Feeling Fallish...

I know it's been months since I've posted anything... I've been busy with so many other things, and quite frankly just hadn't been feeling particularly crafty. In the past week or two, though, I'd been missing the East Coast autumn, and decided I really wanted to make something "leafy." Anyway, last Sunday when I was watching the Eagles game I grabbed a pair of scissors and a mostly untouched Boxer pad and started cutting leaves - double thicknesses so I had 2 (mostly) matching shapes. I used some old brown variegated fiber (which I know has been around for at least 5 years) and then glued the leaves together with PVA bookbinding glue (chosen since it dries clear and remains flexible). I gave it about 10 minutes to dry - yes, I'm impatient - and then hung it around the kitchen entry. Thankfully I'd planned ahead and left the nails up from the Christmas garland ;) I love how it turned out, and I even used the scraps to make something else... will post about that later this week!

Double Mojo

I really liked this week's Mojo sketch, and thought it would be great for a Valentine's card. I decided to go with a 5x5 card base, and pulled out the Daisy D's Maybe Baby Valentine pad, which has a very cute, retro vibe. I trimmed out the little kissing booth heart from one of the pages, and then chose some of the lighter colored patterns to finish it off, including some pink to make a paper ruffle. I edged the heart with rock candy distress stickles for a bit of shine, and then stamped the little sentiment (from BasicGrey). Super cute if I do say so myself!

Since I already had everything out, I decided to make a second card for a friend who has a birthday coming up. The same basic routine for this card - this time the stamp is from Inkadinkado, and I used buttons to accentuate the curve. A little hint: if you want to use buttons, get them all laid out to make sure they fit before you start gluing them down :)

Hope you're all staying warm! It's even below freezing down here in semi-tropical South Texas, and my kiddos are home from school today, so I'm off to play games with them. Sounds perfect to me!!

Make your own happiness

I just love this sentiment (from Hero Arts) - and I literally did just that when creating this card. I had fallen in love with the colors in Pink Paislee's Queen Bee line and had ordered the 6x6 pad several months ago; I dusted off my circle punches and just started playing. I cut some random curves to use on the card front, then just glued everything down and trimmed edges as necessary. Quick and rather cute, if I do say so myself ;)

It's all about the paper...

A couple quick cards to share - basically I just took some beautiful paper, stamped a sentiment, and added minor embellishment. There are so many gorgeous papers on the market... problem is that I often buy them and then hoard them because they're so pretty - or I try to use them but can't decide how to handle the bold designs.

For the first card, I paired the Memory Box Paper with the fabulous sentiment from Wordsworth. I layered on a scrap of coordinating paper and a couple flowers. All done!

On the second one, I pulled out my BasicGrey 12x12 Periphery pack, and created the card base from one of the patterns (and love that the inside is still white!), and layered on one of the coordinating tags. I stamped the sentiment (Unity Birdie Inspiration), added a bit of bling to the "o" and glued on some dark lace (yet another thing I've been hoarding :)

Two cards done in less than twenty minutes. Love that!

Card Patterns, Round 2

I was really unsatisfied with my other version of the Card Patterns sketch, so I decided to take another crack at it. I even managed to use fall colors - tough when it's still in the mid 80s every day and I'm surrounded by lush plants...

Anyway, I used the great papers from Making Memories, and "blocked" them on an ivory card. The lovely sentiment is by Wordsworth, and I thought it went well with the pear paper. I used rick rack and a couple buttons from my stash to finish it. And while I still tweaked the sketch a bit, at least it's recognizable this time :)

Using those craft supplies...

We're in the process of selling our house, which means sprucing everything up. We have a little addition on the back of the house, and I decided to give it a sunroom sort of makeover with aqua paint and wicker furniture off of craigslist. I needed a little something for the wall, but didn't want to spend any more money... well, craft supplies to the rescue!

I started by rifling through my ridiculously large paper stash, and pulled a pack of Memory Box poppyfinch - a perfect match! I had a few of these frames stashed away; they're about 5x15 inches, and I've used them to make name frames for baby gifts. Well, I can now say I've used them to make something for US! I simply picked six patterns from the paper collection, cut down 4" squares, and slapped 'em on the white base.

A super-simple decor element, and no worries about making it "fit in" at our new house - there's plenty more paper where that came from ;)

Blissful!

The smARTworks design team is sent a "challenge" set every other month. It's always fun to open that envelope - sometimes I have ideas forming immediately, and sometimes the sets are truly, well, challenging as I'm forced to use something I wouldn't normally be drawn to. This time around, I was thrilled the Bliss set, which includes this large butterfly and a simple phrase. I had a number of ideas, but chose to do some paper piecing. For starters, I knew I wanted to use more than one b-fly, so decided to make a 5x7 card to give myself more working room. I started by stamping the b-fly onto white cardstock 3 times - my placement was now set, and I didn't have to worry about trimming the antennae (a tip I picked up from Dina at some point). I then stamped it onto three different papers from Memory Box - I chose subtle prints as I didn't want to detract from the detailed veining of the image itself. I cut the butterflies out; I knew which print I wanted where, so I didn't have to cut out the entire image, but I did make sure to trim a bit extra for the edges. I matted the white panel with black, then adhered the butterflies and trimmed them flush with the black layer. After mounting it on the card base, I then added the sentiment, which was stamped onto a 4th coordinating paper. I trimmed it into a banner type shape, and mounted it with a few "waves" for added dimension. Blissful! :)

Susan is offering up one of these sets - head over for your chance to win! And you can see what each of the other cookies made with this set here.

Some fanciness with a side of rambling

I have one last "Fancy Lady" to share - the main image is from In Fashion, and the sentiment is from Hats. The lovely patterned papers are from SEI; the main panel has gold foil accents and it is oh-so-elegant in person. I re-aligned the sentiment using my stamp-a-ma-jig, punched it with the SU label punch, then embellished it with a punched circle, a rectangle, and some tiny black gems. Loverly!

On a side note, you've probably noticed that I'm posting much less frequently these days... Our family has been dealing with all sorts of things these past couple month, and my stamping has had to take a back burner. Between school, illnesses of family and friends, church, and general day to day stuff (we still need to eat and wear clean clothes!) I haven't been able to "get inky" much at all. It doesn't look like the schedule is going to be clearing up any time soon, either - we'll be moving to South Texas this summer for hubby's job, so we've begun the process of packing/purging/fixing up to ready the house for sale. I'm not about to put is all aside for six months, though - I need my paper therapy!! ;) So thanks for hanging with me!

The Lord is God...

Still haven't had much time for creative pursuits, but I did manage to pull this card together. It all started with this week's sketch from Card Positioning Systems, and then the papers from Memory Box. I've had this MB paper kicking around for awhile now; I love the designs, but they all have rather strong images and I've had a tough time actually incorporating them into a card... this time, though, I started with the paper. The verse (Uptown Designs) is the only stamped element. I also highlighted the trees and the word "God" with a spica glitter pen, but just couldn't get a decent photo. Trust me, though, it's quite lovely in person! I just love the subtle sparkle the pens provide, plus the ease of application.

Well, I'm off and running again. Hope to be back soon!

Two more baby cards

I really hope these are the last "baby girl" cards I need to make for awhile - I'm getting sick of pink! :)

Both these cards were made with the same pad of BasicGrey Euphoria paper that I've been using for the past couple weeks. I love the colors - soft yet bright, and lots of blues and greens to break up the pinks & purples.

This one on the left also uses a felt heart frame (Fancy Pants) along with some acrylic pieces (Michael's). The sentiment was computer generated. For the card on the right, I just grabbed some ribbon from my stash, prima flowers (the bottom one was spritzed with pink taffy glimmer mist to pull the colors together), then stamped the word (SU Noteworthy) onto a scrap, then tied it in with the flowers. The bottom was done with a Martha Stewart border punch.

