Less is More!

You can only use one block to strut your stuff.  

I wanted to make a sample of how you can recycle and make some great cards in doing so for the Die Cut Divas on flickr.  We're having a challenge there, so please come join the June challenge.

I also wanted to enter a challenge at Less is More.  I hope my card is "less" enough.  Here's my card.  I made the flower from tissue boxes and cut the corner square from a corrugated lotion bottle protector sleeve.  It's ok to use a rectangular card.   I think square is more striking, myself and maybe I'll use a square card next time.

I'll show you some of the other cards I made also. The first one below is for my son and his wife's anniversary later this month.  The sexy nylons are from her packaging.  

Have fun and recycle, re-purpose!

June Challenge at Die Cut Divas

I read on the Hero Arts blog of May 13, 2011 that Hero Arts won a 2011 Small Business of the Year award for their sustainability and green business.  I know a lot more people recycle, re-purpose, or reuse items, whether it's wood planking from an old farmhouse or a doily for an embellishment on a card.  I had already thought of my challenge for the Die Cut Divas flickr group challenge early in the month, but it still needed firming up.  No matter what type of recycle, re-purpose or reuse of an item, the card must have a die-cut or be embossed with your machine.  Any type of machine is fine.

What kinds of things can be reused, recycled, re-purposed?  I use tissue boxes all the time as well as packaging for stockings for die-cuts.  I love the idea of doilies, buttons, or stick-pins for flowers making the card scene.  I now have a great button die that I love to use because it's not as thick and heavy as a real button.  How about turning ribbon into flowers?  Yes, that's not recycled, but it is re-purposed. 

Have fun!  I am publishing this early as I have been locked out of my desktop for about a week and I want to make sure I can get this up and running.

I'm in the mood for......

LOVE, BABY!!! AND Stamping... hehehe  It's never too early for Christmas stamping.   Cas-ual Fridays wants some bling - I thought I'd do a little gift card and then had to do an ATC... yes had to.  I thought I'd use a great sketch by Lucy Abrams - stamped the greeting on some ribbon following and am submitting the card and ATC to Lily Pad Cards.   I hadn't used the Hero Arts Merry Christmas CL364 trees yet, nor the sentiment in Hero Arts Holiday Sayings CL343.  The trees are stamped and clear embossed.  The ribbon was stamped and cut.  Simple and easy.

I used the same sketch at Lily Pad Cards, for my ATC.  I wanted to try out the color challenge at THE PLAY DATE CAFE.and rather like the results - simple and attractive.  The image has become a favorite of mine from Bugaboo Digi Stamps.   You can barely see the Hero Arts Envelope Pattern on the background,  but it's there and of course I had to use Tim Holtz distress ink, this time Vintage Photo.

I hope you liked these.  I had fun and that's what counts too.  Have a great weekend.

Ahhhhhhhhhh Vintage

ATC above - Hero Arts Digital Kit "The Art of Style"

A few gems for the lady and just couldn't pass up those dragonflies.

                                       

Cuttlebug and embossing folders - YAY!

I do indeed love the vintage images. The Hero Arts Digital Kit "The Art of Style" contains so many wonderful digital images.  An embossing folder certainly adds depth to a card and grabs immediate attention.  I guess I can't do a card without using Tim Holt's Distress Inks.  This one is Shabby Shutters, still a much used color and one of the first colors I purchased.

I'm entering both ATC and card into Lily Pad Cards, which is a new but exciting place to visit.
Let's hear it for bling and Casual for the Third Challenge at CAS-ual Fridays 
I MISSED the last color challenge at The Play Date Cafe, but I loved their color combo and used it in the ATC and card.  So thank you for those colors.

Wee Memories is in my MIND! (2nd post today)

Don't you just love that watering can?  I just really like the image - it's from Bugaboo and happened to be a free stamp so you can try before you buy.  Well, I love this.  I, of course, distress the oval - I can't help using those distress inks from Tim Holtz.  I used a green die-cut I received from a trade and decided to use my leftovers from a previous flower card behind the die-cuts.  I wanted some depth so stamped that same flower on the note card.  The sentiment "NEAT" is from some stickers (below card in front) and the sentiment "You're so special" is Hero Arts.  I found the dragonfly sitting on my desk and popped him on too.  I found two black square stickers on a page of different colored and sized stickers.  I think they came in a Christmas bundle in Joanne's one year.  I'm entering this in Wee Memories challenge, so I hope you visit her blog and submit your artwork too.

Wee Memories - GIVE AWAY!

Anyone who hasn't been to Wee Memories is missing out!  There's a chance to win Graphic 45 stamps and paper.  I haven't heard of them, but I WANT TO! 


Let's see the her blog hit 1400 friends, she's already are at 1340 friends! Imagine how exciting that is!  You will love the challenges and what fun to enter a give-away.... you can't beat that!

Ok, Lily Pad.... I think you're name-calling!

Yeah, they are name-calling and they want me to call names too... Go see what it's all about at Lily Pad Cards.  I don't have the exact post (May 14, 2011) because I'm not able to drill down into it to get the url today.  Yes, I'm grinding my teeth... sooooo go make a suggestion or two on a name for the "thing".

Flowers, Flowers, Flowers

Challenges with flowers are popping up like flowers!  I unfortunately needed a Sympathy card and I found some unusual brownish red colored pattern paper and some outrageous lime colored patterned paper that I thought would work together... now as I write this, I'm thinking - WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?  Lime for a sympathy card?  I think it works though.

