peace...

Hey friends!!  After all the craziness of the last couple of weeks (physical therapy appointments, car appointments... YAY!! I can finally lock my car door!!) it seems my mojo has flown away.  I made this simple card using this week's Freshly Made Sketch layout and this week's Color Throwdown combo.  When I first saw the Color Throwdown graphic I was tempted to make something using a pineapple, but I recently got a couple of new things from Reverse Confetti's June release and so I wanted to use the die and stamp set for my card.  I taped a piece of watercolor paper to my little wooden cutting board and then watercolored part of it using brown and gold paints from my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor set.  Once it was dry I die cut it with an AJVD rectangle backdrop die.  The starfish was die cut from white and yellow cardstocks and then the yellow "star" was inset into the white portion and then inked the edges with some Ranger Old Paper distress ink.  The sentiment from the RC My Heart Trust stamp set was stamped using VersaFine Onyx Black ink.  I used my MISTI to stamp it multiple times to get a good impression.  Popped up the starfish on the panel and then added that panel to a second panel die cut from green cardstock.  To finish I flicked on some yellow paint.  Not my best effort, but sometimes you gotta start somewhere, right?  I'm going to add this to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of animal magic.  I learned something about starfish the other day.  They are a type of sea urchin and thus... an animal!  At the suggestion of my sweet friend, Greta, I'm adding this to the current City Crafter challenge:  let's go to the beach!

 

Thanks for stopping by today... love to read your comments!


Supplies:  Cardstock:  white; PTI new leaf and lemon tart, Ranger watercolor paper; Stamps:  Reverse Confetti; Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design and Reverse Confetti; Ink:  VersaFine; Watercolors:  Kuretake Gansai Tambi

thinking of you...

Hey friends... popping in with a card for a few challenges.  My sweet friend, Greta, is guest designing for City Crafter challenge blog this week and I just had to play along with the challenge... feathers!  I used the color combo from the current ColourQ challenge and the layout for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge... haven't participated in their challenge for ages!   I used the fun Concord & 9th Grateful stamp set and did some layering of the images.  The set comes with two feathers and I used the smaller one stamping it five times, twice with Coastal Cabana ink and three times with Bahama Blue ink.  The sentiment was stamped over that using Calypso Coral.  I brought in the grey by stamping a little image from the Concord & 9th Painted Thank You set.  The piece was die cut and then mounted on a grey cardstock base.  I must admit that I had to fiddle around with the colors for a bit to get the layering right.   My shoulder is slowly getting better, but sometimes I feel like it has been "one step forward, two steps back" kind of process.  I have to keep reminding myself that it has only been 3 weeks since the surgery and that I need to take it easy... so hard to do... sigh!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by...


Supplies:  Cardstock:  white, SU! Smoky Slate; Stamps:  Concord & 9th; Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design; Inks:  Stampin Up! and Memento

CardMaker/Crafter's Companion Blog Hop!

Hello friends!!!  Today the CardMaker blog design team has joined up with the Crafter's Companion design team to bring you a fun blog hop.  We will be putting the spotlight on some of Crafter's Companion wonderful products!   If you arrived here from the blog of Crafter's Companion design team member Leah Lucescu then you are on the right track.  If not, then you should head to the CardMaker blog to start at the beginning.  Make sure that you check out the Crafter's Companion Facebook page for the fun giveaway that they are having.  You will have the chance to win one of two prize packs that include a stamp set, embossing folder, two sets of Spectrum Noir makers and a one year digital subscription to CardMaker!

Crafter's Companion generously provided me with Spectrum Noir markers, a fun stamp set and embossing folder.  The stamp set is from their Makey Bakey Mice collection called Makey Bakey Christmas.  I stamped the image and colored it with the following Spectrum Noir markers:  DR1, DR5, DR7, BG1, BG2, BG4, CG1, DG2 & DG4.  After I finished coloring the image I added a little bit of glimmer with a silver Wink of Stella marker.  I embossed the red and olive green cardstock with the Crafter's Companion Christmas Elegance embossing folder.   To finish off the card I added a little fishtail banner on which I stamped the sentiment in black ink.

Thanks for stopping by... your next stop is the blog of Crafter's Companion design team member Tenia Nelson.  I know you are definitely in for a treat when you visit her blog!   Please also take the time to visit the Crafter's Companion blog for more inspiration!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Smooth white, red and olive green; Stamps:  Crafter's Companion; Ink:  Memento; Markers:  Spectrum Noir; Embossing folder:  Crafter's Companion

Silent Night....

Hey there!!  Happy Wednesday!  Have another Christmas card using non-traditional colors.   This card is for this week's ODBD Shining the Light challenge to have bells or baubles hanging from your card and the City Crafter's challenge to make pink the focus of a Christmas card.

For my card I used the ODBD Poinsettia background stamp and a sentiment from the ODBD Holly Tag set.   The papers are from the SU! paper pack called Beau Chateau.   The ink is SU! Pink Pirouette and Marina Mist.  I used some of that absolutely yummy May Arts crinkle ribbon for the bow.  It took me a while to figure out how I was going to attach the bells, but finally got it right this morning.  As I was finishing up the card it struck me as funny that I was putting bells on a card with a sentiment saying "Silent Night, Holy Night"!   I did some distressing (with ink and a distressing tool) to soften things up a bit.  The layout is from Deconstructed Sketch (DS28).

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! DP - Beau Chateau; Ink:  SU! Pink Pirouette & Marina Mist; Ranger Old Paper Distress Ink; Bells:  Joann's; Ribbon:  May Arts Pink crinkle ribbon; Twine:  The Twinery; Button:  PTI; Punch:  EKSuccess

Mini Journal...

Hey there!  Here today with a little project that works for five different challenges!  That is a first for me working in five challenges on one project.  The most I have done prior to this is four and I thought that was alot of challenges!  But I know there are crafters out there who routinely enter their projects in way more then five challenges!    Anywhoo... my little project works for the following challenges:

JUGs  - embellish a notebook or journal

City Crafters - use up your scraps

Shabby Tea Room - polka dots

Stampin Sisters in Christ - use music in some form

Card Patterns - sketch

When I saw that the JUGs challenge was to embellish a notebook or journal I knew right away that I wanted to do a mini one.  My little journal is 4 1/2 x 3 1/4.    The perfect size for the Card Patterns sketch.  My last project had some scraps left over and so I used them along with some other scraps to put together my journal and lucky for me those scraps included the polka dotted paper and the music paper!  Now I have to say that had it not been for fellow crafter, Michelle, posting her projects for City Crafts and the Shabby Tea Room I wouldn't have known my little journal would fit right into those challenges... so, thanks, Michelle! 

I love how my little journal turned out so I think I'm going to be keeping it for myself.   Thanks for taking a peek...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream; PP:  October Afternoon Thirft Shop; BasicGrey Green at Heart; LilyBeeDesign Picket Fence; Glue stick; mini journal; Sizzix leafy branch die; KaiserCraft rhinestones; Prima Trellis Rose

Ready For Spring!

Like alot of us I am so ready for spring!  We haven't had the really bad weather like alot of the country has, but there still has been plenty to grumble about here in Washington state! 

My card today is pretty spring like with the bright pink and green combo.  I used this same combo for a card I posted earlier this week.  I just love the Making Memories Dilly Dally papers and had to use them again.  The card is for the following challenges:  Sentimental Sundays - Anything Goes; City Crafters - Spring Fling  and the Moxie Fab paper piecing challenge.  The stamps used are from Penny Black and Savvy Stamps.   The flowers were paper pieced (obviously!!) and the leaves were colored with Copic markers (sorry... don't remember what colors I used.).   Some bakers twine from the Twinery and Impress and some pink rhinestones finished everything off.  

Thanks for taking a peek... hope spring is coming soon to you!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Stampin Up! Blushing Bride; PTI white; Patterned Paper:  Making Memories Dilly Dally; Stamps:  Penny Black & Savvy Stamps; Ink:  Memento Bamboo Leaves; Copic Markers; Kaiser Craft Rhinestones; Bakers Twine

One Layer Wednesday + CR84FN + City Crafters

Another multi challenge card.   This one for the following challenges:

CR84FN color challenge:  brown, red & torquoise
City Crafters:   All You Need Is Love
One Layer Wednesday:  Inspiration photo/one image, one border & bling

This is a pretty simple card made using the super cute Stampin Up! set Valentine Defined.  I'm not big on valentine stamps, but when I saw this set in the current SU! mini catalog I, well... fell in love.  The border and main image were stamped in SU! Real Red and then the sentiment was stamped in SU! Tempting Torquoise.  The bling comes in the form of brown rhinestones from Hero Arts.  The kraft card base could also work for the brown.   It's a gloomy day in my neck of the woods (no snow thankfully, but we are supposed to get rain), so it was hard to get a good photo... I think the card is cute in a "Charlie Brown Christmas tree" kinda way!

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  SU! Crumb Cake; Stamps:  SU! Valentine Defined; Inks:  SU! Real Red & Tempting Torquoise; Bling:  Hero Arts

Getting Out of My Comfort Zone...

This past Tuesday (12/28) I was "crowned" Colour Queen by the totally sweet and very talented Arielle over at ColourQ!  I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find that out!  I love ColourQ because Arielle has a fantastic eye for color,picks the most incredible color combos and this week is no exception.  When I first saw the inspiration picture and the colors my thought was "wow! cool colors!"  Then I thought:  "wow!  how will I combine those colors??"   Because while I think the colors are super cool, combining them was really outside my comfort zone. 

I started out by first stamping my image (Hero Arts Bird Collage) in PTI's True Black on kraft cardstock.  I then set it aside for TWO DAYS and began looking through my stash for patterned paper that I could use for the card.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had this really cool pack of designer papers from Stampin Up! called Day & Night!  To be honest, I don't even remember purchasing them, but obviously and thankfully I did!  After that, with a little help from the current Card Patterns sketch everything fell into place and I really like what resulted.    I'm also going to enter this card in the current City Crafters challenge to "stamp it out".

Thanks for taking a peek.... hope you take a step outside your comfort zone!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Kraft; SU! Crumb Cake & Old Olive; PP:  SU! Night & Day; Ribbon:  SU! Basic Grey taffeta & Old Olive twill; Stamp:  Hero Arts Bird Collage; Spellbinders Large & Small Plain Circle dies; Flower:  Irene's Garden

Playing with Glitter

I have a stinkin', rottin' cold and so what do I decide to do???  Play with GLITTER!  Though my head is fuzzy from this head cold, I remembered that I had some chipboard snowflakes knocking around somewhere and lots of beautiful Art Glitter that I hardly ever use.  The push over the edge put the two together was the current Sentimental Sundays challenge:  Let It Snow!   The current City Crafters challenge is Let it Snow, as well so I will be putting this card into their challenge, as well. 

After digging around I found the snowflakes and got out the glitter.  I covered the snowflake with this lovely shade of glitter called "Wisteria" and matched it up with some lovely Websters Pages patterned paper (WonderFall/Hollywood Vogue combo pack).  The ribbon is PTI's Lavendar Moon.  The card layout is based on the current Clean & Simple layout.

ETA: Decided to drop this into the current Moxie Fab Glitter is Glam challenge.
Thanks for taking a peek...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI White; PP:  Websters Pages; Stamps:  PTI  Winter Swirls; Ink:  PTI True Black; Art Glitter; chipboard snowflake (unknown); Ribbon:  PTI Lavendar Moon.

Pairing up w/Latrice + City Crafters

A card today for a fun challenge that started over at the Hero Arts Flickr group.  Joy of Less is More and Jennifer McGuire spent a week in August challenging each other to create a card using a different Hero Arts stamp each day.  After some prompting from another member of the group, Joy started a thread where those of us who want to do a similar challenge could sign up and then be paired up with another Flickr member. 

My partner for the challenge is sweet Latrice and today we are using the Hero Arts set A Kiss from the Sun for our cards.  I also decided to use the sketch from the current City Crafters Challenge Blog (CCCB23) for my card.  I just adore A Kiss from the Sun, especially the cute little sun dress.   For my card I used some really cute Cosmo Cricket Material Girl papers.   After stamping the dress on a piece of the patterned paper I trimmed it out and added a bit of Hero Arts lace ribbon to the bottom of the dress.  To tone the colors down a bit I did some distressing using Close to My Heart's Parchment ink.  It provides a lovely softness to the edges of your patterned paper and cardstock. 

Thanks for taking a peek and don't forget to take a look at Latrice's wonderful project!  Have a fabulous day!  I will be back on Wednesday with another Hero Arts card for the challenge.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream; SU! Pure Poppy & So Saffron; PP:  Cosmo Cricket - Material Girl; Stamps:  Hero Arts - A Kiss from the Sun; Ink:  SU! So Saffron; VersaMagic Brick Red; CTMH Parchment;  Hero Arts Ribbon Lace; Bakers Twine - Impress; KaiserCraft Pearls

Birthday Stars

The current City Crafters Challenge (CCCB 19) is to make a project incorporating stars.   Since my nephew is turning 10 soon, I thought I would make a birthday card for him using stars.  I got out my Hero Arts set "Galaxy of Stars", some papers from Fancy Pants (The Daily Grind) and some SU! inks and got to work.  I used the current sketch from Taylored Expressions (TESC126) for the layout. The sentiment is from the really cute WPlus9Design Studio set The Birds & The Bees.

Thanks for taking a peek... have a great day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Stampin Up! Pacific Point & Pumpkin Pie, PTI white; Ink:  SU! Pacific Point, Pumpkin Pie & Old Olive; Patterned Paper:  Fancy Pants - Daily Grind; SU! Word Window punch; Stamps:  Hero Arts Galaxy of Stars, WPlus9Design - The Birds & the Bees

Isn't She Lovely....

The new challenge at City Crafters Challenge (CCCB18) blog is to make a card featuring a lovely lady (and/or girl) on your card.  At first I was going to using my Singing Cowgirl card, but then remembered that I had this sweet little Crafty Secrets image cut out that I had been wanting to use for the longest time.   The image is of a little girl holding a basket of roses.  First I had to dig her out of wherever she was hiding and then get to work.   After some serious searching I finally found her in a drawer with some of my stamps!

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch for the layout and some more of those older My Minds Eye papers I have.  I went all lavendar and green with the card using the retired Stampin Up! color Lavendar Lace and PTI's Spring Moss.   There is absolutely no stamping on this card.  The only ink used was for a light distressing of some of the cardstock.  I finished off the image with a bit of glitter that I applied using my Quickie Glue pen.

Thanks for taking a peek.... hope you are having a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI Vintage Cream & Spring Moss; SU! Lavendar Lace; Ink:  distressing ink; Ribbon:  PTI Lavendar Moon & Spring Moss; Button:  PTI Spring Moss; Image:  Crafty Secrets Creative Scraps; Cuttlebug; Spellbinders Labels 10 dies; PTI Medium Scalloped Edge die