15 Cards: CPS 5th Anniversary Celebration

Just to put it into perspective, I compiled all the cards I've made for the CPS 5th Anniversary Celebration into one handy graphic:

The original posts for these cards are archived here.

Thanks again to all at CPS for the great challenge and inspiration!

Think fast! (CPS Day #15)

As you know, ideas for cards can come from anywhere...well, this idea actually started with a piece of trash that blew into our backyard. It was one of the first bitterly blustery days of Winter, and when I took the dogs out I found an empty package for a nylon Ninja Face Mask, which sparked my imagination... Originally I was going to use the actual packaging for this card, but it proved too fragile. For better or worse, if you can imagine it you can find it on the internet, so I found a Ninja Clipart download site with great free images. My husband helped me settle on the sentiment:

CPS Sketch #231

I used Sketch #231 from Day 15 of the CPS 5th Anniversary Celebration, which worked perfectly for my sliding sentiment. (All my cards for the CPS Celebration are archived here.)

I decided to go with a black-and-white scheme, and I wanted it shiny so I printed it on photo paper. I designed it all in Adobe InDesign... I even worked the Gradient tool! The diamond pattern is actually a series of lines ("Strokes"). The footprints are from the Ninja Clipart download site, as are the throwing stars that I used to make the little flower (this makes me SO happy!) I resisted the urge to use a ninja-style font and went with Pea Whitney Rae, one of the free handwriting fonts available from Kevin and Amanda.

I printed the ninja image twice, and popped it up with foam tape. The ribbon is white silk, which seemed appropriate!

This was inspired by the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #61: Monochrome Magic
CPS 5th Anniversary Day 15: Sketch #231

Card Cupids February Drive: CPS Days 9 and 14 + Motivational Rock

Using the the sketches from Days 9 and 14 of the CPS 5th Anniversary Celebration, I made birthday cards for Card Cupid's February Drive:

CPS Day 9, Sketch #5

I cut down this Thomas the Cat pre-colored diecut from Lili of the Valley to match the rest of the shapes. I combines the balloons & sentiment from a Bentley Bear stamp set, and found a perfect matching cake in a set from Our Betty.

CPS Day 14, Sketch #45

I was really inspired by the Cropped Digi Image theme at Digi Makeover Challenges: it worked really well with Gab in the Groove from Just Some Lines. I stamped the white silk ribbon with a Great Impressions stamp in three colors of dye inks (pink, Fire Brick, and brown); this was inspired by the recent tutorial at the SP & Company Stamps blog. Thanks!

Update: The card I made for the Cropped Digi Image Challenge at Digi Makeover won the random prize! Thank you!

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This month's challenge at Card Cupids is to "create a motivational card for a child", so I grabbed this cute DJ digi from KennyK Downloads, a sentiment from Create with TLC, & a fun Guitar Hero stamp set from StudioG (I think) and made this bright number (without any help from CPS!):

I'm thinking that I will add a "Happy Birthday" sentiment and send it in as part of their Birthday card drive.

Thanks to all for the inspiration! (All my cards for the CPS Celebration are archived here.) 

Gettin' funky... CPS Days 8, 11 and 13

I've had so much fun this past week, creating all 15 cards for the Card Positioning Systems' 5th Anniversary Celebration. (All my cards for the CPS Celebration are archived here.) These three are my personal favorites, as they all really made me think out the box card!

CPS Day 8, Sketch #102

This is such a little love note to my Big Shot... the circles are embossed/cut with Spellbinders dies and the double-rosette was created with my new Tim Holtz die. Love it! I don't have the extender, so I had to tape the paper onto the die and run it through twice. The sentiment is heat-embossed in blue.

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CPS Day 11, Sketch #170

Mom sent me this this stamped image of an Arizona Snowman scene, and it was as much fun to color as it looks! I visited the Arizona desert throughout my life, so it has a special place in my heart; I even made teh snowman a "sandman" and added a little frost with Polar White FlowerSoft. The snowy bits are filled in with Stickles.

I punched the snowflakes (MS punch) out of 2 grades of sandpaper, and embossed & sanded a white/blue Core'dinations cardstock for the background.

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CPS Day 13, Sketch #121

I put this card together with pieces I made in a class at Crop Girls taught by Jennifer Dove, where we used the groovy Fran•táge technique (more on that here). I cut the circles with Spellbinders dies; the sentiment is stamped on cork and cut really well! My favorite part of this card is that I used no adhesives, only brads and eyelets!

Thanks for looking, and a special thank-you to CPS for the inspiration!

Shopping my Stash with MelJen's Designs + CPS Day 12

I bet you're getting tired of me bragging, but I'm on a roll! Well, who could resist the Jug Band set from Bonibleaux Designs/Dude Time Doodles that won my card a top 3 spot at Shopping Our Stash's People Who Need People challenge?! The boys are very excited, and egged me to make a last-minute card for their current challenge. Although the challenge is officially Valentine's themed, we also have the option of using one of their sponsor's images instead, and I just had to use my newly-acquired Robot Boy digi from Meljen's Designs! I wanted to make this a boy's birthday card for Card Cupid's February Drive, so no hearts, just a lot of love:

CPS Sketch #118

Oh, and you didn't think I'd pass up the opportunity to use another sketch from the CPS 5th Anniversary Celebration did you?! Today's it's Day 12, Sketch #118! (All my cards for the CPS Celebration are archived here.)

The shiny K.I. Memories papers are from my stash; actually, I took them from my mom's stash in Arizona, so they went a long way to make this card! I printed the sentiment (a freebie from MelJen's; Thank you!) directly onto the star paper, then paper-pieced the balloons and tiny stars on top (that I printed on white and colored with my Copics, same as the main image). I filled the sentiment in and added detail with gel and glitter pens.

The two stars on the bottom right are actually punched out; the punched pieces are the red stars on the top left. The lavender flower brad in the middle star has been in my stash for at least 4 years!

Happy unbirthday to you all!

CPS Day 10...Glittery silly Dilly

CPS Sketch #26

I'm having so much fun making my way through all 15 sketches of Card Positioning Systems' 5th Anniversary Celebration! (All my cards for the CPS Celebration are archived here.)

I'm so tickled (and honored!) to have made the Top 3 for the Dilly Beans Freaked Challenge. Megan's images are so much fun to create with, plus my husband is also a big fan!

Thank you all for the awesome inspiration!

CPS 5th Anniversary Day 10: Sketch #26 (top right)

Dilly Beans Challenge: Love is in the Air

Can You Digi It? Stock Spotlight Saturday: Glitter Paper

I think it's pretty obvious that I had a blast coloring this image (Framed Zombie Hearts 4 by Dilly Beans) with my Copics! I added the stripes on the hair myself -- my first time being so bold! I had originally colored the face in yellows, but it felt too washed-out, so I went over it with Celadon Green (YG25). I used the colorless blender added shading to the neck. I used the Copic "dotting" method on the backgrounds and the wings. The hearts are actually cut out & popped up with adhesive foam.

The heart images on the right side are from Dilly Beans' Girlie Skellies pre-colored digi collage sheet. I made the wings from a coated glitter paper, using an angel-wings chipboard template from Maya Road.

The wavy paper in the middle looks so much cooler in person; it's Prismatic paper from Colorbök. Can You Digi It?'s Stock Spotlight Saturday inspired me to use this lovely blue glitter paper that Mom just sent me. Thank you! (Be sure to check out their DT's awesome projects and tips on coloring glitter paper with Copics.)

For the sentiment I used the "Rock and Roll" stamping technique I learned from Sami at SP&Company Stamps. I drew the cloud in pencil and then traced & embellished it with my black Copic (I really want a multiliner, but I can't decide which width I want to start with...any suggestions?).

Shades of Love (CPS Anniversary Celebration Day #6)

I was recently introduced me to Jellypark images and I'm becoming increasingly hooked! I love that the artist, Claire Keay, also sells original art and digis for charity. I grabbed her Girl with Thank You Bunting digital stamp as soon as it came out; all proceeds go to Little Havens children's hospice. I thought it would be perfect for with CPS Sketch #37, the sketch for CPS Anniversary Celebration Day #6.

