Hello friends! Welcome to my 200th post! I made this card for this week's CardMaker Challenge Corner hosted by Lora. This week's challenge was to use scraps. I decided to use some of my scraps to make serendipity squares. I also used scraps to make the card base and white and blue mats. I totally CASEd this card, but I can't remember where I saw the original design.

I have made serendipity squares many times, but I really love the way these turned out. After I glued down the random pieces of paper, I painted over the entire piece with a thin coat of gesso. I then stamped paisley and script patterns randomly over the whole piece using Faded Jeans Distress Ink. Finally I used decoupage glue to  glue white tissue paper over the entire piece to bring it together and add a little texture. The first piece of tissue paper I stamped with a swirl pattern using Crushed Olive Distress Ink. After I put it over the background piece, I didn't like the way it looked so I peeled it off. It left the random splotches of green behind, but I really liked the way it looked. I may do that on purpose next time.

That's about it. I have tons of scraps and I plan to do more of the serendipity technique. I love the squares, but I also like the way it looks as a background for mixed media. It's so easy. It's something I can do to be creative when I don't have the energy to work on a big project.

Thanks for stopping by!

Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History

This card is for Georgette's Faux Leather challenge in the CardSwaps online fall crop. The first thing I thought of for this was a western theme. I created the cowgirl collage in Photoshop. I scissor distressed and inked all the edges. I embellished with some gingham ribbon, a concho, some buttons and a photo corner. The concho and photo corner were originally shiny silver so I rubbed them with some antique gold RubNBuff. I embossed the lower half of the faux leather background with the Cuttlebug Victorian EF. It's kind of hard to see in the photo. The quote says "Well behaved women rarely make history."

Thanks for stopping by!

CardMaker Autumn Blessings Blog Hop

WELCOME to the CardSwaps Autumn Blessings Blog Hop!! It goes along with the Autumn Blessings Crop at CardSwaps. The crop is from November 16-19, 2011 and you have until November 22, 2011 to get your projects posted to the challenge threads and in the drawings for prizes. You should have arrived here from Meredith's blog. If not, consider starting the hop at the beginning with Lora's blog. All our blogs are linked together from post to post. At the end, you'll hop right on over to the CardSwaps board. We hope to see you there!

The theme of our blog hop is "I've been blessed" and we were asked to create something that reflects on someone or something that we have been blessed with. I chose one of my favorite Bible verses because I believe all our blessings come from God. The most important part of this verse to me is "Give thanks in ALL circumstances." We should not be grateful only when things are going well, but even when they are not going so well. No matter what is going on in our life, we have many blessings to be thankful for.

This is something I have had to remember many times over the last couple of years. Over that time myself and my family have been going through some very difficult circumstances and we haven't come through on the other side yet. During that time, my step father (who I am very close to) has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, my husband started and lost a business, I've been fired from two jobs, and my husband has been wrongfully accused of something that still hasn't been resolved. While I could give up and become depressed, I choose instead to focus on what I DO have. I am truly blessed, and no matter what I am going through, I know that my God is with me and will get me through it.

For this card, I downloaded the sheet music from The Graphics Fairy and the harvest image from Plush Possum. The background is corrugated cardboard. Everything is sponged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The Bible verse is computer generated. I embellished with a handmade flower and stick pin.

I made the flower from a fabric called buckram. I had no idea what this was when I bought it. I just thought it would make good flowers because it had a nice weave, was made of cotton and was pretty stiff. I looked it up later and found out it's used to make hats. I think it does pretty well for flowers too. I cut the layers from a Spellbinders Bloom die, colored them with distress inks then scrunched them up and let them dry. When they were dry, I pulled them apart and layered them together.

That's it for me. Your next stop on the hop is Golda's blog. Golda is a delightful and talented lady and I think you will enjoy what she has created for the hop.

If you get lost along the way, here is the complete blog hop list.

Lora

Meredith

Judy < You are here.

Golda

Ana

Traci

Angelina

Susan

Tina

Teresa

Ivanka

Jane

I Hope You Dance

I'm submitting this pretty ballerina as a second project for the current Catered Crop Follow the Recipe Challenge. For this challenge you are provided an inspiration project from the previous challenge entries. The objective is to use parts of the "recipe" used for that creation along with your own ingredients to make a project. I made a card in my favorite vintage collage style using the following ingredients from the inspiration recipe:

• Papers: pattern paper
• Embellishments: lace, thread, buttons, tags, pearls, ribbon, twine
• Techniques: sewing, make a bow bouquet
• Tools: die cuts

The background paper is a digital paper that I created using Photoshop textures and brushes. The post card, music paper, ballerina and hydrangea images are all from The Graphics Fairy. I created the sentiment in Photoshop and added the swirls at the ends with a PS brush. The bow bouquet is made with tulle, sheer pink ribbon, brown satin ribbon and a length of strung pearls. There is a shipping tag layered behind the main image that has been stamped with a damask background using Vintage Photo Distress ink. I adhered ivory color wrinkled tissue paper to the ballerina image using Mod Podge just to give it a faux silk look. Everything is sponged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The flower is made from a Prima and a pink lace circle. I finished it off with a pink button, a twine bow and a pearl/crystal stick pin.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rolled Ribbon Flower Technique

I love making my own flowers, so I was excited that one of the challenges for the World Cardmaking Day crop on the Cardmaker forum was to make and use rolled ribbon flowers on a card. It was relatively easy, but I found it a little tedious. It's probably not something I would do a lot, but maybe once in awhile.

In addition to the challenge on Cardmaker, I am also entering this card into the following:

• Card Patterns Sketch 135
• Less is More Week 35 - make a card using the color of your eyes as the primary color
• Crafty Creations Challenge #137 - Clean and simple

I'm not completely sure my card is truly what's considered clean and simple, but it seems clean and simple to me, so I'm going to submit it anyway. If it's not, then I'll know better next time. :)

I didn't actually use ribbon for my flowers. I didn't have any the color that I wanted that was really wide enough. I managed to make one with some 5/8" blue satin ribbon, but I didn't like it. It was too neat for my taste. So I found some white double fold bias tape. I tea dyed it and pressed it flat. Once I got the flowers made I sprayed it with some of my homemade glimmer spray and added a blue glass bead in the center. I like the way some of the tattered edges of the bias tape show in the flowers. Much more to my liking.

The stamps are from a clear set that I bought a couple of years ago, but I can't remember who made them. They are either Hampton Art or Inkadinkado. I used 4 separate stamps to make the image. It is stamped with French Blue Chalk Ink so it would have a softer look. I inked my edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Thanks for looking!

Le Coq

When I saw this awesome vintage rooster on The Graphics Fairy a few days ago, I knew I would have to come up with something to make with him. I love chickens and I love French stuff. As it happens, two challenges came up today where this guy fit right in.

The CardMaker magazine card swap forum is having an online mini crop today in honor of World Cardmaking Day. One of the challenges was to use a farm animal on a card.

The challenge at Our Creative Corner this week also celebrates World Cardmaking Day. The challenge is to create a project inspired by a country other than your own. Obviously the country that inspired my card is France.

In addition to the rooster, I also downloaded the French ephemera at the top of the card and the floral paper at the bottom from The Graphics Fairy. The only stamping on the card is the two little ornamental designs in the corner of the ephemera piece and the fleur de lis on the sentiment. The sentiment is computer generated. I inked everything with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, added some hand-stitching, lace, ribbon, flowers, a button, some twine and a stick pin.

Since I downloaded my papers and main image from there, I am also submitting this to The Graphics Fairy for Brag Monday. You can submit any projects you have made using Karen's images on Mondays. She'll pick a couple of her favorites to feature the following week. Just a neat little thing to recognize her followers. Karen is very generous and has awesome vintage images. If you like vintage at all, you owe it to yourself to check out her site. You won't be disappointed (and everything is free!).

Thanks for looking!

Vintage Collage Birthday Card

I made this card for my dear friend Susan's birthday. I am also entering it in the Catered Crop Follow the Recipe Challenge. This is another newly discovered challenge blog for me and my first submission. The idea of this challenge is that the winner of the previous challenge provides the "recipe" for the next challenge (theme, papers, tools, etc.) You can choose any ingredient or ingredients from the recipe and add your own "spice" to make a new creation. Looking at the inspiration recipe and mine, I may have used more of the inspiration ingredients than I realized and not so much of my own spices, but I still am very happy with how this card turned out. It was a lot of fun to make.

Here is my recipe:

Colors: Sepia, Blues, Browns, Gold

Papers: Design paper (My Mind's Eye - I think :); dictionary page; shipping tag; scraps

Stamps: harlequin, sentiment, scroll (on twill tape)

Color Mediums: Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Antique Linen), homemade glimmer spray (distress ink mixed with PearlEx powder and water)

Embellishments: Twill tape, lace, twine, buttons, beads, jewelry tag, thread, vintage clipart

Techniques: Tea dye, distress, sewing

Tools: die cuts, punches

Themes: Vintage, bird, birdcage, birthday

A few notes:

I soaked the gingham background paper in tea to give it an aged look. It was very bright before I did that.

The blue flower is made using the Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch. I punched it twice, pressed on the petals with a stylus to curl them and stacked the six pieces together to make the flower. I used a gold seed bead for the center.

The white flower is made from crepe paper. I colored it with a homemade glitter spray, then die cut the petals with a Nestabilities die. I layered them with regular white glue and puffed up the layers. I added three gold seed beads for the center. I really enjoyed working with the crepe paper. it's thin so you can manipulate it, but not as delicate as tissue paper. I got a big roll of white for less than a dollar and I can color it with inks or whatever to get the color I want. Pretty good buy.

The bird and birdcage images are from the awesome Graphics Fairy blog. If you like vintage images you should check it out. It has tons of cool stuff for free.

Thanks for looking!

Autumn Blessings

This is my first fall-themed card this year. I love, love, love fall. It's hands-down my favorite season of the year. I love the cooler temperatures (our summers are very hot and humid), the clear blue sky and the crispness in the air. We've already had some cool days. We even had to turn our heat on for a little while today.

I'm submitting this card for two challenges - the weekly challenge on the CardMaker Card Swap forum and the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #108.

For the CardMaker challenge this week, Rhonda challenged us to make a fall card without using any fall-theme designer paper. Instead she wanted us to create our own background paper. I decided to try a new technique (for me) to make my background paper, but as often happens it didn't turn out right.

What I wanted to do was the Alcohol Ink Faux Bleach technique. With this technique, you stamp an image with Versamark on white glossy cardstock then heat emboss it with clear. You sponge the alcohol inks all over the paper, then cover the image with a piece of plain white cardstock and iron over it to remove the embossing. The image you stamped then shows in white with the alcohol ink colors on the rest of the piece. The technique was beautiful in the demo video I watched, but mine - not so much. I think maybe my stamp was too detailed and didn't quite get stamped all the way either. Soooo - I just made my background by sponging the fall color alcohol inks all over the paper and I think that turned out pretty well.

On top of my background I made six little fall theme squares. In the upper left is a square punched from my failed background technique. The pumpkin in the next square is cut from a vintage seed packet image that I dowloaded from The Graphics Fairy (awesome site for FREE vintage images!). For the next square I sprayed a piece of cheesecloth with some homemade glimmer spray made from Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Aztec Gold PearlEx powder. I love the look of these sprays but never wanted to pay the prices for the ready-made stuff. You can search for "homemade glimmer mist" on YouTube for how to make this. It's super easy. I then punched three leaves from the background paper left from trimming down my piece and glued them on top of the cheesecloth.

In the lower left corner is a stamped sunflower that I colored with watercolor pencils, sponged on a little Vintage Photo Distress Ink and cut it out. Next is my sentiment, which I printed on the computer. I added a little stamped leaf and a flower with a little button and some twine, then sponged on an little of the Vintage Photo ink. The final square is another square punched from my faux bleach image. After I had everything glued to the background paper, I sprayed the whole thing with some of the homemade glimmer spray.

The theme for this week's Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge is to use the word "blessings" or a piece of scripture on your card. I just found this challenge blog a couple of weeks ago and this is my first time to participate in the challenge. They post wonderful inspirational stories with their challenges and I am happy to have found a challenge that also helps me profess my Christian faith. I'm looking forward to getting to know and fellowshipping with other women who share my faith and my passion for stamping and paper crafting.

Thanks for looking!

Gluttonous Gruffie

Still making progress on my return to crafting. This time I not only stamped my image - I even colored it. It sure seems like it took a lot longer than it used to, but it's my first coloring attempt for quite awhile, so I guess I'm not surprised. I'm submitting this chocoholic Gruffie for the following three challenges:

CardMaker Magazine Forum - Trash to Treasure

Crafty Creations - Anything but a Square

Colour Create - Pink, Brown and Cream or White; Optional - Lace

This week's "anything goes" challenge on the CardMaker forum is Trash to Treasure. The challenge is to use a candy wrapper or other food packaging that you would usually discard on a card. I paper-pieced (actually foil-pieced) the truffle wrappers that the Gruffie has discarded with pink foil from a Hershey Kiss. I found them at my mom's house and I think they must have been left from Valentine's Day. I also made my ginormous flower (at least it looks ginormous because the card isn't very big) with the paper wrappers from six miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The center of the flower is fancy button from my stash. By the way, paper piecing with foil from Hershey Kisses is a royal pain.

To meet the requirement for the Crafty Creations challenge I cut the card with my largest Labels Nestie. I folded the card stock in half, then left the left edge of the die hanging just off the fold so it wouldn't cut that side. I really like the way it looks, but I wish I had a bigger die like that. It's only a little over 5" x a little over 4". Not a lot of room to do much, especially with the large image. I could have made a rectangle that would have been larger, but I didn't want a straight shape.

This week's Colour Create challenge is pink, brown and cream/white. There is also an option of using lace. I used all shades of pink and brown to color the image, except for the gold metallic pen that I used for the word "Truffles" on the box. My papers and embellishments are also the required colors. I used a lace ribbon on the left side. I also used a clear Glaze pen on the truffles to make them look kind of shiny. I'm not sure if that shows very well in the photo.

It was fun to color again and fun to make a challenge card again. Thanks for looking!

Supplies

Stamp: Beary Full of Truffles (Gruffies - House Mouse Designs)

Paper: pink card stock (scrap from my stash), brown card stock (Club Scrap), DP (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine); Jet Black (StazOn); Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Tim Holtz - Ranger)

Technique: Prismacolor pencil blended with odorless mineral spirits

Misc: Labels Nestabilities die (Spellbinder); lace, button, Reese's papers and Hershey Kiss foil

Vintage Stamped Collage

I made this card for this week's sketch challenge on the CardMaker Card Swap forum. I am not completely thrilled with it. Collage is one of my favorite stamping techniques, but I think I am a bit out of practice since it's been at least two years since I've done one (probably longer). It didn't turn out quite like I wanted it too. I wanted to see how it looked to tint a couple of the images, which I have never done before. I used chalks just to give a little color. I don't think I'll be doing that again - or if I do I'll just color them sepia tones. Also it didn't exactly fit the sketch. I probably should have made a bigger card to have more room below the diamond to put the ribbon.

I did try a couple of new things. I made my own background paper out of a page from an old book that I picked up for free from a box at the library. I applied packaging tape to the page, then stripped it off to remove some of the lettering. Then I wet the page down with coffee, crumpled it and flattened it out to dry. I then stamped swirls on it using Vintage Photo Distress ink. I think I need to work on it a little more (too many swirls and not enough enough color from the coffee), but overall I liked it. I'm on a much more restricted crafting budget than I used to be so I'm always looking for ways to recycle and make my own things so I don't have to spend a lot of money. Since I love shabby and vintage, this is a good technique for me.

For the flower embellishment, I stamped some script on the top flower with the distress ink (which kind of got covered up with the button). I also decorated the button. I used the back side of a plain white button so it would be smooth. I dabbed it with Latte alcohol ink to color it, then I stamped a tiny argyle pattern on it with Timber Brown Staz-On. On top of that, I stamped a tiny fleur de lis with Blazing Red Staz-On. Unfortunately, that pretty much got covered up by the bow. I still count it as a success because now I know my huge stash of plain ol' buttons has tons of new possibilities with my alcohol inks and little stamps. I have a feeling I'm going to go crazy with this one. :) I also made the stick pin and colored the pearl on the end with the Latte alcohol ink.

Even though this card didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to, it was a success for me. I learned a few new techniques and ways to stretch those crafting dollars. Plus, I finally got to use my stamps again. Thanks for looking!

Supplies

Stamps: Stampabilities, Hampton Art, Rosebud, Penny Black, Impression Obsession, Inkadinkado, Club Scrap

Ink: Vintage Sepia (VersaFine); Timber Brown, Blazing Red (StazOn); Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger); Latte Adirondak Alcohol Ink (Ranger)

Paper: Scraps from my stash; old book page

Diamond Cookie Cutter die (QuikCutz); ribbon, Prima flowers, button, twine, red fiber, stick pin

C'mon Honey, Cowgirl Up!

Here is the card I made for this week's "Anything Goes" challenge on the CardMaker Magazine Card Swap Forum. The theme was to use newsprint. As is usually the case, the card did not end up as I had originally planned. I guess I should stop thinking of them as plans and start thinking of them as starting points.

The newsprint is from an article about bull riding that was in our monthly rural electric cooperative newspaper. This led me to a western theme. Since the boot image is really the only western theme stamp I have, I decided to see if I could find a vintage cowboy image online and I thought the phrase "cowboy up" would be a good sentiment. While I did find some cowboy images, I really liked the one of the cow"girl" that I decided to use. Obviously, I had to change the sentiment, but that's just the way life works out for me most of the time.

I stamped and distressed the newsprint to give it some interest. I also inked the edges of the card and the photo. The sentiment is computer generated. I embellished with jute twine, a copper heart charm and embossed metal photo corners, which I made myself.

To make the photo corners, I cut the top and bottom off an aluminum soda can, then cut it open lengthwise to make a sheet. I stuck it inside an embossing folder and ran it through my Big Kick so that the silver side was embossed. Then I colored it with alcohol inks. I cut small squares with a Nestabilities die, then punched two of the corners into a scroll shape. I cut the squares in half into two triangles to finish them. I was very happy with the way they turned out and now I'm trying to think of what else I can make with soda cans. Sure beats going out and buying metal sheets at the craft store. You do have to be careful with embossing. Because the metal is thin, the grooves can be weak and the metal might break if you bend them in those areas.

Thanks for checking out my card!

Supplies

Paper and Cardstock: Scraps from my stash and newsprint

Stamps: Old Boot (Stamabilities); swirl (Hampton Art)

Vintage cowgirl image (public domain image downloaded from the Internet)

Font: Honey Script (downloaded from daFont.com)

Ink: Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink (Ranger); Rust, Terra Cotta and Pitch Black Adirondak alcohol inks (Ranger)

Nestabilities square die (Spellbinders); Corner punch (EK Success); Victorian embossing folder (Cuttlebug); jute twine; copper heart charm

Card Relay

We are having a card relay race on the PaperCrafts Message board that I participate in. The basic premise is that there are two teams of five members each. Each person has a specific item to contribute to the cards, and once their task is complete, the mail the items to the next person. The fifth person on the team takes the items and makes five identical cards with them. The first team to post a picture of all five completed cards wins the relay. Each team member then gets one of the completed cards back. I was the fifth person on our team. I think my teammates picked some really cute images, papers and embellishments. It was fun making these cards.

Here is a photo of all five completed cards.

The above photos shows the inside of all the completed cards. Using a sentiment was part of the requirement, so I took a picture of the inside to show that I did that part. The peachy paper is actually the back side of the brown flowered paper that you see on the card front. I had to use only what was provided in the packet. I couldn't add any other papers or embellishments, so I was happy that my paper team mate sent one of the papers that could be used on both sides.

And finally, here is a close-up of one of the completed cards.

This was really fun. I hope my team mates enjoy their cards!

Anniversary Card and House Mouse and Friends Challenge #53

On Monday, my husband and I celebrate our "lucky 13" wedding anniversary. This is the card I made for him. You may be wondering what bears hanging laundry has to do with wedding anniversaries. I haven't quite worked out what I'm going to put on the inside, but I'm thinking along the lines of being together makes even our everyday routine more fun - or something like that. Even though I love my husband with all my heart, I didn't really want to do a mushy card this time. He enjoys the Gruffies and this is one of my favorite images. (Thank you Jenny;) I'm also submitting this card for House Mouse and Friends Challenge #53 - buttons.

If you follow my blog, you might think this image looks familiar. Here is where I confess that I made another card with this same image for a previous challenge. Unfortunately, I dropped an ink pad on the card and was not able to use it. As luck would have it though, the pad missed the actual image, so I removed it and made a different card with it. No sense throwing away a perfectly good image just because the rest of the card is ruined.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Supplies
Stamp: Gruffies - Laundry Line
Paper: kraft cardstock, green cardstock, blue cardstock, paisely DP - all from my stash and unknown
Embellishments: Victoria embossing folder (Cuttlebug); photo corner die (Quikutz); buttons, twine, ribbon
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits; sponged sky with blue pigment ink
Finished card size: A7 (5" x 7")

Life's a Bowl of Cherries

I'm so sorry for the cliche, but I'm sure you understand why I had to do it. It was the perfect sentiment for this card.

