Tackling the Techno Stamper Sketch!

It's been such a looooong time since I've gotten to play along with Mary Jo's Monday Lunchtime Sketch! Here is my attempt, using the French Script BG, I {heart} Hearts, and the Color Throwdown combo of Melon Mambo, Pacific Point, and River Rock. I don't love it, but I have another one in my head that I hope to set free later.

That's it for today. There's really not much to chat about. I did get out shopping a bit today and bought the boys some matching shirts for their holiday photos. I just have to book the photo session by the end of October and we'll be in good shape! Have a good rest of the week. Thanks for looking!

Thomas Kinkade Christmas, Day 3

I have close to 60 Christmas cards made already this year!!! YEAH!! That means I might have time to make some Thanksgiving cards. And get this - today I am putting 6 cards I have made into the mail for September birthdays and such. (pat on the back)

Later, if Carter takes a good nap, I will tackle the Color Throwdown for this week. I tried to get a little done with him up, but he just creates havoc in my stamp room. I make a big enough mess as it is, I don't need his help in that department. I also have to price a ton of things for our upcoming yard sale. I signed up for the community yard sale, only to realize that DH will be flying home from China that day. Should be interesting. At least Justin will be able to help!

Can you believe it's already Wednesday? Justin has gymnastics after school, so we are running all afternoon. I hope you are all having a good day. Thanks for looking!

The Technique That Strikes Fear...

I love to learn new techniques, but one that always makes me break out in a cold sweat is machine stitching on cards. So many people do it so beautifully, and I have a hard time even setting my machine to the right stitch! Today, though, I tackled the old beast and think this cards turned out fairly well. At least it wasn't ruined by totally wonky stitching!

The papers are from the Basic Grey Origins pack again. They were still out on my desk, and when I saw the CPS 185 sketch, I knew I wanted to use them again. The tree is a little stamp from Inque Boutique (who aren't even around anymore!). I paper pieced the top of the tree with some of the dotted BG paper. The ribbon is a piece of taupe grosgrain which is really close to kraft in color. The image is cut using Nesties and the sentiment is Verve. This card also counts as another entry into the Embellish Magazine challenge - light green, dark green, yellow and kraft along with paper piecing. I did not use MFT stamps this time, though.

I'm now working on some Halloween cards which I hope to actually get in the mail in time. I also have several birthday cards that I MUST get out the door this week. Thanks for looking!

Origins, Embellished Style

The current Embellish Challenge is to use the colors light green, dark green, yellow and kraft, along with paper piecing as a technique. It is sponsored by MFT stamps, so I chose to use my new Who's That Harvest Girl set to create this cute card.

The patterned papers are all from Basic Grey's Origins 6x6 pad, and I even pieced the handle of the basket! I also used some Certainly Celery scraps and Kraft. I love how this card turned out. The twine is from my stash, and and green mesh ribbon is from MFT. The sentiment is cut with the plain and scalloped circle Nestabilities dies. The apples are colored with Prismacolor pencils, blended and topped with a glaze pen.

I hope you are having a good weekend. I planted some herbs in pots on my patio. Now that the weather is cooling off a tiny bit, maybe they will grow! It's taking us forever to find a contractor to complete our outdoor patio and kitchen and garden area and we are getting frustrated. Hopefully we'll have hired someone soon and can be done before the end of the year!

Thanks for looking!

Two Fun Challenges!

I had so much fun making this card, even though at the beginning I didn't know quite where it would end up. I pulled out some Chocolate Chip card stock from SU! to start with, and stamped the CHF Tiled Scallops Backgrounder in CC ink. For the bird, I stamped the same backgrounder in CC ink on some Taken with Teal card stock (also SU!). I punched the bird with the SU! bird punch and added a small black pearl for the eye. The flourish is from Colorbok and I picked it up at Joann's a long time ago. I first stamped it with White Craft Ink, then added some Colorbox Platinum and Raw Silk chalk ink on top. The sentiment is mounted on a strip of brown twill from Martha Stewart and the sentiment is from the Mocha Chica stamp set from CHF. Both Teal pieces are trimmed with the SU! Scalloped edge punch.

This card was made with this week's CPS sketch 184 in mind, and also made to fit the Moxie Fab World Offset Scallop Gallop Challenge.

I hope you like it! Thanks for looking!

Thank Y'All!

