Color Dare #5--Create-Your-Own-Rainbow

The challenge at this week's Color My Heart Color Dare was to use all three primary 

and three secondary colours, on a single project. 

So, not quite the full rainbow of seven, but plenty to work with!

I was inspired by this card by Suzanne Dahlberg which I saw posted to the CAS-ual Fridays "Pretty in Pink" challenge: SEE LINK HERE.  I loved that idea of the nested squares, and the patchwork effect of them placed all together.


For my version, I used three pastel secondary colours,  Amethyst, Key lime, and Taffy, and mixed them with more saturated primaries, Pacifica, Tulip and Honey. The largest squares are cut at 1" then 3/4" then 1/2," a bit bigger than on the original card, which creates a different effect. I had fun deciding which colours to stack on which.  See if you can figure out the pattern!

I had planned to machine-stitch around the white border, to make it look like patchwork, but I have an actual quilting project on the go, so changing the thread and pressure foot on my sewing machine was too much work. I used the Close to My Heart ruler with guide holes to perfectly place the perforations to simulate stitching. The kraft paper card base is a 5" square.


The sentiment with the funky font is from the Paper Smooches set "Good Gab."  I used Versamark ink and white superfine embossing powder from Paper Wishes. 


You could have a lot of fun trying out different colour combinations for this design.  Maybe after that quilting project is finally finished!

CFC58: Pretty in Pink

A simple mono-grammed note card, submitted to this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge, 

Pretty in Pink.

I used a retired CTMH paper pack, Sophia (I'm trying to use up my stash!), the Fancy Label die (Stephanie Barnard Stamps) in two sizes with a little stippling around the edge of the white label. The monogram was cut at 1 1/2" on the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge. Finally, I manage to create something SIMPLE!

Featured colours are Hollyhock, Blush and Goldrush.

Heard it on the Grape Vine...

Number 3 in the countdown of top 10 Classic Rock-inspired cards... Don't think I'll actually get to TEN but I've been having fun!  You can see card #1 HERE and card #2 HERE.

I was inspired this week by the challenges at:

• CAS-ual Fridays CFC56 "Sweet Spot", where the challenge is to use polka dots;
• There She Goes Clear Stamps TSG160-Circles, where Debby Hughes has specified the use of circles; and 
• Paper Smooches July Guest Designer search, where you have to use Paper Smooches stamps.

I made two versions of this card: on both, the grape vine leaves were cut from CTMH "Dotty for You" polka-dot paper, with a leaf die from Sizzix.  The grape vine itself is made with "honeydew" twine from The Twinery.  I used circles punched from textured cardstock arranged in a cluster of "grapes," but wasn't too happy with them--they looked a little flat.

So I made a second attempt using a Paper Smooches free digi-stamp ("I love you BERRY much"), which I printed out and coloured with markers. Better.

The head-phones for the groovin' grape were made using a shape punched from silver metallic paper and a length of black "Memory Thread."  The face was created with one of the stamps from There She Goes Clear Stamps' "Perk Up" set .

The sentiment was stamped in Garden Green and Smokey Plum inks (pretty fruity!) from CTMH, using a discontinued font called "Doodle Alphabet." I've been paring the edges off my polymer alphabet stamps (what? cut your stamps?--thanks to Emily Leiphart for that great idea) to allow closer spacing on the block.

Off to listen to XM Radio's classic rock station, for more inspiration...

Merci BOW-coup--CFC54

My new BOW-die from Lil' Inker arrived today, and I could not resist making up a few.  I just love dies that result in a dimensional item!
The perforated detail on these bows looks just like stitching, and they go together with just a few Glue-dots. You can also cut them out of felt (see Debby Hughes' example HERE), and I bet they'd work with fabric backed with iron-on stiffener.

That made me think of a bow-tie, and that reminded me of this week's challenge at CAS-ual Fridays: a masculine card using designer paper.


I have already submitted one item for this week's challenge, but that bow-tie was just so appealing. I had seen a man's shirt (black-tie, another gorgeous Debby Hughes creation) done using the Bow Die and because we speak French here in Canada, this idea was born:

How perfect is that punny sentiment!?
The stamp is from a French "thank-you set" by Close to My Heart.  Striped DPs are "Cherry-O," also from Close to My Heart.  Some old shirt buttons and pen-stitching completed this shirt-front.

One more view of that dashing dimensional BOW...

I {heart} Dad

I am submitting this card to a couple of challenges this week:  Retro Sketches Challenge #13, with this sketch as inspiration

and the CAS-ual Friday Challenge CFC54, where the idea is to create a masculine card, using designer paper.

Closer to home, my inspiration for this Father's Day card came from the beautiful quilted wall-hanging my friends made when I left Milwaukee:

Isn't it gorgeous?  I was also impressed by a series of quilt-inspired items created recently by Miriam Prantner (see her blog HERE). "Quilting" using paper is so much quicker and easier than using fabric!


At CAS-ual Fridays this week, the DT was using a masculine paper pack from Gina K (check out the details and samples using THIS link). I used a mish-mash of paper scraps from Close to My Heart, Sizzix and Paper Wishes "Noted"(that fabulous herringbone pattern) which resembled men's shirts. I first crumpled them up to give more of a sense of texture, then machine-stitched them to a cardstock heart. This was trimmed with deckle scissors to give a frayed look to the edge, as in raw edges of the original quilt.
Now that its finished, it doesn't look quite so Clean and Simple as intended...oh well!

I replaced the scallop at the bottom of the sketch with the die-cut letters "Dad." I used hemp for a bow and kraft paper for the background.

Now that my sewing machine is sitting on the craft table, I ought to tackle one of my unfinished quilting projects...maybe in time for Father's Day?

PS Sparks Challenge--May 7-13, 2012 & CFC52

A quick posting of my entry to the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge. There is now a new challenge every week with a different theme, which means lots more inspiration, opportunities for prizes and just general fun with those Paper Smooches images and sentiments! Check out the details HERE.
 This week's Trend Watch challenge was to feature something from the SKY, with reference to this image:

I just love this digital image: (which you can find HERE)
The expression on that face...
The little owl is so easy and so much fun to paper-piece.





For my card, I created a tree trunk to attach the branch to, printed the owl out on textured paper, and added a little shading with markers. He is silhouetted against the moon in the NIGHT SKY (kraft paper); a few star Dazzle stickers and a lovely dotted ribbon (foliage?) complete the scene.

I have not added a sentiment yet--haven't decided WHO to send it to!

The challenge closes Sunday night, May 13th, at midnight, so there is still time to join in. Look for a new challenge this coming Monday.

**I am also submitting this post to CAS-ual Friday's CFC52--BIRDS.**