Naughty Newton

Dear Newton, you certainly do have some 'splainin' to do. This is a great card for the kitty loving friends. When I had cats, it was almost impossible to keep them out of the Christmas tree.

 The kitten image is from Newton's Nook. The sentiment from Print Works Collection was found at Hobby Lobby. The papers are scraps from SU. A little trick: If I had used the next size up oval for a background, it would have been too big. So I die cut 2 of the same size ovals and offset them a bit. Gives an anchor without taking up much space.
The layout is this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches

Boy Birthdays

My grandson will be 12 soon. He and his family have been displaced by Hurricane Harry.  Thankfully, they had only minimal flooding and have been able to find housing and starting the clean up in their home. So many will be forever recovering from this devastation.
He was born just prior to Hurricane Rita. Fortunately as a newborn, his house was not affected.
I am just feeling bad that I am so far away and cannot go help them out.
So a very special card for you Andrew

I think pre-teen boys are so difficult to design cards for. This stripe paper from My Favorite Things paper pack makes just the right background. The "phone" is from a new SU set called Text Ya Later. It has lots of sayings & emojis. So fun!  Inside I did my own message and added more emojis.

I used the sketch layout from Freshly Made Sketches

Another boy card with the same sketch.

These images and sentiments are from Newton's Nook.

Seagulls

The Stampin' Up! stamp set Wetlands is a great one for masculine cards.

The tags are 2 inch strips with SU's tag topper punch on the top. I sponged the front tag with Crumb Cake and Pool Party before stamping the seagulls. The sun is from Swirly Bird. I like the look of double tags so used a Pool Party back one. I stamped the sea oats on the edge of it to peek out behind the front one. The wood DP is from ms. sparkle & co. paper pack from Joann's. The wood cross piece is from scraps. Raffia and twine tie up the 2 tags. The sentiment is also from Wetlands.
The inside has a computer generated sentiment with a sun and sea oats stamps accents.

The layout is this weeks challenge sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches

Since I used a punch on the tag top, I am also linking up to Tuesday Throwdown challenge to use punches or dies.

Experimenting

I am experimenting with water colors for the challenge at CAS Mix Up

My choice here is die cutting. I used the trees from Impression Obsession.
I am still struggling to get good watercolor backgrounds.
The first one I think the colors are too intense, I didn't use enough water to dilute the colors. Ends up looking like a forest fire.

So then I tried the same 3 colors using watercolor pencils. More of a sunset but still not happy with it.

Back to the drawing board. This one I used only more diluted orange and colored the whole background. Then used a watered down red and dabbed it randomly on the background.

I think it looks like red leaves blowing around. Happier with this one.
So I am putting them up for a vote? Which is your favorite?

Give a Hoot

My friends and I are at the age we have to make fun of birthdays.

And inside:

I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

Fall Leaves

My computer is doing something really wonky and not giving me the site address to link up so I hope this works out.

TIME OUT challenges #90 is Autumn with the optional twist of Speed Stamping

Speed Stamping being defined as making a card in 10 minutes or less, after assembling the supplies.  I was able to do mine in 7 min. 46 sec. And it actually has no stamping at all.  The sentiment was done on the computer and die cut with a Stampabilities label die, then sponged on the edges.

The card base is Old Olive from SU. The Kraft layer is embossed with the trees EF and Chocolate Brown lightly rubbed over the top to highlight the trees trunks.  The part that made this card so quick is the Impression Obsession leaves. I used a scrap of white, sponged on orange yellow, and red dyes in an area big enough for the leaves to cover and die cut them all at once. Then I highlighted the veins lightly with a q-tip and brown ink. The leaves are attached with glue dots and then a raffia bow.  After I assembled the front, I found an extra leaf under my card so attached it inside with the sentiment also done on the computer.

Global Design

Time is passing just so fast. I can't believe Global Design Project is celebrating 100 challenges already.

I think I entered their first challenge.  It doesn't seem that long ago.
This week is a fun one. CASE on of their designers.
I admire Brian King's clean precise style. So I am casing his card

The marble background caught my eye. I don't have that background stamps but do have a pack of marble DP I found at JoAnn's. The green one goes perfectly with Lemon Lime Twist. 

Since I am working on Halloween Cards for Send A Smile 4 Kids I went with that theme. Adding strips of orange and purple scraps bring in the Halloween colors.

Dracula is just too cute to be scary. He is from the Cookie-Cutter Halloween collection from last year.  I colored him with colored pencils, punched him out and mounted with dimensional.  I had to fussy cut the treat bag--that even cases Brian. We know how he likes to fussy cut!  The sentiment is an old one from SU also.

Pumpkin Patch

Who said "summer is easy"?  It has been pretty hectic around here. And I am behind in my challenges. School started today and before you know it fall and Halloween are upon us.  I have started on some Halloween cards for Send A Smile 4 Kids It will fit their challenge of "Anything Goes"

I used some scraps for the background strips and an old jack-lantern stamp. After coloring and cutting out the pumpkin, I added some raffia behind the stem and then popped it up with dimensional.

The sentiment is from SU. Some tiny punched bats flying around this pumpkin patch add a little spookiness.

The layout is from the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches

Cheer Card

I have an order for 15 Thinking of You and Cheer cards so am taking this opportunity get my mojo flowing with the tic-tac-toe challenge from The Paper Players

I used the top to bottom diagonal row. The papers are all from the Stampin' Up! Naturally Eclectic bundle.

On the inside

I saw this layout on Pinterest but didn't save it so if it is yours, let me know and I'll give you credit.

Sunshine

The challenge at TIME OUT
'If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely' 
made me think of the yellow Ombre cards by Paper Studio purchased at Hobby Lobby.

And the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown: Black and White and 1 other color.

I die cut a frame and used the negative to mask for stamping the dandelions in black and sparkled them up with Wink of Stella and rhinestones.  The sentiments are from Stamping' Up! Sunshine sayings.

Inside, I did a sentiment on the computer and trimmed it a little off center so I could add more dandelions. 

I sponged on some Daffodil Delight ink and then coated with Wink of Stella.

I love this layout so while all the supplies were out, I made a fall color one for Thanksgiving.