Lawnscaping challenges »

dynamic one layer piggy

Aug 152012

Just a quick post tonight to share what I came up with for the Lawnscaping challenge to create a one layer card. I used the current Dynamic Duos color combo of Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery for my color scheme. Some coloring and a little fussy cutting of the birthday hat, and ta-da – a very quick card. (But it’s a cute one, if I say so myself!)

Supplies:
Stamps: Critters on the Farm, Hats Off to You, Critters in the ‘Burbs (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Certainly Celery (Stampin’ Up)
Other: corner rounder punch (EK Success); Premier colored pencils (Prismacolor); odorless mineral spirits (Houston Arts)

birthday inspiration

3 Responses »

Jul 242012

The current Lawnscaping challenge is to create a project deriving inspiration from a photo montage they provided. Normally I shy away from inspiration challenges. I think I get overwhelmed trying to figure out what part of the photo to use as my starting off point. But this one came to me pretty easily.

If you look closely in the inspiration piece, just above the big yellow cake there’s an image with a pennant banner. So I decided to use a banner stamp to create a birthday card for one of my friends. One nice thing about the Lawn Fawn photopolymer stamps is that you can gently shape them as you position them onto your acrylic block; I did that here to give the banner a curve shape. I made sure to stamp enough pennants so I could add one letter of “happy birthday” to each pennant. My friend has pets, so I added a cat and a dog wearing party hats. The birds were a bit of an afterthought. I’d accidentally inked up too much of the banner stamp when I was stamping the pennants for “day”, and part of another pennant stamped next to it. It looked messy. So I added one bird to cover that up, LOL, and then decided I should include a second bird to hang the “happy” banner. I took my color scheme from the inspiration photos.

I think the yellow banners match the card base better in real life, but overall, I’m pleased with how the card turned out. I hope it brings a smile to my friend’s face and that she has a wonderful birthday!

Supplies:
Stamps: Bannerific, Critters in the ‘Burbs, Hats Off to You, Jessie’s ABCs (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Barely Banana, Groovy Guava (Stampin’ Up); Basics White (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic)

you rock

2 Responses »

Jun 272012

I’ve been working on some quick and easy cards to fill up the box I want to send Operation Write Home for their Duty. Honor. Cards. card drive. Here’s one I made today. I can’t help but smile when I see this cute little drum. I hope the card brings a smile to both the military member who sends it to a loved one, and to the recipient!

I had the Lawnscaping Color Splash challenge in the back of my mind when I was working on this card. When I went to the Lawnscaping blog to link the challenge to this post, I noticed that they are hosting a Heroes Card Drive, too, to benefit the men and women deployed with Lawnscaping founder Laurel Beard’s husband. So after I send my current stash of cards to OWH at the end of this week, I’ll start on cards for the Lawnscaping drive.

Enough chatter… here’s the card. The layout was a Splitcoaststampers sketch challenge a long time ago.

And here is the list of supplies used to make it:
Stamps: Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Razzleberry Lemonade designer paper (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic)

dynamic, sketchy, colorful dreams

5 Responses »

Jun 212012

Over the past several years of cardmaking, I’ve learned that when there are more interesting challenges than there is time to make cards for each one, that combining can be a good thing. That’s what I’ve done with today’s card. The color combo is Dynamic Duos #7, and I’ve included their “dessert option” of adding ribbon to the card. The layout is the June Sketch for You To Try. The splashes of bright color against the neutral background fit the current Lawnscaping Challenge.

I used the same watercoloring with reinkers technique I used on last week’s Father’s Day cards to color the flowers. Otherwise, the card pretty much speaks for itself… so here it is:

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you’ll come back again soon.

Supplies:
Stamps: Flutter By (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Basic Black (Stampin’ Up); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Melon Mambo ink refill (SU); black satin ribbon (Offray); D’Vine Swirls embossing folder (ProvoCraft); standard circle and lacey circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); half pearls (KaiserCraft)

patterned birthday

3 Responses »

Jun 122012

The current Lawnscaping challenge is to use patterned paper on your project. As much patterned and designer paper as I have, that didn’t sound like too difficult a challenge, LOL! But I did have a hard time deciding which papers to use, and with which images, and what type of card layout I would use.

I finally decided to create a scene with my newest Lawn Fawn stamp set, Critters Down Under. I was super lucky to receive this set as one of the most recent new release prizes from the Lawn Fawn blog. How cool is that?!? 😀 I used several different papers from my Basic Grey Phoebe 6″ x 6″ paper pad for the different elements of the scene, and added in a couple of papers from the Ambrosia pad for the koala and the kookaburra. In an attempt to save my sanity from working with teeny little pieces parts, I chose to use markers to color the koala’s nose, the platypus’s bill and feet, and the bird’s beak, wing and tail feathers. That’s also why there’s no frilly fluffy stuff on the tops of the party hats. And now I have another birthday card for my OWH stash!

