Inspired Designs

Hula Happiness

I have wanted to make a punched pieced hula girl since I saw a card that featured her in the gallery.  Today's SCS challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to create this card.  We were only to use scrap pieces of cardstock to make our cards.  Unfortunately my box of scrap cardstock keeps growing because I rarely utilize anything from it!  I know, I'm bad!

I used a variety of circle punches to create my hula girl.  I used my scissors to cut stands of hair into her bang area.  I also cut her garden green skirt into strips so it would look like a grass skirt. 

The flower accents were punched with the three for you punch.  I decided to use bright, bold colors for this card because I wanted to mimic a tropical environment - so lush and beautiful! I added white gel pen dot accents to the centers of each flower.

This was such a fun card to make and there is only one stamped element on it.  That is a first for me!

I better go and clean up my stamping area so I can get outside to enjoy the sun.  Have a wonderful Thursday everyone!

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Stamps: Warm Words

Ink: Basic black

CS: Blush blossom, yo yo yellow, tempting turquoise, garden green, green galore, pink passion, basic black

Accessories: 1 3/8", 1 1/4" and 1" circle punches, three for you punch, coluzzle cutting system, scissors, white gel pen

Gently Embracing Life

I really didn't feel like stamping today because I am feeling a little down.  Today is the second anniversary of my mother's passing and it has been a pretty tough day.  I had a look at Roxie's sketch challenge this morning and the idea of a serene, peaceful card came into my head.  I love the flowers from the Embrace Life set because they are so pretty and delicate and I thought they would work well for this sketch challenge.  The sentiment reminds me of my mother's ability to accept any difficult situation and try to make the most out of it. 

I stamped the flower image in basic black and used my aquapainter to color the images in with groovy guava ink.  I add ruby red hightlights to the petals and then add white gel pen dot accents to some of the centers of the flowers.  I outlined the stems and leaves with river rock ink.

To soften the look of the card I pulled the coordinating ink color of each piece of cardstock.  I ended up pulling groovy guava and ruby red ink of the whisper white mat. I tied a piece of groovy guava double stitched ribbon around my panel mat and I adhered three dew drops in the lower right corner of my card.

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Stamps: Embrace Life

Ink: Basic black, groovy guava, ruby red, river rock

CS: Whisper white, river rock, groovy guava, ginger blossom dp

Accessories: Aquapainter, sponges, white gel pen, slot punch, groovy guava double stitched ribbon, dimensionals, dew drops

Cherished Blooms

Today's SCS color challenge was to use sahara sand, whisper white and groovy guava in a card.  It took forever to get this card finished.  Too much going on today and not enough time to stamp! LOL

I watercolored the flower pot image from Bloomin' Beautiful with groovy guava ink for the flowers, certainly celery for the leaves and sahara sand for the pot.  I intensified some areas on the image by applying more ink, to create dimension.  I added white gel pen dots to the center of each flower.

It is hard to see in the picture but I used the scor-pal to create a scored grid pattern on the large sahara sand mat.  I pulled groovy guava ink off all the cardstock layers and added some groovy guava double stitched ribbon.

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Stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful, Warm Words

Ink: Basic black, groovy guava, sahara sand, certainly celery

CS: Groovy guava, whisper white, sahara sand

Accessories: White gel pen, scor-pal, aquapainter, dimensionals, groovy guava double stitched, slot punch, sponge 

Another Sketch Challenge

I have had the idea for Jen's sketch challenge in my mind all day.  I knew I wanted to use the tree from the PTI set, Father Knows Best, and suddenly I remembered that Everyday Blessings dp that I haven't used yet.....and this is what I came up with. 

The leaves were stamped in PTI's spring moss ink. The sentiment and the tree trunk were stamped in SU! chocolate chip craft ink.  The tree image from the Father Knows Best set.  The sentiment is from the Everyday Blessings set. 

I added aged copper brads to the corners of the large spring moss mat and a row of three in the lower right corner of my stamped image.  I wish I had positioned the row a little higher but it will do for now.

I utilized a couple of different kinds of designer paper from PTI's Everyday Blessings dp pack.  The colors are wonderful and they coordinate so well together.

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Stamps: Father Knows Best, Everyday Blessings - PTI

Ink: PTI - spring moss,  SU! - chocolate chip craft

CS: SU! - Chocolate chip, PTI - stamper's select white, spring moss, aqua mist, everyday blessing's dp

Accessories: Aged copper brads, ticket corner punch, crafter's tool kit, dimensionals

Purely For You

Natasha's Dirty Girl challenge was based on a great sketch we had to use for our cards.  I immediately thought of the flower from Bloomin' Beautiful for this challenge.  I decide to use purely pomegranate, whisper white and basic black colors. 

I colored the flower with purely pomegranate and added more intense color to certain areas to add dimension to the flower.  It is hard to see in the picture, but I did layer a smaller part of flower to create more dimension.

The large whisper white mat and the long basic black mat were embossed with the swiss dot embossing folder.  I used the scalloped border punch to create a punched edge on the long purely pomegranate mat.  I added a clear rhinestone to each scallop and I also added one to the corners of the black mat around the image.

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Stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful, All Holidays

Ink: Basic black, purely pomegrante, certainly celery

CS: Basic black, whisper white, purely pomegranate

Accessories: Cuttlebug, nestabilites, swiss dot ef, scalloped border punch, slot punch, clear rhinestones, aquapainter, dimensionals, ticket corner punch, purely pomegranate satin ribbon

Silhouette Thoughts

SCS's featured stamper is Julia (artystamper).  She has a great gallery jam packed with lots of wonderful cards and ideas.

I used Julia's card layout but I changed the stamp set, went with a solid black mat and changed the ribbon treatment.

This card also fulfill Joan's Dirty Girl silhouette challenge.  I thought that the Essence of Love set would work well for this technique and I love the results I achieved with it.

For a bit of added dimension, I stamped the butterfly from this set in river rock ink on whisper white cardstock.  I cut the image out and adhered the body to the mat.  This allowed me to bend the wings forward.

This was Julia's card that I CASE'd and modified.

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Stamps: Essence of Love

Ink: Basic black, river rock

CS: Basic black, river rock, whisper white

Accessories: 7/8 black organdy ribbon, double stitched river rock ribbon, slot punch, dimensionals

Batty Flap Fold Card

I managed to combine three challenges into this card.  Rose Ann's challenge was based on constructing a flap fold card.  Laura wanted us to add the element of distressing to our creations and Julia asked us to utilize stitching has an accent.

My flap fold card was based on one of my favorite events during the year - Halloween!  The element of distressing was achieved through distressing the edges of my basic black and creepy crawly dp mats.  I also pulled basic black ink off the edges of the pumpkin pie mats and cardbase.

I handstitched black accents around my mats and on the flap.  I have never actually stitched on a card before.  I usually just add faux stitched or pierced accents so this challenge forced me out of my comfort zone.

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Stamps: Batty for You, All Holidays

Ink: Basic black

CS: Basic black, pumpkin pie, whisper white, creepy crawly dp

Accessories: 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punch, large oval punch, scalloped circle punch, cutter's kit, black thread, crafter's tool kit, needle, dimensionals, black grosgrain ribbon

Sweet Cupcake Wishes

I completed both of Taylor's challenges - her Dirty Girls Cupcake Challenge and her sketch challenge from her blog.  This is a really great layout - something I have never tried before.

I have always loved the little cupcake image from the Short & Sweet set and used it has inspiration for my card.  I thought the flower images on the Ellie stamp from the Happy Heart Day set would make cute little cupcake flowers.  Then I remembered seeing a card a long time ago with the Ellie carrying a cupcake on the end of her trunk.  I decided to add a rose red plate full of them.

After coloring the cupcake images, I added some glittery accents with a clear spica glitter pen but you can't see it in my picture.  Three dew drops were adhered to the large white panel on the right side of the card.

I am still hoping to get to Julia's stitching challenge  and Joan's silhouettes challenge today but I have to get ready to take the kids golfing.  I hope every has a wonderful Friday...the weekend is just around the corner!

Here is a link to Taylor's blog -  http://www.tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/ .  Be sure to check out her Friday cupcake sketch challenges!

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Stamps: Happy Heart Day, Short & Sweet

Ink: Basic black, rose rose, regal rose

CS: Whisper white, rose red, going grey, bali breeze dp

Accessories: Dew drops, clear spica glitter pen, white gel pen

Celebrate Simply

This was a hard limited supply challenge for me to do.  The only embellishment we could use was ribbon.  The maximum number of layers we could use was four and we couldn't use any medium for coloring our images in.  You could either use a solid stamp or you had to paper piece your image. 

The part that I found the hardest was the embellishment rule.  I kept wanting to reach for something sparkly to add to the cake and flowers.  I also wanted to add some brads or something to the corners of the mats.

I used craft inks for stamping on this card.  I wanted my colors to be soft and craft inks give that kind of effect.  I also wanted the pink candle to show up through the chocolate chip icing and you can achieve that with craft inks as well.

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Stamps: Piece of Cake - PTI

Ink: Craft - chocolate chip, pretty in pink, yo yo yellow

CS: Chocolate chip, pretty in pink, whisper white

Accessories: 5/8" chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, pretty in pink taffeta ribbon, dimensionals

Sweet Baby Girl Card

I wish I could get a better photo of this card but I am having trouble getting one.  Oh well.....

This card encompasses two challenges - Sharon's stamp simply challenge and the SCS's negative space challenge.  There are only three stamped elements on this card - the onesie, the polka dot bg on the onesie and the rabbit.  I added color to the trim and white gel pen on the rabbit's ear and tail.

I used the scor-pal to create a grid background on the large lavender moon mat.  The frame was created with the cuttlebug and nestabilites dies.  I added a white taffeta ribbon for accent.

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Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings, Polka Basics - PTI

Ink: Lavender moon, palette noir - PTI

CS: Stampers select white, lavender moon - PT

Accessories: Cuttlebug, nestabilites, scor-pal, dimensionals, white taffeta ribbon, white gel pen