CPS Sketch #37

The pre-glittered, double-sided DP is actually from My Mind's Eye's Lost & Found Christmas series, but it just felt right for this card!

I colored the image with colored pencils and distressed the piece with Antique Linen distress ink. Using double-sided tape, I created the border with a natural raffia. I used red raffia for the middle, and added the last of paper-bag bunting, made with the Pretty Pendants set by SP & Company. I added faux brads with Candy Cane Stickles.

I made this card for the following challenges:

Jellypark Challenges: Shades of Love
CPS Anniversary Celebration Day #6: CPS Sketch #37 (right)

Thanks for looking! I'm going to be posting lots of cards this week, thanks to CPS! You can see all my cards for their 5th Anniversary Celebration here.


Update: This card won a Top 3 spot for Jellypark's Shades of Love challenge! Thank you all!

CPS Anniversary Sketches 2-5!

The sketch challenge at Card Positioning Systems (CPS) is one of my favorites, so I'm excited to participate in all 15 sketches of their 5th Anniversary Celebration! I've already posted my card using their Day 1 sketch, and here are Days 2 - 5 (in order):

Day 2 / Sketch #166
Featuring digi stamp from MelJen's Designs

Day 3 / Sketch #54
Featuring digi stamp from MelJen's Designs

Day 4 / Sketch #220
Featuring digi stamp from MelJen's Designs

Day 5 / Sketch #38
Featuring digi stamp from Tiddly Inks
Candy Heart SVG set from Denise's Scrapbooking Room

I'm entering the card above into the following challenges:

Tiddly Inks Challenge #79: Valentine

iCopic Weekly Challenge #68: Hearts


Okay, off to work on the rest of the CPS sketches!

Dude Time: King of the Neighborhood

I'm having so much fun as part of the Dude Time Doodles Design Team! I still kinda have to pinch myself! I wanted to make a simple card for the Sexton of the church across the street, who also tends our lawn & keeps me up-to-date on the neighborhood gossip, and the proud Leif Blower from DTD/Bonibleaux Designs seemed a perfect fit. I paired it with this fun sentiment from Create with TLC.

Inspiration:

• Card Positioning Systems: Sketch #251
• Samuel Taylor's January Blog Challenge: Distressing
  I distressed the all pieces with Antique Linen distress ink. Their prize this month is 4 bottles of Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Tea Dye, Weathered Wood, Pine Needles and Worn Lipstick. Oh how I'd love to add those to my collection!

You have until this afternoon to submit to the Dude Time Doodles Freebie challenge, and a new  challenge will be posted tomorrow (Wednesday) on the Dude Time Doodles Challenge Blog. Trust me, you won't want to miss this one!

a Real Red fingered dawn

I loved making Christmas projects last year with SP & Company's Ornamental Trees set, and when I saw SP Color Combo #128 (Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Lucky Limeade), I just had to pull out the set. I made a scene using these lovely triangles, and was inspired by Homer's epithet in The Iliad: rosy fingered dawn [ref.]. Although in this case it's a Real Red fingered dawn!

I matched my idea with the Card Positioning Systems Sketch #246 to make this Shabby Chic-ish card:

I used masking and emboss-resist to create the top panel.

Inspiration:

SP Color Combo #128: Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Lucky Limeade

Card Positioning Systems #246: Sketch by Tami Mayberry

Stamps: Ornamental Trees by SP & Company, sentiment from Tim Holtz

Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Tim Holtz paper distresser, needle, Marvy heat tool, Martha Stewart detail scissors, ZipDry glue, Singer sewing machine, acrylic block
Supplies: natural paper & cardstock from stash, Recollections embossing powder & pop-dots, thread, Versamark, Inkadinkado & Memento inks, Paper Pretties ribbon


Update: Whoo-hoo, this card won SP Color Combo #128!

When life gives you lemons, make fruit salad

You may remember my recent "Little Sunshine" card; well, Mom suggested that I make the same family another card for their granddaughter plus their two current foster children. That's the kind of suggestion I live for. I can't tell you how much I respect these folks: they have opened their hearts and home to many foster children over the years, adopting several and helping others to live happy childhoods until they can be adopted. Now that's what I call courage.

Inspiration:
iCopic Blog Hop Challenge: All about Children
Simon Says Stamp: Food & Drink
Card Positioning Systems Sketch #232

Stamps: Crayons The Baby and Picnic Ally-n-Edward by Tellen's Place Designs, Round Sentiments I set by SP & Company
Paper: Recollections, Hammermill, Core'dinations, stash DP
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Martha Stewart scissors, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Marvy heat tool, Sizzix Texture Boutique, EK Success corner punch
Other: ZipDry glue, Versamark watermark ink, Stampendous embossing powder, AtYou Spica glitter pen
Copics: E37, E47, E17, E35, E33, E13, E11, Y08, YR12, Y13, Y04, Y17, Y02, YR31, RV02, RV11, G02, BG09, BG49, YG67, YG41, B00, BG000, B32, B23, B05, FB2, B39, B18, B28, BV02, BV00, BV000, V17, V06, R27, YR04, FY1, FBG2

Making a Splash

I had too much fun making the shrink-plastic charm for my LOTV Christmas card, and couldn't wait to try some more. So when I was going through my Blog Feed that morning I was really tickled to see these gorgeous shrink-plastic earrings by Lola Cordova on the Bugaboo Stamps blog. Guess who's putting printable shrink-plastic on her shopping list?! (Lola, you left a lovely comment on my flip-book post while I was writing this...thank you! And never say you "can't" because you'll find yourself doing it!)

Something I've wanted to try for some time is matching a shrunk stamp with the original stamp. I started with this beautiful splash stamp from Raisin Boat. The main image is that stamp four times in four blues, one of which is heat-embossing. I then sprayed the whole thing with "Frost" glimmer mist. The brad is stamped with two smaller splashes that came in the set, and sprayed with the same glimmer.

For the shrink-art, I used StazOn to stamp the large splash onto clear shrink plastic, cut it out, punched a hole, and shrunk it with my heat tool. I strung the finished piece onto some clear plastic beading thread, added a couple of faux-pearl beads and a clasp. As you can see in the photo on the right, the image shows up sorta transparent on the skin.

I then taped up the chain and hung the necklace onto the card, using the brad to help hold it down. I've had this idea in my head for a while, but the photo and sketch inspirations at Birthday Sundaes and CPS really brought it all together.

Inspiration: CPS Sketch #228 (on right)
Birthday Sundaes Challenge #19: Inspiration Photo (on left)

Stamps: Raisin Boat, Inkadinkado
Paper: Core'dinations, Recollections, stash
Tools: Marvy heat tool, Fiskars papercutter, Marvy punch, Crop-O-Dile, Tim Holtz paper distresser & scissors, shrink plastic
Other: ZipDry glue, Stampendous embossing powder, Versamark, Memento & StazOn inks, Copics, brad from stash, Tattered Angels glimmer mist, stash jewelry supplies, stash pearl beads

Simply for you

The other day at Michaels (shopping with a 50%-off coupon), we found this groovy Layer Away Dots frame set from Fiskars. Now that I'm a bit more comfortable stamping, I really enjoy mixing stamps. This idea just jumped into my head, and I'm please with how it turned out:

I stamped the images in blues, and heat-embossed the frame stamps with a mix of gold, copper & silver left over from my explosion box. It's a very simple card, based the CPS sketch & Craft Your Passion's Just for You theme.

Inspiration: Craft Your Passion #66: Just for You; Card Positioning Systems sketch #226
Stamps: StudioG, Paper Studio, Fiskars, My Mind's Eye
Paper: Recollections, Martha Stewart, 5&Dime
Tools: Marvy heat tool, Fiskars papercutter, Tim Holtz scissors, hole punch
Other: ZipDry glue, Stampendous & ZING embossing powders, Versamark & Memento inks, Copic markers, Sakura gel pen

Ride On

Inspiration:
Stamping 411 Color Inspiration #159: basic gray, old olive, not quite navy
Card Positioning Systems Sketch #222
Scrap InnoVations challenge: Father's Day/Masculine theme

Stamps: Highway High set from Raisin Boat
Paper: Brazzill, Hammermill, Recollections
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Sizzix Texture Boutique, Marvy heat tool, MS & Tim Holtz scissors
Other: ZipDry, Stampendous embossing powder, VersaMagic & Stampin' Up inks, satin ribbon from Sandra, brad from Recollections
Copics: C-5

An old-fashioned Family affair

So the other day I was yapping at my doctor and I mentioned the craftosphere and how I follow & am followed by like-minded crafters around the world. He looked at me, like he so often does, like I was some kind of wild hippie with a glue gun & a dream. I do respect him greatly, but it struck me how small we tend to make our personal world, for better or worse; Granted he has a good 40 years on me, but you'd think he'd be a little less surprised that technology has led to the simplest of conclusions: we're all pretty much the same. Culture and location have never really limited those of us who love to decorate our world.

That unnecessarily long introduction is just to say that I had tons of fun with the Technology Sucks challenge at Drunken Stampers. I'm also really loving seeing others' takes on the challenge. Normally, I would have used my Cricut to at least cut templates, but it was really fun to do it the old fashioned way: with my many, many tools.

After choosing the lovely combo of Kraft, Cherry Cobbler, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango + White from colourQ, I started by stamping and coloring the daffodil-and-tulip stamp for the inside; I still can't believe I paper pieced those little pieces! But I really like the resulting subtle texture.

For the flower border on the front, I stamped it three times: in cherry, orange & green. I made one-inch templates for the square and circle and did my best to line them to match the lovely CPS sketch. Then I made bottom layers, using the same inks.

When I had completed the border element, I showed it to my husband, who really loved it but wondered it we could add some color with fun flock (or embossing, but I didn't want to use my electric heat tool for this project). I've had great luck using ZIG 2-way glue to adhere flocking, so I was all over that suggestion. They come in different sizes, so I used the medium chisel for the flowers, and the fine point to trace the stamped sentiment.

Oh, and I decided to use watermark ink to create a shadow for the sentiment, because why not add one more thing?!

Speaking of "one more thing", I didn't want to edge the pieces (it just wasn't the look I wanted), so I used my ball-point embossing tool to create a raised border on the front and inside Kraft pieces. It's a bit difficult to see in the photos, but it adds more subtle texture.

So this is how we spent this Springy Sunday morning, crafting as a family!
Inspiration:
Card Positioning Systems #214: Sketch
Drunken Stampers challenge #63: Technology Sucks / no electric tools
colourQ #80: Kraft, Cherry Cobbler, Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango + White

Supplies: Memento, ColorBox and CraftSmart inks, Versamark watermark ink, Copic markers, MS detailing scissors, Fiskars papercutter and finger knife, ruler, Offray ribbon, ZipDry, ZIG and Tacky glues, embossing tool, Hammermill and Recollections cardstocks, pop-dots

One sketch, two Birthday cards

I'm making an effort to send out more cards, so I decided to make a couple of birthday cards for friends for this week's sketch challenge at Card Positioning Systems. I should have just added "belated" to the sentiment, since one birthday was yesterday and the other is tomorrow, and neither card is in the mail!

I designed the border rectangles in SCAL, so I may use this sketch again since it's easy to cut the pieces. I was surprised at how versatile it ended up being.
The second one is a penny slider/spinner card, which was inspired by my husband. Ooh, can you make them move across the card? he said when I showed him my coloring. Like I said, this sketch is really versatile!

I whipped up some sentiments in InDesign and made matching backgrounds in SCAL (although I did hand-cut the text circles). Later that evening, I was looking online for a "Happy Birthday" sentiment stamp to replace the one stolen by the gnomes in my craft space, and much to my surprise I saw that great minds think alike: the Penny Black Flourish Birthday rubber stamp uses the exact same font as I did, Scriptina. Groovy! I think I'll save my pennies and just use my digital version for now, all things considered (it's free font too).


Update 3/26/11: Wow, I won the CPS Sketch Challenge #210. It' chosen randomly, but hey I'll take it! I think these two cards counted as one entry too. Looking forward to playing with the Ippity stamps I won...More birthday cards!