I Witch Shoe a Happy Halloween

Here is a simple little Halloween card that I made today. I wasn't really intending it for any challenges, but happened to notice that three of my favorite challenge blogs have Halloween as the theme this week - Cupcake Craft Challenge, Stamp Something and Stampin' for the Weekend.
I found this stamp in the clearance bin at Michael's awhile back and thought it was cute. When I was putting it together, the little pun came to me, so that is what I put on the inside - I Witch Shoe a Happy Halloween. Tee hee... I printed it on the computer and cut it out with my Label 8 Nesties.
Supplies
Stamp: Witch Shoes (Stampendous); Sentiment is computer generated (Blackladder font)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine); Tangerine Chalk Ink (Color Box)
Paper: White, orange and black cardstock (scraps); DP - Spooky Alley (Making Memories)
Embellishments: Label 8 Nestabilities; buttons, twine, ribbon
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits
Finished card size: A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

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")

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

Bonjour

This is my entry for this week's Stampin' for the Weekend and Penny Black Saturday challenges.

The theme for Stampin' for the Weekend is Days Gone By. I used to do a lot of vintage style cards, but haven't done any for quite awhile, so I enjoyed this challenge. To get the vintage look, I used the faux linen technique on the script background. I stamped the background on glossy cardstock, then sanded in more or less straight lines both horizontally and vertically. To make the scratches pop so that it looks like linen, I used a sponge brayer to apply Antique Linen Distress Ink over the whole thing. I also inked the edges of my image and sentiment with the same Distress Ink. For the flowers, I inked the edges of the cream color flowers. For the center of the large flower, I used a jewelry spacer and pearl. The center of the smaller flower is a "stud" that is supposed to be used to make designs on clothing. There are little prongs on the back to go through the fabric and an indentation on the front for a rhinestone to be placed. I got several packages of these on clearance super cheap and I thought the design was pretty. I just flattened the little prongs and added a pearl on this one. Finally, I completed the vintage look with a sheer ribbon and little hat pin, which I made myself.

In addition to using at least one Penny Black stamp, the requirement for this week's Penny Black Saturday is a color challenge - blue, tan and cream. The Eiffel Tower image and the little flower with the sentiment are from the Penny Black "Thinking of You" clear set. I realized that I must really love the Eiffel Tower because I have four Eiffel Tower stamps. LOL! They are all different sizes and styles so that's okay. I stamped everything in blue pigment ink then embossed with clear EP. I popped the tower image and sentiment with foam squares.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I hope to see you again soon!

Supplies

Stamps: Eiffel Tower, small flower (Penny Black); Bonjour (Stamabilities)

Ink: Blue pigment ink (Colorbox); Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)

Paper: Cream cardstock, glossy cardstock (unknown); Blue pattern cardstock (Club Scrap)

Tools: Square, scalloped square, oval and scalloped oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders); clear embossing powder (Ranger)

Embellishments: flowers (Prima); jewelry spacers, pearls, handmade hat pin, ribbon

Techniques: Heat embossing, distressing, faux linen

Finished Card Size: 5" x 6 1/2"

Ho, Ho, Ho - Stampin' for the Weekend #10

I just got this uber-cool Magnolia Santa stamp from my friend Jenny and couldn't wait to ink him up. I fell in love with this image when I saw a card made with it on one of the challenge blogs awhile back and had to have him. I was having a hard time finding it here in states. I was just about to give up and order directly from Magnolia in Sweden, when he showed up in my mailbox. Thank you, thank you Jenny. You are awesome!

I am submitting this card for this week's Stampin' for the Weekend challenge. The challenge is a sketch, which I have posted below. I did take a few liberties with the sketch. First, Santa Baby was too big to fit on a rectangular mat and still see the circle, so I just cut him out and popped him right on the circle with dimensionals. I also didn't tilt him because I didn't want him to look like he was drunk or something. I also put my sentiment in the upper right instead of the lower left. I thought it balanced the overall card a little better. I think the overall look of the sketch is still evident, so I hope it will be acceptable.

Supplies

Stamps: Santa (Magnolia); Believe (Rubber Stampede)

Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine); Warm Red Chalk Ink (Colorbox); Tim Holtz Peeled Paint Distress Ink (Ranger)

Paper: Tan cardstock (DCWV); DP - Fruitcake (Basic Grey) and vintage red from my stash (I've had it so long I can't begin to remember who made it)
Tools: Circle, scalloped circle, oval and scalloped oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders); Retro flower punches (EK Success)

Embellishments: buttons, twine

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Finished card size: 6" square

Tilda from the Heart - Three Challenges in One

I am submitting this card for three different challenges this week - A Spoonful of Sugar, Just Magnolia and Stampin' for the Weekend.

The challenge for A Spoonful of Sugar is hearts. In addition to Tilda's little heart cookies and the little hearts on her shoes in the image, I used a heart to stamp the sentiment on, a couple of heart brads and a heart charm.

The sketch for this week's Just Magnolia challenge is shown below. I did add a couple of flowers to the upper right corner, otherwise I followed the sketch pretty closely. For the image I chose Baking Tilda. I cut the image out and popped it on top of the oval, which I edged with distress ink. I scallop-punched the horizontal strip and added a polka dot and sheer ribbon over the top. The flowers are made from various sizes of daisy punches and layered.

Finally, the Stampin' for the Weekend challenge this week is a color challenge - chocolate covered strawberries. I used deep pinks and browns.

I can usually whip up a card fairly quickly, but this one took me quite awhile. I spent a lot of time layering and blending the colors in my image, then just playing around with different elements until it looked right. I am very happy with how it turned out.

Supplies
Stamps: Baking Tilda (Magnolia); sentiment (Hero Arts)
Paper: Pink cardstock (DCWV); brown cardstock (scraps); DP - Bohemia (My Mind's Eye)
Embellishments: oval and scalloped oval Nestabilities (Spellbinder); primitive heart die (Sizzix); daisy punches (Marvy); scallop diamond border punch (EK Success); ribbon, brads, heart charm
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits
Finished card size: 6" square

Sunflower Tilda - Double Challenge

I created this card for this week's Just Magnolia and Stampin' for the Weekend challenges.

The Just Magnolia challenge this week is to use one or more charms. I added a butterfly charm to the flower embellishment in the top right corner of the card.

This week's Stampin for the Weekend challenge is a sketch. Two sketches were provided to choose from. I chose Donna's sketch, which is showne below. I tend to choose my images before I determine whether they will work right with a particular sketch. In this case. I had to use an oval instead of a circle because Tilda wouldn't fit in my largest circle Nestie. I also had to cut her out and pop-dot her on top to keep from cutting off part of the image. The flowers I used are premade paper sunflowers that I have had in my stash forever. I can't even remember why I bought them, but I'm glad I finally got the chance to use them. I modified the top part of the sketch so that I could add some ribbon and a charm to the card. Instead of the two buttons I used a large flower with a button center. I added tiny green buttons to my corner embellishment to work with the green in the top part of the card. The DP I used for this card is actually from one single sheet. It has also been in my stash forever and it was orginally designed for scrapbook layouts.

Supplies

Stamp: Sunflower Tilda (Magnolia)

Paper: Blue cardstock (Paper Studio); yellow cardstock (unknown); DP (Paper Wishes)

Embellishments: Oval and scalloped oval Nestabilities (Spellbinder); scalloped border punch (Fiskars); retro flower punch (EK Success); buttons, ribbon, butterfly charm, paper sunflowers

Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits

Finished card size: 6" square

Lazy Summer Day

I'm back with another challenge card. I created this one for three different challenges - Roses on Paper, Just Magnolia and Stampin' for the Weekend.

For the Roses on Paper challenge, you must follow the challenge theme AND use a Magnolia, Rachelle Anne Miller, Sarah Kay, The Greeting Farm or Alota image. The current theme is to use flowers and to combine the ROP challenge with any other challenge. I chose Relaxing Tilda for the image, and there are flowers in the image itself, my DP and as embellishments on the card. And obviously, I met the requirement to combine challenges with the other two that I am doing with this one.

The Just Magnolia challenge theme this week is Summer. I don't have any Magnolia images with an obvious Summer theme, but I have a couple on my wish list. I think maybe this image is supposed to really be Spring since Tilda is wearing her little jacket, but I decided that maybe where Tilda lives it isn't 95 degrees with a heat index of 105 like it is here. :) I thought the image was perfect for the summer quote that I found. I printed the quote on my computer and cut it out with my Nesties. The quote, by Sir John Lubbock, says "To lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."

The final challenge for this card is Stampin' for the Weekend. This is the third week for this new challenge blog and I've really been enjoying their challenges. So far they've been a little different than some of the other blogs. The challenge theme for this week is Rock n Roll 60's. When I first saw the title I kind of panicked because I wasn't quite sure what it was going to be, but it turned out fine. They provided three song titles from the 1960's and we were to use one of them as our inspiration. We were only to consider the title and not the lyrics. The three songs provided were:

"Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harem

"Time of the Season" by The Zombies

"Please Mr. Postman" by the Marvellettes

The song I chose for my inspiration is "Time of the Season" which by the way is one of my favorite songs of all time - even though I was only four when it was popular. I love 1960's songs. The tie-in - obviously - is the summer theme of my card. I did consider "Whiter Shade of Pale" (another of my favorite songs) because I'm working on some all white cards for a swap I'm in, but I wouldn't have been able to combine that with the Just Magnolia challenge and I posted an all white card not too long ago anyway which was similar to the one I'm working on.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll check out the other great creations on these awesome blogs. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Supplies
Stamp: Relaxing Tilda (Magnolia); quote is computer generated
Paper: Yellow and blue cardstock (DCWV); DP - Spring Stack (DCWV)
Embellishments: Circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities and rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinder); large flowers - Chloe's Closet (Making Memories); small flowers (Prima); flower brads (Making Memories); button, twine, ribbon
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits
Finished card size: 6" square

Cool, Cool Kitty

I created this card for this week's Stampin' for the Weekend Challenge. For the layout I used the Friday Sketchers challenge sketch.

The challenge for Stampin' for the Weekend is to use a digital image. I haven't used many digi images, but I have seen some really cute ones. This Hambo Cool Cat image was a freebie that I found through Mel Stampz blog. This blog is an awesome resource for all kinds of cool stamping stuff. One of the cool things on there is an index for free digital images. You can find this image here. I colored it with Prismas blended with odorless mineral spirits

The sketch for Friday Sketchers is shown above . It's a nice, simple sketch which is my favorite kind because it leaves lots of room for embellishing. I scalloped the edge of the vertical piece. The flowers are made with some of my favorite punches and layered. The hot, hot, hot charm and flip-flops were goodies I found in my stash.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Just Magnolia and Stampin' for the Weekend

Here is my card for this week's Just Magnolia challenge. I am also submitting it for a brand new challenge blog that just launched today called Stampin' for the Weekend.


The theme for this week's Stampin' for the Weekend challenge is a color challenge to use purple and yellow. I decided on my image and colored it before I even looked to see what yellow and purple papers I had - or if I had any at all. I almost thought I was going to have to make a run to the store tomorrow to get the right color paper, but then found this paper way at the bottom of my "purple" drawer. I have no clue who makes it - there's nothing on the back. But it's the right color and the style was right too, so there ya go. The cardstock and flowers are also purple, but for some reason look more blue in the picture.

The Just Magnolia challenge this week is a sketch, which is shown below. I cut out Tilda using my Nesties, then pierced the scallops. I also decided to doodle a little around the edges. I used two different scallop border punches on the edge of the vertical piece. I used my slot punch to thread the ribbon through the image. The flowers are individual flowers off one of those silk hydrangea bushes with gemstone brads in the centers. I was to lazy to punch flowers tonight. :)

Supplies
Stamps: Tilda with Flower Jump Rope (Magnolia); sentiment (Hero Arts)
Paper: Yellow cardstock (DCWV); purple cardstock (unknown); DP (unknown)
Embellishments: circle and scalloped circle Nestabilities (Spellbinder); border punches (Fiskars); flowers (unknown); gem brads (Making Memories); ribbon (unknown)
Technique: Prismacolor pencils blended with mineral spirits; paper piercing; doodling
Finished card size: 6" square