My 50th Blog Post!

Hello everyone! I started my blog in October, and I honestly can’t believe it, but this is my 50th blog post! Yikes!!! I’m really enjoying blogging, and I am so grateful to each and every one of you for visiting, and leaving such sweet comments...Thank You!!!

I created this card for this week’s challenge at CASology ~ It’s week 78, and our Cue Card is ‘Dot’.

 

 I used some of the circles from Neat & Tangled Party Dots and the centers of the flowers from PTI’s Beautiful Blooms II, in 3 colors, and decreasing in size as I stamped upward on the card panel. I added enamel dots for interest, stamped my sentiment, and placed a small strip of patterned paper along the side.

I hope everyone is having a great week! Thanks again for stopping by ~
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Neat & Tangled - Party Dots; Papertrey Ink - Beautiful Blooms II, Signature Greetings
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink - Select White
Patterned Paper: Amy Tangerine - Sketchbook
Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Hero Arts - Pale Tomato, Mint Julep, Soft Pool
Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye 

Valentine Card

Hello everyone!
I guess it’s no secret that I’m a complete and total ‘Challenge Junkie’, so of course I  created this card for a few challenges:
Less is More  ~ Our challenge is to create a one layer card and the theme is ‘Hearts’.
The Muse Challenge  ~ This week our Muse is the incredibly talented Therese Calvird , who inspired the design for my card.
Addicted to Stamps and More  ~ This week we are being asked to create a card for a holiday, and I chose Valentine’s Day.

I find one layer cards to be very tricky, because I always want to add a few gems or enamel dots, so this really was a challenge for me. I die cut, then masked the angled hearts die cuts (my fave) from Clearly Besotted on to an Eclipse masking sheet and inked them in various colors. Then, I stamped the tiny hearts with Versamark and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I stamped the sentiment in black ink, and the arrow is embossed with Zing Glitter EP. And, that’s it for my one layer card! 

I hope everyone is having a great week! 
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Avery Elle - Oh Happy Day; Lawn Fawn - Love You Tons (mini hearts)
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink - Select White
Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Versamark; Hero Arts - Pale Tomato, Butter Bar, Soft Sky, Soft Pool; Stampin’ Up - Pretty In Pink
Die: Clearly Besotted - Love Hearts
Embossing Powder: Hero Arts - Clear; Zing - Black Glitter EP

CAS(E) This Sketch #59

Hello everyone! I created this card for this week’s challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch. Instead of using my feather stamps and dies, I decided to go with this cute set which was a freebie (with purchase) at Papertrey Ink, and place the flowers and leaves on an angle to mimic the sketch. I also tried to channel my inner ‘Laura Bassen’ by adding some silver thread behind my focal point :-) I think I may have been a little shy about it, though...but, it is there!

I used Hero Arts Mint Julep for the leaves and paired it with 3 other colors for the flowers. To make the white panel pop, I used my MFT Blu Raspberry cardstock for the card base. 

Well, that’s it for me ~ I hope everyone’s week is off to a great start! 
Barb

Supplies:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Ruby Reprise
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink - Select White; MFT - Blu Raspberry
Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Hero Arts - Mint Julep; PTI - Berry Sorbet, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores
Sequins: SSS - December Card Kit

Bee Mine...Valentine!

Hello everyone! Just a quick post today. I’m getting in just under the wire for this week’s CASology Challenge. Our Cue Card is ‘Bubbly’, so I decided to use speech bubbles for my card, and since I used this sweet little bumble bee, I think I’ll add this to my collection for the Caring Hearts Card Drive. 

I finally broke out my Tim Holtz Honeycomb stencil, which I won in Barb Engler’s challenge...thanks, Barb! I stamped the Lawn Fawn ‘Bee Mine’ sentiment and bee, and with selective inking, I added the word 'Valentine’ from Hero Arts ‘Celebrate Everyday’ set. 

Well, that’s it for me ~ I hope everyone is having a fun and crafty weekend! 
Barb

Supplies:

Stamps: Lawn Fawn - Bee Mine; Hero Arts - Everyday Sayings
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink - Select White; Hero Arts - Daffodil
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Hero Arts - Butter Bar
Markers: Copic Sketch - Y02
Dies: Mama Elephant - Femme Frames; Simon Says Stamp - Speech Bubbles

Cards From the Heart Card Drive

Hello everyone! I have another card to share for the Cards From the Heart Card Drive, and of course, I’ll be entering my card into a few challenges.

This week marks the first ever challenge at The Card Concept, and we were given an inspiration photo as well as a color palette to choose from. Also, since the current challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More is a ‘Make Your Mark’ challenge, I thought I would combine the two! I found this cute little Valentine image from Digistamps Boutique, and thought this sweet little puppy was perfect.

 

For the Card Concept Challenge, I was inspired by the challenge colors: Kraft, Pink, Vanilla and Espresso. I colored my puppy with 2 shades of brown and used marshmallow cardstock for the front panel, and of course pink for the heart and butterflies. This challenge is also unique, in that we have several styles to choose from among the DT, and I’m guessing my card is considered ‘Clean & Layered’.

For the Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge, we are being asked to color an image using our favorite medium (markers, inks, pencils), so I chose to use my trusty Copic markers!

Well, that’s it for me ~ I hope everyone has a fun and crafty weekend! 
Barb

Supplies:
Digital Stamp: Digistamp Boutique
Cardstock: Cardstock: Papertrey Ink - Select White; Copic X-Press It - Blending Cardstock; Bazzill - Marshmallow
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers - E50, E53, E55, E57, R81, R83, R85
Impression Plate: Papertrey Ink - Rustic Burlap
Dies: Papertrey Ink - Mega Mat Stack 3
Misc: Glossy Accents (small heart); Wink of Stella Pen (large heart and butterflies)

Home...Where Your Story Begins

Hello everyone!

I have 2 more cards to share today. My first card is for the challenge at Less is More, and it’s a color challenge. We have been asked to use ‘Winter Blues’ and since I recently bought this stamp and die set from PTI, I thought I would try my hand again at JJ Bolton’s Technique using some blue inks.

I have to say that this technique is a lot harder than it looks! Lining everything up is only part of it...for some reason, I had trouble with the stamp, then smearing the Memento Luxe ink, and on and on it went ~ LOL ~ I went through a lot of cardstock to get it right,  and that infuriates me! In the end, I’m happy with how it turned out, so all is well...and of course I LOVE this sentiment!

My next card is for 2 challenges: For this week’s challenge at Addicted to Clean & Simple, our code word is ‘Die Cuts’. This is my 2nd submission for this challenge, and I used die cuts almost exclusively on this card. I would also like to enter this card for this week’s challenge at Muse. Our inspiration this week was provided by Laurie Willison, who created a beautiful card with a sunburst. It’s Laurie’s last challenge as a DT member, and I’m sure going to miss her!

I die cut the 'Power Rays’ with white cardstock, and inked it up with Hero Arts Butter Bar. Then, I inked a background panel also with Butter Bar and Orange Soda to create depth. I added all of my die cuts, stamped my sentiment, and voila!

Well, that’s it for me! Tonight was the finale on Project Runway All Stars, and I can't wait to see who won :-)

I hope everyone is having a great week! 
Barb

1st Card:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Polka Dot Parade #10
Ink: Hero Arts - Mid-tone Navy; Memento Luxe - Teal Zeal; Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink - Select White; Bazzill - Icy Mint
Dies: Papertrey Ink - Modern Alphabet
Glitter Pen: Wink of Stella - Clear
Sequins: Kelly Purkey - Turquoise Blue

2nd Card:
Stamps: Fresh Squeezed Stamps - Everyday Expressions
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Hero Arts - Butter Bar, Orange Soda
Cardstock: Cardstock: Papertrey Ink - Select White
Dies: Paper Smooches - Power Rays; Mama Elephant - Landscape Trio; Impression Obsession - Deer Trio