Southern Breezes

Saturday Night Challenge

Welcome to the tonight's challenge, which was to use a border on a card or layout.  Check out the great stuff created this week...

Shelia

Robyn

Pat

NoraAnne

Thanks for playing along this week ladies!! All the entries are fantastic!

With all the exitement of Heather's arrival and doubling up on classes at One Little Spark this weekend I enlisted help for this week's challenge.  Thank goodness Shelia agreed to host tonight's challenge!! So hop on over to her blog and see what she has in store for you for this week's challenge. 

While there please leave her a little "blog love" because she's had a rough week this week and needs a few hugs.  Thank you, Shelia!! You are truly one-in-a-million!!!

As usual, anyone, anywhere can play along. Once you have your card or layout finished, upload it to the comment section of this post or email me a picture of it.  Then join us back here next Saturday to check out all the creativity and see what the next challenge will be!! Have a great week!!

More Fun With Alcohol Inks

Since sitting in on the Alcohol Inks class last weekend I have had SO much fun trying new things with them!! I highly recommend that you not miss the next AI class Dawn teaches!!

Heather's "spark" for last Friday was to do some sponging on a card! What a clever gal she is - it fit right in with what I was playing with **wink, wink**

For this card I used Ranger's Chili Pepper red and Pesto alcohol inks, and gold and copper metallic mixatives.  After applying the inks to a sponge I went to work sponging a piece of glossy paper. Once that was dry, and let me tell you, it dries in seconds, I stamped the image with Memento's Tuxedo Black ink. 

Using a Hero Arts background stamp, I stamped a piece of brown card stock.  I scored and folded one end down 1/4 inch, making sure the stamped side was facing out.  The piece done with alcohol inks was adhered to a piece of moss green cardstock slightly larger than the stamped piece. 

This section was then slid underneath the 1/4 inch edge fo the brown card stock.  With the Crop-a-dile, I punched two small holes 1 inch in from each side.  A piece of ribbon was threaded through and tied in a bow. 

This was such a fun card to work on!

Supplies include: Ranger Chili pepper and Pesto Alcohol inks; Gold and Copper Metallic Mixatives and Mixing Solution; Hero Arts' Old French Writing and Around the World stamps; chocolate brown, medium brown and green card stock; miscellaneous ribbon.  All products surrently in stock at One Little Spark

"O" ATC Swap

Here we go with the very first ATC swap hosted by One Little Spark...

We will start with two groups of 10 people per group. More groups can be added if we get more than 20 people who want to participate in this swap. Each person in a group will make 10 identical ATC cards. Mail your finished ATC cards to One Little Spark ( address below).  The ATC cards will be divided so each person gets back 10 DIFFERENT ATC cards, one from each person in the group. 

If you want to participate, please email me before January 31st. The finished ATCs need to be mailed to the shop by February 28th. Be sure to include your return address so the cards get back to you promptly. You can sign up for both groups if you want to !! Then you will need to make 2 sets of 10 cards each and you will receive 2 sets of 10 cards!

Here are the rules for our very first ATC swap!!

1. The theme is the letter "O", so you need to incorporate that letter on your card.

2. Make sure the cards are 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches (finished size)

3. Please sign and number the back of each card.

4. Place cards in a zip-lock bag before putting them in the envelope

5. Mail completed cards and $2 for postage to One Little Spark, 161 E. Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ 08087

Anyone, anywhere can participate in this swap, so let's get started!!!

That's it!! If you want to join this ATC swap please email me by January 31st.  The group list will be    e-mailed to participants on February 1.

Arches, ATCs & Moos...

OH MY!!! For those who missed the class last weekend at One Little Spark I will tell you now that you missed out on a fantastic class and LOADS of fun!!! The class was taught by visiting instructor Dawn Bryson, who knows the absolute BEST way to start any class is to pass out chocolate! *yummy!*  Once that was taken care of, she jumped right in and began demonstrating how to work with alcohol inks, blending solutions and all that neat stuff.

We rolled up our sleeves and got right into the how-to's of mixing the inks together and swirling our card stock through it.  Dawn even provided pretty purple gloves so we would not walk out with multi-colored hands at the end of the class!!

   

 

 

The first thing we made was an ATC card  using various Adirondack Alcohol inks, a background stamp and the Winged Girl from Stampers Anonymous and a number of embellishments.

                        

What a neat little card??!!

Besides the ATC, we made a mini card ( a Moo) and a full size card, but guess who didn't photograph  any of those? Oops, sorry *sigh*

You may have missed this class but don't worry - Dawn will be back this spring with another great class!  In the meantime, she will be helping me host the Cards for Heroes event at One Little Spark on Saturday, February 28 from 1 to 3 p.m. More information on this will soon be posted on the Shop Blog.

