Happy Easter

Last weekend I had a mad rush to get my Easter cards completed for the family.  Last year's card was a stamped and colored image, so this year I changed it up and made a die cut card.  I found Happy Spring patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle on our drive from Ohio to Maryland in January which I used to pick colors for the card. 

I had the egg dies from Memory Box, and I have recently added to my collection of dies, the super fun Say Cheese die from Lawn Fawn. I put a square of vellum behind the eggs, to mute the pattern a bit. A cute sentiment stamp from Stampendous embossed in white (So loving white against darker papers!!), and the card practically put itself together.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and can spend time with family and friends.

Thanks for stopping by.

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(=';'=)
(")_(")~

March Card Chain Challenge

This month I am sending my card to New Jersey. I chose to use the sketch(loosely) and the color palette(as close as I could get).

The flower petals were first heat embossed with the Hero Arts envelope pattern stamp, then die cut with the Sizzix tattered florals die.

The card base was dry embossed with the Stampin Up Hexagon embossing folder. 

A piece of kraft was stamped with the Hero Arts Houndstooth background stamp in Memento Gold ink. I then clear embossed it. Three slim strips were cut. The remainder of the piece was dry embossed with the hexagon folder then I cut several center pieces out. These pieces were randomly placed on the embossed card base. 

A sentiment from Hero Arts was stamped in gold and attached to the card front with a brad.  The flower was put together with another brad.

Thanks for stopping by.
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(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat

Zinnia

I saw this huge stamp on sale and decided to pick it up. I was having a day that I kept picking up dark colors. I have no idea why, but I liked the flower once I had colored it with a Memento Pearlescent ink in Poppy. The ink has a shimmer to it that is more visible than in photographs.  I have to admit having shown the card to hubs, and the first version had a black sentiment.  He suggested it needed lightening up...so I added the sentiment in white and placed it on top of the original. HUGE difference. Thanks Hubs!

Thanks for stopping by.
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(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat


Ink: Versafine, Versamark, Memento
Stamp: Stampendous
Marker: Sakura Gelly Roll White, Sakura Stardust Clear
Cardstock: The Paper Company
Embossing: Tsukineko White, Lifestyle Crafts Folder
Fiber: Hug Snug
Card Size: 4 x 6 inches

Scramble 56

Quickcard56, a photo by Cat Craig on Flickr.

Barb hosted this scramble, and she made a darling tic tac toe board for our theme. Just choose a straight line on the vertical, horizontal, or diagonal. I went with the center vertical- pink and green, patterned paper, die cut. ( My card also managed to include the elements in one of the diagonals- glitter or stickles, patterned paper, and heat embossing.)

You can visit the awesome thread here to see all the lovely creations. Remember a scramble at the Hero Arts Flickr group is 90 minutes from theme reveal to final card photo upload and tagging.

Stamp and die cut are both from Hero Arts.

Thanks for stopping by.
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(=';'=)
(")_(")~

More Etched Daisy

Hello, Here to share another card made with the etched Daisy stamp from Hero Arts(F5741). This stamp along with a resist emboss technique are my current obsession.  

I started out with Stampin Up whisper white cardstock, stamp with versamark, then heat emboss with Tsukineko white embossing powder, it has a lovely thick feel to it. Once this has cooled and is hard set, I start dabbing in the centers with Brilliance Pearlescent Lime ink. I rub it in very firmly.  Next I added Brilliance Pearlescent Coral to the entire card. Once done I lightly rubbed it with an Ink Away craft cleaning wipe. Finally, I sponged the spaces between the flowers with Pearlescent Purple ink. I finished it up with another wipe. The Brilliance ink that I am using really adds a wonderful satin-y sheen. 

The stamped section was matted and tied with ribbon, the card based dry embossed, and a die cut sentiment added in yellow layered on top of pink to give a bit more dimension. And I could not leave well enough alone, I colored two sets of dots gold on the dry embossing.

Thanks for stopping by.
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(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat 

More Fabulous

I know this is an older sentiment stamp, but having just acquired it I find it fits for so many fun girly cards. I swap a monthly  card with a friend in California. This is my card for March. 

The sentiment is Ali Edwards, the pearls are Martha Stewart, the seam binding is Hug Snug, the die cuts are Spellbinders, the felt rose die cut is My Favorite Things, the card base and cardstock is from The Paper Company, and the patterned paper is My Mind's Eye.




Thanks for stopping by.
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(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat

St. Patrick's Day

Thanks for stopping by, today I have a card made for family for St. Patrick's Day. I first found the patterned paper and then I found the stamp...all while driving from Ohio to Maryland in January. Hubs is very understanding about hitting the craft stores I manage to unearth when we are on a road trip. He agrees to stop, I agree to a 30 minute door to check out line time frame.  It works well for us both. I don't over buy, and he's not stuck twiddling thumbs. He is even cool about using an extra coupon for me. We make this trip once or twice a year, it is my one and only chance to see inside an Archiver's.  I could spend hours in there!

The stamp is from Inkadinkado, the patterned paper is Celtic Crossings from Reminisce.  The sentiment I printed on green card stock, the font is Juice. I thought it looked just right. The gem came from Linda in a card swap last month, I used a green spectrum noir marker to color it. I love that gems and pearls can be colored using alcohol markers. I also used Distress Ink behind the shamrock.

Have a great weekend and Happy St. Patrick's Day.
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(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat

Hello Spring

Last Saturday I participated in another scramble over at the Hero Arts Flickr group.  Ninety minutes to create, execute, photograph and upload your finished card to the scramble thread.

Linda hosted it and the theme was embossing. The scramblers could choose heat embossing or dry embossing. I chose the heat embossing. It is one of my favorite things to do. I always feel like a mad scientist watching that embossing powder melt into the stamp image.

There are so many bouquets in the grocery stores right now with dyed daisies.  So I did something similar. I stamped and embossed the daisies in white randomly across my cardstock. 

Next I picked out 3 distress inks; peeled paint, tumbled glass, and dusty concord.  I began applying the inks with an ink blending tool, one color at a time. Once I had all my areas colored, I went in again to deepen some of the colors.  



The resulting piece was cut down, matted in yellow, wrapped with yellow grosgrain ribbon and adheared to a charcoal card base.

The sentiment was stamped in charcoal shadow ink on yellow cardstock, then fussy cut and attached to the corner.

I wanted to add just another bit of girly bling, so the three main daisies got pearly centers. 

The picture really doesn't do justice to the card.  It really is pretty, even Hubs thought so. He's not one for superlatives when describing things. A Libra he is and the middle he likes.  

This stamp is currently my obsession, you'll see more cards next week.


Thanks for stopping by.
 /\  /\
(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat


Ink: Versamark, Distress Inks, Hero Arts Shadow Ink
Stamp: Hero Arts F5741, CL493
Cardstock: Hero Arts Charcoal Card base, Stampin Up Whisper White, The Paper Company
Embellishment: Pearls - Queen n Co
Embossing: Tsunekinko White
Fiber: American Crafts
Card Size:4.25 by 5.5 inches

I love a bargin

So while I was out getting groceries and running household errands, I popped into JoAnn's to get some fabric. While I was there I went to the stamp area since it is National Craft Month, there had to be some sales. I came across a TPC studio set that was clearance marked at 2.97...now how could I go wrong at that price.  I liked that there were 4 sentiments, a shadow image, and a line image. Possibilities...

I love grey and yellow together. I broke out my two favorite Hero Arts mid-tone shadow inks in Butterbar and Charcoal and went to work.  Some  satin and organza ribbon, some pearls colored yellow and here is the finished card.   

Thanks for stopping by.
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(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat 

Thank You Hubs

I married a man who understands that flowers are for me the perfect gift. They look beautiful, they smell wonderful, and then they die. I consider them the perfect gift because I do not have to clean them, figure out where to store them, use/wear them or exchange them.

During this trip to Maryland, hubs has not let a single day go by without making sure there are fresh cut flowers in the house. As soon as they start to show signs of drooping, he replaces them. I took pictures of individual blooms in the mixed bouquet that arrived recently.

I liked the picture so much it inspired me to make this card as a thank you to hubs for the flowers. I figure since it is a thank you I can get away with the flowers on the card. 

Thanks for stopping by.
 /\  /\
(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat








Ink: Versamark, Distress inks (Dusty Concord, Tattered Rose, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Wild Honey)
Stamp: Hero Arts (CG430, K5586,CL449, CL309, CG317)
Cardstock: Hero Arts Card base, Recollections, Neenah Solar white
Embossing: Tsukineko White
Card Size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches

LBA

Last night I was surprised to read a comment from a fellow Hero Arts Flickr group member and blogger Cecilia Hsieh.   She has paid her Liebster Blog Award forward to me along with four other bloggers! Whoa, thank you so very much Cecilia. What a lovely thing to do. 

The award is designed to be a blog award in the "Pay it Forward" genre.

Once nominated if you accept, you are compelled to nominate or award it to five other blogs you follow and hopefully love which have fewer than 200 followers to encourage others to visit those blogs.

To accept the award, thank the person who gave it to you and link back to their blog. Post the award on your blog. Give the award to five other bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  Leave them a blog comment letting them know you have nominated them.

These women are awesome, kind, and creative. I am never disappointed when reading their posts. Please take a few minutes to visit their blogs if you are not already familiar with them. If you like what you see, think about following them.

Sally from Abbey's Attic                 
She writes such lovely posts, and her work is beautiful.

Judy from Livin the Dream
She makes gorgeous perfect cards.  

Martha from Martha's Creations
Stunning applies to her cards and tags.
 
Joy from Morning Glory Card Studio
She is creative; her cards are perfectly put together.  


Lucille from White Points
Wonderful designs and beautifully executed card creations. 

It was difficult choosing just 5, there are so many blogs out there that I enjoy reading almost every day before the days activities begin. I could easily add more, but I am going to stick with the guidelines provided to me.  Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day.


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(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat

Wishy Washi???

Hi Happy Friday.  I am here with an entry to Washi Tape Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.  

I am completely and hopelessly washi tape impaired.  I love what other people do with it, but when I touch it, its usually a disaster.  I have exactly 5 rolls of washi tape, a set of four in reds from the target clearance section and a black and white polka dotted one I found and couldn't resist the dots. I decided to play in this challenge; because the call was for new uses for washi...since I have trouble getting things looking good with the trends that are out there...why not.   

I took a striped washi and a solid red washi and cut some strips, turned them printed side down on my work surface, overlapped them stripe on stripe, solid on solid then put their sticky sides together (there is no cardstock between the washi layers). Then I had a 2.75 inch wide and 4 inch long non sticky two-sided washi tape piece. I die-cut it and rolled some roses. I love how they turned out. The semi opacity of the tape lets the darker red through on the striped side.  I dropped in some silver balls for the flower centers and secured them with glossy accents.

Next, I stamped my sentiment then bordered it top and bottom with the black and white polka dotted washi, at the right side I tried to get the same angle as my fish tail flag end.  I placed the die over it, just wanting a thin border for the flag. A dry embossed  panel with small dots was adhered to a gray card base. Finally I added the sentiment banner with foam tape and the roses with small glue dots.

I actually had fun with this washi experiment, no hair pulling out, no bad words, no overflowing trash bin.  A success I would say.  Thanks for visiting.

 /\  /\
(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat
 

February CCC

I like participating in card exchanges, this is the third from Deborah Nolan's Card Chain Challenge.  I made my card and sent it off to Indiana...and waited...waited...and waited some more for it arrive.  By the end of last month it still had not arrived at its destination, so I made another version of the card that was flatter and could be sent in a regular envelope instead of a padded one. The second is slightly different, I'm not sure which I like better.  The good news, Murphy's Law kicked in and both cards arrived on the same day!

second card

If you'd like to join in, the March sign up which closes on the 17th can be found at this link. 

Thanks for stopping by.
 /\  /\
(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat


Ink: Hero Arts Mid Tone Shadow Inks - Bubblegum, Green Hills; Versamark
Stamp: Hero Arts Dotted Flowers, Huge Hugs, Live Life
Marker: Momento -Angel Pink, Pear Tart; Spectrum Noir CT3
Cardstock: Hero Arts- Card base, Stampin Up Whisper White, Core D’nations Velum. Bazzil Dotted
Embellishment: Queen and Co pearls and gems colored with markers, liquid pearls hydrangea and buttercup
Embossing: Recollections Clear
Fiber: Stampin Up Ribbon
Card Size:4.25 x 5.5

Thank You in Pink

This is the third of three cards I made in a rush last week so they could be sent with Hubs on his Post Office run. I started with this one, I have posted them in backwards order. This took the longest because of the coloring. It's a promise of spring.  It is for my long time friend (a few years shy of 4 decades), my matron of honor, and the mother of my Godson. Pink is her favorite color, so I am sure she will enjoy the card.

Thanks for stopping by.
 /\  /\
(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat


Ink: Versafine-Onyx Black, Distress Inks- Green Hills, Bubblegum
Stamp: Fabulous by Ali Edwards, Hero Arts-Envelope Liner, Penny Black-Flower Festival
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White
Embossing: Recollections Clear
Markers: Spectrum Noir CG2, PP3, CT1, PP5
Card Size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches

Thank You

This is the second card of three made one afternoon in a mad rush to get them out to the post office.  It is for my 16 soon to be 17 year old Godson. I needed something not so girly...I love the girly cards...he, well definitely not at all!

Thanks for stopping by.  Check back tomorrow for the last of the three cards.
 /\  /\
(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat


Ink Distress Inks- Stained Walnut
Stamp: Hero Arts-AC007, S4878, CL582   
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White
Card Size: 5.5 x 4.25 inches

Fabulous...

My next three posts are of cards I completed one afternoon when Hubs said he would be going to the Post Office in about an hour. I had a couple of delinquent thank-yous and an encouragement card that needed to be mailed...and MADE!  I love the cards, and am amazed that I got them designed, put together, photographed, written addressed and in to Hubs' hands in time for mailing.

This card is for my scrappin bud who is currently on foal watch...lots of late nights. I stuck a bunch of can you spot the differences puzzles into the envelope...something for her to do.

The border was created with two rose stamps and two leaves, repeated stamping up the side.  Then the sentiment was added with the butterfly just touching.  All was embossed in white.  Then two distress inks, Tumbled Glass and Antique Linen were added. I love the look. I matted it on some blue patterned paper and adheared to a card base.

Thanks for stopping by.  Come see card #2 tomorrow.
 /\  /\
(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat
Ink: Versamark; Distress Inks- Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen
Stamp: Fabulous by Ali Edwards   
Cardstock: Recollections
Patterned Paper: Stampin Up
Embossing: Tsukineko White
Card Size: 5.5 x 4.25 inches

Photo Tray - February & March

My February photo tray somehow escaped my blogging.  I did like all the pinks and reds...and the romantic feel it gave my wall.  Taking it down today, I decided that March would be a much cooler hue.

February 2013

My March has a lot going on for celebrations: St. Patricks Day, My Birthday, and Easter.  Green was a definite no brainer for a color...but what else...I decided on blues, yellows, and greens...and I have to say of the three trays done this is definitely the one I LOVE!

March 2013

WOW, March already...time is speeding by.

Thanks for stopping
 /\  /\
(=';'=)
(")_(")~~Cat