Valentine's Day challenge cards

 I am back. Let's see if I can FINALLY get in a groove. I have been trying to do more crafting, so far with minimal success. The 'New Normal' of the current pandemic scenario means I can't use my usual space to craft. My building has a common space that normally we are all allowed to use. It has much larger tables than either my desk or my kitchen table. 

Despite the limited space, I did finally find some mojo again & make 4 cards.  Although the kids aren't meeting face to face, the GEMS group from our church still wanted to do a Valentine's Day project. They made cards for seniors at one of the local facilities. It was all arranged by our leaders in terms of how to drop off the cards, etc, so that all the rules continue to be followed. As stressful as things have been for me, it's even harder on those who are in extended care facilities, cut off from many of their visitors, and pretty dependent on staff. I know at least here, the staff are all working as hard as they can to provide the necessary support. So anything we can do to help them provide some cheer to our local seniors is worth it. 

Between us, myself & two friends made 22 cards. I am only sharing mine, because I don't have a picture of one friend's cards, and I don't have permission to share the one my other friend made, though she did ask me to photograph it for her. 

I was inspired, again by the sketch at Call Me Crafty Al. It is the January 2021 Sheetload of Cards. Alicia's sheetloads have become some of my favorites; I love her Youtube channel. She has a great hop every month so viewers can see different takes on the sketch. One of the things I love about using sheetloads is that it's a great way to use a bunch of my older cardstock & patterned paper, because you can make a lot of cards at once. I have 5 more ready to finish & I hope to share them soon, as they will be a different sentiment, and and I may make a few other changes. Although Alicia did make the flag the same colour as her matting cardstock, and it worked nicely, I don't like it as much on mine. I have a few ideas. 

I am entering the following challenges:

Paper Players 527: Theme: Hearts and/or Stars

Double D Challenges: Inspiration challenge: Valentine/Love - New to me challenge blog

Just Us Girls: Word Week - Valentine 

Card Details:

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette (I think?), Primrose Petals (SU)

DSP: Flowers (SU), Pink Polka dot, Black & White Hearts (random paper stack)

Stamps: Heartfelt

Ink: Primrose Petals (SU)

Tools:  Scallop Heart, Heart punches  (SU)

One card, three challenges!

I am back with my second post of the month.

My organizing goals are coming along far more slowly than I would like. I have been having some good bursts of creativity, though. Tonight I did a scrapbooking class, via Zoom, where we made 3 layouts.

I have been finding all sorts of bits & pieces to put together cards. I still haven't got the cardstock organized; luckily, I found my bin with pre-cut & scored card bases. All the images & designer paper used were also ones I found in my UFO bin. I decided since the Paper Players challenge is clean & simple, I'd try to make it a limited supply challenge.

I made 3 cards. I only really like one of them, so that will be the only one I enter in the challenges I'm playing in. I'll share the other ones, though, just because I figure there's no harm in it. And who knows... someone may have an idea as to how to improve the ones I don't like (or even the one I do... it certainly isn't perfect).

I really wanted to get something done this week in honour of the 500th challenge at The Paper Players. This site's design team has some of my favorite Stampin' Up artists. 

Here is the card I'm entering, which I basically like.... I was experimenting with no line water colouring. 

And here are my two rejects.

 

I am entering 2 other challenges:

The Spot Challenge: Christmas In July. This challenge site is new, and I totally recommend you check it out. It is another site where the design team is made up of some very talented Stampin' Up demos/artists; neither site requires you to use SU products, however.

Christmas Card Throwdown: Theme Challenge - Santa  I love all things Christmas, so this blog is also a great one to follow. Not Stampin' Up oriented.

Card Details - All Products Stampin' Up unless noted otherwise

Cardstock: Real Red, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla
Designer Paper: Night Before Christmas
Stamps: Santa's List
Ink: SU Black Archival (middle card) Basic Grey (bottom card) The top card uses a light colour from Memento. I don't recall the name at all, and I can't get into the drawer right now to check. :) 

Good to be back...

I am not sure it's a good sign that it's 11:55 pm, and I have had to restart this post for the third time, because I keep accidentally hitting various buttons & losing the post.

Technological glitches not withstanding, I am actually quite excited to be blogging again. I've been cardmaking consistently for the last two years... which is how long ago, approximately, I last posted. Not quite sure where my blogging mojo went. I think part of it was not knowing how to garner the traffic I see other bloggers get. I know I was frustrated by my stash, and how disorganized it is.  Or maybe just not having the time, or the patience, to devote the needed energy to it. Since COVID hit in March, I have been a bit rejuvenated around creating.

I admit it wasn't like that at first. Like many, I had no idea what to do when this situation first started. I never really expected it to last as long as it has. It's been interesting to be a school trustee (I'm still on the school board - in my second term) during a pandemic. I'm pretty proud of how we've been managing the situation.

I have rediscovered sketches, and I have found some great inspiration on Youtube & Instagram. I'm especially inspired by Kristie Marcotte and Call Me Crafty Al. Today I'm sharing a set of cards I made using Kristie's 6x6 paper tutorial. It's actually an updated version of the tutorial. She used multiple sketches for her examples; my cards are based on OWH Sketch 154.

This sketch is very versatile; I will likely use it again and where I have the blank strip, I'll add a small die cut sentiment. These cards are blank because I made them as a going away gift for a friend.

Although I'm feeling creative, I'm not as organized as I'd like to be. I still have to get my cardstock sorted. It's all Stampin' Up, but I stupidly went rainbow order and mixed current colours with retired colours As such, I have some that I can't identify. For now, if I put a * next to something, that means I'm not sure I have correctly identified the item in question. My goal is to sort the cardstock this weekend. I have an unopened package of all the colour families, so I should least be able to pull out the loose current colours. The reality is I will likely let go of some of the older, retired colours I can't identify.

Card details:

Cardstock: Pacific Point, Bashful Blue, Mint Macaron (SU)
Glitter paper: Tonic Studios

DSP: Pretty Petals (SU)

Die: SU

VC Rocks June Blog Hop

I'm back with this month's VC Rocks Blog Hop. If you're just starting here at my blog, click on the link to head to the beginning of the hop on the VC Rock home page.

This time, our theme is 'Fun With The New Catalogue.' For those who are unaware of us, VC Rocks is a Yahoo! group that consists of Stampin' Up fans... it started as being basically for demonstrators only, and it's now open to customers, too. We're active in the summer, celebrating the start of the new catalogue year. Usually, we have anywhere from 3 to 5 blog hops over the summer season.

June was the final month for the Stamper's 10 group I in which I participate. As soon as I saw the sneaks of the cards we were making I knew I was going to tweak the one Laura, my demo, designed using the Sea of Textures bundle. I must give her special thanks; when our group met Monday, she forgot to bring the dies for this set. She was totally willing to run home and get them. We all told her there was no need. Many of us, including me, ordered the set that night. It didn't hit me until Wednesday that I would need the dies in order to finish my card for the hop, and she loaned them so I could get this card finished.

Because the card we made is a fun fold, I have a few extra pictures this time. I'm thinking of doing a 'Make & Take' for the group to explain the card a bit more. Tonight, I"m late getting this post up because I was at a work event, and I'm exhausted. One more week and another school year will be complete.

 Ok... enough chatter.. here are the pictures of my card!

Card Details - all products Stampin' Up

Stamps: Sea of Textures

Cardstock: Traquil Tide, Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, Fresh Fig, Whisper White

DSP: Traquil Textures

Inks: Fresh Fig, Crumb Cake, Tranquil Tide, Soft Seafoam, Calypso Coral

Other: Under The Sea Framelits, Stampin Dimensionals, Tombow glue

HIMCR Challenge #353

I am back with another card for a challenge. I have been working on the never ending process of sorting out my stash, and I needed a break, so I went through my 'unfinished cards' box & found one that would fit for a challenge today.

HIMCR #353 - Masculine / Father's Day

I was going to put this one in for our VC Rocks Virtual Stamp Day, but I realized it didn't really fit any of the criteria. The weather has gotten marginally cooler so I'm hoping that will motivate me to play some more tomorrow. It's been really warm, and the pollen has been driving me insane. I hate allergy season.

This card uses a fun fold a friend taught me. I just die cut the label largest label framelit & then the one the next size smaller (I think.. it may have been third one down... I admit I don't recall.). Just some strong adhesive at the back to secure the backs of the flaps. It's really easy to know where to put the adhesive because you just score the die cut about 3/4 of an inch in and use that smaller part under the inside panel... between  the vanilla panel & the Early Espresso one.

As you can see I went full on with the collage stamping on the inside panel... I added another panel, the same size, to the back with no stamping, so I had a place to write a message. I stamped the main ship image on a 3x4 piece of cardstock so I had lots of extra space. That way I could just keep tearing until I got the look I wanted. Then I inked the edges & added some sponging to both image panels.

Note.. Don't try to tear first or cut the panel to small. Trust me one that one. ;)

Card Details - All Products Stampin' Up

Stamps: The Open Sea
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede
Ink: Early Espresso
Other: Framelits

As You See It Challenge

It feels good to be getting back into the groove. As promised, I'm keeping up with the 'monochromatic' theme this week. Today, I've got two cards to share. They actually both exactly the same, except for the colour scheme. I chose to post them today because they fit with the latest challenge from the As You See it blog, #174.

Here are my cards: 

I made these on one of our cardmaking afternoons with my very talented friend Angela. She found the fun fold & showed us now to make it. If I remember correctly, she may well even have prepped the cardstock for us. What was borrowed was the stamp set & the markers. I used to have a few Stampin' Up markers, until I took a Tombow marker class and fell in love. 

The set I used is called Birthday Blooms. It's a Stampin' Up set I never purchased which is retiring as of the end of May. Now that I have so many friends who are also Stampin' Up users, we talk about who likes what, and we confer before we order. Certainly, there are times where we'll all decide we need to have a set because we suspect we'll reach for it enough to warrant just having our own, but often we will find that one of us will really like something a great deal more than the others in the group. This set falls into that category. It's pretty, and I enjoyed colouring the flower. But I'm not particularly enamored with the font they chose for the sentiments, so that took it off the 'must have' list for me. 

Of the two card, the one using Tempting Turquoise is my favorite. The blending worked better. I couldn't get the Rose Red and the pink colour (I don't actually remember what pink I used) to blend smoothly. The Turquoise and the Pacific Point looks more seamless to me in the blend. 

Card Details - All Products Stampin' Up

Stamps: Birthday Blooms

Cardstock: Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Rich Razzleberry

Ink: Basic Black Archival ink

Markers: Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Pink Pirouette*

*I'm unsure about the lighter pink colour; I'm not a big fan of pink & I don't really own any so I don't necessarily recognize it. It almost looks too dark to be Pink Pirouette. But I don't know. 

VC Rocks Fun With One Color Blog Hop

Well hello!

I cannot believe it's been over a year since I've posted to my blog. Our Yahoo! group VC Rocks has started up again for the season, and we're starting the month of May with a blog hop. The theme this time is Fun With One Color.

VC Rocks is a group of SU stampers who do all sorts of fun activities for each summer. You can learn more about us at the website.

I've got two cards to share with you today. I want to get back to posting at least 3 times a week, so I'll be back again at least twice this week with more cards that fit the theme of today's post.

The first card I am sharing use Lemon Lime Twist. It's by far my favorite of the 2017-2019 In Colors. In fact, I'm very sad that when Stampin' Up announced their upcoming color family revamp, they didn't move this color into the core palette. I get why they didn't - it's sticking around for another year & that would leave the In Colors short one for a year - but I can't help it. I love this color. I don't want to lose it. I also really love this stamp set. The funny thing is I was unsure I'd use it when I first saw it. The basic design for this card came from my friend Laura B, who is an SU demo. She hosts a stamper's group at my place once a month.  

I apologize for the fact that the color is off; I'm not quite sure why. I do know I need to get a better light set up for photographing my card, but in this case I think it's more than that. 

The next card also uses one of the returning In Colors - Berry Burst. It's another one I made in on a card night. I admit I'm still not in love with this set. It does work really well here on this clean and simple 'Hello' card, though.

I'm the last stop on this month's hop. If you're starting here, head over to Robin's blog - she's the first person on the list.  We love comments so please go through and comment on all the participants' posts.

Or, if you've completed the hop, head over to VC Rocks and  leave a comment there, too!

Card details - All products Stampin' Up!

Happy Birthday Gorgeous

Stamps: Beautiful You
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Lemon Lime Twist
Ink: Basic Black, Lemon Lime Twist
DSP: In Color Pack

Hello

Stamps: Climbing Orchid
Dies: Orchid Builder Framelits
Cardstock:  Berry Burst, Whisper White
Ink: Berry Burst, Chocolate Chip