PTI Monday Challenge

The PapertreyInk Make-It Monday Challenge posted May 18 is all about fussy cutting.  There is actually a die available for the little lifesaver stamp, but I didn't purchase it because it seemed like it would be pretty easy to fussy cut, and I was right. I used two of the Papertreyink stitched rectangle dies. I just love these and use them all the time. In looking at the photo, I wish that I had stitched around the smaller block -- those holes are just begging for thread! The little bow will have to suffice this time though.

A Challenge or Two

While I'm waiting for some new goodies to arrive (OK, so I'm trying not to spend so much money on crafting supplies, especially since I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with all the cards I make once Operation Write Home shuts down on August 1 BUT, sometimes a girl just has to have stuff!), I thought I'd take part in a couple of current challenges. How do you like that for a sentence?

I recently saw a fun technique placing a stencil over paper that had been heavily distress inked, and then spritzing the stencil to make a design. I'm not crazy about my final result -- don't really care for the jewels and it's kinda plain without them -- but I really liked the stencil idea. I used Hero Arts Rain Dance stencil.

I entered the card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, and lo and behold, tonight's challenge on A Blog Named Hero also needed a stencil, so I'm entering it there too. And, the current Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge is to create your own background. A three-fer! A first for me!

I have a few days left to participate in PTI's Monday challenge. What shall I fussy cut?

Card Challenges

I went to a fun all-day crop yesterday, and as long as I was going to be making cards anyway, I decided to tailor a few of them to some current challenges.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog  -- anything inspired by the letter "A". I chose an ATC. I love these fun little works of art and don't often have a reason to make them.

PaperTreyInk Make It Monday -- ombre plus 1 or more PTI products. I love this PTI heart cover plate and stamp, and backed it with a watercolored ombre panel overstamped with alphas.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge theme is April Showers/Spring Flowers, I had fun with raindrops and rainbows.

And the April challenge sponsored by Our Daily Bread Designs to benefit Operation Write Home is "masculine". These nice folks pay to ship up to two boxes of cards to our troops each month.

That leaves one card I made for the Simon Says Stamp Flickr group, although I'm not crazy about the way it turned out. The card needs to include at least one SSS product (the stitched rectangles, which I love and use a lot), and have some watercolor on it (the background behind the flower). This was one card I just couldn't get happy with, ya know?

Last Card -- Wrap Up Day

My fun die cutting class at Online Card Classes is over, and I especially loved one of the projects on Wrap Up Day.

Some years ago my good friend Lynn taught me to make a shaker box when we embellished a cute beachy scrapbook page with alphabets filled with sand. It required being very careful to get a good seal around the shape with mounting tape, and mine leaked like a sieve.

Enter fun foam! The butterfly window was cut into cardstock, then adhered onto two layers of fun foam cut with the same butterfly die and a watercolored base. Filled with sequins and even -- gasp! -- glitter, and I can shake it to my heart's content and not a speck escapes.

Yeah, I'm liking fun foam more all the time. Just found out you can heat shrink the stuff too. And it makes a nice solid backing to pop up all or part of a card instead of mounting tape. And you can use it like a rubber stamp by die cutting a shape and stamping with it.

Love these OCC classes and can't wait to see what is offered next!

The Best Cards Yet

There were a couple more cards from the Stretch Your Dies class I wanted to try before the Gallery closes. I liked them both so much that I bought a couple of new dies to make them and today I got the chance to play a bit.

Jennifer's Day 2 card was so pretty and I liked the banner shapes, so of course I had to order a set of stitched banners. You can't tell from the photo that the background and the sentiment are embossed in Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. The real card is much prettier than the photo:

The other card that caught my attention used a wave border die to create interlocking waves. The class card was much cuter with a pirate ship sailing the sea, but I made do with a sailboat stamp. For some reason I had it in my mind that these interlocking waves were difficult, but it was a pleasant surprise to see that they were a snap!

That card left me with a negative shape too cute to throw away, so I backed it with an embossed panel and added a cute little sea horse, shell and starfish. I may add a sentiment later but I wanted to get the card done.

Lastly, I tried Debby's other version using the waves and I like it too. It probably could stand a bit of embellishment but sequins didn't make me happy and again, I just wanted to get it done and posted. I may think of something later as I look at it all week.

I have loved each and every Online Card Class I've taken and am always eagerly waiting for the next one!

Two More Class Cards

I managed two more cards for the Stretch Your Dies class. I'm not crazy about how either one turned out, but I learned something in the process.

My Day 7 card used Kathy Racoosin's fun "hidden letters" technique. I like the idea a lot, just not the background I chose and painted with distress markers. At first it was too bright and I toned it down with a wash of picket fence distress paint. I still don't care for the design, but I do like the raised letters.

Then I went back and tried a Day 5 card that was so pretty on the sample. I didn't have the same coordinating die and stamp, and the one I did have wasn't nearly as pretty. Then I made a big mistake and glued the flower paper to the underside of the circle, when I should have glued it to the card base so that the pattern was visible through the clear plastic. I may try this one again.

I hope to have a little time tomorrow to make another card or two. I really loved two of the cards demonstrated during class and ordered a couple of dies to try them. Just received that stuff today along with some other goodies so my craft closet is calling me!

Stretch Your Dies Class

I love love love the Online Card Classes -- I learn so much not only from the instructors, but also from my fellow students who are full of tips and good ideas. Today was the 7th day of the Stretch Your Dies class and,  as always, I'm inspired!

Each day has several great projects, and my goal is always to create at least one card from each day of class while it is in session, and then go back and complete as many others as I can. So far I have only created projects from the first 6 days but hope to get more time this week before the Gallery closes. Here's what's up so far:

Day 1 -- word dies. This was fun. Who knew that fun foam shrinks!

Day 2 addressed flower dies but I used tags instead.

One of Day 3's project for shape dies was to create a hinged window in a card with a sentiment visible when you open the flap. Here are the inside and outside views:

On Day 4 -- mini dies -- I finished a project using negative and positive cuts to make two cards:

On Day 5 we learned ways to use coordinating die and stamp sets. I chose the project where we cut masks to leave space for stamping before coloring the background.

This Day 6 project may be my favorite so far. We simply cut a curve out of clear acetate and used it as a guide to ink swathes of color.

 

I have a Day 7 project in progress that I'm not thrilled with at the moment. Perhaps I'll like it better tomorrow, or think of a way to improve it.