You're Awesome!: Take Five

It's Monday again so I thought I'd spruce up the day with the final version of the AWESOME cards I have made for my husband's co-workers (to see all five check out my other You're Awesome! posts)!

For this last installment I wanted to create a one-layer card using kraft cardstock.  I chose to use the insanely adorable Into the Woods stamp set from Lawn Fawn.  I really wanted to try doing some Prismacolor coloring with gamsol on kraft and this little fox provided the perfect opportunity.  He's not too big or intricate but creating the reddish fur required blending some reds and browns - so a challenge without being too complicated :)  

Once the fox was on his log and the sentiment was added the card still seemed a little bland so I took the fun arrow from the set and created a vertical border.  I totally lucked out and got the spacing perfect so four of them fit without going off the edge of the card (no idea how I pulled that off on the first try!).  I added the arrow to the You're Awesome custom sentiment on the inside to tie it in to the front.  A little Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Brush Pen and some white dash lines finished it off.

 Here is a look at all five AWESOME cards!  Which one is your favorite??  I think I did pretty well at meeting the challenge I set for myself to make each card unique but still use the same sentiment.  I really had some opportunities to stretch my card-making comfort zone and learned a few new techniques along the way!  Thanks so much for stopping by for the grand finale of my AWESOME card challenge.  Don't forget to leave me a comment and say hi!  

You're Awesome!: Take Four

Hello again! I hope you all had the most fabulous holidays! I was completely spoiled this year and got some amazing goodies to add to my craft room (I'm completely giddy with joy!!!!).   A Big Shot, a lamp for my workstation, and a new set of Prismacolor pencils are just a sample of the glorious fun my hubby got me this year. I haven't had the chance to play with my new toys yet but I do have another "You're Awesome!" card to share with you today.  This is also my entry in this week's Friends With Flair challenge by Unity.  

For the fourth card using the custom sentiment my husband requested for cards for his co-workers I decided to use some Distress Inks and Markers to watercolor this beyond adorable image from the November Kit of the Month from Unity. I am pretty much obsessed with owls so this guy is going to be a favorite. 

To add a little something special I stamped the image in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it in chestnut Zing embossing powder.  I found a cute little mushroom in another Unity kit I had to add to the sentiment inside and tie it to the toadstool on the front.  A few sequins and some Wink of Stella clear glitter brush pen finish off the project.

Thanks for stopping by!  Leave me a comment and let me know what fabulous fun you got for the holidays!  Check back soon for the final AWESOME card, as well!  Happy holidays and a happy new year to you and yours!!!!

You're Awesome!: Take Three

I don't know about you but with Christmas right around the corner I'm finding it difficult to get anything made that doesn't have Santa Claus or Rudolph on it! But I really wanted to take a break from yuletide crafting to make the third "You're Awesome!" card for my husband's co-workers.

For this card I used all products from the December 2014 Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp.  Now, I tend to gravitate more toward the cutesy images that can be colored and whimsical so this stamp set with it's geometric images and clean lines was tricky for me to work with.  I do love the way all of the elements can be repeated to create fun backgrounds so I decided to create my own embossed cardstock using the Ranger Platinum embossing powder from the kit.

I then made a little window for my custom sentiment and got to use the great stitched and sketched circle in the stamp set.  I finished it all up with a great technique I got from Kristina Werner's videos - embossing the edges of the card. This is an easy, simple way to really make your card feel finished.  Just brush the edges of your card with your VersaMark ink pad, like you would to distress the edges. Then sprinkle with embossing powder and heat set. 

I hope you all enjoy!  Check out my first two "You're Awesome!" blogs and let me know how you think I'm doing with my challenge to make them all totally unique. I hope you all have very happy holidays and thanks for stopping by!

You're Awesome!: Take Two

Hello again! It's time for my second go at creating a card using the custom sentiment "You're awesome" for my husband's co-workers.

