It's All About the FOURth!

I had the pleasure of hosting Friday Night Challenge over at SOC last night. We did some 4th of July trivia and made three cards. Most of the instructions revolved around the number 4. **I don't send 4th of July cards, but wanted to keep the theme since the holiday is around the corner.**

Here is my take on the instructions I provided:

Challenge #1

Create a card that contains four different colors, four flowers, bling or pearls, and a sentiment of your choice.  All the rest is up to you. (This was a shameless scraplift from Pinterest.)

Challenge #2

Create a card using paper/cardstock of your choice + 4 different “inchies” stamps, ribbon or twine, bling, and a sentiment of your choice.

Challenge #3

Create a card (shape and size your choice) using a sponge and only TWO colors of ink to make a background on white or off-white cardstock.  You may use one or more stencils if you wish.  Then stamp one or more images on it using a RUBBER stamp and BLACK INK ONLY.  Add a sentiment.  You may mat your sponged cardstock if you desire; however, NO PATTERNED PAPER OR ADDITIONAL EMBELLISHMENTS ALLOWED!

That's it!

Thanks for looking!

WrinkleFreeDiva

Friday Night Challenge Cards

So here I am, 19 days into a self-imposed challenge to use my stash in all of my creations; the goal being to make 50 projects prior to buying any craft items other than adhesive. Below are projects #9 and #10. (If I buy anything, then I have start counting all over again!)

I was able to participate in Friday Night Challenge over at SOC on Friday hosted by Mazella. I created both of these cards. The first card was supposed to be all black and white, include bling or pearls, and a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King.

The flower rub-on came from my Clip-It-Up and was purchased at Big Lots many years ago.
The black and white paper is from my stash and is also many years old.

The second challenge was to create a birthday card with lots of flowers. (Now that I look back at everyone else's pictures, I think I was supposed to use some ribbon too LOL! Oh well...)

The foil chipboard flowers came from Tuesday Morning several years ago.

Stay tuned for my next projects!

Thanks for looking!

Challenging Myself

On Friday, June 14th I hosted FNC over at Scraps of Color. I love Friday Night Challenges because they really help me to hone my crafting skills. I especially enjoy hosting because it forces me to try different techniques in order to prepare fun challenges for the participants.

The challenges and my projects were as follows:

Challenge #1 - Create a card (shape and size your choice) using a sponge and two or more colors of ink to make a background on white cardstock. Then stamp an image on it using a RUBBER stamp. Add some bling, ribbon, a corner punch and a sentiment. You may mat your sponged cardstock if you desire; however, NO PATTERNED PAPER ALLOWED!

Challenge #2 - Create a card (shape and size your choice) using white cardstock, two or more background stamps and no more than two colors of ink. If you don’t have any background stamps, you can sponge through a template onto the cardstock as well.Then stamp one or more images (they can be the same or different) on it using a RUBBER stamp and BLACK ink. Add ONLY a sentiment and mat to the white cardstock. No bling, ribbon, brads/buttons or other embellishments. Again, NO PATTERNED PAPER ALLOWED! (I got this idea from Stampers Sampler Take Ten magazine and managed to make two cards for this one!)

Challenge #3 - Use the following sketch to create a Father’s Day card. That’s it…added touches are up to you!

And finally, there was a challenge that participants had a week to complete. They were to use one of Classygirl's sketches to make a layout. I struggled a lot with making my pictures fit the sketch, but that's the beauty of sketches, you can rotate or flip them to suit your needs. And sometimes, the sketch really is just a jumping off point that gets your creativity cranked and cookin'!

If you've read this far, sorry... I have no profound lesson today. Just me and my sketches in this post!

Thanks for lookin'!

WrinkleFreeDiva

Cards in 30 Minutes or Less...

On Friday I joined Mary J and my other sisters over at Scraps of Color for one of our fairly regular Friday Night Challenges. MJ put us through our paces as we had to make each of our cards in 30 minutes or less. And for the first time in a long time, I actually finished all three and met all of the requirements for each challenge.

For this first one, the base had to be a circle, there had to be some distressing, some bling and the word "love" had to be on the front. I had the perfect Cricut diecut, given to me by Helen a couple of years ago, for the front of the card. And... I pulled out a Cuttlebug die cut plate that I've had for at least three years and NEVER used before. The inside reads "you little stinker."

The second challenge was to make a card using at least one solid and one patterned paper. It had to have a circle, a border punch and a sentiment. It could not be for a husband or boyfriend. So this one will be going to my parents. I managed to choose a sketch from one of my many sketch books, select paper from a stack, and get this card completed right under the 30-minute time limit.

The last challenge was to make a Valentine card with the sentiment "To My SOC Friend." Add lots of bling. Send this card to someone who participated in tonight's FNC. So this one is already in the mail to Felisa. Managed to use a sketch for this one as well and paper from the same paper stack.

Not sure if I have a specific lesson in this post, but you know me... sketches are your friend, sketches are your friend, sketches are your friend! And using paper that comes from the same stack doesn't hurt either. It's easy to match patterns and colors, and cuts down on the time it takes to make sure all of your paper works well together. Simplifying the decision-making process makes it actually possible to get a card done in 30 minutes or less! So there you have it my friends and loyal followers. 

Thanks so much for looking!

Don't Be Intimidated...

Last Friday I was not prepared to participate in the Friday Night Chat Challenge over at Scraps of Color, but I was bound and determined to make the Waterfall Card that was one of the challenges issued. The hostess was kind enough to point us to these links here and here. And as complicated as the card looks, it was actually quite simple to make.

When I told my honey-do that I was going to go make a card, he asked me who it was for. I told him “I dunno, I just want to try the technique.” So he said, “I know! You can make a card for my son…his birthday is in eight days. Maybe you can include pictures of his dog!” So off I went to make a Waterfall Card, with a masculine theme and a picture of a dog!

Last Friday I heard a lot of people say that it was really fun to make and actually quite simple. It really was. I had a lot of fun making it although had I taken time to really look at the pictures, I might have used some different patterned paper, but oh well…c’est la vie. I’ll know next time!

And here is my Waterfall Card!

Our simple lesson today is: try not to be intimidated when it comes to trying a new technique. Sometimes, something that looks really difficult really is quite simple. But you won’t know that unless you try! So take a chance, you just might be surprised and have fun while doing it!

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for looking!!

Scraps and Sticky Ribbons

I got a chance to participate in another Friday Night Challenge over at SOC, this one hosted by our very own Classygirl. We were given three card sketches *y’all know I was ALL over that* and were required to post our creations prior to midnight ET on Sunday. This gave me a little time and breathing room. I was able to get started on Sketch #1 Friday during the chat, but had to leave not too long after to take care of other things.

So, when I came home I threw the sketches (but no paper or cardstock) for the other two cards in my bag *determined to get started on them*, along with about seven or eight layouts in varying degrees of doneness. Even though my crop time was going to be short, due to having to go to a meeting first, I was determined to be productive while I was there.

I did as much as I could with the layouts I had brought with me, and then pulled out the card sketches.  I looked through my layout folders and pulled scraps from several of them. I had gotten this idea from Tiare (Classygirl) who once said that she doesn’t really have scraps because when she finishes a layout, she immediately makes a card(s) from the scraps that are left. I was able to make a good start on laying out the cards and would wait until I got home to add the sentiments and embellishments. Good thing too… cause I took out the clear stamps for the “Happy Thoughts” card and lost the matching sentiment (it says, “are coming your way.”) for the inside. It has to be here on my craft table somewhere but I’ll be darned if I can find it! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr……

While I was at the crop, I got a wonderful idea from one of the ladies there. She works with ribbon a lot and said that she often uses her Xyron to put adhesive on her ribbon. Having tried different kinds of adhesives for ribbon, including the ribbon glue made by Hobby Lobby *it dries out too quickly*, I thought I’d give it a try. I used my trusty Xyron “X” to adhere the ribbon on all three of my cards. The application was so smooth I wondered why I hadn’t tried it before. Thanks for that helpful hint Susan!

Anyway… here are the three cards I submitted for FNC…

Sketch #1 - Used scraps from my drawer and a flower from  Petaloo found at Tuesday Morning.
The ribbon and bling are from my stash.

Sketch #2 - Scraps from layout (coming soon) and flowers from  Petaloo.
The 2-in-1 punch used for the border is from EK Success. Ribbon and fiber from my stash.

Sketch #3 - Scraps from layout (coming soon) and flowers are Color Me Crazy  from Petaloo. Used  Glimmer Mist and Stickles on them as well as pebbles (small flower centers) and the Epiphany Shape Studio for the large epoxy pebble.

My tips for today…

1. Take your leftover scraps for a layout or other papercrafting project and make one or more cards. Eventually, storage of scraps will cease to be an issue.
2. Try using the Xyron for ribbon application. Makes ribbon go on nice and smooth.
3. When using those itty, bitty clear stamps, take out one at a time and put it back when you’re done. Then, hopefully you won’t lose any like I lost mine!

Thanks for visiting… I am Still Young and Croppin’!