Personal Scramble Challenge

Happy Saturday everyone! We might've had a Scramble at the Hero Arts Flickr group today except Dasa had to do hers early. See my offering from that event here. Since it'll be a while until the next Scramble (90 minute events) in a couple weeks, I decided to throw out a challenge for a "personal" Scramble. Go here for the details; you have until 7/28/15 at 11:59 PDT to play along if you're a member there.

I really love to have personal Scrambles and do it fairly often. I usually set the timer on my stove for 60 minutes and try to get my card done within that time. If the timer goes off and I'm not done, I set another 10 minutes, then another 10 and a final 10, but I'd better be done soon after setting it that last time!! My goodness, 10 minutes goes fast while crafting!!

For a personal Scramble, you set your own theme; the host sets the theme for the scheduled group Scrambles. Today I decided my theme would be to use a background stamp and a sketch. I received an online order recently containing Hero Arts Drippy Lines Bold Prints cling stamp - love it but hadn't used it yet. Earlier in July I spotted this Hero Arts Blog post by Kelly with a fun sketch I wanted to try. Here's my card:

I started my Scramble at 12:43pm. I stamped and white embossed the background stamp on a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper, then applied Distress Stains (Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry and Wild Honey) and some Hero Arts Pale Tomato Dauber ink. Edged the panel with some Hickory Smoke Distress Ink - love this color!! Then I cut the zig-zag circle window and laid the panel in place on my card base to line up the Happy Birthday using my MISTI. Stamped and white embossed the Happy Birthday, then used foam to adhere the watercolored panel to the card base. Then I stamped the rest of the sentiment (it's a single line - from a clear set by Hero Arts called All Occasion Messages - but I've cut it in two pieces) onto a banner. Then I stamped and die cut the flower using the Flowers Stamp & Cut set by Hero Arts. I stamped and hand cut the leaves. Both were stamped on BoBunny patterned paper from the Garden Journal 6x6 paper pad. I added some Abandoned Coral to the flower and Twisted Citron to the Leaves so they matched my color scheme better. Added some pearls/gem - done! 1:38pm - woo hoo - less than 60 minutes. I had enough time in my 90 minutes to photograph and upload my card (which is normally required during a group Scramble). Then I came here to blog about it.

Hope you're having a crafty day! Stop by and play at the Hero Arts Flickr Group if you get the chance.

Thanks for stopping!

Merry Monday - Hearts!!

Hey everyone - Merry Monday announced a new challenge this morning - yay! This'll be another two week challenge and this time Bonnie asks us to use a heart or hearts on our Christmas card. As a Valentine baby, I love anything with hearts on it so this challenge is right up my alley!! I decided to treat my card making today like I would a Scramble on the Hero Arts Flickr Group - 90 minutes to design, create, photograph and upload your card. It really stimulates creativity, plus you don't get to agonize on what goes where.

I was amazed that I actually finished this within my time limit, including finding the supplies! The only thing my time frame didn't include was blogging about it. LOL! Here's my card:

Supplies: Hero Arts layering paper, Neenah cardstock, Lawn Fawn stamps, Copics, Stickles,
Liquid Applique,Foam Tape,  patterned paper, Inks: Pine Needles & Barn Door Distress & Memento Tuxedo Black

I used my MISTI to plan this card. Beginning with a piece of patterned paper (sorry - can't remember whose), I stamped the Be Merry border from Lawn Fawn's PEACE JOY LOVE along the left edge, then I arranged the peace, joy and love and stamped them after blotting off the bitty heart that is above the joy on the stamp. I did this because I wanted to use the big heart from the set which I stamped in red. Then I stamped the branch from WINTER SPARROWS (which I always call Season's Tweetings - because of the sentiment, I guess) under the peace and added a heart to it and another heart to the love. My branch looked a bit thin so I embellished it with some Copics - looks a bit funny in the photo but just fine IRL. Then I stamped and die cut (gotta love matching dies) the three little sparrows and colored them with Copics. Added some liquid applique to the joy bird's hat. Popped the birds up with foam tape - done! Whew - 90 minutes flew by this time - usually I'm done with my card in about 45 minutes for a Scramble and I spend the rest of the time blogging my card and commenting on the other participants' cards. If I were really doing a Scramble, I wouldn't attempt something this complex, that's for sure!

Well, my blogging time is done - I'm off to practice chorus music. Talk about Christmas in July - we're working on music for a Christmas show coming up in December! It'll be great fun but it's rather odd to be singing "Mary Had a Baby" when it's 80 degrees!

Thanks for stopping by!

Scramble time - so soon?

Second post of the day - can you believe it? Anyway, we normally have Scrambles at the Hero Arts Flickr Group about every two weeks, but today we have an early one. Our hostess, Dasa, couldn't do it next weekend so challenged us today instead. Her theme - Wedding Cards - and what a fun one it was, even though I just finished a wedding card yesterday and posted it earlier today!! Here's my card:

Supplies: Hero Arts stamp set Best Wishes, Little Yellow Bicycle paper, Copics, Spellbinders dies,
heart charm, Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, clear embossing powder, May Arts ribbon, gems

I wasted some of my precious 90 minutes of Scramble time looking for a different wedding stamp set but ended up reaching for one I used yesterday - Hero Arts CL360 Best Wishes. I had a scrap of the great Little Yellow Bicycle "Wedding March" paper left over too. It's two-sided paper so I used the other side called "Elopement" for the larger scalloped oval. What took the longest? Opening the packaging to get at that heart charm!! I bought them in Walmart's jewelry-making department the other day, thinking they'd be cute on a card. What do you think?

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend! It is a gorgeous day here in Minnesota - blue skies, a soft breeze, not too hot (78F)  - I love it! And I still have time to enjoy it!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Wedding Couple

Happy Sunday! I've been making so many penguin Christmas cards, it almost felt funny making something else!! Well, I need a wedding card for my cousin Ryan and his bride Katie. They married in June at a destination wedding in Florida with a small group. The rest of us will celebrate at a family and friends event later this summer. So here's my card:

Supplies: DCWV shimmer cardstock, Bazzill Bling cardstock, Little Yellow Bicycle paper, 

Tattered Lace "Couple" die, Hero Arts - Best Wishes stamp set, May Arts ribbon

I went shopping at Anchor Paper Express in Roseville MN (a fave place to visit) yesterday and found this fabulous Wedding March 12x12 paper from LYB; it's a heavy weight, high quality paper - perfect for my wedding card. Also bought the May Arts metallic mesh ribbon there too - Anchor carries a huge supply of May Arts and I rarely leave without a few yards of something! The Couple die was a find at that stamping expo a few weeks ago - I cut it using Bazzill Bling cardstock. The sentiment is from a fun Hero Arts clear set called Best Wishes. And here's the inside:

I used the left 4" of the Wedding March paper and stamped the sentiment from the same Hero Arts set. The champagne glasses and hearts are from the set too. You can see a bit of my MISTI along the border - love, love, love this tool and I find myself using it as a work surface too - I bought a couple pads of Simon Says Stamp grid paper to protect the MISTI foam lining and it really helps with lining things up (even though this photo's a bit crooked).

Anyway, I'm all set for the festivities! Thanks for stopping by!!

One more penguin card...

Happy Saturday everyone! I've been having fun over at Merry Monday as guest designer these past two weeks! Wendy's challenge was to include a penguin on your card and you can still play along today. Join us!

You can see my guest card at this post, then I did two more cards last week. I couldn't resist doing another one - these penguin cards really make me smile! Here's my card for today:

Supplies: Whimsy stamps - Snow Fun, Simon Says Stamp - Falling Snow, Hero Arts - Woodgrain Background, 

Neenah cardstock, Lawn Fawn sequins and Stitched Hillside, Spellbinders embossing folder, Copic Markers, Stickles, gems

Just love this toboggan filled with winter-loving bear and penguins. I saw several cards posted at Merry Monday (check out the gallery for this challenge - it's amazing!) with the penguins colored grey. Thought I'd try it here since I'm not good  at shading blacks with Copics! Don't laugh, but I think the embossing folder is a flower pattern of some kind! I chose to think of it as a bunch of snowballs with flakes...

Thanks for stopping and I hope you have a crafty day!

Scramble time - kid's card!

Hey everyone - we had a Scramble today over on the Hero Arts' Flickr group. Yvonne was a first time host and she did a great job! The theme - Create a Kid's Card. Yay - these are such fun and I had the perfect stamp set Playful Animals with their matching dies. I actual stamped and die cut 5 animals but ended up coloring the doggie for my card. Here's my card:

The sentiment is from a Hero Arts/Studio Calico clear set called Calico Borders. I just love this set but cut the border in half so I could just use part of it. It slides back together perfectly if I want to use the whole thing as a border. The balloon is from a fun Hero Arts clear set called Be Happy Today. The card base is a darling top fold card from Lawn Fawn.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Yvonne for a fun Scramble!!

More penguins!

I'm excited to be a Guest Designer at Merry Monday for this week and next! We're making penguin cards for Wendy's challenge and I hope you can join us.

I can't get enough of penguins lately and, after being inspired by Kristie's darling card here, I ordered a bunch of stuff from Whimsy Stamps. I placed my order on Monday as soon as I saw Kristie's card and I had my package on Thursday - woo hoo, great service!! I stamped a bunch of stuff Thursday night right away but didn't have time to finish a card until last night. I finally got a good photo this morning. Here's my card:

Supplies: Hero Arts latte card and snowflake gem, Basic Grey Aspen paper,Doodlebug  Kraft in Color paper, 
MME Wood paper,  Spellbinders die, Whimsy Stamps, Distress Inks; Neenah cardstock, Glossy Accents, Copics

I stamped and die cut the skating penguin from Whimsy Stamps Penguin Fun. My MISTI made it easy to get a deep black on my penguin. A bonus - the eyes come as a separate stamp so I stamped them in blue then added black pearls for the pupils. Then I colored the beak and skates with Copics and added the earmuffs from the same set. So... there my penguin sat - what to do with him?? I saw this post by Sandi and she referenced a My Favorite Things sketch that I liked. Here is is:

                                             

I love sketches and don't use them enough. Wonderful designers come up with these great patterns and it only makes sense to use them! I replaced the banner with a solid strip, the circle became a scalloped oval and I stamped/clear embossed the sentiment right on the background paper.

Thanks for stopping and be sure to visit Merry Monday for some amazing cards by their Design Team and the other participants. Have a great weekend!!

Skating Penguin!

Hey everyone - it's time for more penguins!!

I'm a guest designer at Merry Monday for these next two weeks - see my post here - for Wendy's penguin challenge. I was already working on this current card in my mind but the other card got finished for the deadline - LOL.

I must say, I can't get enough of penguins!! There are so many darling stamps and die cuts and papers out there. And thanks to Kristie, a Merry Monday DT member, I have ordered a bunch of stuff from Whimsy Stamps (yes, a bunch of penguins, including the set she featured on this card). Thanks for the enabling, Kristie!!

Here's my card:

This one features a darling Lawn Fawn set called Winter Penguin. I have the matching die too which made it easy to stamp and cut a bunch of these little guys. I colored this one with some Copic markers. I used an A2 top folding card made with Hero Arts azure layering paper - love these paper with their white backing!! I cut a mat with Neenah Solar White cardstock and used it to cut the Picture Perfect die by Spellbinders - love this one. I backed the opening with another piece of cardstock stamped with Simon Says Stamp's Falling Snow using silver ink. At the bottom of the mat I traced an outline of part of the die, then stamped and clear embossed the sentiment using silver ink. Then I watercolored over my traced pencil line with some watercolor paints - first a grey and then a soft blue, then I added some blue around the sentiment. Then I covered the entire area with Glossy Accents to create an ice skating rink - perfect for my skating penguin, don't you think? When I was a kid, my dad built a skating rink in our backyard every winter - funny, I didn't become a figure skater, eh?

Anyway - hope you can join in over on Merry Monday and play along! Thanks for stopping by!!

Guest Designer at Merry Monday!!!

Hey everyone - I'm excited to be the Guest Designer over at Merry Monday! I won the "Funky Hat" challenge with my card featuring a penguin wearing a froggy hat - see it here. Thank you, thank you!!

What a coincidence - the new challenge by Wendy is to use a penguin on your card!! I have lots of darling penguin stamps but I decided to pull out a 2012 Art Impressions cling stamp called Penguin Re-Pete. I bought it back in 2012 and hadn't inked it up yet! Typical me...

Here's my card:

I had this vision of Re-Pete (he's Pete's brother, don't ya know) sliding down a hill. I stamped him, colored him with Copic markers,trimmed him out and added some Liquid Applique to the white on his cap. On a top folding A2 pool colored card, I stamped tone on tone with Simon Says Stamp's Falling Snow, one of their 6x6 background clings. I got a set of them from SSS and fell in love with this size!

It's hard to see in the photo but I added some white snowflakes and dots using Hero Arts Unicorn White ink. It's a lovely soft look over the tone on tone pool in real life. I cut a hill from Neenah's Solar White cardstock using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Hillside Borders. I love the bumps on this one - just like those hills we used to sled when I was a kid! Next I dry embossed it using a Tim Holtz folder called Diamond Plate (one of a set of industrial type textures). I stamped a speech bubble from Hero Arts' Pssst! cling set and trimmed it out. Stamped a sentiment on it from a Hero Arts Stamp & Cut set called Let it Snow.

The Penguin challenge over at Merry Monday goes for two weeks this time. So I hope you'll stop over and check out all the inspiration from the fabulous Design Team, then play along. I'll probably be back later in the week with another penguin card - they are such fun to make!

Thanks again to the team at Merry Monday for selecting me as a Guest Designer for this challenge!! And thank you for stopping by!

Candles and Flowers for Merry Monday

Here I am on a Friday off work for the 4th of July holiday weekend. And what am I doing? Making Christmas cards - LOL! I spotted Sue's challenge over on Merry Monday to use candles and flowers on your card. I just love her inspiration photo. Aren't those flowers gorgeous?!

I have a new-to-me stamp from Deep Red Stamps called Holiday Candles that I knew would be perfect for this challenge. I decided to mask it off after stamping and add some flowers from a Hero Arts clear set called Holiday Petals and Leaves. I colored the image with Copic Markers and added some Stickles to the candle flames. After doing my typical blobbing of ink from my fingers, I ended up cutting out my image and placing it inside a Tim Holtz metallic oval from his Industrious Stickers "Frames and Trims" set. I popped the candle image up with foam tape. To finish the card I scored two lines and then clear embossed a sentiment from the same clear set as the flower, then added a couple of gems. Here's my card:

It's hard to see in the photo but the card is a pale green - celadon - also from Hero Arts. It's also hard to see but I stamped some extra holly which I cut out and added for some dimension.

I was extremely excited this week to find my penguin card from last week to be selected as a winner at Merry Monday!! This means I will be a guest designer over there on July 6th. I hope you'll stop by and see what the Design Team has in store!!

Enjoy your 4th of July holiday weekend and thanks for stopping!