lawnscaping challenge #30: Inspiration

I love the theme of this Lawnscaping challenge.  It seems like there are endless places to find inspiration for cards lately, especially Pinterest.  I seem to be drawn to rainbows lately; maybe it's because Spring is finally here and nature is starting to explode into color again.  I have decided that I definitely want a neon rainbow cake for my birthday (with a unicorn topper?) and this rainbow card by Laura Bassen totally makes me swoon.  Do you *see* that awesome gradient?!  I've had an idea swimming around about how to use the fun magic wand and wee little star stamps from Lawn Fawn's Critters Ever After set, so this gave me a perfect chance to try it out.

I don't know if it's because I am a child of the 80's, (and a Harry Potter fan), but I love everything about the Critters Ever After set.  Love, love, LOVE.  Can't wait to use it some more.

A Gathering gift bag

A couple of weeks ago, I made this gift bag for a pub call.  (inspired by a bag created by Julia Stainton.)  I replaced the pink ribbon handles that came on the bag with these brown ones.  I die cut the flower pieces using my Cameo, and since Authentique's paper is so thick and toothy, I was able to give the flower a lot of texture and dimension.  First I blotted the papers really well with a wet washcloth, and crumpled them up really well.  After I had made a soggy, wrinkled mess of them, I reshaped them and laid them flat-ish to dry.  Well, not to completely dry, because I'm too impatient for that.  When they were *mostly* dry, I brushed some Tea Dye distress ink over them and punched holes in the center with my Cropadile, threaded a brad through, and Voila! a fun textured bloom for my gift bag.  Now, who do I know with a fall birthday?...

Denim and Pearls on the Sidewalks

The other day, I had a bit of crafty time, and it was just one of those days when I had a bunch of ideas swimming around in my head, but I just *could not* bring them to fruition.  I made sketches ahead of time, had the gorgeous products in front of me, but for some reason, nothing was coming out as it was supposed to.  It was almost laughable the way my sewing machine kept coming unthreaded, my pieces to a sunburst card were not lining up like a puzzle (the way the tutorial said they would!), and it seemed like my paper just wouldn't match anything.  Finally, I looked over, saw a pair of my son's holey jeans that I was saving for a project and a light bulb went off.  I got to work cutting a long zigzaggy strip of denim from the legs and fashioned a rosette from them.  Beauty from a pair of holey ol' ripped up jeans.  I had just happened to stock up on two of Authentique's paper lines this past weekend (Loyal and Genuine...my LSS finally carries A!) and the denim flower was a perfect match for Genuine.  It seems that lately my cards using A come together so quickly.  Anyway, here's my "jean-ius" (<-----Thanks, Heather!) card using Authentique's Genuine:

I also got to play with Mister Huey's for the first time this week.  (Thank you, ScrapbookSteals!)  I intended on misting the card, using the circle shape as a mask, but liked this look better.  The papers and sentiment are from October Afternoon's Sidewalks collection.  See that pink pearl?  I colored it with a Copic.  Who knew?

I like how the pop dots behind the circles make the bubbly die cut look like it's floating.

Hope you get some time to create today!

Silhouette and Authentique

Silhouette's blog just posted a new card sketch today that I *love* and immediately knew I wanted to use Authentique on it.  I had Gathering out on my desk from another project that I was working on, and thought it would be perfect for this sketch.  Can I just say that Authentique's paper is of insanely awesome quality?  It took all of my upper body strength (slight hyperbole) to get my Martha monarch punch to punch it's way through the paper.  Awesome texture; awesome paper.  Wish I had more.  Here's the card I made:

I am late to the Gluber party, but really, how cool are they?  I used a 2" Gluber and a strip of old polyester coat lining to make the rosette.  So much fun.  And now baby beckons, so nap time/scrap time is over.

Have a wonderful day!

Lawnscaping Challenge #29

*Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeal!!*  Yesterday, I got my new Gnome Sweet Gnome stamps in the mail, and let me tell you, they are even cuter in person!  I have seriously been dying to get my hands on this set since I saw it previewed and I'm so excited that I got a chance to play with it today!  So, I've made this card for another Lawnscaping challenge (this time, it's based on a super cute sketch), and since I'm in love with this little gnome guy and his cute toadstool friend, I wanted them to really be the focus on the card.  I kept the rest of the card pretty neutral, and then paper pieced and Copic colored the two little figures.  And it came out a little something like this:

I have a punny idea for another card using this set and my Cameo sketch pens, so I'll have to see if I get any more crafty time in this week.  (And, I've got another project I'm chomping at the bit to get submitted for a Paper Crafts call; this one using Authentique's Gathering.  It's coming down to the wire!)

Have a great day!

Young Crafters Unite! Challenge #7: Clear Cards

I admit, I was a bit intimidated by the Young Crafters Unite challenge at first, but once I remembered that I had a drawer full of clear plastic treat sacks, the rest of the card fell together pretty quickly.  I first punched out a bunch of confetti using my Cropadile and my Lime Twist Fly a Kite 6x6.  Then I stamped and colored the frame using Lawn Fawn's Fanciful frames set, and a couple of Copics, then trimmed and adhered my confetti pouch to the back of the frame. I love the birthday owls stamps from Recollections, so I stamped and paper pieced a couple of these cute hooters, then stuck on the frame using some foam dots.  I wanted to keep the attention to the fun confetti-filled frame, so I chose a simple sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Plus One, and stuck it underneath with foam dots.  I'm really happy with the way it came out; those owls make me smile!

Hope your day is a hoot! :)
~Jen