Joining the Fun at CAS-ual Fridays

I'm finally joining in on another CAS-ual Fridays challenge, wouldn't want to overextend myself.

The theme is Stuck on You with the instructions to use stickers on your CAS card design.

I still had the Cosmo Cricket Clementine mini deck on my desk and my SRM stickers in easy reach so why not see what happens. A scalloped die cut square, a punched butterfly (left over from another card) and a bit of baker's twine and there you have it. 

 ~ Psalm 116:1-2 ~

"I love the Lord because He hears my voice

and my prayer for mercy.

Because He bends down to listen,

I will pray as long as I have breath!"

blessings,

nancy

Lovely Yellow

I was checking out the challenge blogs this morning and came across the beautiful yellow inspiration for Challenge #11 at Jay Gee's Nook. I was totally inspired (which hasn't happened in a while) so before I lost it I got to work making a sunshine-y card.

I did some emboss resist with clear embossing powder and Mustard Seed and Antique Linen Distress ink.
Hero Arts Stamps: La Letter, Daisy Label and Flowing Flowers and Leaves. Martha Stewart Butterfly punch.

I was at Stamp Fever on Saturday and picked up a new Cosmo Cricket Clementine Mini Deck. I used it to make another emboss resist card. This card seems perfect for the Play Date Cafe challenge to make a girly card using Mint, Coral and Ivory.

The background is the same Flowing Flowers and Leaves and the sentiment is from Daisy Labels. The butterfly is from the Antique Engravings clear set and the main image is from Unity- my dear from the Provencial Collection. I added a bit of bling...so out of character for me...must be the heat we've been having. Summer finally showed up in the OC.

from Paul's message to the church at Ephesus:

~ Ephesians 1:15-18 ~

"Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus

and your love for God's people everywhere,

I have not stopped thanking God for you.

I pray for you constantly,

asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

to give you spiritual wisdom and insight

so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light 

so that you can understand the confident hope 

He has give to those He called-

His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance."

Thanks for your visit!

blessings,

nancy

Quick Post for a Quick Card

I finally got to play in another 90-minute scramble with the Hero Arts group. These women are the best, they provide me with inspiration and encouragement and friendship, thanks to you all!

Judy was the hostess for this 23rd edition of the 90-minute scramble and her theme was Old/New Hero Arts stamps. Either use our oldest stamps or newest stamps or a combination of both. I took this opportunity to rummage around for a favorite old set from 1996, Let's Have Coffee! I paired it up with a newer stamp, the Harlequin Pattern Block and my favorite Cosmo Cricket papers from the Early Bird collection.

I love how this stamp set works with the fun retro paper and some of my new tools and techniques. I used Labels 20 nesties in 3 sizes, Scattered Straw Distress ink to stamp and add some depth, Jenni Bowlin ink in Cough Syrup, and a Copic marker in Moon White. I finished it with some white stitch lines using a Sakura Jelly Roll pen.

Check out all the wonderful projects from today's scramble HERE and read the discussion HERE.

~ 1John 5:11 ~

"God has given us eternal life,

and this life is in His Son."

blessings,

nancy

A Lily Pad Technique Challenge!

I really wanted to do something completely different with the resist challenge for Lily Pad Cards, you know break out of my usual and do something totally new.  I'm pretty sure that Gnomes were the way to go with that goal in mind. Who would have thought that these little gnomes from Sweet Stamp Shop could capture my imagination, I mean I didn't really even care much for them before I saw their whimsical little family of "gnomies".  So properly inspired I set out to find the perfect resist technique to use.

I remembered a fun class I went to at an industry show taught by Mitra of Impression Obsession. It involved stamping on Krome-coat cardstock that provided the perfect resist surface. IO has lots of "Cover a Card" background stamps that are perfect for this technique. I used the Small Paisley to stamp the background along with the all the paper-pieced bits. I found the Krome-coat cardstock at Kelly Paper.

I "resisted" the urge to use bold red and yellow colors on this even though they are traditional for Gnomes. I decided to go with a softer palette for this cute and feminine "gnomette".

Here's the run-down:
First I panicked because the deadline was fast approaching and I had bin full of rejected and failed attempts.
You can skip this step!

 For the Background: Stamp the Small Paisley Cover a Card stamp with Versamark on Neenah Tiara White cardstock. Emboss with clear EP.  Using direct-to-paper technique, cover the stamped image with Hero Hues Chalk Ink in Iris. Use a baby wipe to remove the excess ink from the embossed image. Trim to size, round the bottom corners and attach to the Kraft card base.

For the Gnome: On Krome-coat card stock, stamp Hero Arts Friend Definition with Versamark ink. Let dry completely. Stamp over the Friend Def with Small Paisley twice, once with Iris and once with Poppy Chalk ink. Stamp the Gnome image on Tiara white cs and on the Iris and Poppy stamped papers. Color the white version with Copics and cut out. Cut out the hat and dress from the other papers. Piece these together, add a gem and set aside.

For the Landscape Scene: Stamp Small Paisley with Versamark ink on Krome-coat cardstock. After it dries stamp over it with Hero Arts Clouds Background with Hero Hues Cerulean Chalk ink. This is just the coolest effect of the paisley swirling through the clouds and the sky.  Stamp Small Paisley on white cs with Grass Chalk ink and cut to resemble rolling hills and add to the sky panel. Stamp Small Paisley again with Poppy Chalk ink over a Versamark stamped flower image by The Craft's Meow. Punch out a 1" circle.  Assemble the sky, hills and sun to fit a 3.25" circle die and cut out. Cut a slightly larger black circle using the outside of the circle die as a template, and a kraft scalloped circle and layer together.

Put it all together using dimensional foam adhesive (my favorites are by Scrapbook Adhesives) and add the cute little sentiment from the Gnomies set. The little button flower is by K&Company and has been in my stash forever.

Now go visit Lily Pad Cards and join the resistance...sorry I couldn't resist the pun. Doh!

I've been spending lots of time reading Psalms lately, so much good stuff here!

~ Psalm 33:20-22 ~

We put our hope in the Lord.

He is our help and our shield.

In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name.

Let Your unfailing love surround us, Lord,

for our hope is in You alone.

blessings,

nancy

Lawn Fawn + PageMaps Sketch = Cowboy Pup?

I was wanting to make a card for my uncle who recently had surgery and as usual I had not a creative clue. So I did what I always do when I'm clueless (and yes I am blonde, it's a problem)....I look at the blogs and photostreams of my oh-so-not-clueless friends. I found some real beauties over on Lin's blog, she's been my unofficial muse lately. She did a bunch of cards using the sketch from Page Maps and it was just the spark I needed to do something fun.
Now normally I don't play nice with sketches, I like to mix 'em up and take things out or add things; but I challenged myself to let this sketch dictate and I followed it exactly. I knew I wanted to use the sentiment from the Lawn Fawn set, On the Mend so I searched through my paper stash and found some manly prints from Cosmo Cricket's Wanted collection. My uncle is a friend to dogs so the little pup from Critters in the Burbs came out to play...and to keep with the western theme of the paper, I put a rugged cowboy hat on him from Hats Off to You.

The chipboard letter stickers are from the Wanted collection.
Thanks again, Lin, what would I do without you!

I'm also entering this in the Wee Memories Challenge #64- Masculine.  As I was linking this at Wee Memories, I noticed the card before mine uses papers and chipboard from the same CC collection, it's a great card too. Such a co-inky-dink!

 ~ Psalm 40:4 ~

"Oh the joys of those who trust the Lord,

who have no confidence in the proud....."

blessings,
nancy

Lucy's Rainbow Challenge

I love that Lin finds all the great challenges then posts the most gorgeous cards on her blog for them. She posted THIS lovely butterfly card for Lucy's Rainbow Week. I was so impressed that I got right to work making a rainbow themed card too.

It was definitely time for some Lawn Fawn fun so I went with my favorite set and did some bicycle paper-piecing. This is just a simple card...some DeLovely papers, Cruising through Life stamps, Copics, a bit of silver bling and lots of cutting and gluing.

Lisa Spangler is also getting my creativity going with her fun blog decor accents. I used the Frame option in Picnik to add this Polaroid frame to my card photo.

~ Psalm 4:6-8 ~

"Many people say, 'Who will show us better times?'

Let Your face smile on us, Lord.

You have given me greater joy

than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.

In peace I will lie down and sleep,

for You alone, O Lord, will keep me safe."

blessings,

nancy

Kid-Friendly Birthday Card

My great-nephew's third birthday party is this coming weekend so I had to make time for some special kid-friendly creativity. Gavin is such a sweet and talented little guy. He accompanies his dad (my nephew) to the driving range where he's pretty skilled with his kid-sized golf clubs. Here's a photo of Gavin giving my DH a hand fixing a broken table base....

So on to the making of the card....believe me it was quite the production. So much stamping, cutting, arranging, re-arranging and paper-piecing. I had remembered being so impressed with THIS card and video by Britta Swiderski from back in February so it became my inspiration.

I've had these Hero Arts monster critters stamps for a while, just waiting for the perfect card making opportunity.  I thought that Gavin would be old enough to appreciate them so they became my focus. I added some birthday stamps from other clear sets, too. My card base is 9x4 and it worked out pretty well for placing the images. I really resisted creating a scene with them, using instead Britta's random column idea, but creating rows with my images. I did love how Britta's cupcakes spill off the edges of her card but I just couldn't cut apart the monsters.

I finally have something to enter in the challenge at Hero Arts, it's been forever since I've had the creative mojo available.

Life of the Party Birthday CL514; Life of the Party Cutouts CL515; Monster Fun CL391; Cupcakes CL158.

Sassafras Papers- Apple Jack; Neenah Desert Storm cardstock; Jenni Bowlin Dye Inks; Memories Black ink; Sakura White Jelly Roll pen; EK Success Label Punch; Black crochet thread.

~ Psalm 73:25-26 ~

"Whom have I in heaven but You?

I desire You more than anything on earth.

My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,

but God remains the strength of my heart;

He is mine forever."

blessings,

nancy

Lily Pad Cards, The Greeting Farm and Lucy's Lovely Lines.....

....that is a recipe for inspiring creativity for sure! Add in an image with a puppy and I'm a happy girl!

 What is unique about this card, you might ask? I did absolutely no stamping on it...none, not at all!  That sweet image, called Nancy's Puppy (I had to have it, it was a no-brainer) is digital. The sentiment and the text background (quotes about dogs) were both created in Microsoft Publisher. The patterned paper is Out of Print by Basic Grey, the coloring was done with Copic markers, white stitch lines and dots on the collar are a White Jelly Roll pen by Sakura. Those little doggie bone buttons have been in my stash for probably 10 years. It was about time I used them and this was the project they were waiting for.

 

 Make sure to check out the Lily Pad Cards blog to see this month's sketch and for all the inspiration from the design team. Don't forget to join in on the Sketch Challenge fun. 

I'm sorry I've only been doing one post a week.  Maybe I'll get my act together around here and get back to posting more regularly. I'm itching to do some more challenges. Which ones are your favorites?

~ Psalm 28:7 ~

"The Lord is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;

therefore my heart greatly rejoices,

and with my song I will praise Him."

blessings,

nancy

do frog's have whiskers?

just wondering....I got to use a really nice flower stamp from Frog's Whiskers Ink to make some cards. The challenge at Lily Pad Cards this week is to use Fabric or Felt in a card creation. I chose to go with felt since I've had some PTI felt in my stash for a while now and had never used it. No time like the present.

My stamp was the Sunflower Single Solid and I liked how it stamped with chalk inks. The sunflower is really detailed and looked really good with the saturated chalk ink colors on these cards.

 

This card features the sunflower as the subtle background stamped with brown chalk ink on kraft. I used Hero Hues chalk inks in Punch, Poppy and Iris to stamp the 3 main images. The leaves were die cut from PTI felt with a Sizzix leaf die. Wild Honey stickles and a brown Sharpie marker add the finishing touches.

For this card, I used Frost White Color Box pigment ink to stamp the sunflower on brown felt for the background. I heat set it and was really surprised with how detailed the stamped flowers came out. 

For the main panel I made a couple masks with the sunflower and stamped and masked 2 columns of flowers using Color Box Chestnut Roan chalk ink and Hero Hues Poppy chalk ink. I added a blue background with a Prismacolor watercolor pencil. The finishing bits came from May Arts ribbon, brads and a metal sentiment from my stash. The perfect stitching still eludes me, but I soldier on in my attempts.

The metal butterfly is from Rikke in Denmark. We exchanged cards last year after meeting in the Hero Arts Flickr group. My next card is actually based on one of the cards in her photostream.

I tried something different with the stamping and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

The background is the sunflower stamped with Soft Sand Shadow ink by Hero Arts on white cs. Then I layered some Hero Arts patterned paper with some scrap paper and scalloped die cut felt on a kraft die cut. For the decorative flower I stamped the solid sunflower on Basic Grey Sweet Threads pp with Versamark and clear embossed it. Then I used Memento Rich Cocoa ink in a teardrop ink pad to add ink directly over the embossed image to bring out the details of the flower. I used a dry paper towel to remove the excess ink from the embossed part. The details on this card are a Maya Road ruffled blossom, Hero Arts gems and an SRM sticker sentiment.

I hope you are inspired to create something with fabric or felt and join in the challenge at Lily Pad Cards, where you'll find lots more inspiration from the Design Team!

~ Matthew 5:14-16 ~

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand,

and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men,

that they may see your good deeds

and praise your Father in heaven."

blessings,

nancy

Whimsie Doodles- Counting Sheep

This week the Lily Pad crew got to play with Whimsie Doodles digital images and another "Kathy's Lily Pad Palette".

I loved the sweet little "Counting Sheep" image by Whimsie Doodles and the color palette was perfect to make a card for my son and daughter-in-love to welcome their first baby later this month.

Working with digital images allows for so many more options, I'm really liking the creative possibilities.
For this card, I opened the image in Microsoft Publisher and sized it to fit my card. Then I printed out 3 images on Neenah Tiara White cardstock.

Here's a little coloring trick I used for the tiny detailed areas: I opened the image in Paint and digitally added custom colors to the clock face, sweet dreams and the hearts, circles and stars on the bottom. Since I don't have a really steady hand to color in the details this gave me really clean color in those tiny parts of the image.

I printed 2 of this colored version. One became the base of my project which was die cut and embossed with Labels Twenty by Spellbinders.

After I colored the rest of the image with Copics I cut out the clock, clock face, the roof part with the sheep and the clouds and stars separately. Everything was layered with foam tape to give dimension.

The card base is Neenah Desert Storm cardstock that was stamped with Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain then clear embossed. I gave it a white wash look using the direct to paper technique with Vintage Cream Palette Hybrid ink. After assembling everything with a sweet ribbon I gave the sheep some dimension with Rock Candy Stickles.
Make sure to check out Lily Pad Cards to see all of the projects by the Design Team and play along with this Lily Pad Palette color challenge.

~ 2 Corinthians 5:17 ~

"Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.

The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"

blessings,

nancy