Blue Snowdrops

I'm really enjoying learning a little about the designers over at Flourishes. This week the focus is on Cindy Lawrence, and if you haven't already read about her, you should head over to the Flourishes blog and at least read her "random facts" at the end of the interview. She has lead an interesting life, to say the least, and is quite the world traveler. I haven't traveled around much, but I did once have an experience similar to one of hers: I once drove my car into the side of a Dairy Queen. ;)  (Also, like Cindy, I'm an excellent driver...I think that little mishap occurred in 1976--when I was learning to drive!)

For the CASE Cindy Challenge, I chose this card here. I've always liked the way she layers ribbons and borders. I copied her card very closely, using different, but similar elements. I even dyed my braided trim with a Copic marker, like she did. ;) I'd never have thought to do that, but it works like a charm. I used a Pearl Pen for my pearls and chose to do some stitching with my machine, rather than faux stitching.

I don't like leaving the inside of my cards completely bare, but I didn't want anything at the bottom to show through the punched border on the front of the card, either. So, I went simple, with just a top and bottom scallop from the same dp as the front of the card, and a few Pearl Pen pearls.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Flourishes Designer Focus CASE Challenge: CASE Cindy
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Botanical Bookplates Vol. 1 & 2 (Flourishes)
Paper: Best of K&Co
Ink: Copics; Memento; Distress
Dies: Tailor-Made Classic Bookplate Template Die (Flourishes/Spellbinders)
Accessories: Garden Rail Edge Punch (Martha Stewart); Bracket Edge Punch (EK Success); Woven embossing folder (Lifestyle Crafts); grosgrain ribbon; sheer ribbon; braided trim; Pearl Pen; Scor-Tape; sewing thread
Size: 3.5" x 5.5"

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Seaside Bookmark

I wanted to CASE one more of Christine's creations for the Flourishes Friday Focus CASE Challenge, and the deadline is looming, so I'll be quick. ;)

Check out this great masculine bookmark Christine made using the What A Catch stamp set. Her coloring on that image is amazing, isn't it! I don't have that stamp set, or any other fishing stamps, but I do have the A Guiding Light stamp set, that has some fab masculine images. I colored the lighthouse image with Copics and added a little glimmer to the sand and water with a Spica pen. After distressing everything (you know I can't make something without at least a little distressing!), I used her general layout to put it all together. I had to raid my DD's shell collection for the little seashell at the top of the bookmark. :)

I'm entering this in the following challenges:
Flourishes Friday Focus CASE Challenge: Case Christine
ColourQ Case Challenge #191
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge: Into the Woods (I used a wood image dp)

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your evening!

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: A Guiding Light (Flourishes)
Paper: Dolled Up (My Mind's Eye); Clippings (Basic Grey)
Ink: Copics; Distress; Memento; Spica pen
Accessories: Corner Chomper; jute; seashell; circle punches; pearls; Zing embossing powder; eyelet
Size: 2.75" x 5.5"

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Best Year Ever!

Julee, from Verve Stamps, posted a fab card this week for the Verve Diva Dare challenge, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to have to CASE it for a masculine birthday card (you can find Julee's card here).

One of the first things that caught my eye on Julee's card was all the die cut negatives. I don't have many small sizes of star dies, so I made do with what I have, and I really like how my die cut stars turned out. With the brown ink and Stickles on the edges of both the positive and the negative die cuts, it looks like the stars just burned themselves right out of the paper. ;) The stars that I cut out also have a gold embossed star in the center of each one (from the Verve Super Dad stamp set), and a few of those same embossed stars are directly on the card, too. The smallest stars are brads. Besides the negative die cuts, I also CASEd Julee's layout, color palette, and distressing.

I used the same dp on the inside of the card, in a different configuration.

Thanks for stopping by, and have yourself a crafty week!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Verve - May Diva Dare (Stars and Stripes) (I used the Super Dad stamp set by Verve)
Really Reasonable Ribbon #72: Red, White, Blue, and Ribbon theme
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge: Into the Woods (I used a wood grain dp)

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Birthday Sentiments (MFT Stamps); Super Dad (Verve); Signature Greetings II (PTI)
Paper: A Little Beachy (Sara Sullivan, Design House Digital); Sailing (Tia Hoffman, Design House Digital)
Ink: Distress Ink; Zig marker; Sharpie marker
Dies: Stars Five (Spellbinders)
Accessories: Garden Rail edge punch (Martha Stewart); embossing powder (Recollections); ribbon; pearls; star brads; mini staples; Stickles; paper piercer; Washi tap; sewing thread
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Bloom & Grow & Newton

Happy Memorial Day! I was in a Happy Place when I made this sweet card. ;)

The image is colored with Copics, and I used Copic Colorless Blending Solution and a terry cloth rag to give Newton a little texture. The frame is a Verve die cut that was left over from a card I made last week. I painted it with silver acrylic paint and added silver Stickles to it.

You can see the layers a little better in this photo. For this month's Verve's Diva Dare, I used striped dp, and I also embossed diagonal stripes in the green cs.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Viva la Verve May 2013 Week 2 Sketch Challenge
Verve Stamps: Stars & Stripes May 2013 Diva Dare

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Bloom & Grow (Verve); Plant digital stamp (Newton's Law)
Paper: Greenhouse (K&Co)

Ink: Copics; Distress Ink; Colorbox; Versamark 
Dies: Blosson, Big Scalloped Ovals Lg (Spellbinders); Rounded Scalloped Frame die (Verve)
Accessories: Edge punch (Recollections); Diagonals Texturz Plate (Sizzix); ribbon; acrylic paint (Adirondack); pearls; Stickles; 3-D glue dots (Zots); sewing thread
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Pears...A CASE

I tried my hand at a bit of watercoloring today, using my Distress Ink Reinkers. Flourishes is having a CASE challenge, to CASE one of Christine Okken's cards, and I absolutely love the Old Tea Rose card she watercolored with reinkers a few weeks ago, so I checked her blog, and since she had explained how she painted it, I decided to give it a try, myself.

The Pears stamp set from Flourishes is one of my all-time favorite stamp sets, and it seemed perfect for a watercolor project. I used the Week 4 Viva la Verve Sketch for the card since it has a nice, big panel to work with, but I turned it upside down because I didn't want to cover my pears up with the horizontal strip (or in my case, ribbon) that stretches across the card. I watercolored the image, without worrying too much about the ink bleeding, and I colored the bg with Peacock Feathers reinker, simply because I love that color with green. Then, just as Christine did on her card, I flicked color over the image, and distressed the edges, both with ink and with my Distrezz-It-All. She did some sewing, and added buttons with jute twine, so I followed her lead. As I was working on this, I wasn't too sure it was going to work out, but once everything was dry and put together, I loved it! I can't wait to try watercoloring again! :)

On the inside, I stamped a smaller image from the Pears set, added a scalloped dp for some color, and sewed a strip of the green cs over the join.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Viva la Verve May 2013 Week 4 Sketch Challenge
Flourishes Friday Focus CASE Challenge: CASE Christine
Simon Says Stamp & Show: Favorite Ink (mine is Distress Ink)

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Pears (Flourishes)
Paper: Watercolor paper; Que Sera Sera (K&Co)
Ink: Distress Ink pads & reinkers; Versafine
Dies: A2 Matting Basics
Accessories: Diamond Lace Edger (EK Success); ribbon; jute twine; buttons; sewing thread
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Red, White, & Blue

Last week, Bonnie, from Really Reasonable Ribbon, had a giveaway on her personal blog, Make Time 2 Craft. She had made 3 adorable headbands from red, white, and blue ribbon. Well, I won! My DD was especially excited because her birthday is July 5, and she likes to wear patriotic colors. The prize is on it's way to me, but in the meantime, my DD wanted a red, white, and blue headband to match the shirt she wanted to wear for Awards Day (the last day of school, yay!), so I followed Bonnie's instructions and made one for her.

Bonnie has a fantastic video tutorial on how to make these. This is actually my third headband now, and if you try it and it seems too hard, just keep at it. My first one took a couple of hours, but this one, I whipped out in about 15 minutes.

My DD received a cute, glittery star hair barrette at her birthday party last weekend (yes, her birthday is July 5, but she had a party early this year since it's almost impossible to get many kids together during the summer, and especially the weekend of the 4th.) Well, the star was the perfect add-on for the headband.

And, here's my DD wearing it yesterday, as she proudly received a trophy for having the most AR points for her entire school! She's our little shining star, and we couldn't be more proud!

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm entering the headband in this challenge:
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #72: Red, White, Blue & Ribbon theme

~Hugs,

 

Accessories: plastic headband, ribbons, hot glue, star embellie

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Watercolor Daisy

If you've seen many of my cards, you know they tend to have a lot going on--layers, colors, embellies, texture. More is better, as far as I'm concerned. ;) But, a CAS card can stop me in my tracks! So, every now and then, I give CAS a try. This is about as CAS as I can get. :)

The card base and oval are kraft cs, the rest are from my scrap pile. I stamped the Watercolor Daisy image with Staz-On ink, then, using daubers and Distress Ink, I loosely colored it. The dragonfly and grassy images are stamped with Distress Ink. I used a white gel pen to draw a few highlights on the daisy and dragonfly wings. I wanted an oval that was bigger than any die I have, so I cut it by hand, which didn't look so hot, so I distressed it. That's one of the reasons I love distressing so much. Besides being beautiful to look at, it can also cover up all kinds of boo-boos. ;) A little sewing, a piece of twine, a couple of buttons, a punched border, and I was done. 

On the inside, I used linen paper and tore the edges with a deckle ruler, then stamped the sentiment with Distress Ink. Well, at least the inside is CAS, right?

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of the week!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Color Throwdown #243
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge: Favorite Ink (Distress Ink, of course!)

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Watercolor Daisy (Hampton Art); Delicate Leaf Clusters (Hero Arts); Little Things (Our Daily Bread)
Ink: Distress Ink; Staz-On, white gel pen
Accessories: Scallop Diamond Edge Punch (EK Success); twine (The Twinery); buttons; Stickles; sewing thread; deckle ruler
Size: A6 (4.5" x 6.25")

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Grow

I'm back! I made this card for my DD's principal, who is retiring after tomorrow. I'm sorry to see her go, because everything runs perfectly with her in charge, and my DD still has two more years to go to that school. The incoming principal for next year will have some big shoes to fill!

Is that not the sweetest face ever? I just love this stamp! It was a freebie from Krista at Saturated Canary, and it's my first time to color one of her images, but I guarantee you, it won't be my last time.

I colored the image with Copics and used a white charcoal pencil to do a little highlighting. There are two small dots of Stickles on her hair barrettes. I sponged the edges of the layers with Distress Ink, then used my Distrezz-It-All to scrape the edges of the panels, which are popped up with layers of crimped cs.

You can see the raised layers better in this picture.

This month's Verve Diva Dare is Stars & Stripes, so I added some glittery gold star-shaped brads. Once they were on the card, I realized that they look just like the gold stars I used to get on my school papers in grammar school. Given that this card is for an educator, I thought the stars were a nice detail.

This sentiment comes with the digital stamp. You can't see it very well in the photos, but after coloring the letters with Copics, I gave them a subtle shine with a Spica Pen.  I used the inside part of the Rounded Scalloped Frame die for the sentiment layer.

The inside is distressed to match the front of the card, and like the sentiment on the front, the stars here got some glimmer with a Spica pen.

The little girl on the card is holding a potted orchid, so I got one for my DD to give to her principal, too.

I don't think those blooms could be any more beautiful!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a chance to get inky this week! ;)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Viva la Verve - May 2013 Week 3 Sketch Challenge
Verve Stamps: Stars & Stripes May 2013 Diva Dare
ColourQ Challenge #190
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Flower Power
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge: Favorite Ink (mine is Distress Ink)

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Grow--Digital Stamp (Saturated Canary); Super Dad (Verve); Vertical Greetings (MFT Stamps)
Paper: Reunion (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Copics; Distress Ink; Spica marker; Memento
Dies: Rounded Scallop Frame Die (Verve)
Accessories: White charcoal pencil; Ribbon; star brads; rhinestones; Stickles; sewing thread; Distrezz-It-All
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Butterfly Birthday

Hi there! I've got a birthday card using a simple, but fun technique, to share with you today--embossed resist.

The main image was heat embossed with white ep, then I painted all the open areas with Distress Inks. I love this technique because anyone can turn out something beautiful. I especially like how this one turned out with the white embossed bg, rather than black, which I've done in the past.

The inside is simple, with just a sentiment and a few stamped butterflies.

I'll be back in a little while with a super cute card I made for my DD to give to her school principal.

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you later tonight. :)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #221: Butterflies
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Flower Power
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge: Favorite Ink (mine is Distress Ink)

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: On Butterfly Wings (Hampton Art); Signature Greetings (PTI); Papillon Potpourri, From My Heart (SU!)
Paper: Summer Song (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Distress; Memento; Versamark 
Accessories: Embossing Powder (Zing); lace; Corner Chomper
Size: A6 (4.5" x 6.25")

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You Glow Girl

Happy Friday! Are you ready for the weekend? I sure am! We've got a big 25th anniversary celebration going on at church tonight, and my daughter is having a skating birthday party on Saturday (her birthday is actually July 5, but it's almost impossible for her to have a party in the middle of the summer with everyone on vacation, so we're celebrating early this year.) On top of that, school is out for the summer this coming Wednesday, so everybody is happy around my house! :)

My DD had a fantastic 3rd grade year, breaking the school record again in Accelerated Reader points, and exceeding expectations in every area on the standardized tests given at the end of the year. We are always so proud of her, and I made this card to give to her after Awards Day next week. She likes all my cards, but she especially likes the colorful ones, so this one should be perfect.

The sunflower was stamped in a light tan color so I could try my hand at no-line coloring with my Copics. I've attempted this kind of coloring before, without much success, but I did okay with this one. For the center of the flower, I added teeny little black pearls with a Pearl Pen. After I fussy cut the sunflower, I adhered it to the green circle, lifting up the top edge with layers of crimped cs. The sentiment is heat embossed.

There is a little bitty ladybug stamp in the Sunflowers stamp set, and I couldn't resist using it. I stamped it onto red cs, cut it out, then coated it with Glossy Accents. It almost looks like a real ladybug on the card.

Here's a look at the layers of the card, including the partially popped up flower.

I love this quote, and it seems so fitting for the occasion. ;)

Well, that's it for me for a few days. Thanks for stopping by, and go have yourself a fantastic weekend!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Viva la Verve May 2013 Week 1 Sketch Challenge (VLVMay2013)
Color Throwdown #242
Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge: A Little Paper
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Flower Power

~Hugs,

Stamps: Sunflowers (Flourishes); Follow Your Heart (Impression Obsession)
Paper: Hello Summer (Echo Park); Journeys (Kathy Davis)
Ink: Copics; Distress; Memento; Versamark
Dies: Classic Rectangles Lg & Sm, Std. Circles Lg, Classic Scalloped Circles Lg
Accessories: Daisy edge punch (Martha Stewart); Zigzag Chain edge punch (EK Success); Glossy Accents); embossing powder (Ranger); pearls (Prima); Pearl Pen; sewing thread
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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Sweet Birthday Girl

Hi there! Are you having a good week so far? I hope so! Our air conditioner and the home theater system went out at the same time, so we've been dealing with service techs to try to get it all running again. Sometimes I miss the days of only 4 television channels and a TV that required nothing more than an electrical outlet and maybe a rabbit ear antenna.

In between service techs, I did find time to make my DD a birthday card. ;)

I just love this Chloe stamp. She looks so sweet, and reminds me of my DD. I colored her with Copics, and used a die cut negative to frame her. The frame is lifted off the image with layers of crimped cs, and the image is positioned behind it so that you can still see the little bee buzzing around. The diagonal stripes are Washi tape with Stickles. The sentiment is stamped on a Verve Floral Circle die cut, then popped up over a larger Floral Circle. The bling under the sentiment are Swarovski crystals. They sparkle so much more than other rhinestones.

The metal charms are on a chain necklace, which is wrapped once around the foam dot behind the sentiment, and the excess is draped over the top of the card and hangs down the back. It is easily removed so that my DD can wear it. One of the charms is a sunflower and the other says "Laugh Often" on one side and "Love Much" on the flip side.

A bit of Stickles sparkle on the red and white flowers. That's Distress Dry Glitter on the blue flower.

On the inside, I added Stickles to part of the sentiment and used red brads as an accent. You can't tell in the photo, but the sentiment panel has a puffy, pillow look. I used 3 layers of crimped cs behind the word, "BIRTHDAY," and glued just the outer edges down. It's a subtle detail, but it looks great IRL. :)

I mentioned last week that I had made 14 fabric-covered boxes for my DD's upcoming birthday party. I've finally gotten all the spray adhesive off nearly everything in my craft room (tip: never use spray adhesive indoors, even with a color catcher box for overspray--it gets airborne, and covers EVERYTHING!), so I thought you might like to see how they turned out.

With the boxes open, you can see that no two are alike.

I also made the birthday party invitations, using a La-La-Land digital stamp. I colored the stamp in my photo editing program, and made the disco ball using the pixelate effect. It's amazing how many tutorials are out there on how to make a disco ball. :)

Well, that's all I've got for now. Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a fantastic day!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Tuesday Morning Sketches #198 (Twist: use Flowers)
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #220: Blue & Green (I used blue & green dp, Washi tape, and flowers)
Verve May Diva Dare: Stars & Stripes
Simon Says Stamp Challenge: Things with Wings
Color Throwdown #242

~Hugs,

 

Stamps: Chloe (Elisabeth Bell); Blue Skies (Verve); Birthday Sentiments (MFT Stamps)
Paper: Basics (Paper Studio)
Ink: Copics; Memento; white gel pen; Versafine; Distress
Dies: Labels 14 (Spellbinders); Floral Circles (Verve)
Accessories: Washi tape; flowers; Stickles; rhinestones (Swarovski); Glossy Accents; Distress Dry Glitter; brads; Glossy Accents; chain necklace; metal charms; foam dots; sewing thread
Size: A2 (4.25" x 5.5")

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