not-so-easy adventure

Paper Players Challenge #93 - Tic Tac Toe seemed like it was really going to come together for me this evening - you know, one of those cards that nearly makes itself?  Over at Less is More, Chrissie & Mandi have given us a perfect square sketch, Stamping 411 has suggested a perfect spring colors palette, and I was inspired to use emboss resist by this beautiful card my friend, Buffy, made.  I failed at embossing, though, and my attempts to recover didn't work well, either.  So, I decided my center square choice would be sponging, and started over.  That was better, but I stamped the edge of the image inside the square, leaving one leaf cut off, and trimming the square was either going to remove the flower from the top or the "grass" sponging from the bottom, so that effort followed the first into the trash.  In spite of some slightly uneven inking, I will be calling the third attempt "good enough":

stamp set - My Friend; ink - Island Indigo, So Saffron, Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz; card stock - Whisper White, Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz; Stampin' Dimensionals, stamping sponge

Just before I attached the focal point, I thought perhaps I should check the card size by actually inserting it into the envelope; sure enough, I had measured incorrectly and had to trim the base card, so the center square seems a little oversize compared to the sketch. <sigh>

Yesterday was a better day - while playing with Lesley's Merry Monday sketch I made a second card (see yesterday's post for the first one):

card stock - Sahara Sand textured, Old Olive, Early Espresso; designer series paper - Letters to Santa; punch - Decorative Label; Big Shot with Scallop Rectangle Clearlit; Stampin' Dimensionals

Although the stamps in the designer series paper aren't exactly the same size as the scalloped rectangle Clearlit, I was able to align two opposing corners on two passes through the Big Shot to cut them nearly perfectly.  The smaller stamp at the bottom of the design just fit on one Decorative Label punch.  The nutcracker stamp is adhered to one full punch with a second punch, cut in half, added at the sides.

This Letters to Santa designer series paper and *all* textured card stock are retiring this month, and supplies are limited - if you would like to get some before they're gone, ordering online is your best option - you can click the "order" circle to the right to go directly to my Stampin' Up! online store.

challenge adventures

Hooray, hooray, the first of May!

I don't know what has kept me from blogging this year, but whatever it is has also interfered with the challenge I enjoy of taking a photo every day, and caused a near-full stop in participating in card challenges as well.  Here's a card I made this evening using CCMC199 colors from Create with Connie and Mary and ESS Sketch #170 from Eat Sleep Stamp:

stamp set - Just Believe; ink - Night of Navy, Peach Parfait; card stock - Sahara Sand, Night of Navy; designer series paper - Peach Parfait; punches - corner rounder, Word Window; Stampin' Dimensionals, stamping sponge

What I most regret is that I'm so far behind on Christmas cards this year, and I almost missed my *favorite* Jingle Belles Earth Day prompt - reuse, recycle, re-purpose!  I trimmed the shiny embossed edges from a card we received last year and reused them for the center trim on this card:

stamp set - Bells & Boughs; ink - Versamark; Silver Stampin' Emboss powder; card stock - Shimmer White, Vellum; Basic Rhinestones

I also used Merry Monday #18 sketch from Lesley's Always Playing with Paper blog.  Merry Monday is my favorite new-this-year Christmas card challenge, and Jingle Belles is my favorite new-last-year challenge - why haven't I been playing along all year?

I never was much for New Year's resolutions, but new month resolutions sometimes work.  I updated my Shuttercal account with the few photos I took last month, and May is off to a good start for photos and card challenges - I sure hope I can stay motivated!