Festive Friday Challenge #151 - Valentine's Day

It's the last few moments of the Valentine's Day challenge over at Festive Friday and I just completed my card. We were to pick three items from the list below to include in our project. I chose Red-Hearts-Foiling from the list.

To find the 'foiling' on the card, you will have to look closely at the word 'friend'. I started with a white A-2 base card. I cut a white layer the same size and stamped 'Happy Valentine's Day' in red at the top. I die cut a heart shape under the sentiment. I embossed this layer then attached it to base card using foam mount strips to raise it off the card. I found some pretty rose designer paper and die cut a heart the same size as the open heart and attached it on the base card so it would show through the open heart. I then die cut the word 'friend' in red and attached it to the bottom of the heart. Lastly, I die cut a tiny gold foil heart and used it as the dot above the 'i'.

Valentine's Day Rubber Stamp - My Sentiments Exactly
Friend Die - Poppystamps Friend Folksy Script
Rose Paper - Pretty Petals by The Paper Studio
Red Ink - Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler
Embossing Folder - Gina K. Tapestry
White Cardstock - Hammermill
Red Cardstock - Bazzill

Color Throwdown Challenge #777

I really like the colors for the current challenge at The Color Throwdown. These three color really blend well together.

What started the idea for the card below was a birthday gift I just received. A friend, who knows my love of dies, sent me a chain link lattice die and I made a die cut to incorporate into my card. I used some of my pretty Japanese Washi paper (which has pinks and navy colors in it) and framed it with the die cut. I backed that layer with a red and white layer then attached it to a navy blue base card. I stamped a 'Thinking of You' sentiment on a white strip and stamped (and cut out) a fan to finish off the card.

Thinking of You Sentiment - Bo Bunny
Red and Blue Card Stock - Bazzill
White Card Stock - Hammermill
Japanese Washi Paper - Etsy
Fan Image - Stampin' Up!

Beautiful Blossoms Floral Challenge #13

I love making floral cards, and recently came across another challenge site, Beautiful Blossoms Challenge. This month they are having an 'anything goes floral challenge' with optional mood board.

I thought I'd make a card with a little different take on the mood board (above) but still incorporate the blue floral colors. I began with a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" white layer that I cut out with one of my stitch rectangle dies. I stamped a large and small floral bee on the card then stamped a trailing floral swirl at the bottom of the bigger bee. I made a stencil for the flower parts of the bee then added the blue color using dye ink. The sentiment Thinking of You was stamped last. I then backed the layer with a black layer and attached it to a 5" x 6-1/4 blue base card. I added a little bling by attaching blue gems to the bees and flower swirl.

Thinking of You Sentiment - Bo Bunny Beautiful Butterflies
Bee Rubber Stamp Images - Sizzix Framlits BEE WELL
Blue Ink - Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise
Floral Swirl Stamp - Inkadinkado
Black Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Base Card - Bazzill Prince Charming
Bling - Recollections Bling Stickers

Poppies and Dragonfly Card

I love designer paper and cardstock that have a foil accent to it. I recently went to Hobby Lobby to see what they had and I was not disappointed. Aside from the gorgeous 12" x 12" Eucalyptus paper (with golden foil accents), I found some gold foil dotted paper, some gold floral paper and a paper (actually cardstock) pad from The Paper Studio called PRETTY AS A POPPY.

So many pretty designs and most with a foil accent. Today I made a dragonfly tri-fold card using the foil accented Eucalyptis paper and a sheet of the PRETTY AS A POPPY card stock. For the center design I die cut a 3-layer circle (with designer foil paper on top) then added a die cut golden dragonfly.

PRETTY AS A POPPY Foil Cardstock - The Paper Studio
Eucalyptus Foil Scrapbook Paper - The Paper Studio
Dragonfly Die Cut - Dee's Distinctively Dies
Gold Card Stock For Dragonfly - Park Lane
Base Card - Bazzill Bling Atlantis

Color Hues #79 Copper and Green Challenge

First, a question...why, when you make a card, does your trash can get mysteriously full? I think the answer to that is impatience. I want to make a card I like, and if it doesn't fit that description, (which means I usually find a flaw in it because I hurried through the process), I throw it away. Am I a perfectionist? No, I don't strive for perfection. I think I'm a purest. I want to follow certain rules exactly — to the letter, and be absolutely pleased with the results. I am (finally) pleased with this card I made for the current Color Hues challenge.

I started with an A-2 light green card. I die cut a lattice frame in white and backed it with a green and white floral paper. That layer was attached to the card. I die cut a white oval for the front of the card and stamped and embossed (in copper) a butterfly and sentiment. I backed that oval with a larger green oval and attached it to the center of the card using foam mount strips. Lastly I added some green leaves (at an angle) to the top and bottom of the card.

Lattice Frame Die - Waffle Flower Triple Line Diamond Panel
Butterfly Stamped Image - Bo Bunny Beautiful Butterflies
Sentiment Stamped Image - Darcies Butterfly Birthday Wishes
Embossing Powder - Ranger Copper Embossing Powder
Leaves Die Cuts - Memory Box Fresh Foliage
Oval Die Cut - Spellbinder's Nestabilities
Base card - Stampin' Up! Pear Pizzaz

Seize The Birthday #275 Embossing

Time for another birthday card. This is my first time making a card for the Seize The Birthday challenge. The challenge this week is to make a card with embossing (wet or dry).

