Bonjour!

I was able to complete one more challenge today (yay!!).  This is a PR for me!  I chose this week's Waltzingmouse sketch challenge WMSC44 for this project.  I love the way it came together.  It is very simple yet elegant.

My recipe is:

Stamps - Waltzingmouse Stamps Fancy Phrases.

Ink - River Rock, VersaFine Vintage Sepia.

Paper - Taylored Expressions Buttercream Choice card stock, Gina K's Pure Luxury Chocolate Brown, Blush Blossom, Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue & WonderFALL DP.

Accessories - Nestabilities, Dimensionals, Kaiser self adhesive half pearls.

Thank you for stopping in.  I always appreciate your comments!

Three of a Kind

This week's One Layer Wednesday OLW51 challenge is to make three one-layer cards. Yes, three. Make three cards all using the same image stamp but vary the occasion by changing the sentiment and/or ink colour and/or card stock colour. You must use the same image stamp on each card.

PTI's Mat Stack 2 collection came to mind immediately.  I just stamped one of the images from that set using VersaMark ink on Gina K's Pure Luxury White card stock (X3) and heat embossed them with Ranger Copper embossing powder.  Three different sentiments from the same collection are stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx ink to make each card different.

Thanks for coming by today!

One Layer Note

I just about never make 3 cards in 2 days, but I am on a roll.  My 11 year old boys are off from school this week, and so am I because I work there.  I have been in my craft room as much as I am able for the last 2 days.  Of course, I am totally neglecting my boys and they have not eaten since Sunday - LOL!  All kidding aside, I found another new challenge that I am going to love - One Layer Wednesday, hosted by Jennifer Styles of Styles Ink.  While doing some blog surfing earlier today, I stumbled on to the One Layer Wednesday challenge from last week OLW50 which was to use an old stamp.  As I was thinking of what to do with this week's Color Throwdown #139, my idea began to take life.  OLW50 is closed, but I made this card anyway, and used all of the colors for this week's Color Throwdown.

My stamped images are from a Hero Arts set called Circle Graphics that I have had for years.  My card base is piece of Gina K's Pure Luxury White card stock.  I masked off a 1 1/4" section toward the bottom of the card.  I randomly stamped with all 4 stamps and all 5 Color Throwdown colors inside the masked area.  The sentiment from PTI's Mat Stack 2 collection is stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.  As a finishing touch, I scored one line below and two above the stamped strip.  I am so pleased with the results, and it was very quick to whip up.  Could I possibly be getting the hang of this CAS thing????? I surely am trying...

Thank you for stopping in.  I always appreciate your comments very much!

On My Mind

I am loving my PTI Blooming Button Bits set.  Today I used it to create this card that combines

FTL137 from the Clean&Simple Stamping blog



and ColorQ Challenge #82

Here is my recipe:
Stamps - PTI Blooming Button Bits.
Ink - Kiwi Kiss, VersaFine Onyx Black.
Paper - Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke, Baja Breeze, White.
Accessories - PTI Eyelet Lace Border Die, SU Buttons, Natural twine, glue dots.

I always appreciate your comments so very much.  Thanks for visiting my blog today!

CAS Mother's Day

This week's Less is More challenge is to create cards with cards with little or no symmetry but perfect balance.  PTI's Make it Monday challenge is to create something with a hand drawn frame.  This card is the result of the combination of the two.

I have to laugh at myself.  I watched Nicole Heady's wonderful technique video in which she demonstrates how to make a hand drawn frame.  Well, the video is great and the technique looks easy.  This card is the result of my FIFTH attempt.  I just could not get the corners right.  In the end, I cheated a little and put half pearls in the corners because I was not satisfied with my corners on any of my attempts.  Nichole's is perfect and gorgeous - mine - not so much.  I do love the way the card turned out though.  I really like the addition of the DMC thread on the buttons.  It gives the buttons a "sunflower" feel.

Recipe:
Stamps-PTI Blooming Button Bits.
Paper~Kraft, Gina K Pure Luxury Pure White 120 lb.
Ink~VersaFine Onyx Black, Old Olive, Cajun Craze.
Accessories~PTI Vintage buttons, Kaiser self adhesive half pearls, DMC floss-black, glue dots, CM fine tip black pen.

Thank you so much for stopping in.  I appreciate your comments so much.  Have a great day!

Easter Wishes

This week's "Less is More" challenge is to use acetate on your creation.  Yes, I did gasp when I saw that yesterday as I checked out what was in store for this week for the LIMettes, but I took a deep breath and came up with this card based on a Christmas card that I made at a SU stamp camp a few years ago.

