It's Your Day!

Updated 9/23/2013 --- Challenge Winner !

at 

Inspired By Challenge #88

88

Happy Hump Day!  Or what's left of it anyway.  My second post today!  YEA!  I used the photo at Inspired By Challenges for my inspiration.  I scored the card base in various places to replicate stripes and then placed decorative washi tape in between some of the scoring to make colored stripes.  The poppy flower went perfectly with the tape I think.  The poppy is colored with Copic markers and then I used Glossy Accents on the black seeds to make them pop, as well as the center of the flower.  The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions and the leaves are an old sponge stamp, I cannot remember by whom.

Inspired By Challenge #88

SPIES:

Stamps:  Sentiment - "From Me to You"(Taylored Expressions); Poppy flower (Hero Arts, I thin).

Paper:  White cardstock.

Ink:  Staz On Jet Black; Lady Bug and Pear Tart Copic Markers.

Extras:  Glossy Accents; Washi Tape.

A Friend

A quick card for Fusion Challenge.  Sorry for the slightly blur photo taken with my Iphone. 

SPIES:
Stamps:  Sentiment (StampinUp!); Butterfly (Inkadinkadoo);
Paper:  Red and cream cardstock.  DP - Melodies & Lace (Michaels).
Ink:  Staz On Jet Black
Extras:  Black pattern ribbon; Butterfly punch; Label nestie; Black gem.

{Cute Little Thing}

A cute cuddly card tonight.  However, frankly, I'm without words other than that!  I know, first time ever!

FOR FOLLOWING CHALLENGES:

Little Red Wagon

SPIES:
STAMPS:  Bear - Inkadinkadoo; Big Sentiment-My Favorite Things; Small sentiment - stash
Paper:  Cream, raspberry and teal cardstock; DP - Fab{U}lous by Simple Stories
Ink:  Rich Cocoa - Memento.
Extras:  Raspberry ribbon; string; flowers; kraft tag; small dot emboss folder (Cuttlebug); leaf emboss folder (Cuttlebug); Polaroid die cut (Taylored Expressions).

Yummy Scoops

Happy Sunday!  This is my attempt to think outside the box and make my own silhouette.  I used my Dylusions sprays to make the colorful background.  Then I stamped the ice cream cone silhouette in black on the background.  Next was some good ole washi tape, a candle die wrapped in washi tape, the sentiment and a bow!  Since I used my distressed nestie to cut around the background rectangle, I decided to just rip around the sentiment.

This was my 2nd attempt at the background.  My first try, the colors turned out just how I wanted them, nice and bright.  I stamped the ice cream, got everything together and took a picture.  That's when it all went downhill!  As you can see from this next photo, my scoops look like they are floating turtles.  I can tell now I've been away from my stamping way too long!  LOL  Then, after I redid it, I began to think, the first one was kind of funky-ish, retro maybe.  I almost ripped off the 2nd one and reapplied it, but nah.  I'll keep it for another one.

SPIES:
Stamps:  Ice cream cones and sentiment -Build A Treat (Taylored Expressions).
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Dylusions sprays(Ranger Ink) in Bubblegum Pink, Crushed Grape, London Blue, Pure Sunshine, and Lemon Zest.
Extras:  Candle die cut (Sizzix), Washi tape, ribbon, yellow gem dot.

Dressy & Fabulous

Well, I'm baaaaaack!  Seems like forever since since I've blogged or stamped or  created anything!  The past 5-6 months have been interesting.  I've  been busy at other things that I thought I wanted to do, but turns out, was not so important as it once was.  What am I talking about you may wonder?  I went back to school online, graduate school to be exact.  However after 2-1/2 months of very intense studying, missing sleep, missing my family, and more importantly, missing my stamping!  LOL  Well, no I missed my family the most.  I had the dream ever since graduating college 25 years ago that I wanted my Master's in psychology at some point.  So, 25 years later, both my sons in college, and I thought it was the perfect time.  Turns out, not so much. Turns out, being out of school for 25 years, having little tech savvy, and surgically induced "menopause brain" is not a great recipe for academic endeavors!  My head felt like it was going to explode from overuse.  So, here I am --- a graduate school dropout but I couldn't be happier!

Not only am I now getting back into the stamping groove, but I have a new studio to boot(photos at a later date)!  The youngest son moved out early August to rent a house with buddies for school and took furniture, our furniture.  We are one bed and one kitchen table short now, not to mention many kitchen gadgets!  The oldest son has been out of the house for a couple years now and getting married this November.  So, we decided to move the oldest son's bedroom into the now empty guest room and make his room my new craft studio since it is upstairs (warmer in winter) and bigger!   

Today was the first day in about six months that I have been able to sit down and use a stamp!  YEA!  Mind you, even though I haven't been stamping, I've been accumulating new stamps and goodies as I am a monthly kit subscriber at Taylored Expressions.  Now, I can finally use them!

So here is my first card in a long while --

 

I don't have my lightbox upstairs and also used my Iphone for the photo.  My inspiration was the photo for this week's challenge at Runway Inspired Challenge, which I didn't enter because I was too slow.  Some things don't change even after six months!  hahaha  Anyway, I used the dress die from StampinUp!, one of those new goodies of mine.  The background is a stamp, but I don't remember from where, it is several years old.  The arrows are a die from Taylored Expressions.  I used the background stamp for one of the arrows as well.  I originally was going to use grey ribbon on the dress, but I thought it needed some pop of color and so I chose the teal green ribbon and buttons. 

 Runway Inspired Challenge #43

SPIES:

Stamps:  Background from stash; Sentiments:  Anna Griffin.

Paper:  White cardstock for card base; DP:  Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe.

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black.

Extras:  Arrow die (Taylored Expressions); dress die (StampinUp!); teal green buttons; black embroidery thread.

I'm not only a grad school dropout these days, but at least until the end of the year, I'm a "crafty bum",  and the Groom's Mother until Nov. 10th (day after the wedding). 

Happy Weekend! 

Wish BIG!

Well, so, here I am, late as usual!  LOL  Always too much going on.  I think I'm going to have to do some spring trimming of activities so I can focus on priorities (crafting)!

I made this card for my youngest son's 19th birthday, which was Saturday (April 13).  I used the sketch at CAS(E)ThisSketch, but forgot to post it by yesterday! Luckily the other challenges I can still enter-- Dream Valley Challenges and One Crazy Stamper!  Oh well.  I didn't follow the sketch verbatim either so just as well.  

Since I had started with the sketch, I chose the wheels and checkered background stamps from Tim Holtz to make my diagonal border piece.

And used the same checkered stamp for one of my sentiment tags.  At first I had just cut the border straight, but then decided to fussy cut it and I like it much better this way.  The basketball player and hoop I found online and is a silhouette digital clipart part of a set of basketball silhouette clipart that is free to download.  On the backboard I added some Carolina blue and the UNC Tarheel logo (also a clilpart download) using Photoshop Elements.  For those of you who don't know, my son is a sophomore at UNC Chapel Hill and a sports journalism/sports admin major.  His ultimate dream job is to be a commentator at ESPN!  Big dreams!  So thought the sentiment was appropriate!  And for added sportsy fun, I added the #1 finger stamp.

CHALLENGES:

SPIES:
Stamps:  Wheels and checked background (Tim Holtz); #1Hand(The Paper Co); Wish Big and Happy Birthday (Taylored Expressions); Basketball player and hoop silhouette (Shutterstock.com).
Paper:  Black and white cardstock; Striped DP (stash).
Ink:  Tuxedo Black and Bahama Blue (Memento).

Pink Posie Muse

 

It's been a busy Friday, lots of things going on.  Tomorrow is my youngest son's 19th birthday.   Going to be spending it with him in Chapel Hill.  So tonight I'm trying to tie up loose ends, one being a few more blog posts. 

Along with doing some crafting, I've been re-organizing some of my supplies and in doing so, I pulled out some things I have collected to reuse and re-purpose.  So, I decided to use one of them with this card.  Since we got a Keurig coffee maker two years ago, I've had a couple packs of coffee filters stored away in my craft closet.  The other day I pulled them out and began playing around with them and my glimmer mists.  I now have a small stack of colored coffee filters to use in various projects.  I have used some on this card to make the pink paper flower.

This is my MUSE card.  MUSE is a unique card challenge club where the participants get to vote amongst themselves.  It's fun to be a little more interactive sometimes when playing in these challenges.   I chose to keep close to the theme and layout of the card except for flipping the sketch and adding the sentiment at the top instead of the bottom, mostly because it seemed to fit better.

The card base is a pale pink textured cardstok.  I stamped flourishes (by Autumn Leaves) for leaves in Pistachio ink from Memento.  The flower, as I mentioned above, is all made from coffee filters minus the center, which is a vintage ivory button.  I sprayed two coffee filters with several colors of pink glimmer mist, some from Tattered Angels and some of my own homemade mist made from acrylic paint, water and pearlized paint.  I used an old small hair dryer to dry them more quickly and then die cut them into different shapes to make the varying layers of the flower.  The top five or six layers were cut using Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral die.  The second to last layer is cut from a doily die by Quickutz and the last layer is a blossom framelit by Lifestyle Crafts.

 Here you can see the different layers a bit better.  I scrunched the layers a bit and then fluffed them up.  I also decided to add more leaves by spraying a small white doily with wasabi mist (my own), trimming it down and then into two pieces to form two more top leaves.  Lastly, I stamped the sentiment, Congratulations, in Rose Bud by Memento and added the vintage button for the center of the flower.

MUSE Card Club #12

Enjoy a cheery, sunny weekend!

COOL

TGIF Everyone!

A quick post for now, but I will be back with more later this evening.  Hopefully, I'm back in the groove after a couple weeks off.  Here is a card for the Less Is More challenge:

I stamped the corners with a chevron background stamp and then affixed the lime green textured cardstock on top.  As you see, a very simple card with a colorful punch!

Less Is More Challenge #114 - Lime and Black

SPIES:
Stamps:  Guitar Guy (StampinUp!);  Chevron (Just Rite); Sentiment: (Inkadinkadoo, I think--old stamp); music swirls (Inkadinkadoo).
Paper:  White cardstock; lime green ribbed specialty paper.
Ink:  Jet Black (Staz On). Pear Tart (Memento).

Riley Volunteers

I had to share this video I recorded earlier today of our border collie, Riley, displaying one of his many talents ---- helping the local fire department alert of an emergency! Clearly the ole chap either needed a drink or his voice is beginning to age!  LOL  Hope it brings a smile to your face!

Liebster Award!

What a way to start out my week!  Thank you Jessi!  The Hubs and I had to go out of town unexpectedly last week and our hearts have been heavy ever since.  However, I received this little ray of sunshine from, Jessi, a fellow scrapper/blogger and friend, yesterday.  Jessi and I met through several blog challenges we both frequent and  have continued to support each other's crafting ventures.  Go visit Jessi's blog and give her some love.  She is a very talented, fun loving lady, she is on several design teams and also sells her cards. 

Here are the requirements of the award:

This award was designed to promote blogs which have less than 200 followers. Once the award is accepted, the idea is to pay it forward to five other blogs you enjoy, encouraging others to visit, leave comments, and hopefully follow. 
To accept the award:Thank the person who gave it to you and link back to their blog. Post the award on your blog. Give the award to five other bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  
Write a comment on their blog letting them know they have been nominated. 


So,  here are my 5 picks:

Jackie at Jackie Rockwell. Owner/creator of CAS(e) This Sketch and MUSE Card Club and Co-creator of the new Fusion card challenge.  You may have visited one of these challenge blogs, but have you visited Jackie's own personal blog?  I love Jackie's cards, blog, creativity.  She has been very inspiring to me in the CAS design department.

Kristie at Kreative Kristie.  I love her CAS style. Kristie and I recently played over at the MUSE challenge and visited/commented at each other's blogs and followed each other.  It truly is nice to have others appreciate your creative efforts and support you.  

Cassandra  at Paper Addiction.  I just love her multitude of creativity!  She too has a very fresh and clean style that is very inspiring to me.

Michelle at Amusing Michelle. Michelle is another great creative CAS styled stamper!  You see my pattern to whom I follow don't you?  I love her style!

Jen at Jen's Cup of Creations.  Jen is another one I find to have a multitude of styles in her cards and creativity.  And, she was one of my first followers, so I got to spread the love her way!

So there's my fab 5 for the Liebster award!  Go visit their blogs, leave a comment, follow and spread the bloggin/stampin' love!

Now I'm off to do some stamping and painting myself!

Happy Monday!
 

Friends Forever

Happy Monday everyone!  I have another spring like card.  Maybe all the spring/Easter cards being posted will help the weather to actually cooperate!  LOL?  I started this card by making my own stamped background using Memento Pear Tart ink on a mottled type pink cardstock.  I stamped it with a flourish stamp from Autumn Leaves Stampology set.  I cut some of the background into the larger and smaller flower petals also.  The other patterned flower petal is from Basic Grey Sweet Threads.

I love this silhouette stamp of girls dancing in flowers.  I find it very whimsical!  I wanted it to be soft so I stamped it in Angel Pink and fussy cut around the top and sides of it.  The sentiment stamp is from a set of sentiments, Retro Greetings, by The Paper Company, all designed with their own cute label design around the sentiment.  I stamped this in the Pear Tart and fussy cut it also.

I popped up the image on a background of a lime green cardstock embossed with a lattice emboss folder backed on pink cardstock with pink decorative photo corners "bradded" on the top corners.  I also added a strip of green lattice embossed cardstock along the bottom of the card as a paper ribbon or border for the sentiment.

The flower is formed together with a pretty clear pink plastic flower button left over from one of my Taylored Expressions monthly kits.  I strung it through kraft twine, made a bow behind the button, added beads to the ends and then looped the twine behind and up over the sentiment.  The beads I have had for years from a bead/necklace kit that never got made.

Doesn't it just make you want to find a May pole or a field of wildflowers and go running through them?  If only the weather would help out right?  I've entered this card into the challenges at Stampin' Royalty and In The Pink.

Stampin Royalty #168

 Challenge #17 - Spring/Easter in Pink

SPIES:

Stamps:  Sentiment (The Paper Company Studio); background flourish (Autumn Leaves); Girls silhouette-Dancing with Flowers (Hero Arts).

Paper:  Light mottled pink cardstock; kiwi kiss cardstock. DP (Basic Grey, Sweet Threads).

Ink: Pear Tart and Angel Pink (Memento).

Extras:  Lattice emboss folder (Cuttlebug); decorative photo corners (Sizzix); Blossom die (Lifestyle Crafts); white brads; twine; pink beads.

Spring Blessings!

Happy Spring!

What speaks spring more than a nest full of eggs? I found this cute little stamp at my local Micheals craft store in their $1 bin. So cute! That is why I chose it for a very springy type card. The stamp is actually placed diagonally on the stamp mount, so I stamped it on white cardstock and die cut it so it would be straight on a label die cut, which I inked on the edges also.  The label is adhered to an embossed chipboard label. I stuck die cut leaf stamped branches behind the chipboard along with a bird, stamped and fussy cut. The dark coral doily behind the chipboard is a die cut from My Favorite Things, with a regular paper doily behind it.I sprayed the paper doily with some of my own homemade glimmer mist to get the rosy color.  All of these layers are placed on a DP background that is adhered to a white card base.

I've entered the card into the challenges at Papercraft Star and Shopping Our Stash.

SPIES:
Stamps:  Nest (Micheals $1 Bin); bird (Hampton Art); Sentiment (Taylored Expressions); leaves- from Friendship Blooms(Taylored Expressions)
Paper:  White and coral cardstock; DP (stash). DP (stash); chipboard(Studio18);
Ink:  Cocoa Brown, Teal Zeal, Summer Sky (Memento); Skin white, Flesh Pink, Champagne, Atoll, Ice Mint (Copics); Rose glimmer mist (Homemade).
Extras:  Embossed chipboard frame; Label die (Taylored Expressions); Leaf die (Taylored Expressions); Doily die (My Favorite Things); Lace doily.

Papercraft Star Challenge #137 - Birds

Challenge #94 - Easter or Spring

Spring Blessings!