I had recently die cut some golden bees, so decided to make a bee-theme birthday card. I began with an A-2 tent-fold black base card. I embossed a white layer with a honeycomb embossing folder and attached it to the front of the card. I stamped "Thinking of you SWEET FRIEND" on a white square then backed it with black and gold. Under the sentiment I attached my golden bee and attached the layer (using foam mount tape) to the top of the card. At the bottom I added a strip of designer paper and added two golden dots. Between the dots I added a stamped "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" strip.

Happy Birthday Sentiment - Stampin' Up! From the Heart Stamp Set
Thinking of You Sentiment - Stampin' Up! Honey Bee Stamp Set
Honeycomb Embossing Folder - Sizzix Stampin' Up!
Bee Die Cut - Stampin' Up! Detailed Bee Die
Gold Card Stock - Park Lane Gold Paper Pad
Black Card Stock - Park Lane

The Color Throwdown Challenge #775

The colors for this Color Throwdown challenge are pink, purple and green. The inspiration for the card I made comes from a Gina K Designs YouTube video. I began with a 4" x 4-1/4" pink base card. On the front I attached a white layer that I punched at the bottom with a border punch. Next I die cut a pink heart and backed it with a white heart. The heart was glued to the top of the card. Below the heart I stamped 'Live Life' in purple.

I stamped two flowers in purple and two leaves in green, die cut them out, then attached them to the left side of the heart using a foam mount tape. I stamped a bird in black, die cut it out, then attached it to the right side of the heart using a foam mount tape. The foam mounting raises the flowers and the bird off the card slightly.

Cardstock - Bazzill Light Pink
Border Punch - ek Success Scallop Broder
Heart Die Cut - Memory Box La Rue Heart Die
Flowers and Leaves - Gina K. Watercolor Flowers
Bird Stamp Image - Gina K. Fearless Flyers
Purple Ink - Stampin' Up! Lovely Lilac
Green Ink - Stampin' Up! Old Olive
Black Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Festive Friday #FF0150 Challenge

Another day, another fun challenge.The Festive Friday Challenge gives you an inspiration list and you need to choose three items off the list to include in your project. This gives infinite inspiration possibilities. Here is this past Friday's list.

I chose Gold-Red-Layers from the list to make my card. I started with a 5-3/4" x 5-3/4" black base card. The layering I wanted to use was a dark red, black and gold. On the top red layer I die cut a swirl pattern then backed the layer with a black layer. I then added those two layers to a shiny gold layer and attached it to the base card.

I die cut the word 'hello' out of the same gold cardstock and attached it at the bottom. Lastly, I added three gold gems to the top. I think the black, red and gold colors make the card elegant.

Black/Red Cardstock - Bazzill
Gold Cardstock - Park Lane Gold
Swirl Die - Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlit
'hello' Die - Altenew
Gold Gems - jolee's Boutique

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge 617

This was a fun Freshly Made Sketches challenge. It challenged me to decide what theme I wanted, what size card I wanted and specifically what image I wanted to use. Since Valentine's Day is coming up, I decided on a Valentine card for a friend. The challenge sketch below is simple yet it took me a little time to decide what I wanted to do.

I started with an ivory card layer. The 8-1/2" x 5-1/2" card is larger than I usually use, but that allowed me to make bigger square cutouts at the top. I began by die cutting the three square openings across the top of the card. I then die cut three small frames to frame the squares in red. Since this is a Valentine's Day card, I wanted the red on the card to pop so used a deep red card stock. I then punched three small hearts and glued them under each square.

I cut a strip that I printed up with the sentiment (on the same ivory card stock) "A Special Valentine For A Special Person" then attached it to a red strip and glued it across the squares. Next came the stamping. I stamped three tulip hearts and colored them in red and green. I die cut them out with the same square die I used for the openings. On the back of the framed squares layer, I added foam mount adhesive strips. I started attaching it to the front of the folded base card, carefully sliding in the stamped images so they would show though the die cut square openings. This raised the front layer slightly off the base card and gave a little dimension.

Red Card Stock - Bazzill
Stamped Image - PSX Tulip Heart
Flowers - Copic R46 Strong Red
Leaves - The Fine Touch Green Colored Pencil
Ivory Cardstock - Printable Expressions Textured Greeting Cards

Teapot Tuesday Challenge MMTPT806

Today's challenge on Splitcoaststampers Teapot Tuesday is to make something round. I decided to use some of my Ella Blue designer paper for the card. I found a video for making a fairly simple tri-fold card, so added the paper to the sections of the card as shown. The center piece is a die cut round piece that is stamped with "A million and one Thanks". I backed that circle with a brown layer of decorative paper. I attached the round layer with foam mount to raise it off the card slightly. Lastly, I added golden leaves at the top and bottom.

Designer Paper - Ella Blue
Sentiment - Stampin' Up!
Leaves - Memory Box Fresh Foliage Die Cuts
Card Stock - Park Lane Gold Cardstock

Birthday Gift Card Holder and Purse

It's here, a new year and a new month of birthdays. The first birthday of the year is coming up so I decided that a gift card was the best gift. What do you give a card crafter? A gift card to a craft store of course. Giving a gift card also gives inspiration to make something to put it in. I decided to make a little present gift card holder and a little purse to match. I searched YouTube for both and found two videos that were just what I was looking for. I made the purse first, then the gift card holder using a Foil Eucalyptus designer card stock that I found at Hobby Lobby.

On the gift card holder I added a gold gem strip and a gold die cut bow. For a little something extra I put a Kit Kat Birthday Cake Candy Bar in the purse with the gift card.