Cards, Cards, Cards!

I still make lots of cards, especially for birthdays and also for swaps. My mom's birthday is in February, and I made a folded card for her thanks to my friend Bonnie who has been creating fabulous folded cards. She came over one day and we used her ScorePal and lots of paper to create folded cards. This is the one I sent to Mom - we all need a touch of spring as this has been a long, snowy winter in Wisconsin!

Card Closed

Card Opened

Be sure to check Bonnie's blog to see more fabulous folded cards and other stunning creations:

http://craftiblog.wordpress.com/

All Gray!

Our small SEWis group is doing color challenges this year - gray is absolutely the hardest color to work with.


Pink and Orange

This was a lot more fun to make!


Hearts

Love my Cuttlebug!!

Fun Swaps in February

The moderators on CCSwaps are always challenging us to try something new. The box below was for a "Money for a Rainy Day" Swap. We were to create a sealed money box for our partner so she could add a dollar for each swap she participated in during 2009. At the end of the year, she would have a nice stash of money to spend, probably on more art supplies. I used a purchased paper mache "treasure chest," cut a hole in the top, then decoupaged it with printed tissue paper. I added beaded trim, ribbon and two metal embellishments. The one on the top is where I cut the hole.

Money for a Rainy Day

Tiny Book-in-a-Box

The book-in-a-box is quite small, not much larger than a matchbox, but a little deeper. It originally held a piece of jewelry. I created a small accordian book and glued it into the bottom of the box.

Quote Swap

This is the February quote, a swap on CCSwaps which will continue through the year. The collage was done on a canvas board using acrylics, a paper napkin (the flowers), and an image of Frida Kahlo. I tried to incorporate her use of bright colors and tropical themes. I am really enjoying this swap.

More Challenges

I am still trying to do the weekly OSA challenges, incorporating the theme into the layout. The Lantern theme really had me puzzled - I just couldn't figure out what to put in the smaller circle until I came across the large Oriental coin - perfect!


The blue card uses a quote from Confucius which I thought works well with the image as the lady is not particularly beautiful. It is, however, one of my favorites and I have two versions of it.

As soon as I saw that the theme for this week was "Harmony," I knew exactly which stamp to use. The lady with her cat is from Cherry Pie - one of my absolutely favorite stamps.

OSA Challenge #5 - Winter

I again combined the theme challenge "Winter" with the design challenge. This time the design was, indeed, a big challenge - 12 squares layered over a narrow piece of CS surrounding the image. The three layers include silver paper, but it looks gray in the scan. The snowflake is also metallic. Enjoy - winter is almost half over!!!