Thursday, May 28, 2009

Inspired by...

I particularly like to do inspiration challenges. Some are difficult for me, but sometimes things just "click" and I get something that I really like. I wanted to share some of my recent cards that are inspired by "something"...oftentimes clothing!

This first card is inspired by a new Life is Good tee. I used the single flower in Merci, and colored the outer half of the petals with Prismacolor Premier pencils. I then used the colorless blender pencil (also known as a burnisher) to smooth and blend the color out. It spreads the color a bit more into the centers of the flowers. The paper is heavyweight white and I stamped the flowers in Basic Black. The greeting is from the old SU! set Simple Sayings.

This card was inspired by my youngest granddaughter's t-shirt from Carters. They have the most adorable fabrics! The shirt was pale pink with an over-all flower design in orange, bright pink, and green. The paper for the card is Pirouette Pink, the flowers are stamped in Pixie Pink, Green Galore, and Pumpkin Pie. The stems are also Green Galore. The flower set is Big Blooms. Ribbon is from Michaels.

This last card was for the CAS11 challenge at SCS and was inspired by a JCPenney comforter. The card is Pink Passion. The flowers on the white panel are Pixie Pink, Rose Red, YoYo Yellow, Certainly Celery, and Taken with Teal. The flower stamps are from an assortment of SU! and CTMH sets, and the greeting is from Curvy Verses. The paper piercing on the corners of the card completes the card.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Monochromatic Cards

In the past few months I have made quite a few cards that fit the definition of "monochromatic". I wanted to share some of them with you.

This first one was for the CAS14 challenge on SCS, which was for rock and roll technique. I used apricot and pumpkin inks on the flowers. For the rest of the details see the card in my gallery.

This next card is a super-simple masculine card that I made for the CAS10 monochromatic challenge. Its details can be seen here.

This card uses the same apricot and pumpkin colors as the first picture above. I made this for the CAS10 monochromatic challenge as well, and I have left a space for a sentiment. This link will take you to the details.

Have a great day! and keep stamping!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Remake that strayed...


This card is one that I started as a remake...but it got far from the original design! I do like this one a lot. I try to make nice cards for my hubby...and he doesn't really like lots of layers, embellishments, backgrounds, etc...so this one makes it into his stash. The entire center panel is popped up on dimensionals.
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Swirling Leaves Wheel, On Your Birthday
Ink: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard
Paper: More Mustard, Vanilla
Other: Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Monday, May 25, 2009

Redo-ing those old cards that don't quite make it...

The CAS challenge at SCS this week is to re-make an old card. Well, I have a bunch of cards that are downright ug-ly. Well, at least now I think so. Then there are some in my gallery that have pictures that don't and never did do the cards justice. I'm not going to delete them, but I think I will try to improve many of them. Here are a few:


This was an old (2005) Christmas card. See how it looks now:

Stampset: Christmas Cardinals
Paper: 110# White, Real Red, Summer Sun
Ink: Basic Black
Other: Watercolor pencils with aquapainter, SU! paper piercing set


I liked this spring card then, but it is better now:

Stampset: Spring Garden, Itty Bitty BG
Paper: Cameo Coral, Mellow Moss, White
Ink: Cameo Coral, Mellow Moss
Other: sponged some Moss on the edges of the images, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Oh, why do we even admit to making those old cards!?

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Ahh...Life is Good!

Life truly is good! And I love the "life is good" tees. So when I got a new North Style catty and saw the collection of new ones, well, inspiration is what catalogs are for...right?



This is done on heavy white cardstock with the single flower from Merci. I used Prismacolors to put color on the outside half of the flower petals, then used the blending pencil (sometimes called a burnisher) to blend and shade out the color. The sentiment is from Simple Sayings, an old SU! set.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Back again...

Ah, well, my sidebar says that I blog without obligation. So I shouldn't feel obligated, should I?! But I do. I think I should be posting more frequently. I think that I am so far behind with what I have been doing lately that I don't know how to get caught up. But those 'shoulds' and 'oughtas' and all that just make me feel guilty for not posting...and I put it off even longer.

Well, I figure that I will not try for any 'shoulds' and I will post when I can. After all I "blog without obligation" right! So I'll just post what I want whenever I can!



This card is for the CAS15 challenge at SCS. We were challenged to use only black, white, and one (only one) Bold Bright. I used Gable Green. The image is Stampendous' Agapanthus Blossom and it is stamped on Shimmery White in Versamagic, which is the only black I could get a really good image with. Hope you like it!