Create a Custom Background challenge for May 2020 at APTS blog

Welcome to Becca's Heart for Creativity blog! My heart's been creatively committed to the colors of 2 kits I've assembled in the past 2 weeks or so. I'll talk about those later in this posting. Lots of peach, coral, orange, pink, mint green, spring green, and a neutral like creamy butter are many of the major color tones.

APTS blog May 2020 theme is Custom Background; Chana has described using inks, paints, stencils, etc. she doesn't want patterned paper...I thought that meant not a full piece of designer/patterned paper for the background, so my lattice-work wasn't quite what she wanted. Please read her rules better than I did! :)

Lattice of florals card:

This photo doesn't show the cardstocks' colors well but allows the sentiment 'dazzle' sticker image to contrast better against that silver foil doily! YEA!!! It's another of my cards made recently with metallics or glitter or foil that the printer scanning just doesn't allow the sheen to show as evident as a photos do. When the card sits angled on top of my printer, it looks so pretty to see the glimmer of the doily, the sentiment, and the pink gems.

Lovely card, don't you think?!! I'm trying to work on clustering of embellishments so that's why I have 3 of the gorgeous ranunculus  flower stickers from My Mind's Eye together with a short row of pink gems.

APTS DT badge

APTS May 2020 post link: (typos in title; not sure if it will get edited but look for May 4, 2020 dated posting)
https://hereisaplacetostart.blogspot.com/2020/05/april-2020-challenge-create-custom.html

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Some vendors/manufacturers:
a. Astrobrights/Neenah = yellow cardstock used for the base (5" x 7"); creamy butter strip of CS;
b. My Mind's Eye = 5 of the prints with 4 of them are set up in pairings due to being double-sided cardstocks; also the gorgeous ranunculus stickers
c. Paper Wishes = bronze dazzle sentiment "Best Wishes"
d. Dollar Tree = the chain store where I discovered the small silver foil doily (set of 25)!!! and the pink gems

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Papers and stickers were pulled from my stash in order to be part of 2 kits (Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog and The Great Stash Bash challenge from Lisa and Lori).
CKC April 2020 kit beginning of the month posting:
link= https://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/2020/04/april-2020-just-gist-of-it.html

TGSB April 2020 postings:
Lisa H's kit: http://createdbylisa.blogspot.com/2020/04/lisa-loris-great-stash-bash-2020-april.html

Lori S's kit: https://loriannie670.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-great-stash-bash-april-kit.html


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a few other challenge blogs and Facebook groups participating linking/sharing for this card=

1. PPPDTC group on Facebook; a sharing group of crafting bloggers

2. Mixed Media Creativity group on Facebook; a private group of crafters and artists who like to mix it up [this card features the doily, stickers, gems, and dazzle metallic stickers in addition to papers/cardstocks]

3. Shopping Our Stash #419= Mother's Day/special lady theme=
link= https://shoppingourstash.blogspot.com/2020/04/shopping-our-stash-419-happy-mothers-day.html

4. Crafty Sentiments; for girls theme; my card is to be sent to a niece; just a few hours left to link-up but I should be able to get connected after our APTS blog gets released!
link= https://craftysentiments.blogspot.com/2020/04/for-girl-challenge.html

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Crafting in the USA heartland,
Becca S

Design Team member of APTS blog & also these other 4=
1. 52 CCT
2. MTTC
3. TCCC
4. S4fC

Jingle Belles Challenge 3 shape card of Poinsettia using CKC Feb 2019 kit

What plant that looks like a flower (or flower that looks like a plant) do we associate with Christmas? The poinsettia--

Love the mix of papers! 3 metallic texture scraps were used for 5 petals and a pinkish red lightweight cardstock was used for the other 4 petals. A pale mossy green paper was used for the leaves.

Note: poor quality photos are below; editing in better quality photos above

JB: 19: 3 "Shaping the New Year"...with a poinsettia

link:http://jinglebellesrock.blogspot.com/2019/02/shaping-up-for-new-year.html

Design notes: upper half was "cut down" to create an lower half easel stand kind of base

a. clip art coloring book image was printed 4" x 6" 

b. margin was extended and filled with 3 different colored pencil tones and outlined in marker

c. 3 metallic textured papers from Paper Wishes were used for half of the petals and the rest were cardstock from My Mind's Eye; and 2 leaves base paper is a very old one from my stash (and all of these are in my 2019 starter stack for 100 Pattern Paper Challenge Facebook group and my Feb 2019 Counterfeit Kit Challenge Kit I have titled "Bodacious Botanicals")

d. 10 golden amber gems were clustered in the center

e. 2 wood veneer laser cut leaves were placed on top of the green paper leaves for added dimension, texture, and mixed media appeal

f. I apologize for the poor camera/cell phone usage this evening. It doesn't do the cards' papers and embellishments justice. Tomorrow I will try with my husband's cell phone and then edit the post with a better quality photo. [edited at 1:00 pm]

