Joy

Heart 2 Heart Challenges asks us to use neutral colors only.  Oops.  I just made a card couple days ago with neutral colors.  You could see the card here.

I'm making a new card for this challenge, and for the very first time, I've used the negative of a cricut image.  I do not have gypsy or other gadgets, so it was a little difficult to put the cut at where I want it to be, but nevertheless a fun process!

I've used Kraft cardstocks, Chocolate and Bamboo cardstocks then some Cocoa ribbon.  The word "JOY" was lined with some retired Mistletoe paper, where the monochromatic side is in Bamboo.
It is a very clean card and hopefully will bring JOY to the recipient!

Happy Holidays

Today I'm sharing a card that I've combined the requirements from various challenges, which itself is a challenge for myself!

The sketch is adopted from The Paper Players:

Then I've incorporated stitching and distress as required by Black Tie Friday:

Finally I've got a circle and three brads to participate the recipe challenge at Catch the Bug Challenge blog.

So my card looks like this:

I'm sure you can see the sketch is adopted from The Paper Players.  The distress was done around the circle where the birds live.  The vertical banner was added some interest with a border of hand-stitching.  I wish I had a sewing machine.  The stitches took me quite a while.  You see a circle inside the scallop and three brads in the red panel.

Really fun to incorporate all the elements in these three challenges! 

Materials used:

1.  Workshop on the Go - Pear and Partridge Cardmaking Kit
2.  Desert Sand cardstock
3.  Embroidery Floss Neutral Assortment
4.  Desert Sand Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
5.  Cocoa Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
6.  VersaMark ink pad
7.  Gold embossing powder
8.  Brad Assortment - Red Assortment
9.  Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge
10.  2" Scallop Circle Punch

Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween week!  Even though Halloween falls on Wednesday, we are still going to celebrate and have fun!

I'm making some last-minute cards.  One of which made use of the sketch provided by Try Stampin on Tuesday:

My card uses some old supplies - paper from the Holligan paper pack and Wicked, the Stamp of the Month from 2011:

This card is also entering the challenge at The Friday Mashup, which asks that we make a project with a witch.

I should be done with the cards, but gotta run to grocery to make sure I have enough candy!

Monochromatic Christmas Card

This week Paper Crafter's Library presented a stunning Black and White Christmas card.  You could see the card here. 

The color combination struck me but when it comes to making something similar, I came to realize that I do not have any silhouette image.

While I was going through my stash I came across Holiday Magic, last year's Christmas Stamp of the Month and so I decided to make a monochromatic card using the set:

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas with Mojo Monday

It has been quite a crazily busy Saturday but fortunately I managed to take the time to make a card to participate in the Mojo Monday Challenge:

My Christmas card uses materials from the Pear & Partridge Workshop on the Go:

The sketch looked complicated to me at first glance, but after I've looked at it for a while I think that it is still possible to make a CAS card using the sketch.

Thanks for stopping by!

New Workshops on the Go® Cardmaking Kits

If you need ideas of how to make sets of Christmas cards for the holiday season, you'll want to know more about the Cardmaking kits!

Check out the video below:

Treat bag for Halloween

There are various challenges that are calling for Halloween and I made a treat bag with Cricut Artiste cartridge. 

I love that the Artiste cartridge makes everything so easy!  The treat bag, the word "Boo!" and the owl's eyes are cut with the same button that carries Halloween theme.  Isn't it convenient?  I've added the badge buttons from Haunted Assortment to his eyes to make them more visually interesting, and because of the reflection of the buttons, they do look like real eyes!

I'm entering the challenge at Bitten by the Bug 2, which asks us to make a 3-D Halloween Treat Bag and Heart 2 Heart Challenges, also asking us to make something Halloween or Pumpkin.

I'm also entering the color challenge at Dynamic Duos, asking us to make a project with Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black, which have been substituted with Sunset and Black in the Close to My Heart palette. 

While I was making the treat bag, I couldn't help munching on the kisses......  I need to finish making them fast to make sure I still have enough for each bag.........

A Big Challenge

Black Tie Friday's challenge is another challenge that got me thinking.  It asks that we use black and brown and have a 3-Dimensional inside:

It is difficult, isn't it?

I have decided to give it a try - I really want to try challenges of various kinds to enhance my creativity!

Even though my thought process started with a musculine card, I eventually created a very feminine card:

This card did not involve any patterned paper.  I've used black cardstock as its card base, then Desert Sand cardstock as a mat for the stamped pattern on Colonial White.   It is not too difficult to create your own background paper!


I added Black hemp tied with a banner that says "love" and a flower stamped in Cotton Candy but outlined in Chocolate.   The flower is not colored in full.  I first stamped the solid background on the flower, then turn it before stamping it again.  So it actually has two shades of pink on the flower, together with the "white space" purposefully made for the stamp.  It gives the flower more depth and looks more real!

The 3-D interior was cut with Cricut Artiste cartridge in pink, corresponding with the pink flower on the card front.

I like this card a lot.  I think I will have a hard time parting with it when I send it out. 

Thanks for stopping by!

OLW - Squares

This time the One Layer Challenge really got me.  I have started thinking how to incorporate squares into my card since the day the challenge was launched.  It was very difficult to put my vision into an actual card. 

I was stubborn to insist that it will be a musculine card.  I guess the reason was that I wanted to make something that has a strong graphic pattern.  In retrospect I could totally use this design to make a girly card - just use a variety of pink, orange, and yellow!

This card has 9 squares and, em, 13 circles.

More circles than squares?  I can't help it because there are 13 letters in the sentiment "Happy Birthday."

Not sure how a guy will like this card.  It is graphic and simple - squres, circles and four shades of blue.

I'm glad I've finished it though - I have stepped outside my comfort zone to make a card with a graphic pattern.  This is something I rarely do and my experiment seems to yield acceptable results!

I think I'm going to try it with a different color palette to see how the girly version goes.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Christmas Cheer!

This is the time of the year that I start making "bulk" Christmas cards and ask my girlfriends to join me before the crazy holiday season.  We want to have a couple designs that are easy to replicate and then make a couple of each.  This year, thanks to Close to My Heart's new Workshop on the Go Pear & Partridge Cardmaking Kit, things are much easier.

I have already made the cards in the kit, but still want to make a couple more.   I came across the great sketch presented by Sunday Stamps:

then I decided to use the theme at The Friday Mashup! to create the template of my Christmas card:

My card came together super quickly:

Thanks to the Cricut Artiste cartridge, cutting out many ornaments is as easy as hitting a button.  The Gold embossing took a bit extra effort, but is totally worth it.  Heat embossing always makes a card look better!

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday card with fall colors

I came to realize that many of my birthday cards have bright colors.  That could be attributed to the fat that many of my friends' birthdays fall in the summer months.  Yet I need a few for those whose birthday fall in the fall and winter months.

I was inspired by the sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday when I made my birthday card:

My card uses the Clementine paper pack:

I didn't think of embossing at the beginning but I thought, embossing always makes a card better.  So I've flipped over the paper and emboss the sentiment.  The card does look much better. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

My card today was inspired by two sources:

The sketch from Skipping Stones Design:

and the color combo from Nacho Average Challenge:

At first I wanted to make a birthday card, but somehow I detoured to make a Christmas card:

I do not have the colors specified, but I have chosen Grey Flannel, Vineyard Berry and New England Ivy to substitute the colors.  This card fuses new and old products - something I like to do a lot.  It gives our old products a new life and gives our new products a different perspective.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Summer??

One question mark is not enough.  I need two.

While I am in the mood of making Fall/Thanksgiving/Christmas cards, I find out that Color Dare challenge is back! 

The colors for this week's challenge are Lagoon, Pear and Creme Brulee.

I've made this summer card using the Footloose paper:

I had the most fun stamping the fish - I first stamped them in Creme Brulee, then slightly swipe their fins against the Pear ink pad.  Their fin color is different from their body color!  For the turtle, I have used a different technique.  I first stamped it in Creme Brulee, then used a sponge to ink some Lagoon and dab on his limbs.  The Lagoon color on his limbs is not as solid as the Creme Brulee on his body. 

The sketch comes from Make It From Your Heart - a publication from Close to My Heart.  It has 18 scrapbook layouts and 12 card patterns to jump start your creative juices. 

Oops.  Not until just now I realize that there is New England Ivy in the B&T paper.  I hope I could still enter the challenge, or at least share it with others through Color Dare challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Hauntings

I love Close to My Heart's Workshop on the Go Kits!  A kit has everything for your cards, layouts or home decor items.  The paper, stamp set and embellishments come in the kit are all coordinating, so you could save your time to search for the mix and match.

I am still short of Halloween cards and I used the Moonlight Workshop on the Go to create one.  The sketch is based on the one provided by Pals Paper Arts:

I was inspired by the design team's awesome artwork and decided to join the party with this card:

If you look closely you see that the owl is raised.  I stamped it again in Smokey Plum and stuck it on the original image with some 3-D foam tape.  You see the paint on left side of the fence chipping off?  I didn't do the paint, but I used the Swipe and Stamp technique to give the solid image some movement.  If you'd like to know more about it, watch the video here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Holidays

Heart 2 Heart Challenge is asking us to make one and guess what?  When I saw this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, I had this clear vision of my card. 

