HOC September Challenge

This month at House of Cards we have an inspirational photo for you.  I managed to get a sneak peek at some of the other designers and I must say I certainly missed the mark on this one.  I used the colours as opposed to the actual photo for my cards.  Yes cards.  I have two cards for you today.  The first card uses the top three colours and the bottom card uses the bottom three colours.

Here is the photo inspiration:

Now for my cards:

My first card I used the honeycomb stencil from Heidi Swapp.  I didn't have the correct stencil paste and never having done this before I tried gesso and slightly coloured it with my ink.  I was pretty happy with the results.  I then took some plain coloured CS and stamped randomly over it and sponged the edges just to give it a more grungy look.  The pieces were set in place using dimensionals and glue.

My second card again used the honeycomb stencil, but this time I sponged over the stencil with my inks once and then slightly moved the stencil and using a different colour I sponged lightly again.  After embossing my butterfly and embellishing it with seed pearls I used my Stamp-a-ma-gig to place the sentiment on the card so that it would surround one of the honeycombs.

I hope you like what I have come up with but I know for sure you will love what the other Designers have come up with.  

Now it's your turn. Try something new or experiment with what you have. Don't forget to link your fabulous creation up with our challenge sight here. Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

HOC: Sketch Challenge - One Stamp Two looks!

Good morning and welcome to the House of Cards challenge this month.  We had some amazing entries last month for our challenge so congratulations to everyone who entered.  Believe me the choices were endless and the decision for the Top 5 was VERY difficult.

This time we have a sketch challenge for you.  This is one of those sketches that you make sure that you hang on to because there are soooooo many possibilities.

My card today started out as a Birthday Card for my Dear Husband but it actually ended up being two cards from the same stamp set.  The stamp set I used was Postage Due from Stampin Up.  

I started my inking up a scrap piece of CS using various colours and blending them as I went down the CS.  Then I used water and spritzed the CS, hoping to give it a watered look (but it didn't happen).  I think I should have used alcohol with the water to make the water droplets appear - any suggestions welcome!

I added a little stamp onto the envelop to give "my 2 cents worth" and then stamped over that again with a cancellation stamp.  I had another bicycle and stamped that on the other side of the envelop as well.  On the inside I found this great little sentiment which truly says it all, only wish I had come up with it on my own, but thank you to whomever did come up with it.

After I had completed the first card I could clearly see another card from the remaining CS that I had stamped on so here is my second card using the same sketch. This card was more feminine, but I always love surprises when they happen like this.

I know that my Dear Hubby will love his birthday card and I think I have a recipient for the second card as well so I hope that she will love it too.  

Now it's your turn.  Use the great sketch from HOC Sketch Challenge and see what you come up with.  Can you manage to make two cards from the same stamp set like I did?  If you can, make sure to enter both of them and don't forget we have lots of styles to choose from.  

Thanks for stoping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

Add a Bow!

Todays challenge at House of Cards is to "add a bow" to your creation.

Instead of stamping a card I decided to use twine and do a little weave before adding a key and bow to it.  It still keeps within the Clean and Simple lines but adds a punch.

I started with a length of twine and taped it to the back of the CS.  Then I began weaving it from back to front and then back again until I had three loops formed on the front of the card.

Then with a second smaller piece of twine I created a bow and added a little key to the front.

Clean and Simple doesn't always have to be stamped and I hope that this card has given you inspiration to try something different in the clean and simple style.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out our other great Designers, who I know have some very special cards in store for you.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

Our Anchor...Dad!

Father's Day is just a few days away and I decided to put together a simple card for my Dad.  As a lot of you are aware my Dad is suffering from Dementia and each day brings new challenges to his daily living.  Things that we all take for granted are very difficult for him to perform.  Most of all his memory is slipping away day by day.

Dad was in the Navy during his earlier years and I try each year to make his cards along the nautical themes.  This year is no different.

Even with Dad's state of mind his is still the anchor that holds our family together.

The use of the ink splatters from French Foliage appear as what could be bubbles under water.

Challenges that I have entered this card in:

Bitten by the Bug - Father's Day Challenge

Moving Along with the Times

Mod Squad Challenge - Nautical

I know that Dad will love this card just as much as I loved making it.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you like what I have put together.

Nancy

Yours comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

HOC Blog Hop "Mothers Garden"

Hi, all!  It's time for an end of term blog hop over at House of Cards and we have a super fun challenge AND tons of great prize opportunities for those of you who join in the fun!!!:) You should have arrived here from Corneilia's Blog.  If you haven't please start all the way back at the House of Cards hop post and follow the list found in the blog of the hop post!

