Look at all this UNITY!!!

I made this card for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge to use paper piercing on your card! I took the sketch from Our Creative Corner and away I went. Instead of matting the circle, I accented it with paper piercing. I changed the rectangle in the original sketch to an oval. It just worked better for me!










This is a new release from Unity from a couple of weeks ago! I won it by leaving a comment on the April guest designer's blog post for Hip Hop Thursday! The Unity folks are super generous! I finally got to see the new packaging that has been so talked about. It really is nice. I worked off the SCS sketch challenge 224. I went with green for most of the card and I did some water coloring! What a great stamp for that! I can't wait to paper piece this set too!






This one was for the Clean and Simple "monochromatic" challenge. There isn't much to say here other than I made my card really big, like 5.5 x5.5. I have never done this and I'm not really sure that I like it! This other thing to note is that I tried a button/bow treatment that I read about on Nichole Heady's blog. I really like how that turned out and I am sure that I will do that again!





I made this card for a Unity Hip Hop Challenge, to create a card that could be used any time, not for a special occasion. I kept it clean and simple! I love the look of this border and will likely try it again! It was fun to fill in the circles and squares.












This was the other Hip Hop challenge from that particular Thursday. The challenge was to create a card with something that you would see in nature. I have a few Unity trees, so I went with this one. I tried to replicate some of the Cherry Trees that I have seen blooming lately. It just didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to. It also met the criteria for CAS09, to distress. For the distressing, I roughed up the edges of my card stock, did some sponging and faux stitching. I need lots of work on that last technique. I don't think my faux stitching is very believable.



This last card I made for the Inspiration Challenge 174 on SCS. The polka dotted paper is reminiscent of a pattern sold by this company for dishes and kitchen accessories. The orange color is a little out of my comfort zone, but I think it works with that paper! I also found some nice satin ribbon at Michael's so I got some in black and brown. I'm sure it will prove to be very versatile!

Here are the specifics on the cards (and the SCS links):

Thanks -
Stamps: Sentiment O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Kraft, Tangerine Tango, Shabby Princess dp
Ink: Basic Brown
Accessories: Brown satin ribbon, metal button, hemp twine, scallop edge punch, glue dots

Carefree Tree -
Stamps: Carefree moments (Unity)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Pixie Pink
Ink: Sahara Sand, Color Box Twilight, Chocolate Chip, Craft White, Creamy Caramel
Accessories: WCC, blender pen, mat pack, paper piercing tool, stamping sponge, edge distressing tool
Techniques: distressing, faux stitching, sponging

Hi card -
Stamps: Retro Border (Unity), Sentiments O' Simple (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Celery Twill Tape

Chocolate Tree -
Stamps: Dream Tree (Unity), Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Brown satin ribbon (Michael's), linen thread, cream button from stash, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals
Techniques: cas

Plant a Tree -
Stamps: Plant a Tree (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke dp
Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Summer Sun
Accessories: aquapainter, mellow moss taffeta ribbon, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals
Techniques: water coloring

Enjoy card -
Stamps: Linden Branch (Unity), Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Whisper Whtie, Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke, Parisian Summer dp
Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Liquid Pearls, Large oval punch, Scallop oval punch, craft knife, Nestabilities
Techniques: paper piercing

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise stated.

Another Two I Gave Away!

I made this card for my friend, Lesa, for her birthday. She's the same age as my sister. That reminds me, my sister's birthday is just 4 days away. For Lesa's card, I used a sketch from Viva La Verve April sketches. The twist with this sketch is to use a sentiment only! I used colors from Stamp Something challenge this week. I dressed up the card with some of Taylor's Tiny Twinkles that I received for winning a sketch challenge from my friend Shannon's birthday card!
I made this card with a sketch from Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #63(sorry, I couldn't get the exact post to link). A co-worker requested a masculine card to give to her father on her parents wedding anniversary. Her mother recently passed and she knows that her father will have a difficult day and she just wanted something to let him know that she cares about him. The photo doesn't show it very well, but the sentiment is stamped in the bottom right hand corner and says "just because". She thought that this card would work well!


Here are the details for my cards:

Birthday card -
Stamps: Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, PC Rob & Bob Studio
Ink: Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Sakura Clear Star gel pen, scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, Joann's white thin satin ribbon, glue dot, scallop edge punch, liquid glue pen, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles

Sailboat card -
Stamps: Winds of Grace (SU), Fluttering By (Verve)
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Patterns Pack dp
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Twill Tape, Hemp Twine, glue dots, Stampin' Dimensionals


All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Flourishes and Verve!

I did this card for some challenges a while back. Flourishes was having a release party and a Swing into Spring challenge to do some paper piecing. I only had a couple of Flourishes sets before the party and this is the one that would work for paper piecing, so I used it! The Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge at that time was to use your favorite Flourishes set. Well, this set is why I even came upon Flourishes! My first and my favorite!
So, I got busy with a Stamps and Smiles sketch and this is the outcome. I don't want to forget to mention that great paper by Basic Grey called Porcelain. Yum! I just dressed it up a bit with my Sakura Clear Star gel pen! It lends just the right amount of sparkling!

Here is my last card in the Verve April Release Challenges. I followed sketch number three for this one, only I morphed it into an A2 card instead of a square card! I kept most everything else the same.

I have used this button/bow technique that I saw demonstrated on Nichole Heady's blog. It's really quite simple after you practice it a few times and now, I will have a use for my buttons that I have collected over several year! I think it looks really quite polished and will be using it lots in the future!


Here are the details on my cards:

Coffee card -
Stamps: Coffee With Friends (Flourishes)
Paper: Blush Blossom, Chocolate Chip, BG Porcelain
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Kaisercraft pearls, Sakura Clearstar Gel Pen
Techniques: Paper Piecing

Prayer card - Keywords: VSAPR3 verve embossing
Stamps: Prayers of Note (Verve)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, SEI Granny's Kitchen dp
Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Kraft taffeta ribbon, clear ep, heat tool, random button, linen thread, corner rounder
Techniques: embossing

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Another Verve Sketch, Wahoo!

I made this card for the Verve April Release Sketch Challenge #1. I usually find her sketches really easy to work with, but I have to tell you that these release challenges have been tougher for me. I think it is just that I am tired and my mojo is running low!

I decided to incorporate some tricks or techniques I have seen out in blogland. For my circular sentiment image, I left my Nestie die in place and sponged Pretty In Pink ink to create the illusion of a white mat around the outside of the "pink circle". I like how it turned out. I also stamped my flowers twice, colored them with a blender pen, painted them with Shimmerz and popped them up for effect.

I couldn't figure out what to do with the two rectangles and brads in the original sketch, so I opted to create two ribbon tabs instead. I think it looks nice even if it isn't strictly from the sketch.

I can't get enough of Floral Symphony and this time I used the Flowers of Tomorrow Plain Jane! Beside the sentiments in Floral Symphony, this is a perfect accompaniment to that set! Check out the rest of Verve' amazing stamps here!
Hopefully I will have time to do that final sketch and post it for you tomorrow!

Here are the details with regard to this card -

Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve), Flowers of Tomorrow (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Raspberry Tart
Ink: Rose Red, Pretty in Pink, Kiwi Kiss
Accessories: Nestabilities, stampin' sponge, blender pen, stampin' dimensionals, white grosgrain ribbon, Angel Wings Shimmerz
Technique: sponging

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise listed.

Verve Color Challenge

The ladies at work have been saying I need to make more birthday cards, so I have been pretty intentional about doing so! Hope you don't get sick of them :)

This card is a combination of this week's Mojo Monday sketch and the Verve April Release Color Challenge. The colors were listed as soft blue, soft yellow and soft brown. I went with Kraft, Soft Sky and Cosmo Cricket Everlast paper. I matched them up with Sahara Sand, Soft Sky and So Saffron ink! I got stuck on the soft yellow until I remembered this Cosmo paper!

I used the Floral Symphony stamp set with a sentiment from Circular Sayings. Floral Symphony is fast becoming a favorite for me! It's just a beautiful set and always the right size! Verve makes so many great stamps sets, check them out here!

Don't forget to swing by the Verve blog to see some sneak peeks of the new sets to be released on Friday!!!!

Here are the rest of the details about the card -

Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve), Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Kraft, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Cosmo Cricket Everlast
Ink: Sahara Sand, So Saffron, Soft Sky
Accessories: Scallop Edge punch, Kraft taffeta ribbon, aquapainter
Techniques: watercoloring

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

My Minds Eye meets Verve

and what a meeting it is! Who is this girl that is pairing pink and orange? Certainly other stampers do it with ease, but not me! Crazy, but it works!