My clear vision did not eventually become my card.  The vision has evolved to this card:

My vision had some similar elements to my card's elements, but the sentiment, ribbon and the accent have changed quite a bit.  Does the Christmas tree look familiar?  It was actually part of the accent from Dimensional Elements in Color - Holiday.  I've detached this tree from its green background.  I know, scary!  But having the tree standing alone on this card looks so much better than with the base so I went ahead and ripped the tree off. 

I like this card.  Hope you do too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Our Hearts are With You

Sympathy cards are one of those kinds of cards that are very difficult to make.  For me, it is even more difficult than musculine cards.  This year, for whatever reasons, I have made a couple of them and they were used already. 

Some of my friends "borrow" cards from my stash.  The demand was the greatest in May for Mother's Day (For the dads out there: we love you too!), and unfortunately many had to borrow my sympahty cards, leaving them extremely low in the inventory.  So I was prompted to make one today.

My inspiration came from two sources: CAS-ual Fridays that asks us to put our heart into it:

and a color combo provided by CR84FN Color Challenge:

I've chosen Blush, Desert Sand and Colonial White to replace Light Pink, Tan and Cream respectively.

My card has very clean lines but nevertheless embellished by a pewter element:

I wanted to make a card that is not in the usual size of 4.25" x 5.5" so I made this one of 8" x 3.5".  I have only used one stamp image, except that I "broke" the image into two parts where I stamped "are with you" first, then lined up the pewter bracket and found where I should stamp "hearts".  There was no more room for the word "Our" so I wrote it on the little heart sponged in Blush.  Not bad, huh?

Thanks for stopping by!

Gratitude

I totally forgot about this great stamp set from the Flirty Workshop on the Go kit!  It has branches, flowers, a bird, a leave, border and sentiments.  When I was searching for a sentiment for today's card, I found it and thought it goes well on a Thanksgiving card!

My inspiration comes from the sketch designed by Cristina Kowalczyk on Skipping Stones Blog:

And the color scheme comes from Pal Paper Arts:

 



I've used Goldrush, Barn Red and Cocoa to replace More Mustard, Cajun Craze and Early Espresso respectively:

I like the turkey!  It was cut by Cricut Artiste cartridge.  The cartridge is still being explored but the possibilities it provides are really endless!  The stamps come from the Flirty Workshop on the Go Kit.  I have only stamped part of the branches, which is a technique I am learning.  When I look at a stamp, I try to look at it from different angles and use it differently from the way it is designed.  Yup, try to stretch the use of the stamps and make them more versatile!  The sentiment is really a great one.  Happiness itself is a kind of gratitude. 

Be happy (but don't eat my turkey)!

Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men

Want to find the perfect sentiment but you don't have the stamp?  I have a suggestion!  Combine the words from different stamps!

Check it out here:

The word Peace comes from the new stamp set called "Blessings of Peace" and the words "on earth good will to men" comes from Christmas Love.  I'd like to use the word "Peace" from "Blessings of Peace" because of its size and font, but I thought an additional line of text would give it more weight.  Combining the words from two stamp set can be easily achieved with clear stamps.  If you use rubber stamps, just use a stamp positioning tool.  This technique helps us stretch the use of our stamps!

I'm participating the challenge at Less is More, which asks us to make a one-layer card with the theme of "wings".  This card is also entering the challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More, asking us to make a CAS card.

Oops, totally forgot that my mission is to make more Thanksgiving cards rather than Christmas cards.  Gotta stop my obsession with Christmas cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Many Many Many Thanks

I'm trying to play along with the challenges with a theme of fall to catch up with my Thanksgiving cards.  I saw the challenge at Bitten by the Bug couple days ago and meant to combine it with Catch The Bug Challenge.  Combining two "bug" challenges!

Bitten by the Bug asked that we make a project including a pumpkin, but not Halloween pumpkin.  It also asks that we make use of our Cricut.  Em......I doubt that my cartridges cut pumpkins directly.  How about sticking three ovals together?

I have made a pumpkin with three ovals that were cut with Cricut Art Philosophy Collection.  The cartridge provides 3 kinds of ovals and I've picked the one that is least elongated.  The pumpkin was put as the focal point of a card where the card sketch was presented by Catch The Bug:

My card looks like this:

The background was the Flirty paper, and the scalloped edge is actually the zip strip of the same paper.  I simply cut the scalloped edge according to its pattern!  I wrapped around the New England Ivy cardstock with bakers twine, stuck the focal point onto the card with some 3-D foam tape and the card was finished!

