Saturday, October 31, 2015

Always Here For You



 I made a card today for a challenge going on over at Kelly Latevola's blog, You and Your Big Dreams.  Kelly (who is unbelievably talented btw, if you're not familiar with her work go check it out, you're in for a big TREAT!), does a feature on her blog called CASEing Genius.  She features different folks from the crafting community and it's really awesome because she interviews them so we get to learn more about our fellow crafters.  She features 3 of their creations on her blog, and then she CASES those cards and makes a card herself.  Her CASEing Genius column is celebrating it's one year anniversary, and last week all of the ladies she's cased in the first year got together to do a celebratory, surprise blog hop for her.  Just goes to show how highly Kelly is thought of in the crafting community!

So the challenge for us is to pick one of the people Kelly cased in the first year, and do a CASE of that person ourselves.  I chose to case the talented Lin Brandyberry.  Lin makes such lovely cards, often featuring gorgeous floral images.  I think her style and my style are actually quite similar, we both love florals, bold sentiments, and just enough white space to make the flowers stand out.  Here are the cards that were featured on Kelly's blog when she originally CASED Lin, and the cards I used for my casing inspiration.




And here is the card that I made.




In her interview Lin said she was currently crushing on layered flowers, so I chose Brushed Blooms from PTI to make my card.  Lin raised the flowers on her cards so I made sure to pop up a few of my blooms on foam tape.  The word "Always" in the sentiment is a bit hard to see here because I used a lighter colored ink but it looks really pretty irl (I love all of the sentiments Lin used on her cards above, so pretty!)  The inks I used are all from Wplus9 (I really love their inks!)

It was a pleasure creating this card based on Lin's beauties!!

Another thing Kelly asked us to do as part of the challenge is to nominate someone we think should be featured in her CASEing Genius column.  There are so many talented people I could nominate, picking only one is not easy, but I decided to nominate Annette Allen of My Clever Creations.  Not only is Annette super talented but she is very kind and encouraging.  I'll never forget when I was going through a very dark period of time she sent me a really wonderful card offering her support and heartfelt wishes.  And I think that's the whole idea of Kelly's CASEing Genius column, not only to spread creativity but to acknowledge people who go out of their way to spread kindness and encouragement :)



Freshly Made Sketches #210

Happy Halloween, dear blog readers!!  I have a cute little card for you today, not a Halloween card, but a holiday card that I made using the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches #210.  This is a very versatile sketch indeed!




There are so many different things you could put in those three spaces, I chose to break open a new set from Wplus9, Holiday Cheer.




I LOVE this stamp set!  The little hats and mittens in it are absolutely adorable, and I love the sentiment too.  If you haven't checked out the cards that Dawn and her DT made with this set you should.  Dawn even did a video using the set, and actually that video is what "broke" me and made me say, dang it, I'm buying this lol!  I resisted as long as I could ;)  I stamped the hats using Wplus9 Bo Peep and Little Piggy inks, and Hero Arts Mint Julep ink.  The stars are from PTI's Star Scribbles and are stamped with Silver Lining ink.  I finished the card by rounding 2 corners.

Well I hope you have some fun, spooky plans for tonight!  Last night was our community trick or treating, nothing going on today for me but a trip to Costco and hopefully making some cards :)

Friday, October 30, 2015

30 Day Coloring Challenge on The Daily Marker

Hello!  I decided to link up my last card for the 30 day coloring challenge over at The Daily Marker.  Most of what I created for the coloring challenge was posted on Instagram but I didn't link it up on Kathy's blog.  I don't have an Instagram follow button on my blog here but if you want to follow me there just search for Diane Jaquay and you'll find me.  I post a lot more there than I do here on my blog.   I find it easier and quicker :)







This card was really a labor of love!  I had made another version of the card where I'd embossed the Santa with the same powder that the stars and striped bar are embossed with (liquid platinum), but the Santa didn't pop enough so I made this version with a black outlined Santa.  I used Zig Clean Color brush markers to color Santa.  The thin strips of red and green paper on the sides of the striped bar are shiny sparkly specialty papers I got a long time ago.  They're perfect for holiday cards!  The star swirl and stars are from Papertrey Ink and Santa and the sentiments are from Reverse Confetti Jolly Holiday stamp set.  I really love how this turned out!

