Dreaming in RED

Here I was sleeping peacefully last night, when WHAM I awoke around 2:00 a.m. with the image of a woven heart pouch dancing around my head. I knew immediately why this image was there. I had gone to bed just after posting my card for the Going Red challenge at Jingle Belles. Lauren & Steph had posted this clever challenge yesterday, which was Valentine's Day. I guess the creative side of my brain was still thinking about other ideas for the challenge and of course a way to connect, RED, Christmas and Valentine's Day! So first thing this morning, I began to put this card together. I started by weaving the heart with patterned paper and attached embroidery thread to create an ornament.  I embossed a piece of red cardstock with a snowflake pattern, highlighted the snowflakes with ink and used this as a mat for the heart ornament. I punched boughs to create a Christmas tree branch and layered them at the top of the card. To tie the heart in with the background, I added tiny white snowflakes to the heart pouch.  The finishing touch was the addition of the sentiment banner,which is a bit blurry in the photo. It reads "All Hearts Come Home for Christmas".

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Darice Embossing Folder, My Mind's Eye 12 Days of Christmas Paper, Martha Stewart Bough Punch, Tonic Studios Snowflake Punch, DMC Embroidery Thread, EK Success Dimensional Adhesive, Scotch ATG, Studio G Ink

Going RED

The talented ladies at Jingle Belles are GOING RED with the newest challenge. Lauren and Steph want us to use predominately red our our creations.  Don't you just love it!  It's kind of crazy just how many shades of red I found in my scrap piece collection. I started with the red and white tag which was a left over from a previous project. I wrapped the tag with red embroidery thread, then handcut the letters for HO, HO, HO. After I cut out the letters and matted them on white they looked a bit flat so I added some red and white dots. I think this perked the letters up a bit, but they were still missing something, so I added the red embroidery thread bows. I layered the tag on a brick embossed background, highlighted the bricks with dark red ink and used white cardstock to mat all the layers.  Thanks for the challenge Lauren & Steph!

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Bazzill and lots of scrap pieces, Darice Embossing Folder, DMC Embroidery Thread, Studio G Ink, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Scotch ATG

Last Minute Gift

This was a last minute Valentine's Day gift created for one of my son's friends. My son and I worked together to put this together.  I had seen a video earlier this month over at Stamp & Scrap with Frenchie. Frenchie always inspires me with her videos and craft projects. She called this clever project a Card in a Box. I encourage you to go have a look. I bet you can't resist making at least one of these boxes. 

Supplies: Cardstock: Recollections, Patterned Paper:  ??, Punches: Ek Success, McGill, Stamps: Penny Black, Ink: Studio G, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry, # 6 Plastic from recycling bin

February @ the Sketch File

We've got a great sketch for you over at The Sketch File. It was the inspiration for this card. It's one of those sketches that opens the door to many creative possibilities. I hope you will hop on over and take a peak at what Kathy and Jackie have created with the sketch and will link up a project or two with us. We'd love to see how you use the sketch.

Heart Formation

It seems that inspiration is everywhere! This morning I saw two blog challenges that inspired this card. The first challenge is over at Shopping Our Stash where the theme is Love or Valentine's Day. The second challenge is a Twisted Tuesday Challenge. The challenge is to use the sky and the twist is to use something that flies in the sky. When I read about these challenges I knew I had to combine them and include geese on my project. This past weekend I had seen flock after flock of geese flying in "V" formation.  I love to see them in flight and used them as inspiration for my card.

For the card,  I began by creating the tiny handmade geese. I drew one tiny Canada goose and used colored pencils to add detail. I cut it out and then used it as a template for the remaining geese. It took a while to cut and color all of them but it was all very relaxing. Next I used a piece of white cardstock, blue ink and a sponge to create the sky background. I glued the geese onto the sky background in HEART formation and added the sentiment. I had briefly thought about putting the geese in a "V" formation, as I had seen them over the weekend, and using the "V" for the word Valentine but instead I ended up with the heart formation. I think I like it better this way. Hmmmm, if only I could inspire those real geese to fly in a heart formation....now that would really be something!

Supplies:  Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Recollections, Crayola Colored Pencils, Studio G Ink, MS Word,Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive.

February Sketch

A new month means a new sketch at The Sketch File and Kathy has a lovely layered design to get our creative juices flowing.  I've decided to use the sketch for this Valentine's Day card. I didn't exactly stick to the sketch, since I moved the layers over to the right and my large circle isn't complete. However, Kathy encourages us to flip, rotate and play around with the sketch so that's what I did. So, what do you think? Does the sketch get your creative juices flowing? I hope so. We'd love to see your creation, so be sure to link up with us at The Sketch File!

Supplies:  Cardbase: David Tutera, Cardstock: Bazzill, Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants, EK Success, heart & circle punches, McGill bracket punch, Handcut arrows, Scotch ATG, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive