Springtime Duo

So they say that Spring is here, but you'd never know it here in Indiana.  I know a lot of you are in the same boat as me with this unseasonably chilly weather.  Regardless, I'm trying to stay positive (not sure I'm doing a good job).  It helps to make a few cards with a Spring theme.

I started by embossing the Labels 18 frame on white card stock.  Once I had the frame it was easy to lay out the dies and stamps.  After these were assembled I added the little scroll image to the top and bottom of the frames because I thought it was missing something.

I'm entering these into Simon Says Stamp : Easter / Spring challenge 

and Addicted to CAS:  Spring challenge

And here is what my backyard looks like right now.  Is it really March 25th?

 
 All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless stated.

Stamps:   Polka-dot Parade #1, Boxes, Bags & Tags, Headline Alphabet
Paper:   White, Spring Moss
Ink:   Pear Tart (memento), Berry Sorbet (card 1), Breeze (CTMH - card 2)
Other:  Polka-dot Parade bunny die, Headline Alphabet dies  Labels 18 die (spellbinders)

No Stamps

No stamps?  No problem.  There are so many wonderful dies out there right now that make it easy to create a card without even a stamped sentiment.  I used the awesome "hello" die from Papertrey's Wonderful Words series.

I was playing around with some Distress Markers I recently bought.  I dipped the tips in water quickly and then scribbled on some watercolor paper.  Once that was done and looked like a hot mess, I cut it into little rectangles and mounted a few on the strip of black card stock.  Ahhh, that looked much better to me.  Finished off with the "hello" die cut.  Quick and easy!

Playing along with CAS-ual Friday's No Stamps challenge.

 
 All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless stated.

Stamps:  NONE
Paper:  white, black, watercolor paper 
Ink:  distress markers
Other:  water brush zig), Wonderful Words: hello die

Happy Easter

This card is a CASE of Erin Lincoln's last card HERE.  I just loved the idea and the simple layout.  I've had the Egg Hunt set and die since it was released a couple of years ago and I've maybe used them once.  Shame, shame.  The patterned papers are from the Guidelines PTI pack.

I'm entering this into Simon Says Stamp challenge: Easter / Spring.





 
 All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless stated.

Stamps:   Egg Hunt, Pretty Peonies
Paper:  White, Lavender Moon, Guidelines pp, mint(?)
Ink:  Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding
Other:  Pretty Peonies die, Egg Hunt die

For Your Inspiration #42

Welcome back to another challenge at For Your Inspiration.  I loved the photo inspiration this week.  I know I say that nearly every week, but this one is so beautiful.  It reminds me of the many years we lived in Arizona.  Oh how I miss that scenery!

I decided to go totally literal with the balloon and copied the colors.  I used various Copic, Distress and Sharpie markers.  The big, bold sentiment in stamped in Paris Dusk (memento) and the rhinestones were colored with a light orange Copic marker.

Can you see the linen impression on the white panel?  I decided the card needed a bit more texture so I pulled out my Linen / Canvas IP from Papertrey.

I hope you join us for this challenge.  You have until Wednesday, April 3 to link up your creation at the FYI blog.  Please be sure to visit the rest of the DT to see what they did with this photo.  I always love the variety of amazing cards the DT turns out.


Have a wonderful Thursday,



 
All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless stated.

Stamps:  Up, Up and Away, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday
Paper:   Lemon Tart, White, royal blue scrap (unknown)
Ink:   Dark Chocolate, Paris Dusk (memento)
Other:  Linen impression plate, Up, Up and Away balloon die, Copic markers, Distress Markers, Sharpies, rhinestones

Quick Thank You Notes

I recently had a birthday and received so many great gifts from my family.  I wanted to make a quick set of thank you notes to mail out to everyone.  I pulled out some red and cream card stock that has been sitting in my drawer for far too long and got to work stamping.

I knew I wanted to use my Blooming With Kindness flower from Stampin' Up that I just bought.  I love this stamp so much.  It's so gorgeous and makes simple cards like this a breeze.

I also wanted to share a very special birthday card that my eleven year old daughter made for me.  I just love it!  Isn't it sweet?

Have a wonderful weekend,



 
Stamps:   Thanks All Ways (PTI), Blooming With Kindness (SU!)
Paper:   red, cream (unknown)
Ink:  Cherry Red (memories), black (memento)

For Your Inspiration #41

Happy Thursday!  It's hard to believe that's it already time for our next challenge at For Your Inspiration.  Time sure is flying by.  Here's my card:

The colors of the photo inspiration for this week were perfect for a masculine card, so I stuck with browns, golds and oranges.  It just so happens that I needed to make my brother-in-law his birthday card since tomorrow is his birthday.  I'm also entering this into the Addicted to CAS - Masculine challenge.  Perfect timing!

I started with a piece of glossy card stock and some alcohol inks -- butterscotch, slate and gold mixative.  Once I pounced those on the glossy paper I added two tiny drops of currant ink to my applicator and pounced that over the panel.  Then I slowly put a few drops of the blending solution on the panel to make the inks bleed a bit.

It honestly looked like a muddled mess to me, but I walked away for a bit and let it dry before tossing it out:)
I came back and stamped it with a vintage map stamp that I picked up at Hobby Lobby and I instantly fell in love with it.  So strange how that map image just transformed the panel for me.  I may not give up on alcohol inks after all.  LOL!!

I hope that you join us for this challenge over on the FYI blog.  You have two weeks to play along and submit a project based on the photo above.  Please take a moment to see what the rest of the FYI DT created.  You'll love their work.  Links are on my sidebar.





 
Stamps:   Vintage Map (Stampabilities), Stylish Sentiments:Birthday (PTI)
Paper:  Kraft, Black (PTI), glossy cs
Ink:   Black (memento), Alcohol Inks

Birthday Balloons & Show Choir

I'm taking advantage of our snow day today to get a card and some photos of our weekend posted.  We spent a fun, busy weekend in Ohio to wrap up my daughter Michal's show choir competition season.  We were blessed to stay with Lynn and her family.  Since her son Ryan is also in show choir we got to see his group compete. They were amazing!

I just need to say that Lynn and Pat are raising four wonderful young men.  It was so great to meet all the boys and spend time laughing and playing games together.  Her little Marcel is hilarious and adorable.  Lynn could create a whole new blog all about the clever things he says and never run out of material.  He had us in tears a few times.

Here are a few shots from the competition.  Lynn has some great pictures of our time together on her blog post HERE.

I also wanted to share a card that I made for my nephew's 2nd birthday.  He's all about colors and the alphabet so I made this fun card for him.  He loved the background and started naming all the letters.  This boy already knows all the upper and lowercase letters of the alphabet.  This card was inspired by Gayatri's awesome card HERE.

Well, I'm off to go shovel the driveway.  I'm so ready for Summer.  At this point I can skip through Spring and head straight to a HOT summer day.






All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless stated.

Stamps:  Up, Up & Away, 2012 Birthday Tags
Paper:  Vintage Cream, White, Pure Poppy, orange & turquoise scraps
Ink:   black (memento)
Other:  By the number dies, Up, Up & Away dies, Bookprint IP

Masked Butterfly

I saw this gorgeous card on Pinterest and wanted to try my hand at creating something similar.

• I began by die-cutting a butterfly on a post-it note and then used the negative of the die to do the sponging with distress inks.  
• With the mask still in place I stamped two silhouette images in London Fog ink.  
• Instead of turning that into a one layer card I die cut the sponged butterfly. 
• Stamped a Soft Stone card base with silhouette images in London Fog and mounted the butterfly on there.

With all the muted colors I decided that it should be a sympathy card, thus the beautiful sentiment from PTI's Beautiful Butterflies.  I'm definitely going to make a few one layer cards using this butterfly mask and silhouette images.

I'm entering this into the Simon Says Challenge:  Anything Goes

Hope you have a fantastic weekend!

 
Stamps:   Beautiful Butterflies (PTI), Silhouettes (Inque Boutique)
Paper:   Soft Stone (PTI)
Ink:   Broken China, Victorian Velvet (distress inks), Dandelion, London Fog, black (memento)
Other:  Beautiful Butterflies die (PTI)