Friday Night Writes

Hi, everyone,

Hope it's been a good week for all of you.

More about last Saturday's Crop

On Monday, I mentioned I would give a little more information about one of the event's at last Saturday's crop.

Ashley and Tiffany are two of my favorite people from Pizazz It! days. They are both up-and-coming graphic designers -- and they have collaborated on an initial book of sketches. And, at the crop, they held a book signing. :) 

To check out their blogs, click here for Ashley's blog and click here for Tiffany's blog.  

One more thing about last weekend's activities, I took some time this week to finish up a few cards from Saturday. This week's sketch at {Mojo}Mondays was a loose inspiration for the first two cards below. All three cards were made from Kaiser's Lush collection. 

Kaiser Lush collection

Kaiser Lush collection

Kaiser Lush collection, with a cut-out flocked flower from one of these pretty papers

For all three cards, I had already punched the borders and adhered the base paper and bottom strip paper. So, I didn't really have the real estate on the first two to add the banner strip on the bottom right of the {Mojo}Monday sketch.

While it would have been possible to go with something other than circles for the four featured elements, I really thought circles would work well with my background paper. However, I decided to go with an odd number of featured circles on both cards.

OWH Sketch #117

Okay, talk about loose interpretations...  I even considered not posting the card below for this week's Sunday sketch. I swear that I started off with every intention of being true to the sketch -- other than making it a horizontal card to go with my pre-written Any Hero card bases.

Bo Bunny Liberty collection

• For the background, I cut out the middle of a 6 by 6 paper and then positioned the top over the bottom. I adhered the top to two other rectangular papers so that it would be a little thicker than the bottom. So far, so good!
• Then, I played with circles -- and rectangles with rounded corners -- before deciding that the sentiment really need to be on rectangular paper.
• Next, I tried the sentiment behind a ribbon -- as shown on the sketch -- but no sale.
• Finally, I tried putting the sentiment in the center, but it really felt like it should go in the bottom right corner to balance out the flag's field of stars.

So, forgive me if I've posted an "illegal" card. In my defense, the sketch was the original inspiration. And, I am pretty pleased with the end result. Hope the hero who receives it will be, too. :)

CAS-ual Fridays

Remember all the wonderful challenges from the OWH Virtual Card Making Party during cruise week? Well, this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge brought back memories of one of my favorite cards. So, I think I'm going to post Beach Currency at CAS-ual Fridays.

This was the first card to have die cuts made from my garage sale Zip'e Mate!

Parting Thoughts

Just a couple more cards to make before I mail my Muscle Card challenge package to Kris. :)

Have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by -- and happy scrappin'!



Monday Musings: The Early Edition

Hi,

Since my men are gone, I'm a little ahead of schedule. (Boy, not too often we get to say that, huh?!) So, why not post a little ahead of schedule?

OWH Sketch #114

Another Sketch, Another Any Hero Card! This week's sketch calls for the background rectangle to be divided into two sections. I considered a couple of options before deciding upon a more subtle approach. 

Paper: Bo Bunny Liberty, Bazzill admiral, BasicGrey kraft
Cuttlebug embossing folder, red and blue Stickles

I was really struggling with the square until I added the layer of kraft. The navy by itself was just too strong. I'm thinking navy behind the embossed kraft would have made the card even stronger. But, not too bad -- and I'm thinking of tweaking this a little to make a few "My Dad, My Hero" cards.

I'm really liking this Liberty paper. I picked up a few 12 by 12 sheets recently and found out there is a 6 by 6 pad. My LSS wasn't able to order it since it was last year's collection. Luckily, I found it online at ODBD. So, a few pads of this great paper is headed my way!

OWH's Father's Day Challenge

Looks like we rocked the Mother's Day card challenge. So, we're moving on to a Father's Day card challenge. (It's still not too late to send in a few "Love You, Mom cards.)

I was able to carve out a significant amount of card-making time yesterday. And, cards for dads were my number one priority! All of the following cards were made from Kaiser's Konstrukt 6 by 6 pad.



Kaiser Konstrukt paper, Zip'eMate letters

Kaiser Konstrukt paper, Zip'eMate letters, Kaiser rhinestones
small rectangle: crimped and inked

Kaiser Konstrukt paper, Zip'eMate letters
Sentiment: Jillian Vance Celebrate Dad stamp set
(Sorry about the scanning distortion on this one.)

Wish that the scanned images did  better justice to these. Cards with "bumps" don't tend to scan as well... Hope the designs come across anyway.

CFC45

This week's CAS-ual Friday challenge is to make a card using pastels and black. The card below was also made from Kaiser's Konstrukt paper.

Kaiser Konstrukt, American Crafts black cardstock
Kaiser rhinestones, Celebrate It ribbon, Fiskars border punch
Butterflies are tri-layered: bottom, purple; middle: black, top, polka dot.
(Another disappointing scan. The shadow takes away from the prettiness of the card.)

Designers always tell us to not be afraid of black. (I sure remember hearing that a lot on Trading Spaces!) Yet, there's a natural tendency to stay away from it. So, I'm really glad I gave this a try -- I love the way this card turned out!  :)

Parting Thoughts

Hoping to get a few more cards made today. But, my first goal is to catch up on Tim's Thursday and Friday online classes.

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy scrappin'!

Friday Night Writes

Hi, everyone,

Hope it's been a good week. It's actually been a crazy week for us -- an unexpected family matter needing some attention. But, life's feeling a whole lot calmer now.  :)

Hooray for public WiFi access!

OWH Midweek Challenge

This week's challenge  was to make a Miss You card for our troops to send home to a loved one.

Kaiser Konstrukt Collection

One of the things that most excites me about this card is that it was the first time I used any of the letter die cuts that came with my Zip'e Mate garage sale find! The typewriter style seemed kind of nail-like and fit well with the construction theme of this amazing paper. I lightly pressed the letters into a black ink pad to better feature the letters themselves. And, while I love the patterned paper, it felt like it needed some black to ground it.

My First Dad Card of the Season

The real reason I bought that 6 by 6 pad was to make Father's Day cards to go with the adorable sentiment featured below. Hoping to crank a few more of these out in the next couple of weeks.

Paper: Kaiser Konstrukt Collection, BasicGrey Kraft
Sentiment: Gillian Vance Celebrate Dad stamp set

For a Kiddie

I found some adorable monkey paper on clearance at my LSS, Scrapbook Art. It seemed like it could make a few cute kiddie birthday cards. So, here's the first of several monkey cards to come.

Paper: Creative Imaginations, Doodlebug surprise party
Stickers: Mrs. Grossman
Font: computer-generated (Andy)

Two points worth noting: 1) This was my first time to pierce using my new Sew Easy tool. But, I chose not to use threads since this kiddie card might very well get a little extra wear and tear. 2) The glitter is really baked in well -- like with DCWV cardstock.  :)

One Friend's Trash...

Earlier this week, I was working away in my cubicle when a friend/fellow crafter/fellow OWH supporter came by bearing a gift.  She was no longer using the display rack shown below -- and knew exactly the person who could give it a good home.

Thanks so much, Mary Kate!  
Hope to have time to get together a surprise for your in-box on Monday!

For now, it has a place of honor in my craft room -- aka the menopause room. But, should we have a holiday Craft Show this year at work, it will proudly be displaying this year's card collection!

Parting Thoughts

Keeping my fingers crossed that things remain calm and I'll find some time to pull together that thank you for Mary Kate, as well as make a few cards this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy scrappin'!