I had some SU acetate that I cut and folded into an A2 size card.  I randomly stamped the butterfly and little flower from PTI's "Egg Hunt" in SU Whisper White craft ink on the front of the card. Warning - it rubs off easily, so you have to be careful when you touch it. I wish I had white alcohol ink for this... oh well.  I achieved the desired affect with the craft ink.

I cut the eggs using the PTI Egg Hunt coordinating die and stamped them with Groovy Guava, Old Olive and Perfect Plum Ink.  I added tiny green self-adhesive rhinestones to the Guava egg. That egg is popped up with Dimensionals between the olive and plum eggs. 

I love the placement of the layers.  I cut the Olive, white (SU Shimmery White) and Plum layers using 3 sizes of Nestabilities Labels One dies.  The green layer is adhered to the BACK of the card.  The white layer on the inside is adhered on top of the green - the acetate layer is in between.  The front is done the same way.  The white layer is adhered to the front of the card.  The purple layer is BEHIND the acetate.  I love the affect!  Thanks Lucian for this great idea!

The sentiment on the inside is from SU's "All Holidays" set and is stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx ink.  The white inside layer is the same size as the white layer on the front.  Initially I made that layer the same size as the plum layer, but it showed a little around the edges when the card was not completely closed.

I am going to head over to the LIM blog to see what my fellow LIMettes have created!  Thanks Chrissie and Mandi for making me pop out of my comfort zone once again.  Have a great Sunday and thank you for stopping by!

May Hope Sustain You...

I am pretty excited about this card.  I made it for the Less Is More Week 10 one layer challenge with the focus on the sentiment.  I knew right away that I would use one of Provocraft's gorgeous frame EF's and a Verve sentiment from Forever in Our Hearts.  I thought it would be easy peasy since I immediately had something in mind.  Well, I was mistaken! Holy smoke! This card is so simple to look at, yet it took me 10 tries and a lot of fussing to come up with the final version.  I tried all sorts of things like rubbing ink over the dry embossing, using different colors of ink on the sentiment, embossing the sentiment, not, all different colors and arrangements of the half pearls, Glimmer Mist/no Glimmer Mist...  Whew!!!  I really loved this challenge though, and I feel right at home with Chrissie, Mandi and The LIMettes over at the Less is More Challenge Blog.  What a warm, welcoming and encouraging bunch of artists.  Now that this is my second LIM challenge, I hope that I can proudly call myself a "LIMette too!"  I am trying to train myself to go simple, and this looks about as simple as it gets.  Now if I can just get the hang of getting it right a little sooner...

My ingredients are :
Stamps~Verve's Forever in Our Hearts.
Paper~Pure Luxury white card stock.
Ink~Versa Mark.
Accessories~Ranger copper embossing powder, Heat gun, Cuttlebug and EF, Kaiser self-adhesive half pearls.

Thank you for stopping in and have a wonderful day.  It was 84 and sunny here in NJ today.  Rain is on its way, but spring has sprung!  Hooray!

Tiny Cupcakes

I made this very simple 3" square mini card for this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #41 and also for a new challenge blog I discovered : the Less is More Clean & Simple Challenge Blog.  I am trying hard to do more CAS cards these days, so I am so happy to have found this blog! 

 The WMS challenge is to to make "Little bitty mini cards!! They are quick, fun and great additions to a gift, a bouquet of flowers or candy treat."  The Less is more challenge is a color challenge - to use a "touch of red". 

I stamped 5 teeny tiny cupcakes from the Waltzingmouse Frame It set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on vanilla card stock and colored them with Copics. I and used the clear atyou spica glitter pen to give the icing some sparkle.  The cupcakes were cut out with a circle punch and mounted on Cherry Cobbler Heart Circles cut from Nestabilities Doily Heart Circles.  The circle in the center is popped up with Dimensionals. The frame and sentiment are also from Frame it.  Thanks for coming by - have a wonderful day!

My Home

 I love PTI's Love Lives Here set with matching dies.  I finally broke them out today.  This week's Clean & Simple sketch (FTL134) was my inspiration for the layout. I took a bit of liberty with the placement of the diecuts.

FTL134

I used this week's Splitcoast color challenge :

CC316: Misty Celery Breeze

for my palate.

Maybe spring will begin to show her face - we had snow here in NJ yesterday.  These lovely spring colors gave me hope!!!  Have a great day!