Photo Inspiration

I decided to play again with some watercolours, but was unable to print the digital image onto the watercolour paper so the image is printed onto regular card stock.  My image is taken from Stitchy Bear Stamps called Mothers Garden with Floral.  I also managed to make two different cards using the same digital image and highlighted the flowers in different ways.

Card number one is simply a single layer card using watercolours on the image.

 Card number two is the same image, however I printed the image twice and fussy cut our the leaves and the flowers after I had painted them.

 The overlay was placed onto the base of the same image but not before I had painted the vines and given the background a punch of colour to accent the flowers a little more.

The centres of the daisies are filled with seed beads.

Remember those Great Sponsors I mentioned, well here they are.  Please check them out and good luck with winning a gift voucher from one of them.

Eclectic Anthology
Prize: $50 gift voucher to the shop.

Inspired By Stamping
Prize: $15 gift voucher to the shop.

Paper Sweeties
Prize: $20 gift voucher to the shop.

Boutique link:

www.papersweeties.com

Blog link: 

http://papersweeties.com/category/blog/

STAMPlorations
Prize: 5 stamps sets--your choice--from the shop.

Stitchy Bear
Prize: $10 gift voucher to the shop.

Now get to hopping'!  Your next stop is Robbie's Blog!  If you get lost along the way, you can always head back to the original blog hop post -- and don't forget to link up a project at the House of Cards blog after completing the hop for an extra chance to win a mystery prize from one of our fabulous sponsors, too!

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

HOC Inspiration Photo "Kindness"

Spring has finally arrived and with it the sweet sound of the birds chirping in the morning.  I am finally able to sleep with my windows open and just love hearing the sound in the mornings.  Then I take my coffee and spend a relaxing "ME" time in my hot tub outside for 20-30 minutes before my day becomes too hectic.  Between you and me the hot tub also manages to get those old bones moving as well.  So when I saw the "Inspiration Photo" for our House of Cards I could hear the little bird just calling to me while I was having my morning coffee.

There has been a lot of watercolour put forth lately and I thought that I would give it a try with this sketch.  

I started by fussy cutting out two feathers, at least I hope they look like feathers, onto watercolour paper.  Then using various shades of the purple (although it came out pink) I washed the side of the feather and then did the same with the yellow on the opposite side.  In order to give the feather a little more character I used the finest brush I had and gave it a vein down the centre with black.

I used the ink splotches from French Foliage and again my black ink and lightly accented the background.  

I wanted to keep the background light and airy so that the feathers would be the centre of attention.

Although this card may appear a little girly I plan on giving it to my husband "just because" he has been killing me with "kindness" these past few weeks with everything that we have been trying to accomplish between looking after my Dad, both of our kids moving within a few weeks of each other and the multitude of other things we have been trying to accomplish.  His words are always so encouraging and kind and I cherish each and every word.  

I hope you like what I have come up with.  What do you see, hear, think of this great inspiration photo.  Show us your stuff and don't forget to join in on the fun over at House of Cards.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

TST #166 Pinterest Special

So todays card for Try Stampin on Tuesday has a Mother's Day Theme to it. Unfortunately I lost my Mother 21 years ago to Alzheimer's and am now going through the early stages of this disease with my my Father.  Thankfully I have learned that this disease although has a lot of downs to it it also has a lot of ups and we celebrate the ups whenever we can get them.

Mothers Day Theme

I have also tried something a little different with this card.  I am addicted to Pinterest and have chosen several "printable images" from the files and used them for this card. 

If you look closely you will also see the little heart which I took from one of the Easter Bunnies and adapted it to my card.  This little heart will bring to light the verse that I have chosen for the inside of the card.

The images used for this card are as follows:

the postcard - the loveliest little details

feathers - lia griffith

I do miss my Mom and remember her always.  Her creativity and talent I would like to say spilled over to me and I am forever grateful for that.  

Love you Always Mom.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one. 

TSOT # 164

Can you believe that we are now at Easter and there is still snow and winter just will not give up!  I am truly beginning to think that we are not going to have a summer this year and we dearly need to make some cheerful cards to get us through it.

With that being said this week at Try Stampin on Tuesday we have a Sweet Tooth challenge for you.  Seems only appropriate with the Easter Bunny just finishing off his/her yearly visit.

Unfortunately I don't really have any stamp sets that would work for the Sweet Tooth images so I have a happy colour and a little song bird. 

I wanted this to be a clean simple look so I started with my DSP and then added a piece of CS on top of it.  Once I had my three holes punched out and positioned I stamped the little insets and then elevated the punched out area with Dimensionals.

 

If you look closely you can see my little song bird in the one inset.

