Happy St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day (A little early)!  My DH has a brother and sister (Twins) that were born on St. Patty's Day.  Every year I am looking for a way to incorporate St. Patty's Day into their birthday cards.

 I had an idea of a design that came to me last night. I was inspired by Cath's Moxie Fab World Card Creations Challenge of Emphasize the Negative.   I wanted a clean and simple design for my BIL and I was thinking about using the negative space from a couple of clover dies.

I knew I wanted to cut the card with a strip cut out of the front on the right side with a few clovers (Memory Box)  cut into the front.  The rest was looking for a paper to use on the inside and what stamp to use with the clovers.   I found a Studio G set I purchased just for this time of the year. :)

My second card was a quick and easy card too:

 I took a sheet of the March paper from the Graphic 45 calendar collection and cut a few of the images out and distressed the edges.  I just layered them and added a few stamped sentiments and done.  The sentiments are from the Studio G set and Memory Box.

Hope your week is going well!

Suzz

Memories

The mix of dye inks with a touch of water always amazes me. The swirling colors and the opportunity to create any mix of complementary colors is just fun.  I decided to use the inspiration from Cath's Moxie Fab World create your own background challenge to play with the inks.

The focal point is a beautiful sentiment from Verses Rubber Stamps - Memories and then I added the flowers from Hero Arts.  I created the same scene in the front and the back with a coordinating ink. The stamped images were enhanced with a touch of water color pencil to add a little hint of brown. 

I promised to share a  few photos of my craft room after the cleanup. In hindsight is still looks cluttered.  Too many things and not enough room. But too me this is clean. :)

This is the view from the door. (We usually keep it closed when we have company.)

My hubby made me this desk per my instructions with a laminate scrap for the top. We designed it so I can have a second person join me on the other side to stamp and lots of drawers on both sides of the desks. 

In the background you can see my shadowbox for taking photos. I also bought new chicken wire baskets and used them for all my bits and pieces of ribbon. 

In the corner  I added a new bakers rack to the corner replacing a bookshelf:

 I picked up some new containers to hold things but probably need another shelf in there as you can see the double layer in the middle. :) 

This is my cuttlebug station with dies and embossing folders.  Also my meltpot is down in there too.

 Finally the last bit of all my clear and cling stamps.

I had all my stamps in shoeboxes but they tend to start breaking down when you pull them in and out over and over again.  I bought these chicken wire and leather boxes at Hobby Lobby.  I have my stamps sorted by manufacturer with a few leftover bins to catch the odds and ends.  The drawers in my desk have all my wooden stamps again sorted by manufacturer.  The bottom shelf is all my alterables. 

The drawers on either side contain stencils, Christmas odds and ends, ephemera, cloth, moss, chipboard, jewelry beads and a variety of things.    

I hope you enjoyed a sneak peek in my craft room.

Suzz

Friends Owl-Ways

I am working through my list of birthdays coming up.  My youngest daughter has a good friend who has a birthday this week.  She will be turning 12.  I was trying to find a fun image that they would think was cute but not too young.

I decided to use the adorable Owl from Art Impressions:

I created the background for Moxie Fab World's Challenge to create your own background.  I used a mix of glimmer mists and shaving cream to give the soft hues.  I added a layer of Hero Arts background stamp over the inky background.

The owl was stamped with water resistant ink and colored with STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils.  The tassels are covered in new Stampendous Micro Glitter.  I was pleased with the tiny shimmer!  Hopefully Erin will be too.

I have been busy organizing my craft room and clearing it out.  I will try to take pictures later as it looks clean and organized! (We will see how long that lasts)  I am shipping off three big boxes to a garage sale at my local stamp store.  Hopefully I will sell lots of my old stamps and etc.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Pages in a Book

Today I am mixing up the Moxie Fab World Repetition challenge with the ColourQ #153 colors.  For my repetition I used the background stamp with all the houses in a village. I added touches of the colors to the houses using the palette.

I decided to use the Hero Arts Designblock houses in the village and stamp them using brown dye ink.  I mounted the card on brown cardstock and the button is brown too. (They look black in the photo but really are a nice chocolate)

The sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps World is a Book and I wanted to give it a big pop so I added the big button and tied it around the card.

Here is the color palette:

Have a great Thursday!

Suzz

Gallon, Quart, and Pint

Cathy is hosting a series of challenges over on Moxie Fab World using design rules. The Gallon, Quart, and Pint rule is all about the proportions of colors.  Typically I only use two colors and a neutral, so this challenge sparked my thought process and design. 

The main color was derived by stamping the image using a teal ink. (My Gallon)  The flowers are perfect for the next splash of color(quart) and the pink pops.  I finished with the touch of light green(Pint).  The embellishments bring back a hint of my strongest color mixed in with the neutral.  The flowers and ribbon are really white I promise. :)  Obviously they must have a warmer undertone because when I did my photo editing it turned more ivory.

Products: Stampendous I Love Paris, Flowers(Prima, My Moments),  May Arts - White Silk Ribbon, Spellbinders Die, Sizzix Embossing Folder

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Amaryllis

 Cathy over at the Moxie Fab World is hosting a week of  Card Design Handbook challenges.  Each challenge talks about design elements.  I chose the Focal Point challenge for my card today:

The jumbo cling flowers (Stampendous Amaryllis)  lend themselves to being the main focal point with their size.  I stamped the image on tissue paper and colored with watercolor pencils and glimmer mists and a water brush.

To enhance (or support the image)  I tore the edges and embossed them in gold embossing enamel.  I repeated the embossing around the edges of the card base.  The layer under the flowers is distressed with brown dye ink to soften and darken the edges which also supports the brightness of the main image.
 
A fairly simple card for me. :) Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Vintage Wedding Tag

Time for Tim's Tag for May!  I combined it with the Moxie Fab World Challenge to use Lace/Doilies, I have a little of both on my tag. 
 

My younger brother is getting married and I am thinking this is going to have to be part of his gift!

I started with the manila tag and added the layer of the sewing pattern paper.  I cut the pattern to capture the bits I wanted on my tag.

Stamp the dress form onto sewing pattern using purple ink.  Stamp button in black over the dress form. Cut out.  Stamp the dress form in purple directly onto the tag with the sewing pattern applied.  Attach the dress form over the stamped dress form. Stamp a row of the needle book along the top using purple ink.

The rest was a little sponging around the edges with Ranger Distress Inks - Concord and piling on the lace, tulle, doily, pearls, flowers and accessories. In real life it is so much softer and pretty. :)

I dipped the flowers in the beeswax mixed with a touch of glitter.  My flowers are flowers from the wedding section and it has a much heavier in the effect than the UTEE and paper flowers.  I like the effect Tim had on his flowers much better. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Mojo Monday Chick & Moxie Fab Valentine

Happy Wednesday!  I am having a crafty friend over today which means fun inky time.... I have two cards and two challenges in one post. :) 

This morning I finished my Mojo Monday card to share.  A super cute chick from Verve stamps.

I  used the Mojo Monday Sketch #227 and some lovely October Afternoon papers to create my background.  I stamped the chick and basket a few times to create layers on the ribbon and the chick.

Quick and easy card. It will go in my stash for one of my DD for Easter.

Here is the sketch:

My second share today is my DH valentine's card. I was inspired by the Moxie Fab World Cool Tools Challenge for around the house.

I created a card using sandpaper, wood veneer, and my inks. 

I started with the strip of unfinished wood veneer in light brown.  I applied layers of white acrylic paint, weathered wood dye ink smeared using sandpaper across the finish.  I repeated the process on the cardstock.  I sandpapered the surface of the cardstock and sponged on layers of the inks and paints. I typed up the sentiment on the computer an printed it out.  I sponged the edges to blend in.  I then dye cut the hearts from sandpaper pieces and flipped them back and forth to show the alternate sides.

A CAS card. My kids are so trained with my cards that when I asked my son what did he think he said it needs something more in the empty areas. LOL!  He knows my style well.  I decided since it was for my DH I would keep it CAS.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Scrapling of Love

I am playing along with the Moxie Fab World - Cool Tools Week - Die Cut challenge. I am also celebrating the new What's In the Box release over at Memory Box.  The Outside the Box blog is highlighting the new stamps this week with a few giveaways! 

