Sunday, April 27, 2014

It's A Mouse!

Hello fellow crafting bloggers! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous!!! Here is my fourth and next to last card from this class. First I want to make something clear: I never liked the mouse stamps that I've seen. Why, you may ask? Because it's a mouse! But I have to tell you, the "House of Mouse" stamps have been working really hard on making a little "nest" in my heart, and have finally won me over. How couldn't they accomplish this? They have stamps with the cutest critters doing human everyday life activities but with such great personalities you forget they are rodents and you have to fall in love with them. This card is a CAS style, and it really makes the image take center stage. I hope you enjoy my first mouse stamp as much as I enjoyed coloring it.
Front view:
Detail of image:
Detail of image and ribbon:
 A sunny and grassy view:
 
 This card was created using:
Stamp: House of Mouse "Don't Spill The Beans" 
Other: Embellishments provided by teacher

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
613 Avenue Create: Challenge #69 Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody: Challenge # 40 - Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenges: Challenge 80 - Say It With Words
A Gem of a Challenge: Challenge #118 Cute and Cuddly
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards Challenge: Challenge #63 - Spring
 
Hugs, Kathya

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter!

This is my third card from the class I refer to here.  This is different than what I usually make which are 6x6 cards. But let me tell you, it was so much fun to make! Look at the bunny with his cute pom-pom tail. The bunny is made with oval pieces made out of soft velvet paper. I am a visual and tactile person so you can imagine that I couldn't stop touching it after gluing the parts together. The teacher had to actually tell me that there was more to come, and boy was she right. As you can see when you open the card, it's got some cool cuts to it that look like open "window blinds" and which we used to glue some die cut butterflies and flowers. Of course that was after we "blinged" them out with some glitter dust, hehe.

We stamped the flowers right on top of each other to give some dimension to them. When I was instructed to do this, I looked at the teacher like she had grown a second head. She saw my face and said "Yes, you have to do this to accomplish the finished look of the card". Now that drove me insane!!! Stamping and overlapping an image to make it look faded? At the moment I thought it was going to make it look like I double stamped the card without being careful. But I let go of my perfectionist persona that lives in my head (do you have one too?) and was able to see the art on it and finally enjoyed the stamping. This is a project that I thought was going to be difficult to make, but actually turned out to be one that I thoroughly enjoyed making!!
 
Front View
 Open card view:
 
 Inside card view:
 Another view: 
 
This card was created using:
Stamp and Die: Stampin' Up "Petite Petals Clear-Mount Bundle" 
Other: Embellishments provided by teacher

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
DigiDesigns Challenge Blog: Easter
Sunflowerfield Designs: April Challenge - Easter or Spring
A Creative Romance: Eggcellent Spring
Alphabet Challenge Blog: E is for Easter
 
 
Hugs, Kathya



Friday, April 18, 2014

Pearls and Lace - FFFC #112

Good morning everyone! It is time for a new challenge at Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenges and it is hosted by me!! The theme for this fortnight is Pearls and Lace and the sponsor for this challenge is no other than Marianne Designs. Don't you love all their products?
 
My card is for one of my best friends, her birthday is in two weeks and I wanted to make something very special for her. I wanted the card to have lot of pockets, tags and space for personal messages, I got inspired by this gorgeous card and I know she will love it. Lets take a look at my card, I tried my best to show you all the card's details, hope you enjoy it.
 
Front view:
View from both sides:

Inside:


Last Page

Closer look at the image:
Details:
View from the top:
My card ingredients are:
Image: Magnolia - Tilda on the Loose
Markers: Copics
Papers: Maja Designs
Flowers: Wild Orchids Crafts
Stampendous Fran-tage embossing enamel - Shabby White
Dies and Punches: Marianne Design Craftables Eiffel Tower Die and Square and Flower Stitch, Doohickey Vintage Tag and Doily Flowers, Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Circles and Romantic Rectangles, Martha Stewart Doily Lace Punch
Lace, pearls and other embellishments are from my stash
 
Now my friends, go to Fussy and Fancy and take a peek at all the stunning creations my teammates have created for you. I can guarantee you will get inspired.  And then, come and join us with one of you fabulous creations.  You will have until midnight on May 1st to enter.
 
In case you want to create a similar card, these are the tutorials I used, 6 x 6 Mini Album Part 1 and 6 x 6 Mini Album Part II. They were created by Super Happy Scrapper and they are very easy to follow.

