Muse #86 + Seize the Birthday + Simon Says

Anita Bowden is the Guest Designer for Muse #86 and has provided this beautiful birthday card for our inspiration.

  

I love the color palette, the vellum sentiment banner, the lovely, scripty happy die along with the floral stamped circle. All these soft, feminine elements were shifted to the masculine side for my card. 

The palette is almost the same, although my colors are a little more intense, and the floral stamped circle is replaced by sketchy circles stamped on the card base.

A white panel is cut in two and the MFT  happy die adhered to one side. A thin strip of green cardstock edges the lower white panel that is stamped with a clean & simple birthday sentiment.

These white sentiment panels are popped up over the stamped portion of the card base.

I am also entering this card over at Seize the Birthday in the Anything Goes category and at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Simon Says . . . Anything Goes this week.

I hope you are up to something fun today. I was lucky enough to get in some crafting time before our soccer game today while my dear husband is finally on his way to Chicago. Their flight was delayed before being cancelled late yesterday and today's flight was also delayed a few hours.

My son and I are now off to go sock shopping. Yes, socks are a thing for teen boys to shop for right these days :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink September 2014 Blog Hop

For the Papertrey Ink September 2014 Blog Hop, Nichole Heady has provided an inspiration photo along with sketches and color palettes.

I was drawn to the unique metal pail and used the second color palette to design my card.

An image from Fancy That is stamped with Versamark and heat embossed on a Smoky Shadow square and then layered with a Ripe Avocado scalloped Limitless Layers square die cut.

A couple of Button Stack dies and enamel dot create a little flower for the center with Glossy Accents on the Autumn Rose die cut mimicking the gloss of the heat embossed image.

I can't wait to see how everyone else was inspired this month.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge #16 Guest Designer

As a September Guest Designer for the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge, I am excited to play along with the second challenge of the month, and I couldn't be happier with the supplies that we are challenged to pull out.

Like so many papercrafters, I have a bit of an obsession with office and school supplies.

Challenge #16 Who Loves School and Office Supplies?

Most paper crafters also love school and office supplies. We love crayons, markers, shaped paperclips, notepads, folders, and more! If you hoard school and office products, get them out! Use them up! Use at least one item that is really a school or office supply on your project. 

I pulled out an older 7 Gypsies stamp set along with some newer MFT stamps and dies to make this file folder thank you card.

The Spotlight Sentiment Thank You was stamped and then the outlined section colored with  Distress Markers and highlighted with Wink of Stella.

A paperclip holds the file folder closed and is easily slipped aside to expose the sentiment folder inside.

Again, the 7 Gypsies Disclaimer stamps are paired with with a few different MFT stamps (including the background grid stamp) and the High-Rise Alphabet dies. The die cut letters are covered with Wink of Stella for a little shine.

Did you notice a few elements are stapled on the card? The staples and paperclips are the real office supplies used as part of the challenge.

I hope you dig into your hoarded supplies and play along with these challenges.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CTS93 + FFC40 + NBUS#2 + Fusion Shiny Pink

Our heat wave has finally broken, and one of the benefits is I have ventured upstairs into the office a bit more in the last couple of days. I was enchanted by the soft pink & cream palette in the Festive Fridays Challenge #40 and had been thinking about using a new Christmas stamp and die to make a couple of cards for Darnell's NBUS #2 challenge, so these challenges paired nicely together.

In addition, both cards are influenced by the shiny pink car in the Fusion Sept 11th challenge.

And this first card was based on the sketch for CAS(E) this Sketch #93.

For this clean & simple card, the wreath was stamped with Versamark and embossed with Ranger Holographic embossing powder before being die cut.

The sentiment was curved slightly to follow the line of the curved panel and heat embossed. The edges of the pink panel were also inked with the Versamark and embossed with the holographic embossing powder for a little extra shine.

A few shiny pink pearls were attached to the cream panel after the wreath was woven through the sentiment. I spent far too long deciding whether to add the pink pearl as a dot for the "i" and am still not sure if I like it.

This second card uses the same wreath stamp (Option 3 in the NBUS challenge to use the same Christmas stamp on two different cards).

A narrow panel provides a base for some embossed dots and the vellum onrnaments.

The sentiments and wreath are all from PTI's Rustic Wreath stamp set.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #84 + Seize the Birthday

Did you see Therese Calvird's stunning card for the Muse #84 challenge?

This butterfly is so beautifully colored and then to cut it into a triangle mosaic is just brilliant!

