Tag Archives: challenge

Dec 30 2012

I’m Back!

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I’ve been neglecting my blog for the past couple of months, but now that the busy holiday season is almost finished, I’m Back! As you can see, I’ve changed the style a bit and I’ve also changed how my blog is hosted so that I will be able to do more of what I want to do with my blog……now I just have to figure out exactly what it is that I want to do ;-) So as usual, it is a work in progress.

In the mean time, I did a little playing in my craft room today and participated in a couple of card challenges.

This week CAS-ual Friday is teaming up with 10 minute Craft Dash.

The challenge is to create a Holiday card in 10 minutes or less…….quite a challenge for me, but I did it! Here’s what I came up with:

You can’t see it in the photo, but the tree is popped up using 3D foam tape.

As simple as it is, I was still gluing the star onto the tree when the timer went off……why am I so slow?!

Stamp Sets used are: It’s Your Day, A Timber and Holiday Wishes

Ink Colors: Ruby, New England Ivy, Honey and black pigment ink.

I made the next card for the Mojo Monday sketch challenge. Then while “surfing” on the internet this afternoon I stumbled upon a challenge site that is new to me. Just Us Girls (JUGs). Their challenge this week is to create a new year’s card with sparkle. This card works for both!

                        

Wonderland paper (retired)

Glitter Paper (New in the upcoming Idea Book!)

Stamp Set: Year Round Cheer (Dec. SOTM)

 The snowflake is cut using the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge

Happy Crafting!

Kathy

Aug 30 2012

Artiste in August ~ Final Day!

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Can you believe we made it through 31 straight days of Artiste awesomeness?!! Well, I did take 2 days off…. I have learned so much by participating in this Blog Hop and I am so thankful that I managed to overcome my fear of how much work it would be. I would have missed out on so much if I’d followed my first inclination and said “Post a project everyday for a month….are you crazy?” I want to thank Gloria Rogers for coming up with this challenge and organizing the hop.

Speaking of hop, you should have hopped here from Adeline’s blog. Just continue from link to link until you come full circle.

Today it’s “artist choice” again and I decided to make a card for my niece’s birthday later in September.

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I love the way this card front interlocks and opens. I used the retired Lucy paper pack and blush cardstock. The card is on page 44 of the handbook and the cupcake is on page 69. The card is cut at 5.5” and the cupcake at 2.5. If I had cut the cupcake a bit smaller, it would have worked with the matching stamp, but I wanted it this size. The larger zig zag circle is from page 35 and is stamped in Sweet Leaf ink with the coordinating stamp from the Artiste collection. I even used a shape from Art Philosophy on this one! Flower 5 on page 48 of the A.P. handbook is stamped with the “life is tweet” sentiment from June’s Stamp Of The Month. The border inside the card is also from this set. The inside sentiment is from the birthday stamp set that is part of the Artiste collection.

I hope that you have been inspired this month by all of the Artiste artwork on this Blog Hop and that you will continue to check in and comment from time to time. I’d love it if you would become a regular follower!

Now, go on over to Paisley’s Playhouse to see Amy’s final Artiste in August creation.

Happy Crafting!

Kathy

Gloria Rogers – http://www.scraptabulousstudio.com/
Rebecca Kings – http://heartfeltcreationsbybecca.blogspot.com
Adeline Brill – www.adeline-brill.blogspot.com
Kathy Johnson – http://kathyscreativecorner.com/
Amy Edwards – http://Paisleysplayhouse.blogspot.com
Jen Patrick – http://roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com/
Pamela O’Connor – http://reflectionsofmyartandsoul.com
Melinda Everitt – http://ifyoublingit.blogspot.com/
Tina Gale Husong – http://tiggersscrapplace.blogspot.com/

Aug 3 2012

Artist in August ~ Day 4

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Today is day 4 of the blog hop and I’m starting to believe that I can really do this! Posting a new creation every day for a month is quite a challenge for me but I’m wanting to stretch myself creatively and personally.

You have probably just come from Jessica Wilson’s blog which means you are on the right path. If you encounter a broken link along the way or otherwise get lost, just use the next link on the complete blog hop list that you will find at the bottom of this post.

Today I used Sonoma paper (newly retired) to make this cute little box found on page 74 of the Artiste handbook.

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The butterfly is from the Flutter Paper Shapes. I inked it with bamboo and petal (retired) ink, and added a trail of Sparkles and Bitty Sparkles. The body of the butterfly was made with these:

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That little tip was shared at convention by the fabulous Tresa Black. Who knew that there were useful things inside that little package?!

I think that 3 or 4 Ghirardelli chocolate squares will fit perfectly in this sweet little box.

Now hop on over to Amy Edwards  blog for more inspiration.

Gloria Rogers – http://www.scraptabulousstudio.com/
Tricia Rathke – http://craftingthedayawayy.blogspot.com/
Lalia Harris – http://craftylalia.blogspot.com/
Rebecca Kings – http://heartfeltcreationsbybecca.blogspot.com
Adeline Brill – www.adeline-brill.blogspot.com
Jessica Wilson – www.craftinandstampin.blogspot.com
Kathy Johnson – http://kathyscreativecorner.com/
Amy Edwards – http://Paisleysplayhouse.blogsot.com
Jen Patrick – http://roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com/
Pamela O’Connor – http://reflectionsofmyartandsoul.com
Melinda Everitt – http://ifyoublingit.blogspot.com/
Michele Eickholt – http://chelescrafts.blogspot.com/
Tina Gale Husong – http://tiggersscrapplace.blogspot.com/
Denise Hobbs – http://oklahomainker.blogspot.com/

Happy Crafting!

