Sunday Stamps #108

This card is the first creative product to come from my overdue craft-shopping-spree that happened yesterday... I could not resist the Marion Smith paper. Had to work with it! 

I'm entering this card into the 108th Sunday Stamps Challenge, and this week the challenge is the following sketch:

So, I made a boo-boo and made my card too big for the envelope I wanted to use. Sure, I could have used almost any other envelope out of my literally hundreds, but noooo... I had to be a stubborn-a$$... So I chomped the front edge.  Then it looked funky when closed, so I added some Smash Washi. Cuter. But I'm still frustrated that I... Sigh. I need to let it go, haha! (I'm thinking I can't be the only crafter that regrets a crafting decision now and then)...

Supplies:

• Marion Smith paper and Core'dinations paper
• Thickers and Cosmo Cricket letters (kind of loosely placed... Imperfect, which is my FAVE)
• Smash Washi tape
• Viva Liquid Pen in Anthracite (can you see the pearls all over?)
• Color Box Chalk pad in Blackbird 

I hope everyone gets to craft this week! Cheers!

JUGS #308: Wild-sketch

I love a simple sketch... no stifled creativity here. Oh wait,  I also love a complicated sketch... inspires creativity. I love it all... simple, complicated, color, photo, code word. 

Anyway, so this week's Just Us Girls Wildcard week is a nice and simple sketch:

And here's my little creation:

Got to go scrap-shopping at my fave store, Paradise Scrapbook Boutique. Got some new paper,  chalk pads,  trim, embellishments.  Happy scrapper here.  So I threw this together late at night. Thank goodness for the simple sketch. 

Supplies:

• Simple Stories bus, tag, and heart paper
• American Crafts Chalkboard paper in background
• Vellum stamped with an eraser dipped in liquid leaf
• Tag stamped with "BEEP" using some Target stamps using Tim Holtz embossing pad and Recollections powder in black

Freshly Made #201

Wasn't the 200th contest exciting?!

Back to business:

I made this card really fast, and switched my brain to "clean"... not my personal fave look, but nothing to be ashamed of to give.  

Here's is the sketch by the folks at Freshly Made Sketches for #201:

And here's my little card:

The paper was all from my scrap box, but I'm 99% certain the floral paper is Prima. The daisy sticker is from Martha Stewart.  No sentiment... it's easy that way. 

Color Throwdown!

Cutting right to the chase... my craft time is about to be dramatically limited with school starting,  and actually I should be in the library right now.  Oh well... gotta scrap!

I created this card for the Color Throwdown #357.

I love this Marion Smith Designs "Posh" cheetah paper,  but it was very "fresh"... I muted it last night by painting over it with my Tim Holtz Distress dauber in Picket Fence.  To give all of the other paper (K & Company) the same level of mild distressing, I edged them all with the same dauber. At first I wanted to add gold to the heart and a sentiment, but I couldn't find just the right thing,  and I decided that i liked the simplicity of it: I can just grab it for any occasion.

Enjoy! Scrap while you can!

Mojo #412

Ahhh, my favorite stamp!  I love what this La Calavera Catrina stands for... you can look it up,  but my very basic interpretation for what it represents to me (and why I'll buy anything with this image on it) is to be yourself-- never try to be something you're not.  

And, of course, it is awesome and beautiful.

I took liberties with the Mojo #412 sketch, but here it is in pure form:

And here's my favorite lady saying thanks:

And a sexy-skull shot:

Supplies:

• Vintage music paper and ribbon
• Bulk flowers
• Prismacolors pen for sentiment 
• Studio 112 puffy leaves
• Invoke stamp
• Viva Paper pearls in cream and Moss Green 
• Color Box chalk in Creamy Brown

VLV August Week 4!

"ANYWHERE": Dedicated to my hubs. I showed him my card in the early stages and he squealed with delight (well, a very manly squeal...) and said,  "I love maps!" In the same voice he'd use if our youngest wrote him a love note.  He is the best.  So,  I wore "Anywhere" because we always say we would have met anywhere,  at any time,  in any point of our lives. Awww. Ok, moving on...

Here is the VLV, fourth August sketch on the month:

And here's my love card:

(And by the way, between the time I posted how sweet my hubs was and now, he's already buggin' me! Haha, just so you know life isn't perfect...)

So, here's a quick run-down of what I did: I definitely took liberties with this one... Obviously that map represents the more square panel on the LO, and I off-set it because I didn't want to cut it and I thought it would be too symmetrical in the center for the taste I was going for. I rounded the corners to mirror the mall's and rubbed the edges with brown chalk.  After that, I busted out the SU stamp. My fave SU stamp ever.  Then I embossed that sucker.

Supplies:

• Tim Holtz banner sticker and map sticker
• Thickers letters
• Scraps of paper from stash
• Fiskars hex punches and corner punch
• Custer's Last Stamp embossing powders in pewter on Tim Holtz embossing pad
• Color Box Chalk pad in creamy brown
• SU grunge (splatter) stamp

Kraft Journal: CAS Thanks

The Kraft Journal challenge of the week is: CAS Thank You...

Here it is!  This is as close to CAS as I get... but I get here often.  I'm comfortable with this level of CAS. I'm kind of dirty... smudgy, messy, inky...

Supplies:

• SOME Kraft
• SU stamp (grunge lines)
• Recollections and Custers Last Stamp embossing powder
• BG button
• Viva Pearl Pen in Anthracite 

Sketch Saturday #375

Woohoo!: this is my second-ever, second-in-a-row Sketch Saturday (current challenge):

And here is my card...

 ...and a close-up to show the sheen...

Well, crap. I've been screwing cards up left and right.   Smudging, over-inking, going the complete wrong direction.   This is no exception.  But it's the concept that counts,  right? !

A friend bought this stamp for me... she's a science nerd also... so I embossed it and doodled some chemical bubbles with an embossing pen,  then mixed pewter and black embossing powders. Thennnnn... I had the bright idea of daubing the empty corners with Tim Holtz's daubers in Bundled Sage... too pale.  So I added a dauber of Black Soot. Oh no. The slippery slope.  So I tried to add glitter. Wiped that off. Freaking added Stickles in Black Diamond. Done. 

More specific supplies:

• The lab-rat stamp is Inkadinkado
• Recollections and Custers Last Stamp embossing powders (actually left over from my card for The Kraft Journal's challenge
• Emboss Writer is Zig

Fall leaves for a birthday, Part 1 (uhhh, out of order!)

Bam! That just happened! Well, the card happened yesterday, but the posting is happening now!

Here's a cute little 4.25x5.5" card. 

Supplies to come... 

I'm entering this card into two challenges: Incy Wincy Designs: Birthday Wishes and Just Us Girls #307.

Fall leaf for a birthday, Part 2

Another quick post!

FYI, I was hoping for a more fluorescent pink leaf, but it was more muted. Kind of a romantic pink. That's what I get for tapping. Anyway,  it matched the sequins!

I'm entering this card into two challenges: Just Us Girls #307 and Inch Wincy Designs: Birthday Wishes.

Viva La Verve, August, Week 3! BOO

I love halloween! Guess I was in the mood when I saw this sketch...

Such a sweet-looking sketch from Verve for Week 3... got spooky real quick!

Lots going on here. 

• First, I made a black card (4.25x5.5") with Core'dinations paper, then I duded-up a black 6" doily with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Harvest Orange, then daubed it with Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Black Soot and scrunched it down to the size of the card, ripped off the edges, and attached that baby. 
• Made the tag on white cardstock, sprayed with the Harvest Orange, then used a Heidi Aesop stencil with Tim Holtz Distress crackle paint. Awesome. 
• Built the cupcake with cardboard from the recycle bin and cardstock inked with purple Color Box pad and painted with Aleene's Glitter Snow. After it dried, I ran a generic black ink pad on it and added Stickles Black Diamond sprinkles.
• Added some bulk ribbon and a brad I had in my stash. The "sentiment" is from Creative Imaginations, duded-up with the Stickles from above. 

Phew!

HLS: XMAS in August

This is my first entry into the Happy Little Stampers XMAS challenge... this one is "Sparkle."...

And here's my simple card:

What do you think?   I totally took the rules literally and went with the word "sparkle," and I took multiple shots over two days to try to show the nice silvery-green sheen of the wreath.  Don't know if I succeeded.

I like it for kind of a non-denominational card... some folks just aren't into Xmas, so this is a nice holiday season card, I think.

Inkspirational + MFT = Yummo!

It always surprises me when I do a two-fer... probably because I don't usually intend to-- it's like, I'll have a couple challenges rolling around in my brain, and then they jumble into one before I consciously realize it! (Like I said before when this happened: this either makes me super-smart or super-challenged!)

Anyway... BRASS TACKS:

My little card is a combo of the following two challenges:

My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #242

Inkspirational Challenge #89: Word prompt, "Melt"

And here's my card:

Supplies and notes:

• The sweet treat was made by using kraft, previously painted with some Liquid Leaf, for the cone, then topping it off with a scoop made using Aleene's brand glitter snow (it's wayyyy dimensional and moldable).  Then I had to add some Stickles "sprinkles" in Ice.
• The oval was made using a giant chipboard "O's" center-hole, then I mod-podged some nice K & Company pink paper. After it dried, I used a nail file (dedicated to crafting... and crafting emergencies!) to file the excess paper off, then rubbed with my Color Box Chalk.  Oh, also added some Viva dots in Cream.
• The splatters were made using Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Victorian Velvet... I just daubed and even opened it open and dripped... fun.  Messy. Took a while to dry, FYI. I was surprised, but I guess that's acrylic for you. I'm so impatient.
• I edged the card with Color Box Chalk in Creamy Brown and added a hand-written greeting using a fine Prismacolor pen, doubled over.
• The ribbon is from good ol' Martha.

So, I distressed this card fairly heavily-- it looks like it's been handled by smudgy kid-fingers... I think it works based on the subject.  One thing I'm noticing now is that the card is off-balance: the ribbon should either be on the other side, or I should have centered the cone and minimized the ribbon. Hindsight is 20/20. Sigh... I wish I was paid to do this! I'd spend tons of time re-making cards! :-)

HLS: Banner Challenge

And here I am busting out the Happy Little Stampers Sketch Challenge: Banners .

Here is the sketch:

And here is my entry:

Supplies and notes:

• Core'dinations cardstock and kraft
• K & Company DP for the flags
• Thickers letters
• Teresa Collins modeling paste used with Heidi Swapp stencil
• Liquid Leaf accents on the stenciled grid*
• Prismacolors ultra-fine border drawn for accent... I looked at matting it with all kinds of colors... Finally opted for no mat, but the doodled border turned out perfectly well

* I HAVE TO DISCLOSE THAT MY INSPIRATION BEHIND ACCENTING THE GRID WAS MY SHAMPOO BOTTLE... SEE???

"Back To School"... now playing!

Well, found a challenge blog by hopping around and checking out everyone's craftiness! Curtain Call is hosting a photo challenge...

(...drumroll...)

Well, maybe it doesn't warrant a drumroll, but it will serve as a cute card for maybe our awesome school secretary or nurse (I need to make each of them a card).

I keep thinking I need to add more,  but I think it can also stay like this. Maybe I'll plaster it with sequins or something before school starts...

Supplies:

• Old library card
• Old seam binder from Grandma's stash
• I used a Zig Emboss Writer with Custers Last Stamp clear embossing powder  for the measure lines and sentiment on the jar
• Stamped the sunflower with a generic stamp them painted with dimensional paint
• American Crafts Chalkboard paper 
• Viva Pearl Pen in red
• Used generic black ink for card edges

Anything that flies, flies!

This is my "Seize The Birthday" challenge entry, and the challenge is: Anything That Flies!  Usually for me,  I'd think "birds", but I had this awesome paper from Prima that called out to me from the stash...

Here is my mod-pop birthday card:

Super-cute, no?

Krafting with the birds #1

Most of my quick cards have birds as the subject.  Anyone who knows me even kind of well would agree that I'm a bird-nerd-- I love all things bird-related.

I was very excited to see this week's Kraft Journal Challenge: Anything Goes With Birds! My only trouble was narrowing down what style I wanted to go with. I have this problem where I buy anything from clothing to crafting supplies that has to with birds, and so it makes the crafting even more challenging: How to decide? 

Instead of staying gridlocked, I just kind of used supplies that were laying out, and then I grabbed my go-to bird crafting accessory: a field guide purchased just for cuttin' and craftin'.  I've been "into" black and gold lately so I chose a sweet (as in super-bada$$) Least Storm Petrel-- looks so dark and awesome.

I did not add a sentiment.  In fact,  for many of my bird cards I don't add sentiments because, really, the cards could be used for anything from birthdays to thanks to sympathy... depending on the bird,  of course :)

Supplies:

• Core'dinations black paper
• Pink paper from K & Company
• Liquid Leaf (gold) painted onto the kraft
• Viva Pearl Pen in Anthracite 
• Heidi Swapp stencil with some gold Krylon spray paint (what can I say?  It works well and it was within reach!)
• I use a copy of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America. I know it should be underlined,  but I'm completing this from my phone... gimme a break! (My MIL is an author and ex-English teacher... I get worried she'll read it and shake her head! Haha)

TSTR: Back to School

Here is the inspiration photo for The Shabby Tea Room's 258th challenge:

...and here is my funky little card with a little dog foot:

(Here's the doggie whose foot is in the first pic... Millouse)

Supplies and notes:

• American Crafts Chalkboard paper
• Tim Holtz's grungeboard letters painted with his Distress Crackle Paint in Picket Fence 
• Ruler ribbon pinned with a Maya Road lead pin
• Sunflowers stamped then painted with dimensional paint, then cut out and popped up with dimensional tape
• Tim Holtz ruler sticker
• Prima enamel dots
• Viva Liquid Pen in Light Moss

This is not a favorite of mine,  though I love the way the letters off of the page worked out. .. this will be cute on a teacher-friend's desk :)