For this card I decided to go with paper piecing and the irresistible Science of Love stamp set by Lawn Fawn. I think this set has so many versatile elements, plus I really dig the nerdy aspect of it. 

First, I stamped a Heidi Swapp chevron background using white pigment ink on some kraft cardstock.  Next, I stamped and paper pieced the little book from Science of Love as well as the small tag from the Birthday Tags stamp set, also from Lawn Fawn.  I used the coordinating die from Tag, You're It to cut out my tag but fussy cut the other elements on the card.

The best part of this card is the punny sentiment inside using part of a sentiment from the stamp set and part custom sentiment with Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABCs  (are you sensing a theme with the stamps yet?).

I really like how the finished result turned out AND it is completely different from my first AWESOME card, which you can check out here!  Two down, three to go! Thanks again for stopping by! Don't forget to leave a comment and say hello!

You're Awesome!: Take One

It's Friday!  Hope you all have fantastic weekend holiday plans to look forward to.  For today's card I was unknowingly given an interesting challenge by my husband.  He requested five cards for some of his co-workers to thank them for helping him out (he's the theater teacher/director at a high school so he needs A LOT of help).  He specifically asked that they say "You're awesome" because that is what he tells them whenever they do him a favor.

So I decided to take this idea and run with it.  I've challenged myself to create five completely unique cards that are all AWESOME!

For my first card I inked up a new Unity Stamp Co. Kit - Birdie Conversation and used Distress Inks to create a background and watercolor my adorable little bird.  The Jessie's ABCs set from Lawn Fawn was perfect for creating that custom sentiment.  Finish it up with a little twine and some rhinestone sparkle and my first AWESOME card was complete! 

Stay tuned for the other four takes on "You're Awesome!".  If you have some AWESOME ideas or projects to share I'd love to see them in the comments.  There's no better inspiration than the talent of fellow crafters!  Thanks for stopping by!

Unity {be inspired} Challenge #6: Let It Snow

Happy Wednesday, all!  It's time again for another entry in the fabulous Unity {be inspired} Challenge.  This month I chose to use the color palette as my inspiration.  I chose this rather than the card layout because the colors that Unity selected, while very beautiful, are a little outside of my normal comfort zone with colors so I really wanted to challenge myself to come up with something awesome even though I may not have chosen those colors on my own. 

See what I mean??  Gorgeous!  But still not something I would have put together on my own.  Along that same vein, I chose to put together my very first shaker card for this challenge.  I have been watching some great videos with amazing shaker cards and I just had to try it!  So I figured, hey, I'm already pushing my boundaries, why not just blow through them altogether and do something totally new?!

So here is the final result!  I used the Like A Snowflake kit from Unity and just went to town stamping and heat embossing those amazing snowflakes.  I hope you all enjoyed my entry in the Unity {be inspired} Challenge this month!  Check out Curl E. Cue's on Facebook and give me a big ol' LIKE!  Leave a comment and let me know what you think!  Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!

Oh Christmas Tree!: SSS November 2014 Card Kit

Happy Veteran's Day!  A big huge thank you to all who have served, are serving, and will serve to keep our country safe!

Today I'm featuring a set of simple but fun Christmas cards I made using the Simon Says Stamp November 2014 Card Kit.   I've put these kits in my cart for a few months but finally caved and clicked subscribe with this one.  It is too much fun!  I love the whimsy and non-traditional holiday colors.

I usually do a lot of coloring on my cards so for this set I wanted to try something clean and simple that could be easily duplicated.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Post pics of your SSS November kit creations in the comments. I'd love to see the amazing things you've all come up with!

Happy Birthday Pretty Lady: Unity {be inspired} Challenge #5

Hello again!  I have already submit one entry to the October Unity {be inspired} Challenge using the color palette as my inspiration but I couldn't resist playing with the card layout as well.  

 I used the Sabrina Fashionista to create a fun, whimsical, and girly birthday card with lots of sparkle and lace.  I used patterned paper and ribbon over the heat embossed background to add different textures and finished it off with a sentiment wrapped up in a bow!

Thanks for stopping by!  Leave me a comment if you have a minute, I'd love to hear what you think.  Happy Monday!

Holiday Style: Unity {be inspired} Challenge #4

Hello again!  Happy Halloween Eve!  I am so excited to be back in my craft room after what feels like an eternity.  I figured knee surgery would be a great opportunity to do nothing but stamp and color and make beautiful things for a few weeks - those are low key, recovery type activities, right?  Wrong!  But I'm back now and really excited about the holiday season that seems to have crept up while I wasn't looking.

So, for this month's Unity {be inspired} Challenge I decided to use the color palette as my inspiration and get going on my Christmas cards.

Aren't these great colors for a non-traditional holiday card??  I used the new Hollie Girl stamp - I just love her! - and colored her with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol before cutting her out.  The papers are all from Lawn Fawn and I used Picked Raspberry Distress Ink to color the sentiment circle to coordinate. 

My favorite part of this card was adding all of the shimmer and shine to Hollie after she was colored.  I used sparkle gel pens for the gold and silver shimmer and Ranger Glossy Accents on the red package.  Then I tied it all together with some Star Dust Stickles.  The enamel hearts and iridescent snowflakes really add dimension as well.  Just look at how she shines!

Thanks for stopping by to welcome me back to the land of the crafting!  Don't forget to submit your entry to the Unity {be inspired} Challenge! 

Home: Unity {be inspired} Challenge #3

Okay, here is the second card I made for this month's Unity {be inspired} Challenge.  I used both the layout inspiration from the challenge and my sister's recent move to come up with the concept for this card.  Personally, I believe that getting your first home together is a huge step towards building your family and it is most definitely a moment worth celebrating!

I used the Honey, I'm Home! kit from Unity Stamp Co for this card.  I hope you enjoyed!  Thanks for stopping by.

Best Witches: Unity {be inspired} Challenge #2

Happy Monday!  I have to make this quick because I am headed in for knee surgery this morning.  I had an unfortunate run in with the monkey bars back in March that ended in the destruction of my ACL.  Teach me to try to play on the same level as my 7-year-old!

Anyway, I decided to try my hand at the Unity {be inspired} Challenge twice this month and this is the card I created using the color palette as my inspiration. 

I love this Tabitha Fashionista stamp from Unity!  She so posh Halloween!  Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully I'll have a speedy recovery and be back to creating in no time!

Tag It!: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge #1

Happy Tuesday!  I need to get to bed but I just had to enter something in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge . . . Tag It!  I have never entered one of their challenges before but I have a very full shopping cart on their website (here's hoping I hit the lottery so I can finally checkout) and think their designs are really fun!

So before I call it a night, I threw together a little something using the scraps from some other projects.  I also wanted to play with my new Tim Holtz Harlequin stencil so I thought this would be a great opportunity.  Sometimes it is liberating not to have a plan when I start a project and just watch it all come together. 

This is actually the first tag I've made as well as my first entry into this challenge so it was a great creative opportunity for me.  Apparently I was struck by the Christmas spirit on this, the first day of fall.  

 

So there you have it!  Go get your tag entered in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge before it's too late! Don't forget to say hi in the comments! Farewell for now!

Sequins & Owls: Watercolor on Canvas

I love browsing the blogs of other craft aficionados and drawing inspiration from the amazing creative minds of others.  I am new to the wonderful world of stamping and card making so I spend a lot of time perusing the how-to's and enjoying all the really unique ways people come up with to use their stamps.  

I have really been enjoying my Distress Inks and using them to watercolor images on watercolor paper but this week I decided to take it one step further and try something I'd seen done by several of the talented folks whose blogs I have been following - stamping on canvas.

I really enjoyed how my first piece turned out!  I used Unity Stamp Co's Older, Wiser, Better Owl and stamped her on a 2" x 2" canvas.  I was worried that the image would not come out clearly in the center where there is no wooden frame to support the stamp. To ensure that I got clean lines I placed my canvas on top of my stamp rather than stamping onto the canvas and used one of the Mini Distress Inks (with the lid on) to apply pressure to the area inside of the wooden frame.  The image came out great and I was really pleased with how smoothly the watercolor Distress Inks painted onto the canvas.  And of course, some sequins add that final bit of dazzle that this lovely little owl needs.

 

I also used Whitney Girl from Unity Stamp Co on a 4" x 4" canvas to make a birthday gift for a friend. I think I'm hooked!  I can't wait to find more uses for these fun, funky little pieces!

Thanks for stopping by!  Leave me a comment and say hi!  I'd love to see all the great things you all are creating! 

 

Best Selfie Ever: Distress Ink Fun

Happy Sunday!!  I hope that the football teams you wanted to win scored a victory today.  My teams split with one win (Go Rams!) and one loss (we'll get 'em next week, Jets!) but it was still a great day of snuggling in with my hubby watching Red Zone for hours on end - just one more glorious thing about fall!

Anyway,  I received the great big order I'd been waiting on from Unity Stamp Co. the other day and I couldn't wait to try out the Gina and Me Kit!  When I started I didn't have a clear vision of the finished product (I'm a bad crafter that way, I often start with one element without planning ahead) but I knew I wanted to play with my Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Distress Markers to color in the super cute image of the best friends that comes with the kit.  

I opted to use my acrylic blocks to dab ink onto or scribble onto with the markers and then use my watercolor brushes to color the image.  Images made with Unity stamps are always so much fun to color in - they stamp so clearly and have so much detail that I really get to use a lot of colors and creative combinations.  

Once the image was colored, I added just a light watercolor wash for the sky and ground and trimmed up the image using my Fiskars paper cutter, rounded the corners, and added a funky little outline with a fine point Sharpie.  Then the real fun began . . . 

Using Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, and Peacock Feathers Distress Ink I squished the colors all over my waxed paper (I don't have a craft mat yet but it's on my Christmas wish list . . .), spritzed them all with some water, and then smushed the little piece of watercolor paper all around in the colors.  Then I heat set the paint and went at it again, repeating this process until I liked the effect.  The sentiment fit perfectly and I thought the slightly off kilter bottom edge just added to the fun, funky feel of the card.  

I mounted it all on a 3.75"x6" card base and voila, the finished product!

I'm really loving how it turned out!  The sequins, glossy accents on the little cell phone, and Stickles on her shirt really help add that extra something.  Thanks for stopping by to check out my latest creation!  Now back to my Unity stash to play with the other great stamps that came in my order!! 

Ushering in the Fall: Unity {be inpsired} Challenge #1

September is finally here and with it comes cooler weather, freshly sharpened pencils, Sunday kickoffs and the anticipation of pumpkin patches, turkey, and Santa!  This is my absolute favorite time of year and for the first time in a long while it snuck up on me almost without warning.  Typically, I am counting down the days until I can put away my tank tops and start donning my cozy sweaters and winter scarves but a wonderful new job brought with it a very busy summer and before I knew it, fall was here!

The sudden arrival of my favorite season inspired this fun card made using my August Kit of the Month from the amazing Unity Stamp Company. 

I had a lot of fun finding the perfect patterns and colors to represent summer and its transformation into fall.  The sentiment and cute little leaves are both from the August Kit of the Month and the gold heat embossing on the leaves added just the right amount of shine.

This card will by my first ever entry in the Unity {be inspired} Challenge and I am really excited to be participating.  I chose to use the card sketch portion of the challenge as my guide. Unity does this challenge every month so all of you creative card makers out there, check it out!  

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at my fall inspired card!  Now go dig out your favorite cozy sweater and enjoy this beautiful season!