A little scrapling:

I used a scrap of kraft card stock and a scrap of sticky back canvas to put together a scrapling.  The flower is a new stamp from Memory Box called Dogwood Branch. I stamped on the canvas using another new stamp called Vintage Dreams.  The butterfly dies are from Memory Box Love and Kindness release. The back of the butterfly is glimmer misted.  The front sponged with dye ink.  The flower is water colored using the same glimmer mist.  The butterfly body and center of the flower use the Stampendous Bronze crushed glass glitter. 

Details on the Memory Box celebration:
If you head over to the Outside the Box blog and leave comments on blog posts you have a chance to win a prize.  At the end of each day, one comment will be selected at random from all of that day's posts to win a prize.  There will be 2-3 posts a day, so if you leave a comment for each designer, you will have multiple chances to win that day's prize.  A winner will be selected at 11:59pm EST each night.

There is also another way to win a prize:

Upload a card (or many cards) to the Memory Box Flickr gallery this week.  New cards uploaded to the gallery between Monday, Feb 6 and Fri, Feb 10th (11:59 pm EST) will be eligible.  You can make any themed card, but we ask that you use at least one Memory Box stamp or die in your creation.  Two winners will be selected and will be featured on the Outside the Box blog.  Each winner will also receive the Memory Box stamp of their choice as well as the brand new 6" x 6" Viola paper pack. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

A few more Valentines

I combined the colors from the ColourQ and the fun Moxie Fab Challenge Around the World.

I created two different backgrounds which started from the same set of supplies: glimmer mist, acrylic paint - white, pink, sand, a plastic ring from the gallon of the milk, a paintbrush, and a cork from a wine bottle.

My first card:

 I felt like I was grade school again inking up with household objects and smearing the paint around.

Recipe:

1. Spritz glimmer mist (Red and Pink) onto craft mat.  
2. Dip plastic ring into red glimmer mist. Stamp onto white cardstock. Repeat in pink glimmer mist. Repeat until surface covered. 
3. Dip end of cork into glimmer mist and stamp into circles. 
4. Dip wood end of the paint brush into acrylic paint and roll across surface. 
5. Die cut kraft hearts. Wrap smaller heart in tissue tape. 
6. Tie twine and add hearts. 

The second card has more detail and complexity. :) 

 Recipe:

1. Roll cork through glimmer mist. 
2. Roll cork across white cardstock. Repeat across white cardstock. 
3. Distress edges with kraft colored ink. 
4. Stamp clocks randomly using light brown ink. 
5. Stamp XO using black ink. 
6. Stamp hearts using red ink. 
7. Smear white acrylic paint across the surface. 
8. Emboss Vellum using valentines embossing folder. Tear edges. 
9. Sponge edges of Tattered Angels clock frame.  Stamp clock on white cardstock and heart in the center. Add clock hand. 
10. Stamp sentiment on white cardstock. Cut banner and score and fold. 

The stamps are all Hero Arts.

Here are the colors:

Happy Friday!  I will be back tomorrow with my card for the new Stampendous Challenge for the month.

Suzz

Maps

A couple of fun projects using maps as a background. 

First is a tag.  I have had this background forever. I created it for another challenge and never used it. So when I saw the Moxie Fab World Map to your Heart challenge I pulled it out to create something with it.  The background was made by stamping the map using versamark. Embossing with clear embossing powder.  I then sponged on the blues, greens and brown dye ink over the surface. 

The next step was to stamp the skyline across the bottom with black versafine and heat emboss using black embossing powder. 

The sentiment and balloons were stamped on white cardstock and cut out. Sponged with blue and brown dye ink and pop dotted onto the tag.

Products: Ranger Distress Inks - Broken China, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Versafine Black Onyx, Versamark, Verses Rubber Stamps - Ones Destination - QQ08E17, Cornish Heritage Farms Skrapblock - Map, Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous - (Skyline), Hero Arts - Past Times (Balloons)

My second card is a mini card for both the Moxie Fab Challenge and for Wee Memories Mini Card Challenge.   

