Irreplaceable

Sorry for the darkness of the photo, it was a rainy day and I had a hard time getting the camera to take a good picture. In real life, this shoe is just so much more fabulous! I don't think you can see it at all, but feathery part is green and I added glitter pen to make it all sparkly. Anyway, the shoe and sentiment are both from a Skipping Stones Design set (can't think of the name, but probably something with "shoe" in it). I also used the music stamp from their "Timeless Textures" set to overstamp the patterned paper that was created using the "Guide Lines 2" set from PTI. Love that set for creating backgrounds. Check out my other cards this week for more looks. I also used my favorite Fleur de lis squares die from spellbinders. The sketch is Skipping Stones Design #121.

computer printing

This week's Make it Monday challenge (from Papertrey Ink) was to combine computer generated text with stamps and dies (they explain it so much better on this video). I can't always participate in their challenges as I don't always have the needed supplies, but I do have a computer, stamps and matching dies so I was all set. So, my text was printed off the computer and fit perfectly in the blank space of this stamp from PTI's Mat Stack 2 set which also fits perfectly in the matching die (go figure!). I used Guide Lines 2 (also from PTI) to create the patterned paper. The sketch is from Sweet Stop Sketches, and the color combo is the Pretty Palette #53 combo of daffodil, aqua, pink and eggplant.

Peace

This week's challenge from Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #65 was to create a project using an image of a house or part of a house. I wasn't sure I would be able to pull this one off, but they aren't called challenges for nothing! : ) But in my stash of old Christmas cards that I have saved for just such an occasion, I came across this peaceful little scene. Love the warm glow from the windows and the deer in the bottom left corner by the stream. I used the Viva La Verve March week 4 sketch with a little tweaking (hopefully not too much) and the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long "Anything Goes" challenge.

I used a cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, the charming oval die set from Verve and the sentiment is from Flourishes "Paperwhites" set.

happy spring

When I first saw this sketch from My Time Made Easy's Pretty Patterns #53 challenge, I wasn't too sure about it. But I really like how this card turned out. The image is from A Day for Daisies (a freebie to use in their challenge which is "shades of blue") and it fits the theme of the Sweet 'n' Sassy Digital challenge #46 to create a spring project. I had to adapt the image a teensy little bit by adding the little piece of tree trunk. The image is only of the bird and branch. But the way I cut it out and with the cloud layers, it just looked like it was floating out in the middle of nowhere. The cardstock, ribbon and ink (brocade blue and night of navy) are all from SU! I used the fleur de lis square die from spellbinders, the Guide Lines 2 set from PTI (for the patterned layer) and a sentiment from one of those dollar sets you can buy at JoAnn's or Michael's.

Elegant thank you

I so love the elegance and the combinations you can create with Papertrey Ink's "Guide Lines 2" stamp set (used to create the patterned layer)! I created five cards this week and used that set on four of them. Love it! Anyway, this card uses the Viva La Verve March week 3 sketch (I was a week behind!) and the challenge from Stampin' Sisters in Christ to "use Everything" on your project. I've got embossing, patterned paper, lots of layers, die cut layers, ribbon, leaves, flowers and pearls!

PTI: cardstock and ribbon (ocean tides), stamps (Damask Designs, Mat Stack 2, Guide Lines 2), leaf die

Spellbinders: Labels four

Cupcakes

This candle-laden cupcake is the inspiration photo for the Stampin' Sisterhood challenge #15. Since I need thank you cards for my soon-to-be 6 year 0ld's birthday, I went with the cupcakes with candles as my inspiration.

I used the Skipping Stones Design #120 sketch, the JUGS #128 color challenge: light pink, spring green and cream. The sentiment is from PTI's "Through the Trees" set. I love it's elegance. The cupcakes are from a SU! set. I don't know the name and the stamp is really one long strip of cupcakes/cakes. I selectively stamped the cupcakes I wanted to use.

Spring thanks

For this card, I use the Sweet Stop Sketches #150 sketch with a spin: show me your green, the Stampin' Sisters in Christ #131 challenge to create a project with spring in mind (and what says spring more than a daffodile?), and the Pixie Cottage #113 challenge to create an Easter or Spring project. The papers are all DCWV, the flower is from PTI's "Year of Flowers: Collection", the sentiment is from their "Through the Trees" set and the die is Verve's "Elegant Ovals."

Proverbs 31 woman

I got this Plain Jane from Verve back at Christmastime and have yet to ink it up. With all the elegant layers of this card, I thought it was the perfect time to use it as a Mother's Day card. I used the Mojo Monday #233 sketch, the Pretty Palette #52 challenge to use rose, cherry, gray, black, the Clearly Inspired #48 challenge to use scripture and the Creative Inspirations #55 "anything goes" challenge. The base layer was stamped with elements from PTI's "Guide Lines 2", the gray layer and the white butterfly (a PTI die) with a Hero Arts French script and the frame around the verse is from PTI's "Mat Stack 2."

Merry Christmas

My second card for the day uses the Pretty Pattern #52 sketch (from My Time Made Easy). The papers are from the Basic Grey Jovial pack, the sentiment is from Verve's "Ornamental Christmas", and the ribbon is from SU! I also used the cuttlebug snowflakes embossing folder on the top portion of the card. Pretty simple and straightforward.

Merry Christmouse

The Crimbo Crackers #11 challenge is to create a Christmas card that is "cute". This mouse image is the only Christmas image I have and luckily it is really cute. I'm also entering the Christmas Stampin' All Year recipe challenge: 1 image, 2 papers, 3 embellishments. The papers are from BasicGrey Jovial paper pad and my three embellishments are ribbon and two rhinestone brads from SU! For a bonus, I snapped a few pictures of my daughter's birthday cake (and cupcakes) for her birthday party this past weekend. They were really supercute! And with all the patterned paper I have, I was able to find some that looked like water for them to float on. How fun!

Christmas wishes

I'm still plugging away at the Christmas cards. Acutally, I have more finished already this year than I did at the beginning of December last year. The one uses the Viva La Verve March week 2 sketch and the Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge #63 to "glam it up with glitter". The papers are all from a DCWV Christmas pack and I edged all the panels with a gold pen to give the look of a gold cardstock mat. The ornament was created with an ornament stamp from Verve's "Ornamental Christmas" (the sentiment is from the same set), then I stamped the pointsettia from PTI's "Year of Flowers: Collection", colored it with colored pencils and added some gold glitter to the top and swirls on the ornament and the center of the flower. It's so sparkly and as always so much prettier in real life.

Seeing Stars

I never sew on cards, but I had my sewing machine out for another project and I had it all planned out in my head how I was going to use sewing on this card. Then when I had it all finished, I realized I had sewn any of it and it was too late. Ha! It's the thought that counts, right? Anyway, I used the Skipping Stones Design #119 sketch and the Stampin sisterhood #14 inspiration challenge: I went with the green and white color scheme. On two of the green panels I stamped one of the background stamps from Skipping Stones Design's "Timeless Textures" and on the other two I used the little trio of stars from Verve's "To the Moon" set.

The sentiment is from PTI's "Through the Trees". The stars are die cut with a sizzix die.

Thank you

After birthday cards come thank you cards! It's a never ending cycle it seems. Since my daughter's birthday party is this weekend, I'm going to need those thank you cards. For this card I combined two My Time Made Easy challenges: Pretty Patterns #51 (sketch) and Pretty Palette #51 (color combo: green, white, orange). The flower stamp is from PTI's "Year of Flowers: Collection" and the sentiment is from their "Through the Trees" set. To go with the color scheme, I was thinking of how you can dye the edges of carnation petals with food coloring and get that really cool two-tone effect. So, I was thinking of green to go with St. Patrick's day. And I think the effect would have worked if I had colored in the leaves. But that would have taken away from the sentiment. I think I will try it, though, 'cause I think it would look really cool.

Bloom

For this card I used the Skipping Stones Design #118 sketch. I actually stamped and colored this daffodil image (a Flourishes set, but not sure of the name) for a different card, but didn't like how it fit with the color scheme. So, I set it aside for a more fitting project. And most of these papers were just lying about on my work desk. Throw them all together and you have a fun new card. I love using leftovers and rejects from previous projects. The sentiment is from PTI's "Year of Flowers: Collection" set stamped on a partial labels #1 die from spellbinders. Happy Spring! It is coming!!

baby bib

I am in the beginning stages of planning a baby shower for my sister-in-law, so I have baby on my mind. I didn't really realize it until I saw the Mojo Monday #231 sketch this week and immediately thought the image on the left looked just like a baby bib. I tried to think of something else to do with it because we don't even know if she is having a boy or girl yet, but just couldn't get it out of my mind. I used a circle die from spellbinders and then an oval die partially cut out of the circle to create the neckline. All the stamps are from Verve's "To the Moon"; that bear is soooo cute. I added a little ribbon to the bib and popped it up on foam dots.

hey chick!

In February, Papertrey Ink celebrated their 5th anniversary and they gave out a sheet of digital images the designers had created. This image was one of them and it caught my eye right away. It's so cute. I've been waiting for the right card to use it on, and with the Pretty Palette #50 challenge to use daffodil, blue, tangerine, and gray it was the perfect time. These little chicks definitely needed to be daffodil! I also used the sketch from the Stampin' Sisterhood #13 challenge.

Character

Isn't this picture just full of delicious colors? It is the inspiration photo for this week's Timeless Tuesday #159 color challenge. I chose cream, green and dark brown (in my photo it looks like black, but it's really a gorgeous dark chocolate) for my colors. And I also used a little bit of tan string to mimic the twine in the picture.

The sketch is from My Time Made Easy: Pretty Patterns #50. I did turn it on it's side. The image and sentiment are from Flourishes' "Herbs" set. Such a beautiful sentiment.

Peace within

I've used this image from A Day For Daisies recently, but it's just so sweet that I had to use it again. Plus, in order to play in their "Dress it up with Gingham" challenge, you have to use one of their images. And I really love this one. I used the Viva La Verve March week 1 sketch. The sentiment (from PTI's "Through the Trees") is a little hard to read. I meant it to be faint, but it is hard to see in the picture. It reads "Peace within makes beauty without.-English proverb".

Something marvelous

If you have visited my blog at all in the past you probably noticed that I am really a clean and simple kind of card maker. When I saw the JUGS #126 sketch this week, I was in heaven. : ) I'm sure others saw the potential to really embellish and made beautiful creations (which I really admire), but I saw a nice crisp, clean layout. I used the color combo from the Last But Not Least Challenge #2: melon mambo, pacific point, wild wasabi (or at least as close as I could come to those colors). The butterfly (a die from PTI) is stamped with a stamp from Skipping Stones Design's "Timeless Textures" and the background uses another stamp from the same set. The sentiment is from Flourishes' "Line Lines" and the little flourish is from an American Crafts wedding set.

glittery birthday

My daughter is going to a birthday party for a little friend that just turned 5. She really thinks she is a princess (her grandmother's words), so pink and glitter and some butterflies seem just the thing. I used the Sweet Stop Sketch #148, the Delightful Challenge to use spring colors (pink and yellow), and the Stamping Sisters in Christ #129 challenge to use things with wings (butterflies). The stamps are all from PTI's "Big Birthday Wishes" set. The number 5 (from PTI's "By the numbers" die set) was die cut from chipboard and yellow cardstock and covered in gold glitter. It is definitely sparkly! And so was I after making the card.

Holiday Cheer

I learned a new technique that I decided to try out on this card. I think it was on the Skipping Stones Design blog and I don't remember what they called it, but here's the gist of it. You stamp a solid image in a very light ink color and then color over it to create a colored image. That's what I did with this stamp from SU!'s "She's all That" set. The picture below is what it looks like stamped with black ink. I repeatedly stamped it until it was light enough (it probably took 5-6 impressions without reinking), then colored it in with colored pencils. Since it was so light, I could also alter the image; I added boots, 3/4 sleeves and a belt. In the third picture, you can see I added white flock powder around the hem of the dress and sleeves to create a fur look. It shows so much better in real life.

The sketch is from Sweet Sketch Wednesday #143 and I used the Crimbo Crackers #10 challenge to create a Christmas card for a female and the Crafty Hazlenut's Challenge #62 to create a Christmas card using red. The sentiment is from Verve's "Ornamental Christmas" and the die is Verve's "Charming oval" die set.

Great friends

I have been trying quite hard to make Christmas cards and other "essential" cards (i.e. birthday's coming up or get well cards for someone specific) but when I saw this sketch from Skipping Stones Design #117 I knew I wanted to use the fleur di lis square die as a frame. And what would fit in there better than shoes?! (I so love shoes!) And fittingly, the shoe and sentiment and the sentiment inside the card are from a Skipping Stones Designs set. The stamped panel on the top is also from SSD "Timeless Textures". That might be my absolute favorite stamp right now. It is so elegant and classy. The oval die is from Verve. And if my table wasn't such a mess right now (I'm very neat and organized except when I create then it turns into a disaster.) I would be able to find it's name.

I'm also entering the Clearly Inspired Challenge #47: anything goes and the Paper Variety tic-tac-toe challenge. I chose the column that contained embossing, create a card, use a die cut.