ATC Glimmer Challenge 3: And The WInner Is.....

One would think that the fewer the entries, the easier is would be to pick a winner. Not so! I was surprised that with the photo collage being predominately blues, grays, and patinas that so little blue/greens were used in the entries. No one picked up on the light pinks in a couple of the photos which I used in my second inspirational card as a hint for this challenge. But, the collage was for inspiration and both entries are quite creative.

Terri's office themed card is a great design using the most of the blue/gray colors in the collage. And Marune's ingenuity in creating a shaped card by tracing her ink pad was a great example of resourcefulness. The accents on both cards are great! Terri's clips, and Marune's sticks and handcrafted patina colored flowers, are both very creative touches. So you can see my dilemma in choosing a winner. So one receives the $25 gift certificate to Oh My Crafts, and the other honorable mention on our blog. Both will be receiving a blinkie to post and brag about.

So without further ado, the winner is Marune! for the beautiful results of her resourcefulness and creativity.  Check out Marune's photostream on flickr to view her other  imaginative creations.  Crongrats Marune! We will send you the code to our blinkie and, once you confirm your email address, we will send the $25 Oh My Crafts gift certificate! We, here at ATC, also want to know what stamp you used for your beautiful flourished oval frame.

Honorable Mention is awarded to Terri (below). Visit Terri's blog ...Just What I Do... to check out some of her other great ideas and creations!

Thanks again for participating in this month's Glimmer Challenge.

More ATC Glimmer Challenge 3 Inspiration: Sabrina

Well, it has been a week now since our third challenge has gone out, and I thought it might nice to add another inspirational piece for you all. There are 14 days left, and you are welcome to submit more than one entry. And let me tell you that shopping at Oh My Crafts is so much fun!

This is the first time that I used Spellbinders Labels 8 to shape a card. It is very close to A2 card size. I used Spellbinders Flourish Impressabilities on the green patina colored paper. All paper layers have been edge distressed with VersaFine Vintage Sepia and Versa Magic Aegean Blue.

Before stamping the image I used Versa Magic Aegean Blue, Oasis Green, and Pixie Dust applied with a ink blending sponge. The stamp used is Hera Arts'  Cling Blooming Meadow stamped and heat embossed. Then I used the second stamp technique to give a lighter background layer to the embossed stamp. I chose Spellbinders Labels 5 to cut out the stamped image and traced the outer edge of the die on the light pink cardstock to give the image a frame,

Here you can see better the layers and how I created the  Happy Birthday banner on the card.

So this is my second inspirational challenge posting for you. I'm so looking forward to seeing all of your submissions, and finding out who will win this fabulous prize!. Too bad I don't qualify, because I sure would want this prize, too.

Happy crafting everyone!

ATC Glimmer Challenge 3: Oh My Crafts Giveaway

It's time again for another ATC Glimmer Challenge! Our third one! (Sorry for the lateness of this post today!)

For this month's challenge, Sabrina has created a photo collage for your challenge inspiration. There are a lot of colors and combinations that can be picked out of this collage! Don't feel that you have to include them all in a single piece. So have fun with it. The second part of the challenge is to create a shaped card - a shape that you have not used before. You can use the Cricut, Spellbinders or trace a shape to cut out. Don't be afraid to get creative!

Remember that you can click on this picture to zoom in!

We apologize for not having the proper photo credits to include but we recently reorganized our craft room and do you think we could find the list of photo credits? Haven't found it yet.

Here is one of Sabrina's inspirational pieces to start out the challenge with.

Card details here.

Sabrina will be posting one or two more inspirational pieces during the challenge.

Here is Dana's inspirational take on the collage.

Card details here.

Entries:  InLinkz is provided at the bottom of this post so that you can add a link to your project, whether it is on your blog or in a photo gallery. Please be sure to link to the actual blog POST, rather than just your blog, thanks. More than one entry is welcomed! It is greatly appreciated if you link back to this post!
 
