I'm back!! FINALLY (BTF#25 and CCMC247)

 

WOW!!  MIA....huh?  So sorry for the huge delay in posting anything at all.  I have an excuse.....although it's not a good one.  I decided to rearrange my craft room. So, I pushed everything to the middle of the room, some of it out into the hallway and then......I got bored.  I was sick of doing it and regular life took over.  I left it in that state for WAY TOO LONG.  Totally ridiculous.  So anyway, I finally got my act together and got the room  back to "semi-usable" status.  Don't get me wrong there's still some stuff to do in there.  My intention was to throw away some stuff.  That didn't really happen yet.......but it will!  So, on to the first card that I've made in a long time:

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  The best way to get back on track creatively for me is to go to a couple of challenge blogs.  For this card I used the sketch challenge at Create with Connie and Mary (although I'm posting to late to submit it in their gallery) and the Theme challenge at Black Tie Fridays .  I used French Foliage stamp set for the spots on the background and the flower is made using the Pop-Up Posies kit.  I have to admit, I'm sort of hoarding that kit.  I tend to do that with embellishments that I love.   I'm pretty happy with how the card turned out and I'm anxious to get back to crafting on a regular basis!  Anyway, thanks for hanging in there with me and stopping by today!

 

Easter Blessings-BTF21 and SUO#66

Here's a card that I made as for a camp contender.  It didn't make the cut, but I still think it's cute.  It was a lot of fun to make too.  I love using a punch (bird builder) in a way other than it was originally intended (bird's wing for tulip).    Also, quick reminder....if you have the Birds of a Feather DSP, make sure you go pull out the sheet with all the eggs, that I used here, to add to your Easter cards.  It works perfectly.  I am submitting this card for the Black Tie Fridays challenge this week to use ribbons, buttons and brads and for SUO Challenge #66 - Easter Parade.  Thanks for stopping by!

Dress Framelits.....REALLY?.....OH YES!!!

I'm gonna be honest here......When I first saw these dress framelits in the Stampin' Up Spring catalog, I wondered what on earth Stampin Up was thinking?!?  I was not at all excited about them.   Then I waited a while.  And now....I've seen these dresses all over the blog-o-sphere!  Stampin' Up absolutely hit the nail on the head with these framelits! Wow!  Then I came across Patty Bennett's framed art and I almost fell out of my chair.  I instantly knew what my mom would be getting from me for Mother's Day this year.   So I started with this card for a little "dress-making practice"!  OMG........I can see this being addictive.  These are SO MUCH FUN to create!  And the options are endless!  So I've planned a little get together with some of my demo friends and we are all going to make them together!!  We just have to pick the date...    Can't wait!


 

Angry Birds and Star Wars for my boys!

 

Today I wanted to share with you the cards I made for my boys for their birthdays!  I'm definitely way behind on posting these.....as their birthdays were in January.  My two little guys LOVE Angry Birds and Star Wars, and of course they love Star Wars Angry Birds.  I wanted to make them different cards, but wanted them to both love them, of course!  They were so excited to see these!  The Angry Birds one went to Joey, my youngest.  It was pretty easy to find tons of inspiration for the Angry Birds characters out there on other blogs, the Star Wars one was not as easy.  I found myself "making up" most of the characters from pictures I had and just wingin' it.  I think the Star Wars one could use some fiddling with, but it was a huge hit with my 5 year old.  Let me tell you, the looks on their faces when they got these cards was awesome!  It was so cool for them to actually care about the card more than the gift!  Thanks for looking!

Happy St. Patty's Day--(DD#42, SUO#65, BTF#20)

 

 

I love St. Patrick's day!  I'm very sentimental about it.  I'm not Irish.  My husband is not Irish.  I don't do all the little leprechaun games with my kids.  But it IS the day I met my hubby so many years ago.  So I always make Corned Beef and Cabbage and we always have a toast with Guinness.  We laugh and think back at how far we've come!  I actually thought he was very strange when I first met him.  I thought to myself "Is this guy writing a book about me or what, what's with all the questions!"  A couple of weeks later we had our first date (with a bunch of friends "fixing us up")  I went home from that first night and called my friend in the middle of the night and told her that I was gonna marry that guy......the rest is history!

 Awwww....Anyway, I didn't actually make this card for him, but rather to use as a sample at our upcoming stamp camp.  Wow, not very romantic, huh?  I had a few challenges in mind while making this card.  The color combo is from Delightful Duos and SU-Only Challenges "Going Green" and the technique is from Black Tie Fridays .  I'm definitely a "beginner" when it comes to quilling.  I had a really hard time getting all the loops to be the same size.  I'll have to play around with that technique a little more.  I will say however that the Stampin Up multipurpose glue is perfect for quilling, IMHO.  Ok, thanks for stopping by to take a look.   What techniques are you experimenting with these days?  I'd love to hear about it!

3 Cheers-Soccer card-MOJO283

I made this card for the Mojo Monday challenge this week.  And I have to say....I love it!  I saw the soccer ball made using the new hexagon embossing folder somewhere out there in the blog world, but for the life of me I can't find it again to give the original creator credit.  So....if you are out there, let me know so I can give you the kudos!  I really like this color combo with the tangerine tango and island indigo.  I think this would work for either a girl or a boy.  I ran white and black cs through the big shot and used my paper snips to cut out a few hexagons for the "ball".  The DSP is from the Summer Smooches pack, the sentiment is from "Cheers to You" and the button was a freebie from Sale-a-bration (can't beat that!).  Hope you like my take on the challenge!  Thanks for looking!

CCMC241 and cQc#178...For You

Here's the card I made using the sketch challenge at Create with Connie and Mary and the color challenge from ColourQ .  I have a really hard time incorporating Summer Starfruit into my creations.  I know a lot of people have said that this color has totally grown on them since being introduced last year, but I still struggle with it.  I do admit that it looks great paired with Midnight Muse though.....which is definitely one of my favorites!  I did a little dry embossing and a little heat embossing on this card.  The white embossing powder really pops.....LOVE THAT!  Can't tell in the picture but I popped up that little curly label (from SAB) on the Starfruit square. I'm trying to force myself to create some samples to show to customers at our upcoming Spring Sampler Stamp Camp.  Thank goodness for all the challenge blogs out there.....I have no mojo of my own.   I'm hoping that spending time with my favorite SU demonstrator friends will get me back on track. 

Happy Birthday Jenn......very, very late. (CCMC240)

Wow.....this picture is really terrible.  Sorry about that!  I've been searching for my mojo, but to no avail.  This card is going to go to my sister-in-law for her birthday.  Her birthday was last week.....yes, that's right, I still have the card and the gift.  Now, I could make up some story about why the card and the gift haven't left my home yet.....but I have no excuse at all.   She LITERALLY lives around the corner from me.  I drive by her house everyday.  EVERYDAY.  And yet, I still have not delivered her birthday gift.  I might be the worst sister-in-law on the planet.  I am actually patting myself on the back for at least posting on my blog today.  Shame on me.

Anyway..... I made this cute little card using the color challenge over at Create with Connie and Mary  I think these colors are great together!!  I used an old sketch from Retrosketches for the layout.  Those rhinestones are the new jumbo rhinestones from SU's Spring seasonal catalog.  They are huge and VERY bling-y. You can just barely see the little buttons underneath the rhinestones.  The stamp is from the Best of Birthday stamp set.   The sentiment (that is impossible to read in the picture) says "a candle for every year might not be such a good idea...".  I stamped in Basic Gray and colored using my Stampin' Write markers.  Another little detail that is hard to see in the picture is the scoring around the edge of the white layer that I did using my Simply Scored.

Thanks for checking in today!

Art party card! Happy Birthday Ava!

 

 

Holy Moly!!  I can't believe I've neglected my blog as long as I have.  Shame on me!!  I haven't been crafting much, but I have done a little, it just hasn't made it to the blog.....yet!  Between the holidays and then both of my boys birthdays, then our whole family got sick......seems like I can't get caught up with life, let alone craft time. 

 

 Anyway.....here's a fun little card I made for our little friend Ava!  Her party was "Arts and crafts" themed!  My kids had SO MUCH FUN!!  The party was really cute!  Ava's mommy is so crafty and super talented.  Check out her blog here .  I used Crystal effects on the "paint" to make it look wet. For the paint brush, I used my Simply Scored board to give a little definition.  You can't tell in the card but I also used my bone folder to make small lines/indentations on the brush to give a little texture.  I couldn't fit a sentiment on the outside, so I added it to the inside.  I used my markers to ink up my favorite stamp!

 

 

I got lucky and just happened to have the perfect gift bag in my "re-use" stash, so it all came together pretty well, I think!

 

Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Charlie! (DD#32)

Well, I'm a little late in posting this, but Happy Birthday Charlie!!  This was the card I made for our little pal's birthday!  She's a very girlie girl and loves everything pink and princesses!  I knew she would just love the pink rhinestones....what little girl wouldn't??   I actually fell asleep on the couch early on the night I had scheduled to make her birthday card and got up frantic in the morning to try to whip something out.  I used an old sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches and the color challenge from Dynamic Duos .  Let me tell you, when you need to make a card quickly, using challenges is the way to go!  They practically make themselves. haha  Thanks for stopping by!

Greetings of the Season- TSOT95 and PPA148

Hi there!  Tonight I'm posting the card I made using the sketch from  Try Stamping on Tuesday Challenge #95 and the color challenge from Pals Paper Arts .  For this card, I used the Lovely as a Tree stamp set and the stampin-off technique.  I've always loved the way that technique looked but never actually tried it.  This stamp set seems like it was meant for this technique.  After I stamped, I spritzed the trees with my shimmer paint/alcohol mix to make it shine!  I haven't yet figured out how to make the spritzer show up in pictures.   Seems like the chaos of the holidays is in full swing, so squeezing in time to stamp becomes less and less likely.  I feel like I'm missing something during the busy weekends....and realize that what I'm missing is my craft room!  Anyone else feel like that?

Bright and Shiny--FTL218 and CQC165

Here's a fun little holiday card I made while crafting with my friend Jen a couple of nights ago.  Jen is super-duper crafty, check out her blog Midnight Martha .  This girl can do it all--cooking, all kinds of crafts, makeup, hair--you name it!  She's so talented, not to mention hilarious and all around awesome!  I was having difficulty getting the "cord" to look right and she just swooped in and free-handed it.  Now, I definitely can't take credit for the idea of making a string of lights, I've seen them all over blog-land.  I used the layout from Clean & Simple FTL218 and the color combo from ColourQ #165.    The "lights" are cut using the Holiday Ornament Framelits, then I just used a black marker and a white gel pen to turn them into lights!  Quick and easy!

Another Challenge Combo--DD#31 and FMS63

Here's another challenge combo card I made.  I combined the color challenge from Dynamic Duos and the sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches .  I actually sort of thought of this as an inspiration challenge too, and here's why:  I make myself lists with all the challenges I want to participate in throughout the week.  Next to this sketch, I wrote "Fresh" to remind myself which blog it belongs to, so while thinking of what to create "fresh" was in my head...hence, the apple.  The apple was created using the heart punch then I covered it in Crystal Effects to make it shine!  All the elements (other than the base) were created from scraps!  LOVE THAT!  The base is the retired confetti white.  Man, that stuff is awesome!  I love the weight of it and it really adds that extra something to a simple card.  I wish I had appreciated this stuff more before it retired.  I haven't used the natural white cardstock from Stampin Up yet, have you?  I wonder if it is similar?  I think this card will go to the director at my son's school.  She's such a sweetheart!  It's so wonderful to be able to drop off your kid with someone that is so nice and cheerful!

Glitter ornaments--HSS146

This card was MESSY!!  Holy moly!  There was is glitter everywhere.  It was really fun to make. I made this card for the Hand Stamped Sentiments inspiration challenge #146.  I actually used the Jumbo Sticky Rounds from the Stampin Up Holiday catalog.  I used 3 of them for this card.  I started with the blue ornament.  I stuck one sticky round in the corner then I punched another using the boho blossom punch "star/flower" shape.  I stuck those pieces right on top of the sticky round but I didn't remove the red backing.  Then I covered the sticky round with my blue glitter (non-su), tapped that off then removed the red backing from the stars and dumped some purple glitter on it.  Then I just used the same concept on the gold ornament.  However, for the gold ornament I just used strips of sticky strip to create the stripes.  For the ornament toppers, I cut 2 of the tops using the ornament framelits from brushed silver paper.  The hangers are just some 1/8" black taffeta and a bow.  Turned out pretty cute!  And so much fun! 

Funny story (sort of): while I was in the middle of making this card, someone came to our front door.  So, I ran downstairs to answer the door.  While talking to our visitor, my four year old runs up and says, "Mommy, you gotta come upstairs now...fast".  Ok, gotta go.  Run into my craft room and this is what I found:

 

See the four little EMPTY jars of glitter....and my two-year olds feet in the background?  Well, needless to say, the canister on my vacuum is very glittery and shiny now!  Four jars of beautiful glitter down the tubes.  UGGGHHH   Lesson learned!

