Autumn Blessings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!