Challenging Challenges!

The first card was for yesterday's Ways to Use It Challenge on SCS, To Die For. It was to find ways to use die cuts in your projects. I started off with a 4x11 piece of olive cardstock. I folded it in half to make a 4x5.5 card. I folded down the front to make it a pocket card. I punched holes all down the side of each edge to lace ribbon through to make the pocket. Next I used my Cuttlebug to die cut different sizes and colors of the flower and attached three of them to the front, and the other three I layered to give the flower more dimension. They are held together by a brad. Now this flower is actually attached to the pull out card that's inside the pocket. In order for the flower to "peek" over the pocket, I punched a half circle in the top of the pocket so the flower had a notch to sit in. Then I stamped "My friend", ran over it with Old Olive ink and a blender pen and added a brad to the flower. I added the yellow panel to the inside top of the pocket and added some doodles here and there. It still needed something, so I die cut some leaves for the big flower, but it still wasn't right. I asked my husband what he thought, and he actually came up with "stem" idea. He suggested dots with a black marker, but I decided to pierce holes and use the white gel pen for a faux stitch look. I'm pretty happy with this card, I guess. SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- My Friend, Michael's $1 Stamp; Paper- DCWV Olive, pink and A Muse Papaya; Ink- Basic Black; Accessories- Cuttlebug Asterisks die set, Cuttlebug machine, paper piercer, white gel pen, hole punch, ribbon by Oriental Trading, Making Memories brads, Old Olive marker, 1 1/4" circle punch.
The next two cards were for today's Limited Supplies Challenge, Embellish It. This was pretty challenging for me. It was to use ONLY a sentiment stamp, ONE layer and any embellishments you'd like, but no Cuttlebug or embossing. I was not happy with my first card, so I tried another. The butterfly one was my second try! :) For the Flower Thanks card, I used Making Memories flowers layered and held together with a brad. I originally used a double rectangle punch across the card and laced the ribbon through the holes to tie the bow in the center, but after I stamped the "Thanks for making me smile", it was crooked ("ressin' fessin'" in my best Yosemite Sam impersonation) and since it had to be a single layer card, I scrapped it. I didn't want to go through all that again, so I just tied the ribbon around the card on the second try. I added some "spritzes" of Pumpkin Pie and Basic Black with my markers and color spritzer tool. Last, I added some red line tape and covered it with glitter, as well as using my 2 way glue pen to add some glitter dots and used scalloped scissors for the bottom edge. Not my most favorite card, but it fit the challenge. SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- SU Small Sayings; Ink- Basic Black; Paper- DCWV; Accessories- flowers and brad from Making Memories, pink ribbon unknown, color spritzer tool, Basic Black marker, Pumpkin Pie marker, red line tape, 2 way glue pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, scallop scissors from Costco.
On the Butterfly Dreams card, I used the sentiment from Happy Harmony and found some chipboard butterflies that I forgot I had. I attached gingham ribbon "antennae" to them with brads and attached them to the card. The final touch was the "trail" dots with a black marker. I'm much happier with this card! :) SUPPLIES USED: Stamps- Happy Harmony; Ink- Basic Black; Paper- Notecard from Walmart; Accessories- chipboard butterflies and brads from Making Memories, gingham ribbon by Offray, Basic Black marker.
Thanks for visiting today! I hope these cards put you in a Spring mood as they did me. It's snowing here in Pittsburgh and we're expecting up to 6 inches, so happy Spring cards are a good thing! :)