Feminine Thanks

I loved this weeks Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World and came up with this...

I was trying to get that touch of silver in my card and used the white hemp cord with silver thread...hard to see in the pic, but thought it was a nice touch.  The woodgrain on the circle is stamped with Fresh Squeezed Stamps Background Check in Archival Brilliance Platinum Planet ink for subtlety.

Here's the trigger...

Thanks for stopping by!

Springy Birthday

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!  Before I introduce my card I wanted to share my new word for the day...bokeh.   I'll be honest and tell you I had to look it up.  It's the out of focus area that you may see sometimes in photo backgrounds.  I didn't even know there was a word for it...lol!  I've always loved the look in pictures and wanted to incorporate it into my background like in the photo of the next Pinspired Challenge.

I tried a few different techniques with distress inks and my water pen, but they weren't coming out quite like I wanted them to.  I decided to do clear embossing with a background stamp and used a bunch of distress inks to create the color like in the photo.

My layout is from the next Freshly Made Sketches challenge...

And because I finally broke out my Fresh Squeezed Stamps I will also be entering in their Squeeze-a-Palooza challenge with the theme of Spring!  I'll share a tidbit I learned from Chari Moss about using the back of your clear stamps to create some shading as seen on the edges of the bottle.  Super fun to do...go try it!

If you like my card head over to Squeeza-A-Palooza Challenge and vote for me!  Much Mahalo!

Playing with Patterns

Aloha everyone and hope you're all having a fabulous Sunday!  I woke up to finding some amazing inspiration through fellow bloggers that have been getting crafty with pattern paper.  I love to use pattern paper to paper piece, but I usually steer away from layering because...quite frankly...I have no clue how to make it look nice.

The next Lawnscaping Challenge is to find something that inspires you.  Well I was absolutely inspired by Teri Anderson's cards this morning that I knew I had to gather some pattern paper and start playing!

I was a bit nervous when it all came together.  Did I use too much pattern paper?  I was trying to remember all the different tidbits I've learned from various bloggers about using pattern paper from the same pad, using a mix of different scaled patterns and keeping a color scheme.  Goodness...playing with pattern papers is a lot harder than I thought! Must practice some more!!! 

I loved the idea of stamping on pattern paper and thought that came out pretty good.  There's quite a bit of Lawn Fawn goodness in this card from the paper to the stamps.  The stems of the flowers is from Let it Snow and the little flowers is from Sophie's Sentiments.  I stamped out the jar from Summer Time Charm and masked out the lid.  That large sentiment is from So Much to Say.

I loved how Teri did a solid black line above and below her pieces...seemed to make it all come together...I'm hoping my card did that and want to thank Teri for inspiring me to start using more pattern in my cards!

Since this is a birthday card I will also be entering it in CAS-ual Fridays: Birthday Bash

I think this card loosely follows the CAS(E) this Sketch challenge for this week...

Thanks for stopping by and any feedback is always appreciated! 

What's the Buzz?

Feeling a little giddy today as I took my last dose of Tamiflu and no body aches today!  Finally...I hope it's safe to say I've kicked the flu bug!!  The cough still lingers, but I hear that's the last to go.  So in my giddiness I came up with this card...don't judge me too harshly...haha!

This card is based on this week's Tuesday Trigger photo

The colors first reminded me of a bee and the sentiment reminded me of the caffeine buzz so why not put the two together?!?  LOL  I know a bee drinking coffee is a little silly, but hey...if it made you smile then I've done my job!  Thanks for stopping by...I so appreciate you taking the time!!

Make a Splash

Couldn't believe time was running out to enter Pinspired Challenge!  I was "pinspired" by the colors and water droplets and came up with this...

I LOVE the pattern paper used to stamp the boots on.  It's from Crate Paper Maggie Holmes and has such springy colors! The splash and droplets have glossy accents (although hard to capture in the pic).  Here's the pinspire photo...

 

I will also be entering this in 3 Girl JAM Challenge : April Showers and Ribbon.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far.  As always thanks for stopping by!

Celebrate with Cake!

This flu is totally kicking me in the you-know-what, but I'm trying to overcome and decided to make a card for Runway Inspired Challenge...

Using this model...

Thanks for stopping by!

Smile...It's Your Birthday!

This week has has been a roller coaster ride of emotions from my daughter testing positive for Influenza A and B and my mom suffering a stroke, spending a day in the ICU and then my hubby testing positive for Influenza B with my son and I getting a mild case of the flu since we had already started on meds prior to showing symptoms.  God is good though, and I'm happy to say my daughter and hubby is recovering (coughing fits lingering), my mom is home and we expect full recovery (after a series of Physical Therapy visits) and my son and I continue to get better every day.  HUGE *sigh...

I needed something to get out of my rut and made a birthday card for Annette Allen.  Although we've never met you can tell she has a sweet personality through her blogs and encouraging comments.  She's having a linking party for her birth month celebration!  So go check it out and enter a card for a chance to win!!
Here's the card...

I used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch...

and will also be entering this in CAS-ual Fridays Challenge: All the Glitters.  Since diamonds are April's birthstone I decided to place diamond stickles to frame edge and on the slice of cake.  Happy Birthday Annette!

You Brighten My Day

This week's Runway Inspired Challenge was a fun one!  I was loving the model's yellow dress with a fine, diamond like design that I had the perfect pattern paper to match from American Crafts Soho Garden.  The model had a bow on her dress as well as in her hair which reminded me of bows on a kite.  Here's my card...

Here's the model pic to use for inspiration...

Since I used an embossing folder will also enter the Lawnscaping Challenge.  Stamp set from LF's Sunny Skies.  That's it for me today...hope everyone is having a great week!

Bits and Pieces

What an enjoyable and blest weekend!  My mom, daughter and I celebrated our birthdays in Maui along with my hubby, son, dad, brother and his newly asked fiance.  Our last family trip was many years ago and I felt so blest to have all of us together.  We've gone through a few ordeals (what family hasn't right?), but this weekend was filled with tons of new memories from picking strawberries in Kula to flight cancellation coming home and I wouldn't have changed a thing!  So that's where I've been and now I'm back to get crafty...

Before I show my card I wanted to share my daughter's party favors she past out in class.  She wanted the theme of Skylanders (a video game)...

Goodness do I have some catching up to do!  Here's the card I've been working on...

I wanted to join in on the fun over at Paper Made Bakery: Let's Go Green using bits and pieces of our monthly kits to make a card.  Also if you like my card please click on link above and vote!  I took the May Arts Ribbon that was included in the How's the Weather Kit along with the beautiful fabric brad to make the center of my handmade rose.  The green twine is also from a past kit.  Of course I also needed a sketch to follow and used this week's CAS(E) this Sketch

The tag was a lot of fun to make!  I used glossy paper and inked it up using Memento reinkers in Bamboo Leaves and Pear Tart mixed with drops of alcohol on a makeup sponge and drew the chevron shape.  To accent it more I just ran it through an embossing folder.  I will definitely be using this technique that I learned from a True Stamp course so stay tuned!

Since this incorporates flowers and chevrons I will also be entering this in CAS-ual Fridays challenge.