Tuesday Trigger - Sweet Season

There is another great inspiration photo at the Moxie Fab World blog this week for the Tuesday Trigger:

My first thought when I saw the photo was to do something with crepe paper ruffles, but I was poking around my basket of border punches and came across the Drippy Goo Martha Stewart punch. The wheels started spinning and I ended up with this sweet birthday card:

My first step was to create the cake. The Drippy Goo strips were adhered to a scrap of cardstock, the top edges rounded and then all edges outlined with a thin line of Stardust Stickles.

Then I stamped a sentiment from the My Favourite Things a la Mode Birthday Girl set with Versa Magic Turquoise Gem Chalk Ink on the banner, heat embossed it then inked and stickled the edges.

The pins holding the banner are Maya Road clear pins that have been colored with a Copic marker.

While the stickled edges were drying I tackled the engineering of a cake stand. 

After playing around with a few ideas, I settled on using a scalloped border punch, Squiggly Border die and Well Worn Greetings (dies are from My Favorite Things).

This card is heading to a crafty friend who will appreciate the little details - happy birthday Pat!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey July Blog Hop Challenge

Something about the inspiration photo for the Papertrey Ink July Blog Hop Challenge made me think of my favorite Impressionist painters.

The soft colors, the blurred edges and that beautiful bouquet:

I decided to create my own impressionist style watercolor background:

First I die cut a panel using the PTI Library Card Tag die. It took many tags and tries and a good amount of time to finally get a color profile I was happy with.

I was using my heat gun to speed the drying between color layers so much that my dear son wandered into the office to find out what I was doing. Truth is, he thought I was blowing up an air mattress and wanted to know why.

The sentiment tag is cut with one of the PTI Half & Half dies first and then taped into the Library Card Tag die to line up and cut the hole at the top of the tag.

The embossed sentiment is from the PTI Mega Mixed Messages stamp set.

Any one else still have a collection of fibers? These are Making Memories from their Beach Trims line from many moons ago.

Not only are they light & airy, they are the perfect color mix for this card.

The paper flowers are my least favorite part of the card. I did mix up the colors & style of flowers, but just feel they are a bit too rigid & formal for the dreamy quality of the rest of the design.

My bouquet is set on a green vellum doily - only the center of the doily is adhered, so there is some movement and lightness to the edges.

I'm off to check out the other links in the Blog Hop.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MFTWSC81 Fine Wine

I have a long "To Do" list for the next few days, so just have time for a quick post while the barbeque heats up.

This is the sketch for My Favorite Things Weekly Stamp Club challenge this week:

As you can see, I made a couple of minor changes to the design, combining the fishtail tag & circle embellishment:

The sentiment and glasses are from MFT Let's Toast die and stamp set and are combined with dies from Well Worn Greetings.

The papers are mostly from Echo Park Times & Seasons, with the sentiment stamped on a piece of designer paper from Studio Calico's Classic Calico Collection.

As promised, short & sweet today!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CAS-ual Friday 62 Back in Black

This is my second attempt at a CAS-ual Friday Challenge - for more information, check out their blog here.

CFC62 is Back in Black: Create a Clean and Simple card using a black card base.

My first thought was to stamp and emboss on black, but I discovered another hole in my craft supplies. I have very few colored embossing powders and the ones I do have are darker colors that just don't show well on the black base.

This is my finished card:

The black paper was reflecting a lot of light and I must have taken 25 photos before getting one I was happy with.

I did end up embossing with Tim Holtz Distress embossing powder and Distress Inks. I haven't pulled these out for a long time, so it was fun to play with them again.

Trying to work quickly is not always a good idea with multiple open embossing powders!

Yes, I poured the Spiced Marmalade embossing powder into the Scattered Straw container {sigh}. I stared at it for a moment, then grabbed a spoon and pulled out as much of the orange as I could, taking quite a bit of the yellow with it. There might be a few specks of orange I missed, but, hey - this is distress embossing powder and it will only enhance the distressed look (at least that's what I've told myself).

