Summer Fun at The Paper Funday Challenge

 Hi everyone :)  This is my card for the July challenge at the Paper Funday Challenges - I hope you get inspired to get your summer on and join us! The challenges are ALWAYS anything goes, with an optional twist and for July I used our twist, which is Summer Fun.  What's better than hanging out in a hammock with a tropical drink?

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Tumbled Glass Oxide Ink
Assorted Cardstock Colors {as needed for sand, sun, etc}
Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Pop-up, #LF1270
Lawn Fawn Den Sweet Den Stamps, #LF2409
Lawn Fawn Den Sweet Den Dies, #LF2410
Watercolor Paper {I use this}
Zig Clean Color Brush Markers
Gina K Amalgam Ink Pad in Obsidian Ink
Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes 6" x 6" Paper Pad, #LF1355 {outside of hammock}
Lawn Fawn Hammock & Trees, #LF1979
Lawn Fawn On the Beach Stamps, #LF1953
Lawn Fawn On the Beach Dies, #LF1954
Lawn Fawn Four Square Backdrop, Portrait, #LF2065 {sun & clouds}

As I always do I had stamped, colored and cut out the images I planned to use on this card.  I set them aside and began making the body of the card, using Oxide Ink directly onto the card base to make the summer sky; I then trimmed down the Hillside Pop-up to get a nice, sandy hill for my bear to relax on.  I attached the hill, then proceeded to cut out all the other elements; the trees, coconuts, hammock, sun and such.  I assembled the card and put the sentiment on it and I was done! I love the idea of the bear just hanging out, sipping her drink as the tropical breeze gently flows by; until she is interrupted by her cubs who are screaming in the water for her attention! Poor bear.

I hope my card gives you some ideas of Summer Fun and I hope to see you entering our Summer Fun {or Anything Goes} Challenge at Paper Funday! Hugs, Christi

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
Lawn Fawnatics, #104 - Summertime Fun
Allsorts Challenge, #631 - Sun, Sand and/or Sea
Craft Rocket Challenges, #83 - Summertime
2 Crafty Critter Crazies, # 52 - Anything Goes w/ a Critter
Crafty Animals, #52 - Anything Goes w/ an Animal
Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Hello Sunshine

August Card Chain Challenge Reveal ~ Sun Card

Hi all! This my Card Chain Challenge August card. My send to partner this month was Dawn from New Zealand and you can go to her lovely blog by clicking here. I really struggled with this month and I am not sure why.  It seemed my creative muse took a summer vacation!  After many restless nights, I decided to design my card based on the sketch and friendship, two of the many choices we had this month to use when making our cards. This is the sketch:

My sending partner for CCC this month is Arlene, please check out her wonderful blog, A Bit of this and That, she has some absolutely stunning cards! And the card to the left is the one she sent me - You can't see it, but the entire card has subtle glitter on it and the "hello" and star are cut of glittered paper! Scrumptious!



Now, on to my card, the one I sent Dawn:

It's light, but I wanted to show the sparkle - there is a darker pic below

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Cardstock Base
Glitter Cardstock in Yellow & Orange
Silhouette Cameo & Cut File #61845
"Hello Friend" stamp, Alesa Baker for Impression Obsession
Gold Paper
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
1" Circle Punch
Gold Dragonfly Sequin
Wink of Stella in Clear

I cut the sun Silhouette Cut file out twice, in both the orange & yellow glitter cardstock.  I glued the yellow sun to the card base and then took the positive cut outs, the rays, from the orange sun, and pieced those where the rays of the yellow sun were.  Reading this it seems as clear as mud, but I know you'll understand (plus the picture kinda explains it all).  I put the card under a heavy tile that I have on my desk for this purpose and let it dry overnight.

Meanwhile, I then stamped my sentiment (how cute is this stamp? I needed a something to put on my CCC cards and this adorable "hello friend" fit the bill perfectly) on some gold cardstock and used a circle punch to punch it out.  I had originally tried using gold vellum because I didn't want the circle to obscure the sun, but, the vellum crinkled horribly when I tried to attach it, so I used the gold paper instead. The sequin dragonfly was something I have had for years, literally. I thought that little bug made the card.  Since the sun was SO bright, the little left over parts of the card base seemed kinda dull, so I swiped them with the Wink of Stella pen in clear to finish the card off. 

Another look - I think you can see the detail better in this dark one. . .

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and my Sun card.  Please consider becoming a follower to help me meet my goal of 100 new followers in 2015 (I am only about 25 people shy of my goal!) I'd really appreciate it. Hope you are having a fabulous day! OH! I volunteer at a blog called Challenges for Days and we are in need of some help - please go here if you can spare an hour a week to get more details ~ Christi

I would like to enter my Sun Card in the following challenges:
Clear it Out Challenge - Anything Goes
The Cheerful Stamp Pad - #119, Remembering Summer
Frilly & Funkie - A Touch of Gold

Summer Fun!!

As I sit here in Colorado we have had our afternoon thunder storm, thankfully with no extras such as tornado warnings or hail, and I am still sweltering.  I'm not much a beach person, I prefer pools for many reasons (the most important is I can see the bottom!) but this little girl wading, in what I think is the ocean, may have actually cooled me off a bit.

What I Used to Make my Card:
Wheat Colored Card Base
White Cardstock Panel
Darice Clouds Embossing Folder
Young Girl Stamp - SU! Seaside Sketches, #103555 (discontinued but available)
Pebbles/Ikandee Chalk Set in Basic Brights
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black

This idea has been swimming around in my head for quite sometime.  I wanted to use my cloud embossing folder as clouds in a "scene", a little deeper than just background for rain or snow.  I wasn't sure it would work so this is my experiment.  I took a piece of white card, trimmed it slightly smaller than typical A2 size and used the embossing folder on only the top of the card.  I knew that part would work, I wasn't sure about how I was going to handle the crease left behind and the perspective issue.  After I embossed the paper, I stamped the young girl wading.  I was relieved to see that the perspective wasn't too far off and decided to proceed with the design.

I used watercolor pencils to color the girls dress and hair and all the rest is chalk.  I edged the clouds with some blue chalk, both to enhance & pop the texture, and then just kept going. I used a slightly darker blue to sort of put the edge where the clouds meet the "water" at a different color, then just used shades of blue to fill out the water.  I haven't used chalks in ages and it was so much fun! The shading and mixing of the colors gave me the exact soft, wispy, windy day effect I wanted it to.  Looking back, if I do this again, I think the birds will be masked off, but all in all I am very pleased with my card.  I edged the white panel with Distress Ink in Gathered Twigs and then attached it onto the card base and I was done.

I haven't used chalk in ages (I've had this pallet for many, many years) and it is always fun to revisit an old technique or medium for me.  I forgot how much fun it is to get back to basics sometimes, and the ability to blend is one of the best things about chalk, at least in my opinion.

While this is a bit off topic, me & two of my good friends have started a NEW Challenge Blog called Twofers, where the idea is to make 2 of anything as long as the project meets the rules, and there is plenty of time to enter the current challenge, which is weddings.  So get your create on, make some wedding goodies and join in! Honestly, you have an excellent chance of getting at least top 3 <wink>.  

Thank you for stopping by ~ Fondly, Christi

I would like to enter my Summer Fun card in the following challenges:
Through the Craft Room Door (Aug 18-24) Anything Goes (entry 2)
Tuesday Throwdown - #258, Texture
Lawnscaping Challenge - #112, Embossing  

Timbro Scrapmania - #111, Summer (ends Sept 14)
Fashionable Stamping Challenge - #102, Seaside or Beach (ends Sept 12)
Daring Cardmakers - Textures
FairyTale Challenge - #124, Summer Vacation
Fussy & Fancy - Lazy Summer Days
Country View Challenges - (August Challenge) Summertime

Where did I find all these fabulous challenges?!?!
At Challenges for Days ~ come take a peek!

A Summer Garden Challenge at Craft-Room Challenges

~*~ This is my one hundredth post!! ~*~ Go ME!

For the 82nd challenge at Craft-Room Challenge, Hazel has chosen the theme of "A Summer Garden".  Once again, I had lofty plans of all the incredible art I was going to create when I realized I was running out of time once again.  Truthfully, as I write this the challenge is almost 1 1/2 weeks away, but I am having major dental surgery at the end of July and I am scrambling like mad to try to ensure all my Design Team work is done.   So by the time you read this I will be happily recuperating because I should be heavily medicated and it will be over and done with.  But I digress. . .

Confused? Read on. . .KaiserCraft on the left, DCWV on the right

 What I Used to Create my Card(s):

• 2 coordinating pieces of DCWV Linen Closet Stack
• 1 piece KaiserCraft Lady Rose Collection, Champagne 
• 1 piece Green paper, for base of KaiserCraft card
• Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink by Ranger in Fern Green
• Wendy Vecchi Blooming Art stamp set, SCS119, for sentiment
• White Cardstock for label
• Crafters Pick The Ultimate Glue 
• A2 Pop Up Card - Artisan (Silhouette or Lori Whitlock store)
• Silhouette Cameo

The final card

The base card (DCWV)

As you know by now I love making 3D things and I had found this card in the Silhouette store named "A2 Pop Up Card - Artisan", which was designed by Lori Whitlock (you can purchase the cut file through the Silhouette store or on the Lori Whitlock site).  It looked like fun and I also love using labels so this was a win win for me!  I purchased the card and opened it up in my Silhouette Studio DE to figure out how to piece the card out for cutting.  Now, I know the challenge is Summer Garden, and I truly thought I could use the paper I initially picked out, which was DCWV Linen Closet Stack (I had some 6" x 12" scraps and I was happy that I could make the card with those).  There are some awesome florals in that stack - very sparkly, glittery and pretty.  It really wasn't until I was almost done with the card that I realized the paper wasn't summery at all. While the paper is indeed sparkly, glittery and pretty, it definitely isn't summery; at least it isn't to me.  So I went and chose some KaiserCraft paper, the collection is called Lady Rose, perfect for "A Summer Garden".  So, I proceeded to make another card. 

The cover card stock, on my cutting mat (DCWV)

Well, I had taken all my pictures using the DCWV paper, so now you'll get to see two different versions of the card.  What I think is really neat about the card is that it stands on it's own and yet, when it is folded in, it still fits in an A2 envelope. I also kept the cover card stock in place as I took it off my cutting mat, in fact, I adhered each piece to the base card as I removed the it to ensure I'd have no pattern upset. I also resized the label down a bit to make the white label that I stamped and put on the front of the KaiserCraft card. Wendy Vecchi's ink matched that green base card perfectly!  See, I truly DO need all of those ink  pads!
 

View from the top of the card (KasierCraft) 

When I make the card again, I think I'll put 2 of the white labels together (fold over, like a place card) so if I want to write something "in" the card I'll have a space to do it in.  All in all I am excited about how simple it was to put these together and I immediately thought of holiday cards - how pretty would some festive Christmas or Chanukah paper would look! And with my "place card" idea the structure of the card would still be the same and I can write a little note on each card.  Or, even Halloween!! Wouldn't a bat be adorable in place of the label?!? Oh yes, the ideas are rolling in. . .

It really does fit in an A2 envelope! (A2 is card size 5 1/2" x 4 1/4")

  

And a final look - the colors aren't as bright in this picture for some reason.  They are truer in the other pictures.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope my directions weren't too confusing.  Please, feel free to contact by using the Contact Form on the side bar, or leave me a comment if you have any questions.  In fact, leave me a comment even if you don't have any questions (and leave your blog address in your comment so I can stop by your blog!) Also, please pop by Craft-Room Challenges and enter!! Fabulous new challenge every 2 weeks ~ Have a wonderful day ~ Christi

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:
I Love to Create - #127, Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers and More - #120, Fancy Folds
Stamping Sensations - August Challenge, Anything Goes 
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - L is for Layers
Sister Act Card Challenge - #68, Anything Goes