A Note of Thanks

Good morning! I have a card to share. I used this sketch for my card which I think has unlimited possibilities!
Here is where you can find the sketch: http://ispysketches.blogspot.com/2012/07/issc24-shari-carroll.html

 This is what I created with the I Spy Sketch:

 I decided on four colors one being neutral which is the gray. I first started with hexagons but didn't like how it was going and switched to circles. I embossed each circle with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I first tried a white background but the colors of the circles just didn't seem to stand out like I wanted them to so switched it to black and that seemed to make the colors pop.

 I added the sentiment which is from Papertrey Ink "Happy Trails" towards the bottom third of the card.

 

The five butterfly shapes are a Martha Stewart punch punched out from white cardstock then added teeny tiny black gemstones  for their bodies.

I only had enough black gemstones for four butterflies so I decided to use gray gemstones on two of the butterflies. I used foam squares to pop up the butterflies for an bit of dimension on an otherwise  one layered card.
Thanks for dropping by my blog and have a wonderful day!
Teresa
PS I also entered this card in CAS-UAL FRIDAY'S Challenge which is CFC62: Create a Clean And Simple card using a black card base. Visit their CAS-UAL Fridays blog and see the inspirtation the Girl Fridays created: http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.com/2012/07/cfc62.html
Thanks Angie for suggesting that I enter my card in this challenge.

Hi There!

For my card today I used a sketch from I Spy Sketch Challenge:

Here is Brenda Orso's card from which the sketch was taken from:

What I love about this sketch is how everything centers around the stamped image and has lots of white space, which is the makings of a simple card that has big impact.
Here is what I created with the sketch:

The card base from DCWV, The Linen Closet. I used Neeah Solar White paper to stamp the image on with Versamark WaterMark ink and heat embossed using black sparkle embossing powder. The solid CS is also from The Linen Closet Matstack and is die cut and embossed with a rectangle die from Spellbinders. The image with colored watercolor pencils.

 After I adhered the stamped image to the CS I then wrapped the tan fuzzy thread around the bottom of the image and tied on a button with brown floss.

 The three glitter strips are made from rows of double sided tape and sprinkled with turquoise and Brownstone Martha Stewart glitter after removing the backing from the tape.

The sentiment "Hi There!" Was stamped in black Memento ink. And that is my card for today!

So glad to have you drop by, leaving sweet comments and/or become a follower.
Have a great day!
Teresa

Butterflies and Stars

This first card is inspired from this sketch FTL187 from Clean and Simple Stamping:

Here is the link if you would like to join in the fun and see what others have created: http://cleanandsimplestamping.blogspot.com/2012/04/ftl187-just-note.html

 I am disappointed in how the card turned out. I worked hard and long on it and thought about scrapping it altogether but after all the time I had put into it I felt I needed to keep the card.  After all just because I don't like it someone else might really like it. I think it is the gingham paper that just isn't working. And the stars I made didn't turn out quite like I thought they would. I had to turn the sketch so I could fit in the stars. I added a white star gemstone to the center of the big star. That seemed to help a bit.

And instead of a straight end of the gingham paper I cut it into a ribbon on the bottom and I embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder. The stars are die cut and embossed with Spellbinder dies out of watercolor paper and I used three different blue distress inks and three different red distress inks. I used the direct to paper method of inking them then spritzed them with Perfect Pearls to blend the colors. I had enough stars left to make two more cards.

For my second card I used this color blocked sketch from I Spy Sketch Challenge:

And oh boy you should see the cute cards the Secret Agents created! Here is the link: http://ispysketches.blogspot.com/2012/04/issc13-with-dawn-mercedes.html

Now for my card:

 This is my favorite of the three cards! There for a while I thought I had lost my mojo and almost gave up after the first card. I am also entering this card in the Tuesday Trigger Challenge over at the Moxie Fab World where every Tuesday Cath puts up an image to inspire us. This was a two weeker thank goodness as I didn't get around to making something for it last week. Here is the image:

Look at all those beautiful water color butterflies! Check out the Tuesday Trigger yourself here: http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/04/tueday-trigger-watercolor-butterflies.html 

Instead of butterflies I went with stars since I have been working on Patriotic cards. I used a different embossed cardstock for each of the color blocks. The white cardstock was already embossed and is from DCWV. The other two are embossed with Cuttlebug embossing folders.



This time I layered the three stars together and put a clear gemstone star on the top. It took me a while to figure out where to put the star. I finally decided to turn the sketch on its side and add the two rows of scalloped borders and wrapped a ribbon around the the whole thing.







I stamped the sentiment with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on red cs and matted that with a scrap leftover from the white embossed paper. I decided the layered star looked better on the border instead of in one of the blocks and put the sentiment under the star in the navy block.

For my third and final card for this week I used sketch #48 from The Deconstructed Sketch:

I thought this was a unique sketch and here is my take on it:

 I had one lonely blue star left to use! I stayed pretty true to the sketch. I just added a punched star border and after I was done with the card I kept thinking it just didn't look quite right so I got out my trusty corner rounder that seems to be just the thing to fix things like this. And once again it did the trick.

 I used  three rows of Michael's Craft Tape and after I stamped the word happy I thought it needed a little bit more of a punch so I got out a black Glaze pen and went over it. You can see how it now

has a shine to it as well as just a bit of dimension. Those Glaze pens are my new found must have craft item. I think I need more colors now that I have used them a bit.

Hope you play along with some of these sketches and challenges.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

 

Three Sketches, Three Cards

I hope everyone isn't getting bored by all the patriotic cards. I think I have about exhausted all of my patriotic stamps but they either have never been used or it has been a long time since they were last used so it feels good to bring them out and use them on cards for a good cause.
In case this is your first visit to  my blog I  am making 4th of July cards for a nonprofit organization called From Our Hearts. They send cards to our troops overseas that they get from card makers all over the US.
So onto my first card. I used a sketch from I Spy Sketch Challenge #12 which was taken from a cute card by Melyssa Connoly. Here is where you can find her card: http://ispysketches.blogspot.com/2012/04/issc12-with-melyssa-connolly.html and here is the sketch:

Here is how I used the sketch:

 I made a few changes to the sketch. First I turned it. I  also trimmed the end of the three strips of paper into banners instead of leaving them straight. I also ran a piece of Craft tape down the middle of each strip.
I embossed the background with the star embossing folder which I seem to have used on almost all of  my patriotic cards. I love how gorgeous it turns out every time. I also inked the edges of the card with Fired Brick Distress ink.
Another change was instead of a circle I used a white star embossed shape and layered another star made out of pp on top.

I also flipped the rectangle shape which I embossed and inked the edges with Fired Brick Distress ink. For the sentiment I used Creative Memories stickers and added a row of gold pearls. I also added smaller gold pearls to the center of three of the embossed stars in the background.

Moving onto the next card:

I used the sketch from CPS#262 and here is the sketch:

Go to their blog for inspiration from their design team:

http://cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/2012/04/cps-262-part-1.html Oh and by the way this week is being sponsored by My Favorite Things.

Here is what I came up using their sketch:

I stayed true to the sketch except I added the sentiment on a banner. I used an eagle stamp as my image which I stamped on kraft cs inked with black ink. I inked the edge of the embossed circle as well as the banner with Fired Brick distress ink. I thought the an eagle was the perfect image to represent America and freedom.

I again added gold pearls to the center of three of the embossed stars.

And now for my third and final card of the day I used the sketch from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #157:

You should visit Karen's blog and see the cute card she made with this sketch and while your there you should browse her blog as she makes many wonderful cards.

