Patriotic Fun

The 4th of July is rapidly approaching - and since we have small children, the celebration of that holiday always includes sparklers! When I first saw the bear from Stars & Stripes, I decided I could trim the star out and replace it with some sparkling fun :)

I started out with the sketch from Dina, but I must admit that I fiddled around a bit with the elements. I paired the bear with BasicGrey Cupcake paper (and can I just say that I have NOTHING patriotic in my stash!), and created the sparkler with a stick pin and tiara glitz stickles.

Be sure to check out how Susan, Giovana, Dina, Donelda & Donna each used the sketch, too.

Always Joyful

I do love the "Buttoned Up" set - that girl is just so doggone adorable! I also love Memory Box paper, and dug out the winterberry line for this card. I stamped the little sweetie onto kraft cardstock and then cut it into a circle with my coluzzle. The swirly edge had a definite line, so I added a few more swirls with the help of my trusty stamp-a-ma-jig. The dress is paper pieced, and I added a bit of rosiness to her cheeks with a prismacolor pencil as well as a tiny prima flower in her hair. I also pulled out oval coluzzle for the verse panel, and accented the card with a bit of taffeta ribbon.

Well, I'm off again - see you tomorrow for the sketchy tea party! :)

Joy in the Journey

One of my "crafty" friends came over last night, and we had a ball playing with paper and glue. Funny thing is that she was cranking out projects left and right (preparing for an event this weekend)... and me? Well, I made this one card. It was pretty ridiculous, actually, but I did enjoy the journey :)

I started off be stamping the sweet girl (Journey) directly onto white cardstock, then masking off her legs and overstamping with Swipe. I colored her in with prismacolor pencils, but she was still looking awfully stark, so I grabbed a chipboard butterfly (Tattered Angels glimmer chip), cut it apart, and swiped over it with brilliance ink to highlight the embossed design. I added that to her back - much better! I stamped the sentiment onto some scrap paper and then cut apart the words and debated entirely too long about how I should arrange the pieces. Next order of business: what paper to layer with the panel? I tried all sorts of patterns, but nothing was really gelling. Holly mentioned that she had some silver scraps in her bag, so I grabbed a piece, fancied it up with a punched edge (Martha Stewart), and was finally happy with the results. Wahoo!!

Last order of business for tonight: sketch for next week's smARTworks' Tea Party. Dina has shared this funky layout, borrowed from a promotional calendar. Hmmm... maybe I should start working on that card now so that it's actually done by Wednesday! :)

Love Bug

"Oh, that a little bitty teeny weeny thing they call the love bug
Nobody's ever seen it but it's got the whole world shook up
It all started with a little bitty kiss and a hug
It's a little bitty teeny weeny thing they call the love bug"

Any other country fans out there? As soon as I got this challenge set from Susan, I was humming that song (by George Jones, but I'm referring to the George Strait version) and envisioning the possibilities.

I ended up using this paper (from an old DCWV pad) that is an orangish-red, and grabbed the sentiment from Journey. The ladybug is pieced with some paisley paper, and I made the antenna with craft wire. I stole one of the little ladybugs from the border image and stamped the dutiful line-up, then had my rebellious ladybug do a wheelie in the opposite direction :) Oh, and just a bit of piercing to create her "path." I love how this turned out, and I think it would be a great card for a graduate or someone starting a new job.

FREE RUBBER ALERT! If you'd like a shot at winning this set for yourself, then head over to Susan's blog. And you can also see what everyone else created with the set here. Have a great weekend!

A Fiver!

I've had the "Daring Cardmakers" in my google reader for quite some time now, and I always want to play along with their fun challenges... but never seem to actually pull it off. Until today, that is! This week's challenge was to incorporate 5 of something onto a card. I've had this idea floating around in my head using the Buttoned Up set and it fit the challenge!

I stamped the row of flowers using brilliance ink, then trimmed around the bottom edge with my indispensable cutter bees. I tied hemp twine through each button and added a dab of glue onto the knot to make sure it wouldn't slip, then adhered them to the flowers with glue dots. All that was left was to stamp the sentiment and add a strip of contrasting paper along the inside edge (gotta play up that cut edge!).

So there you have it - 5 flowers, 5 buttons, and pretty much done in 5 minutes ;)

Let's Par-tay!

Well, it's finally time for my party! When I was debating what sort of challenge to issue this time around, I decided to stretch myself - and evidently a few of the other team members! - and go "no white." I'm really curious to see how everyone else handled it... after all, you could easily just use cream instead ;)

For my card, I used a pale bluish gray for the focal panel (definitely not my usual) then layered it with beige and navy. Serene and just a bit somber. The main image and sentiment are from Journey, and I used Screen on the beige layer just to add a bit more dimension. I colored the main panel with prismacolor pencils (and her shirt is light pink, by the way, NOT white!) and then went over the path with glossy accents.

See what the other cookies have whipped up for today - click over to visit Susan, Giovana, Dina, Donelda & Donna!