Freshly Made Sketches 690

This week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches is going to find a permanent home in my sketch rotation when making cards!  I rarely join sketch challenges because of the struggle session I almost always have to go through when getting what I see in my head to fit into the sketch!  I do however, use sketches all of the time and I sincerely appreciate the talented designers who come up with their ideas for us all.  I decided to join this week's challenge because I knew immediately what I wanted to do by using my, as yet never touched, Stampin Up! Simply Zinnias stamp set.  I added an old favorite sentiment from Hero Arts along with patterned paper from a DCWV paper pad called Bright Papers, separating the colored and white layers with a strip of SU! Garden Green cardstock.  I want to add that I colored the images with my Copics and my biggest struggle with this card was to get some light and dark areas with my RV17 and RV19 markers!  I added some RV25 and RV04 to bleach out some of the darker areas I didn't want on the outer edges of the flower.

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope your day is sunny and beautiful.  We are having a very gray day here after having a nice spell of warm weather, so more card making is on the agenda!

 

Birthday Card

Sharing a card I made for Send a Smile 4 Kids.  I used a digital image from Amanda Jayne Designs through her shop on Etsy.  I colored the image with Copics and used a new to me edger die from Penney Black for the word happy.  The birthday sentiment is from the Sweet n Sassy stamp set called "So Happy."  (Sweet n Sassy stamps is now called Creative Worship stamps.)  The confetti paper is from a paper pad I bought at JoAnn's eons ago, but I still love it.  

Thanks for visiting my blog today and I hope you're having a great day!

 

Fall Mojo

There is nothing I like better than sketches that let me use up the enormous amount of 2" x 6" strips of patterned paper that I have in my scraps.   The new Mojo Monday Sketch #541 is going to get a lot of use in my cardmaking.  For this card, I used paper from Echo Park's Fall is in the Air paper pad and an older stamp set from Hero Arts called Missing You, a fundraising set for the now shutdown Operation Write Home.  I colored the squirrel with my Copics and added the little heart cut from a die from My Favorite Things to help the sentiment stand out a bit better.

This card will make it to the troops, however, as I am sending two of these off to Cards for Soldiers.  Thanks for visiting my blog, and I hope you're having a great day!

Valentines in December

December is Valentine's Day card-making-time for me, so I used the new Mojo Monday sketch, Mojo503, to make two cards for my next box for Send a Smile for Kids.  For this card I used some Basic Grey patterned paper, dies from My Favorite Things, and a cute cat stamp and die from Paper Smooches' Nine Lives.  The sentiment is from Verve 's Plain Jane Valentine's Day.  I colored the image with my Copics.

I love this rhino from Gerda Steiner's stamp set Party Animals, so I made another card using the sketch, the same dies and sentiment stamp, and a stripe paper from Echo Park.  I colored the rhino with my Copics and cut him out with the matching die.

Hope your weekend is going great and thanks for visiting my blog today!

Some Birthday Mojo

I am so excited to know that Julie Tilman is considering continuing on with some more Mojo Monday sketches!  Yay!  I needed to make a birthday card, so I used her current sketch Mojo 501 for my card.  I think this is another of her sketches that has made it into my "go to" pile. 

For my card I used Verve's Birthday to You Plain Jane sentiment stamp and Your Next Stamp's stamp and die called Keep on Trukin' along with papers from Echo Park's All About a Boy. 

Thanks for visiting my blog - hope your week is a good one!

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Let's Get Ready for Christmas

The Wednesday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp is "Let's Get Ready for Christmas."  I've never used this stamp set before since I purchased it after Christmas last year.   I thought the little reindeer were so cute and the set came with matching dies as well!  This week's challenge seemed the perfect time to break out this stamp set and make a card.

Stamp and die set are from Mama Elephant/Hampton Art, sentiment stamp is from Hero Arts, stitched die is from My Favorite Things, and the stripe paper is from Authentique.

Thanks for visiting my blog - hope you are having a great day!

Fusion Outdoor Room Sketch Challenge

The sketch from the Fusion Outdoor Room Challenge really caught my eye, and  I knew almost instantly what card I wanted to make.  I've had this stamp, Chickadee - Flying from Magenta for almost five years now and I've never used it before.  After stamping it with SU! Early Espresso, I added a bit of color to it with my Copics, cut it out  and paired it with some Basic Gray papers, an MFT stitched rounded rectangle die, and a just ordered and received stamp from Papertrey Ink's set called Penned Elegance. 

Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you're having an excellent day!

Anything Goes Wednesday at Simon Says Stamp

I wanted to send a card to one of my friends, and when I saw this week's challenge Anything Goes featuring Stampendous, I knew what card I wanted to make for the challenge and for my friend.

I used one of my favorite Stampendous stamp sets, Daisy Thanks, and a sentiment stamp from WPlus9's Hand Lettered Hello.  I colored the daisies with Copics and trimmed the white panel enough to add a strip of green paper from JoAnn's to the bottom. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today, and I hope your day is going well.

Baby Card and Sketch Challenge at My Favorite Things

I needed a baby card, so I broke out my new-to-me MFT Die-Namics set Bundle of Baby Clothes and the banner die and scalloped background die from Blueprints 27.  Papers were from my stash.  The sentiment stamp is from Technique Tuesday's Bundle of Joy, stamped with Momento Gray Flannel ink.

Luckily for me, The MFTWSC366 sketch challenge gave me a great layout for my card.  This sketch looks really popular based on the number of entries.  I know I will be using it again. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today.  Hope your day is going great!

Cute Santa Card

Sharing a card I made for hospitalized kids using Bugaboo Stamps cute new digi called Santa Clause Peeker.  The sentiment stamp is from Lawn Fawn.  I colored the image with Copics and trimmed out Santa's hand and beard so they overlapped the paper piece. 

Thanks for visiting my blog, and I hope you are having a great day!

Plaid Onesie

Sharing a card I made using Paper Smooches' onesie die and plaid paper from Carta Bella's "it's a boy!" 6x6 paper pad.  The sentiment stamp is from PaperTrey Ink stamped with Memento Gray Flannel dye ink.

I'm entering my card into Simon Say's Wednesday Challenge Use Plaid.

Just a quick note - I changed my blog name from Boxes of Dogs to Boxes of Cards.  It was time to make a change especially since Photobucket stopped its free third party hosting and all the photos from my blog prior to August 2015 when I stopped using Photobucket were missing anyway.  I hope my followers will hang in there with me!

Thanks for visiting my blog today.  Hope your day is going great!

Furry Friends Challenge

Thought I'd share some cards I'm making for this month's Splitcoast Stamper's Cards for a Cause.  We are making cards for Cards for Hospitalized Kids.  Of course I pulled out my Paper Smooches stamps to make some fun cards for kids. When I read this week's e-mail from Simon Said Stamps challenge blog, I noticed their Wednesday Challenge was Furry Friends featuring Paper Smooches Stamps so I decided I would enter the challenge.

My card uses the cat and sentiment from Paper Smooches Chubby Chums stamp set, papers from Simple Stories SN@P! paper pad, and the notebook die from My Favorite Things.  I colored the image with Copics.

I also made two other cards shown below which I'm also sharing because I think they are just so dang cute.  The gator is from Paper Smooches Zoo Crew stamp set and the bear is from Paper Smooches Chubby Chum Pals stamp set. The sentiment stamp for both of these cards is from Technique Tuesday's set Awesome.  Papers and the die are the same as my featured card.

Hope you're enjoying your day - thanks for visiting my blog!

Sending Paw Prints Challenge #4

Sending Paw Prints Challenge #4 is to use print on a card.  I went to JoAnn's last week and saw this cute dog themed paper and knew right away what card I wanted to make!  I used Mojo Monday sketch #478 for the layout and the doggie stamp and die is from My Favorite Things Lucky Dog set, paired with a thank you sentiment from Avery Elle's Simply Said You.  Circle dies are Spellbinders.

Thanks for looking and I hope you are enjoying your day!

Sending Paw Prints Challenge #2 - Use Blue

Sending Paw Prints Challenge #2 is to use blue on a pet-themed blank thank you card.  I used this weeks's sketch from My Favorite Things - MFTWSC# 316 - for my layout and patterned paper from My Mind's Eye.  I didn't like the shade of blue of the patterned paper from the pad, so I sponged on some My Favorite Things ink in Blue Raspberry.  The cute pup is colored with Copics and is from My Favorite Things You Make My Tail Wag stamp set which I stamped after cutting it out with the die. The stitched circle and banner are also from My Favorite Things.  The sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink.

