THANK YOU

A card for three challenges:  Hero Arts (flowers), Lily Pad Cards (flowers) and CFC45 (pastels and black).

I realize I may be pushing the envelope, so to speak, for CAS-ual Friday.  This may not be as pastel or clean and simple as they want.  But, I decided to give it a go, anyway!

The papers are from the April stamp kit of the month from Simon Says.  The flower and sentiment are from Hero Arts.  I used some of their tiny flowers and pearls as accents, too. 

Thanks for visiting!

FLOWERS

The monthly challenge at Lily Pad Cards is to use flowers.  Hero Arts' theme is flowers also, so I will use this card for both sites. 

I sprayed white cardstock with Tsukineko's Cherry Blossom Walnut Ink Antiquing Solution and then stamped Hero Arts simple frame on it and cut it out.  The Hero Arts Fleurettes stamp fits nicely within the frame.  A touch of pink and pale green Prismacolor pencils to the image is all it needed.  

Thanks for stopping by.

 

VIRGINIA'S VIEW #3

Isn't this just the most colorful and quirky inspiration photo that Virginia has picked for her third monthly challenge at Lily Pad Cards??  I was so drawn to the rows of colors.  Here is my card:

I used just one row of several colors.  The single starburst from Hero Arts looks great stamped in Brilliance inks.  Three little oval buttons I found in my stash were tied with twine from the Simon Says Stamp March card kit.  The sentiment is also Hero Arts.                                                              

Thanks, Virginia, for another fun challenge!

THINKING OF YOU

Love this new dot flower pattern background from Hero Arts.  Decided to give Kathy's color challenge at Lily Pad Cards another try:

Used a pink that is a bit deeper than the color swatch; but Kathy does give us permission to interpret the colors in our own way.  I used some white embossing and colored pencil to detail the background.  The Martha Stewart butterfly punch is one of my favorites.  And, the new Hero Arts Say it All sentiments are so versatile.

Thanks for stopping by.

edit:  also entering this in the Hero Arts March challenge.

ONE CARD FOR TWO CHALLENGES

Glad I'm finding time to enter a few challenges:

First up is the color challenge at Lily Pad Cards.  I love these colors Kathy has chosen.

Next is this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

And, here is my card:

An old Magenta stamp (one of my first stamp purchases many years ago!).  Versafine sepia ink and some pink flower trim from JoAnn's.

Enjoy your day!

FEBRUARY CCC

Tomorrow is the deadline for getting a card up for the February card chain challenge at Lily Pad Cards.  There are always several choices for the theme of the card we choose to make.  I chose the Valentine's Day theme:

I have a large stash of these flowers that I made from the Tim Holtz tattered floral dies.  Cut them out of copy paper, colored them with distress inks, accented all edges with Stickles and layered them with a pearl in the center.  Rather than a true red or true pink, the flower has a coral color to it.  I like the way it looks against the paper heart doily.  The dimensional flower was in the Simon Says Stamp January card kit.  I was very pleased with the assortment of items included in the kit and am looking forward to getting future kits from them.  Well worth the subscription price - check it out!  Sentiment is from Hero Arts XO clear set. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

LILY PAD CARDS NEW CHALLENGE

There is a new monthly challenge on Lily Pad Cards!!  The uber-talented Virginia Lu will be providing an inspiration photo called "Virginia's View" for these challenges.  Here is the first one:

We are to use the photo for our inspiration and also incorporate a Valentine's theme into our card. I love these colors, don't you??

Here is my card:

Could I be anymore literal here??

Penny Black brush stroke image, Memento markers, Hero Arts sentiment, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, black pen stitching and a polka dot ribbon.

Also want to give a shout out to another new DT member for Lily Pad Cards - Barb Engler!  Barb is one of the sweetest gals around and her cards are always beautifully crafted.  Congrats, Barb!

Gotta' go shovel some snow!

OCTOBER CCC

Here is my card for this month's card challenge on Lily Pad Cards. 

I went with the friendship theme again just because I like receiving those kind the best.
These patterned papers, including the punched border which has a teeny dot in it, are from the Basic Grey Out of Print 6 x 6 pad.  I love this pad!  The butterfly is from the Hero Arts Butterflies and Print cling set. Sentiment is from Hero Arts, also.  

The card pretty much speaks for itself, so no need to go into detail.

Thanks for visiting on this rainy evening! 

SEPTEMBER CCC

The weeks are going by way too quickly  for me - I almost forgot to get a card made for the Lily Pad's monthly card chain challenge. 

I went with the friendship theme again - just using some pretty fall colors of distress inks to do a resist background over the Hero Arts positive and negative flowers.  These remind me of all the beautiful chrysanthemums you see during the autumn months.

The distress ink colors I used were bundled sage, fired brick and rusty hinge, with walnut stain to darken the edges a bit.  The sentiment is also Hero Arts and I added some pretty orange gems for some bling.

Hope your day is a blessed one!

AUGUST CCC

For this month's card chain challenge (CCC) on The Lily Pad blog, we could used chocolate brown, lipstick red and aqua for the colors.  And, since I liked the sketch they provided, I decided to use it along with the friendship theme.  This is the first time I have used the sketch, colors and theme for my card:

The patterned paper I used for the background is from the HeroArts/Basic Grey Hello Luscious pad.  I trimmed it to layer on a cream card base and then added a strip of chocolate brown cardstock which was dry embossed with a polka dot folder.  The Hero Arts friend definition was stamped in brown on cream and the Prima flowers were fastened with a tiny aqua brad. 

There's still time to participate; just upload a card by the 17th.  Check out Lily Pad Cards for the deets!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

JULY CCC

Here is my card for the July card chain challenge on Lily Pad Cards.

Used the butterfly from HA Antique Engravings, which is one of the new stamps I just got on Thursday.  It has been on my wish list for awhile :)  The sentiment is Hero Arts also.   The patterned papers are from DCWV and the two punches are from Martha Stewart.  I love that you can make a "doily" with it!   

The card chain is great fun - you send a card to someone and another someone sends one to you.  I love seeing what other stampers create and getting a card in the mail to keep is even better.  Check it out if you've never participated!

TFL.

HERO ARTS GIVEAWAY AT LILY PAD CARDS

LILY PAD CARDS is having a fabulous giveaway on their blog.  If you love Hero Arts and want to enter, just visit the blog and become a follower.  Full details are listed there, so what are you waiting for??  Hop on over and join in for the chance to win some great stamps! 

JUNE CCC

Hello!  It has been almost three weeks since I've posted on my blog - just busy with warm weather outdoor stuff; a local stamp sale and another sale in a friend's barn!  Blog posts, blog hopping, challenges and commenting on other blogs will be hit and miss while the weather is nice - I don't like spending time indoors when I can be out in my yard or visiting friends and family!  (Not to mention that blogger is really trying my patience with the comment thing!!!)

I wanted to participate in this month's card chain challenge on Lily Pad Cards and the deadline is tomorrow night.  Glad I'm getting in just under the wire.  Here is my card:

Sorry for the shady photo - very overcast here today!
I used one of my favorite sentiments from Hero Arts to go along with the friendship theme.  The polka dot paper is from Amuse; the butterfly punch is Martha Stewart.  The pretty lacy trim was purchased at JoAnn's.  Whiite and black pearls were added for accents. 

To find details and rules for joining this swap, go to the Lily Pad Cards blog.  It is really fun to send a card to someone and receive one back from someone near or far. 

Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy your summer!

COLORED PENCIL CARDS

This week I have been playing with some new stamps I ordered from Hero Arts.  Since one of the challenges at Hero Arts this month is to use colored pencils, I wanted to use the Girl Holding Flowers wood mounted stamp.  And, I wanted to try to color her as a blond and then as a brunette.

For the first card, I pretty much copied the design from Deborah Nolan's recent post on Lily Pad Cards:

Here is my card:

Pretty much self explanatory - patterned paper for the background, a labels die for the sentiment, some of Hero Arts new twine (this is fabulous!!). 

Here is my brunette:

I used the Hero Arts Life of the Party Dots for the background by just stamping it on the cardstock with Versamark ink.  The flower is from Prima with a cute flower brad in the center.  The sentiment is from the Sending Smiles Message clear set. 

This little gal is so cute and a lot of fun to color!

Thanks for visiting. 

MAY CCC

The card chain challenge has now been moved to the Lily Pad Cards blog.  We are to use their color palette or sketch or one of three themes for our card.  Here is the sketch, which is what I decided to use, along with the friendship theme.  

My card is fairly simple, but I love the contrast in colors and the layers.

The Hero Arts stamps were white embossed on hot pink cardstock.  The patterned paper is from a K & Company Jubilee 4 x 6 inch pad.  The border punch is from Martha Stewart - one of my favorites!!  The only embellishment that I liked were the pearls; too busy for any others, in my opinion :)

Thanks for visiting my blog!

stamps used:

Hero Arts CL493 and K5486