AAA Cards: The MacGyver Challenge

Hello - and to all my US friends: HAPPY JULY 4th!!  I hope your day is filled with festivity and celebration. Oh, and fireworks!! Lots  of  whizz-bang-golly gee, light-the-sky-into-a zillion-sparks-of-colour (oops, I mean 'color' - for today!) fireworks!  Love fireworks!  Years ago, my dad and grandpa would set off fireworks on the farm; some ignited, some didn't, but my, the memories of those times....Then we'd have a wiener roast, with the hot dogs precariously straddling sticks we'd selected ever-so-carefully earlier in the day, whittled to sharpened points by my grandpa. Mine inevitably ended up in the fire, but I thoroughly enjoyed my charred cuisine...Happy, nostalgic sighhh...

Speaking of sparks and 'hot' things (oops..inside voice coming out) do you remember MacGyver, from 'back-in-the day'?  The man who could make 'anything' out of essentially nothing?  Yes, I grew up watching MacGyver (and The Partridge Family...and Get Smart...and Gilligan's Island...love them all!!), so you can imagine my delight when I discovered what a team of brilliant, talented designers had come up with: AAA Cards: The MacGyver Challenge

The first part of the challenge:  visit the designers' blogs, and 'find' precisely what Mr. Handsome MacGyver required.  Along the way, however, we were also treated to some fabulous cards AND tutorials!  A treasure hunt, with an eye-candy + inspiration twist.  Winning combination all around.  Once we'd found our items, we were invited to share them in a blog post, and that's why I'm here: to fulfill my mission (oh, and I also watched Mission Impossible!!):

Here's the challenge overview....

The results of my 'hunt and find' journey follow - and let me tell you: too. much. fun!!

Victoria shared a wonderful tutorial on making an enameled embellishment, resulting in this darling card

 

and an item for my 'search'

Angela created a stunning card and note cards gift set:

Jane dazzled us with a trio of lovely water-colour cards

and a second item on the MacGyver list:

Julia's shadow resist butterfly card is nothing short of swoon-inducing:

Item #3 found here, too

 Hannelie's sympathy card is utterly gorgeous...

Linda's card is a brilliant, fun, fresh showcase of the MacGyver challenge

and the locale of Item #4:

Vicki dazzled and delighted with her version of the challenge:

and Item #5: 

Of course, finding the 'goods' wasn't the end.  The next part:  to feature those newly found items, a la the inspiration of Linda and Vicki, our 'version' of a card/project using:  a hole, corrugated card-board, a stamp, string and plastic.

A challenge that I *had* to tackle...

Wondering what I made?  Head over to my next post....

And to the AAA Cards Team: thank you for creating this 'stretch our creativity challenge (and the MacGyver throwback was pretty awesome too!)

Thanks so much for dropping by; your visit and comments make my day!!

TIME OUT Guest Designer....TIME OUT Challenge #9: Inspired by Words~ Fun in the Sun

Hello!  Such an honour today to be joining the TIME OUT team as a guest designer! Thank you to Nonni, Sandie and the entire talented, inspiring, creative group for inviting me to "tag along"!  Their challenge - already on #9 - is pure fun; a reminder that in the midst of our busy lives, we need to take some 'time out' to play, create and all around, pamper and spoil our spirits to keep them fresh, positive and lively.  Sounds to me like a perfect recipe for happiness!

The spark for this challenge is Inspired by Words: Fun in the Sun.  The entire phrase, or individual words in the phrase, or 'feelings' that the phrase evokes...the possibilities are as wide and varied as your imagination chooses to soar.

My little share today was inspired by the phrase. The sun is something we so enjoy seeing in our mountain town, especially the glorious sunrises and sunsets it creates for us, over our majestic Rocky Mountains. As for 'fun'...you know that bikes - along with bike races - play key roles in our lives, so it just seemed fitting to include one.

Here it is: my Good Times "Fun in the Sun" tag:

Aside from the bike, which was stamped with SU ink, and the clouds, which are card-stock die-cut speech bubbles with the little doo-hickey cut off, everything else is sponged on water-colour paper (but NO water-colouring....eeek!).   I'm giving this to my niece when she (and my nephew, of course) comes to visit next week!! Woo hoooo...

Enough from me; head on over - or back - to TIME OUT, and join the fun!  Plenty of inspiration awaits to jump-start ideas and to showcase your take on "Fun in the Sun."

Thank you again, TIME OUT Team for inviting me to guest design! 

Thanks so much for dropping by; your visit and comments add sparkle to my day!

Hello Tag...Tag You're It: Mini Challenge, Poppy Sketches #7

Hello...

A new challenge has totally caught my eye, and I know it will yours, too!  It's called Tag, You're It (fabulous name!!).  Hostessed by the amazing Jackie Rockwell (she has two new ones for us, actually), along with an A-Team group of designers, and...*fist pump* featuring TAGS (cas style), it's guaranteed to be a hit in our crafting community!! I love tags!  Remember those 90+ I made for my sister-in-law at Christmas?  Well, I'm recuperated *grin* and I am so. into. this. challenge!!  

Challenge 1 is a mini challenge, inviting us to draw inspiration from this darling tag created by guest designer Karin:

Summer delight and absolutely a-dor-a-ble!  My tag is also inspired by The Poppy Sketches #7, and especially Renee's sample

Ready? Here's my little tag, featuring my dot fade stencil once again, along with a sponged butterfly and sentiment strip. Distress Inks out to play this roung...

Thank so much for dropping by; your visit and comments add sparkle to my day!!

CASE x 2: Dragonfly Hello and Thanks....TIME OUT Challenge #8: CASE Donna Mikasa With Your Own Twist; CAS(E) Study #197; Addicted to Stamps and More; Paper Crafting Challenge

HAPPY CANADA DAY to all my fellow Canadians!  Our little town is bursting at the seams with all the tourists who've arrived to enjoy the day here; a parade downtown, pancake breakfasts, other  celebrations during the afternoon, fireworks. As for us, we're aiming for a bike ride on the Legacy Trail, which runs from here to Banff.  I imagine oodles of people will have similar plans.  My husband went for another epic ride yesterday (180 km), so he's a bit tired, which means we won't have to ride for a zillion hours!  Love my bike, but there are limits to what I can do.  He's the racing dude; I'm just a biking-ambler-alonger...

Over the past week, we've had some marvelous challenge cards to case made by exponentially talented designers. I'm in awe over their creations, and my attempts...well, in my world, it's like trying to imitate Michelangelo, or DaVinci or Raphael.  A super challenge!!  Still, the opportunities were too alluring to resist, so I gave them a shot, or rather, a 'stencil'.  Both designer's cards are 'bold' and confident in their colours and images; mine are subtle and a bit shy.

My first card is for TIME OUT Challenge #8:  CASE Donna Mikasa With Your Own Twist

How stunning is her card, filled with vibrant colours and the eye-catching gold?  Mine...well, I did try sponging, but the results were messy.  Plan B: try out my new TH dot fade stencil, add a gold hello, a pink dragonfly (sparkly, but hard to see) and voila...my 'twist' on Donna's marvelous card:

My second card...oh my, but that was a challenge!!  I wanted very much to do justice to this amazing card by Pamela Ho, whose card is the featured inspiration at CAS(E) Study Challenge #197:

Circles, black, vellum, the orange and gold focal point.  Stunning.  I tried several times to figure out a 'circle' approach, and let's just say that Mr. Recycle Bin needs to go on a diet, so filled is his tummy.  I was just about to give up, when my previous card caught my eye.  TH dot fade stencil came out to play again, and here's the result:

Although I added a gold embossed thanks and some stars, glossy-enameled, it still seems a touch "Halloweeny".   In real life, the orange is brighter, and the black more grey-ish.  Oh yes, since I'm still on a sponging kick (practice practice practice), the circle is sponged with one of my new SU inks.  Not a dazzler, by any stretch, but I did want to let Pamela know she is incredibly inspiring, and my card is growing on me!

Speaking of sponging: anyone have some good tips on how to make the results more 'even'? I end up with splotches of darker spots, with 'edges' (despite using the round TH blending tool).  Maybe I'm too heavy-handed...as in clumsy and awkward...although I may, on occasion, be stern, and a wee bit controlling, and, okay, a bit obstinate...*grin* 

I'm also sharing at Addicted to Stamps and More: Anything Goes and Paper Crafting Challenge: Anything Goes

Thanks so much for dropping by; your visit and comments make my day!

Thank You...Freshly Made Sketches #142

Hello! I hope everyone had a most fabulous weekend, filled with summery fun.  Summer is taking a long, slow saunter to arrive here, with clouds and rain spits yesterday; clouds, gusty winds (seriously, enough. with. the. wind!), and rain today.  Complaining, however, should not be on my agenda, because last year we were in the midst of flood-devastation.  The forecast is for sunny and (I'll just whisper the next word) h.o.t. later in the week.  Fingers crossed!

Yesterday was a crafting day (husband out riding...neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet keeps my guy off his bike...well, blizzards, cold winds, torrential downpours the exceptions), but not a whole lot to show for it. I was 'practicing' stuff; some worked, a bunch did not.  Grrr...watercolouring. Grrr...splotchy sponging...

Today, we made a trip to the 'big city' where I had my 'fix' of shopping errands: a much needed top-up-the-basics at Costco (almonds, chocolate chips, blueberries, plus an assortment of other things...yummm), a stroll through Michaels (adhesive tape only...so proud of myself!), a walk through a mall - in pursuit of a pair of black flats, which proved fruitless - and then home, in the pouring rain!  My husband travels to the city once or twice weekly, as part of his job, while I get there maybe once a month (or less, depending if we're off to see my family in the 'other' -  but 'better' big city *grin*).  The 'desire' to go usually winds up more fulfilling than the actual going. Traffic, crowds...eeek!! Then again, our small town  has quadrupled in size this weekend, with all the tourists coming for the Canada Day long weekend, so home or away, 'congestion' was a given!

