Thinking Of You

I made this for a card swap I am in on the CK / Papercrafts site. The theme was to make cards with a "Thinking of You". "Get Well", or "With Sympathy" etc type card. I chose to step out of my comfort zone with this design and did not stamp an image that needed to be colored. Instead the only stamping I have is the sentiment. My focus is more on embossing and I guess maybe what you would call a "scrappy" look. I used a Spellbinders stencil/ die of a butterfly that I doubled wing using black moire cardstock for the bottom wings and vellum for the top wings. Both wings are also embossed. I thought this would be a much faster and easier card to make then stamping and coloring images but it wasn't really. Due to all the layers and cutting out and embossing....it ended up taking a bit of time to make 6 of these. I was happy with the end result though.

Supplies Used:
Sentiment: Inkadinkado
Ink: Memories Black Tuxedo
Cardstock: Bazzill and Wausau
Printed Paper: Doodlebug Designs
Spellbinders Butterfly Reflections Die / Stencil
Spellbinder's Oval Nestabiliities
Cuttlebug's Swiss Dot Embossing Folder
Glitterati Rhinestones

Mojo79 Challenge & A Mother's Day Card

I'm back! It really was hard finding time for card making these past few days.....I missed it! This is for the Mojo Monday Challenge , sketch #79. I chose to make it a Mother's Day card to give to my mother in law this year. This was a very simple and easy sketch to follow and I thought perfect for my image and the occasion.

Supplies Used:
Image: Iris by Rubber Stampede
Sentiments: Front of card / Inkadinkdo, Inside of card / PSX
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Bazzill
Printed Papers: Floral / Basic Grey, Swirls / HOTP
Martha Stewart Scallop Border Punch
Rhinestones by Hero Arts
Ovals cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities
Offray ribbon
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor Color Pencils and blended with Gamsol. Image was then cut out and pop dotted onto card.

There are a lot of beautiful entries this week for the Mojo sketch. Check them out!

Cards For Heroes

Hello My Blogging Friends!!!!

I guess you can see that I have been a bit busy and have had no time for cardmaking these past few days. Usually in my free time I try to participate in the challenge blogs but for the past week whenever I have had a free moment I have been sorting through the oodles of cards that I have and boxing them up to give to different charitable organizations. I have participated as well as hosted MANY swaps in the past 4 years so I have more beautifully handcrafted cards then I know what to do with. I have just been hoarding them unable to part with them. I recently realized just how selfish I'm being and realize that these cards could be used to bring smiles to the faces of both those who will send them as well as receive them.

I did some researching to decide where I wanted to donate my cards and one of the places I chose is called Cards For Heroes. This is an organization that collects handmade cards to send to our servicemen and servicewomen to have to send to their family and friends. I never thought about there being a need for this but of course there isn't a Hallmark store around the corner in Iraq......so yes they need cards.
This also hits close to home for me as I have a cousin who is being deployed in just a couple of days to Iraq for the next year. He is leaving behind a wife, 2 sons and a brand new baby daughter. I am proud of him and I pray for his safe return.

If you find yourself like me sitting on top of a lot of cards and not sure what to do with them.....please consider donating them to a needy organization who could benefit from them. Or maybe sending a card a week to someone for awhile who needs some cheering up would also be nice. I thank all my card making friends who gave me permission to donate their beautiful creations and no I couldn't part with all of them....I kept some!

I'll be back to cardmaking and joining in on challenges in a day or two!

Seed Shooter / Happy Hoppers - House Mouse

There seems to be a lot of fun challenges posted this week so I need to combine those that I can to try and be able to participate in as many as I would like to. With this card I managed to do a three-fer!

The challenge this week over at House Mouse & Friends Challenge is a sketch......challenge #29. I chose to use a Happy Hopper called "Seed Shooter". I used some fun paper I found while cleaning my craft room in January. You never know what you may find when you clean your craft room / space! I thought it was perfect for this image.

The second challenge is challenge #43 at A Spoon Full Of Sugar and you are required to use gem(s) somewhere on your creation. I used gems / rhinestones for the center of my flowers.

The third challenge is for Color Create......challenge #7. The challenge was to use the colors green and red. Easy to do when your working with watermelon! An extra option but not required was to add wings if you wanted on your creation. I almost added a butterfly and then decided the card was best this way so I'm pretending the ants on the paper are flying ants..LOL!

Supplies Used:
Image: Happy Hopper "Seed Shooter" by Stampabilities
Printed Paper: Unknown - from my stash
Cardstock: Bazzill & Wausau
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
Spellbinder's Circle Nestabilities
Martha Stewart Border Punch
Paper Studio Flower Punch
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor colored pencils and blended with Gamsol


If you haven't checked out the awesome creations over at House Mouse & Friends , A Spoon Full Of Sugar and Color Create....you should! Join in on the fun!

Tilda With Hearts / Magnolia

I'm sliding in here at the last minute for the Roses On Paper Challenge #7 which is a sketch by DT member Rosette. When the challenge was first posted I had an idea in my head but then I came down sick, my husband caught it and was sick the following week. I had a lot of things going on and computer problems so unfortunately I did not make the card I had planned to make for this sketch. Not wanting to miss out though I stayed up tonight to see what I could put together quickly.


I chose to use Tilda With Hearts by Magnolia which I colored with Prismacolor colored pencil ls and blended with Gamsol. Cardstock is by Bazzill and patterned paper is unknown source from my stash.

Be sure to check out Roses On Paper Challenge Blog. A new challenge is posted every two weeks by a very creative and talented design team.

Throwing Daisy Petals / House Mouse

I combined 3 challenges into one card! I didn't think I could but without really trying it all started to develop and next thing I knew....I had completed 3 challenges. That's a good thing this week because I have had a very busy schedule giving me less time to craft.

Challenge #1 is the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge. This is challenge #77 and the sketch to follow is below.

Challenge #2 is for the Cupcake Craft Challenge blog which had the theme of "Spring" for the challenge. You could use any image, paper, colors etc as long as your creation somehow said "Spring". I chose to use a House Mouse Image called "Throwing Daisy Petals" and I used some soft pastel colors that I felt made me think of Spring.

Challenge #3 comes from a brand new challenge blog called Use It!. This is their very first challenge and I am glad I am able to join in on their "maiden voyage". The idea behind this challenge blog is to use your current stash of supplies and not run out and buy something new to make your project with for the challenge. For this first challenge we were to use a favorite paper, use something we have never used before, use some ribbon and use a button. My paper is from We R Memory Keepers, you can see my ribbon and buttons and my never used is the floss I used to tie the buttons down. I had bought a card with 6 different colors of pastel embroidery floss on clearance a couple of years ago and never used it. I pulled it out today just for this project. My buttons are also probably from about 4 years ago and about time I used them!


Supplies Used:
Image: House Mouse by Stampabilities "Throwing Daisy Petals"
Cardstock: Bazzill
Printed Paper: We R Memory Keepers
Ink: Memento
Buttons by Lasting Impressions
Spellbinder's circle nestabilities
Floss by Making Memories
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor colored pencils and blended with Gamsol

I hope you will take some time to check out the other fabulous creations at Mojo Monday, Cupcake Craft Challenge and be sure to check out the brand new challenge blog Use It! Why not join in on the fun!

Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #76

When I first looked at the sketch for this week over at Mojo Monday Challenge Blog I immediately thought of making a baby card. As the week progressed I thought of doing an Easter card with the sketch....then I thought of a birthday card. I have learned though that usually the very first idea that pops in my head is usually the best one to go with. So new baby card it was! The image is one I bought back in the 90's so it's an oldie but goody. I colored it with Prismacolor colored pencils blended with Gamsol. I then cut the image out and pop dotted it on for added dimension to the card. Unfortunately the picture does not really show the true colors. All the colors in real life are very pastel and not as dark as some of the colors are showing.


Supplies Used:
Image: Rubber Stampede, Sentiment by All Night Media
Cardstock: Bazzill
Printed Paper: Paper Pizazz
Ink: Memories
Cuttlebug Swiss Dot Embossing Folder
Ribbon, Button
Martha Stewart Border Punch
Techniques:
Image colored with Prismacolor colored pencils and blended with Gamsol
Check out all the awesome creations for this week over at Mojo Monday. Consider joining in this week for a chance to be one of 7 winners that will be chosen to receive a Verve Stamp set!

Little Punkin / House Mouse

The challenge this week over at The House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge Blog is "chipboard". Along with a House Mouse or friend image you must use chipboard of some kind in some way on your creation. I have to admit I wasn't too happy with the challenge as I do not really get into chipboard. I don't even have too much in the way of chipboard pieces. But that's what challenges are all about right......to make us try new things! I was unable to do last week's House Mouse challenge so I didn't really want to miss this week too. I found some chipboard letters I have and the idea started. I thought of "Little Punkin" and then thought of the Halloween paper I found when cleaning my craft room last month. Before I knew it....I had created a Halloween card which is also unusual for me as I do not get into Halloween much either. I love "little punkin" though and couldn't resist him. I had several House Mouse stamps on my wish list that my kids bought me for my birthday last year. Little punkin was one of them. I had to paint the chipboard letters. I also added two chipboard photo corners which I also had to paint. I think if I can find a chipboard bat one day to add to the card I would then feel it was complete. For now though this is my entry for the challenge this week and I am also way ahead of having a Halloween card ready to mail to someone in October!
Supplies Used:
Image: House Mouse "Little Punkin" by Stampabilities
Cardstock: Wausau and Bazzill
Printed Paper: Unknown
Ink: Memories
Chipboard
Brads
Techniques: Image colored with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and blended with Gamsol

Don't forget to check out the other creations over at the House Mouse & Friends Challenge blog!