Tea Time

Kathy's April sketch is still up and ready to use over at The Sketch File and you still have time to join us. I hope my card will inspire you to play along.   I rotated her sketch to create my card. I use a die to create the clock image, added hands and then hand cut and decorated a small tea pot that I layered on two borders created with rick rack.  I wrote the "Tea Time" sentiment with a gel pen and decorated it before adhering it to the card.  Since this card also includes "numbers" I'm submitting it to the challenge over at Shopping Our Stash. The current challenge is "All About Numbers". 


Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Rick Rack (from my stash), Cardstock: Recollections, Gel Pen: Sakura, Die Cut: Fiskar's, Ink: Memento, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Sketch: The Sketch File

Bicycle Border

The finished sentiment inside the card.

I just discovered a new challenge blog called The Order of the Opus-Gluei. It's a challenge blog where there are new challenges every two weeks and they are open to interpretation. The best news is that they accept all art forms! I love these kinds of challenges. The current challenge at The Order of the Opus-Gluei is to create something with bikes or trikes.  I used a stamped bike image to create a bicycle border on the top and bottom of a cardbase. I simply fussy cut around it once the stamped images had dried. This created a unique border and draws attention to the bicycles. Next I wrapped a piece of patterned paper with blue embroidery thread. Then I printed the sentiment onto a tag with my computer and inked around the outer edges of the tag before adhering it to the front on the card. Inside the card, I added "Enjoy the Ride".  

Supplies: 

Cardbase: Recollections, Stamp: Studio G, Ink: Studio G, Patterned Paper: Oriental Trading, Embroidery thread: DMC, Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Little Boy Wagon

I had a masculine boy card in mind when I started creating this card. There is a wonderful "LITTLE BOY BLUE" challenge over at Here Come the Boys. I began by creating the embossed background using an embossing folder and heavy blue cardstock. I rubbed a blue ink pad lightly over the raised gear images, wrapped blue embroidery thread around one end and matted this on a piece of black cardstock. I downloaded a wagon image, colored it with markers and filled the wagon with blue stamped presents. I finished by writing the sentiment with a blue marker.


Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Recollections (black), DCWV (blue), Darice Embossing Folder, Wagon image from internet, Bic Markers, Crayola Colored Pencils, Stamp: Stampin' Up, DMC Embroidery Thread, Studio G Blue Ink, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Elmer's Glue Spots

Stuffed Penguin

No,no, no....stuffed penguin isn't on my dinner menu, but it is the technique I used to create this little penguin for my card. Jingle Belles has had an ongoing challenge to used a recycled element on a card.  I'm loving this recycling challenge and couldn't resist adding another card to my growing collection. To create my stuffed penguin, I started with a cellophane treat bag that was previously used as a gift bag. I knew when I received this adorable bag that I would someday use it again. I'm so glad I saved it! I cut  image of the penguin from the bag and laid it on top of a piece of white cardstock. Then I used my sewing machine and stitched around it, leaving an opening at the top so I could stuff it. I stuffed it with a plastic produce bag from my recycling bin. Next I finished stitching it and fussy cut around it. I adhered it to cardstock that I had torn to represent snow and layered it on an embossed background. To make it pop, I used a black mat edged with snowflake stitching. I wrapped a portion of a skewer with red and white twine then added the sentiment.

Cellophane bag that I cut the penguin image from

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Recollections, Bazzill, Embossing Folder: Darice, Sewing Machine: Janome, Cellophane bag, Wooden skewer, Twine: The Twinery, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares,

Bo Bunny Santa

This card is inspired by Kathy's sketch at The Sketch File.  If you haven't joined us yet, there's still time to show us how you were inspired by the April sketch. For my card, I rotated the sketch, used a circle punch to cut the Santa image from patterned paper, added punched pine boughs and handmade banners.
Don't you just love that Bo Bunny Santa image?



Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Recollections, Patterned Paper:Bo Bunny, Punch: Martha Stewart, Pearls: Queen & Co, Gel Pen: Sakura, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry, Sketch: The Sketch File.

