Print Candee Blog Hop!

Time for the first Print Candee blog hop! Woo hoo! You should be coming from Marion's blog. If not, be sure to start at the beginning on the Print Candee blog so you don't miss any of the amazing projects.

We're working with a baby/kid theme, and I decided to make 3-D stickers:

Aren't they adorable? They're from the Friendly Frog Kit by Pixel Paper Prints. I printed each one three times, cut out the frogs, and then layered them with foam tape. It was a great and easy way to make customized stickers. I ran the bottom layer through my little Xyron, but if you don't have that, you could use computer sticker paper or just stick adhesive on the bottom, too.

I was done with the stickers, but then I realized I needed to put the stickers on something, so I made a cute little gift bag:

The paper for the bag is from the same Friendy Frog Kit. The digital patterned papers are fantastic! You know how sometimes you want a larger scale than 6x6 paper pads? With digital papers, you can make the scale any size you want and print it on white cardstock. Love that! Here's a side view of the frog and bag:

Anyhoo, the cute little bag is Print Candee's Ribbon Bag template, and all you have to do is open the pdf file, print it, cut it out, and score it. And here's a tip, if you print the patterned paper on both sides, you have a lined box and you can fold the box so the lines are only showing on the inside.

So what's a bag without a gift? I thought this bag would work great for a gift card, but I searched around my house and found this little baby rattle:

Wouldn't that make a great baby gift? You could also make these up pretty quickly for shower favors...candy treat bags...party favors...get the idea?

As part of the blog hop, Print Candee is giving away some awesome prizes:

Print Candee gift certificates

Papertrey Ink Favor It Die #6

Papertrey Ink white cardstock

Martha Stewart Punch

Japanese washi tape

Glue Dots Dimensional & Mini adhesives

American Crafts Thickers

Doodlebug Design border stickers

Pretty fabulous, huh? Leave a comment here to be entered into the drawing. Be sure you've left a comment on the Print Candee blog and all of the other Creative Team member's blogs to increase your chances of winning. You have until 11:59pm EST on Saturday 9/3 to comment for the giveaways. Woo hoo!

Okay, one last thing...Print Candee is having 15% off right now. So go shop! And leave a comment on the blog (hint, hint: they're giving away an awesome prize direct from their blog).

Thanks for joining us!

Mustaches, Tears, and Publications

I've got to tell you, CAS isn't always simple. At least it's often not for me.

About 6 month I was toying with the idea of submitting a card to Paper Crafts magazine. I "talked" back and forth with Chan Vuong about it, and she encouraged me to go for it (with a few tips, too).

So I looked at the call, which was for the sketches issue. Hmmm....which sketch to submit? I spent a few days thinking about the sketches.

Okay, I settled on three sketches that might work and some general ideas. I decide to use an Imaginisce mustache die cut--but which of the sketches? I play around and sketch out the card in all configurations. I ask hubby...he says they all look "great" (Translate: How long until I can go back to reading?). I settle on Sketch #36.

There are stripes in the sketch. But which colors to use? Orange and white? Black and white? Maybe patterned paper? Throw in the towel now? Nope, pink and white. It only took me about 2 hours to decide.

What can I put beneath the mustache? A bow tie. That was easy. But I have to figure out how to integrate the three small elements. I play around with the bow tie and get frustrated with what to add. I cry and tell my husband I'm not going to submit this stupid card. I go to bed mad.

The next day, the rhinestones idea hits me . Whew! For the sentiment, I wanted to use "Pucker up, Groucho" but my husband thought it was weird. Okay, "Pucker up." My hubby thinks that's creepy too. I get irritated with him. I think on it....for a day. Finally I settle on "Pucker up" but don't have a stamp. I search for a digital stamp--no luck. Consider buying and overnighting a stamp but decide that's ridiculous. Think about crying. Instead settle on spelling out the sentiment with my Lawn Fawn stamps.

I play around with whether to include a background for the sentiment. I die cut and pilot with and without. Decide on with.

Finally I'm at the assembly stage. Card is done and photograph it. Hmmm...it doesn't look "right." I decide the background strips are too narrow and the card must be remade.

I remake the card in about 25 minutes (I'm pretty slow), saying a few prayers as I tear off the mustache from the first card. Yeah! It's done! So it only took me about 1 week and 25 minutes...

So here's what I made. It's my first publication (in Paper Craft's Card Ideas for Papercrafters):

It looks so simple! LOL!

If you're not totally aggravated with me for my super-long post, come back on Wednesday for the first Print Candee blog hop! I've gotten a preview of some of the projects, and wow, are they fabulous! And if you haven't already, check out Print Candee's blog. They have some really fun ideas!

Also, this is the last week for my blog candy....I'll be drawing on Saturday. Just "follow me" on Google and leave a comment. Easy as pie!

Thanks for looking!

Warning: Contagious!

Don't say I didn't warn you when you're saying the phrase on this stamp over and over today. Ever since I worked on this card last night, I must have said it a couple hundred times. It's driving me crazy! But I still love this card anyway:

I'm playing along in the Moxie Fab World horizontal sketch challenge and I'm linking up to Unity's Friends with Flair this week. I made the sentiment in Word and printed it before I misted the page. I love how it looks like the measles (not that I love the measles). I doodled underneath the sentiment...I thought it worked with the kiddo theme.

Does anyone else remember giving each other cootie shots in school? We had very elaborate, multi-step cootie shots that eventually progressed to warming up and cooling down the arm after the shots. Anyone else do that? Anyhoo, I thought the stamp worked well for a get well card. Here's a close-up:

This cootie shot stamp is from Unity's Middle School Madness set. I don't think the set is available anymore, which is a shame...it's a hilarious set!

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

Here's the scoop:
Cardstock: (Vintage Cream) PTI
Patterned Paper: (12 Days of Christmas) My Mind's Eye; (not sure of the collection) Echo Park
Ink: (Cough Syrup) Jenni Bowlin; (mist) Tattered Angels
Font: (2 Peas Scrapbook) Two Peas in a Bucket

Back to School

Hi Friends! Just a quick post. I'm playing along with this week's Create challenge--back to school cards. I'm proud to say I cut into my new Amy Tangerine papers and came up with this CAS card:

This card is very small (3 3/4" x 3 3/4"), but it's perfect for a lunchbox. I used one of Kristina Werner's sketches for the design. The entire grided paper is popped up, and I layered strips of paper on the cardstock. Then, I die-cut the apple to create the window. I went round and round about a sentiment (this one is actually #3), and I decided to make up my own punny sentiment.  Here's a close-up of the apple:

For the strips, I used the selvage ends that are always on the edges of American Crafts papers. I've never used those little strips before, but now that I have, I think I'll be using them more.

On a personal note, I took a picture of my daughter right before we left for school on the first day. Doesn't she look happy?

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my little blog in blog world! Don't forget, I'll be giving away blog candy on September 3rd. See this post for details. Thanks again!

Here are the deets:
Patterned Paper: (various Amy Tangerine papers) American Crafts
Cardstock: (Ripe Avocado) PTI
Die: (apple) PTI
Buttons: (green and terracotta) PTI; (violet) my stash
Twine: (natural) May Arts

You Are Special

Well, we made it through the first day of Kindergarten yesterday. Thank you for all of the well wishes on my last post.

Yesterday, my daughter was okay but a little nervous as she was lining up to go into the building. I was standing with her, and she said, "Mommy, I don't want you to go." I was able to reassure her, but a minute later, while we were still waiting, she said it again. I told her it was just like the Mommy In My Pocket book (the "Old Yeller" book-of-the-Mom-world), and as soon as I thought of that book, I started crying. It was time to go, and she went inside. Of course, she did fine...and I was super proud of her!

I've been working on a little back-to-school present for her. I used this week's Play Date Cafe colors as the color inspiration:

Since my daughter has very fine hair, and she always needs hair clips to keep her hair out of her face. The PDCC colors were perfect for some of her fall wardrobe. So, here's what I came up with:

I made three hair clips and put them all on a tag to give to her. The flowers, butterfly, and sentiment are from Technique Tuesday. The butterfly image is stamped...it's not patterned paper (LOVE!). The paper is from Echo Park--see the lined paper? Yep, I was thinking school! I topped it with some Twinery twine.

For the navy clip, I used a Spellbinders die to cut two flowers from PTI felt and added a PTI button. I made the little green korker ribbon to look like a leaf. Here's a close-up:

The pink striped clip was super easy. I just glued the American Crafts ribbon, made a bow tie, and topped with some bling. Here's a close-up:

The multi-stripe clip was definitely the most complicated, only because I had to get the felt to stick to itself. I used a different Spellbinders die to cut the flower, cut a section out of the flower, and adhered the sides together to give the flower depth. I saw this technique on Melissa Bickford's blog using her Flower Fusion dies. Here's a close-up:

I am in love with that multi-stripe ribbon. My LSS carries an unusual brand that escapes me at the moment, but lots of cute stripes. It was hard to not buy about 10 different colors--ha ha.

Thanks for looking! Have a happy Wednesday!

Flying Off Into the Sunset

Hi! It's been a crazy week--I wrote a 118 page report for a state client, got everything ready for my daughter's first day of Kindergarten, hosted out-of-town dinner guests, and battled my son's grody pink eye infection.  I needed to have the word "woman" stamped on my forehead! Needless to say, my blogging and blog commenting was pretty sporadic last week. I'm hoping to catch up in the next few days!

I did manage to make a card for this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger:

Usually I make fairly literal cards for the Tuesday Trigger, but this week I responded to the multiple horizontal lines. Of course, I used similar colors, too. Here's what I came up with:

When I was growing up in the Phoenix area, I remember the pink summer sunsets. So, I went with the idea of riding (or flying) off into the sunset. Or, maybe in this card, flying off to a honeymoon.

First, I stamped flourishes from a Unity store kit and then fussy cut the Hambly Screenprint cityscape scene. Next, I die-cut the little airplane from My Favorite Things and heat embossed it. I think it looks a little like a shark, but in context, it works. Here's a close-up where you can see the flourishes better:

I added the crystals to look like stars. They also work with the wedding theme I was going for.


Wish me luck tomorrow with my daughter's first day of Kindergarten...I think I'm more worried than she is!

Thanks for looking! Have a great week.

Here are the details
Stamps: (flourish from Oct. 2009 Store Kit) Unity; (sentiment from July 2010 KOM) Unity
Ink: (white) Colorbox; (Worn Lipstick) Distress Ink
Embossing Powder: (detail silver) Stampin' Up
Die: (aiplane) My Favorite Things
Cardstock: (Sweet Blush) PTI
Patterned Paper: (Cityscape) Hambly Screenprint
Crystals: Jolee's

Walking On A Tightrope

Happy Tuesday! Just a quick post since I've got to get back to work. I made a card to link up to two challenges (never managed to do that before). I combined the colors of the Play Date Cafe with the sketch in CAS-ual Friday. Here are the Play Date Cafe colors (love them!!):

Here's the CAS-ual Friday sketch:

And, here's my card:

I combined my new My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Two stamp (gorgeous and cheap set...can't beat that!) with some My Mind's Eye papers. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday's new Studio AE set. I also wanted to use some of the new buttercream twine that Nicole from the Twinery sent me (thanks, Nicole!). Isn't the yellow twine a pretty and soft color? Love it! I tried to align the twine like the banner (because I'm Type A). Here's a close-up:

And as a reminder, I'm having a blog candy giveaway as a thank you to all of my blog-world friends! All you have to do is follow me in Google (click on the right) and leave a comment. I'm adding to the blog candy, but a picture of the first batch is here.

Thank you so much for taking time to look! Have a great day!

Say Cheese!

I wasn't going to join in with Unity's Friends With Flair this week since we've got family in town, but at the last minute, I decided to whip up a card. I've been so inspired by how my blogging buddy Lynnda Hosni splatters and inks her scrapbook backgrounds--so chic! Here's my take on splatter inking:

I carefully inked the glasses from the One of a Kind (my fave Unity set). If you've seen this stamp, there is text very above and below the glasses. I tried masking, but couldn't get a full impression of the glasses, so instead I used a brush pen. It worked great! I splattered the Distress ink after stamping the glasses, which produced a cool water-spotted effect on the glasses:

Yes, the glasses are distressed...I'm not that bad of a stamper--LOL! The sentiment is from Samantha Walker's Retro Road Trip. I did make a boo-boo and cut a little too much off the bottom when I was done. [The paper cutter is in time-out right now.]

Anyhoo, I also wanted to let you know that I'm going to give some birthday blog candy over the next few weeks. To enter, just: 1) follow me on Google (click on the "Join This Site" to the right) and 2) leave a comment. The more comments over the next few weeks, the more entries you'll receive. I'll be drawing on Sept. 3rd. Want to see some of the blog candy?

Thanks for all of your super sweet comments this week! It means so much to me! Have a great weekend.

A Birthday Surprise and an Announcement

Hi friends! This week, the Create blog's challenge is birthday cards. I've been wanting to make a card with a flower technique I found over on the Cosmo Cricket blog, but I was debating how to turn it into a birthday card (beyond the sentiment). Here's the card I came up with:

The flower was super easy to make! I used 6 die-cut scalloped circles (~ 3" in diameter) from the Bazzill patterned paper and folded each circle according to the video. After stapling each piece, I glued them together and then attached the flower to a base to give it some stability. Way easy. I think it took me longer to pick out the buttons! And yes, I added a little twine from the Twinery. Here's a close-up:

I added strips of patterned paper and a sentiment from PTI. But I still didn't think the card was "birthday" enough. So, I did something to the flower...

