my~INK~well

Tuesday Trigger Birthday Blossoms

2012-01-29T13:41:00.000-05:00

I saw this photo on the Moxie Fab World blog earlier this week, and had a project in mind. Then I saw THIS beautiful interpretation on Vicky Hayes' blog today and I just had to put this together. I immediately thought of some sets in my PTI stash that would work beautifully, and some of the retired SU inks were perfect for what I had in mind. I really love the way it came out. Thank you Cath (host of Moxie Fab World) for this beautiful inspiration photo, and thank you Vicky for sharing your gorgeous interpretation that inspired me to make this.

Supplies used:
Stamps ~ PTI Stitches & Swirls, Enjoy the Ride and Beautiful Blooms II.
Ink ~ PTI Vintage Cream, VersaMark, SU Crumb Cake, Barely Banana, Blush Blossom, and Certainly Celery.
Paper ~ Taylored Expressions Buttercream, SU Crumb Cake, Textured Cream.
Accessories ~ PTI Spring Mix Vintage button, twine, SU Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon, PTI dies, White embossing powder, adhesive pearls, Dimensionals, glue dot, Scor Tape.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

You color My world

2012-01-28T21:09:00.000-05:00

I am excited about this card for 2 reasons: #1- I completed the LIM challenge on day 1 (click HERE for details on this week's sketch LIM challenge). #2 - I have been so taken with and inspired by Susan Raihala's work since I happened upon her blog a year or so ago. I feel that my inner Susan came out in this creation. With that said, this is also a submission for One-Layer Wednesday 76: Color in Winter: Make a one-layer card that uses white, gray, with a pop of one bright color of your choice. (If you must, you may use black for the sentiment.)

I masked the area with the stamped geometric design per the LIM sketch and scored it on the sides. I clipped the metal "legs" off of the rhinestone brad so that I could attach the brad with a glue dot to keep the metal pieces from coming through to the inside of the card.

Materials used:

Stamps~PTI Rosie Posie and Happy Trails

Paper~PTI White Paper Basics

Ink~Memento London Fog, SU Basic Gray

Accessories~Scor Pal, SU Rhinestone brads

Thank you for visiting my blog. I am so grateful for your feedback.

Love You

2012-01-27T16:48:00.000-05:00

I have 20 minutes to get this one in under the wire. I had this idea all week but just could not get to it. This week's LIM challenge was a theme challenge and Chrissie and Mandi chose

"Cut it Out"

For this they would like to see some kind of hole or aperture in our card!

I cut a heart from the front of my card with a new heart die from Memory Box. I then took a piece of vellum and stamped the Damask Heart - also from Memory Box. I used vellum splits from Creative Memories to attach the vellum panel on the inside of the card. The sentiment is from PTI's Botanical Silhouettes and is stamped in Real Red. It needed some zing, so I used a hat pin from an SU Pretties Kit I got years ago.

I now have a Valentine card for my husband. Thanks for the inspiration once again Mandi and Chrissie!

Loving Ewes

2012-01-21T09:16:00.000-05:00

I am so thrilled to have been invited to be a guest designer over at the A La Card Monkey Challenge Blog for this week's challenge#92. I was so excited when I got the invitation. This is the first time I have had the honor of being a guest designer anywhere. I have to say I was a little nervous, but when I saw the sketch, I immediately knew the image I would use and a creation came to mind. This is a little more layer-y than most of my recent work, but I am happy with the way it came out. Here is the sketch:

Monkey Challenge #92 is Anything Goes + Sketch. As the challenge says, anything goes! You pick whatever theme you like. Dress is up as you wish!

Please go visit A La Card Monkey and give the challenge a whirl.

Supplies:

Stamps - Unity Stamp Company Love Ewe, Verve Love Monkey.

Paper - PTI Kraft Cardstock, Neenah Solar White, SU Brocade Blue, BasicGrey Sugar Rush.

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Pure Poppy.

Accessories - Copics, PTI Vintage Buttons, Dimensionals, Corner Chomper, Nestabilities.

Thanks for stopping in!

Grateful For You

2012-01-13T23:42:00.000-05:00

I was visiting my friend Jenny's blog earlier tonight, and she inspired me to give the Runway Inspired Challenge a whirl. This is my first attempt at this challenge, and I had fun with it. I am screeching in at the last minute. I had fun looking at all of the interpretations of this challenge. I will surely keep my eye on this one and play again in the future!

Happy Birthday Molly

2012-01-12T14:16:00.000-05:00

As I was perusing blogs yesterday looking for inspiration for a birthday card for my niece, I happened upon A La Card Monkey - a weekly challenge blog that I had not seen before, and that I really liked The sketch images on this blog are very clever. They look more like a card than a raw sketch, and all have an image of an animal on them. I love that. Here's this week's sketch:

Is that adorable, or what????? This week's challenge - Break out the new stuff for Monkey Challenge #90: New to You is to use the sketch AND something new from your stash - either something you got recently, or something that you have had, but not used before.

The card that I made is for my niece, Molly, who turned 17 on Monday. She is a driver now (yikes!) and now, so I wanted to use a car theme. The new things I used were from PTI's Enjoy the Ride. Though I have used the VW car outline from the set before, I have not used the solid VW, the licence plate sentiment, or the happy birthday sentiment. I am pleased with this creation for my special girl.

If you haven't, check out the A La Card Monkey challenge blog. There is some beautiful work there from the DT and the participants. I know I will go there frequently.

I appreciate your taking the time to stop in today. Have a lovely one!

Peace

2012-01-06T09:46:00.000-05:00

The final LIM challenge for 2011 is

JUST ONE WORD

Mandi and Chrissie made this challenge a two weeker, thank goodness! I am just squeezing in at the eleventh hour, but I am so glad I got to play. The holidays were a blur, and back to work has been so busy. I wish I would win that lottery already!

My word is PEACE. Tree Silhouette from Memory Box is such a peaceful image - I can almost hear the quiet of falling snow. The sentiment is from Impression Obsession's Peace on Earth. I stamped the silhouette image in black, then stamped it again with VersaMark and embossed it with SU Iridescent Ice emboss powder to give it sparkle. It's hard to see that in the picture, but I love the way it looks.

Wishing you many peaceful moments in 2012. Thank you for visiting my blog, and for the lovely comments you share.

Sparkly Christmas

2011-12-20T22:28:00.001-05:00

This sparkly card is for this week's Just Add Ink challenge, which is to JUST ADD SPARKLE.

While perusing some blogs yesterday, I ran across THIS wonderful creation by Vicki Dutcher. I loved it so much, and the design really put me in mind of a Memory Box stamp that I just bought. This card is a CASE of Vicki's card.

I just love this Memory Box image, and the die that works with it. OK - Christmas card number 4 on December 20th. Yikes!

Music Therapy

2011-12-18T21:41:00.001-05:00

It"s been sooooooo long since I've been able to take some time to craft. This morning after I finally got into my craft room and made this card for this week's LIM challenge, I was reminded that I need to do this to stay balanced. It is my therapy, my grounding, my happy place. I know that, but it really struck me today. I thought about the other night when I was having dinner with family and friends. Here is a snippet of our conversation:

Friend: "Fill in the blank: the Christmas season has not started until..."

Me: "Until I have had my Christmas nervous breakdown."

My 12 year old son: "Well, I guess it must be Christmas!"

Yikes!!

I have been on overload like everyone else. Today with the inspiration of my favorite duo, Chrissie and Mandi, I found my happy place again. This week is Theme Week and Chrissie and Mandi have chosen MUSIC.

I have not captured the beauty of my card with this photo. As Mandi said in her post, white on white is horrendous to photograph. The texture and finish of the two white papers work so beautifully together. Here are the supplies I used:

Paper: Real Red, textured linen, pearl finish.

Ink: VersaMark, Ranger Antique Linen distress ink. VersaFine Onyx Black.

Stamps: PTI Christmas Blessings, Waltzingmouse Musical Backgrounds.

Supplies: Memory Box Flowering Christmas Tree die, gold embossing powder, self adhesive crystals, Scor-Tape, corner rounder.

This is perhaps the third Christmas card I have made so far. Only 147 to go. LOL! I did not send Christmas cards for the first time three years ago. Since then each year I vow that I am going to make and send them, but every year I run out of time. Maybe valentines...

In case this is my last post before Christmas, which is probably a sure bet, Christmas Blessings to you, however you spend this special time. Wishing you peace and some time to enjoy the beauty that is at the heart of the season. Merry Christmas.

Homer and a Bit of Bling - A Thanksgiving story

2011-12-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

This week's Less Is More challenge is a recipe - use a bit of BLING.

Well, I always brine my turkey for Thanksgiving, which involves putting the bird in a bath of wonderful things like cider, herbs, apples, carrots, etc. for 3-4 days. I have no room in my refrigerator for the large bucket that he needs to sit in, so my friend Dee boards my bird in her spare fridge every year. After Thanksgiving every year, the bird sends Dee a thank you note, and gives her a little gift. It's very funny. So this is Homer the Turkey's card for Dee.

I had these beautiful leaves in my stash of this and that - I made them a looooooooooong time ago when trying out the emboss resist technique, and never used them. I think the leaf stamps are from Hero Arts, but I am not sure. I mounted them on red then brown, and added a little jute. To add a little interest and texture, I embossed 2 score lines on top and a zigzag sewing line. My bit o' bling is to the left of the sentiment - green self adhesive crystals. The card has been sent along with a little gift of truffles and goat cheese to Homer's boarder. Now on to Christmas. I have very few cards made. Gotta switch into gear now, or give it up for this year. Fa La La La La!

Bountiful

2011-11-14T20:00:00.000-05:00

It's ONE LAYER CARD week again over at the Simply Less Is More challenge blog.

The theme for this week is LEAVES.

It is true, I have become quite comfortable with one layer cards. When I saw this challenge, I decided to stamp a variety of leaf images in a variety of fall colors around a leaf die cut which would be used as a mask. The leaf image would be revealed when the die cut was removed. Well, that really bombed. It looked awful. I wasn't ready to give up though, so I did it in reverse and stamped inside the cutout. That worked really well.

I stamped an image of small leaves and acorns from PTI's Autumn Abundance in fall colors inside the cutout, then sponged lightly with green to pop it. When I removed the cutout, this lovely leaf revealed itself. I added some score lines on top, rounded the corners, stamped my sentiment, and my creation was complete.

I am going to head over to the LIM blog to see the fabulous creations that the Limettes have made. Thanks for stopping in today. Thanks for dropping by!

Dude, You Rock

2011-11-12T22:48:00.003-05:00

This is my take on this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.

CFC28: Create a Clean And Simple Tag or a project that has a tag on it.

I built my card around a tag that was attached to a pair of pants I bought for my sons a while ago. When I removed the tag from the pants, I thought to save it to use on a project some day. When I saw this week's challenge, I started thinking about how I could use that tag I had stuffed in my box of bits & pieces. SU's Extreme Skateboard image came to mind to go along with my tag, and I was on my way.

I embossed most of the Kraft base with PTI's Woodgrain IP and brayered it with Crumb Cake ink. I left just enough smooth space on the bottom for the sentiment . The tag had a little red on it that ended up being covered by the skater image, so I decided to use red behind my SU Extreme Skateboard skater dude for some pop. I was not happy with the blank space at the bottom of the tag, so I used PTI's Faux Ribbon and added those red lines. I think that was the perfect touch. I like the way it came out and now I have a good man-card waiting in the wings.

Supplies:

Stamps~PTI Faux Ribbon, Modern Wood Mats and Signature Greetings, SU Extreme Skateboard.

Ink~Crumb Cake, PTI Pure Poppy.

Paper~Kraft, White, Riding Hood Red.

Accessories-PTI Mat Stack 1 & Layerz Mat Stack 1, PTI Woodgrain IP, Dimensionals, brayer, corner rounder, distressing tool.

Thank you for stopping in. Have a wonderful day!

Gratitude

2011-11-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

Whew! Just getting this one in under the wire for this week's Less Is More challenge.

This week it is a colour challenge with the colors of Red and Orange in remembrance of the 'Gunpowder plot' of 1605 in the UK.

I have had one of those weeks - work all day, out for various obligations every night. I awoke this morning at 4:30 with a gazillion things in my head, including this design for my LIM card that I probably would not have time to make. I could not go back to sleep, so I got up, made a cup of tea, and put my idea together. I love the result.

I inked the leaves from PTI's Harvest Berries in Tangerine Tango. I then used PTI's new Premium Dye Ink in Pure Poppy to ink the outer edges of the leaves. These new ink pads are shaped in such a way that you can cover a large or small area easily. They are really wonderful.

I mounted the image on Cherry Cobbler, added some linen thread, popped it up with Dimensionals and added the sentiment from Autumn Word Borders by Hero Arts with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink. Have to get back to work now. So glad I had a little time to post this. Have a great day and thank you for stopping by!

