Simple Card Saturday - Hang in there!

Happy Saturday! Today's card was inspired by a few different challenges. First off, I'm playing along with CAS-ual Fridays challenge "For Sentimental Reasons":

I'm following a sketch from Mojo Mondays:

And I'm also using an inspiration photo from the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge:

I love several things about this photo, but especially all the texture, stitching, and outlining. I also love the neutral background with the clean white felt and pops of pink and yellow. Paper Smooches has a new free digital stamp this month that is too cute. The image is tied in with the sentiment, so I thought that was perfect for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge. And then I added some more sentiment of my own. And now for the paper yummies:

I printed the digital stamp onto adhesive-backed fabric paper by American Crafts + Dear Lizzy. I love the way the stamp printed so cleanly onto the fabric! I rounded the corners of the fabric, then stitched along the outer edge. I also added some stitching right onto the lil' squirrel's feet. I added some white felt, which I also stitched. The white circular dots are a stamp by Fiskars, and I stitched just inside the stamped pattern. I finished the card off with a hand-written sentiment and some corduroy brads. Between the fabric, felt, stitching, and brads, this card has a lot of texture to it. Here are some close-ups:

I'm playing along here:

CAS-ual Fridays CFC43: For Sentimental Reasons

Mojo Monday Sketch 231

Paper Smooches Sparks challenge

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday challenge: Kraft paper

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Recollections; fabric paper: American Crafts + Dear Lizzy; digital stamp: Paper Smooches; stamp: Fiskars (white dots); ink: Joann; white pen: Signo Uniball; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; dimensional adhesive: American Crafts; felt, brads: craft supply; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer

CPS Day 15 & Paper Smooches Sparks - love

Whew! This is my final post for the day, as well as my card the final sketch for the Card Positioning Systems 5th anniversary celebration! YAY!!! And it's extra special because Kim Moreno hosted day 15, and I know her personally! We used to work together at a scrapbook store when she lived here. The girl is super talented, and finds time to create beautiful things while taking care of 5 kids. Go Kim! Here is the sketch she picked for day 15 (#231):
I also wanted to create another card for the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge. Here is the inspiration photo for that challenge:
I again was inspired by the felt and stitching, but this time I stuck more with the color and theme of the photo. I also incorporated some metal, inspired by the safety pin. And I tried a new technique (for me): stitching inside a stamped sentiment. Now for the paper yummies:

I stamped two different background patterns in two different ink colors instead of using papers. Then I stitched in between them with green thread. I stacked 3 felt hearts on top of this cute die-cut heart from The Girls' Paperie, then I stitched right up the middle of all of them with the same green thread. I wanted to incorporate some metal, but didn't have a cute little clothespin like the one in the photo. So I used my Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and added some tiny staples. Here is a closer view of the hearts:

I stamped this cute sentiment from Paper Smooches "Word Salad", then I thought, "I wonder how that would look with green stitching in the middle?" Turns out - pretty cute! LOL! I think I may have to do that more often! Here's a closer view:

I tied some ribbon around the front of the card, using my new "short ribbon" trick, and added a button with some baker's twine. Then I adhered the stamped/stitched sentiment onto the ribbon:

I'm playing along with these challenges:

Paper Smooches Sparks challenge

Paper Smooches March Guest Designer Search

Card Positioning Systems day 15 sketch

Fab 'n' Funky Challenge 108: Try something new (stitching inside a sentiment stamp)

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific; patterned paper/heart die cut: The Girls' Paperie, stamps: Martha Stewart (backgrounds), Paper Smooches (sentiment); inks: Tsukineko (Pear Tart and Angel Pink Memento, Onyx Black Versafine); felt hearts: American Crafts; stapler: Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher; ribbon: The Ribbon Boutique; button: Buttons Galore; baker's twine: Divine Twine; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer

CPS Day 13 and Paper Smooches Sparks - welcome lil' dude

I'm back with my card for day 13 of the Card Positioning Systems 5th anniversary celebration. I loved this sketch the first time it was featured on CPS, so I was very excited when Lea chose it for her sketch. See, I knew I wanted to make a baby card based on the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge, and this sketch just fit my idea perfectly. Here's the CPS sketch (#121):And here's the inspiration photo from the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge. I just love this puffy lil' felt heart with the stitching:
I was inspired by the felt and the stitching, but I took my card in a bit of a different direction, color-wise. I had just bought these cute little stitched felt embellishments the day I saw this challenge, so that worked out perfectly! And since I still only have 1 Paper Smooches stamp set, I'm challenging myself to find some not-so-obvious ways to use it. I wanted to make a baby card, but there's no baby-specific stamp in the Word Salad set. Hmmm...I was in a bit of a quandary. What to do...? Check out the paper yummies below to see how I created a baby card sentiment with non-baby stamps:

The Word Salad set has a "welcome" and a "dude" stamp, so I combined the two and then hand-wrote the "lil'" between the two stamped words. And since the inspiration photo had stitching in it, I added some stitching of my own around the card and the negative circle die cut, as well as with some stitched green ribbon. I love the way it turned out. Here is a closer view:
I'm entering this card here:

Card Positioning Systems 5th Anniversary Day 13

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

Paper Smooches March Guest Designer Search

Lily Pad Cards Patterned Paper challenge

Crafty Emma's Store Lots of Layers challenge

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: card base (kraft): The Paper Studio; patterned papers: SEI (blue pattern, yellow stripes), We R Memory Keepers (multi-colored stripes); stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Tsukineko; black pen (for handwritten "lil'"): Hampton Art; circle die: Spellbinders Nestabilities; die cutting machine: Cuttlebug; felt sailboat: Pebbles; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; ribbon: Making Memories; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer

hello sunshine

I recently bought my first set of Paper Smooches stamps, and just cannot get enough of their cute little images and adorable sentiments. I also just discovered a few days ago that they offer free digital stamps on their blog, which is so cool! So I downloaded a few (all of them!), and used a couple of them to play along with their current challenge, inspired by this picture:

I just love the stripes and all the texture in those cute flowers and leaves, and I love the "fresh" color palette. I wanted to incorporate stripes in a little different way, bring the fresh spring colors into my card, and add some texture. I also used the following sketch from Young Crafters Unite:

I just LOVE the way this card turned out so bright and cheery. I added texture by stitching the sun's polka-dot rays (which are my stripes). I incorporated the teal/mint colors from the inspiration photo in the form of buttons and by outlining the sentiment banner. And now for the paper yummies:

It's a bit difficult to see in the photos, but I die-cut only the circular part of the sun using a Nestabilities die, so that I could "pop" him up a bit using dimensional adhesive:
I'm playing along with:

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge

Die Cutting Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

Young Crafters Unite Challenge #6

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: card base: The Paper Studio; cardstock: Georgia Pacific; patterned paper: Making Memories; stamps: Paper Smooches free digital stamps; markers: Prismacolor; cutting dies: Spellbinders; die cutting machine: Cuttlebug; edge punch: EK Success; ribbon: Michael's; baker's twine: Divine Twine; buttons, pen: craft supply, dimensional adhesive: American Crafts, sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer