More Mandala Cards

Kim and I got together so she could finally break in her Gina K Wreath Builder templates.  She did great!  Here's my slightly remixed version of a Pinterest-inspired card.

Truth be told, I took it one stamp too far and the center was wonky, so I ended up cutting it out and putting a heat-embossed sentiment beneath it.  The inspiration card used a dark pink, which I neither had nor wanted to use, so Kim chose SU! Wisteria Wonder, which was delightful.  I started with a little Lawn Fawn Hippo ink, but moved to Wisteria Wonder as well.  We also used Gina K's Amalgam Black.  The sentiment it by the talented Dawn McVey for Papertrey Ink.  The mandala was made with Mandala Maker stamps from Gina K.  I believe the base is Wisteria Wonder...or it's close enough that it looks good.

The inside sentiment uses Lawn Fawn Hippo ink and a Papertrey sentiment.  Kim and I both decided that sympathy cards are some that are always low in our stash, so that is what we decided upon.

Not a huge fan of this card, but I'll show it anyway.  I was going for this color combo.  I feel like it was a near miss. I am not sure I am loving Gina K's black embossing powder, but it could have been user-end error.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

My MISTI and my SU! inks and my wreath builder were not getting along, so this card took forever.  I needed to start the images a little closer to the center, which you live and learn with the wreath builder.  I used SU! Pear Pizzaz at first, then changed to an Ali Edwards ink because I think my ink pad needed a refresher.  I just could not get a solid image, and with the repetition required, that adds a lot more time to the project, not to mention that if your paper moves in the slightest and you have to reink, you're done.  

Hard Things

A card for a friend who is gone too soon. Used: Ali Edwards' Tough stamp set, SEI velvet paper, and SU! stamp inside. Base: Bazzill orange peel.  Stitched rectangle die.

Card Making As Well!

My church's Youth Ministry sponsors a "reverse collection" each Advent.  We take slips from a collection basket and bring in what is needed for the charity on the slip.  One of the charities we picked asked for cards.  I began making some, got to about 4 cards, and realized I had a stash that could also be used.  I really like the four I made.

This pin was an inspiration for this cute and simple card.

This pin inspired this get well card.

 Inside the card.

Got a new stamp set from SSS (Hand Lettered Encouragement) that I wanted to get inked.  I used the same basic design for this and the next card, just used different sentiments.

An older Stampin' Up! sympathy stamp was the perfect sentiment inside this card.

Used Simon Says Stamp Handwritten Greetings set for this card.

The remainder of what they needed was birthday cards.  I had an abundance in my stash, so I added them to my donation.

Mighty Oak Sympathy

I have been eyeing some cards on Pinterest that use this stamp and die cut.  I decided to break it in for a sympathy card for a friend.

Paper: Neenah Solar White and Studio Calico Dot One
Stamps: SU! Close as a Memory and Hope for Comfort; PTI Mighty Oak
Die: PTI Mighty Oak
Embossing folder: SU! Woodgrain
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip
Adhesive: SU! Dimensionals; Tombo Monoadhesive

FS118: For Healing

Necessity brought my cardmaking back to me this evening. This card is for my sister-in-law, whose mother passed away this week. I decided to look in to the Featured Stamper's gallery this week for some sketch/color inspiration.

I decided to CASE this card of hers. I liked the colors and the basic design.

Size: 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches

Cardstock: SU! Eggplant Envy and Old Olive; white

Ink: SU! Eggplant Envy and Old Olive

Paper: SU! Le Jardin (I think)

Stamps: SU! Close as a Memory

Circles: Coluzzle

Accessories: Ribbon (Offray); brad

Butterfly Dress

The dress to the left was my inspiration for my card for today's challenge. It is from the Spunky Sprout site, and its colors caught my eye. I tried to use butterflies, but it just wouldn't work. This was a sympathy card, and the butterflies I was using seemed a bit too perky.

So, instead, I used the Top Nitch Sizzix die from SU! I have to ask... what is up with the perforated frame for this die? There must be something I am missing. When used alone, it looks like a piece is missing from the cutout. When you try to cut around it, it is a difficult task. Perhaps there's something REALLY easy that I am missing with this. Otherwise, it seems to defeat the purpose of die cutting if my lame freehand cutting has to match up with it. So, I cut and I sanded the yellow layer onto the gray. It doesn't look too bad, but the perfectionist in my gets a bit uncomfortable when I look close. :)

I have to say that the Hope for Comfort SU! set has gotten a lot of use from me. Alas, that means I have made a lot of cards for grieving friends and family. However, I like how smoothly it stamps and the phrases are just right.

Card size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches

Cardstock: white, black, SU! Yo-Yo Yellow and Basic Gray

Stamp: SU! Hope for Comfort

Ribbon: Oriental Trading velvet yellow and SU! Basic Gray taffeta

Die: Sizzix Top Notch die for SU!

Ink: SU! Basic Gray

{Gasp!} A Card?

For a while there, I was just a card gal, with very little getting done in the area of scrapbooking. Then, I went to CKC, took Cathy Zielske's Design Your Life class, and was transformed into a scrapbooker {again}. Today, necessity has me cardmaking. It's amazing how the principles are similar in both paper crafts.

While cardmaking and scrapbooking, I always find daily challenges and sketches to be helpful. Today is no exception. I used Laura's Sketch 17 (shown) from 2 Sketches 4 You. I decided on my colors using the Kuler site at Adobe. This combo is called omex by dh.

I needed the card for a friend who suddenly lost her brother to these freezing cold temperatures. It's really hard to find words when losses are sudden and young (at least 37 is young to me... and I am sure to his family).

I am trying not to cheat the insides of my cards, as I do sometimes when I am rushed, so I am also showing a photo of the unity (hello, Cathy!) between the inside and the outside of the card.

Size: Completed 5.5 x 4.5; card base without sentiment panel: 4.5 x 5

Stamps: Hero Arts Thoughts Today, SU! Hope for Comfort

Paper: Brown cardstock (Hobby Lobby), Basic Grey Periphery Vineyard; SU! Baja Breeze, SU! Very Vanilla, SU! Not Quite Navy

Ink: SU! Baja Breeze

Ribbon: Offray Mudpie

Nestabilities: Labels One

Sympathy Inspiration

I used today's Inspiration Challenge to create a sympathy card. We were using the works of Don Li-Leger as our inspiration (one of his works is shown). I was inspired by two things: the color palette is right up my alley on most of the works and I like the block style of many of the pieces. The combination of symmetry and asymmetry throughout the gallery makes it interesting.

I decided to stay simple, as I believe overdone sympathy cards stray from the purpose of sympathy cards. The purpose is to convey your sorrow, not to "wow" anyone with a card. It's not the time. So, I used a simple, asymmetrical block style with some patterned and some craft paper. I inked edges on the patterned paper and inked/distressed edges of the sentiment panel.

I used two products I just bought today at Hobby Lobby's 50% off sale. The paper is Traditions Floral Paisley from The Paper Studio. I LOVE it... and I have a feeling I should have bought more of it. The brads are antique brads from The Paper Studio. I have to say, I was impressed to see how The Paper Studio was really kicking in as a competitor as far as paper and cardstock is concerned. They have a wide variety of styles out, from single sheets to paper packs. The craft paper was leftover from my last scrapbooking adventure, and it was the perfect size, so I took that as a sign.

Size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches

Paper: The Paper Studio Craft and Traditions Floral Paisley

Ink: SU! Always Artichoke, Color Box Chestnut Roan

Brads: The Paper Studio

Idiots... and then there's me...

So, it's 1:17 a.m., and some dorks in the neighborhood ring the doorbell. This makes me scratch my head almost as much as cow-tipping. Everyone in my house is asleep, except me. Since I have some lights on, what else could be funnier, I suppose, than to ring our doorbell? I guess the question is, who is the bigger idiot, them or me (for being awake making cards)? Your choice. :) Ah, the midwest... excitement that can't be had anywhere else.

Anyway, I was making a card for a friend... I have been horribly remiss in sending her a card after her husband passed away at the end of August. It's almost embarrassing to send it now, but to not send it at all would be terrible.

So, I used another World Cardmaking Day challenge. This time, we were asked to use the Coldwater Creek catalog as inspiration. Many of the colors of the season were inspiring. So, I just decided to find a happy medium of patterns and colors that would fit. I found in my newer Club SEI mini-kit some papers that were just delicious. The papers are from SEI's Windsor collection. I paired them up with SU! Really Rust and Chocolate Chip, adding some Oriental Trading velvet ribbon and some gold brads I had hanging around. I used a stamp from my SU! Hope for Comfort set. I distressed the panels just a bit to take away some harsh contrast.

Now, off to bed before the din-dong ditchers strike again. :) Ah, to be young and stupid.

Inspired!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

I got to make a card tonight... and I will probably make another. Woo hoo! Might even do some scrapbooking. I grounded myself from going in to school (four solid weekends of straight working... it was getting crazy). So I shopped, I slept, and now, I crafted. Better than any meds!

This submission, though a sad one, is for SCS Inspiration Challenge 144. This is a sympathy card for a friend. She lost her mom to cancer recently. As of late, her sister died of cancer and her dad had a stroke. During what I code as my "meltdown phase" last winter, a good friend took me to lunch and said that I needed to stop thinking about the far future... that's what was making me panicky. She suggested that I look at just the end of the day. Or even the end of the week. But not any further.

It really worked. It reminded me that, in the Our Father, we ask, "give us THIS DAY our daily bread." We don't ask for tomorrow's bread, or bread five years from now. Just this day.

So, I thought maybe the sentiment would be soothing at some point to my friend. If not now, perhaps down the road a ways.

The challenge was to find inspiration at the Catherine's Animals sight. While a vulture is not necessarily "inspiring," I loved the palette of colors this photo displayed. I had no idea that a vulture, which has such a negative connotation, had such a spectrum on its coat.

Size: 4.25 x 5.2 inches

Paper: SU! Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou, Groovy Guava, Night of Navy, and SEI Olive Green velvet paper

Stamp: Verve Visual Here for You

Accessories: SU! Dimensionals, SU! Jumbo Brads; SU! Curly Label Punch; Cuttlebug Textile Texture background folder

Ink: SU! Blue Bayou