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.

TST #150 Happy Birthday Dear You...

Wow can you believe that we are at 150 great sketch challenges over at Try Stampin on Tuesday.  Seems like just yesterday that I joined this group first off participating in the challenges and then being asked to join such a great group of gals as a Designer.

Today we have a quick and easy sketch challenge for you, however we are asking that you incorporate "Polka Dots".

Please use Polka Dots

I kind of sneaked in my Polka Dots as a DSP in the background, but I still managed to get them in.

Usually I only show one view of my card but the polka dots were just peaking through on the first shot so I decided to show a second view which also gives a closer look at the bow.

My bow was made with the bowmaker my DH made for me even though I am still getting used to working with it it is great for getting just the right sized bow.  

This card is for a colleague that is a bit of a jewelry hound so that is why I chose to put the extra Bling on the card.

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 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 Challenge #1

This month over at House of Cards we have a sketch challenge for you.  The same sketch will be used for all four styles of cards.  Last week we had the Fun & Cute cards and this week we are on to the Clean & Simple cards.

As with any Clean & Simple card there should be very little on the card and they should have a lot of white space on the card.  It does not mean that you have to be a single layer and this week I have chosen to use a raised centre point on the card. 

Starting with my Music Notes wheel from Stampin Up I used Concord Crush to lay the notes across the card front.  Then with my Cuttlebug and the Spellbinders Labels Five dies I die cut a border, along with a single piece of white CS for the sentiment.  This section was raised up using dimensionals.

 

I ended up with a slight boo boo when I inked the sentiment and needed to hide it so instead of placing the accents at the side of the centre point I went with the diagonal corners.  Boo boo all gone!  The bling was actually tear drops and I just used two together to form a heart.  Then I finished off the card by rounding each of the corners.

This card could be used for a variety of occasions, wedding, anniversary or just for that special someone in your life.

Now it's your turn.  Show us your Clean & Simple style using the sketch.  Don't forget to post your card on the House of Cards sight for all of us to admire.  Need more inspiration?  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.

"LIFE...Live like you mean it"

Wow, I'm on a roll for this week.  Four posts in one week.  Does this mean that I am coming out of my slump?  I sure hope so.

Today I have a card that combines three different challenges.  Maybe it's the challenges that are inspiring me to create more this week. Don't know but I sure am glad to be back at it again.

First I started with the sketch.  I found this one at Cas(e) this Sketch.  I have never used any sketches from this site before so one again I hope I have done them proud.

Next I decided to take a look over at Dynamic Duos.  They always have such great inspiration for colour combinations.  This week the challenge was to use a colour combination from the past year.  I went with DD#41.

Lastly I went with a very clean and simple card once again and turned to Less is More for further inspiration.  This week they want a single layer card with a coloured card base, so I decided to go with Pool Party as my card base.

My plan is to use this card for a co-workers birthday.  The sentiment is truly his way of thinking about life.  So Happy Birthday Izzy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

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

Thank You, Thank You

This past year my Brother and I became Power of Attorney over my Father, which let me tell you is a very big undertaking.  If it was just my Father that we was dealing with it might not be so bad but we are dealing with his new wife and her family as well.

We have had to also take Dad's car away on him and this has therefore put us in the driver's seat so to speak to get him around.  There have been several people that have helped us out over the past few months out of the goodness of their hearts and have asked for nothing in return.  As a simple token of our appreciation I have made these Thank You cards for them.

The first one needed to hold four gift cards so I decided to make a wallet.

The next one only needed to hold 1 card so I decided to make one of the new gift cards that are all the rage on other sites.  I must admit though once it was made I really was not all that impressed with it but it works.

Thanks for stopping by.

Nancy

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

TST #63 Hootie the Owl

Where oh where does the time go.  Another week has gone and we are back into challenge #63 at Try Stampin on Tuesday.

I thought this week I would try something a little different. This could be more of a children's card or a masculine card.




I know my interpretation of the card is stretching the sketch a little but that is what these challenges are for.  Get you imagination thinking outside the box, or in this case outside the tree trunk!

I knew I wanted to use my Owl Punch from SU and thought the best way to show it off would be to build a tree.

I started by cutting my base using craft cardstock to form a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" card. Using my woodgrain embossing folder I inked up the inside of the folder. I tore a strip of the darker brown CS which gave the illusion of the outside of the tree trunk. Ran it through the Cuttlebug and the ink transferred to the CS.  I then "lightly" ran the Chocolate Chip ink pad over the raised portion of the embossed image  This gave it a more mottled look.  My second piece of torn CS formed the branch and I repeated the same process.

After the branches were adhered to the card base I punched a hold using the 2" scallop circle punch. Then the Two Step Bird Punch was used to punch out several of the leaves to be placed both on the outside and the inside of the card. My owl was punched and assembled and adhered to the inside of the card using dimensionals. A simple greeting was stamped on the inside and the top corner was rounded.

I hope you like my interpretation of the sketch this week.

Nancy

I like to hear what you think so please leave me a comment.

Masculine Monday 19/3/2012

 This card was actually inspired by one that I had seen on line by Mary Brown.  I decided to take it and make a masculine twist to it.

The colours are grey with white and the cogs and gears have been punched from the grey and brushed with black.  So Please Do Not adjust the colour settings on your computer.

Once I got it finished I think it would have looked better without the four squares, but I had already glued them on so no going back.



The cogs and gears were built up using dimensionals, then the sentiment on the inside was framed with the largest of the gears from the Tim Holtz die.

Hope you enjoy!

Nancy

Mojo Monday Challenge 231- Butterfly Wishes

I often see great sketches over at Mojo Monday  Sketch Challenge and this week I thought I would give it a try.

I recently picked up some great patterned paper while on vacation and wanted to use some of it for this challenge.

My half circle was first punched from the Petal Cone die.  This gave the scalloped edge.  Then I used the MS Circle Cutter to cut out two half circles and layered them on the Cone Petal cut out.  The rest of the card was straight forward.  Cutting a rectangle for the greeting and rounding the corners.  Then adding the embellishments.

I was very pleased with the colours once everything was put together.  They were very soft in appearance.

Hope you enjoy!

Nancy