I'm entering this card in three challenges listed below with those all important links too.  I chose cream color card stock (so much more soothing than white) to work with.  I stamped and embossed the flowers and cut them out (Hero Arts Hand Drawn Flower - CG285) and then stamped it on the card stock in Distress Ink Antique Linen, one of my all time favorites and most frequently used Distress Inks.  I smeared Glossy Accents in the center of the large flower and added yellow seed beads (I promise to take another photo when the sun is out on that center flower).  I used Black Enamel Accents on the center of the little lime green flower and added some pearls around the card.  Right now, I'm falling into bed... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Crazy4Challenges.... C4C86

They say that ‘April showers bring May flowers’, so let’s see lots of flowers on your creations.  

Whimsie Wednesday Challenge - No Colouring - check out Tobi's Place

CRAFT US CRAZY!  

MOTHER'S DAY AND/OR FLOWERS challenge

Casual Fridays and Hero Arts ATCs

Is it Sunday or Monday?  If it's Sunday, then this is my third post of the day and if it's Monday, it is the first post of the day.... It's Sunday night for me and I'm posting a couple things tonight before my head hits the pillow.  I made my card as CAS  for the Casual Friday challenge, as I could get it and I'm quite pleased with the result.

Here's the challenge: Use stamps, texty pattern paper, a page torn from your phone book, 
or create your own..get creative!  *we are looking for text, not just a simple sentiment*
Just incorporate text prominently into your newly created CAS project,

I used the Hero Arts Friend Definition as the background cardstock and then took a border punch to some wondered vintage style 12" X 12" paper.  I popped-dotted the Hero Arts Sentiment right over the vintage paper which is pop-dotted onto the notecard.

I had made some fans after seeing the beautiful fan on Lavender and Roses.  She took me to a tutorial that is easy to follow, so you too can make these easy fold fans too.

Two ATCs for Hero Arts and I'm too late for Wee Memories and paper-piecing, but I did finish them.  


FIRST ATC:
I got the idea from Lavender and Roses - . There is a tutorial at Ginger Snap Creations that is easy to follow - I followed them, so they have to be easy.  I used the Hero Arts Leaf Cluster CG288 as background in Victorian Velvet and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks.  The little boy is paper-pieced on the Hero Arts stamp image Special Edition: Asian Dolls LP146
Because the fan is so large, I named this ATC "The Fan is All".

This second ATC, named "Summer in China" is another paper-pieced Hero Arts stamp image Special Edition: Asian Dolls LP146, but with a smaller fan and mounted on some wonderful cardstock I found at my LLS, The Stamp Art Shoppe.

Second Post today - Candy at Di's Digital Downloads

Do you like candy?  I like candy and this one is FAT FREE!  I would suggest visiting REAL soon as I believe the offer expires May 10th at Di's Digital Downloads.http://disdigidownloads.blogspot.com

Happy Mother's Day in the USA

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there.... and I mean that in only the nicest way!  I gave my daughter-in-law a card I knew she'd love.  She gave me the package you see depicted here.  She wore the stockings yesterday to a book signing and she loved it.  I had the envelope right in front of her monitor for first thing in the morning.  My granddaughter drew an image on paper and wrote "Happy Mother's Day" on it.  :)))

Digital Challenge #1 - Lily Pad

I absolutely want to hum and sing - it's a delightful day here... so, I've got a challenge to enter.  I don't have a machine to cut out the wheelbarrow or fence, sigh, oh well, but I do have scissors and I'm tenacious... I found a cute large butterfly die-cut at my LSS and thought I'd pop it on this card along with a small butterfly die-cut..  I ran Shabby Shutters Distress Ink over the ground, rubbed Faded Jeans Distress Ink on the Hero Arts Clouds stamp and there you have the background.  I colored the wheel with a silver pen and there you have my card.

Two for One!

I finally got to sit down tonight and create a card to match two challenges... gads, that feels good and I'm sure for those out there who handle 10 challenges at a time, two is nothing, but for me... two is good!.

I chose the sketch for the Card Chain Challenge at Lily Pad.  Choose a color palette, sketch, or theme. I went with the easy peasy sketch which has 3 borders and a sentiment.  I had already inked up a card with the Hero Arts Circle Design CG219 in Distress Ink Antique Linen for another project that never was used.  I had the sentiment, Hero Arts Messages CG132 stamped, embossed and cut out on my desk.  I inked the Circle Design in Frayed Burlap and stamped it twice on the card to add just a bit more depth.  Since the sketch has three borders, here comes the next challenge!

Crazy 4 Challenges, this week,  has a great recipe to use 3 different designer papers, 2 flowers and 1 button. See how easily this fits in with the other challenge?  How could it be more perfect... And I'm sure artistic license will allow me to add the flowers and button to the great design sketch at CCC.  As soon as I saw the challenge, I knew I had to use the papers in the sketch.

Be sure to check out the two challenges and enter yourself.  It's always fun to enter challenges.

A Gem of a Challenge

A brand new challenge site for me - A Gem of a Challenge.  Sounds like a great place and wait til you see the sketch.   I finished this rather late, so my post is brief and to the point... well, somewhat.  Here's my entry and I'm also entering this in the Die Cut Diva's challenge on flickr.