Sunday, September 29, 2013

A couple layouts


Creating Keepsakes is hosting a challenge on their blog - you have to create a layout using products from at least three of the Scrap & Paper Cruise sponsors, which is pretty easy because there are a lot of sponsors!

Since that was the only requirement, I thought I'd take the opportunity to knock out some multi-photo layouts, I'm going to try and do some more tonight, but we'll see what happens.


This first one is from our vacation this summer to Vermont.  These photos are from the shore of Lake Champlain.  They have these great swings where you can just sit and relax.  I kind of cheated on this challenge since I just pulled out some Studio Calico kits - since there's all sorts of stuff from all different companies in there, it was pretty easy to grab pieces that matched.  I added in some thickers and Elle's tags.


The second layout is from a morning back in June when the girls decided to camp out in the living room before school.  Of course in Ellie's world this means that she gets a tent and apparently Carina sleeps exposed to the elements.  Ellie was also playing the harmonica under there (I credit this to the fact that she was listening a lot to Kids Praise 5 at the time which is where they go camping).  I went super simple for this one, using the angle and a bit of stitching to add some interest.

I'm not listing all the supplies for these, but if you have particular questions, please ask.  :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Thanks - PC Sept/Oct Publication


I realize that I haven't shared with you any of my cards from the current issue of Paper Crafts.  I was fortunate enough to have several projects picked up, but this is my favorite.



It was for one of the fall color theme combinations.

The images are from Stampendous' Summer Leaves set with a CTMH sentiment from Say it in Style.  The leaves were stamped using Jenni Bowlin paint dabbers in first and second generation, and then I used a craft knife to cut the tips of some of the leaves for dimension and to slide the ribbon in.


I end up submitting lots of cards to calls, and it's always interesting to see what does and doesn't get picked up.  This was my favorite from this submission round so I was thrilled that is was selected.

Hoping you are having a wonderful weekend!


Friday, September 27, 2013

Artful Delight Friday - Twofer


Hey everyone!  Here to share my last two cards using this month's Artful Delight kit.  GIVEAWAY ALERT:  Leanne is celebrating her birthday by giving away one of the new October kits as well as the winner's choice of any older kit.  Make sure to go here to enter! 

OK, back to my cards. On this first card I was focusing on embellishments.  I love those cork arrows and hopefully you get that they are all pointed at the bottom of the heart.  The heart is from the MME cut and paste chipboard pack and it is not red, it's a pretty periwinkle color, but I wanted mine to be red, so I used my Cough Syrup Jenni Bowlin paint dabber to give it a little makeover.


My second card focused on this great print, it reminds me of a tin ceiling.  I got my craft knife out and went to town cutting out portions of it.  Those were popped up with foam tape, and I stamped the sentiment on one, inking around the edges for emphasis.


Another wonderful kit to work with.  Here are the rest of the cards I created this month.  Wait til you see the October kits!

I'm going to link up at Simon Says Stamp also since it's Anything Goes week.




Supplies Used:  Artful Delight September Card Kit; CTMH - Cocoa ink and Dimensional Foam Tape; Tombow - Mono Adhesive.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

i love you for the Twinery's You're {Sew} Fine Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes


I've been meaning to play along with one of the challenges at The Twinery for a while now, but I keep missing the deadline.  Thankfully I was able to make it happen this week.  The challenge this time is to somehow incorporate sewing into your project.  It's also Anything Goes week at Simon, so I'm linking up there too.

This was lots of fun to put together as I got to play with some very new and very old stamps.

I placed my first ever order with Papertrey the other day, picking up a bunch of dies and a sentiment set (based on the premise that they would help in my birthday card quest).

One of the dies that came in the set with the 'happy' was this 'you'.  I picked up some felt from AC Moore and die cut the you, saving the interior pieces from the y and o.  I put the die cut piece on top of another piece of felt, inserted those interior pieces and traced the you with a pen.  Then I used some pink sorbet twine to stitch the word on the bottom piece of felt.


I added some cross stitched elements as accents, and fussy cut hearts from a very old CTMH set with a stitching theme called Togetherness.

That's all for me today.  I'm actually off - both girls have their annual checkups, so we'll be driving around to do that, plus I've got some errands and the semi annual clothes switcheroo to complete, which means numerous trips to the attic and a general mess on my hands.

See you tomorrow for my Artful Delight post!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy; Echo Park - Here and Now Chalkboard Lace
Stamps:  Papertrey - Wonderful Words Additions; CTMH - Togetherness
Ink:  Distress Ink - Pickled Raspberry
Other:  Papertrey - Wonderful Words Dies; The Twinery - Pink Sorbet and Stone Twine; CTMH - Liquid Glass; AC Moore - Craft Felt; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Avery Elle September AEI♥U Challenge

I had a little extra time this week and thought I would whip up a quick card for the current AEI♥U challenge at Avery Elle.  The inspiration photos is above, and here is my take:


Really CAS, but I actually ended up using three different sets for this card.

The main element below which was my take on the car things is from the rounded diamonds set.  I just stamped it repeatedly using some different colors that I drew from the inspiration photo.

The sentiment is from the Modern Leaves set, and then I added the border from Papel Picado to finish it off.

I love the simplicity, the color and the graphic feel, and this is one that would be really easy to mass produce too.

Thanks so much for coming by, hope you are having a great day!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy; Bazzill Card Shoppe - Ack, I think they discontinued this color and I don't have the name...sorry!
Stamps:  Avery Elle - Rounded Diamonds, Modern Leaves, Papel Picado
Ink:  CTMH - Topiary, Goldrush, Holiday Red, Lagoon; Versafine
Other:  Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Another Simon Says Kit and some more birthday cards


I pulled out another of my old Simon Says Stamp card kits this weekend to create some more birthday cards for Andrew's kids.  This one I have used several times in the past, so by no means a full kit, but I was able to put together three cards in a pretty short amount of time.

Three very different cards too, I love it when kits are so versatile.  The card above is so easy to create, just a bunch of 1 1/2" squares, a great design for mass production.  The sentiment I've used several times recently, from The Craft's Meow Birthday Pun set, is my current favorite - just the right size and a great font.


This next card was my take at a gold chalkboard style.  I used some Tsukineko Galaxy Gold Brilliance pigment ink after embossing the sentiment in gold.  It's a little messier than the white pigment ink I usually use for this - I would let it dry overnight, and be mindful that it doesn't smear as cleanly or as forgivingly as white. Still, I like the way it looks and I will definitely do it again.



The final card also uses TCM's Birthday Pun set as well as a little Twinery twine and some matte sequisn from Neat and Tangled.  Simple and easy.  It's hard to see in the photo, but the two patterned papers on the right were mounted on a thin strip of cardstock so that I could easily tie the twine around it and then it's adhered with foam adhesive.  I also added a little 'ground' for the elephant using a blending pen and some distress ink.


Thanks for coming by! 

Supplies Used:  Simon Says Stamp - August 2012 Card Kit; The Craft's Meow - Birthday Pun stamp set; CTMH - Slate and Black cardstock, A Little Bit of Everything Stamp Set, Slate Ink Dimensional Foam Tape, Liquid Glass, Gold Embossing Powder, Blending Pen; Tsukineko - Versamark and Galaxy Gold Brilliance Ink; The Twinery - Charcoal Twine, Gold Shimmer Twine; Neat and Tangled - Silver Matt Sequins; Hero Arts - Soft Granite Ink; Recollections - Sheer Black Ribbon; Distress Ink - Iced Spruce

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger and Happy Mail


Thought I would play along with the Tuesday Trigger this week.



It was a really interesting image, and when I saw it I thought of the striped border from my Neat and Tangled On the Strip 2 set.  I stamped the border on vellum with my neon inks, cut them out and adhered them to the card.

This card is 4x6, I think the skinnier/taller size really works with the design.

AND, I got some happy mail last week - my very first Ribbon Carousel!


Isn't it pretty?  I tend to move around the house a bit when I'm working - mostly going downstairs to work on projects while I watch TV with Andrew. I'm forever trucking back up and down the stairs to bring stuff down.  I loaded this up with my most often used trims as I figure it's going to make life easier - one trip and won't have to worry about putting them back since they are already where they're supposed to be.  It holds a lot too - I've got lost more space for more favorites.  ;)

Hope your weekend is going well.  I've been taking advantage of the fact that we have free premium channels on demand right now to watch some movies that I have neglected to watch:  Pitch Perfect (which incidentally is not a movie about baseball), The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and Argo.

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White and Slate cardstock; Recollections - Vellum
Stamps:  Neat and Tangled - On the Strip 2; Paper Smooches; Slang Gang
Ink:  Hero Arts - Neon Yellow, Orange, Pink, Green, and Blue; Versamark
Other:  Stampendous - White Detail Embossing Powder; Tombow - Vellum Adhesive

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Because I love you for Verve Diva Dare

 
Popping in to share a quick and easy card for the current Verve Diva Dare.  This month the theme is Tic Tac Toe.  I used a little grid made from the envelope stamps from the Take Note set, the Xs and Os are from one of my Lawn Fawn alphas.

The sentiment is also from the Take Note set and it's embossed with my new Stampendous Detail White embossing powder.  I've been on the hunt for the perfect white embossing powder - my pet peeve has been that the ones I have look more off-white, and I think I may have found the one!

I fussy cut the envelopes and mounted them with foam tape and then added a little bit of coral trim that I had in my scrap bin.

Super easy!  Hope you are having a great weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - Slate and White Daisy
Stamps:  Verve - Take Note; Lawn Fawn - Riley's ABCs
Ink:  CTMH - Slate and Smoothie; Versamark
Other:  CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Stampendous - White Detail embossing powder; Misc trim

Friday, September 20, 2013

Artful Delight Friday - You = Awesome, Me = Grateful


Hey everyone!  Here to share my Artful Delight card for this week.

This week I built my card around that great Maya Road ruler embellishment.  I loved the protractor portion of it and thought it was the perfect focal point for a sunburst/ray element.

This was a little tricky to create.  I placed the ruler element on top of the patterned paper and used an actual ruler and pencil to trace extensions of the lines.  Some careful lining up with my paper trimmer, taking care not to cut all the way through, and it ended up being a pretty easy task to remove the negative portions.


I like a little dimension to my cards, so the rays are mostly adhered, but I didn't fully adhere the ends to get a little lift out of them.

This mathematical Paper Smooches sentiment was perfect.

I wasn't quite sure how it would work out when I started the card, but I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Supplies Used:  Artful Delight September Card Kit; CTMH - Gold Embossing Powder and Liquid Glass; Versamark; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

One more post for today - Waltzingmouse Fanatics Challenge


Disclaimer:  These photos are stinky, but I gotta get this posted tonight since the challenge closes so, just kind of squint and pretend they look fabulous.

I wanted to play along with the new Waltzingmouse Fanatics challenge - this challenge was a sketch, and I got to do some experimenting with new dies and some coloring (which I am always nervous about), but I think this came out OK.


Overall a pretty straightforward card.  I added outdoor denim ink to my cardstock with a foam blending tool and then cut the squiggly line for the slider.  Colored in my little spaceship with Spectrum Noir markers, and then added some stars/moon with Platinum Brilliance ink.  I colored those shapes in with a metallic pen and added a little bit of that metallic pen coloring to to the image too.  I also swiped the Brilliance ink around the edges of the card base to add a little shine to that.  The sentiment was embossed in silver.

Since I blended the ink onto the cardstock before I die cut the squiggle, I could adhere that to the card base, then I popped up the whole piece and adhered the image to the spinner element and inserted it into the slider.


My first slider card, these are really fun, and a lot easier than I thought.

OK, I am off to bed!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy, Whisper
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Half Pint Heroes
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versamark; Tsukineko - Platinum Brilliance; CTMH - Outdoor Denim
Other:  Spectrum Noir Markers; CTMH - Foam Blending Tool and Dimensional Foam Tape, Silver Embossing Powder; American Crafts - Silver Precision Point Pen; Papertrey Ink - Movers and Shakers Sliders Dies

I'm Thinking of You - Pinspired #17


Just popping in to share a card I made for the current Pinspired Challenge.


I love the quilted look on cards, so thought this would be a fun one to play along with.  The most time consuming part was picking out the patterned papers to use.  Then it was just a matter of adhering them, adding some stitching, and a sentiment.

Halfway through the week and already looking forward to the weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - Whisper and White Daisy Cardstock;  Basic Grey - Paper Cottage 6x6 pad; Carolyn Gavin Greenhouse Mat Pad; Webster's Pages - Once Upon a Halloween 6x6 papers
Stamps:  Verve - Take Note
Ink:  CTMH - Cocoa
Other:  Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Sewing Machine

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

THREE!!!


So hard to believe that it's been three years already!  A few photos from Carina's special day to share.  This is her just before the photo above trying to decide if she wants to play along with me.

 
Perturbed because our dinner guests have not yet arrived....


All of a sudden shy when the cake shows up and we are singing to her.


Cake monster!


Enjoying one of her new acquisitions.


A great day and a great girl.  We are so blessed!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Simon Says Stamp Card Kit and new Tombow Adhesives


I recently won an older card kit (May 2012) from Simon Says Stamp, and I thought I would pull it out to make a couple birthday cards.  The kit itself isn't necessarily geared towards birthday cards, but I was able to get a couple done, as well as a congratulations card.  There's still a ton of product left, so I will definitely be using the kit again, but here's what I have for you today.


The very nice people at Tombow also sent me some new adhesives, so that's what I used with these cards.  They sent some of their clear adhesive dots, which I was really impressed by.  The hot air balloon on the first card is a transparency piece, and you really can't see the adhesive at all.  I also got some of their little square dimensional adhesives which I used for all the popped up pieces, including the entire fussy cut flower portion of the card below.


A very fun kit, so glad you stopped by!

Supplies Used:  Simon Says Stamp May 2012 Card Kit; Tombow - Power Tabs, Foam Tabs, Mono Adhesive; Twinery - Charcoal Twine; Basic Grey - White Alpha Stickers; Spectrum Noir - True Black Marker; Hero Arts - Soft Pool Shadow Ink; The Craft's Meow - Birthday Pun Stamp Set; CTMH - Chocolate ink

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Really, I have not totally been ignoring the Hungary/Romania Trip....

 

Hey everyone!  Hope you are having a great weekend.  I scrapbooked part of our Hungary/Romania trip this week - specifically the town of Szentendre, but I realize that I haven't shared some of the other layouts that I have done for that album recently. 

Lots of different products, so I won't list the whole shebang, but if you have any questions, please ask.

I'm slowly but surely working my way through, although it's slow going.  It's such fun to go back and look at the photos, but I'm often overwhelmed by the amount of information I want to recount, so it takes me a bit to sit down and do it. 

 

 

If you are ever in Budapest, I highly recommend you stop by to see Memento Park.  When communism fell there were a lot of monuments, statues, etc. around.  People wanted it gone, and much of it was destroyed/defaced, but there were some very significant pieces, and work done by some famous artists that they didn't want to destroy, but didn't want in the city either.  They eventually decided to move it out of town, so you can go to this park where they have a lot of it displayed.  It's a fascinating glimpse of the propaganda machine, and well worth the visit.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Birthday cards for challenges


I was able to get some more birthday cards done this week.  I created these two for some challenges.  First, the Annabelle Stamps Splash it On challenge.  I was lucky enough to win a couple of Annabelle's new stamps during their last release, including Splat Attack, which was perfect for this challenge.

A really simple card to create, I got out my neon inks and created a background print, I always work from lightest to darkest when stamping with neons.  An Avery Elle sentiment with a handwritten "to you", and that was that.  The great news is that I still have some of that print I created, so I'll be able to make at least one more of these.



Next, I thought that the 10 Minute Craft Dash would be a great one to start regularly participating in to create some quick birthday cards, although I confess that I probably take way more than 10 minutes to figure out what's going to actually go on the card and to lay out the supplies.


I thought my last craft dash card looked really stark as I went very CAS on it, so this time I pulled out some patterned paper and larger embellishments.  I definitely like this one better than my first try, and was doing pretty well until I decided to go a bit off-road from my plan....when I decided the oval frame needed a little something and added marker dots all around it....but I finished just in the knick of time.


Hope your weekend is going well!

Supplies Used:
Card 1
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy and Black cardstock
Stamps:  Annabelle Stamps - Splat Attack; Avery Elle - Everyday Tags
Ink:  Hero Arts - Neon Yellow, Orange, Pink, Green, and Blue; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  American Crafts - Black Precision Point 05 Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive
Card 2
Paper/Cardstock:  Pebbles - Family Ties Cards; Glitz - Uncharted Waters 8x8 pad; CTMH - White Daisy and Chocolate cardstock
Stamps:  Avery Elle - Everyday Tags
Ink:  CTMH - Honey and Twilight
Other:  Pebbles - Family Ties Chips; Twinery - Buttercream Twine; Spectrum Noir Marker - CT4; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; CTMH - Liquid Glass, Dimensional Foam Tape

Friday, September 13, 2013

Artful Delight Friday (the thirteenth) - Thanks for Everything


Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

Here to share my Artful Delight card of the week.  This one was so much fun to create.

I used a cutting knife to cut/fold up/create dimension on those hearts and then fussy cut them from the paper.  The grid and woodgrain pieces are actually scraps from last week's card, and I framed them with some of the twine from the kit.

The two bottom hearts are popped out and the top heart was adhered directly to the card base.

Thanks so much for coming by, don't forget you still have some time to participate in our sketch challenges - one winner will receive their choice of September kit!

Supplies Used:  Artful Delight September Card Kit; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape, Liquid Glass, White Daisy embossing powder, Saddle ink; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Live Your Life in Color - September SFYTT


Thought I would play along with the September sketch over at Reverse Confetti.

I primarily used the Dream in Color set, and some of my new CTMH papers, although the zigsag on the top and bottom of the black panel were created with a portion of the border from Peacock Pretties.  I wanted the card to be really neutral/color free except for the pops of color from the ribbon and the word color.

I had only planned to emboss the stamping on the black panel, but something funny happens when I start embossing in gold....somehow everything needs to be gold!  For the tag (which I also colored a bit with distress inks on the edges) and the background patterned paper, I just swiped my Versamark pad over the paper/edges and then sprinkled the embossing powder, removing some to create a really random look.

A very fun card to make!

Can't believe that we're already halfway through the week...this is one of those rare weeks where I keep thinking it's a day earlier than it actually is - which will be a great thing come Friday!

ETA:  I'm linking this one up with a few other challenges:  Moxie Fab World's All that Glitters is Gold challenge and Simon Says Stamp's Monday Embossing Challenge. 

Supplies Used:
Paper/Cardstock - CTMH - Laughing Lola and Frosted Papers, Black and Champagne cardstock
Stamps:  Reverse Confetti - Dream in Color, Peacock Pretties
Ink:  Versamark; Distress Inks - Iced Spruce
Other:  CTMH - Gold embossing powder, dimensional foam tape, craft knife; Polka Dot Whimsy - Seam Binding; Kuretake - Glue Pen; Tombow - Mono Adhesive