Looking Back

Hi everyone! I hope you had a happy holidays! It's been a whirlwind for us--Christmas, my daughter's eighth birthday, and my sister-in-law's family and brother-in-law's family visiting. It's been a great break. :)

With New Year's a day away, I decided to look back at my blog cards for this year and make a top 10 of my favorites. I haven't done a top 10 list before, but I enjoyed it...it was good to look back and remember making the card, the reason for the card, etc. I'm not sure what was going on, but I didn't have any cards in my top 10 before May. ha ha

Here's my list (in chronological order):

Congrats (AC Digitals)

Have a Magical Birthday for Gallery Idol Round 1 (Robyn Meierotto)

You Get Me (BasicGrey, American Crafts, Pixels & Co.)

Love Machine (My Mind's Eye, Paper Smooches)

Grateful for You (Hero Arts, Technique Tuesday)

Put You In My Pocket (Glitz Design)

Whitewashed Leaves (Paper Smooches)

Cashmere Dame Card Set (Glitz Design)

Oh, Hello There (Lawn Fawn, Creashens)

Joy to You and Me (Glitz Design)

All of the supplies are linked in the original posts.

Thank you for all of your support and comments this year. Sometimes it's hard to blog--I don't like my photo or the project, or I think my post content sounds lame. But, I'm very grateful for the visits and comments--you are very kind. :)

Have a great New Year's Eve! Happy 2014!!

Just Like Bacon...

Hi everyone! I'm excited (and a pretty nervous) to share my card for the Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol Round 2. The card from Round 1 can be found HERE. I've seen the other entries for this round, and wowee! I'm humbled to be in the Top 20!

On Friday, when I found out the theme, my head was so scattered about how to make a card for defining dad.  I came up with five or six ideas, made a card for one, and decided it wasn't right. I went back to the proverbial drawing board. After flipping through my files, I ran across a digital journaling card from Echo Park with a sentiment. I used the inspiration to make this card:

When I started this card, I had the sentiment in mind and knew I could use one of the bacon stamps from Sizzle On. After playing around with the elements, I couldn't figure out how to get them to work together. Then it hit me to make a rescue plane--I know my dad has come to the rescue on several occasions. ;)

I stamped and colored the plane from Unity and the bacon stamp. After fussy cutting and Xacto-ing the plane, I pinched the stamped banner lines together to turn the bacon into a banner. The bacon should have been flush with the bar, but since it didn't look quite right, I let it trail behind. Here's a close-up:

Yes, I was holding my breath while cutting out the plane and banner! Ha ha

Once I had the plane done, I created a scene in Photoshop. I started with digital patterned paper from the Seafoam collection, and adjusted the hue and the lightness. For the clouds, I recolored and reshaped them, and then layered them on the digital paper. It was a fun way to make my own background paper.

As part of the Gallery Idol contest, there's a vote for the Top 15. If you like my card, I would really appreciate it if you voted for me! You can click on the link at the top of the sidebar or go HERE, click on the image, and vote. You do have to register, but you won't get spammed or anything. :) Thank you so much!!

Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your support! Have a great week.


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI
Other paper: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Rubber stamps: (plane from A Little Destination) Unity Stamp Co.
Clear stamps: (bacon from Sizzle On) Kelly Purkey for Simon Says Stamp
Digital elements: (blue paper from the Seafoam collection) ACDigitals.com
Copic markers
Font: (Champagne and Limousines) Dafont.com 

Growing in Unity Day 5

Hi everyone! It's my last day of my Growing in Unity week. It's the most I've ever blogged in a single week-ha ha. Thank you for all the sweet comments...I really appreciated reading them! If you want to see the other GIU posts, you can see them HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

My daughter is going back to school in a couple of weeks and will start first grade. I pack her lunch, and she loves to get a note from me. Admittedly, I often end up writing them on her napkin, but it's still a note, right? I thought I would use some Unity stamps to make a few legitimate lunchbox notes for her. Here's what I came up with:

Every time I see that little pig, I squeal with delight (pun intended). It's the cutest stamp! All three images are from the Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety set. Here's a close-up of the pig:

I simply stamped and colored the images, added some American Crafts papers, and adhered them to die cut lunchbox notes. It was an easy enough project, you could mass produce these. The images are on the front, and once you open them, there's room to write a little note:

Now that I look at it, I should have stamped the inside. Oops! I love how this set has enough images, you could make a lot of different notes or tags with them.

As part of GIU, Unity sponsors a giveaway. One lucky person will win two Itty Bittys of his/her choice! To enter to win, leave a comment on this post and the prior GIU posts from this week. All comments must be received by 9:00 AM tomorrow, and I'll randomly drawing a name. I'll post the winner this weekend.

Be sure to check out the Wishes sale over at Unity--there are some great bargains!

Thank you SO much for all the love this week. You all are the best! :)


Supplies
Stamps: (pig, sentiment, and bee in frame from Garden Variety) Unity
Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento
Patterned Paper: (Shoreline collection) American Crafts
Cardstock: (white) PTI
Die: (Lunchbox Note) PTI

Growing in Unity Day 4

Hello! It's my second post of the day. For my PDCC post, please click HERE.

I'm back with another Unity card as part of my Growing in Unity week. We're getting close to the end of the week, so be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win two Itty Bittys of your choice (well, comments are good no matter what). :)

For today's card, I made a little boy's birthday card. I have two young children, so having kids' cards on hand is helpful. Here's what I came up with:

I used the Bella Blvd. Dinomite stamp and a sentiment from It's Your Day, both from Unity. I love how they work together! I stamped the dinosaur onto some Fancy Pants Wave Searcher paper and fussy cut the image. Since there were long nails, I had to stamp the image onto the card base, too. I also stamped the eyes on white cardstock and fussy cut those, too. Another CAS card, but I love it for a little boy's birthday card.

Since I had my stamps and papers out, I decided to make a second card:

As part of GIU, Unity sponsors a giveaway. One lucky person will win two Itty Bitty's of his/her choice! To enter to win, leave a comment on this post. Each day, you can leave another comment on my GIU posts for additional chances to win. All comments must be received by 9:00 AM CST on Saturday, and I'll be randomly drawing a name later on Saturday.

Thanks for looking! My final GIU card of the week is tomorrow. :)

Supplies
Stamps: (Dinomite and sentiment from It's Your Day) Unity

Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento; (Brick) Vivid

Patterned Papers: (Wave Searcher) Fancy Pants

Cardstock: (white) PTI

Growing in Unity Day 3

Hello! I hope you're having a great Wednesday. Today I'm back with another Unity card as part of my Growing in Unity week. I'm also on the Unity blog. If you want to see my earlier GIU posts from this week, you can see them HERE and HERE.

For today's card, I wanted to make a more masculine card using the October 2011 KOTM:

I stamped the bird on white with a dark purple ink and fussy cut the image. Then, I stamped the sentiment out of the same kit, added some die-cut chevrons, and inked the edges of the card. Here's a close-up:

The bird is so cool--I love that stamp! The sentiment was intentionally slightly off-set to balance the tail of the bird. (The way I stamp, it very well could be an oops, but in this case, it was purposeful--ha ha)

As part of GIU, Unity sponsors a giveaway. One lucky person will win two Itty Bittys of his/her choice! To enter to win, leave a comment on this post. Each day, you can leave another comment on my GIU posts for additional chances to win. All comments must be received by 9:00 AM CST on Saturday, and I'll be randomly drawing a name later on Saturday. 

Thanks for looking! I'll be back again tomorrow with another GIU (but a little later in the day). I'll also be sharing my first Play Date Cafe DT card. I'm excited to share it!

Supplies

Stamps: (bird and sentiment from Faith, hope, love...live by it) Unity

Ink: (various Distress Inks) Ranger; (Plum) Vivid Ink

Patterned Paper: (navy from the Free Bird collection) Authentique

Cardstock: (natural kraft) My Favorite Things

Dies: (Chevrons) My Favorite Things

Growing in Unity Day 2 and Shaping Up! Winner

Hi! I'm back for Day 2 of my Growing in Unity week.

Before I get to my card, I need to announce the winner of my Shaping Up Blog Hop prize. Using Random.org, the winner is: Barb:


this is the perfect fun shaped card! love it!!! thank you for the chance to win...you are so generous! July 23, 2012 6:47 PM


Barb, please see the contact me at the top of the page and send me an e-mail with your address. Thanks!

Now for the GIU card. I mixed two sets together to get a more funky card:

For the card, I used Melody Ross's A Girl and Her Adventures and the sentiment is from the November 2010 KOTM. Here's a close-up of the cute camera stamp:

I struggled so much with photographing this card...for some reason the camera didn't like it (although it's probably the end-user-- ha ha).

As part of GIU, Unity sponsors a giveaway. One lucky person will win two Itty Bittys of his/her choice! To enter to win, leave a comment on this post. Each day, you can leave another comment on my GIU posts for additional chances to win. All comments must be received by 9:00 AM CST on Saturday, and I'll be randomly drawing a name on Saturday.

Thanks for looking! I'll be back again tomorrow for my feature day.

Supplies
Stamps: (camera from A Girl and Her Adventures; sentiment from Picture Perfect November 2010 KOTM) Unity
Ink: (Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight) Stampin' Up
Cardstock: (Sweet Tooth) Stamp School
Patterned paper: (chevron papers from Monsieur collection) Pretty Little Papers; (woodgrain from 9 to 5) October Afternoon
Staples: (Tiny Attacher) Tim Holtz

Growing in Unity Day 1

Hi everyone! This week, I'll be showing cards using Unity stamps as part of Growing in Unity. I'm a big fan of Unity--they stamp so nicely and they have such a huge variety. Thanks, Unity, for the opportunity to participate. :)

For my card today, I went ultra CAS with my favorite gold embossing powder:

The card is pretty straightforward--I stamped the Born an Original roses on cream cardstock and heat embossed them in gold. I paired the image with a sentiment from {Wonderful You} Store Kit. I finished the card off with a green and gold double-sided satin ribbon. Here's a close-up:

As part of GIU, Unity sponsors a giveaway. One lucky person will win two Itty Bittys of his/her choice! With all the new CHA releases, I don't know how you'll choose. To enter to win, leave a comment on this post. Each day, you can leave another comment on my GIU posts to increase your chances to win. All comments must be in by 9:00 AM CST on Saturday, and I'll be randomly drawing a name on Saturday.

Thanks for looking! Have a great Monday.

Supplies
Stamps: (flowers from Born an Original; sentiment from {Wonderful You} October 2009 Store Kit of the Month) Unity Stamp Co.
Pigment Ink: (navy) Fresh Ink
Embossing Powder: (gold) Judikins
Cardstock: (cream, navy) PTI
Ribbon: (gold/green satin) May Arts

A Little Happy

I hope you're having a good Friday!

I wanted to play along with Unity's Friends with Flair and the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger:

So cool! The lines of triangles and the general color scheme inspired me. Here's what I came up with:

I started off with one of Erica Hernandez's digital triangle template. I re-sized some different papers from Adrienne Looman Baers Garten and clipped them to the rows of triangles.

Then, I reprinted the image a second time to cut out the triangles. I layered the triangles on top of the template, stitched through them, and lifted the edges. Here's a close-up:

Finally, I stamped the Unity sentiment using my new Stampin' Up ink pad (thanks, Erin Lee!). I love this sentiment. :)

Thanks for looking. Have a wonderful weekend.

Supplies
Cardstock: (Sweet Tooth) Stamp School
Stamp: (sentiment from May 2010 KOTM) Unity
Ink: (blue) Stampin' Up
Template: (Triangulation Template) Erica Hernandez
Papers: (blue from Blue Sky papers) Baers Garten; (yellow, floral, and peach from Petunia papers) Adrienne Looman

Domestic Bliss

It's been forever since I joined in with Unity's Friends With Flair, but I've been wanting to ink up one of my (newer to me) Melody Ross sets.

Since Mother's Day is coming up, I need to make some cards for my mom to give to her friends. I've been very inspired lately by retro gender roles, and since my mom is a pretty sassy lady (imagine that!), I knew I could put on some sassy sentiments. Here's what I came up with:

I used Unity's Domestic Bliss set and made my own sentiment in Photoshop. The font is a little wonky, and therefore it looks crooked, but I think it works. It was so easy, I made another one in purple:

It took me forever to come up with the second sentiment, and no, I'm not projecting anything (my husband is more than happy to sew on a new button). Since my mom and her friends were raised in the 1950s (well, 1940s too, but she'll want me to say 1950s), I know she'll appreciate the sentiment.

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

Friends With Flair

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!

Bring on the Sun

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!

Peter Piper

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!

Poker Christmas

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!

Flying Off Into the Sunset

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Thanks for looking! Have a great week.

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

Out of the Garbage Can and Onto the Blog

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

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

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

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

The Crafting Rebel

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!