1 card for 2 challenges

I'm doubling-up today, entering one card for two challenges!

PTI's Make It Monday #238 includes a current design trend - ombre! The challenge was to incorporate ombre into a Valentine's card. Here's the video to check out for more info...

This worked very well with another challenge this week: Have A Heart over at Simon Says Stamp.

Here's what I came up with when I fused the two challenges together:

Can you see that ombre actually shows up in two different places on this card? The hearts change colors as you look down the card, as does the blending on the piece of paper behind the hearts.

I started out with the postage die cut and heart stamps. I've had that postage die cut for a little while now, and it's been sitting on my table as a reminder to try it out! Does anyone else do that with their craft supplies? Sometimes when I put supplies away all the time, I tend to always go back to my favorites. Keeping a stamp set, sentiment, paper, or die cut that I don't use as often on my desk reminds me to use it.

Valentine's Day is coming up... do you have your cards yet?

 

Materials

Paper - White card and envelope, black paper (Hobby Lobby), white card stock, patterned paper (Simon Says Stamp card kit), red paper (Stampin Up)

Stamps - Circle hearts (Michael's), Swoosh (Papertrey Ink)

Ink - Ranger dye inks (Classic Cherry, Pink Gumball, Wild Orchid, Black Tie)

Die cut - Postage die (Papertrey Ink)

Embellishments - Recollections red marker, blending tool

Thank You & January Personal Faves

Just wanted to write a quick note to thank everyone who has read, commented, and/or supported this blog in its first month! I had no idea that my first 30 days in the blogging community would be so busy, engaging, and FUN!

As you can tell, most of the posts here will be sharing cards that I'm making for different challenges like Freshly Make Sketches, Papertrey Ink Make It Monday, and others. But I have few other ideas that I hope to roll out soon. Stay tuned...

Here are a few of my personal favorite cards from the month of January - some made it to the blog, so they might be familiar...

Thanks again to everyone for following along! (And if you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to this blog so you don't miss any updates along the way.) Looking forward to the next 30 days - February is a great month for cards! :)

Simon Says Stamp February Card Kit "Sweetheart"

One of my favorite cardmaking products is the monthly Simon Says Stamp card kits. I've tried a few different kits from a variety of companies, and I think SSS is the best! They include papers, card stock, stamps, dies, embellishments, and more that all coordinate but also can be used on their own. I think by the time I went out and bought all of these items separately, the cost would be more than the kit. There is a small discount for subscribing monthly to the kit (this is what I do - saves you about $5). Plus, they're fast with shipping/delivery, too!

And since my kit was recently delivered, I didn't waste any time trying it out. Below is the kit, as well as a recent card:

I wanted to do something related to Valentines Day that could also be used throughout the year. That's part of why I like so many of the sentiments in this kit - you can get more use out of them than sayings for just one day.

 
The sentiment, paper, and sequins are all from the kit. The punched shape for the sentiment and black ink were not included. You could definitely do something like this on your own, even if you don't have a punch like the one above. Use a different shape, or even use a simple rectangle.

Can't say enough good things about the SSS monthly card kits! Already excited to see what next month brings...

 

Materials

Paper - white card and envelope (Hobby Lobby), white card stock and patterned papers (Simon Says Stamp card kit)

Inks - Black Memento (Hobby Lobby)

Embossing - embossing folder (personal gift)

Punch - shape punch (Hobby Lobby)

Embellishments - heart sequins (Simon Says Stamp card kit), Recollections pink marker (personal gift)

Freshly Made Sketches #221

Happy Saturday! Are you having a good weekend? I spent some time with a friend today making cards and having lunch. It's so fun to share cardmaking ideas, tips, and techniques with a fellow cardmaker. Hope you're enjoying your time off.

I also took some time this weekend to create a new card for Freshly Made Sketches sketch #221. Here was the design to follow:

And here's what I came up with:

A little masking in the middle of the card really makes the sentiment the focus of the card, even more than so than the sketch inspiration. I think masking is such an effective and easy way to add some technique and creativity to a card.

The green, blue, and purple combination is one of my go-to ink sets, and the Ranger inks just work so well together. I used two different shades of blue for the "hello" die cut. The masking was just a simple circle. This was a pretty easy card to make and is another one of those that could be reproduced with a variety of sentiments and colors.

I hope the recipient enjoys this card and has a wonderful birthday! Join me again next week for another Freshly Made Sketches post!

Materials

Paper - white card and envelope (Hobby Lobby), true blue paper (Michael's), light blue paper (Simon Says Stamp card kit)

Stamps - Make It Market Mini Kit: Garden Gild (Papertrey Ink)

Inks - Ranger dye inks (Carribbean Coast, Blue Ribbon, Lily Pad), Tim Holtz distress inks (Dusty Concord)

Embellishments - Blue gems (Simon Says Stamp card kit)

Lasting Hearts Card Drive

Have you heard about the Lasting Hearts Card Drive? Many cardmaking bloggers have highlighted it on their blogs and social media sites. Read more here at Jennifer McGuire's blog.

The loss of a child must bring so much devastation and shock. The future that you envisioned will never been as you once imagined it to be, and a little source of tremendous joy is gone. These families surely could use some love, kindness, support, and hugs.

So I'm joining in this challenge with some cards. It's a small effort, and I'll never know the families who receive them. But I hope that these notes give those suffering a little comfort, and also reassure them that they are not alone. There are people praying and thinking of them, and their lives will once again know joy.

Here are just a few of the cards I'm sending off this week...

If you'd like to participate, donate, purchase a special "prayers" stamp set (with a portion of the profits being donated), or learn more about this card drive, check out this post over at Jennifer McGuire's lovely blog.

Freshly Made Sketches #220

Happy Monday, everyone! I'm playing along today with Freshly Made Sketches, sketch #220. A friend introduced me to this blog, and it's quickly become one of my go-to sites for inspiration. I think coming up with a layout and design is one of the hardest parts of cardmaking, so I love that this site provides different ideas. Here's this week's sketch:

I thought about this for a few days before diving in. I thought about snowflakes, balloons, and flowers for the top left corner. And then I remembered some new craft goodies (paper, die cuts, stamps, and inks) I received as a gift, and I wanted to incorporate those into this project. Here's the final card - more details below.

It's a little bit different than the sketch, but I think it still works with the focus in the top left corner and sentiment to the right.

I really LOVED that leaf paper (one of my new goodies!), so that was my starting point for this design. It's so clean and simple, and gives a few different colors to use with green, yellow, and red. I decided to use them all with the flower die-cuts and leaves.

The flower dies are unique because they help add some dimension to the card. Part of the petals actually lift up, giving some added interest. I think it's really neat that the flower isn't completely flat on the card, but comes up off the card. Here's a better view where you can see the petals lifted up off the card a bit...

I think anyone who receives a card with these flowers just couldn't help but touch the petals! The flowers are the focus point, and then it comes with a little more fun with petals coming off the card. So fun!

I really wanted the focus to be the leaf paper and the die cuts, so I left the rest of the card simple with the black paper, white ink, and sentiment that isn't too big or distracting. The small pearls and sequins are also good, subtle embellishments.

This was a fun sketch to try, and there will be more Freshly Made Sketches posts to come!

Materials

Paper - white card, black card stock, green paper (Hobby Lobby); yellow envelope (Paper Source); leaf background paper, red paper, yellow paper (Stampin' Up)

Dies - Botanical Builder framelits dies (Stampin' Up)

Stamps - Beautiful Butterflies (Papertrey Ink)

Embellishments - clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), small pearls (Hobby Lobby)

Simon Says: Ombre #ssswchallenge

Hi all! Hope you enjoyed the long weekend! With Monday off, I was able to spend some time on this week's entry for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. This week's theme was ombre, a design showing up all over the place... so why not cards, too? :)

I went a little girly with the design for this week, using pinks and purples and polka dots, along with one little heart. I also thought it would be fun to include additional ways other than stamping to incorporate the ombre - hence, the washi tape and baker's twine.

This was a pretty simple card to put together. I used just two stamp sets - one for the ombre polka dot look (stamped three times from top to bottom) and another for the sentiment, envelope, and heart. This could easily be mass-produced with the sentiment changed for different occasions with any number of sentiments on the front.

I really lucked out with having different shades of purples and pinks in inks, tape, and twine. I liked having the solid pink stripe across the middle to "ground" the sentiment. That pink polka dot washi tape was a perfect way to incorporate another row of color without stamping - it might look like it's stamped, buuuut it's not! :)

Thanks to SSS for another fun week of inspiration, and many thanks to you for dropping by!

Materials

White card & envelope (Hobby Lobby)
Washi tape (Hobby Lobby)
Baker's twine (Hobby Lobby)
Stamps - Sending Happy Thoughts (Simon Says Stamp), Good Times (Papertrey Ink)
Inks - Ranger die inks (grape soda, wild orchid, pink gumball, black tie)