Butterfly Box

I needed a quick little gift box for some little chocolates (Hershey's kisses, Andes Thin Mints, etc.), and I came across this gorgeous box on Tosh's blog, and I followed the link to Kristen's blog and her tutorial. Both theirs are just beautiful. This is what I came up with and was kind of rushed to get it finished. Maybe the next one will be better, because I loved making this and can see so many future possibilities!

Papers used are from Basic Grey, Hot Off the Press, and Cosmo Cricket. The butterfly was cut on my Cricut and I added Stickles to some of the borders. hard to tell, but the right wing is attached a little higher on foam tape. One big Prima flower, and the yellow and white ones are paper flowers that were in the clearance aisle at Michael's. They were in bouquets that looked like they had been run over by a truck, but I cut each blossom off and fluffed it up and they are really pretty. I attacked them with Stickles to give them some sparkle. I don't have any tiny drawer handles or pulls, so I used a charm from Hobby Lobby, attached with a brad for my drawer handles.

Stamps: None.

Paper: Basic Grey, Hot Off the Press, Cosmo Cricket.

Ink: Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Charms, brads, Kaiser pearls, Michael's paper flowers, Prima flower, Stickles, Cricut, leaf punch, foam tape.

My First Official Challenge...This Year!!

Wow...two posts, two consecutive days. Woohoo! : ) I had wanted to do Sharon's ssnotime120 a couple weeks back, to use something new, because I have gotten new toys. But that one slipped by, so here we are at ssnotime123--Very Vintage, and I'm actually combining the two. Three times. haha. There are three cards, all pretty much the same but different color scheme.

The whole feel to the cards is vintage (my take on it anyway). The new here is the stamp. Her name is Maribel. I first saw her on this post in September of 2008. She's not available here in the states, but long story short, it took a lot of patience and several visits to different shop sites in Europe that retail the stamp before I could bring her home. I love this image! While the cards may look a little involved, they were actually very simple, as the challenge states. : )

This images comes out best when stamped on glossy cardstock with archival ink. I only had one small piece left in my stash so I stamped her once on that piece and a couple more times on some photo paper. The latter didn't come out as well plus had some excess ink, but they still looked good. I colored them with re-inkers and a water brush, then sponged around her. I cut out the images and then a mat for each, clipped the corners. The base card is SU! kraft CS, and the card is 5.5" square. I stamped a Crafty Secrets flourish in coordinating color along the top of the base. All the DP is from DCWV Once Upon a Time mat stack. I used a different border punch on each. All the flowers are Prima flowers, except the big blue one. I made that one. The small roses on the green and maroon card were white, but I spritzed and dipped them in Glimmer Mist. Different leaf punches for each, and some quilled curly-ques. I added a tiny flower on the maroon card with Stickled center, to cover a blub I couldn't correct. Probably didn't need to say that. : ) Anywho...these are my cards for Sharon's two challenges.


Stamps: Stempelglede Maribel, Crafty Secrets Flourishes.
Paper: SU! Kraft CS, DCWV Once Upon a Time, glossy CS and photo paper.
Ink: Ranger Archival Ink, re-inkers and Distress Ink.
Accessories: Corner punch, Martha Stewart/EK/L-Em leaf punches, Prima flowers, Stickles, Glimmer Mist, pear and daisy punches for home-made blue flower, quilling paper and tool.

Wishful Thinking

This is a long one. Sooo....Spellbinders is having their Design Team try-outs for the 2010 team. I love all the Spellbinders dies! I thought long and hard before doing this, mainly because there are so many wonderfully talented crafters and my chances of making the DT are uber slim. But Chuck and my kids gave me lots of encouragement and convinced me to go for it. Why not, right? Submissions were a card, a 12x12 scrapbook layout, and an altered item. Here are my entries.

For the altered item, I initially considered a notebook, but then I ran into (again) all my empty Cricut cartridge boxes. I have...a lot. Couldn't part with them after I came up with a more space-saving means of storage. So I attacked this box with some pretty paper from My Mind's Eye. The paper on the inside is a scrap from my stash, but it coordinated nicely. Once I got the box covered, out came the Spellbinder dies. I used the Fleur de Lis Pendant for the centerpiece, layering it with foam tape. The Fleur de Lis Borderabilities was used for the corner pieces, and to cover the ends of the box, which can't be seen in the pix. I used the Cameo die for the frame and attached it on foam tape to the pendant. The cameo is from Melissa Frances. I painted with some Pearl Ex in two different colors to bring out the detail. On the front flap I attached two of the Decorative Photo Corners die cuts, as well as a segment cut from the Borderabilities to use as an "escutcheon". The tiny lock is hanging from a large jump ring that I wrapped around the ornament before attaching; Its tiny key is attached to a chain that I looped around the pendant. The little legs I found last year at the stamp store just down the block. They look great!

Since doing this box, I've altered six more (will post later). Lots of uses for them. My daughter and niece already put in their "orders" for one. Like I said, I have a lot. : )

For the card, I had a set of "blanks" with envelopes that were sent to me by a blogging friend. I think they were by Stampin Up!, based on the envelope size I found on their site. Anyway, those fit perfectly into the box, so I gave them a dose of Spellbinders dies and made a note card set for myself. Used the Lg Deckled Mega Rectangles Nestabilities over the base, inked along the edges. Again used the Cameo die mounted on foam tape, decorated with Liquid Pearls and a couple flat-backed pearls. Symbology One ornament in the corner, and some flowers made with various sized punches, and an MS butterfly flying around. Used JustRite Special Occasion font for the monogram.

Okay, now for the scrapbook layout. Try to keep the laughter to a low roar. When I was looking for pictures to use, I came across an envelope with these old prom pictures and decided these were the ones for the layout. The base DP is from Anna Griffin, I think (sorry). I used Classic Frames die to frame pictures. The roses were cut from the Rose Blossom Edgeabilities, stenciled while still in the dies, as was the frame. For the "journaling", that was actually my handwriting from the back of the picture on the left...from April 1980. I scanned the back of the picture then printed it onto some DP and cut that out with a Curved Rectangles die. If you click on the picture you can probably read what it says. I was such a dork! I actually made that dress, and it was so pretty - but lots & lots of satin! I used JustRite Brayton font to stamp "prom" on the ticket, which was cut from Spellbinders ticket die. The flourishes are from the Symbology One die.

So there we have it. I won't hold my breath to make the DT, but what wonderful honor and experience that would be! I had a blast doing these projects. I have some more cards that I will post tomorrow. Have a few last tweaks to do. I've finally gotten busy playing with paper again! Thanks for stopping in. Love to read your comments!

Happy Birthday, Shelbie!

Today is my daughter's birthday! She is away at college in Vermont. Will post the card I sent to her later today. : )

My Niece's Birthday...

...was yesterday, and this is the card I made for her. At first I thought it was kind of busy, but I've made friends with it. :) She lives with us while going to college, but was working yesterday so I haven't seen her yet. Hope she likes it. From bottom up, used SU! CS for the base card. All of the DP is Basic Gray Eva. Misted the Spellbinders In Spades pendant with Glimmer Mist in two different colors, though that doesn't show in the pic. The sentiment is from JustRite Just A Note set, with one of the 2" borders around it. Cut out with circle Nestabilities, with a scalloped base. That was attached with dimensionals to the pendant, then added some Basic Gray pearls I got from Flourishes.

Stamps: JustRite Just A Note, and 2" Borders.
Paper: SU cardstock. Basic Gray Eva.
Ink: Colorbox Queues, Marvy Marker.
Accessories: BG pearls, Spellbinders, Glimmer Mist, Cuttlebug.

I covered these little tins with some DP from My Minds Eye. I used the little cutouts from the In Spades pendant, again misted with Glimmer Mist, and attached those to the tops, with a rhinestone in the center. Printed the contents on my computer, then cut those out with a Spellbinders label, inked while still in the die, then attached to the tin and added two little pink rhinestones. Attached ribbon around the lid. My niece and daughter love the teas from Teavana, and we have a store here, so I got some of their favorite for each of them, and that is what is in one of the tins. The other has German rock sugar to sweeten the tea. Also got her a tea maker to go with it.

Stamps: None.
Paper: My Mind's Eye.
Ink: Computer, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Spellbinders circles and label, rhinestones, Cuttlebug, tea tins, ribbon.

Feeling Froggy

Maybe the title should say "foggy", because that's how my brain felt at first when a friend asked me to make a set of note cards for her adult step-daughter, who loves frogs. The specs were that she wanted "a frog theme; her favorite colors are black, green and turquoise...have fun!". Ooookay.

I don't collect frog stamps, having only one little bitty one that would not have worked. So I went here and found these digital images. Yes, I cheated. But it felt so right. lol. These are the cards I came up with, along with the box. This is a set of eight cards and envelopes. My camera and I obviously weren't on friendly terms for the card pix. Have no idea why, because the picture of the box looks great and everything was set up the same for the cards. Oh well, I think you'll get the idea. Here we go:

The box for the cards is the pizza box style, sized for A2 cards. Used black for the box. Embossed the turquoise panels with a Cuttlebug strip. Stamped her name with JustRite font and cut it out with Spellbinders Label, attached to panel. I printed the image as-is from pccrafter already colored, got it to the size I wanted, cut it out with Spellbinders Deckled Rectangles, as well as a black base. The only thing I added was some Twinkling H2O's to her swimsuit, though it's hard to see in the picture. Added a CB embossed strip to the front edge of the box, and decorated the corners with BG Euphoria paper cut with a corner adorner.


Now for the cards. Sorry they're blurry. They are each a little different, with 2 of each design in the set.
















I attached the BG Euphoria strip to the turquoise base, then embossed with various CB folders. Cut out the images with different Spellbinders dies, sponged the edges with green then black on the very edge. Used two different JustRite fonts for her initial, cut those out with Spellbinders and gave them a base as well. I added Twinkling H2O's to the swimsuits in two images. Put lavender Stickles on the sunglasses (top one) - think that's my favorite, and also Waterfall Stickles on the water of third one. These ended up being a lot of fun to make after I got over the mojo hurdle. My friend really liked them and said her step-daughter would love them. Yay! :)

Stamps: JustRite Monogram stamps.
Paper: Basic Grey Euphoria, The Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Spellbinders dies, Stickles, Cuttlebug folders, Twinkling H2O's, rhinestones.

A Little Catch Up

Well, I have been MIA again since August. Thanks to those of you who checked in on me during that time. Nothing serious, just super busy with massage therapy school and work. Graduated from MT school last Tuesday (YAY!). I am scheduled to take my State Board exam this Wednesday. Then just have to wait for the state to send me my license and I'll be open for business. Massage anyone? :)

Even though I have been absent from blogland, I have been making things. However, I forgot to take pictures, or couldn't find my camera, so obviously those things won't get posted. But here are two note card sets and a gift tag I made this past week, and my annual Halloween card I sent to my girlfriends (I know, very late posting this one).

I saw this Impression Obsession stamp and loved it! Stamped with Stazon and colored with Prismacolor pencils. Ribbon on the broom painted with Twinkling H2Os. Liquid Pearls on the bubbles. Image cut out with Spellbinders Labels Eight, added the tiny moon brad, and attached to grey CS base over narrow ribbon from Target $1 bin, and the cobweb MS border punch. I used black embossing powder on the Inkadinkado cat. Regular stamping of the sentiment from My Favorite Things in the upper corner.

Stamps: Spa Day from Impression Obsession, Inkadinkado Scary Cat, Out on a Limb from My Favorite Things.
Paper: The Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues, Prismacolor pencils.
Accessories: Spellbinders Labels Eight, brad, ribbon, embossing powder, Liquid Pearls, Twinkling H2Os.

This first set is a set of 8 cards, made with a Kraft CS base from SU! Background DP is by Olf Fashion Flowers by Fiskars. The bands are the reverse of that DP, and I embossed four of them with the textile CB folder. Monogram with JustRite stamp cut out with round Nestie and mounted on two layers of Spellbinders Labels Nine. Easy peasy, but so pretty.


Stamps: JustRite Monogram stamp.
Paper: Kraft CS from SU!, Fiskars DP, Pearl stationary paper from Office Depot.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Spellbinders labels and nestabilities, Cuttlebug, embossing folder.

This is the gift tag I made to put on a bottle of wine I gave my frient Tommie for her birthday. I had printed out the sentiment "It's your party...wine if you want to", cut and embossed with Spellbinders Labels Five and inked all around it. Tied it to the wine bottle I had wrapped in purple and black tissue paper. Boring! Then I happened upon this post by Donna and just had to make those grapes! Not sure how I didn't notice that one embossed grape got into the bunch, but that's okay. It looked really great, and Tommie loved it! I used three leaves from a Cuttlebug die, and one Spellbinders leaf. The grapes are just layered oval Nesties. I attached the grapes to the tag and tied it to the bottle with some raffia.

Stamps: None.
Paper: CS from Hobby Lobby.
Ink: Computer.
Accessories: CB leaf die, Spellbinders leaf, Labels Five, and oval Nestabilities, foam tape, raffia, eyelet.

Last but not least is this set I made for Tommie's daughter, who turned 21. Their birthdays are one day apart, and a bunch of us got together for a fun birthday surprise for these two. I used two different colors of CS from SU! for the base of these cards, embossed with CB Victoria folder. I don't know the name of the orange/cream CS, it's scraps in my stash I've had for a while. Those are the bands and the background on the box. Again, Spellbinders Labels Five layered under JustRite monogram cut out with circile Nestabilities.

Stamps: JustRite Monogram.
Paper: SU! cardstock, The Paper Studio CS, ??DP from my stash, Pearl stationary paper from Office Depot.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Spellbinders Labels Five and circle Nestabilities, CB Victoria Folder.

Birthday Card for Tyler

Yay! Finally I managed to sit down and make a card! This one is for my son's 16th birthday, which was a couple days ago. Happy birthday Tyler!!! I saw this tri-shutter card several weeks back when I was blurfing (that word makes me giggle, sounds like a physical reaction to bad food ~grin~) before I went to sleep. Had to give it a whirl. My son loves deer and being outdoors, so this is what I came up with.

I stamped the SU! Nature Silhouette stamps with Versamark and then embossed with black EP. The background is sponged with several different shades of Colorbox Queues, then the image was cut with square Nestabilities. The DP is from my stash, some I got at Hobby Lobby a good while back. The sentiment was printed on my computer, cut and embossed with Deckled Rectangles Nesties, then sponged. The "believe" is from Making Memories. It is aluminum mounted on foam. I colored it gold with my gold leaf pen before attaching it. In trying not to add too much bling since this is a masculine card, I controlled myself and only added the one antique bronze corner brad to the image, and a few tiny flat back gold beads to some of the corners. Tyler really liked it. : )

Again, I would like to say thank you to those of you who have checked in on me via e-mail over the past months of my absence from blogville. I went from job hunting and getting doors slammed in my face, to going back to school for massage therapy and then started a job middle of June. Love the job, love doing massage therapy! I will graduate from the school in November. I am working for a chiropractor, then when I get my licence I will be doing massage therapy for her, so will be a seamless transition. I am hoping to get more regular again with making and posting cards, though will not be attempting to do as many challenges as I was before. I sure have missed playing with paper!

I have enjoyed my kiddos this summer. My daughter will be leaving this coming Monday to head back to Vermont for her second year of college. My son has been busy with the summer ROTC training program at his high school, and will be starting his junior year in a couple of weeks.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Nature Silhouette.
Paper: Paper Studio CS, and DP from Hobby Lobby.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Corner brad, Nestabilities, flat back beads, Making Memories Words.

Thanks For Checking In

Never thought I would be missed here in blogville, but I have received quite a few e-mails over the past couple of weeks asking if I am okay. I have to say, I am very touched and the e-mails are appreciated. I am okay, just still missing my mojo. Actually just flat out no desire to create anything, which is a very strange place for me. Even my sis-in-law and Chuck have been teasing me about my lack of card making. :) Overall I think it is simply stress. Not that stress is simple; it stinks. lol. Losing my job and being the sole income producer kind of escalates stress. Very difficult to find a job in this icky economic climate, but I'm out there hunting.

As a bit of a tension reliever, my friend Deborah (also jobless) and I went to Enchanted Rock last Wednesday to "climb the rock". It is one of my favorite places to go, just to get away for a little bit, find some peace. It is remote, very quiet, beautiful out there. We took bottles of water and a picnic lunch. We laughed and goofed around as we were going up, took some really silly pictures, and at the top we sat down and ate our lunch. Then we laid back on the rock to relax, talked and watched the clouds go by...you know doing that hallucinating thing where you think you see a shape in the clouds. Couple of times we actually saw the same thing. heehee! We eventually climbed around on a couple outcroppings of rocks, then went back down. By that time we were hungry again, so on the way back through Fredricksburg, we stopped and had lunch at a German restaurant. We decided that day was the perfect "prescription" for stress relief...climbing Enchanted Rock with someone who makes you laugh. :)

Another bright note - I have some travels coming up in the next two weeks. I leave tomorrow to go to Vermont to see my daughter and participate in the Relay For Life that is being hosted at the university she is attending. I am SO looking forward to seeing my sweet Shelbie! I have missed her like crazy. I will return Monday from Vermont, then turn around and head to Daytona Beach Friday for the JROTC National Competition. My son, Tyler, is on the varsity male JROTC drill team and Color Guard, and this will be his second year to compete over there. I am so proud of how well he has done. After the competition we have a "free day" at the beach, and all the kids get to run around down on the boardwalk and play on the beach. This will be my fifth trip over there for this competition (my daughter was in JROTC as well and competed at Nationals, and last year both my kids were competing there).

Hopefully these trips will kick start my mojo. Thanks again to those of you who checked in on me, and I hope to be back to papering my blog soon. :)

Just For Fun

I had posted a while back that I was starting an exercise program. I have been going to the gym each morning with my son, Tyler. We play a couple games of racquetball, and we have a lot of fun, then workout with the weights. While he showers and gets ready for school, I hop on a treadmill (I shower when I get back home). Well, I had a bit of a learning curve on one of the treadmills and had no idea I was being watched, much less videotaped. Here's that video clip. Boy is this embarrassing!

Haha. Okay, so this was all in fun. The arm didn't actually break off. hee hee! I get the giggles every time I watch this. Hope you enjoyed it. : )

I have no idea why, but I have had no desire to even go near my crafting table since my last post. I have checked out the challenges I usually do, but nothing. I even got some happy mail which included some new Whiff of Joy and Sarah Kay stamps. Hope this doesn't last long.

Whiff of Joy #23

I really love these spring Whiff of Joy images! This week's Whiff of Joy Challenge is a sketch by the wonderfully talented Donalda. I used the Willow Sitting image, and decided to put her on her armchair. The images were colored with Prismacolor pencils and baby oil. I stamped tiny flowers a bit darker than the yellow on the chair to give it an upholstered look. Chalked around the image with Pebbles chalks. The basket was colored and cut out, attached on foam tape. It actually has eggs in it, but I put Flower Soft on it to make it a basket of flowers. All the DP is from Basic Grey Two Scoops pack. Sentiment is from Inkadinkado Southern Belle, attached on foam tape.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Willow Sitting with Flower Wreath, Willow's Armchair, Basket; Inkadinkado Southern Belle.
Paper: Basic Grey Two Scoops, The Paper Studio CS.
Ink: Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Flower Soft, corner rounder, foam tape, Pebbles Chalks.

Timeless Tuesday #8

Ms. Betty Wright is hosting the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday this week and wants us to emboss it. Whatever type of embossing, it's up to you. I chose this image from the new Sweet Pea set, embossed it with gold EP and colored it with Prismas and baby oil. Decided to use the sketch from Taylored Expressions I cut out the image with oval Nestabilities, chalked around the image with Pebbles chalks. The solid colored papers are from HOTP. Used a piece from DCWV Luxury Stack to frame the image; cut out the oval, scalloped the border, and attached this piece up on foam tape so that image is set back. Added the flat back pearls. Not sure how I came up with this color combo. It looked good at midnight-ish last night. hee hee! ;)

Stamps: Flourishes Sweet Pea.
Paper: Hot Off The Press, The Paper Studio CS, DCWV Luxury Stack.
Ink: Versamark.
Accessories: Gold EP, Fiskars border punch, flat back pearls, foam tape.

House Mouse #30 - Shaped Card

I bounced around for a while with different ideas and this is what I finally settled on for this week's House Mouse Challenge. The DT decided on a shaped card for this challenge. My first idea started out looking great yesterday sketched out on paper. Fast forward to the cardstock cut into the shape and stamped with a critter, though still not finished. I put it down for a bit and then when I got back to it, all I could think was that it looked like a deformed elephant sitting on its rump with it's front legs and trunk up, and with a mouse bouncing around in its head. Not a good look, obviously. So it was filed in the recycling bin and left this morning with the truck. It was actually supposed to be a bunch of bubbles, with the mousie bouncing around inside one of them. Still looks good in the sketch, but I couldn't make it work in reality. :) SOOOOOO...This morning I drew this cup, handle and foot on the back of the DP, cut it out and attached it to the card base, then cut out the card base around it. The sentiment is actually the name of the stamp, and it was printed from my computer, cut out with Spellbinders Tag, attached on foam tape. The image was colored with Prismas, cut out and attached up on foam tape as well. Twinkling H2O's were added to the handle and part of the foot, and Stickles decorated the foot as well. I moved this card all over trying to get a better picture, but the lighting here is not good so will have to deal with a pale picture.

Stamps: House Mouse We're "Mint Tea" Be Together.

Paper: Hot Off The Press Handmade Flowers DP, The Paper Studio CS.

Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Twinkling H2O's, Stickles, Spellbinders Tag, foam tape.

A Beauty From Barb!

Several weeks ago there were some blogs posting winnings where if you were one of the first five to comment you would win an original item made by the blog owner. I was one the first five on Barb's wonderful blog Made for Keeps. She sent out a teaser a couple days ago letting us know she had sent our goodies. Oh my, my did I get a beauty!!! Barb knows I love these Rubbernecker ladies, and here is the card she made for me using one of them. What a treasure! Barb also gave me two awards, which I will get posted soon. Thank you so much Barb!
Ahem, I need to finish my five items and get them sent. :)

Rubbernecker Wacky Wednesday With a Tab

Here is my last card for catch-up this past week. This was is for Rubbernecker's Wacky Wednesday challenge. The design team members are taking turns with the challenge, and this week we were given a sketch. The image was stamped with Stazon, colored with Prismas blended with baby oil. Painted the moon with Twinkling H2O's, and added Tiara Stickles to the stars. Sentiment from Verve. Also added Stickles to some of the white dots on the DP. As a perk, Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge was to use up those little bits of ribbon by adding ribbon tabs. I had this MS ribbon left over from a previous post so it became a tab on this card. :)

Back to more job hunting this week. Me as the only bread winner and deadbeat dad not paying child support, I am close to panic mode. Wish me luck!

Stamps: Rubbernecker (Stamp Oasis) Moon Child, Verve Fairy Tales.
Paper: Basic Grey Lilikate, Hot Off the Press, SU! CS.
Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Stickles, Twinkling H2O's, Dew Drops, Ribbon.

Timeless Tuesday #7

I am finally getting around to the last two cards I have been working on this week. This one is for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge, where hostess Cindy Haffner challenged us to use ribbon. *Sigh*...I love ribbon, have lots of it, but I am so ribbon challenged I rarely use it other than sticking it straight across a card. I really struggle with tying bows, other than on my shoes, and most of the time end up needing both hands and feet for a card bow. hee hee! Think I did okay on this one though. Yay! I had this image from Flourishes Coffee With Friends already embossed with copper EP and it was just the size for the Mojo Monday 78 sketch. Pic looks washed out, can't seem to get good lighting, but these colors look so good IRL. The bottom DP is a pale golden yellow, and the top one a bit paler, though they look blah in the pic. Wrestled with the ribbon and successfully got it tied how I like it without having to call my son in here to add a finger. : ) Stamped the sentiment directly onto the card, added the Dew Drops. Will get the other card posted shortly.

Stamps: Flourishes Coffee With Friends.
Paper: My Mind's Eye, Hot Off The Press Flowered Handmade pack.
Ink: Versamark, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Copper EP, ribbon, Dew Drops, corner rounder.

Crafty Secrets #60 on SCS

One more post for today; keep scrolling down for the other two. The Crafty Secrets Challenge on SCS is to make a monochromatic card. I wanted to use this image and sentiment, so searched around until I found this sketch (SFYTT) on Jen Del Muro's blog. I chalked around the image, cut it out with oval Nestabilities. Used Deco corner punch on the mat. Also stamped and cut out the sentiment. Used the DCWV DP because it was a perfect match for the chalking. The lower piece was plain, so I stamped a couple of the Crafty Secrets Flourishes, then attached the sentiment on foam tape. Added some Martha Stewart ribbon. There was a snag on the ribbon that I didn't notice until after I had it attached, so I made the vellum flower to cover it. :)

Stamps: Crafty Secrets For the Girls, and Flourishes.
Paper: The Paper Studio, DCWV Luxury mat pack.
Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.
Accessories: Ribbon, Nestabilities, Pebbles chalks, foam tape, flower punches, Stickles, Deco corner punch.

Whiff of Joy #22

Second post today; scroll down for my House Mouse card. This week's Whiff of Joy Challenge has gone green! We're supposed to use lots of green for our cards this week. I followed the sketch for the
Weekend Sketch Challenge on Jenn Balcer's blog, obviously not for the challenge itself but just for the layout. Thought it was perfect for a WOJ card. Willow is colored as usual with Prismacolors blended with baby oil. Added some Stickles to her bracelet and jeans, Flower Soft in her basket, then chalked around the image with Pebbles chalks. The DP's are from Hot Off The Press, DCWV, and The Paper Loft. Butterflies are vellum, punched with MS punch. Flowers punched from scraps, curled, inked and stacked, with rhinestones in the centers and some little tendrils.

Stamps: Whiff of Joy Willow With Flower Basket.
Paper: Hot Off The Press, DCWV, The Paper Loft.
Ink: Stazon.
Accessories: Rhinestones, Stickles, Flower Soft, MS butterfly punch, flower punches.

House Mouse #29

I didn't get around to finishing this post yesterday evening, so here it is now. The House Mouse Challenge this week gave us a sketch to use. Mojo is still only sporadically materializing these days. I feel kind of all over the place with this card, but I really like the sketch. The image was colored with Prismacolors blended with baby oil. The flowers themselves were painted with two different colors of Twinkling H2O's, though that gorgeous shimmer does not show in the pic. I can't seem to get good lighting so all my cards look really dull and pale, but IRL this card is much brighter. Chalked around it with yellow Pebbles chalks with orange in two corners. The DP's are from The Paper Loft, Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye and I have no idea who makes the gold embossed DP. The flourish in the corner is Tim Holtz Grungeboard. Colored it with gold Deco pen, then inked edges with Stucco Colorbox Queues.

Stamp: House Mouse Take Time to Smell the Flowers.

Paper: The Paper Loft Front Room/Parlour, Basic Grey Urban Couture, My Mind's Eye, Unknokwn gold embossed paper.

Ink: Stazon, Colorbox Queues.

Accessories: Twinkling H2O's, Cuttlebug, Grungeboard, Deco pen.

SSNOTIME - White Mat

I have been spending the last few days job hunting, both out stopping in different businesses and papering the internet with my resume. Haven't had much paper play time so I played catch up with some of this week's challenges. Most are still in the finishing stages, but will probably get at least one more posted this evening and the rest tomorrow. Wanted to get in Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge to use a white mat rather than our usual dark ones, before her next challenge comes out tomorrow. I love this stamp but couldn't seem to come up with a layout I liked to make it really stand out. Then I bumbled onto the 2 Red Bananas blog, scrolled down and thought THIS is it. It was from a sketch challenge they did a couple weeks ago, simple and clean, but I think it's perfect for this image. She is called Large Cameo, from Creative Images. I stamped her with Colorbox Queues, faintly colored in the flowers on her dress, then cut out the oval. The white mat I drew freehand and cut out with deckle edge scissors. The smaller pieces of cardstock in the corners are from DCWV Luxury Stack and Basic Grey Porcelain. The flowers I made. Stickled in the center with Tiara, and attached to the card. Little scrolls in the corners are from Crafty Secrets Flourishes set stamped with Versamark.

Stamps: Large Cameo by Creative Images, Crafty Secrets Flourishes.
Paper: Stampin Up! CS, DCWV Luxury Stack, Basic Grey Porcelain. The Paper Studio white CS.
Ink: Colorbox Queues, Versamark.
Accessories: Deckle edge scissors, flower punches, Stickles.