In the end I used the "damaged" embossing powder for my card and the yellow definitey dominated.

I stamped and embossed all the images together. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things (Let's Toast) and the butterflies are Hero Art. 

This close-up shows how distinct and distressed an image you get with the Tim Holtz product.

Once the image is cool, it is rubbed gently to release small crystals.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 163

I have become familiar with Karen Giron through her work on the My Favorite Things and Taylored Expressions Design Teams. Although I regularly checked out her blog through MFT and TE, I only realized recently she has a Sketch Challenge. After checking the sketches out for a few weeks, I've decided to play along.

All the details for the current challenge, Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 163 (SSSC163), are here including the sketch:

And here is my card:

I did switch things up a bit, using the MFT Well Worn Greetings die to anchor the sentiment and provide a base for this sweet a la Mode girl to stand.

All the papers are from the Indie Chic Citron designer paper pad from My Mind's Eye.

I tried cutting a few different flowers, but wasn't happy with any of them. The paper floss was already wrapped around the bottom panel - this is just a natural tan that I colored with a Copic marker (BG18) - when I played around with an idea I'd seen on Pinterest last week.

I had seen a pin for making twine flowers that linked back to a blog called The Bug Bytes. You can check out the tutorial for yourself, but it is a simple "old" technique made new again. A few of my friends remember making yarn flowers with the same technique back in their brownie/girl scouts days (you know, some time in last century).

The paper floss I used is a lot stiffer than twine or embroidery floss, but it gave me the exact flower I wanted for my card. I know the color on the paper floss isn't perfect - I thought about touching it up after the flower was made, but actually like the rustic feel of the uneven coloring.

Thanks for letting me play along with SSSC163 and thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Make It Monday #75: Roll the Die

Oh my goodness, this challenge almost did me in. Erin Lincoln's video at Nichole Heady's blog explains the Roll the Die challenge this week at Papertrey Ink. At first glance it seemed straight forward enough, but after filling in the worksheet and rolling the die I ended up with:

• horizontal orientation
• Sketch 1
• Library Ledger stamp set
• Mega Mixed Messages stamp set
• kraft/pink/red color combo
• bling embellishments

It all looks reasonable until I tried to reconcile the sketch with the Library Ledger stamp set. The only good thing about being in the dentist chair this week was time to mull over how I could pull this off.

I finally came up with the idea of using the two grid stamps in the set (instead of the library card) and creating a color block with Copic markers for the two panels in the sketch.

I can honestly say I would never have made this card without the Roll of the Die challenge, but the more I worked on it, the more it came together and I am pretty happy with the final result.

The PTI Mega Mixed Messages stamp set is so incredibly versatile, I could have used a number of different sentiments, but the "make a wish" seemed made to go with the stars on the sketch. I diecut two stars the same size and offset them, only adhering the center so they have a bit of movement (the top star is also mounted with foam adhesive for a little height).

I did try a few rhinestones on the sentiment star, but ended up removing them - there was enough bling flashing around on this card!

The grid blocks are colored with 3 Copics (RV21, RV25 & RV29) - I'm glad I left a few of the smaller grid openings white, but it looked unfinished when I tried to do the same with the larger grid panel.

The stars are from Teresa Collins - a happy find in my stash - and the swirls are a cut up Zva Creative Crystal long flourish.

I hope to get some time to roll the die again later this week.

Thanks for stopping,

Jacquie

MFTWSC80 The Best Things

My Favorite Things has come up with another great sketch for the Wednesday Stamp Club challenge they host on Splitcoast Stampers.


This week's sketch:

And my card:

I pulled out the MFT Vertical Greetings II stamp & die set along with  the Authentique Lively paper pad - I needed to work with bright colors and inspiring thoughts today!

The sentiment panel is stamped with Brilliance Coffee Bean ink, heat embossed and then sponged all over with a little Spun Sugar Distress Ink.

The larger chipboard butterfly (Maya Road?) is covered with Brillance Rust ink and mounted on an oval panel where the sentiment tab is in the sketch.

I covered the smaller butterflies with Smooch and then a thin smear of Worn Lipstick Distress Stickles. They are adhered with glue dots so that one wing is lifted up to give a bit of movement to the design. 

Looking at the finished card, I wish I had used another color for the small butterflies, but then I would have had to figure out what product to use to color them - I only have the one bottle of Smooch {grin}. Time was running out and sometimes you just have to walk away.

Please excuse a little bragging:  I've added a couple of award blinkies to the blog this week. My entry at Frosted Designs won the Washi Tape challenge and I was a runner-up at Really Reasonable Ribbon. It does put a smile on my face to win, but more than anything I really appreciate the blog world for giving a great venue for challenges and inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Tuesday Trigger - Allegro Con Brio Take Two & CAS-ual Friday

Do you ever have an idea for a card spinning around in your head, but it takes a few days to come together? That's what happened to me this week with the Tuesday Trigger from Moxie Fab World. I made and posted a card inspired by the trigger photo a couple of days ago, but it really didn't come out the way I wanted it to.

I kept coming back to the image:

I sat down at my desk and poked through scraps of patterned paper trying to bring the plan together and  three colors of the same chevron design from My Mind's Eye On the Bright Side paper pad ended up at the top of the pile.

Using my paper trimmer I sliced up the chevrons and then rearranged the strips to create a bigger chevron pattern. Let's just say I am thrilled with the results!

This has the line, color and shape I wanted. The playful energy of the design screamed for a fun sentiment, so I pulled out an older Hero Arts stamp.

The ink is Pearlescent Rust from Brilliance and also plays to the energy with a nice shiny, glittery look. I edged the white panel with Memento Dandelion ink and popped the whole panel up with foam adhesive. The sentiment panels are cut with the Spellbinders Nestabilities Diamond dies and trimmed to fit along the chevron lines.

The top and bottom edges of the chevrons are left loose to form a bit of a fringe - again playing to the energetic feel of the card.

I am so happy I made a second attempt at this challenge!

I've decided to also enter this card in the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #61 which is to use strips of color or pattern in a Clean and Simple creation. This is my first time participating in a Clean and Simple challenge, but I've been a regular stalker on their blog.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Tuesday Trigger - Allegro Con Brio

Time for another Tuesday Trigger from Moxie Fab World. I didn't know the term "allegro con brio", but wasn't surprised to find in the musical world it means to perform "with energy"- I totally agree there is a lot of energy in the line, colors & shapes of the inspiration photo.

Is it odd that the shape that jumped out at me was a diamond not a triangle? Maybe it had something to do with the fact I was looking through my small collection of Spellbinders Nestabilities dies and wondered why I never used the diamond shape.

I focussed on a small section of the photo and recreated a color block with three patterned papers in colors from the photo.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and stamped in Bahama Blue ink from Memento. All the papers are from the American Craft Shoreline paper pad.

I'm not completely happy with the finished card, so might play a little more with this concept a little more in the next couple of days.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Make It Monday #74 Stamping on Texture

This week, the Make It Monday challenge at Papertrey Ink is to Stamp on Texture. The texture is first created with an Impression Plate, then stamped, so only the raised portion receives the ink.

The video here from Heather Nichols demonstrates the technique beautifully. I love all the Impression Plates Heather used, but only had a few at home to play with. I almost didn't try my birds and swirls plate because the embossed image is so thin, but, wouldn't you know it, this is my favorite.

I inked the debossed side first, thinking that more inking surface would give a better finished product, but really, really liked this side best.

The embossed panel was stamped with one of the PTI Background Basics: Text Style II stamps. I really like the "message" in the text, so masked off and stamped "teach us delight in the simple things" on a scrap of paper to create a little banner to pop up on the sentiment panel.

The sentiment is from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages stamp set, and the panel was die cut using one of the Half & Half dies.

I wrestled with the braided trim I wanted to use on the card. I was VERY determined that it would work, but it is pretty bulky. The button is also PTI and the red hemp is from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Moxie Fab World - Trigger Target!

Woo Hoo - remember this card I posted last weekend?

Well, it was picked as one of the Trigger Targets by Cath Edvalson at Moxie Fab World!!!!!

How appropriate that it is a Thank You card, because I am sending a big thank you to Cath and everyone that came to my little blog & took a look.

I love this challenge and enjoy spending time admiring all the projects that are linked every week- there is such an amazing variety of talent out there.

The new Tuesday Trigger is posted and the wheels in my head are turning as I try to decide which direction to go - color? line? shape? all the above?

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MFTWSC79 beach time

Hmmm, this is a first I think - I made a card for the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers, but I didn't stamp anything - not an image, not a sentiment!

Here is the sketch for MFTWSC79:

And my card:

I did use three different sets of MFT Die-namics, so don't feel too bad about not stamping anything.

The main panel is pieced together using the Die-namics Hexagon, the stars are cut with the Stars Stax and the sentiment tag is cut with the Fishtail Flags Stax.

The little blue star is cut with the smallest star in the Stax set and is a tiny die - I've "lost" it twice already in the office. The charm and bit of ribbon & twine are from my stash.

The larger two fishtail flag pieces are cut with the same die - trimming the blue piece along  the emboss line allows these to stack nicely. 

I decided to use letter stickers from Lily Bee Designs and freed one of the Making Memories seashell brads from it's packaging (it wasn't easy . . . I think I have hoarded these for at least 8 years, maybe longer).

This tag is popped up with foam adhesive to add dimension.

All the paper is from the Authentique Fresh paper pad - including the beach babes image in the corner.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Tuesday Trigger & Fabulous Friday

I love days where I have a little more crafty time than expected - my kids are teens, so don't require the same level of direct supervision that was needed a few years ago. Still, our rule is that an adult needs to be home before they can go in the pool with friends. The perfect spot to "supervise" them is from our office, so while I listened to the splashing and frolicking poolside, I cranked out a few more projects.

The Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday challenge this week is to use Washi Tape in a project.

Have I mentioned before how much I love washi tape? I love the translucency of it and am excited to see many paper manufacturers adding washi to their product lines.

I already had my flower dies out and really liked the red/pink/coral colors in this week's Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World, so decided to create another card that could be entered in their challenge as well.

Remember the trigger?

My card:

So where is the Washi Tape?

I started with these tapes from My Mind's Eye Indie Chic Citron Grow (green) and Ginger Pictures (pink) collections.

I layered strips of the tape on scrap pieces of cardstock. Both are layered on white and the pink tape is also layered on yellow, pink and red. Depending on how you line up the strips of tape, you can create different patterns.

My Favorite Things Die-namics were used to cut the flowers (Prima Donna Petals and Hibiscus centers) and leaves (Royal Leaves).

A large Wilton doily and stamp from the MFT Let's Toast die and stamp set round out the supply list.

These close-ups give you a better idea of the color variations from the different cardstocks.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Tuesday Trigger - Pretty Poppies

I am so happy the Tuesday Trigger is back at Moxie Fab World!

This is my take on the inspiration photo:

And the trigger:

So, as you can see, I focussed on the flowers and scalloped edge of the plate.

I  loved the soft, light feel of the poppies, so went to a product I haven't used in a long, long time: vellum!

The flowers & leaves were cut with Hibiscus and Royal Leaves dies from My Favorite Things.  I layered the flowers together and finished the centers off with older brads from my stash (Girls Paperie, Making Memories and Kaiser Crafts).

I don't know what that little bit is behind the large leaf above, but you can see it disappeared before I took this next photo.

The "scalloped" ribbon is a piece of rickrack that I trimmed one side off and the stamp is an old favorite.

I love this leaf die - the veins are embossed and the leaf has a bit of a lift off the page, giving great dimension to a project.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie