Sketch, Theme and Colors

For this card I had 3 different challenges in mind: a sketch, a masculine birthday theme and a color scheme of black&white with a touch of color.

The card came together rather quickly as I found ready cut items in my stash of non used items. I don't know about you, but I've got a rather large selection of items that are already cut, colored and stamped, items I had planned to use for other cards, but during the process I changed my mind of design, color and/or theme.

The bingo chart, which is the item that adds a bit of color, and the boots are cut out parts from 2 different DPs, the birthday greeting is stamped and I die cut a circle to put around the date of the birthday. I'm really early with this card, since the birthday is March 7, I just hope I haven't forgotten about this card once March 2015 is here, lol. The background DP is from MME "all things CHALK".

This card is for these challenges:
1) Inkspirational - #54 Sketch
2) TIME OUT Challenges - Happy Birthday (optional twist masculine)
3) Come and Get It - Black, White and a Splash of Color

Baby Card with "Little Pull Duck"

I know a few women who are all expecting baby girls one of these days, so I made this card to welcome one of the little ones.
I used an image from Meljen's Designs called "Little Pull Duck" - you can find it here. I colored it using Promakers.
As for the colors I was inspired by Meljen's challenge of "sequin colors" and pastels.
My DPs are from Authentique. I used an embossing folder to make the quilted look of the background paper.
I added a piece of lace, a ribbon bow and a metal charm. I have stitched around two of the panels, mounted them and the duck on foam for a bit of dimension.

1) Meljens Designs - #205 Sequins Color Challenge

2) Open-Minded Challenges - #8 Easter or pastel colors

3) Outlawz Challenges - Pastels

4) Crafty Catz - #226 Animals
5) Totally Gorjuss - #231 Charming

Girly Gatefold Card

This week's optional twist over at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday is to make a gatefold card. Our April sponsors are Nicecrane Designs and  Paper Temptress, and for a chance to win you need to enter a project, and if you choose to use the twist you will earn an extra entry in the draw.

This little girl is an image from the Adorable Bessie DSL set, you can find it here. I colored it using Promarkers.
The lovely DPs are from Maja Designs, I love the red, white and blue color combination, it makes me think of May which is my favorite month - I love spring!
I mounted the image onto a panel of die cut circles, added some flowers and die cut leaves and stamped a small birthday sentiment. 


This card is also for these challenges:
1) Crafter's Cafe - #58 Spring
2) Penny's Paper-Crafty - #172 Flower power
3) Love to Create - Anything Goes for Kids
4) Stamp and Create - Spring Flowers
5) Incy Wincy Designs - 3-2-1 Recipe (3 flowers+2 DPs+1 image)
6) Pattie's Creations - #89 Fancy Folds

Card for a Teenager - Take Two!

I found this image amongst my stash of already colored images and not used die cuts, bits and bobs. I think it's been there for almost a year now, so thought it was time to use it to make another card for a teenager, being inspired by the different challenges mentioned below.
I kept the design clean and used no DPs. I fussy cut the Teddy Bo image and mounted it on foam onto a white paper and a punched border of a red scrap piece, using a punch from Fiskars.
The chipboard stars and stamped arrows were found in the same pile of stuff as mentioned above.
The sentiment is part of a set of different stamps from "Papirdesign", a Norwegian brand (the stamped sneakers used on my previous card is also from Papirdesign)

This card is for these challenges:
1) Come and Get It - Bears In Mind
2) The Squirrel & The Fox - #67 All Creatures Great & Small
3) Craft your passion challenges - #208 No Designer Papers
4) Paper Crafting Challenges - #7 Masculine
5) The Crafting Cafe - One for the Boys

CASEing Sandie

The challenge over at Inkspirational this fortnight is to case one of DT member Sandie's cards. Sandie is a CAS perfectionist! The way I see Sandie's style is that she very seldom use DPs or colored images, and yet her style is colorful. She uses textured papers or embossing folders, and she's great at picking the perfect sentiment for any given design.
There's such a great variety of cards to choose from, but I settled on a card I remembered from last year - see the smaller photo to the right or go to the original post here. I really liked its layout and the touch of bright color with a beautiful silhouette image.
For my card I replicated the layout and I chose not to use any DPs or colored image. The image and sentiment are heat embossed with black EP, and I chose a red card base and a bright yellow paper that I embossed with a star embossing folder, having the "Converse" look in my mind making this card for a teenager. I slightly sanded the embossed pattern and added 3 star glitter stickers from my stash.

