An Easter card

Are you ready for spring?  I am!  I am at least getting ready with a couple of Easter cards.

I'm using the sketch from Catch The Bug Challenge Blog to make mine:

My card is 3.5" x 8":

My card is also entering the challenge at Heart 2 Heart challenge - CAS challenge and Addicted to Stamps and More - stamping.

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Unbelievable

It was unbelievable that when I asked the register how much this pack of 6x6 patterned paper was, I was told that it was free and I could take it.

Unbelievable.

I took the paper happily as I have never used 6x6 patterned paper before.  The paper pack matches perfectly with Buttercup so I've made this card based on the sketch at Sketchbook Saturday Challenge:

and the color challenge at Sunday Stamps:

I am very happy with this card and had loads of fun making this one. 

Thanks for stopping by!

More birthday cards

I'm playing with something new today - dies.  They are Memory Box dies - Vivienne butterfly and the Hopmeadow circle.  I'm sure you can recognize the butterfly but what happened to the details of the Hopmeadow circle?  Because my card is too small to accomodate it, I've decided to trim the details off and so the Hopmeadow circle is just a scalloped circle here.

Dies are fun to play with and I can't resist the intricate butterfly.  It just makes the card elegant!

The sketch is based from the one at Seize the Birthday:

Be sure to check out what other crafters have created to boost your creativity!  Happy crafting!

A Romantic Birthday

What is a romantic birthday? Birthday spent in Paris?  That was the inspiration for my card today:

The card is based on the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches:

I'm going to dream about a birthday in Paris.  In the meantime, please be reminded that all Workshops on the Go from the Autumn/Winter 2012 Idea Book will only become available until end of this month.  If you'd like to make this romantic birthday card, seize your opportunity to get the La Belle Vie Workshop on the Go while you can.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Cupcake

I love cupcakes.  I also love cupcakes on cards.

I've made one using the Art Philosophy cartridge for the challenge at Bitten by the Bug - Amethyst color cupcake and the challenge at Heart 2 Heart challenges - Tags:

The tag, its decorate layer, the cupcake and its wrapping are all cut by the Art Philosophy cartridge.  Sometimes I'm amazed by how quick and easy to cut these shapes out and can't imagine how I can craft without it.

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Paper Panic Contest

Watch the video below to learn more about our new paper packets and how you could win one of your favorites!

An Elegant Christmas Card

The theme of Merry Monday #50 is to make an elegant Christmas card. 

I paused and thought, what exactly is an elegant Christmas card?  There must be various interpretations of "elegant" but I think it should be something traditional, and it should not be too busy or overwhelming.

I've chosen the traditional colors - green and red and gold, and the traditional image - a Christmas tree:

 

 

A very clean and simple card.  

A sympathy card

A quick post here to share a sympathy card.  It is not my favorite kind of card to make but for some reason it is often the kind of card that you think you have it in your stash but you don't.

The sketch of the card is based on the one at Retro Sketches:

and I was also inspired by the colors at Inspired By.  So I've used Gray and Buttercup cardstock and inkpads to make this card:

The flowers are very light in color because I've used second generation stamping, while the sentiment was stamped in full strength of ink.

Thanks for stopping by!

Second interpretation of a sketch

I like Seize the Birthday's idea to use one sketch to interpret it for a feminine card and a masculine card.  It's like giving a sketch two lives!  In fact, a nice sketch can be used for so many things so why stop at the card we just finished?

This week, we are challenged to use this sketch to make a masculine card:

I have turned the sketch counterclockwise:

My use of this sketch for a feminine card can be found here.

Thanks for stopping by!

CAS Christmas card

I'm very lucky to have won My Mind's Eye's Red & Turquoise Decorative Tape Sets!  I have never used Washi Tape before and am glad that I got this gift to try it out.

The colors remind me of Christmas, of course.  So I've made some banners for my CAS Christmas card:

After that, I've stamped the stitches in Archival Black Ink, the sentiment in Lagoon and put on some rhinestones.  Finally I've layered the Lagoon cardstock on the Cranberry card base.  It's done!

The sketch is provided by CAS(E) this sketch and my card is entering its challenge:

Thanks for stopping by!

Cupcake celebration

I'm sharing a card featuring pleated paper today.  It is my first time doing it and I love it!  It is simple to do but adds a lot of texture and interest to a card. 

My card is a simple birthday card:

and this card is entering the challenge at Black Tie Friday - texture:

Materials used:
1.  Chantilly paper packet
2.  Chocolate cardstock
3.  Slate cardstock
4.  Card chatter- birthday stamp set
5.  Versamark ink
6.  White embossing powder
7.  Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge
8.  Glitz glitter gel - stardust

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm sharing a V-day card, of course.  It is a card that I'm proud of because I've tried a new technique on it called Plaid Stamping!  It was done on the hearts:

I first did Plaid Stamping on a piece of white cardstock using Cranberry and Blush ink, then I used Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out the hearts and put them on the dimensional elements.  In retrospect I think I might be able to stamp directly on the dimensional elements (hearts) but I do think it is worth the extra effort to first stamp it on cardstock then cut it out because the cardstock provides a better surface for the ink.

Plaid stamping is a technique that's quite involving and time-consuming for an impatient person like me.  But it is indeed very rewarding when I see the result and I think I'm going to try it with other colors!

This card is entering the following challenges:
1.  Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Love is in the Air
2.  Bitten by the Bug 2 - Heart or Cupid challenge
3.  Color My Heart Color Dare #29 - Cranberry and Blush
4.  The Sweet Stop sketch challenge:

5.  Addicted to Stamps and More! - Bingo Challenge:

Thanks for stopping by!

One more Chantilly birthday card

I have been having a lot of fun with the Chantilly paper packet and hope you have not been bored by this series of birthday cards.

Today I'm using the sketch from Retro Sketches to make a birthday card:

My card made use of the stamp from Chantilly cardmaking workshop on the go:

Making this card is a lot of fun.  First is that I have an opportunity to color the cake.  Coloring is therapeutic!  Then I had fun "coloring" the frosting with the Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel.  The picture is not doing its justice but in real life the frosting is glittering!  Finally, I realize that I could easily transform this into a manly card.  In fact when I first started I thought about that, that's why I've used Twilight to be the liner for the cake.  I've eventually used Creme Brulee for the banner to neutralize it to become a girly card.  Had I chosen a darker color, it would become a masculine card.  I like that it could be used both ways!

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A Chantilly birthday card

When I saw the sketch at Seize the Birthday and I knew that there was a reason I left my craft area in an organized messy manner.   Sometimes, I am inspired by the "mess" on my craft desk,  mainly because there are scraps of paper, embellishments and stamp sets that have been used and I knew that the combo created a pleasing product.

I've used the Chantilly paper and butterfly die cut here and I'm going to use it again for the sketch at Seize the Birthday:

My card uses the sketch upside down:

I have a feeling that these elements will result in another card..........

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Colorful music

Finally, I can use this stamp set with colors more than just black and white and I'm so excited about it!

I have had this set A Melody for quite a while but every time I used it the card ended up a rather boring combination of black and white.  I wanted to use this to make a card for my piano teacher friend but the card almost always went to my trash bin.

I've learned to use baby wipes as the platform to absorb reinkers to become a DIY inkpad so I was just going to give it a try.  It looks really nice!  I wish I had more reinkers so the effect could be even more dramatic:

But now I am happy with this card for my piano teacher friend.

It is  entering the challenge at Less is More, asking us to make a one layer card with some music on it.  It is also entering the challenge at OLW - asking us to use a color that has been neglected.  For me, this rainbow color combo rarely shows up on my cards!

The colors I've used are Cranberry, Creme Brulee, Sorbet, Juniper, Twilight and Pacifica, all from Close to My Heart.  Even though it is not exactly a rainbow color combo, it gives me a good opportunity to try it out so when I have collected all the rainbow colors I know exactly what to do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday card with Chantilly

Just a quick post today.

I'd want to share a Birthday card that I've made with the Chantilly paper.  The patterns in this paper pack are gorgeous and the color combo makes your eye stare at it.

I've used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches to make my card:

And my card substitutes the scallop circile with a butterfly:

I'm thinking that I could change the color of the butterfly to give it a different look.  Let me try that out!

Materials used:
1.  Chantilly paper packet
2.  Sweet Leaf ribbon (retired)
3.  Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge
4.  Sparkles - clear assortment
5.  Card chatter - Birthday
6.  Olive Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad

A Sympathy Card

This week The Paper Players' challenge is a sympathy card:

I've used a sketch from Clean and Simple Card Making 2 to make this card:

I went with the traditional dark colors - gray and black but the black background is embossed with clear embossing powder.  That stamp is the same one on the gray strip, except that it is not embossed but it is tone-on-tone.

I really like that I am using the same stamp in different ways on a card because that gives a sense of unity.  Here's the card from a different angle:

Thanks for stopping by!

