now and forever

Well, panic just set in for a minute.  I thought I missed the closing time for The Challenge #69 but then I saw the challenge closes at noon PST -- I'm EST.  yay!!


 I made this card a couple days ago and life just got in the way and now I have time to post it.   It is a simple card with a pretty striped chevron paper on the teal base card.  I die cut the center heart and the smaller hearts, added a rafia bow in pink and white, and tacked on a few sequins.  The stamp is from Paper Smooches.

Ah, yes, this has been one of those weeks.  I totally forgot to add the second challenge for this card.   This one is the April 2016 Inspiration Challenge for Verve Stamps.  I love looking at their challenges and the entries - very talented people.  I need to get Verve stamps.



  

Have a great Sunday!
Kathy

Congratulations

Graduations and retirements are coming soon.  This card is very similar to a birthday card I saw on Pinterest -- my favorite source of inspiration!  I changed the sentiment to Congratulations and added a little pocket on the inside for a gift card or money.

The front seemed a little blah so I tacked on several silver and red sequins.  The basic card is black and the black and white patterned paper is from my stash.  The sentiment is from one of my favorite sets:  Word Up from Paper Smooches (though I think this set is retired as it does not match the current Word Up set on their website).

 If you need a bunch of birthday or graduation cards, this would be a top candidate -- quick and easy.

I'm adding this card to the Paper Smooches April Challenge - Black and White with a Pop of Color.   









         


Have a great day!
Kathy

Paper Smooches Anything Goes

While going through Pinterest the other day,  I came upon this cute gift card holder.  I just purchased an envelope punch board and thought this card would be a perfect first project -- and I love the punch board!  Really easy to use with great directions, too.

So, I'll be posting the gift card holder to the Paper Smooches SPARKS Anything Goes Challenge this week.

 

The little birdie, notes and 'how tweet of you' are from Paper Smooches My Peeps stamp set.  I added a little bling to the notes.  I just happen to have an i-tunes card to match the notes, too!

     

Thanks So Much

Love patriotic cards and colors.  Here is my creation for the Paper Smooches SPARKS August 2015 Designer Draft Challenge. 

Paper Smooches Stamps




Have a great weekend!
Kathy

Late, again

With all my good intentions, I still have managed to miss a few birthdays.  So I'm catching up on one today!

You'll notice I changed the sentiment  "Sorry   I   we missed your birthday."  I may have a stamp with 'we' on it, but I wanted to use a sort of big stamp to fit into this punched over-sized balloon (the stamp has a smaller balloon, but I wanted a larger balloon to fill the top white space).  These little creatures crack me up and I love stamping with them.

I added a little bling to the white background.  I think the little 4 year old girl will like it.   ;')


The stamps are all Paper Smooches and I'll be posting this card to the Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge. 













Paper Smooches Stamps


Have a great week!
Kathy

Deepest Sympathy

Sadly, we seem to need sympathy cards more this year than ever.  So, with some of my favorite colors -- so soothing  -- I created this sympathy card using pretty paper in my stash and Paper Smooches stamps.  I punched out the butterflies and added a few pearls. 

I'll post this card to the Paper Smooches SPARKS Anything Goes Challenge


Take care,
Kathy

Congratulations

Graduation time is almost over, but I needed one last card.  Everyone loves the smiley face so I thought I would make a look-alike of a card I saw at the post office.  Sometimes they have some really great ideas!

I punched a yellow cirlce and drew the smile with a Copic pen (actually traced around the bottom half of a smaller circle).  They eyes are a cute little stamp from Technique Tuesday's Simple Sentiments.  The congratulations sentiment is from Paper Smooches Word Up set -- these are my two favorite stamp sets. 

Then I cut out a cap and twirled a length of twine for the tassel.

My first card was just the smiley face, cap and tassel on a white card.  It is okay, but needed something.  Hence the background paper of teeny tiny colored dots.  I think the patterned  paper adds a little depth and the smiley face pops.

The second card will be posted to Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenges Blog -
Anything Goes

Paper Smooches SPARKS

Card Swap #4

Round 4 of the card swap has started.  We are to send three people elements of a card (2-4 pieces).  Deciding what to send is probably more challenging than making a card with the elements I receive from three people.  So I went to Pinterest for inspiration.

Just last week I purchased a tag die set from Paper Smooches so I knew I wanted to use a tag as one of the elements.  So I selected a piece of card stock (small chevrons) to go with the graph paper tag.  Then I punched out five small pieces (dots and flowers) in similar colors.  I forgot to take a picture before I put my card together and before I mailed my card elements to the other players.

Here's my finished card.  I added some burlap looking ribbon and a sentiment (also from PS).  The layout is based on a card I saw on Pinterest which was done in red, white and blue paper, white and blue stars and red ribbon.

Thanks so much card will be posted to the Paper Smooches SPARKS Anything Goes Challenge.

http://www.papersmoochesstamps.com/

Happy Sunday,
Kathy

Happy Birthday

The other day I saw a card at the local stamp store with embossed flowers in black on a patterned paper.  Rather striking.  So I thought I would try this technique.  But I used white embossing powder on a white card.  Then I sponged purple and green inks around the edges of the white leaves.  I love purple and green together.

I used a Paper Smooches leaf cluster stamp and a PS sentiment.  I think I will play with this technique more.  Some of the leaves caught the ink colors.  I may not have waited long enough for the embossing to dry thoroughly. 

 

I'll be posting this card to the Paper Smooches January Sketch Challenge

Have a great week - stay warm!
Kathy

Christmas Thank You

Guess I should make a new year's resolution to blog and post more cards in 2015.  I could, but don't know if I would be successful.  Sometimes life just gets in the way.

But not today!!  I needed a thank you card to send to someone who is really special and that was my goal for the day.  But as I was looking at my emails this morning I saw I could make my thank you card which could also be a card for the Cas-ual Fridays Challenge, Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge and the Christmas Card Challenge.  Wow!  Four goals accomplished with one card.  Eureka!!

NOTE:  This a new picture that I loaded a day later.  Better light = better picture!

This is the original picture.  Sad, I know.

Wish my camera took better pictures of red- sorry about that.  The base of the card is a kraft card.  Kraft paper always looks so good with red, white and green.  Love it.

The layout of the card follows the sketch for the Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge.The Cas-ual Fridays challenge required felt and sequins.   So I cut the felt poinsettia with the die set from Paper Smooches and the sentiment is from Paper Smooches as well.

I hope my friend likes this card.  It was fun to make.

         

 Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge

  Christmas Card Challenge #4 

 

Ok, that's for the start of 2015.  Happy New Year!!!

 Kathy

Flower Pot Christmas Card

Just recently I discovered flower pot cards and I love them.  The cards are so cute, fun to decorate and so unique!

Though I complain when I hear Christmas carols on the radio and see Christmas decorations in the stores before Thanksgiving, I've made another Christmas card.  I wanted to participate in the Festive Friday Challenge and the Paper Smooches Anything Goes Challenge and this card seemed just right for both.

The picture for the Festive Friday Challenge  #44 is below. 



And here is my flower pot card!

You can add personal notes or stamp sentiments on the tab that is inserted in the pot.

The flowers are digital flowers from Paper Smooches.  I printed the flowers on card stock and then cut out the flowers.  A few green, glistening leaves and fuzzy red and white flower centers finished the card.  Oops, forgot the ribbon which has little loops similar to the card stock and scalloped edge on the pot rim.

Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge Anything Goes

I plan to make more flower pot cards using lots of different flowers, maybe some feathers and more sparkly decorations.  This is a great card for any time of the year.  I see lots more flower pot cards in the future.

Have a great weekend,
Kathy

Over the Hill

Subtle.   But a gentle way to say happy birthday to someone who is or is going to be over the hill.  I was looking at my Paper Smooches stamps and saw this one and realized I had not used it yet.  The other day I saw a blog with a challenge to use unused stamps -- oh my, do I have a lot of stamps to use.  So this will be my start. 

I will post this card to the Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge September Sketch

 


Have a great weekend.
Kathy

It's Your Special Day Tag

Well, summer is almost over.   Hard to believe fall is almost here.  But in a way I am glad cause the last few weeks have been really hectic and I have not been able to get up to my cave at all.  Going through withdrawal.   Coming up is a holiday weekend and i have nothing planned for next week.  YAY!

This morning was free so I ran upstairs to make something for the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.  Love this guy and balloon stamp.  Actually there is another character in the stamp, but I didn't ink it and then used a marker to fill in the blank spots. 

 

The white tag looked rather stark so I added a few tiny hearts (off-stamped in green) around the edges.  I don't know about you, but this guy (think I'll name him Bucky) brings a smile to my face.  

Ingredients:

Stamps:  Paper Smooches Party Pals and Happy Birthday

 Inks:  some black, red and Copic pens

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Kathy

Missing You

My summer trips and visits are over so I will, hopefully, get back to my cave on a regular basis.

Today I had a couple free hours so I thought I would whip up a card for the Paper Smooches Challenge.  "Whip" is not exactly what I did as I started making this card several times.  I just could not get the picture in my head on a card.  Very frustrating to know what you want to do and can't do it.  Not being an artist doesn't help any either.   ;')

Below is the picture inspiration from Paper Smooches.




And here is my card.  I love the pastels and my Washi tape was the first thing I grabbed when I sat down to 'create.'    A splash of color with purple bug and purple card and three little hearts for bling.

Have a great weekend,
Kathy

Celebrate

Ok, here is the second card I made today.  Aren't these little creatures just the cutest!  Since these characters are so colorful, even without Copic ink, I thought the whole card should be color, color, color.

I'm still smiling.  


This card will be posted to Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes




and Seize the Sketch #24



Have a wonderful weekend,
k

Get Well -- Caught a Bug?

This morning I did all kinds of chores  -  watered my vegetable garden and flowers, weeded a little bit, repotted my African violets, and put in a couple loads of laundry -- so I decided I could play this afternoon which is why I have two posts today. 

The other card I made today was for the June Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.   
I love this Healthy Vibes stamp set.  The bugs are sooo cute!  I gave the bugs bloodshot eyes, added a few rows of Washi tape and popped on a bright ribbon.

Hope you are having a great weekend,
Kathy

Caught a bug?

When I saw this stamp set, I told myself I did not need it.  Well, that lasted about two weeks.  Then I gave in.  It is soooo cute.   Love those bugs and eyes!

Yesterday afternoon I made this card so I could post it to the Paper Smooches challenge this week.  Hopefully, the cute little images and cheery paper will cheer up the sickie.


Paper Smooches Anything Goes




Take care,
Kathy

So Proud

With Memorial Day still on my mind, I thought I would make a red, white and blue card for the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge.

I used two of the Paper Smooches free digital images available here and added a cute little pin flag. 

 




Have a great weekend!
Kathy

Baby

A sweet card for a new baby. Lots of pink and green. 

Lots of little steps for this card:

sponged the white card base with green ink;
added a rectangle of pretty pink and green striped paper;
cut a tag with another really pretty pink and green paper (little pink ladybugs);
cut another tag and added a little sponging, flowers and BABY sentiment (Paper Smooches);
inked white card stock with the green ink again to cut out the butterflies and added a little bling;
and finished with a couple bows made of green string and pink gauzy ribbon.


I'll be posting this card to Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes Challenge




Have a great holiday weekend!
Kathy