Go Challenge Yourself

Happy Holidays! It's the holiday season and nearly the start of a new year. So why not challenge yourself? In the crafty way. I know having 48 hours to prepare for Christmas or Kwanzaa or Hanukkah is a bit of challenge, but I want to be more selfish and focus on a challenge for you.

So over the next few days when things might calm down, sit in your craft area and think outside of the box.

Here are some resources to get you going ... and remember that even though some sites might be on hiatus for the holiday season, check the archives for something that will be new for you.

• The Papertrey Ink Blog Hop (December 26, 2008)
• 2 Sketches 4 You
• KWerner Design Color Inspiration Challenge
• fresh & fun
• One Pretty Thing
• Dish Cloth Aprons

That's all for now. Happy Holidays.

Holiday Wishes :: A Card for Multiple Challenges

This card fits the bill for three (3) challenges. You might be like "wow". But my lesson is learned here. From here on out, I will primarily do just one (1) or two (2) challenges at a time. Three sort of seems like a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. I think my card just looks so-so and that if I would have focus on two challenges I would have had a better result. And I actually wanted to add a fourth element: using the 'spotlight' stamp technique for 2Peas' final week of Stamp Camp.

The three (3) challenges being attempted:

1. Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration #33
   
2. Card Positioning Systems (CPS) card sketch #93
   
3. Hero Arts Make-It-In-Minutes Card Challenge

The biggest challenge was using the Color Inspiration colors: chocolate chip, pumpkin pie, taken w/teal, certainly celery and whisper white. The colors look good in the image, but not so easy to duplicate on a small canvas like a card.

I do like this week's CPS card sketch. Nice that I had the small embossing folders from Cuttlebug to add the snowflake. I do like the rhinestone at the snowflakes center. Nice touch. I like using sketches ... just one less thing to think about while card making.

And finally for the Hero Arts Challenge ... make a quick card. This was sort of quick in that I had a sketch and the colors and just had to coordinate, hence, the challenge.

I like the dry embossing on the horizontal strip. It's from the Cuttlebug heart die and embossing folders set. I just embossed half of the strip and then embossed the other half.

Thanks for looking ... here's what I used:
cardstock: Archivers, Bazzill and craft supply
patterned paper: K&Co.
dry embossing: Cuttlebug
stamp: Hero Arts
ink: VersaMark
embossing powder: Joann
rhinestone and felt: unknown
other: sewing

Thank You :: Color Inspiration 31 and Hero Arts

I've gone and created a 'wowser'. Well, actually I was uncertain as to how this one would turn out and - to me - it has a wow factor. I've been seeing some cards that have more of a white card base. I usually use olive or other colored cardstock as a base. I also like the white card base w/a panel of white on top and in this case using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing adds such a nice touch.

I used Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge. As you can see, the image that she uses is rustic and seasonal, but I did not tap into that feeling. I do like the mix of pumpkin and cocoa, but even the eggplant and the saffron bring a nice warm touch. And those are colors, but could easily be a meal. :-)

Now, for the Hero Arts Challenge:

"This week I challenge you to create a thank you card that uses at least one stamped scrap and one Hero Arts stamp."

I think I followed the instructions. I just purchased the Thank You stamp in the upper left corner. It's in a set of acrylic stamps - Heartfelt Messages. I am learning that I like rubber stamps better in many cases. I like the Tim Holtz inks and they do not work well w/the acrylic stamps. IMO. I've tried to use an eraser to take off the residue and create better absorbency, but no luck.

Lots of fun to be had w/these weekly challenges.

Thanks for looking ... here's what I used:
cardstock and patterned paper: Die Cuts With a View (DCWV)
stamps: Hero Arts (Thank you's); Inkadinkdo: (script)
ink: VersaMagic and VersaMark
embossing powder: Ranger
fabric brad: The Paper Studio
dry embossing: Cuttlebug Swiss Dots and Textile Texture
ribbon: Joann
circle and flower punch: EK Success

Thank You :: Color Inspiration 30

Well, if you ask me how excited I am about this card and I will tell you "uber excited"! And let me tell you why. I absolutely love the flower and the mini folder.

First of all, I am using Krista Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge. This week's colors were Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Sahara Sand and Whisper White. I love, love, love olive. So it was easy for me to coordinate for this challenge. The problem for me is the picture. I may replace it if I can produce an image that showcases the colors more vibrantly.

But my new favorite thing is fabric buttons. I went to a handmade craft fair this past weekend and lots of vendors had them. Then I went to etsy and saw even more wonderful fabric buttons. Check out these from Fabric Farrago.

So I mentioned the fabric buttons to my mom who immediately said that Joanns has the buttons covers used to make your own fabric buttons. Guess who made a trip to Joanns? That would be me. I got the buttons covers along w/a Sizzix Hello Kitty die - the outer layer of the flower. You will more than likely see more of these flowers on more and more of my cards. I like choosing my own fabric and even stamping on the fabric and making my own buttons. Now I just need to find a place that sells the buttons covers by the bag full. Watch out.

Oh, and I got the idea to use the Quickutz mini folder from Card-A-Licious; that's their challenge this week.

Thanks for looking ... here's what I used:
cardstock: Bazzill
patterned paper: K&Company
stamp: Stampin Up!
ink: VersaMagic
embossing powder: Ranger
ribbon: Michaels
mini folder die cut: Quickutz
flower die cuts: Sizzix and Cuttlebug
dry embossing: Cuttlebug
felt: unknown
button cover: Dritz
other: fabric

3 Challenges in 1

I had to combine challenges which is not unusual but in this case I have three going on. But here's my reason why - still w/o my laptop. It is a sad, sad thing. I feel sooooo disconnected from my virtual world because I am disconnected. I'll be up in full swing soon, very soon.

You'd think I would have more time to craft, but it has been a crazily weird week and I don't know what I've done w/my time - other than make this card.

And this card is not my proudest moment. You see this week's Color Inspiration Challenge was a doosy! The colors were eggplant, teal, blue, pumpkin and white. Yes, challenging indeed. I did not think I even owned any paper in that color scheme. But in the old days, I just bought anything (I'm sure you did too). So, yes, I did have paper and embellishments in those colors.

The next challenge is for this week's 2 Sketches 4 You sketch. Which I did not follow whole heartedly - it was the colors that held me back. I really wanted to work w/some patterned papers that included all of the colors or at least I could coordinate patterns; whatever.

Lastly, I tried to get in on Card-A-Licious. Alas, we were supposed to make a 'give thanks' card a la Thanksgiving and I only got in the 'Thanks". I had planned to stamp out 'give' and cut the letters out individually, but I like the card in its plain way w/the addition of the letters.

Thanks for reading my rant. Really ... here's what I used:
cardstock: Archivers
patterned paper: Die Cuts With a View (DCWV)
flower die: Cuttlebug
ribbon: Offray
stamp: Hero Arts
die cut ovals: Nestabilities
button: American Crafts
ink: VersaMagic

Color Inspiration 27 and cps :: 87

I'm just a bit behind in getting this done and posting. So much so that this week's winner has already been posted for the Color Inspiration. But it's not always about winning, now is it? Besides this card fulfills not one, but two challenges. Actually, the card is also based on this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch.

The Color Inspiration Challenge is very cool. Helps me to diversify my color palette. Otherwise, I'd only use olive green and brown. This week's color was red or pink as the main color.

I'm sort of feeling this card. I used up some scraps. I also made it open face. I like my interpretation of the cps sketch because I did not follow the sketch inch for inch.

Well, I am swamped ... thanks for looking ... here's what I used:
cardstock: craft supply and Bazzill
patterned paper: Basic Grey and K&Co.
epoxy embellishment and alphabet stamps: Making Memories
heart die cut: Sizzix
heart button: Dress It Up
button: Foof a la
ribbon: Creative Impression
ink: StazOn
paper flower: Prima
twine: Darice
dry embossing: Cuttlebug Script Texture
other: sewing

Happy Birthday :: sketch this 70 / Color Inspiration 25

I haven't been over the sketch this in a bit, so I popped over to see what this week's sketch looked like. Nice enough for me. I was able to pull this card together in no time.

I'm doubling up on this card because I also checked out Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration Challenge. This was kinda cool too. There are four colors, but I only managed to get in three of the four.

Here's the thing about this card, the flowers are so likable. For the sheer flower, I used a milk jug. That's right, I rinsed it out and let it dry, and then I cut out the flat panels. I took my Sizzix flower die and ran it through my Cuttlebug and wah lah! I wanted to add some alcohol inks, but I was not in the mood to experiment and/or make a mess.

I'm also liking that 'happy birthday' epoxy. It's from Making Memories. Finally, the other flower gets some cool points too. Mainly because of the metal embellishment in the center. It's from K&Co. Just adds a nice touch.

Thanks for looking ... here's what I used:
cardstock, button and paper flower: Bazzill
patterned paper: Basic Grey
metal embellishment: K&Co.
epoxy sentiment: Making Memories
flower die cut: Sizzix
rick rack: Creative Impression
floss: DMC
other: sewing, staples and plastic milk jug