Thursday, August 29, 2013

90th Birthday & MOJO Monday 308

 

          My husband’s father was one of 22 children – 2 different mothers.  (It still makes me hurt to think about that!)  Out of all 22 children and their 22 spouses, only 2 of the siblings are living.  We are celebrating Uncle John’s 90th birthday on Saturday.  He is a WWII veteran, too.  We have much to celebrate and be thankful for on Saturday!  So of course, I needed a guy type of card.  I immediately thought of my papers from the Paper Loft (www.paperloft.com) who I have worked for the last 3 years of CKC-Charlotte.  They have a really good niche that they have established for guy themed paper.  I think you’ll agree that these papers were perfect.  Please go by and visit their website or better yet get your favorite paper craft store to carry them.  Their papers are really thick cardstock – and double sided, too!  Tell them that Donna from CKC-Charlotte sent you!

·       Stamp set(s):  Stampin’ Up! – The Open Sea(Inside), Memorable Moments, & Lovely as a Tree(Inside); Heartfelt Creations – Uplifting Scriptures

·       Ink(s):  Memento – Rich Cocoa; Stampin’ Up! – Early Espresso & Crumb Cake; chalk ink for distressed edges

·       Paper:  Stampin’ Up! – Core-dinations Early Espress CS, Always Artichoke & Very Vanilla CS; The Paper Loft – Scattered Pine Mountain’s Fawn Lake Forest & Scrub Oak Valley

·       Dies & Embossing folders:  Spellbinders – Standard Circles Large; Stampin’ Up! – Framelits Labels Collection & Square Lattice EF

·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  Martha Stewart Pine Needles Trim Double Edged Punch 

 
 
My card is 5.5” by 5.5” square.  The Core’dinations CS is cut and scored to form the card base with the really handsome Paper Loft papers and the pine needles trim is cut from the Always Artichoke CS.  I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to place the sentiment for “Happy 90th Birthday” but still found it difficult to line up.  I am going to get SU’s Clear-Mount Perfectly Placed Guides to go with my SU Clear-Mount Acrylic blocks.  I saw a YouTube video recently where guide lines were used to line up stamps, so note to self – try that idea!

I dressed up the inside of the card using the nautical themed SS – the Open Sea – and Lovely As A Tree SS on the inside with the Heartfelt Creations scripture sentiment.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my offering for MOJO Monday 308!  Please leave a comment to let me know that you’ve stopped by to see me!

Many Blessings,

Donna


 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Sunflower Happy Birthday


 
          My Sunflower Girl – my baby – turns 27 this week!  Sunflowers are her favorite flower so, this year I used Stampin’ Up!’s Sunflower stamp.  I used the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Club sketch as my starting off point, but I didn’t get it done and photographed in time to enter their weekly challenge, but I do want to give credit to where credit is due!  My card is 6” by 6”.
·       Stamp set(s):  Stampin’ Up! – Sunflower and Simply Sketched; Heartfelt Creations – Heartfelt Expressions
·       Ink(s):  Stampin’ Up! – Crumb Cake & Early Espresso;  Copic Markers - YG 61 & YG 63
·       Paper:  Bazzill – Cornbread CS; PSX Papers – Sunflower Montage; Stampin’ Up! – Pear Pizazz
·       Dies & Embossing folders:   Spellbinders – Labels 10
·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  Recollections – Pearls; Autumn Leaves Epoxy Stickers; Stampin’ Up! – Cotton Ribbon – Natural
I started out trying to use some of my fav Stampin’ Up! CS, but just couldn’t get the colors to go quite the way I wanted them to so I looked in my stash of Bazzill CS.  I found this textured cs.  I played with it and tried stamping it several times.  Since I usually stamp on a smooth surface, I wasn’t sure how I would like it, but I decided that the texture added some additional interest to the stamped sunflower image.  I later outlined some of the petals with a glue pen and added glitter to the center and to the petals.  My girl loves bling so it had to have some added sparkle to her card for her special day!  I colored the pearls with my Copic Markers to draw out some of the green from the patterned paper I used behind the sunflower.
If you have notice, I do have a tendency to hoard the papers that I love, so I know the Sunflower pattern paper is an oldie.  It’s always hard to let go of pretty paper, but I think that this card will do justice to my ability to let go if it – LOL!!!!  Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!
Many Blessings,
Donna


 

 

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

God is Love & MOJO Monday 305


 
          I’m back doing another MOJO Monday sketch!  I love this weekly sketch and get so many good ideas from the sketch itself and the other cards!  As soon as I saw this sketch, I knew that I wanted to replace the two smaller rectangles with the ferns from the PTI Meadow Greens Collection.  I had also wanted to try doing the Stained Glass effect so I added flowers to my card.
          I also want to recommend using SU’s Color Coach for selecting cardstock to go with your non-Stampin’ Up Patterned papers.  It was really easy to go to this really neat tool and select the right color cs.  I did have to improvise on the color markers as I didn’t have matching markers to go with the cardstock, but I like the way the card turned out.  I hope that you agree!  My card is 4.25” by 5.5” with a left side fold.
·       Stamp set(s):  Papertrey Ink – Meadow Greens; Stampin’ Up! – Oh, Hello, Secret Garden, & Trust God
·       Ink(s):  Stampin’ Up! – Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant & Summer Starfruit; Versamark
·       Paper:  Stampin’ Up! – Perfect Plum, Old Olive & Whisper White CS;  SU Vellum Paper; Basic Grey Kioshi Collection
·       Dies & Embossing folders:  Papertrey Ink – Meadow Greens; Stampin’ Up! Framelits – Secret Garden & Ovals Collection & EF – Fancy Fans; Cuttlebug – Kassie’s Brocade EF
·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  Stampin’ Up! – Markers in Rich Razzleberry, Summer Starfruit, & Marina Mist and Basic Jewels Pearls and Rhinestones; Archivers’ – Shabby White Embossing Powder
Once the cardstock decisions are made, it’s easy to start with the stamping!  I stamped and cut out the ferns with SU Old Olive ink from the Meadow Greens Collection and laid them aside.  I stamped and heat embossed the flowers from the Secret Garden Collection.  I love the Shabby White embossing powder.  It has a lot of sparkle to it and really makes the flowers pop even before they were colored.  I cut the flowers out with the matching die and then colored the back side of the flowers for the stained glass effect.  The oval was stamped with the chevron pattern from the Oh, Hello ss.  To make it more of a soft background, I stamped the image first on scrap paper and then stamped the chevron pattern.  I cut it out with the matching Oval Framelit.  The papers were edged with Elegant Eggplant for color and contrast.  The God is Love sentiment was also stamped with Elegant Eggplant ink.  It was an easy assemble with the MOJO 305 sketch as a guide.  I decided against the ribbon thinking that it would overload the card design.
          Thank you for stopping by my part of the digital universe!  Below are the pictures of the details and peak at the inside of the card, and the original MOJO sketch!
Many Blessings,
Donna

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Meadow Greens Birthday



          I was so excited to get this set from Papertrey Ink this week.  I love Queen Ann’s Lace.  It is one of my favorite wildflowers.  It is so airy and lacy and looks beautiful growing along the highways and byways here in North Carolina.  I chose to make this into a birthday card as they are always handy to have on hand and this stamp set says “Happy” to me!

          My card is 5.5” by 5.5” so that it can fit into a 6” by 6” envelope.  Here are the details!

·       Stamp set(s):  Papertrey Ink’s Meadow Greens (July 2013 release)

·       Ink(s):  Stampin’ Up! – Old Olive; and Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad

·       Paper:  All from Stampin’ Up! – Very Vanilla, Old Olive, Crumb Cake & Calypso Coral CS; and Everyday Enchantment DSP (ret.)

·       Dies & Embossing folders:  PTI – Meadow Greens Die Collection; Lifestyle Crafts Nesting Hexagons; SU – Edgelits Adorning Accents, Adorning Accents Embossing Folder, & Embosslits Beautiful Wings; and Spellbinders Beaded Circles

·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  SU – Linen Thread, Classic Jewels Rhinestones, & Designer Buttons Spice Cake; American Crafts – Zing White Embossing Powder; Viva Décor’s Inka-Gold in green metal gloss paint

I cut and folder a piece of Old Olive CS to make my card base and set it aside.  I cut a piece of Crumb Cake CS to 5” by 5” and randomly stamped the ferns (left & right fern) and a single leaf to make my own background patterned paper.  I shadow stamped each image to give depth to my background.  I took the striped paper from Everyday Enchantment and cut it to 5” by 2/75” and then took the die and cut it down to a 2.5” width.  I embossed the edges with the matching EF.

The Queen Ann’s Lace is a 2-step process.  I stamped and embossed the white “lace” first then stamped the green lines.  It will take some getting used to doing it this way.  Practice makes perfect, right?  But, the effect is really stunning, don’t you think?  I mounted the flower onto the beaded circle that I cut out and embossed and then faintly colored the edges with the Inka-Gold to give the beaded circle a slight sheen around the edges.  I debated about whether or not to ink the edges of each layer and decided not to.  I didn’t want to add another color and there was a lot of the crumb cake color, too.  I added the matting for the sentiment and some butterflies in Calypso Coral to give my card a pop of color and to lighten the mood a bit.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look!

Many Blessings,
Donna

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Thanks for the Memories & MIMC127

This is my first submission to Papertrey Ink’s Make It Monday Challenge.  I really like their stamp sets – though I am getting use to using photopolymer stamps, but I really love the fact that I can see exactly where I am stamping.  You are making me into a believer and the clarity of the stamped images is excellent, too!  PLUS, they have many stamp sets with matching dies which makes creativity sooooo much easier!  A plus for everyone!  Since I am building my PTI inventory, I used stamps from one of my other favorites  – Heartfelt Creations(HFC)!  They have gorgeous images, too!  I used 2 of the new In Color inks and papers from Stampin’ Up! for the colors since I was going for a soft look.  My card is 4.25” by 5.5”.

·       Stamp set(s):  PTI – Wonderful Words:  Memories; HFC – Vintage Words Background, Tattered Background, Chine Fragments, & Tattered Blossoms 
·       Ink(s):  SU – Strawberry Slush & Pistachio Pudding; Memento – London Fog; Chalks – SU stampin’ pastels (ret.) 
·       Paper:  SU:  Very Vanilla, Strawberry Slush, & Pistachio Pudding
·       Dies & Embossing folders:  PTI – Memories Die; Lifestyle Crafts – Nesting Ovals;  HFC – Tattered Blossoms;  Spellbinders – Nested Tea Cups; SU – Framelits Bitty Banners & Fancy Fan EF; Cuttlebug – Swiss Dots EF
·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  SU – Very Vanilla Ribbon Seam Binding & Glimmer Brads Brights    
I first stamped and chalked the tea cup image, cut it out with the matching die and set it aside.  I did the 2 background stamps for the challenge and cut the cs to size and inked the edges with Pistachio Pudding.  I embossed the stamped background and laid it aside.  I stamped and colored the Tattered Blossom Flowers with chalk and cut them out with the matching die.  The card was then a matter of placement which I played with for a few minutes.  I finished it off with pearls at each corner.
Thanks for stopping by my blog to take a look.  Please leave a comment!
Many Blessings,
Donna