June Card Chain Revealed!

Hey there - hope you're having a great summer!! I'm enjoying time at home doing chores (long overdue) & making cards. Today we're revealing the June cards sent around the world for The Card Chain Challenge - see the entire June chain HERE. I used the challenge colors again this month, plus the theme of friendship.

I just love the Color Layering Iris set from Hero Arts and have used it a bunch this year. Here's the card I sent to Helen G. in Ohio:

Supplies: Paper - Card Warehouse Terracotta A2 card; Poptone Black;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Lawn Fawn 6x6 Gotta Have Gingham 

and Spring Fling patterned papers

Stamps - Hero Arts Color Layering Iris (with matching dies) 

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints (retired);

Hero Arts Nesting Oval Infinity Dies

Other - Michael's gems; various Memento & Hero Arts inks

The first inky layer on the iris got a bit more orangey than peachy but I figured the gingham paper made up for it. So many shades of peach, right? Anyway, I really liked the pineapple patterned paper atop the gingham - made an interesting combo!

I was lucky enough to get this beautiful tall card from my friend Greta (GG Creations) this time.

I've known Greta for ages through the Hero Arts group and admire her card-making talents!! She enjoyed skipping to the July colors because she knows how much I love purple! I love the tall card design with all the beautiful die cuts and the pretty script on the sentiment. Greta sent me one of those circle panels and I've already made a card with it (to be shared in future). Thanks Greta for the great card and for your friendship!!

If interested in participating, you can still sign up for July until the 6th. You only make & send one card, then receive a card from the next person in the chain. Very fun!! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a crafty week!!

Stitched Bouquet

Hey everyone - it's been gloomy and rainy here but yesterday I received a package from my sister Tami that really made me smile. Hope you will smile seeing the card I created with one of her gifts!

Supplies: Paper - Gina K Sea Glass & Tranquil Teal cardstock; 

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb 

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints 20 (retired);

Hero Arts DI199 Nesting Circles Infinity Dies

Stamp - Hero Arts CM128 Color Layering Water Lilies (sentiment)

Other - Mermaid Lagoon Distress Ink; Copic Markers B0000, C1 & C00

In the package, Tami sent a bunch of stitched panels she made using her sewing machine. I took one of them and diecut it with a stitched rectangle. Matted everything and added to an A2 card formed from the Gina K teal. I added some light shading to the base of the jar and to the jar's interior using Copics.

Di invited me to add a card to her current Pixies' Snippets Playground challenge so I'm adding this card there. The snippet is the sentiment circle. I have a lot of scraps laying around - I always figure I can squeeze something out of it! And yes, I was able to squeeze a little circle out of a white scrap - yay!! Don't worry, Di - I'll make something with more creative snippets later. 😊😊😊

Tami made me a card this winter that had some stitched flowers on it and I loved it. She included some stamping right on the stitched panel which I thought was brave since she doesn't own a MISTI. She also added some gems to her flowers. Here's the card she sent me:

Tami wondered if I wanted some panels to play with and I quickly said yes, yes, yes!! I still have a lovely pile of different stitched designs to use on future cards. Thanks Tami!! Tami is an avid quilter and has made me a couple gorgeous quilts. You can see my fave here if you missed it.

That's it for today, friends! Thanks for stopping and have a crafty week!!

Fun with Tic Tac Toe!

Not the game with X & O, it's the Tic Tac Toe Challenge where you pick the row and create a card! Can't remember playing with this one before but my friend Greta (GG Creations) is the Guest Designer for Challenge 070 so I'm giving it a go. Challenges are announced on Thursday and end at noon CT the following Tuesday so you really have to get in there and create quickly!! Here's the board:

Here's my card using the diagonal upper left to lower right - Polka-Dots, Coloring & Sparkle:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV Ms Sparkle & Co A2 card & woodplank pp;

Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor paper;

BoBunny Bold & Bright Double Dot 6x6 pp

Stamps - Hero Arts CL129 Anytime Messages (retired)

Dies - Hero Arts Watering Can and Flowers Fancy Dies &

Nesting Oval Infinity Dies

My Favorite Things Blueprints 21 (retired)

Other - Yasutomo water color pallets (regular & metallic);

Stickles, 3M washi tape; foam tape; Black Soot Distress Ink

Had to laugh - thought I was being so artsy and putting a flower down on the "ground" but I noticed on the product page that it was done by a Hero Arts designer, and probably many others. Near catastrophe, I ran over the watering can die in my Vagabond with a couple tulip dies. Fortunately everyone survived although the back of the watering can got dented a bit... After diecutting the can and flowers from TH watercolor paper, I watercolored them, adding some definition to the can's edges with Distress Ink. Arranged the tulips in the can and decided you couldn't see the sparkle of the metallic watercolors so added some Stickles to the flower tops. Put it all on a card base and stamped a sentiment - done!

I'm also entering this card at Darnell's NBUS challenge since my watering can set is new and getting its first play. Also playing at a Blog Named Hero where the challenge is to merge old and new - my old being the 2010 sentiment. Guess the Infinity Ovals aren't getting any younger either! Thanks to the challenge blog designers for fun challenges and thanks to you for visiting!!

 

 

CAS one layer

Hey everyone - hope you're having a great weekend!! I'm playing along with two challenges today - CAS(E) this Sketch (#378 by Donna Mikasa) and Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge 11 over on the Hero Arts Blog. Here's Donna's awesome sketch (btw, she's a former Hero Hostess too - just waaay more talented than I!):

You can see Donna's amazing card with it HERE. While I was pondering the sketch yesterday and what I could do with it, Hero Arts announced its 11th Stay Crafty Challenge - it's to do a one layer card. Arrrrgh - not something at which I excel. Well, they do call it a challenge, right?! Decided to combine these challenges and here's my card:

Supplies: Paper - Anchor Paper soft grey linen cardstock

Stamps - Hero Arts CL535 Carte Postale (retired) &

CM128 Color Layering Water Lilies (sentiment)

Inks - Weathered Wood Distress;

Hero Arts Ultra Pink & Navy

Other - red, navy & grey pencils; white gel pen; Stickles

I started by stamping the postage stamp, masked it and stamped the post card, then the sentiment. Added some details to the postage stamp, including a light border with a navy pencil and some grey shading on the left side, and called it done. Not bad for a style I don't do well.... Hey, I noticed after my stamping that the Carte Postale set is from 2011, the year I was a Hero Hostess! Fun times indeed!! Thanks again to Hero Arts for selecting me back then and for being so good to me since!!

Thanks to the crew, especially Donna, at CAS(E) this Sketch and to Hero Arts for more fun challenges!! Thanks to you for visiting and happy crafting!!

More tag cards for Christmas Kickstart

Hey everyone - Jo & her elf Tracey are doing tags &/or cards with a tag (Challenge #32 Care to Tag Along) until the end of June over at Christmas Kickstart Challenge. I entered earlier this month and decided it was time to play again - can't be a slacker in building that Christmas card stash!!

Here's my first card with a tag:

Supplies: Paper Studio Old World Winter; Paper for tag by unk

Stamps - Hero Arts CG211 Magical Background & 

CL474 Special Wishes (both retired)

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints 21 (retired)

Other - Hero Arts lace (retired); May Arts string twine

I'm trying to use stuff in the UFO box and this tag was in there sans twine (I added it today). Near as I can remember, the snowman was on a patterned paper and I carefully trimmed him and embellished him with Stickles and gel pens. Put him on a tag. A boring rectangle tag but a tag nonetheless. The brown and blue distressed-looking paper was from the same pack but I can't tell which brand - I made it ages ago!! Since Mr. Snowman looks a bit vintage-y, I found a pretty snowflake paper in the Old World Winter 6x6 pad by Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby brand) - just love the delicate music running through it - hard to see unless you look closely. I remember stamping the sentiment in brown and clear embossing it, then cutting the words to fit the tag. This was popular at the time. Couldn't stop making cards with tags now that I'm in the UFO box successfully....

Next, I have cards featuring tags my friend Heather (Stamping and Stitching) sent me. Thanks again, Heather!! She sent 5 tags of various design and I used a similar layout to make 5 cards. Different papers for each. Here they all are in one photo.

The "fun"?! was going through all my Christmas papers trying to find ones I liked with each tag. I had a large pile of rejected 6x6 paper pads by the time I finished but at least I found some appropriate (at least I think so) papers by BoBunny, American Crafts and Basic Grey. Found some yummy ribbon and twine in the bin, especially love the sheer purple, another upcycle from my friend Connie and her dentist.

Well friends, I'm supposed to be Misty-proofing since Misty the cat arrives next week. I figure I can continue to pull crafty stuff out as long as I put it tidily away. Wish me luck.... I have a disaster going on right now!!

Thanks, Jo, for another fun challenge & thanks to you for stopping!! Have a wonderful weekend!!

New Gina K card kit and vintage!

I spotted Jennifer McGuire's blog post on June 11th on Faux Monoprint using a new Gina K Designs kit and a beautiful script stamp. I only had two Gina K sets - Friendship Blooms, a collaboration with Hero Arts and the Autumn Wreath Builder set. No time like the present to add more so I quickly ordered the kit , Nature's Touch, and the Elegant Script background stamp. Good thing I acted fast because a lot of things Jennifer shows fly off "the shelves"; the kit is currently out of stock, probably didn't take long. When ordering I also watched a Gina K video - loved her presentation style, very relaxed and easy to watch. She does some live shows on Facebook so I watched one last night and tried to create along with her. Here's my creation:

Supplies: Paper - Gina K Sea Glass cardstock;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb

Stamps - Gina K Elegant Script and

The Best Flowers (a set in the kit)

Other - Copic Markers; Memento Rich Cocoa;

Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass and Tea Dye

If interested, you can see my faux monoprint cards HERE. I have some work to do on that technique!! And the vintage too, for that matter - word to the wise, don't use 110lb cardstock to try to crumple! How I made it work was to bend the cardstock a bit in different spots that didn't crumple so I could add ink to the folds. My torn edges were a bit wonky but I went with it! Also, Gina did paper piecing to her flower so it stood out from the script background. Not me, I just scribbled some Copics on top and called it good. On another card (Gina made two to my one....) she stamped a solid silhouette flower (same one Jennifer used) and it looked amazing! Will try that next. I hadn't used my paper distresser tool in ages - used it on my sentiment circle. Didn't add any embellishments, am keeping it simple and flat for a long distance mail journey.

Got up early this morning and did a more traditional card using the same sets. 

Very quick and easy - the longest time was spent cutting a mask for the flower before stamping the script. I inked the script in Tumbled Glass then randomly added some Tea Dye before stamping on the white panel. Added Wink of Stella to the flower after coloring with Copics. Cut it with a retired MFT Blueprints stitched rectangle, matted in brown and added to the Sea Glass card. Sequins are from Hero Arts. The sentiment is from Gina K's Stately Flowers 7 set which includes the state flower of MN - can't wait to create with it!!

Thanks for stopping and you can find Gina K's great videos here. I watched Whimsical Wednesday for 6/24/20 while creating card one. Have a crafty day!!

Blue Rose Gift Bag

Hey crafty friends! I'm off to have lunch with my friend JoAnn tomorrow - a nice break from cleaning up my crafty messes (what I call Misty-proofing) so my brother's cat won't get into them! Misty arrives next week so I don't have much longer to get ready!! Anyway, I was sorting through all sorts of diecut and stamped goodies from my friend Heather and from others, plus stuff I had cut or stamped. It's a large pile - so I decided I'd better start making things with them. I made a card I'll post in future and then a fun gift bag, which I'm sharing today, to take to JoAnn with some mini chocolate squares:

Supplies: Paper - Momenta Watercolor 8x8;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb;

check pattern by unknown

Stamps - Sunny Studio Everything's Rosy (with dies)

Hero Arts CM351 Hero Greetings Mini Messages

Dies - Lawn Fawn Goodie Bag

Spellbinder's tag (retired)

Other - ribbon by unknown;

Doodlebug string

I found this fun Lawn Fawn mini bag diecut from Heather in my box; loved it so much that I bought the die, not that I've used it yet ... I made up the bag and found a fun ribbon in the scrap bin. My friend Connie gets all kinds of ribbon given to her by her employer, a dentist. They know I like them for crafting and this beauty was perfect. Now how to decorate it?

I had the Sunny Studio rosy set out to stamp some roses to send to Arlene with the July Card chain challenge card (you can still sign up HERE until July 6th). Don't worry, she knows about it as I was checking with her to see if her favorite color is still red. It is! Since the set was out and the ribbon had roses on it, light bulb - add a rose. So my final rose in each of the five steps was to use a blue ink. I had 5 reds and 5 blues all ready, plue 3 greens for leaves. Once you get set up, it's easy and fun to do multiples!!

That's it for today, friends! Thanks again to Heather for all the fun bits over the years and I'll get to it all - eventually.... Thanks for stopping & happy crafting!!