HOC Photo Inspiration

March has a 5th Monday and that means that House of Cards has an extra challenge this

month.  It is a photo inspiration challenge using any and all styles!

Here's the photo…

and what I came up with in the Classic & Elegant style.

The first thing that caught my eye in the photo were the hydrangeas on the table.  So I

pulled out a K & Company hydrangea die cut I had and built the design for my card

around that.  I found I had a striped paper that mimicked the striped pillows and used

an embossing folder that looks like the bead board on the window seat. I hope you'll

be inspired to come up with your own creation and link it to the challenge.  And, as

always, thanks for taking a look!

JUGS #234

Just Us Girls has a wild card challenge this week. The challenge is to create a tall

and skinny card.  I will also link this card up to Seize the Birthday.  Their toppings
option this time is buttons & rhinestones, or any bling.

The stamp I used is from an Inkadinkado set called Meadow. My printed paper is from

a set call Sunshine and Shadows from Hot Off the Press. I used a Martha Stewart border

punch and a Fiskars butterfly punch.  The greeting is a Recollections sticker and the

pearls are also from Recollections. Thanks for taking a look!

Christmas Reindeer

I'm in a bit of a slump today. Don't know why. Spending time in the craft room usually
helps so I've got a Christmas card I put together using inspiration from 2 challenges. The
challenge over at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown is to use one of their previous color
combos and Freshly Made Sketches has a great sketch this week.

I was digging through my Christmas stash and came upon the Jolee's reindeer and flourish
stickers. I've had these for quite a while and decided I would go with these colors based on
them. I decided to emboss the white panel behind the reindeer for a little texture and it
kind of makes it look like he's flying through snow, in my opinion, and finished up with
some gems.  I guess it came out okay.  The more I look at it the more I like it. Anyway,
thanks so much for taking a look!

CTD285

I'm so excited to be the Guest Star Stamper with Color Throwdown this week. The design
team has provided great inspiration, as always. So, if you like color challenges as much as I
do you should check it out and link up your own creation.

Here are the colors to work with this time.

And here's what I came up with.

I not only used the colors, I took inspiration from the photo. I love that room! I think
the patterned paper I used looks similar to the area rug and I used tulips.  The tulip
image is a digital stamp I found for free at bearywishes.com. I colored it with spectrum
noir markers, cut it out and popped with foam tape. The ovals were cut with a
Spellbinders die and I did a little dry embossing with a Paper Studio embossing folder.
I added ribbon, bow and some little pink pearls. Thanks for taking a look!

Birthday Butterflies

Just a quick post with a card I made for the current challenge at Color Throwdown. I think
I'll also link up with the Seize the Birthday challenge. They have a toppings option of
stitching this week, but I stuck with the "Anything Goes" option!

I stamped, heat embossed and die cut the butterflies.  They were colored with spectrum

noir markers. I die cut the circles and dry embossed them and the white background

panel. I made a banner for the sticker sentiment. Thanks for taking a look!

Racing to Thank You

In my earlier post today I mentioned that I needed to make a couple of  masculine Thank
You cards.  I made this one for someone who's into racing stock cars using the current
sketch from the Seize the Sketch challenge.

I used another free digital stamp form birdscards.com for the race car and colored it
with smooch inks. The printed paper and Thank You banner came from the Classic
Cardmaker's Creative Pack from Hot Off the Press. The red card stock was embossed with
a Darice chevron embossing folder.  I tried turning a flaw into a design element by
popping a piece of the embossed paper near the bottom with foam tape.  When I ran it
through the Big Shot the paper actually cut there. Now I'm thinking I should of just left it
open with the black card stock showing through?!? What do you think?Oh well, we're
always second guessing ourselves aren't we?  Anyway, thanks for taking a look!

Balloon Thanks

My husband asked me to make him a couple of thank you cards for 2 male staff members

 he has at work moving on to other assignments. I don't make too many cards that are

masculine in nature so when I saw the photo inspiration challenge over at

Just Us Girls this week I thought I would use it for one of the cards.

I took the more literal approach to the photo using the balloon and some of the colors

in it as my inspiration. I found this free balloon scene digital stamp over at birdscards.com.
The cloud paper was also free there.  I printed the scene several times and paper pieced
after coloring with smooch inks and spectrum noir markers.  Then just added the banners

and stamped sentiment. Thanks for taking a look!

Christmas Angel

Well, it kind of feels like Christmas around here today because  it's cold and it's

snowing.  So, in my ongoing quest to meet my Christmas card goal for this year

I've managed to get a new one made.  52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown has a

Stash Challenge. This is a good way to use up what you already have laying

around and they want you to use paper flowers. I happen to have lots of paper

roses in lots of different colors. I stocked up a while back when Michaels had

embellishments on sale for 1/2 off and it's been a while since I've used them.

Here's how I used my paper flowers.

The Christmas Angel image is another free digital stamp from bearywishes.com.

I've only been playing with digital stamps for a couple of weeks and I have to say I'm

enjoying using them quite a bit. I started out coloring her with spectrum noir pens

and ended up going over the coloring with smooch ink just to give a little shimmer.

The rectangle she's on was cut with a Spellbinders die and I had the Noel sticker

in my stash from a couple of years ago.  I dry embossed the white background panel

a freehanded the banner.  Thanks for taking a look!

House of Cards Add a Button

It's time for another challenge at House of Cards!  This time we are to create a card in
the CAS or Classic & Elegant style and add at least one button.

I have to admit that I do not typically put buttons on my cards but there are so many

choices these days that they are a nice embellishment to use.  I had a hard time

deciding what colors to use on this card.  Then I remembered I had these pretty blue

papers that I bought on clearance at Target, of all places, years ago.  I've got to

start using more of what I already have instead of going and buying new all the time!

Anyway, I pulled out the ole Cricut to cut the layered flower, it's been a while since

I used that too, and put one of my favorite Martha Stewart border punches to use.

I used the Stampendous Orchid Greetings stamp set for the sentiment and finished up 

with the 3 blue pearls.  I hope you'll jump over to House of Cards to see what the

rest of the design team did and then link up your own button creation.  Thanks

for taking a look!

Mother's Day Card

One last post for the day.  I managed to get a Mother's Day Card made.  I used

inspiration from 2 challenges.  I used the color combination from Color Throwdown

and the sketch from cardabilities. 

So, this is what I ended up with. I stamped the leaves with a set by taylored expressions

called Friendship Blooms. The label my sentiment is on is also taylored expressions. The

flowers are from a Hero Arts stamp and die set by Sizzix. I computer generated the

sentiment and added pearls to the flower centers. I think this card will be great for one

of my co-workers who loves the color orange.  Thanks for taking a look!

Christmas Star

There's a theme challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown this week.  The card you make should showcase stars.  So here's what I came up with.

The hardest part for me was decided what colors to use.  I started digging through scraps I

had and settled on this, sort of, blue green scheme. I used an old Sizzix originals die for

the star and dry embossed it with a cuttlebug folder.  I thought the star could use some
color so I swiped an ink pad on it.  I stamped the greeting and cut into a banner.  Then I
decided something else was needed so I started adding bling. At first I just added the blue
gems but then remembered I had these crystal swirls and cut them apart and added them
where I thought they looked best.  I think it helps "showcase" the star, right? So there you
have it. Another Christmas card done and about 58 more to go! Thanks for taking a look!

Spring is Near

I hope spring is near.  However, this is March and in Colorado March typically is the

snowiest ( is that a word?) month of the year! We've seen some snow here in the Denver

metro area this month but not too much as of yet.  When I saw this weeks challenge

over at Just Us Girls it had me longing for spring. It's a color challenge and I thought

of daffodils when I saw the combination.

This is one of those cards that I actually started yesterday but got a little frustrated and
decided to let it sit overnight before coming back to it.  So, I'm fairly pleased with the
final result, at least, more so than yesterday.  The image was a free digital stamp from
birdscards.com. I printed it twice, colored it with gels pens and smooch ink, cut it out
and popped with some foam tape. The label I attached it to is a Lifestyle Crafts die and
the butterfly was punched with a Fiskars punch. The border punch I used is also from
Fiskars. The embossed panel was done with a Sizzix embossing folder.  I finished with
some pearls which is not unusual for me. I love pearls! Thanks for taking a look!

DD #94 & FMS127

It's a gray, windy day here in Colorado so I'm spending time in the craft room getting

some cards made.  Oh, who am I kidding, even if it weren't gray and windy I'd still

be in the craft room.  Anyway, I made a card with inspiration from 2 of my favorite

challenges.  This time it's the color combo from Dynamic Duos, with a dessert option

of dry embossing and the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

I did opt to go with the dry embossing, although it's a little hard to tell in the photo.  I used

the Cuttlebug dotted embossing folder on the black banner.  I love dry embossing so if

given the option you can bet I'll take it! The flower stamp is from an Autumn Leaves

set called Second Nature and the sentiment stamp is from a Penny Black set called

Flower Gallery.  The black and gold printed paper is from Sunshine and Shadows paper

pack by Hot Off the Press and the wood printed paper is from the My Mind's Eye paper 

pad called Miss Caroline Dolled Up. The bee die cut is from K&Company TC Cottage

Garden Cool.  Thanks for taking a look!

Soft Pink and Stone For Someone Special

Today I have a short post with a card created with the current color combination at 

Dynamic Duos.

I really like the 2 colors together and am relatively pleased with the overall outcome.

Just a little stamping, dry embossing, die cutting, punching and finishing off with a

few pearls. Thanks for taking a look!

Birthday Ballerina Frog

I had so much fun this morning creating this card that I can hardly stand it!  House of Cards

has a challenge this month where you are to use a button, or more if you like, and the first

2 weeks of the month are for the Fun/Cute or Shabby/ Vintage style.  As a member of the

Classic & Elegant team there I don't normally do Fun/Cute but thought I would give it a try.

I've incorporated a few other challenges as well.  The sketch is from the Seize the Sketch

challenge and the color combo comes from the Color Throwdown challenge. And since I

added a birthday sentiment it will work for the Seize the Birthday challenge as well.

I found this cute little ballerina frog digital stamp at bearywishes.com and it is a freebie!
Now, digital stamping is something else I'm new at.  I just need lots of practice coloring.
She was colored with some spectrum noir markers and smooch ink. I did some dry
embossing and die cut the circles. I've had those little flower buttons for about a year left
from a button necklace project.  Thanks for taking a look!

Peace Dove

I'm back for a second post today.  I've created a card that I'll submit to two challenges.

I've used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and the color combo from

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.

I have to say trying to get those 2 skewed pieces of card stock to look right was not

the easiest thing I've done all day, but I managed to make it look okay.  I went through

3 pieces of red card stock and then the first attempt at embossing was done on the

wrong side. So there was a lot of trial and error. But, I think the end result turned out 

all right. Thanks for taking a look!

JUGS #231

Just Us Girls has a technique challenge this week. You are to create a weathered

wood background. This is a new technique to me but I thought I would give

it a try.  

The inner circle with the flowers is a free digital stamp I found at birdscards.com.  I

printed the image twice, colored with spectrum noir markers, fussy cut the flowers

from the second print, foam taped it on top of the full image and then stamped the

sentiment. Next I die cut the light pink circle and the dark pink scalloped circle. The

weathered wood background was pretty easy to create with a scoring board and a gray

ink pad.  I free handed the banners and put it all together. It all came together fairly

quickly which is a little unusual for me.  Thanks for taking a look!

Pink Christmas

Okay, so I seem to be in a pink mode today.  Pink is not usually the first color one thinks of

when they think Christmas,  but personally I like pink Christmas cards.  This one was

created using the latest sketch at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.

Thanks for taking a look!

JUGS #230

After spending most of the day getting tax stuff together I somehow managed to get one

card made.  I was feeling like I had card maker's block, but I took a look at the sketch
challenge at Just Us Girls and was able to come up with something.

I once again used some of the Papier Tole from Hot Off the Press that I have sitting
around. I'm pretty sure the DP is from them also. The border was punched with a
Fiskars punch and the sentiment is from a Stampendous stamp set called Orchid
Greetings.  I added some pearls to the punched border and banner and there you
have it! Thanks for taking a look!