I tried stamping and diecutting a few different images, but kept losing the shape when I reassembled the pieces, so took the concept in a slightly different direction. Deciding to play with contrasting shapes, the free form curves of the PTI Circle Scribbles stamps were paired with the rigid geometic hexagons of the cover plate.

I wanted to stamp the circle images on both the card base and panel that was going to be die cut, so used a stamp press to help me line them up. It is hard to see in these photos, but the images on the card base are stamped a shade lighter than the die cut images.

A few different adhesives are used to pop up some of the hexagons to different heights.

This card is also being linked to the current Seize the Birthday Challenge Anything Goes.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Craft Hoarders Anonymous September 2014 Challenge Guest Designer

The Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge is the brainchild of the super talented Gloria Stengel, where there are two challenges a month to dig into our stash of hoarded supplies. I am so excited to be a Guest Designer for the Craft Hoarders Anonymous September 2014 Challenge to use flowers.

Challenge #15 All the Pretty Flowers

This challenge is for all of you flower hoarders! Maybe you hoard pre-made flowers. Maybe you hoard flower punches or dies. Maybe you hoard flower stamps. "Dig" out those flowers and use them on your project!

I have my share of flower stamps and dies that see regular use, but my pre-made flower stash definitely needed a little love.

My style tends to lean to Clean and Simple, but that didn't stop me from getting nine flowers on this card.

To keep the clean color palette, all the green leaves were trimmed off the flowers before they were adhered to the black card base in the ombre rows.

The sentiment from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Birthday Word Art Clear Stamp Set  is stamped and heat embossed on the card base before the flowers were added. Did you check out who designed this stamp set? ;)

I have plans to make a few more of these ombre flower cards in different color palettes.

Head over to the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge blog to see what the Design Team and other Guest Designers have made to inspire you and then start digging through your stash! Gloria always has great sponsors and for this challenge there will be two winners because both Crafty Secrets and Heartfelt Creations have provided prizes.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

TYIC#5 + Curtain Call Lovely Leaves + JUGS257

I am popping in with a quick tag card inspired by the Tag You're It! Challenge #5, the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: September 1 - Lovely Leaves and Just Us Girls #257 Word Week: Leaves.

I'm having fun with my new watercolor paints and used the Curtain Call colors to create a panel of yellow, orange, red, pink & purple. Once dry, the Lawn Fawn leaves were die cut from the panel.

While waiting for the watercolor to dry,  the tag was die cut from a soft gray cardstock and stamped with a cracked paint background stamp to add a little texture.

The largest leaf is popped up on the tag and then the tag mounted on the card base. All the leaves are curled slightly and only adhered in the center as they fall down the side of the card.

A feathery fiber finishes the tag off.

This is my first time entering a challenge at Just Us Girls, but when I saw Bobby's post as the September Guest Designer, I couldn't resist.

On a completely different note, I love San Diego weather reports. What you might call "fog", we call "marine layer" and what you call "humidity" we call "monsoonal moisture". Well, my dear husband and I are braving today's monsoonal moisture to join the feasting & dancing at our local Greek Festival. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CAS(E) this Sketch #91 + Muse #83 + Simon Says Stamp It + NBUS#2

This is truly a card that created itself. Earlier in the week I attempted to make something inspired by Vicki Dutcher's card for the Muse #83 challenge.

My new watercolor paints were opened and a pink & red panel painted, dies were cut and sentiments stamped & embossed, but it just refused to come together as a card. The abandoned project sat on my desk until today, when I decided to pull it apart and rescue a few of the elements.

I had moved onto  CAS(E) this Sketch #91 thinking the sentiment would work well with this sketch.

The watercolored panel was already tossed in the recycling before I realized, with the right shape cut-out on the card front, I might be able to save it too.

I've cut curved edges before, but I don't think I've ever used this SSS Curved Edge die that did such a beautiful, clean job. The right cut was made first, then the die was nestled in the bottom of the first cut and the top edge moved over to the left. It cut exactly the way I wanted it to!

The watercolored panel was manipulated so that a clean portion was peeking through the cut and then the rescued sentiment and Maya Road butterfly were attached.

A trio of NBUS clear iridescent sequins finish the card off.

With the watercolor paints, Curved Edge die and sequins being NBUS, I am happy to link this up to Darnell's second NBUS challenge under Option 4 None of the Above :)

Even if you aren't interested in this challenge (but I'm having a hard time believing there isn't a little NBUS lurking in your craft area), if you don't already know Darnell, you owe it to yourself to check out her blog. And if you don't laugh at least once per blog post, we can't be friends.

Given that I used one of Simon Says Stamp's exclusive stamp sets, I am also linking this card to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Simon Says Stamp It. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie