Whale be Friends Forever!

For the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - create something for a special friend or a super hero.

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Isn't your special friend a super hero anyway?  I think so!!!!!

This is what I came up with using my brand new stamp/die set from Stephanie Barnard - The Stamps of Life

I love my little whale!

Darice Beach Waves Embossing folder on aqua card stock layered on dark gray card stock
My new favorite ink! VersaFine in Smokey Gray for the whale and the sentiment
Added some clear sequins and tiny aqua beads that came from a shirt (you know how you get those little baggies of "stuff" like beads and buttons in case everything falls off the shirt!)
Glued and topped the sequins and beads with Glossy accents so they would stand out more

Butterfly

http://addictedtocas.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/challenge-65-butterfly.html

I made some beautiful teal butterflies and put them on a card to send to a friend who is undergoing treatment for Ovarian cancer and teal is the "color".

Hero Arts Stamp & Cut Butterflies cut from teal paper,
 stamped with white pigment ink and heat set using white embossing powder
The Paper Studio Butterfly Embossing Folder
Bling from "the stash"

House Mouse coloring

I am coloring challenged, but I keep on practicing.  I've noticed that I do better with markers than with colored pencils.

Our Daily Bread Designs covers the cost of shipping 2 boxes of cards to our heroes (see Operation Write Home) if we meet our goal of at least 50 cards posted.  YEAH ODBD!  I'm working on getting my box complete so I can mail it by Aug 1!!  

The theme for June is Missing You.  Here is my entry.

House Mouse Lavender Climbers stamp colored with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers
Paper, sentiment and twine from my stash

Bloom with Happiness

I cannot stop embossing!  Sometimes it seems like it's the embossing folder that drives what I am going to create instead of having an idea and then getting out the embossing folder.  I really struggle with a vision of my layout, or the colors, or the embellishments, so I really like using sketches, though I usually take them literally and don't stray far from the exact layout.

I saw the sketch challenge from The Crooked Stamper and it seemed like it would be pretty simple, right? Wrong!  Not for me.  It took me hours to make what turned out to be a super simple card.  I tried butterflies, I tried stars, I tried circles and ovals...didn't like any of them.  Then I remembered I had this little flower die that also embosses....

I layered white, a darker purple, then the embossed white paper on purple cardstock.

Momenta Cut & Emboss Mix and Match Small Flower
Darice Flower Frenzy Embossing Folder
Craft Medley purple Hemp Cord
Rubbernecker Garden Wildflower Sentiment stamped with purple pigment ink, topped with purple embossing powder and heat set
Bling from "the stash"

Adventure!

I just LOVE Kraft paper and I'm in a car/truck making mood....entering this in the Kraft Outlet challenge

Boot Tracks by Darice embossed on Kraft paper layered on black on a Kraft card base
Impression Obsessions Truck Die cut from shiny black and silver paper
"Window" on truck has a piece of clear packaging material behind it
"Wooden slats" cut from Kraft
Sentiment from Fiskars In Search of Adventure Set
Bling from Jolee's Boutique

Car BW houndstooth

I LOVE EMBOSSING!!!!  Dry Embossing, Wet Embossing, I Love it all!!!!

There is nothing like embossing to make a card really stand out.  I am trying to make as many cards as I can before the OWH deadline of August 1.  I try to make masculine cards because so many of the cards I see are feminine. This fits in with 3 challenges I found, so I'm entering this in all three.

All of this paper came from my scrap boxes including the layering papers.

 Yeah!  Use it up!!!!

 Cuttlebug Houndstooth Embossing Folder
Image Tim Holtz "The Journey"
Sentiment Fiskars "In Search of Adventure"
both stamped with VersaMark
and heat set with Recollections Black Embossing Powder
Darice Black Adhesive backed grosgrain ribbon
with a skinny little black and white dotted ribbon I found in my ribbon stash
knotted on top

Challenge #18 at Words to Scrap By -  It's a Man's World

Challenge #87 at Simply Create Too - MASCULINE

Challenge #35 at V's Sweet Ideas is use your "Favorite Technique"

Coffee...it's what's for breakfast!

What not to do on a beautiful sunshiny Saturday morning.....make a stop in the craft lair!  Uh Oh, it's now 10:30 am and there is much work to be done in the garden.  I am trying to rid a bed of volunteer lily of the valley (have you ever tried to dig up lily of the valley?  It grows as you are digging!) that has taken over so I can make room for a new Hosta garden.  I received 7 beautiful, large Hostas as a gift from a friend's husband.  This new garden will be in remembrance of my dog rescue friend Cindy, who passed away a couple of years ago.

I knew I wanted to make a card for the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog Hop that is this week so I did get something accomplished.  I just picked up this stamp when I stopped in at a scrapbook store I had not been to.  Now I have 2! coffee stamps.  Yippeee....

Brown dotted paper from Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go 6x6 pad
layered on kraft paper
Stamp and sentiment from Art Impressions Cathy Caffeine Set
stamped in Versamark, heat set with Zing Brown embossing powder,
then colored with Spectrum Noir markers (still practicing!)
Coffee beans also stamped with Versamark on Kraft,  heat set with the same brown,
fussy cut, and popped up a bit with Zots dots
Tiny bakers twine bow secured with a brown brad

  Not bad for a first try with a new stamp.  This is a birthday card for a former co-worker.  We always had coffee together, but now we're both retired.  Miss Corinne!

Entering this in the MOD squad challeng too - Birthday

Misty

Home made "shimmer mist" - warm water, a dab of Mod Podge, a squirt of White Pearl acrylic craft Paint (the dollar stuff) added to a spray bottle that used to house travel sized hairspray.

Once the card was made, I sprayed the whole thing with my home made shimmer mist and let it dry.
Looks very shimmery in person, but very hard to photograph.

 White Cardstock layered on  Black Cardstock   

Outlined the card in silver sticker strips  

Colors were done with markers

 Image and sentiment stamped in black ink 

Entering in Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge - Play Misty for me