Happy 2013

A little something for Freshly Made Sketches . . .

And my design . . .

Supplies Used: Bazzill Cardstock, DCWV Pattern Paper, Close To My Heart Ink, American Crafts Thicker Alphabet Stickers, Stampin' Up Circle and Square Punch

Paper Smooches Picture Perfect Challenge

Being challenged by a photo can be a tough one, and this one was definitely a stretch for me.  The challenge photo from Paper Smooches was difficult because I usually layer papers.  I just did not see this photo as one where I could layer pattern paper.  The inspiration photo . . .

And my creation . . .

I used raised dimensional letter stickers and the Winter Groves set from Paper Smooches.  The snowflakes are embossed, and the bird and nest are paper pieced.

One layer cards are so foreign to me!

Supplies Used:  Bazzill Cardstock, Little Yellow Bicycle pattern paper (paper piecing), Paper Smooches Stamps, Close To My Heart Ink, Versamark, Stampin' Up Embossing Powder, American Crafts Thickers

Mojo Monday (Seriously Needed My Mojo Back)

I seriously had lost my mojo for a bit . . . it happens.  But it was time to jump back into the land of craftiness for me, and what better to get me going then gearing up for some layout classes at my LSS, and then using up my scraps to make a card for Mojo Monday. 

The sketch . . .

My design . . .

I have Copic markers, but don't use them often enough.  Today I put them to work on shadowing, and while I was not impressed at first, when I came back to photograph the card I was like . . . "Hey, wow!"   I definitely need to use those markers because the result on the shadowing is pretty cool.  

Supplies Used:  Bazzill Cardstock, DCWV Pattern Paper, My Creative Time Stamps and Banner Die, Cricut (snowflakes), Stampin' Up Scallop Oval Punch (5 punches create the scallop circle behind the snowman circle), Stazon Black Ink Pad, Copic Markers, Stickles

Skipping Stones Design #155

I had some fun playing with Skipping Stones Designs snowman stamp set, which I've been itching to use.  My leftover My Mind's Eye papers were just perfect.

I actually used a white card base for this card, and the stamped images are on that white base.  I paper pieced the snowman's hat, scarf, and nose from pattern paper (the diagonal print in the strip at the top of the card).  I used a scallop die to cut an open image in the pattern paper.  Post-it notes held the seam together so I could make the cut in each of the two papers, and then I adhered them down around that stamped image.  Would it have been easier to just stamp on a white scallop circle?  Absolutely.  But I was going for a different look. the black dots around the scallop Inkessentials Enamel Accents from my LSS.  

I just love this stamp set!
 
Supplies Used
Cardstock - Bazzill
Pattern Paper - My Mind's Eye
Die Cut - Sizzix Scallop Circle
Stamp - Skipping Stones Design
Ink - Close To My Heart
Linen Thread - Stampin Up
Other - buttons from my stash, Ranger Inkessentials Enamel Accents, Stickles

Freshly Made Sketches - Bzzzz . . .

So the fourth card in my series from a few sheets of My Mind's Eye paper and embellishments is a birthday card.  I was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches #52 . . .

Here is my design.  I again embossed my greeting in white, which adds a really nice touch.  The inside has an embossed white birthday greeting.

I had a transparent photo mat with a border that I used for the wings of the bee.  I love how those darn wings came out.  I stamped the wings on the corner of the photo mat, so the stripes are vertical on each wing.  There was also a pattern paper in this group that had hexagons, and I cut the musical note hexagon and popped it over the ribbon, and then popped the bee on to the hexagon to give some additional dimension.  The "bee trail" is also embossed in white. 

This was a fun card to make, and I just love that little bee.

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill
Pattern Paper and Transparency - My Mind's Eye 

Ribbon - just scraps from my stash
Stamps - Stamps of Life
Inks - Close To My Heart, Stazon and Versamark 
Embossing Powder - Stampin' Up
Other - Stickles

Mojo Monday Meets My Mind's Eye

In my attempts to get back in the groove, I have made what appears to be a set of cards from one set of pattern papers.  I like doing this, as it gives me the option to give the cards as a little gift with some stamps and perhaps a pen. I created two cards yesterday, and the third card in my series is designed using the Mojo Monday challenge.  Here is the sketch . . .

Here is my design . . .

I love the layering of the flowers and the ticket.  And the use of white embossing powder for the greeting is a fun touch.  

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill
Pattern Paper - My Mind's Eye 
Ticket Embellishment and Buttons - My Mind's Eye
Ribbon - just scraps from my stash
Stamps - Stamps of Life
Inks - Close To My Heart and Versamark 
Embossing Powder - Stampin' Up
Other - Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

Sketchbook Saturday

It was time! Today was the day I needed to get back to creating. It seems I had taken a bit of a break since returning from vacation.  

So I went to the latest Sketchbook Saturday Challenge and my stash of leftover pieces from prior layouts, and here is what I came up with. 

The sketch . . .

My design . . .

Supplies Used
Cardstock - Bazzill
Pattern Paper, chipboard embellishment and ticket die - My Mind's Eye
Edgelit Die (cutting bottom border of top layer) - Stampin' Up
"Just a Note" stamp - My Creative Time
Versamark
Stampin' Up White Embossing Powder
Ribbon and Button from my stash

Friends Old and Friends New

In my attempts to get back in the groove, I have made what appears to be a set of cards from one set of pattern papers.  I like doing this, as it gives me the option to give the cards as a little gift with some stamps and perhaps a pen. I created two cards yesterday, and the third card in my series is designed using the Mojo Monday challenge.  Here is the sketch . . .

Here is my design . . .

I love the layering of the flowers and the ticket.  And the use of white embossing powder for the greeting is a fun touch.  

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill
Pattern Paper - My Mind's Eye 
Ticket Embellishment and Buttons - My Mind's Eye
Ribbon - just scraps from my stash
Stamps - Stamps of Life
Inks - Close To My Heart and Versamark 
Embossing Powder - Stampin' Up
Other - Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

The Play Date Cafe #153

Playing along tonight with The Play Date Cafe.  Stress relief for me . . . cut, paste, stamp, embellish!

The inspiration . . . 

And my design, using some Flirty items from Close To My Heart . . .

Stamping those flowers to make the background just made me happy!  So fun. 

 

Freshly Made Sketch #56

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch when creating a card for my StampNation group's World Card Making Day challenge for the U.K. 

So the sketch . . .

And then the photo inspiration for the U.K. . . .

And here is what I came up with . . .

I used a stamp to create the cup.  I heat embossed the image onto the pattern paper and then cut it out. 

All product used is Stampin' Up.  I vowed to use my stamps and paper and ink . . . and that's exactly what I've been doing! 

Mystery Quilt - Meeting #1

The word "scrap" for me means . . . scraps of paper, scraps of fabric, scraps of ribbon, scraps of anything and everything.  For in reality, the definition of "scrap" is: 

Let's go with the noun, and specifically the first definition of the noun.  Not that the second one doesn't also fit into my form of paper or fabric crafts.  I've definitely quarreled with myself over whether the picture should go at the top or the bottom, or even just an inch to the right.  And should it be slanted or straight.  But I digress!

So "scrap" for me is all things crafty.  It's taking small pieces of stuff and moshing it together to make something bigger. And that includes quilting, which is something I've gotten away from.  Over the weekend I signed up for a quilting class through a local shop.  Let me rephrase . . . several months ago I signed up for the class, and over the weekend I attended the class.  It is a Mystery Quilt . . . in that we don't know the pattern of the quilt.  We don't know what it will look like.  We've not seen the completed project.  We purchased a bunch of pre-selected fabric (which if you didn't like, you wouldn't sign up . . . or you could pick out your own) and we arrived on Saturday to our stack of fabric . . . nine different gorgeous fabrics, and the first set of "clues."

So our first clue included the cutting of three of the nine fabrics . . .

 . . . and placing them in bags marked with letters.  So I have a bag of 8 1/2" squares of the first fabric and another bag with little rectangles.  Then I have a third bag with small squares of the fabric on the far right.  A fourth bag has squares of the middle fabric.  A fifth bag needs to be filled with half square triangles of the first two fabrics . . . my homework . . . which requires sewing . . . which I've not started.  

And yet I feel there is time to blog about this when the homework is not done?  

That middle fabric is all used up . . . except for some scraps . . . the other two went back into the big bag and will be used perhaps at the next meet up?  I don't know . . . it's a mystery. 

Stay tuned for next month . . .

