Birthday Card Challenge

     I'm entering this card in the Birthday Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. The challenge is to make a birthday card where stamping is the featured technique.

      Using Tim Holtz' Playful Journey collection, I heat-embossed the old car in dark blue on a light gray cardstock panel I die cut using Labels Eighteen dies from Spellbinders. I brushed the edges of the panel with VersaMark's watermark pad. I heat-embossed the sentiment with silver pigment and clear embossing powder. Have a birthday card you've made that you want to enter? You can find the info here:  http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/06/stamp-it-cards-week-birthday-card.html

Birthday Card Challenge

     I'm entering this card in the Birthday Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. The challenge requires us to use stamping as the primary technique.

    I used Inkadinkado's set of lace doily stamps to make this birthday card. The cardstock is from DCWV's Painted Petals stack. After heat-embossing the doilies, in white and boysenberry, I cut them into small, varing shapes and adhered them to my white card in a mosaic fashion. The sentiment stamp is from Studio G. You can join in the fun by entering your own card here: http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/06/stamp-it-cards-week-birthday-card.html



June Card Challenge at DCWV

June 28, 2012 -UPDATE-  Just found out that my card made it to the Top-10 in DCWV's June Card Challenge! So exciting!! This is the first time I've entered their monthly challenges. New challenge goes up Monday. Their link is below if you want to play too.

I created this card for the DCWV June Card Challenge. I made the medallion and the lace with patterned paper from the DCWV Heirloom stack. The rest of the card is made from cardstock from DCWV Coral Couture stack. Both stacks have absolutely gorgeous papers in them. I love 3D and layered flowers so I added an extra layer of petals to the magnolia blossom in the center of the medallion to give it a 3D look and add some depth and texture to the card. I used foam tape to adhere the extra petals.

Below is the sketch we had to work with. There is still time if you want to join in the fun and make your own card or layout. You can find info here:  http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2012/06/june-stack-holic-challenge.html

Monochromatic Thinking-of-You Card

     I made this card for the Hero Arts June challenge. The gorgeous cardstock is  more of the Coral Couture stack that I won from DCWV recently. I heat-embossed and cut the die-cut flowers, flourish and sentiment using Hero Arts Thinking-of-You stamps and matching die framelits. I love the monochromatic style. I think it definitely adds an elegance to any project. 



An Occasion to Smile Card

    I created this card for the Hero Arts challenge for June, and I just had to share it with you guys too. Don't you just love the colors! I won some cardstock stacks from DCWV and made this card from one of them. These sheets came from the Coral Couture stack and all the papers in it are just as fabulous as these.

     Do you ever wonder what to do when you mess up a card!?! Well, I messed this one up. When I stamped the sentiment which is from Hero Arts Cuckoo collection, I got a little smudge of pigment ink on the right side of it. I was so mad. I tried erasing it. Yes, I know that does not help, but that was my first instinct. In order to save the card I cut some leaves from a scrap of the magnolia sheet and adhered them over the smudge. I don't think anyone would know if I didn't tell them, but I wanted to share it with you guys so that you have another idea if you make a mistake on a project of your own.

     Thanks so much for stopping by. Your visits are very encouraging to me.

TO LEAVE A COMMENT: Some of you have asked me how to leave a comment on my blog. Beneath each post there will be a line that says for example, 0 Comments or 3 Comments or however many there are. The point is that you can just click on that and you will be taken to a comment form.

A Deliberate Life

    As some of you know, I am a writer as well as a card designer. I just got word that my book is now officially available in ebook format. Yay!! The title is A Deliberate Life: A Journey into the Alaskan Wilderness. It's available right now at Barnes & Noble www.bn.com/ and at Amazon www.amazon.com/ for less than $4.

      As participants in the Alaskan homestead program Jeff and I were allowed to stake 40 acres in the bush -or wilderness as you would call it down here. We lived many years without electricity, running water, indoor plumping and telephone. But, what a great life it was! That is, once we figured things out. We went into it thinking we knew just what to do, but the truth is we did not have a clue. But, we learned fast.  A Deliberate Life is the oftentimes humorous story of our adventure and life in the bush.

     I'll look forward to your comments if you get a chance to read it. Thanks so much for being a faithful follower of my blog.



Damask & Brocade Challenge

    I made this gift tag for the Damask & Brocade Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

    Here's how I did it.

     1. Cut tag using the largest Spellbinders Labels Eighteen Nestabilites die.

     2. Embossed the tag using Spellbinders Flora M-Bossabilities folder. I think it has a great damask look.

     3. Punched out four large Fiskars That's Amore hearts from damask-style patterened paper. Put together to form butterfly. Adhered 5 clear gemstones for the butterfly body and gold wire for     the antennae.

     4. Heat embossed sentiment from Fiskars Simple Stick stamps All Year Cheer collection. Matted and adhered tag.

     5. Punched hole and added ribbon.   

     

    This was a fun challenge. You can play too at: http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/05/card-creations-week-damask-brocade.html

Blog | Just a reminder from Fiskars | Fiskateers

Just want to remind everyone about this. All of us Fiskateers are getting excited to see the FUSE in action. Check out this link that gives a little demo.

Blog | Just a reminder from Fiskars | Fiskateers

## Gingham Petals Card ##

     Who says flowers can't be mint-green gingham!?! I think they're great fun! I created this card for The Gingham Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. Cath Edvalson, Editor and Giver of Moxie Fun Challenges asked us to create a project featuring gingham.

      To begin, I made a card base with dusty-purple cardstock. I cut and adhered a panel from the gingham and another panel from the dusty purple. I used two different flower punches - one from Fiskars, one from EK Success.  I made the fronds with a Martha Stewart punch. I freehanded the vase cutting it from white cardstock. To give the vase some dimension, I heat embossed an Inkadinkado doily on it in white. I stamped the doily just slightly off-center to add to the illusion of roundness.  I used letter brads as the flower centers. Then to add balance to the card, I added a frond near the bottom-right.

     Do you have a great idea using gingham? You can play along too. Check out the rules here:

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/05/card-creations-week-gingham-challenge.html

Two New Challenges

   I have two new cards to share today. I really love this first one.  I made it for the 2012 Gallery Idol Challenge at Paper Crafts magazine.

* Here for You *

     This card had to have an encouraging theme in order to compete in the challenge.

     First, I made the card base and embossed it with my Spellbinders Grand Calibur (Impressabilities-Flourish).

     I heat-embossed the Floral Flourish (Paper Inspirations) and the encouraging sentiment (Hero Arts) with black pigment and clear embossing powder. I ran the edges of both panels across the black pigment pad and used clear embossing powder to emboss the edges. I almost always do something with the edges of my panels. I think it really makes them pop. I adhered the sentiment and added foam tape to the flourish panel.

     I punched two black butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch. Then, I added two clear gems.



     Want to play along? You can find the rules at www.papercraftsmag.com .

* You're Sew Special *

     I created this next card for Hero Arts May color challenge. We had to use yellow, pool, orange, green and brown. That's a lot of colors - more than are normally required. How do you get all thos colors on a card and still have it look good? I think I came up with a good idea.

     The quilting design is a kind of homage to my mother who loves to quilt. She would have wanted me to use brighter, even neon hues. And, she would insist on red somewhere in the design.

     I made the card base in pool. Then, I cut a yellow panel to fit. 

     I cut 1.25" quilting squares from cardstock in the required colors. I cut them in half corner-to-corner and started laying them out until I liked how they looked.

     I heat embossed the three-spools panel (Hero Arts) and all the stitching in brown.

     I also entered this card in Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Challenge and Fiskateers Spring Stamp Out. You can find all the info for these challenges here:

    www.heroarts.com

    www.fiskateers.com

    www.papercraftsmag.com

 

   

Fuse Creativity System: Endless Possibilities

    Fiskars has a great new die cutting-embossing-stenciling machine coming out next month. They just revealed it to the Fiskateers and they said I can share it with you guys. Looks like it is going to be fun! Can't wait to really see it in action.

Shaped Bottom-Front Edge Thank-You Card

     Since my first pair of orange-handled Fiskars scissors when I started sewing at 9-years old, I have been a lover of all things Fiskars. So, when I was given the opportunity to become a Fiskateer, I jumped at the chance. Fiskateers are ambassadors for Fiskars.
     I am also a Fiskateer Card-Lifter. Each week the Card Lifters are given a card from which to draw inspiration. The first thing that drew my attention with the card we were shown earlier this month was its shaped bottom-front edge. Here's the card I created from that inspiration.

    After trimming about an inch off the front edge, I used my Spellbinders Grand Calibur and the Assorted Fresh Fruit die collection to die cut the apples, pears and canning jar. I glued them in place and added the sentiment from Fiskars' All Year Cheer collection. I thought it turned out really cute and thought I must share it with you guys.
     If you are interested in becoming a Fiskateer, click on the Fiskateer  button in the left margin or go to www.fiskateers.com .  Thanks so much for stopping by.

* * * New Way to Look at Bills * * *

   

  One of the challenges I answered a few days back during the Fiskateer National Scrapbooking Day Crop was called Upcycle It! We had to upcycle something we would normally throw away. Well, I had been noticing that some of the security envelopes that my bills come in have different patterns inside and some are very interesting so I started saving some of them. I made this card using five different patterns.



    I'll never look at my bills the same way again. Now I can't wait to get them opened! lol  My stepdad, Wendell, will be getting this card for Father's Day. I know he will love it because he hates throwing away paper as much as I do. For those of you who know Wendell, shhhh!

National Scrapbooking Day

   Today is National Scrapbooking Day. There is a great online Scrap going on over at the Fiskateers site. I'm having lots of fun participating in that. If you care to join me, go to www.fiskateers.com . There are a lot of fun challenges.

Published in Paper Crafts Magazine

Bleach Painting

      Paper Crafts magazine just published one of my cards in their May/June 2012 issue. If you have never been on the Paper Crafts website or seen their magazine you are missing out. I get so much inspiration from them. Check them out here: www.papercraftsmag.com/ .

    

     I am so excited to share this card and my bleach painting technique with you!

     To begin with, I made a 5x7 card out of light gray cardstock. On a separate sheet of gray cardstock, I heat embossed the image of the birch trees. Heat embossing forms a kind of dam for the bleach-paint keeping the bleach from bleeding outside the lines.

     To paint the trees, I first mixed one part bleach to two parts water in a small bowl. I dipped a Q-tip in the bleach solution and painted the tree trunks with it. It may take a bit to see the complete transformation of the cardstock so be patient and don't overwet your image. You may want to paint a second coat if you want to go even lighter. Let the paint dry completely.

     Next, I trimmed the image and added black and burnt orange panels.

     The stamp for these trees belongs to a friend who is currently at her cabin in the remote areas of Alaska far away from phones (even cell phones) so I was not able to ask her who made this stamp. But, Northwoods Rubber Stamps has a stamp that would work even better with this technique. The stamp is Three Snowy Pines in Woods. Their website is www.northwoodsrubberstamps.com/

     Designer Tips

     This painting works great on a lot of different stamps. I find that it works great too to add highlights to heat embossed, stamped flowers.

     This technique does not work on coated papers. Regular, smooth cardstock works best.

     I would love to see the cards you make using this method. Send me a link to your card and I might just highlight it here on my blog. Thanks so much for your time and patience. Hope you have a wonderful day!

    

Paper Scraps Challenge

     Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I want to share with you this card I've created for the

Paper Scraps Challenge in the Moxi Fab World.

     Scraps!?! What a great challenge for me! I think I save every scrap of paper left over after every project. The papers are so gorgeous, how does anyone ever bring themselves to through away any of it.

     For this challenge, I dug through my box of scraps and found all these long, narrow strips. I put them in place just as they were. I kept digging to find coordinating and/or matching scraps big enough from which to punch flowers and fronds.

     Next, I heat-embossed the sentiment from TPC Studio's Travel Collage collection. I love this quote from Emerson. That's the way I've lived my life. I also heat-embossed the edges of the small panel to make it pop.

     This card was so quick and easy; I think I will make more. Maybe all round scraps.

     Do you have a big collection of scraps? You can enter your own card here: http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/03/practical-solutions-for-paper-crafters.html

    

5 Cards for $5 Challenge

I made these five different cards for the

5 for $5 Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.



     Card making can be expensive, but it does not have  be. I created this five-card ensemble, including rubber stamps and envelopes for less than $5. It really helps that I rarely buy cardstock, patterned paper or pre-cut card bases if I do not have a coupon or if they are not on sale. 

    I started with six pre-cut, white card bases (5" x 6.5") from the Paper Studio. I used the sixth card to stamp my sentiments so that my cards and tags would match perfectly. (I'm a big time perfectionist. I hate that part about myself sometimes. But, I do end up with very neat and matching projects. lol) I cut one sheet of patterned paper into various shapes and mounted them on a sheet of solid-pink paper. I ran out of that pink so had to use a third sheet of patterned paper to mount my sentiments.

     My fingers were itching to do more to the cards, but the challenge was not to spend over $5. I think I will make more of these sets to give as gifts. Can't you just see them tied up in a pretty pink ribbon!?!

     Here's my shopping list:

                $0.60 --- 6 precut card bases - the Paper Studio

                  0.30 --- 3 sheets patterned paper - the Paper Studio

                  3.00 --- 3 rubber stamp sets - Studio G

                  0.44 --- ribbon - Spool O' Ribbon

    Total    $4.34

 

    Think you can make 5 for $5. You can join in on the fun here:

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/03/practical-solutions-for-paper-crafters_23.html



DIY Embellishment Challenge

I created this Get-Well card for the

DIY Embellishments Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

     I almost always make my own embellishments for my cards. I find that to be the funnest part of creating a card. I made the flower on this card using five different flower punches varying in size and type.  I normally use 3-5 different colors to make flowers like this, but I found this wonderful watercolor cardstock in DCWV's Painted Petal Stack. Because there was such color variation on each sheet, I used only aqua and boysenberry colors. I punched each layer of my flower from a different part of each sheet which gave me a wide variety of color. I put all the layers together with a aqua brad. I used the same aqua cardstock for the tag, heat-embossing the sentiment (Studio G) in boysenberry pigment by Color Box. The boysenberry is a limited edition color. I suggest getting a pad before they are retired. It is a beautiful color.

Do you make your own embellishments? You can respond to the challenge here:

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/03/practical-solutions-week-diy.html

Hero Arts Giveaway

~~~~Hooray for Hero Arts~~~~

Hero Arts just reached 10,000 'Likes' on Facebook and to celebrate they are having a big giveaway. And, they always have great giveaways. I encourage you to enter the drawing. Check them out here www.heroarts.com/ .

Once there you can click on the Blog tab and scroll down until you find it - reading all the posts as you go of course. They do have some of the best stamps available. And, they do have some fun giveaways. You may also connect with them by clicking on their blinkie in the left-hand column of my blog.

Good luck to everyone!

WINNERS

* * * WINNERS * * *

I have two winners to announce today!

First, the winner from this past weekend's Fiskars Spring Blog Hop is

Lesa from Alabama who said,

Oooooh, I love what you did with your punches! Love the flowers. I'm now a new follower and looking forward to seeing what you do next : )

I promised that once I got 25 followers that I would have a giveaway. Well, thanks to this weekend's blog hop that number has been exceeded. The winner of that giveaway is

 

 

Penny #7765 from Ohio who said,

I am your fifth follower. Thanks for an opportunity to win.

Congratulations ladies!

Please send me your addresses and I'll have your surprises in the mail soon. (Lesa, I already have your info.)

 I love giving surprises and gifts more than anything else so keep watching my blog. I'll think of a fun challenge and have another giveaway soon.

Be Still My Blooming Heart

*Welcome to the Fiskateers Spring Blog Hop.*

     You should have come here from  Groovy Deb #2644

http://ifitsgroovy.blogspot.com/

     If you are hopping into the middle of our blog hop and you are a Fiskateer, you can start here www.fiskateers.com.

      If you are thinking a “Fiskawhat?”, you should know that Fiskateers (www.fiskateers.com) is an online community of craftiness (paper crafts, sewing, gardening, etc.) all based around our love and appreciation of Fiskars (think orange-handled scissors to start). There is a blog, gallery, and message board led by four lovely Lead Fiskateers who along with the other Fiskateers are fabulous at getting creativity flowing via chats, challenges, on-line crops, and interviews with other crafty celebrities. If you would like to join you can do so here http://www.fiskateers.com/join/. Then, join in the fun at the beginning, www.kellystarsallthingscrafty.blogspot.com for a complete list of blog hop stops.

     We’ll be hopping all weekend , March 24^th and 25^th to welcome spring! The blog hop officially ends on Sunday March 25^th at 11pm CST.

     Like me, some of the Fiskateers are offering sur-prizes…check their directions carefully to participate.

***** Blooming Hearts *****

     I love using my tools in unexpected ways! I created these coral-colored flowers using my Fiskars medium and large That's Amore heart punches. I'll list all my supplies below. I began by making the base of this card out of a medium-lavender cardstock. Then, I added two panels, one of country-blue and the other of light-lavender.

    To make the flower, you will have to double-punch each petal using the heart punches. First, with textured, coral cardstock punch a heart using the medium punch like this:

     Set aside the heart for use on the card later. You will be using the negative space for these petals. Now, punch a large heart centering the small negative space in the middle of the large heart like this:

     To make the larger flower, you will need four of these petals. For the smaller flower you will need two petals. You will also need one medium-size green heart to add to each flower when you're done.

     Begin the flower by gluing one of the petals over only half of another petal like this:

     Add as many or as few petals as you want to make whatever size flower works for your project. When you have the petals together, add the green heart at the bottom.

    Next, I cut a stem and made leaves using my diecut machine. I cut a country-blue vase free-hand but the decoration on the vase is from my diecutter. I attached the vase with double-stick mounting tape to give some depth to the card. Then, I stamped a sentiment from Fiskars' All Year Cheer collection on medium lavender with VersaMark watermark ink. I attached it to the card like a little stake that comes with real, delivered flowers. Lastly, I added some of the medium hearts that were set aside earlier to add some balance to the card. This may sound like a lot of steps but it was fairly quick to put together once I had the design in my head.

    

     I have a fun Fiskars sur-prize for a lucky someone who stops by here this weekend. To have your name entered in the drawing, leave a comment here. I hope you will also join my blog as a follower. Leave your Fiskateer # and your blog address and I'll follow you too. You have until Sunday, the 25th at 11:00 p.m. CST to enter the drawing.

     Thanks for hopping by…next stop is Donna #6036

 http://www.scissorsstampsandscrapbooks.blogspot.com/

My Supply List

Fiskars That's Amore medium heart squeeze punch

Fiskars That's Amore large heart squeeze punch

Fiskars Simple Stick rubber stamps, All Year Cheer collection

Spellbinders dies, Parisian Accents and Daisy Heads