This card is for these challenges:
1) Inkspirational - #53 Case Sandie
2) Allsorts - #253 No Flowers
3) Brown Sugar - #88 Clean & Simple
4) Natalie and Amy's Challenge - #19 Embossing
5) Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge - #304 No markers

Baby and Butterflies

"Add butterflies" is this week's twist over at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday. For March we've got Nicecrane Designs and  Paper Temptress as our wonderful sponsors, and for a chance to win you need to enter a project and using the optional twist will earn you an extra entry in the draw.

This little sweetheart is an image from the Bessie Gutman Pack, you can find it over at Nicecrane Designs here. I used a cardboard frame that I decorated with stamped butterflies, I mounted it all onto a die cut oval frame made with a Spellbinders die . I used a pink DP with script and a DP with little crowns on and stitched around the edges. The sentiment is heat embossed with white EP onto vellum. I also used white lace, pink organza ribbon and a little star charm from Storyteller.


This card is also for these challenges:
1) Inky Chicks - #25 Use Some Lace
2) Love to Create - BINGO (Pink+Die Cut+Ribbon)
3) Perfectly Rustics - Baby Cards
4) Storyteller - #12 Anything Goes
5) Crafting with Dragonflies - #22 Baby + Blog hop

My Guest Designer Card for Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge

I was invited to be a Guest Designer over at Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge this week, and I'm so glad to join the talented ladies for their bingo challenge - you can find the details here.
I love making Christmas cards and  I love bingo challenges! They've got two sponsors this week, and I chose to use Otis the Owl from Oak Pond Creations for my card. I colored him with Promarkers and gave him a paper pieced hat and shoes with glitter and gold stickles details.
For the background I used a DP from Maja Design and corrugated cardstock covered with Inka-Gold and frantage. The die cut snowflakes is covered with gems. I also made a scene of tress using white corrugated cardstock and vellum as well as cheesecloth for the snowy ground. 

This card is also for these challenges:

1) Christmas Card Challenges - #17 Anything Goes

2) Craftyhazelnut's Christmas Challenge - #169 All wrapped up

3) Christmas at Sweet Stampin' Challenge Blog - Brr.... It's Cold outside! 

Birds and Butterflies

For this card I used multi-colored DPs, I was inspired by the multitude of colors from the photo over at Inkspirational. But I chose softer shades for a spring feel.
I used a digi with birds from "From The Heart", I colored the image using Promarkers, and the balloon has got Glossy accent on it.
The butterflies are made with a die that came free with some magazine last year, I decorated them with enamel dots.
The sentiment is made using a Penny Black die.
I also added a doily.

This card is for these challenges:
1) Inkspirational - #52 Photo
2) QKR Stampede - # 80  A Little Birdie Told Me
3) Polkadoodles - #12  Spring is in the Air
4) Pattie's Creations - #88 Anything Goes
5) Sweet Stamps - # 161 Anything Goes

Dancing in the Rain

"Dancing in the rain" - this was my main inspiration for this card.
I used a sentiment stamp from Kaisercraft. I stamped onto vellum and used white EP.
I wanted to give this card a textured look and I added a piece of cheesecloth behind the vellum - I quite like how that turned out. I also chose a DP with a textured look, it kind of reminded me of rainy weather, so I decided to use a stencil to make the raindrops with embossing paste. I inked them using Stormy Sky DI for a hint of blue color. A die cut cloud made with a MB die was added
The silhouette stamp is from Kort&Godt, and for this one I used Platinum Ultra Thick EP.
I machine stitched with white thread around the edges.

This card is for these challenges:
1) TIME OUT Challenges - Inspired by Words: Dancing in the Rain
2) Fab 'n' Funky - #208 Masculine
3) Everybody-Art-Challenge - #270 Non Cute Card
4) Pile It On - #11 For a Guy
5) Creative Corner - A Little Texture

Flowers for You...

"Add texture" is this week's twist over at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday.
For March we've got Nicecrane Designs and  Paper Temptress as our wonderful sponsors, and for a chance to win you need to enter a project - using the optional twist will earn you an extra entry in the draw.
I've used an image from Nicecrane Designs and the set "Adorable Bessie DSL II". The image is colored using Promarkers.  I often end up making square or A2 sized cards, but for this one I decided to go with a side step design. My textured elements are the fabric flower and ribbon.  I've used 3 different sets of dies: Pennants from Dienamics, "Curvy Leaves" from Elizabeth Craft Designs and "Label 28" from Spellbinders. I've also added a metal butterfly, a doily and pearls, the DPs are various bits and pieces from my scrap pile.