Supplies:
Stamps: Critters Down Under, Hats Off to You (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Soft Sky (Stampin’ Up); various papers from Phoebe and Ambrosia 6″ x 6″ paper pads (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Cutterbee scissors (EK Success)

OWH Memorial Day Sketch Blog Hop!

61 Responses »

May 262012

Hello! Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Sketch Blog Hop!

Today 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 still stationed overseas, so that they may write to their family and friends back at home.

The OWH Stars and Stamps blog has over 120 great sketches to help jumpstart your creativity and make it easier to get started making cards for our heroes to use. I’ve used sketch 49 for today’s card. Love-themed cards are always useful, and I wanted to make something that would be suitable to send a man, woman, boy or girl of any age. I combined several Lawn Fawn stamp sets to create this postcard image. I repeated the little hearts on the liner inside the card; in the photo you can see one peeking out. (I combined the three hearts from two different stamp sets on my acrylic block so I could stamp them all at the same time.) The red and black panels are both dry embossed (which makes this card qualify for the current Lawnscaping challenge), although it’s hard to see that detail on the black panel. The love theme also ties in with the current OWH Midweek Throwdown Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by! 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 used:
Stamps: You’ve Got Mail, Bows and Holly, My Silly Valentine, Love ‘n Breakfast (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Basic Black (Stampin’ Up); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Hearts embossing folder (ProvoCraft); Plaid embossing folder (Sizzix)

dynamic triple challenges anniversary

11 Responses »

May 092012

I love playing in different online card making challenges, but there are just so many challenges and not enough time that inevitably, I find myself combining challenges so that I can maximize my participation. That’s what I’ve done with this card.

When I saw that this week’s Lawnscaping Challenge was to create a clean and simple card, I was happy because many of my cards tend to pretty much fit that description. I also wanted to make something for the Stars and Stamps Blog Rebel Challenge presented by Beth of BunnyScrap, who challenged us to create a card using die cuts. Then I learned about a new color challenge blog called Dynamic Duos and I wanted to give that a try, too. So I’ve used the Dynamic Duos colors with some dies to create a card that’s clean and simple. I admit I took a lot of inspiration from a card Korin Sutherland created. I don’t have Lucky Limeade ink, but I was able to create a substitute for it by using Old Olive and stamping off once onto scrap paper.

Thanks for stopping by today! As always, your comments are greatly appreciated!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sophie’s Sentiments (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Confetti Cream, Everyday Enchantment designer series paper (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Old Olive (SU)
Other: Heart dies (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps); corner rounder punch (EK Success); sponge

OWH Sketch 118!

6 Responses »

Apr 222012

I’m excited and honored to be this week’s sample maker for the OWH Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge! This week’s sketch is pretty simple and straightforward, but flexible enough to be used for “clean and simple” styled cards as well as more embellished ones.

I’ve made two cards for this sketch. The first one follows the sketch nearly exactly; the scallops are just a bit different than what the sketch shows. My goal for this card was to create something with a “love” theme that did not use the color red because I didn’t want it to look like a Valentine. The sentiment was created with Microsoft Word when I was preparing the digital image. I feel this card is pretty age and gender neutral, which is something I like to do often for my OWH cards since I never know who is going to be sending or receiving them.

For my second card, I used a love theme once again. I think I kept this one age and gender neutral too. This time I turned the sketch on its side for a horizontal layout. It’s hard to see, but I did sponge some blue ink for a sky. Now I’m able to include “sidewalk” into my sparse repertoire of things I can draw! LOL I wanted to add some dimension to this scene to make it seem a little more realistic, but I didn’t want the card to be too bulky for OWH. So I attached a scrap piece of cardstock to the back side of the mailbox to lift it just slightly from the background, and the bird is adhered with pop dots. I stamped another bird on the card liner to add a little splash of color inside.

I didn’t set out with the current Lawnscaping challenge in mind when I created the second card, but it does fit, so I’ll be linking it there.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I’m looking forward to seeing what my fellow crafters create with this OWH sketch!

Supplies for the mouse card:
Digital Image: Cocoa’s Heart (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip (Stampin’ Up); Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: printer ink
Other: markers (Copic); Threading Water punch (Fiskars)

Supplies for the mailbox card:
Stamps: You’ve Got Mail, Bannerific (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, Real Red (Stampin’ Up); Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Bashful Blue, Soft Sky (SU); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: dimensionals (SU); markers (Copic); sponge

you mooove me

3 Responses »

Apr 172012

When my friend Taylor asked me if I’d consider making a sample for this week’s Splitcoaststampers.com sketch challenge, I happily agreed. Sketch challenges are some of my favorite challenges.

Then I saw the sketch.

I froze. I thought, “Oh my gosh. WHAT am I going to do with this?!?”

But I printed it out, and turned it around to view it from different angles, and finally an idea popped into my head. I decided to turn the sketch on its side and make a scene in the area that the sketch showed as empty space, incorporating the banner-like and circle elements of the sketch into the scene. Lawn Fawn’s barn and fence seemed well-proportioned for the sketch, so I just needed to add in some other things to create a farm scene. The cow seemed like a good choice to me, and the bird was a simple little extra touch. I was stumped for a little bit on how to make the sentiment stand off from the rest of the card but then I thought about a quote balloon. I figured even someone with my drawing skills (read: or lack thereof) could draw a quote balloon! There is a lot of fussy cutting and paper piecing on this card – the cow is all paper pieced, and the fence was pretty tricky to cut. But overall I’m pleased with the end result. And I have to say I was amused (or maybe a-moo-sed?) by the idea of looking through my designer paper scraps for something that could be considered “cow udder pink”.

Creating a scene with stamped images is the current Lawnscaping challenge, so my card fits in there, too!

And I have a cute any occasion card to add to the box I’m filling for Operation Write Home.

Supplies for today’s card:
Stamps: Critters on the Farm, Bannerific (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Basic Black (SU); scraps from Ambrosia, Two Scoops and Blitzen collections (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: multiliner pen (Copic)

Spring into Spring! - Lawnscaping Blog Hop

69 Responses »

Apr 062012

Hi there! I’m excited to be participating in the Spring Lawnscaping Blog Hop!

You should have come here after viewing Eve’s creative goodness. If you’ve just lucked into finding the hop or think you’ve gotten lost somewhere, you can always go back to the Lawnscaping blog to figure out your way.

Spring always makes me think of butterflies and the color yellow, so I knew I wanted to use those things on my card. I decided to go the “KISS” route for the card design – “Keep It Simple, Stamper!” LOL To create the butterflies, first I colored a scrap of white cardstock by watercoloring it with ink refills. After I let it dry, I stamped the butterflies, colored in their bodies, and cut them out. As a last minute thought, I decided to paint them with a sheer coat of Shimmerz paint so they would glisten. The butterflies curled up from the combination of watercoloring and paint, so their bodies are attached directly to the white layer, and their wings are attached with dimensional adhesive for a 3-D effect.

You’re going to want to make sure to comment on all the blogs in this hop by 11:59 pm EST Sunday, April 8, 2012 because there are some great prizes to be won! All the details can be found on the Lawnscaping home page linked up above. Thank you to the hop’s generous sponsors – Lawn Fawn and Sweet Stamp Shop – for the fabby giveaways.

Thanks for stopping by here today! Your next stop is Handmade Creations by Stephanie. I hope you have fun seeing what everyone else has created, and I hope you’ll come back to visit again!

Supplies for today’s card:
Stamps: Flutter By, Sophie’s Sentiments (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight (Stampin’ Up); Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Daffodil Delight and Marina Mist ink refills, corner rounder punch, dimensionals (SU); multiliner brush marker (Copic); Angel Wings paint (Shimmerz); paintbrush

Xs and Os, and blog candy!

5 Responses »

Mar 272012

The current Lawnscaping challenge was a little more difficult for me than it might sound. It’s to use another crafter’s work as inspiration for your own creation. The hard part was deciding whose work to use for my inspiration!

I finally decided to choose Vera Yates because I really like the clean and simple cards she tends to do. I browsed through her blog and came across the stunning card in this post and thought to myself, “I can do that!” So here’s my take on it. I kept the layout the same but I changed the color scheme a bit and used different stamps than she did. I always try to use Lawn Fawn sets in my Lawnscaping cards, and today’s is no exception. I substituted one of the flowers from Flutter By for the rosettes on Vera’s card, and I colored them with Copic markers. I wanted to make another love themed card for Operation Write Home and decided this sentiment from the Sophie’s Sentiments set was a fun, slightly different take on that. I also opted for a simpler, single loop bow to help keep the card easy to mail.

And now, on to some fun stuff! It’s been a while since I’ve given away any blog candy, and right now I think I have a really good reason to give a “thank you” to one of my blog readers.

My WordPress stuff keeps tracks of statistics like how many comments my blog has received, and I was delightfully surprised to notice that I’m close to having 1500 comments! So, the person who leaves comment number 1500 is going to receive some stamping goodies!

I’m giving away a brand new, never used Unity Stamp set called “Bitty Pixie Paisley”, which contains 4 stamps, and a never used Basic Grey “LilyKate” 6″ x 6″ paper pad. Basic Grey retired the LilyKate line several years ago, so it’s nearly impossible to find anywhere for purchase any more. When they retired it, I bought a few more of these pads than I thought I would use, and this is the last intact one I have left.

I’ll probably go through my stash of crafty things and add in a few more little goodies too… but the blog candy winner will definitely receive, at minimum, the two items shown in the photo above.

Spammers are NOT eligible to win this prize. Spam Karma (the spam blocking program I use) and I will determine whether or not a comment is legitimate.

One comment per person, please, until the winner is announced. (After I announce the winner, you are more than welcome to comment all you want! :D)

Does that sound good to you? 🙂 If it does, make sure you leave a way for me to contact you when you leave your comment.

EDITED ON APRIL 5, 2012 TO ADD: We have a winner for the blog candy! See this post for details.

back to blogging

5 Responses »

Mar 142012

Hi there. I’m trying to get back into the swing of things again. I’m still not quite feeling the new blog theme. I guess I just haven’t gotten used to it yet. (edited 3/15/12 to add: I played with it this morning, changed some of my settings, and was able to get my old header to work again – so now I’m liking it better!)

Anyway, here’s a last minute card I made for the Lawnscaping challenge that ends tonight. It’s a sketch challenge this time, and I chose to stick with the sketch pretty closely instead of tweaking it. I used a lot of my newest Lawn Fawn products – the butterfly image, the “i love you”, the alphabet to spell “Mom”, and the designer papers! It’s a little hard to tell in the photo, but I popped up the butterfly’s wings with dimensional adhesive. Consider yourself warned – fussy cutting around the butterfly’s antennae is not for the faint of heart. LOL

This card also fits into last week’s OWH Stars & Stamps Midweek Throwdown theme of Mother’s Day cards. Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!

Supplies:
Stamps: Flutter By, Love ‘n Breakfast, Jessie’s ABCs (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Perfect Plum (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Bright Side petite paper pack (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: dimensionals (Stampin’ Up); markers (Copic)

distressing bananas with a sketch

4 Responses »

Feb 282012

For today’s card, I’ve combined the current Lawnscaping challenge with the February Sketch For You To Try layout. Well, actually it’s the mirror image of the sketch. I reversed it so the bananas wouldn’t be “looking off the edge” of the card. The Lawnscaping challenge is to use distressing on your project. I chose to ink the edges of the sentiment circle. I also sponged the circular elements on the long narrow strip in the sketch and then glued the fussy cut bananas over them. I decided to dress up the inside of the card a bit by adding a bit of sponging to the edges of the liner cardstock and another banana just for fun. I kept the card pretty simple, without a lot of foofy stuff, because it’s going in my Operation Write Home stash.

Supplies:
Stamps: My Silly Valentine (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla, Barely Banana textured (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Close to Cocoa (SU)
Other: standard circle Nestabilities die (Spellbinders); markers (Copic); sponge

Happy Valentine's Day!

3 Responses »

Feb 142012

I have a quick CAS card to share today. This one was inspired by the current Lawnscaping challenge and the current Splitcoaststampers Clean and Simple challenge.

I hope you enjoy Valentine’s Day with someone you love!

Supplies:
Stamps: My Silly Valentine (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); “Romance” from Blush collection (Basic Grey)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler (Stampin’ Up)
Other: Heart #3 Sizzlits die (Sizzix); sponge

winter wonderland

1 Response »

Jan 242012

The current Lawnscaping challenge is called Winter Wonderland. I have to confess I almost didn’t make a card for this challenge because winter seems like it’s nearly over for a couple of reasons. One, it’s almost the end of January and we haven’t had any measurable snow here in the Shenandoah Valley since the freak snowstorm at the end of October 2011. Two, I sent my last winter-themed cards to Operation Write Home before Christmas, and now I’m trying to get into the frame of mind for daffodils and Easter eggs. But anyway, I stuck with it and came up with this card. I used OWH Stars and Stamps sketch #104 for the layout. It’s hard to see the little ribbon loop bow between the tails and the rhinestone. I stamped the animals on white cardstock and colored them with Copics, then cut them out and attached them to the light blue squares.

At any rate, I now have a winter-themed card ready to send to OWH in the fall!

Supplies:
Stamps: Critters in the Snow (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Basic Black (Stampin’ Up); Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Soft Sky (SU); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: black grosgrain ribbon, rhinestone (SU); markers (Copic)

Older Entries Newer Entries

dynamic one layer piggy

birthday inspiration

you rock

dynamic, sketchy, colorful dreams

patterned birthday

OWH Memorial Day Sketch Blog Hop!

dynamic triple challenges anniversary

OWH Sketch 118!

you mooove me

Spring into Spring! - Lawnscaping Blog Hop

Xs and Os, and blog candy!

back to blogging

distressing bananas with a sketch

Happy Valentine's Day!

winter wonderland

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Really great links

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