Masculine Birthday Card

I will be needing about five masculine birthday cards in the next couple of months, so I thought I'd get a jump on them.  I used the CTMH Artistry cartridge and several sizes of circle punches to come up with this:

The paper is a mix of pattern and solid in Black, Pacifica, and Emerald (from this weeks Color My Heart challenge). I think it would have worked just as well with all solid cardstock.  The small birthday comes from the Sugar Rush Cardmaking set and was stamped in Pacifica ink.

I liked it well enough with just the triangles, but I really think the circles added an extra bit of flair without getting too "girly."

One card down, about four left. Now it's time to buckle down and get some work done. My writing partner and I are doing the final edits on "The Promise Bride" which comes out in September. Getting excited!!

Until next time,
Becca

Blog Hops with Heart - Anniversary Wishes

This month, Blog Hops with Heart is celebrating (albeit a bit late) our 1st Anniversary. I borrowed an idea to come up with this:

Here's the inspiration card by Debbie Hughes.

Everything here is current CTMH except for the rectangular dotted die cut from My Favorite Things for the panel base. All patterned paper is from the Hello Lovely pack, the strip of gold triangles comes from the All About the Gold Fundamentals, and the plain cardstock is New England Ivy and Sorbet. To make the Mr. and Mrs. stand out more, I sponged over top of them with Sorbet ink.

All cuts are from the Cricut Artistry cartridge. Here's the cutting file if you have Design Space. I included the light colored panel base with the cutting file but not the slightly larger mat in New England Ivy because I used my regular paper cutter for that.

Embellishments include White and Gold Twine, Gold Sequins, and Dreamin' Big Sequins. I used my MISTI to stamp "Anniversary Wishes" along the very bottom in New England Ivy using stamps from the "Finding the Words" set. This card could easily leave that part off for a wedding or engagement card.

This month's hop is short, but be sure to visit all the stops because you will be inspired. These ladies put up knock-out projects! You should have come from Kelly's blog and you are now headed to Jayma's blog.  As always, Amie's blog has a complete list of participants with links.

Off to finish editing "The Promise Bride" which comes out in September...and write the one that comes out next August. I'm tellin' ya, this writing gig plays havoc with your brain. It's tough to remember which story you're in sometimes. And then to come back to real people in real life? You sound like an idiot because the people you spend most of your time with don't actually know the people you eat dinner with. That's the real reason authors hide out in their offices. LOL!

Until next time,
Becca

Altenew Simple Flowers

Most of the time I buy a set of stamps because I know immediately how I'm going to use it. Sometimes, though, I buy one because it intrigues me and I know the possibilities will unfold. Altenew's Simple Flowers falls into the second category. It's a relatively new set that showed up in my mailbox a couple days ago. Despite my writing deadlines, I needed to get inky so I looked at both of the challenges Altenew is sponsoring this month and decided to combine them.

I stamped the flowers in CTMH pigment inks Honey, Sorbet, and Smoothie. To get the overlayed sentiment, I used my MISTI to stamp Beautiful in black on the base panel, glued down the Smoothie rectangle, stamped Beautiful again, glued down the white rectangle, and stamped one more time. I white embossed "You're so" onto black cardstock, trimmed it with scissors and glued it down then added sequins to finish. The last step was to trim my base panel to 4 x 5.25 and mount it on a black 4.25 x 5.5 card.


The basic design is from Altenew's March 2017 Sketch Challenge, and the colors are from the March 2017 Inspiration Challenge.

Now I really do have to get up to my office and write. I have two deadlines which are pressing down, so fun time is over.

Until next time,
Becca

Dreaming of Spring with Mojo Monday

It's -8 in Fairbanks as I type this. As you can imagine, I'm dreaming of green grass and spring flowers instead of three feet of compact snow.  I'm also in need of another get well card.  A friend was just rushed by ambulance to have emergency surgery. She's fine, but flowers are always good to cheer someone up.

Except for the doily and stitched circle die (MFT), all supplies are CTMH, although the floral image is the only thing that's current. It's from the Hello Lovely paper pack on the sheet that has Picture My Life type of patterns. I used the sketch from Mojo Monday (#487), which I haven't played along with in AGES because of my writing schedule.

Speaking of writing, I had a bad week. Wrote and deleted more words than I care to admit...and I  need to do it again. Off to work I go...

Until next time,
Becca

On the Mend

My mother had knee replacement surgery today. I pulled out an old CTMH stamp called "Patch" and paired him with some current paper to make this card for her.

I used a ton of Copic markers to get the shading. I'm by no means a master, but I've learned enough to give new life to some of my older stamps that I never did justice to when they first came out.

Isn't he adorable???

Until next time,
Becca

Iditarod Thank You

Yesterday was the start of the 2017 Iditarod race. For the third time in its history, the start gate was moved to Fairbanks due to lack of snow on the regular route. How could I possibly stay at home holed up in my writing office and miss that?

At race time, the temperature was -23, so I bundled up and carpooled out to a spot along the Chena River to watch the dogs race by. Several of us chaplain spouses met at a church that was offering free parking, a spot to stay warm until the race started, and free coffee and treats. We decided we wanted to send them a thank you note, and I offered to make one for us all to sign.

I used the Tim Holtz distress inks in Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, and Mustard Seed to watercolor over top of white embossed snowflakes from an old Stampin' Up set called Lace Snowflakes. After letting the watercolor dry, I cut it with the wonky panel from My Favorite Things BluePrints #15.  The die cut snowflakes and sentiment are Thin Cuts from CTMH. All were cut from white cardstock, but I used a mixture of Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers to paint the smaller snowflake. When it was dry, I painted another layer of Iridescent Paint mixed with Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers over top. More drying before attaching it to the larger white snowflake then adding a layer of Liquid Glass over the blue snowflake and letting it dry overnight.

I hope y'all are proud of me for all the patience it took to let things dry before proceeding to the next step. Patience is NOT my strongest character trait.

The color scheme was inspired by the Lime and Aqua challenge over at The Card Concept. I know it's March and you folks down in the Lower 48 are watching flowers begin to bloom. Here, we're close to -30 and more snow is in the forecast to boost the 78" that have already fallen this winter. It almost...almost makes me happy to be moving to South Carolina in July. Right now a little heat and humidity sounds good. Except, between now and then, I have three writing deadlines to meet, so I'd better go hole up in the office!

Until next time,
Becca

Birthday POW!

My brother-in-law is turning the big 6-0!  He's a big fan of comics, so I used that as my inspiration for his birthday card.

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, Superhero paper from CTMH (retired), and a speech bubble from the freebies on Design Space with my Cricut Explore.  The alphabet for POW was Action Comic.

I bet he sorta feels like 60 sneaked up as fast as a POW! 

Until next time,
Becca