Inspired By Challenge

Cruising through with what I like to call a "drive by" post.  Today's card was inspired by the new board up at the Inspired By Challenge Blog. 

I love the colors of this inspiration piece.  This is what I came up with....

A little closer look at the coloring and the glossy accents that I had to put on my garden boots.

That's it folks.  Short, sweet and to the point.  :-)

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Two Challenges / One Card ---- Perfectly CAS #5 and Less is More #411

I have a very full house and a tight crafting schedule as of late so today I'm conquering two different blog challenges with one card.  The theme of both challenges is to create a one layered card.  I've played along with the first challenge several times however this is my first time participating in the second challenge.  

Perfectly CAS

Less is More

Before I show you my card I'd like to address the whole "one layer" thing.  You can go back through my blog and even further back on my IG account and the only single layered cards you {might} see are the result of an online card class.   Why is that you ask?  Well, I don't like them much.  LOL!  I always thought it was because I considered them too flimsy but now that I've tackled the process once again I've decided it's because there just isn't any way to fix boo boos and Julie is the Queen of Boo Boos.   Today's card is my 4th attempt at this design and even now, it's not what I'd wanted.  I did salvage my previous three cards by cutting/pasting/covering etc and I'll post them sometime soon.  For now I have this and I'm calling it DONE.

The sentiment stamp and the greenery stamp are from two different sets designed by The Stamp Market.  The tiny dot is from an older Simon Says Stamp set.  

Remember when I said that even this 4th attempt wasn't what I'd envisioned?  Well, that's because the darned strip is supposed to be on the left side of the card front.  I got all discombobulated by having to put an entire 5.5" x 8.5" piece of card stock in my Misti.  Oy!  (I managed to get this part right during my first three attempts but those each had various other issues.)  Trust me when I say, there was NOT going to be a 5th attempt.

A closer look at the stamping.  

The recipient of this card will have absolutely no idea that it took me the better part of two days to create it.  Seriously.  So while earlier this week I mentioned that today's card would be even simpler than Monday's I obviously meant "in appearance" and not "in time spent."  I think my one layer days are officially over.  Been there.   Done that.  Wasn't fun. 

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS Colours and Sketches #355

It's time for the final sketch for January at the CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge Blog.  I absolutely adore this sketch by Karen.  So many possibilities!

After much internal debate (too much internal debate if I'm being truthful) I went with the Simply Celebrate stamp and die from Lawn Fawn.  It's such a cute set that's perfect for CAS cards.  

To create the background I blended Distress Oxide Inks in the colors of Twisted Citron and Squeezed Lemonade in a darker to lighter effect.  I then added some water droplet splatters followed by white acrylic paint splatters to create a little texture and interest.  I colored the balloons with Copic markers and finished off the card with an often used set called Birthday Greetings from Altenew.  With so many friends celebrating January birthdays, this card will be postal long before this post goes live.  :-)

I hope you'll wander over to the challenge blog and see how my teammates have used this awesome sketch.  And of course, we'd love for you to play along!

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS(E) This Sketch #356

It's been a while since I've participated in the CAS(E) This Sketch challenges.  The current sketch is a very interesting one and there's lots of fun cards in their gallery.

I took such a simple approach to the sketch that I actually feel like I cheated.  *blush*

You might be thinking..."Oh, but look at how complicated those stitched lines are!"  And......you would most definitely be mistaken.  LOL!  Big impact with a single pass through the die cutting machine.  (Cheated, remember?)  

I used the die set shown below.  I've had for a long time and absolutely adore it but I'm not sure who made it.  (I want to say it's from MFT but it's not on their current website.)  If you happen to know, please leave me a comment below so I can get it labeled.  (Thanks!)

In a nutshell, I positioned the die at a diagonal on my card front and ran it through my die cutting machine to produce the stitched lines.  For my sentiment, I used a Thanks die and it's accompanying outline shadow (Simon Says Stamp/CZ Designs) and finished it off with a trio of three matte dots from Gina Marie Designs.  

I slapped that puppy to a coral card base and called 'er done.  I'd say it doesn't get much simpler but wait until you see Wednesday's card.  *wink*

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Library Craft Challenge #51

I've been absent from Marina's challenge blog for far longer than I'd like.  I want to "make all the things" but alas, sometimes life just plain gets in the way of all the fun.  Yesterday I made it a point to create a card with her current book inspiration in mind.   You can find her challenge blog here at The Library Challenge blog.  Today's book is.....

 

I have no doubt that there aren't hundreds of different cover version but this one is just darling.  I was drawn to the stone wall and the color red in particular.  I searched my newer stamp sets and found the perfect one.  

This Nose to Nose set from Penny Black came with a Christmas sentiment but I think it works beautifully as an all occasion card and in this case, possibly a Valentine.  I started by stamping the focal image onto a piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock, 110 lb.  I then stamped this same image onto a piece of masking paper which I adhered over the top of my focal image.  To create the stone background I inked over a Crafters Workshop stencil with a light beige dye ink.  The bottom area was blended out with a couple of Catherine Pooler dye inks in a green hue.  I then colored the images with Copic alcohol markers and added the panel to a second panel of Solar White die cut with a scalloped edge rectangle made by WPlus9.  The sentiment I chose is from a set made by The Stamp Market.  To finish off my card I added a few die cut hearts that I colored with the same red Copics.  

I think they make a darling version of Romeo and Juliet, do you not agree?

If you have some spare creative time, come show Marina some love.  Her challenges are always fun and really get you to thinking.  

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Seize the Birthday #181

I'm giving my stencils a bit of love this week by playing along with the folks over at the Seize the Birthday challenge blog.

For today's card I chose a brick background stencil from MFT Stamps and inked it up with Fired Brick Distress Ink.  I offset the image to create the feel of a building in the background.

The stamped images are from a cute little set by Waffle Flower Stamps.  This will be a belated birthday card for a friend.  (I am not starting the year out right with regard to birthday cards.)  I plan to add a little something inside about being slow.  *wink*  The birthday greeting is from an older Clearly Besotted sentiment set.

These sweet little images were all colored with Copic alcohol markers.  I'm really happy with the way they turned out and can't wait to color these up again for another card.

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Inspired By Laurel

Today's card was, as the name of the challenge states, Inspired by Laurel.  The prompt this week is Quiet.

I chose to focus on the colors and the shutters rather than the word prompt.  With the exception of the sentiment, my card was created with die cuts only.  

The window die set is from Gina Marie designs.  The kitty and the 'very hard to see' birdhouse in the background are dies from Poppystamp.  Here's a closer look....see it way off to the right?  LOL!

The card base is 100 lb Neenah Desert Storm but the remainder of the card stock is my 'go to' favorite of Rustic Cream from PaperTrey Ink.  The colors of the various elements were created by blending Catherine Pooler inks onto the cardstock.  I backed the window with vellum and inked just a bit of color onto the back before adhering it to the card base.  I didn't have a sentiment in mind while designing the card and in the end decided it would make a nice sympathy card.  I'm curious as to what would you have chosen.

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS Colours & Sketches #354

The weeks are flying by, aren't they?  It's Tuesday once again and time for another color challenge over the the CAS Colours & Sketches Challenge Blog.  Karen is our hostess for January and she has chosen this pretty color combination for our use this week.

While the colors are designated according to Stampin' Up names, you may use any coloring mediums of choice (markers, inks, watercolors, pencils, papers, etc) as long as you stick to the chosen color palette.

I know I said in an earlier post that I planned to use my new goodies first but of course even I don't listen to myself.  But I did one better and dug deep into my stash of older stamps and pulled out two sets from Gina K Designs.

If I'm not mistaken the image is from a past card kit that is no longer available however the sentiment can still be purchased here.  I used Copic markers to color the image.  I was able to match up the blue and rose hues pretty well but lacked a better match for the green.  Sometimes you just gotta work with what you have, right?  I also used my Copics to tint the white clay hearts that I added as a simple embellishment.  

I have lots of friends celebrating January birthdays so this one won't stay in my possession long.  I hope you'll come and play along with us.

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Inspired by Challenge

I'm coming in close to the wire on this one but I always try to make time to play along with Laurel at  the Inspired By Challenge Blog.  The challenge this time around is Hot Chocolate.

This certainly looks yummy!

Because I'm a Florida girl (and most of my cards go to my local friends) I decided to go with the color scheme which just happens to be one of my favorites.  You can't go wrong with black, red and cream (or white for that matter).  I dug in to my stash and came up with this....

Center stage is a coffee cup die exclusive to Simon Says Stamp which I paired with a sentiment from an exclusive Ellen Hutson stamp set called Totally Random Sayings.  (See how I got both of my favorite online stores into one focal point?)  The postage card die is from Avery Elle and that awesome sweater background is from the Ink Blot Shop.  (I certainly don't wear cable knit sweaters here but I LOVED this stamp.)  Here's a closer look....

To create the texture I stamped the background image onto Rustic White card stock from PaperTrey Ink usingVersamark ink and then heat set it with clear embossing powder.  It came out so pretty!  The striped paper is from an MFT Stamps paper pack and the hearts were cut from an old Martha Stewart punch.  I added a thick layer of Nuvo Crystal Glaze over the hearts to create the shine.

I had a lot of fun creating this and my version is ready to send to any of my Florida friends.  

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CC&S #353

It's Tuesday and that means it's time for another challenge over at the CAS Colour & Sketches blog.  This time around we are using a sketch from Karen.

I recently missed the birthday of a friend.  (For the record, I didn't forget the birthday.  I just didn't get the card sent out due to an unplanned weekend trip.  Just want to be clear on that.  LOL!)  I filed that original card away to use at another time and created a new card specific to the occasion.  I gave it a rustic feel since the recipient is male but I think it would work for anyone.

The stamps are all from MFT.  The striped paper is from Memory Box (am I the only one who didn't know they had their own paper line???).  The background frame impression as well as the note card are from Paper Trey Ink.  (The frame is actually a die that I ran through my machine with an embossing pad to create the texture without actually cutting through the card stock.)

I hope some of you will play along with us this week.  I'll be back next Tuesday with another color challenge.  

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Reigning Queen of Snark

One of my favorite challenges on the web is the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers and I closed out the year 2019 in style by once again being crowned the Queen of Snark.  Perhaps that's not something I should be proud of but I do love a good snark and I hold that title near and dear to my heart.

As reigning queen, I was invited to be their first Guest Designer of the new decade.  The theme this time around is H is for Headache.

Of course the first thing that came to my mind was Headache = Hangover but I decided not to go for the obvious.  *wink*  I searched my stamps and in the end, went for something a bit more subtle.

I can think of several "occasions" where, with the right sentiment inside, this could be a great all occasion card.  (or it could be that she's extremely hungover and really regrets her decision to drink the previous evening....)

Thank you to the Sisterhood for letting me play along!  I am so looking forward to the 2020 challenges.

Supplies ---

WPlus9 --- Oh My Gostrich Set

Ink Blot Shop  --- Get Grounded Set (This one stays out on my desk.  I use it THAT much.)

Kelly Purkey --- a retired sentiment

Honey Bee Stamps --- tiny stars

Happy Little Stampers Watercolor Challenge

One of my crafty goals for 2020 is to delve more into the world of watercoloring.  I love the look but I have yet to achieve a level that is acceptable to me.  Today I'm joining in on the watercoloring challenge over at the Happy Little Stampers challenge group.  I'm grateful that their first challenge of the year is simple.

In my watercoloring world simple means "I do not have to color in a stamped image" so I decided to take my goal slow and do something uncomplicated.  Yes, I'm very unimaginative and boring but hey...baby steps.  :-)

I used Distress Inks to slap on some stripes in rainbow order.  I matted the watercolor paper onto white card stock that was cut with a scalloped die from WPlus9.  For the actual die cut portion of the challenge I used a sentiment die from MFT Stamps and then sprinkled the whole thing with clay hearts from Trinity Stamps.

I feel like I cheated but hey....they said "Anything Goes".  LOL!  I'll slowly work my way up to florals, another one of my crafty goals for 2020.

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Seize the Birthday #180

It feels so good to be back to making challenge cards on a regular basis.  Today I'm joining in at the Seize the Birthday challenge where the toppings option is layers.  I can do that.  :-)

I'm loving their new graphic.  Very fun and festive.

I took advantage of some great crafty sales over the holidays.  (Who am I kidding?  Some?  How about A LOT of crafty sales.) I'm pulling from my "new things" bin to create my cards this month.  

For this card I started with a white card base onto which I layered two pieces of patterned paper from The Stamp Market....first a pink and then a stripe from which I die cut a pattern using one of my "new to me" products from the Essentials by Ellen line over at Ellen Hutson shop.  The diamond pattern lets the pink show through from underneath.  I then used two layers of a Pink Fresh Studio leafy branch die using pink and green card stock from The Stamp Market.  (This die is also another "new to me" product.)  I then layered all of that with some black acrylic paint splatters and then finished it off with a final layer that was my sentiment and some strategically placed clear droplets.  How's that for layers?  :-)  

My style leans primarily toward CAS stamping so it was really fun to get a bit out of my comfort zone.  I am in desperate need of birthday cards right now so you may see another entry into this challenge before the deadline.  

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Inspired By Challenge

The first Inspired By Laurel challenge of 2020 is up and I'm so happy to be (done with snowmen) playing along.  The inspiration photo she chose is absolutely gorgeous.

It may be in the 60s here today in Florida but I know that doesn't count as winter for most of you.  No need for ice skates here either so I chose the color scheme as my inspiration.  Here's what I created....

I really should be focusing on birthday cards as that's what I need the most of right now but this Thankful die from CZ Designs at Simon Says Stamp was calling to me.  Other supplies include a background cutting plate from Reverse Confetti, a wreath from Avery Elle and a sentiment from MFT Stamps.  

I'm off to see what other challenges need to be conquered!  

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CC&S #352

It's time for the first CAS Colours & Sketches challenge of 2020.  We're starting the year off with a color challenge.  The color names are designated by Stampin' Up hues however you may use any brand of ink, markers, colored pencils, watercolors, etc for your cards as long as they match the color scheme designated below.

For this challenge I used Copic markers to color in a sweet little image from Avery Elle.  Living near the beach as I do, I loved these cute little beach houses when they were first released but I waited until a recent sale to snag them.   

Then birthday sentiment is from Altenew and the grass line stamp is from the Ink Blot Shop.  (It's called Get Grounded and is one of my most used sets.)  I added in a few clay hearts from Studio Katia and in the spirit of CAS (Clean and Simple) I called it good.  

I hope you will play along with us.  New challenges are released each Tuesday morning at 8:00 AM EST and they alternate between color challenges and sketch challenges.

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

You're My Person

After a month of holiday tags and snowman cards I was sooooo ready to create something entirely new.  I grabbed one of the newest sets from MFT and started coloring.

Being honest here.  I have never been partial to their Pure Innocence line but this one had me at the sentiment.  I have a couple of near and dear friends that I could send this when the time is right.  Like when I need to hide a dead body...hypothetically speaking, of course.  (Yeah, right.  This girl loves her zombies, Dexter and Karin Slaughter novels.  I'm not fooling anyone.  LOL!)

I hope to be busy working on challenge cards the remainder of this week.  I love getting ideas for cards that I wouldn't otherwise come up with on my own.  Some of my favorite online challenge blogs are ....

CAS Colours & Sketches (new DT member)
Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers  (Where I am the Reigning Queen of Snark...my fav title ever.)
Perfectly CAS
The Library Craft Challenge
Inspired By Laurel
Seize the Birthday


I have also participated in ...

Twofer Card Challenge (you definitely have to put on your thinking cap for this one)
Case This Sketch


And in 2020 I'm hoping to participate in the following....

Freshly Made Sketches
The Flower Challenge   (florals are definitely on my 2020 list.  They intimidate me.)
Happy Little Stampers Watercolor Challenge  (Must. Do. More Watercoloring.)


What "go to" card challenges do you love?  Are there any that I'm missing out on here?  Please let me know in the comments so I can check them out.


Thanks so much for stopping by my little crevice of the blogosphere.  Here's to a productive and mojo-filled 2020!


Jules

 

Happy New Decade!

Today marks not only the first day of the new year but also the first day of a new decade.  I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking "how can that possibly be?"  I swear it was only last year that the world was coming to an end due to Y2K. 

On a personal note, my 2019 was filled with multiple health issues.  Some were resolved with surgery while others were not.  Sparing you all the horrid details, I discovered late this year that my remaining issues were all dietary related and I am happy to report that I now feel better than I have in years.  So out with 2019 and in with 2020!!! 

To ring in the new decade I created a very simple card using a set from the Essentials by Ellen line from Ellen Hutson.  They are actually having a sale today so you might just want to ring in the new year with some online shopping.  *wink*

I always find it difficult to capture shine in my photographs but trust me, this one is beautiful in person.  I used a glitter embossing powder from Nuvo which has turned out to be one of my favs.  

I want to personally thank each and every one of  you who take the time out of your day to visit me here on my blog as well as on Instagram.  The crafting community is amazing and I treasure all of the friendships it has brought into my life for the past 15 years.  I hope you all have an amazing 2020!  

Jules