For the Love of Gingham

I actually made and photographed this card more than 2 weeks ago and would have posted, but sometimes your life gets pushed in a different direction.  I'm taking few minutes to get this posted so I can enter Power Poppy's power-spark-june-challenge-go-ahead-bug.  For their Junebug Challenge, all you need to do is use a 'bug' on you card and in my case the bug (butterfly) is the the card.

Surprise! I used my Silhouette Cameo for the shape of the card.  If you don't own one these amazing machines, you may not know that you can use it to edit a digi and set it against a digital background
like my new favorite, black gingham.  This butterfly easal card was purchased from The Silhouette Design Store.  The pretty sunflowers are from Power Poppy's Sunshine of My Life digital collection.
I colored the sunflowers on the front with Copics and chose not to color the inside.  On the front I accented the gingham with a black frame. The only other items used are pearls and a pretty black bow from Paper Studio.  The sentiment is My Sentiments Exactly! H162.

The card below follows the basic technique as the butterfly only this time the shape was taken from the digi itself.  Did I tell you this machine is amazing?

The Retro Telephone image  is from Buddly Crafts.  As I was linking back to the store, I noticed they have a bunch of new digi's I need to check out. Love there stuff.

I did post this at Splitcoast Stampers late last month.

Final thought. Have you said "I love you" lately?

Window and Roses

Well it finally warmed up didn't it. Now we can start complaining about the heat. They say we may break 100 deg. mark today.  So I will be enjoying the AC and looking out my window at all the pretty flowers my husband has planted.

I will be entering this in the Inkspirational Challenge136-designers-Choice-Widows.

When I buy a new digi, one of the first things I do is make into a cutting file. Some of them can be very challenging. Although this one may appear to be difficult, it was actually quite easy. The key is having no openings to the inner parts the digital image. The Silhouette  will cut those tiny branches, but they would be very week, so I used the offset tool to leave a little bit of a white edge.

I colored the image with Copics and placed in front of this pretty window, which was also cut with the Silhouette. I used Spellbinder's Exquisite Label's 10 for the card base.

One more thing before I go and I've been thinking about this awhile.  Don't you think it's proper blog etiquette to  leave a comment on at least one or two of the designers cards, when entering a contest?
Just saying...

Go Big

I just love this Power Poppy sunflower. If you've been to my blog before, you may notice I tend to like larger images and maybe that's why the sunflower is one of my favorite images. It's definitely big and definitely not shy. So here is the irony.. I'm 5'2" and kind of shy.  I married a 6'2" fella, so maybe he's my sunflower?

This card is 7-1/2  X  3-5/8

Watercolors seem to be all the rage. I used my Zig watercolor markers. I've had them for over a year and I can tell you there are many projects that went to into file 13.  The Zig watercolor brush marker colors are very vibrant and beautiful, but I have trouble blending them. A friend suggested that I lay the colors down on an acrylic blog and blend them with a wet brush.  It kind of defeats the purpose of a brush marker, but it seems to work for me.  I have not used true watercolor paper, as it is too heavy to go through my printer.  This is some paper I found that has that porous type quality and close to 110# weight. 

I printed this with  MS Word and formated it to print with a black frame. The other pretty paper I used is DCWV Pocket Blossom. 

I'm linking this up to Power Poppy's May Challenge - Frame it Up.

No Place Like Home

This has become my new passion! When I saw this  Parkside Row House from SVG Cuts, I became obsessed.  I went to Michaels and they had their 12X12 paper packs on sale for 70% off. I bought six!!  If you know me at all, you know I love all those beautiful papers, but struggle to use them on my cards.  The neat thing is the roof comes off and you can use them as gift boxes.

I wanted to share my excitement with you, so I have lots of pictures. 🙂

Pretty cool all lit up!

This assembled project is  13H X 5-1/2W  X 9-1/2D.  SVG Cuts has a large variety of cutting files, each one uniquely beautiful. For the Silhouette Cameo (which is what I have) you will need the designer upgrade.  Each file has a step by step video. 

I used Michaels' Recollections Painted Fancy for the patterned paper and aqua textured cardstock. The white trim is plain white cardstock  and the windows are lined with vellum. I tried various glues and my favorite is Score-Pal, but you better be certain of your placement before you make contact.

My next favorite is Zip Dry because you have plenty of time to adjust and any excess cleanly rubs off. 

I noticed after I took the pictures that my pearls were not straight.  I was able to straighten them, but didn't think I wanted to set up for a new shoot. 

I'm still making cards, but I have another house to finish. 

After the Rain

The Splitcoast CAS challenge this week was rain or anything that would relate to rain.

I attempted to water color this Just Inklined digital stamp.  I did not use watercolor paper and it wrinkled at bit. I used a Viva Paper Pen for some rain drops that don't show on the folder. After the time I spent coloring this I didn't want to ruin it with big drops that I couldn't correct, so it is what it is. I used Michael's Painted Fancy and a Memory Box Stitched Square to frame the image.

Bloomin Boots

This is a card I made for Splitcoast Stampers Saturday Inspiration Challenge. Ya, that's right... it took me a whole day to complete.  I think I've mention that I have the concentration of a gnat. I've been working on a large paper project and several other cards.  I'll drop a project and pick up another if I turn my head.  I guess after years of deadlines and stress, I've gone completely bonkers. And if you are old enough 😊you don't care how you get there or even if you get there.

Here is the link to my inspiration piece:  John Flevog - Montaigne-Blue

I thought this would be good practice coloring black.  Need more practice!

This Just Inklined digital image was colored with Copics and cut with the Silhouette Cameo. The sentiment is Verve Stamps and the die is Wonky-Stitched Rectangles from MFT.

This post took an hour, because I got distracted a couple of times.

 

Folded Butterfly

Just when you're all comfy with your laziness and your mojo has taken a walk, someone comes along and starts poking at you.  A friend sent me an email suggesting that we should both promise to make a card this week.

Well, the poke was just what I needed, so thank you my friend. I can't wait to see yours.

I kind of copied this idea from an embellishment that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I folded some light weight patterned paper and using scissors, snipped around the edges to shape the butterfly.  The body was cut using the Silhouette and some awesome Recollections glitter card stock. The center is brad from Making Memories.  I made an embossed frame with a Life Style die.

I will be entering this in the Double "D" Challenge - Things That Fly.