Monday, October 29, 2012

Black, Purple, Orange, & White Only...Color Challenge

The weekly challenge over at Scrapbook Fantasies is to create a layout using black, purple, orange and white only. I knew immediately that I would use the photos of last night's pumpkin carving as the inspiration for this challenge.  I began by cutting 2" squares from orange and white polka dot and purple and white checked patterned papers. I used my sewing machine to stitch around the four edges of a piece of black cardstock, then I adhered the 2" squares to the upper left hand corner of this black cardstock. You can't see the black border stitching on the above photo, so I've included a close up below.  Next I added orange bows to the center of each purple and white square.  I mounted my photos and adhered them to the lower right hand corner. Next I hand-cut the white banner that holds the title. Around the edge of the banner I attached pieces of patterned papers and stitched with my machine along the bottom and top edges with black thread.  I used orange and white twine and wrapped it around the banner, than attached the black and purple chipboard letters to spell Halloween.  I used MS Word to print my journaling and then adhered it to an orange square.  I finished by cutting out the 2012 date and attached it to the upper most square on the left.  This was a super fun challenge and my page came together quickly. Thanks for the inspiration Scrapbook Fantasies!

This photo shows the border stitching around the outside edges of the black cardstock.
SUPPLIES:
Cardstock: Paper Relections
Patterned Paper: Source unknown (purchased at a going out of business sale)
Chipboard letters.
Thread: Coats & Clark All Purpose black
Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Scotch Advance Tape Glider
Ribbon: Offray
Twine: Twinery, mandarin

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY 
Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


A Work in Progress

This week on the Authentique Paper Blog the DT members are sharing their amazing craft spaces. The photos of each space show clever and creative ways to store products and offer lots of inspiration. They want to see our craft space so today I am sharing mine.  My Crafty Corner is a small room that is literally in the back corner of my house. The location is one of the best things about my room. I have a huge picture window which lets in lots of natural light and gives the room a bright cheerful feel. The views are fabulous. In the summer, I look out over a meadow of blooming flax that are just the most fantastic intense blue.   (My blog header  above shows the summer meadow.)  The winter view, when there is snow is also pretty gorgeous.  Although the space is small it works well for me.  I try to have a place for everything because I find that I am more creative if my room is organized. But it is a work in progress and I find myself periodically reorganizing.  Recently when I found that my creative juices weren't flowing,  I went through the entire room and reorganized, shifted and purged.  I ended up discovering items I had forgotten about and am now eager to use. Without further ado, here is my craft space: 








Sunday, October 28, 2012

Merry Christmas Snow Scene



Okay, this is my last post for today. I've been busy making cards off and on all day and I couldn't resist making one more card for Paper Crafter's Library Project Ideas Newsletter Challenge. The snowy scene was created with a die and ink from the Fiskars Fuse Die-cut/Letter Press system. After it was dry I spritzed it with sparkle mist before matting it on red paper. Then I added the dashed lines around the oval and along the red strip before adhering it to a white mat and then the cardbase.
Andrea Walford's Card: Paper Crafter's Library
Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Gel Pen: Sakura
Die Cut -Letter Press: Fiskar's Fuse
Mist: Tsukineko Shimmer Spritz (sparkle)
Paper: red (don't know the source, it was a piece of scrap paper)
Mat: Paper Studios
Ink: Fiskars
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider

Halloween Card

This is my take on the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch! I started by punching the circle from a piece of white cardstock. Then I cut out two trees from white cardstock, added detail with chalk and adhered them to a black piece of cardstock. Next I adhered the white strip with the circle over the trees and added black dots with a maker. I finished the card by writing the sentiment with a gel pen.


Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Paper Studios
Punch: EK Success
Embellishments: Handcrafted trees
Chalk:  Craft T-Deocrations
Gel Pen: Sakura
Marker: Zig Memory System

Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider

Merry Christmas

This is my second card for the Makeover Monday Challenge at Paper Crafter's Library.  I really liked Andrea's design. It was so clean, simple and elegant.  Here's her card:

To create my card, I used a Fiskars die. I inked the die with green and red marker then used a piece of water color paper (instead of cardstock) and ran it through the machine. I love how easy this machine is to use and it embosses, cuts and inks in just one pass.  Next I embossed the mat with a stylus and template then added the sheer green ribbon and red brads. I attached the mat to the card base and it was finished.

Supplies:
Cardbase and mat: Daler Rowney Water Colour Paper
Markers: Impress Dual Markers: Emerald, Poppy Red, ZIG Memory System: Pure Green
Die-Cut & Letter Press: Fiskars Fuse Die #091 Merry Christmas
Brads: red (?)
Ribbon: Offray green
Embossing: Fiskars Texture Plate Dots
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider


Acorn Thanksgiving

This card is based on the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches. I tried a new technique for this card. I used craft foam, heated it with a heat tool and then stamped the acorns into the warmed foam. When it was cool, I fussy cut around them and added highlights and detail with paint. I adhered the acorns to a vanilla circle matted with a chocolate circle that I had punched holes in and stitched around with embroidery thread.  I dry embossed the leaves, fussy cut around them, added details with a green colored pencil and then adhered then next to the acorns.  I adhered the two circles to the text and patterned paper base. The text background paper was created with vanilla cardstock and  an MS Word document.  I also printed the sentiment with MS Word.



Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studio
Cardstock: Authentique Freebird: Comfort & Familar, Core'dinations Pure Chocolate, Core'dinations Vanilla Cream
Punches: Ek Success 2 3/4" circle, 1/4" circle punch
Stamps: Michael's Bountiful Harvest (acorns)
Leaves: Fiskars Shape Boss Vines
Colored Pencil: Foohy
Embroidery thread: DMC
Needle: Singer
Text: MS Word (random text)
Paint: Liquitex
Craft foam (brown)
Ink: Studio G

Comforting Cattails

This card was inspired by the sketch challenge at Skipping Stones Design.  I started with a piece of vanilla cardstock and Stampin' Up's Nature Stamp. I stamped the grassy image with green ink, then added the cattails with brown markers. Next,I  cut this stamped image into a hexagon and then cut it into thirds. I adhered these three pieces on brown cardstock, leaving a bit of space between each section.  I cut the brown hexagon out making it slightly larger than the vanilla hexagon.  Using vanilla cardstock and an MS Word document, I printed text with brown font and slightly inked around the outer edges. This was adhered to a piece of chocolate cardstock and then to a cream card base.  I added the vertical and diagonal strips of cardstock.  Next I added the "bouquet" of cattails.  I drew the cattails with colored pencils and markers then fussy cut around them. I gathered them into a bouquet, added a bow and adhered this to the top right hand side of the hexagon. This bouquet is my favorite part of the card.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Cardstock: Core'dinations Pure Chocolate, Vanilla
Stamps: Stampin' Up Nature
Ink: Paper studios (green), Fiber Scraps e-z walnut ink
Markers: Bic Mark it (brown)
Raffia
Adhesive: Scotch ATG
Text: MS Word random text

I hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Warm Winter Wishes & Fiskars

After watching Andrea create a card this week at Paper Crafter's Library, I was inspired to make this card. I used a die-cut/letterpress to create the image in the center and wrote the sentiment with a marker.  I used an embossing plate to emboss the snowflake background directly onto the card base then added the ribbon, gems and center piece.  I was striving for elegance but didn't quite reach the level of elegance that Andrea created with her beautiful card. Here's Andrea's elegant card:


Supplies:
Die-cut/letterpress: Fiskars
Cardbase: Paper Studios
Ribbon: Offray
Gems: Studio G
Marker: Zig
Adhesive: Scotch ATG
Embossing Plate: Fiskars

Kraft On

CAS-ual Friday's challenge this week is KRAFT.  Who doesn't love Kraft?  It's one of my favorite go to materials. For this card I also used one of my favorite punches...a sunflower. I punched sunflowers from Kraft, fussy cut around each, than layered each flower on yellow cardstock and fussy cut around each one a second time.  Each flower center was adhered with dimensional adhesive. I wrapped twine around a piece of Kraft and adhered the flowers diagonally. I used a circle punch to remove a bit from the upper and lower corners of the Kraft and yellow mats. To keep the front of the card clean, I left the sentiment off.


Supplies:
Cardstock: Paper Studios (Kraft), DCWV (yellow)
Punch: EK Success Sunflower
Twine: Twinery (Lemondrop)
Adhesive: Elmers Glue Spots, Scotch Advance Tape Glider


Friday, October 26, 2012

FISKARS Delivers!


This collection of crafting goodness arrived on my front porch this week. As one of five grand prize winners in the "Show Us the Possibilities" contest, I received ALL THIS! I am overwhelmed with the generosity of FISKARS. This is an incredible prize and the creative possibilities are endless.   I have been happily experimenting with the FUSE machine this week and am having a blast! The card below is one of many that I have already created with this amazing FUSE Die-cut & Letterpress system.  The system is so easy to use and there are multiple options for creating with the beautifully designed dies.  I am so grateful to FISKARS. 
Let the creativity begin!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

It's Not Fall Until....

Around my house and especially at my husband's office, it's not Fall until I make a pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap and pecan crust.  Each Autumn for the past 5 years, I have baked this cheesecake and sent it off with my husband to share at work.  It has gotten rave reviews and is now an expected fall treat and an unofficial symbol of fall. The second thing I associate with fall is a scarecrow. Each Autumn my son and I put together a scarecrow, to sit on our front porch and greet guests. When I saw that the challenge over at  Simply Less is More is AUTUMN , I knew I had to make a card to send off with the cheesecake. I had a blast creating this handmade scarecrow. The entire sentiment says: It's not Fall until... the pumpkin cheesecake arrives! Enjoy!

Supplies:
Cardstock: DCWV Chalkboard, DCWV Stack (goldenrod)
Paper: scraps from my stash, Core'dinations Pure Chocolate
Raffia
Burlap
Colored pencils: Crayola
White gel pen: Sakura
Walnut Ink: Fiber Scraps
Punches: McGill (flower), 1/4" circle punch
Embroidery thread: DMC black
Marker: ZIG (black)

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Love U...with all my heart

Exciting news! I just discovered CAS(E) this Sketch. This week is their second challenge and I just had to play along.  For this card I started by cutting the large U from patterned paper and matting it with a solid green cardstock. Using the same green cardstock, I punched a heart, matted it with brown cardstock and adhered it to the U.  I used a die cut sun as a mat and finished the card by writing the sentiment and adding dots around the sun.


Supplies:
Paper:  Authentique Loyal, DCWV, Simple Stories
Die Cut: FISKARS
Marker: Zig
Punch: EK Success
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider
Card base: Paper Studios

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Warm Wishes with Authentique

This is my second submission for the Authentique October Color Challenge. I used papers from the Authentique Loyal and Celebrate Collections. These beautiful patterned papers worked wonderfully with the color challenge which includes: ivory, mountain pine and blacksmith.  I hand cut two trees from green Authentique and matted them with black Authentique. I adhered the tree on the right with dimensional adhesive.  I cut strips from the patterned paper and adhered it diagonally to another Authentique patterned paper.  To decorate the tress I added green star gems, clear gems and narrower strips of the same Authentique patterned paper. I matted the card on Authentique black and finished by attaching the handwritten sentiment.

SUPPLIES:
Paper: Authentique Loyal and Celebrate Collections (green, black and patterned papers)
Cardbase: Paper Studios (ivory)
Gems: Studio G
Marker: Zig black
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider, Scrapbook Adhesives Crafty Foam Tape
Ivory cardstock: Core'dinations

Birch Trees

Here is my submission for the Authentique October Inspiration Color Challenge. The color story board includes ivory, mountain pine and blacksmith. For this card I used papers  from Authentique's Loyal and Celebrate Collections (black and mountain pine). I created the night sky with Authentique's black paper and added clouds with a Q-tip. The moon was punched from ivory cardstock and I added more chalked clouds over the top of it. I hand cut the birch trees from white cardstock and added details with paints. The grass is layered Authentique paper that I tore into strips. I wrapped embroidery floss around the base and tied  a bow. I finished by adding the sentiment which is hand-written with a marker on ivory cardstock and matted with the same black as the night sky.

SUPPLIES:
Paper: Authentique Loyal and Celebrate Collections (black and green)
Marker: Zig black
Cardstock: Core'dinations Vanilla Cream/ivory, DCWV white
Adhesive: Scotch Advanced Tape Glider
Circle Punch: EK Success
Embroidery Floss: DMC ivory
Chalk: Craft-T Decorations/gray
Q-Tips: Johnson & Johnson
Paints: Folk Art (black/brown)



Sunday, October 14, 2012

Sponging Technique


These cards were inspired by a technique that Sophia Landry from Paper Crafter's Library demonstrated this week. She cleverly masked an area with torn paper and sponged ink onto the card. Her card was also a single layer card which are a challenge for me so I gave her technique a try. I really had fun with it as you can see. I ended up making two cards but played around making several other backgrounds with various colors..  On the first card, I left a lot of white space like Sophia did, but then I played around with the technique a bit more and ended up making the second card and using the technique to fill in the white space with green inks.

Supplies: Card base: Paper Studios, Ink: Paper Studios, Stamp: Stampin' Up, Sponge, Scrap pieces of torn cardstock

A New Direction

Since I learned about the Card Drive for Addison, my crafting days have  taken on a new direction. I have been focusing on creating more cards that would be appealing to children. Most of my cards are geared towards adults, so this was an exciting challenge. This post is a collection of the cards I will be sending to Addison and her sisters. I hope you will consider making a handful of cards to send to this family. For more details click on the info under Addison's photo in my sidebar.