dynamically inkspirational anniversary

6 Responses »
May 282013

It’s been a busy few days around here, but I finally had time to sit down and make an anniversary card for my husband’s parents.  I combined the sketch from this week’s Inkspirational challenge with the colors from this week’s Dynamic Duos challenge.  I tweaked the sketch a bit by adding a panel and by rounding the bottom corners of the card.  It might not show well in the photo, but the hearts are punched from textured cardstock.  Since my inlaws aren’t into a lot of frou-frou, I think this card will be just right for them, even though I can’t shake the feeling that it ought to have a little something else to perk it up.  Oh well.

 

edited on 6/2/13 to add: This card was selected as the Diva Dynamo for the week!  Thank you, Janet B., for choosing my card!

Thanks for stopping by today!

All supplies for today’s card are from Stampin’ Up unless otherwise noted:
Stamps: Hugs & Wishes
Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue, Whisper White textured
Ink: Midnight Muse
Other: heart punch (EK Success); half pearls (Basic Grey); corner rounder punch

Posted by PH in VA at 11:30 am Cards, Dynamic Duos, Inkspirational challenges, Stampin' Up!

OWH Memorial Day Weekend Blog Hop

125 Responses »
May 252013

Hello! I’m helping Operation Write Home observe Memorial Day this weekend by participating in their blog hop. We’re remembering the brave men and women who have given their all for our country and its freedom by sharing cards made for the purpose of sending to our military members stationed overseas so that they may write home to their loved ones. OWH also sends “AnyHero Mail”, which are cards of thanks and encouragement to our heroes working far from home.

I’ve created two cards for this blog hop. First off is an AnyHero card, which turned out to be a lesson in perspective for me. I ran through a lot of problems while creating it. I wanted to use a stamp from one of my stamp sets for the main image, but it turned out to be defective, so I had to use the digital version of the image instead. (Thank goodness for alternatives!) That actually was a good thing because then I was able to resize the image a bit larger than the stamp version – and when having to color around those tiny stars, it helps to have it larger! Then the red and blue panels didn’t seem to measure up correctly to the card base, so I had to do a lot of fine trimming with them. It was all pretty frustrating – but then I thought to myself, I really don’t have much reason to complain because I’m working on this in the comfort of my own home, without worry of being under attack from enemy forces, while a lot of our heroes are risking their lives in the heat of the desert far from their families and homes. The things that were annoying me are nothing compared to what our heroes go through on a daily basis. Pretty sobering perspective. Anyway, here’s the card. I used OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #40 for it.  Later I’ll write a note in it to one of our heroes, to thank him/her for the service he/she is giving our country.

 

Next is a thank you card that one of our heroes can send home.  I have a checklist of all the OWH Stars & Stamps sketches, and I’ve been trying to make at least one card for every sketch.  I dug way back in the archives to sketch #5 for this card.  It’s a very unusual card for me because there is no stamping on it!  The flower and the sentiment oval are both rub ons that coordinate with one of my Basic Grey paper pads.  Before I send the card to my OWH shipper, I’ll be sure to add a white liner sheet inside of it, since the cardstock base is kind of dark.  This will help make whatever is written inside be more easily read.

 

So, that’s it for today!  To see the rest of the blog hop participants’ creations, click on the OWH banner at the top of this post.  Thanks for stopping by!  All comments are read and appreciated.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and be sure to take some time to remember our heroes who have died in service in order to make our country and world a better place.

Supplies for the AnyHero card:
Digital Image: Patriotic Cocoa (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
Sentiment Stamp: Patriotic Cocoa clear stamp set (SNSS)
Background Stamp: Background Basics (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, Real Red (SU); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: printer ink; Tuxedo Black (Memento); Brilliant Blue (SU)
Other: markers (Copic)

Supplies for the Thank You card:
Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up); designer paper from Marjolaine 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Other: Marjolaine rub ons (Basic Grey)

Posted by PH in VA at 3:00 am Basic Grey, Digital images, Operation Write Home, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches, Stampin' Up!, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - May embellishment challenge

11 Responses »
May 252013

Hello!  Can you believe that Christmas is only 7 months away?

It’s time for another challenge with 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown!  This week’s challenge is using baker’s twine as an embellishment. Even though I like the look of baker’s twine, and I have quite a few colors of it, I don’t use tend to use it very often.  I can’t really explain why but I’m guessing my lack of confidence about tying bows is part of it.  So this challenge was a good one to nudge me out of that shell I’ve put myself in.

I still kept my twine usage pretty simple, by using it as ribbon on the little presents.  I tied the bows separately, using my Bow Easy, and attached them to the presents with a bit of glue.  (I’ll make sure they are nice and secure before I send the card to Operation Write Home!)  The presents were a fun way to use up some scraps of designer paper.  The vertical red piece was also a scrap; I’ve stamped it with a background stamp in a similar shade of red to give it a little more visual interest.  The presents are attached with dimensional adhesive.  The layout for this card is based on this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge, but I’ve stretched it into a portrait orientation instead of a landscape orientation and added an extra element to help fill up the space.  This makes the card fit into the OWH Midweek Throwdown “Times Three” challenge. It ties into this week’s challenge at Winter Wonderland so I’ll enter it there, too. (Pun intended? You decide for yourself. ;))

I hope you’ll join us at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown this week!  Go see what the other design team members have made, and leave them a little love on their blogs.  Then create a Christmas card of your own using baker’s twine, and share it at the 52{C}CT site via the linky tool.  We’d love to see what you can do!

Supplies:
Stamps: More Merry Messages, Canvas (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Poppy Parade (SU); scraps from Aspen Frost 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Real Red (SU)
Other: Cherry baker’s twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon)

Posted by PH in VA at 1:00 am Basic Grey, Cards, Christmas Card Throwdown, Freshly Made Sketches, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Stampin' Up!

dynamic CAS birthday sketch

5 Responses »
May 232013

This is just a quick post to share what I’ve created combining Dynamic Duos challenge #53 with CAS – Colours and Sketches challenge #26.  The “dessert option” for the Dynamic Duos challenge is to create a child-themed card.  I suppose mine could work for a child of any age.  🙂  I stretched the sketch out to a standard A2 size card (5.5″ wide by 4.25″ tall).  It will be going in my stash for Operation Write Home.

I have to say that I love the versatility of some of my Lawn Fawn stamps. The present image and the musical notes stamp came from two different Christmas-themed stamp sets! But given non-Christmasy colors, they work fine for birthdays too! The last two words in the sentiment came from a stamp that actually reads “hats off to you!”; I simply inked only the last two words and the exclamation point to work with my birthday phrase.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Comments are always welcome and appreciated.

Supplies:
Stamps: Bows & Holly, Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum, Hats Off to You (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pacific Point (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); small scallop die (Papertrey Ink)

Posted by PH in VA at 1:30 pm Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Dynamic Duos, Lawn Fawn, Operation Write Home

colourful birthday balloons

6 Responses »
May 222013

I have to admit I’ve been struggling with ideas for the CAS – Colours and Sketches color combo all week.  They are not colors I’d think to put together.  I’d toyed with the idea of birthday gifts or balloons, but it wasn’t until I saw the Freshly Made Sketches #87 layout that I got the nudge to go for it.  The card is super simple, but for what it’s worth, here it is:

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: So Happy For You (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Cajun Craze, Certainly Celery Patterns designer series paper (SU); Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Cajun Craze (SU)
Other: Medium Balloons die (Sizzix); Apple twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon); dimensionals (SU)

Posted by PH in VA at 11:30 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Freshly Made Sketches

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - May theme challenge

9 Responses »
May 182013

Hello there! Welcome to the weekend! Mynnette, our challenge hostess at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown, has chosen holiday goodies as the theme for this week’s challenge. It sounds like a fun way to indulge in some sweet treats without gaining calories, doesn’t it? 🙂

I had a hard time deciding what to create for this challenge.  I really don’t have many stamps that would work for this theme, other than things like mugs of hot cocoa that I feel are more wintry than really Christmas-y.  So I browsed around online and found a site, www.coloringpagessheets.com, that has a lot of free outline images that could be printed really large to use for children’s coloring pages, or printed smaller for card making.  A cute image of a bear with a candy cane caught my eye and I decided I’d give that one a try for my card.  I sized it to fit into the large open area of this week’s Freshly Made Sketches layout and went from there.  I included a bit of designer paper that has a gingerbread man, a candy cane, and what appears to be peppermint candies.  A bow made from the seam binding seemed like it would be too large and overpowering for the design, so I layered some twine over the seam binding and fashioned a bow from that.  I felt that given the orientation of the bear and candy cane, a mirror image of the sketch would work better than the original version.  I really wanted to use a sentiment that read “Have a very beary Christmas”.  I stamped it on one of my Stamp-a-ma-jig imaging sheets and held it to the card, but it looked too crowded in the available space.  So I went with a shorter, one-line sentiment instead.

I hope you’ll check out the challenge details at the 52{C}CT site and play along with us this week!  Be sure to visit the rest of the design team members’ blogs for some more inspiration.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Digital Image: Candy Cane Teddy Bear (ColoringPagesSheets.com)
Stamp: Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Kraft, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); designer paper from Nordic Holiday 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: printer ink; Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Cherry Cobbler seam binding (SU); Cherry twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon); markers (Copic); small scallop die (Papertrey Ink)

Posted by PH in VA at 1:00 am Basic Grey, Cards, Christmas Card Throwdown, Digital images, Freshly Made Sketches, Lawn Fawn

dynamic celebration!

7 Responses »
May 162013

It’s the Dynamic Duos challenge’s one-year anniversary!  They have been celebrating this week by allowing their challenge participants to choose their own color combination from any of the previous Dynamic Duos challenges.  How fun is that?!? 🙂

I discovered the Dynamic Duos blog shortly after they published their first challenge.  I made a goal for myself to keep up with their challenges every week, and I’m proud to say that I have participated in each of their challenges.  I even made two cards for a couple of them!  So I went back through the year’s posts with the Dynamic Duos tag, refreshing my memory on all the color combos.  It wasn’t easy deciding which one to revisit for this week’s challenge.  Finally I thought, since I still have several family members and friends with birthdays coming up before the middle of June, I’d better get working on birthday cards.  I decided to make a masculine card, and chose Dynamic Duos challenge #37 for the color inspiration.  The layout is this week’s Inkspirational case challenge.  I hadn’t used this stamp set for a long time, so it was nice to ink it up again.

 

Best wishes to the Dynamic Duos team as they start on their second year of challenges!  I thank them for a fun year of inspiration, and I’m looking forward to playing along for another year!

All supplies for today’s card are from Stampin’ Up, except the corner punch.
Stamps: Wide Open Spaces, It’s Your Birthday
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Soft Suede
Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
Other: Crumb Cake seam binding; corner rounder punch (EK Success)

Posted by PH in VA at 2:02 pm Cards, Dynamic Duos, Inkspirational challenges, Stampin' Up!

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - May color challenge

7 Responses »
May 112013

Happy Saturday!  It’s time for another color challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  This time it’s a very simple one – red and white.  That’s it.  Black may be used to stamp an outline image (or print, if using a digital image) or to stamp a sentiment.  But that’s it.  Red and white must be the dominant colors on your card.  See the 52{C}CT site for the full challenge details, and to check out what the rest of the design team has created.

One nice thing about having only two colors to use – and one of them being a neutral – is that it lends itself pretty easily to a clean and simple card.  I’ve dressed mine up with dry embossing to give some visual interest.  The red cardstock is textured, but it’s pretty subtle so I did my best to make it show in the photo.  This card will be going in my stash of Christmas cards to donate to Operation Write Home, and I thought this sentiment was a good one for that purpose.

 

I hope you’ll join in the fun at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and share your red and white Christmas card(s) with us!  You have until 1:00 pm eastern time Friday, May 17 to link your work to the challenge post.

Supplies:
Stamps: Christmas Tags (Sweet ‘n Sassy Designs)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Real Red Core’dinations (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Real Red (SU)
Other: Hearts dies (SNSS); Victoria embossing folder (ProvoCraft)

Posted by PH in VA at 1:00 am Cards, Christmas Card Throwdown, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

dynamic cool popsicle

6 Responses »
May 092013

Hello!  It’s been a very rainy, dreary week here, and I’m just finally starting to feel better after battling a nasty cold, that last night I just really felt the need to make something cheery.

For me, it’s hard not to smile when I look through my Lawn Fawn stamps.  I’ve had their ice cream themed set for a while now and decided it was finally time to use it.  Several challenges also fit together to help me make today’s card.  One of this week’s colors at Dynamic Duos is Daffodil Delight, and I’ve always felt it is a “happy” yellow.  Paula’s Virtual Card Making Party challenge is to create a card for a child, using a sketch for the layout.  I like making cheery cards for our heroes overseas to send home to their children, so I just had to find a sketch.  Freshly Made Sketches provided a good one.  Since popsicles are a tasty way to cool down on a hot summer day, this card fits into JoAnn’s Virtual Card Making Party challenge to make a summer-themed card.  And here is how it all came together:

You’ll have to forgive me for the poor lighting.  I tried tweaking with my photo editing program and this was the best I could get.  Trust me when I say that the popsicle face does not look splotchy and fluorescent in real life.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but the card does put a smile on my face and helps me remember that brighter days will come.

Thanks for stopping by today!  All comments are read and appreciated… which brings me to add, I want to apologize for the fairly strict spam catcher settings that tend to consider comments by WordPress users and international users as spam.  Please know that I do review every comment that is put in my blog’s spam folder, and if it’s a legitimate comment, I am more than happy to approve it.

Supplies:
Stamps: Here’s the Scoop (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Baja Breeze, Daffodil Delight (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Baja Breeze taffeta ribbon (SU); Buttercup grosgrain ribbon (Really Reasonable Ribbon); standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); markers (Copic)

Posted by PH in VA at 9:30 am Cards, Dynamic Duos, Freshly Made Sketches, Lawn Fawn, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

simple challenge mashup

10 Responses »
May 082013

I have two very simple, very similar cards today that combine several different challenges.  The colors come from CAS – Colours and Sketches challenge #23; although it may look like I’ve used black, it’s really Midnight Muse, a dark blue.  The “missing you” theme is for the May Operation Write Home/Our Daily Bread Designs challenge, which is also the first of Operation Write Home’s NSD 2013 Virtual Card Making Party challenges.   Having two cards ties into the current OWH Midweek Throwdown – creating “his and hers” cards.

I have to admit it felt good to use some of my Tangerine Tango cardstock!  I have such a hard time using that color.  Many thanks to the CAS – Colours and Sketches girls for making me push out of my comfort zone with it!

Supplies:
Stamps: The Art of Life (Stampin’ Up); Right at Home (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron (SU); Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Midnight Muse, Tangerine Tango, So Saffron (SU)

Posted by PH in VA at 12:30 pm Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Hero Arts, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Stampin' Up!

inkspirational gift

5 Responses »
May 062013

Between friends and family, the month of May is full of birthdays for me, so I’ll be making a bunch of birthday cards in the next few weeks.  Today I’m sharing one that I made this morning.  I’ve combined the Freshly Made Sketches #84 layout with the colors from Inkspirational challenge #18.  I did take the liberty of turning the sketch on its side.  I really like this gift image – even though it’s from a Christmasy stamp set, it’s perfect for birthday presents, too. I stamped it on a scrap piece of white cardstock and then colored it and cut it out. When I colored it, I drew in some polka dots to help tie the olive color of the banner in with the rest of the card.  I also took a little artistic license in cutting off the curl on the left side of the ribbon.  I didn’t mind trimming out the inside of the ribbon loops, but the curl on the end of the ribbon was a little *too* fussy cutting for me.  I’m not sure how well it shows in the photo, but the white panel is textured cardstock, to help give the card a little extra visual interest without detracting from the layout and design.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bows and Holly, Hats Off to You (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Concord Crush, Whisper White textured, Peach Parfait (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); designer paper from Bright Side 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic)

Posted by PH in VA at 2:12 pm Cards, Freshly Made Sketches, Inkspirational challenges, Lawn Fawn, Stampin' Up!

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - May sketch challenge

7 Responses »
May 042013

Hello!  It’s the first Saturday of a new month so that means it’s time for another sketch challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown!  52{C}CT co-creator Mynnette is our hostess this month, and she’s come up with a great sketch that can be kept simple or dressed up.

I decided to turn the sketch on its side for my card.  I also simplified the central element into a rectangle, but I’ve double matted the image I used there.  The cardinal was colored using the Magic Colored Pencil technique.  It was hard getting the lighting right when I was taking the photo, but in real life the cardinal coordinates nicely with the cherry red ribbon and cardstock.  I sort of hated to cover up the lovely chocolate satin ribbon with the cherry seam binding, but I really like the extra punch of color the seam binding gives.

Be sure to visit the 52{C}CT site to see what the rest of the design team has made.  If you’d like to join us, simply make a Christmas card using the provided sketch, and link it at our challenge website by 1:00 pm eastern time on Friday, May 10.  We’d love to see what you create!

Supplies:
Stamps: A Beautiful Season (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Naturals White (SU)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU)
Other: Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, Cherry Cobbler seam binding, dimensionals (SU); Snowflakes embossing folder (Sizzix); Premier colored pencils (Prismacolor); odorless mineral spirits (Houston Arts); pearl brads (Creative Imaginations); Classic Rectangles Plain and Classic Rectangles Scalloped Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

Posted by PH in VA at 1:00 am Cards, Christmas Card Throwdown, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

dynamic sketchy birthday butterflies

11 Responses »
May 012013

Here’s a card I put together quickly this morning to get it into a few of my favorite online challenges.  The layout is from CAS – Colours and Sketches challenge #22 and the color scheme comes from Dynamic Duos challenge #50.  I chose to make a birthday card to fit in with CAS-ual Fridays challenge #99, and the butterfly embellishments fit the theme for the current Cards in Envy challenge.

 

 

It’s not one of my favorite cards I’ve ever made, but it’ll be fine for Operation Write Home!  Actually, now that I think about it, I’m going to go back and add either some pearls or some rhinestones to the butterflies to dress them up a bit.

Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Everything (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Blushing Bride, Everyday Enchantment designer series paper (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Calypso Coral (SU)
Other: Beautiful Wings die (SU); petite oval and petite scalloped oval Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

Posted by PH in VA at 11:00 am Cards, Cards in Envy, CAS Colours & Sketches, CAS-ual Fridays challenges, Dynamic Duos, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!
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