Thank You All ... Gallery Idol Top 15!

The voting results are in and I'm excited to say that I've made it into the PaperCrafts Gallery Idol Top 15! I know without a doubt that it is in no small part due to the all the kind, generous and supportive people who make up the OWH Family. Thank you to everyone who took the time and liked my card enough to vote for it. You are the best!!

I want to also say that the group of designers chosen for the Top 20 are not only a super talented bunch of ladies but they are some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. I've been enjoying getting to know them a little and look forward to getting plenty of inspiration from them and their blogs for years to come.

Lighthouse & Sentiment from Stampin Up (Retired) • Script DSP by DCWV (Open Stock 12x12) • Prismacolor Art Markers

I'd colored this lighthouse early in the week with the intention of using it for this month's OWH ODBD Challenge and as it turns out it also fits the OWH  MWT Challenge. I decided to turn it into a Thank You when I finally got some time to make a card with it.

The next challenge calls for creating a stamped background and the wheels in my mind are already spinning. The 15 Round 3 cards will be posted on Monday and voting will take place Monday-Thursday. The competition will stiffen with each round and I never really expected to be on this ride but I am so thankful to have you all coming along with me.

Happy Crafting!

Gallery Idol 2013 - Round 2 - "Defining Dad"

Today marks the beginning of Round #2 of the 2013 Gallery Idol Contest. The theme for this round is 'Defining Dad'. Voting starts on Monday, June 3rd at noon and ends on Thursday June 6th. You can cast a vote over at the PaperCrafts Contest Page  or just click on the 'Vote For me' link in my blog sidebar and it will take you right to my card. You can use your Facebook account to sign-in or create a user login if you prefer. The 15 designers with the highest votes for their cards will move on to Round #3 next week.

I spent quite a bit of time 'thinking' about this before I ultimately pulled out supplies and sat down to create what I was envisioning. I created rough sketches for 3 ideas and then walked away from them for a day. When I went back to them it was clear to me that this was the one I wanted to create and enter. 

My father was not a man who could really be defined by any of his hobbies or his occupation so as my mind started churning on this assignment I found myself brainstorming words but no real imagery. I've always been a big fan of typography in all forms and hence find myself attracted to both 'subway' and 'chalkboard' styles of art and that is what led to this design.

As is bit more obvious in this photo, the DAD letters and the star are dimensional.  The DAD letters were cut on my Silhouette Cameo and I fussy cut the red star from a red glitter card stock (Martha Stewart). Both the letters and star were layered a couple of times to get the dimension I was aiming for.

Now before any of my fellow OWHers get concerned this card does not meet OWH guidelines. I created it specifically for this contest and besides it's waaaay past the deadline for Father's Day cards as you all know! :)

I created the text panel for the card using 5 different font families (Helvetica Neue, Impact, Thornburi, Stencil Bold and Passing Notes) and I am sharing it with you here today in case you'd like to make a card with it. This graphic is missing the word DAD and the star so that you can personalize it in whatever way you like. You could use chipboard letters, stickers or even alphabet stamps, and the embellishment of your choice. You could even put a short first name in that space too... get creative, have some fun with it and be sure to let me know so I can come visit and see what you've done!

As always feel free to use my freebies in any of your crafting projects. Post a link back here if you'd like to share it but please do not sell it, repost it or claim it as your own. Just click on it and then use the 'download linked file' or 'save as' command to save it to your computer.

I hope you like this card and I am honored to be among such a group of talented designers in this contest. At the risk of sounding like a politician I would of course love your support and your vote but regardless of whether I am back for another challenge round I'm thrilled to have been chosen in the Top 20 and happy that you took the time to pay my blog a visit today!

Happy Crafting!

PaperCrafts Gallery Idol 2013 - Top 20!

I don't typically make 2 posts in one day but I wanted to share some fun and exciting news. On a whim I decided I was going to enter 3 cards in the Open Auditions for the PaperCrafts Gallery 2013 Idol Competition and... I made the Top 20! I didn't realize that (for the open auditions round) it was permissible to share the cards publicly so I uploaded them to the Flickr Gallery and never even mentioned it. I thought I'd take a minute to share the 3 cards I uploaded.

This is the card that won me a Top 20 spot!

Die Cuts from the Silhouette Store • Sentiment from My Favorite Things - Birthday Greetings

And these are the two other entries I created. The theme was Birthday Cards for Kids & Teens. The winning card was my favorite of the three I made and I had a gut feeling IF one of my cards was chosen that would be the one.

Kite & Sentiment  from OWH Hero Arts - Right At Home & Year Round Sentiments
Papers from Stampin Up - Print Poetry

Stamps from Inky Antics - Beneton AviatorDie • Cloud Dies from Papertrey Ink 

I guess, for at least one more round ... the fun continues! Next up is cards for Dad. I have some serious thinking to do for this one. I don't think I'll be able to share future entries here (detail and rules are still to come) but if you keep an eye out on the PaperCrafts Gallery Idol Contest you might be able to pick off my design style among all the fabulous entries.

Happy Crafting!