Singing the blues

Blue was the theme of this week's Our Daily Bread Designs challenge: use blue and not just a little! I combined that with the JUGS challenge to create a 3-D flower to create this card. I also used the sketch from Sweet Stop this week. The focal image is from "She's all that" by SU! and a flourish by Inkadinkadoo. I all ready had these sets out (see my previous post) and thought they fit in with the sketch and the 3-D flower (which comes out so much better when you use a 6 petal flower instead of 5!) It might be a bit hard to see in the picture, but I added some white demensional fabric paint to the pearl necklace to give it a little something extra. The flower is gigantic--I definitely won't be mailing this!!!

A cameo appearance

My card today uses the sketch from Viva La Verve February week 1 challenge combined with the Off The Wall Craftiness color challenge to use black and white with cameos (see the inspiration photo below).

I always seem to not have the "right" item to use and have to alter something else to create what I need, but maybe that is part of what is so great about stamping and papercrafting: if you can think it, you can usually do it! I never have the "right" patterened paper for anything, this challenge included, so I had to make my own using a French-script stamp topped with a flourish by Inkadinkadoo. I haven't been one for distressing, but I am starting to see the beauty in it, so I also added a little tan ink to the edges to take away the stark contrast. I also didn't have a cameo stamp, so I taped off the body of this image from She's All That by SU! and voila, a cameo.

It might be a bit hard to see in the picutre, but I used some white dimension fabric paint to hightlight the pearl necklace and to complete the theme addes pearls in three of the corners around the image.

Verve Diva Dare

Verve has started a new challenge they are calling their Diva Dare; this month's theme is Baby Love--either celebrating a new baby or love (or both, I guess). My card is for my Mom (and Dad) for Valentine's Day. The image is from a fabulous package Jak Heath has put together to raise money for a woman named Katie who is battling cancer. You can visit this site to read the entire story and see the package of digital images from several fabulous artists/companies. I think this image is supposed to be Katie's three boys, two of which are twins. I adapted the image to fit my family of three girls (I also have a set of twins), by adding ponytails to the hair and pleats to make the shorts into skirts. I also stamped love into the center of the heart. My "ribbon" is actually two strips of paper that I added "stitching" to with a white gel pen and used a third strip to make the bow.

Lots of Verve

I decided to enter the Viva La Verve sketch challenges for this month, and this post holds all four entries. The first two I have all ready posted, but I wanted all four together, so, sorry if you have all ready seen them.
Viva La Verve week 1:
Viva La Verve week 2:

Viva La Verve week 3:

Viva La Verve week 4:

This last one is the Valentine's Day card for my husband. Love it!

Nontraditional Valentine

This card using the Our Daily Bread Designs sketch callenge and the Off The Wall Craftiness color challenge (see the inspiration photo below) is definitely not your typical Valentine's Day card. I originally intended to give it to my husband since it wasn't going to be all pink and flowery, but it just didn't seem right for him, so it will have to be for someone else. All the stamps and the scalloped border punch used around the square are from SU! and the other border punch is Fiskars "Upper Crest".

I love you!

The JUGS challenge for this week was to create a 3-D project. I was looking for something to hold a Valentine's gift (which I don't have yet, so it had to be versatile) for my girls. I ended up making my own box which measures 6" tall by 2 1/2" wide and deep. It should be good for a bit of candy and hopefully a cute little stuffed animal. This box is for my oldest daughter and her name starts with "J" so I decorated a chipboard "J" for the top. The "I love you" stamp is from Damask Designs by PTI (I love this set!!!)

Valentine's Day cards

Now that Christmas cards and thank you cards are over and done, it's time to start on Valentine's Day cards! I usually make and send out about 15 of them, so I need to get a head start. I love this sketch from Sweet Stop this week and I love this card, too. The background stamp and "friend" stamp are from SU!, the rose is from Inkadinkadoo, dies are nestabilities, and the border punch is Martha Stewart. I think I will be sending this one to my best friend.

And thanks again

I think this is the final "thank you" card I have to make and I am ready to be done! This card combines the Sweet Stop sketch with a twist: use dry embossing and the Off The Wall Craftiness color challenge: purple, lime, black (see the above inspiration photo). I had made a much prettier (at least in my opinion) card using the sweet stop sketch (see this post), but forgot to use any dry embossing, so I had to include it in this card.

Thank You

Still working on Christmas thank you cards. This one definitely isn't Christmasy, but the colors from the JUGS challenge this week are aqua, coral, and green. I combined that with the Our Daily Bread Designs challenge to use wings somewhere on the card. The result makes me think of spring.

Many Thanks

I'm still working on thank you cards for all the Christmas gifts we received, so I used the Sweet Stop sketch challenge for this week to create another one. The stamps are all from PTI (guide lines and through the trees). The snowflake paper was salvaged from a gift a friend gave us for Christmas.

Christmas all ready?

Yes, I am starting Christmas cards all ready! This year I was sending them out (ok, I was making them) the week of Christmas and I vowed I would start making cards in January and continue throughout the year so that wouldn't happen again. So, the challenges from Verve (the sketch for Viva La Verve), Our Daily Bread Designs (used something old and something new), JUGS (Envy of Envies--decorate & line the envelope), and Off The Wall Craftiness (color challenge, see the last picture in this post) were the perfect chance to start. For my something new: last week I just received the "Richly Blessed" set from Verve and I used the "Jesus" and "the true gift of Christmas" sentiments. Old things are the snowflake stamps (inkadinkadoo, I think) and all the cardstock.

JUGS #65

It's the time of year to need lots of thank you cards. So . . . since I had to make some anyway, I decided to play along with the JUGS sketch challenge for this week. The stamps are from Guide Lines 2 and Through the trees by PTI. The snowflake paper was recycled from a gift packaging a friend gave me. Wish I knew who made the paper, it's gorgeous. and I got to use my new Labels 5 die, I love new toys. : )

Sweet Stop 89

This card uses the sweet stop sketch for this week. I used a new little stamp set I bought at JoAnn's (I think) for a dollar. I thought the puppy was adorable. It also has the paw print and dog bone stamps I used on the background paper. I made a cute little "happy birthday" ID tag with aluminum tape and a circle die then made wire s-loop to attach it to the ribbon "collar".

Vive La Verve and OTWC#39

How can you not love black, white, and silver together?! That was the Off The Wall Craftiness colors for their challenge this week. I combined it with the Verve sketch challenge to create a wedding card for my cousin who is getting married this weekend. The damask stamps are from Damask Designs by PTI. The sentiment on the front is from American Brands-Wedding and the verse inside is SU! This was my first attempt at making a 3-d flower. It would have been much easier if I had the 6 petal flower punch instead of the 5 petal one I thought I needed. : )