A Note of Thanks

Just a pretty card today using Carta Bella's Hello Again collection.  The little notebook piece is one of the cards from the sheet of journaling tags in the collection.  I cut it out and used my Crop-o-dile to cut the holes and then scissors to create the perforations.

The stamps are all WPlus9.  I actually die cut the banner directly from the journaling card and then stamped onto the die cut.  You can see I didn't get it quite centered the first time I stamped the outline, so I stamped it again and used a water brush to blend it a little and add some dimension/shading before I stamped the sentiment.

Th flowers/leaves are from Fresh Cut Florals, I die cut a bunch of pieces, stamped them, and then arranged them around/beneath the banner before adhering them all in place.

Just a hint for using Fresh Cut Florals.  The flowers/leaves you see are never the first ones I stamp.  I always pull more colors than I will use on the finished card, and use a scratch piece of paper to sort out the color combinations/generations of stamping, etc. before I start stamping on my die cuts.  Then I use the scratch sheet as a guide when when I am stamping....helps me keep everything straight in my head.

Hope that you are having a great day!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Carta Bella - Hello Again Collection Pack; Avery Elle - White Cardstock
Stamps:  WPlus9 - Fresh Cut Florals; Basic Banners
Ink: CTMH - Cocoa, Topiary, Ruby, Gypsy
Other:  WPlus9 - Fresh Cut Florals and Basic Banner Die; WRMK - Cropodile; Ranger - Waterbrush; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape

On the Corner Blog Hop Winners!

Hey everyone!

Thanks to everyone who hopped with us last week, your comments were so appreciated!

I've got two winners to announce with the help of Random.org:

First commenter #30 from the Neat & Tangled blog:

Jeanne J

Second, commenter #47 from Wida Miller's blog:

ValByDesign, Valerie

Congratulations ladies!  Jeanne J, please contact Danielle at Neat & Tangled with your address and she'll get your set to you.  Val, please shoot me an email with your address and I'll send your set.

And I just realized that On the Corner is out of stock again!  Thank you guys so much for your support!  We'll have new sets in stock very soon.....and some coordinating sets too.....;)

A few more SC CHA Challenge Cards

I was planning to try a few different challenges, but I got sucked into Challenge #4 - to use a kit 2+ months old to create a project.  I went and looked and my old Studio Calico kits and realized that I had never ever used a single bit of my Sock Hop card kit.  Oops.

So, I buckled down and decided to just spend a couple hours with the kit/challenge and see what I could make.  I ended up with three cards, and I still have enough kit to make many more.  I also challenged myself to use only the kit, with the exception of ink/adhesive, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Of course I had to make sure to get a birthday card in.

This one is a little more modern for me.  I thought about trimming down the green panel so that it's flush with the card, but I like the angles you see, so I kept it as is.

And this was just a little fun with piecing.

Thanks for coming by, have a great Friday and long weekend!

Supplies Used:  Studio Calico Sock Hop Card Kit; Memento - Tuxedo Black Ink; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Xyron - 1 1/2" Sticker Macker; EKSuccess - Foam Squares; Tim Holtz - Tiny Attacher

SC CHA Challenges

There are some CHA challenges going on over at Studio Calico, although they close today, so you need to hurry if you want to play along.

My first project is for the card sketch.


I used the BG Clippings 6x6 pad.  The main panel is a piece of very thin striped paper that I laid a Dreamweavers stencil over and lightly sponged.  Since I really love that stencil image, I wanted the panels in the card to be very subtle.  I cut three pieces of vellum, ran them through my Xyron and adhere them over top of the stenciled paper.



I used a bold color for the pennant pice in the back and kept it square because I think that fits this CAS card a bit better.  Another sheet of patterned paper as a mat and some sequins/patterned and vellum circles finished this off.  Sitting those pearl sequins inside the larger ones adds a bit of interest and adds just a touch of color as opposed to if the entire larger colored sequin was showing.

I'm going to link this card up over at Dreamweaver's also, they have a CAS challenge this month.

Next a layout.  This challenge was more for Project Lifer's, to use a photo taken with their phone, but since I don't do PL, I just went with a traditional layout, hopefully that counts.  



These photos were taken with my iPhone back in March when we were visiting Andrew's family.  Andrew ran track in college, so we stopped by to check out the new facility.  The girls of course had a great time trying it out and Ellie had to lay down in Lane 5 (as she was five at the time for a photo op).  Ellie says she wants to run when she gets to high school (Andrew is a coach), she also says she wants him to be her Social Studies teacher and that they will ride to school together everyday.  I need to record these things....

Anyway, this is a mishmash of BG papers (there's some Carte Postale, RSVP, and Persimmon), a little vellum, and some Elle's Studio.  For the tabbed paper I just traced an Elle's tab tag and cut it out.  really easy.  I kept this one really CAS.  I thought about stitching, but my bobbin is almost out of thread, and for some reason I hate to be bothered winding bobbins, so when that happens I tend to avoid my sewing machine.

OK, that's all for today.  Have a wonderful day!

Supplies Used

Card
Paper/Cardstock:  BG - Clippings 6x6 Pad; Avery Elle - Silver Fox Cardstock; Recollections - Vellum
Stamps:  Mama Elephant - Filigree
Ink:  Versafine - Smokey Gray; CTMH - Juniper
Other:  Dreamweaver's - Tree Line Stencil; Lawn Fawn - Into the Woods Sequins; CTMH - Liquid Glass; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; EKSuccess - Dimensional Adhesive

Paper/Cardstock:  BG - Persimmon, Carte Postale, and RSVP collections; Recollections - Vellum
Other:  Elle's Studio - Penelope Frames; BC - Carte Postale 12x12 Collection Pack Alpha sheet; AC - Amy Tangerine Hello Thickers, 08 Black Journaling Pen

Guest Designing for Top Dog Dies, and a Giveaway

***Scroll down for the On the Corner Blog Hop

I'm excited today to be guest designing for Top Dog Dies.  

Top Dog Dies is a new online store that offers their own brand of wafer-thin and steel-rule dies, along with dies from brands you already know and trust, including My Favorite Things, Sizzix, Savvy Stamps and Cheery Lynn Designs. Top Dog Dies is also the leading U.S. retailer for Tattered Lace, a new line of intricate dies designed by U.K. designer Stephanie Weightman.

I have a couple cards to share with you here on my blog and another project over at Top Dog's blog.  

My projects here feature the Madison Doily die, it's a beautiful, detailed die.  I wanted to use the same card design/layout and create two cards that show it with two very different looks.

The first card is a little bit more complex and detailed.  I used patterned papers from Lily Bee Design's Destination collection.  I love that you can see the pattern peeking through the die, just adds another layer of detail and complexity.  

The embellishments are from Dear Lizzy's 5th & Frolic collection which my very sweet blog friend Sandy sent to me.  I added a bit of Lawn Trimmings twine around the tree trunk.

Lots of dimension on this one.

Here's a very CAS scaled back version of the same card design.  I love how striking the die is against the plain cardstock.  I added some thickers for the sentiment and a bit of seam binding.  This one sits very flat and would be great for mailing.

Be sure to head over to the Top Dog Dies blog to see my other project.  Here's a little sneak:

Oh, and about that giveaway.  Top Dog Dies is generously sponsoring a $50 giveaway.  

For additional entries:

Leave a comment on this blog post.
Follow Top Dog Dies on any of the following:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/topdogdies
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/topdogdies/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/topdogdies
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TopDogDies

Giveaway will close Sunday 19 January 2014.

RCC89 - Happy Birthday

****For the On the Corner Blog Hop scroll down

Hey everyone!  Here to share my card for this month's Ribbon Carousel challenge.  There's a little bit of everything here.  Make a love card, a birthday card or a get well card.  I chose birthday and inked up a new set I recently got from My Favorite Things.  Isn't she cute?



A very simple card.  I really wanted to work on my coloring.  I was a little bit nervous about the hair when I bought this set, but she is just so sweet, I persuaded myself to go for it.  She is colored with a combination of Spectrum Noir markers and Copics (the reds are Copics and the rest were Spectrum Noir).

The sentiment is actually a single line, but I did a little masking to to make it a two liner.  I added some fun pom pom trim to the bottom as well as some sequins to break up the white space on the card.

So make sure to play along, you have plenty of time, and a random participant will win a set of spools with the winner's choice of seam binding, baker's twine or May Arts ribbon.  

Thanks for coming by, hope you are having a great day!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Crafter's Companion - White Cardstock; Avery Elle - Aquamarine Cardstock
Stamps:  My Favorite Things - Wendy Burn's Designs Best Friends, Celebrate Big
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Copics; Spectrum Noir Markers; May Arts - Black Mini Pom Pom Trim; Neat & Tangled - Red Sequins; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; CTMH - Liquid Glass

On The Corner Blog Hop

Hey everyone!  I'm so excited because today Danielle at Neat & Tangled and a bunch of my crafty friends and I are holding a blog hop featuring my On the Corner stamp set.

On the Corner has been out of stock for several weeks, but expect to see it back on the shelf at Neat & Tangled very soon, like by the end of the week soon.

The hop starts at Neat & Tangled, so if you are just starting here you'll want to make sure to swing back to N&T to see what Danielle created.

Of course there are prizes.  Danielle and I are both offering up an On the Corner set, so that's two chances to win.  Winners will be randomly chosen from comments left on each of the hop stops.  Comments close on Saturday, and winners will be posted Monday.

There were no rules for the hop, just make something amazing, and I just know that these ladies are going to knock it out of the park!

For my card I wanted something very bold and graphic with an almost comic book type styling.  I used one of my Crafter's Workshop stencils to create that bold print piece.  First I blended ink onto some white cardstock and then I placed the stencil over top and used a sponge dauber to add the black.

The sentiment makes me giggle a little.  I kind of love this sentiment pairing and I'm pretty sure we all know someone this card would be perfect for.

I decided to make a second card with one of the journaling cards I created during release week.

Just a very CAS design.  The image was stamped in Versamark and colored with distress inks and a water brush, and I used Lawn Fawn alpha dies, but Thickers would be another great way to go on something like this.

Thanks so much for coming by!  Your next stop is Elena, and here's the hop order in case you get turned around.

Danielle/N&T (http://www.neatandtangled.blogspot.com/)
Me (http://mprantner.blogspot.com)

Elena (http://justmeprints.blogspot.com/)

Jingle (http://justjingle.blogspot.com/)
JJ (http://www.jjbolton.org/)

Jocelyn (http://www.redballooncards.blogspot.com/)
Joscie (http://www.cutchens.com/)
Nina (http://waffleflower.com/tag/neat-and-tangled/)
Wida (http://beachorado.blogspot.com/)