It's been a while....

Created this with the SSS Monday Challenge AND the SSS Flickr challenge in mind. I recycled some plastic packaging to cut the wings on this piece. Added some alcohol ink and put together a little DIY Valentine decor!

Another Card for...

the Lily Pad Cards Sketch challenge. I'm really having fun with this sketch. For this card I turned the sketch upside down. It will also work for the Hero Art's "Everything Autumn" challenge.

The pumpkin is from Quickutz and I stamped it with the Hero Arts Flourish S5034. The sentiment is also from Hero Art's CL 361. The stamped border is from Lawn Fawn, Blissful Botanicals. I used distress Inks to color in the leaves.

Thanks for stopping by!! Hope your having a great week!

TTFN!

Karen

A Sketch Challenge

Here is this month's sketch over at Lily Pad Cards.   Hero Art's is the sponsor for this challenge. And here is what I came up with.

The Sketch....

My Take...

I just turned the sketch and this is what I came up with. I had spent most of the weekend laying around with a terrible cold but when I had the energy I would go in and ink a bit. The 3 strips were punched from white bazzill cardstock and then colored using distress stains, Aged Mahogany, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed. The leaf is a Quickcutz Die that I applied ink onto with an ink blending tool and a spritz or 2 of water. The background paper is from Basic Grey...I think from an old holiday line. And the sentiment is of course Hero Arts CL497.

Well thanks for looking, I hope to complete another card using this fun sketch...we will see.

Have a great week!

TTFN

Scraplings....

My Hero Arts flicker friend, Dana is hosting her first blog challenge here. I love this idea of using up the scrap pieces you end up with after cutting a 12x12 piece of paper down to create 2 cards. What is left is a 3.5 x 12" piece of paper. Here's how I used my "Scrapling" and added it to a card.

I used another scrap to punch a border to add to one side and I used the scrap piece from the last card I posted to punch the little butterflies. It was in the top of my trash can....I couldn't resist, lol. I used Aged Mahogany with a little liquid pearls to paint in the poppies, I wish you could see the shimmer in the flowers.

Thanks for a fun challenge Dana!

TTFN!

More Distress Stains...

Oh how I'm lovin' these Distress Stains. My In-Law's came for a visit over the long, Labor Day Weekend and brought me a care package from SBP (Scrapbook Paradise). Yesterday I finally got to play!!!!  Here is what I came up with...

First of all I needed to get organized. I keep my stains in a drawer and thought it would be nice to be able to look in and see the colors from the top.  I created circles on my silhouette (.75") colored them and using a bit of glossy accents glued them to the top of the lid. Love It!

Next I created  swatch tags. I did this years ago for all of my ink pad colors and I love having it for my stains as well. It makes matching with other papers and embellishments a cinch. Tags also cut on my silhouette 2x3.

And here is the card I created using my new distress stains. This month on the Hero Arts Group the challenge theme is "All things Autumn"  The Colors I used are; Bundled Sage, Crushed Olive, Aged Mahogany,  Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain. Hero Arts Stamps; Lg Lotus Pattern CG350, Designer Woodgrain S5208, Real Leaves CL457.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Happy 4th!!!

I hope you are all enjoying a fun weekend with Family & Friends!

Happy 4th of July!!

Hero Arts Stamp S5146 Bold Flourish, Star & Banner Quickutz, Freedom stamp WeR Memory keepers. Paper Crafts color Inspiration #6.

2 Cards today

After I got settled from our little trip I started looking at some of my favorite challenge blogs. The Play Date Cafe had this color combo up and it just spoke to me! I love these colors!!!

So here are 2 cards I came up with and they are both doing double duty! I usually don't use the same card for 2 challenges but this week I decided why not :-).

 This card is going into the PDCC #86 and the Hero Arts June challenge for congratulations. I'm sending it off today to my friends daughter who just graduated from OSU. So really I guess it's doing triple duty, lol.

And for this card I am submitting it to CAS-ual Fridays for their color block challenge. When I saw these colors I immediately thought "flip-flops".

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We are headed off to a Dodger's game. I've only been to a professional baseball game once before so I'm looking forward to it. Only sad it isn't a Giant's game, lol.

TTFN!

It's begining to feel a lot like

Summer!!
We had a great time in Reno this past week. Alex's graduation was so much fun and seeing all my Reno family & friends was wonderful.

When we returned it was HOT, and we spent an afternoon in the pool....aahhh! So I thought I would give this color palette from Lily Pad Cards a try.

Just a clean and simple card featuring Alcohol Inks, Technique Tuesday Stamps, Quickutz Label and some Twinery. I hope your enjoying the weather wherever you are!

TTFN!

Watercolor

When I bought this stamp set I was motivated by my love of the ocean. The underwater world I love to dive in. Since I started playing with it I have found it a difficult set to work with. So here is my attempt at creating an underwater scene, one that falls very short of the real thing, lol.

I started off by swiping distress inks across my craft mat, Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters. I misted and then laid my paper into for the background. I dried with a heat tool and then used my craft iron to flatten it out. On the bottom I used the coral stamp in Tattered Rose and Shabby Shutters. I added in the tips of the flower/weed image from CL428 "Earth Flowers" using Forest Moss. I stamped the little turtles in the coral using Pumice Stone and after the card was complete I added glossy accents to the turtles. For the fish I stamped them on watercolor paper. For the yellow fish I stamped first using Mustard Seed. I took a wet paint brush and went over the image to blend the color and fill in the image. I then stamped over it again in Pumice Stone to add the definition of the lines. I went back in with my paint brush and a little Spiced Marmalade to add in some more color. Finally I spritzed the fish with Pearl Glimmer Mist. I was thinking of the shimmer on the scales of a real fish. I hope to find time to try this card again, I know there is a lot of room for improvement!!

TFL!!

Hugs!

More Grad Cards

Here is the card I created for the Lilly Pad Challenge. If you haven't been over to Lilly Pad or signed up for their e-mails you should check them out. They have so many wonderful things going on over there. Jump in and check it out here. One of the great things they have over at Lilly Pad are digital download challenges. Here is this month's FREE download.

 
And here is my card using the film strip, camera and stars.

I used my Silhouette to cut the images. I stamped the stars with white embossing powder using the Hero Arts "Bold Flourish S5146" and inked with Chipped Sapphire distress ink. I used my Copic markers to color the yellow letters and small stars. The "Congrats" sentiment is also from Hero Arts, CL371.

I guess I was on a roll, cause I create a second Grad Card...

I cut the Phrase and Grad Cap on my Silhouette. I used my Copic Marker and a silver colored pencil to color in the phrase. On the white background I used the Hero Arts "Graph" Stamp, S5435 to make it look like a torn page from a spiral bound notebook and the EK border punch.

Have a great week and Thanks for the lovely comments. I really appreciate them!

TTFN!

Hello Friends!

Wow what a week. I wish I knew where the time goes. Here is a card I did for the Create Blog challenge. I havn't pulled out my quickutz in a while. It was fun to create this little card using them.

I used the silhouette to cut the waves and covered them with Distress Stain (Broken China). I just love how quick and easy it is to color a die cut image with the stains. The rest of the card was created using scraps. Another thing I love to do...use up my scraps.

Tomorrow I will be back with another graduation card I'm finishing up. Hope you had a great weekend!

TTFN!

I'm Back

with another post but no ATC's LOL! I had been thinking about this other challenge I had seen over at the CREATE Blog and it just wasn't coming together.  Originally I wanted to stamp on Denim with Bleach but it just wasn't working for me and I had decided not to enter. Then while I was cooking dinner this Clean & Simple little card came into my head.

It was so much fun die cutting my old jeans with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. I also die cut the flowers out of chipboard and adhered the jean material on top so that I could bend it and create a little more dimension.....I only wish I still had daylight to take the photo in. 

Thanks so much for stopping back in. I appreciate each and every comment.

TTFN!