Nap Time Stamping

Nap time stamping was a hit today!  I got a couple of cards done today.  I couldn't decided which color I wanted the background to be, so I just made two.  I also left off a sentiment, which I rarely do.  This card follows this week's sketch challenge on SCS.  At first, I was puzzled by the diagonal piece, but I solved that problem for myself with a piece of vellum.  Once I had cut it in half, I had the other vellum piece ready to go.  It made making the second card very easy!  

I couldn't figure out what dp this was until later.  It's Frosty Days dp from last winter.  So, my guess is that the orange color is Tangerine Tango.  It wasn't a huge favorite of mine.  It seems to work okay with the little bit of Dusty Durango I used on the card!

As you can easily see, same sketch. Same card really with the exception of the pink.  I found a challenge on line called Moe Joe's Challenge.  The challenge for this week is a color challenge with PTI colors:  Aqua Blue, Raspberry Fizz and Kraft.  I hope that the Soft Suede that I threw in there will be seen as a neutral.  That is how I saw it anyway! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Another couple of challenges

This card I made for the Clean and Simple challenge on SCS this week.  The task was to be inspired by something from the Disney store.  I chose this bath mat and shower curtain.  My patterned paper was white and black, so I aged it a bit with some Barely Banana ink.  I was really pleased with how I was able to get close to matching the Very Vanilla card stock.  Boy, do I really like my new scallop trim punch!  What  a fun little design it gives!!

This card is one I made for both the color challenge and the technique challenge on SCS this week.  I like the design and concept behind what I did on this card.  Perhaps I didn't do the technique properly.  It just looks like sloppy coloring or messy to me, not Van Gogh-ish.  Or maybe it was the colors that weren't exactly doing it for me on this card.  I like the Banana and the Gray together, not so much with the Dusty Durango :(

Thanks for visiting!

Love this one....

I made this card for yesterday's Featured Stamper challenge on SCS.  I can't remember that last time I actually played along with one of those challenges.  I usually go through the stamper's gallery and get my idea all ready and then never make the card.  This time, I was so excited about the card that I got it done!

Here is the card made by SmilynStef.  She made a great colorful card and my idea was to drain it of color and let the embossing speak for itself.  One small exception.  I added a banner with a sentiment.  I saw Jennifer McGuire make this banner, but I don't remember where.  It was either on her blog or the Hero Arts blog.  Sorry about that!

This was made super-ultra easy as my Stepfather drew my name this year for the gift exchange and he went shopping straight off my idea list.  Thus, I got some great new embossing folders!

Have a great day!

A Nice Leisurely Sunday

started off with posting this card.  I actually made it last night, but it was too late to get a decent photo of it  So I waited until morning.  See all the frost on my picnic table!  Brrrr, it was very cold. I am grateful for the nice warm woodstove inside and a craft room upstairs where all the heat flows.

You will find me in there today.  Hopefully, I will get it a bit cleaned up and maybe make a couple of cards as well.

For this card, I embossed with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder on dp and then sanded the dp to highlight the embossing!  Maybe next time I will pick a less busy dp to futher accentuate the embossing.

Have a great day!

A Papercrafting Hat Trick

I made this for Saturday's Inspiration Challenge on SCS and also for the Etsy Inspired Challenge.  I loved the damask bags/bedding, so I went with it!  I also admire how Dawn McVey works with this particular design.  With that in mind, I emulated her work.  But I really like the look of this card.

This was the easiest card ever.  I made this card for the Limited Supply Challenge on Christmas Day.  The challenge was to use leftover wrapping paper, tags, bows etc.  I found this cute little snowman tag from one of SweetPea's packages.  Even though I am sick of Christmas cards, there was no other place to go with this one.  It's ca-ute and seriously, took less than 10 minutes.  While I was raiding the trash, I snagged three other cutesy tags and will have to whip up a few more Christmas cards for next season.

This card was for the Christmas Eve Ways to Use it Challenge.  Julia took it easy on us and just made the challenge about using a background stamp. I really, really like the Clean and Simple Stamping blog, so I searched through it for a sketch and came up with this one ;)  I just know I will need to start on my thank you's and my daughter's thank you notes soon, so I made this into a thank you card.  I tried a couple of techniques on this card too.  I made the cardstock strip that looks like a ribbon with the faux suede technique and some faux stitching. 

Merry Christmas!

I made this card for this week's sketch challenge over at Limelight Papercrafts.  I modified the sketch to fit my own crafting needs at the moment.  Shame on me, perhaps I had better make one following the actual sketch. 

Anyway, I do like it and I am so done making Christmas cards for a while!  Another factor is that people always want birthday cards.

This one was made using a Verve digi-image called Winter Mittens.  I used the Viva La Verve Sketch from the second week of December.  It also met criteria for Sharon Johnson's challenge to make a CAS thank you card.  I hope the patterns don't make it "unclean". 

I hope you like them!  Just a short post as I have to baste a turkey!

Merry Christmas Eve

Hooray, the celebrations begin today!  I made this little gem yesterday with a sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping.  It's mostly an SU card.  Love that Melon Mambo, it's so fun!  This will be a great sketch for me as I hoard patterned paper!  I could easily make this card manly and perhaps I will try. 

I'm off to make some pumpkin pie!

Enjoy your holiday!

Winter Break creations

I needed a little help to get myself back into my craft room and the creative spirit, so I cased this beauty by Kristina Werner!  I chose my own colors and stamps, but I completely copied her sketch and idea otherwise. 

This one is a little more original!  I took the sketch from Stamps and Smiles and the colors from SCS 250th color challenge.  Fun stuff I tell you!

I don't have many words today.  I want to get back to holiday planning!  I hope you all get everything done with time to spare!

Absence Makes...

for a dull blog!  Sorry about that :)  We went on a two week family vacation.  Of course it took me time to prepare for it and then time to recover from it.  But here I am.

Oops, that was me in Cancun!

I did get a little time to play the last VSN with a girlfriend before I left and these are two gems that turned out from that venture.

Sorry about the short post, but Pea is about to wake up from her nap.  Check out my gallery for additional details on these cards!

Cards for Missy

My sister-in-law's birthday is just around the corner and I let me hubby go through my cards today to pick out a card for his sister!  He has such good taste.  He picked out this card.   This is the card that I made for the last Limelight Papercrafts sketch challenge.  The  twist for this sketch was to use Butterflies. 

This is the card that my mother-in-law picked out for her daughter.  This was for a fun CAS sketch challenge a hundred years ago.  Okay, not really a hundred years ago, but quite a while ago anyway.  I just looked it up and the challenge was about a month and a half ago!  I called him my Passionate Gator, for the pink passion ink that I hardly ever use!  This turned out really cute!  I'm glad that Missy will get it!

Butterfly Card -

Stamps: Great Friend, Full of Life

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede, Whisper White, Razzleberry Lemonade dp
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, River Rock, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: MM eyelet, thin satin burgandy ribbon, stampin' dimensionals, corner rounder
Techniques: masking

Passionate Gator -

Stamps: Wild About You, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper: Whisper White, Green Galore, Pink Passion, Yo Yo Yellow
Ink: Gable Green, Green Galore, Pink Passion, Yo Yo Yellow, Basic Black
Accessories: 1/8" hole punch, Trio Flower punch, glue pen
Techniques: masking, rock and roll


All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Have you ever wanted to be part of a design team?

Well, I have wanted to be try my hand at working on a design team for some time.  Mandy from Limelight Papercrafts put out a call for new design team members a little more than a week ago.  I decided to give it a try.  I am sure that Mandy will get tons of fabulous applicants and she will chose an amazing design team.  I am eager to see what comes from my application.  For the application process, Mandy asked to see pieces of work that applicants consider to be their best.  I offered this gift card holder and matching card as my gift project.

In addition to the gift project, I submitted pictures on three cards that I really love.  This card I made following a sketch by Julee Tilman.  This card include some fun Limelight products as well!  The designer paper you see here is October Afternoon Ducks in a Row and Cherry Hill.  I embellished this lovely with some Spring Bloom dew drops. 





I made this fun card as part of a VSN challenge a couple weeks ago. The challenge was to create "a mask" that enhances your focal image! I had tons of fun with a swirly wheel and some white ink on acetate. The only way I could think to hold my acetate on to my main image panel is with those cutesy little Bazzill mini brads from Limelight!

Finally, I made this card for a Unity Bachelor Bro Challenge.  The task here was to include both plaid and polka dots on the same card.  Yikes, I opted for a very subtle plaid and tried to make it work for me.  Since I was going for subtle I grabbed a sentiment from Unity's Sentiments O'Simple and some fabby October Afternoon paper.  How can you not love that paper?

Sooo....Mandy will be announcing her next design team on Saturday, November 7th on her blog.  Will you keep your fingers crossed for me?  Thanks, I truly appreciate it!

Verve release sketches with some SU stamps

Honestly, I just love Julee Tilman's sketches. They are always so well balanced and fresh. I have been on a Christmas kick lately, so I used my new Christmas SU stamps. I have no Verve Christmas stamps. Maybe soon!
I know this isn't a new SU Christmas stamp, but the embossing folder is relatively new. It's called Petals-a-Plenty and it gives a lovely deep impression. I used some Handsome Hunter, which I rarely use, and paired it with some Sage Shadow. I like the monochromatic effect this card has. I had to add some silver for a little bit of sparkle.


Dasher is a new SU stamp this season and I love it! It's one of the under $10 singles offered in the back of the catalog. I embossed it in gold and paired it with SU's In-Color Soft Suede and some Christmas paper with the same In-Color! When I stamped Dasher on the main panel, I thought the rest of the panel looked a little boring. So I inked up just one of the snowflakes from Dasher's antlers and stamped it three times. Then I sponged around the edge of the main panel to give it a little more oomph!





I wanted to try an find a really nice piece of Christmas patterned paper to work in this sketch. I found this piece of retired SU Holiday Treasures paper that I thought fit nicely with the Gifts of Christmas sentiment. I think those poinsettias are gorgeous. I found a piece of textured Old Olive card stock to serve as my base and I was off! I thought a big bow would complete the look, so I tied on some brown satin ribbon. Not much else to this card.






I busted out another new set for this card, as well as some old designer paper. I stamped my ornaments directly onto some Basic Grey Mistletoe and Pear paper. I was trying to replicate the colors in the other sheet of designer paper from the pack, to no avail. The top corner of the image panel looked lonely, so I affixed my red grosgrain bow there! Another thing I discovered is that most of the sentiments from Teeny Tiny Wishes fit into the large oval and look great framed with the scalloped oval.




I chose my color scheme for this card from some SU designer paper, Bella Bleu. Unfortunately, the vanilla embossing didn't really show up as well as I would have liked it to against the kraft card stock.
Next time I think I will switch the Not Quite Navy and the Kraft. I think the vanilla embossing would show up much better on the dark blue.

Check out my SCS gallery for additional product details.

October's Viva La Verve sketches

I totally rushed through these and thought they would end up looking like it. With a second look at them, they are alright! My camera skills still need some development. What else is new? I have some plans for improvement. I just need some free time. This first card is the the week 1 sketch for Viva La Verve. Amber's sketches are always more challenging for me, but I made it happen. The task for this card was to make a shabby chic version of this sketch. Here is my interpretation of "shabby chic".
I tried to use soft colors, distressing and faux stitching! I also used some BG paper that I thought was already distressed and also was sweet.

This card was for the third Viva La Verve sketch of October and the challenge was to use fabric on your card. I feel like I cheated on this one because I used ready made fabric embellishments. I used a felt flower and a taffeta ribbon. I suppose it doesn't matter too much or they would have sent the challenge police after me!
I attempted to replicate the swirls in the patterned paper with the swirls in the card stock from the embossing folder. I like how bright and cheery this card turned out.

By the 2nd week of October's Viva La Verve most people are tired of brown and orange (so many fall cards), so that is the twist. No brown and orange, no problem! I went all kinds of Christmas-y on them! I have been trying to stock up on Christmas and birthday cards, as that is what is most requested and right around the corner!
To jazz up this card, I added Shimmers to the die cut swirls and stickles to the snowflakes! This is a new digi-set that Julee Tilman offered just before the last release! I used it on the next sketch too!




This was the fourth and last sketch for October's Viva La Verve. Amber is so tricky, her twist this time was "no twist". What a funny lady! (Don't worry, she more than made up for it with November's 1st sketch) Anyway, I had an easier time with this sketch than most. I broke into my new Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper for this little cutie. I also used the white flocking that has been sitting on my desk since forever. I flocked those cute little mittens. Fun and so soft! Beware my rookie stitching around the outside of the burgundy mat!