Handmade Ornament

HAPPY EARTH DAY....Today's card is another project that involves recycling and I had a blast creating it. My card has a handmade ornament hanging in the center of a snowflake window.  The ornament was created using #6 recyclable plastic. I got my piece of plastic from a bakery container at a local market.  The plastic can be used as DIY shrink plastic. I have done a few other projects with this (HERE   and   HERE ).  To make this ornament I used a die cut machine to cut an oval from #6 plastic. Then I used permanent markers to draw and color in the details. After the ink was dried,  I punched a hole in the top of the ornament, poked a skewer through it and heated the plastic with my heat gun. If you've used shrink plastic before, this #6 plastic works similarly. As it heats it starts to shrink, curl and then uncurls leaving you with a smaller version of the original design. After the ornament was cooled, I used a wire hanger and hung it from the center of an embossed cardbase with a snowflake window. I  am submitting this card for the current challenge at  Christmas Card Challenges and for the recycle element  challenge over at Jingle Belles.



Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Embossing folder: Darice, Snowflake Die Cut: Fiskars Fuse, # 6 plastic, Bic Market Markers, Marvy Uchida Heat Gun, Ribbon: Offray, Adhesive: Scotch ATG

From Card to Tree

I am on a roll here. Thanks to Lauren and Steph at Jingle Belles where the current challenge is to use a recycled element on a card. I have been playing with recycled elements off and on all week and this morning's card is no exception. However, this card takes recycling to another level because the ornament that I created is removal so the recipient can hang it on a tree. To make the ornament, I downloaded an image of Santa from the internet and enlarged it in MS Word and printed it. The ornament itself is made from a DIY shrink plastic.  If you read my previous post (here), I used a panel from a  #6 bakery plastic container and shrunk it to make snowflakes.  However, in the previous post, I didn't add color. For the Santa ornament, I placed the image of Santa beneath a piece of  #6 plastic, taped it in place with masking tape and used acrylic paints to add detail. (You can use markers to color the image, but I get more vibrant color with paint, probably because I don't have the right brand of marker for the plastic surface.) After the paint dried, I used a heat gun and shrunk it. I adhered an ornament hanger to the back with a hot glue gun and attached it to the embossed white background (I poked a hole in the cardstock with a needle.) I added pine branches and mounted it on a white cardbase with dimensional adhesive.

I have to be honest, after I was done painting it, I wasn't sure I wanted to shrink it, because I loved the vibrant colors. But, I did and I'm happy with the results. The white paint (which is really White Out because I had a limited supply of white paint) sort of flecked off and created "falling" snow over the image.

A close up look at the ornament.

This is what the image looked like after I was done painting it with acrylic paint. 

 Supplies: # 6 Bakery plastic container, Cardbase/Cardstock: Recollections, Image: Deposit Photos, Acrylic Paint: Master's Touch, Heat Gun: Marvy Uchida , Embossing Folder: Darice, Pine Bough Punch: Martha Stewart, Bic White Out, Dimensional Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares

Chevron Craze

I've been making a lot of cards with chevrons lately. Here's one more. I used decorative scissors to cut the yellow and green chevrons and layered them on a piece of yellow paper. I wrapped them with embroidery thread and added the white flowers with the green centers.  Before adhering them to the card, I ran the card through my printer to print the sentiment.


Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Bazzill, Patterned paper: scraps from my scrap stash, Embroidery thread: DMC, Flower Punch: Stampin' Up, Decorative scissors, Adhesive: Scotch ATG & Quick Dry

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog! 

I appreciate your visits. 

Happy Wednesday!

From Old Card to New Card

I'm really loving the recycle an element challenge which is the current challenge at Jingle Belles. For this card, I recycled the cardinal from an old Christmas card. I simply punched it from an old card and used it as the focal point on this card. I used scrap pieces of cardstock from my scrap stash to create the pocket, tag and panel. I adhered them all to a cardbase that I embossed with a chevron pattern.

Supplies:
Old Christmas card, Punches: EK Sucess, Cardstock: from my scrap stash, Marker: Bic Mark It, Offray ribbon, Sakura White Gel Pen, Darice Chevron Embossing Folder, Fiskars Creativity System, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

April Sketch: Happy Birthday

It's time for an update at The Sketch File.  If you haven't had a chance to use Kathy's April Sketch, now's a good time to do so. We'd love to have you join us for this sketch challenge.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: DCWV, Recollections, Stamp: Market Street, Growth, Ink: Memento, Markers: Bic Mark It, Colored Pencils: Crayola, Tag Punch: Stampin' Up, Flower Punch: EK Success, Leaf Punch: Marvy Uchida, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, SKETCH: The Sketch File.

Go WILD

The Mojo Monday sketch challenge inspired this wild card. I couldn't resist using a lot of texture for each of the different layers. I recently purchased some embossing folders and am having a blast using them on various projects. I used three different embossing folders on this card and a paper crimper. The black tail like embellishment is mesh from a produce bag.



Supplies: Kraft, Black cardstock: Recollections, Green Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, Embossing Folders: Darice, Paper Crimper: Marvy Echida, Ink: Memento, Circle Punch: EK Success, Gems:Queen & Co., Produce Bag, Adhesives: Scotch ATG, Elmer's Glue Spots

Poinsettia Petals

I've created another card for the current challenge at Jingle Belles. In honor of Earth Day, the challenge involves recycling an element on a card.  For this card I recycled a paper towel tube. I used it to create the inner petals for the poinsettia. First I flattened the tube and then I sliced off strips that were about 1/8" wide. I folded each strip in half creating two petals from a single strip and adhered them all together in the shape of a flower.  Then I  painted the flower shape with acrylic paint. Once the paint was dry, I used liquid glue to attach the cardboard petals to a piece of red cardstock. I also cut petals from red cardstock and layered them underneath the cardboard petals and then added the hand cut leaves. To give the flower more dimension, I added a bit of paint inside each petal. I created a yellow center from three punched/fringed circles. I attached the flower to an embossed mat and added the sentiment.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Embossing Folder: Darice, Recycled Cardboard Paper Towel Tube, Cardstock: From my scrap stash, Marker: Zig, Circle Punch: EK Success, Adhesives: Scotch Quick Dry & ATG, Elmer's Glue Spots, Master's Touch Acrylic Paint, Studio G Ink

Recycled Elements

The Third Annual Earth Day Celebration is taking place at Jingle Belles so the current challenge is to use a RECYCLED ELEMENT on a card.  For this card I cut the image of the birdhouse, the bow and the glittery snow from two cards I received last year.  I fussy cut around the birdhouse and bow, then used a second card and tore the glittery snow from it and adhered it to the base of the birdhouse.  I layered the birdhouse and snow onto black cardstock, trimmed around it and then matted this onto a piece of red cardstock. Using a gel pen, I drew in some snowflakes then trimmed the right edge with decorative scissors. Next I attached this to a yellow gingham background and also trimmed the right edge with decorative scissors.  I mounted this on a cardbase and then hand cut the blue bird, highlighted it with colored pencils and adhered it to the birdhouse roof. It still looked like it needed something so I hand cut some holly leaves, highlighted them with colored pencils and added some berries.  I tucked these into the bird's mouth so it would look like it was "adding" to the decorated house.  I played around with various ways to add a sentiment to the front of the card, but it just looked too busy so I'll add a sentiment inside (Warm Winter Wishes).

Supplies: Cardbase: DCWV, Old Christmas card images: birdhouse/bow, snow, Scrap pieces cardstock/paper, Gel pen: Sakura, Colored Pencils: Crayola, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry

Krafty Chick

The current challenge over at Little Tangles is GET KRAFTY. I had a blast with this card. First of all, I was eager to use a new embossing folder and since I love to work with KRAFT, this was the perfect challenge for me. I embossed the Kraft background and then used a brown ink pad to brush over the newly embossed area. I love the dimension that this created. I also downloaded the Digi chick and love you banner stamps from Little Tangles. I used markers and colored pencils to color them in and fussy cut around each. Next came the grass. I fringed and inked green cardstock and added it to the base of the embossed background. I tucked the chick behind the grass than added the banner using dimensional adhesive so that the banner would arc off the card and look like the chick was holding it.  I mounted the embossed panel onto yellow paper and then adhered this to a Kraft cardbase.  This was a super fun challenge! Thanks Little Tangles!


Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Recollections, Bazzill Basics, Yellow copier paper, Markers: Bic Mark It, Colored Pencils: Crayola, MS Word, Darice Embossing Folder, Fiskar's Fuse Creativity System, Ink: Memento, Studio G, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Elmer's Glue Spots, Digi Stamps: Little Tangles

DIY Shrink Plastic Snowflakes

I'm very excited about the current challenge at Jingle Belles. It's their THIRD ANNUAL EARTH DAY CELEBRATION and we are encouraged to use a recycled element on our cards.  So I created snowflakes from recycled plastic.   I have been collecting #6 plastic (the kind bakery items are sold in here in the US).  I have a stash of this lovely plastic. Using a heat gun and this plastic gives me an inexpensive version of SHRINK PLASTIC. (Hint: if you don't own a heat gun, you can shrink the plastic on a baking tray in a low temperature oven.)  

I began by running a piece of this # 6 plastic through my die cut machine, using a snowflake die.  My machine doesn't always punch all the way through so I pass it through the machine a few times. Next comes the fun and magical part.  I lay the snowflake on an old cookie sheet, grab my heat gun and a wooden skewer.  I hold the heat gun about 4 four inches away from the plastic snowflake and heat the plastic.  I use the skewer to hold the snowflake so it doesn't blow around the tray and to help shape when necessary. As the plastic is heated it starts to shrink. I love this part. It is just so fascinating to watch!!!  It starts to shrink and almost looks like it will shrivel up and be ruined, but once it shrinks all it can, it starts to unfold itself. Sometimes I use the skewer to encourage the plastic to lay flat or in a certain position but generally if I work slowly and don't rush the process the results are fabulous.  Here are a few photos to help you visualize the process. 

These is the full size snowflake just after it was cut from the #6 plastic with a die machine.

I move the heat gun around making sure all parts of the plastic are heated evenly.

Once it flattens make sure it is cool before touching it! It's very hot and sticky!

This photo shows the snowflake during the final stage. It is starting to flatten out. (Sorry for the blurry photo.)

As my snowflakes started to cool, I loosened them from the tray with the wooden skewer....(DON'T be tempted to touch it....it is VERY HOT).  Next I adhered my snowflakes to a green embossed panel using a glue gun. I wrapped the bottom of the green mat with three strands of silver thread and added a handwritten sentiment. I attached this to a white panel with lightly green inked outer edges. I adhered this to the cardbase and also inked around the edges of the cardbase.

Supplies:

Cardbase: Paper Studios, Cardstock: Recollections, Die Cut/Machine: Fiskar's Fuse, Embossing Folder: Darice Swirls, # 6 Recycled Plastic, Silver thread,Ink: Memento Bamboo Leaves, White gel pen: Sakura, Adhesive: AdTech Glue Gun/Sticks, Scotch ATG, Wooden skewer, Baking sheet, Heat gun

Thanks for visiting!

Painted Dish Soap Dispenser /Sponge Background

Make My Monday's challenge this week is to create your own background. I love this kind of challenge.  To create my background, I grabbed three different shades of blue acrylic paint, a dish soap dispenser/ sponge and some cardstock. This particular sponge surface has a mesh covering, which I thought would create an interesting texture. Using one shade of blue at a time, I spread the paint directly from the tube right onto the sponge surface then pressed it randomly onto the white cardstock. I repeated this with each shade of blue. I set it aside to dry and cut banners from white cardstock. I also cut a dark blue strip and edged it with a border punch. After the paint had dried on the newly created background cardstock, I cut a panel to fit the front of a cardbase and added the blue strip. It looked a bit flat, so I ran it through a paper crimper before adhering it to the cardbase. Next, I used the excess background cardstock to punch flowers. I also punched flowers from white cardstock and layered them together adhering a blue center on each set of flowers. Using the dark blue carstock, I punched leaves and adhered them to the flowers. With a marker, I added faux stitch lines around two of the banners. On the center banner I inked the edges, than layered the banners and flowers onto the background.

A close up of the mesh covering the sponge.

This was a great challenge and I loved that I was able to put my tubes of acrylic paint to good use.

This is the dish soap/sponge dispenser I used.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios, Cardstock: Recollections (white), Dish soap/sponge dispenser, Bazzill (blue), Punches: Stampin' UP, McGill, EK Success,Crimper: Marvy Uchida, Acrylic Paint, Master's Touch, Ink: Studio G, Marker: Zig, Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry, Scotch ATG,

Travel

I created this card for two challenges. First there is the LIME & BLACK color challenge at  Less is More. Secondly, I decided to use TRAVEL elements, which is the cue card challenge at CASology.

I began by punching the truck, sailboat and car from lime green cardstock. Next I used a circle to punch around each of the travel images. I layered these circles on tags and adhered the three tags to a hexagon embossed background.

 

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios, Cardstock: DCWV, Recollections, Embossing Folder: Stampin' Up/Sizzix, Punches: Truck & Car: EK Success, Boat ?, Tag Punch: Stampin' Up, Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry, Scotch ATG

A Forgotten Thank you

This is one of those post that I started and then saved so I could run off and do something else. I forgot to come back to it in time to post it for the challenge at MUSE .

I was influenced by many elements in Laurie's card:  the textures, the shapes and the colors. My favorite element on the card is the text patterned paper and makes a fun background.


Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios, Patterned paper: DCWV, Circle Punch: Martha Stewart, Leaf Punch: McGill, Die Cut: Fiskar's Fuse, Brads, Twine: The Twinery, Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives 3D Foam Squares, Scotch ATG

Flower Patch

I was cleaning off my work table in my studio and discovered a pile of flowers that I had punched. So I used them to create this patch of flowers. It looks a lot like a quilt and since I am currently sewing a quilt, that must be what influenced this creation.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Paper Studios, Cardstock: Recollections, Bazzill, Patterned Paper MME?, Punches: circle? no brand name on it, Flower punch: Stampin' Up, Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry, Scotch ATG

Chevrons & Flowers

You might just say I'm going a little crazy with chevrons and flowers. I've created several cards wtih this theme. Thanks to some recent challenges out there, I have rediscovered a pair of decorative scissors that I used here to create the chevrons. For this card I simple cut three chevrons and punched a bunch of flowers from cardstock. I added punched centers and added a bit of detail to each flower with a white colored pencil. To highlight the chevrons a bit more, I used a needle and pierced the cardstock along each chevron.

If you go to CAS-ual Fridays or the new Fusion Card Challenge, you'll find that both blogs are using the chevron and flowers as challenges.  For the Fusion challenge there are several options.
We can use the sketch provided by Jackie, or Lesley's inspirational photo to create a card.  The last option is to "Fuse" them and use a bit of each, which is what I did for this card.


 Supplies: Cardbase: Paper Studios, Cardstock: Bazzil (green) and red, yellow, cream and blue scraps, Needle,Crayol White Colored Pencil, Stampin' Up Flower punch,Circle punch? no name on it,  Adhesive: Scotch Quick Dry

Snowman with Nontraditional Holiday Colors

The April sketch is ready to inspire us over at 52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown. There's several layers on this super fun sketch. I decided to rotate the sketch so I could create this snowman card. I also decided to break with tradition and use colors that are not typically holiday colors.  I began by cutting the handmade snowman from white cardstock, adding highlights with blue ink and then dressing him in a hand cut vest from that gorgeous gray patterned paper. I cut a hat from black cardstock and used a strip of the gray patterned paper as the hat band. Using the reverse side of the gray patterned paper, I created the yellow scarf and the buttons. I cut the arms from a scrap piece of brown cardstock then adhered the snowman to the patterned background using dimensional adhesive. I matted this on black cardstock and then matted this to a yellow strip that I trimmed with a black scallop edge. To give the yellow strip a bit more interest, I added punched snowflakes with gem centers.  I printed the sentiment with my computer and added three black pearls to the bottom right hand corner. I mounted everything on a gray cardbase. Inside I added a  writing space. I used a white piece of cardstock, with rounded corners and punched three snowflakes in the bottom right hand corner.

Supplies:
Cardbase: ? no name on it, Patterned papers: Carolina Breeze by Teresa Collins, Stampin' Up (vest/scarf), Cardstock: DCWV, pieces from my scrap stash,  Snowflake Punch: EK Success,Ink: Studio G, Pearls/ Gems: Studio G, Adhesives: Scotch ATG, Scrapbook Adhesive 3D Foam Squares.