Sanded Thank You

Over at SCS today, Julia's Ways To Use It Challenge is "Sand It!" I've been wanting to try this, plus a few other goodies, so I jumped in. Here's what I did....

I took a piece of Basic Grey patterned paper from the Wassail line - it's the distressed brown that's on the reverse side of the "tree lot" 12x12 paper (*gasp*, I know, turning the pretty side around!) or it's a single in the 6x6 pad. I ran a panel through the Cuttlebug with the Script embossing folder. Then, I sanded gently with some fine grit sandpaper, until the script was mostly white. Blow off all the dust, LOL!!

I then sprayed this panel with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Antique Brass. Boy, I have trouble using this stuff.... just don't have the hang of it yet, but I liked the effect I got with this piece (see detail), and so ... onwards!

I stamped the image and sentiment from Cornish Heritage Farms' "On the Desk" set from The Rummage Bin line in Versafine ink in Vintage Sepia, and cut them out. The next nifty little product I used was The Paper Company's Metallic Cover paper in "Amber," which I got at Michael's. LOVE the shimmery shine of these metallic papers!! I cut panels to surround the images, the background, etc. You can see how I put it all together. A rather clean and simple look, it's just that the background took some fussing.

Hop on over to the gallery and see what everyone's been sanding up!

Winter Wonderland Skaters

My card today incorporates three challenges: The Winter Wonderland Week #10 challenge, which has a sketch this week; the Splitcoast Stampers' Inspiration Challenge from Saturday, which is Heavenly Hostess; and the Gingersnap Creations GC16 Spicy Supply challenge, which is to use ribbon on a project. What fun these were to use together!

The Winter Wonderland theme this week was "Winter Wonderland" (how 'bout that?) and Beth Jaffe came up with this adorable sketch.


Over at SCS, Stef found the Heavenly Hostess site, with the cutest aprons! My inspiration apron for that one was this retro skater apron. I included a close-up of the fabric too - showing my favorite winter sport!

Finally, the Gingersnap Creations ladies have been inspiring me so much lately, I just HAD to play along with one of their challenges!! It's my first, so I chose an easy one, LOL! They have three challenges going on right now, and they always allow lots of time for each one. You'll want to check out their site this month, because they have some wonderful blog candy up for grabs (you don't have to play to enter, but after you visit, you'll probably be inspired to create!).

So, onto the details. My main skater image, along with the sentiment, is from Stampin' Up!'s Winter Post stamp set (Loooove it!). The trees and the iceskates for the background paper are both from Inkadinkado. For that background paper, I made a little mini patterned paper by randomly stamping the skate image, masking it, then gently tapping Baja Breeze ink over the white areas with a sponge dauber. I then colored in only the laces (red, to match my ribbon laces embellishment). Both the skates and the main image are colored with Copics. I used two rows of eyelets to resemble those of iceskates, and then laced 'em up! The patterned paper is all from My Mind's Eye Bohemia Bliss line, and the colored cardstock is SU!'s Riding Hood Red and Baja Breeze. (Those two lines go GREAT together - I know those are retired SU colors, but come on, we're all hoarding some, right? ;)) The white cardstock is PTI, and I cut out the image with Nestabilities Labels One. Did I forget anything? Hope not.

Thanks for looking and have a great Monday!

SCS Inspiration Challenge - Chasing Fireflies

The Inspiration Challenge over at SCS was the children's clothing and accessories catalogue Chasing Fireflies. For my inspiration I chose this photo, because I just loved the rich colors in this outfit, and the fun combination of flowers and stripes. I used Scrappy Cat stamps for the flower images, which I cut out and pieced, and added buttons and twine from my stash as the centers. I free-hand cut the stems and some of the leaves (the leaves on the right are from a MacGill punch). I layered it all on a background cut with Nestabilities Labels One dies. I added striped paper from Basic Grey, layered with Kiwi Kiss (SU) and cut with Fiskar's threading water punch. The ribbon is from Martha Stewart, and the pearls are from Kaiser. Just a quick, cheery little card, for a birthday perhaps. (I haven't added a sentiment inside yet - may need a quick thank you some day!) TFL!

SCS Featured Stamper Challenge

Sunday's Featured Stamper challenge over at SCS was to emulate Sandra, a.k.a. "B-gin-r". I chose this card from her gallery. The topiary image is from The Little Paper Shop. For her card, Sandra embossed her image in white, then applied distress inks to add color, with the embossing acting as a resist. I wanted to use chalks to add color (not sure why I had that idea....) Anyway, after much trial and much error, I learned that the best way to approach this design was to rub a few different colors of green chalk on a white panel, THEN stamp the image in VersaMark and emboss with white embossing powder. My other unsuccessful attempts were to emboss with clear and white embossing powder first, thinking that the embossing would act as a resist for the chalk. Not so, at least not in my hands!! Anyway, the rest is pretty simple. The patterned paper is by Anna Griffin, and the cardstock is SU's Soft Sky, Kiwi Kiss, and Always Artichoke. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Bling and ribbon are from my stash. Really, this would have been a 10-minute card if I'd done it right the first time, LOL!! Ah well, live and learn. Have a great Monday, everyone!

Secrets

Yesterday's Inspiration Challenge over at SCS was the amazing work of Sarah Collier. I chose as my inspiration this piece, entitled Frozen Custard. How amazing is her work?!?! I started by ripping out a page of old text (I liked that the chapter heading was "Secrets" - perhaps those shared by a boy and his dad) and painting it with ivory craft paint. While that dried, I stamped text with StazOn on a piece of acetate (stamps by Hero Arts and Limited Edition). I stamped the main image (Tin Can Mail) on the dry paint with ColorBox Chestnut Roan pigment ink. I stamped it another time on scrap paper and cut out just the sentiment. I then layered the image, the acetate, and the sentiment, and fixed them together with brads. I added a ticket (from Tim Holtz Idea-ology) to the top with a little paper fastener from 7 Gypsies. I then layered this whole thing onto a card base made with Basic Grey and K and Co. patterned papers. Fairly quick-n-easy.

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend - thanks for stopping by!

Sea and Sand

A little card for the Limited Supplies Challenge over at SCS today. The challenge: use only the colors of the sea and sand, and must use fibers, piercing, and brads. My seahorse image is from Anita's, stamped in SU's Blue Bayou on River Rock cardstock. I then distressed and pierced this main image panel. I used a bunch of different stamps to create patterned papers on SU's Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, and River Rock cardstocks, including Inkadinkado and Stampabilities. The sentiment is from Anna Griffin. The side panel with the fibers was crinkled and distressed, in honor of yesterday's Ways to Use It challenge. :) This project really made me long for the shore.... but it's a landlubber's life for me, for now :) Have a wonderful day!

Mojo Monday, SCS Inspiration, and an Amazing Sight

We'll start off with the card, but if you'd like to skip to the amazing sight, then scroll down :). Here's a little card I made based on the Mojo Monday Week 90 sketch
and Saturday's Inspiration Challenge over at SCS. The Inspiration Challenge was based on a company called Design Dazzle, and the picture I chose is this one.









There's a lot happening in this card, so here we go with the deets: The stamped images are by Papertrey Ink (Bird Watching Additions), Cornish Heritage Farms (Vintage Ledger Scrapblock background behind the birds, Ornamental Beauty ornament thingy in the circle), Stampington (branch), Judith (leaves), and Fiskars (howdy from the Just Between Friends set). The circle label is by K and Company. The leaf ribbon is Papertrey Ink's, and the twine is from Martha Stewart. The patterned paper is from Crate Paper (Samantha), and the cardstock is all Stampin Up (Certainly Celery, Baja Breeze, and Ivory... is it Vanilla?) The inks are Stampin Up's Certainly Celery and Baja Breeze for the birds, and Chocolate Chip for the sentiment and feet. I used Ranger Distress Inks in Antique Linen for the ledger and branch and Vintage Photo for the distressing around the edges. The top green panel is punched with Fiskar's threading water punch. I added a little bling from my stash for the eyes. Whew, is that everything?

So on to the amazing sight. Have a look at this beauty (sorry for the blurry photos, it was dusk and I was far away).

He's an albino white-tailed deer! He was hanging out with a brown doe at the edge of a field after my son's baseball game. He appears to be either a spike buck or a 4-pointer, it was hard to tell. These two were completely un-bothered by the paparazzi that gathered to have a look and take pictures. Hopefully he will live a long and happy life! Here's one last photo of the two deer together.



Have a great day, and don't forget to be on the lookout for the little wonders of the world :)

Mojo Monday Week 89

Is it possible to fall in love with a stamp set? Seriously, to actually CRAVE using a particular set of stamps? Because when I saw these stamps, my heart melted! I just had to adopt (um, buy) these cute little bugs! :) Anyway, this is my card for the Mojo Monday sketch this week. This adorable bug stamp set is by Basic Grey, released as part of their Wisteria Collection. I did the card in Stampin' Up's Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, and Tangarine Tango colors, which happens to be the color challenge over at SCS. I colored the little buggies with Copics to match the paper, then added a little Dazzling Diamonds and cut them out with my Nestabilities Labels One die. The patterns in the stripe and the bottom paper were made with the stamp set. The top patterned paper is from SU's Urban Garden collection. I added some leaf ribbon from Papertrey Ink, a blossom from a spray (Michael's), and some Hero Arts bling. The stitching in the circle is actually a Hero Arts faux-stitch stamp (50% off at Archiver's!). I had so much fun with this sketch, the color combo, and my new pets ... er, I mean, stamps! Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

That's why they call them "Challenges"...

Today's challenge over at SCS was to make a card inspired by a bookcover at this site. My card is based on this bookcover (small photo). . This is quite outside my box, but hey, doing this sort of thing makes us grow, right? :) I used my new Papertrey Ink set called Bird Watching Additions (my first order), which I used for the colored bird images. The black and white birds are from Crafty Secrets and my daughter's Disney Hannah Montana set, of all things LOL!!. The blue cardstock is SU's Blue Bayou, and the rest of the paper, ribbon, and bling are from my stash (companies long forgotten, so sorry!) I computer-generated the sentiment.

So let me tell you, I had a very nice experience with Papertrey Ink. I put in my first-ever order, which included two stamp sets, white cardstock, vellum cardstock, leaf ribbon, and buttons. Everything was FABULOUS - the quality is excellent. BUT.... the buttons fell well short of the advertised quantity of 100 to 275 buttons per bag. So I sent an email to customer service, and you know what? I got an email back from Nichole Heady herself (she's the founder/owner) apologizing, saying she would send me an ADDITIONAL set of buttons free of charge, and saying that they will change their website to better reflect the actual quantity of buttons now in the packets (apparently they were doing it by weight, but as the buttons got larger, the quantity got smaller). I was blown away by the quick, personal, and wonderful response. I will definitely order from them again! It's so nice when people do the right thing - made my weekend :) Have a wonderful weekend yourself!

Buttons and Lace ATCs

An ATC that I made for our local swap tonight in Apex, NC.
I just love this Botticelli clipart image (I've used her before) and this Cornish Heritage Farms stamp set (Ornamental Beauty) designed by Julia Stainton. Our theme was to use buttons and lace, so I raided my mom's stash of vintage mother-of-pearl buttons and old lace - what fun! I had the cards done yesterday, then noticed that today's Ways to Use It challenge over at SCS is buttons. Now that's a great piece of luck LOL! If you'd like, check out the rest of the gallery here. Thanks for looking and have a wonderful day!

Lavendar and Cream

This card was made using this week's Sketch Challenge over on SCS.

I thought I'd try something a little more involved, with chipboard, paint, glitter, lots of embellies.... all my fav's on one card LOL! I just love these vintage-looking papers from My Mind's Eye - I'm really into the purple-cream-brown color scheme right now. The tag was made by first stamping the music background from Anna Griffin for All Night Media. I then adhered some patterned paper to the chipboard medallion (from Maya Road), sanded, distressed, and added a rub-on from My Mind's Eye. I stamped the butterfly stamp from Martha Stewart, then ran it through my Xyron stamped side down, and added some glassy glitter. I then tied it with some Martha Stewart ribbon, a button and flower from my stash, and some waxy twine. The chipboard corners are from 7 Gypsies, and the "thank you" sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Elegant notes. Thanks for your visit and have a great day!

Ornamental Beauty and Some ATCs

Hello! This card was made using the SCS sketch challenge for this week. What a fun and challenging sketch this was! I've been dying to use my new Ornamental Beauty stamp set from Cornish Heritage Farms. This is just one of those sets that spoke to me when I saw it... I love Julia's style (see a link to her blog, Belle Papier, on the right). I know I will use every single image at some point.... for backgrounds, ATCs, collages, cards, you name it. Anyway, all of the stamped images on this card are from that set. I colored the main image with Copics. The flower is from Prima, and the patterned papers are from Autumn Leaves (dark pink) and Anna Griffin (lighter pink). Thanks, Roxie, for a wonderful sketch.

I thought I'd also post some pics of a series of ATCs I did using some of my photos of my blue hydrangeas, along with an Inkadinkado hydrangea stamp.



There are twelve altogether, plus I posted them again in sets of four below.
I think my favorite new technique that I learned by trial and error was stamping on mulberry paper, then adhering it to a photo background... the photo subtly shows through the paper (maybe not so easy to see here). It's the bottom left ATC in the middle photo.





Thanks so much for visiting and have a wonderful day!

Mojo Monday Week 85 - Shabby Chic Baby

Here's a Shabby Chic style baby card that I made using the Mojo Monday Week 85 challenge sketch. I LOVE the sketch this week - although it took me a couple of tries to put it together correctly LOL!! I also used kraft cardstock to fit in with the Ways to Use It challenge over at SCS. The little feet image is from All Night Media, and the sentiment is from savvystamps. I used an Inkadinkado paisley stamp and Riding Hood Red ink (Stampin' Up) on kraft for the background panel behind the feet. I also used some of my stash of My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus paper that I've been seriously hoarding! The strip of kraft scallops was made with Fiskars threading water punch. I distressed the panel edges with a variety of inks... white pigment, red, Antique Linen (Ranger), and Colorbox smoke blue. Thanks for looking and have a wonderful weekend!

Teacher Appreciation Week Gift Set

I made four sets of cards like this one for my kids' teachers. This week is Teacher Appreciation Week for us, and on Thursday we were to send in a "little gift." Is that a throw-down challenge for us papercrafters, or what? LOL! Anyway, these cards all use Stampin' Up's Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper, along with Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, and white cardstock and matching ink (with a few exceptions if you're reading on.....).

This first card uses the tree swallow Stamp of the Month (April) from Cornish Heritage Farms - Oh, how I LOVE their stamps!! I stamped the swallows in taupe ink from Anita's, then overstamped the script from Inkadinkado in Baja Breeze. The distressing is done with Ranger's Vintage Photo (same for all the cards here). I also added a cute little corduroy brad from SU... they're so soft and cuddly, it's hard to part with them! The border punch is from Fiskars.

This card was lots of fun to make. I debated using my Copics to color the image, but instead used a blender pen with Baja Breeze and Ranger Antique Linen inks (and a tiny bit of Pink Pirouette on the shell). SU's white cardstock is THE BEST for this sort of thing, because it has such a smooth surface. The image is from Inkadinkado. The starfish in the background are from Stampington (Christine Adolf's collection - LOVE IT!!). I used some regular old twine (glued down) and some Making Memories brads (to make it look tacked down :))

Nothing too complicated here... another of my fav stamps from Inkadinkado. The background Baja is embossed with Cuttlebug dots. Added another fuzzy corduroy button (sniff sniff, it's okay, I know they're going to good homes LOL!)

Okay, for all you Stampin' Uppers.... First of all, a big THANKS to "eured99" on Splitcoast Stampers, whose card I CASEd from HERE. The stamps are from Sense of Time. I ran the Baja CS through the Cuttlebug textile embosser. This was the only time I snuck in a non-SU paper (the bottom pinstripe is from the Bohemia line). I figured I needed to keep at least one card semi-masculine :)

Another SU card, and another SHOUT OUT to "bigsky", the lady whose card I cased HERE. Hers is MUCH more beautiful, but at 3:00 in the morning, I was desperate! So I simplified. The image is from SU's Bloomin' Beautiful. I again used the same inks (plus Always Artichoke) with a blender pen. I used a Fiskar's border punch, and some velvet ribbon I got at Michael's... this stuff is VERY close to Baja Breeze and it's on sale this week (from Dashes, Dots, and Checks).

Wow, that was long-winded. Hope you found something you liked. Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Grandin Road Inspiration

My card today is a *late* participation in the Grandin Road Inspiration Challenge over at SCS. I was so inspired by the collaged postcard images at Grandin Road - what a fun card project! The hydrangea is colored with Prismacolor pencils. My laundry list of stamps used (so fun!): PSX (hydrangea), Martha Stewart (butterflies), Stampington, Hero Arts, Stampin' Up, Limited Edition.

I'll leave you with a few pictures I took at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina. We visited for Easter sunrise service, and the gardens were in their full glory. Have a beautiful day!

Created by Hand Spring Challenge

I made this card for the Spring challenge at Created byHand, using the sketch challenge over at SCS. I have been hoarding my Basic Grey Periphery paper and diecuts (LOVE THEM!), but decided to take the plunge and finally use it LOL! I also used stamps from PSX, the Angel Company, and Stampington, along with some SU Kiwi Kiss ink and paper, Colorbox pigment ink, and some K and Co. paper. Thanks for looking!