Itching!

LOL!

No, not itching like I have a rash, or even worse lice. I was itching to get back to creating after a week break! This past weekend was great. We had family in town over the weekend to celebrate my twin daughters' First Holy Communion and it was crazy busy here getting ready for the big day and guests. When the last of my family finally left yesterday, I spent the day getting caught up on laundry and getting the house back in order. Whew! I don't know about you but I can't enjoy my craft time until most of my household chores and responsibilities are taken care of first.

So I was in heaven when I finally got into my craft space last night and spent a few hours playing along with challenges, catching up on my favorite tv shows, and getting back into the groove.

First card I want to share is for the CASology challenge METAL this week. For my card I wanted to use some metal scrapbook embellishments I've been holding onto for years. Really, its been MANY years since I got these!

I paired the metal footprints from Making Memories with PTI Winter Wisteria for a baby card I will need this summer. I used Circle Scribbles as my single focal point to highlight the footprints and stamped the simple sentiment in a metallic silver ink.

Next card was inspired by the ColourQ color scheme this week. I used an old Papertrey anniversary sketch for my design and stamped images from Ruby Rose along the sentiment banner.

This third card is inspired by the Papertrey Color Play palette for May.

These colors seemed perfect for the Meadow Greens set.

And my last card was inspired by the online class I am taking Watercolors for Cardmakers. I am a bit behind (its Day 3 currently) but I decided to take my time watching the videos and trying the techniques before I move onto the next day.

Day 1 was all about creating Watercolor Backgrounds. My card is based on the technique demonstrated by Kristina Warner - Stamped Embossed Resist with Watercolor Wash.

I heat embossed PTI Simple Stripes in white and then watercolored a diagonal rainbow background over it (similar to Kristina's). I used the Simon Says Stamp Absolutely die and stamps for a simple sentiment banner across and added a few Kelly Purkey sequins. I mounted the watercolored panel on a dark purple Memory Box card base for strong contrast.

I have a few more cards to post later but wanted to share a picture from this weekend of my two girls.... I am struggling with them being 8 already and reaching this milestone in their lives. Getting old so fast.....

Thanks for taking time to stop by. Hope you are having a great week!

CASology Electricity Take Two

So I felt like I couldn't leave it alone after my first attempt and had to make another card for CASology this week.

For this card I used chevron die cuts in a few colors. They remind me of what I would think an electrical current would look like if it took the form of pretty card stock. I kept them together in the middle preserving the white space of the card. Sentiment is from Hero Arts which I thought was funny since these were electrical currents and well, if you touched them, you'd get warm fuzzies. LOL.

Hope you are having a good day. Thanks for taking a peek!

ColourQ #239

I'm back sharing another card using my new PTI Simple Stars cover plate. This time instead of stamping through the cover plate, I backed the stars with card stock in this week's pretty ColourQ colors. I put one stamped star on each line for a little bit of variety. Sentiment is from PTI Bold Bouquet Anniversary set.

Love this sentiment because it can be used for so many different things. Plus the period at the end adds a nice touch of finality.

LOTS of rain here in NJ....hope its bright and sunny where you are! Thanks for stopping by!

CASology #93

I'm sharing a card I made for the CASology challenge this week as well as my approach for this challenge.

When the CASology challenge comes out on Tuesdays, I often only see the cue card word pop up on my blog reader app. I give myself time to think about the word before I look at the DT samples. The DT always makes such fabulous and varied takes on the cue card that I find myself wanting to create something like one of their creations instead of coming up with something on my own. So I make connections with the word and the stamps in my stash. Most of the time the inspiration comes quickly and I am excited to make my card. Sometimes I have ideas but don't have any stamps to make it happen. :(

So this week's cue word is ELECTRIC. So my first thoughts were light bulb (no stamps!), then appliances (no stamps!), and then Benjamin Franklin and kites (no stamps!). So I looked through my stash hoping to find something that worked.

So why the explanation of my thought process today? Well, when I finished my card, I realized that the connection to the cue word ELECTRIC was pretty far and doesn't make sense unless you understood how I got there. But I liked how the card turned out so wanted to share with you anyway!

I was looking for images of things that use electricity and found a never inked set from The Craft's Meow called Vintage Rides and wanted to use one of the vehicles in the set. So I stamped a moped driving off my card with a little banner above it. I added a little road from PTI City Scene.

Then I realized....mopeds don't run on electricity! DUH. Gas. What the heck was I thinking???
Guess I got caught up with this set that I overlooked that little detail. Oops. Maybe they'll run on electricity in the future?!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my card.

CMCC #17

I'm loving the fun colors at the Colour Me challenge this week that I had to make another card. This time I used the new Simple Stars cover plate to create a background of stars.

I think this cover plate has a lot of potential....can't wait to play around with it more.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Goodbye Dynamic Duos

I am so saddened to hear that one of my favorite challenge blogs is ending. Dynamic Duos has given me some AMAZING color combinations and fabulous DT inspiration over the past two years. I'm going to miss playing along with them every week.

For the final 'Triple Threat' challenge I created this card -

I combined the PTI Circle Scribbles set with the matching stars from the new Simple Stars set. Sentiment is from Wet Paint.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Not Supposed To Be What I'm Doing.....

So unfortunately there were a couple of deaths in my family this past week. My brother-in-law's brother died unexpectedly and my sister-in-law's mother passed after long illness. Not close relations to me but still an impact on my family. So when I found myself with time to make cards last night, I SHOULD have been making some sympathy cards. But I didn't. I just wasn't feeling it. Spring has finally sprung here and the sun was shining yesterday inspiring me to make happy cards.

First card I want to share uses my new PTI Random Stripe set which came in the mail while I was away. I thought the stripes would be perfect with the Colour Me:Playful challenge this week.

LOVE these colors of blue and green....might have to make a few more cards with these colors!
Random Stripes was much easier to line up than I thought too. Yay!

Next card is another for the CASology:Garden challenge. I used the PTI Reason to Smile set which never gets inked. I used Canyon Clay for the flowers and added a touch of clear stickler in the flower centers. Hard to see in the photos.

Also entering these into the Seize the Birthday:Anything Goes this week.

Think I'm gonna have to check my stash for sympathy cards....or maybe I'll get a burst of inspiration for this type of card this weekend.

Thanks for taking time to visit. Have a good weekend.

ColourQ #238

Well, I'm back from a short trip to visit my sister & family for the Easter holiday. After quickly unpacking and doing a few loads of laundry, I was able to spend a few hours crafting last night. YAY! Perfect end to a vacation.

Here's a card I made using the bright and happy colors at ColourQ this week. I also wanted to use flowers for the CASology:GARDEN challenge so I pulled out an old Flower Fusion set I haven't touched in a while. I love these colors and I thought the offset panels would look good against the kraft. Sentiment die and stamp from SSS Absolutely set.

Thanks for taking a peek!