Warmth & Joy

2011-10-30T21:32:00.000-04:00

This week's Less Is More Challenge is

*STARS*

I have not been able to play for the last 2 weeks, and I really wanted to be sure to make something for LIM this week. I hate to miss it. I don't know why, but I really struggled to come up with a star themed project. I remembered a fabulous sheet of paper that I have - blue with silver metallic stars. I thought I could find some inspiration if I held it in my hand LOL, but alas, I never found it. Then I got the idea of using Verve's Starstruck collection and embossing in silver on Night of Navy card stock. The card came together from there. I have to say that I love it - except for the sides on the white panel. It looked too empty without some embellishment, but nothing I tried worked out to be fabulous. I think piercing may have worked, but in the end, I added silver dots with a silver Sharpie. I am not happy with that, they are uneven - I may just have to re-make it. I do love the rest of the card though, so I went with it.

I pulled out an old SU wheel and inked it with Versa Mark to make a star background on the Kraft. The embossing of the star came out beautifully, and I just love the sentiment from a new PTI set called Stylish Sentiments Holiday.

Thank you for stopping by. I actually posted four things this weekend, which is a record for me. An October snowstorm worked wonders for my crafting. Tonight I made a fabulous pot roast with shitake mushrooms and lots of root vegetables and wine. Feels like mid January, but tomorrow is Halloween! We have our costumes together. There will definitely be frost on the pumpkin for the festivities. Hope you have a fun day tomorrow whether you do or don't do Halloween.

Boo Crew

2011-10-29T22:32:00.000-04:00

I just love this Boo Crew digi-image from MFT. I got it 2 years ago, and never used it. It appears to be retired now. I think I was a little scared of the amount of coloring that it required, but in 2 years I have become much more confident in my coloring skills. I CASE'd the coloring from Michelle Boyer's card from September 2009.

Why are the words backwards you ask? Well, I made this 8 1/2 x 11 panel for my dear friend who teaches first grade at the school my boys attend and in which I work. This is an iron-on transfer for a halloween treat bag that my friend will load up with treats for her students as a Halloween gift, and then they can use it for a trick-or-treat bag. For an iron-on transfer, words have to be backwards to come out right when ironed on.

I printed the digi image on 8 1/2 x 11 Nenah Solar White paper, and colored it with Copics. I cut the letters with Sizzix Fun Serif alphabet dies and my trusty old Sizzix die cut machine, ran them (backwards) through my Xyron, and placed them above the colored image. The fence is cut with a Martha Stewart punch, and the green rick rak is but from a PTI die.

I am proud of the way this came out, and I am happy to know the "littles" who will receive their treat bags designed by - ME!

Thanks you again for coming by. Still snowing here in NJ...

Happy Haunting

2011-10-29T17:20:00.000-04:00

This creation is a combination of 3 challenges:

Stampin' Royalty Challenge #95 The Challenge for this week is a
Theme Challenge!
Spooky/Creepy/Halloween!

and

That's Krafty Thursday #55 - use Kraft on your project.

Thanks so much for coming by. Still snowing here in NJ... and I am still in my PJ's in my craft room. It's a good day!

Supplies:
Stamps ~ PTI Tiny Treats Halloween.
Ink ~ PTI True Black, Memento Tuxedo Black.
Paper ~ Kraft, Basic Black, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight, So Saffron, White.
Accessories ~ PTI Woodgrain Impression Plate, PTI Mat Stack 4 die, Nestabilities circle dies, Dimensionals, stitched grosgrain ribbon, buttons, black jute, glue dots, corner rounder.

Holiday Wishes

2011-10-29T13:05:00.000-04:00

It is SNOWING hard here in New Jersey - very odd for October 29th. We have not even had frost on the pumpkin yet! I am staying in my PJ's and in my craft room today. Love it.

This is my project for this week's Make It Monday #38: Brayer and Impression Plate Techniques over at Nichole Heady's blog. I really love the way this came out. Betsy Veldman's video tutorial is wonderful, and I know I will be using this technique again and again.

Supplies
Stamps ~ PTI 2011 Holiday Tags, PTI Fillable Frames #10.
Paper ~ White, Kiwi Kiss, SU (retired) Ski Slope DSP, Kraft.
Ink ~ Chocolate Chip, PTI Pure Poppy, Memento Pear Tart.
Accessories ~ Brayer, PTI & Nestabilities dies, PTI embossing plate, self-adhesive rhinestones, Copics, Twinery Pink Sorbet twine, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by today.

For Julie's Smile

2011-10-10T23:14:00.000-04:00

This week CAS-ual Fridays is participating in a very special benefit blog hop for Julie Ranae. You can read Julie's story in her own words on her blog Julie's Open Window. Because it's a special week, CAS-ual Fridays has a special challenge inspired by Julie Ranae.

CFC23: Inspiration challenge. Create a Clean And Simple project using the quote as your inspiration OR use the quote as your sentiment.

When I read Julie's story and saw the outpouring of love and support from the papercrafting community, I was so moved. I really wanted to make something very special and encouraging, uplifting and hopeful for Julie's challenge. My creation emerged from the inspiration I drew from FTL161 from the Clean & Simple blog:

and the Stampin' Royalty Challenge #92.

I hope with all of my heart that contributions to Julie's cause are abundant, and that she gets her smile back very, very soon. Please check out the CAS-ual Fridays blog, and do what you can if you are so moved.

Thanks for stopping. Have a wonderful day.

Supplies:

Card Stock - PTI White, Elegant Eggplant, More Mustard, So Saffron.

Stamps - PTI Turning a New Leaf and Little Bitty Bird.

Accessories - PTI Turning a New Leaf and Bloom Builders #3 dies, self adhesive rhinestones, Dimensionals, Score Pal, corner rounder.

Enjoy Thanksgiving

2011-10-08T11:30:00.000-04:00

I am so happy that I had a little time to craft this morning, so I made this card for this week's Less Is More Challenge - week #36. It's a single layer card with

The ♥ can be singular, multiple, any colour, but, MUST be a one layer card, with no additional layers stuck on, apart from the odd embellishment or ribbon!

The weather here is crisp and clear - pumpkins and apples abound. The smell of fire in the air in the evenings... with a fall theme in mind, I went with Bramble Wreath from Memory Box as my main image, embellished with hearts from PTI's Love Lives Here : Holiday in fall colors. I colored over the hearts with a clear glaze pen to pop them. The sentiment is from Hero Arts (retired).

Have a happy day. We have a 3 day weekend in celebration of Columbus Day. Woo Hoo!I hope I can return to my craft room before the weekend is over. Thank you for stopping by!

Ghoulfriends

2011-10-02T22:23:00.000-04:00

This is my take on CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week, which is :

CFC22: Create a Clean And Simple project using a ribbon tab or loop. Big loops, tiny loops...get creative but the loops on a bow don't count.

Funny thing is that my MFT Totally Witchin' WTG paper pieced panel was the beginnings of my take on CFC#19, which was to use paper piecing on your Fall themed Clean And Simple project. Well, I never finished that challenge - just the paper piecing. Fast forward 3 challenges, and now my paper pieced witchies are the completion of CFC#22. I added 2 triple layer loops on the left, popped up my panel on a white base, and added the sentiment. Voila! Crafting time is hard to come by for me these days. So glad I finally got to play again at CAS-ual Fridays! Thanks for stopping in!

Eat, Drink and Be Scary!

2011-09-29T21:56:00.000-04:00

I have been so busy and crazy getting back to work - I am a school librarian, and the beginning of the school year is insane. My 11 year old twin boys are very active and involved in lots of things, and I have had no time to craft. I feel awful that I did not contribute any entries to the LIM try for 1000 posts. I have such loyalty to Chrissie and Mandi, and I am so sorry I could not take part in the festivities. In an effort to get back to the weekly challenges though, I made this for the Less Is More Week 34 challenge, which is a sketch.

The base layer is Elegant Eggplant, topped with Kiwi Kiss. I embossed the white panel with a spider web EF. The spider is made with a MS punch and black glitter paper. It is very sparkly. The little tag with the sentiment is made with SU tag punches and the tag image from the (retired) Eat, Drink & Be Scary set. I am so happy to have had the chance to make something this week! Thank you for stopping in.

Hello Friend

2011-09-13T14:24:00.000-04:00

I had a glorious summer off and now I am back to work. As expected, I am having trouble finding time to craft, but I think about it all of the time. This creation was rolling around in my head this morning at 4:30. I could not go back to sleep, so I finally just got up and made it!

The "Less Is More" challenge for week 32, is a ONE LAYER CARD entitled SEEING DOUBLE. Chrissie and Mandi would like to see TWO of something on our entries this week. These little birdies from PTI's Little Bitty Bird set came to mind immediately. I wanted to add a little texture so I stamped the SU "Sanded" background stamp on to the entire card with Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink. I then stamped the two branches with VersaFine Vintage Sepia and colored the leaves with Forest Moss and Bundled Sage. I colored the birds with Barn Door. I used my red atyou spica glitter pen on the wings to give them sparkle. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black.

Thank you for stopping in today. I am off to see what other Limettes have up their sleeves this week!

Remember

2011-09-08T20:50:00.000-04:00

I {{{heart}}} PTI. This card was created with the inspiration of Make It Monday #31: Creating Backgrounds With Non-background Stamps. The video tutorial on this was wonderful and inspiring. I received Havest Berries with my latest order, and I was anxious to use it. I am trying to embrace the idea that it is time to think pumpkin instead of popsicle, so I chose fall colors for my project. I stamped the background with the smallest ginkgo leaf image from the set in SU Crumb Cake ink and also added some berries. I stamped one of the background images from PTI's Half & Half in SU Garden Green and cut it out with the matching die to make the decorative strip. The sentiment is stamped on vanilla card stock and matted in SU Cajun Craze. I stamped the medium ginkgo images In SU Cajun Craze ink, cut them out and adhered them with dimensionals. I really love the way this turned out.

Thank you for visiting. I always appreciateyour comments so very much.

Christmas Blessings

2011-09-05T15:29:00.000-04:00

My creation today is born of inspiration from 3 challenges:

Play Date Cafe #97

The Color Splash!

Simply create something in Black and then add just a splash of color

THIS WEEK IT'S A SPLASH OF RED!!!!

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CAS-ual Fridays #18

In honor of International Literacy Day on September 8th,

the Girl Fridays have a special challenge involving papercrafting and books.

CFC18: Create a Clean And Simple project inspired by a book, and use the colors black, white and red.

I am a school librarian and I love to be surrounded by books, to share them with my students, and to read the the little ones. My creation is inspired by the book The Littlest Christmas Tree : a Tale of Growing and Becoming by Janine Jasin. In this story, a small seedling pine wants very much to grow tall enough to become a real Christmas tree, but while she waits, she learns to appreciate the world around her and the value of being her very best right where she is planted. It's one of my favorites!

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Less Is More #31

A colour themed challenge once more and this time it is:

METALLIC

Make CLEAN & SIMPLE cards with something that has a METALLIC finish to it... ink, embossing, card, charms, actual metal...

I have owned this Krylon Silver Leafing Pen for quite a while and never used it. This was my perfect opportunity to break it out. I used it to edge the while panel with the Christmas tree image on it. It is a beautiful silver finish. It does not show up well in the photos, but it is very bright and shiny.

Thank you for coming by. As always, I appreciate your wonderful comments so very much! Have a great week!

Supplies:

Paper~PTI white, Gina K black

Stamps~Penny Black Starlit, PTI Signature Christmas

Ink~VersaFine Onyx Black, PTI Fresh Snow.

Accessories~Kaiser Rhinestones, Sizzix/SU Petals-A-Plenty EF, Ellen Hutson red satin ribbon, Krylon Silver Leafing Pen, Dimensionals.

Across the Miles

2011-08-29T11:45:00.000-04:00

This card is going to a far away friend, in a far away place, along with a special package. (Don't peek Jenny!) Today is my last day before starting back to work after a wonderful summer off. If it weren't for Irene, I would be at work right now! I guess I have to thank her for that at least...

For this creation, I used a combination of 3 challenges for inspiration, and I am really pleased with the results. My first inspiration was:

CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is to : Use Stickers in your Clean And Simple design. rub-ons are fine too if you don't have stickers. This was no easy task for me at first. Stickers? I don't use them on cards, only memory book pages. You would crack up if you saw the monstrosity I created for my first try. Then I remembered that I had this gorgeous paper with coordinating stickers from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden Collection. For my layout, I went with this week's wonderful sketch from the Clean & Simple blog : FTL155.

Finally, this week's Flutter By Wednesday #FBW168 is an open challenge! Anything goes as long as you have a butterfly, fairy or angel on your creation!! My butterfly sticker creation certainly fits the bill there. I love the way these three challenges inspired this creation. I am grateful for all of the work that goes into these challenge blogs, and so inspired by the work I see.

Supplies:
Stamps - Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Collection, PTI Everything Button Bits.
Ink - VersaMark, PTI Fresh Snow.
Paper - Kraft, Cajun Craze, White, Always Artichoke, Pink Paislee Butterfly Collection DP.
Accessories - Pink Paislee Butterfly Collection stickers, PTI Double-Ended Banners die, PTI Mehndi Medallion Impression Plate, white embossing powder.

Thank you for stopping in. Have a wonderful day!

