My Crafty Valentine's Weekend

 

Hello and happy Valentine's Day.  I've had some crafty time this weekend, so let's get to it!

First up is a slimline birthday card, with a nod to Valentine's Day because of the hearts.  I used some of my old favorite PTI birthday sets with balloons, and was inspired by the balloon card at the Ink to Paper Birthday Card Challenge.  It's hard to see the shimmer in this photo, but what looks like pale grey is actually glittery silver ink.  These colors were inspired by the challenge at The Paper Players #528.  My slimline card shape was inspired by the challenges at Just Us Girls #571 and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  I am also entering this card at Addicted to CAS #191: Hearts (where I happen to be Guest Designer), Addicted to Stamps and More #398: Birthdays, Seize the Birthday #207: Hearts, Inkspirational #232: Hearts and WWC308: Occasions.

My next card uses one of my favorite background stamps, MFT City Block, and was inspired by the sketch at MFT Sketch Challenge #528, Just Add Ink #541: Blended Background, and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Resist It.  I stamped the City Block in Versa Mark and white heat embossed it.  Then, I blended a combination of various warm colors of Catherine Pooler Ink.  The last part was the hardest to do, as it involved cutting my panel (scary) and then reassembling with dimension to follow the sketch.  I am also entering this card at Addicted to Stamps and More #398: Birthdays and WWC308: Occasions.

I used a new stencil from Hero Arts, Sea and Sky, for my next card.  I blocked off the sun and blended ink for the sea/sky portion, and then blocked all that to blend a vibrant sun.  I am entering this card at A Blog Named Hero Anything Goes and Just Add Ink #541: Blended Background.

Last time I ordered from Hero Arts, they included a fun stamp set for free as a thank you gift.  They could not have picked a better stamp set to send me, as they sent Story Time, which is filled with fun book and reading related images.  I love to read, and so does my dog.  I am entering this card at AAA Cards #183: One Corner and A Blog Named Hero Anything Goes.

Last up for me today is another card using MFT City Block Background.  I fussy cut just some of the background and colored those buildings using the colors from the MFT Color Challenge #159.  I added a sun rays texture plate to the upper part of the card.

Well, that's it for me today.  Now, off to find some Valentine's chocolate (doesn't matter that I bought it myself!!)

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Make it Monday and Simon Says Stamp

Happy Monday.  I was able to watch this week's Make it Monday #164:  Cluster Stamped Sentiment and crank out 3 super quick cards.  This is a really fun technique, and I encourage you to give it a try.  The hardest part for me was getting my sentiment stamp clean enough so that the versamark stamping was clear--it seemed like no matter how clean my stamp looked, it the versamark stamped image still had some black on it.  I was even using a brand new versamark pad.  In the end, I solved that problem by using white embossing powder instead of clear.


Here is my favorite of the bunch--using a Think Big birthday sentiment and balloons from Birthday Style.

I used a sentiment from Say it With Style for this next card, and I think the technique works better with sentiments that are solid and bold.  But, I still like how this one came out.  I used balloons from Birthday Bash.

This is actually the first card I made, and I used the same circle stamps from Confetti Garland Border as Heather used, as well as a solid circle from Beautiful Blooms II.  The sentiment is from Wet Paint.

I am entering all three of these cards in the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: M because the technique is from Make it Monday (I hope that is OK).

I hope to make some more of these later in the week.  They are a lot of fun.

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PTI 7th Anniversary and Make it Monday

Hello everyone.  I am getting caught up in the PTI 7th Anniversary festivities, and I have 3 cards to share today.   My first card uses Delightful Dahlia Additions, and the color scheme and sketch shown above.

My next two cards are also for this week's Make it Monday #151:  Drop Shadow Die Cuts, and they both use this sketch.

I hope I have time to play a few more times over the next couple of days.  I am having trouble getting the color combinations to work with the sketches.  Am I the only one?

That's it for me today.

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Happy Birthday to Ardyth

Happy Birthday, Ardyth

Today Darnell has gathered  a group of us together to wish Ardyth a happy birthday.  Ardyth is definitely up there on my list of people in blog land I would like to meet in real life.  Ardyth leaves a kind comment on almost every one of my posts (and I do post a lot), and I can always count on a big burst of colorful inspiration whenever I stop by her blog.

Our instructions were to case a card from Ardyth's blog--what a fun task.  When I think of Ardyth's style, I think colorful, CAS and square.  So, that is what I went with.  I picked this card to case, and made a 4X4 card using one stamp from PTI birthday bash and another stamp from Lawn Fawn Belinda's Borders in a rainbow of colors.

Ardyth--I hope you have a wonderful birthday, full of everything that makes you happy.

Edited to add:  In a true case of serendipity, this card fits the criteria for this week's One Layer Wednesday--a one layer birthday card that would suit Ardyth's style--she is the host of this week's One Layer Wednesday and also the birthday girl.

I am also entering this card into this week's Simon Says...Anything Goes challenge.

CASology #38 and Muse #11

The challenge at CASology this week is 'UP', and I could not get the thought of a house being lifted by balloons out of my head.  Shows you what kind of movies I typically go to.  I pulled out my Wonderfully Whimsical stamps and my balloon dies, and did a little paper piecing to create my happy scene.  I picked a sentiment from Destination--wouldn't it be fun to travel in a flying house, no matter where you ended up?

My next card is for this week's Muse #11, where we have this beautiful card from Laurie Willison.  I love that I am supposed to case her card for this challenge.  I was drawn to the sentiment nestled within a die cut frame, the text script background, that fun border punch, and the overall card sketch.  OK, so I didn't change much...but I did not make EXACTLY the same card.  I used Mat Stack 1, a sentiment from Birthday Bash Sentiments, and a musical background from Waltzingmouse.  I am also entering this card into the Passion for Papertrey challenge to use a negative die cut.

I will be entering both of these cards into this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge of Anything Goes.

Supplies Used(PTI):
CASology
Stamps:  Wonderfully Whimsical, Destination
Paper:  White, American Crafts Color Crush
Ink:  Ocean Tides, Versafine Onyx Black
Other:  In the Meadow dies, Lil Inker Balloon dies, DMC floss

Muse
Stamps:  Mat Stack 1, Birthday Bash Sentiments, Text Style II, Waltzingmouse Musical Backgrounds
Paper:  White, Kraft, Ocean Tides
Ink:  Kraft, Ocean Tides
Other:  Fiskars punch, Mat Stack 1 die, SU pearls, Twinery Twine

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Make it Monday #98--Take 3

They say the third time is a charm, and today I think that is very true.  I've got my third attempt at this week's MIM #98:  Chalkboard Technique, and I think this is where I will rest.  Although it almost broke my heart to smudge white ink around on this card, I am finally happy with the result.  I used 8 different stamp sets on this card, a first for me.

Supplies Used (PTI);
Stamps:  Say it With Style, Tiny Treats:  Birthday, Just the Ticket, Mixed Messages, Birthday Bash Sentiments, Tag-it's, Star Prints, Hero Arts Birthday Messages
Paper:  Ocean Tides, White
Ink:  Versamark
Other:  White Filigree Embossing Powder, Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangles, Twine from my stash

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Make it Monday #98 and ColourQ #170

I had the house all to myself this morning, and finally got a chance to play along with this week's Make it Monday #98:  Chalkboard Technique.

And one more card, based on a card I saw on the Simon Says Stamp blog this morning.  It's a bit hard to see in this photo, but I colored the embossed banner flags with colored pencils, to try to make it look like colored chalk.  I have to admit that I'm not sure I'm in love with this card.  I know that the chalkboard technique is supposed to be kind of messy, but I think this one may be just too messy for my taste.

This week's ColourQ #170 is a fun one.  I picked N@'s favorite color scheme, which was from ColourQ#163.

I broke out my new Love Potion stamps to make a birthday card for a friend who works in a lab.  I'm sure that this is the wrong kind of lab equipment, but what can I say--I was a Econ major.

That's it for me today.  I think that everyone will be home very soon, and I am hoping to get this posted before chaos returns.


Supplies Used (PTI):
The Best is Yet to Come
Stamps:  Over Under Easy
Paper:  White, Ocean Tides, MME Dolled Up (thanks, Cathy), Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise
Ink:  Colorbox Frost White
Other:  Stars dies, White Filigree Embossing Powder, White Gel Pen, White pencil

Happy Birthday
Stamps:  Banner Builder, Birthday Bash
Paper:  True Black, Lavender Moon
Ink:  Colorbox Frost White
Other:  White Filigree Embossing Powder, White Gel Pen, Colored pencils

HB2U
Stamps:  Love Potion, Birthday Bash, Over Under Easy (for the bubbles)
Paper:  White, Ripe Avocado
Ink:  Kraft, Ripe Avocado, Canyon Clay, Blueberry Sky
Other:  Lil Inkers Stitched Sentiment Flag Die

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