My first Caardvarks Challenge

So I have been seeing this word a lot lately....I finally went and checked it out and I am so glad that I did. The world of card making is still new to me. I have spent most of my time on the Hero Arts blog. I wanted to see if I could find some sketch challenges and I did here. I have had this site bookmarked for quite some time. I have been exploring my bookmarks lately and clicking on links on others blogs. I am thrilled that I found the Caardvarks blog. I love the sketches and know I will be a frequent visitor over there. If you haven't checked it out before you should. They also have an amazing gallery of their designers over on Flickr

This challenge is sponsered by Short Cuts. I had never heard of these before but I will most definitely be seeking them out to buy.

I loved this sketch and I knew instantly what I wanted to do with it when I saw it. Like I said previously...I didn't have any shortcuts so I created my own clear folder out of transparency. I had this scalloped paper and when folded it made a nice size card. I cut 2 pieces of transparency to go over it. One was cut a 1/2 inch larger and then I scored it for easy folding and attached it to the transparency that was to be the back.

I then stamped with Versamark onto the transparency with a Hero Arts stamp (it was very hard to see) I then heat embossed it with with clear Ranger embossing powder. My transparencies are heat embossable. I love that as I emboss a lot on them and get really mad when they warm. I love the effect....even if there is a slight mishap in the middle of it. You can't notice it unless you really look. The card is for my cousin...so she won't mind.

So I am off to check out more of their sketches. I love to have them around when I am feeling uninspired. If you know of any other card challenge sites I would love to know about them.





Other Supplies: Cardstock Bazzil, PP: Basic Grey (flowered) and Bo Bunny(green dot) Pink dot (unknown), Ribbon Creative Impressions, Stamps: Hero Arts (Dots and flowers), Studio G (saying); Fiskars, mini dot punch; Embossable Transparency, Marco papers die cut carriage, Silhouette

YEAH!!!!

So I have been making cards for a while now. Just starting to get the hang of it. I have been entering challenges on the Hero Arts blog...as you have probably read a million times here and this week I got an HONORABLE MENTION for this card!! I am over the moon happy. I know that it doesn't seem like much to most but to me it meant everything. It was the confidence booster I needed. I have been creating for a long time. I stopped submitting years ago because I felt like I lost the meaning of creating. I was trying to create for others and not myself. This is not the case anymore and to be picked for an HM meant that much more to me.

So thank you Hero Arts, thank you Jen McGuire for being such and inspiration and teacher.

Butterflies....

I made these for the Hero Arts challenge put out by Shari last week. I combined it with the class Thinking Inking on 2 peas taught by Jen McGuire. If you haven't seen the class....you should it's fantastic.

I am having a lazy day today. I am making a stack of Thank you cards as a gift and then some for my Etsy store. Hopefully, I will have my Etsy store up by August. It's my goal.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

All that Glitters

I admit it. I am a glitter junkie. I remember 3 years ago shopping in JoAnn's with my girlfriend Alison. She was searching high and low for glitters. She was convinced that glitter was the next big thing to hit scrapbooking. I thought she was crazy. Little did I know.

I avoided it for the longest time. Then Doodlebug came out with all those lucious colors. I couldn't resist them....or stickles. I became addicted. I am forever trying to figure out ways to use it in my scrapping and on my cards. It's a huge addiction...a messy one, but a fun one.

I was browsing my lss the other night. I saw these beautiful works of art with this new glitter that hit the market...the name escapes me at the moment. They had these beautiful flowers stamped on transparencies with Stazon ink and then colored in with glitter. The flowers looked like they would have taken days to create, an employee confirmed to me that they were extremely time consuming. I figured there had to be a better way.

I bought the cloud stamp by hero arts. I just love it. It's everywhere these days. I thought it would so cool to have a blue glitter sky with glittery puffy clouds. Enter this.
I used glossy accents glue painted onto the background stamp. I then poured the blue glitter over it and let it dry. Glossy Accents dries a lot faster than Diamond Glaze (which I am a huge fan of). Then I took a small paintbrush and painted inside the cloud and dumped the white glitter on. It isn't as time consuming as it looks but I had much bigger areas than a flower. Then I moved onto the bird. I did the same steps except I used Stickles for his beak instead of glitter. Stickles takes so long to dry though. I won't be doing that again unless I let it set up overnight. If your're thinking "use a heat gun" remember it will warp the transparency. Even embossable transparency. Been there! ;)


For this one I followed the same steps but this time I used MODGE PODGE for the blue sky and it worked so much better. The color really pops on this one. I have to admit...it didn't work as well on the clouds. MP dries very quickly. You're working in a small area and it just tries far too fast.

That's it for today. So much going on today. Have you been to the Hero arts Flickr Group? There is so much inspiration over there. While you are there take a pit stop at the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol. Twenty (20) Winners go up today! I wish everyone who joined good luck!

Have a FANTABULOUS day!

Baby shower invitations

Hi, I have been absent and I apologize. I have a very bad back and I am having lots of issues. I can't sit for long and I don't have a laptop :( so I can't post as much as I would like. I also can't create as much as I would like. I did manage to get these done this week though. My cousin in pregnant. She lives in Alaska but is coming here in July and we are throwing her a surprise shower (nope she doesn't know about this blog....yet). I was perusing the 2 peas gallery the other night and came across g8rchik and she had these posted. I fell in love with them and instantly started to try to figure it out. I am a very visual learner. I can usually look at things and pretty much know how to recreate it. I have to see things made, rather than reading words. I am lost when I have to read how to put something together.

So off I went to my desk and pulled a bunch of scrap cards tried to recreate it. It took me a bit but I got it and I am so proud of the finished product. I used Cuttlebug dies to make the animals. These cards are super easy to make!

Now I am off to try to figure out a diaper pattern so that I can give her them to use as Thank you notes. I was thinking of a rattle too. Not sure yet! If you have any ideas I would love to hear them.

slider card

Quick post today....tomorrow's my youngest child's 8th birthday :( . This is a slider card that I made my mom for Mother's day this year. I found the video while I was doing a search for interactive cards. I love interactive things. You can view the video HERE

Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather. I am going to plant my veggies today. I think the fear of frost had finally passed.


PP: basic grey, scallop, punch fiskars; heart, heidi swapp.

Cards for Hero's drawing winner is...

"ML Design Works said...
Pretty cards! Thank you for participating!
May 24, 2009 7:19 PM"

CONGRATS!!! If you could e-mail me at skrappergirl@msn.com I would greatly appreciate it! :)

Michelle