Cindy's blues blew me away.

 

Last night, I was surfing the net looking for nothing in particular, but, as always, hoping for some inspiration, when I came upon this drop-dead-gorgeous card over at the Flourishes website. I was immediately taken with the gorgeous blues she used in her stunning design. So, I CASEd it. Unabashedly and unashamedly. And my card still doesn't even come close to the exquisiteness of Cindy's card. But, I wanted to make this a smaller card so I could include it in the set of notecards I'm making for my SIL, and space was limited. I tried adding a few more embellishments, but every time I did it went over the top. So, while I couldn't get any closer to Cindy's card, I thought I'd stop while I was ahead. 

Aw, who am I kidding? I don't think I could ever make a card as stunning as Cindy's. It really is that amazing.

I did add a new technique to this card--stitching--and was, FINALLY, satisfied with it. I've tried to stitch on cards before, always by hand because I don't have a sewing machine, and I've never been happy with them. A few times I've just thrown the thing across the room! 

I explain how I was able to get the stitching right at the bottom of this post. It's a fairly long paragraph, so I wanted to make it possible for you to skip it if you chose. But, the fact that the card is still on this side of the room ought to tell you I figured out something! :)

Recipe:

The Paper Company papers from Joann, in blues. (I don't recall the actual name of the collection.)

Striped paper I designed

Digital flower stamp 

Spellbinders Nestabilities Oval and scalloped Oval

Cuttlebug Textile Texture embossing folder

Sizzix branch with leaves die

McGills Petite Petals punch

EK Success border punch

Copics

Seam binding ribbon died in a sage green and crumpled up.

Stick pins I made. (I just noticed one of them had fallen off! Yikes!)

Challenges:

Freshly Brewed Challenges--three of anything

Simon Says Stamp--anything goes

Creative Craft Challenges--pretty blossoms

Flourishes--embossing (I'm embarrassed to enter this since I so unashamedly copied Cindy's card, but what the hell!)

Jac-Inks Papercraft Challenges--die cut and texture

How I did the stitching: First, I cut an oval from my Nestabilities, traced it, then scanned the image into my computer. I then traced the scanned oval in my Digital Scrapbook Artist program using the drawing pen. Next, I changed the line to dashes, changed the line's color to a very light gray, and then printed it out. I cut the oval from my die, then poked a hole in each dash, stitched it up, and voila! It actually doesn't look half bad. It took me almost all day to get the oval just right, as I had to tweak its height and width many times, and even then, it's not perfect. But it is very close.

Notecards for my sister-in-law.

Lately, for the really special women in my life, I've been making a set of monogrammed notecards for their birthday. I know "sets" of notecards are all supposed to match in some way, but I get really bored with that. So, the way mine match is I use a monogram, and I use my favorite papers. Other than that, it's a free-for-all! 

My SIL has a birthday coming up in August, so I'm trying to get a head start with this card. I went a bit out of my comfort zone with so many squares, but I think it works. I was actually struggling to find a paper that matched the blue background paper, and finally found I had the perfect paper in my digital collection!

Recipe:

My Mind's Eye 29th Street Market paper

Arise digital paper by Dana Zarling at Design House Digital

C'ordinations brown pearlized paper

Spellbinders Nestabilities squares and scalloped squares

Monogram stamp

stick pins I made

Prima rosebuds

Challenges:

Creative Craft Challenges--pretty blossoms

Deep Ocean Challenge blog--cards

Digital Tuesday Challenge--use one or more dies

Crafting Life's Pieces' Sketch

I came upon Crafting Life's Pieces, via a link to a link to a link (in other words, I'm not sure how I got there), and I am so glad I did. I was just blown away by the gorgeous cards there, and what made it even better is they also have a monthly sketch challenge blog. So, while the card above doesn't even come close to the loveliness I found there, I am happy with how it turned out.

What took me forever was taking a picture of it. I purposely used very pale pinks, blues and greens, with the black as a strong contrast, and I had a heck of a time getting my camera to pick the pale colors up. I'm not very good at photography as it is, so this about did me in. But, I finally got close enough to the real thing that I was satisfied.

What I really love about this card is the stamp. It's Stampin' Up's Elements of Style, and I've coveted it forever. But appearances are deceiving. It's actually the digital version of the stamp! I was so excited when I discovered it for sale at the Stampin' Up website, because I've just not had the money to buy the rubber version. And best of all, while the rubber version would have been too large for my card, I was able to size the digital version down a bit, and I couldn't be happier.

Recipe:

My Mind's Eye Lost and Found papers

My Mind's Eye Lush papers

Stampin' Up Elements of Style digital stamp

Stampin' Up Best Wishes stamp

Black paper from scraps

EK Success border punch

Sizzix Branch w/Leaves die

Sizzix Architectural Accent #3 die

Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One

Distress Inks Bundled Sage

Distress Inks Tea Dye

watercolors

Recollections pearl stickers

seam binding died pale pink

stick pins I made

mulberry paper flowers from stash

Challenges:

Crafting Life's Pieces--sketch challenge

Make It Monday--anything goes

Wags 'n Whiskers Stamps--birthday

Aud Sentiments Challenge--use a sentiment with two words

Stampavie and More--More than three layers.

The Most Amazing Blog Candy!

 

  

I don't usually write posts about blog candy, even though I am addicted to entering these kinds of contests. But Melissa at Creating from the Heart has such an amazing contest going on, I thought it was worth a post of its own. Up for grabs is a Spellbinders Grand Calibur machine, a set of Spellbinders Grand Labels 11 (the large ones), and a $150 gift certificate to Michael's! Can you believe that? I am salivating as I type this!

Additionally, her cards are just beautiful. I've spent the last hour going through her blog, and have found a few new ideas I'd like to try. Really, her stuff is gorgeous.

So, head on over to Melissa's blog and enter today. It really is the most amazing candy I've ever seen.

For my Sis

For my sister's birthday I made her a book box card and filled it with monogrammed notecards. I was extremely happy with how it turned out, but was in such a hurry to send it off in time that I didn't take a picture of it. But I did take pics of some of the notecards, and the one above is one of my favorites, particularly because I got to use some of my very favorite papers. I was also very happy with the rosette because I finally figured out how to make one. I know how stupid that sounds, but I'm one of those people who can easily figure out a very difficult project, while the simple ones elude me. 

To make the monogram, I printed out the "T" on C'ordinations white pearl paper and then immediately covered it with Stampendous transparent embossing powder. These papers have such a smooth surface the printer ink doesn't dry immediately, and thus, embossing powders stick to it beautifully. My choices of what I can emboss on these papers is only limited to what images I can find, or can draw, on my computer. In other words, limited is really unlimited.

Recipe:

My Mind's Eye Adore paper

My Mind's Eye Asparagus paper

Basic Grey Olivia papers

C'ordinations white pearls paper

Recollections sticky pearls

ribbon from stash

Challenges:

Creative Belli Blog--make your own embellishments

Party Time Tuesdays--square card

Craft Your Passion--anything goes

Digi Design House--make your own flower(s)

Just Add Ink sketch

I'm not exactly sure why, but when I saw Just Add Ink's sketch challenge, I was driven! Could it be because it was a great sketch? Yes, I think that's it. :)

This actually started out as a Christmas card. The paper is by My Mind's Eye and is aptly named Adore, because I truly do adore it! In fact, my local Roberts went out of business and the paper was on sale for 75 percent off, so I traveled around the state buying all the store's remaining sheets. I then ran home to make a card with it . . . and was stumped. I found that turning it into a card was difficult because the colors and the sparkle are so evocative of Christmas. So, then I decided to just give in and use it for holiday cards, including for Just Add Ink's sketch challenge.

But, I just wasn't happy with anything I did, and was having my own private "War FOR the Roses," because roses is what I really wanted. So, I gave in, and the result is what you see above. I quite like it.

Recipe:

My Mind's Eye Adore paper
C'ordinations paper
Sentiment from Stampin' Up's Roses in Winter
I Am Roses mulberry roses
Martha Stewart border punch
Sizzix leafy vine die
Stick pins I made
ribbon from stash

Challenges:

Just Add Ink--sketch
Totally Paper Crafts--spots and stripes (It's hard to tell in the picture, but the rectangle panel is made up of circles.)
Meljen's--stripes or plaid
Paper Crafting Journey--anything goes
Crafty Creations Challenge--sparkle
Ruby's Rainbow--flowers

Happy Birthday Shelly!

 

I followed Splitcoast Stamper's Sketch #330 to make this birthday card for my niece, and I really enjoyed it. It's the first challenge I've ever followed at SCS, and I'm a little concerned my card might not qualify because I added a bit to the top. It's my understanding that, at least amongst other challenges I've entered, as long as you can see the sketch you can do whatever you want; however, everyone at SCS who used this sketch seemed to follow it more exactly. So, I'm hesitant to post it there, but I'm going to, and if it's a problem, I'll just look at it as a "live and learn" situation.

Recipe:

My Mind's Eye 29th Street Market papers

My Mind's Eye Bohemia papers

C'ordinations purple paper

Rubber Stampeded stamp--hydrangea

Inkadinkado Stamp--Happy Birthday

Fiskars Birthday Sayings--Wish

Martha Stewart butterfly punch

EK Success large butterfly punch

Sizzix swirl die

Spellbinders Scalloped Circles

Spellbinders Labels No. 4

Fiskars border punch

Recollections Fleur Metallic Natural leaves

Recollections Fleur Natural Gingko Leaves

Recollections pearl stickers

Recollections rhinestone stickers

stick pins I made

ribbon from stash

Challenges:

Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge #330

The Poodles Parlor--flying things

Simply Create--things with wings

Stampin' for the Weekend--My Favorite Things: Mine are the color purple, My Mind's Eye papers, hydrangeas, and lots of sparkle (doesn't show up in the photo, but it's very sparkly in person).

Bronte and Bella's Challenge--flowers, fairies, flutters and/or fancy folds
Crafty Purple Frog Challenge--swirls and pearls
Southern Girls Challenge--anything goes
Little Darlings Challenges--Use your favorite color combination (mine is blue and purple).
Scrapbook Sisters--anything goes
Stampavie and More--butterflies
Deep Ocean Challenge--flowers
Everybody Art--anything goes
Creative Stamp Friends--birthdays