 

 

 Same idea as the tag but on a CAS mini card using a map in the background.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Butterfly Love

I love my butterflies. I was happy to pull out my new ODBD butterfly sets and make a card for the Fashionable Challenge #12 - Anything Goes using your New stash and the Moxie Fab World - Cool Tools Week - Die Cutting.

I started with a background created on a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of white cardstock.  I stamped the background using ODBD Honeycomb background  using Ranger Archival Ink Coffee. I inked up the stamp and then used a baby wipe to wipe off portions of the stamp before stamping to give an uneven effect on the background.  After I finished stamping the entire surface I sponged white acrylic paint across the surface.

The background was cut and distressed with a distressing tool and brown dye ink. Stamp the butterfly flourish using Versafine Toffee and Ranger Archival Coffee ink on the background.  Stamp again on a another piece of the honeycomb background.  Stamp the butterflies using the gold ink and overlay the details with the brown ink. Die cut using the butterfly dies.  Stamp the sentiment using the brown ink. Cut and distress edges.

The butterfly dies, stamps and sentiment are all part of the ODBD Gods Love. 

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Suzz

Joy

I combined the Mojo Monday Sketch #216, the Moxie Fab World Championing Awards & City Crafter Blog Challenge for Think Pink to create this holiday card.

 I started with the lovely sketch and knew I wanted to use the Memory Box Rosette die to create my medallions.  The papers are all memory box and the Joy and music background are Memory Box stamps.

A simple card that took forever with lots of mistakes. (Hate when you spend so much time fiddling with things that don't even make it on the card!)

The background is embossed using the embossing folder. Pink and White acrylic paint were smeared over the surface.  Then brown dye ink was sponged around the edges and the music sheet stamped over the embossing.

The medallions were die cut with the same die but I trimmed off some of the straight edge to make two smaller medallions.

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Suzz

Simon Says Stamp and Show Stripes

 I had to squeak in an entry at the Simon Says Stamp and Show some Stripes and at the same time the Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection.  I had my supplies from my last card sitting out still so the color tones are the same only I added a hint of green. 

I started with the Hero Arts lined paper stamp in the background and added my favorite Pussy Willows from Serendipity Stamps and then a few Impression Obsession Butterflies. Finish it off with a Hero Arts Stamp. The damask in the background is from Memory Box.

A mix of some of my favorite images. :)

Hope your Saturday is lovely. We are going to have some pretty fall weather today. I am going to go out and prune back my roses. I hate to do it as they still have lovely flowers but next week we are dropping into the lower temps.

Suzz

Subtle Textures

I have been working on a project all week that is keeping me pre-occupied and not getting much done. I hate when I get stuck in the midst of a project and can't let it go and it blocks all my creativity.  I decided last night to put it aside.  I used the same background paper to create a card for the Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection and  Mojo Monday Sketch #211.

Details:
Old sheet music with a layer of white paint smeared and brown chalkboard glimmer mist spritzed across the front. A few drips and rings in the same chalkboard ink were added for more texture.
The bird is die cut from the sheet music with a stamped image of french post card.
The birdcage is die cut from white cardstock and stamped with the same postal card stamp.
The ribbon is white silk which was died with Antique Linen re-inker and spritzed with the same brown chalkboard ink.  The other paper used on the background is a textured cardstock sanded to show the embossing.

Here is the sketch:

and did you ever have one of those bad hair days.... 

My daughter wanted a picture of this hair-do on her barbie yesterday... Apparently she won the crazy hair contest. :)

Hope that gave you a smile...

Suzz

Golden Days of Fall?

The Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection challenge is about using texture. I decided to take a sheet of music and distress it with some paint and glimmer mist chalkboard ink and use it my base.

That paper is the base for a project which is taking me a couple of days to complete so you will see that again soon! :)  The leaves are Hero Arts and are stamped using versamark and embossed using Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel. The embossing powder is fun as it has a mixture of gold and black so you get an uneven surface with black peeking through.

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

A Pair of Hearts

I have been wanting to create a playing card for awhile and when I saw the Moxie Fab World Challenge - Card Play and City Crafters Challenge - I Heart You I knew I had a perfect pair.

