Friday, September 25, 2015

Oak Leaves for Tag, You're It! #31

Fall leaves are here!  And so is another Tag, You're It! challenge with our talented designer, Jeanne:
I love that color combination with the orange and aqua, and that gold oak leaf is gorgeous! 
 
Here's my take on the tag:
I decided to blend the orange and aqua using DI Ripe Persimmon and Mermaid Lagoon.  I cut the Serendipity Oak Leaf Scroll twice and the top of the tag out of the blended color.  The leaf edges were heat embossed a bit in gold, as well as the sentiment from PTI's Signature Greetings II.  I added a trim of PTI's Orange Zest cs painted with gold acrylic under the top of the tag.  The body of the tag is Momenta designer cardstock and the sequins are from Doodle Bug.  The raw hide is from Crafts, Etc!, and wrapped with 24 gauge wire from H.L.
Here is a close up of those gorgeous leaves from Serendipity!
I had so much fun creating this tag!  I hope you get a chance to play along with Tag, You're It! Challenge #30.  I would really enjoy seeing what you create!
 
Thanks for coming over to visit!  I hope you are having a wonderful day!
 
Kara Lynne

Friday, September 18, 2015

Lions and Cupcakes and Mail, Oh My!

Excuse me, Mr. Lion, but you're sitting on my cupcake!  Nancy made a mouthwatering cupcake tag as the inspiration for Tag, You're It!  Here's how I was inspired:
And here's Nancy's inspiration:
I couldn't resist going with the cupcake theme.  I love the color of her wrapper, and I followed her chocolate icing with the color of the lion.  I die cut the sentiment as she did, and the confetti is mirrored by the dots in my stamped background paper.  I made the background lion paper a while back when I made this card.
Supplies:
Stamps:  ME Carnival Cupcake
Dies: PTI Wet Paint Cuts, PTI Wonderful Words: Birthday
Paper: PTI Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise
Inks: Copics, Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores
Accents: Floss from Hobby Lobby

There's still plenty of time to play over at Tag, You're It!  I hope you will join us!

Okay, I covered the lion and the cupcake, now what about the mail?  Recently Virginia Lu, of Yes, Virgina and Virginia's View fame, had a blog appreciation giveaway and Random.org chose my comment!  Am I a lucky girl or what?!  I wanted to share with you her lovely card and all of the many MANY goodies that she sent to me.

Here's her card:
So many details to admire!  I love that sweet paper pieced cat dreaming of good things!  That mouse actually sparkles and the kitty's ears, nose, and the flower centers are glossy!  The cat is grounded by beautiful patterned papers, and the sky is filled with white and gold sprinkles along with the sweetest little sequins!

And here is the gift Virginia sent:
Oh how generous and thoughtful!  THANK YOU, Virginia!  This was such a complete surprise!  If you haven't met Virginia yet because for some reason blogging never sent you her way, you really ought to go over and meet her.  She is a skilled artesian card maker who shares her creative process.  You will also be introduced to her love of family, food, and travel in a way that makes you feel like a friend from the start!

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit.  I hope you have a wonderful day, and if you have a cupcake, make sure to shoo the lion away first so you can eat it in peace!

Kara Lynne

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

MFT, NBUS, and a Gnome on a Mission

I can't get enough of these gnomes!  I can't even tell you why I'm so drawn to them.  I don't have any in my garden, or ANY ornaments for that matter, but I just love these guys and the entire stamp set!  This gnome is on a mission to wish a dear friend, "Happy Birthday!"
The front panel was cut using Die-namics Birthday Centerpieces and popped up with foam tape.  I colored the gnome from MFT's BB You Gnome Me with Copics.  The flowers by the banner sentiment are cut from the boot image in the same set, and the little flowers behind the gnome are from the MFT's BB Somebunny stamp set.  The background was created by masking and sponging DI Mowed Lawn and Mermaid Lagoon.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white on PTI Pure Poppy cs, and everything was matted on PTI Summer Sunrise cs.  A white Gelly Roll pen helped accent his hat and the flower centers.

It's a little dark, but I thought I'd show you the dimension up close:
I'd like to enter this card into MFT's Card Design Superstar Card Contest
  Card Design Superstar
 
What an fun opportunity from My Favorite Things!  It's amazing to see all of the talent already linked up over there! 
 
It's also going to go play over in Darnell's Playhouse, because who could pass up a chance to get inside the cutest crafting space ever!  It's NBUS Challenge #5, and my, has her following grown!  I've used this gnome before, but the Die-namics Birthday Centerpieces is making its NBUS debut.
Thanks ever so much for coming over to visit today.  We have two more moves to make, my in-laws this weekend, and my aunt & uncle next week.  After that. Lord willing, I will be more consistent with blogging and commenting!  I hope you are having a wonderful day!
 
Kara Lynne


Thursday, September 3, 2015

A Shabby Attempt

Shabby chic is not my forte, but once in a while a die comes along that whispers to me, "try it."  The Serendipity Stamps Pumpkin Die is just such a die:
I was belly aching a bit because I don't have many stencils.  This is on purpose because I know I could easily make one using the Silhouette.  The problem is, I don't.  Note to self: make some stencils to have on hand!  Anyhoo, that darned pumpkin whispered to me again saying, "look at me, I'm a stencil!"  Showoff!  I used some wonderful, name unknown, rust colored cardstock for the base and the pumpkins.  I mixed some Liquitex Modeling Paste with Memory Makers acrylic paint called, Manila, and scraped it onto the background using a palate knife and a pumpkin.  I also painted two of the pumpkins.  Can you tell which one was used for the stencil?  The rust, gray, and cream papers are from a Kaiser Craft paper pad called, Lush Collection.  The sentiment die is from PTI Scripted Die set, and the enamel dots are from Basic Grey.  In an attempt to get all shabby chic, I brushed the paint on most everything, and sponged a bit of DI Frayed Burlap for depth.
 
This card is joining in on the fun over at:
                                     Simon Monday Challenge Blog
 
Next up:  The pumpkin comes clean.
 
My second card was inspired by challenge #179 over at Retro Sketches:
 
The pumpkin still got a dusting of DI Frayed Burlap, as did the other elements on the card.  I silver embossed the sentiment from PTI's Thank You Kindly stamp set, and also a scripted background stamp from Glitz Now.  The papers are again from the Kaiser Craft Lush Collection, with a PTI Mat Stack III in PTI Smokey Shadow cs. 
 
Thanks so much for coming over to visit!  I hope you are having a wonderful day!  Remember, if your dies start whispering to you, whatever you do, don't let anyone see you whisper back, it's our crafting secret!
 
Kara Lynne