Now that you have seen what I have come up with it's your turn.  Show us your Sweet Tooth - if you have one - if not we would still love to see what you can come up with for our sketch this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

HOC C&S April Sketch Challenge

Another sketch challenge for you over at House of Cards.  This is another one of those sketches that can be used over and over.

With this sketch I decided to try a watercolour technique that is hitting the blogs these days.  I had seen somewhere that someone had used soap, water and colour and blew bubbles to make their own paper, but for the life of me I just couldn't find it when I wanted to.  So I reverted to the old parchment paper and blotted the ink onto the paper and then spritzed it with water.

Also rather than making my card a single layer, which is the true definition of Clean and Simple, I decided to layer it a little, but keeping the overall look simple.

Using the Tim Holtz Branch Die I die cut the branch and lightly sponged it and placed it behind and around the watercolour paper.  Hoping that this would look like coral!

Then using By the Seashore I stamped out the star fish, then cut and shaped it to give it a little bit of definition.

I love how the watercolour paper turned out and when I looked at it I could remember the great colours of the Gulf when we were in Florida this year.  

Hope you like what I have come up with.  Now it's your turn.  Lets see what you have up your sleeve for this great sketch and don't forget to post it so we can all have a look see!

Thanks for stoping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

HOC C&S Photo Inspiration

With March having five weeks we are adding a bonus card for the last week of the month over at House of Cards.  So I am going a little off the inspiration today other than using the colours that are in the picture.

Usually I like to follow the inspiration picture along with the colours, but this time I am going just with the colours.  The colours worked perfectly with my Daughters college colours and she recently graduated from Dental Hygiene as mentioned earlier post.  Today's card was my inspiration from the picture.

I found this cute little tooth grad on the internet and used it on the inside of the card.  Very fitting.

So very proud of her we are.  Even better now we will be able to have our teeth cleaned for FREE!  We hope!

So what do you see in the challenge?  Colour or the actual picture?  Show us your stuff and don't forget to link it back to House of Cards.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

TST #160 A Masculine Touch - Are You Ready to HOP!!!

Hop, hop, hop!  Yes folks we are Blog Hopping this week.  Enjoy my card and then follow the links to our other Fabulous Designers!  Hop(e) you have fun!

So has everyone had enough of the snow for this year?  I know we have.  The cold temperatures certainly are not helping either.  -30degreesC (-22degreesF)  Poor dog doesn't even want to go outside. Forecast says it MAY improve next week.  Guess we will just have to wait and see, but in the mean time lets have some fun!  So what is there to do when its too cold to play outside?  Play inside!  This week at Try Stampin on Tuesday we are looking for a masculine card.

Twist:  Masculine Touch

This is another one of those sketches that can be used over and over again.  I like to keep a small binder with the sketches that I really like so that when I need inspiration for cards I can draw on them.

I stamped and cut out two of the oak leaves from the French Foliage set and then inked them up. In order to get a weathered look to them I ran them through my crimper, but you could just scrunch them up to get the same results.

Then, rather than place strips across the bottom I used twine and knotted it to make it appear even more rustic.

If you are just joining us now then Hop on over to Rose's site HERE! We have lots in store for you to see.

Now it's your turn.  More inspiration is waiting for you over at the TST site.  Don't forget to link up your card for all of us to admire.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.

Happy Colours!

Are you sick of winter YET!.  Just when everything was starting to melt and you could see tiny growth under the dirty snow we get dumped on again.  Yes folks another foot of snow over night.  I am beginning to think that Mother Nature has decided not to give us Spring or Summer this year and keep us in the deep freeze, but I sure hope not!

So because of this new snow fall and yesterday being the first day of Spring I thought it would be nice to have a happy cheerful and colourful card to lift our spirits!  My first challenge today comes from a fellow Design Team Member at House of Cards, Cornelia, but the challenge itself is from Stamplorations!  Also because it is spring and that was the challenge this week at Splendiferous Creations I am showing it off over there as well.

 

This is another one of those great sketches that you can use over and over when you need inspiration.

Watercolour seems to be the rage these days and I thought that I would incorporation the colours of the rainbow - even though I did goof on the sequence - and make this a bright and cheerful Spring Birthday card.

I inked up the stamp and using my Stamp-a-ma-jig I stamped the "happy" three times.  Then using a paint brush I flicked water onto the letters.  Because I was not using watercolour inks they did not run as well, but there is still some watermarks on them.  After the paper had dried I stamped the "birthday" three times again and added just a touch of bling! to finish off the card.  It still needed a pop of colour so I set it onto a bright lime green CS and then onto the card base.

Hope you like what I have put together and I hope it brings a ray of sunshine into your life today.

Thanks for stoping by.

Nancy

Your comments mean a lot to me so please remember to leave one.