I want to thank Kathy for doing her 30 day challenges.  Even though I didn't color on every single day, I did a lot more this time around than I've managed to do in the past!  And guess what, I'm starting to realize that I love coloring a whole lot more than I thought I did!  I know I've mentioned here before that my hands are quite shaky, which can making coloring very difficult for me.  But I've managed to find ways to work around it, and steady my hands enough to do a decent job of it.  I will NEVER ever be a Kathy Racoosin or an Alice Wertz (my coloring hero), but how many of us can be, really?  I have other strengths that I play to when I create my cards, and I have FUN, which is really what it's all about.  So thanks, Kathy, for helping me to discover more about myself and enjoy this process more!


Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

This is the final challenge for the Paper Smooches Sparks blog (sniff sniff), so even though I found the sketch a bit "challenging" to work with, I really wanted to make a go of it as a send off to the blog.  I'm excited to see what Kim has in store for us next month!!













Like I said, I had a wee bit of trouble figuring out exactly what to do with this sketch but came up with this idea of making an invitation.  I LOVE those martini glasses and the cute little olive, I used 2 shades of blue Zig Clean Color brush markers to color the glasses.  Everything else was stamped with Wplus9 inks, and the little holly leaf die cut is from PTI.  I think it turned out pretty cute, now I just need to plan a party lol :)

Thanks for stopping by today, have a safe Halloween and wonderful weekend!

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

CAS(E) this Sketch #146

G'day mates (ha ha, I get tired of always starting off with "hello"!)  I've always wanted to visit Australia, it's on my bucket list, hopefully one day :)

Today I'm sharing a card I made for the current CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.








I really love this sketch, probably because things are tilted, I tend to love that look and do it a lot on my cards.  Having said that though it was a little hard for me to come up with something CAS enough, until I spotted a new, unopened stamp set sitting on my desk, the Scribble Stars stamp set from PTI.  The lines with stars was the perfect stamp to use with this sketch.  I embossed them using silver sparkle embossing powder.  The sentiment is from Paper Smooches and you can't see it at all in this picture but I used a red specialty glitter paper (it's a very cloudy day today and I couldn't get a good picture!)  I added some red and silver sequins because I felt it needed just a little something more, and I'm very pleased with how this CAS card turned out!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, I love when you stop by :)


Monday, October 26, 2015

The Challenge #48

Hello, it's Monday, and that means it's time for a new challenge at The Challenge!  Today we have a wedding theme challenge for you, with a rustic inspiration photo.








My card started with the patterned paper, the little brown hearts actually have a wood grain pattern (a bit hard to see in the photo), but I thought it was perfect for the wedding theme and the wood in the photo.  Next I picked out a peachy/pink color paper for my flower (Big Bloom from Winnie & Walter).  I used brown ink to stamp it and then fussy cut, adding some gold thread in between the layers.  The gold ampersand is from the Simon Says Stamp May card kit, as are the words Mr. and Mrs. which I stamped on brown card stock and embossed in white.  The dies that I used to cut the gold scalloped strip and heart panel are from MFT.  I finished my card with gold sequins.  When I first saw the inspiration photo I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I do love how this card ultimately came together :)

I do hope you'll join us this week at The Challenge.  Pop over to the blog to see what all of the other DT members have created, I'm sure you'll be inspired!


Sunday, October 25, 2015

MFT Sketch Challenge #251

Hello!  I made a card for the current MFT sketch challenge using my favorite new MFT stamp set, Santa's Elves.








Most of my Christmas patterned papers are pretty old and I'm trying to use them instead of buying new.  I thought this paper from the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly 6X6 pad would be just perfect with the elf image.  I colored the elf and gifts with Zig Clean Color brush markers on watercolor paper and fussy cut them.  The sentiment is also from Santa's Elves. 

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today :)


Saturday, October 24, 2015

Sending Warm Holiday Hugs

Happy Saturday!  Hope you're enjoying this Fall weekend!  I made a card today using the sketch from the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge and a new stamp set from Wplus9.








I can't tell you how much I ADORE this stamp image from Holiday Hugs!!  This is one of those sets that I could not, NOT buy, if you know what I mean :)   I've  never been very big on coloring in images, but I think that's because I've always felt Copic "challenged".  Since I started doing more with watercolors I feel a lot more capable when it comes to coloring.  Not that I'm nearly as good as many folks out there, but somehow I find using watercolor much more "forgiving" than using Copics.  And with my shaky hands I need "forgiving" lol!  For this particular card I used various Tim Holtz distress inks to watercolor.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Diary of a messed up card!

Hello, folks!  I have a card to share that I made for the current Paper Smooches Anything Goes Challenge, and a grisly story to go with it lol!











I have to admit, this card didn't turn out how I envisioned it.  I knew how I wanted to do the card base, with the die cut Merry Christmas, so I did that first.  Then I used LOTS of foam tape to pop it up on the red base, trimming down little pieces for all the odd bits of paper around the letters.  Next I colored and fussy cut the ugly sweater image on watercolor paper, and I was pretty pleased with how that turned out.  But then, ACK, underneath where I placed the sweater I got a big blob of blue ink from my Zig pen!  That's not where I intended to place the sweater, but I had no choice at this point.  After all of the work and supplies of making the card base I wasn't going to pitch it and start all over.  I added some holly leaves (they're all from The Stamps of Life), in the top right corner, but I thought it needed more, so I added more holly leaves, and then more, and it just wasn't looking balanced to me.  So I added the silver twine.  Still not right, so I added some clear sequins.  Still not right, it seemed to need more blue so I pulled off some of the clear sequins to add blue sequins.  At that point I'd HAD IT lol, I needed to be DONE with it!!!  Call me a perfectionist if you will, it's the truth, I am one when it comes to my cards and sometimes it results in amazing cards and at other times it simply drives me CRAZY!  At any rate, it's certainly not a horrible card, but when you have something in your head and it doesn't work out that way, it kind of sucks, ya know?  Tell me I'm not the only who does this to themselves lol!

Thanks for stopping by and listen to me whine, I think I need some wine :)

 

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The Card Concept Challenge #42

Hello!  I'm back with my 2nd guest designer post this month for The Card Concept.  This inspiration photo is really gorgeous, I love the pretty flowers and so I decided to go with a floral card using the Freestyle Collage category.








I used Essentials by Ellen Mondo Magnolia and PTI Sweet Blush card stock to make my bloom.  I added a bit of pattern to the bloom with Hero Arts Envelope Pattern stamp and some dark brown ink.  The leaves were cut from Vintage Cream card stock using an Essentials by Ellen Wild Garden leaf die.  For the background I used the new MFT Snow Drifts Cover Up (I have a feeling I'm going to be using this die A LOT, I just love it!)  I cut with the die using PTI Dark Chocolate and Scarlet Jewel card stocks, and then raised them up with foam adhesive, alternating the colors.  The hello die is from Simon Says Stamp, and the die cut sequins are from MFT.  I added some cream thread to my flower, along with clear Wink of Stella and white gel pen accents.

I had so much fun playing along with The Card Concept this month and I want to thank Lesley for inviting me!  I hope you'll play along with us, can't wait to see what you create :)


Tuesday, October 20, 2015

You are my person

Hello there!  I made a card today for the Essentials by Ellen October Pin-Sights Challenge using sketch #145 from CAS(E) This Sketch.










I love the warm, rich colors of the pin-sights board and wanted to evoke that feeling in my card.  I started by die cutting a flower from the Wild Garden die set using watercolor paper.  I left the die intact with the paper and used Dried Marigold and Ripe Persimmon distress inks to color.  After it was dry I popped the die cut out, and then cut around the negative area, it's really hard to describe what I mean but the piece you see underneath my flower is what I'm talking about.  So instead of just having the flower you see on top I had the extra piece to put underneath it to make more layers.  Make sense?  I stamped the sentiment in PTI Dark Chocolate ink and fussy cut the words.  The little orange border under the sentiment was cut from one of the dies in the Wild Garden set (I used just the stem of one of the flowers).  I added some splatters to my card and a few brown sequins to finish it. 

Thanks for stopping by, hope your day is wonderful!

MFT Sketch Challenge

I'm getting this card in for the current My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge just in the nick of time, nothing like waiting until the last minute lol!  Here's the sketch:






I was so happy I was able to get this stamp set, Santa's Elves, I just love the adorable images and sentiments!  I colored the elf using Zig Clean Color Brush Markers, and I outlined it with a light blue Copic marker.

Have a great day!


Monday, October 19, 2015

Thank You

Hello and happy Monday!  I have a card to share today that I made for the current MFT color challenge.







To make my card I first used the MFT Jumbo Polka Dot stencil and some Weathered Wood distress ink (the closest thing I could find to steel blue) with my blending tool.  I used the Snow Drift Cover Up die and dark brown card stock to make my next layer.  I used Fall Florals and a sentiment from Thanks So Very Much, and finished the card with some yellow ribbon.  The picture is a bit blurry, for whatever reason I could not seem to take a clear picture of this card (or maybe my eyes are just blurry today lol!)

Have a great day, thanks for stopping by!


The Challenge #47

Hello there!  So happy to see you today!  It's Monday and we have a beautiful, inspiring photo for you today over at The Challenge.  I'm also playing along with the current Reverse Confetti SFYTT challenge with my card.










I love all of the patterns in the inspiration photo, so many to choose from, and that was the springboard for my card.  All of the patterned papers I used are from Reverse Confetti's Fall Fun Quick Card Panels.  I used a RC die to cut the pumpkin, and the sentiment was stamped from one of the pumpkins in RC's Pumpkin Patch stamp set, I simply cut it into a rectangle to "de-pumpkin" it lol!  This was such an easy card to put together but I love how it turned out.

Please hop on over to The Challenge to see what the other design team members created for this challenge.  Hope you'll join us!

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Let's Cuddle

I had so much fun today making cards with my new Paper Smooches Comforting Hugs stamp set!  I made this first card for the Paper Smooches Picture Perfect challenge.















I was inspired by the colorful leaf banner in the picture to make my own little banner, which I did using the larger heart from Comforting Hugs.  I colored the cute little dog using Zig Clean Color brush watercolor markers, and I added some white spots and highlights with a white pen.  The tag die is from Reverse Confetti.


I couldn't put this set away after making just one card, so kept creating and made this.




This sweet monkey is the reason I bought the stamp set, I fell in love with him (or her), the minute I saw him!  I mean, really, it doesn't get much cuter than this!  To make this card I used the back side of one of the triangular shaped stamps from Spreading Sunshine to make my banner, and stamped the word baby using a Lawn Fawn alphabet set.  The monkey was colored using Zig Clean Color Brush Watercolor makers.  I used a pale blue Copic marker to color around the monkey and banner.  I added some highlights with a white pen.  I stamped some hearts and dots on my card base, and rounded the corners.  The tag on this one is from PTI.  I just LOVE how this turned out :)

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, I always love visitors :)


Monday, October 12, 2015

The Challenge #46

Hello, dear readers!  It's Monday and you know what that means, a new challenge is up over at The Challenge!  This time we have a beautiful autumn color palette for you to try.







I decided to use my much coveted Starbucks cup for my card.  In case you're not familiar with what I'm talking about, folks have been taking the fall Starbucks cups (when they can get them, seems they're not available in all locations), and cleaning, cutting, and flattening them and making cards with them!  Fun, no?!  As you can see I made a shaker card with mine.  I colored the cup images with Copic markers.  The sentiment and the die I used to cut the curved panels on my card are from PTI.  I'm very pleased with how this turned out :)

How about you, have you made a card with a Starbucks cup yet?  If so let me know in the comments, I'd love to visit your blog and take a look.  I've seen lots of these cards on Instagram and it's really fun seeing the various ways people are using their cups.  I hope you'll play along with us at The Challenge this week, perhaps even using a Starbucks cup!


Friday, October 9, 2015

Free Hugs

I'm back with my second post of the day and another challenge card!  I made this card for the current Paper Smooches Sparks challenge, and I used the current sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch.  I'm also going to throw my hat in the ring for the November Paper Smooches Guest Designer search.  I guest designed for them last year and it was a fantastic experience, one I hope to be able to repeat :)














I received the new PS stamp set Comforting Hugs in the mail a few days ago and OMG there are so many adorable images in this stamp set I can hardly stand it lol!  I used the cute little bears along with the "free hugs" sentiment, and switched things up with the sketch by placing the bears in the sentiment spot.  The bears are colored with Zig Clean Color Brush pens and behind them I used some Broken China distress stain to do some watercolor and add some splatters.  The little hearts are stamped with Wplus9 This Little Piggy pink ink.  I love this card and can't wait to make more cards with this adorable stamp set!!

Have a terrific weekend!


Ho Ho Ho

Hello!  I'm sharing my first Christmas card of the season today!  I made this card for the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #249 and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge which is Clean and Simple Christmas.







Since I was combining MFT and a Christmas challenge I had to get a bit creative because I don't own any MFT Christmas stamp sets (yet!)  So I used the cute little tropical penguin from Penguins in Paradise and turned him into a cute little Santa penguin!  I did this by adding a Santa Hat and holly leaves to him.  The original penguin is holding an ice cream bar, I simply cut that away and added the holly leaves.  The palm tree is from Penguins in Paradise, the Christmas lights are from The Stamps of Life, and the Santa hat, holly leaves, and sentiment are from Michael's dollar stamp sets.  I colored the images with Zig Clean Color Brush pens.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Every Day is a Party With You

Hello!  I have another card to share that I made for the Winnie & Walter World Card Making Day festivities.  For this card the challenge was to use the colors mint, aqua, yellow, and kraft.








I used several Winnie & Walter stamp sets on the card.  I first stamped the background with the present from The Party using HA Mint Julep ink and added a few brown splatters.  For the yellow panel I did some tone on tone stamping (PTI's Harvest Gold card stock and ink) using stamps from The Party and Big Bloom.  The sentiment was stamped on a tag I cut from PTI Aqua Mist card stock using a W&W tag die.  The word "hooray" is from Awesome House.  The streamers were cut from kraft card stock using The Party Confetti Cutaway.  I added one present, fussy cut, to top off my card.

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great day!

Masterboard Projects

Hello!  Today's post is featuring some cards I made for Winnie & Walter's World Card Making Day 2015 contest using a masterboard.  A masterboard is simply a full sheet of paper that you stamp and then cut apart to use in different projects.  For a more detailed explanation check out Shay's photos HERE.  I'll also be entering one of my cards in the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge.



First, here is a picture of the masterboard I created using Winnie & Walters A Tree For All Seasons stamp set.








First I placed 4 stamps on one block in an eye pleasing fashion that would work well for repeat stamping (I tested it out first on a sheet of scrap paper).  I used a sheet of Canson 9X12 watercolor paper to stamp on with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink.  You can see a few stamping mistakes but I didn't worry about that because I knew I could simply cut around anything that didn't stamp properly.  Plus I knew that I was going for a more distressed look with some of my projects so stamping perfection wasn't an issue.  After I had the whole sheet stamped, I moved on to making some cards.




For this first card I used Barn Red and Spiced Marmalade distress inks and an ink blending tool to add color to my panel.  Then I added some water droplets to make white spots.  Next I used some Dylusions White Ink Spray to add more white drops (the smaller, whiter drops are done with this).  And lastly I used some Walnut Stain distress ink mixed with water to make the brown spots.  The word hope is from Winnie & Walter; I cut it out of shiny gold card stock and place that inside the white piece which was cut using a piece of the watercolor paper.  I did it like this to make the word hope really stand out.




 For this next card I used the Freshly Made Sketches sketch as my card spring board.  I cut panels to size to make the card and used my Zig Clean Color Brush markers to colors the leaves and make the splatters.  The sentiment is from Winnie & Walters The Big, the Bold and Blessings stamp set.  I wrapped some thick brown cord around the bottom of the sentiment panel and tucked in a few leaves to finish the card.






For this last card, which happens to be my personal favorite, I used black ink and Winnie & Walters Big Bloom stamp set.  I stamped the bloom on the masterboard paper and fussy cut, then I colored the leaves using Zig Clean Color Brush markers.  I stamped the word "enjoy" in black and cut with a circle punch.  The word "autumn" is from The Big, the Bold and Seasons.  I added a strip of the masterboard paper across the bottom of the card, adding a thin strip of black on the bottom and a stitching detail across the top of it.  I finished the card with some gold sequins and gold twine.

I still have some pieces of the masterboard left, enough to make several more cards or tags, I'm sure!  I want to thank Shay for showing us this concept because I really enjoyed making a masterboard and creating projects from it!

Thanks for stopping by today, happy crafting!