The Great Cover-Up

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink's The Great Cover-Up Challenge where they are looking for PATRIOTIC cards.  Very fitting on this day that we honor those who have passed on before us, and especially those who have sacrificed their lives for our freedoms.  

I think we all turn to RED, WHITE & BLUE when we hear the word patriotic, so I pulled out some Pure Poppy and Dark Indigo Pattern Pack DSP, and then started going through my PTI stash to see what I had that would work.  I sure have an awful lot of florals, but not much that would work for a patriotic card (probably because I don't tend to send out Memorial Day or 4th of July cards!).  After a deep search I ran across the QUILTED series and started thinking what's more American than a good old-fashioned quilt?!!  And that's how my quick and easy 4 x 4 card came together.  Take a look...

I used the QUILTED: SUMMER die to cut out all the pieces from the polka dotted, striped, & plaid papers, and then inlaid them back into the white frame that was mounted to a piece of Pure Poppy cardstock.  

Because this pattern looks like a pinwheel to me, I cut a 1" square from the polka dotted dsp, and cut from each corner to the center of the square and then folded over to create a mini pinwheel to adhere to the center of the card...a red enamel dot glued to the center finished off this simple little card!

I do have a TWOFER for you today, because when looking through my stash, I found another set I hadn't used in a loooooooong time, and it fit the RED, WHITE, & BLUE theme.  Not necessarily PATRIOTIC though, unless maybe you're thinking the boat could be part of the US Navy!  Probably not!!  But it still turned out cute and will work great for a masculine birthday card which I never seem to have enough of!!  Take a look...

 Pretty simple, but kinda cute, right?!  I used PTI's What The Doodle: Waves stamp set, along with the largest of the Pierced Feature Frame Dies.  I did die cut 3 boats and 3 waves to stack for dimension, and they pop quite nicely on the card.  The background is a NBUS Pinpoint Burst Plate die from Memory Box, that I've had for ages and ages, and finally remembered to use!!  (Aren't you proud of me for finally remembering to use it Darnell??!!)  I'll be sending this card over to the NBUS Challenge #38.

There is still a couple days to play along with The Great Cover Up Challenge, so check it out and play along for a chance at a $25 gift certificate.  

 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

The Great Cover Up Challenge

Hello friends.  I'm playing along with Papertrey Ink and The Great Cover Up Challenge today.

Kelly's card was absolutely FABULOUS for this challenge, and I pretty much CASE'd  it with a few small exceptions!  Take a look at what I came up with:

I started by switching up my background with a dotted dsp in Soft Stone as opposed to Kelly's gingham in light gray, and then added the Cover Plate: Decorative Circles die cut in white over the top of the dsp.  For all the little diamond shaped die cut pieces, I colored them with a Copic (Y13) before inserting them back into their openings.  Since the challenge calls for YELLOW flowers, I thought coloring in the little diamond shapes was a good way to coordinate with my Tulips.  I love, LOVE the die cut Tulips Kelly used on her card, but since I don't have those and didn't want to completely copy Kelly's card, I pulled out an oldie but a goody with the Tulip Time stamp and die set.  I'd forgotten how much I love this stamp set and it looks wonderful against the die cut cover plate background!  (IMHO)

I finished this cheerful Springtime card with a sentiment from Just Sentiments: Spring Blessings (LOVE this set!!) and a few clear sequins.

You can check out Kelly's AWESOME card and play along right HERE...this challenge is open till the 20th at 7:00AM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

The Great Cover - Up March 28

Hello friends.  I'm playing along with The Great Cover - Up Challenge where they would like us to use a Cover Plate Die on our card.

I just so happened to receive PTI's newest Cover Plate in the mail this week and couldn't wait to try it out!  Here's what I came up with...

I started with a Spring Rain card base, and then added the new Cover Plate: Decorative Circles die cut in white over the top of the card base.  I then cut the cover plate out again in kraft cardstock and added just the small diamond shapes to the white cover plate die cut.  I thought it might be a lot of fussy work, but it really went quite quickly and gave me a beautiful background to work with.  Next I stamped a sentiment from the Just Sentiments: Spring Blessings stamp set onto a crimped circle die cut and add to my card base.  The little birdie is also new this month from PTI (Feathered Friends Mini #21), and I stamped and die cut him to match along with my background.

And of course I had to use a little bit of floral on my card, so I went to my go to favorite lately...Into The Blooms: Dahlia.  For the flower, I die cut from white the 3 layers, and then lightly blended on some Spring Rain ink and some glitter of course!!  The leaf was die cut from the same kraft I used for the diamond shapes in the background.  I also added just a touch of glitter to the bird for a bit more sparkle and shine, along with a few clear sequins.

Check out what Dana and Amy did for inspiration for this challenge right HERE, and then play along...this challenge is open till April 4th at 7:00AM.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

The Great Cover-Up March 9

Hello friends.  I'm still having fun pulling out some older PTI sets and playing along with their The Great Cover-Up Challenge.  This week Kelly made a couple of ADORABLE baby cards using different DSP's, so the challenge is to use MULTIPLE PRINTS on your card.

I'm still pretty hooked on these new Spring Carrots dies, so that was my starting point for my card...

I pulled out the Garden Variety stamp and die set to make a seed packet for my carrots...had forgotten how much I love this set and it worked perfectly to showcase the medium and smallest Spring Carrots dies.  I used PTI's Rustic Cream cardstock for both the seed packet and the carrots and then added color with my inks.

My background was done with different prints from the Kraft and Simply Chartreuse Pattern Packs DSP.  The Simply Chartreuse DSP was die cut with the two leaf dies from the Into The Blooms: Dahlia die set.  I used a piece of seam binding ribbon to cover where the two Kraft DSP's meet, and then stamped my sentiment (from Just Sentiments: Spring Blessings) below the ribbon.  The seed packet was added with foam tape for dimension, and I added a few sequins and some WOS to the top carrot for a little bit of shimmer and shine.  

This challenge is open till Wednesday the 16th, and you can check it all out right HERE...it's a great way to use of some of that DSP that we all hoard!!  :0)

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

The Great Cover-Up (March 2)

Hello friends.  I'm playing along with Papertrey Ink's The Great Cover-Up where they are looking for birthday cards that use lots of layers!

I used a combination of NEW and OLD to create my card and came up with this:

Can you spot the OLD and NEW??  The NEW is the large Picket Fence Die and the OLD is all the rest of my card elements.  I started with a piece of Aqua Mist Bitty Big DSP for my background, and then used foam tape on the back of my kraft die cut Picket Fence piece for added dimension. (I also added a bit of Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink on the edges of the fence)

Next I worked on my flowers (Prominent Petals) and the sweet little birdies from Joyous Holiday.  I used Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist, & Kraft Bitty Big DSP for both the flowers and the birds, and even paper pieced the birdies.  (Pulling out my inner Melissa Phillips here!!)

I die cut my leaves from plain Aqua Mist cardstock and then glittered them up with Distress Glitter (Tim Holtz).  Once the flowers, birds, & leaves were arranged over the picket fence, I added my birthday greeting from the Penned Elegance II stamp and die set, and then finished with a few of my precious and hoarded Rainstones!  My style has evolved over the years into a more CAS style, but I have to admit that I totally enjoyed adding all these layers and using some of my Bitty Big DSP and older stamp sets!

Only one more day to play along with this challenge, but if you love layers, give it a go and you might win a $25 gift card...I did a few weeks ago and it paid for my new fence die and a few other goodies!  You can check it all out right HERE. 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

The Flower Challenge #65 & The Great Cover-Up

Hello friends.  Playing along with a couple challenges today...The Flower Challenge that is looking for Occasions cards, and The Great Cover-Up challenge that is looking for a card with a BLACK background.

I've been having a field day playing with a new Papertrey Ink die set called Into The Blooms: Roses and came up with this birthday card that fits both of the challenges...

I made all my roses first, starting with white cardstock, and then water coloring them.  There are 4 layers to each rose, and I learned a few tips from Kelly Lunceford about how to make them really realistic looking, and now I just can't seem to stop making them!  Once my roses and leaves (the leaf fronds at the top are not from the rose set, but from the Into The Blooms: Dahlia die set) were all dry and glued together, I added them to a black background using PTI's Border Bling: Joy Frame die.  I used a plain black layer on my white card base, and then added the die cut black frame with foam tape for a bit of dimension.

Once my roses and leaves were added to the black frame, I finished by adding my birthday die cut and gold embossed banner (both Gina K) and a few gold pearls (PFS).  This was a bit of a time consuming card compared to my usual CAS style, but I really like the dramatic look of the colors against the black background!  

You can check out both challenges HERE and HERE to play along.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!