Now here is my last card for this blog post:

 I had fun with this sketch. I used the same start embossing folder for the background and some red gingham pp and navy cs for the banners.  I stamped the fireworks image onto more of the navy cs with watermark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder then used a CM circle punch. The white paper is Neenah White Solar and I stamped it with three different stamps for my sentiment in black ink and adhered it to my card base.

 I used an adhesive star gemstone for the big star, colored in the open star with a red Glaze pen and used a clear Glaze pen on the black star.

I have been having so much fun using sketches for my cards. I hope you join in too!

Have a great week.

Special Wishes

Two more cards to share today. First up is a birthday card and I stamped the envelope to match!

I used a sketch from MFT:

I found the green scalloped cs in my scraps and decided to start my card with it since it matched the sketch perfectly. Then I found some pp to match it.

I used the happy birthday Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the cs and pp together. I stamped the image on white cs with black ink.

I wanted to do something else besides using watercolor pencils. I then remembered that I had bought some Glaze pens way back last Nov and hadn't used them yet. So I used them to color in the stars, flowers, cupcake liner, cherry and outlined the frosting with clear Glaze.

Maybe if you click on the pics to enlarge them you might be able to see the shine and just a tad of dimension. It's almost like embossing with a pen. So cool and easy to use. It really dries quick too.

For my second card I used a sketch from I Spy Sketch Challenge. Here is the link http://ispysketches.blogspot.com/2012/04/issc11-with-julia-stainton.html and here is the sketch:



 I thought it would make a good 4th of July card and here is the card and envelop:

I have been seeing a lot of card makers using vellum lately so I decided to dig mine out and picked this embossed star vellum paper as the background for my image. I used dark red and blue pp under the vellum.

 I stamped the image onto white cs then die cut it with a Spellbinders die and embossed it and did the same with the blue mat. I again used the Glaze pens to color the image and put gold pearls in each corner of the blue mat.

 Here I tried to show the shine and dimension of the glaze. I like how you can see the detail of the black stitching even after it was colored over with the red glaze pen.

I at first was just going to use the scalloped red dot ribbon but it just didn't look right so I tried using the white ribbon but that didn't look good either. Then a light bulb went off I and I layered them together and that did the trick.

 

I stamped the sentiment onto white cs with black ink and trimmed it into a banner added a button threaded with gold thread.

 Thanks for dropping by and hope you had a great Monday.

My Cup Runneth Over...

Here is a card that I did for i Spy Sketches:

 It is such a cute sketch don't you think? Here is the link if you want to check it out for yourself:
http://ispysketches.blogspot.com/2012/04/issc10-with-debbie-olson.html
I used Broken China and Peeled Paint cardstock for my background papers. I punched three circles with a CM punch and ran them through my Cuttlebug in the Swiss Dot folder. I then inked each embossed circle with Peeled Paint Distress Ink.
This is a close up of one of the tea canister images. I was trying to show how it sparkles but it is hard to see.

 I made my own pattern paper by using this texture stamp block. I picked which texture I wanted and stamped it on white CS with Peeled Paint distress ink.

Here is what it looks like when you stamp it:

I then stamped each tea canister with VersaMark Ink and embossed with Black Sparkle embossing powder then cut them out. I adhered them onto the circles with foam dots. The tea canisters are from an old Hero Arts set. You can see the whole set here in this post I did a few days ago: http://teresazuehls.blogspot.com/2012/04/tea-for-two-you-and-me.html I have been challenging myself to use older stamps that have been gathering dust. It has been fun bringing them out again and using them with new products.

The tea cup  is dye cut from Broken China CS with a die from Paper Trey Ink and stamped with a PTI stamp using Peeled Paint distress ink.

 The ribbon is also from PTI and I actually made a bow. I hate making bows as they never come out the way I want them to.

 The sentiment is also from PTI and is stamped with black ink.

 This card really came together very quickly. I think it was because of the sketch. Give the sketch a try and let me know how you liked it.
Have a wonderful Tuesday!