Ayana's Creations

A Card & Some Personal Ramblings.....

Hello again sweet friends!

I'm back again with a card that I made for the newest Challenge #1 at A Blog Named Hero. It's a brand new blog and I'm excited to be a part of their first challenge: "Playing Favorites".

This is actually my THIRD post for the week!.... Wow!.... That is actually something that I would like to touch upon, although it may seem a bit silly and insignificant to some.

Today's post is the first card (within the past year) that I have made on my own that has not been a DT-related assignment or part of any other craft commitment that I have had. I know that seems weird, considering that I have posted several times. However, it's been a very long while since I have freely just sat down and made a card for no reason. :(

Some of you took notice last year when I sort of fell off the"Blogging World" for a bit. LoL... A few of you even wrote to me to see if everything was okay, and asked if there were reasons why I was rarely posting and why my posts became so generic and short. (I can't express how truly grateful I am for those who reached out to me). 

Around this same time last year, I had unfortunately fallen into a very scary and painful depression. It was by far, one of the worst experiences of my life. 

I have debated whether or not to write about my struggle on here and whether there would even be a purpose in sharing it on my blog some time in the future. I KNOW that I am not the only one that has suffered in this particular way. I've realized and learned so much simply by reading experiences of others, so perhaps it might help to communicate my story in a another post and write everything out some time.

Anyways, I apologize for getting into such an awkward mood during this post. I hope that you guys are still able to appreciate my card. The challenge called for us to utilize some of our favorite stamps from Hero Arts. I decided to keep the color to a minimum on this one, so I simply stamped my image with plain Versamark ink and then just enhanced it with some black and turquoise details.

I hope I was able to inspire some of you. Thank you so much for reading today. I always appreciate your visits!

SUPPLIES:

You're Special Card 

Paper: "Kraft" (PTI)
Stamps: "" (Hero Arts)
Ink: "Tuxedo Black" (Memento) & Versamark
Other: turquoise rhinestones, thin black marker, corner rounder

Embellish Nautical Challenge

Happy Friday Everyone! Yay for the weekend! :)

Today I wanted to share the fact that DeNami Design is sponsering another challenge over on the Embellish Blog again. The theme is to make a Nautical Card. Just check out the fun new color combo below:

And if you need some more inspiration, be sure to stop by the DeNami blog today, to see what the other talented DT girls have created.

Hope you guys all have fantastic weekend! Hopefully you'll find some time to play along in the Embellish Nautical Challenge!

Take Care!!!

SUPPLIES:

Nautical Card

Paper: "Solar White" (NeenahPaper) & Papertrey Ink Cardstock
Stamps: "Nautical Stamp Set" (DeNami Design)
Ink: "Tempting Turquoise" (Stampin' Up)
Other: rhinestones, sponges

Embellish Rainbow Color Trends

HAPPY FRIDAY Everyone!!! 

This month DeNami Design is sponsoring the Embellish Color Rainbow Trends Challenge over on the Embellish blog. Here is the card I made (shown above) using various rainbow colors.

I sure hope that some of you will decide to play along as well. DeNami has offered to give away a $25 dollar gift certificate to the winner of the challenge! Rainbow colors are always fun and perect for the Summer season!

If you need some more inspiration, head on over to the DeNami blog for more samples. Then check out the Embellish blog for all of the details and instructions on the challenge. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

SUPPLIES:

Rainbow Hearts Card

Paper: "Solar White" (NeenahPaper)
Stamps: "Hearts Stamp Set" & "With All My Heart" (DeNami Design)
Ink: Various Colors (Stampin' Up) 
Other: pop-dots

You Make My World Go Round

HeLLo Everyone! Hope you all had a great Fathers' Day Weekend. Mine was very relaxing and productive. I was able to get lots of cleaning and organizing done, which I was quite pleased with. Then yesterday, we just had a BBQ for my dad and grandfather. 

As much as I dislike Mondays (Ugh!).... The one fun thing about today is that there is a brand new Lawnscaping Challenge #12 being held. Yay!.... This time we have an awesome sketch that was designed by Jennifer Rzasa. She did a fabulous job with it, so I hope many of you will be inspired to play along with us. 

Did you notice the pretty pattern paper that I used on my card?... It's from our amazing sponser, Nikki Sivils. You can find the sheets that I used, along with several other fun designs over on her website: www.NikkiSivils.com. Be sure to check it out!

Hope to see YOUR entry over on the Lawnscaping Challenge Blog! :)

SUPPLIES:

"You Make My World Go Round" Card

Paper: "Solar White" (NeenahPaper) & "Enchanted Evening" (PTI) & Nikki Sivils Pattern Paper
Stamps: "Admit One" (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: "Tuxedo Black" (Memento)
Other: Copic markers, blue string, orange button

Fabulous Flowers

Hey Everyone!....

Just a quick post here.... I just wanted to upload these pictures in order to enter this card into the current Hero Arts Challenge for the month of May. This month's theme is "Fabulous Flowers" and we also have the option of incorporating coloring techniqes using colored pencils. 

I used both a flower image, as well as colored pencils for my card. Hope you guys enjoy it! 

It's been sooo long since I've had the chance to play along with a challenge other than my usual DT work. I miss it SO much. However, things have still been kinda hectic for me lately, and it doesn't help that all of my craft supplies are currently being kept at my parents' house. So it makes it harder to just be able to sit down and craft whenever I wish.

Anyways... things will eventually get organized... slowly, but surely. LoL

I also just wanted to thank everyone who continues to stop by my blog and those who leave such sweet comments. I LOVE each and every one of them, and I feel so bad that I have been such a terrible commentor lately! :( My Google Reader is currently over-flowing big time, at the moment and I hate it. But I truly appreciate those who read my posts and take the time to leave such kind words. Your visits totally make my day!

SUPPLIES:

Wood Background with Colored Pencil Flowers Card

Paper: Kraft & Black (PTI)
Stamps: "" (Hero Arts)
Ink: "Antique Linen" (Distress Ink) & "Versamark"
Other: Prisma Colored Pencils, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, turquoise rhinestone, white gel pen

Bird Card

Good Morning Friends!.... There's a brand new Sketch Challenge over on the Repeat Impression's blog today. Check out the fun diagram below:

You may have noticed that I ending up turning the sketch layout, in order to make my card horizontal, instead of vertical. The color combo that I used is from the latest Embellish Color Trends Challenge featuring "Birds". I just love this chickadee image. It's so sweet and realistic.

I hope that some of you will give this RI Sketch Challenge a try. It really is a pretty design. You can stop by the Repeat Impressions blog in order to view more card samples and to get all of the details too.

Hope you play along! :)

SUPPLIES:

Bird Card

Paper: "Solar White" (Neenah Paper) & PTI Cardstock
Stamps: "Chickadee at Rest"  (Repeat Impressions)
Ink: "Close to Cocoa" (Stampin' Up)
Other: embossing folder, white pearls

 

I "mint" to tell you....

Hello and Happy Saturday everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your weekends so far. I just decided to post a quick card that I'm entering into the Wee Memories Challenge #40. The challenge for this week is "Free Your Creativity", so basically anything goes.

I decided to make a super quick and easy card using the "Sweet Tooth" set from Clear & Simple Stamps. You may remember me using this set in this previous card that was titled: "Sweet On You". It's a fun little set indeed, and this time I just used the little peppermint image to create my own pattern paper and then just added the "mint" sentiment that came with the set too. 