Sketch 1 -
Stamps: Beautiful You (Verve)
Paper: Very Vanilla, BG Two Scoops, BG Porcelain, Candy Lane dsp
Ink: Ruby Silk Color Box
Accessories: clear ep, heat tool, Kaisercraft latte pearls, mat pack, paper piercing tool, white gel pen, Nestabilities, MM edge distresser
Techniques: faux stitching, embossing, distressing

Sketch 2 -
Stamps: Winter Mittens (Verve)
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Baja Breeze, BG Mistletoe & Pear
Accessories: Waterfall Stickles, Angel Wings Shimmerz, Swirls & Scribbles sizzlet, M's white organdy ribbon

Sketch 3 -
Stamps: Beautiful You (Verve)
Paper: Soft Sky, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Tinkering Ink Al Fresco
Ink: Melon Mambo
Accessories: TE felt flower, white taffeta ribbon, CB D'vine swirls embossing folder, ice circle rhinstone brads, mat pack, paper piercing tool, glue dots
Techniques: embossing, paper piercing

Sketch 4 -
Stamps: Winter Mittens (Verve)
Paper: Pretty in Pink, Bravo Burgundy, BG Eskimo Kisses
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Bravo Burgundy
Accessories: white gel pen, Nestabilities, glue dot, stampin' dimensionals, M's silver pearls, white embroidery floss, white flock, two way glue pen, Sakura clear star gel pen

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Who doesn't love a good challenge or 5?

Me, that's who!!! I can hardly resist a set of good challenges. Seriously, last week, I made 10 cards. The first half of them, I was seriously low on creativity but I pushed through anyway.
This was the first of five VSN challenges from last Friday's mini. The task here was to take one holiday stamp and use it to create a card for a different holiday! I love what I did as it was simple yet effective. I took my candy cane stamp and made myself a little old heart. Fun stuff, huh?
I was feeling a little low on creativity, so I just went clean and simple. It seems to work okay for me!


This next card was for the second VSN challenge from Saturday. The challenge here was to make a one layer card that looks like several layers, via the technique called masking. This one to me looks like the tan layer is under the pink layer. I'm not really sure how I made that happen, but I did. I was a little disappointed that the text in the center came up so dark over my floral image.

Mojo deficit? Probably!

Oh well, it's still pretty!



This was the hardest of all the challenges for me! The third challenge of VSN was to make a card inspired by the "Masquerade" scene from Phantom of the Opera. Of course, I have never seen Phantom of the Opera, so I did watch the video clip provided by the VSN hostess. I chose to be inspired by the heroine in this scene. She looked so sweet in her pale pink gown. I took my focal image from the flowers that she wore in her hair. I chose my sentiment as it seemed quite as proper as she!
I used a sketch from the Verve October Release sketches to flesh out this card. I try to always have an assortment of sketches on hand when VSN comes up. I find that this saves me some time!

Here is the card that I made for the fourth VSN challenge on Saturday. I had an idea in mind and made this card while watching cartoons with Sweet Pea on Sunday morning. The task was to use the technique called masking. I added to the challenge by working in the latest CAS challenge to create a sympathy card!
This was the fifth and final challenge of this mini-VSN. Ah, my favorite card of the bunch! The task here was to "create a card that wears a mask, one that enhances the main image without hiding it, an accent". This was super fun! I am certain that I will do this technique again.

There are so many details to list, that I have provided a link to each card in my SCS gallery rather than take up space here!

For the love of Limelight

Do you know about Limelight yet? And have you met Mandy yet? She is fabulous and she runs a challenge every other week. It's a sketch challenge with a product focus! This week's challenge has a product focus of ribbon. Everyone loves ribbon, don't they? For this particular card, I followed the sketch very literally. I added one more circle than the sketch because my circle were smaller than the original and I rounded a corner for interest. I placed my sentiment in the bottom left hand corner to try to achieve some balance on my card.

What do you think?

Here are the details:
Stamps: Sentiments O'Simple (Unity)
Paper: Whisper White, Ruby Red, ? dp
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: white ep, heat tool, M's white satin ribbon, glue dot, 1 3/8" circle punch, corner rounder
Techniques: embossing

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

The Latest Bro Challenge!

I don't know, I think I like straight-forward designs. This one is pretty square and I have to say, I like it that way! This is for Week 5 of the Bachelor Bro challenge.
The challenge was to use something from your HOME that you typically would not use in a paper crafting project. So, I raided the medicine cabinet and found some gauze. It isn't terrible cutting edge, but I am following the rules! I wanted to use a band-aid, but I didn't have any Unity sentiments or images that I thought would work.
I ended up coloring this image with some gel pens (I had to be careful to not smear them) which were sparkly:) So this qualified me for Stamp Something's, Bling It Somethings. Fun stuff!

