Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Whiff of Joy Flutter

It has been far too long since I made a card using a Whiff of Joy image, and I have a bunch of them! I saw Jane's great sketch on the WOJ challenge blog so decided to play along.  Definitely need to ink these images up more often again!  For this card I used Musing Melinda, putting her on the mushroom from the Fall 2009 set.  Colored image with Prismacolors. Added Stickles to her wings and Liquid Pearls in her hair on around the scallops.  Spellbinders large scallop circle used to cut/emboss image, shaded in with distress ink and chalks.  The DP is a gorgeous linen texture paper from GCD Studios.  Used JustRite sentiment, some flowers from my stash after I used Glimmer Mist on them.  Pearls in the corners and a calla lilly charm.  I am also using this card for this week's Flutter By Wednesday challenge. 

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Stamp Simply 153 & MojoMonday 153

I saw Sharon's challenge earlier in the week, to use pleated ribbon on our card. I am so ribbon challenged I just kept putting it off. I had everything worked out for the card, decided to use this week's Mojo Monday sketch for this card, but could not get the ribbon to look presentable. Then I remembered this ribbon I bought probably 15 years ago that I used on a dress for my daughter, and decided to use it. Thankfully the color was right so I didn't have to change what I had already started on the card.

I used a 5x7 embossing folder on Kraft CS, inked and distressed the edges with a ruler. Stitched some sloppy lines around the edges, incorporating the ribbon in the stitching. Stamped the SU! image onto Neena Solar White paper, cut it into four panels, inked and distressed the edges as well, and attached to burgundy CS. Stamped the hummingbird from same SU! set with distress ink, cut it out and attached it to the ribbon. Attached embossed layer to SU! CS, added some Dew Drops.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Joan's Tag Challenge

This week over at Joan's Gardens, her challenge is to create a tag using something heavier than cardstock, use old and vintage looking colors, and add some stuff from our stash.  I got some Grunge Paper about a month ago and hadn't used it yet, so I pulled it out to play and ended up making two.  I cut the Grunge paper then sprayed them each with several different colors of Glimmer Mist.  After drying, embossed them using two different folders.  Added some flowers I made, some butterflies cut with MS punches, added the charms.  Made the tiny pockets from stash paper and inserted a little card into that for writing on later. 

Thursday, August 12, 2010

It's Embossable at OCC, and a Mojo Sketch

Good day everyone!  This first card I made following the MojoMonday151 sketch.  I really liked this one.  I had this image sitting on my desk since I got back from Vermont in May.  I found the stamp at a scrapbook shop in Memphis.  I stamped it with dove gray Stazon onto glossy cardstock.  It doesn't show up well in the picture, but looks pretty IRL.  Cut out with Spellbinders Labels 11, as was the Kraft CS mat,  inked with Distress inks. Base card is SU! CS.  Background DP is from Mirabelle stack by The Paper Studio. Used Cuttlebug embossing folder on HOTP paper, running it through several times to get the "cracked" look from the paper breaking. MS Cornice edge punch, Spellbinders label for sentiment, which is from SU!

For this next card, a friend asked me to make her 30 thank-you cards, with specs being simple and earthy with a little glitz.  So here's my take on that.  I decided to use this card for this week's Our Creative Corner 
challenge...embossing, any kind of embossing.  This is a Quickutz  folder Shelbie picked out on our trip back from Vermont, from the same scrapbook shop in Memphis.  Embossed the paper, inked and distressed the edges, attached to base card.  Added yellow Stickles for the glitz.  Somehow I smudged some ink onto the CS, so it got covered with the tiny butterfly.  Thought it looked cute, so half the cards got butterflies. :)

Monday, August 9, 2010

Thank You Barb!

Funny how things come up. Back at the end of June, Barb, the wonderful blogger from Made for Keeps commented on a video I had posted on my Facebook page of me zip-lining in Jamaica.  Her comment was that they have two zip lines in Branson and that she wanted to try it.  So ~squeaks and squeals~ (the rusty gears started turning in my mind-haha!), a thought emerged, and I sent her a message that I would be taking my daughter back up to Norwich University in Vermont at the beginning of July, we could route our trip thru Branson, MO so we could try out one of the zip-lines there.  So plans were made.  Now, Barb and I had never met in person but we had communicated thru out blogs and e-mails, then on Facebook.  So, Shelbie and I got to Barb's house late in the evening, and I felt like I was coming to visit a friend I hadn't seen in a while, not like I was meeting someone for the first time.  Barb is a such a warm, sweet person, and her husband Jerry is a delight.  My daughter is contracted with the Navy, will commission as an officer when she graduates and Jerry is ex-Navy...so they had lots to talk about.  I fell in love with Barb's crafting cave.  Oh my, the goodies she has!

We spent two nights and a day with Barb and Jerry before continuing on to Vermont.  During our day there, we did the zip-line from the 230-foot tower at Shepherd of the Hills.  It is about half-mile long, takes almost a minute to get to the bottom.  It was wonderful!  From left to right in the picture  is Barb, me, a charming young man who got stuck with us three ladies, and Shelbie.  Jerry took this picture from the top of the tower.  Such fun!  We spent the rest of the day wandering around Branson, with Barb and Jerry showing us different sights and attractions.  I felt  a wonderful kinship with Barb, and I hope we get to see her and Jerry again soon!

In the interim since getting back from Vermont, making this card and intending to send it, job issues came up, Tyler was in an a bad accident and things just seemed to get derailed and I've had a hard time getting back on track.  Tyler is doing well, seems back to normal though having some sleep problems (stress?).  We got the police report and learned that there were six vehicles involved, not four like we originally were told.  The person who caused the accident admitted he was distracted...saw a fast food restaurant and was thinking about getting a burger, when he looked straight again he didn't even have time to hit his brakes.  So a big delivery truck at 40 mph causes a lot of damage, injuries, [and a fatality] to five vehicles in front of it who are stopped at a red light.  I am so thankful Tyler is okay and doing well.  But I had forgotten to post this card, and I finally remembered last week that I hadn't even sent it to Barb!  Sorry!!

This card followed the Mojo Monday 146 sketch.  I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder for the base and the vellum oval, slathered them with distress ink.  The strips are from a DCWV pack, inked those edges as well.  Sentiment is from Inkadinkado, stamped with distress ink, cut out/embossed with Wavy Squares Spellbinders dies. 

Friday, August 6, 2010

Stamp Simply 151

Three cards in two days, hope that means the mojo is coming back!  I made this card for my mother, to give to my son for his birthday, which was yesterday.  Oops, Gramma forgot.  Tyler understands, considering his Gramma, my own sweet mother, forgets her own kids' birthdays.  Nothing pathological, she has just always been that way.  I saw Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge late last night, so I got up early this morning to make this card for my mom to give to Tyler.  The challenge is a one-layer card.  thankfully, can use some embellishments, so I added some brads to the Kraft CS I embossed with this Tim Holtz folder.  Added some distress ink to the embossing and used it for the sentiment.  Voila...quick and easy and done in less than 10 minutes!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Multiple Challenge Card

Hey, two posts in one day! :)  I spent some time during my lunch break today hopping around blogville and came across some challenges I wanted to try.  I ended up with one card to fit them all.  Challenges will be listed below.  The base card is SU! cardstock.  The image is from Magic Moonlight, printed on canvas.  Corner punches are Martha Stewart.  Stamped images are from Crafty Secrets Fairyland set.  Sentiment, which is a John Denver song title, was printed from my computer, cut and embossed with Spellbinders Fancy Label and attached on dimensionals.  The two flowers are made following Selma's vellum flower tutorial. I love how they turned out! 

Joan's Gardens Challenge #9 - Pink & white card, with four corners punched, preferrably with a Martha Stewart punch.
Crafty Secrets Forum Challenge on SCS - To use fabric on our project, along with a Crafty Secrets item.
Stamp Simply #149 - To use two of...something. 
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - To use a song we can't get out of our head in our project. 

Mojo Monday 150 Birthday

Today is my son Tyler's 17th birthday. Where did the time go? He is such a wonderful young man, and I love every minute I have with him! Crazy that three weeks ago today I got a phone call all parents dread. Tyler was involved in a serious auto accident in which the van he was riding in was struck from behind while they were stopped at a red light. Four vehicles involved, with the van being sandwiched between the car in front of them and the one behind them, which was hit by a commercial delivery truck. There was a fatality in the first vehicle hit, Tyler suffered a head laceration and concussion, Tyler's stepmother was in ICU for four days with serious injuries, and one of his friends was also injured in the accident. Everyone is home now and on the road to recovery. I still slip into Tyler's room at night to check on him. Everything can change in a flash.

This summer has been busy and my mojo has definitely suffered. I have made several cards and some sets of cards for friends, but Chuck has been using the camera for his work so I haven't been able to take pictures of all of them, or wasn't able to get the pics off the camera disc before he had to use it again. Hard to believe it has been three months since I posted anything! The clinic where I work is being sold at the end of September, so I have started looking for another job. Still doing massage therapy after regular work hours and hoping to build clientele there to fill in when the clinic closes.
So in trying to get my mojo jump-started, I used this week's Mojo Monday 150 sketch for Tyler's birthday card. Happens to be the first one of the month so there's a contest too. Yay! Used SU! cardstock for the base card. DP is DCWV Rustic Collection; the smaller DP scraps are Hot Off the Press. Sentiment from JustRite, cut/emboss with Nestabilities. All ink is Distress Ink. The image is from Inkadinkado Horse set. Tyler loves horses, and I was trying to make this a masculine card without being too juvenile. I think I succeeded. :)