Gifted this card and some Lindt Dark Truffles (SO DELICIOUS!) to a friend of mine. Just a thanks for being a good friend kind of card.

Loosely based on this sketch: Retro Sketches #101

A bag of crafting goodies (instead of candy) for my friend's daughter for Valentine's day.


Wrapping paper: Daiso Lace Cellophane
Stamp: Simon Says Stamp - You
Dies: Lawn Fawn - Hearts, Stitched Journal

Another attempt at following a card sketch: Freshly Made Sketches #124

Made this first card for my niece whose favorite color is purple. These bunnies are TOOOOOO cute! The second card isn't for anyone in particular and I may be sending it to Operation Write Home.
Stamps: The Greeting Farm - Lucky Bunnies, Paper Smooches - Party Posse
Colored Pencils: Prismacolor
Paper: Amy Tangerine - Cut & Paste

I love when animals sleep and they dream so they're moving their little limbs around chasing whatever it is they're dreaming about and making little wimpering/snorting sounds. SO CUTE! So naturally, I was a total sucker for this stamp set as soon as I saw it on Simon Says Stamp. It's so stinkin' cute! On the Pillow Talk set, there are a few cute sentiments with mixed fonts (clean + handwritten). There's a "dreaming of you" stamp but the "you" is handwritten which wouldn't fit on this banner. So I stamped "dreaming of" then the "you" from "wishing you a cozy day". I had die cut some banners before from paint chips (yes... like behr, bnejamin moore, etc) and had them stored in the pocket with the die. This one just happened to match perfectly with the darker stripes on the My Mind's Eye paper. I think this could fit in the "missing you" category for OWH.  Wanted to keep it masculine with the color scheme (because as usual, I'm drawn to more girly paper patterns) but I got the 6x6 pad at Michael's on sale just an hour or 2 before. Simple and cute :D I'll probably make a few more of these with different dogs and some cats too.

Freshly Made Sketches #122

Another attempt at following a sketch. I actually like this one because it's very simple.. but maybe it's too simple? I worry about adding embellishments when I (eventually) send cards to Operation Write Home.

You know.. I was toying with the idea of making my own enamel dot type embellishments. I'd seen Jennifer McGuire do it with Viva Pearl Pens. So I was thinking of mixing my nail polish (since I have so many bottles! ~250 >_<) with glossy accents. Or putting a layer of glossy accents, painting that, then putting another layer of glossy accents. I'll HAVE to try it now that I wrote about it. Some sort of unspoken commitment.... -_-;;

 http://operationwritehome.org/sketch-challenge-210/

This is my first time attempting to follow a card sketch of any type. This is sketch challenge #210. It was harder for me than I'd anticipated. I've been hesitant to make/send OWH cards because I'm scared they're not of the director's style preference. I've seen the videos/rants and heard about the "sneeze" cards. I don't think my cards are sneeze-like but my card style preference doesn't seem like some of the OWH samples I've come across. Anyway... I attempted to follow the sketch but still use some card making tehniques I've learned from my favorite card makers. I'm actually quite pleased with the outcome.

It's my first time really using the emboss resist technique. I love the pinkness! I had trimmed the sheet for the first card so I used the leftover bits on a 2nd card... as you can tell, it's just leftovers. haha~

Another chance to play around with the stencil + color pencil sketching technique. Went a bit more masculine with this one since I have a more challenging time with them.

Julie Ebersole used this technique in the stencil class. I'm impressed (pun intended)! slipping the stencil in a plate sandwich including some embossing pads (I used the Spellbinders ones) made a really neat soft impression.

This one was a bit messy. I mean I couldn't figure out what to do with all of the elements. I had the flower cut from my silhouette and the layers were already assembled. I just hadn't used it until now! Also, I'd used a brass colored brad in the center. Painted it gold with some nail polish just so it was at least in the same color family/zone. Also painted the center flower elements with Perfect Pearls Perfect Gold.