This card is made with a sketch from Verve's April Release Week Challenges. This is sketch number two (2). The sketches from this week were harder for me than normal. Julee has provided some amazing sketches, but I think my mojo is running low!

I used Verve's Floral Symphony on this card. You can find it along with many other fabulous stamps, in the Verve store. I used one of the two sentiments and one of the five different flowers included in this set. You really ought to check it out!

While you are at it, you might want to get a load of the sneak peeks that the Verve Design team is posting during the lead up to the release on Friday! Some good stuff there!

Here are the specifics for my card -

Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie, Mystery pink, My Minds Eye Bloom & Grow
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Pink Passion
Accessories: MS Butterfly punch, MAMBI rhinestones, Dandelion & Magenta Sharpies, stampin' dimensionals, Sakura Clear Star gel pen

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Mojo 81

Here is the card that I had planned to make for Julee Tilman's Mojo Monday #81. I had great intentions and zero energy after all the Easter festivities. So there the sketch and my measurements and color and stamps choices sat, all mapped out. Until, I read about Julee's plans for the April Release party! Woohoo, has she got some great stuff planned!

I wish I had not rushed through this card, otherwise I would have backed my two large panels with another layer of Taken with Teal card stock. I really like how it looks with the Bloom & Grow paper from My Mind's Eye! I followed Julee's sketch literally until it came to the ribbon suggestion for up top, then I just went with another row of M's bling that I colored with a green Sharpie! For my image, I used Floral Symphony and my sentiment is from Circular Sayings. Both of these I picked up after last months release party! I just love Verve stamps, I get a great image every time regardless of what kind of ink I use. I don't find that to be true of every clear stamp! You simply must check Verve out!

Here are the details for my card -

Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve), Circular Sayings (Verve)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss, Taken With Teal, Tangerine Tango, Bloom & Grow (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Taken With Teal, Tangerine Tango
Accessories: Aquapainter, M's self adhesive rhinestones, Green Sharpie, Scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch
Techniques: Water coloring

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Happy Easter!

I want to wish a Happy Easter to anyone who just happens to be cruising by my little portion of blog land! Easter is tomorrow and hopefully it will be nice. I haven't heard the weather report, but I am feeling pretty hopeful! Sweet Peas and I made it through the local community Easter Egg hunt with flying colors! She is an egg hunting champ. Of course, in her age bracket, she is only required to pick up the eggs and candy strewn about the grass. I only helped a teeny bit. I didn't pick up anything but her basket a few times. For the most part, she held her own basket and went in the direction that pleased her! And she did not want Mom to carry her basket after we were done! She elected a Cherry flavored Tootsie Pop as her one prize after the hunt and before her nap! I learned today that my daughter is a "biter". She can't just lick the Tootsie Pop (neither can I), but instead must crunch down to the center!

I suppose that is more than you ever wanted to know about Sweet Pea and I! Back to the crafts, the card above I made for several Easter challenges (Our Creative Corner, Stamp Something and Dutch Dare Card Challenge) and for a recent Stamps and Smiles Sketch Challenge! It was pretty simple once I got started. Did you see those sparkly yellow brads? Well they came from a fun little package from Jennifer Buck. Some of you might be beginning to think that she is my own personal craft supplier, but it is really just that she is quite gracious!

This little cutie t-shirt is going into Sweet Pea's Easter basket. I didn't have much mojo last night, even though it was a perfect night for crafting. I started thinking about the Hero Arts challenge from this week, "beyond paper". The challenge is to stamp on something besides card stock or designer paper. My first thought was fabric, but I really didn't have any great fabric options. So then I thought of stamping on a blank iron-on transfer and putting it on a plain white t-shirt for Sweet Pea. An Easter gift was born! I'll have to let you know how it washes up!

Finally you see the eggstra special spring project I did for Verve Project Parade! Where was my Mojo? Oh well, at least I played!

On this day, Sweet Pea was having a hard time following directions and got to play in Mommy's craft room! She had a ball making Butterflies with my Martha Stewart Butterfly punch! She made pink and yellow butterflies and then insisted that I remove them from her room at bedtime! "Get them out of here" was a direct quote. My goodness, doesn't everyone know that paper butterflies should not be on your bedroom carpet when you are trying to go to sleep!

