Cute Little Notecards

I participated in a cardswap on Scrapbook Steals and received a really unique style card from Kristy M. It was a 4"x4" piece of cardstock with a 2 1/2" x 7" (but folded in half to 3 1/2") piece of cardstock as the card. I followed the sketch at Sweet Sketch Wednesday and made my card 3" x 7" on a 4"x4" piece of cardstock. I thought that allowed me a little more room to play with my images. Totally Stampalicious asked for a set of at least 3 notecards. For all 3 cards I used Colorbok red sorbet pearlescent paper as my 4"x4" cardstock. I added a quilted fall patterned paper as my background. I used green, orange, and yellow patterned paper for my 'cards' because the insides were white and that would let me add my sentiments/messages. I added two strips of fall ribbon behind each image. I inked the edges of my circles using amber ColorBox ink.
My ladybug image was a facebook freebie from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs.

My tree was from the Designed2Delight progressive challenge. I 'quilted' the hearts on the tree to match my 'quilted' background. I added a Silhouette heart bench image (cut with my Silhouette). I used my pine needles distress ink to add some grass.

My harvest raggedy was a GSD file from My Scrap Chick that I cut out with my Silhouette and paper pieced together.

I added a BoBunny button tied with yellow twinery twine to each card with a popdot. The button acts like a little doorknob to open the 'card' part of the card. Here's a picture of one of them open.

And here's a picture of all 3 together.

My lessons learned: I wish I had outlined my pieces of my scarecrow so that they stood out more but it was tricky working with such small pieces. I think I will only use full card sizes for those paper piecings in the future.  I think if I was to make notecards again I would choose 3 images from the same stamp company. I just felt these were a little too different from each other. Of course I'm probably not giving the same person all 3 cards so it doesn't really matter if the images are different. I like that I left the fronts without a sentiment so that I can use them as all occasion giftcards. Well, Fall all occasion giftcards ;o)

This Was A HARD Challenge

I absolutely LOVE Bugaboo Stamps and they are sponsoring the challenge at For Fun Challenges this week. Well the challenge was to create a Halloween card without using black, orange or purple. I thought this sounded like a great challenge, until I tried to do it, lol! I used a free image from Sassy Studio Designs who are also hosting a Halloween challenge this week. I used some wonderful metallic green embossed paper for the background and some grey with foil embossed silver skulls paper for the border for the embossing challenge at Charisma Cardz. I printed my sentiment, a freebie from Whimsie Doodles, on grey paper (in navy blue, no black remember) to enter at Sentimental Sundays Halloween (with a sentiment) Challenge. I used some blue sparkle thickers as 'brads'. I used pop dots to float my witch in front of the moon.
My lessons learned: I used watercolor paper for my image. Because I color with markers, I had hoped it would hold the color better. It was the opposite. It did not take the color well at all. It left white spots where it didn't take the color well and splotches where it took it too well. Will not try that again! This was a really good 'challenge' but the image I chose sure made it tricky (hehehe). Happy Halloween!

I would also like to share my card at:

I Brake for Challenges Halloween,

Divas By Design (is that not the best name?!?) something spooky,

Sweet Stampin' (also being sponsored by Bugaboo this week, woohoo!) Halloween,

Crafting for all Seasons Halloween



There Are No Words

Lori Boyd over at The Pink Elephant Challenge Blog posted that they were accepting donations for Katie Renz. She has stage 4 gastric cancer and 3 boys. You can read Katie's blog here, her husband Kevin has been updating it. When I made a donation, Lori sent me the digital stamp she created for Katie of her 3 boys called 'We Love You Mommy'. I made a card and will send it to them. With Christmas coming I just wanted to help. I really can't say anymore because there are no words for a family going through what they are. I will just share my card and hope that helps in some small way.
I  know that in Bellingham, Washington where they are from there is a lot of rain. So I decided an umbrella with Katie's name on it, above the boys, would be very appropriate. I added Daddy and the boys names on the heart, printed it off on red cardstock, and then added glossy accents to it. I used my Silhouette for the umbrella and border behind the boys. Colored the boys with a combination of Zig markers and EK Success pencil crayons. The sentiment reads, "Mommys are like umbrellas" and inside it reads, "always above us, protecting us, sheltering us". These were my own words and I hope they will be a comfort.

I would like to share my card at:

CAS-ual Fridays just add color

Southern Girls Challenge stripes and polka dots

Make It Monday linky party

This One Felt Like Work

I'm sure we've all had those days where you see it in your head but it is sooo much work to put it on paper?!? That was this card for me. I think I just over-thought it and it ended up feeling like work. I wanted to use my Designed2Delight free image and I wanted to include apples for Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge. I had this great pumpkin cart Silhouette image that I had been wanting to use so I downloaded a print and cut apple basket and decided to combine them with a little bale image I had to make my harvest scene. I printed the pumpkins on 2 different colored orange papers and cut them out. The Silhouette cut out the wagon pieces. I tried to print and cut the apple basket but it didn't work. To be fair that is the first time that feature didn't work but I had made the image smaller too. I used the Silhouette to cut out each apple and the apple leaves and arranged them in the basket. (That was some small gluing let me tell you). I tried to get the Silhouette to cut out my bale but because it was not a Silhouette image I couldn't get that to work either. (I won't tell you how long I played around with it until I gave up and cut it out myself). I used 3/4" strips of patterned paper to make my background. I used my Sew Easy to pierce the holes for my hand stitching. That didn't work either. That was also the first time I'd tried using it.
My lessons learned: I think I'll save the fine paper pieced scenes for my scrapbook pages and not for cards. And the Sew Easy is not.

I would like to share my card at:
Stamps R Us nature's gifts,
Delightful Challenges colors of fall,
Charisma Cardz in stitches,
My Sheri Crafts pumpkins,
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge you choose,
City Crafter Challenge harvest festival.

Getting in the Halloween Spirit

This was a picture my husband took of the girls and I last Halloween at the end of our lane. My Dad does a display every year using his own pumpkins which he also carves himself and corn stalks from the garden. We had a little snow. It's always harder for us to pick costumes because we have to be able to fit some layers underneath! Kaylee was a pilot, Abby was a zebra, and I was a nurse. I carved the girls' pumpkins. Kaylee wanted a spooky one and Abby's had two bottom teeth, just like her!

For my card I followed a sketch at Crafty Sentiments. I found the most awesome ribbon and cut the 'moon' out of cardstock using my Silhouette. I used a free image from Whimsie Doodles and colored her using my Zig markers and EK Success pencil crayons. I used the trace and detach feature on my Silhouette to trace the image (this is the first time this actually worked for me), then printed it, then cut it with my Silhouette. It worked pretty well. Used some pop dots to lift her off the page a bit, I think it helped to make her hair and cape look like they are really blowing in the breeze.

My lesson learned: it was very hard for me not to put a sentiment on this card, but I really think it didn't need it. You can tell it's for Halloween and we're going to write Happy Halloween inside so I left it without one. Still it felt strange not putting one on it.

I would like to share my card at:

Simon Says Stamp Challenge Halloween,
MelJen's Designs use ribbon,
Sassy Studio Designs use black, orange, purple and green,
Card Makin' Mamas Halloween
Designed2Delight Halloween



For My Brother

My brother Rob's birthday is Oct. 8th and it frequently falls on Thanksgiving weekend. He lives in Alberta but he always makes sure to come home for Thanksgiving. I think he secretly loves the double celebration, and the food, who can blame him right? He has his hunting and fishing guiding course and is an amazing photographer so this outdoor card was made for him. The fisherman is a Silhouette image and I used a one pennant from a pennant banner to make the happy birthday sentiment. For the background I was inspired by the photo at For Your Inspiration. The way the reds, oranges, yellows and blues all flow so seamlessly together is just beautiful. I used my Tim Holtz distress inks in broken china for the water, a little walnut stain for the ground, and pine needles for the trees. I used my Color Box stamps for the sunset and sky.
My lessons learned: this time I created my card on a piece of white cardstock 1/2" smaller than my actual card and attached it to the card when I was finished. I know a lot of card makers do this because it allows them to attach ribbon and brads without changing the inside of the card but for me it took all the stress out of making a mistake. I was able to experiment with my inks and not worry that I would be wasting a card if I didn't like the look. Luckily I really like the look. I think I created a really peaceful scene. Most fisherman will tell you fishing is only partly about catching fish and partly about being out on the water. My brother liked it too.

I would like to share my card at:

Sentimental Sundays anything goes (plus a sentiment),

Pollycraft Monday Challenge boys, boys, boys,

Make It Monday linky party

Southern Girls Challenge slugs and snails and puppydog's tails

The Stamping Boutique someone special (just don't tell my brother that, you know cause he's my brother, hehe)

Hope

I followed this sketch at Some Odd Girl.

First I cut my shaped card using my Silhouette. Then I used my gold Silhouette sketch pen to draw the circle and used my copper sketch pen to draw the Hero Arts tall scroll tree. I used a small scallop border and Segoe Script font for "Hope" and cut them out using my Silhouette as well. I took the Hope Butterfly from Designed2Delight, made it much smaller and printed it on pink vellum. I had the idea to make the butterflies look like leaves on the tree. I colored the ribbon on the butterflies pink, so it stood out a bit then attached them to my tree. I added some pink bling with my iRock and a pink square insert inside the card just to set off the shape of the card better.

My Grandma is a breast cancer survivor and will turn 97 on Oct. 12. She still lives in her own apartment and does the "seniors" visiting for the Church. She is a remarkable woman and so I appreciate all the awareness challenges and think it is especially appropriate that October is breast cancer awareness month! Here is my Grandma with my Abby and myself at Easter this year.

I would also like to share my card at:

Digistamps4Joy think pink challenge,

Simon Says sparkle and bling challenge,

The Secret Crafter anything goes as long as it sparkles challenge,

Sassy Studio Designs lots of pink,

My Sheri Crafts think pink,

The Stamping Boutique think pink monthly challenge.

I also received the most wonderful invitation to Link Up For Pink linking party, do go check them out, it's amazing what they are doing for awareness!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's that time of year again where we get together with family to eat ourselves ridiculously full and thank God for all our blessings! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It is also a long week-end, which means my husband is home for an extra day, which means extra craft time for me, wooohoo!
Bugaboo Stamps has a Halloween Anything But a Card challenge this week.  At Crafty Purple Frog they asked for lots of layers and Delightful Challenges asked for us to make it dimensional. I had the award ribbon pinwheel Silhouette image that I really wanted to give a try. The picture looks so beautiful (famous last words). I thought it would look really sharp in Halloween colors. Meljen's Designs, The Pink Elephant, and the Fussy and Fancy Challenge all asked for Halloween.
I cut the strips, which have perforated marks for the fan folds (very helpful) using my Silhouette. I wanted 4 layers of color and the image only comes with two so I adjusted the widths down a 1/4" on each of the two it came with. I used black, orange, purple and lime green. Then I printed and cut the images onto a white circle, colored them in. Next came assembly. This was the part that made these the first and last award pinwheels I have made (at least for quite awhile...until I forget...probably later this month). You fold the strips of paper like a fan and tape the ends together. It is supposed to lay flat. Instead they like to pop up. And again, what adhesive do you use on a pinwheel? I ended up using a combination of double sided tape and a glue gun. Also the layering, trying to fit all those little folds together is a trick in itself. The final step was to add my circle with the image and a lollipop stick.
You may notice a few less Reece's Pieces as the pictures go on.
My lessons learned: my battle to find an adhesive that is safe for scrapbooking and yet still "adheres" things together is fast becoming right up there with my battle against dandelions. They all sort of work and yet none of them really work. Arrgh. And I do like the way they turned out :o)

Summer Kids Carnival

So I'm a little late getting my thank-you card off to the Co-op for having a Kid's Carnival, but better late than never, right?!? I used a MelJen's Designs thank-you bear, colored him with a combination of my Zig markers and EK Success pencil crayons. The challenge this week at Sentimental Sundays was to add sewing or stitching. I stitched some of the stitches on the image with red embroidery floss. I distressed the circle and inked the edges with orange. The challenge at Totally Stampalicious was to add embossing. I scored/embossed the green background paper and added some flower brads. I made a pinwheel from EP Country Drive paper with butterflys and ladybugs for the challenge at Flutterby Wednesdays. I printed the Kid's Club image on white cardstock, roughed up the edges, inked with red and used pop dots to lift it off the page a bit. Kaylee colored a picture on the inside, that's her driving above. I'm going to include the picture with the card.
Just a little pause here to insert a happy dance, I won the random draw for Flutterby Wednesdays Challenge #173. I won a prize from The Greeting Farm. Pretty darn excited I must say.
Lessons learned: finding your scoring blade for your cutter is much better than trying to use your dry emboss stylus and your cutter, that just rips the paper.

I'm also entering at Bugaboo Stamps Challenge anything goes. Thanks for looking!