Two on Thursday

Hello -

Things have been so crazy lately I've had very little time in my craft room. But I did get to play around yesterday afternoon to make two cards for two challenges I don't get to participate in very often.

First card is for the Fusion Card Challenge this week. I was inspired by the primary colors in the photo to make a card for the upcoming teacher appreciate week in May.

I used the pencil stamps from PTI Teach & Inspire to create the diagonal design on the card. Sentiment from Thanks All Ways. Think this will be perfect for my daughter's male teacher. 

Second card is inspired by the colorful rainbow at the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge this week.

I heat embossed the Winnie and Walter 'Do You See What I See' stamp in white and blended a rainbow of TH Distress Inks onto the panel. I matted the panel on black cardstock to make it pop before putting on white cardbase. Added a nest of white thread underneath the sentiment from Altenew Label Love. 

Easter weekend is kicking off here. No school or work tomorrow and my brother, sister in law and two kids are coming to visit from NC for a long weekend. For those of you who celebrate, Happy Easter and if you don't, have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for popping in!

Fusion Woodgrain Neutral

Well, we've dug ourselves out of the snow but kids out of school today since the area around the buildings aren't yet ready for the students and teachers. Hopefully tomorrow school will be open and we'll get back into the swing of things. I got up early to get some craft time in and made a couple of cards for this week's Fusion challenge.

For my cards, I was inspired by both colors and sketch. I used the PTI Pretty Petals set (December 2014 freebie) along with the Mama Elephant Blessed set for the sentiment. 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week! 

Rainbow After The Storm

UGH. So frustrated yesterday. I had a few free hours to myself and finally got to my craft desk yesterday morning. Three hours later, I finished a few cards. Sounds good right? Well no, it wasn't. Everything seemed off....One card was just 'eh' and then I wrecked it trying to hand draw something on it. The other got an ink smudge on it after I finished it. And the last, my favorite one, while taking a photo of it, somehow got a water dot on the focal point which ruined it. Yikes! So basically I was left with nothing to show for three hours work and a VERY messy desk.  It was rainy and gloomy in NJ yesterday and I wasn't in the mood to fix or redo any of them so gave up. All I wanted to do was crawl back into bed! 
This ever happened to you?

I had gotten up early this morning so I went down to clean up the desk and try to salvage my projects. When I was done, the rain had stopped, the sun came out and I felt better because I had two finished cards - my personal rainbow after the storm!

First card was for the 2nd year anniversary celebration at Fusion challenge. Congrats Fusion challenge team on two years! I don't get to play with you often but am always inspired by your challenge.

I sponged some Tim Holtz Mustard Seed for a portion of a Heidi Swapp chevron stencil. I layered a big bold bloom from PTI Friendly Flowers along one corner trying to keep the sketch in mind. Sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

My second card is inspired by the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. I have been wanting to use the new PTI green Vintage Jadeite and paired it with a masculine color palette of Terracotta Tile, Enchanted Evening, and Kraft to create this thank you card for my daughter's male teacher at the end of the year. 

Thanks for letting me vent. Hope you guys are having a better weekend creatively than I did! :)

Pinwheel Love

Know when you come upon something in your stash that you had TOTALLY forgotten you had? Such a great feeling because its almost like its new again! I dusted off the Lil Inkers Mini Pinwheel die for these two cards.

I did have to review the pinwheel die tutorial to remind myself how to make one but it was easy pretty easy to make. 

Colors and card design inspired by this week's FUSION challenge. 

Next card uses the pinwheel die again. I was inspired by the sketch at CASE this Sketch challenge this week. 

I used the brushstroke-like lines from Ombre Builders which I stamped in both Spring Rain and Limeade Ice. Pinwheel was die cut from paper from My Minds Eye and sentiment from Flipping Out. 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week.

Cards of Many Colors

I want to share two cards I made which use many happy colors.

First card was inspired by this week's FUSION challenge. I die cut the PTI Button Stacks II dies in Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Orange Zest, and bright yellow scrap card stock. I placed them randomly over white embossed leaves and added an orange banner (on foam squares) for the sentiment. I wanted to keep the focus on the colors of the 'flowers' so didn't want to add green leaves. 

You might be able to see all the texture better in this picture. 

Next card uses the happy colors at ColourQ. I stamped various THANKS from PTI and Inkadinkado in the colors but kept the dark blue for the extended sentiment hoping it would stand out amongst the other colors. Design inspired by this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. Thanks Joyce for reminding me......

It feels like Friday to me. But unfortunately not. One more day until the weekend. Have a good one and thanks so much for stopping by! 

Two Cards to Share

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and Mother's Day. We went away for the weekend to visit my husband who is on military duty. It was nice to get away and not have to cook and clean up for a day or two. And we even got to go to a local flea market for a few hours since it was MY day and they all joined in without complaint even though I KNOW it was the last thing they wanted to do.

Before I left I had a chance to make two cards that I want to share with you today.

This first card features another metal embellishment I had in my stash for the METAL CASology challenge. I paired it with the Simple Stars cover plate which I cut out in dark blue shimmer card stock and backed it with silver shimmer card stock to keep the metal/silver theme going. The pictures don't do this shimmer card stock justice honestly. Its looks so pretty in real life. I also popped up a few stars with foam squares for interest.

Next card uses a Penny Black scene stamp that I won last year but never used. I wanted to echo the color scheme at the Fusion Card challenge this week so I lightly watercolored a yellow background and embossed the scene in black on top. The bottom sentiment is from PTI City Scene sentiments.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week.

Fusion Challenge #5

Haven't played along with the Fusion Challenge in a while but I was particularly drawn to this sketch and the colors in the inspiration photo. I instantly thought of using PTI Ocean Tides which I hardly ever use.

I am liking this combination of Aqua Mist and Ocean Tides. I added a bit of texture to the base with the linen cover plate as it seemed to boring otherwise.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Little Bit of Layering

I'm sharing a few more cards with you tonight which feature a little bit more layering than I am used to doing.

First card is inspired by the soft and subtle colors from the Colour Me challenge and the fun sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. These colors screamed baby to me so I made a card for my new niece coming in February. This card took WAY LONGER than I thought it would because of the skewed patterned paper on the sketch. A bit of paper went to waste trying to make this card. But I've been seeing this card design alot around blogland and have been dying to make a card like this. Boy did I wish I had bought those Papertrey Tipped Top dies when they first came out! They would have sped things up for sure! I love the little bit of yellow peeking out and was glad to use this pretty Minds Eye paper from my stash.

Next card is using this week's challenge sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch. I found this rain themed paper when I found the pink paper I used in the first card and thought it would be a nice compliment to my little used Scattered Showers dies. They are hard to use because I don't have the matching stamps (thanks to a flake on the PTI forum who I paid for them but who never sent them to me!). I searched my stash high and low looking for a good sentiment and found one with sunshine. In hindsight, not sure if they really matches well but think it would still work, no? Paper is from My Mind's Eye, sentiment is Hero Arts.

Last creation is a wine bottle tag I made inspired by the Fusion Challenge this week. The sketch involved quite a bit more layering than I am used to. My plan is to use this tag on a bottle of wine I'm giving my friend who will be finishing her first 5k in a few months.

Thanks again for taking a peek and for all your wonderful and generous comments. Makes me smile every time!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

I know its been awhile since I've posted here. December went by in a blur with the holidays, family visiting, a short fun ski trip to PA, and my twin daughter's eighth birthday. I hardly made it into my craft space except to make quick tags I needed for gifts. Hence, one of my 2014 goals is to make tags in advance all throughout the year. But I did stay active in the crafting world by keeping up with my blog reader (you all were very busy crafting and inspiring me last month!), bookmarking projects I loved, and commenting when I could. Another 2014 goal is to comment on the blogs I read more. I know how happy your comments make me and I am hoping to spread the love a bit more this coming year.

I finally had some time to open up some packages brimming with new supplies this morning. When you have been away from creating for awhile, color, paper, and stamp choices seem so much harder to make! Here are a few cards I made while watching the last episode of Downton Abbey (WOW, what a finale! Can't wait for the premiere tomorrow!) to help get me back into the swing of things.

First card is for the FUSION challenge which I am thrilled is up and running again!

I needed a simple and modern baby card for some friends due next month so I drew my inspiration from the challenge photo. I die cut a onesie from the PTI Bitty Baby Blessings die using orange gingham from the Lily Bee Double Dutch collection. I used my new congratulations stamp on a banner and put that all on some scattered American Crafts orange and grey bakers twine. I had seen twine used similarly somewhere (Sorry, I can't remember which fab cardmaker did this!) and thought it was a clever use of texture. I backed it all up on some grey cardstock to help the white panel stand out.

Next card is for the brand new color challenge, Colour Me Card Challenge which features a monochromatic indigo. I love color challenges so I had to check them out as soon as I heard about them. Congrats ladies on your new blog! I hope to play along often!

I used my PTI Center Stage die with some Pebbles Scene and Noted patterned paper. I used PTI soft stone for the die cut stars and sentiment to create this birthday card with a masculine feel.

This next card uses my new stamp set from Craft's Meow, Inspired by Audrey. As someone who often finds it difficult to let things go, its sentiment is one that I hope to hold onto this year so I thought it would be perfect for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge.

I used the set's pretty feminine graphic in a pattern using PTI Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Hibiscus Burst, and Scarlet Jewel. I added a few pale pink rhinestones to finish. Definitely quite Audrey inspired don't you think?

Edited to add: Totally forgot to mention that the sketch inspiration for these three cards above is latest CAS(E) This Sketch challenge!

Last card today is for the new One-Layer Simplicity Challenge. Yay for a new card challenge! The challenge this week is to "Restock Your Shelves". I am always in need of masculine birthday cards so here's a simple card using my favorite candle from PTI's Make A Wish set in PTI New Leaf, Limeade Ice, Enchanted Evening, and Hawaiian Shores. One layer seems like its simple but always ends up taking longer than I think!

I stamped some candles and sentiment on the inside too.

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! As always, thanks for stopping by my little part of the world.

Happy Pinwheels

I decided to make another card using this week's ColourQ colors. Since the scheme was summery, I pulled out an old wooden stamp I have (wood, ahhhh! Long time no see!) of one of my favorite pinwheel images.

Layout inspiration is from the sketch at the Fusion challenge #11 (Jackie's hypothesis) this week.

Thanks for taking a look! Hope you are having a great weekend.

Supplies:
Paper: Memory Box, Neenah White, PTI Simply Chartreuse
Ink: Momento Teal Zeal, PTI Pure Poppy & Hawaiian Shores, Stampin Up Certainly Celery
Stamps: Savvy Stamps Pinwheel, PTI Birthday Basics