MIM #154: Texture on a OLC + Seize the Birthday & Merry Monday #98 & Curtain Call: Perfectly Peach + Muse #57

Most of my crafting time this week has been in fits & starts between other commitments. Today I finally had time to finish off and photograph a few cards.

This first one is for PTI's Make It Monday #154: Color & Texture Tips for One Layer Cards. You can check out Erin's tutorial here for more information.

The card is a standard A2 size measured from the outer edge of the balloons to the opposite side. The ballon die is lined up at the 5 1/2" mark of my card base  and partially die cut before the base is scored at the 4 1/4" mark. I then secured the die to the side of the card base to partially cut the area where the green balloon will be stamped.

Each balloon is stamped twice, although only part of the stamp is inked the second time to create a darker shadow and add dimension. Masking the balloons allows the confetti to look like it is falling behind them.

This side view lets you see the negative space left by making a partial die cut. This card is also being entered in the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes challenge.

This next card is my favorite for the week! My best laid plans to make Christmas cards all year long have fallen to the wayside so I am really happy to participate in the Merry Monday Challenge #98: Country Charm with Stitches & Buttons.

To be honest, country charm is so not my style, but this Stitched Alphabet stamp set is one of my favorites and rarely gets used.

A little felt, jute and buttons are layered and stitched before being adhered to the Graphic 45 gingham paper and attached to a chocolate brown card base.

I wasn't sure how my dye ink would work on the felt, so did a little test stamping - thankfully I had a red Staz-On which was clearly the better ink for this product.

Finally, this last card is inspired by the Vicki Dutcher's Muse card and the Curtain Call Challenge: Perfectly Peach.

I followed Vicki's design pretty closely, just changing the color palette and adding a couple of extra butterflies.

The panel is inked with Dried Marigold Distress Ink and then the chevron pattern is created with embossing creme.

It looks like my plan to play a little more in the office is falling through for now.

With a lot of leftovers in the fridge, I was happy to make it a fend for yourself Friday dinner around here, but my dear son just walked by with his afterschool snack and I think I may be cooking dinner after all!?!  What's your best unplanned meal? I have a feeling we will be eating a frittata here.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Color Throwdown #282 Guest Star Stamper + MFW Hexagon + Avery Elle May Guest Designer Search

I am so excited to be joining the talented Designers at the Color Throwdown as the Guest Star Stamper for CTD282 and this fun, fresh palette!

Remember if you don't have the exact colors, it’s OK to substitute whatever is close to this week’s colors.  I used My Favorite Things Electric Red and Jellybean Green inks along with Mustard Seed Distress Ink to make this card.

Avery Elle's Thanks a Bunch stamp set is used to create the bouquet and tag. They are masked and the chicken wire stencil is added in the background. This is definitely one of my favorite looks right now!

A little Wink of Stella clear glitter pen was added to all the red flowers to finish off the stamped panel.

You have until 6:00 p.m. EST on Monday to link your project over at the Color Throwdown blog.

I am also linking my card to the Avery Elle May Guest Designer Search and the Moxie Fab World Hexagons: Happy for Hexagons challenge - there is plenty of time to join on these too!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology #85 : Carnival + MFT Color Palette Challenge #2

Am I the last to know how delicious chicken, prunes & olives are together? I was bored with the my usual chicken dishes so grabbed a couple of cookbooks in search of inspiration and found Chicken Marbella.

Thinking I had all the ingredients, I started putting it together only to discover no Spanish olives. Fortunately, I have a teen driver who is more than happy to go to the store for me, texting photos to make sure she has the right type of olives!

While this was simmering in the oven, I checked out a couple of challenges. Cruise ship was my first thought when I saw the CASology Week 85: Carnival.

I used the My Favorite Things Color Palette Challenge #2 along with the MFT ship & sun dies and sentiments from the Document It - Off the Chart stamp set.