Plainly White cards

Day 4 of the class focuses on plainly white cards.  They really appeal to me, but when I am trying to make them, I tend to believe that it has too much empty space then I normally add a bit here and a bit there.  By the time I notice it, the card has already transformed to one that does not have much space.

So this time I literally stared at the card and stopped thinking what I "should" add to it after finishing it.  I am learning to embrace the white space and I think I'm liking it!

I've used one of my favorite stamp sets called Card Word Puzzle to make this card.  This flower in the set happens to be one of my faves too.  I like to stamp it on different color cardstocks then cut them out at different petal layer then stack them up to become a 3-D flower.  For this card I simply colored it with color pencil and I didn't even put foam dots behind it.  It is a very mail-friendly card!

Thanks for stopping by!

One Stamp Three Ways

I'm still working on the homework from last week and one of them is One Stamp Three Ways.

I just wanted to see if I could come up with three ways so excuse the same color combo on all the cards.  I've chosen a background stamp to brainstorm ideas and I got three.

The first one is to use the stamp as a background stamp.  The middle panel was stamped in pear with the polka dots stamp:

Next up is one that I used as as a "patterned paper".  I stamped it in pear, then stamped an outline stamp on top of it.  See the "H" and "B":

Finally I'm using it to kiss other stamps.  Notice that kissing and reverse kissing are used.  For the first, third and fifth letters (h, l and o), I inked it up well then stamped it on the polka dots background stamp to absorb some of its ink before I stamped it on the paper.  Then for the remaining letters and the exclamation mark, I inked it up and stamped it on the background stamp but I stamped the background stamp onto the paper.  If you look closely, you'll see that the two patterns are different.  Besides, the "e" is upside down and also right side left, because it is the reverse image that the background stamp has got.

It is quite a bit of fun to brainstorm ideas to use a stamp in multiple ways.  I'd love to do the same for other stamps.  Isn't it great that we can get more mileage from what we have?

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday

I love the Gradient Technique so much that I have to make another card!

I'm using the sketch from Retro Sketches:

This time I'm using another color combo: Pear, Lagoon and Twilight.  I think it is a good one for masculine card:

The background is just Lagoon cardstock with random stamping of stars from Live Life.  The banner is Pear cardstock stamped with Versamark and heat set with White embossing powder.

This technique gives me so much fun and I can't stop playing with it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Your Perfect Day!

I'm still in the catching up mode.  Class 2's homework is to make a one layer card and Class 3 is to apply a new technique.

I've learned this technique called Gradient Stamping and immediately fell in love with it!  I am using ink pads from Close to My Heart so I had to spend quite some time to figure out the colors to use, and how to achieve the effect as the instructor did. 

Eventually I've picked Blush, Creme Brulee and Sunset to achieve this effect.  Then I'm making a one layer card for Class 2's homework and OLW's challenge.  See the "HAPPY"s in different colors here:

Honestly I just picked up a stamp from an old set to try it out, but using it for a birthday card appears to make sense so I continued to work it up for this card.

Ardyth has made a stunning one layer card for her challenge - Your Perfect Day.  You really want to check it out.  Her card describes the perfect day for every one!  Don't you agree that those are the elements of a perfect day? 

Well, when I was making this card, I can't help thinking about the good time I had on my birthday this year.  I then naturally made this birthday card with the gradient stamping technique.  Certainly, TODAY is my perfect day, as I finally grasp the technique well enough to make a card.  I'm so excited!

Thanks for stopping by!

Catching up

I'm taking an Online Card Class called Clean and Simple Card Making 2 and have been enjoying every minute of it.  It feels very good that I am learning at the comfort of my home and at my own pace.

I am not a fast learner but in cases that I need a little more help I rewind or replay the video and I could even ask questions in the forum.  How nice!

The class started January 28, 2013 and each day we are given a challenge, or if you will, homework.  I think it will be fun to put what I've learned in class into use so I'm trying to catch up here with the first day's homework.

We were given a couple sketches and I've taken one of them to make my card.  The sketch is meant to be for a standard A2 card but I've enlarged it to become my 5" x 7" card and I think it looks just as great:

The circle was cut at 3.5" and the scallop at 4.5".  It was quite a challenge to cut out the circle in the scallop and I could totally relate to what Kristina said in class, "Slow down and enjoy the process.  When we slow down we tend to make fewer mistakes and our cards will look great."  I created this card in "slow motion" but Kristina is right, the end result is worth the extra time I spent on it.

Thanks for fluterring by!

The New Spring/Summer 2013 idea book is here!

I'm very excited about the new idea book.  There are just many stamp sets I love and I feel I have to hold myself back from buying too much!

Click here to view the idea book!