Quick & Easy Birthday Card

Just a quick update today. I've been engrossed in a book that I bought when it first came out a while back and really should have finished a long time ago, but am just now reading. I made a quick and easy birthday card using inspiration from the color combo at Pals Paper Arts.

Stamps: Blooming with Kindness, Sincere Salutations (retired)
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight
Punch: Decorative Label Punch
Embossing Folder: Spotted
Accents: Ribbon from my stash

Now back to my book!

You're In My Thoughts

It's a brand new day and some brand new colors! I'm branching out from the orange for a little bit.

I decided to make a card for one of my oldest friends who happens to be going through a bumpy patch. I think she just needs to be reminded that people are supporting her in the decisions she's making. I think maybe next time I would make the card base in Smoky Slate and the sentiment in Night of Navy (or maybe heat emboss in white), but I am a lover of white space!

Stamps: Flower Shop, Gorgeous Grunge, A Dozen Thoughts
Ink: Smoky Slate, Night of Navy, Wisteria Wonder
Punches: Pansy
Paper: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Wisteria Wonder
Accents: Rhinestones

Personal Challenge Day 5 (and more!)

Working with orange...yet again... Today may be my last day for a little bit. I think I may need a break from the orange!

Today I used a darker orange (Cajun Craze).

Stamps: Petal Parade (Stampin' Up!), Thank You (Recollections)
Ink: Always Artichoke, Sahara Sand, Cajun Craze, Chocolare Chip
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip
Accents: Random ribbon from my stash

And because I needed to do something with colors other than orange:

Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Best of Butterflies (both Stampin' Up!), and Greetings (Inkadinkado)
Ink: Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip
Paper: Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe (OMG, it's orange!)
Punches: Martha Stewart flower punch
Accents: Pearls, Rhinestones

In case you were interested, I finished another project last night and I'm super excited about it. Not only do I papercraft, but I have a soft spot in my heart for cross stitch. My husband and I aren't quite ready for kids yet, but I've started thinking about how I want to decorate our first child's room (we're thinking maybe next year...??). I love Harry Potter and I'm sure I'm going to pass on that love, so I started thinking of things I can do in my spare time to put together a fun room.

I still need to press it and frame it, but I finished the Hogwarts Crest last night and I'm going to start the Gryffindor crest today. Good thing I like working like a house elf!

Personal Challenge Day 4 (plus an extra!)

I made yet another card in a shade of orange today. (Even though it looks peach in the pictures!)

 

I'm liking this one better than my other orange ones (probably because it doesn't really look orange!).

Supplies:
Stamps: Petite Petals, Flower Shop, Greetings
Embossing folders: Swiss Dots, Spotted
Inks: Crisp Cantaloupe, StazOn Jet Black
Accents: Pearls
Papers: Random pattern from my stash, Whisper White, Basic Black, Crisp Cantaloupe

Then, because I was tired of orange and wanted to branch out a little bit, I CASE'd this card. (Her blog is in German, but she's so good at linking all the supplies that it was easy to figure out.)

I discovered that I got a better effect if I stamped off each of my stamps before I actually stamped on my panel. So each stamp is actually a second stamping except for the flower (third stamping for the gray because my ink pad was juicy).

Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Watercolor (retired), Gorgeous Grunge, Petite Petals, You're In My Thoughts
Inks: Blushing Bride, Sahara Sand, Basic Gray, Soft Suede
Accents: Hemp twine, rhinestones
Papers: Whisper White, Blushing Bride

Personal Challenge Day 3

Today I decided to try my hand at another wedding card for two of my friends. Their wedding color is going to be persimmon (in the orange family) and since that's my challenge I thought it fit quite nicely.

I don't really like this one though. I'll have to take stab at it on another day. I had to re-stamp the sentiment about 10 times because I kept getting it crooked or smudged and then my adhesive was going all crazy on me. I guess it was just an off day for me. Tomorrow's another day!

Stamps: Mosaic Madness, A Dozen Thoughts
Embossing Folder: Whimsy
Inks: Tangerine Tango, Basic Black
Punches: Mosaic

Personal Challenge Day 2

Another day of orange-ness.

This time I made a sweet thank you card featuring floral images from Flower Shop and Petite Petals. The leaves are from the die cut set Secret Garden and also the bottom layer of leaves are stamped with the coordinating Secret Garden stamp set (both now retired). Inks used were Tangerine Tango, Pumpkin Pie, Crisp Cantaloupe, and Wild Wasabi (stamped off and then stamped on my panel). For simplicity, I used the coordinating punches to cut out the flowers (Pansy and Petite Petals).

To finish, I added the sentiment from Happy Watercolor (another retired) and some enamel dots that I made from perler beads.

My opinion may not change about the color orange, but at least I'm finding ways to use it in my crafting!

A Personal Challenge

I hate the color orange. I've always hated it. It's glaring and ugly. Well, maybe I'm a little bit biased. I'm a fair-skinned blond, so I can't wear orange or I look washed out and awful. I've had a lifelong aversion to the color. Because of all of this, I've decided to challenge myself to use orange more often.

I constantly find myself reaching for neutral colors or "safe" colors (you know what I'm talking about: red, blue, green...).For the next few days, I'm going to keep my orange ink on my desk and use it whenever possible.

(Side note: Sorry I've been absent for a while again. I've had several doctors appointments to try to figure out why I've not been feeling well. Turns out, I'm allergic to Arizona. My husband and I moved here in September, so this is my first summer in the area. I'm allergic to pretty much everything that grows here! Now that my meds have been fixed, I'm hoping to be able to craft a whole lot more often!)

Today's project: Butterfly Birthday cards.

I started out with this neutral one using Sahara Sand ink and the Best of Butterflies set with a sentiment from Wetlands. The panel is stamped randomly and then the flag is added with dimensionals. I stamped the butterfly on the tag and then restamped on a piece of scrap paper and cut it out. I added the second butterfly over the first with a small glue dot and added some rhinestones for some shimmer.

Then I redid the card in Tangerine Tango. Same instructions for making it, just a different ink.

Amazingly enough, I like it. (Even though it is evil orange!)

I'll let you decide, which is your favorite?