red balloon cards

Outruled

2012-02-16T13:03:00.006-06:00

Happy Thursday! I hope you had a great Valentine's Day! This week is my first anniversary of my blog--woo hoo!

The last couple of months, I've been thinking more about publications, challenges and my abilities. This is not an "I want reassurance" post...I just wanted to share my thoughts and what I've realized.

I wish I could say that being rejected and losing challenges isn't disappointing. I wish I could be a better card maker/stamper/designer. I wish I could say I didn't sometimes feel intimidated when I see other designers' blogs and how gorgeous their cards are. But I can't. I do feel disappointment, I often make hideous cards (which, hopefully, don't make it onto the blog), and I do feel discouraged at times at my lack of natural craftiness.

With all that said, I made a conscious decision to change my approach to submitting cards for publication and to cut back on the challenges. I thought about what I do well, what I like, what makes me different:

I'm never going to be a top stamper...technically, I cannot seem to do what other stampers do (even getting stamps straight on the card can be hard sometimes!). But, I have gotten more interested in digital stamps/brushes and digital elements. I'm by no means an expert, but I think I'm getting better at using them. I know a lot of card makers don't like the hybrid world, but I think I've found something that works well for me.
I like certain colors and patterns. I realized that I was using designs and colors I didn't like just to fit a challenge or a submission. While I really believe in trying new things, I want to make cards I love and will love to give. I hate being stuck with a card I can/will never use.
I love when I find products I haven't seen or haven't seen often. I'm finding that I'm having better luck at getting projects accepted when I use less common products. Of course, this goes back to my first point...my cards aren't going to be as great as DT folks for big companies who are also submitting, so using unusual products has helped me.

The bottom line is, I work hard enough at work....I don't want my hobby to become laborious, too. I want to make cards I like and can use, and I don't want to get overly frustrated in the process. I've found that I've become happier lately with these realizations about my card making...kind of like when I first started blogging.

With all that said, I wanted to share a card I made for the Paper Crafts Magazine's Stamp It! Cards call that was rejected:

I ran across the "OUTRULED" digital stamp and laughed for a little while over the images (there's a whole series). I asked my bloggy friend Glenda if the image was too outrageous for a publication submission (I didn't want to promote/make fun of violence, but I thought it could make a spunky card). She reminded me why not try it? Yes, why not try it? If it was accepted, that's awesome, but it wasn't, and that's okay, too...at least I tried.

My best friend helped me come up with the sentiment (she came up with some good "out with the old," break-up themed sentiments, too). I don't have a "hello, shopping" stamp, so I made the sentiment in Word. I also made the patterned paper in the background (the dots are stamped onto some paper from Print Candee). Like I said earlier in my post, the card turned out very "me," and even though it's a little out-there, I still love it. And while this card wasn't accepted, I did get some awesome happy mail from Susan Opel. Yeah!

Thanks for indulging me and letting me blather on (and if you didn't read all that, I totally understand!). I really appreciate everyone's support. It's been a great year of blogging!

Have a great day!

Butterfly Camouflage

2012-02-13T02:00:00.022-06:00

Happy Monday! Today the Print Candee Creative Team is having a blog hop-woo hoo! You can start at the beginning at the Print Candee blog:

{Me}

We have a local butterfly house, and when you're inside, the butterflies are so thick, they look like camouflage at times. The place is very inspiring! We're going with a die-cuts theme, and I came up with this card:

I used Adrienne Looman's Photoshop Brush Butterflies available at Print Candee to make the background. I started with a white background in Photoshop and layered the butteflies to make my own patterned paper. I changed the colors, sizes, types of butteflies, and rotated the brushes to give the appearance of flight. When I finished, I printed two copies of the paper.

For the die cuts, I used the second paper and die-cut three butteflies. When I told my husband I had more than one buttefly die, he replied, "Why am I not surprised?" ;) I carefully layered die cuts over the first paper and popped them up with foam dots. Here's a close-up:

I finished the card off with a a die-cut banner, and I stamped the sentiment from Unity. I thought I would enter the card into the Moxie Fab World Die Cutting Challenge. The challenge ends tonight, but there's still time to enter if you get a chance!

As part of the blog hop, we're giving away a couple of prizes: a $10 gift certificate to Print Candee and a set of Spellbinders Lacey Nested Pennants--perfect for making party banners! To enter, you can leave a comment here and all along the blog hop. You have until the end of Saturday night to leave comments to win, and the winners will be posted on the Print Candee blog.

Next up is the fabulous Marion! Thanks for taking the time to visit. :)

Love Monster

2012-02-01T00:01:00.001-06:00

Happy Wednesday! I'm excited to share my projects today for the first ever Print Candee kit. The kit includes coordinated papers, clip art, borders, alphas, journaling tags, and a few other goodies. You can check out the kit on the Print Candee blog.

A while back, by blogging buddy Heather started making square bookmarks--so cool! I searched for a tutorial on how to make a square bookmark and found one here. I used her super cute template to make a monster bookmark and also made a corresponding gift bag with the Print Candee February kit:

For the bookmark, I used some of the Print Candee papers. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the bookmark on an actual book, but the teeth overhang the corner of a page. Here's a close-up:

I also made a gift bag using several papers in the Paper Pack, banner pieces in the Alphas & Bits pack, and one of the border strips. You can see how the banner and photo corner were used for teeth, although any patterned paper would work. Here's a close-up:

Using Photoshop, I layered the striped paper in the background added the red polka dotted paper below. Then, I added the "be mine" border on top of the polka dotted paper. It was a good way to add a sentiment, although a tag would be cute, too. Here's a close-up:

I finished the gift bag off by punching holes in the top and threading some Doodlebug twine.

The Print Candee February kit can be purchased as a kit or in parts. For the first week of February, it is available for 35% off, too. What a deal!

Be sure to check out the other DT projects! We also have a new DT member--Lisa Arana--woo hoo! So excited to have her on board with us. She'll be joining us in a couple of weeks for a blog hop.

Thanks so much for the comments...I really appreciate them! Have a great day!

Cheeky Gift Card Holder

2012-01-29T22:30:00.001-06:00

I was looking through the Print Candee store, and I ran across some vintage advertising (love!). Old advertising always makes me laugh, and there was one image in particular that made me chuckle for days. So, I made a card incorporating it:

I kept it simple and cropped the image and changed the image to a grey-scale. Once I printed the image, I selectively colored it with colored pencils. Here's a close-up:

But it's not just a card, I added a gift card holder in the inside. How much easier is it to make money than to get free money? Ha! (I crack myself up.) Here's the inside:

The Advertising Ephemera is from Fancy Dog Studio available at Print Candee. I paired it with some fab Pantone's Spring Color Polka Dots patterned paper by Head's Up Girls. Seriously, this paper pack is a must-have....all of the Pantone spring fashion colors...oh yeah! The damask paper for the gift card holder is from the Cabaret Pink Fun set.

In February, Print Candee will be releasing coordinated kits. Fun! I'll be back later this week to show my project.

Have a great week!

Friends With Flair

2012-01-20T11:46:00.002-06:00

Happy Friday! We finally got snow last night....about 4"...so I think we're in for some sledding this weekend. Yeah (for about 15 minutes until I am totally over the snow)!

It's been way too long since I've linked up with Unity's Friends With Flair, and I really wanted to make a card this week using some of my newer Unity stamps. When I first saw the "Live What You Love" set, I instantly loved the little birdie, and I used her on today's card:

I started by shading the background with Distress Inks. Then I stamped the birdie, and colored her and the heart with my old Faber-Castell colored pencils (they're from the 1960s, and I swear they are more vivid than my newer ones...they're probably toxic). Here's a close-up:

I finished the card off with some washi tape from Chickydoddle and fussy cutting another heart from the stamp.

Have a great weekend!

Love...Texas Style

2012-01-15T21:33:00.001-06:00

Happy Sunday! It's been over a month since I've last posted--where does the time go?!

About 15 years ago, I lived in Ft. Worth, Texas. While I never saw any armadillos in Ft. Worth, I saw more than I could count on a few cross-state treks I made through west Texas. When I saw there was an armadillo in Hero Art's Menagerie digital set, I had to buy it. Here's what I came up with:

Even my husband laughed. All of the images are digital. I started off with the Hero Arts Modern Love stamps:

Using Photoshop, I edited out the "O" from the L*O*V*E. Then, I replaced the "O" with one of the dangling hearts. I changed the colors, too. Then, I added the armadillos from the Menagerie set, paper pieced them, and shaded them with ink. I love these little guys! Here's a close-up:

Once I got done paper piecing, I thought it was missing something. I wanted to add a bow but didn't have one that size. Then, I realized I could use the kite tail from the My Favorite Things kite die. It looks a little wedding-ish, but I'm going to use it for Valentine's Day. I also wanted to join in on the Hero Arts challenge this month.

I'm so sorry for being so absent from blogland. I feel bad that I haven't made the rounds. I miss everyone!

Thanks for looking!

Shabby Chic-ing It

2011-12-15T00:00:00.003-06:00

Hi All! The Print Candee Creative Team is having a blog hop! You can start the hop on the Print Candee blog here, and if you get lost, here's the order:

Jackie

Marion

Therese

Jocelyn <--You're here!

Kalyn

This month, we were all assigned to make a card using a different style (vintage, traditional, graphic, fun/cute, and shabby chic). I got shabby chic....definitely out of my element! While I couldn't make a card with tons of layers, I embraced the challenge and came up with this card:

I started off using Lilmade's Vintage Pastel Digital Papers--so gorgeous! I printed, trimmed, and sewed the strips of papers together using various stitches on my machine. Here's a close-up of the papers:

The card is a birthday card for a girl turning seven, so I used Spellbinders and Quickutz dies to make the label and the "7."

Print Candee is giving away some gift certificates (see here) and always has awesome freebies (see the Jessi tree). Be sure to comment along the hop to increase your chances for the awesome prizes! You have until the end of the day on the 17th to comment for the prizes.

Next, you can check out Kalyn going vintage!

Bows and Berries Blog Hop

2011-11-28T03:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday! If you're following the Bows and Berries blog hop, you should be coming from Janet's blog. Or, you can start at the beginning from the Bows and Berries site. The B&B site also gives details on the digis you can win from the blog hop and the current challenge.

For biweekly challenge, we're all using this month's freebie Toasty Gingerbread Man stamp (check out the Bows and Berries blog to download this little guy). I wanted to create a scene with the gingerbread man, so here's the card I came up with:

There were about a zillion steps to this card (making a template, die cutting, glittering, misting, printing the stamp, masking, coloring, fussy cutting, etc.)...I'm surprised I wasn't raiding the recycling can to make my own cardstock. In the end, I realized I forgot to put on a sentiment, but I couldn't bring myself to start over. So just imagine a good sentiment, okay?

Here's a close-up of the B&B gingerbread man:

Want a chance to win some free digis and see a variety of uses for this little guy? Join the hop and comment along the way.

To join in the current Bows and Berries challenge, you'll need to use the gingerbread stamp to make anything you want...no rules as long as you use the freebie stamp. You have until midnight (GMT) on December 11th to link up your project on the Bows and Berries blog.

Robin also has 50% off everything in her shop if you use the coupon code "GIFT50." Check out the Bows and Berries site to see what she has.

Next up in the hop is the fabulous Kasia!

For my regular readers, I apologize for being so absent from blog world lately. I've been working on a large, short-notice project for work everyday for about 10 days (working on Thanksgiving blows). I'm getting close to the end, but it's been a lot of late nights and has pretty much zapped all of my free time (and creativity). So I'm terribly sorry for not visiting your blogs--you all mean so much to me, and I feel bad when I can't visit. I miss seeing what you're up to!

Thanks for looking! Have a great week!

Here are the details
Cardstock: (white) Papertrey Ink, (grey) DCWV
Stamps: (Toasty Gingerbread Man) Bows and Berries
Ink: (blue) October Afternoon Sprinklers, (Vanilla) Smooch Spray
Dies: (tree, stars) Hero Arts, (circle) Spellbinders
Glitter: (chunky crystal, smooth crystal) Martha Stewart
Markers: Copics
Twine: Twinery

Washi Overload

2011-11-16T12:19:00.003-06:00

Happy Wednesday! Just a quick post to share two cards for the Create blog's washi tape challenge. I'm supposed to be working, but I wanted to share a couple of cards I made last night. First up is the hexagon card:

I put five different washi tapes from Chickydoddle (on Etsy) on cardstock and then die cut the paper using a Sizzix hexagon die. Then, I mixed up the hexagons and added some Thickers and bling. For the background, I used a Hero Arts Cling Dots background stamp to stamp the cute polka dots. Here's a close-up:

For my next card, I was inspired by something on Pinterest to make a birthday card:

I used the Lawn Fawn "Bake Me a Cake" set for the cake base, sentiment, and candle. I layered different Chickydoddle washi tapes to make the cake layers, and I used a Zig to outline the cake layers. The patterned paper is from Webster's Pages. Here's another angle:

Aren't they cheerful? Thanks for looking! I'm still getting through my reader...over 1000 posts. Yikes!

Have a great day!

Little Mittens

2011-11-14T03:30:00.003-06:00

Bows and Berries' new challenge is to make a tag. Anyone out there making a tag? Anyone? Link up on the Bows and Berries blog. Yep, it's that easy. And while you're there, you can pick up the free digi and some other cool digis, too, like the Toasty Mittens stamp I used in my tag today:

It was so easy, I made a second one using the same Fancy Pants collection:

The stamp is actually a pair of mittens. To make the tag, I printed a pair of mittens and fussy cut the larger of the two to make the tag base. Since you can resize the image, you can make the tag any size you want (well, maybe not any size...let's be reasonable). Here's what the original stamp looked like:

I paper pieced the layers and then flocked the cuff. At first I was going to leave the tag alone (you know, be super CAS), but then I realized the the tag should be functional. Therefore, on the back I used some Waltzingmouse Stamps for the sentiments:

The paper is the backside of the double-sided paper. You could easily switch the paper and sentiments out to make a cute baby tag (you know, Three Little Kittens and all that jazz). I finished the tags off with May Arts ribbons (love their ribbon!). These tags were super easy, and you could easily mass produce them.

So, if you're making a tag this week or next, be sure to link up on the Bows and Berries blog. Also, check out my lovely design teammates' tags, too.

Thanks so much for looking! I really appreciate it!

Fa la la la la la la la la

2011-11-13T10:30:00.001-06:00

I've had an idea for the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger for over a week, but I finally got around to making the card. Here's the trigger:

I did what Karen suggested about looking at a photo and then stepping away to see what you remember. I kept thinking of the pink/blue/yellow linked together and all of the gold, so I made a Christmas card with those elements:

First, I misted cardstock with each color. Next, I die cut the base and snowflake layers from Memory Box and then embossed the snowflake layer. I'm not much of a heat embosser...I think I embossed each one 3 times to get a relatively smooth gilded look...ha ha. Here's a close-up where you can see the misting:

I am officially addicted to mists. And, I have to say the Memory Box dies cut amazingly well...no struggling to get the pieces out like some dies.

I also used the PTI Linen impression plate on the base and stamped the Technique Tuesday's Good Cheer sentiment. Here's a close-up:

If you go onto the Moxie Fab World site, Cath posted a great tribute to Katie Renz. Cancer really sucks.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. We had our first (momentary) snowfall about an hour ago...it's officially winter.

Bring on the Sun

2011-11-11T09:11:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday! For Unity's Friends with Flair, I'm sharing that was published in Paper Craft Magazine's 365 Cards:

The beach scene is from Unity's "Fly...Free" KOM, which I stamped over a heavily-misted panel. The sentiment is a digital stamp (Ali Edwards's "Bring on the Sun"). The misting is very shimmery, but hard to see in photos. Here's a close-up:

Oooo...love that shimmer! It's over the entire card, but you can see it in the photo on the sentiment. For details on the products, you can see the magazine.

I also wanted to share that I'm being featured on "Fascinating Fridays" over on Paperie Design Studio! I was pretty darn excited when Tammy asked me. Hopefully, I don't sound like too much of a dork. (Just humor me.)

My husband had his wisdom teeth removed yesterday. The doctor told us after the surgery that having them removed in your 40s is much harder than in your 20s, but my hubby is doing pretty well. The kids and I whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies for him, which seem to heal anything faster. LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a great weekend!

Believe

2011-11-04T18:27:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday!

Remember learning in school about how people used to post quarantine symbols on their houses so people wouldn't come near? Yeah, that's what we needed on our house recently. My daughter and I traded a stomach bug back and forth for about 8 days. We're both almost back to normal, and luckily, my son and husband seem to be okay. Whew!

Anyhoo, I wanted to make a project to join in with Unity's Friends with Flair since I've missed the past few weeks. I used the Play Date Cafe colors (PDCC 106--pink, grey, yellow) to come up with this card:

Love the sentiment! It's from Unity's "She" set...love that set, although I don't know if it's still available. The ink drops are October Afternoon Sprinklers (the Sidewalks collection) as is the patterned paper.

While I was making this card I realized I need a good grey ink. I have Memento's London Fog (although I used a marker for this card), but it's very bluish. Does anyone know of a more neutral grey?

Some good news: Last weekend, I managed to finish up a few Paper Crafts submissions while having an oogie stomach--yuck. I didn't get most of my projects completed, but I did get one project accepted. Wa-hoo! Also, my daughter's art project is being displayed at the community's fine arts center and they have a reception tomorrow (she was 1 of 3 for kindergarten). She's pretty "meh" about it...I think she'd be more excited if it were a Math Bowl or a Barbie reception. LOL!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Fall Mums

2011-10-25T22:59:00.008-05:00

Happy Wednesday! I'm finally getting over my lousy cold...luckily just in time for today's Print Candee October Blog Hop. If you're not coming from Jen Wills's blog, you can start at the beginning on the Print Candee blog. Here's the order in case you need it:

Print Candee Blog

Jen Wills (Guest Creative Team member)

This month's theme is "Fall and Spring" (since it's fall here and spring for some of my Print Candee teammates in Australia). I saw some beautiful mums in the Print Candee store that were so inspiring, and here's the first card I came up with:

Aren't they gorgeous? The mums stamp is "14 Chocolate Flower Blossom Motifs" from Life is Groovy. All I did was layer them in Photoshop and added my own sentiment. ETA: The font is Chanel from dafont.com. It only took me about 15 minutes to get the card base done (well, maybe 20, but that's only because I was fiddling with the font). I printed the image on PTI Rustic Cream and added some bling from Prima and twine from May Arts--easy as pie.

I always seem to use colored images (or colored inks) on white or cream, but I I decided to see what the images would look like on other cardstock bases. First up, I tried the image on kraft:

Hmmm....more subtle. I also tried dark brown (it had a Versamark-like look) and pink (pretty, but peach would have been better). Finally, I made a card set using ecru-colored textured Bazzill. I changed up the sentiments and otherwise kept them super simple:

As part of the hop, Print Candee is offering three giveaways: two $10 gift certificates to the Print Candee store and one $15 gift certificate to Two Peas in a Bucket. For a chance to win, leave a comment. The more comments you leave along the way, the more chances to win. Plus, there will be a prize drawn just from the Print Candee blog, so be sure to visit their blog! You have until 11:59 EST on Saturday, October 29th to leave a comment for the prizes.

Have a wonderful rest of the day. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit! Next up in the hop is Marion.

The Never-Ending Card

2011-10-19T15:43:00.002-05:00

Happy Wednesday! Last weekend, I began a card. For whatever reason, though, cards have not been coming together easily for me lately. Four days later (on and off, of course), I got the card the way I wanted it, and after all that fussing and a zillion steps, the card turned out really CAS:

The card started out with the digital Hero Arts Sillyscape brush, and made the cityscape. I've never used brushes before and I only have Photoshop Elements (it seems that most tutorials use Photoshop CS5), so there was a definite learning curve. I altered the color and opacity of the stamp and then "stamped" the image twice in a row. With some fiddling, I was able to get the two images to look seamless. Yeah!

After I got the cityscape, I made a mask and blended Distress Inks to make the night sky. I added glitter below to make it look like snow, and then went over the entire panel (with the mask still on) with a Smooch glittery mist to make it look snowy. The glitter and the misting don't really show in a photo, but here's a close-up where you can see how the image stamped twice in a row looks like one image:

I made the sentiment in Word (Two Peas' Journaling font...probably my fave) and die cut the frame. I added a little ribbon, and voila. Of course, there were about 50 more steps in the trial-and-error phase. LOL!

I'm entering the card into the Hero Arts October contest of holiday cards using non-holiday stamps.

Thanks so much for looking! Have a great rest of the week!

Peter Piper

2011-10-17T03:59:00.011-05:00

The newest Bows and Berries challenge, Inspirational Colours, is based on a picture from Design Seeds:

I started making one card and then it morphed into an entirely different card (anyone else do that?). Here's what I ended up with:

The cool top of the tree is Sun Love from Bows and Berries. Yep, it's a sun that I turned into a treetop and colored with Copics to look like fall (well, the inspiration colors actually). This cute stamp could be used as a planet or a ball...there are all kinds of possibilities. Here's a close-up:

The awesome sentiment is from Unity's "Fly...Free" set, which is probably my all-time favorite kit (and a kit which I used for a pub coming out next month--woo hoo!). The little tree trunk is the Teardrop Tree die from My Favorite Things.

If you like these pretty fall colors, please join in with the Bows and Berries challenge...the details can be found HERE.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Together Forever (For Real)

2011-10-14T16:09:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post to join in with Unity's Friends With Flair.

My brother-in-law got engaged last week to a very sweet woman. I'm really happy for them...they were both burned pretty badly in their first marriages, and it's nice to see my brother-in-law so happy again. When they told my in-laws about their engagement, they both said they wanted to do everything they could to make it work. With that idea, I made a card to celebrate their engagement:

I used Unity's October 2009 store KOTM ("Wonderful...You") for the hearts and the sentiment. The hearts were stamped, embossed, and fussy cut, and the cardstock panel was dry embossed with the PTI Linen IP (squint, squint). The natural twine from May Arts finished the card.

Thanks for looking! If you get a chance, join in with Friends With Flair. Have a great weekend!

It's the Great Pumpkin!

2011-10-12T23:10:00.009-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, when I stepped outside to walk to my daughter's school, it really hit me that it's fall. While it's been "hot" here, the sun was lower in the sky and it reminded me how quickly the days are shortening. Yikes! I love fall, though, and I'm excited for Halloween.

I've had an idea floating around in my head for a Halloween card, and I love how it worked out. In fact, I liked it so much, I made three variations! Here's the layered version:

While there were several steps for making the pumpkins, they were pretty easy to make. I used my dwindling stash of Amy Tangerine and AC Nightfall papers and die cut ovals with my Nesties. I played around with the layers and then stitched them onto the card base.

For the background, I stamped the Dash Pattern background stamp from Hero Arts with Versamark. I used PTI's Edgers #1 to make the bottom strip and then adhered the strip of paper from Studio Calico's Autumn Press at the bottom. I made the sentiment in Word and printed it onto the patterned paper. I totally dig how the brown and black look together...it's not a color combo I ever use, but I'll be using it again.

I'm linking this card up to the E.A.D. Designs "Be Thankful Color Challenge" that I saw on Amy's blog. There are other colors peeking through, so I hope it counts. If you get a chance, check out the challenge!

I had extra pumpkin layers, so I made more cards. Here's the CAS version:

On the base, I printed the sentiment (Two Peas' Journaling but expanded), but otherwise used the same Hero Arts stamp and patterned papers. The orange base paper is also from Autumn Press, and the twine is May Arts (love their natural twine!).

Lastly, here's a small card (4 1/4" square). I went WAY out of my comfort zone (more like out the door and down the street):

I started with the same base but then painted the edges, used several Distress Inks to provide depth, and (shriek!) distressed the edges lightly. To me, the edges looks like fog--I love how it turned out! Like the CAS card, I made the stem of the pumpkin out of brown cardstock.

Here's a close-up of the layers on one of the pumpkins:

The layered pumpkins have so much texture (and movement). I thought I'd link up to the Moxie Fab World Textured to Perfection Challenge (especially the last card with the painted and inked edges).

I wanted to pass along that Print Candee reached 1000 fans on Facebook, and to celebrate, they are having an amazing giveaway on their blog. They are giving away a $100 Amazon and $50 Michael's gift certificates (wow!). Go to THIS post to check out how to leave a comment to enter, and while you're there, check out the blog!

Thanks for looking! I hope you're having a good week!

Chevron Feather

2011-10-09T15:29:00.010-05:00

I grew up in the Phoenix area, and I still love the southwestern motifs--the colors, the angles, the repetition of patterns. So even though the the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger is a dessert, the colors, the rustic feel, and striped layers reminded me of a southwestern vibe:

So, playing with the southwestern feel and stripes, I came up with an idea based on a feather. I must say I find some irony in the fact that I thought of a feather when I looked at an overloaded dessert (maybe I thought it was a low-cal dessert). Anyhoo, here's this card:

This card is actually my second version. The first one had the feather's quill, but there were some wonky issues with balance (it didn't look right unless I made the card about 9" tall). Oh well...live and learn. In this version, I eliminated the quill and ran the chevrons all the way down. I also left the chevron edges unglued to make the edges more feathery, so some of the points are a little curled up.

The chevrons are over a golden shimmery Bazzill that I misted with Mr. Huey's Cream. It's a little hard to see the misting in the photo, but here's a close-up:

The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday's Studio AE's August set (isn't it a fab stamp?). I also added a thin strip of wood veneer along the side. Beside the fact that I am addicted to my husband's stash of veneer lately, I think it works with the rustic look of the card.

Thanks for looking!

Come if You Dare

2011-10-06T13:01:00.001-05:00

This week on the Create blog, Paige put out the challenge to create a Halloween party invitation. I love Halloween parties. Actually, I just plain love Halloween!

I was all set to make a CAS, fun card, but while I was putting away a Unity stamp from another project, a stamp caught my eye. So, I changed my card entirely and came up with this one:

This card was pretty simple to make (other than the sewing...my machine is having tension issues). First, I created the sentiment in Word and printed it on Basic Grey patterned paper. Then, I broke out my stamp positioner and used it to stamp the Unity bird/frame image from the "When I'm With You" KOTM. I was holding my breath that the sentiment would be in the right place! Then I die cut the stamped image and at die cut another frame behind. Here's a close-up of the stamped image:

If you look carefully, you can see that the cream is actually patterned paper with writing on it. I went around the patterned papers with my sewing machine and added some twine and a My Mind's Eye button.

I'm joining in with Unity's Friends With Flair this week. If you get a chance, play along!

On a personal note, I found out that the big Federal grant I wrote in June got funded--woo hoo! It was a pretty good size grant (about $3 million), but unfortunately, I don't get any of the money (I wrote it for a client). I wish I could write grants for myself, but there aren't a lot of paper crafting grants out there. Ha!

Have a great day!

Poker Christmas

2011-10-03T23:40:00.001-05:00

I wanted to write a quick post to join in the Moxie Fab World Card Play Challenge.

When I was about 8, my grandparents taught me how to play poker. They never went to casinos or were gamblers, but they had grown up in the pre-Depression-era playing card games and wanted to share all of the fun poker games. Every time I visited, we played for several hours a day (for money, no less), and I learned a lot! Playing was all fun, and I'm sure my grandfather folded good hands on a few occasions to let me win. Although I never play anymore, I have very fond memories of playing cards with them. Sorry to ramble on!

