Thanks a Bunch

(You only have til Thursday to vote!!)

Halfway through the week!! That means it's time for SP and Co's DT Wednesday! For today's card, I wanted to use a sentiment from one of my favorite sets- Mini Card Creations II. You see these sentiments pop up on my cards all of the time!

My card is made from a page from the phone book (why do they keep leaving these at my apt? Do people even use them anymore??), a rub-on (Hello CAS-ual Friday!), and some cotton string. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of cardstock and sliced through the typewriter image with an x-acto knife so I could slide it through. I propped it up on the back with some foam tape.

(btw, I used the sketch from CPS)

I'm also IN LOVE with the sentiment set from the latest release, Bold Sentiments:

I used one of these for my latest Gallery Idol submission:
So glad you could stop by!

Gallery Idol- Round 3!

Wow, things are really starting to heat up! I cannot believe that I have made it this far in the Gallery Idol competition. I can only hope that this card helps me make it to top 5! I haven't seen the other entries yet, but I can bet they are amazing.

The theme for this round is fabric. Luckily, I have a pretty extensive fabric scrap collection. I chose a fun green print to become the leaves of my fern. Here's the card:

Now, it might be tough to see in that above photo, but each leaf is puffy!

I love to play with dimension in my cards, so I wanted this one to be soft and puffy. Here's what I did:

1. Start with 3 layers- Die cut cardstock for the card's front panel, fabric scrap, and a scrap piece of cardstock slightly smaller than the front panel.
2. This next picture shows the bottom 3 leaves puffed up already. I took some "cluster fiber" (it's stuffing for toys and pillows)....
...then placed it in between the fabric layer and the scrap cardstock layer, making sure to shove it in where the die-cut sections were so it filled that area.
3. Once that was done, I pressed the two cardstock pieces together, trapping the stuffing inside. Do you see the puff it makes?
4. (sorry- no picture for this step) I carefully sewed around each puffy leaf with my sewing machine (I used white thread), making sure to stay pretty close to the die cut. I didn't want any of my stuffing to escape!

That was it! Pretty easy, once I figured out the best way to do it. I just LOVE this technique now- I've never seen it done before (although I'm sure it has been), but now I want to try with other die-cut shapes!

Here's a close-up of the finished card:

Thanks so much for checking out my round 3 entry! Please go here to vote :)

OCC All the Bs

First off, I wanted to say thank you again to anyone who has been voting for me in Gallery Idol. With your help, I made it to the top 10!! The next round is to make a card using fabric, so I've got to start thinking about what to make....wish me luck! Voting for Round 3 will start Monday :)

Today's Our Creative Corner challenge host is Sarah, and this week you need to make a card with All the Bs:

Black

Bling

Button

Bow

My card, below, incorporates these elements as well as the inspiration from this week's Tuesday Trigger.

The ruffle was made with yellow cardstock- I sewed it on across the top, then covered the stitching with ribbon. If you can't find the bling, it's a black rhinestone in the center of the bow- you can see it more clearly in this picture:
So head on over to Our Creative Corner, check out the samples from the rest of the DT, and link up!

you're a great catch!

(don't forget- you only have until noon MDT today to vote!!)

Today is Design Team Thursday at My Thoughts Exactly stamps. These stamps are from the July release- "Under the Sea." Just like with the other set, "Birds and the Bees," these stamps mix and match to make so many different sentiments! I love all of the punny possibilities:

I made a little diecut fish and suspended him in the cut out window with invisible thread. I tied embroidery floss around the bottom, and added the sentiment, "you're a great catch!." My husband said I needed a fishhook (I agreed), so he made me one out of wire while I stamped the sentiment. (We had lots of wire around from my round 1 GI card...)


Jessica is also posting today, so definitely go check out her awesome work, and stop by Alyssa's blog at My Thoughts Exactly for the official DT post!

Happy Everything!

(Have you voted yet?)

Welcome to SP and Company's DT Wednesday! I made a card using the new Bold Sentiments stamp set:

The challenge this week at CAS-ual Fridays is "Sweets and Treats." I die-cut an ice cream cone, and embossed the cone with a diamond embossing folder. I used the "Happy Everything" sentiment from the Bold Sentiments set. I finished off the card with some rhinestones:

Gallery Idol- Round 2!

Thank you so much to all of my friends that voted for me in Round 1 of the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol! I'm thrilled to have made it to round 2.

This time, the theme is creative die cuts, and here is my card:

I wanted to get "creative" by playing around with texture and dimension. I don't have a traditional die cutter (you know, like a hand-cranked machine), but I do have a digital die cutter. Because of this, I have the freedom do design my own files to be cut.

I was out of town since Wednesday morning, and nowhere near my craft supplies. I got a head-start on my card by sketching out the trees below with a Sharpie, and scanning them into my laptop.
Once I did that, I was able to make the cutting files. When I got home yesterday afternoon, I assembled the card.

Each shade of grey is a different layer- the dark grey is adhered directly to the white card, the medium grey is adhered with one layer of foam tape, and the light grey has 2 layers of foam tape.

This last picture shows the dimension a little more clearly:

Thanks for checking out my card! I hope you vote for me by clicking here. If you already registered last week, you can use the same login info.

OCC Copenhagen

Good morning! It's time for another fun challenge at Our Creative Corner! Our hostess, Kristin, recently went to Copenhagen and took these inspiring pictures:

The challenge this week is to make a project inspired by one of those pictures, but you may not use patterned paper! For me, that isn't too tough since I usually prefer my cards CAS.

Below is my sample for this week, and I was inspired by all of the bikes in the top 2 pictures! I stamped one onto kraft cardstock, added faux stitching with a white pen, and adhered it onto a white card. The sentiment was easy- I used chipboard letters.

I hope you check out the other cards from the DT, and join us in this week's challenge!

(by the way, thanks to anyone who voted for me...I made it to the next round of PC Gallery Idol!)

My Thoughts Exactly DT

(psst....don't forget to vote for your fave card!)

Good morning! Welcome to DT Thursday at My Thoughts Exactly! Even though it is not my scheduled week to post, I can't stop playing around with these cute stamps and wanted to share a card I made recently. I love the seemingly endless sentiments I can make with this mix-and-match set:

If you're interested in buying the set, you can find it here in the MTE store.

I've had this cute birds stamp for about 2 years, and I think I've only used it once. I don't know why it's been neglected- I really like it!
I kept things really simple, with thin strips of cardstock sewn on with my sewing machine. I wish I had a close-up of the sentiment- but I'm out of town so I can't take another pic! But you get the idea- it's punny! Lenae and Thienly also have projects today, so go check them out!

Gallery Idol

It's here- the day I have been waiting for all weekend! Today is the official start of Round 1 for Paper Craft's Gallery Idol.

The theme, which was announced Friday, is do-it-yourself embellishments. I took a lot of time to brainstorm different ideas....handmade flowers, pinwheels, buttons, etc. Then I remembered my stash of jewelry-making supplies.

For my embellishment, I took some 24 gauge silver-plated jewelry wire, a pair of round-nose pliers, and formed a bicycle shape. You can see a picture of it as a work-in-progress below:

Here's the finished bike:

To attach it to my card, I made 3 small holes with a sewing needle into the top layer of cardstock where I wanted the bike to go. I used invisible thread to come up the hole, loop it around a section of wire, and then I returned back through the original hole. Even when I look really hard, I can't see the thread on the bike. I only needed to attach it in 3 places to get it on there sturdy enough so it won't come off.

To make the shadow, I took a photo of the bike completed (see above), and skewed the image in Photoshop. I imported it into my electronic die-cutting software, then cut it from grey cardstock.

Don't forget to vote!! Click HERE to register, check out the entries, and vote for your fave (I hope mine is your favorite, but they are all awesome!)

If you want a direct link to my card, click here, or on the picture of it in my sidebar to the right :)