Paola's Punch Art Swap Cards

Last weekend I tackled my friend Paola's Punch Art Swap cards.  Known as Sama on SCS (or Sweet P as we've dubbed her) Paola has a swap coming due on Splitcoast and the theme or challenge is to create something using our punches.

Well, I only have a few (less than 10) punches, and this was new territory for me, so of course I just had to sign up (ha ha).  Paola gave us loads of inspiration, including galleries, web sites and blogs to visit for ideas.  Then it became "what to choose?" for me.

Here is the card that I CASED for my swap.  I found Susan Rowe's SU Website during my search and thought her clever use of SU's Ornament Punch made a great flower.  Please check out her blog because she has some really great things there!

So here is what I came up with.  The base is Wasau's Stardust, it has little flecks of color in it that I just love.  The orange panel was embossed with a swirly design from a Fiskars EP.

The Top Note panel is also the Wasau Stardust CS, stamped with a leafy vine wheel from SU (not sure of the name).

The flower petals are punched using the Christmas Ornament punch, edges have been lightly dragged across the ink pad to give a hint of color.  The paper has a bit of a design in darker orange, although it doesn't seem to show up much here in the blog editor.




A scallop circle in green, smaller circle and then part of SU's punch that has 3 blossoms (sorry I can't seem to find the name of it) completes the inner portion of the flower.
The little gem in the center is actually more iridescent than purple, as it shows here.  I think it was reflecting something else around it.

Here's a side view attempting to show the panels which are popped out.  The flower is also popped, with each petal curved by rolling it from the center. (I sure hope that they don't get too flattened by shipping!)

After these pictures were taken I also added an orange panel on the inside to give it more substance.  The Wasau CS was only 80# so it was a little thin for my taste.

Well I must say that this swap made me wade into new waters, so thank you Paola!!  I sure hope that my cards are up to everyone's standards, because I've seen what some of the others have made in their weekly challenge game and it is IMPRESSIVE!!

Off to play, I need to create a special card for our son's 25th birthday this week.  He's our youngest and I have to say: "How did he get this old????"  LOL  Thanks for stopping by and thanks also for all the love you leave here for me!  It's truly a bright spot for me!

Mystery Image Challenge #9

March 18th is finally here!!  "Why?" you may ask.  Well, I am fortunate to belong to a great group of friends on Split Coast who have formed a Mystery Image Swap.  On March 18th we can all reveal the card we made with the current challenge kit.

Linda (Gimmeahaller on SCS) is this round's hostess and she chose this adorable image from My Favorite Things.  She also included the cute circle DP that I just had to include on my card!




















The image is colored with SU markers, the marshmallows are accented with a white Gelly Roll pen.  I used Flower Soft with some Dazzling Diamonds to give her scarf and gloves some texture and sparkle.  Nesties were used to cut & frame.  Bling from a local store provided some accents.  I sure hope that Linda likes my interpretation of her card kit.  It sure was a perfect one for the long winters we have up here!

Dueling Darlings March Challenge!

Here I am, two days late in posting.  Thankfully the rest of the Darlings are giving me a break since I was gone this week (thank you my friends!)

Here's my card with the Dazzling St. Patty's Day kit sent to us by Michelle!

I just love the verse she gave us to work with:

"May God give you...

For every storm a rainbow,

For every lear, a smile.

For every care, a promise

And a blessing in each trial.

For every problem life sends,

A faithful friend to share.

For every sign, a sweet song...

And an answer for each prayer."

The front has been embossed with a Fiskar's Harlequin plate, that was inked with SU's Garden Green, directly from the pad.  (I find that easier than using a brayer on the plates).  Michelle's kit included the pretty stitched gross grain ribbon, twine and the 3 buttons.  (don't laugh, but this is my first time using twine, ha ha!  WTG Michelle, look what you inspired!)

The frame is a Spellbinders "Frameabilities" and it's a great set to check out.  I used DCWV's Shimmer Stack green paper for the frame, and hand cut two borders for the top & bottom right corners.

 Michelle gave us some really pretty DPs which I included on the inside, along with the adorable, glittery Shamrock!

Michelle asked us to include any St. Patrick's Day traditions that we may have.  Alas, I have none!  I grew up in a German, Russian, Slovak and Swedish family.  Plenty of traditions, but none of them Irish!

Well, thanks for looking, and another big THANK YOU to the Darlings for giving me some grace period to post this month!  I {heart} all of you!!

(Off to fix hubby's requested St. Patrick's Day dinner: Beef Stroganoff)  Ha ha ha!
Hugs!!

6x6 Asian Cards

My friend Fran, PhilsMom on Split Coast, is hosting an Asian Swap.  I joined because she is a friend (a better friend to me than I think I am to her!) and because I have always loved Asian art.
Now, why-oh-why did I only have ONE Asian style stamp set???  I promptly set about to change that situation and scored a beautiful, retired SU set from the Buy/Sell/Trade forum on SCS.  These are my cards, they turned out a bit large at a 6X6 finished size, but I did like how they turned out.

You can clearly see that I need to invest in a camera and some practice with my picture taking.  Please overlook the picture quality!

The card base is 12x12 Tempting Turquoise CS from SU, layered with triangles cut from a brown damask patterned DP from K & Company.  It's richly glittered and textured.

The two front images are stamped on Barely Banana CS with Tempting Turquoise ink.  They are from the stamp set that I purchased a couple of months ago.  I believe it's called Ancient Asia.











Here's  the inside card, Barely Banana CS, border cut using the Cricut.  The copper embossed image is from my one & only other Asian stamp set: Oriental Paintings from SU.  I used a square copper brad from Recollections and computer generated the Chinese Proverb onto TT CS, rounded the corners, and mounted it below the image.

I like how these turned out, and really hope that Fran does too!  After they were finished I realized that they would not fit into my square envelopes that I had on hand.  Last weekend I did some research on making envies for these, and of course, it can be done.  However, I cheated and ordered some from an online store since each envelope would have taken one whole sheet of 12x12 CS and I just don't have much time this month due to work commitments.  I would much rather spend my time making cards, rather than envelopes!

Thanks for stopping by & feel free to leave me any constructive thoughts on how you may have made these better!  I always appreciate any advice.  Wishing you all a good day!