This card is also for these challenges:
1) Crafting By Designs - Use a Ribbon
2) Hobbycutz - #39 Shaped Card
3) That Craft Place - Flowers and/or Mother's Day
4) A Gem of a Challenge - Mothers day/ Female Birthday/ Special Lady
5) Created With Love Challenges - Girly
6) Top Tip Tuesday - #123 Metal Or Faux Metal

Spring...

... is this week's twist over at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday.

For March we've got Nicecrane Designs and  Paper Temptress as our wonderful sponsors, and for a chance to win you need to enter a project. It's Anything Goes every week, but if you use the optional twist you'll earn a second entry in the draw.

To me spring equals Easter, so I used this sweet little rabbit from Nicecrane - you can find it here - and an Easter sentiment from LOTV. I distressed the edges of the image with Walnut DI. I layered it onto a piece of yellow DP, used cream ad green paper and mounted it all onto a card base of kraft.
The flowers are from Storyteller and Nille, I've used cheesecloth, burlap and string from my stash.

This card is also for these challenges:
1) Great Impressions - Spring Celebrations
2) Pile It On - #10 Easter Joys
3) The Corrosive Challenges - #194 Animals
4) Through the Purple Haze - Anything Digital
5) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

CAS Christmas Cupcake

I've played with lots of textures lately, but today I was in the mood for CAS. I found this Bugaboo cupcake image in my little bag images I've already colored up and thought it would be perfect for the challenge over at HJCC.

The layout is inspired by this week's sketch over at Sketch Saturday where they're hosting a blog hop to celebrate their 300th sketch.

The sentiment is from a Dylusions set. I love this one, I think we're all allowed to enjoy some sweets for Christmas, without feeling (too) guilty...
I mounted the cupcake on foam and placed it onto a piece of vellum paper which I embossed using white EP. The stamp I used is from Kaisercraft. The sentiment is also heat embossed, but with green glitter EP.

I only added a white string, no other embellishments.

This card is for these challenges:
1) Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge - Sweet Treats
2) Sketch Saturday - #300 Sketch
3) Twisted Tuesday - Clean and Use Green
4) Christmas Card Challenges - #15 CAS
5) Completely Christmas - #2 Anything Goes
6) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Green is not my color....

Don't get me wrong, I like green, I even love green - as long as it's not on any of my cards... This card has more green on it than I usually use, and I'm very unsure of how I feel about this card...
To compensate for my mixed feelings about all the green I added lots of texture - cheesecloth,  corrugated paper and a linen textured ribbon. Even the background DP has a textured look.
This sweet image lives over at Meljen's Designs. I did have a little mishap coloring the background with inks (I usually fussy cut my images to avoid this), so I needed to cover up the mess by using crackle paint.
I made the sentiment using green letter stickers, and I added a die cut note (Dienamics). And of course, there's some stitching too, I used a white thread this time.
I'll leave this card as it is for now, but I might alter it some time in the future:)

This card is for these challenges:
1) Meljens Designs - #200 Celebrations
2) Come and Get It Challenges - Ribbons & Bows
3) Open-Minded Challenges - #5 Use Something Green
4) Pattie's Creations - #87 Green for St. Patrick's Day
5) Make it Monday - Anything Goes (their last challenge)

Cute as a Button

Since I got my new printer a couple of weeks ago I've been totally hooked on the sweet "ready-to-use" images over at Nicecrane Designs. I was asked to make a baby card for a girl, and I chose an image from the Bessie Gutman Pack, you can find it here.
The theme over at HoC is cute or shabby/vintage with buttons, so I added a couple of those, after all this baby is "cute as a button".
I added flowers from Storyteller and white string. For texture I used cheesecloth and corrugated paper sprinkled with frantage.
I heat embossed the sentiment with pink EP on vellum, the stamp is from Kaisercraft.
The pink DP I used as background is from Prima, it came free with a magazine. I stitched with gold metallic thread around the edges and mounted it onto kraft.

This card is for these challenges:
1) House of Cards - Cute and/or Shabby + Button
2) Fairy Tale - #88 Baby
3) Make My Monday - Babies
4) Shopping Our Stash - #133 3-2-1 (3 flowers+2 buttons+1 image)
5) Penny's Paper-Crafty - #167 Anything but Square
6) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Bold and Bright Colors

Thursday means a new challenge over at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday. And a new month means new sponsors. For March we've got Nicecrane Designs and  Paper Temptress, and for a chance to win you need to enter a project. It's Anything Goes every week, with an optional twist. Using the twist will earn you a second entry in the draw, and this week it's "your favorite color". You would think it's an easy one, but for me it was too hard to choose between purple, yellow and orange, so I added a bit of all!
The image is a topper from Nicecrane, you can find it here. The DPs are various scraps, the Whimsy Stamps sentiment is heat embossed with yellow EP  and flowers are from Storyteller. Bling and metal frame from my stash, leaves made using a MB die. And the stitching is made using a metallic gold thread.