Kathy

Mar 30 2012

Clean & Simple #184

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Today is Friday and that means new CAS challenges. Here’s the first for Clean & Simple Stamping

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This card offers you a sneak peek at Close To My Heart’s National Scrapbooking Month special paper pack, “Dotty for You”. These papers are so stinkin’ cute, and you won’t want to miss this awesome deal!!! Watch for more info. soon and be ready to order yours in mid April. Sorry to be such a tease… Winking smile.

See you again soon!

Kathy

Mar 26 2012

Bold & Beautiful

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This week at CAS-ual Friday the challenge is to create a bold and beautiful design using black and pastels. I have seen 2 card designs recently that really grabbed my eye and decided (actually I woke up at 3 am with the idea Smile) to combine the two for this challenge.

                    

These are the 2 inspiration cards. The first is by fellow Close to my Heart consultant, Michelle Johns. I just love all of the tiny flowers cut with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. The second is one that I found on Pinterest when looking for masculine card ideas. Love the clean and simple design!

Here is my creation combining these 2 designs.

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I used Crystal Blue, Buttercup, Blush and Sweet Leaf cardstock to make the flowers. Then placed them on a black panel on a White Daisy card base and added Bitty Opaques pearl gems to the flower centers. I heat embossed the sentiment from the Card Chatter Birthday stamp set with white embossing powder.

Thanks for stopping by. I’d love to hear your comments and have you become a follower!

Mar 12 2012

It’s still Monday on the west coast….

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and as promised, here is my Mojo Monday submission (I did cross my heart after all).

Mondays are crazy fun days at my house. 3 round trip drives to deliver and pick up my 2 older grandsons at school. Today there were 2 trips to the library and one to the grocery store, homework, play time, dinner prep. and getting to spend the evening having dinner with my family all here. Monday night dinner together has become a tradition in recent years and I love all the chaos and love that we share. After everything calmed down tonight I was able to get in my craft room to make this card.

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All products used are from Close To My Heart:

Florentine level 2 paper pack

Crème Brulee Cardstock

Colonial White Cardstock

Color Ready Seam Binding

Rhinestone Designer Brads

Sparkles

Twilight ink pad

Creme Brulee ink pad

Olive ink pad

Thanks for visiting!

Kathy

Mar 11 2012

Another last minute Mojo Monday

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I really do need to work on this procrastination problem of mine…. Tomorrow I WILL complete the new Mojo Monday challenge before the end of the day,I PROMISE! (crossing my heart)

Today I made a card for a special friend’s birthday, based on this week’s sketch.

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Products used are all Close To My Heart:

Stella level 2 paper pack

Kraft cardstock

Just For You stamp set

Friendship stamp set (retired)

Art Philosophy Cricut collection

Mocha Opaques gems

Bling assortment

Cocoa ink pad

Olive ink pad

Thanks for stopping by today. Check up on me tomorrow to see if I fulfill my promise. :-)

Feb 2 2012

Roxie “follow your dreams”

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Here’s just a quick posting of my take on this week’s CAS sketch.

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This was the result of one of those “happy mistakes” that crafters often have. I cut the hearts out of the patterned paper using my Cricut and the center point function. I failed to realize before I hit the cut button that the hearts would not be on the bottom of the paper as planned (and shown in the sketch). Oh well, an opportunity to mix it up a bit and add my own spin. I used the Roxie paper pack for this card and the Pair-a-Phrase stamp set. As I mentioned the hearts were cut out with my Cricut and the Art Philosophy cartridge, the same is true of the flower border that I added behind the heart openings. The CTMH ruler provided the guide holes for the hand stitching. I am really loving this ruler! A few Sparkles added for a bit of bling. My niece graduates from high school this year and I had her in mind when making this card. Thanks for visiting today!

Jan 23 2012

Mojo Monday

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Mission accomplished! My goal for this week was to complete and post my Mojo Monday entry on Monday. Here it is.

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The hardest part of this challenge was figuring out the dimensions of all the blocks….math has never been my strength Smile. To achieve the watercolor look on the flowers I used a stamping technique called tissue stamping. Basically, you scrunch up a tissue and use it to randomly apply different colored inks to the stamp. For the stems, I selectively inked just the stems and leaves then lightly stamped off some of the ink on a scratch paper so that the color would be softer and more fitting with the watercolor look of the flowers. I stamped the sentiment with chocolate ink, then stamped it again with versamark ink and heat embossed with clear detail embossing powder. The beauty of CTMH’s clear acrylic stamps and blocks…you can see through them to perfectly line up where you want to stamp your image!

Supplies are all CTHM unless otherwise noted.

  • Colonial White & Crème Brulee cardstock
  • Florentine paper pack (NEW! coming out in the new idea book Feb. 1st)
  • Treasure Life stamp set (D1306)
  • Crème Brulee ink pad (Z2167)
  • Goldrush ink pad (Z2123)
  • Twilight ink pad (Z2160)
  • Chocolate ink pad (Z2111)
  • Versamark ink pad (Z891)
  • Chocolate Waxy Flax (Z1088)
  • Opaques pearl gems (Z1336)
  • Clear detail embossing powder
  • Edge distresser (Z1297)
Jan 18 2012

Mojo Monday…….on Wednesday!

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This week I am even slower getting my Mojo Monday challenge completed and posted.

For this week’s challenge I used the retired “Bliss” paper pack, chocolate, grey flannel and colonial white cardstock, and dark chocolate striped grosgrain ribbon (Z1617). Close To My Heart’s ruler (Z1471) makes hand stitching super simple. The shapes were cut using the CTMH Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge (Z1686). The sentiment is from the Key Moments stamp set (B1392). I popped up the sentiment using 3-D foam tape (Z1151)

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Thanks for stopping by today. My goal for next week…..complete the Mojo Monday challenge…..on Monday!