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.

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.

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.

HOC C&S Add a Button!

No sketch, no colour, just "add a button".  That is all we are asking for our challenge this week at House of Cards.

I decided to dust off an old die that I had from Stampin Up, "Button #5" and use it.

Add a Button

Starting off with a coloured card base I stamped out the flourish from Everything Eleanor and then with a white gel pen I accented the design to make it pop a little more.  Then remember all those paint chips. Well I had one that had a design on the backside so I used that for my buttons, cutting them from the die.

A little bit of twine to tie the buttons and done!

So what can you do with buttons.  Show us your stuff.  Don't forget to link it to our challenge site.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

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

HOC Clean & Simple or Classic & Elegant?

I have already posted my card for the House of Cards Clean & Simple, but I have one more card to show you.  This one I made for my husband for our 37th Anniversary this year. 

When I started the card I thought it would be okay for my Clean & Simple card, but once I was finished I thought it was a little too detailed for that entry so I decided to show it as a Classic & Elegant style.  What are your thoughts?

 

Once again this was the inspiration for the challenge.  Use the colours or the picture for your inspiration.  I decide to use a little of both.  I remember back in our courting days, as short as they were since we only new each other for 3 days before he asked me to marry him, he would bring me home flowers for no reason and just say "I Love You". 

Here is a closer look at the flowers and the hearts.  The flowers were made using the smallest of the Heart to Heart punch.  I punched out 3 hearts, sponged them and then folded them in half and glued 3 hearts together to form the flower.

 

  

The sentiment inside was inspired by our somewhat first date, a simple cup of coffee!  And yes the sentiment holds very true, I do love him more than our first cup of coffee!

So now you can decide.  Is this what you would call Clean & Simple or Classic & Elegant?

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

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

 

 

HOC C&S - Life is not Boring!

This month of course has Valentine's Day, and I know this is a little late, but I have decided to post a card for you today for House of Cards that I will be using it for Valentine's Day myself.  With all that has been going on lately my Dear Husband will totally get this card.

This fortnight, we're asking for 

CLEAN & SIMPLE OR CLASSIC/ELEGANT CARDS

PLUS WE'D LIKE YOU TO BE INSPIRED

BY EITHER THE COLORS OR THE PHOTO

OR BOTH~

 

Now there is two challenges for me doing this card.  One as mentioned in an earlier post I didn't bring a lot of my stamping supplies with me and two I don't have any of these colours so I had to improvise, so off to the hardware store.

 

I visited the local Lowes and picked up some paint chips in each of the different colours.  I didn't know what I would do with them but at least I had the colours I needed.  

First I thought hearts, lots of hearts, but it didn't look right and there wasn't enough punch for the background so I went to the kitchen and emptied the limes we had bought and used the netting from the bag to stamp over the flourish.

Then when I was just about to give up and wait till later I started to clean up my supplies and noticed my new stamp from Heidi Swapp and Bingo - everything came together.

Our lives have been extremely hectic lately and even with a much needed vacation I still don't feel like I have had a chance to relax, since I have been in daily contact with back home.  Since we have been away the Retirement home my Dad is in has called my Daughter several times for things and she has been looking after him for me, as well as my Daughter wrote her board exams for Dental Hygiene - AND PASSED! - thank you! and then her boyfriends 18-year-old neices Dad (got all that) passed away suddenly without cause.  So never a dull moment.

I found wording on Pinterest that is very appropriate for the inside of the card "admit it LIFE would be BORING without me!"  So true these days.  But we take each day as it comes and make the best of what we have and at least we have each other.

Now it's your turn.  Need some more inspiration..then pop on over to the HOC site and see what the other great designers have in store for you.  Remember this two weeks is about Clean and Simple and Classic and Elegant cards.

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.