Inspired By Challenge #163

 

Ready for another drive-by post?  Today I'm playing with the folks at the Inspired By challenge blog where the prompt is Numbers.

  

Perfect timing for me as my parents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary tomorrow.  I apologize for the imperfect photo.  I had to get this in the mail to them today and of course, there was no sun this morning.  

I did a bit of stenciling and splatters to create the background.   I die cut the front panel twice gluing the outer frame directly to the white card base and the inner panel with foam tape.  The numbers are die cut from holographic cardstock and grounded with a label cut from an ink blended piece of woodgrain cardstock.  Clear droplets finish it off.

Supplies:

PinkFresh Studio - Simple Plaid stencil

The Greetery - Opposites Attract stamp set

PaperTrey Ink - number dies

PaperTrey Ink - label die

Distress Oxide - Speckled Egg

Hero Arts - woodgrain vellum

Simon Says Stamp - holographic cardstock

Continue to stay safe and healthy my 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 

Inspired By Challenge #161

 

The inspiration photo for this week's Inspired By Challenge is just beautiful.  I am in love with that milk paint pitcher.

Alas, no pitchers in my stash but I do have vases.  This card was a real stretch for me as the top panel is a single layer of stenciling.  No stamps other than the sentiment.  

The focal point and background were created entirely with masks, stencils and Distress Oxide inks.  I began with vase, followed by the leaves and finished up with the flowers.  I added some grounding, a little bit of background and then stamped the sentiment with Distress Oxides as I didn't want to take away from the soft effect.  What you can't see in the photo is that I finished it off with a spritz of shimmer spray.  It's perfectly subtle.  

If I'm being honest, I'm not sure I entirely love this look.  I love the card but this totally flat technique is not really "me" as I'm used to outlines around my images but maybe it will grow on me.    What do you think?

Supplies:

Altenew - Versatile Vases mask and stencil set

Altenew- Sakura stamp set (sentiment)

Clarity Stamps - Double Sprig stencil

Pink Fresh Studio - Hanging Garden stencil set

It's a New Year!  Continue to stay safe and healthy my friends.   _____________________________________________________________________________

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 #154

 

Today's card was inspired by none other than the Inspired By Challenge where the theme is Happy Holly Days.  I really love the colors in her inspiration photo.

My card didn't turn out exactly as what I'd envisioned but I love the fun colors.

After arranging my holly leaves in a circle I think they took the shape of a fir tree than a holly leaf but whatever.  It's all Christmas, right?  

I first traced out a circle onto my white panel as a guide and layered my holly leaves, taking liberties to make some of them red.  I picked them up with Press and Seal kitchen wrap before stamping the JOY.  I then added liquid glue to the back of the wreath and pressed the whole thing back down onto my card front.  I added in some berries in the same pink cardstock as my card base however the addition of the glaze changed the color a bit.  My final touch was to add some sparkling confetti.

Supplies:

PaperTrey Ink - holly leaf dies

MFT - Holly Berries (berry dies)

Simon Say Stamp - Holiday Greetings Mix 1 stamp set

Nuvo Crystal Glaze

Pretty Pink Posh - Sparkling Clear Confetti

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

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

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Inspired By #142

 A quick post to share my card for the current Inspired By inspiration photo of Playful Patterns.

The scallops on this pillow translated into Jack-O-Lanterns in my mind so without further ado...

I die cut nine pumpkins from four different colors of cardstock and then randomly stamped them with three different Jack-o-Lantern faces.  The face of the middle one is heat embossed in white and popped up with foam tape.  The sentiment is also heat embossed in white onto the black panel.  This was a little time consuming with the die cutting since I only used one pumpkin die but otherwise it's a very quick and easy card to create.

Supplies:
ArtC - Jack-o-Lantern stamp and die
Ellen Hutson - Got Candy stamp set 

Stay safe and healthy my 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 

Inspired By #141

This sweet image posted yesterday on the Inspired By challenge blog really caught my attention.  I'm usually not one for Shabby Chic but the prints on the tea cups drew me right in.  

 

The fact that I happen to have just the right stamp set didn't hurt either.  *wink*  Here's what I created.

As you can see, I took the inspiration board quite literally.  I have tea cups, a branch, a bird and shabby chic colors and patterns.  

I began by stamping my images onto some really old but absolutely perfect patterned paper.  I didn't have the perfect paper for the floral image so I stamped it out onto the same subtle cream paper as the top cup and then quickly colored it in with Copics.  I used rustic cream card stock for both my panel and card base.  I did some ink blending to accentuate the edges of the panel as well as to color my sentiment strip.  I adhered the elements to the panel, popping up the branch and the bird and then adhered the panel to the card base.  I added a sprinkling of clear droplets to finish it off.  

This is a very different look for me.  It's good to try new things and I'm really pleased with the outcome.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Supplies:

WPlus9 - Hello and Thanks Stamp and Die set  

WPlus 9 - Handlettered Hello stamp set (sentiment) 

PaperTrey Ink - Rustic Cream card stock   

Distress Oxide - Tattered Rose

Ellen Hutson - clear droplets  

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

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

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Inspired By #137

I'm heading off to visit my son and his family but I couldn't resist squeezing in one more card before I hit the road.  The current inspiration board over at the Inspired By challenge blog is just too danged cute.

Am I right????  I have several critter dies that I use quite often but today I chose another NBUS.  Yay Me!  And now that I look at her I have to shake my head as to why it took me so long to use her.

Isn't this kitty just the sweetest?  Her body and shadow are cut from soft gray card stock.  Her little pieces are cut from pink and white card stock.  I used a marker to color in her nose and eyes.  I mounted her on a panel of blue that I ran though with a cloud cover plate.  (This is also a NBUS.  Yay Me Again!)  It's hard to see but the card front is embossed with a fine crosshatch pattern.  The hearts were cut from an old punch.  The white sentiment was cut with a die as well.  

I love her so much!  I may have to make more when I return.  Maybe a black cat version for Halloween???

Supplies:

PaperTrey Ink - Kay's Cat die

PaperTrey Ink - "Crosshatch" cover plate  (Not sure of the name and believe it's been discontinued)

MFT - Simply Hello and Love You die set

Kat Scrappiness - Cloud cover plate

Martha Stewart - heart punch

Stay safe and healthy my 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 

Inspired By #135

What does one do when in the midst of a Florida CoronaCane????  Make cards, of course.  :-)  On a serious note, we are currently predicted to be the center of the landfall of Isaias (what's new?) but we're just rolling with it. 

Rather than stare at The Weather Channel radar all day, I took on the Inspired By Fruity Sentiments challenge where I was totally inspired by the design on that fabulous pillow in the front. 

 When life gives you lemons, pull out the peaches.  

I really, really wish I had this sentiment in stamp form.  I will not even tell you how many tries it took to pull this one off.  *sigh*  It's not perfect but hey, it's handmade.  

I began by first penciling in a curve which I used to stamp out my sentiment alphas...ONE by ONE.  Once I got one I liked, the pressure was off.  LOL!  I stamped the peaches down below as in the inspiration photo and added the little star stamps from the alpha set.  I inked the edges of the bordering card stock with the same ink as I used in the peaches and finished off the card with a sprinkling of clear gems.  

So my dear punny friend Michele, how did I do?  

Supplies:

WPlus9 - Punny Produce - Peaches

The Ton - Sparklers Alpha

Catherine Pooler - Bellini and Lime Rickey inks

I had the sweetest comment today from Darnell who runs the NBUS challenge blog.  (Never Before Used Stuff)  I've seen the term gazillions of times but have never thought to play until now.  Both the sets I used today were virgins..as in never seen ink.  I'll be linking to her blog regularly as I go through my new pile of schtuff.  

Stay safe and healthy my 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

Inspired By Challenge #134

As promised, I'm back with a second beachy card for another similarly themed online card challenge.  It just so happens that the current Inspired By... theme is Beach Life.

I was drawn to both the beautiful sunset colors on the surfboard as well as that cute VW van on the cute shabby chic side table.  

I created the background with Distress Oxide inks.  I stamped two palm trees and then colored them in with a black sparkle marker.  (The sparkle is lost in the photography.)  I stamped, COPIC colored, and die cut the van before popping it up on the card front with some foam adhesive.  I finished it off with the sentiment and the same birds I used on my last card.  Looking back at the inspiration photo, I think I did pretty well.  :-)  (Don't burst my bubble and disagree.  LOL!)

Supplies:

Avery Elle - Surf's Up stamp set

Avery Elle - Sweetest (friend stamp)

PaperTrey Ink - On the Wagon (bird stamp)

Distress Oxides

Stay safe and healthy my friends!  

_________________________________________________________________________

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

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Inspired By Yellow

I will be honest.  Yellow is one of my least favorite colors so this card was a real challenge for me.  But I faced it head on and think in the end that I may have gone a little bit overboard.  You decide.

Here's the the current inspiration piece over at the Inspired By Challenge blog.

And here is my very yellow card.

I started with a cup/saucer/floral stamp and die set which I colored with Copic markers.  I cut a panel of Neenah Solar White cardstock and did some Distress Oxide blending in two shades of yellow, concentrating most of the color on the bottom right portion. I added a die cut background piece over top of the background and adhered the cup/saucer/floral die cuts over the top.  I adhered this whole thing to the front of a light grey card front.  To finish it off I added the tiny stamped sentiment and some clear sequins.  Too much yellow???

Supplies:

W Plus - Hello and Thanks stamp and die set

MFT - Split Chevron die

Simon Says Stamp - Tiny Words stamp set

Pretty Pink Posh - sparkling clear sequins

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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 playing along with Laurel once again at her Inspired By Challenge blog.  This week's prompt is XOXO....

I remembered a black and white paper pack from PaperTrey Ink that I knew I wanted to use for this challenge.  I loved it so much I bought multiple packets of the card sized prints.  (I'm fairly certain that these are discontinued.)   As you can see, the XO was perfect.

I cut it down a bit to give the card a bit of an outer border.  I used a pink Copic marker to color the back of the vellum which I adhered with a full backing of sticky tape.  The die cut floral is from MFT Stamps.  I added some bling but decided against a sentiment to make it more versatile in my stash.  

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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

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

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

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

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