Creative Challenges

Making cards isn't always easy. Often I find that the great idea I have in my head just doesn't work out on paper. Donna was creating cards recently and made these 3 cards, that are the same but different.

Donna has embraced the Nestibilities and uses Label 8 to full advantage for these cards. I'm not sure if she cut then embossed with a CB folder or the other way around. She then dragged an ink pad across to the surface to define the embossing. I'm not positive but I think Label 4 was used to create the sentiment tag. I don't know where the sentiment is from but a bit of ribbon layered on a black base makes for a very striking card.

Here she used only Label 8 to create a series of mats. A dollar store flower and more ribbon. The same but different.

This one is almost identical to the first card shown. I am not usually enamoured of paisleys but I like this CB folder. Ribbon and bling are the finishing touches. The same but different.

I should have asked which was the first card she made. All based on the same basic design but the end results look rather different.

On playday this month, I made this cute little card for my sister's little girl who will be turning 5 this month. (I am a huge fan of the Penny Black animals.) This little sheep was highlighted with copics and placed on a new frame folder from Cuttlebug.



The new Cuttlebug Emboss Plus folders look very different from the products CB has previously released but they work well and create really gorgeous accent pieces for your paper crafts. The sentiment is from a clear Hero Arts set and the dragonfly brads were the perfect finishing touch

May Challenge - Continued.

Jacqui's May card creation is first up today. Jacqui made good use of her Cricuit to make this shades of pink card. She stamped the Rosewood Calla Lillies in a a pale pink to make an all over background on her base card. The shaped elements are all Cricuit and the cute little bunnies are popped into the medallion. NOTE: the "m's" on the bottom of Jacqui's card are part of the frog I used to hold the card and are not part of her design. I do like the look though but not for her card.

For my challenge card, green chose me. I intended to make a blue card but somehow green spoke to me for this challenge. The base card is stamped with an old Magenta stamp. (I just can't get past a plain base card. It just looks naked.) I found some old tags, sponged them green inks to create the medallion. The sentiment is Obsession Impression and Distress Stickles Peeled Paint was added to highlight the oval. I distressed the edge of the designer paper with Memories Soft Leaf. I cut the bracket from Tim Holtz Hanging Sign diecut and trimmed it to fit the card then sprayed the brackets with Smooch Vanilla Shimmer.

And now for our May challenge mistress. Lauralee had two cards in mind with the challenge and sent them both for us to see. Since Lauralee has already posted how she made her cards on her blog. I will send you to her blog to get the instructions.



This is the worst photo of Lauralee's butterflies in flight. White is so hard to really photograph well for an amateur photographer such as myself. I intend to try again this afternoon when the sunshine isn't so bright and hopefully I can get a pic that will do her card justice. The instructions for this card are lengthy but not complicated and again I am sending you to Lauralee's blog

These card challenges are so much fun and really do stretch the creative limits. Cassie has chosen June's Challenge which I will share later.

May Challenge Cards

Our May Challenge was given to us by Lauralee, seen here. The twist with this challenge was to create a tone on tone card.

Barb used her Cricuit to cut the flourishes. She used Cuttlebug Flourished Frame to make her central frame. Her sentiment is stamped and embossed on vellum then centered in the frame. A coordinating ribbon added the finishing touch.



I don't own a Cricuit but Barb, Jacqui & Darlene do. Barb used a Cricuit cartridge to create a spectacular envelope to match her card. Who wouldn't want to receive this set in the mail? Maybe I will have to ask for one for Christmas....hint, hint



Donna really outdid herself with Lauralee's May Challenge. She created this incredibly beautiful card using only black cardstock. She used a flourish folder to mimick the design challenge Lauralee gave us to work with. Layered Nestibility label to create a striking design element.



Darlene used gorgeous blues to create her card. All of the sparkle on Darlene's card comes from Cobalt Tapestry Embossing Powder. She used it on the Spiral Frame that is stamped top and bottom and she used it to edge the ovals. Sorry Darlene didn't identify the makers of the stamps she used.



Cassie made the reds sing in her cards. She used Inkadinkadoo Floral Flourishes embossed with Red Sparkle to create her flourish element. She punched layered ovals and added a Tim Holtz diecut bird from his new set Caged Bird. Not a complicated card but very effective


Tomorrow I will add the rest of the challenge cards, including this month swap mistress' work who is such an overachiever. Kidding Lauralee, just kidding.

Decisions

Our last challenge proved especially challenging for Donna. She chose a card design that was slightly different then the sketch but she couldn't decide which card she liked best. In the end this was the card she chose to submit for the challenge but these are the equally as beautiful cards that followed much the same design.






The same Cuttlebug die & embossed butterfly and sentiment with different bling. All were great cards but just slightly different with different appeal to each person she asked to choose a favourite.

April Challenge Cards

The April Challenge was selected by Darlene this month shown here.
These sketches are really challenging for us.

Barb asked if she could join our challenges and this is the card she created. Barb has a Cricuit and used it to cut the images as well as the word "love" which she cut and layered to give dimension. My photo really doesn't do Barb's card justice.



It was Jess' turn to participate in the challenge this month and she made this rather quick card. The bows are from dollar store hair ribbons as is the bling. The sentiment is Inkadinkadoo stamped on a Spellbinder tag which was popped onto the base card.



Laurilee's card was beautiful as always, although she said this challenge was really difficult for her. She cut the 3 scalloped circles with a punch and ran it through Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder and layered onto some gorgeous Bo Bunny paper. Then she used the Martha Stewart butterfly (her favourite punch all time the note says) from the same paper and added glitter. Co-ordinating ribbon was attached under the punched strip. The tag is a Nestibility stamped with a sentiment from Papertrey Ink and edged with Martha Steward pink ink. Laurilee always send great instructions with her cards.





The front of my card was embossed with the Sizzix Floral Flourish folder. The images from Inkadinkadoo Round Frames set were stamped 6 times; one set was cut out and popped over the bottom 3 images. The edges dragged with Memories Midnight blue and layered onto blue cardstock.



Darlene's card this month is quite different from her previous cards. The images are cut from her Cricuit and embossed with gold. She also embossed the edges of the green paper she used underneath the images. The stamped sentiment is Rosewood stamps also embossed in gold. Darlene used the most interesting wood grained paper layered onto her white base card. I will have to ask her exactly how she did the embossing on this card when I see her next.



The card Donna finally settled on turned out beautifully. She cut the butterflies from a Spellbinder Shapeability. She layered them onto the brown ribbon and added dollar store bling. The sentiment is Hero Arts.



Cassie decided she wanted to make this challenge as well. Her card made use of a Martha Stewart edge punch and a Spellbinder Nestibility Scalloped Cicle. She alternated the circles over a piece of ribbon and added a sticker to the centre circle.



I guess I will have to show the results of next month challenge brought to us by Laurilee in 2 posts next month. If you would like to join our challenge, let me know and I will let you know where to send your images. I will post the May challenge tomorrow.

Card Challenges

Donna & I have talked for awhile about getting together for what we call play days. During the winter months we decided to meet at the store with our friend Darlene to make cards and generally chat about where ever our conversations lead us. One thing for sure there is always lots of laughter. The idea of a card challenge was born one night while Donna was talking to her cousin, Lauri. Unfortunately Lauri lives much too far from us to join us on play day but she always sends a card to Donna for our challenges. Donna chose our first challenge of red and white cards in honour of Valentine's day.



My card relied heavily on some gorgeous paper that looks handmade. The sentiment is a Cuttlebug die. The scalloped layering elements are Nestibility dies. The all over background is Hero Arts, Four Leaf Grid.



Lauri's card blew us away. She stamped the flowers on vellum and added a bit of colour to the reverse for interest. The Nestibility tag is stamped, distressed and attached with a leather strapping. The beauiful silver charm was the perfect finishing touch. (Sorry Lauri I misplaced your notes on the stamps used for this card)



Donna is an animal lover and she has always been fond of these Rosewood Teddies. She added black gems for the eyes and nose. She then added red flock to the pads of their feets. The red layering piece has been run through the Cuttlebug folder, Heart Blocks. The sentiment is Rosewood.



Darlene is a glitter girl. The double heart is a Rosewood stamp. The "ink well"(upper left), "just a note"(lower right), "hi there" and the centre band are all Cuttlebug folders. The raised parts of the Cuttlebug embossed images are hit with glue and embellished with glitter. Darlene's card is a gate fold of sorts, "hi there" creates a tab to open the card.


It was a lot of fun to see how everyone interpreted the requirements of the challenge. For March Liz chose a card sketch, seen here. As soon as Donna gets Lauri's card, I will show you the cards we came up with.

Winnie the Pooh

Donna is our Cuttlebug queen. She (and I) love tools and the Cuttlebug has become our staple of our cardmaking. Pooh Bear is a Cuttlebug die. It has really nice deeply defined lines.

Supplies
Cuttlebug Winnie the Pooh diecut
Rosewood stamp "Friends"
Michaels discount stamp