Yep, it's a pin you could wear on your big day! I attached the pin with Diamond Glaze (although in retrospect I probably should have stitched it to the paper) and then used removable tape to attach the flower to the card. I may have to wear it on my upcoming b-day. :)

I also have exciting news! I was asked to be the design team coordinator for a new digital stamp & paper company, Print Candee. Yippee! I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm surrounded by some uber-talented designers:

Kalyn Kepner

Marion Vagg

Therese Calvird

Their work just blows me away, and I'm so excited to be working with them! It's very humbling. We'll be having a blog hop on August 31st to kick-off our term (with lots of giveaways), so please be sure to check back. In the meantime, check out the Print Candee website. They have fab patterned papers, stamps, and SVG files...super cute and fun items. Go see!

Thanks for looking. Have a great day!

Here are the deets:
Stamps: (Think Big Favorites #1) PTI
Ink: (Berrylicious) ColorBox
Patterned Papers: (Jaybird collection) Bazzill; (Summer Days collection, Splash collection) Echo Park; (older collection) Bo Bunny
Dies: (Small Scalloped Circle) Spellbinders
Buttons: (pink) PTI; (yellow) My Favorite Things
Twine: (Pink Sorbey) The Twinery

It's a Sunshine Day

This morning I realized that summer is winding down--where did the summer go? Yikes! I love summer, and I find myself constantly making summer- and sun-theme cards. So I made another for this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge:

The challenge is to combine glitter and glue dots or glue strips. This challenge was, well, a challenge! Here's what I came up with:

I have a definite love-hate relationship with glitter. I love the look of glitter but hate how it gets everywhere and you can't get rid of it (how can it possibly stay on after swimming??). Needless to say, I have almost no loose glitter.

I had the idea of making a sun, but since I didn't have any yellow glitter, I mixed clear glitter with yellow Stickles to get a nice yellow shimmer (yep, it took about 12 hours to dry). I tried every type of glue dot in my stash to figure out the scale, and in the end I used a Gluber cut in half. It worked like a charm!

I used 8 different patterned papers to make the sun rays and tried not to overthink the layout. It was a struggle to not get out my ruler! I love how random they look, though.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!


Here are the deets:
Stamps: (Textile Rectangles) MFT
Ink: (Pumpkin) Stampin' Up
Cardstock: PTI
Patterned Paper: (Playground & Summertime collections) Echo Park, (June Bug) Basic Grey, (Rocket Age) October Afternoon, (Salt Air & old collection) Cosmo Cricket, Bazzill

Out of the Garbage Can and Onto the Blog

Happy Friday! I had a little bit of time today to make a card for Unity's Friends with Flair, but I had a major creative block. I had a concept, but it took me four tries to get the stamping right. Ugh. Then, I went to add some ink around the edges. If you've seen my cards, you know that is not something I do often--I ended up grossly over-inking the card. Double ugh. I thought about throwing away the card at that point, but decided to try misting the card. It looked like a wet, old newspaper, so I threw it away.

A few hours later, I went to try and make a new card, but it occurred to me that I should look at the old card to see what it looked like dry. Now I rarely go fishing through garbage cans, but in this case, the card was right on top and therefore not too gross. And, much to my surprise, it looked okay (at least salvageable). I stamped the sentiment, mounted it onto another die cut to flatten it out, added some pattern paper and twine, and voila, my FWF card:

Way different than my normal happy and colorful cards, but it's a sympathy card for my dad, so hot pink wasn't going to cut it. I used Unity's With Sympathy store kit...love that set. The background paper is from the MME Stella and Rose line.

Thanks for looking! I so appreciate your views and comments...it means so much to me that you take time to look. Have a great weekend!

Channeling the 80s

Every week I think about entering the CAS-ual Fridays challenge, and I finally got it together enough to make a card for this week's challenge. Actually, I made two cards (I wasn't sure if I needed to make two posts??).

Here's the first card, channeling Prince's song:

When I was younger, I remember being so excited when we got cassette tapes (we had had an 8-track tape player in the car and a record player in the house). I used to make my own tapes (singing, talking, playing--and yes, I still have them). But, it would drive me crazy when the tape got pulled out. For whatever odd reason, I was looking at my Twinery twine and it reminded me of that image.

I started off by running the Cosmo Cricket digital image of the cassette tape through Photoshop (it was blue and cream) to make it black and add the wording (I used Two Peas' Island font).  After I printed the tape, I heat embossed it with clear to make it look more real (and it does look remarkably real!). Then, I simply attached the Mandarin twine to the tape and the Basic Grey paper. I love how the tape looks like it's on jeans...I thought about trying to acid wash the paper but decided that wasn't such a hot idea with small children around.

When I was getting ready to print the cassette tape for the first card, I played around with the recoloring option in Word. I ended up with a cool retro 80s look. I printed the images, cut them out, and color blocked in the background. Super quick card!

So, here's my card channeling the Blondie song:

I've now been singing the "Call Me" song all afternoon...

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!