World Card Making Day meets Freshly Made Sketches

I am a member of this wonderful community of creative stampers.  It is called StampNation and it is a place where stampers communicate and share.  It is international, in that we have several international members, and one of their design team members is international as well.  I have done two card swaps with the group, and I was lucky enough to meet two of the New Hampshire members in person.

On Saturday, they celebrated World Card Making Day by posting inspirational photos from various countries throughout the day.  Unfortunately, I could not participate because I was attending a quilting class (more on that later).  But after the class I checked in and saw the photos, the design team inspiration, and the StampNation member's submissions.  So creative!  So fun!  I am continuing to peruse them today, as members are still loading up their creations. 

For Mexico, I decided to use the Freshly Made Sketch . . .

Along with the inspirational photo from StampNation for Mexico . . .

 And I came up with this . . .

The paper and stickers for this came from a "prize patrol" giveaway that I received from Stampin' Up.  The colors seemed perfect.

Sending Warm Wishes - Mojo Monday Challenge

Playing along with the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge #260 . . .

Using paper left from some previous challenges, I played around with these soft hues again and tried a little something different with my stamped images, splitting them above and below the sentiment.

I used a white pen for the flower petals.

Supplies used: Bazzill Cardstock, Prima Pattern Paper, Stampin' Up Ink, Close To My Heart Stamps, We R Memories Washi Tape, Punches from Stampin' Up, Flower and brad from my leftover stash.

Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #78

A clean and simple look was my focus for the Sketchbook Saturday Challenge, and then a little smudge led to the addition of a strip of "tasteful trim" for my sentiment. And then another smudge led to the addition of a pearl and you can 't have one flower with a pearl and the rest vacant.  Clean and simple became just a bit more.

 

Lesson learned: apply the black ink last!

 All Supplies Used are Stampin' Up.

CAS-UAL Friday Fall Card

In my attempts to get back in the groove, I have made what appears to be a set of cards from one set of pattern papers.  I like doing this, as it gives me the option to give the cards as a little gift with some stamps and perhaps a pen. I created two cards yesterday, and the third card in my series is designed using the Mojo Monday challenge.  Here is the sketch . . .

Here is my design . . .

I love the layering of the flowers and the ticket.  And the use of white embossing powder for the greeting is a fun touch.  

Supplies
Cardstock - Bazzill
Pattern Paper - My Mind's Eye 
Ticket Embellishment and Buttons - My Mind's Eye
Ribbon - just scraps from my stash
Stamps - Stamps of Life
Inks - Close To My Heart and Versamark 
Embossing Powder - Stampin' Up
Other - Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher

Case Study Challenge #109

Playing along with the CASE Study Challenge #109. I decided to use some Close To My Heart pattern paper, inks and stamps from the Flirty Collection. I just love these colors.

The inspiration . .  .

My design . . .

And from another angle . . .



Supplies Used:  Cardstock, Pattern Paper, Stamps from Close To My Heart; Ink from Close To My Heart and Color Box; Markers from Stampin' Up;  Die Cut from Sizzix/Stampin' Up; Stickles.

Anything Goes "Bird-day" Card

Denami Stamp's challenge was an anything goes challenge.

I had paper left from a previous layout I had done.  So I decided to use one of those adorable chick stamps and keep things simple.  I stamped the words of the stamp onto the ribbon, and my inclination was to keep everything straight, but I talked myself into running the ribbon at an angle. 

Here is my design . . .

Supplies:  Bazzill Cardstock, Bella Blvd. Pattern Paper, CTMH Seam Binding, CTMH Ink, Denami Stamps, Stampin' Up Markers.

Freshly Made Sketch #53

This week's Freshly Made Sketch incorporated strips of paper with a circle.  Here is my design:  

Hexagons are so popular right now, and I wanted to tie them in with this card. I have some hexagon stamps that fit perfectly into the circle of the Memory Box die cut.  I also had some paper left from a previous project.  With the right ink colors, and some pop dots, I knew I could tie it all in together.  

I popped both the memory box die and the individual hexagons on top of it.  I love the dimension. 

Supplies Used:  Bazzill Cardstock, Bella Blvd Pattern Paper, Memory Box Die Cut, Stamps from Papertrey Ink, Ink from Color Box and Stampin' Up, Jewels from Kaisercraft