Once Upon a Time

You know how you have an idea in your head, and then you make something, and it looks bad, and you fix it and try something else, and it looks bad too, etc etc?  This was one of those projects.  It started out pretty simply: there were two challenge blogs this week that both had fairy tale themed challenges.  As soon as I heard "fairy tale" I thought of this cut from Storybook.  I decided to make it a monochromatic card, so I got out my light purple card base and cut the sentiment on two other colors of purple....and got stumped.

First, I tried to stamp a background behind the sentiment.  It looked horrible, so I covered it with some paper in the same color as the sentiment.  Then I tried to stamp a border along the bottom.  It looked horrible too, so I covered it as well. I was finally able to stamp a good border along the bottom strip using VersaMark ink and a strip of dots, and then I added the little purple flower in the corner just for a little bit of interest.  Whew!  I'm ready to stick a fork in this one and call it done.  ;)

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Casology- Fairy Tale

Simon Says Stamp and Show- Ever After

Double hearts

Ok, I'm having a lot of fun with the Valentine's day cards.  :)  I love that love cards don't have to be exclusively for Valentine's day.  It's much more versatile than holidays like Halloween.

This is an A2 card.  The hearts are a digital stamp from Paper Smooches.   I printed them on some polka dot digital papers that I had gotten online, unfortunately before I knew to keep track of where I'd gotten things. I paper pieced them together onto white paper, and then rounded the corners.  Then I put that onto a piece of pink woodgrain paper from DCWV.  I liked the hearts on the woodgrain because it reminded me of people who used to carve hearts into trees on movies (I don't recommend it in real life.  Please don't hurt trees).

I layered a piece of green paper from the same DCWV stack and punched it with a Fiskars border punch at the bottom.  I wrapped a piece of green ribbon around it twice and then adhered the whole thing onto white paper. 

This card will be entered into the following challenges:

Paper Smooches SPARKS- Trend watch, Polka Dots

Paper Playtime- Border Punches             

Celebrate the Occasion- Valentine’s Day with a Ribbon

Whimisical Designs- Textiles
Crafty Ribbon Challenges- Anything Goes with Ribbon

Get Well

My birthday card pile is adding up quite nicely, and I'm scheduled to go to an Archiver's class this weekend to make even more birthday cards (so excited!) so I thought I should shift my focus to other kinds of cards I might want to stock up on.  Today I made a cheery Get Well card. 

This card is an A2 card.  I used a sketch from Die Cuttin' Divas.  The only real change I made to the sketch is that I smushed their oval into a circle, because it fit my diecut better.  I started with a kraft card, then put some blue paper, and then some pink.  I repeated the blue paper on the shadow of the circle (which was cut from George and Basic Shapes) and then used a cream paper for the circle itself (also from George).

 The rainbow was cut from Create a Critter 2.  I added the cloud, which was actually supposed to be a background for a phrase on Create a Critter 2, so I could stamp the sentiment from Pink by Design's "Scripted Year" stamp set.  Then I put two gems in the top corners and some We R Memory Keepers washi tape along the bottom as embellishments.

This card will be entered into the following challenges: 

Bitten by the Bug 2- Spring is in the air                                                                                   

Pink by Design- Rainbow                             

Little Scrap Pieces- Get Well Soon       

Die Cuttin Divas- Sketch                                                                                       

Hearts

Today I have a little 4x4 mini clean-and-simple valentine.  The card base is cut from New Arrival.  I liked that it was a square card but had rounded edges.  I inked it up with some Distress Ink.  Then I cut the mat from Elegant Edges at 3.5 inches from some My Mind's Eye patterned paper. The cut has a little heart in the bottom corner, which I put some red cardstock behind and then filled in with Christmas Red Stickles.  They look pretty dark here, but they actually match the red cardstock quite well in real life.

The heart is from Doodlecharms.  I used red cardstock for the shadow and main image, and grey cardstock for the middle layer.  It's popped up on some foam squares.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:
All that Stickles- Anything Goes                                                             

Shop Pumpkin Spice- Hearts                                                                         

CardzTV- Be my valentine (round/square valentine using card feature)                 

More than Favors- Valentine’s Day                                                                                         

Fantabulous Cricut- Queen of Hearts                                                                                     

Lexi's Creations- Valentine/Love              

Mainly Red

Are you ready for another challenge over at Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges?  Good, because we've got a fun one for you this week!  Our challenge theme this time is:

Mainly Red

See? I told you it was fun!  With Valentine's Day coming up, I thought I'd use this as a chance to get my husband's card ready (don't worry, he doesn't read my blog.  He assumes he'll see all of my cards in real life).  

The base of this card is a dark red.  I cut it at A2 proportions.  Then I cut a piece of white cardstock slightly smaller to mat, then another piece of the red cardstock slightly smaller again.  That one I embossed with a hearts embossing folder from Paper Studio.  I wrapped some red heart ribbon around that layer with just a hint of color.

The cupid is cut from Sweethearts.  I used the white cardstock to cut the shadow feature, and the same red cardstock for the silhouette.  I think Sweethearts is a great cartridge for silhouettes- in fact, I use it more for those than to make the image with its actual layers.  

Now you can head over to Pause, Dream, Enjoy Challenges and check out what the rest of the Design Team has in store for you, then surround yourself with red supplies and get to crafting!  Link up with us and play along!  We've got a great prize this week, so go check it out.  

Friendly Valentine

Today I have a cute little valentine that would be perfect for a friend.  It's about 4.5 x 4.5 inches, cut based on how big the heart mat from Elegant Edges came out.  I loved those little hearts going up the edge- it's actually the "book" feature, but to me it looked like something you could get from an edger punch.

Next, I cut the bear from Create a Critter 2 at 3 inches.  Then I cut the word "Love," also from Create a Critter 2.  The two little glittery hearts are from my "extras" drawer.   Who knows where they came from (actually I think they're negative spaces from a cut I made a few weeks ago). I finished it off with a little Washi tape along the bottom but there still seemed like something was missing.  I happened to have Pink by Design's "Furry Friends" stamp set on my desk and thought the "friends fur-ever" sentiment went perfectly!

Both patterned papers on this card are from My Mind's Eye.

This card is being entered into the following challenges:

Red Carpet Studio Challenges- Ted

Pink by Design- Have a Heart

Exploring Cricut- Cricut 1, 2, 3

Happy Birthday

I hope this picture is ok for you all.  I had to lighten it up a little because of bad lighting when I took the picture.  This card is pretty simple, but I like it.  The red and teal background is made using We R Memory Keepers washi tape.  I just alternated between the two colors.  Then I made the star with an oldy but goody- George and Basic Shapes- with three different sizes of stars cut.  

I cut the strip of paper at the bottom by hand, and then stamped in teal ink using My Craft Spot's "Birthday Wishes" stamp set.  To finish it off, I used three blue skittles in the top corner.  Do you know how cool skittles are?  I got them from Carri at Double Click Connections.  To start off with I just bought 6 colors because I wanted to give them a try, but I will be back for more!

 

This card will be entered into the following challenges:
 Little Scrap Pieces- Happy Birthday           
Pile it On- Decorative Tape  
Simon Says Stamp and Show- Seeing Stars 
My Craft Spot- Wish Big
Die Cuttin Divas- Anything Goes