Sketch Challenge Christmas Card

Card  created for the current sketch challenge at

Through The Craft Room Door. 

Card details can be found in an upcoming issue 

of the TTCRD magazine. 

It's not too soon to start making your holiday cards ! 

Thanks for looking =) 

Snow Buddies Card

Another Christmas card for my stash this year,

inspired by the new sketch challenge at

52 Christmas Card Throwdown:

Snow Buddies and Lots of Thoughts (?) stamp sets by Stampin'Up!

silver glitter paper and Whisper White card stock , Stampin'Up!

ink pads and markers, Stampin' Up!

snowflake border punch, unknown

shimmery paper, unnknown

twine, dollar store (you can tell, it unravels easily)

hand cut banner

Although this is not my design team project for the month at

House of Cards,

it does use twine which is our challenge to you this month.

Come check out the terrific design team creations using twine

and/or colors from the chosen pallette for the month of August at

House of Cards Challenge Blog !

Thanks for looking =) 

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
52CCT Sketch Challenge    - WINNER ! August 19, 2016
August Snowpeople Challenge at Sweet Stampin' Christmas
Through The Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs - August Anything Goes

Snowman Card Sketch Challenge

The new challenge (52CCT30-16) at 

52 Christmas Card Throwdown is

to use a sketch from the past year.

As soon as I saw the sketch below, 

I knew I had to flip it to make a snowman ;)

I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

April 2016 sketch

DETAILS: 

1/4" paper punch circles that I crumpled up for coal eyes.

Oval paper punch punched a second time at an angle 

to make the nose. I sponged darker orange along the bottom

and drew on a few faint lines. I added a dimensional

to the back of the nose at the top and glued the base of the nose flat 

to the face to give it some dimension. 

The head is also attached with dimensionals.

1/4" circle punched black card stock

that I pierced holes in to resemble buttons.

Striped grosgrain ribbon that I frayed the ends on

to create the scarf. 

The white die cut circles were run through a Fiskars plate two times, turning it at a different angle at each pass, to create the texture.

I stamped snowflakes with white craft ink onto Soft Sky card stock. The edges of the Soft Sky card stock were also sponged with the white ink, but it doesn't show up well. 

I hand cut the banner for the sentiment and attached it with a red paper clip for something different.




I'm also entering my card in the challenges at
Through The Craft Room Door  August 2-8, 2016 Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs  August Anything Goes
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra August Anything Goes
Love To Scrap  Take Two : two large circles to create the snowman 
(I could really stretch the take two idea by saying I used two pieces of ribbon to create the scarf, two crumpled pieces of card stock for the eyes, two holes punched in each button, two colors of ink, two different rubber stamp sets used, two non paper items..... ha ! )


Thanks for looking =) 


EDITED TO ADD 8/12/2016:
My card was one of two top winners at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown !

Little Moments digi kit

I LOVE the colors in the newest digi kit by Jodi at JMC Designs !

It is called Little Moments 

and is available now at Scraps-N-Pieces.com

 This layout is loosely based on the first April 2016 template challenge

by Double Trouble scraps at Scraps-N-Pieces.com 

I used My Memories Suite 7 to create this page,

simply adding shapes and embellishements to

recreate a layout similar to the jpg image of the

scrapbook layout shared in the template challenge forum.

As soon as I saw this new kit, I knew what I wanted to scrap -

a photo of my old 1979 Mustang coupe !!!! 

Poor old car has been sitting neglected in a barn for years now.

Can you find it in the top photo in the above layout ?

Sadly it is currently hidden by so much junk in the old barn.

Maybe one year it will be back out on the road.......

The above page was made in Photoshop Elements 10 using a 

free template from Mommyish.

I did reduce the opacity of the barn wood paper that

was inserted on top of a cream card stock background.

I really do like the wood look of the paper, 

but thought it needed to be a bit lighter for this layout.

I also had fun experimenting with extracting my
handwriting to create a transparent background png
"stamp" of the way I wrote my name way back when !
It took a little trial and error, but I'm happy with the result.

  

Note about the facebook timeline cover, first image shared:

   You can create a Custom layout in My Memories Suite 7

that will be perfectly sized for a facebook timeline cover / banner.

Choose DESIGN on the Welcome screen.

At the bottom of the pop up, you will see CUSTOM SIZE.

Choose pixels as your unit of measure

and type in 851 Width x 315 Height

then click CREATE.

You can also make them in Photoshop Elements.

Thanks for looking :)

Kit Contents: 

7 Cardstock - 12X12 300PPI

8 Journal CArds - 3X4 300PPI

24 Patterned Papers - 12X12 300PPI

and

72 Unique Elements

4 Arrows

Bird

3 Bows

Metal Bracket

Metal Brad

Butterfly

4 Buttons

Metal Camera

2 Clips

6 Flowers

3 LeaVes

2 Metal Bits

Metal Grid

Metal Heart

Metal Plate

Paper Star

WOoden Flower

4 Wooden Seals

Wooden Star

3 Circle Designs

3 Frames

2 Grunge/Paint

5 Ribbons

2 RicRac

2 Scatters

Staple

2 Stitchings

3 Strings

3 Tags

6 WordBits

Wire Swirl

THANKS FOR LOOKING :)

Faux B&W Photo Thunderbird - tutorial

Seeing the new sketch challenge at 

Operation Write Home

and a request by a fellow

House of Cards DT member

to help fill the entries at the 

Going Grey color challenge at

Sunday Stamps,

I knew I had to make one of my

faux black and white photo

rubber stamped cards. 

This stamp set is one of my all time favorites,

having been used far more than any of my others.

Making "faux black and white photos" with it

has been one of my favorite stamping techniques. 

Stamp your image onto glossy white card stock

with a permanent black ink (or brown if you'd like to 

make a sepia colored photo, see my sample here). 

Use a white crayon to color in areas of your image

you'd like to remain white.

Removable sticky notes work well to mask of the edges

of the "photo" before you start inking. 

Mask other areas if necessary, such as the sky or ground.

Sponge various shades of gray ink over the image

(or use browns if you want a sepia image).

Gently wipe the finished image with a tissue to remove ink

and crayon. It's always fun to see the results !

Remove sticky notes.

You can leave it as is or have fun distressing it

to make it look like a well loved old photo 

(see another sample I made here)!

Stamp images long ago retired from Stampin' Up!:

Classic Convertibles (Thunderbird)

Antique Autos (Route 66 sign)

Highways and Byways (background stamp)

Thanks for looking =)

Have A Ball -OWH Sketch 257

This is it, the very last card I made to donate to

Operation Write Home.

It was loosely based on the most recent sketch, #257, at OWH. 

As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew exactly what stamp set 

I was going to use to make my sketch inspired card.

My box of 321 cards is overstuffed, 

I can not get another one in it,

and it will go out this week. 

I believe this brings my total donations over the years to 1125 cards.

I'd like to say Thank You once again

to everyone that has helped with this organization

in one way or the other these past several years.

I know many of us are going to miss making cards for our heroes,

but it is great to know that so many are back home now. 

SUPPLIES USED:

Red, White, Black, Gray card stock

assorted inks

Have A Ball stamp set and matching wheel , Stampin' Up!

Snap Stamps alphabet to create the sentiment

circle punches and scissors

black marker

stapler

adhesive

Thanks for looking =) 

Happy Birthday, Human card

Created for sketch challenge #256 at

Operation Write Home.

This card will be donated to OWH.

Robot stamp image , Love You Bots

and screw head stamp, Aged To Perfection  from

Stampin' Up!

Image colored with ink from dye ink pads and 

an aquapainter

Clockworks embossing folder, Cuttlebug

Gears dies, Joy Crafts

Silver metallic, white and assorted color scraps

card stock

Thanks for looking =) 

Oak Tree Father's Day Card

What perfect timing for the new sketch challenge

at Operation Write Home ! 

I already knew what stamp set I was going to use

for a Father's Day card for my dad

and had a word art created to print inside of it.

It was just a matter of taking the time to

decide how I wanted to design a card with the 

oak tree image from the Lovely As A Tree stamp set.

This sketch posted today was perfect for the card 

I wanted to make!!!!!

Stamp sets were from Stampin' Up!

Lovely As A Tree

Woodgrain background

Teeny Tiny Wishes

Crumb Cake, Textured Early Espresso, Very Vanilla card stocks

various inks and an aquapainter to color the image

scoring board to create the embossed edge around the front panel

two antique copper brads

foam dimensional dots and a scrap of chipboard for dimension

oval Nestabilities die

I drug a Crumb Cake ink pad across the top of the 

woodgrain stamped piece and ran the edges of the

sentiment panel along the ink pad, too

Here is sketch #255 from OWH.

CLICK HERE to see all of the

sketches that have been posted.

Just came across this challenge blog, 

 my card will be perfect to enter the

Masculine Card/Project Challenge

http://modsquadchallenge.blogspot.com/2015/05/masculine.html

Thanks for looking =)

Beautiful Baby Card

Oh, I am so happy with how this card turned out ! It was originally going to have all pink on it rather than any blue because the new mom to be was told she was having a girl. A bit later in the pregnancy, and after the shower that had to be rescheduled, she had an ultrasound for another reason and asked the technician to double check the baby's sex. That little stinker had been hiding his goods, it's a boy ! So I redid the card, changing out most of the pink for blue. I did leave a bit a of pink as a nod to the fact that they thought he was going to be a she - and strange things do happen, perhaps he really is a girl after all ;)

I like to try to make cards to color (or theme) coordinate with the occasion I am making them for if possible. I was able to visit with the mom to be a little bit one week before the baby shower and found out that she was being given a quilt with this "mosaic"design in it. All the colors were neutral, creams and tans. Now that she found out it is a boy, she may change her mind because this is what she was doing when it was a girl.

I used sketch challenge 253 at Operation Write Home as inspiration for the layout and in looking back through recent color challenges at Splitcoaststampers,com, it fits the color challenge 528: Crumb Cake, Soft Sky, Blushing Bride.

Most supplies used were from Stampin' Up!

Kraft Coredinations card stock , sanded
Soft Sky, Very Vanilla and Kraft card stocks
Mosaic embossing folder
Scallop edge border punch
Hole punch
Circle Nestabilities die
Blushing Bride ruffled ribbon
My Memories Suite software for the custom, circular sentiment
Dimensionals

In order to make the round sentiment on the front, I used My Memories Suite software. I made three different text boxes on a transparent background. Two of boxes  were text wrapped by applying the CURVE feature. One was inside and one was outside the circle to make the text look the way it does, otherwise one of the words would be upside down. Each required rotation to fit the way I wanted. The third text box is for the word Baby and it is just a regular text box, centered. I sized the circular sentiment to fit one of my Nestabilities dies, printed and cut out. The easiest way to do this is to add a SHAPE and type in a CUSTOM size that is the same as the die, Layer your text boxes over the shape, using it as a mat to work on then once done, delete the shape leaving only the text. What's neat is, if you design a word art that you would like to reuse, save it as a PNG file on the transparent background then you can reuse it and resize it for other projects!

Thanks for looking =)

Sailing Ship Birthday Card

Card I created for my dads birthday.

I used

sketch challenge #538 at Splitcoaststampers,com

All supplies from Stampin' Up!, 

all stamp images are retired.

Ships Ahoy

Old World Map

On Your Birthday

Card stock:

Midnight Muse

Baja Breeze

Real Red textured

Whisper White

Basic Black

various inks

aquapainter

Thanks for looking =) 

Triple Challenge Mother's Day Card

I made this Mother's Day card with inspiration from three challenges:

Sketch Challenge 254 at Operation Write Home

Embossing  - ODBD May Challenge at OWH

Color Challenge 526 at Splitcoaststampers

All items used were from Stampin' Up!,

though most are now retired:

All Holidays stamp set

Versamark ink

White embossing powder

Rose Red, Tempting Turquoise and Island Indigo card stock

White copy paper

Large Delicate Doilies die

Texturz Plates

Rhinestones

(I wish I would have added a white layer between the blues)

Thanks for looking =) 

Winnie The Pooh Celebrate Card - Sketch Challenge

Fun cards I made loosely based on the

Operation Write Home

Sketch Challenge 252.

I should have printed it out and taken it with me

to my craft dungeon so I could have followed it

more closely ;) 

The stamps are from the grab bags I found at a flea market two weeks ago.
I colored them in with ink and an aqua painter.

The papers are from an old Die Cuts With A View paper stack (12 x 12 Summer).

The circles were cut with Nestabilities dies.

The banners behind the circles were hand cut.

I left the inside blank so it could be used for several reasons to celebrate. I made two of these ;
they will be donated to Operation Write Home.


Thanks for looking =)

Patriotic Three Challenge Card and I'm A Top Pick !

It's no April Fool's Day Joke:

I'm happy to say that I was a Top Three Winner at Cardz 4 Guyz blog !

The Challenge was TRANSPORT,

that is an easy one for me since I make cards

with car images on them often.

Click Here to see all of the 

fabulous design team projects as well

as the many wonderful submissions.

I just found out about this blog a week ago

while visiting another that had a link to it.

I had to jump right in with that Transport challenge.

The new challenge at the Cardz 4 Guyz blog is

Something Beginning With S.

Here is a card I came up with .

I ended up creating this particular card

to also work with two challenges currently at

Operation Write Home:

Red, White and Blue

and

Sketch Challenge 251

Follow the links above to see many great card designs.

Trying to show the dimension the embossing folders made.

The stripes are a bit difficult to see.

Here is how my card fits the S challenge:

STARS embossing folder

STRIPES embossing folder

STRIPS of card stock

STITCHING done with my sewing machine

SHIMMERY SILVER card stock

SKETCH challenge

I'll be donating this card to Operation Write Home.


Supplies used:
A patriotic stamp set from Stampin' Up!
(I believe the name of the set is Liberty For All)
Colored image directly to the rubber with water based markers
Stripes embossing folder , Stampin' Up!
Stars embossing folder, Cuttlebug
Red, White, Blue, Black and silver metallic card stocks

Thanks for looking =)

Biplane Card - sketch challenge

This is the second set of cards I made using sketch challenge #250

at Operation Write Home as my inspiration.

See my first using a train image and browns set posted yesterday.

I omitted the two smaller circles/embellishments since my background

on this card was so busy already. 

Stamp images are from Hero Arts and

embossing folder is from Sizzix/Tim Holtz.

The twill background stamp on the hand cut banner is from Stampin' Up!

Various shades of gray card stock and inks.

Handmade cloud stencil and sponge to ink over for the sky.

Nestabilities circle dies. 

1/4"circle punch, silver card stock an Crystal Effects to make the faux brad. 

Thanks for looking =)