KATHY'S LILY PAD PALETTE

The card I made for this challenge also fits the "sweet tooth" challenge at Simon Says Stamp. 

The cupcake image and the sentiment are from Impression Obsession.  The Spellbinders Nestabilities die is called lacey circles.  And the lattice background is from Hero Arts.  The image was colored with Prismacolor pencils and highlighted with Stickles diamond glitter. I stamped the lattice background with Memento rich cocoa ink on Neenah desert storm cardstock. 

Happy Monday to all!

CFC52 FEATHERED FRIENDS

Here is my card for this week's CAS-UAL FRIDAYS challenge:

The patterned paper is from the Simon Says April card kit.  The ink I used for the image and sentiment is in the new Distress Ink pack and called peacock feathers.  Love this pretty color.  A bit of Stickles to ground the bird and for the eye finished this card off.

Thanks for visiting!

ANTHING GOES

Simon Says Stamp has two challenge blogs - one challenge is more mainstream and one is vintage.  This week on SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW the challenge is "anything goes".  As you probably know, when either challenge blog has this theme, there are SCADS of entries. 

But, it is always worth a try and I wanted to use some new BoBunny decaf vintage double dot paper that my friend, Lin, picked up for me while she was in Florida.  Here is my card:

The sentiment was stamped with walnut stain distress ink on a reverse section of this paper and then diecut.  The doily die cut that is peeking out from behind the labels shape was given to me by another friend, Carol.  The hydrangea was stamped on the dotted side of the paper and a white Prismacolor pencil was used to add some white touches here and there.  A Martha Stewart punched border and some Hero Arts lace were adhered and then I sparkled it all up with some Platinum Stickles (my favorite).   The champagne colored gems are from BoBunny, too.  

Thanks, Lin and Carol, for enabling and inspiring me to make this card!

Hero Arts K5376  Hydrangea  Hero Arts CL380 Truly Appreciated

CLASSIC TEA FLOWER

A friend is celebrating her birthday next week, and I think this new Hero Arts stamp is perfect for a feminine card. 

I used Prismacolor pencils to color the flower and added Stickles diamond glitter.  The large scallop oval dies are one of my favorite shapes from Spellbinders.  Border punch from Martha Stewart.  The yellow polka dot paper is from Amuse.  Pearls from Hero Arts. 

I am also entering this in the Hero Arts contest for this month, which is to use flowers. 

If you haven't heard, I'm having a blog giveaway this week.  Deadline for commenting is midnight tomorrow night (EST).  Scroll down to see the post and leave a comment.  Tell a friend.  I've added a few more things to the pot since posting the photo!

Have a great evening!!

SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW CHALLENGE

This week's challenge for Simon Says Stamp and Show is anything goes.  Since the overall theme for this challenge blog is to use Tim Holtz/Wendy Vecchi type designs, all the stamps I used on this tag are from Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz. 

The tag was distressed with tea dye, aged mahogany and walnut stain Distress inks.  The background images were stamped using iced spruce, walnut stain and aged mahogany.  I stamped the flowers and butterflies with barn door distress ink on another tag and edged with walnut stain.  Then I cut them out and popped them up on the tag, adding some barn door Distress Stickles.  A strip of raw silk was tied through the hole of the tag.

Thanks for visiting!

DESTINATION PARIS

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an affinity for all things Paris; especially the Eiffel Tower.

Since it's not in my travel plans in the near future :*),  I thought the smiling girl from Hero Arts could be my proxy.  I have given her a name - FiFi! 

The papers I have used are from a 6 x 6 pad called World Traveler by Teresa Collins.  The newspaper Eiffel Tower from Hero Arts is glittered up a bit with diamond Stickles. 

Sure hope FiFi brings me a souvenir!

SHAPED CARD

Stampendous has a challenge this month to make a shaped card - anything other than a square or rectangle.

I used a Nesties label for this little gift card - it is approximately 4 x 2.75 inches.  The flower stamp is from Stampendous and the sentiment is from A Muse.  Colored with Prismacolor pencils, added glitter and pearls. 

Thanks for visiting!

Valentine Card Exchange

Anita Rex on the Hero Arts Flickr group organized a Valentine card exchange.  My card was sent to Cornelia and she has let me know that she received it.  So, here is the card:

I love this new Hero Arts newsprint bird!!!  I heat embossed it in red Brilliance ink and then added some tea dye distress ink over it to age it a bit.  The sentiment and small heart are from the new XO clear set and were heat embossed, too.  The papers are from the Basic Grey 6 x 6 Kissing Booth pad.  I used a scallop border die from My Favorite Things and the lace is from Hero Arts.  Also added a rhinestone eye and some Stickles diamond glitter. 

Hope your day is fabulous!

PENNY BLACK

We are supposed to get some snow today, so I decided to make a card with another new stamp I have from Penny Black:

Wish I could be as enthusiastic as this little snowman seems to be with snow in the forecast.  I prefer warm sunshine:)

The sentiment and snowflakes are from a Fiskars clear set I found on clearance at JoAnn's.  Lots of wintery stamps in the set. 

After coloring and running the panel through the Cuttlebug, I added baby blue Stickles for the ground and some on the snowflakes and snowman, too.  The pretty snowflake stickers are from Jolee.

Enjoy your day, whatever your weather might be!

ONLINE CARD CLASSES DAY 7

For this class, Julie had beautiful examples of using a plain white card for the clean and simple design. 

My card is very "plain", that's for sure!  I used a cling stamp from Hero Arts, colored it with Prismacolor pencils and added glitter.  The sentiment is from a new clear set by Hero Arts.  I then layered the diecuts and added glitter along the outside of the black one.  Dimensional foam squares were used to pop it off the card.

I will probably emboss the white card the next time I do a card similar to this.

Jennifer, Kristina and their guests designers have done a fabulous job with this class; so many tips and techniques to store away for the future. 

Thanks for looking!

NEW STAMPS

Two of my newest stamps are from LaBlanche.  I love to color these detailed stamps and use distress inks to enhance the backgrounds.  The first one was a birthday present:

I colored this adorable little girl with Prismacolor pencils.  Used several colors of distress inks for the background.  Added a pretty flourish stamp to the background randomly.  Some Stickles glitter for the centers of the flowers and around the edges of the piece, too.  Punched two butterflies from the pink polka dot paper and touched them with the glitter, also.

The second card was done in pretty much the same way as the first:

The sentiment is from a new 2012 Hero Arts clear set.  And, I used some dew drops of which I have entirely too many, for embellishment.  Gotta' remember to use them occasionally.

By the way, 9 times out of 10 I use Versafine onyx black ink to stamp my images.  I love this ink!  It is great for detailed stamps.  And, did you know that you can use watercolor with this ink??  You don't have to heat set it at all.

I enjoyed making both of these cards so much - hope you like them. 

Thanks for visiting.

fall card exchange

Anita Rex is hostessing a fall card exchange on the Hero Arts Flickr group.  Here is the card I am sending out:

The flower is Hero Arts Classic Bloom. I colored it with distress inks and added some Stickles to the center.  (cinnamon - love this color of glitter!!)  The sentiment is from A Muse.  The border punch is Martha Stewart and the patterned paper is from BoBunny. 

Sorry for the poor scan of this card!  I won't post this on Flickr until I know my recipient got it.  Hope she likes it.

Happy Wednesday to you!

pretty in pink

Another card using one of my new LaBlanche stamps, which I made for my daughter's birthday.  She loves pink :)

For this card, I used Prismacolor pencils to color the entire image and background.  A Spellbinders Nestablilities Labels four die for the shape and the pp is Basic Grey sweet threads.  Some Stickles glitter here and there.  I decided to round off the corners of the pp, but not the corners of the card itself.  A happy birthday greeting is on the inside of this card. 

I am entering this in the Simon Says challenge also.

Have a great day!

edited:  oops, too late to enter the challenge - it closed at midnight!  :*(

FOOD AND DRINK CHALLENGE

Here is my card for Simon Says this week:

Pretty much self-explanatory - paper pieced and colored with colored pencils, cut with Spellbinders and layered to a doily and Basic Grey Hello Luscious paper.  The cupcake is from Impression Obsession and the sentiment is from A Muse.  A bit of Stickles glitter glue was added here to the frosting and bow and around the scallops of the die.

Sunny, warm and beautiful here in Ohio today!  Perfect weather for late summer.  Thanks for stopping by!

A BIRTHDAY CARD

Made this card for a birthday that is coming up soon:

The balloons (Stampendous) are colored with pencils, with some glitter added.  Hero Arts dictionary greeting is stamped lightly with Memento pear ink for an allover background.  Sentiment is from Hero Arts, too.  The patterned paper is from the Pocket Full of Posies stack and the border punch is from Martha Stewart.  Grosgrain ribbon is from Pat Catan's (a local hobby store).  I added some dots around the edge for some definition. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

A THANK YOU CARD

A friend of mine is always ready to help out anyone who asks.  I needed to let her know how much I appreciate her, so here is a simple card I made for her:

The sentiment is from PTI, the patterned paper is from DCWV Street Lace, the butterfly and border punches are from Martha Stewart.  I added Stickles diamond glitter to the butterfly and the border, doesn't show up so much here.

I have been trying to get caught up with things around here in order to have time to participate in the online Summer Card classes that Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner are offering for the next four weeks.  This "camp" begins tomorrow and I am excited to learn new tips and techniques.  There are many guest designers, too.  Even if I can't keep up, there will be PDF's to follow.  What fun - summer camp for cardmakers!!

TFL.

CAS card

Just wanted to make a card for a special friend:

This embossing folder from Sizzix is so cute!  All I did was add some color on the raised areas and there is also some Stickles glitter added.  The Hero Arts sentiment is very appropo for my friend.

TFL!

MASCULINE 50TH BIRTHDAY CARD

I have been missing in action for a couple of weeks - just busy with a lot of different things.  I am in awe of you gals who can keep up with a myriad of challenges, groups, design teams, making comments on blogs, etc., and actually making lots of cards and creating blog posts, too!

Anyway, here is a card I made for my son-in-law's 50th birthday which is coming up soon. 

 I used one of the sketches Shari provided on the Hero Arts blog and some strips of paper from the Basic Grey Hello Luscious pad.   And, for the background, I actually dared to cut the word "Celebrate" from a Hero Arts clear phrase to use alone, which was the first time I attempted that!  The number stamps are from an old Hero Arts set that I have had for ages.

I didn't want this card to become too fussy, so I just popped the circles up from the background layer, and then popped that layer up from the folded kraft card.  A bit of Stickles platinum glitter was added around the circle for a bit of bling. 

Thank you for visiting!

Stamps and supplies used:

Hero Arts CL497 Find Joy
Basic Grey Hello Luscious 6 x 6 pad
Ranger Stickles platinum glitter

CARD PATTERNS SKETCH 108

Here is the sketch for this week on CARD PATTERNS:

And here is the card I made:

As you can see, I chose to turn the sketch a bit to my own liking.

The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey Hello Luscious pad that I got from Hero Arts.  The sentiment is from the Hero Arts CL497 Find Joy set.  I layered everything on a kraft card base and black cardstock.  The butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart.  I layered it on white cardstock and then used Ranger Stickles diamond glitter to fill in the open areas.  (This doesn't show up so well in the scan!)  A few black stitching lines were hand drawn along the black cardstock.

I'm still loving that paper pad from Basic Grey!!