dynamically dotted and hearted

4 Responses »
Feb 122014

Hello!  Today’s card combines the current Dynamic Duos color challenge with the Lawnscaping challenge that expires tonight.  If the little birds with hearts seem familiar to you, yes, you’re right, I did feature them in a post last week.  The ones on today’s card started out as an attempt at last week’s card but then I had an “oops” moment when I stamped last week’s sentiment, so I set the stamped strip aside.  I was able to cut off the oops and use the good stuff for today’s card.  No sense in wasting the good stamping!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Comments are always read and appreciated – they really do brighten my day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bannerific, My Silly Valentine (Lawn Fawn); So Much Love (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Pistachio Pudding, Blushing Bride (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Swiss Dots embossing folder (ProvoCraft)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 pm Cards, Dynamic Duos, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Lizzie Anne Designs, Stampin' Up!

falling for a friend

4 Responses »
Nov 052013

The cooler weather lately and the bright red leaves on our maple tree have me realizing that autumn is definitely here, and today’s card reflects the season.  I’ve combined several challenges.  I squashed the current Seize the Sketch layout into landscape orientation, the focus on the sentiment was inspired by the current Lawnscaping challenge, and the die cut leaves make it eligible for Lori’s Hope You Can Cling To challenge.

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

Supplies:
Digital sentiment: A True Friend (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
Cardstock: More Mustard, Really Rust, Autumn Vine designer paper (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: printer ink
Other: twill tape, dimensionals (SU); Stitched Leaves dies (Lawn Fawn)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 pm Cards, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Seize the Sketch, Splitcoast challenges, Stampin' Up!, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

bursting with hope

4 Responses »
Oct 152013

All during the month of October, Splitcoaststampers is sponsoring Hope You Can Cling To to benefit the MD Anderson Cancer Center. A different challenge is being presented each day of the month. I’m excited to be hosting the challenge for today, October 15!

Because so many people affected by cancer are full of hope in one way or another – whether it’s hope to beat this disease, or hope that a cure will be found soon – I’ve decided to call my challenge “Bursting with Hope” and encourage the challenge participants to create a card using a starburst technique. The only real requirement is that the starburst be made with cardstock or patterned paper. There are various tutorials available online; the one I’ve written for this challenge can be found here.

And here is the card I made while I was creating the tutorial. I just couldn’t resist using some fun Basic Grey papers and a Lawn Fawn image for my card. I decided to do a little paper piecing to “color” the ice cream cone.

I’m also entering this card in the current Lawnscaping challenge.

When I was starting out on the tutorial card, I second guessed my paper choices, so I put the triangles I had already cut aside and started again.  I didn’t want to just toss the first set of triangles I had cut, so I decided to do something a little different with them.  I mentally pictured vertical and horizontal lines dividing the card into fourths and placed the long “legs” of four triangles on those lines. Then I lined up the legs of the remaining triangles from the center of the card to the corners. I trimmed the excess and added the sentiment/image panel.  It’s a totally different starburst effect than the tutorial.

I hope you’ll join in the Hope You Can Cling To challenges at Splitcoaststampers.com and help bring cheer to the cancer patients at MD Anderson!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies for the ice cream cone card:
Stamps: Here’s the Scoop (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Early Espresso (SU); papers from Phoebe 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Early Espresso (SU)
Other: standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); sponge

Supplies for the thank you card:
Stamps: Riveting (SU)
Cardstock: Soft Sky textured, Whisper White (SU); papers from Phoebe 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Early Espresso (SU)
Other: rhinestone (SU); standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); sponge

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Basic Grey, Cards, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Splitcoast challenges

CAS - Colours and Sketches #44

2 Responses »
Sep 262013

Hello!  I hope your week has been going well.   Thursday means it’s time for a new challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches!  This week Karen has created a very versatile sketch.

I stretched the sketch out to a rectangle and opted to use stamping for both of the slanted line elements of the sketch.  After I colored all the hearts, I fussy cut around the bottom of the larger heart border.  Then I added a panel of grey cardstock to add some more color interest to the card.  I originally planned to color the hearts light pink and add a deeper shade of pink cardstock, but I was having a hard time matching up marker colors to cardstock.  So I decided to try something completely different with the greys.  I like that it’s gender neutral, and it doesn’t look as much like a Valentine. It’ll be a good any-time-of-year love themed card for Operation Write Home.  And it works for the Lawnscaping monochromatic challenge.

What will you do with this sketch?  Will you use stamping for the slanted lines, or solid color cardstock strips, or strips of designer paper, or maybe even some sort of embellishment?  There are so many possibilities!  I hope you’ll try out something and share what you create with us!  Link your work to the CAS – Colours and Sketches blog by 1:00 p.m. eastern time Wednesday, October 2.

Thank you for stopping by today!  Comments are always welcome and appreciated!

Supplies:
Stamps: Belinda’s Borders, Love ‘n Breakfast, Winter Owl (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Smoky Slate (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic)

Posted by PH in VA at 4:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Operation Write Home

dynamic before and after

5 Responses »
Aug 072013

It’s been a long time since I’ve made the time to play along in one of the Lawnscaping challenges, and I’ve missed doing them.  So I decided to get my act together for the current one, which is to create a one layer card.  I figured I could combine it with the current Dynamic Duos color challenge of pink and bright yellow.

So I looked through my Lawn Fawn stamps and came up with this:

 

Even though the card was pretty cute just like that, I felt it was missing something, particularly something to help bring out the yellow bird.  So I thought, why not fussy cut along the bottom of the heart border and add a strip of yellow cardstock to it?  I had a scrap of Daffodil Delight that was the perfect size to accomplish the look I pictured in my mind.  And after a little cutting and gluing, my card changed to this:

 

Ah, yes.  Much better.  And now it’s a cheery little any-age, gender-neutral card to include in my stash for Operation Write Home.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: A Birdie Told Me, Belinda’s Borders, Love ‘n Breakfast (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Daffodil Delight (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Premier colored pencils (Prismacolor); odorless mineral spirits (Houston Arts)

Posted by PH in VA at 10:00 pm Cards, Dynamic Duos, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Operation Write Home

butterfly stitches

5 Responses »
Mar 272013

The most recent Lawnscaping challenge is to use stitching on your project.  I do love the look of stitching on cards, but I was having a hard time figuring out which of my Lawn Fawn stamps to incorporate with it.

I finally decided to use stitching to show the path of a butterfly’s flight.  The butterfly is actually left over from a project I did several months ago, so it was nice putting it to use.  I had stamped it on a scrap piece of cardstock and used reinkers to watercolor it.  Today I cut it out and adhered it to the card.  (Before I glued it to the card, I stamped it on the background so I wouldn’t have to try to cut around the feet and antennae.)  I added a few die cut clouds and a sentiment.  I lightly drew in the butterfly flight trail, punched holes along it, erased my pencil marks, and then backstitched with embroidery floss.  I attached the panel to the card base with dimensional adhesive to accommodate the bulk added by the floss.

 

 

Once I figured out what I wanted to do, the card actually came together very easily!  Sometimes I just need to get jumper cables for my brain, I think.  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Flutter By, Happy Everything (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Bashful Blue (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Daffodil Delight and Rose Red ink refills, dimensionals (SU); clouds dies (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps); white embroidery floss (DMC)

Posted by PH in VA at 11:00 pm Cards, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Operation Write Home, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

dynamic inspirational love letters

3 Responses »
Feb 062013

When I saw this week’s color combination for the Dynamic Duos challenge, I knew I was going to have a hard time with it.  I really like red, and I’m OK with pink, but I don’t always like them paired with each other.  But seeing the colors in the prompt for the current Lawnscaping challenge helped, and with the aid of some chocolate brown I pulled the red and pink together.  I also wanted to create something for this week’s CAS-ual Fridays challenge to use letters, and I knew I wanted to use this alphabet set for that.  It’s not one of my favorite cards, but I think it turned out all right.

 

 

 

Supplies:
Stamps: Quinn’s ABCs, Belinda’s Borders (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Real Red (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU)
Other: markers (Copic); heart dies (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 pm Cards, CAS-ual Fridays challenges, Dynamic Duos, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Stampin' Up!, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

make my wish come true...

8 Responses »
Jan 242013

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’ve started participating in the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown challenges this year to help build a supply of Christmas cards to donate to Operation Write Home in the fall. When I learned that the challenge this week was a recipe challenge, my first reaction was “Yay! Recipe challenges are usually fun!”  Then I started reading the recipe “ingredients”.

Patterned paper was the first one listed.  NO problem there – I certainly have plenty of patterned paper around here.  The hard part is choosing one(s) to use!  Then I saw the second item.  Glitter.  Uh oh.  Glitter is a big no-no for Operation Write Home cards because it can be detected by night vision goggles.  If glitter were to come off a card and remain on a military service member’s uniform, it could unwittingly make that person more easily located by hostile forces and put into harm’s way.  However, OWH realizes that there are lots of crafters who do love using the sparkly stuff, so they do allow for small amounts of glitter *IF* it cannot flake off of a card.  So I thought, “OK, I’ll have to use Stickles.”  Whew – potential crisis averted.  The third item on the list wasn’t too bad – decorating the inside of the card.  Usually I leave the insides of my OWH cards plain so the men and women have plenty of space to write home to their loved ones.  But I do like the extra special touch that decorating the inside can give a card.

After a lot of thought and one false start, I finally decided to paper piece a little scene.  The snowy sky, the owl, and the owl’s scarf are all created from patterned papers.  I added some Stickles to the tree branch and the top of the snowy ground to give the impression of sun glistening on them.  I’ve popped up the owl with dimensional adhesive.

Here’s the inside of the card.  I matted a narrow strip of the snowflake print paper to coordinate with the outside of the card.  Then I stamped another owl and added a row of tiny hearts.  I couldn’t get the card to stand up for this photo, so I had to go about the picture from a different angle.

So there it is… patterned paper, with glitter, and the inside of the card is decorated.  Ta-da! Of course, now I have that song playing in my head. LOL  At least that isn’t too bad of a problem to have.  Maybe I’ll listen to my Love Actually soundtrack CD this afternoon to try to get it out.

This card also works for the Winter Wonderland challenge at the Lawnscaping challenge blog.

Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Owl (Lawn Fawn); Season of Friendship (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Naturals White, Early Espresso (SU); patterned papers from Aspen Frost and Ambrosia 6″ x 6″ paper pads (Basic Grey)
Ink: Early Espresso (SU)
Other: Star Dust Stickles (Ranger)

Posted by PH in VA at 12:00 pm Cards, Christmas Card Throwdown, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

dynamic holy cow!

5 Responses »
Jan 152013

Today’s card is a blending of three rather different challenges.  First off, Lawnscaping is celebrating their second birthday, so their challenge is to create a birthday or celebratory card.  The CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is to create a card that celebrates an accomplishment, and that contains at least one circle.  I think getting through another year and celebrating a birthday can be an accomplishment, don’t you?  And once I figured which stamps I wanted to use for my card, this week’s Dynamic Duos color challenge lent itself perfectly to creating a little scene.

The cow on today’s card is actually a leftover from something I was working on some time in the last year.  She’s been sitting on my desk this whole time and I thought it would be cute to pair her with the sentiment “holy cow!”  I wanted her to have a party hat to help show off the birthday theme, but I also toyed with the idea of drawing in a halo to go along with the sentiment. In the end the party hat by itself won out.  The circle element for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge is the sun, punched from a scrap of designer paper, with narrow scraps added for rays.  The scrap of floral designer paper made a great meadow for the cow.

 

I continued the birthday theme inside the card.  I normally don’t put sentiments inside the cards I make for Operation Write Home.  So I put this one up higher than I typically would in a card for my own use, to maximize the amount of writing space for the hero who chooses to send this card to someone.

Challenge recap:

 

Thanks for stopping by today! And congratulations to Lawnscaping for two fun years of challenges. Keep up the awesome work!

Supplies for this card:
Stamps: Critters on the Farm, Hats Off to You, Jesse’s ABCs (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Certainly Celery and So Saffron Prints designer papers (Stampin’ Up); scrap from Ambrosia 6″ x 6″ paper pad [for the cow] (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); 3/4″ circle punch (Creative Memories)

Posted by PH in VA at 10:00 pm Basic Grey, Cards, CAS-ual Fridays challenges, Dynamic Duos, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

sketchy little bunny

3 Responses »
Dec 112012

Hello!  Just a quick post tonight to share a quick card I made.  It combines three challenges.  I used Stars & Stamps sketch #149 for the layout, and the colors are from the current Lawnscaping challenge.  The love theme works for the current OWH Midweek Throwdown challenge.  I added some Liquid Applique to the bunny’s tail to give it a little fluffy look.  I think this bunny and sentiment are great to send to just about anyone!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps: My Silly Valentine (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Kraft (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); designer papers from Blush collection (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); standard circle and petite scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); Liquid Applique (Marvy)

Posted by PH in VA at 11:00 pm Basic Grey, Cards, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches

dynamic tagged penguin

7 Responses »
Nov 282012

Today I’m combining several challenges for one card.  The current Dynamic Duos color challenge is to use silver with navy (or, for Stampin’ Up users, Midnight Muse).  I’ve been wanting to get back into the Lawnscaping challenges again for a while, and finally got an idea for their tags challenge. The layout for this card is this week’s OWH Stars & Stamps sketch.  I think this fits the “winter fun” theme for this week’s OWH Midweek Throwdown, too.

It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with these colors.  I didn’t really want to make a Christmas-y card, and couldn’t come up with any ideas I liked for a birthday card.  Finally I settled on a winter scene with the cute penguin image, and chose a sentiment that would be appropriate for a card to send to Operation Write Home.  I’ve had these big black eyelets and snowflake eyelets for a number of years.  I don’t know what company made either of them, but I do remember I bought the snowflakes off of eBay.  I still have a bunch more of them, but it felt good to put some of them to use. I used a little bit of shimmer paint to create the “snow” for the penguin to stand on, so he wouldn’t look like he was just floating on the tag.  I stamped the penguin on a scrap piece of cardstock, colored him, fussy cut him, and then adhered him to the tag.  The tag is attached to the card with dimensional adhesive, to accommodate the ribbon tied through the black eyelet and the thickness of the snowflake eyelets.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you’ve been having a good week.

Supplies used:
Stamps: Critters in the Snow, Sophie’s Sentiments, A Birdie Told Me (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Midnight Muse, Basic Black, Brushed Silver (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Frost White Shimmer Paint, dimensionals, and silver organdy ribbon (SU); snowflake eyelets and large black eyelet (source unknown)

Posted by PH in VA at 11:00 pm Cards, Dynamic Duos, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches, Stampin' Up!

getting texty

3 Responses »
Sep 252012

Today’s card is a relatively quick and easy one I put together for the current Lawnscaping challenge, which is to use text in your creation.  I used nearly the entire Quinn’s ABCs alphabet set on this one.  The hardest and most time consuming part of it was getting the letters positioned the way I wanted them.  This is actually my second try.  The first time, I used a different color scheme and I had the letter “i” on the second line, and the card looked rather bland.  So I decided to shift the letters so that I could highlight the word “hi”, and I stamped the “missing u” message in a color that coordinated with the designer paper. I really wanted to leave more space between the “t” and the “v”, but there wasn’t enough space on the acrylic block to allow me to do that.

I still have my acrylic stamp block set up for this, so I think I’m going to make some more in different color schemes since Operation Write Home often needs “missing you” themed cards.

Supplies:
Stamps: Quinn’s ABCs, Jessie’s ABCs (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Kraft, Everyday Enchantment designer series paper (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Calypso Coral (SU)
Other: corner rounder punch (SU)

Posted by PH in VA at 12:00 pm Cards, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

last of the Labor Day challenges

3 Responses »
Sep 082012

I didn’t get to make something for all 10 of the Operation Write Home Labor Day Virtual Card Making Party challenges, but I did complete 6 of them.  Well, 5 1/2.  Challenge #7 was to create a Christmas card that one of our military men or women could send home to a child, and to make an “AnyHero” Christmas card that could be given to one of our heroes overseas who is in need of a morale boost.  I only had time today to make one card, and I chose to make a card for a child.

I had this Christmas set from Lawn Fawn out already from my challenge #5 card.  This time I used different stamps from it.  Once again, I used the current Lawnscaping challenge sketch for the layout.  Instead of the scalloped border, I fussy cut along the chevron pattern of the designer paper.  I moved the sentiment to the bottom corner of the card because it fit better there than in the location designated on the sketch.  The teddy bear and the present were stamped on a scrap of cardstock, colored and fussy cut, and then attached to the circle.  I originally planned to have two presents, but the two of them and the bear didn’t fit well.  So I decided to add the second present to the inside of the card.

 

 

 

So, that’s the last of the Virtual Card Making Party challenges that I’ll have time to complete this year.  It’s been fun, and I’m already looking forward to the next OWH VCMP!

Supplies for today’s card:
Stamps: Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Real Red (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Holly Jolly Christmas 6″ x 6″ designer papers (Echo Park)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon (SU); standard circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

Posted by PH in VA at 10:00 pm Cards, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

Labor Day VCMP challenge #5

2 Responses »
Sep 062012

Here’s my card for the fifth challenge in Operation Write Home’s Labor Day Virtual Card Making Party.  This one really was a challenge for me!  The idea was to create a card with a western theme featuring a cowboy or a horse.  I have no cowboy (or cowgirl) images, but I eventually remembered I have a cute rocking horse stamp in one of my Lawn Fawn sets.  I did have one package of designer papers with a western look to them.  So I pulled the papers and horse image together and came up with this card.  The current Lawnscaping challenge is a sketch challenge, and I used the mirror image of it for the layout of my card.  If I’d stayed with the original sketch, the horse would be “looking off the edge” of the card.  The way the horse image is drawn, I think using the mirror image of the layout makes the card more pleasing to the eye. The scalloped edges and kid-friendly design make this card qualify for the current OWH Midweek Throwdown challenge, too.

I was so pleased with out it turned out, I wanted to go ahead and get it photographed and blogged right away!  Now I need to go back and put a white liner inside of it.  Our heroes stationed overseas sometimes have only a pencil to write with, and pencil doesn’t always show up well against dark colors.  So cards with darker bases need to be lined with a light paper or cardstock before they are sent to Operation Write Home.

Supplies:
Stamps: Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Whisper White, Western Sky designer papers (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: linen thread (SU); markers (Copic); Stars Scallop die (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps); standard circle and petite scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 pm Cards, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Stampin' Up!, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

sketchy snowflakes

5 Responses »
Aug 272012

Today I’m sharing a quick card I made using Freshly Made Sketches #49.  I combined this with the current Lawnscaping challenge of creating your own patterned paper.  I added a few rhinestones to the snowflakes in the border for a bit of bling.  I’m not sure how well the photo will show that the ink used for the snowflakes is silver rather than grey.

 

I have a twin of this card in the works (I’m waiting for the ink to dry completely before assembling it – it’s pigment ink, so in our current humid weather it’s taking a little while). So once it’s finished, I’ll have two more winter cards ready to go to Operation Write Home!

Supplies:
Stamps: Critters in the Snow (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Basic Black, Soft Sky (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Silver (ColorBox); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: rhinestones (Bazzill)

Posted by PH in VA at 2:00 pm Cards, Freshly Made Sketches, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Operation Write Home
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