I Used It Yesterday!

That's right!  Yesterday was the Ways To Use It challenge on Splitcoaststampers!  Our fabulous hostess was Collette and she challenged folks to alter ribbon!  I knew right away that I wanted to alter some twill.  So I got out my super-ultra wide twill and my watercolor crayons and a favorite set!  I colored up my flower, wet my ribbon and my stamped and bingo, a vibrant image!  Then I trimmed up my twill and secured it with some scor-tape and eyelets.  Then I set to fraying the ends!  I love how it turned out.  The really bizarre thing for me is that I didn't add a sentiment.  Oh well!  In other news, today is the VSN mini and I am so excited it for it.  I will hostess one of the six challenges tonight.  We are starting at 5 PM EST and I do hope that you can join us!  Here is a link to the main forum for VSN.  See you there!

Details - Stamps: French Script, The Art of Life; Paper: Very Vanilla, Old Olive; Ink: Old Olive, Tea Stain; Accessories: WCC, twill tape, sponge dauber, stampin' dimensionals.

A Simple Heart

I hardly ever do this, but I combined about three different companies on this one simple card.  My sentiment is PTI, the damask stamping on the heart is Stampin' Up! and the heart die is from Verve.  I'm such a matchy-matchy girl that this blows me away.  My only reason for doing this is that I was tired and wanted to get my card done quick! 

I pulled this color combination off of the Stampin' Up! Color Coach and I totally love it!  Just in case you were wondering that is Pink Pirouette, Cherry Cobbler and the pearls match Wisteria Wonder fairly well.  I used some decorative scissors too!  Yay me!

I'm tired now as my girl wore me out with all of her activities and sassiness today!  I may venture up to my craft room for just a bit, but then again my bed may win out!  Thanks for stopping by.

Details - Stamps: Charming, A Wreath For All Seasons (PTI); Paper: Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, vellum; Ink: Pink Pirouette, Versamark, Cherry Cobbler, Tea Stain; Accessories: Jotted Heart die (Verve), pinking edge scissors, clear ep, heat tool, M's lavender pearls, stampin' dimensionals, sponge dauber.  



Happiness Is...

A card left over from the last VSN!  If you are new to VSN, it stands for Virtual Stamp Night.  It's a good time of stamping with your on-line or in real life friends.  New challenges are posted on the hour with fun challenges based on a theme.  You have 45 minutes to create your card.  That is creating time only, not thinking or finding your supplies time.  You can play all weekend and must post your creations by Monday evening, in order to be eligible for "honors". 

I made this one for Ann's Polly Wanna Cracker challenge.  Ann had us make a card with a bird and bright colors.  How bright is that green?  Love it, especially on a day as gloomy as this one has been.  Our weather took a turn for the worse, boo!  In other, more exciting news, the next VSN starts this Friday!!!  The mini, or warm up is coming and it will consist of 6 challenges!  Yeehaw (wink, wink) and you better get to shopping.  See the list here.  I hope to see you there!

Details - Stamps: Happy Moments, So Happy For You; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Jillibean Soup White Bean dsp; Ink: Basic Gray, Yo Yo Yellow, Green Galore; Accessories:  silver cording, XL Tasteful Trim die, M's silver pearls, stampin' dimensionals.

Happy Sunday

It's a gorgeous warm day outside and I found a little time to craft between chores this morning.  I decided to take on this week's Viva La Verve sketch which is hostessed by Diva Laurie.  It was so nice to work with and for reasons unknown to me, I pulled out Autumn papers.  Every piece I used is from the Autumn pack???  I knew that I wanted to start with the graph paper look or notebook paper look and it just grew from there.  I felt so lucky to have this length of soft suede ribbon in my stash and I forked the ends and laid it flat so that the polka dots on the other side wouldn't show.  I just wasn't feeling the polkas today.  Another little kick I have been on is snipping those floral circles, sponging the edges and then using my Sakura pen to round them up, like an over sized stylus.  It gives the flowers a nice cupped shape. 

Well, I have a few more chores that are calling my name and I want to take advantage of the fun time my daughter is having at her grandmothers before we get into the evening!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have had a wonderful weekend!

Details - Stamps: Bloom & Grow (Verve), Kind Words (Verve); Paper: Autumn dp (Recollections); Ink: Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede, Early Espresso; Accessories: Nestabilties, Floral circles die (Verve), Elegant Leaves die (Verve), Pretties kits, yellow sharpie, brown sharpie, paper snips, sponge dauber.

My Favorite A-faire

I played along with Papertrey's Stamp-a-faire challenges today.  I finished six out of nine challenges.  This card was my favorite of the bunch.  It is a color challenge based on a card by Lisa Johnson.  She's a fabulous designer and crafter from my neck of the woods.  PTI colors were listed as Ripe Avacado, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores and Enchanted Evening.  I matched them up to SU colors as best as I could.  I used Old Olive/Always Artichoke, Kiwi Kiss, Pool Party and Pacific Point.  I love the soothing colors and the peace that I feel when I look at it.  I fussy cut this wreath and boy was that a pain! Then I hung the wreath from a little bit of embroidery floss.  It's hard to see in the picture, maybe it's better if you enlarge the picture. 

I had uber-busy day otherwise.  I picked a ton of fruits and veggies today and we finally got some sunshine!  Hooray!

Details: Stamps: A Wreath For All Seasons (PTI); Paper: Pool Party, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive, Whisper White; Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Always Artichoke, Pacific Point, Versamark; Accessories: White ep, heat tool, paper snips, white embroidery floss, stampin' dimensionals, SU pearls, glue dots. 



A Sweet Pear

Just look at this sweet pear!  I had so much fun coloring it with my aquapainter.  I wondering if I am moving into a new phase in my crafting where coloring will be prominent???  I hope so, that pear was delicious to color.  I made it for Hannah's Ways to Use It challenge from yesterday called Heavy Metal.  I feel I must apologize to Hannah for using such little metal on my project, but I was just absorbed in this pear and the mini brads just seemed to do the trick here.  My background was a little boring, so I just smeared my Versamark cube around for a bit of interest.  I really like the randomness that it added and my card base isn't so flat.

In my world today is the drumming workshop for my daughter (sponsored through the County Library system's summer reading program) and the Jelly Belly taste test!  Should be a fun day!  Wish me luck.  Happy Friday!

Details - Stamps: Faith in Nature; Paper: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Watercolor paper; Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Versamark; Accessories: mini brads, word window punch, MM edge distresser, stampin' dimensionals.



Clean And Simple To The Rescue

Whew, there are days when you just need a card to happen quickly. Today was one of those days.  It was busy with a trip to the library for story hour and then a couple of business errands for hubby!  It was topped off by swimming lessons this evening and then the required bath to get the pool water off.  I wish I had had the 10 minutes it took me to make this little gem, but no such luck!  This card I made a couple of days ago and it was quick.  Really quite quick.  I stamped my image and sentiment.  I die cut it and then the mat.  I embossed the card base and stuck them all together.  Then I embellished with a few rhinestones!  That's all folks.  Happy Tuesday or what's left of it.

Details - Stamps: Branching Out (GKD), Hopeful Hearts (GKD); Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive; Ink: Certainly Celery, Old Olive; Accessories: Nestabilities, Square Lattice ef, stampin' dimensionals, MAMBI & SU rhinestones. 

Short and Sweet

That is what this card was for me.  It was short and sweet!  Lee Murphy (Lee on StampTV and LuvLee on SCS) challenged crafters to create a stamped sentiment only type card and this is what I came up with.  This is the card that emerged between four loads of laundry, Ramona the Pest and picking peas and cherries!  Let me tell you, it was a day. 

