Fall

Do you feel that fall is here?

With the time of sunrise getting later each day, air becoming more crisp, and temperature getting lower each evening, I feel that fall is here.  My niece R's birthday is approaching and I'd better practice making some kiddo cards.

I had quite a bit of fun playing with the new Lawn Fawn goodies:

I've said it many times that I love how I can mix and match the new and old Lawn Fawn goodies.  They never seem dated and one stamp/die bought could be used in many ways.  Love it!

Here, I've used the new and popular Jump for Joy set for the critters.  To build the scene, I've used the Simple Stitched Hillside borders and a tree trunk from retired Sweater Weather.  I've mixed the patterned paper - the sky is the perfectly plaid from this summer's collection while the hills come from the fall collection pack.

Playing with Lawn Fawn sets is like pulling out all goodies from the closet then pick and choose different items to mix and match.  Making a card is certainly fun, but the process is just as fun!

I'm entering my card to the following:
Color Crazy Challenge - coloring
Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
Creative Corner - Woodland Creatures
Simply Create - Fall Colors
The Crafter's Cafe - use 2 patterned papers

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Stamped Pattern Background

I've mentioned here that some colors from the Close to My Heart palette will be retiring.  Some of them are my favorite and before I put the ink pads and cardstock away I'd like to make a couple of cards.

On the last day of the Background Check class at Online Card Classes, Jennifer McGuire showed how to make a beautiful background using stamping and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to use my ink pads and cardstock.

The retiring ink colors I'm using remind me of fall and so I'm using these stamp sets Lifetime of Happiness and Always Grateful:

 

I did nothing but stamping, and put it on Olive cardstock as the card base.  The sentiment was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with Ranger Princess Gold embossing powder.  The ink pads used are: Olive, Smokey Plum, Ponderosa Pine, Barn Red and Autumn Terracota.

 

You know I can't just stop here.  I pulled out an extremely old stamp set called Many Thanks and made this card:

 

 

 

I had so much fun playing with these colors and it will be hard for me not to miss them.  But I think it's time to put them away and create some new space for the new colors! 

 

 

If you like any of these colors, snag them before they are gone!  My favorite is Olive and Barn Red.  Another one that's not used in these cards is Outdoor Denim.  That's my go-to color for masculine cards.

 

Thanks for stopping by!



 

 

Identical cards again

A couple of days ago I made two cards that shared the same design.  I'm doing it again!  

This time I'm using the sketch from Mojo Monday 363:

I miss Mojo Monday challenges!  I wish I could participate more.  It's just that my craft time usually falls on the weekend so it is easier for me to play along the challenges that are posted mid-week or weekends.  I'm so glad that I got to play along this time.  It's a great sketch and I made two cards with it!

First up is the fall card:

I've also made a Christmas card with it:

I'm sorry that the Christmas card is so yellow.  This picture just does not do it justice (and I know that I should take a photography class!).  In reality it looks much nicer!  I like that the blue card base makes it more winter-y and interesting.

Did you notice that the patterned paper I use here is the same as that here?  Someone just needs to clean up her craft desk.  LOL.

I'm linking up the fall card to:

1.  Mojo Monday challenge - see sketch above

2.  Crafting for All Seasons - Colors of Autumn

3.  Stampavie and more - Autumn Colors

4.  Creative Moments - Fall colors/Anything Goes

5.  Double Click - Anything Goes

I'm linking the Christmas card to:

1.  Add a Little Dazzle - Home for the Holidays/Anything Goes

2.  ABC Christmas - S for Something Festive

3.  Addicted to Stamps - Holidays

4.  Ruby's Rainbow - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Thankful for You

Yay!  My Close to My Heart Artfully Sent Cartridge is finally here!   I have not fully explored its possibilities but I have made a card with it.  I know many of us are excited with the 3-D cards but I am really drawn to the card front overlays so my first card with Artfully Sent was made with one of those:

I wanted to make a Thanksgiving card and so I pulled out all Fall-related supplies on my desk.  First, I cut the card base with that overlay using Kraft cardstock.  Then I stamped the Season of Thanks background stamp in bamboo ink on bamboo cardstock.  Voila the card base is done!

I must confess that I've scrap-lifted an element from Close to My Heart.  See the middle sentiment?  I basically copied it from the Workshops on the Go Pathfinding Cardmaking Kit.  I find this sentiment in this color combo so appealing and have decided to make a bunch of Thanksgiving cards using this!  Since I have the Workshops on the Go Pathfinding Cardmaking Kit out, I went on to see what other things I could use on my card.  I liked that arrow stamp and went on to ink it up in Olive and stamp it on Olive cardstock.  Yup, I am a big sucker for tone-on-tone stamping.  There are many stamping techniques that I like, but tone-on-tone stamping is definitely one of my faves.  I cut a banner out of the stamped Olive piece, added the Bronze Shimmer Trim and some Gold Sequins.  This card is done!

The arrival of this cartridge almost kept me up all night.  Just by flipping through the handbook made me smile.  So many ideas are flowing in my head right now.  All I ask for is having more than 24 hours in a day so I could spend more time playing with it. LOL.

If you'd like to learn more about the Artfully Sent Cartridge and Workshops on the Go, please visit here.

I'm linking up my card to the following challenges:
Bitten by the Bug - Anything Cricut
The Crafty Bloggers Network - Anything Goes
Crafty Boots - Anything Goes
Heart 2 Heart Challenges - What's your favorite technique?  (Tone-on-tone stamping, of course!)
Cardz 4 Guys - no patterned paper
Inky Chicks - Anything Goes
Card and scrap - Anything Goes
Stempelgarten - Autumn

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Two (almost) identical cards

Today I'm sharing two cards - one for fall and one for Christmas.  They are great for mass production!  I started with the fall card then went on to make the Christmas one.  I think this sketch/layout is just great for everything! 

This is the fall card:

By changing up the patterned paper and the focal image, I got this Christmas card:

Don't you think they are "identical"?  I know that they are not identical, but the sketch is definitely the same and because I use dies to cut the banner and the circle, the size of these elements is also the same.

I had a dream about the banners on this Lawn Fawn blog post.  In my dream I was making some very similar banners then I put them in my office.  The dream felt so realistic that I almost went to see if I had a similar project on my craft desk.  No, I'll have to make that happen myself.  I guess I'll make a banner that says "Gratitude" but I'll save that project for another day.  I still wanted to make something with the banner die so I made these two cards.  I always like to have more than one card made at the same time.  I have the dies and papers out, I may as well make two.  In this case, I switched up the paper and the focal image then I have one Fall and one Christmas card. :)

I can't explain why I didn't use the 6x6 paper pad but instead reached out for the 12 x 12 paper for these cards.  Now I gotta worry whether what I have left will be enough for my layouts.  I wonder how these cards will look like if I use the 6x6 paper.  Oh wait, if I do make them with 6x6 paper then I will have FOUR identical cards. LOL.

I am linking up the fall card to the following:
Lexi's Creations - Autumn Colors
Crafty Sentiments - Autumn Colors
Oldie but a goodie Challenge - Autumn (I used the leaf die, which has been sitting in my drawn un-loved for more than 6 months!)
Ladybug Crafts - Anything Goes
A Girl Who Crafts - Anything Goes
Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

The Christmas card is linking up to the following:
Paper Creators Crafts - Early Christmas
Completely Christmas - Anything Goes
Crafting When We Can - Christmas come early
My Perfect Life - Anything Christmas
Craftyhazelnut Patterned Paper September Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafts Galore Encore - Make a Card

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

A little hedgehog

The weather reminded me of this little hedgehog stamp from my stash.  It came from the retired Twitterpated Workshop on the Go and I loved this little hedgehog from first sight.  It is so cute!  I can't help but using it on a Fall/Thanks card:

Isn't he darling?  He was actually double-stamped.  Because it is a solid image and some areas are not as  crisp as I wish so I inked it up and stamped the image again.  Thanks to the nature of clear stamps I had no problem lining up the image.  I  added some Liquid Glass dots on his back to mimic his stiff hair.  This touch adds dimension and interest to him!

The sorbet panel was stamped also in sorbet with his little footprints randomly.  The greeting panel, on the other hand, had a background of leaves in sorbet.  Note that the leaves were stamped using second generation, giving it a softer look yet a cool coordinating background with the patterned paper.