Deadline:  Entries will be due on the 4th Friday of this month, September 24th at 11:59pm MT (Mountain Time).

Selection Process:  Sabrina will announce the winner on the following Monday, September 27th. One honorable mention will be named by Dana (in Sabrina's post). If we are unable to contact the winner via the email provided in InLinkz, they will have until Wednesday, September 29th to email us at glimmercraft@gmail.com to claim the prize. Otherwise, the honorable mention will be up to claim it!

Award:  On this occasion, we are offering a  $25 Oh My Crafts gift certificate to the winner. This is one of our favorite paper crafting stores! You can receive amazing coupons from them by signing up for their emails (which is what we would recommend before making an order from there). Both the winner and honorable mention recipient will receive our "Blinkie" for their blogs, boasting of your accomplishment!

We love having these challenges and hope we are helping to inspire creativity. We hope that you will be enthusiastic about our Challenge and want to show the paper-crafting web community your stuff!

Thank you for visiting and have fun with this new challenge!
ATC Team

ATC Glimmer Challenge 3: Dana's Inspiration

I really love the collage that my mother came up with for the ATC Glimmer Challenge 3. My favorite pic in it was the bottom center one, but this card ended up using the pictures from top left, middle left and middle right; the ornately patina-ed items.

I'm not at peace with this creation. It's not my usual style; very outside the box for me. It reminds me of my maternal grandparents, who really enjoy the french baroque style. But I only had last evening to come up with this and when I saw the card shape and frame on the Sentimentals Cricut cartridge, I went with it.

The card base was made with Recollections cardstock, a little flimsier than I typically deal with, but I knew this color would do well with the Glimmermist. I used Patina (no kidding) and Fall Breeze Glimmer Mists to patina the card and top frame layer.

The frame shadow was cut out on nice bronze colored cardstock, inked using Oasis Green (VersaMagic) and edged with Ocean Depth (VersaMagic). I then ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Textile folder, which really added that missing "oomph."

The top frame layer was threaded with slim matching ribbon and some pearls were added for more dimension and effect. The "charm" is a Tim Holtz idea-ology Foliage piece. The color doesn't entirely match but I'm fine with it.

The center oval is Vintage Cream cardstock inked with Weathered Wood Tim Holtz Distress Ink. The image is from Damask Designs and is done in the same ink. I wanted it to look vintage and it worked out well. The sentiment is from Mega Mixed Messages and was done in Ocean Depth (VersaMagic) ink and it doesn't quite stand out enough. I tried adding Clear Spica pen and, while I like the effect, it isn't very noticeable. Oh well.

{Supplies}

• Cardstock: goldy (Recollections, coppery (The Paper Company), Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)
• Stamps: Damask Designs (PTI), Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)
• Ink: Weathered Wood (Tim Holtz Distress Ink), Ocean Depth (VersaMagic), Oasis Green (VersaMagic)
• Other tools: Cricut Expression (Provo Craft), Cricut cartridge: Sentimentals (Provo Craft), ribbon (generic), pearls (generic), Cuttlebug (Provo Craft), Textile embossing folder (Provo Craft), ink blending foam (Inkssentials), Patina and Fall Breeze Glimmer Mists (Tattered Angels)

ATC Glimmer Challenge 3: Sabrina's Inspiration

For this inspirational piece I focused more on the patina colors of the photos. I'll choose different colors from these photos for my next inspirational piece. The color combinations from these images are numerous.

I have to admit something here. I had made a card prior to the one posted, but I forgot something and had to make it all over again! Can you believe it! I was focusing so much on my goal to make more A2 cards rather than my usual A7's that I forgot to make a shaped card! The A2 card looks better to me, but here is my never before used shape card using Spellbinders Labels 10.

You can see here 2 gray colors, two blue-green colors of paper, and a stamped bronze-like color. This bronze-like color was achieved firstly by the color of paper stamped on using VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink and then heat embossed with clear powder. To give the card an aged patina look, I ink distressed all layers of paper using a combination of Tim Holtz's Weathered Wood Distress ink and VersaFine Vintage Sepia.

I used Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio to cut and emboss the ribbon tag out of the lighter gray cardstock. Using both before mentioned inks, I changed the coloring of the light gray paper and though you you can't tell from the photo, I popped it up.

I can hardly wait to post another card inspired by the Challenge Photo Collage! I can see different styles and color combinations from it, and want to create some of the ideas I have, inspired by the collage. Look forward to seeing your inspirational designs! Have fun!

Supplies and Tools

Spellbinders Labels 10 and Ribbon Tags Tro
Stamps: Kaiser Craft Gypsy Sisters Clear Stamp Set, American Crafts Clear Stamp Collection Enjoy
Inks: VersaFine Vintage Sepia and Tim Holtz's Distress Ink Weathered Wood
Clear embossing powder
Ribbon

ATC Glimmer Challenge 2: Winner!

We had so much fun throwing ATC Glimmer Challenge 2! The entries were stunning and inspirational! We even had a few gracious "celebrity" participants (example: Maile!) which was really exciting!

We're also celebrating our 1st Blogoversary today! You still have until the end of the day to comment on this post for our blog candy! ;)  (Winner will be announced Tuesday, August 31st.)

On to the challenge winner!

It was such a tough call to make! I was so impressed by each of the submissions! I finally narrowed it down to... Karen B of The Bald Dragonfly!!

Congratulations! We all loved the originality of the tracing wheel and the sentiment over the distress-y butterfly in the center. We will send you the code to our blinkie and, once your email address is confirmed, we will send the $20 WPlus9 Design Studio gift certificate!

The runner-up, as chosen by Sabrina (but I completely agree!) is Marge of MaricopaStamper!

We loved the doily and all the varieties of dots! We will send you our blinkie code and invite you to share it on your blog with pride! ;)

Thanks again to all our amazing participants in this month's Glimmer Challenge. We welcome everyone to come back on Friday, September 3rd for ATC Glimmer Challenge 3!

Happy crafting!
ATC Team

Maile Belles and ATC Glimmer Challenge 2!!

Can you believe that THE Maile Belles (of Simply Stamped) made a card for the ATC Glimmer Challenge 2?!?  The same Maile Belles that designs for Papertrey Ink and WPlus9 Design Studio! The same Maile Belles that's been published in probably every papercrafting magazine around! I simply LOVE Maile's style! The fact that she bequeathed her monumental talent to our little challenge is a testament to her sweet nature!

You can find her lovely card here!

ATC Glimmer Challenge 2: WPlus9 Design Studio Giveaway

Welcome to Aspiring to Creativity's 2nd Glimmer Challenge!

 Go to our ATC Glimmer Challenge page for more details on our monthly challenges.

The Challenge: This month, your entry to our Glimmer Challenge must use the following photo as inspiration as well as a supply or tool that you own but have not used before.

This adorable gal is Dana's 1 year old daughter. ;)

Here is Dana's rather literal ;) take:

Card details here.

Here is Sabrina's inspirational piece:

Card details here.

Entries:  InLinkz is provided at the bottom of this post so that you can add a link to your project, whether it is on your blog or in a photo gallery. Please be sure to link to the actual blog POST, rather than just your blog, thanks. More than one entry is welcomed and it is greatly appreciated if you link back to this post!

Deadline:  Entries will be due on the 4th Friday of this month, August 27th at 11:59pm MDT (Mountain Daylight Savings Time).

Selection Process:  Dana will announce the winner on the following Monday, August 30th. One honorable mention will be named by Sabrina (in the same post). If we are unable to contact you via the email provided in InLinkz, the winner will have until Wednesday, September 1st to email us at glimmercraft[at]gmail[dot]com to claim your prize. Otherwise, the honorable mention will be up to claim the prize!

