Papertrey April Blog Hop Challenge

This month Nichole challenged PTI customers to this:

"It only takes a little *something* to take a project from ho-hum to amazing!  Even something as small as tilting your images or sentiments at an angle can have a huge impact.  This month we are challenging you to create a project that features something tilted.  Position a frame at an angle, tilt your text, add a background strip diagonally, create a border that has an incline, slant a sentiment block, the sky is truly the limit!  We look forward to seeing your projects!"

After scrolling through my blog, I realized I have many projects that have angles and tilts on them  - sometimes even on purpose!

Here' s my project for today:

Fancy Folk Art stamp set, Thanks die

I stamped this background several weeks ago for another project that went unfinished.  I couldn't make it work, so I set this aside for the right time - which is now!  I cut the mat and panel for the sentiment, adhered it to the background and trimmed it to fit.  I was happy to find that the sentiment fits perfectly on the panel.  Adding a few rhinestones was my finishing touch!

I have a second card for the challenge.  This is what I was thinking about while I was monitoring my students during their state assessment tests yesterday.  I was trying to think happy thoughts!  ;)

Up, Up and Away stamp set and Cloud dies

I know I'm going to love this theme for the blog hop, and I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Thanks for visiting  My Happy Place!

Cool Shades Challenge

I have to admit that this week's challenge at Paper Smooches Sparks challenge had me a bit stumped.  The two blues threw me off, and I had a serious block to the colors.  As I was cleaning up my crafting area, I ran across my glitter in one of my drawers and remembered a technique that a crafty friend once shared - glitter masking. It's a fairly simple technique, but it packs a pretty big punch.

Here's my card for today:

I began by cutting an adhesive sheet and peeling off the backing.  I used the Hickory Leaf die to cut several leaves from the adhesive backing.  I did the same with the butterfly die from Flap Happy. The trick is peeling off the diecuts only when you are ready to pour glitter over that area.  After getting all the glitter down, I used Staz On ink to stamp the sentiment, trail and antennae for the butterfly.  Adding a few black rhinestones for the body gave the card a little dimension.  

Here's a photo in the sunlight:

I hope you have a wonderful day, and thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Glitter Butterfly

The month of April brings a lot of birthdays for people I know.  Several dates mark the birthdays of 2 or 3 of my friends, so birthday cards are a common thing to make for me during this time of year.  I made two this weekend.

This one is for the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge.  The sketch challenge this month is this:

I used one of my favorite - and first - sets from Paper Smooches, Giddy Bugs.  I inked up the little butterfly with some new Hero Arts Orange Soda ink.  I shaded in the head and body with colored pencils, and glittered up the wings with some Doodlebug Sugar Coating glitter.  The sentiment was stamped on the orange cardstock and heat embossed with holographic embossing powder.  The Loopy Leaf diecut leaves are also from Paper Smooches.  I love the shape of them!

CAS-ual Fridays Blog is challenging us this week to use glitter on our projects.  I'm so glad I saw their challenge, because I really needed to add a little shimmer to that cute little butterfly.  Glitter did the perfect job!

You can play along with either of those challenges by clicking the links above.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!