My card is entering the following challenges:
Twist of Faith Card Challenges - Autumn Colors
Bearly Mine Challenges - Ribbon, String, Twine
Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Autumn/Anything Goes
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Anything Goes
Crafting Desert Divas - Anything with a Sentiment

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Fussy cut fun

It's World Card Making Day today!
Interesting I kicked off my crafting fun with scrapbooking instead.  That's just as fun.  But I can't let this day go without making a card.  It's World Card Making Day!

I based my card on the sketch at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge:

And my card utilizes the fall color scheme:

The title of today's post is fussy cut fun, did you see my fussy cuts?  When I was cutting out the banner, I purposefully picked this portion of the patterned paper so the flower on the paper could sit at the lower left corner of the sentiment piece, like the sketch suggests.  However, I think it needs a little more emphasis so I cut the same image from the same paper and heightened it with some foam tape.  One raised flower looks too boring, so I stamped another one and stuck it with foam tape, slightly overlapping it with the patterned paper flower.

I am happy with the result and will surely try this technique more often.  Having said that, would I be willing to waste a lot of materials to do this?  Probably not.  The papers are too pretty to cut to begin with, I hate to waste even a scrap piece!

My card is entering the following challenges:
Craftitude - Anything Goes
Crafty Katz - Anything Goes
Simply Create Too - Fall
Catch the Bug Challenge - Anything Goes
Allsorts Challenge - Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin' - Fall
2 Sisters Challenge Blog - Fall

Thanks for stopping by!

BLESSED

Happy Friday everyone!  Yay it's almost weekend and that means craft time!

I'm sharing a quick post today with my Thanksgiving card.  It is a circle card and I love shaped cards!

I've also decorated the inside with a mat and coordinating paper:

I have quite a bit of the patterned paper and am working hard to use it whenever possible.  I thought it is a nice touch to tie the inside of the card with that patterned paper on the front, don't you think?  The difficult part for me is to line up the circular segment with the sentiment.  The sentiment must go parallel with the chord, and I was so scared that I would mess up.  A big relief when I got it on the first try. 

This is my second time coloring the image on the front, except that I am using watercolor pencils this time while I used markers the first time.  I can't decide which medium I like better.  Perhaps I should color it again on a different occasion to make a comparison.

My card is entering the following challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown - Colors of Fall
Nutcrafters - use a hand-colored image
4 Crafty Chicks - Fall/Autumn
Polka Doodles - Autumn Crafting
Challenges and Candies - The colors of Autumn
An Inky Situation - color challenge

Addicted to Stamps & More - Photo Inspiration

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving

I am very fond of embossing these days and today's card has two portions with embossing on it. 

The layout of the card comes from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge:

I have the panel, background and sentiment ready.  Some embossing was done here:

The sentiment was embossed with copper embossing powder.  Can't believe that this color works so well with Fall cards!  The dark green panel on the left is a self-made patterned paper.  I randomly stamped three small images for the background and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.  I like random stamping - it is such a creative outlet!  This dark green panel also gives some texture, gloss and dimension to the card. 

Now onto the butterfly.  Since my card is a fall card, I was inclined to use leaves instead of a butterfly.  However, one leaf seems too lonely on its own, two leaves do not seem quite right.  What about three?  Not that good either.  At this point, I tried to add certain things to the leaves.  I punched out a scalloped circle, added the hemp and the die cut word "fall".  Putting them together in a cluster is far better than the leaves alone.  Those leaves alone remind me of a Grade 1 workbook showing kids how to count.  LOL. 

My card is entering the following challenges:
4 Krafty Girlz Challenges - Anything Goes
A Creative Romance - Dies or Punches
Jo's Scrap Shack - Anything Goes
Dream Valley - Autumn
Fashionable Stamping - Autumn colors
Friday Mashup - Fall and/or Paper Piecing
An Inky Situation - Fall Leaves

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Coloring fun

Finally I am playing with this set called Count Your Blessings and having some fun with coloring.  I have always admired others who spent hours on coloring one image and that image is just a WOW.  It looks realistic, dimensional and the image definitely draws everyone's focus.  As a novice I stick to color pencils, watercolor pencils and some markers. 

I think it is acceptable for my first attempt with markers:

This is quite difficult as a big proportion of the image belongs to the orange family but alas I don't have that many shades of orange!  I blended with some brown, red and yellow to make do.  I think I have tried to stretch beyond my comfort zone to color things with some "unnatural" colors. 

One thing I am happy with, however, is the halo effect.  I heard that it is really popular for any colored image so I added that blue shadow to pretend that I'm quite a maestro in coloring.  The light blue does add some depth to it.  Even though I am not a master in coloring, I am a master in pretending to be one.  LOL.

The sketch of my card is based on the one provided by Tuesday Morning Sketches: 

My card is entering the following challenges:
Our Daily Bred Design - Fall colors
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Fall colors
Polly Craft Challenge - Harvest colors
Perfect Sentiments - Fall
Tammy Scrapin Corner - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

A Season of Blessings

I can totally feel that that Fall is secretly approaching.  It is very windy when I am typing up this post.  Perhaps it is the change of weather I am really into making Fall cards!

Today I'm sharing one based on the Muse at Muse Challenge.  Please check out the Muse here.  Marion Vagg has made a pretty card with a red background stamped with a background stamp in the same hue.  She has put a white tag in the lower left side of the card where the tag is accentuated by a beautifully colored rose and some leaves.  Her fun sentiment made use of the die cut "you" and a stamped image "are loved."

I first drew inspiration from the layout of her card.  Her tone-on-tone background reminded me to use the Flirty paper, which has leaves as its pattern.  Using the same element and design, I put a tag in the left side, but my tag does not carry the sentiment.  Instead, I put the sentiment in the top right corner to balance it out.  To emulate her fun way to place her sentiment, I chose a stamp that made use of two fonts.

I must say that I had a lot of fun playing with the leaves and the turkey.  The leaves were cut with the Tim Holtz dies and the turkey and the tag were cut with Cricut Artiste and Art Philosophy cartridges respectively.
I used 3 distress inks to color the die cut.  They were first covered with Scattered Straw, then the exterior part blended with Wild Honey and finally the edges were inked with Tea Dye.  It was a lot of fun to see the layers of the colors.  I was tempted to do the "flicking water" technique but I think I should leave it this way.  It is one of those moments that I debated whether I should add more to it. 

I like it and can't help looking at it.  :)

My card is entering the following challenges:
Bitten by the Bug - Fall
ABC challenges - Fall
Crafting Desert Divas - Fall
Crafty our passion - Fall
Lexi Creations - Autumn colors
The paper nest doll - Happy Fall

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Autumn

I have fallen in love with this stamp set Happy Autumn and am always looking for ways to use every single stamp in the set.

The floral images are great and so are the sentiments.  As the temperature is getting lower I am inclined to make more Fall cards.  

I am sharing a card based on the sketch from Mojo Monday:

I like the simplicity of the sketch and I've used the grid technique as suggested by Just Us Girls on my card:

This is my first time playing with this grid technique and I like it A LOT!  It is easy and convenient but such a technique adds so much fun to the card!  Thanks JUGS for sharing this technique with us! Imagine if the grid technique not used, my card would be rather dull and flat.

While making this card, I came to realize that I do not have any brown embossing powder for the sentiment "Happy Autumn" so I used the bronze embossing powder from Ranger.  I've only used that on manly projects but am happy to find out that it works great on a Fall card.  This is one of those "surprise" moments!  Yay!

My card is entering the following challenge:
613 Avenue - Anything Goes/ Fall
Come and Get it Challenges - Focal image on the side
Jo's Scrap Shack - Fall
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments Challenge - Fall
Catch the Bug Challenge - Fall

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall card again

Yup.  Two Fall-themed cards in a row.  I certainly like yesterday's card but I like today's card just as much.

Let's first take a look at the sketch.  It is one from Sketchbook Saturday Challenge:

And you really need to check out Iwona's card here.  Her card is awesome.  I really appreciate her use of colors, something I am always struggling with.  I would have never thought of using a bright blue for a solid bird image, nor would I tried a light, sky blue for a feather.  These unconventional colors bring lots of fun to her card and I like it A LOT.  The next thing on my wish list is the feather die.  Shhhh~~  don't tell my dies in my drawers......

Onto my fall card.  This year for whatever reason I have been having a lot of fun making them.  My favorite is usually Christmas cards but Fall-themed cards are gaining popularity.  I am making more and more of them. 

The patterned paper, Dreamin', came from the 2011 Close to My Heart catalog.  Don't ask me why I have never let the paper pack see any light.  But if you do ask me, I will briefly tell you that I have this disease of holding onto pretty paper for a long time before I can break the package open to use it.  The cause of the disease is the fear that the pretty paper will be ruined by an unsuccessful attempt to make a card, a layout, or any project.  My disease was diagnosed back in the stone age, but unfortunately there is no cure for the disease, at least no medication works for me thus far. 

I am glad that I've finally overcome the fear and used the paper on this card.  In fact, I'm starting a layout with this paper pack.  The layout was a happy day I spent with my cousin when she visited me in Fall 2011, the birth date of this paper pack.  What a coincidence!

My flowers were stamped using rock and roll technique.  The outer edges have darker colors than then center of the flowers.  This is my favorite stamping technique!  Just a quick and easy way to add color and depth to any image.  I've also used masking technique on the sentiment.  The sentiment reads "Give Thanks for all you have" but I masked off everything but "Thanks".  Masking is also one of my favorite stamping techniques and it could give an image a totally different look.

My card is also entering the following challenges:
Clear it out challenge - Thank you card, and the Dreamin' paper pack that I have been holding onto
Tuesday Throwdown challenge - Anything Goes
Shopping Our Stash - Favorite stamping technique
Just Inspirational Challenge - Flowers
The Perfect Sentiment - Thank you
Pollycraft challenges - Harvest Colors
Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Thankful

On this day where solemn ceremonies are held, I just want to share that I am thankful for a lot of things.  Being thankful is good, but I'd like to share that thought with others.  One of my ways of doing that is to send out a card.

I'm sharing a Thanksgiving card today:

I really like this stamp and the collage of words.  I particularly like "blessings", "hope", "thankful" and "faith". 

The turkey was cut using Artiste cartridge - easy peasy.  I added some colors to the turkey then stamped the turkey image.  Because of the layers of colors, it looks quite dimensional.  Very cute.

My card is entering the following challenges:
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Anything Goes
My Shari Crafts Challenge - Fall colors
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes
The Corrosive Challenge - All About Fall
Bearly Mine Challenge - Fall Color challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

Another fall card

I'm sharing a Fall/Thanksgiving card today.  Thanks to the Huntington paper pack, I am all motivated to make Thanksgiving cards!  Love love love the patterns and colors of this paper pack.  When I first received this paper, I was so excited that I made a two-page scrapbook layout - the first time of scrapbooking after months without any incentive to scrapbook.

I am using Poster Tidings, the Stamp of the Month in September.  I really like this stamp set as this kind of stamps with a stack of words is very popular.  The stamp can be used as is, or like what I did here - stamping in different colors then cut them in pieces and put them back together:

How I love the fall colors all appear in one image!  I've got this sketch from Deconstructed Sketch:

My card is an A7 card (5" x 7") as I want to make sure there is enough room for the entire image.  It could actually fit to a standard A2 (4.25" x 5.5") card but I like this better when the space on the card can balance out the activities in the center image.

My card is entering the challenge at:
 Great Impressions - Fall colors
C is for Challenge - Lots of layers 
Craftin' Boutique Challenge - Fall Challenge
Sarah Hurley Challenge - Autumn Glow
Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes
4 Krafty Girlz challenge - Anything Goes
Happy Campers Challenge - Use a Stamp

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Thanksgiving

A couple of challenges are asking us to make Fall cards and I am happy to switch from my Christmas prep to Fall cards. 

I'm using my beloved Huntington paper pack to make my card:

It is based on the sketch from Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge:

It happens to qualify for the color challenge at Heart 2 Heart challenges - Barn Red, Sunset, Gypsy and Cashmere.  Well, I didn't mean to use Gypsy, as purple does not appear to match with the color scheme, but I like how I've made the flower pop out more with a Gypsy ring here.  To tone brightness down I've sanded the paper to expose its white core and I think it is not too odd.

I have put three gems on my card.  These mocha gems have been in my stash since they were released years ago.  They were so cute and pretty that I just had a difficult time to part with them.  Interestingly I have no problem to part with sparkles but have been very indecisive in using pearls/gems.  My card is thus entering Clear It Out Challenge to show my mocha gems.

My card is also entering the challenge at
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Bearly Mine Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Sentiments - Fall colors/ patterns
Paper Playtime - Use three different papers

Thanks for stopping by!