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.

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.

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.

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.

TST #152

Don't know about the rest of you folks but "are you tired of snow yet!".  Over the past couple of days while I was making this card we managed to obtain at least 18 inches and as I type out this blog post it is snowing yet again.  Maybe that is why I decided to take todays Try Stampin on Tuesday and make it a Clean and Simple card with a punch of colour.

Our twist today with the sketch is to make it "Well Worn", however, I missed that part when I was putting my card together, but if you consider all the shovelling that I have done lately I would say that would be my "Well Worn" portion!

I had a couple of attempts at this card.  First I thought I would use the new Pantone colour for 2014 a shade of purple, but then couldn't get the effect that I wanted for the card so then I decided to venture through my various stamps and found "Meadow" which I purchased last year and loved the look of it when I bought it be haven't used it.  I really do need to go through my stamps and have a garage sale of the ones I don't use.

My punch of colour comes with the sun.  I punched out a circle on a Post-it note and sponged the sun.  I had originally planed on only having this as a white card but then when I was stamping the sentiment I slipped and the image doubled itself so round two I trimmed out the original card and mounted it on the yellow CS.

Clean and Simple, quick and easy - unless you slip!

Hope you like what I have come up with, now it's your turn.  Need more inspiration, hop on over to the TST site and see what the other Great Designers have in store for you.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

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

HOC C&S Sketch 3

Well a new year has arrived and we are into a new session of House of Cards Challenges.  This month we are looking at a Sketch Challenge.

Now trying to keep this card in the Clean and Simple style may pose a challenge to you but the easiest way around the background for me was to emboss it.  This still left plenty of "white space".

 Starting with the Modern Wallpaper embossing folder I embossed the upper portion of the card only.  This gave the illusion of the darker colour on the sketch.  Then using the Apothecary Accents I die cut two of the coloured CS and one white.  The white one I stamped using the words from the French Foliage stamp set and the coloured CS was used to create a frame around the white.

Then using the Beautiful Wings sizzlet die I die cut three sets of butterflies.  The largest was used for the top and then two of the smaller ones were used as the base to create the 3D effect of the butterfly.  You can see the smaller butterflies on the picture below.

 

The butterfly was then attached to the frame and using dimensionals adhered to the card base.  

When creating a Clean and Simple card you want just that.  I would have preferred to do just stamping, but when I saw the sketch this vision immediately popped into my head.

I hope you like what I have come up with.  We have some new talented Designers with us for this next six month period and I hope that you will take the time to see what they have envisioned for this sketch.  Then once you have seen what everyone else has come up with...you guessed it, it's your turn.  Have some fun with this sketch.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

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

HOC C&S Happy Holidays Blog Hop

Welcome to the House of Cards Term One Blog Hop!  If you've come here from Mia's blog, then you are in the right place!  If you have just stumbled here and would like to participate, please hop over to the House of Cards challenge blog to get started! We've got some fabulous sponsors that are providing prizes, so make sure to leave comments at each stop for a chance to win!

This challenge is a photo inspiration challenge and is open from December 1-15.  It is an Anything Goes so you can make a card, decoration or anything else that you might think of that is inspired by this photo.

I can just imagine the great dinner that will be part of this elaborate diner plate.  The Holiday Season is a special time of year for everyone.  No matter what your celebration is, it is  time to reflect back on the past year and its challenges and achievements and to look ahead at what the following year may bring.  It is also time to spend with those that you love and cherish and remember those no longer with us, that make this Holiday and special one.

I love the colours of this photo, but trying to guess just which colours I should use became a bit of an adventure.  There were several attempts at getting just the right colours to accent the photo  but I finally came up with Night of Navy and black with a touch of bling!  I also kept within my House of Cards theme of Clean and Simple.

To start I cut out a mask from a Post-it and used that to create the shadowed area.  Then with the Night of Navy I inked up the snowflake stamp and then with the Black I lightly "bammed" it.  This allowed some of the areas to appear even darker with just a hint of black.

 

Once the outside was complete I stamped on the inside just in one corner to finish off the card.

 A touch of bling was added to the centre of three snowflakes and then it was mounted onto accent DSP and then the card base.  

Once I had the colours the rest came together rather quickly which was good because I needed to make 50 of these cards for friends and family!

House of Cards Design Team

Joanna Munster

Colleen Dietrich

Grace Tolman

Leah Cornelius

Irit Shalom

Kendra Sand

Nazeema Bastian

Rebecca Deeprose

Rose Miller

Shea Marshall

Tina Hale

Mynnette
Ruth 
Gale 
Julie Ann (MAYBE)
Nonni 
Tammy 
Vannessa
Mia
Nancy  -  You made it!  Hope you enjoy my card!
Daen'Ys
Sue T.
Tara
Vicki
Alica
Anita
Donna
John
Shauna
Rudlis
Jules
Macarena
Rocky
Sue B.

One last note.  I would like to personally wish each and every one of you a Safe and Happy Holiday and only good things for the coming year!

Nancy

Thanks for stopping by!  Please join in the fun of our hop and make your way over to Daen'Ys blog.

HOC C&S Lest We Forget...

I thought I would combine the photo challenge from House of Cards today with a very special celebration...Remembrance Day!

How fitting is it that the photo offers such perfect Poppies for a date that has so much significance.  My father is a WWII Naval Vet and I could not be more proud of him and all of the other men and women past and present serving our country.

The poppy was printed onto CS and then painted with markers.  Then I fussy cut it out and adhered it with a dimensional.  For the card base I spritzed on Old Olive and then using the splatters from French Foliage I added in a few of those.  Finally I use the swirls from Everything Eleanor and the sentiment from Warmest Wishes to complete this Clean and Simple card. 

This card is for you Dad.  Thank you so much for contributing to our countries freedom!  

Need more inspiration?  Hop on over to the House of Card site to see what the other great Designers have in store for you for Clean and Simple cards.

Thanks for stopping by and Thanks to all of our Service Men and Women serving this Great Land of ours.

Nancy

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

HOC C&S Sketch #2

The definition of Clean and Simple is as follows from our definitions at House of Cards:

Clean & Simple:  These cards use minimal or NO embellishment.  There should be lots of "white space" present on your card--open space with no stamping or anything else.  One layer cards are usually considered CAS as long as they are not covered in stamping.

However, this week we had a very busy sketch which I thought did not quite go with a Clean and Simple look.  

There was a lot of thought put into this card even though it doesn't look like it because it didn't quite turn out the way I would have wanted it to.  

I created a mask for the centre point and traced it.  Then with the negative portion of the mask I stamped the wording from French Foliage.  along with the leaves and the stamp mark.  Then using the reverse of the negative I placed it over the centre point and stamped the outer water marks.

 

The leaf was stamped out and sponge coloured, crinkled it up and using twine I created a barbed wire effect with to finish off the card.  

I know that it is kind of pushing the envelop for a Clean and Simple card, but it still does work.  

How would you see this sketch in a Clean and Simple form?  Show us your work and don't forget to post it to our site this week.  The other Great Designers have other options for you to get even more inspired.

Thanks for dropping by.

Nancy

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

HOC C&S Photo Inspiration

House of Cards has a great photo inspiration for you this week, and this week we are showcasing the Clean and Simple style.

 

I had a lot of hit and misses with this one.  I think I was just trying to think too much while trying to come up with an idea.  Making it too complicated for myself, which is not what Clean and Simple is all about.  Then it hit me.....

Voila!  Just use the colours given and pick what you see that inspires you.  I see the table as clutter, although it is a nice place setting.  The simple aspect is the branch of leaves.  

I started by using the Daffodil Delight and then adding the Real Red to the stamp.  Misted the stamp and then stamped it onto my cardstock.  Simple!  By misting the stamp you remove the hard lines that the red leaves and the two colours blend together.  Then taking my Old Olive I stamped the second of this two part stamp set and stamped the veins.  I wanted to focus on the leaf itself so using a Post-it I cut out a mask and placed it over the leaf.  Again using Old Olive I freehanded the border.  The sentiment was stamped in two sections using the So Happy for You set.  Finished it off with a twine bow and there you have it......

 

A Clean and Simple card.  The finished product took less than 5 minutes to make.  The thinking too much part took much, much longer.

Need more Clean and Simple inspiration then hop on over to House of Cards and see what the rest of the Clean and Simple Team have in store for you.  

The moral of this card is DO NOT OVER THINK!

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

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

HOC Clean & Simple Colour Challenge

This month at House of Cards, we have a colour challenge for you.  Pick any three colours from the colours given to create your project or card.

I decided to go with Rich Razzleberry, a light purple from Martha Stewart and Marina Mist, although the colour once I looked at it again was more on the blue purple side but the Marina Mist worked just as well.

I started with the Rich Razzleberry and a bit of an experiment.  I used drywall tape and inked it up then using a brayer I stamped it onto the CS.  This gave the grid appearance from the one saucer.  Then using the light purple I took a piece of masking tape and inked it up and stamped it to again accent the grid from the saucer.  My final stamp was to incorporate the flowers.  I decided to go with Fabulous Florets and stamped the middle flower first then masking it off I stamped the other two flowers using Marina Mist.  My final stamp was the "birthday wishes" from So Happy For You.  Now this card could be used in either the portrait or landscape style, but I chose to use the portrait.

I hope you like what I have come up with and I have had a sneak peek at the other great Designers and they have some fabulous ideas for you as well.  Make sure that you check out their take on the colour challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

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

TST #124 Seawall Inspiration

Life has been so busy this past week I just can't seem to find time for myself.  That dreaded four letter word "WORK" keeps getting in the way, but I have to support my addiction to card making!

This week at Try Stampin on Tuesday, our sketch lends itself to so many ideas.

I decided to turn the sketch and make a landscape card in a Clean and Simple form.

While we were in Florida we had the opportunity to collect these seashells just off the seawall from my Brother's place.  Each morning there were several that had washed up and were empty. The one in the picture was one of the smaller ones.  A little bit of scrubbing and they cleaned up well.

 

These days I find the hardest thing is picking my colour combinations.  Here I have used Pacific Point and Old Olive along with Soft Suede. 

I started by creating a mask using Post-its to make my centre piece.  I then sponged in my green and blue.  Once again using the Post-its I masked for my lines.  Opps, forgot to block off my centre masked area so I accidentally spritzed over the area.  Hopefully this will give the illusion of sand.  Works for me anyway!  Then I stamped my shell and freehand I used my marker to finish off the border.  

I know in the sketch there is further embellishment in the corners, but when I tried to place something there it just became too cluttered looking so decided to go without.

Hope you like what I have come up with.  Now it's your turn.  Need more inspiration, then hop on over to the Try Stampin on Tuesday site to see what the other Great Designers have in store for you.  Don't forget to post your creations so that we can all see what you have come up with.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

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