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")

Scraplings

Each week someone posts a challenge in the Papercrafts Community on the Creating Keepsakes web site. This week was for these adorable little cards that they call scraplings. Scraplings are 1 1/4" wide and 4 1/4" long. They are folded at the top. They only take a few minutes to make and they make use of even those little bitty scraps that I can't ever seem to throw away.

The stamps I used were as follows from left to right: 1) Stampin' UP! Paris in Spring; 2) Stampendous; 3) Technique Tuesday.

Scraplings can be used for bookmarks, gift cards, or just cute little notes. One of the girls on the board showed how she attached hers to a regular size card as kind of a card and gift in one. She put a note inside the card that said it could be used for a bookmark. I though that was a cute idea. Another suggested that she might make some for her son to take to daycare for Valentine's day and I thought that was a great idea too. I am thinking about making some for my son to take to preschool for his valentine's party instead of the plain ol' store bought cards - if I can come up with a design that's "boy" enough for him.

These are all the same size. They may look slightly different. I scanned them separately, then put them all into one image file to upload. They didn't all resize exactly the same and the background may look a little funny in spots. I know I should take pictures with my digital camera instead, but I have found my designs actually look better and show more detail if I scan. I am just terrible at taking pictures.

I think I will be making more of these. I have some ideas for using those $1 clear stamps and some brighter colors to make some really cute ones.

Simple Thank You Cards

I'm on a roll! Two posts in one day. These are some simple thank you cards that I made today. I made them because I needed to (Christmas thank yous not yet sent) and also for - you guessed it - another challenge! This one is for the Daring Cardmakers challenge.

The only requirement for this challenge was that the cards be "thank you" themed, but I gave myself a couple of personal challenges as well. First I wanted to use only scraps for the cards. Second, I wanted to use some of those Michael's dollar stamps that I have been collecting, but never seem to use. I see them and think "oh how cute and it's only a dollar!" Then I buy a bunch, bring them home and that's it. They sell wood mounted (which is what I used here) and clear stamps. I have a bunch of the clear stamps too. I used a couple of those on the tag I posted earlier today.

Before I get to the cards, I want to apologize in advance for the corny humor. I just couldn't help it. The first two are going to an aunt that I am very close to and a close family friend, so they'll appreciate them. The third card (which does not have any of the dollar stamps) is for an uncle that I rarely see. I wasn't sure he'd appreciate the humor, so I made his card a little more sophisticated - still used scraps though.

Supplies
Stamp: Michael's

Paper: All scraps (yellow cardstock is Archiver's; DP is My Mind's Eye)

Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black; Colorbox Chalk Ink (Yellow Citrus; Warm Red)

Embellishements: Scallop circle punches (pierced the scallops to add interest); ribbon scrap; computer generated sentiment punched into a circle

Technique: Prisma pencils

Supplies
Stamp: Michael's
Paper: All scraps (pink cardstock is DCWV; DP is My Mind's Eye)
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black; Colorbox Chalk Ink (Lime Citrus; Rouge)
Embellishements: Scallop circle punches (pierced the scallops to add interest); ribbon scrap; computer generated sentiment punched into a circle; prima flower; MM flower brad
Technique: Prisma pencils; paper piecing - pop dotted the shoe


I think this would have looked better with a black card base instead of the cream, but I wouldn't have been able to use scraps if I did that. I didn't have any black ones big enough.

Supplies
Stamps: Club Scrap
Paper: All scraps
Ink: Color Box Pigment (Red) VersaColor Ultimate Pigment (Black)
Embellishements: Ribbon scrap
Technique: Heat embossing