A card making frenzy!!

Okay, I've been a little busy lately making cards. It just seems like the creative juices are flowing and I can't seem to stop them. LOL. I think they are slowing down, though. Anyway, I have a few more cards for you that I made yesterday. Some are challenges and some are not.

First off is a re-do of a challenge where I apparently forgot to read the directions. that frog card featured below was the challenge, but I forgot to use the colors green galore, brocade blue and pale plum. So here is the re-do.

I changed up the layout some with the re-do to accomodate the color requirements. These colors are a bit more difficult to work with and took a lot of playing around with before I found a comfortable layout with them. I honestly think this is a better card than the first time around.

Here's the inside. I used a circle nestie as a stencil for where the sentiment would go. There are no flies on this card, but that's only because I was simply too lazy to get up and go dig out the set where the flies are. If you saw where my stamps are, you would understand completely. LOL. It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.



Next up--the butterflies. These three beautiful butterflies are from a retired SU set called Wonderful Wings. I made these late last night for three dear friends who were very supportive after my Grandmother passed away. Each butterfly is unique.

The first one is a monarch butterfly, the only one I actually know the name of by they way. I stamped it with brown Staz-On on watercolor paper that was cut with the top note die cut and then watercolored over it using markers and an aquapainter. I love my aquapainters. Then when the butterfly dried, I used the bigger aquapainter and got the background really wet and then sponged several colors of inks in the background. The butterfly is then layered on top of a piece of very vanilla paper that has been cuttlebugged. The sentiment here is from warm words and is scraps from the earlier challenge this week of using the hot card technique. It's then put under the silver hodge podge hardware and attached with some retired SU ribbon.


The second butterfly is a beautiful brilliant blue butterfly. I love blue butterflies as much as a monarch, but have never seen a real blue one in person. This one is done in the same manner as the monarch. I stamped it with brown Staz-On on watercolor paper that was cut with the top note die cutand then watercolored over it using markers and an aquapainter. I love my aquapainters. Then when the butterfly dried, I used the bigger aquapainter and got the background really wet and then sponged several colors of inks in the background. The sentiment here is from warm words and is scraps from the earlier challenge this week of using the hot card technique. It's then put under the silver hodge podge hardware and attached with some retired SU ribbon.


This butterfly is a little different from the others, but it's still pretty in its own way. I cut apart the die cut here for a window effect, but overall it is done the exact same way as the other two above.







Next is an Inspired By Nature card that I started working on several weeks ago. I just never got around to assembling it. The flowers were colored on the stamp and then stamped on top of the grass. The grass was stamped first using Sahara Sand ink. The butterfly was stamped with night of navy and versamark ink then embossed with clear embossing powder. It was attached to the card panel with dimensionals. There is no sentiment on the card, I wanted the image to stand on its own and just serve as a blank inside note card.





This card was the last the three March Wish RAK monthly card contest cards. It was a bit more difficult than it looks on the surface. I had a hard time getting the right colors and sentiments together to make the card all flow together. The Raspberry Tart paper in the background can stand on its own so it made a big difference in the overall card. I layered rose red and a fairly neutral paper on top of that stamped with the live like you mean it set images. I then layered flowers and attached a clear rhinestone brad to the middle of them.




This card is almost totally stamp free! A new concept for me. It's also very simple. Yet another new concept for me. LOL. No really, just ask those who know me. :D

The sketch came from Taylored Expressions challenge. I had this old DSP laying around and a scrap of some new DSP so I just punched it and scraps of coordinating colors and voila. Here we are.

Precious in His sight...

Here is another card for the wish RAK monthly card contest. This one is a new technique to me, but I love the effect of it! The technique is called Hot Card and the link to the website where I got the instructions is here: http://www.learn2stamp.com/techniques/techniques34.shtml. I didn't have any patterned tissue paper I wanted to use so I stamped this background stamp from Unity called Tea Time Toile. The verse was an image I received through Wish RAK. I wanted the background to be able to stand on its own. So I layered paper behind it only as an accent. The verse fit just perfectly in the lower corner. On the sides of the verse, I used some clear dew drops I had and attached them with Crystal Effects. Kind of like tears, huh? I really love the softness of this card and it's one of my all-time favorites so far.

