You Light Up My Life

Hi everyone! Okay, after writing that title, now I'm singing some Debby Boone (anyone else humming it, too?).

On that note (yuck, yuck), it's time for a new Paper Smooches SPARKS Picture Perfect challenge. Here's this week's inspirational picture:

I focused on the sun and colors (and now that I look at the image again, the ocean too) for this card:

I  used stamps from three different Paper Smooches sets for this one-layer card (well, one layer plus the yarn). Since my card uses the masking technique, I'm linking up to Savannah's challenge at Do More With Less. I'm also linking up with the Paper Crafts Magazine July Gallery Challenge.

I started by stamping the waves from Wicked Nauticool repeatedly to create a horizon. I masked off the water and stamped the boat from the same set. I created a mask for the boat and stamped the circle from Off the Charts to create the sun--this stamp is going to be my go-to for a sun from now on. I finished the stamping with the sentiment from Smoocheroos.

Here's a close-up:

After I finished the stamping, I went to work on the coloring. I colored the sailboat with Copics. For the water, I used Distress Inks and a couple of spritzes of Pearl spray mist, and I watercolored. I like the mottled look for water, and the Pearl looks cool in the light:

Ready to play along with the SPARKS challenge? You can link up your Paper Smooches projects based on the inspiration picture HERE.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week.


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI
Clear stamps: (sailboat, waves from Wicked Nauticool; sun from Off the Charts; sentiment from Smoocheroos) Paper Smooches
Ink: (Sky Blue, Sunflower Yellow Brilliance Ink; Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko; (Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Stormy Sky Distress Inks) Ranger; (Pearl spray mist) Tattered Angels
Copic markers
Yarn: May Arts

Modern Birthday & A Winner

Hi everyone! Are you tired of me? If you're still here after my posts this week--thank you!

It's time for CAS-ual Fridays. This week's challenge is two weeks long, and it's a good one:

So...use numbers on your CAS projects. Easy, right?

It's not the most clever approach, but I needed a birthday card:

I was inspired by THIS color combination. I used my Cameo to die-cut the swooshes in two different colors of teal (yes, those are two colors, ha ha), light blue, and gold. I die-cut the Memory Box numbers out of a gold shimmery cardstock. Here's a close-up:

I hope you can play along with the two-week CAS-ual Fridays challenge. You can link up your projects HERE. If you also make a birthday card, you can also link up to the Moxie Fab World Birthday Card Challenge.

Last week, there was the Paper Crafts Magazine's Birthday Creations blog hop. The winner from my blog is #21:

TeresaJuly 12, 2013 at 10:28 AM

Congrats, Teresa! I'll drop you a note or you can e-mail me (my info is under the Contact Me tab). Thank you so much!

Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by.


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic Cream) PTI; (Night) Paper Source; (teal, dark teal, light blue, gold) Bazzill
Die-Cutting File: (swoosh from Kinsey's Retro Wave die cutting file) Studio Calico
Dies: (Parker number dies) Memory Box

Newton's Nook Designs--S'More Wishes

**It's my second post of the day. For my CASE Study post, please click HERE. 

Hi everyone! Today is the last of the new releases of Newton's Nook Designs. The stamps go on sale at midnight! Woo hoo!

I think the Campfire Tails set may be my favorite of the new releases. It's a hoot! I made a pillow box and a tag with the stamps:

I used five different stamps from the set. First, I stamped the lantern onto the pillow box in WPlus9's white ink (love it--thank you for the ink suggestion, Amy!):

I thought it could use something else, so I added a few of the fireflies. I added some Cosmo Cricket patterned paper and assembled the box.

Next, I moved onto the tag. I stamped the sentiment, fire, and s'more from the Campfire Tails set, and then colored the images with my Inktense pencils (I can't say enough good things about these pencils!). Here's a close-up of the tag:

As part of the release, Newton's Nook is giving away this set to two lucky winners. You can comment to win on the NND blog and on each of the launch party participants' blogs. You will have until tonight (July 18th) at 9pm to comment for the drawing. 

Below are the other participants in the NND launch party. Be sure to check out their blogs!

Jennifer Ingle

Emily Leiphart

Samantha Mann

Jocelyn Olson <--You are here.

Tessa Wise

Heather Campbell

Jean Martin

Audrey Tokach

Chari Moss

I'm entering this pillow box/tag into the Moxie Fab World Birthday Tags & Wraps challenge. There is still time to enter if you'd like to play along. :)

Thanks for stopping by!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI
Patterned paper: (S'more Love) Cosmo Cricket
Clear stamps: (sentiment, s'more, fire from Campfire Tails set) Newton's Nook Designs--available 7/19
Ink: (White Pigment Ink) WPlus9; (Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko
Coloring: (Inktense 12 pack and Rainbow) Derwent; (Colorless blender) Copic
Die: (Tag Scallop die) Paper Smooches
Twine: PTI
Pillow box: Impress

Newton's Nook Designs Love

**For my Simon Says Stamp post, please click HERE.

Hi everyone! It's day three of the Newton's Nook Designs' Launch Party.

Today we're showcasing the Winged Wishes set. The set has a great mix of sentiments and images, and I can tell already I'll be using this set often. Here's an anniversary card I made:

I started by heat embossing the two birds and the "love" images from the Winged Wishes set in silver embossing powder. After embossing the image, I simply layered some white and matte silver cardstock (I think I'm addicted to that cardstock). I added a couple of loops of ribbon, and it was done. Here's a close-up of the embossing:

As part of the release, Newton's Nook is giving away this set to two lucky winners. You can comment to win on the NND blog and on each of the launch party participants' blogs. You will have until Thursday (July 18th) at 9pm to comment for the drawing. The store is also giving away a gift card on Facebook, so be sure to check it out HERE.

Below are the other participants in the NND launch party. Be sure to check out their blogs!

Jennifer Ingle

Emily Leiphart

Samantha Mann

Jocelyn Olson <--You are here.

Tessa Wise

Heather Campbell

Jean Martin

Audrey Tokach

Chari Moss

Thanks for stopping by!

Simon Says Stamp Sneak

Hi everyone! For my Newton's Nook Designs post, please click HERE.

My card is on the Simon Says Stamp blog today! (eek!!!) Here's a sneak peek:

You'll have to hop over to the SSS blog to see the card I made using some Kelly Purkey stamps and a Simon Says Stamp die. You can see the card HERE. If you stop by, I would love it if you left a little love. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Newton's Nook Designs--A Wine & Cheese Party

Hi everyone! Today is the second day of the Newton's Nook Design's Launch Party, and I can't wait to share my projects for this great set.

Today's stamps come from the set Just Say Cheese, which will be available Friday at the Newton's Nook site. I made a mini ensemble for a wine and cheese party:

I used three different cheese stamps from the Just Say Cheese set, and there are other types of cheese as well. The "brie" and "Gouda" were masked from punny sentiments in the set. I paper pieced the cheese with two types of patterned paper for each. I don't think I was technically accurate on the colors, but they are cartoon cheeses. ;)

Here's a close-up of the invitation:

I paper pieced the Swiss cheese and the cute heart separately. The rest of the invitation was done in Photoshop.

And using two other types of cheese, I made food picks. First is the Gouda:

And the brie:

Are you hungry now, too? :)

As part of the release, Newton's Nook is giving away this set to two lucky winners. You can comment to win on the NND blog and on each of the launch party participants' blogs. You will have until Thursday (July 18th) at 9pm to comment for the drawing. The store is also giving away a gift card on Facebook, so be sure to check it out HERE.

Below are the other participants in the NND launch party. Be sure to check out their blogs!

Jennifer Ingle

Emily Leiphart

Samantha Mann

Jocelyn Olson

Tessa Wise

Heather Campbell

Jean Martin

Audrey Tokach

Chari Moss

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow with two more posts. :)


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI; (Rhubarb) Paper Source
Patterned paper: (orange and white stripe; orange from Fact line) BasicGrey; (yellow woodgrain from Sweet Girl) Echo Park; (yellow from So Noted) Carta Bella
Clear stamps: (cheese, sentiments from Say Cheese) Newton's Nook Designs--available 7/19 
Ink: (Onyx Black) VersaFine
Die: (Duo Die 4) Paper Smooches

Newton's Nook Designs Launch Party

Hi everyone! Today is the first release day for a new stamp company, Newton's Nook Designs! When I first saw the stamps, I was so impressed with Jen's designs. They are sweet and whimsically cute. I hope you like them too!

The first set we're sharing today is Newton's Antics. Here's what I came up with using the set:

There are two stamps in this card (the cat on the left and the two cats in the center). I masked the cats, added a fourth cat on the end, and colored all of them with Copics. The sentiment is from the Newton's Antics set, too.

This set, and the other three sets we'll be showing this week, will be available on Friday. :)

As part of the release, Newton's Nook is giving away this set to two lucky winners. You can comment to win on the NND blog and on each of the launch party participants' blogs. You will have until Thursday (July 18th) at 9pm to comment for the drawing. The store is also giving away a gift card on Facebook, so be sure to check it out HERE.

Here are the other participants in the NND Launch Party. Be sure to check out their blogs!

Jennifer Ingle

Emily Leiphart

Samantha Mann

Jocelyn Olson <--You are here.

Tessa Wise

Heather Campbell

Jean Martin

Audrey Tokach

Chari Moss

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day!

Supplies
Cardstock: (Peacock) Paper Source; (white) PTI

Stamps: (cats, sentiment from Newton's Antics) Newton's Nook Designs--available 7/19

Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Copics

Twine: (Mandarin twine) The Twinery

Paper Crafts' Birthday Creations Blog Hop

Hi everyone! If you're looking for my CAS-ual Fridays post, you can find it HERE.

Today is the Paper Crafts Magazine's Birthday Creations vol. 3 blog hop (woo hoo!).

I'm so happy to be participating! There are some crazy-talented ladies in the hop:

Jocelyn Olson <--You are here

Angeline Yong Jeet Leen

Vanessa Menhorn

Amanda Coleman

Alice Wertz

Leigh Penner

Erin Lincoln

Kalyn Kepner

For the hop, we're supposed to make a birthday card based on one of the three sketches found in the issue. I picked Kim Kesti's sketch:

I went round and round whether to do negative die-cuts, stamping or something else. Finally, I decided to make a card for my mom's 70th birthday party in a few weeks. My mom is an avid quilter, so I used the inspiration for this card:

I made a similar card last year (HERE) using the same Dresden Plate die-cutting file. I started by stamping the sentiment from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps onto some lightly patterned paper. 

Next, I die-cut two different sizes of the Dresden Plate files. I ended up with four different paper companies, but I liked the patterns together. When I adhered the plates, I off-set them slightly to show a little more of the quilt pattern. Here's a close-up:

Now the stitching...truth be told, I was only going to sew a border. In the moment, I decided to sew around the circle centers. I did a good job on the top one, but the bottom one--yikes! I made the best of it by going around the card a second time with some wonky stitching to make the mistake look like part of the card. ;)

There are tons of great ideas for birthday ideas in this issue and lots of jaw-dropping projects. Want to win a copy? You can leave a comment here and leave comments on each of the other blogs by Tuesday, July 16th. Or, if you can't wait, you can buy a copy of the issue HERE.

If you make a birthday project or a mixy-matchy project, be sure to link up to Moxie Fab World's challenges. :) I'm linking my card up to the Mixy-Matchy Style Challenge and the Birthday Card Challenge. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Next up in the hop is the fabulous Angeline.

Supplies

Cardstock: (Kraft) PTI

Patterned paper: (background--Cloud Cream from Cool Summer) Carta Bella; (music notes from Lucky Charm) Dear Lizzy/AC; (yellow damask from Sweet Girl) Echo Park; (other papers from Atlantic collection) Studio Calico

Clear stamps: (sentiment from Casual Elegance) CAS-ual Fridays Stamps

Ink: (Crumb Cake) Stampin' Up; (Antique Linen Distress Ink) Ranger; (Unicorn) Hero Arts

Die-cutting file: (Dresden Plate) Silhouette

Hey Baby

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! Any plans for the weekend?

It's CAS-ual Fridays time, and this week's challenge should be easy and fun:

Polka dot stamps, patterned paper, cardstock, ribbon, whatever you can think of.

When I think of polka dots, milk cartons aren't exactly the first thing to come to mind, but that's what I made:

Isn't that smile cute? I was flipping through my die-cutting files and saw the Oishii SVG file from Lettering Delights (I used the same collection on THIS card). The top of the milk carton opens, and you can put a treat inside.

