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How cow, I cannot believe how long it's been since I posted here!  It's now 2013, and one of my goals for the year (you'll notice I did not call it a "resolution") is to do more crafty stuff.  Our lives have been a bit chaotic in the past couple years, and my creative endeavors have sort of fallen to the wayside...

Our daughter just turned 8, and we had a dance themed party for her.  Most of the decorations were straight from the Dollar Store, but I did manage to make this 1 simple banner to welcome the guests (and then hang in her room).  I purchased the banner "blank" from Hobby Lobby (Donna Downey product).  I hit each pennant with different colors of glimmer mist in conjunction with masks from Heidi Swapp, Tim Holtz & Tattered Angels.  I had so much fun playing with the colors and images!  The letters are chipboard (also from HobLob) that I painted with black acrylic and then glued on.

So that's all for now - but I *WILL* be back to share more in the months ahead!

Excited for you

Yes, it's a second post! This card is for this week's 2S4Y sketch (with a fabulous prize up for grabs from Starving Artistamps, I must add!)

We've just learned that some good friends of ours are expecting another little blessing, so I wanted to make a card to celebrate the occasion. I used BasicGrey LilyKate papers - great baby colors and I tried to keep it mostly gender neutral. I stamped the sentiment (Verve) onto a Heidi Swapp resist piece, and then spritzed the whole thing with a couple colors of glimmer mist. I let it dry, and then traced around the resist area with a silver spica pen just to help it pop a bit more. I picked my patterns, cut a few strips, and layered everything up. Nothing phenomenal, but perfect for our friends!

Beautiful Things

I'm so excited to get back into my crafting groove and start participating in challenges again. The layout is from Card Patterns, and the blue/kraft/white combo is from the Colour Create Challenge.

I must admit that I interpreted the "layers" on the sketch pretty liberally. I created a mask with a border punch and some lightweight paper and then misted my card base with glimmer mist as a start. The stamps are from the Ornamental Beauty set (CHF) - I had purchased it quite awhile ago, but it was packed up and I just recently rediscovered it. I unearthed the fibery ribbon, too, and the giant button finished it off.

Here's to finding buried treasure :)

Tea Party!

Donelda challenged us to incorporate an inchie on our card for today's Tea Party... well, I had some fabulous ideas floating around in my brain, but when the time came to sit down and actually make something, the creativity wasn't exactly flowing. So, to make a long story short, my card does have two 1" squares on it, although they aren't exactly a main feature. But it still counts, right?!

Anyhoo, this card was made with the wonderful new set Together. I only partially inked the main image (so no, that wasn't a mistake the way the right girl's back looks), then stamped it onto plain ol' white cardstock. I then spritzed on glimmer mist (I'm loving the "Old Lace" color!). I stamped the sentiment, rounded two of the corners, then layered some INCHIES cut from pre-printed kraft paper (Making Memories) to accent the corners.

So why don't you hop over to see what the other cookies have created - I'm sure that they managed to churn out some gorgeousness!! Now off with you to Susan, Dina, Giovana, Donelda & Donna! ;)

Playing Catch-Up

Can you believe it's already Monday - and that February is just a few days away?!? Yes, 2009 is already beginning to fly by...

As I was clearing up some stuff on the computer, I came across these two cards and realized I'd never shared them. They both feature the Clock Collage set, and the first one also uses the oh-so-versatile script block from One Smile and the sentiment is from Opportunity Trio. For the first one, I used textured card stock as the base, spritzed with glimmer mist. Gorgeous! I used a ribbon slot punch to create a filmstrip type effect with black cardstock, and I fancied up a stickpin with a few beads (and a dab of matte accents on the tip to prevent puncture wounds :)

The second is all about the contrast of black and white - I used patterned paper in opposite quadrants of the card base, and matted the image with black to make sure it "popped" against the white. Doesn't get any easier than that!!

And one last thing to attend to - our next smART Cookie Tea party is this Wednesday! Giovana is our hostess, and we're to bring out the "stitches and ribbon." Both would be lovely, of course, but she's graciously allowed one or the other - and faux stitching is even allowed :) Hope you can join in the fun...

Fun with fleur-de-lis

I'm always drawn to the fleur-de-lis symbol; I know it has been used to represent many things (check out a brief history here) but I just like the vintage, elegant feel of it. This one in particular is from the Lock & Key set.

On this first card, I started by stamping the image repeatedly onto plain ol' white copy paper then clear embossing. I spritzed it with glimmer mists (pink taffy, honey dew, and patina) and blotted off the excess. I know you can't really tell from the picture, but it has a beautiful sheen in person. Mat it with white, add a simple "thanks" (Combo Sentiments), attach some hardware and ribbon, then glue it all to a pre-made card and you're good to go!

I decided to take a simple, almost severe approach on this card, and I think it would be a great birthday card for a guy - and absolutely perfect if he happened to be a boy scout :) I stamped onto some embroidery fabric with brilliance ink, then mounted it to black cardstock with brads, then added some brown cardstock before attaching to a green card base. Super simple, but quite elegant.

I'll be back later this week with a couple ideas for the other images in the set!

An Inspiring Tea Party

Well, as I'd mentioned last week, it's my turn to host the smART Cookies' Tea Party, and I chose to "inspire" everyone with this photo from Traditional Home. It's always fun to see what individual elements each person chooses to work with!





I decided to go with colors: white, black, slate gray, and soft teal. After playing around with a couple stamp sets, I finally settled on In Fashion. I started by stamping the very stylish lady in black versafine, and added just a touch of colors with my prismacolor pencils (there's actually a bit in her hair and on her cheeks as well). I wanted to use a black card base, but it looked a bit too stark, so I laid a swirly glimmer screen over it and then misted it with silver glimmer mist. Perfect! I then added a band of the soft teal cardstock, accented with a Martha Stewart edge punch and wrapped with ribbon. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white, then matted it onto slate gray and added rhinestone accents at each corner. The final touch was a couple prima flowers on the main panel, just to provide some balance...

Would you like to see what the other designers have created? Well, go visit Susan, Dina, Giovana & Donelda to see how they interpreted the photo.

Tea Party!

I'm so happy that the smART Cookies' Tea Party has started back up again, and Dina provided a sketch for the first party. My card is pretty simple, as our son just started kindergarten yesterday; our daughter is really missing her playmate, so she's requiring extra mommy time.

I created this card using the Keepsakes set, plus the script from One Smile on the background panel. I had a hard time getting a good photo of this card, and finally just had to accept that this was as good as it was gonna get :) The buttons along the side are stamped with pearlescent crimson brilliance ink, embossed with Faith's Transcendence ep, then lightly spritzed with suede glimmer mist. I also used glimmer mist on the background panel so it wasn't so obnoxiously white.


Susan, Dina and Giovana will be posting their creations throughout the day, and we'd love to have you play along as well. Just leave a comment so we can check it out! And if you upload to SCS, please use keyword SCPT1.

Have a great day!

Simple Challenge Cards

It's been awhile since I've done any challenges, so I decided it was time to seek out some sketches, etc. to jump-start my creativity. I started out at Card Positioning Systems, and played around with sketch #78.

On this first card, I used the "With Gratitude" cuttlebug embossing set (and on a side note, I am absolutely loving the coordinated sets!). I started by embossing the brown base, then cut the sentiment and three flowers. The flowers are sprayed with glimmer mist (pink taffy) so that they stood out a bit better. I then layered on some ribbon, and added a rhinestone to each flower. Pretty simple, but I love the result!




I also used the CPS78 sketch as the starting point for this second card, but I also wanted to make something for "Easy, Peasy" Birthday Challenge at Daring Cardmakers. I stamped Big B-Day onto some Chatterbox paper and embossed (Adirondack Moss), then adhered it to a blue card base and finished it off with the lovely die-cut felt border (Queen & Co). Definitely something that's easy to make at the last minute! Well, except for that felt border... I'd love some advice from anyone else who's used this stuff - I love the look, but it's such a pain to get the backing off and actually get it adhered to the project. Anyone with a good hint or two?!?

That's all for today; I hope to be back tomorrow, but I have a dentist appt and am also getting hubby ready to fly out Thurs morning, so no promises.

Funky Mugs & Blue Daisies

So how's this for bright? I wanted to do some sort of line-up with the mugs, and this is what I came up with. I drew the colors from the paper (BasicGrey Phoebe), and while they're definitely not my "norm" I think they're kinda fun. The words on each mug are from the Middie Messages #2 set, and I used a marker to ink the words up individually. I must say that this card would not have been possible without the stamp-a-ma-jig; I used it for each mug as well as the words. I'm still marveling the fact that Sarah Kornhaus was able to create this gorgeous card without the SAMJ!


This is another card that I needed the SAMJ on - the daisies are gorgeous, but it's really important to line them up properly. I made the daisies by first stamping the second layer image with palette cote d'azur, and then the 3rd layer with palette beaux arts blue. I wasn't happy with the result, though, so overstamped with the solid (generally the 1st layer) using brilliance pearlescent sky blue. Much better! I then added the centers (versafine sepia) and misted the panel with some denim blue & coffee shop glimmer mists. I then stamped the sentiment (Bloomin') and gave that panel the same glimmery treatment. I embossed the blue panel (Ellison daisies emb plate) and added a few dew drops for a bit more dimension.

Pushing Daisies

As I had mentioned yesterday, I spent Tuesday night parked in front of the TV - but I did play with my Daisy Trio #1 set so I could pretend that I was being productive ;)

I love the way these look in the bright colors - I was just playing around with a variety of palette, versamagic, and brilliance inks when I created these. And I must admit that the funkified alignment was a direct result of my TV distraction... I wasn't paying close enough attention to the orientation of my block in relation to the stamp-a-ma-jig, and I ended up "misplacing" the 2nd layer on the middle flower. But I thought it looked kinda neat, so I went with it! And yes, there is glimmer mist spritzed on the main panel - I love that stuff!

This second card is much softer. I used a cream panel, and built the flowers up with only two layers (white and wheat versamagic). I then added the yellow center, and it was done. BTW, I only used my stamp-a-ma-jig to make sure that the flower layers were occupying the same space, but I didn't align each petal; I still think they look lovely! I finished it off with the verse (Hebrews 13:15), matted and corner punched, then layered on some sheer white ribbon.

Medallions

Mercy posted her weekly sketch challenge yesterday, and I immediately knew I wanted to make something with the Borders & Seals set. I managed to make this card, but then we had some nasty storms sweep through last night so hopping on the computer wasn't an option :)

I stamped the seal images on ivory paper, then trimmed them. I punched circles from the DCWV Luxury Stack to mat them, then layered them onto another print from the same stack. The papers are pearlized, so they're really lovely in person. I added a brad in the center of each, and then added a lace ruffle on the side - how fun is that? I used ivory cardstock for the base, but it looked a bit too plain so I pulled out my glimmer screens to add a bit of pattern. I used honeydew & latte gm's (spritzed well above the actual paper to avoid "blobs" and create a very fine mist). I stamped the sentiment, and it was done.

I know I've been unusually quiet these past couple days; i just needed to get caught up on some things around here, plus it's been really stinkin' hot so the kids and I have been spending quite a bit of time outside in our little pool. I did get some other panels stamped last night (while watching Deadliest Catch) so hopefully I can get those made into full cards later this afternoon. Later!

Tea & Cookies

Yes, it's time for another shindig with my fellow smART cookies! Today's challenge was provided by Heidi, and we were to create something based on the colors in this photo (from Pottery Barn). I picked out a few colors, jotted down some notes, and dove into the stamp pile!



This first card is quite small - only 3x5 but I love how it really showcases the verse (Deut 6:5). I matted it with black, and ended up accidentally punching the entire thing with my corner rounder (loooong story) - funny thing is that I actually liked how it looked so I went ahead and did the other 3 :) I stamped the flower (Sunflowers) onto cranberry cardstock, and trimmed it down to a nice accent piece. I spritzed the card base with glimmer mist just to add some interest, then just glued everything down. Very simple!

I also needed to make a card for a little birthday party we attended this morning - the kids' friend is turning 4, and I happen to know he really likes bright colors so I decided to go ahead and make his card using orange and green - he's also really into bugs right now. I started by stamping "Happy Birthday" (Cake Time) onto a piece of orange cardstock, then I placed a 4 (Heidi Swapp mask) over it and misted it down with 2 colors of glimmer mist. Very cool effect! After it had dried, I trimmed it down to a tag shape then stapled on just a bit of rick rack. I stamped the bee (Winging It) onto some BasicGrey paper (I'm pretty sure it was from the Cupcake pad), and then trimmed another scrap of orange cardstock with some decorative edge scissors just to add another punch of color. I stamped the sentiment on the card base, and it was done! Definitely not your stereotypical boy card, but he really liked it.

Check out what the other cookies have created at In the Works, Mama Dini's Stamperia, Dee's Studio, & Sweet Somethings!

Graduation Card

Our oldest nephew graduated high school yesterday, and this is the card I made for him. The image is from Paperbag Studios; there are actually some words on the bottom right corner, but I omitted them when I inked up the stamp. The verse was computer generated. I used a glimmer screen on the card base with denim blue gm - it's quite subtle on the gray, but still a nice touch. I sponged some black ink onto the white panel, and then added a grungeboard arrow (coated with silver brilliance ink, and then run through a CB emb folder).

And best of all, our nephew deemed it "cool" :)

Blessed

I played along with Mercy's Sketch challenge today - I really love sketches with clean lines! I wanted to create something with the "Whatever" set (Clear Dollar Stamps). I decided to make a 5x7 card, allowing myself a nice, large surface. I pulled the patterned paper from my BasicGrey Sugared pad, and then accented with some Bazzill. I also decided to go a little crazy and use one of my big, fancy prima flowers (score 1 for the "do not hoard" pledge!) So I now had all my elements, and I just stamped and assembled. I ended up misting the flower with gold glimmer mist, going over all the edges with old paper distress ink, and adding a couple K&Co pearls along the bottom. When it was all done, I realized there was no way I'd be giving it to someone else, so I pulled out a simple frame I had and voila ~ something new for the wall in our living room! It's still a full card, though, so if I do decide to part with it, it will be ready to go :)

More fun with glimmer screens

So are you geting tired of the glimmer mist and/or glimmer screen creations yet? I promise these will be the last for at least a couple days :)

Both of these card use the "screen leftovers" (flip the screen and use it after you've sprayed over the first project). The first one uses pink taffy gm, and then I trimmed the panel down and accented it with some gray ink. I stamped the sentiment (Sweet & Simple) with Palette silky obsidian metallic ink, so there's double shimmer going on with this card. I attached the prima with three eyelets, and then filled them in with stardust stickles (still not sure about that particular effect).

The second card was created with deep plum & honeydew mist gm's, and I paired it up with some long-retired SU magenta ink & cardstock. I stamped the sentiment (Butterflies) and attached a couple primas.

Hope you all have a shiny, happy weekend :)

Butterflies...

Another card made using the glimmer screens - this is the original I was working with (and then I flipped the screens over to use on the card I posted yesterday - you'll notice the colors are a bit more subdued with the second impression as they'd already started to dry a bit). Anyhoo, this is white cardstock sprayed with denim blue & latte glimmer mists. I then overstamped it with the butterfly image (Soar) and the sentiment (Butterflies), then added a couple dew drops for a bit of dimension. The colors are a bit more subdued than usual, but I find them quite soothing. If only I hadn't used such a "girly" image, it would make a great guy card! Oh well, next time :)

The hand of a friend...

I've been playing around with glimmer mist and the glimmer screens (which are basically plastic templates that you use as masks - you can see more about them here warning: there's music on that blog, so you may want to turn your speakers down) I had made a couple backgrounds using latte & denim blue mists, and then I flipped the screen over onto the white cardstock and "stamped" off the excess. I love the effect it gives, and I thought it made a nice background for this image, too. I stamped the Hands Collage, then added the sentiment and accented with a couple dew drops. I matted it, and after playing around with layout, I eventually settled on this z-fold. I layered some BasicGrey Boxer paper onto the right panel, and it's all done!

Everything's coming up roses!

I had a lot of fun with the Rose Trio #2 set, playing around with inks to see what emerged...

I'm "in the pink" with this first one :) Inks used: palette doudoir blush (stamped off once), palette toile pink, then versamagic pink petunia. I stamped the leaves (Stem Duo) with versamagic tea leaves; this set also has two layers, but I only used one here. I finished off the card by adding the sentiment (Grow Friends), adding some rick rack, and layering with BasicGrey Sultry paper. I generally am not a big fan of pink, but pair it up with brown and you've got me (plus I love the touches of yellow in the paper...)






For this second card, I wanted to use the sentiment that accompanies the set, so I pulled out my reds. The final rose is SU Rose Red, Palette Moulin Rouge & L'Amour Red, then versamagic hint of pesto for the leaves. After I'd stamped it all, I sprayed it down with latte & snowfall glimmer mists just to soften the bright white plus add shimmer. I tied on black grosgrain ribbon (I cut an opening with my x-acto knife), then matted with black and finished it out with a red base. Clean and sophisticated!

Back with another "trio" tomorrow!

Tea & Cookies

Time for another "Tea Party" with the smART Cookies; Donna was our hostess this week, and challenged us to make a card without adhesives. Fun challenge!

I considered just going for a simple no-layers card, but decided that I wanted just a bit of dimension, so started playing around. I started by stamping the flowers (Sweet & Simple) onto white cardstock with black versafine ink, then adding pink & green with prismacolor pencils. I then misted it down with glimmer mist (pink taffy) - I love the shimmer that stuff gives! I then stamped the sentiment (Opportunity Trio) onto a scrap of white, and punched it with the keytag punch (SU) and added a tiny hole. I wrapped some pink chenille yarn around the card, then tied on the tag. Simple, and perfect for spring!

Want to see what the other smART cookies have created? Then head to In the Works, Mama Dini's Stamperia, Dee's Studio, & Sweet Somethings!