A number of people have approached me to host an ATC swap at One Little Spark, so I have decided it might be a fun thing to do!!  Rules for the swap will be posted right here Tuesday evening!!

Saturday Night Challenge

Welcome back ot the Saturday Night Challenge! The challenge for this week was to incorporate a "slider" or a "spinner" on a card or a layout. 

Where is everyone this week, besides at CHA in sunny California?? *sniffle*.  Thank goodness for the Trusty Twosome who played along this week.....

Shelia

Robyn

The winner?? They are both winners this week!! Congratulations ladies!!

Now on to the next challenge...to make a card or a layout with a shaped border.  How much easier can that be? I love borders! There are SO many different ones on the market and they are so much fun to work with.

 

For this card I used the Fiskars Threading Water border punch. Of all the punches I have, it seems to be my favorite border punch.  But, then, I haven't seen that new Martha Easter Bunny border punch yet *wink* I hear it's REALLY cute!!

 

Cotton Candy pink Stickles and a little glitter make the centers of the flowers "sparkly".

 

The sentiment was stamped and then I used a 1 1/4 inch scalloped circle punch to shape the sentiment and then used a pop-dot for added dimension.

As always, anyone, anywhere can play along! Come on gals, Robyn and Shelia need some competition *laugh*. 

The deadline for this challenge is midnight next Friday, January 30, with the winner to be announced on Saturday evening along with the next challenge.  

Supplies include: White, dark purple and medium purple card stock; Flower, basket and grass stamps from Stamps by Judith; Sentiment from Hero Arts; Copic markers; Cotton Candy Stickles; Clear Spica glitter pen; Fiskars Threading Water border punch; EK Success 1 1/4 inch scalloped circle punch.

All supplies are currently in stock at One Little Spark.

Cafe Paris

Heather's  spark for last Friday was to "create something with an image or sentiment you have cut out".

Ever since the Declassified stamps arrived at One Little Spark, I've been dying to work with them!! The stamps are unmounted red rubber stamps that you use like clear stamps!! Yep, that's right, you use a stamping block with these little dudes.  OR, what's even more fun - the clear case the stamps come in can be used as the block!!! I had my doubts about that actually working, but it does.  I took the stamp out of the case, popped it onto the outside of the case and voila', a built-in stamping block!! How cool is that?!?!?

For this card I chose "Cafe Paris", a set that contains two stamps.

 

The Parisian images were stamped on white card stock, then both images were cut out.  A background image was stamped onto dark rose cardstock using the Hero Arts Eiffel Tower stamp.  The cut out images were then adhered on to the rose colored piece, which was then attached to the base card.  Tiny dark rose brads were placed in each corner.

I love the images from these stamps!!!

   

Supplies include: Navy, dark rose and white card stock; Memento Paris Dusk ink; Declassified Paris Cafe stamp set; Hero Arts Eiffel Tower stamp; miscellaneous brads. Stamps and papers currently in stock at One Little Spark.

Saturday Night Challenge

This week's challenge was to use an origami technique on either a card or a layout.  Here are this week's entries...

Robyn

Shelia

Shelia said she wished someone else would enter *wink*.  Now Shelia, didn't your Momma tell you to be careful what you wished for?? <lol>  There is an entry from a new player tonight...Deanna.  This is what Deanna brought by One Little Spark ...

 

Let's see if I can get this straight ... the big stars, letters and numbers were cut with the Cricut.  The smaller stars were made usign a small star punch.  A few twinkles were added here and there for a little "sparkle".

  

The star on the front is made with 5 $10 bills, and on the inside is a heart made from two more $10 bills.  Notice the shiny quarter in the middle of the heart!! Too cute.  Someone is going ot get  a nifty 70th birthday card!! 

 

The winner is??? Deanna!! Congratulations!! You may be the competition Robyn and Shelia have been looking for!

For this next challenge I am "borrowing" an idea from Robyn, who posted two of the cutest dang altered mailboxes  on her blog last Sunday.  She showed one she did and one her daughter did - they were both super cute.  If you scroll down to the second mailbox you will see that the one Robyn did had a "drawer" that slid in and out on a slider. 

Have you guessed the challenge?  Yep - incorporate a slider on either a card or a layout! Robyn gave me permission to show her mailbox as the sample for this week's challenge.  Please visit her blog to see how she did this fun technique.

Ok, stop moaning and groaning, it's only a slider **wink**! Not like I'm asking you to do origami twice in a row! <LOL>

Can't wait to see what you do with this challenge!  As always, ANYONE, ANYWHERE can play.  Link to your entry in the comment section of this blog or email it to me, or as Deanna did, bring it by One Little Spark. The deadline is midnight on Friday, January 23! Have fun!!

Be My Valentine!

I finally had time to play with the new A Muse Sweet Shoppe Valentine stamps! It was hard to decide which one to start with but I finally settled on "be mine" to start with.  The card is a simple match book card made from an A Muse solid pink notecard.  A red grogain ribbon was placed around the lower edge of the card to hide the staples

 

After stamping the sentiment on vanilla card stock, I adhered it to a strip of Chocolate Truffle card stock and then used a corner punch to create the nifty border.  The tiny heart was cut out using the Slice.  After running the heart through a small Xyron sticker maker, I added red glitter to the sitcky side of the heart. A pop dot holds it in place.

 

Inside the card is a sweet treat held in place by a glue dot.  Super simple card but, oh so cute!!

Supplies include: A Muse note card and sentiment stamp; Memory Box Vanilla and Chocolate Truffle card stock; Martha Stewart red glitter; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; miscellaneous ribbon.  All papers, ink and stamp currently in stock at One Little Spark.

Heather's sparkly spark

Heather and a friend of hers were doing a little "internet scrapping" last  night and Heather asked if I wanted to play along with them.   I did <smile> It's been a long time since we've played together online with crafty stuff. 

I think Heather was working on a mini album, but I'm not sure what her friend, Michelle, was working on.  I opted to make a card that would also double as my "spark" for the week, which was to make a card using bling! Bling is always fun!!

After a few alterations to the orignal card, which was totally tacky looking, here's the finished product...

 

I like this one MUCH better! *wink*

The stamp used is one of the new Hero Arts shadow stamps that you can find at One Little Spark.  These stamps are so neat! The stamp creates a dimensional look with subtle shadings that are a result of the way the stamp is cut.  SO cool!!!

The image was stamped on craft paper. If you haven't tried this type of card stock you NEED to put it on your "gotta try this" list!! This was the first time I have ever used it and I can guarantee you it will not be my last.  I absolutely love it!

After stamping the image I decided to add  touch of subtle colors with markers. After that came the bling!  The ones I used are sort of greenish in color and were found in my stash so I have no idea where they, or the bluish/green paper, came from. But I think they worked well together! *wink*

Supplies include: Hero Arts Misty Floral Crown stamp;Craft card stock; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Moss Green, Blush and Rose Romance markers; miscellaneous bling and blue paper. Stamp, ink and craft card stock are currently in stock at One Little Spark.

Saturday Night Challenge

When the local weather people call for snow I never believe them - it seems the best way to tell what the weather is going to be is to simply look out the window *laugh*  In other words, after all the talk about snow and freezing rain on the news last night, when I got up this morning it was sunny. Cold but sunny, and not a sign of a snowflake anywhere!! *sigh*

The challenge for this week was to use something dimensional on a card or layout.  Please check out the following blogs to what these talented ladies have done this week....

Heather

Shelia

Robyn

Corinna

All the entries were great, as usual. Who takes the prize tonight?? Shelia...Congratulations! She was very creative with her card this week!

Thank to everyone who played along!

Now on to this week's challenge.  This challenge is going to be lots of fun, I think *wink*. A lady who was in a class at One Little Spark Saturday brought in directions for origami money folding.  I couldn't wait to give it a try and afterwards decided what I had originally planned for tonight's challenge could wait another week!! <lol>  It wasn't nearly as fun as the origami.  Here's what I did...

 

Following the directions for origami money folding I created the "origami  heart dollar" which is the focus of the card.  Using the sweet little Slice machine, I cut the heart from the front of the card, and then positioned the heart dollar in the center of it and attached it to the inside of the card with a single glue dot. 

The ribbon was placed across the front of the card and then the sentiment was attached with pop dots. Before attaching the sentiment I distressed the edges with cranberry colored ink. It doesn't show in the picture, but the two hearts on the sentiment piece were brightened up with a Sakura glitter pen.

 

A small red heart was added to the center.  The center is supposed to be another small heart, but it doesn't quite seem to look like one to me. 

If you're going to send money to someone as a gift, what better way to do it than to present it in some cute folded form!

Thee's the challenge for this week - to use origami somewhere on either a card or a layout.  If you aren't sure about how to do this technique there are a lot of websites out there with basic instructions. 

As always, anyone, anywhere can play along.  The deadline for this challenge is midnight on Friday, January 16th and the winner will be announced, along with the new challenge, next Saturday evening at 8 p.m. Once you are finished with your project, link to it in the comment section of this blog or email it to me.  Have fun!!

Supplies include: A nice crisp one dollar bill; A Muse red Kitchen card stock and pink ribbon; sentiment stamp from Stamps by Judith; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Adirondack Cranberry ink; Hero Arts heart bling; Sakura glitter pen.