Summer Hills

 

 

           I’ve spent some time today in my craft room cleaning up files as I get ready to stop being a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator at the end of this month.  Since I was cleaning, I wanted to do a card to celebrate getting some work done in my craft room, but I wanted to keep it clean and simple.  This week’s Mojo Monday sketch filled the bill perfectly.  I also had gotten in some new Papertrey Ink stamp sets and 2 dies.  This is what I came up with for this week’s challenge.  My card is 4¼” by 5½”.

·       Stamp set(s):  Papertrey Ink – Summer  Hills

·       Ink(s):  Stampin’ Up! – Summer Starfruit(edges); Stampin’ Wright Markers – Rich Razzleberry & Summer Starfruit; Spica Pen – Pitch Black; and Versamark Watermark Pad

·       Paper:  Stampin’ Up! – Rich Razzleberry, Pool Party & Summer Starfruit; Daisyd’s – Autumn Collection {Fall in Love}

·       Dies & Embossing folders:  Papertrey Ink Die – XL Rick Rack Border Die      

·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  Zing Embossing Powder – Black Glitter Finish

          The making of this card was fairly straight forward, and I finished it in less than 30 minutes – once I decided which patterned paper  (again, it's a "lost" oldie that's been found!  LOL!) and matched it with some SU papers and inks.  I hope you enjoy my offering for this week’s sketch challenge.  (See the sketch below!) I love to hear your comments so please feel free to leave me a comment!

Many Blessings,

Donna

MOJO Monday 309

 

 

          We’ve had a busy week around the house.  I’ve been trying to get to two sketch challenges – this one is the 2^nd one I’ve been working on but it has the earlier deadline, so you’ll get to see this one first.  I often combine cards that I need with sketches and blogs that I follow, and that is the case with this card.  Another friend from church has had his father pass away very suddenly this past week so I needed another sympathy card.  I tried to go masculine this time and used the brown/neutral family, but I wanted a pop of color to brighten it a bit and butterflies and a yellow flower just seem to be just what I wanted to do here.  Yellow for me reminds me of sunshine and therefore I also think about the Son of God who gives those who believe hope beyond this earthly realm.

·       Stamp Set(s):  Verve Stamps – Psalm 121:2;  Stampin’ Up! – Lovely As A Tree & Thoughts & Prayers (Inside)

·       Ink(s):  Stampin’ Up! – Soft Suede & Daffodil Delight Reinker

·       Paper:  Stampin’ Up! – Comfort Café DSP (retired), Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, & Daffodil Delight CS 

·       Dies & Embossing folders:  Spellbinders – Lattice Rectangles; Stampin’ Up! – Embosslits Beautiful Wings & Fancy Fan Embossing Folder   

·       Embellishments/Other things of note:  Stampin’ Up! – Jewels Basic Rhinestones & Simply Pressed Clay & Molds; American Crafts - Ribbon

The card measure 5.5” by 4.25”.  I used the Fancy Fan EF on the card base, as well as both patterned papers.  With such a monochromatic color scheme for the main card elements, I wanted to make sure that texture added some interest to the card.  That Fancy Fan EF is one of my favorites, and it sort of mimicked the pattern of the base patterned paper layer. 

I used the MOJO Monday sketch for the card layout with few variations except for the dimensions.  You can see the sketch below along with the photo of the inside of the card.  I hope that you enjoyed your visit to my blog.  Please feel free to leave me a comment.  I love to hear from you!

Many Blessings,

Donna



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 90^th 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 90^th 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

 

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

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

MOJO MONDAY 296

 

          I was in need of a card to go with a gift for a 5^th grade graduation.  My church has adopted a Title I school in our city.  This is the 2^nd year that I’ve been working with this lovely student and I needed a fun card to go with the beautiful new book bag with her monogrammed initials.  This is my offering using the MOJO MONDAY 296 card sketch!  All of the items are Stampin’ Up! products unless otherwise noted!

·         Stamp set(s):  Chalk Talk(new item)

·         Ink(s):  Primrose Petals, Melon Mambo, Baja Breeze(retired), Crumb Cake

·         Paper:  Bazzill Yellow CS, Primrose Petals, Whisper White, Pale Aqua(retired SU CS without name), Pennant Paper from my stash with no designer noted,

·         Dies & Embossing folders:  Sizzix SU Embosslits:  Flower Burst & Beautiful Wings; Spellbinders Beaded Circles, Sizzix SU TIEF Chevrons   

·         Embellishments/Other things of note:  Ribbon – American Crafts, Hampton Arts Glitter Glue; Basic Jewels Rhinestones, sponge dauber, sponge, Big Shot

I used the Flower Burst Embosslit to cut out the flowers in Primrose Petals and Pala Aqua CS.  I used a sponge dauber on both flowers to apply Melon Mambo Ink to the rose colored flower and Baja Breeze to the soft aqua flower.  I stamped the sentiment with Primrose Petals ink and cut and embossed it with the Beaded Circles die; I inked around the edges*with Primrose Petals Ink.  The piece of yellow cardstock was embossed with the Chevron EF and then applied Crumb Cake Ink with a sponge to bring out the texture in the paper and add depth to the card.

The really cute Pennant/Triangle paper was cut to 4” x 5.25” and mounted onto the Primrose Petals card base after affixing the two pieces of American Crafts ribbons to the front.  All this to say:  the card fits nicely in an A2 envelope and measures 4 ¼ by 5 ½.  I used the Beautiful Wings embosslit to make the butterflies to add to the card to make it a bit more playful for an 11 year old girl.  Overall, I am pleased with the outcome and hope you found it worth your while to stop by my corner of the ether world!

Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment so that I know that you’ve stopped by.

Many blessings,

Donna

MOJO Monday 287 & Just For You

 

Just For You just sort of all came together after deciding to enter the MOJO Monday Blog Contest.  I knew of course that I wanted to do some flowers on such a beautiful spring day here in the Piedmont of NC.  As I went thru my Scrap Rack, this lovely MME paper grabbed my attention.  I loved the colors and they were so warm and bright after a long, cold March!  I’ve listed below the items I used to create this card that I think turned out OK (except for this:  I did not notice until I finished the card that I too quickly worked on the silhouette I’d stamped in Tangerine Tango as it smeared a little because I had not left it to dry!  Bummer, but I still liked the results!)

·         Stamp set(s):  SU Just Believe & SU My Little Valentine

·         Ink(s):  SU Tangerine Tango, SU Marina Mist(sentiment), SU Baja Breeze

·        Paper:  My Mind’s Eye “Pretty Please:  Full of Flowers” Paper, SU Whisper White, SU Baja Breeze, & SU Tangerine Tango

·        Dies & Embossing folders: Cuttlebug Kassie’s Brocade Embossing folder, Heartfelt Creations Die #713 Decorative Lace Border, and 3 Spellbinders Dies – Beaded Circles, Classic Ovals Large, and Classic Scalloped Ovals Large

·         Embellishments/Other things of note:  SU Basic Jewels Rhinestones, corner rounder punch, SU Stampin’ Dimensionals

The card base is 4.25” by 5.5” made from Baja Breeze.  I used Baja Breeze also for the lace die after which I trimmed 2/3 of the lace trim away with scissors.  I used my Cuttlebug to cut out this very intricate die so that I could use a thin metal plate to get a good cut.  I use this metal plate when I want to use really intricate dies to make sure I get a really clean cut.  Also, a doubled piece of wax paper also helps my cut image to release easily from the die.

The beaded circle was cut from Tangerine Tango CS.  The MME paper was cut to 4” by 5.25” and the corners on one vertical side were rounded – I like the softness that pairs well with the flower theme of the paper and stamped image.  Both the beaded circle and the floral paper were run thru my Big Shot.

I stamped the sentiment, cut it out, and then trimmed the outer edge off so that the Tangerine Tango mat would be more visible and play off the silhouette stamped in ink of the same color as the die.  I used pop up foam to make the sentiment jump off the card for added dimension on top of the layers.  I inked around the edges of the main stamp with Baja Breeze ink and the MME paper with Tangerine Tango ink.

Here is the inside image of my card!  Below is the original sketch for this week's MOJO Monday Challenge.  Here is the link to MOJO Monday's blog:  http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/2013/04/mojo-monday-287-contest_1.html

I hope that you like this offering and thanks for taking a look!

Many blessings,

Donna