Post-It Purple Fun

Thanks to Kari (from the Lawn Fawn Design Team) for her great idea of using acrylic stands/photo frames in this really fun way - by turning them into Post-It Notes holders!

Admittedly, I didn't have any such acrylic stands lying around,  but that didn't stop me - and a trip to the stationery store was quickly made. Armed with a couple of 4" x 6" acrylic stands and some colourful neon 3M Post-It-Notepads, patterned papers, ribbons, punchers, stamps and die-cuts, embossing powders, colouring medium and some rhinestones blings, I was on my way into fun land!

The cute little birds come from Paper Smooches - Chubby Chums stamp set, whilst the 'have faith' sentiment comes from Paper Smooches - Spiritual Sampler stamp set. Since my post-it pad was neon purple, the selection of the orange and purple patterned paper (including the hexagon layered die-cuts - using Hero Arts -Geometric Shapes Frame Cuts), lilac ribbon, and colour choice for the two little birds was obvious!

This altered project is entered for this week's Paper Smooches SPARKS - April 20-26 Anything Goes (Wk 3) challenge.

Supplies used:

friends are special gifts

ovals and more ovals - that's the theme for CAS-ual Fridays CFC130 Challenge: Good Egg

- a lovely shade of lilac patterned paper affixed on the base white card stock, which had been cut using Lawn Fawn's Large Stitched Journaling Card die cut - I love the detailed stitching lines round the edges!
- this was followed by a white strip of paper and some silver threads affixed and tied from end to end at the bottom third section of the card
- the centre oval royal purple card was first embossed and then lightly dusted with VersaMark Ink before sprinkling a light sheen of embossing powder - heat-embossed to bring out the beautiful contrasted details
- another oval white card was affixed behind the purple card but offset slightly
- the sentiment stamp is a beautiful stamp from JustRite - Special Gifts Labels set - stamped in VersaFine Imperial Purple and heat-embossed before affixing to the card with mounted foam tape
- finished off with a little flower embellishment at the side and some pearls at the top left corner

have a nice 'brekkie' day

this week's Apr 13-19 Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge is a Picture Perfect challenge 

based on this inspirational photo

To re-create those whacky banners of colours, I decided to use all the cute little stamps from Paper Smooches - Wake Up stamp set - the 'sausages', 'bacon rashers', 'cups' were perfect and with a little masking work, I had my criss-crossing banners. After colouring, the glitter on the 'bacon rashers'  and liquid pearl dots on the 'cups' provided that extra zing.

The red-checked 'tablecloth' pattern below was stamped using Impression Obsession (IO) - Cover-A-Card Gingham background, and grounded my little red toaster.

PS Note (21 Apr 2014): Am giddy with delight that this card was selected as the PSS February Picture Perfect PRO winner!

and featured on the Paper Smooches blog on April 27!

Cruising With You

simple 1-layer card with a simple light-hearted message for a loved one - this was made taking into account the latest 

One-layer Simplicity Challenge #4: Road Trip! (challenge - to make a travel-themed one-layer card)

 the bicycle stamp and sentiment are from Lawn Fawn's Cruising Through Life clear stamp set - easy to colour and with a paper piecing of the flag affixed with mounting tape and a heavy dash of glitter on the bicycle frame and swirly curl .... this card is all set to 'cruise' into someone's hands

HELLO on newsprint

Sometimes a simple card just makes the best impact ...

- the red flower (which is a Hero Arts silhouette stamp from the Sweet Threads Thank You stamp set) was first stamped on white card 
- then a mask of the flower was stamped and cut, and with mask in place, I then proceeded to stamp the background (using Hero Arts - Newspaper Background stamp) in sepia ink
- final touches include affixing the 'hello' die-cut from Paper Smooches - Quote Tag (which has been embossed in copper powder) and some rhinestones on the flower centre and across the card 
- with the edges of the white card distressed and coloured with distress ink, it was all ready to go onto the brown card base

and it was great to know that the card was noticed in the Hero Arts Flickr group, and was tweeted by myheroarts .... wheeeeee!

a little smile makes everything better

how true this sentiment is - whether in giving a smile or receiving a smile - this simple act makes the world seem like a much friendlier place, and the day just that tad nicer!

card design was inspired by retrosketches #109

and also by the choice of colours in this week's Dynamic Duos #97, which are so great together

the sentiment stamp is from Hero Arts - A Little stamp set, which has such a beautiful frame on which the key words can be interchanged and switched around to fit the card

in fact, the whole card just makes me SMILE .... and I sure hope it does that for you too!

Post Note: and how cool it is to be selected as one of the 'Shout-Outs' for retrosketches #109

hello, little kitty

card was created using the sketch design in Seize the Sketch #17 from Jen Mitchell

the cute little kitty comes from Paper Smooches - Nine Lives clear stamp set, which comes with its own matching die-cuts - convenience personified! The tag with the 'hello' sentiment is also a die-cut from Paper Smooches - Quote Tag set - love the little window in the centre of the tag which is great for placing background paper and photos as well

Card is also going in for this week's April 6-12 "Anything Goes" Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge 

POST NOTE (14 Apr): and though I didn't win the PS SPARKS challenge, it was great to be selected as one of the Featured Players .... yayy!

just a note ...

Card was largely based on this week's CASE Study Challenge #185

I wanted to replicate the simple 1-layer card, which has always been a challenge for me - but in order to satisfy my itch to get patterned paper onto the card, I had to resort to doing paper piecing a lot of the elements (the trees, the little birdie and the clouds...) and ended up with lots of stamping and fussy-cutting ...phew! 

love this case study sketch and am going back to the table to see if I can create one with more white space and less elements on the card

Am also entering this into the April 6-12 "Anything Goes" Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge 

 stamps are from Paper Smooches - Spring Groves (the trees and birdie), Spiffy Scooters (cloud) and Sentiment Sampler ('just a note') stamp sets

The Lord is my strength

A card to encourage another ... for all strength comes from God as we face each day and all that it brings!

This card design was based on this week's Freshly Made Sketches #130 from Linda

The beautiful verse (Psalm 27:1) is a stamp from Stampendous - Hope Verses clear stamp set 

the stamp is great, but my embossing skills on such detailed stamping leaves much to be desired .... sigh, I think I really need to find an anti-static pouch especially if I'm going to use black embossing powder!

POST NOTE: and thank you so much to Jen T (from Freshly Made Sketches) for choosing this card as an honourable mention ... am so very honoured indeed!

Many Blessings

The "Leafy Vines" stamp from Hero Arts is truly versatile - great for backgrounds, and also as the main attraction on a card - here, with a bit of masking, it sits wonderfully as a multi-coloured backdrop (stamped using Kaleidacolor - Autumn Leaves rainbow dye) to the beautiful sentiment "Many Blessings" stamp also from Hero Arts

Card design was inspired by the card in this week's CASE Study Challenge #184