The Cat's Pajamas for Send a Smile 4 Kids

I'm excited to be playing along with the 175 challenge for Send a Smile 4 Kids!  Send a Smile 4 Kids is a program that distributes handmade cards to children's hospitals for kids to receive or they can select cards to give to others.  What a great cause!  Hopefully I can find a little mojo to be able to make a number of cards to contribute to the cause.

I used the Bunny Christmas set from The Cat's Pajamas for my card today.  I was fortunate to be a winner of a recent blog hop and purchased this set with my winnings.  Isn't that bunny just the cutest!  They have a number of stamps featuring this funny little fellow and it was not easy narrowing down my choice.  I used Zig Clean Color markers to color my image and a Stampin' Up border die to stamp the red background panel.  I also pulled out a new Stampin' Up embossing folder for the subtle texture on the white panel.

#Sendasmile4kids    #Thecatspajamas

Happy Stamping!

Dana

A Little Colored Pencil Piece

I'm taking the big leap and joining along in Kathy Racoosin's 10th 30 Day Coloring Challenge. 

#thedailymarker30day

I have been struggling with finding my mojo in card making but have so enjoyed all of the fabulous inspiration by so many amazing papercrafters.  I am in awe of the talent out there and would love to be able to create beautifully colored elements for my cards.  I am not a natural artist.  I like straight lines and have a design sense but coloring or painting with abandon is not in my wheel house.  So, I figure practice is what I need to improve my skills and hopefully get those creative juices flowing again.

I played a bit with colored pencils on this gorgeous image from Altenew.  I was going for a cream flower with hints of pink at the center.  My final result isn't what was in my mind but am overall pleased with the result.

Sorry for the picture quality.  I haven't yet set up a photo booth/station since we moved.

Happy Stamping (and Coloring!),
Dana

Sunshine

Today I'm playing along with the sketch challenge (#318) at Try Stampin on Tuesday.  I chose to include the optional theme of A Trio of Words.  As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew what I wanted to do.  Here in Minnesota we are trying really hard to get some spring-like weather so I wanted to bring some sunshine to my paper. I used the sun image from Kinda Eclectic from Stampin' Up.  I used Altenew's Half Tone Circles on top and heat embossed in clear to bring some shine to my sun.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts and I thought it was appropriate for these images.  Pretty clean an simple, but I like it.

I don't think the photo shows the shine on the sun so I'll risk a close-up on my embossing skills (boy did I have to fight the embossing on the sentiment).  Hopefully this shows the shine a bit better.  Sorry for the photo quality, I don't have a photo station set up yet.

And here is the sketch.  It is a really fun one with lots of possibilities.  There is still time to play along.  

Some of you may be wondering where I have been.  Well, life got in the way we had some surprises and some health issues (we are in good shape on that front now).  We had the usual sad and happy times along the way.  From a happy perspective we celebrated my parent's 50th wedding anniversary with a lovely party, we now have a great nephew, our niece was married, our son and his lovely girlfriend are now engaged and we had a lovely vacation in Arizona to celebrate a cousin's wedding.  The biggest change with the most impact was that we unexpectedly bought a new house.  We were not planning on moving, but it was time.  At the old house we had started a remodeling project which eliminated a bedroom so we had to put the bedroom back and get the house ready for market.  Happily, we did sell without being on the market too long.  But it has been a very long road and we are now settled in the new place and loving it.

I sure do miss my time in my craft room and I'll let you know that it's tough to get back into the swing of things, but this challenge sure helped me along.

Happy Stamping,

Dana

Popping in for Darnell's NBUS Challenge

Wow!  I've been gone much too long but I had to pop in for a quick post to play along with Darnell's NBUS challenge.  Darnell is such a generous and fun lady and has been so kind to me.   I have so missed making cards, playing along with challenges and most of all the fabulous people I have virtually met along the way.  I hope to be back again soon on a regular basis and will fill you in on my absence.