This card is for these challenges:
1) Storyteller - #11 Punch og/eller dies
2) Top Tip Tuesday - #122 Use 3,5 or 7 things on your card (3 flowers, 5 DPs)
3) Crafty Bloggers Network - Nature
4) Come and Get It Challenges - Flowers Galore
5) Pile It On - #9 Sweet/Soft or Bold/Bright
6) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Christmas Card with Sparkle, Sequins, Rhinestones and Pearls

Seeing the sketch over at I knew exactly what stamps I wanted to use! I love when that happens!

The stamps I used are two different sets from Panduro. I decided to heat emboss the circles with gold and black, the sentiment with gold. For the stars I chose silver EP.

I added sequins, also from Panduro, in the same color tones as well as white, and I added red rhinestones and pearls from Bo Bunny in the sequins' centers.

I machine stitched around the edges using a gold metal thread, and I mounted the background onto silver mirri card.

It's tricky to photograph, but this is a sparkly, clean Christmas design.



I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
1) 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Sketch
2) Sparkles Forum Christmas - #38 More than 3 Embellishments
3) Completely Christmas - #1 Anything Goes
4) Charisma Cardz - #5 Something Not for Crafting (Sequins)
5) Divas by Design - Sparkle
6) Fab 'n' Funky - #205 Christmas
7) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Pocket Card with Poppies

It's the last Thursday of February and your last chance to enter in the Outlawz Twisted Thursday challenge for a chance of winning prizes from our 2 February sponsors - Anne's Digital Art and Paper Temptress.

Our optional twist this week is to make a pocket card or to add a pocket.

I used my favorite flower image, which is one of Anne's designs. I chose to use the same image for the insert as for the front of my pocket card. Both have been paper pieced using scraps. On the front I fussy cut the image and mounted it on foam onto a woodgrain patterned  DP. On the front I also used gold liquid pearls and a MB die to make the die cut vellum leaves. I used birthday sentiments in Norwegian, stamped with black ink and heat embossed with clear EP.



This is for these challenges:
1) Make My Monday - Grown-up card (not cute)
2) Pattie's Creations - #86 Spot OR Dots
3) Great Impressions - Floral Images
4) City Crafter Challenge - #200 Do You Speak English?
5) Make it Monday - Anything Goes
6) House of Cards - Photo+ CAS or Classic

Christmas Card with a Valentine's Image

I loved this ADFD image from the minute I first spotted it and just had to have it! With Valentine's behind us I thought Iwould make a Christmas card with it. I think with the sparkly wings and red and white color scheme it works, but I'd love to hear your opinion about it too....
I colored the image using Promakers and the hearts have got a coat of glossy accent to them.
The stitched panels with red and white DPs have been on my desk for about 6 months now, and I've tried it with different images, but just couldn't find the right one, until today. I stamped a Christmas greeting and added 3 red heart shaped sequins and voilà!

This card is for these challenges:
1) Jingle Belles - Rudolph the *RED* Nosed Reindeer - use predominantly RED
2) Winter Wonderland - The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
3) Addicted to Stamps and More - #83 Holidays
4) 4 Crafty Chicks - #182 Things with Wings
5) Aud Sentiments Challenge - #100- Bingo (vertical middle row)
6) Fab 'n' Funky - #204 Spots or stripes
7) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Vellum Card

Some cards come together easily, like my vintage take on the House of Cards color scheme. This card representing the style of "classic and elegant" did not. I've been thinking for a week on what to create, before I picked inspiration from Donna's card to use vellum, and I also got some ideas from different challenge blogs.
I haven't used any DP for this card, only vellum and stamps from 4 different sets.
I used a script stamp from Kort&Godt to make the background.  I heat embossed with white EP. Then I used 2 different stamps to make the swirls with silver glitter EP. For my doily flowers I used pink EP and fussy cut the images. The two smallest flowers are mounted on foam. One got a pink pearl in its center, but for the cluster of flowers I decided to add light green ones around them. The sentiment (meaning congratulations or happy birthday in Norwegian) is die cut. I covered it with silver glitter EP.