Very little stamping involved, but it still felt great to play with paper and glue!

Flower Girl

Well, this week has definitely not gone the way that I'd planned, but I finally got some time to stamp. I pulled out the smARTworks' Flower Girl set - one that I've been dying to ink up! I just love the sweet little girl, and there are some great images for collage with the set, too. I kept it pretty simple here; the layout was definitely influenced by the sketch challenge I did earlier in the week, but I think I switched it up enough that I'm safe to call it my own :) All the papers are from the BasicGrey LilyKate collection (full size, not the 6x6 pad). I love the green print that I used as the card base, but it was just a bit too bright so I covered it with versamagic white ink (I do that pretty frequently, and I must say that my poor pad is looking awfully grungy!). I then cut a few scraps from three other prints - they now blended in a bit too well with the "softened" card base, so I spritzed them with a bit of coffee shop glimmer mist. I stamped the girl onto yet another paper from the collection, matted with a very soft pink print, then mounted it over the three strips. I stamped the sentiment, but it still needed something more, so I grabbed the little buckle from a WeRMemoryKeepers hardware set and tied on a ribbon scrap. Beauteous!

Happy Mother's Day!

Two simple Mother's Day cards to share today - both using patterned paper and a single sentiment (Art by Moonlight).

The first one features BasicGrey Two Scoops collection paper. I trimmed along the flower, and then mounted it onto the pink. The flower has also been traced over with a spica glitter pen, so there's a nice shimmer to it.

This second one has this lovely vellum from Over the Moon press (from the prize basket I won on Saturday!), and I mounted it to the card base with white mini brads. Stamped the sentiment onto a scrap of white, then added a prima flower accented with silver liquid pearls.

Both super simple, but I know the grandmas will like the flowers.

I'll be back tomorrow for the smARTworks' Tea Party - no glue allowed this time around!

Yep, it's another challenge...

Well, I'm home from church today with sick kiddos, so snuck in a bit of stamping while the kids dozed/watched a movie. When Denise's challenge wrapped up on Friday, she asked each of us to challenge HER. Well, I had fun with that one and got a bit obnoxious. My challenge was to make an "odd" card: 7 papers, 5 embellishments, 3 stamps, and 1 ink color. Oh, and no ribbon! That's pretty tough, right? Well, it didn't even slow her down... She posted her card yesterday, and then challenged us to do it, too. No fair! ;) I was blurfing earlier this morning and noticed that the new "Sketch For You to Try" was posted - and just happened to have 5 brads on it. I'll take that as a sign!

Here's my creation - the papers are from the Cosmo Cricket Little Girls collection, and I had fun picking which of the seven I would use (and where!). For my three stamps, I grabbed a sentiment and row of circles (both Paper Trey), and then the French Script background stamp (SU). I used Versafine sepia ink, but did stamp off once first on the circles and the script (which is across the floral paper on the bottom - it didn't photograph all that well).

So how did I do on my own challenge? It wasn't too terrible - keeping the embellishments simple and using coordinated paper definitely prevented it from being a killer. So anyone else want to play along? :)

Simple Thank You cards

Since my FIL passed away, we've been blessed by many dear friends. I wanted to make some simple notecards to thank everyone for their kindness; due to the nature of the occasion, I also wanted to go with a darker color scheme and avoid flowery motifs. Well, the ChatterBox scrap kit came to the rescue again. I pulled out a couple DCWV card bases and layered on bits of patterned paper and minimal embellishment. The "Thank You" is from Stampington - I love that script style!

Thinking of You

A friend was just diagnosed with breast cancer - they found it early, and the doctors are very optimistic, but it's still a scary thing. I wanted to make her a card, and yesterday's sketch challenge seemed like a good place to start. I grabbed my black & white DCWV stack (can you tell I'm making an effort to use these?) and selected the prints. The sentiment is even from the pad, so there's no stamping at all on this card. The chipboard heart is from Cosmo Cricket - I went over it with an ink pad, and then sprayed it with pink taffy glimmer mist. Final touch was just a bit of ribbon tied on - I think the final result is rather playful, and hopefully my friend will like it.

