One touch of Geometry makes the whole world kin

I've been having a bit of a creative lull lately ... you know how it goes. That's one of the reasons I enjoy papercrafting challenges so much: it's nice to have some focus. I started at Less Is More, as I find the clean-and-simple style very challenging yet rewarding. This week's challenge is "Diamonds" which I found extra-challenging. The "Geometric" theme at Lawnscaping inspired me to use diamond shapes to create a pattern. I don't have a diamond stamp, so I used a hexagon punch to make 3 diamond shapes, cut 2 from foam, and adhered them with double-sided tape to a stamp block in a chevron pattern. There are so many possibilities with the foam stamping technique.

I used masking paper to mask my new Cardinal rubber stamp from Repeat Impressions before stamping the diamond/chevron shapes. The bird was stamped in Memento black ink & colored with Copic markers. The sentiment (a Shakespeare quote) is from Clear Art Stamps.

This was my first attempt. The shapes were stamped in Olive distress ink. I didn't like all the white space between the bird & the sentiment, so I added a branch from a Prickly Pear Designs stamp set. I'm entering this card into Less Is More #294: Diamonds.


Here's my second card. I used Pine Green pigment ink, inking the foam stamps just enough so that the ink pad lends texture to the final stamp. I'm entering this card into Lawnscaping #138: Geometric.

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Inky Indigo

I'm on a bit of mission to use more of the embellishments & scraps in my stash, so I collected together a folded zig-zag border I made some time ago, a wood veneer butterfly, and a chipboard bird to make this card featuring purple, my favorite color:

I started by embossing white cardstock in my BigShot. I inked a square acrylic stamping block with an ombre ink pad (Recollections) and stamped it onto the embossed piece; I spritzed it with a bit of water to increase the effect. The zig-zag piece was made with a scrap of Graphic45 paper & distressed with violet ink. The wood veneer butterfly was inked white & stamped with a lace stamp (Clear Art Stamps) that I inked with more of the ombre ink. The chipboard bird is simply heat-embossed with Orchid Mist powder (Creative Zoo). The sentiment (Recollections) was stamped in purple chalk ink (Quick Quotes) on a scrap of purple ombre paper (My Mind's Eye). This was a fun card to make!

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cards in Envy: Just Purple
Cuttlebug Mania: Monochrome (+ dry embossing)
YNS Challenges: Sketch

Thank you for visiting & inspiring my crafting!

Absolutely Positively Birthday

I really enjoy participating in all the great crafting challenges out there, but I must admit that winning prizes is awfully fun too! Recently, I was the lucky winner of a Simon Says Stamp gift certificate, and it helped me finally get my hands on this CAS-ual Fridays stamp set that I've had my eye on for some time.  

I stamped the sentiments with watermark ink & heat-embossed with a neon green powder from Recollections. Man, it came out so great! The black piece was embossed with a dotted chevron folder.  

The chevrons are made with an SU! double-sided paper using SEI's Patchwork Chevron Technique. The arrow-patterned paper is by Pebbles, Inc. and has been in my stash forever; I edged it with a fluorescent blue Copic. The card base is a bright turquoise.

Inspiration/Challenges:
Inkspirational #103: Geometric
Ooh La La Creations: Add a Sentiment

Thanks for stopping by,

Retro Radio

I had lots of fun with the Poppy Sketches Challenge last week, so I just had to participate again. I used a Sizzix die cut set and three different papers to make the groovy stereo.

I wanted to keep a retro sort of feel, so I used this wood-chevron-patterned paper from Recollections for the background. I cut the vellum piece with a PageMakers die and trimmed it to keep only the top & bottom pattern.

The chevron/music-themed Washi tape is from a sheet; if you look carefully, you can see the lyrics to "Happy Birthday". The music-themed tape on the bottom corner is from my stash. cut a small strip of orange burlap ribbon and pulled out some of the strands. I used one of the loose strands for the bottom portion.

I popped the radio up with foam tape, and backed the front piece onto a textured brown paper.

Poppy Sketch #16

Challenges/Inspiration: 
Lunagirl Challenge: Music and Dance
The Male Room #22: Wood
Poppy Sketches: Sketch #16 + Chevron pattern
Seize The Birthday: Washi Tape + Birthday Card (see text on large Washi tape)
Top Tip Tuesday: Chevrons

Thank you for visiting,

Autumn Chevrons

I really enjoy making Autumn cards, but I haven't made many this year. So I decided to make this CAS card featuring chevrons (zig-zags).

The card base is one piece, and I used a smaller piece of the same heavy white cardstock for the middle section. I embossed the top part with a Darice folder and the bottom with a Cuttlebug border folder.

The little leaves were cut from orange & yellow papers with a Tim Holtz die. I used a large ZIG glue pen to cover the leaves with apricot glitter from Recollections.

The large wood leaf with heat-embossed with glittery white embossing powder. The sentiment is a die cut.

Dazzling Diva #46

FMS #157

Challenges:
Add a Little Dazzle #46: Autumn (we aren't required to use the inspiration photo they provided, but I was truly inspired!)
Crafty Catz #250: Autumn
Freshly Made Sketches #157: A Sketch by Amy

Thank you for visiting & for inspiring my crafting,

CAS-ual Chevrons

Fun with chevrons! 

The folded paper pieces are modified from SEI's Patchwork Chevron Technique on Creating Keepsakes.

Inspiration/Challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays: Chevrons + Flowers
Dynamic Duos #47: Light Aqua & Cherry Red

Thank you for visiting,