Muse #134 + Simon Says

After a disappointing football day (not looking good Chargers), I retreated to the office to finish a card using a watercolored panel that I started earlier in the week.

 The inspiration came from the lovely, bubbly card Anita Bowden gave us for the Muse #134 challenge.

I love the interlocking bubbles embossed on Anita's card and the airy, bokeh feel of it and really wish I had that background stamp in my collection, but I don't. After playing with a few different ideas I was happiest with the watercolored panel made with the PTI World Map stamp which replaces the circles with a grid pattern.

I stayed with the blue, green and pink color palette, added a SSS die cut and stamped sentiment and replaced the thread nest with a trio of enamel dots.

This card is also being linked to the Wednesday Challenge Blog at Simon Says Stamp where the challenge this week is No Designer Paper.

I was distracted from finishing this post by a much better football afternoon (yeah Seahawks!) and the very cool solar eclipse this evening. Events like that make me kick myself for not getting my DSLR camera fixed or replaced.

Hope you had a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink September 2015 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Papertrey Ink September 2015 Blog Hop!

We have been given a wonderful inspiration photo to jump start our design and challenged to use the faux chalkboard technique on a fall themed card. You can check out all the details here, including a link to Betsy Veldman's faux chalkboard technique tutorial.  For this card, the faux chalkboard panel was made first using a Graceful Greetings sentiment and a few sprigs from Birds & Blooms.

A number of leaves were die cut from watercolor paper using Leave It Be dies and then colored with watercolor pens. The edges curled up nicely as the leaves dried.

A Smoky Shadow panel is embossed with a basket weave pattern, the leaves adhered to this panel and then the chalkboard sentiment panel adhered on the nest of leaves. I love the way the vibrant leave colors contrast with the dark gray!


This card is also being linked to Seize the Birthday where the current challenge includes using dies.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the fabulous cards linked to the Blog Hop today. Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Week 165: Circles + CQC #309 + Simon Says

This might be my fastest post ever if I can pull it off in my five minute window before heading out the door.

I've combined the CASology Week 165: Circles challenge with Colour Q Challenge #309 to create this clean & simple card.

A white panel was inked before the SSS Confetti Circle die was used to cut the sun burst circle. The negative of the die cut helped get all the little circles in their proper place on the card front.

A PTI sentiment is selectively stamped in two shades of gray and the rust color.

I'm also linking this card to the Wednesday Challenge Blog at Simon Says Stamp where the current challenge is No Designer Paper.

  

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

PTI MIM#224 + Simon Says Die Crazy

Have you seen Danielle Flanders' Make It Monday #224: Two-Toned Stamped Sentiments video tutorial for Papertrey Ink? It is a fun technique that I played with a bit this morning.

I used the same Horizontal Stripes Cover Plate as Danielle and one of the Graceful Greetings stamp set sentiments for my card. The sentiment is stamped on the black striped die cut first and embossed in white and then stamped in black on the card base.

White cardstock was inked before the Leaf Silhouette dies were cut and a New Leaf die cut is cut from New Leaf cardstock. The pieces are adhered together and a twine bow added on top.

I'm also linking this card to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog Die Crazy challenge.

I hope you are all enjoying the last day of summer, at least here in the Northern Hemisphere. We are expecting another heat wave this weekend and I think it is going to be a while before we get a Fall nip in the air and soup weather.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Fusion: Peacock Dynasty + Simon Says Die Crazy + Seize the Birthday Anything Goes

The Fusion Challenge is back after a summer break and I couldn't resist playing with the colors in the Peacock Dynasty Challenge.

This is definitely a card that started with one idea in mind and twisted and turned until I ended up with this final design. How fun are Tim Holtz Bird Crazy Stamps? Can you see this one as a peacock?

The image is stamped and heat embossed in gold on watercolor paper. A couple of Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens (cobalt blue and blue) added the peacock colors and, once the image was dry, it was die cut.

The bird sits on an embossed circle panel, surrounded by a royal blue rim and inset back into the white panel. Following the sketch, another aqua panel is embossed and nestled into the circle.

A Wplus9 sentiment adds the birthday greeting. This card is also being linked to the Simon Says Die Crazy at their Wednesday Challenge Blog and the Anything Goes challenge at Seize the Birthday.

I might have shared this photo before, but a peacock inspired challenge deserves a real peacock photo in the post.