Since I have a rather persistent helper, I'm going to share another card I made for Sending Paw Prints Challenge #2 using some My Favorite Things dies and stamps.  The kitty comes from MFT's stamp set I Knead You.  The cat on my card is actually a yellow orange and not the solid looking orange my photo editing program made it out to be.  I'm sharing this card because my cat, Gizmo, is the inspiration for the color choice for my card and she is on my lap as I type this trying to tap me on the face to get my attention.  She was one of four rescued kittens my daughter found by a dumpster.  She found homes for all of the kittens except for two, so she has one and I have the other.  This cat is definitely fitting of the stamp set I Knead You because she is always pestering me to sit on my lap and then tapping my face with her paw when I stop petting her.  Otherwise she is always trying to steal whatever she can get her hot little paws on when I'm not looking.  I've found my Copics markers all over the place, some hidden in some pretty odd places.  I love her to pieces and she does quite well with our three dogs.  Anyway, here is my card in honor of Miss Gizmo.

My card uses MFT's Blueprint 15 and Stitched Circle dies.  I love Blueprint 15 and I use it all of the time.  This die really lets some beautiful papers shine while allowing an image to take center stage.  The floral paper is from My Mind's Eye and the sentiment stamp is from Verve.

Well, Gizmo has settled onto her cat tree, so I'm going to sign off.  Thank you for visiting my blog today, and appreciate your comments.

Challenge #1 at Sending Paw Prints

I made a card for challenge #1 at Sending Paw Prints.  The challenge is to use paw prints on a blank thank you card which can be sent on to two rescue organizations that Sending Paw Prints supports.  I chose this cute Scottie dog from My Favorite Things set Lucky Dog along with some paw print paper I found at Micheals.  The white paper is textured with a tree bark pattern, though it may be hard to see it in the photo.  The sentiment is from Your Next Stamps set Happy Dance.  I used my Copics to color that handsome little Scottie.

If you're stopping by and haven't had a chance to visit Sending Paw Prints, hop on over and check out the blog.  It's a worthy cause and making some thank you cards for our furry friends is a lot of fun.  Guidelines are provided too!

Thanks for visiting!

SU! Walk in the Wild Thinking of You

I made a thinking of you card using Stampin' Up's Walk in the Wild stamp set.  I colored the pheasant with Copics and used Mojo Monday sketch #68.  The sentiment is mounted on Spellbinders oval dies.  Paper is from my stash.

Hope you are having a great day and thanks for visiting!

Cards in Envy Beautiful Butterflies Challenge

The current challenge at Cards in Envy is Beautiful Butterflies. I've been using My Favorite Things stitched border dies for a lot of cards I've been making recently, and this card is no exception.  I love the way it adds interest to a card, yet keeps it nice and flat.

• Floral paper from Echo Park Happy Days
• Sentiment stamp unkown from my stash
• MFT stitched border die
• Verve Sprightly Sprigs die accented with Copic marker
• Butterfly stamp and die from Hero Arts Stamp and Cut Butterflies.

Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you're having a great day!

Birthday Mouse

Sharing a birthday card I made for Send a Smile 4 Kids using a digi from Bugaboo Stamps colored with Copics.  The sentiment stamp is from Hero Arts, star paper from Bazzill (Tuesday Morning find!) and a border die from Verve Stamps.  The card layout is OWH sketch #19.

I used my new Misti to stamp the sentiment, and I have to say, it makes all the difference in the world to be able to stamp something multiple times.  The orange paper (and the stamp itself) didn't really take the Stampin' Up Night of Navy ink very well.  The ink beaded up on the stamp and wasn't showing up very well.  After stamping the sentiment three times, I achieved a nice clear image.  Yay!  I believe the Misti will save me a lot on inks since I use different variations of inks to get an image to stamp clearly/completely.  With the Misti I can simply stamp until the image fills itself in.

I'm entering my card in Cards in Envy's challenge It's a Birthday Party! Birthday Cards.

Thanks for visiting my blog today - hope your day is going great!

Awesomeness from Dustin Pike and Create with TLC

Sharing a card I made for Send a Smile 4 Kids using a digi from Dustin Pike colored with Copics and a fabulous digi sentiment from Create with TLC.  The tree paper is from Echo Park and the background is dry embossed with Cuttlebug's embossing folder Distressed Stripes.  I'm entering my card into The Crater's Cafe challenge #129 The Great Outdoors.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting my blog!

Happy Holidays

I just got this cute Penguin holiday stamp set from Lawn Fawn called Winter Penguin and decided to make a card for Sweet Stampin' Christmas' challenge Penguins and/or Polar Bears.  I used Copics to color the penguin, the purple strip is dry embossed with Cuttlebug's embossing folder Swiss Dots, and I used  MFT's stitched rectangle die for the image panel.  The snowflake paper is from my stash.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!