The Challenge 75

It's a brand new week and a brand new challenge from The Challenge design team! We hope you'll join us in our fun! It's a month with 5 Mondays, so since this is the fifth, we have a wild card challenge!

And this is what my brain came up with!

I'm still on a kick of creating sympathy cards before I need them. They're not particularly "fun" to make, but they are a type of card that we need to have in our stashes.

I actually started this card by simply playing with the Penned Rose set from Altenew. I wasn't feeling particularly creative, so I just decided to do some simple coloring. The yellow rose made me think sympathy and that led to this card in particular. I simply fussy cut around my rose image after it was colored and I had the focal point for the card!

The rest is pretty straight forward. I cut a card base from some Crumb Cake card stock and then used a background stamp and some Versamark ink to give it some subtle interest without overwhelming the design. I cut a piece of gold foil paper with a die to create my strip and cut a doily in half for the circular piece. The very last part was choosing the sentiment and placement. I played around with where to place the rose until I decided to nestle the sentiment between the bloom and the leaf and overlap the die cut piece. I adhered everything and then used my Misti to stamp the small part of the sentiment so I was sure it was straight and I didn't have any oopsies with the ink.

Penned Rose	Circle Scribbles	Prayers Coordinating Set	Stitched Borders 3	Crumb Cake Cardstock	Neenah Solar White 80 lb	DCWV Foiled Cardstock	Memento Tuxedo Black
Copic Sketch Markers	Versamark

InLinkz.com

Painted Floral Birthday

I've been in a serious creative funk lately and I can't seem to break out of it. I've been crafting all day today between loads of laundry, but every card has ended up on the scrap pile except for this one and I'm still not fully satisfied with it. I guess sometimes you just need a break!

I used Altenew's Painted Flowers set to create the background for my piece by stamping the flowers in a random pattern across the panel. I didn't have any metallic paper that I wanted to use, so I actually rubbed my Versamark ink pad across the edge of my card base and then embossed the edge with Princess Gold embossing powder. (A neat trick when you want something metallic but don't have anything on hand!) I added a strip of black paper between the edge of the background piece and the embossing. I stamped my sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in the same Princess Gold embossing powder. I was going to adhere it directly to the panel, but I felt like it was getting lost in the floral print, so I adhered it to a black piece of paper and carefully cut around it before using foam tape to adhere it to the panel. I'm still not sure if I like it, but at this point I'm just glad I got a complete card done today!

I'm entering this card into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Make a Wish and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes.

 

Painted Flowers	Label Love	Neenah Solar White 80 lb	Black Cardstock	Shades of Purple	Green Fields	Memento Tuxedo Black	Versamark
Princess Gold Embossing Powder	Misti Stamping Tool	3M Foam Tape	Ranger Multi Medium Matte

InLinkz.com

Birthday Bang!

So I've been without air conditioning in the desert of Southern Arizona for the past 3 days. We finally got it fixed yesterday afternoon (with a ton of drama and confusion)! Hooray! Let the celebration begin! I found it incredibly hard to want to create anything when all I really wanted to do was lie down on the tile floor under the ceiling fan and refuse to move! All that is finally resolved and I can get back to creating!

I've had the concept for this card in my head for a couple of months now, but I just haven't gotten it down on paper yet. This week's Less Is More cue gave me the perfect opportunity to get it out of my head and into real life! The theme this week is something that pops or bangs.

Everything on this card is embossed. Yes, it took some time, but I definitely think the result is worth it! I started by stamping my sentiment and embossing in white. Next, I started with my top right corner and stamped my first firework and embossed in gold. I stamped the next two smaller fireworks and embossed them right over the top of the first in silver. I switched to the bottom left and stamped my silver firework first and then stamped and embossed right over the top of that in gold. I love how the overlap looks! This would be absolutely perfect for a man or a woman and I'm in definite need of more gender neutral cards! I always seem to find myself making feminine cards and this will definitely be a happy addition to my stash!

Pyrotechnics	Birthday Wishes	Basic Gray	Versamark	White Embossing Powder	Wow Rich Gold Embossing Powder	Silver Embossing Powder	EK Success Powder Tool
Misti Stamping Tool

InLinkz.com

KGC Beautiful Blooms Sweet Rose Highlight

Today we're featuring lovely products created with the brand new Beautiful Blooms Sweet Rose stamp set from Kennedy Grace Creations! I have two cards to share with you today. One features my typical coloring and another showcases that you can use this beautiful set without any coloring at all!

I started by cutting a card panel with a stitched rectangle die and then stamping my rose to the right of center. I colored my image with my copics and added a faint shadow around the image as well. Then came the hard part...I used my hello die to cut a piece right out of my image! When you spend your time carefully coloring such a gorgeous image, it can be intimidating to want to cut a chunk out of it! I cut about 4 more hellos from white paper and then glued them all together with the colored piece on top and then carefully placed the die back inside the negative cut once the panel had been adhered to a card base. I kept all those tiny piece as well to glue down inside the holes to complete the picture. I added a few clear sequins from a couple of Kennedy Grace Creations' sequin mixes to complete the look.

A Close Up of the coloring and how the die cut was added back into the negative.

A view of the dimension the added die cuts add.

And now on to the second card...

This card is very simple, but it's striking. I cut a panel using a medium sized stitched rectangle die and then heat embossed my rose image a couple of times using white embossing powder. I placed my sentiment nestled inside the image and heat embossed it in the same white. I used foam tape to add dimension to the panel when I adhered it to the card base. I think it has a really elegant look.

As you can see, the Sweet Rose set is very versatile and can be a ton of fun to color or even look just a nice without any coloring at all! It's truly a gorgeous set that can be used for any occasion!

Sweet Rose	Stitched Rectangles	Hello There	Neenah Solar White 80 lb	Basic Gray	Memento Tuxedo Black	Copic Sketch Markers	Versamark
White Embossing Powder	Pink Champagne	Mint Julip	3M Foam Tape	Ranger Multi Medium Matte

InLinkz.com