Here are the specifics for my projects:
Card -
Stamps: Bunny Face (Stampendous), Sentiment (Amuse)
Paper: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, BG Two Scoops
Ink: Basic Black, Pretty in Pink
Accessories: So Saffron wide grosgrain ribbon, 1/2" circle punch, corner rounder, stampin' dimensionals, sparkly brads by ?, glue dots

T-shirt -
Stamps: Clear Cupcakes (Hero Arts)
Paper: Iron-on Transfer Paper
Ink: Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red
Accessories: Iron, Computer generated sentiment, Hanes t-shirt
Techniques: Iron-on transfers

Box - Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve), Sentiment (Amuse)
Paper: Confetti White tiny take out box, print pack dsp
Ink: pretty in pink, certainly celery, regal rose, old olive
Accessories: ms butterfly punch, sakura clear star gel pen, Soft subtle brads, MM wire

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

For Bill

I made this card to honor my father-in-law and the battle he lost with Alzheimer's Disease. Jen Tapler (Verve Stamps design team member) put out a call for cards in order to auction them off and fund raise for Alzheimer's research! She offered some very nice blog candy in conjunction with her blogoversary as well!

I wanted the sole purpose of this card to be for Bill. So I didn't incorporate any challenges. I was perusing the SCS gallery and found a really pretty card by Niki Estes and decided to case it!

Here are the details:
Stamps: Linden Branch (Unity), Flowers of Tomorrow (Verve)
Paper: Kraft
Ink: Almost Amethyst, Lovely Lilac, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: White gel pen, ticket corner punch, stampin' sponge, M's self adhesive pearls
Techniques: sponging

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted.

Can you see me now?

Yep, you can because I was the winner (okay, it was random)of Limelight Papercraft's Six Chick Sketch Challenge!!! Mandy always throws a product twist in with the challenge and this week the twist was to use metallic elements on your card. How is 28 silver half-back pearls for a metallic element? I strayed a little from the sketch. Instead of two accent elements in the bottom left hand portion of the circle, I ran my black grosgrain ribbon across that point of the circle! All in all, it was a fun sketch!
This card is a triple challenge card! I used the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge sketch, the colors from Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration 48, and participated in the Hero Arts Challenge to create a one-layer card! This card had some serious masking and reverse masking! I thought it through and then wrote it down step by step. Then I tried it, goofed it up and did it once more! I like how it turned out. Next time, I will either use markers or blender pens, but not both. I think I like the lower intensity blender pen coloring best. One last comment, I went over the sprinkles on the cupcake with a white gel pen to make them stand out from the chocolate frosting!

Here are the specifics for each card:

Circle card -
Stamps: Thinking of You Messages (Hero Arts)
Paper: Whisper White, BG Scarlet's Letter, Basic Gray
Ink: Going Gray, Basic Black
Accessories: Silver self adhesive pearl, black grosgrain ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, Nestabilities, Silver Sharpie

Cupcake card -
Stamps: Clear Cupcakes (Hero Arts), Jubilee Dots (Hero Arts)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: blender pen, stampin' sponge, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1 /4" square punch, 1 3/8" square punch, M's brown satin ribbon, mini glue dot, white gel pen
Techniques: masking, reverse masking

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted.

Baby, they were hippin' and hoppin' on Thursday!

Unfortunately, I spent most of Thursday with medical professionals trying to sort out why Sweet Pea was having trouble breathing! I am happy to say that four days later, she is much better.
Anyway, here are my SCS sponsored cards that I used my Unity on! This first one is the Limited Supply challenge. Black and white only, with silver embellishments! It's harder than it looks!
This one is from the Clean and Simple Challenge from Monday. A sketch was given to follow and I did my best. I used colors from Dawn McVey's new color inspiration challenge, Raspberry Suite Color Challenge. The colors didn't pop like I wanted them to, but I have an idea about how to fix it. The sketch was essentially a ribbon tied across the bottom of the card, with a flower attached over the ribbon on the right hand side of the card. The sketch is more clear in my second card.





Here is my second CAS card that I did for Monday's challenge. Like I mentioned above, the sketch is easier to see here. This card was super simple due to my new Nestabilities. I finally pulled the trigger on that one. In order to attach the gingham ribbon on the focal image, I punched a small hole and tied two pieces of ribbon in a knot and pulled the tails through the hole. I'm sure there is an easier was to do this, but I couldn't think of one!
This card was made for this Color Challenge on SCS. The colors I used were Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip. The Bella Rose designer paper series uses all three of those colors, so I just picked a couple of the patterns and put it together. I used the Big Shot Top Note die. With the Bella Rose paper, I just trimmed away the perforated edge to achieve the look I wanted. I used chocolate grosgrain and sheer pink ribbon to finish off my look!
It seems like I hardly ever do the Sketch Challenge on SCS, but I did this one! I liked the clean lines of this sketch. It was really easy for me to do, especially since my Sweet Pea wasn't feeling very good and I wanted to stay upstairs across from her room to keep tabs on her. I used one of my favorite Basic Grey papers, Two Scoops. I just love this blue and green patterned paper!
Oh yeah, I went with Basic Grey Two Scoops again! This time the challenge was for Hip Hop Thursday, to create a project or card in a baby theme. I don't have any Unity baby stamps (how is that possible?). So I went with pink (my baby wore pink) and soft and chose words that new parents need to remember: Laugh, Play, Enjoy! I don't know why I threw the brown in there, but I think it worked out just fine.

Here are the details:

Diva card -
Stamps: Have a Diva Day (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Black Linen dp, Vellum, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Sakura Clearstar gel pen, M's self-adhesive rhinestones, corner punch, White organdy ribbon

Celebrate card -
Stamps: Retro Border (Unity), Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Turquoise grosgrain ribbon, stampin' sponge
Techniques: sponging

Acorn card -
Stamps: Autumn Acorn (Unity), Tiny Trinity (Unity)
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, Versamark
Accessories: clear ep, heat tool, Nestabilities, scoring tool, M's brown gingham ribbon, 1/8" hole punch, aquapainter
Techniques: embossing, watercoloring

Linden card -
Stamps: Linden Branch (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Bella Rose dp
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, pink organdy ribbon, top note die, Sakura Clearstar gel pen, rub-ons
Techniques: rub-ons

Inspiration card -
Stamps: Inspiration with a Swoop (Unity)
Paper: BG sugared, Night of Navy, BG Two Scoops
Ink: Night of Navy
Accessories: dew drops, mini glue dots, taffeta ribbon

Laugh card -
Stamps: Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Ruby Red, BG Two Scoops dp
Ink: Basic Brown
Accessories: pink organdy ribbon, heidi grace brads, large oval punch, scallop oval punch, stampin' dimensionals, corner rounder

All products used are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

The Two I Gave Away

I went to a cousin's baby shower last week. She is due to have a baby boy in May. I couldn't go shopping for a gift with my grandmother, mother and sister, so I made the card. They all were excited about that. I took Sweet Pea with me to the shower and she helped hand the gifts to the mother-to-be. Some of my cousin's on that side of the family are quite crafty, mostly in the sewing department, and took an interest in my handmade card. It really felt nice to have someone appreciate the work.
I incorporated a few challenges onto this card. I used the Stamps and Smiles sketch, the Our Creative Corner color challenge and Sharon Johnson's challenge to use different patterns together.
This card I made for my girlfriend's birthday celebration. Don't know why, but I always seem to make cupcake cards for her. She has never complained, but she wouldn't ever (she has better manners than to do that)! My girlfriends all know that I create cards, so they can appreciate the handmade quality of this card.
Of course, I worked in a bunch of challenges on this card too. I used a sketch from Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge, a pretty little dress from Inspiration Challenge on SCS and ribbon for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge.

Here are the specifics on each card:

Shower card -
Stamps: Goody-Goody Gumdrops
Paper: Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue print dp
Ink: Basic Black, More Mustard, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue
Accessories: 1/4" circle punch, soft subtle brads, aquapainter, (Joann's thin satin ribbon)
Techniques: watercoloring

Birthday card -
Stamps: Cupcake (Hero Arts)
Paper: Whisper White, Regal Rose, Bella Rose dp
Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Going Gray
Accessories: Sakura Clear Star gel pen, Stardust Stickles, Rose grosgrain ribbon, scallop edge punch, Swiss Dots embossing folder, oval stencil
Techniques: embossing

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.