Every Dog has a Silver Lining

I always get a smile from this dog stamp by Art Impressions' Flying High Clear Set, and pairing it with a Jillibean shaker card just made it cuter!

The cloud stamps are from an Artsy Fartsy set. I stamped them in white, then heat-embossed that with a glittery powder, and inked them again, this time with yellow. The sentiment is stamped with the same blue ink as I used for the edges. The inside & outside of the shaker is "lined" with silver embossing powder. The shaker is filled gold star confetti. This sure gives me a smile!

Inspiration:
Art Impressions Challenge #178: Shake, Rattle & Roll

Critters and Creatures: Anything Goes with a Critter/Creature

Update: Wow, this card was an Honorable Mention for Art Impressions Challenge #178!

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Simply Noted

We've had odd weather this year; It was so warm in December that the spring flowers started blooming! Now we have snow, but the birds are acting like it's springtime. This card was inspired the robins in the snow in our background.

I used my bird stamps from Art Impressions' "Fronts & Backs" line to make this one-layer card.

I stamped the birds & sentiment in QuickQuotes brown chalk ink, and colored the birdies with colored pencils. The sentiment on the second line is actually made of two stamps! I drew the lines with a colored pencil. The card base is a lovely piece of book paper.

Inspiration:
Bunny Zoe's Crafts: Things with Wings 

Ooh La La Creations: CAS 
Simon Says Stamp: One Layer Card (2nd entry)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Not-so-tiny Dancer

A very special lady is having her birthday next week, so I used one of my favorite rubber stamps from Art Impressions:

I used a red & blue color scheme, fudging a bit with the background DP. The background and the doily die cut are actually one piece of paper; I die-cut the shape from the double-sided DP and used the opposite side for the doily. I colored the fun image with Copic markers and gel pens, and added sparkly fluff to her tutu. She's attached with an Action Wobble. The sentiment is by Bugaboo Stamps. I cut it with a die from the same set as the other doily, and trimmed it down to fit the design. I added a border with black Liquid Pearls. I finished the card with some funky metal flourishes.

Challenges/Inspiration:

ABC Challenge: H is for Happy Birthday
Crafty Boots: Red, White and/or Blue
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper: Anything goes with Patterned Paper (3rd entry)

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting,

High on Life!

I really enjoyed using this week's Try Stamping On Tuesdays Sketch for my Window Shaker card, but the first background I made for it didn't work for my final project. Since I still had the pieces cut, I decided to try my hand at the sketch again, this time using my new "His & Hers Flying High" clear stamp set from Art Impressions:

click images to enlarge

I used a rainbow-inspired color palette. The dotted papers are digital overlays from MelStampz. The white linen-patterned paper was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The center piece was popped with 2 layers of foam tape & edged with a glittery violet ribbon.

The images & sentiment were stamped in Memento ink. I fussy-cut the dog, parachute, and cloud. The dog is colored with Copic markers. I also stamped the main image directly onto the yellow-dotted paper, and traced the strings with a glitter pen. The cloud is stamped in a dark silver ink; the double-line effect was actually an accident (I think I pressed the stamp too hard) but I really like the result! I stamped the fun sentiment directly into the cloud. What a fun way to use my scraps!

Challenges/Inspiration:

Art Impressions Challenge #157: Make Me Smile
Crafty Creations: Seeing Spots
Red Rubber Inspirational #216: Fussy Cutting + Stamping
Try Stamping On Tuesdays #214: Sketch (2nd entry)
WordArt Wednesdays #179: A Family Friendly Challenge For ALL

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting,

Up Up and Away!

Believe it or not, I wanted to keep this project simple...! But it's for Mom, and I always like to pull out all the stops for her. Plus, so gave me these gorgeous Graphic 45 papers!

The washi-ribbon-twine section on the bottom was inspired by a card I saw at A Consuming Passion.

It's a big card, at 6x6. I even decorated the inside:

Inspired by the Matching Card & Envelope challenge at Art Impressions, I used some of the same DP and elements to decorate a 6x6 petal envelope:

The stamps (sentiment & vine) are from a Country Companions/DoCrafts set.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Art Impressions Challenge #105: Matching Card & Envelope
Cards by Lady Anne / Stamp Challenge: Anything goes + Stamp
Created With Love: Button Up
Creative Creations Challenge Blog: Things with the letter B (Balloon, Button)
Penny's Paper-Crafty #119: Gingham/Checks
Sassy Studio Designs: Paper Piecing

I had so much fun using this Art Impressions limited-edition Stamp:

Art Impressions pledges to donate 100% of all proceeds of the 2013 Limited Edition stamp to the Obediah Fund, which will support Open Arms International's Kambi Teso outreach. This collector's stamp will ONLY be available from November 20, 2012 to May 20, 2013! After May 20, the molds will be destroyed and it will never be sold again.

Hope you'll consider purchasing this fun stamp for a great cause!

Thank you for visiting,

Flippin' Happy Bluebirds

I was so thrilled to win the Wobble challenge at Art Impressions with my Dr Seuss card, and even more thrilled to win a $10 GC to their store; although perhaps my best "prize" was how much my nieces enjoyed receiving it!

I've admired AI's "Fronts & Backs" line for quite some time, so I just had to buy this cute group of birds and make a Notch Swing Card (Does anybody recognize this technique and know it's proper name? I know I must have seen it somewhere.)

I made little notches (they need to be a bit bigger than slits) in the card, and tucked the image circle into them. It easily swings...

...to reveal the bird's backs and the rest of the sentiment:

Inspiration/Challenges:
Inky Impressions Challenge #101: Add Blue for Colon Cancer Awareness
Really Reasonable Ribbon: flowers and ribbon
Rhedd & Rosie's Challenge Blog: Birds
Simon Says Stamp: Sketch #1 
Sparkles Forum March Challenge: Birds
Tando Creative Challenges: Flowers

Thank you for visiting,

Happy Dr. Seuss Day!

Not only is today (March 2) Mr Geisel's birthday, it's Read Across America Day. I don't have any children here to read to, but maybe my husband would listen to a poem or two (actually, I love it when he reads to me...)!

My sister-in-law posted the cutest photo on FaceBook of our niece celebrating Dr Seuss's birthday at school, eating green eggs and ham (green-colored scrambled eggs and cut-up ham slices... so clever!), so when I saw the Inspired By...Dr Seuss challenge, I just had to make a card.

 
The quote image is by TLC Creations; she gave it out as a freebie last year and I had to go through her whole March 2012 archive to find it! So worth it though! I was naughty and darkened the yellow in Photoshop... sorry, I just couldn't see it in the print-out! Speaking of being naughty, I grabbed the Dr Seuss images from coloring pages available on the web. What can I say, I colored them!

I colored the "Truffula trees" and then added FlowerSoft to them for texture. It's difficult to see in this photo, but I colored the background for the trees with Copics and texturized it with Blender solution and Aida fabric. I cut out "Horton" with deckle scissors and colored him with Copic B60, Pale Blue Gray. He's attached with an Action Wobble, so he bounces really nicely on the card!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Art Impressions Challenge 102: Use a Wobble
Inspired By #64: Dr. Seuss
The Sketch File: February Sketch




Update: This won the "Wobble" challenge at Art Impressions, as well as Inspired By #64!

Thank you for visiting,