This square panel is popped up on the card base with foam adhesive.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #56 + Seize the Birthday + Simon Says Stamp & CASE Study #180 + Color Throwdown #281

Happy March 1st everyone! I know February is short, but I was kind of startled to realize we are two months into the new year already (can I still refer to it as the "new" year?). March has come in like a lion and our weekend yard work plans are on hold which means I had to find something else to do this morning.

This first card is inspired by Lisa Haines, the Guest Muse for Muse #56, and the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes challenge.

Even though purple has always been a favorite color, I struggle to paper craft with it. A trio of flowers replaces Lisa's hearts and a Memory Box border die lets the purple cardstock peek through the bottom of the card. The white panel is only adhered above the die cut giving a little movement to the card.

I am also linking this card to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes with Pearls.

This next card combines CASE Study #180 with Color Throwdown #281. This is the last week with Danielle Flanders as the muse and I took elements from both her cards to design mine.

I've been playing around with my Viva Modeling Creams - I love the pearly finish of this champagne color and stenciled it over Scattered Straw Distress Ink. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

AEI♥︎U #1 + RIC#54 & Cardstock Comparisons

Avery Elle has a new blog for the AEI♥︎U Challenge and Challenge #1: Birthdays is happening now. I created this card using stamps from several Avery Elle sets and taking my color palette from the Runway Inspired Challenge #54.

I took the Happy Birthday stamp from Simply Tags: Everyday and stamped it multipe times to create the background panel framed by the Oh Yeah die (the red image was stamped first to get it in the right spot).

The small speech bubbles are inked after being stamped and heat embossed with sentiments from Thanks a Bunch and To The Point stamp sets. 

The main panel is cut slightly narrower than the card base so that a sliver of Harvest Gold shows on each side.

I want to give a huge thank you to a couple of bloggers that have provided a great service to their fellow papercrafters!

About a month ago Kara at KandRdesigns had a great post comparing white cardstocks - as you can see, she covers quality, weight, price & color. Well, Heather, from Housesbuiltofcards, was inspired by Kara's post and took it a step further. A picture is truly worth a thousand words when you are trying to find the exact right shade of green (or blue, or red, or pink, etc.) and Heather has given us those pictures in this fantastic post.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I won Heather's cardstock giveaway, but my linking to her post is only because I don't want anyone to miss this terrific information.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink February 2014 Blog Hop + MIM #153: Watercolored Backgrounds with Heat Embossed Sentiments

I couldn't resist combining the Papertrey Ink February 2014 Blog Hop challenge to create a spring themed project with the Make it Monday #153 challenge to combine a watercolored background with heat embossed sentiments.

The sweet hyacinths inspired my card.

I started with a white cardstock panel, stamped the "thanks" with Versamark and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. A soft blue is watercolored over this sentiment using a combination of Dawn's techniques - some long strokes and a little dappling for more intense color.

I used Distress Markers to color two flower images from the Life stamp set and the smaller, matching image from the Larger than Life stamp set and stamped them on the watercolored panel. I love that the embossed sentiment resists the markers.

To ground the flowers, a bit of green ink is watercolored along the bottom of the panel.

I'm off to check out what everyone else has been up to!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

More Quilts for CTD280 and Curtain Call: Cozy Quilts

Once I finished the card I posted yesterday, I couldn't resist using up most of the Taylored Expressions Circles Cutting Plate pieces sitting on my desk. These cards are being entered in the Color Throwdown #280 challenge and the Curtain Call February 15: Cozy Quilt challenge.

This first one is the same card design as yesterday's, but with a different quilt pattern and another great Avery Elle sentiment that can be used for a multitude of occasions.

I wasn't really planning on making this third card, but when I laid the partially used dark blue die cut on top of the partially used light blue one I was intrigued by the design that was created. Instead of cutting another white base, I used the green base I already had.

These quilted panels were not that time consuming to make. I popped all the pieces out of a white die cut and then adhered it to a panel that is a smidge smaller. This rectangular panel is run through a Xyron first, so completely covered with adhesive.

One at a time, I lay the colored die cuts over the white one and poke the pieces I want to adher directly onto the panel.

My favorite is still the "thank you" card I posted yesterday, but it was fun to play around with the patterns.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie