A whole new meaning to getting punched...Ooh-la-la

Cuttlebug Challenge #23 brings to you the challenge of "using your punches and the Cuttlebug in other ways than it was intended." How great is that! I must admit I only own three circle punches and a single corner rounder. Don't get me wrong, I like them well enough, they just seem to take up lots of space. In this card I cut a black circle embossed with dots and cut a smaller circle from with in circle and affixed to the corners of the card. The bottom image shows that I used my corner rounder and created an arrow, though I covered it up with a button. Buttons and brad are part of the Ooh-la-la Creations challenge Blog so this meets their requirements also! I really like the trapezoid shapes, they were cut with an electronic cutting machine. I look forward to seeing what others came up with and remember creation diverts destruction...

A Pink Elephant Surprise..

Wowie! Yesterday(it's now almost 2 am)I received word that the great designers over at The Pink Elephant felt that my card brought delight, thank you for saying so it made my day!

Speaking of The Pink Elephant they have a terrific new challenge for the week to incorporate buttons onto your card and who doesn't love buttons, except maybe the postal service. Then again ,they should especially find delight in these embellishments as it brings reason to charge more for postage! I opted to do a mixer by pulling Stamp Something into the challenge by creating a green theme and even thought St. Patrick's Day came and went like the wind green is where its at! I noticed some hints of green out in the gardens and in some of the fields and needless to say I am thrilled! I love flowers, the more the merrier, and I love getting dirt under my fingernails and this is about to take hold.
For this card I used an amazing stamp set by Close To My Heart called Blooming Flourishes, isn't it grand! I dug out any green marker I could find to color in the images and utilized paper piecing for the raised flowers. Paper Studio several years ago put out their own line of Bag 'O Buttons, I picked out the green ones plus found a few others and tried stamping on a few with Stazon just for fun. Why not right? Oh yes, I also popped a few bity brads into some of the button holes, I've seen this done before, not my idea. Well I'm excited to see what the rest of the crafty world has come up with so with that, I leave you my example. Remember creation diverts destruction...



Close up of stamped button

Pink, Black and White...Plus a Greeny

Just needed some quick cards!

Things are lookin brighter all the time...

Card Patterns sketch # 6 has fun with layering and I decided to have some fun doodling. I am happy to say the center piece within the black scalloped circle are my doodles, strongly influenced by some amazing flower stamps out there of course! I started with one spiral and went from there. I colored it in with Close to My Heart Markers and some Souffle pens by Sakura. I love the white Souffle pen due to its opacity, also it's almost like an enamel with its low sheen.
I used the Cuttlebug to emboss the four corners and a pinch of bity brads from Close to My Heart. I want to encourage you all to try your own doodles, doodles are light hearted and free spirited and not to be taken too seriously...



My Doodle Detail

Shetch free day...

Have I mentioned how much I love sketches, they can really get you to think outside the box and be free. This is where I seem to be right now, so I came up with this sketch free. Does that even make any sense?

My Mojo caught the Bug...

Mojo Monday sketches are serious inspiration and as you can see in #77. Cuttlebug Challenges equally enhance creativity, their challenge is one to add some glitter. I love glitter, in the jar that is, its the only safe place for the stuff.I truly have not found the perfect glue and yet for this instance liquid glass did quite nicely. I decided since I was combining the two I may as well toss in one more element completely new to me, an Acetate card base. This stuff is really pricey so measure twice before you cut and so one and so forth, also it's a lint magnet so do any distressing before you affix those pieces to the card!



Do you like my daisy? I actually drew it, I know it's rather primitive but drawing was never my strong point, I've decided however, to try it out here and there for a change.

Just enough time for a quicky card...

This weeks challenge at Papertake Weekly gave me some reprieve from my usual over labored card making, this took me less than an hour!

Pink, Green & Brown plus a touch of crazy...

The Pink Elephant has a color challenge this week of Pink, Green & Brown talk about a fabulous combo indeed! I say plus a touch of crazy because I've been sleep deprived (by choice)trying to do all these amazing challenges I've been coming across. This is rather Abstract but that's how I prefer to work!

Custom Taylored to fit...

