Merry Monday #143 : Carolers/Music + Simon Says Anything Goes

I can't believe I might get a post up before the afterschool madness starts. This is a card I made for the Merry Monday Challenge #143: Carolers/Music and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog where Anything Goes this week.

The card is miles from where I started and then required a further adjustment because of an ink smudge. The Paper Smooches "fa la la" is stamped on inked holly leaves and heat embossed white. A few extra leaves are tucked under the speech bubble panel, hopefully balancing the card out a bit as it was a little top heavy.

A scrap of Teresa Collins designer paper and a sheet music embossed panel are adhered directly to the card base.

The trio of glittery enamel dots finish the card off.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MIM #199: Confetti Garland + CASology #131: Birthday

It's been a while since I played along with a PTI Make It Monday challenge, but with the arrival of a few new goodies and the CASology Week #131: Birthday challenge,  Betsy Veldman's confetti border technique was too fun to resist.

 

A few layers of the Phrase Play #12 die were cut from black cardstock and fun foam and adhered together with a layer of acetate. I don't have any of the confetti dies, so substituted sequins with glass beads to act as spacers.

A few more of the rainbow jewel tone sequins were place on the card base before the framed word was adhered over them.

I have no doubt my daughter will be snagging this one from the pile next time she needs a birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink January 2015 Blog Hop

Is it just me, or is 2015 flying along a little too quickly? Today is Papertrey Ink's January 2015 Blog Hop, where we have been given this set of images to inspire a heart based card with a heartfelt message on the inside. You can find all the details here at Capture the Moment.

I was drawn to the pretty colors of the hanging vellum hearts immediately and used orange, pink and red inks to create an ombre panel. A Limitless Layers Heart die is cut from the middle of a slightly smaller white panel and adhered with dimensional tape over the inked panel.

A sweet sentiment from the With All My Heart stamp set finished the card off.

I am linking this card up to a few other challenges. CASology Week 130: Friend, because this clean & simple card is heading to a dear friend, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog where Simon Says Have a Heart this week, Inkspirational Challenge #74: Ombre and Time Out Challenge #23 Valentine's Day.

                                   


                                   


I know there is a lot to see over at the PTI Blog Hop, so I'm heading over there right now!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Merry Monday #142: Houses + Card Concept #27: Love + Inkspirational #74: Ombre

I have a couple of cards to share today. This first one is for the Merry Monday Challenge #142: Houses.

I took the white & red palette and trio of houses from the inspiration photo and used them on my card, selectively cutting a panel with a Memory Box Country Landscape die.

The Baker's Twine and red button are also details taken from the photo and the card is finished with a PTI Rustic Wreath sentiment,

This second card is for The Card Concept #27: Love challenge based on this pretty inspiration photo.

There were so many different ways to go with this challenge and in the end I went with a Clean & Layered card. The panel is inked with Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Barn Red Distress inks before cutting the MFT High-Rise letters and the hearts.

The letters and hearts alternate on a piece of black twine to make a sweet sentiment banner that sits on an embossed panel. This is another Paper Studios embossing folder I manipulated a bit to get the vertical stripes. The orientation of the folder would have given me a horizontal stripe, but if you take a look at my last post here, you can see how I lined up the partial second embossing of the panel. 

A touch of clear Wink of Stella on the hearts finish this card.

I am also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog, where this week Simon Says Have a Heart, and the Inspirational Challenge #74: Ombre. This is a new challenge for me, but I couldn't resist joining in the fun.

Thanks for the storage tips and organization ideas that you have passed on. It is a work in progress, but up to now I have stored my stamps by manufacturer and have decided to try a hybrid system with more organization by theme. 

Instead of breaking up stamp sets I am making an inventory of all stamps and dies using Evernote (thank you for the suggestion Ardyth!) and I feel like it is already paying off. The little heart die I used on this card came from a MFT Accent It - Calendar Components die set that I didn't remember had a heart.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CAS(E) This Sketch! #106

I've reached a point with my crafting supplies where I need to rethink some of my storage, so too much of my time in the office has been spent trying to decide which direction to go. Do I stay with storing by manufacturer or go with themes? I toyed with the idea of an inventory of sentiments, but to be honest, it is an overwhelming task so I keep walking away from it. Any advice, suggestions, etc., would be welcome :)

The real problem with spending time in the office, is I get distracted from the task and start playing with the stuff I'm supposed to be organizing. The sketch from  CAS(E) This Sketch #106 was on my mind this afternoon and led to this card.

The MFT High Rise Alphabet X and O are cut three times from a red panel and popped up on the Soft Stone card base. 

The left panel is embossed with a Paper Studio heart embossing folder. This folder has a horizontal orientation and I finally figured out how to emboss a longer panel without flattening a portion of the panel (and yes, I may be the last one out there to work this out, but thought I would share anyway).

This is what my first attempt looked like, with a row of flattened hearts.

I slipped a new panel in the embossing folder for the first run through my Big Shot and it came out looking like this.

Before the second run through the Big Shot, the bottom two rows of embossed hearts were fit into the folder, slipping perfectly into place. I then lined up the cutting plates the same way I do when making a partial die cut, so the edge of the embossing folder isn't caught between the plates.

The final result was a perfectly embossed vertical panel.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #100 + Virginia's View #11 Clean Slate

I have all sorts of Valentine bits and pieces sitting on the desk as I struggled to put the design in my head onto paper this week. In the end, a happy accident brought me to this card that I am entering in the Muse Challenge #100, where the talented Michele makes her debut as a Design Team member, and Virginia's View #11: Clean Slate.

As Michele had challenged us to "Accentuate the Negative", I was playing with layers of heart die cuts but things weren't lining up as perfectly as I wanted. I started to tidy my desk a bit and uncovered the leftover center of a die cut where I'd used the outer frame on this card. 

Jennifer McGuire had recently posted a video on making Faux Laser Cut cards and when I realized this center portion would fit perfectly behind my heart, I was thrilled.

The second part of Michele's challenge was to use a line from a song as a sentiment, which I struggled with. I kept getting lyrics in my head that I didn't have a stamp for and I didn't want to send my finished panel through the computer. Addicted to Love was the song stuck in my head and I don't know any stamp company with an "addicted" stamp :)

After looking at the options, this Avery Elle sentiment fit the card best.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MFTWSC210 + Seize the Birthday & Card Concept #26 + FMS #168 + CFC135

I've been having more fun playing around with my papercrafting supplies resulting in a couple of cards to share. 

This first card is based on the sketch from MFT's new, revamped Weekly Sketch Club (formerly known as the Wednesday Stamp Club) and hosted by Susan Opel at a new blog, MFT Challenge & Inspiration. I love the the sketch and color challenges will all be found on this new site and encourage you to check it out if you haven't already.

The MFT happy die is cut first and then the fishtail flag banner selectively cut so both ends have a tail and the happy word is not cut off. This is mounted on a speech bubble stamped with the birthday sentiment from Spotlight Sentiments in the same color as the cardstock for a light background.

The birthday image from the Birthday Sentiments stamp set is added to the banner, along with an inked balloon and a scatter of enamel dot "confetti".

I am also linking up to Seize the Birthday, where this challenge the Topping is Party.

This card was also meant to be entered in Kara's 200 Weeks of Inspiration Challenge to celebrate 200 weeks of her fabulous Friday Inspiration File on Pinterest. I missed the deadline, but still encourage you to check out Kara' blog, K and R Designs, and the link to her Pinterest board. The card I CASEd is from File #183 by Heather Pulvirenti.

My second card is a CASE of one I posted two days ago. As I made the first card based on the Freshly Made Sketches challenge #168, I kept looking at the inspiration photo for The Card Concept #26, thinking how pretty this design would look with a little pink and flowers.

The pink crepe paper really helps the pattern on the vellum pop and the sequins add more shine. This is definitely a departure from my usual style and will be entered in the Freestyle Collage category.

For the sentiment, a CASual Friday stamp inked with Delicata Silver Shimmer is paired with the "you" die cut from pink shimmer cardstock.

As I have both felt and sequins on this card, it will also be entered in the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge 135.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Curtain Call + FMS168 + Seize the Birthday & Merry Monday #140 + Paper Smooches

Today was laundry day, so between loads I kept popping into the office and work on these two cards. They were both the kind that needed a little time to come together.

There was a delicious cupcake to inspire us at the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge for Challenge #149 {Snowflakes}, and since my snowflake dies are from Paper Smooches, I checked out the current Sparks challenge and was happy to see it is Anything Goes.

I think it is pretty easy to see how I was inspired: the snowflakes, color palette and embossed vertical lines all came from the challenge photo. The sentiment from the Christmas Sampler stamp set is heat embossed on a vellum banner.

This second card has been floating around in my head ever since I saw the cool wintery scene in the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge Winter Wonder. It all came together relatively quickly when Freshly Made Sketches #168 posted earlier today.

I say relatively fast, because numerous panels were cut and discarded before I settled on the embossed white cardstock, winter white crepe paper and white patterned vellum panels. I have a crafting resolution to use more of the little bits and pieces I have collected over the years instead of just collecting them and I'm off to a good start (the crepe paper and pearl spray were picked up at a local Scrapbook Expo at least 2 years ago).

The Delicata Silver Shimmer ink was perfect for the birthday senitment and echoes the stainless steel thermos (flask?) in the photo.

This card is also being linked up to Seize the Birthday in the Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie