Hello and Belated Birthday

I have been seeing the Light Up for Autism blog hop all over the internet and have finally found a moment to make a card so I could participate right in the nick of time.  My daughter was a big buddy this fall to a little boy with Autism in a special soccer league for Challenged Athletes.  The joy on his face when he saw her and played his own version of soccer was just priceless, and I know that all the parents were so grateful that their kids had a chance to participate in soccer, just like practically every other kit in Southern California.

I used copic markers to create a blue ombre pattern that would show in the negative space of my die cut hello.  I used the Burlap Impression Plate to add a bit of texture.  Simple and done.

I used the sketch at Happy Little Stampers and am also linking up at Paper Players #239 where the challenge is to use a die cut.

I have another card for today, and it is inspired by this beautiful card by Kimberly at Time Out #28.

I was inspired by the black background, the silver embossing and vivid coloring of the flowers.  I used SU Corner Garden, and embossed with Silver Pearl embossing powder.  I used Prisma Colored pencils to color in my flowers and leaves.

I am also entering this card at Seize the Birthday Anything Goes and Simon Says Wednesday Happy Birthday.

Thanks for Visiting

PTI November 2014 Blog Hop

This month's blog hop is all about snow.  Living in San Diego, stamped snow is about all I can get.  I had some crazy idea about pulling all my PTI holiday and snow related stamps and dies and trying to use all of them for this blog hop.  I didn't quite make it through even half, but I did have a good time trying.

I think my favorite of the bunch is this little Whoville-like village I created with Wonderfully Whimsical--one of my favorite stamp sets that doesn't get nearly enough love.  I drew the snow with a paint pen onto my Distress Inked sky 

City Scene, another favorite stamp set that I haven't used in a long time.  I used the sketch at Wanna Sketch #22 for this card,

I used the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch #101 for my next 3 cards.

Edited to add that I am also linking this snowflake card up at Stampin' Celebration SC92 (Thanks Kimberly) in their It's a Little Holiday Inspiration Challenge, where the inspiration is this gorgeous photo.

 

My next card uses the sketch at Clean & Simple Stamping #313.

I pulled out Holiday Home and some embossing past for my next card.

This card uses a birch tree stencil and some stamps and dies from In the Meadow.

And, finally--a sweater to warm you on a snowy day...

That's it for me.  I think next year, I will try to make something with all of my Christmas and holiday stamps, but I will need to give myself more time.

Happy hopping and thanks for visiting today.

CASology Week #88: Lucky

It's time for another CASology challenge.  This week, our cue word is LUCKY.  What do you think of when you see the word LUCKY?   I looked through my supplies and then remembered that I had a 'lucky' word die that I have never used.  It came with 'happy', which is the word I wanted, and I forgot all about lucky.  I was lucky I remembered about that die.  (ba dum bum)  Have some fun with this cue word, and then please link up your creation on the CASology blog by Monday 3/31 at noon (CST).

I adhered my white die cut 'lucky' onto a piece of Pure Poppy, cut with Lil Inker's On the Diagonal die.  I also embossed my card base with the largest Lil Inker's Stitched Rectangle die.  I love the look of those faux stitches.  It gives the white space just a little something.  I added a trio of flowers and some leaves from Bigger Blooms, and finished the sentiment with a stamp from Wonderful Words Additions.

Since CASology is a Clean And Simple challenge, I thought it would be helpful to review some things to keep in mind when creating a CAS design:

1.  One main image
2.  Lots of open space (uncluttered)
3.  Limited layers & embellishments
4.  Quick & easy to recreate

 

You can see that my card meets all 4 criteria above.

 

 So, what do you think of when you see the word LUCKY?  

Check out the beautiful designs from the CASology Design Team members and see how they were inspired by LUCKY.  Then, please play along and link your creation to the CASology blog by Monday 3/31 at noon (CST).  

 

Don't forget to keep your card Clean and Simple.

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Gillian Ross

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg (that's me)

Judy Marino

Kimberly Wiener

Maureen Merritt

May Park

Meghan McMillan

Melissa Chipperfield

Tracey McNeely

And our guest designer this week, Karen.

 

 

Thanks for Visiting

PTI January 2014 Blog Hop

I will be the first to admit that I went a little crazy with this month's PTI blog hop.  I love pink, and once I got started I just couldn't stop.  Everything looks better in pink....

First up is my favorite of all my cards.  I did some color blocking, similar to this card here, but all in pink.  I started with Raspberry Fizz in the middle, then Hibiscus Burst on either side, and then SU Pretty in Pink on either end.  The sentiment is from Happy Hearts. ETA:  CAS-ual Fridays color blocking challenge is still on, so I will enter this card over there.

This card uses the same pink papers, cut with the Rainbow Stripes dies and a sentiment from Stylish Sentiments Birthday.  I cased this from one of the DT release projects, but can't find the link at the moment.

My dear friend Kim was nice enough to send me some die cuts of the Love die (that I did not buy), and I just added a sentiment from Wonderful Words Love and a few die cut hearts from Love Lives Here.

I used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch for my next card.  The stamps are from Hearts Squared and I added a tiny little die cut grey heart from Love Lives Here.

One of the sentiments in Happy Hearts just screamed 'BABY' to me, so I made two baby girl cards.  I think I will use this sentiment either on the inside or outside of every baby card I make.  I just love it.  The first card uses hearts from Happy Hearts, stamped in Memento Angel Pink.  The second card uses Happy Hexagons stamps and dies and the Stars Impression Plate.

It can't be a pink-fest without a flower, right?  I used Friends 'Till the End and some grey washi tape on this next card.  I borrowed this layout from Deanna.

Finally, I have two cards using some pink washi tape.  I am trying to use some of my tapes, rather than just keep buying them.  The design is a modification from this post.  I added an additional strip of tape on the card base.  The sentiments on these cards are from Mini Blooms and Bigger Blooms.

That's it for me for now.  I'll be back later with a pink themed card set that I haven't yet had a chance to write up.

Thanks for Visiting---& Think Pink

Four-of-a-Kind (January 2014)

It is time for our quarterly Four of a Kind post--me, Cathy from Empty Nest Crafter, Kim from Cupcakes, Cards and Kim, and Renee from It's a Patchwork Life. 

Our hostess this month is none other than yours truly (me).  I put together a kit that celebrates winter and all things snowy.  It might be a strange choice, seeing as how I live in San Diego, but paper crafting is the only way I get to experience snow and winter most of the time.  Plus, I needed an excuse to buy Two Feet Deep when it came out last fall, so I decided to base my kit around that stamp set.  Here is a picture of the kit I sent out.

 I have quite a few pictures today, so I will get right to it.

The next few cards are some designs I have gotten in the habit of using to showcase the patterned papers from the kits.

Well, that's it for me.  I cannot wait to see what the other three did with my kit.  It is fun to put a kit together and send it out, but it is also a bit worrisome, hoping that everyone will like it and have fun creating with it. 

Here is a link to my pinterest board where I pin everyone's Four-of-a-Kind creations. 


Edited to add:  Linking up cards #2 and 3 at Simon Says Wednesday Embossing Challenge.

4 of a Kind Kit Supplies

All supplies PTI unless otherwise identified

Stamps:

Two Feet Deep, Boutique Borders, Wonderful Words Snow, Winter Hills, Confetti Garland Borders

Paper:  Kraft, Scarlet Jewel, White, White Shimmer, Scarlet Shimmer, SU Baja Breeze, Carta Bella Winter  Fun

Ink:  Kraft, Scarlet Jewel, Fine Linen, Ripe Avocado, SU Baja Breeze, Memento Rich Cocoa, Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Gray Flannel, Memento Tuxedo Black (for Winter Hills images only)

Dies:  Two Feet Deep, Loop de Loop II, Confetti Garland Borders, Tag Sale #4, Tag Sale #8, Photo Finishers, Winter Hills, Wonderful Words Snow, Double Ended Banner, Damask Snowflake B, Boutique Borders, Lil Inkers Snowflake, MFT Fishtail Flags, Tim Holtz Sizzix Snowflake EF

Other:  Kraft Ribbon, Rustic Jute Twine, other ribbon, twine, and polka dotted kraft bags from Really Reasonable Ribbon, Little Yellow Bicycle Stick Pins, Doodlebug dots, the little envelopes holding bits and pieces are made using Basic Grey Soleil paper and my envelope punch board

The other three members of Four-of-a-Kind are:

Cathy Weber:  Empty Nest Crafter

Kim Heggins:  Cupcakes, Cards and Kim

Renee Lynch:  It's A Patchwork Life

Please stop by their blogs, if you haven't been there already, and see what they have created for their January Four-of-a-Kind projects.  

Thanks for Visiting