Award:  On this occasion, we are offering a $20 WPlus9 Design Studio gift certificate to the winner. They have a really awesome release out this month, too! Both the winner and honorable mention recipient will receive our "Blinkie" for their blogs, boasting of your accomplishment!

Card challenges are meant to be fun and to inspire creativity so we hope that you get enthusiastic about our Challenge and show the paper-crafting web community your stuff!

Thank you for visiting!
ATC Team

This giveaway is featured on http://www.giveawayscout.com!

ATC Glimmer Challenge 2 Inspiration: Dana

See the ATC Glimmer Challenge 2 post here for more info!

I think it's sort of funny that you can see my arm reflected in the card! ;)

As I indicated in the Challenge post, my card is a literal take on the photo inspiration. The following supplies that I used are the first I've ever used them: Raspberry Fizz felt, New Leaf Swiss Dot ribbon, New Leaf Bitty Dot ribbon, Spellbinders Labels 10, Clear Cardstock.

I created the butterfly by adhering several strips of ribbon. I hid the ends with the felt "body" which I stitched on using my sewing machine. The "head" is a Raspberry Fizz button with two bits of embroidery floss knotted for eyes and flipped up the top as antennae. The background was run through my Xyron and then "sugared" with Martha Stewart Crystal glitter.

The interior is the same shape as the front (obviously) to hide it's existence.

I used PTI's Bitty Dot patterned paper in New Leaf to add a bit of continuity to the inside of the card. The back of the card (not pictured) is the same.

I've played with transparency before but never used Clear cardstock and it was kind of fun!

You'll notice that there is no sentiment on this card... It can be used for anything, though probably most appropriate for a young girl.

{Supplies--all PTI unless noted}

• Cardstock: Clear
• Patterned Paper: Bitty Dot (New Leaf)
• Ribbon: New Leaf Swiss Dot, New Leaf Bitty Dot
• Button: Raspberry Fizz
• Felt: Raspberry Fizz
• Other Tools: Spellbinders Label 10 die (largest), sewing machine, embroidery thread, Xyron, Martha Stewart glitter (Crystal)

ATC Glimmer Challenge 2 Inspiration: Sabrina

Welcome, everyone, to our second Glimmer challenge! we had so much fun watching the entries come in on our first challenge last month and are eager to see what will be submitted for this one.

The inspirational photo is my 6th grandchild! Isn't my grand-daughter so cute! I think she already likes to pose for photos.

Here is my take on the inspirational photo for this challenge.

For the tool that I've never used before, I used the Cuttlebug folder Polka-dots. I wanted to keep the card simple, with a girly child-like innocence. I think that I achieved that. The pink and darker green paper is Core'dinations. Love that stuff, but because there are so many other papers that I love just as much, I don't get to use it that often. Next you see a close up of the butterfly.

The butterfly was cut from the pink Core'dinations using Spellbinders Butterflies 2, and then sanded well after embossing it. I also used Martha Stewart's Optic Dot border punch on the pink strip to the left of the butterfly.

For the button embellishment, I decided I needed to add the green to the white and pink buttons. So I cut a circle using Spellbinders Standard Circles as a base for the buttons and tied all three together with the very narrow pink ribbon. So that's it in a nut-shell.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of your creative entries and hope that you will have fun designing your cards for ATC's Glimmer Challenge 2. Remember, they all need to be entered by August 27, 11:59 Mountain Daylight Savings time.

ATC Glimmer Challenge 2 POSTPONED

Due to the unforeseen delay CHA has seemed to cause craft bloggers everywhere, our 2nd ATC Glimmer Challenge will need to be postponed until next Friday (August 13).

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Just FYI: Our gift certificate this month will be for WPlus9 Design Studio and the upcoming August release is looking amazing! Tell your friends!!

And the Winner of Glimmer Challenge 1 Is....!

Welcome to the ATC Glimmer Challenge 1 winner post!

First, I want to mention that this new experience of having a challenge was so fun! As each entry came in we became more excited and amazed at the creativity and interpretations of the challenge. I learned from some of you that the biggest part of the challenge was the choice of six colors. I must admit that as I knuckled down to creating my inspirational pieces for this challenge, that I, too, found six colors to be quite challenging at times. For that reason I was amazed that despite the number of colors being outside the comfort zone for most, the entries were imaginative and creative.

Without further ado, the winner of our first Glimmer Challenge is #9, Linda W. of Stitches and Ink!

I love the looped green ribbon, the way Linda focused primarily on the two pinks and the brown and the rest of the colors were included with a hint of them here and there. But, the most amazing part was her genius in creating the lollipop out of that satin cord trim and her Copics! Congratulations, Linda! Especially for working outside your comfort zone! We will send you our blinky code and, once your email address is confirmed, we will send your $25 Papertrey Ink gift certificate.

From Dana: Our honorable mention, goes to... *drumroll* Wait, there's a tie! At least, I couldn't pick between the beautiful cards of Ted from Happily Ever Crafter

and Terri E from ...Just What I Do... Congratulations! I will email you the code for our current blinky. We invite you to display it on your blog with pride!

A big thank you to everyone for participating in our first Glimmer Challenge! We hope to see you enter in our future challenges as well. ATC Glimmer Challenge 2 will be issued by myself on the first Friday of August: August 6th.

Happy crafting!

Final Glimmer Challenge 1 Inspiration

Well, the deadline is only 5 days away! Do you have your design in yet?  See ATC Glimmer Challenge 1 information here to enter. So without further ado, here is the 6th and final inspirational posting for this challenge.

Lots of ribbon embellishment on this one. to make the ribbon flower you will need double sided adhesive sheet. Spellbinders standard circle die, scallop circle die, tiny pearls, and a flower center (a button, or a pebble as I have used here).

Cut a scalloped circle from a light yellow cardstock and adhere the pebble to the center. Then place a tiny pearl in the center of each scallop (I used light blue pearls) and cut between each scallop down to the pebble. Bend every other strip up toward the center. Put aside for now.

Cut a standard Spellbinder circle from double sided sheet adhesive. Since I used 1" ribbon, I used a standard circle die that measured approx 2" in diameter to cut a circle from the adhesive sheet. Remove backing from one side and begin to loop ribbon around trying to keep the loops the same length. End in the center of the flower.

Attach the ribbon flower where you want it on your card and then attach the yellow flower center made earlier.

Well, with this being the final inspirational card for this challenge, I wish to thank you all for participating and remind you to check in on the 26th to find out who the winner is! Thanks for your participation and happy designing!




Supplies & Tools

Paper - My Minds Eye - Mary Mary "Happy Birthday" Celebrate
         - PTI - Lemon Tart, Spring Moss

Glimmer Challenge 1 - Inspiration # 5

Want to win a $25 gift certificate for PTI products?  9 DAYS LEFT TO ENTER your creation!

Here is my 5th inspirational post:

The ribbon you see here is actually 2 strips of a narrow ribbon butted up together to make it look like one ribbon strip.

I can hardly wait to see more of your creations inspired by our Glimmer Challenge 1.

Supplies and Tools

Paper - PTI - Dark Chocolate, Lemon Tart, Hibiscus Burst
            - We R Memory Keepers - Little Bird
            - Unknown - Mid Blue, Light Pink

Ink - VersaFine - Vintage Sepia

Spellbinders - Big Scallop Squares, Fleur De Lis Pendants,    & Standard Circles 
Ribbon 

Glimmer Challenge 1 - Inspiration #4

Hope that you are having fun coming up with your designs for this challenge. We are eagerly watching for the new entries submitted, and are having fun discussing all the entries, and seeing how creative you all are. If you are new to this blog this is about our first challenge. See challenge guidelines here.

This is Inspiration #4:

This is the first time I actually used a sewing machine on a card creation. All my previous posts with stitching are faux stitching. On this card I used a technique as demonstrated by Gina K. where an image goes beyond the Spellbinders frame. This was my first try and I goofed it up a little. But I am eager to try this technique again - and get it right.

If you look closely (click on image to enlarge) you can see the image from the paper pattern that I cut out so that it would extend out passed the borders of the circle Spellbinders die.

You can see here the layers that I popped up from this view of the card. This card is a bit thick and heavy to mail to someone, but I do love layers and dimension.

Look forward to seeing more of your work. Have fun designing!

 Supplies and Tools

Paper - We R Memory Keepers - Little Bird
            - PTI - Lemon Tart, Sweet Blush, Hibiscus Burst, Spring Moss
            - Unknown - Mid blue range

Ink - VersaFine - Vintage Sepia

Spellbinders - Standard Circles

Stamps - The Stamps of Life - Thanks 2 You set #7

5/8" ribbon
rhinestone jewels

Inspiration #3 & A New Technique

See ATC Glimmer Challenge 1 information here. Hope you are having fun working on your entries!

You know, when I started creating designs for this, our first challenge, I had so many ideas for it come to mind, that if I had had the time I probably could have posted an inspirational card for you every day. But there are other things that need doing.

Today's design is a darker based one using PTI's Dark Chocolate.

This is a new technique - at least for me it is. It's the first time I've done this. Using  Hero Arts Cling Large Flower stamp and Memento Rosebud ink, I stamped and heat embossed the image with clear powder onto the yellow. I then took the Rosebud ink and Versa Magic Key Lime ink, and patted it onto my non-stick mat. I patted the Rosebud just a little in the center, and the Key Lime around this - very carefully as to not touch the other ink. Then using .water in a mini-mister I sprayed water gently a couple of times onto the inks. Taking a dry stiff cheap brush, I ran it through to blend the inks a little here and there - Not much. Then I carefully placed the flower, face side down, onto the ink and pressed. I dried it using the heat gun. This makes the paper curl slightly, which is good for the flower. If you want a little more color, repeat this step.Wipe the mat clean.

For the next step you will need to have the Rosebud, Key Lime, and VersaMagic Yellow Straw inks, and a dry bristle brush.

Decide where you would like to add some more color and effects. Then take your dry brush and gather some ink onto the bristles. Gently apply where you wanted using back and forth strokes to rub the ink into the paper. Repeat with each color until satisfied with the effect. I used a clear Spica pen to add a little sparkle in the center. I also used it to trace around the edge of the green and blue papers to give it a little more life. I did a little of the dry brush technique on the butterfly as well.

The butterfly stamp is MSE designed by Tinkering Ink - True Friends. There are two sizes of butterflies with this stamp set. On this card I chose the smaller of the two. I love these butterflies and use them often. The wave sentiment strip of 'Thank You', 'Thanks', 'Thanks so much' is from The Stamps of Life by Stephanie Barnard - Thanks2You set #7. this I inked onto the blue cardstock using VersaMagic Pixie Dust.

Supplies And Tools

Paper - PTI  - Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss, & Lemon Tart
             Unknown mid blue color range
Ink - Memento Rosebud, VersaMagic Key Lime & Pixie Dust
Stmaps - The Stamps of Life by Stephanie Barnard - Thanks2You set #7
              -  MSE designed by Tinkering Ink - True Friends
              - Hero Arts Clings - Large Flower
Fiskars Bracket Border Punch
Light pink rhinestones on the butterfly
Clear Spica pen

Further Glimmer Challenge 1 Inspiration - Best Birthday Yet

See ATC Glimmer Challenge 1 information here.

How about some more inspiration? I hope that you are working on your design to enter!

This card is a heavy one due to the many paper layers,so you wouldn't want to mail this one. However, I do like the effect of all those layers. If I were to remake this card, I would make a few subtle changes - changes I won't bore you with right now. Again the card measures 9"W x 4"H to fit a standard business envelope.

With this design I chose to use more white to showcase the challenge colors using PTI's Dot Spot to stamp on the colors/pattern framing it with some of the other challenge colors.

In the view below you can see all the matte layering and the graduating pearl sizes in the buttons.Should you be wondering where the Brown is in this design- it's the ink!

These are the supplies and tools I used in this design -

Paper - PTI - Lemon Tart,  Hibiscus Burst, Spring Moss, and
          - Unknown - mid blue color
Ink - Memento - Angel Pink
       - VersaMagic - Thatched Straw
                             - Tea Leaves (2nd stamping)
       - VersaFine - Vintage Sepia
Stamps - PTI -Dot Spot and Big Bold Wishes
Embellishments - PTI and Other buttons plus half pearls

I will be posting still more designs for further inspiration. Hope you're having fun!

ATC Glimmer Challenge 1

Welcome to Aspiring to Creativity's 1st Glimmer Challenge!

The Challenge: On the 1st Friday of every month, we will be issuing a card challenge that will incorporate up to 2 elements from the following:

• sketch
• theme
• colors
• inspiration photo
• specific crafting tool
• specific embellishment

For this month, our first challenge, Sabrina has designed an original card sketch and chosen 6 colors. All colors need to be incorporated into your creation to qualify. Artistic license is, of course, permitted around the sketch.

(Click on the image to zoom in.)

Here is one of Sabrina's inspirational pieces:

Card details here.

She will be posting more cards, in completely different styles, throughout the next week!

Here is Dana's inspiration:

 Card details here.

Entries:  InLinkz is provided at the bottom of this post so that you can add a link to your project, whether it is on your blog or in a photo gallery. Please be sure to link to the actual blog POST, rather than just your blog, thanks. More than one entry is welcomed! It is greatly appreciated if you link back to this post!

Deadline:  Entries will be due on the 4th Friday of this month, July 23rd at 11:59pm MDT (Mountain Daylight Savings Time).

Selection Process:  Sabrina will announce the winner on the following Monday, July 26th. One honorable mention will be named by Dana (in Sabrina's post). If we are unable to contact you via the email provided in InLinkz, the winner will have until Wednesday, July 28th to email us at glimmercraft[at]gmail[dot]com to claim your prize. Otherwise, the honorable mention will be up to claim the prize!

Award:  On this occasion, we are offering a $25 Papertrey Ink gift certificate to the winner. Both the winner and honorable mention recipient will receive our "Blinkie" for their blogs, boasting of your accomplishment!

Card challenges are meant to be fun and to inspire creativity so we hope that you get enthusiastic about our Challenge and show the paper-crafting web community your stuff!

Thank you for visiting!
ATC Team

Hey There - Glimmer Challenge 1

I am so excited that we are designing and presenting our first blog challenge!!! I hope our followers and readers will have as much fun participating in our challenge, as we did in putting this together for you. When it came to designing and preparing inspirational cards for you to view, I found it so much more challenging than when participating in someone else's challenge. I had so many ideas floating around in my head that it presented me with the dilemma of which ones to create.
Here is the one that I and my daughter liked the best. Of course, we have to start with  the best one. Right?

You will note that with this card I chose to ink the edges which darkened the colors in comparison to the colors I chose for this challenge. But I love how this card turned out.

No, I did not make these little flowers. These where purchased nearly a year ago from Fabricland. I quite often make my flowers from paper or ribbon, but not this time.  The leaves were punched from three variations of the green color with Martha Stewart's leaf punch.

In this next close-up you can better see the Spellbinders Impressabilities Flourish pattern that I embossed into the Lemon Tart paper oval (cut using Spellbinders Nestabilities - Mega Ovals).

The card measures 9"w x 4"H so that it can fit into a standard business envelope.

These are the supplies and tools that I used for this design -

Paper - My Minds Eye - Little Miss Muffet/Isn't She Lovely
           - PTI - Lemon Tart & Hibiscus Burst
           - Unknown - mid blue color & mossy green
Ink - VersaFine - Vintage Sepia
Stamps - PTI - Big & Bold Wishes
Spellbinders - Impressabilities - Flourish and Nestabilities - Mega Ovals
Punch - Marhta Stewart
Flower Embellishments - ribbon/pearl flowers - Fabricland

Over the period of the challenge, I will be posting the rest of my designs for further inspiration. I look forward to seeing your creative designs for this challenge. Have fun everyone!

Happy Birthday - ATC Glimmer Challenge 1

This card is my contribution to our blog's 1st Glimmer Challenge, designed by my mom. I was quite nervous about working with six! colors and it did prove to be a challenge. I'm only mildly pleased with the end result but cannot wait to see the other entries!

The size of this card fits perfectly in a standard business/letter envelope so no worries about having to create a custom envelope (my mom is actually working on a post that enables you to create any sized custom envelope!).

If you're a big fan of Papertrey Ink, you can tell that the majority of my supplies come from there. Here are the colors I chose to match the Glimmer Challenge colors: Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss & Simply Chartreuse, Hibiscus Burst, Sweet Blush, Lemon Tart. The blue doesn't really match any PTI colors and so I incorporated that color using a Brilliance Dewdrop ink (Tsukineko). I did have a sheet of random cardstock I was going to use but it didn't seem to go with my color scheme too well. After completing the card, I realized that I should have used the blue behind the flowers instead of the brown, but I wasn't about to dissect and reassemble. :)

I was finally able to try the ribbon ruffling technique that I've so often admired. I'm not sure how well I managed it but am quite confident I will improve with practice. I used the reverse side of the Spring Moss satin ribbon since I didn't want the shine.

Speaking of ribbon techniques, those flower centers are the genius of a Scrapbooker's Paradise teacher named Selena. I don't know if she learned the technique elsewhere or if she invented it herself. Using my Crop-o-dile II Big Bite, I placed large eyelets in the centers of the layered flowers. I then poked some Lemon Tart Swiss Dot ribbon through the holes. It made a wonderfully 3-dimensional effect without the use of dimensional adhesive.

The flowers themselves are constructed using PTI's Beautiful Blooms II #1 dies.  I inked the Hibiscus Burst petals with Versamagic Dewdrop ink in Cloud White and the Sweet Blush petals with Hibiscus Burst ink. I snipped between the petals a bit and curled them out just a touch. I used Lemon Yellow Liquid Pearls in the center of the smaller flower (and the end of the sentiment). The leaves are Simply Chartreuse felt. The color was similar enough, I felt, to justify putting on the card for this challenge.

The brown square behind the flowers was cut using Spellbinders Squares and then embossed and stenciled with the Versamagic Cloud White. Again, I think the blue would have looked a little better but only because most of the square is being covered by the flowers.

The patterned paper is PTI's Polka Dot Parade and while the colors don't match exactly, it was too close to pass up. I've found a new appreciation, though, for Berry Sorbet and can't wait to try a project with it.

The sentiment is from Delightful Dahlia and is stamped in Brilliance Dewdrop in Pearlescent Sky Blue. I used dimensional adhesive to pop it up from the card and the Lemon Yellow Liquid Pearls to accent.

I hope you've learned something fun and new from our Challenge and I look forward to seeing your entries!

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted}

• Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss, Hibiscus Burst, Sweet Blush, Lemon Tart, Stamper's Select
• Patterned Paper: Polka Dot Parade
• Stamps: Delightful Dahlia
• Ink: Hibiscus Burst, Versamagic Cloud White, Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue
• Ribbon: Spring Moss Satin, Lemon Tart Swiss Dot
• Dies: Beautiful Blooms II #1, Spellbinders Square (lg)
• Other tools: Lemon Yellow Liquid Pearls, Crop-o-dile II Big Bite and lg eyelets