Hopefully I was able to inspire some of you to create your own patten paper too, by simply just stamping a small image multiple times. It's definitely one of my favorite stamping techniques. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!! :)

SUPPLIES:

Mint Card

Paper: "Solar White" (Neenah Paper) & "Hawaiian Shores (PTI)
Stamps: "Sweet Tooth" (Clear & Simple Stamps)
Ink: "TuxedoBlack" (Memento)
Other: Copic marker, red Baker's twine

Guest Designing for Lawnscaping Challenge #2: CASING

*Second Post for today. Please click HERE for my RI Rose Window Card. *

HELLO Everyone!... I have some fun news! Today I am Guest Designing over at the Lawnscaping Challenge Blog! Yay! How fun, huh?.... I'm so excited to be part of such a fun group this month. Laurel and her amazing design team are just full of fabulous talent and inspiration. :)

This week's Lawnscaping Challenge #2 is to CASE one of Kelly Alvarez's cards. I had some trouble deciding which of her cards to CASE, so I actually ended up making two entries. You can check them out below:

This first card, shown above, was inspired by THIS card that Kelly made. I tried to use the same sketch layout and colors of her original card. The only main element that I changed was the stamp images.

For my second card, I chose to use THIS card for my inspiration. As you can see, Kelly's card was one-layer, however I chose to make my version a bit more 3D by adding some actual red thread on the spool and also by popping up the white layer of my card.

Well, I sure hope you all enjoyed my two cards today. This was such a fun challenge and I definitely urge all of you to play along too! You can find all of the details over on the Lawnscapings Challenge Blog, along with more fun samples from the design team. Be sure to check it out today. I can't wait to see the entries for this one! :)

SUPPLIES:

Cat's Meow Card

Paper: "Solar White" (Neenah Paper) and kraft & red cardstock
Stamps: "Critters in the Burbs" (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: "TuxedoBlack" (Memento) 
Other: Copic markers, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Zig-Zag scissors, red Saddle Stitch Ribbon (PTI), black & white checkered ribbon

Sew Lovely Spool Card

Paper: "Solar White" (Neenah Paper) and "Kraft" (PTI)
Stamps: "Sew Lovely" (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: "TuxedoBlack" (Memento) & "Real Red" (Stampin' Up) & "Antique Linen" (Distress Ink)
Other: red string, looseleaf paper

OTWC Challenge #32 with DeNami Design

Hello Friends!.... So now that Halloween has passed and with the Thanksgiving holiday being just around the corner, it's time to welcome the Fall season with a new fun color challenge!

And guess what!... The latest OTWC Challenge #32 is currently being sponsored by non-other than DeNami Design! How fun, huh?... Just check out the fabulous colors choices that Kim is featuring on her blog this time:

Aren't they just gorgeous?!... I sure think so! Kim always has such an excellent eye for stunning color combos. Her weekly color challenges are truly SO inspiring!

I chose to make a "Thank You" card for my sample today. I thought these colors went so well with the whole grateful feeling that usually comes about during this time of year. I kept my card fairly simple, for the most part, and just added a pretty flower for some extra detail.

I sure hope that my card inspires some of you to play along in this week's OTWC #32 Color Challenge. It's definitely a fun one!

Be sure to stop by again tomorrow too. I'll be sharing another "Fall theme" card on my blog for the next DeNami Color Challenge. You won't want to miss it. :)

SUPPLIES:

Thank You Fall Card

Paper: Neenah Paper, "Dark Chocolate" and "Ripe Avacado" (Papertrey Ink)
Stamps: "Thank You Script" & "Harlequin Border" (DeNami Design)
Ink: "Close to Cocoa" & "Pumpkin Pie" (Stampin' Up)
Other:  Sizzix embossing folder, Prima flower, beige pearl

Happy Halloween!

Card Challeges: OTWC Challenge #31, WeeMemories Challenge #29, & Simon Says "Punch Em" Challenge 

Hi Everyone! Hope you are all having a great weekend!

I don't have too much to write today... Just wanted to wish you all a

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! :)

SUPPLIES:

Halloween Ghost Card

Paper: Neenah Paper "True Black" and "Orange Zest" (Papertrey Ink)
Stamps: "Halloween Stamp Set" (DeNami Design)
Ink: "Tuxedo Black" (Memento)
Other:  EK Success scallop edger punch, white pearls, white satin ribbon (PTI)