Muse #119 + Fusion: Wedding Belles + Seize the Birthday + Simon Says

Most of my papercrafting time this week has been focussed on preparing for my daughter's graduation party. I did have time to play around with a couple of challenges and ended up with this birthday card to show for it.

The Lawn Fawn Bake Me a Cake stamp set was perfect for creating the layer cake with Delicata Gold and Hawaiian Shores inks. The cake is lightly watercolored before being cut into an oval  panel and layered on a Hawaiian Shores cardstock panel. Before mounting this panel on the card base, a LF Teeny Tiny heart border is stamped in the shimmery gold ink.

A very old MFT birthday sentiment finishes the card off.

The initial inspiration came from Joan Bardee's sweet pink & gold watercolored birthday cake on her card as the Muse #119. I was also inspired by the aqua colored tiered cake in the photo for the Fusion: Wedding Belles challenge.

This card is also being linked to the Anything Goes at both Seize the Birthday and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CAS(E) This Sketch #124

Can you believe it? A post two days in a row! I think the madness of May is behind me and I'm enjoying a little more time to do what I want to do, which includes more papercrafting.

This card has been building in my brain for a little while and came together when I saw the sketch for CAS(E) this Sketch! #124.

I cut a couple of silver shimmer cardstock panels first and then the numbers for "2015" using MFT dies. The panels are backed with a transparency piece before the red and silver microbeads, foam adhesive and white cardstock are layered to create a "2015" shaker.

The microbeads are the perfect filling for a smaller shaker.

The sentiment was finished with black die cut letters and arranged to give me the third vertical column I needed for the design. A Paper Studio embossing folder adds a bit of interest and dimension to the white panel everything is adhered to.

Do you see the sketch in my card?

The palette for this card is based on my darling daughter's school colors and I'm still trying to process the fact she is graduating in two weeks?!?!?! It was only yesterday that I was sending this little peanut off to Kindergarten.

Somehow I missed the memo that the school picture backdrop would be pink and sent her off to school in a light pink t-shirt that day. Vowing never to make that mistake again, for her 1st Grade photo she went to school in a pretty shade of aqua.

Hopefully she will agree to let me post a graduation photo after the big day.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink May 2015 Blog Hop

Nichole Heady posted a great inspiration photo for the May 2015 Papertrey Ink Blog Hop and challenged us to create a card using a rainbow of colors and/or scatter of shapes.

I pulled out my Text Block: Party Time die and cut it a few times from white and black cardstock. The pieces around the balloons and sentiment were discarded and the white balloons were inked with a rainbow of colors before being set back into the die cut.

A white die cut is layered under the black to add more dimension to the card.

I love the way the rainbow colored balloons contrast with the crisp black outline and white card base.

This card is also being linked to Seize the Birthday, where the current challenge is Anything Goes.

I'm really excited to see the rainbow cards linked up to the Blog Hop today!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #117

Did you see the lovely, masculine anniversary card Michele Ferguson made for her husband this week and shared with us as the challenge for Muse #117? Well, it's a funny coincidence, but Stefan and I also celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary on May 13th.

May is a crazy month for us with our daughter's birthday, Mother's Day, prom and/or a musical theater production week all coming together to overshadow our anniversary. We usually try to call each other around noon and say something like "hey, do you remember what you were doing 20 years ago at this time?". Michele's post on Monday did remind me I needed to get a card made.

I selectively stamped and embossed a MFT Vertical Greetings sentiment before die cutting the Tim Holtz's Globe die from the Smoky Shadow panel. The globe is also cut in green and set back into the panel and all the little dark gray pieces slipped into place.

The PTI Wet Paint "you" die is cut several times from Smoky Shadow cardstock and layered with a gold shimmer piece on top. A "merry" die is trimmed to give me the "my" I needed to finish the sentiment and adhered onto the panel.

Here is Michele's card. I hope you can see how I was inspired by the dark gray base, grid pattern and mix of word die and stamps for the sentiment.

