Wilford Brimley, Here I Come!

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"

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

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

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...

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

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...

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...

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

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

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)