Where Do You Find Inspiration?

A couple of weeks ago, as Judie and I were looking around Cracker Barrel's store after breakfast, I came across this wooden plaque. It caught my attention instantly. It looked like it was made from barn wood with white flowers in the shape of a heart. In the lower right corner was one word -- Love. I knew that I had to try making a card using that plaque as my inspiration.

When I started to make my card, I didn't have the picture. So I was doing it from memory. I chose Smoky Slate card stock for my card base. The front panel is also Smoky Slate card stock stamped with Smoky Slate ink. I drew a circle and placed the flowers on my card. It looked like it needed something, so I started adding sprigs of green. When it was all together, I felt that the circle was too big so I started over.

This time I made my circle smaller. I glued the sprigs of green down and then added flowers that had been sponged around the edges with pink ink. I punched a small circle out of pink card stock, shaped it by pushing a stylus down into the center, and glued it in the center of the flower. After all the glue was dry, I went back and added a dot of pink Stickles into the very center of each flower. Finally, I added the word "Love" to the lower right corner. I loved the end result. Just wanted to share it with my friends.

CAS374

For today's CAS challenge we were to create a background. For my card, I made a mask using one of my oval dies. I sponged on some Memento sky blue and dandelion yellow ink to make my background. The birds are from the Stampin' Up set called "World of Dreams". I had wanted this stamp set for a long time. I finally got it a few months ago. Now it is on this years retiring list.

No sentiment. I could not decide what to use so I added nothing. I like it plain.

May 1, 2016
Selected as a "FAVORITE for the week ending May 1" in the General Stamping forum at Splitcoast Stampers.

Flying By

This is the birthday card for our son who loves "airplanes". I did a class at Altered Art Addicts last Saturday and one of the cards we did was a Z-fold. I had to try it. It is simple and creates a great card.

The Challenge Is Butterflies

The challenge at The Paper Players for this week is "Butterflies". I knew that I wanted to make and post a card because I love making cards with butterflies.  As I was sitting at my desk yesterday, working on another project, I saw the card that I was going to finish and enter into the challenge. I needed a card some days ago. I found the card that I wanted to use. I didn't want to forget how I had made the card, so I set about making another one. I found the card stock for the base, designer paper for the panel and a coordinating butterfly. I never got the pieces put together; they have laid there, on my desk, for at least two weeks. Now I was being encouraged to get the card finished so that I could post it to this week's challenge.

This card uses a lot of different items. The card base is Stampin' Up's Rich Razzleberry card stock. The decorative paper is also by Stampin' Up. The center frame is a stamp from JustRite Stamps that coordinates with Spellbinders Labels 18 set and is stamped using SU Rich Razzleberry ink. The butterfly was cut and embossed on SU So Saffron card stock. The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up retired set "A Greeting For All Reasons". I am always amazed at how classic some of the old retired sets are.

I hope this still counts as a new project. I finished it just before lunch today.

Have a wonderful day.

Another Pop Out Swing Card

This is the type of card that we will be making at Altered Art Addicts on Saturday, April 16. This is such a fun technique. It creates a really stunning card.

For this card I used Stampin' Up's Lost Lagoon card stock, a little black for an accent and white. The stamp is from the Unity set "Butterfly Endearment". Because I cut part of the butterfly off when I trimmed my piece of white card stock, I stamped the image again, cut out the butterfly and glued it over the original image. This is a cool technique which adds dimension to your focal image. The sentiment is from the Unity set called "Lilacs and Birthdays".

Looking at the open card--

Looking from above--

Spring Time Challenge

This month's Altered Art Addicts challenge is "Spring Time". When I think of spring, my thoughts turn to the beautiful dogwood trees. I grew up in middle Tennessee where the trees grow wild in the woods.Years ago my mom planted three dogwood trees in our front yard. This is a picture of the white blossoms taken about six years ago before my dad passed away.

At least one of the trees had pink blossoms -- my favorite.

For my card I pulled out a retired Stampin' Up set called "Soft Summer" from the 2009 Occasions Mini Catalog. I have always loved this set; I should use it more often. I used Stampin' Up's Sky Blue card stock. The blossoms were stamped on 140# watercolor paper, embossed and colored with markers.

A New Favorite

Last week I set out to find out how to make the drapery fold cards that I was seeing all over Pinterest. I finally found some instructions, measurements and away I went. I fell in love with these cards. It is a wonderful way to show off those gorgeous Designer Series Papers that are in your collection.

 This is the inside of the above card.

Finally, it can also be made in a vertical format.

The Paper Players Sketch Challenge

Using this week's sketch challenge from The Paper Players blog, I made a "thank you" card. It took me most of the afternoon to decide what papers to use. I found these three Designer Series Papers in the box of scraps. They coordinated with SU's Rich Rassleberry card stock. I always love using this color. The flower was stamped using a flower from the SU "Mixed Bunch" set. The sentiment is from the Unity set called "Butterflies and Sunbeams".

Thank you for stopping by to visit my blog.

A Flower For A Friend

Made this card this morning for a friend who has not been feeling well. It is a mixture of several new items and some older tools. The leaves are from a SU set that I just got -- "World of Dreams". I have wanted this set for a long time. The embossing folder is also new called Softly Falling Textured Embossing Folder. The sentiment is from a Unity set punched out with SU's word window and layered with the coordinating punch which has been retired. The flower was made using a punch, sponging the edges and running it through an embossing folder. Lastly, I added an organdy bow made with a fork.

Praying that your day will be beautiful.

Summer Flowers

I have continued to practice my  watercoloring with markers. For this card I used a stamp from Heartfelt Creations. This is probably the very first stamp I ever purchased from them many years ago at the very first stamp show I went to. I love the image but have always felt threatened by the coloring that it needed. I stamped the image on watercolor paper and heat embossed it. I used Tombow and distress markers to do the coloring.

The inside--

I made the card for our first sketch challenge at Altered Art Addicts. I love using a sketch for making a card. Here is the sketch--