Cookies for Santa--MOJO269

Who doesn't love cookies??  I mean really!!  This card came to me during an episode of "Mommy Brain".  No that's not the most recent reality show on TLC or Lifetime!  You know, it's when you are thinking of the fifteen things you need to do/should be doing/would rather be doing.....all at the same time.  So, I really wanted to make a card to post for MOJO Monday Sketch challenge #269 and I was in the begining stages of planning our 2nd annual Cookies for Santa party!  I was also wondering how we are going to be able leave a glass of milk and some cookies out (even for the relatively short time it takes us to transition our kids to bed) considering we have a crazy "teenage" kitten who is into EVERYTHING.   So....take all those thoughts, now swirl them around (moms: I know you know exactly what I mean) and you can all see exactly how I came to this card!  Anyone else have a hard time photographing vellum??  Anyone have any hints?  Anyway, I hope you like it! It was pretty fun to make.

Clean and Simple Snowman! (DD#29 and BlackTie #10)

Here's a clean and simple card I made for the Dynamic Duos color challenge #29 and the Black Tie Friday challenge #10.  The color challenge was for black and marina mist and the Black Tie challenge was to use a cut out.  I saw the idea for a snowman cutout on pinterest and since the "dessert" challenge option on Dynamic Duos was for a snowman, I thought I would give it a shot.  I was just sort of "wingin' it" with my circle punches.  Then I used my square punch for the hat and just some free-hand snipping with my paper snips for the brim of the hat.  I am really happy with how the card turned out, although it does look a bit like Mr. Frosty is leaning to the side!  Or maybe I should say "Mrs. Frosty" since after all, she does have those fabulous marina mist flowers with rhinestones instead of buttons!  And what frosty lady doesn't need a little bling??  I used my white gel pen to just doodle around the edges.   Thanks for checking in today!

Happy Birthday Mom! (MOJO267)

Very, very special card today!  Today is my mom's birthday!  We are off for a fun day of shopping and just hanging out!  I'm so excited!  It's pretty rare that we get to go out, just the two of us!  I love this Patio Party DSP!  So festive and fun!  I made a scaled-down version of the paper bow that Stampin Up has a tutorial for.  Those bows are pretty fun to make and super simple!  I used the layout from Mojo Monday #267 .  Thanks for stopping by today, have a fabulous day!

Gobble, Gobble!--CCMC227

Gobble, Gobble!  Can you even believe that Thanksgiving is in one week!?!?  Where has this year gone?  Seriously, time is flying by!  Here's a little shaped easel card I made using the Floral Framelits.  I think it would be super cute to make a bunch of these and use them as place cards for your thanksgiving table!  Just write the name in pretty handwriting right there on the base of the easel!  So cute!  This little card is off to my bestie's mom, she LOVES Thanksgiving!  I'm submitting this card over at Create with Connie and Mary for their special sketch challenge--Shaped cards.  Thanks for stopping by today!  Happy Holidays!

Christmas Cheer

Today's card is one that I will be sharing with a group of 50 seniors (I'm told they range in age from 60-94!) in my neighborhood!  Our neighborhood association sponsors a monthly luncheon for our senior residents.  As a special treat for them, a couple of my friends (fellow demonstrators) and I have volunteered to help them make a Christmas card.  I am so grateful to my friends for donating their time and supplies to help me with this event.  This is the design we decided on for the card.  Very simple and cheerful!  We have prepped everything, even stamped the sentiment and tied the bow, so all the seniors will have to do is adhere everything.  Tried to keep it simple!  Hopefully they will enjoy being a little crafty!  I cased the basic layout for this card from a card I saw from Amanda Mertz .  I used Stampin' Up's retired confetti white card stock.  Love that stuff, it's so strong--great for a card base.  I am also going to submit this card for a the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge #144--Snowflakes and the SUO Challenge #58 – A Clean and Simple Holiday Card .  Have a fabulous day!  Thanks for stopping by!

BRRR!! --Mojo266

Brrr!! It's cold today!  I haven't been able to warm up all day.  Maybe that's what inspired me to make this chilly snowman card! haha  This is the card I made for the MOJO Monday sketch challenge #266.  This card was so much fun to make!  I just kept adding little bits here and there.  There's so many fun little elements, especially the Vintage Faceted Button that looks like a big chunk of ice sitting on that snowflake or the Basic pearls that I colored with a sharpie to look like bits of coal for the eyes and mouth! It's one of those cards that I can't wait to give to someone!  Hope you like it!