Sweet Sunday 23

Here is my take on the latest Sweet Sunday sketch challenge. You might want to click on this to see the images close up.

I get a bit nervous when I see an unconventional sized card, but when I saw this sketch I couldn't help but see that it was perfect for the stamp set I just bought called "Its a dogs life" by Inkadinkadoo. I wanted to do a card for my brother and sister-in-law, who just got a new puppy. Animals have been a huge part of their family for some time now and they have always had a bunch of them at once...cats and dogs. We recently received an email with pictures of the latest addition so I thought I would fire off this card to them.

Here are the card details:

All of the paper is from my stash. I stamped, colored, embossed and punched out the image squares for the bottom of the card and then I mounted them on black paper and put the 3 dog pictures up on dimensionals. The two pictures with bones on them were mounted flat to the background. The Woof ribbon was part of my stash too. I printed the sentiment off of my computer, sponged the edges and punched it out with the SU word window punch, added a couple of black rhinestones to it then mounted it with dimensionals. Lastly, I pierced the paper on either side of the ribbon for accent.

Thanks for the great sketch Karen. My biggest problem will be finding an envelope to mail it in:))

Another Grad Card Updated

Had to update this post, as we have been having some problems with internet connections and the first post had only half of what I originally typed in but didn't get saved before it published.

We've been having some pretty nasty storms lately and lots and lots of rain so I think it's reeked a little havoc on the internet provider. They are apparently working on the problem.

Just thought I would give you a peek at another graduation (high school) card I created today. This one is for my husband's great niece who will be coming to Madison for school next year.

This card is completely different than the one I thought I was creating. Ha! I bet you've all experienced that before! I actually was going to make another card just like the last graduation card I did, but I really don't like doing the same card more than once (unless it is a mass production of Xmas cards). I stared at the DP (Best Creatoin Inc) for a long time before I decided that I just didn't want to cover it up too much. I cut the cardstock so that "the ski is the limit" showed on top and just by luck, when I went to position my star, it framed the words "Be a star" perfectly. Gotta love it when that happens:).

I cut those stars from a newly purchased Sizzix die and then embossed them with a CB folder to make them pop. I love how they turned out. I added a large rhinestone brad in the center to finish off the star and then popped it with dimensionals. The DP is glittered, so the card is pretty sparkly which does show up pretty well in my picture. I used a QuicKutz die for the flourishes on either side of the stars. That was a 50% off find at Archivers today. Finally, I stamped and embossed the graduation cap with silver ink and clear ep. I mounted that flat to the card so it wouldn't take away from the star focal point.

I added a picture of the inside of the card because I like how it turned out. I often struggle with what to do on the inside and lately I've resorted to using embossed backgrounds which I have been very pleased with. I hope she'll like it and that you will too.

BDay card for friend

Here is a card I made for my friend Jane for her birthday. She is a fellow card maker and loves butterflies. Her butterfly cards are always awesome because she uses mica powders and pearl ex on the paper she crafts them with.

There's a lot of shiny stuff on this card. I'm not sure you can tell from my photo even when you click on the picture to enlarge it. I couldn't seem to get the right angle to capture all the glitter and shine when I took my picture. The layout for this card is the one from week 89 over at Mojo Monday. I know I will be using this layout a lot. I love it for bigger cards.

Here are the card details:

Both of the butterflies are embossed with Versamark Dazzle and clear embossing powder. I stamped 2 of the bigger butterflies and layered them for dimension. My DP is DCWV Petite Purple Posies and is a glittered paper. I also used SU appricot appeal, kiwi kiss and baja blue and white from my cardstock stash. The big butterfly stamp is from Putting on the Ritz @ http://www.stampingontheritz.com/. The sentiment and corner stamps are from an acrylic set I have that has somehow lost it's packaging so I don't know the maker. I stamped both with kiwi kiss and then stamped over that with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I cut out the sentiment and popped it on a piece of baja blue with dimensionals. I used a CB embossing folder to give some texture to the baja blue and the appricot appeal strip on the bottom of the card. The circles were punched with various punches from my huge collection of punches. I sure hope she likes it.

Sweet Sunday 22

Here is my take on the Sweet Sunday 22 sketch this week.

Do you have a very favorite picture of your mother? Well, from early in my childhood, ever since I saw this picture in a family photo album, it has been my fav. My mom was just 18 years old on this high school graduation picture. This card is for her 80th birthday which will be on July 4, 2010. I always tell people that I have the best mom in the world and that she is a real saint. Well, I've sort of given her a halo of pearls around her picture on this card.

Here are the details: I printed the picture on white cardstock and then embossed it about 5 times with versa mark and clear embossing power to give it a glassy look. I mounted it on a black scallop that was cut from a nestie. The DP is from Kaiser Craft and is 2 sided. The white flourish was along the side the striped side of the paper which worked out perfect for this challenge. The black is linen from Archiver's. I embossed the SU pale plum with a CB folder. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado "Garden Flowers" clear acrylic set and the flourish above and below the sentiment is from Memory Box "Vintage Garden" clear acrylic set. The border punch is MS. Lastly, I added 3 clear rhinestones on a few flowers along the bottom DP.

Thanks Karen for a sketch that inspired me to create this. Hope I can actually save it for her birthday next year and don't break down and give it to her this year instead:))

Sweet Sunday 21

Well, here I am again just squeaking this entry in under the wire for the Sweet Sunday challenge. I'm dedicating this card to my blogger friend, Karen Motz, over at the Paper Playhouse blog. She is an amazing stamper and has kept good on her vow to do one Xmas card a week this year. I always look forward to seeing it and I keep telling her that it is starting to get me motivated to dig out the Xmas stamps and get going on my cards too. Well, here it is, June, and I'm finally motivated! Hey, that's about 5 months earlier than my norm! Anyway, thanks a whole bunch Karen for the motivation and inspiration I get from you everytime I visit your blog. I'm in all of your outstanding talent in card making!

Now for my card. I puzzled over what to use as an image and then I saw this new cardinal stamp from Memory Box (purchased at a local Scrapbook store) staring at me so thought I should try a Xmas in June card with it. These two SU DP's (riding hood red and kiwi kiss) were at the top of my stash of paper and they were the perfect match for my cardinal. The solid green is also kiwi kiss.

Here are the card details: I punched the squares with my 1 inch Emaginations punch, embossed my white cardstock with the "Birds and Swirls" CB embossing folder, stamped my image 3 times with black pigment ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I colored in all 3 images using my prismacolor pencils and gamsol to blend. I embossed over the 2nd and 3rd images with clear embossing powder and versamark to make them nice and shiny and easier to cut out. I cut out and layered one of the cardinals over my original with dimensionals. Then I cut out just the wing and layered that on top the second image for more depth. I colored in the leaves with kiwi kiss and an aqua pen. I stamped extra leaves to add to the sentiment that I printed on my computer and punched out with the SU word window punch. I just love adding sentiments this ways. A little sponging around the edges is all it needs to set it off. I used some "Rhine Studs" I got from Michaels for the holly berries and the corner accents. That's a nesties label behind the cardinal that I just tipped sideways for a different look. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. Hope you enjoy it and maybe take away a little motivation to get a jumpstart on Xmas too:))

Thanks for another great sketch Karen!

Mojo 89-Winner in June Contest!

Tada! Here it is Mojo Monday and it's only Friday:)) I am going away for the weekend so wanted to get this posted before I left. Hope you enjoy it! ...and yes, I really did emboss and cut out those tiny little dragon flies...there is no end to my madness it seems!!!

Here are the details: Lots of embossing and popping here. Froggy is embossed as well as the dragon flies. I popped both along with 3 of the willows, 2 of the lily pads and one clump of grass. The water scene is colored with prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol. Sentiments were done on my computer and punched with SU's word window punch. I added 2 gemstones to the sentiments on the bottom of the page. Papers are as follows, polka dot is DCWV, DP is Basic Grey, brown is Bazzill and the blue is The Paper Studio. I also used a CB embossing folder on the blue paper. I hope that covers it all.

Have a great weekend everyone! Hope to see you next week again!

Sweet Sunday #20

Here is my take on this weeks "Sweet Sunday Challenge". I can't believe Karen is on #20 already. I remember doing her very first sketch challenge and it seems like it was just yesterday. I rotated the sketch this week so it would be better suited to my image stamp.

Card details:
I used SU's bayou blue and kiwi kiss with a DP from S.E.I. The bayou blue is embossed with the branches CB embossing folder. The image is a clear set made by Hero Arts for Archivers. I triple stamped the birdie, colored all three with SU ink and an aqua pen, then cut out one, embossed it with clear embossing powder and popped it with dimensionals over the first image. I embossed the 3rd birdie and just cut out the wing and popped that on top of the second birdie to give even more dimension. I colored in the flowers and leaves with an aqua pen and SU matching ink and then added green gemstones to the 3 bigger flowers. Finally, I added the 4 brads, paper pierced around the outer edges of the DP and the birdie image, added some small black dots to every other branch of the embossed blue pieces, doodled around the white rectangle that my image is stamped on and hand wrote the sentiment. Click on the picture for a close up look at the 3D birdie and the little black dots I added to the branches on the blue embossed paper.

A fun little sketch challenge! Hope you like it!