Another Sympathy Card...

I should never have ordered the In Loving Memory set from Little Paper Shop! (They were on sale, and I wanted to have them on hand) I have cursed myself, and the set is not even here yet. I got news this morning that my Step-Father's sister passed away yesterday. It was not entirely unexpected, as she has suffered from complications of obesity for years, and was completely unwilling to change her lifestyle. However, in the past 5 years, my Step-Father has lost his mother, a brother, now a sister, so my heart goes out to him.
This card came together from a new set I won from Joanne. They are Clear Art Stamps from Crafty Secrets, called Wildflowers. It also emcompasses Sharon's No Time to Stamp? challenge of black and white plus one. The plus one is True Thyme, partially because I really like that color and partially because I could not find any Kraft scraps near the top of my pile. The sentiment is SU! So Many Sayings, applied with the Stamp-a-ma-jig. I used Brilliance Moonlight White for the flowers and accented them with my Spica glitter pen, and a touch of the Glaze Pen.

The corners of the main panel have been altered with the Ticket Corner Punch, and I added a dot of Black Glaze Pen for accent. The ribbon is gorgeous May Arts silk ribbon that I got long ago from Verve Visual.

Can you believe tomorrow is June 1st? Yikes!! I hope you are all ready for summer! Thanks for looking.

CPS 66 - Summer!

Last week, Cindy sent me this adorable summer paper from the Paper Patch. The patterns are Sunshines and Aqua Summer Plaid. When I saw the CPS sketch for the week, I knew I wanted to use these papers to celebrate summer. I used my Curvy Cutter to make the circle card from Marigold Morning cs. Then I used my Nestabilities to make a scalloped circle of each pattern, and cut them in half to mount them on the card. The larger aqua circle is a piece of scrap puched with the Marvy Giga Scallop Circle punch, and the small scallop with the image is cut from my Nestabilities. I sponged the edges of the small scalloped circle with Marigold Morning ink, then used an aqua gel pen to make the dots in the scallops. The stamp is from A Little Love and I added bling to the flip-flops with rhinestones. To make the piercing on the aqua scallop stand out, I outlined them with a white gel pen. On the patterned scallop, the piercings are outline with my Spica Glitter pen. The ribbon is from Target and I used Yellow Stickles in the centers of the suns on the ribbon. Fun and summery, no?

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!

Mixing It Up

Today's Try a New Technique challenge at Splitcoast was to choose one each of the first ten color challenges, sketch challenges, and technique challenges and create something new. I chose Color Combination 02, which was Ruby Red, Barely Banana, and Not Quite Navy. The technique I chose was TLC01, Kissing; and the Sketch was #10. Since my hair dresser is having a baby soon, I thought I would make a card for her. Toy Box was a natural pick, as she is having a boy and already hoping he is sports-minded. The background paper was done with Linen BG and kissed with the star from Toy Box. The sentiment is from So Many Sayings and punched with the Word Window Punch. The stars on the bottom are popped up. I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. Back to the grind for us tomorrow, but we did have an awesome weekend filled with a 7.5 mile training walk for me, outdoor play, and a trip to the craft store. Thanks for looking!

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #17!

I just love the sketch Taylor posted this week for the Cupcake Challenge, #17. Here's what I had in my mind, that actually made it onto paper today. My card is full of cupcakes, and I am very pleased with it.

I used Cuppacakeabella, an image I got from my SBS Sister Rachel. Don't you just love this Bella? She was tons of fun to color, and I used my Prismacolors and blended with OMS. The sentiment, the cupcake stamps on the side and the shadow under the main cupcake are from MFT, Icing on the Cake. The sprinkles on the cupcakes is the tiny flower stamp from Verve Visual's Floral Whimsy. The dp is Miss Elizabeth's from the dollar store and the panels are mounted on yellow and purple scraps. The small cupcakes are cut and mounted on pop-dots and have red rhinestones for cherries. The large cupcake has red Stickles for a cherry, and a stem drawn with a black glaze pen. The ribbon is from the craft store and I paper pierced the white panels to dress them up a bit.

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend - one more day to go! DH left for Europe on business today, so it's just me and DS for the week again. Let's hope he cooperates better than last time! Thanks for looking!

CPS 65 and A Big OOPS!

So I worked for about an hour on this card, piecing it together, deciding on colors, etc. I'm not a fast stamper. Once in a while a card comes together quickly, but most of the time it takes me ages to create one card. That's why I love Sheetload of Cards so much - most of the thinking is done for me (i.e. measurements, how many layers). I should rename my blog The Pokey Stamper or something like that.

Anyway, tonight I wanted to tackle the CPS sketch of the week. I chose SU! Basic Gray as a base, and I had some Soft Sky scraps on my table. I also had this yellow scrap laying around, so used that as well. The stamps are all Filigree Fantasy by Verve Visual. I am loving this set, as well as the new floral sets, so you'll be seeing them a lot in the next couple of days! The ribbon is SU! Basic Gray Taffeta. The flowers in the centers of the filigree are mini Primas. They are so tiny, I love them, too. They are attached with Queen and Co Mini Sprinkles brads. Under the yellow flower is a paper pieced flower from Verve Visual Petals and Stems. The sentiment is from Fluttering By (also Verve Visual).

Overall, I was very pleased with this card. Until I attached the final bit and discovered that it is *backwards*!! Yes, it opens on the left instead of the right. DH joked that I can give it to my left-handed mother. Of course I used super strong ZOTs to adhere it, so there is no taking it apart without tearing the paper. I may just cut off the front and mount it onto another base. Any suggestions?

I MUST mention that today I got the best Happy Mail package from Cindy at Creating with the Heart. We all know Cindy for her generous weekly blog candy, but I know her from Grad School (I won't say how many years ago now). We met again through blogging and she sent me the most outrageously generous package today, filled with paper, Cuttlebug dies and embossing folders, stamps, punches, tags, stickers, etc! I was thrilled. She is expecting a baby girl in the next few weeks, so go by her blog and give her some kind words while you check out her great creations.

Thanks for looking!

Psst...Wanna Make a Sheetload?

Of cards, that is. I find myself returning to Sheetload of Cards on Sundays when I finally get time to stamp and want to produce a bunch of cards in one sitting. This week, I toured the archives and used the January 2008 template to make 9 of these:

Yes, 9 cards in one sitting! From only a few sheets of paper! The dp is from CTMH, the ribbon is from the craft store. I used Liquid Pearls in the corners of the image, which is from MFT. It's a great way to use your stash of DP. And just think, the more you use, the more you can buy. I know we are all in that habit of hoarding *something.* For me, it's ribbons and dp. Oh, and Primas and brads, too.

I have been receiving lots of donations in the mail for my Avon Walk For Breast Cancer and I needed a bunch of Thank You cards. This template from Sheetload fit the bill, and I will be making more this week! Go check them out and make your own Sheetload of Cards!

Thanks for looking!