Midnight Butterflies and a few challenges

Louise's challenge for Tag Tuesday this week is Butterflies..  Now you know I am not going to pass that up.. :)  Simon Says Stamp and Show's challenge this week is to use layers. (Stamping or layering of anything) another thing I have a hard time refusing...

I started with my tag in the shape of a butterfly and put it onto a card. My picture is of the finished project.

 I saw this dress on the Emmy's last night and I thought it was absolutely stunning because it was black and faded into greys and shades of black.  (Of course on the shows where they reviewed the clothes they hated it! LOL! Oh. well.. I won't be going to any red carpet events)  The dress was the inspiration for my Midnight butterflies! I don't want you to adjust your monitor. I couldn't believe how my picture turned out... I kept adjusting it in my editing software to get the hues to show up.

You can see the faintest hint of color on the flourish as that is actually a silver piece of shiny cardstock.  I think the camera must have done something to translate this into a black and white photo. :)  Here is a second shot that tells me that it is just the fact that I used all the shades of silver, black and grey.

See the little bit of blue in the reflection?  That is from something on my desk in front of the shadow box reflecting on the flourish. All I can say is this is much prettier IRL you can see all the shades and hues of the black and white.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Simon Says Stamp an Show - Tim Holtz Inspired

The Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this week is Tim Holtz inspired... How fun... I think I went a little overboard...

There is a little bit of everything going on here. :) The colors are mostly glimmer mist. I started with a doily with paper on one side and the front is gold finish. I flipped it over and laid it on white cardstock. Spritzed Daffodil, Key Lime Pie, and Turquoise blue over the doily which gave me two pieces of my card. The doily in the background and the background for my main images.

After that it was stamping and masking with a plastic die mask from the Tim Holtz birdcage die from Sizzix. The butterfly is from white crepe streamers I purchased as the store and sprayed with the same combination of Glimmer Mists.  The ribbon along the right side is from Tattered Angels with similar colors misted on it and scrunched up.

That is the highlights. Hope you are having a fun weekend.  I went to see my youngest cheer today. She looked so cute with her little outfit on and doing her cheers. Very fun!

Have a lovely Sunday.

Suzz

2S4Y - Laura's Sketch #59

Playing in the  2S4Y sketch challenge this week using Laura's sketch #59.

I am in need of a few more Christmas cards for a class which means I had  all my wonderful Memory Box stamps and papers out on my desk. So while I was playing with the sketch I used them to create my two different cards based on this sketch. 

The first one I was inspired to do also fits a post over on the PaperCrafts blog to use pleats. I thought I was being so clever in creating pleats in my paper. But I must have seen it in the October issue and it stuck in the back of my brain. :)

The pleats were my inspiration to the segments on the bottom of the sketch. I took me three tries to get the pleating right. :)

But I love the effect and definitely going to try it again.  It reminds be of a skirt. :)

The paper is Memory Box Poinsettia Fields. The Birds are from Maya Road and they are painted with Adirondack Paint Dauber from Ranger and then stamped with the beautiful Memory Box Elemental Damask (C1390).  The branch is from Memory Box E1036 Blossom Branch. The sentiment is from Memory Box B1385 Heaven Sings and one of my favorites!

The second card started with a beautiful brayered background using Rangers Distress Inks Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord. After they were brayered on a larger piece of white cardstock I stamped three times the Memory Box Snowy Branches E1419 using versamark watermark ink. They are embossed using this wonderful Ranger Embossing Powder called Silver. What I love about it and you can't see it in the picture is that it has a silver metal base but it has flecks of silver glitter in it. And when you heat emboss it you still can see the glitter. I have a few other glitter embossing powders where when you heat it you can't see any glitter when you are done just lumpy embossing powder.  Love this embossing powder.

The snowflakes are punched after I stamped the Peace Collage on white cardstock using versamark and the same embossing powder heated up.  The punches are Martha Stewart and EK Success.

Thanks for stopping by....

Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge #44

Sarah selected  the colors this week at the  Play Date Cafe Challenge.

She schemed up these colors to try to pair together colors that don't seem to work together easily.

Here is the color challenge photo:

using the colors Hot Pink, Mustard and Navy Blue...

I think my blue might be a tad light but otherwise I tried to stick close to the colors provided. 

I started with the main image had fun putting together my scene. I then decided to create an unusual way to display my card by turning the Easel card on it's side.

and putting a sentiment on the inside.  I really liked how it turned out. I will have to do this again. The only downside is it is difficult to photograph.

I also created an ATC with the same colors and using a collage stamp. I was pleased with how it turned out.

The other design team members have also created something wonderful projects using these unusual colors.

Sarah Anderson

Ruby 2 Shoes

Savannah O'Gwynn
Stephanie Kraft

Julie Ranae

Lisa Somerville

 Our fun  guest designer this week is Elise and her lovely  creation can be found at her blog Mama Cow Creations.

Our sponsor this week is Memory Box go over to the Cafe to see what the prize is.

We are also saying farewell to Stephanie Kraft.  I will miss her and her wonderful designs. She has been great to work with and I hope we get to do so again in the future.

This is going to be a fun challenge with these interesting color choices. Have a lovely Thursday.

Suzz

Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge

I have been wanting to play along in the Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenges for a few weeks and keep running out of time to play along. I was happy I found a little time tonight to create a mini card.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my take on the sketch:

I have been wanting to play with the beautiful Bloom and Grow set from Artistic Outpost again and decided to pull out the little girl and her wheelbarrow of flowers for the challenge.

I stamped, colored, distressed and embossed.  A few of my favorite things. :)   Also I was able to use some of my favorite Basic Grey paper from the Wisteria collection sent to me by the wonderful Donna! Thanks Donna!

I am hoping to play along in a few other challenges this week but have a few things on my plate to work on that I can't share. :)  So we will see how productive I am.. (Including folding multiple loads of laundry, yuck).

Hope you had a lovely Monday! 

Suzz

Tag Tuesday Challenge - Not on Paper

Here is a little different project. Louise's tag challenge this week is to create a tag not on paper. 

We went to the beach on Lake Michigan last Saturday. We don't do it that often but I threw the idea out last week when one of the cousins from Texas was staying with us. We didn't manage to make it to the beach with him but decided to head over as a family. 

The water is sooo cold.. The weather with the heat index was over 90+ but you step into that water and freezing! The kids went in for awhile and came out with blue lips. :)

Sorry I digress... My youngest daughter Tanya and myself love to pick up the stones because they are so beautiful and as we were doing that I found a piece of wood that had been smoothed with the constant ebb and flow.  So my tag this week not on paper is from this little driftwood found at the beach.

Sometimes when I take pictures of my projects they look better on film and other times they don't look as good on film.  This is one of those that doesn't look as good on film. :)   I think it is because you can't see how soft the embossing looks on the wood and the texture.

Very simple project of stamping and embossing on the wood. I used my piercing tool to drill two holes into the wood to make my string to hang this. I ended up making it a wall hanging as I thought it was pretty enough and my youngest has already asked me for it.

I added a touch of iridescent gold to the flowers petals and the edge of the wood.

Hope you have a blessed Sunday.

Suzz

Card Patterns Sketch #78

I am a guest designer today over at Card Patterns. My card was selected as the winner of Sketch #76. (Yeah!) Here is the fabulous Sketch #78 which we had to work with for this week's challenge.

and here is my take on the sketch:

I had all the plans of using a beautiful chipboard piece, lace, etc... But my card decided to take its own path....

I really love this stamp from Stampendous  Ranunculas Field. Earlier this week I found my twinkling H2O's which were buried.  I pulled them out to color this image because I know knew where they were. :)

The background stamps are all Hero Arts and the sentiment is from Penny Black.

Inks that were used in the stamping include: Versafine Black Onyx, Versafine Vintage Sepia, Ranger Distress Ink Crushed Olive, Antique Linen.

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Moxie Fab World - Tuesday Trigger - An Exercise in Exotic

Cath posted on the Moxie Fab World this picture as her Tuesday Trigger - An Exercise in Exotic.

Maharani Jewel Box from Sundance

Immediately I was inspired by the colors and the textures and even the blocking.  So here is my take on the card.

I shared my card with my kids and asked them what they thought. There were general thumbs down across the board.  This included the 5-9 population, 10-13 population and the 13 to 15 population. LOL!  They did say it looked like the inspiration photo after I shared it with them.  The other issue they had, was it was too simple. (They know their mom's detail filled style) So I added the sparklies to represent the handles on the doors. :)

I will say that making the pieces was just a pleasure. I was embossing, creating faux metal, and distressing and using lots of fun colors! I even have some other pieces that didn't make it onto the card which inspired new ideas and techniques. 

I hope your Friday is going to be fabulous, leading into a great weekend. 

Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge #43

Julie selected  the fun colors this week at the  Play Date Cafe Challenge from this wonderful picture from Martha Stewart. 

What a fun picture! Love those flags and saving that idea for a future card. :)

I started with my alcohol inks and blended together Willow, Juniper, Blending Solution and created a background on glossy cardstock. After the background dries, stamp script using StaZon blue solvent ink.  The dragonflies are stamped on light blue cardstock with green ink. Little glitter and some pearls and the dragonflies are ready to take flight. :)

The grass and sentiment are Stampin Up. They are stamped using StaZon green and blue inks.

Go check out the  other wonderful entries from the rest of the design team:

Play Date Cafe design team

Sarah Anderson

Ruby 2 Shoes

Savannah O'Gwynn
Stephanie Kraft

Julie Ranae

Lisa Somerville

 and our fun  guest designer this week is Paul B, and take a look at his  blog The Artsiders . 

Our sponsor this week is Creative Inspirations Paints who is offering up 12 jars of paint as our prize this week!

Can't wait to see the entries using these great colors.

Suzz

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend and I was busy crafting too but can't share too much. I am working on a technique article for Crafts N Things. Very excited to be working on it!  I can share a card, I created for a class at Stamp Scrap N More I will be teaching in September.

Here is my card.

All I am going to say is it is going to be a messy class and smell good. LOL!

Very excited to find out I had won Lisettes' blog candy. :) Check our her blog. Love everything she creates it is all beautiful!

Have a fabulous Monday! 

Suzz

Etsy Inspired Challenge #100 & Simon Says Stamp - End of Summer Blues

The Etsy Inspired 100th Challenge is to be inspired by Cathy Walters.  If you take a look at her work you definitely will be inspired. Here are a few of the pieces that inspired my card:

The other challenge that caught my eye was the Simon Says Stamp - End of Summer Blues. The colors I wanted to pull from Cathy's work was the shading from her Paris inspired pendant. So they both work together beautifully.

I had so much fun creating these little scenes. Sponging, flowers, butterflies, dragonflies... what's not to love!  I also loved the silver around each of Cathy's pendants and wanted to pull that in as my accent colors.

The stamps are mostly Hero Arts with a few Cornish Heritage Farms thrown in. The colors of inks are Memento Blue Bahama, Ranger Distress Inks Tumbled Glass, Memento Summer Sky, Versafine Blue.

Have a wonderful Friday with a nice weekend coming up...

Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge #42

Sarah selected  the fun colors this week at the  Play Date Cafe Challenge.  

I was inspired by the rich warm colors to make a masculine card. I searched around in my images drawer and found this image of the men fishing. 

And pulled out the scrap cardboard and everything fell into place quickly after that.

Here is another project using the colors from this week.

I heat embossed my die cut four times with the embossing powder. I then inked up the Hero Arts Three ferns with versamark and while the embossing powder was hot stamped it in to create an impression.  I then had an inspiration and added a layer of brown embossing powder into the fern impression and heated it up.  Very cool!  I then created a mini journal with pages to capture photos.

Now go take a look at all the other fabulous entries from the rest of the design team:

Play Date Cafe design team

Sarah Anderson

Ruby 2 Shoes

Savannah O'Gwynn

Julie Ranae

Lisa Somerville

 and our fabulous guest designer this week is Elise Durenberger, go check out her blog Mamacow Creations .  Our sponsor this week is Memory Box who is offering a lovely prize!

Hope to see you over at the Play Date Cafe!

Suzz

Etsy Inspired Challenge #100

I wanted to do a quick post for the Etsy Inspired Challenge which is celebrating their 100th challenge. Special challenge with extra prizes and a blog hop. Also several of my blogging buddies are on the design team Virginia, Savannah, and Julie (guest designer). 

The inspiration is from the fabulous Cathy Walker's jewelry.  My inspiration is this fun pendant with the rooster.

How fun is that!  I wanted to sneak this in right before my PDCC post which will be up shortly. But I didn't want to miss out on the EIC fun.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Golden Sunset

I apologize that you can see my shadow box peeking out of the corner in this picture. :) I take a few photos every time and then edit them to try to correct any lighting issues but if I don't pay attention like this photo I don't realize how close to the edge of the box my card is.

This started as a background to a house but after I finished the back two steps I decided I didn't want to put my house on the front step and leave the view. :)

The trees are from Crafty Individuals (CI-209) and the sentiment is from Kodomo.

