Easy Notecards featuring DigiPlayground

Hello!  Yep, that's my theme for today.  I'm here with some really easy, super quick notecards with an ombre flair.

My card features Nested Stitched Edge Squares by Sarah Hurley and Perfect Susan font by Samantha Walker.  I did stretch the square into a rectangle.  Then in the Silhouette software, I used the text tool to write my sentiment.  I sized it to fill the mat with a nice border around it, welded it together and then cut.

I then used Peacock Feathers Distress Ink by Ranger and an ink blending tool to color the base of my card in an ombre affect and then layered the mat over it.  This card was inspired by this video found on You Tube.

I then did the same inking on the positive letters and created this card, too.

Two cards - one cut!  Love the double duty.  I now have 2 notecards ready to be written in and sent to a friend.

Thank you for letting my share my notecards with you today, I do hope you're feeling inspired to create those general greetings to have in your stash.  These cards are easy to make and still lets the recipient know you were really thinking about them.

Have a great day!  If you'd like to visit me at my blog, you can find it here.

Tuesday Morning Sketches #335

Good morning TMS friends!  Thank you for stopping by my blog today.  The sketch is up at TMS and it's another favorite by Debbie.  I chose this one because I hadn't been able to use before when it debuted.  I was also very excited when an idea I had came together - using the sketch with some creative license.

First of all, I flipped the sketch...

The wrought iron fence is the vertical element on the sketch, the center tree the circle element and then everything else is just what you do when you fill in the sketch.  The elements aren't quite layered as they appear in the sketch, but I do love the way this turned out!

The base of the card is a digital image (trees/sentiment) from Sweet n Sassy Stamps.  The wrought iron and birds are die cuts from a retired die set called Garden Romance by Heartfelt Creations.  I used ONE marker on this project.  I colored the trees and birds using Distress inks and ink blenders.  I colored the tree trunks with a Copic marker... oh, I lied.  I used two markers, I also used one to color beaks and then a Copic liner to make eyes on the birds.  I'm not really good at ink blending, but I think my lack of skill was perfect for these trees - they have texture and a little depth.

Thank you for stopping by.  Please head on over to TMS blog to join in the fun and also, visit my team's blogs and leave a little love.  We all love hearing from you.

Tuesday Morning Sketches #334

Good Morning!  The sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches and this one is Jenee's pick.  She chose a great sketch that was created by Debbie.  This one has some great layers and shapes.  Our sponsor this week is Stitchy Bear Digital Oulet.

My card doesn't feature Stitchy Bear images, but I am happy with what I came up with.  I'm attempting to do more with my Silhouette, specifically the print and cut feature.  I think I need to calibrate it as it seems to be a wee bit off.  But I love the happy results - this card is so cheery which is what I need to send to a friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  Please, if you pray, keep Dolores and her family in prayer.

The flowers in the center are the print n cut images from the Silhoutte.  I got a new printer just before Christmas and I am loving the vibrancy of the colors it prints.  The designer paper is a matstack by DCWV called Nana's Kitchen.  The sentiment was made using a word window punch, stamps from MFT (Planner Basics and Bitty Banners). 

Please join us over at TMS, I'd love to see what you create... and please leave my team a little love on their blogs.  They'd love to hear from you.

Planner and Planner Clips

This is my post for DigiPlayground but if you're looking for Tuesday Morning Sketches, please scroll down.  But since you're already here, you might as check this post out, too.  ;)

Happy New Year everyone!  Planners are all the craze lately.  I love them, I've always used them - but I usually pick up cheap journals or notebooks at Walmart or the dollar store.

I've actually been planning my planner since August: what did I want to feature, how will it function for me and can I combine what I use for work with my personal life, too.  Afterall, one melds into the other, right?  So I created my planner but I needed bookmarks and things to indicate "you are here" but I wanted them to match the bones of my planner and of course, they had to have charm.

I made clips!  These are so easy to do.  I started with a box of large paperclips that I found at the Dollar Tree.  Then using the bow from Hello Friend w/3D Bow card by Jamie Cripps and a flower from Filled Flower Basket by Carina Gardner I jazzed up these otherwise simply OK paperclips.  I did resize them to be much larger then they come.  Sorry, can't tell you how much larger I made them - I just kept going until I liked them.

There are tons of flowers available in the DigiPlayground shop that would work great for these clips.  Just be sure to use really strong adhesive like super glue or E6000.... and use in a well ventilated area.

If you'd like to see more of my planner, please take a look at the video I made for my sister.  I'm no Stephen Spielberg, you've been warned.  LOL  I hope I've inspired you in some small measure to look at your cut files and make something that's beyond the picture you see.

Have a creative day!

Tuesday Morning Sketches #333

Good Morning!  The sketch is up at TMS and we're revisiting 2015 sketches.  Jessi picked TMS #288 to play with - I really like this sketch and this time, it's up in time for Valentine's Day cards should you choose to pick that theme.

Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Stamps and my card features one of their freebies, Angel Boy Sitter.  He's really cute.  I'm also using one of those many card kits that I have in a box in my closet.  I'm really hoping that I hear from a local teacher who runs a card club at the middle school my kids went to.  I'm ready to donate so much of what I have!

I couldn't avoid shadows on this card.  The weather is weird here today and no matter what I tried to do, I got a shadow.  I apologize for that.

Please head on over and join in the fun.  I think you'll like the sketch if you didn't use it last year and if you did, well maybe it's a favorite of yours.

Have a great day!

Getting ready for 2016

Hello friends!  I hope you're enjoying your holidays in the way that you enjoy them most.  Christmas morning at my house was really nice and the rest of the day pretty laid back.  That's how I enjoy them the most!

As you can see with the photo up above, I'm getting ready for the New Year!  My friend is having a little get together for New Year's Eve, so I thought Jamie's 3D Firecracker would make the perfect centerpiece.  I know Saturday is the usual tutorial day, but I can't make Jamie's already perfect tutorial on how to make this firecracker any better, so I'm just here with a decoration suggestion.

Start with festive papers!  I am using holographic paper that I picked up at JoAnn's.  If you use this paper, be sure to set you Cameo (or other electronic cutter) at heavy weight so that it double cuts.  Then you want to be sure you're using a SUPER strong adhesive.  I used Scor-Tape.

I then cut numbers from two shades of glitter card stock. I also cut the sparkler pieces at the top from the same two glitter card stock.  I have to be honest, the numbers are by Jennifer Wambach and I've had them in my own collection from the Silhouette Online Store.  I've asked Jennifer to put these Scalloped Numbers in the store so be on the lookout for them.

I think this is going to look great on my friends buffet.  You could go a step further, if you don't mind it being taken apart later.... put some goodies inside like noisemakers, candies and for the adults, shot size bottles of favorite liquers.

I hope this inspires you to get really festive and creative for your New Year's get together.  Let me wish you a very Happy New Year - I hope 2016 holds many blessings and lots of creativity for you!

Tuesday Morning Sketches #332

Hello!  I was so proud of myself.  I got the TMS blog post ready Sunday night because I knew I'd be out late yesterday.  But I completely forgot to set up my own post.  Silly me!

It's that time of year again!  It's time TMS' annual Anything Goes challenge.  I went with a creative and very easy card design by Carina Gardner.  Her designs are available at DigiPlayground.

Isn't it cute?  It's only a few cuts - it didn't take too much time at all and it went together really easily.  Just don't be frugal with the pop dots.  I found that middle sort of dipped in towards the base of the card without have dimensional tape there, too.

Please join us over at TMS - it'll be tons of fun and I'm building a special box filled with fun papercrafting goodies.