One last look at the card:
I am entering my card in the following challenges:
Magnolia-Licious - All Things Flowery
Tilda's Town - #100 Easter/Spring
Magnolia Mania - #89 Monochrome
Copic Spain - Flowers
Really Reasonable Ribbon - #93 Monochromatic and Ribbon
Bearly Mine - Spring
Tuesday Throwdown - Vintage/Shabby Chic
Stamp and Create - Spring Flowers
Crafty Bloggers Network - Die Cuts or Embossing
Fashionista - # 8 Pretty Pastels
Inky Chicks - #27 Shabby Chic
Hugs, Ivonne

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Easter Greetings

Happy Sunday! I'm back with my second card from the copic coloring spring class I mentioned here. I really enjoyed making this one. The bunnies stamp is colored with a technique I learned years ago in a demo class at an art store. This is when I used to make cards with no stamping. I was really afraid of them, and to think that I used to run away from stamps and now I can't get enough of them: rubber, clear, digis... I love them all! This is a technique that I know a lot of stampers probably also learned at the beginning: you color the image with markers directly on the stamp. When you are done with all the colors you "puff" air on the stamp, stamp on the paper and voilĂ ! Your stamp is colored directly onto the paper. It's like magic! This is great with stamps that have lots of texture already on them. I had so much fun (and so did the ladies around who were watching me) just trying to get some air out of my lungs after a long day at work. You have to admit that those bunnies are simply adorable!! I liked that this card was easier for me to finish because the bigger image (bunnies) was stamped/colored using the above technique, and the smaller image (carrots) with copics markers. That makes it a "hybrid" in my book, hehe! Now for some pictures of the card. Enjoy!

Front View:
 
 Full Inside View:
 
Detail of Images:
 
Inside View:
 

This card was created using:
Stamp: Poppystamps "Fuzzy Bunnies"; Endless Creations, LLC "J25 Carrot Border"; Inky Antics "Bunny Parade Set"
Die: Stampin' Up! Framelits Dies
Others: Embellishments provided by teacher 
This image was colored with Copic markers.
 
I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Pumpkin Spice: Challenge #67 - Easter
Sunflowerfield Designs: April Challenge - Easter or Spring
A Creative Romance: Eggcellent Spring
Alphabet Challenge Blog: E is for Easter
 
 
Hugs, Kathya

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Spring Has Sprung

Can you believe we are we are in April already? We are done with the first quarter of the year, looks like this one is going to go fast. And this month brings with it Spring and the celebration of Easter. A week ago I attended a Copic card coloring class at my local craft store to see if I could get over this creative and personal funk. And oh boy, let me tell you: it worked! We had a small class, only four plus the teacher. And this time she tried something different. She gave each student all the materials (copics included) in a plastic container with the finished sample of the card and I loved it!

By the second card, we were helping each other and giving advice as to what mistakes to avoid. But more importantly, I was able to finish all the cards! I couldn't' believe it because it was Tuesday night and I had to run out of the office to drive the distance to get to the store on time for the 6:00 pm class. I came out of the class all pumped up, immediately calling my husband because I couldn't believe it.

I have to say, I felt a little proud of myself for accomplishing such a great challenge. See, usually I don't finish all the cards because I'm visual and try to color with "technique" (funny because I don't have one yet, hehe!) and there are not enough markers so I get stuck. I blame the "perfectionist little monster" that lives in me. But this time I decided to let go of it and "go with the flow" and just try to have fun. And I did!

The cards are a "clean and simple" style and I will be posting one each week, time permitting. We didn't get a list of the materials, but I tried to research most of them online to include in the post. Here is the first one, I hope you like it!

Front card view:

Detail of image:

This card was created using:
Stamp: Stampin' Up! "Blessed Easter"
Dies: Stampin' Up! Ovals Collection Framelits Dies
Others: Stampin' Up! "Framed Tulip Textured Impressions Embossing Folder Die 
This image was colored with Copic markers.
 
I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps: Challenge #89 - CAS
Crafting with Dragonflies: Challenge #23 : Easter - Card or anything
Handmade Harbour: Midweek Papercraft Party (31) Spring or Easter
City Crafter Challenge Blog: Week 205 - Easter/Spring
Loves Rubberstamps Challenge Blog: Challenge 97 - Anything Goes
2 Cute Ink Challenge: Challenge #103 - Anything Goes
Crafty Boots Challenges: Easter
MarkerPOP: Challenge #40
The Paper Nest Doll House Norwegian Challenge: Challenge #7 - Easter or Spring Colors
My Craft Creations: Anything Goes


Hugs, Kathya