I toadally love you!

Here's a card for the Wish RAK March monthly challenge. The challenge was to make a card using a frog somewhere on it. Here's my submission.









The frogs and the speech bubbles were received from Wish RAK. I saw on someone's blog recently (sorry I can't remember whose) a card that was folded like this and I thought it was adorable. It uses the same amount of paper as a regular sized card, so I decided to give it a try. I think it's a fun departure from the traditional fold of a card. I used my nesties to cut all the circles out. The frogs are watercolored with markers and a blender pen then covered with crystal effects for some added dimension.

The inside of the card is simple since the front opens to be seen on the inside. I found the flies in an old retired SU set Noah and Co. Who can have frogs without flies?! LOL The designer series paper is some retired paper I had around the house and the circles were perfect to go with this since the main image is all circles too.

I love you, Grandma.

Well, it's been a sad weekend around here. Sorry to say, but it's true. Tomorrow we will bury my Grandma--less than two years after my Grandpa. She has been sick for a very long time, and we all knew it was coming, but it's still very hard to say goodbye to someone you love so much. Now that both of my Grandparents (I only knew one set of them) are gone, it's like having to figure out how to start a new chapter in my life. When they were living, I called at least once a week and often times more than that. They brought me a lot of joy and I have a great amount of respect and love for both of them.

This card is for you, Grandma. Sorry I didn't get to give it to you in person, but I had watercolored this morning glory a while back to put on a Mother's Day card for you. So, now's as good a time as any, I guess, to give it to you. I know how much you loved morning glories. You used to have some in your back yard that looked just like these. And yes, I know your love of pink so I put as much as I could in here. The pearls are for you, too. The eyelet border is in memory of my favorite Easter dress you made for me with the white eyelet trim.

Goodbye, Grandma. I love you and miss you very much. Your unconditional love toward me all these years will always be remembered and returned. So until we meet again some day, rest in peace with our Lord and Saviour and with Grandpa by your side. Love you!!! :(

Curious little Monkey

Curious George's Birthday card

This little card is for a friend of ours little boy. He adores Curious George. So I went online and did a search for Curious George coloring pages. I came across this awesome website with tons of Curious George pages that are the new Curious George.





After I downloaded this page, I opened it in a photo editing software and reduced the size to fit on a card front. Then I printed it on card stock and colored away with my wonderful SU markers. Thanks, dear friend, for those beautiful markers! The clouds I drew freehand and cut them out and outlined with a bashful blue marker. The background is a piece of Almost Amethyst, I believe, and it was sponged over with ballet blue classic ink and whisper white craft ink. The detail picture shows that. It really made it look like a sky and helped tone down the contrast with the colors. I used my gel pen to write in happy birthday and just add highlights to George and his plane.

On the inside of the card, I stamped a monkey out of the adorable, but retired, Monkey Business set and added a happy birthday banner across the top. All in all, this was a fun card to do. It may only last 30 seconds in the hands of a two year old, but I had fun doing it and have pictures of it anyway. LOL. It got the seal of approval from the three year old, so I figure it's a winner. :D

Mojo Monday sketch challenge!

Mojo Monday!!

I love the sketch challenges over at mojo Monday and today's was no different. This was, however, the first time I've ever gotten to do one of them. You can see the original sketch over on their blog. This is my interpretation. I used some springy colors since it's been so cold the last few days, and I was ready for some more signs of spring. This adorable bee is from Unity Stamps in the Little Buggers set. That whole set is adorable. The paper is cardstock and retired designer paper from Stampin' Up. The ribbon is also from stampin up--some retired, some current. The gingham brads are just some random brads that I had on hand. No idea where they came from. I used my SU eyelet punch on some retired designer series paper for the bottom edge. The flower image stamped on the strip of paper behind the bee is also from the Unity set Little Buggers. Any suggestions for improvement? I like it the way it is, but I'm always open to improvement.

Virtual Stamp Night!!!

Are you ready for this? There are a total of 9 cards that I completed over the weekend. Even after being gone pretty frequently. Amazing. 8 of those cards are for the VSN challenges over at SCS. The other was a Wish RAK February card contest. So, let's get started, shall we?

First up: the challenge was to use something new that you haven't used before. Everything but the cardstock must be new. So, I just got this Sizzix die from SU and I LOVE this thing! It's so versatile and just plain beautiful. One of my favorite color combinations is black and white and this die just fits perfectly for that. The white cardstock is actually a shimmer cardstock. I just bought this ribbon and the fibers recently and hadn't even opened them until I did this card. Amazingly, the fiber and the ribbon matched each other perfectly even though I bought them both at different places and times.

Next Up: The challenge was to make a monochromatic card. We were only allowed one neutral of white or vanilla. So I had a lot of fun with excessive and maybe even ridiculous amounts of pink. This card also features some things I haven't used or haven't used very much. I used my new border punch to do the eyelet edge and the dandelions are glittered with Martha Stewart glitters I've had for a while but not done much with. It may have been better without the glitter, but, hey, a little bling is always nice, especially with this much pink. LOL. The butterflies are from Dreams du Jour and the sentiment is from small script. The dandelions are from Happy Harmony. I can't even begin to tell you the names of all the pink colors. the inks however are pink passion and and regal rose (I think).

Card #3: This challenge was to use the split negative technique. I LOVE this technique and the card itself. I took the scraps from the first card when I made the die cut and used them in the background here. This is also on shimmer white cardstock. It's a very simple card. The butterfly is from God's Beauty and it is just perfect for this technique. This one did take some doing to get the placement just right, but I won in the end. mwahahah. Two way glue is a girl's best friend here. LOL.


Card #4: This was a card to make with the help of a child and was to feature things you love. So I made my 3-year old's hand print in red ink on the red paper. Now, for those of you who have ever tried to craft with a 3-year old, you can truly appreciate the mess that came next. I mean, honestly, what was I thinking?!!! Oh, well. Nothing a bath and a lot of ink remover can't cure. Anyway, back to the card. The other part of the challenge was to use a heart, a circle and a square on a standard size card. Since red is mine and my child's favorite color, there is a lot of red on here. My DH loves navy blue, but it just didn't look right on this card. So the background square is chocolate chip, which come to think of it is a definite favorite of his especially in the form of cookies. I made the hand print make and impression on the heart. Kind of symbolic. Then in the circle I took people out of the All in the Family set and put one for each member of our family in there.

Card # 5 This was a card that was all about chocolate. The hostess gave us several choices with color combo challenges and we were to pick our favorite kind of chocolate and use that combo. I love dark chocolate so I chose that one. It was close to cocoa, apricot appeal, and cameo coral. An absolutely beautiful color combination. This one also uses some new things I haven't gotten around to using yet. Sounds like I have a lot of new things lately, LOL. Shhh...Don't tell DH. :D Well, this on uses my butterfly dies from SU, a cuttlebug embossing folder (the name of which eludes me at the moment), and a new stamp set from Unity Stamps called Something Within.


Card #6 Now this is the one that is for the February Wish RAK card contest. I had a lot of fun with this one. The dog I got as a wish RAK and thought he was so cute and would go perfectly with my Cowboy Kid set. So I looked up a sketch (brain too fried at this point to come up with one on my own, LOL) and found a sketch challenge over at SCS and the sketch number is SC207 if you want to look it up. I used some pretty yellow I had in my paper stash, old olive, chocolate chip, and really rust. The read was markered in. Turned out really cute!