This card is for these challenges:
1) House of Cards - Photo+ CAS or Classic
2) Creatalicious Challenges - #60 Pearls and Glitter
3) Sentimental Sundays - #195 Make your own background paper
4) ABC Challenge - F is for Flowers
5) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

CAS with the use of Metallic Tape

The challenge theme over at LIM is "metal", ADFD "green" and Keep It Simple "Things with Wings", and I thought I'd combine these themes for my card.
I treated myself to this image of adorable chicken yesterday and wanted to use it straight away. I colored the chicken with a pencil using "squeezed lemoande" and "wild honey" Distress Inks. I ussycut the image and mounted it on foam.
The paper has a lovely textured look, so I kept it untouched, added it to a panel of green paper. I know it doesn't look green, but it is... This is one of the reasons I rarely make green cards - the colors always end up looking very different on photos than they do in real life, no matter what I do with lighting and angles.  You'll just have to take my word for it:)
I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and metallic tape to make the ground.

This is for these challenges:
1) A Day for Daisies -#90 Add Green
2) Less Is More - #160 Metal
3) Keep It Simple! - #34 Things with Wings
4) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Triple Play

It's Thursday and time for a new challenge over at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday! Our optional twist this week is "triple play", and our February sponsors are Anne's Digital Art and Paper Temptress.
I added 3 gems. But I also tried a technique that is new to me - triple stamping - and I also used the same swirl stamp 3 times. I really like the effect of triple stamping and was surprised at how easy it was. Looking up tutorials and videos on the web, as well as scanning many different blogs, give me much inspiration, and when you learn the tricks things are not as difficult as you would imagine!
I used a butterfly image designed by Anne. I colored it using different shades of purple and I also added some purple liquid pearls. The sentiment is made using peel off stickers, one of the advent calendar gifts I received from my mum. The swirls are heat embossed with silver glitter EP.

This card is also for these challenges:
1) Digi Sketch Challenge - Sketch and/or Theme Glitter (T)
2) Through the Purple Haze - Embossing
3) Cards Galore Encore - #2 Add a gem, glitter, candi or any bling you fancy
4) Digi Galore - Things with Wings
5) Word Play Saturday - Swirls
6) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Using my Washi Tapes...

For this card I was inspired by the sketch over at Try Stamping on Tuesday. I've printed this sketch, it's a keeper and I know I'll be using it again! I had planned to make it a male card, had sprinkled the background  paper with brown mist, added the striped DP and my washi tapes. Then I spotted the rose die cut amongst my pile of "ready to use items" and had a change of heart. I went with a design with a stemped sentiment as the focal point as I don't have any thank you cards left in my card pile. I added a circle die cut and some pearls, mounted the rose on foam. .

This card is for these challenges:
1) Try Stamping On Tuesday - #156 Sketch
2) A Creative Romance - Let's Get Sentimental
3) Pile It On - #7 Sentiment as the Focus
4) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Humorous Birthday card for a Man

For my humorous card I used an image and sentiment from two different Bugaboo sets. I colored the image with Promarkers and added glossy accent to Gus' glasses and the balloon. I wanted to include some color on my card, so I used a scrap piece of chevron patterned DP and orange panels, as well as 3 different DPs with spots and stripes. The image is mounted on foam. I've got so many buttons in my stash, and I chose 3 different colors and sizes and added twine.
This card is for these challenges:
1) Come and Get It Challenges - Humorous Birthday
2) Stella Says Sketch - Sketch #203
3) Kaboodle Doodles - Buttons and Twine
4) Digi Makeover Challenge - #128 Add Dimension
5) A Gem of a Challenge - Spots and Stripes
6) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Vintage Christmas Card with Nicecrane Image

Inkspirational has a bingo challenge this fortnight, and I decided to make a Christmas card with a Nicecrane image that can be found here. What I love about bingo challenges is that they force me to add more elements than I usually do, which I find quite challenging.

I used several dies for this card, two circle shaped ones, my newest set of Spellbinders, Labels 22, and pine branches from Cheery Lynn. For the snowflakes I used a punch.

I also used several stamps. I stamped postmarks on the background DP from Maja Design with a stamp from Kort&Godt. The postcard is from TPC Studio, I placed it onto a scrap piece of harlequin patterned DP. The tags are from LOTV.
Since I used rather dark colors for this card I think it needed a bit of sparkle. I've used Frantage Shabby White and Chunky White. As for embellishments I used 3 pearls and a pearl brad, and I attached a git metal charm to twine.


This card is for these challenges:
1) Inkspirational - #50 Bingo (Pearls+Metal charm+Punches/Dies)
2) C.R.A.F.T. - #246 Christmas
3) Brown Sugar - #81 Use a Die Cut or a Punch
4) Card Makin' Mamas - Make It Sparkle
5) 4 Crafty Chicks - #181 Use Pearls
6) Make it Monday - Anything Goes