June Guest Designer CASE Study #197 + NBUS + Seize the Birthday

I'm back with my final card as the June Guest Designer at the CASE Study Challenge. This is the final week with the super talented Pamela Ho as the Muse, giving us this stunning card for Case Study #197.

I love the symmetry of the repeated stamped image, the vellum overlay and the the clever use of color. I went in circles coming up with my twist on this design - yes, the pun is intended :) 

In the end, when I gave up on the idea of symmetry but stuck with circles, the card came together super fast. A white panel is cut with the largest sizes of the PTI Tipped Tops dies first and then the right angle of the panel is lined up with the right angle of the second die, so just a piece on the angled side is cut off.

The largest Circle Scribbles stamp is inked with Versafine Onyx Black and stamped in the corner of the panel, overlapping both pieces. The image is rotated a bit and stamped again.

The small piece of the white panel is adhered to the card base and a piece of waxed linen thread inked with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink is wrapped and adhered to mimic the circle scribble.

Random circles of linen thread and yellow jute are adhered to the larger white panel and a sentiment from the PTI Splat stamp set popped up over them before this panel is popped up on the card base.

Since this is the first time using these stamp sets, I am linking up to Darnell's NBUS challenge which has been going on all month. You are being given fair warning, drink with caution when reading Darnell's delightful posts - you may be wiping off the computer screen before you are done :) 

I am also linking to the current Seize the Birthday challenge, where Anything Goes!

I want to give a huge "thank you" to Iwona Palamountain for inviting me to create along with the CASE Study Design Team this month - I had a blast!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink June 2014 Blog Hop + NBUS + Seize the Birthday

Nichole Heady has provided sketches and color palettes, along with an inspiration photo, for the June Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. You can check out all the details and link up to the Blog Hop here.

I picked up the Stained Glass Die collection last year because I had an idea of using the frames just like this!

As often happens, what I planned to do and was actually created are two very different things, with the sentiment ending up in one of the frames :)

The candle from Birthday Style is selectively inked to create various heights, the balloons are inked, overlapped and inlaid into the yellow frame and the sentiment is created by combining Headline Alphabet dies with a Stylish Sentiments: Birthday stamp. Each framed piece has Wink of Stella applied for a little glitter.

I might have used the smaller frame before, but know I have never used the blue & pink frames so I am going to finally enter a card in Darnell's NBUS (never been used schtuff) challenge over at her blog djkardkreations! If, by some glitch in the interwebs, you are not familiar with Darnell and her delightful blog, you are in for a big treat.

I am also entering this card at Seize the Birthday, where Anything Goes for the current challenge. All the details for this challenge are here.

Because we have a few big things going on today, I am going to schedule this post to publish early and then link to the challenges when I have time this evening.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

June Guest Designer CASE Study #196 + The Cutting Edge Challenge

I'm back for another week as the June Guest Designer at the CASE Study Challenge. Doesn't this card from our muse, Pamela Ho, just make you smile!

As much as I love the design of Pamela's card, I was having trouble coming up with my own twist. It wasn't until I put this challenge aside and started working on a "congratulations on your new home" card that the lightbulb went off. 

I only used white cardstock to create my little scene, coloring everything with Distress Inks, and adding a PTI sentiment.

A couple of layers of glue dots adhere the balloon strings and give the house great lift, making it look like it really is floating.

Want to hear a funny story? I know I've shared before that we painted our Kirkland house purple after I couldn't decide between 1000 shades of beige. Our real estate agent was adamant about repainting it beige before listing, so we did. Well, the new owners painted it gray within two days of taking possession and I've always wondered if it would have like the purple.

I am entering this card in a brand new challenge that is all about die cutting! The Cutting Edge Challenge is brought to us by Jackie Rockwell and you can check out the details here. As part of the launch party, they are running a Guest Designer Search Contest,  although time is quickly running out to play along.

The challenge was to pick one of the designer's cards from the graphic above as inspiration. The balloon card caught my attention immediately, although I think my card also takes a bit from the window scene card too.

I can't wait to see how you are inspired by Pamela's card for Case Study #196!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #71 + Seize the Birthday and FMS140 + The Card Concept Challenge #12

We have been officially on summer break for since Thursday at noon and I snuck away from our semi-annual closet clean out to make a couple of cards. This first one is completely inspired by Therese Calvird, the Muse for Challenge #71.

How cool is this card?! I love the bright colors and stacked diecuts and used them on my card.

The font on the Lawn Fawn paper is a good match for the PTI Happy die. The Happy is cut from the panel three times, then stacked with three layers of cardstock and set back into the patterned paper panel.

The bright summer colors and birthday sentiment make this card eligible for the current Seize the Birthday Summertime challenge

Our "Toppings" option this time is

"Summertime"

My second card combines the Freshly Made Sketches #140 with The Card Concept #12 to make a Father's Day card for my daughter to give her dad tomorrow.

The sentiment might be a bit unusual for a Father's Day card, but it really suits the relationship between my daughter & husband.

Wplus9's Dockside stamps & dies were combined with the wood veneer pieces to make the diagonal panel.

The big question is which category does this fit for The Card Concept challenge - Clean & Simple of Clean & Layering?

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASE Study Challlenge #195 June Guest Designer

I'm excited to be back for week two as the June Guest Designer for CASE Study Challenge. Once again we have a terrific card from Pamela Ho to inspire us for challenge #195. You can check out the fabulous Design Team cards and play along here.

Following Pamela's lead, I used a kraft base and sentiment splitting a stamped design.

The images from PTI's Quilled Elegance are stamped with Memento Espresso Truffle ink and colored with Copics. I'd never used Copics on kraft cardstock before, so tested a few colors on a scrap piece before deciding to go with YG09, V15 and BG15. 

This image includes a space between the lines for a stamped sentiment, but I wanted to use a word die. The panel is cut between the two lines and stretched a bit to allow three layers of the MFT Celebrate die cut to nestle in the opening.

Adding a teal panel under the stamped panel helped balance the weight of the die cut.

I can't wait to see how you are inspired by Pamela's card!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Fusion + MIM #168: Baby Wipe Stamping

I have a card to share today that combines the current Fusion Challenge with Ashley Cannon Newell's Make It Monday #168: Baby Wipe Stamping. You can check out the MIM tutorial here.

I love the gorgeous colors in the Fusion photo and knew as soon as I saw Ashley's technique using reinkers, I would be playing with yellows, pinks and oranges.

Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise and Hibiscus Burst inks were randomly dropped on the baby wipe to create an ink pad. Three sizes of Funky Florals flowers were inked, masked and stamped on a white panel. 

The centers and star burst shapes were layered on next.

A couple of strips of cardstock are layered down the side, along with the sentiment.

Before I go today, I just have to share a crafty project my noncrafty daughter made this weekend for a class assignment. Her original vision was much bigger and would have involved plywood, drills and a string of lights, but dad was out of town and she really wanted to get started before he would be back, so she left the garage and started poking through my art supplies.

After applying a Gesso coat, the sentiment (die cuts and computer generated) was adhered to create a mask and then the canvas painted navy blue. The masks were removed and she painted in the word "dream" with Tim Holtz Gold paint.

I only knew you could buy a short string of battery operated lights because a friend (hi Pat!) had used them on a beautiful birdcage project a few years ago. Slits were cut in the canvas and the lights fed through and manipulated to follow the lines of the word. These lights were soooooo easy to work with and the battery packs sat nicely on the wood frame at the back of the canvas.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #70

I loved the MFT stamp set that Vicki Dutcher used for her Muse #70 card - many fabulous, amazing awesome sentiments in it! 

This is one of those cards that took a couple of days to come together and looks nothing like what I was thinking at the beginning.

I white embossed a few of the sentiments on teal cardstock strips and finally decided just to stack three of them over the larger sentiment.

Three white strips (leftovers from a cover plate) are adhered together before the sentiment was stamped. The entire panel is cover with Wink of Stella and a couple of Gooseberry gems finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CTS79 + The Card Concept #11

I'm sharing a quick Father's Day card I made and popped in the mail today. I'm not sure my dad will appreciate the layered "happy" stamping, but I like the way it came out. The yellow "happy" was stamped first, then sentiment was stamped off multiple times in gray. You can't really see it here, but the white panel is impressed with a Linen IP after all the stamping to add a bit of texture.

The color palette comes from The Card Concept Challenge #11, where I am entering the Clean & Layering category, and the design is based on CAS(E) this Sketch #79.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASE Study #194 June Guest Designer

June is going to be a fun month around here as I have the priviledge of being the Guest Designer for the CASE Study Challenge Blog!

Every month Iwona selects a new Muse for us, and I am super excited that for June we are going to be inspired by fabulous cards from Pamela Ho. You can check out Pamela's blog here and join in the fun at the CASE Study Challenge #194 here.

I remember when this clever and creative design won the Emphasize the Negative Challenge at Moxie Fab World last year.

The bright pink and charcoal gray colors provide great contrast & drama, but instead of working with numbers, on my card flower petals float down the panel to form a glittery flower. 

Three sizes of petals are scattered with a few Prima gems and Wink of Stella provides a great touch of glitter.

The layered flower is adhered to the inside of the card and peeks through a circle die cut on the front where an embossed Avery Elle image provides the sentiment.

I hope you will join in the fun!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MIM #167: DIY Notebooks

Even though it's only been a week, it feels great to play with paper again! Erin Lincoln has a terrific challenge for Make it Monday #167: DIY Notebooks. Head over to Capture the Moment to check out her video tutorial and join in the fun.

I pulled out my first ever PTI stamp set for this quick little project. Yes, it was the Take Note stamp set that sucked me into the stamping world, although I didn't really dive into card making until a couple of years later. 

A few pieces of Library Ledger papers were cut and stamped with Aqua Mist images to make the notebook pages.

I followed Erin's instructions closely until it came to adding the cover.

I left the back cover a litte longer so that it wrapped back up the front of the pages. A vase die was selectively cut to provide a tab on this piece.

A paranthesis was cut out from the front panel to provide a slot for the tab, allowing the notebook to close completely.

I left my craft room and family last week to indulge in exploring a new (to me) city. A few months ago my oldest BFFs and I co-ordinated the schedules, set dates and booked flights for a trip to Chicago. We thought the hard part was done (it takes work to get flights from 4 different cities to land within 30 minutes of each other!) and then ran into a minor problem: every lovely hotel room in the city was booked for the ASCO. What the heck?! Apparently we picked the weekend that 30,000+ Oncologists take over the town.

While we have been friends for 40+ years and have slept together on everything from basement floors to tents, the minimum standards for our biennial eating/shopping/exploring trip are pretty high and require at least 2 rooms.  I've used VRBO and AirBnB for family trips before, but this is the first time for I've used this type of service for a girlfriend weekend and I'm not sure we will go back to a hotel again. We gave up daily housekeeping, but found a fabulous condo, with 24 hour concierge services, that didn't require sharing rooms and suited us perfectly.

Our sweet Bella is almost fully recovered and thrilled to be free to roam the house again. I had to laugh at my daughter very seriously assessing her last night and determining that there was no reason Bella couldn't sleep in her room once again.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie