Sunday, November 10, 2013

Fresh Squeezed Stamps: Sleigh Parking Only

Hello friends!

Today is my first official post with Fresh Squeezed Stamps and I am popping in to share some inspiration using Hello December.


First I embossed a panel of light gray cardstock with a snowflake pattern.  Next I die cut a wavy shape from white cardstock to create a snow drift and parked a sled atop the snow. 



I stamped the parking sign with red pigment ink and trimmed it out leaving a small boarder around the edge.  I rounded the corners and adhered it with foam tape on top of a post I created from a strip of black cardstock.  I adhered the finished panel to a card base made from dark gray cardstock.  I love how the red parking sign really stands out against the neutral grays, black and white. 

Well, that's all for me today.  Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Katie

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Thank You Cath Blog Hop


Today, I am sharing a card I made for a very special member of the card making community.  Last week, Cath Edvalson of Moxie Fab World fame announced that she was stepping down from her post as Trends Editor at Paper Crafts Magazine.

Under Cath's leadership, the Moxie Fab World blog has been a beacon of style for the paper crafting community. With her knowledge of and appreciation for design, Cath can spot a trend from 6 months away.  Personally, I have learned so much about design, trends and style from Cath.  She has been a tremendous driver of my growth and development during my creative journey.  And the thing is, I am not alone in these feelings of appreciation. Cath's impact on the card making community has been profound and so the idea for this Moxie Fab Thanks blog hop was born.

You should have arrived here from the AMAZING Kryssi Ny's Mama Elephant Blog.  If you happened upon this post and would like to pick up the hop from the beginning, please visit the Moxie Fab World blog.

When I sat down to design my card, I tried to create a card worthy of everything Cath has taught me, and came up with this...

Triangular Thanks 2


I die cut triangles (lots and lots of triangles) from two shades of green cardstock and gold cardstock.  I adhered the triangles to a panel of light aqua cardstock, popping some of the gold triangles up with foam tape for interest. 

Triangular Thanks- close up

The sentiment is from Paper Smooches, Many Thanks set.  I stamped it on a strip of white cardstock, added a couple of black enamel dots and adhered it to the panel.  I matted the completed panel on black cardstock and adhered it to a white cardstock base. 

Although Cath may no longer be writing posts for Moxie Fab World, she continues to inspire. For a project worthy of Cath, I turned to Cath's Pinterest's board for design inspiration.  This card was inspired by this moxie fab pin from the All That Glitters is Gold board. 



Thanks for stopping by! Your next stop on the hop is the supper talented Angi Barrs.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Katie



Friday, November 8, 2013

SPARKS Challenge- Stripes

Hello friends,

Just popping by today to share my take on this week's Paper Smooches SPARKs Challenge.  This week's trend to watch is Stripes and here is my take:

PS- Holiday Cheer

I incorporated stripes in a couple different (but subtle ways) into my card.  First, the dark gray background was embossed with a chevron stripe pattern.  Is there a rule that stripes have to be straight?  I hope not!  

The second set of stripes is from the snowman's scarf.  I stamped and paper pieced the scarf onto patterned paper from Doodlebug Designs. 

PS- Holiday Cheer (close up)

Here is a look at this week's inspiration : 


You have until Sunday night at 11 p.m. EST to link up your approach!  
Thanks for stopping by!

Katie

Sunday, November 3, 2013

A crafty announcement

Good morning!

So I hinted yesterday that I would have an announcement to share.  I have been sitting on this news for quite some time, so I am super excited to share that I was invited to be a member of the Fresh Squeezed Stamps design team!

For the next few months, I will be creating projects for new releases, plus sharing inspiration weekly on the Fresh Squeezed Stamps blog. (I am the Saturday girl.) Anyway, I couldn't be more thrilled to be joining a group of super talented ladies, plus the owners, Ryann and Shannon, are super nice and fantastic to work with!

Click over the the Fresh Squeezed Stamps blog to say hello to the rest of the team.  :)

Thanks for stopping by! 
Katie  

Saturday, November 2, 2013

I can't believe it's already November!

Seriously, where does the time go?  I have some guilt over the gross neglect of my blog of late.  My days have been consumed by this....

ghost brain veggie cups

and this....
deconstructed caramel apples with m&ms


oh and a bit of this...

the angel and the little witch belong to me :)

So you are probably not interested in my excuses... The real reason for my post today is that I am popping in today to share a card I made a few weeks back for publication call.  It was not selected, so I get to share it here. :)

Recently, I have been challenging myself to create cards using basic supplies and not looking for the perfect ______ (insert holiday here) stamp set.  This is the Thanksgiving edition of these efforts.... a Pilgrim Card!


I created the card by using cardstock and dies (pennants, circles, squares and banners.  I adhered the white collar with a bit of foam tape to give it some dimension. Notice I didn't stamp or include a sentiment of any kind.  I thought the Pilgrim collar and shirt spoke pretty well for itself. 

Before I sign off, it is fully my intent to post and share more regularly this month.  In fact, I might be back tomorrow with a little announcement.  For now it's a secret, but I can't wait to share! 

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

Katie


Friday, October 18, 2013

A pair of Halloween Cards

Hello lovelies!

I am on the Neat and Tangled blog today and I am just popping in to share a couple of Halloween cards I made with the super cute Graveyard Shift and Halloween Scene stamp sets.

First up, I tried my hand at the chalkboard technique using Halloween Scene.

dsc_0569

I embossed the images with white embossing powder and added some sketch marks with a white pencil.  A few smudges of white ink enhance that chalkboard look. 

My second card features Graveyard Shift.  

dsc_0565

I covered a black card base with patterned paper.  Next, I stamped the super cutie skeleton on white cardstock and trimmed it with scallops.  I die cut a bracket edge from orange patterned paper wrapped it with twine and adhered it to the card.  I stamped the sentiment on a die cut banner and affixed it to the card. A candy corn button was added as a finishing touch. 

Well, that's all for me today!  Have a great weekend!

Katie



Wednesday, October 16, 2013

I want to hear you ROAR

Hello,

So I know things have been a bit quiet on the blog front of late... hangs head... I have been busy working on lots of stuff, some of which I can't show you yet.... ;)   But mostly, I have just been busy.

One card I wanted to share with you today is my paper ode to Katy Perry's pop anthem/song Roar.  I don't know if it's hit your radio waves yet, but it's all over stations in Northeast Ohio and I kinda love it. It's so catchy and a great message too.  Check out the video here.

When you find inspiration in recent popular culture, sometimes it's a challenge to figure out how to capture it without a stamp set, for example, that spells it out. So I turned to my computer and came up with this:

 

I created a text box in Microsoft Word and typed my text and printed onto a piece of lightweight cardstock.  Next, I stamped the image of the lion (The Craft's Meow- Birthday Puns) and the starburst (Avery Elle- Bright Days). I trimmed the cardstock, punched the corners and mounted it on red cardstock.  I adhered some enamel dots in the corners before adhering it to a embossed piece of Aquamarine cardstock and attaching the completed panel to a white cardstock base.

The fonts I used were Orniste and Simplicity.  Both can be downloaded for free on DaFont.

Well, that's it for me today!  I will be back a bit later this week with a fun Neat & Tangled Halloween project.  Hope to see you then! Thanks for stopping by!

Katie