We have wild peacock's that hang out in the area and this one was strutting through a friend's yard.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #132 & Muse: ChristmasVisions #19 + Simon Says Use A Stamp + NBUS #5

I have a moment to quickly share a couple of cards before I have to do my parental duty and sit on the sidelines for a late afternoon soccer game. Did I mention we are still dealing with a sweltering heat wave?  And yes, I am really whining about having to sit and watch the game and ignoring the fact that my dear son will be running several miles in the sun before the afternoon is done.

Anyway, while enjoying cooler temperatures indoors, I made a couple of cards for the two Muse Challenges.

For Muse: Christmas Visions #19 card, I used a couple elements from Chriss Blagrave's inspiration card (skyline, moody night sky) and played with a couple others (the yellow from the windows became a north star, the white stamped stars became stenciled snowflakes).

This second card is the inspired by Joan Bardee as the muse for Muse Challenge #132. I took her idea of the stacked series of sentiments and reinvented them as speech bubbles for this card.

The small speech bubbles are layered on a large speech bubble die cut that is embossed for a little dimension. The "friend" die is a NBUS item from Mama Elephant. and qualifies me to enter the NBUS #5. The lovely Darnell is once again hosting a Never Been Used Schtuff challenge. You have until September 18th to join in the fun and there is an amazing collection of sponsors along with the prizes Darnell always generously donates.

With Use A Stamp the challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog, I will be linking this card up there.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Runway Inspired Challenge #91 + Seize the Birthday + Simon Says

After all the buttons & bling in yesterday's post, I went in a completely different direction for this bold, graphic birthday card.

  

I think it is pretty obvious how Runway Inspired Challenge #91 influenced the design.

A Tim Holtz border die is cut in black, lime and aqua cardstock to create a panel echoing the design on the model's top. 

This panel is popped up on a black card base, making it very hard to photograph straight on. These side angles give a much better view of the dimension.

The sentiment is created with MFT High-Rise Alphabet and Number Die-namics cut from white, lime and aqua cardstock and stacked together.

I am also linking this card to Seize the Birthday in the Anything Goes category, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog challenge to Make It Colorful and Virginia's View Challenge #18 Geometric Patterns.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Craft Hoarders Anonymous September 2015 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Craft Hoarders Anonymous September 2015 Blog Hop! I'm so glad you stopped by today, giving me the opportunity to share a trio of cards I created. 

You should be coming to my blog from Pam's blog. After visiting me, hop over to Glenda's blog next. To start at the beginning of the hop, and for a full list of participants, go to Gloria's blog here.

I have to give a big thank you to Gloria for coming up with the idea of a Craft Hoarders Anonymous Blog Hop and giving me a prod to use some of my extensive collection of pretty little things. For this first Hop, I concentrated on using buttons and bling, along with the contrasting textures of burlap and tissue paper to create a trio of Clean & Simple cards.

I need a wedding card for the son of dear friends this month and so this heart card was my first design. The tissue paper is die cut first and layered on a burlap square. Because these materials are a little flimsy and I didn't want the burlap to fray too much before I was finished adding the embellishments, the panel is backed with a transparency square.

The threaded buttons are adhered first and the pearls and bling added to fill in the gaps. A trio of bright pink flowers cover one corner, along with a Maya Road butterfly pin. The Avery Elle sentiment is stamped on a piece of vellum and heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

With design inspiration coming from CAS(E) This Sketch! #139, I am linking up to their challenge.

For this second card, a star die cut creates the window for a shaker card.

You can see here how I added the transparency to the back of the burlap for stability before cutting out the star center and adhereing the burlap to the main panel.

Threaded buttons, pearls and bling outline the star shape, an embossing folder is used to add texture to the back of the shaker box and microbeads provide the filling.

The sentiment is created by pairing a Simon Says Stamp die cut with an embossed sentiment banner. The shimmer card stock works well all the bling.

For this last card, I followed the same steps as the other cards, starting with the resin butterfly and adding the buttons and bling around it.

Once again, an Avery Elle sentiment is stamped and heat embossed on the vellum banner.

Some of my bling was in the colors I needed for these cards, but the majority of my extensive collection is clear or white. The pearls and gems are so easy to color with Copic markers to get the color I needed.

The design of this birthday card was inspired by inverting Freshly Made Sketches #202 and it is also being linked to Seize the Birthday in the Anything Goes category.

I hope you are inspired to use some of the crafting supplies you have been hoarding and will take some time to visit all the blogs of the very talented designers in this Hop!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie