Counterfeit Kit Cards

Today is the last day of the month, so I am TRYING to use up as much of my July Counterfeit Kit as I can. I have three layouts in mind that I want to make, but I have to print some photos. I decided to make some cards using the smaller pieces of paper and some of my embellies. The lighting on these is a little wonky...not sure WHAT'S going on with that! Someday I'll learn how to use all of the features on my camera and photo software. :)I love the coral and teal color combo, so I made this card using scraps of each and some of the Basic Grey Hopscotch stickers. I reddened the pink sticker a bit with chalk to make it match my paper, and the butterflies are stickers from the same sheet.

(Sorry-these cards are now both out for publication!)

This one's kind of corny, but hey-that's me. :) I hadn't planned on using the "boombox "paper with this kit (the reverse is my "clothesline" print), but it was cute and I thought it would stretch my kit a bit to make a boy card. I think that all of the neutrals balance out the teal and orange. I used my chalks again to recolor the white letter stickers a teal color. Those chalks have been a great resource for me this month! I also "raided" my June kit for the tiny black alphas and black cardstock scraps.

Yep-another corny sentiment. :) I saw a stamp set once that had a camera and "Oh, snap!" as the sentiment. The idea was cute and stuck with me. I knew when I made my kit that I wanted to pair that sentiment with the camera paper. I attached a ribbon camera strap to the camera that I cut from patterned paper. I wrote "I missed your birthday!" on the inside of the card using those same black tiny alphas from my June kit.

Along for the Ride

Cards for guys are tough, especially anniversary cards! While I was playing with my July kit for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, I noticed that the back of one of the papers had a cute retro car and camper. My husband was just saying that he would love to find a teardrop camper and restore it to match our '55 Chevy Belair. I thought it would be cute to make an anniversary card for him using that paper. I couldn't believe it when I looked through my stamps and saw this cute little sentiment from Unity-uninked! It was the perfect message for this card. I added some twine and buttons to my arrow sticker and paper pieced the little details on the stamped image. I am entering this in the All Things Unity Challenge #35: Wrap it Up. I haven't participated in many challenges lately-it feels so good to be creative again! Thanks for stopping by!

Patriotic Thank You

Today I get to share with you my creation for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge's first challenge for July. It is all about embossing-you can dry emboss or heat emboss. I chose to dry emboss, but with a twist. I wanted to emboss a coordinating border for my card. Since I wanted to make my card using leftovers from my 4th of July Add-On, I thought stars would be a fun accent. My only problem: I don't have a star embossing folder. So, I decided to make my own embossing plate.
First, I found a thin piece of chipboard (this piece came in a package of Stampin' Up patterned paper.) I trimmed the chipboard to be slightly larger than my card front. Then I used a star punch to punch 6 stars from the leftover chipboard. I arranged 3 of the stars on my chipboard base, then adhered them down. Because the chipboard was so thin, I stacked another star on top of each on the base and adhered them so that I could get a deeper impression.
Then it was time to emboss. It took a little trial-and-error to come up with the right "sandwich" for my embossing plate, but here is what worked for the thickness of chipboard that I used. You may need to adjust your "sandwich" if your chipboard or cardstock is heavier than mine. I started with Tab 1, one clear cutting pad,and the homemade embossing plate. (Make sure the star punches are facing UP.)

Next, I stacked my kraft cardstock on top of the embossing plate, making sure that the edges were placed slightly inside the edge of the embossing plate.

The next layer is the black silicone pad that I use with my Sizzix embossing plates.

The final layer is the hard black plastic pad, also used with the Sizzix embossing plates.

Carefully run all layers through your die cut machine. Here is what the finished cardstock will look like:

To highlight the embossing, I rubbed a Creamy Brown chalk ink pad over the tops of the stars and also around all of the edges of the kraft cardstock. I attached the embossed panel to the front of my card base, then embellished the card with rub-on letters and a handmade bunting embellie.

I love the Americana look, and the tri-color bunting looks slightly vintage. I can't wait to try this embellie using softer colored papers from my main kit. Thanks for stopping by!

Tall Oaks

Just a quick share this morning before I head out. This is a simple card, stamped only with brown ink and then shaded with a few colors of colored pencils. I love this look-the colors just seem to pop off the kraft cardstock! The large tree, leaves, and acorn are from DeNami Design, while the sentiment is from Studio G.

A Love Beyond Measure

One more quick share this morning before I head upstairs to clean the scraproom. (Ugh!)

This is my entry for this week's CPS challenge. Lots of choices this week, as the challenge was to pick any sketch from 2010 and create a new card. I chose Sketch #180. I used a mix of Unity and {ippity} stamps for this card, and did some coloring and masking (I masked the sentiment before stamping the heart.)

Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully the scraproom will look much better in a few hours. :)

Graduation Owl

Today's card features this cute little Graduation Owl from DeNami Design. (You all know how much I love owls!) He's the perfect little guy to embellish a simple graduation card.

To make this card, I started with a red card. To that, I added a piece of black cardstock (attached with white micro brads) to "anchor" the center panel. The center panel is kraft cardstock which I stamped using the Diploma stamp and Versamark ink. To slightly define each of the diplomas, I lightly colored them with a white colored pencil. I finished them by applying a little bit of red Sparklets glitter to the ties. then I simply stamped and colored the owl, cut him out, and adhered him to the card front. A punched border on each side and a stamped sentiment (Small Congratulations) make for a super-cute, and super-simple, graduation card.

thanks for looking today, and don't forget to check out the DeNami Design blog for more cute cards from the DT using the Graduation Owl stamp!

Get Sketchy #37

This week's challenge over at Get Sketchy was so much fun! Our sponsor, Sunshine Stamps, provided us with these crazy little digi stamps-so perfect for my car-loving husband! As soon as I saw them, I knew they would be perfect for a Father's Day card.

These stamps come as a black outline or colored in, which is perfect for those of us who aren't confident in our coloring. I printed one of the colored in images on white cardstock, then just trimmed it and added it to my card front. So easy! The sketch showed a row of circle embellishments across the top of the image. I decided to use my QuicKutz gears die and silver metallic cardstock. I attached the gears with lots of brads-made a tiny dent in my stash!

Finally, I added a "#1 Dad" blue ribbon to the card front. This is absolutely perfect for Donny. As many of you know, he builds and restores classic and antique cars, many of which have won trophies and awards at car shows. So this ribbon stamp (from Studio G) was the perfect companion for the '57 Buick digi stamp.

Please check out the Get Sketchy blog to see all of the other great cards by our designers! Hope you all have a chance to play along with this week's sketch!

It's Get Sketchy Time!

It's Friday, so that means it's time for a new sketch and challenge over at Get Sketchy! This week's sponsor is Hot Off the Press. You may receive their catalog, Paper Wishes, in the mail like I do. I had seen the new Dazzles stickers in the catalog and thought it would be fun to try them. This week, I got that chance!

This week's sketch featured a half-circle with a scalloped border. At first glance, I imagined a frilly, feminine card. Then I saw that the bonus challenge was to make a masculine card. Hmm...I started turning the sketch and thinking about variations that would work with these stickers. After turning the sketch on its side, I pictured a campsite under the moon. After struggling with a moon, I realized that a sunrise would be the more logical choice, and I could substitute the sun rays for the scallops! And that's how this card was born.

First, I covered my card base with patterned paper from the Mr. Campy line by Cosmo Cricket and added a green cardstock strip to the bottom for grass. Next, I cut an oval and "rays" from yellow cardstock. I inked all of the edges, then assembled my sun. The tree border worked perfectly, as it allows the sunlight to peek through, just like a real camping sunrise. The tent is made from one of the Dazzles stickers on rust cardstock. I trimmed around the edge of the sticker and adhered it to my card front with foam squares. Finally, I added a sentiment-which I trimmed from the edge of the Mr. Campy paper! I love it when companies put cute sayings or designs on the edges!

I have been making a lot of cards lately for various challenges and design team assignments. I hope to be able to show them all to you soon! Just be patient... :)

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you get a chance to play along with us this week at Get Sketchy!

Get Sketchy Challenge #31

It's Friday, so that means it's time for another challenge at Get Sketchy! The sketch this week is very versatile-the design teams cards are all so different! Sometimes cards for boys are difficult, but when I saw this week's sketch, I knew I wanted to make a boyish card for a little buddy of mine.

I changed the sketch up a bit by using a chipboard flower as a gear instead of the star on the sketch. Also, the sketch shows the star being "chopped off" with the edge of the card-I chose to extend the gear beyond the edge. This cute little robot is cut from patterned paper by Recollections (available at Michael's.) First, I cut a circle containing the robot, then I cut just the head and body from another piece of the paper. I then adhered the head and body over the robot on the circle using foam squares. Super easy, and super cute!

Patterned papers from Recollections and SEI, cardstock from Bazzill, chipboard flowers (used as gears) by Fancy Pants Design, glitter brad from Imaginisce.

You're a Dear Friend

I've just been playing this morning, trying out different background stamps for the HA challenge. This card uses the flourish from the Artistic Windows set. I've stamped it with brown ink onto plaid paper from the Basic Grey Recess paper pad (which I got for a song on Peachy Cheap.)

Even though I usually consider flourishes a feminine touch, I really liked the way it turned out on the plaid and think it would be a great addition to a masculine card.

I added an orangey-colored floral from SEI that had red dots-perfect for pulling the red out of the plaid paper. Red stitching, a red epoxy chipboard deer accent from Colorbok's Friendly Forest collection and red matting for my sentiment pull it all together.

I'm excited to try this stamp with other patterned papers now! Thanks for looking!

Miss You Mini Card

I'm still playing around with my entry for the "manly card" challenge over on the Hero Arts blog. It also occurred to me that I should include links for some of the blogs and sites that I talk about. The Hero Arts blog is one of my favorites-you can visit it HERE. New posts from the designers each day, tons of ideas, and weekly contests. Need I say more?

Today I'm sharing a mini card I made for this challenge. It's pretty versatile-could be for a man, woman or child. I'm actually going to send it to the students in my practicum classroom. It's been less than a month since my semester ended, but I really do miss them already. Can't wait to have a classroom of my own soon!

For this card, I used a wood-grain stamp from the Hero Arts Artistic Windows set, a little owl from their Ink 'n Stamp Birds and Branches set, and the "miss you" sentiment from Lily Pad Greetings. Yes, more owls. The Green Stack from DCWV goes perfectly with all of my new owl stamps, too.

Give a hoot...

for owls, that is. My daughter thinks I'm absolutely nuts and teases me endlessly about my "freaky forest creatures." I'm not the only one, though-have you noticed that there are tons of cute little critter stamps and other supplies out there?

I picked up this Big Owl from Hero Arts a few months ago, but have been a little intimidated to use it. It is ONE BIG OWL. I also picked up the new Ink 'n Stamp-Birds and Branches set from Hero Arts just last week. This set has some super-tiny owls in it. So I combined the two for this "Thinking of You" card. Not sure yet if I will enter it in this week's "manly" challenge on the Hero Arts blog-not sure if it's submission quality or not. I think I'll play around some more this week before I decide.

Off to my son's baseball practice now, but I'll be back tomorrow to share some more cards.