The Play Date Cafe #126

Oops!!! I did not realise that the PDC challenge was closing in 20 minutes!  I thought I still had a day to post!  So this is going to be very short.

I love these colours and here is a card I created using a PTI Year of Flowers set: Lily of the Valley as well as their Chevron set.  I coloured it with copics and fussy cut it until I was perspiring like crazy with nervousness that I was going to cut right through those little stems!

The tab at the top is created using a Tim Holtz/Sizzix die.  The cardstock is PTI except for the grey which I have no idea where it came from, and there is a little bit of Hero Arts designer notecard in there too!  I love how this turned out!

Thank you for looking.  Have a wonderful evening!

Play Date Cafe Challenge 125

I decided to try something for this colour splash challenge over at the Play Date Cafe.  We are to use the colours black and white with a splash of brown.


My card is a bit unconventional as one would expect hearts to be red or pink, but in this case they are a light brown (using up a little scrap from an MME pack).

The beautiful black and white patterned papers are from BasicGrey's "little black dress" 6 X 6 pad.

I used a PTI Mendhi Medallion impression plate for the white panel and then used the stamps and dies from Back Pocket Basics stamp set.  I love the look of that impression plate, I hope you can see it in the photo.  The white panel and pocket are both popped up with some dimensional squares.

The Half Marathon this moring was tough!  Mostly because it was really hot for April 1st with 85% humidity!  But, we did it, and I think that will be my last race until we move back to South Africa, so I can relax a bit and try to enjoy my running a bit more.  It's also been an exercised filled week, Lisa and I have been to the gym every day  except the weekend, and we start again tomorrow morning.

I hope that you all had a fantastic weekend!  Mine was so busy, with very little sleep so I am really looking forward to some solid zzzz's tonight!

The Play Date Cafe #103

I had a look at the scrumptious colours for this weeks' PDC challenge, they are Rust, Storm and Deep Sea and I just wanted to play!  And I knew it was going to be a CAS design.  At the same time I saw that it actually fitted into one of the sketches over at Hero Arts so I think I will submit it there too, why not!

Here is what I came up with:

Paper: cardstock  (PTI - except the blue layer, unknown); Neenah Solar White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers; Versafine Smokey Grey
Stamps: Hero Arts (CG811; CL488)
Other: Diamond Stickles; Glossy Accents; Dimensional Tape

Lisa and I went to visit an art store which is about 50 minutes drive away and they had some Copics and we stumbled across three very pretty rusty brown colours, so we both purchased them.  I came home and decided to play with them straight away, and I also experimented and added some "Chinese Orange" into the mix and I just love the result (which of course you can only see up close and personal)!

I hand cut the banner using first a mat of my darkest blue cardstock on hand, and added a piece of PTI's grey cardstock (love it), which I repeatedly stamped with a  Hello sentiment using Smokey Grey ink from Versafine.

I added some stickles to my flower because I wanted  a bit of shine, but for some reason it kind of turned goldish, and finally a bit of glossy accent to the flower centre (although I wanted some pearls there but mine were all too large).

That banner is adhered to the note card with some dimensional tape.

I'm happy!

It's a BEAUTIFUL day here in Houston! 

Wishing you a fantastic day!  Nearly the weekend!

A Splash of Red

The PDC challenge this week is to use black and white with a splash of RED!  I like it!  I had a very clear vision for this card, I love it when that happens because things just flow!  Here is my card:

Paper: cardstock (PTI)
Ink: Black Soot and Fired Brick DI
Stamps: PTI (Harvest Berries; Flower Fusion 2); HA (Envelope Patter S5507); Memory Box (Blank Ticket)
Other: Clear Embossing Powder; Dimensional Squares

Don't you love that "Blank Ticket" from Memory Box, I love it's distressed edges and it's perfect for either stamping a big sentiment on top of it or an image.  I went for an embossed image of the gorgeous Harvest Berries stamp from PTI.

Wishing you an awesome weekend!

Play Date Cafe #93

I decided to play along with the current colours over at The Play Date Cafe, the colours are Watermelon, Sorbet and Lime!  It's a good stretch for me, and they are appealingly fresh at a time when our outside temperatures are soaring above 100F, even having reached 110F just before we left for our vacation!

Here is my very CAS card!

Paper: cardstock (PTI); patterned paper (DCWV)
Ink: Sorbet dye ink (CTMH); Versafine Onyx Black
Stamps: Elements of Style & Bitty Basics (Stampin' Up)
Other: corner chomper; PTI dies; Dimensional squares; ribbon (very old stash); Scalloped edge punch (Stampin' Up)

Short and sweet today!  Thank you for visiting!  Have a fabulous day!

Color Splash

The theme over at the Play Date Cafe is Color Splash, any colour of your choice.  I decided to go for green today.  I'm not 100% sure if I pulled off what it was I was trying to do, but I think I like it.

Paper: PTI; Neenah
Ink: Archival Black Ink; Peeled Paint Distress Ink
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous; PTI (Asian Fusion - sentiment)
Other: Corner Chomper; Dimensional Sqaures; EK Success label punch; HA gem

As you can see this is really a very simple card, nothing too challenging.  Probably the quickest card  I have ever made in my life!  But I had the picture in my head and seeing as I could only choose one colour apart from black and white, it was easy to put together.

I pulled out a rather old stamp from my drawer, stamped it and then dabbed around the image with some Peeled Paint ink. I popped up the sentiment after colouring around the label with a black marker, added a clear gem coloured with a Copic marker, and that was it.

Hubby is back so I am extremely happy!

Wishing you a great weekend ahead!

Play Date Cafe #86 & Colour Blocking

Fun colour board hey, you can find all the details to play in this challenge over at The Play Date Cafe!

And my card also fits the CAS-ual Fridays challenge of colour blocking.

I went with a super simple CAS design inspired by the way that the artist on the PDC board lined up the three colours for this challenge in the top left hand corner!

Paper: PTI; Hero Arts (blue cardstock)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Hollyhock & Sorbet dye ink (CTMH); Bahama Blue (Memento)
Stamps: PTI (Year of Flowers Marigolds); Sentiment (Hero Arts; Lawn Fawn; Ali Edwards)
Other: Gems (My Mind's Eye); Corner chomper

I simply cut three strips of cardstock and used the corner chomper on various corners.  I partially stamped the flower on each strip and then created the sentiment with elements from three different sets.  And I finished off with three matching gems.

Ok, I think I need to get more creative over the weekend, need to do some inking and get my fingers dirty! Have an awesome Friday! (There are two other posts below if you are interested in taking a peek).

Play Date Cafe #85

These are the colours over at The Play Date Cafe.  I was attracted to the colours and the roses from this picture, as well as the romantic feel,  and as I had a scrapling left over from the HA 90 Minute Scramble yesterday I decided to use it and go from there.

Paper: HA Notecard; Neenah; Paper Studio
Ink: Antique Linen & Victorian Velvet DI; HA Iris Chalk Ink
Stamps: Blue Bird (Artistic Outpost); Unity KOM (roses)
Other: Gems (Kaisercraft)

I repeatedly stamped the Unity rose stamp around the edges to create a frame then stamped the birds from Artistic Outpost in Victorian Velvet DI.  A strip of creamy patterned paper and a nice sentiment, a few gems and voila! It has a romantic feel which is what the PDC target made me think of.

Thank you for taking a look!  Have an awesome Sunday!

A Splash of Green

The challenge over at PDC this week is black and white with a splash of green.  For the challenge I decided to use the Tall Flower from Hero Arts.

Paper: Notecard (Hobby Lobby); Patterned Paper (Garden Vignette by My Minds' Eye); Neenah Solar White; Black Cardstock (old stash)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers
Stamps: Tall Flower (HA K5431); Sentiment (HA CL488)
Other: EK Success Tag punch; Dimensional Dots; Ribbon (stash); Sewing; White Gel Pen

I covered the front of the notecard with some lovely patterned paper that my friend Lisa gave me (thanks Lisa!).  I sewed around the central black cardstock piece.  The tall flower was stamped twice.  On the base image I coloured all the black areas of the flower with my Copic markers.  I used the second picture to colour the green petals and cut them out.  The top two green pieces are adhered with dimensional dots, the smaller pieces are simply glued back on.

I added some ribbon behind the sentiment tag just to soften up the card, too much black!

I enjoyed making this card, it was fun, and thank goodness, it was one of those days when I had a clear picture in my head of what I wanted to achieve!

And how is your long weekend coming along?  Are you having fun!

PDC Challenge 78

The current challenge over at the PDC is to use red, blue and pink.  Here is the lovely inspiration photo:

Gorgeous colours right!
I went with quite a simple style today as I just love the colours on their own.  I used all PTI cardstock and patterned paper for this card.

Paper: PTI
Ink: Versamark; Versafine Onyx Black
Stamps: Hero Arts(CG311 & CL499)
Other: Corner Chomper; White Embossing powder; PTI die; Cuttlebug embossing folder

I embossed the blue mat with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  I used a PTI Mat Stack die to cut out the die with their beautiful red and white polka dot paper.  I then stamped the Hero Arts "Small Sweet Petals" stamp with Versamark and embossed it with white embossing powder before cutting it out and adhering it to the die cut.

The sentiment is from the "Special Note of Thanks" Hero Arts set.

Thank you for looking!

Play Date at the Cafe

The current Play Date Cafe challenge is to use green, white and brown/kraft.  Here is the beautiful inspiration photo:

I love the freshness of this photo, and what an awesome colour combination.

I have a special friend whose daughter is turning 12 tomorrow and I thought I would make this card for her as she is quite a spunky modern girl with a great taste in clothes and an awesome eye for colour just like her Mom.

I decided to use one of my Greeting Farm stamps as they are the sponsors this week for this challenge!

Paper: PTI cardstock; Neenah Solar White
Ink: Copic Markers; Soft Leaf chalk ink (HA); Memento Tuxedo Black;
Stamps: Hero Arts; The Greeting Farm; Lawn Fawn (sentiment)
Other: Stickles; Paper Flowers (stash), Gem (Hero Arts); EK Success Punch

I stamped the background with the Hero Arts Magical background stamp in the soft green ink also from Hero Arts. I then assembled the rest of the card.  I coloured the little paper flowers using the matching Copic markers and added a little Latte gem in the centre.

For added effect I added some diamond stickles to parts of the background.

Thank you for looking, I hope you enjoy my card! Sorry it's short and sweet tonight, but I have food cooking on the stove!

A Splash of Purple!

Love the current challenge over at The Play Date Cafe, to use a splash of Lilac/Purple!  Look at this wonderful inspiration photo, isn't it just out of this world!

I didn't think I was going to be able to play because of timing issues, but I made it!  I promise you that the ink is purple, it's one of Hero Arts Chalk Inks called Iris, but for the life of me I cannot get it to look purple on the photo!

Paper: PTI cardstock
Ink: Hero Arts Iris Chalk Ink, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Stamps: Hero Arts, Unity
Other: Clear Embossing Powder, Dimensional Adhesive

It was one of those where I had the vision of parts of this card in my mind when I went to bed last night.  Then this morning I knew I wanted a rich background, and what better way than to use the Large Fabric Design clear embossed in black!  Wow!  I know, I am excited about my own card!!!  I just gave the card a bit of dimension by adhering the gorgeous shoes from Unity's January 2011 Kit of the Month set called "To the moon and back...", with dimensional dots.  Had to cut some very, very thin strips to get behind those heels!  I finished off the card with a beautiful sentiment from a new 2011 Hero Arts set.

I think it's a great card for a girl who is graduating or for a great girlfriend for her birthday perhaps!

Thanks for popping by!  I will most likely post again in a few moments, just a couple of Valentines' cards to hand over to my husband's company tomorrow.  Enjoy a wonderful Tuesday, the 1st of a new month!

Playing at the Cafe

3rd and final post for today, make sure you scroll down to see the other two if you wish).

The Play Date Cafe has challenge No. 65 up and I am playing along again this week.  It's been a good challenge to do because I get to try different colour combinations that I would probably not go to by choice.  You should give it a try, HERE is where they are. Now for the inspirational photo and colour palette for this weeks' challenge:

I did go brighter on my version of the colours, but, it's still fits the challenge.

I went with a simple design today, because I saw it clearly in my mind, and that is what works best for me.

Paper: PTI Cardstock, Neenah Solar White, Green Patterned Paper (unknown)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Pumice Stone and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks, Copic Marker
Stamps: PTI (Marigold & Woodgrain) , Hero Arts (Butterfly & Sentiment)
Other: Gems by Hero Arts, Clear Embossing Powder

I stamped the grey background with a Woodgrain stamp using Pumice Stone Distress Ink.

For the centre panel I first stamped and clear embossed the Marigold off to the side and wanted to leave it white, I find it very striking (this was influenced by my friend who has just started stamping/cardmaking and is producing the most amazing work!).  I then masked the Marigold off and applied a lot of Spiced Marmalade Distress ink to the background.  I stamped the butterfly on patterned paper and cut it out to adhere to the card, and stamped the sentiment.

I did not want to centre the panel, just for a different look.  So I added the three gems, which were clear and coloured with a matching green Copic marker, just to break up the greyness.

A simple design, I like it, I hope you do to!

Wishing you a wonderful Saturday and a fabulous weekend overall!

The Play Date Cafe #64

Hi everyone!  For some reason I have been staring at walls when it comes to trying to make some cards the last few days, there was just nothing there!  No pictures in my head!  Just blank!  I guess it happens!

I really wanted to play along with the current PDCC challenge which you can find HERE!  This is the gorgeous inspiration photo we got with really beautiful calming colours:

And after much deliberation, including trying to fulfill one of my New Years' decisions to use stamps that have been left alone for far too long, here is what I came up with:

Paper: PTI cardstock, Vellum (unknown source)

Ink: Versamark, Broken China & Tea Dye Distress Inks

Stamps: Sentiment (Hero Arts), Birds (Crafty Individuals), Background (CTMH)

Other: PTI Mat stack Die, Crocheted Flower (made by me), Brad (CTMH), White embossing powder, Silver embossing powder

I am sure that I was not thinking straight when I made this card because I seem to have taken a long time to make it, the entire morning!  I am positive that there must have been a quicker route?!

So, are you asking yourself the same question I believed you would be asking when I stood back and looked at my card?  Where is the VELLUM?  I know, I probably did not need it, but I WANTED to emboss on vellum, and I wanted to do it TODAY!  Stubborn? Me? Never!

So, those 3 little bird collage stamps are actually stamped using Versamark, on vellum, then embossed in white powder, then inked on both sided with Broken China Distress Ink, then adhered to white cardstock and then cut out!  Why did she not just stamp and emboss in white on blue cardstock, you may be asking?  Well, I did not like the look, it did not look like THIS looks, for me, I could see the difference!

Ok, let's move on...I also used a very old method to cut out those 3 squares from the beige cardstock, I used my Coluzzle! Then I inked those edges a little with Tea Dye Distress Ink. That was then adhered with dimensional strips over the birds. 

The background is simply stamped with Versamark and clear embossed.  The sentiment from Hero Arts is embossed with Silver embossing powder.  The rest doesn't realy require any explanation.

So, what have I learned about myself today:

1. I am a SLOW cardmaker

2. I think too much

3. I am as stubborn as a mule

4. I will never be able to mass produce cards

BUT for each of those seemingly negative points, there are positives:

1. I take pride in my work

2. I am serious about what I do

3. I know what I want

4. I love that I am unique



Oh boy, this started out as a wonderful PDCC challenge and now it sounds like a philosophical speech... enough of that.  I will be back later with more craftiness!  Have an awesome Sunday!

Play Date Cafe Challenge 63

It's taken me a while to decide what to make for the current challenge over at the Play Date Cafe.  It's a colour challenge to use Grass Green, Silver and Gold!  Whilst I think those three colours really go well together, I am not a Gold or Silver person, those are not two of my "go to" colours!  In my mind I visualised the new "Delicate Leaf Clusters" from Hero Arts and also a Hero Art butterfly from their "Antique Engravings" set.  Now the hard part, where is the silver and gold going to go?!!

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Rustic White (PTI)
Ink: Forest Moss, Peeled Paint & Shabby Shutters Distress inks, Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark
Stamps: Hero Arts, PTI (Mat Stack 1 Collection)
Other: Gold and Silver Embossing Powder, Dimensional Dots, Pearlized water spray, PTI Die

I first created the background by stamping just about all the different leaf patterns from the Hero Arts set in various green distress inks.  I then distressed the entire surface with just the Forest Moss distress ink, leaving it lighter towards the centre.  Finally I flicked some pearlized water over the entire panel, those little water spots now look silver!

The sentiment panel was stamped in versamark onto the Mat Stack Die cut from PTI and then embossed in gold and the sentiment simply stamped in black.  The butterfly is embossed in silver and left as is.  I had actually wanted to water colour it after embossing it, but then because I had used so much green in the background I decided to leave it plain.

I like how it turned out, it makes for a more "mature" card.  Thank you for popping by and leave me some thoughts if you have the time!

Play Date Cafe Challenge #62

The Play Date Cafe has announced their next colour challenge which you can find HERE. Awesome colours for this time of year, Poppy, Fuchsia and Taupe. I don't consider myself very good with colours so I had to look at it quite a few times to eventually come to a decision.

Here is my interpretation in the form of a love card:

Paper: PTI cardstock (poppy & fuchsia), Taupe paper (unknown)
Stamps: Hero Arts(Floral Brocade, Large Blossom, Antique Brocade, Large Fabric Design, Antique Engravings & CL402)
Ink: Punch chalk ink (Hero Arts), Desert Sand (CTMH), Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, Tombow marker
Other: Pearls ( from my stash), dimensional adhesive, Clear Embossing powder

I first stamped a number of different Hero Art stamps onto Poppy and Fuchsia cardstock with Versamark and some with Punch Chalk Ink. I clear embossed some of the images. I then used a square punch and punched out a number of squares which I then adhered to the taupe cardstock.

I stamped the butterfly from the Hero Arts Antique Engravings set using the Desert Sand ink and adhered it to the panel, lifting one of the wings with some dimensional dots. I then glued 3 pearls to the body of the butterfly.

I stamped the sentiment and added some faux stitches using a Fuchsia Tombow marker.

I am not sure that the taupe colour is showing up too well in the photo but that was the best that I could do.

Why don't you play along too, I have found this quite stimulating, making me consider combinations of colours I may not normally choose, but the most important factor is that it is fun!

Thank you for visiting, see you again soon!

Playing at The Play Date Cafe

Ok, it's the day after Christmas, so I have had enough time to think about the latest colour challenge over at the Play Date Cafe.  Here are the colours the PDC Team is looking for:

No more Christmas cards from me!  But here is my take on this colour challenge which I have been pondering over since Tuesday!

Paper: PTI, Neenah Solar White, Paper Studio (Blue cardstock), Beige patterned paper (CTMH)

Stamps: Purple Onion Designs, Hero Arts, ALi Edwards

Ink: Tombow Marker, Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark

Other: EK Success scallop border punch

It took me forever to decide on how bright, bright blue was supposed to be, and then to see if I even had anything in that colour! I looked through my handful of Tombow Markers and found one which I thought could do the trick.

So I used the marker to colour in the Butterfly stamp from Purple Onion Designs, spritzed it with pearlized water and stamped it and then cut it out. I adhered it to the beige patterned paper, stamped my sentiment and added the scalloped border which I had punched out from some beautiful PTI Distressed Dots paper.

Before adhering the whole centre panel to the card base, I stamped the card base with the Hero Arts Grass Silhouette stamp using Versamark.

I like it when a challenge is actually a challenge, and the wine colour is not a colour I use, but I was lucky to actually have some lovely PTI cardstock that fit the bill perfectly!

Thank you for visiting and leaving your sweet comments!  I hope that you are all recuperating after perhaps a hectic family Christmas!  Now it's the countdown to 2011!!!

The Play Date Cafe Challenge: A Splash of Yellow

I have never participated in a Play Date Cafe challenge before but this one looked like I could probably manage it, a splash of yellow amongst black and white.  Yeah, right! It looked simple enough until I had to figure out how to incorporate more black that I would normally care for into a design!  But hey, what's a challenge, if it's not a challenge for you!

So here is my take on their 60th challenge:

Paper: Neenah Solar White, Black Cardstock (unknown)
Stamps: Hero Arts, Darkroom Door
Ink: Tombow Markers, Versafine Onyx Black, Black Soot Distress Ink
Other: Pearl from my stash

I coloured directly onto the stamp using my Tombow markers, spritzed with some pearlized water and stamped the image onto white cardstock.  I cut the image out and adhered it to the background.

The background was created by stamping the Old Letter Writing stamp from Hero Arts, which was inked with Black Soot Distress ink.  I stamped it off onto scrap paper first as I did not want it to be too black.  The edges of the background were then inked with Black Soot instead of matting it onto black cardstock.

The sentiment, (I love the fonts in this set), is from one of the brand new Hero Arts 2011 sets!  I coloured a pearl with a copic marker and added it to the card for a little bit of dimension and shine.

I think I did an ok job.  I like it, the yellow against the black is very striking.  But go over to the PDC site and play along, or at least look at what other participants have been up to, there are some super talented people out there!

Have a totally awesome Sunday!