Access/credits to other groups:

a. CKC blog February 2019 inspiration kit/collection is Kaisercraft's Anthology

link: https://counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/2019/02/february-mini-kit-and-projects.html

Papers and embellishments were part of this month's "Bodacious Botanicals" kit that I collated together out of my old craft supply stockpiles & 100 PPC's 2019 starter stack!

b. Facebook group: 100 Pattern Papers Challenge

The 3 metallic textured papers were in my scrap bag as part of my starter stack for 2019; and the light green paper and the pinkish coral cardstock were full sheets also in my starter stack.

More card-making and scrapping are planned for this week so please check back!

Becca S...from the USA heartland

Card #3 of 3 made in 30 minutes from start to finish

I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how this quick-to-make card is so charming and light-hearted. It is for our pastor.

The card was easy to put together for these reasons:
a. the birthday candles were already wrapped with the baker's twine (was going to use several weeks ago and changed mind--now am glad because the color mix goes so perfectly with the pre-printed card)
b. the multiple print happy birthday patterned paper is actually a 3-inch section cut from a pre-printed card purchased from Hot Off the Press (Paper Wishes website or catalog to purchase)
c. the scalloped circle opening in the card base was purchased that way from Studio G (purchased at Wal-Mart)
d. stenciled number ruler and 'congratulations' wood stamp made the other decorative touches easy

Wa-hoo for cute, charming, and easy to create!!!

Card was made in 30 minutes on July 6

#2 of 3 birthday cards that were quick-to-create

This is an angled view of the cover. Not shown in the bottom right corner is the stamping 'be happy'. Papers are from different sources. Flower-shaped brads are from Hot Off the Press (available from Paper Wishes). the epoxy stickers and jewel stick-ons are also from  different suppliers.

Studio G is the vendor for the mauve pink square card, purple ink stamp pad, and the 'be happy' wood stamp.

Cute Birthday Card made in 30 minutes #1 of 3 created July 6

Blooms and Butterflies! What more can be said to create a feminine garden theme card for one of my aunts?!?!

The embossed card from Studio G plus the sticker embellishments (from different sources) made this a quick-create card. Yea!

Teal and purple ink stamp pads along with the two stamps ('today is the day' clear stamp and 'happy birthday' wood stamp) are also from Studio G.

The tan color flower shaped brad is from Hot Off the Press (available from Paper Wishes).

I've forgotten the source for the patterned paper shown on the inside view--sorry. It's pretty and perfect for the color mix, however.

employee of the month special creation

Oversized easel-type card for Employee of the Month Congrats

School District starts EOM recognition and 1st recipient is Middle School Secretary

My teaching position is a split of duties between middle school (7th-8th graders) and high school home economics classes. So when the middle school secretary was honored, I wanted to create a very special card for this very special lady. She's our angel!

The card has a whole range of techniques, supplies, and vendors! There's tracing, stenciling, embossing, inking, embellishing, sanding, cutting, etc. The angel image is a re-purposed image from a thank you note card. Some of the vendors include Paper Wishes (yellow heart brad), Martha Stewart Crafts (congrats ribbon), Elmer's Craft Glues (adhesives), etc.

Sneak peek of 2 more autumn cards

Thanksgiving Cards:

These cards couldn't be more diverse!

Modern contemporary vs traditional=
Unusual focal piece vs unusual fold/edge lines=
Unusual colors vs traditional autumn color palette=

Both cardstocks are from Colorbok. Queen Anne's Lace brad and decorative tape, "thank you" stamp, leaf stamp, "so thankful for you" stamp are from Studio G. Leaf stickers were purchased through Current Catalog. The text image of the definition of 'thankful' comes from 1,000 Card Quotes by Hot Off The Press purchased through Paper Wishes. Text box located behind the brad on the autumn contemporary card was done on home computer using Bradley Hand ITC font at 16 point size.

Here's the contemporary Thanksgiving card:

Here's the more traditional looking autumn color palette Thanksgiving card:

Anniversary card

Layers of details

Anniversary card for my brother and sister-in-law

I'm excited to hear from my sister-in-law April to get her reaction to this card. 18 years!! I've added some number symbolism through some of the details (small punched hearts, stamped hearts, brad hearts). There is a total of 5 family members for them/3 children. The kids are 13, 10+, and 6+.

The layers include doilies, stamping, cardstock/papers, felt, brads, glitter dot embellishments, etc. Some of the specific supplies and vendors are: 3 different heart stamps and rickrack border stamp= Martha Stewart Crafts, ink-Enchanted Evening Ultimate Metallic Encore ink pad= Tsukineko, Inc., pastel glitter dots= EK Success, Adhesive Mat Stack and The Once Upon a Time Mat Stack cardstock= DCWV, 3 heart brads and colored print tab (shown on inside view)= Hot Off The Press through Paper Wishes.com, small heart punch, "Joy" stamp, and "Love" stamp= Studio G.

front/cover

close-up of the top portion of card's front

close-up of the bottom portion of card's front

inside view

Easter theme bookmark #3

Jesus Cares & Watches Over Me

Using one of the pattern papers from the first masculine Easter bookmark, I've used it here for a feminine receipient. The garden theme-inspired bookmark is cheerful and charming with  the ladybugs, daisies, and birds.

Jesus Cares & Watches Over Me

supplies list:
1. white pigment ink stamp pad= Studio G
2. Harvest yellow tone-on-tone dots pattern paper= Studio G
3. glue= Elmer's Craft Bond
4. 2 other pattern papers= Colorbok
5. mint green cardstock and stickers= personal stash
6. daisy flower embellishment= HOTP/PW

friendship support card for fellow PW mb crafter

One of the New York crafters involved with the message board through Paper Wishes suggested that several of us send cards to one of our mb crafter friends from Pennsylvania. Her family has been displaced from their home for several months as it gets fixed after an 'act of God'. She's been on a roller coaster of emotions.

So in the spirit of all creations made for the message board swaps and challenges, I have used mostly PW/HOTP items to create this card. They are: denim paper (Paper Pizazz/HOTP),yellow and orange pigment ink pads (Page Craft through PW), large blue floral brad buddy and yellow brad (HOTP), white/yellow daisy stick-ons (PW), 2 yellow patterned papers for small scalloped circles (Paper Pizazz/HOTP), basic white card base, 'possibilities grow' and full quote on the inside as well as the blue flower art images (HOTP).

The rest of the supplies used include: blue felt flower gems; blue jewel stick-on, yellow satin ribbon, and bright yellow paper. The "A special hello" stamp comes from CardMaker kit of the month.

I like the cheeriness of the yellow with the calming blues for this summer-y relaxed looking card. I'm sure it will bring a smile to our "Irish Lady".

Topic: 2 different looks from mixing papers from 3 companies

Last night I experimented with combining analogous colors shown in papers/cardstock from 3 companies and into 2 different layouts.

From Paper Wishes/Hot Off the Press' Paper Pizzaz is the yellow paper with circles. The ruby red mini brads shown on the gate-fold card.

From K & Company's Wild Raspberry double-sided paper pack are: patterns shown in the small 4 x 6 card are in the circle cut-outs (both inside and out) and in the gate-fold card are the folded pieces (reversed for 2).

From CardMaker's Kit of the Month brown patterned cardstock and "best wishes" tag shown in the gate-fold card and more of the brown patterned cardstocks shown on the small 4 x 6 card. Also from different kits of the months are the stamps used for the 4 x 6: "You made my day" and "thanks so much" and the 'floral spiral' (used 3 times with 3 different inks).

From my stash: gold metallic pen, metallic staples, adhesives. silk leaves, plain cardstock, orange satin ribbon, scissors, trimmers, & punch/stencils.

Here's the 4 x 6 thanks/made my day card:

(sorry=scanning has casted shadows)

Here's the gate-fold card: (I was experimenting with the double-sided papers and chose to use the 'arrow points' like tags. Don't think I will do it this way ever again. However I do like the mix of analogous colors!)

(sorry for the skewed point on the front; didn't want to take the extra minutes and re-scan)

Give me some feedback: do you like either card? do you like the mix of colors and papers?....

card topic= the story of the incredible card journey

Today's post is about an amazing journey for a card created by 5 crafters from 4 spread apart U.S. states and 1 western Canadian province! What unifies them is their participation in the message board activities at Paper Wishes website.

Here's the card's beginning chapter and creation with me in IL, the starter:
I used a PW purchased basic white card form for the base; added PW/HOTP heart patterned paper to front and then used PW purchased Pebbles stencil to create scalloped edging and also reduced the right margin; inked the edges with yellow-orange stamp pad; to the inside I applied the PW/HOTP plaid patterned paper;

Chapter 2: card was sent to West Virginia and Pat added the PW/HOTP silver dazzle dragonflies and small flower;

Chapter 3: card was sent to British Columbia and Rhonda added the HOTP girlfriend definition that she cut into heart shape and inked the edges of it; she also added the PW/HOTP dragonfly brad;

Chapter 4: card was sent to Kentucky and Connie added some more of the PW/HOTP heart patterned paper that she cut into a rectangle; she added the sentiment text box that she had chalked;

Chapter 5: card was sent to Florida and Jennifer added the PW/HOTP peachy-pink grosgrain ribbon bow;

and Chapter 6: card was sent to Illinois, back to me, so that I could have a finished card and also be responsible to post photos on the discussion thread in the mb forum. Viola'!!!! Our finished card story:

101st blog post=best year birthday card

Here's another combined challenges creation. I'm using Paper Wishes message board June 27 guest host challenge to incorporate slide mount and Ribbon Carousel's #10 Challenge to incorporate paper piecing.

The slide mount had purple string woven around the top half as well as Jillibean Soup's Atomic cardstock stickers spelling "best year". Behind the slide mount is a pre-printed card cut in small rectangle shape so that some of the happy birthday print shows through the slide mount opening as well as around it. The pre-printed card is from HOTP's Paper Pizzaz/PW. I also used the part of the same card to create the flourish shown on the inside of the card. Also from PW/HOTP are all the brads and flowers (Earth Palette's creative brad kit)and the basic white card form. And the inside view's flourish was created by enlarging part of a stencil in Pebble's stencils accent set purchased from PW.

Paper pieced are the paper pieces that if you look at the cover in a certain way you should be able to see the elements as a stacked cake. (That was actually a happy accident of the process.) Ribbon Carousel's spool required supplies include the purple string used around the slide mount and also between the two brads that was tied into a bow.

It's certainly a different styling for me but I like the combination of colors, patterns, the overall look of both the cover and the inside.

(From Jillibean Soup's Atomic Cardstock Sticker set is also the border sticker used on the inside. I also used papers from Colorbok's pattern set.)

I don't have an image to input for the guest host challenge but it can be found on the Paper Wishes message board's guest host challenge thread under the category of Swaps and Challenges.

100th blog posting= lucky me thank you card

For this card creation, I'm combining forces to meet requirements for Ribbon Carousel's #10 challenge for cut and paste (old term) or paper piecing (new term) and for Paper Wishes message board's mid-June sketch challenge (no time limits).

For Ribbon Carousel's Challenge #10, I cut out 3 hearts from one pattern paper for the leaf parts of the clover and a smaller heart from a different pattern paper for the center. I also used a coordinating pattern behind the main cardstock clover. The center of the stem also has a lighter tone cardstock. Ribbon Carousel also required that you use something from a spool which for me is the yellow sheer ribbon.

For Paper Wishes sketch challenge, I tweaked the layout a bit with the oval cut-outs being used as the punched holes with ribbon bows. I also tweaked the focal/greeting area and had the "lucky me" hand-written on the clover stem as a secondary greeting. To me the main greeting is the extra stamped "thanks so much". The inside view, features more heart cut-outs. PW also requires that you use a majority of their products. I used their 4 pattern papers and yellow heart brad.

I'm very pleased with the results! I like the repeating colors, several coordinating swirly papers, and clean design.

RCC9 happy birthday america and Paper Wishes mb mid June sketch

Combining the sketch layout challenge from Paper Wishes message board and from Ribbon Carousal's happy birthday America challenge, this is what I came up with for one of my husband's buddies whose birthday was yesterday/July 3rd.

Paper Wishes sketch was turned on its side. I thought the horizontal layout would be better for using the "celebrate" sticker sentiment. PW or HOTP products used include the basic red card form, the mini ruby red brads, and the scalloped circle punch from Tonic Studio that was used for the half circles.

Ribbon Carousal encouraged the use of red, white, and/or blue as well as always using something from a spool. Spool products used include the striped satin ribbon across the top and the ribbon embellishment from Making Memories.

The Making Memories design embellishment set purchased at Hobby Lobby included the rockets, blue and red stars, the celebrate sticker along with the ribbon embellishment.

DCWV adhesive-backed textured cardstock mounts provided the dark blue background paper.

The plaid cardstock was purchased in a scrapbooking set about 4-5 years ago.

Inside there was also a happy birthday stamp, blue ink stamp pad, and light blue cardstock used from my stash.

I'm very pleased with the results. Hope you all like it too! Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans!