CASE Study Design Team Call Challenge + MFW Hip on Handwriting Challenge

The CASE Study Challenge Blog is one of my favorites in the card making world. With a new Muse every month and a new card to CASE every week, I try to play along regularly. Chupa is adding to the Design Team and I've decided to throw my hat in the ring!

The Design Team Call Challenge is to pick someone I look up to in the crafting world, share the inspiration piece and my take on it. I was a Donna Mikasa fan before she was honored as the CASE Study January 2014 Muse and she continues to produce beautiful cards I want to CASE.

Stencils are very big in the crafting world right now and Donna found a new way to use hers with an inked panel and water stencil stamping. It is no surprise that the card was a winner in the Moxie Fab World Styling with Stencils challenge and Donna provided a photo tutorial on this post to demonstrate the technique.

I made a couple of cards using this technique. This first one uses three Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Peacock Feather) to create the rainbow panel. Because the pieces of this Kite stencil are so thin, I held it under the tap for a moment before placing it on the inked panel. A paper towel was laid over the stencil and then the whole thing was brayered to ensure even pressure and transfer of the image.

Once the panel was dry, I used several My Favorite Things stamps to create the sentiment with Versafine Onyx ink. Clear Wink of Stella adds a touch of glitter to the words.

I've really been drawn to cool blues & greens lately, so used those colors on this second card. The "happy" from Papertrey Ink's Wet Paint stamp set was clear embossed on the panel before inking it with Tumbled Glass, Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feather distress inks. 

A wet Artist Cellar Ripples stencil is pressed onto the panel to remove some of the ink and transfer the stencil image. Once the panel was dry, the clear embossing is ironed off and the "birthday" sentiment stamped to overlap the "happy".

The panel edges are curved to mimic the movement of the stenciled ripples and the sentiment panel popped up with foam adhesive.

My Monet loving heart is very happy with the Impressionist feel of this card!

This second card is being linked to the Moxie Fab World Hip on Handwriting Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Card Concept #8: Umbrella + Paper Smooches Sparks Apr 20-26 Anything Goes

After seeing The Card Concept Challenge #8 Use an Umbrella, my thoughts were more beach than rain and I decided to create a little watercolored scene.

The MFT umbrella die came in very handy to make a mask while I colored the sand and sea/sky background. Once that was dry, the umbrella panels die allowed me to create a combination mask and stencil to keep the panel colors from running into each other.

A sentiment from Paper Smooches Get Out Of Town stamp set provides the perfect finish. I hope this design fits the Clean and Simple category.

This card is being linked to the Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASE Study #187 + Curtain Call: Confetti Crush + Craft Hoarders Anonymous #5 + Simon Says

Even though Easter is relatively late, it has kind of snuck up on me. With my husband's Greek heritage, we celebrate the Eastern Orthodox Easter and can have a gap from 1 to 5 weeks between our Easter and the date celebrated by Western Christian churches. Every few years, the calendars line up and this year we are all observing Easter on the same weekend. After roasting a whole lamb and having a big Greek style party last year, things will be a little quieter this year.

Writing that paragraph reminded me of a couple of things I still needed to do, so I interrupted this blog post to put on eggs to boil. It isn't Greek Easter without red eggs to crack!

Instead of making cards for my kids, after seeing Jaclyn Miller's Valentine tags for CASE Study #187, I decided to make a couple of gift tags for their baskets.

How clever to make the little gift bags from wax paper! These gift bags inspired my tags, where a transparent front panel allowed the Tim Holtz mini-blueprint stamps to shine through.

This scalloped tag die from PTI comes in two sizes, so I cut the smaller tag from a transparency and sewed it on the larger stamped tag (yes, you read that correctly - I SEWED on a papercrafting project).

The top tag is lined up so there is a little bubble of air to allow the sequins to move freely.

For the bunny tag, a transparent panel is cut slightly larger than the stamped panel and carefully sewn on the tag. I also cut a second tag to back the tag and hide my threads. This also gives me a nice spot to write a greeting.

Just one more photo to capture the Wink of Stella on the bunny. When out with my daughter last weekend she was horrified to see the mall Easter bunny was brown and adamantly told me Easter bunnies should only be white.

These tags are being linked to a few more challenges:

Curtain Call: Confetti Crush because of the sequin/confetti filled tags.

Simon Says Animal Antics because of the bunny.

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge #5 to Pick a Stamp, Any Stamp!

I have desserts to bake, baskets to finish off and eggs to dye and I'm envious of our Canadian family and friends enjoying an extra long weekend!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Make It Monday #160: Heat Embossing Tips for Die Cuts and Two Step Stamps & Seize the Birthday

Erin Lincoln has a great tutorial at Capture the Moment for Make It Monday #160: Heat Embossing Tips for Die Cuts and Two Step Stamps that you can check out here.

I used Erin's tips to make this masculine birthday card. The blue stamped images are heat embossed and then the second image is stamped over that with Simply Chartreuse ink.

The images come from Big Ticket Basics Stamps, Birthday Bash Sentiments and Sketched Shapes.

I am also linking this card to the Anything Goes option at Seize the Birthday.

Time is rapidly running out for me to get a final few Easter cards done, so it's back into the office for me.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #63

It's been a busy week around here and when I finally had a little time to spend in the office today, this is what was sitting on my desk.

Number one, I never leave my tape runner sitting on my desk and and, number two, I've never seen the tape this twist & mangled?! Hmm, dear son was working on a presentation board last weekend - we will be having a little chat later (for the record, he is allowed to help himself to my tools).

While I rewound the tape and cleaned my desk a bit I thought about the elements I could take from Therese Calvird's wonderful stenciled card for the Muse Challenge #63.

At first I planned to play with stencils, but then saw the white butterfly die cut panel leftover from my cardmaking on Sunday morning (you can see it in the first photo). A number of Distress Inks are sponged over this panel (Spun Sugar, Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry and Mustard Seed) and then it is adhered to a bright pink panel, allowing the color to peek through the butterfly wings.

I moved the sentiment to the top of the panel, still taking inspiration from Therese's card with the use of black & white and adding the pop of color with the pink banner.

This second photo captures the color a little better than the first.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie