Birthday Wreath

I really need to craft more! We have had some issues with health, mother-in-law caregiving and a big Halloween party this past weekend, that took most of my crafting time and energy. Although I had to push myself, I was determined to make my friend a card for her 60th birthday. Even though it's fall, I wanted to focus on more summer colors because she is more a sunmer person.

I used patterned paper from AC 6x6 Summer pad, cut the vellum with Lil Inkers Dotted Scallops Cover Up die and cut the wreath in multiple colors of cs from my stash using Simon Says Stamp Danville Wreath die (couldn't find it on their website-it may be discontinued). The sentiment stamp is from Unity Stamp kit Wish with all your heart. I cut the tag from a die in My Creative Time Stitched Tag Dies. The little hummingbird stamp is from Impression Obsession stamped with Hero Arts Ombré ink in Lilac to Grape Purple and colored with a blue Wink of Stella pen. The ribbon was wrapped around some craft supply that I ordered (can't remember what!). The bling is Queen & Co.
I'm linking this to the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Throwback- I'm going with the Ombre Challenge, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Wrap it Up-used Ribbon, My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge: 251 and Hop with Unity

Late Birthday

Yes, I am sometimes late in sending birthday cards-I admit it!
This card was for a friend who is sometimes late as well.
So what better way to send a late card than with the perfect sentiment that explains my theory!
The sentiment is from Sweet n' Sassy stamps: Birthday Word Art-designed by Gloria Stengel (1st time to use it), the robe/coffee lady is from Skipping Stones Designs (1st time to use),  
the ribbon is from 3 Girl Jam, the paper is AC #summer and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.
I used Copic markers to color the image.

I'm linking this to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Make it Colorful, NBUS Challenge #5 at djkardcreations, Virginia's View Challenge #18 Geometric Patterns and 3Girl Jam September 2015 Challenge: Anything Goes with Ribbon.
      

Dressed up

My friend and I took a coloring class at Scrapbook Expo. The class was to learn more about Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and we used some butterfly stickers from a kit by Krazy Kreations Studio. They act like embossing powder so that when you paint, the color will not bleed.  I needed a card for my daughter's birthday and was running out of time and energy. Dear hub had finished drywalling and painting the wall that he had ripped out to repair some plumbing. I was helping him clean up the mess from that job. Then, our freezer started acting strange, so I was helping him with that for half of a day.
Anyway, our instructor for the class had given us a card kit to make a card with the butterfly embellishment that we made. I took it and dressed the card up with some 3 Girl Jam Tie Dye Ribbon, some Botanica flowers by Petaloo, sentiment stamp from Unity Stamp Co. and sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.
She likes bright colors, so I think she'll like it :-D
I'm linking this to 3 Girl Jam Challenge: Anything Goes with Ribbon, Unity Stamp Co. Hopping with Friends, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes and Viva la Verve Sketches: Week 4.

Recycled ATC swap

I have kept in touch with a group of friends that I got to know on a craft blog. What a fantastic bunch of crafty friends! We have occasionally done card swaps, washi tape or ATC swaps. This is the most recent ATC swap that we did. The theme was Recycled. I used cardboard from a box for the actual cards. I used a couple of stamps from the Unity Stamp Co. kit Wish with Your Heart {august 2014 sentiment kit, white WOW embossing powder and heat embossed. I used some Distress Inks to create kind of an ombre background with several colors and brushed some water across to blend the colors.
I was going to use some old craft packaging and my new Fuse tool to make shaker pockets.  Maybe there is a way, but being a new Fuse user, I wasn't able to figure out the right material or correct "touch" without melting it! So I just used the We R Memory Keepers Waterfall pouches to make my shakers. I used Lily White Sparkly Shaker mix from Lucy's Cards (no, it's not my shop). You can now also get these from Neat and Tangled and the shipping is not quite so much.
I added some UmWow Butterfly Confetti chipboard to the outside of the shaker pouch that I coated with some Liquitex Glass beads. I'm hoping that they stay attached during their multiple trips across the country!

I hope that my friends and a few of you enjoy them :-)
I'm linking this to the following challenges: The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge: Get Texty, the Unity Stamp Co. {Be Inspired} Challenge, Paper Issues: Pocket Book with Paper Issues, Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes and Shopping Our Stash Challenge #216: Splish Splash.

New to Project Life

I have been thinking that I may want to try pocket scrapbooking, but hadn't taken any steps towards it. Last weekend, I went to Scrapbook Expo and took a Project Life class with the creator Becky Higgins herself.
I think that I have become a PL fan! I'm thinking that I can do both traditional scrapbooking for certain layouts and books and PL to fill the gaps.  I am years behind, so I have to start making more realistic goals and compromising on my OCD tendencies!
Here is the layout that I did. It's at various crops and classes (one with Teresa Collins :-) with my crafty friends. I am entering this over at Paper Issues: Pocket-Book with Paper Issues.

Beautiful colors

This is a quick post for a few challenges. I saw the colors over at Fusion Card Challenge and at first thought what unusual colors to put together. I went back and looked a couple more times and decided that I wanted to try these colors. One of my daughters' birthday is today, so I made myself stay awake last night to create my card. I took the sketch from Cardabilities Sketch #125 because I wanted more layers on my card. My floral stamp (stamped/colored in Distress Inks) and the sentiment are from Unity Stamp Co. so I will be linking to Unity Friends with Flair weekly challenge.  I'm also linking up to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes and Really Reasonable Ribbon:Sizzling' Summer Colors.

My printed card stock is Basic Grey Highline, Dies used: Simon Says Stamp-Stitched Rectangle Dies, My Creative Time-Trio Stitched Banner dies and Tag Die Layers and Spellbinder Sprigs.

Lace is from Really Reasonable Ribbon, the flower is Petaloo Botanicals and the Sequins are Pretty Pink Posh.

Bean Missing You

I wanted to make one more card for Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, which is going on through June 12 at 11:59 Pacific time.  I used the sketch from Die Cuts With a View and the photo/theme inspiration from The Card Concept #37-The Butterfly Effect.

The printed card stock is from The Navy and Coral Stack and the one little piece of rule paper is from Bohemian Sunrise Stack both from DCWV.  The sentiment stamps are from CardzTV Stamps.
The coffee cup and die are Verve (Coffee stamp set and Cuppa Joe die).  I used Memento Espresso Truffle to stamp the image and the sentiment. The little banners were cut using My Creative Time's Stitched Party Dies. I used Neenah white card stock to cut the coffee cup and banners and colored them with Copics and Mepxy markers. I added Glossy Accents to the coffee cup and coffee. The sequins are Pretty Pink Posh Cornflower Blue & Sand and inside I added the 4mm Sparkling Clear sequins for extra sparkle.  The ribbon is May Arts, but purchased from PPP.
I popped the banner on the left and the coffee cup with some ThermO Web 3D foam squares. The sequins were adhered with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

For The Card Concept, my style is Clean and Layered (I think).

Sketch from DCWV

The Beans are ready for grinding!

Don't Spill the Beans!

I started this card as a quick entry for the last Coffee Lover's Blog Hop, but it never finished itself!
So I used my Verve Coffee stamps and Cuppa Joe Die set to finish it off. I used Mepxy alcohol markers to color the mug and Silver Wink of Stella to color the steam. The stamp set was illustrated by Chaitali Narla, who is one of the co-hostesses for the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.  I love her cards! Her blog is Here.

I didn't have a stamp so I just tried a freehand sentiment. Yes, those are real coffee beans with some Glossy Accents on them. My coffee maker has a grinder inside, so the beans are ground fresh with every pot-Mmmmm!!! The printed card stock is Die Cuts with a View Navy and Coral Stack.

I will also link this up to Verve Stamps Challenge: Eat Me, Drink Me

PS Here is one of my favorite coffee mugs. I tell my grandson that I am always Thing 1 and Pa (grandpa) is Thing 2!!!

Watercolor & Coffee-Mmmm!

I am getting another card entered for the Pretty Pink Posh Watercolor Blog Hop which ends tonight. There are over 400 entries and many prizes to be won.
My large banner was made by using up Distress ink from another card I made for the Watercolor hop-just swishing the watercolor paper through the leftover ink. I let it dry and heat fixed it. Next I placed some other colors of Distress ink on my craft mat, picked up the ink with a water brush and flicked it onto the paper.
Pretty Pink Posh items used: Stitched Banner Duo, 4mm Lime Sorbet sequins and Gold hearts, May Arts Chevron ribbon.

I used the sketch over at My Creative Time and will link this card to the challenge.

My Creative Time products used: All You Need is Coffee Stamp and die set and Trio Stitched Banners.

I am also linking this up to The Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop, which is going on until 6/12 11:59pm PST. Lots of prizes there too :-)

Other supplies: lavender ribbon from Ellen Hutson; Patterned paper is American Crafts Dots and Stripes; Ranger Water color paper, Glossy Accents, Multi Medium Matte; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; ThermoWeb 3D Foam squares; Tombow Mono permanent adhesive, Scotch ATG adhesive.

Watercolor Hop

I wasn't sure if I'd have time to make something for the Pretty Pink Posh Watercolor Bloghop, but in spite of a headache (maybe from allergies to the flowers?), I got busy last night after getting home from an out of town wedding. My colors were inspired from some of the flowers from the wedding. I made this card for my cousin who is getting married this coming weekend.

Funny how a picture can inspire one thing and we end up with something different.  I wanted to try some foiling on this card, but I failed and did the white embossing for the sentiment instead. I then had to cover up my sloppy embossing (don't look too close!) by outlining the sentiment with Seedless Preserves Distress Pen. I think my rescue attempt worked out pretty well! I often learn new techniques when I have to rescue my creations :-)

I'm linking this to Paper Smooches SPARKS: Anything Goes (sentiment is from Bold Buzzwords stamp set)

I used this sketch from Cardabilities

I'm linking this to Virginia's View Challenge #15: Ombre/Monochromatic

And to The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge: #13 A Year of Choices

I used the Tic Tac Toe board-Die, stamp and ribbon.

Suppies: Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Borders 3 die, Sparkling Clear 4mm sequins and Lilac Garden Flowers; Paper Smooches Bold Buzzwords; Distress Inks Seedless Preserves, Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord, Embossing Ink; American Crafts Zing White Embossing powder; Little B Bouquet Dies; Neenah White card stock; card stock from stash; Ranger Glossy Accents, Multi Medium Matte; Graffix 30# Vellum; Thermoweb Vellum adhesive; Coats Silver Metallic thread; purple ribbon from wedding favor; Scotch ATG adhesive.

Ugly duckling or odd flower?

My husband had this bright idea 2 nights ago to make 10 piñatas for my grandson's birthday party.
We began with balloons, newspaper, flour, a little salt and water. For anyone who hasn't made them, they are messy, especially when a guy does it!!! The paper is dipped in the flour, salt, water mixture, then laid on the balloon. The process is repeated until you have a few layers of the soaked paper all over the balloon. Anyway, dear hub decides we will make each one different and some very strange!
We used acrylic paints and I mixed in some Perfect Pearls to make the brown paint shimmer.
I am laughing out loud because this one turned out really strange....a Sunflower or an Ugly Duckling??? I am linking this up to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog-#12 May Flowers.
I know that my entry will definitely be the most unusual and possibly the scariest entry :-)

Here are the others

Monstrous Birthday

I wanted to make my grandson's birthday card. I don't have a lot of "boy" stamps, but I really love Silly Monsters from Your Next Stamp. What 8 year old boy wouldn't like these images?

Here is the sketch and color challenge from Your Next Stamp

I'm also entering this at the 7Kids College Fund Challenge-Anything Goes (Silly Monsters Stamp set available here too) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge-Anything Goes.

Edit to above: I'm also linking this to Creative Knockouts Challenge Blog: #28 Tic-Tac-Toe and I used the top row-Stamp/Embossing/Die cut. 

I'm also linking this to Addicted to Stamps and More: Challenge #146 Anything Goes and Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes Birthday.

I also wanted to make a see through shaker element so that the stenciled background wouldn't be so covered up.  I used some Um Wow Chipboard star confetti in the shaker and embellishments along the sides.  The Herringbone mask/stencil is also from Um Wow. I used some Peridot Mist sequins and  Gold Stars Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.  The orange sequins are from my stash.
I used the new Twisted Citron Distress Ink for the green in the background and Spiced Marmalade for the orange. I colored the monster using Distress Markers in Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed and Ripe Persimmon (tongue) and then fussy cut him out. The frame for the shaker was cut using Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle dies.  I used Scotch Foam Mounting tape to make the shaker box. The number 8 was cut using My Creative Time Number Fun Dies + Add ons.

A Geometric Birthday

I mailed my sister's card today, which is her birthday. It will be late, but I think that she'll like it.
There's a new challenge on the Winnie & Walter Blog called The Gossip Column with Taheerah Atchia. The current trend is Geometrics. There is a Free Printable from W&W that has awesome geometric backgrounds for cards or journal cards, one of which I used on my card.

I cut out the middle part of the panel, used alcohol markers (a mix of Copics and Mepxy markers) to color a pattern. I'm disappointed that the pale pink does not show up in the little triangles along the inside border of the shaker frame. I couldn't retake the picture because I already mailed the card!

Trust me, there is pale pink there!

I then stamped the Unity Stamp Co. rose on Ranger Watercolor paper using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, then again with Ranger Embossing ink, used clear embossing powder (Recollections) and heat embossed. I used some Mini Ranger Distress Inks to watercolor the flower and leaves and heat set. The shaker was made using some up cycled packaging, white foam, adhesive and some Glacier sequin shaker mix from Lucy's Cards on Folksy. I used the inside portion of the geometric panel as the background for the shaker window, leaving it black and white for contrast.

The dragonfly was made by embossing a piece of Elizabeth Craft Shimmer Sheetz using the Dragonfly Dies and fussy cutting it out. The bottom piece was cut from card stock in my stash. I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte to adhere it together and on to the card front. My sister loves dragonflies!

The green vine ribbon is from May Arts.

The sentiment is from Winnie & Walter Bubble Talk, which was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on vellum and heat set. The banner was cut with My Creative Time Trio Stitched Banner die. I adhered it with some Mini Glue Dots.

It was challenging to work with geometric images because every placement has to be precise or the whole project can look out of whack.

Other supplies: Neenah White card stock, Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies.

I'm also linking this to The Sparkle and Shine Challenge (see photo inspiration), Simon Says Stamp  Wednesday Challenge-Color Swatch (see photo for colors) and Die Cuttin Divas-Water a Flower Day

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday-Color Swatch

Here's the inks and markers I used

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of my crafty blog friends!
I made a quick card for my mother-in-law today. I was in a rush to go to my daughter's house for dinner so the picture isn't the best.
I did a loose interpretation of the sketch on the Die Cuttin Divas Challenge Blog.
I am also linking this to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge-Let's Get Sentimental.

Dies used: Little B Bouquet Die set, Reverse Confetti Fancy Word Confetti Cuts (xoxo)

and Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Borders 2.
The card base is Neenah White card stock, bling is Zva Creative and the gold paper behind the red panel is Spellbinders Media Mixage translucent paper.

On Time

I made it! I got my youngest daughter's birthday card in the mail so she will get it the day before her birthday! She lives about 2 hours away.  Lately, it has been hard for me to find time to craft, let alone get a card in the mail "on time." I stayed up late last night and am now paying for it with a headache, but I feel good about making my daughter smile for her birthday! I actually took the pictures of my card in the car, before I added the Gift cards and mailed it at the Post Office :-)

The Little Peek a Boo Doors die and the Silly Monsters stamp are both from Your Next Stamp company. I am linking this to their current Color Challenge since I used 3 of the 5 colors. I just love the little monster! I stamped him with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. Here are the MEPXY (rhymes with Pepsi) alcohol markers I used. Their numbering system is very similar to Copics and I think they are very similar in quality. I got them on sale from my LSS (which is CLOSING the end of May-BOO HOO-very sad!).

And here is the inside sentiment

I had to nearly slap my hands to keep myself from adding flowers to this card! I love flowers & want to give my daughters flowers, but this card didn't need them! The printed card stock is all from The Bohemian Sunrise Stack from DCWV. I used this month's challenge card sketch from their Blog.

I'm also linking this to Paper Issues: Prints Charming.

The white card stock is Neenah White & the kraft card stock is Recollecions. The gold paper is from Michaels. I used a Darice Diagonal Stripes embossing folder for the first layer of the panel. The gold confetti hearts are from Pretty Pink Posh the burlap jute twine is from May Arts. It's all adhered together with Scotch permanent adhesive (ATG) and Ranger Multi Matte Medium (used on the little door).

Fusion, Simon and Guest design spot at Digi Stamps for Joy

About a month ago, I participated in my good friend Julie's Blogoversary Bloghop.  I ended up winning a gift certificate to Digi Stamps For Joy as well as a spot as a guest designer on their blog April 15. It was kind of hard to pick the images I wanted because the list of images I wanted was larger than what I could get! The owner, Margy at DSFJ let me pick an extra image to use for my guest designer post. The link to the image is here. How sweet!

I have to admit, I haven't worked very often with digital images and was a little intimidated. Once I started, however, it was pretty simple! I printed the image on Neenah Solar White 80# card stock and used my heat gun to "fix" the ink. I used some Copics and some MPEXY(very similar to Copics) alcohol markers to color the image. I mounted the DCWV printed paper from the Coral and Navy Stack onto some navy Recollections card stock and used the same card stock to make the little strips.

I used a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Circle die to cut out my image. I used Life Style crafts Antique Doily die to die cut the doily behind the sentiment from a piece of Spellbinders Media Mixage Translucent papers. It is kind of like vellum, but more opaque and shimmery. I stamped the sentiment from Tim Holtz Stamper's Anonymous Saying Stuff set and used a die from My Creative Time Trio Stitched Banner Dies to cut the banner. The sequins are 4mm Sparkling Clear from Pretty Pink Posh and I used Ranger Multi Medium Matte to adhere them. I added a little bow made with some iridescent Metallic String that I won from May Arts Ribbon.

I used the sketch from Digi Stamps for Joy's current Challenge going on until April 30, which I am entering.

My color inspiration came from Fusion Card Challenge, which I will link my card to. I'm also linking this to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: April Showers or Spring Flowers

Here are the markers I used (oval are Copic, square are MPEXY)