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!