(butter)fly

Wonderful Spring-y challenge this week at OCC. Butterflies! And since I've just recieved my CTMH Dotty paper pack that has two lovely sheets of butterfly papers, that is where I started. I used my CTMH Art Philosophy cartridge to cut out the largest butterfly using Smoothie cardstock and covered it with Distress Crackle Paint Rock Candy and once it dried, I used CTMH Juniper Bakers Twine and made an X on the body. The smaller butterflies are cut out of the butterfly paper and I used CTMH Sorbet Waxy Flax on them in the same X pattern. I used my printer to do the sentiment.

True

This weeks challenge at OCC is all about your frilly Easter bonnet and what kinds of things you would put on your bonnet. I. am. NOT. a. bonnet. girl. Never was. Never will be! So I had to go in a different direction! And be True to Myself. I'm not really even a hat girl, but given a choice, I'd take a hat any day of the week over a bonnet. I had this image that I'd gotten for free from Red Lead quite a while ago and never used. Today was the day! I used my Luminarte Twinking H2O's to color her dress blue, which is my favorite color and edged the image in Gathered Twigs Distress Ink since I generally tend to have a little (or a lot, depending on the day and craft!) distress around MY edges! I used a piece of
t!m's Kraft Resist cs with words on it since I love words and used Evergreen Bough, Tumbled Glass, Iced Spruce, Mustard Seed and Gathered twigs on it. A piece of seam binding dipped in Stormy Skies Distress Stain and left wrinkly, which is usually the way I am and a pen nib, again giving nod to my love of words. While it may not be a conventional frilly Easter bonnet-y card, I am True To Myself and isn't that what it's all about?!

Leap

This weeks challenge at OCC is all about green and Spring.

My project has a double meaning today. The frogs are returning to our outside pond and I hear the males at night croaking their love songs trying to attract the females. And when go out to feed the Shebukin fish (like giant goldfish, but smaller than Koi) they LEAP off the rocks around the edge of the pond into the pond.

In addition, this is the final page in my "original" art journal. It is time for me to LEAP into a real designated journal and continue to spread my wings even further.

For this final page, I used a page from an old dictionary and used mini misters with CTMH Create A Shade Pearl paint and CTMH re-inkers in Sweet Leaf, Garden Green and Topiary and sprayed the page. Then I used (retired) CTMH Frogs and Friends stamp set and stamped three frogs in the same colors I used on the dictionary page, fussy cut them out and applied some Stickles and a Googly eye to each. Hand doodled the word leap and used my black Faber Castell and Sharpie White Paint pen to color it in. Once I applied the frogs, I outlined them with my Faber Castell pen to make them pop off the page a bit more.

Druthers

Second post of the day...scroll down for more!

The challenge this week at OCC has me pining for two places. One I have been visiting since I was a wee pup vacationing in a tent with mom and dad and my two sisters. That would be the Great Smoky Mountains in TN and NC. If I had my druthers, I'druther be in the mountains! I am completely at peace when I am there. And second is a place I never visited until well into adulthood but it quickly captured my heart. That would be Japan. We accompanied my mother and father in law and sister in law and her dh in 2003 to visit my mil's grand-niece and her family that mom hadn't seen in 20+ years. It was a fantastic trip and one that I look back on fondly and with many wonderful memories.

 These are two stamps I picked up a few years ago at My Scrapbook Store, a "superstore" with all things scrapbooking and papercrafting in Pigeon Forge, TN. You used to see Mail Pouch Tobacco signs painted on barns all across the south. Now that smoking is no longer "cool", you don't see so many of them. This stamp reminded me of a simpler time and for that reason, I kept the card simple. And the bear paw stamp was a "must have" for me since the bear is the symbol of the Smoky's. All these many years I've been going to the mountains and I've never seen one in the wild. It's one of the things on my bucket list! Please note that this is not a "specific" barn. Back in the 30's and 40's companies would send employees out across the south and they would ask "Farmer Jones" for permission to paint their logo on his barn so that it could be seen by passing motorists. It was a labor-free way for 1/4 of the barn to get painted every year, so most barn owners said yes! This is just one artists rendition of a barn on a stamp.  I stamped the barn in Pigment ink on watercolor paper and used my waterbrush to color the image. And the bear paw I random stamped using Pigment ink.

For my Japan inspired card, I used some Origami paper that cousin Akiko-san sent me. John likes to make origami figures with it and I use it for carding. I used to make cards for mil to send to her friends and family in Japan but since her strokes a couple of years ago, she has limited use of her right side and so her writing skills have fallen away and I don't make cards for her any more. The Giesha is a stencil that I used my Stipple Brush and Cocoa ink on. The Kanji phrase is from a retired CTMH set called Wisdom. It's had to see, but in the center is a piece of Mulberry paper that Akiko-san sent as well.  I kept this one simple because that is the Japanese way. They don't go for a lot of frills and doo-dads!

And now I have my first two cards to go in Debbie's box for her 2013 Wak/Run since I sent her all of the cards I've created over the past year last week!

Lucky

Combining challenges again today. Sneaking in just under the wire with Linda's challenge for the week. Based, as always on the works of t!m!.  This week sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. And also the OCC challenge which is Luck O' The Irish. I used to participate in the OCC challenge and kinda got away from it, but now my friend Anita is one of the design team members, so I'm thinking I'm gonna get back to doing that challenge again.  

Linda's challenge was to use alcohol inks and make a plaid design. And the OCC challenge was to use a BINGO card and green on your design. So I used Lettuce, Oregano, Stream and Pitch Black alcohol inks to make my plaid design. Then embossed with t!m's BINGO embossing folder. I used Gold Paint Dabber and Claudine Hellmuth Studio Charcoal Black Acrylic paint to highlight the numbers and lines on the BINGO card. Pinky helped out by cutting 4 hearts from my corregated paper using the CTMH AP cartridge to make my "shamrock" and I used some of the CTMH papers from the Crusin paper pack to spell out 'lucky" to use instead of BINGO chips. Finally a 17 from my number plaquettes and I've got one more card to add to Debbie's box for the walk/run coming up next month!

OCC challenge

The gang at Our Creative Corner challenged us to make a fall card. Now I've said before that living in Florida, fall will arrive.............ohhhhh.........around Thanksgiving or so!

I'm always up for a challenge, so I pulled out CTMH Grown With Love stamp set, stamped and cut out the tree then pop dotted it on one of the new t!m Holtz tags I got at the Scrapbook Shoppe last week. (I KNEW I'd find a use for them!) Then I stamped leaves in various fall colors, rolling some and not others. Some still on the tree, some falling and some on the ground. A piece of American Crafts ribbon from my stash and this is a nice alternative to a card to send someone!

And as an aside, this is post number 500. Looks like I might just have to give something away! Haven't done that in a while! Stay tuned!!

OCC challenge

Great challenge this week at Our Creative Corner! Use stars and stripes, and not necessarily in a patriotic theme. I needed a birthday card, so that was the direction I took.

I started with some t!m Holtz Grungepaper and my Cuttlebug. Using my distressed lines folder, I added some dimension to the Grungepaper then I distressed the lines with Ranger Distress Ink Weathered Wood ink. Then I pulled out some chipboard and double stamped stars using CTMH Shining Star and You're A Star stamp sets on both the chipboard and different B&T's from CTMH Sweet Home paper pack. After cutting out the stars and adhering the B&T to the chipboard, I used my edge distresser and roughed up the edges of some of the stars. I have a new-found affection for common household string, so after adhering the Grungepaper to my background B&T, I used eyelets in the corners and strung some string thru the holes. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from CTMH It's Your Day stamp set. The three star brads are unknown from my stash. Some of the stars are pop-dotted for added visual interest and the largest star has Ranger Distress Stickles Scattered Straw on the outside edges for a little bling!

OCC challenge

Needing a masculine Thank You card, that was the direction I took with this weeks sketch at

Our Creative Corner.

I used CTMH Back Country pp, along with CTMH Treetops and For Every Occasion stamp sets. The centers of the swirls in the tree have white brads for visual interest. I also used my Cuttlebug for the three distressed stripes. I used my ScorPal to dry emboss the lines on the sentiment. Nestabilities was used to cut out the tree image.

OCC challenge

Jennifer's got another great sketch this week at Our Creative Corner

I needed a masculine card, so that was the direction I went with this one. I used the Wax Paper resist technique with one of my Cuttlebug folders, then used CTMH Goldrush ink to sponge in the color. CTMH Argyle stamp set was used and second generation stamped in Barn Red ink for the background of the "4U" which was stamped and cut out.

OCC challenge

Jennifer's seeing stars at Our Creative Corner and if she's not, she soon will be! Her challenge for this week is to make a card using stars.

I pulled out CTMH Shining Star stamp set, along with Tinkerin pp. The flourish is from Playful Flourishes. Colors are Clover Meadow, Sunny Yellow, Sunflower and Twilight. There is some bling on the ends of the flourishes and the star next to the sentiment has Lime Green Stickles on it.

OCC challenge

Jennifer Meyer is the hostess for June at Our Creative Corner and she's starting us off with a sketch.

I used CTMH Moon Doggie paper pack along with the stamp set from the Tickled Pink promo for the flower, which is pop-dotted for dimension and doesn't photograph worth a darn! The border is from Endless Love and has gold Bitty Brads as the flower centers. The sentiment is from From Me To You. I hadn't stitched on a card in a while, so I gave my machine a workout on this one! There are three different stitches on the card.

OCC challenge

Fun sketch this week at Our Creative Corner!

A new month means new birthdays, so I used this opportunity to make one of them. I used CTMH Moon Doggie pp along with the as yet unreleased to customers Aug SOM called It's Your Day. All sorts of phrases and cake pieces to customize any invitation, layout or card. The candles have Ranger Yellow Stickles for that added bling!

OCC challenge

As soon as I saw the challenge at Our Creative Corner this week, I knew exactly which sentiment stamp I was gonna use. I LOVE this

t!m Holtz stamp! I paired it with the flowery-weedy stamp from the t!m Flights Of Fancy stamp set. I used Ranger Distress Ink in Brushed Corduroy and spritzed it with water before stamping for a slight mottled effect. Keeping it simple and basic, a piece of jute tied in a bow completes the card.

OCC Challenge

Robin is our hostess for May at Our Creative Corner and she's given us a sketch to work with this week.

I pulled out the May CTMH Promo, Tickled Pink paper pack and the accompanying stamp set. I random stamped the flowers on textured white cardstock using CTMH Hollyhock, Blush, Sweet Leaf and Twilight inks, then sponged Sweet Leaf on the edges for a bit of definition.

OCC challenge

Silke gave the Our Creative Corner participants an interesting challenge this week. In honor of Earth Day today, we were challenged to recycle something.

I had saved a nut can to do "something" with. We found out recently that John's Japanese cousin Akiko-san is pregnant with her first child, a boy! This is the first boy in their family in over 20 years, so there is much excitement in Japan! I decided to recycle the nut can into a cotton ball holder. I covered it using CTMH Animal Cookies pp and a couple of my EK Success punches. I stamped and cut out the train pieces from CTMH Childhood stamp set. The Kanji on the top says I Love You and it was stamped with CTMH Kanji Phrases stamp set. I've got a few other things I'll be making and send one huge Baby Box to Japan soon!

OCC challenge

Great sketch this week at Our Creative Corner.

I used CTMH Perfect Day paper pack, along with CTMH Treasuse Life stamp set. Ink is CTMH Juniper. A white button from my stash, along with a piece of jute and Sorbet ribbon.

OCC challenge

A color challenge for us this week at Our Creative Corner! The challenge was for SU! colors; More Mustard, Bashful Blue and Not Quite Navy and a neutral. I used as close as I could on CTMH colors with Honey, Heavenly Blue and Moonstruck and SU! Kraft cardstock for my neutral. The stamps are from a new t!m Holtz set exclusive to Michael's called Flights of Fancy. Brads are unknown from my stash.

OCC challenge

Another great sketch from March's hostess Kim at Our Creative Corner this week.

Feeling my "masculine" side today, so I went with CTMH Heirloom (retired) paper pack. Grungeboard heart is from t!m Holtz, painted with Old Paper Distress Paint, then came back in with CTMH New England Ivy around the outside for dimension. The "U" is CTMH CTMH Color Ready Alphabet Oxford. I sponged CTMH Vanilla Cream ink, then did just the outside edge in New England Ivy. I used my "somewhat" new EK Success punch for the torn paper edge. A piece of CTMH twill ribbon and a brad from my stash.

OCC challenge

Kim gave us a limited supplies challenge this week on Our Creative Corner. We could use a maximum of three layers and one embellishment. This called for some creative thinking!

I started with SU Kraft paper and used my new Nestabilities Pierceabilities Ric Rac Scalloped edge for the bottom. After I cut it out, I left the die in place and came in with CTMH Desert Sand ink to give the design a bit of dimension. Then I grabbed my Scor-It and made some overlapping lines across the top and sides. I found a giant flower in my Deluxe Designs chipboard stash and covered it with a piece of CTMH Cocoa Cafe paper, then distressed behind it with a bit of CTMH Desert Sand ink. A big, honkin' green button from my stash and a couple of pieces of jute for the flower center. Three layers and one embellishment make a pretty cute card!

A Two-fer!

I'm combining the Our Creative Corner and the CardPatterns challenge this week! The flourish on the card is the challenge for OCC and the design of the card is from CardPatterns. I simple flipped it side-to-side.

A friends son recently had surgery, so I thought I make him a card to cheer him up. Paper pack is CTMH Stardust. The monkey (with Googly eyes!) is from CTMH Life's A Jungle stamp set and is pop dotted. I hate that it doesn't show well in the picture! I did one of my favorite new techniques; cutting the vellum out of a metal-rimmed tag and putting a piece of matching cardstock in it's place. Sentiment is from CTMH Say It In Style. The flourish is from Deluxe Designs. Buttons are from my stash and the embroidery thread is CTMH Topiary. The punch is new from EK Success. Found it at Michael's the other day! They are pretty neat! They lock down when not in use for easier storage.