Tuesday Trigger Invitation

2011-08-28T13:29:00.000-04:00

I live in Northeastern US in NJ, about 40 miles from the coast. Irene has been here and gone. It was quite nerve wracking awiting her arrival. We were very lucky to have had no damage, and we kept our power. My beloved shoreline is devastated though. I hope to be able to get to the shore tomorrow. In the meantime, the winds are still high, so we have to wait to put our deck back in order. Until then I am getting some crafting in before I return to work on Tuesday. I have been very inspired lately by the Moxie Fab World blog hosted by Cath Edvalson. I decided to play the Tuesday Trigger : Girly & Gutsy challenge, which closes today. Here is the inspiration photo:

Isn't it just fab?? When I saw this, PTI's new Table Service set immediately came to mind. I love these colors, and I enjoyed putting this card together. For the background, I CASE'd an idea from THIS post on Nichole Heady's blog. I stamped the Chrysanthemum from PTI's Year of Flowers Collection on white card stock, then I outlined the flowers with a C1 Copic marker. I love the way this looks.

I am going to try to do at least one more challenge today. I hope wherever you are, so are safe and dry and enjoying this day. Thank you for stopping by.

Peaceful Soul

2011-08-15T23:29:00.000-04:00

Week 28 - One Layer with a special feature. USE INK

** This does include ink pads **

...hopefully in a way you haven't tried before.... or using a favourite technique.

Well I have to say I am so excited about this creation. Mandi & Chrissie - thank you for making me do things I would not have done! I {{{heart}}} LIM challenges.

I recently made a couple of cards with an inking technique that I have never used before. Then lo and behold, this week's LIM challenge was to make a one layer card and use an inking technique that you may not have tried before. I felt compelled to do something different, so I looked to my Ranger distress inks that I have barely used. I really had no idea what to do with them., so I viewed a couple of Tim Holtz videos on You Tube and I was off. I have to say that I think this is my favorite card I ever made. I masked a one inch border on my vanilla cardstock. I then used various Ranger distress inks with a blending tool and covered the open rectangle. I spritzed with water and dried it with a heat gun. I added Glimmer Mist for shine, then stamped the triple tree image from PTI's Through The Trees. I finished it off with a sentiment from PTI's Peaceful Garden.

I love the way this card turned out. I am thankful to Mandi and Chrissie for making me do this! Thank you for visiting my blog today. I siwh you a peaceful day!

CR84FN35 Thank You

2011-08-11T23:58:00.000-04:00

This is my take on CR84FN35 - Lavender, Celery and Gray.

I have fallen in love with the Acrylic Block Stamping technique. You can read more about it HERE. The base of my card is Basic Gray. I scribbled with an Old Olive watercolor crayon on an acrylic block, misted it, and pressed it on to watercolor paper. I then stamped the butterfly image from PTI's Happy Trails on the matching die cut with Lavender Lace ink, added some tiny self adhesive pearls, and adhered it with Dimensionals. I sprayed the watercolor paper with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist for some sheen. The sentiment from PTI's Signature Greetings is stamped with Versa Fine Onyx Black. Simple as that! I really like the way this turned out. Thanks for stopping in and thank you for your wonderful comments.

Peaceful Wishes

2011-08-10T22:28:00.001-04:00

This week it's time for another colour challenge over at the Simply Less Is More Challenge Blog. Chrissie and Mandi have decided to ask us to make a card using the

COLOURS

OUR NATION'S FLAG!

I live in the USA, and our flag colors are Red, White and Blue. I always check the LIM challenge the first moment I can get on my computer each Saturday. I thought a lot about what I would do with this challenge, but I did not have time until this morning to do anything with my thoughts. Very early in the day today, I saw THIS post from Susan Raihala of Simplicity. Susan's work always moves me. I wish I could see things through her eyes. Susan used the Acrylic Block Stamping technique in her creation today - one I have never seen before. When I viewed Susan's creation with this technique, I immediately knew what I would do for the LIM challenge. My card is a CASE of Susan's, but it has it's own character. After trying this technique several times on white card stock, I decided I needed to use water color paper and I loved the results. I am so pleased with this creation. I really love it, and I know I will use this technique again and again. Thank you so much for coming to view!

Summer Fruity Drink

2011-08-03T12:03:00.000-04:00

It's Summertime, and the living is easy peasy lemon squeezy! My creation today is for 3 challenges -

FEELING FRUITY

Create using fruit on your cards or fruit colours...

*****

SUMMER FUN SOMETHING

*****

FOOD & DRINK

*****

I really love this Impression Obsession image - Sweet Lemonade. It's so summery, fruity, lovey dovey, and PERFECT for these 3 challenges! So I got to work stamping it with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloring it with Copics. I cut it out with Nesties and mounted it on black and Melon Mambo. Not much more was needed with this combination, so I just decided to emboss white card stock with PTI's Sunshine Impression Plate for the base of my card. I tried all kinds of placements for the sentiment, which is from Wilson Designs' Teeny Bikini. Nothing looked right. This image really stands on its own, so I took the plunge and stamped it right on the image panel. I am so glad I did that. My eye was pleased! I need a glass on lemonade now... Thank you for visiting my blog! I always appreciate your wonderful comments.

Hope, Friends, Love

2011-07-29T16:53:00.000-04:00

Oh I have missed playing challenges while I was away. This creation is a combination of two challenges - Less is More which is a recipe challenge - Ribbon(s) or Button(s) and Play Date Cafe which is a color inspiration : Coral, Petal Pink and Antique Gold. I love the beauty of these colors together.

My dear friend lost her mother this morning, and I wanted to make her a very special card. This simple card took me many tries, but I am satisfied with it in the end. The image and sentiment are from PTI's With Sympathy. I used PTI's Half & Half with matching Die for the background and the die cut piece that holds the sentiment. The ribbon is from a long retired assortment from SU. I added a butterfly with 2 tiny pearls above the sentiment. It feels so good to rev up my inner LIMette and to play the Play Date Cafe challenge again. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Life Is Good

2011-07-29T10:17:00.001-04:00

I've been away for a while, and though I had a wonderful vacation with my family, I have missed my craft room. I am so happy to have a little time to create today. I made this card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge : CFC13-The Long and Short of it: Create a 4 x 9 card and keep it Clean And Simple! I just love Teeny Bikini from Wilson Designs and It's a Shore Thing from the craft's meow for fun summer-themed creating. Last week's Color Throwdown 151 challenge was to use rainbow colors - ROYGBIV. I missed the deadline for that, but in thinking about what I would do if I could, I got the idea to line up these adorable polka dot surfboards in rainbow colors. When I saw the CAS-ual Fridays challenge today, this design popped into my head and I went with it. I masked and sponged the Soft Sky background. I also masked each surf board so that I could overlap each one with the next. The surfboards and the waves are hand cut. The sun is cut with Nestabilities. The tops of the surf boards are popped with Dimensionals. I love this happy creation. It feels so good to be back. Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T10:43:00.000-04:00

Today is the 4th of July - Independence Day - the national day of the United States. Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, political speeches and ceremonies, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States. Canada Day was July 1. Canada Day also means fireworks and the year's biggest national party. Lots of patriotic celebrating out there!

Yesterday, I was pondering what my Less Is More challenge creation might be for this week. While looking through blogs posting some comments, I saw THIS creation by Isha of New Ideas. Isha was one of the winners of the CAS-ual Fridays CFC8 challenge last week. Her creation was so striking to me. I had it in my mind when I saw this week's Less Is More challenge #22, which is to use shades of blue in your CAS creation. Then I ran across a blog that is new to me - Stampin Royalty. Their challenge #78 this week is a theme challenge to Go Patriotic.

With these two challenges in mind, and my admiration for Isha's creation, I came up with a CASE of Isha's card with several shades of blue and a patriotic theme. I used MFT's Die-namics Star Border to cut star borders in six shades of blue - Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point and Tempting Turquoise. I ran them through my Xyron to apply adhesive to the backs. I made french knots on the left-most star of each border with The Twinery's Maraschino Twine. The sentiment and large star are from Verve's American Hero collection. The large star is colored with Copics and accented with a gold atyou Spica glitter pen. The white panel is mounted on Night of Navy and Cherry Cobbler. I am thankful to Isha for her inspiration, and so glad I found another fabulous blog to play with.

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping in!

Kraft-man Congrats

2011-07-03T10:20:00.000-04:00

This week's Girl Fridays over at the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge blog have a fun challenge for us -

Krafts-men: create a Clean And Simple masculine project using kraft.

I enjoy the CAS-ual Fridays challenges so much, and the DT and participants are wonderful. Lots of luscious comments are exchanged, and that is so encouraging and supportive. If you have not, please go on over to visit and play. Lots of amazing talent there.

This project is so very simple. I tried adding a little ribbon, a corner piece, some twine, some buttons or brads, but it really stands so well on its own so I left it alone. I am learning... The music is from Waltzingmouse Stamps Musical Backgrounds collection embossed with VersaMark and white embossing powder. The guitar is from PTI's Rythm & Soul. It is stamped in Memento Tuxedo black ink, colored with Copics, cut out and adhered with 3D foam squares. You can't see it in the picture, but I used my gold Zig Painty pen to give a shiny brass look to the tuning heads on the guitar. I love little details like that.

I am off to link this up and check out the other CAS-ual Fridays creations. Have a wonderful day!

Let's Roll

2011-06-29T07:51:00.000-04:00

CPS224

This is my take on this week's wonderful sketch (CPS224) over at the Card Positioning Systems blog. This adorable VW Microbus image is from Wilson Designs Stamps new release: Teeny Bikini, which is chock full of fun summery images. I was going for a "flower power" look here. I can't wait to use this set for more projects. These images really fit the summer mode I'm in!

Here are my ingredients:

Cardstock~Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade, Neenah Solar White, Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety DP.

Stamps~Wilson Designs Teeny Bikini.

Ink~Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Onyx Black, Garden Green.

Accessories~Nestabilities, Copic markers, Dimensionals, Twinery Peapod twine.

LIM Vacation

2011-06-27T22:24:00.000-04:00

For the Less Is More Week 21 challenge, Mandi and Chrissie have challenged the Limettes to a sketch:

I had lots of ideas for this one, but since I spent the day at the beach today with my boys, I chose to do a beachy theme with a new set I recently got from The Crafts Meow called It's a Shore Thing. These designs are great for CAS creations - go over and take a look! The service was great - it was a pleasure to do business with this company.

The images are stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copics. The color scheme was inspired by last week's Colour Q challenge cQc90, which is now closed. The colors were perfect for my idea.

The sentiment is from MFT's Catch Some Rays (Link to this set not available at the time of this posting). Perfect card for wishing family or friends a great vacation. Thanks for stopping by today! I am off to check out the incredible Limette creations!

Twinkling Thank You

2011-06-26T22:06:00.000-04:00

I have been so crazy busy since my kids got out of school - having lots of fun, but missing my ink time. I finally got a little time to create today. I combined this week's One Layer Wednesday and CAS-ual Fridays challenges for my creation. I am so happy to be able to play both of these wonderful challenges this week. I hate to miss them.

The awesome Girl Fridays over at the CAS-ual Fridays challenge blog have challenged us with CFC8 to use border punches, rip some cardstock, whatever your pleasure to add a fun edge to your Clean And Simple project!

Susan Raihala's One Layer Wednesday challenge this week - OLW59 - is based on this photo. Susan of Simplicity by LateBlossom is an incredible artist. Her work blows me away. It is CAS at its finest, and I am always energized and inspired by her talent.

This photo instantly put me in mind of Zinnias, an image from Impression Obsession that I have had for a while and never used.

I stamped the zinnias image on watercolor paper with Memento Tuxedo blank ink and then colored it with Twinkling H2O's. They have such a beautiful sparkle that I can never really capture in my photos. I wanted to use Copics this time, but since they bleed paper a bit, H2O's were a better choice for my one layer card. The bottom border was made with my new PTI Edgers 3 Collection border die, which I just love. I finished my card off with a sentiment from Verve's Thankful Accents set stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I am happy with the result of these combined challenges. It is so good to have some time to focus on my art tonight. Thanks so much for stopping in and taking a look!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat???

2011-06-14T21:39:00.000-04:00

Just a note to say that I posted a card tonight that I said was for One Layer Wednesday - but it is only Tuesday, and though I know I saw this inspiration somewhere, it was not OLW. I am officially losing my mind. I hope I can figure out which challenge was to use a flourish so I can submit my project. I am quite happy with it LOL.

Thanks With A Flourish

2011-06-14T20:45:00.001-04:00

I work in a school library, and there is always a ton of work to do. I have a helper mom who comes on Thursdays, our busiest day, to shelve books for me. I am so grateful to her for all that she does. Tomorrow is that last day of school, so I wanted to make her a card and give her a THANK YOU gift. I got my inspiration from today's One Layer Wednesday Challenge which is to use a flourish in your project. The beautiful SU set Baroque Motifs came immediately to my mind. I then went to Color Throwdown #145 for my color inspiration.

I did not have Pear Pizazz ink, so I used some bling that is very close in color. The sentiment is from PTI's Blooming Button Bits. I sponged around the edges with Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink. I love the way this turned out. Simple and poignant.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a lovely day!

CAS-ual Thinking Of You

2011-06-11T23:38:00.002-04:00

This card is for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge. This project frustrated me beyond words. I began it last week, intending it to be my submission for the June 3rd CAS-ual Fridays challenge. That challenge was a sketch challenge - you can see it below.

