Wplus9 Birthday – Trend Challenge

Here with something for the Wplus9 Birthday Trend Watch Challenge.

Okay, so I’ll just confess it right now, first thing – I am probably THE least trendy person around.  I’m clueless about trendy things, and by the time I embrace a trendy thing, it is likely to have not been trendy any more for the last 5-10 years.  So, I’m grateful that Dawn gave us a selection of trends, to help clue me in!

I went with diagonal stripes & sequins for this card:

Pulled out my Onesie Twosie stamps and die sets for this, in addition to the Heartfelt Mix stamps and dies.

Thanks for stopping by today. 😉
-Ally

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Heartfelt Mix, Onesie Twosie (Wplus9)
Paper/Cardstock:  White Cardstock (Xpedx); Winter Wisteria Cardstock and Patterned Papers, Soft Stone Patterned Papers (PTI)
Inks:  Plum Pudding, Winter Wisteria (PTI); Copic Markers
Embellishments:  Sequins
Tools:  Heart Dies, Onesie Die (Wplus9); Stitched Mat Rectangle Die (Lil Inker)

Fusion Card Challenge #13

Welcome to today’s Fusion Card Challenge!  Thank you so much for participating with us last week.  We have a bit of a different schedule for our challenge today.  Challenge #13 will be a month-long challenge, so you’ll have a whole month to create – you could do one project for the sketch, one for the photo, and one with Fusion.  Enter as many times as you like!  Hopefully you’ll enjoy our laid-back schedule for the month of July.

One other change is that this will be Deanna’s last challenge as a Fusion DT member.  I have really enjoyed being on this team with her, and I’m sad to see her go.  But she plans to be around, so make sure you continue to stop in at her blog!  Best wishes, Deanna!

Here is this month’s challenge graphic:

Cute, right??  I went with the following elements in creating my card:  Stacked birds, color combo, and white space.  My mind went in the direction of a little baby being welcomed into the ‘nest.’  Thus, the Welcome Little One theme, in spite of the nontraditional-baby-color combo.

This card makes use of the Papertrey Ink Birds & Blooms stamp set, which I had not previously used until this time.  The background embossing is simply because my new Horizontal Chevron Cover Plate arrived last week, and I wanted to try it.

Please stop by to see what the rest of the Fusion Design Team have created and to see the details for this challenge.  I hope you’ll participate with us over the next month!

Deanna Dean / Kelly Griglione / Amy Tsuruta / Kay Miller / Lyndal Higgins

On a personal note, we went swimming at the local public pool last Saturday to celebrate the arrival of Summer.  It was fun, but despite my best sunscreen-applying efforts, I came home with a terrible burn over my shoulders and upper arms.  It has been a painful week, as a result.  In addition to the ‘normal’ pain of my life.  Ack!!

I’ve also had a HUGE amount of documentation and preparation to do lately for our homeschooling, in addition to some custom Etsy orders to fulfill.  Sick kids this week, too.  All of that has left my personal creative time almost completely in the dust.  Summer is always so overwhelming to me, and I often find myself hanging on for dear life until Autumn arrives.  Just not a Summer person!  I definitely don’t do very well with all the hustle and bustle and busy schedules.  I much prefer to clip along at a nice, steady, reasonable pace.

But did you spot my favorite lace at the bottom of this card??!  I am thrilled to report that with an apparent first-of-the-month re-stocking at nearby Wal-Mart stores, I was able to find about 12 rolls of it this month!  Call me crazy for stockpiling it as if the world were about to end…  But my mind is a little more at ease for the time being, so it’s TOTALLY worth it, to me!

Anyway.  Thanks for stopping by today. 😉
-Ally

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Birds & Blooms, Script Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Paper/Cardstock:  Rustic White Cardstock (PTI); Whisper Cardstock (CTMH)
Inks:  Certainly Celery, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Summer Starfruit (SU!); Slate, Whisper (CTMH)
Embellishments:  Lace (Offray)
Tools:  Horizontal Chevron Cover Plate (PTI)

Dynamic Duos #43

Today’s Dynamic Duos challenge is for the colors Pool Party and Lucky Limeade.

One other area in which my card stash is lacking is baby boy cards.  I tend to gravitate toward pink and girly themes when I create baby cards.  So I finally faced the reality that I need to make some baby boy cards and then used this color combo to do just that.

I did substitute a bit for the colors.  The sponged background on the Rectangle Stitched Mats panel and the three little hearts were done with Pool Party ink.  But I used PTI’s Simply Chartreuse polka-dot patterned paper for the grass and also PTI’s Aqua Mist gingham patterned paper for the baby blanket bundle.

Though it’s tough to see except on the close-up photos, I used the Polka Dot Basics II impression plate on the white background panel.  The stork’s body and also the baby bundle are raised with foam adhesive, and I added a little glitter pen to the stork and the 3 little aqua hearts.

Make sure you stop in to see what the rest of the Design Team have created and to check out the details for this challenge.  I hope you will participate with us!

Allyson Andersen (me) | Christina Barnes | Vicki Burdick | Karen Day | Deanna Dean
Jenny Engelke | Anne Marie Hile | Erna Logtenberg | Bobbie Trost | Amy White

 

Thanks for stopping by today. 😉
-Ally

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Bundle of Love, Script Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)
Paper/Cardstock:  White Cardstock (Xpedx); Classic Kraft Cardstock (PTI); Aqua Mist and Simply Chartreuse Patterned Papers (PTI)
Inks:  Tuxedo Black (Memento); Pool Party (SU!); Copic Markers
Embellishments:  Glitter Pen
Tools:  Fresh Cut Grass Die (MFT); Rectangle Stitched Mats Die (Lil’ Inker); Polka Dot Basics II Impression Plate (PTI)

PTI Anniversary Sketch Challenge

Short and sweet here to get a post in before the deadline for this PTI Anniversary challenge.  I used Sketch #1 for my card.

See if you can tell that I used this sketch when you look at my card.  I took a few creative liberties.

This is my first baby card for the year 2013.

Thanks for stopping by today. 😉
-Ally

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Heart-2-Heart #11, Mat Stack #1, Script Sentiments (PTI)
Paper/Cardstock:  Classic Kraft, Rustic White, Spring Moss, Sweet Blush Cardstocks; Sweet Blush Pattern Paper Pack (PTI)
Inks:  Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, Sweet Blush (PTI)
Embellishments:  Misc Buttons; Embroidery Floss
Tools:   Banner Builder Dies (PTI)

Adventures in Photography

Okay.  So, this is actually the first card I created with the Play Date Cafe #153 colors, but I’m not sure how close the colors are, really.  And I thought I was being brave using all that Summer Starfruit as my ‘pear’ substitute.  But I think what really happened is that I developed a real dislike for Summer Starfruit…

Anyway!  Here it is:

I’ve also been trying some light tent action for my photographs.  And the reason I’m trying that, is because when I tried to photograph this card using my usual method of operation, the Summer Starfruit totally wigged out on me and went all crazy!  I tried for several hours to get the colors to turn out right in photos.  I even spent additional hours trying to Photoshop the colors into obedience.  All to no avail.  The photos were seriously hideous, and there wasn’t a darn thing I could do about it!

So, to waste even MORE time…  I used my last few days of spare time before lessons to finally set up the light tent I purchased over a year ago (but have never used, out of pure fear) on my basement craft desk (which is also very neglected, favoring my kitchen counter and table for crafting instead), and I did a lot of experimenting with lighting and photography.  This is the best photo of this card I’ve been able to achieve over the last few days.

I’m not sure what I think of the white background from the light tent.  I guess I just prefer a dark background for my cards.  And to be fair, it could just be my inexperience and might improve with practice.  Let me know what you think of the photographs – any honest feedback you want to provide will be appreciated!

You can tell me what you think of the card, too, if you like.  I’m attributing this whole experience to the learning process!  Including the lesson on how to use Summer Starfruit sparingly and appropriately – LOL!

Before I forget, the image is a download I purchased from Sweet & Sassy stamps a year or so ago, which I have colored with Copics.  The sentiment is part of the image.

Thanks for stopping by today.   We’re starting lessons again this morning, so you might hear crickets between posts for the next few days.  😉
-Ally

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Digital Image (Sweet & Sassy)
Paper/Cardstock:  White Cardstock (Xpedx); Summer Starfruit (SU!); Autumn Rose, Dark Chocolate (PTI)
Inks:  Copic Markers; Computer Printer
Embellishments:  Autumn Rose Grosgrain Ribbon (PTI); Lace (Offray)
Tools:  Seeing Spots Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

A Freshly Made CASology Card

The theme for CASology challenge #13 is ‘zoo.’  I combined that with Freshly Made Sketch #55.

I did flip this sketch to the left 90 degrees, for my purposes.  I used my Sweet Baby stamp set, since it is the only set I have with any kind of zoo animals.

So, just a fun, simple little baby card here.

Thanks for stopping by today. 😉
-Ally

Challenge Photos:

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Sweet Baby (Papertrey Ink); Onesie Twosie (Wplus9)
Paper/Cardstock:  White Cardstock (Xpedx); Kraft Cardstock (PTI); Primrose Petals Cardstock (SU!); Designer Paper (Lost & Found Blush Pad – My Mind’s Eye)
Inks:  Pink Pirouette, Primrose Petals (SU!)
Embellishments:  Rhinestones (Recollections); Ribbon (PTI)
Tools:   Rounded Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); Standard Circles Dies (Spellbinders); Embossing Folder