I was thinking it would be good as a back-to-school treat for my kids, but I thought it would also work as a baby shower favor box (or to put a gift card inside as a present). I went with the baby theme for the tag:

The sentiment is from Mama Elephant--I was glad it fit on the tiny tag.

The winner of this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge will win a gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp:

You can link up your projects HERE. I hope you'll play along!

Thanks for stopping by. I'll have a second post later today. :) Have a great weekend!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) Bazzill; (True Black, Sweet Blush) PTI
Patterned paper: (polka dots from Soliel) BasicGrey
Stamp: (sentiment from Starry Night) Mama Elephant
Ink: (Almost Amethyst) Stampin' Up
Dies: (Tiny Tags) PTI; (milk carton die cutting file from Oishii) Lettering Delights
Twine: The Twinery

You're Super!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. We've had family in town since last week, and it's been (a good kind of) busy. :)

It's time for another Paper Smooches SPARKS Designer Drafts challenge. Here's the sketch for this week:

I was happy I got my new Paper Smooches stamps so quickly and was able to use them right away:

Hee hee. I love that Superman guy. The superhero and skyline are from the new Super set--love him and love that set!

For the background, I misted the black panel with white and silver mists. Then, I embossed the skyline, fussy cut it, and popped it up with foam tape. The sentiment is from the Market Fresh set. Here's a close-up:

I mounted the panels on some cool blue metallic paper that appeared in my stash. I have no idea where it came from, but it worked well for this project.

Please check out my teammates' cards, too:

Wida

Jenny

Jocelyn

Alice

Savannah

If you would like to play along with this week's challenge, you can link up your projects HERE. I hope you'll play along!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (True Black, white) PTI; (blue metallic) craft supply
Clear stamps: (superhero and skyline from the Super set; sentiment from Market Fresh) Paper Smooches
Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko; Versamark
Embossing powder: (Ultrafine Clear) Ranger; (white) Inkadinkado
Copics
Mists: (Opaque White, Silver) Studio Calico

Material Girl Birthday

Hi everyone! For those of you in the U.S., I hope you had a great 4th of July! My sister-in-laws' family is in town, and we spent the fourth with them. My brother-in-laws' family will also be in town this weekend, and my kids can't wait to see their cousins.

It's Friday, and time for another CAS-ual Fridays Challenge:

This week's challenge is to use material on your clean-and-simple projects (including felt, fabric, canvas, etc.).

I used both felt and canvas on my project:

I started by die-cutting the My Favorite Things' Winter Rose dies in ivory and pink felt from Felt on the Fly. Using the Limitless Layers Hearts dies, I die-cut a heart out of canvas and one from patterned paper.

I layered all of the elements on some lightly distressed patterned paper and stamped the Boutique Borders sentiment. Here's a close-up:

If you would like to play along with this week's challenge, the winner will receive a gift certificate to Ellen Hutson.

You can link up your creations HERE.

ETA: I'm linking up this card to the Birthday Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. If you get a chance, be sure to play along!

Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by.


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rhubarb) The Paper Source
Patterned paper: (cream/pink paper from Cool Summer collection) Carta Bella
Fibers: (pink, mauve, ivory felt) Felt on the Fly; (gold cord) Martha Stewart
Embellishments: (clear button) Stampin' Up
Dies: (Winter Rose) My Favorite Things; (Limitless Layers Hearts) PTI

Blah, Blah, Blah (and Some Crafty News!)

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. We went to an older amusement park (built in 1889--I had to look it up) this past weekend. I rode on the 80+-year-old wooden, rickety roller coaster. Seriously, I was feeling really old afterward. I think my back still aches from the ride. ;)

In other news, I've been keeping a crafty secret:

I'm joining the Newton's Nook Designs team! Yeah!! It's a new clear stamp company that is launching this month. You can see the announcement and some peeks of the stamps on their blog HERE. I've got to say, they are super cute designs!!

Lastly, since Google Reader has officially closed, I thought I should mention there are a couple of other ways to follow my blog. On my sidebar, there is an envelope icon to receive blog updates by e-mail. There is also a plus sign that is to follow my blog on Bloglovin'. Thank you!

Have a great day. :)