I still can't believe we made it past that first road trip to Prince George when Stefan went in to pay for gas and asked if I wanted anything. I said bring me a treat and he came back with a pepperoni stick. We both learned the value of clear communication that night and Stefan has not brought me a pepperoni stick as a treat since.

I hope you are having a great weekend.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Fusion: French Twist + Seize the Birthday + Simon Says Get Sentimental

This is another card I worked on over the weekend. When I first saw the photo inspiration for the Fusion: French Twist, I was determined to use a silver bow that has been sitting on my desk for a few months but the design just would not come together until I put that element aside.

Instead I pulled out a few older, neglected supplies. The WPlus9 Lacey Layer image is stamped on Soft Stone paper with Delicata Silver ink before it is die cut and the MFT sentiment is added. This sentiment circle is popped up over the embossed panel. A strip of scrap paper is adhered behind the yellow and white pieces to create a single panel that was dry embossed.

It was fun to make a square card, using both the photo and sketch for inspiration.

Along with the Fusion: French Twist challenge, this card is being linked to Seize the Birthday in the Anything Goes category and to the Wednesday Blog Challenge at Simon Says Stamp where they will look at Anything Sentimental this week.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Curtain Call: Travel On + FMS185 + CASology 145: Shape + Simon Says Sentimental

I hope every celebrating Mother's Day today had a wonderful day! I told my kids the only thing I wanted was them to make a nice seafood dinner and they came through big time with a prawn pasta in a lemon garlic wine sauce that was delicious. In fact, it was so good I told them they could make dinner again next Sunday.

While they were out shopping for dinner, I enjoyed a few hours in the office and have this card to share with you.

A few challenges are combined, including the Curtain Call: Travel On inspiration photo and sketch #185 from Freshly Made Sketches. The map image is stamped first on the white panel, along with a very old MFT sentiment. The Tim Holtz camera blueprint image was stamped onto a white heart die cut and colored with copic markers before being layered on the Smoky Shadow pinked edge heart die cut.

 

 

A scrap of patterned paper and piece of film strip ribbon are added as the flag elements. It is hard to see in this photo, but there is a second teal heart layered under the dark gray heart, adding just a touch of extra color.

This card is also being linked to the CASology Week 145: Shape challenge (with the use of the heart shape) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Let's Get Sentimental.

ETA: oops, I missed the Curtain Call deadline :(

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #116 + Seize the BIrthday

I finally seem to be getting back into a creative groove. Our daughter celebrated her birthday last night. The planned pool party was transformed into an indoor party when the temperature dropped 30 degrees from last week and rain & thunderstorms were forecast. With the kids (young adults?!) taking over downstairs, I happily retreated to the upstairs office for a few hours.

This card is being entered in the Muse #116 and Seize the Birthday challenges.

It is pretty easy to see how I was inspired by Vicki's card - the design is exactly the same, with a change in the color palette and the addition of the star die cut. With many of my daughter's friends turning 18 this year, I'm sure this card will disappear from the stack quickly.

The details for the Muse challenge can be found here and Seize the Birthday here.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse: Christmas Visions 1

It has been way too long since I crafted. Extended family overflowed the guest room into the office for almost two weeks and kept me away from playing with ink and paper. As much as I love having visitors, I was very happy to be sitting at my desk this afternoon.

This is the only card that was finished before carpool and laundry pulled me back into real life.

I was inpsired by the talented Kimberly Wiener and her card for the first ever Muse: Christmas Visions Challenge. A spin-off of the Muse Challenge, details of how to play along with the Muse Christmas Visions can be found here.

As you can see, I stayed with the white/blue/gold palette, using Ocean Wave LuminArte Silks Acrylic Glaze to paint a shimmery blue panel that is adhered to the card base. A white die cut panel is popped up over this and the Tim Holtz Christmas die cut finishes the sentiment.

A combination of white and gold glitter paper is used to make the small poinsettia.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie