Owlways There For You

Good Morning!  Happy Saturday!  Have you all missed me?  I've missed you and I've missed stamping.  I started a new job on Wednesday so the creative mojo was drained right out of me.  I am behind on my monthly card traders group challenges, so it was time to catch up.  Here's what's sad, this was the challenge I issued!

But after having my coffee this morning I found some creative juices (and hope they continue to flow) and made this card.  This is a slider card - I found the tutorial on SCS and then Deb found another video by Dawn Griffith.  Ultimately, that video is the one I followed.  You can find it here.

I also made this for the There She Goes challenge which is a recipe:  Kraft card base, black white and a splash of color, dry embossing.  This was so much fun.  I won a $50 gift certificate from TSG so I snagged the You're a Hoot stamp set.  I love this set!

As I said, this is a double slider card....

So you pull the top white ribbon and the inside panels slide out.  This is so cool!  It took a little time to get how to do this, but I think once you've tried one - to make more will be easy.

Close up of the top panel.  I really love all the images that came in this set.

And here's the bottom panel.  Aren't those flowers adorable?

Supplies:
Card stock:  Neenah Classic Crest, Black (Recollections), Kraft, Dusty Durango (SU)
Stamps/Ink:  You're a Hoot (TSG), Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, Rhubarb Stalk, Potters Clay, Desert Sand (Memento)
Tools:  3/4" circle punch, Scallop circle nesties (Spellbinder), circle cutters (CM), Cuttlebug, Perfectly Paisley embossing folder
Embellishments:  white grosgrain, rust satin ribbons (Offray)

I hope you like my card - it feels good to stamp again.  I think I better just do it the whole day while I'm on a roll, don't you?  LOL  I wish I could but unfortunately there's floors to vacuum, toilets to scrub and groceries to buy.  Enjoy your Saturday!

Fabulous Friday (part 2)

Good Afternoon everyone!  As promised, I'm back with another version of faux suede.  This time its the version that can be found almost everywhere.  You basically distress a piece of card stock with a bone folder to the point where you can pull it apart into two pieces.  I decided to make flowers with all these pieces I started playing with.

I made this for my friend Deb's birthday - she's also my partner for the suede challenge for the monthly card traders group and I hope she likes this.  Tell me what you think....

I made everything on this card (except the card stock).  The carnations or mums, depending on your interpretation are purple even though they look blue in this photo.  I made those from a scallop punch, the little blue flowers are made from a small flower punch and the peach flowers from a 5 petal punch.  I glued them onto a green oval piece of card stock with ribbon leaves and finished it with a bow.  I created a recessed window card that is an A2 card, but trust me, this has a 1/2" depth, it won't fit in an A2 envelope.

Here's a close up of my paper flower arrangement....

These flowers were so easy to make!

Supplies:
Card stock:  Neenah Classic Crest, Black (Recollections), Mellow Moss, Lavender Lace, Night of Navy,
  Apricot Appeal (SU)
Stamps/Ink:  Poppies (Sweet n Sassy), Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Tools:  Scallop, 5-petal, Spring Blossoms, large Oval, Label punches (SU), Scallop circle Nestabilities,
  Cuttlebug, bone folder, Scor-Pal, water spritzer
Embellishments:  ribbon (offray), brads (Making Memories)

I hope you like this card.  But most of all I hope Deb is happy with her birthday card.  Thanks for coming by again.  I hope your day is going well.

Fabulous Friday

Good Morning!  I am off to a rough start this morning.  My head hurts and I am tired!  But who really wants to hear me whine?  Let's talk about technique and cards.

For my monthly card traders group the challenge was to try a technique for Faux Suede.  It doesn't require a whole lot of supplies and it's pretty easy.  You need Liquid Applique, a re-inker, a brayer and some card stock.  You mix the liquid applique with the ink color and then brayer it onto your card stock and then heat it with your embossing gun.  I'm sorry, I don't remember what the You Tube video is where this technique was picked up.

Here's my card...

Now, I didn't have any Liquid Applique but I got to thinking that my Puffy paint is pretty much the same thing, so I figured this work.  I mixed white paint with Creamy Caramel ink.  Does this look brown to you?  Me either.  But it did work!

In this view you can see all my layers and a bit of the texture.  This is really hard to share via pictures.  I thought the feel of the card stock was more like suede than the look.

In this picture you can really see the texture.  It's pretty cool - but definitely not the color I thought I'd get with this.  Fun technique.  You should give it a try!

Supplies:
Card stock:  Neenah Milled Ivory, Chocolate Chip
Stamps/Ink:  The Journey by Chris Dark (TSG), Tuxedo Black (Memento), Creamy Caramel (SU)
Copics:  E33, E37, YG03, YG63, YR23
Tools:  Puffy paint (white) (Tulip), brayer, ticket punch (SU)

Let me know what you think of this and if you try out the technique.  I think it would really cool to do both sides of the paper and then punch it out to create hand-made flowers.  I'll be back with another variation of faux suede later.  Have a great day and happy Friday!

Fabulous Friday

Good Morning!  I am so glad that I don't go into work until this afternoon.  I've been really stressing and struggling with this move that my creative spirit has flown away.  I didn't work on anything last night - I dozed most of the evening until bedtime.

I'm still not sure that my creative juices are flowing but I did want to try the sketch from The Sweet Stop and I hardly ever get to play along with Just Magnolia challenge, so I forced myself to work on a card for these challenges.  I'm not entirely happy with it, but I think it's OK.

The challenge at Just Magnolia is called It Takes Two - so two Magnolia images needed to be featured on the card.  I was thrilled when I dug through my card kits stash and found a kit that had two images in it.  I didn't follow the sketch at the The Sweet Stop to every letter of each of the elements.  My focal image ended up being too big for all the different parts.

Supplies:
Card stock:  Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  The first dp is unknown because it came in a kit, the other is Basic Grey
Copics:  B95, B97, E00, E02, E53, RV000, RV02, RV10, Y15, Y17, YG03,
  YR16, YR23, YR61, Colorless Blender
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Rich Cocoa
Stamps:  Just Saying by Inkadinkadoo
Tools:  circle punches, sponges
Embellishments:  Prima flowers, Pearls (Recollections)

Fortunately this card also fits the challenge over at my monthly card traders group.  I do hope you like my card and thank you so much for visiting.

Fabulous Friday

Good Morning Everyone!  I hope you're all doing well.

I do have a card to share with you that I made for my monthly card group.  I am so proud of this card!

The challenge was to create a shadow box card.  The tutorial can be found on SCS here.  This card went together so easily, I amazed myself.  I had actually watched a video tutorial and in the video the circle Coluzzle template was used and the SCS tutorial used an oval Coluzzle template.  I decided I wanted a different opening so I went about to make this card a little more complicated, but it worked out perfectly.  I used the Labels One Nestibilities templates to create the opening.  Getting it to layer correctly took a little time and patience, but the end results were worth it.

I pulled out some CTMH supplies that I bought several months ago when I did the Crafter's Yard Sale.  I got this stamp set and matching paper with embellishments for $10!  I stamped the flowers using Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery and the sentiment in Night of Navy.

I hope you enjoy this card as much as I did making it.  I was quite giddy after I completed it!  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Fabulous Friday!

Reflections...

Good Morning! Happy Saturday to you. I'm hoping we continue the sunshine we've had the last couple of days so the roads get cleared off. The kids really need to get back to school.

The monthly card challenge group I belong to had a challenge to create a reflection card following a tutorial found on Splitcoast Stampers (here) and I knew right away which stamp set I wanted to use... just about the only one I have that would make this technique a little easier to do. I used Pond Pals from Sweet n Sassy Stamps. I am also joining in another challenge found at Charisma Cardz Challenge to create a masculine card.



I am pretty pleased with these results. I hope you like it, too. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Friday

Good Morning Everyone! I have a quick post for you today. It's too late for Friday Sketchers for last week, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. This is my last card for the monthly card swap.


This was a great sketch to follow. I used the image and paper provided by the hostess. Sorry, don't know what either one is. Cute, though! I used MS snowflakes border punch and then used Create a Snowflake one and two for the embellishments.

And now to check out this week's sketch... maybe I'll get this one posted on time. Thanks for stopping by.

Pretty Christmas Tree

Good Morning,

I'm running a bit late for my post this morning and that's because I failed creatively last night. Oh well, I still have a pretty card to show you that I made for my Monthly Card Swap. Marji provided the gorgeous paper and the pretty tree. The challenge was to create a tall card.


I find that I do love long cards but they are rather difficult to photograph. I colored the tree with Prismacolor markers and I provided the striped paper and the base of Always Artichoke. The polka dot paper under the tree is the other side of the striped paper which is from Making Memories. I love this paper!


Here's a close-up of the tree with all it's pretty ornaments. Marji sent along some very pretty brads and I added only a few of those and filled in with some other bling, as well as some stickles.

No, I am not ready for Christmas yet, but I guess I should start thinking about it.

OK I'm off the computer and to my craft table. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Have a safe and fun Halloween and don't forget to set your clocks back an hour. And we'll see you back here on Sunday for the Inktegrity Holiday blog hop. It's going to be so much fun!

Happy Halloween!

Hello! LOL - no I'm not off my rocker, I am very well aware of the calendar. Today is back to school for my kids. Perhaps even yours - I wish them well and a happy first day back.

So why am I into Halloween? Well, I have another monthly card to share with you that I got done early because the kit was sent early by mistake. This was fun to make! I've been watching You Tube lately - that is my TV anymore. Love the videos by Dawn Griffith and Hero Arts and Make a Card Monday... what fun and great ideas. So after getting a card from Joni that does this and watching a video on how to do it - I tried it myself. It's a spinner card and as my youngest son said, these cards are actually worth something since their are two pennies involved.


This is the image and paper that was sent by the hostess of the month. I colored him with Prismacolor markers and cut into a simple circle. I backed the paper (lightweight paper) to cardstock because it has to stand up to a penny rolling on it. I embossed the top with a dots border folder (Cuttlebug) and added a bit of ribbon. Now begin to tip the card...


... and starts to spin along the track that is made with the word window punch. Tip it more...

... and he spins all the way to the end. Then tip back again. What a fun card!!

I hope you enjoyed this card - it was such blast to make and pretty easy, too. Thanks for visiting me today. Now I have to go find something else to do. Job hunting, I guess.

Monthly Cards

Good Morning,

Just a quick post this morning because I've got to get the kids up and moving and discover how time-bake works on my oven. We're spending the day with friends - lunch at their house and then the rest of it at the little waterpark in the area.

So you know that I belong (have hosted) to monthly card groups. I love this kind of swap. It's challenging and I get a whole set of cards that match but are different. This particular challenge was from my sister, she and I are in the same group. She sent paper and images and the challenge was to use both sides of the paper. Well, I couldn't go simple, now could I? I'm such a glutton for punishment. This is the card that I came up with and can't finish because I had to order more paper. Yep, she sent enough to make a NORMAL card, but I couldn't go normal.

Here's the front:

Gorgeous paper! I love this - it's by Little Yellow Bicycle and I was so excited when I finally found it on A Cherry On Top, I paged through 70+ pages to find it. Then I recognized the name as one being on Christine's (All That Scraps) clearance list. So off to All That Scraps, typed the name in the search box and there it was! Hopefully the paper arrives today or tomorrow.


I know you've all seen this fold, it's very popular right now and Beate has a great video tutorial (scroll to the bottom) on SCS, too. I've been wanting to try it. I didn't get to use as much of the orange side as I had hoped, to - but I think it came out really pretty.

OK - off to read the owners manual on my oven. I hope you enjoyed my card. Thanks for visiting.

Friday Feature & Mojo Monday

Happy Friday everyone! Actually it won't be a very happy Friday for me. Today is the day where we lose 94 hourly employees and 10 salary employees at work. The countdown also begins for me, I'll have 2 weeks remaining. So very sad.

But on a happier note, as promised Hollyanne is once again the Friday Feature. This is her in her Jazz costume.



I'm also featuring a sketch challenge from Mojo Monday that I'm using for my monthly card swap. This is the greatest blog to glean inspiration from! Well, there are lots out there and another one is coming very soon. *hint*



The image is a Changitos monkey - such a simple design with so much personality. I'm not sure where the paper is from, but it's way cute!! I ran Tempting Turquoise thru the Cuttlebug with the Spots & Dots folder. I modified the sketch a little, but it works for the card. Levi helped by cutting the prongs off of the swimming suits brads and then putting pop dots on them and placing them. He decided that was how he was going to contribute. I missed the mark on the challenge that was set by the hostess which was a creative fold - but I think she'll forgive me.

Thanks for stopping by today.

What a hoot!

Good morning friends! Thanks for stopping by today!

This is the other card I have to share with you - the one I mentioned yesterday. This owl, I believe is a JessicaLynn image and so adorable.



I really love this set that I got from The Greeting Farm, it's called For Someone. I believe it's still available, I bought it on clearance and it's great! I don't do too many masculine cards so this was super fun to do.

I have some exciting news to share, too! I have been accepted to be a member of the Design Team for a new company that will launch tomorrow called Sunshine & Giggles. Is that not the cutest name ever? They specialize in African-American children stamps. The images are so sweet and all about childhood. --They are just wonderful.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Monkeying Around

Hi! Happy Monday!

I received the kits for two of my monthly card groups over the weekend and at first glance of the images and showing them to my son, I said "what the heck am I going to with these!" My son responded "good luck with that!" And then laughed hysterically. But I showed him... here's one of my cards.



The fun polka dot ribbon was included in the kit which I'm sure I've told you all before that two of my favorite colors are lime green and polka dots. Yes, in my world, polka dots are colors. LOL This little Changitos monkey is so cute - I only have one set with this little guy and I don't play with it nearly enough, I think I'll have to remedy that soon.

Anyway, I colored with Prismacolor markers and they really do take on a different strength (if you will) when the image is stamped on Ultrasmooth card stock. I'm not sure if the card stock is SU! or GinaK - but I think it looks great!

Thanks for visiting me today - I hope you're off to a good week. This is the last week of school and Brendan is off to Hershey Park, field day for Hollyanne and then pool parties for both Hollyanne and Levi tomorrow. He had a field trip this past Friday which turned traumatic for him when my mother who was chaperoning, passed out from heat exhaustion. They are both OK now.




PS - Brendan was the first to say that he thought my cards turned out great. I'll share the other one tomorrow.

Teen Sensation

Hello and Happy Tuesday!

I'm back to work today which is sort of hard after a fabulous weekend. Even hanging out at the in-laws for a short time wasn't half bad, even though my father-in-law ended up stabbing me with a fork trying to get a big, black spider off of me. He didn't puncture my skin, but it hurt for a bit and I wore potato salad dressing for the rest of the day.

I have found another really great blog for challenges. I made this card to participate in Crafts 4 Eternity's Sketch Challenge #33 - this is a really great sketch with so many possibilities. This also makes my design for one of my groups for the Monthly Card Challenge. Gotta love the 2-fer creations!!

Oh yes, not to forget the best part of the challenge... they are digi-stamp company, too, and are releasing a new set of teen images. Very cute. They are giving the digi-stamp set to a random winner. So part of the challenge is to create a teen style card. So Miss Anya partying at the mall was a perfect choice. So the monthly card kit, the sketch and the theme all worked together perfectly!

I used chocolate chip for the base, then Very Vanilla that I embossed with Spots & Dots. The decorative paper that was sent in the kit is The Paper Studio and other dp used is from a retired set from Stampin' Up! - time to stop hoarding and start using!!! I colored Miss Anya using Prismacolor Markers (Deco Pink, Cream, Light Olive Green, Buff, Light Walnut, Dark Umber and Cherry) - I wanted to create her to be a girl that can either be tanned... or Hispanic... or African-American. I love Buff for those skin-tones. And I used the wonderful (but sometimes tedious) technique of paper piecing.

I hope you like her and will try the challenge with C4E. Thanks for visiting me today.

Card Traders Challenge

Happy Monday everyone!

Last year I joined a card traders challenge group on Yahoo! At the beginning of this year I took a bit of a hiatus from the group and re-joined May 1st. The May 1 challenge was the faux leather technique featured on SCS. Here's my card...


The image is a coloring page that I Googled and found this adorable little guy. I resized him, but he still came out really big so I decided on a long card. Cute, huh? Anyway, so my base is Kraft card stock. The next layer is the faux leather where I took plain white card stock and cut it down to the size I wanted and then covered the whole thing with masking tape pieces. Then I used Sienna Brown Palette ink which, when I got done, ended looking more like a beautiful rustic red than brown. After that I covered it with clear embossing powder and heated. I decided it isn't supposed to look like leather, but rather feel like it. I'm not sure I like this technique, but it was fun to try. I colored the image using prismacolor markers, copics and sharpie markers. I printed the sentiment out using another great font from Dafont.com called Kiss Me and added a bit of hemp twine.

Thanks for visiting me today. I hope you're off to a great start to your week!

Who said I can't do Asian?

I said that!

Most of you know that I host a Monthly Card swap and each person hosts a different month providing images and dp to make your cards with. I cringed when I got this paper and image from Maria. "I CAN'T do Asiana!!" So the challenge was set into motion. This is what I came up and and I surprised myself!!! I think it came out great!

I don't know what the image is, it came from Maria, so it's possible it's TAC. I colored her Kimono with two colors. I first started with Prismacolor Pencils Vermillion. Then I went over it with Burnt Umber to give it a rust color. Her middle part (what is that called!?) is Goldenrod. I used Nestibilites Labels One. I chose Sahara Sand for the mat to bring out the subtle light coloring in the paper. Embellishing it with twill ribbon, black square brads. It needed something else, so I set out to find the beautiful Japanese coins. But if I bought an embellishment then that would be going back on my word to use what I have. So I made my own coin.

Here's a close-up of the coin. I laid in bed one night thinking how can I accomplish my own. I thought of embossing powder... but that wouldn't give me the texture I wanted. So then I got up and went digging through boxes and drawers. What surfaced was a package of envelopes that are gold with purple swirly stuff on them. Not very attractive in my opinion, but it had texture. So I pulled out my punches and started with the 1/4" square. Then created the coin with the 7/8" circle. I pulled out my tiniest stamps, PTI's Borders & Corners Ovals gave me a little design. The paper alone didn't give the coin enough stability, so I used a cardboard piece which is actually the packaging from the Stampin' Dimensionals I had just used up. Trash to Treasure! Or in the famous words of my good friend Joni - "Get-oh Fabulous!" Then I punched 1/16" hole and tied it to the ribbon with linen thread.

So now I am over my hump on Asian design... next I'm going to play with my new Geisha Anya digi-image that I bought last week.

I hope you likey!!

Super Challenge Saturday

Hmmm... what could that be all about???

Stay tuned. Details coming.

In the meantime... I hope you enjoy another project that I have to share.

I made this card for another Monthly Card group, the image and paper provided by MaryAnn. The image was quite a challenge for me, but I decided no color did her more justice with my layout.

I used Very Vanilla cardstock as my base. Then I put Basic Black cardstock through the Cuttlebug with the Script embossing folder. Then I matted the image on the dp MaryAnn sent that was double sided.

Then, staying true to my word, I didn't purchase anything to finish this card. I used what I had on hand, dusted off a QuicKutz die to cut out the buckle out of card stock and cardboard. Added bling and ribbon. Very black-tie, don't you think?

An Everlasting Love

So, I posted this card into my Splitcoast Gallery, not only because I hardly ever post there, but also because I participated in a challenge and got my monthly card (group 4) done. Susan sent this image and paper for the January group. I just love Riley Moose (Hanna Stamps). Now after I posted in the gallery, I was asked... so is the sentiment "An Everlasting Love" for the receipient of the card or the chocolate. My answer is.....


....the CHOCOLATE of course!! LOL

What did I use: Whisper White is my base, then this really fun decorative paper. I'm not sure who makes it, all I remember is wedding page layout ideas on the back. Of course Couch Riley kicking back enjoying his chocolates, he was colored with Prismacolor pencils and gamsol. The sentiment came from that awesome TAC set I got as a gift and I used the tag punch from SU! - a heart eyelet that probably came in a swap. The ribbon is from Offray (one my trips to the outlet store) and a pop-can tab to make a buckle. I also did faux stitching with my template from the SU! tool kit and a fine line Sharpie. Oh, Chocolate Chip cardstock and dimensionals. I also inked the edges of the sentiment tag so it stood out just a bit more.

I hope you likey - let me know!

Stay tuned... I received my The Greeting Farm stamps. I'm going to have Mermaid Anya become a fishy cupid...

I have to say this - I get so into making Valentine cards and yet hubby and I boycott the holiday. LOL

Monthly Card Groups

Brrr... It's a very chilly night here in WV. The Fall weather is giving way to the chill of Winter and soon there will be snow and ice to contend with. But while I'm still feeling Fall-ish, I wanted to share a couple of cards and hope to keep up this feature in my blog.

A bit of history: I host a monthly card group where a person takes a turn hosting a month and sends out paper and images to the members of the group and then the members make their cards using the paper and images. I want to share each group with you, but time doesn't permit me to do that, so I will feature as I can.

This is Jackie's card (left), she hosted October, Group 3. I am not certain where the image is from, but he is adorable! The paper she sent, I hope you can see in the scan is very rich in Fall colors and great paisley!!

Over to the right, you'll see my version of the card. I used Always Artichoke as the base, cut the top fold an inch, rounded the corners and then used the paper to finish it off. I also ran {the last of} Night of Navy card stock through the Cuttlebug embossing folder that I thought matched the paper very well. I colored him with Stampin' Write markers with a selection of Earth Elements colors, matted him to So Saffron. And can you believe it - I actually did not use ribbon!

I hope you enjoy the cards!!