Paper craft project no. 316: Merry Christmas one layer card

Hey, everyone! We have a new challenge this week at The Crafter’s Cafe Challenge. Our theme this week is…yep, you guessed it — Christmas! I used the holly square digi provided by our sponsor, Eureka Stamps, to create my one layer card. I printed the image on cardstock, colored it with Chameleon pens, then trimmed the cardstock to size. I masked the image before stamping the poinsettias and sentiment. I applied a bit of green shabby shutters Distress ink along the edges to finish the card. I hope you’ll come check out the projects that my teammates created and then play along. I should also mention that this is my last project for the team, as I decided it’s time to step down. I’m sure I’ll be playing in the challenges, though, because it’s a great place to play and my teammates are simply awesome! :o)

Linking my card to these fun challenges: (1) Addicted to Stamps and More #125 – Photo Inspiration (I was inspired by the red, green, and gold); (2) Paper Creators Crafts #33 – All About Christmas; and (3) Crafty Cardmakers and more #129 – Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 315: You’re a sweetheart one layer card

It’s a great Monday morning, folks! I have been up since 8 last night (I’m on a weird schedule) and DH and I should be well on our way to town by the time this post is published. I haven’t been out much in the last couple of weeks because of work, school, and my weird sleep schedule, and this week, I’m trying to get turned around and at the same time get a bit of sunshine. I’m dropping packages in the mail and then we’re headed to do some grocery shopping. After that, we’re having a little lunch date at our favorite Thai restaurant (I can almost taste that vegetarian pad thai…). Keeping my fingers crossed I’ll be awake enough to enjoy lunch ;o)

Anyway, this one layer card is to remind you that there’s a little less than 3 weeks left to play in the last sketch challenge at STAMPlorations. Linky is open until December 28, you can link up as many projects as you want (instead of the usual 3 projects max) as long as they’re based on the sketch, and you can win one of two gift certificates!

I made my card by first stamping the butterflies (from the Trendy Butterflies set) in different shades of blue. I masked the big butterfly then stamped the leaves (from the Trendy Leaves set) in different shades of green. Then with a TCW reversed chicken wire stencil, I sponged broken china Distress ink for a bit of interest and then stamped the sentiment (from the Sugar Rush set) in black. Finished the card by rounding the bottom right corner. As you can see, I flipped the sketch and used butterflies instead of circles :o)

Thanks for stopping by!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 314: Live with passion

Happy Sunday! I’m starting off the week with my project for 613 Avenue Create.  It’s anything goes but we’ve got an optional twist: create your own challenge with our chart. I don’t do so well with this kind of twist, but surprisingly, I was able to create a card using at least 1 item from every column — image, sentiment, glossy accents, flowers, and burlap/ribbon :o)

To make my card, I stamped a newsprint background stamp (Hero Arts) in coffee archival ink on white cardstock panel. Then I inked up an embossing folder with Distress inks, spritzed it with water, and placed the panel inside it to transfer the ink. (I recently did a photo tutorial using this fun technique and you’ll find it here.) I sponged Distress inks on the panel, ran my TH distressing tool along the edges, and inked it up with coffee archival ink. I added a strip of burlap ribbon on to one side before adhering the panel on my card base. For the main image, I used an image from our sponsor, Digital Delights, and used Japanese watercolor brush pens to color. I stamped my sentiment in black ink and added glossy accents on the word “Live.” And my card is done. I hope you’ll come check out the beautiful projects my teammates created this week and play along too! We’d love to see you in the ‘hood! :o)

Linking up my card to these fun challenges: (1) Sister Act Card Challenge #86 – Anything Goes and (2) Word Art Wednesday #161 – Anything Goes.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 313: Joyful

Hey! We’ve got the last challenge for the year over at STAMPlorations. The theme is pretty easy: stamps and any of our past challenges. Our monthly challenges are here and the sketch challenges are here. Our guest designer is the super-talented LauraJane. I hope you’ll check out the blog to see the beautiful makes by our guest designer and the STAMPlorations girls. The winner (voted by the design team) gets to be our guest designer in February. She’ll also win stamps — 2 stamp sets if STAMPlorations stamps were used in the winning entry; 1 stamp set if no STAMPlorations stamps were used.

As for my project, I went with two past challenges (September Challenge: Stamps & Markers and October Challenge: Stamps & Embossing). I used a chevron embossing folder to emboss a cardstock panel. Then I swiped various Distress inks (mustard seed, shabby shutters, spiced marmalade, fired brick) over the raised areas and stamped the Christmas word block in brown archival ink to create interest and texture onto the inked areas. On pre-cut diecut, I stamped the poinsettia and colored it with Chameleon Color Tones alcohol markers. I cut a fishtail banner from scrap cardstock and stamped the sentiment.

I’d like to link my card to these fun challenges: (1) Virginia’s View Challenge #10 – All Things Distressed (my 3rd entry; I hope Virginia doesn’t get tired of my entries this month — I’m trying to make up for missing last month’s challenge because of work and school!); (2) Simon Says Wednesday Challenge – Christmas/Holidays; (3) CASology #124 – Old (the Distress inks I’ve used are the ones I’ve had since 2009 — they’re still good after all these years, thanks to my bottle of ink refresher!); and (4) Kylie’s Christmas Card Challenge.

Oh, and we’re having a design team call at STAMPlorations. We’re looking to have a few more creative girls join the challenge team. You’ll find all the details here.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

~Shery

Paper craft project no. 311: Follow your bliss

Sharing a card I made this morning using a fun technique. I have a short photo tutorial over at the STAMPlorations blog if you’d like to see how I created the background.

Linking up my card to the following fun challenges: (1) Virginia’s View Challenge #10 – All Things Distressed (I used Distress inks and distressed the edges of the panel with the stamped sentiment); and (2) A Little Bit Crafty – Anything Goes…but not Christmas.

This card also doubles as a reminder for the current challenge at The Mixed Media Card Challenge. This month’s theme is “home” and the optional element is “lace”. The theme is pretty broad — and as you can see from my card, the theme is reflected in the sentiment: “doors” and “walls” are associated with “home” :o)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day :o)

~Shery

Thank you, Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking

Today we’re honoring the wonderful women of Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine. Over the years, Susan, Jennifer, Holly, Stacy, and Kerri have been providing paper crafters like me an incredible amount of inspiration through the magazine and blogs. The February 2015 issue of PC & S is, sadly, going to be the last, and so we say goodbye to an era through this special blog hop.

Compared to the cardmakers participating in this blog hop, I’m a newbie – with only 1 card published to my name: this birthday card I entered to the Stamping Royalty 2014 contest that won me an honorable mention back in March. I always thought that I’d have plenty of time to get around to responding to their submission calls when my schedule cleared up. Sadly, it seems I’ll forever be a PC & S newbie. What’s more sad, however, is that I’ve lost one of the best sources of paper crafting inspiration. I’ve been a subscriber of the magazine for about 3 years and I have every issue saved, and now with PC & S folding, those issues have become even more precious to me.

And so thank you, PC & S, from the bottom of my heart for being an important source of inspiration to me and thousands of paper crafters. I have met many wonderful and talented cardmakers through you. There will be a huge void in the paper crafting community when you finally shut your doors, and I’m not sure there is anything like you that would be able to fill that void. I will miss you dearly.

 

If you’re hopping, you would have arrived here from Mariana’s blog. Your next stop is the SRM Press blog.

Click on the blue frog below to view a list of all cardmakers and manufacturers participating in this mega hop.

Paper craft project no. 310: Mixed media Christmas card

Hello! It’s my turn today to share a spotlight project the STAMPlorations blog. I made 4 mixed media Christmas cards. I used Distress paints, Distress inks, watercolor brush pens, PanPastels, washi tape, and drywall tape. Pop by the blog to see how I made this card and the other 3…I put together a photo tutorial here.

I’d like to link up my card to the current challenge at Virginia’s View Challenge, where the challenge is “all things distressed” and Simon Says Monday Challenge (Holiday Cards).

Thanks for stopping by!

~Shery