Celebrate Graduation

Holy mackerel, I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've posted.  How time flies.  We have two graduation parties to attend this weekend, so I worked on a card for the first one that's this afternoon.   I've been wanting to join in with the Dynamic Duos, this week the colors are Real Red and Island Indigo.   I did have to adapt them using Close to My Heart Colors, so I used Cranberry and Pacifica, they were as close as I could get.  I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch for the blue print:

I opted to go square with it.  This week the challenge at the 2 Sisters Challenge Blog is "Inside & Out", so I did something that I'm starting to do more of with my cards, decorating the inside.  Here's what this one looks like:

I'm also going to add this to this weeks 52 Card Pickup at the Old Back Porch.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  Kraft, White Daisy, Pacifica - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Ink:  Cranberry, Pacifica - CTMH
Paper:  Fanfare - CTMH
Stampset:  D1400 (Promo with no name) - CTMH
Burlap Mini Shape Flag - Canvas Home Basics
Round Durables - CTMH
Circles and Petite Scalloped Circles - Spellbinders



Flowers

I created this for the 2 Sisters Challenge Blog challenge.  Which to bad the link is now closed.  I hate it when the internet is slow, one of the drawbacks of living in the boondocks.  Anyhow, the challenge was to use a flower in the main image.  I stamped this and colored it with my watercolor pencils, then I did two coats of a crackle distress paint. 

I used the Viva la Verve April week 2 sketch.  I've been wanting to sew randomly on my cards, instead of in my usual straight line, I thought this would be the perfect sketch to do it with.  I dipped the little paper butterfly in a solution of Blush re-inker and rubbing alcohol to give it some color. 

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  Colonial White, Crystal Blue - Close to My Heart (CTMH), Kraft - Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Stampset:  Enjoy Every Moment - CTMH
Watercolor Pencils and Blending Pen - CTMH
Flutter Paper Shapes, Colonial White Safety Pin - CTMH
Baja Breeze Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Ovals and Scalloped Ovals - Spellbinders
Rock Candy Distress Paint - Ranger
Blush Re-Inker - CTMH

Easter Pennant

This week, the theme at the 2 Sisters Challenge Blog is Spring is in the Air, we needed to use anything that reminded us of spring.  For me, one of the big marks of spring is Easter, so I wanted to create something to decorate my home for Easter.  This banner is really small, I used the Banners Dimensional Elements from Close to My Heart as the base.  The patterned paper was cut out using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge that's complementary to the Banners Dimensional Elements.  The banner is about 14 inches from the tip to tip of the Divine Twine, each pennant is about 2 inches tall.

Speaking of Divine Twine, this week at The Ribbon Carousel, the challenge is Anything Goes with Party Time Tuesday.  

Here's a close up of the first two pennants, I stamped "Happy" first.  On another sheet of cardstock, I stamped the Easter Basket, colored it with watercolor pencils, and cut it out.  I decided to use the handle to frame "Happy".   Since I didn't have a lot of space to work with on each pennant, I decided to go make rosette's to frame some of the letters.  Each rosette I cut one strip of paper 1/2 inch by 6 inches and then just accordion folded them (free hand because they are so small), glued the ends together, and made the rosette. 

I stamped some cute little Easter eggs on cardstock, colored them, cut them out, covered them with glitter, and used foam tape to adhere them.

Sorry about this last close up, it's pretty bad.  In my defense, I took the initial picture of my banner during the day, and when I sat down to type up my blog post, the picture didn't show the detail.  So I took some close up pictures, this one didn't work out so well.

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Lucy - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Stampsets:  Card Word Puzzle, Sensational Season - CTMH
Banners Dimensional Elements, Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge - CTMH
Prisma Glitter and Watercolor Pencils - CTMH
Cotton Candy Divine Twine
Keepsake Felt Alphabet - CTMH
Circle Punch - Creative Memories

Viva la Verve March Week #3

I received an exciting message on my cell phone this morning, some good friends of ours had their baby.  Since they didn't find out what they were having, I couldn't decide if I should make a girl, boy, or gender neutral card.  I debated to long, they had a boy, and I had no card.  So, I decided to use the newest Viva la Verve from Splitcoast Stampers sketch to create this baby boy card.  Also, this week at the 2 Sisters Challenge Blog, we were to use Spots and Dots.  I've loved this polka dot paper for a long time, and was excited to have an excuse to use it.

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Portobello Road "Buddies" Perfect Paper - My Minds Eye
Cardstock:  Crystal Blue, Grey Flannel - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Inks:  Crystal Blue, Grey Wool - CTMH
Stampset:  Baby Love - CTMH
Brads - CTMH
Labels 1 - Spellbinders
Nesting Scallop Circles - Lifestyle Crafts
Chipboard Banner - Jenni Bowlin

The Shabby Tea Room #105 - Spring is Near

Here's my card I created using this weeks challenge from The Shabby Tea Room:

The challenge was to create a card using the photo below as inspiration.  We needed to use 3 colors from the photo and dry embossing.

I used this fabulous sketch from Cardabilites:

I highlighted the embossing with platinum stickles, when I selected that color, I thought it would give it a wonderful aged glitter effect.  After I had everything glued down, I wished I would have gone with the clear diamond stickles instead. 

I'm also going to enter this card in these following challenges:
2 Sisters Challenge Blog - Challenge #82 - Spring Colors
Use it Tuesday - Challenge # 27 - Green

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Lucy - Close to My Heart (CTMH)
Cardstock:  Sunny Yellow, Baby Pink - CTMH
Ink:  Bamboo, Pear - CTMH
Stamps:  Notably Ornate - Stampin' Up!
Platinum Stickles - Ranger
RicRac, Pearl Opaques - CTMH
Cricut Cartridge - Art Philosophy - CTMH
Flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts
Top Note Die, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, Scallop Punch - Stampin' Up!

Mermaid Anya

I was so excited to find out that I was last weeks random winner at The Greeting Farm's Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge #4.  I won my choice of a single stamp, I chose Mermaid Anya.  Fast forward to this week, I printed of the #5 sketch and was stewing about what to do with it.  Don't get me wrong, I love the sketch, but if I can't sit down and work on a sketch right away, I mull it over while I'm doing something else.  Anyhow, lo and behold, my stamp showed up in the mail that day, that was fast!  So I decided to use her on this weeks challenge. 

Also, at the 2 Sisters Challenge Blog, it's anything goes. 

Supplies Used:
Paper:  Amethyst, Pansy Purple - Close to My Heart (CTMH), Bermuda Bay - Stampin' Up!
Contemporary Mega Tag Pad - K & Company
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamps:  Mermaid Anya - The Greeting Farm, Sweet Expressions - Whipper Snapper Designs
Ribbon - Prima
Sparkles - Momenta
Scallop Punch - Stampin' Up!
Circles and Scalloped Circle Dies - Spellbinders
Copics:  BV00, E00, E02, V06, V17, BV04