Encouraging Daisy

Here's a relatively quick Flowerpot Card I made tonight, using a cardboard template. The leaves are a Sizzix die and the daisy, which is heat-embossed in white, is from the For Every Woman set by SP & Company Stamps.

Click images to enlarge & view detail

Cupcake Inspirations #69

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations 200th Challenge: Week #69
Scrapmaster's Paradise / Sonya's Challenge: Shaped Cards



Thank you for visiting,

Put a bird on it.

A good friend recently introduced us to Portlandia, the ultra-hip TV show, and further introduced me to their catch-phrase: "Put a Bird on It!" See, everything's prettier with a bird on it. And I couldn't agree more!

I wanted to make my friend a thank-you card, and this design just popped into my head. I guess it's my hip-est card to date... I even included baker's twine, which is hipness at its best in my book.

I've accumulated several die-cut alphabets, so I was happy to have a reason to use some of them. The corrugated Kraft and small framed letters are from Jillibean Soup, and the glittered orange foam stickers are from Future Publishing (probably a freebie from one of Mom's magazines).

I covered the framed letters with Crackle Paint and distressed the edges with my Prima tool. The corners are embellished with my favorite Marvy corner punch. 

The wood bird is from Prima's Birds & Owls collection; I adhered one to adhesive foam and used it as a stamp to heat-emboss the row in translucent yellow. Then I heat-embossed the wood piece with the same powder and perched it on the "u".

I had too much fun making this, and I think my friend will get a real kick out of it. 

Inspiration/Challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations: Photo Inspiration/Birds
Divas by Design: Anything Goes
Inspire Me Fridays: Anything Goes
Party Time Tuesdays #109: Anything Goes


Update: This was a featured project for Inspire Me Fridays #97.

Here's a clip from Portlandia:

Thank you for visiting,

Less is more Easter

I think I'm going to try to do at least one CAS card a week, to practice my stamping & design skills. Boy, they do require a lot of time, planning & precision! I had some great inspiration for this; see my challenge list at the bottom of this post.

Less is More Week 61

The color combo at Less is More (right) gave me quite a challenge, as I really wanted to capture the lovely grayish-pink but didn't have a matching ink (or marker, or paper...). I ended up inking the stamps with a silver and then a pink to create this soft impression. I'm so glad I had to get creative!

I stamped right onto the white card; no glue involved. I added adhesive MS flower gemstones. The flowers are colored with a pink SU! watercolor crayon; I actually applied the crayon to a separate piece of paper, and painted the card itself with a water brush. The ink ran a bit, but I like how it softened the lines.

This is my very first ever one-layer card! I didn't have to make it one-layer, but the design I chose really lent itself to that, and it seemed that an great extra challenge. I have the talented & supportive Less is More Design Team to thank for this, especially Mandi, with whom I had a lovely email conversation about CAS. Having spent my twenties in creative academics, I totally understand the concept of perfecting the rules of something ... once you get those rules down, you can break them! So I'm still in "following the rules" mode ... and it's fun!

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #154

Inspiration/Challenges:

AnnaBelle Bling Sketch Challenge #48 (right)

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #154: Photo Inspiration (right)

Less is More Week 61: Color/Photo Inspiration

Stamps:
Dotted frames: Fiskars

Flower border: Studio G

Bunnies: stash

Inks:

Silver: ColorBox

Pink: Martha Stewart

Pear Tart & Rose Bud: Memento
Spanish Olive: VersaMagic

Update: This card was chosen as Favorite for AnnaBelle Bling Sketch Challenge #48! I'm blown away. Definitely a sign that I should keep up with my CAS cards!

Picket-fence Criss-Cross Birthday card

I've been making tons of Christmas cards recently, and probably have many more than I need, so I'm trying to make more Birthday cards. I was really intrigued by the "Criss-Cross Card" Challenge at Birthday Sundaes. I've never made one, but I love all the DT samples and just had to give it a try. It was fun! Instead of included a pull tab for the enclosed card, I secured it with a small clothespin that I colored & stamped.

This card was also largely inspired by this week's Cupcake Inspirations photo. Now, if you look at their photo and then at this card, you might think Really? but it really was. Originally I was going to incorporate bright-colored flowers, but found myself focusing more on the grassy elements. I occurred to me to add a flower onto the the front, but I really liked the clean simplicity of how it is. It's difficult to see in these photos, but the white is a linen-patterned cardstock.

I'm also entering this card into the Birthday theme at the Crazy Challenge.

Inspiration:
Birthday Sundaes #26: Criss-Cross Card
The Crazy Challenge #84: Birthdays
Cupcake Inspirations #127: Photo Inspiration

Stamps: Raisin Boat, Stampendous
Paper: DCWV, Recolections, stash
Tools: Martha Stewart punches & scissors, Fiskars papercutter, Cricut & SCAL, stamp block
Other: ZipDry glue, Recollections embossing powder, Versamark inks, Copic (for edging), stash wooden clip

Update: This card was a chosen for the "Super Sundaes" for this challenge. Thank you!

One sketch, four challenges

I liked this week's Unscripted Sketch so much, I used it twice: for Cupcake Inspirations #126, and the Play Date Cafe Color Splash Challenge.

For the Cupcake Inspirations card, I took a cue from this week's Pile it On challenge and piled on a Boatload of Anything with a B: Buttons, Bows, Brads, Baby (theme), Bliss (sentiment), Butterflies, Blue (for sentiment heat-embossed color).

Inspiration:
Cupcake Inspirations #126
Unscripted Sketch #122
Pile it On #36: B is for Buttons, Bows, Brads, Anything that begins with B!!

Stamps: Stampin' Up!
Paper: Hammermill, Recollections, stash
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, stamp block, Marvy heat tool
Other: ZipDry glue, Recollections embossing powder, Versamark ink, Offray & stash ribbons, Michaels brads, stash buttons

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I always love the cards for the Play Date Cafe Color Splash Challenge. The combo of black and white with just a splash of color is so striking. I haven't participated in a while and I'm so glad I did! Not sure what possessed me to white-emboss on white paper, I but I really like the result. The stamped pieces are raised up with pieces of cardboard I cut & edged in black.

Inspiration:
The Play Date Cafe Color Splash Challenge #97: Black & White + Red
Unscripted Sketch #122

Stamps: Stampin' Up!
Paper: DCWV, Hammermill, Recollections, stash cardboard
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, stamp block, Marvy heat tool
Other: ZipDry glue, Stampendous embossing powders, Versamark ink, We R Memory Keepers baker's twine, Copic #100

Thank you everyone for all the inspiration!

Enchilada, Mama?

I'm participating in a recipe swap at Stampin' Dymonz Scrap Shack (SDSS), and had a leftover embellishment that I decided to make a card with. Since I used Enchiladas for my recipe, I had colored this cute Cook digi from Tellen's Place Designs and added some handmade paper enchiladas (adapted from a paper taco I saw in a magazine; see instructions at the bottom of this post). Mom got a real kick out of this idea, so this card's for her.

I was really drawn to this week's photo at Cupcake Inspirations (right), and had lots of fun with it. Yes I know Anne-Marie: more purple! But there's plenty of pink in there too!

I was inspired to make a Sliding Pop Up Card thanks to Croms' great tutorial at SDSS. I made a few earlier in the year, but it was fun to try again.

The paper flowers are from a bunch we bought recently in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. They really hold up well & bounce back from anything!

Inspiration:
Cupcake Inspirations Challenge #124
Stampin' Dymonz Scrap Shack: Sliding Pop Up Card

Stamps: Kiss the Cook by Tellen's Place Designs, sentiment by TLC Creations
Paper: Recollections, Hammermill, stash DP
Tools: Fiskars papercutter, Martha Stewart scissors & corner/border punch, HP printer & ink, Adobe InDesign, Cricut & SCAL, Recollections punch
Other: ZipDry glue, ZIG glue pen, Copic markers, Offray ribbon


How to make tiny paper enchiladas:

1. Tortilla: Cut or punch out a circle, and fold it loosely into thirds. (I used a 3/4 inch punch)
2. Lettuce: Cut out a piece of green paper slightly longer than the circle & about 1/8 inch wide. Use scissors to "fringe" the edges on the short sides.
   
3. Enchilada: Glue lettuce onto middle section of tortilla. Fold up enchilada. Apply a small amount of glue onto bottom flap; fold over top flap and secure with a clip to dry.
   
4. Cheese: Glue a mix of yellow & orange flocking onto top of enchilada. (I used only yellow in this example)