Classic Black and White with Red

Today's card is made with the classic color combination of black, white and red.  Honestly, you can add almost anything to a card with these colors and it will look good! :)

I wanted to use a new die-cut I bought a few months back ... it's been sitting there collecting dust and so today is the day!!  It's the Curly Q Border die from C.C. Designs and right away you think, telephone cord, but I know I can do lots of other things with it, just need to experiment a little.  Today I used it for the border of my birthday card and am happy with how it turned out.  The only negative is that I made a small card (4 1/4" square) so you don't get to see much of the border, which also has the flower on top.  But, I did add an inside panel to the card that has a bottom border of 1" of black polka-dot, topped with the red ribbon and the black Curly Q Border, so you get a good dose of it when you open the card.  Hope you like this clean and simple card for the CAS challenge this week at SCS - CAS175 - inspiration photo of a black and white bathing suit ... I just had to add a little pop of red :)

"Polka-dot Birthday"

Stamp:  Happiest Birthday Wishes (SU!)
Paper:  Basic Black, Black polka-dot DP (SU!); Bazzill White
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Giant Daisy and Small Sun punches (Punch Bunch), Big Shot, Curly Q Border (C.C. Designs), mat, stylus, 5/8" Real Red Grosgrain ribbon, Embossing Buddy, White embossing powder, heat tool, sticky strips, glue, and dimensionals

I punched three giant daisies from Bazzill white cardstock, pinched them to shape the petals and then glued the layers together, offsetting the petals.  I punched nine small suns from basic black cardstock, molded them with my mat and stylus to break down the fibers to make the cardstock easier to manipulate, cut into each sun just past center and then rolled them into a cone shape.  I glued eight (on their sides) in a circle around the center of the flower, leaving a small space in the middle.  The ninth rolled sun is glued to the center space, standing upright.

I then mounted the polka-dot paper onto the white panel and added the red ribbon over top of where the two pieces meet and wrapping the ends to the back to secure.  I glued the Curly Q Border on top of the red ribbon, trimming the ends; and then mounted the panel onto my black card base.  I added the flower on top, popping it up with dimensionals to add depth.  After the card was done, I realized it was missing something, so I carefully added the sentiment in versamark and embossed in white ... normally I would have done that before adding all the layers.

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I was experimenting with making a poinsettia using my new flower making book.  I didn't have the punches they suggested, substituting my Cheery Lynn Small Leaves #2 instead.  I'm not completely happy with how it turned out ... but it was my first attempt.  I think it would look better with darker green leaves - maybe Always Artichoke instead of the Old Olive.  And next time I will add some sponging to the petals.  Here's my first attempt ...

Two more Grad cards

Today I'm posting a couple of grad cards I made for friends of Jer's that just graduated from university.  The first one is for Heather (my stamping friend), who just graduated with a degree in Atmospheric Science --- I hope I got that right! ... so that's why the owl is holding an umbrella :)

"Congratulations Heather!"

Stamp:  Love & Laughter (SU!)
Paper:  Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Basic Black, More Mustard, Bashful Blue, Daffodil Delight polka-dot DP, Bashful Blue polka-dot DP (SU!)
Ink:  Basic Black, Sahara Sand (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  2-part owl punch, scalloped oval punch, sponge, mini More Mustard brads, Lemondrop Twine (The Twinery), Big Shot, Umbrella die-cut (Memory Box), glue, adhesives, and dimensionals

Punched out the owl, sponged the Sahara Sand pieces, and glued everything together.  Hand cut the cap and added a mini brad and twine.

Mounted all the pieces, popping up the umbrella and congrat banner with dimensionals.

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The second grad card is for Scott (my computer techie, who has helped me SO much with my blog).  Scott just graduated with a degree in Computer Science.

"Congratulations Scott!"

Stamp:  Outlined Occassions (SU!); grad cap (unknown)
Paper:  white cardstock, basic black (SU!)
Ink:  StazOn Black, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Pacific Point (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  adhesives

I stamped the sentiment in StazOn black and colored it in with Stampin' Write markers.   Stamped a grad cap on the "C" in basic black.  Mounted the panel onto a larger panel of Basic Black cardstock and then mounted onto the card base.  Easy and fun CAS card!

Flower Flourish

For today's card, I combined this week's Sketch and CAS Challenges from SCS to create another CAS card with the white-on-white technique.  Originally I made a white lily for my focal point ... and it looked really pretty on my card, but it is coned shaped and I just couldn't get it to sit nicely on the card.  A little frustrating after spending so much time making the flower from punches.  Sometimes it happens and I had to move on ... so I added a felt flower that I bought at my local $1 Store ... love the green bling in the center and actually, the color looks so fresh with the Certainly Celery flourish and white backdrop.  Hope you like.

Here's the sketch:

"Flower Flourish"

Paper:  White cardstock (C.C. Designs); Certainly Celery (SU!)
Accessories & tools:  Big Shot, Birds and Swirls embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Fanciful Flourish die (Cheery Lynn), felt flower ($1 store), glue, and dimensionals

I ran the small panel through my Big Shot with the Birds & Swirls embossing folder and then mounted it my white card front, popping it up with dimensionals to add depth.

I cut out the flourish die from Certainly Celery cardstock and glued the main stems to my front panel, leaving the rest of the flourish free-flowing.  I mounted my felt flower to the flourish, popping it up to add more depth.

Brick House

Today's color challenge at SCS (CC379) is Cajun Craze, Baja Breeze, and Cherry Cobbler ... with the dessert being - add Lucky Limeade as greenery (flowers, leaves, trees).  Well, those colors together were definitely a challenge for me!  I decided to go with a window flower box on a brick house ... I tried adding a distressed look to the window and flower box to match the distressed look from the brick embossing folder.  Hope you like.

"Brick House"

Paper:  Confetti Cream, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler (SU!)
Ink:  Cajun Craze, Early Espresso (SU!)
Accessories & Tools:  Big Shot; Small Madison Window die, Small Flower Box die, Wildflower Patch die (all from Poppy Stamps / Memory Box); Leafy Branch die and Leaves die (C.C. Designs), Brick embossing folder (Tim Holtz / Sizzix), Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch, sponge dauber, white gel pen, mat, stylus, glue, adhesives, sticky strips, and dimensionals

I ran the embossing folder through my Big Shot with Confetti Cream cardstock.  I used a sponge dauber to add Cajun Craze ink to the embossing (and a little Early Espresso ink).

I ran the flower box die and window die through the Big Shot with Crumb Cake cardstock (cut two flower boxes).  I took my Early Espresso ink pad and swiped it across all three pieces several times, pressing fairly hard and always pulling in one direction.  I added a piece of Confetti Cream cardstock behind the window, adding dimensionals in between and mounted it to the embossed card front near the top (my plan was to add a sentiment on the bottom - but I didn't like how that looked so left it off).

I find the easiest way for me to "build" the flower box is to add temporary adhesive to the back of one flower box and lay it on my work surface.  I ran the Leafy Branch die-cut and Leaves die-cut through my Big Shot with Old Olive cardstock three times (I didn't end up using all the dies).

I added a sticky strip along the top of the flower box and started adding leaves (or pieces of leaves) until I was happy with how it looked.  I then placed the second flower box on top, placing dimensionals in-between.  I mounted the flower box onto the bottom of my window.

I ran the Wildflower Patch die through my Big Shot with Baja Breeze cardstock and then cut the stems off all the flowers.  I punched several hydrangea flowers from Cherry Cobbler cardstock.

I used my mat and stylus to shape the flowers, added a white center to the Cherry Cobbler blossoms with a white gel pen and then randomly glued the flowers on top of the leaves.  I added two small leaf sprigs to the front of the box, tucking the ends under flowers.

I added an embossed brick panel to the inside of my card, with a Confetti Cream writing panel in the middle.