Playing in Paradise

*It's one of those rare, two-in-a-day posts! For the latest

Crafty Creations Challenges post, please click here. 

Feel free to picture me jumping up and down when I discovered I was one of the winners in last week's Playing in Paradise challenge! And now, this week's challenge is to use mists, one of my new favourite toys. Last week, I got my project in with, oh, minutes to spare, so I thought instead of waiting until tomorrow I'd enter tonight. 

This is one of those put-things-together-and-see-what-happens cards. I ended up with this misted tag, the cute little envelope, and some washi and cardstock strips. One of the best things about this Tattered Angels glimmer mist (besides it being red, gold and shimmery) is it finally gives me a reason to like my ruby red cardstock since it's a perfect match. (Otherwise, I feel calling it "ruby" is a big overstatement.) 

In addition to the Playing in Paradise challenge, I'm entering this in the Anything Goes challenges at My Graphico and Simon Says Stamp. 

Supplies: Stampin' Up ruby red & very vanilla cardstock, gold pearl paper, patterned paper scrap, PSA Essentials Love Birds stamp, Versamark ink, pirate's gold embossing powder, Tattered Angels Santa Baby glimmer mist, We R Memory Keepers washi tape, dimensionals

No Cards?

Besides cards, what do you enjoy making? This week at Crafty Creations Challenges, we'd like to see anything but a card! The design team is using images provided by this week's sponsor, Guylou's Inimitability. Still thinking about Valentine's Day a couple of weeks away, I decided to make a little treat box with her Joy and Gift image. 

The box itself is modeled on this gable box tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers. The cute little dog is coloured with Prismacolor pencils. I couldn't resist making a coordinating 2"x2" mini-card to add to the box once it's filled with goodies. I'm adding this to My Graphico's current Anything Goes challenge. 
Come join us this week with your non-card creation! 

Supplies: white, purple & Stampin' Up kraft cardstock, Guylou's Inimitability Joy & Gift image, Prismacolor pencils, circle, scalloped circle & reverse wonky rectangle dies, 1" circle punch, corner-rounding punch, Twinery pink sorbet & lilac twine 

Cool Cats, Warm Heart?

(I know, lame title; sometimes you just gotta go with it...)

I am trying to be a little more diligent about participating in challenges that spark my interest, rather than just thinking about them until the deadlines pass. I'm not great at making things just for the sake of making them; that's why occasions such as Christmas and now Valentine's Day give me a perfect reason to make some cards and play in some challenges. Today I'm being inspired by Simon Says Stamp's paper-piecing challenge, CAS(E) this Sketch!'s current layout and of course My Graphico's Anything Goes challenge. Yes, I can be inspired by the thought that any creation counts. :P
Here's the ultimate result:

I find the Market Street Stamps Cool Cats are ideal for paper-piecing, with their clean lines and cute facial features. For a valentine, I decided I couldn't beat this patterned heart paper with its vaguely cat-like colours. I thought it would be fun to use a stamp designed by Lisa Arana since it's her sketch this week, so I flipped it horizontally to work with her Washi Love stamp. Finally, I don't often think of little details like stamping the hearts down the centre row of circles, so I am quite pleased with myself for that as well as the word row along the edge of that panel. Rounding the top-right corner of the card seemed to soften the whole design just the right amount. 
(Aside: Cool Cats seems to be discontinued. No wonder I'll never be a trendy stamper, because I still like them and plan to continue to use them. Oh well.)

            

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up blushing bride cardstock, My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Life of the Party & Six by Six Honey Cake patterned papers, Market Street Stamps Cool Cats, Unity Washi Love & (?) sentiment stamps, Memories black, VersaMagic pixie dust & Colorbox frost white inks, white embossing powder, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium

The Un-Valentine

Remember when 7-Up used to brand itself as the "un-cola"? Yeah, me neither, way too young. :P 
Anyway... today I decided to make an un-valentine. No pinks, no lace, no flowers... pretty much what you do when you're crafting with a boy in mind as the recipient. 

There are small concessions to make this card a valentine in a subtle way, namely the big heart diecut (similar to yesterday!), the little heart grouping at the bottom, and of course I switched out the regular dog tag for a heart tag. Colourwise, not so traditional. Likewise, his spots are a little out of the ordinary. ;) 
In addition to going into my valentine stash, this little guy is headed off to Simon Says Stamp's current paper-piecing challenge, My Graphico's Anything Goes challenge... and of course he's off to play with Unity's Friends with Flair, too! See you there! 

          

Supplies: white cardstock, Basic Grey Plumeria patterned papers, Unity/Bella Blvd tail wagger & Unity August 2010 Kit of the Month (All You Need) stamps, Brilliance coffee bean & iced spruce distress inks, clear embossing powder, QuicKutz heart die, small heart punch, pop-date tape, Glossy Accents

Last-Minute Valentine!

... but don't worry, you don't have to check your calendars. I'm entering the Playing in Paradise challenge at the last minute. ;) They are celebrating their 100th challenge with a "Let's Celebrate" theme. And with Valentine's Day just a few weeks away, what better to celebrate than love? 

I woke up this morning determined to play in this challenge. With a deadline that ends at noon today (although now I know noon in a different time zone, so I actually have an extra couple of hours), of course things did not want to go smoothly. Once I abandoned trying to mask the two bathroom people holding hands, things went a bit better. I found what I think is the perfect patterned paper, and embossed the card base to match the man's pattern. I like that this is a not-too-flowery/feminine valentine.
I'm also adding this to My Graphico's current Anything Goes challenge. 
If you work better under a deadline than I do, you still have a little bit of time to get your entry in, too! :D 

Supplies: white cardstock, Stampin' Up (?) patterned paper, Unity/Simple Stories sweet paper people, VersaMagic Aegean blue & red magic chalk inks, clear embossing powder, QuicKutz heart die, Cuttlebug embossing folder, pop-dot tape

Snowflakes

Wednesday means it's time for a new challenge at Crafty Creations Challenges! I think this week's challenge can be as easy or as difficult as you choose to make it -- we are asking you to incorporate snowflakes into your project. Here's what I mean, for me at least: when the Christmas season is over, I put essentially all my wintry-themed stamps away. So I could take the easy way out today, and make my first Christmas card of 2013, but that seemed a bit too easy. So I made sure that although my card is wintry, it's non-holiday-specific. 

I started with some torn post-it notes to make a softly defined rectangle mask before I embossed my snowflakes with clear embossing powder. Then I sponged the area with ink before removing the masks. A simple white-embossed sentiment, a die-cut snowflake and a bit of bling finished the card. (I'm obviously in an extra-clean-and-simple mood today.) And while I could use this anytime in the next couple of months, I have a feeling this will end up in next December's stash. :D 
Our sponsor this week is Digital Delights; they offer digital images, papers, cut files and more. Come and join the flaky fun!

Supplies: white & blue cardstock, Local King Rubber Stamp snowflake background & Unity winter wishes stamps, Colorbox frost white & Ranger/Tim Holtz tumbled glass distress inks, clear & white embossing powders, Lil' Inkers snowflake die, Stampin' Up basic rhinestones, pop-dot tape

Thank You So Very Much

Hero Arts is back with their January contest, challenging us to try something new, make an artist trading card, and/or follow their colour combination. The colours are a bit pastel for me; I may try an ATC or two before the month ends, but for now I'm trying a few new things...

Major new thing: using Mr. Huey's colour mists for the first time! I think I'm going to have fun with them; I like that they're matte, not shiny. I sprayed water cooler mist onto some watercolour paper after stamping and embossing the image. (Minor new thing: using this particular stamp for the first time.) Then I used the matching die (major new thing!) to cut it out. Used my Plumeria paper pad for the first time because I liked how the shading of the paper mirrored the misted image. The green and navy colour combo is new for me, too, I think. 
Although this card is destined for our pet-sitter, virtually it's for you, too, if you're reading this -- thank you for visiting! 

Supplies: navy & Stampin' Up very vanilla cardstock, watercolour paper, Basic Grey plumeria patterned paper, Hero Arts le journal, Versafine onyx black ink, clear embossing powder, Hero Arts frame cut die, Mr Huey's water cooler colour mist, Basic Grey Oliver paper ribbon, Stampin' Up ticket corner punch, pop-dot tape

Friday Friends with Pinterest Flair

It's Friday already! And we're closing in on the middle of January, no idea how that happened. Yesterday I discovered there's a new challenge blog that's just begun... Pinspired Challenges. I decided what would be really fun would be a challenge to pick your OWN pin and be inspired by it. But then I realized that this is easily turned into a self-challenge -- and if I really like what I'm inspired to create, I could just give myself a prize! :P In the meantime, Pinspired Challenges offers a pinned image to be inspired from, and this is their very first one:

And here's what I ended up with:

As you can tell, my main inspirations from the photo are the cake and its wonky layers, the pinks and the polka dots. My image echoes the layers, polka dots and the fun scalloped decoration. I almost embellished the cake more, but decided I liked it with just the touch of gold at the top of the two candles. 
Since it's Friday, I'm joining the linky fun over at the Unity blog. I'm also linking up to My Graphico's current Anything Goes challenge. Hope you're looking forward to a terrific weekend! 

Supplies: white, fuchsia & black cardstock, Unity/Bella Blvd Cake Wishes, Colorbox frost white ink, WOW white embossing powder, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies, Studio G gold glitter glue, pop-dot tape

Second SPARK

I'm back as threatened promised with another entry for the current Paper Smooches SPARKS Anything Goes challenge! This one I'm combining with the current CARDS blog colour challenge, which is sponsored by Paper Smooches; and Simon Says Stamp New Something challenge. 

This is actually one of those cards that turned out much the way I planned! I remember that a while back, the uber-talented Emily made a card with a stack of these books, and that was my starting point. It was fun to pick all the different swatches of patterned paper to paper-piece the many books and that happy bookworm. I grounded the ginormous stack of books with a strip of paper ribbon tape. The finishing touches (finishing touches can be scary -- what if you mess up after all the other work?) are some white gel pen highlights on the apple and some of the books, and some Glossy Accents on the bookworm's pupils.
For the Simon Says Stamp challenge, my "new" somethings include: first inking of my Smarty Pants stamp set and first time cutting into my Cosmo Cricket Clementine pad (about time, I know!) and my Lawn Fawn Dewey Decimal petite paper pack. (I needed one more aqua book, and used one small piece of a My Mind's Eye pad.) 
With lots of avid readers in my family, this is a great card for me to have on hand!

Supplies:  white & green cardstock,  Cosmo Cricket clementine, Lawn Fawn Dewey decimal & My Mind's Eye honey cake paper pads, Paper Smooches Smarty Pants & Birthday Buddies, Memento grey flannel & pear tart inks, Basic Grey Olivia paper ribbon, white gel pen, Glossy Accents

First SPARK

Paper Smooches SPARKS is having an Anything Goes challenge this week! Okay, fine, it ends today, but I am determined to get an entry or two in. 

This gift tag is quite simple, but I still like it a lot. I gave my little snowman a big heart to go with the one in the sentiment, and gave them both some shine with Glossy Accents. Since his arms are short, I extended his reach (and bordered the tag) with red gel pen. 
I'll be back with another entry soon! 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Paper Smooches Freezy Fellas, Memento tuxedo black ink, QuickKutz nesting hearts dies, small heart punch, Glossy Accents, red gel pen, red ribbon

2013 -- Friends with Flair!

But I'll warn you... there are Christmas cards ahead. :D
I missed playing along with Unity's Friday Friends with Flair the last few weeks of December, so thought I'd get in on the first for 2013. But yes, I'm also using the opportunity to post a few Christmas cards I made -- either I ran out of time to post them, or I didn't want to display them before they reached their destinations. Here goes...

