Christmas in July?

This month's HCCC was a doozy! I was totally stumped on this
challengebecause it was so out-of-the-box. I mean, really,
a colour combination of orange, yellow and green for a
Christmas card? I sat down a couple times pulling cardstock
and looking at stamp sets hoping something would come
to me, but each time I was completely stumped.
That is until I made this card.
As I typed the words "I have a feeling more of these
patchwork-y cards will be in my future...
so much fun mixing patterns and colours!" I finally had
my 'Aha!' moment and here's what I created:

I pulled some patterned papers - a Cosmo Cricket Holly Jolly,
Basic Grey Nook and Pantry and Basic Grey Sugar Rush
(I thought the flowers looked kind of poinsettia-ish)
- and just followed the same layout as the previous
card I had made. And, while I'm happy with how it ended up...

...I'm pretty sure these won't be our Christmas cards this year :)

So good to be pushed out of my comfort zone though.
Thanks for getting us to think out-of-the-box, Marnie, and
creating what may have been the most challenging challenge yet!

I'm going to have to think up something epic for August...

A Wedding Card

I'd recently seen a challenge about creating a card that coordinates the the theme colours of a wedding. So when we received an invite for a wedding this past weekend, I thought it would be fun to make their card with their wedding colours. The only problem was their colours were black and yellow. How does one create an elegant wedding card using black and bright yellow? Without the card looking like a bumblebee? I was quite stumped, until I saw this card.
I figured if I could find some cute patterned paper, I could put together a little patchwork that would be fun, but still classy enough for the wedding. Next problem was, I only had one sheet of patterned paper that was yellow, none that were black...and that's when the inspiration hit me and all of a sudden I knew this was gonna be a great card. Using some background stamps I created my own patterned paper and came up with this lovely:

A little close-up of the flower:

I'm SO happy with how it turned out! Bright and fun, like the bride
and groom, but not too cutesy that it's not appropriate for a wedding.

I have a feeling more of these patchwork-y cards will be in my future...
so much fun mixing patterns and colours!

Thanks for visiting :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Wishing You (Verve), Musical notes (Unity), Text (Hero Arts)
Paper: Doily Print (Basic Grey), Basic Black, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight (SU!)
Ink: Basic Black, Daffodil Delight (SU!), Old Paper Distress Ink (Ranger)
Other: Clear embossing powder (HA), flower die (SU!), twine (PTI), button (BG)

A Perfect Challenge!

I came across a new challenge blog this week and it was the

perfect inspiration I needed for a special card.

Our friend lives in a city apartment with his Airedale Terrier
and made the difficult decision to give him a new home
where he can run and play outside all day. I can't imagine
how hard that choice was...and how lonely his apartment
will be without his best furry friend. We're all going to miss
him so much! I wanted to send him a card to let him know
we're thinking of him during this tough time and that we
will always cherish the special visits we shared with him.
So, without further amounts of sob story, here's the card:

This week's challenge was 'Krafts-men':
a clean and simple card for a guy, using kraft cardstock.
I started with a kraft base which I embossed with
a Tim Holtz impression plate. I rubbed distress ink
all over the impression plate before I ran it through
my Cuttlebug and it gave it a great weathered look.
Another layer of kraft with a torn piece of Riding
Hood Red cardstock to border it and then wrapped
it in twine and frayed the edges. I finished the panel
with four brushed copper eyelets.

To finish it, I stamped a retired SU! sentiment on Very Vanilla
cardstock with Riding Hood Red ink and heat embossed it
with clear embossing powder. I love the way it makes the
words really stand out. Lastly, I heavily distressed all the
edges and adhered it with some pop-dots.

I'm so happy with the way it turned out! I wasn't sure
what kind of card to create for the situation, but hopefully
this will send a special warm-fuzzy to our friend...
in a very manly way, of course!

Thanks, CAS-ual Fridays for the inspiration!