VersaMark watermark ink pad

Cardstock--

     The Paper Studio, medium lavender, country blue

     DCWV, textured coral, textured green

     ColorBok, textured light lavender

Fiskateer Blog Hop Coming This Weekend

----Fun Weekend Coming Up ---

   I'm participating in a blog hop with some of my fellow Fiskateers this weekend - March 24 & 25. I can't wait for you to see the card I made for it. The blog hop begins at 8 a.m. Saturday. You will be able see my contribution here. You might have to sign up on the Fiskateer website to see everyone else's projects. You can check out the Fiskateers by clicking on the blinkie in the left hand column of my blog.

Red Carpet Challenge

   We were challenged over on the Fiskateers website to create a card inspired by one of the dresses on the red carpet at this year's Academy Award Show. I knew right away that I had to go with Gwyneth Paltrow's white dress and cape. It was just so gorgeous! Here's what I came up with.

I used a Spellbinders die to make the textured 'cape'. I attached the cape with double-stick  mounting tape. Then, I used Fiskar's That's Amore heart punches and Martha Stewart's butterfly punch and a Anna Griffin rub-on sentiment to finish up the card.  This is one of my favorite cards I've made. I'll save it for someone really special.



Birthday Card

Mom's Birthday Card

 

I found these wonderful doiley stamps from Inkadinkado and knew I had to make something with them. I used boysenberry and white pigment pads from ColorBox to stamp them and clear embossing powder from Ranger. I stamped the images on cardstock from DCWV then cut various shapes adhereing them where ever there was space. I love the way this card turned out and Mom really loved it too!

GIVEAWAY!!

Don't forget that I'm having a GIVEAWAY! As soon as I get 25 followers I will draw a name to get 2 clear stamps and 2 diecut folders and more. I know some have signed up for email notification but you must click on "Join this Site" and then you will be an official follower. Looking forward to mailing your box of goodies out. Thanks for checking out my blog even if you do not sign up to follow.

Fancy Schmancy

Time for another Tuesday Trigger challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

FANCY SCHMANCY

The bright pink of our 'trigger' photo really inspired me this week so I went with the bright pink with black accent. This gorgeous flower stamp is from Anna Griffin. I heat embossed it, and then I painted the highlights on with bleach. I made a solution of one part bleach and three parts water. Then, I painted it on with a Q-tip. It really looks 3-D, especially in person. The sentiment is from Fiskars' Latte Love collection.

Here's the Tuesday Trigger photo from the Moxie Fab World. Isn't it yummy!?!

Here's the URL if you want to play along.

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/01/tuesday-trigger-fancy-schmancy.html

 

CHA Winter Show

Can't go to the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Winter Trade Show? Me either but you can see what's going on there with some great pix and videos at http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/
They are having a great time there. It's almost like being there yourself.

Cutting & Trimming Challenge

Oooo la la! Who doesn't love feathers!?!

I used my paper trimmer to create the shape at the top of this card and used a round-edge punch on the corners to soften the edges. I used lime green, hot pink and red paper. I added gems in matching colors along the top to accent the dramatic angles. I am entering these gorgeous pink feathers and their card in the Cutting & Trimming Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

You can enter your own card here:

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/01/cool-tools-week-cutting-trimming.html



Punches Challenge

Punches! Punches! Punches!

I love punches! They make cardmaking so much easier. I like using them in different ways than they were intended. In this card that I'm entering in the Punches Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, I used Fiskars' tree punch. As you can see in the squares (an EK Success punch) that run along the left side of the card, I used the same tree punch. It's not noticable right away but if you keep looking you will see them as a part of the same punch. I reversed the order of the layering of the teal and purple colors on the tree and the squares and offset them a smidge to create depth. This card was a lot of fun and super quick to create.

You can submit your own card here:

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/01/cool-tools-week-punches-challenge.html

Happy New Year

* * * Happy New Year * * *

I just want to wish all of you a happy, healthy new year. I hope 2012

brings lots of health and honor and joy to you and those you love.

I'll have more cards up soon and will do some tutorials for some of the techniques I use in my cards. I just got the ability to make video so check back in soon.

I will also be having a giveaway of some stamps and dies as soon as I have 25 followers signed up. So spread the word and I'll randomly draw a name from all who sign up to follow my blog. Good luck!