Tag You're It Challenge #2

Happy Sunday!! Today is my 18th year marriage anniversary. We haven't really celebrated it yet because my daughter was sick last night but we did go to breakfast. I cannot believe we have been married as long as we have!!

In keeping with this day of "celebration," I created a tag for the "Tag You're It Challenge Blog."
The challenge was to use Laura Basson's tag below as the inspiration for the tag you created.

This woman is so talented and makes a TON of projects each week. I do not think she ever sleeps!! Her blog is amazing. I always look at Laura's projects and they seem so simple but I do not think outside of the box like she does. She is an amazing designer.

Anyway, here is the tag I created for the challenge:

I chose to keep the background colors similar to Laura's tag. I also chose to use die cut and stamped flowers from WPlus9 instead of using a vellum element in back of the sentiment. I think this tag is more my style then any project I have done lately. I love INKING!!!

To create the background, I used bubble wrap as my stamp. First I die cut a white tag using a PTI tag die. I then took three different colors of distress ink and rubbed them on a piece of bubble wrap, blending them at the same time.

Next I laid the bubble wrap over the tag and "stamped" the bubbles. The background wasn't quite there yet so I misted some water over the top of the tag to make the ink run. I tried to dry it off using a heat gun but it was blowing the color around a bit too much for me so I let it dry naturally.

While the tag was drying, I die cut and stamped a bunch of leaves and flowers. I then used Vintage Photo ink and an ink blender and inked all around each piece, including the dried tag.

Using flat and different widths of foam adhesive, I adhered all the elements to the card.

I liked the way Laura used glossy accents on her tag to look like water drops. Instead of doing this technique, I used translucent sequins in different sizes around the bouquet.

This was the first time in the last couple of weeks that I actually had some inspiration. The bubble wrap technique was a lot of fun to do. I have done it before but do not do it often because I enjoy popping the bubbles and then recycling the wrap. I never have any around!! Do you remember doing that as a kid? It is still fun!!

I will be using this tag on a card but haven't decided how yet. I will definitely post it when it is done.

I want to thank you for stopping by today. Have a great night!!

Nora

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

A Few Layouts

Hello everyone!! I haven't been blogging, though I have had the time. I lost my card mojo. I get so mad at myself when this happens. I attempted to do some challenges but I wound up throwing them all away. (Yes, I do throw things away if I cannot save it. It kills me sometimes because of the time it takes to create!) I even have some fun new-to-me products sitting on my desk too, but nothing was shouting out at me to use.

I also have not been crafting because I sprained my ankle exercising the other day and have had to keep my right foot elevated for the past three days. I now have to wear a boot for the next two weeks. It is very fashionable...NOT!

Today I am going to post three layouts that I worked on in between my failed attempts at card making. Sometimes I have to go between crafts for me to get my creativity back. Does that happen to you?

All products from all pages were purchased from Scrapbook.com, with the exception of the frames on the dog page. These were purchased at Designer Digitals. Scrapbook.com has been my go-to place for scrapbook supplies for some time. When I buy, I tend to buy a lot. Shh Shhh-don't tell my husband!

My first page is a birthday page. I layered patterned paper by Bo bunny over a fun Crate Paper base. My process for this was to find the photos first, trim them and then arrange the patterned paper pieces freely over the base paper. I don't do this enough and I should because it was fun.

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I have other photos from this birthday that I plan to put in pocket page protectors. I will journal about what went on at the party at a later date. (dinner, bingo, cupcakes and make your own sundaes) I just did not feel like getting into it on this page.

I think one of my favorite parts of this layout is the transparency over the left photo. I even ordered some different kinds last week because I had a blast playing with them again. I might even try to use one on a future card.

The second layout features my dog, Zack, whom I call Stinky. Why? Well, he is constantly getting into stuff and is a "little stinker," hence the nickname. His many escapades are a source of amusement for the kids I work with.

This page is about how Charlotte won a pet photo contest at her orthodontist office. We took Stinky outside and had a little photo shoot on our deck so we would have the "perfect photo." To get the "kiss" photo, we put peanut butter on Charlotte's nose!! I then let Char choose which photo she wanted to enter into the contest.

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This page is really simple. I layered paper, some die cuts and used another transparency over the photo that won. Don't you love his underbite?

I saved my favorite page for last. These photos are not the best and so I cropped them into circles. They were of when Charlotte and our neighbor had a lemonade stand. Char and the boy did this frequently and made a lot of money. One time they made $20 each!! The two of them were so cute, shouting at the top of their lungs to people walking or driving by.

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I started off by misting the paper. I did not love where the mist was going so I misted a craft sheet and used a paint brush to place dots where I wanted them on the background card stock. I have seen this technique used on cards so I figured I would try it on a layout.

I then had a blast die cutting circles out of different pieces of patterned paper. Circles are my favorite shape! I used no rhyme or reason when I laid them together with the photos. I just adhered them down right away as I placed them. I am really pleased with how it all came together.

Well, that is all for today. I hope you all have a great night!!

Nora

Inspired by this weeks Retro Sketche #122-a Thank You Card

Happy Tuesday! The weather does not know what it wants to do today so it is a good time to hide in my craft room. It is hot and humid out and has sprinkled on and off most of the day. It actually was refreshing to get rained on while I was doing my interval run this morning.

Today I am going to share a card with you that I created using Retro Sketch #122 as my inspiration.

I could not wait to start this challenge because I knew exactly what I wanted to use for the background. I used the MFT's ink splash from their "Abstract Art" stamp set and distress inks to create this fun, faux watercolor patterned paper. This is the card that I created:

I stamped each dot randomly by inking the stamp up, stamping off, spritzing the stamp with water and finally stamping on the watercolor paper. While the stamped image was wet, I re-inked the stamp and then stamped the dot again. Though the process seems intricate, it was really fast and easy to do. This helped to get the watercolor look to the dots. I like that the dots are not all uniform and in some areas are overlapping and in others, there is white space.

After the dots were dry, I used an MFT Blue prints die to die cut the watercolor paper. I wrapped purple jute around the top and adhered it to a dark purple card base.

I then adhered strips of pink, green and dark purple card stock in the  middle of the card front.  Next I adhered a stamped label over it using foam adhesive.

At first I was not going to add anything else but the label looked naked. I decided to die cut and stamp flowers in the same colors as the dots using WPlus9's "Fresh Cut Florals" set. I adhered the flowers using both dot and foam adhesive.

Again, I looked at it and thought it was missing something. Am I the only one like this? I decided the card needed a bit of glitter in the centers so I dug out a couple shades of purple Stickles I owned. My last step was to adhere a few sequins.

I had a lot of fun making this card and will be using this sketch again. Coming up with ideas for the background was my favorite part.

Since I used a ton of die cuts on here, I am going to enter this into Virginia's View Die Cut Challenge #5. If you haven't checked the blog out, run. She is so talented!!

Thank you for looking!! Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!!

Nora

Supplies:

InLinkz.com