Here are the details:

Stamps: Folk Inspired (Unity)
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Brushed Gold, Whisper White
Ink: Basic Brown, Chocolate Chips
Accessories: sparkly gel pens, Sakura clear star gel pen, red satin ribbon, brads, glue dots, gauze

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

Pie for Bro

I made this card for this week's Unity Bachelor Bro Challenge, Dinner with Bro! Unity owner, Angela, mentioned something about Bro's recipe for Pants Down Chicken. Sounds interesting, eh? So, I thought that since Bro had dinner covered, I would go ahead with dessert. Sour Cream Apple Pie anyone?


Stamps: Hodge Podge of Happiness (Unity), Fall Festival (Unity)
Paper: Very Vanilla, Real Red, OA Cherry Hill
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: WCC, blender pens, versamark pen, clear ep, heat tool, mat pack, paper piercing tool, stampin' dimensionals, oval template
Techniques: embossing, paper piercing

All products are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise posted.

Moxie Fab Wannabe

You know, I think this is a good idea. I need a little work on execution! My brayer and I have not been able to make friends yet. Perhaps I would like the results with a sponge better!

This is actually my second attempt. The first one was Gable Green, Yo-Yo Yellow, and Pink Passion. When I got that one done, I realized I had forgotten to ink up my stamp with Versamark first. Grrr...but the color result reminded me of Bob Marley. What do you do?

Even a wannabe has to start somewhere...Here is where I am! Find the details of the latest Moxie Fab challenge here.

World Card Making Day Fun

Just a little fun with Mandy from Limelight Papercrafts! She has a photo scavenger hunt going on for prizes. I played last year and it was a hoot!

Away we go!!! First up, some mismatched socks. This is a shot of my husband's sock drawer and this is the way he likes it. He works by himself with no one else to critique his work attire, so what is the point in matching?



Next, a card with no ribbon. My step-father never adds ribbon to his cards. He is perfectly satisfied with the way American Greetings manufactures their cards.









.
Then,my favorite drink. Of course I couldn't get out to get one today :(









And next up, an item that begins with the first letter of my name. Well, the first thing that came to mind is twist ties for Toni:)






Then, some sidewalk chalk art I found. This guy is really amazing, check it out!







Finally, here is the funniest things that I could find in my reserves (wink). I don't know why my family member feel compelled to put things on their heads, but they do! Yep, that is a diaper on my hubby's head!

Thanks for looking!

While hubby is away....

at VSN I play. At least that is what I did last weekend. Boy, was tired though! I had a birthday party and monster chores to complete too. So I stayed up late each night.

I managed to do all five challenges for last week's mini. This challenge was called Good Luck Kiss and you had to do two things. The Kissing technique and include a "good luck/best wishes" type of sentiment. I used Beate's Weekend Sketch to flesh out this card.





This next card was for the challenge called "I wanna rock and roll all night...and stamp everyday!". Ha! The challenge was to use the rock and roll technique on your card. I also used a Fall to Layout from the Clean and Simple Stamping blog.

I love the way this card turned out. I am really not a huge fan of orange, but this one was fun. I jazzed my card up a bit by tracing the orange segments with my Sakura Clear star gel pen! Fun, I tell you!





This card was for the VSN challenge called Private Dancer. The challenge here was to use the Chalkboard technique and include a quote or saying on your card as well. I got out my Stamp-a-ma-jig and stamped my sentiment around the edges of my chalkboard and for the sake of simplicity, I embossed them in white. I did my flower with White Craft ink and my chalks :), so I didn't cheat! I ran out of sentiment, so rather than start over, I did a doodle/scribble line down the one side of the chalkboard.





I went a little crazy with the brads this VSN! This card was made for the challenge called The Hustle. Come on now, you remember this dance don't you?

The challenge had to do with the counts to the actual dance, so check out the link to see the moves with the counts. They were 4, 4 and 8. So you had to use 4 layers of paper, 4 colors and 8 embellishments. This was harder than it seemed at first. One of the embellishments I used with a Texturz plate, but my photo wasn't so good, so you can't hardly see it! I am in the process of working on better photos!



This last challenge about made me loose my mind! The challenge was called Chaconne - Dancing in Triple Time. Cool, I learned something here, but the challenge was to make a tri-shutter card. Another cool thing, but not for someone with only 45 minutes. I thought I had it licked by using matching dp, stamps and rub-ons. Then, my measurements were off and then my rub-ons didn't want to rub on easily! I was so frustrated that I just didn't want to make any more cards. I got over that soon!





This is the open view of my tri-shutter card :)


Too many details to post here, check out my SCS Gallery for more information on each card.