Card Patterns #104

My friend and SU! enabler, Cindy, sent me the remnants of some Simply Scrappin' kits a while ago. Despite the best intentions, I don't yet scrap, but used the bits to make this card. The solid layers are stamped with a bloom from Verve's Petals and Stems set, and the sentiment is from All About You by Verve. I added some rhinestones to the flower centers, and that's it. Easy, bright and cheery card.. The sketch is from Card Patterns, sketch #104. I am trying to enter more sketch challenges, since they really get me started. Otherwise, I choose stamps and papers and stare at them trying to come up with a layout.

Time for lunch! Carter is napping and my time starts now! Thanks for looking!

Never Give Up

I'm still not sure if I like this card, even letting it sit over night. What's the problem? Maybe it's the yarn on the kite body that's rubbing me the wrong way. Maybe it's the bright yellow that is contrasting my cranky mood, making me almost smile when I don't feel like it? Who knows. Maybe it's the laundry that I know is waiting to be put away as I write this post!!

Anyway, this is for the EONAC this week - to use ribbon bits. I have TONS of ribbon bits because I'm too cheap to throw anything away! Seriously, you should see the tiny scraps of stuff I have in jars and bowls in my craft room :) You'd think I grew up in the Great Depression or something. The sentiment on this card is from Verve Stamps, Believe set. Julee donated $10 of each of these sets purchased to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. I love it - it has some beautiful flowers and of course the cancer ribbons that you can make in any color, along with Julee's great sentiments!

Well, I'm off to take advantage of nap time. Who knows how long it will last today. I hope you're all having a good day! Thanks for looking!

The Gift Cards Were Nestled...

...all snug with Nuggets! I can't be the first one to figure out that the 8 short nugget box is the perfect size for a giftcard to be placed on top of the chocolates. I did these for two of our neices, DH's co-worker and Justin's teacher. The snowflakes on the candy wrappers and on the image background are from Verve. The snowman is from Kim Hughes for CHF, embossed with detail white EP and colored with Bic Mark Its.




I hope you are all ready for Christmas, or if you celebrated Hannukah, relaxing before a new crazy year begins! We had a birthday party Saturday for Justin,who is turning 6 on Christmas!! Where DOES the time go? Tomorrow is Justin's last day of school, and hopefully DH will have some time off next week, too. I have tentative playdates with about 8 of J's friends, so he won't have time to be bored :)
Thanks for looking!

Bedding Inspired Thank You

My in-laws sent me a gift card to a craft store for my birthday earlier this week, and I wanted to make a special Thank You card for them. In yesterday's mail, there was a Bed Bath and Beyond flyer that has this bedding on the cover:




I just think the colors are gorgeous and cheery, so I set out to use them this morning. But can you believe (gasp! Horror!) that I don't own a fleur de lis stamp? In all the stamps I have, that is one that I'm missing. I might have to hop over to PTI later and remedy that situation :)

Instead, I used Verve's Filigree Fantasy. The striped strips are from SU! Happiness and the sentiment is MFT. I used Gable Green ink and the Aqua petal from my Colorbox set that I have had forever. The papers are from the craft store and the flowers are Primas. For some reason, the colors are a bit washed out in the photo, but I'm too lazy to go somewhere else to take another pic. How bad is that?

Well, we have a lunch date at 12, and I have some other things to get done before we go. If you choose, please make a card using this bedding as inspiration and post it here in the comments! I'd love to see what you come up with :) Thanks for looking!

Patriotic Wishes

I made this card on Thursday for the Ways to Use It challenge on SCS, which was to use corrugated cardboard on your card.

The stars are stamped with Verve Seeing Stars onto some corrugated scraps I had in my stash from forever ago. I cut them out and spread them around. The sentiment is also from Verve, mounted on a Nesties Labels One and outlined with the Stardust Gelly Roll pen.

We are off to a barbecue with friends today, and I still have to make a pasta salad. I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th!! Thanks for looking!

Two Down, Two to Go

My DH and I have mixed families, which means there are lots of cards to make come Mother's Day and Father's Day. Here are the cards I made for his dad and stepdad. Still to be done are my stepdad's card, and a card for DH. Actually, the latter is made, but I can't post it in case he peeks at my blog!

For the first card, I used Furnished with Love and embossed the fan. I masked the sentiment from the image and then stamped it along with "you're" from one of my Verve stamps. The black layer on the banner is twill tape. For the second card, I used some of the Amy Butler paper that has been in my scrap stash for a while. I love it, but was reluctant to use it up. I have enough for a few more cards that I will save for a later occasion. The image is from Lovely as a Tree, stamped in True Thyme. The blue layers are scrap and the sentiment is from MFT. The square snaps are from my never-ending stash of embellishments.

Today, it's time to clean the bathrooms and do the dusting. Yippee. I may make myself do the bathrooms before allowing myself time in the craft room. This weekend we are headed to NH again and I also have to be sure our laundry is done before we go. So the next few days will be busy, but I do have a few more things to post. I hope you are having a good week and the sun is shining in your neck of the woods! Thanks for looking!

The Card That Almost Broke Me

With the new Verve release on the horizon (tomorrow!!), I decided to give Julee's sketch challenge a try. In my mind, this was an easy card to make. In reality, the background and sentiment gave me so much trouble that it took 4 tries to get it done, and I'm still not 100% happy with it. The trouble was that I did not let my Versamark ink dry enough on the stars before trying to emboss the sentiment, and the EP stuck to some of the stars. So then I tried to stamp the stars with Real Red, but that didn't dry fast enough either and the EP stuck to that! Finally, I did the stars, waited a bit, then did the sentiment. But there are still some stray parts of EP that show up! Oh, well, it's done.

My brother is graduating high school next month and this will be his card. The set is Seeing Stars from Verve. I love it, and it's great for masculine cards.

I am going out of town for the weekend, so will be without my stamps for a few days. But I'll be back next week with more creations! I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend (in the US) and a great weekend if you live elsewhere. Thanks for looking!

Mama Said...

...there'll be days like this. Don't you love Grumpabella? She just joined my collection this week, and I couldn't wait to ink her up! The sketch is for Angelosity Day 5 which she posted yesterday. I am determined to catch up with all her challenges this weekend!

Daisy paper is from DCWV Spring Stack, and the saffron is from Marcella K. The ribbon is from my stash, baubles from Michael's, and the sentiment is Verve.

Hope you're having a good weekend! Thanks for looking :)

Wide Load...

Allison's weekly challenge was to use fat ribbon on a card. You can view details HERE. I combed through my stash until I found this pretty green/blue shimmery ribbon. It's just over an inch wide. Most of my wide ribbons are just shy of 1 inch, so I was happy to find that I actually had some material to play this challenge. I only just found the felt I could have used a couple weeks ago!

The backstory of this card is from our vacation in June. When we were with my brother and SIL and kids, my neice had the cutest shirt on one day. It was light blue with butterflies across the front in purple, yellow, pink, green and orange. I have had that shirt in my mind ever since vacation and I just today got it out onto a card. Base is Certainly Celery, with a dark brown layer and a Soft Sky layer that was run through the Swiss Dots embossing folder. The butterflies are from Fluttering By by Verve. I added microbeads to the butterfly bodies and mounted the cut-out ones over a stamped Chocolate Chip butterfly. The tag is a Cuttlebug die also, stamped with a sentiment from MFT's Icing on the Cake.

I am quite pleased with how this card turned out, although next time I might make a long card to fit more butterflies...

Thanks, Allison, for another fun challenge!

CPS #78

Finally, I got to stamp tonight. I raced home during my lunch hour to clean the bathrooms so that when I got home from work for the day, I could just relax and play in my craft room! I spent some time cleaning it up, thinking about what I wanted to create, and then got to work. I chose CPS Sketch #78.

The paper is from Perhaps, by Basic Grey. The stamps are Delight in Life (SU!) with a sentiment from Fluttering By (Verve). Lace is from my stash of trimmings. I watercolored the images and the sentiment panel, then cut out the flower for the sentiment. Then I popped it up on dimensionals to make it stand out.

Well, not too much to say here tonight. I am heading to bed soon, after I gather my things for tomorrow. I have to be out of the house by 5:30am to make it into the city for an 8am walk time. Yikes! That's super-early for me, since DS and I usually don't start moving until 6:40 or so...

I see that my counter is slowly nearing 10K hits, so that will mean more candy! Have a good weekend, and hopefully I'll be back with more to share tomorrow. I at least have some RAKs to share. Thanks for looking!

CPS #77 - Happy Anniversary

My mom and step-dad are celebrating their wedding anniversary on Friday. They have been together 27 years. Here's the card I made for them, using the CPS #77 sketch. I turned the sketch on it's side to make this layout. The stamps are SU! unknown and Verve Wonderful Wishes. The card base is Purely Pomegranate, but of course I realized I don't have PP ink and instead used Rose Red. The match is close, but not perfect... The ribbon and dp are from my stash. I'm so bad, I have so much stuff that I don't know the brand or name of half of it.

So I just realized that my MIL's birthday is next week, so I'd better get creative for her. If you miss her birthday, look out. I hope DH realizes that it is coming so soon!

Hope you are having a good day. Don't forget to scroll down for blog candy to celebrate my Blogaversary!! Thanks for looking!

Monday Lunchtime Sketch...On Tuesday

I ended up taking a sick day today, since I have this awful cold. I struggled through the workday yesterday, and this morning just couldn't do it. So I've been stamping all morning and will retire to the couch after a bit of lunch for a nap. Meanwhile, here is my card for the Techno Stamper Lunchtime Sketch #30. Can you believe how time flies?? I had better start planning my Christmas cards soon!

Ever since I ordered Seeing Stars by Verve, I have been itching to use it. The Emerson quote she included is just perfect. I might send this card to my brother who will be a Senior in high school this year. I embossed the sentiment with black EP and embossed the stars in gold. It is all mounted on a Bazzil base, but I'm not sure of the color name. DP was from my scrap stash, ribbon from my ribbon bucket.

Thanks for looking!

Girlfriend's Day Swap Cards

My SBS sisters recently had a swap for Girlfriend's Day, which is this Friday, August 1. Here are the fantastic cards that each participant received:

From Elisabeth:

From Rachel

From Me:

Next, let me say that I love the color combination in Rachel's card. Her main panel has paisley, flowers, swirls and other girly images in the same color combination. Nice job! And the swirl clip detail on the ribbon is a great touch.

First, let me comment on the background paper of Elisabeth's card. I love the sparkly background and the trim that is made of velvety flowers. Very pretty! And the sentiments are perfect ;)

On my card, I used the CHF pretty pattern backgrounder and some dp from the dollar store. The pink tag is from some blog candy I won and I added the sentiment from Verve and some flowers and bling. I also added a Prima to the flower on the main image, which is Sweetybellas. The ribbon is American Crafts.

Is it Friday yet?? Yikes, what a week! I found a job posting today that is a great position, but would require either an hour commute each way or moving house. We've talked about moving house, but like our neighbors. The school district is not the best, but the taxes are lower than surrounding areas. However, the job is the next move on the career ladder if I want to continue on my professional path. So do I throw my resume into the ring anyway? When DH is back in town I guess we'll have lots to talk about!

On another note, anyone have the Carl/Bidex rotary cutter? How long should I expect a blade and cutting strip to last? I've been using mine for almost a year and it feels like the cutting strip is starting to fade in performance. Any opinions are appreciated!

Oh, and one more thing. Saturday I am hosting a Home and Garden Party at my house if any of you happen to be in this neck of the woods! All my hostess benefits will be converted into a cash donation for my Avon Walk. I'm at 65% of my fundraising goal :)

Thanks for looking!

Back To Challenges This Week...

I love Mary Jo Price-Williams' sketches on Mondays, and I always copy them with the intention of completing them. Then Sunday night comes and it's too late. BUT, this week I made it a priority to finish a card for her Monday Lunchtime Sketch #28, and here it is:Stamps are Verve, Asian Flair and Floral Whimsy. This sentiment is the reason I bought the whole Asian Flair set. And the components of Floral Whimsy are just too fun not to play with. Who doesn't love flowers and vases that can be mixed and matched?? The dp is Provo Craft, Baby Green Swirlies on Pink. Inks are Whispers Whisper Pink and Versamark. I used the poppin' pastels technique which I have not done before. It's great how the color jumps out on the Versamark! The ribbon is from my stash, but I do believe it is SU! The scalloped circle is made with Nesties and the Cuttlebug, and I also used the glaze pen and Stardust Gelly Roll to add a little pizazz to the flowers and the scallops.

I hope you like it, and I hope you check out the Monday Lunchtime Sketches. There are always great players! Thanks for looking!

Jilted-Bella and Her (Ex-)Fella

If you have never heard of Allison, at Stampin When I Can, then you must stamp under a rock. She has a great, resourceful blog and has been issuing weekly theme challenges. Thinking outside the norm this week, she challenged readers to create a card for a girlfriend who has just been jilted by her beau. Here's my rendition:
I used Bellas, Emmybella and Beerafella, colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with OMS. The sentiment on Emmybella is from Verve, All About You. The sentiment under him is freehand with a white gel pen. Funny, is there a stamp out there that says that? Unless you are one of the lucky owners of the Snap Stamps that were discontinued and make it yourself?

That's about it for today. Another long day at work today - I had a new employee start today and spent most of the day showing her around and starting to train her. And DS had a reaction to his sunscreen this morning, so I got a call from daycare. Luckily, Benadryl stopped his itching, but I don't get it because we have used that sunscreen brand before with no problems. To make it worse, they didn't even play outside because it was too hot!

Ahh, but my Verve order came today. I LOVE to shop Verve because she has great designs, the best sentiments, and I can order Friday and have the goodies in my mailbox Monday. Now that's fast service! Thanks to Julee, who even processed orders on her birthday!

I'm off to bed now. I just wanted to get this one challenge completed so that I could have some creative time today. Have a good one, everyone. Thanks for looking!

Karin's Biggest Swap Ever

Karin hosted a huge international swap a couple of weeks ago, and here are the results:

I got this great card from Saskia:

This is from Dilly:

And this is from Simone, a return for one I sent her:

Aren't these gorgeous? I love the size of the European cards. And the images and embellishments are too cute. Here is the card I sent to my 2 swap-ees. Surprise, Surprise, I used the Verve Visual set, Floral Whimsey. I layered the image panels on blue and yellow, then mounted on a pink card front. Then the whole thing is on a white card base. I used rhinestones for flower centers and finished it off with pink grosgrain.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I'll be busy getting ready for our weekend away this week, but hope to pre-schedule some posts. Thursday, we are leaving and will be without internet until Monday. I don't even know if we'll have cell phone coverage where we are headed. It's not that far out, but just remote enough. We will be camping with my brother and SIL and DS will get to play with his cousins all weekend! Should be fun, as long as the weather holds!

Thanks for looking!

Mojo Monday Week 42, On Friday...

Most weeks, I don't even get to all the challenges that are posted, so I am actually very happy to be posting this today. It means I made it in within the week! As you can tell, I am still in love with these Verve sets, this time Fluttering By. DP is from My Mind's Eye Bohemian line, Backyard My Journey Brocade/Brown and Stripe/Line. The velvet rick rack is from American Crafts, from the Target sale I mentioned a couple posts ago. The butterfly is stamped with the rock n roll method, using Green Galore and Close to Cocoa inks. I added some brown dew drops to the image panel after using the rounded corner punch on two of the corners. The butterfly is stamped twice, the top layer is paper pieced. I hope to have more time this weekend to play. DH is back in town, and after a couple of long walks Saturday and Sunday I hope to have SOME time to myself... I hope you all get some play time in, too! Thanks for looking!

My Scrapbook Table Sketch Challenge

Sarah posted this challenge for blog candy on her blog, My Scrapbook Table. To enter, you must use this sketch as an inspiration, sign her guestbook and send her some inspiring ideas for those days her mojo is missing.

Here's my take on the sketch, using Verve Visual's Petals & Stems and Fluttering By. They are stamped on paper from the Making Memories Funky Vintage- Ruby Collection 6x6 paper pack. I found them at Target earlier this year and love the rich colors! The base card is SU! Purely Pomegranate. The rick rack used in the stems and under the sentiment panel is also from the dollar section of Target. The butterflies are embossed with holographic EP and folded so they look like they are in flight. Each layer of the flowers are popped up with foam adhesive.

In an effort to save paper and printer ink, I have started a notebook of sketches. Not surprisingly, I have discovered I can't even draw a straight line when copying a sketch! But at least I know they are squares or rectangles. With them listed in a notebook, I can jot down the date that I completed each one. If I'm organized enough, I'll also list the number of the photo in my computer file.

Since I took a sick day today, I plan on catching up on more sketches. I have had a bad sore throat for the past few days and also have been exhausted - fell dead asleep by 9:30 last night, and could use another nap now. I'm going to search for caffeine instead. Have a good day and thanks for looking!

Verve Visual Project Parade Entry

Have you seen the inspiration photo for the June Project Parade at Verve Visual? It's gorgeous, and makes me want to redecorate my master bedroom. But since *that* is not going to happen, I created this card instead:

I used the Filigree Fantasy and Floral Whimsy sets from Verve. I am still in love with these sets, and highly recommend them if you have not succumbed to them yet. They are so fun and the font of the sentiments is fantastic!

The base is a 5" square. The layers are red, saffron and white. The flourishes are all bedecked with rhinestones. The inks are Cranberry Crisp and So Saffron. Ribbon is black silk from May Arts. The sentiment panel is punched with the Ticket Corner punch and a dot was added with the black glaze pen. I hope you like it!

Go take a look at the other entries - they are simply gorgeous :)

Thanks for looking!

Sympathy Card

Last week, one of DH's colleagues unexpectedly lost his mother. It was very sad, she went from the picture of health to having a brain hemmorage that proved fatal. DH asked me to make a card for his team to sign and send along to the family.

I have avoided adding Sympathy sets to my collection, because I don't like to have to send Sympathy cards. However, it is unavoidable and I created this simple card from Filigree Fantasy by Verve Visual. I used Close to Cocoa ink on the vanilla base card, layered with panels of chocolate and blue. The sentiment is from a set that I don't have the name for, but it has many sayings that can be used for multiple occasions. I went over the sentiment and some of the swirls with my glaze pen, and added a simple knot in the chocolate satin ribbon. It seems to me that a sympathy card should be understated, and I hope our thoughts helped them through this difficult time.

thanks for looking!