I had just recently received my PTI Anniversary set, and there was an enclosure that I really loved, and I planned to use it for my inspiration. See below:

WELL!!!!! I made it about what felt like 1,000 times, and I just could not get it right. I missed the deadline for last week's challenge, but I was bound and determined to make it work somehow and use it again. I finally found a way to work it that I like, and I tweaked my original idea so that I could use it for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge, which is so cool.

This week the girls Friday challenge us to This week at CAS-ual Fridays, we are playing Tic Tac Toe.

Each 3-in-a-row line holds a recipe and you get to choose the row that works for you. Choose a row: across, down, or diagonal and then Create a Clean & Simple design using those elements in your project. I chose the middle, vertical row: GEMS, DIES OR PUNCH, FLOWERS.

Here is my recipe:
Paper~ Black, River Rock.
Stamps~SU Sanded, MFT 2010 Anniversary set.
Ink~SU Craft White and Crumb Cake , Ranger Rusty Hinge and Forest Moss distress inks, VersaFine Onyx Black
Accessories~Black Gel Pen, SU distressing tool, Twinery Manderine twine, MFT Die-namics banner strip die, Kaiser self-adhesive half pearls, Tombo Multi liquid glue.

I am so done with this card!!!!!! I am sorry to have edited this post twice, but I found some errors that I just had to fix! Thanks for stopping in to look at my frustrating piece!!!! Have a great day!

Framed Father's Day

2011-06-11T21:46:00.000-04:00

This week's Less Is More challenge #19 is a ONE LAYER WEEK again. The challenge is entitled "IN THE FRAME. Chrissie and Mandi would like to see a frame of some sort or something in a frame... They'd like you to be as inventive as you like. You could doodle, draw, emboss, ink, paint, colour, print, stamp, emboss resist, mask or any other method you can come up with to get a frame of sorts into your design.

Well today, I went to my local scrapbook store to get some ink, and of course, I did not stop there. I saw two stamps I had to have. I used one of them for my LIM project. It is called Boat Cupcake from Impression Obsession, Inc. I saw some amazing cards lately with embossed frames using Nestabilities, and I wanted to try that technique. As usual, the LIM challenge made me try something new. Gotta love that! I combined my new stamp with the embossed frame technique for my take on this week's LIM challenge. I used Gina K's tutorial that you can view HERE.

I used watercolor paper as my base, stamped my image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored it with a combination of Twinkling H2O's, SU Watercolor Crayons and Watercolor Pencils. I framed the image by embossing with Nestabilities Labels Eleven. I did the sky with SU Bashful Blue ink and the Inkessentials blending tool. I then stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts Clear Design June with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

I need a Father's Day card for my DH, so this is perfect. He is a beach guy... He will love it! Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Monochromatic Thank You

2011-06-05T13:29:00.000-04:00

The goodness of this week continues... I had placed an order from PTI and was anxiously awaiting it's delivery. When it came the other day, enclosed was my PTI 2010 Anniversary set - Botanical Silhouettes. It is a is a FREE Limited Edition stamp set circulated to loyal customers who purchased 12 qualifying stamp sets between February 2010 and February 2011. It is GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE PTI products and service and I think it is wonderful that they have this program.

So yesterday when I went over to the Less Is More blog to see what wonderful inspiration was in store for me this week. When I saw the challenge, I immediately knew what I would do. The LIM divas are now back to a colour challenge and for this week they have decided to do MONOCHROME - Use shades of one color: using or displaying only shades of one color or black and white. You may choose any colour you wish, but keep all the shades you use within your chosen spectrum.

I LOVE this. I have never done this before!! One of the many things I LOVE about the LIM challenges is that they encourage me do things I have never done before. It's fabulous!! So I made 2 monochromatic cards using my new PTI set. I am so pleased with the way they came out. On the pink one, I put clear stickles in the flower centers. You really can's see that on the picture.

On the blue one, I used my clear atyou spica glitter pen to give the flowers a little sparkle. You can't see that on this picture either.

All of the inks I used are from Stampin' Up except for the sentiment, which is VersaFine Onyx Black. I really enjoyed this and I can now add another style to my repertoire. Thanks LIM divas! Now I am going to hop on over to see what fabby creations the LIMettes have whipped up! Thanks for stopping by!

What a week!

2011-06-05T12:51:00.000-04:00

Good Sunday morning!

I have never written a blog post without posting a project, but I guess there is a first time for everything! This has been a wonderful week for me in many ways, and especially in terms of my crafting. Ever since I can remember, I have always had a "craft du jour" - macrame, sewing, quilting, stenciling... About 8 or 9 years ago, I met my dear friend Carol at a street fair. My twin boys were very little then, and I wanted to start making memory books for them. I had no idea where to begin. Carol was (and is) a Creative Memories Consultant, her CM website is HERE, and she got me started in the wonderful world of paper crafting through scrapbooking. A precious friendship was born. A few years later, we both went to a Stampin' Up stamp camp, we I got hooked on the art of stamping, card making... paper crafting.

I posted my first blog entry on this blog on October 5, 2008. Since then, I have been developing my craft as time allows. I began to participate in challenges, which is THE way to get good. Well, this week, for the first time, I won a challenge. I also received honorable mention for another, and was given awards from 2 wonderful and talented crafters!!!!!!! I won the Summertime, and the Living Is Easy challenge over at Betty Bee's Buzz for THIS project! Woo Hoo!!!!! I also received honorable mention for THIS entry in the Play Date Cafe PDCC83 Color Splash challenge. WOW!! Woo Hoo!! Yippee!!

This week, I received this lovely award from Scrappin Rabbit Designs and from June Houck. Thank you so much for this honor!!

With this award, you have to share 5 things about yourself and one has to be about your crafting.
1 - I stated above that I have always had a "craft du jour". Well, I can't see myself ever moving on from this particular craft.
2 - I love libraries!
3 - My favorite place to be is by the sea.
4 - I love Thai food.
5 - I love to sing and play guitar, and back in the day, I performed in bands and was a rock star in my dreams. I guess that one is still true - LOL!

I am passing this award on to:

Lucian - Lucian is the person who inspired me so greatly when I began creating with stamps and paper. She is a good friend and an amazing artist.
Jenny - Jenny is a crafter Ii have met recently through some new challenge blogs. She is a great artist and a source of inspiration.
Shirley - Shirley is another amazing artist who has been so kind, encouraging and inspiring to me.
Susan - Susan recently posted a tutorial on how she photographs her work. This has helped me so much, and I am grateful. Her work is amazing and inspiring to me.

Holy smoke!!! I am so happy about all of this, and so honored. I have met some wonderful people in this blog world. Some of the blogs that I have recently begun participating in their challenges, have really caused a surprising increase in blog views for me. They are Less is More, CAS-ual Fridays, and the Play Date Cafe. The DT and participants of these challenges are exceptionally supportive in terms of commenting, and as we all know, lovely comments = happiness!!! It is so much fun to see crafters' takes on challenges, and to exchange encouraging words with people from all over the globe. I love the sense of humor that comes out and ideas shared.

Thanks to all for your kindnesses and encouragement. I am pleased and proud to be part of this community!

Stephanie

Celebrate Summer

2011-05-31T22:42:00.000-04:00

This week's theme for the HoneyBee Showcase over at Betty Bee's Buzz Blog is "It's summertime and the living is easy". I love summer at the beach. I live close enough that I can go to the beach any day I want. I work in my kids' school and I have summers off. Fabulous! The countdown is on. We get out June 15th. Most of my best summer memories involve the shore (as we say in NJ when we speak of the beach). I have been mulling this project over for days. I had a panel that I had embossed some time ago with Spellbinders Seascape Impressabilities on SU Blush Blossom card stock. I knew I would use that as my background. I have had so much inspiration lately from so many fellow crafters... My friend June Houck made something fabulous recently using cork (HERE) , so I was inspired to pull that out and use it as "sand". I just got this new MFT Die-Namics Catch a Wave and used it for my for water... The seahorse is from this wonderful stamp from Outlines Rubber Stamp Company Split Layer Collage - Splash. I CASE'd the colors on the seahorse from THIS post. My friend Shirley inspired me to color it with Twinkling H2O's. I usually use Copics, but Shirley's post about Twinkling H2O's (HERE) being alive and well, inspired me to color my image with them. They are so shiney and sparkeley - I love them. I thought the addition of the rope made the whole thing look nautical. I used a white Gel pen to make the dots on the seahorse stand out. I really fussed with the colors for the base and the first layer, but I am happy with the final product. I love that this project made me go to places I have not been. Thank you for coming by and thank you always for your feedback!

CAS Graduation

2011-05-30T20:03:00.000-04:00

There are a few very special 8th graders in the school in which I work, who are about to graduate and for whom I wanted to make special cards. Our school colors are green and white. I came up with this creation with inspiration from three challenges this week:
The theme of graduation is inspired by this week's CAS-ual Fridays Girl Fridays CFC4 - This one is for the Grads!
The layout is inspired by this week's Clean & Simple sketch - FTL142. I loved the idea taken from Nancy's card for this layout and Natasha's card which is just below the layout HERE, of embossing 3/4 of the card and then adding 2 scor lines to the right of the embossing. Great idea - looks fabulous. Thank you Nancy and Natasha!
The color scheme is taken from this week's Play Date Cafe Color Splash Challenge PDCC83 : Black & White with a SPLASH of green.

Here are my ingredients:
Stamps ~ PTI For the Graduate, Just Rite 15 pt alphabet.
Paper ~ Gina K's Pure Luxury Black, PTI White.
Ink - SU Garden Green, Memento Tuxedo Black.
Accessories ~ Provocraft EF, Scor-It, 5/8 Stitched grosgrain ribbon, star button, The Twinery's Peapod twine, Scor-Tape, Just Rite 1 1/2" circular stamper.

I loved the idea that I came up with last year of using my Just Rite circular stamp and alphabet/numbers to stamp "SMS Class of 20??" in the circle with the hat and stars. It's a nice touch and the kids love it.
Thank you so much for stopping in today. I hope you had a great weekend!

Relax and Enjoy

2011-05-28T13:43:00.001-04:00

I don't usually combine lots of challenges, but there is something in the air out there in challenge blogland -SUMMER! Summer officially opened for me yesterday. The criteria for the first day of summer in our family is not a date. The first day of summer consists of going "down the shore" (New Jersey speak for "to the beach") and stay there for at least 4 hours, and in addition you have to go to Strollo's Lighthouse for Italian ice - Lighthouse Italian Ice is the "taste of the Jersey Shore" and for diehard fans like me and mine, it's the taste of summer itself. Yesterday, my boys had a half day at school. We packed the car in the morning, and left right from there and headed down the shore. We had Italian ice for dinner, and pizza for dessert. It was a perfect first day of summer.

There are three challenges out there on the challenge blogs I frequently visit, for which this card is perfect:
Less Is More has a really fun and creative challenge this week. It was the inspiration for my design.
It is:

PICK A SQUARE

For their "Pick a Square" challenge, Chrissie and Mandi offer us a multiple choice.... well sort of ... you can choose which of the 5 SQUARES from their plan that you wish to use to place the image of your card, leaving the rest as PURE WHITE SPACE! Isn't that so fun and clever? I just love it!

The C4C challenge this week - C4C89 - is to create a project that features your favorite vacation spot or activity. Well, my favorite spot is the beach, and my favorite activity is relaxing in my beach chair! Voila!

The Stamp Something challenge last week was to use beachy colors, and this week, it is to use a sentiment. I did not get time to play last week, so with the beach in mind, this card combines the two.

The image I used is from Outlines Rubber Stamp Company's Split Layering Collage Collection - Seaside. I colored it with Copics and mounted it on 2 layers of square Nesties. The sentiment is from MFT's Catch Some Rays. I could not find it on their website to link it at this time.

Thank you for coming by. I hope you have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!

Discover Your Wings

2011-05-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

I took my inspiration for this card from this week's Less Is more challenge, which is to use a butterfly or butterflies in your creation. I embossed the frame on Gina K's Pure Luxury White cardstock. This Provocraft EF is made for CAS creations! The butterfly from Taylored Expressions Discover Your Wings collection is heat embossed with gold embossing powder on a sheet of BasicGrey Wisteria DP then cut out and mounted on the card with 2 mini glue dots. The sentiment is stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I thought about adding a line of tiny purple rhinestones beneath the word "wings", but I resisted the temptation and left it very clean and very simple. I like it a lot!

Thank you for coming by today!

Leave a Trail

2011-05-24T16:15:00.000-04:00

I recently found Betty Bee's Buzz - a wonderful blog that has all kinds of things - projects, challenges, instructions and sharing... Every Monday at Betty Bee's Buzz, one of the Honeybees shares a special project with you on the Monday Motivational. Last week, the incredibly talented Amy Sheffer of Pickled Paper Designs was guest Honey Bee for Monday Motivational. Amy shared a great challenge that I got very excited about - a wedding theme for your not-necessarily wedding themed project: something OLD, something NEW, something BORROWED, and something BLUE. What a brilliant idea!!

I have to laugh at myself about the process of making this card. Lately I have been trying hard to discipline myself to create more in the CAS style. For this one though, I intended to go for lots of layers and DP. It had much more going on when I first started. I started with three panels of DP matted on black. I changed the paper and the colors and the layout a million times... I fussed and I fussed... and then something wonderful happened! I decided to simplify it and I stopped struggling. I do love the layers and embellishments so much, but I labor so long and hard and I just don't have much time. This card took me hours and hours by the time I built it up and broke it down, but I am happy with it in the end. What a nut I am.

This is a graduation card for my friend who just finished her Masters of Education degree. I wanted to do something different, and I thought this image and sentiment from MFT's Enjoy the Ride, which is in their June 2011 VIP Package, was perfect for this occasion. In the end, the only DP I used was to paper piece WTG's clothing. I colored the rest of her and her bicycle with Copics. You can't really see it in my photo, but I colored the handlebars and two other parts on the bicycle with my silver Zig Painty pen to make it look "chrome-y". I love that touch! The yellow panel is dry embossed with a polka dot impressions plate from SU - also hard to see in the photo.

My something OLD is retired Barely Banana card stock from SU. My something NEW is my new MFT Enjoy the Ride set. Something BORROWED is the technique I've seen many times but seldom used, of stamping a sentiment twice, highlighting a word or words with color, cutting them out and popping them up on top of the sentiment already stamped. My something BLUE is this WTG's paper pieced pants. To tell the truth, there was a lot more blue when I was playing with panels and background colors, but they went away in my process of simplification! I do love those pants though - I have a pair just like them!

Anyway, I really enjoyed this, and am so glad I finally got to play one of these challenges. I plan to do more. If you haven't yet, please go on over and check out Betty Bee's Buzz. You will love it!

HB2U

2011-05-22T11:47:00.000-04:00

This is my CAS-ual Fridays creation for this week. The challenge is to use bling on your Clean and Simple project. I love this challenge blog, and I am learning so much about the CAS style. The challenges here really get me thinking in a whole new way, and the participants are so talented and gracious.

This creation is about as far from my usual as I could possibly get. I love that! When I saw the challenge on Fruday, I went through my stash in my head thinking about what blingy things I had to work with. I immediately thought of MFT's Bling Bet - a set I have had for a long time but never used. Then I thought of SU's red glitter paper and my new By the Number dies from PTI. Put 'em together with some Kaiser self adhesive rhinestones and whaddaya got?? Blingy HB2U! I have not looked at this week's CAS-ual Friday entries yet. I am on my way over to post this and to be wowed by all of the amazing creations I know I will find there. If you have not gone yet, go on over and play. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Baby Cakes

2011-05-19T09:27:00.000-04:00

This week's One Layer Wednesday Challenge (OLW54) is to make a one-layer baby card using this post of Sunday Sweets as your inspiration. There are some amazing cakes to choose from - most of which left me thinking "how'd they do that"??? I chose this cake as my inspiration:

PTI's A Little Argyle came to mind right away and SU's Nursery Necessities is my go-to baby set. I decided to make a little window and place that adorable little bird inside so it is there when you open the card. I hope my Nestie frame around the circle does not count as a layer on my one layer card... I have always been one to push the envelope, and it really did not look right without the frame. I added some glaze and sparkle to the little bird with a gel pen. Voila! One layer (and a frame) baby card!

Here is my recipe:

Paper ~ Taylored Expressions Buttercream.

Stamps ~ PTI A Little Argyle, SU Nursery Necessities.

Ink ~ Soft Suede, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red.

Accessories ~ Sakura Gelly Roll glaze pen, SU Pretty In Pink 3/8" taffeta ribbon, Nestabilities, Scor-It-All, glue dot.

Little One

2011-05-15T10:52:00.001-04:00

This week's Less Is More challenge is to make a one layer card with heat or dry embossing. I am so lovin' these little button birdies from PTI's Everyday Button Bits, I just had to use them again today. When I looked through my stash of EF's and found a long forgotten set of 4 little EF's with different circle designs, my card design came immediately to mind. The small button birds fit perfectly inside the embossed circles. The rest is easy to see...

Here is my recipe:
Stamps ~ PTI Everyday Button Bits, SU Nursery Necessities.
Paper ~ Kraft, White.
Ink ~ VersaFine Onyx Black, Rose Red.
Accessories ~ Cuttlebug, markers, Kaiser self adhesive pearls, buttons, glue dots, Scor-It, SU Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon.

I am really happy with this one. Thank you LIMettes for the inspiration! Have a wonderful day and thanks for visiting!

Chickadee

2011-05-14T13:59:00.000-04:00

Last week was the debut challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays. What a friendly and talented bunch of designers and players! If you haven't yet, go on over and give it a whirl! This week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge is to make something with buttons AND twine. How fun is that?? My card is very simple and self- explanatory.

Here is the recipe:
Stamps~PTI Backgroud Basics: Tin Type and Everyday Button Bits.
Ink~ VersaFine Onyx Black, Wild Wasabi, Soft Suede, Craft White.
Paper~Soft Suede, White, Baja Breeze.
Accessories~MS Baker's Twine, PTI Vintage Button Collection, Kaiser self adhesive pearl, SU Square Lattice EF, Scor-Tape, glue dot, Nestabilities Labels Fourteen.

Thanks for coming by today - have a great weekend!

New Home

2011-05-12T07:31:00.000-04:00

This creation was made for yesterday's One Layer Wednesday challenge - OLW53, which is to "Make a one-layer 'New Home' card using at least two different coloured inks." PTI's Love Lives Here collection immediately came to mind. Again, I have to laugh at how simple this card is and yet how much I struggled with it. For once, I knew exactly what I wanted to do; however, it took four tries before I got it right. It was the frame that got me. I planned to use Waltzingmouse Stamps' FRAME-IT collection to frame my little house and I love the way the sentiment fit into the open space on the frame. Every time I stamped the frame on the card, I made a mistake of some sort - ink smudges, incorrect measturement, etc. I finally got it right though, and I am happy with the way it came out. I am really loving these challenges where less is really more - I feel like I am learning a lot.

Here is my recipe:

Stamps ~ PTI-Love Lives Here, Waltzingmouse Stamps-Frame-It.

Paper ~ Gina K. Pure Luxury White.

Ink ~ Memento Tuxedo Black, So Saffron, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi.

Accessories ~ Rose Red marker.

Thank you always for stopping by. I appreciate your comments so much.

White Wedding

2011-05-09T20:49:00.000-04:00

This week's Less Is More Challenge from Chrissie and Mandi is a color challenge - White on White. Well! I thought the acetate was challenging!!!! I had snow in mind for this one, but everything I tried failed miserably. I ran across this SU embossing folder, which is so gorgeous and needs little embellishment. So I went from White Christmas to White Wedding!!!! I embossed right on the front of the card - no layers there. I then cut two labels with my Nesties, and stamped the tiny "Mr. & Mrs." sentiment from SU's All Holidays. I added some tiny self adhesive pearls and I was done. The cardstock is WHITE, but my evening photography is awful, and it looks to be vanilla. Either way, I like it! Thank you Chrissie and Mandi for making me step out of my comfort zone once again. The LIMettes are really outdoing themselves on their projects for this challenge. Go check it out and give it a whirl!!!

Many Hands

2011-05-07T10:23:00.001-04:00

There is a new challenge blog out there called CAS--ual Fridays. Yesterday was their debut challenge - Texting Skills. Use stamps, texty pattern paper, a page torn from your phone book, or create your own..get creative! *they are looking for text, not just a simple sentiment* Just incorporate text prominently into your newly created CAS project. The DT projects are wonderful - you should hop on over, have a look, and play!

I decided to use PTI's wonderful LOVE LIVES HERE collection. It's hard to see in this picture, but there is text on the hands above. I used the Splitcoast color challenge CC321: Black Cherry Crumbs! (Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler and Crumb Cake) for my colors. I stamped the hands with Memento Tuxedo Black ink first. I then masked the black hands and stamped with Crumb Cake ink. I used Cherry Cobbler ink for the hearts. I thought it would be fun to frame out a little window in the center, and stamp a heart on the inside of the card that would show throught the window. I love the way that idea worked out. I added a lace border and a sentiment, and voila!

Thank you for coming by. Wishing everyone a "gentle" mother's day weekend. This holiday can invoke so many emotions - both joyous and difficult. May your Sunday be a beautiful one tomorrow. Thank you always, for your comments. I really enjoy them so much!

Bonjour!

2011-04-28T17:12:00.002-04:00

I was able to complete one more challenge today (yay!!). This is a PR for me! I chose this week's Waltzingmouse sketch challenge WMSC44 for this project. I love the way it came together. It is very simple yet elegant.

My recipe is:

Stamps - Waltzingmouse Stamps Fancy Phrases.

Ink - River Rock, VersaFine Vintage Sepia.

Paper - Taylored Expressions Buttercream Choice card stock, Gina K's Pure Luxury Chocolate Brown, Blush Blossom, Webster's Pages Hollywood Vogue & WonderFALL DP.

Accessories - Nestabilities, Dimensionals, Kaiser self adhesive half pearls.

Thank you for stopping in. I always appreciate your comments!

Three of a Kind

2011-04-28T09:43:00.001-04:00

This week's One Layer Wednesday OLW51 challenge is to make three one-layer cards. Yes, three. Make three cards all using the same image stamp but vary the occasion by changing the sentiment and/or ink colour and/or card stock colour. You must use the same image stamp on each card.

PTI's Mat Stack 2 collection came to mind immediately. I just stamped one of the images from that set using VersaMark ink on Gina K's Pure Luxury White card stock (X3) and heat embossed them with Ranger Copper embossing powder. Three different sentiments from the same collection are stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx ink to make each card different.

Thanks for coming by today!

One Layer Note

2011-04-27T19:14:00.003-04:00

I just about never make 3 cards in 2 days, but I am on a roll. My 11 year old boys are off from school this week, and so am I because I work there. I have been in my craft room as much as I am able for the last 2 days. Of course, I am totally neglecting my boys and they have not eaten since Sunday - LOL! All kidding aside, I found another new challenge that I am going to love - One Layer Wednesday, hosted by Jennifer Styles of Styles Ink. While doing some blog surfing earlier today, I stumbled on to the One Layer Wednesday challenge from last week OLW50 which was to use an old stamp. As I was thinking of what to do with this week's Color Throwdown #139, my idea began to take life. OLW50 is closed, but I made this card anyway, and used all of the colors for this week's Color Throwdown.

My stamped images are from a Hero Arts set called Circle Graphics that I have had for years. My card base is piece of Gina K's Pure Luxury White card stock. I masked off a 1 1/4" section toward the bottom of the card. I randomly stamped with all 4 stamps and all 5 Color Throwdown colors inside the masked area. The sentiment from PTI's Mat Stack 2 collection is stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink. As a finishing touch, I scored one line below and two above the stamped strip. I am so pleased with the results, and it was very quick to whip up. Could I possibly be getting the hang of this CAS thing????? I surely am trying...

Thank you for stopping in. I always appreciate your comments very much!

On My Mind

2011-04-27T16:31:00.000-04:00

I am loving my PTI Blooming Button Bits set. Today I used it to create this card that combines

FTL137 from the Clean&Simple Stamping blog

and ColorQ Challenge #82

Here is my recipe:
Stamps - PTI Blooming Button Bits.
Ink - Kiwi Kiss, VersaFine Onyx Black.
Paper - Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke, Baja Breeze, White.
Accessories - PTI Eyelet Lace Border Die, SU Buttons, Natural twine, glue dots.

I always appreciate your comments so very much. Thanks for visiting my blog today!

CAS Mother's Day

2011-04-26T14:56:00.004-04:00

This week's Less is More challenge is to create cards with cards with little or no symmetry but perfect balance. PTI's Make it Monday challenge is to create something with a hand drawn frame. This card is the result of the combination of the two.

I have to laugh at myself. I watched Nicole Heady's wonderful technique video in which she demonstrates how to make a hand drawn frame. Well, the video is great and the technique looks easy. This card is the result of my FIFTH attempt. I just could not get the corners right. In the end, I cheated a little and put half pearls in the corners because I was not satisfied with my corners on any of my attempts. Nichole's is perfect and gorgeous - mine - not so much. I do love the way the card turned out though. I really like the addition of the DMC thread on the buttons. It gives the buttons a "sunflower" feel.

Recipe:
Stamps-PTI Blooming Button Bits.
Paper~Kraft, Gina K Pure Luxury Pure White 120 lb.
Ink~VersaFine Onyx Black, Old Olive, Cajun Craze.
Accessories~PTI Vintage buttons, Kaiser self adhesive half pearls, DMC floss-black, glue dots, CM fine tip black pen.

Thank you so much for stopping in. I appreciate your comments so much. Have a great day!

Easter Wishes

2011-04-17T10:42:00.000-04:00

This week's "Less is More" challenge is to use acetate on your creation. Yes, I did gasp when I saw that yesterday as I checked out what was in store for this week for the LIMettes, but I took a deep breath and came up with this card based on a Christmas card that I made at a SU stamp camp a few years ago.

I had some SU acetate that I cut and folded into an A2 size card. I randomly stamped the butterfly and little flower from PTI's "Egg Hunt" in SU Whisper White craft ink on the front of the card. Warning - it rubs off easily, so you have to be careful when you touch it. I wish I had white alcohol ink for this... oh well. I achieved the desired affect with the craft ink.

I cut the eggs using the PTI Egg Hunt coordinating die and stamped them with Groovy Guava, Old Olive and Perfect Plum Ink. I added tiny green self-adhesive rhinestones to the Guava egg. That egg is popped up with Dimensionals between the olive and plum eggs.

I love the placement of the layers. I cut the Olive, white (SU Shimmery White) and Plum layers using 3 sizes of Nestabilities Labels One dies. The green layer is adhered to the BACK of the card. The white layer on the inside is adhered on top of the green - the acetate layer is in between. The front is done the same way. The white layer is adhered to the front of the card. The purple layer is BEHIND the acetate. I love the affect! Thanks Lucian for this great idea!

The sentiment on the inside is from SU's "All Holidays" set and is stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx ink. The white inside layer is the same size as the white layer on the front. Initially I made that layer the same size as the plum layer, but it showed a little around the edges when the card was not completely closed.

I am going to head over to the LIM blog to see what my fellow LIMettes have created! Thanks Chrissie and Mandi for making me pop out of my comfort zone once again. Have a great Sunday and thank you for stopping by!

May Hope Sustain You...

2011-04-11T20:52:00.005-04:00

I am pretty excited about this card. I made it for the Less Is More Week 10 one layer challenge with the focus on the sentiment. I knew right away that I would use one of Provocraft's gorgeous frame EF's and a Verve sentiment from Forever in Our Hearts. I thought it would be easy peasy since I immediately had something in mind. Well, I was mistaken! Holy smoke! This card is so simple to look at, yet it took me 10 tries and a lot of fussing to come up with the final version. I tried all sorts of things like rubbing ink over the dry embossing, using different colors of ink on the sentiment, embossing the sentiment, not, all different colors and arrangements of the half pearls, Glimmer Mist/no Glimmer Mist... Whew!!! I really loved this challenge though, and I feel right at home with Chrissie, Mandi and The LIMettes over at the Less is More Challenge Blog. What a warm, welcoming and encouraging bunch of artists. Now that this is my second LIM challenge, I hope that I can proudly call myself a "LIMette too!" I am trying to train myself to go simple, and this looks about as simple as it gets. Now if I can just get the hang of getting it right a little sooner...

My ingredients are :
Stamps~Verve's Forever in Our Hearts.
Paper~Pure Luxury white card stock.
Ink~Versa Mark.
Accessories~Ranger copper embossing powder, Heat gun, Cuttlebug and EF, Kaiser self-adhesive half pearls.

Thank you for stopping in and have a wonderful day. It was 84 and sunny here in NJ today. Rain is on its way, but spring has sprung! Hooray!

Tiny Cupcakes

2011-04-06T09:18:00.005-04:00

I made this very simple 3" square mini card for this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #41 and also for a new challenge blog I discovered : the Less is More Clean & Simple Challenge Blog. I am trying hard to do more CAS cards these days, so I am so happy to have found this blog!

The WMS challenge is to to make "Little bitty mini cards!! They are quick, fun and great additions to a gift, a bouquet of flowers or candy treat." The Less is more challenge is a color challenge - to use a "touch of red".

I stamped 5 teeny tiny cupcakes from the Waltzingmouse Frame It set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on vanilla card stock and colored them with Copics. I and used the clear atyou spica glitter pen to give the icing some sparkle. The cupcakes were cut out with a circle punch and mounted on Cherry Cobbler Heart Circles cut from Nestabilities Doily Heart Circles. The circle in the center is popped up with Dimensionals. The frame and sentiment are also from Frame it. Thanks for coming by - have a wonderful day!

My Home

2011-04-02T11:22:00.000-04:00

I love PTI's Love Lives Here set with matching dies. I finally broke them out today. This week's Clean & Simple sketch (FTL134) was my inspiration for the layout. I took a bit of liberty with the placement of the diecuts.

FTL134

I used this week's Splitcoast color challenge :

CC316: Misty Celery Breeze

for my palate.

Maybe spring will begin to show her face - we had snow here in NJ yesterday. These lovely spring colors gave me hope!!! Have a great day!

C4C Digi Birthday

2011-03-29T23:24:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time since I created something, and I was so happy to get a chance to play today. This is my take on this week's C4C challenge which is a sketch designed by Silke Ledlow, one of my favorite paper craft artists. Here is the sketch:

I had purchased this adorable Pure innocence digi image some time ago from Heather Ellis. When I saw Silke's sketch, I thought of this image right away and I went to work. For my color scheme, I used this week's Color Throwdown#134 - Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Marina Mist.

These colors immediately put me in mind of an SU Sale-a-Bration bundle I recently purchased - Ice Cream Parlor DSP & Quick Accents Pack. The DSP that I used from the pack has all of the challenge colors. The solid, horizontal strips are embossed with SU's Square Lattice EF.

My birthday girl is paper pieced and colored with Copics. Her shoes are cut from SU's new red glitter paper. I wish I had shoes like that... For my accent piece, I used PTI's Love Lives Here for the scalloped circle, and Butterfly Dreams for the sentiment.

Love Ewe Jon

2011-02-14T20:08:00.001-05:00

I found this adorable image from Unity Stamp Company when I stumbled upon THIS project. I fell in love with it immediately and I had to have it to use for my sons' valentines. I ordered it and it arrived just in time for me to make the valentines. I used Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch #103, which was posted on February 6th. When I thought about how I wanted to use this stamp, Karen's sketch came to mind immediately.

I chose the DP first - BasicGrey's Sugar Rush. There is a shade of blue in the red patterned DP that matched perfectly with SU's retired Brocade Blue cardstock. I used Brocade Blue for the base of my 5 1/4" card. The red circle is cut from Cherry Cobbler and run through EF from the Cuttlebug A2 combo die & EF: Love Language. I then took the Cherry Cobbler ink pad and brushed it over the raised hearts to make them pop. I am so pleased with this card. It is filled with love. Hope you had a happy Valentine's day!!

Love Ewe Greg

2011-02-14T19:47:00.001-05:00

I recently learned about Linda McCain's Catered Crop Recipe Challenges. Linda selects a project for inspriation, and the creator lists the ingredients used in the project. The fun of this is that you can choose anything you like from the designer's recipe to whip up your own creation. You choose from among the ingredients, colors, theme, shapes, techniques, and then, add your own spice and make something completely different.

When I saw THIS post for FTR5 I instantly fell in love with the image in Denise's inspiration project, and I just had to have this adorable stamp from Unity Stamp Company. It is the sweetest thing. I ordered it right away, and it came on Friday, just in time for me to make valentines with it for my twin boys. (You can view the second card that I made with this image in my post after this one. My card is a CASE of Denise's creation. Thanks for the inspiration, Denise! I love the way it came out, and it is perfect for my son.

Here are the things I chose to use from Denise's recipe:
Cardstock: red & white
Pattern Paper – repeating patterns (BasicGrey Sugar Rush)
Stamps – an image with a sheep/lamb, mother/child, and a sentiment about love (Unity Stamp Company-Love Ewe, Verve- One Hundred Hearts)
Color Mediums – Copic markers, black ink (Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Onyx Black ink)
Tools – art sponges, scallop die cut
Embellishments – ribbon, tag
Techniques – sponging a sky
Theme – love, mother/child
Shapes – hearts and scallops
Other – a tag with a sentiment

This was fun! Looking forward to future Catered Crop Recipe Challenges. Thanks Linda!

C&S Valentine

2011-02-12T09:50:00.000-05:00

This is my take on this week's Clean&Simple sketch challenge: FTL127.

The base of the card is Gina K Pure Luxury white. The solid pink panel is SU Pink Pirouette that was run through the EF from the Cuttlebug A2 combo die & EF: Love Language. The DP is from a K&Company Die-Cut Cardmaking pad. I stamped the decorative border from Just Rite's Decorative Borders set in Rose Red, and the sentiment from Just Rite's Romantic Sentiments in VersaFine Onyx Black. I then mounted the image on Rose Red atop 2 decorative tags cut from Spellbinders Fancy Tag dies. I am going to make some of these for my mother and sisters and stamp a Valentine greeting inside. Gotta get busy. Lots to make this weekend!

Happy Birthday Joe!

2011-02-01T19:32:00.001-05:00

Today is my husband's birthday. He is a beach lover and he loves lighthouses, so this lighthouse image from Just Rite's By the Sea was the perfect focal point for his card. I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Gina K's Pure Luxury white card stock and colored it with Copics. It is cut with oval nestabilities and framed with Blue Bayou and Real Red ovals. The second layer is SU Retired Soft Sky topped with SU Western Sky DSP (retired). I used twill tape and SU Rope Twine for embellishment. The framed sentiment is from Just Rite's Happy Everything Mini Tag Kit stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx ink. The red border on the top is cut from Real Red card stock with Papertrey Ink's Victorian Lace border die. Joe really loved this card. Happy birthday sweetheart!

Birthday Wishes

2011-01-27T16:33:00.002-05:00

I am so happy that I actually completed two projects today! This one is my take on this week's Waltzingmouse sketch challenge : WMSC31.

I just got this fabulous new collection of Webster's Pages 6x6 DP: Hollywood Vogue & WonderFALL from Sharon Johnson's Ribbon Store. This DP is so great for making fabulous cards fast. (Fast is a relative term for me, but I'm just sayin...). My card base is Gina K's Pure Luxury Chocolate Brown, topped with a single sheet of the DP. The wavy panel is the opposite side of that page. I stamped one of the WMS Holiday Label No. 14 images using VersaMark Vintage Sepia ink on white cardstock cut with the matching Nestabilities Labels 14 die. The sentiment is from the WMS Fancy Phrases collection and is stamped with VersaFine Black Onyx ink. I lightly sponged around the edges of the label with Ranger Linen Distress Ink. I added a ribbon, adhered the label with Dimensionals, added a bow and a French White Prima Fairytale Rose and - voila!

CAS Thanks

2011-01-27T09:30:00.004-05:00

This Clean & Simple card was created using FTL124.

I have to laugh at how long it takes me to create any card, including a Clean & Simple one; nonetheless, I really love how this one turned out. The DP is BasicGrey Crazy Quilt from the June Bug Collection. The thread spool and sentiment are PTI Quilter's Sampler. We have a lot of snow here in central NJ today, and the kids and I are off from school. I hope to get to another project today! Stay warm!

So Happy For You

2011-01-18T20:10:00.001-05:00

I needed another baby card for a shower gift, and when I saw this week's Clean & Simple Sketch FTL123, I got the perfect idea.

The base of the card is Kraft. The DP panel is from BasicGrey's Max & Whispers. The solid strip on top of the DP is Marina Mist embossed with a Provocraft EF. The moon, star and sentiment is from SU's Nursery Necessities. The moon & star are stamped and cut out and placed on top of a circle embossed with a Provocraft EF. The star is covered with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The sentiment is stamped in VersaFine Vintage Sepia. I am happy with the result.

Bundle of Joy

2011-01-16T13:49:00.005-05:00

My niece Julie and her wonderful husband Gareth just welcomed their son, James Nicholas, into the world. He is my Great Nephew. He is so adorable and sweet. It is a beautiful thing to have a baby in the family again. The last babies born into my family were my babies, and they turned eleven in October. They are excited to have a new cousin!

I needed to make James and his parents a very special card. When I saw the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge today, I knew just what I would do. I {heart} Waltzingmouse Stamps. Its owner, Claire Brennan, is just a delightful person. Her designs are fabulous, as is her customer service. If you have not shopped Waltzingmouse, please go over and take a look!

There is very little stamping on this card. I used WMSC30 for my layout. I inverted the sketch because I wanted to use the space in the top right on the sketch for the baby carriage that I wanted on the bottom right. The base of the card is Cherry Cobbler, and the second layer is Soft Suede over which I arranged pieces of Webster's Pages Petite Papers from the Lullaby Lane & Life's Portrait Combo Pack. I purchased these from Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. I cut out the carriage and hood from another sheet of DP and popped it up. I also used a clear atyou Spica Glitter pen to add some sparkle to the hood and the butterflies. You can't really see that in the picture, but it is a nice touch "in person". I used Waltzingmouse's Holiday Label No. 14 and cut it out with the matching Nestabilities die. The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse's Frame It set. I embellished the label with Kaiser pearls added some ribbon and a bow that I made with the Bow Easy. This is a very non-traditional baby card, but I love it!

Merry Packages

2010-12-19T10:02:00.002-05:00

I made this little cute package for Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Challenge #169 – Quick and Easy Gifts. My little bag is made from the front and back side of the Baskets and Blooms Bigz Die. I ran a piece of retired SU Ski Slope DSP through the Xyron first, adhered it to white cardstock, then ran it through the Big Kick. Instead of making my package round, I made a little box insert for it and adhered the front and back pieces cut from the basket die to it so that it is more like a shopping bag than a basket. I used PapertreyInk's Tiny Treats stamp set and coordinating Matstack 1 Die to make the label. I colored the image with copics, added a little sparkle with stickles to the birdie's hat, and added some greenery with my MS punch. The red wrinkled ribbon is from Sharon's Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. Yesterday, my sister Lisa and I made our annual trip to the Lindt Chocolate store in Princeton. I will make a bunch of these little "shopping bags" and fill them with Lindt chocolates as tiny Christmas treats for my co-workers .

