Late to the Party...

It's been a while since I've surfed around the card-making world and it seems I'm late to Karen's Feline Playful Challenge Blog Party.  Hopefully she'll still let me play!

Karen has made searching for card-making inspiration easy with her Feline Playful Blog, where links to challenges are updated daily.

And until tomorrow - see I told you I was late to the party - she has blog candy offered up for her followers.  Check out all the great stuff for two lucky winners -

So why not hop on over and join with me... I soooo don't want to be the last one in the door!  LOL

Oh and on a craftiness note - I've got a couple of cards that I worked on while chatting with my mom (she visited this past weekend) just waiting for their picture to be taken and posted here... 

~Kathy

Patriot's Day Thanks...

I wanted to post a card in honor of Patriot's Day, and this little bull dog from Inkadinkado's Patterned Pets stamp set makes me think of the Marines. 

I have no idea if the marines have a bull dog as a mascot, but everytime I look at it that's what pops into my head.

This card came together quick and easy!  I used the negative from a bunch of blue stars that I cuttlebug die-cut for the top border and sprinkled red die-cut stars around the bull dog.  I pulled the sentiment from my new Hero Arts Everyday Sayings set.  This could work as either a hero card, or a blank card for troops to write home on in the next box out to Operation Write Home.

Have a Great Day!
~Kathy

Supplies:
Paper:  Recollections Card Stock
Stamps & Ink:  Archival Jet Black Ink, Hero Arts Everyday Sayings sentiment, Inkadinkado Patterned Pets
Other:  Cuttlebug and star die cuts

Autumn Leaves

Inside a pack of Making Memories Autumn Splendor the following sheet has been taunting me:

While skimming through a variety of blogs, I saw Carol's card and was inspired to CASE it:

I switched it up a bit for the next one. 

These are so quick and fun that I plan to use up the entire 12x12 sheet for a series of notecards.  The only question that remains... is there a good way to use the scraps that I punched the little leaves from?

I used a couple of little leaf punches from a big kit I picked up at BJ's and sentiments from the Hero Arts Everyday Sayings set.

~Kathy

Supplies:
Paper:  Recollections white and brown cardstock, Making Memories Autumn Splendor DP
Stamps & Ink:  Hero Arts Everyday Sayings, Archival Ink Jet Black
Other:  Zig Memory System .45mm black pen

One Card's Scraps......

Are another card's treasure! 

A few weekends ago I got to meet several local card-makers.  Boy did I learn A LOT!!!  But I think they had almost as much fun showing me all the cool tools and techniques as I did seeing them live and in person.  In a four hour window I managed to eek out one complete card. 

When I wasn't watching in awe, I was fingering through the DP "scraps" on hand and found a perfect combination to match my previously colored Sarah Kay Stamp (it may have been impossible not to find a perfect match in all the beautiful papers!).  I also fell in love with the SU embossed butterfly die cuts (I think that's the right credit), and sprinkled them on the card to finish it off.

Along with the completed card, I got a jump start on a second card, which I finished up later during the week at home...  Again I found the perfect DP scraps and tried the ticket punch as well. 

Looking forward to the next get-together!
~Kathy

Supplies:
Paper:  Watercolor paper, DP scraps
Stamps & Ink:  Sarah Kay...,  Archival Ink Jet Black
Other:  SU embossed butterfly die cuts, Tombow markers, water brush

Soaking up the Sun

Hello again!  Wow!  Blogging is hard work - especially in the summertime, who knew?  ha ha

I thought I'd put another post out here so that my online friends wouldn't think I'd completely dropped off the face of the earth, and to kick-start a card making groove before a weekend crafting party.  I'm so excited to meet some artists (and absorb as much from them as possible)!

Here's a couple of cards I did ages ago for a challenge from Mo's Challenge Blog.  The challenge required the card to have only one of Mo Manning's digital images directly on the base layer and some ribbon.

For the first card, I combined the challenge with one of my own - focus on one location of the image for coloring.  I had a hard time choosing an image (I just love how they all tell a story!), but finally opted for Soaking up the Joy.

The focal point was colored using Tombow markers to match some stash ribbon, and interest was added by highlighting the butterfly, and a couple of the flowers.  Figuring out what to do with the ribbon was the real challenge!  I finally went with a little twist and think it turned out pretty nice.

For the second card I played it straight and basic.  I still like the results, but I think the twisted ribbon in the first card is more interesting.  This end of the summer image totally reminds me of what I was like as an early teen, sitting out in fields watching the insects - the only thing missing in the image is a book or sketch pad!

Supplies:
Paper:  Recollections Card Stock
Stamps & Ink:  Mo Manning digital image
Other:  Tombow Markers, water brush, ribbon scrap