Using Scraps

Today's technique lover's challenge was to mix patterns. I had quite a stack of Stella Ruby scraps on my workspace, so decided to piece a card together. I started by gluing down the long orange strip as an "anchor," then just worked my way down, randomly gluing strips. I stamped the sentiment (In Color) and then trimmed it out with a wavy edge, matting it with a piece I cut in the same fashion. The final touch was a specially dotted "i" (yellow rhinestone).

I still had a few more scraps left, so I also made this second super simple card. I started by gluing down another long strip. I stamped the verse (Job 37:14) and then the dried grass (Standing Tall), and mounted it flush to the side. I need to do that more often - I like the change from things floating in the middle :)

By the way, you may have noticed that I've been using a lot of the DCWV card bases lately. I picked up two boxes at Joann's a couple weeks ago - each with 60 cards AND envelopes for $5 each. How could I pass that up? One was a winter assortment and one was Christmas; they're all solid colored, so easy to use. Might want to check the clearance section next time you're there!

Playing with Punches and Paper

When I saw this card that Mercy Kerin made, I knew I had to dig out some paper scraps and punches and start playing. I kept things pretty simple, but there really are unlimited possibilities for embellishing those circles. For these two cards, I used paper from 7Gypsies, and the sentiments are Hero Arts. Various accents include a keyhole, crackle effects, and shell button. I'll definitely be making more of these in the future! On an interesting side note, I also really like this card that Valerie Stangle made, inspired by the exact same card that Mercy chose. I just love seeing how a stamper's personal style comes through!

I'm still on track to go "unplugged" on Thursday. Anyone else going to play along?

Strength in Quietness

I cleared out boxes and boxes of stamping magazines earlier this year, but before I passed them on I jotted down a few sketches. I kept it pretty simple - I just drew them on standard 3x5 cards and keep them in a box on my workspace. When I need a quick idea, I have ideas at my fingertips! Anyway, I think this one is a great way to showcase beautiful patterned paper. This print is from the DCWV Old World stack, and then I simply added Isaiah 30:15. I love that verse, and thought it would be appropriate to send on to someone that needs a bit of encouragement.

Simple Cards

Last night the rest of my family fell asleep really early, so I headed off to my craft space to do some cleaning and sorting. I did manage about an hour's worth before the urge to stamp became too overwhelming... I made up some long-overdue cards to send out to family. I used my DCWV glitter pad and pre-made card bases, so they went together really quickly. This first one uses the My Heart sentiment again, and I was pleased to see that it fit so nicely in the oval scalloped punch.

This second card is for my grandmother, who fell and broke her hip last week (ouch!). It was a bad enough break that they had to do a full hip replacement, and now she's in transitional care as they try to get her strength back up. The sentiment on this one is from a retired SU set (Hope for Comfort) and the inside says ...and that tomorrow is even better. I like this so much better than just Get Well.

Since the cards were done so quickly, I even was able to write some real letters. Hey, I remember those! :)

Day Brighteners

I needed a break from the red, black and white color combo (sheesh, I've been using that a lot!). I didn't have a lot of time, but wanted to make a couple cards. I pulled out this embossed vellum from K&Co that I've had for years. I love the design, but just couldn't decide what to do with it. Well, I decided to just cut out a few of the images and start playing! Sentiments are all from the Out on a Limb set (PaperTrey). I'm very pleased with the results, and I was able to do these 3 cards in about twenty minutes. Gotta love that! Plus I still have over half the sheet left, so I predict more of these in the future :)

Other materials used: May Arts white dotted ribbon, metal embellishments from We R Memory Keepers, mini bullnose clip from Oriental Trading, card bases from DCWV

You can get a closer view of each individual card at my SCS gallery if you'd like.