You Get Me

Hi everyone! Eek! I still cannot believe I'm in the Top 10 of the Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest. Thank you!!

The challenge for Round 4 was to use exactly 10 embellishments on a card. While it was definitely a challenge, I was excited about this theme. I knew right away I wanted to make another freestyle/collage card (like THIS card or THIS card). 

I decided to focus on a color scheme. It took a while to choose the colors, but I settled on this color scheme from The Sweetest Occasion. I focused on the three colors on the left.

I don't have too many embellishments in mustard, grey, and poppy, but I decided to alter some of the embellishments to get the right color. Here is a shot of embellishments before I altered them (there are a couple in the picture I didn't end up using):

I pulled together ink, spray ink, alcohol inks, spray paint, craft paint, glitter cardstock, and stamps, and I went to work altering the items. When I got done, my card looked like this:

I started with the background paper. To make it, I simply made a grey rectangle in Photoshop, duplicated it, and layered the rectangles to make stripes. 

For the embellishments, I focused on shapes and textures. I would have loved to have added two more elements, but I needed to stick to the 10 items. :) Here is what I used:

               1. Keyhole--spray painted and layered silver glitter cardstock underneath

               2. Canvas circle--(it wasn't the right color of yellow) flipped over and misted with Mr. Huey's Taxi
               3. Wood veneer heart--painted white and inked with a reinker
               4-5. Two half-circle chipboard pieces--painted silver

               6. Metal star--spray painted

               7. Ephemera heart die-cut--flipped over and stamped with Hero Arts Houndstooth background stamp

               8. Silver sequin

               9. Yellow transparency banner

               10. Hemptique twine

I have to share that the transparency banner was not what I had planned. I had a similar one, but just before I adhered it to the card, I lost it. Argh!! After spending 20 minutes looking for it, I gave up and cut down a different transparency. I'm sure it will turn up in a Lego bucket or something. ;) 

Here's a close-up:

Before I layered the elements, I created a sentiment strip. Using a sentiment from Pixel's & Co., I printed the sentiment on vellum. I could have easily printed the sentiment directly onto the paper, but I liked the softness of the vellum. Here's a close-up:

As part of the Gallery Idol contest, there's a vote for the Top 5. If you like my card, I would really appreciate it if you vote for my card! You can click on the link at the top of the sidebar or go HERE, click on the image, and vote. You do have to register, but if you have already registered, you can simply log in. Thank you so much!!

Thank you for stopping by and for your support! Have a great week!

Supplies

Cardstock: (white) PTI; (silver glitter cardstock) Doodlebug Designs

Other paper: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax; (vellum) 

Pigment ink: (Provincial, Strawberry) Fresh Ink

Spray ink: (Taxi) Mr. Huey's

Embellishments: (half circle chipboard from Mint Julep collection) BasicGrey; (transparency from Fact or Fiction ephemera) BasicGrey; (die cut heart from Dear Lizzy) American Crafts; (canvas circle from Fact or Fiction) BasicGrey; (metal star from Basics) BasicGrey; (keyhole) Hobby Lobby; (heart veneer) Simon Says Stamp; (sequin) Hobby Lobby

Fibers: (red twine) Hemptique

Digital elements: (sentiment from In Good Company collection) Pixels & Co.

Other: (Picket Fence Distress Paint) Ranger; (yellow spray paint, silver craft paint)

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You Make My World Go Round

Hi everyone! Anyone else ready for the weekend? My husband is taking Friday off--his first workday off since the end of December. Woo hoo!

It's time for another CAS-ual Fridays Challenge. This week's challenge is:

It's a travel related theme--maps, things that go, etc.

The theme is pretty broad, but I decided to go nautical again with this card:

Isn't that a sweet sentiment? This card is one of those CAS cards that looks easy but actually involved about 25 steps. I'll spare you all the details. ;)

The little scene in the center was made with different elements from Paislee Press's Daydreamer kit (the boat, the wave, the ring). The sentiment was made by using a circle text path around the (almost circular) ring. I also shrunk some digital map/sea patterned paper, printed it, and trimmed it down to cover the sails. Here's a close-up:

Aren't the map sails cute?

I finished the card by layering die-cut cardstock. I have terrible depth perception, and I didn't get the top layer even the first time. I peeled it up, but I think I warped the paper when I did that. *sigh* I did consider trying to find another color of cardstock (it was my only sheet), but I decided to leave it alone. My husband will get a warped card, and he'll still like it (at least he better!). ha ha

If you want to play along with this week's CAS-ual Friday Challenge, the winner will receive some CAS-ual Friday Stamps:

You can link up your projects HERE.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (red) Stampin' Up; (teal) Bazzill
Other paper: (Premium White Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Digital elements: (boat, wave, rings from the Daydreamer collection) Paislee Press; (map paper from Jolly Ole collection) Sahlin Studio, both at The Lilypad
Dies: (Small Circle) Spellbinders

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Be Your Own Kind of Wonderful

Hi everyone! Thank you, thank you for your votes for my Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Round 2 card. I made it to the Top 15!

I'm moving on to Round 3, and the challenge this time was to make your own stamped background. I'm not going to lie...when I saw this theme, I was pretty anxious. The last time I created my own stamped background that was not in Photoshop was...well, I can't even remember. But, I kept reminding myself that it's just stamping, and I do that. :)

Before I share the process, I wanted to show you the final card:

Last Friday after I saw the theme, I flipped through my inspiration files and stamps. I was inspired by THIS picture. I found a circle stamp from the Simon Says Stamp Circle Friends set, and began picking the colors.

I'm a little ashamed to admit that the sheet above was one of five test sheets to pick the colors--I must have tried about 50 inks. The blues, green, and yellow look summery to me, and I like how they looked when they overlapped.

I moved on to stamping the background. There was some testing to figure out the amount of overlap needed (seven lines overlapping for the rows and three lines for the columns in case you were curious). To make the lines straight, I used a stamp positioner. Even with that tool, I held my breath every time I stamped. ;) Here's what the sheet looked like when I was done:

Doesn't it look like a quilt? You can see in the top left where I dropped my block at the end of stamping (argh!!).

After all that work, I used a CAS design. Here's a close-up:

I used a digital brush for the frame around the sentiment from Rhonna Designs and typed in the sentiment. I added a tiny die-cut star using the Holiday Shapes die (love that die!). The card was finished off with a strip of the same aqua glitter cardstock at the top and some Caribbean twine from The Twinery.

As part of the Gallery Idol contest, there's a vote for the Top 10. If you like my card, I would really appreciate it if you vote for me! You can click on the link at the top of the sidebar or go HERE, click on the image, and vote. You do have to register (it's a quick process), but if you have already registered, you can simply log in. Thank you so much!

Thank you for stopping by and thank you for the support! Have a great week.


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI); (blue) Bazzill; (aqua glitterstock) The Paper Studio/Hobby Lobby
Clear stamps: (circle from Circle Friends) Simon Says Stamp
Digital stamp: (frame around sentiment from Nautical Chic brushes) Rhonna Designs
Pigment ink: (Grass) Fresh Ink; (Sunflower Yellow, Pearlescent Sky Blue Brilliance Inks) Tsukineko
Twine: (Caribbean) The Twinery
Dies: (star from Holiday Shapes) Simon Says Stamp; (Small Circle) Spellbinders
Font: (Bell MT, Jenna Sue)

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Best Wishes

Hi! It's my first post for the Paper Smooches SPARKS team. Yeah! I'm excited and a little nervous to share my card. My teammates are such amazing designers (oh, the pressure!).

For this week's SPARKS challenge, it's Designer Drafts time. Here's the sketch:

I used the horizontal version of the sketch and went with a rustic theme:

SPARKS is shifting to a CAS emphasis, so I did a pretty CAS take on the sketch.

I started by stamping the yellow flower from Bold Blooms and layering the smaller flower with foam tape. I finished the flower by adding a leaf from Leafy Greens. For the background, I simply cut a piece of burlap and sewed it to the card base. Here's a close-up:

I apologize for the blurriness of the sentiment...the macro worked great for the flower.ha ha I finished the card off with a sentiment from Simply Said and a mix of stickpins.

If you would like to join this week's SPARKS challenge, you can link up your projects HERE. I hope you'll join in! Be sure to visit the rest of the team's blogs to see what they have created:

Wida

Jenny

Alice

Savannah

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI
Ink: (Chamomile, Grass) Fresh Ink; (Tuxedo Black) Memento; (Antique Linen, Scattered Straw Distress Inks) Ranger
Twine: (Natural) May Arts
Stickpins: (from the Fact line) BasicGrey

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You Are Fab

Hi everyone! Ready for the weekend? Any plans?

It's time for this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge. This weeks challenge is:

So, banners or flags on your projects. Easy, right? Instead of a string of banners, I made one jumbo banner:

I ran across THESE banners that are free downloads. I loved the images, but I seldom use PDF files. When I saw the CAS-ual Fridays assignment, I decided to figure out how to convert a PDF into a cut file for my Cameo. I found THIS tutorial, and it was surprisingly easy.

I first die-cut the banner in orange, but then decided to die-cut it in purple. I never put purple on cards, so I decided to switch it up. :) Here's a close-up of the sweet sentiment:

A little stitching, a little inking, a little twine, and I was done.

If you would like to enter this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge, the winner will receive a gift certificate to Ellen Hutson:

You can link up your banner and flag projects HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI; (Grapesicle) Stamp School
Patterned Paper: (Hopscotch) Fancy Pants
Ink: (Antique Linen Distress Ink) Ranger
Digital element: (You Are Fab) How About Orange
Twine: (Natural) May Arts
Button: (crystal button) Stampin' Up

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