HYCCT1230 - Cork, Canvas or Clay

[Please scroll down to see my Shopping Our Stash post.]

Today's fabby HYCCT hostess is my bloggy pal Donna, and she challenged us to use cork, canvas or clay on our card. Well, I took this as a challenge to use some of the homemade buttons I tried to make last year. Actually, I was pretty much just playing with polymer clay and made ... well, you'll see.

Here's my card:

I wanted to use those sushi-looking things that were supposed to be buttons, but ... Anyway, I thought they should be flower centers, so I used my MFT Layered Rose Die-namics to cut out enough petals for three flowers. I used my Memento Tuxedo black marker to add a few lines in the center of the flowers before I covered them up with the sushi.

The letter stickers are by Me & My Big Ideas, and they are very glittery. I put some Glossy Accents on a piece of scrap paper and used a tiny brush to paint it over the glitter, Believe it or not, it actually dulled it down a bit! Lookie:

You can also see the cork and the sushi bits in the flowers. I used a die to cut the cork, but it's kinda thick (not the nice thin stuff you can get) so it just left a suggestion of a cut in the cork. I had to help it out a bit. Then I trimmed it anyway, so I guess ... why did I even bother with the die. Sigh.

Only one more HYCCT challenge day after today! Why not stop by the challenge forum and play along?

Thanks for stopping by!

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HYCCT1228 - CAS

Hi there! Today is my day to hostess the HYCCT challenge on Splitcoast. I chose Clean and Simple (CAS) with a sentiment as my challenge. CAS because it's been a long challenge month, and I thought CAS would be refreshing. Plus, I can't do it very well, so it's perfect for me. The twist I give you is the focal point needs to be a sentiment or word.

That said, here is my card:

It's very WHITE! I used three pieces of washi tape and put the sentiment over it. Done. You know, if I do about 23423956764 more cards like this one, I may make a dent in my washi stash. Sigh.

Why not stop by the HYCCT forum and play along?

Thanks for stopping by!

InLinkz.com

HYCCT1224 - Kissy, Kissy

My pal Libby is hostessing today's HYCCT challenge over on Splitcoast. She has asked us to use the Kissing technique, and I knew exactly what I'd make. This:

Yes, I know, it's gah PINK. But I have to tell you that one of the colors is almost orange - it's Cameo Coral, and I know it probably doesn't go with Melon Mambo, but it does now. Here's how things went down:

1. Ink up a detailed line-y background stamp with the darker of the two colors (I used Hero Arts' Lace bg and Melon Mambo ink). Leave this face-up on your table.
2. Ink up a solid stamp with the lighter of the two colors (I used Ornate Blossom and Cameo Coral).
3. Huff a little on the background stamp to make sure it's nice and moist.
4. Stamp your solid stamp onto the background stamp, then immediately stamp it onto your card stock.

What happens is the darker color will transfer onto the solid stamp and leave the line-y pattern. See:

I've done this in pinks here, but I've done it before with ... thinking ... one of the colors was River Rock and it was mostly green. Maybe the other color was in the red family. I'll come back and edit this when I find my old post. ETA: It's here. It was Poppy Parade + River Rock. I also tried a few other color combinations. :)

Oh, and those shiny spots above are where I added Glossy Accents to the stamped image.

So, are you playing along with the HYCCT challenges? Hmmm? There's no time like the present to start. We'll be here all month, and you'll have until Nov 7th to mail your cards to the Cancer Center. 

Thanks for stopping by!

HYCCT1215B - Shiny!

Today our HYCCT hostess challenges us to glitter up our cards, or otherwise make something shiny and sparkly. Well, I just happened to have a piece of homework from my Online Kick Start class, and it was covered with glitter, so I used it to make this:

This glitter panel was too long for an A2 card, so I hacked off 3/4" of the stem and cleverly hid it with the sentiment.

You can almost see the glitter in that first photo (yes, I am very proud), but here's a close-up, just because:

It's VERY sparkly. :D

The trick here is sticking the 2-sided tape to a piece of thick card stock, so when you die-cut it, the die doesn't cut all the way through. You really just want it to cut through the top protective layer of the tape. You peel off the flower part first, apply clear glitter, burnish it, then color it. Then you take off the rest of the tape, add the glitter, burnish, and you're done. It is really crazy-easy, and such a dramatic effect, too!

So hop on over to the HYCCT challenge forum at Splitcoast and play along!

Thanks for stopping by!

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HYCCT1220 - Let Love Soar

My sweetie-head pal Lisa is hostessing today's challenge over at the Splitcoast HYCCT forum. She reminds everyone that HOPE can be found all over...it's in the air. Just look out your window. It's in the birds, butterflies, a kite, the sounds of a plane, even a BEE! HOPE IS IN THE AIR! She asked us to create a card with something that can be found UP in the air!

I knew exactly what I'd make! I wanted to open and use the hot air balloon from my Hero Arts Happy Birthday set. Here's my card, then I'll explain:

I was originally going to color it ala this most-excellent tutorial by Sandy of OWH. But when I saw the other ideas on this example page, I decided to wimp out, so I just stamped it on some pretty paper and paper-pieced the balloon instead.  I used papers from the Basic Grey What's Up 6x6 pad (how appropriate!)

If you've seen Sandy's video, you'll notice I used her layout, her idea for the clouds, and also for making the wavy sentiment. Hey, they were great ideas, so why not, right? I also opted to tie a ribbon around the balloon instead of coloring the one that comes on the stamp. I'm so lazy.

So, come on over to the HYCCT forum and play along, whydontcha? I'm headed over right now to upload my card. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: Did you know 25% of the profits from the sales of all Hero Arts OWH stamp sets are donated to OWH? Check out the sets here.

Supplies used but not linked below: SU white taffeta ribbon, SU swiss dots embossing folder.

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HYCCT1219 - Pink Birthday

Here it is, the 19th of the month, and I'm still doing pink. Can you believe it?! I volunteered to make a sample for today's Hope You Can Cling To (HYCCT) challenge, which is to make a birthday card based on inspiration from several photos she posted here. (I'll link up to her thread once this post goes live.)

I used the stripes from the first photo and the banner from the fourth photo and made this:

Truth be told, this is the second card I made. I used the Simon Says Stamp Party Banner die and cut it out of Basic Grey Out of Print. It was as pink as I was willing to go. There is another group of tiny dies in the set that would fit inside these banners, but I opted to just use them this way.

I used some Glass Effects Gel - Crystal Clear to make dots between the banners. No, really, it's there!  It's this stuff:

 and you can kinda see it here:

I was hoping it would be like Dew Drops only a little less bulky. I think I got that, but they are so difficult to see. Oh, well.

Funny story: Every trip to the LSS I see the Glass Effects display and look for clear, but they never have it in stock. Um, I already own it? Duh. Okay, maybe that wasn't very funny. More sad, really.

Here is the first card I made:

You'll notice the banner spans the whole card front and still hangs off the edge. That's when I got a clue and made the second card with the banner on an angle. I really like that banner die - it would look really pretty with colored pearls in between the triangles. This card uses some Lawn Fawn letter stickers, and since *I* placed them, they are a bit wonky.

The winner here is the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, who will get both of these cards when I send them out.

So hop on over to Splitcoast and play along with the HYCCT challenges. If *I* can do it, so can you! :D

Thanks for stopping by!

Items used and not linked below: Dear Lizzy/American Crafts Thickers, Glass Effects Gel - Crystal Clear, Lawn Fawn Narrators - Elf Green, SU embossing folder, SU pink card stock, GinaK white card stock.

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