I inked up my Unity Suzi Blu stamp again to make a card based on playing cards:

Her dress is (obviously) made from a playing card, and the heart in her hand is fussy cut from the five of hearts. In the stamp, she's holding flowers in her right hand, so I masked the flowers to only show her hand. Otherwise, I just paper pieced the rest of her outfit and colored her with Copics and colored pencils. Here's a close-up of Suzi:

Very stylish! I wish I could wear her outfit!

I went back and forth on the sentiment, but I really liked this one from Waltzingmouse Stamps. It's a little quirky for a Christmas card, but I'm the type of person who likes a little quirkiness now and then (okay, maybe all of the time).

Once I finished the front, I liked it so much, I decided I would frame it for Christmas decor. Of course, I realized after I had cut the front panel that it's a non-traditional size and will require a mat. I wish I would think of these things in advance--ha ha!

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Trick or Treat

2011-10-03T03:00:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday! Bows and Berries has a new challenge starting this week, based on a Halloween inspiration pictures (see here). I decided to use the new "Thumbs Up Monster" to make lollipop covers for Halloween treats:

Now I had visions of cranking out 24 of these covers for my daughter's class, but after envisioning the kids ripping them apart in .02 seconds to get at the candy, I think I may be coloring this little guy in Photoshop for the class treats. [That's the great thing about digital images!]

Here's a close-up of the orange monster:

And here's a close-up of the yellow monster:

He is so cool! If it hadn't been a Halloween picture, I probably would have put him on a surf board or given him drumsticks (stay tuned for that!). But, I wanted him to hold something in the other lollipop cover, and since I am certifiably addicted to the toothpick flags the past few weeks, I made one for him to hold. The sentiment is from the PTI Tag-Its.

I don't normally let my 5 1/2-year-old daughter get near my Copics, but she wanted to help color the monsters. She did a great job! Here's one that she colored:

Isn't the blue and orange cool? I love it!

So if you get a chance, visit the Bows and Berries blog and try the challenge! There are some great inspiration pictures from the Design Team.

Have a great day! Thanks so much for visiting! :)

Print Candee Bookmarks

2011-09-30T22:13:00.001-05:00

It's been busy, busy, busy! My mom was here (from Maine) early in the week and I attended a multi-day training session later in the week. Plus, all week I've been fighting some type of cold that's settled in my chest--ugh. But, it's the weekend and tomorrow is World Cardmaking Day--yeah!

This month, the Print Candee Creative Team made projects with the theme of "little gifts." Fun! I decided to make a bookmark set, but I went a little out of control! There were so many good images that would work...I love that about Print Candee.

When I made these bookmarks, I had my in-laws in mind...they are avid readers. I started off by making a set of seasonal bookmarks using Pink Pueblo's Four Seasons Trees:

Once I figured out the best strategy, they were super easy to make. I started off using Photoshop, but I found it was easiest to just save the jpegs in Word and resize them all the same. Then, I used my Papertrey Ink Bookmark die (although you could just cut them, too). To finish all of the bookmarks, I cut a second bookmark in patterned paper, attached it to the backside, and tied a ribbon on top. As a tip, you could use Print Candee papers to easily match both sides. Here are the backs:

I did leave off the winter. In South Dakota, we really don't need a reminder about winter--LOL! Aren't those trees gorgeous? They would make a nice notecard set, too. Here are close-ups of the seasonal bookmarks:

Love the summer tree (the last one)...I think it would work for fall, too. You could stamp a sentiment on any of these, too.

When I was looking through the Print Candee website, I ran across Digital Potpurri's Cherry Blossom stamps. Holy cow, is it a pretty set! It was tricky to size these well for the bookmarks, but here are two I made:

Here's a close-up of the cherry blossoms:

For the butterflies, I did use the png files in Photoshop to layer the butterflies and recolor them. The butterfly on top is an orangish-red, although it's hard to tell in the photos. Here's a pic:

Finally, I wanted to make sure I had a more masculine bookmark, and I found Life is Groovy's Birch Trees Spring/Fall set. In Photoshop, I simply layered the birdhouse on the tree. I finished it off with some May Arts natural twine. I think it's my favorite!

Thanks for taking the time to look through all of these pictures. It was so much fun to make these...I may be making about 50 more for Christmas!

Have a great weekend!

Bmfffff!

2011-09-26T22:28:00.001-05:00

Okay, that's my elephant sound. Or at least how my son makes an elephant sound. Currently, he is obsessed with elephants, and when he sees an elephant, he makes the cutest little sound (bmffff). So when he saw my card, he got a huge smile, and proceeded to (bmffff) at it. Here's the card:

I love that little elephant from My Cute Stamps. I made the toothpick flags and used a sentiment from the same set. The hat is from Hero Arts/Basic Grey. I went round and round which paper to use but ended up coloring it with different Copics. I made the Twinery twine pom-pom to balance out the little clown nose pom-pom (hee hee!). Here's a close-up:

I made a cart for him to ride on. I didn't have any red and white paper with the right scale, so I cut out the strips. To finish the cart, I used buttons from my stash and braided the twine. My braiding is terrible...I'm really out of practice! Here's a close-up of the cart:

Speaking of my little guy, I took him into the doctor today, and they ended up testing for food allergies. They drew blood and didn't get enough the first time, so they had to take a second vile. Poor little guy!

Thanks for looking! Have a great day.

Stylin' Suzi

2011-09-23T09:38:00.000-05:00

My blogging friend Emily Leiphart's birthday is today, and I made a card for her. I'm really bad about mailing, but my procrastination gave me the chance to snap a few pictures of my card.

Emily is a huge fan of Unity's Suzi Blu stamps and always makes such cool and creative cards with them. So, I broke out my lone Suzi Blu stamp and here's what I made:

Isn't she fab? Seriously, this card took me forever to execute between the paper piecing and the coloring. The papers are a mix of October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket, and My Mind's Eye. I love how the papers look together.

See the cool tweed hat? It's a digital stamp from Bows and Berries (Tweed Hat) that I flipped and resized to fit the girl's head. I printed the hat on the C.C. Clementine paper, but the pattern looked strange. So, I turned the paper, printed the image again, and then paper pieced the tweed patches. Here's a close-up:

Using digital accessories opens up all kinds of possibilities, doesn't it? I'm thinking it would be so cute to resize this hat for some animal stamps...

I'm linking the card up to Unity's Friends With Flair this week. Check it out! And if you get a chance, wish Emily a happy birthday. :)

Have a great weekend!

Toonces

2011-09-21T14:35:00.000-05:00

This week on the Create blog challenge, Paige's challenge was to use foxes on cards. Cool idea for a challenge! So I thought about it and had a card planned out in my head: my Amuse Arctic Fox stamp in a little forest scene.

I got ready to make the card, and while I was looking through my papers, I ran across the new Echo Park Happy Days stickers. Instead of the forest, I decided to have the fox driving the card. I figured I would probably be the only person submitting a card with a fox driving a card (LOL!). Here's what I came up with:

I stamped the Amuse fox, colored him with Copics, and then trimmed him to fit in the card. Is he not just the cutest fox ever? All of the papers and the sentiment are from Echo Park (the sentiment is digital Echo Park). Here's a close-up of the fox:

My husband saw the card and he said "It's Toonces!" Does anyone else remember the old Saturday Night Live episodes with the driving cat, Toonces? I had to explain it was a fox and not a cat, but I think he's still equally cute.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Pinking Out

2011-09-19T03:00:00.003-05:00

Happy Monday! This weekend we made the trek over to Worthington, MN to go see the Gobbler Gallop at Turkey Day (no, I am not kidding). There were two turkeys that raced down a downtown street with wall-to-wall people cheering them on. The local turkey (Paycheck Turkey), racing against the badass turkey from somewhere in Texas (Ruby Turkey), won the race. It was hilarious--both the race and "Groundhog Day"-like atmosphere! I definitely see a turkey card in my future....

Anyhoo, I have good news! I'm joining the Bows and Berries design team! When Robin e-mailed, I was super excited...it's been hard to keep it a secret! I found the stamps a while back, around the time I made this card using the "Stache and Glasses" stamp.

Today, Bows and Berries is having a new challenge using GLITTER. I made up this little CAS mini card using the new "Onesie" stamp:

I chuckle every time I see it. I made the sentiment in Word, although I wish I had it in a stamp.

I printed the onesie on the card with the sentiment and then printed and paper pieced the onesie on Authentique paper and popped it up. Isn't that stamp cute?

I wanted to enter this card in the CAS-ual Friday challenge this week (mini cards), so I had to keep my 4" x 4" card simple.

But, I wanted to add some twine across the top. A "pink" girl wouldn't just tie a bow, though. Every configuration I could think of either made it look like it was S&M or a tampon (neither of which you want to think about on a baby card). Finally, my hubby suggested looking at knots on a mountain climbing website. I ended up using the Double Fisherman's knot, although I intentionally left space between the knots so it didn't look like I had a snarled line of twine:

I'm not sure if I tied the knot on the right correctly, but I decided I wasn't trying for a knots merit badge. (ha ha)

Check out the Bows and Berries and CAS-ual Friday challenges! Thanks for looking! Have a great week!

Butterflies & More Butterflies

2011-09-16T14:09:00.000-05:00

Whew! I finally finished up a report for work before I have to pick up the kiddies. Woo hoo! So, I got to have a lunch longer than 3 minutes, watch last night's Project Runway, and write a blog post. Yeah! I'm joining up with Unity's Friends With Flair this week with my new composition book:

I started with a cheap composition book I bought at Office Max for $.50, but it had an ugly cover. I used my Distress Inks to splatter ink the front and then stamped the butterflies. Even though I'm not typically a butterfly kind of gal, I love this "Grow Your Wings" Itty Bitty from Unity. Here's a close-up of the butterfly with the sentiment:

The front was really busy, so I decided to keep the back simpler. I covered the back with a textured Bazzill and covered the book binding with some washi tapes. Here's the back:

I can't wait to use my book for card sketches and card ideas. While I typically keep my ideas sorted in an Excel spreadsheet, I want to have something I can take with me while I'm out and about. Plus, I'll use it to organize all of my sketches floating around. Time to get organized!

Thanks so much for looking! Have a great weekend!

Catching Up

2011-09-14T23:33:00.000-05:00

Hi All! Sorry I have been so absent in blog-land lately. I've barely visited any blogs, but I'm hoping to catch-up!

I haven't entered any challenges for the past two weeks, but I did want to enter a card in the Create blog challenge. Paige challenged designers to create a card with toothpick flags. I've never made them with a toothpick before, but I love how they look. Here's my card:

First I started by misting the kraft background with Mr. Huey's cream mist to make it look starry. Then I used a combination of October Afternoon Rocket Age and Ruby Rock-It Paper Boy papers for the circles (totally loving these papers for boys!). I colored the little astronaut from Technique Tuesday with Copics. Here's a close-up:

To make the flag, I used border paper...the width worked well. I finished the card off with a sentiment from Technique Tuesday.

On a totally different note, I wanted to thank Jen Wills for passing on the Liebster award. I'll be passing it on in a few weeks. Thanks, Jen! If you haven't checked out her blog, she makes the most fun cards and her posts are always a hoot!

I also wanted to announce the winners of my blog candy. It was awesome re-reading the comments...I definitely felt the love. Anyhoo, the winners were Erin and Heather. Woo hoo! Erin and Heather, please contact me at redballooncards at yahoo dot com.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Thankful

2011-09-01T10:09:00.003-05:00

If you're looking for the Print Candee blog hop, see this post.

Even though it's still hot here in South Dakota, it's definitely starting to feel a little more fall-like. Early in the week, it was in the low 50s when we walked to school and I've noticed that the days are quickly becoming shorter. *sigh* Where did summer go? I do love fall colors, though, which inspired this card:

The entire card was based off of the fabric brad for this week's challenge on the Create blog. I started with some batik fabric, which I made into a double-ruffle flower. [I cut the fabric 2" wide and then ripped it 18" long. Then, I folded it over on itself before I started rolling.] I added the brad, and voila! The flower has so many colors--here's a close-up:

I'm joining in with Friends with Flair again...it's always fun to see how others are using their Unity stamps. The sentiment is from Unity's "When I'm With You" store kit. Love that fabulous font!

Speaking of Unity, my birthday blog candy ends on Saturday and I'll be drawing on Sunday (see this post for details). I with I could send something to everyone--I'm so lucky to have such supportive blogging buddies!

Thanks for looking!

Here are the details:
Stamp: (When I'm With You KOM) Unity
Ink: (Rich Cocoa) Memento; (Tea Dye) Ranger
Cardstock: (White) PTI, (Honey Cake, Everyday Flair) My Mind's Eye
Rhinestones: (red) Zva
Brad: Sassafras

Print Candee Blog Hop!

2011-08-30T23:00:00.001-05:00

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

2011-08-29T21:07:00.004-05:00

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!

2011-08-26T12:09:00.001-05:00

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

2011-08-25T10:16:00.002-05:00

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

2011-08-23T22:51:00.002-05:00

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

2011-08-21T22:30:00.001-05:00

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

2011-08-16T16:20:00.005-05:00

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!

2011-08-12T15:20:00.001-05:00

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

2011-08-11T00:18:00.001-05:00

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

2011-08-09T14:24:00.001-05:00

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

2011-08-05T08:01:00.000-05:00

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

2011-08-03T18:22:00.000-05:00

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!

The Best Part of Waking Up...

2011-07-29T13:51:00.000-05:00

Anyone like coffee? I'm not a coffee drinker, but I know most people covet their coffee (including my 12-cups-a-day husband). So plain old coffee was the inspiration for today's CAS card.

I'm playing along with Unity's Friends With Flair and used the beautiful coffee stamp from the Livin' and Lovin' Life KOM. Here's a close-up of that awesome stamp:

I first ran the"glorious" image from Ali Edwards's "Thick Awesome Words" set through Photoshop to adjust the color and size. Once I got the right pink (on ivory, the color changed a little), I printed the sentiment and then stamped and embossed the coffee cup. The navy houndstooth paper is from My Mind's Eye Lush 2 collection.

For those of you who read my last post, I'm in the middle of the garage sale. No mob today, but I have made enough to get some new goodies. Pus, I cleaned out my craft room and found some PTI ribbon I thought I had lost. Yeah!

Thanks for looking and thank you for your comments! Have a great weekend!

Tropical Punch & Piranhas

2011-07-28T09:43:00.001-05:00

Hi Friends! Just a quick post. I'm having a garage sale tomorrow...I haven't had one in 7 years, so I have totes and totes of kid clothes. Every little outfit makes me go "awwww." But I'm dreading the actual sale...all the pushing and grabbing--last time I had a garage sale, it was like a piranha tank. Wish me luck!

I'm entering a card into the Hero Arts July contest. I've never posted a HA card but thought it would be fun to enter a card into the Summertime theme:

The flower stamp is Hero Arts' Luscious Bold Flowers stamped in blue. I opted to use the Basic Grey Lauderdale tag for the sentiment instead of something more summery...I thought it worked well. The papers are Basic Grey Lauderdale and American Crafts Margarita. It's not traditional summer, but the colors look very tropical to me.

Okay, got to boogie....lots to do today. Have a great day!

Buggin' Out

2011-07-24T16:12:00.001-05:00

Hi Friends! Not too much to say today, but I'm blogging to avoid cleaning out the kids' rooms. I am convinced that their clothes multiply on their own (except for their socks, which disappear into some vortex under our house).

Anyhoo, I finally inked up some of my Paper Smooches stamps last week (only 3 months after I bought them--LOL!). I had to make a card for a 3 year old last week, and this is what I came up with:

Yep, another pink and yellow card. I paper pieced the wings on the butterfly and colored the body with Copics. The sentiment is from Harold's ABCs (which I still had on a block from a pub call--talk about lazy!). I decided to do some hand stitching (this was the practice card for this card). Here's a close-up of the hand stitching:

Not the most creative use of PS stamps, but I like how it turned out. For a more creative flair, how about this card?

I just day-glowed the card in Photoshop--hee hee. Doesn't it look like a lightning bug? Well, my son is done with his snack and about to catapult out of his high chair, so I need to boogie.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Take Me Home (County Roads)

2011-07-22T13:50:00.003-05:00

Now I'm going to be singing that John Denver song all day. I wanted to include a card in Unity's Friends with Flair today, so I inked up some new Unity stamps. A teacher at my kids' school just bought her first home, and I made a "new home" card for her and her husband. Now I should put the caveat that she is very conservative, so I couldn't make a pink house (like the John Cougar song). Here's what I came up with:

You can click on the picture for a better view. The houses are from the Honey, I'm Home set. I masked the houses in the background to add a gap for the green house (a separate stamp). I paper pieced the bottom of the green house and colored the top with Copics (not sure why I didn't just paper piece the roof, too--LOL!). Here's a close-up of the houses:

The sentiment is from Unity's Life is Fabulous store kit. I finished the card off with some Stampin' Up ribbon and created a little faux-frame using the PTI Edgers #1 die.

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend.

Here are the details:
Stamps: (Honey, I'm Home, Life is Fabulous) Unity Stamp Co.
Ink: (Rich Cocoa) Memento
Patterned Paper: (Odds and Ends) Cosmo Cricket; (Double Dot Design) Bo Bunny
Cardstock: Stampin' Up, PTI
Markers: Copics
Die: (Edgers #1) PTI
Ribbon: (Jingle Bells) Stampin' Up

Just Me and My Chucks

2011-07-20T18:20:00.001-05:00

Well, I don't have any Chuck Taylors anymore, but I had a pair of hot pink ones when I was in high school (to wear with my pegged jeans or black and white polka dot bubble skirt). I married a guy with a pair of old black Chucks, and and when you combine that DNA together, what do you get? Bright blue baby Chucks, of course (can you believe it took me grad Biology classes to deduce that?).

So I'm playing along with the Summer Card Camp's color challenge this week and paired it up with the Cards blog challenge, and this is what I made:

This card was inspired by Jaclyn's pictures of Fancy Pants's new line at CHA (see her pics here).

I have the digital Cosmo Cricket Candy Candy from The Boyfriend line, and this shoe is one of the digital elements. I resized, recolored (it was a red and cream shoe beforehand...hope I'm not violating anything by changing it!), flipped the image, and then printed it. Okay, I printed it twice since I didn't have the color right the first time.

Next, I punched holes where the eyelets are, and I laced Honeydew and Peapod twine from the Twinery. I rolled tape on the end of the twine, which really looks like a shoelace end. If you look, you can see I alternated which twine was on top (because I'm pretty neurotic):

The fabulous sentiment is from the Pocket Full of... KOM from Unity, which I stamped and embossed. Finally, I traced the shoe and added a light blue shadow with a Copic (had to get that light blue color in for the Summer Card Camp challenge). I think the card could work for a guy or a girl.
Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Now I Want Some Lemonade

2011-07-19T12:15:00.001-05:00

Happy Tuesday! I had to enter a card into this week's Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger:

Pretty fab, huh? The card I made is a little different for me, but I wanted to capture the lemonade colors, the bold buttons, and the ruffles in a softer way than my normal style. Here's what transpired:

Yep, I made the flower, and yep, I'm pretty proud of it! I just added some Score-tape to the edge of the May Arts ribbon and wound it over a punched circle. Here's a close-up of the flower:

The pretty pink and text papers are from Authentique, and I have to say their 12x12 papers have the nicest texture to them....I'd love to wear a dress out of those papers....of course 12x12 isn't going to cover much. Anyhoo, I decided the edge between the pink and grey needed something else, so I did some hand stitching. The stitching is not perfect, but I think I like it more that way. Here's a close-up:

If you get a chance, play along with this week's Tuesday Trigger. Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Here are the deets:
Stamps: Gina K.'s Retro Boutique set
Ink: (Tuxedo Black, Angel Pink, white) Tsukinenko
Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: (Splendid and Uncommon collections) Authentique; (yellow from Splash collection) Echo Park
Button: (Stella & Rose) My Mind's Eye
Ribbon: May Arts

The Crafting Rebel

2011-07-15T01:27:00.001-05:00

Hi Friends! Thanks for all your sweet comments--I'm feeling the love!

For a couple of months I've been wanting to post a card for Unity's Friends with Flair, and I finally decided to just do it! I actually made the card for a PaperCrafts submission (didn't feel the love), but I still adore this card and laugh every time I see it.

I originally made this card with my aunt in mind. She used to tell people that she was adopted (she wasn't) because she couldn't believe her super straight-laced parents were actually her parents. She was a free spirit who crawled out of her bedroom window the night of her high school graduation and headed to the South (this was in the 1940s...she was definitely a rebel). So while she saw the rest of her family as ultra-square, she was the artsy rebel...the cool one. I could hear her saying this sentiment in a joking way. Okay, I'm rambling. Here's the card:

I used Unity's "One of a Kind" stamp and colored it with Copics. Love that stamp set! I paper pieced the outfits and hands, and I made the tongue-and-cheek sentiment in Word to go with the idea. I gave the rebel girl a tan, too. Maybe she was making cards on her yacht.
Anyhoo, I wanted to share my excitement that Kristina Werner featured my "Head and Shoulders" card as one of her featured 6 for this week's Online Card Camp. She's one of my crafting idols, so I was too excited to sleep (which is why I'm still awake and blogging). Thanks, Kristina!

Thanks for looking! Have a great day and weekend!

Head and Shoulders Above the Rest

2011-07-14T11:29:00.000-05:00

I'm playing along with the Online Summer Card Camp color challenge. I went with a graphic approach using some of Ali Edwards's digital words:

I recolored, resized, and cropped the words in Photoshop. I went back and forth about embellishing the card and even got as far as making a bow-tie bow for the top, but I decided I thought the words could stand alone. Agree, disagree? Here's the other version:

If, for some strange reason, you are a major Brady Bunch aficionado, you may remember Peter asking Greg for synonyms for the word "best at his job." [The episode where Peter is a reporter and gets a bad grade in Science.} Greg gives a few suggestions and finally comes up with "head and shoulders above the rest." When I look at the card, it reminds me of that episode. Now I'm going to be humming the Brady Bunch song all day.

Thanks for looking! Have a great day, friends!

It's All About the Inside

2011-07-13T15:25:00.000-05:00

Hi friends! First of all, thank you SO much for your kind comments on my last post. You all are the best! I'm still having a hard time, but crafting has been a good distraction.

I haven't entered a Lawnscaping challenge in a while, so I decided to create a card for the "Don't Forget the Inside" challenge. This card went through three iterations before turning into this card:

I'm digging the black and white, but here's the inside:

I used two Lawn Fawn sets: How Delightful and Just My Type. The papers are from Basic Grey's Lauderdale collection (which I don't know how I ever lived without). Here's a close-up:

Yes, it's a pop-up. And no, I had never made a pop-up card before. But, I figured it out without having a nervous breakdown. It helped to make a base underneath the patterned paper to add structure and also to cut the patterned paper after I had centered the pop-up. I could have just figured out the measurements in advance, but that would have required more thinking than I'm capable of doing at 11pm. Here's the side view:

Thanks for looking! Have a great day!

Love You...

2011-07-11T16:00:00.000-05:00

Howdy! I took some time today to make a card for the Moxie Fab World Beautiful Borders challenge:

I used patterned paper from Basic Grey, Echo Park (2 or 3 lines) and Cosmo Cricket. All of the patterned papers (and Echo Park borders) were on my craft table {you know it's time to clean when you find papers from the PC Go-To-Sketches 2 call on your desk}. I punched or used scissors to decorate the edges of the borders. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday's Love Always Wins set.

I opted on that sentiment as a tribute to my dog, Gracie. This weekend, we had to make the gut-wrenching decision to put Gracie to sleep. For the past 3 weeks she had been going downhill quickly, and she spent all of last week in the vet clinic or animal hospital. We brought her home on Friday after the vet told us she would probably would not live through the weekend.

Needless to say, the grief has been pretty overwhelming. It's been hard to undo 14 years of habits. I keep finding myself at the back door trying to grab a leash... I keep looking for her in her bed in the living room... Our cat keeps wandering around looking for her, too.

I got Gracie when I was in graduate school, living in Texas (I always imagined she had a Texas drawl). Hubby came into the picture about a year later, and she thought he was acceptable. :) So, it was the 3 of us for the next 7 years until the first kiddo came along. She was such an awesome dog...zippy but not high strung. She was a trooper through our many moves. I miss her so much. Here's one of my favorite pictures of her; I think she looks like she's smiling:

Thanks for reading....I still haven't been able to talk about her, but it helps to write. It was also helpful this weekend to get lost in the card blog world and look at some amazing cards.

Thanks, friends.

Shine On

2011-07-07T23:06:00.002-05:00

Happy Thursday! I've been such a bad blogger lately...but life's just been, well, life!

I needed a diversion today, so I decided to tackle this week's Summer Card Camp color challenge. {As an aside, if you get a chance to take this class in the future, it is awesome and worth it.} Anyhoo, I love sketch challenges, but color challenges...they're hard for me. Here's what I came up with:

I was inspired by Kristina Werner's video on mixing patterned papers. If you click on the photo, you can see the papers better. I used papers from 3 manufacturers (Cosmo Cricket, Echo Park, and We R Memory Keepers), and I tried to match the embellishments, too. It reminds me of my aunt who always matched her belt, purse, and shoes. Yeah, I'm not the matchy type, but I went for it.

Thanks for looking, friends! Have a great day!

From Under My Rock

2011-06-07T21:56:00.003-05:00

Hi friends! First, I apologize for not visiting and leaving blog love the past couple of weeks....

partly it's been crazy work (I've been working double-time the past 3 weeks trying to get a grant proposal written)....

partly it's been travel (I was in Denver last week for work)....

partly it's been enjoying my free time with my family (especially now that we finally have nice weather!).

But, I promise to catch up on my visits....I miss seeing what everyone is doing!

I haven't had a chance to make anything new. Well, I did make one card a couple of weeks ago, but it was ugly. Embarrassingly ugly. So it's not getting posted. I guess I can't card under pressure. :)
But, I am going to post a card I've submitted twice but didn't get picked up. I still love this card. It does have a bit of an identity crisis--I'm not sure when I would use this card. Maybe a fall wedding? Chinese New Year? Happy fall? Good luck with the power blackout? Hmmmm... Anyhoo, here it is:

The lanterns and sentiment are from Lawn Fawn's Lunar Lights. I used alcohol inks to create a gradient and then stamped the lanterns onto the gradients. Actually, I stamped about 15 and mixed them up to see which I liked the best. The linen ribbon is from May Arts.

This card was actually on a red base in its first life. But, I decided that I would push the color scheme and used violet and turquoise. I managed to pull off the front panel without ripping it--thank goodness.

I also wanted to thank Emily Leiphart for passing on her Versatile Blogger award. Thanks, Emily! If you haven't checked out her blog, it's a definite must-see. She's such a FAB card maker!

Thanks for looking...I really appreciate it! Have a great night.

Sweet Tooth

2011-05-21T21:57:00.001-05:00

I decided to play along with this week's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger:

Loved the picture, but at first, nothing came to mind. Then I thought about how the cake looks like a little box, and so I decided to make a box incorporating the same colors, loop-de-loops, and the sweet tooth angle:

See the tooth? Get it, sweet tooth? (ha ha ha, I crack myself up!). So, here's the deal: The box is actually for my daughter's first tooth, which fell out a couple of weeks ago (hence, the tooth on the tag). The tooth fairy came, and now I have this tooth that I didn't want to just toss, but it would get crushed in her baby book. So, a box it is. Here are a few close-ups:

The whole idea of a box for her tooth reminds me a little of my husband's grandmother. Apparently, she kept jars of her body parts on her living room shelf from various surgeries throughout her life. She was from the generation where you never threw anything away in case you needed it later...although I can't think of a time when a spare gallbladder would come in handy.... Hopefully, I'll just stick to the one tooth.

Anyhoo, to make this box, I used a My Time Made Easy template, resized it in SCAL, and cut it out on my Cricut. Then, I stamped the Mint Motif Beyond Borders on the wrapper portion of the box before assembling. I lined part of the inside of the box with patterned paper to add a little pop of pink and to include the loops again. The tooth on the PTI tag is a clip art picture. I glued two tags together, and on the backside, you can see a tiny heart that I inked and heat embossed with holographic e.p. I'm hoping to make a little pillow for the inside, or maybe my mom will make a pillow (hint, hint).

As an aside, a big thank you to PaperCrafts for accepting a few of my cards for the Card a Day call (I was absurdly excited!). And a big thank you to Paige at the create blog for including one of my pink cards in last week's challenge gallery!

Thanks so much for looking!

Here are the deets:
Stamps: Beyond Borders (Mint Motif)
Ink: Sky Blue (Brilliance)
Embossing Powder: Holographic (Ranger)
Cardstock: white (PTI)
Patterned Paper: (Bo Bunny)
Digital Element: Under Cover (My Time Made Easy)
Dies: Tiny Tags (PTI)
Border Punch: (Martha Stewart)
Ribbon: (May Arts)

Pink Goodness

2011-05-18T13:15:00.000-05:00

My best friend's daughter, Maddy, is turning 6 in a few weeks, and I need to send her a card. She loves pink, and so I thought I'd make her a pink card. It just so happens that the create blog is having a 100% pink card challenge, and I thought "no problem." Well, two cards and a few hours later, I realized that making a card only in one color with the supplies I had at hand was not as easy as I thought. Anyhoo, I think I finally made a crazy pink card for Maddy:

Yes, it's PINK! Just to point a few details, I started by stamping the background with Mint Motif's Beyond Borders using VersaMark (and got them straight--yeah!!). Then I stamped the cupcake on a pale pink cardstock (it looks almost white, but it is pink) and on the felt. And btw, stamping with pink ink onto pink felt doesn't leave a dark impression (LOL!). The pink "sprinkles" are Jolee's crystals. Finally, the sentiment is a little hard to see in the photo, but I actually stamped the sentiment twice--once in a pale pink and next to it in a hot pink to create a shadow (yes, I know it's hard to see).

I thought I'd share the first card I made. I liked this card...much softer look...but I decided it wasn't quite right for Maddy:

Isn't that little birdie cute? He's from PTI's Little Bitty Bird die. Again, I stamped the background with Mint Motif's Beyond Borders. For the window, I attached a textured cardstock circle in the background color--it looks like woodgrain to me. After assembling everything, I tied a pink silk bow...I can't help it, but I keep touching the soft ribbon (hope I don't get it grimy!).

Thanks so much for looking!

Here are the deets:
Card 1
Stamps: Beyond Borders (Mint Motif), Bake Me a Cake (Lawn Fawn)
Ink: VersaMark, Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Cardstock: Raspberry Fizz (PTI) light pink (Bazzill)
Patterned Paper: Summertime collection (Echo Park)
Die: Limitless Layers (PTI)
Bling: rhinestones (Kaisercraft), crystals (Jolee's)
Felt: Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Ribbon is from my stash

Card 2:
Stamps: Beyond Borders (Mint Motif)
Ink: VersaMark, Raspberry Fizz (PTI), Petal Pink (VersaColor)
Cardstock: Raspberry Fizz (PTI) light pink & pink (Bazzill)
Die: Little Bitty Bird (PTI), Labels #1 (Spellbinders)
Border Punch: Apron Lace (Fiskars)
Felt: Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Bling: seed bead (my stash)
Pen: Pink Gelly Roll (Sakura)
Ribbon: (May Arts)

Getting to Know You...

2011-05-10T23:41:00.001-05:00

Hi friends! Kalyn Kepner did a fun post on her blog about crafting preferences and Sandy Ang has been asking a variety of questions to get to know people better on her blog. They've been fun to read, so I thought I would do a similar post. It reminds me of the "surveys" we used to make up for each other in elementary school. So, if you want a fun break, please answer in the comments section:

1) How long have you been papercrafting?
2) How would you describe your style?
3) Music or no music while craft? What kind?
4) Do you clean your papercrafting spot every time you are done or is it an ongoing disaster (or something in between)?
5) If you were lost in a deserted craft store and could only have 3 paper lines, what would they be?
6) What's your favorite brand of ink (if you stamp)?
7) Do you sketch out your cards ahead of time or do you craft-as you go?
8) What would be your dream job in the papercrafting world?

Here are my own responses:

1) About 3 years now. Over 5 years ago I made all of my daughter's birth announcements but was so sick of it, I stayed away for a while. A couple of years later, I was making hair clips & bows for my daughter and wanted to die cut some components. As I was looking for a die cutter, I stumbled on the card making supplies. Yikes!
2) I don't post every card I make, but I would say my style is fun, colorful, punny. I like to try new cards and techniques.
3) No music.
4) Cleaning, what cleaning? I try to clean a little as I go, but at the moment, my craft room looks like a pigsty (no offense to the pigs).
5) Okay, other than that would be my ultimate fantasy (being deserted in a craft store), my faves would probably be Cosmo Cricket, Echo Park, and October Afternoon (although I've been using a ton of Crate lately).
6) I love Memento inks, but I recently found Jenni Bowlin's inks, and they are my new fave.
7) Not only do I make sketches, I keep an computerized database of potential cards (yes, I am a nerd). If I craft on the spot without at least a basic sketch & plan, they almost always turn out horribly.
8) Tough call. I would either be a professional instructor or design my own line of kitchy/punny stamps or work for a card magazine or own a craft store (I guess I love it all!).

Now it's your turn!

I have to give a huge thanks to Robin at Bows and Berries for including my card in the Top 3 of her Bright and Bold challenge for this card. I used the Bows and Berries "stash and glasses" digital stamp...super fun stamp out of her circus line. Thanks so much, Robin!

Wish me luck tomorrow making it through my daughter's school program on her last day of preschool (cue the Sunrise, Sunset music again). Have a great day (or night)!

Through the Gears....

2011-05-06T15:51:00.002-05:00

You may remember those old Dunkin' Donuts commercials where the guy wakes up and in a zombie-like state and utters over and over again "time to make the donuts." Yeah, that's how I often feel in the mornings (except I'm not making donuts). For me, it's more like time to change the diaper, time to get breakfast ready, time to get the chickadees dressed, time to take them to school...if you're a mom, you probably know what I mean. It's those mornings where my daughter adamently refuses to wear pants when it's 0 degrees or when my son poops up to his neck that shake me out of the zone. The gears stop working.

Thus, the inspiration for today's card. The "gears" on the card are actually doily stamps from Studio Calico (and yes, they are fabulous stamps). Here's what I came up with:

The sentiment is from Everyday Button Bits from PTI...lots of sentiments on that set. I liked the first card so much, I decided to make a set of them for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. Here they are (click on the photos to see them up close):

While these cards look really easy, they were actually pretty hard to make (at least for me). I had a hard time getting the ink colors to look good together on each doily (there are 3 inks on each one). I would try one color scheme and one color would be too yellow or too dark, etc. But once I got the colors right, the stamping was pretty easy. Except I messed up at least once for each card (always on the last doily) and had to flip it over and stamp them again. In the end, I decided they were good enough and stamped on the sentiments. In the end, I think they turned out nice for notecards.

I also decided to add the Google Follower link (see left), so now you can follow me (in a Google way, not in a cult sort of way). Thanks for looking! I really appreciate your support--you all are awesome (well, maybe not the people who keep spamming me, but everyone else is awesome!).

Here are the deets:
Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (PTI); Doilies (Studio Calico)
Inks: A zillion
Cardstock: white, Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Royal Velvet (PTI), the last of my beloved turquoise (Bazzill)
Rhinestones: (Me and My Big Ideas) & (Kaisercraft)

100 Minus 1

2011-05-04T22:12:00.002-05:00

Just a quick card today that I made a couple of weeks ago. Even though the card could be romantic, I actually made it with my BFF, Diane, in mind. We've been best friends for almost 15 years...she handed me a tissue when I started crying during our first week of graduate school (I wasn't used to getting chewed out by profs), and we've been best buds ever since. Anyhoo, I wanted to make a sweet card for her with her favorite color (PINK!):

I channeled Karen Baker in this card. She is such a talented designer and uses inks amazingly well. So, in this card, I stamped 3 (maybe 4?) different hearts from various Lawn Fawn sets and heat embossed them. Then, I sponged a slightly lighter pink ink over the hearts and wiped away the ink on the resist (I'm not even sure if I'm saying that right, but yadda, yadda, you know what I'm talking about). Here's a close-up of the hearts:

The sentiment is from the "Beautiful You" set by Verve...great sentiment set I got off Craigslist super cheap a while back (thank goodness Mr. Stamping Stranger-Danger wasn't waiting for me!).

As an aside, thank you for all of the super supportive comments you left on my last post (well, all posts!). I so appreciate it!! Anyhoo, have a great night or morning!

Wilford Brimley, Here I Come!

2011-04-30T14:13:00.004-05:00

Happy weekend! I decided to join the fun in this week's Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger:

Looking at the trigger, I wanted to do something graphic, a little retro, and use my new Bella Blvd. Mr. Boy paper. Here's what I came up with:

First, I scalloped-punched the Mr. Boy paper (this punch has small holes below the scallops). The digital stamp is from Bows and Berries--love the funny retro vibe. Since the stamp is digital, I was able to color the moustache and eyebrows grey on the computer, and I ended up coloring in the glasses with a Copic. I played around with the card design for about an hour and tried various elements to finish the card. Then it hit me--SUSPENDERS! I've had these loops in my stash for a few years, and I was able to pair them with some red ribbon. Of course I couldn't end the suspenders in a "normal" place, so I took them all the way to the top (and over-the-top!). When I was done, he reminded me of Wilford Brimley!

I feel a little funny about what I'm about to post, but I wanted to share my good card news from the past couple of days. First, my card was included in the last CREATE challenge (see here), and then I got an honorable mention from the Lawnscaping Challenge (see here), and at the end of yesterday I found out I had 2 projects picked up by Paper Crafts for the Holiday Cards & More call. I was so ecstatic by all three, and I still can't believe it! (Little ole' me!) When I found out about the PC acceptances, I felt like one of those people on American Idol when they get a golden ticket (you know how they run around screaming and flailing). Okay, that was me. I actually had another card picked up by PC last month (for the Go-To Sketches), but since it had been my first time submitting, I think I was more shocked than anything. This time I think I appreciated the acceptances even more. :) I am so grateful and honored by the recognition!

Thanks for looking, and thanks for your encouragement!!

Tin Can "Hello"

2011-04-27T12:02:00.001-05:00

The current Lawnscaping Challenge is to use any kind of critter. Even though I have quite a few Lawn Fawn sets (read: over 10), I only have 1 with a critter. So I knew I had to make a card with the My Silly Valentine bunny. What to do with a bunny? Give it a telephone, of course. And not just a telephone, but a tin can phone. I have no idea where these loony ideas come from. Instead of a card, I made a gift bag (it would have been good for Easter...oh well!). Here's what I came up with:

I used 4 Lawn Fawn sets: My Silly Valentine (bunnies), Partly Cloudy (the hard to discern clouds), Just My Type ("hello"), and Lunar Lights (the tin cans). The bunny on the left is reverse-stamped. I couldn't get a very clear image...any suggestions?

Thanks for looking, and thanks for the continued support! You all are super!

Here are the deets:
Stamps: (Partly Cloudy, My Silly Valentine, Lunar Lights, Just My Type) Lawn Fawn
Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko; white (ColorBox)
Cardstock: (blue) Bazzill, (green) DCWV)
Patterned Paper: (Life is Good collection) Echo Park; (bunnies stamped on) American Crafts
Markers: Copics & Sakura Gelly Roll
Ribbon: craft supply

Not a Weed

2011-04-21T11:55:00.001-05:00

My hubby and I met on a blind date set up by our parents (like an arranged marriage??). Our first meeting was in a sports bar, with my brothers, their wives, my mother and his friend in attendance--really romantic. Later at home, I told my mother "He's a nice guy, but it's not like anything is going to come of it. I'm in Texas (I was in graduate school) and he's in South Dakota." Yeah, famous last words. So tomorrow is our 11th wedding anniversary.

I made a card for him, and while it is incredibly feminine, I think his shmoopie side will like it. I was inspired by Paige's challenge over on the Create blog to make a card with the sentiment "If friends were flowers, I'd pick you." I got out my stamp from Lawn Fawn's "Hello, Friend" set, and created this card:

Yeah, I know...isn't that digital stamp from Pink Cat Studios so stinkin' cute?! Here's a close-up:

I broke out the Copics again, and while I am such a novice, it was so much fun to color the image. I feel like I'm 7 when I'm coloring. Come to think of it, the coloring kind of looks like an 7-year-olds (LOL!).

Thanks for looking, and thanks for the comments!

Here are the deets:

Stamps: Hello Friend (Lawn Fawn); Itty Bitty Betty Flower Hug (Pink Cat Studios)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Cardstock: white (PTI)

Patterned Paper: clouds (American Crafts); plaid (Doodlebug Designs); flowers (Echo Park)

Bling: Doodlebug Designs

Lead Foot

2011-04-17T08:25:00.001-05:00

Hi! I hope your weekend is going well. We had snow yesterday (yikes, in mid-April?!).

When I was driving around the rolling hills of Kentucky last week, I thought of one of my favorite cards that I haven't posted. The card reminds me of speeding down a hill (going way too fast). Anyhoo, here's the card:

The card is supposed to be a travel card. The filmstrip is supposed to look like road, except then the card would be driving over the lane lines (ha ha). I still really like the movement of the card, though.