Card #7 This was a fun and very quick card. The challenge was to use acetate to make a card. Seriously, this took about ten minutes tops to do! I used a wheel stamp I have that is a new one in the catalog and matches the always set. The butterflies on the side are from Butterfly of Happiness, and of course my new butterfly die. that's about it. I have no idea what color of green that is, but it goes well with the cameo coral paper. The sentiment stamp is a dollar stamp from Michael's.



Card #8 Here was a really cool technique I had seen but never tried. The challenge was to use the melted crayon background technique. Granted, this is a stinky one, but the results are amazing. The tutorial for this can be found at splitcoast stampers, as usual. I used metallic crayons and then added in some purples just for a bit of variety and it looks like a piece of shale or some kind of rock. Then I took my Staz-On and stamped the deer image on top of it, tore the bottom and put it all together. Now, this card still needs some kind of work, but I'm not sure what it might be. So I'm open to constructive suggestions to this or any other card on my site.




Card #9 Now this was a new technique to me. It makes awesome cards, but is a bit more involved than a regular card. The challenge was to use a joy fold card. You can find the tutorial over at splitcoast. It's not hard, just has more paper and steps. Again, I went a little overboard with the pinks, but it was fun. I especially like the pearl closures I came up with. the paper is the new Raspberry Tart paper, and I had fun once again with my new eyelet punch. ;) there are several pics with this one that shows how the card works.

Tonight's the night!

For virtual stamp night over at Splitcoast. So much fun! I had a blast with the last one I did, and I won't be able to do all of them this time around, but I will do as many as possible. So be on the lookout for more posts to come! Probably a few.

Just had to share some fun or cool (in my ever so humble opinion) photos that I have taken of nature over the weekend.

The deer and the birds were taken through the window. Those cardinals gave me quite a hard time. They just wouldn't stay still long enough to get the camera focused in! I loved the fact, however, that one of the pics of the cardinal was with a berry of some sort in its beak. Didn't even know that was there until I uploaded the pics from my camera. The tulip was a Valentine's gift and they were just beautiful.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope all have had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Mine has been rather lazy and wonderful for that reason. Here it is 2:00 in the afternoon and I'm still in my jammies with no intention of changing either. LOL. Can't remember the last time I had that opportunity. Anywho. Here are two cards for you for today. One for my DH, the other for my little one. Both were a lot of fun to do.

The one for my DH was actually a challenge I ran across over at splitcoast to do a valentine's card without using red or pink. This was fun and I ended up with a monochromatic card. I loved the softness of this look! The stamp set is one of my favorites, yet I seem to forget to use it very often--Dreams du jour. I stuck with several colors of blue and white as my color scheme and I loved the way this card came out.






Next was the card for my little munchkin. The kiddo is so into Winnie the Pooh right now and really seems to favor Roo. So I did some searching on line for Pooh coloring pages and came across this one of Roo. Thinking it was an adorable picture of Roo, I printed it out. Okay, confession time. Funny story. I spent about two hours looking for a picture that would actually print out and was getting so frustrated that I couldn't get anything to print. After the two hours had passed, I just happened to look down and realized (DUH!) that the printer was unplugged so I could upload photos from my camera. Man, did I feel like an idiot. So, I finally got the picture printed and then watercolored it with my SU markers. After that I did some cutting out to layer it on the bright papers and then voila, in one hour I was finished. By this time it was 1:00 a.m. and I was exhausted. If I only I had looked down sooner, I could have been in bed a whole lot sooner. LOL.

Sale-A-Bration time! and a swap

Well, it's that time of the year where Stampin' Up customers can earn free stamp sets!! Now that's a word, I love to hear--FREE stamps. So this card uses one of those sets of stamps. This is the Yummy set, and it's probably one of my favorites. I love the swirls and flourishes on it, and the sheer elegance of it. This card is for a SAB swap this Wednesday with my upline and up. I used the in-colors on it and love the combinations of pacific point and pirouette pink. The lighter blue is actually bashful blue and it made a really soft complement to the bright blue and soft pink. I also used the sizzix sizzlits die birds and blooms for the bird and the flowers and leaf. This is also one of my favorite sizzlit sets. I can't wait until my set gets here! This card is a gift card holder and on the inside is a pocket where you can slide in the gift card.

Challenge card re-do

Okay, I didn't like the first black, white and red plus gold card so I gave it another shot. This one is better in my opinion. It's definitely more cheerful and more like my style. It's all out of scraps! I have way, WAY too many of those! So I found a baskets and blooms basket that I had cut out of chipboard and used that covered with black paper. I used a black marker on the edges to hide the chipboard edges. then I found this cute little oval nestie that was from Wish RAK and stamped the sentiment out of the happy heart set. The flowers are pieced together out of punches from scraps and then held together with a gold brad.

More Wish RAK challenges!

wow! It's been a while since I've been on here it seems. Been crazy around here and doing some wish RAK'ing like crazy over at Splitcoast Stampers. Now there are those who do way more than I do, but this week was a lot for me. 23 in one week with a few more planned to do as well. But I did manage to squeeze in the time to come up with these gems. These cards are for the wish RAK monthly challenge contest. As is always the case with wish RAK challenges, the cards made must use something received from wish RAK.

I really love the way the scripture one turned out. The challenge for this one was to make a gatefold card. I received this beautiful scripture stamp and just had to use it here. so I mounted it on some scraps of SU prints pack paper and then on kraft cardstock. I used antique copper brads to attach some scraps of chocolate chip ribbon and then more brads to attach the image to the card front. The designer paper I used was from my scrap bin as well and I can't recall the name of it. I punched a 5-petal flower out of some more scrap Kraft paper and used my dry embossing tool to make it more three dimensional. Then I punched out a couple of flowers with my boho punch to layer in the middle with the rhinestone brad.

The next card challenge I completed was to do in honor of Valentine's day or chinese new year and to use red, black, white and gold. The nestie oval was something I received from wish RAK so I stamped on the happy heart and embossed it in black. Then used the resist technique and colored over it with a red marker to get the letters red. I took a hole punch and punched each of the scallops on the oval. Then I took some black cardstock and put it through the cuttlebug to emboss that layer of cardstock. Those were then layered on red and white cardstock and put on a base of red. I used some gold embroidery floss to make the gold accents in the corners. I'm not too sure about this card. It seems a little dull to me in the layout, though.

Now on to the next challenge. A dog card. Hmmm....

Crazy for Cupcakes

Here's another card for the Taylored Expressions cupcake challenge. This one was tricky. It's a gate fold card opening from the top. I used my circle nestabilities for the circles on the opening flap. The colors came from an old color challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers: chocolate chip, groovy guava and barely banana. Paper for the baloon came from a retired SU Designer Series Paper (I think it's ginger blossoms). The back side of the baloon paper is used for the rectangle on the base of the card. For the guava border, I used my scallop edge punch and an 1/8 inch circle punch to make an eye-let like border.

Sock Monkey, anyone?!

Here is a fun little card I made today based on a sketch challenge I found over at Taylored Expressions. One of the designers for this challenge came up with this challenging sketch and you can see it here on her blog. I used the sock monkey set, and I think this set grows on me more each time I use it. Confession: It was not my favorite set by far when it first came out. I found some prints pack designer papers in my scrap bin to make the paper pieced part of the monkey and the background squares. This is a bit of an odd color combo, but I think it works pretty well. Thoughts?