The challenge is to use never before used stuff with an optional theme to use bubble wrap.  I remembered a technique I used a while back with Perfect Pearls and plastic wrap to create a faux pearl background so I decided to try it with bubble wrap. I had to laugh when I saw that I used that technique on the last post before my long absence - seems like a lifetime ago.

I made 4 background panels, some were more successful in my mind.  I like the pink and orange combo of distress inks.

I ended up selecting the background with the softest color, love the shimmery bubble effect.  I used a couple of sets from Unity.  The butterfly is from "Only You" and the sentiment from "...May Hope Sustain You".  I added some Wink of Stella to the butterfly and a few borders, tough to get the mojo back though.  I'll admit that I happen to have a lot of NBUS as I haven't had much time in the craft room and my rate of acquiring new stuff has slowed only marginally.

Happy 5 Year Blogaversary Darnell!

Happy Stamping,
Dana

Faux Mother of Pearl

I really wanted to play along with the CAS Challenge at Happy Little Stampers this month.  It took me a while to get there but I finally made not one, but two cards.  The challenge this month is to create a project with the Faux Mother of Pearl technique.  The technique involves using bunched up plastic wrap to apply Liquid Pearls to your paper and then sponge color over the top.  I didn't have Liquid Pearls but I thought I would try some Radiant Pearls.  As you can see below my first attempt was a complete failure.  The purple and green were muddy and completely eradicated the Radiant Pearls.  I tried again with a heavier application of the Radiant Pearls and 2 shades of pink.  The result was pretty but not the desired outcome.  I caved, I went and bought some Liquid Pearls.  I held my breath as I started sponging and like magic a beautiful result.  See, we really DO need all of those supplies we have (grin).

The first card is for my Niece who is participating in her first Communion.  I die cut the filigree portion of the cross from a portion of the Faux Mother of Pearl Panel.  I die cut the full cross cut-out from 3 sheets of heavy cardstock and dry embossed the top layer.  They were glued up to add a little depth.  A computer generated sentiment inside and out completes the card.

Since the supplies were still out on my table, I decided to make an Easter card as well.  I went very CAS with this one too.  The Easter sentiment was heat embossed on the Faux Mother of Pearl panel.  I die cut the cross cut-out from another panel of white and then dry embossed the border along the bottom.  Layered it all up and the card was complete.  I hope you enjoy a lovely Easter!

Happy Stamping,
Dana

Just For You

Hi all, today I'm playing along with a new challenge - CAS Mix Up Card Challenge.  What a fun concept to combine a Clean and Simple card with Mixed Media!  This month the challenge is to include watercoloring, stamping and your choice of another mixed media selection.  I chose to use heat embossing.

I started by wetting a panel of watercolor paper and added ink from the lid of my stamp pads and let it pool and move on the paper.  I loved the bold result of the watercoloring but knew I would need a bold element to stand up to the strong color and pattern.  I selected a bold sentiment and heat embossed it in black.  I added a few turns of black twine as a simple embellishment, to add interest but not be too fussy.  A couple of borders in black and teal finish up the card.

Happy Stamping,

Dana

Feels Like Spring

Today I'm sharing 2 cards.  The first is based on a sketch at Retro Rubber Challenge.  I pulled out a sweet little flower image that I picked up some time back and is dated 2001.  I stamped it 3 times, colored and cut in ovals and added a few brushes of Wink of Stella.  They were layered over a diamond die cut as a nod to the sketch.  The Happy Easter sentiment is an old unmarked wood mount stamp and has been in my stash for more than ten years.  It was heat embossed in white on the main green panel.  A couple of borders and the card is complete.

The second card I'm sharing is based on the sketch at Retro Sketches, the colors from Color Throwdown and the theme at Less is More.  I stamped the sentiment in orange on a white card base.  a few panels of cardstock were added in orange, green and yellow.  I heat embossed the floral image in black and colored the image with markers adding a rhinestone to the butterfly.  It was added to the card with dimensions.

CITRUS

Happy Stamping,
Dana