The Verses Rubber Stamps - Oh the Dances seemed to be the perfect verse to go with my pair of hearts. 

The cards were created by cutting out  2 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangles of white cardstock. Stamp the number using black ink in both corners.  (Artistic Outpost Whimsical Melange) Sponge hearts using red dye ink.  The masks were created from Marvy Uchida Heart Punch and the heart cut out of a playing card. The edges were distressed with the distressing tool and with a sponging over the background.  I love the fact that the playing cards look a little worn and distressed but yet still a pair. I think this would be a cute anniversary card.

The background is Hero Arts Music Background stamped using black ink on white cardstock. Distressed to coordinate with the cards.  

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz

 

Dahlia

Happy Wednesday!  I am loving my new Dahlia and created a second card for the City Crafter Challenge 1..2..3.. challenge (1 ribbon, 2 words, 3 butterflies) and Color Throwdown. The design started from the Moxie Fab World Square sketch challenge.

 The stamps are Stampendous: Jumbo Cling Dahlia, Sentiment. Paper is from Authentique. The butterflies are Marvy Uchida Punches.  The flower is watercolor pencils and waterbrush. The edges are sponged with Broken China.
 
The beautiful colors from Color Throwdown: 

Have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Happy Birthday

 

 Less is More is a recipe challenge where you can choose three of their previous challenges and combine them. I chose Week 22 - Shades of Blue, Week 7 - Masculine, Week 18 - Monochrome for my card. I used the sketch from Moxie Fab World Challenge - Vertical sketch.

 

Card Details:

Spray of glimmer mist across white cardstock fading out the ink. Cut the piece of the ink that gives the effect you want. Stamp the circles using versamark. Heat emboss using white embossing powder.  My son had the brilliant idea of the candles and I color coated them to coordinate.  :) 

I created this for teenage boy and I liked how it turned out and my teenage son liked the effect so I think it works for masculine. 

 

Here is the sketch for the Moxie Fab World Challenge:  (which I rotated)

Now onto the winner of the stamp from last week: 

Drumroll please....  The winner of the new Verses stamp and a few other goodies is Debby who said:

  

I absolutely love that quote and would love to use it!   on August 26  at 6:21PM. 

Debbie contact me via email and I will send you out your RAKs.  If I don't receive an email by Sept. 7th I will pick another winner. 

Hope you all are having a wonderful week! 

Suzz

Friendship

The Moxie Fab World Challenge is Fabulous Felt.  I don't know about you but felt is not my thing. Too cumbersome and clunky for my tastes. So a good challenge for me...  I decided to try to emulate some really pretty felt flowers.  The City Crafter Challenge is Friends this week and works perfectly for the project I had in mind.

I decided to make a wall hanging:

I have had this idea to create a wall hanging from a re-cycled piece of corrugated cardboard percolating in my mind for awhile.

I started with a heart sketch. (I did this just like in grade school with folding the paper in half and drawing half the heart and then cutting it out.)  I traced that on my cardboard and cut it out. I then pulled back the layers of the cardboard to expose some of the innards.

Layers of white acrylic paint mixed with pink acrylic paint smeared on and let dry.  Next up was to stamp the beautiful damask background from Hero Arts over the entire surface using black StaZon ink.

The sentiment is from Verses Rubber Stamps - FS1134-E A Friend Strengthens.  Stamped onto pink vellum die cut using StaZon black ink.  I layered a smaller die cut of white cardstock to make the sentiment pop.

The die cut (Spellbinders labels 21) is accented with some lovely stickers from Stampendous.  The hearts are punched from white cardstock and embossed using Stampendous Aged Silver Enamel Embossing Powder. (I am really addicted to this embossing powder.)  The wasps were left over from another project and I added heart brads embossed to match the hearts on the quote.

My lovely felt flowers are white felt cut with hash marks along the length and rolled up and stuck on glue dots on a circle of cardstock.  Then spritzed with Pomegranate glimmer mist and dipped in Crystal Ultra-Fine glitter.

Add tulle to hang with a tulle bow to put the flowers and gold leaves.

Have a wonderful Saturday!  I will be back later with my CR84FN challenge.

Suzz