Wish RAK contest cards

The following cards are for this month's Wish RAK contest over at splitcoast stampers. I've never even done these before, and they are quite a lot of fun. The main challenge is that you have to use something you received via wish RAK somewhere on each of your cards. Then each challenge that is posted puts additional restrictions on them. By the way, if you haven't looked into wish RAK, you should really check it out. It's lots of fun and a great way to save money and space on buy stamped images. Plus, it's always a surprise what you will get. :D

The first Challenge: Baby, it's cold outside. The challenge is to use the colors Bordering Blue, Night of navy, very vanilla and a "hint" of pretty in pink. Additionally, it has to have a hot drink somewhere one the card. So, I received via wish RAK a Riley sitting in his recliner drinking a cup of coffee while eating a cupcake, and this is the only "hot drink" image I had so I went with it. I used the pink on his mug and cupcake. The background is cuttlebugged with snowflakes. The sentiment was also something I received via wish RAK.

The second challenge: Die Cut Dilemma. The challenge here is to use a die cut somewhere on your card. I have Valentine's Day on the brain and so my card for this one is all about love. It's a gate-fold card with the opening being a heart. I cut out a heart with my nesties (I just had to have a set of these myself to do my Valentine's stuff--I love hearts), and the hand cut the stamped heart and layered it on the ridinghood red one. Then I cut another littler heart and layered it on top of that one. From the pretties kit, I took a small flower and small rhinestone brad and put them through the hearts. I used a piece of DSP out of my Bella paper and covered the right flap with that leaving a bit of a pink border on the edge. I used the flat pearls out of the pretties kit as well to outline the heart on the DSP. On the Pirouette Pink side I used a marker and made dots around the outside of the heart to outline it. Then I stamped the sentiment on the lower edge.

The third challenge: Sketch it. This one was fun, too. It uses a sketch from www.pagemaps.com as the challenge. There was really no additional restrictions to this challenge. For mine, I had this adorable bear from a wish RAK and decided to use him. I colored his heart pink and then embossed with iridescent ice. I then used my nesties and paper left over from the previous card to make the embellishments.

January Virtual Stamp Night Challenges at Splitcoast

Okay, here's the slideshow of the cards I'm doing for the challenge this weekend. These have been quite challenging at times since they should be completed with 45 minutes. I haven't completed very many, but I will keep working at them and add to the slides. Hopefully I'll get them all done before the end of the month, LOL. If you want to see more information on them visit my gallery at splitcoast stampers web site.

Another round of challenge cards plus some...

Splitcoast is hosting a Virtual Stamp Night mini challenge this weekend, and it's all about love. I have been having lots of fun working on those challenges. Watch for a slideshow to come of those cards as well. So, it's official, I'm hooked on Splitcoast, but it's been forcing my creativity to expand and improve in a lot of ways and that's the great thing about it.

Mean while, here's a card I whipped up late, late last night for a family member's birthday. It's made with morning soft stamp set and watercolored with markers. The paper is soft sky overstamped with the floral background stamp in night of navy ink. I think it turned out really pretty. What do you think?

Well, I finally finished all the cards...

At least the ones I will be able to finish from the challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. There were a few that I just simply had nothing to use on those cards. Shocking, but true.

It may be a while before I post much more. So please, bear with me. It's been a very difficult month for me personally. At times, I'm doing well to keep my head above water and keep from sinking. So bear with me as I go through this season of my life and re-establish where I'm going.

Hopefully I'll be able to get a few cards posted, though. I received a wish RAK today that had one of my favorite scriptures in it. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy path." I have to believe in that scripture right now through all the hurt I'm feeling that He has a plan for me and my life will be better for it.

Sorry to be depressing, but this is also therapeutic for me as well. I hope that all is well with each of you and that you will all have a blessed and happy day!

Cards for Soldiers Wish RAK New Year's Challenge

Over the New Year holiday Splitcoast stampers hosted a challenge to make lots of cards to be sent to soldiers overseas. Since I think this is an awesome and very worthy cause, I decided to participate. We owe our soldiers so much, and this is one small way I felt I could give something back to them since they give so much everyday for each of us Americans. The above slideshow is a collection of the cards I made to fit the various challenges. Hopefully, I will find the time to post each card individually along with what the challenge was. But for now, here's at least a view. I still have quite a few more challenges to do so I will try to remember to add them to this slideshow as I finish them. Enjoy!