Encouragement Squad - Aug 2017

Hello crafty friends,

Our color inspiration board for this month has soft beachy colors... perfect for the last few summer weeks:

I created an ombre spiral with the navy, blue and tan colors.  I used Distress Inks, starting with my darkest color in the center.

Once my inked background was done, I randomly stamped the smallest of the flowers from the Pretty Posies stamp set using my darkest ink color.  The sentiment is also from the Pretty Posies stamp set. The tiny blue flower is from the Exclamations stamp set.  The Smile comes with two other dies in the Smiling Fri-Dies set.  In order to give dimension to my "Smile" die cut... I die cut it three times from a beige pearl finish card stock and glue them together for impact.  My final touch was adding some baby blue glitter glue onto the flowers centers.

Thank you for stopping bye today.  Please consider submitting a card to this month's challenge.  Until next month... take care.
 

Calling All Sistahs - Aug 2017

Hello craft friends,

It's time for the CAS-ual Fridays Encouragement Squad reminder to do your monthly breast self exam and scheduled your yearly mammogram.   Here's a little inspiration for you:

I used stamps from the Calling all Sistahs and the Ribbon Hope sets for this card.  

Thank you for stopping by today.  Come back tomorrow for August's Encouragement Challenge!  Until tomorrow... take care. 

Scrapy Land Challenge #72

Hello crafty friends,

For Scrapy Land's Challenge #72 I created these two birthday cards, using the Solo Sentiment Happy Birthday die by Die-Versions:

The card on the right is very feminine... I die cut the happy birthday from a small print floral pattern paper, die cut a second happy birthday from white card stock and glued them together just a little off set, so that I could see a tiny white border/shadow.  I used the happy birthday die again to die cut a craft foam version for dimension.  I used two fussy cut flowers on the bottom left corner of my card for added interest.   Here's a close up of the card:

The card on the left is less feminine and therefore can work for a guy.  I die cut the happy birthday from a striped print pattern paper, popped it up on foam tape and added three interesting stamped and fussy cut unicorns.

I love this happy birthday die... It's my favorite of all the birthday dies I have.   I reach for it a lot! Why do I love it so?  Because of it's size.  It's big and bold and the offset letters make it fun.  Both of these card bases are from a value pack of 5x6.5 blank white cards.

Thanks for stopping bye today.  Please join us for this challenge.  You have until Sept 3rd to submit your projects.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.  Until next time... take care.

Two Kitty Cards

Hello crafty friends,

I sat down this weekend and actually recorded myself creating this card:

It took about 30 minutes to create this card and sadly the audio was not that good, so I ended up muting the sound and that also allowed me to speed up the video.  This was all in an attempt to use my YouTube channel that has been sitting gathering dust for a while.   I'm hoping to get into a more regular video posting schedule.

Let me some feedback, either here or in the video's comment section letting me know what kind of process videos you like.   Here's a link to the video:

Here's the other card I showed in the video:

I used the following stamps for both cards:
Peachy Keen Here Kitty Cupcake
Peachy Keen Kitty Tree

Thanks for stopping bye.  Until next time... take care.

Scrapy Land Challenge #71

Hello crafty friends,

Scrapy Land's Challenge #71... no theme this time, just use any SL die brand they sell.  I created this quick birthday card.

I started by die cutting my card front panel with a scallop rectangle die.  Here's a great set of them.  Next I die cut the small cluster of circles using the Memory Box Stitched Bubbles die, which is currently not available, but here's another set that would work just as well.  Next i die cut the happy birthday circle and put it aside while i worked on the back of the card panel.  I covered all the openings with clear plastic and using form tape created separate sections to house my sequins.  Once the shaker element was done, I mounted it on the card, glued the happy birthday circle onto the clear plastic and inserted two tiny cats.  At this point the card was done, but I just couldn't leave the card front white, so i stamped hot pink stars all over the card front :)

Thanks for stopping bye today.  Please join us for this challenge.  You have until 8/12 to submit your projects.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.  Until next time... take care.

Scrapy Land Challenge #70

Hello crafty friends,

Scrapy Land's Challenge #70 theme is... birthday/celebrations, using SL die brands.  Birthday cards are something every can use and probably the most made card category.   I created these two guys cards:

This first card was completely inspired by this old (very very old) sheet of pattern paper i found in my brown stash.

I started by using a pencil to mark an outline of the square I wanted.  Then I carefully tore the paper following the pencil mark as much as possible.  the bottom and left sides were the hardest, because the horse and rider element was near the bottom left of the pattern paper's edges.  Next I die cut the Happy Birthday from the same paper and cut the die cut apart, so their was more space between the two words and I could fit them better into the top right corner of the horse and rider element.  I was going to call it done, but it felt like something was missing... so I looked though my bin of guy theme stamps (doesn't everyone have such a bin... LOL).  I couldn't believe it when I found the small horse and rider stamp by Stampendous.  Don't ask me where or when I got it, because I have no idea.  I would sign up for a stamp shoppers anonymous meeting, but none of them are anywhere near a craft store, so I wouldn't have anything to do during breaks :)   enough about my problem... back to this card.  I stamped and tore the smaller element and added brown and white bakers twine around the bottom of my card.  

My second card, was the one I sat down to make before finding the above mentioned pattern paper and setting off in the above mentioned course of action.    

I started by die cutting the Party Lights oval onto the front of my card and also into another section of the above pattern paper (it was a 12x12 sheet) that I first die cut w/a Stitched Rectangle die.   I didn't think to die cut both the pattern paper and the card front w/the Party Lights oval together, so in order to get the placement correct... I placed the pattern paper die cut panel inside my card, positioning it in the center and using a pencil marked some of the points of the oval.  

Next, I created a see thru shaker element.  I covered both side with clear plastic, added some sequences and the top card front panel.  I added a Birthday banner die cut.  On the inside of the card I added a gold Stitched Oval die cut.   To finish the inside of this card... I made add three die cut happys in the center of the gold oval and write my sentiment/greetings around the oval.
  

Thanks for stopping bye today.  Please join us for this challenge.  You have until 8/3 to submit your projects.  The winners... one selected randomly and one selected by the Design Team will both receive a $10 gift certificate to Scrapy Land.  Until next time... take care.  

Encouragement Squad - July 2017

Hello crafty friends,

Our color inspiration board for this month has strong summer colors...

I used two of the colors (Red and Blue) for a patriotic encouragement card.  

I started with a stitched rectangle front card panel, which I inked with red and blue using a 12x12 stencil (TCW166).  I added three Zig colored Pretty Posies flowers, which I die cut using the stamp set's matching Posies Fri-Dies onto the middle right corner of the card front.  I next added a red glitter card stock "Smile" die cut using the Smiling Fri-Dies set.  In order to give dimension to my "Smile" die cut... I die cut it three times and glue them together for a nice big impact.  My final touch was adding some white Nuvo Crystal Accents onto the flowers centers.