Graduation cards

My cousin had 2 children graduate this year-one from high school and one from jr. high. She had a party over the weekend. These are the cards I made:

Daryk is a fisherman. He competes in tournaments in state and out of state. He has a sponsor, boat, truck, all the bells and whistles. This is his card:

The stamp is Magnolia's Edwin Wants a Hug. I printed a graduation gown and hat from a clip art search. I then altered the gown so that the arms were spread. I traced it onto blue cardstock and cut it out. I also paper pieced the hat. The fishing pole and diploma were also clipart cutouts. The fishing line and tassel are gray jute. The background stamp is Hero Arts and the "Congrats" is Close to My Heart.

Devan graduated from 8th grade. Here is the card I made for her:

The image is Happy Spring Tilda. The banner is a diecut from Tim Holtz. "Hooray" is from Close to My Heart. It actually has more words on the stamp, but I just used the one.

Here is the inside of both:

 

I just handwrote my sentiments. I do not have any stamps to fit with graduation themes. Daryk's said: Now that you've hooked your diploma, you're on to bigger and better fish to catch.

I found a challenge at the Ribbon Girl to enter. Here is the link to it and other challenges:
http://ribbongirls.blogspot.de/ Magnolia Only
http://artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Paper Piecing
http://www.cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com/ Boys
http://simplymagnolia.blogspot.com/ Edwin only

Apple Retirement Card

Two teachers that I work with are retiring at the end of the school year (which for us is May 30). I came upon a blog called Besties Challenge Blog about a week ago and decided that I wanted to participate in their blog hop challenge. They offered a free image to work with and a monochromatic scheme. Since my friends are teachers, I cut 2 apples out using Plantin Schoolbook Cricut cartridge. This became the base of my card. The image I believe is called Two Small Girls. I thought it could represent students or, since one girl is bigger than the other, a teacher and student. Apples are red in most teacher based things, so red became my challenge color. Here is the picture:

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For some reason, it looks a little hazy. Maybe my lens needs cleaned. The award was also cut out using Plantin Schoolbook. I used Tim Holtz alphabet tape (how fitting is that?) and self-adhesive lace from I Love Tape. I used versamark and stamped on the red cardstock base (top of the apple). The sentiment side is vellum that has red splatters. It is hard to see. I used copics to color the image and a red gellyroll stardust pen to add sparkle to the award. I also used stickles and 3-D lacquer on the image.

Here is a link to the challenge:
 http://bestieschallenge.blogspot.com/  Monochromatic
http://asimplefive.blogspot.com/2013/05/inspire-me-fridays-103-anything-goes.html 
Anything goes
http://thepapershelter.blogspot.co.uk/  Anything goes

The Ribbon Girl Giveaway

I found this great giveaway from The Ribbon Girl. Check it out here: http://ribbongirls.blogspot.de/2013/05/twine-and-flowers-giveaway.html



The winner will be announced this Saturday, May 18th.

My May Mingles Card

I am posting this now, because I am not sure when I will get it posted if I don't do it now. I am getting further and further (or is it farther and farther?) behind on posts. This is the card that I am sending to my May Mingle partner on the Magnolia-licious Yahoo Group.

Dies used: Sizzix/Hero Arts butterfly stamp and die set, spellbinders flourish, Tilda Lace Die, Tim Holtz Magnetic Tag
Punch: EK Success small flower (punched two and layered them for each flower)
DP: No idea I have had them forever
Tilda is Tilda with Daisy. She is an image that I received in a card kit swap. I think she is adorable. She is colored with copics.

I used stickles and gellyroll stardust pens to add glitter to the sentiment, dress, butterflies, and flower. The centers of the inside flowers are big globs of stickles.

For Use it Tuesday's challenge "You can't touch this" I feel that the papers and spellbinders die fit. I have had the papers for a long time, but just never knew what to do with them. I have been challenging myself to use the old papers that I never really liked. I bought the dies a year ago and this is the first time I've used them I think.

For the Bearly Mine challenge "Lucky Dip" I used diecuts, flowers, and gems. It also looks like I have lace, but it is really a die cut.

I am entering the following challenges:
http://www.paperplaytime.blogspot.com/ Use Buttons
http://artisticinspirationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ Flowers and Lace
http://www.cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com/ Lots of Layers
http://lovetoscrapchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ Anything goes
http://lovetocreatechallenge.blogspot.com/  Flowers
http://useyourstuff.blogspot.com/ Flowers
http://useittuesday.blogspot.com/  You can't touch this
http://asimplefive.blogspot.com/ Anything goes
http://simplycreatetoo.blogspot.com/ Anything goes
http://365cards.blogspot.com/ Use 4 items that overlap
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ Let's Sparkle
http://www.annabellestamps.blogspot.com/ Anything goes
http://bearlymine-challenges.blogspot.co.uk/ "Lucky Dip"
http://scrapbitzcopics.ning.com/group/cmccopicchallengegroup Anything goes
http://clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.ca/2013/05/its-challenge-time.html Anything goes using 2 or more patterned papers.

Do Not Disturb

I am suffering from serious blogging withdrawal! I have been to busy to even touch the computer except for printing some digital images. I made this during the week of Easter, but just hadn't been able to get it uploaded until now. This is a project that I tried using grungeboard. I gave it to one of the teachers that I work with. The bottom piece detaches. I figured that way she could use it at home to catch up on her sleep. With a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door, you can dream away in peace.

This is actually double-sided. The flip side of the "testing" section says "Conference".

The original pieces were Art Parts. Since they are a bit expensive to use a lot of, I tried tracing them onto grungeboard and cutting them out. The directions for this project are found in one of the Studio 490 project books. There are at least five different project books which can be found at the Stampers Anonymous website.The stamps (except words) are from different Studio 490 sets. Wendy is either really smart or has a great marketer. She uses stamps from different sets to do her projects. If you want to copy them you have to buy 3 or 4 different sets-very expensive at $25 US dollars each. The grungeboard is inked using Adirondack stamp pads and color washes and some Tim Holtz distress ink. The hand is a chipboard piece that I found at Michael's. I didn't have enough Tim Holtz gears so I used my gear die cuts and covered them with silver ink. I also improvised by using Color Me Crazy leaves by Petaloo and regular cheaper brads than the long fasteners by Tim.
I found a challenge from Pan Pastels that I thought this would fit under. I would love to win a starter set.
Here's the challenges that I entered:
http://panpasteluk.blogspot.co.uk/    Dream
http://priscillastyles.ning.com/group/anything-goes-challenge-room  Anything goes.
http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/    Anything goes
http://clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.ca/        Anything goes using 2 or more buttons
http://www.southerngirlschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/      Buttons, badges, or Flair
http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/     Anything but a card

Plant's List: April Art Draw - Beeswax Collage (aka Should have gone to specsavers.........)#links

Plant's List: April Art Draw - Beeswax Collage (aka Should have gone to specsavers.........)#links

Click on the link to enter her April giveaway. A very cute wall hanging!

Two projects to share today

I have two projects that I want to share, so instead of making 2 posts, I am making one longer one. The first one is an Easter canvas. It is an 8 x 10 canvas. I have 2 versions of it and want to make a third because it still is not quite right. My husband and daughter think the 2nd one is too busy. Here are the pics. You be the judge.

I am not sure what happened in the second picture. It is very hazy for some reason. On the first background I use Martha Stewart paint. I didn't like how it turned out. I decided to try another one using Tim Holtz music note tissue paper and distress inks. I liked it better, but are the notes too much? My husband doesn't like the ornate plate (also a Tim Holtz product) on the second one. He says its too much. Please let me know what you think. Here are some close ups.

The image is Tilda as a Shepherd. She is actually enlarged a bit (probably about an inch) because the original image was too small. The plate has the verse stamped onto a piece of Tim Holtz DP and then covered with Glossy Accents. The butterfly is a stamp and die set by Sizzix/Hero Arts.  The poem is die cut with one from Lifestyle Crafts. I am entering the following challenges:
http://liveandlovecrafts.blogspot.com.au/ Bingo (metal, flowers, pearls)
http://ribbongirls.blogspot.com.au/ Magnolia image and add flowers
http://just-hanna-stamps.blogspot.com.au/ Easter/Spring
http://stampinfortheweekend.blogspot.com.au/  Anything but a card
http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.com/2013/03/challenge-139-tic-tac-toe-from-jaydee.html Tic Tac Toe (Spring, Yellow/Green, and Pearls)
http://creativeinspirationspaint.blogspot.com/2013/03/ci-paint-inspired-by-anything-goes.html Anything Goes
http://stampandcreateblog.blogspot.com/ Use at least 1 die cut
http://stampandcreatewithmagnolia.blogspot.com/ Spring with Animals
http://magnolia-liciouschallengeblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/tuesday-challenge.html Spring Blossoms
http://priscillastyles.ning.com/group/anything-goes-challenge-room

Here is the next project. It is a monochromatic birthday card made with some challenges in mind. The color, flowers and hearts are for the  Deep Ocean challenge this week (a photo inspiration). It is also Magnolia Mania's birthday. They are having a celebratory blog hop and birthday challenge.

The image is Happy Easter Tilda. The flowers were cut with the Art Philosophy cricut cartridge. The sentiment is a chipboard cut out that comes with the cartridge. The swirl stamp on it also comes with the cartridge. The sentiment is from the Scrapbooking Queen. The dp is some that I've had for a really long time. I have been trying to use up some of my old stuff. I covered the dots with stickles to look like confetti.

Here are the challenges for this card:
http://magnoliamaniachallenge.blogspot.com/ Birthday
http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ Photo Inspiration
http://avenue613.blogspot.com.au/  Anything goes with flowers
http://ladybugscraftsinkchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ Anything goes