Taylored Expressions has a great sketch this week you should all take a stab at, Seriously! I had such a blast with this sketch I am sure to use this again so a big thank you! The little girly girl as my son Oscar will say is from the Heidi Grace set Valentine's Day. I paper pieced all her dresses I love to work in this fashion, I guess you could say I love fussy! I also used some stamps from Fiskars called Oodles of Doodles, this was a real find of a sheet of 16 stamps for 97 cents! I don't mean to toot my own horn so outright but I love this card! I know you will love your take on it to so get goin' and see you over at Taylored Expressions!

So about that Motif...

Friday Sketchers #42, is this not an all inspiring sketch or what! I was in a quandary as to how I would pull off a motif as I don't have people like imagery. Lucky for me Motif also means reoccurring so I grabbed hold of the idea and found myself making this card.

This is to show in more detail the repetition.

Challenge # 76 and Cupcakes make me Hungry...

Well actually I'm doing a double decker as my crafting time is getting away from me and my need to do challenges is out-of-control! Mojo Monday's challenge, in addition to just add food or beverage for Cute Card Thursday. I know this is going to floor the crafting world but would you believe I do not own Food or Drink related stamp, seriously! I love food, I'm so ashamed...fortunately I do have the Celebrations cartridge for the Cricut so I was able to cut out this cupcake, are they all the rage or what!?! To make this I used stamps by Heidi Grace & Close To My Heart, colored card stock by Close To My Heart,Patterned card stock by K&CoMPANY, photo hanger and mini-brads Close To My Heart, ribbon and fibers by Basic Grey, mini frame no clue, and don't forget the liquid applique by Marvy. If you have yet to purchase this it's a must have! It may seem like a small tube for around 3 dollars but a little dot grows a long way!


This is just a close up trying to give you a better idea of what liquid applique does:


Well, as much as I want to stay and craft it is way too nice outside and my Oscar really wants to play! I know he won't want to hang out with mom forever so when the opportunity knocks. I cant wait to see what the rest of you did with either or both of these challenges! And remember paper is meant to be inked, colored,distressed, cut, torn and sometime just thrown away(but very rarely)! BR-T

Have you seen an Animal tinged with Pink, Orange and Brown running around?

Paper Take Weekly has a fun challenge of colors don't you think? Cute Card Thursday would like to see an animal on your card so I linked the challenges together and came up with this little number. For this card I used a Heidi Grace clear stamp set called Beyond the Sea and believe you me that is where I so want to be! I have this paper pack which I'm sure you'll notice I'll mention often because there are so many themes in his pack your possibilities and infantile. It's by K&CoMPANY and it's called Daydreams. I also cut some snippets from another K&CoMPANY paper pack Que Sera Sera. I used some hemp for the jellyfish tentacles and several mini-brads by Close to My Heart.

Card Patterns sketch #4

Does this look like a fun sketch from Card Patterns or what! I appreciate how most of these challenge sights have are open to interpretation it give us a chance to push the envelope within ourselves. With that being said here is my rendition of the proposed sketch, it was a little time consuming but easy non the less. I noticed some of my earliest of flowering bulbs are poking up, so I thought I'd create a Spring card. I simply love this butterfly set it's an old retired set from Close To My Heart yet I never tire seeing it.

Wintry Circles...

I really admire those who integrate several challenges into one card, Daring Cardmakers has an all things circles theme while Stamp Something wants to see something with cold, winter wind as a focus...it took some real doing for me but here is my take on the two:

To create this I used Close To My Heart stamps along with their background paper, rickrack ribbon and white photo hanger. I also used some snippits of ribbon by American Crafts.

Be Inspired #20

Tonight I wondered back over to Cuttlebug Challenges to check out this weeks card sketch designed by Valerie Salmon it is a great one!
Here is what I came up with using :
Que Sera Sera designer paper by K&CoMPANY
Close to My Heart Cocoa textured card stock
Happy & Happy Birthday stamp by Close to My Heart
Flower & Flourish stamps and leaf-vine chipboard embossed via Cuttlebug by Basis Grey
Green brads by Close To My Heart
and finally aluminum from a can embossed via Cuttlebug