Magazine Monday

It appears as if we're to have a beautiful day in the Ozarks. When I get days like this it motivates me to try and conquer the world. We'll see how I do.

For today's card, I have the remake of the card gone bad I had attempted for last week. The card was inspired by 'Funky Birthday' in a 2005 issue of Stamp It! I tried to locate the artist, Julie Medeiros without success.

I stuck with her layout but changed the theme and colors. She had chosen Olive green for her base, deep red for her ribbon strip and the base of the sentiment. Her sentiment was stamped on sky blue and it was used for the base mats on the images. Julie used the present, party hat and cake from Let's Party (retired SU) and stamped everything in a blue dye ink by Hero Arts. The alphabet blocks to spell Happy Birthday were also Hero Arts.

I needed a Valentine card. Initially, I had used the 4x5.5 and the 3 mats, no matter how small I cut them, made the card look crowded. I did not like it at all. So I set it aside and found a new card for last week. But I knew if I played with it, I'd figure it out. When I switched it up to a 5.5x6, it became less cluttered. Though I think it still looks elementary, I'm positive my granddaughter will be thrilled to get mail... especially if I stick a sucker inside :-)

The heart explosion for the background and the heart image on the far left are from Doodles By Design. The other heart is from an old Valentine foam set I've had for years - you know, back when you bought stamps before more refined options came along. The sentiment is my Katie & Co. I'm still trying to use up my ValuCS so I can use those two file drawers for something else. I used Primary Red and Baby Pink. Everything is stamped in SU Real Red.

I'm proud of myself for not trashing the original but instead, making it work. Here's to a great creative week!

Magazine Monday!

And I've returned with a vengeance. I spent 9 glorious hours creating in my studio yesterday. Mind you, most of what I created had to do with swaps I'm currently in (5-total). But it was wonderful to sit and play. I was surprised when I looked at the clock to see it was way past my normal bed time.

One of the swaps I'm in is titled 'Welcome Baby'. There are three spots - Girl, Boy, Neutral - making 4 cards in each spot. Well with a new grand-baby coming in October I just HAD to play. And I HAD to take a spot in each one. Hehehe. So I went through my magazines yesterday and found three different layouts.

This week I'm featuring a card by Jenny Grothe from STAMP IT Cards 2005. The only thing I've changed about Jenny's layout is the image. She used Stampin Up products including the baby's left footprint (I'm Here - retired set) in pink ink to match the dark mat underneath it. Jenny also did a zigzag stitch the length of the DP on the left hand side of the card and her base CS was a darker pink.

I chose to go with softer tones but used the darker mat to coordinate with the 'baby' in the bottom corner so it would pop off the DP background. I didn't have a footprint stamp large enough but it did give me the opportunity to use a 2-step stamp I've had for about 6 years and NEVER used!

I used Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo and a Making Memories Maddi Narr Stripe. The background stamp on the tag mat is from Fresh Fillers (SU-retired). I added yellow glaze pen to the nipple. Ribbon and fiber were from my ever-present stash.

Next week I'll introduce you to the Baby Boy card.

Creative Blessings

Kelly

Magazine Monday!

First off, I want to apologize for not running the pics last Wednesday. I spent the morning in between storms trying to get the house presentable before my husband got in. When he's gone for three weeks at a time, I always spend the days he's on the road driving to and from Chicago occupying my mind with house work. I totally spaced even turning on the computer. I do have those pictures and weather permitting, they will post on Wed. We've been dealing with lots of storms and lots of rain, having acquired 12 inches of water since Thursday evening. Storms have also meant very little internet time. I'm squeaking this post in between storms.

For my Magazine Monday challenge this week I pulled a copy of Stamp It Cards 2005. However, I did not select a card from one of the projects. Instead, I took my inspiration from a card in a Stampin Up ad. I just liked the card and new it would be perfect. I needed Mother's Day cards for the Little Rock Arkansas Ronald McDonald House.

The card in the ad used an image of a cake and a frame from FRAMES & GREETINGS (Su 2005) I chose to use a variety of stamps Many Thanks, Dear Friend, Days Gone By, Studio G and Hampton Art. I did eight cards in Almost Amethyst and eight in Pretty in Pink for a total of 16 cards. I watercolored the images.

The inspiration card included eyelets on the four corners of the very vanilla mat. The mat was also background stamped with a scroll image and then LOVE from another SU set stamped in black near the top. Sage organza ribbon went across the bottom of the card about 1.5 inches up from the bottom.

I didn't have a ribbon I liked to match either of my CS colors and try to reserve my metal embellishments for cards I know are going to be kept. My take on this card was just to do it simple yet perfect for a child to give to their Mom.

With this week's Magazine Monday I encourage you to donate your creative work to a deserving group. It might be your local hospital, senior center, assisted living or someplace such as Ronald McDonald House or St. Jude Children's Hospital. Let your creativity bring joy to someone you don't know :-)

Creative Blessings!

Magazine Monday

Normally I find the CAS card in the magazine and let it be my inspiration. This time I went in reverse.

For this week’s Magazine Monday I’m combining a couple of challenges… my own and the one at Stamp2Spend (Splitcoaststampers thread). I asked the thread members to create a card using CHERRY. It could be an ink/ cardstock color – as long as that was it’s official name – or use the image of a cherry(s) in some way.

I found a strip in a DP from DCWV Sweet Shop slab. And what doesn’t go better with cherries than either chocolate or whipped cream. I went for chocolate with this card and combined it with SU DP from the Brights collection.

With these elements before me, I went snooping through the pages and found this layout in STAMP IT! Cards 2005. It was entitled Happy

Hanukkah by Nicole Keller. Notice how the mats are large and the bottom one overlaps both the center band and part of the other.

I worked with a scan A6 card and smaller sentiments so mine didn’t have to be that large. I came up with this:

I tried various embellishments on the card but nothing seemed right. When I took them away, the basics seemed to be all I needed. What do you think?

Tomorrow I’m going to introduce you to a regular Tuesday feature so I hope you’ll stop back by

Creative Blessings