Joy To Your World

2010-12-18T12:36:00.001-05:00

Today's C4C Challenge is a sketch. I just got Take Three Winter from Papertrey Ink, and the minute I saw this sketch, I knew what I wanted to do. The base of my card is 5 1/4" square cut from Gina K's Pure Luxury card stock. I used a layer of SU Brushed Silver and topped that with a layer of SU (retired) Holiday Harmony DSP. I cut the squares with the Take Three Coordinating Die, stamped the snowflake images with VersaMark, and embossed them in silver. The top piece is embossed with the Cuttlebug snowflake EF. The ribbon is a little piece I had from an MFT order somewhere along the line. I had just enough to make a double loop bow with my Bow Easy that I got from Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. I added pink self adhesive rhinestones that I got from my LSS for a little extra sparkle. I love it!

Happy Birthday Li Li!

2010-12-11T09:07:00.001-05:00

I made this for my sister Lisa for her birthday. I just love this stamp set from Papertrey Ink - Enjoy the Ride. There are so many ways to use it. I was in a hurry, so I CASE'd it from Papertrey Ink designer Niki Estes. I love her work! I colored the main image it with COPICS, and cut it out with the coordinating die.The base is River Rock, the DSP is Basic Grey Max & Whiskers. Happy birthday Li Li. Wishing you every good thing this time around the seasons!!

For Baby de Klerk

2010-12-01T18:32:00.000-05:00

My dear niece Julie and her wonderful husband Gareth are expecting a baby boy in January. On Saturday, there will be a shower for Julie. I saw this ADORABLE diaper card while surfing for ideas for a card for her, and I had to make it. I CASE'd it from Ilina Crause of MY CREATIONS. Ilina is so creative and has many online classes, tutorials, templates, etc. on her blog. Please visit Ilina! The link for the tutorial for her diaper card is HERE. This first image (above) is what the card looks like when it is all together.

This image shows the 2 pieces of the card. The inside piece is a single layer. I will write a special message on it for Jules.

This is the inside card. I just love the "Die-namics Star Border" from MFT! It was the perfect embellishment for this sweet card! I just love it!!! I am grateful to Ilina for her inspiration, pattern and tutorial!!! I think Julie will love it!!!

Here are the ingredients:
Stamps - SU Nursery Necessities
Ink - Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, VersaFine Vintage Sepia.
Paper - Bashful Blue, White, SU Delicate Dots DSP (retired).
Accessories - MFT Die-Namics Star Border, SU Star Punches, Dimensionals, yellow brad, sponge, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, atyou spica glitter pen, SU Pretties Kit, SU 3/8" white teffeta ribbon.

Merry Mittens

2010-11-28T14:21:00.002-05:00

These adorable mittens are a Verve Digi Stamp that I downloaded quite a while ago. When I saw the sketch for Waltzingmouse challenge #24,

the Verve image and this design came to mind. I just put in an order for 4 Waltzingmouse stamp sets. If you haven't visited Waltzingmouse, click HERE for a wonderful collection of stamps and related items.

C4C Autumn Birthday

2010-11-03T17:12:00.003-04:00

It has been far too long since I put ink to paper and created something. Life is nuts! I have a dear friend with a birthday tomorrow, so I made myself buckle down and make her a card. For my layout inspiration, I used this week's C4C Challenge, which is a sketch by one of my very favorite artists, Silke Ledlow.

I recently got Gina K's Autumn Splendor collection, and these sunflowers were calling me. I colored the sunflowers image with copics, and went from there. I am pleased with the way it cam out. Happy Birthday Barbara!

Ingredients
Stamps: Autumn Splendor~Gina K.; Big Wish~Verve.
Paper: Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler, Gina K Pure Luxury~Pure Ivory, Basic Grey~Indian Summer.
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Onyx Black.
Accessories: Nestabilities, Twill Tape, More Mustard 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Copic markers, Kaiser pearls, Sponge dauber.

You Rock!

2010-09-19T14:01:00.000-04:00

The current CRAFTY CATWALK Challenge, which will be open and accepting your designs until September 30, 2010, encourages you to Style a While and create a beauty using a dark focal point and shimmery products. I have this wonderful new black sparkle embossing powder from Ranger. I knew it would be perfect for this challenge, and CPS 185 (below) was the perfect layout for my card.

CPS185

The guitar is very sparkley, and the Hero Arts nailheads were the perfect shiney embellishment. Fun, fun, fun!

Here are my indredients:
Stamps: Inkadinkado~Rock Star, Verve~You Rock.
Paper: Basic Black, Black glitter, white, DCWV textured cardstock, Night & Day DSP (SSU retired), Ghostly Greetings DSP (SI retired).
Ink: VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black.
Accessories: Nestabilities, Her Arts self adhesive nailheads, Ranger Black Sparkle embossing powder, sanding block, Dimensionals, Spiral Punch (SU retired).

Please stop by CRAFTY CATWALK and give their challanges a little love...

Autumn Blessings

2010-09-12T16:57:00.000-04:00

I love the fall... it is hard to say goodbye to summer, but I love the colors, the scents, the traditions - pumpkins, roasted chickens, apples, soup, corn mazes, warm days, cool nights, Halloween, Thanksgiving... I love it all. Papertrey Ink's Autumn Abundance collection has been calling me. When I saw the September 2nd OCC Sketch Challenge, I began to put this card together in my head. School started though, and I never got to touch anything in my craft room for a week! So, here it is, finally, and I love it! Happy Autumn! Thanks for stopping by.

Here are the ingredients for my creation:

Stamps~PapertreyInk's Autumn Abundance.

Paper~Chocolate Chip, Cajun Craze, White, Creative Imaginations DSP.

Ink~Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Vintage Sepia.

Accessories~Copic Markers, natural jute, Modern Label punch, Nestabilities, Kaiser Pearls, 1 1/2" striped grosgrain ribbon.

Crafty Catwalk Cardinal

2010-09-12T13:30:00.001-04:00

This week's Crafty Catwalk Challenge is to "use what ya got" in the way of designer paper, take inspiration from Miu Miu's sunglasses and use your designer paper to frame the focal image on your project. It took me a while to come up with something, but as I was looking through some retired SU Christmas DSP for something red and white, I found the paper I wanted to use and my creation came together. Here is what I came up with:

The base of the card is Always Artichoke topped with a layer of Riding Hood Red and then Kraft, which is embossed with the Petals-A-Plenty EF. I used circle Nestabilities to cut our four circular frames from Merry Moments DSP (retired). I stamped the cardinal image from A Cardinal Christmas using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Taylored Expressions Buttercream Choice Cardstock and colored it with Copics. I cut the image out with Nestabillities Labels Thirteen, embossed it, and used a sponge dauber with Crumb Cake ink to add color around the edges. I stamped the settiment from A Cardinal Christmas using VersaFine Onyx Black ink on the Buttercream card stock, punched it out with the Modern Label punch and shaded the edges. I added a piece of Always Artichoke 1/4" grosgrain ribbon toward the bottom, placed the sentiment on top and finished it off with an Antique brad. Please go on over to the Crafty Catwalk and give their challenges a whirl! They are lots of fun!

Beach Note

2010-09-01T22:01:00.000-04:00

Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply #154 is a color challenge. The colors are Turquoise and Orange, with White OR Ivory as your neutral and as always, adding Black for a little POP is totally OK, but not required. These colors are great as we transition from summer to fall. I just love this beach chair and umbrella image from Just Rite's By the Sea Set. I love the simplicity of this card and the whispers of summer that I can hear when I look at the image. I am definitely a summer girl... but I love the fall too. This card is a tribute to my dual seasonal personality!

Here are my ingredients:

Stamps: Just Rite~By the Sea, Verve~Accent Notes.

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Onyx Black.

Paper: White, Soft Sky, Not Quite Navy, Pumpkin Pie.

Accessories: Spellbinders Impressibilities, Nestabilities, Pumpkin Pie 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Dimensionals, Copics, Spellbinders Fancy Tags, Kaiser pearls, Cuttlebug.

Crafty Catwalk Debut

2010-08-29T11:59:00.000-04:00

There is a new challenge blog out there called Crafty Catwalk. My friend Lucian of Paper Holiday, is one of the DT members, fabulous SU Demonstrator, and the person largely responsible for the my love affair with stamping. I am excited to participate in this challenge debut which is a color challenge. Here it is:

I chose to go simple and elegant on this one, and I am very pleased with the way it came out. Here are the ingredients for my creation:

Paper: White, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard.

Ink: VersaFine Vintage Sepia, More Mustard.

Stamps: Because I Care (SU hostess set).

Accessories: Nestabilities Classic Ovals and Fancy Tags, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, Kaiser Pearls, Sponge Dauber, Pacific Point 5/8" Grosgrain Ribbon (SU retired).

Congratulations Crafty Catwalk Creators! Good luck! I will be checking in often!

Tim's Somewhat Classic Rock CD

2010-08-16T10:09:00.000-04:00

My friend's son is off to college today, and I wanted to give him a little something special to take with him. He's a great kid and my family loves him... so I bought a bunch of Milano cookies, which he LOVES. He also loves "Classic Rock". I grew up in the time that classic rock was just the music that was happening - it's more "Geezer Rock" now... but I made him a CD song mix and had so much fun doing it. Turns out that about half of the songs are really "Classic Rock" and the rest are just songs along my life's way that I love like "More Than This" from Roxy Music, some Cure, Hooters, etc.

Anyway, I needed to make this quickly. I used the tutorial by Cindy Lyles on SCS for the CD Case. To decorate it, I knew I wanted to use Verve's Relax set because Tim is a beach lover. I went to the Verve Gallery and CASE'd THIS fabulous card by Tosha Leyendekker. Thank you Tosha!! I also used Verve's Happy Days for the circular flourish.

I am so pleased with the way this turned out. The surfboard and sun images are colored with Copics. The grey polka dot and plaid papers are from My Mind's Eye, and the sand is made from some paper I had in my stash from Creative memories. I used a CM paper trimmer that cuts in a pattern of waves and swells to make the sand pieces. The black circle layer beneath the ivory circle with the sentiment on it, is this wonderful sparkle paper i got at my LSS, Scrapper's Cove. It felt like sand to me, so it went perfectly with this theme.

I wish Tim every happiness and excitement and success in his new venture as a college student. Work hard and fly right, my dear. I hope his parents leave him without too many tears (theirs, not his - ha ha). I hope he likes the music. I know he will love the cookies. Thanks for stopping in.

Holiday's Delight

2010-08-03T18:43:00.000-04:00

This card was made in combination of this week's Our Creative Corner challenge, which is is all about Christmas; and Wednesday's Splitcoast Sketch Challenge #291 that I used for my layout. See below.

At first I had a hard time visualizing what I would do, but when I took out my brand new Greeting Card Kids set from SU, I knew. The set comes without sentiments. Since it looks very old fashioned, I pulled out my Crafty Secrets Vintage Christmas stamp set, and used a sentiment from there. These Greeting Card Kids images remind me so much of these little Gurley Holiday Candles that my beloved Aunt Gina used to give to my sisters and I at holiday time. There were Halloween candles, Thanksgiving candles and Christmas. We always put them on our holiday dinner table. You can get them at the Vermont Country Store. These SU images are very nostalgic to me. I love them.

Here are my supplies:

Stamps~SU Holiday Card Kids, Crafty Secrets Vintage Christmas.

Ink~Momento Rich Cocoa, Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Paper~Nenah Solar White, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red,SU Merry Moment DSP (R), Creative Memories Metallic Gold.

Accessories~SU Alpine 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon (R), gold brads, Polar White Flower Soft, Flower Soft Glue, Gold Stickles, Copics, Nestabilities, Dimensionals, Mat pack & piercing tool.

Friend

2010-08-01T11:36:00.002-04:00

This is my take on this week's Crazy For Challenges challenge, which is a sketch:

I just got this wonderful new set from Papertrey Ink called "All Booked Up". It is wonderful for making so many different kinds of projects for book lovers, and there are matching dies available to make bookmarks, book plates, etc. I just love it and thought this layout would be perfect for me to give it a whirl!

My materials are:
Stamps~Papertrey Ink's All Booked Up.
Papers~Kiwi Kiss, Basic Gray, Baja Breeze, White, Glossy White, BasicGrey Olivia DP.
Ink~VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black, Kiwi Kiss, Cameo Coarl, Baja Breeze.
Accessories~Scor-It, Papertrey Ink Book Plate Die, Sponge Daubers, Build-a-Brad, black embossing powder, Sticky Tape, Dimensionals, 1/2" circle punch, Nestabilities, Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator, Mat pack & piercing tool, Marth Stewart lace border punch..

Thanks so much for stopping in!

Butterfly Thank You

2010-07-29T15:46:00.000-04:00

This card incorporates 2 challenges: Flutterby Wednesday and Color Throwdown. The Flutterby Wednesday Challenge is it's an open challenge - just be sure to include a butterfly, fairy or angel on your new creation! Color Throwdown #103 is:

I really love this combination of colors. When I saw them, I immediately thought of these gorgeous new of papers I just bought from Sharon Johnson's Ribbon Store - Webster's Pages Seaside Retreat, Garden Gala & Nature’s Storybook Triple Pack DP. They are just beautiful and can be used with little embellishment. I used River Rock as my card base and added a layer of Riding Hood Red. The next layer is Garden Gala DP. I used Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon topped with Riding Hook Red 3/8" taffeta ribbon on the right side of the card for embellishment. I stamped 3 different butterflies from Papertrey Ink's Butterfly Dreams in Certainly Celery, Riding Hood Red and Soft Suede ink, then cut them out with Papertrey Ink's butterfly die. I adhered them to the ribbon with Dimensionals and bent them up a little on each side. I added another strip of the DP to the right of the ribbons that I had cut when I was sizing the main panel. I added tiny 4 tiny half-pearls to the center of the butterflies and 2 larger half-pearls to the top and bottom of the DP strip. I stamped the "Thank You" sentiment from Butterfly Dreams on the center butterfly using VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink. Thanks for stopping by today!

C4C Inspiration Birthday

2010-07-25T17:51:00.003-04:00

Isn't this such a fun ensemble??? This is the inspiration for this week's C4C challenge. I just love it. I have been on vacation with my family for the last 2 weeks on beautiful Long Beach Island on the Jersey shore. I loved my beach and family time, but I could not wait to make something upon my return. So this is what I came up with for this challenge...

There were a few things I wanted to do: use some tools and papers that needed some love, keep it simple, and not take forever to make it. I love the way it turned out! I used my new Jumbo Scallop and Scalloped Scallop Die-namics dies and from MFT and Basic Grey's June Bug DP . Those 2 things pretty much made up the background. I just added the sentiment using Verve's Wonderful Wishes cut and embossed with Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio Two, and added some SU Real Red grosgrain ribbon and a button tied with black jute thread from Sharon Johnson's Ribbon Store. Volia!!! And it took a lot less time than usual!! Mission accomplished.

Sweet Simple Fourth

2010-07-02T16:08:00.006-04:00

This card is a combination of three things that came together perfectly. I have had this wonderful set from Papertrey Ink for a while - Vintage Picnic. I just love it. Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply Challenge this week is to focus on using STARS on our projects in any way we choose. I decided to go with fourth of July stars, and then I pondered my layout. Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch #75 brought it all together for me.

I just loved working with the stars, the stamps and the sketch! My card is 5 1/4" square.

Here are my ingredients:

Stamps~Papertrey Ink's Vintage Picnic, Verve's Starstruck (stamped on the inside with River Rock ink).

Ink~Memento Rich Cocoa, Versafine Black Onyx, Ranger Antique Linen Distress ink, River Rock.

Paper~River Rock, Riding hood Red, Ninah Solar White, Soft Sky, Western Sky DSP (SU retired).

Accessories~Nestabilities, Copic markers, white mini brads, Dimensionals, glue dots, natural twine, buttons, SU Modern Label Punch, Sponge, SU striped 1 1/4" grosgrain ribbon.

Thanks for stopping in and happy Fourth of July weekend!

Cosmo Bella

2010-07-01T23:28:00.005-04:00

I love this stamp - Cosmo Bella from Stamping Bella. I have had it for a while and not inked it up yet. When I ran across this sketch on Bloggabella this week, I knew just what to do.

I stamped my Cosmo Bella with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and colored her with Copics. I used white for my card base and added a layer of Dusty Durango. The background patterned paper is from s.e.i. The striped panel is the back side of the same paper. I took a chance using Rich Razzelberry ribbon and mat for the square piece. It's a little intense, but I like it. The green patterned paper mounted on the Rich Razzleberry square is from SU's Cottage Wall DSP. I used layers of foam flowers and put them together with a Basic Grey brad. The largest flower was white and I colored it with a Copic marker to match the Dusty Durango panels. The sentiment is from Taylored Expressions Chillax set. Cheers to you! Thanks for stopping in.

Stamp Simply Thank You

2010-06-27T13:55:00.005-04:00

This week, Sharon's Johnson's Stamp Simply Challenge #145 is a color challenge. The challenge colors are YELLOW and GRAYwith EITHER White or Ivory as your neutral and adding Black for a little POP if you so desire. I had this short piece of wide yellow striped grosgrain ribbon from SU that I have been wanting to use up. I started with that for my yellow piece, and built the rest of the card around it. I used this fabulous new stamp set I purchased from Waltzing Mouse Stamps called Very Vintage Labels #5. The stamps are designed to be compatible with Nestabilities Labels Five. Claire Brennan is the designer, and her stamps are gorgeous. There are many other sets in Claire's collection that are designed to coordinate with Spellbinders label dies. This set will get lots and lots of use. The possibilities are endless!! The sentiment is from Verve. I received it as a thank you gift with an order. Very elegant. I really love the way this card came out. Thanks for the inspiration Sharon!!!

Fourth Grade Memory Book

2010-06-24T07:55:00.006-04:00

Each year, for the last four years, a friend of mine and I have worked with the kids in our children's classes to make memory books for their teachers as an end of year gift. There are two classes and 2 teachers. I have twins, so our family always has both teachers. Emile distributes the card stock to the class through our kids, and she makes photo collages from the year's activities for the book. I make the cover. The kids write, decorate, draw, attach photos - whatever they wish to do to contribute a page to the memory book. We decided that this would be our final year doing this. We are so glad we gave it one more go. One of the teachers was a brand new teacher. She did such a wonderful job with fourth grade. The kids loved her and she did so many great projects. As I read through the kids' memory pages, it was so evident that she really made an impact. The other teacher is a seasoned teacher. This was, however, the first time she received a gift like this from the hearts of the kids, and she loved it.

I forgot to take a picture of it at home, so here is a quick shot of it that I took with a colleague's camera. I CASE'd THIS creation from Theresa Momber using Back to School from Gina K. Designs. I stamped the globe and microscope images and used the masking technique to place the globe behind the microscope. I stamped the books image, cut it out and popped it up with dimensionals. I used Copics for coloring. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Techer's Apple. I really love the way this came out, and I am so glad Emile and I did this one more time. The teachers were both very touched by this gift of the heart. The children were very proud of their memory book. It was a great way to end a very happy fourth grade year!

2010-06-16T08:50:00.005-04:00

I had a stroke of genious when I thought to use my Just Rite 2" round stamper and 15 point Times New Roman font stamp set to personalize this graduation card design. I have made many of these and the kids just love them!!! I CASE'd THIS card by Debbie Olson, personalized my cards with the school colors, the school initials and the graduation year. The stamp set is "For the Graduate" from Papertrey Ink. I love how these turned out and I have made many of them for this year's grads.

Your Couch or Mine?

2010-06-01T17:05:00.009-04:00

I have been having a lot of difficulty making time to stamp. Life is a little crazy lately, but what else is new? Anyway, I just LOVE this stamp set, "On My Couch" from Papertrey Ink. I stamped the images on watercolor paper and water colored them with Twinkling H2O's. This was my first try with them, and I was really pleased with the result. When I saw Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch #71, I knew just what to do with my image.

I turned the sketch on it's side to accommodate my sideways oval focal piece. I used "A Little Argyle", also from Papertrey Ink, to stamp the background right on the Rich Razzleberry cardstock. I made the side piece with Rich Razzleberry 5/8" polka dot grosgrain ribbon, Tempting Turquois 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, and Certainly Celery 1/2" grosgrain ribbon along with a paper scrap. Thanks for stopping by today!

Success & Dreams

2010-05-08T09:20:00.009-04:00

"Tis the season for all kinds of celebrations, and I am trying to be ahead of the game. This is a graduation card for a friend's daughter.. her school colors are green & white. I love this new set from Papertrey Ink called "For the Graduate", and when I saw Jen del Muro's Skipping Stones Designs guest designer sketch for this week, I knew they would go together nicely. I really love this sketch.

There is some detail that you can't really see in the photo, but they really enhanced this card. The cap & tassel are stamped twice in black and cut out. I colored the cut out with a black gel glaze pen to give it some shine & texture. Also, the black circle in the middle of the focal point is cut from black glitter paper that I got at Target a while ago. I also used that paper for the star that is popped up on the greeting band. I am happy with the way it all came together.

Ingredients:

Stamps ~ Papertrey Ink's "For the Graduate".

Paper ~ Papertrey Ink White cardstock. Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Yo Yo Yellow, black glitter (unknown source), BasicGrey Origins DP.

Ink ~ Versafine Onyx Black.

Accessories ~ Nestabilities, Papertrey Ink Matstack 1 Die, Dimensionals, Swiss Dots EF, Sakura black glaze gel pen, atyou spica glitter pen, SY star punch.

Thanks for looking...

Dip It In Chocolate

2010-04-23T12:19:00.006-04:00

I used Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #70 for this card. I had fun with it! I just love MFT Who's That Girl, and I love to paper piece. I came up with this creation using that combination.

I am trying to use up some old DSP. I chose Berry Bliss because it feels chocolate-y to me. I used some gold metallic paper I had in my Creative Memories paper stash for the box. I was thinking Godiva... I colored the chocolates with Copics and then I put a dot of white Liquid Applique on top of each chocolate and puffed them up with my heat gun to make it look like icing or marshmallow. I then added a dot of red on each puff with a Copic marker to make it look like a cherry. Fun! Thanks for stopping by today. It is a beautiful day here in Central NJ...

Here are the ingredients:

Stamps ~ MFT Who's That Chocoholic and Clearly Sentimental About Chocolate (Link unavailable at time of this posting).

Paper ~ Papertrey Ink White Cardstock, Purely Pomegranate, Close to Cocoa, Berry Bliss DSP.

Ink ~ Memento Rick Cocoa, VersaFine Vintage Sepia, Close to Cocoa.

Accessories ~ Purely Pomegranate 3/8" double striped grosgrain ribbon, Dimensionals, copper brads, Sponge, Copics, Liquid Applique, heat gun.

Time For Cake!

2010-04-11T15:27:00.007-04:00

This is my take on this week's MFT Wednesday Stamp Club sketch, MFTWSC040710. I really enjoyed this one. I need a birthday card for my niece, and this is perfect for her.

I paper pieced this wonderful WTG image from MFT's "Lovin From The Oven" set (link to image not available at the time of this posting) with Basic Grey's Nook & Pantry DP, then I colored the skin and the spoon with Copics. I colored the inside of the bowl with copics to give the illusion of "batter" and to give it a little dimension, then I stamped some chocolate chips inside the bowl. I also added some dots to the outside of the bowl with a Copic marker to give it some texture. I used MFT's "Make The Date" for the words "Time" & "For", and "Lovin from the Oven" for the word "Cake".

The full list of ingredients are:

Stamps ~ MFT Lovin From the Oven and Make the Date.

Ink ~ Soft Suede, Memento Tuxedo Black.

Paper ~ Basic Grey's Nook & Pantry, Dusty Durango, Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi, Neenah Solar White.

Accessories ~ Dimensionals, Nestabilities, Dusty Durango 1/2" Polka Dot grosgrain ribbon, Copics, 1 1/2" Aluminum White Circle Metal Edge Tag, Linen Thread.

Thanks for stopping in...

Easter Wishes

2010-04-11T08:30:00.009-04:00

I started this card before I left with my family for vacation to Southern California just before Easter. I planned to use Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #67 for the layout, but I only got as far as the focal point before I left.

Yesterday I finished the card with inspiration from the OCC, as this week's challenge is to incorporate a bow on your card/project. Easter Was a week ago, I know, but I will save this for next year. I love the colors and I love the egg wreath from Verve's Easter Joy set. Here are the ingredients for my card:

Stamps ~ Verve's Easter Joy, SU All Holidays.

Paper ~ Cameo Coral, Elegant Eggplant, Tea Party DSP, Neenah Solar White.

Ink ~ Memento Tuxedo Black, Cameo Coral, Elegant Eggplant.

Accessories ~ Nestabilities, Dimensionals, Pink Pirouette 5/8" striped grosgrain ribbon, Elegant Eggplant 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, SU Border Punch, Sticky Strip, Hero Arts self adhesive crystals.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Spring Joy

2010-03-29T21:10:00.007-04:00

Isn't this little guy adorable?? I am still in need of some Easter cards, so I pulled out my Spring Homespun Cotton Scraps from Crafty Secrets for an idea for a quick card. Earlier this evening, I was perusing the Color Throwdown Blog for some inspiration, and I noticed that the colors in this little chick image went perfectly with Color Throwdown #85. Then I saw Mercy's Tuesday Sketch #66, and voila! My card came together rather quickly. That hardly ever happens with me! Here is Mercy's wonderful sketch...

...and here is Color Throwdown #85.

It all went together very well and now I have another Easter card finished! Here are the supplies that I used:

Paper~Baja Breeze, Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Not Quite Navy, White.

Stamps~None.

Ink~None.

Accessories~Cuttle Bug/EF, SU Scallop Border & Corner punches, Dimensionals, Crafty Secrets Homespun Cotton Scraps-Spring, Certainly Celery 5/8" grosgrain ribbon.

Thanks for stopping in today!