Smash Birthday Card

This is the one and only submission I made to the Paper Crafts Birthday submission call.  I thought this was actually a really fun and clever idea but it didn't get picked up for the magazine. Oh well!!

Have a smashing birthday! :)

-Susan

Valentine's Cards, All Done!

Here are all 30 Valentines I made for Cards from the Heart this year:

It was a lot of fun making these, and I'm happy to know they are going to a good cause. I tried to mix up the style of the cards, since they will go to boys and girls in a wide variety of ages at various hospitals. I hope they kids get a smile from their cards!!

- Susan

Valentine's Cards, Part 4

And one more batch of Valentines for Cards from the Heart!

- Susan

Valentine's Cards, Part 3

More Valentines for Cards from the Heart!

- Susan

Valentine's Cards, Part 2

Here is my second batch of cards for the Cards from the Heart card drive.

I am really enjoying making these cards, especially knowing that they are going to kids in the hospital. I hope their days are brightened even just a little bit!

See more of my Valentine Cards here.

- Susan

Submitted Cards

I submitted a few cards to the latest Paper Crafts Magazine call and they didn't get picked. So, here they are!

This one was submitted for the nautical challenge:

And these 2 were for the water-technique challenge:

The flower one is made with liquid food coloring on wet watercolor paper. Of the 3, this is the one I thought most likely to get chosen because it's an interesting technique and I LOVE how the resulting card looks. Oh well, better luck next time!! :)


-Susan

(linked at The Contenders for cards not chosed for publication!)

Valentine's Cards, Part 1

I'm making a whole bunch of Valentine's cards this year for Cards from the Heart. I did this last year too and absolutely love having a reason to shop for cute products and make a bunch of cards!

I found an old Inkadinkado stamp set in the $2 clearance bin at AC Moore, so each card is getting a cute little image inside, and then I'll write a message as well:

(Sorry, I know that isn't a great picture!)

So far I am sticking to Memento LadyBug ink because it doesn't run. I'd like to use the more vibrant Stampin Up inks, but they run at the slightest hint of wetness!! 

I'm doing some experiments with sealant, so we'll see how that turns out!

Thanks for looking!!

Susan 

Make your own

I set a goal for myself to participate in every one of the Moxie Fab challenges this week! However, the challenges are coming fast and furious and I can't keep up. So I decided to combine 2 challenges in one card.

This card combines the "make your own background paper" challenge with the "Stamp with a homemade stamp" challenge.

Here's what I did. First, I used bubble wrap and turquoise ink to stamp the background. I like bubble wrap stamping with ink better than bubble wrap stamping with paint for cards, because I usually end up with a warped card from too much paint slopped on by the bubble wrap!

The turquoise ink did come out lighter than I would have liked, but this is some old, cheap-o Ink It Up ink that AC Moore doesn't even sell anymore!

Next, I used a toilet paper tube and paint to stamp the large circles. I stamped off the tube a couple times to make sure I didn't get too much paint onto the card.

Finally I layered a sentiment sticker onto a border sticker, and put all that on top of a torn strip of music. The music is actually from the bag I got at a music store when I went in to buy my kids' piano book. I think I need to go back there and buy more stuff just so I can get more of those bags! :)

Thanks for looking!
Susan

Mini card

This mini card was made for the Moxie Fab mini card challenge!  I made this card by cutting a standard size card in half, so this one is 2 3/4 x 4 inches.

The first layer is a torn book page, layered with the large sentiment sticker and topped with the 2 flower stickers.  I trimmed the flowers down so they fit onto the card front. This also let me use up a sticker that had been damaged on one side. I just cut that part off!

Thanks for looking!
-Susan

Artistic Outpost

Santa brought me a couple new stamp sets for Christmas, Typography & Quote and Quotable.  I love both of these because I hate my handwriting and rarely have the patience to spell out sentiments or thoughts with alphabet stamps. So these collections are perfect for me!

I made a mini-accordion book style of card to try out a few of my new stamps:

I've been experimenting with lots of mini-books, pamphlets, etc lately, and I'm sure these stamps will be getting a lot of use!

Valentine's Window Card

Is it too soon for a Valentine's Day card?? This card is for the Moxie Fab Window Card challenge. I had made a window card for Christmas and really liked how it turned out, so this window card challenge came at just the right time for me to try again!

The heart-shaped window is made with a heart punch, and inside you can see a little locket peaking out.... there's a surprise inside!

Mounted inside the card (with removable adhesive) is a mini-Valentine like the kids exchange at school:

I love how the window let's me do this 2-in-1 idea with the mini retro Valentine! Fun stuff!

Thanks for looking

-Susan

Using 10 embellishments

This card is for the Moxie Fab challenge to use 10 embellishments on the card. That's a lot! I don't usually use a ton of embellishments on cards, but I gave it a try!

These are stickers from the (discontinued?) Vintage Vogue line.  I thought the Miss You sentiment (stamped on a label sticker) went well with the clocks.

The patterned paper is from Stampington, and I also used some glitter tape. 

If you want to see a REALLY cool card for this challenge, the one that really WOW'd me as innovative is here. Really cool. (I don't know that blogger, I just thought her card was creative & original!).

Thanks for looking!

Susan

Published!

I guess this is OK to post here now that the magazine has been out for a while... I am very excited to have been published (for the first time ever!!) in Somerset Studio's Take Ten magazine!

In the Winter 2013 issue, my cards are on page 96 in the "A Different Point of View" section. Very exciting!

It was quite a shock and a thrill to see my cards and my name in print!

Window for Floating Image

I'm on a Christmas card kick right now, and this card is inspired by the Papertrey Challenge to create an image floating over a window.

Closeup of window:

The tree and sentiment are from the Papertrey Ink Winterberry set. Behind my window are some falling snowflakes made with the Papertrey Ink Winter Penguin set.


Card front:

Inside card:

I really love this idea and will probably try a few a more variations on it. I don't have a lot of punches to make the window, nor do I have a die-cutter! But I do have a small 1-inch hole punch, and I was thinking I'd try a card with a few small windows instead of one large window. So we'll see how that works out!

Thanks for looking!
Susan

Easy Fall Card

This clean and simple fall card was put together on a green card base and thin orange card stock. The house stamps and the cloud stamps are from the Unity Finally Fall set. And that's exactly how I feel - it's FINALLY fall!! Yay!

I don't do much Halloween crafting, but I feel like this card combines the Halloween colors of orange & black with a seasonal Fall look.

I was inspired to combine the Moxie Fab world image of houses with the One Layer Wednesday challenge of a Halloween card.

This isn't exactly one layer, but I didn't have any orange cardstock thick enough to make a card base out of. Had to improvise a little bit!

I got this orange card stock at AC Moore and thought it was going to be heavy enough to make cards out of, but it was nothing at all like the thick Papertrey cardstock. Really it's much thinner like patterned paper. Probably shouldn't even be labeled as cardstock! That's OK though, I'm sure I'll find a way to use it all up! :D


Thanks for looking! Enjoy!
Susan

Easy Birthday Card

I love the Tuesday Trigger inspiration at Moxie Fab today:



The lettering reminded me of these fantastic October Afternoon letter stickers I have, so I decided to make a clean and simple birthday card with coordinating October Afternoon paper.

I think the paper & stickers are both from the Farmhouse collection, if I remember right. I also added some faux stitching with a white pen and the ribbon is a piece of seam binding.

Thanks for looking!

-Susan

Movement

This card is for the Moxie Fab Movement Challenge.

The arrows and the diagonal line of the ink spray are meant to be the movement, so I hope that shows through!  The ink is purple fabric spray ink.

These stamps of from Papertrey Ink - fantastic quality!

- Susan

Focal Point

This card is for the Moxie Fab Focal Point Challenge.

I used dimensional tape to attach the butterfly, so it really pops! And I used a gray ink for the sentiment rather than black, so that it doesn't detract from the impact of the butterfly.

I really like how the text is so subtle, and I also like the orange & blue color combo!

I took the picture a little crooked, but the card is straight in real life! :)

- Susan

Typewriter Card

I'm so glad this Moxie Fab challenge was open for 2 weeks, because it's taken awhile for me to have time to participate!

Here's the inspiration photo:


I love the vintage typewriter as well as the fun colors on the keys, so I used all of those for inspiration on my card:

And here's a closer view:

The background is misted with a chickenwire stencil. The Unity typewriter stamp is on a Jillibean Soup journaling card. 

Thanks for looking! 

Susan

Fun and Formal Card

This week's Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab is this great photo:



The first thing that jumped out at me is that fun banner, but I just did a banner on my Fab Gift Tag, so I wanted to try something different.


I decided to start with the doily on the table, and then add in a fun mix of casual and formal elements, just like the fancy cake with the cute banner!  So here's my take:

The (fun!) orange card base is stamped with the (formal) banner from Mint Motif. The (formal) doily and rhinestones are accented with a (fun!) touch of baker's twine.

The cake looked like a wedding cake to me, so that's why I went with the Love sentiment.

I hope you like it! Thanks for looking!
- Susan