I am submitting this card for this week's Penny Black Saturday Challenge. This week was a color challenge - Chocolate, Lemon and Pink. I don't think I ever would have made a card wit those colors had I not been challenged to do so, but now that I have them together, I kind of like it.

I also used a sketch that I created for this week's challenge on the Creating Keepstakes PaperCrafts Message Board.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp: Penny Black (from the Micey Day clear set); sentiment is computer generated
Paper: Pink and brown cardstock (Bazzill); DP - Kaleidescope (My Mind's Eye)
Tools and embellishments: Birds and Swirls embossing folder (Cuttlebug); flower punch (EK Success); flower brads (Making Memories); ribbon
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits
Final card size: A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

Stocking Full of Love in White on White

I'm squ"eek"ing this one in under the wire! It's for the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge and the deadline is less than three hours from now. As those little mice would say "EEK!" I am also submitting this card for this week's Stamp Something Challenge.

The House Mouse challenge blog is celebrating it's first birthday and the theme for this challenge was to choose one or more of your favorite challenges from the last year for your entry. I chose two - Challenge #43 (the sketch shown below) and Challenge #47 (White on White). I didn't have the opportunity to participate in the White on White challenge when it was posted, so I was glad to have another opportunity. For this challenge only the image could be colored. All other elements of the card had to be white. I used some embossing to add some texture and help define the elements of the card.

The sketch I used is from Challenge #43 and is one of my favorites. I have used it on other cards and also seen several others use it as well. Since the theme for this week's Stamp Something challenge is something with your favorite sketch or layout, I am submitting it for that challenge as well. Like most other things, I don't have one favorite sketch or layout, but this is definitely one a like a lot and have used more than once.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great week!!!

Supplies

Image: Stocking Full of Love

Paper: White cardstock (Georgia Pacific)

Tools: Rectangle, scalloped rectangle, circle, scalloped circle Nestabilities (Spellbinder); D'Vine Swirls and Snowflake embossing folders (Cuttlebug); Snowflake punches (Oriental Trading)

Embellishments: ribbon, rhinestones

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Finished Card Size: A7 (5" x 7")

Hip Hip Hooray! - Tasia's PCMB Challenge

You may remember my posting about little online community where I hang out with a great group of ladies. We talk about crafting and life in general. We are very small, but a lot of fun. Each week we have a challenge, and this week it was Tasia's turn to host it. Tasia is our newest member and I'm not quite sure how she found it, but I'm sure glad she did. She is just so fun and upbeat. I look forward to her posts every day.

Tasia's challenge was to use black and white with one other color, a sentiment and at least one non-pattern paper. For my other color, I chose lime green. I know red and yellow are often popular with black and white, and I wanted to do something a little different. The image is from Penny Black and was colored with Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits. The sentiment is Studio G. I did have to cheat and use a tiny bit of pink on the kitty. I didn't think he'd look right with green nose, ears and paw pads. Hopefully that's not enough to detract from the overall look of the card.

Just Magnolia, Stampin' for the Weekend and Pile It On Challenges

I debated whether to even post this card that I made for three different challenges this week. I am just not liking it at all. But I haven't posted anything on here for over a week and I am not always the best judge of my work anyway, so here it is.

The three challenges this card is for are:
Just Magnolia - sketch by Mina (shown below); I chose Spring Tilda for the Magnolia image.

Stampin' for the Weekend - color challenge - teal, orange and pink; I wasn't too sure about this color combo, but believe it or not, I had paper that has those colors, so I decided to go outside my little box. I still am not sure it's one of my favorites, but I'm glad I tried it anyway.

Pile It On - Birthday plus combine with at least one other challenge

Baby Girl Card

If you read my earlier post, you know that I don't scrapbook. I also don't make baby cards. I just never have had the need for one for some reason - until now. A few weeks ago, I posted some samples of baby announcements that I am making for a friend at work and his wife who are expecting a baby girl next month. As luck would have it, two of my favorite challenge blogs have baby themes this week, so what better time to get a card made for them too. By the way, they chose an announcement style and I am working on those now. I will post one of the final versions soon.
I am submitting this card for the following challenges:
Cute Card Thursday - New Beginnings
Stampin' for the Weekend - Babies
Stamp Something - Animal Somethings

The image I chose for this card is In a Nutshell by Penny Black. I wanted to use an image that I don't see very often. I wasn't sure if this little hedgie was supposed to be a baby or not, but it looks like a baby image to me so that's what I went with. The sentiment is from a vellum sheet that I have had since my son was a baby. I think I bought it for those scrapbooks I never got around to. It has several baby quotes and sentiments on it.

I also tried something for the first time on this card - hand-stitching. If you saw my post a few days ago, you know my sewing machine and I don't get along, but I do like the look of stitching on cards, so I decided to try using some embroidery floss and stitching by hand. It was a bit time-consuming, but I really like the way it turned out. I used a zig zag stitch around the outside of the card and a straight stitch around the image and sentiment.

Supplies
Image: In a Nutshell (Penny Black); preprinted vellum sentiment
Paper: Pink and green cardstock (Bazzill); DP - Baby Girl Flowers (Heidi Grace Designs)
Tools: Square, scalloped square, rectangle, scalloped rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders)
Embellishments: Ribbon, flowers, button, pearls, pink floss
Techniques: Prismacolor pencil blended with mineral spirits; hand-stitching
Finished card size: A7 (5" x 7")

Happy Little Piggy

Hello all! I created this card for two challenges this week - Penny Black Saturday Challenge and Scrap and Paper Corner's PaperCrafts forum challenge.

The theme for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is stitching. I remember now why I never do stitching on my cards. UGH! Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist, but I am not at all happy with that part. Now that being said, I do enjoy embroidery and cross stitch and I think I would enjoy trying hand-stitching on my cards one day. If I had planned ahead, I would have done that. But alas, I never plan ahead (drives my husband crazy :) I also think I might have liked it better if I had used a zig-zag stitch instead of a straight one. But just to show you how sewing machine challenged I am, I could not get my zig to zag. I turned every dial on that machine in every direction and it wouldn't work. :( And of course, I can't seem to find the instruction manual.

Kari/Heppster is hosting this week's challenge on the PaperCrafts forum at Scrap and Paper Corner. Her challenge was to use an image of a barnyard animal, at least one embellishment and a sentiment. For my image I chose Pinky Joy by Penny Black. I adore piggies and this is one of my favorite stamps. For embellishing I used a ribbon and photo corners, which I ran through my big Kick with my D'Vine Swirls embossing folder. One final note - I was able to make this card all from scraps.

Supplies
Stamps: Pinky Joy (Penny Black); sentiment (Hero Arts)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine); Rouge Chalk Ink (Colorbox)
Paper: light pink cardstock (unknown); dark pink cardstock (Club Scrap); DP - Bohemia (My Mind's Eye) and Blush (Basic Grey) - all scraps from my stash
Tools: 1 1/2" square punch and 1 1/2" circle punch (Creative Memories); classic square and scalloped square Nestabilities (Spellbinders); 1 7/8" scalloped circle punch (Paper Studio); photo corner die (Quikutz); D'Vine Swirls embossing folder (Cuttlebug) sewing machine
Embellishments: ribbon
Techniques: Prismacolor pencil blended with mineral spirits; sewing
Finished card size: A7 (5" x 7")

Baking Tilda for Three Challenges

This sweet little Tilda is for three different challenges:

Just Magnolia - sketch by Rach (shown below). I moved the circle on the bottom left to the top left to suit my preferences and used a flower for the circle on the bottom right. For the circle on the left, I used my new Victorian Cuttlebug embossing folder. I really like some of the new designs that are out now. I added glitter to Tilda's wings and cookies.

Stampin' for the Weekend - pink and gray color challenge. This was tougher than I thought it would be. I have virtually no DP that is pink and gray. I do have pink and I have a limited amount of gray, so I put them together. The mats in the photo might look black, but they are actually dark gray.

Stamp Something - birthday somethings. I added the little Happy Birthday tag to fit this challenge.

Supplies

Stamps: Baking Tilda (Magnolia); Happy Birthday (My Sentiments Exactly)

Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)

Paper: Pink cardstock (DCWV); gray cardstock (unknown); gray polka dot DP (Paper Pizazz); dark pink DP (Kay & Co.)

Tools: Rectangle, scalloped rectangle, circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Victorian embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Tiny Tags die (Cuttlebug)

Embellishments: Small flower (Prima); larger flower - silk from my stash; jewelry spacer, pearl, rhinestone brad, glitter

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Finished card size: 6" square