lucky

Top O’ the Mornin’ to ya ;)

Time for another Inspired By challenge!

Inspired By - Luck #IB279

Both the theme and the sketch were used as inspiration this week.

But before we get to my card, how about another fun little peek inside my creative mind, shall we?

So... when I first saw the inspiration photo, which we know so often drives my cards, I saw:

elegance, greenery, white space, muted gold, vellum, hues of grey

Then I sat down to create, with the above ideas floating in my head, and....

Complete. Creative. Block.

The ONLY original idea that made it into the final card was using heart dies to create a shamrock, lol.

The end result... 

a huge unexpected pivot from my original 'elegant/greenery/white space/muted gold' idea.

Behold my whimsical, shiny gold card that looks like it came free inside a box of Lucky Charms!!

Sooooo not the look I was going for when I started out, but hey, I just went with the flow and let the creative process take over after I die cut that 'shamrock' - and ended up with this festive little shaker card.

Supply list:

Cardstock: Concord & 9th

Dies: Hero Arts (hearts); My Favorite Things (rainbow); Avery Elle (pierced rounded frames)

Stamp/die: Pinkfresh Studios (sentiment)

Other: Spellbinders (embossing folder; gold sequins); Altenew (shiny metallic cardstock); twine; gold thread

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Design Team's cards on the Inspired By blog! Hope you will be inspired to play along with us this week!!

Thanks so much for stopping by...

xoxo ~ Rae

Inspired By... quilt

Happy Thursday friends, it's time for another Inspired By challenge!

This week we are being Inspired By.... a beautiful quilt!

Inspired By Challenge #IB276

Ok, confession time. 

Many, many moons ago (ahem.. 20+ years ago!) before I took up paper crafting, I was a quilter! My mom has always sewn and is a fabulous quilter, so growing up I was always surrounded by beautiful fabric.... guess I know where my love of pattern and color came from :)

When I saw this challenge, I knew I would be 'quilting with paper' in some way ;)

To say I was inspired is an understatement... I made three cards!

•••••••

Card #1... inspired by the colors, quilt theme, sketch (or 9 patch quilt block!), pattern

Supplies used:

Concord & 9th XO Quilt Top Dies; Big on You stamp set

The Stamp Market patterned papers; simple scripty thanks die

Spellbinders diamond plaid embossing folder

•••••••

Card #2... inspired by the colors, sketch, pattern

Supplies used:

Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms dies

The Stamp Market patterned papers; A fall hello dies; cardstock

Pinkfresh Studio diagonal stitched plaid coverplate die

•••••••

Card #3... inspired by the colors, pattern, sketch (loosely - flipped and used 9 base elements)

Supplies used:

The Stamp Market patterned papers; Birthday cover die; Balloon Birthday die; gold glitter star confetti

This was a fun one!! Hope that you will also be inspired to play along. Be sure to check out the rest of the design team's creations on the Inspired By blog and over on Instagram too!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

xoxo ~ rae

 

let's celebrate | freshly made sketches

Hi there! Got some crafty time in this weekend, and decided to play along with some of my favorite challenges to keep the creative juices flowing ;)

First challenge I worked on was Freshly Made Sketches #574

Here is the card design I came up with....

I started with a white card base and added some cardstock strips from Altenew's Sea Shore gradient cardstock set. Then I ran the panel through Spellbinders diamond plaid embossing folder, taking special care to align the stripes of the panel with the plaid pattern of the embossing folder.

Next I stamped the sentiments and adhered them to the card base, the larger sentiment was adhered with foam tape for dimension/interest. I'm not much of an 'embellisher', so I just added some die cut hearts and a few dew drops.

This was a good challenge for me, since I don't typically put sentiments on the diagonal - I felt that the small sub-sentiment strip worked well diagonally with the focal sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo - rae

Supplies:

Altenew: Sea Shore gradient cardstock set

Spellbinders: diamond plaid embossing folder

Simon Says Stamp: XL Birthday Greetings stamp & die

the Greetery: Sentiment Suite: birthday stamp & die

Concord & 9th: Big on You heart die

Other: Tsukineko onyx black ink; white cardstock; Studio katia dew drops; white heart puffy sticker; foam tape

love you like crazy

Hello!

Played along with the latest sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches | sketch 568

And Just Us Girls challenge #662

So apparently this weekend I had some major creative mojo issues... yesterday, my first attempt at this sketch challenge resulted in a very disappointing card, I literally laughed at the end result! 

And while making said ugly card, my tape gun ran out of tape and when I went to reload the tape (which I have done HOW many times over the years?!) ... I could not for the life of me remember how to do it?! lol After much head scratching, frustration, and a minor swearing fit, thanks to a kind soul with an ATG gun tape reloading YouTube video - I was finally able to figure it out and was back in business - but alas the creative juices were completely gone by that point!

Fast forward to today.... took a new stab at the sketch with a brand new concept and set of supplies, and voilà, here she is:

Much better than the scary card from the previous day! A simple card with lots of technique, this was a fun one to put together! I ended up flipping the sketch because I thought this sentiment would look better on the left side of the card.

I started with an embossed panel as the card base layer. I die cut the tag, stamped and embossed it with clear embossing powder - it's hard to see, but I used PinkFresh Studio's dainty plaid stamp because I thought it would go well with the 'basic plaid' (Altenew) embossed background. I then die cut the hearts and inked them with some Altenew inks (frosty pink, coral berry, ruby red). I die cut strips and adhered them diagonally across the tag and popped the hearts on top of the strips with foam tape. For a pop of bold black, I added the black and white striped ribbon, the fun bold sentiment, and small black enamel heart.

Supply List:

Altenew: Ink: frosty pink, coral berry, ruby red

Altenew: 3D embossing folder - basic plaid

Altenew: tag from Terrific Tags die set

Concord & 9th: Big on You stamps and dies

Pretty Pink Posh: simple strip dies

Hero Arts: heart die

Tsukineko: onyx black ink

Other Supplies: black & white striped ribbon, May Arts jute twine, black enamel heart, white cardstock, clear embossing powder

eta: also submitted this card for the Color Hues latest challenge 

Thanks for stopping by today!

xoxo

rae

miss you

Hello! Back with a new challenge card..

I played along with a challenge over at Color Hues - Challenge #52 Turquoise and Mustard

This was a fun one to tackle... here is my card:

I gave an ombre inking to the Pinkfresh Studio Ornate Medallion die cut panel with mustard seed Distress Oxide Ink. I stamped the Altenew flower vine set in black ink over a panel also inked with mustard seed Distress Oxide Ink for a tone on tone effect, fussy cut around the image and adhered it to the card base with foam tape for dimension. The Concord & 9th (Big on You set) sentiment was stamped with black ink over a panel blended with salvaged patina Distress Oxide Ink, die cut, and adhered to the card front with foam tape. Enamel dots in shades of turquoise were added to the floral panel. 

Love the simplicity of this card and how that turquoise color jumps right off the mustard background.

Thanks for stopping by, appreciate it!

xoxo

rae

love you a lot

 Playing along with the latest challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches

I flipped the sketch, and came up with this...

I started with a panel of pinstriped patterned paper. To create the heart I inked a plain white piece of cardstock with red hued distress inks, then spritzed with water to oxidize. I ran the paper through my die cut machine with the Pink Fresh diagonal stitched plaid cover plate, then die cut the heart shape with a Hero Arts heart die.  The heart was adhered to the card with foam tape. I stamped the sentiments (Concord & 9th Big on You set), die cut the larger sentiment with the coordinating die, and added to the card. Also used were a strip of gold glitter tape and a few gold embellishments.

Another simple creation for me :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

xoxo

rae