Have a great day! Thanks for looking!

Here are the details:

Cardstock: Dark Chocolate (PTI)

Patterned Paper: green from the Animal Crackers line (Imaginisce); filmstrip, camera, blue and white, and orange from the Pasta Fagioli line (Jillibean Soup)

Stamps: Chatterbox (Practicing Creativity Designs)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Sticker: Out & About (We R Memory Keepers)

They Say It's Your Birthday...

2011-04-15T22:17:00.006-05:00

Happy Friday! It's been a quiet craft week for me--I've been in Lexington, KY this week for a busy work week. I got back last night just in time for my hubby's birthday (today). He's a little funny about birthdays and doesn't like any fuss on his big day. Of course, I just ignore his pleas, give him a present, and create at least a minor stir on his big day.

For some reason, though, I hadn't made a card for him before I left for Kentucky. So...I needed to make one this morning while my son napped. My daughter was playing with my stamps while I was creating (always a little scary when she's around the ink pads), but she helped me decide on the general design. Anyhoo, here's the card:

Pretty simple. All of the stamps are from Practicing Creativity Designs. I did make an oops on the "HAPPY" sentiment and accidentally used dye ink instead of a Versamark pad (there were a lot of inks out). Luckily, my Ranger embossing pen came to the rescue, and I wrote over the stamped sentiment. It's not perfect, but it looks much better having both sentiments clear embossed.

My daughter was so proud of the card when she gave it to him! I love that she likes crafty things (I think that's my form of crafty brainwashing...).

Have a great weekend. Thanks for looking!

Here's the scoop:
Cardstock: blue and kraft (Bazzill)
Stamps: Another Year (PCD)
Ink: Versamark; Rich Cocoa (Memento)
Patterned Paper: Martha Stewart
Brads: Making Memories

Tragic Hair

2011-04-11T15:29:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time, my mom asked me if I would help her color her hair. Typically, she had her hair colored at a salon, but for some reason, she decided to do it at home. At that time, the extent of my hair processing experience was a one-time spiral perm in 7th grade. And once I cut Brother #2's hair with clippers when he was in high school (he ended up having to shave the sides his head--oops!). So, I wasn't exactly the best person to help her. But I did. And her hair ended up orange. Not a pretty reddish orange....an orange color not found in nature. Kind of like a crossing guard vest. Against her olive complection, it was definitely a hair horror...almost as bad as when Brother #2 had a perm (hey, it was the mid-80s).

Thus was the inspiration for the card set I made for my mom, which I'm entering in the Moxie Fab World Card Set Challenge. I used one of my all-time favorite stamp sets from Crafty Secrets for a retro look, and I made my first foray into Copic-ing. So please squint a little...I have no idea what I'm doing. Here is the set:

The papers are from the Gertie line of Stella & Rose...I think it works well with the stamps. For each card, I colored the woman's hair pink. Now my mom's hair was orange, but I didn't think the orange quite worked (maybe fluorescent orange??). Anyhoo, here are a couple of close-ups:

I layered the stamped images onto Spellbinders Lacey Circles. I also used a border punch on the red and cream paper--kind of hard to tell in the pictures. Here's the box I made to put the cards in:

The template is one of the Paper Crafts magazine downloads (from Gina K.). This was my first card box from scratch, but it was fun to make and I'll use this template again!

Thanks for looking, and thanks so much for the comments!

The sun and the rain and the apple seed...

2011-04-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

So my daughter's last day of preschool is in a few weeks (*sniff, sniff*). Wow, where did the year go? Her preschool teacher has been teaching for over 20 years and is the calmest, most graceful person. Seriously, I don't know how she does it! So, as a thank you, I decided to make a card for her.

I combined inspiration from two challenges. Over at Lawnscaping, the challenge is to use stamps to make patterned paper. I was inspired by the colors from the 50th OTWC challenge. Anyhoo, here's the card:

The little apple stamps are from the My Silly Valentine set. Adorable! And not all apples are red, right? I thought other colors of apples would be cute (Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, and Pink Ladies). After stamping the apples, I stitched around the edges. Yeah, I'm not the best sewer (ha ha). I also used a border punch on the green patterned paper. Here's a close up of the sentiment:

The journaling card is from the new Echo Park Playground collection. The little crayon is fussy cut from some We R Memory Keepers paper. The "thanks" stamp is from Lawn Fawn (when you make a purchase).

Thanks so much for looking!

Here's what I used:
Stamps: My Silly Valentine, "thanks" (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: New Leaf (PTI)
Patterned Paper: Playground journaling card (Echo Park); green, red polka dot, crayon from Show & Tell (We R Memory Keepers)
Sticker: Sweet Summertime border (Echo Park)
Border Punch: Apron Lace (Fiskars)

April Showers...

2011-04-06T14:18:00.002-05:00

We were taking a walk around the neighborhood yesterday evening and I did see a funny looking green object coming out of the ground. Could it be? Possibly? Can I utter the words (flower bulbs) without jinxing it?

Yeah, spring! In honor of the season, I made another bold flower card. The color and blooms inspiration came from the Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger pic:

Love the varied colors. I decided to use about 10 Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks for the background like I did in this card. Luckily, the sun has been out the past couple of days, so I was able to snap a brighter photo:

Isn't that tie-dye effect brash and perfect for spring? My 5-year-old and I often make these together (I made this one, but her backgrounds are often way-better than mine). We drop 1 drop of ink on the photo paper at a time and immediately blow on it several times through a half-size straw. She hasn't passed out yet from the rapid blowing...always a good thing.

The cute sentiment is from the Hello Friend from PTI. I really like how the sentiment works with the rest of the card. Here's a close-up of the flower:

The cool flower stamp is Penny Black's Burst of Stars and I heat embossed it for more contrast (this week's PTI Make It Monday challenge).

I hope you have a great day! Thanks for looking and thanks for the comments!

Here's the scoop:
Cardstock: white (PTI), red (AC cardstock)
Stamps: Burst of Stars (Penny Black); Hello Friend (PTI)
Ink: Frost White (Colorbox); Warm Red (Cat's Eye); Tim Holtz Alcohol inks
Ribbon: American Crafts
Rhinestone: Doodlebug Designs

Little Bambi

2011-04-05T21:28:00.003-05:00

Hidy ho! (That's gnome talk for hello!) My Gnomebody Like You stamps from Wilson Designs are still on my desk, and so I decided to whip up another card with them again. I actually made a very similar card a couple of weeks ago but never posted it because the sentiment wasn't quite right. So, true to my neuroticism, I had to remake the card. Here's the new one:

Pretty simple! The tree is from the Ride Away With Me set from Wilson Designs (loving their stamps!), and I paper pieced a yellow heart on the tree. I paired the tree with the adorable deer. I used a few colored pencils to color the "white" portions of the deer. Here's a close-up of the sentiment:

I stamped the sentiment on Basic Grey paper and made a little bow. It's hard to tell in the photo, but I used my PTI woodgrain impression plate on the sentiment (squint, squint). Apparently I don't remember the sandwich formula through my Cuttlebug because the plate was completely curled after I ran it through! Yikes! Luckily, I was able to bend the metal back. I'll have to look up that formula, though!

Thanks for looking! I have been so thrilled with how the kind comments I've received--thank you!!

Hello, Friend

2011-04-02T22:24:00.003-05:00

Hi friends! I hope you are enjoying your weekend. We went to a small town about an hour away tonight for their annual Schmeckfest (i.e., a German food free-for-all). Yummy!! They sell food too, so I was able to buy 3 large bags of my beloved pfeffernusse cookies (hey, they freeze...gotta think ahead).

Anyhoo, afterward I was able to finish up a card for the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger. Here's a pic of the trigger:

I went round and round about the card and actually made two cards (the first one was so lame that I won't even post it). But, I finally came up with this card:

I like that the card has the same country feel as the trigger. The cute watering can card base is from Waltzingmouse Stamps, the orange sun rays are from Practicing Creativity Design, and the sentiment is from Lawn Fawn. Here's a close-up of the sentiment:

The sentiment is stamped on light blue patterned grid paper from Echo Park, which is actually different than the background...I guess I like that color and pattern! I inked up the edges of the watering can to give it a little more weathered look. Here's a picture of the flowers:

Thanks for looking and thanks for the comments!

Here are the details:
Cardstock: white (PTI)
Patterned Paper: from the Playground collection (Echo Park)
Template: Watering Can (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Stamps: Hello Friend (Lawn Fawn); You're Dandy (PCD)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up)
Flowers: Imaginisce
Rhinestones: blue (Kaisercraft); orange (Bo Bunny)

Congrats, Grad!

2011-03-31T09:45:00.001-05:00

One of my former students called me a few weeks ago to catch-up. Melissa is graduating in May with her Bachelor's degree in Nursing and she received her dream job offer of an OB nursing position. I'm so excited for her! I was one of Melissa's advisor since her freshman year in college, and so I've really seen her change over the past few years. Thus, the inspiration for today's card:

I used Waltzingmouse Stamps' Teeny Trees to show the trees from Winter to Summer. The grid is flush-left...kind of a cool look I think. Here are a few close-ups to see some of the details:

I used a yellow glittery pen to draw the buds and the inks are Brilliance, which give a lot of shimmer in person. Here's a close-up of the sentiment I made in Word (I don't have a graduation sentiment??):

The change in the trees reminded me of the transformation of Melissa--starting out fresh from high school, having a few bumps along the way, but turning into someone who is really ready to move onto the next phase of her life. I'm so proud of her!

Thanks for looking, and thanks for the kind comments!

Here's what I used:
Cardstock: Kraft & Vintage Cream (PTI)
Patterned Paper: from the Walk in the Park collection (Echo Park)
Stamps: Teeny Trees (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Inks: Rocket Red, Sage (Dew Drop); Peacock Trio (Archival); Rich Cocoa (Memento)
Pen: yellow glitter (Sakura)
Rhinestone: from the Holiday Assortment (Doodlebug Designs)

Gnomephile

2011-03-29T22:41:00.003-05:00

I think I am becoming addicted to gnomes...not sure what that says about me! But my new Gnomebody Like You stamps from Wilson Designs are super fun.

Last week, I posted this boy gnome card, so I had to make a girly gnome card. I went with a real simple design, and my color inspiration came from the amazing Chan Vuong's gift bag (if you haven't already, check out her fab color combos during the latest Lawn Fawn release). Anyhoo, here's the card:

Aren't those gals too cute? And yes, they are supposed to be off-set. : ) Here's a close-up:

The sentiments in this set are very punny (and if you look at any of my other posts, you'll see I love those puns). The yellow button is from My Favorite Things (they sell buttons now) and the salmon one is PTI. Of course, when my husband saw the card he said the buttons looked like a pig nose (yeah, thanks for the honesty...now all I see is a pig).

Thanks for looking and thanks for the comments!

Spring is on the Way (Soon!)

2011-03-27T18:43:00.004-05:00

Happy Sunday! Just a quick post today. Today's card is a thank-you for my in-laws for watching our kiddos when I was traveling over the past couple of weeks. So thank you!

The yellow die-cut was done on my Cricut and most of the patterned papers are from Echo Park. The floral look to the card was inspired by the Die Cuttin' Divas Spring is on the Way challenge. Here's the card:

A little different for me (even my hubby noticed), but when I make cards for others, I try to do something I think they'll like. Here's a close-up:

The die-cut butterflies are from the My Favorite Things....cool dies that come in 3 sizes.

Thanks for looking, and thanks for the comments!

Here's what I used:

Cardstock: Hawaiian Shores (PTI)

Patterned Papers: Life is Good collection (Echo Park); yellow-Urban Prairie (Basic Grey); pink (Fancy Pants)

Stickers: Life is Good (Echo Park)

Flowers: pink and blue (Prima); yellow (Recollections)

Dies: Butterfly trio (My Favorite Things); Paper Lace (Cricut Expression)

Citiscape

2011-03-26T21:28:00.002-05:00

Moxie Fab World is having a Citiscapes Are on the Rise challenge. I checked out some of the cards, and *wow*! Thought I would whip something up.

This CAS card should have taken me a short amount of time to create, but I mulled over the colors, the die-cut for the window, to sentiment or not to sentiment... I am way too analytical when it comes to cards! I actually finished the card, tore off the top layer, and created another card (I do this a lot!). Anyhoo, here's the final product:

I drove my husband crazy discussing the sentiment (I mean really, how many times can two people discuss a card sentiment?). I decided to go the cutesy route with a quote from PTI's Everyday Button Bits...I think it's a quote in Cinderella, but it is sweet and appropriate. The sentiment reminds me of people moving to the city to pursue their dreams (a little corny but happy!). Here's a close-up:

I'm going to give this card to my brother and sister-and-law who moved into a larger house this month. Yippee for them!

Thanks for looking, and thanks for the comments!!

Here's what I used:

Cardstock: white (Papertrey Ink), yellow (Bazzill)

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (PTI)

Dye ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukinenko)

Font: Little City (FontRiver.com)

Dies: Labels #14 (Spellbinders); sun- Cricut Expression (Provocraft)

Orange Crush

2011-03-24T22:27:00.001-05:00

I have a crush on the Imaginisce Berrylicious collection. Smiling fruit...bright colors...cute sayings...it has it all. This paper just speaks to me (besides "buy me!"). Although maybe I need therapy since I'm hearing paper talking to me ;)

Of course the Berrylicious orange die-cut came to mind after I saw this week's Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger:

Aren't those colors yummy? I also based the card off of this week's Card Patterns #107 sketch:

I also used my new Wilson Designs Ride Away With Me stamps for the heart background. The stamp has just a few hearts, but Kim Wilson is brilliant in making this stamp so it's easy to line up. Therefore even though I must have stamped the hearts 50 times, it went fast.

*sigh* Isn't he too cute? I want to squeeze him!

I fussy cut the sentiment and put it over a die-cut doily from My Favorite Things. The pattern paper and yellow sticker borders are from Echo Park and the cardstock is Papertrey. The screen print is from Hambly.

Thanks for looking and thanks for the comments!

There's Gnomebody Like You

2011-03-24T11:08:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I won the new Gnomebody Like You set from Wilson Designs (thanks, Kim!). These stamps rock! If you haven't seen them, then check them out.

Anyhoo, when I think of gnomes (not that I spend a lot of time thinking about gnomes), I imagine them peeking around trees and corners. So, I paired the gnomes peeking out with cathedral window paper blocks. My mom recently suggested that I look at the cathedral windows used in quilting blocks, and I tried it out.

I was inspired by the OTWC #49 Challenge colors--love those colors! Here's the card:

Aren't those gnomes hilarious? The sentiment is also part of the set. I paper-pieced the gnomes and colored their faces. Here's a close-up:

I used one of my all-time favorite older lines of Cosmo Cricket. Here's a close-up of the sentiment:

I colored the hilarious sentiment with colored pencils--markers looked a little harsh with the rest of the card, so I tried pencils. A little Twinery twine tops it off.

Here's what I found playing around with the cathedral folds (at least the way I did them):

Heavier paper (over 60lbs.) or papers with texture didn't work as well....even ATG tape wouldn't hold down the edges past a few hours.
I put solid cardstock squares on the inside, but double-sided paper would work, too.
I used Score-Tape to hold the edges down, but it seems like weighing down the papers for a day (before putting them on the card) seems to help the tape hold.

Thanks for looking and thanks for the comments!

First Birthday!

2011-03-21T20:59:00.000-05:00

There's no card today--just a personal post.

I'm still in Kansas City, but my son is at home celebrating his 1st birthday today. We had a party for him on Saturday, and I snapped a few pictures. See captions for his perspective:

Hmmm...why are these people singing? What are those floating shiny things? Why is that thing on fire?

I guess I'll pick up this food and try it...I can always spit it up later.

Mmmm...it's good! Where's more?

Yeah! I've had sugar! I'm saving a little frosting on my highchair to eat later.

Happy 1st birthday to my little man! Thanks for letting me indulge.

(Not) A Bun in the Oven

2011-03-20T20:53:00.002-05:00

I drove to Kansas City today for work this week. I'm not sure if there was an 80s flashback on every radio station this weekend or if the recession is really hitting the midwestern radio stations, but jeez, there were more 80s tunes than back in the 1980s! I heard Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" 4 times this afternoon (yes, really). Kind of made me feel like I was in a Top Gun marathon...except I was looking at Iowa countryside instead of Tom Cruise....and I wasn't going as fast.

But now I'm ready for my marathon meetings the next few days. Hopefully I'll be able to sneak in a trip to a local scrapbook store one evening! :) If anyone knows of any in the KC metro, please let me know.

I made the card below using the Plus One Lawn Fawn stamps. And no, I am NOT pregnant, but I thought the little bun in the oven was so adorable I had to use it! I'm entering it in the Lawnscaping/Wee Memories Cute and Cuddly Challenge. Anyhoo, here's today's card:

I used Crate "Neighborhood" and "Restoration" patterned papers...like the pink and grey together. The May Arts ruffle ribbon looked kitchen-like to me. I added some Doodlebug jewels to the oven knobs...I think it pulls the yellow together. Here's a close-up of the cute little oven:

We actually used this expression to tell my in-laws about my first child. We put a hamburger bun in the oven and pointed it out...they didn't get it (they called it a roll). After about 10 minutes, they finally understood what we were trying to tell them. Wish I had had these stamps back then!

Thanks so much for looking. Your comments make my day!

Apple of My Eye

2011-03-18T15:56:00.002-05:00

Well, it looks like I'm another Paper Crafts reject. I submitted a card for the clever canvas entries--I thought it was pretty clever (at least very punny).

Before I was making cards regularly, I used to make a lot of hair ribbons and hair clips. So, I decided to try and make korker ribbon out of canvas to make curly "hair." Since I couldn't find any websites that showed korkers out of canvas (I don't think they exist), I consulted my mom and her friends at a quilting retreat to get advice on how to cut the canvas into very narrow strips without shredding it (their take was to cut on the bias with a rotary cutter). With the right amount of fabric stiffener, it worked! Here are the results:

Aren't those canvas korkers cool? At least they look cool in person ;) I used ink to shade them, although you could dye them, too. These little mosters are from My Cute Stamps, the sentiment is from Lawn Fawn, and the apple card template is from Paper Smooches. The papers are from the new Neighborhood collection by Crate.

Above is a close-up of the canvas ribbons. It was pretty challenging to get them to lay flat enough...there are 3D adhesives under the body and regular glue dots under the hair, but the hair is still higher!

I love how the two monsters are holding hands! The sentiment is perfect for the one-eyed monsters, too.

This rejection was pretty disheartening since the card took a lot of thought and time to make. But, that's the way it goes. I'm going to take off the canvas "hair" and add some hearts now, which I think will look better :)

Thanks for looking!

Clear Stamps: (Eek! A Monster) My Cute Stamps; (My Silly Valentine) Lawn Fawn

Inks: (Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko; (Warm Red) Clearsnap; (Petal Pink) VersaColor

Cardstock: (Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush) Papertrey Ink

Patterned paper: (Together and Chores from Neighborhood collection) Crate Paper; (Joy from Stella & Rose Mabel collection) My Mind’s Eye; (Love Letters from Be My Valentine Collection) We R Memory Keepers

Pen: (Gelly Roll White) Sakura

Digital element: (Apple Card Template) Paper Smooches

Fibers: (Satin Center Dot Red ribbon) May Arts

Other: (canvas, wooden dowels, clothespins) craft supply; (Stiffen Stuff Spray fabric stiffener) Beacon

Hellooooo Sunshine!

2011-03-16T20:31:00.002-05:00

I'm in Baltimore for work, and since I've been holed up in a hotel conference room for 9 hours, I have yet to see sunlight. But today's card is inspired by the sun (I'm an Arizona native--love the sun!).

After I finished this card, my 5-year-old daughter said it should be in a museum (awwww!). Her high esteem means this card is high on the tacky-o-meter though. There are enough rhinestones to supply a BeDazzling convention. But, I still think it's fun:

The sunshine stamp is Lawn Fawn, and the sentiment is from PTI. I colored in each letter with markers...reminds me of writing notes in 6 colors of pens in middle school.

Thanks for looking, and thanks for the comments!

Here's the scoop:
Stamps: (Partly Cloudy) Lawn Fawn; (Fillable Frames #5) PTI
Ink: Orchid Pastel, Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); (Canary) VersaColor
Cardstock: (White) PTI; (Yellow) Bazzill
Embossing Powder: (Holographic) Ranger
Makers: Marvy Uchida

Prom?

2011-03-13T12:31:00.003-05:00

This week's Lawnscaping Challenge is to use Lawn Fawn stamps in an unconventional way. Since I turned Lunar Lights into Christmas bulbs for the last challenge (see this card), I couldn't use that idea again. Instead, I used the dress from the brand spankin' new Happily Ever After set (a wedding set), and made it into a prom card.

Now, I never gave or received cards before prom, but I envisioned something glamorous like giving this card to my daughter before her prom. Except that she's 5...and she's not allowed to date until she's at least in her 20s...but that's what I thought of.

I used the sketch from Sketch #106 from Card Patterns. Love that sketch! I'm also entering it into the Moxie Fab Paper Piecing Challenge. Here's the card:

This new stamp set is adorable (like all of them). I'm lucky enough to live by a retailer that sells Lawn Fawn stamps (A Walk Down Memory Lane), so I picked up this set and the new bun in the oven set. The papers are Basic Grey June Bug, which is so cheerful for spring!

I also picked up the new Maya Road satin pleat ribbon in hot pink. Hubba hubba! I twisted it into a boutonniere and used some May Arts wire ribbon to twist around the bottom. The other flowers are Prima.

I used Lawn Fawn's Jessie's ABCs to make a sentiment. I love how I can make any sentiment!

Thanks for looking!

Here's What I used:

Cardstock: Blue & raspberry (Bazzill)

Patterned Paper: June Bug (Basic Grey)

Stamps: Happily Ever After & Jessie's ABCs (Lawn Fawn)

Ink: (ColorBox)

Die: circle (Spellbinders)

Ribbon: Pink Pleat Ribbon (Maya Road); yellow (May Arts)

Flowers: Prima

Rhinestones: Kaisercraft

Monster Hugs & Kisses

2011-03-09T11:00:00.001-06:00

My son's first birthday is in a couple of weeks, so it's time to make some cards for him. This monster sticker from Sassafras is so cute! I paired it with the "XOXO" paper and the coins border to make monster hugs and kisses for a quarter. Clever, huh? Of course at 1, my son isn't going to understand it.

The card is based on sketch #105 from Card Patterns. The sketch worked well for all the patterned papers (there are 6 pp on this card!):

I added some wonky stitching to finish the card and inked up the edges with a cream colored ink to mimic the distressing in the papers.

Isn't he so cute? I put the sticker on the polka dot paper...wasn't sure if it was too much, but I think it works.

Thanks for looking!

Here's the stuff I used:

Cardstock: AC Cardstock

Patterned Paper: Monstrosity (Sassafras); Surprise (Scenic Route); Bungle Jungle (Sassafras)

Sticker: Monstrosity (Sassafras)

Dies: Labels #9 (Spellbinders)

Ink: Alabaster (ColorBox); Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Thread: Yellow denim (YIL)

You're Dandy!

2011-03-07T09:50:00.006-06:00

I love making tie dye backgrounds with alcohol inks. Sometimes rainbow, sometimes purples, sometimes earthy colors...all have a kaleidoscopic look. My 5-year-old daughter likes to make these with me, and they're easy enough that she can do them with a little assistance. The only problem is she often inadvertently spits on hers. :)

We made some tie dye backgrounds yesterday to use in Practicing Creativity Designs' Sketch Challenge. Here's the final card I came up with:

The stamps are from the "You're Dandy" set. The yummy linen ribbon is from May Arts, and I think I could go through 100 yards of it.

Here's a closer view of the paper--sorry for the glare. It is harder to stamp on the photographic paper, and I've found that only white and black ink will have enough contrast. The sentiment is heat embossed to enhance the contrast.

Thanks for looking!

Here are the details:
Cardstock: White (PTI), Turquoise (Bazzill)
Stamps: Just Dandy (PCD)
Ribbon: Sunny Yellow Linen (May Arts)
Pigment Ink: Frost White (ColorBox)
Alcohol Inks: Citrus, Watermelon, Sunshine Yellow, Butterscotch, Cranberry, Lettuce, Wild Plum, Sunset Orange, Stream, Sailboat Blue, Purple Twilight (Ranger)
Embossing Powder: Detail White (my stash)
Other: Photo paper

Fastest Card in the West

2011-03-05T09:16:00.002-06:00

I hope you're having a great weekend!

I don't know about you, but I take a very long time to make a card. I try and retry elements. Not long ago, my husband said, "Each card shouldn't take over an hour, should it?" Well, yes! I think my record is 7 hours, but most cards take at least an hour...and that's after I have an idea.

So "whipping up a card" just isn't in my repertoire. But here it is...a card that took less than 20 minutes to make. And it's cute, too!

I was able to make this card quickly because I used a large sticker and matching papers. Way easy! This balloon cardstock sticker is from Pebbles. These stickers are great and available at Hobby Lobby. The papers are from the Lime Rickey collection, which is one of my all time favorites!

My daughter was invited to a classmate's birthday party in a couple of weeks. I thought this card would work for a 5-year-old boy. Or, if I decide I like it enough, I may give it to my own son (his birthday is in a few weeks) so I can keep looking at it. LOL!

Thanks for looking and the super nice comments!

Here are the elements in the card:
Cardstock: blue (Bazzill)
Patterned Paper: Lime Rickey (Basic Grey)
Sticker: Carnival Snapshot Cardstock Stickers (Pebbles)
Stamp: Think Big Favorites #1 (PTI)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)
Twine: Lemondrop, Peapod, Maraschino (The Twinery)

Ready...Set...Bloom!

2011-03-03T20:52:00.003-06:00

Most of the time when I make a card, I go through enough trials to make two cards (at least). I'll die cut extra pieces, try a ribbon, stamp something on a few colors, etc. And I have a stash of the "good" leftovers.

Earlier this week, I made this card with the large flower. I made a cardstock base, but when I went to attach the flower, it didn't look right and I couldn't cut it down. I tried and tried to get the card to work, but decided I was being completely neurotic. In went the cardstock base into the leftovers drawer.

WPlus9 is having a Color Cue #12 challenge. The challenge colors are kraft, lilac, turquoise, and white. So, I pulled out the base today, covered up the original sentiment, and added lots of stuff to fit the challenge:

There's a whole lot going on here! The Royal Velvet cardstock is stamped with a flourish from Little Yellow Bicycle's Zinnia stamps. The flowers just make me smile!

In person, the black flourishes don't look so shiny and obvious. They're really cool stickers that can be colored with solvent-based inks or markers. I left mine black, but I've used alcohol inks on them before.

The sentiment is also from the Zinnia set. I stamped the sentiment with a chocolate brown ink, but because the Bazzill is irridescent, the color looks just like kraft. I love it when it works out like that!

So glad when I can use leftovers! Actually, I have to. Right now, the drawer is so full I can't even shut it!

Thanks for looking. I really appreciate any comments you leave. Thanks!

Here are the goods:

Cardstock: Royal Velvet, Kraft, Aqua Mist (PTI); Celebrations Linen (Bazzill)

Stamps: Zinnia (Little Yellow Bicycle)

Dies: Perfect Petal Trio (My Favorite Things); Fillable Frames #10 (PTI)

Ink: Timber Brown (Staz On); Versamark

Buttons: Hawaiian Shores (PTI); purple is from my stash

Stickers: Peel-Offs (Magenta Style)

Rhinestones: purple (Jolee's Flat Back Crystals)

I've Got My Eye On You

2011-03-02T14:14:00.004-06:00

This week's Tuesday Trigger on Moxie Fab World was this gorgeous photo:

The picture kind of reminds me of my house...well except the lack of toys...and dust bunnies. I knew I had to recreate the yellow door.

Besides the beautiful color of the door, something that struck me about this picture is the proximity of the table to the door. It appears that the table is blocking the door--trying to keep something out. Of course it made me think "what would be on the other side?" I think I've figured it out:

Okay, it's supposed to be funny. The patterned papers are a mix, but I am dying over the new Stella Rose by My Mind's Eye. Definitely hubba hubba. I wanted to mix the vintage look with the graphic bunny.

The Peeps bunny is glittery, so he (she?) stands out even more than in the photo. Here's a close-up view:

Yes, I realize that the "Welcome" on the mat should be upside down if you were inside a house, but I just went with legibility over realism. {There is a pink bunny in the door...it's not exactly a photograph!)

The doors look pretty simple, but it was rough getting those windows cut and everything lined up. Glad I didn't cut off my finger with the dull craft knife. Yowsers!

To sentiment or not to sentiment...I opted to put the sentiment inside. It's kind of creepy, but it's definitely my sense of humor.

Thanks for looking!

Here are the details on the card:

Cardstock: Vintage Cream: PTI

Patterned Paper: Stella Rose (My Mind's Eye); Nook and Pantry (Basic Grey); Sweet Summertime (Echo Park)

Stamps: Chatterbox (Practicing Creativity Designs); Cuter Than Most (Unity)

Ink: Turquoise (Crafter's); Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Sticker: Peeps (Creative Imaginations)

Brads: (Making Memories)

Happy Happy Everything

2011-03-01T21:02:00.001-06:00

Today we're having warmer weather (that means above freezing!), and it seems like spring is coming. In honor of spring, I decided to make a flower card.

Of course, I couldn't just make a flower using a flower die or flower stamp. Instead, I made a flower out of My Favorite Thing's kite die. Here's the card:

The kite layers didn't fit together evenly, so I overlapped them onto a cardstock base and then cut out the base. I used the new PTI Royal Velvet color--yummy! The stamp in the background (3 "flowers" in a row) is from Little Yellow Bicycle's Zinnia collection. Wow, two background stamped cards in a week?! Crazy!

Here's a close-up of the flower. I layered two buttons and sewed them to the card with metallic thread. Ugh, my sewing skills need improvement...my mother will cringe when she sees the crooked button. LOL!

Thanks for looking!

Here's the stuff for the card:

Cardstock: Royal Velvet (PTI), mustard (The Paper Studio)

Patterned Papers: Zinnia collection (Little Yellow Bicycle)

Stamps: Zinnia (Little Yellow Bicycle); Fillable Frames #5 (PTI)

Ink: Versamark; Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Buttons: Pure Poppy (PTI); orange button from the nice lady with the garage sale in Wellsboro, PA

Twine: Lemondrop (The Twinery)

Thread: Sulky

The Birds

2011-02-28T18:29:00.008-06:00

It's a funny thing--I love to use birds on cards, but in real life, I really dislike birds. All birds...not just pigeons and crows...well, penguins and ostriches are okay (the non-flying birds). I think it's from watching Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds," when I was too young to be watching it. But birds on cards are safe...they aren't going to be trapping me in my house like in the movie.
Die Cuttin' Divas has a Shadows Challenge this week. Here's the backstory behind my (non-traditional-for-me) card. We recently moved from an acreage in Pennsylvania with a 4 acre spring "pond." At night when I looked out at the pond, I often saw birds (and swooping bats). The birds on the pond was the inspiration for the card below:

The background was brayered using a variety of inks and a little sponging at the top. The birds were cut using the Serenade cartridge for my Cricut. I used the shadow function to get the silhouette. The sweet stamp is from the Little Paper Shop "Everyday" set. Bummer about the store closing...

Here's a side view:

This view shows how I did the water. I inked it using blue pigment ink, heat embossed the ink with holographic embossing powder, and then inked over the embossed image using a darker ink. It was close to the effect I was looking for...the water looked so glittery at night.

This card was definitely different for me...distressed, artsy, masculine, but it's good to try something different. Thanks for looking!

Here's the scoop:
Cardstock: Smoky Shadow, White (PTI), Confetti Tan (Stampin' Up)
Stamp: Everyday (Little Paper Shop)
Die Cutter: Serenade cartridge (Cricut) Birds 1, 3, 4 cut at 1" in shadow
Inks: Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed (Ranger Distress Inks); Atlantic Blue (Versacolor); Mediterranean Blue (Tsukineko); White (ColorBox)
Embossing Powder: white (craft supply)
Tools: Brayer

For the Love of Backgrounds

2011-02-25T11:04:00.028-06:00

I'm not a background stamper. Patterned paper is my thing, and I love to use it instead of background stamps. Plus, I had an "incident" a couple of years ago with a large background stamp that traumatized me (okay, not really, but I haven't used large background stamps since that time).

But there it was, Practicing Creativity Design's "For the Love of Grids" stamp set. Mega cool! Had to purchase it and get over my phobia.

I decided to take baby steps and do a very simple card:

But I had trouble since I would flip the stamp when I was re-inking it. The card looks alright from afar, but if you look closely, I'm missing a row of dots and my grid doesn't line up right (see below). Ugh!!

I was going to post this card, but then I decided I had to redo it. PERFECTIONIST alert! Here's the revised card:

Ahhh....much better. I changed the inks a little to make more of a gradient. Now the gridlines lined up--yee haw!

Isn't the ribbon pretty? Courtney uses this ribbon to wrap the stamps when she sends an order from Practicing Creativity Designs. Sweet!

The sentiments come from Nature's Wonder, which is definitely one of the most versatile stamp sets I own. Love it!

After doing the second card, I realized I could actually work with the background stamps. Yeah! No therapy required (or at least for the stamping incident anyway).

Thanks for looking! Have a wonderful weekend.

Here's what I used:

"thanks" Card 1:

Stamps: For the Love of Grids; Nature's Wonder (PCD)

Cardstock: white (PTI)

Ink: Canary (Versa Color); Tuxedo Black, Brilliance Mediterranean Blue, Brilliance Victorian Violet(Tsukineko); Cranberry (ColorBox); Fresh Green (Crafter's)

Ribbon: May Arts--received from PCD

Other: Happy Holidays rhinestone (Doodlebug Design); corner rounder (We R Memory Keepers)

"thanks" Card 2:

Stamps: For the Love of Grids; Nature's Wonder (PCD)

Cardstock: white (PTI)

Ink: Canary (Versa Color); Tuxedo Black, Brilliance Mediterranean Blue (Tsukineko); Ocean (Cat's Eye); Alpine, Violet (Crafter's)

Ribbon: May Arts--received from PCD

Other: Rhinestone (Kaisercraft)

Only 303 Days Until Christmas!

2011-02-24T13:06:00.005-06:00

I must confess, my latest card was the result of an "oops" by my husband. I was showing him a card using Lawn Fawn's Lunar Lights, and he asked "Why are you making a Christmas card?"

So I started thinking about the lanterns and thought "why can't it be a Christmas tree bulb?" I love a good visual illusion....it reminds me of my Psychology classes...okay, I'm a nerd.

I created this holiday card, since it's never too late to start making holiday cards...I mean, it's already the end of February.

I'm going for broke and entering it into this week's Lawnscaping Challenge and the Moxie Fab Paper Piecing Challenge. Call me crazy, but these challenges are a great distraction from household chores!

The lanterns are doubled pieced: I stamped the image onto the patterned papers and then cut up the patterned paper on the original stamp lines to make it look like stripes on the ornaments. I did have to ink again around each small piece to keep the basic design of the stamp. I also mounted the pieces onto a stamped ornament to stabilize the three layers (3 layers...now I'm thinking about cake....mmmm).

I heat embossed the ornaments with holographic embossing powders. They really shimmer! I love the mix of Fancy Pants & Echo Park papers against the Raspberry Fizz cardstock. The sentiment is cut out from a larger piece of Echo Park paper.

Ooooo...sparkly! Now I'm missing the holidays...except for the snow.

Thanks for the kind comments on my posts! I REALLY appreciate it!

Here are the details on the card:
Stamps: Lunar Lights (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Raspberry Fizz (PTI); white base since I ran out of Raspberry Fizz (AC Cardstock)
Patterned Paper: Happy Holidays (Fancy Pants); Christmas (Echo Park)
Stickers: Christmas (Echo Park)
Ink: Raspberry Fizz (PTI); Versamark
Embossing Powder: Holographic (Ranger)
Pen: Zig

The Elephant in the Room

2011-02-22T09:31:00.002-06:00

I am a huge fan of Moxie Fab World. Cath put out a challenge to get daring with decorative tape, and I thought I could get funky with tape.

Now for the inspiration. A couple of weeks ago, Carla Peicheff posted this elephant card~adorable! So many cards have butterflies and birds and monkeys, but not too many have elephants. Poor little elephants! I decided to champion for more elephants.

I have this cute stamp set from Technique Tuesday with a sweet elephant, and after staring at the stamp for a few minutes, I thought it would be cool to make a card based on the figurative saying "the elephant in the room." So I made a little room.

The process kind of reminded me of making a diorama in school...loved those things...wish I could make dioramas for a living...until I had to make 3 lamp posts and managed to cut my finger with a hack saw (no blood on the card, so it's okay!).

Here's the card:

Isn't he cute? He was a pain in the neck to cut out, though. I love how it looks like his bottom is in the light. Aren't these Crate papers awesome?

Above is a close-up of the lamp and the decorative tape on the lamp and the rug. My sweet dad gave me Japanese washi tape for Christmas and a very cool dispenser from Design Within Reach (the coolest store if you like ultra modern stuff), and I've been dying to use the tape for more than, well, tape. I used the DWR washi tape wrapped around two tiny dowels to make the lamp post.

There is also beautiful Pink Paislee decorative tape as a rug. I cut and twisted the edges to make them look like rug fringe. There's even a little cat hair on one of the fringes...just like the real thing (or at least in my house).

I decided to do a little stitching on the top. I have no idea what it's supposed to look like in a room...maybe macrame? Every house needs a little macrame plant holder...

Thanks for looking! Have a fabulous day!

Here are the details on the card:
Stamp: Zoology (Technique Tuesday)
Cardstock: Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Restoration (Crate)
Ink: Tea Dye Distress Ink & Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink (Tim Holtz); Alpine (Crafter's)
Other: decorative tape (Design Within Reach; Pink Paislee); clear embossing powder (my stash); 1/16" dowels (my husband's stash); pinking shears; thread (Gutermann)

Oh My Stars!

2011-02-21T14:06:00.004-06:00

I am a die cutting junkie. All metal dies in my Cuttlebug....marvelous. But, I have a Cricut Expression that hasn't been used nearly enough. I even have several cartridges, so there are no excuses. It was becoming a Provocraft show-down.

I decided to take a Cricut 101 class at a "local" scrapbook store (about 45 min. away) taught by Betsy Veldman. Of course she was great and I learned a ton about the Cricut! I finally figured out all of the functions, or at least enough to use my machine.

So...the Cricut stays. And I've finally made a card I'm happy with using the Cricut and some my other dies, and I decided to enter it into the Die Cuttin Divas stars challenge:

I used the Plantin Schoolbook and Joys of the Season Cricut cartridges for the big star and the little stars. The die is Papertrey Ink's Fillable Frames #10, and the doily die is My Favorite Thing's Dainty Lace Doily Die. Isn't this Fancy Pants paper pretty?

There is a strip of pink glitter separated by score lines (can't quite see them on the photo).

I added a little stitching using denim thread....love that thicker thread...too bad my machine doesn't!

Thanks for looking!

Here are the details on the card:
Cardstock: pink (Core'dinations); green and red (AC Cardstock)
Patterned Paper: Wishful Thinking (Fancy Pants)
Stamps: Fillable Frames #5 (PTI)
Ink: Warm Red (ColorBox); Brilliance Peacock (Tsukineko); white (ColorBox)
Dies: Plantin Schoolbook & Joys of the Season (Provocraft); Fillable Frames #10 (PTI); Dainty Lace Doily (MFT)
Other: glitter (Michaels); aqua mist button (PTI); pink denim weight thread (YLI)

Let Met Look Into Your Future (Pt. 2)

2011-02-19T16:23:00.004-06:00

What is it with girls liking the bad boy? Every woman I know has liked one at one point...heck, some even married them! So was the inspiration for today's card.

Yesterday I posted a card that included a picture of my son, and in true 5-year-old fashion, my daughter wondered where her card was. So I made a girly card using the same template as yesterday and her photo (from about 5 years ago).

Here's the card:

I love this added bling. This shot also shows the doily edge die close-up.

The Crate paper I used is my new favorite (gorgeous collection!), and it goes so well with Papertrey's Raspberry Fizz paper. The small strip on the left is a My Favorite Thing's die-namic die--super pretty die that goes well with the trendy doilies, and I love the new Edgers dies from PTI. I thought the stickpin worked well with the girly style, too.

My husband does not like this card. Specifically, my husband does not like the sentiment I made on the bottom. He would love it if she never dated. (ha ha)

I hope you're having a great Saturday! We're enjoying sunshine...it's hard to believe there is a blizzard warning.

Thanks for looking!

Here are the details of the card:

Cardstock: white (AC Cardstock); Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Patterned Paper: Restoration (Crate)
Ink: white (Tsukineko); Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Dies: Edgers #1 (PTI); Dainty Lace Border (My Favorite Things)
Other: rhinestones (KaiserCraft--purchased at PTI); flower (Prima); glazed brad (Basic Grey); stick pin (Little Yellow Bicycle); ribbon is from my stash