You may remember I did a similar card for one of Unity's World Card Making Day challenges. This one was made with a particular family in mind -- note the penguin on the right? ;) 

Is this not one cute penguin? (Why, yes, I DO like penguins. :D) I gave him some scalloped snowdrifts to stand on and a patterned paper hat and sky. And since this is the first time he's seen ink, I'm adding him to Simon Says Stamp's New Something challenge. 

A glittery, silvery card using an image from an older Kit of the Month. I embossed the white panel then used a brayer to add Stickles. The ornaments are paper-pieced; the letters coloured with silver gel pen.

Finally, the card I made for my husb this year. (Shh, the sentiment is actually Paper Smooches, but works so well with this snowman I just couldn't resist.) 
Enjoy your Friday, and all the inspiration from Friends with Flair! 

      

Supplies: (penguins) white & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Unity/Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder, Memories black, Versamark & Stampin' Up real red inks, clear embossing powder, Sharpies, Spellbinders reverse wonky rectangles & ribbon tag dies, frosted lace Stickles, ribbon, pop-dot tape; (you're cool) white cardstock, Amber Ink digital ipaper, Unity/Bella Blvd you're cool itty bitty, Brilliance graphite black, Colorbox frost white & Memento teal zeal & rhubarb stalk inks, clear & white embossing powder, Stampin' Up scallop border punch, dimensionals; (happy holidays) white & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, silver pearl paper, Unity October 2010 Kit of the Month (take time to laugh), Colorbox frost white ink, white embossing powder, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, icicle Stickles, silver gel pen, May Arts ribbon, pop-dot tape; (snowman) white, green & Stampin' Up real red cardstock, Echo Park Holly Jolly patterned paper, Unity November 2011 Kit of the Month (Take Your Time), Paper Smooches warm hearts, Memento tuxedo black, Versafine onyx black & Colorbox frost white inks, clear & white embossing powder, Prismacolor pencils, small heart punch, corner-rounding punch, frosted lace & icicle Stickles, Glossy Accents, ruby red Liquid Pearls, pop-dot tape

NYC Girl!

Can you believe it? My granddaughter, along with her mom and another mother and daughter, is spending three days in New York City! I have yet to go, but she is there and having a blast. (I get regular text updates.) To celebrate her adventure, we bought her a stylish outfit to wear. Of course, I had to make a stylish tag to go with it. 

Everything is paper-pieced except the green polka-dot package -- since it inks mostly solidly, I stamped it in green on white cardstock and, I guess, sort of reverse-paper-pieced it. (Ink-pieced it? Hmm.) I found a clipart NYC skyline silhouette for the background layer. I'm thinking there might be a bit of shopping involved while they're there, obviously. :D
Since this is my first time inking up this stamp, and my girl's first trip to NYC, I'm entering this into A Blog Named Hero's current challenge: New Year, New You. And since Simon Says Stamp also has a "New Something" challenge, it's there, too. 
Hope 2013 has started off well for you! 

Supplies: white & Stampin' Up kraft cardstock, patterned paper scraps (mostly DCWV), Hero Arts For You Gifts, Memento tuxedo black & Versacolor green inks, Fiskars pop-up glue dots, red & white ribbons

A New Year and a New Challenge!

Happy New Year! Hope you survived the flurry of the holiday season relatively unscathed. Here we are on the second day of the new year, and there's a new challenge at Crafty Creations Challenges! To ease you back into the crafting mode if you've been busy doing other things the past few weeks, we're having an ANYTHING GOES challenge. If you make it, you can link it! Our generous sponsor this week is San's Design. I decided to start off the year by making a quick and simple birthday card for the stash using a couple of Susanne's images.

I wanted to get away from the Christmas colours I've been using, and ended up with a bit of a Halloween-y colour scheme! I think that's okay though, as long as I don't keep this for an October birthday. ;) The sentiment from Unity works perfectly with these chocolate goodies, I think.
Ready to return to the craft table? (If you ever left it...) Join us this week! 

Supplies: white & orange cardstock, San's Design images, Unity sentiment. Memento tuxedo black & tangelo inks, Prismacolor pencils, Cuttlebug embossing folder, 3/4" square punch, pop-dot tape