Thanks for stopping by!

One Layer Halloween Card

I need a couple of quick Halloween cards for some small kids.  Sometimes I think that the card may have gone unseen if the candy is good enough, but feel really awful if there is no card in the basket.  Oh well, let's settle with a quickie.

I found a CAS sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch blog:

This week OLW challenge asks that we make a one-layer Halloween card. Let's do it!

My card looks like there is not enough white space compared to the sketch.  But you know, it is for a kid, the bats and the spiders are quite important.  Kids do not appreciate the empty space as much as we do.  Nevertheless I did complete two challenges and find a way to make some quickie for the kids' candy baskets.  Yay!

Coordinate with Cricut® Cuts

I love how Cricut Art Philosophy and Artiste cartridges, together with Close to My Heart clear stamps, have helped me make projects easily.  Want to see some examples?  Check out the video below!  Enjoy!

Heartfelt Thanks

I am sharing a quick card for today:

I am combining the challenges at Heart 2 Heart challenges that asks us to use stamp rolling and the challenge at The Paper Players that has a theme challenge called Cup of Joy:

What I did with the cup was that I inked the solid with the lightest shade of blue, Sky, then rolled the edges of it into Indian Corn Blue so its edges are darker.  Finally I inked the outline of the cup with Pacficia, the darkest shade of blue among the three and inked on top of the solid cup.  Love that clear stamps give us the convenience of seeing through the stamps so this can be easily done!

Wicked Halloween

I started early with my Christmas cards but I have prepared very few Halloween/Fall cards so I have to catch up!

The Play Date Cafe's challenge is black, white and a splash of plum:

Yay!  Inspiration for a Halloween card!

This is what I have made:

I'm entering this card for Come and Get it Challenges, which asks us to pick three elements from the list to work with.  The list includes the following:  Purple, Green, Black, Glitter, Staples, Gems, Ribbon, Circles, Scallops.  I've chosen Purple, Black and circles. 

I'm also linking it up to Catered Crop, which asks us to make a Halloween project.

Thanks for stopping by!

Who is afraid?

I have three mummies on my card.  Spooky?

The card is based on Try Stampin' On Tuesday's sketch but rotated:

I've tried two new things in this card and am quite happy with the results.  The word BOO is stamped using a technique called "swipe and stamp".  Basically, after inking up the letters, I gave it a quite swipe across the ink pad, so some of the ink on the letter is "swiped" away.  The tone is lighter and it gives the image some movement.

The other thing I have tried is using the blending pen.  I dipped the nip of the blending pen in the ink pad that acts as my palette and transferred the ink to the mummy.  Comparing to the waterbrush, I think it gives more intense color and higher precision.

I'm also entering this card for the following challenges:
1.  Catered Crop - create a Halloween project
2.  52 Card Pick Up
3.  Scrapper's Delight Challenge - Halloween

Thanks for stopping by!

Delight

The fall colors provided by Color Throwdown really caught my eyes and since I have not played with color challenges for a while I decided to give it a try.

I do not have the Stampin Up! colors so I have used the following Close to My Heart colors to substitute:

Early Espresso - Cocoa
Riding Hood Red - Barn Red
Blue Bayou - Twilight
Sahara Sand - Gray
More Mustard - Honey

My card is based on one of the patterns in Make it From Your Heart.  I used mostly cardstocks but did also use one piece of patterned paper from retired paper pack called Grace:

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy crafting!

One Stamp Two Ways

OLW challenge asks that we use one stamp in two ways to give it two different looks.

Getting more bang for the buck?  I am in!

This is the card I've made:

and this is the stamp that I've given many looks:

What are the different ways I've used the stamp?
1.  Use it as is - see that in the middle flower?
2.  Use the back of the stamp - it sounds awkward but who says the back of the stamp can only be used to adhee to the block?  See, by using the back of it, the petals are colored!
3.  Stamp it twice in different orientation - the left and right flowers have a star-shaped center.
4.  Use only half of it as leaves - all the flowers have the green leaves which constitute half of the image.
5.  Stamp it continuously to make a border - see the bottom of the card?  I wish the card was longer so the border could be more conspicuous.

I was carried away!  One of the best things is, I have never used this stamp but I just found out 5 ways to use it!

This is certainly a challenge I will continue to use to challenge myself - it boosts my creativity!

Happy creating!