I am thankful that my MIL had asked us to dinner for tonight.  At least I didn't have to cook too!  And with that, I am going to bid you all a good evening!  I hope to see you tomorrow :)  I guess that short and sweet refers to the length of today's post too.

Details - Stamps: Hopeful Hearts (GKD); Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, BG Urban Prairie; Ink:Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette; Accessories:  Nestabilities, small heart punch, burlap string, sponge dauber, glue dot, scor-tape, stampin' dimensionals.



A Wet Birthday Party

Pardon my photography here.  I didn't have time to set up my infinity board and lights as we were running out the door to go to the neighbor's birthday party.  My husband told me as we were walking outside, "It's raining".  And sure enough, it rained and it rained and it rained some more.  The neighbors had 3 tents set up and the garage and shop opened up.  Tables were moved into the shop for folks to eat lunch and cake.  The kids just played in the rain the whole time and didn't care one bit.  When we got home (after 3 1/2 hours in the rain) and I put my daughter in the bath.  I dried myself off and got my pajamas on myself.  But, you didn't come for that...you came to see Chloe's birthday card.  I felt like I was shooting from the hip this morning with no real plan for what to do.  I stamped a background of numbers and decided to highlight the "2" as Chloe is now that age.  Then I stamped up some cutie little animals, cut them out and popped them up.  I rounded one corner and then after I took the picture I round the other top corner.  I pulled the colors for this card from the gift bag I used. 

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and get back to my lazy Sunday. 

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Details - Stamps: Look Who's Turning; Paper: Whisper White; Ink: Pink Pirouette, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, Old Olive, Lovely Lilac, So Saffron, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink; Accessories: paper snips, 3/4" circle punch, stampin' dimensionals.

Grand Ideas

Yes, I had the grand idea to play along with all the challenges this week and pfffft, where did my time go.  Oh yes, it's that sweet little 5 year old who wants me to play with her and the garden that is really starting to go!  That is what happened. 

But...I did find some time, late one night to play along with Collette's Ways To Use It challenge called Crazy Collage.  When I first read that I needed to use 4 different stamps to create a collage, I thought I would end up with a muddled mess.  It just goes to show you, that there is a good reason to try challenges.  Now, I might have ended up with a mess, but this time I did not.  I quite like how this turned out and may try this collage technique again! 

It's a damp Saturday in my corner of the world and it should be a quiet day too.  Hubby was up late playing a show and my darling daughter will head off to her Auntie's house for a visit this afternoon.  In the meantime, I think I will try to squeeze in a couple of crafty projects and a chapter or two of the book my daughter and I are reading together!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Saturday is nothing less than spectacular!

Details - Stamps: French Script, Petal Prints, Elizabeth, Because I Care; Paper: Very Vanilla, Elegant Eggplant; Ink: Crumb Cake, Mellow Moss, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant; Accessories: Nestabilities, Corner Chomper, SU pearls, sponge dauber, glue dot, vanilla seam binding, vanilla smooch spritz, stampin' dimensionals.

Clean and Simple Monday

It's been ages since it seemed that I have had the time to make a CAS card for the Monday challenge on Splitcoaststampers.  I had time today and the challenge for today was to use the same sketch from Debbie's card here.

I took some creative license with this one.  Debbie used three layers of scallops on her card.  I used my ABC wheel to mimic the three layers and then used a longer sentiment followed by an apple image, which I popped up.

I have school on the brain lately.  I am wondering what is going to happen with our schedules at work and know that I probably still have 6 weeks to wait before all is settled anyway.  I have also been thinking about how best to prepare my daughter for the starting of Kindergarten too.  We have been reading lots and are practicing our letters.  Of course, we have been playing outside tons too!

Thanks for stopping by!  Let's see if I can work in a color challenge maybe for tomorrow :)

Details - Stamps: Tart & Tangy, My ABC's wheel, Sentiments O'Simple (Unity); Paper: Whisper White; Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Old Olive; Accessories: paper snips, stampin' dimensionals, corner chomper.

Some Flower Mojo

Did you see this Mojo Monday sketch?  Check it out here.  I seem to have a hard time with the double-ended banner thing-a-ma-bobs, so I just swapped them out.  I put some leaves in as a substitute.  I have seen Julee Tilman added the faux stitching on her leaves and it just looked super cute, so I took my cue from her there.  Seriously though, the biggest mystery here is why all of the orange?  I have no idea what possessed me, I was just feeling some orange!  I like it though, especially with those hot pink flowers!

In the home front news, we spent just about the whole day outside doing some badly needed yard work.  We reclaimed the corn patch from the weeds and the raspberries from the volunteer plum starts.  That meant that we got to see the neighbors loading a moving truck all day.  We weren't really close with our neighbors, but they were certainly good neighbors.  They are having to move do to the economy and his inability to find work here.  It's so sad and makes me very grateful that we have remained intact in the face of such a terrible economic state.
Sorry for the downer news!  Thanks for stopping by anyway!

Details - Stamps: Bloom & Grow (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Pawsitively Prints dsp; Ink: Early Espresso, Certainly Celery, Regal Rose; Accessories: Elegant Leaves die (Verve), paper snips, scallop border punch, MAMBI rhinestones, stampin' dimensionals, corner chomper.

I'm Using Doilies

It's my turn to host the Ways To Use It challenge on Splitcoaststampers.  I have chosen doilies and I am hoping that folks can play along and will enjoy themselves.  Even though I got some new doily stamps from Mr. Brown, I whipped out my paper doily for this one.  I used the first Viva La Verve sketch for July, hostessed by Amber.  I love that the doily lets you peek through it for a little more of that cute October Afternoon pattern.  I am really digging blues and pinks/reds together, so this worked for me.

   

Today is my hubby's birthday, so I won't chit-chat too much.  I have to pick up some ingredients from the store for his "turtle" birthday cake (think about the candy) and his special dinner request.  My daughter is more excited about hanging streamers and balloons.  Then there is the dilemma of what to get the man.  I just bought him a Weber barbecue last week.  I'm thinking that is the big gift and now I just need to have something in hand to give him today. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day.

Details  - Stamps: Text Objects, Sweet Treats (Verve); Paper:Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Welcome Neighbor dsp, OA Cherry Hill dp; Ink: Early Espresso, Bermuda Bay;  Accessories: Doily, 1/2" circle punch, MM edge distresser, Kaisercraft rhinestones (lipstick red, blue grey), M's heart rhinestones, red Sharpie, pink Sharpie, 1 1/4" square punch, May Arts burlap string, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals.

Whoa!

Man, it seems like I blinked and a whole week went by.  I hope my whole summer doesn't go like that.  I am finding out that I don't get quite as much done with my girl out of daycare now.  I love the time we spend together and she really slows me down!  Maybe we just haven't found our groove yet.  This little lovely was made for last week's Ways To Use It challenge, hostessed by Hannah.  The challenge was to use something old (my SEI Granny's Kitchen dp) and something new (my Hopeful Hearts stamp set) on the same card.  I think I did just fine.  I wasn't sure about my color combination until it was all said and done.  Now, I really like it! 

I'm off to harvest spinach, lettuce, eggs and take down my laundry when it's dry from hanging on the line!  I'm going to try and squeeze in some stamping this afternoon too.  My daughter is running in her final track meet for the summer tonight and I think I am going to make sure she has a rest time this afternoon!

Have a fabulous day!

Details - Stamps: Hopeful Hearts (GKD); Paper: SEI Granny's Kitchen dp; Ink: Versamark, Close to Cocoa, Cherry Cobbler; Accessories: clear ep, heat tool, scallop border punch, Cherry Cobbler seam binding, scor-tape, stampin' dimensionals, paper snips, Nestabilities, corner chomper.