Creativity Takes Courage

Hello and happy Monday! Is there such a thing as happy Monday?! I didn't used to think so. Now that I don't have to get up and head to work, I believe there is!

I haven't posted anything on my blog for about a month. That's because I really haven't created anything. I'm never not doing something in my craft room, I just either haven't finished a project or I'm putzing around with something. 

I've been in sort of a creative slump lately though. I always know what I want to do, it's just getting it done. I'm also guilty of having too many projects going on at once, which is what I have going on right now. 

I always sift through the emails that I get for card challenges. I love card challenges so much! Over the weekend one caught my eye for The Paper Players. This one is a color challenge. You are to use black, white and one other color. Well, I knew right away that I would be doing this challenge because it's a no brainer for me. These are the kind of challenges I like.  

While I was at it, I looked to see if there were any other challenges I could submit my card to. I found that I would be able to add my card to The Flower Challenge. Flowers have to be the main focal point and my card fits the mold for that one. 

For my card I used an older Tim Holtz embossing folder from Sizzix for the background. I don't know what the name of this folder is as I don't have the packaging and I neglected to write the name on the folder. 

I've been die cutting tons of Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets Wildflowers #1 and #2 and watercoloring them for use in future projects. I decided that Rusty Hinge Distress Ink would be the color that I would go with for this challenge. I love the color rust. I just watercolored a sheet of watercolor paper, let it dry naturally and die cut the wildflowers. 

For my sentiment I used a sticker from the Small Talk sticker book from Tim Holtz Idea-Ology. I diecut a banner using the Simple Strips Banner Die from Taylored Expressions. 

My card is linked to the two challenges below.

The Paper Players

The Flower Challenge

Thanks for stopping by!

February Swap Card

It's time to share the cards I created for a swap I'm in. I can't believe how fast the month has flown by! It seems Like I just sent them off and now it's time to get new cards ready for the March swap. I really thought I'd have time to participate in some challenges and do some blogging about them. It seems there just isn't a lot of extra time for such things lately. 

I saw a video in on of the groups I belong to on Facebook for triple time embossing. I've always wanted to try the triple time stamping but I just haven't gotten around to it. This technique looked easy and I liked the look so that's what I went with this time for my swap cards. You can see the video I watched here.

For my first card above I used an embossing folder from Cuttlebug called Leafy Branch. The distress ink I used is called mowed lawn.

This card uses an embossing folder from The Paper Studio called Intricate Swirl. The distress ink color is fossilized amber. 

My final card uses an embossing folder called Whimsy from We R Memory Keepers and the distress ink used is salty ocean.

I loved using this technique and I'm sure I'll use it again. I don't think all embossing folders will work for this technique, but it doesn't hurt to try any that you may have. Now I'll have to try the triple stamping!

Thanks for stopping by! 

October Swap Cards

These are the cards I sent to my swap partners for the October Swap. I can finally post them! For the card above and below I used two different embossing folders from Darice. One is called Foliage and the other is called Leaves Assorted Pattern. For all the cards I used Distress Inks. I used a combination of these colors: dried marigold, wild honey, bundled sage, mowed lawn, fossilized amber, crushed olive and ripe persimmon. The sentiments are from an older stamp set I had in my stash called Autumn Foliage by Inkadinkado stamped onto acetate. 

For these two cards (above and below) I used a stencil from Echo Park called Branches. I used translucent embossing paste colored with distress ink. The one below used plain embossing paste colored with distress ink. All the leaves are from two different packages of leaves that I picked up at a craft store. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Glitter Christmas Trees

I don't think I've ever used as much glitter cardstock on my cards as I have this year. I really don't consider myself a big glitter crafter. Maybe it's due to some of the dies I've been using for my Christmas cards this year. I don't know, but I do like the look of it for some reason, so I'm just going to go with it for now. 

All four cards that I've created are using the same Memory Box die called Flowering Christmas Tree. The only difference between the card above and the other three below is that I diecut a second tree in red,  cut the larger flowers off and added them to the gold tree.

Cardstock used for the all cards is from PaperTrey Ink.

I used four different embossing folders for the embossed panels. All are by Darice with the exception of one of them. I'm not sure who that one is by because the name was worn off. I think it was from Lifestyle Crafts. 

All the gems and pearls are from my stash. 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look!