The Card Concept #65 + SSS & Muse #200 + Seize the Birthday

Happy Friday! Our winter storms have passed and the weather has been glorious the last couple of days, making me want to play with bright, spring colors. For this first card, the inspiration photo for The Card Concept #65 {Fresh & Bold} fit my mood perfectly.

Although white is the predominant color on the card, the bright pink and orange add great energy and take up a lot of visual space, pushing this card more into the Clean & Graphic category. The Poppystamps Simmons border mimics the patterned pillows and a simple Avery Elle Brushed sentiment finishes the card.

This card is also being linked to the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp's Wedneday Challenge blog.

My second card is inspired by Jenni's card for Muse #200. I followed her design closely, with a single blossom flanked by leaves, but anchored mine on an oval die cut.

An Avery Elle sentiment is curved to follow the line of the oval.

Muse #200 Jenni Murray

This card is also being entered at Seize the Birthday in the Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jacquie

Muse #164 + The Card Concept #54

Happy Mother's Day for all the moms (and mums) out there! Somehow I started the day making breakfast for my family, but I've told them I really hope someone makes me a dinner that involves shrimp and lemon tonight. 

I couldn't resist playing along with a couple of challenges yesterday that had a common thread making it possible to combine them on one card.

Michele's card for the Muse Challenge #164 and the inspiration photo from The Card Concept #54 had me thinking about purple spring flowers. An image from PTI's Bitty Bouquet stamp set is stamped on the panel a couple of times and then several more images are stamped and die cut. The MB watering can die is cut with metallic paper, placed over the stamped flowers and then the die cut flowers were layered in place.

The Avery Elle sentiment is stamped and heat embossed on a purple banner. The banner and watering can are both popped up in the center and adhered flush to the panel at the edges.

I think, with the layering of the floral image, this card belongs in The Card Concept's Clean & Layered category.

In other news, spreadsheets & alarms are now being used to track Stefan's eye drops and assorted meds. Because his left arm is still in a splinted straight out, it is a struggle for him to administer his own eye drops. Just one of the details he didn't think through when scheduling the surgeries so close together {sigh}.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Craft Hoarders Anonymous February 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the 

Craft Hoarders Anonymous February 2016 Blog Hop!

You should be coming here from Debbie Seyer's blog, A Peek Into My Stamping Room. If you get lost along the way, or want to start at the beginning of the Hop, head over to Gloria Stengel's Scraps of Life blog for a full list of participants.

My project this month was inspired by a few Valentine challenges, including the pretty felt heart  sachets in the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge February 1 - Sachet. Felt is one of the crafting supplies I tend hoard, so I pulled out the pink and red felt and created a card and pillow box set.

The card started with the PTI heart dies layered on a heart embossed panel layered on a scalloped edge panel.  A simple twine & button embellishment hold the Avery Elle sentiment in place.

The pillow box was super fun to make and will be filled with candy & an iTunes gift card. After the box was die cut, it was embossed with the same heart folder used on the card. The tag was made next, combining the MFT circle tag with a PTI felt heart tag and a PTI sentiment. While trying to decide how else to embellish the box I was playing around with scraps of felt to make little dimensional hearts.

Two strips of felt were stitched together at one end, then the opposite sides stitched together at the other end to form these simple hearts. 

In the end, three hearts were strung, alternating with mini pompoms, and finally the tag to finish off the pillow box.

I am linking this Valentine gift set to the Curtain Call Challenge: Sachet, The Card Concept #48: Sweethearts  in the Clean & Layered category and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog: Have a Heart.

     

It's time to head over and see what wonderful creation Tracey Sabella has waiting for you on her blog, Garden of Grace. Remember, you can always head to Gloria Stengel's Scraps of Life for the full hop list.

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

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

MIM #193 + CTS103 + Curtain Call Candy Cane & MM139 + Card Concept #25

I couldn't resist making time to play with Laura Bassen's Make It Monday#193: Camouflaging Die Cuts. You can check out the video tutorial here.

I also took inspiration from CAS(E) this Sketch #103 for the design and the Curtain Call December 15 - Candy Cane challenge for the color palette.

  

It is very hard to see in the full card photo, but score lines add a bit of dimension and echo the stripes of the candy canes.

This second card is based on The Card Concept #25: Silent Night Neutrals and Merry Monday #139: Winter Wonderland .

I used my pearl Modeling Cream and Memory Box stencil to add snowflakes to the panel first and then layered on the inked reindeer die cut and Sizzix die cut sentiment. I think ths card belongs in the Clean & Layering category.

The kids are finishing up final projects before their winter break and I am on call to advise my son on a little painting, die cutting and hot gluing tonight. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CAS(E) this Sketch #100 + CASology 122: Flag & The Card Concept #23: Krafty Christmas Take 2

I still haven't decided if I'm going to mass produce a Christmas card for mail out this year, or continue to make as many one of a kind cards as I can. While I'm still thinking about it, I added two more to the stack.

This first card is my second take on The Card Concept #23 Krafty Christmas challenge and in the Clean & Layering category again (I think).

I had made this layered snowflake wreath from a Memory Box die a little while ago and never used it as originally planned.

To keep the design simple, an open frame is made with two square dies nested together and a matching enamel dot is place in the middle of the snowflakes. This is another sentiment from the Technique Tuesday Jingle All The Way stamp set that I've used a few times this week.

A close up lets you see the twinkle from a Wink of Stella brushed over both the vellum and cardstock die cuts.

This second card is based on CAS(E) this Sketch #100. Yes, 100!!! There is even more inspiration this week, as past Design Team members have joined the current Design Team to provide some extra amazing cards.

I really wanted to help celebrate the milestone and play along this week but, even with all the great DT inspiration, was having a really hard time translating this sketch into a unique design. Is wasn't until I saw the CASology Week 22 cue card: Flag that an idea came together for me.

I added a piece of patterned paper to the card base, carefully cutting it to center the "don't peek until Dec 24th" phrase, and then cut a vellum flag and white cardstock flag to layer over it. These layers are only adhered together at the top, allowing a bit of swing and movement between the layers.

Part of the sentiment is stamped on the white panel before it is embossed for added texture. The second sentiment is stamped and heat embossed in silver on the vellum.

A thin line of Diamond Stickles adds a frosty finish to the card.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie