Project 175: KennyK wedding card in pink and purple

My friend Rowan is getting married this weekend and I am gutted that I'm not able to go as we have a conflicting event. To (try to) make it up to her, I thought I'd make her a fabulous card !

I love the Happy Couple stamp from KennyK and so I thought I would enter their challenge 179 this week.

I colored the stamp to match the couple and then die cut a large circle with a backing purple circle to frame it. I punched silver and purple card using a heart scallop punch in the Knock-Outs range as a border. The heart is a scallop punch in purple with the couple's initials and a few heart outlines to jazz it up.

It's a fairly straight forward layout but I think it works rather well!

Project 174: Woodland creatures cards

My friend Hannah always gives the best commissions. I have mentioned her so many times on this blog I should give her a category of her own for tagging.*

She asked for an owl card for a friend and "an adorable woodland creature" card for her sister.

I wanted to giver her some options so it kick started a bit of a woodland theme in the craft room!

The headline card is actually for a different friend, Palo, but I sent this to Han as a layout option for her to consider. The owl is from Little Claire and is colored with ProMarkers. I added a texture of gold and brown inks over top to give it that aged look - I stamped it on white and when I decided to go for the cream card I had to make it muted so it didn't jar against the rest of the papers. I die cut it in a circle and then added a backing blue circle to make it stand out.

The printed craft card is from a Michael's pack, and the butterflies are from the same set. I tore the paper to give it a rougher edge and then just tied a bakers' string around it. I punched the butterflies out with an EK Success punch and then I colored the edges with ProMarkers to give them some extra dimension.

I punched a red spotted paper with a Knock-Outs border punch and then added my friend's name in peel offs for extra personalisation. It is a lot of layers and steps but I think the final product is great.

Next up: the beaver card. This one was designed around some chipboard shapes I had that I thought were perfect for the brief. I embossed a strip of brown paper in a woodgrain pattern to give it that woodland feel and topped it with a green gingham ribbon. The banner is stamped and cut from card stock and I topped it with a candi. 

This little owl card is based on a different chip board sticker set that I had. I used a yellow heart oragami paper from Tiger and added the tan spotted ribbon, from Michaels. The orange paper is scallop punched from a Hippie Chick card stack and then the little tan banner is actually a washi sticker - stamped with a greeting. If Han doesn't take this one I definitely will! 

Finally and oldie but goody, a Stamping Up punched owl. I used a mix of spotted papers in blue and brown and layered this over an off cut of the embossed woodgrain paper from above. The greeting is from Claire, a stamped message cut with one of her label tags. 

All were super fun to make - I wish I could keep all of them but then again - this is a business! 

*I may actually do this.

Project 173: CAS silhouette stamp challenge

When I saw the colors at Color Throwdown this week I had to give it a go. These are the colors this week:

 
I have been harbouring this elephant stamp from Little Claire for a few months now and every time I've gone to use it I've been stumped and not sure what to do. This week, a friend asked if I would make her a bunch of cards and she likes things fresh, fun and modern and so I decided to shake off the cobwebs and give this little stamp another go.

Gosh was I glad I did.

I was inspired by the DT at Color Throwdown and how some of them use big block colors in their cards. So I decided to try the stamp against three plain color strips. It's a bit faint but I really like the output and will definitely try it agin.

I framed the three colors on black to give it a stronger base and then stamped directly on the panels.

I added minimal embellishment, just three yellow stars on the gold panel and three blue stars on the blue one. I then centred the sentiment and added a small green bling either side.

Clean, simple and super modern.

Project 172: A stitch in time at MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times Hazel has set us a fun challenge with "a stitch in time theme." I decided to use both fake and real stitching for the challenge to make this cheerful and summery card.

The whole card came together around the stitched banner greeting, as this is the element with the real stitching:

I then found images, papers and details to suport this. Not my usual way of working but it was a bit of fun!

The backing paper is from Michaels, part of the last craft kit exchange that Claire and I did when I saw her for all of 5 minutes in Chicago in June. I love gingham and tartan and pastel so this was a great summery choice.

The image is part of a new home Fiskars set and this is the first time I've used it - I love how Fiskars stamps come out, they are a joy to work with. I colored it with ProMarkers and then die cut the circle. I managed to find a button in the same pastel yellow - score!

Finally I added a layer of pink and some sparkly ricrac ribbon that I've struggled to use but somehow it works pretty easily here, tying into the sewing elements.

I really enjoyed the stitch challenge and can't wait to see what you all do with Hazel's theme.

Project 171: Purple and red foxy girl double challenge

I'm off for a work trip for a few days and so I needed to get a creative fix before I go!

I really wanted to use this Gorjuss foxy girl stamp and when I saw the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches this week featuring a big central image I thought it would be perfect.

The team over at I <3 ProMarkers were doing an anything goes challenge this week so I wanted to enter there as well.

The central image is colored with the following ProMarkers:

• Violet
• Burgundy
• Blush
• Tan 
• Cinnamon

The little cherry paper is from a Family Ties pack and the graph paper was from Claire, which I punched using a Knock-Outs heart scallop punch.

The button is from a collectin and I tied it with purple baker's string to connect it to the color scheme. Finally I added some glitter to the stars on the girl's dress and added a few candies.

It looks fairly clean but it actually took longer than I thought so now I need to run to catch my flight!

Project 170: A London card duo

colleague Michelle mentioned that she likes to give people London cards and so I thought I woud give her a couple of London card options to add to her collection.

I have two stamps that work well - the headline is a Penny Black and the second is actually from a museum gift set (I think for children!).

The first card I colored using ProMarkers, I wanted a slightly watercolor effect so kept the variety to a minimum. I diecut the image and then diecut a red circle to give it more standout. The background paper is Papermania Apple & Cranberry set. I added a single candi and then left it at that. I decided not to add a greeting because I think it can work for any occasion.

Next I went more geographical and CAS. The stamp is a stylized Big Ben so I decided to go bold and geometric. I used a big greeting stamp that Claire gave me (i htink it's Papermania?) and then the border punch is Martha Stewart. I think the blue and yellow are both Hippie Chic by DCWV and the green is a basic stack from Michael's. Just a silver candi that looks like a brad - I kept the glitter and bling off as I think it has a more masculine feel.

Hoping my colleague likes them!

Project 169: Double challenge grey blue and red birthday card

Claire and I had a (very mini) Skype play date today and decided to do a double challenge. We looked to Color Throwdown for their weekly color scheme and both loved it:

We then hopped over to Freshly Made Sketches for a layout to give us a bit more structure:

And voila! A double challenge completed.

Claire had embossed me a few papers from folders in her collection and when I saw the color scheme I wanted to use this red embossed daisy paper from that set she gave me.

I decided to focus on texture over pattern, as the grey and white striped paper is really bold and other patterns would be overwhelmed. The blue paper is slightly metalic, with a subtle lace pattern and then the little bauble ribbon was a fun little addition.

I decided to use a script peel off for the greeting to keep it silver. All it needed was a candi and I decided to down tools. I love the modern CAS feel and was happy to spend the afternoon playing with Claire. Check out her card here!