The background is sponged using Ranger Distress Inks (Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge) and a touch of black dye ink.

I pulled the measurements from Splitcoaststampers tutorials.

Enjoy the sunset. :)

Suzz

Wee Memories & Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge

Two new challenges for me...

The Simon Says Stamp and Show is a new blog which will have weekly challenges. The first challenge is Things with Wings.  (Great prize! Go check it out!)

Wee Memories challenge this week is Butterflies. One of my favorite embellishments. :)

Now this card  is going to look familiar to my previous card because I created this background as a possible background for my dress form but decided it was the wrong background for my mannequin but it begged me not to put it in the Island of Misfit cards.  I listened and made it into a card with my favorite butterflies.

The background started from a piece of white cardstock. The damask were stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder to create a resist. I then sponged over the surface using a mix of oranges and greens and browns.  I then ironed off the embossing powder on the damasks to stamp over the surface.

I tried something new that I had never tried before after watching too much Design Star. (We are all addicted to that and The Next Food Network Star).  I wanted to see if I could get the rustic torn effect of patches of my background showing through another pattern. So I took a piece of thin copy paper and tore open holes and along the edge to give it a mask but a mask with rough edges. I then stamped over the mask onto my background. It doesn't show up too much here but next time I am going to sponge the edges after I stamp to really show the effect. I like how it turned out.

After that I stamped some of  my flowers and weeds. I then stamped my sentiment with versamark and heat embossed using white embossing powder.

The butterflies were created using the same colors as the background but after they were stamped and sponged I added clear embossing to make the colors pop.

Hope you enjoyed my pattern paper I created. :)

Products:

• Hero Arts - Antique Engravings
• Hero Arts - Real Flowers, Real Watercolor Flowers 
• Hero Arts - Essential Messages
• Hero Arts - Simply Handmade
• Hero Arts - Damask
• Ranger Distress Inks - Crushed Olive, Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey
• Memento - Rich Cocoa
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Versamark Watermark Ink
• Clear and White Embossing Powder
• Flourishes
• Copic - E37 (Colored the gems)

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Tag Tuesday & Card Patterns Sketch 76

Sunday Evening... Time to rest and prepare for the work week. :)

I decided to combine a few challenges today. I started with my tag for the Tag Tuesday challenge. I  was inspired by Dawn's tag and card combination to use my tag on a card.

Louise's tag challenge this week has a guest hostess Sarah.  Sarah proposed creating a tag based on a mannequin form. I downloaded a free template from:  http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/mannequin.htm

Here is my tag:

Sketch #76 from Card Patterns  looks like this:

Here is the finished card:

The inks used include: Ranger Distress Inks - Rusty Hinge, Crushed Olive, Wild Honey, Versafine Vintage Sepia, and  Memento Rich Cocoa.

The stamps are mostly Hero Arts. (I think this also qualifies for their Keep in Touch challenge for this month).

I had so much inky fun today. I hope to share some more cards this week. :)

Suzz

Moxie Fab World Challenge - Signs of Peace - Part II

I was waiting for this great Love Bug set from Unity to show up to create one more card for the Moxie Fab World Challenge - Signs of Peace.

I am also submitting this to the Simon Says Challenge which this week is to Sing it Baby. (Thanks Dawn for the suggestion!)

I had some left over scraps from my playing around with the peace sign previously and used them to start this card.

The slug bug was stamped from the Unity set onto the peace sign background and cut out. The edges have been sponged to give it depth.

The background sun was so fun. I was lucky enough at CHA to pick up a new The Crafters Workshop template.  The sun is sponged using Ranger Distress Inks Mustard, Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, and Fired Brick.

Another addictive song with the sentiment. I had everyone in the house singing this after I finished the card. :)

Thanks for stopping by.......

Suzz

Mojo Monday 150

Mojo Monday 150 Sketch  has some lovely angles and shapes.  I tried to go a little different route. I also created this with the Hero Arts Monthly Challenge in mind which is to Keep in Touch or back to school. I know of someone who can use a little pick me up and I hope this card will do the trick.

Here is the sketch...

Now take a step back and do a little abstract view and look at my card.  Like those puzzles where you look at the dots until you see something.

I had a little inspiration late at night about tilting my flowers to represent the two main shapes on the vertical and horizontal.

I changed up the sentiment to say Bee. Then I got that song stuck in my head. No... Don't think it or you will be singing it all day or until you listen to music to counteract the effect.

Love the flower from the Hero Arts Be Happy Set either coloring or piecing it is a sweet design. I have seen lots of my Flickr friends using this lovely set. 

The papers are from a variety of packs.  I went looking through my stash to see what I could find and was pleased with the colors and papers I found.

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz 

RAKS with Strawberries

I wanted to share some special things we (me and my youngest Tanya) received in the mail from the wonderful Heather.   I had seen the cutest little knitted hat on her blog. (She is very talented not only in card making but also in stitching and knitting) I had mentioned that my youngest would love a hat like that. Heather offered to create one.

This is a picture of Tanya wearing her wonderful strawberry hat and a second little hat doll sized.  Tanya ran upstairs to get her doll and put her hat on to model for the picture.

She also included this hat which Tanya loved too..

In addition she sent the cutest card for Tanya with a little girl with knitting needles. I can't share a picture because it was addressed to Tanya and she took it up to her room and didn't want to share as it was her card. :)  But if you go to Heather's blog you can see it here.

I too received some goodies including this gorgeous card! This picture doesn't nearly reflect how beautiful the card is!

 

Thank you Heather!!!

Suzz

2S4Y Kazan #58

Lovely sketch by Kazan this week at the 2S4Y challenge.

Here is my take on the sketch: 

I shortened and widened the sketch to accommodate my heart.  This doily had a lovely heart center which I cut out to open up the doily. The doily is also sprayed with glimmer mist (Patina)  to give it a lovely light blue sheen.

Products: 

• Memory Box - Enchanted 
• Memory Box - Dill Flower 
• Memory Box - Peace, Love, Joy 
• Memory Box - Damask Butterfly
• Memory Box - First Flight 
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• StazOn - Teal Blue 
• May Arts - Silk Ribbon 
• Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist - Patina 
• Marvy Uchida - Butterfly Punch 

Thanks for stopping by...
Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge #41

This week at the  Play Date Cafe Challenge  Julie selected a picture of an Italian village. I was immediately inspired by the rich colors and the photo.  

After a few variations my village ended up looking like this.

Very simple rustic little village with lots of houses on the hill-side. Love this stamp and have played with it before but never finished it for a card so pleased to finally create a card with it!

Products:

• Hero Arts - Village
• Hero Arts - Life is not Perfect 
• Ranger Distress Ink - Fire Brick Red
• Watercolor Pencil - Golden Brown
• Raffia

Now go take a look at all the other fabulous entries from the rest of the design team:

Play Date Cafe design team

Sarah Anderson

Ruby 2 Shoes

Savannah O'Gwynn

Julie Ranae

Lisa Somerville

Our wonderful guest designer this week is Paul B.

Looking forward to what inspiration the photo and colors bring to you.

Suzz

Elegant Weeds

Can't get enough of the Elegant Weeds Stamp from Hero Arts. Love stamping them and coloring them in with the various shades of watercolor.

I unfortunately had to create a few cards for someone who had loss a loved one. I wasn't sure about the twine on a sympathy card but wanted to keep it fairly simple.

Hope your day is fabulous!

Suzz

Tag Tuesday on Sunday - Christmas In July Colors

Louise's challenge for us this week was to create a tag using Christmas colors (green and red) but not a Christmas card.

Here is my tag:

Recipe:

1. Stamp Artistic Outpost Beyond the Sea - Lighthouse using black pigment ink.
2. Smear Ranger Crushed Olive on craft mat and paint ground using water brush.
3. Smear Ranger Distress Inks Fire Brick Red on craft mat and paint light house using water brush.
4. Mask light house.
5. Stamp background using Beyond the Sea - Song using black pigment ink.
6. Stamp Sentiment onto Ivory Cardstock and cut into pieces.
7. With mask still in place. Smear Adirondack green & light blue paints across sky.
8. Versamark entire tag and clear emboss. Repeat 3 times.
9. Bend and fold tag to get cracks in embossed surface.  Smear brown dye ink over surface and into cracks.
10. Go up into kids bathroom and cut a piece off the draped fishnet in corner behind door. :O
11. Attach cut fishnet to top right corner of card and leftovers from that to ribbon.
12. Pop dot and attach sentiment.

This was very fun to create. I am going to have to put it on a card to send out because I love the fishnet effect. :) Don't worry the fishnet still looks good in the bathroom as it is all draped and not hanging where you can tell it has been cut.

Thanks for stopping by.. Have a blessed Sunday.

Back to work tomorrow so my card output will begin to slow down again! :)

Suzz