Carter turned one (YIKES!) on August 21, and these are the Thank You cards I made to send from him. I used Cowboy Billy from Pink Cat Studio and some cute paper I picked up before I left NJ. Now that we are in TX, I'm sure I'll be using Cowboy Billy more often. I just love the Billy stamps!

The sentiment is from MFT and is attached with some pewter brads. I used a brad on his belt buckle, too. Thanks for looking!

Thomas Kinkade Christmas, Day 2

Here is another set of Christmas cards I made with the Thomas Kinkade paper kit. I haven't counted yet, but I think most of my Christmas cards might just be done! Yippee!!

Not much to chat about today. Between cleaning, laundry and playing with Carter (and Justin after school), I might have energy to stamp a bit. Carter is a disaster in my stamp room. I gave him a box of ribbon scraps to play with, but he would much rather play with all the magazines on my shelf. He was even so helpful to pull all the sticky notes out of one for me!

I hope you are having a good day and get some creative time! Thanks for looking!

Thomas Kinkade Christmas, Day 1

During the last days of Cornish Heritage Farms, I bought this Thomas Kinkade Winter Wonderland paper pack. It made these cards SUPER easy and fun to put together. I have more to show in the next few days, since I was able to make 14 cards and 8 gift tags using the pack! It's time to take stock of my Christmas card stash, because it's been growing all year long. Usually I like to make and send all the same card, but this year I have a great variety.

I'm still learning photo editing on this new computer, so bear with me. Can you believe it's Friday already? What a week! Thanks for looking!

Merry Wishes

I finally broke down and ordered this little Pure Innocence cutie from MFT a few weeks ago. I love paper piecing her outfit!! For this card, I used some papers from the Basic Grey Olivia pad and some yummy ribbon and a scalloped card base that came with the MFT VIP kit last month. This paper pad is great for Christmas, too!

While trying to photograph the card, I realized that the stand for our mailbox is perfect. Since we have no neighbors yet, there is only our mailbox on the double stand. The lot is not sold yet, so I'll have my new spot for a while. I got the new Mac computer with Aperture for a photo program, and the learning curve is SO steep, it's going to take me a year to figure out how to edit photos and save them as the right file size. Seriously, I need more time in the day!

Hope you're having a happy Thursday. Thanks for looking!

Inspired by Petunia Pickle Bottom

For the Inspiration Challenge at SCS on Saturday, we had to choose an item from Elizabeth's Embellishments and use it as our springboard. I chose this diaper backpack by Petunia Pickle Bottom. I love it! The card is a combination of black and So Saffron, the damask stamp is embossed with clear embossing powder, and the buckle is from SU! The sentiment is a Class A Peels sticker that I put on the ribbon. Very simple, but I love how this card turned out. I almost covered the damask in Fun Flock, but since I haven't played with my Fun Flock yet, I didn't want to totally screw it up. Maybe in the next version...

Have a good week everyone! I hope to be back with more :) Thanks for looking!

Finding Time to Create

Just when I think it's safe to step into the craft room, something happens like Carter deciding not to take a nap. Listening to a whining crying child from the next room is a real mojo killer! Alas, I did sneak in tonight to finish this card, based on the CPS sketch #183. I did veer off the exact sketch and didn't put as many strips across as the original, but I like how it turned out just the same. The stamps are Live Like You Mean It. The flowers are colored with chalks on Versamark. The papers are all from the scrap pile, as are the bits of ribbon.

Wishing you all a good week ahead. I hope to be back with more posts! I have a few in the hopper, can you believe it? Thanks for looking!

One Sheet Card

Finally, I'm finding some time to sneak in to my craft room and create again! It has been so long, and I have a pile of new toys to play with that I don't know where to begin. For ideas this week, I headed over to Splitcoast Stampers and checked out the daily challenges. On Thursday, for the Ways to Use It challenge, we were to use only one sheet of card stock, and no patterned papers! Here is my take on the challenge. I used a piece of Vintage Violet cs, which I still love and have quite a bit of. I stamped the card with the Linen background stamp from SU! in Versamark just to give some interest. The butterflies are cut using the Embosslits die and the Cuttlebug. The sentiment is an old stamp of mine, and I am not even sure of the brand. It was one of my first and still one of my favorite sentiments. Finally, I added three tiny black pearls under the sentiment.

We upgraded our home pc to a MAC today, and I can't wait to play with the photo editing software we had put on. I will now be able to access my photos from my laptop using our home network and everything will be stored in one place. I am so excited! I also registered for Stamping Around TX today, and am looking forward to a getaway just for ME!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Thanks for looking!