Anyway, enough prattling!! My card this evening is for Freshly Made Sketches #142

and was especially inspired by Cindy L's card with the dragon fly.  I went simple: some patterned 12 x 12 paper with butterflies on one side, the swirls on the other; my pierced butterfly, inlaid (not sure if your can see the stitched outlines; and a thank you banner.  Construction time about 15minutes; figuring it out time 2 hours!! Yeesh....Oh well, the journey is just as, if not more, important than the destination...sometimes...

Thanks so much for dropping by; your visit and comments make my day!!

Warm Thoughts, Follow Your Heart...AAA Cards #8: Inspire, Addicted to Cas #41: Sun, Addicted to Stamps and More #101: Anything Goes, STAMPlorations Sketch Challenge #13, Simon Monday Challenge

Happy Friday; happy start to summer holidays!! *Fist pump* I still have some odds and sods to clean up next week, but my time isn't run by a clock. Whew...this has been quite a year.  Hopefully, my coherence will return...

I'm beginning with a disclaimer regarding my card  for this post, as well as the next two:  they are all the talented, super sweet Vicki's fault. All hers...totally and completely!  I'd just about reconciled myself to the reality that water-colouring and I were far from a perfect match, and that my distress markers and new inks (seriously...two sets of the mini cubes...what was I thinking!)  were destined to be stored away for indeterminate 'down the road' use.  Operative phrase: just about...until...

During a stroll through blogland, what should my wandering eye spy, but this stunning card

(of the many to be seen at her site - as I've been following her for a while), crafted by Vicki, at AAA Cards Game 8: Inspire.  Smitten...full on, full blown smitten. That pop of red...sighhhh.  I gazed and admired, but went away shaking my head, figuring it wasn't in my capability realm, because I thought the blue&green panel was water-coloured.  Several times, I came back, went away, came back and finally (d-uh) visited her site, to discover no watercolouring was involved! Sponging: that was her technique. Happy dancing step #1!   Happy dancing step #2: she used distress inks.  My new investments weren't heading to storage land quite so soon.

Still, like any one who is utterly clueless about an adventure to be embarked on, I conducted some research on 'best inks for sponging.' (I do stuff like that....). Research showed that water-based dye inks were #1, followed by distress inks.  Guess what my new SU inks are? Uh huh - water based!  And guess who also happened to buy one of those Tim Holtz round blending thingies? Uh huh...yours truly.  Of course, I wasn't about to make anything "big" given my novice-ness with all this, so....mini card again!

My card doesn't have a green/blue panel, but it does have a pop of red and a little trio of embellishments, and two colours that meld together, and it's cas.  Everything, aside from the sentiment, I sponged with three of my SU stamps.  My sponge-blending needs some work (I was a tad too heavy-handed...all the excitement of realizing I 'could' sponge, after all), but over all, I'm tickled pink with my little number.

Here it is: my inspired-by-Vicki case...

Sunset colours, warm thoughts: I think it 'fits' the theme at Addicted to CAS #41: Sun (if not, let me know)

I'm also heading to Addicted to Stamps and More #101: Anything Goes challenge.

Of course, one sponged card lead to another, this time using distress inks and my ever-so-amazing STAMPlorations stamps. We're heading to  STAMPlorations Sketch Challenge #14.

Hopefully, you can see the pink butterfly just above the sentiment.

I'm sharing this at Addicted to Stamps and More, as well Simon Says Monday: Anything Goes.

Vicki, thanks so much for the inspiration!  You've given me something new to explore;  my inks and TH blending tool thank you, too!!

Thanks so much for dropping by; your visit and comments make my day!

Floral Border Heart...STAMPlorations June Challenge: Stamps and Borders, Clean and Simple #296, Just Us Girls #246: Colour Challenge

Ahhh...after another data-driven work day (I already miss having the students around; they're far more entertaining than plugging marks into spreadsheets), coming home to craft is perfect therapy.  My post will be cas, because, as I mentioned earlier, composing coherent thoughts is a short commodity around here.  Quizzical looks from my husband are becoming far more frequent than usual (it's usually the other way around *grin*).  That, my friends, also explains why I'm woefully - as in woe-ful-ly - behind in commenting! Gazing and admiring are happening...stay tuned for the comments soon!!

My card today was inspired by the STAMPlorations June Challenge: Stamps and Borders for my 'images' selection, , the Just Us Girls #246: Colour Challenge, obviously for colours

and the Clean and Simple #296 layout.

My 'border' is the scallop heart die (inlaid), and the stamps are from STAMPlorations. One of the floral grunge was the background for the heart layerss, and the sentiments come from Artful Flutters.  The *b* in  'believe' is a bit wonky, because I stamped it too close to the heart scallop...d-uh me!  Still, in real life, it's not really that noticeable.  It's all about the viewing angle (that's my story and I'm sticking with it).By the way, have I mentioned how much I love these stamps? 

Oh, the bit of green you see...the leaf from my plant is peeking coyly from the edge.  The card wasn't posing properly, so I propped it over the plant tendril.  Adapt and innovate...

Thanks so much for dropping by; your visit and comments make my day. And yes, I will be visiting all of you, my special people, SOON!!