the largest tags from my old Sizzix steel ruled die using my Amaze machine...one from kraft cardstock and two from white cardstock. I then ran the kraft tag thru my Texture Boutique with the clouds embossing folder and then brushed the white Palette ink over the top using the direct to paper method.

Using black ink, I stamped the lighthouse on the 1st white tag, the "Happy Father's Day" sentiment and large birds on the 2nd white tag and the smaller birds on the kraft tag around the clouds. The lighthouse scene was colored using decorator chalks and applied with Q-tips for a soft, vintage look. The tags were secured to overlap with a bit of ScraPerfect's Best Glue Ever and tied with a piece of blue organza ribbon at the top.

I stamped the sentiment in black on a kraft scrap, adhered it to the front right bottom of the card and using foam dots attached the tag set to only the left flap of the card front....overlapping, but not securing the right side, so that the card can still be opened.

I had decided to stamp the large bird randomly over the front of the card in charcoal ink because all that blank space was bothering me...I just don't seem good at doing wide open, clean spaces, lol. I always seem to feel the need to fill them up, for some reason! To tie it all together, I wrapped the card with some skinny jute twine and tied it into a small bow -front and center. The inside tag was also edged in black ink to help it pop, glued on and then I declared that the card was finished.